"Hol, wait."

'Did I just say that? Did Summer? Yeah, I'm definitely too paralyzed to speak,' Gail concludes. Steve's gaze has landed on his shoes and has stayed right there, unmoving. Suddenly it's like a light has turned on and Gail is following Holly out the door, with Steve hot on her heels. Gail hears the door click shut and Steve is at her side, matching her step for step.

"Can you take Lindsey Lohan in there home? Wait do you think Traci would mind? She can be scarier than you."

"Yeah, no problem I'll take care of it. I'll call you."

Gail offered a forced, closed lip smile as thanks. Steve just nods and gives her shoulder a squeeze as he turns back to go find Traci. Gail fumbles in her pocket for her keys as she uses her shoulder to push the door to the parking lot open. Gail unlocks her car with the remote causing the headlights to flash. For a second Holly is illuminated, standing with her arms crossed and head bowed. She immediately reaches for the door handle and slides into the passenger seat. Gail gingerly gets in the car and turns the key in the ignition. She doesn't know where they're going, if they're going but it was freezing and Gail wasn't about to die in the parking lot. Holly sits tall, unmoving, with her back flat against the seat, and the her head pressed against the headrest. Her eyes are closed; she'd pushed her glasses onto the top of her head. This was a first for Gail. Sure, Gail had seen Holly mad before, but that was usually 'Dr. Stewart' who was mad. But was she even mad? Or just hurt? Like really, really hurt? Gail hadn't met Summer before, wait did she actually meet her? Whatever, she didn't really know what their relationship was like, or what Summer was like. 'Gail, say something, but don't be an idiot. Don't be an idiot.' After much deliberation and inner turmoil Gail reached across the console and tucked her hand into Holly's, stroking tan knuckles with a pale thumb. The car was silent except for the gentle hum of the idling engine and Holly's long exhale.

Gail decided to break the silence, "I'm sorry."

"Ugh, don't be."

"Too late," Gail cheerily said with an exaggerated smile.

"Thanks for calling Steve. You didn't have to do that. You probably shouldn't have done that."

"It's fine, he loves it."

Silence.

"Steve's gonna get her home."

"Thanks," Holly sounds relieved.

More silence.

"Wanna go home? Or we could go get drunk, or I could take you to the range?"

"Ha, I think I just wanna go home," Holly replied, still facing the windshield.

"Of course," Gail gave Holly's hand a squeeze before she moved her hand to put the car in reverse and drive off. It as a quiet drive, Gail didn't really know what to do or say. She'd never really seen Holly hurt before; was she mad, or just sad? What was it like to have a sister? Gail fought with Steve sometimes, sure, but they'd never struck a nerve like that. Maybe it was because he knew he had it easier than Gail, with their mom at least. Maybe it was because he was her big brother. Maybe Steve was a better guy than even Gail gave him credit for. Maybe they were just lucky. Gail made a mental note to save Steve a doughnut next time. Should she say something? Or should she be quiet. Why does she always have to be so awkward. Hungry. Gail was so hungry.

"Are you hungry?" Gail asked as they rode the elevator up to Holly's apartment.

"Not really."

Holly's stomach growled.

"Actually, I'm starving," Holly admits as she unlocks her door, and Gail chuckles.

"Pizza? Chinese? Thai? Korean? Mexican? Burgers? Sushi?" Gail hopes Holly doesn't want Korean, she hates Korean.

"You hate Korean."

"That is true, but I'd order Korean for you," Holly smiled, "and then I'd order something else for me." That made Holly laugh, so Gail smiled.

"I don't really care, surprise me. I think I'm just gonna go take a shower real quick. Airplanes make me feel gross." Holly walked into her room, leaving Gail and the elephant alone. Gail called Holly's favorite Thai place and put in an order for delivery. Food: check. Figuring out what to do next: not check. Gail went over to Holly's suitcase and dumped its contents into the washing machine. Doing laundry after trips was the worst, so Gail started it for Holly. Gail looked around the apartment, feeling a little less inept. Her eyes landed on the stove and she thought 'tea!' Tea always makes people feel better right? Gail got out two mugs, two tea bags, the cream, and hopped up onto the kitchen counter, waiting for the water to boil. The second the kettle started to scream Gail snatched it off the stove and poured the water into the mugs. She rests her head against the cupboard with her eyes closed and waits for the tea to steep. Gail didn't realize how tired she was until now. She didn't really sleep well while Holly was gone, and today had been a long day. No, today had been a very long day.

Gail opens her eyes when she hears Holly shuffling towards her. She was wearing a pair of baggy sweats and moccasin slippers. Gail thought she looked adorable, too bad she was sad. Holly was definitely sad, even if she was mad.

"You made tea?"

"Yup," Gail replied pouring cream into one of the mugs for herself.

Holly took the other mug, taking a sip, and then placed it back on the counter. Gail took hold of the sleeve of Holly's sweatshirt and tugged until Holly was standing in front of her. Holly fell into Gail's embrace and Gail tightened her hold on the brunette with her arms and legs. Gail could feel Holly exhale into her chest. Holly was so good, so nice, so smart, so caring, and that's why it hurt Gail to see her like this. Holly was so good. Gail kissed the top of her head and then her forehead. Holly looked up at Gail who was just smiling down at her.

"I missed my nerd," Gail said, kissing Holly's forehead once again.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Holly deflected, lightly pinching Gail's sides.

"Ow!" Gail squeeled, cupping Holly's cheeks, leaning down, waiting for Holly to meet her halfway. Their kiss was slow and soft. Gail had missed this, she'd missed this so much. Holly pulled away, nuzzling her head back into the crook of Gail's chest. She took another sip of her tea, stroking Holly's long dark locks. Gail was roused from her thoughts with the sound of the buzzer, 'dinner!'

"Oh, whatdya get?"

"Suprises," Gail replied, jumping off the counter and hurrying to the door.

They sat quietly on the couch picking through the take out containers, both not really realizing how hungry they were until Holly's coffee table was full of takeout. Gail figured she should bring it up, Holly is such a talker, she probably needs to talk about it.

"So, do you wanna talk about what happened with your sister and all? If you don't want to talk about it that's fine, but if you want to talk about it we'll talk about it. Or you can yell about it if you want, yelling's allowed too," there, she said it. Gail didn't even know she could talk that fast but apparently she could. Holly managed a half smile, she couldn't help it, Gail's yelling comment was cute.

"She's not a bad person, she just...I don't know what's up with her. She's usually such a sweetheart."

"Well, sure was a unique way to meet your sister."

"I'm kind of worried about her, like what was she doing getting drunk basically on a Monday night? Evening? Afternoon? God! I didn't know she did drugs? Like what the hell, she's an athlete."

Gail's phone buzzed, "Steve says Traci took her home, said she was kind of a mess but calmed down."

"Tell him I said 'thanks', I told my brother to go check on her, so she can be his problem for now."

"I did this "goth" thing for a couple years, basically to piss my mom off. It worked too."

"Oh dear," Holly groaned as she rested her head against the back of the couch.

"Yeah it was pretty bad. I'm pretty sure I've gotten rid of all the pictures, so if you ever tell anyone I'll completely deny it."

"Drat."

"One day Steve told me that mom was pretty much over it, and kinda pointed out that I actually wasn't into it, so I stopped...I think I hated it almost as much as my mom did."

"Yikes."

"Yeah it was bad."

They sat in silence for a little while longer picking at what was left of the food.

"I'm pretty tired, I think I'm just gonna head to bed now," Holly said, rising from her seat and picking up a few empty containers.

Gail quickly sat up and took the empty containers out of Holly's hands, "I got this, you go ahead."

"Are you sure?"

"I think I can handle it, but if I'm not back in ten minutes you can call ETF."

Holly was already in bed staring up at the ceiling when Gail finally crawled under the covers. Today had been such a long day and it turned out that the lunchtime drunks Gail had to arrest were only the beginning.

"Hol, you're thinking super loud," which in 'Gail' translates to 'tell me what you're thinking.'

"Sorry, what?" Holly had definitely been off in her own little world.

"You okay?"

"It hurt. What she said. I feel like it shouldn't have. But it did."

"Sometimes people say stuff and it hurts, even when they didn't mean it to, even when you don't want it to hurt, and it's the worst," Gail said, laying on her side facing Holly, who was still staring at the ceiling.

"It wasn't easy you know?" Holly rolls onto her side, now she and Gail are face to face, "I'm proud of who I am, I really am, but it was hard. My parents are great, they were great, but it was still really hard. I don't think she get's that. Who I am isn't a joke you know?" Gail rolled onto her back, tugging Holly along with her. "I missed you too. I missed you a lot." Gail stroked Holly's hair, her head on Gail's chest, until she could tell the by the change in the brunette's breathing that she had fallen asleep. She had barely even met her, and boy was she being a brat, but damn, Summer sure did remind Gail of herself.

A/N: Hey guys! Sorry I didn't get the chapter up as soon as I had hoped, I didn't want to post it just to post it, and I didn't want it to be just a filler. The next one will actually be up by the end of tomorrow for sure though. Let me know what you think!