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

Sorry for the delay in the update but this is now the longest chapter I have ever written (about 12,5000 words) so hopefully that makes up for it. It's like two chapters in one.

I felt overwhelmed (in the nicest possible way) by all the comments and encouragement to keep writing from reviewers both on this site and Archive of Our Own. Thank you so much for reading and reviewing and following and favoriting. I was so tickled to learn from a Guest reviewer that a group of you discuss this story during your break at work – that is very cool. To the other Guest who suggested picking up the story after a small gap in time, I was thinking along those lines too and that is what I plan to do. So I will just keep adding chapters to this story for now.

In some ways it feels like this story could have come to its natural end, but I plan to come back with a new crime and much less angst for Gail. I'm not sure how often I'll update – writing this has swallowed up a lot of my spare time. I have about 50 books waiting to be read, I haven't finished watching the new season of Orange is the New Black and I still have some Golly fics to catch up on! Still it has been such a pleasure writing about Gail and Holly and then getting your comments and knowing that readers are enjoying this. Your feedback often keeps me on track and sometimes inspires me to take the story in new directions, so thank you. I appreciate it so much.

I promised more fluff in this chapter and there is some of that, but I got sidetracked by Frankie's backstory and Gail needed to do a little more figuring out, especially about her relationship with Steve. So there are some introspective moments too. Hope you enjoy. As always, let me know what you think.

And finally, apologies for any mistakes. I proof this myself and there were a lot of words!

At 9.13 the following morning, Dov found Gail and Chloe with their ears practically pressed to the glass wall of Oliver's office. The venetian blinds were drawn and the door shut, but Dov could still make out the sound of a raised voice. He recognized it as belonging to Superintendent Peck.

'What are you two doing?' Dov asked Gail and Chloe.

'Just hanging,' Gail said, as innocently as she could.

Dov looked at her skeptically and then turned to Chloe. 'Well, Chloe?'

'We're just waiting.'

'Uh, waiting for what?'

'Geez Price, why do you have to have such a nosey boyfriend? Pedersen is in there. Superintendent Mom's just started to tear strips off him and, until you interrupted us Dov, we could hear every word she was saying.'

'You're eavesdropping!' Dov sounded a little scandalized. 'Isn't that unethical?' he added but both women shushed him as Elaine's voice became louder and they distinctly heard her say 'How dare you make that allegation. If I had my way I'd drum you out of the force today but you are suspended pending the outcome of the SIU investigation.'

'What allegation?' Chloe said and then shoved Dov in the shoulder, 'Dov, you made us miss an important bit.'

'You've corrupted Chloe,' Dov said to Gail, looking a little stunned by Chloe's behavior, consternation in his voice.

'Yeah, yeah of course I have,' Gail said, waving her hand dismissively, 'just shut up so we can listen.'

At that moment Elaine flung open the door to Oliver's office and Pedersen walked out, flanked by two detectives Gail knew belonged to SIU.

'You and Officer Price can come in now, Detective Peck,' Elaine said before turning back into the office.

'How did she know we were out here?' Chloe said, a note of wonder in her voice.

'That's Superintendent Mom. All seeing. All knowing.' Gail shrugged, 'It's like the Bat-sense, except it doesn't warn her when her enemies about to attack, although come to think of it she could probably do with a sense like that. No, it just tingles when I'm around.'

As she finished speaking, Gail raised her hands and shimmied them around her head. Chloe chuckled. It was true though, Gail thought, her mother seemed to have a sixth sense whenever she was near by.

'The Gail-sense,' Chloe said.

'Exactly,' Gail nodded, and then walked into the office with Chloe following.

Dov shook his head in wonder, not quite believing what he had witnessed.

Frankie stuck her head around the door to Steve's hospital room but found it empty. There was only one bed, so no roommate who might know his whereabouts. Which was a good thing, given what she'd heard on the grapevine about some of O'Leary's boys deciding Steve needed more than a beating. As far as Frankie was concerned, the fewer people who knew where Steve Peck was, the better.

Still, it was typical of the Pecks to pay for a private room. Only the best for the golden boy. It had been like that ever since Frankie known Steve and it looked like disgrace and a stint behind bars hadn't changed anything.

Frankie had never been able to work out why was Gail treated so differently. The Pecks clearly had no idea of the damage they'd done by playing favorites. It had made Steve soft and entitled and a little craven but Gail swung between wanting to please her parents and a sullen fuck you defiance. These days it was mostly defiance and yet Gail was evolving into the sort of police officer that should have made the Pecks' proud.

It said a lot that Gail had thrived as her parent's influence waned in Toronto policing, but now Elaine had regained her footing in the force it was going to be harder for Gail to maintain her distance.

Frankie was no stranger to parental neglect, although she kept that a close secret. Gail had found out some in an unguarded moment. Just a little but enough, Frankie knew, to guess the rest. Sherry, Frankie's mother, was addicted to pills and booze, desperate to be loved, moving from one man to the next, each one more venal than the previous. A clutch of children, all with different fathers, left to fend for themselves, the only constant being the new boyfriend Sherry brought home every year or so to replace the last one who left.

And they all left eventually, sick of her mother's clinginess and paranoia and volatility and the days when Sherry was too out of it to get out of bed. She made a mean drunk too. On those days Frankie learnt to make her self scarce to avoid the swearing and the screaming and the objects that were thrown and shattered against walls, the arguments that often ended with her mother's face bruised and bloodied.

Frankie was a middle child and determined to be different. She began to distance herself from an early age, choosing solitude over the tumult of home, to expect nothing of people and give nothing. That became her mantra. She knew she had to get out of there. So she studied hard and finished school and joined the force.

In her first year out as a rookie, Frankie had the satisfaction of arresting one of those men Sherry had professed to love. A smalltime drug dealer, he was actually one of the nicer of her mother's boyfriends. He didn't slap Sherry or the kids around. They'd lived in a trailer park then and, when he came over to have sex with Sherry, he'd give the kids money to go buy candy and stay out of the trailer until he was done.

And love didn't last. Frankie had seen that first hand in the succession of men her mother hooked up with, in Sherry's misery at their inevitable departure and in her pathetic coquetry to make them stay. It repelled Frankie and strengthened her determination to be entirely self-reliant. Until Gail. Then Frankie realized that this act of rebellion against her mother – the refusal to love – had made her resemble Sherry more than she cared to admit. It was there in the steady stream of lovers who all too soon made Frankie feel loveless and hollow. There was one crucial difference - unlike her mother Frankie always did the leaving. Until Gail.

Frankie wondered if she should wait for Steve. Elaine expected her back at 15 in less than half an hour to resume the interview with Aaron. She could go and ask that cute nurse on the desk. The one that Frankie could have sworn winked at her as she backed away from the desk. It annoyed Frankie that she couldn't be certain if it was a wink or if the nurse simply had a tic or something in her eye.

She felt like she was losing her game and couldn't understand why. Well, actually she knew why. It was Gail. She wasn't supposed to fall for Gail. Well anyone really, but somehow Gail had got to her and, no matter how many women she'd slept with since, how many flirtations she started and how many numbers she'd promised to call, she just couldn't shake what Gail had done to her.

Was this her punishment for stomping on so many hearts? For cutting women loose the moment they wanted more. She'd cultivated a cool indifference until it became a shell, brittle and impermeable, a reflex against love or commitment that stifled her gentler impulses. Frankie had held fast to the conviction that being a skillful lover was enough, but the truth was she'd been a lousy lover. Oh yes, she knew a myriad of ways to make a woman come undone, to make them cry out her name and beg for more, but when it came to actually loving someone, to admit feelings, to break that shell and expose the softer, the vulnerable self inside, she had failed. Until Gail but Gail loved someone else and always would.

It wasn't that Frankie hadn't gotten over Gail. No, it wasn't that exactly. Frankie had come to appreciate that it was more nuanced than that. For Gail had made her want to love and be loved. When Frankie now looked at Gail with Holly and saw the irrepressible pull between them, the attraction that while plainly physical had an equal emotional complement, the affinity and tender devotion which made theirs such an exquisite love, she felt the absence of this in her own life. This had never been part of Frankie's plan. She was aloof and cynical. Not sappy and sentimental. Yet try as she might, she couldn't deny that when she looked at Gail and Holly it felt as though the shell in which she had encased her heart had been painfully cracked.

And Gail was the reason she was here, waiting to warn Steve. He was scum, as far as Frankie was concerned. You didn't betray your police family. That was anathema. But Gail loved Steve, even if he had at times colluded with his parent's bullying. Gail felt guilty enough for Steve's current predicament and Frankie knew if O'Leary's boys did carry out their threat to murder him Gail was bound to feel responsible.

Deciding she couldn't wait any longer, Frankie swiveled around quite suddenly and collided into a woman who clearly wasn't watching where she going and hadn't seen Frankie standing there or noticed her turn to go. The woman made a slight oomph of surprise and dropped the chart she was holding and it made a loud clattering noise as it skidded across the floor.

Frankie was about to say the eye clinic was on the next floor down, but the barb died on her lips as the woman straightened up and Frankie saw her properly for the first time. She was a little taller than Frankie, with honey colored blonde hair, and hazel eyes that were more green than brown. Inexplicably, Frankie found herself drawn to her. So instead of paying her out, she found herself apologizing as she retrieved the chart and handed it back to the woman.

'No totally my fault, I have a bad habit of walking and reading charts at the same time,' the woman said and smiled.

So a doctor and a nerd, Frankie surmised.

'Are you here to visit Steve' the doctor asked, 'or on business?' She gestured to Frankie's badge.

Frankie's hand went down to touch the badge, which was clipped to her belt. She'd forgotten to take it off when she came into the hospital.

'Err, visiting.'

'That will cheer him up. He hasn't had any visitors apart from family. Gail's here most days, if she can make it, but she's been busy with that serial killer case. I heard you made some arrests last night, which must be a relief. It will certainly make the citizens of Toronto sleep easier. Were you working that case? Oh, I guess you probably can't tell me. Steve's just been so worried about Gail and then I read in the paper that that guy tried to attack her. Sorry, I'm rambling. Steve should be back from physiotherapy any moment. I need to look in on some other patients so,'

'Oh yeah, of course.' It only occurred to Frankie then that the woman had been rambling and she noted with some surprise that it hadn't irritated her in the least. 'Nice talking to you Doctor?' The word doctor was said with an uprising inflexion so it became a question.

'Barrett, Dr Barrett. Alannah. I'm Steve's neurologist.'

'Nice meeting you, Alannah,' Frankie said and held out her hand, a rare smile on her face. Gail hadn't told her how attractive Steve's doctor was, but then that wasn't surprising. These days nobody existed for Gail except Holly.

'Don't fall for her allure. Trust me Alannah you don't want to be another notch in Frankie's belt,' Frankie heard Steve say, his voice all charm and teasing and giving no indication that she hadn't spoken to him for over two years. Still, she guessed he was practiced at putting on a front. He had them fooled for over a decade.

She turned to see Steve being pushed in a wheelchair by an orderly. As he got closer she realized how much he'd aged. He'd lost that hint of boyishness in the slight drag that affected one side of his face and destroyed the symmetry that had made him a handsome man.

'Shame that knock to the head didn't get rid of your bullshit, Steve,' Frankie sassed and Steve laughed.

'I forgot how much you remind me of my sister sometimes.'

'So,' Elaine said, indicating that Gail and Chloe should take a seat, 'Officer Pedersen has made a counter claim that he has been discriminated against while here at 15 for being a privileged white male. Do you know anything about that?'

Chloe looked confused and Gail laughed.

'What an ass,' she said.

'Detective Peck,' Elaine admonished, but Gail could see a smirk twitching at the corner of her lips.

'That's not what he said is it?' Gail said.

Elaine sighed. 'No. He claims you and Detective Anderson deliberately sidelined him because he was not female and gay, and that you both actively favored lesbians on this investigation and gave them opportunities, including apparently your girlfriend Officer Price.

'My girlfriend Officer Price,' Gail echoed, clearly amused.

'It was news to me and I imagine will be for Holly and Detective Epstein.'

Gail bit her bottom lip to stop herself from laughing out loud.

'He can't be serious.'

'I'm afraid he is. It's a nuisance complaint but unfortunately, given the seriousness of the allegations against him, SIU will also have to look into it. So they will be questioning both you and Detective Anderson. Is there anything I should be concerned about?'

'You don't believe we'd do something like that?'

'No, of course not but I need to know if anything you've said or done to Pedersen could be misconstrued.'

'Umm, I made him buy Holly lunch after he said inappropriate things about her at a crime scene.'

'Inappropriate?'

'He said she was hot and was bragging to Gerald, I mean Duncan, that he was going to ask her out.'

'So Officer Moore can corroborate?'

Gail nodded.

'That same day he started to call Detective Anderson and I fucking dykes and I said I'd put him on charge if he continued. He said the same thing to me and Officer Price yesterday when we confiscated his phone.'

'He is an odious young man,' Elaine said.

Her mother may be many things, but Gail knew a homophobe was not among them.

'Oh, and Frankie, um Detective Anderson made him go dumpster diving after she overheard him discussing that documentary on serial killers and he said I was gay because of Perick.'

It was fleeting, but Gail could have sworn that at the mention of Perick, Elaine looked pained.

'I don't think he realized the two things, his mouthing off and the dumpster diving, were related though,' Gail continued.

'Well, I don't think we have anything to fear from this allegation but just be prepared to answer questions. The sooner we can rid the force of him the better.'

Gail and Chloe both nodded.

'Officer Price, there's a detective rotation coming up. I hope you intend applying.'

Chloe blinked. She hadn't expected that and certainty wasn't prepared for the abrupt shift in topic. Gail was used to it. In fact she sometimes unconsciously did it herself in conversation, jumping bizarrely between subject matters that had no apparent connection. However, where in Gail it was just part of her quirkiness, in Elaine it was abrasive and calculated. It flustered people, put them on edge and this allowed Elaine to take charge. It was exactly this technique that made her such a successful interrogator, feared by criminals and subordinates alike.

'Uh,' was all Chloe managed to say before Elaine cut across her.

Well, I think you should. I'd be happy to recommend you.'

'Really,' Chloe smiled brightly, 'thank you Superintendent. I'd appreciate that. Thank you.'

'Don't thank me. You've been very impressive on this investigation.'

Gail grinned. Elaine's manner might be brusque but she was actually doing something nice for once and for someone whom Gail cared about, even if she wouldn't admit it out loud.

'Gail, don't imagine for a moment that I will agree to let you and Officer Price, if she is successful, be partners,' Elaine said sharply, catching sight of Gail's grin. 'She needs to be partnered with someone with more than a passing regard for police procedure.'

Gail rolled her eyes. 'Mom, I could recite police procedure practically before I could walk.'

'Hmm,' Elaine made a skeptical sound.

'Actually Superintendent,' Chloe said, 'I feel like I've learnt a lot about procedure working with Gail.'

It wasn't true. If anyone was across procedure it was Chloe. Still Gail shot her a grateful look.

'Really,' Elaine said, sounding doubtful.

Gail sighed to herself. Why was it every time her mother praised one of Gail's friends or colleagues she had to follow it up by denigrating her? She didn't begrudge Chloe or the fact that Elaine had singled her out. Gail didn't even want credit for her own achievements. She just wished her mother wouldn't undermine her every chance she got. Was that too much to ask, she wondered?

'Don't slouch dear,' Elaine said, 'you need to break that habit.'

Gail hadn't realized she'd slumped slightly. When she was younger she did it on purpose to annoy Elaine but now it was as if instinctively her body became bowed in direct proportion to her mother's level of disappointment in or castigation of her. Gail wondered if Elaine's comment about her posture was also reflexive or if she intentionally set out to belittle her, reduce her to a child rather than treat her as a woman not far off thirty.

'Officer Price, can you give my daughter and I a moment?' Elaine said.

Once Chloe left the office, shutting the door behind her, Elaine turned back to Gail.

'You are to receive a commendation for your undercover work in Vancouver. There's a ceremony on Monday. The Chief of Police will be there so don't think you can dodge it. I've already emailed Holly. I guessed you wouldn't tell her.'

'Uh yeah,' Gail said as if that last bit was a no brainer, 'I don't deserve a commendation. I mean, mom if you hadn't saved my ass I probably wouldn't even be here.'

'Why do you insist on putting yourself down,' Elaine said.

I'm putting myself down, Gail thought incredulously. Had her mother listened to what came out her mouth lately?

'A major drug cartel was smashed as a result of the work you and Officer Collins did,' Elaine continued, 'Regardless, I expect you there on Monday.'

Gail nodded. She knew she wouldn't win this argument. 'Is that all, mother.'

'One more thing. Holly seems bothered by your profession.'

'What do you mean?'

'The other day in the woods - she appeared somewhat disconcerted.'

'Well mother, I think it's quite acceptable to be bothered when you find out a serial killer has just pointed a gun at your girlfriend's head, but hey I've probably got that wrong too along with police procedure.'

'That is not what I said,' Elaine sighed heavily, 'but if it is going to cause problems maybe you should end the relationship now before you get your heart broken.'

'My heart broken? I don't think, what?' Gail's forehead was creased in confusion. 'I mean I don't get what your saying here.'

'Holly is very protective of you.'

'Yes. I wasn't aware that was a crime,' Gail said testily.

'I wasn't suggesting that, Gail,' Elaine sighed, 'but it's not the way you were raised. Peck's are self-reliant.'

Gail rolled her eyes.

'That's not really the way relationships work, mother.'

'Don't get me wrong. I like Holly,' Elaine said, ignoring Gail's comment. 'She is by far the most suitable of any of your partners. However, if things do go wrong there are plenty of accomplished and eligible women out there. The mayor's daughter, Tessa, is one. Single, according to her mother.'

'She's a teenager,' Gail said.

'Don't be dramatic. She's nineteen. Your father is nearly ten years older than me. That sort of age difference means nothing. And there is always Alannah. I have a feeling she still carries a torch for you.'

'Mother stop,' Gail said, holding up her hands to block her ears, 'Holly is my girlfriend. I'm not interested in anyone else. I just want to be with Holly and I don't care if she's bothered by my job. I mean I do care but we're figuring it out. She accepts there are risks that come with being a police officer.'

'Very well. But in my many years on the force, I've seen a large number of relationships flounder for this very reason. No matter how hard the civilian partner tries to live with what it means to love a police officer, inevitably it causes tension and conflict. There is a reason most police marry within the force. If you change your mind, I have Tessa's number.'

Gail let out an exasperated sigh and turned to go, not bothering to say goodbye but as she reached the door, Elaine spoke again.

'I know this investigation was hard on you. I was worried it would bring up memories of Perick, that it was too personal. I was right to be concerned this would have a detrimental affect on your work. Look at the risks you took. You even disobeyed direct orders. But,' Elaine paused.

Gail waited, one hand on the doorknob.

'But those gambles paid off and -.' Again Elaine stopped and when she next spoke it was with great difficulty, as if she couldn't quite get the words out, 'And you've done the Peck name proud.'

Done the Peck name proud. Is that all she got, Gail thought. Couldn't her mother just say she was proud of her? That she'd done a good job.

'Well, you know mother, that's what I live for,' Gail couldn't help retorting bitterly.

Elaine flushed slightly and seemed to be once more struggling to find words. 'Ah, people higher up have noticed. They're impressed with you. And Detective Anderson too.'

'That's not why I do it,' Gail said softly.

'I know,' Elaine replied and for once there was no hint of censure in her tone, 'you care Gail. The best officers are the ones that never lose their compassion, even when they've seen the worst.'

'Or maybe because they've seen the worst.'

Elaine looked directly at Gail then, her face sagging a little, her bearing less straight and her voice, when she spoke, faltered.

'I should have been there, after Perick. I let you down.'

Gail didn't know how to respond. Before she could think of a suitable reply, there was a tap on the door and Frankie was there.

'Aaron's ready for us in interview room one, Superintendent,' she said.

'Very well, thank you Detective,' Elaine nodded briskly and turned to Gail, a little apologetically, 'we need to pick up the interview with Aaron. Out of the three, he's proving the most forthcoming.'

Elaine stood to follow Frankie, who had moved to wait outside the door, but then hesitated.

'Gail, your non conformity may just be the thing that will make you a brilliant police officer.'

With that Elaine swept past Gail, leaving her blinking slightly, not certain she had heard her mother correctly.

'Uh I don't know what to make of my mother,' Gail whined.

She was perched on Holly's desk, having brought lunch for both of them. On her way into the office, Sally had smiled warmly, saying that poor Dr Stewart was so snowed under with work she forgot to eat, and that she was about to go buy Holly lunch when Gail turned up, and wasn't the doctor so lucky to have someone like Gail looking after her, and Gail must force Holly to take a break, otherwise she'd just keep working and that wasn't in the least good for her. Gail managed a smile, all the while thinking was Holly's rambling contagious because her assistant seemed to have a bad case of it. As she babbled, Sally's smile had become quite beatific and Gail felt obliged to respond.

'Well, she's lucky to have you looking out for her too,' she said rather awkwardly and then held up the lunch bags and indicated the door, 'I better deliver sustenance. Can't have that great mind seizing up from lack of nourishment.'

Gail felt like doing a face palm and was glad no one else was around, including or maybe especially Holly, to witness her ineptness. What had Dov once called her? Maladroit. That about summed it up. Sally didn't seem to have noticed. She was now nodding and all the while smiling that radiant smile.

'What do you mean, you don't know what to make of your mother?' Holly said, as she bit into her sandwich.

'I think she was trying to apologize for not being there after Perick but she's actually incapable of saying sorry.'

'Oh, so that's where you get it from.'

'Not helping Holly,' Gail pouted.

'Okay, but you have to admit it's a Peck trait.'

'Maybe,' Gail conceded a little grudgingly, 'I thought I was getting better at that.'

Holly tilted her head to the side and gave Gail a slightly crooked smile.

'You are.'

'But I don't apologize to idiots or losers, Holly.'

'Of course you don't. I guess I should count myself lucky not to be considered an idiot or a loser,' Holly kidded.

'Oh, you are definitely none of those things, Holly. Far from it. On the other hand, my mother is neither an idiot or a loser, but perhaps a borderline psychopath. Maybe that's in the Peck genes too.' Gail laughed harshly and Holly gave her a dubious look.

'As I was leaving – I was practically out the door - Elaine told me that on this last case I done the Peck name proud. Although the way she said it was like she was in pain or something.'

Holly made a face at that and Gail had to laugh. She wasn't sure if Holly was reacting to the notion of living up to the Peck name or Elaine's grudging praise.

'Well, it sounds like Elaine, in her own way, is trying to make amends,' Holly gave Gail another one of her crooked smiles. It was soft and understanding and immediately made Gail feel comforted. 'How do you feel about that?'

'Oh god, you sound like my therapist,' Gail groaned, 'but it was weird and I don't entirely trust her. Elaine's always got some game plan going. She doesn't do anything without a reason.'

'I think you're being too harsh on her. Elaine was genuinely worried about you when she heard you'd gone after Trent. She's just not very good at showing her feelings, which I guess is another Peck trait.'

It was a gentle dig. Gail could tell that by Holly's smile and she knew not to take offence. They'd talked at length about it and how it had played a big part in their undoing that first time.

'Okay I guess I deserve that. But I wouldn't rush to Elaine's defense. She was also busy listing all the eligible women I could date if you and I don't work out. It's like she can't help herself. Now she can't marry me off to one of the sons of Toronto's scions, she's going to fix me up with one of their daughters instead.'

'If you murder your mother it's called matricide, right.'

Gail nodded, not sure where Holly was going with this.

'So what's it called when you murder your girlfriend's mother?'

'In this case. A mercy killing,' Gail said and they both burst out laughing.

'Is your mother aware that I could dispose of her body so nobody would find any trace of her.'

'Well, she should know better than to mess with you Dr Stewart,' Gail said and leaned down to brush a soft kiss on Holly's lips.

'Just for the record, you know I'm a pacifist, right. I don't condone murder.'

Gail laughed again.

'You are such a nerd.'

Holly rolled her eyes but then turned more serious.

'Elaine thinks I can't handle your job, doesn't she?'

Gail thought of denying it, but Holly was looking at her so intently she didn't think she could get away with being evasive.

'God, you're too smart for your own good. Uh, she's just worried it could cause problems. I told her it was fine, but.'

'But that didn't stop her offering to set you up on dates.'

'Uh, yeah,' Gail twisted her mouth in annoyance.

'Maybe she thinks you need to play the field. See what's out there before you settle on someone,' Holly teased.

'Who's to say I didn't play the field when you were in San Francisco, Holly.'

It was meant to be playful but then Gail saw something that looked awfully like uncertainty cross Holly's face. It was gone in an instant but still Gail wondered why Holly would be even the slightest bit unsure of them.

'If that is my mother's intention, there is one major problem and that is I'm madly, no insanely in love with you and no one else will do,' Gail continued in a bantering tone. 'So if you thought that getting me to take up Elaine's blind date offers might be a sneaky way of off loading me, I've got news for you.'

'You are insane,'

'So you tell me. Although, Holly, being insanely in love with you is probably my finest moment of crazy.'

Gail smiled broadly and Holly couldn't help but smile back, her foolish flash of doubt dispelled, her delight that Gail loved her, wanted only her, impossible to hold in.

For a moment they became absorbed gazing at each other and Gail marveled anew at how easy it was for them to fall into these bubbles, even at work, even in the middle of an investigation or when Holly was writing a detailed report on the crime scene in the cabin. No one else had had this effect on Gail. It made the hard things bearable. It gave her a reason to hope, despite an upbringing and a job that could on its worst days make her think otherwise, that the world was mostly tipped this way, towards what was good and safe and nurturing, that in the end this was what most people sought, love and tenderness.

She leaned in and kissed Holly again. This time it wasn't a brush against her lips but slow and sensuous, and Gail did that thing were she pulled Holly's bottom lip between her own. It left Holly feeling like her brain had literally short-circuited and, as Gail pulled back, Holly could only think about kissing her again. Then damn it if a voice in the back of her head didn't have to remind her that she had a mountain of work to catch-up on. She needed to finish the report, call the intern applicants to let them know if they'd been successful, meet with Dr Caral in, oh shit, ten minutes for a long overdue catch up, and then conduct a second autopsy on someone Rodney concluded died from natural causes, but whose family was convinced was murdered. She wouldn't finish up at work until well into the evening.

As she leaned back, Gail couldn't help but let her eyes wander to Holly's cleavage. As usual the doctor had left several buttons undone and Gail's position on the desk gave her quite a vantage point. She'd been trying, without much success to be honest, to avoid peeking since she first came into the office.

Holly followed her gaze and when she looked up the blue of Gail's eyes had darkened so they were a deep indigo in color, like a moonlit sky at midnight, and her eyelids were heavy, yet there was keenness to her features. Holly recognized that look. It was a look of lust and desire. Really, it was incredible Gail hadn't realized she was a lesbian earlier given her wholehearted appreciation of women's breasts, or was it just hers that provoked this reaction, Holly wondered.

'Gail,' she said, placing her index finger under Gail's chin and tipping up her face to redirect her gaze, 'we are not having sex in my office.'

'Oh, you're no fun Holly,' Gail pouted.

'That pout will get you nowhere, Peck. At least not in my office.'

'Meh,' Gail said, shrugging as if unconcerned, 'I can't stay anyway. I've got an appointment with the department shrink to get cleared for duty. Elaine insisted. Will I see you tonight?'

'I don't think I'll finish until late and then I promised to have dinner with Rachel and Lisa back at Rachel's. They've been complaining they never see me. But tomorrow night?'

'I have an appointment with my real shrink tomorrow evening. So the day after?'

Holly nodded. She understood Gail usually needed to be alone to have time to process after seeing Leslie. Gail hopped down from the desk and leant over and kissed Holly. Knowing Gail, Holly felt a little stupid that she didn't anticipate what happened next. It wasn't a perfunctory goodbye kiss. In fact there was nothing about this kiss that said anything about leave taking. No it was a kiss that drew you in, a kiss so enticing and so sensual and so lustful it made Holly forget her resolve of only moments ago to resist Gail's advances.

It started with Gail pressing her lips lightly and then with increasing force against Holly's. Then she ran the tip of her tongue across Holly's upper lip, and before Holly knew it both their tongues were tangled, causing the most delicious sensations to course through her body. Holly became aware that both of them were moaning and panting a little, and she was suddenly very grateful that she was still sitting because she had become quite weak at the knees and there was that telltale wetness between her legs. Then Gail drew back, ending the kiss, and without another word turned and sauntered towards the door, an extra swing in her hips just for Holly's benefit.

'How do you expect me to concentrate on work after that?' Holly said, finally finding her voice. In fact had Gail suggested they sex then and there on her desk, Holly decided she would have been powerless to resist.

Gail turned back with a mischievous smile. 'Oh, I don't know, same way I guess I have to keep my mind on the job and go out and protect and serve every time you lip attack me in interrogation rooms.'

With that, Gail was out the door.

Damn, thought Holly, if I don't have the sexiest girlfriend on the planet and damn if she doesn't know it.

…..

The Departmental shrink cleared Gail. In fact she commented on how remarkably well-adjusted Gail was for someone who had had a gun pointed at her head not twenty-four hours earlier. Gail shrugged. After years of seeing shrinks, she knew what to say to keep them off her back. The real work would happen when she saw Leslie. The Departmental shrink told her not to go back to 15 until the following Monday. Three days off.

After sleeping in on Friday morning, Gail woke feeling surprisingly refreshed. She went for a swim then did some grocery shopping, stopping in at a Farmer's Market that was open Fridays. At home she made a minestrone soup for dinner, figuring she might not feel much like cooking after she saw Leslie. Then she cleaned the house, removing the last traces of fingerprint dust left by forensics.

She hated the thought of Trent being in her house, even if Frankie was fairly confident that Chloe had disturbed him and he got no further than crossing from the backdoor, where he'd gained access to the house, to the front porch. None of the other rooms appeared to be disturbed. Still she was extra thorough in her bedroom.

If only Holly could see her now, Gail thought. She wouldn't believe Gail could be so domesticated. Gail had been incredibly, in truth most probably annoyingly, lazy at the frat house. Dov would periodically draw up cleaning rosters that he'd stick to the fridge and then grumble when she ignored them. She wasn't really a slob. It just was amusing and easier to let Dov and Chris think she was so she'd get out of the housework.

After lunch, Gail went to visit Steve. He was in a morose mood. She was getting used to this. Before Steve went to prison he was generally affable and self-assured, although now she couldn't be sure how much of that had been an act. Back then she was seen as the temperamental one. Now, ever since he'd been bashed, Steve's moods were up and down, swinging between geniality and dejection, joking one minute and sullen the next. Alannah said this could happen after a significant brain trauma.

Gail could tell something was gnawing at Steve. It took a bit of cajoling but finally Steve told her.

'Frankie came to visit.'

Gail tried to conceal her surprise. Now that was not what she had expected him to say.

'Some of O'Leary's men have decided they want me permanently out of the picture. Putting me in hospital wasn't enough,' Steve tried to sound unconcerned but Gail could see the tension tugging at the corners of his mouth.

'Shit, Steve,' Gail blew out a breath, 'God, I'm sorry. We need to get you out of here. Maybe you should come to my place, for now.'

'No. I don't want to bring this crap to your house. Mom's sorted it out. I'm being transferred to a hospital in Calgary in three days. O'Leary's reach doesn't extend that far. Alannah thinks I should be out of rehab within the month anyway.'

'But how safe are you here for the next three days?' Gail asked, concentrating on the practical, the immediate rather than the fact of Steve's leaving.

'Didn't you notice the plainclothes officer posted in the corridor,' Steve ribbed, 'don't tell me being in love is making you sloppy.'

Gail rolled her eyes.

'The guy in the checked shirt and blue chinos. Brown hair. Close cropped beard.'

Steve nodded.

'Yeah, I thought he looked a little edgy. I figured he was worried about someone he was visiting. It is a hospital.'

'Okay, so not so sloppy.'

'You'll need someone with you in Calgary. I can take some time off. I've got at least a month owed to me in vacation days.'

'Gail,' Steve sighed, 'Dad's coming with me. It's all arranged. I'm not coming back to Toronto. He's going to find me a place to live. Get me settled there.'

'Oh,' Gail said quietly.

'You'll come and visit, right? Once I'm in my own place and Dad's left?'

'Of course,' Gail looked down at her hands and then said quietly, 'I should have covered for you, then none of this would have happened.'

'No, don't say that. This is my fault. I wish Dad and I had never asked you to do that – to perjure yourself. It was wrong. The thing is I'm not as strong as you, Gail.'

'What do you mean?'

'I swallowed Mom and Dad's bullshit. I'm not trying to make excuses but I felt such pressure to live up to the ExPecktations, to be the golden boy. So when Santana asked me to turn a blind eye to some gang activity in exchange for some collars I agreed. It got me my first promotion and then before I knew it I was in too deep. You would never have done that, Gail. You stood up to Mom and Dad.'

'Hardly,' Gail snorted, 'I was just surly and uncooperative.'

'That was your way of resisting them. It was the only way you knew how. I was so desperate for their approval I even took their side against you sometimes. I didn't always have you're back. I haven't been a good brother.'

'Oh, Steve,' Gail said sadly. She wanted to say it wasn't true, but she couldn't. 'It wasn't all bad, growing up. It felt like you shielded me from the worst of Mom and Dad's meddling.'

'I tried. Most of the time.'

'What will you do in Calgary?' Gail asked, changing the subject.

'Dad has a contact there who runs a security business. He's looking to expand and needs a partner.'

'So you'll be investing in the business?'

'Yeah. Mom and Dad have offered to finance me,' Steve said, sounding apologetic, 'I'm sorry, that probably doesn't seem right.'

'It's not like they're going to leave me any money. You may as well have it now if it helps you get set up.'

Steve grimaced in response. Gail could see he wasn't entirely comfortable with the situation, but really what choice did he have. He couldn't strike out on his own. There weren't a lot of opportunities for a disgraced former cop, so it made sense that her father would use his influence to buy into a business for Steve. A silence fell on them, neither of them sure what to say next.

'There's a poem,' Gail finally ventured.

'Yeah,' Steve raised a skeptical eyebrow.

'It was written by a British poet in the 1970s. It could have been about Elaine and Bill. It starts out They fuck you up, your mum and dad. They may not mean to, but they do. They fill you with the faults they had and add some extra, just for you.'

'Phillip Larkin,' Steve said, surprising Gail that he knew the poet's name, 'doesn't the poem end by saying don't have any kids yourself.'

'Yeah,' Gail laughed ruefully, 'that way you don't keep passing on the fucked upness.'

'Man hands on misery to man. It deepens like a coastal shelf. Get out as early as you can and don't have any kids yourself,' Steve recited the final verse, 'Oh shit, Gail. I didn't mean.' He stopped speaking.

They'd never discussed it, but he guessed he was the reason Gail gave up on adopting Sophie. No adoption agency was going to be excited about the potential uncle being in jail. It was just another to add to the burden of his regrets.

'It was for the best. She ended up with a much more suitable family' Gail said, knowing immediately what Steve was referring to.

They both considered that for a moment. Gail regretted letting their conversation take such a somber turn. It was telling, she thought, that of all the poems ever written it was this one that she and Steve remembered, that had at separate times made an impression on both of them and that they could recite it by heart.

'You know our parents weren't all bad. We don't need to let them define us, ' she said.

'Gail, you never have. Even when you were trying to conform, part of you always resisted their ExPecktations. You've become your own person. I admire you for that.'

After that an awkwardness settled between then. Gail knew exactly the cause. Peck's never admitted weakness and Steve seemed a little uncomfortable after what he had revealed. They didn't normally talk like this. Theirs had always been a joking, teasing relationship, a camaraderie born of the shared ordeal of their parents. Steve had mostly seemed untroubled by the exPecktations. If anything he appeared to rise to the challenge set by his parents, and Gail had trusted him to shield her a little. He was the one who smoothed the path for her, the prickly, surly little sister who had no real plans or ambitions, who struggled to find a place to fit, her weirdness and acerbity making it hard to make friends or to be at ease with the world.

Now their roles had apparently reversed and it was Steve who was the outsider. Gail had broken through all the dross and the layers of guilt and the pressure to conform and the out and out bullying that was substance of her upbringing and she had made a choice to make a life that felt right and true and good.

In truth they were both too sensitive to be born into the Peck family, to respond to that unforgiving regime without being damaged, because underneath the bluster and bravado lay this vulnerability. Steve might brag about being awesome and strut about like he was indeed the captain of the universe, and his parents had encouraged him to think that this was his inheritance, but it masked a self-doubt that Steve had never been able to shake.

It was this self-doubt, his fear that he would never live up to the Peck name that, by his own admission, opened him up to corruption. Her parent's expectations had destroyed Steve but what had they done to her, Gail wondered. In some strange inverted way had they become the making of her, her reaction against them making her the stronger person.

Soon after, Gail took her leave of Steve. When she came out of the elevator on the ground floor, she saw Lisa walking towards her. She was speaking animatedly to a woman with dirty blonde hair, cut in a fashionable but conservative bob.

'Hi Gail, visiting Steve?' Lisa said brightly as if they were old friends, as she drew up to Gail.

Gail narrowed her eyes slightly. She couldn't help but wonder if Lisa was up to something.

'Oh, this is Dr Francine Hart,' Lisa said, gesturing to the woman beside her, 'a friend of Holly's from San Francisco. Francine, Gail.'

Gail shook Francine's hand. A friend of Holly's. Wasn't she the doctor that went to Nigeria to work for Doctors without Borders, whom Lisa claimed Holly was serious about. Holly said they'd only had sex once and she probably wouldn't have slept with Francine if she hadn't been leaving for Africa the next day.

At the time, Holly been deep in one of her 'I never want to have another serious relationship ever again because I'll never meet anyone like Gail ever again' interludes. Sleeping with Francine that night had seemed like an uncomplicated no strings attached option. Imagine her surprise, Holly told Gail, when the following morning Francine revealed that for the past year she'd had a thing for Holly and wanted a relationship when she returned from Nigeria.

'Are you visiting?' Gail asked, trying not to sound too hopeful that Francine didn't have a more permanent stay in mind. She had no reason to dislike Francine; working for Doctors without Borders was admirable; and Gail was secure in her relationship with Holly so that wasn't an issue. There was just something a bit off about Francine's manner.

'In a way,' Francine replied enigmatically and exchanged a knowing glance with Lisa, like they were in on some private joke.

'She's been head hunted by the hospital. You've come to inspect it, haven't you Francine. See if you like it and check out any other attractions Toronto might have on offer for you,' Lisa said.

Gail felt like the last bit was said a bit slyly. That if she hadn't been there, Lisa may well have winked at Francine because it sounded awfully like the other attractions Lisa was referring to was Holly.

'Well, Toronto is a great city. I've lived here all my life.'

'All your life,' Francine said, the scorn in her voice impossible to miss, 'isn't that a little limiting?'

'Uh, I have travelled,' Gail tried not to sound defensive.

At that moment the elevator dinged.

'Shall we,' Lisa said, her eyebrows lifted in inquiry.

'Sure,' Francine said, 'Nice to meet you Jill.'

Had Francine just used one of Elaine's favorite techniques to put her down – the old I'm too important to get your name right trick. Gail shook her head, not sure whether to be amused or annoyed. As the elevator doors began to close, she distinctly heard Francine say 'is that the cop Holly's sleeping with. I get that she's a bit of eye candy but surely Holly's out of her league.'

The elevator doors closing muffled Lisa's reply, but Gail guessed she would have agreed wholeheartedly with Francine.

….

'So you haven't had any more nightmares since Trent was arrested?' Leslie asked.

'No,' Gail sat forward on the couch so she could be more upright. Why was it that shrinks always had these couches you could sink into. Was it so your body was so relaxed, so lulled by the enveloping comfort that you wouldn't think to filter what came out of your mouth. Not that Gail wanted to filter. She trusted Leslie. That wasn't something she'd ever been able to say about a therapist before.

'No. It's weird but I've literally been sleeping like a baby. Even when Holly's not there.'

'Do you think that might have something to do with facing up to Trent and rescuing Melanie?'

'It seems wrong to use that experience as my own personal therapy, especially when at least six women died and he tortured Melanie before we got him.'

'Gail, I don't think you are using that as personal therapy. The fact is it happened to you, just as Perick happened to you, so your reaction to this event, regardless of what it is, is valid. If you have taken something positive from this, the fact that Trent killed those women and hurt Melanie doesn't make it any less valid,' Leslie said kindly.

'Okay,' Gail said, not sounding entirely convinced.

'Don't forget, you risked your life to save Melanie and stop Trent.'

'That's my job,' Gail shrugged, 'but okay. It's like ever since the other night in the cabin, in fact this whole investigation has changed something.'

'Changed something?'

'It's hard to explain but I felt like Perick took a part of me and it's not exactly like I've got that back but,' Gail trailed off.

'You always said Perick made you feel like a victim.'

'Actually, he made me a victim.'

'Which is hard enough for anyone let alone a police officer whose job it is to protect others or indeed a Peck.'

Gail nodded, suddenly understanding where Leslie was going with this.

'So when I confronted Trent I wasn't being a victim anymore. I took control.'

This time Leslie nodded.

'From what you've told me, throughout this investigation, you never let him make you feel like a victim. I think that's why you at times acted rashly, took risks you wouldn't normally take in your job. Your own experience also made you determined not to let this happen to any more women.'

'So what you're saying is Perick threw my sense of who I was and confronting Trent allowed me to, well not exactly reclaim it, but feel stronger I guess in myself.'

'Do you feel stronger?'

'I feel a lot less like that broken girl that everyone couldn't help but regard as a poor exchange for Jerry's life, but that's not just because of Trent. It's been these sessions and the support of friends and the faith Holly has in me. It makes me feel, I dunno, worthwhile. Is it arrogant to say that?'

'Not in the least,' Leslie was smiling, 'I get the feeling our work here may be done.'

'Oh no, Leslie, I'm afraid Elaine has made sure I'm in for a lifetime of therapy,' Gail joked but then turned more serious, 'Steve's leaving. It's not safe for him to stay in Toronto.'

'And how do you feel about that?'

'Relieved. Responsible. I mean I'm relieved that Steve's going somewhere where he'll be safer, but if I had lied for him in court he wouldn't need to go away.'

'Could you have lived with yourself if you'd lied?'

Gail shrugged. 'I'll never know, just as I'll never know if I would have lied if Steve hadn't confessed. Doesn't that make me just as bad as Steve?'

'Well, if a colleague who was corrupt asked you to cover up for them, would you do it?'

'No, of course not.'

'And that's because you have a strong moral compass. Gail, you've told me about your friend Nick and how he sometimes bent the rules to protect his brother. Do you condemn Nick for that?'

'No, that's different. They had a really tough time growing up and Nick's brother never did anything really bad. Nick kind of feels responsible for him.'

'Anything sound familiar here? Tough time growing up. Feeling responsible for your sibling?' Leslie asked, 'when it comes to families, to the people we care about, the waters get muddied. It's sometimes impossible to know what is the right thing to do. Sometimes that moral compass wavers and that doesn't make you a bad person, just human.'

Gail looked at Leslie skeptically.

'You were conflicted. Steve saw that. He saw that lying to protect him went against all you believe in. Do you think by confessing he made a choice to do the right thing, not just by you but the right thing morally?'

Gail swallowed. 'Yeah, I guess.'

'And in doing that, he showed how much he cared about you.'

'Yes,' Gail admitted, her voice quiet, her head bowed a little as she contemplated this thought.

'It sounds like Steve doesn't blame you for not covering up for him, but Gail the question is can you forgive yourself?'

…..

When Gail got home from the therapy session the house was empty. Chloe had left a note saying she and Dov had gone out for dinner but would be back later. Gail felt a sudden need to talk to Holly but when she called her phone it just went to messages. It was a Friday night, perhaps she'd gone out with Lisa and Rachel. After all Gail had said she needed to be alone after seeing Leslie.

It was healthy, not to be dependent on one another, thought Gail. They'd talked about that, about resisting the urge to U-Haul and agreed to take it slower, let the relationship evolve. The last few weeks of the investigation had been so intense it was like they'd hardly had a moment apart. Gail knew it was normal for Holly to need to spend some time with her friends. She wondered though if that included Dr Francine Hart.

Of course Francine wouldn't be a Fran or a Frankie. Seemed like she'd been to the same select school of snobbery, condescension and elitism that Lisa had attended. No wonder Lisa thought Francine was a good match for Holly. But Gail wasn't worried about that. Not in the least. No, for the first time in her life, Gail felt completely secure about her relationship.

She sent Holly a text, asking her to call if she didn't get in too late. When Chloe and Dov returned just before ten, tipsy and clearly in an amorous mood, she retreated to her room and decided to have an early night. When she switched off her light about half an hour later, there was still no word for Holly. That was okay, Gail told herself as she fell asleep, wishing Holly was there with her now.

…..

Gail was woken by her phone ringing. It took a moment to find it on the bedside table, so she didn't bother to look at the caller id before groggily saying hello.

'Oh, I woke you,' Holly said, sounding apologetic, 'I'm sorry. I didn't get a chance to ring last night and I thought you'd be up.'

'Well, I am now,' Gail said, sitting up.

'Well, sorry and good.'

'Sorry and good? I know I've just woken up, but you're not making a lot of sense Holly.'

'I meant sorry for waking you up, but good you're awake because I've got a proposition for you.'

'A proposition.'

'I have the apartment to myself for the day. Rachel's visiting her parents and Lisa is out house hunting and I thought I could make you breakfast and then,' Holly left the sentence hanging.

'And then what?'

'If you get your ass over here Peck, you might find out.'

'Why am I sensing some urgency?' Gail asked, all innocence.

'No urgency but every minute you waste on this phone is one less minute you'll spend here with me, and let me tell you Gail it's been two days since you left me high and dry in my office and I'm sick of waiting.'

'I didn't think there was anything dry about you when I left your office, Holly,' Gail deadpanned.

'Just get over here already.'

'Okay, okay,' Gail said, throwing the covers off her bed so she could get up, 'I'm coming.'

'Well, if I have my way, you will be soon,' Holly laughed before disconnecting.

Holly answered the door to the apartment wearing a pair of snug fitting boy shorts that Gail reckoned made her legs seem to go on forever and a tank top with no bra. Gail couldn't decide what to appreciate first and as her gaze flicked almost comically from Holly's breasts to her legs and back again, she caught Holly giving her a lop-sided grin so she decided the best course of action was just to kiss her. It was one of Gail's trademark kisses. Gentle at first and then increasingly forceful and it left Holly in no doubt that Gail wanted her just as much as she did Gail. After a moment, Holly pulled back. She was smirking now.

'Like what you see, detective?' she asked, raising an eyebrow seductively.

Gail nodded mutely and then leaned in again for another kiss but Holly turned on her heel and strutted out of the little foyer where they were standing and into the living room. Was this payback for what happened in Holly's office, Gail wondered. She followed Holly anyway, although a little tentatively.

Even though she had her back to Gail, somehow Holly picked up on the hesitation, because when she reached the sofa she said, 'What are you waiting for Peck?'

With that she pulled off her tank top and turned around. Gail felt her mouth go dry and surged forward, placing one hand on the side of Holly's face to bring her closer into a kiss and the other on her left breast, moaning as the weight of it settled in her hand, feeling its perfect shape. Then she pushed Holly back onto the sofa and, straddling her, continued to kiss her, alternating between quick nips to her lips and then slipping her tongue in to just touch Holly's, all the while squeezing Holly's breast and then rolling her nipple between her fingers.

Holly was moaning now and trying to pull Gail closer, as if she wanted to remove any gap between their bodies. She placed a hand quite forcibly behind Gail's head and brought their lips together before pushing her tongue in. She wanted more than Gail's teasing kisses. Gail obviously felt the same way. She pushed back against Holly, their tongues moving together, at first in a tantalizingly slow and graceful, almost choreographed way, as if they were performing a familiar dance, and then less elegantly as the kiss intensified.

Gail slipped a hand beneath Holly's boy shorts, splaying her fingers across Holly's abdomen, and then drifting it down further and running a finger through her folds and finally inside.

'You are so wet,' Gail breathed, pulling out the finger and sucking it.

Holly was mesmerized. She felt another rush of the aforementioned wetness between her legs. Never had she responded so quickly to someone or been as excited by anyone as Gail. Never had anyone made her feel this good. Then Gail pushed herself off Holly and stood. Holly felt the loss of her immediately. Confused, her lips formed a pout. Gail paused. Holly wasn't usually a pouter. That was Gail's thing, but in that moment she came to the conclusion that Holly pouting was insanely sexy.

Deciding now was not the time to be sidetracked, Gail bent forward and tugged Holly's boy shorts off. Then she knelt down before Holly and placed one of Holly's legs on her shoulder and leaned in, trailing kisses on either side of her inner thighs before bringing her mouth to Holly's center. Before long, she was sucking on Holly's clit and had two fingers inside her. Holly had one hand on Gail's head, urging her on and the other hand twisting her own nipple. From the sounds Holly was making and the way her walls were tightening, Gail could tell she was close.

Gail was too busy concentrating on what she was doing to Holly, and Holly was too caught up in the competing quivers and thrills that Gail was eliciting from her body which were fast unifying into one unstoppable surge of ecstasy, and so neither of them heard the front door open or the footsteps across the tiled foyer or the sound of Lisa's voice carrying from there.

'Hols, I 've found the perfect house. I need your opinion. I want you to come'. The rest of the sentence died on Lisa's lips as she reached the door to the living room and Gail and Holly came into view.

And it was too late for either of them to stop what they were doing - Holly crying out Gail's name over and over, and Gail busying herself between Holly's legs – because it had reached a point where it was nearly over and Holly could contain herself no longer. All Gail could think was Holly was indeed coming but not in the way Lisa intended.

'Jesus. Do you two not understand the concept of a room,' Lisa shrieked and then stormed out of the apartment, slamming the front door as she left.

After that they did move to Holly's room and Holly returned the favor to Gail, and then once more and then Gail decided it was Holly's turn again. As they lay tangled and satiated, their skin pleasantly humming, the sensations produced by their love making their bodies languid and charged all at once, Gail looked at Holly a little guilty.

'Lisa will hate me even more now,' she said.

'She doesn't hate you Gail. In fact, last night she stood up for you.'

'Stood up for me?'

'It was funny really. We had dinner with Francine. You know that doctor I met in San Francisco, the one I, well.'

'Yes, I know who Francine is,' Gail interrupted testily, 'I ran into her and Lisa at the hospital yesterday.'

'Oh, she and Lisa didn't tell me that. Weird,' Holly said, 'Well, anyway Francine kissed me.'

'Okay Holly, I'm not sure what is funny about that but I'm going to try to be really open minded and see where this is going.'

Holly made a face.

'The funny thing was that Lisa jumped to your defense. Francine followed me into the kitchen and sort of pounced on me. I guess Lisa knew something was up because she followed Francine. When she saw her trying to kiss me, and don't worry I was pushing Francine away, Lisa yelled at her and said how dare she do that when she knew I had a girlfriend I was serious about and who made me happy. Lisa pointed out I had spent the whole night making it abundantly clear I wasn't interested in Francine and then she threw her out.'

'Really, she threw her out?'

Holly nodded solemnly,

'That is funny.' Gail laughed, thinking clearly Lisa hadn't meant Holly when she referred to Francine checking out Toronto's other attractions. 'Wait, was Lisa interested in Francine?'

'I think so.'

'Wow, this is twisted.'

'So you're not angry or upset?' Holly asked.

'God no, it's not like you asked Francine to kiss you.'

With that, Holly leaned across and kissed Gail.

'What was that for?' Gail asked.

'Because I love you.'

'Only that?'

'Isn't that enough for you Peck?

Gail quirked an eyebrow and waited.

'Alright, because when I told you about Francine you could have been a cat and gone up that tree but you didn't.'

'Jeez, I thought we'd agreed to give that metaphor a rest,' Gail grumbled.

Secretly, though, she was pleased that Holly had noticed. In the past something like this would have been enough to send Gail scrambling up that tree. It would have fed into her insecurities, her fears that she would never be good enough for anyone, and she would have convinced herself it was easier to get out before being inevitably dumped.

For in Gail's world there had been few constants except disappointments; the betrayals and the dismissals by the people who should have loved her, like her family and Chris and Nick; their rejections made more cruel by the casual way they did it as if she had no feelings. Now Gail smiled widely at Holly because with Holly all those niggles and worries and self-doubts were at thing of the past.

…..

Holly was running late for the award ceremony. As she slipped into the back row of chairs, she caught a glimpse of blonde hair and the blue of a dress uniform. Most of Gail's friends were there, including Andy and Swarek. Holly wasn't sorry she missed that wedding. Well, apart from the fact that had she attended there was no way Gail would have gone home with Frankie.

She couldn't understand what Andy saw in Swarek. In Holly's experience he was arrogant and impatient, and dismissive if you didn't give him the results he wanted. Apparently he was the love of Andy's life. When Chloe described it as a fairytale romance, Holly had to resist the urge to do a Gail and pretend to put her fingers down her throat.

As the Police Commissioner approached the podium, a sheet of paper in his hands, Holly noticed an officer from 15 – what was her name Anna Roberts, Robins, Robinson that was it – seated in front of her with another officer Holly recognized from 27. There was a whole new batch of Rookies since she left for San Francisco. She became aware that the officer from 27 was speaking.

'God, she is hot.'

'I know, you don't need to tell me. I doubt she even knows I exist,' Officer Robinson said.

'But you just worked that case with Detective Peck.'

'Yeah, I didn't have that much to do with her and when she spoke to me it was all business.'

'She is gay, right?'

'Yeah, apparently she and Detective Anderson had a thing, but that's been over for a while.'

'So does she have a girlfriend?

'I don't know,' Robinson shrugged.

Clearly, Robinson hadn't been at the Penny to witness her display when Gail returned from undercover, Holly thought.

At that moment, the Commissioner announced Gail's name. Holly sucked in a breath as she watched Gail stride towards the podium. It was a businesslike stride, one reserved for work and official occasions, but still Holly could detect that swing in the hips. Damn Gail could wear that uniform.

Afterwards Elaine insisted on a photo of the three of them. Elaine was beaming. Was it genuine pride or satisfaction that Gail was fulfilling the ExPecktations? Elaine's relationship with her daughter was a complex thing and Holly felt it quite possible that Gail would spend her lifetime untangling it. As Chloe took the photo, she caught Gail and Holly staring at each other with such love it almost hurt, but in a good way Chloe decided.

Then they left for the Penny. Elaine begged off, saying she had too much work. Holly offered to buy the first round, figuring it was the best way to ingratiate herself with Gail's friends. At the bar she again found herself standing behind Robinson and the rookie from 27.

'She's surrounded by her friends. I can't go up there,' Robinson was saying, 'but god it's so long since I've had sex I might just go home with anyone who offers tonight.'

'Don't be so dramatic, Anna. Just buy her a drink,' her friend said.

'I don't even know what she drinks,' Robinson whined. 'I mean I've seen her drinking beer and tequila and even whisky. And the other day she was telling Detective Kennedy this hilarious story about once drinking meat cocktails.'

'Tequila. The most expensive if you can afford it.' Holly spoke up.

Robinson turned around in confusion. 'Oh, hi Doctor Stewart,' she said, sounding uncertain, a blush starting to creep up her neck.

'Gail likes tequila,' Holly said.

'Um, are you a friend of hers?' the 27 rookie asked.

'Actually, her girlfriend,' Holly replied. Before she could register their reaction to that bit of news, Holly felt an arm snake around her waist and Gail was there and pulling her in for a kiss.

'Hi,' Gail grinned.

'Hi,' Holly said.

'Oh, hey Robinson,' Gail said, noticing the officer who was looking somewhat stunned. 'You've met Holly, I mean Doctor Stewart, haven't you.'

The blush had now moved to Robinson's face.

'Holly,' Holly said, holding out her hand to the officer.

'Hey, you'll buy these guys a drink too, won't you Holly,' Gail said indicating Robinson and her friend.

'Gladly,' Holly said, and Gail leaned in to give her another quick kiss.

Not long after, Holly saw Jen Luck come into the Penny. She threw a sour look in the direction of Gail and her friends and then continued over to the bar where she soon struck up a conversation with Officer Robinson.

Much later, Holly found herself in a booth next to Matt Kennedy. He had produced several pieces of paper from his pocket and was doing some sort of calculation. Then Holly realized what it was. Gail had told her about it.

'You're betting on whose going to be the first to sleep with Robinson,' she said.

'It's just harmless fun,' Matt said defensively, moving the papers away so Holly couldn't see them.

'$100 it's Jen Luck,' Holly said.

'Whhat?' Matt asked in surprise.

'I want to bet $100 that Robinson goes home with Jen Luck tonight.'

'Geez, Holly, you're not betting on this too are you,' Gail said as she sat down next to Holly, 'it's puerile.'

Holly squeezed Gail's knee and leaned into her. 'Trust me,' she whispered softly into Gail's ear.

'Jen Luck. No offence, but Robinson's straight as they come,' Matt said.

'Make that $200,' Holly said.

'Your loss,' Matt shook his head. Pulling out a pen, he added Holly's wager to the list.

'Ah Matt,' Gail said sweetly, 'you might want to take a look at what's happening at the bar.'

Matt looked across. Jen had linked her hand with Robinson's and was moving in to kiss her. From this angle it looked ungainly, lumbering even. There was nothing the least bit alluring about the action, but it seemed to work for Robinson because the next moment she was following Luck out of the bar.

'Cough up, Kennedy,' Gail chortled gleefully.

'Fuck, I feel like I've just been fleeced,' Matt said, as he pulled a wad of cash from his pocket. Gail's eyes went wide. It was hundreds of dollars.

Holly scooped it up and stood. 'I'm using this to open a tab at the bar. Matt, you tell the others. Free drinks until the money runs out.' With that she headed towards the bar, with Gail following after.

'Wait, wait Holly. What are you doing?' Gail hissed as she caught up with Holly by the bar, 'I'm guessing there's nearly a thousand dollars there. You don't want to spend it on these losers.'

Holly stopped and turned around.

'Gail, I have plenty of money. I don't need it, but an open bar will keep your friends occupied long enough for us to slip out of here unnoticed.'

'And why would you want to do that, Holly?'

'Because, as amazing as you look in that uniform, ever since I saw you wearing it at the ceremony all I've wanted to do is get you out of it.'

'Oh,' Gail said, a little taken aback, 'I didn't know the uniform had such an affect on you.'

'It's not the uniform, Gail. It's how you wear it,' Holly said, her voice low and sultry.

'Even when we first met and we were just friends, and I was in uniform. Did that do it for you then?'

'You have no idea, Gail,' Holly breathed.

'Oh,' Gail said, 'for me it was the glasses and the rambling and the ripostes.'

Holly laughed and Gail grinned back at her.

'What are we waiting for, Holly? Hand your money over to the bartender and let's get out of here.'

So throughout this story, each time Lisa catches Holly and Gail things are escalating until finally in this chapter she walks in on them having sex. Unlike the time in the kitchen, Lisa can't pretend she hasn't seen anything. Anyway, it will be the last time Lisa catches them in flagrante delicto. It was just a little joke I was having at Lisa's expense – in the RB series her reaction to Holly and Gail kissing was so over the top – the get a room line – I decided she really needed to catch them in the act so that line would really mean something.

I actually find sex and even kissing hard to write about – not because I'm a prude but it's really difficult to write about it in an original way. Hopefully, I've managed to avoid being clichéd.