Disclaimer: I do not own Intelligence nor its characters (if I did I would have gone to all possible networks in order to continue the show). This story is for entertainment purposes only and means. Do not publish without my explicit consent.
AN/ I was surprised to find out that Gabriel only had one brother. He spoke of being the youngest and the only one whom his mother forbid from going to war. And then he said that he was the fifth Vaughn to go to war. At the time I assumed 3 older brothers but he probably meant a grandfather, or an uncle. Nevermind. However for the purposes of this story, I needed him to be the youngest of three.
Late night confessions
Once they had finished dinner, Riley went home and Gabriel was left alone with his mother for the first time in a while. Once she had changed the dressing on his wound she basically tucked him in bed (despite his protests reminding him that he wasn't 5 years old any more). However, when she reached the door leading out of his bedroom, Gabriel spoke.
"Mom?" He paused for a second, as if he was hesitating whether to continue or not. "Why didn't you ever get remarried after dad died?" He asked. Mary knew that only the exhaustion from the past few days would give her son the courage to ask such a personal question. That, and maybe something else that he wasn't quite ready to admit but that she could see. Just as she was about to tell him to go to sleep, she looked him in the eyes. His pleading look made her turn around. She slowly approached his bed and sat down on the edge like she had when he was just a boy.
"Well, being a single mom with 3 boys at home didn't leave much time for dating." None of them said anything for a minute.
"I'm sorry, mom." His looked down and away from her, obviously to hide the guilt in his eyes.
"Hey. I have no regrets." She touched his chin and made him look at her. "You three were everything I needed. You were my world."
"That's why you didn't like it when we joined. And took it so hard when Drew and Jonny died." The realization of what he and his brothers had put their mother through pierced him like knife. And it hurt a lot more than the bullet wound that was currently healing. He and his brothers had hurt their mother more than any of them could have ever possibly imagined.
"Your brothers needed the army as much as it needed them. Jonny got back on the right track and Andrew finally found a way to stop suppressing the hurt from losing your father." She fought the tears, trying to hide the hurt.
"What about me? I was the only one you forbid from joining. Why? You never said anything when Jonny and Andrew enlisted. But when it was my turn…" After all those years, he still couldn't voice that fear. But his mother was more perceptive than he gave her credit for. The self-doubt in his eyes was obvious enough for her.
"You think that I never considered you good enough." Mary cupped his cheek in her hand and gave it a gentle stroke. "Oh, my sweet boy. It was never about that. I just always thought that you'd do something different with your life."
"But why? I get not wanting to lose another son but you forbid me even before Jonny and Drew died. Convinced me to go to college instead." Mary took a deep breath. She was a tough woman and she always took responsibility for her decisions. However she couldn't let her son doubt her motives any longer. Not after everything that had transpired in the past week. She only hoped to be able to explain to him her motivations without making him feel even more guilty.
"Listen to me and listen closely. I loved you three the same, but you I just couldn't lose. When your father died, Jonny was a teenager. He was so angry because he didn't know how to deal with it. Unfortunately he took out part of that anger on you and Andrew." At the mention of her second son, she found herself forced to suppress more tears. "Poor Andrew. He went in the exact opposite direction and refused to talk to anyone. Closed himself in his room. Broke my heart." Mary took another deep breath. "And then there was you. You were so young when it happened. Barely 9 years old. You were still trying to make sense of the world." Mary took a deep breath. Gabriel looked at her and finally understood. He and his brothers had been her everything to her: her world, her reason to live. That's why she had doted on them all the time. And that was why she had turned to the bottle when his brothers had died. "You were also my savior." Mary continued. "You were so innocent and sweet. Even though you were hurting, and don't pretend you didn't cry at night and try to hide it from me because I heard you, you still wanted to take care of me. You would pick out flowers on your way back from school just to make me smile even for a second. You're the only one of the three of you who can cook because you wanted to help me out in the kitchen so I can get at least some rest. You told Jonny off when he was going too far. Even when you all grew up. You did all you could to have good grades and go to college on a scholarship so I wouldn't have to worry about you. You did have your wild teenage phase, one that I'm still not convinced that you have outgrown, but you were my angel. So, the reason why I never wanted you to join wasn't because I thought you weren't good enough. I was selfish. You had been my lifeline for so long. Too long." For the first time since his brother's funeral, Gabriel saw his mother cry. He got up as well as he could and hugged her.
"I'm sorry, mom." He whispered. "I shouldn't have brought it up."
"It's ok. I want you to know." She cupped his face in her hands and kissed his forehead. "I am so proud of you. And your father and brothers would have been proud too. I'm the one who should apologize. I pushed you away when you joined the army. I thought that if I was angry with you, it would hurt less if I lost you."
Gabriel laid back, his mother still sitting on the edge of his bed. They stayed like that in a comfortable silence. So many things had been unspoken between them. So much hurt. He blamed himself for the way he'd been treating her all these years. For the harsh words and blaming looks. He then vowed to make it up to her any way he could. He would visit her more often. Make sure that she was taking care of herself. Make sure she was happy.
"We would have understood, you know?" Mary gave him a questioning look. "If you moved on." Gabriel explained. "Maybe not at first but eventually. I know that I would have. All we wanted was for you to be happy."
"And that means the world to me. Maybe you should give it a shot too. Moving on and trying again." Mary gave her son a genuine smile. Gabriel didn't say anything but registered her words. "Now, go to sleep. You need rest and quite frankly, I could use some myself." He nodded.
"Night, mom." He smiled. Mary stood up and headed to the door. As she switched off the light, Gabriel spoke again.
"Mom."
"Yes." She looked at him.
"I'll be careful. I promise." He tried to reassure her. "You won't get a flag for me."
Mary simply nodded and left for the guest room.
AN/ So What do you think? It was so hard not to make any Rliey/Gabriel references but I wanted this to be a fic between Gabriel and his mom.
But if you are desperate for some Riley/Gabriel, just imagine that the Fic ended like this.
"Indeed, she wouldn't get a flag for her third son. She knew that. If anyone was getting that flag, it would be that so called partner of his."
Review button, pretty please?