Thank you all for being so patient with me. Fear not, I still have every intention of finishing this story. I'm hoping to get back to being more regular with updates. Enjoy.

Chapter Seven

Gail woke up feeling as exhausted as she had when she had fallen asleep, she was on the couch with one of Holly's throw blankets kicked towards her feet. It seemed appropriate that she be sleeping on the couch given the dog house that she had found herself in. There was a familiar, warming aroma of coffee filling the downstairs that greeted her as she stumbled into the kitchen. But resting against the coffee pot was a bright yellow post-it note.

Lock up when you leave.

Have a Nice Day

H

Somehow the words written stung more because they were kind. She could tell in the subtext of Holly's note that her girlfriend was still angry. Not that she blamed her girlfriend for being angry. She'd betrayed Holly's trust in the worst ways, she'd done what she always does in relationships and sabotaged it. She could only hope that she could fix it.

Pulling out her phone Gail texted out a brief message. She knew better than to call Holly, reaching out like that would not be what Holly wanted. But that didn't mean that she didn't want to let Holly know that she was thinking about her.

Gail Peck 7:14am – I love you.

It was a low blow and Gail tried to justify to herself that it was an okay thing to send. Because it was the only thing that she knew Holly would respond too. It was one of their unspoken rules. Since the first time they'd exchanged 'I love you's' if one of them said it then the other said it back. Even when they were fighting.

Holly Stewart 7:16am – Me too.

"Ouch." Gail whispered to herself looking down at her phone before tossing it onto the counter.

Holly looked down at the coffee that had been placed in front of her, and then turned her attention back towards Thomas. At least her brother had the decency to look ashamed. He'd known why she was there before she had even told him. Now they'd sat in silence for several minutes, he was waiting for her to rip into him. Not to say that he didn't deserve it.

"You're mad." Thomas stated, figuring that starting with the obvious would be a good way to break the silence.

"You told Gail things about my past that you shouldn't have. You helped her go behind my back in this. Of course I'm mad." Holly said pinning Thomas with a glare. He'd always envied her ability to glare, if she'd turned to law enforcement there wouldn't have been a single criminal that could withstand her gaze for long.

"She was worried about you and one of her superior officers told her to look into your past. She asked me where she should start."

"And you should have told her to come to me!" Holly shouted, her voice echoing in Thomas's kitchen.

"I know I should have. But as I told her, I didn't want to bring up all of the things that you've tried so hard to move past."

"I'm not made of glass Thomas. I lived through my past."

"Yeah barely. I was there remember?" Holly stumbled, he was right. The tidbit of what he gave Gail to go on was only a part of a bigger picture.

"So I should just forgive her? Or you for that matter? If she'd just asked me then I could have explained it my way. Not having to deal with my past suddenly showing up." Holly said defeated. Thomas reached over and covered his sister's hand. He felt bad and she knew that. But that didn't solve the fact that Holly's past had just shown up.

"I'm as guilty as Gail is."

"I know." Holly said pulling her hand away from his and standing up. Giving him one last look before turning and leaving the kitchen.

She was half way to her car when her phone rang. The number popped up on her phone as the lab.

"Dr. Stewart." Holly greeted. Getting into her car Holly waited to start the engine.

"You know most people don't answer their work phone when it's their day off." Holly heard Zach's voice through the line, she could hear his smile.

"You know I have all of my work calls forwarded to my personal phone. And if you're calling me then that means that my day off has turned into a work day. What's up?" Holly glanced into her back seat. She always kept a spare forensics kit in her car in case she got called into work from home. It saved her a trip to the lab.

"Charles wants you at the lab. There have been some developments."

"I'll be there in 20 minutes."

Gail walked into the locker room before her shift, the room was already occupied by her friends and somehow seeing them compounded the guilt that she was feeling for how things were with Holly. Her demeanor was obvious to her friends as she walked in, opening her locker with a loud slam and pulling out her uniform. They all shared glances, silently debating who was going to ask if Gail was alright.

"Gail? You okay?" Traci asked, she was the most sure that Gail wouldn't have her usual hostile reaction.

"Holly is mad at me." Gail answered vaguely. Looking around the locker room expecting judgment from them. She didn't know what to expect from the fact that she didn't see any judgment, just understanding.

"Did you fight?"

"I wished we had. Instead she left this in the kitchen for me." Gail stuck the post-it against the locker next to Traci.

"She told you to have a good day." The confusion was clear in Traci's voice.

"She never tells me to have a good day. She always tells me to be careful, or to be nice to you guys. She has never once told me to have a good day." Gail explained. She knew that her friends might not understand the complexities of her relationship with Holly, but it was significant. Where they might see Holly's note as being the usual compassionate and loving self, Gail saw it as her girlfriend being cold.

"Did you apologize?" Andy asked, they'd come a long way towards mending their friendship. But she wasn't sure if they were at the point where she could ask something like that to Gail.

"I did. And you know how hard it is for me to apologize."

"She knows you're sorry Gail, maybe she just needs time." Chloe offered.

"And I want to give her time but it would also be really nice to know that my relationship isn't going to end either." Gail sighed closing her locker and leaning against it defeated. Before anyone could offer any more advice Traci's phone buzzed drawing their attention to the device.

"Damn." Traci mumbled.

"What's up?"

"You're day is about to get a whole lot worse. Your mom is in the parade room, she's demanding all of us. Now." Traci said leading them out of the locker room.

Gail was the last one to enter the parade room, she could see her mother standing at the front of the room talking to Frank and Luke. Once they were all in the door closed and Elaine turned her attention to the band of younger officers.

"Six bodies, no suspects, no leads, someone better explain to me how that is possible." Elaine stated, her voice harsh and unforgiving. Gail felt like she was a little girl again getting scolded for not being good enough.

"Ma'am we're looking, there just aren't any leads." Traci offered bravely.

"So what you're telling me Detective is that a serial killer is better than what is supposed to be the best Division in Toronto? I really hope that isn't what you're telling me."

"No ma'am. But we can't narrow down a suspect list when there isn't any physical evidence. We've run down every lead and we've come up with nothing. We've exhausted most of our options until the killer makes a mistake."

"And is that what we're supposed to tell the victim's families? That their loved one is dead because the killer was too smart for us?" Elaine pinned Traci with her glare, it was a test to see if Traci would back down. Gail knew that glare well.

"With all due respect we're doing the best we can." Traci wasn't going to back down, she was going to stick to her guns because she knew that everyone was doing everything they could, working on and off the clock.

"Where are we at with Dr. Stewart?" Gail's head turned so fast she almost gave herself whiplash.

"What do you mean?"

"It's clear that she has something to do with this. So, where are we at with determining if she is either a suspect or if she is a potential victim?" Gail had to physically bite her lip to keep from saying something that would either get her backhanded or get her in trouble professionally for cussing out a superior officer. She was very aware that everyone was glancing at her, expecting a response but she wasn't going to give them one.

"Dr. Stewart is not a suspect in this investigation." Luke offered.

"Well, this perp definitely has an affinity towards her. So, where are we at finding out what that is?"

"We've looked into her past, looking for anyone who might be holding a grudge or might be trying to make a point. So far we haven't come up with anyone."

"How about people she knows now?"

"She hangs out with cops, her friends are doctors with no priors and no motives."

"Well I have a meeting with her later so we'll see. Until then, I want us to handle this as if Dr. Stewart is a potential victim. Whoever is doing this is trying to get her attention." Elaine looked to Frank for his agreement, he offered no objection.

Gail looked at her mother, wishing that she could express silently the scathing thoughts that suddenly had bursting in her mind. She wanted to think that her mother wasn't this devious. To set up a meeting with her girlfriend so that Gail wouldn't be there to play buffer between the two of them. Gail wanted to think that her mother wouldn't use an occasion such as this to meet Holly and provide her own judgments on her and Holly's relationship. It was true that Gail had been trying to keep her mother from Holly as much as possible.

The meeting began to dissolve shortly after that, but Gail made a bee line for her mother. Wanting to confront the older woman in hopes that she might glean some idea as to what Elaine wanted to talk to Holly about.

"Why are you meeting with Holly?" Gail demanded in a hushed voice, Elaine looked at her daughter and saw the fire of defiance behind sky blue eyes. Gail had slowly gotten better at standing up to her mother. Growing the backbone that Elaine had insisted she should have "as a Peck".

"As a part of the investigation Gail." Elaine answered as if it were obvious.

"So this has nothing to do with the fact that she and I are in a relationship and you have been insisting that you meet her?" Gail accused. Elaine tried to look shocked but Gail saw right through it, Elaine was playing innocent but Gail knew that Elaine's motives weren't as noble as she thought they'd be.

"I'm going to speak with Dr. Stewart about a case that she is working on. Whatever else we might discuss is between us."

"Mother, please don't do this." Gail was begging, actually honest to God pleading with Elaine not to do this. With her relationship with Holly already on thin ice the last thing she needed to do was send her wrecking-ball of a mother in and dash whatever hope she would have to fix things.

"Gail I don't know what you're so worried about. I've already given you my support of this…relationship you have. I don't intend on sabotaging or whatever it is you think that I'll be doing. I need to speak with Dr. Stewart, one professional to another. And I intend on keeping it that way." Elaine said. And Gail thought for the first time her mom might be telling her the truth. She wanted to think that for once in her life her mom might actually be supportive of something that was important to her.

"I'm sorry, Holly means a lot to me."

"I can tell. We'll keep her safe Gail." Elaine promised before she left her daughter standing flabbergasted as she returned to talk to Frank.

"Absolutely not." Holly exclaimed firmly, looking around the large office at the two others that were looking at her. She could tell that her outburst surprised them but she didn't feel bad. She wasn't going to let her entire life get uprooted any more than it already had, and having a uniformed officer following her 24/7 was not something that she would accept.

"It's for your protection." Elaine tried to reason.

"I don't want to waste resources that could be used catching whoever is doing this. Don't you think that if I was his target then he would have come after me already?"

"Holly, we're worried. Whoever is doing this has a fixation on you and you don't seem to want to accept that. I am insisting that you have this protection. They can stay outside, in an unmarked car if you want. As unobtrusive as possible, someone from 15 Division that you know." Charles placated looking between Holly and Elaine.

"Do I even have a choice in this? Are you guys asking me or telling me that I'm going to have a police officer parked outside my house every night?" Holly demanded standing up, she needed to move she couldn't just sit while they told her that she had no choice in who was going to intrude into her life. She enjoyed her friendship with the officers of 15 Division. But she wanted to keep it that way, social. Not professional.

"As of right now, I'm insisting as your superior that you accept the protection detail being offered to you." Charles said firmly. He hated pulling rank with Holly, knowing that if she wanted it she could easily have his job. Besides, that they were more than just colleagues, he hoped that after so long working together they were also friends. And he was worried. Holly was incredibly stubborn, and driven by work even if she was willing to sacrifice her own safety for it.

"I'm dating a cop. Isn't that enough?" Holly hadn't wanted to bring up her relationship to Gail because of Elaine. She still didn't know how Elaine really felt about their relationship and she didn't want to flaunt it.

"Gail has been spoken too, she's being given special clearance to bring her service weapon home with her after her shift. But, as you say, she's your girlfriend. When she comes to your home she's off duty. There needs to be someone that can retain that sense of vigilance." Elaine explained calmly. Holly looked away, swallowing her anger knowing that it wouldn't do any good.

"Fine."

"If I could, I'd like to speak alone with Dr. Stewart."

Holly watched Charles leave and then sat down on the chair opposite of Elaine. For several long moments the two women were locked in a silent stand-off. So much that both of them wanted to say.

"I wish that our meeting had happened under better circumstances." Elaine finally broke the silence.

"Me too."

"I'm sorry this is happening." Holly stared at this woman that most people had warned her was about as warm and caring as an arctic winter. But now Elaine seemed genuinely concerned.

"Me too."

"Look, I had promised myself that I would keep this professional but knowing my daughter I don't know when you and I will actually see each other again I just have to say, I know that Gail and I have a tumultuous past, and that is putting it lightly. I've done a lot of things I'm not proud of but I love my daughter and she loves you. I've never seen her like this before in fact. And I just want you to know that my husband and I support your relationship." It seemed like Elaine struggled with her confession. Holly guessed that it was because Elaine was not used to making such gestures.

"Thank you."

"Well, I'll let you get back to work."

"Who is taking the first shift watching over me?" Holly asked as Elaine was about to leave.

"Officer Shaw has volunteered."

Holly was mildly relieved that it was Oliver, she and Oliver had gotten closer since they'd first talked about Gail. And Holly knew how much Oliver meant to Gail.

The rest of the day passed by uneventfully, Holly practically hid in her office working on paperwork and trying to keep her mind off of the cluster fuck that her life had become. She was still so angry at Gail for what she'd done, and she felt betrayed and the betrayal was sickening. Even as she tried to reason with herself, explain to herself logically that she knew that Gail wasn't always the best when it came to handling things about relationships. Gail handled a situation wrong but she shouldn't be punished forever for it. But every time Holly was sure that she should just forgive Gail, that right now she could shelf her anger because she needed her girlfriend, she remembered the way the invasion of privacy felt. Remembered how horrified she was that Gail had contacted other people trying to find information about her past.

"Boss?" Holly looked up, shaken out of her thoughts by Zach hovering just inside her door. He'd knocked but she had been so lost in thought that she hadn't heard him.

"Hey Zach, what's up?" Holly asked forcing a smile.

"Is everything okay? You've been off today."

"I don't even know how to answer that question." Holly said with a humorless chuckle looking up at Zach and seeing his face fall.

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Not really."

"I'm here if you change your mind. But you should go home it's after six." Holly looked at the clock on her computer and saw that it was indeed already after six. She was supposed to be home an hour ago.

"Thanks Zach."

"Also, Officer Shaw is in the lobby waiting for you."

Holly stood and collected her things before she followed Zach out of her office and locked the door behind her. Oliver greeted Holly with his usual smile and Holly couldn't help but return it.

"Hey Doc, you ready to get out of here?"

"Yup. I'll see you tomorrow Zach."

"Tomorrow is your day off." Zach reminded her.

"Still, I'll likely see you tomorrow."

Thankfully, Oliver didn't press conversation as they walked out to the parking lot. He'd parked his squad car right next to her car. But she could tell that he knew what was going on between her and Gail, not only was he pretty good at his job but Gail confided in Oliver. She felt comfortable telling him things that she would never tell anyone else. There was no way that he didn't know about the fight.

"So I'll follow you home then?"

"Sure."

"Gail said she'd head over when she was off shift. Should be any minute now did you want to swing by 15 and pick her up?" Oliver asked, testing the waters to see how mad Holly still was.

"You can if you want. I'm going home." Holly answered quickly. Oliver had to fight to conceal a wince at the harshness of her tone. He knew that she was still mad, but he had hoped that she might have calmed down a little bit.

"Look Doc, I know that Gail screwed up but-."

"Oliver, I know what you're trying to say but I'm going to ask you to not." Holly requested.

"Yeah okay." He said awkwardly.

"And you aren't staying in your car tonight. I have a very comfy guest room." Holly insisted.

"Thanks Doc." They both knew that Oliver had no intention of leaving his car that night.

"Sure."

It wasn't until she was halfway home that she realized that she had offered Oliver the guest room, the one that she had banished Gail to during their fight. Which meant that Gail would either have to sleep on the couch or Holly would have to invite her back to their bed. It pleased Holly that the thought of telling Gail not to come over had never crossed her mind. It gave her hope.

Gail beat them to Holly's, she was waiting outside for Holly to come and unlock the door. Despite the fact that Gail spent most of her time at Holly's she still hadn't given Gail a key. She might have considered it if this fight hadn't happened. It was the first time that day that Holly laid eyes on Gail and Holly had to admit that Gail didn't look that great. She looked like she'd barely slept.

"Hey." Gail greeted cautiously. Testing Holly's mood and her anger level with a simple greeting.

"Hey." It took a minute for Holly to realize that Oliver hadn't followed up to the door. He was still in the squad car parked on the street trying desperately not to look their direction. He was trying to give them privacy.

"Uh…I didn't know if you wanted me to come over tonight. But, well I…I wanted to see you and I know that you met with my mom today and I'm really sorry that happened. She said she was insisting on protection detail for you and I didn't want to leave you alone. You can send me away if you want, I don't want you to do that I want to stay here with you but I understand if you're still mad." Gail rambled, though normally that was Holly's thing.

"It's fine Gail." Holly replied unlocking the door and walking in.

"You told me to have a good day." Gail blurted out, it stopped Holly in her tracks, because it seemed so random and Gail hadn't even meant to bring it up but it had been burning on her mind all day.

"That's what people do Gail." Holly said continuing into the town home, turning on lights before she turned to face Gail.

"That's not what we do."

"Maybe I'm trying something new."

"You're pissed. I get it Holly. I fucked up and I don't know how to fix what I've done. Please tell me how to fix this because it's killing me. I hurt you, and I betrayed your trust, I know that and I am so goddamn sorry for that. I messed up. And I can't even blame it on being emotionally retarded. But I am begging you tell me how to fix this. Please." Gail begged, if she thought it'd help she would be on her knees. She couldn't stand having Holly mad at her, having Holly withdraw from her as completely as she had. It was such a heartfelt plea that Holly really wanted to give in. She needed Gail too, she wanted Gail to be there to help keep her from falling apart.

"It's not something that can be fixed Gail. It happened and we can't pretend that it didn't."

"I know."

"My past is, it's mine to decide when I tell you about it. If you wanted to know you should have asked me, if Luke wanted to know he should have asked me instead of using you as his instrument. But you should have known that if you wanted answers you should have come to me and I would have given them too you. I wasn't trying to keep it from you. You didn't even give me a chance." Holly said wanting Gail to understand exactly why she was mad.

"Thomas told me that it was painful for you and I didn't want to bring it all back up for you."

"Painful sure, there is a lot that had happened in my past that I don't want to remember. But that doesn't mean I'm going to break at the mention of it. My first girlfriend cheated on me, yeah it sucked. It really sucked and it messed me up for a really long time. I was an awkward kid in school because I was always the youngest and people didn't know what to do with me. The part of this that bothers me most Gail, that hurts the most, is that I would have told you. Anything. All you had to do was ask."

"Holly…"

"Don't apologize again Gail. I know you're sorry. And I wish that it made it better."

"I'll make this right Holly. I promise. I'll do whatever it takes."

"Go tell Oliver to come inside. I'm ordering pizza." Holly said picking up her phone and dialing the number to their favorite pizza place while Gail did as she was asked. For the most part the evening passed without any more drama. Once Oliver came in it gave the two of them something else to focus on. It didn't stop Gail from looking at Holly whenever she thought no one was paying attention.

"I think I'm going to go up to bed. Gail can you show Oliver where everything is?" Holly asked standing and stretching her limbs. Gail nodded mutely and watched as Holly ascended the stairs. Oliver watched Gail watching Holly and then nudged the young woman encouragingly.

"Go on. I'll stay down here. Better vantage point for keeping an eye out. Go up there and make things right with your girl." Oliver pushed. He knew that Gail was struggling with what to do and he took his role as mentor very seriously.

Gail knocked on the door to Holly's bedroom and waited anxiously for Holly to open the door. Wondering if Holly would allow her to come in. After several long minutes of waiting, anticipating, dreading, Gail heard the door handle twist and the door open. Holly had just finished changing into her pajamas. Letting her hand slip from the handle Holly turned back into the room allowing Gail to follow her.

"I'm still mad." Holly said crawling onto the bed. Gail nodded mutely, she didn't know what to say to that. Holly reached for something set beside her and when she straightened she tossed the folded fabric at Gail. It took a second but Gail realized that Holly had tossed her pajamas to her. A silent invitation back into their bed that Gail was not going to refuse. Changing quicker than she could ever remember changing before Gail crawled onto her side of the bed and laid down. In the darkness of the room she could see Holly was turned away from her, but it wasn't solely because Holly was trying to put distance between them, though that may have been it. But Holly always slept on her side.

"I love you." Gail whispered into the darkness.

"I love you too Gail." Holly murmured before nestling into her pillow and falling asleep.

Holly woke up the next morning, feeling Gail's presence behind her, the weight of Gail's arm over her waist and in those sweet precious moments it was so easy to forget the cluster fuck that had happened around them. To settle into the warmth of Gail's embrace and just forget. Especially when she felt Gail stir, Gail loved sleep but since they had started sharing a bed more frequently Gail usually woken just after Holly. Something about being attuned to Holly's body, sensing the shift in her.

"Hey." Gail murmured against the back of Holly's neck, her breath tickling the skin there.

"Hey." Holly replied turning onto her back and taking in the sight of half-asleep Gail.

"You're still mad." Gail could tell by the ghost of sadness that came across Holly's face.

"I'm not." Holly answered honestly, feeling Gail nuzzle against her. It was such a welcome sensation, a feeling that she'd missed even in the few days that she had been without it.

"I still hurt you." Gail continued. Opening up was still new to her, but for Holly she'd try.

"That's the harsh reality of relationships Gail. We're going to hurt each other, and then we forgive each other. The forgiving part is the hard part."

"Tell me how to make this better. I can't stand that I hurt you."

"You're doing it. I missed you." Holly said hugging Gail to her.

Holly arrived at the lab a little after 10, it wasn't her scheduled work day so she wasn't expected at any given time. After a brief greeting to the techs that were busy working she made her way to her office. There were reports already resting in her in bin that she needed to go over. If she left them the pile would double in size. Before she knew it the morning was gone and she'd worked past lunch, not that she'd ever been a strict observer of the meal time.

"Hey, Hol got a sec?" Victoria asked ducking her head into the office. Holly looked up, welcoming the reprieve from reading.

"Sure what's up?

"Can I see your kit?" Victoria asked stepping inside.

"My kit? Why?" Holly asked already picking up her key ring and searching for the right key and opening her bottom desk drawer.

"I have a theory and I wanted to test it." Victoria said producing her own kit and setting it on Holly's desk. Holly looked at the plastic case that Victoria kept her instruments in. The other woman opened the case to show Holly while Holly placed hers on the desk encased in leather. When she opened her kit the two women looked down at them and found that they were similar but not identical.

"Want to explain to me your theory?" Holly asked.

"Every ME has a different kit based on their preference. I mean look, I have a 10 blade and you have a 12. I have plastic instruments and yours are all metal. Different instruments leave different trails. If this guy is an ME maybe his kit is unique too."

"Doesn't help a narrow it down though, it took me months of trial and error to figure out which ones I liked to use. And then I had to buy them and put my kit together. The killer could have done the same thing and not bought it all at the same time." Holly argued.

"It's a start though, for when we find the bastard. We just need to figure out which instruments we used. I think the lab has a collection of instruments that we can use in comparison." Victoria said.

"We're going to be here until midnight testing this theory of yours." Holly commented already standing up to follow Victoria.

"I know, but it'll be fun. I've already got the pig carcasses in the lab."

By the fourth or fifth test Holly and Victoria had accumulated quite an audience as they cut into slabs, each of them performing autopsies. It became a sort of competition, who could do it better, who could do it faster. When Gail arrived to check on Holly she saw the small group gathered and joined them curious to see what was happening. She stood like the rest of them transfixed by what she was seeing. But unlike everyone else who was watching the skill being displayed by these two doctors Gail was watching Holly's grace. How gracefully she moved, how she was able to make even something as morbid as performing an autopsy look like a beautiful dance. It wasn't even on a human and yet Holly possessed a gentleness that Gail couldn't fathom.

"Why are you doing this?" Gail asked when Holly stopped washing her hands.

"Reference material. We're trying to match which what instruments the killer is using for these autopsies." Holly answered.

"Will it work?"

"It'll help to convict this guy when you find him. Any luck on that?"

"Not yet. We're looking into every lead that we have. No luck yet." Gail said feeling as if she were failing Holly in some way for not having better news.

"You will. So who's on guard duty tonight?"

"McNally."

"I bet you love that." Holly said with a small smile.

"She will be staying in her car tonight. I don't care how nice you are, I'm overruling."

"Okay. Come on lets go home."