A month had passed since Gabriel insisted I move out. He'd been more than kind to having me move into his apartment. It was one hell of a change, but I'd gotten used to it. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. My dad and Lyle were as bad as boys could be, but Gabriel had been a perfect gentleman. He was so different from anyone else, and I liked the friendship that was developing between us. It started out slow, but then picked up pace in the first two weeks I'd been here. We continued to get closer as friends, but I could see how he looked at me. I looked at him the same way and wondered if he noticed.

I'd gotten out of the shower and wrapped the towel around me before walking out into the bedroom. Rather annoyed with my hair, I pulled it to one side and ruffled through my drawer and pulled out clean clothes. Ugh, I'm tempted to cut my hair. "I might be able to help." "Do you even know how to cut hair Gabriel?" "No, but I usually have a knack for trying and doing a damn good job." I didn't even think about it as I moved around him and located the scissors. "Go ahead." I handed him the scissors. "I trust you."

I remember looking at myself before putting something sharp in Gabriels hands, and then when I looked at myself again it seemed like I was a completely different person. My hair was long past my breasts, and now it was short, just past my shoulders. I had half a thought that Gabriel had been gay in a previous life. "I probably was. Oh, and your welcome." I turned and smiled at him. "Thank you. That really saved me forty bucks." I hated the price for haircuts and found it rather ridiculous. I went back into the bedroom and changed into my clothes. All the while running my hand through my hair.

Tired from a long day, I laid back on top of the bed sheets. "Claire?" "Yeah." Gabriel came in and picked my feet up so he could sit on the bed, letting my feet drop in his lap. "I have something to ask you." I sat up and looked at him. He held onto my feet, practically giving me a footrub. "Do you think maybe, if it's not to embarrassing or uncalled for, would you go on a date with me?" "Are you kidding, yes!" For a moment before I said yes he looked rejected and then his face lit up.

I'd wanted to go out with Gabriel since I first laid eyes on him and now I had that chance. After I'd said yes he'd got up and left. I assumed that he wanted to plan it down to the last detail. I could only imagine what he was planning, but there was no doubt in my mind that he would top what I'd been thinking. Pushing all and any thoughts out of my head, I tried to get to sleep.

The smell of food cooking woke me, still rather groggy I got up and sleepily walked into the kitchen. The table was hidden beneath a hot plate of pancakes, eggs, hashbrowns, sausage and bacon, and fresh squeezed orange juice. "Did you really just do all of this?" "Along with the whole day planned out, yes I did. You must be hungry." I sat down as Gabriel handed me a plate and I dished myself a little bit of everything. "Oh god, this is so good. Did you use bacon grease to make the pancakes?" "I did." "My mom made them that way too. She'd make them every morning before I went to school." It was a fond memory, and one I cared so much for that it made me smile.

The day I spent with Gabriel came to a close as we were walking along the water front. The sand beneath my feet couldn't have been softer, and the water was gentle and cool against my skin. There was barely any light left as the sun was setting beyond the waters edge. Gabriels hand was warm and and smooth against mine that I never wanted to let go. "There's one last thing to do." I raised my eyebrows at him jokingly and he smiled as he took a bandana from his back pocket and carefully covered my eyes with it.

I let him guide me, but I nearly stumbled as there were steps that had to be taken. "Are we there yet?" "Just a little further." His hands were firmly holding onto mine, and then they were gone. The blind fold came off and I saw in front of us a romantic table for two. I hadn't anticipated Gabriel as the very romantic type. This was more than I ever would have expected. It looked like it was literally taken out of a fashion magazine. "This is amazing." Gabriel held out a hand and I gladly took it.

He'd sat me down by pulling out the chair and pushing it in as I sat down. Sitting directly across from me, we had a wonderful dinner and a very suprising dessert. "I can't believe you did all this." "I'm glad you like it. There is another part to this one." As he'd said that, a small group of people came out with instruments and began playing. "Would you like to dance?" "I would." As Gabriel took my hand once more, he spun me towards him and I immediately recognized the titanic theme song being played. "Have you been poking around in my head Mr. Gray?" "Ever so slightly Miss Bennett."

To really finish the end of our day, Gabriel held me in his arms and flew us back home. I'd been so astounded by him that once we were back, I tilted my head up and leaned in to kiss him. He kissed me right back. I wasn't on cloud nine anymore, because cloud nine couldn't compare to this moment that made me feel something so entirely new. I wanted it to last, but Gabriel pulled away. "I don't want to take advantage of you Claire." "You deserve a little advantage." "Claire, there is one ability I want to share with you." "What is it?" "As am empath, I would touch you and be able to understand you completely."

"What does that mean for me?" "I would absorb your ability." "Would I not have it anymore?" "No, quite the contrary. You can't lose an ability through empathy." "But you would have it too?" "Yes. Claire, you do understand what this would mean to me." "You want to be immortal. We would never grow old, we would never die." I understood completely, in his own way Gabriel was telling me he wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of his life with me, and I wanted the same. "Exactly." "Ok." I let him take hold of me, suddenly I felt his mind invade me. Like we were both watching my entire past on a movie screen up until this point in time of my life.

"Whoa, that was...that felt funny." "It's different everytime." "You've done this before?" "The abilities I told you I aquired, I got through empathy." 'Oh." I remembered when he'd told me that he got the abilities from others. I let out a yawn, tired after everything we'd done today. "Go get some sleep, we did have a long day." I turned and went to the bathroom to let my hair down and brush my teeth. Back in the bedroom I changed into shorts and a tanktop before climbing into bed. The sheets were cool as I curled up and closed my eyes in the darkness.

I was laying in a meadow of wild flowers surrounded by green and white ash trees. It was all so beautiful as the sun came out from behind the clouds and lit up the sky while warming my skin. Gabriel lay beside me, our hands entwined together. "I love you Claire." "I love you too Gabriel." I leaned in to kiss him, but suddenly the sky turned black and all the plants around us began to wither and die. I couldn't believe what was happening, and then Gabriel was not longer with me. He stood away from me, his eyes darkened to the same color as the sky. He looked at me with a horrible grin on his face, like he wanted to kill me.

"No!" I found myself back in bed and clutching the sheets tightly in my hands. "Claire, look at me." Gabriel was there in front of me, his eyes weren't black anymore. He touched his hands to my face, and I buried my head in his chest. "It's ok, it was just a dream." 'It felt so real. You were, you changed and were trying to kill me." "I would never do anything to hurt you."

I wrapped my arms around his neck and lifted my lips to his. It was all a bad dream. This is real, right here right now. I'd noticed that it was nearly four in the morning. Gabriel stayed with me, holding my hand as I laid my head on his chest and tried to get back to sleep. I could only hope that once I was sleeping again, that I won't have a repeat of that horrible dream.

The sun pierced my eyes as I woke up and noticed that Gabriel was gone. He wasn't anywhere in the apartment, and I couldn't let myself freak out. I'm sure he's just out doing something and then he'll be back. Not very hungry, I poured myself some orange juice and chugged it. I hadn't realized how thirsty I was and poured myself two more glasses. I kept looking over at the clock every now and then. After sitting on the balcony and reading for about an hour, I noticed that it was just after noon. I couldn't help but think something was wrong. Gabriel wouldn't leave without saying something.

I watched as the sun finally set and Gabriel still wasn't back. I'd called the police, but of course someone has to be missing for two days before they'd be able to report it. Fucking cops. There wasn't anything else I could do. I certainly wasn't going to leave the apartment, there was no doubt in my mind that I would get lost and couldn't find my way back. It's possible that Gabriel might come back, butt after I'd been contemplating and thinking, I took one more look at the clock. Midnight, right on the dot.

I couldn't sleep knowing that Gabriel was out there somewhere, and I couldn't do anything about it. When I heard a knock at the door, I ran over and pulled it open. "Hi, Claire right?" "Yeah, and your Peter the paramedic." "That's me." He smiled sideways like a little boy. "Is Gabriel here?" That did it, and I broke down crying. "I haven't seen him all day, he's never done anything like this before." "Ok, just breathe, did you look for a note he might have left?" "I've looked everywhere, and there's nothing."

"Alright, I want you to stay here, I'm going to call a friend and have him check it out while I check the places he's likely to be at." "Ok." He'd dialed my number into his phone so he could call me with anything and then he left. Why didn't I think of that? I remember that Gabriel mentioned someone named Parkman that was a detective, why didn't I ask for him when I was on the phone with an officer earlier? Either way, he was being contacted now because Peter probably knew him too.

A week had passed and I wanted so much to die rather than feel this pain. I yearned for Gabriels touch, his lips to gently graze over mine, his hand to wrap into my fingers. I was so afraid that something horrible had happened to him, I knew he wasn't dead, because he couldn't die. But the possibilities of him being tortured were too much to bear. "I'm so sorry Claire, but the search has been called off." "What? No!" "There's nothing we can do." "There has to be something, what about branching out to other police precincts? Beyond New York?" "It's not in the jurisdiction to do so." "Fuck Jurisdiction. If the god damn police won't help, I'll go out and find Gabriel myself."

I'd stormed out of the apartment with no plan and thought towards what I was going to do to find Gabriel. To start, I looked in his shop, maybe he'd been there and I might be able to find something. It remained the same, nothing was out of place. Gabriel had kept it so and that gave me nothing. I cried again. But it only made me even more determined to find him. I walked out into the alleyway and took a deep breath. Focusing, I saw Gabriel in my mind. My anger was boiling like a pot of water on a stove. Forcing it away, I felt myself become weightless.

"Oh my god!" I suddenly realized and looked down, my feet weren't even touching the ground anymore. How was this possible? I could fly? If this had anything to do with my anger, I did the same thing again and felt a pull. Like my blood was out there and I was moving towards it. Letting myself go, I raised higher into the air and let my body take over. I was high above New York, it was so beautiful. But I couldn't let myself get distracted. I noticed that I was heading south.

I landed in what I'm sure was Cuba after about an hour and a half. I could only hope that I would find Gabriel here. I didn't care how long it would take me, I didn't care what I had to do, I was going to find him. When I'd let him take a part of me so that he could be immortal, I felt him as if I would always know where he was. That part of me was here in Cuba. Whatever lay ahead, wasn't going to stop me. I would do whatever it takes to get to Gabriel because I know he would do the same for me.

Just as long as it took for me to get here, I'd blended in and began to peak around. At first nothing, until I heard a few people talking in english. "He is the one we want, right?" "Yes, with all those abilities we'll be able to put our plan into action." "But do we kill him? Do we get to kill him?" "No, boss said to just extract the abilities." "So what are we waiting for?" "His pretty little mouse to come find us, we'll do the same to her." Fuck, they wanted to take away the very thing that makes us different. And then what? what happens to us after that? No, I wasn't going to let that happen.

"Let's go get a drink. He won't be going anywhere, and it'll be a while before the girl shows up." "You don't think he should be guarded?" "Nah, he's out cold." I stayed hidden, and as they walked off I headed around the back and pulled myself through an open window. Falling on my ass, I looked up to see Gabriel passed out and chained to the floor. Crawling over to him, I lifted his face. He looked like he was sleeping. "Come on, wake up. Gabriel!" He moaned as I hesitatingly slapped his face. His eyes opened and he looked shocked to see me. "Claire? No, get out of here." "I'm not leaving here without you." I searched around the room for anything to break the chains.

Back in front of him, I put the cutters I found in place and broke through the chain wrapped around both his wrists and ankles. "This is more than bargained for when I fell in love with you." I cut away the last chain and he stood straight up. "I'll take that as a compliment." I walked him towards the way I'd come in and got us both out without being seen. "Fuck, where the hell did he go?" "How did he break those chains?" "It doesn't matter, we need to find him and fast." I heard them loud and clear. Gabriel wrapped his arms around me and rose high into the clouds.

"We can't go back to New York, where will we go?" "Somewhere no one will ever find us." "Oh let me guess, some remote cabin in the middle of nowhere." "It's secluded, but not too remote. And it won't be in the middle of nowhere. We'll be by the water." "You never cease to amaze me Gabriel." I smiled like a little girl who got the pony she'd asked for every year on christmas. Everything was falling back into place, only to be even more perfect.