So I'm back. I did not forget or abandon this. I'm sorry for the delay.

I wasn't in the right mind space for a while but I'm back and committed to this again.

I will do my best to update more often.

This chapter is a bit everywhere so forgive me for that. Enjoy.


4. The Talk

"Was that Callaghan?" Holly asks me once we are away from the station.

"Yeah, he just got back from the hospital, caught me outside waiting for you."

"Is he okay?" She does sound like she cares to know.

"He's good. He said there was no concussion so he'll be back to work tomorrow." I tell her what he'd said.

"That's good. Does he know that I know?" Now she's concerned.

"Yes. I told him just as you came to pick me up."

"He didn't seem very happy." So she caught up on that.

"He'll get over it." I don't give her much information so she pushes on for more.

"Is he scared that I'm a traitor too?" That's the first conclusion she jumps to.

"Not as much as he's worried that I've just endangered your life." I'm sure I made the right decision though and I'm hoping she proves me right.

"Though according to you it would've been in danger whether you involved me or not. So it would've been a lost battle either way." She points out with a tiny smirk showing.

"I'm pretty sure he would've been mad either way." I cut that conversation short just then knowing we'd pick it up in a few moments as I give her directions to turn right at the next light.

She understands that I'm not up for talking yet so she follows the rest of my directions in silence until we're at the beach.

"The beach?" She asks as she finds a place to park.

"It's not that cold out yet so I figured it's secluded enough to talk, we can grab something from that food truck and sit on one of those picnic tables." I point at the truck at the mention and then at the tables under those ugly pink umbrellas. "Unless you do get cold then we can just sit here and talk. I just thought it's best if we'd be somewhere where we wouldn't be seen by a cop for now." I'm starting to ramble, something I didn't do much of before today.

"We can sit outside." She gives me a tiny smile as she opens the door to get out of the car. She's being too trusting of me and I'm baffled.

I follow her out and lead the way to the food truck first. It's a taco truck which she liked.

She goes over the options first. Once we're ready we order and head to a secluded table to chat.

It takes us a few minutes before we start talking.

"I know you have a million questions. I'll try to answer what I can." I give her the opening to start asking. I'll try to keep things that could put her in more danger than she's already in, but if she's being dragged into this, she needs to know more. By knowing more she can help us better and she can also know who to stay away from.

"Okay…" She pauses to think and launches her questions once she decides what to ask. "How'd you find out about this?"

"Well it wasn't me. Marnie found out. Ferguson was in Ottawa for a case she was working on and she overheard a phone conversation he was having with someone in a high position, so she brought it to my mother, who put her on his undercover operation in order to keep an eye on him, I was dragged into it because they needed a liaison to collect the data and give it to my mother. Marnie was undercover for the purpose of collecting intel on Ferguson as well as the gang. She did a good job too, she collected names, dates, products…" I give her the abbreviated version. "I don't know how they found out about her, or if they know about me and my mother knowing but I will do everything I can to get them for this."

"And the evidence you hid?" Right, the whole point of me telling her is because she caught me.

I reach into my pocket and take out the flash drive and place it in front of her.

"Marnie was collecting information on a drive, then I'd secretly meet her once a week to switch it with an empty drive. The purpose was to hide this operation as much as we could. With her dying, I didn't know how to proceed so I told Callaghan, and we crafted a way to get the drive just in case it would be found. The only way to open her locket is with mine, though she managed to open it to get the photo she has inside before coming here. Then everything went to shit again and the explosion complicated things. And now I've dragged you into this. So welcome to the team, you might die but at least you know." I add the last part sarcastically but she somehow senses the worry in my words, so I deflate when she gives me a look that's more than worried. "Or you know, you might be one of them and I'm definitely going to be dead by tomorrow."

It works and her expression changes because she's now giving me a crooked knowing smile. "Do you think I'm one of them?"

"How did you manage to give Fields the report already detailing that it was a thread even though I had only come up with the idea a few minutes prior?" I deflect from answering. I don't think she's one of them, but I am curious.

"I just opened an old file with that information, changed the date and name on it, printed that one page and then didn't save changes." She says with a shrug as if it should've been obvious. "Now do you really think I'm one of them?" She asks again.

"No." I pause after saying that to make sure she believes that I don't because for some stupid reason I trust her. "But you might still die."

"Well I could really die at any moment for any reason. But if you want to relate it to this case, you said it yourself before, they would've come for me if I revealed I had the DNA sample. So you also saved my life." She's trying to turn me into a hero even though I've put a mark on her back. Who is this woman?

"Or, they would've found a way to twist the story in their favor. I'm sure Ferguson would've said she was wearing the same shirt when they met a few days ago. Even though I could've countered him on that because Marnie could wear a shirt for just five minutes and still wouldn't wear it again unless it was washed." I throw that in and I can tell from that that I'm over thinking.

"But we're here now, we don't have to know what would've happened, we have to deal with what's happening." She brings me back to the moment.

"You're right. I don't want to drag you deeper into this. If it's easier for you we can pretend like you don't know anything." I give her an out.

"That would be nice but I already told you, I do this job to help catch the bad guys. I can't help the way you can, but if my boss is involved, I'm not letting him get away with this. I'm willing to help anyway you need me to." That was the main reason that led to this, she's a righteous person, that's why she was ready to stop me when I was stealing evidence and that's why I trust her.

"Luke won't like this. He's already mad at me." I'm already dreading what he'll say tomorrow when we meet.

"Does he not trust me?" She asks.

"He doesn't know you well enough to trust you yet." I give that as an excuse because I don't know the full reason so I can't tell her.

"Yet, you're trusting me and you don't know me either." She throws that at me.

"Well you're trusting me as well." I deflate by turning it at her and she just smiles with a slight shake of the head. "Besides, I think Luke's more worried about getting you killed. We're trained to deal with situations of danger and undercover work, you're not."

"I may not be as experienced as you, but I can hold my own." She says with promise.

And before more can be said my phone rings. With a sorry, I pull it out of my pocket only to find Nick calling me. I silence my phone ignoring his calls. She seems to pick on that.

"Ex boyfriend?" She guesses.

"Yep. Probably trying to make sure I made it home safe and to let me know he's there if I need him." Knowing Nick, that's probably what he would've said.

"Seems like he might still want to get back together." She's assuming things now. She was doing so well making the right guesses.

"Not exactly." I don't know why, I don't like sharing things about me with people, but for some reason I want to share with her. "He knew Marnie too. Out of all my colleagues, he's the only one who knows how much she meant to me. Plus, he likes someone else, and I'm over him so getting back together is off the table."

"So it's not a fresh breakup." She is very observant.

"Not to me, to him it is." She gives me a questioning look at that. "He went undercover without telling me, I couldn't reach him to say anything, so I had to wait to tell him when he came back." I don't give any details. Even though I'm telling her things I don't normally tell people I've known for years, I don't think we're at a stage of friendship where I can tell her things in details. We're not even friends now.

"Ah, explains his behavior."

Just then he calls again. I this time hang up on him and text him an I'm fine.

I look up to see her smirking at me.

"Oh look at you, so happy no one's bothering you."

"Well men don't bother me after breakups, since I don't really like men." She says with shrug of her shoulders. Is this her way of saying she's into women?

"Well maybe I don't really like them either." I decide to bait her.

"I mean I'm a lesbian." There it is, she is saying she likes women.

I play it cool. "Oh, I mean I hate people."

She gives me a small chuckle at that.

"Though women can be a handful too. Marnie sure had her share of drama after breakups." I smile as I recall the time an ex just strolled into our dorm room every day for two weeks after the breakup pretending that they were still together. She thought if she didn't acknowledge the breakup, then Marnie would take her back.

"Can't argue with that."

Just then my phone rings again, except this time it's my mother.

"Shit." Comes out of my mouth as I see the words Mother on the screen. If I don't pick up she'll keep calling every minute until I do, or she'll ping my phone and send Steve after me.

I raise my arm to indicate that I'll be a moment as I pick up the phone right there where I'm seated.

"Hello mother."

"Where are you Gail? I know you left the station already." She sounds frustrated.

"I'm just getting something to eat mother." I'm technically not lying.

"Where? You could've eaten something when you got home. At least then I can make sure you did eat it." So this will not be an easy conversation.

"Look, I just wasn't in the best place, so a friend took me to get a bite to eat somewhere quiet. And it helped. I'll be home in like thirty minutes. But I'm really not up for any conversation tonight." I'm giving more excuses because I'm not sure what to talk to her about. I don't know enough to know what I can tell her.

"Don't worry, I won't be waiting up for you. Something came up and I'm needed very early in the morning. But I'll be back in the afternoon to discuss things. I know you won't be working tomorrow, so we'll talk. Just make it home safe. And on time." She doesn't even wait for me to reply, she just hangs up. The last part was to tell me to stick to the thirty minutes I told her about or she'll find me. I can't tell if she's worried or just mad that I didn't go home to fill her in.

Holly caught up to the frustration on my face.

"Everything okay?" She asks in concern.

"Yeah, just, living at my parent's sucks. I'm glad I'm moving out soon." I explain.

"She's probably worried? Your friend died." She's assuming my mother is like other parents.

I try to maintain the laughter. "I'm guessing you haven't met Superintendent Peck yet. Lucky you. You'll understand once you do meet her."

She looks at me confused for a bit but then I remember that we need to get going so I start to put away the containers that need to be trashed.

"Come on, before she tracks us and sends my brother to get me. We'll talk more in the car." With that said, she follows me.

The car ride ends up mostly being filled with stories about our time in university. Mostly because the ride to my parents wasn't long and I didn't want us to stay in the driveway to finish the conversation because knowing my mother, she'll be waiting to hear me get in before she sleeps. So we talk about U of T and It turns out she's not that much older than me, since she skipped some grades in school. And we were both at the university at the same time for my first two years. However she was doing her graduate MD then which would explain why we didn't run into each other. Since after that she did hospital pathology.

Knowing we still need to talk, a few minutes before we reach my parent's house, I set up the next time we can talk.

"Do you work tomorrow?" I ask.

"Yes, My shift is at 10."

"Great, think you can meet me and Callaghan at the cafe by the station at 9 to talk? It might make him less paranoid about you." I give a lame excuse. It's mostly me who wants him to know that she can help so he doesn't keep bugging me about her knowing.

"Will he know I'll be there?" She sounds hesitant.

"No, but he said we need to figure out how to put a team together. So I'm taking initiative. This was my case before he got involved so I can choose." Just as I say that we arrive to my place.

I don't give her a chance to reply as I grab my bag and get ready to head out.

"Thanks for the ride, I'll see you tomorrow at 9." I rush the words out and with a wave from me I get out of the car before she gets the chance to answer.

I can see her shaking her head at me. But the slight smile means that she'll be there.

Walking into the house, I'm glad that my mother didn't wait for me. I go straight to my room, shower, and try to sleep.

I knew the emotions would hit me once I was alone.

I try not to cry the whole night. And I do manage to get maybe three hours of sleep.

.

When I get to the cafe the next day, Luke is already there. He's sitting at the same table as yesterday with a coffee. He must have picked the same table since the tables near it were empty, which would make a quiet conversation easy. And the time helps, since every cop at 15 who probably had the earlier came earlier, and who has the 10 AM shift will go to the coffee truck instead.

I decide to grab my own coffee before I join him.

"You look like shit." He comments the second I reach him.

"Well morning to you too." I answer with offense clear in my tone.

"But seriously, are you okay?" He asks as I take a seat.

"Not really, but maybe a coffee can help." I give a half truth.

"Gail?" Why is he pushing.

"I just didn't sleep well." I don't have to say why.

"I'm sorry. I keep forgetting that she must have meant a lot to you." His eyes change to sympathetic and I hate when that look is directed at me.

I give him a shrug as I take a sip from my coffee, hoping to have the conversation shift because I don't want to talk about feelings right now.

He doesn't take the hint. "Gail, it's okay to feel things you know."

"I know. I am feeling things. I've been feeling all sorts of things but this," I wave a finger between him and I, "this is about making sure she gets justice and I can't be feeling what I'm feeling, so can we shift the conversation please?"

He can clearly understand where I'm coming from. It's not like I haven't shown emotions before. I've grown from the emotionless robocop from my first year on the job.

"Okay, what have you learned? You didn't elaborate much yesterday." He jumps into the reason we're meeting.

"Here." I pull a thumb drive from my pocket, different from the one I found yesterday, and place it in front of him. "I've added all the information I've gotten from yesterday's drive onto this. This now has everything we have on this suicide mission."

"Did you go through the information?" He asks as he pockets the drive.

"Yes. She found out that Ferguson, along with others, are actually selling some of the stolen evidence to the Darik gang and she had found out when their next meet up was going to be, which I doubt will happen now. So now I have a new theory." I went through the information early this morning, before I put them on the drive where I've been compiling all the information. I then made a copy of that drive to give to Luke.

"Which is?"

"What if they didn't kill her because she was onto them? What if they killed her because they knew she would be onto them if she stayed undercover? Ferguson said when he met with her last, she told him about a meeting the gang had for a shipment. She didn't have all the information by then, but she did later. They probably didn't figure out that she got that information already, so they plotted to kill her to protect themselves and sabotage the mission. Think about it, Ferguson was leading the investigation on the gang. A gang that we haven't been able to catch in how many years? When my mother wanted to put a force against the gang, again. Considering the last attempts failed, Ferguson immediately jumped at the chance. With that he had total control over everything, except one thing, Marnie. My mother was the one who put her on the mission. He had someone else picked. So what if whoever he picked was corrupt? What if whoever went after the gang and failed before were also corrupt? I can't accuse the team he's working with, maybe some of them but I can't tell at this point. It seems plausible." I ramble out my theory.

"Okay, the fact that they're working with gangs, is scaring me even more and makes this even more urgent. We have to catch them before they bring the whole force down with them. The more they grow, the more the integrity of this badge loses value. Your theory might actually be true, but we should still consider it as if they know she was after them and hope that they don't know you are as well. I need you to stay alert as if they are onto you, because then less mistakes are made." He makes sense.

"Okay. So now what?" I'm hoping he has ideas.

"Now, you tell me what happened yesterday, because I can't plan any moves unless I read what's on the drive you just gave me, and unless you tell me exactly what happened yesterday." He looks at me expectantly. "What did you find out yesterday? And how deep did you drag Doctor Stewart into this?"

"Well I didn't really have a choice in the matter, things just happened. But it's a good thing they did, she found information, covered them up for us and helped me add a name to our list." I'm defending my decision because even though I don't regret it, I need him to know it was the right one.

"How deep?" He asks again.

I only give him a sheepish look that probably tells him all he needs to know.

"Gail…" He cuts off whatever he has to say and his tone changes then from scolding to surprise. "Gail, tell me doctor Stewart is just here for coffee and not because she knows we will be here."

"You wanted a team."

He gives me that scolding look again. I decide to glare back at him. He only knew about this yesterday, while I've been working on this for weeks. He needs to trust me.

Holly finds us after a few seconds of glaring between us.

"Hey." She greets upon approach.

"Dr Stewart." Luke beets me at greeting back.

He then points at the chair next to mine for her to sit. My eyes follow her from then on.

As she takes a seat she gives me an understanding look, as if she can tell all my emotions just from looking at my face.

"You okay?" She asks more in whisper as if Luke wouldn't hear her.

"Sort of." I give a slight shrug.

She doesn't take it as dismissal though because a second later I feel her hand over mine, she gently squeezes the hand I have over the table in assurance.

I can't help but give her a small smile at that.

But just then Luke clears his throat and my attention drifts to him.

"So Gail did something reckless and dragged you into a dangerous situation." He points the blame at me.

"Not like I gave her much choice." Ha! That's what I said too.

"So she says as well." He knows it's true as well.

"You were there. You were not that out of it." I remind him.

"If that's what you're going with." He's met with an eye roll then. He sighs and leans forward mostly sideways towards Holly. He's about to get serious now.

"Look, I don't know you." He's directing his words at Holly. "But I know Gail and she's a great judge of character, so if she trusts you, I trust you. I am only concerned for your safety. Especially since I don't know much yet. So I'm going to listen to everything you both have figured out yesterday and then we'll figure out the best plan to make sure you both stay safe."

He gives us a chance to tell him our side and we don't waste time.

We explain what the room looked like after the explosion, exactly what happened when we were in the room where Holly was checking evidence, how she told Dr Fields about the DNA possibility and why she stayed behind, how when she handed him the file she made sure to put the fan pages in front and then gave him the location of where she hid the real information. Then she tells him how after I left, she finished a false report and handed that in. She didn't talk much with Fields because Marnie's dad showed up and she talked him through things. So she believes she's in the clear.

"You know, your role in this can stop here? You don't have to do more than just hold on to the evidence you have which might or might not help eventually. You don't have to be dragged deeper into this." He offers her an out which I've already done, so I already knew her answer to this.

"That would be easy, but not for you. You'll need someone in the lab on your team. And I wouldn't mind being that someone." Before he can cut her off she continues. "Because if Fields is helping them hide evidence, he's not doing it alone. There's no way he can get away with hiding evidence for them without help otherwise several people at the lab would've noticed. He has more than one person helping him and I can just try to figure out who. I don't have to do much, I can just learn information and tell you my suspicions. Plus, if you find things that need to be secretly analyzed, I can help." She rambles her words but she makes a point.

She gives him a look as if waiting for him to disagree, but he doesn't. "Okay, you're right. I still don't like this, but you make a valid point. But can you be sneaky? Because if they even suspect you a little, you're dead."

"I think I can manage not getting caught." She then leans in to face Callaghan better. "Look, I see where you're coming from. But I didn't get into forensics pathology because I love cutting dead people. I chose this because it's a way for me to help catch bad people without having to hold a gun or have one pointed at me. So you can't expect me to learn that there's someone bad working around me and not want me to help catch him."

So she's serious about being a righteous person who values justice. She'd have made a great cop with that motivation.

"That's very noble, but there's a difference between wanting to do something and being able to do something." He's still giving excuses on why she shouldn't help.

"And I've already made it clear that I can help." She reminds him.

I could tell he was about to argue more. It's clear he'll end up caving but it doesn't seem like he wants to agree with her that easily.

"You said it yourself, we need to bring them down before they jeopardize the integrity of the badge. So right now, we need all the help we can get." I reason to end the argument soon.

However, Luke decides to turn the argument towards me then. "Great, that means we tell your mother."

"She won't like it. She'll make it harder as soon as she finds out Steve is involved." I counter.

"We don't have to mention him." He is right, we need my mother but all I'm seeing is what'll happen if we succeed and Steve really was on their side.

'Right, so if we do succeed and get them, what do we say? 'Hey mom, sorry I forgot to mention my brother was involved, but sure, I'll take the blame for the Peck name being ruined, because I didn't tell you to stop him.' That'll work great." I can't help the sarcasm.

"If Steve's involved then it's on him. He's at fault here. You have nothing to worry about." Even he doesn't believe those words.

"And we both know that she won't see it that way." I remind him. "She'll ruin both of us."

He takes a moment to think.

"Okay, but what if Steve is undercover? What if she already knows and she sent him? Like a plan B?" He's coming to conclusions I should've thought of.

"Why would she…?" Was I naive to think that my mother for once would trust me? That she wouldn't lie to me about a case? How stupid was I to forget what she's really like and think that she'd actually trust that I can do my job right without someone holding my hand. Of course she could've sent him, she trusts him to get things done, I'm only thought of as disappointment. "Right. Of course she'd send the golden boy in. She probably only dragged me into the case because Marnie requested it."

"Gail, maybe she just wanted everyone to stay safe? He's probably in there to keep you safe." He keeps saying words he doesn't believe.

"And we both know that's not true. She told me to stand down. She'll figure it out. She wants me out of this." I remind him.

"And we're not fully sure of Steve being undercover, but we still need to tell her and keep him out of this just in case. If I want to start a team without anyone having access to what it's for, I need her to back me up. She can write any reason for it and then we'll have a team working on a need to know only case. You know it's the only way." He makes a lot of sense and I trust him to handle things more than I trust my mother. "Plus, you don't really care if the Peck name is hit, so do what you think is right. Prove her wrong along the way, because if I were to trust someone to have my back or get the job done right, I'd ask for you."

"You're just saying that to get me to agree."

"Am I?" He's not confirming it but he's leaving the decision to me.

"Okay fine. You can tell my mother. But make sure you cover up my brother. I don't want her to know I know. I'll be sidelined for sure and I want to be a part of bringing justice for Marnie. She'll take that away from me." I agree. "But you keep Doctor Stewart out of this too." I add the last condition knowing what my mother is like.

"She'll need to know we have someone from the lab helping." He's back to reasoning now.

"Yes, she can know someone is. She doesn't need to know it's Dr Stewart. She'll do a background check on her, then send someone to watch her, then probably make her job and life harder just to be sure she can be trusted but by then she'll have endangered her. My mother doesn't do well when people she doesn't know are close to her cases or her family." Dr Stewart will definitely be in danger if my mother finds out, and I didn't drag her into this only to get her killed because of my mother.

"Okay, I'll try to hide it from her. I'll try to ask her for permission to have a team, she won't need to know who will be on it for their safety in case she was compromised but we'll report all updates to her as we get them. Think that'll work?" He worked out a plan quickly.

"Yes."

"Did you tell her anything so far? Should we head to her office?"

"I haven't seen her since I saw her in Frank's office yesterday." Any other mother would've been more worried about my mental state but she wanted me back because she cared more about the case. "She has something this morning but she said she'd be free by noon. She expects to have a talk with me but I'd rather not talk with her at home, there's no escaping her then." Then an idea hits. "Oh hey, how about I ask her to meet me somewhere and you show up and tell her?" If we're not home, she can't attack me with excessive questions, and if he's there, he can explain better.

"You just want to throw me to the wolves." He can tell.

"Well yeah, but then she'll know, and she won't annoy me extra about things, and I think she'll be okay with you knowing, she likes you." I give weak excuses but he knows what I mean.

"Okay, let me know when you find out where and when." He relents. "Now onto the next issue. You two." He then points between me and Holly.

"What do you mean?" Holly jumps back into the conversation.

"What about us two?" I ask.

"Your mother will end up knowing who we pick on our team, she'll do everything to find out. And if she wants to find out who the lab connection is, she'll watch them and connect it to Dr Stewart. Which means we can't tell them who our lab connection is either. But they'll also know if either of us interacts with Dr Stewart more than usual, especially you." He makes light of the obvious flaw in the plan.

"What? I can't have a friend?" I knew the answer to that before I even asked.

"We both know they won't believe that. You don't make friends easily because you hate everybody until they make you like them." He knows me enough to know how I work.

"What if I make an effort to make her like me?" Holly suggests.

"Not enough time to make it less suspicious. You won't have enough situations to do that." He's thinking of a way but he knows the way others see me will make it hard.

"What if I tell them I like her?" I give the only way this will work.

"We're already established they won't believe that as excuse." He still thinks I mean as friend.

"No, I mean like her. As in I have intentions to date her." He looks at me confused then and Holly gives me a curious look. That's when I forget that I don't know if Holly's out, or she's comfortable with others knowing about her sexuality. The way she told me yesterday however makes it seem like she's comfortable with others knowing so I'll have to go with that. "It won't be hard to convince them why we're hanging out. For some reason I genuinely want to be her friend. She's not annoying like the others and she likes women."

Holly doesn't seem to be angry that I outed her which is good. She still gives me the same curious look however.

"And do you like women?" She asks.

I just give her a coy smile.

"Is that a yes?"

"Well it was a possibility, but I never met a girl I really liked, so I haven't dated any women yet. And then Nick happened. But yes I do and Nick knows that, so he can convince the others if anything." Marnie used to drag me to gay bars with her and I'd get hit on a lot. I'd sometimes flirt back or comment on how pretty some women were so Marnie got this theory that I'm bisexual and haven't admitted it to myself. After a while I came to believe she was right, but I've never been with a woman to actually be sure of that.

Holly's look remains curious but with question. She goes to ask something but Luke beats her to it.

"Didn't you break up with Nick yesterday? Even if you can make it believable, even you don't move on that fast." Damn the gossip train at the station.

"No, I broke up with him a long time ago, he just didn't know till yesterday. He was away so I couldn't tell him and when he came back I just wanted him to suffer because it was fun. Plus, we don't have to be dating right away. They all know I don't admit that I like someone to their face at first. They'll leave it alone if they suspect I like her, however if my mother suspects anything, she won't leave it alone. We'll have to fake date if my mother gets involved. If you're okay with that?" I turn the question to Holly. "That way if she digs into your life, it'll be because you're dating her daughter, not because you're on a case. She can't endanger you a lot with that." The whole situation will still be dangerous but at least it'll be less dangerous that way.

"Okay. We have a plan." She's quick to trust me. Luke doesn't look like he believes it however.

"We can just meet up here for coffee accidentally for a couple of days, before we are seen hanging out. That way when she has information to give, it'll be while we're hanging out. Does that work for you?" I ask Luke.

"Okay, that might work, but you'll have to learn to act." Yes, I'll have to make it believable that I like her. I doubt it'll be that hard.

"I will."

Holly then looks at her watch to see it's close to ten. "I have to go, my shift starts in a few minutes." I can tell the hesitation is to see when and how we'll be meeting up.

"Okay, I am off to Ottawa today for the funeral, I could give you my number but I'd rather make it less suspicious and we can't text things about this in case my number's being watched. It would be less weird if we exchange numbers in a few days." I explain.

"I'm sure we'll figure things out when you come back." She says that as she gets up and places the chair back.

"I'm sure we will. I do need to head to the station after to talk to Frank so it won't look that weird if I'm here. I'll inform him of Marnie's funeral and my absence in person." I know I'll get looks the second I walk into the station and Frank will remind me that I could've just called.

"Okay. Take care of yourself and I'll see you when you get back." She gives me a lopsided smile.

I just smile back.

With a nod, she leaves.

"So, shall we hit the station? I have questions." I suggest to Luke once Holly leaves.

"You know they'll all kick you out? They don't have much yet."

"Yes, they expect it of me. And I do have an excuse." I'm sure at least Traci expects me to show up with questions.

"Okay, you make a point but…" He points at my phone that's laying on the table in front of me. "You need to call your mother first for a meet up."

I just groan knowing he's right and do as I'm told.

.

"What are you doing here?" Andy asks the second I walk into parade room, where her, Nick, Dov, Chloe, Oliver, Traci and Sam are.

"Well glad to see I'm welcome." I say in typical Gail style.

Traci ignores my comment and makes her way to me.

"You're off today. You should be home, resting." She grabs my arm and takes a better look at me.

"Noted. But I'm not here to see you guys. I just thought Frank was here. He wasn't in his office, I'll just go back and wait for him there." I explain, lamely at best.

"Did you even sleep last night? You look tired? You really should be home." Traci goes full mom mode on me.

"I can't sleep, and I really need to talk to sergeant Best. So I'll go home right after." I make to go away but Traci holds me back.

"Gail, We're here for you. Whatever you need." She reminds me.

"I know." I don't give her a chance to say more as I make my escape to Frank's officer where I do find him this time.

Frank has the same expression everyone had at parade when they saw me.

"Peck, wasn't it made clear you're supposed to be out today?" He asks as soon as I close his office door.

I stride in and take a seat. "I know. I'm just here to let you know that I'll be gone for the funeral. Might be out for a few days."

"You couldn't call?" He asks with raised eyebrows, not believing my excuse.

"Well when you put it like that…" There's no point in denying that I was here for information.

"Gail, go home. We'll do everything we can here. Take as many days off as you need. We got this." He promises.

"Okay. Just, I know you're going to collaborate with the department in Ottawa. Just wanted to see if you needed anything from me while I was there?" I try to get something out of him.

"We got it covered. We'll keep you updated like we would with her family." He refuses to say more, like I knew he would.

"Okay fine. I'll see you in a few days."

"Take care of yourself."

With a wave I walk out of his office.

I need to give an excuse in case I'm spotted with Callaghan for lunch later, so I think fast and take action as I see him talking to Sam.

"Hey." I greet them both.

They both have a confused look. Sam is confused on why I'm still there probably. Luke on the other hand on why I approached them. So I jump to the point before any of them can ask me any questions.

"So, I'm leaving for Ottawa later. Think you can grab lunch and drop me off at the airport later?" I make sure to face Luke when I ask that. "I'd ask someone else, but you can actually get away for a few, they can't." I add for emphasis on why him.

"Um okay?" He agrees in confusion.

"Great. Pick me up at one?" I ask and he nods to confirm.

I walk away right after so as to not prolong the moment.

"What was that about?" I hear Sam ask him as I retreat.

"Maybe since no one will tell her anything, she thinks I might." Luke gives as an excuse. He is genuinely confused since we didn't plan this.

.

And at 1 PM, Luke picks me up to meet up with my mother for lunch.

"So why did you make the lunch announcement at the station?" He asks while we're on our way to the restaurant.

"Because this is my mother we're talking about. Someone's bound to see us and report it. We'll get there before she does and she'll join us. Everyone now thinks that I am making you do this for me so I can get information, and you just feel bad because my friend died so you're giving in. Then they'll think my mother wanted to see me off and make sure I'm okay, like the loving mother that she is, so she met me for lunch where you happened to be." I explain.

"You really thought of every scenario. Why aren't you a detective yet?" He doesn't sound surprised like some do when I do something right.

"Because I don't know what I want yet." I give a shrug.

"Understandable."

The rest of the drive is mostly silent as I'm guessing we're both preparing to face my mother.

And as I expected, we do get there before her.

We keep the ruse that I was trying to set up and we order our drinks hoping she arrives before we order food and she does.

"Ah, I didn't know you had company?!" She exclaims as she takes her seat. She gives me and Luke a questioning look.

It clicks then that she may be thinking that we're an item?

"Well, he insisted so…" I throw him to the wolves immediately and he gives me a disapproving look at that.

"Considering you dragged me into your case, I figured the right thing to do was to tell your mom." He's not taking it, he's determined to drag me down with him.

"The case?" My mother looks me in the eye to see if it's the same case she's thinking of.

"Yes mother. We needed help, and I trust him, so I dragged him into this. That's why I insisted on this place and why we're seated as far away from others as possible. He insisted on letting you know that he knows, and keeping you updated on his plans to proceed." I confirm everything waiting for the hurricane.

She however surprises as she nods at Luke in approval.

Before she can say anything the waitress takes our order.

"Okay then, what's your plan and what do you need me to do to make it happen?" She asks as soon as we're alone again.

I expected her question to be 'What did my daughter tell you? And how can we trust you?'

Why is she not mad? Or did she already expect me to do something reckless? Does she trust Luke as well? Has she vetted him already?

"I'm going to request a need to know task force. I'm hoping you can approve it. I already have a few people I trust, and others I will need to vet to make sure we can trust. I will integrate team members slowly and have them track any suspect we have and collect evidence. I need to have two separate teams, that will be unaware of the other. Gail will be on one of them. I want her to help lead this investigation in secret from one of the teams. And since it's need to know, I was hoping some of the team members would be secret even from you. Someone's bound to get curious and try to get information on this from you or behind your back. I'd rather everything we collect, until it's enough to know who to go to and who we're bringing down, remains between the people I trust." He doesn't even pause as he says what he needs to.

My mother does another unexpected thing. She doesn't argue.

"You're putting the target on your back, and protecting the rest. Are you sure you want to do that?" She sounds a bit concerned.

"I can handle it. It wouldn't be the first need to know assignment I've done, that way they won't have as many questions." He sounds confident in his plan. A plan I'm not even fully aware of.

"How will I be secret from a team? What kind of teams are you going for?" I don't know if that violates his wish that my mother doesn't know about the teams, but I'm sure he can answer in a vague way and still help me understand.

Before he answers our food arrives.

I was too hungry that I was grateful for the delay in answer.

I go for the first bite as he answers.

"We need two teams that will work on separate angles of this. I will map it out based on who to go after and who to trust after I go through all the files you gave me. I will make lists and go through them with you after you come back. That way I will have come up with a mission plan, had approval from your mother and requested you for one of the teams. Frank will go for it without question, he'll think it's a good way to keep you distracted from Marnie's case. Unless they believe they have something by then." He does keep it vague because he hasn't fully made a plan yet. I forgot that he hasn't gone through all the information that I know yet.

"Well, I see you made a good choice in recruiting Detective Callaghan." My mother compliments me for a decision I thought she'd yell at me for. "I do hope you both come up with a plan that will keep the force's integrity." My mother reaches for her food. Making this seem like a normal lunch to anyone looking.

"Now, what paper work do you need me to prepare and what should the mission subject be on file in order to have this seem like a none suspicious job?" She asks Luke and they both go into planning everything needed.

That's how the rest of lunch goes. I expected disappointment but I am happily surprised that I will have someone other than my mother to help me with this. I don't think I'd be able to pursue this mission after Marnie's death if it was just the two of us.

Once we pay, my mother wishes me a safe flight but lets me know she'll be flying out tomorrow, just for the funeral and then coming back. And with that we leave the restaurant.

"We'll have a plan sorted and ready for execution by the time you come back. Come next week, we go after them." Luke promises as he drives me to the airport.

"You were already forming that plan right after we met this morning weren't you? After I explained why she can't know about Dr Stewart? And how I can come up with an explanation for my connection to her?" I question him.

"Well, I can assess situations fast too." He confirms with a smirk.

.

When I make it back I am met by Steve at the airport.

My mother did keep her word. She made it for the funeral and left a couple of hours after. My father and brother stayed in Toronto.

For my brother to meet me here, must mean that he's feeling a bit guilty about not being there.

Apart from the 'Are you okay?' question, we're silent most of the way home.

I go back to work the next day knowing Luke has already started putting the plan in motion and according to him, my first stop should be Frank's office, where he'll meet me. And as promised, he was already in Frank's office when I get into work.

"Hey." I greet upon entrance.

"Peck." Frank stands up in greeting and motions at the seat in front of his desk. "Please sit."

"How are you doing?" Luke asks as I sit.

"I'm good." I assure.

"That's good." Frank wants to say more but he stops and gives Luke a look.

"Um…" I'm trying to gauge what their shared look means. "Any news on the case?" I approach with confusion clear.

"Well, in a way." Frank answers and then gestures for Luke to explain.

"What does that mean?" I turn my question to Luke. What is he planning? Why wasn't I looped in on this before?

"We may have a lead and your mother has assigned me to the case, so I've put together a team. It may take a bit of time, since this may be bigger than we thought. Plus, I already have another case that I'm working on. And they're both need to know so only my team and I can know anything important until we have a breakthrough. And unfortunately you still can't be near this case." Luke makes light of the situation.

"Okay?" I can tell there's more. "I've been off a lot of cases before." Not like I've been chosen for all cases.

"Thing is, your friends are all on this, apart from Chris who is leaving in a few we thought it'd be best to keep you away from the case by assigning you to another. Just because you won't be able to patrol with any of them or help them with any tasks." He continues explaining.

"What's the case?"

"The other one I'm working on. It's not run by 15, so I can't reveal much yet, but I've got permission to bring you aboard to help me from 15 while I focus on Marnie's case. It'll be mostly paper work, interrogations, exchanging information with other people working on this, stuff like that." By that he means that he's giving me a way to be behind the scenes on this bigger case without anyone suspecting. Meaning he also recruited someone from another division since he mentioned meeting them.

"Okay." I agree to their plan.

"I thought you'd put up a fight." Frank reveals.

"Honestly, I just want Marnie's killer found. If that means I sit back and do paperwork until that happens, then I'll do that." I am very sincere in my words. Even if Luke decided to take over this case without me and all I have to do is sit back and wait, then I'd still do that.

"Great, so you'll be assigned to work with Callaghan for however long he needs you. I'll still have a squad car assigned to you. And we promise everyone will do their best to help catch whoever killed Marnie." Frank promises and I can tell that that's also his way of sending me on my way. Luke gets the message too because we both stand up to leave.

"So, what now? Less patrols and more time in your office?" I ask him once we reach his office.

"Technically, your office too now. However, you can still patrol when they need you to, and I may need you to be my connection with the lab and your mom." He explains as he motions for us to sit, and closes the door.

"Okay, it's obvious you've thought this through very well. So I'm all ears for the full plan."

He starts by handing me a large file. "Here. This is the case the other team thinks they're working on. All information from Officer Chase's mission on the Dariks. The team so far thinks that we're going after the angle of that meeting she mentioned and the possibility that she was killed so she doesn't attend it. So I've got them all working on trying to figure out when the next meeting will be. If we can monitor that meeting and see cops from the list, then we can make them the focus. I didn't want them all to know that we're going after our own yet. So baby steps."

He then hands me another file. "This is however the main file for the real mission that I need you to handle. This was always your mission, so you get to make the shots too. I have recruited four people from different divisions. I trust them enough to inform them of the real mission. They each have a file on them in there so you can learn all you need about them. I will have you meet up with them to exchange information. They are following Ferguson and his people's trail to the meeting that was missed and trying to figure out when it was scheduled for. While also monitoring any cops on our list that they work with."

I flip through the files and and see a couple of names that I recognize.

"So we approach this slowly and cautiously." I like this plan.

"Yes. So far our only connection with the lab is Dr Stewart. She does however suspect someone who might be helping Fields. So she's keeping an eye on him." So progress was made while I was away.

"So you talked with Dr Stewart while I was away."

"She proved that she can be sneaky. She came to drop off a sensitive case file, and left a message in there. It had the name of her suspect and why. The paper is in the file I handed you. And you'll be the only one to see that. You and I will still be the only ones to know that she's involved in this. For now." At least that part remained, it's safer if the others don't know. Less eyes on her.

Luke leaves me to study the file and make my own notes on what we have and how each of the names he picked could help and who of the people we suspect they're connected to, while he leaves to lead the other investigation that my friends think is into the Darik gang.

Once I've memorized everything to know about the detective and three officers that Luke has picked to be on my team, I get hungry and head to the vending machine.

"Hey." I hear Traci's voice coming from behind me as I punch the code in for a Twix bar.

"Hey," I turn to greet and then crouch down to grab my chocolate.

"How are you doing? How was Ottawa?" She asks with concern.

"Ottawa was intense, but I'm okay." I assure her.

"That's good. I hear you're working on Luke's other case?"

I don't wait to go back to the office to eat, I just open the bar right there in the hallway and take a bite from the right one. "Yeah, only way to keep me away from working with any of you I guess."

"I'm sorry. I wish you could help on this, but I promise we'll all work very hard to give Marnie justice." Her face holds so much promise.

"I know."

"We're grabbing a drink at the Penny tonight, hanging out with Chris before he leaves. Join us? If you're up for it. Just because we can't be around each other at work, doesn't mean we can't be together outside of it." I get the feeling she's worried that the separate cases might alienate me.

"Sure. Why not." It wouldn't hurt to go out with them. Better to face their worries and concerns all at once and get it over with.

Someone calls for Traci and she leaves me to head back to the office and the paper work that I need to craft for how this case will be divided.

Luke stops by a couple of times, I don't see him much the last three hours of the shift though so I leave the files in their drawer, and head to the Penny with the others after shift.

Traci, Andy, Dov, Nick, Chris and the new girl Chloe are clustered at one table, so I grab a drink and take the empty chair that they must have left for me.

I get bombarded with questions of how I'm doing. They each take turns reminding me that they're there for me if I need them. Even Chloe, who I don't even know. And has an annoying high voice.

Nick just gives me an amused look when he sees me turn away from Chloe. And I can't help but roll my eyes at him.

He leaves the table to grab a couple of shots. He places one in front of me. They're Flaming shots.

I give him a curious look.

"I brought candles." He jokes and it makes me smile genuinely. "We haven't toasted Marnie yet. So here's a shot." He pushes the second shot even closer to me as he grabs his. Then he makes his voice go higher. "It's extra flamey."

Marnie's obsession with Buffy led to her calling these shots candles and then quoting the scene between willow and Tara for us when she'd buy flaming shots.

Everyone looks a bit confused but it's a nice way of remembering my friend.

So we both lift our shots and take them.

"I'm cured! I like the boys." I say dramatically once I place the empty shot glass on the table. Imitating the way Marnie would say it after she'd take her shot.

We both burst out laughing at the memories.

"Thanks for this." I say and he just nods as if to say of course.

"What's happening?" Traci asks once we stop the laughter.

"Just a Marnie thing." I answer and she just smiles at me.

Chloe however joins the conversation with her peppy voice. "It's great that you guys can be close even after just breaking up."

Nick could sense that I was about to be mean so he jumps in to stop me from saying something very harsh.

"Well technically we broke up weeks ago. I just didn't catch on in time." His attempt at saying we've been broken up for longer than a few days so we're allowed to not be awkward around each other now.

Just then Luke walks in. So I excuse myself to grab another drink and go to join him at the bar.

"So," I say as I stand next to the stool he's sitting on. "You left me in the office alone at the end there. I had to figure out where and how to hide the files."

I then flag the bartender and ask for a beer.

"Well, I heard you were coming here and I had to stop by the lab." He explains.

"And how are the two connected?" I ask.

In answer he just nods towards the entrance to the bar. I turn to see what he's pointing at only to see Holly walking in.

"Thought I'd help you make a friend."