12: Oh, I know

Warning: Adult language. 

Also, there just wasn't a good stopping point for the evening, so it's pretty long. Enjoy! :)

Nathaniel arrived at the community center and made his way to the second floor where most of the activities would take place that night. As he entered the ballroom, he saw Gabriella talking to the bar tender. His breath caught in his throat as she walked towards him.

"Gabriella, that dress." he said, his eyes wide. A slight feeling of panic coursed through him for a moment. He worked at hiding it from her notice.

"Do you like it?" she smiled as she closed the distance between the two of them.

When he felt he'd gotten close enough to speak in a low volume, he said, "It's the one you're wearing in the vision."

Her face paled. She knew he was right. "I... I didn't think of that when I bought it. I try to not think about it much."

They stood there and quietly stared at each other, shock and mild fear in their eyes.

"It doesn't mean it's tonight." he said reassuringly.

"Right." she said, her breathing and heart rate increased. She didn't feel convinced.

"Besides, what could we do if it was? You say it's inevitable." he said with his eyebrows raised. His tone remained reassuring, however.

"That doesn't change the fact that I'm scared out of my wits right now." she said while trying to control the frantic rate of her heart.

"Busy?" he asked suddenly, a roguish grin slowly spreading over his face.

"No. Why?" she asked, wondering where he was going with this.

He took her hand. "Then, may I have this dance?" he said as his grin widened further before her eyes.

"Why, Mr. Hamilton," she said, taking her turn in exaggerating her southern accent, "I'd be delighted."

He laughed heartily and led her out onto the dance floor. He knew they both needed a good distraction from the shock of seeing a piece of the vision fall into place.

"I confess I have no idea what I'm doing." she said shyly up to him.

He shrugged. "No worries. It's all in the leading anyway." He smiled down at her and purposefully twirled her out from him before pulling her back, this time holding her closer to him than before.

She gave him a shrewd look and said, "Something tells me holding me this close isn't the proper way to do this."

"Oh, you'd be surprised." he grinned down at her with a mischievous smile as several memories came flooding back to him. He couldn't remember, however, ever dancing with anyone more lovely than she was tonight. Especially with the way she just blushed and looked at the floor.

The room was still somewhat deserted. It was still early in the evening. People slowly trickled in, but they ignored them for the moment, lost in their own private universe.

"You look beautiful tonight." he said quietly down to her.

"Don't you start that." she said sternly, trying and failing to make the compliment not affect her. Then an idea hit her. "Well, I must say you clean up nice yourself, Nate." she said sweetly, giving him tit for tat.

"Thank you, Gabby." he said. "Don't think I don't know what you're doing." he teased, leaning down slightly to be eye level with her.

"Oh? What is it that I'm doing?" she asked with a smirk on her face.

"That complimenting thing."

"Oh, yes, the complimenting thing. Yes, that can get quite out of hand."

He was all smiles as he said, "Indeed. Shall I give you some examples?"

She went out of her way to step on his toe before she said to his mildly shocked expression, "No, that won't be necessary."

"Well now, that is a pity. I could go all night." he said while one corner of his mouth pulled up slowly.

Gabriella looked off to the doorway and said, "Well, that will have to wait for now. I see my boss and I need to go talk to him for a moment."

"Alright." he said then kissed her fingers. "Thank you for the dance." he said to her blush.

Gabriella shook her head slightly to clear it before walking over to Mr. Knight.

"Hello, sir. So far everything is running smoothly. The caterers were a tad late, but they made up for it. I told the bar tender..."

The man laughed a little at her and said, "Relax, Gabby. I'm sure everything is going to be fine. I have complete faith in you." He took her hand and held it in both of his. "You look stunning, by the way." he said and lightly kissed her hand.

Nathaniel saw red as he was distracted from the conversation with the youth in front of him. Your boss, huh? And Gabriella looks clueless as to what he's about. Politicians. I hate them he thought as the pair of them passed him on the way to the dance floor.

Gabriella was surprised when Mr. Knight asked her to dance. He really didn't wait for an answer, but led her out here anyway. She felt Nate's stare and she glanced his way. He looks... dangerous she thought as she realized this was the first time he actually looked like a vampire to her.

Nathaniel was livid. If he so much as touches her, I'll throw him across the room. If she knew what was going through his mind right now she wouldn't be standing there so calmly either. Gabriella looked over at him, and he could feel her shock at seeing his expression. She didn't mean anything by dancing with her boss. She was just being polite.

"This is already looking like a marvelous success. You've done a fabulous job. I should take you out tomorrow so we can celebrate." Mr. Knight crooned to Gabby.

That is quite enough Nate thought as he walked over to the pair of them.

"Gabriella, this must be your boss." he said as he walked over to Gabriella's relieved expression. To the politician he said, "Hello. I don't believe we've met."

Gabby found her voice and introduced the two of them. "Nathaniel, this is my boss, Stephen Knight, Mr. Knight, this is my date, Nathaniel Hamilton."

Oh shit Nathaniel heard the man think. Nate grinned as he squeezed the man's hand just a tad too firm in the handshake.

"We must run in different circles. I've lived here for a couple of years now." Nathaniel answered the man's question as to why they'd not met before. And you just lost my vote.

Gabriella stood there and watched as Nathaniel continued to make her boss nervous. She knew Nate wasn't interested in the things he was asking Mr. Knight about, or was he? Her boss fielded the questions rather well; he was good at his job. It was Nate's body language that caught her attention.

You honestly think I couldn't handle that situation, don't you? she thought directly at him. He glanced at her for a second, but then he didn't do anything to change the way he was acting.

After convincing that sleazeball of a mayor to go speak to a young lady that looked like she might enjoy his attention, Nate went in search of Gabriella.

He found her at the buffet table. Anger rolled off of her in waves towards him.

"What?!" he asked.

"What were you doing in there?" she pointed to the ballroom with her free hand.

"Talking to the mayor." he answered belligerently. She mildly glared at him. "Oh. Yeah that. I was also rescuing you from that slimeball's intentions."

Gabriella stood there, livid. Nathaniel stared at Gabby's plate, disgusted.

"You think I'm unaware of his 'intentions'?" she asked him in clipped tones. She'd figured Mr. Knight might try something like this tonight. That was a small reason for asking Nate to come, but she hadn't anticipated something like that pissing match to occur.

"No, but trying to wait and tell him later that you're not interested is not a good idea." Nate answered. Then he added, "You don't know what he was thinking."

"No, but I can guess. And I would've taken care of it once and for all tomorrow." she said. Then she turned her head and silenced him with a look as she walked into the ballroom to find a table.

Nate entertained himself at the bar for most of the rest of the evening. Gabriella had other duties to attend to. She'd warned him of that, however, he knew she was also using them as an excuse to avoid him.

When the fundraiser was over, Gabriella walked out with him. As she passed him going down the stairs, he caught her hand. She spun around when he stopped on the stairs and looked at him haughtily, her hand on her hip.

"Gabriella, please don't be angry." he said softly. "I was trying to help."

"Not quite, Nathaniel, and you know it. You may say that's all you were doing..."

"I didn't say that was my only reason."

"You walked up to him like a strutting cock intent upon making it clear I was there with you and for him to back off. Like you own me or something." she glared at him and tried in vain to get her hand out of his grasp.

"Okay..." Nate said, "maybe there's some truth to that. Not the owning part, but I suppose you're right, I wanted to make it clear you were here with me." His hold on her hand tightened as he said the word 'me', and Gabriella's jaw dropped.

Gabriella stuttered some as she chose her words carefully, "Nate, I... um, I realize I... asked you to ..."

"And I'm very glad you did." he smoothly interrupted.

She glanced up at him quickly before mindlessly staring at the building behind him. She'd given up the idea of taking back her hand for now. His thumb ran smoothly across her knuckles, causing her to further loose her train of thought.

"I just," she made an effort to speak, "don't want you to jump to conclusions or... whatever."

"But do you realize how hard it is to not jump to conclusions? Especially with you looking staggeringly beautiful like that?" he said soft and low to her and thwarted her attempt at pulling her hand away by surprise.

"Stop it." she whispered.

"C'mon, I'll walk you home." he said suddenly, walking around her and threading her fingers with his.

"Nate, you don't..."

"Don't tell me it's not necessary because it is."

Gabriella miraculously jerked her hand free and stopped suddenly on the sidewalk. Nate stopped, only mildly annoyed, but he was mostly curious which one of the many emotions running through her right now she was going to settle on.

Well, which one will it be? Nate thought.

"You don't have to do this. It's just one block. I can handle it." Gabriella said, a little nervous.

"But I want to." Nate said gently, taking a step towards her.

"Gabby, what is it?" he asks.

"You know what it is."

"I want to hear it from you. There are so many fleeting, errant thoughts going through your mind right now it makes it hard to focus."

"Precisely."

"You're not afraid of me, are you?" he asked, doing a marvelous job at hiding the hurt.

"N-no." she stammered and realized she meant it. "The dress..." Well, that's one reason.

"I was thinking earlier. I'm not wearing what I'm wearing in the vision." he said and she breathed a sigh of relief.

But there's still the fact that...

"It's just walking, Gabriella." he said, gently taking her hand again. "Surely you can handle walking?" he teased.

Rising to the challenge, she said, "Yes, I think the 'toddler' can handle a little walking, I guess."

He laughed softly.

The night blanketed protectively around them as a soft breeze rustled the trees, defying the mild humidity. For the second time that evening, the pair of them felt as if they were in their own little universe as the town slept.

Nate had still not relinquished Gabby's hand as he said, "I have never understood the necessity of a dog park." The two of them gazed into the nearby lot.

"Oh, sure. For people's fur-babies." Gabriella explained.

Nate couldn't help but chuckle. "Do what? Did you just say 'fur-babies'? Sounds like a toy."

She turned her head to look at him, and he saw she was serious.

"That's what people call them." she explained simply.

Nathaniel got quiet and stayed quiet for a while.

Gabriella wondered why Nate got so quiet all of a sudden. They had come to a complete stop on the sidewalk. She'd given up getting her hand away from him for the time being. It was obvious Nate was in no hurry to get her home, and she could see the top of her roof from where she stood.

She turned her head to look at his melancholy expression. "You okay?" she asked.

Nate shook his head slightly and forced a smile. "Yeah. Just a few memories again." He didn't elaborate further, and Gabby didn't ask.

When Gabriella had stopped talking about the 'fur babies', he was reminded of a woman he'd been in love with when he was still human. Helen. She was so mad at him for going off to fight. He'd promised her he'd come back. To her knowledge, he never did. When August let him head to his hometown with the promise he wouldn't reveal himself, he saw her. It had been about ten years. She was married to a man he didn't recognize, and she had three children. She looked moderately happy and very busy keeping up with her three boys. She died giving birth to a fifth child, who also died. Nate had later discovered her fate when he had found her grave next to her husband's and the dead baby's in an old cemetery of her family's many years later. That was a bleak night.

"Nathaniel, are you going to tell me what's wrong?" Gabriella said after she'd jerked her hand out of his grasp again. She turned to face him as they stopped once more on the sidewalk and folded her arms.

"Sorry. Many of my memories are sad, and for some reason, they're popping up more frequently lately." he answered with a small smile.

Gabriella sighed as she considered the vampire standing in front of her. It must've been hard to have everyone he'd ever known grow old and die around him, and he was still 'young' enough to where the memories weren't too old.

Gabriella worked at getting a slight kink out of her back when there suddenly was the sound of screeching tires and cars smashing against one another.

Without thinking, Nate reached out and grabbed Gabby, pulling her away from the street and up against the fence lining the lot next to them. Only after he was looking down afterwards did he think that perhaps he overreacted. The vehicles had stopped at least half a block away, nowhere near them. The drivers of the two vehicles were getting out of their cars and having a heated discussion that he easily tuned out.

Gabriella fought to catch her breath as she suddenly found herself off of the sidewalk and next to the fence with Nate staring down at her... very closely. Well, this looks familiar she thought to herself.

"Are you alright?" he asked, feeling mildly ridiculous but not wanting to pull away either.

Gabriella could only manage a small "yes" as she continued to try to slow her breathing. She couldn't decide what really made it hard for her to catch her breath, the nearby car accident or Nate's very close proximity. She felt his eyes searching hers, looking for she didn't know what.

Nathaniel knew he could easily kiss her right now. He was sorely tempted as he felt lost in her eyes. No, don't leave me, Gabriella. I couldn't bear it he thought as he remembered the pain of finding Helen's grave. He'd thought every bit of him that was human had died in that moment. Gabriella's presence in his life was proving that wrong.

The smell of her filled his mind as he took in a breath. He felt struck by the irony of the moment. She stood there right in front of him, but he wanted to know if she wanted him to kiss her before he would. To test her, he leaned in towards her ever so slightly.


Gabriella stood looking up into Nate's eyes, wondering what he was thinking. Like that time in her kitchen, she wondered if he was going to try to kiss her. That time, she was reasonably sure he wouldn't, but this time...was different. There had been anger that night whereas tonight... no, not anger.

She realized he was leaning closer slowly, as if he was testing her. Suddenly shocked, her eyes widened and she pulled back the tiniest bit. He stopped. Gabby couldn't decide if she was disappointed or relieved. She could see he was mildly disappointed but was trying to hide it.

"Gabriella, I..." he started to say, then realized this might not be the right time for him to say what he had to say, so he changed it. "I'd better get you home."

Gabby couldn't help but wonder if that's what he meant to say. Also, if it wasn't, then what was he going to say at first? Nonetheless, she nodded her assent.

When they reached the corner in front of her house she felt emboldened enough to suddenly turn to him and say, "What were you really going to say when you said you needed to get me home?" She heard him take in a quick breath in shock.

Nathaniel felt struck dumb for a moment as the streetlamp lit her features when she spun around to face him. Gabriella watched him shrewdly, waiting for his answer.

When he finally felt able to speak he said, "I suddenly felt like it wasn't the right time to tell you that."

"Huh." she said with mild irritation before looking both ways and lightly skip-stepping across the street and then into her driveway.

Wondering what was keeping him or if he'd seen himself home, she turned and was unnerved by his almost-instant appearance in front of her.

She succeeded in keeping her voice even as she said, "Thank you for walking me home. Good night, Nathaniel."

Before she could turn to walk up her porch steps, he was standing in front of her. Right in front of her.

"Do you really want to hear it?" he asked.

"Because now I'm curious." she answered quietly, hoping she wasn't about to regret any of this.

"Just the simple fact that I was about to walk up to you and convince you to go out with me moments before you had that vision."

"Convince me?" she picked the one part of the sentence she thought she could handle. All on your own, not because of the vision.

"Yes." he answered.

"And just how were you going to do that?" Some kind of vampire thing?

"No, not that." he smiled suddenly. "What? You think I couldn't have gotten you to go out with me otherwise? You would've been putty in my very capable hands." His smile turned roguish.

Gabriella nearly fainted with shock from what he just said, and she also felt mildly irritated she was proving him right. Nonetheless, she said, "Maybe. Maybe not."

One of his eyebrows raised. "Is that a challenge, Miss Hudson?" he said in his exaggerated accent.

"It's a 'well, I guess we'll never know, will we?'"

In one swift, deft movement, his hand moved to the small of her back to keep her from backing away as he leaned in to whisper in her ear, "Oh, I know. You would've said yes. Want to know how I know?"

"You'll tell me anyway."

"Not if you don't want to know."

"Damn you, you knew that would make me ask. I aught to not ask just to spite you." She paused as he buried his face in her hair. When he exhaled, she shuddered from the rising gooseflesh it caused. "Fine then, tell me if you must." she managed to get out as a whisper. Every fiber of her being was hyper-aware of him.

Nate pulled back to smile down at her and moved to her other ear. He pulled her even closer, pressing her against him with a slight jerk. His free hand lightly ran up her arm and attained a firm grip on her shoulder before he said low into her ear, "Because only an idiot would fail to see the instant attraction between the two of us. That would've been the beginning. Then I would've quickly realized how the simplest compliment from me makes you so flustered. So, I would've bombarded you with them until you didn't know which way was up. By the way, your hair smells intoxicating. And have I mentioned how you seem to have an uncanny ability to find the perfect shade of clothing to match your beautiful eyes? Also the feel of the fabric under my hand as it warms against your skin makes me wish the dress wasn't there. Anyway," he smiled as she lightly hit him on the shoulder, "you would've found yourself agreeing to anything I said. I don't need any 'vampire thing' like you thought." His fingers splayed across the middle of her back as he held her to him to continue his barrage. "And then, beautiful lady, that doesn't even begin to mention what would've happened on the date you wouldn't say no to. So, you see, Miss Hudson, judging by the fact that I'm now practically holding you up, I know."

Butterflies in her stomach couldn't even begin to describe how Gabby felt right now. She couldn't catch her breath, and he was right, her knees were trying to give out on her.

"Okay. I believe you." she said breathlessly, aggravated at the sound of her voice. "Happy now?"

"Absolutely not." he said, his lips slowly grazing her ear as he continued to speak low into it. "Go out with me tomorrow, for real this time, and I promise I'll go easy on you. Unless you don't want me to. Say yes."

Shaking now, Gabriella found herself saying yes. Then she stammered, "I... have to... go inside.... now."

"As you wish." he said simply and released her, then steadied her, trying very hard not to smile victoriously. "Pick you up at seven?"

Gabriella mutely nodded before miraculously making it into her house on her own two feet.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I love the fashions at Liana Sims! <---there's the page with Gabby's beautiful dress.

Also, after this update a higher graphics setting goes into effect. I decided to push my video card to see how it would react. (okay, so updates 9 and 10 were actually shot after this one, but yeah.) Thus far my big complaint is a completely, totally blackened deer. Whatever. If that's the worst that happens, I'm okay with that.

Oh, and I practically shrieked with glee as the cars "crashed", making the perfect catalyst.