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Chapter 2 – The Convincing

It was Christmas Eve and Riley had just come home to her apartment. Her pocket vibrated and she pulled out her cell phone to view a text from Gabriel.

I've got a surprise for you.

Not in the mood, she replied.

She set the phone in her pants pocket and took off her coat. In the kitchen she stared at her empty refrigerator and tried to decide what to eat. Riley's stomach growled, but she found she didn't have the appetite for (nor the energy to cook) a full meal, so she gave up and sat on the couch.

Riley reached for the phone again, thinking Chinese takeout would be a perfectly acceptably Christmas dinner to eat by herself. Before she could dial the number, however, another text from Gabriel appeared.

I promise you'll like it. Come on over.

She scoffed. Surprises from Gabriel were rarely good. Besides, she was so not in the mood to be around other people. All she wanted to do was sit around in her pajamas and watch It's a Wonderful Life, an old family tradition she used to celebrate.

I'm trying to get dinner ready, Gabriel.

It was half true. She gathered her collection of takeout menus and put the DVD in. While the opening scenes rolled on the screen, Riley changed into a comfy pair of sweatpants, a shirt from her training days, and found a stash of Oreos to hold her over.

George Bailey came onto the television in black and white and Riley smiled at the memories the movie brought up. The music triggered visions of her brother when they were younger – his first Christmas when her parents were thrilled that the family was home together. That was way before her stepdad came into the picture. She remembered the dolls she'd gotten that year and the pink bike the year after that.

The sound of loud holiday music somewhere nearby broke her out of it. She felt a dampness on her cheek and realized she'd been crying. Riley wiped the wetness away and popped another Oreo in her mouth. She would be fine. It wasn't the first estranged Christmas she'd experienced. It just sucked because she hadn't even been able to visit her brother in over a year, the one family member that she was positive loved her back.

When she thought about her mother, she felt a physical ache in her heart. How long had it been since they'd even seen each other? No matter how much her mom refused to talk, Riley always stupidly held onto the hope that one day she would come around, come to the realization that Riley had only ever tried to protect her, or that her mother would someday welcome her daughter back with open arms.

Ninety-five percent of the time, she put up a front, pushing her emotions down so that she could focus on work. She thought that maybe, just maybe she could let down her guard today of all days.

Another stray tear rolled down her cheek and yet another Oreo was eaten. Her pocket buzzed again.

I have tons of food here. Look out the balcony if you don't believe me.

She'd almost completely forgotten about ordering food in light of the now-empty package of cookies.

Gabriel, are you in any danger whatsoever?

No?

Are you on fire?

No…

Then what makes you think I'm going to leave my couch?

She set down the phone. Riley appreciated the effort he put in to making her feel better, but her movie was almost over with and she was in quite an unacceptable state.

The only things Riley had done today to feel productive were to check on Gabriel early that morning and to go Christmas shopping for her brother. Usually she did like to be kept busy and moving, and forcing herself to relax had almost been a challenge. It wasn't a typical day, but letting out some of her pent-up frustration was already helping.

The end of the movie had come soon enough and it was starting to get dark in her apartment. The warm sounds of a holiday gathering were coming from somewhere. Laughter and music floated through the air and Riley started wishing Nelson's party were still on. As gross as she felt, the loneliness was seriously starting to set in.

Maybe it was the sugar from the Oreos along with that, but she was struck with a burst of curiosity. She glanced at her phone again to see a missed call from Gabriel. Brushing the crumbs off of her sweatpants and pushing a hand through her hair, she reached her balcony in three seconds flat. Her fingers dialed a number she knew by heart and she eagerly pushed the sound of a dial tone against her ear.

"Riley?"

"Gabriel?"

"Did you get off the couch yet?" he asked. There was loud music in the background, and the same laughter she heard from her own balcony was coming from his end.

"Yeah," she breathed. "When were you going to tell me about your Christmas party?" she asked, trying to keep the disbelief out of her voice. She told herself not to be upset that he hadn't told her about having a party. "You know, I should be with you if there's a large crowd."

"You're kidding, right?" Gabriel chuckled, the sound infuriating to her ears. "This is my surprise for you. I've been waiting for an hour and a half for you to come down, but the guests already started arriving."

An odd, warm feeling erupted in her chest. Any hurt or jealousy was gone in an instance, replaced by a strange heat on her cheeks. She was trying to think of something to say, anything to say, but all she came up with was, "W-what?"

Gabriel sighed. She saw his figure appear at the window, running a hand through his hair. Realizing her current state of dress, she backed up so that she was behind her curtains. Riley heard him chuckle, but he didn't comment. "The Christmas party. I let Nelson host it here so we'd all have a nice evening together."

"You did?" Riley asked, aware that her voice sounded a tad higher than normal. Without her permission, her feet moved forward again so that she could see the outline of him. He was grinning from ear to ear up at her, devilish smile beaming. Her lower lip was caught between her teeth.

"Lovely sweatpants," he told her, pretending to sweep his eyes up and down her form from his window. She heard his chuckle through the receiver again. "You can come down in those if you want, or you don't have to come at all really."

She tilted her head and raised her eyebrows, trying to tell if he was serious or not. From what she could see, he wasn't wearing his charming smile anymore. "But you did something really nice, for once."

"For once? For- Okay, you know what, we won't get into that right now because it is Christmas Eve. And I would really like you to come to this party so I don't have to be alone with Nelson's friends. They drink more than I do, and I'm afraid they're going to start breaking things soon. And do you hear this music?"

Gabriel was rambling. She couldn't help the grin on her face. The sound of some cheesy Christmas song was coming through the windows now, and she almost wasn't sure how he hadn't gotten any noise complaints.

Come to think of it, he was probably interfering with any calls to the cops using the chip. The noise was probably just loud enough to reach her apartment on purpose. "I definitely hear the music, loud and clear, Gabriel."

"They're Nelson's picks," he pouted, raising his arm up to lean against the window frame and view her better. Riley decided that the Oreos definitely must have been expired, because his handsome gaze was – well, she was describing it as handsome, and that was enough to alarm her.

Perhaps it was a good thing she had stayed home.

"You'll be fine," Riley reassured him. "I thought you invited people from the office, too?"

"Not a lot of them are here yet. And I think a lot of the Cassidy relatives must be here too, or Nelson's tech friends. Most of them are wearing ugly sweaters. Why did that trend ever leave the nineties?" he shook his head.

"I don't know."

Things were getting louder in the background of Gabriel's apartment presumably as more people entered his loft. She heard him swear under his breath. "Alright, I'm going to have to go break up something, so I'll leave you to decide."

"Thanks, Gabriel."

"No problem, it's your choice," he said nonchalantly.

"Okay," she nodded. Then, on his end, there was a definite sound of something breaking.

Then, Gabriel mumbled, "Just want you to be happy." He said it so quickly and far away from the receiver that she almost hadn't caught it, but before she could ask Gabriel to repeat himself, he'd hung up.

Huh. So he let Nelson throw his party? Riley thought to herself. Apparently, he didn't want to see her sitting alone in her apartment all night. There was music and friends and fun, so he'd implied.

And Gabriel did say he was serving food.

With renewed vigor, Riley headed to her closet to pick out a decent outfit, illuminating the Christmas string-lights hanging in her living room on the way.

A/N: Hope you're still enjoying this storyline so far. :) Thanks for the kind reviews! They encourage me to continue writing this. I really missed you guys. Like, really really missed you. Special thanks to the first reviewers: someday-makes-me-sad, TearsInTheDust, and kwisteria. Hope you're having a great 2015! (It's the anniversary of the premiere of Intelligence, you know…)