Third chapter. This is all your fault guys, asking what Elaine will say. I really wasn't planning to write this at all!

Happy Memorial Day.

You aren't surprised Gail waited until you got to Toronto to spring the news on anyone. Quite honestly, hearing what you have of her mother, you might have as well. Your mother, on the other hand, stared at you for a good minute before laughing so hard she cried. Then she hugged Gail and kissed her cheek and teased you both all while waiting for your father to come back from the plant. Your father just sighed and shook his head.

But Superintendent Mom is a whole different story, and you're about as scared as Gail is when you get to the door. It's the monthly Peck dinner, at the Peck House, which looks so incredibly Peckish it's silly.

"Are you ready?" Gail asks the question in a low, querulous voice.

"No," you admit freely.

She squeezes your hand. You still don't have rings, even though you've been married for a few months now. This is the first time you've seen each other in the flesh since leaving Las Vegas, though, so you feel like you can be excused. True, you've been in town for a week, but there was a lot of interviews and negotiations and sex. Lots of that.

"Let's get this over with," she sighs and unlocks the door. "Mom, Dad, we're here."

A surprised reply comes from deep within the house. "We?" You're pretty sure the voice is Elaine's.

A grey haired man pokes his head around the hallway corner. This is Bill Peck, you realize. He smiles genially at you both, eyes darting to your joined hands. "Sweetheart, Holly's here."

A bottle dyed red head pops out from the same location, blue eyes surprised and wide. There's a blue and white dish towel on her shoulder. "Oh. Steven, please set another place on Gail's side." Elaine looks you up and down, scrutinizing you, and you feel suddenly dowdy. "Gail, dear, why didn't you tell me?"

"I forgot," sighs Gail. You know she didn't. You know she told you she wasn't feeling up to explaining this on her own, and thus had been avoiding her mother.

Elaine is sharp and narrows her eyes at her daughter. "Well at least I know why you've been ditching me this time. Hello, Holly. It's nice to finally meet you." Elaine dries off her hands on the towel and extends one.

You hesitate a moment and let go of Gail's hand to shake your mother-in-law's hand. She doesn't know that. "I'm sorry it took so long," you admit. You are, too. You'd been kind of looking forward to meeting her the first time.

"You missed Gail's cheerful proclamation of her lesbianism at dinner," chuckles Bill. He takes your hand in turn.

"My, yes, that was one of the more colorful dinners we've had in a while." Elaine smiles as well, though, as if all the drama of Gail's sexuality was entertaining and blown past. "Bill, will you get the wine?"

Behind you, Gail mutters, "God yes, because this needs booze."

You poke her as you step back. "Hush you."

Both Pecks smile, delighted to see you rein in their daughter. Gail grumbles, "I'm just saying, dinners here need to be well lubricated."

Bill rolls his eyes at Gail, giving you a look of long suffering. "Go say hello to your brother, Gail."

Gail side-eyes you and takes your hand, leading you through the hallway. "Kitchen, dining room, sitting room's through there. TV is downstairs in the Man Cave. The idiot there setting the table is still my stupid brother."

The red-haired Steve Peck is setting the table with his girlfriend, Traci Nash. "Holly!" Steve whoops and bounces over to hug you. "Thank god. I was getting tired of super grumpy Peck."

"Shut up, Steve."

The siblings don't hug, which you're used to, but Traci does hug Gail and then you hello as well. "Holly! Gail told me about Vegas."

Your eyes go wide. "Oh?" Gail had left you to understand that no one knew about the marriage.

"Who do you think helped her practice?"

It takes a second before you realize that Traci was in on the plan to get you two together in Las Vegas. "Oh! Thank you for that," you smile. "She was marvelous."

Gail groans. "Come on, I want to show Holly the house before we Peck her to death."

You're sure Steve thinks something is up, but he just nods. "Go show her your room, Champ."

"Thanks, Cap," she mutters, taking your hand and heading for the stairs. On the way, she points to her mother's office saying it was where all the dressing downs happened. Then you're up the stairs and she waves a hand at Steve's room. His door is open and it looks like a normal room, devoid of childhood.

Her own room has a sign with flowers that looks so unlike Gail, you laugh. "Abigail," you smile. She'd taped over the 'Abi' at some point.

"Yeah, that won't be a big deal."

No one called her Abigail. "Why did Steve call you Champ?"

"I'm the Champion of the Universe," she replies blithely and opens her door.

The room is painted black, including the furniture. You're sure that Elaine must have blown a gasket at it, since nothing matches the rest of the house. Punk and rock posters cover the wall, Green Day and Sex Pistols and Luscious Jackson among the many. The bed is covered in a navy comforter with dark sheets.

"Subtle protest," you note. "Why didn't Elaine take all this down?"

"I haven't been out of the house that long. She keeps expecting me to move back."

You nod. Your parents have left your room intact as well, and you live in another country. "I hope you don't. I can't imagine eating breakfast with you here."

"Not breakfast like this week," leers Gail.

You laugh. Breakfast has been in bed, naked, twice already. That would not be done here, you suspect. "No. Not that either."

Gail flops on the bed and groans. "Holly, I can't do this. I don't want to be yelled at in Mom's office."

You check the hallway and close the door. "She won't. You're a grown up."

"Please, Holly, nothing makes a parent treat you like a child more than breaking their plans."

You walk around the room, picking up the little memories of young Gail. There's a photo album with ticket stubs and pictures of Gail in school. There's a report card with all As stuck to the wall, including gym class. There's a triptych of pictures of Gail in middle school, college, and in uniform, all with her family, in growing degrees of seriousness. The older Gail gets in the photos, the less happy she looks. It doesn't match the mental image of the smiling, loving, happy Gail you carry in your head.

"How did they take your coming out?" You were, retrospectively, sorry you'd missed that. Not just as a girlfriend but as a supportive friend. Coming out was always hard.

"Okay," she sighs, not sitting up. "Dad laughed until he realized I wasn't joking. Mom said it explained the haircut. Steve said he owed Nick $100."

You shake your head and sit down beside her. "It could be worse." Lisa had been disowned, after all. When it's clear Gail isn't sitting up, you lean down and kiss her lightly.

After a momentary surprise, Gail smiles and slides her arms around you. "You know, I've never made out with anyone in here."

Smiling back, you let her draw you into a longer kiss, lingering until the want is too much and your hands start to roam a little. The knock at the door stops you from getting too far into things.

"Gail. Mom's about to complain about her sauce, so get your hand out of Holly's pants and come downstairs." The footsteps quickly recede.

"Fuck you too, Steve." Gail sighs loudly, kisses you one last time, and gets up. "Okay, you ready?"

You hold your hands out and Gail takes them to haul you up. "If it's us, we can do anything."

Gail's return smile is wobbly and pathetic, but she leads you back downstairs. You sit across from Steve, Gail from Traci, and begin one of the more awkward dinners of your life. It occurs to you, as Steve asks you to pass the salt, that the Pecks resemble dogs circling each other, seeking out some hidden weakness. Except they've known each other for so long and so well that the fight is unfair.

First Bill, who appears so gentle, probes Gail, asking how the TO role is going. Gail demurs that it's fine and her rookie is doing well. Traci is brought in too, being asked about making full detective, and then it's on to Steve and is he any closer to being the lead detective for Guns and Gangs. And so it goes, around and around, until finally Elaine asks you about the elephant in the room.

"So. Holly. What brings you back from, what was it, San Francisco?"

You're sure Elaine knew it was San Francisco just fine. "I came to visit Gail," you reply simply.

Beside you, Gail smiles and reaches for your hand under the table. "Just a visit?" Bill looks surprised. "That's a long way. Gail, didn't you just see Holly in Las Vegas?"

She nods. "Three months isn't 'just' seeing anyone."

"That whole distance thing must be hard."

"We're trying, Dad."

"Glad to see you're trying something," sighs Elaine. "Honestly, sweetheart, muddling your way along is hardly a career."

"My career is just fine, Mom," Gail sighs, though where Elaine's is long suffering, Gail's is tired and weary. "How's your new assistant? Branson?"

And Elaine was off, talking about how he was very capable as an assistant, though unimpressive as a police officer. You start to piece together why Gail is so touchy about her chosen career. It was not her choice, that's for sure. Gail and Steve were both moulded into their paths, and while they protest here and there, for the most part they trudged along, becoming what was expected.

As you think about that, you lose the thread of the conversation until you hear your own name came up as an example of someone who doesn't let her whims get in the way of her position. "It's not that," you start and Gail rolls her eyes. You wonder why for a second until you see that Elaine and Bill are having their own conversation to the exclusion of the children.

Finally, though, Elaine makes a comment that has you bristling. "It's just not worthy of the Peck name, Gail," says the matron. "A training officer is a good stepping stone, but you can't just malinger."

Bitterly, Gail replies, "I suppose it's good I'm not a Peck anymore."

That kills conversation. It's not how you would have presented them with the situation, but you can't fault Gail in this moment. Steve and Traci stop and stare at Gail, trying to parse that sentence. They're all smart cops, you remember, and watch as varying degrees of comprehension settles on their faces. Elaine and Bill clearly can't believe it.

It's Bill who finds his voice first, clearing his throat. "Gail, dear, what are you saying?"

She lets go of your hand and digs into her pocket, handing over the papers to her father. "I mean I'm not a Peck anymore. I filed the papers at work yesterday afternoon."

Bill reads the papers carefully, one page at a time. You don't know why your first impressions of Bill was that he was easy going. He's just as hard as his wife and the look of silent disappointment is weighty and staggering. You feel as in you're suffocating and it's not even aimed at you. How can Gail or Steve take it this casually? They've already gone back to eating, while you and Traci look like you're drowning.

When his silence hangs too long, Elaine scowls. "William?"

But all Bill can do is shake his head, clearly at a loss of words.

"He's trying to figure out how to tell you I got married," says Gail absently. "To Holly."

Now Elaine is quiet. She's gobsmacked. She looks like everything has collapsed around her. That must be what Gail was talking about when she told you Elaine had plans for her. Elaine had planned out Gail's entire life and now you and she had destroyed it. You've never seen a parent so angry before or so silent. It's stunning.

Steve looks thoughtful, though, as if this happens every day. As if this amount of hate and antagonistic force from their parents is normal. "When'd that happen, Champ?"

"Vegas." Gail, too, seems to think this normal. What the hell is wrong with their parents, you wonder, but you can't find your voice.

Traci's eyes bug out. "You didn't!" She looks right at you.

You sigh and rub your forehead. "It wasn't planned."

"I suppose it's too late for an annulment," muses Elaine, and Gail is suddenly shooting daggers at her mother with her eyes. If looks could kill, you're sure that Elaine would be dead. "But that doesn't make you not a Peck, sweetheart."

While Gail opens her mouth, her father cuts her off. "Gail Francis Stewart." He looks over at Gail, still disappointed. "Really?"

"No one calls me Abigail, Dad," she deflects.

The papers are handed over to Elaine, who is now narrowing her eyes at you. "Stewart. You're going through with this?"

"Gone. Past tense. Check the dates." Gail puts her fork and knife down.

"You can still professionally be—"

"Filed the paperwork end of shift yesterday," Gail says grimly. Game, set, match to the daughter, you realize.

There was some part of you that thought Gail and Steve exaggerated when they said how epically bad their family dinners were. When Elaine says, in a low voice, that she and Gail need to go talk, you realize they were underplaying. Gail says no. Flat.

"No?" Elaine is stunned. Bill is stunned. Steve looks like it's Christmas as the papers end up in his hands.

"No, I'm not going to go into your office and have you yell at me like I'm a child for however long it takes to make you feel better, and me feel like shit. No, I'm not getting an annulment or a divorce and I'm not going to waste my time listening to you rant that I should. No. I'm tired of it. I don't need it." Gail's voice is steadier than yours would have been. More stable. She has grown in the short time you've known her, and it makes your heart swell. "Yes, I married Holly. I took her name. It's staying. She's staying. We are staying."

"Well." Elaine puts down her cutlery. "Then I think we're done."

For a second, Gail looks pained. You're not sure why until she pushes back from the table. "Right." So does Steve. A heartbeat later, you and Traci share a look and realize exactly what's going on.

You've all been kicked out of the Peck house.

"Steven," says Elaine, warningly.

Your new brother-in-law shakes his head. "I'm sticking with Gail, Mom. Pecks are loyal, right?" Elaine looks slapped.

Traci looks pleased. "Everyone has a right to be happy," she says, giving Gail a knowing look.

Gail and Steve stand up and so do you. "Thanks for dinner," you say, totally at a loss for anything else to say.

You reach over to Gail and are relieved to have her fingers meet yours halfway in a hold that isn't restrictive. She's just checking you're there, like you are to her just now. She and Steve say nothing, leading the way out of the house.

Once the front door is closed, Gail exhales. "Yeah, so that went about as well as expected."

"I really thought you were kidding when you said your mother was going to kill you," you whisper. She shakes her head and kisses you softly.

"Give it a couple weeks at most," advised Steve. "Then she'll have a new plan and it'll all be back on." Neither he nor Gail seem all that put out.

"We got kicked out when Steve got his tattoo," smirks Gail. Traci looks shocked as Steve snaps that he had it removed. "A butterfly," she adds, and slaps her own butt.

Traci starts to laugh. "You really got married?" When you nod, Steve holds out the papers for his girlfriend. "Gail, you shit, why didn't you tell me?"

"Because you'd ask why and how and…"

"And Gail got drunk in Vegas and can't remember. Again." Steve chortles and Gail backhands him in the chest. "Bright side, Holly, she stole Nick's truck after their adventure and left it parked illegally."

"He left me at the fucking altar," growled Gail.

You squeeze her hand. "We won a honeymoon suite and apparently thought why not," you explain to Steve and Traci.

Gail sighs. "And before that we all thought it'd be fun to get licenses. They're not real, y'know, unless you have a ceremony," she explains.

"Which we did."

You share a look that's equal parts embarrassed and pleased. "I'm not sorry," Gail says quietly. She's been saying a variation of that for three months now.

"No regrets," you reply. You've been saying that for the same amount of time.

Steve abruptly hugs you both. "Well Mom and Dad can be stupid. I'm happy. For you. Now. Who's moving where?"

Leave it to the detective to ask that one. "I'm moving back to Toronto," you tell him, slipping an arm around him to hug him tightly, no matter how much Gail squirms.

As soon as you tell him that, Gail's face brightens with delight. "You got it?"

"I got it."

The blue eyes light up and warm you to your toes. "Professor Stewart," she laughs and shoves Steve so she can hug you properly.

"I think," decides Traci. "I think we need to go out to drinks. On us. To celebrate."

Gail, who is always up for food, raises her fist high in the air. "Yes! Wash the taste of Peck out of our mouths! Call Boob Job. She can come."

You take the magnanimous offer from your wife and it ends up to be a bit of a noisy affair. Fifteen Division is brought in and you take over the Penny with an impromptu wedding party. Gail's friends, no matter how dismissive she is about that title for them, bring a cake that was clearly bought last second. No one offers an apology for the 'Feliz Cumplianos' on the cake. Neither you nor Gail ask for one.

Your friends, delighted to see you again, are stunned to find out you're married. Lisa and Gail circle each other like dogs until you tell Lisa that you'd just walked out of Gail's parents house, mid dinner. Lisa, who doesn't talk to her family over her own sexuality, immediately softens and tells Gail to make you happy or else. At some point, Dov brings out trivia cards, and you and Gail eviscerate them. She's not blue collar and you know it. Lisa is surprised and apologizes.

There's very little drinking for you and Gail. You want to be sober and remember this party and so does she. You don't get back to Gail's apartment until the wee hours of the morning, a gasp before dawn when the city is just starting to wake up. You can't remember why you ever wanted to leave in the first place. Gail insists you stop at a corner bakery to get the first loaf from the oven, going so far to to flash her badge to get served even if the store isn't open.

You sit on her tiny deck, watching the sun rise between the buildings, and lean up against her while you nibble fresh bread. It's unlikely you'll stay here, in this apartment, forever, but right now it's the perfect place to be. You already know what furniture of yours will come along and what won't. Where your things will go with hers. You can see your future here, starting right.

"Hey," you say softly, digging into a pocket. "We should do this thing."

"What thing?" She looks curious and patient. You hold out a gift bag from the airport and she laughs. "You got me airport crap?" Like the child she can be, Gail opens the bag and pulls out the tiny bits of metal on cardboard. Stainless steel rings.

You watch her face carefully. "I know they're not real wedding bands or anything, but I thought now that everyone knows, we could maybe wear them."

She already has the price tags off and is checking which one is her size. It's on her hand before you can blink. "I kind of like this better than 'real' wedding rings."

"We should have picked some up in Vegas," you joke, and she smirks. She takes your hand and slides the ring on it. Holding your hand, she kisses the ring's spot.

"I don't care what order we do things in, Holly," she says earnestly. "You're going to move back here. We get to live together and be together. I can't wait."

There's time to plan the details later. Like how Gail will fly out and then drive back with you, taking a vacation and tour of either Canada or the US. Like how you need to send in your notice to the lab in San Francisco. Like how you need to explain to people that you're leaving a job you adore for a job you'll like a little less, all to be with the person you can't live without.

There's even time to deal with the fallout of Gail's insane family later, because you know the most important truth of them all.

You know that you and Gail are in this together. A team. And she's loyal. She won't leave you or abandon you. In the last year, she's grown up and become a person you love even more, which you hadn't thought possible. Maturity suits her.

You've got a wife, and a job now, in Canada. And it's awesome.

I keep leaving this complete and adding chapters because you ask questions. I make no promises that this will continue.