A/N: I have a good excuse this time. I was on vacation for like two weeks, so I probably could have warned you beautiful readers. Sorry loves. I'm amazed you're all sticking with me, even though it feels like I've made this story crazy, so I proud of you for keeping with it. Without further ado, here's the next installment.

Disclaimer: Yes, it's true - I have secretly sold my soul to own these characters. Just ask Crowley, the king of hell, for confirmation.

Rated T for language.

Chapter 19 - Anytime

As his partner napped, Gabriel sat unmoving by the hammock, listening to the quiet birdsongs and insect-buzzings coming from all around them. To an onlooker, it would probably appear as if he were relaxing and enjoying the simplicity of nature. His ears were listening for something more ominous than animals, though, like the crunching of twigs under a leather boot or a sudden, deafening silence that would make him think that it was just a little too quiet. The usually melodious birds would stop singing immediately when a predator was near- either that or sound a loud warning call first. So far, they hadn't stopped chirping yet.

After what seemed like an hour had passed, he got uncomfortable and stood up to stretch. Gabriel moved around to get the circulation flowing back into his legs, but never moved more than five feet away from the hammock. He paced back and forth, restless and random thoughts racing through his mind: What were they going to eat? They needed to get over one of the cliffs and look for edible plants. Could he get sunburnt, even through clouds? Was Riley getting sunburnt? She looked like she was sleeping peacefully. Were the guardsmen even remotely close to them? They needed to get out of here.

A bead of sweat rolled down his back. He hadn't accessed his chip in quite a long while and it was very different. Gabriel was used to his thoughts roaming around and accessing the technology in his head constantly -he could never get bored. It was like a clutch for him, he realized; something that he'd rely back on for reassurance and something that could solve the world's problems, as well as his own. It was half of what made him confident, admittedly somewhat-arrogant, but sure of what he was doing all the time. He wondered how different it would make him if he ever lost the ability to use the chip.

Gabriel was unwilling to admit just how frightening the concept of not using the chip seemed. It was a part of him now; he was the chip, and the chip was him. They were one and the same, in his opinion.

He focused on his earlier thoughts about finding food. Gabriel was pretty sure that he'd never forgotten anything the chip had ever told him, so he wasn't at a complete loss. It was a good thing, too, because if he remembered what was edible correctly, maybe the gnawing emptiness in his stomach would soon stop.

Besides, food always seemed to help cure his headaches, and soon he might be able to think straight again.

A while later, he'd sat down by Riley again, this time parallel to her so that he could keep an eye on her as well as watch their surroundings. She turned over in her sleep onto her side, hair cascading down over her shoulder and away from her face. He noticed a small wound on her neck above where he'd seen the bloodstain on her shirt earlier, deducing that a bullet had most likely grazed the spot. A few scratches covered the sides of her face as well as above her shoulders from running through the branches as fast as they could.

Gabriel became lost in his thoughts while Riley turned over again, this time onto the sore spot. She winced and inhaled quickly, her eyelids fluttering open quite soon after. As if suddenly remembering where they were, the corners of her mouth turned downward sharply and she groaned, settling her hand over her eyes like Gabriel had done when he'd woken up.

"Did you get enough sleep?"

"No," she said grouchily, but moved her hand under her head to look at him. Riley's eyes were bloodshot and cheeks warm, indeed making her look like she needed a couple more hours of sleep. Her lip stuck out in a pout. "Any dangers present themselves while I slept?"

Not that Riley really felt that she'd actually fallen completely asleep. Try as she might to relax, the situation was too intense for her to let her guard down that much. So, instead, she drifted in and out of consciousness for what seemed like a few hours.

"The only danger I was aware of was dying of boredom," Gabriel answered. When she didn't crack a smile, he added seriously, "I'm kidding. I've been trying to think about which way we should go from here. We definitely need to get above these cliff walls."

Riley nodded. "It's too damp down here to keep the fire going, too. Plus, we'll run out of wood to find." The wood she'd used earlier had luckily fallen over the rocky edge.

They sat in silent agreement for a moment. Gabriel noticed his partner wince again as she sat upright, her fingers searching for the painful-looking gash on her neck, and found blood when she took her hand away.

"You should get that looked at when we get back," he told her. "Looks painful."

"It's bearable," she responded, brushing off his concern. "C'mon, we should get moving." She lifted off the hammock completely and went to start untying the knots that had held the makeshift bed up off the floor of the gorge.

Gabriel followed suit and untied the knots at the opposite end of the hammock. His hand felt a burning sensation when he touched the rope, and he remembered the scraped skin he'd gotten from trying to hold onto the branch the night before. Brilliant idea that was.

But of course, he didn't regret it for a second if he had to choose between cutting his hand and saving his partner. He would always save her.

Once the hammock was stuffed back in the pack and the fire snuffed out completely, the two headed down along the side of the nearly dried-up stream that lined the left side of the gorge. The sun had peeked out of the clouds, so Riley had suggested they go east, as she thought she remembered that being the direction in which the nearby town was settled.

The walls surrounding them on either side had layers of rock jutting out in such a way that Gabriel believed they could climb out easily enough once they found the right arrangement of step-like stones. Where they'd started out had steeper formations that were covered with slippery moss and had water trickling down the sides – not exactly ideal conditions.

"Ever hiked the bottom of an empty riverbed before?" Gabriel asked absentmindedly. He picked up his tired feet to step over a smaller stream of water that had diverted from the larger one.

"Kind of," Riley said after a second. "I used to visit this place up in New York where you could hike tons of gorges, but usually they had waterfalls at the end or something."

"So it was sort of like this, only no one waiting to assassinate us when we climb out?" he smirked.

"Exactly," she nodded. She turned on him with a coy smile. "Have you ever done anything like this?"

"Yeah, surprisingly," he said, a crinkle in his forehead. "It was right before we met, actually. I was running from someone and jumped off a cliff into a waterfall." He remembered the action like it was yesterday; it was either get caught by the men coming after him or jump and hope for the best. "I didn't hit my head the first time, though."

"I remember reading about that in your file," Riley said and shook her head. "Now I see why they wanted me to make sure you didn't do anything else that stupid." He looked over to see if she was frowning at him, but she kept her expression neutral.

"And looked what's changed. Now instead of pulling stupid stunts alone, I get to pull them with you. Really great plan that was."

"I can't say I disagree when you put it that way," she sighed. "But hey – don't you think we've saved each other's lives enough times that it kind of worked out?" Riley still wasn't looking at him, but her voice had gone lighter.

"Oh- yeah. I mean, I don't regret it," he hurried to explain, "And we're both probably better off for it-" When he paused, he saw a flash of a disbelieving smile make its way onto Riley's face. He frowned and asked, "What's so funny?"

"It's nothing," she assured him, though Gabriel could tell that she was still fighting to get the grin off of her face.

He nudged her arm with his elbow and prompted her to answer his question. She sighed deeply and started, "Okay, fine. Are you sure you're not just saying that we'd be 'better off' because you got to pretend to be my husband this week?"

"What? Riley, I- What? " Gabriel did his best to act affronted, though he could feel his ears turning red. She turned a raised eyebrow at him, trying to look him in the eye as he avoided her scrutinizing look and stumbled over a fallen log. "Why would you think that?"

"For one thing, you usually complain about me all the time. Back home you used to, at least. Never did you ever tell me how glad you were to be my partner," she scoffed. "Not until after we came upstate." She waggled her eyebrows suggestively.

Gabriel wanted to laugh but he was sure it would just come out like a strangled sound. He looked down at his feet for a moment, trying to focus on how wet the rocks under their feet were getting, as if they were beginning to wade into the stream that seemed to be growing in size by the minute. He found his voice and said, "I'm sure I've told you you were a great partner before."

"Yeah maybe once, but you've been saying it a lot more often lately," she countered. The cliff walls narrowed for a short spell and they both squeezed through a tight spot. Neither spotted a safe spot to climb up yet, only seeing how slick the sides of the rocks were becoming and how the puddles of water below were unavoidable to step in. Their feet were soon soaked by the water.

"Maybe taking a vacation is just putting me in a better mood," Gabriel grunted. He knew of his feelings for her but wasn't ready for her to know about them yet. He would avoid what she was getting at as best as he could.

"Can't imagine why," she teased. Gabriel heard her say something under her breath.

"Hey, relaxing and not being under Lillian's thumb is what's so nice, okay? Not what you're thinking. You and your dirty mind," he shot back at her, seeing her unimpressed look when their eyes met again.

"Oh? What am I thinking, Gabriel?" she asked coquettishly. "I couldn't possibly imagine what you mean." Riley must have been too tired to realize how much she was getting on his nerves. Or maybe she was just aware enough and toying with him for no reason.

Whatever that reason was, Gabriel wasn't feeling particularly tolerant of it. It was time to shut her down. He saw his opportunity when they came to another tight spot to squeeze through. The cliff walls had come together again to make a particularly narrow path, and there was less room for the agents to move around in, so he made sure his pace matched hers.

"I'm pretty sure you know what I'm referring to," he started, keeping his voice even. They'd approached the narrow spot and Riley turned sideways to fit through, unaware that Gabriel was doing the same thing directly beside her.

"Nope," she said, keeping up the act. while they continued shuffling sideways. He could hear her smiling though her back was turned to him. The rocks came ever closer together, leaving maybe an inch of space between Riley's backside and Gabriel's front.

"Are you sure?" She was facing the cliff wall still, so he lessened the distance considerably as they moved.

Without warning, he stopped moving and placed his arms on either side of her against the rock, effectively stopping her sideways motion. He lined his body up with hers and heard her squeak with realization.

"What are you doing?" Riley asked weakly. He felt a shudder race down her spine.

"Just wondering if this would jog your memory," he said infuriatingly. Boy, if she could only see the smirk on his face now.

"I could really hurt you right now if I wanted to, you know," she tried, the waver in her voice barely noticeable. He could feel her squirm against him, firmly pinned to the wall.

"If you wanted to, you would have done it already." Gabriel found himself wishing he could see the look on her face and wondered if he'd already missed the blush that surely had spread across her cheeks. In one swift motion he allowed for space between them and turned her around, re-pinning her in place.

The water rippled around their soaked feet where they stood in the stream.

Her brunette hair was sticking to the sides of her face. Riley's eyes were alight with warning and wonder at the same time, and he could see a few gold flecks reflecting from her irises in the patch of sunlight they were in. Her chest was rising and falling quickly, heart beating like a drum against his own. She looked, overall, quite flustered. (Or frustrated. Sometimes Gabriel couldn't tell the difference.)

To hell with not talking about his feelings for the moment; he was going to make sure she stopped trying to bring up what happened to them when they stepped into each other's personal space by demonstrating just that. "I'm pretty sure that this was the sort of thing you were thinking of, partner."

He noticed she had a spot of dirt on her cheek were it'd touched the wall and reached his fingers up to wipe it off her face, watching her blink at him. Gabriel would pay good money to know what she was thinking as he grabbed her wrist and felt the skittering pulse there.

Riley, on the other hand, was trying furiously to clear her head of all thoughts that her partner was inspiring. The moment he grazed the skin of her cheek and brought his hand to cover hers, a flare of heat coursed through her and a hot spike erupted from his touch all the way to the pit of her stomach where his hips were pressing harder against hers by the minute.

"You're right," he offered in a low voice. "This does make me feel better."

From this close, she could see on his neck what looked like the remains of the hickey she'd tried to give him the other night. Riley strangely felt as though she could hardly speak. "I get it now. Point proven."

"Is it though?" He smiled down at her. She couldn't deny how that certain feeling came rushing back to her, the one that she felt in her bones when he used that tone of voice and gave her a predatory smile like he desired nothing more in the world but to make her insides turn to butter.

"Mhm." Despite the aching in her bones and the soreness that she should've felt shoved up against the rocks, her body was too focused on the nearness of Gabriel's to feel much pain. Only his head leaned away from Riley so that he could focus on her facial features, particularly her now trembling lower lip.

To Riley, the way the light was filtering in through the trees above highlighted the tanned, chiseled jawline that was inches across from her face. His blue eyes glittered, focusing determinedly on her mouth. Gabriel's own lips were upturned and dimples indented on either side of his crooked nose, probably completely unaware of the effect that it had on her.

His tongue flicked out to wet his lips before he started again, saying, "I thought you wanted me to think about it. Speaking of which," he placed both his hands back on the rock wall behind her. "Doesn't this remind you of that lovely little moment in the closet?"

"You're just messing with me right now, I can tell," she responded, gaining a backbone slowly. If she was going to get out of this, it would take some quick thinking. Besides, she was rewarded with the sight of the tick in his jaw when she challenged him.

"Nonsense." He was still keeping up the charade with a slightly tucked chin and an annoying, (yet somehow, Riley was unwilling to admit out loud, devilishly handsome) enigmatic grin. "Don't you think we should pick up where we left off?"

"Gabriel-," she tried, but she could already see him moving further towards her.

Riley wasn't going to let him have the satisfaction of teasing her like this, though. Once he got close enough, she tried for a distraction and looked to the side as if something caught her eye and gasped in mock-surprise, flinching away from the same direction she was looking in.

Just as she'd thought he would, Gabriel took his attention off of her and focused it towards the imaginary danger, removing his hands from around her and to his hips as an automatic reflex. However, the gun he was reaching for was not there, and no longer was his partner, much to his chagrin.

"Hey, that's not funny," he said, surprised at Riley. Gabriel's eyes were on her as she sauntered away down the stream, and he swallowed when she turned around to face him.

"See? It's not nice to be teased, is it?"

"I thought one of the guardsman was back. I could have shot you," he insisted.

"You don't even have your gun anymore."

He just shut up and continued to follow her down the winding path that the stream took. The shallow water kept rising and the water that trickled down the gorge walls was forming streams and little waterfalls, and pretty soon the water gained in turbulence as well.

"Didn't you say that all of the gorges you hiked usually ended in waterfalls?" Gabriel asked. Straining to drag his legs through the rising water was wearing on his nerves a bit because it reminded him of how sore his muscles were, as well as how thirsty and dehydrated he was.

Gabriel wondered when the bend had turned them around so they were facing west. The sun kept lowering in the sky and directly into his eyes. He missed his sunglasses, too.

"I don't doubt there's one at the end of this river," Riley guessed. "That is, if the fricking thing does actually end. I'm not too happy about being trapped down here with no way to get out. You haven't checked the chip yet, have you?"

"No," he brushed her off. Attempting to improve her mood, he cheekily told her, "At least you have good company down here, though."

She silenced him with a look, not about to let him forget the exchange that happened not moments ago. Gabriel rolled his eyes at her.

As they turned around a few more bends, the roaring of the water could be heard. The middle of the stream was deep enough to go past Riley's waist, but the agents chose to walk along the narrow bank of rock that had presented itself finally. Gabriel heard his partner take a deep breath and sigh at the clearing they'd approached.

"Wow," he agreed. The two were standing at the top of the waterfall, overlooking quite a spectacular view. It emptied out into a deep pool of water that carried on flowing into a river. Gabriel's drenched feet were above the tree line at the opposite shore, so he knew it was quite a ways down from where they were. The fading light had just gotten dimmer, but the hazy, pink colors of the sunset still reflected in the pool below.

Gabriel would have appreciated it more if he didn't realize how lost they were, or that there was no easy way to get down there. "Ladies first?"

"What?" Riley looked positively affronted.

"Do you see any other way of getting down?" he pressed his lips together to form a thin line.

Riley looked around the walls that ended steeply and uncertainly, covered with what may or may not have been more poison ivy. She shrugged and bit her lip. "Why do I have to go first?"

"I'm not exactly crazy about jumping off another cliff for the second time in a twenty-four hour period," he told her and rubbed the back of his neck absentmindedly.

Riley kept her weight balanced as she peered over the edge and matched his frown.

"This is the worst," he added in disdain. His headache was a dull, throbbing reminder of how he needed to be more careful. Jumping off would be directly ignoring his own advice. What if there were more rocks at the bottom to hit his head? What if Riley hit the rocks first and-

He shuddered to even think of the possibilities. He squeezed his eyes tightly shut for a moment though, knowing what had to be done. "I changed my mind. Let's go together."

"Alright," Riley nodded and offered her outstretched hand. She could sense his apprehensiveness more quickly than anyone he knew, and for that he was sometimes thankful. He rarely got nervous, or anything even close to that emotion, so it must have been a good thing that she could pick up on it.

Gabriel realized he spent a little too much time just staring at her hand. She shrugged and started to take it back, but he caught it just in time. Her fingers intertwined perfectly with his as soon as he took ahold of it. "On three."

"One."

"Two."

"Three!" they shouted in unison, and took a big leap.

In contrast to their push-off, they fell silently. The whipped around Riley's head and a shot of adrenaline coursed through her. She tightened her gut while flying through the mist of the racing falls and waited to hit the cold water.

Her toes dove in first but it wasn't what she was preparing for. Instead of an icy chill surrounding her, she was surprised by how warm the water actually was – nearly warmer than the air. The bubbles from the big splash they'd made whirled around through her long strands of hair and softly against her face.

Riley realized she let go of her partner's hand somewhere along the way and opened her eyes under the water. It was murky, so she couldn't see much, but eventually she saw a hand grabbing at her through the muddy haze. It pulled her upward and she broke the surface, taking a deep breath.

"What were you doing down there so long?" Gabriel asked. He sounded like the wind had gotten knocked out of him, and he started rolling his neck to crack it.

Riley wiped the water from her eyes. "I was looking for you," she replied. "I couldn't see where you'd gone."

"I thought you were drowning," he sputtered. "Next time, come up for air first." He gave her the same look he always did when she started caring more about his life than her own. Which was her job, she kept having to remind him.

"Thanks for your dashing, yet unnecessary rescue," Riley offered. She smirked at him and sent a small splash his way. She didn't wait for him to return the action or try dunking her again, so she swam towards the shore.

The warm water was so relaxing (and seemed to help the soreness on her shoulder) that Riley swam on her back to shore. She heard Gabriel catching up alongside her and peeked over at him. 'How's your neck?"

"Not terrible, actually. The force of the water hurt at first, but now it's not so bad," he shrugged. He mirrored her then, backstroking alongside her and closed his eyes. "The temperature is actually soothing."

On the shore, however, it was not nearly as nice. The setting sun had left behind a chill in the air. Their soggy clothes were dripping and each partner left a trail of wet footprints behind where they stepped. There was a small beach from which an enormous, smooth boulder emerged from, the entire bottom half of it stuck out into one of the deep sections of the pool.

Gabriel suggested they stop hiking for the night, as it was very hard to see where they were going. His backpack had survived the journey, but was just as soaking wet on the outside as they were. "Good thing it's water proof," he murmured.

A fire was soon built and they both sat shivering around it. Gabriel took his soggy clothes off and stood unabashedly in his boxers. He laid them out near the fire, hoping they would dry. "Aren't you gonna dry your clothes, too?" he asked Riley.

"Smooth one," she shot back at him with a knowing grin.

"I thought I'd at least try."

Riley shook her head and joined him in trying to build a small shelter. They found a long branch that was about twice the length of Gabriel and leaned it up against a tree. The sleeping bag was unzipped and spread out on top of the branch to make a tent covering. Gabriel lifted a few large rocks and rolled them onto the corners of the fabric, and they shared a smile at a job well done.

Riley sat down and looked up at him. "I've always seen television shows about surviving in the wilderness, but I never thought I'd actually have to go through the same thing."

"It's not completely the same."

"True," she agreed. She patted her growling stomach. "Usually by now, the survivors who get lost find something to eat."

"Yeah, that's the only difference," Gabriel chuckled. He ruffled her hair annoyingly as he walked past her. "I'll find something to eat."

"Gabriel, you can barely see. I don't think it's a safe idea," Riley warned, but he was already heading off into the bushes.

"Riley, we've been traveling for half a day in the opposite direction as them. I doubt they're gonna be patient enough to search the woods as thoroughly and find us tonight," he argued. She was still staring at him disapprovingly as he picked up his dry shirt and shorts, so he kept moving forward and said, "Fine. I won't go too far, but I'm hungry."

Her eyes were burning a hole in the back of his head, watching him fumble to redress himself as he walked until she could no longer see him. She tried to relax and put her trust in him. He'd survived for a long time before she came into the picture, and he would surely be fine for a couple minutes.

Riley shivered harder. Sitting fireside was helping to warm her, but she was getting nowhere in the wet clothes.

Maybe she should try and dry them while he was gone.

If she was fast enough, it could be done. She decided she'd stay in the warmer water while the fire heated up her clothes and slip back into them before he returned.

Riley undressed and got out of her clothes quickly and silently and laid them in the hot sand by the flames. She was thankful that she remembered to put Gabriel's sweatshirt back in his pack before jumping off the cliff and having it weigh her down even more. She tested the water with her toes and sent a silent prayer of thanks that it was still warmer than the air.

Looking to her right, she saw the light from the fire bouncing off from the big boulder and it gave her an idea. She checked behind her one last time to make sure Gabriel hadn't turned around to watch her or some other misfortune, and starting climbing the rock, finding purchase in its grooves.

The moon hadn't risen enough for the lake to be well-lit other than from the campfire, but Riley dove in anyways. It was a much lower drop than the bigger waterfall, but it brought a flashback from the earlier dive. When she resurfaced she gazed at the towering height of the falls and her eyes went wide, realizing that she'd jumped from such a height.

It looked twice as big as the dry cliff that they'd stumbled off of, but yet somehow was safer and more pleasant.

Riley supposed that some things were worth taking the risk for.

In the distance, she heard the high-pitched sound of Gabriel's whistling. She wanted to crack a grin; it was probably Gabriel's way of warning any bears in the area of his presence, but it could hardly be considered threatening when he was humming the tune to some cheesy movie she couldn't remember the name of.

She focused her attention instead to the fading light from above and how it transitioned from pink to light blue, to a darker navy. One by one, the stars were peeking out and were just visible enough so that she could point out several constellations.

The pool was like bath water; lukewarm and comforting in light of the situation. Her aching muscles craved the warmth it gave her, and the cut on her neck seemed to hurt less. Riley tried not to let it show when they were walking the gorge, but the wound had felt as though it were burning a layered hole into her skin, her nerve endings on fire. All too late she began to fear the microbial bacteria that was bound to be in the water, and kept her head as far above the waterline as possible.

Just as she started swimming back around the other side of the rock to get out, she heard a strangled voice calling her name. "Riley? Where'd you go?"

"Shit," she whispered to herself and realized what the situation must look like to him. She peeked out from the shadows and saw Gabriel standing above the heap of fabric that was her clothes with a look of bewilderment on his face. She smirked – he probably thought she was hiding naked somewhere, if the look of his slack jaw was anything to go by. "Uh, I'm in here," she waved her fingers above the waterline shyly. "I was only supposed to be a little while and I thought you were going to take longer."

"Oh," he managed. Gabriel uncharacteristically turned around when he realized she was getting out of the water. "I- yeah. I'm back and I got… Ah, you'll see." She thought she heard a gulp.

The sight of him was almost comical. He was clutching something green in his hands, but it certainly didn't look like food to Riley. She reached down for her clothes that had dried considerably and told him, "I thought you didn't care about looking at me in an undressed state."

"I don't." His voice was an octave higher than normal.

"Then why are you turned around? I do still have underwear on, you know."

"Oh. I wasn't sure," he stammered and turned around in a flash. His face seemed to drop a millimeter when he saw that he hadn't turned around quickly enough to see her reveal any skin. "I mean, I didn't want to make you uncomfortable, being that I haven't seen you naked yet-"

"Excuse me? Did you say yet?" she half-choked, eyes wide with disbelief. She didn't know whether to laugh or sock him in the arm when he donned a serious expression and shook his head furiously. Riley chose the latter option and walked towards the makeshift tent to crawl inside it.

What the hell did he mean by 'yet'? It was like he'd already decided they were going to jump each other by the end of their partnership. The way he'd said it, it was like he was expecting it in the future. She should have done more than punch him; she should have strangled him.

"Wait! I grabbed us a snack," he called, stopping her in her tracks. "It's flowering clovers. The green leaves are edible, but the purple parts are better. You can pick them off and suck the bottoms of these tiny petals to get the sugar."

Food was one of the few things that was going to make her tolerate his presence at the moment. She snatched the pile of purple flowers from his outstretched hand and continued into the tent to eat it alone. It didn't do much to satisfy her hunger, but anything was better than nothing.

Riley didn't know why he made her want to kill him ninety percent of the time they were alone together. She didn't think about how the other ten percent of the time, she wanted to get him to shut the hell up by using a whole other tactic. Pressing her lips over Gabriel's always got the job done. But she feared if she did that sort of thing too often, he'd start to annoy her just to use his punishment as a reward instead.

The space inside of the ten was small and the ground cold and rugged, but she nestled in anyways and tried to fall asleep without thinking about shutting Gabriel up. He always got her so worked up over the littlest things. No matter how many nice moments they shared and made nice, he always saw it fitting to get on her nerves again.

She heard footsteps nearing the tent and Gabriel, on all fours, poked his head through the opening at the base of the tree. "I'm sorry about what I said. Honestly, it was a Freudian slip- I didn't mean for it to come out like that. I also didn't mean to imply that I'd be even worthy enough to see anything like that," he said apologetically. Hesitantly, he added, "Can I come in?"

And dammit, the sincerity in his voice packed a punch and nearly all the anger that had built up within her vanished. She turned on her side to catch a glimpse of his pleading look. Upon seeing him shiver dramatically, she put on an indifferent look and told him, "If you must."

The smile that burst on his face reached his eyes and he slid feet-first into the enclosed area. There really wasn't that much room for the two agents to share, but it wasn't anything they weren't used to.

Gabriel raised his eyebrows innocently and rubbed his fingers together in a quick motion. "Gee, it's cold away from the fire, isn't it?"

Riley bit her lip to keep the grin off her face that threatened to appear because of what he was getting at. He saw that he was forgiven, though, and spread out his arms to her in askance. She rolled her eyes dramatically and made sure he noticed that she wanted to look thoroughly displeased when she snuggled into his embrace. "You're lucky it's freezing cold, Vaughn."

"Don't I know it," he chuckled and tucked her head under his chin. They were separated by a thin layer of fabric between them, and Riley could feel his heart pounding against her chest again. She relished in the natural body heat that rolled off of him like waves. Both the hug and the food he'd given her were starting to improve her mood.

"How were the clovers?" he asked, the hum of his voice hovering above her. He gently lowered his head so that he could be eye-level with her. "I know it wasn't a five-star meal and all, but it was the best I could do. I tried looking for more, but like you said, it was hard to see-"

"I know," she stopped him mid-ramble. Her forehead rested against his briefly, effectively shutting him up. Riley moved back to her original position into the crook of his neck and used his arm as a pillow. "Thank you."

"Anytime," he said almost breathlessly and Riley felt his pulse speed up. "And I mean it, anytime you need some comfort, I'll-"

"Shut up, Gabriel," she warned him. "Be quiet before I regret my decision to let you hug me."

"I thought you wanted to keep warm."

"Gabriel."

"Shutting up," he complied.

With the comfort of each other's presence and the weariness of the day's events imposed upon them, they felt themselves succumbing to a desperately needed slumber.

Just before she dropped off completely, Riley heard Gabriel whisper in her ear so quietly that she figured he must have thought she was already asleep.

"Anytime you need anything, I'm here for you, partner."

A/N: I'm sorry it took me so long to write this. Please don't hate me and my bad writing skills, because I love that you all still take the time to read this.

Reviewers that I seriously can't thank enough and that kept driving me to update (which I really appreciated): Blue Obsidian Butterfly, byLunaA, sunshineforever13, TearsInTheDust, Midgardian Avenger, Chymom, Angel Blue, angeliena, purpledolphin1, wowyounoticed, nrdhrd3, kwisteria, USNeshama, clay cowan, Sephiria Arks, and Guest.

~BEFORE I FORGET! Blue Obsidian Butterfly are doing a thing on Twitter where we created Twitter accounts for Gabriel and Riley. You guys should totally go check it out – look for favsuperweapon and secret_riley. That is all.~