It has been over a week since their night of babysitting. After their heartfelt conversation, Gail and Holly settled on the couch as the tv played reruns of an old show. Neither one of them were really paying attention to what was playing, they were simply enjoying each other's company. Gail decided to head home after Susan called saying it was taking longer than she expected and apologized profusely once more for interrupting the date. Holly decided to sleep over and Gail drove home with a wide smile plastered to her face.

Unfortunately, work had kept both of them very busy since then, and despite her valiant efforts, Gail couldn't come up with a logical excuse to visit Holly in the lab. Most days they would text back and forth. On rare occasions, they actually managed to fit in a phone conversation.

Holly was deep in paperwork when there was a knock at her office door. She looked up to see a Peck standing there.

"Detective Peck, what brings you down here?" Holly smiled at Steve.

"Well, I just wanted to pop by and have a quick chat with you if you are not too busy," he said, taking a step into the room.

"Of course, please, sit," she said, gesturing to the chair in front of her. As Steve took a seat, her mind couldn't help but flashback to when Gail sat in that seat just a week prior. She couldn't stop the smile that formed on her face. "What do you want to chat about?" she asked, looking at Steve.

"Well, first of all, this isn't exactly work related," he stated, which caused Holly to chuckle.

"I kind of gathered that when you said you wanted to chat, but please continue."

"I actually wanted to talk to you about Gail," Steve said.

"Oh? Okay. Is everything alright? Is she okay?"

"Yes, yes, she's fine. She's her regularly bubbly self," he said sarcastically, "but to get to the point, I know that you and Gail have started to date again."

"Oh, well…I…um…we…we are taking things slow," Holly stuttered, suddenly very nervous about where this conversation was going.

Steve must have noticed Holly's uneasiness. "Relax, Holly. I just wanted to say that I think it is great that you guys are giving it another go. Gail was always the happiest when you were around," he said, leaning back in the chair a bit.

"Um…well…she makes me happy too," Holly blushed.

Steve then leaned forward. "But Holly, I need to say this, so please just listen."

Holly nodded her head.

"I know you are a great person and a great friend, everyone loves having you around, not just Gail. But Gail was gutted when you left. It took her a very long time to get back to normal."

"I know, I'm so sorry for that," Holly began to apologize.

"Well, what's done is done,that is all in the past, but I just wanted to let you know that I don't want to see my sister hurt like that again."

Holly nodded her head.

Steve continued, " If I see that you are not treating her like you should, or if she is going to get hurt again, I'm going to have to step in."

Holly swallowed, thinking about what Steve just said. She knew that he was giving her the 'big brother' speech,but that he meant everything he was saying. "I know, Steve," Holly said. "I made a huge mistake leaving and I know that it hurt Gail, and I promise you, just like I promised Gail, that I won't do it again. That I will treasure her like she should be treasured."

Steve leaned back in the chair again, studying the doctor before him. He then suddenly stood up and began walking towards the door. "Awesome, good to know. Catch ya later, Doc," he said and walked out the door.

Holly let out a big breath that she did realize she was holding. She knew that Steve meant nothing by stopping by except to protect his little sister, but at the same time, he was intimidating as hell. She chuckled to herself.

Meanwhile, Gail sat moping at her desk. It had been way too long since she had seen Holly. She knows that they agreed to take things slow, but this was ridiculous.

"Oh my gosh, Peck. Would you lighten up a bit? You are bringing this whole place down," Dov said as he walked in and sat down.

"Seriously killing the vibe," Chris added.

"Leave her alone guys, she's pining," Chloe explained.

"I am not pining," Gail hissed.

"No, no, I think Chloe has gotten it right. You are pining after your doctor love," Chris laughed.

"No I am not!"

"Oh, yes, it is clearly written all over your grumpy face," Dov added. "Why don't you just go and see her? I'm sure she would be happy to see you if you popped by."

Gail slumped in her seat. "No, we said we were taking it slow. I'm not going to go show up just because I miss her."

"Oh, so you admit, your grouchiness is because you are pining after the doctor," Dov clarified.

Gail swiveled in her chair just enough to throw her pen at him.

"Hey, what was that for?" Dov exclaimed.

"You all need to stop talking about my love life unless you want to get seriously hurt," Gail threatened.

"Oooh, so there is a love life?" Chloe giggled.

"Okay, that's enough. I'm going for lunch," Gail said, standing up from her desk and swinging on her coat.

"Lunch with your doctor?" Chris teased, which got a serious glare from Gail.

Gail didn't respond anymore, but simply walked out, leaving the three amigos laughing in their seats.

Gail wasn't really in the mood to eat, but she just needed to get away from there. So what if she was a little grumpy because she hadn't seen Holly in forever, that is normal. At least, she hoped it was normal and not some creepy stalker thing. Gail headed over to the local diner, since it was too cold to do anything else, and she might as well grab some food in case she was hungry later.

The diner was quite busy, but nothing out of the ordinary. As she stood in line, she heard someone squeal behind her.

"Officer Gail, is that really you?"

Gail turned to see Susan beaming at her.

"Susan, hi" Gail smiled, not really sure what else to say.

"I can't believe that I would run into you here. I thought I saw you come in, but I wasn't sure, but it is you!"

"Yup, all of me," Gail smiled awkwardly.

"Are you on lunch?"

"Um…I was just going to grab something to go."

"Oh, please stay, have lunch with me, if you are free, of course. I'm at a table in the corner. Please."

Gail looked at her for a moment. What was she supposed to do? Susan flashed her that ruddy Stewart smile again. "Okay, um…I'll grab my food and come over."

"Perfect!" and with that, Susan went back to her spot leaving Gail standing there wondering what on earth just happened.

It took only a few minutes for Gail to get her food and venture over to where Holly's sister was sitting. Suddenly she was very nervous as she approached this doctor. "Um…I…um…thanks for inviting me over," Gail stuttered. She silently berated herself for being so tongue tied.

"I'm just glad you agreed. We never really got a chance to talk the other night, and I definitely didn't get to apologize enough for interrupting your date," Susa smiled.

"Oh, don't worry about that. These things happen," Gail shrugged as she took a bite of her sandwich.

"Well, I really appreciated it. It's really nice to have Holly back home, don't you think?" Susan asked nonchalantly.

Gail choked slightly on her food. "Um…yeah, it's really nice," she coughed.

"What are your intentions with her?" Susan asked as she looked straight at the blushing officer.

Gail's eyes flashed wide open. "Um…I…um…" Gail struggled. "Um…we…"

Susan laughed out loud. "Oh relax Gail, I'm just messing with you," Susan teased.

Gail visibly swallowed.

"It's just nice to see Holly having some fun. I won't lie, it was a surprise to see you at all. Holly usually never lets her dates get anywhere near her family," Susan said with a shrug.

"Oh, well, I was her ride. I don't think she really had a choice. Plus, I don't think either of us ever expected you two to come outside to greet us," Gail smiled.

"Don't be so naive, dear officer. If Holly doesn't want something to happen, then she doesn't let it happen. She is a very determined, and somewhat stubborn, person," Susan chuckled, "I am just glad that she let down her walls a little. I'm just sorry I couldn't stick around, I have some really great childhood stories about Holly."

"Oh, well dear doctor. I do believe we have some time right now," Gail beamed, which caused Susan to laugh out loud.

"I do believe you are correct," she chuckled. "Okay, let me tell you the time when we were in high school, Holly was a sophomore and I was about to graduate. She decided…"

Suddenly, Susan's story was interrupted. "Don't you dare say another word," came a voice from behind Gail. Gail quickly swiveled around to see a stern looking Holly standing there, giving a death glare to her older sister.

"What? I thought you would be happy that Gail and I are bonding," Susan feigned innocence.

Holly simply crossed her arms and frowned at her sister.

Gail did her best to stifle her giggle.

"And don't get me started with you, Gail. I haven't seen you in over a week. Here I thought I would pick up some lunch for us but clearly you were too busy already having lunch with my sister," Holly said, now glaring at Gail.

Gail's chuckle quickly died down. "It's not like that, Holly," she said jumping up from her chair, "I just stopped in to grab some food and Susan was here and she caught me in line and then she said I should join her and I didn't want to be rude to your sister and I thought I should sit and eat and I…"

Holly lifted her hand to stop Gail's ramblings. She shook her head before turning and walking out of the diner.

Gail stood there, watching as Holly left, she quickly turned to look at Susan.

"What are you doing standing here? Go after her," Susan laughed.

Gail quickly grabbed her coat and ran out the door after the doctor. "Holly, Holly, please wait. Hang on a second. I honestly just ran into her," Gail said as she caught up with the other woman.

Holly stopped and turned to look at Gail. She took a deep breath, before turning and continuing her walk.

"Hang on," Gail said, grabbing a hold of Holly's arm. "Why are you so upset? I'm sorry for whatever I have done. Please just tell me."

Holly stopped again. Why was she overreacting? It's not like Gail was having lunch with a stranger or an ex, she was eating with Susan. She was putting in the effort to be nice to her sister, so why is she so upset? She looked at Gail. "I don't know why I am upset," Holly said truthfully. "I guess I am disappointed because I really wanted to have lunch with you and it stung that you were already eating."

"You know that I would have had lunch with you had I known you were free. I also didn't want to pressure you into having lunch with me because I know that you are swamped with things in the lab. I didn't expect to run into Susan and then I thought it was rude if I said no to her invitation. I was just trying to score some extra family points," Gail smiled.

Holly smiled back at Gail. "I know, I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. Let's blame the headache for not helping me to think straight."

"Headache?" Gail said, "since when do you get headaches?" Gail reached up and placed her hand on Holly's forehead. "Holls, you are burning up!"

"It's nothing, I'm sure I'm just hot from running off."

"No, you have a fever. Is anything else bothering you?"

"Well my stomach is sore, but that's probably because I am hungry."

"I don't think so sweetie. I think you might have the flu."

"Nonsense, I'm not sick. I've got a lot of work to get done."

"Well that is not happening today. I'm taking you home to rest. Come on, let's go get your stuff." And with that, Gail led Holly back to her office to gather all her things before taking her home.