A/N: I think, based on the reviews, there's a lot more leeway for Gail's behavior than Holly's, which I find odd, but I still like hearing what you all think. For the guest reviewers, I'd love to respond to you and be able to ask you to clarify some of your comments but am unable to do so. However, I'm grateful for them just the same.

Thanks to Bailey for making this story better than it was. This work of fiction and all original characters are mine. Obviously, Rookie Blue characters belong to Rookie Blue.

After Ryan and Holly left, Luke turned back to Gail. "I hope you know what the hell you're doing."

"Yeah, me too," Gail responded without looking up at him.

"You really think painting a target on your back is the way to go?"

She squinted her eyes at him then, and said, "You think there's not one there already? Do you think I can do anything to be more of a target than I already am? I'm his endgame. I know that. I accept that. All of this…all of it, is about me. Hopefully, this makes them sloppy. Hopefully, this takes Holly off the board and makes them focus on me."

He took a slow breath and chose his next words carefully. "I assume the conversation in there with Perik and then in here with Holly was to push her as far away from you as she could get, both in his mind and hers." Gail didn't respond verbally she just continued to look at him. "You can be honest with her, Gail. She deserves that."

"She deserves not to be a part of this at all! She deserves to be safe, and happy, and far away from here!"

"Gail…"

"No! You know she's a target, Luke! I don't know if she was lucky outside the Penny or if it was a warning but you know they'll use her just to hurt me. You know it."

"So diminishing her importance to you, to the investigation in there, you think that gives her a better shot of being safe. I get it. What I don't get, is your little song and dance with her in here. Just in front of me and Ryan. You didn't have to do that to her. It was almost…cruel."

"I'm the ice queen. Haven't you heard?"

"Don't be that way with me. I know you better than that. I know how much you care. I, more than almost anybody, know how far you'll go to protect someone. I watched you with Perik last time. I know what you're willing to sacrifice to save someone. What I'm telling you is that it's unnecessary this time; you didn't have to hurt her like that." He began to reach out toward her but she jerked away.

"Ice queen," she pointed her thumbs back at herself. "Chris told me once I was 'cold'. He broke up with me because…you know what? It doesn't matter why. I don't give a fuck about what people think about me and what I do and how I do it. You don't get to judge me," she spat.

Luke was not convinced. Her eyes were darting around the room. He had the feeling she was about to shatter at any moment. It was so unlike Gail that he wrapped her up in a fierce hug. He spoke into her temple, "Gail, we'll play it however you want to play it. You want to keep her in the dark? You think it keeps her safer? That's the way we'll play it. I'll follow your lead." Gail couldn't respond. She just started sobbing into his shoulder as her knees buckled and he held her up.

Ryan sighed as she sat on the couch in the suite she shared with Holly. The drive home had been silent. Holly had spent the ride staring out the window. Ryan was pretty sure Holly had actually shed tears but she hadn't spoken to her since they left the observation room at the prison. As soon as they'd gotten into the suite, Holly had gone into her bedroom and shut the door. It had been over an hour and Ryan didn't want to intrude but she had to do something. She called down to room service and after they finally delivered, she knocked on the bedroom door. "Holls?" She waited a beat, "Holls, I had them deliver some room service. Can I come in?" No answer. "Holls, I'm going to come in if you don't answer me."

"I…I just want to be alone right now."

"I know you do, darlin' but it's actually the worst thing for you right now. Besides, I got you somethin'. Can I at least come in?"

"Fine."

Ryan opened the door. "You know I make it a policy to never actually believe a woman is 'fine' when she answers with 'fine.'" Ryan stepped in carrying a room service tray. Holly was laying on the bed propped up against the headboard with an assortment of pillows. She had kicked off her shoes but had left her blazer on. "Are you cold?" Ryan asked.

"What?" Holly looked down at her blazer. "No. I just never took it off…I've been…preoccupied."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

"Okay. I have ice cream," Ryan smiled. "Best cure for a broken heart. They didn't have a great selection so I got chocolate."

Holly closed her eyes and smiled sadly. "Thanks, Ry."

"And…I understand that the hotel's on demand system includes classic movies. We can watch Casablanca or The Thin Man or, God help me, Camille. I'll even watch Camille if you want to."

"What about Stella Dallas or Madame X?"

"I don't feel that sorry for you."

"Imitation of Life?"

"Hell no."

"Aww. C'mon. Is it because you're an ugly crier?"

"Shut up. I got you ice cream," Ryan said as she put the tray down on the bed.

"Gimme," Holly said as she held out her hands.

"You wanna watch a movie?"

"Casablanca is good. I can watch that," Holly said as she took the ice cream container and a spoon from Ryan. "C'mon. Sit over here," Holly patted the unoccupied side of the bed.

They shared most of the container of ice cream while Rick and Ilsa navigated through a war torn love affair. As Bogie and Claude Rains walked through the fog, Ryan finally spoke, "You know she put you on the plane."

"What?" Holly turned to Ryan.

"I realize Perik isn't quite the Nazis, but he is evil. She's trying to protect you."

"I don't like feeling stupid. What are you talking about?"

"I'm sayin' you're two peas in a pod. She's trying with her words to do what you tried to do with your silence. All those things she said in that room and then to you. That was Rick's speech to Ilsa to get her on the plane. To keep her safe. Gail said all those things to remove you from play, to keep you off his radar."

"Why did she say all of them again to me in the observation room then? It was just the four of us there. I've seen her lash out in anger and put up walls before. It wasn't that. She seemed…sincere," Holly finished.

"I don't know. What I do know, is that she did everything she could to put the focus solely on her in that interrogation room. Anytime he mentioned you, her relationship to you, your work, she dismissed it. Then she taunted him and got him to break. She's a remarkable interrogator.

"Holls, you were in the room with him. You know what it's like. Picture being in there if your worst memory is him holding you hostage, that he's held that kind of power over you. If she can do that with him, I can't imagine how good she'd be in a neutral interrogation room. Goddamn incredible. But I bet it's a bitch to be in a relationship with her."

"What makes you say that?"

"I'd think that if Gail didn't want you to know something, you wouldn't know it. She'd have to actively pull down her own walls."

"It was easy with her until it wasn't."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, the Gail I knew and the way her friends talked about her were two different people to me. I never saw what they saw. She was snarky and quirky funny. It was the most organic relationship I'd ever had. The easiest. Well, except for the cliché of falling for your straight friend but we navigated through that. Once she decided she wanted to be with me, she had one night of 'gay panic,'" Holly laughed without humor and then more sincerely, "That was a bad joke. It was the stress of having a homicidal maniac shoot up the precinct and two of her friends, but then it was over. She trusted me enough to let me see her when she was at her worst. That was huge for Gail. She accepted our relationship and was out almost from the beginning. We were together and everyone knew. I thought everything was almost perfect."

"What happened?"

"I was so happy, so proud of her, I wanted to show her off. My best friends demanded to meet the woman that had me wrapped around her finger. It was a disaster. My friend Lisa, who's judgmental on a good day, made a comment about Gail, and Gail overheard. Worse than that, she didn't hear me defend her or try to defend her. Lisa had been on me all night. On me about 'poking at dead people' especially because I graduated first in my class. She only saw Gail as a pretty face and looked down on her because she was a 'beat cop.' I blew her off because I didn't care what she thought. We'd been drinking. She didn't know Gail. I believed she'd come around. I didn't count on Gail overhearing us and thinking that I was saying that our relationship wasn't serious."

"Somehow, from what I know about Gail, I don't envision that ending well."

"She left me standing in the middle of the Penny after she said she'd rather 'tase herself in the eye' than spend another minute with me."

Ryan couldn't help it, she laughed. "She's about as subtle as a lead pipe that one."

"Yeah," Holly sighed.

"And then?"

"Well, a few weeks later, she comes back into the lab, tries to coerce Rodney- you met him last week- into doing a job that he wasn't qualified to do so she wouldn't have to see me, then acts like I'm her favorite sight when she finally does. She asked me out to 'apologize' and I told her I was seeing someone. Lisa talked me into it after Rachel talked me into speaking to Lisa again. It was only two dates but it was better than sitting at home crying every night."

"What was Gail's reaction?"

"It hurt her. I could tell. Then it was gone. Then later that day, she surprised me. Gave herself a very critical self-assessment said she was 'self-destructive' and some other less flattering things and told me that she didn't want to turn into 'a sad, sorry woman who threw away the most wonderful person she ever met.'"

"See? Not subtle. What did you say to that?"

"I told her goodnight and walked out of the precinct."

"You left after that?"

"Just that night. Not Toronto."

"And?"

"And I got the job in California. I had applied before I met Gail. The interview process was lengthy. That's what started the conversation that night at the Penny. Lisa was telling me 'get out before she gets hurt' talking about Gail. She thought that would convince me to break up with Gail. Lisa knew I was up for the job. I honestly didn't think I'd get it, but Lisa always has more faith in me than I do in myself. One of the many reasons I continue to keep her around. Even if she can be a heinous bitch from time to time."

"So obviously you took the job. Did you just leave things with Gail like they were?"

"Oh no. When I decide on something, I go all out and I had decided that I wanted Gail back. I came up with this lame excuse to get her into an interrogation room. I thought if I could just get her alone, I could talk to her."

"So you talked then?"

Holly laughed. "No. I attacked her."

"Attacked her?"

"With my lips."

Ryan threw her head back and laughed. "You saucy minx, you!"

"She just looked too adorable. I couldn't resist."

"Peck is not adorable."

"So she says. You two have a lot in common. But I suppose the gesture was very dramatic. I rambled on about Barolo. Gail made excuses. Then, the next night I told Gail that I took a job and was moving in two weeks. I told her I wanted her to come with me. She told me she wanted to adopt a little girl. We talked. I cried. She tried to joke to keep me from crying. We spend most of the next two weeks as together as possible. It was like when we were friends before. It was easy. It was hard. It was wonderful. It was awful."

"I swear to God, if you go all Tale of Two Cities on me…"

Holly pushed Ryan's shoulder with her good hand. "Fine. Then I moved and we tried to keep in touch but it was hard. I missed her so much but she wanted Sophie and I wanted her to be happy."

"Sophie?"

"The little girl. She didn't get her."

"I can't imagine Gail being a mother."

"Oh I could. I have. She's amazing with children. You should see her with Traci's son Leo. She's amazing."

"I think you've gotten to see more of Gail Peck than she'd ever willingly show someone else."

"I have," Holly nodded. "What am I going to do, Ry?"

"It's going to be okay."

"She's…she's the love of my life." Holly started to cry.

"I know, darlin'. I know." Ryan wrapped her up in a hug.