Chapter Five : Light Through the Cracks

An ache in Gabrielle's shoulder is what finally woke her from her slumber. She groaned and sat up, rubbing her scar. It was going to rain today; if it wasn't already doing so. Her shoulder always hurt right as a storm showed up. She got up, went to the bathroom and then decided on pancakes, bacon and scrambled eggs for breakfast. As was now usual; she found herself missing Dr. Lecter while she cooked. She stopped fighting it a few years ago. It was a profound experience for her and it would stay with her for the rest of her life. If she were truly honest; it was the reason she put this level of effort into her cooking. Knowing how he viewed a meal, her mental version of him spurned her to take care of herself. She put her plate on the table. Her meal would cool to the right temperature as she changed into clean comfortable clothes. Loose black sweatpants. Deep purple socks. Long, heavy woven lavender sweater, with sleeves that were too long. It was okay because the wrists were snug and made the sleeves puff out a little. She brushed out her hair and put it up into a loosely braded bun. After Gabrielle was satisfied, she went back to her breakfast. After eating she cleaned up the kitchen. As she was contemplating what to do with her day her phone went off. It was Sarah, asking if she wanted to hang out. She decided to take her up on her offer. It was perfectly gloomy, chilly and rainy. A great day for shopping. She met Sarah in the town square.

"Hey girlie!" Sarah called out.

"Morning gorgeous!" Gabrielle responded.

"Manage to get any sleep without taking work home?" Sarah chuckled.

"Actually yes," Gabrielle laughed, "It was a rather good night."

"Good. You deserve rest."

They talked and laughed as they walked through town. They touched on work some. Noting how the others were relaxing more and how much easier it was to breathe now that the old supervisor was gone. Sarah babbled about her family and her boyfriend. Gabrielle liked listening to her babble. Sarah preferred to focus on the positives in life and very rarely had anything to complain about. It was nice to listen to someone who enjoyed their life.

"Gabs can I ask you a question?" Sarah asked.

"Umm, sure." Gabrielle answered, "I'll do my best to answer you."

"Why don't you ever talk about before I met you?" Sarah asked gently.

"College was a little rough and high school was rougher. It's hard to talk about." Gabrielle answered carefully, "It's not that I don't want to talk about it. I just seem to lose people when I do."

"Not going to lie, that was deeper than I anticipated." Sarah said quietly.

"Sorry," Gabrielle apologized, "I didn't mean to bring the day down."

"Nothing to be sorry for. I asked and now I'm even more curious about you." Sarah smiled.

"Really?"

"Really really."

They both laughed at the Shrek reference. They walked around for a little bit longer. Stopping at a handful of other stores. By the time they were both tired it was almost four in the evening. They each came out of this shopping trip with a few new outfits, including shoes and jewelry. Gabrielle found some bath bombs she wanted to try as well as some new candles. She also picked up some take out. Chicken and rice with steamed veggies.

"You sure you don't wanna come over?" Sarah asked, "Derek isn't coming over tonight."

"It's okay, I've got enough energy to get myself home. This rainy weather makes me sleepy and my shoulder is in rough shape at the moment." Gabrielle answered.

"Why didn't you tell me you were hurting earlier?!" Sarah asked shocked, "We could have done this another day!"

"Nonsense, gloomy days are my favorite and the pain is unavoidable." Gabrielle said with a smile.

"Unavoidable? One of these days you're gonna have to tell me what's going on."

"That one is easy." Gabrielle laughed, "I was shot."

"You were what?!" Sarah almost shrieked, "That's not easy. You've got some explaining to do!"

Gabrielle laughed and put her bags in her car. "Oh lots of explaining, but not today. It's part of the bigger story that I don't usually tell."

Sarah took a deep breath before saying "Fine, I can wait, but now you've got me super curious and I'm pretty sure there's nothing you can say that would scare me off."

"We'll see." Gabrielle said as she hugged her coworker, "We'll talk later, okay?"

"Definitely. Please drive safe."

"Always."

Gabrielle got in her car as Sarah walked away and said to herself, "I wonder what she'll say when she finds out who I was protecting."

Gabrielle drove home in quite contemplation. The rain started coming down harder as she got home. She was able to gather up her bags before getting out of the car and made her was to her front door quickly. She got inside and took her shoes off. She placed her take out on the coffee table and took her bags to her room. Sorting through her items, she put her clothes in the washing machine, shoes in front of the closet and put her new jewelry on her dresser. The bathbombs went under the sink in the bathroom and the candles went in the living room on the bookshelf. She Reheated her take out as it was cold at this point. She put on Xena: Warrior Princess, poured herself a glass of the white wine from last night and got comfortable on the couch. Her food was exactly what she wanted and it was so satisfying. She watched tv until almost eleven and then decided to head to bed. She snuggled in with her lion and fell fast asleep.