A/N: Yay! Update time. I hope I haven't left you all worrying too much. You'll be pleased with this chapter's events, I promise. Okay, I hope. Thanks for taking the time to read and review this, my lovelies! :D

Disclaimer: If I owned them, the characters would be doing what they do in this chapter every episode. If only! Sigh.

Rated: T

Chapter 6 – Pancakes

Riley and Gabriel held their breaths and watched the figure barrel towards them. The figure, however, kept getting smaller as it came closer to them. The agents gave each other a quick glance and holstered their weapons as the creature came traipsing right up to them, wagging its tail. Riley let out a relieved laugh and leaned down to pet the Labrador that was now threatening to push her over where she crouched. "That was a close call," she laughed to Gabriel.

"Whose dog is running around at this time of night?" Gabriel asked. His heart was still racing. He'd completely let his guard down when they were stargazing, and was not at all looking forward to an armed confrontation on his "vacation." Not to mention he wasn't ready to leave the secluded cabin that the agents had made themselves comfortable in.

After holstering his weapon, he leaned down to pat the dog's head as well. The lab sniffed his hand and licked Gabriel's palm. Its nose barreled into his chest and made him fall to the ground, making Riley laugh even harder. "Looks like we have an affectionate new friend," Gabriel grouched.

He brought his hands around the dog's collar and searched for the tag. "Ivy," he read aloud. "Where did you come from, girl?" The dog made a pleasant sound and turned over so that her stomach could be scratched. Gabriel just smiled and obliged.

Riley watched him with a smile on her face as well. She wouldn't have taken her partner to be a "dog person." Honestly, he didn't seem like the type of person who would like to own any pet at all. She was amazed at how much attention he was already giving to this pup.

"When we get back to the cabin, I'll call the lodge and tell them we've found a dog. I don't see anyone coming to look for her at this time of night. Besides, she doesn't look like she would mind staying the night with us," she stated.

Gabriel looked up and caught Riley's smile. He nodded and stood with the dog, taking Riley's elbow instead of the dog's collar when the Ivy started automatically trialing behind them. "At least the nights are finally getting warmer up here. I thought it would be freezing." He thought about how the weather had changed earlier before they'd left to go to the party. The sun had finally peeked out of the dark clouds from before and the nice weather hadn't stopped since.

"Yeah, good thing I didn't need a jacket. I would have regretted wearing this," Riley said as she pointed to the thin, lacy material covering her arms. There was still a slight chill to the air, but it wasn't nearly as cold as it had been this morning.

"I wouldn't have," Gabriel mumbled, giving her a quick once over. He was surprised when she laughed instead of hitting him. "Wonderful choice of outfit, by the way. I'm going to have to demand that we go on more mission where we have to dress up. Lillian won't mind, right?"

Riley smiled and raised her eyebrows. "Yeah, she'd really love it. Just like she always loves your charming, take-charge attitude." She rolled her eyes, thinking of the time when Gabriel locked a suspect in the interrogation room and turned off all the cameras to scare him into talking. Lillian had been furious. Not only was she mad because he'd done it of his own volition, but because the suspect soon died from vicious nanobots in his blood, which had been placed there earlier by the killer. Lillian never seemed to like it when Gabriel had his own suggestions on how to run things.

"Wait, did you say I'm charming?" Gabriel asked after a minute. He nudged her elbow that was still locked in his. "My, my Agent Neil. Are you finally succumbing to my alluring masculinity?" He gave her a mock-smoldering look to annoy her.

"Yeah, right. The only one who finds you charming is Ivy," she said with a pause after the dog started nudging him to pet her again, so they stopped walking to oblige the dog. "You know, she might like you more than I do," she teased with a smirk on her face. "And you're going to end up liking her more than me."

Gabriel turned away from her mocking to lean down to Ivy again. The dog was so sweet, and he could take some affection in this form any day. He hadn't had a dog since he was little, and the puppy looked very similar to his old one. It was a blonde lab with big brown eyes and fluffy fur. He was a sucker when it came to them. As if Ivy read his thoughts, she started licking his face with a big, slobbery tongue.

Gabriel stood up and wiped his mouth off. "I don't know about that, Riley," he started. "You're a much better kisser." He grinned in satisfaction when she blushed. "I'm going to have to brush my teeth twice after that one, Ivy," he looked down to the dog. Ivy just wagged her tail.

Still red in the face, Riley stopped talking and started walking again in embarrassment. They were almost to the cabin anyways, so her partner and the dog sped up to match her pace. Changing the subject, she told Gabriel, "Remember, you have to switch your stuff out into the other bedroom. The big bed is mine tonight."

His shoulders slumped. "Oh yeah." He thought about when he had to scoop up the family of mice in one of her shirts earlier and place it in the woods. He'd been grossed out the whole time. One thing he was not a fan of was mice; they were pests and shouldn't be around human houses. However, he wasn't cruel enough to kill the sleeping rodents, so he just left them far away from where his partner was sleeping. "How was the other room, anyway? Any squeaking in the walls?"

Riley over at his seemingly nonchalant expression. "Nope. I slept fine. It does still smell like mice though," she said, wrinkling her nose. She watched his expression falter for a moment. She didn't know why she felt the need to placate him, but she added, "I think you got rid of any and all extra houseguests, though."

He nodded. They were approaching the cabin now. The grass was already wet with dew when they started trudging across the moonlit lawn. Ivy was still following them, so they took it as a sign that she was indeed staying the night. They stepped through the front door and let the dog past, both smiling when the dog immediately settled in front of the empty fireplace, ready to sleep on the rug.

"Let's move our stuff," Riley stated, heading down the hall in front of Gabriel. He watched her backside as he made a quick call to the lodge, sad to see the dress go. He really was determined to get her into dresses more often. They could go undercover again, maybe at a fancy restaurant or –

Gabriel stopped in his tracks before entering his room. He could just ask her out on a date.

He took a deep breath. He wasn't supposed to think those sorts of thoughts. Idiot!

Gabriel had just been telling himself earlier that he was only finding excuses to touch her, maybe get a taste of her lips here and there. The idea was certainly incredibly enticing, but he wasn't supposed to ask for more. He couldn't ask for more. That would be crossing the metaphorically line they'd drawn, promising professionalism.

Professionalism, professionalism, professionalism. Was that all that mattered anymore? He almost growled aloud at his own betraying thoughts.

He jumped when he heard her door swing open suddenly behind him. He whirled around to see her barefoot, jewelry off, but dress still on. "What's up?" he asked. He was still reeling from the track his mind had been on.

"Can you help me out of this?" Riley asked, head tilted in question. When Gabriel's eyes raised and he opened his mouth, she rolled her eyes and cut him off. "I meant can you unzip me?" She ground out the words in frustration with herself.

He just nodded, incapable of speech. He was incapable of thought too, apparently, for his mind went blank when she turned and lifted her hair out of the way, allowing him to open the back of the dress. He steadied his hands and grabbed the zipper, dragging it down as slow as he dared. He gulped when he saw her bare back – no bra visible. Jeez, this was just torture.

Riley was having just as hard a time. He hadn't completely steadied his hands and she was able to feel his fingertips grazing her skin as the zipper went down. Hopefully he hadn't noticed the goosebumps that she felt rising on her back. She heard him gulp when the dress was fully unzipped, and remembered that the dress already had a built in bra, with no need to wear an actual one underneath. She had to hold back a smile, though, because she knew this was probably exciting him to no end.

He'd had trouble keeping his hands off of her for the entire night. This should have been some sort of a treat for him. She wasn't one to let Gabriel have too much fun though, so she whirled around to see his face one last time before closing the door.

What she saw there packed a punch straight into her gut. His eyes seemed to bore right through her, eyeing the dress as if it were something he was about to tear off with his teeth. He brought his eyes back to hers, both darkened and serious. She cleared her throat before offering her thanks quickly and retreating back into her room.

She sighed and took the dress the rest of the way off. How were they ever going to survive the week?

Riley found some of the clean clothes neatly stacked on her dresser and shrugged them on. This time, she went for longer pajama shorts and short sleeved top. It was still quite warm in the cabin, but she wasn't going to wear shorts around him and add fuel to the fire. Not that Gabriel couldn't control himself around her, but given how they acted the last time she wore shorts around him, she just figured it would be better if they were both more fully-clothed. Gathering her suitcase and clothing, she opened the door to move her things into the big bedroom.

She walked into the open door to see Gabriel resting on the bed in the shorts he'd loaned her earlier, and only those shorts. It looked like she was the only one making the effort to use the excuse of clothing as a sort of barrier between them. However, she just couldn't complain now, seeing his bare torso on display. She started chewing on her nail, but was caught staring when he opened his eyes and smirked at her. Bastard. He was probably waiting to catch her peeking. "What took you so long, partner?"

"I had to repack all my clothes, sorry," she answered and set her things on the other side of the room.

He got up and moved his belongings, returning to find her already curled up with the television on. "Anymore Lost reruns?" he asked with hopefulness in his voice.

"No, but Once Upon A Time is on," she said. She laughed at his frown. "Come on, it's not that bad." He said nothing but sat down on the bed anyways. They got talking about the show, with Riley explaining everything that was going on. "Ruby used to be my favorite character," she said, pointing out the particular character.

He agreed. She was the prettiest character, at least. He looked over at Riley, completely absorbed in her guilty-pleasure show. He would much rather watch his partner's face than any show, though. It was another instance where he was caught off-guard, able to see her relaxed and enjoying herself. She wasn't even hiding how much she liked the show.

Gabriel heard the dog making noises in the kitchen, though, so he tore his eyes away from the agent next to him and went to check on Ivy. When he approached her, she was still sleeping on the rug, paws twitching. "Looks like somebody's having dreams," he whispered. He turned away from the dog and got a glass of water for himself, bringing another into the bedroom for Riley.

She was under the covers now. The room did seem chillier, so he lifted the blankets up as well. At her glare, he just handed her the water glass. "I'm cold, too," he insisted. He supposed it couldn't stay warm forever. They continued to watch television in the dark room, silent and tired from the night's events.

The last thing Gabriel remembered before his eyes closed was hearing the pitter-patter of the dog's paws wandering down the hallway.

The room was dark, save for the moonlight washing over the bed. Gabriel lifted his head to see Riley had fallen asleep with the remote still in her hand. Carefully as he could, he eased it out of her hand and turned the TV off. He watched her sleeping face for a moment, stricken by how beautiful her face looked when the moonlight was gracing her features. He delicately reached over to move the hair out of her face. How was it even humanly possible to be as gorgeous as she was?

Gabriel lifted out of the bed as quietly as possible and tiptoed across the hall to find his bed in the other room. Jumping back, he realized that his bed already had someone in it. Ivy must have pushed the door to his room open and decided to make herself at home in the comfy bed. He scratched his head. There was no way he could fit on the bed now, especially since Ivy wouldn't make a move when he tried to wake her up.

He glanced back towards his partner's bedroom. Surely she wouldn't mind if he spent the night in the big bed with her, right? There was certainly enough room, and he would stay over on his side all night. He decided he was too tired to really care all that much, and tiptoed back across the hall, easing under the covers.

Sharing the bed wasn't what he had planned, but he was going to count his blessings and accept it.

The early morning light filtered through the window of the large room. Riley felt incredibly warm when she awoke, and tried to shift the blanket off of her, but stopped when she realized it wasn't a blanket.

She opened her eyes to find herself staring directly into Gabriel's bare chest. His arms were wrapped around her tightly, with his head atop hers and lips in her hair. She watched the steady rise and fall of his chest for a moment and determined he was still sleeping, so she relaxed a bit. Her hands were pinned between their chests and his legs were entwined with hers. Had they been snuggling together? All night?

She tried not to have a mini panic attack. She was wrapped up pretty cozily with her partner. Honestly, she shouldn't have been complaining because it actually wasn't all that bad. In fact, she was more nervous that he would wake up soon.

She was getting a close up of his body in this position; she was closer than she ever had been with him before, and she could feel every hard curve of his body. She used her fingers to lightly trace down his chest, feeling how completely smooth his skin was. Her heart was racing, but she suddenly wanted nothing more than to snuggle back down in the crook of his neck and go back to sleep. So, she did.

Not ten minutes after she fell asleep, it was Gabriel's turn to wake up. He automatically tightened his arms around her and drew her closer to his chest. His eyes opened with a start and he realized who he was holding onto. He looked down to see her body pressed up tightly against his. He tried to move his arms, but heard her mumble something.

He drew back far enough to look into her blinking, sleepy-ridden eyes. Both took a moment to stare at the other. Weak smiles were exchanged, and they set their heads on the pillows adjacent to each other. "Good morning," Riley spoke up. Her voice was still thick with sleep.

"Good morning," he answered with an even rougher voice. He wasn't entirely sure it had to with his slumber, though. He was just glad her legs were entangled with his lower thighs instead of resting higher up. "How'd you sleep?" he asked.

"Just fine, thanks," she gave him a heartwarming smile. She was talking in a hushed whisper because their heads were still only a small distance from each other, seeing as neither was eager to move apart. "And yourself?"

He gave her a sheepish look, which promoted her to question him further. "Why'd you stay in here, anyways?" Her brow furrowed, and an adorable pout formed on her mouth.

He looked at her lips as he answered. "The dog thought it'd be great to steal my spot on the bed." At her disbelieving look, he tried to explain. "Listen, she pushed through my door in the middle of the night. It's a smaller bed, and when I tried to push her over to one side, she wouldn't move."

Riley rolled her eyes. "Sounds like you put a lot of effort in trying to move her." She'd noticed how his eyes wandered down to her lips again. She resolutely ignored the look and pressed on. "I can't believe you're putting the blame on that poor dog."

This got his attention and he snapped his eyes back up defensively. "That poor dog," he mimicked, "is heavy and wouldn't budge. Besides, I didn't think you'd mind terribly if I shared the bed. Not that I intended to end up like this – I did try to stay on my side of the bed." He used a hand to quickly gesture to their position and then placed it down on her lower back again, finding it warm in the spot where her shirt had ridden up. Riley shivered.

"Well, next time, try harder," she warned. Her voice lacked any real conviction, though, as he started tracing circles on her lower back. He could stay in this position, completely tangled up with her, all day. Riley was warm from sleep and her limbs felt as heavy as his did, and he knew it would be all too easy to fall back asleep again if they hadn't soon heard the sound of a loud knock at the door reverberating throughout the cabin.

Gabriel shifted like he was about to get up to answer the door.

Riley quieted the voice in her head that felt disappointed. Her heart was doing a funny sort of rhythm because of her partner's close proximity and she wasn't quite sure why she couldn't bring herself to stop the patterns he'd been tracing on her skin.

"Why don't I just make it up to you right now?" She suddenly heard Gabriel say as he grinned his trademark devilish grin at her. Riley heard something in his tone and her head snapped up in hopeful anticipation. Snapped up involuntarily, she would tell herself later.

Instead of moving away and answering the door, he leaned back down and shortened the distance between them.

He placed his mouth on her warm, awaiting lips and sighed. Her sleepy mind hadn't the slightest intention of fighting him. Riley moved her arms out from between them and wrapped them around his muscular back to bring him closer into her embrace, fingers resting below his bare shoulder blades. It was impossible to try and fight the need to have him this close to her again.

To further deepen the kiss, he rolled her onto her back with their legs still entangled. Gabriel pushed easily past her lips and tangled his tongue with hers. He was taking his time, working her mouth slowly and tortuously, and so very sweetly. His hand moved down to shift one of her thighs so he could settle himself atop her more comfortably. His whole weight pressed down on her body, but Riley felt herself craving the sweet pressure.

She all of a sudden wasn't happy that she chose to wear longer pants, but that didn't mean he couldn't still attain skin contact. His hand came from around her thigh back up to run under her shirt, stopping at her ribs. He traced light patterns on the skin below her bra, teasing her with sensitive touches.

The tantalizing skin under her shirt was warmer than anything, and Gabriel could feel her body practically thrumming with enthusiasm as she arched into him. He tried desperately to tamp down the urge to remove her shirt completely, reminding himself that he'd only planned on giving her a quick smooch. His intent was to distract her from directing her anger at him, but as soon as he'd touched her mouth, he'd totally lost his mind.

Neither of them realized how much they were enjoying their intimacy with each other. Gabriel was losing himself a little and started rucking her shirt up anyways. He'd gotten it up far enough so that their bare stomachs were resting against each other, but the shirt was still pinned in place because he refused to lift his lips from her mouth. He decided to leave the shirt where it was, letting his hands explore elsewhere.

He honestly never planned to go that far when he started kissing her.

Not that this type of close proximity ever worked out for either of them in the way they planned. Panting hard, Riley was the one who tore her mouth away first, but she involuntarily moved her head aside when he started trailing his mouth down her jawline to give him easier access to her neck. She was going to tell him to slow down, but he words died in her mouth as soon as he hit the sweet spot at the dip in her shoulder.

Wait, what were they doing?

The question kept flitting through her mind, but she would forget it instantly. She tried to whisper his name hoarsely. When Gabriel heard her, his mouth came back to hers for another drugging kiss, and he ran a hand through her hair for a moment before again stealing her lips.

His lower abdomen was starting to act up, so he knew he needed to extract himself from her. He used his elbows to rise up and rolled onto his own back for a moment. He sat up slowly, trying his hardest not to look back at her. However, when Gabriel stood, he looked at his blushing partner laid out on the bed. Shirt ridden up, hair messy, and lips swollen, she certainly was a sight. An incredibly, beautiful sight.

The knocking was getting louder and interrupting his dangerous thoughts about his partner.

He supposed he should tend to the visitor, so he made to move out of the room, showing off his dimples quickly and saying, "Consider that my apology." His hands were clenched tightly in order to keep from reaching for her again, and he begrudgingly forced himself to move, and left the room to answer the door.

Riley just lay there speechlessly. Her pulse was sky-rocketing and she was having trouble catching her breath. He'd just kissed her like he was born to do it, completely shattering her control. They had nearly… He had almost… How in the world was that professional?

And what had he been apologizing for?

She hated that she lost all perspective around him. She hadn't the faintest idea of what they were talking about before. She looked towards where he'd gone and heard voices in the living room. She sat up and ran a hand through her hair, adjusting her clothing. She was filled with warmth again just thinking about the way he'd waken her up.

"Riley," he called suddenly. Gabriel's voice had a tense edge to it. "Your friend is here."

Riley frowned. What kind of friend interrupted the best morning wake-up call of her life? A small part of her wanted to deny that it was, but the fact that she was close to calling her partner back and kicking out the untimely guest had her knowing otherwise.

What in the world had gotten into her? She really shouldn't be thinking these types of things. Especially about Gabriel.

She padded out to the living room and hid a grimace when she saw the visitor. It was Chris, the hiker from the night before. Chris looked up to her with a sleazy sort of smile of his face at her rumpled clothes. She had the sudden urge to cover herself with a bathrobe, but remained still. "What's the matter?" she asked the men.

"Chris here says he lost his dog last night, and he's been looking for her. The lodge told him that we'd picked her up." Gabriel wasn't trying to hide his grimace. Reluctantly, he went to retrieve Ivy from the other room. Upon returning, he said, "Lucky for you, she ran into us last night."

Chris looked at the dog that was brought out with a frown, and Ivy put her tail in between her legs.

"She's always running off, the darn dog. I wanted her to accompany me on my newest hike today," he said. Riley saw him puff out his chest again, and readied herself for another long, boastful story. Chris started telling Gabriel about his outdoor adventures, boring her partner in much the same way as she had been last night. "Anyways, today's hike is pretty risky. I've decided I'm going to try out the old trail on the other side of the nearest mountain. The old thing was never finished, but I'm going to scope it out."

Riley raised her eyebrows in disbelief. "Isn't that dangerous? Does the lodge know about your plans?" She hardly doubted what he was doing was legal by any means.

"Oh, what are you my mother?" He asked rudely. "I can do anything I want. It's the wilderness- it's all dangerous. I can't wait to tell them, and I will after, that I was the first one to successfully climb the other side. They'll probably put my picture up in the lodge, or something." He ended with an arrogant snort.

Gabriel nearly rolled his eyes. "Well if you can't wait, you better get a move-on. Just be careful with the dog." As Gabriel was ushering Chris out the door, he heard the obnoxious man talking to the dog.

"Like I'm taking you with me anywhere today," Ivy was told. Riley heard it as well, and her heart went out to the poor creature. She couldn't believe a man like that would own a dog so sweet.

"Thanks again, by the way," she said to Gabriel as he closed the door. "For, um, saving me from having to dance with him last night," she sputtered. He just gave her an affectionate look and smiled. He put his arm around her shoulders and walked her into the kitchen.

"Anytime. C'mon, I'll make you some breakfast." He didn't make any move to put a shirt on, and instead reached for the ingredients in the cupboard.

Riley just watched him move around wordlessly. Pancakes were a fine choice of breakfast food by him, and she was delighted when a big bag of chocolate chips appeared from somewhere. She was so happy that he was the kind of guy who took the time to find out her favorite foods, and she found herself thinking about how Gabriel really could be incredibly sweet. Charming, a great kisser, and makes me breakfast, she thought. No wonder he was so easy to fall in love with.

Wait.

Love?

What?

A/N: Yup, I left it there. Do you hate me? As always, reviews are appreciated! :D Do you have any predictions for what's going to happen next? Thanks to diana_of_wales for everything she does for me.