Hey Folks,

Here in Atlanta it's Pride weekend. So let me say to you, Happy Pride Y'all. I wanted to post this as my pride gift to you. Sorry it's been so long. Life has been busy. Good, but busy. This has not been beta'd so if you find any mistakes let me know. I promise not to make you wait so long on the next one.

Gail had been driving for over an hour. They had gotten to the end of the secluded driveway of the cabin, and based on the sun's position in the sky, Gail had turned south onto a bumpy two lane road that barely had what Gail would classify as pavement on it. In fact, it seemed to be a mixture of gravel and pavement. Their pace had been slow because she was trying not to jostle Holly around too much as she tended to her injuries. Finally, they came to an actual road. It was only two lanes, but Gail felt her heartbeat slow a little bit in relief.

She looked over at Holly who was gritting her teeth while applying antibiotic ointment to some of her more minor injuries while holding pressure on others. "Hey, how you making it over there?"

"The adrenaline is wearing off. It hurts like a bitch."

"So like me then," Gail said and smiled.

Holly looked over and smiled despite her pain. "You're not a bitch, Gail." Gail started to smile. "You're a brat," Holly said and smiled wider.

"Ouch, Lunchbox. You've really honed your smartass skills while you've been away."

"Yeah, well, you know how it is, serial killers to chase, verbal repartee to hone," Holly said as she looked down into the first aid kit in her lap. "Shit. There is no kind of analgesic in here. Stupid psychos."

Gail laughed. She couldn't help herself. "I'll get you to somewhere with lots of drugs. I promise."

"I know you will. I trust you," Holly said as she looked over at Gail. Then she looked out the windows. "Any idea where we are?"

Gail didn't want to worry Holly but she didn't want to lie outright. "A vague one. We're probably north of Toronto." In response, Holly just cut her eyes at her without saying a word. "I said it was vague. I mean I was out for the entire drive. When did you wake up?"

"I woke up on the table. I watched him set up all his 'tools,'" Holly said and shivered involuntarily.

"I'm so sorry, Holly. You shouldn't have been there at all."

Holly reached over and took Gail's right hand off the steering wheel and held it in her left. "Gail Peck, this is not your fault. You haven't done anything wrong. You saved my life back there. You are so amazing. So stop it right now. This is not your fault."

Gail didn't say anything but she squeezed Holly's hand as she turned her eyes back to the road. It was getting darker and for the first time she noticed the headlights begin to flicker in the dusky light. She quickly scanned their surroundings knowing that flickering headlights headed a list of mechanical problems, none of which were good. There was nothing. Fuck.

Ryan was focusing on her breathing. She was desperately trying to squash the impulse to grab Megan Stapleton by the neck with her good hand and squeeze until Stapleton quit breathing or passed out, whichever came first. Ryan wasn't picky.

"Go over it again," Traci said.

"Which part Detective Nash?" Megan smiled back at Traci lasciviously. "Did you want me to go over how I stalked the women? How I convinced them to go out with me? How they begged for their lives? What part?"

"Don't get cute. We were specifically talking about the events here in the hotel tonight, after you abducted Detective Peck. How exactly did you get in?"

"Oh. That was easy. I hacked their environmental system. Took out the air-conditioning on the entire floor. Made it look like a system failure. Waited until they called for assistance. We knew that they were on the floor. I was monitoring the calls into the front desk."

When Traci tilted her head, Megan responded, "Hacked that too. I knew what Dr. Stewart's voice sounded like. Once we had that, we watched and we waited. I turned the system back on and we waited for the front desk to collect the fans. I knew that it was just you and Holly in the room." Megan nodded her head at Ryan. "I am sorry we didn't get to know each other better Agent."

"You crazy…" Ryan's tirade was interrupted by her cell phone ringing. "Parker…yep…yep…okay…yeah…we'll be there as soon as we can get there."

"What is it?" Traci asked recognizing the excitement in Ryan's voice.

"Megan, you wanna tell us about your stepfather's family's cabin?" Ryan asked as she smiled. The look on Megan's face said it all.

The third time the lights flickered Holly, bandaged feet and legs now resting gingerly on the dash, noticed. "What's wrong with the van, Gail?" She asked holding pressure on the incisions along her shin.

"Huh?"

"Gail, I know you have an idea. What is it? The battery?"

"You know, for a nerd, your mechanical knowledge is sorely lacking."

"I'll buy a book when we get home. Stop stalling."

"Alternator. I'm looking for somewhere to park it for the night if need be. Though a friendly gas station with lots of people wouldn't go amiss. But I don't want to stop unless we have to. I'm gonna keep driving it until the engine stalls out."

"How long will that be?"

"Soon. You should prepare yourself. We might have to walk."

"Gail, I've been looking. He was a physician, yes, but he was no surgeon. He tried to avoid any major blood vessels but he went deep. I'm not really sure I can walk without doing damage and if something ruptures, I…we'd have to stop the bleeding in a hurry."

"Are you telling me if you have to walk, you could bleed to death?"

"It's a possibility. Also, my feet are in no shape to hold up my weight. I'll probably bleed through the bandages in a little while in any case."

"Lunchbox, how bad is the bleeding?"

"It's not good, Gail. I bandaged them but I'm going to need medical attention. Soon. I can tell you some things to do but…"

"Holly, we're getting out of this. Both of us." Gail reached over and took Holly's hand in hers. "I'll figure something out. If I have to get out of this damn thing and push. I'm getting you out of here."

"What if we run into Megan?"

"We'll figure it out. Your brain has to be bigger than hers."

"I don't think she's going to challenge us to a debate, Gail."

"I just mean we can outsmart her. Besides. I haven't seen any signs of anyone around us. No lights from houses. No cars. It's eerie. I'm looking, so I think we have a good shot of seeing her coming."

At that moment, the van lurched forward and sputtered. Gail cursed under her breath trying not to alarm Holly, but Holly yelled in excitement and pointed, "Gail! Is that a building up ahead on the right?"

Gail turned her head in the direction Holly was pointing. "Way to go, Lunchbox! That looks like maybe a mile. We can make that. Looks like they're closed but we can make it." Gail smiled at Holly and Holly grinned back.

It was a close thing, but just as the van was dying, they pulled up alongside a gas station that Gail immediately recognized had not been in service for quite some time. Their bad luck was continuing. Gail noted the slump to Holly's shoulders and knew that she had spotted the signs of desertion as well. "We should hide the van," Holly said. Gail nodded in response and pulled it behind the station to a wooden barnlike structure.

"Can you slide over here and drive it in if it's clear enough to get the van in?"

"Yeah. Can you help me?"

"Sure." Gail put the van in park. Then she slid one arm under Holly's knees, and one around her back pulling her over into the driver's seat mostly on top of Gail.

Gail felt Holly's breath hitch. "Hey."

"Hey," Gail breathed back but snapped herself back to reality quickly. "Are you going to be able to drive with your feet?"

"I'll manage."

"Okay." Gail opened the door and extricated herself carefully from under Holly. Standing in the open door she said, "I'll open the door and check it out. I'll motion to you to pull in if it'll fit. Put it in drive and keep your foot on the brake. If it dies, I'll push it the rest of the way in." Holly nodded in response.

Gail shut the driver's door carefully and walked up to the wooden doors of what she supposed was a garage of some type even though it was shaped like a barn. She swung the doors open slowly and carefully, mindful of anything that might scurry out at her. Swiping away at the cobwebs, she got her first look at the interior. The floor was concrete and relatively clear. She pushed a few boxes out of the way, took a quick look around and then gestured for Holly to pull the van inside.

The van died just as Holly pulled it into the garage. Gail opened the back cargo doors and then opened the driver's door for Holly. "C'mon, Lunchbox. Lemme get you comfortable while I look around." Again, she slid her arms around Holly and picked her up.

Holly wrapped her arms around Gail's neck and held on. "You know this 'me Tarzan' thing you've got going is really attractive don't you?"

Gail rolled her eyes and said, "Funny."

"I'm not joking," Holly said as Gail lowered her gently into the back of the van.

Gail swallowed slowly and backed away. "Stay here. There's a sleeping bag and some supplies in the duffle. Get comfortable. I'm going to take a look around."

"Okay," Holly said softly in response.

"Don't worry. I'll be right back. Promise," Gail said and then turned away. Holly watched her as she took one last look at Holly before closing the swinging wooden doors to the garage, leaving Holly in mostly darkness save the overhead light in the back of the van.

"Well, that went well," Holly said sarcastically, rubbing her forehead with her fingertips. She reached behind herself for the duffle intent on looking through it and forgetting the look of regret on Gail's face.

Gail chided herself as she looked for a way into the gas station proper. She's not yours anymore. She never was. She needs to go back to her life in San Francisco, safe, away from all this. You brought this on her. She could never forgive you. Not really. She thinks she does now, but when the nightmares come, you'll just be a reminder of this whole horrible mess. Because of you, she might die. Because of you, she'll be scarred for the rest of her life. You don't deserve her. She deserves better.

She wiped the grime off the back window and peered inside. The window was close enough to the door that Gail thought she'd be able to open it from there. She broke the window with her elbow and carefully reached inside. She unlocked the door and it opened only after she hit it with her shoulder several times. She looked around coughing. "Hello!" She called and listened. "That was useless. You know better. Great. I'm talking to myself out loud now," she muttered.

The inside looked like it had been abandoned, inventory and all. Wrappers, plastic bags and cardboard containers that had once contained food were scattered around the interior. Gail didn't want to think about the different types of wild life that had done that. It looked like it was done by small animals, mice, rats, maybe raccoons or other scavengers. So that ruled out staying inside the building, no matter how tempting that might be. No way was Gail staying somewhere that something could crawl into that easily. She looked for anything to help dress Holly's wounds but didn't find anything that would work unless they were desperate. However, she did find some salt, bottled water, canned beans, a can opener, plastic silverware still in the package, and a pot. She walked into the kitchen and found some dishwashing liquid and washed everything but the sealed plastic utensils off. She put everything in a plastic crate so that she could carry it back to the van when she was ready. In the back office, she found an old touchtone phone. She crossed her fingers and picked it up. Dead. "Fuck! I guess that would have been too easy."

On her way back into the garage she noticed a metal fire pit on a stand. One of those that people had in their back yards in the suburbs. God, how she hated the suburbs. She opened the doors to the garage and put the crate down on a workbench. "Be right back," she said to Holly as she walked back outside.

She dragged the fire pit inside. Then went back out and gathered kindling and some smaller pieces of wood. Realizing that there was an easier way, she went back into the store and found some lighter fluid and a few lighters. There were no candles or flashlights in the store. She checked twice. When she got back into the garage she put the fire pit near the open cargo doors of the van. Then she set about getting the fire ready.

"You want me to help?" Holly asked with the sleeping bag wrapped around her shoulders.

"Nah. Stay there. I've got it," Gail answered not looking up from her task.

"When did you learn how to build a fire?"

Gail did look up then. "Are you doubting me, Lunchbox?" Gail asked as she arched her eyebrow.

"You hate camping. You said so yourself. You…you're really building a fire," Holly said as Gail poured a little lighter fluid on the wood.

Gail took a deep breath and made eye contact with Holly again. "Just because I hate something doesn't mean I don't know how to do it." She sighed. "My parents made me and Steve camp every single holiday for a few years. It was part of…becoming a Peck. It was never fun. Never something to enjoy…" At Holly's sad look she tried to lighten the mood. "and, you know, I'm not real fond of wild life."

Holly smiled. "I remember. It was a baby squirrel, Gail."

"Rodent after my cheesepuffs."

"You left them unattended."

"You distracted me," Gail said, before she thought better of bringing up the memory of Holly kissing her senseless on a picnic table in the park.

Holly cleared her throat, "Uh huh. Yeah. I guess I did."

Gail picked that moment to light the fire. "Whoa!" Holly said as flames shot up in the air.

"Settle down, nerd. It's fine. I've got it under control. I need it to burn hot and quickly so that I can put some of the bigger wood on the fire. We're going to need to stay here vs. going inside. I think staying in the van will be best, for both of us. I want to get some heat going in here. Once the fire stabilizes, I'll cook us something to eat."

"What are we having?"

"Beans."

Gail wanted to check Holly's legs and feet before the battery burned out and they lost the overhead light. Once she finished, she'd turn the light off and try to save the battery just in case they needed it later for something. She washed her hands with some soap and bottled water near the workbench. She walked back to the van and said, "Okay, let me look at you."

"Probably be better if you climb in here," Holly said.

Gail just nodded. She climbed in and knelt next to Holly. She very carefully removed the soaked bandages. Holly had gotten the bleeding to slow down and almost stop. That was incredibly good news. She pulled new bandages out of the first aid kit. "Lay back. I can do this. Rest your head on the duffle."

"So you're going to dress my injuries without any help from me then?" Holly asked as she did as Gail instructed and rested her head on the duffle so that she was looking mostly at the top of Gail's head.

"Yep."

"Learn that on holiday too?"

"Yep."

"I don't remember you being quite this laconic."

"I'm concentrating."

"Five syllables. At least that's improvement."

Gail raised her head and rolled her eyes. "What do you want to talk about, Holly?"

"I don't care. Just talk to me, Gail. I've…missed you so…take my mind off the pain," she hissed out.

"Alright. I have the highest closure rate for any detective in the metro-area."

"That's really impressive," Holly said through gritted teeth. "Is that what you want?" She asked and then sucked a breath in through her teeth.

"What do you mean?" Gail stopped what she was doing momentarily.

"I mean. I always thought you'd be a T.O. like Oliver. Is that what you want?"

"I'm good at it." Gail shook her head slightly because of course Holly would know that about her.

"You pointed out earlier, just because you don't like something doesn't mean you can't do it. The reverse would seem to be true as well."

"I like working with Traci. I like putting away the bad guys. Homicide is always hard because, well because, the crime has already happened. Somebody's dead, but someone still needs to pay. As much as I resent them sometimes, my family…they made me believe that being a police officer stood for something bigger. Stood for justice. They haven't always acted that way themselves, but that's what they instilled in me."

"God, you are so amazing, and you have no idea."

"Shut up, Lunchbox," Gail said as she went back to bandaging Holly's feet and legs.

"I mean it, Gail."

Uncomfortable with the moment, Gail continued to wrap Holly's feet. "You know we should probably elevate your feet if you're having pain. That might help."

"I know. I'll lay like this. I think that'll be enough."

"How much pain are you in?"

"A fair bit."

"What if we play a game?"

"A game?"

"Yeah. You can ask me anything and I'll answer honestly."

"Anything?"

"Yeah. Anything."

"What about me? What do I have to do?"

"Well, you are injured so, we'll limit your truth to five questions. How's that?"

Holly smiled despite the pain. "Very generous."

"Shoot."

"What were you thinking when you kissed me in that interrogation room the first time?"

"I told you. You just needed to stop talking," Gail said and Holly tilted her head in response. "Fine. You were so worried about me. You lied to get into the building. You waited for me in the hallway. You dragged me into that room so that you could be alone with me, so you wouldn't 'embarrass' me while you checked on me. Then you were rambling like a crazy person. No one had ever showed me that they cared for me that much, and I decided to stop fighting what I had been wanting for a few weeks, maybe longer if I'm being totally honest."

Holly furrowed her eyebrows, and Gail thought she was biting back what she wanted to say. Holly took a breath and Gail would bet she changed what she was going to say. "Longer, huh? How much longer?"

"Uh…I'm not sure." Gail went back to tending to Holly's injuries.

"Really?"

"Really. I'm trying to be honest. I really don't remember the first time. I kept telling myself it wasn't like that, but it was."

"It was for me too," Holly said to the top of Gail's head hoping Gail would look up but she didn't. "So…what was it like to be undercover for so long? Do you enjoy it?"

"Ha," Gail said then seemed to think better of it. "You know there were times I have to say that I did. I mean, in general, it was awful but I did like not being a Peck. That and being able to punch Alfonso Rubirosa in the nose. That was fun."

"And he is?"

"Oh, a hitman."

"Oh," Holly said quietly.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. That just sounds really dangerous. I didn't think about it that way."

Gail secured a bandage and looked up. "What did you think that I was doing, Holly?"

"I don't know. Observing and reporting…From a safe distance…maybe?" Holly shrugged.

"Gah, you still have no idea what it means to be a police officer. Here. Give me your left hand. I want to look at your forearm," Gail said and reached out to hold Holly's left hand and gently held her arm. She felt the connection to her toes but she tried not to show it.

"Gail," Holly breathed out.

Gail cleared her throat and looked down at Holly's arm. "It doesn't look nearly as bad as I thought it would. Here. Hold this for a second."

"Gail, please."

Gail looked into Holly's eyes and couldn't for the life of herself look away. "I…I can't."

"Please, honey."

Gail hesitated a moment more and then braced her arms on either side of Holly and kissed her tenderly. Holly brought her good hand up to curl her forefinger in the collar of Gail's shirt. Gail thought she'd never forget how Holly kissed, but her memory, her trained memory, paled in comparison to this. Weak from blood loss, supine, and only touching Gail with her lips and one finger, Holly made her head swim.

"Damn," Gail said as she pulled back and rested her forehead on Holly's.

"I forgot how good you are at that," Holly said and smiled.

"I was just thinking the same thing."

"I love you so much."

"I love you, Lunchbox," Gail said as she leaned back on her knees to sit up. "But right now we have other things we need to concentrate on. I have to worry about keeping you safe and getting you somewhere with good drugs. I promised. So can we not stop this but, like, put it on hold for a bit?"

"Gail, I…fine, but we're talking about this when we get back to civilization."

"Good. Now let me look at that arm. Then I'm going to make you something to eat."

"Gail Peck cooking for me, I never thought I'd see the day."

"It's just beans. Wait until you have them. They're not all that."

"Still counts as cooking," Holly smiled.

"Be careful. You might regret making that determination ahead of time," Gail said and Holly just laughed in response.

All in all, the beans weren't bad for what they were, and they took Holly's mind off the pain in spurts. After they were finished eating, Gail took away the leftovers and put them up on the workbench. She put another log on the fire. She noticed Holly shivering and breathing rapidly.

"Are you cold?" Gail asked as she pulled in part of a wooden pallet to elevate Holly's legs.

"I don't think so. I think…I think I'm going into shock."

"Well, let's try getting you warm. See if that helps at all," Gail said as she climbed behind Holly. "Give me this." She took the sleeping bag from Holly's shoulders and carefully put Holly's legs in it.

"But, won't you be cold?"

"I have on a jacket. Besides you're going to keep me warm," Gail said as she leaned up against the wall of the van. She pulled the bagged Holly between her legs and wrapped her arms around her. "There. Now, let's see if we get you warm, you stop shivering."

Holly practically purred in response.

"Better?"

"You have no idea."

Gail must have drifted off at some point because she woke up later to Holly groaning in pain. "Holly," Gail said as she shook her. "Holly, wake up." No response. "Holly!" Gail felt a wetness around her legs. "No! No! No!" she screamed as she pulled back to the sleeping bag to expose Holly's legs. Blood, Holly's blood, was soaking everything.