let's get a little bit angst

Chapter 15 – More Drama to Come

Gail moaned. She felt sore with itching shoulder. What happened? Was it just a bad dream? It must have. She felt a nudge on her left arm and she turned her head that way, opening her eyes.

"What the bloody hell are you doing here?" asked Priscilla.

"Give me a minute to realise where I am. Is it heaven or hell? Wait, are we really dead?"

Another hit followed the first one. "This is not a joke."

"I am not joking. You were almost dead and I got shot."

"Come on, wake up, wake up!"

The younger woman sat up, rubbed her eyes and looked around. She was in a hospital room with her working partner lying on the next bed. They were both alive, breathing and kicking. She let out a long blow of air she had not known she held. Her left shoulder felt weird, other than that she was fine. Well, alive, her head was a complete mess.

The door opened and Holly came in, her hands deep in the pockets of her coat. She looked from one to another with serious expression. "You two are both nuts. I just don't know who is more."

The two officers looked at each other and pointed the other's direction. However the doctor was furious and even raised her voice. "Priscilla, you messed up with a shaman. I know you don't believe in higher powers but evil always finds its way out like you becoming a lycan or an eagle snatching you and taking you into deep woods after dropping a dead body on our house. Sometimes curses really work, you see?!
"And you Gail, you ran out fulfilling your police duty, even though you were off-duty, without a backup! And then when you came back alive you just had to jump in front of a bullet! What the hell were you thinking?!"

"I am a police officer and have to protect citizens?" offered the blond woman.

"You could be dead!"

"It would be either me or you father, so don't be upset at me!"

"Oh I am upset and freaking out! I could lose both of you in one night! Like it's not enough that my brother-in-law is dead, killed by my obsessive ex!" She sat down exhausted on a chair between the two beds.

"Pst, you ran after me without any backup?!" scolded Priscilla her colleague. "Haven't I taught you about safety?"

"I had my Kevlar vest and weapon."

"And yet you got shot?!"

"That was after I took it off. I really did not expect to be shot at home."

"What a way to impress your in-laws."

"Oh shut it."

"Holly, how do we look anyway?" asked the wavy haired brunette.

"Hello, nice to see you finally noticed me," uttered the doctor.

"Honey, we are fine now, alive. I feel your anger and you have all the rights in the world to yell at us, it was irresponsible from both of us. I myself have no idea if I should be pissed or pleased," said Priscilla looking significantly at her trainee.

"Wait… now you are going to tell me, you would take care of yourself, because you are the master of the alpha and wolves would protect you."

"Well, it is truth."

"Uh huh. Let's work on little details… you were drugged, vomited like every ten feet, totally dehydrated, in critical condition of blood loss, your mind was working on autopilot and I bet you don't even remember most of the night. Finding out you were the super-alpha was a pure luck, because the wolves tried to attack us at first. I'm pretty sure you had no idea, because if you did, you would show yourself before to prevent any danger and not act during the danger. Oh, also, someone had to drag you out of the woods otherwise you would be deep who-knows-where while the drug would be spreading through your system like venom." The two brunettes stared at her, one in disbelief and the other offendedly-embarrassed. "Try to tell me again you would be just fine."

"I am your training officer. I am supposed to protect you, not expose you to danger," whined Priscilla.

"And I am a tracker, I had to do my job."

"And I am your best friend and girlfriend and almost had a heart attack," barked the scientist angrily.

"Sorry. So when can we go home?" asked hopefully the oldest of the trio.

"You should be free in the morning. Although you are on a diet until your body is in full force to deal with normal meal and meat," said the doctor. Her friend's face faded into a sad frown. "You Gail, will lie here some more. The bullet hit your vein so the doctors want to make sure the wound is healing properly without any complications."

"Then let me help," smiled the brunette police worker. She hopped off the bed and almost fell down due to the low blood pressure. Holly managed to take her under her arm as the patient swayed. "Alright, not so fast. Anyway, let me freak you out some more." She smiled mischievously and came to the blonde.

"What are you going to do?" asked Gail suspiciously.

"Help you heal. It's Mum's birthday, we cannot spend the weekend at the hospital when we have three doctors in the house." She came to Gail and uncovered the injured shoulder squinting at it. "Speaking of them, how are they doing?" she asked the scientist while looking around for something.

"Dad, Meredith and Tom were taken to the police station. Tom is still in shock as the gun really went off and Meredith is shocked that Thomas is dead and why he possessed a weapon. Even though she is good at talking, her scientifically psychologically explanation is very lousy, and Dad is there to take care of the law part. Mum is waiting outside of here, she did not want to stay home alone," said the doctor while watching her friend intensely. "Pris, what are you trying to do?"

The other women bent down and winced in pain. "Ouch." She picked up her now bleeding palm and slammed it against Gail's injury.

The blonde yelped in pain. "What the hell?!" She tried to squirm but was held tightly. "I really don't want your dog's blood in me."

"Maybe you will obtain super hearing and smell," commented the older police worker sardonically. "Relax, I am helping with fast healing, so we both could go home in the morning."

"Pris, you know the speed of self-regeneration depends on the patient's liver and blood cells, right?" asked the scientist doubtfully.

"Yes, honey, I managed to pass advance Biology pretty well. I just thought that I might help sending some of my healing cells into this lunatic here. You know, to increase the number of thrombocytes, so the wound would close itself faster."

"If it was so easy, we would do that on daily basis."

"Hey, I am a freak already, so let me have some freaking cool abilities with freaky improved healing. It is worth trying."

"As long as you don't get me in a blood shock, or how do you nerds call it when the body refuses transplanted blood," commented Gail not very fond of the idea.

"Priscilla is 0 blood type, so you are safe," smiled the doctor. "The worse that might happen is nothing."

"Sweet," snarked the blonde rolling her eyes. "What about infection."

"Because of the morphine, I was completely detoxed. I am better than new," stated the police worker. "Now shut up and pray that my magic works. Unless you want to spend the next two days at the hospital."

"I hate hospitals."

About twenty minutes later Mrs Stewart joined them. She was shy, sitting on a chair by the exit and it looked like she was not even paying any attention to them. She was deep in her own thoughts very far away from reality.

In the morning the doctors inspected Gail's injury for more than half an hour trying to find out anything that could be wrong. It was itchy and hurt on touch, but by that time it looked like any deep injury that was freshly healed with soft sensitive pink skin.

Still in disbelief they let the constable out with a bandage and the two patients could pack –well get dressed and ready to leave.

They were waiting for Holly to pick them up in the waiting room. Priscilla played with her fingers looking down. "How… how do I get over it?" she asked in a whisper.

"What do you mean?" this time it was the blonde's turn to wonder. There were so many events of the previous day that it was hard to distinct which one they were supposed to talk about.

"Killing a human being."

"Pris," the younger woman was lost for words. There was not much that could help and one advice sounded worse than the other, particularly when Gail herself had been in that position. "Look at it this way: several cold cases are solved, the culprit is not able to cause more harm and you have answers about your condition."

"No kill is worth it. No dead is deserved."

"You did what you must to protect us. There was no other way out of it. If it wasn't you, I would shoot her. And we both know you wouldn't allow that to happen again so soon," the younger woman raised the eyebrows challenging her friend to protest. The other police worker kept silent. "You will have your better and worse times like nightmares and such. Just have a run, take cold shower and sleep it off. Herbs can help too." Suddenly she was wrapped in a tight bear hug. "This is not how I communicate," rasped Gail.

"I know, but I need it."

The blonde sighed and returned the gesture smoothing the back. Priscilla winced as a really deep scratched was touched. "Sorry. Are you alright?"

"Bloody talons. That bird almost pierced them through me."

An hour later Holly picked up the two police women and they headed home where the hero of the day was wrapped in another hug by the parents. She dug her fingernails into her leg to distribute the pain from her squeezed injured shoulder somewhere else.

"Oh Gail, my God, what have you done?" sobbed Mr Stewart. "You saved my life. You stupid girl, you could be killed for me. You have a long life to live and not die for an old man you have known for a few hours…" The poor man continued thanking and scolding her at the same time.

"We are fine," whispered the young officer. "We are all –" she stopped herself realising that nonetheless there was one man down. "It will be fine," she finished the sentence sadly. Someone put their hands on her waist from behind and she was very sure it was not Holly because this person was shorter.

"He is right," came a voice next to her ear barely above a whisper. "You were being stupid, you had no backup and could be killed. Yet I am proud of you. Actions like these, when no one can see them, they prove the true character. Although from now on, you will not take off the bulletproof vest."

The blond officer moaned. "It will be hard to have sex in that," she said that very quietly more to herself than anyone particular. Priscilla chuckled and slapped her left hip. As unnoticed as she came, she left.

Finally Gail was released from the family hug. Mrs Stewart went to prepare breakfast, her husband behind her with his head down.

Not very gently the constable was slammed back against a wall. Holly had her hand on her chest, she was shaking, tears rolling down her face. She tapped their foreheads together, sobbing. "Thank you," she peeped out. One look into those watery deep chocolate eyes and Gail knew all the answers behind the sentence. The blonde did not feel any special, she was a trained tracker and she had to find a missing person, also she was a police officer and her purpose was to serve and protect, so she shielded a man from being killed.

"I just did my job."

"But your job saved two very important persons in my life."

The police woman raised her uninjured arm and stroked her girlfriend's silk hair. She bent her head and kissed her deeply. There were storms of emotions in both of their bodies and the heated make‑out was the release of at least some of the tension.

"Hunger has many faces," noted the other officer leaning against the door jamb.

The two women startled and the scientist accidentally bit her partner's lower lip. "Shit, I am sorry," she whispered breathlessly.

"Let's fill our stomachs. After running in the forest and spending the night at the hospital I am longing for real food, don't you?" commented Priscilla turning around and disappearing back to the kitchen.

What a crazy weekend, first the constable had a black-eye from a voodoo witch, then being shot by a five years old boy and to the top of that, bitten by her own girlfriend.

The Toronto women stayed until after lunch, talking about the recent events trying to find any explanation in the chaos. The older couple needed at least some comfort for their minds. Their youngest daughter's husband was murdered, foster-daughter kidnapped and poisoned, and a girlfriend of their older daughter shot, all this happened within hours. Naturally their heads were full of bad moods, seeing everything in dark colours.

With heavy hearts the three young women left the parents' house and headed home. Their drive took longer than usual, obviously the freshly cleaned lycan's body was still too weak to deal with daily toxins, like additives in food and city air. She asked her friend to take care of her baggage and leave her and the wolf at the skirt of the city in the forest. Also it gave her a great opportunity to spend some time alone and settle the heavy thoughts about taking a human's life.

The couple arrived home in silence, took shower and went to bed, however the sleep was not coming to either of them. Fortunately it was the other arm with the bullet injury, so Gail could turn on her usual side facing her girlfriend who was lying on the back staring at the ceiling. The younger woman ran her fingers over the soft skin of her jaw until the doctor opened her eyes looking straight at her. Gail leaned in and captured those inviting lips. "Make love to me," she whispered.

"But your shoulder –"

The constable shook her head. "It's alright."

Holly turned around and hovered over her partner. She watched the petite body under her and slowly traced her hand from head to abdomen, sneaking her hand under the sleeping t‑shit and moving up followed by kisses on the newly exposed skin.

They made love slowly and gently, there was no passion this time, only sadness, maybe regrets, love, devotion. Their breaths created a bittersweet symphony of their acts.

Holly took four days off to attend her brother-in-law's funeral while both officers were placed on desk duty. The life went on, work went on.

The scientist returned back and Gail could swear something was wrong. She picked her girlfriend from work and they went home, but her feeling or maybe instinct said there was something off place. What was it?

"Holly, what is wrong?" asked the police worker when they were in the lift.

"Everything," whispered the other woman.

"It was not the best week for neither of us, but we must go on. Together." She smiled but nothing changed in the doctor's face. They stood in front of their door and Holly could not find the keys, so the blonde offered hers. Yes, something was not in order. Gail watched her beloved person struggle with the lock and then victoriously opening the entrance.

What a surprise it was for the young woman to see boxes prepared next to the main door.

"Holly, what the hell –"

"You have to leave," said the doctor quietly holding her tears back.

"Why?" Suddenly two men appeared behind her. "Dad, Steve, what are you doing here?"

"Helping you to move out," explained the younger man.

"No, no!" The blonde turned back to her girlfriend who leaned against the kitchen isle devastated. "Holly, what is going on? What is wrong? Why are you kicking me out?" asked the police woman confused and desperate. She came close and put her hands on her girl's hips. "Explain this to me!"

"You have to go," repeated the doctor. "You must leave me." She looked up clenching the desk of the counter. "The Stewarts girls are cursed and I won't let the history repeat."

"What?" she was at the edge of tears herself.

"You must leave me, Gail. You must leave me to keep yourself alive. It was a warning. I wouldn't be able to stand it if you died, Gail, not you too. I love you and because of that you must go. Keep yourself far away from me, keep yourself safe."

"Holly, you are mumbling nonsense."

"Don't say! It is true. Get away from me."

"No!"

The doctor captured her lips, deeply, desperately. She was kissing her hard as they moved. Gail would feel the impact of a wall any seconds now. Instead she was pressed against something metal. Holly still had her tongue deep in her mouth so the blonde could not do or say anything. When the scientist pulled away, she turned around and slammed the entrance door shut. The officer was left outside of the apartment, confused, surprised and disoriented, pressed against the lift.

"Let's go home, honey," said her father holding two of her boxes.

"What the hell was that about?" burst out the woman.

"We don't know," said her brother sadly. "Holly called asking me to move out your things."

"But why?"

"She did not say."

Later that night the blond constable lied in the bed at her old home, trying to find any sense about Holly's behaviour. What was she talking about? What curse, what history repeated itself? She tried to reach her dear pathologist, but no luck. Not even Priscilla was picking up the phone at her flat, but that was nothing unusual. She left message, hoping that her colleague would ring her soon.

Next day Gail was frantically looking for her friend in the precinct but she was nowhere to be found. She stopped her boss in the hallways.

"Staff, I am sorry, but do you know where Silver is?"

"She is in 11th division, they have some missing persons on the list and need her help."

"Would it be stupid to ask when she is back?"

"Yes."

"Who is my training officer then?"

"Peck, you are out of tracking," stated the chocolate skinned man looking at her like she had two heads.

"WHAT?! Since when?" she returned the same look.

"Monday morning your mother called on your behalf and excluded you from any more tracking lessons."

"No way!" they young officer was about to burst out. "I signed myself in and only I will sign myself out. Sir, you better get me back in. No one has the right to mess with my job and my field of expertise, not even my mother. The last case only proved I am good at it. So cancel this dismissing shit, understood?"

"When have we switched roles?" asked the Staff Sergeant surprised.

"And I am taking a day off, I need to talk to a certain Superintendent urgently," she said and headed to the locker rooms to get change back to civil clothes.

The older man stood there frozen on the spot, dark eyes wide as plates. It was the second time he saw this officer so passionate about her work. He cracked a smile and pride filled his chest. Sometimes it was necessarily to stand up against the superiors. He went to his office to get the work done.

Gail stormed into her mother's office work place not paying attention to any manners. She opened the door with imaginary steam rising from her ears. "What the hell, Mother?"

"Darling, this is not the way to greet your mummy and superior."

"I am in civil for a reason. Now stop darling me and listen, I will continue my tracking course if you like it or not. This was the last time you dared to mess with my life. I am not your political tool, I am not a doll. I can stand on my own feet. I can make decisions for myself and tracking is my passion. If you mess with my career or even personal life once more I am leaving Toronto. You are not the only connection in law enforcement I have. And Toronto is not the whole world."

"Honey, what are you talking about?"

"That I want to live my own life without you always interfering."

"I want only the best for you. Obviously the tracking almost got you killed."

"And here I thought you would be proud of me having a war wound."

"Gail, I want you to show some Peck genes and do a good job, not to get yourself killed."

"Then let me do it my own way and make my own mistakes. Let me be who I want to be and not who you want me to be. I am not your dog to listen to your orders. I am your daughter." She slammed the door closed and left. The next stop was the morgue.

"I am sorry Miss, but I can't let you in," said the new guard.

"Do you know who I am? I am a police officer!"

"I know Miss Peck, but Dr Stewart does not wish for your visits. If you have evidence, please give it to the courier or leave it at the reception."

"You must be kidding me?!"

"I am sorry, I have my orders."

"DAMMIT!" shouted the blonde in despair and practically ran to the park. The anger shook her whole body and she needed to get it out.

She was physically and mentally tired. Once she got home she took a long shower letting her tears out. At the end Holly left her too. The only person she really loved, left her. She lied on the floor, listening to radio where none better song than 'Against All Odds' was being played, blackness surrounded the room and her mind was overwhelmed. She felt anger and denial. This could not be happening to her again. She had changed, she knew she had changed since the time she started going out with the doctor. Gail was not the reason of their break-up, but what or who was?

thank you for your interest and still reading!