Disclaimer: I do not own Rookie Blue or any of the characters…..

So as I promised some of you who reviewed the last chapter, I got this chapter finished a little sooner (in fact a whole week earlier than usual) so you didn't have to wait too long to find out what's going to happen to Gail in the woods. I'm sorry I literally sent you into the kitchen LuceLuxe but to make up for it Gail says a line just for you.

Thank you, thank you to all who read and review and favorite and follow. It means so much to hear from you and to be encouraged to keep writing. As always, let me know what you think. I know a lot of readers are commenting on how Golly stories are dying out so one way to help keep them going is to post comments on the fics – trust me author's love it and it does inspire you to keep writing!

…..

When Gail heard Melanie scream the second time, instinct took over and she immediately took off for the cabin. Had the scene that confronted her when she burst into the cabin not thrown her off momentarily, Gail might have cursed her stupidity for blundering in without backup. What if Aaron and Stacey had been there too?

She tried not to be distracted by Melanie and the wretched sobs coming from her. She tried to block out the blood streaking across Melanie's torso and spreading ever wider, like rivers whose tributaries had found each other and had started to merge into a greater mass. Most of all Gail tried not to see herself strapped to a table and she tried not to think about how small and powerless that had made her feel and how in that basement, blindfolded and alone, she was certain she was going to die.

It only took an instant for Gail to shut out these images and focus on Trent but that instant was enough for Trent to reach for the gun. In that instant, Gail lost the advantage the element of surprise had given her when she nudged the cabin door open.

As soon as Gail saw Trent raise the weapon she stopped advancing into the cabin. She immediately assumed the classic police stance; her feet shoulder width apart, legs straight, her arms extended and her elbows turned outwards and slightly bent. She had one hand on the gun grip and ready to pull the trigger, the other cupped around the front of the gun to steady it, and she pointed it squarely at Trent.

'It seems we're at an impasse,' Trent said, his voice remaining unnaturally calm and his gun pointed at Gail's head.

Gail's hands started to shake very slightly and she tried to still them. She hoped Trent hadn't noticed. He'd be looking for any sign of vulnerability. She knew she should speak but she didn't trust her voice. Trent's expression as he regarded her was exultant, gloating and Gail felt the bile rise in her throat.

Gail knew she could take the shot and legitimately say it was with just cause, but if she pulled the trigger he would too. He had the gun pointed at her head so her vest wasn't much use. What if he survived, and not only killed her but Melanie too, and then slipped off into the night before the others could stop him. Then all of this would have been for nothing.

Gail heard rather than saw Chloe come in behind her. Thank god she'd followed and not waited for Frankie. She just hoped Frankie and the others would find their way to the cabin. Trent's eyes flicked momentarily to Chloe and then back to Gail.

'You didn't think I'd come after you without back-up,' Gail said, finally finding her voice.

In that moment she might have been able to take the shot, but she could still feel the tremor in her hands and she wasn't confident of her aim. Part of her wanted to blow this bastard away but she knew that wasn't her call. She was a police officer not a judge. It wasn't her place to decide his fate. Killing someone, even somebody as depraved and reprehensible as Trent, was not something done lightly. If Trent died at Gail's hand, she would be forever bound to him. She didn't want that. It was enough that Perick stalked her dreams.

'Put the gun down. Then put your hands in the air. Now,' Chloe said, her voice even and carrying an authority Gail had struggled to find as she faced off against Trent.

Trent gave no indication he had heard Chloe. He kept the gun pointed at Gail, but his smug expression had started to falter. Melanie had stopped sobbing and Gail wondered if she'd passed out.

'Don't give me an excuse to shoot you,' Gail said, her voice so harsh and cold it left Chloe in no doubt she would carry out the threat. 'Put the gun down now, or I will shoot.'

Gail raised her gun slightly higher as if readying to take aim, her hands now completely steady. She heard sounds behind her but didn't take her eyes off Trent. Again she sensed rather than saw that it was Frankie and the others.

'You heard the Detective, put the gun down now, Trent,' came Frankie's voice, loud and forceful, 'and then back away from the table, with your hands in the air.'

'If you fire that gun, you're a dead man, Trent,' Gail said, her voice quiet but the menace in it hard to miss.

Trent looked from Gail to Chloe and beyond to the small doorway where Frankie and the other five were massed phalanx like behind them. Finally he placed the gun on the table next to Melanie's head and stepped back, his hands in the air as instructed.

Immediately Matt and Garcia were in the room and cuffing him, and Gail was at Melanie's side. She could see Melanie was barely conscious and quickly felt her pulse. Amazingly it was still fairly strong. She needed something to cut the restraints and her eyes landed on the bloodied knife Trent had been using to carve his message into Melanie's flesh. Gail shuddered. Forensics would need it so she couldn't use it anyway.

She heard Frankie calling an ambulance and then Matt and Garcia hustled Trent roughly out of the cabin. As they passed Melanie and Gail, Trent started to speak. Dov, who was normally even-tempered in these situations, silenced him.

'Don't say a fucking word,' he growled in Trent's ear, tightening his hold on the cuffs so they cut into Trent's wrists.

Despite the blood, the cuts to Melanie's stomach weren't nearly as deep as Gail had at first feared. Still she looked around for something to staunch the wounds. All she could she was a dirty towel scrunched up in the corner of the room. It wouldn't do. The risk of infection was too great with open wounds.

Melanie's eyes fluttered open and she looked imploringly at Gail.

'Can you get me out of here,' she said in a hoarse whisper, 'please.'

'It's okay Melanie, we'll get you out of here soon, but it's probably best if you lie still until the paramedics get here,' Gail said gently, putting a hand on Melanie's arm to reassure her. She shrugged off her jacket and draped it across Melanie. 'Has anyone got something to cut these ties,' Gail then asked and knew she sounded impatient.

'Here,' Andy said, unclipping a Leatherman tool from her utility belt and handing it to Gail. It wasn't standard issue for patrol officers. Of course Girl Scout McNally would always be prepared, Gail couldn't help thinking, but not with annoyance and she took the utility tool with gratitude. Chloe bunched up her jacket and placed it beneath Melanie's head.

After that it all moved very quickly. The paramedics were there within ten minutes of Frankie's call. The Superintendent had the foresight and rank necessary to put an ambulance on standby. They were waiting on Mill Road when Elaine and several squad cars pulled up and had already started the trek to the cabin when Frankie put the call through.

Gail watched as Melanie was moved to a stretcher and carried out the door and back across the clearing. Then she sat down on a large log that had been placed in front of the cabin. She felt utterly exhausted. The adrenalin rush that had kicked in when she heard the screaming and took off for the cabin had worn off.

Gail wondered if this was bad for her body, these extremes of hyper vigilance followed by complete enervation. Holly would be able to tell her. Holly. She wasn't going to be happy, Gail knew that and couldn't blame her. Well, at least she hadn't been shot at. Still, there would be mandatory sessions with the police shrink before she was allowed back on active duty.

Suddenly Frankie was standing in front of her.

'You okay Peck?' she said, somewhat awkwardly placing a hand on Gail's shoulder before quickly removing it.

'Yeah, I just need a minute.'

Frankie nodded. 'There's no sign of Aaron and Stacey and Trent's not talking.'

'So it's not over,' Gail sighed.

'Not yet, but soon. Trent's the mastermind. They're both followers and without Trent around it will be easy to find them.'

Gail was about to reply when she caught sight of her mother coming through the thicket followed by Agent Pearce and then Holly and Rodney. The two pathologists were carrying their lunch boxes. Alright, alright, Gail thought, forensic kits. Holly's expression was hard to read and Gail was so busy trying to work out what her girlfriend was thinking that she didn't notice Elaine come to a stop in front of her. The Superintendent's back was ramrod straight and her mouth drawn in a tight line.

'Give me one reason you shouldn't be put up on disciplinary charges, Detective. You disobeyed a direct order.'

Gail sighed wearily.

'Circumstances changed,' Frankie said, 'after I spoke to you we had to quickly reassess the situation and decided we needed to act immediately. I required every available officer. I didn't have time to clear it with you Superintendent but I gave the order for Detective Peck to join the search.'

'I didn't give her a choice,' Gail said flatly and before Elaine could respond.

'Do you believe that puts either of your actions in a better light?'

As Elaine finished speaking, Holly step forward so she was standing alongside her. Now Gail knew exactly how to describe Holly's expression. It was murderous, but her rage was not directed at Gail. Far from it. No it was Elaine who found herself withering a little under Holly's gaze.

'It seems the decision to reevaluate and to proceed accordingly resulted in the apprehension of the perpetrator and the rescue of his victim.'

It was Agent Pearce who spoke and Holly looked at him gratefully. She didn't understand Elaine's behavior. In the Morgue after Frankie called, although she had tried to mask it, Elaine was clearly worried about Gail. Holly wasn't an expert in reading body tells, not like Pearce, but even she could see that. It was clear in the Superintendent's wan complexion, from the grim set of her mouth and the belligerent jut of her jaw. It was obvious in the way she barked out orders in rapid succession and in her white knuckled grip on the steering wheel during the car ride over.

Yet on finding her daughter safe all Elaine could do was threaten to put her on a charge. To Holly's annoyance, Gail sometimes described herself as emotionally stunted but she had nothing on Elaine. How could a mother be so distant, so removed?

Elaine looked at Pearce sharply. 'Yes, Agent Pearce. A successful outcome. Sometimes circumstances call for a recalibration. You did well Detective Anderson,' Elaine said, her voice taut.

What the actual fuck was all Holly could think and wished she were bold enough to say. Hadn't Gail led them to this hideout? Without her they wouldn't now have Trent in custody and Melanie may well be dead and not on her way to the hospital. Yet Holly sensed if she spoke up, Elaine might change her mind about letting Frankie and Gail off the hook.

Frankie must have felt the same way, because she went to speak and then thought better of it. Holly realized Gail hadn't been kidding when she described Elaine as domineering and controlling and entirely soulless. She had a raft of nicknames for her mother - 'the tyrant' and 'Herr Commandant' were Gail's favorites. Holly had thought Gail was exaggerating, but now she wasn't so sure. Still she decided the best course of action was to get on with her job and ignore Elaine for now.

'Dr Carlowski and I need to process the scene. Who was the first officer to enter the cabin.' Holly said.

'That would be me,' Gail said. She stood and in so doing was face to face with Holly, with only a few inches separating them.

'You had to go in first,' Holly said quietly. There was nothing accusatory about her words rather they were a statement of fact.

'I had no choice. Melanie was screaming.'

'Oh, Gail,' Holly said and could not stop herself from reaching out to take Gail's hand, running her thumb lightly over her palm. She didn't care who saw. She didn't care that they were at work or that Elaine was standing right next to her, observing them. What horror had Gail walked in on when she went into the cabin? How much of it would have reminded her of her own ordeal in the basement. How was it that Gail was standing here so stoically, sagging a little, yes Holly could see that, but stoic nonetheless.

'I'm sorry,' Holly said, leaning into Gail so the words were almost whispered into Gail's ear.

She was sorry that Gail had to be first on the scene. Sorry she had to witness Trent's depravity. To see first hand the cruelty he inflicted upon his victims. Sorry too because whatever Gail had seen in that cabin Holly was going to ask her to relive it, to walk her through what she saw and what she touched.

'I'll need to talk to every one of the officers who went into the cabin.' Holly said, letting go of Gail's hand and turning to Frankie. 'No one else should go into the cabin until we've had a chance to process the crime scene.'

'Multiple crime scenes,' Frankie said, 'it's likely all the women were killed here before they were dumped.'

Holly nodded. It was going to be a long night.

It was nearly an hour later when Gail slipped into the observation side of the interrogation room. Frankie, Dov and Pearce were in the booth and Frankie raised her eyebrows slightly at Gail's arrival. Trent was sitting on the other side of the glass, shackled to the table. Sitting opposite him where Elaine and Matt.

'He clearly hates women,' Elaine had said to Frankie to explain why she hadn't asked her to sit it on the interview. 'I'll take Detective Kennedy. He's a man's man. Trent might respond better to him.'

'Mr Savage,' Elaine was now saying, 'you won't gain anything by stalling. Where are Aaron and Stacey?'

Trent's expression was sly and, until he spoke, Gail didn't understand why.

'I will only speak to your daughter, Superintendent.'

'That is not going to happen Mr Savage.'

Trent looked up and directly at the one-way window that separated the interrogation room from the observation booth where Gail now stood.

'I bet she's watching,' Trent said, a smugness creeping into his tone, 'Does she like watching? I was going to let her watch as I took care of Melanie. Then she would have known exactly what was going to happen to her.'

While he spoke, Trent's gaze remained fixed on the window and Gail found herself blinking rapidly. It was as if he was in the room with her rather than separated by a sheet of glass.

'Detective Peck's involvement in this investigation has ceased. So I'll ask you again where are Aaron and Stacey?'

'Ceased,' Trent laughed contemptuously, 'so now you decide to protect her. Too little, too late don't you think Superintendent.'

'I'll ask you again. Where are Aaron and Stacey?'

'You know Superintendent you're a lot like Monique, my stepmother. She was cold and controlling too. She cared more about appearances than me. I was only paraded out to make her look good. Sound familiar?'

'This is not about me, Trent,' Elaine said stiffly.

Gail noticed her mother had shifted from addressing Trent formally as Mr Savage. Using his first name humanized him. It might work if you were trying to get a perp onside, butter them up, but that wasn't Elaine's intention. Trent's needling seemed to have thrown Elaine off and the slip up indicated he now had the upper hand in the interview.

In the booth Pearce shifted slightly. 'He's exploiting her vulnerabilities. Psychopaths are very good at zeroing in on people's weaknesses and using them to get their own way.'

Gail nodded. Her mother had a reputation for making the most hardened criminals crack under interrogation, and it was surprising she was allowing Trent to manipulate her in this way. Gail couldn't see Elaine's expression but it was clear she was flustered.

'Do you think Detective Kennedy and I are going to sit here and listen to you indulge in self-pity. Nobody cares, Trent.'

'But you do Elaine. You recognize yourself don't you? And your beautiful daughter. She was like a trophy wasn't she. But you didn't cherish Gail. No you bullied and browbeat her. You made her feel unloved. I can tell.'

Elaine had half-risen out of her seat.

'You don't know what you are talking about Savage,' she said angrily.

'Oh but I do. I read Martha Fisher's coverage in the Toronto Star. Gail was the police officer taken by Perick,' Trent looked at Elaine, his face so full of guile that watching from the other side of the glass Frankie had to stifle the urge to go in and throttle him. 'You made Gail who she is. So is it your fault that not one but two of us went after her? Are you to blame? Did you make her a serial killer's pin-up girl.'

With that Elaine was out of chair. Gail couldn't see her face but she guessed it was thunderous. Even from behind you could tell her body was rigid with anger.

Matt also stood and was saying 'Superintendent let's take a break,' and Elaine was shaking her head no, and you could sense she was fighting desperately to keep her rage in check. Trent was smirking.

'Get her out of there, Frankie,' Gail said, 'now.'

Frankie and Dov leapt out of their chairs and hurried out the door. Gail turned to Pearce.

'I'm going to talk to him.'

'I guessed as much,' Pearce said.

'Well, I can't do any worse than my mother.'

Trent looked up keenly when Gail entered the interrogation room.

'I knew you were watching. I knew you wouldn't be able to resist,' he said, licking his lips with the tip of his tongue.

'Yeah, well I had a bit of time to kill before heading off shift,' Gail replied, sounding utterly disinterested, 'but now I'm bored and want to go home. So I'm guessing you don't actually know where Aaron and Stacey are.'

'We're the same Gail. You and me. They made us this way. Your mother and my stepmother. They created us.'

'Really Trent, I'm even less interested in listening to your pity party banter than my mother was. Frankly I'd be more entertained watching paint dry.'

On the other side of the glass, Dov spoke up. 'The Ice Queen returns,' he said, his tone a strange mix of admiration and disdain, 'nobody does cold and heartless better than Gail.'

Elaine looked at him sharply, eyes narrowed. In the commotion that ensured when Frankie extracted her from the interrogation, Elaine hadn't seen Gail slip into the room. Once she realized what had happened, the Superintendent was quite prepared to go back and haul her daughter out, but Pearce persuaded her to give Gail a chance.

'He believes he has a connection with Gail. If he's going to talk it's more likely he'll open up to Gail,' Pearce said.

So now Elaine was standing next to Frankie in the observation booth. Her posture was that of someone on high alert, watchful, ready to act at any moment. Frankie could see what Gail was doing. She was goading Trent in exactly the same way as Trent had goaded Elaine but with one crucial difference. Where Trent couldn't disguise his glee at provoking the Superintendent, Gail had affected a cool indifference. It might just be enough to get a narcissist like Trent, who craved attention, to talk.

'We're kindred spirits, you and me,' Trent was now telling Gail, but Frankie noted that his voice has lost some of it's earlier swagger.

Gail's laugh was scathing. 'Kindred spirits. If we're the same Trent how come I'm a police detective and you kill people. Poor you, your stepmother was controlling and didn't love you. Do you think you're the only person to be pushed away by a parent? I'm a police officer so I've come across countless people who've been mistreated by family but they don't go round killing people. So hey, good luck using that as an defense.' Gail started to stand.

'Where are you going?' Trent asked, sounding rattled.

'I told you. My shift's over. I'm heading out. I'll probably drink a beer or two to celebrate a successful day.'

'Don't you want to know where Aaron and Stacey are?'

'Clearly you have no idea,' Gail shrugged.

'I'll tell you, but you need to give me something.'

'Not how it works, Trent.' Gail stood completely now. 'You thought you controlled them didn't you. That they were doing your bidding, but who's the sucker now?'

She paused for a moment. Trent was shifting in his chair, as much as the cuffs would allow, clearly agitated. Good, thought Gail, I'm getting to him.

'You know I thought you were the smart one, but I got that wrong. You're here cuffed to a table and Aaron and Stacey are free,' she shrugged again, 'but fine let them get away with it. We don't care. We've got you. You 're the mastermind behind this. Right now forensics is finding a truckload of evidence in the cabin to link you to these murders and Melanie is going to make a very compelling witness on the stand, don't you agree? So case solved. A good day's work. I think I deserve those beers.' Without looking at Trent, Gail walked over to the door and opened it.

'There's a room in the church. It's in the basement. Pastor Jakob would take Aaron and Stacey there to beat them. Danny never uses it. He keeps it locked but Stacey has a key. We agreed to meet there if the police got too close,' Trent spoke hurriedly, 'we'd hide there until we worked out what to do.'

Gail nodded. 'Too much hubris, Trent. We've been close for a long time. You left your run too late.'

'You could have taken the shot Gail, back in the cabin. Why didn't you kill me when you had the chance?' Trent said, some of his cockiness returning.

Gail waited a beat before answering. 'Three reasons. One, too much paperwork. Two, I wouldn't get the satisfaction of seeing you rot in jail and three, I don't go around killing people and that is just one of the many things that makes me very different to you.'

As Gail closed the door to the interrogation room, Frankie and Elaine came out of the observation booth. Frankie was grinning.

'Man, that was impressive,' she said.

'Another gamble,' Elaine said stiffly, 'but this time it paid off. Well done, Detective.'

….

Aaron and Stacey were brought in an hour later. Just as Trent had said, they were found huddled in the room beneath the church. Frankie and Matt, who'd gone in first, hadn't even needed to kick down the door. Pastor Danny had given Frankie a key to the room and the arrests went down without incident.

Gail and Chloe were in the break room and came out into the corridor to see the two being led into interrogation. Stacey stopped in front of Gail, not budging even though Frankie told her to keep moving.

'We had plans for you,' Stacey said.

'Such a shame we had to go ruin them,' Gail said, her saccharine delivery making it clear the comment was sarcastic.

She watched then as Stacey sucked in her cheeks, gathering salvia, which she spat at Gail. Stacey's face was full of hate and up close Gail realized how dead her eyes were. She might have felt some sympathy for the woman but for the heinous crimes she had helped commit, the part she had played in putting all those women through such terror. Even if Trent was the main perpetrator, Stacey had stood by while he tortured and then casually killed and discarded them.

Stacey's aim was off and the glob of spit fell short of Gail. Frankie gave Stacey a shove to keep her moving along.

'Good to see you haven't lost your knack of pissing people off, Gail' Chloe observed and Gail gave a wry smile.

They kept watching as Aaron and Stacey were jostled into separate interrogation rooms.

'Who have we got there?' asked Pedersen, coming up behind Gail and Chloe. He'd just come on duty and clearly hadn't caught up on the dramatic last few hours.

'Stacey and Aaron Schmidt,' Chloe said.

'What? You mean Trent Savage's accomplices?'

Gail nodded.

'But I thought you'd given up on the investigation. That Trent and those two had left Toronto.'

'Well, Trent has been sitting in interrogation for the last two hours,' Gail said insouciantly. She'd noticed that Pedersen's voice had risen slightly as if a little panicked.

'What, you arrested him?' Pedersen had paled considerably.

Gail smiled. It was that dangerous smile of hers, the one that didn't reach her eyes. If you knew Gail well, Chloe thought, you'd recognize it held no warmth or joy. Instead there was a flintiness to it, which Chloe knew from experience was a harbinger that Gail was about to strike.

'Yeah. Good result don't you think?' Gail said.

'Huh. Oh yeah. I just need to make a call,' Pedersen said, retreating back into the break room.

Gail looked at Chloe with raised eyebrows and inclined her head in Pedersen's direction. Chloe nodded in understanding. She quietly followed Pedersen into the break room, with Gail just behind her. As Pedersen raised his cellphone to his ear, Chloe interrupted.

'Hand over your phone Officer Pedersen,' she said, 'that's an order.'

Pedersen spun around, a look of surprise on his face and Chloe took the opportunity to pluck the phone out of his hand. He began to splutter in protest, but Chloe held up the phone so Gail could see Martha Fisher's name on the screen.

'Tsk, tsk Pedersen. You're not even smart enough to use an alias,' Gail said. It was the tone of voice she reserved for idiot criminals.

As the call connected, Chloe pressed speaker on the phone.

'Pedersen,' Martha Fisher said, 'have you got something new. 'We've put the paper to bed. It's being printed as I speak.'

'It's not Pedersen. This is Officer Price.'

'Oh,' Martha said, sounding faintly put out, 'have you got some information for me.'

'Pedersen told you the killer got away and we've dropped the investigation.'

'Yes, yes,' Martha sounded impatient, 'it's the lead story in tomorrow's paper.'

'Ms Fisher, Toronto Police will be issuing an official press release about the investigation later tonight. You might like to take a look at it.'

'What do you mean? Can I talk to Pedersen?'

'No. I don't believe Pedersen will call again.' With that Chloe disconnected the phone and held it out to Gail. 'I doubt she'll want to take your calls, Pedersen. She's going to have egg on her face tomorrow.'

Thanks,' Gail said as she took the phone and turned to Pedersen, 'this is going into evidence. I imagine SIU will be very interested in your call log. I'm sure when they trawl it they're going to find a lot of calls to Martha Fisher's number. Meantime, we don't need rats like you here. Go home and report back here to Sergeant Shaw tomorrow at 9am.'

Pedersen looked at Gail and Chloe sullenly.

'You all close ranks don't you. All you fucking dykes.'

'Get out,' Gail said, her voice low and hard, 'before you say something even more stupid.'

Pedersen started to speak and then reconsidered before scurrying out of the room.

'Shouldn't we send him to Oliver now?' Chloe asked.

'There's enough going on with these arrests. I thought this could keep. Besides,' Gail's grin was slightly evil, 'Oliver won't be waiting for him at 9am. It will be the Superintendent. I'm going to sic my mother on Pedersen. After tonight she'll need to let off a bit of steam.'

…..

It was well past 1am when Holly trudged up the stairs to Gail's room. All she had wanted to do since seeing Gail sitting slumped on the log outside the cabin was draw her into a hug and hold her close, but she'd had a job to do. It was bad enough when she found out Gail was first on the scene, but when Gail described what had happened when she entered the cabin, Holly nearly lost it.

'He had the gun pointed at you?' Holly felt her voice rise, and was thankful Rodney was the only other one besides them in the cabin.

'Yeah, it's okay Holly, he didn't fire.'

'But you could have been killed. What were you thinking? How can you be so calm about this, Gail.'

'Okay, Holly,' Gail said, moving to face Holly and bringing up her hands to rest lightly on the pathologist's upper arms, 'just breathe. I'm here. I'm alive. We both need to focus on doing our jobs. Especially if we want to put Trent away for good. Later, I promise you can rant or whatever at me. Okay?'

Holly had nodded. 'But I'm not going to rant at you. I get it. You did what you had to do and you saved Melanie. So when I get you alone I'm going to hold you so tight and for as long as I can and I'm going to be thankful for every precious moment I have with you, Gail. Deal?'

'Deal,' Gail had given Holly one of those smiles she reserved just for her. Wide and happy and full of love.

Once upstairs, Holly showered quickly. As much to mentally wash herself clean as to remove the grime of the crime scene. Then she quietly slipped into bed and moved over behind Gail, who was lying on her side and facing away from Holly. She curved her body around Gail's, tucking her knees in behind Gail's and putting an arm around her waist before nuzzling her face into Gail's neck and placing a soft kiss just behind her ear. Gail stirred then.

'You're here. I didn't know if you'd come back tonight,' she said softly.

'Well, technically it's morning, but yes I'm here. I'll always come back, Gail. Especially after a day like today.' Holly couldn't see in the dark, but she could sense Gail was smiling.

'It's over,' Gail breathed.

'Yes,' Holly agreed, tightening her grip on Gail's waist and drawing her closer, 'it's over.'

…..

So no more cliffhangers! For now at least. I anticipate there will one more chapter in this story (which will be mostly fluff and no danger). It might even feature the return of Lisa and Alannah (Steve's doctor) and it's about time Steve was released from hospital and sent on his way. Then I face the question of a sequel or just continuing or ending it here. What I want to know, if I do continue, should I just keep adding chapters to this story or, now that we're up to Chapter 23, would it be easier for readers to start afresh?