InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Henry Mancini, man!"

Gabriel M. Sherlock (ohshitsherlock) wrote in badwater_rpg,
@ 2009-01-28 08:28:00

Entry tags:

gabe sherlock, january, rated pg-13, vanessa lordes

Who: Nessa Lordes and Gabe Sherlock
When: Wednesday morning, around 10 am.
Where: Nessa's house
What: Gabe needs some hippie wisdom ~~and food~~.
Rating: PG-13 for language, probably.

Gabe was awake far too early this morning. When Alena had come back to bed at around eight, she'd shoved him off of her side and woken him up, and he hadn't been able to get back to sleep. After another hour of trying, he'd finally given up and gotten up to take a shower. He didn't have to work until this evening, and only had classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and there was little to no food in Alena's apartment, other than Steak-Ums and those nasty Freeze Pop things that in Gabe's opinion, tasted like ass and were probably about five years old. His options seemed to be chillin' with Blowjob on the newly-exorcised couch watching Nick Jr. and starving, or going to McDonalds for an Egg McMuffin or six.

Since he wasn't really a huge fan of hunger pains, Gabe pulled on a hat and his coat and coaxed his car to life, on a quest for fried goodness and orange juice in those nifty little cartons. Halfway to McDonalds, he found himself brooding over...everything. Cookie, Asher and Grant, fucking Dylan, Dinah, Emily, Alena, Detective Rourke... He saw a sign for the Interstate, and for a moment, was completely prepared to pull onto it and just drive as far away as the heap of scrap metal he called a car would take him. Then he realized exactly where he was, and without really thinking about it, made a sharp turn - not right, toward the interstate, but into a very familiar housing development.

Marlie's car wasn't outside; she was probably at her dad's, or god forbid, with a boy. She was like Gabe's sister, and he didn't go too far down that thought process. And if Marlie was like his sister, her parents had definitely been adopted as Gabe's own. Not that he didn't love Meg, of course. She had given up a lot for him, and Gabe loved her to death, but she hadn't been around a lot when he was a kid, and wasn't really around a lot now, either. Nessa had been his babysitter, his best friend's older sister, his mom's best friend, Eddie's girlfriend, Marlie's mom, and a constant in Gabe's life since he was born, not to mention the best source of advice he knew. Also the best source of food. The smell of pancakes wafting out of Nessa's house as he rapped on her door was enough to make him glad he'd foregone half-frozen egg patties already.

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_flowerchild_
2009-01-28 08:24 am UTC (link)

Nessa on the other hand had been up at the crack of dawn, but this was nothing new for her. She'd gotten onto this schedule long ago when Marlie had still been in school, she had to get up a good hour and a half to two hours before her daughter... just to get her daughter up. Marlie was no longer in elementary school and rarely required to be roused from her sleep, but it was this routine that Nessa still stuck to. Her morning had been pretty uneventful; filled with decaf coffee, the morning news and quite a bit of time on her sofa with her shirt pulled up to expose that bump. Three months into being pregnant again and she still sometimes couldn't believe it. She was pregnant with Eddie's child again and engaged. Engaged to be married. A little mind blowing, if not pleasant.

After lounging around for the better part of the morning she had decided she was hungry, actually famished, but she could always blame that on Bowie. The fact that she found out her child's name before it was even born still sort of weirded her out, but there was many things Nessa was taking in stride these days. Fast forwarding twenty or so minutes would find her standing over her griddle, the ingredients used for her made from scratch whole wheat pancakes spread out on the counter. Eggs, baking powder, honey, whole wheat flour, milk, oil, eggs... they could all be cleaned up later. Extending that spatula to one of the larger pancakes she'd gingerly lift the side up and flip it over when she heard a knock at her door. It wasn't unusual for Marlie or Alec to show up at this time of the day, or really any of the gang for that matter. They knew they were always welcome.

"Be right there!" She'd shout as she set down the spatula and made her way to the door, the red silk kimono swaying behind her as she walked. When she'd gotten up today she decided since it was her day off, she was staying in pyjamas and the only thing more she was going to put on was said robe. Opening the door without any hesitation, a large smile would come across her face as she saw who was standing there. "If you came to run off with my car, you know where the keys are." Chuckling softly she'd step forward and wrap her arms around Gabe, pulling him close for a hug. "It's so good to see you, dear, although I must admit you being up before noon is quite a surprise." Pressing a soft peck against his cheek Nessa would finally step back and usher him inside. "Pancakes? They are nearly done and I don't know if I'm going to be able to eat them all myself, so maybe you can have one or two."

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ohshitsherlock
2009-01-28 08:46 am UTC (link)

Gabe laughed and returned her hug before letting her lead him indoors. "Oh, I won't say no," he said as he took off his coat in the kitchen, eyeing her pancake project spread out all over the kitchen. "Al has like, no food. And definitely nothing that could hold a candle to Mama Nessa's whole wheat pancakes. She made eggs and bacon the other day, and used me as her guinea pig. I'm surprised I'm still alive." Gabe shook his head. He had such a loving girlfriend.

He collapsed into a chair at Nessa's kitchen table, dragging the hat off his head. "Hey Bo," he said casually, as though the child in her belly was sitting right there with them, waiting for breakfast. It was strange, feeling two minds in the room but only seeing one, and a fetus's mind in itself was a pretty weird thing to experience. The thoughts weren't complex, or even really formed at all, but Gabe could feel him, and now even talk to the child, mind to mind. He repeated his greeting mentally, then looked up at Nessa with a grin. "So how's it going?"

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_flowerchild_
2009-01-28 09:26 am UTC (link)

"I'd be hurt if you didn't." Shutting the door behind him Nessa would make her way back into the kitchen right after him, laughing as he recanted what surely had to have been a harrowing adventure if it dealt with Alena's cooking. "I swear one day that girl is going to poison us all... Al has no food? As in there is no food at her apartment? As in you were at her apartment before coming over here? As in... you get what I'm getting at here, Gabe." She was notorious for being nosey, and didn't need telepathy to figure out, one way or another, all of your secrets. It came along with the position she'd taken up and it was expected that you were going to be poked and prodded when coming to her for advice, or really even having a conversation with Nessa.

Inspecting her pancakes once more before turning off her griddle, she'd pause for a moment when Gabe addressed her unborn son. Not really knowing wether or not to respond to that, she moved a little slower as she placed a stack of pancakes on two plates she pulled out. The thought of the conversation between herself and Gabe after Thanksgiving sprang to mind where he had mentioned having picked up on Bowie before she had gone public with her pregnancy and would smile once more. Grabbing some silverware and then those two plates she'd set the one with quite a few more pancakes in front of Gabe, she had, after all, practically raised him and knew just how much he could eat. She sat down her own plate and that silverware before grabbing two glasses. "Is orange juice fine with you?" Without even waiting for a response she poured two glasses, but she wasn't done just yet, grabbing both the bottle of honey and maple syrup ~~hyrup dyrup~~ in one hand while taking the glasses in the other she sat down.

"It's going pretty good. I mean you can't ask for much more than what I've got going for me I'd say. Pregnant, engaged, eating pancakes with one of my favourite guys and I'm off today." Nessa chuckled softly as she grabbed the honey she poured it over her pancakes and picked up her fork and knife. "I'm not going to lie to you though, I've been worried about you kids, excuse me, about you guys. I know that's nothing new, but I feel since all of this started I rarely get to see you all any more. Then again maybe that's just me digging in my heels a bit too much, eh?" She cut off a piece of a pancake and popped it into her mouth, swallowing before speaking again. "So how've you been? Anything new and exciting I need to hear about, anything of life mysteries you need me to help you unravel? If you're lucky, I might just even tell you were the dish soap is so you can help me clean up after we eat." Smiling his way she'd take another bite of her pancakes.

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ohshitsherlock
2009-01-28 09:36 am UTC (link)

"Orange juice is good," Gabe replied, ignoring her subtle prompting about him and Alena for the moment. Food came first, can't gossip on an empty stomach, and all that. He thanked Nessa as she served him, and grabbed the syrup, spreading it over his pancakes and shoveling a bite into his mouth as she voiced her worries about all of them.

Gabe nodded, swallowing. "I know, things have been...crazy." Actually, he didn't know where to begin. So much was going on, it made his head spin. "Well I guess first...Al and I are back together. I've been staying with her since she went home to her apartment and uh, found it robbed. She doesn't like being alone. I don't like her being alone." He scratched his head, taking another bite. Just being away from Alena while either of them were at work or something made him kind of nervous. If there was a catastrophe within a ten mile radius, one or the other of them would surely be involved. Having so recently gotten her back after almost losing her forever, Gabe worried constantly about her, especially knowing how stressed out she was in that head of hers.

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_flowerchild_
2009-01-28 11:22 am UTC (link)

Nessa nodded before speaking, waiting to swallow. "Crazy would be a very good word to describe what has been going on here the past few months, on many different levels." Setting down her utensils she picked up her glass of orange juice and took a sip, her gaze still on the younger male across the table from her. When he brought up his first subject, she would also have to go with her previous assessment- crazy. It was definitely a nice descriptor for Gabe and Alena.

"Well I'd like to say I'm surprised, but I figured it would only be a matter of time before you two ended up back together. Congrats to you two." She had never had anything against any of the boyfriends or girlfriends they had brought by to various get togethers, but had noticed at a young age the two seemed to mesh together well... almost as well as they clashed. Yin and yang. Balance and harmony. A very delicate line to walk, easily upset and often extremely hard to set right again. "But she was robbed? Was anything recovered?" She had to have her mini-mom mode freak out, before actually getting down to what seemed to be the bread and butter of these little discussions. "So the two of you have been spending all of your time together since getting back together?" It was quite obvious from the way he had spoken that they had. "Over the years, watching you two- has been pretty interesting to say the least. It's almost as if you and Alena repell and attract each other at the same time so you are constantly in a flux. No matter where you end up on said spectrum, from avoiding each other for nearly two years to being attached at the hip, you're never going to find a constant other than the other person. The two of you just don't have highs and you don't just have lows, you have extremes of such. What you've got to realize is the further you two pull away from each other, the more you repell, that eventually you're going to reach that point where you snap back into each other... will the two of you one day reach a state of status quo? I'd honestly hope not, because the essence of life isn't finding that perfect easy path in which you just skip along. Robert Frost and all of that? Two roads diverged? Take the weed eaten, overgrown path that you have to climb and crawl through because I assure you it'll be more worth it." It was almost as if Nessa had been waiting to give this particular little tid bit to Gabe for quite sometime, and perhaps she had but either way she felt it needed to be put out there before delving any deeper.

"I can understand your concern for her as far as what's happened." She didn't know all of the minute details, but Nessa had heard enough to know the basics of what had gone down. "But..." There was always a but. "Do you really think it's the best idea for her to depend solely on you, Gabe? We both know that as it were Alena has a slightly dependent personality and in the vunerable position she finds herself in she turns to what she always has, at least for a good portion of her life- you. I'm not saying, in any form or context, to abandon her to simply fend for herself, but perhaps let her figure out some of this on her own?" Nessa rested her elbows on the edge of the table and leaned forward the slightest bit, still looking towards him with those compassionate eyes. "I know you're not going to like what I'm going to say next, but such is life. You can't fix her, Gabe. She's not broken. She's healing. It takes time." That small smile creeped upon her face once more.

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ohshitsherlock
2009-01-28 11:44 am UTC (link)

Gabe ate while she went on about spectrums and weeds, not really comprehending everything she said. Nessa's analogies tended to be more abstract than Gabe could wrap his head around, but he was sure there was some wisdom under there if he was smart enough to catch onto it. What he basically gathered was that he was always going to end up with Alena, when all was said and done. Gabe had learned that the hard way, very recently. So he just nodded like he understood, like he always did.

He stared down at his pancakes, considering what else she'd said. "I know. I know I can't be the magic cure, I just...she needs somebody. Lucy's busy blaming herself for everything under the sun, and Alvin's being distant to her and Amora...fucking told her she was dead to her, told her she should've been the one to die instead of Cookie...she won't really talk to anybody else. And...I need her as much as she needs me. God, it almost killed me, when I thought..." Gabe trailed off, inadvertenly transmitting the feeling of his heart breaking throughout the room. Could you love somebody too much? Gabe's entire body ached with how much he loved Alena.

He rubbed a hand down his face, pushing away the memory and clearing his throat before speaking again. "She'd been, uh. Researching powers, keeping notes on her premonitions and stuff. All of it was stolen. Sketches, discs, an external harddrive. Her apartment was a mess, but we've got everything cleaned up. Don't know who did it, though."

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_flowerchild_
2009-01-28 10:58 pm UTC (link)

Nessa had a way of explaining things that often involved the other person to put together context clues and rip through quite a few metaphors. To her it made perfect sense, then again she had a little bit of a different outlook on life. When Gabe nodded, as per usual, she studied him with a knowing eye seeing if that was a 'I have no fucking clue what you said, but will nod so you don't babble on more' nod or a 'It seems that some of your hippie mumbo-jumbo has seeped into my mind and I shall ponder on it later' nod. She decided to go with the latter, if only for the fact that his eyes didn't have that glazed over look that they sometimes acquired during these little talks.

Her, what surely would have been lengthy, to response to Gabe was started but quickly dropped off when that overwhelming feeling took over her for no reason. It wasn't something Nessa was foreign too, but she had never felt it fueled with s much displaced passion. Swallowing hard she took another sip of her juice as it faded as quick as it had come. Still not completely sure of where that had come from and not realizing it had been from Gabe, she continued on. "There is nothing wrong with the level of intimacy you two have reached in your relationship over the years, and it must be overwhelming to have it all come surging forward after nearly losing her, but you didn't lose her, Gabe." Even though he was looking down she kept her gaze on him. "You need to stop dwelling on that fact, as it will do you nor her any good. As for her less than favourable relationships at the moment that, again, is something she's going to have to work through. I don't agree with the way Alvin, Lucy or Amora is going about all of this, but you've just got to let it go. If you obsess over every little aspect of her life, in the end all it will do is hurt the two of you as your own sense of self slowly starts to fade. There is nothing wrong with an amalgam of spirits, wether kindred or not, but you must remain true to yourself while keeping that fusion intact for it to work." She herself nodding slowly, she wondered if there was anything else to add to that. "You know?"

"That is most definitely a less than favourable predicament it seems to put us all in, what with I can only assume are quite a few people who'd have something to say about all of this. For better or worse we must remember that our lives are what we make of them. If it comes down to having to fight for that right, the right to live, or even the right to run- none of us will be along in that decision." Letting out a heavy sigh she ran the back of her hand along her jawline. "You still haven't answered my question, Gabe. How are you? Don't think I have realized over the years that you seem to have a way of avoiding your own problems by taking on those of others, a noble cause nonetheless, but I can only imagine that it sometimes gets tiring."

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ohshitsherlock
2009-01-29 05:07 pm UTC (link)

Gabe personally had no idea what an 'amalgam of spirits, whether kindred or not' might be referring to. So no, he couldn't honestly answer her question with a nod, but did so anyway. He'd accepted over the years that some of this, he just wasn't going to comprehend, no matter how much he tried.

"Trust me, I worry about me plenty." Sort of. Okay, not really, but Alena was finding herself in such deep shit lately, not to mention the rest of the team, that Gabe had no time to concentrate on the fact that he'd probably pissed off Dinah and Grant beyond belief, that there was a detective out there with his information waiting for him to do something that he wasn't planning on doing, and that he was wracked with guilt over what he'd done to Emily. He sighed, fully aware that Nessa knew he was lying. "We've got a few more immediate problems than my personal life. I'll deal with them all when I'm at a point where I'm sure nobody's going to die, including me." Gabe personally found other people's problems easier to deal with, and it didn't bother him in the least to take them upon himself, as long as they were those of people he actually cared about.

"Right now, I'm fine. I'm still alive. I'm in love, and I've got people that care about me. I'm working on making some of our pressing issues go away. I'm surviving. Things could be a lot worse." He paused to rap his knuckles lightly on the wooden table. "Knock on wood."

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