So.. I started writing this a couple of months ago, but then the new chapter of Love Define Us come to me and I needed to write it down.

This story is a gift from me to my dear friend Blue! I hope you like the story since a question you made me one day bring it out to life.

So enjoy and I will see you at the bottom.

Poisonous Past

"Sometimes superheroes are born,

sometimes they are made.

Sometimes they make themselves.

Sometimes all it takes is will."

Anne Ursu

Chapter 1: Dear stranger...

In the middle of the forest, a small house with a greenhouse attached to it, was to be found. A young woman with brown long hair called that place home. She was humming softly to her plants, making pauses to talk to a particular flower or plant before continue her way to water the others. Walking to the kitchen, she dried her hands on her simple jeans, and placed the kettle over the stove full of water for her morning tea. Moving to a small table with a potted plant and photography, she bended a little bit, stares at the little girl with dirty blond hair. The girl looked about 7 years old and was surrounded by trees.

"Good morning, Verona." Touching the plant next to the picture, she concentrated and a yellow with orange center star flower growth.

The whistle of the kettle made her come back to the kitchen, she added the prepared mix to her tea in to the cup and poured the hot water, filling the kitchen with vanilla, chamomile, pear and mint aroma. Anna smiled, sipping with delight her favorite tea mixture. The sounds of guitars and violins came from her jean's pocket, she dig into it and take out her phone, answering.

"Anna!" A woman voice yelled from the other side of the line. "Oh my God… you will never guess what happen…" Anna smiled.

"Hitomi calm down." Silence came thru the line. "Take deep breaths, I don't want you to destroy the latest and very expensive phone Van decided to gave you." A sound that could be took as a snort was her only answer. "Now that you are calm, what is that I will never guess?"

"I'm in the middle of… well nowhere… I did remember about you, like how much you would love this place, because it surrounded of trees that I have never seen and they are so big." Anna sat down with her tea cup in hand and smile at the rambling of her best friend. Anna knew her friend and something big happened for her being in such an excited state. "Could you tell me how old they are? Of course you would… The cabins are so comfortable and you know what the best thing about this place is…" Anna sipped her tea while Hitomi squealed. "No electrical devices… I was so happy when Van brought me here… I mean I'm still happy… more than happy… I feel so free…" Hitomi took a moment to breathe before going on. "I didn't know why he brought me here, but it was nice. I was so cheerful that I almost set a tree on fire…" Hitomi gasped and Anna was sure she had a hand over her mouth, when she started talking again, she was talking even faster. "Igavethetreeanapology. Doyouthinkthetreeforgaveme?" Anna frowned, leaving her cup of tea on the table, she walked outside, taking her flip-flops off and touching the ground, she concentrated. "I didn't mean it… you know that I love plants and trees and flowers." Anna could hear the deep voice of Van asking her friend to calm down; she was able to picture Hitomi taking deep breaths while Van held her hand.

"I know you love Nature, Hitomi." She tried not to laugh at her friend anxiety. "Don't worry; the tree forgave you in the minute you asked him. It's not in their nature to hold resentment. Now, Heart tell me what is going on, because you are rambling just like when you and Van started dating".

"Sorry Anna. I didn't mean to ramble."

"It's okay Hitomi, you know that whenever you want to ramble, I'm your girl. Just curious about this being in the 'middle of nowhere', that to be more precise you are about 150 kilometers away from Ambrosia City," Anna swore she could hear Hitomi rolling her eyes at her previous statement, she chuckled and add, "and you are making me wonder why Van took you there. So tell me all about it, okay?"

"Okay… I can't believe it happen. Anna… Van proposed to me! I'm going to get ma..." The line went death.

Anna laughed and wondered how much time till she heard about her best friend again. She moved inside the house and put her blue flip-flops again. Her phone rang and she didn't even bother to see who was.

"Congratulations, my dearest energized friend. So I'm taking you fried your new phone?" Hitomi groaned and Anna giggled. "It's okay; I think you can use the excuse about the battery going crazy on you again. I'm so happy for you Hitomi! Have you two settled a date for the wedding?"

"Not yet, we were talking about it, but I needed to tell my best friend about it first… Of course Van did tried to calm me down first."

"I swear the man is a saint to be able to stand the countless electric shocks you give him." Hitomi laughed. "Heart, I'm really happy for you, but I think this is a moment to be kissing your fiancé senseless. So call me later on… and don't forget the flowers at your wedding are all on me! I think is time to start working on a new kind of flower just for you!"

"You are the best friend ever! I will call you later on!"

Anna felt cheerful for how happy her best friend was, but couldn't help but wonder if she would ever get the same chance. To find a man that knows all your secrets and yet still loves you for whom you are. In Anna's opinion, Hitomi got the last man to be that way. Shaking her head, she sighed, grabbing her purse and walk out of her house to go open her flower shop in town.

Do I still have some snapdragons seeds left? Anna wondered. Well I might need to order some, I should probably go white at the bottom, because is a wedding and red on top for her favorite color.

She smiled and took the road to the left, following her daily path to town. She loved the fact that City of Trees was an eco friendly place, that's what made this place an option for her when she decided to move out. For her was absolutely paradise. All the buildings seemed to be taken out of some fairytale, wood constructions that weren't exactly modern but they were in tune with the forest surrounding the town. One Avenue and Five Streets was all the downtown, and pretty much all the town. She was lucky enough to have her store on Oak Avenue. Her store was different to the other buildings; she insisted and succeeded on putting some plants and flowers on the roof and adding solar panels to supply the energy for the little technologic devices her store had. Anna always arrived earlier than most of the business around, but she enjoyed the silence and liberty that an almost deserted Avenue gave her. She used that time when her roof flowers needed water to talk to them and pour a little bit of extra nutrients in the water. Anna could see her store now and smiled as a welcoming feeling filled her. She walked faster to the store.

"Good morning, my darlings!" Anna whispered to her plants, opening the door to the store. "We have a little bit of time before costumers comes our way. So a little bit of music and some cleaning is in order." She smiled wider when she felt the approval of her plants.

Placing her bag behind the counter, she took a small lilac apron and put it on, while pressing play on the small stereo she had. Soft rhythmic tunes flowed thru the store, being classic music, specially the one containing violin, their favorite. Anna kept the door open, taking her broom and cleaning of the dust from the floor. When she finished, she went to the back of the store, leaving the broom and took a blue sprayer she went to each plant, pouring just the perfect quantity of water for each of them.

" 'Tomi called this morning! She is getting married! Can you all believe it?" A humming sensation told her they quite believe it. "I'm so happy for her; I wanted to talk more with her about her plans of the wedding, like what kind of flowers she wants! 'Cause we can always provide that ones for her, right?" A happy buzz came into her mind and she giggled. "I knew I could count with you all! I still don't know what she wants, but I know her favorite flower is the snapdragon… I want to give her one that even when she let out her 'shocking' cheerfulness won't mutate into something else, or starts to grow out of the blue…" Without her noticing a stranger was at her door, watching her intensely as she was deep into her rambling. "I would talk to her about some orchids in the middle of the ta…" Feeling a warning from her plants, she turned around to face the stranger.

Anna gasped, suddenly feeling self-conscious. Running a hand along her hair, she tried to calm her racing heart. Great Anna, way to be aware of your surroundings… he must think I'm crazy. Observing the man in front of her, she noticed his black eyes watching her intensely; she shifted under his gaze, his long dark brown hair framing his face. He took a step inside the store and smiled kindly to her.

"Good morning, miss." His deep voice sent shivers thru Anna's body. "I didn't mean to scare you; I'm merely looking for someone that can give me directions, since I'm new on town." Anna let out a breath she didn't notice she was holding and nodded to the stranger, who extend his hand towards her. "My name is Gabriel Van Helsing."

Anna hesitated for a minute, before giving him a friendly smile and gripped his hand gently.

"Nice to meet you, Mister Van Helsing. I'm Anna, and about directions just tell me where you want to go."

"Gabriel." He corrected her. "Just Anna?" He added raising an eyebrow in curiosity.

"Yes, Gabriel, just Anna." She smiled. "So where do you want to go?"

Gabriel searched inside his black leather jacket and brought out a small paper with a direction written on it. He handed it to Anna, who read it before frowning.

"Is something wrong?" Gabriel asked.

"Not really, just directions to get to Maple Road aren't easy to give, you can easily get lost…" Anna seemed deep in thought and Gabriel waited for the next thing she would say. "Since I'm early, I think it will be better if I show you the way."

"I don't want to bother you…" Anna held her hand up and said no with her head.

"It's not a bother… since we will be kind of neighbors is only right to help you out, so let me grab my keys and close the store and we will go right to Maple Road."

Gabriel nodded and Anna hurried behind the counter, taking off her apron and grabbed her keys. She took a moment to take a deep breath.

"Be back soon", Anna said in a soft whisper to her plants and locking the door.

She walked towards Gabriel that was waiting for her next to a black pick-up truck with the passenger door opened for her. She muttered a thank you before climbing in and watching Gabriel as he walked around and climbed in to the driver's side.

"Straight forward, and don't go so fast, so we can take the turn in time." Anna said, making Gabriel smirk.

"How do you know I drive fast?"

"It's just a feeling." Anna blushed and kept her eyes on the road.

Gabriel took off towards the direction Anna told him, and kept an eye on her. He saw her biting her lower lip in a nervous way.

"So what brings you to our lovely town?" Anna said with a small smile.

"My work." Gabriel answered, but said nothing more.

Anna sighed, wanting to ask more, but feeling that she would get short answers from him.

"There will be a small entrance to your right, take it. Turn left here". Gabriel followed Anna's instructions, while they pass a couple of houses in the middle of the forest. "Turn right here and in the next turn right again. Pass this house and here we are."

As soon as Gabriel parked in front of the cabin, Anna got down from the car and walked around to stand in front of Gabriel. Introducing her hands on her jean's pockets and balancing her weight on her feet, she said.

"Well this is 24th Mapple Road, is a really comfortable house if you ask me." Taking a quick look to the small cabin behind her, she added quickly. "Welcome again to City of Trees, I will leave you to settle down."

Anna passed next to him, containing the urge to just run away from the place before she embarrassed herself more. Gabriel grabbed her forearm gently, stopping her.

"If you can spare twenty minutes, I can drive you back to your store. Just…"

"Oh, I don't want to bother you." Taking a step back and getting out of his grip, she smiled and added. "Besides a little bit of walking will be great for me. So I will be seeing you around in town, you know whenever you need directions or want to know a place for buying things, I'm your girl."

Gabriel smirked at her choice of words; Anna gasped and turned around wanting nothing more than being able to disappear. Right now I will trade happily my power for some invisible ones. Shocking her head, she jumped when she felt a hand grabbing hers.

"Anna, I insist you let me drive you back to your store." She moved her head saying no, not trusting her voice in the moment. He sighed and looked down to where his hand still held hers. "Then let me take you out for lunch." Placing a finger on top of her lips, he continued. "Either you let me drive you back to your store or take you out for lunch. Just be aware that if you let me drive you back, I will still go and pick you up during lunch time so you introduce me to a nice place to eat here." Anna opened and closed her mouth, Gabriel seeing her obvious hesitation, said. "Please, Anna let me drive you back to the store and take you out for lunch. Please."

Gorgeous… was all that Anna mind was able to think seeing Gabriel almost black eyes. Feeling something like a kick in the back of her mind, she blushed and cleared her throat that have gone suddenly dry.

"I insist that you stay to settle down, but I will love to have lunch with you." Gabriel smiled, placed a kiss on her knuckles and let her go.

"Be careful." She grinned and took a couple of steps back.

"I will, see you later."

Anna turned around and didn't wait for him to replay. Gabriel watched her walk away, and started to unload his truck.

Anna was running down the road, trying to shake off the nervous feeling out of her stomach. She was surprised to find that she was already entering Oak Avenue. Slowing down, she started to even her breaths and unlocking the door, she ignored the welcoming feeling that her plants send her. Sitting behind the counter, she banged her head against the counter. Oh God, lunch time with the guy that reduces me into a mess. Why does he want me to go out to have lunch with him? I mean he was totally ignoring me when I tried to make a conversation with him. Banging her head a couple of times into the counter, she felt concern about her mental health. Lifting her head up, she ushered the thoughts away. An up-tempo melody ringed, closing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose, Anna picked up.

"Hi Mommy"

"Hello, Anna. I was merely calling to wish you a great day today. I will be traveling to Cartago, for a convention and to meet some new clients. So we won't be able to talk a lot the next week or so, depending on how much time I need to spend checking up the crops, and well you know the drill". Anna nodded and waited for her mother to continue. "Listen, Anna, I really want you to come with me to Cartago, and spend time together like we used…"

Anna moved uncomfortable on her chair and tried very hard to cast away the awful memories that were fighting for her to acknowledge them.

"Mom, I would like to go with you. You know that I would love for things to be like it used to. But you know the store is just picking up and…" She bitted her bottom lip nonchalantly. "I don't think I'm ready to be in small spaces and big cities…" She heard her mom sigh and Anna knew her mother understand everything she wasn't really saying.

"Then maybe next time will be it. I got to go; I will call you as soon as I land. Take care of yourself, Anna."

"You too mom, God blesses you." Hesitating again, Anna quickly added. "I love you, mommy."

Silence was her only answer and she couldn't help but banging her head against the counter yet again. Maybe today is just not my day. Thinking about all the events that made her walk away from her family and everything she knew sadness threaten to overcame her. Playing with her phone for a moment, she looked up for Van's number to talk to Hitomi; she stopped death in her tracks and let the phone aside. I can't ruin her moment with Van, just 'cause my relation with my mother is complicated and a guy made me feel… Ugh! Closing her eyes and letting the connection to her plants filled her mind, she relaxed. She had always found comforting the way the plants touched her mind, and transmitting their feelings, thoughts and memories. An image came to her mind, the white and red snapdragon.

"Thank you", she smiled, walking to the bookcase and picked up a couple of plant physiology books. Passing by the stereo, she resumed their Vivaldi Concert that was interrupted in the morning. Sitting behind the counter, she started her reading. Much of what we know about the photosynthetic apparatus was learned through spectroscopy—that is, measurements of the interaction of light… Anna dozed off waiting for some enlighten on how to make a snapdragon resistant or tolerant to the electric shocks of her best friend. Grabbing a pencil and a notebook, she kept track of some changes that she could perform to achieve that.

Forgetting about the world, she kept writing and reading, changing books from time to time. She failed to notice that the town was awakening, the different stores opening, and when some people passed in front of Anna's store can only smile at the strange woman that came to live a year ago to their town. Since most of the inhabitants of the town loved plants, whenever their plants got health issues, Anna was the person to go to in those moments. Some cars and trucks passed along Oak Avenue, soon three hours passed and Anna remained in the same position. A hushed noise that sounded almost like an 'excuse me' brought Anna back to reality. Putting the book aside, she stood up but didn't see anyone in front of the counter.

"Excuse me, Miss." A sweet childish voice said.

Looking down, she saw a little girl, barely six years old, with two ponytails holding her blond hair out of her face. Anna noticed that the girl was holding a pot with an orchid. She recognized the girl as the daughter of the owner of the bank. Oh God, what was her name? Anna thought to herself, while walking around the counter and kneeling to be at the same level of the girl, she smiled and an image of lilies come to her mind. She took a mental note to buy them a new disc of classical music for tomorrow.

"What can I do for you, Lily?" For answer, Lily raised her orchid towards Anna and some tears appeared in her eyes. Anna took the pot from her and after making a quick assessment on what the trouble was, she placed aside the orchid and gently cleaning some rebel tears along Lily's face, she told her. "Don't worry, Lily, I know what your orchid has, and I promise you that I can make it better. As a matter of fact, you are going to help me to get your little friend better, how does it sound?"

Lily clasped her hands together and nodded, a smile adorning her face. Anna took the orchid and with her free hand, closed the books and moved them to a side, placing the pot in the free space. Picking Lily up, she sit her on the bar stool.

"Wait here and talk to your orchid, while I go and grab a couple of things so we can heal her, okay?"

"I can do that, Miss." Lily replayed cheerfully.

"Please call me Anna, Lily."

"Okay, Miss Anna." Anna laughed and went to the back of the store to retrieve a bowl with water.

She could hear Lily talking about ponies, pandas and unicorns. She loved when kids were her costumers. Tapping her fingers along the shelf with different products created by her mother, she tried to figure out which one was the best. She still could hear Lily's voice, very soft and welcome. Finally picking the last bottle of the shelf, she gathered a small cloth and the bowl. She was about to said something to Lily when a deeper voice caught her attention.

"So Miss Anna is going to heal your plant?" Anna recognized Gabriel's voice and her stomach did a strange flip.

What is he doing here? Unable to hit her forehead with her palm, she rolled her eyes. Lunch time, I did forget about that. Shaking her head, she took a deep breath and resumed walking towards the counter, keeping in mind to act normal. Before be on sight, but knowing she would be heard, she said.

"I found what I was looking for, Lily. Are you ready to help me out?" She heard a squeak and she smiled to the kid, noticing that Gabriel was against the counter, watching her closely. "Oh, hi Gabriel, already lunch time?"

"Yes, Miss Anna." He said with a playful and helped her to set down the bowl. "But it can wait till your done healing Lily's orchid."

Anna send him a grateful look, before opening the bottle and added some of the contents inside to the water, she grabbed the cloth and moistened with the liquid.

"So Lily, we are going to clean your orchid with this cloth. We are going to do it as gently as we can, removing the little bugs under the leaves, okay?" Seeing the girl nod, she gave her the cloth and watched as the girl concentrated in the task at hand.

Picking the bowl, she wet the soil with the liquid and closing her eyes for a moment, she concentrated on the orchid. An image of a younger Lily came to her mind, and she already knew Lily enjoyed talking with the orchid often. Opening her eyes, she touched one of the leaves and poured a little of her powers to fortify the defense system of the orchid. Lily was humming and finishing with the task at hand; Anna picked a small bottle and put the rest of the bowl liquid inside. Lily placed a kiss on one of the leaves and turned towards Anna, giving her the cloth. Anna and Gabriel watched her as she looked for something inside her pockets, extending one of her hands to Anna, she offered her a couple of coins. Anna looked at the coins then back to Lily, before it clicked on her mind what the girl was trying to do. Closing Lily's hand, she said.

"I can't accept it, Lily. After all you did all the work." Seeing the little girl frown, she added. "Lets make a deal, you come visit me from time to time and that will be my payment, sounds good?"

Without warning Lily jumped from the barstool to Anna, who was barely able to catch the girl in time, but was unable to balance and fall backwards into the floor. Gabriel seeing them fall, rushed to the other side of the counter and was trying very hard not to laugh at the sight of Anna on the floor with Lily on top. Taking a gigling Lily in his right arm, Gabriel helped Anna to get up.

"I think is time we take Lily to her parents." He said and Anna nodded, picking up her keys and the orchid, reaching Gabriel and Lily at the door.

The trio reached the bank with no problems and a pleasant conversation around Lily's orchid was sustained during the travel. Anna discovered that Gabriel had a rather lovely laugh and she quickly placed as one of her favorite sounds. Safely delivering Lily to her mother, Anna and Gabriel found themselves in a small restaurant in Pine Street, two blocks down of Anna's store. The place had a bookcase and a couple of armchairs at the left in the front part, in the back about ten to eleven wood tables. Sitting a table in the back, they waited for the waiter to come.

"So what do you recommend?" Gabriel said.

"Since the owner and chef is Italian, I recommend you to try that ones out. The other dishes are nice, but Italian dishes are great." Anna said, while a man around sixty years old came towards them. "Hello Luka."

"Anna," Luka said her name with clear adoration, he took her hand and kiss it gently, eyeing Gabriel suspiciously, "è sempre un piacere vederla." Pausing a moment, he turned to Gabriel and asked. "Who is your friend?"

"Luka he is Gabriel, Gabriel he is Luka." Both men acknowledge each other with a quick shake of hands but nothing was said. "Gabriel is new in town, so I thought it was a great idea to introduce him to your wonderful and very delicious food."

"I see… surely I can make something special for my ragazza preferita and my new committente…"

"Oh we don't want to bother you Luka, we will orde…"

"Sciocchezze," Luka opened his arms towards them, "I won't take a no for answer." With that said Luka turned around and leave them alone.

"He is quite a character, eh?" Anna said with a smile. "He was the first one in the town to welcome me and now he makes sure I eat 'correctly' at least during lunch." Anna chuckled a little remembering the enormous portions Luka argued to be the right ones for her. "He reminds me a lot of my grandpa." Gabriel's silence made Anna stop. "I'm sorry, I'm talking too much."

"Actually I do enjoy the sound of your voice, Just Anna." Anna blushed and found the napkin rather interesting. "I'm a man of few words, but I will answer your questions the best I can. Please don't be disappointed if I don't elaborate as much as you do."

By the end of his speech, Anna was looking at him with surprise. Biting down her lower lip, she thought of a way to respond correctly to that. Remembering something her mother always told her when she was little, she smiled and faced Gabriel.

"That's alright; according to my mother I can ´talk enough for two people'." Gabriel laughed a bit.

"So you are not from here?" Gabriel asked.

"No, I came to live here around a year ago… About two years last month, during a research travel with my mother, we stopped here to rest for two days." A dreamy look came into Anna's face. "The way this town is build, the respect for nature and so many other things made me fall in love with the place. So after a rather stressing year, I decided to quit my job and move here to open a plant shop." Chewing her bottom lip, she said. "So, you said you came here for work…" taking a deep breath she gathered some courage and continued. "What do you do for a living?"

"I'm a bounty hunter" Gabriel told her. Anna blinked a few times.

"Seems interesting… Never knew a bounty hunter before." Gabriel smirked and rested an elbow in the chair. "So you do lots of traveling?"

"Sometimes." Anna smiled with his one word answer.

"Well one day I will make you tell me what places have you visited."

"Why not now?"

"If I'm right," Anna gave a quick look to the kitchen's door, "Luka will be with our food anytime now." Gabriel raised his left eyebrow, causing Anna to giggle. "Believe me, once you taste Luka's food the world vanish and the only thing that matter is eating his food."

As soon as she said that, Luka came thru the door balancing two different plates in his arms. Setting down a plate in front of Anna and after another plate before Gabriel, he showed a proud smiled about his creations. Anna's face lighted up and clasped her hands; she looked up to Luka that was giving a dramatic pause.

"Bella ragazza e gentiluomo, before you Risotto con funghi porcini and Bisteck alla Fiorentina." Luka was enjoying the silence of his costumers and giving a small fluorite with his hand. Anna recovered first, sharing a wink with Luka, before he went to attend some costumers that just arrived.

"I don't have a clue about what he just said" Gabriel's stunned face remarked his words.

She chuckled and took the first dib into her meal. She was suddenly overwhelmed with the feeling of being in heaven; she groaned and rolled her eyes, which got Gabriel's attention. Anna closed her eyes and smiled while chewing her food giving Gabriel enough freedom to observe the petite woman that caught his attention. Anna was smaller than him, he calculated for her to be 4 feet 11 inches tall, and her long straight brown hair was place in a messy bun that added a different touch to her face. He had heard her talk with the plants, almost as if they were answering her back, and a feeling of peacefulness surrounded her. Gabriel was always careful and reduced social interactions to the minimum, but Anna puzzled him and even if it made him distracted from his work, he was determinate to solve her out. Noticing Anna's eyelids began to open, he focused on his meal, realizing that Anna was after all right: the food was exceptional and it almost made him forgot about the world around him. Gabriel was the first to end all his food, he looked towards Anna, who was now lazily laying on the chair half of her food untouched. She was grinning to him.

"I told you so." She sounded sleepy, Gabriel chuckled.

"Are you going to finish that?" He pointed to her plate.

"No way I can eat that much, if you want it is all yours."

Gabriel shrugged and picked her plate, enjoying how her beautiful brown honey eyes opened wider with each bite he took. Leaving the plate with nothing, he smirked and patted his stomach, surprising himself with his strange behavior. A laugh burst from Anna's lips; suddenly she was holding her sides and happy tears rolled down her cheeks. He pretended to be offended by her laugh, but deep inside him, he though her laugh was something he would never got tired of.

"I'm… sorry… Gabriel." Anna said between gasps, as she was trying to regain composure. "I just never though I would see the day that a person was capable to eat the entire ration that Luka serve. Not only that, but you finished what I left." Gabriel shrugged. "Wanna ask for a desert?"

"No, thank you. I might eat a lot, but not that much." Anna waived a hand and gave out a snort. Taking out her phone from her lilac apron, she realized it was time to get back to her shop.

"I would like very much to keep talking and all, but it's already time to get back to open the shop." She got up, and Gabriel imitated her. She walked towards a small wood counter in the back, where Luka was. "Luka, as usual, everything was wonderful. I think you have finally found a costumer that can take your humongous rations." She said, looking towards Gabriel.

Luka only smiled, and Gabriel paid the bill, promising to came back tomorrow for another taste. Anna gave Luka a quick hug and both went back to the store. The way back was in silence, each one deep in though. Anna was hesitating of what to do next, since she wanted to see Gabriel again, but didn't want to sound desperate. Arriving to the store, she opened the door and waited for Gabriel to get inside.

"So," Anna bitted her bottom lip, "thank you for inviting me lunch. I guess I will see you around."

"Already getting rid of me?" Gabriel teased.

"Uhm… no… just… sorry…" Gabriel was amused by Anna's nervous expression. Taking hold of her right hand, he smiled.

"I was expecting a tour of your shop."

"Okay…" Anna raised an eyebrow and looked around, her friends were unusually quiet. "There is not much too see, but I can tell you what plants I have." Pointing towards a tall and skinny plant with three large purple flowers, she said. "That is a Lily, her flowers blossom only in this time of the year. You can say they 'sleep' during the rest of the year, working in creating three beautiful purple flowers for us to enjoy…"

Gabriel smiled as she went from plant to plant, explaining him every single detail. He notices her maple eyes lighten with happiness. He was never good with plants, but he enjoyed looking to some. Lost in his thoughts, he half listened Anna's words and only seeing her chewing her bottom lip, that he was brought back to reality.

"Is something wrong?" He asked.

"Not really…" she went behind her counter and picked a small pot in her hands. He notices how she handled the pot with love and care; she stood in front of him, offering him the small pot. "I can tell what plant is perfect for each person, call it gift if you want." Anna smiled shyly and he took the pot from her, a small plant with the form of a rosette with six tiny leaves was spread along the soil. "This is my newest addition, growth it myself from a seed. It's a Dionaea muscipula, commonly know as Venus Fly Trap, it's a carnivore plant. I can teach you how to take care of him and you know try it out…" She stopped when she saw Gabriel's eyebrows up. Chewing her bottom lip again, she started to felt stupid for even bring the subject up, but when her newest acquisition had called out for him, she gave it a try, taking the pot out of his hand, she rushed behind the counter and fixed her eyes into the floor. "I'm sorry, it was a stupid idea."

Gabriel watched her mumbling and something along 'gift', 'ridiculous', 'crazy' was all he picked up. He frowned, understanding now that she was trying to give him the plant as a gift.

"Anna." he called her softly, noticing she stopped her mumblings, but didn't look at him. "Anna, can you look at me, please?" She shook her head, Gabriel sighed and walked towards her, placing his fingers under her chin, he gently raised her head so he could look directly to her eyes. "I was confused a moment ago, I'm sorry I didn't understand you meant to give me the Venus as a gift. Can I still have it, Miss Anna?" Gabriel felt his chest warm up, when she smiled and whisper a 'yes'. Anna picked the pot again and offered to him, he couldn't help but feel even more intrigued by this woman. "Thank you."

Gabriel touched Anna's fingers briefly, but he sensed something around the room changed. He couldn't stop looking at her eyes, ignoring the rest of the world; he could now understand what he had read one time about 'got lost in those eyes', for here he was living that. Anna was in the same position as him, lost in his dark brown eyes, almost black ones, she forgot of her constant worries and without noticing for the first time in years she was letting a small part of her powers to flow softly, surrounding them. Feeling the pull of her connection overpowering her, she let out a gasp, closing her eyes and brought her power back abruptly. Gabriel set the pot in the counter and placed a hand on Anna's shoulder.

"Are you all right?" Noticing the concern in his voice, Anna nodded, looking around her store, she notice some of the plants that weren't supposed to flourish during this time of the year, were showing a couple of buds. Feeling her stomach drop to her knees, she tried to act as normal as she could.

"So, you need to put it on a place where he gets enough light, but not directly and water it every three or four days, depend how the weather is." Gabriel recognized fear in her eyes, confused he nodded, picking his pot and walking towards the door, when he reached the door he turned around.

"Thank you for my gift," he said while raising the pot a little, "hopefully I can see you tomorrow for lunch." Anna nodded, too shocked to do anything. "See you tomorrow then."

When he was gone, Anna let herself fall into the barstool, replaying everything in her mind. Since she learned to control her power, making sure to keep her emotions on check, the only person she was comfortable around to let some of it to just flow, was Hitomi. Shaking her head, she stopped before she over though what happen. He was just a guy she just met and she was going to act like an adult and not some kind of teenager. Making her mind, she walked with resolution to the back of the store where she storage seeds, taking a sealed box with the picture of a snapdragon, she approached the counter, ignoring what she called the giggling of her friends coming to her mind. Sometimes they act so childish; Anna frowned and separated the seeds in seven small packages. Opening one of her novel book, holding one of the packages on her hand, she began to read while making small circles in the air with the container and pouring some of her power to make the snapdragon electricity friendly.

A couple of hours later, she closed the book and labeled the container as ready to send. I will plant them tomorrow morning and send them to Hitomi, see how the experiment goes. Taking her apron off, she picked her purse and keys.

"Good night, my darlings, I will see you tomorrow." A drowsy feeling was all her answer and she closed the door.

First chapter is slow I know, but it will pick up I promise. So give me a review about what you think, if you notice spelling or grammar errors and oh! I almost forgot! I though was a nice touch to use some Italian to add a extravagance sense to Luka's character… so that's basically what he said.

É sempre un piacere vederla: It's always a pleasure to see you

Ragazza preferita: Favorite girl

Committente: Costumer

Sciocchezze: Nonsense

Bella ragazza e gentiluomo: Beautiful girl and gentleman

So... I will be adding new chapters to my other two stories soon... Till then.

Nai :)