5: Puppies and Rainbows

warning- adult language and insanely long. I got carried away. Enjoy!

Also, I can't believe I forgot to change Nate's clothes. I guess I just liked the green shirt so much more than the ugly blue suit I couldn't help it haha!

Gabriella woke up groggy. She'd had a trying time getting to sleep last night. When she finally did, she only slept four hours at the most.

Once she'd finished washing her cereal bowl, the doorbell rang. She walked over to and started opening the door.

"Nate, I have nothing more to... Oh. Hi, Caitlin." she sputtered as Caitlin looked at her quizzically.

"Whos's Nate?" she asked in her chipper voice.

"Somebody really annoying." Gabby answered cryptically.

"Can I meet him anyway?" Caitlin asked with laughter in her voice, her eyebrows raised as she walked through the doorway.

"Doesn't matter to me." Gabby answered as she closed the door.

Caitlin bounded over to and flopped herself down onto Gabby's small couch before she said, "So. Whatcha wanna do today?"

Gabriella walked sedately over to the other side of the room, wondering if she should share her latest vision with her sister.

Caitlin's whole demeanor changed to a more serious one as she took in her big sister's mood. "What is it?" she asked, knowing if she pried long enough, Gabby would spill what she needed to say.

"I had another vision." she said somberly, looking into Caitlin's forest green eyes.

Caitlin sighed. "Well, please tell me it's about something good for once." When Gabby shook her head 'no' she said, "What is it with you and doom and gloom? Why can't you have a vision about playing with puppies or something?"

"I don't know! I hate it!" Gabriella growled, her fists clenched tightly.

"Tell me what happened." Caitlin asked while Gabby settled herself down on the floor in front of the couch.

"I die."

The two of them sat there quietly. Caitlin finally remembered to close her mouth.

Caitlin gulped and said, "When? Or do you not know?"

"Don't know. But that's not the worst of it." Gabriella paused before she continued, "A vampire tries to turn me. I don't even know if his attempt will be successful."

 

Caitlin sat there, sadly and quietly processing all the information before she said, "His?"

"Nate."

"That Nate."

"Yes."

"Crap, you've even met the vamp from your vision."

"He was standing nearby when I had it. He also saw the vision as I was having it."

"No!"

 

"Yes." Gabby nodded.

Caitlin was quiet for another minute. "So, this Nate vampire guy knows as well. How does he feel about it?" Caitlin asked, wanting to just wait and process all this information later. She didn't want to think about her sister dying or becoming a monster just yet. She worked very hard at making it look like she wasn't freaking out - which she was.

"He's not any happier than I am. Especially..." May as well tell her everything. "Well, ever since then he's been hearing my every thought."

"Ew! Get him to stop!" Caitlin exclaimed with a look of horror on her face.

"He wishes he could. He's aggravated. He came by last night asking me to get out of his head." Gabriella pounded on her head with her fist.

"How can you do that?"

Gabriella stood, unable to sit still with the disturbing memory of last night when Nate was here. "I haven't the foggiest clue." she said helplessly.

"So, he's listening right now?" Caitlin asked with a wary look on her face.

Gabriella shrugged. "I don't know. There's nothing I can do about it if he is."

Caitlin made an aggravated noise as she shook her head, stood and said, "Nothing we can do about it." she repeated her sister. "Well, let's get out of this house! I just can't think about all this right now. For all we know it could be years before any of this happens."

"I agree." Gabby said with an almost smile. Talking to Caitlin was a good idea, even though I feel a little bad sharing this load with her. She's right. It could be years. Maybe even a decade.

"Aye, no use dwelling on it. Nothing like good old-fashioned retail therapy!" Caitlin smiled at the last thing she said.

The girls shopped for a few hours without finding anything in particular they wanted to buy. Gabby had a hard time getting into her shopping experience. 'Would you like for me to repeat everything you've thought last night and this afternoon?' Nate's words echoed in her head.

Tired, the two of them stopped to have some lunch.

"Why is he going to do it?" Caitlin asked about the one thing Gabby had left out once they'd finished eating and their plates had been cleared away.

Gabriella sighed as a strange woman walked behind her, talking to herself. "Because. Well... in the vision it looked like we were in love. He said, 'Don't you leave me'." Gabby gulped as she watched her sister's reaction.

"Damn." Caitlin said as she sat there staring at nothing in particular. After a long pause she said, "Nothing like having an effing vision tell you who you're going to fall in love with. How does he feel about this?"

"He's pissed. He keeps saying, 'What if I walk away and never see you again?' or stuff like that. I keep daring him to do it. Asking even. But, it's only been barely two days after all."

"This is getting depressing again." Caitlin said as she jumped up out of her chair suddenly. They paid for their food and headed over to a nearby day spa.

"Maybe a massage would help." Caitlin offered as the two of them stared into the windows.

"Maybe." Gabriella said mechanically. She wasn't paying attention to the spa. Instead, she was wondering what her sister was going to do with the information she'd gotten today.

Suddenly, she gasped as another vision overtook her surroundings.

"What?!" Caitlin exclaimed, reaching for her sister, but Gabriella was still absorbed by what she'd seen.

"Alright, Red, you know the drill. Purse and jewelry."

"Why should I?" Caitlin asked in a sassy voice.

"Because," an unknown voice warned in an almost-bored voice, "if you don't I'm going to shoot you and take the stuff anyway. So let's not make this harder than it has to be."

"Kiss my ass." Caitlin threw back at the mugger, acting like she doesn't believe him. "I don't have anything anyway. Except for this watch I paid five simoleons for."

"I mean it, Red."

"I told you I don't have anything!"

"We'll see then." the voice said as the gun went off at point-blank range at the back of Caitlin's head. She fell to the ground, dead before she reached it.

"Damn, she was right." the mugger said forlornly after he checked her. Gabriella could only see the man's hands. Then the sound of his running feet drifted away.

A look of utter terror felt like it was permanently etched onto Gabby's face. Why can't it be about something like puppies or kittens or rainbows and unicorns? Why all the death? Her heart beat at an out-of-control tempo. She couldn't catch her breath.

"Gabriella! Oh, please tell me you didn't just have another one!" Caitlin's voice brought Gabriella back to the present. When Gabby didn't answer Caitlin's question, she gently led her to the nearest bench.

"And I'm guessing it's not puppies this time either." Caitlin commented dryly.

Gabriella shook her head no. As she did, she realized she was shaking all over.

 Nate paced quickly back and forth across his room. Should he go try to help in some way? Surely she'll come to the conclusion that he saw it too. If she wanted his help, all she had to do was think it.

Caitlin is with her. She'll help. I should stay away Nate thought as he paced some more.

"Are you okay?" Caitlin asked.

"No." Gabby answered simply, afraid to say more.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Caitlin asked, looking with a worried expression down at her older sister.

"No." Gabriella answered the same, but this time she was quieter.

"What do you want to do then?" Caitlin asked, feeling helpless and eager for her sister to snap out of it. It never took this long in the past for her sister to overcome the horror of her visions.

"I wanna go home."

When the girls got back to Gabriella's house, Gabriella went immediately up to lay down on her bed.

Caitlin sighed and sat down behind her sister. She guessed the vision must've really been a doozey for Gabby to take this long to recover.

"Do you want me to call Mom?" Caitlin asked.

"No. I'll be fine in a little while. You don't have to stay if you don't want to." Gabriella said with the right side of her face pressed against the bedspread.

"You want me to leave?" Caitlin asked, getting the subtle hint.

"I just want some time alone to deal with this." Gabriella said in response. And I don't think I have the strength to tell you what I saw just yet.

Caitlin nodded and got up. Before she headed down the stairs, she turned to her sister and asked one more question, "Is it about me?"

"Yes." Gabriella whispered.

"Then I don't wanna know." Caitlin said and practically fled from the residence.

Why my sister? Why Caitlin? And she doesn't want to know. She's scared. Well, of course she's scared. She knows if I have a vision it's mostly to serve as a warning. Why even have them if there's nothing I can do to change them? Maybe I just haven't done the right things in the past.

No, Gabriella. Don't go down that path again. 

But ... this is my sister! Maybe if I tell her to watch out for alleyways and obey anyone pointing a gun at her head it won't happen. But she doesn't want to talk about it. 

Okay, I'm now at a point when I need to talk about it. But who do I talk with? She started to cry. I can't stand it! Not my sister, please not my sister! Maybe I should call Mom. I won't give her the details, but I just wish I had someone to talk to. She threw her arms down and tears rolled down the side of her face into her ear and the bedspread as she turned her head. Was that the front door? Caitlin didn't lock it.

There was a whisper of sound and Gabriella sensed someone's presence. She could smell him. Nathaniel. She peeped her eyes open for a second just to make sure before she said, "What are you doing here, Nathaniel?"

"You wanted somebody to talk to, and since I can't help but listen I thought I may as well be the one." he said simply with a trace of compassion in his voice.

'May as well be the one'? Oh, great. 

Gabriella sat up, looked at him with her face devoid of expression, then turned around and put her back to him. "You don't have to be here, Nathaniel. I'll be okay eventually. I'm just not used to having visions this close together."

"Mhm." Nate agreed. "Especially ones this awful." he said. Is it really that bad to know ahead of time about us, though? Oh geez, Nate, now you're starting to believe it, aren't you?

Well? Nate mused Look at her. 

She's been in my head, literally, for over two days now. And she's been depressed the entire damn time. I wish she'd stop being so depressed.

Gabriella started crying again when she thought of her sister's lifeless body in some alleyway with a hole in her head. She was glad she was facing away from Nate so he couldn't see her cry.

"What you forgot, Gabriella," Nate said as Gabby suddenly felt herself being slightly lifted and feel his arms encircle her in a sympathetic way, "is that I know you're crying whether I see it or not."

He'd positioned himself behind her and his legs on either side. She gently peeled his arms off of her waist and was about to scoot off the bed when a sudden weariness overtook her and she just curled up into a ball instead.

I'm just so damned tired of crying!  I'm tired of the doom and gloom! I have to deal with this. I'm probably going to be a vampire. Caitlin is going to get shot.

Nate wished he knew what to say. He closed the distance she made when she originally meant to scoot off the bed, and curled himself around her as much as she'd let him. Like a brother. Yeah.

Yeah, right Nate corrected himself.

"Sorry. Sorry I'm crying again." Gabriella said, agitated with herself. She chuckled half-heartedly. "I'm a real wet blanket, aren't I?"

"Haven't heard that expression in a while." Nate said calmly. Inside, though, he was anything but calm. The way she'd sat up put her hair in his face. This was not a good idea. Felt right at the time. Not a good idea he thought as he worked on controlling his physical reaction to her nearness. He tried to take deep breaths to calm himself down, but the problem was that that meant he was breathing in the delicious scent of her shampoo or whatever that was. Is it her shampoo? He deliberately tortured himself by smelling her hair to see if that's what it was. Kind of, but not totally.

"I've got to get a handle on my emotions!" Gabriella said while banging herself on the forehead to attempt to drive out the crippling thoughts running rampant in her mind.

You and me both Nate thought to himself, once again glad that Gabby couldn't read his thoughts.

I've got to get out of this position Nate thought to himself as he adjusted himself and her. They ended up scooting to the other edge of the bed. He was being careful to move slow enough to not alarm her. He'd intended to sit down next to her, and had just put his hand on his knee to brace himself to move. He halted in his endeavor when she casually placed her hand on his, making him freeze. How is it that I'm closer to her now when I was trying to distance myself? His other hand reached over and his thumb ran up and down the inside of her arm.

Gabriella intruded on his thoughts, "I'm really sorry, Nate. I don't know what happened that you can't help but hear every single damn thing from me. I wish, for your sake, that I could make it stop."

It has been way too damn long. He worked hard at not turning his head to breathe in the way her hair smelled. As close as he was was bad enough. To turn his head would be suicide.

Gabriella wondered why Nate was being so quiet. At first, she'd been alarmed by his nearness, but then she had to admit it was probably what she needed. She just started feeling better with him here. Then the way his thumb started running up and down her arm, just that simple little thing, made her insides tighten up into a knot.

"Nathaniel?" she asked and started to turn to face him.

Shit Nathaniel thought. If she turns her head... Nate realized that's exactly what she was doing. Shit!

He flew off of the bed before she could get her head turned any more. I am not going to do this!!!

Gabriella turned her head the rest of the way around, shocked to find Nate standing, arms folded, nearly up against the railing, glaring at her. What did I do?

She stood up off of the bed and turned to face him, wary and confused. Why do you look so angry? she thought directly at him.

Why am I even here? Again?! Nate stared Gabriella, confounded. He watched as she blushed scarlet, embarrassed and not knowing why she was embarrassed.

"Sorry." Nate said and had to clear his throat. It felt dry. "I just... I thought..." He sighed in aggravation. "I shouldn't have come." he finally said.

Gabriella felt mortified. What did she do? At least this successfully distracted her from her vision of the day.

She almost whispered, "I'm glad you did, though." and she knew she meant it.

Sheeee-it! Now what? "I have to keep the vision from happening." he said. That's what you want, isn't it? The last thing you want in the world is to be with me. Right?

"Fine. Of course. You're absolutely right." Gabriella said as a general feeling of being pissed off took over from her previous embarrassment. "The vision. Yes. We must keep the vision from happening. Boy, I've never thought that before."

"That's what you want, isn't it?" Nate questioned her.

"That's what I'd prefer." she answered. Even when a man can hear every thought and feel every emotion he still cannot understand a woman's mind.

"You're damn right." he responded to her thought, nearly laughing at how true it was as he made his way over to the other side of the bed. Yeah, he could hear her thoughts and know what she was feeling, but that didn't mean he knew what she was going to do next.

She rolled her eyes at him. Then she lowered her arms and walked over to the window to escape those laughing eyes. He was making her nervous again.

So, I'm making you nervous? Nate thought gleefully, enjoying a sudden sense of power.

"Full moon tonight." Gabriella said with a false sense of calm.

"So I see." he responded, wishing she'd turn around.

"So are werewolves real too?" she asked.

Her question caught him off guard, and that made him laugh. "I've never seen one. I've heard they are. Who knows?"

"You don't know?!?" she asked incredulously.

He smiled back at her. "Nope. They're rare if anything."

"How old are you anyway?" she asked, then felt embarrassed she did.

He shrugged to help her understand he wasn't offended. "In a few years I'll be a hundred and fifty years from my turning."

"How old were you when that happened?" she asked, now curious.

"Twenty."

"Hah! I'm twenty-six. I'm older than you." she grinned.

A sideways smile played across his face. "You don't look a day over eighteen."

"Humph! Flattery will get you nowhere." she said the typical response with a smirk on her face.

A slight scowl came across his features as he said, "Gabriella, there's someone I think you need to meet." And damn him for being useful in a way.