You guys are completely awesome! I can't thank you enough for the ridiculous amount of support. Special shoutout to my buddy brasskeys for pimping me out to tumblr!

I wake to the sound of Gail's alarm completely exhausted. I feel like I have barely slept at all. I groan as I shift my pillow over my head and wait for Gail to silence her phone. It takes her a moment, but she finally wakes enough to disentangle herself from me and turn the damn thing off and get out of bed.

With her alarm off I quickly fall back to sleep. When I wake again the bed is cold and Gail is gone. I can't help the slight disappointment I have waking up alone. Obviously I knew she would leave once she got ready for work, but my irrational mind doesn't care. Waking up to an empty bed pales in comparison to waking up to Gail's bright blue eyes.

I force myself from my bed and get dressed. Maybe if I am lucky I'll run into her at work. With the little bit of hope I have mustered up, I get myself ready and head out.

Things at work though, aren't looking up. At least not in the respect of seeing Gail anytime soon. One day out of the office and I have a mass of case files waiting and emails to return. After signing off on an earlier autopsy I decide to settle in for what I am sure will be a long day.

It is almost 3pm when I finally allow myself a reprieve to get some food. By now Gail will be almost done with her shift, so meeting for lunch is out of the question. With work no longer distracting me, I settle in to lunch left alone with only my thoughts as company. The break room is completely empty, given the time, so the silence only fuels my thoughts.

Instantly, my mind wanders to Gail. I try to remember last night and how late it was when I finally fell asleep, or early this morning when Gail got out of bed. I try desperately to search for a sign. To find anything to hint at what was happening between us. I had thoroughly convinced myself that what we shared was merely a rather intimate friendship. But after last night, I can't be too certain. I've been close with friends before, and especially in my youth there had been a lack of social barriers when it came to cuddling with friends. I can remember being a teenager and watching cheesy movies with other girls while we were snuggled up in warm blankets, or spooning each other in our sleep. It was always innocent, never intended to be more than platonic. But as I got older, and especially once I had come to understand my sexuality those instances had faded until shortly after college when they fell away altogether.

In fact, the only time I had shared that much intimacy with someone since, was with girlfriends. There must be some unspoken agreement that at a certain age, it is no longer acceptable to be that close physically with friends. And even on the occasions in my younger years where my friends and I had been comfortable with it, never had it been quite like last night. Not once had I had a friend touch me in such a way. There had been comforting sure, but the way Gail's fingers grazed my body, and given the state of my moderate undress, I can't help but think that a line was crossed. Surely Gail had to be aware of that. There is no way what happened last night is a normal occurrence for her. Especially her. The woman who is uncomfortable with even a hug in some situations. So why had she let herself into my space so much lately? Why had we found each other completely inseparable the moment we were in bed together? Why did she touch me like that last night, for as long as she did, in the places she had, under my shirt even? Surely that wasn't something common between friends.

The scrapping of a chair against the floor pulled me from my thoughts. At some point in my deep internal debate, a guy had come in and sat down with a cup of coffee. I watched as he stood from the table and push the chair back into place. Checking the time I realized I needed to get back to work myself. I quickly finished my small lunch and cleaned up before heading back to work.

The rest of my day rushed by. When I finally packed up to head home a single voicemail waited for me on my phone. It was from Gail. She had called twice, once about an hour ago, and then again only ten or so minutes back. I put the phone to my ear and listened to the message.

"Hey. It's me. Uh…so I was thinking with it being Friday maybe you want to hang out or something. It's been a long week and I just need to de-stress. Text me if you want to grab drinks. Bye."

I listened to it again and tried to place the tone of her voice. She sounded hopeful, yet a bit apprehensive too. Maybe she was only offering out of pity? Or she was just nervous after everything lately? I couldn't seem to decide on that or if I should accept her invitation for drinks. I partially felt that it would be best to decline. To give us some space. A chance to reel in my feelings for her, a get some clarity. A chance for her to figure this whole thing out and make a decision. That is, assuming she had anything to figure out. For all I knew she had feelings for me after all and was self-aware, or even that there was nothing to figure out, and Gail was just the type of person that put in intimate situations, got oddly comfortable and touchy feely.

"Fuck it." I said to myself as I dialed her number.

She picked up after three rings. I could hear loud music in the background and people shouting. Apparently she was already at some bar.

"Hey!" She shouts into the phone.

"Hey. So…bar?"

"Yeah. Meet me at the Penny? I'll buy you a drink."

"Well, with an offer like that I can't refuse."

I can hear her chuckle on the other end of the line. "Obviously not. Not hurry up and get your ass over here woman." And just like that she hangs up.

I find Gail at the bar, scooping up an armful of drinks.

"I hope those aren't all for you." I tease.

"And if they were?"

"As a doctor I would recommend against it unless you want me to drag you to the hospital to get your stomach pumped later."

She shrugs nonchalantly at me and walks off towards a crowded table. A mostly familiar group of faces greet me as they collect their drinks from Gail.

"Hey Holly. Didn't know you were coming tonight. Pull up a chair." Chris suggests.

I glance around seeing no available chairs. Gail seems to have noticed the same predicament. She takes one look in Chloe's direction and pushes her towards Dov, not so subtly suggesting she vacate the seat in favor of Dov's lap. She gets a halfhearted scowl from Chloe, who after only a short pause, does exactly as Gail asks, freeing up the closest chair to the blonde.

I take a seat and scoot in towards the table, taking the offered drink from Gail. The group falls quickly back into a conversation seemingly paused at Gail's exit for the bar. I take a moment to just sit back and take in their dynamic. Gail is being her usual snarky biting self and I can't help but wonder if her friends have ever seen the side of her that I have seen almost nightly. On cue she pulls her focus back towards me for a brief moment, just a simple smile my way before she turns back to the rest of the table, her famous Peck scowl back in place.

The night carries on with drinks and weird trivia factoids from Dov's end. Somewhere after midnight, a rather buzzed Gail decides that we need to leave. Without so much as a word to the others, she stops mid conversation and stands from her seat, pulling me up with her. I shoot her a quizzical glace to which I only receive a "let's get out of here."

Her chosen words aren't without effect on me. Instantly my mind finds itself wrapped up half dressed in bed with her hands running across my skin. The alcohol I've consumed throughout the night isn't helping to control my thoughts or impulses it seems. Without thought to my actions I grasp her by the wrist and drag her from the bar, completely intending to find out what her lips feel like on mine. The moment we are outside in the crisp air, my one tract mind slows itself and suddenly I'm left slightly directionless. Suddenly I catch up to myself and realize how close I had actually come to sprinting across a line in the sand and pulling Gail with me.

I blindly follow Gail's lead through the parking lot, trying to talk myself out of the slight panic that fell over me at my earlier slip, until she stops in front of my car.

"You okay to drive Holly?"

I want to say yes so we can get out of here. Go back to my place, or hers. But I know better than that. "I don't think so. I'm assuming you aren't either…"

"Definitely not." She says scanning the lot. Her eyes lock on something a few cars down and suddenly her hand is wrapped around mine, dragging me towards her new discovery.

"Oliver! Hey, can you take us somewhere?"

I barely recognize the guy she is talking to. I've seen him around work a few times, and I've heard Gail talk about him on countless occasions, but I'm less familiar with him than the others in the bar.

He turns and greets us with a smile, bag of bar takeout in his hand. "Well if it isn't Peck and Dr. Stewart right?"

"Yes Ollie, this is Holly."

"Hi." I wave awkwardly.

He smiles again and nods at us to get in. Gail slides into the passenger seat and I into the back. He hands Gail his bag of food after a rather serious threat to her not to eat it. She pouts a bit but takes the bag regardless.

A few minutes later we find ourselves in front of Gail's apartment. I follow Gail from the car, inside and through the living room and finally to her room, making sure to close the door behind myself.