A/N: I'm crying. Here goes the last chapter before the epilogue (It would've been posted earlier if my dorm's Wi-Fi hadn't quit out on me). It's been almost exactly nine months since I started this, and so I'm presenting you with my finished creation. Please enjoy and have a wonderful Monday!

Disclaimer: Please just let these characters be mine? I think I've been quite nice to them. (Okay, I've also gotten some inspiration from Donna Kauffman's Dear Prince Charming.)

Chapter 27 - Love

He slowed the kiss and rested his head in the crook of her neck. Once he caught his breath, Gabriel pressed a soft kiss against her skin and pulled back to look into her eyes. His arm came from her knee to around her back, hugging her even closer to him.

Riley remained speechless while he found his words. Gabriel brushed his thumb over her flushed cheek, delicately holding her there.

He let out a shuddering sigh and whispered, "I think I'm falling in love with you."

"W-what?" Riley asked. It came out as rather high-pitched and, if she were to admit it, a bit terrified. Instinctively, her arms withdrew from around his neck and one of Riley's hands rested lightly on his shirt so that he'd pull back just another inch. She became distracted then when she could feel the hard pounding of his chest through her fingertips, but before she could dwell on it, the hand that was at her cheek encompassed the one on his heart.

"Don't act so surprised," he said, almost laughing. Gabriel sounded self-conscious as he continued, "It bugs the hell out of me, by the way. I can't go more than ten minutes without thinking about what you're thinking about. Or what you're doing. Or the last time we've seen each other. I can't be within five feet of you and not want to have you in my arms." Chest heaving, he asked, "Do you have any idea how damn frustrating that is?"

Riley nearly choked on a surprised laugh. "Yeah, I do."

Riley hadn't realized she'd been avoiding his gaze until then, but she looked back into his eyes. In that moment, Gabriel was staring at her with a quiet intensity that intended to convey everything he was feeling, all the emotions rushing within him.

She vaguely felt tears in her eyes, and bit her lip to stop them from spilling out. She cursed the hitch in her voice when she asked, "What are you saying?"

"Riley," he smiled, dimples making a brief appearance as he leaned his forehead against hers. ""Look," he was saying, and swallowed. "I know I'm not supposed to. I know we're supposed to be partners, and that your job is to protect me. I act like you're some giant pain in my ass all the time and like I couldn't care less about anything. Lately, though," he paused, "Lately, I've been concerned with nothing more than the thought of being with you."

"Oh," Riley after she took a sharp intake of breath. Her heart was teetering dangerously on the edge. Her laugh was shaky. "Well that's good to know."

"Is it?" he asked, voice wrought with worry. He leaned back, and Riley thought Gabriel looked just as scared as she felt.

"Yeah," she continued, still trying with a good effort not to cry in relief. "Ever since that first mission, that first undercover moment, I've been trying to deny whatever we've got going between us. I've really tried. I thought that maybe we were just getting caught up with it all, the idea of having a relationship with someone we don't have any secrets with, you know? Agents get too involved in their cover stories all the time," she pointed out.

"Sure," Gabriel offered, agreeing.

"My point is that I thought those feeling would go away after we got to the cabin, but they didn't. It only made it worse that we were isolated together like that," she paused to take a deep breath. Riley was on a roll, however, and continued, "I then thought that the simple solution would be for us to return home. Once everything else got back to normal, our partnership might go back to normal, if I even thought it could."

"And?" he asked with an uncertain hope. Riley realized his hands were shaking. "What have you decided?"

Riley let out another nervous laugh. "I've done a lot of thinking, and despite my better judgment," she said slowly, "I think I love you too much for that."

The awe on Gabriel's face was the best thing she'd ever seen. His eyes looked a bit watery too, if she didn't say so herself. Voice cloudy, he asked, "Yeah?"

"Yeah," she answered with absolute certainty. His hand ran through her hair and he leaned on her forehead again.

"I'd like very much to kiss you now, if you don't mind," Gabriel told her, need filling his tone. Once the corners of her mouth kicked up in consent, he placed his lips lightly on hers with a surprisingly delicate touch.

She smiled against his mouth, happily receiving the gift. Her fingers framed his face and brought him closer towards her so that he increased the pressure of his lips. Riley felt the heat on her cheeks, and when she touched Gabriel, she could feel the blood that was pulsing hot under his skin.

Gabriel's other hand found its way under the hem of her shirt, and it retreated to his favorite spot on her lower back, drawing circles there that left goosebumps in their wake. She involuntarily arched into him when his hand went lower than it normally did, tickling the base of her spine.

"Maybe we should-" Riley tried to speak.

"-move off this counter?" Gabriel finished for her, asking against her lips.

All she could do was nod, for speech was impossible. They'd fused their mouths together and were unwilling to part so soon. Riley barely noticed that she was being carried towards the couch, much less that Gabriel had lifted her up in the first place. When she did realize that he was setting her down on it, though, she was able to get some air and asked, "How's your arm?"

"How're your ribs?" he countered, slightly out of breath. His cheeks were tinged faintly with pink.

"I'm a bit distracted from feeling the pain at the moment," she laughed and tugged Gabriel down gently so that he was laying on top of her. His hips came to align perfectly with hers and she practically melted against the pressure of them. She noticed he was careful to keep his weight off of her chest, and cursed the fact that they had to go and injure themselves.

"Same here," Gabriel told her though, so she tried to forget about their injuries while he ducked his head down and pressed a kiss to her neck. Riley ran her fingertips through her hair and heard him hum. In response, he sucked gently at the dip on her shoulder, a spot he knew all too well. When Riley couldn't hold back the moan she released, Gabriel redirected his face back up to hers to swallow the sound.

Of course, the sensation of his lips covering hers only made it harder for her to contain her enthusiasm. Riley had been sucking on his lower lip when Gabriel took over and parted her lips ever so slightly against his mouth. It was all he needed to gain access, and so he slipped his tongue across the roof of her mouth, delighting when she shivered beneath him.

In the back of her mind, Riley could hear a faint sound. It was a nuisance, really. The sound grew louder as it dragged her senses out of the cloud they were in and her usually hyper-aware senses kicked in. Riley tried extracting herself from Gabriel's lips, but he refused to move more than a couple inches from her.

"What's wrong?" he panted. As if noticing something for the first time, Gabriel's head perked up and he looked towards the kitchen. "Oh."

"The timer for the pizza," she explained, distracted by the way his eyes, now darker than ever, lingered over her form beneath him.

"Can't we just let it burn?" he huffed, finding a spot on her collarbone to place an open-mouthed kiss. He lazily dragged his mouth further down until he reached the neckline of her shirt. Riley was sure he'd be able to feel her heart drumming it's unsteady beat against her chest.

"Gabe-"she started but never finished. Her breath was stolen when he tugged down the fabric of her shirt just so much that Gabriel had a good view of her cleavage, as well as the top of her bra. Thank goodness she'd remembered to wear something decent underneath, Riley thought. Her mouth went dry as he peppered kisses all along the lacy barrier of the fabric.

"Did I tell you I love it when you call me that?" he asked huskily against her skin. He wasn't making a move to turn off the timer at all. Riley would've condoned the behavior if the beeping wasn't growing louder by the minute and if it hadn't been starting to distract her from the things Gabriel was doing to her with his mouth.

Right now, she really didn't need a mood-killer.

"Gabriel," she said with a bit more conviction. Riley took his head in both hands and, while hating herself for doing it, dragged his face away from her body to focus on her face. Her skin vaguely felt cold where his lips had previously been. "Please shut off the damn thing?"

"I normally wouldn't admit this, but I like it when you're bossy," Gabriel said in response. He had a predatory look in his eye. "Probably has something to do with how mussed up you look right now. It's very becoming of you."

"Oh, come on," Riley scoffed. "I'm sure my face is flushed, my hair is wild, and my makeup is-"

"You look beautiful," Gabriel interrupted, his tone completely serious. He moved up towards her again to place a soft kiss on her cheek. He then reciprocated on the other cheek. A third kiss was placed on the corner of her mouth, causing her lips to twitch. Gabriel hovered over her mouth, and she felt his breath on her lips when said, "Let's get that pizza out of the oven."

All she could do was nod. Riley's heart went from being tugged to yanked nearly out of her chest. In one swift action, Gabriel swooped her upright with him so that she was pulled into his lap. He wasn't quite willing to leave her personal space so soon, but set Riley gently against the back of the couch and gave her a fleeting kiss before he departed for the kitchen.

Riley watched him go, biting her lip to savor the feel of him. She noticed Gabriel was shaking his arm out and asked if he needed help with the plates.

"No," Gabriel shrugged, and then winced. He was quite unconvincing when he told her, "My shoulder isn't that sore."

Riley raised her eyebrows at his lie, but he said nothing as he slowly took the pizza out of the oven. Before it even cooled, he cut a slice for each of them and brought two plates over to the couch. Instead of watching him the whole time, Riley faced away for a moment and caught a glimpse of Ivy sleeping peacefully by the front door. The tired dog was snoozing happily with a toy hanging half out of her mouth.

Her attention turned back to Gabriel when she heard the clanking of dinner plates being taken out of the cupboard. When he gingerly rubbed his shoulder as he sat down next to Riley, she remarked, "If your shoulder hurts, you should really take the medicine."

"I don't see you taking meds for your ribs," Gabriel countered. "I noticed you're hurting too."

She rolled her eyes at his deflection, but couldn't help but recognize the fact she was being hypocritical.

"Besides," he added, "I thought we agreed we'd take the pills once we had food in our stomachs."

"That's true," Riley nodded. He smiled and briefly placed a hand on her knee, squeezing before he reached for a slice of pizza. She almost laughed when he immediately dropped the slice and sucked on his fingers to alleviate the burn. "Hot, is it?"

"No, not at all," he replied, taking his burnt finger out of his mouth to fake a glare at her. "Probably should've waited to cut the pizza, but I didn't want to have to get up again." With that said, he adjusted the plate from his lap back to the coffee table next to hers and leaned shoulder to shoulder against Riley. Gabriel turned his head towards her once he settled, waiting for her to look back at him.

"What, do you want me to kiss it better?" she joked, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye. Riley found that her voice become quiet when she could feel how near he was, the warmth from where his body was aligned with hers. If she turned her head to look at him fully, their space would diminish even further.

"Come to think of it, I did burn my mouth a little when I got sauce on it, so yeah," Gabriel replied. She could hear the grin without seeing it.

"Good one."

"I swear I'll shut up and eat my pizza."

Riley sighed dramatically and shifted towards him. After confirming that his devilish grin was present, she finally kissed it off of him like she'd wanted to do for so long.

Riley honestly thought she'd just give him a quick peck at first, but then those soft lips of his enticed her, making it harder than anything to even think about moving away. Before she knew it, her hand was already coming up to frame his cleanly-shaven jaw and bring him closer.

The pizza was swiftly forgotten as Gabriel gripped her hips and dragged Riley back onto his lap again. This time, it was she who let her hands wander. They traced a pathway up his arms, and then veered down to splay across his chest. His arms tightened around her waist in turn, so she fisted her hands into the fabric covering his ribs to create as little space as possible between them.

Caught up in her enthusiasm, Riley shifted her hips more comfortably against his, inadvertently increasing the pressure where they were conjoined. Right then, she felt Gabriel's hot breath in her mouth accompanying a moan, and knew he'd felt the same shock she had. One of his hands let go of her waist to drag slowly and torturously along her spine, sending sparks from his touch straight through her veins.

Soon they were both out of breath, and Riley leaned back against the couch to ease the tight feeling in her ribs. While her back was supported by pillows, her legs were draped over Gabriel's lap; Air was needed, but neither of them felt comfortable when they were too far apart. So, they'd settled on their current position to keep themselves happy. Before reaching for his pizza, Gabriel reached for Riley's hand.

"Riley?" Something in his voice was heavy, more serious than she expected.

"Yes?"

"I just want to clear something up before we go further," Gabriel said. He had that same sort of mildly terrified look on his face from earlier. Something stirred in her gut, making her feel nervous again for no real reason.

"Sure thing," she told him, anxiously awaiting his explanation.

"Remember what we talked about that night in the makeshift tent? You know, before those guards intruded?"

She stared blankly at him and thought back to the night. Thinking about the haywire mission brought about a swirl of emotions from that day – fear, guilt, anxiety. That was the day they'd woken up in an empty ravine. The day she'd jumped off a waterfall. It was also the night where they'd gotten cozy in the small tent the partners had made, and the night the guardsmen had attacked them with perfect timing to interrupt…well, the point was that she remembered what Gabriel was talking about, so Riley nodded.

"I just want to let you know that I don't think that you're something I can just 'get out of my system,'" Gabriel said quietly.

Riley was sure her heart stopped beating all together. She squeezed his hand. "You don't?"

"I don't think I want to get you out of my system." Ever. Gabriel was returning the squeeze and leaning towards her again. His voice cracked when he told her, "I'm willing to give us a real shot. Of course, only if it's okay with you."

Riley bit her lip and nodded helplessly, trying but failing to find her words. Feeling the tears try and make another appearance, she quickly buried her face in his neck.

"It's quite unlike you to be so shy today," Gabriel tried joking, but his own heart was bursting- he was sure he hadn't been this overjoyed in the longest time. He felt the slightest bit of wetness on his neck before he realized his partner was trying not to cry, and swallowed, feeling tears start to prickle in his own eyes.

What was this woman doing to him? She made him feel all sorts of things he wasn't used to lately, but he couldn't deny that he loved every bit of it. He ran a hand through her hair and kissed the top of her head softly, adoringly.

They'd settled into a comfortable, warm hug when he heard her take a deep breath. Riley wiped at the tear that had escaped and laughed self-depreciatingly. "I'm supposed to be the strong one here."

"You're strong enough for the both of us, believe me," he told her, stroking her hair again.

"This is going to be fun to tell Lillian about," Riley said suddenly, and the hand in her hair paused. She was almost positive she felt Gabriel's body tense when she'd mentioned their boss.

"I'm almost forgot about that," Gabriel sighed sadly. "Look if one of us has to get fired, it should be me. I'm the one who never follows orders," he rushed out.

"Gabriel, you have a priceless piece of technology in your head and a rare genetic mutation. They need you. If anyone had to be fired, it'd be me," she reminded him dumbly. Thinking of something she'd nearly forgotten, Riley added, "But Lillian told me something before she last visited us."

"Oh?"

"She claimed that we couldn't get fired for having an inter-office relationship." Riley looked off into the distance. "I just didn't tell you before for some reason. I guess I thought that maybe she wasn't telling the whole truth, that we'd get separated somehow. Lillian would probably transfer me to another department."

"That's insane," Gabriel scoffed. "We work well together as is. No way Lillian would be diligent enough to go through the process of finding e another bodyguard that I would be able to tolerate."

"Think about it though. It's entirely plausible that she would do something like this. We never expected her to be the type of person to set up secret cameras to spy on us, but she did," Riley pointed out. As an afterthought, Riley quietly added, "I don't want to be transferred."

"I wouldn't let that happen," Gabriel told her. His hand started stroking her hair again. "Me being a necessary part of national security has the benefit of instant leverage. I'd think of something." He said it with such resolution in his voice that Riley wanted to believe him.

"Maybe it'd be worth it though," she said. Riley sat straighter up and looked him in the eye. She found the courage to tell him, "I love my job, but I can't honestly see myself losing you over it."

"Really? You'd trust me not to screw up your career that you've worked so hard to achieve?" Gabriel asked, grinning at her with awe.

"I trust you with something more important than my career, smartass," she laughed shyly.

"Oh yeah? And what would that be?" he asked nervously, intertwining their fingers.

"My heart," she answered, blush gracing her cheeks.

Before she could cry again, Riley was brought towards Gabriel again as he leaned his forehead against hers. "Good. Because I trust you more than anyone with mine. You're my protector, after all."

"Always," Riley agreed. She reached up and gave him a sound kiss, relishing in the fact that she could now do that anytime she wished. Gabriel, her wonderful partner and best friend in the world, loved her. Just as much as she loved him.

In that moment, Riley was positive she'd never felt better.

The End.

A/N: I want to thank each and every one of you who has read this story and stuck with me these past nine months. I can't believe the story is finally over… I have no idea what I'll do now! Talking with you and reading your reviews have been the best parts of my day for so long now. I had no idea my first tory would be as popular as it turned out to be. I'd like to thank everyone for those behind-the-scenes conversations, especially my friends katesanneshepard, Nina542, snowflakes211, and Blue Obsidian Butterfly. I've made some great friendships and I can't tell you how much I also love you reviewers! There was an overwhelming response to the last chapter, so I'd love to thank these beautiful people for the reviews that made me smile every day: TearsInTheDust (twice because the first time I had deleted a chapter that was actually just a PSA about my thumb), CelicaChick, Guest (1), AnthroMed2014, irishcaribou, 4everyoung10, xxMACxx, clay cowan, byLunaA, Midgardian Avenger, amydfuller9, Scalet22, sunshineforever13, Kathleen Murphy, and Blue Obsidian Butterfly.

**STAY TUNED. There will be an epilogue, and I'm also pretty positive I'd like to write an Intelligence Christmas fic soon. :D Hope you enjoy, my lovelies!