Thank you for the reviews on the first chapter, I love reading them. Thankfully I've had a good connection today so I thought I'd get the next chapter up while I can! Thank you for reading :)
ii.
Gail stood in the hallway and pulled off her rain soaked coat. She knew better than to hang it straight in the closest and she slung the wet garment over her arm, intent on hanging it over the bath to dry out a bit.
"Michaela," she called, as she unzipped her boots and kicked them haphazardly to the corner, "I'm sorry I'm late."
Gail had been trying to catch up on paperwork and had lost track of time, only realizing she was over an hour late when Dov joked about her having a home to go to. It was only when she had been in the car that she had realised her phone had run out of battery and she couldn't call the babysitter to apologise for being so late and that failing, coupled with the driving rain that had managed to soak her to the bone as she walked the short distance from the street to her house had put Gail in a rather foul mood.
The house was uncharacteristically quiet, Michaela always had the TV or the radio on but as Gail rounded the corner into the kitchen she spotted Holly's purse on the table and she realised that the girl must have phoned Holly when she couldn't get in contact with Gail.
"Fabulous," Gail sighed. She knew that Holly was supposed to be working late today to make up the time she had taken for her doctor's appointment earlier. Gail hadn't been able to take time off to go with her like she'd wanted to and she already felt guilty enough for that. And now she had stayed so late that Holly had been called back from her job. Gail sighed and trudged up the stairs slowly.
She could hear Holly singing softly as she approached the nursery and Gail realised that Holly hadn't heard her come in. Everyone who knew Holly knew she couldn't sing for toffee but the off-key notes that carried softly through the half open door to the hallway warmed Gail's heart, her earlier frustrations all but forgotten as she listened to Holly sing to their daughter.
After hovering outside the nursery for a minute or two, Gail knocked lightly on the door, opening it to reveal a slightly flustered Holly. Gail couldn't help but smile at the light pink blush that crept up Holly's cheeks at her arrival.
"I didn't know you were home," Holly said, shifting the baby from her arms up onto her shoulder as she stood up. "Hi," she said, pressing a soft kiss to Gail's lips.
"Hi," Gail smiled and kissed her back, though she was confused. Holly didn't even seem a little bit mad that she'd had to cut her work day short, "Hi baby," she said to Paige, running her hand softly across the sleeping infant's back.
"You're dripping all over the floor," Holly said, a hint of amusement in her voice. Gail looked down and sure enough there was water falling off of her jacket, leaving a darkened patch on the carpet.
"I'm pretty sure the sky is falling outside, give me a minute," Gail called, as she disappeared into the bathroom to hang her jacket up. When she walked into their bedroom, towel drying her hair, Gail found Holly sitting on the bed waiting for her.
"I'm sorry I was late back today, I know you wanted to work late but I got so caught up with the paperwork from that case from last week," Gail apologised, while she opened and shut drawers, trying to find something to wear. Finally she settled on a pair of sweatpants and Holly's old faded Star Wars t shirt, though Gail wore it so often it may as well have been hers.
"No it's okay, I got back just after 2 and let Michaela go early, I didn't feel like going back to work this afternoon," Holly explained. Gail frowned, it wasn't like Holly to just blow off work like that.
"Did your appointment go okay? What happened," the blonde asked, struggling to keep the worry from her voice. She sat cross legged on the bed opposite Holly but the brunette wouldn't look at her, and it only served to compound Gail's apprehension.
"I forgot how much I hated being a pincushion," Holly said, stretching out her arm to reveal a small blue bruise in the crook of her elbow.
"I'm sorry I wasn't there," Gail said, running her thumb gently over the still darkening bruise. Holly reached and grabbed Gail's hand, squeezing it tightly. But still she stayed silent.
"So, blood work…and what else?" Gail asked, hoping to coax some answers out of her.
"Promise me you're not going to freak out," Holly whispered, and Gail's heart sank as she realised that what Holly was about to tell her wasn't good news.
"What is it?" Gail asked again, and Holly shook her head softly.
"Promise me," she pleaded. Holly finally looked up and met Gail's eyes and the blonde almost wished that she hadn't. The uncertainty on Holly's face was clear to see and it caused an ache deep in Gail's chest.
"I promise," Gail whispered, her words so quiet it barely sounded like she had said anything at all.
Holly cleared her throat before she spoke again, trying to shift the lump that had formed there but her voice was still hoarse, thick with emotion. "They took a biopsy Gail."
"A biopsy?" Gail repeated slowly, wrapping her tongue around the unfamiliar word.
"They take sample of the-" Holly started to explain before Gail cut her off.
"I know what a biopsy is Holly, and they don't use it to diagnose infections," Gail snapped. Holly shrank back from her and Gail immediately regretted her actions. She'd promised Holly she wouldn't freak out and in the space of a few moments she was already breaking that promise.
"Holly I'm sorry, I… come here," Gail apologised, pulling the brunette back towards her and wrapping her arms around her tightly, "I'm sorry," she repeated.
Holly just sighed and fell against Gail, resting her head on Gail's chest, and the blonde's heartbeat echoed in her ear.
"It's standard procedure in cases like mine to give antibiotics and a follow up appointment," Holly explained, "but then the doctor had me go over how I've been feeling the past few weeks, and I told her that I've just been so tired, and I thought that was because of the baby you know. But then I realised that my appetite is all weird, and even with breastfeeding I've lost the baby weight a lot more quickly than I probably should have. So instead of give me antibiotics and telling me to come back in a few weeks she gave me the antibiotics and did the biopsy then and there."
Gail stayed silent as Holly talked, she had of course noticed Holly's exhaustion, how she was never really very hungry and how quickly she had fitted back into her favourite jeans. But she, like Holly had put all of that down to getting used to motherhood. And maybe they were all benign symptoms, if you didn't have a lump poking out of the side of your neck.
"I guess it's good in a way, right? At least we'll get an answer sooner rather than later. I'm not sure I could have bared waiting."
"When do you get the results?" Gail asked quietly. She was trying her hardest to approach this in the mature and calm way Holly seemed to be, but it was hard for her to keep her worry under control.
"I've got an appointment for next Monday," Holly replied.
"I'll tell Oliver I need it off. I'm coming with you," Gail said adamantly. There was no way hell or high water would keep her from attending that appointment with Holly.
"I'll be okay Gail, if you can't," Holly mumbled quietly, she was trying to blink them back, but her eyes were shining with tears and Gail didn't even consider accepting it that that would be okay that she went alone.
"No way. I'm coming with you. Okay?"
"Okay." Holly sighed, "Gail?"
"Yeah baby?"
"I know that this is hard, but I really need you to just, I need us to just be normal. Until the appointment. There's really no reason to panic unnecessarily and babies pick up on negative energy and I'd really just like for Paige to not get caught up in this and... please, please don't google anything. Thee internet is full of scare mongers and it's just not worth it," Holly babbled. She added the last part exclusively for Gail's benefit. She knew the blonde would drive herself crazy if she spent the next week bombarding herself with a barrage of information, the majority of which was likely to be inaccurate.
"No googling," Gail quietly affirmed, she had to admit she had been close to searching for possible causes of the lump in Holly's neck when she had been on her break earlier. She even gone so far as to open up WebMD in her browser before she'd shut it down in fear.
"Holly I'm scared," Gail admitted, and she felt so stupid saying it out loud. After all she wasn't the one who had the unidentified lump in her neck. She should be the one comforting Holly and it had ended up being the other way round.
"So am I," Holly whispered, "but let's just, how about we don't think about it until Monday okay?" she said, though she knew that that would be easier said than done. Worrying about the result had dominated the brunette's thoughts since she'd walked out of the doctor's office and she knew that it would gnaw away at Gail's mind as well.
Gail brushed back Holly's hair to reveal a small square bandage that stood out in stark contrast to her skin. She brushed her fingers feather light over the fabric and kissed the top of Holly's head.
"Does it hurt?" the blonde asked quietly.
"It's still numb. But it's only 4 stitches, I don't think it'll be too bad."
Gail's eyebrows shot up at Holly's mention of stitches but she held her tongue. No freaking out. That's what she had promised. Instead she hummed softly into Holly's hair, running her free hand in the soft strands.
"Do you wanna watch Star Trek and eat pizza with me?" Gail said, the flippant question juxtaposed with the conversation they had just had was so absurd the blonde wondered for a moment if she was dreaming. But Holly had asked if they could act like everything was normal and Gail promised herself that she would try her very hardest.
Holly pulled back and smiled up a Gail, a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes but it a smile nonetheless. "First Contact?"
Gail groaned, that was her least favourite of all of the movies. "Okay but I get to choose the pizza deal?" Gail held out her hand and grinned, and Holly shook it.
"Deal," Holly agreed, and as Gail stood up Holly almost knocked her off balance as she tugged at her arm. The brunette pulled Gail close and hugged her with such a ferocity that it knocked the wind out of her. Unable to do anything else, Gail brought her arms around Holly's back and held her just as tightly.
"I love you Gail," Holly whispered.
"I love you too."
Thank you for reading. Please leave a review if you'd like to :)