A/N: Hey! So there seems to be some confusion about who Chris is. Back in Chapter 5, I introduced him as Chris Pellegrino, a pompous annoying hiker dude. He is neither Chris Jameson nor Charles Griffin. I totally made him up! And it was by accident that he has the same name as those guys…I wrote that before I even realized the names of actual characters from the show. Sorry about that, but I hope this clears that up! Enjoy this next Chapter without confusion. :D

Rated: T

Disclaimer: I should own them, shouldn't I? That way Gabriel and Riley would kiss in the show a WHOLE TON MORE. But I don't own them…yet.

Chapter 11 – Competitions

By the time Riley woke up, she'd found that Gabriel had already left the bed. She'd also forgotten the mitts were still on her hands when she tried to rub her eyes, and grumbled in frustration. The bathroom door was open a crack, and she could hear the sounds of her partner in the shower.

Glancing over at the clock, she realized that for once she'd slept in past six o'clock. It must have been the medication she'd taken – that Benadryl had knocked her out cold once she finally fell asleep. Riley vaguely remembered talking to Gabriel as she was drifting off, but didn't have the faintest clue about what they'd discussed.

She laid under the blanket, desperately trying to shake off the drowsiness from the allergy medication until Gabriel walked out fully dressed for the day. Strangely, a few warm butterflies erupted in her stomach at the sight of him. His damp hair clung to his forehead and his freshly shaven face was dimpled with a smile that did funny things to her heart. What in the hell was happening to her?

"About time you woke up," he started. "How's the poison ivy?" As he asked her, he came around the bed to sit by her side.

It took her a few moments to find her voice. With a clear of her throat, she answered, "Seems to be much better. It's not as bad as last night."

At her mention of last night, Gabriel's face twitched into a smile, but it was gone in an instant. She would have asked him about it had he not interrupted first. "Want to clean up, then?"

"What do you mean?" She raised her eyebrows in question. Her pulse spiked when he reached for her arms, gently removing the mitts and showing off the pink calamine lotion that was still coating her skin. "Oh," she mouthed.

"Ready?" he asked needlessly before scooping her up in his arms again. She wasn't ready for the quick movement and held tightly to him with her elbow hooked around his neck. Gabriel was so close that she smelled his aftershave, and Riley suppressed the urge to run her fingers over his newly stubble-free jaw. Honestly, she couldn't wait for the moment she was allowed to use her hands again.

Not that she was going to use the opportunity to run her hands all over Gabriel. No, of course not.

Gabriel set her down gently on the bathroom rug, but didn't make a move to leave the room immediately. He turned on the bath faucet for her so that she didn't have to fumble with it. Then, Gabriel turned back to her with a grin that looked like he wasn't telling her something.

"What is it?" Riley asked. She knew nothing good could come from his look, and watched him warily as Gabriel came back closer to her and set his hands on her shoulders bracingly.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I'm going to have to take off your clothes, now," he stated, concealing a smile.

She backed up until she hit the sink, making sure she was out of his reach. "Excuse me? You're doing what now?"

He sighed as though she was overreacting. "I said not to take it the wrong way. Your hands are still pink, and you'll stain your clothes if you try to take them off yourself. See my shirt in the sink? It's still stained from last night, even though I've been soaking it ever since."

She turned around to see the shirt, which was indeed still soaking in the sink. In the mirror she saw Gabriel come up behind her with an innocent expression on his face. It contrasted with her accusing glare, so she whipped around to face him again, seeing he'd moved infinitesimally closer.

So he was going to remove her clothing. How bad could that be? She asked herself. Besides, she really didn't want her nice shirt to get stained. Truthfully, the action seemed to be necessary.

Damn it. She couldn't believe she was going to allow him to do this. Begrudgingly, she answered, "Fine. But you better be-"

"Professional, I get it." Gabriel, internally, was actually shocked she would let him do it. "Shall I remove your shorts first?" He had a gleam in his eye, a dangerous spark. It was all he could do not to grin victoriously.

"Let's just get this over with," she huffed, her face turning a beautiful shade of pink as he brought his hands to the button on her shorts and unzipped the front.

She tried desperately to avoid his gaze, because she knew that if she did look at him, that electric spark of sexual tension would erupt in the air between them again. What his hands were doing already had her chest doing that funny flutter again, and she was hoping the pink on her face wasn't turning any shades deeper.

Gabriel hooked his thumbs on the waistline of her shorts, accidentally skimming the skin on her hips as he brought the piece of clothing down so that she could step out of her shorts. She swore that she heard a quiet intake of breath as her black panties were revealed.

She tried to just wait through the embarrassment, but Gabriel was taking his sweet time. "Could you please hurry up, already?" she pleaded.

There was that endearing smirk.

"Didn't know you were so desperate for me to remove your clothing, Riley." He'd whispered her name in an unintentionally sexy way, and she took a deep breath of her own. But then, she realized what he'd implied, and threw in an eye roll for good measure.

It didn't matter how true his statement was.

"You know what I meant," she said weakly. He was enjoying this too much, just as she'd predicted he would.

"As you wish," he grinned. "Arms up, please."

She raised her arms as Gabriel grabbed a hold of the fabric of her shirt, pushing it up as slowly as he deemed necessary. The feel of his warm hands grazing at her sides was getting to be too much, and she finally glared at him as her shirt was finally removed to reveal a matching black bra.

Bad idea. His eyes were staring intensely back at her, darker than she'd ever seen them. She let out a sigh of her own this time, damning the fact that he could undo her so easily as of late. His hand came up to brush a fallen lock of hair off of her shoulder, but the small touch spurred the butterflies in her stomach all over again.

He glanced down at her half-naked form with a hint of admiration. She noticed and through the hitch in her voice, warned him, "Turn around, or something."

His eyes sparkled with mirth. "I told you before, I've already seen you in a swimsuit, and this isn't any different. Unless, of course," he paused to give her a quick once-over, "you wanted me to help you out of all your clothing."

"Of course not." She swallowed and shook her head, trying her hardest to say it in a steady voice. Riley noticed how his own voice had turned gravelly as well. This was worse than their close proximity in bed, she was sure of it. Here she was standing nearly naked in front of him, the steamy shower less than an arm's length away. Riley had to get away from Gabriel soon, or she might regret it.

"Alright, now get out so I can shower," she said lightly, trying to head towards the tub. She turned back towards him, though, when she didn't hear his retreating footsteps.

Gabriel guiltily looked back up from where his eyes had been resting. "What?"

"Earth to Gabriel, I'm not getting in the shower until I know you've left," she rolled her eyes.

He just cocked his head to the side. "Are you really getting in there still half-clothed?"

She scoffed and put a hand on her hip. "You know, I think I'm going to. I'm certainly not letting you undress me completely. I don't even care about this underwear getting wet."

He was silent for a half a second before he burst out in laughter, making her blush anew. "Dammit Gabriel, you know I didn't mean to say that. Now get out!" She picked up a bottle of shampoo from nearby and threw it at him.

To annoy her further, Gabriel caught the bottle and cheekily added, "Just let me know if you need help in there."

"Gee, thanks," she glowered.

"Anytime. I'm always happy to take you clothes off," he said winking, taking one last sigh at the sight of her bare skin, and closed the door to the bathroom before she could come back with a retort.

She wanted to scream at him. But, at the same time, she hoped he never stopped looking at her like he just had. That was the most frustrating part. The way he undressed her, both literally and with his eyes, would be haunting her dreams for a long time.

After ten minutes of a hot shower, Riley dressed herself and padded out to the living room to see if she could find Gabriel. She was unbelievably glad to have the sticky cream off of her hands, free to move around easily again. Her afflictions had still been slightly itchy when she left the shower, but she decided to take another allergy pill instead of smearing the cream on herself again. Anything was better than having Gabriel do everything for her, like feed her, carry her, and undress her.

Well, okay, so they were some perks to the calamine. But she was really more of a do-it-yourself kind of girl.

Riley found him pacing in front of one of the windows, hanging up his phone from a call to headquarters. She could tell Lillian was on the other end by the way Gabriel was standing formally, as if he was a soldier receiving orders. Riley also assumed he was only checking in with their boss, as he didn't immediately alert her to any news as she approached.

"Still itchy?" he asked. He almost looked disappointed to see her fully clothed again, if his sullen glance at her clothes was anything to go by.

"Not really. I think I'll be okay to go lotion-free today," she smiled. The pills made the itching so much more tolerable, and she hadn't felt any drowsiness set in yet.

"Good. That means we don't have to stay inside all day." He turned around to face the window again. He was unusually quiet, and Riley found it puzzling that his behavior was now so docile as compared to the way he acted when they'd shared the bathroom earlier.

Perhaps Lillian had brought back the ever-present reminder that he should keep the relationship with his partner strictly professional. I doubt he'd follow those orders anyway, Riley thought. Not with the way he kept touching her and kissing her like his life depended on it. Deep down, she at least hoped he wouldn't follow the orders.

Gabriel's voice snapped her out of her thoughts suddenly. He was staring quizzically at her and repeated his question. "Why are you blushing?"

"W-what?" she stammered. "I'm not blushing."

"How can you even tell? I'm the one looking at you, and I'm telling you that your face is slowly getting redder. Are you feeling sick or something?" He pressed on.

"Seriously? Let it go, Gabriel," she scowled at him. Didn't he realize that the worst thing to tell a blushing person was that they were blushing? She sighed with frustration– he probably did know and was just trying to get under her skin. She definitely wouldn't put it past him.

"Or maybe you're embarrassed," he started with a slow, devilish smile. "Are you thinking about the way I undressed y-"

He was cut off by a hard jab of her fist into his arm. Unfortunately, that was how she confirmed what she was thinking about.

"You know, I'm glad the mitts are finally off so I can punch you easier," Riley hissed. Changing the subject was a lot easier than answering his question, and she wished he'd leave the matter alone. "I took meds instead of that gross lotion."

"Well," he grumbled, rubbing his sore arm, "At least you're free to harm me as much as you want. Lucky me."

Riley didn't apologize. "Anyways, I was going to go for a run. Care to join me?"

It was then that he realized she'd put on running shorts and an old sweatshirt. Apparently she really did pack for everything in her emergency bag. He was glad for the suggestion because it offered a nice distraction for him, not allowing him as great an opportunity to be in terribly close contact with her. Gabriel knew he'd gone a little too far by taking off her clothes like he did, but in all honesty, she was completely irresistible when she woke up with bed head and talked to him with that low, slumber-ridden voice. And, if she was going to let him do what he wanted with her, why question that?

Of course, she could have just rinsed her hands off in the sink that his shirt had been soaking in and removed her clothes herself, but Gabriel wasn't really strong-willed enough to offer any other option to her.

He nodded in answer to her question. Gabriel was already wearing shorts, and he missed the morning runs he occasionally took. At least in his apartment, he liked to work out before heading to Cyber Com, so he figured this jog would be refreshing.

Soon they were both out the door and heading into a light jog, and Gabriel asked where she was planning to go.

"I heard that the end of this road leads to the top of the hill we're on, and I remember Chris telling me it has a nice view," she explained, not yet out of breath.

"Really? You're taking a suggestion from him?" he asked without hiding his disgust.

"What reason would he have to lie about a thing like that? Besides, he seems to know a lot about the outdoors," she said, smiling at Gabriel's ill-concealed tone. Even if the hiker had been arrested and taken off the campgrounds and couldn't possibly meet Riley any time soon, her partner still held onto his jealousy.

"Well, this better be worth it. I haven't gotten the chance to run since we raced to the lake," he paused, adding, "A race that I so valiantly won."

"Are you kidding me? I was right behind you. You didn't win by that much," she scoffed, not willing to accept defeat. "I'm usually faster than you, so I don't know how you managed to get ahead. I could totally beat you any other day."

He turned to give her a disbelieving look, but caught the smile she was holding. "You wanna bet?"

The agents matched their paces and they'd both started to speed up as the road got steeper. The rising sun peeked out of the low clouds and lit up the pathway they took. They ran around a bend and followed the road as it led them to a secluded part of the woods where conifers lined the shoulders of the path.

"Why not? What are the details of this bet?" Riley asked slyly, wanting to know the stakes. It was also in her competitive nature for her to immediately accept the bet, no matter the consequences.

"Whoever makes it to the top of the hill first wins, of course," he grinned charmingly.

"Yes, but what do we win?" she asked impatiently. He was silent, and they both jogged on for a few moments until he spoke again.

"I don't know…bragging rights?"

"That's all?"

"Sounds like more than enough to me," he stated. "But I think its best we both start at the same time for this race."

"Yeah, to make it more fair," Riley chuckled, alluding to the notion that he wouldn't be able to catch up without a head start.

"Hey, what kind of partner are you?" Gabriel noticed she was being especially stubborn and challenging this morning. Maybe he'd got her more wound-up than he'd thought earlier. At least it meant that he was going to have fun.

"Well we better get started soon," she said as she pointed to a sign on the side of the road. It alerted them that a dead-end was near.

"Ready?" Gabriel counted down from three and both bolted forward, running nearly twice as fast as they had been.

They plowed forward at a speed they'd each trained hard to reach. It was an important acquisition for chasing suspects for Riley, and a necessary skill Gabriel needed when he was escaping the trouble he usually got himself into. Both partners were focused on their end goal, and they soon had the top of the hill in their sights. Proud of their racing talents, each glanced at the other, expecting to see themselves in the lead.

In reality, the partners were both still keeping the same pace and neither could pull ahead. For a moment they shared a look, and laughs could be heard through their huffs of breath. This early in the morning, the agents were the only ones awake, meaning that the only sounds they heard were made by themselves or the birds singing over their heads.

Just as Gabriel had expected, the challenge had turned out to be more fun than either of them expected. Both were competitive and pushed themselves their hardest to take the last few steps to the end of the road. At the last moment, Riley leaped forward and onto the grass the dirt road proceeded.

"WINNER! Yes!" she exclaimed. Her face was full of joy and pride, and she started running victory circles around Gabriel.

He was slightly bent over, trying to catch his breath. Gabriel knew she was bragging purposefully, trying to annoy him, but he couldn't help but find her utterly adorable as she bounced around with her flushed cheeks and exhilarant arms raised in the air. Rather than try to stop her, he just watched his partner fondly and shared her contagious smile. "Congratulations."

"Jealous, Gabriel? It doesn't matter, I've got the right to brag all I want, now!" Riley was still hyper but she stopped dancing around victoriously to laugh and catch her breath. "Told you I could beat you."

Gabriel put his hands up in surrender. "I'm glad I didn't bet for higher stakes. But I still think you got lucky this time." When she gave him a look, he added, "But I'm going to let that go for now so you can continue your charming victory dance." He gave her a smile that seemed to say "you win."

"Now, now. Don't pout. It's not attractive," she snickered and walked towards him with purpose.

Scratch that, she seemed to walk enticingly right through his bubble of personal space, meeting his eyes the entire time while skirting right under his gaze and bumping his shoulder playfully. His eyes trailed ahead of her and Gabriel finally saw what she was heading towards.

From the top of the hill, they could see even farther than the vantage point near the lodge. The whole valley lay out below them and they could see the mountains piercing the sky for hundreds of miles, the most distant ones the color of amethyst. Riley stood on a rock ledge, pulled her hair out of the ponytail it was bound in, and took a deep breath of the fresh mountain air.

"Wow," Gabriel breathed. "The view is absolutely amazing."

"I know," Riley nodded in agreement. She looked behind her shoulder to motion him over. Her heart skipped a beat when she noticed how he had actually been staring at her, not the overlook.

"Nice place to watch the sunrise," he commented. He was incredibly appreciative of the forest they were seeing this morning, but he was even happier that he got to spend this special moment with his incredibly gorgeous partner. He wasn't lying when he said he found the view amazing.

"Huh. There's a whole town on the other side of the valley," Riley said, pointing to the grouping of buildings that the sun was just reaching. "Too bad we can't really leave the campground."

When she'd said it, Gabriel pleasantly noted that her voice didn't sound the least bit regretful. They both sat down on the warm rock surface of the outlook.

"We gotta get out of the office more." Hell, they needed to get out of the city more. Rare experiences like this were thing Gabriel prized, and he made a mental note to save this moment in his memory forever. They didn't get to see this type of endless wilderness when they worked. What was more alarming to him was that he never had a morning run as nice as this. Though he usually grouched at his partner when she tried to wake him up early, especially for a run, he decided he was now going to join Riley on her morning jogs. What better way to start the day than to get his blood pumping with a little friendly competition? Not to mention getting to see his partner sweaty, hair disheveled, shorts ridding up as she ran fast-

"Gabriel?" Her voice lifted him from his thoughts. When he waited, she just said, "You're staring at me. Do I have something on my face?"

A delicate hand was brought up to her cheek to wipe at a phantom mark, but Gabriel just shook his head and looked past the ledge. He hoped to hide the faint blush that had tinged his cheeks without warning. Suddenly, he was all too aware of Riley's nearness. Their hands almost brushed each other were they lay on the sun-kissed rock, but were not quite touching.

All it would take was a simple movement to cover her hand with his warm one and intertwine their fingers. He couldn't find the courage to complete the smallest act of intimacy, though, and settled for the tingle that shot up his arm when she accidentally grazed his skin with her outstretched fingers. Which, by the way, she didn't bother moving once her hand settled next to his.

Neither of them really acknowledged the touch, and they sat pleasantly watching the town below them wake up and start to bustle around. Pretty soon, however, they heard the sound of a motor vehicle puttering up the road and watched it come into view. The van was only turning around at the top of the hill, and it soon went back the way it came. The side of the van read Pet Adoption Van.

Riley's eyes widened and Gabriel stood up, pulling his partner along. They both shared a concerned look and left the outlook immediately to race downhill after the vehicle. This couldn't be good.

Sure enough, their fears were confirmed when they found the van near a cabin down the road, Officer Bates coming out the door with a leash on Ivy. Gabriel had a sinking feeling in his stomach and walked down in front of the dog, essentially blocking the officer's path. Unlike Ms. Bates, Ivy was ecstatic to see him and wagged her tail in excitement.

"What's going on here, Sally?" he asked while giving Ivy a good scratch behind the ears.

"Well," Bates hesitated, "Chris didn't have any family to take his dog, so we can't do anything but give her up for adoption." The officer was unusually quiet, probably sad to see the poor old dog subjected to the fate of going to the pound.

"Are you sure no one else wanted to take her?" he asked. There was no way Ivy deserved to be sent to a center where she'd most likely live the rest of her days human-less.

"I would have gladly taken her to be our lodge mascot," Sally said with a sad smile, "But we just don't have room in our budget to take care of a dog." She forced herself to look away from Gabriel's accusing eyes and started to head back towards the adoption van.

He looked over to his partner who gave him a wide-eyed look filled with meaning and a nod in the dog's direction. Gabriel followed the nod and shook his head at Riley. He mouthed No, but Riley gave him another pleading look and he was lost to her will.

"Hey- What…what if we took Ivy?" he asked Officer Bates without turning from Riley. The warm grin spreading across his partner's face was all the reward he needed.

Sally spun around with a similarly blossoming smile. "Really? You'd do that?" It was light a flip had been switched and her sullen attitude from moments ago was suddenly gone in a flash. "Oh, I'm so happy to hear that! I was hoping someone would grab her last minute! She really is a sweet old pup. Let me just get the appropriate papers together…" she trailed off.

Gabriel looked at both his partner and the officer in shock. Did he just get coerced into adopting a dog in a conversation that he and Riley had only shared through looks?

Once the papers were signed and Ivy was ushered into her new owner's hands, Sally waved over her shoulder at them and shared a conspiratorial look with Riley. He shook his head. "Women. You'll be the death of me."

"You can't possible think this was a bad idea," Riley protested, squatting down and matching Ivy's puppy dog eyes. "I just got you to bring this wonderful being that you love into your life, who also happens to love you for some reason, so you can't stay mad at me for that."

He looked down with a heavy heart at his two best friends. Riley got almost every part of that sentence right.

And the part that was wrong?

She'd only referred to one wonderful being that he loved being brought into his life.

A/N: It feels like forever since I updated. Thanks for all the sweet reviews you guys left on the last chapter. You guys are wonderful, and thanks so much for being patient with me! I'd also like to announce that my story just got over 28,000 views and I'm so happy that my first story is actually as successful as it! Y'all know how to make a girl cry.

Also, if you haven't already, feel free to leave me some prompts for future chapters in this fic. Or maybe pop me a review and tell me I'm doing this story good?

Thank you, Diana_of_Wales, for all you've done. I hope you're having a better weekend than the last!