Gabriel - Post Chapter Seven (Patreon)

A/N: Post Chapter Seven Gabriel short. Assuming you have started a romance with him and have gone down to the flesh pits in Chapter One.

The room was sleek, devoid of personal touches and mostly grey.  Soft light came from a single lamp tucked away in the corner, illuminating a writing desk scattered with missives and papers.  I sat on the bed, propped up by pillows and blankets, blinking a as I tried to puzzle out how I had gotten here.  At some point, fresh from the shower, I think I had blacked out.  Exhaustion or pain had finally consumed me and now that I was awake, I felt wrapped in cotton.

The door to the right opened, and Gabriel slipped inside. A small tea cart was pushed in front of him, the metal of the wheels rattling ominously.  The cart looked rusted and more like a medical tray than a vessel for a fancy carafe of tea.

“You’re awake.” He blinked at me, pausing for a moment in the door frame. His normally slicked back hair hung in his face and the top waistcoat of his uniform was discarded elsewhere, leaving him in a black tight woven turtle-neck that showed off every line of muscle on his well-defined chest.

I scooted over a little, allowing him room as he pushed the tea cart to my side.  Steam filled the small expanse between us, the tea he poured smelling spicy and making my nose wrinkle.

“Drink this please. Ms. Albright says that it will help with any sort of wounds we might not be able to see.”

Knowing it was from Hazel, I took it immediately.  “You got a hold of her then?”

“I did. She was most concerned, but I told her that you were in good hands here.  I did not want to move you back to your bed after you had become unsteady on your feet, post shower.  And, I admit, I may be being a tad bit selfish with my desire to keep you here for a bit longer.”

The tea itself was bitter and gave a healthy burn as it settled in my stomach. I could feel something else beneath the spice, however.  As if flesh and bone were coated with a strength that I hadn’t realized I had lost.  While I didn’t particularly like the tea, it was medicine. There was probably no point in fighting it.

Looking around the room, I tried to discern where exactly we were. I remembered Gabriel leading me out of his office and I had followed him willingly, but didn’t know where it was we were supposed to be going. The slow tingle of his lips upon mine were still at the forefront of my thoughts when he had requested I please take a shower.  The warm water had felt delicious after the chill of the Deep and I had stayed beneath the spray far longer than necessary.  The soft robe I had wrapped myself in afterwards had tipped me over the edge, I suppose. I didn’t remember winding up in bed on my own volition.

“Is this your home?” I asked.

Gabriel gave a soft chuckle. “Occasionally. I have a different place on the other side of the market, but I am afraid I spend more time here than there.  This place is a common area or sorts. For when the men and women under the Velvet Guard are too tired to make the trek home. Or their shift starts in a few hours. This place provides them small comforts.”

I looked around. “Gabriel, this place isn’t very comfortable.” Homey was not how I would describe this by any means.  It was lifeless.  Even if it was a place shared by many, I would have thought there would be some effort into making it friendly. It resembled barracks more than it did a soft place to rest. Though, I did have to admit, the bed was nice. So was the robe.

“I thought you may deem it such,” he said. “That is why I had someone rush to the market and get you that robe and a throw blanket. The tea set is mine.  I do keep some finery here for matters of importance.”

The tea set was polished silver and far too nice for the Guard. “Manners of importance like the person you once tried to arrest nearly dying when trying to save the world?”

When his hand touched my cheek I was startled.  Still unused to a touch from him.  A kind one that is. The black bands still stained my wrists from where he had cuffed me before.  They were fainter now, fading with time, but still evidence to how this had all started.

When his hand slipped away, he refilled my tea once more, perching stiffly at the edge of the bed.  “I have only been to the Deep twice,” he volunteered. “Neither time I found it pleasant.  It may take a few days for the chill to leave you. I found that hot showers were somewhat helpful during the preceding hours.”

“Why were you in the Deep?” I was desperate for someone to understand what I had been through, though the idea that he had been down there, swimming in the light of the angler fish, and had still let Hazel and I venture forth was unsettling.

“I had to escort Belladonna. Twice,” he said, shifting uncomfortably.  “Once, the journey ended in an overnight trip to the palace. The other time, we were only there for a matter of hours.  While I am sure my experience is not indicative to the entirety of that district, I merely found it cold and alien.  Too many dangers set out in the open. Irresponsible, really.  Though, I will admit that the coral knights are an ingenious bit of technology that I do wish I could implement within the market here.”

“Technology?”

He hummed in response. “It is what I consider them. I do not believe they have sentience as people claim.”  Grabbing a small satchel from the second tier of the cart, he turned towards me. “I wish to bandage your wounds. Ms. Albright said to let them breathe while you slept and then to put several concoctions over them.  The tea should have a numbing effect, so this should not sting.”

I stared at him. The wounds he spoke of were swiped across my belly. A few across my arms.  I was wearing nothing but a robe, however.

Seeming to understand, Gabriel adverted his eyes.  “Just place the sheet across anything you are uncomfortable with me seeing,” he said, voice suddenly gruff and edged in restraint.

The slip of fabric over skin echoed unnaturally loud in the dim room.  I swallowed thickly as I pulled my arms from the robe and arranged myself in such a way.  When Gabriel’s eyes still remained down something warm fluttered in my belly.

“You can look now,” I told him.  His head lifted beautifully then, and I realized he was waiting for my instruction.

Silently, he began examining the various contusions across my bare skin. There was one particular split of skin against my side that caused his lips to purse with agitation. A lock of hair fell over his brow, blocking the soft grey of his eyes as he fixated on the mottled skin.

“Gabriel,” I tested. I was curious, really.  He had seemed so sure of himself back in the office.  But fell in line with what I wished for him to do.  “Keep talking, please,” I told him. “I want to hear the sound of your voice.”

The response was almost immediate. While his fingers still worked a green cream into the wound, placing small butterfly bandages across my skin in lieu of stitches, his words filled the room without hesitation.

“I was merely in the palace area and a hut that was not far from the royal gates,” he continued his story from earlier. “It was quite a few years ago, but it seemed mostly uninhabited. Though I have heard word that there has been quite the revival around the entrance to the district. Ms. Feri, for example, has a shop that would have been laughable a few years before. I do appreciate their attempts at civilization.”

“Where I was, wasn’t all together civilized,” I told him.  The entrance, perhaps. Just past the selkies. But the tunnel down into the frigid waters below the palace was devoid of anything but the horrendous images that lurked in the ark.

“What do you mean?”

“I ended up going beneath the Baron’s palace, through an access she had in one of her throne rooms. Where I ended up was dark. Angler fish were the only sort of light.  Everything there was monstrous and confusing.”

Gabriel’s hands paused, warm fingers pressed against my side. “She should not have access to a place sch as that.”

“I get the impression that there are a lot of things the Baron’s have that they should not have access to,” I said softly.

The frown that twisted his lips was one of deep concern. Before I realized what I was doing, I lifted my hand to cup his jaw, much like he had done to me early. I kept my touch firm, however, dragging his gaze to mine.

“Stop,” I said softly.

His hands fell limp in my lap.

“Are you beating yourself over all this?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“Gabriel, you shouldn’t. What happened down there was not your fault.”

“Was it not?” His eyes flashed silver before fulling down to the soft dovetail grey. “Was I not the one who escorted you to the edge of the ocean and bid you farewell?”

I sighed. It was doubtful that I had enough energy to deal with this at the moment and in truth, I needed to process the events just as much as he.  But at the same time…

“I am tired,” I told him.  “I may need some time before I can have this conversation with you.”

His shoulders slumped. Turning his face in my palm, he kissed the soft flesh there.  That was twice now, in one night, and I was finding I quite liked the sensation.  “Apologies,” he murmured against me.  “I am afraid I will have to insist that we get the rest of your wounds bandaged, however. Then I am yours for the evening.”

He pulled away from me, his lips lingering against my hand for a moment longer, before he began ministrations once more.

“Did you take the day off?” I asked, registering his words.

“I have.”

“However will the Guard manage without you?” I teased.  Whatever had been in Hazel’s tea was making me feel light and airy and despite him prodding at an open wound, I felt nothing.

“It will be a difficult task, but I believe the men and women I employ are up for the challenge.”

I huffed out a breath of laughter, feeling a slight exhilaration that he was beginning to become comfortable enough to joke with me more often.

When he was done, Gabriel packed everything away, took my empty cup, and pushed the tea car to the side.  He still sat at the edge of the bed, his head bowed for a moment as he breathed deeply. When he looked back up at me, it was with a sense of openness that I knew he didn’t gift to people often.

“I would like to stay with you,” he whispered. “If you will permit it.”

I didn’t hesitate. Moving over, I pulled back the soft throw. The one he had had someone buy for me specifically.  I watched as Gabriel slid his own boots off before pulling himself up onto the bed.  Slowly, he placed a warm arm around me and I felt myself melt against him, my eyes growing heavy.

“Please sleep,” he requested. “There is much more we can talk about in the morning.”

“Because you are off work,” I reaffirmed.

Brushing a soft kiss to my forehead, he smiled against the crown of my head.  “Because I am off work.”

And with that, I snuggled against him. “Good.” I was asleep before the word even left my lips.