A.N: Hey guys, so having watched this show from the very beginning when it first aired I'm so happy that Gail's finally found someone who I feel is actually a good match for her, I just cannot get enough of this pair.

This is my first ever fanfic so I am trying to take my time and work hard on it, it does start at the very beginning of their relationship and will eventually continue into my own little plot line for them, however I wanted to go right back to the start and try and develop their relationship a bit more by adding in a few extra scenes i'd conjured up in my head. For this i apologize if some of the characters appear a little au, also I am from the UK so i do tend to write in British English, if there's any major issues then please let me know.

With that being said, I do not own the show nor do i own its characters, i do however own some of the extra scenes that will appear throughout and the eventual plot line of the unfolding story.

There's always something about cases like this one, whereby as an officer she stumbles across a body in some ragged form that makes her stomach churn. Thanking whoever up above that she was not paired with Oliver and his continuous snacking habits today or else the contents of her stomach might just have been joining that body on the cold harsh ground, before stalking off to her post of ensuring that nobody unauthorised gains any access to the crime scene.

She can't help but watch Marlo take the two kids statements from across the wood though. Shakes her head at the sudden realisation that these kids will forever hold the memory of that distorted skeleton sprawled in the leaves. Realising that every time they close their eyes, all they will be able to see will be how the faceless skull bore into them, almost as if it was watching their every move. She's too busy trying to analyse how messed up these kids will become that she almost doesn't notice the figure breezing under the neon yellow police tape to join her. Almost.

It's not until the intruder is a good few paces in front of her that Gail suddenly remembers why she's here and finds her voice.

"Hey, lunchbox, you're not allowed down there," she sighs, shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other. So it's not her best jab, but in her defence the first thing she noticed was the bright red case the woman was carrying.

"Thanks, appreciate it," The woman shouts back, not even stopping to look at the officer.

Irritated, Gail takes a step forward, "No, I said you're not allowed down there."

It's at this that the intruder finally turns around.

"Me?" The woman finally asks, one eyebrow quirked upwards in a comical fashion. Seeing that the officer is staring her down, she takes one last look around the wood before facing Gail again with a smirk, "No, I am, I need to get some samples."

"Who are you?"

"The forensic pathologist," she states, her tone daring.

"Oh," Gail draws out, shifting uncomfortably having realised she's made yet another rookie mistake. Trying to recover from her slip up she picks up her shoulders before stalking closer to the woman, "well, you should have told me that before."

"Sorry, I thought it was obvious," the woman states, uncomfortably waving the case in Gail's direction.

"Only to nerds," internally cheering that she's back on track she takes a moment to stare this woman down before asking, "can you come back later?"

"You're not up on your medical jurisprudence, we need to determine the cause of death, I test the water for diatoms and if we find diatoms in the bone marrow, oh did you notice if the femurs still intact," the woman stops to analyse the officers face briefly, gathering the answer as no from the blank stare and the way the officer simply shakes her head, she takes a short breath before continuing, "I'll check later, If the diatoms match we know the person drowned, if there aren't any diatoms then we know the cause of death was something else, I'll need to consult with the forensic anthropologist , I'll grab some leaves, bugs, dirt so that they don't have to come back, It helps in identifying the post mortem interval-"

"Why are you saying all these words," the officer interrupts her, her gaze sharp.

The woman can't help but smile in retaliation to the question and gives the officer one last look before heading off to do her job.

It's a few short moments later that she hears the commanding voice of officer Swarek fill the woods instructing someone to stay at the scene and for someone else to go to the morgue. Gail hears Marlo state that she'll stay on the scene, and being ever curious, takes one glimpse of the quirky forensic woman before raising her hand, "Alright, I'll go the morgue." Noticing that the woman was staring back at her questioningly she simply states, "It's never too late to learn about medical jurisprudence."

Gail gives the woman a ride back to the lab where she works. They arrive to find that the skeleton has already been dropped off in the lab, wrapped in a multitude of different bags and covers. Gail allows herself to help the woman set up, avoiding the skeleton at all costs and sticking to the utensils stored away in the back cupboard, and swears that it's solely to do with the fact that she has nothing better to be doing whilst she's here and nothing to do with the fact that this mysterious pathologist interests her slightly.

After a while Gail realises that she's really being more of a hindrance than a help and takes a step back in order to watch the woman at work. Honestly Gail's not too sure what's more enticing, the piecing together of the skeleton or the fact that when this woman concentrates her eyebrows knit together in an adorable fashion and her bottom lip gets viciously attacked between a set of almost perfect teeth.

"So what are you doing over there anyway?" She barely recognises the sound of her own voice until the sentence escapes her mouth.

"Putting together a puzzle," the woman smiles slightly.

"What can you tell about the person?" Gail asks, wanting to see the woman in work, finding comfort in how easily the brunette gets lost in the science.

"He's a full grown male, probably early twenties, not archaeological, his bones are still greasy," the woman pauses before turning to Gail with a short, half smile, "and a bit smelly."

Gail, realising that she's been staring at this woman for far too long and has probably just been caught out, squares herself up. Gail Peck does not stare after woman, hell, she doesn't even stare after men anymore, especially not now that she can't even trust herself to maintain a steady relationship with someone she truly cared. So, she does what comes naturally to her and turns her defence on, "Oh, I just thought that was you."

It's multiple hours later and the woman's still rummaging around the skeleton on the table with her various scientific utensils. Gail's long since gotten bored of the multiple lectures on bones and moved to position herself on what she assumes is the woman's desk. She's spent the past twenty minutes trying to read some in depth scientific novel about 'an analysis of an autopsy'. In her mind its just a bunch of scientific jargon on a page.

"Do you really read this stuff?" Gail questions, flicking through the pages in the hopes that something less, wordy, will stand out amongst the paragraphs.

The woman tilts her head slightly to look at Gail, giving her a slight smirk before turning back to the body on the table, "I wrote that stuff."

Gail, for the second time that day, loses her words. Turning the book in her hand she rakes her eyes over the cover of the book, pausing only to read the name in print on the bottom.

HOLLY STEWART.

Gail takes one last look at the woman before opening the book up again, silently agreeing that the woman does indeed look like a Holly.

"Something tells me you like it here," Holly states, watching Gail as she begins to pack up her things from her desk.

"I could live here," as much as Gail hates to admit it, it's true. She really, rather enjoyed spending her day at the morgue. The silence of the place wasn't too overwhelming and allowed her to do some critical thinking about her life without it becoming too much for her to handle. Plus, she had Holly for company, whom, as much as she'd deny it to anyone, she's actually starting to become fond of. The fact that this woman just brushes off her sarcasm without missing a beat is definitely something which intrigues Gail.

Maybe it's because of this that she finds herself at a loss of control over her own words but before she's even aware that she's talking the words, "Holly, I'm like a cat," have come out of her mouth. However now that she's started she can't seem to find a good enough reason to stop, so she turns the chair to face Holly and clasps her fingers together, "I'm very good at climbing trees and then the minute I get up there, I have no idea what to do, I mean I want to get down but I don't know how to do that so, I create an emergency situation to get out of it."

Holly takes a minute to register exactly what Gail's just said to her, slowly trying to figure out the analogy before giving up and looking at the blonde officer with a raised eyebrow, "Of the tree?"

Gail maintains a cool manner and forces herself to look straight at Holly before replying, "Of relationships."

"Ah," Holly sighs, finally getting the gist of what the blondes suddenly rambling on about. Giving it a minute she realises that the blonde isn't going to continue on with the story and so she grabs the officer's jacket off the coat peg behind her desk and states, "I used to be like that, but it turns out I didn't like men."

Gail nods her head for a moment, silently agreeing whilst she takes her jacket from the brunettes hand before verbalising, "oh, I don't think I like men either."

Holly has to force herself to stifle a snort as she realises how clueless the blonde actually is. Shaking her head she helps Gail stand from where she's been seated, "I mean I'm a lesbian."

"I mean I hate people," the blonde simply shrugs her jacket on properly and walks ahead of the pathologist towards the exit of the lab, never missing a beat. Holly, left completely speechless and bewildered by the woman, smiles after her retreating form before slowly gathering her thoughts and rushing out after her.

Holly's heard of the penny before, working in such a similar field to the 15th devision cops makes it hard not to have heard of it, but this has to be the first time that the pathologist has ever actually been to it. Gail had declared that she was owed a drink considering she had helped her baby sit the skeleton and so they arranged to meet there since Gail still had to go back to the station and change out of her uniform.

It was almost half an hour later when the blonde came strutting in as if she owned the place. Spotting Holly sitting by herself at the bar Gail instantly made her way over, sitting down in the empty stool beside the brunette. Almost the second she was seated Gail flagged over the bartender.

"Two shots of tequila," she shouts, gesturing towards the bottle on the top shelf. As the bartender walks away to care for the drinks, the brunette turns in her stool to face her.

"Tequila, really?" the brunette asks.

"What's wrong with tequila?"

"I'm more of a beer kind of girl," Holly shrugs.

When the bartender comes back with their drinks, Gail tells him that they'll pay for it now instead of opening up a tab and looks pointedly at Holly. Realising this as her cue, Holly fumbles in her pocket before pulling out the right amount for the two shots and handing it over.

"Why do you look so surprised, I told you that you owed me a drink."

"I didn't think you were being serious." Holly mumbles, tracing a hand around the top of the shot glass.

"I'm always serious Holly," Gail smirks, "plus, I didn't bring any money with me so you were kind of stuck paying regardless."

Holly allows herself to chuckle slightly at the blonde before they both turn to down their shots. Within seconds both glasses are empty and Holly realised that she still doesn't know this woman's name, well, besides the fact that she's known as Officer Peck.

"You know my name?"

"Yes Holly, I do." Gail states, putting emphasis on her name while looking at her as if she's grown a second head.

"I don't know yours?" Holly turns to face her, searching her face for clues.

"Gail, Gail Peck." She shrugs, pushing the now empty shot glass away from her.

"Gail," Holly repeats, rolling the name off of her tongue before she nods, the name fits the blonde well. It's then that she realises something, "How do you know my name anyway?"

"The book," Gail states, as if it's the most obvious answer.

"The book?" Holly arches an eyebrow.

"Yes, the book," Gail sighs, slightly impatient at the brunettes lack of understanding, "The one about autopsy's. You told me you wrote it, it was on the front."

"Oh, the book," Holly nods, it all becoming clearer.

The two settle into a comfortable silence for a while before Holly becomes aware that Gail is suddenly moving from the stool next to her.

"Where are you going?" Holly asks, looking at the blonde pointedly.

"Home," Gail shrugs, as if it's the most obvious answer in the world.

"But you owe me a drink now," Holly states, gesturing towards the empty glasses on the bar, "you didn't seriously invite me here, make me wait on my own for thirty minutes in a bar full of cops only to have one shot and then leave."

"Didn't you hear me Holly, I don't have any money, plus, I have a shift tomorrow morning which would be a killer with a hangover," Gail smirks at her before she turns to leave, "don't stay out too late."

Before Gail can even take a step away from the bar, Holly has latched onto her arm, "Give me your phone."

"What, why?" Gail whines, looking at Holly questioningly.

"That wasn't a question, hand it over."

Muttering under her breath Gail reluctantly handed it over and watched the brunette carefully. Within no more than a minute she was smiling and handing the phone back to Gail.

"What did you do to it?" the blonde asked, staring at it as if it was about to explode.

"You owe me a drink," the brunette shrugged, gesturing again towards the empty glasses on the bar. "Now you have my number you have no excuse not to buy me one."

Gail smirked at the woman, "And what makes you think I'll give you call."

"I sent myself a message on your phone just in case," Holly shrugs. "This way I have you're number too and I've been told I'm quite the avid stalker, so you really will be forced to buy me one."

With that being said, Holly simply gave one last smile at Gail, chuckling at her shocked expression before watching the blonde shake her head with a grin and walk out of the penny.

A.N; Well, that was the first chapter!

Again this is my first ever fanfic and I'm still trying to get into the hang of it, so please just bare with me! Also, i know that some of the spelling will be different as I do tend to write in British English, if there's any major outlining issues with that then please, let me know and I'll alter it!

All constructive criticism is welcomed and reviews are always lovely and make for a happy writer! hahaa. (: