Part 5
"There's no way that counts!" Dov said looking for Chris to back him up but Chris just shrugged and took a drink from his water bottle.
They'd been racing around for over an hour before Dov got them all together to race for the pot of cash and one lap later Dov was nursing fifth place. Behind Traci, Chris, Holly and Leo.
"He wasn't even playing!" He continued to complain as they all sat around taking a break and snacking from the food service area beside the track.
"Shut up Dov." Gail called out, finally having had enough of the whining. "He crossed the line first. He wins. Get over it." She bit out with a glare of her own.
Chloe scowled at the blonde but kept quiet as Dov threw his hands up in defeat.
"Come on, I'll race you for the first round of drinks at the Penny tonight." Chris offered as he stood to coax Dov back out onto the track.
"Fine."
Gail picked up another fry and bit into it as she watched the pair head back towards the karts. Then she grinned and looked across her table to Leo who she put her hand out to for a high five which caused Leo to giggle and slapped at her hand.
Traci grinned at them then eyed Gail, "Thanks for contributing to his college fund." She said.
Holly shook her head from her seat beside her girlfriend. Gail and Andy had taken out Dov and caused a pile up close to the last bend of the track, she'd been far back enough to go around it but she'd slowed to make sure Gail wasn't hurt. Her girlfriend had shouted at her to just keep going and then it was Holly against Traci with Chris quickly righting his kart and chasing after them.
It wasn't until they'd crossed the line that they saw Leo just ahead of them.
And although he'd been sticking to the no overtaking lane, he had started with the rest of them and crossed the line first.
Traci had been thrilled as they all realised they'd lost to a seven year old and carried Leo up onto her shoulders singing 'we are the champions' much to Leo's utter delight.
Gail and Andy had raced over and joined in the celebration before the group turned to Chloe for the winnings which lead to the guys, mainly Dov, complaining that Leo's win didn't count and that Gail and Andy had cheated.
"That was totally worth it!" Gail said turning to her girlfriend as Leo proclaimed to need the toilet and was lead off by Traci leaving them at their table alone. She'd been targeting Dov every chance she got and now with Leo winning the pot, it was just icing on the cake.
"And Leo will remember today for a long time." Holly said finishing up her burger.
Gail nodded her head thinking back to Traci and all the cell phone pictures she had taken of her son holding up a little plastic trophy that they bought at the store nearby for the occasion. She looked around the area impressed by the layout, including the track there was a large enclosed play area for kids and a large food court which they were currently taking advantage of.
"How much longer do we have this place to ourselves for?" She asked Holly as she picked up and opened a bag of chips, offering them first to Holly who declined and then eating a handful herself.
Holly checked her watch. "Less than an hour, why you keen to go again?"
Gail pouted and shook her head. "I think I broke my kart, one of the staff was giving me the evil eye when I pulled it in."
Holly grinned.
"I don't mind watching if you want to take out Dov again for me?"
Holly laughed at Gail's hopeful expression, she laughed harder when she noticed the glare Chloe was aiming at Gail from the next table where she was left sitting with Nick.
"I'm good." Holly replied not really up for another race if Gail wasn't.
Gail looked at the empty food carton in front of her and the soda can. "Coffee?"
"Sure." Holly said but when Gail continued to stare at her she finally got the hint and stood up. "Why don't I go get that for you?"
Gail just smiled adorably at her and watched Holly head off.
At a slight loss as to what to do now Gail looked around and saw Chris and Dov side by side as they took the corner of the track that bordered the food court. A little part of her hoped Chris won but she was sure her friend would lose on purpose just to try and appease Dov's ego.
That boy did like to win no matter the contest.
With Holly, Traci and Chris gone Gail would normally try and talk to Andy next but she'd been gone since they'd sat down after getting a call that had her grinning from ear to ear and taking off for some privacy.
It had been obvious to everyone that it had been a call from Sam.
But it left Gail without a fall back given that things were weird with Nick right now and she avoided all possible contact with Chloe when she could get away with it. She's still not sure she's forgiven the other woman for springing a husband on Dov even if they did work it out between them when she woke up in the hospital.
Sighing she felt for her phone to check her messages, undoing her overall to reach into her jeans pocket. That would waste time until Holly got back. There was 3 texts from Steve and 1 from Oliver. She read Oliver's text and found an invitation for dinner with him and Celery next time she had a night off and wanted to stop by. With Holly of course.
She grinned reading that, it would be nice spending time with Ollie when they weren't at the Penny or at a hospital. She'd have to check with Holly but she did text back and told him that they'd work out a date this week.
She deleted the text messages from her brother.
"So,"
Gail glanced up from her phone to find Nick in the seat Traci had been sat in across from her.
"Holly." He finished.
Gail blinked and readjusted her overall having replaced her cell into her pocket. She frowned at him not sure why he was even speaking to her. "Holly what?" She had to ask.
Nick shrugged.
Gail turned away from him and glanced back over to the track to try and watch Dov and Chris.
"Are you, like, gay now?" He asked, studying her face for a reaction.
Tilting her head and taking a moment to answer, Gail replied, "How is that, any of your business?"
"We were going to get married Gail."
"I thought you said that was never serious."
"But you were."
Biting her lip to keep her emotions from spiralling, Gail's eyes hardened. "We broke up nearly three months ago Nick, you moved on and so have I. So why are we even having this conversation?"
He opened his mouth to answer but Gail quickly put up her hand and shook her head.
"You know what," She said, standing up. "I don't care, we're not having this conversation." And with that she walked over to lean on the railing of the race track and wait on Holly.
She jumped when Nick appeared at her elbow.
"This isn't you Gail, I know you," He said a frown on his face. "You aren't gay."
Scoffing Gail glanced around for Holly or Traci but they still weren't back. "Obviously Nick, you don't know me." And with that she tried to walk away only to have Nick grab at her arm to hold her in place. "Hey, let go!"
"I do know you Gail." Nick replied as the blonde struggled free of his grip. He stepped closer to her as she backed away from him. "I've slept with you enough to know there's no way you're gay."
"Fuck you Nick!" Gail spat at him leaning in to point her finger into his face.
And then there was a commotion at the railing causing Gail to turn and see Chris jump over quickly with Dov a few meters behind him where they had abandoned their karts on the track.
Chris pulled his helmet off and came up to Gail, eyeing Nick dangerously, having seen Gail pull free from his hold when he'd looked over from his kart as he took the turn nearby.
"You okay Gail?" He asked her, as he dropped his helmet to the ground.
Gail glanced around seeing Holly and Andy approaching together, Holly with two cups of what she knew to be coffee in her hand. Her girlfriend smiled at her and Gail smiled back before looking to Chris.
"Everything's fine." She told him and walked past him and Dov who'd been join by Chloe.
There was silence then, as Holly and Andy arrived and eyed the group wondering why they were all standing around with Chris almost facing off with Nick.
"Is it because you were raped?" Came Nick's voice just as Gail was accepting her coffee from her girlfriend.
The coffee dropped to the floor as Gail screwed her eyes shut, not wanting to believe Nick had just said that to her.
And then there was a thump and a thud and Gail spun around to see Chris standing over a fallen Nick who had his hand over his mouth.
"No Chris, don't!" Gail shouted not wanting the pair to start fighting. She went over to her friend and placed her hands on his chest, pushing him until he moved away from Nick who was struggling to his feet. "Please, it's not worth it."
Dov stepped past them.
"I think you should leave." He said to Nick, ready to finish what Chris started if he didn't go.
Nick worked his jaw, checked his hand for signs of a bloody nose then shook his head and walked off.
Chris watched Nick go and when he was sure he wasn't going to be a problem anymore he ducked his head to Gail who still had her hands on him. "You okay?"
Gail shook her head fighting tears.
Taking a minute to blink the tears back Gail reached for Chris' hand, his knuckles were scuffed but the skin hadn't been broken. "You shouldn't have."
"He deserved it."
Gail sighed and then Holly was beside them, watching her, and Gail couldn't face the questions right now. Not without breaking down.
"Can you check that?" She asked her girlfriend, indicating Chris' hand.
"Sure." Holly replied softly as she took hold of the hand from Gail, checking the bones and joints for any sign of damage.
"What's going on?" Traci asked as she returned with Leo who had a toy race car in his hands.
No one spoke.
Gail sighed wanting to forget the whole incident. She smiled at Leo. "Hey shortstop, wanna have one last race, double or nothing?"
"Yeah!" Leo said in a shout with pumped fist. "Can I?" He asked turning to his mom for permission.
Traci smoothed her hands along her son's shoulders having seen the distressed look in Gail's eyes. "Sure, but you two play nice."
Leo grinned and took off to his kart after handing off his new toy to Traci.
"I'll come too." Andy said sure that Traci wouldn't want Leo around to hear about it and wanting to keep a close eye on the blonde.
Holly snorted and glanced at Gail. "I'm surprised you've heard of that word."
Gail turned. "What do you mean? It's a nickname for a short person Hol," She then pointed in the direction of Leo. "Little."
Holly shook her head and turned back to Chris. "You'll be fine, if it starts to swell you might want to ice it."
Chris nodded and thanked her.
"You okay?" Traci asked as Gail paused beside her. The blonde certainly didn't look okay and from what she'd seen Holly doing her concern was only increasing.
Gail shrugged not wanting to mention Perik around the other woman. "You should probably give Steve a call, you're going to need another ride back." She told her before walking off to join Andy and Leo for one last race.
Traci watched her go then crossed her arms over her chest and eyed the rest of the group needing answers from someone.
Chris shrugged. "All I saw was Nick grabbing hold of Gail." He pointed over his shoulder to the race track where two employees were removing his and Dov's karts from the track.
Chloe cleared her throat, looked at Dov and then over to Traci. "Nick was asking her about being with Holly now, and if that made her gay-"
"No!" Chris cut in, frowning at Chloe. "You don't get to talk about her like that, like you know her, you don't!"
"Hey." Dov said softly trying to intervene between his girlfriend and his best friend. The fact that they were talking about Gail, someone he counted as a close friend also made it sound like his defence of Chloe was only a token protest.
"No, Chloe's that last person Gail would want talking about her behind her back and you know it!" Chris replied quickly.
Holly sat down and picked up her forgotten coffee. It was no doubt cold by now but she just needed something to do with her hands. Soon the others were sitting down around her.
She looked over at Chris then. "So you tell us." She asked him reaching over and placing a hand over his hurt one. Gail had gone and she had also taken Leo out of the group so Holly felt it safe to assume that her girlfriend was aware that they would be discussing what had happened between her and Nick.
Chris looked down at Holly's hand covering his and then met her eyes.
And then quietly he told her.
Not because Traci wanted to know, but because Holly was going to be the person Gail turned to if she needed someone.
xxxxxxx
Twenty minutes later they were all changed and heading out into the parking lot to head back home.
"Someone called?" Steve said with a smug grin as he spotted the group emerge from the entrance and moved from resting against his own car.
Gail rolled her eyes at her brother and grabbed Holly's hand and gave him a wide berth as Traci walked over to him with Leo.
"Gail?" Steve called out as he saw his sister and Holly going over to the blue Z4 he knew to be Holly's car. "Can you hold up a minute, Gail?"
"Still ignoring you!" Gail called out as she got into the passenger side and closed the door and buckled up.
Andy chuckled at her friend's treatment of her brother wondering what was going on with the siblings now and if she really wanted to know.
"Let's go before he comes over." Gail said with a grin to Holly wanting the other woman to hurry it up.
Holly shook her head but backed out and drove out of the lot and on to the main road. "So mature." She muttered.
"Hey, I'll talk to him, he just has to work for it." Gail replied. This was the way she always treated Steve when he did something to piss her off. They weren't particularly close as siblings but they had a way of interacting that worked for them.
It didn't really matter if they didn't speak for weeks or months, they were still brother and sister and that meant they'd work it out eventually and they'd be back to normal. Or at least whatever rated as normal for the Peck siblings.
"So what do you have planned for me tonight?" Gail asked wanting to skate right over the idea of bringing up the Nick issue.
Holly waited until she had to stop at a traffic light before turning and giving Gail a serious look.
Gail held the gaze before slumping in her seat and pouting.
"We really need to talk about this Gail, and about what happened last night." Holly said insistently as she drove off again in the direction of her house.
"Can't we just pretend neither of those events happened and move right along to my surprise?"
"No."
"Pretty please?"
"You should know that ignoring things doesn't make them go away Gail."
"Now you're sounding like my therapist." Gail huffed.
Holly grinned and waited her girlfriend out as she continued driving.
"So let's see…I'm either with you because I'm 'experimenting', I am incapable of finding myself a guy since Nick 'the stud' Collins, or now it's because I was raped by a serial killer!" Gail said to Holly, "Or would you rather discuss my mother, who seems to find fault with everything I do including the way I breathe!" Gail heard Holly snigger at that. "Oh, don't laugh, the last time I lived at home, she would correct my walking posture, the way I sat, even the way I spoke at the dinner table."
Holly was quiet as she drove, trying to form a reply to Gail's little tirade. Holly wasn't stupid, she could tell Gail was trying to skip over her rape by making a joke about her mother, but Holly had already known that had happened to Gail, having worked the body found in the woods, it gave her access to all of those notes and the reports on Gail's abduction and the murder of Detective Barber.
She just wasn't sure if Gail knew she knew.
"Well, I'm pretty sure I'm not just an experiment," Holly started as she entered the district where she lived. "But if I am, you're acing it!"
Gail grinned then gave Holly a smug nod of her head in agreement.
"And how many dates did you go on before you gave up and asked me out?" Holly asked refereeing to Gail's call asking her if she was free for the evening and to save her from yet another date her mother had set her up with.
"The batting cages was not a date." Gail insisted.
Holly shrugged. It was sort of, they spent the whole night flirting with each other, and there had been food and drinks after the cages. "You keep telling yourself that."
"This coming from the woman who brought an actual date to my bar!" Gail hit back.
"Your bar?"
"That was practically cheating, Hol!"
Holly had felt like she was cheating on Gail the whole time she was there, she'd felt even worse as she saw Gail and Chris slink off shortly after she'd spoken to Gail at the bar that night.
Gail watched the frown appear on Holly's face, then reached over and dropped her hand to Holly's thigh. "Holly, that was a joke."
Holly shrugged as she turned onto her street and then into her driveway. "It kinda felt like cheating."
Gail got out and followed the older woman inside. "Yeah well, I have cheated, and trust me, you've nothing to feel guilty over." She told her as they both slumped down onto the couch and Holly reached for the remote to turn on the tv and flip it over to the sports desk for an update on the previous days results.
Gail kicked off her shoes and pulled her legs up before shifting closer to Holly, her arm going behind Holly to rest along the back of the couch. The other woman smiled at her and placed her free hand on Gail's knee.
"You know, the reason I kissed you at 15 was because I spent that whole night kicking myself for letting you just slip away without even trying to tell you how I felt."
Holly grinned. "And how did you feel?" She fished.
Gail smiled bashfully back at her girlfriend. Strangely they hadn't really took the time to discuss that night after Holly's confession that the other woman had meant nothing and Gail had taken a chance and kissed her. The events that followed just swept them along and kept Gail from straying too far from Holly as they fell into a relationship with relative ease.
Knowing she wasn't going to get an answer from the blonde Holly closed the distance between them and they spent a few moments kissing. "Like I said, I'm pretty sure this isn't an experiment."
Gail shook her head from side to side. "Nope. Never was very good at science anyway." She saw Holly's eyes light up after that. Not wanting to hear whatever comment she was going to make Gail leaned in for another kiss.
Holly chuckled as she eased out of Gail's attempt at deepening the kiss, but she did pull the blonde into her lap to make up for it as she herself wanted more physical contact with her girlfriend.
Gail settled her legs on either side of Holly's thighs and shifted to press her body close as her hands worked their way into Holly's dark hair.
Holly let her hands drift lightly over Gail's hips and lower back.
"Chris told us what Nick said."
Gail was already nodding before Holly had finished. She'd known Chris and Chloe would have talked, she just couldn't stay there and watch how everyone reacted.
"But you knew that happened already." Gail said softly but Holly eyed her with raised eyebrows so she explained how she knew that without ever discussing her kidnapping with the other woman. "Your name was on the prosecution list." She shrugged.
"I didn't think you knew that."
"I just knew the names, it wasn't until a while after we'd met that I made the connection." Gail replied.
"Oh."
"I was still with Nick after it happened, it wasn't the same again, no matter how much I tried but I'm not with you because of what happened to me." Gail tried to reassure Holly not wanting the other woman to question that she was some kind of safe option after being raped by a man that planned on killing her.
Holly responded by giving Gail a serious nod in understanding.
"Okay." She told Gail, willing to trust the blonde to know herself enough to be able to say that.
"And you're not a rebound." Gail added with a snort.
Holly grinned. "No, I think your mom set you up with enough of those."
Gail narrowed her eyes at her now giggling girlfriend.
"So, if you're not an experiment, or a rebound, and we're ruling out my traumatic history…then I guess we must be in an actually relationship." Gail said with the start of a grin on her lips.
Holly pulled Gail closer and sighed happily. "Sounds serious."
"Might be."
Gail grinned as she felt Holly's hands start to trace over the skin of her back having pulled her top free from her jeans. She leaned down and sucked on Holly's bottom lip before moaning into a deep kiss.
"Nick's still on my shit list though." Gail said pulling away from Holly just long enough to pull the other woman's top over her head.
"Oh, yeah, mine too."
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AN/ So that's pretty much the main thing that's changed, the Perik case was after the shooting in holding which Gail was placed on desk duty for before they used her for the call girl as she fit the profile for the girls missing. I have an issue believing Perik would stalk Gail up to the flat, subdue her, deal with Andy's arrival, and then take Gail to his basement where he kept her for most of a day drugged up and strapped down without raping her. It's not very central to this story but it will be mentioned in passing again but never in detail.