"Do you have one that got away, Ms. Peck?"

Gail looked up from the test she was grading, a little startled by the small voice. She'd been in her own world, zoned in her papers, and honestly she'd forgotten she had company. She wasn't used to it, grading papers, figuring out a teaching plan from vague guidelines, and then throw in watching a kid while doing so and forget about it.

She cleared her throat. "Sorry, what'd you say?"

"I asked you if you'd ever had one that got away." Julia smiled shyly, holding her book open and close to her chest.

"A kid? Yeah, you little stinkers tend to think that because I'm a supply that you can get away with everything. But I got'em back." Gail smirked at the girl. Julia was one of her favourite students at that school, she always loved subbing for her class. The girl was a quiet one, always had her nose in a book of some kind, but she was spunky and had a kick about her when she did speak up.

Julia tried to look innocent, knowing full well she was one of those students that thought they could get away with shit because Gail was a supply teacher. "That only happened once."

"Twice actually." She corrected with a fondness. Julia raised a brow in question. "I supplied once or twice when you were in JK. You thought you could go inside and hide to read during recess, it took me a half hour to find you."

"Broom closest?" The girl guessed.

Gail nodded. "You'd fallen asleep with your head in a bucket." She chuckled at the memory of dried drool and half outed pigtails. It was probably the cutest sight she'd seen since.

Julia laughed. She slipped her bookmark into her page and put the book on her desk, second last row and in the corner, probably the same spot Gail would have chosen. Right next to the window and heater, out of sight and out of mind.

"As funny as you answer was, it wasn't what I was asking." Gail looked to her questionably. "Do you have someone, a love, that got away?"

Gail practically choked on her coffee, spilling it all over the borrowed desk. She cussed, not caring at all that the girl could definitely hear, and shoved her chair back to run and grab paper towels.

Julia laughed at her, snorting at how funny the blonde looked when coffee shot out of not only her mouth but her nose. Gail looked at her with distain but ultimately joined in the giggles. Before she could even stand, Julia was at her side and holding out a roll of paper towel. Together they dabbed -not rub, Gail instructed- at the papers and books, cleaning and drying as best they could.

"So do you?"

Gail swallowed hard. "Why do you ask?"

"My book, it makes it out to be really great and I don't think it would be, and I was thinking that it's probably just a fictional thing. So I was wondering if you had one and could tell me about it."

Julia was looking at her expectantly, pleading and innocent, Gail opened her mouth to answer, to say anything, but nothing came out. She tried again with the same results. Gail cleared her throat and busied herself with collecting the coffee sodden papers. "I do."

"Can I ask about it?" The girl hesitantly asked. She could feel the sudden tension in her favourite teacher.

Gail thought about for a moment and nodded. It wasn't as bad as she was playing it to be, the question, the memory it brought just caught her off guard. It'd been a long time since she'd talked about it.

"How long ago was it?"

Gail straightened out the handful of sheets. "Ten years ago."

"How'd you meet?"

"One of my mothers business parties." The twelve year old gave her a weird look, making her chuckle, so she elaborated. "My mother is a big hot shot in the police world, and so she had these ridiculous parties to show off. She had a horrible tendency of introducing me to everyone, an attempt to try and get me to follow in my family's footsteps. So she was introducing me to Toronto's best forensic pathologist for the same reasons, connections for when I got my head out of my ass and in the game, and that's when I met her, his daughter."

Gail bit her lip to try and contain a grin. She could feel it start in her chest, warm and giddy, and travel up into her cheeks with childish abandonment. Thankfully Julia horribly pretended not to notice and pushed on with her questions.

"How long did it last?"

"Seven and a half months." She replied without a pause. She didn't need to think about it, didn't need to count, the number of days spent with her first and only real love was imprinted into her brain. There was no forgetting.

Julia met her eyes. "What happened?"

Gail gave her a sad smile, just a twitch of her lips, her eyes betraying her and showed just how broken she still was about it. She quickly looked away and began setting the wet sheets out onto the children's desks to dry.

"I was a scared idiot, left her because my father couldn't handle that she was a woman. He said he'd cut me off, throw me out onto the streets, and my entire family would have disowned me. So I did what he told me to do and left her." Gail was quiet, and so was Julia. Gail wasn't the best at gauging what was and wasn't appropriate for certain ages, she wasn't totally sure the details she gave the twelve year old was okay or not, but there really wasn't any going back. She hoped it would be fine and that she wasn't going to get a phone call later that night from an angry parent, it wouldn't be the first though. But Gail thought hearing these things, learning about it, about harsh life, hard decisions and consequences, was a good thing. Kids were more bullet proof than most adults thought, smarter and more understanding than they were given credit for.

"That's rough." Julia broke the silence. Gail broke out into a laughter, pulling giggles from the girl as well. When they settled down she requested more than asked, "tell me about her?"

Gail closed her eyes and without even trying a picture, a memory, of her nerd came up.

"Are you even listening?" Holly tilted her head, trying to regain the blonde's attention. When Gail's eyes cleared from their dazed-daydream state she couldn't help but kiss the blonde, she was too adorable.

Gail hummed her appreciation and gently placed a hand on the brunette's cheek. Holly smiled, effectively breaking the kiss, and pulled back. Gail huffed and crossed her arms like a pouting child.

"If I get the next ten cards right, and then you get three right from the ones I do, we can break for some more of that." Holly gestured to Gail's lips.

"Why do I have to answer your nerd questions? It's not like I'm the one trying to be a pathologist." Gail grumbled.

"Because that's the deal. And it's forensic pathologist, honey." Holly fondly pat her girlfriends cheek.

Gail missed by one question, the question Holly answered when she was busy staring at Holly's lips and thinking about the last time the future doctor had proposed a break in studying.

"She was-is the smartest person in the world, she had an unlimited supply of outrageous facts. You know that saying, 'you learn something new everyday'?" Julia nodded. "I think she learns two or three. It's the only explanation I have."

"This is my daughter, Holly," Dr. Stewart guided a tall brunette to his side, "she's planning on following in my dusty footprints." Gail's pulse was getting faster with each pump of her blood. God, Holly was beautiful. "Hey maybe you two will be working together someday."

I hope so, Gail thought. She swallowed hard and tried her hardest not to ogle the woman and failed miserably. When she finished her appraisal Gail blushed, she'd been caught. Holly smirked at her knowingly. Well thats better than being disgusted, Gail commented internally.

"It's nice to meet you, Gail." Holly's voice wasn't what she'd expected, but god if it didn't make her weak in the knees.

"Likewise." She gladly took the outstretched hand of the brunette and almost shivered when they touched. She was hooked and there was no denying it. Gail was a a goner.

"She's the most beautiful woman- person I've ever met."

Holly smiled at her, lips pulled up to one side in an adoring lopsided grin. Fondness and adoration oozed from her. Gail had never felt more liked, special, than in that moment. No. Holly always made her feel like she was wanted, loved, and above everything, worthy.

"And she's got this smile, a crooked little number that never failed to melt me." Gail bit her lip, and with a sigh she let it go.

Julia grinned up at her, "what was her name?"

"Ho-" Gail was cut off by a knock on the door. Both of them looked up to see who it could be. Gail's chest caved in, with the stolen breath the name fell out. "Holly."

The woman glanced from her trained sight on Julia to Gail and froze, mouth left open.

"One sec, mom." Julia held a finger up to her. She turned back to Gail. "So like I said, my book says it's all rainbows and heartache, and I think that's bull-loney. Is it?"

Gail couldn't tear her eyes away from the brunette at the door. "It hurts, you never really get over it, you just learn to live with it and try to get past it. But it's there. Always there. And you can't truly be mad about it because you had that time, that person, you got a glimpse of what love-true love, feels like. So it's heartache but I wouldn't say rainbows, I'd use a bright day with nothing but cloudy skies."

Julia grinned, completely unaware about what was happening, and excitedly turned back to the still stunned brunette. "That's just like what you said about Gail!"

Then something happened, something Gail hadn't seen in a decade, she watched colour seep into Holly's cheeks as she bashfully averted her gaze. Gail's stomached flipped.

"Gail?"

"Gail is my mom's one who got away. Actually now that I think about it, your stories are pretty similar." Julia shrugged as she swung her bag over her shoulder. "Weird."

Gail waited for Holly to look at her again, to take her eyes off of her shoes and meet her gaze. When she did she winked and amusingly smirked, "small world."

Holly blessed her with that lopsided grin she told Julia about not ten minutes prior. Julia was at her side then, ready and waiting to go.

"Bye Ms. Peck, thank you for answering my questions. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"You're welcome, Julia. No, you're regular teacher will be back tomorrow, but I'll definitely see you next time I'm here." She spared a second to make eye contact with the girl. But only a second.

Julia nodded and stepped out of the room. Holly turned to her daughter, "Nate's in the car. I'll be there in a minute."

Gail closed her eyes and braced herself on a desk. That voice. She took a breath. There wasn't a reply, at least not a verbal one, but the sound of foot steps was a sign the girl was gone. And just liked that they were alone, her and Holly. Gail never thought that'd ever happen again.

"Mom huh?" Gail broke the silence.

"That's me." Holly nodded and stuffed her hands into her pockets.

"She's twelve."

"She is."

"Adoption?"

"Yeah, her and her brother Nate two years ago. Before that I had been fostering them."

Gail nodded. She didn't know what to say, what was there to say? She left Holly ten years ago. She'd chosen a life she hated over Holly.

"How long did you foster them?"

"Gail."

Her chest tighten for a beat. "Holly."

"You look good. Became the teacher you wanted to be." She sounded breathless but just as gentle and warm as Gail remembered.

"I'm a supply, not really a teacher."

Holly smirked, amused. "Take the compliment, Gail."

"Never."

"How've you been?"

Gail shrugged noncommittally. "Good and bad. You?"

"Stressed but can't complain too much."

There was a lull. A pause as neither knew what to say, both still blown away that there was even a chance to have to think of conversation.

"I should get going before they start complaining. Last time I left them in the car alone I had to spend a half hour scrubbing out blue from the carpeting." Holly thumbed to the door. Gail's face fell. "But I'd like to talk. If you want to that is..."

"I would." Gail said all to fast for her liking. Holly rewarded that with a shy smile and a bite of her lip.

"Are you free on Saturday?"

She nodded.

Holly hesitantly took a step, testing the waters, took a second to make sure her legs wouldn't fail on her, and then continued until she was on the other side of the desk Gail leaned on. She scanned Gail's face as she pulled up a pen.

Gail's senses were on overdrive. Palms sweaty, stomach doing somersaults, pulse thumping so hard she was surprised Holly didn't react when she grabbed her wrist and turned her hand over. She sighed at the touch, her skin slowly setting on fire starting in her left wrist.

"I'll see you Saturday." Holly whispered and walked away without a reply, without another look.

Can't wait Nerd Gail sent the text feeling happy and hopeful.