A/N: English is not my mother tongue, so I apologize for any grammar and spelling mistakes.

Again, it's kinda late in the night; 1:50 am and I'm trying to come up with something, cause this is actually fun :)

Thanks for reading and reviewing ^.^

xxXxx

Gail's head hurt as it pounded loud in her ears, like very loud. She sat at her desk in the 15th precinct, looking at her report on what had happened today. She was supporting her head with both hands on the desk as she heard the blood rushing through her veins. The freaking headache was killing her. She wanted to finally go home and get away from all the people and the noise, but she didn't trust her legs to carry her weight if she stood up now. Also she was sure that she would puke right on her feet, so standing up right now and embarrassing herself wasn't really the best idea.

'Of course you had to run after a suspect and get run over by a biker.' , Gail thought to herself. One moment she had been running, then suddenly she found herself on the ground. Of course the other squad car had caught the suspect and nobody had gotten seriously injured, well except for Gail. To her surprise Dov and Chris gave her concerned looks, but she just brushed them off, saying it was nothing.

After that she kept thinking, that maybe they did care, or maybe…not. Gail knew that everyone was keeping their distance from her. Even Chris and Dov; both of them were too hung up on their love lives to care for her. Gail bet they didn't want anything to do with her either just like the others she had once called her friends.

It was already late in the evening as Traci strolled into the room. She looked around and most officers had already left. But she saw one blonde officer still sitting at her desk looking at some paper. She seemed lost in thought and Traci was having an inner turmoil about asking her if she was okay. She had heard from Dov and Chris that she had collided with a biker while pursuing a suspect. Traci walked up to her; the blonde didn't even notice her coming near her and she opened her mouth to speak, "Hey".

No response. Either Gail had ignored her, or she hadn't heard her. "Gail" Traci tried again. There was no reaction. Traci stepped closer and touched Gail's shoulder. "Hey, Gail"

Gail felt a nudge at her shoulder and looked to her left, surprised to find Traci standing so close to her. She hadn't even noticed her presence and she scolded herself inwardly for letting someone get too close into her personal space. Gail backed off a little to put some room between them.

Traci noticed that little motion, remembering it to be the same move suspects did when they get questioned. They did that to get some space and put their mental shields up in defense. Since when had they become enemies, that Gail had to put up walls? For the first time in a while Traci actually looked at her, taking in her features. She looked tired and worn out, like she hadn't slept in days or even weeks.

Gail didn't say anything. She didn't know what to say and she didn't even have the energy to come up with any words, let alone speak them out loud. So she just raised her brow at the woman in front of her.

Traci began to speak, "It's late and I saw you were still here. I heard what happened and wanted to know if you were okay."

Gail barely heard the words, as she had looked at Traci's lips to process them. Her headache was making it more difficult to concentrate, so it took her a moment to respond, "m..fine.", the words left her mouth sluggishly.

It made Traci raise her eyebrows in disbelief, her eyes studying Gail's face. She turned to perceptive detective mode and noticed Gail's dilated pupils. It wasn't really hard to see, since Gail had blue eyes, and the way she talked made Traci worry that she might have a concussion.

"Gail are you sure you are alright? I know what I heard and Chris and Dov told me that you actually had a pretty hard landing", her voice was filled with concern.

"I'm fiiine…. it was nothing", Gail waved her hand, trying to busy her hand in order to not touch her pounding temple.

"Gail.." Traci paused for a moment, "Your eyes are dilated and your speech is slurred. You most likely have a concussion."

"Nash, really 'm okay." Gail had used her last name and Traci was taken aback by a second.

'Why doe she care anyway?' Gail thought and decided she didn't want this conversation, or whatever this was, to continue. So she grabbed her report and stood up. Moving so suddenly, nausea overtook her for a moment, forcing her to lean on the table for support in order not to collapse back into the chair.

Traci saw the way Gail swayed a little and reached up to support her, but Gail dodged her touch and said, "I'm gay, Nash. My eyes are dilated because, I might just have a sexual attraction towards you. You should probably stay away from me, or I might hit on you." ,she said with sarcasm lingering in her tone; as always she used sarcasm to shield her uncertainty.

Traci knew Gail. Sometimes she says weird things and sometimes she is a real bitch and says really hurtful things she doesn't really mean. That….that was just a weird remark to run away from confrontation. Traci felt like Gail was shutting her out, like she was shutting out the whole world and it was so hard to get anywhere near the Gail everyone once knew. She could somehow understand her behavior. She knew that Gail wasn't only protecting herself, but others as well. But whatever was going on inside her head, it needed to stop.

After Gail felt like she could support herself again, she let go of the table and made her way to the door without a word, leaving Traci behind her. It had been one hell of a day and she could finally go home, to where she could retreat into her own world of sorrow and despair with no one telling her what to do, to feel or to be.

xxXxx

Thanks for reading ^.^

Review if you have any criticism or any thoughts you want to share. O.O