Chapter 11

She smiled up at him, her whole face lighting up. "Anytime. I love to play with my babies. It's ... it's kind of like making love, actually. You can totally lose yourself in it, and it feels so good."

Gabriel smiled. "Great!"

Gabriel reached out. "Come snuggle? Or ... do you have to get home?"

Pandora looked at him for a moment, hesitant, then rolled to her knees and crawled to him, laying her head on his thigh and wrapping her arms around his hips. She was shaking slightly still. "god ... Gabriel ... it hurts to be upset with you. And it scares me so bad. I..." She closed her eyes. "I don't know how to handle feeling like this. It's too much."

"It ... realizing I'd hurt you like that ... scared me to death." He bit his lip. "Can ... can I ask you to do something?"

She shuddered, and tightened her arms around him. "What?" she asked, obviously scared.

"If I do something that hurts you, will you talk to me before getting upset? Or at least try?"

"I ... don't think I can. It's an immediate reaction when things hurt. That's like asking me not to have feelings. I can promise I'll talk to you before I do anything, but I can't promise I won't get upset, anymore than you can promise me you won't have ... stupid thoughts."

Gabriel nodded reluctantly. "Okay. I just ... well, I make mistakes. I try not to, but..."

"It's okay. It is. It's just ... this is so new. I don't know what to expect and ... and I guess I'm still expecting it to turn out to be just ... a mistake. For you to change your mind, or regret it, or tell me it was all a joke and you're tired of playing now, go home. I ... I never believed in happy endings. So it'll take some time for me to ... to feel, um, safe, I guess. And to ... to know what to expect from you."

He kissed her, gently. "It's not a joke, and I'll never get tired of you."

Pandora shuddered. "Just ... just hold me. Hold me and tell me you want me and that everything will be okay, and I'll believe you. Just don't let go."

Gabriel pulled her close. "I want you. I want you forever. I meant it when I asked you to marry me." He tugged on her arms. "Come on up and snuggle."

Pandora moaned, crawling up into his lap and wrapping herself around him, not noticing when several curls of his hair wrapped around her possessively. "God ... I need you. You don't have to marry me ... I couldn't possibly be more yours."

"But I want to marry you." He kissed her gently. "I love you."

"I love you too..." She sighed, relaxing against him, still trembling. "But honey ... you know we can't yet, don't you?"

He sighed. "Not easily. Not unless you can get your parents to agree."

"Not anywhere in the US. Maybe in ... I don't know ... Venezuela, or Morocco or something."

"I assume there's no way to convince your parents to agree?" Gabriel asked.

"Um ... do you have any foreign titles? Or own any oil wells? Or any connection to the 'Right People'?"

Gabriel shook his head. "Sorry."

"Then ... we'll have to wait. Unless they throw me out. Then I can apply for emancipation, I guess."

He sighed. "Isn't there anything else?"

"I ... don't know. If you had just tons of money, maybe they'd think they could work with you."

"Does a couple million count?"

She looked at him, surprised. "That much? It ... might? It'd help, anyway." She ducked her head in embarrassment. "My parents are such... snobs. I'm sorry."

Gabriel smiled. "It's not your fault."

"Yeah, but I still feel ... I don't know. Contaminated?"

Gabriel chuckled. "I understand."

"But ... maybe. Being rich is a big plus with them. And you're attractive, so they'll be thinking they'd have grandchildren who were models, too." She shuddered.

He grinned. "Well, I guess we don't have to tell them right up front that that won't happen."

Pandora bit her lip, looking thoughtful and a bit troubled. "Do you think it's even possible? Kids, I mean."

"I ... I have no idea. Um."

"Um?"

He shook his head. "I hadn't even thought about that. I don't know."

"Gabriel... how did this happen? I mean ... I've never seen anyone that looked like you."

"I don't know. I just don't know. I never knew my parents."

"You're lucky." She blushed, looking up at him. "Oh god, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."

Gabriel squeezed her. "It's okay."

"I just ... I've never seen anyone like you. So... why not? What happened to the rest of you?"

"I don't know. Maybe we just ... hide." He pursed his lips. "I'm not sure how, though."

"Well ... there'd have to be a way. Because no way you could walk around like that without anyone noticing, right? I mean ... well, maybe. You're not inhumanly tall or thin. The hair is ... wild ... but not impossible, and it'd help cover the ears. The eyes ... maybe opaque contacts, or tinted glasses to take the edge off. That leaves hands ... which most people don't pay much attention to, but maybe you could wear gloves? And fangs, which should be pretty easy to hide, since they're not big."

Gabriel nodded, slowly. "And even if people noticed the fangs, they might think they were fake." He blinked. "Wait a minute."

"Hmmm?"

"Magic. That's how they hide." He shook his head. "I should have realized. Think about it. If I can make a rose out of nothing, hiding my features shouldn't be that hard, once I learn how."

She nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah ... that makes sense. And until then ... well, I didn't realize it, but you've got the money to just stay hidden for a bit, huh?"

Gabriel nodded. "Yeah. Even if work is a pain about it, I'd still be okay."

"Well ... you could always get a different job. Maybe you should, too ... someplace they don't know how tall you are."

Gabriel nodded, slowly. "Yeah. I could do that."

"So ... see? It'll be okay. And ... and we'll deal with my parents. Maybe ... maybe there's something they want me to do bad enough to not give me any trouble about you."

Gabriel frowned. "You shouldn't have to do that."

She stretched up and kissed the side of his jaw. "A lot of people shouldn't have to do a lot of things. There are plenty of girls whose parents beat them up, whose dads rape them, who, in other words, are a fuck load worse off than someone who's been spoiled and pampered and given expensive presents her whole life in exchange for doing what every other girl in America would kill to be allowed to do. Don't feel sorry for me, love ... that's just silly."

Gabriel's lips twitched. "Well..."

"It's okay. Really it is. It ... let me grow up fast so that I'd be ready for you now. Isn't that nice?"

Gabriel gave her a skeptical look.

"What?"

"Pull the other one, it's got bells on."

"What do you mean?" she asked, a touch of hurt creeping into her face. "You ... don't think I'm grown up enough for you?"

"I don't think you really think it was nice." He gave her a small kiss. "But it did have a nice side effect."

"Well ... okay, it wasn't nice. Sometimes it was downright awful. But ... it could have been worse. And the 'side effect' is worth it. Well worth it."

"True." He kissed her again.

She giggled. "You keep that up, and you'll have to take me to the hospital afterward."

"Damn."

She stretched up again, kissing him teasingly. "Might be worth it ... but I need to go by my house first."

"To pick up your babies?"

"And reassure my sister once and for all you're not dismembering me in the basement." She blushed, giggling. "Oh god ... it's a good thing she doesn't know about your basement, or she'd never believe me!"

Gabriel laughed. "That's the truth."

"It'll be a bit, though. She'll call when my sister gets up and heads for the mall."

Gabriel nodded. "Okay."

"Um ... you wanna try disguising yourself, or just ... try a hat or something?"

Gabriel frowned. "Um. Right." He thought for a few moments. "If I can make a rose, I ought to be able to make an illusion to cover my ears and hands, right?"

"I'd think so ... but I never thought such things were real before."

"Okay. Hmm. Let me get a good look at your ear?"

She raised an eyebrow. "My ear? My ear's kinda ... girly, don't you think?"

Gabriel just raised an eyebrow. "Do you see any other candidates?

"Well ... don't you know how your own ears used to look?"

Gabriel raised the other eyebrow. "Could you draw your ears from memory?"

"Um... yeah?" She looked confused that he'd even have to ask.

Gabriel blinked. "You pay that much attention to your ears? I never did..."

She sighed. "Well ... trust me. I'm very familiar with how I look."

"Oh. Well, I'm not. And ... honestly, it's hard to remember. Like a dream."

"Oh ... well ... how about a picture?" She looked down shyly. "I'd like a picture of you, anyway ... either way."

"I ... um ... don't have one. Lissa had one, but she took it with her when she left, and ... I never got it back."

"Oh." She looked disappointed for a minute, then smiled and kissed him. "It's okay. I don't need one, it just would have been nice. As for now ... got a pencil?"

"Um ... yeah." He dug around in the pile of stuff on his bedside table. "Here."

She took in and stared at him for a moment, eyes slightly unfocused, then nodded and sketched for a couple of minutes. "Okay ... here we go. This isn't what you had before, but you're so much taller now, and slightly bigger will be less to hide, right? I think it'll look good, anyway. Kind of ... elegant." She handed him the sketch. It wasn't photo-realistic, but it was pretty damned good.

Gabriel stared at it for a moment. "That's ... good. Really good. Can you do the same thing for my hands and teeth? And my eyes?"

She blushed. "Um. Sorry. I can only do ears and noses. I took some art lessons, see, but all I was good at was ears and noses, and he said that that was ... good, sort of, because no one can do ears and noses, but it was literally all I could do. I couldn't even do tits, and anybody can do tits."

"Oh. Okay." He stared at the image, reaching for the line of power in his living room as he did so.

"Hey! It worked!" She reached for his ears, making sure they were actually untrimmed.

"Woah ... they feel different..." She sounded upset.

Gabriel frowned, puzzled. "They do? I didn't expect it to actually change them..."