A/N: Hey guys! Before you read this last chapter I want you guys to know that I'm fresh out of ideas :p If you guys have any random plots you'd like to share with me, I'd really appreciate it!
P.S. If you guys haven't already, go and check out anyadoll. She is a super awesome writer and her stories are to die for!
After Gabriel is discharged from the hospital, he and Riley make their way to his apartment. The car ride is quieter than usual and Gabriel notices Riley's mood change as she starts to get lost in thought. At first, she was happy to see him, and they were joking around like usual, but once Gabriel had brought up Lillian, Riley's expression changed, and she seemed to distance herself from him.
"It's been a long few days" Gabriel says as he and Riley walk into his apartment. The last few days are still fresh in their minds.
Gabriel holds the door open for Riley until she is completely through the door, then he closes the door and drops his keys in a bowl and watches Riley make her way to the kitchen counter and sit down. Before he goes to join her, he stops by the refrigerator and grabs two beers. He walks over to where Riley's sitting, hands her the drink, and sits down beside her.
She nods in gratitude, "Thanks." Riley keeps her head down and stares at the open beer bottle in front of her. Everything from the past few days is still active in her mind.
Gabriel looks over at Riley and just watches her for a minute or two. He can't imagine everything she's gone through the past few days. He has no way of knowing what Lilian said to her, but whatever it was it really did a number on her.
"It's not your fault." He's been saying that to her for the past hour, but it just doesn't seem to sink in. He watches for her reaction, but it doesn't come. She just stares at the beer bottle silently. He remembers everything Riley had said to him while he was in a coma. Why did she blame herself so much? Could it have been something Lillian said? "Riley look at me," he pleads, but she doesn't respond. "Riley…" he reaches over and places his hand over hers. The action seems to take Riley out of her trance and she looks up at him. He can see everything in her eyes. The calm, the loneliness, but mostly the guilt, he sees it all. "It's not your fault." This time when he says it, he stares straight through to her eyes and says it with a strong, confident voice. She needs to know that he doesn't blame her for what happened; that if anything, he's awestruck by how brave and loyal she is.
Riley keeps eye contact with him for a minute before nodding slightly and placing her attention back to the beer bottle. She feels Gabriel's hand slip away and from the corner of her eye she notices Gabriel get up from his seat beside her and walk towards the living room. A small part of her wants to turn around and see what he's doing but she just can't get herself to do it. With everything that's happened, all she wants to do is escape into her mind and never come out.
After a few seconds she can hear music playing. Then she can feel Gabriel's presence behind her, begging her to turn around. Slowly, she looks up and sees Gabriel's hand outstretched towards her. For a split second she thinks about taking his hand and forgetting everything, but she can't.
"Can I have this dance?" He waits for her to turn towards him and look into his eyes before he kneels down beside her. "I want you to dance with me," he says with a charming smile. "Please?"
Riley shakes her head no but he can tell there's a hint of a smile in her eyes. "Gabriel, you shouldn't put stress on your leg, besides, you know I don't dance"
"Not even with me?" He says in the most sincere face he could muster. This earns him a smile from Riley who turns her head away slightly to hide it, knowing if Gabriel sees a smile on her face she would lose the fight. Unfortunately for her, it doesn't go unnoticed.
Gabriel reaches over to her with his outstretched hand and gently turns her face toward him. When their eyes meet, Riley immediately sees the smile on his face. He knew he'd won. So, she allows him to pull her off the seat and walk over to the living room. There, Gabriel spins her around, takes her hand and begins dancing.
The song isn't a slow one; in fact it is one of the songs on his workout mix cd. At first their dancing is slow and not to the rhythm of music, but eventually they start to sync with the beat. Gabriel can see that Riley is starting to relax. He spins her around suddenly and Riley can't help but laugh at his awkward dancing style. The second Gabriel hears her laugh, he starts spinning around and dancing like a maniac, taking her with him in the process. "Gabriel your leg!" She warns.
A sudden feeling of happiness washes over her and she starts laughing. She laughs hard and strong. She lets everything from the past few days escape from her in a fit of uncontrollable laughter. The pain of not knowing whether or not Gabriel was going to make it, all the blame she felt for having been the reason for Gabriel's injury, and Lillian's confessions to her, they all seem to melt away.
Round and around he spins her until he feels that all her anger and resentment has left her. And, when he looks into her eyes a second time, he notices almost all the hurt and sorrow replaced with relief and a little bit of joy. So he smiles and he makes sure she sees it, because with everything they'd been through, she deserves a little bit of happiness.
They go on dancing for a good ten minutes before they both start getting tired. As the music subsides, their footsteps begin to falter and Gabriel trips and pulls down Riley with him. Gabriel lands hard on the floor with Riley landing on top of him. They both look at each other for a second then burst into a fit of laughter. After a few seconds, Gabriel stops laughing and just stares at Riley as her laughing continues. He could see now how much freedom she feels from having all that weight lifted off her shoulders. She is so beautiful.
As Riley's laughter begins to slow, she notices Gabriel watching her. She tilts her head a little subconsciously and just keeps looking at him. When her laughter stops she notices Gabriel's eyes shift down to look at her lips, then slowly travel back up to her eyes. All of a sudden the only sound that can be heard is the sound of them breathing. Riley doesn't look away, even though she knows she should. But, she can't, his eyes are so hypnotizing. Without even noticing it, she moves her head closer to his. Only when she sees a certain spark in Gabriel's eyes does she realize that she is on top of him with their faces only a few inches apart. In a sort of panic, she starts picking herself up off of him.
Gabriel sees the panic in her eyes and watches her lift herself slowly from him. But, without even hesitating, he grabs on to her hips at the last second and pulls her down on to him again. The only thing Gabriel can see now is Riley's in-shock face and her long, straight hair, surrounding his head like a comfortable shield. Seeing a strand of hair fall into her line of vision, Gabriel takes his free hand and moves the stray away from her face but instead of pulling his hand away, he keeps it there and cradles her cheek. For a second, he thinks she's going to push him away, but she doesn't. She just stays there staring at him.
Blood runs to her ears and all she can hear is the sound of her heart beating. Her eyes quickly flicker down towards Gabriel's lips before finding their way back to his eyes. "Gabriel, what… are you doing?" she faintly hears herself saying in a hushed tone, her eyes never leaving his.
It takes Gabriel a second to process the fact that she had spoken to him and another second to understand what she had said. "I just… I," he mutters as his eyes flicker down towards her lips and become permanently glued there. They both lean in closer. Gabriel can see Riley's hair closing in around him. "I… want.."
All of a sudden, a loud, shrill ringing, jolts them back to reality. Riley quickly jumps off of Gabriel and runs to answer the phone. Gabriel, needing a second to process what had just happened, slowly rises from the ground. He looks over at Riley who seems to be just as perplexed as he is. When she's finished with the phone call, she walks over to him slowly, never making eye contact. He can tell she's embarrassed by what had just happened.
"That was Lilian, she… um… needs us back at Cyber Command," she says as she makes her way towards the door.
"Of course she does," Gabriel mutters under his breath. What would have happened if Lilian hadn't interrupted their moment? Would they have kissed? Is that a good thing? Before he had time to think about it, he reaches over and grabs Riley's hand, stopping her in her tracks. She slowly turns her face towards him, scared of what might happen next.
"I want to" he simply says. He knew she'd understand what he meant. That what he wants is to kiss her.
Riley inhales silently and looks down at their linked hands; then she finds his eyes. "We have to go," she says quietly as she pulls away from him. He understands. It's too soon, too strange to even be having this discussion. But, he can't help but feel a little hurt by the rejection.
Before she reaches the door she turns around and smiles at him, hoping that he understands that she can't just jump into this. Hoping that he'll forgive her so that they can move on. And, when she sees him smile back at her, she knows.
As Gabriel's closing the door, "I hope you know that when I cyber render this later, we make out."
A/N: Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed the story! Unfortunately I have some disturbing news. It turns out that CBS has decided to cancel Intelligence. It's not "official" yet, but if there's any hope of renewing this awesome show, we need to start e-mailing CBS and telling them to renew the show, or at least give it to another network. Intelligence has already been sold to a UK network called Sky1, they are very hopeful for the show. If ratings are better in the UK, they might renew the show for a second season themselves, who knows. But, as of right now, CBS will not give us a second season. I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you should all know so that we can band together and fight to get it back!
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this story! Let me know if you have any plot ideas you'd like me to write about. Thanks for reading!