Part 26

Holly couldn't stop fidgeting. Gail still wasn't back yet and Holly was getting the uncomfortable feeling that 'tests' had morphed into surgery, and if that was true then Gail was in more trouble than Holly had first believed.

Not happy with those thoughts Holly jumped to her feet and left Oliver alone as she headed for the nearest restroom.

Oliver blinked and glanced around to the now empty seating area they were using to wait for news on Gail. "Okay then." He muttered to himself as he worried for Holly as well as Gail. He hadn't managed to see much of Gail other than those first few minutes between arriving at the scene and sending her off to hospital with Chris in the back of the ambulance.

Speaking of Chris. "Sometime today Diaz." Oliver said into his radio.

There was a crackle before Chris' voice answered back to him. "Ah, yeah, trying Sir."

Oliver frowned at nothing in particular while he tried to figure out what the hold-up could be. "It's not rocket science Diaz, you're playing taxi, get to it." He said into his radio.

A moment of silence and then Chris' voice came back over the radio in a desperate whisper. "She won't leave until she knows why Sir, and I don't know what to say!"

Oliver rolled his eyes. Never send a boy to do a man's job. "Then you tell her Diaz." He instructed. "Just…just keep it simple and make sure she knows everything's going to be okay. Right? Make sure she understands that."

"Okay." Chris sounded relieved this time, his voice more even and calm. "Be there as soon as possible."

Oliver nodded to himself, his eyes looking for Holly again. She still wasn't back. Maybe he should have tried getting Celery to just drop by unannounced, maybe that would have helped. "Just get here." He told Chris before turning his radio off.

Glancing around the waiting area Oliver wondered how things were going back at the station. It was fantastic news that Traci had been found safe and well, but with SIU on their way he was anxious to get the chance to speak to Gail before those vultures descended to pick over every minute detail and thought process that went from changing a simple arrest and search warrant to what developed into the abduction of a detective.

It wasn't a question of the outcome, Traci's safe return would be little more than a footnote as they tried to pinpoint the exact moment everything went to hell and who it was that would be taken to task over it and made to explain themselves.

Oliver had the gut wrenching feeling that a certain blonde officer by the name of Gail Peck might be the one in SIU's sights.

But he intended to do everything that he could to make sure that never happened.

He just needed the chance to talk to Gail first.

Oliver's phone beeped as he spotted Holly making her way back over to him. He stood and gave her a smile, letting her sit back down first before he joined her. He saw the redness of her eyes and his heart went out to her. He wished there was something he could do or say to make this easier but all he could do was wait with her for the answers.

"Hey come on, our Gail's a tough girl, she'll be fine." He told Holly as he pressed his hand to her knee.

She didn't look convinced but she managed a half smile for him.

They sat in silence for a long time. Neither of them wanting to break the moment by voicing their fears, so they waited and occasionally glanced at watches.

His phone beeped again, saving him from any more pathetic attempts at reassurance. "Sorry, I just…" He said to Holly as he pulled his cell from his vest but she waved her hand in understanding so he got up and moved away a bit further down the corridor. Just in case.

He now had two new text messages waiting for him, both from Frank. He opened the first, earlier text, letting him know Sam was on his way over to try and have a quick chat with Gail. Oliver wasn't sure exactly why Sam would need to come here considering he wasn't even back on duty yet but what it did do was send alarm bells ringing in Oliver's head and now he really wanted to know what Frank and Sam knew that he didn't. Because Oliver guessed they must be worried about something, bothered enough by it to send Sam here to talk to Gail.

Oliver sighed and closed his eyes, he wasn't sure he wanted to know what was on the second text message.

A noise to the side made him look over wondering if Gail was being brought back but it was Chris he spotted first before he took in the girl wrapped up in Holly's arms. That sight brought a genuine smile to his face as Chris left the sisters and stopped beside him.

"How is she?" Chris asked quietly, his face full of concern.

Oliver shook his head subtly. "Don't know. She hasn't been brought back yet."

Chris' eyes widened and he lost the little colour that he had in his cheeks. "That sounds bad." He muttered. When he'd seen Gail earlier she'd been talking and awake and okay hurt, but he'd been told by the doctor that she didn't have any major injuries so that meant she had to be okay, didn't it?

Holly squeezed Elizabeth to her. She was so close to breaking down again that she could feel the tears just sitting there at the backs of her eyes, waiting for the first moment of weakness. But she had to be strong for Gail.

"Oh my god Hol, what happened?" Elizabeth asks as she pulls her head back to look at her sister. She could see she'd been crying recently and that just made her want to panic all the more. "He said Gail was hurt, have you seen her? How bad is it?" She asked but Holly seemed to crumble at that and she collapsed back down into her seat with her hands going to cover her face.

Elizabeth gasped and took the seat next to Holly, putting her arm around her sister's shoulder and pulling her close. "She's not dead is she?" She asked in a whisper.

"God! No!" Holly said in exasperation as she pulled her hands away to glare at her sister.

Defensively Elizabeth held her hands up and shifted back slightly. "Well, excuse me but you're all," She gestured to Holly's current state and the tears that were starting to fall. "What am I supposed to think?"

"Not that!" Holly snapped at her.

Elizabeth sighed and sat back, her eyes taking in the two police officers now huddled together talking.

"They took her for some more tests." Holly explained why they were out here and not with Gail right now.

"What were they checking for?" Elizabeth asked, she'd done her ER rotation and their mother still worked in one of the most demanding emergency centres in L.A. so she knew what was normal procedure and what wasn't in trauma cases.

Holly licked her lips and sighed. "She had some, uh, internal bleeding they wanted to check out." She said quietly, her voice shaking as she spoke.

Elizabeth's eyes widened as she took in how upset her sister was. "How long ago?" That was important, especially with internal injuries.

Holly bit her lip and shrugged as she tried valiantly to hold back more tears. She glanced at her watch but she already knew exactly how long Gail had been gone for. "Forty-eight minutes."

Elizabeth reached for Holly's hand and kept a tight hold of it. "You know that they're doing everything that they have to right?"

Holly put her free hand over her eyes as her chest jerked with her attempt to hold in sobs.

Both sisters knew Gail had been away for too long and that there must have been a problem. And with internal bleeding time was critical, if something had been missed when Gail was first examined on her arrival at the hospital then it'd be a race for the surgeon to patch up the problem before it was too late.

Holly knew this, and in her heart of hearts she was preparing herself for the worst. But all she could do now was hold her sister's hand and just wait.

"Ah, Holly?" Oliver said as he came back over to the pair. He waited until the pathologist glanced up at him, the look in her eyes almost too painful for him to continue but he knew it needed to be said.

"We ah-"

"Holly!"

Holly turned her head and stood as Traci and Steve appeared at the other end of the bay area. She stood up as Traci quickened her steps and pulled her into a crushing hug. "I'm really glad that you're okay." Holly managed to say as she held on to the detective. It must have been a terrifying experience to go through, knowing Gail had been left while you had no idea what your own fate would be. "Gail was so worried."

Traci winced at that then eased back to really get a good look at Holly. The older woman was a mess and from what Steve had managed to find out about Gail's condition, it was with good reason.

Traci shared smiles with Oliver and Chris who both beamed back at her, pleased to see with their own eyes that she was okay. Oliver gave her a thumbs up and looked like he wanted to come over and hug her, but she turned her attention back to Gail's girlfriend.

"How is she?" She asked wanting to concentrate on Gail because she was the one that had gotten hurt. Traci had a bruised wrist but that was such a trivial thing that she had barely acknowledged it to the doctor that checked her over. She was more concerned with finding out about Gail.

"She's ah, she's still having more tests done." Holly explained as she shifted nervously before sitting back down.

Traci turned back to Steve and gave him a meaningful look causing him to turn around and walked off towards the nurse's station. She hoped he found out quickly what was going on. She then smiled at Holly's sister before sitting down next to the pathologist.

"How are you holding up?" She asked Holly softly as Chris and Oliver shuffled about beside them.

Holly didn't know why she was being asked that, she wasn't the one hurt. "I'm fine."

Traci sighed and took hold of Holly's hand. "I know you are."

She didn't know what to say after that so a strained silence fell over them as the others took seats and kept quiet as they all waited to find out how Gail was.

A few minutes later, Holly's breathing exercises were interrupted by her sister calling her name. She turned her head to Elizabeth, who was seated on the other side of Traci but her eyes slipped past them both as she spotted what had caught Elizabeth's attention.

Steve was walking their way with a doctor.

Holly got to her feet and sucked in a breath as the others all got up as well, forming a semi-circle for the doctor.

"Sorry to keep you all waiting, but we have Ms Peck all settled in her room now." He told them to everyone's visible relief. He offered them a smile as Chris slapped Oliver on the back and grinned.

"Unfortunately right now, it's only immediate family that can be allowed to visit but she is going to be just fine. She might need to stay in for a day or so but that's just a precaution at this stage." He went on to explain.

As happy with the news as Holly was, the thought of not getting to see Gail for a day or two made her heart sink. She needed to see the blonde, to hold her and talk to her. To see for herself that there was nothing wrong.

Her eyes dropped to the floor as her shoulders slumped. Maybe if she was really lucky she could sneak in later and check on her.

A nudge came at her shoulder causing her to glance back up into a group of expectant faces. She had no idea what was going on, she'd tuned out the rest of the conversation after hearing that Gail was going to be okay.

The doctor narrowed his eyes at her. "You are Holly Stewart, right?"

Holly blinked and pushed her glasses back up her nose. "Uhm, yes."

He didn't look particularly convinced but he eventually nodded and gestured with his arm. "I'll show you to her room, she's been asking for you." He said to her.

Holly's eyes widened and she glanced at Traci and her sister, both of them smiled back at her. Then Traci put her hand on her back and gave her the push forward she needed to go with the doctor.

She was going to see Gail. Right now, she was going to go see her girlfriend.

She couldn't hold back her smile. She'd been so worried that it was going to be bad news she almost didn't know what to do with herself now that she knew Gail was going to be okay and that she could now sit with her in her hospital room.

"Tell her we all said hi, and we'll see her when we can. We might even bring presents." Oliver said, wanting Holly to pass his good wishes along to Gail. They were all thinking about her out here.

Holly chuckled before pausing beside Steve. She quirked an eyebrow at him. He had to be just as anxious about Gail as she was.

"I'm going to take Traci back to the station then I'll come by. Take your time." He told her.

Holly nodded then glanced to her sister almost as an afterthought. Chris had brought her so she didn't have any way to get back to her place. Holly also didn't have her phone on her, she'd left it at work.

Elizabeth seemed to understand the look she was getting form her sister and just rolled her eyes and sat back down. "Guess I'll wait right here." She grumbled half-heartedly.

Now Holly was ready to go see her girlfriend.

xxxxxx

The walk to the ward Gail was on was almost as bad for Holly as waiting down stairs had been but she took the opportunity to get a complete explanation of Gail's injuries from her doctor. Gail had three broken ribs and two further fractures. All of which would heal by themselves but Gail would need support strapping for the next week or so to help keep them aligned properly. Her wrist was fractured but a half cast would be enough for the next four to six weeks. None of her facial bones had shown nothing significant beyond the soft tissue damage that was causing the swelling that had closed one of Gail's eyes, and that would reduce and clear up over time.

Gail also had a grade two concussion but that wasn't the real problem, the real issue was the impact injury Gail had suffered to one of her kidneys. The internal bleeding from that looked to have slowed, but the doctor was still cautious about it and had warned Holly that if the bleeding failed to clear up during the night then they would have to rethink the issue.

Holly understood that to mean surgery. And while a person had two kidneys and could live a perfectly healthy life with one, Holly balked at the idea of Gail needing hers removed.

Finally she was shown into a ward area and the doctor gestured to the room. He then told Holly that he would be back in a few hours to check on Gail but that if he was needed a nurse would call him.

Holly just stood there frozen in place for a moment.

Then she took a deep breath and started forward. She was still worried about Gail but more than that she needed to see her and feel her and talk to her.

She also hated the idea that Gail was alone in her room. She knew how much the blonde despised hospitals, even the night of the shootings it was all Holly could do to hold her hand and keep her grounded enough to stay until they knew Sam and Chloe were stable enough for them to leave.

So it was with some surprise that Holly found Detective Swarek seated beside Gail as she opened the door into her room.

She frowned at him.

Sam grinned at Holly before getting out of his seat. He looked back down at Gail who kept her eyes firmly shut as she continued to ignore him. He'd done his best to get through to her. He leaned back on the railing one last time. "Just, remember what I said Gail." He waited for some sort of acknowledgment but went it failed to come he gave up and turned to leave the two women alone.

"How did you?" Holly could help but ask, if she had known where to find Gail she would have been up here with her the moment she could have.

Sam shrugged. "I guess it pays to have your ex working here." He told her with that smirk of his before disappearing out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Holly shook her head. She had no idea what he had been doing in here but one look at her girlfriend and she didn't think it had been good.

"Hey." She called out softly as she went to the bed and slipped into the seat Sam had been using. She pushed it a touch closer and then reached for Gail's hand, being careful of the IV line going into her hand. "Gail, sweetheart? Did you hear the news? Traci's downstairs with your brother, everyone says hi by the way but I got first dibs." She said with a watery grin as she squeezed Gail's hand.

Eventually Gail turned her head to Holly and slowly opened her eyes.

Holly was shocked by the raw emotions she saw in her girlfriends gaze. "Oh darling it's all going to be okay, I promise." Holly whispered softly as she leant her head closer to Gail's and smoothed a few strands of hair, needing to touch Gail desperately.

Gail blinked and tears rolled down her face. She shifted and winced at the pain that seared through her despite the medication she was on. She sighed then studied Holly's face closely. She loved this woman more than anything in the world. More than her friends and her family, and definitely more than her job.

She shifted closer to the Holly, ignoring the jarring it caused to her ribs and gave Holly's hand a gentle tug, sniffling as more tears leaked out.

Holly bit her bottom lip as she looked at Gail, the blonde look so broken and despondent that Holly wasn't sure what to say to make it better. She cursed Sam for this because she knew whatever reason he had to be here it had only served to hurt Gail, not help her.

"Shhh, get some sleep sweetheart, I'll be right here when you wake up." She told her girlfriend as she gently ran her fingers over Gail's bruised and battered face before trailing her thumb lightly over Gail's lips. "It'll be okay." She promised again.

Gail took the hand that she held and brought it up to her mouth to press her lips against it. And then she opened her eye to find Holly's searching her own and told her what she felt in her own heart to be true.

"No it won't."

It was never going to be okay after this. Not ever.

xxxxxx

AN/

Dammit, I really wanted to be another chapter ahead in this fic before the new season aired but fine, I'll deal with it.

Sigh.

How great was that ep? Awesome right? And the leaked clips? OMG!

I might post a one shot for the 5.03 ep because of the feels. But I don't know. Urgh.

Anyway thanks for reading!