Part 35
Gail sighed happily as she ran her hand gently along Holly's spine. The doctor was fast asleep but Gail hadn't gotten more than a few hours before she jerked awake mid-nightmare. Not unusual for the blonde in recent memory but waking to find another person sharing her bed was definitely a new concept.
One Gail very much looked forward to getting used to.
They had talked over dinner, takeout from down the street, and Gail had broached her previous offer of Holly moving in. After a few lengthy demands about not being surprised with meetings from Damien Wolf or Anan, which Gail quickly agreed to since Wolf had never been to her apartment and Anan had only turned up a handful of times.
She'd also offered the alternative of moving in to Holly's apartment or for them to find somewhere else entirely that they could start new with.
It didn't matter to Gail much either way. She had no attachment to her apartment and as long as she could have Romi install a high grade security system she'd be fine with wherever Holly chose.
There was no rush. Holly would stay over when she wanted to and Gail would even stay over at Holly's. The doctor had even promised to provide a key so she didn't take Gail's head off the next time she came over.
Funny.
Gail sighed again and closed her eyes, she might not be able to fall back to sleep but she wasn't going to miss a minute of being surrounded by the other woman. She'd never been one for much cuddling with her previous partners but she was open to changing that.
"What time is it?" Came the muffled voice into her chest.
Gail grinned and resumed her hand movements against Holly's back again as she glanced at the clock on the bedside table. "Almost 4." She whispered.
Holly groaned and nipped the skin beneath her with her teeth. "Too early. Sleep." She ordered after Gail yelped.
Gail glared at the head of hair laying on her chest. "Meanie."
Holly chuckled then pressed her lips to the spot.
Gail closed her eyes and tightened her hold on Holly. Slowly the rhythm of their breathing synced up and Gail found herself drifting into a light sleep, Holly would be leaving for work soon and Gail was determined to enjoy what little time she had left with the woman.
xxxxxx
Steve rubbed his face as he parked his car. He turned the ignition off and checked the time. Then he checked his cell phone but there was no text so all he could do was sit tight and wait, drumming his fingers against the steering wheel.
He'd been up most of the night trying to work out the connections from Wolf's crew, Gail and where he'd got the lead on the drug bust of his career that never was. Steve reached over to the file he had place on his passenger seat, it was mostly guess work on his part but hopefully he'd know something more concrete when his visitor arrived.
Marcus Chzov practically falls into his lap offering details on an incoming shipment of drugs from Europe via the States and he could hardly contain his excitement as he organised ETF and prepared for a massive take down that would have blown Wolf's operation in Toronto. Cut off the drug supply and hopefully turn a few of those arrested and Steve would have had a case against Wolf.
Steve would have got a day in court that Wolf wouldn't have been able to buy himself out of, especially if they'd managed to arrest Gail that night.
But between a bullet to his vest and recent events with Holly and Nick, Steve realised he'd been played. There had never been a shipment of drugs. There had been a shipment of something but Steve had no idea what that something was and the only real link he had to that night was in the morgue.
Suddenly Steve's passenger door opened and someone sat down, slamming the door closed behind them.
Steve turned his head to stare. He didn't even know where to start with his questions.
"So, Peck, why am I here?" Came a rough voice that held a distinct lack of patience.
Steve shook his head and got right to it. He wasn't in the mood for small talk either. "You have someone inside Wolf's gang, don't you?" Steve got a chuckle in response. "Blackstone, don't bullshit me here, my drugs tip didn't come from thin air, and Marcus was no cop."
Jacob Blackstone dusted off some lint on his knee. "I have no idea what you're talking about Peck."
"Two of my crew died that night." Steve reminded Blackstone of what an utter clusterfuck that bust turned into. And those weren't the only cops to die that night. He'd gone to every funeral and spoke to the families. Nothing he could said made the reality any easier to bare.
More than anything Steve just wanted his sister back.
"I don't care about collaring Wolf Jake, I'm asking as a friend, I've worked undercover for you, I just need to know if you have someone on the inside that's going to stop this becoming all-out war." If it wasn't drugs being brought in for Wolf's gang then Steve thought guns were the next import item gangs like Wolf's would trade in and with the recent deaths in the Hill gang, it was logical to think that Wolf was planning to wipe out his closest rival.
Jacob took a breath. He had worked with Steve on a couple of successful undercover operations but he owed him nothing. "You're asking questions above your paygrade."
"Fuck you Jacob."
Jacob couldn't help but role his eyes. Peck was always too easy to push into reacting. One of the reasons he'd never be more than a good detective on his way to a white shirt.
"It's not your sister if that's really what you're asking me about." Jacob told him with disappointment, because what he saw with Gail Peck was impressive.
Steve closed his eyes. He knew that, had always known it, but part of him had always held some amount of hope that Gail would come home and be his kid sister again. Not the woman that shot him centre mass without any hesitation. A kill shot if it hadn't been for his vest.
"But you have someone." Steve whispered painfully. Gail had chosen her path, he couldn't stop that or change the outcome. Wolf's gang would either be brought to justice or they'd eventually be taken out by another gang in the city. Maybe not for years but Steve knew that it always happened.
His sister's story was going to end with her in jail or dead.
Jacob grunted. "Sorta." He reluctantly admitted.
Steve scowled. "Would do you mean sort of?"
"It's complicated." Jacob shrugged before trying to explain.
xxxxxx
"Do you really have to go to work?" Gail asked as she and Holly rode the elevator down to the garage. She added a pout for effect but Holly just laughed then leant in to kiss her so it wasn't a completely wasted effort. "See, if you wanted to call in sick we could go back upstairs and do more of that." She told the pathologist. "Dead bodies or sex?"
Holly laughed out loud and shook her head. "Are those my only two options?"
Gail huffed. "Fine. Leave, see if I care." She stepped back and crossed her arms.
Holly grinned and the car continued on in silence.
The doors opened with a ding and Gail hung back letting Holly walk ahead of her.
"Just so you know, you're picking the wrong choice." Gail said.
Holly bit her lip and kept walking towards her SUV.
Gail pouted then shuffled her steps to walk shoulder to shoulder with Holly. "Am I seeing you later?"
"Maybe." Holly allowed. "If I'm not too busy."
"This is so wrong." Gail shook her head. "The best night of sex in your life and now you're just leaving me like this?" Gail went on. "Used. I feel used."
"Okay, enough," Holly reached over and tugged Gail, much to her protestations, into a kiss that would curl her toes. "I will see you tonight."
Gail swallowed. "Well okay then." Now she grinned.
Another kiss and Gail let Holly get in to her car. She'd learnt by now that Holly did not enjoy being late.
"If you get bored of all those dead bodies, give me a call." Gail offered, still slightly perturbed that a job cutting open dead bodies seemed to be first on Holly's list of priorities. She'd have to work on changing that for her.
"I'll keep that in mind." Holly assured her as Gail stood holding her door open. When Gail failed to move back Holly tried again. "I will call you when I have a break. Promise."
Gail rolled her eyes and leaned in for the kiss she'd been waiting for the other woman to initiate, she was starting to feel clingy. After the kiss she stepped back and closed the door over. "Now you can go."
Holly stared through the tinted glass then lowered the window, slowly revealing the smug blonde.
"I will call you."
Gail shrugged. "I'm done now, you can go." She said making shooing motions with both her hands. "Go, go, go. Play nice with the dead."
The window went back up but it didn't block out Holly's laughter. Soon enough the electronically controlled security gate opened and Holly drove away as Gail stood there waving.
xxxxxx
Traci closed her eyes. "Please stay in the car, please."
Sam sniffed then opened his door. "Back in a minute, this shouldn't take long."
"Oh, this is bad." Traci was going to kill Steve for being late to work this morning and leaving her to be paired with Swarek. She'd been driving him to one of his informants, or so she'd been told.
But there was no mistaking Gail and Holly walking across the far side of the parking lot they were waiting in. And now she was watching Sam walking up behind Gail and there was just no way anything good was going to come of this.
And now she was left with the dilemma of staying where she was or getting out and being there to back up her partner.
xxxxxx
Gail turned to go back up to her apartment, if she got lucky she'd be able to catch Chris or Romi and see how their day had ended yesterday. Not that it was a competition but she was winning that hands down.
"You're going to ruin her career you know that don't you Peck?" A voice asked from behind her and Gail turned to see Sam Swarek stood there. She was a little surprised because this parking lot was for residents only, with Holly using her remote access explaining her use of it. Sam shouldn't be down here.
Gail looked around but there was no one else by the looks of it. Which made things a lot easier, this wasn't an organised takedown, this was Sam being Sam.
"This harassment really does have to stop sometime Sammy." She told him. "And don't you worry your ugly mug about Doctor Stewart, she'll be just fine."
Sam chuckled. "Yeah, I'm not too sure on that." He replied. "You're using her, you know it, we know it, and sooner or later she's going to wake up and see you for what you are, and what then? What'll she have then?" He asked her. "I'll tell you, she'll have nothing. She trusts you now but she'll learn just like Jerry did, huh Peck?"
Gail narrowed her eyes.
"And Nick realised it too, didn't he?" Sam went on. "A couple of tours in Afghanistan and he comes home only to have you stab him in the back." He clapped his hands. "Nice work Peck. A true hero you are."
"Oh, now we're talking about Nick? I didn't know you two were so close." Gail said. This was new, normally Sam stuck with taking emotional shots at her about Jerry's death.
Nick meant next to nothing to her.
"What would Holly think if she knew you were responsible for putting him in the hospital?" He asked. "You think she'd like you any better? You think she'll feel safe with you?" He continued poking and prodding, looking for something to get through Gail's tough girl act.
Gail tilted her head and stared at Sam. She had an idea of what he was trying to do she just wasn't sure why. "I don't think we're on the same page here Sammy, wanna clue me in?" If he was trying to insinuate that she'd put Holly in the hospital if they had a problem Sam was way off. "And I'm sorry to hear about Nick, you let him know I'm thinking of him." She grinned at Sam after that.
In truth Nick's past relationship with her was the only reason he was still alive. If that had been orchestrated by Sam and Duncan Moore had meant to fire his weapon into her car that day she would have made them both pay with their lives. As it was she'd just had a message delivered to the pair, a painful one for sure, but a message all the same.
Sam's nostrils flared. "You know she's already under investigation, right?" He asked her in his best calm voice. "It's only a matter of time before we have enough to charge her as an accessory for the break in at the morgue."
"You do what you have to do Sammy, that still doesn't explain why you're here," She reminded him and gestured around the parking lot. "Talking to me."
Sam ground his teeth together. He could get close to her but he still couldn't touch her, because despite what he said about the Doc there was nothing to contradict her version of events and as always they had nothing to arrest Gail on.
"You have a warrant, or did you slip in here while someone came or went?" Gail asked out of curiosity. If he had a warrant then she was going to have words with the owner because he was paid to give her some warning, and if not Sam was becoming a bit too bold for his own good.
Luckily she was already rethinking her living arrangements.
"Wouldn't you like to know." Sam replied with a smirk. He made a show of looking around. "But now that I think about it, maybe I came here to have a word and with no one around you threatened me?" He told her as he reached for his gun. "Maybe I was in fear for my life and maybe, just maybe we struggled, and I had to draw my weapon?" He glanced about the empty parking lot once again.
"No one about. It'd be my word against yours, and oh, yeah, you'd be dead." That didn't sound too farfetched to him. "I might lose my badge but then you'd still be dead." He grinned now, liking this idea a whole lot.
Gail put her hand up asking Sam to wait a second as she pulled her cell phone out from her pocket. That she had. Not as useful as a gun would have been but she'd make do.
"Calling your boss?"
Gail shook her head. "Your boss." She answered back, the phone to her ear as she waited for the call to connect.
Sam scowled not sure if he believed her or not.
"Oh, and see those things?" Gail pointed to something on the ceiling. "Those would be cameras, ones I'm going to use to sue you, your boss, 15 Division, and yeah, the city of Toronto."
Sam blinked up at the little black box with the glowing red dot.
"Hey, Oliver, we should talk." Gail winked at Sam then turned as she continued her conversation. It was turning out to be a very good morning for her.
Sam watched her walk away as he tapped his gun against his thigh. "Shoulda just shot her."
xxxxxx
AN/
Thanks for reading!
Back to work in the morning so not sure when any more updates will be coming. Hope you all had a good holidays. Bring on 2017! (can't really be much worse)