just a light chapter before more action :)
Chapter 12 – Scared of the Future
The time was her arched enemy as Gail was rushing between her real job, ETF and tracking courses, and some plus work whenever there was some serious crime. She was grateful for a proper lunch break she could spend with her girlfriend or any time the two of them could actually see each other.
The blond woman had pretty good idea how Traci must had felt when she was applying for detective rotation taking all the extra work and ETF. On the top of that she had a little boy expecting her at home. Now more than ever the young woman realised what a stupidity it was from her to apply for detective at the last minute.
But these months it was goodbye detective rotation, hello tracking course. A smile cracked on her face as she thought of what her mother would say about her desire to run outside sniffing people. That one idea should become reality sooner than she would expect.
It was one of those tranquil days when the two trackers did a regular job of patrolling when they obtained a distress call not so far from their current position. They arrived to the crime scene where two middle aged woman were shuffling nervously holding their dogs on leads.
"What happened here?" asked Gail.
"Our dogs were playing around when Berry brought a bone," said the smaller sandy hair lady.
"It was a human arm," explained the other woman with a cap on her head and light anorak, and pointed a few feet ahead.
The blond officer had a lot to do to keep her stomach on place. On the ground there was a headless human body in advance state of decomposition. "I am gonna make the calls," she said running away to catch some fresh air. She settled the situation with the police station and took a few deep breaths.
"So what do you see?" asked Priscilla once her partner came back.
"A dead person without a head."
"Oh they do have a head."
"Somewhere."
"Just look around or follow the smell."
"What smell exactly? It is smelly already."
"Yes, but decomposition has a special smell if you follow it you can find the rest. Or look around like a hawk." The younger woman could not see anything no matter how thoroughly she scanned the ground, so she took a deep breath. Immediately she rushed into the nearest bush. "Yup, that is the smell."
The forensics arrived exploring the remains, taking samples and photos. The certain pathologist came to the discussing duo.
"So, what do we have here?" asked Holly.
"A dead person, obviously," snarked the blond officer.
"Young male, supposedly suicide, but the cut across his chest says differently," stated the other police worker.
"When did you find all this?" wondered Gail.
"While you were feeding bugs."
"And where does the supposedly suicide come from?" asked the doctor.
"He was hung."
"How can you say that?" questioned the trainee. "There is no head. He could be beheaded."
"For heaven's sake Peck, when will you learn to look around, all around?!"
At that moment Gail slowly looked up to the tree crown. And really two trees to the left there could be seen a rope and the head which was about to fall any minute. "Gross."
"Hey sniffers," called Sam, "have you found the rest of the body?" The blonde pointed her finger up and the detective followed the direction. "Ohh. Alright, some of you forensic squirrels hop up and then everything to the lab!"
Gail and her companion were marching the corridor down to the pathologist's laboratory when they were bickering about where to spend their lunch break.
"We visited your cub yesterday, now it's my turn to choose our lunch," said the blond constable firmly.
"I am your training officer, my word weights more. Anyway we saw Holly this morning."
"Since she is your best friend, I guess my choice is not that bad."
"It is not, but Mira is still a baby, she needs as much of my attention as I can give her."
"She is six months old," pointed out the younger woman.
"Exactly!"
"You should have made her a pathologist dog or finding-dead-bodies dog, that way we would always have the same goal."
The blonde was about to open the door to the laboratory when Priscilla snatched for her hand and move it away. "You know, just because we have a break does not mean you don't have to pay attention to the world around you." The officer raised her eyebrows quizzically while her partner tilted her head towards the room. "Holly has a visitor," she explained.
Gail leant closer to listen who it might be. When she defined the voice, she rushed in leaving her trainer at the door slamming her forehead hopelessly at the action of her ward. "Mother, what are you doing here?!" she exclaimed.
"Having a conversation with your… friend," replied the elder woman.
"Keep the friends close and enemies even closer," remarked Priscilla, opening the lunch bag. All heads turned her way speechless. She looked up to see their faces and straighten up saluting, "Superintendent."
The youngest of the women turned back to her mother. "What are you really doing here? I doubt it's work related."
"Actually it is. You have not returned any of my calls for weeks and I was wondering why I did not find your application for detective rotation."
"Because I don't feel like being a detective is my call," Gail replied tentatively.
"So what is? Staying in the uniform as a training officer?" asked the elder women doubtfully. "At least your rookie had enough manners to greet the senior officer the proper way, I must leave you that."
A half smile played on the brunette officer's face. She was obviously amused but did not dare to say a word as she was fishing in the lunch bag.
"My rookie?" wondered the younger constable. "Mum, Priscilla is my TO."
The Superintendent looked from one to the other not being able to put together the puzzle. "That kid is your training officer?"
"That kid is older than me," stated Gail tiredly. Some things were doomed to be explained to her mother who was hard to convince that not all her assumptions were correct.
"Yep, I look good," smiled Priscilla, hopped on a table and pulled out a sandwich.
"Why do you need a TO? I haven't heard of any incident that would demote you back to rookie."
It was time to come clear with the truth and somehow the young blonde knew hell was about to break lose.
"I want to join the tracking team," she said plainly.
"You and tracking?" the elder woman shook her head laughing, which was more of disbelief than amusing. "No way. You belong by my side between senior officers. Not running in the streets as a filthy dog."
"Wow," came very sarcastically from the training officer.
The daughter shrugged. "I will do better as a tracker than politician."
"Gail, forests are not your thing!"
"They pretty much are, especially when you used to leave me there and I had to find my own way home."
"WHAT?!" two voices shouted in unison loud enough for the two Pecks to get startled.
"Not even dogs leave their offsprings just like that," growled Priscilla, her eyes turning the familiar blazing green colour in anger. "And I thought I was hard on you when you were not able to look around."
"I hope this is a bad metaphor," the scientist added her comment.
"A mother must do what she must to teach her kid how to survive any situation," proclaimed the senior officer and with her head high she was about to leave. In the door she stopped and turned to her daughter's colleague. "State your name and reference, Constable."
"Priscilla Silver, 7887, Montreal Police department. And since you will do the background check on me anyway you will find the rest there," she said rather coldly. She stood up and saluted her goodbye, "Superintendent." Before the door was closed she sat back on the table, looking at her sandwich without much appetite. "For heaven's sake!"
"Unbelievable," Holly stared at her girlfriend with wide eyes.
"Hey people, thanks for your concern but I turned out alright. I did," insisted the younger police worker but unsuccessfully.
Still in awe the scientist faced her girl. "Gail, I promise when we have kids, I won't let anything like that happen." Before the other woman could say a word she was wrapped in a bear hug.
'When we have kids', did Holly really say when?
The police workers were riding back to the station with the results of the recent murder case, after some long quiet moments Priscilla broke the silence. "Are you afraid your mother can pull some strings and get you out of the tracking?"
"No," replied the blonde. She was not much of talking because her mind was overwhelmed by Holly's comment about potential children.
"So what's up? You have your poker face on, that means you are hiding something."
"It's just… I can't wait to get this all over with and have some me-time. Rest for a while, enjoy the new PlayStation, shoot villains. I guess I am overworked a bit."
"Alright, so I will pretend I have not heard that nonsense and you can try again," commented the brunette.
Gail shot her a quick glance and immediately realised whom she was talking to. A police human dog. She sighed. "I don't want to talk about it." Priscilla coughed. "Do I?" wondered the driver.
"You tell me," said her partner. "When you said 'don't', your heart sped up. You could show me off with 'It is none of your business'."
"Probably I should have." In two minutes the blonde opened up. Priscilla was the closest person to her girlfriend, so it was either her or torture for the younger officer's mind. "Holly said 'when we have kids' not 'if' but 'when'. Does that mean she really wants children one day?"
"Certainly. But after her sister's display, Holly wants to have children just and only with the person she really loves or become a foster parent. She wants them to be planned out of love not as a result of despair or one night stand. So yes, Holly is definitely the motherly type."
And that got Gail completely blown away. She was prepared for some long explanation of who knew what but hearing parts of "Holly wants to have children just and only with the person she really loves" and "When we have kids". It was simple with such a depth that stopped the thoughts of escaping right away but thinking very hard.
"Peck, don't do anything stupid," warned her companion. "Weigh your options well."
And that was another nail that pinned Gail on her place. No running, freaking out but no running… yet.
The young constable loaded herself with as much work as possible, the plus side was that she was getting better at her job but the main reason was to spend as less time as suitable with her beloved pathologist. Whenever she thought about her a children exclamation rang in her head and the more work she had to do to forget. Her action also meant to leave the apartment early in the morning and come late at night. The breaks she spent at the desk doing the annoying paperwork so during working time she could be outside learning new things.
In was another night when Gail came home late, she opened the door quietly nevertheless her favourite doctor was still up sitting in an armchair reading a book.
"Hey, you are still awake," said the officer forcing a smile on her face. She gave her a quick peck and left to the kitchen to pour herself a glass of apple juice and prepare sandwiches. "Do you want some?"
"Hi. No, thanks," Holly replied tiredly. She watched her girlfriend for a while.
"What is it?"
The scientist observed her some more before replying. "Gail, if you ever want to run away, don't disappear without saying a word." The police worker stopped her doing. "I promise I won't force you to stay or anything, just tell me why you are leaving, will you?" The blonde turned around and noticed her girl staying only a few feet in front of her. She nodded. "Good," Holly smiled and kissed her temple. "Goodnight."
The constable was left alone chewing her snack. Was she so obvious that something was not alright? She loved the doctor, she did not want to leave but the question about future kids scared her a lot. She did not consider herself as a marriage material after Nick had left her, but children were something she had never imagined herself linking to.
She took a quick shower and went to bed. She got in and climbed behind her precious girlfriend, hugging her from behind around her chest. She leaned in and kissed her cheek. "I love you, Holly."
The doctor said nothing, but covered the hand around her chest by her own and tangled their fingers together pulling the palm up to kiss it.
Finally Gail had a day off and she was dying for doing something ordinary. Like going shopping with her girl to a grand commercial building.
"So, what are we doing here exactly?" asked the scientist once they entered the store.
"Whatever we want. I am really longing for one normal day." She wrapped her arm around Holly's waist and they browsed the floors.
They were standing in front of a large shop window joking about some pink lingerie when the blonde felt a tug on her shirt. She turned around with frowned face only to lighten up when she noticed who the twelve years old girl was. She bent down with a smile.
"Danielle, hi," she said in sign language. The girl was all excited waving her hands so fast that sometimes the officer had a hard time to catch up but generally the kid was thanking her for saving her grandfather and how happy she was they met again. She also invited them to a playground to spend some time together. Gail politely decline but the girl was persistent. She looked up and signed something to the doctor who threw up her hands shaking her head.
"I don't understand," said Holly slowly and clearly, so the girl pointed to the constable then herself and next to the other side of the floor where the playground with climbing frame was placed. "Oh, sure."
"We are both invited," translated Gail looking down at the speech of the child. "She is here with her grandfather and wants us to join them."
An elderly man came to them and tapped on the shoulder of Danielle, singing fast. He looked up to the two women. "I am sorry, ladies." The girl tugged his hand talking urgently. "Oh. Oh!" he understood and looked back at Gail. "So you are the officer Peck who saved my life." He offered his hand to shake. "Thank you very much."
"Actually, Danielle did. It was her call which sent us to your home. I only did my job."
"And your job saved my life," insisted the man. "The least I can do is inviting you for a cup of coffee or maybe some juice and ice cream."
"Go," said Holly firmly with a smile. "You have fun and I'll do the boring shopping," she winked and pushed the blonde one step closer to the man and his granddaughter. She looked at the kid and pointed to Gail and then the playground. Danielle smiled widely and put her fingers to her lip and then the way of the brunette woman as if blowing a kiss. And just in case she hugged the scientist. Then the girl took the officer's hand pulling her away.
The blonde stopped to suck out her credit card from the purse and handed it over to her partner. "And don't –"
"– forget cheese puffs, yes I know," smiled the scientist. Gail stretched out and placed a quick peck on her cheek before being dragged away. Since they were actually living in Holly's place, the constable insisted on paying for food.
To be honest the officer really enjoyed spending time with the kid. It was nice to meet this brave girl without any death threat hanging around them. Maybe one day in the future she could imagine herself having a child of her own.
They arrived home, settled the last piece of good into its shelf and Gail pressed her girlfriend against the kitchen counter with desire and lust in those cerulean blue eyes.
"I didn't know you can speak ASL," commented the doctor.
"It's my secret to attract girls."
"She was twelve years old."
"I mean the adult girls," she smirked and kissed Holly, roaming her hands over the toned abdomen playing with the jeans.
"Sign something for me," requested the scientist. Gail picked up her little and index finger and the thumb of her right hand. "I rock your world?" guessed the brunette.
The constable started chuckling. "Yeah, that too. This sign actually means 'love'," she explained placing more kisses over the doctor's neck. "Let's have a baby together," she whispered.
"Where does this come from?"
"It came from yours first, remember?" Without much hesitation the blonde captured her lips in a heated make-out session and sneaked her hand down the jeans. Holly moaned and they made the signed love literary on the counter.
Later in bed, the younger woman watched the features of the doctor's face who was relaxing with closed eyes. She smoothed the lose strand of hair. "I was scared lately," admitted Gail. "I was never the motherly type and when you said 'when we have kids', I totally freaked out."
"I am sorry, I should have thought better before saying something like that."
"No. Yes. Maybe. I mean… I was being stupid. It's actually very flattering that you want to raise a child with me. You made me promise to talk about feelings if I wanted to leave –and believe me I don't. It's just that sometimes I freak out and need time to figure it all out. You promise me to never give up on me."
Holly turned her head and opened her eyes to look straight to those lovely clear ones. "I won't give up on you. I love you, Gail." She leaned in and captured their lips together. "Anyway you might change that idea when you meet my nephew next weekend."
"What is happening next weekend," wondered the younger woman.
"My mother's birthday."
"And you want me to come along?! Are you sure?"
"Of course. It's high time to do it. I already met your parents."
"Yes, well, you are great with people. I am socially awkward. I might say something mean or rude and screw us up and I don't want to screw us up. Can't we celebrate her birthday when we are solid rock with ten children around so it won't be so easy to separate us or –" Holly stopped her their usual way.
"Relax. You have met my mum. And you know me and Priscilla so that means you are already familiar with half of my family."
thank you!
let's meet the Stewarts next chapter :)