One Kiss For The Road • •

[Gabriel Pearce Fitzpatrick]

Gabe usually opted to fly home when it was just a short visit, but he would need his car out there with Fallon and hiring a rental usually messed with his nerves more than driving usually did. If he had to use a car, he only ever used his own, and even that was a rarity. In New York, he’d rather brave the stormy weather on two feet than make life easier on himself by driving to his destinations. With Fallon in the passenger seat and their bags in the trunk, Gabe steeled his nerves and drove through the night, when the roads were quieter, stopping only a few times for coffee and then a short nap when they were almost half way. The last time he had done this trip it had been with Myles and the man had almost slept the whole way, only waking up when he needed a rest stop. This time, Fallon only seemed to take short naps, meaning Gabe had someone to chat with when she was awake, but she slept enough that he hoped his nerves didn’t show through when they drove through towns with the bad street lights or found themselves driving close to a truck similar to the one that had caused the accident when he was eighteen.

He was relieved when the roads became familiar and memories of his youth started to come back with each turn and every field they passed. Soon, the gravel under his tyres told him he was home and he parked his car outside the large shed that they used to store all the seasonal gear in now. The ranch still held the old appeal that it always had and Gabe couldn’t help but smile as he pushed the door open and climbed out of his old car. “Here we are, Fall.”

[/color] He said, glancing across at his girlfriend. The house itself was small in comparison to the barns that were around the back. Still, round there was where his dad called his business and yet they offered a lot of fun and entertainment, especially if the neighbours had their horses in for check-ups or the chickens were getting fed. Gabe had had an interesting childhood here and once someone saw it there was really no question to be asked about why he had an army of pets himself.

The house itself had no steps leading to the door; it was one of the lucky things his mom had said, after the accident. It meant there was no major construction to be had on the old place and Gabe had moved out of his bedroom and taken the basement so that his parents could have the largest room on the first floor. The bulk of the changes had been the transport and widening of the hallway from her study, but Esme had taken it well even when Gabe had struggled to get over what had happened. He pulled their things from the trunk and then led Fallon up to the front door, blinking as the late afternoon sun hit his eyes. He grinned back at her and then pushed the door open, knowing it would be unlocked for their arrival. “Mom! Dad! Gramps! We’re here!”[/color] He had no idea who would be in the house to greet them, so he shouted all of the likely candidates. The lack of vehicles in the untamed drive meant that his brothers hadn’t dropped by yet, so at least there were a manageable number of people for Fallon to meet first, if they were all home.

He guided the beautiful blonde further into his home, planning on greeting whoever was about and then taking the bags downstairs and offering Fallon a shower or whatever else she needed to do before dinner. He heard the door creak towards his mom’s study and then saw the familiar wheels of her chair before her smiling face came into view. “Hey, mom! You’re looking great.”[/color] He bent down to give the older woman a hug and then gestured to Fallon, taking her hand to bring her a little closer. “This is Fallon, Fallon this is my mom, Esme.”[/color] He did the introductions with a grin on his face as his mom reached up to take Fallon’s hand in friendly greeting. “It’s a pleasure to meet you after all this time, Fallon. I’m sorry my husband isn’t here to welcome you, but he’s out in the barns with your gramps, Gabriel. There’s some work to be done out there and the old man was refusing to let you or your brothers do it.” Esme said with a roll of her eyes and Gabe just laughed, explaining to Fallon. “My gramps still thinks he’s in charge of this place and won’t let us do anything he thinks he can do.”[/color] Gabe loved the old man dearly, but he did wish that he’d enjoy the golden years and take it easy. “I’ll let you two settle in and call you for dinner. You probably both need a rest after that journey.” Esme said, smiling warmly before expertly turning her wheelchair around and vanishing back into her study. Turning to Fallon, Gabe smiled and leaned down to kiss her sweetly. “We’re staying in the basement, come on.”[/color] He led her through the kitchen and down the stairs behind one of the doors in there.

The room was still as Gabe had left it last. Bookcases lined the longest wall and were filled with old books of all kinds, while the large queen-sized bed rested towards the back, far from the stairs and right by the small toilet and shower that were off to the side. There was a desk and a couch with a small TV in front of it and Gabe had turned the corner into a mini kitchenette with a toaster, kettle and mini-fridge that had proved highly useful when he has spent his nights studying for exams or slaving over his papers during the holidays. An old wardrobe and dresser stood near the stairs where they could unpack their things into for their stay. The walls were a deep blue and held posters that summed up most of Gabe’s life; sciences, infamous images of Ancient Greece, Latin notes he had thrown up to help him during some of his work and a few childish ones of the X-Men and the Mighty Morphing Power Rangers, that he still couldn’t bear to part with since he had everything else and the collectibles safely stashed away in the attic. He turned and looked at Fallon as he dropped their bags, stepping closer and pulling her into his arms, his hands finding her waist as he stole another kiss from her. “I know it’s nothing like Cali, but welcome to Nebraska.”[/color] He joked lightly, moving in to meet her lips again.
[/blockquote][/blockquote][/size][/justify]

• • •

TAGGED! Fall <3
WORDS! 1,189
OUTFIT! Nebraska Nerd!
LYRICS! Eighteen Inches - - - Lauren Alaina
NOTES! <3

[Fallon Alexandra Flynn]

Fallon had spent the last week packing and repacking because she didn’t know what she was going to need. She asked Myles to take care of Beez, giving him a chance to take care of the precious little kitten. If Myles didn’t take care of her little baby, there was a frying pan in her cupboard with his name on it. The same went for the bar she kept stocked. But she wasn’t going to think about that until they were on their way back to New York. She would get her updates through Gabe when he texted to check on his darling little pets. Fallon loved road trips but they didn’t usually love her. She wouldn’t be able to spent days on end in a car, but one or two days’ worth of hours she could manage with little naps to help her stomach.

She didn’t mind the trip until they got closer to the farm Gabe grew up on. Fallon knew his mother wasn’t going to beat her over the head with a frying pan when she walked through the door with her son, but she was still nervous about it all. There was a lot of time and a lot of heartache before they finally clued into their feelings and Fallon could just imagine everything Gabe had told his mom. She didn’t really want to have to explain how stupid she’d been not seeing something so obvious. But she would admit that she was excited to meet his mom, see where he grew up and look through those photo albums. Fallon didn’t need fodder for teasing or anything; she had plenty of that without needing to see those pictures. She just really wanted to see Gabe as a child, see the memories held in those books.

She kept up conversation with Gabe when she wasn’t taking one of those catnaps of hers. She grabbed coffee’s a size bigger than usual just to keep herself aware. She blamed her racing heart on all the caffeine when they finally pulled into the drive. The little home was so darling, she adored it. Fallon had been to plenty of the states that made up the country she lived in, but filming hadn’t taken the studio to Nebraska. She took a deep breath in the car before opening the door, getting out and turning to face Gabe over the roof of the car. She smiled, turning away to look at the area. She followed him to the house, still looking around. She’d been on farms before, but none of them had looked so much like a home. She hoped not everyone was in the house to greet the happy couple. Fallon wasn’t the greatest on meeting parents of any kind, she got nervous and she started to stutter a little bit. She was going to have to put on a different face, play a role that was equal parts herself and not a nervous wreck.

Fallon didn’t mean to stare and hoped she caught her expression before it really showed; Trevor raised her better than that. But she’d been caught so off guard. She didn’t know what she expected meeting the woman who raised the man she loved, but to see this woman, confined to a chair just wasn’t it. The way Gabe spoke of his mother, she was incredible, running after Gabe and his brothers. Fallon didn’t think those things weren’t possible in a wheelchair at all, she knew anything was possible. And it was great that Gabe didn’t talk about his mother as though she had wheelchair, but a little heads up would have been nice so she didn’t stare! She plastered a smile on her face as she took the woman’s hand, praying again that she had caught herself in time. The blonde film professor was going to say how lovely it was to finally meet her as well, but she didn’t want to interrupt mother and son so she kept her mouth shut and just continued to smile, listening to the explanations. Add that to the nerves coursing through her and she figured smiling and nodding were her best option. Thankfully, she was getting some time to get her wits about her and ask Gabe some questions; like how his mother came to be in a wheelchair in the first place and why he never told her! “It was nice to finally meet you as well,” she finally said as the older woman turned and went back into her study.

Fall felt like a complete fool. She kissed Gabe back but she didn’t return his smile with one of her own. Even if meeting his mom went smoothly, which she still wasn’t entirely certain it had, she still stared and kept silent until the last minute. Surely the woman thought her just another LA blonde with nothing between her ears but air! She felt like in that moment, it was true. Still lost in her thoughts, Fallon followed Gabe through the kitchen and down a flight of stairs to his old room. It was so much like him she could almost forget the fool she’d made of herself. She was stuck on wishing Gabe had told her. Why hadn’t he said something? Did it have something to do with his knee? She always assumed he’d done something with his brothers, both legitimate and fraternity wise. It had just seemed the plausible reason and she’d left it at that.

Immediately after Gabe pulled her closer, wrapped his arms around her waist, her own hands ran up his arms wrapping themselves around his shoulders. She loved him, despite the little detail of holding back some information. And really, she couldn’t exactly be mad at him when she hadn’t told him about her own mother. She was mad at him for not giving her some sort of warning so she would gawk. It was such rude manners, and Trevor had raised her better than that, but she was stuck on being caught off guard, stuck on shock. Fallon kissed him back, letting her fingers run up to play with his hair, before pulling back a tiny bit. “It’s still beautiful,” she said, telling him the truth. Filming may not have brought her to Nebraska, but it was a beautiful area, she couldn’t deny that, no matter how annoyed she was with the man she loved. Now that they were alone, though, she wanted answers. And she was going to demand them because she felt like a fool just living up to some stereotype of some sort. Her eyes narrowed slightly, steeling herself for the next word that was going to pass her lips. “Why?” she asked, leaning back a little further to look up into those loving eyes.

Tag || Gabe!
Words || 1 128
Clothes || Annoyed little blonde
Music || Scream --Hedley
Notes || <3

[Gabriel Pearce Fitzpatrick]

Gabe didn’t understand why Fallon was so nervous about meeting his family, especially his mom. He had tried to tell her that there was nothing to worry about and that everything was fine, but it seemed as though his words just weren’t enough for her this time around. He had told his mom a great deal about their friendship and she had been one of the first to clue in to Gabe’s real feelings for the blonde professor, but Esme found that something to laugh and tease her son about now. She liked to use it to prove that it didn’t matter how much he knew or how many times he learnt to elaborate on her own teachings, she still knew him and she still knew best. He might have had his classics and his anthropology, but Esme could read her youngest son as easy as Gabe could read Latin and it was something that would never change.

Maybe it would have been easier if Fallon had met Esme before she climbed on Gabe and changed their friendship into something greater. He had thought about this, but there was nothing he could do now, despite repeating himself and telling her that it really wouldn’t matter; nothing would change. If anything, this new relationship of theirs where they didn’t have to hide their true feelings was probably only going to make Esme happier to meet the blonde professor who held the heart of her son. Gabe knew his mom pretty well and could detect the disapproving tones in her voice when they came up and the silences that meant she wasn’t happy. He hadn’t heard anything like that whenever he mentioned Fallon’s name or the matter of his love life and how, for once, it seemed to be going according to plan with everything he had ever dreamt of finally coming true for the lanky scholar.

He thought the initial meeting went well, despite how short it was. Gabe knew his mom was probably trying to get her grading out of the way so that she could spend the evening in the company of her family. He was grateful for the time alone with Fallon too, since they could settle in his room, unpack, shower and he could show her around the ranch and see what animals his dad was currently caring for. The messy haired scholar was strangely excited about all of these simple things that he did every time he was home, just because this time he could do them with Fallon and show her the life he had grown up with; it was nothing like hers, but he hoped she’d like the short time she was to spend in it.

Gabe looked down at the tiny blonde in his arms, his eyebrows furrowed together as she uttered that single word. He didn’t need a PhD to understand what she meant though and he let out a soft sigh, squeezing her side before letting go of her and walking around his room to fiddle with their luggage. He never enjoyed talking about this and even with Fallon he was going to struggle to tell her everything. “My mom doesn’t make a big deal out it and she hates it when the rest of us do.”

[/color] He said with a small shrug, pushing his glasses back into place as he unzipped his bag and pulled the first t-shirt from inside. “I didn’t think it mattered. I don’t tell anyone.”[/color] It might have been his own story to tell, but Gabe didn’t like reliving the memories of the accident and the aftermath that accompanied it. Not talking about it and not explaining his mom’s paralysis helped him pretend like it never happened. People always asked when they saw Esme though. It wasn’t like they could avoid it, especially not when the house was also littered with photographs of her clearly able to walk and run. Esme had refused to take them down, not believing that she should hide what had happened or let it ruin her life. It made Gabe feel like an idiot sometimes when his mom could embrace the accident and shrug it off and he still had the odd nightmare and constant fears about it, what could have been and what almost was.
[/blockquote][/blockquote][/size][/justify]

• • •

TAGGED! Fall <3
WORDS! 752
OUTFIT! Nebraska Nerd!
LYRICS! Eighteen Inches - - - Lauren Alaina
NOTES! <3

[Fallon Alexandra Flynn]

With everything that had happened to them, the backwards way their relationship came to be, Fallon was nervous about meeting Gabe’s family. She didn’t know what they would think of her and how she’d broken their boys’ heart. That was her main concern really, because she did love him, but also had unintentionally done exactly that. She had a thick skull and even Gabe repeating himself a million times that his mother didn’t care, she was just going to be happy to finally meet Fallon didn’t matter. She was too stubborn for it to find a foothold in her brain. Fallon had thought about surprising Gabe at home when she’d decided to move to New York. He’d already been back in Nebraska by then, but the route Trevor had planned took them a little farther south than Nebraska.

Maybe if she had done that, she wouldn’t have been shocked and probably caught staring at his mother when she wheeled herself from her study. She was really stuck on that. Fallon didn’t like looking like a fool and she knew Gabe hadn’t done it on purpose, she was still a little miffed at it the situation. It was going to take her a few minutes to just get that through her head and talk herself down from bombarding Gabe with questions he probably didn’t want to answer. What happened that had Gabe not wanting to talk about it that had him almost scared of it. Well, she didn’t know if he was scared of it, but she saw the way he gripped the wheel during the twenty some odd hours’ drive. Fallon didn’t know about Gabe, but she didn’t want to spend the next two weeks tripping over her words, stumbling through conversations or being mad at Gabe. Fall wanted to look around the farm, see the animals Gabe was always talking about. She wanted to have fun and get to know the people that raised Gabe.

She didn’t need to know everything, not right now. Eventually it would all come out, but right now, she just wanted a little information. She knew nothing about this and even catching herself staring annoyed her more than anything. Trevor had raised her with manners and staring wasn’t on the list of appropriate things to do. "Gabe, honey, it doesn't matter and you don’t have to tell me everything right now. But I’m pretty sure you’re mom just caught me staring at her. And if she did, she’s not the only one wondering why you didn’t think to say something before we walked through the door,” she said, taking the t-shirt from his hands and setting it on top of the bag it came from. “I love you and nothing is going to change that but I was caught off guard, staring and stunned just now. I hate myself for the show of poor manners,” she said honestly, reaching up to brush her fingertips across his cheek. “I’m not saying right here and now, but eventually, I want to know everything there is, even what you consider insignificant. It happened and it’s a part of you, who you are, all those events made you the man I fell in love with,” she said, wrapping her arms around his waist and laying her head on his chest. If she wasn’t looking at him, she could make an admission of her own. “There are things no one but Trevor knows. It’s insignificant to me, but I want you to know them, too.” She was still annoyed at Gabe, at herself but she had to get over it. It was going to take her a few minutes to get her head clear of the self-hate but after that, she could figure it out.

Tag || Gabe!
Words || 626
Clothes || Annoyed little blonde
Music || Scream --Hedley
Notes || <3

[Gabriel Pearce Fitzpatrick]

Of all the things Gabe had considered about Fallon coming home, he hadn’t stopped to really think about the questions she would ask after meeting his mom. He spent so much time trying to forget about that short but life-changing chapter in his life that he hadn’t even paused to think that Fallon needed to know that story now. Even Myles had only been told after he had met Esme and Gabe had omitted quite a bit from that rendition of the tale too. His roommate now knew what had happened, but nothing of the aftermath or how much it had gone and affected Gabe in the long run. Really, the only noticeable thing that people questioned was how little he used the car he owned and how, when he did use it, his hands gripped the wheel so tight that he normally ended up with cramp in them. Most of the time he played it off though, said he didn’t like New York traffic or lied and said they were just reading too much into his driving habits.

It was only him though who still suffered like this. His mom was always very nonchalant about the accident, mentioning what had happened to her and talking about it with a smile on her face, reassuring people that she was fine. Gabe wished he could have taken that approach too, but he was not his mom in that aspect. It still left him feeling shook up and the whole thing felt like it had only happened yesterday. He didn’t want to relive it, so he hadn’t told Fallon anything about it in some slight hope that she’d never feel like there was a story to tell. He realised now that it had been a stupid hope to have, knowing that even if she hadn’t asked him straight away it would only have been a matter of hours before either his mom said something or she saw the photographs on the wall that had been taken before the accident had occurred.

As he listened to Fallon’s words though, he realised how awkward his girlfriend had felt. He felt bad now, but still wanted to reassure her rather than say everything in one go. “She’s a college professor. She’s used to people staring at her whenever she enters a lecture hall for the first class of a semester.”

[/color] He said softly, still looking down at the things he had to unpack, rather than at the petite blonde. “My mom knows I don’t tell anyone about it. Myles confronted me when I was right in front of her over it. She won’t think any less of you because of it. She gets it. She gets how I am about it all.”[/color] Esme had laughed it off with Myles, but the two Pi Kappa Phis had looked like idiots at the time. His mom had asked him about it and he had told her the truth; that he still hated being in a car, he still had the occasional nightmare and he disliked talking about it. She had understood and simply told Gabe to find his own way of moving on from it. It had been sound advice, but was easier said than done.

Gabe let out a long sigh and held Fallon close, his fingers running through her hair as he rested his cheek on the top of her head. He knew he owed her the full story, but he didn’t know where to begin and he wasn’t sure if blurting it out was the best idea, but it was the only one he had. “A truck driver totalled my car when I was eighteen.”[/color] It was all he could say before he noticed that his hands were shaking slightly from the memory. He stepped away from Fallon and moved to sit on the edge of the bed, his head in his hands as he tried to pull himself together to get through whatever questions she was going to ask him now. She deserved to know everything and part of him wanted her to know, but it was still his most painful memory to date and this would be the first time he spoke about it and everything that had followed.
[/blockquote][/blockquote][/size][/justify]

• • •

TAGGED! Fall <3
WORDS! 745
OUTFIT! Nebraska Nerd!
LYRICS! Eighteen Inches - - - Lauren Alaina
NOTES! <3

[Fallon Alexandra Flynn]

Fallon hadn’t even been this nervous when she called Trevor and yelled at him for not telling her the truth. He had laughed like a lunatic and listened to her rant and rave about how rude he was. Hell bringing the guys of Pi Kappa Phi had been more nerve-wracking! It wasn’t that she was nervous about them breaking anything, what was on display could all be replaced. She had been nervous for them to find out who her uncle really was. Thankfully, though only two of them had asked the usual questions and both she and Trevor turned them down instantly. The rest of the guys were too busy gawking at the view, at the private beach and the pool and the game room Trevor had set up to unwind with his buddies.

After that, she hadn’t minded if they showed up to use the beach or whatever, and she held a few parties there when throwing them at the frat house wasn’t possible, though that was rare. And Trevor didn’t mind having them around, using the beach and things. They all knew how crowded the public areas could get and really, there were too many people, too many kids around to surf safely. There was nearly two miles of beach behind their house, more than enough space, enough room to have a bonfire at one end, and a tiki bar close to the house. She didn’t have a lot of friends growing up, so it was nice to have the house full of them when she’d gotten older. Imogen and the lot from high school were great and all, but of that group, only Imogen hadn’t really cared who her uncle was.

“I am not one of her students, and this isn’t her classroom or lecture hall, Gabriel, it’s her home, your home!” she exasperated, poking Gabe’s chest to get her point across. “Myles is an idiot,” she muttered, blowing air up into her bangs out of frustration. She didn’t think his mom deserved to be stared at. She deserved better than that in her own home. She could understand, barely, staring if she was a student who hadn’t been given a little heads up. But she wasn’t another one of her new students, and she shouldn’t have been staring, even if Esme was used to it and okay with it. Fallon wasn’t. She waited to see if he was going to say anything then, though she hoped he’d say something, anything that would indicate he’d tell her later, when there was more than enough time to talk it all out.

She sucked in air at the blunt words that flew out of Gabe’s mouth like they couldn’t pour out fast enough. She was processing that when he stepped away. Now she was left staring at him, and she hated that almost as much. “Were,” she started, taking a step closer to him. She reached out but her hand fell back not sure if comforting him would be a good idea since instead of holding her tighter, he walked away. “Were you driving?” she whispered. If he had been she could understand where this was coming from, why he didn’t want to talk about it. But it wasn’t helping anyone by keeping it all bottled up.

Tag || Gabe!
Words || 548
Clothes || Annoyed little blonde
Music || Scream --Hedley
Notes || <3

[Gabriel Pearce Fitzpatrick]

Gabe hadn’t given Myles the full details of what had happened that night when he was eighteen. He had told him there had been an accident, that his mom had been paralysed in it and that it was the reason his knee was his Achilles Heel. That was all Myles needed to know and the man had said so himself after Gabe had given him that much information. They were brothers and they had spent long enough living together to know when one of them was uncomfortable with a situation or topic. Unless they had a reason to be concerned about the other, there was no need to push the matter. Before now, Gabe had only found himself answering to Myles about this, but he knew Fallon would push as long as she had questions and he kept looking as much of a mess as he felt right now.

She was going to find out one way or another and he’d rather be the one to tell her. His mom would brush it aside like no big deal, Ewan would probably ask her about the drive and how Gabe had handled it…there were too many possibilities that would lead to questions and he’d rather do it now, in private, then have to give her answers in front of his family who would then see that he hadn’t gotten over what had happened seven years ago. This was supposed to be a good trip, full of fun memories and laughs and him having to deal with all of that would only ruin it. Granted, judging by Fallon’s current reaction to everything he might have already ruined it.

“I’m sorry! I get it, alright?! I fucked up.” He sighed, pushing his hair back from his face and looking around the room. “She doesn’t care. She’ll understand that I didn’t tell you. She’ll have known that before we even walked through the front door.”

[/color] He got that Fallon was upset by the first meeting with his mom, but he didn’t know how to explain himself right now. If he warned people then they asked questions and he didn’t want to have to talk about it and confront those demons. There was no avoiding them when people came to the farm, but there was something about being at home that made it easier to deal with, to forget. Perhaps it was because he got to see how his mom dealt so easily with it; she was fine and he didn’t need to worry or dwell on it. “My mom isn’t even going to think twice about it. I promise you that.”[/color] He made sure to meet her eyes, wanting her to believe him and have any more of these Esme nerves.

He didn’t know what he wanted right now. He wanted to hold Fallon, but didn’t want her to feel him shaking as he delved deeper into the memory. Gabe glanced up at her question and pushed his glasses into place before looking away again, not wanting to see her reaction as he told her what had happened. “I was supposed to be.”[/color] He began, biting his lip and looking at his hands as he rubbed them together slowly. “We were at a guest lecture at UNL. I drove us there to give my mom a bit of a break since she’d been running errands all day. I was supposed to drive us back too, but I dropped my glasses and someone stood on them and cracked the lens.”[/color] He paused, swallowing hard while his eyes were still fixed on his hands. “It was supposed to be me in that chair.”[/color] He finished quietly, the seven year old guilt consuming him again as he replayed that night over and over in his mind.
[/blockquote][/blockquote][/size][/justify]

• • •

TAGGED! Fall <3
WORDS! 670
OUTFIT! Nebraska Nerd!
LYRICS! Eighteen Inches - - - Lauren Alaina
NOTES! <3

[Fallon Alexandra Flynn]

The film professor didn’t want this vacation ruined by Gabe’s lack of judgment. She was going to have a good time this weekend just as soon as she got this out of her system and they talked about it. She was being very blunt and open about how she felt about being caught off guard. She hated that feeling, didn’t like when she felt like she’d been duped. She felt like everyone was laughing at her, though that part hardly concerned her. She grew up in Hollywood. A day didn’t go by where she hadn’t be laughed at because she’d either said something stupid or said something funny. Still, whether she cared or not didn’t matter, she didn’t like it either way. Fallon felt a smile tugging at her lips and she had to raise her hand to hide the fight she was losing. It was so rare for Gabe to swear that when he did, it was kind of funny and made Fallon lighten up a bit. She could have gotten through this entire fight, went off to think about it all and then come back calm and collected, to talk it through; if only he hadn’t sworn.

She felt everything just sort of fall away. She couldn’t be mad at him about it all when she could see; he was feeling pretty bad for leaving out the small detail. “Alright, I get it. She’s alright with it, she’s calm, she’s made it work for her and that’s incredible really. I know people who end up in therapy over a broken nail. So it’s amazing, but I was nervous enough when I thought, well the picture you painted wasn’t exactly what was presented, you know?” she asked, biting her thumb nail. She would have rather been prepared for the meeting than be shocked into silence.

Fallon had always thought since the time she’d met Gabe that his slight limp when the weather went south or the scars were from some stupid boy thing. She saw how he interacted with his frat brothers, it was understandable why she’d think he’d done something while rough housing with his brothers or friends. Not once had she ever thought something so scary had happened. Listening to him, she knelt in front of him, taking his hands in hers and bringing them up to her lips. She hadn’t known, and wasn’t that the point of all of this. She wanted to know, and didn’t. He hadn’t told her a thing, but she was going to get everything from him now; at least, as much as he was willing to give anyway. And that was a start. She stood again, tears brightening her eyes with fear at the thought that she’d almost lost Gabe before she’d ever had him. “Don’t say that,” she whispered, leaning up to brush the hair from Gabe’s eyes and press her forehead to his. “Alright, what I’m going to say is going to come out really, really wrong, but you should be used to me saying the wrong thing by now so… here goes,” Fallon said taking a deep breath and pressing a quick kiss to his forehead and looking into those sad, sad eyes. “I’ll bet anything your mom’s thinking the exact opposite. She got to have fun, party and experience life in her twenties. Sure she probably wishes neither of you got seriously hurt, but at least you get to experience what she already did. It was a horrible, terrible thing that should never have happened in the first place, but it did and none of us can change that but we can get it all out. I’m so sorry I got upset, I really shouldn’t have,” she admitted, hugging him close against her.

Tag || Gabe!
Words || 626
Clothes || Annoyed little blonde
Music || Scream --Hedley
Notes || <3

[Gabriel Pearce Fitzpatrick]

Gabe hadn’t deliberately set out to upset Fallon or make her feel like she was some idiot just staring at a woman in a wheelchair. He hadn’t exactly envisioned their first moments in his house to be full of fighting and angry accusations. He wasn’t really feeling angry though, just frustrated. It was also more towards himself than Fallon, since he really couldn’t have expected her to meet his mom, ask no questions and skip merrily about the farm like there were no secrets between the couple. Really, one glance around the house revealed that the family had been through darker times and Gabe hadn’t cared to talk about it with the woman he loved. She deserved to know, he knew that, but it wasn’t exactly a tale for them to discuss over dinner.

He didn’t notice the smile she was failing to hide; his thoughts were elsewhere, his mind trying to process everything once again so that he could actually talk about it when Fallon asked. He listened to what she had to say, his gaze averted elsewhere while he fought to get his thoughts under control once more. He glanced down at her though, eyebrows furrowed, when she finished. “What do you mean ‘the picture I painted wasn’t exactly what was presented’?”

[/color] He didn’t know whether to be offended or not by the remark. Was Fallon accusing him of making something up? His mom was amazing, even more so by how she had handled everything and she hadn’t stopped being incredible just because she had lost the use of her legs seven years ago in a horrific tragedy.

Given his typical clumsy nature, people never bothered to ask him about scars or why he sometimes walked with a limp. It was always just assumed he’d done something foolish and slipped down the stairs. Even his Frat brothers had laughed it off right from the time he had pledged. It came in handy because it meant no one asked inconvenient questions or pressured him into telling any stories about his past. His knee still looked pretty bad thanks to the scarring and the surgery, but it wasn’t like he had people going around inspecting his bony joints and demanding answers. If people did notice it when he had short on then they did pass comment, but it was usually followed by a “you know me” remark or some joke made by one of his friends. Fallon’s words were the same as what his family had told him time and time again, his mom included. He knew all of that and he understood it, but none of them were there and none of them were Gabe. “My mom was pregnant before she graduated college. She might have gotten to chase us boys around and keep us in line, but that doesn’t change the fact that she shouldn’t be in that chair.”[/color] There was no keeping it in now and with how comfortable he was around Fallon, he wouldn’t be surprised if everything came out now while they were safely in the confines of his basement bedroom. “People can tell me that my mom thinks it’s better that she’s paralysed and not me – she’s even told me that herself – but it does absolutely nothing to take away the guilt I still feel about that night.”[/color] He pulled himself away from Fallon, needing to move around some. “If I wasn’t so clumsy then I wouldn’t have dropped my glasses in the first place.”[/color] He said in a whisper, chewing on the skin at the side of his shaking hand. “I spent six months at the bottom of a very dark hole and I didn’t think I’d come out of it. It only takes one little thing and I feel like I’m back down there again.”[/color] He confessed quietly, close to revealing his darkest secret to her, but still not wanting to open up that Pandora’s Box. He was scared more now than he had ever been back then. At eighteen he had had very little to lose, his life was already changing and he could work with whatever cards were dealt to him. Now, one admission could cost him everything he had with Fallon and he couldn’t lose her. He just couldn’t.
[/blockquote][/blockquote][/size][/justify]

• • •

TAGGED! Fall <3
WORDS! 750
OUTFIT! Nebraska Nerd!
LYRICS! Eighteen Inches - - - Lauren Alaina
NOTES! <3

[Fallon Alexandra Flynn]

Fallon knew Gabe hadn’t done any of this on purpose, but even knowing that, she was still annoyed. And she knew just as much that she would get over it once she could wrap her mind around everything thrown at her. The blonde professor sighed, rolling her eyes. “I just pictured this amazing woman chasing after you all, as in running. And I see an even more incredible woman because of everything that happened to her, she pushed through it and she's smiling about it all.” If there was one thing Fallon was taking back from this trip, she wasn’t about to take anything for granted again. Life was too precious to sit back and not do the things that scare you the most.

"If we're supposed to feel guilty about things out of our control, I'd still be a mess that my mom couldn't stand the sight of me and shipped me off. It took a long time and I know it's not the same, but you'll get through this, I'll help, however you need me to," she said with a sigh. Everyone who knew her knew she wasn't the greatest with her own words. She messed up more than she'd like and said things backwards. She made a note of saying she was forever putting her foot in her mouth before she ever even started in on what she wanted to say. It was one of the first things she told her student’s at the beginning of each class, each term once she finally took her actual place at the front of the class, facing the other way.

"And no one is going to disagree with you, Gabe. What happened was terrible and useless, no one should be stuck in a chair or a bed the rest of their lives, but if they're anything like you're mom, they're resilient and they figure out different things to do with their lives. So what, they'll never be a football player anymore. They'll never play hockey or throw a three pointer against LeBron James, they can kick ass with Chess or something. They're usually better a mental games and things anyway and your mom is a great professor." She had hoped the first tiny part of her rant would calm him down a bit. He looked so lost and she didn’t know if she would be able to find him. And it was the first time she’d ever said those words to anyone other than Trevor. Fallon hadn’t meant to spill that, it wasn’t her turn to air her secrets, and honestly she didn’t know what she was thinking with that.

"You wouldn't be you otherwise," she said, sitting on the bed and pulling her feet up with her to wrap her arms around them. She couldn't hug Gabe, she could see that sitting there talking about this wouldn't get him through it. He needed to move to tell the story. She set her chin on her knees and listened more. A minute later, Fallon's brows furrowed together in confusion when she processed everything Gabe was saying. Research was part of her job whenever she put in studio hours. Accidents and timelines were needed in some of the more dramatic films Trevor's studio had produced. Still, she wasn't exact on the math, so she wasn't going to even try and figure it out. And she didn't know how to phrase that question, anyway. "What?" she asked, choosing to settle on the single word as opposed to finding ten or fifteen when she was drawing a blank.

Tag || Gabe!
Words || 595
Clothes || Annoyed little blonde
Music || Scream --Hedley
Notes || <3

[Gabriel Pearce Fitzpatrick]

Gabe didn’t quite know how his mom made it all work for her. He’d never seen her struggling or upset about what life had thrown at her and it amazed him. He could barely get through a retelling of the accident without getting the shakes and needing something to calm him down. Maybe he could remember it more vividly; he was the one who never lost consciousness once during it all, his mind got to play over every single outcome while they waited for the ambulance and the medics and the police to arrive. Even now, thinking how lucky they both were to have survived just wasn’t enough to calm him down.

He didn’t think he’d ever really be able to move on from the guilt and how bad it had gotten in the aftermath of the crash. It had been too much at the time and thinking about it all took him to a place he didn’t want to be. People could try and help, but really the best way Gabe dealt with it was by doing the same thing he had done for seven years now; not talk about it. Right now though his attention was on Fallon had just said. He remembered that she had told him to one day remind her to tell her the story of her own mother, but he hadn’t pushed that topic and now he was more curious than ever by her words. “What?”

[/color] He asked, turning back to her and feeling a little protective. If he had heard that right then he couldn’t understand why anyone would abandon their own child like that, especially Fallon, though he was obviously biased on his feelings for the tiny blonde who had captured his heart.

Gabe honestly didn’t know what to do right now. His head was spinning and thoughts were coming and going faster than he was able to process them. Questions about Fallon, memories he’d rather forget, his own indecisiveness about how much he should tell now, tonight; there was just so much steamrolling him at once. He was finding all of this harder now than he ever had before and the more they seemed to talk about everything the closer to the abyss he was getting. “I know all of that. I’ve told myself it a million times over, but it doesn’t change how I feel, not in the slightest. Every time I find a positive, I remember something to bring the guilt back; it was me who wanted to go to that seminar, it was my car, my glasses…nothing can take any of that away no matter how hard I try.”[/color] He had only found one way to kill the guilt and it was not healthy for him or anyone around him. Since then he had learnt to live with it, bury it deep inside and box it up. Ignoring it, acting like it never happened…it seemed to be the only way Gabe could get any rest from those demons.

His dark eyes fell on the small figure of his girlfriend and he sighed softly. No one had suspected anything dark was happening in this basement back when he was eighteen. The family thought he was resting or doing his physiotherapy, which he was most of the time. They didn’t wonder why he spent the extra hours hiding on his own, or why he seemed a little spaced out when he came up for meals. They knew he was stressed and taking his time to recover, but so were the rest of the family and it was a lot to adjust to; he hid the reality well. If he told Fallon this would be the first time anyone ever heard of it. “Every time I closed my eyes I relived that night. I saw the truck, the crash, felt the blood…I couldn’t escape it. Every time I caught my mom struggling to get used to her chair I was overwhelmed with guilt. I didn’t get in a car again until college and no one has ever been able to understand what it was like.”[/color] He began, biting his lip hard enough to break the skin, the metallic taste of blood dripping into his mouth as he desperately tried to compose himself. “I just needed to forget it all. I needed an escape and I didn’t care what it was so long as it worked.”[/color] He probably hadn’t worded that too well, Fallon might not understand it at all, but right now with the mess his head was in, it seemed to be the only way he could get it out. His hands were shaking still as he pushed his hair back from his face, averting his gaze so that he couldn’t see his girlfriend’s reaction.
[/blockquote][/blockquote][/size][/justify]

• • •

TAGGED! Fall <3
WORDS! 834
OUTFIT! Nebraska Nerd!
LYRICS! Eighteen Inches - - - Lauren Alaina
NOTES! <3

[Fallon Alexandra Flynn]

“We’re not talking about me and my issues now,” she muttered shoving her fingers through her hair, pushing the blonde locks out of her face. She shouldn’t have brought that up, but she figured it might help somehow. But all it did was put more questions her way once they were finished with all of this. Why she thought telling him about her own guilt issues would somehow help, she didn’t have a clue. Her guilt never ate her up inside. Fallon had been angry more than guilty. Trevor helped her through it, though. And she’d come to realize after she’d figured out why her mother gave her over to Trevor, it wasn’t her fault. She couldn’t help her genetic makeup. It wasn’t her fault she looked too much like her father in her mother’s eyes. Those blue eyes of her were the death of the relationship she’d never had with her mother. Baby Fallon didn’t stand a chance against a ghost of a memory.

Just as much as Adult Gabe didn’t think he had a chance. Fallon could understand the guilt if he had been driving, if he’d been the one to hit their car. But a series of unfortunate events weren’t anyone persons fault. And Fallon knew Gabe didn’t deserve to play “what if” for the rest of his life. Her heart broke for the kid who took the weight of the world on his shoulders and knew it was the compassion that had him taking the blame for the events. They could go over everything with a fine tooth comb but in the end, if it hadn’t been them at that wrong place at the wrong time, it would have been another family and that time, there might not have been any survivors at all. “Then be thankful it was you and not some young family with babies in the backseat. Be thankful that you got to walk away, even with the pain in your knee. Be thankful you met Myles, the Pi Kappa Phis; your brothers. All of those people of those people would never have gotten to meet you, know you because you would have gone a different route.” She didn’t know if that was true or if it was just wishful thinking about taking a different path. But she did know that if it had been her in the car in front of or behind his when he’d gotten hurt, or if it had been that family she’d imagined, she would have been more devastated than if it would have been her. If she survived, she could have overcome it all, but those children, being so small, they wouldn’t have. She wasn’t trying to make Gabe see differently, and even if she had been, it wouldn’t happen in a single chat, but it was a different perspective, and maybe even one no one had tried yet.

She wouldn’t say she knew what he was going through, she didn’t and saying as much was just cruel. She could tell him until she was blue in the face and out of breath that she would be there for him whenever he needed her, but that was obvious and if he was as smart as he said, Gabe already knew that. Fallon was going to say she was willing to get as close to understanding as she could with his help. She couldn’t begin to fathom how terrible being in that accident was for him. She’d never been in anything so horrific, but hearing his account of it all would be a start. His next statement caught her though and had her unfolding herself from the bed and going over to him. She touched his arm lightly, trying to see in those hooded eyes. “What happened after the accident, Gabe?” she asked, softly. She’d seen the stunt guys get hurt a few times, even with them having the training, there was always the smallest margin for error. She’d seen hospital recovery times, guys coming out of it not quite the same, coma once and a couple of them had to go to rehab. The petite blonde had seen a lot growing up, she could handle a lot more than people she could and now it was just a matter of bracing herself for the worst.

Tag || Gabe!
Words || 718
Clothes || Annoyed little blonde
Music || Scream --Hedley
Notes || <3

[Gabriel Pearce Fitzpatrick]

Keeping his dark eyes fixed on the tiny blonde, Gabe took a step closer. His own fears, guilt and panic had sudden become second to his concern for what she had said. He had never asked about why she had spent her younger years living with Trevor because he hadn’t wanted to bring up any bad memories; he knew how that could feel only too well. Now she expected him to drop the topic again after she had been the one to say a little too much about it? Gabe didn’t push, but he also didn’t let things go so easily either, especially not when she made it sound so terrible and they seemed to be letting all the skeletons out of the closet. “Yes we are.”

[/color] He said firmly, not wanting his girlfriend to be carrying the same level of baggage that he had been for so many years. If there was some more to the tale to explain it, then Gabe was going to need it or else the time he met Fallon’s mom – if he ever did – would probably be full of snide comments and questions from the usually cool and collected scholar.

Gabe didn’t take anything for granted anymore, but it wasn’t something he went around preaching about. He knew they had been lucky and he had heard time and time again that he had to think of the good things and stop feeling so guilty, but it wasn’t like he could just switch off and let go of those demons. He understood what Fallon was saying and he didn’t spend every day of his life worrying about what had happened or how differently things could have been. It still wasn’t easy to let all of it go on those few days when it did decide to haunt him. “I get all of that; I do. I just…forget about it. I can’t explain it.”[/color] He sighed, waving his hands as though he could get rid of the topic so easily. He couldn’t explain how the process worked in his head and he knew that they’d just end up chasing each other around in circles if they kept talking about it like this.

He knew that Fallon was there for him and he hoped that she always would be. This was just something he had never shared with anyone outside of his family before in such detail and words couldn’t help him get out of it. A day or two and he’d be like this conversation never happened; it was always the same. He looked down at her when he felt her soft touch. Gabe didn’t want to tell her this next part; he was afraid of what was going to happen if she knew his secret. The thought of losing her combined with everything else he was feeling right now brought tears to his eyes, his bad vision blurring even more as he gazed down at Fallon, biting his lip to try and control everything racing through his body right now. All the thoughts and all the emotions were working to exhaust him, break him and leave him as the same wreck he had been in the aftermath of the crash. “I just needed to forget.”[/color] He said before his voice cracked. Sniffing hard and blinking to try and pull himself together, Gabe turned away needing a moment to himself to get his thoughts together. He had never spoken about this part before and he didn’t know what to say or how to say it.
[/blockquote][/blockquote][/size][/justify]

• • •

TAGGED! Fall <3
WORDS! 627
OUTFIT! Nebraska Nerd!
LYRICS! Eighteen Inches - - - Lauren Alaina
NOTES! <3

[Fallon Alexandra Flynn]

It felt worse, knowing that her mother was alive and well, living it up in London, had been there when she’d gone with Trevor for all those movie premieres. It would have been a hundred times better if she’d lost both her parents, instead of knowing her mother gave up all her rights only days after her birth. She was able to mourn the father she’d never met with Trevor’s help, they had pictures of him throughout the house, and her very first tattoo was the angel wings on her back, for him. But her mother was a different story, one Fallon refused to acknowledge. She got how depressing it was to see the same blue eyes as the man you loved in your daughter’s eyes, knowing that was the only way she’d ever see them again. Fallon would be just as heartbroken, but at the same time, she couldn’t ever picture giving up her child because they looked like their deceased father. “I don’t suppose there’s any way you can put that on a list of things to talk about later?” she asked without much hope. She knew Gabe well enough to know he wasn’t about to let her get away so easily with spilling a little too much.

“Fine,” she said with a sigh, pacing the length of the room just to keep moving, to keep talking so she wouldn’t just stop. It still hurt knowing, but she felt nothing anymore, just a dull ache where the heartbreak used to be. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath as she turned and started back towards Gabe. “My dad died overseas, which I’ve never been secretive about. I’m proud of the man I’ve never met, but her, not so much. I looked too much like Carter Flynn, same blue eyes, same cheekbones, I guess because she couldn’t stand the sight of me. Every time she looked at me her heart broke again. She signed over all her parental rights over me to Trev and the rest is history,” she shrugged. “Trevor tried to hide it all from me, and at one point said she was better off where she was, like she was dead or something, but he left me alone with his computer when I was twelve and I found out she’s in London. She sends money to Trevor and shoes to me, but we both act like she’s dead and gone. We’re better off,” she said, feeling nothing at all about it anymore. It was just a story now, one she’d never told anyone before.

With her sad sob story out of the way, she could go back to Gabe’s. She didn’t like thinking about her own because it was just so stupid. There were so many worse problems in the world that hers just seemed so insignificant when she really thought about it, which wasn’t often anymore. Sometimes it hit her, when she got a new package from London in the mail and everything came flooding back, but it didn’t matter and after a box of chocolates and the list of movies Trevor emailed every week, she was fine again. And the next day, she took the unopened box down to the nearest thrift store and donated them to someone who would appreciate them more than Fallon even wanted them. “You don’t have to, I think I get the idea of it,” she said, quietly, seeing how difficult it was for him to say as much as he had already. She wouldn’t understand, she never would but she knew where he came from forgetting everything ever happened. She made like nothing hit her hard enough to make an impact, but she was just a good actress.

Now Fallon was starting to worry. She didn’t want to lose Gabe to the memories he held of the past. She didn’t want to lose him to anything at all! She had just gotten him to herself! He could tell her anything and she would just hold him close until the monsters disappeared. There was nothing he couldn’t tell her, she wanted to know it all, be aware of anything and everything. They couldn’t have a good relationship with secrets. And she had just told him what she’d been keeping to herself. She was sure there were probably other things but if she had forgotten them, how could she tell him, them? Fallon’s brows furrowed in confusion as she looked up at the scholar, wondering what so scary he didn’t want to tell her. “What did you do, Gabe?” she asked again, differently.

Tag || Gabe!
Words || 764
Clothes || Annoyed little blonde
Music || Scream --Hedley
Notes || <3

[Gabriel Pearce Fitzpatrick]

Despite everything that he was telling Fallon now, Gabe had had a pretty decent youth. He hadn’t been cursed with a broken home or family dramatics. Sure, there were fights and there were moments when scooters and tricycles had been enough to make him and his brothers scream eternal hatred for each other, but on the big picture, nothing had happened to the family to tear them apart. Even after the accident it only seemed to make them more united; Morgan came home from college more often and Ewan would try to take more of an interest in what Gabe and Esme loved so much about the past and the myths that had been built over the centuries. The scholar was convinced that this was his eldest brother’s way of trying to understand what had happened on that dreadful night, though to this day Ewan still didn’t understand Aphrodite from Artemis and gave up on the whole thing more times that Gabe cared to keep count of. He fixed Fallon with a hard look, refusing to let her slip away on this matter. “It’s already the only thing on the list.”

[/color] He told her, subtly reminding her of the conversation they had had that night in her apartment.

He knew the tale of Fallon’s father; it was hard not to when she wore his dog-tags so much. He did wonder what it might have been like if he had had a father to win around when he fell for Fallon instead of the laughing Trevor who apparently saw it all in the same manner that the Fraternity brothers did. He listened to her tale, his wild emotions running even wilder by the time that she was done. He didn’t see how any parent could do that to their child, even if they had been through such tragedy. He had never sat down and thought about children of his own, but he did know that he wanted someone to call him dad at some point. “I’m sorry, Fall. Trevor did a great job with a beautiful girl though.”[/color] His hand still shook as he stepped towards Fallon and raised his hand to her cheek, brushing her hair back from her eyes and stealing a soft, hesistant kiss from her before he fell back again.

They both played a part to hide their painful pasts and Gabe didn’t blame Fallon for keeping her tale a secret for so long. He couldn’t even begin to imagine his life without his mom in it, so he would probably never know what it must’ve been like for her the day she uncovered the truth about her mom. At least she had a good person like Trevor to raise her and give her the life she deserved. He looked up at Fallon with sad eyes and nodded slowly. He never spoke about his and now he didn’t know how to. It all seemed to make so much sense in his confused and chaotic mind, but putting his thoughts into verbal explanations never seemed to work out as he hoped. Most of the time he ended up rambling, even if people didn’t wish to listen to him and now it was as if he didn’t have the words.

He felt like a little boy lost for the first time, alone and terrified of what might happen to him now. The monster in the closet had come out to play all over again, this time armed with more hauntings that Gabe didn’t know how easy it would be to fight him off this time. He was scared of what these memories might do to him, what doors they might reopen, despite how happy he was with his life now. “I had pain medication, strong stuff, for my knee when the accident happened. They were enough to knock me out, to leave me in a different place where there was no pain at all. It was like I wasn’t even here.”[/color] He paused, his vision marred entirely now by the tears that were falling freely from his eyes. He didn’t think about them, or care about them, not when he was revealing his darkest and most painful memory to the girl he loved the most in the whole world. He took a deep breath and then looked back at Fallon, the last of his strength shattering. “I lied about the pain so the doctor would keep giving me them.”[/color] He confessed, his voice cracking as he sunk to the floor at the foot of his bed, his head in his hands as the shameful sobs rocked his body. He couldn’t bring himself to look at her, couldn’t bear to see her reaction now that she knew every truth about the man she was supposed to be in love with.
[/blockquote][/blockquote][/size][/justify]

• • •

TAGGED! Fall <3
WORDS! 839
OUTFIT! Nebraska Nerd!
LYRICS! Eighteen Inches - - - Lauren Alaina
NOTES! <3