"Gail, I'm sorry. I'm so so so sorry, it's really not what you think. I wouldn't say those things."
"Hey, Gail, it's me again. Look, I was just telling her that I wasn't available because I had you, I really really like you. What you heard was what my friend said, she thinks those things not me. Please call me back."
"I know I sound like a broken record here but I really am sorry, and I hope you'll let me explain."
"Hey, me again. Look you haven't called me back yet and it's been two days, and I'm worried about you, Chloe said she hasn't seen you since that day. I'm scared somethings happened to you and that you're lying dead in a ditch somewhere, so please just call or text or something. Please… I miss you."
"Gail. I-I can't sleep, please just tell someone you're alive."
It was a bad day that ended with a grand finally. It was little things, dropping her coffee, pen, files, then her lunch was made wrong and she didn't have time to go back, her intern mixed up samples, and blood got on her favourite shirt. After all of that, the day was closing and it was time she could go home and make the day end, she went to her car and found it being towed away.
"Really?" Holly yelled into the ceiling of the parking garage. Her cry echoed off the concrete walls, bouncing her cry all through the building. She pushed on her temples in a hope to call off the headache that dared to begin. Holly pulled out her phone and dialed the first number that came to mind.
"Hey Chloe, I'm having a really bad day. Max mixed up samples, got guts everywhere, I have a huge blood stain on my favourite shirt, my lunch was wrong and so I haven't eaten since this morning, and to top it all off my car just got towed. Can you come pick me up, I could really use a few drinks and a movie." Holly unloaded in a rush, her chest contracting, and tears on the brim of letting go.
"Where are you?" Came the reply from someone who definitely wasn't her friend, this voice didn't have the bubbly undertones of the redhead she'd known her whole life, this one didn't have the hurt puppy concern.
"Who's this?" She asked wiping her nose with the back of her hand.
There was the sound of a door slamming, followed by an engine starting. "I'm Gail, Chloe's roommate, and I could also use some drinks. So I'll ask again before going by myself, where are you, Doc?"
Holly had known Chloe had a roommate, the redhead had mentioned Gail often, but she still had yet to meet the blonde officer that had Chloe in such a fit sometimes it blew Holly's mind. Gail sounded like a piece of work, someone who didn't do things for others willingly, someone who enjoyed pissing people off, someone she never understood why Chloe kept around. Chloe had come to her defense, though, whenever Holly brought it up. She went on and on about how Gail grew up -what little she knew-, how she actually wasn't what everyone saw, and really had a heart of gold. Holly didn't see it, not in the many stories she'd been told by her friends. But recent events intrigued her, Gail letting her vent and then offering to pick her up had sparked an interest.
"I'm at the pathology building down the street from the station. I'll wait outside."
"Okay, I'll be there in ten." Gail said and hung up.
"It's Holly. I don't know if you're getting these or not, or maybe you're just deleting them, that's probably what I would do. I just wanted to talk to you, I miss talking to you, actually I miss everything about you. But I fucked that all up and I'm sorry."
"I hope you're doing okay, Chloe says you're okay, she says you've started going back to the Penny after work but it's not the same. Is it bad that I'm happy it's not the same? Because it's the only thing telling me that I have had an effect on you, that it isn't just me in this, that I might still have a chance."
"I saw you in the hall today. You look good, I like your new boots."
"I miss you, Gail."
"Hey, Lunchbox." A voice that stopped her heart called out.
Holly stopped at the bottom of the hill and turned to meet clear blue eyes. "Gail, hey." She grinned with a breath of fresh air.
"Hey." Gail smiled back, seemingly in just as much of a daze.
It'd been a few weeks since Gail had picked Holly up from work, and they got drunk while watching some crappy movie. That night was amazing. Gail was hardly the woman she'd imagined, and they ended up staying up all night laughing and talking about the most random things, then passing out on the couch. Holly had been itching to see the blonde since.
"You said that already." Holly smirked.
Gail rolled her eyes and ducked her head to try and hide the pink on her cheeks. "You know, it sounded familiar."
She smiled at her friend's adorable roommate, and let her eyes take in the sight of the blonde. Since meeting Gail she'd imagined more than once about what the uniform would look like on her, and she had to admit that her pictures hadn't done her justice. "Uniform suits you." Holly accidentally let slip.
"The vest doing it for you?" Gail asked with a sultry smirk.
Just as her veins turned to fire, a blush so deep there was no hiding it hit her skin, she was saved by a whistle only ever called out by one detective.
"Doctor Stewart, glad you're here." Sam clapped his hands, a forced smile spread across his face.
"Hey Chloe."
"She's okay, today I actually caught her smiling, thought Leo always makes her smile. I kinda told her about you, how sad you are, the calls, and she said that she'd gotten them. Apparently she hasn't opened any yet though. She's still pretty hurt."
"I really miss her, Chlo."
"I know. I think Gail misses you just as much."
Holly wasn't quite sure about what it was, the bubbling champagne, the questions, or just the way Gail looked, whatever it was drove her to kiss her friend. To lean in while Gail was mid sentence, and kiss her. It hadn't lasted long, and was probably less than two seconds, but it was a moment-a feeling she'd never forget.
"Hol, it's been weeks since you've been out, so I'm on my way over and you better be dressed for the bar. Or else I'm dragging you out in your pj's."
She kicked at the door as a way of knocking, careful not to drop the beer, pizza, and bag of deserts out of her hands. "Hurry before I drop everything!"
The door swung open and there stood Gail. "Holly." She smiled.
"Hey, Gail." Holly rushed out as she hurried to the kitchen and placed the food on the counter.
"What's all this?" The blonde raised a brow as she perused the various boxes and bags on the counter.
"Dinner, desert, and beer." She shooed away the pale hands that tried to open one of the treats. "Not yet, we have to wait for Chloe. Where is she anyway?"
Gail's face dropped, and not just because of the denial of food. "She's at work."
"Late arrest?" Holly began opening the box of beer, taking two out and twisting the tops off with the aid of her shirt.
Gail swallowed hard, her eyes glued to the exposed skin of Holly's hip. "No, her sift got changed last minute. She started an hour ago and wont be back until morning."
Holly whispered an 'oh' under her breath.
"Sorry for ruining your plans with the princess, well that they got ruined." Gail was looking at her feet. "But I wouldn't protest to you staying to wait. You know, if you want." She scratched the back of her neck.
Holly grinned at the adorable person everyone seemed to be frightened by. "Are you asking me to have dinner with you, Officer?"
The brightest blush Holly had ever seen, spread across Gail's cheeks, and made it's way up to the tips of her ears.
"Truth."
Gail rolled her eyes to the choice, of course Holly would be the only one ever to call out truth twice in a row. "Fine. Why'd you kiss me at the wedding?"
Holly's breath caught in her chest. She hadn't been expecting that kind of question. She twirled the bottle in her hands and thought about lying, she really didn't want to lose Gail before they really even had a chance to be friends. "Pass?"
"If you do not answer, truthfully, then you have to take a shot of Frankie's hot sauce."
"I would die if I did that." Holly groaned.
Gail shrugged, a triumphant smile playing on her lips. Lips Holly had been having a very hard time not staring at.
"You wouldn't believe me if I said that I didn't know, even if I don't, would you?"
"So what you're saying is that it was an accident?" Gail asked. She sounded small, like she did when she talked about her childhood, and it broke Holly's heart.
"No?" She didn't it to be louder than under her breath, but it landed in Gail's ears and the look it brought was what stabbed a knife into Holly's gut. "No." She stated, told, and reassured. "I did it and I don't regret it, I just don't know what the motive in the that moment was."
Gail still hadn't looked up, hadn't met her eyes no matter how much Holly wished she would. So she did the only thing she could think of, she raised up onto her knees, cupped Gail's chin in one hand and placed her lips on Gail's. They were just as she'd remembered, only instead of chocolate and champagne they tasted of pizza and beer, and the butterflies in her stomach were twice as manic as the first time. Her hand slid up Gail's jaw and into her messy hair, and she reveled in the shiver the movement created. Gail's own hands found purchase in Holly's hair, tangling in the gentle waves, just as she slid her tongue across Holly's bottom lip. Holly let out a low moan, hardly audible, and she opened her mouth for the blonde.
"This is getting ridiculous, Stewart, it's been almost a month and neither of you has made a move. And before you say phone calls, they don't count, not when it's been weeks and they haven't done shit. So I am finally intervening because Muppet and Peck are driving me nuts. Come to the apartment tomorrow and have your little speech prepared."
Holly had totally forgotten about her date with, she didn't even remember the woman's name, so when she walked into The Penny intending to have the night with Gail she was more than surprised to be greeted by What's-Her-Face. She politely hugged the woman and sat down with her at a table she seemed to have had ready for them.
She took a big sip from the Jack and Coke waiting for her, and gave the woman a smile. "I'm really sorry, but this isn't going to work. I kind of already have someone, she's really the reason this is even happening right now."
"I'm sorry, what?"
"Lisa only set us up because she doesn't like the woman I'm sort of seeing. Lisa thinks I'm just having fun, Gail is just a blue collared beat cop, and I'm way out of her league, so-"
"Is that what you really think?"
Holly's head whipped around so fast she thought she'd get whiplash. Gail was staring at her with as much sadness to send her to her grave, her blue eyes clouded with hurt, betrayal, and tears. Her jaw tightened just as Holly whispered her name, and then she was walking away.
Holly almost fell as she jumped from her seat, "Gail." She rushed through the crowed, trying to catch up with the blonde, calling out her name with every passing person. But it didn't help, Gail just kept walking, right out the door.
"Chloe, I don't know what else to say. I've said it all, multiple times, and it hasn't done anything. Maybe it's just time to move on. Lisa already has a date for me, maybe that one will work out, maybe this whole thing was so I could meet this girl."
"Holly, stop talking none sense. You're still hung up on Gail, and she's still hung up on you. And I don't think there's much you'll have to say."
"What if I screw it up again?"
"Then you'll make it up to her again. You guys are practically made for each other, it's like a fairy tale."
Holly nervously stood in Gail and Chloe's kitchen. The plan was to sneak attack Gail, to hold her in the apartment with Holly until thy worked it out.
"Gail, get your royal ass out here." Frankie boomed through the house.
Almost immediately a door opened, "what." Growled Gail.
"You have a visitor." She replied just as the blonde rounded the corner.
Gail tensed, her jaw tightened, her shoulders squared off, and she crossed her arms over her chest. She didn't quite meet Holly's eyes, but she didn't look away either.
"Here's the deal, neither of you are leaving until you sort this" Frankie gestured between the two, "out."
Gail turned her attention on the detective, murder in her eyes. "You can't force me to do anything, Anderson."
"True but Muppet can." She tipped her none existent hat and left the room.
"Play nice." Chloe shot to the couple before trailing off behind Frankie. It was obvious that something had been going on between the two women, if Chloe hadn't already spilled the beans, it would have been told in the way they walked together.
Neither said anything for awhile, they stood across the kitchen for what seemed like hours, just looking but not really looking. Both waiting for the other. Holly was just as upset by that point, sure she had messed up but it was a misunderstanding and Gail was being childish in avoiding for so long. It was infuriating. After a half hour Holly moved to get a bottle of water.
As she drank she thought of all the ways the conversation could go, all they ways she could start it.
"I get that I hurt your feelings, and I'm sorry for that, but you've hurt me too." Was what Holly settled on.
Gail finally met her eyes, "you said I was just a beat cop you were just having fun with. When would you have gotten hurt?"
"When you didn't return any of my messages." Holly almost yelled, pushing up onto her feet and knocking down the chair she had been sitting on. "When you ignored me everyday for a month. When you actually believed that I thought those things."
"Believed?" Gail practically spat, venom dripped with every word. "I heard you say it, Holly, I heard you say the words."
"I repeated what my friend thought of you, I repeated the things she thought would get me to not date you. And if you hadn't interrupted me I was about to say just that, you would have then heard me go on to tell her about how untrue that was, how amazing and wonderful I think you are." Holly's voice was raised, all of her frustration abut the whole ordeal laced in every word. "And you never gave me the chance to tell you, you just ran away as if you'd been waiting for a way out. It was so easy for you to drop me." Her voice cracked at the end.
Gail took a step toward her, her defenses completely washed away. She reached out to comfort the brunette but Holly stepped out of her touch.
"Holly, please just-" Gail was soft, a gentleness to her that Holly had never seen. "I-I'm sorry. It's not like that. It hasn't been easy, I've been a mess, sulking around and lashing out. Losing you has been the hardest thing in my life. I tried to call back, but I'm a prideful child, and I'm sorry."
Holly searched her eyes for a moment. "I missed you." Her lip trembled.
"I missed you too, like a lot, more than I love sharks." Gail tried a weak smile and wiped away a stray tear from her cheek.
She returned the small grin and closed the gape between them. Holly wrapped her arms around Gail's waist, pulling her up on her tip-toes, and nuzzled her nose into the long blonde hair she adored. "I missed you more than I love science journals." She mumbled into Gail's neck with the biggest smile on her face