Part 22

Dinner had gone down very well as Gail and Holly had chatted over what to do with the rest of their evening together, Holly was tempted to go out for a nightcap somewhere, possibly the Penny, Gail however was much more inclined to stay in.

An Elizabeth free zone was a rare occurrence lately and Gail thought they should take as much advantage of it as possible. She'd even jokingly suggested christening some of the rooms in the house now that Gail was living there permanently, starting with the spare room Elizabeth was currently using.

Holly had given Gail a warning look but she had to admit the thought of her sister's face in the morning on hearing about it might make it worth it.

"So, I think my therapist wants to break up with me." Gail said as she scrubbed at the pot in her hands as she let Holly relax with another glass of wine while she cleaned the dishes. Gail felt it was only fair given her girlfriend was the one that cooked, and Elizabeth had took off earlier.

"Hm? What?" Holly frowned and glanced over at Gail from her seat at the dining table. She had completely zoned out as she contemplated how to go about explaining to her girlfriend that her sister was about to move here permanently. She picked up her full wine glass and made her way over to Gail, standing beside her near the sink as she rested with her back against the counter.

"Your therapist wants to break up with you?" Holly asked in confusion, there was no way she could have heard that right.

Gail giggled and glanced at Holly. "Yeah." She confirmed with a shrug before digging back into the sink for something else to clean. "Says I don't have real problems and we should try not seeing each other for a while." Gail remembered how stunned she was to be told that.

Holly watched Gail wondering how the blonde felt about this development, from what she knew Gail had been seeing her therapist regularly for over a year. Gail had been through a lot, so for her therapist to come out and say those weren't real problems was pissing Holly off.

"I didn't think it worked like that." She said to Gail with a concerned frown on her face.

"Hm." Gail continued cleaning and tried to work out how she felt. Maybe she understood where the woman was coming from but still, she was a little apprehensive about it. "To be fair she did have a point."

"Which was?" Holly asked with a degree of concern, she put her glass down and focused on her girlfriend.

"Well, I told her about what happened on Sunday,"

"Which part?" Holly cut in.

Gail chuckled and sent Holly a smirk. "Not the sex part, although I did mention the moving in together part later, but we'll get back to that." She told her with a wink. "I meant the Nick part and my freak out on the way to dinner."

"Oh." Holly reached out and ran her knuckles down Gail's side gently as she continued with the dishes.

"She asked me how those two events ended and I told her that with the first one my best boy friend laid Nick out and that my awesome girlfriend talked me into playing twenty questions to distract me for the second." Gail explained, still smiling. "Then I told her about you asking me to move in, I left the sex part out by the way," Gail told Holly with a grin making Holly smile in return.

"Shame." Holly offered.

"I know, the educating she missed out on." Gail lamented, then she shook her head and got back on track. "But she had a field day anyway, laughed at me, yip, bitch!"

Holly frowned again, she didn't think therapists were allowed to react like that to something their patients shared with them, especially when it wasn't at all humorous.

Gail saw that Holly didn't get it. She leaned over quickly and kissed Holly until she was sure the frown had disappeared. "Calm down babe, this is the same woman I spent a session telling her that you kissing me wasn't going to make me switch teams and now I'm telling her not only have I switched teams for you but I'm now living with you." Gail explained pleased to see the growing smile on Holly's face. "Yeah, she laughed her ass off." She added before turning back to place a now clean plate on the drying rack beside her.

Holly picked up her wine glass and took a drink. "I guess in that case its okay then."

Gail nodded. It was, Gail had known that was the reaction she was going to get and it didn't even make her embarrassed, she loved sharing the fact she and Holly were now living together with her therapist, who'd been there for Gail to talk to about her growing feelings throughout the start of her relationship with Holly. So she was entitled to find it funny.

"Then we talked about how my great weekend was spoiled by my intrusive, overbearing mother."

"And?"

Gail shrugged, "And again that conversation ended with me telling her that my awesome girlfriend came up with the perfect solution to take the power out of my mother's hands, or at least some of it." Elaine Peck could still exert a lot of influence over Gail at work but anything she did now would be clear for everyone to see, and Gail didn't think her mother was willing to risk her reputation just to get back at her.

At least she hoped not.

Holly swirled her wine, staring down at it for a moment while Gail started to put away the dishes back where they belonged. "I think your giving me too much credit." She murmured, not liking the idea that she was telling Gail what to do with her career.

Gail brushed up against Holly as she reached behind her to hang up the pot, intentionally pushing into her body.

Holly looked up into Gail's blue eyes, so close to her own that she could see them dilate. She leaned the short distance and pressed her lips to Gail's.

When the kissed ended Gail settled against Holly, done with her chores now she was eager to try and make the most of their night alone. She wrapped her arms around Holly's waist and kissed her gently on her cheek before dropping her head onto Holly's shoulder with a sigh.

Holly finished the last of her wine then put the glass down before pulling Gail tighter into her arms. She'd never get tired of this, of being able to hold Gail in her arms.

After a long moment of stillness Gail raised her head again, marvelling at how easy it seemed for her to be with Holly. Anyone else from her past would have tried to rush her into continuing just then, but not Holly, Holly just always seemed to have that ability to know when Gail needed to take a moment.

"Totally awesome." Gail reaffirmed before kissing Holly slowly, slipping her tongue out to trace Holly's lips before retreating back and inviting Holly in.

Holly groaned into Gail's mouth, her hands coming up over Gail's body to capture her head as she deepened the kiss. As she slowed the kiss down and eased back to study Gail, she realised that however things had ended with her therapy session tonight, Gail seemed accepting of it.

"So everything is okay then?"

Gail nodded with a grin, her eyes dancing happily. "She told me that all of these situations were different and could be upsetting but that I had a support group in place already to help me." She told Holly. "And she was right, I didn't need her to solve anything or suggest anything, I'm just used to going there and telling her all of this crap that goes on and yeah, maybe that isn't the way it should be."

Holly pulled Gail's hair back, playing with the strands. "So you'll be okay if you don't see her for a couple of weeks?" She asked.

Gail rocked her head as she thought about it, she'd been doing that the whole drive home. "I don't have weekends like this past one a lot you know," She told Holly with a roll of her eyes. "Mostly I spend sessions with her bitching about the idiots I arrest or the ones I work with, she sucked at helping me find solutions to all of those problems." Then she thought about what she did get out of her therapy sessions. The woman helped Gail deal with nightmares and the occasional panic but generally Gail went to her appointments with the view of using the time to bitch about whatever had been annoying her all week.

Holly let her hands wander over Gail back and sneak underneath her top to find skin to trace. "We could do that if you want?"

Gail blinked and had to refocus on the words and not Holly's lips. "Do what?"

Holly grinned and brought her hands up to push back Gail's hair as she stared into a now pouting face. "Have a bitch session once a week."

Gail's eyes lit up and she tightened her hold on Holly, enjoying the sensation of Holly's fingers running over her scalp. "Can there be alcohol involved? My therapist never let that happen." She told Holly with a pout.

Holly chuckled and leaned over to kiss the pout away. "Yes." Then she giggled at how Gail's face transformed into a beaming grin. "We'll get ten minutes each to bitch about whoever's been pissing us off at work that week and then end it with a shot or two."

Gail narrowed her eyes, in theory that sounded okay but, "And you won't censor what I say, even if you disagree?"

Holly shook her head. "Nope, we both get a free pass to say whatever we feel like for those ten minutes and we can't use it to tease each other with either, okay?"

"Hm." Gail considered that, usually sharing her thoughts about other people would get her nothing but looks that told her she was being a bitch. Could she really say what she thought in front of Holly and not have the older woman think she was being unreasonable?

Holly waited patiently as she continued massaging Gail's head, enjoying how the blonde leaned into and sighed at her touches.

"Do couples really do that?" She asked Holly. The older woman had more experience of being in relationships, the few that Gail had weren't the type that allowed Gail to just ramble on about bad days, or bad weeks. Nick would never have been interested enough to listen to her and Chris would have smiled and told her that things couldn't have been as bad as she thought because that was the type of person he was, he always tried to look on the bright side of things and usually just forget about the bad stuff that happens.

Holly shrugged, she didn't think it mattered what other people did this was about what she and Gail could do, and if the blonde would feel happier spending a little time each week complaining to her about something Holly didn't see a reason to deny her that.

"We can do it." She told Gail confidently.

Gail narrowed her eyes. "What if I want to complain about you?" She asked with a smirk.

Holly chuckled and squeezed Gail around the waist. "Then it works both ways."

Gail thought about that then stuck out her lower lip. "Nah, I really don't think listening to you go over all of my faults will work well for our relationship."

Holly nodded in agreement. "That might be for the best." She said in a mock serious tone. "There's just so many."

Gail scowled at the older woman before smiling as Holly came closer and kissed her softly to make up for her cheeky comment. Although Gail thought there was definitely merit to avoiding talking about each other like that, even as a joke. "What about Elizabeth, can I complain about her?" Gail thought she had found the perfect topic.

Holly laughed.

"But you can't tell her though," Gail continued. "It has to stay between us." She insisted.

"I suppose that would be okay." Holly replied wondering if now was the time to bring up Elizabeth's imminent relocation to Canada, and specifically the Toronto area. She eyed Gail, thinking she was in a reasonable mood so maybe she should just go for it. "Speaking of my wonderful, darling sister."

"What's she done?" Gail asked suspiciously eyeing Holly wondering what on earth the younger woman had done now. "See, this is exactly my point, this, whatever this is, is alcohol worthy I just know it." She muttered as she released Holly and wondered off to find something stronger than Holly's wine.

Holly grinned as she watched the blonde. Again, Gail might have had a point.

"I'm going to need to sit for this, I knew tonight was going too well." She grumbled taking the bottle of Scotch she had found and reaching around Holly for a glass, she paused long enough to kiss her girlfriend which made the pathologist smile, before continuing to grumble as she went over and sat back down at the dinner table.

Gail looked back at Holly who was still stood at the counter grinning like an idiot as she poured herself a measure into the glass. She gestured for Holly to come over as she then capped the bottle and picked up her glass and took a small sip as Holly sat down across from her.

"Out with it then, what did she do?" Gail asked, studying Holly closely for some sort of hint. "She didn't tell you that she killed her ex and she's really here because she's on the run, did she?"

Holly laughed at Gail's excited look and swiped the bottle away from the blonde. "No, she didn't."

Gail couldn't help but be a touch disappointed. "Oh." She took another sip from her glass as Holly drank straight from the bottle. It was a very strange habit Gail had noticed from her girlfriend. "We have glasses you know." She informed the older woman.

Holly shrugged then topped up Gail's glass.

Gail eyes widened as the Scotch almost filled her tumbler. "Okay, you're scaring me now Hols, what did she do?" She asked, trying to run through a list of everyone she could call favours in from. The fact that Elizabeth had spent the last few years in the US meant Gail wouldn't likely have the right contacts but she probably knew someone who did.

Holly took a breath then looked Gail in the eye. "She wants to move here and I said it was okay." She admitted in a rush of words and then waited for Gail's reaction.

"And by here, you mean…"

Holly grinned. "Toronto here, not here here, as in this house here."

Gail frowned, still waiting for the punch line. "And?" She asked as it looked like Holly was stopping with that.

"And?" Holly repeated, wondering where her girlfriend's freak-out was hiding.

Gail sighed and took another drink from her Scotch. "And? And I thought it was something serious Holly!"

"And moving to the same city as big sister isn't? You do know that means she'll stop by every time she runs out of something or just wants a free meal, right?" Holly tried to warn her.

Again Gail just shrugged. "She's your sister Holly, did you really think I'd say something against her moving here?" She asked feeling hurt that this was how Holly thought she'd react.

Now Holly felt bad. She reached over for Gail's hand and clasped it in her own. "That's not it at all sweetheart, she's just a little worried about how you'd feel if she was around a little more often once she moves here."

Gail played with Holly's fingers for a moment before shrugging. The idea didn't really bother her. "So you'll have Elizabeth over and I'll bring Chris," Then she grinned at Holly. "Hey! Maybe we could set them up, how gay is your sister again?"

Holly chuckled. "Sorry, she's pretty gay, in fact she's a 'gold star' lesbian."

Gail frowned having no idea what that meant. She looked at Holly for an explanation as she sipped on her drink again, their hands still touching.

"It means she's never been with a man."

Gail laughed and pointed to Holly. "That makes her a better lesbian than you!"

Holly narrowed her eyes then shook her head with a sigh. "Don't even think about trading me in for a younger model." She warned the blonde across from her.

Gail snorted then stood up. There had been a flash of something in Holly's eyes as she'd said that, and while Gail wasn't sure what it was she knew she didn't like it.

Holly watched Gail walk around the table and smiled as the blonde settled herself onto her lap.

"Hey." Gail greeted her girlfriend with a kiss as she felt Holly's hands reach around her to steady her position. It wasn't very comfortable but she'd needed to be closer to the brunette and right now this was as close as she could get.

Gail moved her hand to the back of Holly's neck and gently scratched at the nape hairs as she pulled Holly into another kiss. "I love you." She said quietly as they separated and she rested her head against Holly's forehead. "Trade you in?" She asked incredulously. "I've only just got you trained properly!" She told her girlfriend, chuckling as Holly looked affronted and pinched her side.

Holly pulled Gail down for another heated kiss, this time letting her hand wander under Gail's top to caress the blonde's stomach before trailing upward to graze the underside of Gail's breast.

Gail moaned into Holly's mouth. "I want to do this properly, live with you properly." She whispered against Holly's mouth as she clasped Holly's face and gazed into her eyes.

Holly tried not to frown, because she wasn't against the idea, not at all, she just wasn't sure what Gail meant. "Properly?"

Gail nodded. "Yeah." She glanced around them then back at Holly. "This place, here, I want it to be ours." She explained with a grin.

Oh. "You want your name on the papers?" She asked as a smile threatened to break out on her own face. That sounded like a very permanent idea and a resounding step towards a joint future together.

Gail nodded as she started to play with Holly's hair. "Yeah, I mean, I have money for it," She tried to assure Holly. "If you didn't buy this place outright, you didn't did you?" Because if Holly did then how was Gail going to match that?

Holly shook her head as the blonde started to frown. "No, no, I have a mortgage." She had loved the place when she first saw it but she would have had to have asked her parents for a loan if she'd wanted to pay the full asking price.

Gail relaxed at that. "I have money for a place of my own but I've never wanted to use it before." Truthfully the idea of living on her own had always made her feel sad. Steve hadn't minded and had moved into his own place just after he had left the Academy, just a small apartment close to 15 that he'd sold for his current place when he made detective a few years ago.

Gail on the other hand had stayed at home and only moved out when she'd moved herself in with Chris.

"So can we do that?" She asked Holly, eager to have the older woman agree to it. Just the idea that this was her house too, it felt great. It meant she and Holly were really serious about each other, and Gail wanted to show Holly that this wasn't the same as it was when she lived with Chris.

It so wasn't even close to being the same.

Holly beamed up at the blonde who was still waiting patiently for her answer. "Yeah, yeah we can do that. Or we could find somewhere else if you want?" She offered but Gail was already shaking her head.

"No, here, I like it here." This place was Holly's home and she had invited Gail into it, the way she had invited Gail into the rest of her life. All Gail had had to do was just say yes. There was something Gail found very comforting about that.

Holly grinned as Gail started pressing kisses to her lips. "I think your therapist was right."

"Hm?" Gail was only half paying attention as she tried mapping out Holly's mouth with her lips.

"Yeah, I think you're doing just fine on your own."

"Not on my own, with you." Gail said in disagreement.

Shifting, Holly stood and pulled Gail up onto the dining table as she kissed her and reached for the edge of her top to pull it up over her head. "I can call my lawyer tomorrow." She told Gail as she lowered the blonde onto the table and rested on top of her as she returned to her lips.

Gail closed her eyes as Holly started to lay kisses down her neck to her chest and then over her bra enclosed breasts. Her hands buried themselves into Holly's hair but she didn't guide Holly's movements, just encouraged them.

Holly listened to Gail moan beneath her and it spurred her on, she lifted Gail into a sitting position as she quickly pulled off her own top, then went for Gail's bra.

Gail was impressed and enjoying every second of this as it seemed like her girlfriend had changed her mind about christening the house. As Holly went to her jeans Gail lifted her hips to help the older woman pull them off, she then rested back down on the table top and waited.

Holly stood up and studied Gail laying there waiting for her. The blonde was so beautiful she just had to take a moment.

"What?" Gail asked as she tried not to blush under Holly's appraising look.

Holly shook her head and settled over Gail, her hands resting on the table just either side of Gail's head. She bit back a moan as hands started to make their way to her bra strap. She studied those bright blue eyes inches from her. "I love you." She whispered, fascinated by the way her words made the blue darken.

"I love you too." Gail answered back.

Holly grinned and lowered her head to drop an open mouth kiss to Gail's lips as Gail giggled up at her. Holly pulled back and tossed her bra off as it suddenly came loose. Then she went back for another kiss, staying and deepening it as Gail's hands trapped her in place and legs hooked around her waist.

"This is our house." Holly whispered as the kiss ended.

"Yeah." Gail agreed before pulling Holly back to her mouth.

Holly worked Gail's underwear down as much as she could given her position but then a noise made her break away from Gail and look up.

Gail frowned and reached for Holly again but the pathologist stopped her.

Holly tilted her head listening.

"Don't mind me, forgot my purse!" Came the shout as footsteps were heard thundering up the stairs and moments later back down before the front door was slammed closed.

Holly looked down at a very naked Gail and shook her head, very grateful her sister hadn't come this far into the house.

Gail on the other hand was in fits of laughter. She'd never actually been caught having sex before and she couldn't believe that it was Holly's younger sister that almost walked in on them.

On the dining room table no less.

"Oh my god!" Gail said as Holly leaned over her again. They kissed again trying to recapture the mood but Gail couldn't let it go. "Just wondering, as part-owner…do I get a say in who has keys to this house?" She asked with a wiggle of her eyebrows.

Holly chuckled and gave Gail a warning look. "Shut up." She said and kissed Gail again, or at least tried to but Gail turned her head.

"No, seriously, we need to discuss this." The blonde continued.

Holly lifted back up and playfully glared down at her girlfriend who was grinning up at her.

"I mean she's nice an all, but I'd kinda like to avoid situations like this." Gail told her.

Still shaking her head, Holly lifted away from Gail. "You know what?" She asked then reached down and picked up the clothes on the floor. "We can do that by not having situations like this in the first place." She said then dumped Gail's clothes on top of her before taking her own and storming away.

Shocked at Holly's reaction to her joking around, Gail sat up. "Holly?" But as she turned her head Holly was gone. "Shit!" She cursed as she pulled her top on over her head and quickly pulled her jeans back up. She hurried after Holly only to stop in the hallway as she spotted Holly's jeans on the floor, jeans she had on when she walked away.

With a small, cautious grin Gail walked further down the hallway to the bottom of the stair case, as she peeked up the steps she saw just the hint of a bra up on the landing. Her grin widened as she slowly made her way up. She picked up the bra and carried it with her along the hallway, stopping at the only open door.

Holly grinned as Gail stood in the doorway.

"Nice." Gail said as she looked at Holly's naked body resting on top of the bed in the spare room that just happened to be Elizabeth's room right now. Gail smirked and wandering in swaying her hips as she walked to the bottom of the bed.

"I think you lost this." She said dropping Holly's bra at the brunette's feet.

"Uh huh." Holly said as she moved and kneeled in front of Gail and tugged on the blonde's clothes. "And you need to lose all of this."

Gail put her hand on Holly's hips after her top was pulled back over her head. She closed her eyes at the feel of skin. And then Holly was kissing her and pulling her down and it was all she could do to keep up as they tumbled and giggled onto the bed.

"Tomorrow should be fun." Gail muttered between kisses as Holly giggled and pinched her bum.

"Shut up or I won't be able to do this." Holly warned through a series of wet kisses and touches from Gail.

Gail snorted and glanced down at Holly now that they were both naked. She grabbed Holly's hands and pinned them down above Holly's head. She dropped kisses and bites along the skin of her girlfriends neck and chest. "And people say that I have issues."

Holly giggled and pulled Gail back up to her mouth for a heated kiss, opening her legs and trapping Gail between them as she tried to focus Gail on the issue at hand, she even helped by taking one of Gail's hands and guiding it down her body and between her own legs to the waiting heat and wetness.

And then there was nothing to laugh at anymore as Gail pressed forward and watched Holly's eyes flutter closed as she entered her. She was so beautiful to Gail when they made love, and that was never more true than in this moment, knowing that Holly had opened herself up to Gail so effortlessly made Gail want to give of herself just as much.

"I love you." Gail whispered as she worked to send Holly over the edge.

She could give Holly words, and her body, but Gail didn't feel like that was enough anymore.

Sharing this home and their lives together was a wonderful start, but Gail knew there had to be something more, something that would show Holly she meant everything to her.

Holly gasped and gripped at Gail. "Love you too." She murmured as Gail continued to work her body.

Gail smiled down at Holly, she was sweaty and her head was thrown back in pleasure. And Gail had never been more enthralled in someone.

They had time together now, the start of a lifetime.

And Gail would figure it out.