Part 20
Walking down the stairs towards the labs Gail smiled to herself. She had worked Andy's foot in mouth disease perfectly and her friend had told her to take her time at the morgue while Andy finished her paperwork from earlier.
Gail was sure she'd earned at least an hour of skiving before she'd relent and call Andy back and return to 15 to get her own paperwork finished from their last case.
Just as she opened the door for the labs Gail spotted Elizabeth walking by.
"Elizabeth?" Gail called out.
Elizabeth spun on her heels and spotted the blonde and her eyes lit up. "Hey!" She walked over and looped her arm through Gail's. "You know where the coffee lives in this place right?" She asked as she started walking the police officer back the way she'd come from.
"Yeah?" Gail replied giving Holly's sister a weird look as she wondered why she was letting the girl side track her from getting to Holly. "Where are we going?" She thought she should ask, she did only have an hour at most.
Elizabeth chuckled. "I told you, coffee. Holly seems to forget this is the first time I've been here and I tried remembering where the machine was but I guess I got lost." She told the blonde with a shrug of her shoulders.
Gail brought them to a stop. Vending machine coffee was foul at the best of times and was only worth drinking when it was the last viable option. Checking her watch Gail turned them back around and started heading for the staircase again. "Come on."
"What? Why? I'm almost sure it was that way." Elizabeth said as she pointed towards a corridor.
Gail snorted and shoved her way through the door and started back up the stairs. "Like I'd give that gloop to Holly." She said, ignoring the 'aww' noise coming from behind her. "There's a café just down the street." And not only did it serve much better coffee it also sold subs which she was sure her girlfriend would appreciate given she'd caused the pathologist to skip most of her lunch.
Elizabeth grinned at the blonde despite herself. "You guys are so sweet, it's sickening."
"Shut up."
"No really, any more of this from either of you, and I'm going to hurl."
Gail gave the younger girl a thoughtful look as she worked over the girl's comment.
"What'd Holly say about me?" She asked, giving Elizabeth all her attention as they exited the building and started down the street.
Elizabeth turned her eyes skyward and groaned, regretting stopping for the blonde now.
Gail tapped Holly's sister on the arm, "No really, what did she say?" She repeated with a grin and amused eyes.
xxxxxx
The walk back was made at a quicker pace firstly because it was cutting into Gail's time with her girlfriend and secondly, because the café had some of that awesome spicy noodle soup they sometimes had that Holly loved and had turned Gail on to.
Except the blonde only bought it for Holly and the longer she held it the more likely she was to just hand over the coffee and keep hold of the soup.
"What's the rush?" Elizabeth asked only to receive a scowl from the blonde. "Okay then." She muttered to herself quietly as they started back down the staircase. The younger girl suddenly wondered if her sister had noticed how long she'd been missing or if Holly was still lost in her own little world of body parts and completely oblivious.
As they started down the hallway to Holly's lab Gail spotted a uniform out of the corner of her eye that made her pause and look. McNally would have called her before turning up.
"Hey?" Gail said as she wandered over. The other officer turned at her voice and Gail saw Dov standing there. "What are you doing here?" She asked him as she looked around the lab he was stood next to.
Dov cleared his throat as he glared at the lab tech hovering over the body of black male. "I'm here to collect some evidence, hopefully it won't take all night." He told his old roommate, although the last words were directed at the guy in the lab coat fumbling with an instrument tray.
Gail narrowed her eyes at the lab tech who looked younger than Dov and that was tough to pull off.
"What are you after?" She asked Dov as she eyed the tech picking up a saw before putting it down and going for the metal forceps as he stared at the body nervously before glancing over at them.
Dov gave her a look as he saw the same thing. "Oh, only a bullet, no big deal." He said with a fake shrug of nonchalance before glaring at the lab tech.
"Are you even allowed in here?" Gail called over to the other side of the room wondering if the kid had wondered in off of the streets and somehow found his way down here and into a lab coat.
The guy made a noise then waved the instrument in his hand at Gail. "You're the one that shouldn't be here, there's no food allowed." He told her before stepping closer to the body.
Both Dov and Gail reacted, taking involuntary steps closer to the autopsy table.
"Wait!" Gail told the tech who froze and lifted his eyes to her. She sighed and handed over the cartons in her hand to Elizabeth. "Take these and go get your sister and bring her back here before I do something stupid to this idiot in here."
Elizabeth took the food and coffee and paused, wanting to stick around for the show, but thought better of it and hurried off to find Holly before there was two dead bodies in the lab instead of one.
Gail turned to Dov and raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, no, by all means, you go ahead." Dov told her with a grin. If Chris had been with them he could have bet on how long it'd take before the tech pissed himself once Gail started in on him, but Dov was more than happy to stand there and enjoy Gail Peck at her finest.
Gail grinned at Dov then headed for the autopsy table as she pulled out her baton and snapped it out to its full length. "Hey, lab rat. Question." She said as she brought her baton down with as much force as she could onto the metal of the table, causing the tech to flinch away from her. Still not happy with the boy's proximity to the body and Dov's evidence, Gail waved the baton over the space above the body, making the lab tech step back more and knock into the instrument tray, sending it crashing to the floor with a loud bang. "How do you extract a bullet from a dead body?" She asked him after the noise had faded and the room was quiet again.
The tech had already backed up into the wall. "With these?" He replied nervously as he held up the forceps still in his hand.
He really was that stupid Gail realised as she shot Dov a look over her shoulder. "And is there any reason you could think of why we," She used her baton to point over at Dov and then herself. "Might consider that a bad idea. Try thinking." She added when he looked to struggle.
Holly wandered into the room and quickly surveyed the situation, going over and picking up the file on the body. "The answer you're are looking for there is that metal on metal will leave marks," Holly tilted her head as she put down the file with the diagram open as she then placed her gloved hands inside the cavity of the dead teenager. "And leaving marks on a bullet will piss off the detectives in charge of trying to find this young boy's killer." She said as she grinned at Gail as her fingers located the projectile.
A little more work and Holly was lifting the slightly bashed looking bit of metal out of the body and holding it up for Gail and Dov to see. It earned her a wink from her girlfriend and a look of gratitude from Officer Epstein.
Holly washed it off then handed it over to Dov who was holding an evidence bag out for her. "There you go Officer." She then stripped off her gloves and eyed the tech. "Where is Dr Thompson?"
The lab tech shrugged and put down the forceps he was still hold and then hurried out of the room.
Holly sighed and shook her head knowing she was going to have to follow that up, not just the mistake by the lab tech but why the pathologist overseeing the autopsy had left without either finishing his work or putting the body on hold properly.
Taking the file Holly moved over to the desk in the room and took the evidence bag back off of Dov. She then filled out the proper information including Dr Thompson's name as the pathologist in charge but also naming herself as the collector of this piece of evidence. She added a few more details as was proper procedure and then placed the bag back into Dov's hands.
"All done." She told him.
"Thank you." He told her genuinely. "Callaghan is in a rush to get this over to ballistics."
"Well don't let us keep you." Gail muttered as she glanced around and noticed Elizabeth wasn't back. And Holly was minus her soup. Her eyes narrowed at her girlfriend as Dov hurried away.
"You left your sister alone with the food?" She asked incredulously.
Holly chuckled and started out of the lab and back to her own with Gail beside her. "Just because I won't trust you alone with my soup doesn't mean everyone else can't be trusted." She told the blonde with a grin.
Gail sniffed then conceded that there was probably a lot of truth in that. "But it's noodle soup and it's sooo good." She added a pout and sad look to see if it would get her anywhere.
Holly averted her eyes from Gail and tried not to smile as she asked, "What are you doing here anyway?"
Gail slowed her steps and glanced away. She gave the older woman a shrug knowing she was probably going to sound needy but she'd just really wanted to see her girlfriend and spend a little time with her.
"I've got a spare half hour." She said softly after glancing at her watch. Then she glanced behind her. "I probably could've got a ride back with Dov." She muttered quietly.
Holly bit her lip and reached over to squeeze Gail's hand quickly before letting it go. "Then who'd save my soup from being devoured by my horrible little sister?" She asked the blonde with a tilt of her head.
Gail chuckled as Elizabeth could be heard protesting just as they walked into Holly's lab.
"I resent that." Elizabeth said then saw the looks she was getting and glanced down at the open container of soup and the spoon that she was holding. She looked back up at the pair innocently. "What? I was just taking a closer look."
Gail snorted and crossed over and put the lid back on and shooing Elizabeth away from the desk. "I didn't walk all the way down the street to feed you, go get your own."
Elizabeth dropped the plastic spoon. "I just might." Then walked out of the lab.
Holly shook her head at her sister's antics and moved closer to her girlfriend. "Thank you, by the way, it smells wonderful." She said knocking shoulders with the blonde who just nodded back at her.
"You okay?" Holly asked quietly as she took the spoon Gail offered her and moved to sit at the desk and pull the soup closer as she kept her eyes on her girlfriend. She was grateful Elizabeth had wandered off if it meant she could get Gail to talk.
Gail shrugged and sat down on the edge of the desk as she watched Holly start in on the soup. It really did smell great, maybe she'd pick up some for herself before she got back to the station.
"Where'd she go?"
"Hm?" Holly swallowed then figured Gail was talking about her sister. "Oh, probably went to see if the lab tech survived or maybe to make sure we covered all trace of his body."
Gail snorted. "That wasn't funny."
Holly sighed, it really wasn't and she'd have to have a word with the tech soon now that Gail had reminded her. "I guess he was only trying to help, but I'm glad you and Dov were there to stop him or that could have been a real problem."
Gail agreed with a nod as her fingers traced the patterns on the desk as she let Holly go back to her soup while it was still warm. She took a moment to glance around the lab remembering the first time she'd been down here with Holly, the place still made her feel relaxed even if there was a dead body just a few feet away from her.
"I spoke to my mom earlier." She suddenly spoke up.
Holly blinked and put her spoon down carefully as she focused on her girlfriend. "And how did that go for you?" She tried to keep her tone even, but she was concerned, she hated the way the older woman had treated Gail during dinner at Steve's house.
Gail rocked her head then turned and looked at Holly. "Okay I think."
Holly slid her hand over and covered Gail's hand, giving it a squeeze as she held it. "You okay?" She asked softly. While she really wanted to know what the older Peck had wanted with Gail she was more worried about how the encounter left her girlfriend.
As she watched Gail shrug again Holly got up and came around to stand between the blonde's legs.
"You want to talk about it?" She asked as she studied Gail's eyes for any hint as to her feelings about it. Gail was doing better when it came to talking to her but Holly still had to tread carefully so she didn't make Gail feel cornered when she wasn't ready to talk about something.
Gail felt herself start to smile as she saw how anxious Holly was on her behalf. "I did okay I think, I told her I agreed with Frank withdrawing my application." She told her but the frown stayed on her girlfriends face. "I think I'll do what you suggested and work on extra training on my own time, if that's okay with you?" She asked hoping Holly was still for the idea because it would mean Gail spending some of their time together studying or at a training centre.
Holly grinned and pressed a quick kiss to Gail's lips. "Of course it is." She told her as she ran her hands over Gail's hips and around her back as the blonde pulled her back for another kiss.
Chuckling as they separated Holly reached over and picked the soup up and handed it to an eager Gail who quickly retrieved the spoon and dug in. "I think you earned it."
Holly stayed where she was after Gail's legs hooked together behind her own, not that she minded. The blonde even fed her some of the soup as they stood there. She took some time to tuck a few strands of blonde hair out of Gail's way as she ate, all the time wondering how this seemingly hard as nails cop allowed her to see just how fragile she was at her core.
"What do you say I kick my sister out tonight and we have the place to ourselves, just the two of us?" Holly asked, more than happy to play Elizabeth's night out with her friend as her own idea if it scored her points with the blonde.
"Yeah?" Gail asked as her head snapped up to see how serious Holly was. She grinned. "That would be awesome." She said and quickly kissed her girlfriend just as Elizabeth wandered back into the lab.
"Really you two, even he's hiding under a sheet." Elizabeth said to the pair as she pointed to the covered body on the table.
Gail grinned even as Holly moved away from her. "I'll leave you two to it." She said hopping down from the desk, she'd even left Holly some of the soup. "I'll see you tonight." Gail still had to see her shrink after work but now she was really looking forward to getting it over with, she might even bring up her mom all on her own today.
"Bye nutball." She said as she passed Elizabeth.
Elizabeth's eyes followed Gail as she left and then she looked over to her sister but Holly just shrugged back at her with a stupid grin on her face. Elizabeth shook her head then moved towards the desk and the soup she could still smell.
Holly grinned as she started working on the body again. She waited until she saw her sister reaching for the spoon.
"Don't even think about it." She warned, it wasn't every day Gail left food behind, so if there was any left it belonged to Holly not Elizabeth.
And it was damn good soup.