Author's Note: This has taken me a long time to get written and I'm sorry for that, I've been having major problems getting it started. There's probably another one chapter, perhaps two chapters, to come before this story is complete. I hope you enjoy! Thanks for reading.

"I'm sorry."

Those two words reverberated through Holly's mind relentlessly pulsing around her thoughts, bouncing off the walls of her skull in order to repeat in a never-ending pattern intermixed with images of Gail's smiling face and blood-stained fingers. The sound of her heart beating, pushing blood through her veins, disappeared into white noise static as the volume of her thought's increased exponentially blocking out all sound from the waiting room. The pressure of Chris's fingers curled around Holly's knee kept her centred in the waiting room, her left leg tapping up and down to the anxious rhythm pounding through her skull while Dov's arm curled around her shoulders reassuringly.

"Didn't want to tell you this way, might not get another chance."

Those two sentences flashed across Holly's vision endlessly, an image of the screen of her phone fixed into her thoughts with the pixels pulsing like strobe lights to spell out of the words. Flashes of Gail's soft smile flickering in the corners of her eyes, throbbing in time with the ache that settled in her chest, a hand gripping her heart tightly squeezing until the pressure burst through her veins and a sob rose up her throat.

Chris's voice disappeared into a soft rumble of reassuring murmurings as his hand tightened around Holly's knee, listening to the heart wrenching sobs that rose up the woman's throat to bubble out of her lips. "She'll be all right." He whispered softly, pressing his lips to her forehead softly, his eyes flickering upwards to focus on Dov's lost expression. "She's going to be fine."

"I love you."

Holly had often wondered what it would take to break her heart.

It wasn't that she wanted to break but on a purely scientific level, the idea that a phrase or a sentence could manage to reduce her to body rocking sobs intrigued the woman. However, now that she felt the pain of those words blossom through her veins, the idea and the interest felt hollow.

The reply sat on the tip of Holly's tongue, desperate to leave her mouth on the end of every heaving breath. "I love you too."

Dov glanced down sideways, tightening his arm around Holly's shoulders at the sound of the woman's broken voice, her words trickling into his ear reducing the throb of his heartbeat to background noise. "She knows." He said, his voice breaking through Holly's thoughts, prompting the woman to lift her head to regard him with a watery stare. "Trust me, she knows you love her."

"I've never told her." Holly whispered softly, biting down on her bottom lip as she looked into Dov's blue eyes – Gail's icy blue stare replaced the man's soft blue eyes before fading back into Dov's gentle warmth. "I almost did, but I never said it."

"She knows." Dov said his voice rough but determined. "She's the most perspective person I know, she knew before today."

Holly nodded slowly allowing her lips to curl upwards into a small smile as she leant her head against Dov's shoulder. "Thank you."

"Any time," The man answered softly, pressing his lips against the crown of Holly's head. "Gail would kill me if she thought I wasn't taking care of her girl when she couldn't."

"Or handcuff us naked to the railings outside the precinct and send pictures to everyone in our phone book." Chris chuckled from the other side of Holly's body prompting the woman to flick her eyes to the side.

"That sounds like something she's threatened to do to you." She murmured softly, biting down on her lower lip.

"It is." Dov answered with a shrug of his shoulders. "Word for word for actually, the threat of my naked ass being on display is enough to get me to remember most things."

Holly laughed softly, her body rocking with amusement as her brown eyes danced with happiness. "Of course she did." She murmured softly, shaking her head. "It's Gail."

"Right," Dov grinned, his eyes flickering towards the clock on the wall of the waiting room before shifting down to meet Chris's gaze. "But we'd be here even if she hadn't threatened us, you make her happy Holly, she's brighter with you. After Nick and everything, she got duller, she thought we didn't see but we did and you brought her out of that which means you have us no matter what. You're part of the team now."

"That…" Holly's throat tightened preventing words rising out of her throat. The woman leaned to the side, pressed her lips to Dov's cheek softly before resting her head back against the man's shoulder. "Thank you."

"Are you here for Gail Peck?" A man's voice cut into Holly's throat, prompting the woman to lift her head upwards to regard the man's face, taking in the sight of the surgical cap sitting on the crown of his head in accompaniment to the green scrubs covering his body.

"Yes." Holly breathed out softly, sitting up straight in her chair. "Is she all right?"

"The surgery went as well as can be expected given the length of time between the injury and Miss Peck's arrival in hospital." The Doctor answered with a small smile. "She's stable at the moment and on the post-op ward, we're bringing her out of the anaesthesia and then we'll be moving her to the recovery ward."

"Thank God," Holly sighed, her eyes sliding closed as relief thundered through her body, pushing the negative thoughts out of her mind as a weight lifted off her chest. "Can we see her?"

"I'd prefer to limit the number of visitors at the moment," The Doctor answered, his lips twisting into a frown as he glanced at the two police officers at Holly's side. "You can go one at a time or one person can stay with Miss Peck until she's moved to the recovery ward."

"Holly, you should go." Chris murmured softly, squeezing the woman's knee softly. "We'll call the others and let them know that she's got through surgery, I can swing by the apartment and get some of her things for you?"

"I…" Holly swallowed hard, the corners of her lips lifting upwards as she nodded. "She'd probably like that. I know she hates hospital gowns."

Chris chuckled and nodded his head. "Right, text me the details of the ward when she's moved and I'll bring the stuff up to you, and probably the other half of the precinct."

"Traci is going to want to come up there pretty soon," Dov said, tilting his head to the side in thought. "You know they got pretty close after the Jerry thing and then Andy going away on assignment."

Fifteen minutes later Holly found herself sitting in a second hard plastic chair, this time set up beside Gail's hospital bed, her fingers clasped around the woman's pale fingers loosely. Dark brown eyes scanned over Gail's face, taking in the soft lines of her cheeks and the short strands of blonde hair that tickled the woman's forehead as she slept peacefully, the thump of her heartbeat playing reassuringly from the heart monitor.

"You scared me." Holly whispered softly, bending her head to press her lips over the back of Gail's hand before smoothing her thumb across the sensitive skin of the woman's knuckles. "I thought I told you that you weren't allowed to get shot?"

"Didn't mean to," Gail grumbled roughly, her eyes blinking open slowly to take in the sight of Holly's tired red rimmed eyes and dishevelled hair. "Sorry."

"Gail," Holly sighed happily, her lips quirking upwards into a bright smile, her hand tightening around Gail's fingers. "You're awake."

"Didn't mean to worry you," Gail repeated slowly, pinching her eyes closed. "Why are you fuzzy?"

"It's the painkillers honey," Holly reassured gently, gripping Gail's hand gently lifting it to press another tender kiss against the woman's skin. "They've got you on some pretty strong meds."

"Oh," Gail muttered, blinking rapidly. "Oxy?"

"Better," Holly replied, her eyes shining with adoration as she watched Gail nod her head slowly, licking her lips before glancing down the length of the bed.

"I got shot." The blonde haired woman muttered shifting her free hand to press against her stomach, hissing as pain blossomed across her skin. "I didn't mean to."

"I know baby." Holly murmured as she rubbed her fingers across Gail's skin. "Just don't go doing it again, all right?"

Gail nodded her expression serious despite the dull gleam that filled her eyes. "I'll try."

"How's she doing?" Dov asked softly, stepping into the room, placing his hand gently on Holly's shoulder. "Out of it again?"

"She has been since they moved her in here." Holly answered softly; brushing her fingers across Gail's cheek, soothing the frown on the woman's sleeping lips. "The meds are playing havoc with her."

Dov laughed softly, shaking his head as he leaned down to place a soft kiss on the top of Gail's forehead. "Don't tell her I did that, she'd skin me alive," He muttered quietly. "I think alcohol is the only drug that she can handle in high dosages, she takes children's quantities of most over the counter drugs."

"No wonder she's higher than a kite on oxy then." Holly chuckled, her eyes shimmering with amusement. "Is Chris with you?"

"Nah," Dov murmured. "He's swinging by the apartment with Traci to pick up some things for you and Gail, Chloe and Andy are coming as soon as shift ends and Oliver is probably already on the way here."

Holly nodded slowly, her mind working overtime to put the names to the faces. "What about Sam?"

"I expect he'll be with Andy," Dov answered with a shrug of his shoulders. "I don't really know, I didn't see him when I swung by the Division, but knowing Oliver he's got word to everyone by now."

Holly hummed quietly in the back of her throat. "I still haven't yelled at her."

"She probably needs to be awake for you to yell effectively." Dov muttered. "She looks far too peaceful to yell at right now anyway."

"Those are pretty much my thoughts." Holly agreed rubbing her hand across her eyes as exhaustion buffeted her system. "She already apologised for getting shot though."

"Typical Gail," Dov snorted rolling his eyes as he settled into the spare chair on the other side of Gail's bed.