Author's Note: Sorry about the delay! Work has been a bit crazy as of late and I was not able to post this one on the day that I had planned. But here it is... Chapter three!
Gail tried breaking down the door, but to no avail. Mindful not to step on the blood on the floor, she walked over to a cot on the far wall and sat down. "I wouldn't do that if I were you... you might have contaminated evidence." Holly said as she continued to stare at the banks of TV monitors on the wall. "Wow... I never expected to see this sort of set up. I guess she was really paranoid, huh?"
"I guess so," Gail replied sullenly. She reached for her radio at her shoulder to call to the officers on the premises. "This is Officer Peck. I am locked in the panic room with Forensic Pathologist, Holly Stewart. We need assistance, please respond."
Nothing. Static echoed through the room as the two women stared at each other.
"This room must be completely reinforced," the pathologist mused as she looked away from Peck and stared at the ceiling. "I heard that cellphones and radios do not normally work in reinforced panic rooms." She nodded her head towards the hard-wired phone on the wall. "That is why these things are installed with landlines." She walked over to the phone and picked it up. Silence greeted her as she lifted the receiver to her ear. "Figures... no dial tone." Sighing as she walked back to her perch by the monitors, Holly continued to stare at the feeds streaming in. Holly watched as Detective Peck talked on the phone at his ear and Nash stared out the front window in the living room.
Gail scoffed after a few minutes, startling the other woman, "Is there something on your mind, Gail?"
"Oh... it's nothing," she said as she stood up and stretched, "It's just that you seem to have all of this figured out. The ins and outs of panic rooms... The whole calm aura even though we are locked in a room that we do not know how to get out of... oh... but look who I am talking to. It's Holly Stewart! The woman who knows everything... well... almost everything."
Holly narrowed her eyes and looked at Gail. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"What do you think it means, Holly? You are supposed to be so smart, but I guess you can't figure out something that is right in front of you!" Gail exclaimed with her hands in the air.
Holly took a deep breath and continued to look at the woman in front of her. "I take it that you wish to discuss something that does not pertain to our current situation."
Peck's eyes widen as she looked at the pathologist incredulously. "Oh... this has everything to do with our current situation! That night at The Penny has everything to do with what is going on right now between us!"
"Hmm, not sure I follow that line of logic, but I'll bite. What does that night have to do with our current state?" Holly queried as she folded her arms in front of her in a defensive stance.
"If you had never said those things that night, I wouldn't have tried so hard to avoid touching you just then!" Gail shouted, "If we had just gone to Fight Night instead of spending time with your little doctor friends we would still be dating and none of this would have happened."
Holly uncrossed her arms and placed them on her hips, "What did I say that night Gail? I often wonder what it is you heard me say or saw me do to cause you to end our relationship so abruptly. Are you so self-conscious to think I didn't defend you to my friends? I will admit the things that Lisa said were totally uncalled for and I told her she did not know what she was talking about. That nothing she said was making any sense! She was drunk, Gail! We all were!"
"I was standing right there, Holly!" Gail gestured behind Holly's back, "I was right behind you and I heard everything! I heard how she said I wasn't good enough for you and how I wasn't smart enough for you. And basically said I was just a game to you! She said you were making an uncomplicated decision!"
"Enough, Gail!" Holly shouted and then closed her eyes. She regretted raising her voice, but needed to be heard. "I never said any of that. I told her she was completely wrong. And she didn't know what she was talking about when she said that it would be over once I had my fun. I also said no one would get hurt and things were different... so much more different than previous relationships that I have had. I... I really care for you Gail." Tears threatened to fall from her eyes as she stared at the police officer in front of her, "Hell, I care for you more than I have cared for anyone else. I remember when Chloe was shot and I came to check on you... even before we had started dating, I cared for you... and it scared me. Hell, it still scares me how much I care for you." Holly started to walk towards Gail but stopped before reaching her, "But I am not going to kid myself to think you feel the same way. If this is what you want... being single and still a bit paranoid about the people who care about you, then that's okay. Once this day is over... I will try to find a transfer or something. Maybe try for something in Timmins or maybe even go to New York, I don't know. Just something so we can both have space..."
Holly was not able to finish her sentence as Gail stepped forward and wrapped her arms around the pathologist's waist and pulled her closer, "You talk too much," Peck murmured before she leaned in and kissed Holly passionately. Holly wrapped her arms around Gail's neck and pulled her closer. She smiled into the kiss as Gail's hand rubbed circles on her back. The officer ended the kiss and allowed her forehead to rest on Holly's. "I had to do something to keep you from talking too much and there was nothing else I could think of to do." A slight smile formed on the blonde's lips as she stared into Holly's eyes. As soon as the smile had surfaced it was quickly replaced by a hesitant frown, "Look... Holly... I was an asshole to you these past few weeks. I... I guess I was just nervous. And as you said a bit self-conscious."
"Just a bit?" Holly quipped as she ran her fingers through Gail's short hair and smiled.
Peck rolled her eyes before continuing, "Okay... maybe more than a bit. It's just that this is all new to me. The way you make me feel is completely different than I have ever felt while dating someone. I feel lighter, more myself than ever before and it scares me." She paused as she stared at the woman in front of her. Gail moved her hands from Holly's back and placed them on the pathologist's hips. Giving them a small squeeze, she continued, "And so when I heard boob-job doctor make that remark about our relationship ending soon because we had nothing in common... I felt... I felt..."
"You felt like she could be right?" Holly asked as she raised an eyebrow. Gail lowered her chin to her chest and sighed. The pathologist rolled her eyes and ran her left hand, which was draped around the officer's neck, to Gail's chin. Lifting her girlfriend's chin until they saw eye-to-eye, Holly spoke, " You should never listen to what Lisa says, honey. For all her bravado and supposed knowledge on relationships and how they work and compatibility, she is as single as they come. She has never had a relationship that lasted longer than a month. She is just a lonely, jealous woman who hates to see her friends happy. I know I told you they were like family to me, but I've come to realise I have outgrown that family. I don't need them any more. I realised all of this when we were at The Penny. I have you and all your friends..." Holly smiled as she saw a small tear trek across Gail's cheek. She wiped it away before she continuing, "And that is all I need."
Gail sniffled and tried to hide it with a laugh, "So does this mean we are back together?"
"What do you think?" Holly whispered before pulling Gail back in for a smouldering kiss.
Peck answered the kiss as she tightened her grip around Holly's waist, slowly backing the pathologist towards the table next to the bank of monitors. Once the back of Holly's legs hit the edge of the table, she sat down on it and instinctively wrapped her legs around Gail's waist, knocking the radio off the officer's belt. "Ouch!" she exclaimed as the flash-light from the tactical belt dug into her thigh.
"Sorry," Gail murmured as she moved her hands from Holly's waist to her own to unclasp the belt. As it fell to the floor, Peck returned her hands to her lover's waist and smiled. "I missed you so much," She whispered near Holly's ear as she kissed her neck.
Holly smiled at Gail's declaration and murmured, "I missed you too."
Author's Note 2- I would like to thank everyone who has favourited, followed or reviewed this story so far!