A/N: I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH. Special thanks to these amazing reviewers: TearsInTheDust, Kathleen Murphy, nrdhrd3, Leylith, Guest (1), clay cowan, amy. (love your insight!), purpledolphin1, Angel Blue, kwisteria, KVD, chymom, and Midgardian Avenger. I seriously love you repeat-reviewers, because I so look forward to every review you lovelies make.

Disclaimer: I will pay you a total of five dollars if you get me the rights to these characters. Not because that's how much they're worth, but because that's all the money I have.

Chapter 23: Fool Me Twice

The long-missed, heavenly aroma of coffee stirred Riley back into consciousness.

She sat straight up in bed, hearing the door slam in her apartment. Utter confusion reached her as well, because last she knew, she was in Jameson's car and it was the afternoon. In her apartment right then, she was sure it was late morning. She couldn't be sure though, as her eyes felt a little bleary still.

Riley jumped when Nelson entered the room with an extra cup of coffee. He flinched as well, unaware that she'd woken up, apparently.

"Hey! You're awake!" Nelson told her excitedly after his initial shock. He set the coffee down by the desk that was beside the bed. And reached his arms out to her. "Oh, I missed you guys!"

She was enveloped none too gently into a hug, and she groaned immediately. She wheezed and squeaked, "Nelson. Bruised ribs, here."

He was already apologizing as he stood up again, so she added, "Missed you too."

"Here, I made some in case you woke up," Nelson nodded toward her and handed Riley the coffee mug he'd set down before. She took it gratefully, but noted that her arms felt like two ton weights when she lifted them. Riley took a couple sips, letting the hot liquid awaken her senses as she looked around the room.

She blinked. Wait a minute.

"Nelson?"

"Yeah?"

"Why are we in Gabriel's apartment?"

Nelson just laughed. "You're kidding, right?"

Riley shook her head and looked at Nelson as if he were growing a third eye. "This is Gabriel's apartment, not mine."

"What?" He asked more seriously this time. He looked around the apartment as well, and Riley could see that it was dawning on his face the realization that this room did not belong to her. "Yeah, I could see how it lacks a certain woman's touch. I mean, I saw the punching bag when I came in and thought, 'Hey, maybe Riley just likes to keep in shape,' but…" he rambled.

She shook her head. "Why did Jameson bring me here? And where is he?" she asked, looking out the doorway to see if he was there.

"We just switched shifts. You've been out of it since yesterday afternoon. Jameson couldn't even bring you to wake up for your next dose of painkillers, but he figured you were just that tired," he said, and his eyes flickered down to the cup she was holding suspiciously.

"Still doesn't answer my first question," Riley frowned impatiently. In the back of her mind, she made a mental note to thank Jameson for all he'd done for her.

Nelson unconsciously took a step back when he received her glare. "I don't know. I wasn't aware at the time that Gabriel was separated from you guys, so I texted him both your addresses. Jameson asked for them as soon as he started heading back."

"Really?"

"Yeah," he started indignantly. He brought his phone from his pocket and started scrolling through his messages. "Yeah, right here. He asked where you lived, and I then I sent him both your addresses in case."

"Did you specify whose address was whose?" she rubbed her temple with a sore hand, closing her eyes at the pain (as well as the frustration) that was returning to her system.

Nelson squinted I concentration at his phone, scrolling again. A second later, he sucked his lip between his teeth and brought his eyes up wide to meet hers guiltily. They shared a tense moment, Nelson looking thoroughly apologetic, when he squeaked, "Sorry. My fault."

Riley took another sip of her coffee, wanting to drink the entire mug of scalding-hot deliciousness. She sighed and realized that it was no big deal; it wasn't as though Gabriel was here in the bed with her. "It's alright, Nelson. It could've happened to anyone I suppose."

He scrunched up his face then, asking, "How do you know what Gabriel's bedroom looks like, anyway?"

She willed the blood not to rush to her face. First Jameson suspected something, and now Nelson. She wasn't actually sure how much Jameson had told him about the car ride back, either. Riley found her voice and told him honestly, "I had to wake him up after a hangover one morning. Remember when his chip malfunctioned and he suffered memory loss?"

"Oh, yeah," Nelson nodded, accepting the explanation.

She was glad to see him relax immensely. She heard the sound of something in the kitchen just then, moving around. "I thought Jameson left," she remarked.

Nelson chuckled. "Did you forget about your passenger?"

A little shot of happiness struck her as the sound got nearer and turned into the pitter-patter of claws against Gabriel's floors. As if hearing them speak of her, Ivy burst into the room and jumped on the bed, a little ball of golden fur licking her face furiously. She laughed and hugged the puppy right back.

"That's adorable," Nelson remarked. Remembering his presence, Riley told Ivy to calm down, so the dog settled on top of her feet and the edge of the bed. "Ivy's really made herself at home, here."

Riley smiled at the dog who just wagged her tail and panted with excitement, her little pink tongue sticking out. "Gabriel's going to love his new roommate."

"She's staying with him?"

"Well technically, Gabriel's the one that adopted Ivy. I'm sure he'd let me share custody, though," she said with certainty in her voice. He'd better. If not, Riley was going to be over all the time. It might be real work to come over here more often, but she supposed she could do it if she had to.

For Ivy.

And Gabriel.

Jeez, she would've smack her forehead if she hadn't thought Nelson would think her strange. She should stop thinking these thoughts when she was in his bed, enveloped in his comfy sheets soft mattress. Riley was positive it was one of those memory foam ones, because she'd been so extremely comfortable in it. It was a welcome change from the cold hard ground. Not to mention, when she pressed her nose into the pillow earlier, it smelled so much of Gabriel that she'd nearly thought he was there. She wished he had been there when she woke up.

Dammit, stop thinking about him NOW.

Nelson asked, "How did you ever get him to do that?"

It took her a second to realize that they were still talking about Ivy's adoption. She gave Nelson a saucy grin, saying, "I have my ways."

They both just snickered. Soon, they delved into a comfortable silence.

"So," Riley started nonchalantly. "Where is he anyway? Gabriel, I mean. How's he doing? Last time I saw him…" She paused, trying to slow down with her questions. She was very concerned for his well-being, on the verge of frightened, but knew that Nelson hadn't warned her of any immediate danger. That meant that he couldn't have been in too bad a condition, right?

"I think he's stable for now," Nelson told her, matching her serious expression. Hers quickly turned into a much more worried one when he spoke, though, so he added, "I just mean he's still conked out, not anything worse. Sorry."

She shut her eyes and took a deep breath. Her head felt like it was swaying again, becoming heavier with each moment. "Is anything wrong with his chip? What happened?"

"We're not sure yet. Dad was working on him all night, checking this and that," he said, obliging her. "I was there for a little bit this morning, and things seemed alright. He was stable, like I said. So far, all I know is that he became unconscious at one point, probably from using the chip when he was too tired," Nelson shrugged.

"But he hit his head pretty hard, several times," Riley said, hating the panic creeping into her voice.

"That plays into it too, somehow. I'm still waiting for an update on whether or not his concussion is causing permanent damage," Nelson said, looking at his phone again.

"Why didn't you tell me that first?" she grumped at him. Taking deep breaths was doing nothing to calm her anger, only making tired her muscles that were weakly trying to form clenched fists. "Sorry Nelson. He's my partner, I'm worried, and I'm tired."

"I'll bet," he nodded, pitying the dark circles that shown under her eyes. His eyes once again darted to the coffee in her hands. "The coffee is certainly doing its job," he chuckled, but Riley couldn't hear the sarcasm in his voice.

It took her a minute, but realization set in. "Nelson, you didn't," she whined.

"I'm sorry, I had to!"

She glared at him as he adjusted the glasses sitting on the bridge of his nose. He wiped the palms of his hands on the sweater vest he was wearing and took another step back from her. If she could only convince her legs to swing off the bed so that she could face Nelson better. Riley knew she should feel guilty for intimidating him, but she was tired of this stuff.

Fool me twice, shame on me.

"Is it too much to ask for my friends to stop drugging my drinks with Vicodin?" she asked angrily. The dizzying feeling was overwhelming now. She shoved the empty mug back at Nelson, not wanting it to slip out of her hands when she inevitably fell asleep.

Nelson took the mug out of the room silently. At least her friends cared for her, she thought. However sneaky they were, they took an interest in her well-being, and it meant a lot to her underneath her grumpiness.

Ivy sensed her unhappiness and crawled up towards her arms, snuggling into her side. Riley hugged the soft fur ball back and laid her head back down into the sweet-smelling pillows, awaiting her sleep and wistfully imagining she was back at the cabin again.

An alarm clock was beeping somewhere. Gabriel reached over to shut it off. Much to his chagrin, it just beeped faster and louder, ringing dully in his ears.

He felt around the bedside and put his hand where his desk lamp should have been, but knocked something else over. The sound as it crashed to the hard floor was strange, as he was positive he had carpeted floors. It was also peculiar that it sounded as if liquid were leaking onto the floor, glugging out at an alarming rate that should have prompted him to run to the hallway closet for a towel. He didn't remember setting out any liquid, though, much less drinking anything before he'd gone to sleep.

Wait... When had he gone to sleep? When had he even gotten back to his apartment?

Nothing was making sense.

Gabriel was suddenly very impatient to be waking up to confusion for the umpteenth time this week. He opened his eyes immediately to see off-white ceiling tiles in a fluorescently lit room. A bright light was shining into his eyes, and he could hear someone talking to him as if he were underwater. Attempting to crack his neck, he felt two sturdy hands holding his head still, making him jump in alarm.

Before his reflexes could take over, he recognized the man as Dr. Cassidy. He relaxed immediately at the sight of his dear old friend, the man who was like a father to Gabriel, but couldn't understand why the doctor was mouthing words at him.

What? Gabriel asked, but no sound came out. He only heard the ringing.

Cassidy was waving his hands at Gabriel, trying to get his attention, holding a finger up to his lips. The man turned around and started fiddling with the computer screens behind him, but never turned around until five minutes later.

He was looking at the agent with raised eyebrows, expectant, and then all of a sudden Gabriel felt a loud and painful pop in his ears. There was a release of pressure somewhere, but it was too sharp a sensation on either side of his head, and as a result, he exclaimed a few words that he was sure his mother wouldn't have tolerated.

"Gabriel, my boy," Cassidy spoke finally. "Testing, 1…2...3. Can you hear me now?" He smiled and chuckled at his own joke, watching as Gabriel sat up straight in the medical bed.

"Nice to see you, Doc," Gabriel smiled. It'd only been a week, but it was very nice to see a familiar face finally. "What did you just do?"

"I was running some tests on the chip. Experimenting, you might say." Whenever Cassidy took that tone, Gabriel always became a bit concerned.

"Don't give me that look," he said. "I was more or less upgrading your system. Turns out you can cancel any noise that reaches your ears, now."

Gabriel just raised his eyebrows, silent for a moment. "Wait a minute-"

"It'll be less painful once you're the one operating it," the Doctor interrupted. "You're still giving me that look."

"The chip is alright?" Gabriel asked.

The Doctor furrowed his brows but nodded slowly. "Yes?"

"It's good? I'm good?"

"Yes, why do keep asking?" Dr. Cassidy was starting to sound impatient, which was very unlike him. He was one of the most patient people Gabriel knew.

"I just, uh…This doesn't feel right," he confessed. He was pretty sure his head still ached, and he was also pretty sure that he didn't remember changing into the clothes he was currently in. He looks down, scratching his head at the prim clothes he was wearing. "Doc?"

"Yes?" All of a sudden, the doctor was back at his side. Gabriel never even saw him move as fast as he'd traveled. Something really didn't sit right.

"What was that beeping noise?"

Cassidy was back at the computer screens in a flash, his lab coat not even flapping behind him. It was as if the man kept teleporting from one spot in the room to the next. "I'm sure it was just your vitals, or the machines hooked up to them, for that matter. When you woke up, I'm sure your heart started going a bit faster. You gave us one hell of a scare, yesterday."

The doctor was chuckling again, like everything was perfectly fine. Everything was normal; the people mulling about in the hallways behind the glass doors of his room, Cassidy being his cheery self, and Gabriel feeling pretty alright despite his camping adventure.

That was the thing, though. His shoulder only distantly ached, though he's been positive it had been dislocated at the very least. What's more, Gabriel could count the scratches on his arm when he'd entered that ambulance yesterday because the medic had pointed them out and had started trying to disinfect them with a stinging antiseptic. Today, his arms were smoother than anything. He thought he looked healthy and tan, if Gabriel didn't say so himself.

"Doc?"

Cassidy turned back to him, wondering what was wrong. The impatience had crept back into his tone. "Gabriel, you're fine. Is there anything else you need?"

Gabriel nearly growled along with his scowl. "Yeah. For one thing, I haven't been hooked up to any machines since I woke up. There's no way you've been…" he trailed off.

Damn it. If he hated one thing, it was being confused.

There was no IV in his arm, no heart monitors on his chest. In fact, the machines Cassidy was messing with didn't seem to be hooked up to him at all. He shook his head, hoping to clear the strange thoughts from his head.

"Where is everybody?" he started, curiosity striking through him, anger slipping away. He realized that the agents that had been walking outside the room they were in were entirely unfamiliar; he didn't recognize any of them, almost like they were faceless. Where was everyone he knew?

Where was his partner?

No sooner had the thought crossed his mind when a graceful figure appeared at the doorway. The light seemed to shimmer in around her, drawing his attention immediately, like her presence usually did.

Riley walked over to his bed, looking at him with a smile on her face. She didn't have a scratch on her, either. "Nice to see you're finally awake, partner."

"Good to see you too," he said after a minute. It was weird. His partner never usually showed kindness to him I front of other people. He looked at Dr. Cassidy to see if he'd noticed, but the doctor had up and left the room when he wasn't paying attention.

Riley must've noticed too, because she sat down on the bed next to him, neatly placing her hands in her lap. "It's good to be back, huh?"

"I guess so," he said. He would've thought she'd be a little more disappointed to have to get back to work as abruptly as they had. Before, whenever they talked about going home, Riley never seemed so pleased like she was now.

He shrugged it off and reveled in the fact that he was able to see her again. "How are you?"

"Really good. I can't wait to get back to work."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Is Lillian around?" he asked off topic.

Riley nodded. "I'm sure I saw her around here somewhere." The woman at his bedside was smiling so sweetly for once, and it was so distracting that he nearly missed the flicker of something in the corner of his vision. He jerked his head to the side to catch a glimpse of movement, but his surroundings appeared perfectly normal and safe.

His attention was brought back to what, or rather who, was in front of him. "That's good. I need to talk to her."

"Would you like me to go get her for you?" she asked, still smiling. Gabriel was sure this was the longest he'd ever seen her smile. Usually around him, it was all grumbles and frowns and irritated glares. Not today, it seemed.

Perhaps she was just happy to see that he'd recovered well.

Yeah. That's all it was. No cause for alarm.

"Gabriel?" she asked again.

"Huh? Oh, no. Stay a while," he grinned up at her. They shared the look for a straight minute, and Gabriel focused on the way her eyes lit up. In the distance, he could hear that faint beeping sound again. He ignored it, though, and reached for her hand.

Gabriel longed to meet her warm palm with the skin of his, but was almost disappointed to find that no spark erupted from the touch as usual. Bu then, he saw the flicker of movement again as he rested his palm upon hers.

What was that?

Dread crept into the pit of his stomach.

Was it coming from her?

He flinched his hand away, only to set it down experimentally on hers again. Upon experiencing what he feared, he heard a noise escape from his own throat.

When he touched Riley, her skin became pixelated for a moment, images rearranging themselves until her hand reappeared. She was not real.

None of this was real.

He was sleep-rendering.

A/N: Jeez this took way too long to update. I was really excited to do it though, so yeah. I'm so grateful you all are sticking with my through these slow updates. HUGS TO ALL!

Are you seriously, seriously, seriously sure you guys still love it? Really, really? (If so, you get a free hug.)