What If

So there was this random idea that I had. In the world of Rookie Blue, what if you could change one thing? Just one thing from the canon story, and head from there.

This first mini-fic is an example: what if Gail was still high when picked up from the hospital by Holly (4.10)?

I’ll be taking prompts for future What Ifs, and also just making them up as I go.

Thank you once again to my dancing Betafish, Devje.

* * * * *

Gail Peck was as high as a kite.

“I want the elephant back. Where did the elephant go?”

“You told me to get rid of it, said it was freaking you out,” Andy McNally replied.

“I WANT THE ELEPHANT.”

A soft cough emanated from the doorway. Andy turned in her chair to find a familiar brunette looking at her.

“Elephant?” the woman asked.

McNally racked her brain for a name, feeling rude as all hell, before Gail yelled from the bed, “HOLLY!”

That was her name, of course—Holly. The forensic doctor, Stewart. That’s why Andy couldn’t remember her name: she was pretty stuck on last names. They all were.

“Hi.” Holly moved into the room and looked in bemusement at Gail, who was staring at the pillow next to her with a look of complete wonder. Even Andy could admit it was endearing—not that she found much about Gail Peck endearing. “McNally, right?”

“Hi, yeah. You’re Dr Stewart.”

Holly nodded, her eyes not leaving the now giggling Gail on the bed. “Yep. Forensic Pathologist and retriever of unwell Pecks. Well, Peck.”

“I’m not unwell,” Gail said from the bed. “I’m injured. There’s a difference.”

Holly laughed. “Sorry. Injured Pecks.”

“I guess I’ll let you get her out of here, then.” Andy leaned over and patted Gail on the knee. “Catch you later, Peck.”

It was about two minutes after Andy had left the room, and if Holly had to guess, she’d have figured the cop was already somewhere in the foyer of the hospital, when Gail yelled, “I know you’re fucking Nick.”

She certainly wasn’t talking about Holly.

“C’mon, you. Let’s get you home.” Holly gently placed her arm under Gail’s elbow and with some gentle encouragement had the blonde sitting on the side of the bed.

“There was an elephant.”

“I have no idea what dose of oxycodone they have you on, but I think it’s probably doing the job.”

“It was small and pink.”

“I’m going to go find your doctor and get your discharge summary and meds, okay?” Holly waited for a reply, but all she got was a slightly swaying Gail. “Gail?”

“It was freaking me out a little.”

Holly gave a wry smile. When she returned five minutes later, a ziplock bag of meds and a prescription in hand, Gail was staring at the floor.

“Okay, you, up we get,” she said, putting a gentle hand on Gail’s shoulder.

“My shoes. They’re… shoes.”

Holly regarded the leather standard issue police shoes and nodded. They were indeed shoes. Another gentle tug under Gail’s elbow had the blonde standing, but it took an arm around the waist to stop Gail from swaying. For a second, Holly was concerned that she’d fall over, but after leaning very gently into her, it seemed Gail would stay upright.

“Whoah, Stewart, you hitting on me?”

Holly laughed again. “Yeah, Gail. I waited until you were so high on drugs you were hallucinating elephants to try and get in your pants.”

They were halfway to the elevator when Gail said, “I wasn’t hallucinating it. It was real. There was a tiny pink elephant. He freaked me out a little.”

+

Gail’s head lolled against the head rest of the passenger seat. Her high was abating a little, but it was still pretty awesome. Even being stalled in traffic, something that normally would drive her insane, wasn’t bothering her.

Holly tapping away gently at the steering wheel, clearly attempting the rhythm of the song playing softly on the radio but missing by quite a bit, wasn’t annoying either. It was cute.

“You’re cute.”

Holly turned her head. “Thanks. I think.”

“Yep. Cute.”

Holly laughed. Gail liked that sound.

“You’re high, Peck.”

Gail’s head lolled back against the chair again, before she drew out the word “yep” as long as a three-lettered, one-syllabled word could go.

After a few moments she turned to watch Holly again. Her eyes drifted across the profile and down the long neck.

“Stop staring at me, Gail. It’s a bit weird.”

“What’s it like to have sex with a woman?”

The drumming of Holly’s fingers on the steering wheel stopped. She coughed lightly, like some saliva had maybe caught in her throat, and then turned her head. “Um. What?”

“What’s it like to fuck another girl?” Gail waved her good hand. “I mean, the bits are the same, so there’s none of that thrusting and stuff. But, like, you get off right? It’s good?”

The traffic inched forward and Holly, for a moment, had a reprieve. “It’s just sex, Gail. You know how it goes.”

After a moment or two the blonde offered up “Scissoring?” from the passenger seat. Holly tried not to choke again.

“Um, sure, maybe, sometimes.”

“And like, mouths and stuff…”

Holly blinked. “Yes.” It was all she could think to reply.

There was a long silence as the traffic rolled through a green light, and Holly actually managed to get up to fifteen miles an hour before she was slowed down again and brought to a halt. For a second, she thought Gail was asleep.

“Are you any good at it?”

This time, Holly nearly drove the car off the road and it took a good thirty seconds before she was able to reply, most of that time spent carefully keeping the car on the road.

“I think I’d be good at it,” Gail mused. She didn’t appear to be at all perturbed by Holly’s lack of reply. Holly was in no mental state to actually be able to reply. This was not a conversation she’d ever anticipated having with Gail. She figured if there was ever a time to remain silent, this was it.

“I’m good at lots of things.” Gail lifted her good hand and waved it out the window. “I’m an excellent cop.”

“I know.”

“And I give amazing head.”

Holly blinked. The traffic had slowed to a stop and she was glad, because she was pretty sure she’d have rear ended the car in front of her otherwise. She cleared her throat and blinked again. Whatever she had expected when Gail called from the hospital asking to be picked up, this hadn’t been even remotely on the radar. She let silence fill the car, and after a few minutes she carefully glanced at the passenger seat.

Gail had her eyes closed and looked for all the world to have fallen asleep. It was positively adorable. Slowly the traffic started to roll forward.

“Holly?”

“Yes?” Holly steeled herself for another unanswerable question.

“There was an elephant.”

Holly smiled. “So you said.”

“He freaked me out a little.”