Part Nineteen:
 

Rating: PG
 

As Arianna pulled the covers up to her chin that night, she thought of the boy lying on the cot not six feet away from her own bed. He was cute. There was no denying that. She was sure that was one of the reasons why she had brought him here. So far it was the only real reason she could think of.

People had helped her out before, and not once had she thought of inviting them to her current home and making them a sandwich afterwards. She had no idea what had possessed her to say "So, you need a place to stay for a few nights?" She realized now how extremely dangerous and foolish that was. But…she had seen a bit or herself in him. It seemed crazy, even to herself, but when she looked into his dark gray eyes she saw herself. She saw the pain that mirrored her own, and the loneliness that plagued her as well. She saw the need for companionship. She hadn't noticed just how lonely and how tired she was of being alone until then. Ash hadn't called her in weeks. And here was someone who knew the same pain that she knew, someone who could possibly fill the gap left by the deaths of her friends. Arianna didn't know how she knew all this - it was just another one of those things that her instinct told her. And she always listened to instinct.

Well, it was too late to change all that now. She lay there in the dark, listening to the soft sounds of Gabriel's breathing, thinking about how she was in the Goddess' hands now.

She remembered that gorgeous smile Gabriel kept giving her and thought that maybe that wasn't such a bad place to be.

Arianna awoke the next morning and saw a boy sitting at the table across the room. She grabbed the silver knife that lay on her nightstand and jumped out of the bed and into a fighting stance. The boy stood up and as her vision
cleared she saw it was Gabriel. She had forgotten he all about him as she slept.

"Put the knife down." His voice was calm, as if he were talking to someone about to leap off the top of a building. "I'm not going to hurt you."

Arianna replaced the knife in its sheath and dropped it back onto the bedside table. "Contrary to what you might think, I'm not used to waking up and finding strange boys in my bedroom."

"I wouldn't exactly call this a bedroom," Gabriel commented, looking around the one-room basement apartment.

"It's better than some of the places I've stayed in," Arianna told him as she walked into the kitchen. Gabriel heard her rummaging in the cabinets, and when she came out she was holding a box of Frosted Flakes and two white ceramic bowls. She set them down on the tabletop and sat on one of the gray metal folding chairs. "Go get the milk and the spoons. They're in the drawer next to the stove." She opened the box of cereal and poured herself a bowl of sugarcoated corn flakes.

They ate in silence. Arianna rested her head on her fist while she chewed. She looked like she was holding herself up, and if she moved her arm she would fall on the floor.

"Tired?" Gabriel asked. She nodded slowly. He took advantage of her compliant state. "Let me see you arm." She would be less inclined to argue about it if she was tired.

Arianna replaced the spoon in the bowl and thrust her right arm across the table. Gabriel held it gently, examining it, carefully pressing his fingertips on her bruised skin. "You need more ice," he told her. He may not be a healer, but he knew how to take care of people.

She shrugged and picked up the spoon.

"Why are you so sleepy?" he inquired.

"Why are you so wide awake?" she shot back.

He grinned. "I'm usually not, but I'm still in my 'sleep light, there might be danger' mode. I take it you're not particularly pleasant when you wake up?"

She scowled at him.

"And how do your bed partners react to that?"

She looked like she wanted to bash his head in with the chair she was sitting on. "Are you implying that I sleep around?" she asked frostily. "Because if you are, you're wrong. Yeah, there have been times where I was hard up for money, but I haven't sold myself. I'm not a slut. Let's get one thing clear: I didn't bring you here to seduce you, I brought you here as a favor. You'd better remember that before you make any more fuckin' accusations." Seething with rage, she stood up and went into the bathroom. A second later the shower could be heard running.

Gabriel rolled his eyes and made a mental note not to joke around with her so early in the morning.