13. Plan B

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Christine collapsed on the couch of the living room, not at all eager to start up the fight again. Gabriel gave her an understanding gaze and left the room, only to return seconds later holding a bottle of tequila.

"Thank you," she mouthed, taking the bottle from his hands. She took a long sip of alcohol before passing the bottle back to her angel. Gabriel stared down at it, but didn't drink.

"Should we talk?" he asked.

"Nope," she said, popping the 'p', and took the bottle from the angel's hands.

"Are you angry?"

"Not at all," she smiled, but her clenched fist and the almost empty bottle in her other hand said otherwise.

"Okay," sighed the angel, resigning himself to the fact that she wouldn't talk that night. "I'm going to bed," he whispered, and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.

"Goodnight," Christine smiled again, and watched him go up the stairs and into the bedroom.

Shit, where am I going to sleep then?, she thought selfishly. She was too tired to move, too tired to be angry, too tired to think.

With one lazy movement she lay down on the couch and fell asleep almost instantly, nothing at all on her mind.

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It felt like mere minutes had passed, yet she'd slept a whole night, for once. She woke up to the sound of dishes clinking, and reluctantly got up. Stretching her arms over her head, she went to the kitchen and found Gabriel cooking pancakes.

"'morning sunshine," he greeted her gently, and tried to kiss her. Christine shied away from his touch and gave a quizzical look to the pancakes. "You always say you like it better when I make them, instead of just making them appear outta thin air," the archangel explained, and shrugged his shoulders.

"I'm hungry," Christine dryly answered, turning around and taking a bottle of blood out of the refrigerator. She drank it slowly, then went back to the living room, without another glance at Gabriel and his "I'm sorry" pancakes.

Gabriel shrugged again and dropped a ridiculous amount of strawberry syrup on said pancakes before eating them quickly.

He didn't know what to do, or say, to make Christine feel better. It wasn't just their fights, that wasn't the problem there, there was something else. She was tired, that's the only thing she'd said. Tired of what? Tired of fighting? Tired of struggling with her memories? Tired of him?

No, that couldn't be, could it? She'd never get tired of him. She promised she wouldn't. She loved him just as much as he loved her. Then why couldn't they work this out?

It's my fault, he thought grimly, I should have stood by her side through this Lucifer thing. But then again, he had stood by her side, hadn't he? Every damn night, making her favorite brand of tea when she woke up screaming?

But he had stopped doing that. She had stopped screaming and they had stopped sleeping in the same bed. So was it Lucifer then?

He was holding his plate over the sink, not realizing how tight he was gripping it.

What if it was Lucifer, and she'd stopped screaming 'cause she didn't mind being reminded of him?

The plate broke in his hands.

Enough, he thought, and rushed into the living room, ready for another fight. Christine stared blankly at the tv screen, unable to concentrate. She didn't notice Gabriel until he blocked her view, standing tall in front of her.

"We're gonna talk about this. We're gonna fight if we have to. I need to know, Chris. I need to know what's going on," he said calmly.

"Nothing's going on."

"Don't lie to me," he whispered desperately.

"I'm so tired, Gabe. Leave me alone."

"Tired of what exactly?"

"I just wanna bury myself in junk TV and alcohol. That's how I feel. I don't even want to watch my favorite movies. I don't want to go on adventures, I don't want to play pranks on Thor, and I don't want Dyonysus' liquor. I just want everything to… stop."

Gabriel fell down on the couch beside her, frowning. "Why?"

"I'm tired of fighting. Look what it's come to! We had to stop Cas, the little nerdy angel, from destroying the world! Cas, not some evil son of a bitch, just Cas. If we're fighting Cas, what's next? I can't take this, Gabe. Not anymore."

Gabriel grinned, and Christine furrowed her brows. "I have a plan," the archangel said.

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