"So…wanna let me make it up to you?"

Giving Claire's wondering hands a pensive stare, he took a hold of the roaming digits raising them to eye level. He unleashed a devilish foreboding smile. Claire hadn't seen that particular brand of smugness in quite some time. "You know Claire, I think you can..."

Claire and Gabriel 2019

Claire felt the gentle brush of steady breath on the back of her neck paired with the pull of incredibly strong arms around her waist, instead of pulling away she nestled back into them, smiling sleepily and feeling surprisingly peaceful. Her contentment was short lived however; as she was rudely awaken by the lights flickering on and the loud obnoxious clap of someone's hands in the corner of the room by the door.

**Clap Clap**there it was again...

"Oh don't you two look adorable!" a familiar and ever so bitterly sarcastic drone rang out, dragging Claire from the last grasps of sleep.

"Gabriel?" she raised her head from the pillow scanning the room with one eye closed, her vision still blurry, "Gabe...?" she knew the voice that she had heard, she knew it so well but Gabriel was still sleeping soundly beside her? It didn't make sense.

"Yeah you guessed it sleepy head! Party's over, time to go home! Let's go!" there he was, stepping out of the doorway, it was Gabriel; her Gabriel, not the updated, more sophisticated model that was still peacefully snoozing away next to her.

"What...wha?" She mumbled struggling to come around and make sense of the scene playing out before her. She knew he was impulsive but it was what...2am? Why had he chosen now to come back for her? And why was he so damn eager?

"Come on, up and at 'em" he clapped his hands again.

"Ok! I heard you the first time..." she snapped, finally managing to free herself a little from the arms she had grown rather accustomed to. She sat herself up in bed,"...why now? Would it have killed you to wait until morning?"

With that, future Claire stepped out of the shadows behind Gabriel. "I know! I said the exact same thing, but he wouldn't listen, nope gotta go home right now! And does he even care that we have a six year old asleep down the hall, who needs to be up for school? No, not at all!" Claire felt her shoulders drop at that voice. Oh this just gets better.

Clasping his hands together and breathing deeply as though holding himself back from saying something highly offensive, Gabriel exhaled sharply,"You'll be glad to know I have come to my senses. This was a terrible idea and quite frankly I can't believe I let you talk me in to it."

"WHAT?" both Claire's shrieked in unison, making Gabriel flinch in visible irritation and waking his future self in the process.

"You left me here? Have you forgotten that?" Claire looked up with fierce eyes as she pulled up the sleeve of Gabriel's flannel shirt to cover her naked shoulder.

Holding his hands up as if to fight the oncoming storm Gabriel pleaded impatiently, "Please Claire, we have the rest of eternity to argue the whys and wherefores...get your jeans on, I'm taking you home." Noticing future Gabriel's arm still draped over Claire's lap he quickly swiped it away with his telekinesis, "Hey Romeo, care to get off my girl?"

Unfazed by the bizarre action, future Gabriel merely chuckled wiping the sleep from his eyes, "Jeeze, how many issues?" his words were sly as he grinned up at his wife who had now made her way across the room to perch on the bed next to him, flashing her eyes knowingly she mouthed the words, "Tell me about it" down at him.

With a great huff Claire grimaced as she pulled on her jeans under the borrowed shirt, "For one thing, I'm not your girl! What the hell has gotten into you anyway?"

Not missing a beat, he pursed his lips in annoyance, "Well Claire, it seems I could ask you the same thing!" he punctuated this statement with a menacing glare towards his future self.

Without a bye or leave the moment Claire was decent Gabriel slapped his hand on her shoulder and teleported them back to his apartment in 2011.

Claire and Gabriel 2011

The very moment they arrived back in Gabriel and Peters apartment Claire set into him, "You didn't even let me get my shoes God damn it? How the hell am I supposed to drive home with no shoes?"

Following him as he stormed to the kitchen counter to retrieve his car keys, Claire caught the tail end of a sly dig about those not being the only things she had left in the future…

"Come on, I'll drive you back. You can get your car in the morning" he stated coldly, pushing past her to head out to the parking lot.

Claire sat in the passenger seat; wrapping herself up in the flannel shirt noting that future Gabriel's scent was still lingering on it. She was pretty much past denying that it smelt amazingly good. Daring a glance over to her left, she noted that Gabriel 1.0 was gripping on to the steering wheel like a man possessed and displaying an abnormal amount of road rage…even for him.

"Ok! Ok…I'll bite. What is wrong? Something's happened? You're angry. What is it?" Claire turned her body in her seat to face him.

To this she received nothing but a growl and the slight panic of Gabriel running a red light, thankfully given the time of night there weren't many cars on the road.

"The silent treatment, really? What the hell did I do?" her voice was probing, she hated to cave in to his attention seeking but her curiosity was beginning to get the better of her.

Still, Gabriel remained silent. Man this guy could sulk!

"You'll not keep the silent and brooding act up for long…in the future you never stop talking, yap yap yap all through dinner. I couldn't get a word in." she gazed out of the window, smiling fondly at the memory.

"Oh good for him!" finally he broke his vow of silence. It was a small victory but Claire was pleased none the less.

"Did future me scare you off? She chewed your ear so much you've decided that eternity with me isn't such a good idea after all?" Claire couldn't hide the mirth in her voice.

In an effort to get his own back Gabriel scoffed suggestively, "No, not at all! Future you was very…welcoming."

All joviality drained from Claires pretty face in an instant,"Welcoming? What, like tea and cookies welcoming…or what?" she searched his face for the answer she already knew.

He creased as he savored her concern,"I wouldn't put it quite like that no. Future you is quite the firecracker!" He confirmed her fears with a smirk dabbling on his lips.

Claire's stomach was in her throat; suddenly she envied the rest of the world's ability to vomit, "YOU DID WHAT?" her words coincided perfectly with the moment that she reached down to pull on the handbrake causing both of them to smack the window screen at full pelt and face first.

"Claire have you lost your f**king mind?" Gabriel yelled, running his fingers through his hair to pull it back from his face. Looking over at her he actually felt an emotion that he had long since buried; fear. She was a sight to behold; sporting the cutest case of, "bedhead" he had ever seen she was now crimson red, partly from their recent collision with the window screen but mostly with what looked to be searing rage.

"ME? I've lost my mind? You went to the future and bedded me before you even had chance to get to know me you bastard! Do you have any idea what a violation that is? What, you weren't content with raping my brain you had to get me in the sack as well?"

That was it; his back was well and truly up, she was still going on about the brain rape thing…was she EVER going to let that drop?

"Oh what so you're telling me you didn't just lose your virginity to "chatty Gabe" last night?" he questioned, absolutely sure that he knew the answer.

"Are you kidding? NO! No I did not! He knew I wasn't his Claire, he just comforted me when I started freaking out, that's all. He was a perfect gentleman actually! Which is amazing considering he started out life as YOU!" she turned herself away from him in her seat and folded her arms around herself in an attempt to self comfort. Had she been wearing the appropriate footwear…or indeed any footwear she would have gotten out of the car and walked the last mile or so home.

"Really, you didn't?" Gabriel reached out a hand to rest gently on her shoulder, but she quickly shrugged him away.

"Really" She assured, with the telltale sound of impending tears in her voice.

Somehow she'd just made him feel like the world's biggest jerk, he wouldn't normally have cared, he had gotten pretty damn good at not giving a rats ass about what other people thought. But this was Claire, his Claire. And now she was sat in his car, staring out of the window doing a pretty piss poor job of hiding the fact that she was crying.

"It wasn't this time; it was the time before when Pete left me there. She thought I was her husband, I…I… kinda had to" he stuttered his words trying to explain himself, the guilt beginning to crush him.

"Oh please! Have you never heard of, "I have a headache!" she sobbed. He didn't have the heart to point out that neither one of them could actually get headaches and therefore that would have been a pretty lame excuse.

"I'm sorry, I didn't think…" yet again he reached out a hand to stroke her shoulder, maybe she was past caring but she didn't shrug him away,"…I didn't think that you'd be upset, I didn't think you'd ever even know, well not for another 8 years or so." Gabriel reasoned, just longing for her to stop crying. What was this? Claire Bennett tears were his new kryptonite?

Wiping her eyes, on what she reasoned was now her shirt she replied with a broken voice that ripped his heart in two,"Just take me home."

Seeing her like that, so disappointed in him caused him to blink back a few tears himself. Trying to compose himself he restarted the ignition. The silence in the car was heavy as they drove the last few miles and pulled up outside of the College dorms. The street was deserted save for a few drunken kids holding each other up making their way home.

Claire's eyes followed them up the street, "You know it's times like this I wish I could just go and get blind drunk with Gretch and Emma and whine about what an unimaginable asshole you are."

Taking on board her insult but not bothering to defend himself Gabriel drummed out a rhythm on the steering wheel with his fingers,"You know…I could make that happen?"

This revelation pricked Claire's attention, for the first time in half an hour she raised her mascara streaked face to look at him, "Huh?"

"I picked up this ability from some guy in DC…" knowing what picked up meant still sent a shiver through Claire,"…he didn't even know he had it, or how to control it but he could switch other peoples powers off. Ironically…" Gabriel had to stop himself pointing out that if he had known how to use his ability it would have probably saved his life. However given Claire's fragile state of mind, he figured now was the point to shut the hell up. "…I'd have to be there of course, I can't do it remotely."

She narrowed her eyes, rolling around Gabriel's offer in her head, she couldn't fathom why she was so pissed at him for sleeping with her future self, all she knew was that she really really was. If she didn't know better she would describe the feeling as betrayal…maybe even jealousy. She knew she ought to get out of the car and tell him she never wanted to see him again, but "never" for Claire Bennett was one hell of a long time. And she was curious about what it would feel like to be drunk…inebriated…tipsy. She had seen it happen to her friends at house parties and it kinda looked like fun.

Gabriel leaned closer to her slightly, and playfully added,"…and we can talk about what an unimaginable asshole I am if you want."

Begrudgingly she let slip a tiny smile that told him she would take him up on his offer. As she stepped out of his car she turned back to call through the window,"Pick me up tomorrow at 7."

Nodding in compliance Gabriel started the car,"It's a date!"

He had to chuckle as she backed away, her bare feet no doubt being ravaged by the gravelly sidewalk, she pointed a finger straight at him and mouthed the words, "No it's not!"

Hey Guys!

Ok…major change of plan! I feel I ought to say a special thank you to Smithsbabe65,Ivy83 and Scifigeek10 for convincing me to take the higher ground with this one and not let future Gabe have his (not so)wicked way with Claire haha! Thank you all for continuing to read and review, you're all so sweet and supportive. Chapter 17 should be up soon :-)