First of all, I just want to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited, or followed Little Green Monster. As of right now it's going to stay a one-shot, but you never know.. I have several ideas for other one-shots and even a few multi-chapter stories, but I'll just have to see what inspires me.

I'm nervous every time I post a story, but this one I'm triple nervous about. You see, I've had this written for about a week or so, but I couldn't bring myself to publish it because it seemed incomplete and OOC- still does, to me. But oh well.

Enjoy the story and please review!

Riley huffed, briefly scanning at her ringing phone for just a second for confirmation before sending the call straight to voicemail.

"You okay?" Gabriel studied her carefully, like she was a bomb about to detonate. "That's the third call you've ignored today."

"Fine," she answered professionally. Although he wasn't right now, she was technically on the job and her job relied on her keeping constant watch, no matter where they were or how safe it seemed. Just because they were in a secure room didn't mean she could let her guard down.

"Oh don't be so diplomatic," he said, glancing around the empty room. "We're alone here; you can talk to me."

She didn't dare look at him. "It's nothing," she dismissed.

"Come on, I could find out in three seconds with the chip." She gave him a dirty look. "Which I'm not going to because that would be an invasion of privacy," he added, wincing slightly.

Riley sighed. "It's honestly not important."

"Do you ever trust people?"

"I don't have to trust people," she replied. "I just need people to trust me."

"I trust you," he told her.

"Then I'm doing my job right," she said before he had a chance to continue.

Her glare and tone told him to drop it but, unfortunately for her, he wasn't a very good listener.

"You got an ex-boyfriend stalking you or something?"

"Or something," she echoed vaguely.

"Riley," he was half a second from using the chip. At least then he would get some answers.

"Gabriel," she mimicked half-heartedly.

But then she would kill him and go to prison for the rest of her life. And he rather liked Riley not in prison, and you know, being alive and all.

Before he could respond Nelson walked back into the room with a closed laptop tucked under his arm and a grin on his face. "You're good to go, Gabriel," he told them. "The chip is clean; no viruses."

"Told ya," Gabriel began to remove the various wires from his head before towards Riley. "No computer STDs for me."

That actually got her to laugh. "Please tell me you didn't just say that."

He smirked victoriously. "What were you saying about not being charming?" he asked innocently.

Riley rolled her eyes, biting her lip to stop a smile.

Gabriel still saw it, though, and high-fived Nelson when Riley turned away, walking out the door.

-x-

"So..." Gabriel started once the waitress walked away.

Riley was just going to drop him off at his apartment since Lillian gave them the day off but he convinced her to stop at a small diner on the way. Surprisingly, she agreed and here they were, five minutes later, sitting across from each other in a vinyl booth (there was even an operating jukebox tucked in the corner).
"What's going on with you?"

"Nothing." He gave her a pointed look when her phone rang yet again. "Forget about it, Gabriel," she sighed, ignoring the call and studying the lunch menu.

Following her lead, Gabriel decided to drop the subject (for now) and focus instead on lunch. After they ordered, cheeseburger and fries for the both of them, they managed to make small talk while they waited for their food.

"Let's play a game," Gabriel abruptly suggested, trying to rid away the uncomfortable atmosphere surrounding them.

Riley cocked her head to the side. "What?" she asked.

"A game," he repeated slowly. "To get to know each other better.

"You can find out anything you want about me with the chip," she pointed out, confused.

"Technically yes," he conceded, "but I promised you I wouldn't do that. Besides," he continued, "you can't do that. Don't you want to learn more about me?" Riley shrugged lightly, not answering, but her eyes sparked with interest and he knew he had her. Now all he had to do was reel her in. "It'll be like twenty questions, nothing too serious."

"Okay," she agreed, albeit reluctantly.

"Okay," he smiled at her. "What's your favorite ice-cream?"

She gave him a strange look. "Chocolate chip mint," she hesitantly answered. He already knew that from the chip.

Gabriel smiled mysteriously, raising his hand to call the waitress over. "Yes?" she asked, batting her eyelashes flirtatiously. Riley barely held back a glare as the woman continued to completely ignore her while she attempted to flirt with Gabriel. Thankfully, Gabriel ignored the desperate moves though Riley wasn't exactly sure why she was relieved.

"Can I get a chocolate chip mint malt for the lady," he gestured towards Riley, "please."

Crestfallen at the rejection, she scowled at Riley. "Sure," she said in a sugary-sweet tone while her eyes very visually stabbed Riley with the steak knife.

Deciding not to stick her tongue out at the rude servant, Riley turned back to Gabriel as soon as she left. "You didn't have to do that," she told him.

"I know," he smiled. "And hey, maybe I just wanted some ice-cream."

Riley playfully glared. "You're not getting a single spoon of my malt," she announced, knowing she would willingly share with him.

Gabriel just shook his head, mumbling something about 'ungrateful women'. "You're turn to ask," he reminded her.

"Okay..." she thought about it. "Cat or dog?" she finally asked.

"Definitely dog," he secretly hoped she was a dog person too, considering he was allergic to cats. He briefly wondered why that mattered but dismissed the thought, deeming it too dangerous to consider, especially when she was in the room. "Movie or musical?"

"Movie," she stated. "Chinese or Mexican?"

The game continued long after her malt arrived, continued as they ate their lunch, the questions getting more ridiculous by the minute with a few serious ones throw in to balance the mix.

"What's one thing that makes you unique from everyone else?"

"Seriously?" His tone filled with disbelief. "Did you forget who you're talking to?"

She rolled her eyes. "Besides the chip," she replied dryly. "Be serious for a moment."

Gabriel gave her a 'pot-meet-kettle' stare, which she was happy to ignore and he considered the question. "My drive," he finally answered. "My conviction to help people and save lives, no matter what the cost." Deeming their conversation too personal (ironic, considering the point of the game was to get personal), Gabriel cleared his throat. "Nutella or butter?"

Riley gave him a small laugh. "Like on toast?" He nodded. "Butter."

Their silly little game was interrupted by her phone ringing, breaking the relaxed mood. Before she could hang up on the number again, Gabriel snatched the phone away from her.

"Gabriel, no!" she screeched, but by then it was too late.

He had already answered.

"Riley?" She was making all kinds of crazy hand gestures but Gabriel ignored her, focusing on the call.

"Hi, this is Riley's friend, Gabriel."

"Oh." The voice hesitated. "Can I talk to Riley?"

"Unfortunately, she went to the bathroom," he lied, "but I can take a message."

The person sighed. "That's okay," she said, sounding completely defeated. "She won't call back anyway."

"May I ask who this is?" Riley would definitely kill him for this later, but he was curious, and it was clear she wasn't willing to talk to the person, so she wouldn't do anything to let them know she was right there. So, for now, he was safe to dig.

"Her sister."

"Riley has a sister?" The woman sitting across from him visibly paled, clearly not wanting him to ever find that out.

The woman's laugh was bitter. "Yeah, well half-sister," she corrected, sighing. "We only found out about each other about two years ago," she explained. "I'm Kelsey, by the way."

Now he wasn't just curious, he was confused. "How could you not know about each other?" he asked. "You're sisters."

"My-our-dad..." she hesitated. "It's complicated. Why don't you ask Riley about it sometime?"

Gabriel snorted, "yeah, right." He pulled the phone away from his ear as he watched Riley leave the booth and head out the door. "Listen, I really have to go, but are you sure that I can't leave a message for Riley?"

"Tell her I'm pregnant," she blurted out. "Eight months, actually. Tell her that, no matter what happened nearly twenty-years ago, I want her to meet her nieces."

"Nieces?" He rushed out the door to follow Riley.

"I have a four-year-old who is very eager to meet her 'Auntie Riley'." She sighed, an air of frustrated defeat surrounding the woman. "Just tell Riley that I want to talk to her, alright?"

"Will do."

Gabriel hung up just as he slid into the idle SUV.

At least she waited on him.

Her jaw was tight, her body tense as she pulled out of the parking lot and into heavy traffic. Riley turned the radio up when he started to open his mouth, the signal clear: shut the hell up. Her silence worried him. From what he gathered, Riley wasn't the kind of person to hold things in. She exploded, immediately, and then dealt with the aftermath.

Not this time.

It took twenty minutes for them to get back to the apartment and instead of going to his own home, Gabriel followed her. She seemed to accept this and, resigned to the fact that he wasn't leaving, simply let him in.

She headed straight for the hard liquor once they were inside, pouring herself a steady glass of scotch.

"You had no right," she hissed once she knocked back her drink.

It was like the Amelia situation all over again, but their sides were reversed. This time it was him making a judgement call that she deemed wrong. "No," he agreed, "I didn't."

"God, Gabriel!" Riley threw her hands up in frustration. "You forget that people aren't just case files, you can't just invade somebody's privacy like that!"

"Hey, I didn't use the chip," he defended himself.

"Yeah, this time," she scoffed. "And worse, you used my sister."

"Half-sister," he automatically corrected, immediately regretting it.

If looks could kill...

"I know who she is," her tone was tight, full of veiled anger. She was going to erupt soon. "And you don't have to know every piece of my life."

"I just want to know you," he claimed. "I want to know what makes you tick and what made you the way you are."

Riley took a deep breath. "Fine," she calmly agreed.

"You have a sister," it wasn't a question, so she didn't answer. "You have a sister and you're ignoring her."

"Oh don't look at me like that," she glared at him, feeling defensive. "Like you keep regularly keep in touch with your family."

"You're right- I don't. But I don't intentionally ignore them, either."

"You know what, Gabriel? You're right; I'm ignoring her and I'm a terrible sister and probably going to hell because of it. But I don't care."

He was going to be here awhile.

Gabriel sat down on her couch, watching as she paced the floors. "Why?" That one word was the loose brick that caused the unsteady tower to collapse- the adult, real life version of Jenga.

"Because he chose her!" Her outburst surprised him, but he didn't let it show. "The fucking bastard 'fell in love'," she spit the words out with clear disgust, "and left his family. He had an affair, got the woman pregnant, and left my mom without a look back. He completely destroyed her until there was almost nothing left. The rest, well," she laughed bitterly, "her next boyfriend stole that, along with any remaining dignity." She was mostly talking to herself now and he didn't dare interrupt. "Because he couldn't man up and remain faithful, his wife was beaten to a pulp almost daily, until the point that his daughter took a shotgun to the guy just to protect her mom."

"Riley," his voice soft, he attempted to soothe her, but she continued, her feet taking her to a window overlooking the city.

"After he left when I was ten years old, he didn't contact me again until about two years ago. His wife died and he told his daughter about me, not wanting to keep it a secret any longer, or at least that's what he said," she explained. "Anyway, they both decided they wanted to have a relationship with me, but I couldn't forgive him. I attempted to start a friendship with Kelsey, because none of this was her fault, but I couldn't do it."

She leaned against the window, her forehead resting on the cool glass. "He chose her over me and they don't get why I can't move on."

There weren't any guidelines for this kind of thing; how to comfort your obviously-grieving-and-conflicted bodyguard-slash-partner when she desperately needed it.

So Gabriel reacted on instinct alone and followed his gut.

Lightly tugging on her wrist, Gabriel spun her around and pulled her into a tight embrace. She froze, completely tense, and, realizing this might have been a bad plan, began to pull away but she simply stepped closer and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. They held each other for several minutes, gaining strength from the other.

She pulled away first but stayed close.

"Thank you," she whispered, avidly avoiding his eyes.

"Anytime," he offered sincerely while his fingers swiped loose strand of hair away from her face.

A hint of a blush formed on her cheeks and she stepped away from him.

"She's pregnant, you know."

Riley blew out a puff of air. "I know."

"Her kid wants to meet you."

"I know," she repeated.

She had heard it all. She just couldn't do it, for reasons Kelsey couldn't understand.

"You only have one sister," he offered a final piece of advice. "You should take the opportunity to get to know her, or you may regret it."

Her lips curled in a gracious smile. "Thanks."

Gabriel left not long after that, leaving her time and space to think, confident she would consider her options carefully.

-x-

The next morning Riley headed to Gabriel's apartment earlier than usual (they typically carpooled, for a variety of reasons) with two cups of coffee.

"Hey," she smiled softly when he opened the door, her eyes not daring to trace his tan, muscular abs.

Too late, she concluded, taking lingering glances at his nude chest, water droplets sparkling in the light. And damn, could that man wear a towel. Like, really, really well.

Gabriel smiled in return, not commenting on her obvious ogling as he let her in. "Hey yourself."

"I just got a call from Lillian," she informed as she handed him the spare coffee. "We've got a new case."

Gabriel nodded, taking a gulp of the caffeine. "I'll go get dressed."

Riley just nodded in agreement, averting her eyes to the decor littering the tidy apartment instead of focusing on his departing figure, or how well the towel revealed his muscles.

Okay, so maybe she took a peek...

But really, who could blame her?

"Hey," Gabriel stopped her as they arrived at the anonymous SUV. "You going to call her?"

Riley smiled, eyes shining bright with gratitude. "We'll see," she mysteriously replied.

He grinned as he hopped into the car.

She totally was.

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