Part 32

"What's that smell?"

Holly almost rolled her eyes when Gail struggled to her feet and stood from the couch, aided by Traci who quickly steadied Gail then let go once Gail headed towards the kitchen.

Gail spotted her favourite little man next to Holly and ruffled Leo's hair as she passed him. "Hey kid, what did you guys bring me?" She could smell food and a lot of spice and it made her stomach growl in anticipation.

Leo followed after Gail. Paying little attention to the bruises and awkward way his friend was walking. "Nana's chicken stew, it's my favourite."

From the smell Gail figured it was about to become a preferred meal in her future too, which was just another reason to keep in nice with Leo and his family.

"Well then kid, we better get in there and get ours." Gail said, knowing it was always best to stake your claim early before anyone like Elizabeth or Holly got the funny idea that they could help themselves. She'd learnt that quickly enough living with Dov and Chris, and here she was not even a week into living with Holly, already having to ensure her place at the dinner table.

Holly shook her head and let them go. If she spoke up the first thing she'd be doing would be to tell Gail to get her ass back on the couch and not move.

Of course, now they had guests.

"Is she really okay?" Traci asked Holly as her mother went into the kitchen, eager to introduce Gail Peck to one of her most loved family dishes.

Holly shrugged then took her glasses off and wiped her hand down her face. "No." Was the short answer. The complicated answer. "But she wouldn't stay at the hospital." She explained quietly.

"Steve said she was pretty banged up but was going to be okay." Traci added.

Holly swallowed hard. She didn't like thinking about Gail's injuries, and how lucky she was that they weren't so much worse. Hit a little harder, for a little longer, there was a very high likely hood that Gail wouldn't have survived the hits to her head.

Just a swing and a miss. Fractions of seconds, a late shift of Gail's body, a deflection from a raised arm that had instinctively moved into place for protection. You couldn't think about the what if's but Holly had seen too many bodies on her table that hadn't been as lucky as Gail. So it was hard to ignore just how the smallest of changes can drastically alter the outcome.

"She's very lucky." Holly managed to get out before putting her glasses back into place and smiling at Traci, who was also graced by good fortune in her own ordeal. "So were you."

Traci blew out a breath. "Don't I know it." She agreed. "And now all of this." She went on with a shake of her head. "It's getting scary downtown, Steve said they've called in a lot of cops to do crowd control."

Holly scowled. "Hasn't anyone from the main building made a statement yet?" That was the norm for volatile cases. Cut off the media frenzy before it could fuel public opinion and endanger future court proceedings.

Traci sighed and shook her head, her hand reaching out to touch Holly's arm. "According to Steve they won't make a firm statement while the investigation is still in motion."

Holly snorted. "You mean while they haven't talked to Gail."

Traci shrugged.

"Unbelievable." Holly muttered.

"Hey you two idiots, get in here before Leo eats all the food." Came Gail's voice closely followed by Leo's protest, accusing Gail of taking the biggest bowl.

"We can talk more later." Traci offered.

Holly snorted but moved to join the rest in the kitchen. Between Elaine blindsiding her at work and Traci she was just about done.

"Everything okay?" Gail asked as she eyed Holly and Traci.

Taking a deep breath Holly chose to let things go for the moment, she tell Gail everything when they found a quiet moment to themselves. She walked over and put a hand to Gail's shoulder and pressed a kiss to her head. "This does smell good." She said as she shared a smile with Gail and sat down next to the blonde.

"Are you always kissing?" Leo asked having seen them kiss more than he did his mom and Steve.

"Hush kid." Gail warned with narrowed eyes, as she stared across at Traci's offspring. "Again, I don't recall inviting anyone over." She moved her eyes off to glare at his mother so Leo wouldn't take her comment too seriously. Not that he ever did.

"We brought food Gail." Traci reminded the injured cop, who she also considered a friend.

Gail guffed. "Your mother brought the food, she can stay, the rest of you," And this time she included Elizabeth in her sights. "Are pushing it."

Traci shook her head but accepted the bowl of stew from her mother as she sat beside her son.

"Is she always like this about food?" Leo asked quietly remembering a similar discussion when he'd last been over for a visit. This one wasn't nearly as exciting because his mom was acting funny and had been arguing with Steve before they came over.

And Gail was a bruised and hurt looking.

Elizabeth chuckled as she dug into her own bowl. "So far I figure she's like this about food and se-"

"Hey!" Holly cut in quickly.

"Child in the room." Came Traci's voice as she reached out to cover Leo's ears, but he shifted away from her with a laugh.

The whole time Gail just grinned and ate her food. She winked at Leo when he looked at her as Holly continued to berate her sister.

Gail's day had definitely improved since that morning. She was damn glad to be home.

xxxxx

"They'll bury her if that makes it into the media."

Elaine sighed as she put down the report in her hands. "I am well aware of that Staff Sergeant." This wasn't her first read of Detective Callaghan's report on the arrest warrant debacle that lead to this whole mess. "Shouldn't you concern yourself with crowd control?" She asked, her news screen silent across the room but full of live images of the restless groups of public demonstrators that had gathered to protest the police treatment which they considered unjust.

Best narrowed his eyes and shifted on his seat, straightening his white shirt. "I'm concerning myself with my officers. I've had SIU crawling all over my division for two days and they've interviewed everyone."

"Not everyone."

Best tilted his head to concede that point. "Everyone I could give them access to." He rephrased. "Yet I still have Jarvis breathing down my neck," He leaned forward. "Is there a reason for that?"

Elaine sat back in her own chair. Bigger and more comfortable than the one Frank was sat in. "I'm not sure what you mean."

"I'm sure you don't."

"Inspector Jarvis is helping a division that as far as I can see, is clearly in crisis."

Frank snorted. "What crisis?" He shook his head, he'd been expecting Jarvis to stick around for a day, not for the foreseeable future.

Elaine flicked her wrist to the TV screen. "Don't play dumb, this is already getting out of hand. As it is we'll have to take what we have, warts and all, and make official statements tomorrow morning. Perhaps then the public's reaction can be cooled down some."

Frank sucked on his teeth. "You read Nash's account of what happened? And her interview with SIU?" He asked calmly.

Elaine picked up her remote and switched off the news channel. "They don't help much do they?"

Frank grunted and crossed his arms over his chest. Traci's statement was pretty useless. At least for Gail. Nash had verified some of what Luke Callaghan had said about Gail not staying with the arrest team and when Luke wanted to head back she'd offered to stay and wait for Gail.

The rest of it was sketchy from Traci's end. Gail coming back looking ruffed up, the perp with her looking as equally scruffy. Then she'd ended up with a gun against her and being dragged into a car with a bunch of gang bangers that she was sure was going to end up dead in a ditch somewhere.

She hadn't a clue what had happened to Gail, not until after, when Steve had arrived at the hospital.

Even her rescue wasn't well detailed. She'd been asked to recount the direction the car had travelled but she'd been wrong. Not that it really mattered to SIU, they were treating Nash as the victim and as such her recollection of events were always going to be taken lightly.

SIU were investigating cause and effect. It was their job to determine the single point of origin from which the chain of events that led to a police detective being abducted only to be rescued in the midst of a very public shoot out with known gang members that resulted in one death.

And so far everything was pointing to Gail Peck's decision to take off running after a suspect who wasn't subject to the arrest warrant she was at the location for.

It seemed like such a petty thing but even Frank had to concede that if Gail had let the guy run she would have been headed back to lockup at the same time Luke had left.

"She's a cop, she was making an arrest." Frank said, though he knew it would do much good. As far as he could tell everyone had already written this off as Gail's fault.

It just didn't sit right with him. It twisted his gut the same way it had when Gail had barged into his office when SIU had been there and openly taken accountability for the events that led to a prisoner being shot dead in his division.

"She screwed up, Frank." Elaine told him bluntly. "I've tried my best with her, but this one isn't going to be as easy to get out of."

Frank stood quickly before he said something he'd end up paying for. "If we're done here, then I guess I should get back."

Elaine's eyes followed Frank as he left her office. Slowly she reached for her desk phone, punched in a series of numbers and waited for the line to connect. "Detective Mills please, she's expecting my call."

It wasn't Elaine's job to look after individual officers interests, not even those of her own daughter, it was her job to ensure that the office she represented and the public her office was entrusted to keep safe was held to the same standards and laws as ordinary citizens.

And when mistakes were made, those who were found to be responsible had to be held accountable in the eyes of the public as well as those in the building she worked in.

"Superintendent, so when can I expect my interview with Officer Peck?" The voice sounded drained. "No one seems to know where I can find her."

Elaine took a breath then answered with, "The public statement will go ahead as planned. If she's not there by 9 am then you go with what you have and report your findings before mid-day." Which was when the media were due to turn up in the conference room downstairs for their exclusive.

"So be it." Came the reply before the line cut out.

Elaine returned the receiver to its place and sighed. She'd tried speaking with Gail, even gone to try and talk some sense into the woman she was supposedly now living with.

Now it was in Gail's hands. If she couldn't convince Detective Mills that her actions were in line with her duty then she would likely face punitive action that would have severe effects on the rest of her career with Toronto policing.

If indeed she continued to have one past tomorrow.

xxxxxx

"Did you really save my mom?"

Leo's question silenced the table as eyes drifted towards Gail and waited to see her response.

Gail couldn't help but snort. "Who told you that?" Traci's mother was under the same misconception but she'd been hoping to get away with a meal and a few smiles and have that be it.

She'd planned to beg off soon due to her cracked ribs and sneak away to her bedroom, or at the very least chase her guests away.

But the food had kept her in the kitchen with everyone, and then Holly had offered cake as dessert after the stew had time to settle in her stomach.

Damn disloyal appetite.

"I heard Steve tell my Nana. That makes you the hero right?" Leo went on. He'd stopped in the hallway when he'd heard Gail's name. Steve had come home but when he'd mentioned Gail he'd wanted to hear everything he was telling his Nana because his mom had been crying the night before and he hadn't known why.

Something had happened and from what Steve had said Gail had helped, and that had been why his Nana had brought the dinner over here tonight. To tell Gail thank you.

He didn't really understand why Steve hadn't come with them but he worked a lot so it wasn't unusual that it was just him and his Nana or him and his mom at home.

"What did you do?" He continued his line of questioning.

Gail's breathing had starting to quicken and it was making her ribs hurt. A lot.

She could feel eyes on her. She could feel the questions they wanted to ask but were leaving it to a kid to ask outright.

Gail couldn't look up, because if she did she'd see Traci staring back at her and it was just too much.

She swallowed thickly as she stood. "I did my job, and your mom did hers. Everybody came home."

This time.

This time, everybody came home.

Tears stung her eyes but she still kept them away from everyone else in the room. "If you'll excuse me, I need some rest."

And with that she was out into the hallway and making her way up the stairs as fast as her injuries would allow.

She was being rude and cold, but she could do that, people thought that way of her anyway so what did it matter.

She could be the bitch.

But she wasn't anyone's hero.

xxxxxx

AN/

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