Chapter Seven

Chicago, Illinois
April, 2014

Kelly had seen them at the bar and she had recognised instantly that Melissa was going to add another notch to her belt, and it was infuriating. Her relationship with Melissa was effectively in tatters, without a single word having been uttered in explanation. One day they had been the poster children for domestic bliss and Melissa had looked at her with such love and affection, and then her face had changed. A dark cloud rolled in and she had withdrawn emotionally, become standoffish and had started disappearing at random times. It was obvious that Melissa had checked out, she just hadn't bothered to tell Kelly that.

Kelly wasn't even sure Melissa had tried to hide the women she had been stepping out with; she certainly hadn't bothered to look beyond the women from the Chicago team. It hurt in ways Kelly couldn't begin to describe, but she couldn't believe for a second there wasn't more to the story. She suspected Melissa was simply attempting to blow it all up so that she could go back to what was comfortable, pining for Gabby. She needed to find out if Melissa would even consider looking more deeply into what she was doing, or if the relationship was really over. So when Melissa and Talia ducked out of the bar, Kelly decided it was time to act.

Unfortunately by time she made it outside of the bar her teammates were nowhere to be seen and Kelly ended up sitting in her truck, pounding on the steering wheel out of frustration. She tried calling Melissa, but wasn't surprised when she was sent straight to voicemail. She then texted Melissa and told her that she knew she was stepping out on the relationship and it was time to sort it out once and for all. After riding a wave of emotion threatening to overwhelm her, Kelly steadied her nerves and pulled out of the parking lot, headed for home.

Home was in Norwood Park, a neighbourhood located at the Northwest end of Chicago and when Kelly pulled onto Linden Avenue from Thorndale Avenue she recognised Talia's Mustang parked out front of her home. She pulled into the driveway and parked in front of the garage. Her eyes repeatedly pulled her between the Mustang and the front of the house, where the curtains were drawn, although some light appeared around the edges of the curtains. Kelly steeled herself for what she might walk in on, recognising that thinking something was happening was a lot different to seeing it happen with her own eyes. Melissa sure had some nerve bringing Talia back to the house.

Kelly quickly walked up to the house and used her key to open the front door. The moment she stepped inside she knew something was wrong. Her hair stood up on her skin, and she was instinctively reaching for her .22 calibre pistol she had holstered at her side because she didn't go anywhere in Chicago without it. A coppery smell assaulted her nose and she gagged a little as the entrance hall opened up into the living room. It took her a moment to take in that the furniture was disturbed and that a shadow loomed over the room. What looked like a well built man dressed in black with a scalpel was advancing towards Melissa, whose face looked stricken. Kelly pulled up her weapon and fired a warning shot just past the invaders ear. He turned, startled by the intrusion and recognising the danger, barrelled straight into Kelly as she pulled the trigger a second time, this time with intent to injure. He knocked her to the ground and fled into the night, while the second shot fired high and ricocheted off the steel industrial style ceiling fan.

Kelly climbed to her feet quickly and it was then she recognised the true nature of what she had interrupted. Her eyes fell on Talia, who was covered in and surrounded by so much blood that Kelly knew she couldn't have survived her ordeal. Anxiously her eyes crossed the room in search of Melissa and that was when she saw her girlfriend grasping at her neck as she lay on the ground, blood pooling around her hand. Kelly cried out in anguish and raced to Melissa's side, where she slid down on her knees and pulled Melissa into her lap. She quickly tried to find her phone by patting her pockets, but she couldn't find it. She looked around the room in desperation but couldn't locate the house phone either. She was stuck, unable to move as Melissa's hand fell away when she lost consciousness. All she could do was apply pressure on the wound herself and pray.

"Come on Missy, open your eyes." Kelly begged, gently shaking Melissa a little in an attempt to jostle her awake, afraid to do much more. Sirens filtered into her mind, and she realised that the neighbours must have called the police at the sound of the gunshots, and she hoped there would be an ambulance with them too, because she didn't dare let go.

Kelly planted a kiss against the top of Melissa's head and begged through tears, "Please hang on babe. You gotta hang on."

Kelly was so fixated on stemming the bleeding that she didn't hear emergency services enter her house. She didn't hear the paramedics directing her as they set up to take over and she had to be forcibly dragged away by a police officer. She was questioned repeatedly about what had happened and detailed what she knew, which was so little in the grand scheme of things.

It wasn't until Kelly made it to the hospital to wait for Melissa to come out of surgery that she learned that she had accidentally shot her girlfriend. No part of her brain had been actively cognisant of that at the time she rushed into action, but once she was sitting in the waiting room, covered in Melissa's blood, waiting to hear the worst, it was all she could think about. She had to think quickly and grab a small trash can when the contents of her stomach forced their way up. Her nerves were a mess, and her heart ached exponentially. It was literally touch and go and she was responsible. Kelly prayed that Melissa would survive. She didn't think she could live with herself if Melissa didn't.


October, 2014
Launceston, Tasmania

When Kelly hit the ground her brain flashed back to that fateful night and it left her stunned for several moments. The visuals in her brain were overwhelmingly sickening, and caused an adrenaline rush. She heard Gabby's words and while it took an extra second to process them, she did and it angered her. She picked herself up and glared at the woman being held back by both Maura and Jane. If Jane hadn't slid in between them she would have fought back physically, instead all she had was words. "You have no idea what happened, so shut your damn mouth."

Gabby was enraged and flailed her arms wildly in an attempt to push past Jane, but couldn't get around her deceptive strength. She growled back, "I know you nearly killed her, and that's all that fuckin' matters to me!"

"Come on Gabby, you know it was an accident." Jane interjected, while gently easing Gabby backwards towards the living room.

Kelly was behind Jane now, moving her head side to side trying to catch a glimpse of Gabby. "You didn't give a shit about her until that happened and now all of a sudden you do? Where were you when she was struggling emotionally with her decision to leave huh? Where were you then?"

"Get the fuck out of my way, Jane." Gabby ground out, ready to throttle Kelly.

Maura upon recognising Jane had Gabby under control had stepped away and was now watching her fiancée being sandwiched by two angry women. The situation was fast getting out of hand. "Enough," she yelled, loud enough to get everyone's attention. With all eyes on her she continued firmly, "Losing your tempers will not help the situation. You're both on timeout!"

Gabby knew better than to mess with Maura when she was in the kind of mood she now appeared to be in and took a step back from Jane and nodded with her hands up palms out, elbows bent at the shoulders. "Alright, alright."

Convinced that Gabby had recognised the error of her ways, Jane whirled around and pressed a finger into Kelly's sternum. "You and I are leaving. Out. Now. Let's go!"

Kelly was exasperated and growled, "She started it."

"I don't care. We're leaving." Jane reiterated. She had to get Kelly out of the house until Maura had had an opportunity to calm Gabby down properly, as she highly doubted the woman would stay calm long. Melissa was too contentious a subject for both women it seemed and being stuck in the middle of two volatile women was not Jane's idea of fun. She had well and truly messed up by forgetting that Kelly was coming when she invited Gabby to stay, of that she was genuinely sure. "Move it!"

"Fine." Kelly huffed out air and turned towards the front door behind them as if she was in agreement. However the moment Jane stepped over just a little to be half behind her and half beside her, Kelly spun and threw herself at Gabby, slamming her rival through the doorway into the living room and down onto the floor, falling on top of Gabby in the process.

Maura looked aghast as it all unfolded and if Jane had been a cartoon character there would have been steam coming from her ears. Jane turned and grabbed Kelly by the collar and dragged her off of Gabby, interrupting a wrestle for supremacy. "You have got to be fuckin' kidding me right now!"

Kelly shrugged out of Jane's grasp and would have launched at Gabby again but was compelled to pull up short when she realised Maura had stepped in between them. It was one thing to attempt to fight Gabby in Maura's home, it was another thing altogether to lay a hand on her. Some things could be forgiven, but that would not lead to forgiveness. It would however lead to Jane going apeshit, and that was something she didn't need to experience. Recognising she was defeated she huffed out some more air and walked straight out of the house with the full knowledge she was about to get an earful from Jane.

Jane stood still and looked sheepishly at Maura before closing her eyes for a moment and simply nodding. Maura hadn't needed to say a word. The withering look she had sent Jane spoke volumes. Fix this mess you created. Do not bring Kelly back to this house until she can behave like a civilised adult, and if she can't - don't bring her back. It didn't matter that technically it was Maura's best friend that had started the fight. It only mattered that Kelly had continued it after Maura had spoken up to end it.

Maura watched Jane follow after Kelly before turning to confront Gabby. "Do you feel better? Are you satisfied now?"

There wasn't an ounce of care in those words and Gabby knew it. Maura was well and truly annoyed with the situation. Gabby couldn't blame her. She should have shown more respect in her best friend's home and she shouldn't have thrown the punch that started the ruckus in the first place. Head hung low she replied, "No I don't and no it wasn't. I'm sorry Maura. I lost it when I saw her, there's no excuse for my behaviour."

Maura could tell that Gabby was genuinely apologetic but she found the whole situation confounding. She couldn't understand why either woman was so wrapped up in Melissa, when Melissa had shown so much disrespect to them both. It didn't matter that she knew there were genuine mental issues and trauma to be dealt with, because Melissa was refusing to deal with it. Melissa may have been the most emotionally stunted, misguided, mentally unstable person she had ever met outside of psychopathic and sociopathic serial killers and yet the woman was genuinely kind, which Maura supposed was half the attraction.

Gabby was a lot like Jane in that she had a bit of a saviour complex, and nobody needed saving more than Melissa. Maura wasn't so sure about Kelly, because she had appeared to be a more emotionally stable, mentally healthy adult in the times she had interacted with the woman, but she had retaliated to Gabby in a way that Maura just had not seen coming. Perhaps the trauma of what happened in Chicago had a lingering impact on Kelly's emotional stability. It wasn't helping anyone that all parties were operating partially in the dark, with missing information and Maura realised that was something that needed to be rectified.

"You're right, there isn't. However, I do think that a genuine conversation still needs to be had between you and Kelly. "

Gabby shook her head and turned to walk over to the couch. She didn't think there was anything to talk about but she suspected Maura was about to enlighten her. "Alright Isles, hit me with it. Explain this to me like I'm stupid, because right now I see no reason to ever speak to that woman again."

Maura watched Gabby sit down and set about explaining her thoughts. "Neither of you are acting on full information. The mere fact that Kelly thinks you abandoned Melissa in Chicago after she left to play softball, speaks to that. She doesn't know your reasoning. She doesn't understand that you were using your knowledge of Melissa to make the most supportive decision you could…"

"I don't think she cares why I didn't speak to Missy, Maura. In her head I'm the arsehole that let Missy chase her dreams and then refused to talk to her. She thinks I'm the bad guy." Gabby interrupted, basically finishing Maura's thoughts for her, but without quite catching where the train was headed.

"Precisely. Kelly clearly loves Melissa, and to her you were being stubborn, petulant and spiteful. She doesn't have the experiences with Melissa to understand that after you calmed down from being turned down, that you actually understood where she was coming from. That you wanted to support her dreams, and you knew speaking to her would endanger those. She would have flown home."

"Yeah, and?" Gabby was still waiting for the point to be made clearer.

"She doesn't know it Gabby, maybe if she did she wouldn't feel so hurt by the way you swooped in and cut her out of Melissa's life. You essentially gave her the opportunity to be a part of Melissa's life in the first place and even when you worried that you might have been losing Melissa to her, you remained silent, until there was no choice in the matter."

Gabby had spoken to Maura numerous times about why she refused to speak to Melissa once she left for Chicago, because it had been counterintuitive to her friend. Maura hadn't understood why until she had explained it several times. Melissa had spent her life reliant on Gabby being there, on loving her, and she had finally decided to chase her dream and the only practical thing Gabby could do was let her go. She knew Melissa was right in not wanting to drag her away from the job she loved, her calling, and if she had allowed it, or gone against that, it would have ruined them. She had to play the waiting game, even when that waiting game looked like it was going to backfire. All she had wanted for Melissa was happiness, even if that meant it was with Kelly. "Oh…"

"Kelly thinks you were hurting Melissa and you understandably think the same way in regards to Kelly, especially given the unfortunate accident."

Just thinking about that started to make Gabby's blood boil again. She clenched her fists in her lap trying to push the anger away. Logically she was starting to see Maura's point, at least she thought she was. That both she and Kelly both cared about Melissa and wanted what was best for her, but they were both so caught up in their rivalry with one another they were only making the situation worse, and neither really truly had an idea on what the other had been through with Melissa. Emotionally, she still just wanted to rip Kelly limb from limb for nearly killing the love of her life. "I get what you're trying to say, Maura, but I can't look at her or even think about that accident without wanting to tear her apart."

It was at this moment Maura acknowledged the one thing that had stopped her from ever expressing any of her serious doubts about Melissa's suitability for any woman, yet alone her best friend. "You don't know what happened. It was clearly accidental and there was clearly enough evidence to suggest that her actions were necessary, or else she would have been incarcerated. That did not happen. Try considering the possibility that without Kelly showing up, Melissa wouldn't be here today. So while that almost happened because of an accidental shooting, it may have been guaranteed without it."

Gabby had considered that and the cop in her knew that to be true at that, but the woman in her that loved Melissa, couldn't stomach the thought. It was easier just to lay all her anger at the feet of the woman who had accidentally shot Melissa in the first place. So much easier. "Don't care. I hate her."

Maura sighed, a little exasperated. Gabby was stubborn with her love, and while she had learned a lot about letting the one you love leave and seeing if they come back, she hadn't really come to terms with the fact she almost didn't come back. That it took a near tragedy for her love to return to her. That was where Maura suspected Gabby's real issue lay. "You don't have to like her, Gabby, but you need to respect her while you're both under this roof."

Gabby resisted the temptation to roll her eyes and say, "Yes Mum". Instead she just nodded, having understood that Maura was right. She couldn't go around throwing punches just because she didn't like a person. A lesson it seemed she had trouble learning. "Fair enough," she offered begrudgingly.

"Thank you," Maura said softly, "Now let me check your hand for injury."

Gabby waved her off, despite feeling a little stiffness in her hand. She smiled smugly, "It's fine. Gotta be better than Kelly's face."

Maura just shook her head and walked out of the room, all the while muttering, "Children. I'm dealing with children."


It would have been easy for Jane to fly off the handle, but instead she had employed some deep breathing exercises and used the time she and Kelly walked side by side to bring her own emotions back into focus. She couldn't really blame Kelly for reacting the way she had, afterall Gabby had started it and Jane couldn't help but wonder if Gabby would ever learn to stop leading with her fist when emotion overwhelmed her. She also wondered what it was that had changed within Kelly to make her respond the way she had. The Kelly she knew was very evenhanded and even when provoked would take the high road, but that hadn't been what she had witnessed back at the house. She supposed the obvious answer was Melissa, but suspected it was a bit more complicated than basic romantic emotions.

Kelly appreciated that Jane was apparently taking her time to calm down before launching into a speech about how out of line she had been, because she absolutely had been. Kelly knew she had over reacted. She had spent six months in therapy recovering from what had happened that night and it appeared there was still a lot to work through. She had only talked to the police, Melissa and her therapist about what had happened and she realised that it was time to let Jane in on more of the details. Someone needed to understand exactly what had happened, at least from her perspective. "I fired two shots that night. One was a warning shot, because I didn't want to have to shoot anyone. By the time I actually fired in an attempt to stop the guy he was running right into me. It messed up my shot and it was a ricochet Jane. A simple little ricochet off a stupid industrial ceiling fan I had actually argued with Missy about installing. God, how I wish I had listened to her and got something a lot more flimsy."

It was the ricochet felt around the world and Jane didn't envy Kelly one bit. She understood from the beginning that Kelly's actions would have been necessary to save a life, it was just unfortunate they nearly cost a life in the process. However as far as Jane was concerned, it ended as well as it could. There was no point holding grudges about it. "I'm sorry you had to go through that."

"Why does she have to act like it was deliberate?" Kelly's voice was tired and a little broken.

"Who? Gabby? She's just mad at herself for not being there in the first place." Jane knew Gabby wasn't too complicated, she was a lot like her if she were honest, not that she would ever feel comfortable admitting that outloud. "She feels like she let Missy down, so she's lashing out at you because it's easier."

"I see," Kelly said, genuinely thinking about the answer she was given. "I suppose in my own way I've been doing the same thing."

"Oh?" Jane prompted Kelly to continue.

"It's easier to blame Gabby for shutting Missy out than to think about what I almost did."

"Yeah, same kind of thing." Jane agreed and hoped that this meant that perhaps some common ground could be found, because she was all for letting the romance side of things sort itself out, so long as all parties were respectful. "I can't begin to imagine what it must have felt like."

Kelly glanced over towards Jane while they waited for traffic before crossing the road. "Imagine Maura, on the ground, blood pooling around her hand clutching her neck. Imagine across the room from her is another person who has been brutally murdered, barely recognisable as anything more than a puddle of blood."

It was a lot easier for Jane to imagine than she figured Kelly thought it would be. She had imagined it many times already in the past, right after Hoyt had nearly succeeded in killing her. The thought of what if Maura had been with her was a visual loop belonging in the nightmare realm. Jane absolutely got it. She swallowed thickly, emotion catching in her throat. "Yeah, that'll do it."

"Now imagine holding her in your arms, covered in her blood, your phone nowhere to be found, knowing you cannot release that pressure or she will bleed out." Kelly could tell that Jane's brain was painting a picture clear as day and she felt bad for it, but at the same time a sense of relief washed over her. Someone else finally understood. Someone she probably should have been talking to about this six months prior instead of holding on to her foolish pride.

Jane was starting to understand a lot more than what had happened that fateful night as well. From the distant look in Kelly's eyes as she recounted her version of events, to the tone in her voice. It was so blatantly obvious that her feelings for Melissa were genuine and Jane just knew someone was getting hurt. Only Melissa could truly decide who, but if she were a betting woman Jane wouldn't be betting the farm on the friend walking side by side with her.

It was a shame, Jane realised, because from all accounts the relationship between Kelly and Melissa had been healthy until Melissa had had her little freak out anyway. It wasn't laced with the same level of soul shattering behaviour that Gabby had been enduring. It might actually be the best option for Melissa, if she had those same feelings for Kelly still. Feelings that Jane knew Melissa refused to acknowledge had ever existed, but she knew her friend all too well, and she also had to trust what Kelly told her.

If Kelly said the feelings were real and mutual, then they were. Kelly wasn't the sort of person to exaggerate or even to feel things lightly. It was legitimate and that meant that her friend wouldn't give up the chase until it felt truly over. She found herself kind of rooting for Kelly, not that she would ever admit it outloud. That would be the fastest way to ruin her new friendship with Gabby and she didn't really want to do that.

"Do you think you can be in the same house as Gabby without letting things get physical again?"

"I won't start anything," Kelly replied, knowing that she would finish it, if it came to that.

Jane nodded and accepted that as the best compromise she was probably going to get. "You know this situation is messed up, right?"

"I won't apologise for taking my shot Jane." Kelly knew exactly where her friend's mind was at. "I need to know for sure, one way or the other."

"Are you going to see her tonight?"

"Honestly I just wanted to get situated and go to sleep. I'm exhausted from travelling."

"Makes sense. Guess I'll be headed back over there tonight myself then."

Kelly stopped and placed a hand on Jane's arm to stop her too so that they could look at one another. "What's going on?"

"I'm not really sure. I just know that Missy isn't handling anything well."

"And you haven't told Gabby? Shouldn't she be home, making sure Missy is alright?"

Jane sighed. If only it were that simple. "Things are a bit complicated at the moment. Navigating it hasn't been easy for anyone involved. Suffice to say, your timing is both perfect and disastrous, depending on your point of view."

Kelly wasn't sure she liked the sound of any of that. First and foremost she was concerned about Melissa, but secondly she didn't need any doubts left lingering in her mind. If she were victorious in her chase for the love of Melissa, she needed Gabby to be at her best. She needed to win the heart, fair and square. It would be easy to swoop in and confuse things by being a supportive ear when Melissa needed it most. Be that one person who knew exactly what she was going through. So very easy, but it would also be taking advantage and that was something she never wanted to do, not with Melissa, not with anyone. "Well fuck," she muttered, "I'm going to have to talk to Gabby again, aren't I?"

Jane shrugged. "Guess that depends how you want to take your shot."

"I want to take it with Lebron James in my face, hand up, with time expiring." Kelly was fairly certain Jane would understand what she meant.

Jane understood entirely and appreciated the sentiment. "You know there is a huge chance he swats that down the court, right?"

Kelly nodded, "Yeah."

There was a very real chance Melissa would choose Gabby. It didn't really matter how she played the situation out. It would still most likely end in disaster. That didn't mean she wouldn't give it her best shot though.


A/N: I hope you enjoyed this week's update. My thanks and appreciation to all who read and review.