The music in the club was throbbing while people gyrated on the dance floor to the pounding beat. Looking around in the dim lights for her friends, she tried to ignore the turbulent emotions of the many people surrounding her. Walking around the club, her head nodded slightly to the music blasting out of the speakers as she rejected the amorous advances of several greasy men. It was when she passed the dance floor, she noticed Shalimar was already out there dancing with a really cute guy.

Sighing wistfully to herself, Emma could not help but be envious of Shalimar's luck. They had been there twenty minutes and already she seemed to have found the hottest guy, and from the looks of it, the only hot guy in the club..
Passing Shalimar, Emma continued her quest for Brennan and Jesse, smiling happily to herself when she spotted the familiar heads at the bar. About to pounce on them, she froze when she noticed they to, were getting their moves on two cute brunettes. Not wanting to interrupt their moment, she sighed once more and sat herself down at the other end of the bar.

"What'll you have?"

Emma looked up at the bartender and smiled. "How about a Strawberry Daiquiri with no alcohol."

Tossing the metal tumblers in her hand, the bartender repeated Emma's order. "One virgin Strawberry Daiquiri coming right up."

Great, she mentally berated herself, even her drink was boring.

"Is this seat taken?"

Smiling to herself, Emma swiveled in her seat to find herself face to face with a middle aged balding man. Although he had no wedding ring, Emma could see the telltale signs of a tan line around his left ring finger.

Emma's head lifted abruptly from her casual observations of the man in front of her as an eerie feeling began to invade her mind; she felt the eyes of someone watching her. Startled she scanned the club, trying to calm the dread that was slowly taking root in her stomach.

"Actually, why don't you take my seat. I was about to go outside and get a fresh breath of air." She smiled apologetically, quickly leaving the chair and dispersing into the crowd, all the while hoping the old man and the invisible eyes weren't following her. Glancing behind her, she saw the old man harassing a stunningly beautiful redhead at the bar.

Even a man going through middle aged crisis didn't want her she sighed. This night was turning out to be quite depressing. Surrounded in such close proximity with hundreds of other people, the wispy smells of sweat and smoke was beginning to leave an unpleasant stench in her nose. The feeling of claustrophobia began to smother her and she decided that she really did need to go outside to get away from the crowd.

Ignoring the warning bells ringing in her head as she walked outside the back door of the club into a small alley that usually had its corners filled with newly found couples who could not contain their lust long enough to take it to a seedy motel, she was surprised and a bit wary when she found herself alone.

Leaning against the cold brick wall, the chill seeped through the thin fabric of her shirt and she felt a shiver run down her spine. The sound of gravel being crunched under a heavy shoe alerted Emma to another presence, and she swiftly propelled herself off the wall and turned to face the noise. Scanning the darkness, she couldn't quite place it. Spooked she made for the exit, alarmed when she found the door firmly shut.

"Handled, handle, where's the damn handle?" She murmured to herself, cursing when she found it could only be opened from the inside. It was then she began to pound vigorously on the heavy metal door.

The music was too loud for anyone to hear her. Turning around and trying to calm her breathing she scanned the dark alley once more. It could have been a rat she muttered under her breath, reluctant to go search out the cause of the noise. Or a cat, there were many cats in alleys she mentally continued. Too fearful to move, she closed her eyes and used her mental abilities to search out another mind in the vicinity.

Relief coursed through her veins as she realized that she was the only one there. Slumping against the door, she slowly opened her eyes and nearly screamed when she saw intense dark brown eyes hovering less then five inches away from her own.

"Hello Emma." Trapped between his body and the door, she tried to scurry to the side when she noticed both of his hands were leaning on either side of the door around her, effectively limiting her movements and trapping her like a fly.

His movement was so sudden she was unable to stop him as he swooped down and crushed her lips with his. Thoughts were jumbled in her head running rampant as one sentence repeated itself in her mind over and over again. Don't let him control you. She had seen the effects of his kiss on Shalimar and was deathly afraid of loosing her free will.

Frantically she used all of her strength to break their kiss and pull her head away from his. Gabriel smiled at her in delight at the new turn of events. Taking a step back to study her, Emma used the opening to scuttle out of his grasp to the other side of the alley.

"Stay away from me." She warned, realizing her only exit was through the closed club door that Gabriel was now guarding.

"Or what?" He taunted, taking slow deliberate strides in her direction. Concentrating she blasted a mental burst at Gabriel, balking when he absorbed it and continued on his merry way.

"You weren't affected by my kiss either." He commented on her shock, stopping less then ten feet away from her.

"Sorry to burst your deluded bubble," She sardonically replied, "but you're not that great of a kisser."

A small chuckle of amusement rose from Gabriel's throat as he continued on his trek towards her. Willing herself not to run when he rose one hand and let a finger slide across her collar bone.

"It seems our powers don't affect each other." He whispered huskily into her ear. "This makes things… interesting."

The clicking of the door opening quickly drew both of their attention and Emma was barely able to register Gabriel giving her a quick peck on her forehead before walking through the wall next to her.

The sound of his laughter lingered in her ear as she turned her head to face the person at the door.

"Emma?" Jesse promptly ran towards her as he saw the ashen sheen of her complexion. Gently placing his hand on her shoulder, he leaned down to study her face. "You okay?"

"Yeah." She weakly replied, wondering why she felt the need to hide her excursion with Gabriel the demented. "The door closed and locked me out. I heard some noises and got a little spooked."

"You should have used your com ring to contact one of us."

Shrugging her shoulders she gave the concerned blond a rueful smile. "I wasn't thinking very clearly."

"Is this where she's been hiding?" Brennan walked through the door and smiled at Emma. "We've been looking for you."

"Why, what's up?" She tried to make her voice cheerful, ignoring Jesse who was staring doubtfully at Emma's face.

"Well Shalimar decided to go to another bar with this guy that I personally felt was not to bright. While Jesse and I," Brennan gave Jesse a knowing nudge, "have met two great girls that want to spend the rest of the night with these two equally great guys."

"Right," Emma raised an eyebrow looking at Brennan in doubt. "And where are these great guys?" She asked playfully, laughing at the mock hurt on Brennan's face.

"I see we aren't appreciated here." He answered, "Good thing there are other beautiful woman out there who can see our charismatic charm. Two in fact," he repeated, lifting two fingers to emphasize his point.

"Is this your way of telling me you want me to let you guys go spend some quality time together?" She asked, slightly amused.

"Would you mind terribly-"

"Why don't we stay here-"

Two voices spoke up simultaneously, both looking at the other in doubt.

"That's okay." Emma cut in rolling her eyes. "I'd rather not be the fifth wheel. I think I'll stay here for a little while then head on home while you guys go off and do your thing."

"I'll stay with you."

Emma and Brennan turned their heads towards the determined voice.

"What?" Jesse asked defensively as Brennan looked at him like he was crazy.

"They're sisters Jesse." He whined. "No dice unless we both go."

"I don't think Emma should be alone." Jesse answered.

Brennan looked at Emma thoughtfully. "You're right, maybe we should drop her off at the sanctuary before we go. Or no wait, we can take her with us. We'll tell the girls she's my sister."

Looking at them in outrage as they talked about her as though she weren't in the room, she ended their casual discussion of her plans for the rest of the night.

"Look, I'm not a little girl. You seem to forget I'm a psionic that has mental blasts that I like to throw at people. I can take care of myself perfectly fine and I don't need a male bodyguard following me around wherever I go." Seeing them about to protest, Emma gave him a look to shut him up and continued her monologue. "I promise to look both ways before I cross the street and not talk to scary looking strangers, mommy and daddy, so go already and stop interrupting my male pick up time."

Tossing her hair she ignored Brennan's puppy dog looks and Jesse's apologetic grin, flouncing back into

the club determined to not let the night's event affect her in anyway. If they were this overprotective to begin with, they would never let her out of their sight if she told them she met Gabriel. Besides she mused, it's not like he hurt her.

Emma couldn't contain a grin as she heard Brennan's voice behind her as she walked away.

"Wait, so who's mommy?"