"She said something about seeing her at your parents for Sunday dinner, she was being nice. Look I don't know what's going on but you need to talk to her because she'll just stew in it for days. I don't think the city would survive," Chris said with a chuckle, trying to keep the mood light.
"Yeah, probably not," Holly agreed, "shit...thanks Chris. If she were older I'd totally set you up with my sister," she added, with a wink.
"Wah, she told you about that?" Chris stammered.
"Dov did," Holly answered with a laugh. Dov had told her the other day, so had Gail, but Holly wasn't about to throw her under the bus. "But she'd be lucky to find someone like you," Holly gave Chris a pat on the back. Crap crap crap she was in trouble.
"I'm going to get another drink," Gail told the table, not waiting for a response before making a beeline for the bar. Chris was being weird and she didn't like it. Plus he and Holly were taking forever at the bar. Chris was like a dog with a bone with this whole "dinner" thing. Why couldn't Chris just mind his own business. But worse, why was Chris always right when Gail just wanted him to shut up? "Didn't anyone ever tell you guys that blondes have more fun?" Gail asked, walking up to Chris and Holly, while giving Chris her best 'don't make me want to kill you' look.
"Gail, have you met Denise? That's total crap," Chris laughed.
"She's not a real blonde," Gail sneered. Holly raised her eyebrows as a challenge but Gail pretended not to see. "Dov says that he's thirsty and that you owe him a beer," Gail told Chris. Chris just smirked as the bartender brought his burger over to him. Chris ordered Dov a beer and then excused himself back to the table.
"What'dya get?" Gail asked.
"Tacosss," Holly answered with a lift of her eyebrows.
"Yummay!"
"Well...Korean pork belly tacos," Holly smiled.
"Well that's gross," Gail rolls her eyes, "did you just get that so I won't take any?"
"I'll never tell," Holly smiled wickedly. "Hey, Chris told me that you guys saw Summer today," her tone turning serious.
"Yeah, we had a super great time with the whole team. Chris even wore his Speedo, wanna see the pics?" Gail winked.
"Gail, he said that she mentioned dinner at my parents'?" Holly inquired in a concerned tone.
"That bastard," Gail turned to glare in Chris's general direction.
"Gail, I-"
"Can we not do this here?" Gail pleaded, turning back to look at Holly.
"What? Oh, thanks," Holly turned her attention to the bartender who had just put her food down, before looking back at Gail.
"Just not now, not here. Please?"
"Yeah, okay." 'Damn,' Holly thought, 'Chris was right, Gail really is freaking out.'
"Fries with your Tacos? Weird," Gail quickly changed the subject.
"Who says they're for me?"
"They better not be for Chris," Gail pushes herself off the side of the bar as Holly heads back to their table.
"He has his own," Holly called over her shoulder.
"So...why didn't you tell me about dinner at your parents'?" Gail asked throwing her bag, and then herself, onto Holly's couch. She was being forward. Way more so than she normally would be, but Gail didn't feel like she had to hide herself with Holly. "Is this like, not for real for you? I mean I know I'm not like easygoing, friendly, down to earth, 'meet the parents material,'" Gail trailed off and looked away from Holly.
"What?" Holly wasn't really that confused. She had been worried about this as soon as Chris told her that Summer had accidentally spilled the beans. "No. No, no, no, that's not true. That's not what why I didn't tell you," Holly sat down in the chair next to the couch and took off her glasses, rubbing her temples. "I'm really sorry, I should have told you, I wanted to tell you. It's not you," she needed to tell Gail the truth without mucking it up. "It's my family they're..." Holly searched for the right words.
"They're?" Gail prompted Holly to continue.
"They're a little much. They're a lot much. They're completely insane actually."
"Um, do you remember meeting my parents? Or did my mom drug you?" Gail didn't get it. Her parents were crazy. Well, her mom was crazy, and her dad was pretty whipped.
"Actually, I do remember that," Holly cracked a smile, "they're too nice, too open, too chatty. You'll leave with a pair of mittens my mom knitted, and assorted baby pictures. Oh, and my dad will probably come over to fix some leak, or lightbulb or something or other."
"Aw, did you guys since 'So Long, Farewell' before bed like the von Trapp kids?" Gail joked.
"You don't get it. It's been an," Holly paused, "an issue before," Holly looked up at Gail's eyes, trying to gauge what she was thinking. "They're mortifying."
"You're afraid they're going to scare me off," Gail concluded, feeling a little more in tune to what was happening.
"They've pretty much run off everyone ever, eventually. One time," Holly paused again, "I'm not proud of this, one time in university I was dating this girl, Cara, she was so nice, but definitely not looking for anything serious. She was just so boring. Like unbelievably so after like the first week or two. So I brought her to dinner...I felt really awful about it. It was so cowardly but...They scared her of so..."
"You didn't!" Gail was genuinely surprised.
"Like I said, that was like nine years ago, and I'm not proud of it," Holly looked up at the ceiling.
"Do you think I'm boring?" Gail asked.
"Are you joking? I'm not even going to dignify that with a response," Holly laughed and Gail smiled.
"You know," Gail thought out loud, "I've never really done the 'parents' thing. I mean, I never met Chris's mom, and Nick's parents died so...But I mean, I know how to use a fork and knife. My mom taught me to have a firm handshake when I was like four."
"You never shook my hand," Holly feigned insult.
"You should be so lucky," Gail rose from the couch and started to make her way to the bathroom looking a little dejected, but slightly relieved. Holly reached up and grabbed Gail's hand as she walked past her.
"Gail," Holly said, rubbing the top of Gail's hand gently with her thumb. Gail turned to look down at Holly who was looking up at her. "Would you come to dinner with my family on Sunday? They're the most embarrassing and scary ever and they've put a couple cracks in every relationship I've had. If they ran you off I'd probably never speak to them again. But they're my family, they're really important to me, and so are you. You're so important. I like you a lot, Gail, and I really want them to meet you, and I want you to meet them. So, will you come to dinner on Sunday." Gail looked down at Holly with her head cocked to the side a little. Holly looked hopefully? Vulnerable? A little worried? Holly looked like she did when she had dragged Gail into the interrogation room weeks and weeks ago, and that made Gail smile.
Gail played it cool, shrugged her shoulders and said, "yeah, sure."
"Great," Holly beamed. A few seconds passed.
"Hol?"
"Yeah?"
"I really need to pee, so unless you're planning to escort me to the bathroom I need you to let go," Gail smiled, giving Holly's hand a light squeeze.
"Oh, yeah, of course," Holly laughed.
"I bet you were a cute baby, but I wanna see that headgear you told Chris about," Gail said, right before shutting the bathroom door.
Holly groaned, the knot in her stomaching making a reappearance.
Later that night Gail lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling, unable to sleep.
"Holly," Gail whispered into the blackened room, "you awake?"
No answer. Gail shifted in bed so that she was hovering over Holly's head.
"Holly, I just read on Twitter that they discovered a new element."
Silence.
"Holly...I love you." It was barely a whisper, but to Gail it sounded so loud in the silent room. Maybe that's because it was the truth. It echoed in her head over and over again. At first she dared not move, nervous that Holly had heard her, nervous that Holly hadn't heard her. Finally Gail dropped a kiss onto Holly's head before curling up around her sleeping form and, finally, drifted off to sleep.
A/N: Okay, who's ready to meet the Stewarts? Raise your hand if you could use a little Gail/Traci time, because I sure could...