I wanted to get this chapter out before I become busy this week with my wife being on a vacation and a close friend coming in town for a visit. I know this one is short but a goodie!(at least I think so) Reviews greatly appreciated! I will respond to reviews in beginning of each chapter from now and on.

Berkana81- I'm glad you feel like you gain some insight in Gail's mind.

gp21- I know the chapters are short. It's my first fanfic so I don't want to overwhelm myself by committing to longer chapter. Baby steps and all that.

Guest- Yes, it would be simple if they just communicate with each other about their feelings, but then no story! Honestly, most people suck at expressing their true feelings lol. I know I am bad at that!

Missout-What do we do? We wait and see what happen next. :)

Gail bursts through the classroom door and is relieved to see the professor has not arrived yet. She takes a deep breath in order to calm down her racing heart. She freezes as she looks at Holly staring back at her. She hesitates about where to sit and she is not hiding it from Holly well. The professor requires all partners to sit together in the class for the semester, so Gail knows she has to go and take her old seat back. She sighs and sulks over to the chair next to Holly and slumps down. The air between them is filled with awkwardness and Gail is not sure what to say or do to resolve the situation.

"Sick of the suave dude over there already?" Holly asks in her attempt to ease the tension between them.

"Ugh, a second of sitting next to him is already too much for me. Besides it is not as if I have any choice in where I sit anyway," Gail retorts.

"True. Don't worry, I will just sit here with my book open and do my thing. You can sit right there and complain about how dumb our classmates are and I'll just listen," Holly smirks at Gail and gazes directly in her eyes.

Gail slowly smiles, but becomes puzzled as she notices Holly studying all over her face. Holly puts her finger in her mouth to moisten it and Gail feels a fire burning in her stomach. Holly gently reaches her finger over to Gail's right cheek and wipes something off. Holly chuckles and shows Gail her finger covered in purple paint.

"I didn't know you could be the artistic type."

Gail blinks and tries to push the image she has of Holly and her finger in an inappropriate place out of her head.

"Well, I was bored and I got invited to visit a studio in that old arts building way over there behind the admin building."

"Booth?"

"Yeah. Anyway, I decided to give painting a shot and I guess I kind of fell asleep while waiting for Ciara to finish her project."

Holly looks down at her hands and asks, "Ciara?"

Gail realizes Holly does not even know who Ciara is in first place. "Oh she's the Kristen Stewart clone from that bar the other night."

Holly's smile falters, "Oh. So her name is Ciara? Things getting serious between you two?"

Gail shakes her head, "No, no. Definitely not like that. I don't do dating. She is sort of a friend I guess? I don't hate her as much as other people."

Holly beams a smile, "Oh, that's good… I mean that's good you have a friend like that."

Gail raises an eyebrows and questions what Holly means by her comment. Holly opens her mouth to explain further, but the professor enters the classroom. Holly sighs and turns to focus on professor's monotonous voice as he begins his lecture.

"…And that concludes our class today. Remember you are expected to do your presentations our next class this Friday, so be sure to send me your presentation file before then. Have a nice day."

Gail hurriedly gets up and is about to leave, but Holly softly grasps her forearm to stop her from running away.

"Hey, are you busy right now? I'm thinking we should take the chance to finish our presentation now. I got a serious exam to study for, so I don't really have time after today."

Gail tries to think of any excuse to get out of this situation, but she starts to feel guilty about not taking Holly's schedule in consideration. It's not as if Holly is asking something unreasonable, and Gail does not have anything until this afternoon and it is only 10 in the morning. Gail rolls her eyes at Holly. "Alright. Fine. We can do our presentation… only if I can get coffee and cheese puffs. I'm tired and starving."

Holly smiles at Gail. "My treat. Let's go."

Gail happily shoves cheese puffs in her mouth as she follows Holly to wherever she wants to settle down and work on their presentation. They stroll out of their building and Holly leads them to a shady spot under a large tree. Gail freezes as she realizes it is the same spot where she went when she left the class abruptly last week and Holly comforted her. Gail can't say anything about going to a different place because Holly already made herself comfortable on the ground and took out her laptop and some papers. Gail caves in and makes sure she sits with enough distance away from Holly without being too obvious about it.

"Okay, since our presentation is supposed to be about statistics on types of crimes that occurred in the indigenous communities in Canada, I figure we could find those data through the government websites…"

Gail interferes immediately. "No, I don't trust those statistics! Those often are skewed in order to benefit the government and their actions on indigenous people. Also, the statistics do not always count all crimes that involves the indigenous people. Some may focus only on the crimes that happened on reservations, or the ones where indigenous people are the perpetrators. Not exactly inclusive."

Holly nods. "You probably are right. How do you know all that?"

Gail raises an eyebrow. "Sage, duh."

"Right. I bet you learned a lot from her. Where is she from?"

"She belongs to Chippewa of the Thames. Their lands, or at least what is left of it is near St. Thomas. Probably around two to two and half hours west of here. Don't you guys hang out all the time? I'm surprised you don't know this already."

"Well, she seems to not like to talk about her home much so I don't pry."

"Ah.. Well… she had it tough and a lot of bad things happened to her people. I guess It's not something you talk about in casual conversations."

"Understandable. So how did you meet her? All she told me was that you guys knew each other since high school."

"Yeah, we met in our freshman biology class, but didn't become close until sophomore year. I struggled with coming out and she helped me a lot with that. She was lucky to have parents who understood her. Mine weren't as understanding. It worked out ok in the end. She really saved me after sophomore year though. I pretty much owe her everything."

"Sounds like she is a great friend to have."

"She is. Her family is beyond amazing too. Not a lot of people like me because I can be such a bitch. They didn't care though. I stayed with them for awhile one summer and they treated me just like one of them. I couldn't believe it then and still can't today. I represented everything painful to them and yet they showered me with kindness."

"Painful as in being part of the majority?"

Gail looks at Holly with confusion for a second and realizes Holly has no clue about her role in Brenly's confinement. She is not ready to talk about that so she goes with a vague answer. "You could say that."

Holly nods without pushing for more details, and lets out a deep sigh. "I bet it's nice to have a good parents like that."

Gail frowns her eyebrows, silently asking for further explanation. Holly sadly smiles back at her and takes few moments in silence before going ahead with her explanation.

"I grew up never really know my birth parents. I read in children service's report that they were murdered in a robbery attempt that had gone wrong. I was placed in various foster homes and never really stuck with one until I entered high school. I guess that's why I became so obsessed with my studies. Education was the only constant I had in my life and I just threw myself in books and studied my ass off. I wanted to study medicine but I'm terrible with people so that's why I'm a forensic science major. I can just solve puzzles without having to talk with people."

Gail laughs and Holly pushes Gail's shoulder. "I can understand not wanting to deal with people, Holly. People aren't that great."

Holly smiles at Gail and continues, "The family I lived with during high school were nice though. I was so socially awkward, so we didn't become close or anything like that but they treated me well. They provided me food and shelter. Talked with me about school and things, although I think they never understood why I prefer to study over dating. I played on the softball team, so they went to all of my games. I still stay in touch with them every now and then, but it's not as if they are my true family."

Gail's heart is filled with warmth as she wonders how in the hell is Holly such an amazing person and still sees the good in people even though she had a difficult childhood. She shrugs her shoulders and whispers, "Sometimes family is not all it's cracked up to be, Holly."

Holly looks surprised at Gail's comment.

"I may be related to my family, but I don't feel like I truly fit in. They are a sort of a royalty in law enforcement here. All my parents wanted for my brother and me was to carry the Peck legacy and I felt like I was trained rather than raised. All I knew growing up was laws, how to memorize people's description in seconds, the map of Toronto like back of my hand, and how to survive in wilderness."

Holly burrows her eyebrows. "That must be frustrating, trying to live up to their expectations."

Gail shrugs her shoulder as if it is no big deal to her. Which obviously is not true as it is the major reason behind her prickly shell. She's used to protecting herself from hurt and disappointment.

" I love my brother, but sometimes he doesn't really understand me. He's something like a golden boy and everyone in my family adores him. He does everything right and he recently became a detective. I already gave up on trying to be the perfect daughter and I'm glad Steve took the reigns. I'm tired of the constant pressure. That doesn't stop my mother from trying though."

Holly puts her hand on Gail's shoulder and softly rubs calmness into Gail's pale skin. "Well, I think you're amazing for being who you are. You may put on a callous mask, but you're a good person. You're extremely loyal and you don't take shit from others. You may not know this but I really admire your ability to call out on people for their bullshit. I usually just try to be nice and avoid confrontations. Not you."

Gail braves a look at Holly and becomes enamored by her unwavering stare as Holly continues. "I may not have known you for long, but you're becoming an important person to me now. You and Sage, but especially you. I think you're great just the way you are."

This is too much, Gail thinks to herself. She really wants to remain loyal to Sage and let her have a chance with Holly. She is getting tired of putting others before herself. She is tired of holding herself back for the sake of others. Her original master plan is failing and there is nothing she can do about it. Maybe this time she can be selfish and go for what she truly wants. She wants Holly and her rapid heartbeat serves a dose of courage to her cloudy brain. She takes a deep breath and slowly leans toward Holly, looking down at Holly's lips…