Mercy sighed in content as she snuggled closer into her lover. She couldn't really call him her boyfriend, not after all the failed relationships in her past. It also felt more intimate; more like this is something different and would probably last.
She almost purred when a hand began to stroke through her hair, though instead she pressed even closer to the chuckling man. She was too far out of it to realise how embarrassing she was acting and would probably have a strong urge to beat something up later when she finally remembered.
"Hey Tiger, I've got work today, so I will be home late. It shouldn't take too long but I have a feeling that I'm going to have to show a couple of idiots around the school."
Mercy simply frowned and pulled him closer, the thought of losing her warm pillow was enough to bring out her stubborn streak. She was in the mood to just laze about and do absolutely nothing other than lay together.
"C'mon, I can't skip out on work. Boss will keep calling to yell at me and that will piss both of us off."
Realising Mercy's grip hadn't loosened he sighed. It was time to bring out the big guns.
"If you don't let me go then I'll have to skip out on movie night and work longer hours. You know what boss is like."
And like magic the phone sprung to life. The sound grating on her nerves and shocking her out of her previous state of bliss, Mercy was not happy, but at least she was more aware and had the common sense to let Gabe leave for work.
"You better get here as soon as possible; I've had enough with sitting in this apartment all alone. I might even give you a treat if you get here early." Mercy said as she watched the man get dressed for work.
She hated it when he wore that ugly jumpsuit. It hid the workman muscles and surprisingly confidant stature of the short janitor. It didn't suit him and she wanted to salt and burn it every-time she saw it.
"I know what you're trying to do, and it won't work sweet cheeks. But don't worry; I'll make sure to make it up to you by rockin' your world tonight." The exaggerated wink and cheesy smile made Mercy laugh and return the wink.
Sometimes it felt so cliché and "Civilian" that she really should be cringing in embarrassment for the both of them, but Gabe somehow made it romantic, something special for the two of them to share. It was the cheesy pick-up lines caught her attention to begin with.
"Shut up you elf, go to work and do whatever the hell you need to. I'm in the mood to bake something."
Mercy once again lost the battle and chuckled at the yell of happiness the mischievous bastard let out before slamming the front door.
Mercy rolled over onto her back as her chuckles slowly faded away.
"What am I going to do now?"
How Gabe had managed to set a prank in the flour bag she didn't know. But she was now left covered in a thick layer of the powder and an exasperated look on her face.
She really couldn't get mad when he got her like this. It was always a different prank and never did more than get her covered in something that wouldn't wash out easy. It's not like she wasn't used to that from when she was hunting the nasty buggers across the country. She doubted Gabe could find anything that stuck in your hair more than ectoplasm. That stuff stayed for weeks and stank to high heaven.
Mercy cleared the mess up with practiced patience and got on with baking a triple chocolate cake, extra chocolaty, just the way Gabe loved it.
She was actually surprised with how much she enjoyed baking and cooking now she had enough room in the kitchen, or even had a kitchen. It brought back the fading memories of baking similar things with her mother and helped her de-stress when the urge to run back to Sam and Dean became too much.
But thanks to both Gabe and the new hobbies she was slowly getting better at putting her own needs ahead of others. Not that it stopped her from making sure every person that looked at either her or Gabe wrong know exactly how "Taken" they were.
The egg timer rang out throughout the kitchen, shocking the woman out of her thoughts. She hadn't even realised that she was making the cake until that point, but it seemed that she had finished the whole cake, even the frosting and edible decorations.
Mercy had to give it to herself, it was probably the best one she had made to date, and that was fairly impressive considering her cakes usually turned out pretty awesome. It wasn't even her tooting her own horn, Gabe had stated many times that those were some of the best cakes he'd ever had.
Mercy stared at the finished master piece and came to a decision with a confident nod. It would be wasted if Gabe didn't see it until later, so she'd just have to go bring it to him. She was sure he'd be happy with that.
With that thought she went to clean up, boxed the cake up and went on her merry way.
She was watching way too many Disney films thanks to Gabe. She was so making him watch an action thriller later. She was losing her edge.
She wasn't really sure where Gabe would be at that moment in time so she had walked aimlessly through the Campus hoping to spot him working on something or another. She hadn't bothered to ask the students, they never took any notice of a simple janitor and would probably try to either hit on her or ignore her all together instead.
Mercy was just about to turn the corner when she heard the voice of her lover from behind her. She span around to realise he was probably in one of the offices she had walked past. She continued to listen out trying to find where he was hiding,
"You were the one who found the Professor's body?"
Her brain and body switched off for a few moments. That couldn't be right. They couldn't be there right? They weren't supposed to be able to find her!
She clutched the cake close and bolted. Every part of her was burning, aching to go back to that office. But she couldn't, because she didn't know if the need was for her brothers or Gabe and she didn't want to find out.
She'd end up betraying one of them and she couldn't do that. Not to the most important people in her life.
She was a seasoned hunter but her body couldn't handle the strain of flat out running for more than fifteen minutes. Her breath was ripping out of her in harsh puffs and her muscles were screaming at her to stop. Even her lungs felt like they wanted to give up and rest for a minute.
But the blind panic fuelled her body and made her mind do nothing but focus on getting as far away as possible. Home was only a few minutes away and she could finally rest surrounded by her and Gabe's things.
She didn't care about the people she bumped into or knocked over, when she finally reached the apartment door she couldn't stop her hand from shaking and it took much longer to unlock it than ever before.
She slammed the door behind her and ran to the bedroom, leaving the surprisingly whole cake on the counter top in the kitchen on the way.
She climbed into bed and pulled the duvet over her head, her sharp breaths become more regular as she relaxed and inhaled the scent of Gabe.
A bubble of laughter made its way to her mouth and she giggled almost hysterically.
She was a fucking hunter; she killed things that would give war heroes dirty underwear without even an inkling of fear and yet here she was.
Once again acting like a pathetic teenage girl with all sorts of mental problems!
She was supposed to becoming an independent woman, someone who wouldn't take crap from anyone and wouldn't be dragged in depression because of a promise she made all those years ago.
"Mercy, what are you doing under there?" Gabe's soft voice brought her back to the surface, his hand gentle stroking along her body, calming her down further.
"I'm alright, just a bit tired."
Gabe sighed, "If you were really tired you would have made me watch some violent movie whilst you fall asleep on me."
"Well maybe I'm just sick or something! Go eat your cake and leave me alone for a while."
"Nope," He chimed out. Mercy could practically feel the mischievous smirk he no doubt had. "I'm going to stay right here and talk to my gorgeous girl who will hopefully talk to her smart, wonderful, handsome and kind boyfriend."
She snorted, "Since when have you been any of them." She lifted her head to see the look mock hurt on Gabe's face, hands on his heart completing the look.
"I am hurt! And here I thought you actually loved me!" He harrumphed and stuck his nose up in the air, "I've seen the truth you only want me for my amazing humour!"
Mercy rolled her eyes at his antics but joined in anyway.
"But of course, it has absolutely nothing to do with this amazing bed or the beautiful kitchen, definitely not."
They locked eyes for a second before the two lost it and started cackling like a couple of stereotypical witches. Mercy could feel the tears falling down her face and her stomach and cheeks hurt from the laughter that had no sign of stopping anytime soon.
She reached out and pulled the jokester to lie next to her as they continued to let out peals of laughter. It was silent thanks that had a tight hug as an "anything for you" in return.
She loved how much he made her feel loved. It had been a long time coming but she knew she deserved it.
"You gonna tell me what's wrong now?" Gabe asked once the giggles finally left.
"Just a few bad memories, that's all. I'm better already, see." She reached out to brush a wayward strand on Gabe's face and let her hand rest on the side of his head.
It was in intimate moments like this that she really realised how much she had been missing out on after all these years. All the love and care she could've been given for nothing but love asked in return.
She wished Dean could know what this felt like. Sam had had Jess but Dean had never really tried to keep a relationship and damn did she wish he knew what he was missing out on.
Even if it meant losing it in the end, it was better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all.
No, she gave a mental shake of the head; she shouldn't be having thoughts like that. Just because she had lost so much before didn't mean that it would be the same with Gabe. She was sure she deserved something great on her life, and that came in the form of this gorgeous man lying right next to her.
She knew all this, so why did she have such a bad feeling?