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April 26th, 2011
I had just about given up, I had almost let everything I once believed in slip away. But she proved them wrong, she proved me wrong.
I had looked at her for so many days and nights, wondering when she would wake up, wondering if she would remember any of it. Jordan was just as nervous as me, probably worse. For some reason today felt like the deadline, today seemed to be the day where we say goodbye. Johanna knocked lightly on the door and then entered. I realized that I had neglected her. I realized that she had supported me by leaving me alone for all this time, and I loved her for it. As much as I know that she wanted to be with me, she wasn't. I know that it seems like a weird kind of support but it means the world that she just watched and let me handle it.
"Gabriel..." She said while placing her hand on my shoulder lightly.
And she didn't have to finish that sentence, I knew what she was going to say.
"I know, Johanna." I reply sadly.
I take Sophia's hand in mine and give it a tight squeeze, saying goodbye, and I thought of one song that seemed so appropriate as the end.
'Being made of stone
Will make you strong
I've been alone for oh-so long
And there you were
Strong of mind
Beauty that I thought I'd never find
Something strange is happening
And I don't know what to do
I haven't heard your heart beat in over nineteen days
I love the way you look at me
Cause you're thinking no one else can be
I feel like someone different when you're near
So sleep now
I'll hold you tight
Everything will be all right
Just lay down and rest your weary eyes
Calm down
You're safe with me
I love you more than you can see
You need your rest
And so I wrote you this
Eternity
Can wait awhile
I'll miss the way you blush
When you smile
So sleep now
I'll hold you tight
Everything will be all right
You've lain down and closed your weary eyes
Calm down
You're safe with me
I love you more than you can see
You need your rest
And so I wrote you this
Lullaby'
I took Johanna's hand and let her pull me towards the door. I held onto Sophia's for as long as I could, but eventually I had to let go.
We reached the doorway and for some reason I hesitated, I had been here for so long, I had been hers for so long, and now I was just leaving. I promised to be with her the entire time and now I was walking away from all of it. Like Carlisle suggested, I was leaving all my hope behind, all my belief. God denied me this one thing, the one thing that I have ever tried to ask from Him; Sophia.
We were still at the door when I heard choked sobs coming from behind me. I couldn't believe it, Jordan was even believing all of it-
"Gabriel..." Johanna says with an excited voice.
"I know, Johanna, I know." I say with anger in mine.
I turned around to take Jordan with us, to comfort her, but she didn't need it. She didn't need my comfort, or Josh's, or Rhoan's, she didn't need Alec or Faine to put her to sleep....
....
......
........
.......... She has Sophia.
My heart flip flopped inside my chest! Sophia! She was standing right there! She was holding onto Jordan, holding her in a hug, smelling the familiar scent of Jordan's hair, re-discovering that her arms could surround Jordan and make her feel safer than anything else in the world. From behind Jordan's dark hair, Sophia's beautiful blue eyes were looking at me.
I saw her eyes...for the first time in weeks! I had memorized every curve of her face, every twitch of her lips, but I couldn't see her eyes that whole time...and now I can...and they are beautiful, and the most welcome site ever. She pulls back from Jordan and stands on the middle of the bed, her cheeks are rosy again, her brown hair is wavy and full of life.
I start to feel all choked up inside, as well.
"Are you okay, Uncle Gabriel?" She asks me with a smile.
I take in every note of her voice, its clarity and quality. I never thought that I'd hear that voice again.
I let go of Johanna's hand and slowly walk over to my niece. I was afraid that if I moved too quickly this dream would shatter and my niece would be back where we started.
I cup her face, feel the warmth of her cheeks and hear the steady beating of her heart.
"I am now." I tell her, just like I imagined I would.
'Sometimes I wanna give up
Wanna give in
I wanna quit the fight
And then I see you baby
And everything's alright
Everything's alright
When I see you smile
I can face the world
Oh you know I can do anything
When I see you smile
I see a ray of light
Oh I see it shining
right through the rain
When I see you smile
Baby when I see you smile at me'
I pull her into my arms and hold her for several minutes. She laces her arms around my neck and holds me too, and this is the best feeling that I've had in a long time.
I hold her at arms length after we hug. She grabs my hand and Jordan's and holds us while we smile and Jordan sobs happily.
"Don't cry, Mama, I'm okay."
She's so grown up! And so sweet!
Jordan holds her again, because she finally can. She can finally hold her Sophia, and laugh with her, and live their life like they were supposed to.
I give Sophia and Jordan a kiss on the cheek and tell them I will be back in a few hours.
Then I walk down the stairs and out the door. Johanna is laying in the grass outside.
"She's awake." I say happily as I lay my body over hers.
"I know," Johanna replies dreamily while tracing my smile with her fingers.
"Can you believe it!" I exclaim with wonder.
She brings my mouth down on hers before saying, "I told you that belief is a beautiful thing."
I stand up and pull her up with me. She laces our fingers together and we walk back to the main house, sun shinning down on us, the wind gently moving our hair past our shoulders, birds chirping in the trees.
When we reached the main house, it was a lot more quite and empty than I remembered. Johanna brought my hand to her lips and kissed it before signaling for me to wait. I did, and when she returned she was wearing cowboy boots, a white cotton dress and a big tan belt. Her golden hair surrounded her shoulders like a cape as she grabbed a picnic basket and led me out the back door. I picked her up into my arms and carried her in the direction that she pointed. When she tugged on my sleeve I stopped and put her down. Johanna settled the basket handle in the crook of her elbow and laced her fingers in mine before gently leading me over a hill. I watched the fields of wheat dissappear into rolling green meadows dabbed with white daisies and cut in half by a winding blue river. Silently, we wandered through the tall grass, closer to the river, before Johanna placed the basket on the ground and grabbed my other hand. We started twirling, jumping, running. Our movement became a dance, and what is a dance without music? We heard the same song, danced the same dance, lived the same life. So full of life we were, throwing ourselves around, playing slave to the happiness inside us that was bursting out at last, unable to be pushed back and locked away.
Everything is right now. Johanna and I are married, our family is just as dysfunctional as its always been, Sophia seems to have escaped the danger. All is well!
I was smiling, showing my face to the sun and feeling the sun reflect off my skin. Today is a day for joy and happiness, a day to celebrate. And to do it properly I hade to be human. So I let my body warm from head to toe and when that was done I felt so happy that I couldn't contain it any longer. I threw my face into the sun and laughed.
We continued our summer dance for some time before being human caught up with us. We tumbled into the grass, out of breath, wanting to fill our lungs with air and continue our dance.
Johanna was laughing, holding her sides with laughter, when I sloppily kissed her lips. Then I moved my mouth to her clavicle, pressed a kiss. My hands found her thigh and travled down her leg and to her foot. While I pressed a kiss above her knee, I also pulled her boot off. Johanna was just giggling now as she used her foot to turn my face and lead it toward hers to kiss her again. My hands held her hips until I could slowly move away and drag my hands down her other leg to pull off that boot as well. Johanna's laughter rang out through the field as I sucked on her big toe.
In the afternoon sun, she sat up, brought her face close to mine and then dashed away from me. Before I could turn around to go after her, she tossed her belt next to her boots and I heard a loud splash. I spun around and she was floating on her back in the river, waiting for me. Her white dress, soaked with water, clung to her upper body and floated around her waist in the water. I kicked off my shoes and pulled off my shirt before jumping in with her.
We splashed and kissed, played and raced, in the water.
.....
.......
.........
In the late afternoon light, the sun shone off the river, making it shimmer and shine. The wind lazily blew through the grass. Johanna and I lay on a blanket tangled together. Soon she stirred, which woke me up as well. I reached into the picnik basket that she brought and pulled out a bottle of red wine and two glasses. I handed her her glass and watched her lazily sip it. Happily, I pulled her hair back from her shoulder and placed my free arm around her waist. Johanna's arms were warm and soft against my body, and she smelled just like the sun.
I drifted back into sleep.
...
.....
.......
When I woke up again, the sun was low in the sky with vibrant reds and oranges exploding on the horizon. I heard the sucking and slicing noise of an apple being bitten into. I opened one eye and saw Johanna watching me while taking bite after bite of a green apple. She takes her free hand and pushes my hair out of my eyes. Then she locks the apple in her jaw and leans towards me. I open my mouth and use my teeth to bite off a piece of the apple. Its delicious, and so juicy! The juice flowed from the corner of my lip and down my jaw before I got the chance to wipe it away. We continued to take turns biting at the apple until there was nothing left. Johanna reached into the basket and pulled out a vine of red grapes while I moved and leaned across her body. This was exactly as I had pictured heaven; Johanna and I together with the sun setting and just being together and happy. One by one, Johanna would stick juicy red grapes into my mouth and watch me eat them. I was thinking how surreal it all was. I mean, I could definitely imagine Johanna and I together and hanging out, but only the people in the movies had waterfront picniks with wine, apples, and grapes. Well, I've learned never to expect the expected when it comes to Johanna. I flipped onto my stomach and watched her eyes flick back and forth, observing the horizon. She is so beautiful. Its like each time I see her she gets more beautiful than the last time, each time I see her is like seeing her for the first. And that's why I hate to leave her, but I made a promise to Sophia, a promise that she deserves. Before the fight, before my wedding even, Sophia only asked that she and I go to Russia all by ourselves. I intend to keep that promise, and all though I will miss Johanna, I know that she understands and that I will be making Sophia very happy. It will be really great to spend one-on-one time with my niece and to show her where I grew up. I would try and teach her some russian words...but its a really hard language and I wouldn't want her asking for something completely strange (like when Johanna received a goat and two chickens Haha!).
Johanna's eyes lock with mine.
"I'm going to take her away for a little while." I tell her.
"I know."
"We leave the morning after tomorrow," I say as Johanna runs her fingers through my hair, "will you be okay?"
"Of course. I have Rhoan and Jordan and the bar to get back to. I want you to have a good time with Sophia."
"We'll be gone for about a month, I think." I inform her as I step back into my jeans and hand Johanna her dress.
"Well you'll call me once in a while? Or email?"
"Definitely," I press a kiss to her cheek, "Now let me get you back so I can run to the bank quick, get some tickets, pack, and then head back over to Jordan's.
She laughs as we pack everything up. I swoop her into my arms and carry her up the hill. When we reach the peak we both turn around and gaze at where we were just laying. The grass was all flattened where the blanket had been and the stones along the shore were still dark from the water we had dripped on them. We both gave a sigh before I ran her back to the house.
I dropped her off and ran into town to the bank and then back home to ask Johanna to help me purchase plane tickets from the computer. We did so, me getting frustrated with the technology every second and Johanna wizzing through it as if she's done it thousands of times.
"Here you go," She says handing me the two tickets. I fold one and put it in my coat pocket and then take the other one and seal it in a white envelope with a red bow taped on the outside.
"Aren't you coming?" I ask her as I head out the door.
"I gotta take a shower. Go ahead and I'll catch up."
I nod and then run out the door, over the field separating our houses and into Jordan's home.
"Sophia, I'm back!" I call.
She comes running down the stairs and leaps into my arms. I pick her up, swing her in a full circle and then carry her towards the kitchen. I noticed Jordan's protective gaze looking at us through the living room. She met us in the kitchen and while I sat down with Sophia at the table, Jordan poured Sophia a glass of milk and heated up blood for me.
"I missed you, Uncle Gabriel!" She chirps to me.
I felt that pesky rise of emotion again...
"I missed you too , sweetie." I tell her as Jordan slides the milk to Sophia and the blood to me.
I lift my glass to my mouth and as soon as I swallow a little I choke on it. I should have known that Jordan wouldn't have any human *_* she only has animal...not the good kind either...
I shudder as I push the blood away from me.
"Sophia has been going insane since she woke up. You should have been here when she was running all around the house, Gabriel. It was so sweet." Jordan tells me while gazing appreciatively at Sophia.
"Yeah, Uncle Gabriel, I had so much fun."
'Does she remember what happened?' I ask Jordan in my mind.
Jordan gives a very slight nod.
"Sophia," my voice gets serious, "how are you?"
She searches my eyes, frowns a little, and like the grown up she is, replies, "No one else got hurt, mommy and daddy are safe, so is Vera and Aunt Lottie and Uncle Bastien."
I take her hand in mine and hold it between them, "I don't care about them. I care about you. How is my Sophia?"
Tears well up in her eyes but she blinks and they're gone, "I will be okay."
I take one of my hands and smooth her hair before pulling her to sit on top of me at the table.
I pull out the white envelope with the red bow and hand it to her, "Open it." I whisper.
And of course, she wastes no time. The ticket is out in front of her face, she is reading what it says, studying every word.
"What is it, hunny?" Jordan asks her.
"Mommy, its a plane ticket to Russia!"
Jordan's head snaps up to me, its obvious that she wants to know when her daughter is being taken away.
I reach into my coat pocket and pull out my ticket as well and show it to her, "I have one too, Sophia."
She smiles so big and cuddles into my arms screaming, "I love you so much, Uncle Gabriel! Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
"What day are you leaving?" Jordan asks.
"April 28th." Sophia declares happily.
"And do you know when that is?" I ask her, she shakes her head, "We leave the morning after tomorrow."
"No way!!" She screams.
"No way, no way, no way!!" She continues screaming while running laps around the house.
I laugh at her excitement until I see Jordan's face. She looks like she wants to kill me and like she doesn't like the whole idea of it.
"What?" I whisper half annoyed.
"She just woke up. Don't you think we should wait a little while?" She hisses.
"I promised her. Besides, what better way to help her forget then by taking her away for a vacation. I'm the fun one, remember? She won't have me breathing down her neck, and I won't make a schedule of things we have to do in Russia."
Jordan's expression was unreadable, so I phased into her when Sophia wasn't looking. I felt so many things at once, which made me glad I wasn't a woman.
"Your jealous," I tease as I change back into myself, "Admit it."
"I am not!" She shrieks.
"Don't lie, I felt it. You wish you could be as fun as me." I continue teasing.
"Don't give yourself to much credit, Gabriel. I am a lot of fun."
"Oh please, little sister, a human is more fun than you."
Jordan's jaw drops in mock horror, she knows I'm teasing.
"Mommy! We gotta pack!" Sophia runs into the kitchen, grabs Jordan's hand and pulls her towards the stairs.
"This isn't over, Gabriel. I am way fun!" Jordan says over her shoulder while following Sophia upstairs.
I chuckle to myself while gazing at the tickets on the kitchen table.
Sophia's eyes were so bright, they practically lit up the room when she figured out my gift.
Hmmm, Russia is a big place, there's so much to show her. Good thing I haven't decided when we come home yet.
-Gabriel
I had just about given up, I had almost let everything I once believed in slip away. But she proved them wrong, she proved me wrong.
I had looked at her for so many days and nights, wondering when she would wake up, wondering if she would remember any of it. Jordan was just as nervous as me, probably worse. For some reason today felt like the deadline, today seemed to be the day where we say goodbye. Johanna knocked lightly on the door and then entered. I realized that I had neglected her. I realized that she had supported me by leaving me alone for all this time, and I loved her for it. As much as I know that she wanted to be with me, she wasn't. I know that it seems like a weird kind of support but it means the world that she just watched and let me handle it.
"Gabriel..." She said while placing her hand on my shoulder lightly.
And she didn't have to finish that sentence, I knew what she was going to say.
"I know, Johanna." I reply sadly.
I take Sophia's hand in mine and give it a tight squeeze, saying goodbye, and I thought of one song that seemed so appropriate as the end.
'Being made of stone
Will make you strong
I've been alone for oh-so long
And there you were
Strong of mind
Beauty that I thought I'd never find
Something strange is happening
And I don't know what to do
I haven't heard your heart beat in over nineteen days
I love the way you look at me
Cause you're thinking no one else can be
I feel like someone different when you're near
So sleep now
I'll hold you tight
Everything will be all right
Just lay down and rest your weary eyes
Calm down
You're safe with me
I love you more than you can see
You need your rest
And so I wrote you this
Eternity
Can wait awhile
I'll miss the way you blush
When you smile
So sleep now
I'll hold you tight
Everything will be all right
You've lain down and closed your weary eyes
Calm down
You're safe with me
I love you more than you can see
You need your rest
And so I wrote you this
Lullaby'
I took Johanna's hand and let her pull me towards the door. I held onto Sophia's for as long as I could, but eventually I had to let go.
We reached the doorway and for some reason I hesitated, I had been here for so long, I had been hers for so long, and now I was just leaving. I promised to be with her the entire time and now I was walking away from all of it. Like Carlisle suggested, I was leaving all my hope behind, all my belief. God denied me this one thing, the one thing that I have ever tried to ask from Him; Sophia.
We were still at the door when I heard choked sobs coming from behind me. I couldn't believe it, Jordan was even believing all of it-
"Gabriel..." Johanna says with an excited voice.
"I know, Johanna, I know." I say with anger in mine.
I turned around to take Jordan with us, to comfort her, but she didn't need it. She didn't need my comfort, or Josh's, or Rhoan's, she didn't need Alec or Faine to put her to sleep....
....
......
........
.......... She has Sophia.
My heart flip flopped inside my chest! Sophia! She was standing right there! She was holding onto Jordan, holding her in a hug, smelling the familiar scent of Jordan's hair, re-discovering that her arms could surround Jordan and make her feel safer than anything else in the world. From behind Jordan's dark hair, Sophia's beautiful blue eyes were looking at me.
I saw her eyes...for the first time in weeks! I had memorized every curve of her face, every twitch of her lips, but I couldn't see her eyes that whole time...and now I can...and they are beautiful, and the most welcome site ever. She pulls back from Jordan and stands on the middle of the bed, her cheeks are rosy again, her brown hair is wavy and full of life.
I start to feel all choked up inside, as well.
"Are you okay, Uncle Gabriel?" She asks me with a smile.
I take in every note of her voice, its clarity and quality. I never thought that I'd hear that voice again.
I let go of Johanna's hand and slowly walk over to my niece. I was afraid that if I moved too quickly this dream would shatter and my niece would be back where we started.
I cup her face, feel the warmth of her cheeks and hear the steady beating of her heart.
"I am now." I tell her, just like I imagined I would.
'Sometimes I wanna give up
Wanna give in
I wanna quit the fight
And then I see you baby
And everything's alright
Everything's alright
When I see you smile
I can face the world
Oh you know I can do anything
When I see you smile
I see a ray of light
Oh I see it shining
right through the rain
When I see you smile
Baby when I see you smile at me'
I pull her into my arms and hold her for several minutes. She laces her arms around my neck and holds me too, and this is the best feeling that I've had in a long time.
I hold her at arms length after we hug. She grabs my hand and Jordan's and holds us while we smile and Jordan sobs happily.
"Don't cry, Mama, I'm okay."
She's so grown up! And so sweet!
Jordan holds her again, because she finally can. She can finally hold her Sophia, and laugh with her, and live their life like they were supposed to.
I give Sophia and Jordan a kiss on the cheek and tell them I will be back in a few hours.
Then I walk down the stairs and out the door. Johanna is laying in the grass outside.
"She's awake." I say happily as I lay my body over hers.
"I know," Johanna replies dreamily while tracing my smile with her fingers.
"Can you believe it!" I exclaim with wonder.
She brings my mouth down on hers before saying, "I told you that belief is a beautiful thing."
I stand up and pull her up with me. She laces our fingers together and we walk back to the main house, sun shinning down on us, the wind gently moving our hair past our shoulders, birds chirping in the trees.
When we reached the main house, it was a lot more quite and empty than I remembered. Johanna brought my hand to her lips and kissed it before signaling for me to wait. I did, and when she returned she was wearing cowboy boots, a white cotton dress and a big tan belt. Her golden hair surrounded her shoulders like a cape as she grabbed a picnic basket and led me out the back door. I picked her up into my arms and carried her in the direction that she pointed. When she tugged on my sleeve I stopped and put her down. Johanna settled the basket handle in the crook of her elbow and laced her fingers in mine before gently leading me over a hill. I watched the fields of wheat dissappear into rolling green meadows dabbed with white daisies and cut in half by a winding blue river. Silently, we wandered through the tall grass, closer to the river, before Johanna placed the basket on the ground and grabbed my other hand. We started twirling, jumping, running. Our movement became a dance, and what is a dance without music? We heard the same song, danced the same dance, lived the same life. So full of life we were, throwing ourselves around, playing slave to the happiness inside us that was bursting out at last, unable to be pushed back and locked away.
Everything is right now. Johanna and I are married, our family is just as dysfunctional as its always been, Sophia seems to have escaped the danger. All is well!
I was smiling, showing my face to the sun and feeling the sun reflect off my skin. Today is a day for joy and happiness, a day to celebrate. And to do it properly I hade to be human. So I let my body warm from head to toe and when that was done I felt so happy that I couldn't contain it any longer. I threw my face into the sun and laughed.
We continued our summer dance for some time before being human caught up with us. We tumbled into the grass, out of breath, wanting to fill our lungs with air and continue our dance.
Johanna was laughing, holding her sides with laughter, when I sloppily kissed her lips. Then I moved my mouth to her clavicle, pressed a kiss. My hands found her thigh and travled down her leg and to her foot. While I pressed a kiss above her knee, I also pulled her boot off. Johanna was just giggling now as she used her foot to turn my face and lead it toward hers to kiss her again. My hands held her hips until I could slowly move away and drag my hands down her other leg to pull off that boot as well. Johanna's laughter rang out through the field as I sucked on her big toe.
In the afternoon sun, she sat up, brought her face close to mine and then dashed away from me. Before I could turn around to go after her, she tossed her belt next to her boots and I heard a loud splash. I spun around and she was floating on her back in the river, waiting for me. Her white dress, soaked with water, clung to her upper body and floated around her waist in the water. I kicked off my shoes and pulled off my shirt before jumping in with her.
We splashed and kissed, played and raced, in the water.
.....
.......
.........
In the late afternoon light, the sun shone off the river, making it shimmer and shine. The wind lazily blew through the grass. Johanna and I lay on a blanket tangled together. Soon she stirred, which woke me up as well. I reached into the picnik basket that she brought and pulled out a bottle of red wine and two glasses. I handed her her glass and watched her lazily sip it. Happily, I pulled her hair back from her shoulder and placed my free arm around her waist. Johanna's arms were warm and soft against my body, and she smelled just like the sun.
I drifted back into sleep.
...
.....
.......
When I woke up again, the sun was low in the sky with vibrant reds and oranges exploding on the horizon. I heard the sucking and slicing noise of an apple being bitten into. I opened one eye and saw Johanna watching me while taking bite after bite of a green apple. She takes her free hand and pushes my hair out of my eyes. Then she locks the apple in her jaw and leans towards me. I open my mouth and use my teeth to bite off a piece of the apple. Its delicious, and so juicy! The juice flowed from the corner of my lip and down my jaw before I got the chance to wipe it away. We continued to take turns biting at the apple until there was nothing left. Johanna reached into the basket and pulled out a vine of red grapes while I moved and leaned across her body. This was exactly as I had pictured heaven; Johanna and I together with the sun setting and just being together and happy. One by one, Johanna would stick juicy red grapes into my mouth and watch me eat them. I was thinking how surreal it all was. I mean, I could definitely imagine Johanna and I together and hanging out, but only the people in the movies had waterfront picniks with wine, apples, and grapes. Well, I've learned never to expect the expected when it comes to Johanna. I flipped onto my stomach and watched her eyes flick back and forth, observing the horizon. She is so beautiful. Its like each time I see her she gets more beautiful than the last time, each time I see her is like seeing her for the first. And that's why I hate to leave her, but I made a promise to Sophia, a promise that she deserves. Before the fight, before my wedding even, Sophia only asked that she and I go to Russia all by ourselves. I intend to keep that promise, and all though I will miss Johanna, I know that she understands and that I will be making Sophia very happy. It will be really great to spend one-on-one time with my niece and to show her where I grew up. I would try and teach her some russian words...but its a really hard language and I wouldn't want her asking for something completely strange (like when Johanna received a goat and two chickens Haha!).
Johanna's eyes lock with mine.
"I'm going to take her away for a little while." I tell her.
"I know."
"We leave the morning after tomorrow," I say as Johanna runs her fingers through my hair, "will you be okay?"
"Of course. I have Rhoan and Jordan and the bar to get back to. I want you to have a good time with Sophia."
"We'll be gone for about a month, I think." I inform her as I step back into my jeans and hand Johanna her dress.
"Well you'll call me once in a while? Or email?"
"Definitely," I press a kiss to her cheek, "Now let me get you back so I can run to the bank quick, get some tickets, pack, and then head back over to Jordan's.
She laughs as we pack everything up. I swoop her into my arms and carry her up the hill. When we reach the peak we both turn around and gaze at where we were just laying. The grass was all flattened where the blanket had been and the stones along the shore were still dark from the water we had dripped on them. We both gave a sigh before I ran her back to the house.
I dropped her off and ran into town to the bank and then back home to ask Johanna to help me purchase plane tickets from the computer. We did so, me getting frustrated with the technology every second and Johanna wizzing through it as if she's done it thousands of times.
"Here you go," She says handing me the two tickets. I fold one and put it in my coat pocket and then take the other one and seal it in a white envelope with a red bow taped on the outside.
"Aren't you coming?" I ask her as I head out the door.
"I gotta take a shower. Go ahead and I'll catch up."
I nod and then run out the door, over the field separating our houses and into Jordan's home.
"Sophia, I'm back!" I call.
She comes running down the stairs and leaps into my arms. I pick her up, swing her in a full circle and then carry her towards the kitchen. I noticed Jordan's protective gaze looking at us through the living room. She met us in the kitchen and while I sat down with Sophia at the table, Jordan poured Sophia a glass of milk and heated up blood for me.
"I missed you, Uncle Gabriel!" She chirps to me.
I felt that pesky rise of emotion again...
"I missed you too , sweetie." I tell her as Jordan slides the milk to Sophia and the blood to me.
I lift my glass to my mouth and as soon as I swallow a little I choke on it. I should have known that Jordan wouldn't have any human *_* she only has animal...not the good kind either...
I shudder as I push the blood away from me.
"Sophia has been going insane since she woke up. You should have been here when she was running all around the house, Gabriel. It was so sweet." Jordan tells me while gazing appreciatively at Sophia.
"Yeah, Uncle Gabriel, I had so much fun."
'Does she remember what happened?' I ask Jordan in my mind.
Jordan gives a very slight nod.
"Sophia," my voice gets serious, "how are you?"
She searches my eyes, frowns a little, and like the grown up she is, replies, "No one else got hurt, mommy and daddy are safe, so is Vera and Aunt Lottie and Uncle Bastien."
I take her hand in mine and hold it between them, "I don't care about them. I care about you. How is my Sophia?"
Tears well up in her eyes but she blinks and they're gone, "I will be okay."
I take one of my hands and smooth her hair before pulling her to sit on top of me at the table.
I pull out the white envelope with the red bow and hand it to her, "Open it." I whisper.
And of course, she wastes no time. The ticket is out in front of her face, she is reading what it says, studying every word.
"What is it, hunny?" Jordan asks her.
"Mommy, its a plane ticket to Russia!"
Jordan's head snaps up to me, its obvious that she wants to know when her daughter is being taken away.
I reach into my coat pocket and pull out my ticket as well and show it to her, "I have one too, Sophia."
She smiles so big and cuddles into my arms screaming, "I love you so much, Uncle Gabriel! Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
"What day are you leaving?" Jordan asks.
"April 28th." Sophia declares happily.
"And do you know when that is?" I ask her, she shakes her head, "We leave the morning after tomorrow."
"No way!!" She screams.
"No way, no way, no way!!" She continues screaming while running laps around the house.
I laugh at her excitement until I see Jordan's face. She looks like she wants to kill me and like she doesn't like the whole idea of it.
"What?" I whisper half annoyed.
"She just woke up. Don't you think we should wait a little while?" She hisses.
"I promised her. Besides, what better way to help her forget then by taking her away for a vacation. I'm the fun one, remember? She won't have me breathing down her neck, and I won't make a schedule of things we have to do in Russia."
Jordan's expression was unreadable, so I phased into her when Sophia wasn't looking. I felt so many things at once, which made me glad I wasn't a woman.
"Your jealous," I tease as I change back into myself, "Admit it."
"I am not!" She shrieks.
"Don't lie, I felt it. You wish you could be as fun as me." I continue teasing.
"Don't give yourself to much credit, Gabriel. I am a lot of fun."
"Oh please, little sister, a human is more fun than you."
Jordan's jaw drops in mock horror, she knows I'm teasing.
"Mommy! We gotta pack!" Sophia runs into the kitchen, grabs Jordan's hand and pulls her towards the stairs.
"This isn't over, Gabriel. I am way fun!" Jordan says over her shoulder while following Sophia upstairs.
I chuckle to myself while gazing at the tickets on the kitchen table.
Sophia's eyes were so bright, they practically lit up the room when she figured out my gift.
Hmmm, Russia is a big place, there's so much to show her. Good thing I haven't decided when we come home yet.
-Gabriel
