Essential 20

"So," Danny began when they were comfortably settled in a table next to a row of windows, "going to tell us anything more about Gabriel?"

Sara shook her head and laughed at Danny's obviousness. It was amazing that someone so good at police work and interrogation could lack subtlety in his personal life so much. She was half tempted to give him a bone and tell him something else, just to satisfy him and so he'd be quiet for at least a few hours.

His answer came from their rookie partner, Jake groaning and tossing down the already memorized menu. "Do we really have to talk about this guy?"

Danny looked over at the blonde before turning back to Sara who responded with a shrug. "He has issues," she told him.

"Apparently," Danny agreed.

The waitress came to the table with her pad ready to take their order. Jake, seeing an easy out before the conversation got any more uncomfortable, was quick to give his order of a patty melt and large Mountain Dew. Danny followed with a turkey, bacon, and swiss on wheat and a glass of diet Coke. Sara gave her regular order of a burger and fries with a Coke, along with a second one to be ready to go in about thirty minutes. After the waitress left, Danny turned back to Jake.

"So, what's your problem with Mr. Mysterious, Jake?"

Seeing Jake shift uncomfortably, Sara decided to rescue him from having a bad lunch hour. That it saved herself from being interrogated for at least an hour was a fact that she savored as it occurred to her. She'd forgotten that giving him a bone wasn't the way to keep him quiet; he'd be so pleased that he had succeeded and gotten more information he'd continue to dig. "Leave Jake alone, Danny. Besides, can't we talk about something other than my love life? It really isn't that interesting."

"Well, maybe it hasn't been in the past," he returned, "but it is now," he answered with a grin. "Love life - implies something is going on there, Sara. Wanna talk about it? Confide in your best friend?"

She sent him a withering glare that made him lift both hands in defense. "Hey, hey. Okay, we'll drop it," he agreed as their drinks were brought out.

Jake sent Sara a grateful glance, surprised that she had come to his defense when she had to still be annoyed with him for showing up at her loft the night before. Sara wasn't a woman who easily forgot things that angered her. Unless, of course, his showing up hadn't been the thing that had bothered her; just his thoughts on her not socializing enough.

"So, Jake, seeing anyone?"

Sara rolled her eyes at the faux pas. Danny may be unsubtle at times, but he wasn't the type to intentionally hurt someone. He definitely hadn't been listening in when he was out of the office. Not that he would have necessarily eavesdropped when he left the office earlier; she just didn't know how long he'd been standing at the door before interrupting.

"Uh, no," came the answer as Jake took a long drink of his Mountain Dew. "There was someone I was interested in, but I don't think it's mutual."

Danny nodded in understanding. "I hear that. But you have to remember that persistence pays off."

Sara, taking a drink from her own soda, choked as it went down the wrong tube. As Danny reached over and patted her back, she glanced at Jake and saw a wistfully hopeful face. Accepting the proffered napkin, she wiped her watering eyes. "Sorry, she gasped, "things just seem to be going down wrong today." Both of her partners nodded in understanding and watched as she took a cautious sip. It was swallowed without a problem and Jake smiled encouragingly.

"So, Danny," started Jake, eager to change the subject to something a little less volatile, "how's Lee doing? She still craving cookies?"

Danny laughed and accepted the plate offered to him by the waitress. "Yeah, but she still has some. Sara, want to do any baking anytime soon?" At her soft groan of exasperation, he chuckled. "Hey, if you'd give her a copy of the recipe..."

"I promised Marie! Geez, his wife's pregnant and now he's trying to steal a secret family recipe from me," she muttered under her breath before giving a quick "thank you" to the waitress as her hamburger was placed in front of her.

"Hey, I was just saying..."

"Don't worry, Danny; I'll make more cookies for Lee. Your peaceful home-life is safe."

"Thank you," he answered fervently. "I don't know where you got the idea of my having a peaceful home-life," he mused. "A small child and a teenager with attitude living under the same roof... No, no peace in sight there."

"Oh, does that mean I don't have to make the cookies?"

"No!" Danny looked over at her with semi-mocked horror in his face. "Pregnant women can be scary if their cravings aren't satisfied," he told her in a whisper as Jake shook his head.

"'Bout as scary as armed women with PMS?" he asked, grinning at the affronted glare that Sara gave him. "Come on, Pez; did I name you or anything like that?" When the glare didn't abate, he blinked slowly and gave her his most innocent looking face.

She answered by shaking her head at the look he was playfully trying to convince her was real. "I don't think you've ever had an innocent bone in your body, rookie."

Danny snickered and shook his head at the vaguely hurt look Jake gave him. "Sorry, Jake, but I gotta agree with Sara."

The blonde made a face at both of them and dug into his patty melt. The others followed suit with their own food, wanting to get finished so they could once again tackle paperwork and possibly a call later that afternoon.

Sara stopped eating first with half of her meal still on the plate. "Hey, guys?"

Danny looked over with a knowing look on his face. "You want to know if you can meet us at the office?"

"Yeah," came the soft answer as she averted her green eyes slightly.

"Don't be too late, okay, Pez? Give Gabriel my regards," Danny grinned as a pale pink tinged her face.

"Okay," was the only answer as she slid out of the booth and made her way towards the counter to pay for her food. After paying the bill and accepting the Styrofoam container, she began a brisk walk the couple blocks back to the precinct where her motorcycle still was.

Twenty minutes later she pulled up in front of Gabe's apartment building and climbed off her bike. She wouldn't be back at the office too late; there were times the advantages of having a bike instead of a car were great. Her helmet in one hand and the food container in the other, she juggled them to open the entrance and made her way to his home/place-of-business. There was no music blasting from behind the closed door, and she knocked with one booted foot. The door swung open moments later to reveal a grinning Gabe.

"Hi!" He leant forward and gave her a quick but heated kiss before turning back to the casually dressed couple that occupied the shop and continuing where he'd been before having to answer the door. "This wall hanging," he began as he picked up a woven piece of cloth was taken from the shelf and unfolded it, "is from Greece and approximately 350 years old. It depicts a Nereid, a sea nymph, that was the sailors' favorite deities because it was believed they protected them from shipwrecks." He shook it out slightly and lifted it for them to see.

Sara silently moved past them and made her way to the small kitchen. Her progress paused for a moment as Gabe reached out and briefly gave a gentle squeeze to her waist while still talking on the subject of Greek mariners and the depiction of the Nereid. Sara shook her head once again at the encyclopedic amount of information he had stored n his mind. Once in the small kitchen, she searched through the cupboards for his dishes, finding a set of cheerfully colorful plates in one of them. Deciding that they were definitely something that she could see Gabe owning, she pulled one of them down and placed it next to the container of food.

She glanced over to him when he was walking towards the only unoccupied surface in the apartment with the couple. Spreading the hanging out so that they could appreciate the full size, he flicked a switch and the table was lit by bright overhead lights. The lights allowed the pair to see the true colors used when making the piece, and Gabe flipped over a corner and began to talk about he weaving technique used. Unsure of how much longer he'd be occupied, Sara looked at the container of food and then her watch with a grimace. She would have liked to stay longer and talk to him, thank him properly for his beautiful gift, but she didn't have the time.

She grabbed a napkin from a small collection that was housed in a brightly painted holder and pulled out her pen. With the tip poised over the paper, she hesitated, unsure of what to write. Finally, with a shake of her head, she sprawled a quick note and placed it on top of the plate. The white square looked out of place on the bright colored ceramic as she left it on the counter. With a quick wave to get his attention, she mouthed 'goodbye' and left the apartment.

She had just made it outside and was walking towards her bike when her name was called from inside the building. Turning around, she saw Gabriel heading her way. "Don't you have to stay with your customers?" she asked when he was close enough to hear her.

"They're talking about the possibility of their daughter liking the hanging," he dismissed. "Besides, Mr. Carmichael told me to leave and 'give my girl a proper kiss,'" he said in a deep voice and inflection that led Sara to believe it was indeed a direct quote.

"You're leaving two total strangers in your shop, in your apartment, alone?" Sara raised an eyebrow at how trusting and, she had to admit, naive, the action seemed.

"I know everything that's there," he answered with a shrug. "Sometimes you have to trust people, Sara. They just might surprise you." At her dry look, he chuckled. "Even cops have to trust people. Just because you see the worst in people doesn't mean you can't also see the best." He moved closer, invading her personal space. "Thanks for brunch," he said as he reached out and drew the back of his hand gently down the side of her face.

"Brunch?"

"Yeah, haven't had breakfast yet," he answered.

"Gabriel!" Her eyes widened as she caught his hand. "You have to eat."

"You sound just like my mother when you say that," he said with a laugh. As she began to withdraw her hand, he turned his own so that it was holding hers, blocking the attempt. "Hey, nothing to be ashamed of," he told her. "It just means that you worry and a person worries because they care." He moved their connected hands to her chin, gently raising her face to look into her eyes. "I'm glad that you worry about me," he said, watching as the soft whisper transformed her face and softened her green eyes.

In answer, she gave a small smile and leant forward to give him a quick kiss. "I'm glad you worry about me, too," she whispered against his lips before drawing back.

Pulling her forward again, he initiated another kiss, one that started gentle and built until it was virtually exploding with a passion neither had fully acknowledged. Drawing back slightly to allow them both to breathe, Gabriel looked into her eyes, smiling at the partially unfocused dreamy look in them. It matched the one in his own, he knew. "See you tonight? Maybe go out to a nice restaurant?" He ran his fingers through her chestnut hair and down the side of her neck, grinning slightly when her pink lips parted in a sigh.

"Mmm, definitely," was his softly spoken answer.

He stole another quick but passionate kiss before murmuring with regret "I have to get back to the shop." Instead of leaving immediately, he ran the tip of his index finger along her bottom lip. "I'll see you tonight," he reminded her before turning to leave. Turning back when he reached the door leading into the building, he called just loud enough for her to hear him: "I love you," before disappearing behind the closing door.

Sara raised her hand and touched her lips softly, the Witchblade swirling pleasantly as she did. With a gentle shake of her head and a reminder that she had to get back to work, Sara continued her aborted walk to her bike. On the way, she noticed an older man with long straggly blonde hair watching her from across the street where he was sweeping.

TBC

Did that satisfy all of you readers who have been wanting romance? Or would you like more in the next part?