I'm sorry it's taken me so long to post. I found myself in the unpleasant position of having to write a bridge. My good ideas were just too far away from one another in the story. Solution? Pizza party. (What, you were expecting something supernatural? Why ever would you do that?) I'm telling you, when in doubt, feed your characters. They will be grateful, you can use up some of that pesky story timeline, and things just loosen up from there. I really am trying to get along to the more interesting bits, but all this infrastructure is very important. Otherwise the story would jump about and be choppy and unpleasant. Just don't be surprised If it takes a little while for the plot to...curdle.

All previous disclaimers apply, probably a bunch of others too, that I either don't know exist or forgot to mention.

Chapter 14
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Gabriel showed up outside Sara Pezzini's door with a case of soda. He figured it was too late for beer. He knew Sara wasn't home yet; her Buell hadn't been outside.This however, didn't present a problem, because when last Sara had gone away for a weekend she had left Gabriel a key so he could check on the apartment for her. After the fact, he was never quite sure if she had forgotten about giving the to him, or if she wanted him to keep it. Either way, Sara never asked for it back, and Gabe kept it on his key-ring, just in case.
So, using this key, Gabe started to unlock the door. Never once did he think that Adrienne would be inside. The fact that the girl who had come into his shop earlier that evening and Pez's mysterious sister were one and the same person had not yet sunk in. Somehow, Gabe still wasn't convinced this sister even existed. In his current mind set, then, it was understandable that he didn't even consider the possibility of the girl actually being in Sara Pezzini's apartment.
It came as a surprise to Gabriel when in response to the sound of the door opening and closing, he heard a familiar female voice, which was definitely not that of Sara Pezzini. "Sara! I'm soooooo sorry I haven't fixed anything for dinner. I was going to go to the store and...." Adrienne stopped mid-sentence, blinking in confusion at Gabriel when she saw him at the door. She forced a polite, but uncomfortable smile. "Mr. Bowman. How nice to see you again. Please excuse my asking, but how did you get in?"
"I, uh, I have a key..." Adrienne raised her eyebrows by way of requesting a more thorough explanation. Gabriel found himself babbling. "I just, I wasn't thinking you'd be here. I mean, I knew you would be here, cause I called Pez at work, but...aww shit. I'm not doing so good at explaining, am I?" Gabriel blushed as Adrienne shook her head and giggled. Sighing loudly, he held the soda up and started anew. "I'm a friend of Sara Pezzini, she invited me over for pizza, and I brought beverages of the generic brand root-beer variety." Adrienne stopped giggling and laughed outright at his dramatic presentation.
"I think that will suffice for now," she said, once she had contained her amusement. "I'm sorry if I was rude. Come in. Sara will be home soon." Adrienne relieved Gabriel of the sodas and maneuvered them into the refrigerator. When she came out of the kitchen area, she found Gabriel seated on the edge of the sofa. Though it was obvious that he was ill at ease in the current situation, Adrienne felt no inclination to bend over backwards to accommodate him. After all, she reasoned, it was his own fault, he had even said so himself (or attempted to). On the other hand, he was a friend of Sara's.
Adrienne settled for the middle ground. She wasn't about to play hostess, but she did give up on the idea of a long, hot, shower. So, she flopped down next to Gabriel on the sofa and took a stab at conversation. "So, how do you know Sara?" Since her sister was something of common ground between them, Adrienne figured it would be a good topic. She was wrong. Gabriel was not only slow to answer, but vague. He didn't seem to want to talk about it at all.
"I, uh, did some background on a case for her. Some, ah, evidence research."
"Oh, cool. Must have been an interesting case. I'll have to ask her about it."
"It was interesting."
"Yeah." Gabriel was at a complete loss. Adrienne clenched her teeth (much to the dismay of her dentist) and looked at her watch. The conversation was going nowhere.
"Twenty past. She should be in any minute." Silence. Something occurred to Adrienne that made her smile, and when Gabriel looked at her inquiringly, she decided to abandon formality in hopes of relieving some of the tension in the room.
"My dad was away working for months at a time, so whenever me and my brother and sister found out he was coming home, we would have a big countdown. We would even make bets to see who could guess closest to the actual time he came through the door.
When I was really little, he would come home and pretend that he didn't know us, that he was lost and he spoke no English. And then he would act all happy and surprised that he had found a house with three such clever children who could speak Russian." She smiled again at the memory.
"Wait a minute! I thought you studied Russian. You mean to say you grew up speaking it? Why didn't you say so when you were reading that Tolstoy earlier?"
"Because," Adrienne replied unabashedly, "I wanted impress you. And you have to admit, thinking someone studied a difficult language so well as to appreciate original prose leaves a better impression than knowing that they grew up writing and speaking it because it was their dad's first language."
Gabriel leaned back on the couch, looking at Adrienne, and grinned. "I guess so. But what about your name? Farrell isn't Russian."
"Aagh," Adrienne waved the question away. "Long, stupid story involving school districts and such."
"And another thing," Gabriel continued, "Why would you care about impressing me?"
"Oh really, come on! I'm new in town, pretty much don't know anyone, you're friends with my boss, and besides all that, you can't be more that twenty-five and yet you're successfully running your own business dealing in antiquities, talismans, and curiosities." Gabe colored slightly.
"Well, if you put it that way..."
It was then that the door opened and Sara and Jake stumbled in, one carrying several pizzas, the other trying to maintain control over an unwieldy stack of books. Gabriel and Adrienne jumped off the coach to offer the two detectives some much needed assistance. In under five minutes, all four were seated with a slice of pizza and a can of root beer in front of them. For a good long while, the only sounds were those of hungry people eating and drinking, with an occasional grunt to request another slice of pizza from whomever was nearest the box.