Who: Gabe (“Groot”) and Nina When: Valentine’s Day weekend Where: Las Vegas, the Luxor What: Belated One Year Anniversary celebrations Rating/Warnings: Low/Massage moment Status: Complete.
Gabe hadn’t realized how happy he was to be away from the OC until their plane touched down in Las Vegas. To be free from work, from Nina being on call, from anything insane happening to them at a moment's notice - it was going to be a wonderful four days. While they could have driven here, hassle free was what he’d wanted for them, and driving through desert didn't sound particularly fun.
Now they were walking through the lobby of the Luxor, and Gabe was completely awestruck. The pyramid shaped hotel was Nina’s instant pick, and he had to agree it’d been a good choice. It was definately Vegas kitsch in that they’d overdone it on the Egyptian theme, but it was so entertaining one didn’t care. He was excited to see what their room was like.
“Wow...this is gonna be so cool.” he said, staring up at the sloped walls of the ceiling, then back down to his girlfriend. He grinned his Groot grin.
It was very nice to be away from the OC, Nina hadn’t realised how much she’d needed the break until they had gotten on the plane and she’d finally relaxed. Work had been intense lately and the general craziness of the county didn’t help. But with Gabe she was going to have the best time in Vegas and going to do all the dumb romantic touristy things they could.
“This is incredible” Nina said as they walked into the place, Nina grinned back so happy to see that smile on his face that she stood on her tiptoes to kiss him, “I love you” she told him before they went to the desk to check in.
He happily stooped down to returned the kiss. “Love you too.” At the check in desk, a bright young woman greeted them.
“Welcome to the Luxor! Your name?”
“Gabe Torres,” he replied, and with one free arm tugged Nina gently against his side just because he could.
“Ah, here we are. A Pyramid Deluxe room.” She handed them the keycards. “There you go. If there’s anything you need don’t hesitate to call down. Enjoy, and Happy Valentine’s Day, a bit early.” And she winked.
Gabe chuckled and turned to look for the elevators. Except all the giant Egyptian Anubis’ and Pharoah statues seemed to obscure everything. “Uh...ok. Babe you see the elevators anywhere?”
Nina leaned into him as they collected the keycards and were wished a pleasant stay, “Thank you” she said with a smile before the moved off.
“Ummm they’ve gotta be here somewhere” Nina said looking around, now logically where would you put the lift in a triangle building… “Oh, the corners” she said pointing to them. Wait, did that mean the lifts were wonky? That would be weird.
“Ah, good eyes.” Gabe said, and promptly placed their luggage onto a rolling cart and headed in the direction of a corner. “I dunno about you, but I feel like we might end up spending the rest of the day just exploring the lobby and shopping center of this joint.” He chuckled. There was definitely more to see than he had expected. The elevator took a while, but once they got in and the doors closed, he realized this wasn’t going to be a normal elevator ride.
It started going up diagonally.
“I know, there’s so much to see. They definitely don’t want you forgetting the theme do they?” she said with a grin, everywhere you looked there were pyramids, hieroglyphics and mummies. It was cheesy but kind of cool too.
“Oh!” Nina said as the lift moved, “This feels weird, not bad just unusual” she commented looking over at Gabe with a smile.
Gabe looked uneasy as all hell, and his face showed it. He was trying to brave it, and forced a smile, but his eyes were screaming “WTF” He placed a hand against the wall of the elevator and moved behind Nina so he could wrap a large arm around her waist, as if she were his anchor. “Unusual’s one word for it.” Holy crap why’d he have to pick a floor that took forever to get there!
“Oh babe” Nina said, laying an arm over his and rubbing it, “Maybe we find stairs next time? Or at least use the lifts as little as possible” she said, her other hand rubbing over his chest. It wasn’t much longer until the lift pinged at their floor and Nina moved out of it with Gabe still wrapped around her. “You okay?” she asked turning in his arms to hug him.
Feeling Nina against him and her reassuring touch helped tremendously. He relaxed a little against her and nuzzled her hair. “Nah, I don’t know if they have stairs and those are probably worse. I’ll just hold onto you.” And he squeezed her a little playfully. When they exited, he pulled the cart behind him while still clinging to Nina. Once the doors closed behind them he let out a big sigh of relief and finally let her go. “Yeah, I’m good.” He could feel his face burning up in embarrassment. Imagine a big dude like him freaked out about some elevator! “Our room should be down that way.” and he pointed in the direction with his keycard.
“You always can” she promised him, she found it kind of adorable that he got so freaked out about it and that she was the one who could offer him comfort. “Lead the way” she said taking the keycard from his free hand so that she could hold it and give it a squeeze, he was still her hero.
He headed down the hall with Nina and the luggage in tow, reaching a room at the end of the hallway. He knew what the view looked like, he’d made sure they had a good one, but wanted to surprise Nina.
“Ladies first,” he said and gestured for her to go ahead and swipe the card.
Nina grinned and stepped into the room, gasping as she looked around. It was incredible with little themed touches but it was the window that caught her the most and she moved to it. Her hands going to rest on the glass, “Gabe this is amazing” she breathed, her eyes taking it all in.
He took a moment to pause and admire her as she gazed out the window as excited as if she were a kid going to Disney instead. The view was spectacular, high up and overlooking the pool and the rest of Vegas. The wall was oddly slanted, part of the effect of the pyramid shape of the building.
Going up behind her once more he wrapped both arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder. “Happy First Anniversary/Valentine’s Day, gorgeous.” He brushed aside her hair so he could plant a kiss on her neck. “Helluva view, huh?”
“The best view I’ve ever seen” Nina said, resting her arms on his and then turning her head to catch his lips in a proper kiss. “We are going to make this the best Anniversary/Valentine’s ever” she told him turning from the view to look up at him, “Thank you” she told him.
“Yes, we are. And somewhere we gotta fit in a fake Elvis. Just to say we did.” He laughed. Pulling her close he smiled down at her and kissed her lips tenderly. “I love you. This has been the best year of my life. We mighta met under the craziest of circumstances, but it was worth it.”
“Of course, it isn’t Vegas without a fake Elvis” she grinned, “I love you too and this is the first of many, many wonderful years together. I promise.”
He smirked down at her. “We're here all of fifteen minutes and you're already proposing? Damn, girl we’re gonna need that Elvis sooner than I thought!” And with that he scooped her up in his arms as if he were going to carry her across a threshold.
“What can I say? It must be the Vegas air” she told him with a grin, laughing as he picked her up, she loved that he could do it so easily. She pressed a kiss to his cheek, “You really are the best”
He grinned and stole a kiss. “All I wanna do is make you happy.” He cast a glance at the abandoned luggage and then looked back to Nina. “I don’t feel like unpacking yet. What do you want to do?”
“You always make me happy” she told him, giving him a hug, “Shall we go explore? This place is huge we’ll find something fun to do” Unpacking was something they could do at any point, or they could just pull the things they needed out of the suitcase. She wasn’t picky.
“Sure thing.” he said, setting her down back onto her feet. They made their way back to the elevator and immediately Gabe got a look of apprehension on his face as they waited for the numbers to reach their floor. His hand closest to Nina weaved its fingers into Nina’s more slender ones. Gabe didn’t have a lot of phobias, and had no idea why this diagonally moving elevator freaked him out so much. He’d ridden in shoddier elevators, ones in the projects that would stop midway for minutes before resuming again. There was just something about the way this one moved that seemed to unnerve something deep inside him.
Once they stepped into the elevator Nina stood in front of him and pulled his arms around her holding onto him tightly. Nina wasn’t sure what it was about the lifts here either but she knew enough about phobias to offer her unspoken support as they rode it back down. When they stepped out she took his hand and squeezed it, “Where first?”
He was so grateful for Nina. They were getting to the point where one knew what the other needed without even having to say a thing. She got him, and that meant so much to him.
“I dunno. I guess, head past the Anubis and see where it takes us?” he said, gesturing at the black stone carving of the Egyptian god. The place was massive, they were lucky if they’d ever find the elevators again. As they walked they entered through a stone gate flanked by enormous carvings of pharoahs. Gabe gawked up at them as they passed through.
“You think those are actually stone?” it sounded stupid, but everything looked so well done, it was like they had dragged all of Egypt inside the hotel.
“Works for me” Nina said with an easy shrug, she walked around looking at everything too. Cheesy but amazing and so much work had obviously gone into it. “I doubt it but it looks incredibly like it. This is by far the coolest hotel I’ve ever stayed in”
“Same here,” he said, head turning this way and that at everything. They wandered into what looked like a scale replica of a city and a marketplace. There were shops selling jewelry and fashion items, restaurants, and even….Gabe frowned. “Seriously? A Starbucks?” He made a face only a cynical New Yorker could. Normally he was glad for a Starbucks, but not in this case. It crashed into the whole Egyptian theme!
“Aww” Nina hugged his arm, “It is Vegas and even in all this epic decoration Starbucks still have to make their mark I guess. It is a shame though” she said with a sigh.
“They couldn’t have called it Cleopatra’ Cafe or something?” he snarked. They kept going and lingered about, taking it all in. Like all men, Gabe had waited until the last minute to see about getting Nina something, and so sometimes he subtly would steer them near the jewelry in the hopes somewhere in this fancy shopping area something would catch her eye.
“How would people know it’s Starbucks? It’s all about the brand for them” Nina said, but it would have been nice to see a themed one. They had fun looking at all the decorations and going around the shop windows. There was a lovely homemade soap shop that she liked the look of and she had to admit she rather liked the Pandora bead bracelets despite not wanting to be that kind of girl.
Gabe had lingered with her at the soap shop. At first the fragrances were refreshing, but then starting to get overwhelming to the point he had to step out. He encouraged Nina to keep perusing, he just couldn’t take the overwhelming feminine vibe of all the flowery scents. He was more of an earthy, cedar, sandalwood kinda guy.
He made a mental note on the Pandora beads she eyed the longest, and knew he’d have to make some sort of an excuse to sneak down to buy them for her in time for Valentine’s Day. With only today left, he’d really have to come up with something quick. As they walked, he saw signs for a spa.
Hmm…
“Hey babe, look at that. They got a spa here.” If he could get her to get something done for an hour, it’d be more than enough time for him to run around.
Nina tried not to take too long but she had found a nice earthy soap set that Gabe might like, she knew he cleaned his hands regularly with the plants.
“Ooo now that is tempting. A good massage is always nice” she commented, looking over the list.
Gabe had stopped paying attention to the soaps once he’d stepped outside so he was none the wiser if Nina had gotten him anything. As they stood before the spa he smirked as he watched Nina poring over the list.
“Tell you what, why don't you spoil yourself a little and get yourself a massage while I unpack our stuff?”
“Are you sure? That doesn’t seem fair for you” Nina said, though she had to admit she was tempted. Nothing felt as good as a massage to help relax you. She’d suggest Gabe come with her but it didn’t seem like his kind of thing.
“Nah, don’t worry about me.” he hugged her from behind and kissed her behind the ear. “Besides,” he whispered, “I don’t like anyone’s hands on me except yours.” Which was actually true. He’d never had a massage and didn’t like the idea of some stranger touching his bare skin.
Nina lay her hands over his around her waist and leaned into him, “I’ll make it up to you later” she promised, “Maybe I could give you a massage in our room” she suggested turning her head to look at him with a cute smile.
His smile reflected hers and then grew into that wide grin of his. “Do I get a ‘happy ending’ with that?” He snickered, teasing. He knew what she had meant but couldn’t resist the joke.
A giggle escaped her at that, turning in his arms she raised an eyebrow with a grin, “Maybe we both will” she teased back easing up to press a kiss to his lips.
“Mmm, I hope so.” he kissed her back. “Now go ahead and get your relax on. I’ll be back in an hour to check on you.” He playfully smacked her rear before turning to go. “Oh!” he twisted around and pointed at her. “And no male masseuses, please. I’ll get crazy jealous.”
“Alright” Nina agreed, laughing when he smacked her and turning when he remembered something, “No need for jealousy, I only want your hands on me too” she promised, she’d never liked the idea of a male masseuse anyway if truth be told.
Gabe chuckled and turned to go on his way, pretending to head back towards the stomach churning elevators. At the Starbucks he turned to see if she was still outside the spa entrance. She was gone. Perfect.
With a grin he made a beeline for the Pandora store. It was a small boutique but enough room to hide him from the spa’s perspective. Quickly scanning the glass case (and nearly bowling over another man there with his significant other) he recapped what he’d seen Nina pore over. Before he could say anything though, the couple got the attention of the lone employee and Gabe grudgingly had to wait. To kill the time he flipped through the magazine they had there and counted how many beads would make a full bracelet. He decided on adding three more beads to Nina’s picks, leaving room for future ones. Glancing up from the edge of the glossy magazine, the couple vacillated over something, and he made a face and went back to perusing. He got lost in the section of Star Wars jewelry for men when a voice startled him.
“Can I help you, sir?” came the soft tenor of the employee. Gabe lowered the magazine and blinked for a moment.
“Oh yeah,” he looked over and saw the couple was gone. “Yeah, um, I was lookin’ to get a Pandora bracelet for my girlfriend.”
“Of course sir, excellent choice. Did you have any beads in mind or would you like to see our selection?” he asked, already sensing this customer was going to be more rewarding than the couple who had gone away to ‘think it over’.
“I got ‘em all picked out.” he replied confidently, and stooped over the glass to point them out. “Can I get that one, that one over there, that, aaaand, that one.” he said, picking out the one’s Nina had eyed. “And can I get four of those gemstone spacers.” he pointed the ones that had her birthstone color embedded all around the spacer beads. He then grew quiet, musing over the last three he’d want to surprise her with.
“Wonderful, you are well prepared” he smiled, “And which bracelet were you wanting them on? Or does she have one already?” he asked, making a mental note of the beads Gabe had already pointed to.
Gabe blinked stupidly, pulling his mind away from the bead he’d been staring at as he heard the question. “The what now?” He hadn’t thought through the type of bracelet!
“The bracelet sir” the assistant said, “For the beads to go onto. There are a few to choose from I could show you the most popular three if you would like? Do you know your lady’s wrist size?”
Gabe could feel the blood draining from his face a little. Damn. His perfect plan wasn’t so perfect all of a sudden. “Wh..no I don’t know her size.” It was his first time buying jewelry for her, he realized. He tried to think of what her wrist felt like in his hand, how far did his fingers go around? He thought back to the elevator ride and decided to make an educated guess.
“Um, maybe this big?” he said, wincing a little as to how stupid he suddenly sounded as he raised one hand and made a circle with his fingers.
“Please don’t panic, you certainly aren’t the first man to not know and you certainly won’t be the last” he said reassuring him when he noticed that momentary panic, “We can work with that. Now let me show you the bracelet choices”
Gabe let out a small sigh of relief. He watched as the man laid out onto the top of the glass display case three bracelet types - one was all silver with a heart clasp, one was silver with a ball clasp that was gold, and the last was silver with a silver ball clasp.
“Um…” Gabe stared at them for a moment, vacillating. ‘The one with the heart.” He then went back to seeing what remaining charms he wanted. “Can I also get that one there,” he pointed to a fancy colored murano bead, “the cherry blossom one, the hearts - no those there - and the ‘N’ one.” There. Done.
“Perfect. My personal favourite choice, I think it’s just that little extra special” he approved before putting the others away and measuring out the length of bracelet needed. “Of course, how lovely. Your lady is very lucky sir” he smiled an actual smile too not a fake one. It was obvious this man cared a lot. “I’m assuming you’d like it wrapped appropriately?”
The cynical New Yorker in Gabe didn't seem to care one way or the other if the salesman was being genuine - it was hard to tell for him when service people were being genuine or not - but it was nice the guy was being friendly all the same. Gabe smiled back at the compliments and assertions he’d made good choices. “Nah, I'm the lucky one.” He nodded about having the item wrapped and watched as the salesman did so with care.
The man dutifully wrapped the gift nicely with paper printed with hearts on it and popped it in a small gift bag. He took the payment and handed over the bag, “Have a wonderful time here in Vegas sir” he said with a smile before moving to help another customer who had begun browsing.
Gabe gave his thanks and cast one paranoid glance at the spa before hunting for the elevators. He tried following the walls but got lost and distracted and ironically found the restaurant he’d booked for them for tomorrow night. “Well at least I know where that is.” he mumbled to himself. After fifteen more minutes of aimless wandering he gave up and asked a vendor where the elevators were. They were in the corners...just not the ones in the areas he was searching. After a stomach churning ride with no comfort he realised he’d ended up on the wrong side of the pyramid.
Nearly wanting to cry man tears while having to endure going back down and across and up again Gabe finally made it back to their room. A quick glance at the Osiris clock and he knew he had to hurry and unpack. He only had fifteen minutes left!
Nina meanwhile was completely oblivious to what Gabe was up to as she was having the most incredible massage ever. The lady was lovely and they’d had a nice chat before the music had gone on and Nina was almost lulled to sleep. She felt amazing by the end of it and even picked up a few tips on how to massage Gabe too. Paying for a pot of massage oil she popped it into her bag before heading outside to see if Gabe was there yet, she’d ran a few minutes over the time he’d said.
Gabe was grateful they hadn't packed a billion things. He’d hastily but carefully placed as many clothes as he could in the drawers, carefully avoiding looking too closely at what delicates Nina might have packed, leaving them in her suitcase in case there was anything in there she was planning on surprising him with.
He’d then rushed back down just in time to look like he’d been standing there a few minutes waiting for her. He grinned as she emerged, and it was abundantly clear she’d enjoyed it judging by how relaxed she looked.
“Man, looks like you had a good time. How was it?” he gave her a kiss on the lips in greeting.
Nina had hidden the surprise underwear she had in her toiletries bag, knowing Gabe wouldn’t empty that when he was unpacking.
“Mmmm it was so good” Nina said, reaching up to wrap her arms around his neck, “I am so chilled out right now. And I have a couple of tips to practice on you later too” she told him with a grin.
Gabe grinned back and kissed her again. “I look forward to it.”
They spent the rest of the day exploring the lobby of the Luxor before venturing outside to tour the Strip. They waited (rather impatiently on Gabe’s end) on line to take a picture at the ‘Welcome to Las Vegas’ sign, ate at a random restaurant at another hotel, and gambled a little. By the time they got back to the hotel room, Gabe was beat and was looking forward to that massage. He’d already stripped himself of most of his clothes, just to cool off.
“Oh my god I haven’t done that much walking in ages.” he moaned, flopping down onto the huge bed.
Nina laughed as she too flopped down on the bed next to him and kicked off her shoes, “It was good though. We saw so much and thank you for waiting at the sign, I really wanted to do that” she said leaning up on one elbow to lean over and press a kiss to his lips, “Love you”
He chuckled after she kissed him. “Love you too.” He closed his eyes a moment. “You said you had massage stuff, right? I think I could use some.”
“Mmmhmmm” she nodded, “Give me two secs and I’ll be ready to get my hands on your gorgeous self” she said giving him another kiss before moving to the bathroom to use the facilities, change and get the massage oil.
Gabe chuckled and didn't move a muscle as he waited for her. He had half a mind to take a quick shower to rid himself of whatever sweat he had when it dawned on him he hardly had sweat at all. Thank god for dry climates.
He had nearly drifted into a light doze when he thought he heard Nina finally come out of the bathroom.
“Falling asleep on me love?” She teased him as she stood at the foot of the bed in her rather sexy black outfit, bottle of massage oil in her hand and a wicked grin on her face.
At the sound of her voice with it's unmistakable English accent, Gabe opened his eyes and blinked. “Wha…?” He sat up on his elbows at the vision of beauty before him, gaping. “Did I fall asleep and wake up on Valentine's Day?” And that Groot grin of his spread across his face.
Nina laughed, “Not quite, call this a preview” she told him with a wink, that grin melting her just as it always did. Moving closer she climbed onto the bed until she was straddling him, “So where do you need my tender loving care?”
“If this is the preview I can’t wait for tomorrow!” He grinned broadly. Gabe watched as his lingerie clad girlfriend climbed on top of him, his hands immediately going to her hips as if by muscle memory.
“Hmm,” he pretended to think about it. “Can that stuff go anywhere on the body?” He teased, his brown eyes were full of mischief. “You’re the one that got a massage. You pick. Pretty sure wherever those lovely hands of yours go it’ll feel good.”
Nina laughed leaning in to kiss him, “Alright then” she said moving her hands to his shoulders first, “I’m fairly sure I won’t want to stop touching you anyway so let’s just see what happens” she winked at him nuzzling his nose before her hands began working his shoulders.
Her touch felt good. It always did. But the addition of the massage oil added an extra sensation as her hands glided over tired muscles and Gabe immediately closed his eyes. “That feels good.” He murmured, and he sighed deeply as he relaxed. Nina was excellent at massages, he’d found out a while ago. He wondered if it was the whole medical school education or maybe she just had natural talent. “Let me know when you need me to turn over.” He hoped he didn’t fall asleep before she was done.
Nina smiled, “Do that now, I can work your back and calves easier” she said and she had a feeling her tired man would be falling asleep and at least he'd be comfortable.
Gabe opened his eyes and sat up long enough to give her a kiss on the lips, saying “You've got the touch, know that?” and smiled before obediently rolling over onto his stomach.
“I’m glad you think so” she told him after returning the kiss and getting to work on his back from his shoulders down. Knowing from the way he was relaxing that by the time she got to his legs he’d probably be fast asleep.
Gabe was fighting the urge to give in to the drowsy stupor that threatened to engulf him, and kept laying his head this way and that on his forearms to try to stay awake. But Nina’s hands and that oil just felt so good and he realized now why people paid good money for this sort of thing. He could feel her hands moving down his back slowly, kneading gently. He made a soft noise of contentment and made a mental note to apologize to Nina when he woke up, before slipping into a blissful sleep, occasionally punctuated by gentle snoring.