Holly and Snowflaes

Author's note: This is the third and final part of my winter story in my Hot Tails in Oak Hill series. Please go back and read the previous two days if you haven't already, if you have, then enjoy the last of my story. I grew very fond of Gabe and Holly. Merry Christmas. GEV

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Holly, Snowflakes and a Christmas Angel

December 26th

Holly woke sometime after midnight. Gabe's arm was wrapped around her ribs, his hand cupping her bare breast even in sleep, his heavy thigh pinning hers to the bed as he slept tucked up behind her. She could feel his deep, even breathing as it fanned her hair, feel the rise and fall of his chest against her back. She carefully raised his arm and when he didn't stir, she slowly inched her way out of his slumbering embrace, carefully scooting across the bed as she tried not to wake him. She grabbed her phone from the nightstand and tiptoed from the bedroom, looking back over her shoulder at him to make sure he was still asleep.

She walked out into the main room, bringing up her messaging and, finding her friend that was always there when she needed him, typed out a quick text message and sent it, getting a response back in just under a minute. She had left all her clothes in the other master bathroom and, using the flashlight on her phone, walked across the house to get dressed. She gathered up all her belongings, stopping halfway to the door that led to the garage, her heart pounding so hard in her chest that she struggled to breathe, terrified that what she was doing was wrong. She sat her stuff down on the table next to the door that led out to the garage and turned back around, looking across the expanse of the house to Gabe's bedroom.

She walked back across the house and stopped in the doorway, looking in at him as he peacefully slept, the glow from the flickering fire softly illuminating the room, his handsome face and broad shoulders, his strong arm that had held her tight, making her feel secure, loved, resting on the bed where she had been sleeping. She drew in a deep breath and slowly let it back out, knowing what she was doing was right. She quietly walked back into the bedroom, pressed her fingers to her lips and reached over, softly brushing her fingers over his parted lips, feeling his breath fan her skin. "I love you, Gabriel," she whispered, turning around and quietly walking away, reaching up and wiping the tears from her cheeks.

She sniffled as she walked back across the great room, pulled on her parka and gathered up her stuff, looking down at her phone at the message that had come in a minute ago. She picked up his keys from the tray on the console table and pushed the button on the remote, hearing the beep as his alarm system was disarmed, opening the door that led out to the garage. She went out the side door, pulling it shut behind her, stepping out into the falling snow, hearing the engine from the snowmobile as it started up the hill to the driveway, walking as far as she dared in her boots as she sank down into the deep snow with every step. She pulled on the helmet her friend held out for her, climbing onto the back of the snowmobile and wrapping her arms around his waist, holding on as he turned the sled around and headed back down the driveway, not looking back.

Because leaving Gabe before he could ever leave her was the hardest thing she ever had to do.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Gabe was jerked out of his sleep at five in the morning by the sound of his alarm and he blindly reached over, hitting the snooze button for fifteen more minutes of lazy snuggle time, rolling over and reaching for Holly but all he felt was the rest of the empty bed. Wide-awake, he sat bolt upright and looked around his dimly lit bedroom for any sign of her. Her phone wasn't on the nightstand and she wasn't in the bathroom, there was no light coming from that direction, no light coming from anywhere in the rest of the house. He threw the blankets off and walked naked from the bedroom, across the great room to the other master bathroom where she had left her clothes but they were gone.

He walked over to the table along the wall by the door that led to the garage, picking up his keys that were still in the tray where he always left them and dropped them back down, looking over at the display screen on the alarm system, clearly seeing that she had disarmed it with the remote on his keys so she could leave as quietly as possible. He slowly balled his hands up into white-knuckled fists, clenching his jaw as he drew in a deep, ragged breath and slowly let it back out, his body shaking from the effort, every muscle in his arms quivering as he splayed his fingers wide. And just like that she was... Gone.

Angered, he walked back to his bedroom and went through his morning routine, getting dressed and scooping up his handcuffs from the nightstand before going out into the kitchen of his suddenly lonely house. He ate breakfast at the counter, resting his hips against the edge of the marble as he sipped his second cup of coffee, staring across the house and feeling his heart lurch in his chest, wondering just what he had done that made her feel that she had to leave him in the middle of the night. He swallowed the last of his coffee, feeling it burn his throat on the way down, setting his mug in the sink.

He pulled his phone out of the pocket of his tactical vest and brought up her number, staring at the screen for a few seconds before shoving the phone back in his pocket, this was something that needed resolved face to face, not through a text message or a phone call. He drew in a deep breath and let it back out, gabbing his keys from the tray on the console and stepped out into the garage, hitting the button on the wall to raise the door, feeling the cold rush of air hit him. The sun wouldn't be up for another ninety minutes and, after the door stopped, he could hear the heavy engine of the snowplow in the distance as it cleared the main road into town, the morning falling silent again as the plow got further and further away.

Gabe put the truck into four-wheel drive and shifted into reverse, backing out of the garage, the snow crunching under the weight of the truck and the oversized tires, closing the garage door remotely, and when he turned, aiming the nose of the truck down the driveway, the headlights shined across the deep snow, illuminating the shallow indentations left from her footsteps, the night's falling snow filling in the tracks. When he was halfway down the long driveway, he could see the telltale tracks from a snowmobile that had been left behind where her footsteps ended. He swore under his breath as he turned out onto the road, anger and frustration still gnawing at him. At least she didn't walk.

The power had yet to be restored and it was pitch black outside in the early morning hour, and as he drove towards town, he could see the few houses that had an alternative power source dotting the town with a faint light. He caught up with the snowplow, slowing him commute even more, and he turned down the side road, pulling into the lot behind the police station, parking his truck in his designated spot, and headed into the building.

He half-heartedly listened to the chief's morning briefing as he tapped the end of his pen against his notepad on the table, his mind was preoccupied with thoughts about Holly. Was it something he had said, something he

hadn't

said, or was it his age that drove her away so quickly, because it sure as hell wasn't something he had done, her moans and screams told him otherwise. He was still sitting in his chair, staring at the whiteboard on the wall, when the rest of the officers had been dismissed from the meeting. Only when one of his subordinates called his name did he finally come out of his daze, gathering up his notepad and coffee cup, walking out of the room.

He grabbed the key for one of the Explorers and headed out the back door, settling in behind the wheel and letting the SUV warm up while he pulled his phone out of his vest pocket. He texted Holly to see where she was at and when she didn't answer, he called her, the call going straight to voicemail. She was ignoring him for whatever reason and it was starting to piss him off. He shifted the SUV into gear and pulled out of the back lot, turning onto the main road and driving straight to her apartment building as the sun started to creep up over the mountain in the distance.

Gabe rolled the Explorer into the parking lot of the apartment complex and shoved it into park, not really caring that he was blocking three other vehicles in the process, and climbed out, slamming the door behind him. He took the steps two at a time to her second story unit and finding the right door, banged on it with the heel of his closed gloved fist, waited a few minutes and when he didn't hear any movement inside, started banging again, oblivious to the pain that was radiating up his arm as he hit the door with more force than necessary. "I know you're in there, Holly, open this damn door right now or I'll kick it in," he hollered, his deep voice echoing down the open corridor, waking her neighbors if they weren't already up.

He stepped back, completely prepared to kick her door in, when he heard three adjacent doors open around him, two of them quickly slamming shut except for the door on the other side of hers. He looked over at the disheveled, middle-aged lady standing halfway out of her own apartment, her hand clutching her pink bathrobe closed at the neck. "Go back inside, ma'am, this doesn't concern you." He turned back to the door, banging on it again. "Holly!"

"She's not home," the lady in the bathrobe said. "She came by with her friend sometime after one in the morning, got some of her stuff and left again on the back of a snowmobile. I didn't see which way they went but I think she went to her parents' house. I have the phone number if you need it. She's not in any trouble, is she?"

Gabe pushed away from the door, looking over at the lady that eyed him curiously. He knew how it must look, standing at her door in full uniform pounding on it like a crazed man, which in a sense he was. "I'll find her," he informed the lady before he turned on his heel and walked the other direction, heading for the stairs. "And she will be if she doesn't tell me why she left my bed last night," he muttered, not realizing he had said the words out loud until he heard the lady comment something about Holly being a lucky girl as her door was closed.

He slid back in behind the wheel of the SUV and brought up Holly's information in his laptop, searching for her last known address and when he found it, he shifted the vehicle into drive and pulled out of the parking lot, turning back onto the main road and driving east out of town, slipping on his sunglasses to cut the glare of the morning sun on the snow-covered landscape. He should have known she'd go to her parents' house; it was seven miles past the city limit sign, which was out of his patrol area, falling under the county's jurisdiction. Like he really gave a shit. The snowplow had also stopped at the city limit sign, and he had to adjust his speed as he maneuvered down the road, the tires sinking into the packed pristine snow.

The further he drove, the angrier he got, his heart pounding in his chest until he couldn't think straight. He needed answers from her and he didn't care who he had to go through to get them, or how many uncleared roads he had to plow down. He found the address he was looking for and he turned into the driveway of a single-story ranch style house and parked behind a ten-year-old Chevy truck and climbed out, shutting the door behind him. Smoke was billowing up out of the chimney and he could hear the rumble of a gas generator coming from somewhere on the other side of the house.

He walked up the shoveled path and stepped up onto the front porch of the house, pushing his sunglasses up onto his forehead and, taking a deep breath and slowly letting it back out, knocked on the door, patiently waiting this time for it to be answered. He heard movement inside and he took a step back as the door was slowly opened, coming face to face with redheaded woman—her hair was the same shade of ginger and streaked with strands of gray but her eyes were a paler shade of green—who look surprised to see a city police officer standing there. "Ma'am," he said as calmly as he could, even though every nerve was on edge, "is Holly here?"

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Holly pulled her denim-clad legs up closer to her chest as she sat in the window seat of her childhood bedroom, staring out the bay window into the snow covered back yard, reaching up and wiping the tears from her burning cheeks. She'd never cried this much over a guy before but then she never loved someone as much as she loved Gabe. Her body ached for his touch whether it be soft and gentle or strong and firm, ached to feel his arms around her, holding her securely, letting her know nothing was going to happen to her, that she was always safe with him. And, as the tears started to fall again, she knew walking out on him had been a mistake, but she had let her own fears get the best of her and ended up leaving instead of just facing them head on even though she knew the longer she stayed the harder it was going to be if he was the one that walked out on her.

She never should have agreed to go home with him, but in those two days he treated her better than anyone else, loved her better, even though he never said the words to her, he still managed to make her fall harder than she ever fell for someone before. She loved him despite the pain he had gone through, the pain that would always be there with him, in his heart, his mind and tattooed on his skin, and even though she knew he needed her, emotionally more than physically, she still left. And it was tearing her up inside.

Holly heard a knock on her bedroom door and she wiped the tears from her face, tugging the sleeves of her oversized, bulky turtleneck sweater down over her hands, making sure the bruises on her wrists were hidden. She had gotten to her parents' house around two in the morning and even though she slipped into the house as quietly as she could, she still had to walk past their bedroom to get to hers and she knew her mother had heard her come home, thankfully giving her the privacy she needed, not even calling her to the table for breakfast. She had been unable to sleep anyways and just stared at the wall, finally dragging herself out of bed around seven and taking a shower. "Come in," she said, softly, looking over at the door as her mother pushed it open, walking in with a plate of food.

She looked up at her mother as she walked over to where she was sitting, shifting in the window seat so her legs were hanging over the edge, reaching up to take the plate from her as she kept the sleeves in place with her ring fingers, setting it on the cushion next to her. "Thank you," she said, looking down at the jelly covered toast and scrambled eggs. "But I'm not very hungry."

"You still need to eat," Robin said as she looked at her daughter, not missing the tears that stained her cheeks. The only other time she had snuck into the house in the wee hours of the morning was when she had broken up with her last boyfriend after just two months and even then, she had never seen her cry this much afterwards. She sat down on the bench next to her and wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer. "What happened, honey? Why didn't you tell me you had another man in your life."

Holly rested her head on her mother's shoulder, sniffling, trying to hold back the tears that just didn't want to stop, her chest hurting from the constant sobbing. "Because it happened faster than it should have," she sobbed, her trembling voice soft. She reached up and used the sleeve of her sweater to wipe away the sudden flow of tears from her raw cheeks and red, swollen eyes. "I'm crying over him like a damn teenager. I never should have left him... but I... I left him before... before he could leave me."

Robin put her arm around her daughter's shoulder and pulled her closer, cupping the side of her head in her hand a pressing a kiss to her hair before resting her cheek against the spot. She hated to see her daughter hurting, she'd been through so much as a child and the last thing ever wanted her to suffer with was a broken heart. Deep down, she knew the real reason her daughter was so afraid to love someone, to let someone into her life and she knew there was nothing she could say that would be of comfort to her. But she had to try ease her pain. She softly caressed this side of her daughter's head, her fingers brushing over her scar. "Sometimes that once in a lifetime love unexpectedly comes along and it hurts so bad that you never want to let that person go. Then you do and you realize that you can't live without him, that he is the one that makes you whole. If your two hearts are meant to be together, you will always find your way back to each other. If he's the right guy, he'll move heaven and earth to be with you, he'll be the one that wants you and loves you scars and all, he'll be the one that is right there beside you to the end of time."

"He has his own scars, but I love him," Holly whispered. She drew in a shaky breath, slowly letting it back out, knowing her mother was right, knowing deep down inside her that Gabe was the one that made her whole, was the only one that would never abandon her in the middle of the night like she had done to him. She just hoped that he would forgive her for being so foolish. She sniffled, drying the last of the tears from her eyes, dropping her hands to her lap as she just stared down at her clasped hands, she knew her parents wouldn't care about their age difference, it was his past that they would be more concerned about. She wrapped her arms around her mother and hugged her tight. "Thank you for being here."

"You always know where home is, honey," Robin said, hugging her daughter tight. She pulled back and cupped her daughter's face in her hands, looking into her eyes. "Call him before—" She stopped mid-sentence when she heard a knock on the front door. "That's the neighbor. Eat your breakfast and come out when you're ready," she said, pressing a kiss to her daughter's forehead.

Holly nodded her head and sat back in the window seat, watching as her mother walked from the room, leaving the door open. She picked up a slice of toast, biting into it, staring out the window at the snow, seeing the neighbor walking across their adjoining yards. If the neighbor was just crossing the yard then who was at the—

Shit

.

She dropped the toast back down onto the plate and leapt from the window seat, shoving her stocking covered feet into her heavy winter boots and grabbing her parka from the foot of her bed, clomping down the hallway just as she heard Gabe's deep voice from the front of the house. He was probably furious that she wasn't beside him when he woke up, even more so that she just up and left him like she did, and she should have known that he was going to track her down first thing after he got on shift, even if her haven was out of his patrol area. And this was not the way that she wanted him to meet her parents. She was pulling on her parka when her mother turned around and looked at her, a questioning look on her face. "It's ok, Mom. I'm not in any trouble," she reassured her, despite the look she was receiving once her mother put two and two together and subtracted the obvious age gap.

Once she was sure her mother wasn't going to intervene or hover around at the door, she stepped out onto the porch and pulled the door shut behind her, taking a deep breath and letting it back out before she turned around to look at Gabe, feeling her heart pounding even harder in her chest. He had a navy-blue watch cap pulled down over his ears instead of his baseball cap, his sunglasses resting on his forehead, and a heavier jacket to keep warm while out on patrol. His booted feet were planted wide and his arms were crossed over his broad chest despite the bulk of his vest under his jacket, his jaw was tense and his eyes dark with anger only to slightly soften when he turned his gaze up to her face. She half expected him to yell at her right here on the porch or worse, carry her off to his patrol vehicle parked in the driveway and berate her there where nobody could hear them.