Well, I'm evil, not even the least bit nice, abandoning you all. But I want you to know that I am working on the story, just meshing parts together is all. Perhaps, if I planned things out more...NAH! Anyway, a lot of you wanted to know what happened to the bracelet from the first date fic. Well, this is what happened. I hope that you enjoy it, bittersweet as it is, until I can deliver the next chapter. But so my mind stays fresh on my beloved Gabriel, what say you to drabbles of Tehya and him apart? Nothing huge, just little snacks before the main course? Lots of reviews, to let me know if this should happen!! And love you guys, hope that you're enjoying the New Year thus far and all that!
Renee
He opens the drawer again and takes out the box. Through the years he has gone over every reason he should throw it away, be rid of it and move on. It is an old box, wooden, something more of a jewelry box and more suited for a girl. He remembered it being delivered on his eighteenth birthday and wondering briefly what it could possibly be. He never really got much on his birthday, just a card from his mother asking for him to come visit. He always made excuses about why he couldn't. Birthday visits only led to a somewhat tipsy mother rambling on about what a good for nothing his father was. He puts his hand on the box and closes his eyes. He imagines her, the beautiful woman that must have sent the box, who must have been thinking of him as she slipped the treasure inside. He thinks of the way her name would sound as it rolls of his tongue and he wishes so hard that one day she would come back for her box. He lifts up the cover and sees it, the treasure. He knows he himself, must have put it together. He just doesn't remember doing it. He recognizes his own brand of craftsmanship, recognizes the effort but no matte rhow he tries can't recall any of it transpiring. The fact that he can see himself in the work makes him believe in the mystery woman even more. Was she nearby? Did she move? And even quieter thought; was she dead? He took the fine jewelry between his hands, looks over the winking rubies, the etched pattern in the silver. Taking it apart with his eyes he knows it must have taken him months to have accomplished the work. He must have cared, must have truly loved the person that he'd made it for. Where was she? He can't stop thinking about her, his Cinderella. He sets the watch gingerly on the table and takes out the note. Crinkled, despite his efforts to keep it in perfect condition, he unfolds it. He reads the letter for the millionth time, his lips forming the words silently as he imagines her saying them.
I know it's risky, sending this letter, letting you know that I'm still here. I just don't care, though. I don't care if I get found out, so long as you get this Gabriel. I'm not sending it back because I'm angry, just the opposite. I want all the best things for you, all the best people, the most love a person can have. I want the stars and the moon and the world for you Gabe, as cheesy as it all sounds. I wanted us too. I want to be there arm still wearing the bracelet, hugging you for your eighteenth birthday but I can't. None of this probably makes any sense to you, you probably think I'm just some crazy girl but if you don't believe me, look at the watch. I know you didn't just buy it, maybe the parts, but I know you must have took forever making it. Anyway, just know that I love you Gabriel, more than myself, more than all the stars in the sky, and that even though I'm not there with you, there's nowhere I'd rather be.
-Forever yours
There was a smudge just beneath forever yours. He knew that she had wanted to write her name, that it had probably pained her to erase herself from his life. All of it, the box, the letter, the watch, all of it screamed twilight zone. The only thing that kept him from shrugging it all off was the final piece of evidence, something he'd owned himself. It was a notebook, very old. It was blank save for one picture. A picture of him, as a child, a picture of a woman and a girl. Her eyes were the same green he imagined in his dreams, her smile the same one he saw sometimes, in his mind, out of the blue. He'd had the picture long before the bracelet came and though nothing pointed to it, he was sure that it belonged to her.
He sighed. Thinking of his mystery girl always left him strangely melancholy. In the letter she said she had wanted all of the best people, perhaps he would try. Lifting the bracelet once more he thought of Elle. Her eyes were not green, and perhaps she didn't love him more than the stars in the sky, but she was real. She was there and hopefully she'd be forever his.