Disclaimer: I don't own Rookie Blue or any of the characters….

Author's note: Again this took me longer than anticipated to update. It turned out to be quite a long chapter too. I was keen to get this out before the Christmas break (take it as a Christmas present if you like) as I'm about to go on holidays and I'm not sure how good the internet is where I'm going and whether I'd be able to post this. Anyway, in the rush to get this out, I hope I've picked up any mistakes. I also probably won't have an update until around New Year, but you never know…

I didn't originally plan to, but I've ended up with quite a lengthy dissection of what happened at the Penny on that fateful night, but I think Gail and Holly would need to sort that out once they got back together.

Hope you like this chapter and as always I appreciate all your reviews and favs and follows. Please keep letting me know what you think.

Hope you all have a fabulous festive season (for those celebrating at this time of year).

…...

Coming downstairs, Gail found Lisa seated at the kitchen table. She was dressed in the t-shirt and sweat pants Gail had given her to wear the night before and obviously hadn't slept much. Which, Gail reflected, was understandable when your unhinged ex girlfriend torched your bedroom.

After settling Lisa at Gail's house, Gail and Frankie had headed back to the station where they ran a check on Trish. Turned out she had two priors for assaulting a former girlfriend who, after Trish hit her the second time, had taken out a restraining order. Trish had also undergone a court mandated anger management course that clearly hadn't made any difference to her behavior.

'Coffee', Gail offered.

Lisa regarded her coolly. Gone was the vulnerability of last night and in its place was an enmity that Gail realized she should have anticipated. On the phone, Holly had told Gail not to take Lisa in for her sake, clearly worried that the arrangement would not end well.

'She's difficult', Holly had said.

'You think I don't know that', Gail had replied incredulously

'She doesn't like to seem vulnerable and she doesn't like to ask for help'.

'Its okay Holly, I can handle Lisa'. Gail could tell that Lisa put up a brittle front, and she certainly didn't expect any thanks from boob-job. With a start she recognized something of herself in both Holly's description of Lisa and her own impression of the woman.

'Honey, 30 minutes after you first met her you hightailed it out the door saying you'd rather tase yourself in the eye'.

Gail exhaled loudly. She wished now, just as she wished a thousand times before, that she could take that moment in the Penny back, could unsay those words and erase the memory of Holly's face, bewildered at first and then crushed.

If Gail had been asked to pinpoint the start of when things started to unravel it would be that moment. And while she knew she wasn't to blame for Steve being corrupt or for the loss of Sophie, it was almost as if that night Gail had kick started her own free fall. She sometimes wondered whether things would have turned out differently if she stayed and listened to Holly instead of lashing out and then climbing that tree.

'Holly now is perhaps not the best time to talk about that'. Gail could hear the whine in her voice.

'We need to sometime,' Holly said.

They hadn't talked about it in the two weeks before Holly left for San Francisco. There seemed to be no point. Instead they had spent most of the time fucking and trying to avoid Lisa and Rachael, who were determined to see as much as Holly as they could before her move and would drop by her townhouse unannounced. In the end Holly had paid for the removal company to pack up her belongings and she and Gail had spent a lot of time holed up at the frat house, which had its own challenges when it came to dodging Dov and Chris.

Now, when Gail didn't immediately respond, it occurred to Holly that it was unfair to bring up that night. After all Gail had taken in Lisa without hesitation, her instinct to protect overwhelming the resentment she surely must harbor towards the woman. Gail had nothing to gain from helping Lisa, who no doubt would be nonplussed. For her part, Holly didn't need to be convinced that Gail had a big heart, no matter how much Gail downplayed her grander or better reflexes and despite her fast held belief that most people thought her cold and unfeeling.

What had taken Holly some time to figure out was that Gail ran that night not because she was offended by Lisa's snobbery or actually believed Holly shared those sentiments. Holly knew for a fact Gail had been described as far worse and to her face. No, she ran because she thought Holly saw her as a distraction and this meant Holly was just like all the others who never considered Gail girlfriend material.

What Gail had failed to see, but what Lisa had spotted immediately, was how smitten Holly was. Lisa was immediately suspicious of the until recently straight girl. She knew that despite her formidable intellect, Holly was often a lousy judge of character, and had in the past thrown herself into relationships only to have her heart quickly broken. So Lisa did her best to protect Holly in the only way she knew how by being caustic and patronizing about Gail and by not so subtly making it clear that Gail did not belong in their circle. Holly saw what Lisa was trying to do and thought the easiest way to handle it was to brush her off, not imagining for a moment that Gail would overhear her.

When Gail didn't return her phone calls or answer her texts, Holly started to wonder if she had meant nothing to Gail and if she was indeed just a straight girl's experiment. As days turned into a week of ignored texts, Holly became certain of it. In any case, she reasoned she didn't need Gail's emotional baggage –her insecurities and inability to trust. Instead she persuaded herself that she deserved a grown-up relationship, not one where people fled over a simple misunderstanding.

It wasn't until that day at the station, when she came to return the thumb and Gail said she was the most wonderful person she'd ever met, that Holly understood that Gail had run because she had fallen for Holly and was devastated to think Holly did not feel the same way. Holly had nearly crumbled. They had both been idiots, both miserable to be without the other. By then she thought it was too late to repair the damage and she'd had two dates with someone else who was uncomplicated and fun and she convinced herself that was what she wanted.

Now, on the other end of the phone, Gail took a deep breath.

'I was partnered with Dov that day and he kept asking questions about us and really I didn't mind answering him. I mean, normally I don't share that stuff. And the more I talked to him the more I realized I'd never felt that way about anyone else, that I'd fallen for you. And then that night you told Lisa you were just having fun'.

'Oh, honey. I was never just having fun', Holly said softly.

'I realize that now. I mean if you want to have fun with someone, I'm not exactly people's first choice. I'm the girl everyone fools around with and then leaves. When I overheard you I decided to run before you did the leaving'.

Gail knew she should have realized it when Holly came rushing to the station when Ford was on the loose, her concern for Gail plain, or when she gently steered Gail through her freak-out and hair massacre. God, if Holly was going to bail that surely would have been the time. But she didn't. She just asked Gail to meet her two closest friends and that alone should have told Gail that Holly was all in.

'Gail', Holly said firmly, 'you are my first choice. Always. If you'd just talked to me, I could have explained. Sometimes it's just easier to ignore Lisa, especially when she's being an elitist bitch. I stupidly thought it was obvious how I felt about you'.

In fact, Holly had been doing her best to play down her feelings, worried she'd scare Gail away.

Gail's laugh sounded bitter. 'I was too hurt to talk to you', she said softly.

Holly knew that for someone like Gail, who guarded her feelings so closely and who had been let down so often by the people who were supposed to love her including, Holly had to admit, herself, this was a big admission.

'What would you have done if I'd said yes that day in the lab when you asked me for a drink, even though you were trying to avoid me. Did you want to get back together or did you think we could be friends like you are with all your exes'.

Gail couldn't honestly say what her intentions were. Up until then she had managed to avoid the morgue for weeks, which meant she had also avoided seeing Holly. She hadn't planned on asking Holly for a drink but that day in the morgue she was immediately drawn to her despite the hostility that seemed to radiate off the doctor.

Gail couldn't help but stand closer than she should and had to restrain herself from reaching out to touch Holly. She sensed that beneath the hostility Holly was hurting deeply and she cursed herself for being the cause. Worse still, she realized in that moment how stupid she had been to give up the one person she knew she could love and who it now seemed might have loved her back.

'I didn't have a plan, Holly. It was kind of spontaneous. But you know, being just friends was never an option for me'.

In fact Holly knew that the moment she told Gail she was seeing someone else. It was apparent in the hurt that flashed across Gail's face that she desperately tried to mask, and in the way she propelled herself out of the office, and in the strangled sound she made as she yelled for Angie as if holding in a sob. Holly wished she were in Toronto now and could hold Gail close and tell her how even then when she was trying to move on she couldn't shake the feeling that Gail was it for her.

'No, it was never an option', she said instead.

They had ended the conversation with Holly asking Gail to promise not to take Lisa's jibes personally and telling Gail she was a good person to which Gail had replied 'yeah, yeah, anyone would do the same in the circumstances'.

'And Gail', Holly said just before hanging up, 'You know how you hate people'.

' Most people', said Gail, not sure where Holly was going with this.

'Well, I can't tell you how lucky I feel that you chose me', Holly said.

It never ceased to amaze Gail how Holly always seemed to know the right thing to say to her. Well, apart from that night at the Penny and Gail hadn't given her a chance to explain so that probably didn't count anyway. Her words suffused Gail with a feeling so huge she almost found herself telling Holly she loved her, but somehow she wasn't quite ready or brave enough to say that yet.

Now in her kitchen, Gail began to prepare a coffee for her guest. Lisa had been surprised that Gail had a real espresso machine and even grinded her own beans, tamping the coffee into the little metal basket like a seasoned barista. She wouldn't have picked Gail for someone who took her coffee so seriously or who would have the patience to trouble over it. In fact, while Lisa wouldn't admit it, she was impressed by Gail's home.

A two story, semi-detached in Cabbage town, it was built in the Victorian era but Gail had renovated the back of the house so a passage led from the living room to a large open-plan kitchen with modern appliances, a good-sized table with chairs and a sitting area furnished with a sofa and a comfortable looking arm chair. Double glass doors opened onto a backyard that was bigger than normal for the area. There were two bedrooms on the second story and a third large bedroom tucked into the attic space with a small rooftop patio. This was were Gail slept and she would sometimes drolly comment that she was the crazy woman in the attic

Once a slum, Cabbagetown had started to be gentrified in the late 70's and real estate here wasn't cheap. As they had pulled up in front of the house the night before, Lisa had said 'Nice. You on the take or something Peck'.

Gail had looked at her sharply, wondering if Lisa knew about Steve and was having a dig. However it was unlikely Lisa was aware of his involvement in the corruption scandal, the Peck influence still powerful enough to keep Steve out of the spotlight and the media.

'Inheritance', was all she said. She liked living in Cabbagetown with its diverse mix of people. Professionals rubbed shoulders with residents from public housing, there were young families, as well as artists of all types and students and academics from the nearby University of Toronto and it was home to quite a large Queer community. Despite her oft stated claim that she hated people, Gail was drawn to the strong sense of community in the neighborhood.

She could never have hoped to live there on a cop's salary, but her maternal grandmother, Rose, decided to leave everything to her after Steve went to prison. Rose hadn't ever much liked the Pecks. She thought them too full of their own self-importance and was alarmed by their single-minded ambition and their rigid belief that to be a Peck in Toronto meant being a cop.

Rose was less than happy when Elaine agreed to marry Bill and even less impressed when Elaine began to groom her children to be the next generation of policing Pecks. Where Steve was amiable and outgoing and seemed not to be weighed down by his parent's expectations, Gail was sensitive and too smart to unthinkingly conform. This alone was enough to make her Rose's favorite, but where Rose admired Gail's individuality, Bill and Elaine saw her as willful and tried to bully and coerce her into being their kind of Peck.

Rose watched as Gail started to believe she was never good enough, always second to Steve the golden child, and how this began to define her and became a pattern that repeated in her relationships in her adult life. Rose saw too how Gail became closed off, using sarcasm and even spite as a defense against the feeling of never measuring up and to mask her own disappointment that nobody - her family, her friends, the people she dated - seemed to know who she really was.

After her husband died, Rose had remarried and moved to Vancouver so Gail had seen little of her in the past ten years but had always sensed that Rose was in her corner. The inheritance came as a surprise. When Elaine had raged to mother about Gail's failure to stand up for Steve in court, to cover for his weakness and wrongdoing, Rose had immediately redrawn her will.

She wasn't overly wealthy but Rose left Gail enough to buy a house. Gail had decided after years of living with Dov and Chris, an arrangement that was only ever meant to be temporary, that she needed to make her own home. While she did her best to suppress such thoughts, sometimes she imagined what it might have been like living here with Sophie and even Holly. Of course she explained none of this to Lisa, who was still regarding her with some hostility, even after Gail placed a coffee in front of her.

'She turned down Paris', Lisa said abruptly.

'Ah, so Holly told you about the job offer here?'

'Yes and coming back to you'. Lisa's tone was bitter. 'That job in Paris is at one of the most internationally prestigious forensic institutes.

'You always thought I'd bring Holly down'. Gail's voice was quiet and even.

'No', said Lisa, 'I thought you'd break her heart and I was right'.

Gail paused, not sure how to respond. It was true. She had broken Holly's heart but Holly had broken hers and Lisa surely had to take some blame. Although if she were really honest, Gail realized, she would have eventually found some other excuse to run because no matter how much Holly showed it she could never believe she was enough, that Holly wouldn't work out how damaged she was, how unsuited to be a girlfriend, and would find someone better and less complicated and would leave. Good thing self-worth was something she and her therapist were working on, Gail thought wryly.

'I suppose you think it was my fault', Lisa said.

'You were just trying to protect Holly', Gail said, suddenly understanding Lisa's behavior that night and her present hostility. 'I'm not going to do that again. I'm not going to run'.

Lisa eyed her skeptically. 'You know she dated a doctor, Francine, in San Francisco. I think it could have been quite serious, but they put it on hold while Francine took a year out to work with Doctors without Borders in Africa. She's due back soon'.

No Holly hadn't told her about Francine and Gail did her best to disguise the sharp stab of jealousy on hearing about the doctor. She knew Lisa was trying to provoke her and for Holly's sake decided not to react.

'Yet, Holly is moving back here' Gail couldn't help saying. 'Although, she did decide that before anything happened between us at the conference. She was coming back because she missed Toronto and she missed you and Rachel', Gail then conceded.

'No, she was always coming back for you', Lisa said firmly, 'It has always been you'.

Strangely Gail could hear no malice in Lisa's voice and she realized they had reached some sort of détente.

An hour later Gail found herself back at the station. Lisa had cancelled her appointments for the day. At Lisa's request Gail had dropped her on Bloor Street West, which was Toronto's answer to New York's Fifth Avenue, to buy some new clothes seeing as her entire wardrobe had been destroyed in the fire. Rachel was out of town for another four days and Gail, wondering whether she was indeed insane, offered to let Lisa stay until her friend's return.

As Gail walked into the station, she spotted Chloe on the desk.

'How is our guest?' Chloe asked brightly.

'Peevish' was Gail's reply.

'Sort of like you on a good day', Chloe giggled.

Gail shook her head. 'Why do all the strays I take in think the best way to repay me is by being obnoxious?'

Chloe just smiled sweetly in response. 'I do have some good news. McNally and her rookie just picked up Trish Crompton. They've put her in interview room one. Frankie is waiting for you to start.

Trish Crompton was attractive in a showy sort of way. Her hair was dyed a bright red, which contrasted with her almost translucent skin and set off her green eyes. She was expensively dressed. Clearly someone in Lisa's league, Gail thought a little bitterly. Trish admitted to being in Lisa's apartment but vehemently denied setting it on fire. She had gained entry using a keycard Lisa had given her some weeks ago.

'So what time did you get to the apartment?' Frankie asked.

'Just after 8.30 pm and I left about 10 minutes later'.

Gail and Frankie exchanged looks. Ten minutes was not enough time to set the fire.

'Did anyone see you come and go?' Gail asked.

'Just that creepy building manager'.

'And why did you go into the apartment'.

'I wanted to leave some things for Lisa'.

'Things?' Frankie queried.

'Lingerie. She gave it to me when we were together. I didn't want it anymore'.

'Where did you leave it, once you got in the apartment?' Gail asked.

'In her bedroom, on the bed'.

'So I don't get it, said Frankie, 'in the morning you leave a message for Dr Gordon threatening to disfigure her and then you waltz into her apartment to leave lingerie that evening, and not long after that same apartment is set on fire. Can you see how its hard for us not to think those things are related'.

'I swear, I didn't do it. I was only there for 10 minutes. Look I can be a bitch but I'm no arsonist. Have you checked out Lisa's other ex girlfriends. There's quite a list'.

'So where did you go afterwards. Once you left the apartment', Gail asked, ignoring Trish's jibe.

'Wrong Bar'. Trish named a gay club on Queen Street West that both Frankie and Gail were familiar with.

'Can anyone corroborate that'

'The bar staff. Megan, the woman I went home with. I was coming back from her place when your officers picked me up outside my house'.

'So', Gail said, 'Are the clothes you're wearing the same as the ones you had on when you were in Dr Gordon's apartment?'

Trish gave her a quizzical look, but nodded 'Yeah'.

'We'll need to test those. I'll get an officer in here to take you to get changed'.

'What if I refuse?'

'If you're telling the truth, its the fastest way of clearing you', Frankie said. 'If you started that fire there will be traces all over your clothes'.

Once outside the interrogation room, Frankie turned to Gail.

'Do you think she's telling the truth?' In the time that she had worked with Gail, Frankie had come to trust her instincts.

'Yeah, I mean there is something very off about her, but I believe her when she says she's no arsonist'.

'We need to check the CCTV footage. See if she did leave when she says she did'.

'Duncan's looking through the footage now'.

The CCTV footage confirmed that Trish had entered the condo at the time she and the building manager claimed and was indeed wearing the same clothes. What was strange though was that after Trish came through the front entrance the footage went blank as if someone had erased the tape.

'Did you get a weird vibe from the building manager?' Gail asked Frankie.

'Yeah, he did seem a bit familiar, like he knew too much about Lisa's business. Though he could just be nosy'.

Frankie's phone ringing interrupted the conversation. Glancing down at the name on the screen, she saw it was Mike, one of the fire investigators.

'Thought you'd be interested to know, we found a camera concealed in the ceiling just above the bed', Mike said, 'It was partially burnt but you might want to check with the owner to see if they put it there'.

After Mike rang off, Frankie relayed the information to Gail, who asked 'You thinking Phil, the building manager?'

'Could be' said Frankie.

Gail agreed to speak to Lisa while Frankie ran a background check on Phil Bishop. Gail found Lisa back at her house surrounded by a mountain of shopping bags, most from expensive boutiques. Lisa was surprised when Gail asked about the camera.

'God, you don't think Trish put it there?'

'We're not sure', Gail answered cautiously, 'Have you had much to do with Phil Bishop, the building manager?'

'Shit, you think it's him. That's depraved'. Lisa sounded both outraged and, Gail sensed, a little hysterical.

'We are just trying to rule things out', Gail answered calmly. She could see Lisa was disturbed and rightly so.

'He is strange, but I never took much notice of him. I don't understand. What, is he a stalker? I mean I've got Trish threatening me. I should have seen she was unbalanced. I'm a smart woman and I didn't pick up on that and I didn't notice anything about him either'.

'Lisa, sometimes people hide the crazy well'.

'But what is it about me that would attract this?' Lisa asked wretchedly.

'Lisa, as I said last night, this is not your fault. This kind of behavior is not acceptable. People who act like this are in the wrong not you.'

Before she could continue, a loud knocking on the door interrupted Gail. She found Frankie on the doorstep.

'Stupid chump', she said, 'He brought the camera with his credit card, oh and forensics found nothing on Trish's clothes. Want come and make an arrest?'

When they showed up again at Lisa's apartment building, Bishop seemed to be expecting them. Back at the station, when Frankie showed him the credit card statement listing the purchase of the camera, he readily admitted that he'd been secretly filming Lisa.

'Why?' asked Gail, even though she could guess the answer. The guy was clearly a pervert and she felt sick for Lisa that her privacy had been so violated.

'All those fucking woman she brought home', Bishop answered, the hate in his voice palpable, 'she just needed a real man'.

….

It was some hours later, after she and Frankie had charged Bishop and handed him over to booking, that Oliver called Gail into his office. Having cleared the case so quickly, Gail thought this might be a good time to ask for some days off so she could visit Holly.

'Good result my petulant Peck,' Oliver said. 'Although I hear you might not be so petulant after your visit to Chicago'.

Gail rolled her eyes. Gossip did spread like herpes in this place. It had to be either Frankie or Chloe and she began to imagine ways to make them pay.

'And', continued Oliver smiling, 'A little birdie tells me that an esteemed pathologist is to return to our shores very soon. And that is indeed good news'.

Of course Oliver would know, thought Gail. He always seemed to have an ear to the ground. She unsuccessfully tried to suppress a smile.

'Actually, I was wondering if I could take some time, you know, to go to San Francisco'.

'Ah', said Oliver, 'the thing is you've been requested for an undercover op in Vancouver".

'What, who requested me?' Gail was puzzled.

'Nick. You are to be his drug-dealing ex-girlfriend. He's in with a syndicate up there but he's having trouble working out the supply chain. He figured if you come in as a buyer you might have a better chance of getting that information'.

'Why me?' Gail hated going undercover and was less than thrilled at the prospect of working with Nick.

'They think the syndicate might have turned someone on the force in Vancouver. They need a fresh face from out of town. Nick said your good at undercover. He thought you wouldn't have trouble playing his ex'.

Gail rolled her eyes again.

'You can say no Gail', Oliver continued with a look of concern, 'Given how things went with Perick'.

'It's okay Ollie', Gail interrupted, 'I can't really say no, especially when the Pecks aren't exactly flavor of the month around here'.

'Ah, that could look bad', Oliver conceded, 'But the good news is that Nick thinks it will take two weeks at the most'.

'When do I start?'

'Four days. So if you want to see that delightful doctor of yours before you go, I'd suggest getting on the first flight to San Francisco tomorrow.'

Less than twenty-four hours later, Gail found herself standing outside Holly's apartment building. Holly had been caught up with a autopsy so Gail had taken the BART from the airport, figuring they would probably both arrive at Holly's at the same time. Now after Holly buzzed her in, she took the two flights of stairs to the second floor apartment, where she found a smiling Holly waiting at her open door.

Since Gail had seen her in Chicago, Holly had got new glasses. The frames were black and larger than her last pair and if Gail had thought Holly had the sexy librarian thing going for her before, this was that and some. Dropping her bag, she leaned in and kissed Holly like she hadn't seen her for years rather than a week.

Where's your bedroom?' Gail asked as she broke off the kiss.

'I thought we were supposed to be taking this slowly', Holly said, her expression bemused.

'You're not in Toronto yet, Holly' was Gail's reply, to which Holly gave her a lop-sided smile and pulled her into the apartment.