A/N: I hope you all had a fantabulous festive season. I certainly did!

But now I have a job to do; sort this pair out. Kind of! Nothing says I'm sorry like junk food.

Story update, for the guest who asked. Yes, I do have about twenty chapters written out. The reason I don't post them all is because I'm still writing the story, and things that happen in later chapters are directly affected by the earlier ones. I have outlined the whole thing, but as I write, obviously things evolve. Breadcrumbs that I have dropped so far are picked up in the climax. And sometimes I have to change them. I wouldn't want to post something here, then have you guys confused later on because I end up contradicting myself. I would say the crux of things in this story happen from around chapters 10-14, and chapters 20-22. Once I have nailed the latter ones down, the former can be classed as being full and final versions. Then I can post them quicker!

So, without further waffle, this is a short chapter. But I hope you enjoy, nonetheless.

Cheers,

Sam

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Early the next morning, Gail was counting down the hours till her shift ended and she could get out of this claustrophobic tin can. Usually she didn't spend the whole night in the van obviously; she and Sanderson had worked out a good rhythm early on in their partnership. Whoever was in the van would go there about an hour after Holly went to bed, and leave just before the dawn. Plus they would have a couple of breaks in the night, to get a drink or have a comfort break. They only really needed someone watching the cameras when it was dark and quiet, or else it was just as safe to have them both guarding the house. So most nights, one or other of them only spent five or maybe six hours out there, not the full shift. Stubbornly though, Gail had just done ten full hours and the panelling had become a cage. She was tired, uncomfortable and hungry. Only one more hour till 7 am and she could hand over to McNally and Chen.

As it turned out though, she never made it that far. Her phone rang out loudly in the early morning quiet, startling her of out of the bored stupor she had settled into. It was Sanderson, so she answered quickly.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Nothing's up, but I need your help a sec. Can you come inside please?" he replied, before immediately hanging up.

She scowled and debated whether to ignore him, but years of police training kicked in and she did as she asked. 'Always back up your partner' intoned the voice of Elaine Peck in her head. When Gail entered the kitchen though, she was able to chalk up another line on her long mental list of things her mother was wrong about. Sanderson was nowhere to be seen but Holly was stood there, nervously playing with her hands as she waited.

"Hi," Holly tentatively said.

"Sanderson called me. I'm just going to see what he wants…" Gail responded, pointing into the house and moving through the kitchen as if to go and find the other officer.

"Um, yeah. I kind of asked him to," Holly admitted quickly. Gail stopped and turned to look across at Holly with her eyebrows raised. "I didn't think you'd answer if I called," she went on to admit.

"No I probably wouldn't have," was Gail's answer and she moved back towards the door. She had spent the whole night thinking over her new found realisations about Holly, not to mention the fight they had last night. Her head was about ready to explode, and she didn't want to get into it again now. She would be having serious words with Sanderson later.

"Wait!" Holly called and the tone of her voice was enough to stop Gail in her tracks once again, the blonde unconsciously heeding the plea.

Holly picked up a plastic box from the kitchen counter and held it out towards the blonde. "I made breakfast," she said, not meeting Gail's gaze.

"Why?" asked Gail, still not really wanting to be part of this conversation, even if there was food involved.

"A peace offering," Holly said shyly. "And an apology. You were right, I should have been more careful at the bar,"

Gail finally took the box and cracked the lid open, unleashing the sugary scent of breakfast heaven. Despite her aim of maintaining a cool and collected air, she couldn't help the exclamation that escaped her lips in an excited tone, "Doughnuts!"

Holly breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that at last she had the other woman's attention. "Yeah. Thought you might like them," she said.

"Where did you get these from?" Gail asked, suspiciously. Holly would have had to send Sanderson to the store and if he had left the premises, she would have seen him on camera.

"I made them,"

"You made these? How?" Gail asked, taking a bite into one of the round balls and licking the sugar from her lips. People did not make doughnuts. Bakeries made doughnuts.

Holly tore her eyes away from the blonde's tongue but stumbled over her words anyway "Oh. Um, well I had to look it up. But I got up early 'cos I couldn't sleep, and I was thinking 'what does Gail like for breakfast?' and I knew you hate eggs, plus there's the whole tomato thing. So the normal breakfast stuff was out, and I thought maybe pancakes but then I remembered you were talking about that doughnut place last week. So I googled some recipes and it didn't seem hard, though the first dough got stuck everywhere and then I burnt some, and the hot oil is a bit dangerous isn't it?" Holly trailed off when she saw Gail was staring at her wide eyed and had even stopped chewing. "Well yeah. Anyway, now I know I guess," she finished with a shrug.

"You remembered I don't like eggs?" Gail asked, kind of feeling taken aback by that long explanation…and the fact she still didn't know how to make doughnuts. Which was annoying. But that bit about eggs had stuck. Most of her friends forgot that and she had known them for years. She slowly resumed chewing the doughnut, wondering how Holly could remember something she'd mentioned in passing.

"Well I like to cook. And I like to cook for you when you're here, so I need to be able to make things you'll actually eat," Holly said with a shrug.

A deep sigh of appreciation came from Gail's lips as she bit into the jam in the middle of the doughnut. They were delicious, but they must have taken ages; "Were you up at 4am or something?"

"Yeah, about four," Holly replied, with a serious nod.

Gail shook her head. The woman was crazy. "You're nuts. But they're good," she told her.

"I just wanted to apologise," Holly said, ducking her head. She felt ashamed at the conclusions she had jumped to last night. "I'm sorry for disappearing the other night. I didn't think,"

The two women looked at each other, Holly still half expecting Gail to walk out on her. She stood firm under the police officer's scrutiny though and only allowed herself a small half smile when Gail moved to sit on her usual stool at the kitchen island. It looked like she may be given the chance to make amends. She watched Gail demolish another doughnut, waiting for her to speak but the silence stretched out in front of them and Holly couldn't help herself. "I know you're mad at me, but I don't want to fall out with you Gail," she said quietly.

Gail looked up, unsure how to answer that. She was mad, but more about the argument they'd had last night rather than what had happened at the club. And now that she had realised she had a bit of a thing for Holly, the fact that the doctor had made her a special breakfast was doing funny things to her insides. She decided that honesty was the best policy.

"I was mad at you for running off, yeah. I asked you to wait and you ignored me," she said.

"I know. It was stupid," Holly agreed. "I guess I was a bit drunk and I'm still not used to having to tell people where I'm going all the time,"

"Yeah, well I guess you got side tracked by what's her face too," Gail said, with a hint of bitterness. She remember the name of course, she was a Peck after all. But she wasn't going to dignify the woman by calling her by her name.

Holly blushed. "That was also stupid," she said to herself, although she was interested to hear that Gail was still a little touchy on the subject of Jess. She was sure she had heard a hint of jealousy from the blonde last night in the middle of that argument, and here it was again, maybe?

Silence descended on them again, and this time Holly wasn't sure how to break it. She was surprised when Gail chose to talk.

"I was mad about what happened. But honestly, Holly? I'm actually more annoyed about what you said last night," said Gail. "You accused me of being homophobic, and that was way out of line,"

Holly sighed and sat down opposite Gail. She nodded her head slowly, "I was just shocked at how you'd over-reacted and I jumped to the wrong conclusion. When I calmed down and had time to think, I know that's not true,"

"I over-reacted?" Gail snorted.

"Yeah you did," Holly defended herself. "You went nuts at me in the club, and you wouldn't talk to me on the way home. Then last night you were giving me the cold shoulder, not letting me explain and shutting me down. What was I supposed to think?"

Gail's voice was raised again as she felt the same sting of resentment at Holly's clueless attitude, "You know what, you don't get to assume that just because you're gay, people are pissed off with you because they're homophobic. Maybe they're just pissed because you're being a dick!"

Holly tried to interject, but Gail wasn't done. "Actually, that's prejudice in itself, you see that right? You're assuming something about someone without even bothering to find out their point of view,"

The doctor stared at Gail, knowing the other woman was right. She hadn't thought about it like that and she was embarrassed with herself. "Well I regret saying it to you and I'm sorry. I regret all of last night. I don't like fighting with you, Gail,"

The apology calmed Gail's temper and she sat back and met Holly's eyes. She could see the brunette was sincere, and at the end of the day, she didn't want to argue with her either. Gail was tired of fighting; she felt like she did so much of it in all other aspects of her life. Hanging out with Holly had been so easy going and relaxed; she didn't want that to change. So Gail Peck did something she wasn't accustomed to. She backed down a little.

"Look. It's fine. I was tired last night, didn't get much sleep over the past couple of days, and maybe I did go a bit overboard. Let's just forget it, ok?" she said. As soon as she'd said it, Gail felt a wave of relief. Holly had been stupid sure, but nobody was perfect. It felt much better to let it go than carry on being offended.

Holly nodded, "I was tired too, and hungover, and this whole bodyguard thing is getting to me. I don't think I was thinking straight. I asked McGregor if I could go for a run again today, clear my head, but he said no," she said with a grimace.

"Maybe he'll let you go another day," Gail told her, her mind elsewhere. She just wasn't used to letting a fight go. Forgiveness wasn't a sentiment Pecks were expected to add to their armoury. Therefore she was surprised at how the knot in her stomach which had grown overnight had suddenly eased.

"Hmm, maybe. So we're good, yeah?" Holly asked.

Gail thought about that. Her feelings towards Holly were still very mixed up. Gail believed her when she said she was sorry about last night, and was happy to let it go. She couldn't get her head round the attraction she felt for the other woman though, and was still hurt that Holly had got together with Jess straight after kissing her. Gail knew that the kiss meant nothing, that it was a soft peck that usually wouldn't even register on her scale. But it had affected her; in that split second she had felt the sort of excitement and butterflies hit her that usually didn't appear until things got much heavier. She was upset that Holly had dismissed that moment as a mistake as despite not knowing exactly how to react to the kiss, Gail didn't want to dismiss it. She didn't want to address it either, that was the problem. She sighed. She couldn't deal with this now.

"We're ok, Holly," she replied quietly.

Holly smiled and reached over to squeeze Gail's forearm, "Thanks. Now can I have a doughnut?" and she quickly snaffled one from the box as she withdrew her arm.

"Hey! Those are my peace offerings!" Gail scowled as half of the doughnut disappeared into Holly's mouth.

"I hadn't tried them yet!" Holly mumbled through her full mouth.

"Well trust me, they're good. For future reference, you can always apologise with pastry; I don't really like the whole talking thing,"

"I'll stick with both, I think. But how about we just try not to fight instead?" Holly asked.

"We'll see," Gail said flippantly, causing the other woman to shake her head.

"Anyway," Holly said. "I'm going to go take a shower before Andy & Jake get here. I'll send Sanderson down; I kinda promised him he could have a doughnut after I'd spoken to you. I wouldn't let him in the kitchen when I was cooking; he kept trying to eat the mix,"

"We'll see about that too, Lunchbox," Gail answered, her brow furrowed at the thought of giving away another of her treats.

"Gail, I made loads! It's your day off today, right? So you've got a whole box to take home!" Holly chastised her.

"I think you have low expectations of how many doughnuts I can eat in a day,"

"Don't worry Gail; I've learnt my lesson not to underestimate you,"

Gail grinned and shrugged at Holly as the brunette got up from her seat to go upstairs. She stared at her breakfast and grinned at that too. What kind of nutjob got up at 4am to make apology doughnuts? The kind of nutjob she had feelings for. And now she knew Holly could make doughnuts, as well as being funny, smart and sexy? Yet another box ticked. Man, she was in trouble here.

Suddenly, Holly's voice interrupted her monologue and she turned to see the other woman leaning over the bannisters.

"Hey, Gail? I just wanted to say…to tell you…well, just that Jess and I? We're not a thing," Holly tripped and stuttered through her words and drummed her fingers against the railing.

Not sure of the correct response to that, Gail settled for a simple, "Right." She tried to meet Holly's eyes but the brunette was determinedly looking everywhere but straight at her. What was Holly trying to tell her here exactly?

"I was embarrassed…that I'd made a fool out of myself with you and I panicked a bit. Then my drunk brain sent me off to be an idiot," Holly continued as she squirmed. She hadn't wanted to admit that she had only gone off with Jess in a lame attempt to avoid Gail; for one thing it painted her in an extremely bad light. But she had recognised the signs of jealously earlier when Jess had come up in conversation. Despite knowing that she couldn't act on her attraction to the cop, for some reason she wanted Gail to know that she was single and not interested in her friend. It was leaving the door open, even if she didn't expect Gail to ever come walking through. The cop was straight, after all. She had to keep reminding herself of that.

"You didn't make a fool out of yourself," Gail told her. She couldn't work out what Holly was doing, but she automatically wanted to put her mind at rest anyway, and couldn't spend another couple of minutes seeing her fidget so uncomfortably.

Holly gave her a half smile and finally met the other woman's eyes. "I only realised this morning that that's what I was a bit scared of. I think that's why I said stupid things last night," she admitted.

Gail gazed at the dark eyes looking down at her and could see that Holly was being totally honest, not trying to make an excuse. Gail admired her for that. Before she could stop herself, she was making her own confession; "You know, I was scared that something had happened to you; that those guys had somehow got in and grabbed you. I lost it because I was scared, not because I was angry," she said, talking so quietly that Holly found it difficult to hear from the distance she was standing.

"It wouldn't have been your fault, Gail," Holly reassured her, thinking Gail was worried about failing.

However the police officer shook her head in response. "I wasn't scared that I'd screwed up my job. I was scared for you," she explained cautiously. She wasn't sure what she was trying to say here; she wanted Holly to know that this wasn't just a job, but she didn't want to say too much. She lifted her hand and ran it through her hair before rubbing the back of her neck. "I mean, we're friends yeah? And I don't want anything to happen to you, ok?"

Holly nodded and her smile widened. "Thanks, Gail," she replied, touched by that admission.

Just like that though, Gail's moment of sincerity was over. "Whatever. Go get a shower. You stink," she told Holly and shooed her with a hand. Holly blinked. How mercurial the blonde's mood were, she thought to herself. She couldn't keep up sometimes. Gail could go from melancholy, to irritated, to juvenile in the space of five minutes flat. It made Holly's head spin, but it drew her in like a moth to a flame, fascinated by the beautiful, flickering changes. Holly couldn't think of a suitable riposte, so settled for simply rolling her eyes and leaving the blonde happily working her way through her fourth doughnut.

Gail allowed herself a grin once Holly was out of sight. She felt glad they had cleared the air, which was an unusual feeling for her. Typically Gail Peck wallowed in letting things fester and dragging her fights out. She and Nick still hadn't really resolved Vegas for instance. But today, she had forgiven someone. And she had a day off and a box of doughnuts. Today was a good day.

The sound of thundering footsteps ruined her sense of wellbeing though, and she turned round once more to see Sanderson bouncing down the stairs.

"Morning Peckster!" he crowed. "I hear there are doughnuts?" Sanderson's grin almost blinded Gail. She debated feeding him just so he'd get lost, but then she remembered his act of treachery earlier when he'd tricked her into coming to the house.

Gail snapped the box shut smartly, and hopped off her stool, sauntering towards the door with it tucked safely under one arm. She reckoned she could probably manage another half hour in the van after all. "Nope. I ate them all, loser," she declared, and shut the door behind herself.