(A/N: Since my dear friend Lady Sirinial wrote a cute little chapter about shopping in her VH story "Gabriel's First Christmas", I decided I'd put my chappy up on shopping as well! LOL!)

CHAPTER 9

"No."

"No?"

"No."

"But–"

"She said 'no', Carl. It's her choice."

The young friar turned to Van Helsing holding up a frilly blue dress. "But it's so lovely!"

"It's hideous, Carl, and not even the Lord Himself could get me in it," Anna stated with her hands on her hips and an expression on her face that just screamed "Don't mess with me."

"But–"

"No!" Anna and Gabriel said in unison.

"Hmph!" With a pout, Carl turned away and placed the dress back where he had found it.

After leaving the Order, the three of them had ventured deeper into the city to buy some extra supplies for the journey and clothes for Anna. Needless to say, the Princess wasn't easy to shop for.

Carl picked up another piece of clothing and turned back to Anna. "How about–"

"No."

Letting out a slow, annoyed breath, he put the clothing back and just crossed his arms. If Anna wasn't even going to consider his choices, he just wasn't even going to try to help!

The princess gave Van Helsing a "Thank God he stopped" look before she picked out some clothes herself, paid for them, and then went to put a set on.

Looking around, Gabriel lowered his hat over his eyes a little more. They had purposely chosen the slums of the city to get everything because they didn't want anyone spotting Van Helsing and calling the authorities. In the slums, almost everyone there was trying to hide something so no one would call the authorities even if they did recognize who he was. Though even with that fact, Gabriel still liked to be cautious.

"So Carl, do you think you know what direction we must go from he–" Van Helsing stopped speaking when he realized that the friar was no longer beside him. "Carl?" He turned around looking for his friend and after a moment, he spotted Carl buying something from the stall owner. He sighed in relief and then tried to see what the little man was buying, but before he could, the young friar shoved it into his satchel. Gabriel shook his head.

A minute later, Anna arrived back dressed in a set of her newly purchased clothes. She had actually been quite happy about going to the slums to get everything because she knew that the people there sold gypsy clothes like the ones she had worn before her untimely demise. The more posh and expensive places in the nice side of the city only sold "fashionable" clothes and that meant mostly dresses. Anna hated dresses.

Van Helsing smirked as she walked up to him. She was dressed in a set of clothes much like the outfit she had been wearing when he had first met her. She was sporting the same black and rather tight black pants along with a predominately black corset. She also had on similar black boots. The blouse she had underneath her corset was covered in intricate green designs instead of the red she had worn before. All in all, she looked like her old self again.

Catching him staring, Anna raised an eyebrow and gave him a small questioning smile.

"I was just admiring your new outfit," Gabriel stated, a cheeky grin lighting up his face.

Anna narrowed her eyes a little before asking, "Is that all you were doing, Mr. Van Helsing?"

His grin widened. "Well, there was this certain image of you in the church that came to mind, but that's beside the point."

"What image of her in the church?" Carl asked as he walked up to them.

Gabriel just chuckled and Anna shook her head. With that, the two if them began walking away toward the horses.

"What?!" Carl exclaimed as he stared after them, confused. "I just wanted to know what im–" He stopped short, suddenly remembering in what state Van Helsing had said he had found Anna. He blushed furiously. "Oh," he gulped, "/that/ image…"

Horses in tow, the threesome ventured through the streets, stopping at various venders to buy food and whatever else they needed.

"Carl, why are you buying a bag full of onions?" Gabriel asked, amused.

Carl quickly whipped his head around to look at Van Helsing, his eyes wild as he held onto his bag of onions like someone was going to take them away from him.

"Carl?" Gabriel prodded, a smirk making its way across his lips.

The young friar coughed, blinked, and then straightened up. "I have a bag of onions for –uh-" He blinked again and then adopted a very serious expression. "I have them because you never know when you may need onions."

"Uh…huh…"

"It's true!" Carl declared, letting out an indignant snort. "Onions have been known to ward off as many evil creatures as garlic."

Van Helsing waved his hand in front of his nose to fend off the oniony smell. "Not to mention non-evil beings like myself and the rest of humanity."

Carl frowned and then muttered something along the lines of "You? Non-evil? HA!" under his breath.

Gabriel cast him a grin and then moved over to the booth Anna was at. She was paying for a sack of bread, the last item on their list of things to get. She gave the vender a curt nod of thanks before she took the sack and turned to Van Helsing.

"And I believe that concludes our task of purchasing goods for the journey," she stated as she handed the sack to him.

He nodded. "And that means we can begin our search for the Amulet."

Anna's face grew solemn as she agreed, "Yes."

Gabriel reached over, gently rubbing his hand up and down her arm. "Don't worry. We /will/ find it." He looked directly into her eyes. "I promise." He gave her arm a soft squeeze pf reassurance,

She wanted to say "But what if it isn't real?!" but kept her mouth shut, choosing to keep her concerns to herself. She knew that if she voiced her pessimism, it would not only bring herself down, but the others as well, and she couldn't do that to them, not when they were trying so hard…Not when they were putting their lives on the line for her.

Giving her a soft smile, Van Helsing took her hand and together they walked over to the horses. After helping Anna up onto on of the big steeds, he turned and scanned the crowd in search of the friar. It took him a moment, but he soon spotted the younger man at another booth buying something Gabriel was sure they probably wouldn't need. Smirking, he shook his head and then grabbed all of the horses' reins, leading the beautiful creatures over to the squirty little friar.

"Carl!" Gabriel called, making the other man jump slightly at the sound of his voice.

"Goodness gracious, Van Helsing!" Carl exclaimed, placing his hand over his racing heart. "How about NOT trying to scare me silly?" He let out a snort. "I'm very fragile."

Gabriel resisted the urge to roll his eyes and simply handed his friend the reins to one of the horses before swinging himself up onto the remaining one. "Come along, Carl."

The friar snorted again and then, with some effort, dragged himself up onto his horse and after situating all of his belongings, began following Anna and Van Helsing. The journey had finally begun.

TBC…

(A/N: It's a shorty, but they FINALLY went shopping! WOO!! Sirinial! Sarah! I think the kicking is actually working! Hehehehe! You must continue to kick and poke and whatever else so that I don't slow down again. Anywho, hope y'all liked this chappy! Thanks so much for your reviews last chapter! Remember to REVIEW for this one too! Hehehe! –hugs- Emily)