Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Blood and Chocolate or any of its characters.

Chapter 11:

Handsome Features

Vivian tossed and turned under her comforter. She didn't know how long she had been sleeping, but she couldn't sleep anymore. Tiredly, she sat up in bed and stared out her window. Shadows of trees were long, so Vivian guessed it was in the late afternoon. She felt more tired now then when she went to sleep.

Or maybe she just felt tired because she wore jeans which never felt comfortable to Vivian while trying to go to sleep. In any case, she rubbed her eyes and yawned deeply, shrugging the comforter off of her legs as she did so. As she pulled her legs over the side of the bed, she waited a moment for the black dots that filled her vision to go away. When her vision cleared, she was startled to see Gabriel sitting in her chair at her desk, just watching her.

"Hello," said Vivian standing up.

"Hello," was the dark reply. Gabriel's face was equally dark under a cap that he wore. And Vivian could feel he was less then pleased to be there right now. 'He must have found out why I jumped,' thought Vivian. He stood up and walked out of the room not saying anything more to her. Out of curiosity, Vivian followed him down the stairs and onto the porch.

"Gabriel, what's wrong?" Vivian asked worriedly towards his back, while he trudged along the railing.

"Nothing, why do you assume something's wrong?" he yelled.

"I-I just thought you looked angry. I thought something was wrong."

"You're worried about me now?" he threw his hands up in the air.

"What do you mean? I've always cared about you."

"No, Vivian," was the crude reply, his back still facing her, "you didn't think of me when you jumped from that building. I was the least of your worries then!"

"Of course I was thinking of you! The whole time I was thinking that if something went wrong I would never see your face again, that I wouldn't have the opportunity to lead a life with you in Canada."

"You were thinking of this face?!" Gabriel pivoted violently around, throwing his cap off of the deck, revealing his disoriented features. His sandy-blond hair fell over his face messily, almost as if trying to hide his eyes which portrayed his emotions. Those luscious eyes were now filled with hunger, hatred, and hurt. His usually soft and welcoming lips were cut and fat, drool glossing them over. His tanned cheeks were burned red with scars and more cuts underneath the dirt that covered it. And his nose was twisted up in a snobbish manner. He looked wild; like a mad man.

That was defiantly not the face that she had pictured when she was talking to the Four before she jumped the lengthy building. Vivian shuddered involuntarily and screamed in her bed as she sat bolt up-right. She was panting hard. She reached to her forehead with her hand, trying to cool her sweaty head. As she turned to get out of bed she let out another scream.

Déjà vu. Gabriel sat across from her in that notorious chair with a baseball cap covering his sandy locks.

"What's wrong?" asked Gabriel, rushing to her side.

"Take off your hat right now!" she urged.

"Is that better?" Vivian breathed a sigh a relief as she saw Gabriel with his regular handsome features.

"Much."

"Are you okay?" he asked, placing a hand to her forehead.

"A bad dream, that's all," she said shaking her head dismissively, "are you okay?"

"Yeah, I just wanted to talk to you. I found out why you jumped the building and came here to talk to you, but saw you sleeping and didn't want to wake you. Did you know that watching you sleep is extremely relaxing? I was really mad when I came here, I mean, Viv, how could you do something like that?"

"It was just a prank." Vivian got off her bed, took her robe off the back of her door, hooked it in around her arm, and went to the bathroom with Gabriel behind her. There, she stood in front of the mirror with one hand on her hip holding the robe and the other one on the counter, Gabriel leaned against the door frame, wearing concern on his face.

"Why would you do something like that, though? Tee-peeing the Four's house would have worked too." Vivian tried to suppress a smile and tried to look annoyed that she was trying to use the bathroom while a hunk of man stood in the way, but couldn't.

"Can I use the bathroom?" This time Gabriel smiled; it was up to him.

"Go right ahead." He folded his arms to indicate he wasn't going anywhere.

"God, Gabriel, sometimes you're as bad as the Four." She attempted to slam the door on him to earn her privacy, but he wouldn't move. Instead, the wooden door bounced off his extended foot, back toward the wall.

"Is there some law that says that women aren't allowed to use the bathroom by themselves, or something?"

"We'll discuss this after you shower," was the cool reply.

"Thank you," she said and closed the door completely. Alone at last, Vivian stripped off her clothes and hopped into a steaming hot shower. She felt so relaxed with the hot water massaging her back in a steady rhythm. She closed her eyes and listened to the soft slap of the water as it hit the tiled floor. She didn't know how long she had been in the shower, but could tell it had been for quite some time when she looked out the pitch-black window in her room when she was changing.

Her decided attire was a pair of fuzzy cookie-monster sweats and a brown T-shirt with a big blue sweat-shirt to go with it. Now she felt comfortable. Before she dispensed of her towel in the hamper, she took a comb which rested on her dresser and quickly brushed through the tangled mess on her head. After doing so, she jogged downstairs to see Gabriel chatting idly away with Esme.

"I don't know Gabriel," said Esme skeptically, while slaving away over the dirty dishes in the sink, "people are going to be really suspicious when they see a chunk of the town's population gone along with the inn."

"And I don't see why people would make a big deal out of it. Everyone around here is jumpy about the attacks that went on over the summer. If anyone were to ask why we were moving we could just say that we were worried about the attacks. I understand your concern Esme, but I think everything will run smoothly."

"But what if people got suspicious about all of us saying that we were moving because of the attacks?"

"Everyone around here thinks that the pack is a family, by their terms. I don't think anyone will look into that deeply. Anyways, Renata, Persia, Minerva, Flavia, and Sybil have already put their houses up for sale. Once someone buys their houses they'll move to Canada and the rest of the pack will put their homes up for sales. Everything will be alright, Esme, you'll see."

"What will people think about a ton of people moving into Rosetown?"

"Esme, I wouldn't worry about it. Everyday you go out there are always houses for sale. Why wouldn't it be the same in Canada?"

"You're right, I guess I'm just anxious," she replied, turning off the faucet.

"Aren't Persia and Minerva and Flavia and everyone else going to see the homes today?" asked Vivian who had started to dry the dishes her mother had washed.

"They left this morning. They should be there by now."

"Oh," was her soft reply, "when do we leave?"

"Considering that Rudy already bought all of the houses, I would have to say that the group that went up today will probably move in sometime this week. So that means that the rest of the pack will probably move next week sometime."

"I should start packing then," said Vivian, placing a tall glass in a cupboard.

"You'll have to wait until I'm able to get boxes from the bar. I think my boss just ordered a shipment of supplies for the bar, so I can grab the boxes when they come in," said Esme sitting back in her chair.

"I can get some from the inn to," said Gabriel, watching Vivian as she dried another glass.

"Are we going to start another inn in Canada?" asked Esme.

"Probably, after all, the pack needs something to pay the bills. Persia and Minerva and Flavia and half of the others don't work. I just hope that the business will be able to strive. If it doesn't, I don't know what we'll do."

"I don't think that would happen," said Esme.

"Oh, look who's being optimist now," smirked Vivian.

"Yeah, yeah, just don't get used to it."

"Where were you this morning?" asked Vivian.

"I went out early to get some things at the store."

"Oh," said Vivian not believing the lie she told, but she didn't want to argue with her mother. Especially not now. Instead, when Vivian finished up with the dishes, she took a Chewy bar out of the pantry, that was now clean thanks to the Four, took off the shiny foil rapped around it, and took a generous bit out of it. When she finished, she washed her hands in the sink and trotted upstairs. She wasn't in the mood to talk to Gabriel or Esme any longer, especially with Gabriel if he wanted to rant about how what she did was wrong.

She was too depressed about the move and having to start over, again, to listen to the two of them. She while she tried to go to sleep she tried to think about the positive of moving. But she couldn't think of that many things that would make moving worth while. There was never seeing Kelly's hideous black combat boots again, or Kelly in general, for that matter, never seeing Aiden again, not having to see the Amoeba again, not having to live with Esme, getting to live with Gabriel……and that's where she stopped thinking of the positive and started to fantasize about living with Gabriel. But soon enough she was back in dream land, in far-away realms and in close-to-home bakery's dreaming of anything and everything.

Okay, I have a joke for everyone who LOVES jokes that make absolutely no sense!

Two penguins are in a bathtub (but, DON'T WORRY they're married) and the wife says to the husband, can you pass the soap? And the husband goes, what do I look like? A toaster?

I actually laughed for like five minutes when I heard that, no joke. See, I'm one of those people who laughs and everything and anything. Anyways, pretty please, with sugar and cherries and rainbow sprinkles on top, review!!