Riley Neal had not had a good day.
She woke up this morning nude in her partner's bed with a nasty hangover. She had panicked and gotten out of there as fast as possible after the memories of the highly unprofessional things they did last night started to come back to her.
It was so embarrassing. She had agreed to keep him company yesterday so late only because it was his dead wife's birthday. Usually she would not have tempted herself like that by staying with him so late, while drinking, but she had wanted to be there for him. They had hung out a lot over three years of partnership but they had never gotten that drunk. While she regretted what they did, she had to admit a part of her enjoyed their um incident. She loved Gabriel as a friend, though, right? And nothing more? She wasn't so sure. She was having trouble controlling her emotions and convincing herself it was wrong when last night felt so right. She had been feeling... something for Gabriel for awhile.
But Riley knew she could not mix those emotions with her job. To keep him safe she had to think clearly and her mind fogged every time that warm body and husky voice got too close. She shook off the feelings of last night; they had to keep it professional. They were partners and friends but they needed to work well together and this was not part of the plan.
Riley needed to shut this down as soon as possible.
A part of her didn't want to. It wanted to press her lips to his and only come up when they needed air. That part of Riley could imagine waking up in his bed every day, having little Gabriels running around…
No, she had to give up on fantasies like that. They can't happen between partners. Especially with a partner like Gabriel, the billion dollar man.
Speaking of the billion dollars he is worth, she was pissed he had left his apartment without telling her. She was his protection and could lose her job if he got hurt out of her watch. She had showed up to pick him up at 3:30 and he wasn't at his apartment. He didn't even leave a note to say where he had gone. She had called him and he didn't pick up. She had felt guilt about running away this morning but she had needed to get some space. To calm herself down.
Riley momentarily worried that he'd been kidnapped but there was no struggle in the place and Gabriel was quite the fighter and wouldn't go that easily. She reckoned he more likely, being the stubborn ass he is, had run off to do his own thing, disregarding the rules that come with having a chip in your head.
If he wasn't at Cyber Com, then she would worry. But he wasn't getting this coffee she had made for him.
Gabriel saw her come out of the elevator with two cups of coffee and immediately felt guilty. He should have been at his apartment as usual, regardless of how wounded he felt from her ditching him this morning. She was always kind enough to bring him coffee there.
She walked past his desk, looked him straight in the eye with no emotion, said "Good Morning Gabriel", and then proceeded to dump one coffee in the trash.
His mouth opened slightly as if to speak, but just then Lillian walked in. They got down to business for the rest of the day. Gabriel kept trying to steal glances at her but she always ignored him. Whenever he asked her a question she would answer flatly. He tried to make her laugh but Riley was impassive. Their usual banter was completely absent. Everyone nervously noticed something was off between them but not even the straightforward Nelson asked about it.
Gabriel was still determined to talk to her about their relationship. He gathered his resolve and cornered her by the elevators around 6:40.
"What do you want Gabriel" Riley snapped. She bit her lip though and couldn't look him in the eye. The memories of last night lingered and she made sure there was plenty of space between them. She couldn't be distracted right now. She had to stop this train here and now before it crashed.
"I wanted to know…. I wanted you to know…We should….." Gabriel stumbled, trying to muster up the courage to tell her he loved her. He wish he had the balls to just kiss her, or ask her to dinner. She cleared her throat.
"Gabriel, last night..It was fun, but it can't happen again.." She faultered and seeing the protest in his eyes, rushed on. "This could never work, we are just friends….This is over, ok?..It never was a thing.." She almost took it all back when she saw his face.
"If that's what you want" Gabriel said holding back his anger. "But it isn't what you want, is it?, I love you Riley Neal and you feel something too, don't you?"
Riley held back tears and did what she thought was right, to protect him. That was her job and she did what she had to do.
She lied "No Gabriel we are partners, I protect you… I…would never want to be with you."
It tore her apart to say, but she didn't want to lose her job, or jeopardize Clockwork by distracting him. What if she got reassigned and had to leave him or they broke up and stopped working together well. This was best, she told herself.
He deserved someone better. Someone he could settle down with, come home too, and someone to be a good mother. He talked about wanting a family all the time. She could never do those things for him. Riley turned and left him standing there, one of the hardest things she'd ever done to her partner of three years.
Gabriel fell apart on the inside. Riley didn't really love him, this job was more important; everything he had felt had been fake. It was like Amelia all over again. He had finally gotten over Amelia with Riley's help but she was just a new one, to rip up his heart.
He walked to the bathroom in a trance. Splashed water on his face. He didn't need another woman like Amelia in his life. He wanted the opposite of Amelia.
A cheerful woman with twinkling eyes and sandy blond hair popped into his mind. She was the opposite. A nurse not a secret agent, open not mysterious. Gabriel pulled out the napkin with her number.
He walked out the bathroom, right past Riley's desk, and barged into Lillians office.