Nowhere I have been
Disclaimer – Usual, don't own, not being paid, blah, blah, blah.
Forewarning – I write long fics, I suck at updating and I am changing one detail from canon (at least one anyway). Also as I'm starting from a few weeks after 4.13 it's all AU from here on out. And as all I know of Holly is her current job and her second name everything else is up for grabs.
And a shout out to trustissuesb for picking where this story started from. You asked for it :D
Part 1
Holly ties the robe around her body as she heads into the kitchen. She has pancake mix at the ready, bacon on the go, bread by the toaster and coffee percolating away as two glasses of juice sat on the counter at the ready.
"What else?" Holly asks herself as she hears the faint sounds of Gail heading into her bedroom from the shower room. "Ah, eggs!" She mutters, sticking her head into the fridge and pulling out a couple of free range eggs. Just as she was debating with herself as to how best to cook them, two hands slip around her waist as Gail cuddles up to her from behind, pressing a kiss to her neck before resting her head at her shoulder.
"What are you making me?" Gail asks causing Holly to smile.
"Breakfast?" Which Holly thought was obvious but apparently not so. "And how would you like your eggs?"
Gail huffs over Holly's shoulder. "You left me alone in the shower for this?" She complains although they both know that the blonde actually adores that Holly so readily cooks for her.
"It's morning and I'm making myself breakfast," Holly replies holding back the need to giggle at her girlfriend who was now gently swaying them side to side as she tried to navigate through the rest of the cooking. "You're just lucking out that there's leftovers for you to eat."
"Oh!" Gail mutters in Holly's ear before biting down on it gently. "Now I'm just insulted, I'm not sure I should settle for your scraps Missy, you can just throw them out. I'm not even hungry now." Which was a lie because after just getting off night shift, Gail was actually starving and in desperate need of either coffee or sleep.
And as she wasn't about to waste a day of Holly's weekend off by sleeping she planned on getting by on coffee.
"Hmm." Holly wasn't convinced as she plated up another pancake and started a fresh one. She sucked in a breath as a hand snaked into her robe and teasingly palmed her breast. Quickly grabbing the offending hand before Gail could get carried away, Holly turned and pushed Gail to the side gently. "Just for that we're going out after this, now toast and coffee if you can behave for five minutes so I don't burn any of this." Holly said as she juggled pancake flipping with poaching the eggs, her preferred choice and as Gail hadn't bothered to add her opinion the blonde would just have to make do.
Grumbling but doing as she was told Gail quickly got the mugs out for coffee and set the bread to toast. As she'd stayed over more often than not she and Holly already had a nice little routine going each morning as Holly made them breakfast before driving them into work.
As much as she pretended to complain, Gail actually loved how domestic it was. It terrified her that this relationship with Holly seemed to be going so smoothly, even the first time they'd had sex together hadn't been as awkward or embarrassing as Gail had feared.
They just worked.
And Gail was yet to be hit with that blinding panic when the person she was dating started getting too close and she went into fight or flight mode to end the relationship.
Once the toast was ready Gail slid the plates over to have the eggs laid on top and then she took them over to the breakfast bar in Holly's kitchen which they'd been using recently. Holly had mentioned using the back decking but it was too cold at this time of the year for that, especially given they were both wearing so little.
Gail had high hopes of convincing Holly to skip shopping for some time in the bedroom but she had to be sneaky with the older woman and try and not get too predictable when it came to avoidance tactics.
"What are you smiling at?" Holly asks, coming over with a stack of pancakes and a small boat of syrup.
"Nothing!" Gail replied giving her girlfriend her best innocent look, not that Holly was buying it for a second if the raised eyebrow was anything to go by.
Holly let it go, it never paid to delve too deeply into Gail's thoughts, there could be any number of reasons for Gail to be smiling like that and not all of them were appropriate to hear about when attempting to eat.
Sitting down beside her girlfriend Holly asked, "How was shift last night?"
Gail shrugged as she cut into her egg and started eating. "Okay, I guess. We spent the night watching for some big drug shipment that was supposed to be delivered but either the Detective's snitch got the date wrong, or is lying, then something went wrong because they were supposed to be there Thursday evening and they still haven't shown." Gail explained, she'd debated what to tell Holly about her work but after Ford, if Holly asked then Gail would answer.
She didn't even feel conflicted about it anymore. It was a trust thing for Gail, she trusted Holly to understand that this was her job and Holly trusted Gail to do everything in her power to stay safe and come home.
"Boring then?" Holly asked, knowing how the blonde hated spending time on an operation and having it come to nothing.
"Ugh!" Gail rolled her eyes for emphasis as she quickly chew down another mouthful of food. Washing it down with some juice before groaning again making Holly chuckle at her. "Oh, you wouldn't believe just how boring it was!" She went on. "McNally talks when she's bored Holly, do you know how excruciating that was? Hm? Ten hours, Holly, ten!" Gail asked with a look of annoyance on her face.
Holly had to hide her grin behind her coffee mug. "Must have been awful for you." She said with mock sympathy but Gail nodded along with her.
"You have no idea!" Gail replied as she cut into her pancakes. "I had to amuse myself by thinking of all the ways I could shut her up and have them not find her body."
Holly frowned. "I need to stop letting you read my journals."
Gail snorted a laugh at that. She was joking mostly. While Andy did get a bit talkative when she was nervous or bored one of Gail's patented glares usually worked well for at least a half hour of silence. But the pair were back on friendly terms again after the whole Nick situation. And Andy had mostly been giving her an update on Sam's condition so it wasn't all wasted time.
"So, after this do you wa-" Holly began only to be interrupted by the ringing of her doorbell.
Gail paused, she hadn't known Holly had a doorbell.
"You expecting someone?" She asked Holly as the other woman stood.
Holly shrugged, most of her friends would have called first as her schedule was never consistent enough for people to just drop by.
Gail sighed as Holly went to answer the door. She really hoped it wasn't anything that was going to delay her plans for the rest of the morning.
"Hey Gail, look who's here!" Holly said with exaggerated cheer as she re-joined Gail in the kitchen.
Gail took in Holly's raised eyebrows and widened eyes with a frown before eyeing her brother and Traci as they followed closely behind.
"Hey." Traci said standing awkwardly beside Steve as they eyed the pair and tried to ignore Gail giving them the evil eye.
Holly cleared her throat and grabbed a few dishes placing them into the sink then turned back to the three people in her house. She gripped her robe, making sure it was closed as she became aware of just how underdressed she was having not been expecting any visitors beyond Gail.
"I'm just going to…right." She trailed off disappearing from the room quickly.
Gail practically growled at her brother. "What the hell are you doing here? And how did you even know where to find me?" She hadn't given anyone Holly's address. With good reason, it prevented situations just like this one.
Steve kept a smile on his face having known his sister wasn't going to take this well. "What? You didn't answer your phone, I got worried."
Gail rolled her eyes at the lie. "I have the weekend off, I'm not planning on looking at my cell until Monday morning. And don't ignore me, I asked how you knew to come here?"
"I'm a Detective Gail, I detected." Steve explained with a shrug.
Traci, who hadn't been able to wipe the grin off her face from the moment Holly had answered the door finally let out a laugh as she took in her friend. "You look very…" She wanted to say almost naked but she doubted Gail would see the funny side of to that.
"Oh, shut up!"
"And the Beaches!" Traci continued with her teasing, knowing Gail's bark was always worse than her bite. "It's just so…not you!"
Gail groaned and let her head rest on the counter as her brother and Traci laughed at her. Then she lifted her head to show the pout on her face. "I know!" She agreed before she was distracted by Holly's return. "Why are you dressed?" She asked confused as to why Holly was now in jeans and a shirt, she'd even put on her glasses. She still looked great, but it was just added layers that Gail would have to remove soon.
Which reminded her.
"Why are you both here?" She asked her brother again crossing her arms over her chest as she waited for an answer, she'd get back to Holly and her clothes later, when Traci and her brother got lost.
"Well," Steve cleared his throat knowing he was stalling. "Like I said, I called, you've missed dinner the last few-"
"No!" Gail said as she stood up, shaking her head at her brother as she took her own plate into the kitchen as she tried not to lose her temper.
"She said to bring Holly by too." Steve quickly added.
Holly felt confused by the sibling's argument but when she heard the crash of plates in the sink she eased over to check on Gail who had both hands gripping the sink and her back to the three of them.
"You okay?" Holly asked in a whisper as she rested her hand on Gail's tensed back.
"Mmhm." Gail got out while biting down on her lip to stop herself from yelling at her brother.
Steve meanwhile didn't understand why Gail was being so difficult with their parents. "It's only dinner."
Gail spun around and glared at him. "It's never just dinner with that woman!"
After that there was only tense silence in the room as Holly inched closer to Gail to try and calm her girlfriend down a little without touching her.
"Fine. No dinner at mom and dad's." Steve finally conceded much to Holly's relief as she watched Gail's body relax slightly.
"But how about dinner at my place tonight then?" He asked his sister. "Just the four of us?" He added as Gail and Holly shared a look.
"Whatever." Gail muttered as she got no help from Holly as to how she wanted her to answer.
"Great. About seven?" He asked, feeling better as he gave his sister a smile.
"Sounds good." Holly added as she smiled at her guests. "But listen, we were heading out," She continued wanting the visit to be over more for Gail's sake than the fact that it had gotten pretty awkward for everyone concerned. "But we'll see you both tonight. Let me just walk you guys out while Gail gets dressed." She said trying to usher the two Detectives out.
Gail snorted as she watched them go with no intention whatsoever of adding more clothes to her body while she was contemplating taking all of Holly's off as soon as possible.
"Hey." Holly said softly as she returned alone and walked right up to Gail and gave her a hug. "You really okay?"
Gail, still with her arms wrapped around Holly's body just nodded into her shoulder, enjoying the warmth of her girlfriend's body too much to want to move.
Holly just stood there, holding Gail as tight as she held her back. "Want to talk about it?" She ventured still worried over Gail's obvious issue with the idea of dinner with her parents. She had gathered enough information to know that whatever it was about it wasn't because of their relationship.
Gail sighed and shifted back enough to look Holly in the eye. "We just don't have the same memories of growing up." She explained as she studied Holly's face and wondered how much was enough to share, she wasn't looking for pity but Holly's face was open and relaxed without any hint of judgment.
She shrugged and glanced away. Holly kept pictures of her own family up around the living room and Gail thought it was nice how Holly got on so well with her family even if they didn't live nearby.
"Steve got lots of pats on the back and well done's, I got the 'don't embarrass us' talk. Several times." Gail told Holly trying to sound like it didn't still bother her but they both knew it did.
Holly pressed her lips to Gail's forehead in understanding and in an attempt to heal just a little bit of that hurt. Then Gail breathed on her neck and then they were kissing, gently, softly, lips barely brushing.
"What would she think of me anyway?" Holly asked as she eased out of another kiss and peppered Gail's jaw with kisses as the blonde's hand slipped under her shirt and worked its way up her back.
Gail snorted. "She'd be concerned with your love of all things dead, she'd probably want to look into any missing persons around where you lived growing up."
Holly's body shook in Gail's arms as she laughed.
"Would she think I've led you astray?"
"Please!" Gail muttered as she captured Holly's lips once more and then started to nudge them in the general direction of Holly's bedroom. "Who chased who exactly?"
As Holly opened her mouth to answer her back Gail crashed her lips to them in a heated kiss.
"Can we please stop talking about my mother?"
"Ugh." Holly swallowed and gave Gail a nod as her back hit a wall in the hallway. "Sure, we can, yeah." She managed as Gail struggled with tugging at her jeans, almost causing them to trip and fall.
"Why did you even get dressed anyway?" Gail muttered as she forced Holly to the floor and wrestled the jeans off, slipping in a tickle to Holly's side and feet just for the fun of it.
"No!" Holly scrambled back to her feet and gave Gail a warning look which did nothing to remove the playful glint in her girlfriend's eyes.
"I wasn't going to stand there in only a robe talking to your brother and his girlfriend." Holly muttered half indignant that Gail seemed to think Holly should have been okay doing exactly that.
Gail grinned thinking there was definitely room there for torturing Holly in the future.
"And now who's the one overdressed?" Holly asked capturing Gail's hands in her own in an attempt to prevent any more tickling from the blonde.
Gail pulls free and starts walking to the bedroom. "I thought you wanted me dressed. Aren't we about to head out?" She asks over her shoulder before disappearing into the room leaving Holly standing in stunned silence in the hallway in only her underwear.
Holly could almost feel her jaw falling at that.
Get dressed?
Go out?
"Oh, hell no, Blondie!" She muttered with a laugh and a shake of her head as she stalked after her girlfriend. As she got to the doorway she paused as she saw the robe on the floor and Gail under the cover of her bed.
It was an image she could get very used to.
Holly smiled at Gail before taking a step closer to the younger woman who was smiling coyly back at her.
"Maybe you should call your brother." She said resting her knee on the bed and edging over to place her hands on either side of Gail as she leaned over her.
"Why?" Gail asked with the start of a frown on her face as she gazed up at Holly.
"We're going to be late." Holly replied as she leaned down and nipped at Gail's bottom lip before slipping her tongue inside and sharing a heated kiss with the blonde who responded by reaching to undo Holly's bra.
Gail laughed into the next kiss and then she moaned as a hand retaliated for her own touches to Holly's body.
It was barely ten in the morning but if Holly thought they might be late to her brother's tonight, who was she to argue?
