O brave new world

Untitled Part 18

The door cracks open softly and Poughkeepsie dives under the covers with an angry hiss. I'm not at all surprised to see Gabe poke his head in, but he certainly seems surprised to see me awake.

- Hi!

I'm shocked speechless. Or maybe that's just Victor holding down my hands. But I am absolutely certain that Gabriel doesn't know ASL.

- How are you feeling?

My mouth falls open slightly. After a moment, I wiggle around enough to get my hands free and sign back:

- I'm fine, thank you.

 Gabe smiles at me, creeping slowly into the room with a big box in his hands. He softly sets it down as Luke comes in after him.

- Move over, Sugar.

- Why?

Luke just smiles mysteriously at me and repeats his instructions. I don't really want to move away from Victor, but when he looks at me pleadingly with those big brown eyes... Yup, I have now officially experienced the effects of puppy dog eyes. I scoot over a little bit after loosening his grip.

Luke holds up his fingers, counting down. Three... Two... One... Two bodies go flying and land on a peacefully sleeping Victor. There are muffled shouts and thunks and next thing I know all three of them are lying on the floor. I look down at them curiously. And a tiny bit mad. They stole my covers, after all. Even if they're actually Mr. Blackbourne's.

Victor rolls over on his back with a groan. "Seriously, guys? Was that necessary? What happened to the good old 'Good morning, Victor'?"

"Everyone needs to be scared out of their pants now and then" Luke sniffs. "It's healthy. Just look at North: where do you think he got all those muscles?"

"Not from you, that's sure." Victor groans again, cracking open an eye that focuses on me. "Hey, Princess. Are you doing all right? These idiots didn't land on you, did they?"

I shake my head as Gabriel blusters: "Of course we didn't! We told her to move away first: we'd never fucking hurt her!"

Victor points an accusing finger at me. "Traitor! How could you help them?! I though we were friends!"

We're not friends anymore? I want to panic but he's laughing; maybe it was only a joke? I widen my eyes innocently and stick out my lower lip, trying to pull a Luke. Barely a second passes until my lip starts trembling and my eyes tear up from the position.

"No, Trouble, stop it! I'm begging you Trouble, stop it! But the dam lip away! Please, Trouble!" Gabriel seems distressed. Interesting. I hold onto my face for a little longer and he turns on Victor: "Take it back, Vic! Don't you see how upset you've made her? Take it back and kiss and make up and I don't know what but make her put that lip away or you're going to wake up bald tomorrow!"

Victor turns back to me, an apologetic look in his eyes. "I'm sorry, Sang. I meant it as a joke; it's not your fault you took it the wrong way."

I smile at him.

- I knew it was a joke; I was just having my own fun with it.

Luke translates, laughing. Gabriel scowls. "Shut the fuck up, you bastards. It's not funny. And you, Miss Trouble" He points an accusing finger at me. "I don't ever want to see you use that lip again, or I'll..."

I poke out my lip again, innerly grinning. "Oh, Fuck. Put that lip away, Trouble. Put it away or I'll... Fine, I won't do anything. Just put the dam lip away. I promise I won't do anything!"

I pull it back and grin at him.

Gabriel scowls at me. "I hate you. Enough with the pouting." He turns back to a sniggering Victor and Luke. "Bastards. I though I could count on you for moral support, but I guess I was wrong. Get lost. Sang and I have stuff to do."