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Post by Tori on May 18, 2008 11:26:18 GMT -6
Nothing much had changed, Gabe Harvest noted as he walked down the corridor of the sixth floor of Hogwarts. The paintings on the walls still snored loudly, except the few that stared at him as he walked down the hall. He couldn't say that it ever bothered him. Once you have gone to Hogwarts for a year or two, nothing like that bothers you. What did bother you was having to leave on such short notice.
Which was exactly why Gabe Harvest was bothered. He'd lost count of the days he'd been gone, but it had to be over a year. He hoped it wasn't over two, but who could be sure? There wasn't much civilization in Greenland, and thus no one with a calendar.
Now why in the world would he go to Greenland? You may ask. Well, Gabe Harvest was one of the best known magical animal caratakers in Europe, and something in Greenland was killing a very rare breed of Diricawl. Upon investigation--which took far too long, because he actually had to find one of the dead birds to figure it out--he found that the polar bears were running out of their food supply due to the melting ice drowning certain animals, so they were eating these birds whenever they could find them.
That had taken seven months. After that was solved, he needed to try to help repopulate the Diricawls and get the polar bears a different source of food. This took another three months, and then--due to harsh weather--it took him another two or three months to get back. So he figured it was just over a year, but that was too long. He missed the school, he missed his job, but most of all, he missed Amanda. You know the saying "absense makes the heart grow fonder?" Well, this proved to be true for Gabe on his trip. He would hardly admit his feelings for her, but he knew he'd missed her.
So that was where he was headed; to see Amanda. He paid little attention to those snoring and staring portraits. He needed to see Amanda, to see how she was holding up by herself with the babies, who probably weren't babies anymore. Maybe she wasn't alone; maybe she'd found someone to help her.
Well, no matter what, he knew that she was most likely not very happy with him for leaving. So when he reached her door, he hesitated a moment before opening it. He wasn't sure if he should knock or not. There were no sounds coming from the other side.
He didn't knock, but he only opened the door a little bit. The classroom. It was pitch black except for the soft light coming from the tiny window in the back and from the crack underneath the door, illuminating the desks just enough that he didn't run into anything on his way back to the door.
Again, Gabe only opened the door a little bit, and the only thing he saw was paper. Confused, he opened the door all the way. There was paper surrounding and upon the leather armchair in Amanda's room. And underneath the paper on the chair was Amanda, and Amanda appeared to be dead.
But no. The paper was moving where her stomach was. She was breathing. Gabe walked over to her and looked down. She looked tired, even in her sleep. There was nothing all that peaceful about it, really. She looked like this was the first time she'd slept since...well, since he left. The papers, he saw, were things for class that needed to be graded.
A rattling sound from across the room forced Gabe to turn around. Two toddlers were simultaneously escaping from two separate cribs. The little girl, Brooke, was attempting to slip out between the bars, while the boy, Pacey, was just climbing over the edge. Since the fall would have been much greater for Pacey, Gabe ran to him first and grabbed him. The boy stared in shock. Someone was defying him. Something had to be wrong.
Gabe set the child back into the crib and handed him a teddy bear from the floor. Delighted, the boy began to wrestle with the bear. Gabe had worries about this child's future. Not dwelling on it too long, he turned his attention to Brooke, who now had both legs out of the crib. With some maneuvering, she was free of the bars, but not free of Gabe's hands. She looked defeated, and he smiled, setting her back into her crib and handing her a doll he fished out from under her crib. She didn't grasp it right away, but after a moment, the child greedily took the doll and retreated to the back corner of her crib.
Now, for Amanda.
Gabe walked over to her armchair and began picking up the papers. Once they were in neat-ish stacks next to the chair, he ever-so-gently picked her up, her head resting on his chest, and transported her to the bed across the room. Setting her down gingerly, he pulled the blankets up around her and kissed her on the forehead. He really had missed her.
Gabe turned back to the chair and the stacks of papers. With a sigh, he picked up where she left off with the grading. After about an hour of this, he realized why she fell asleep. Setting the graded papers down into the pile he'd made, Gabe walked over to the bed, moved Amanda over a bit, and scooted in with her, covering himself up as well. The bed was not that big, so he held onto Amanda, scooting as close as possible so he wouldn't fall off, and closed his eyes.
He tried to ignore the fact that his feet were not on the mattress, and prayed that the twins wouldn't get out and attack them.
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Post by .Scotchy. on May 18, 2008 19:36:12 GMT -6
Papers... many many papers were all flying at Amanda. Some woth barely even legible handwriting on them, other printed out neatly and carefully, like the actually cared if Amanda could read their answers or not. She couldn't pick up exactly what they were writing about but she had a large pen in her hand to mark everything that was bad. And all she could do was just give them a big O. There was no choice, even when she had clearly seen that they wrote something wrong... all she could do was give an O. More papers flew at her, and at the same time she was thinking Why are papers flying at me? Why do I have to do this?
And then all of a sudden, as if it had hit her, she opened her eyes and sprung up. "Oh my God! I have to grade papers still!" She squeaked throwing her elbbow back as she shucked off some blankets. Her elbow hit something hard but she didn't pay much notice. Perhaps it was one of the twins toys.... that wouldn't be the first time. There has been multiple times that they just leave their toys scewn across her bed and later she would find the two somewhere beneath them sleeping soundly.
Which was the only time that they ever seemed peaceful. When they were awake they were crying and whining and throwing things. Brooke was always into mischeif and Pacey followed. They were hard to keep up with half the time she was wondering how she was alive. She knew she looked bad... or just worse than she did before. Her figure and all was the same, but her lack of sleep was showing in her face and affecting her food apitite. She rarely ate and ran around for with the twins... skinny was deffinately in her cadagory.
She ran around trying to find her papers.... they were on the armchair weren't they? Hey... SHE was on the armchair... wasn't she? She blinked and shook her head. Maybe she gotten up in the middle of the night and moved to her bed. She rubbed her forehead as she stopped and glanced around. They were no where she had left them. Her eyes spotted a clock... which had to of been telling a lie.. She had percisely a half hour till class started, and she wasn't showered or dressed. Let alone able to find her papers. She moved around quickly lifitng things up to find the papers. And before she knew it her small feet hit something that... wasn't suppose to be in the middle of the floor and sent her flying over it.
She made an oof sound and looked back to see what she had hit. It was a large duffle bag that was clearly new to her apartment. She brought her feet closer to her and her body closer to the duffle bag. She looked at the name tag that was attached to the handel and neatly written in the middle of it was Gabriel Harvest.
Clearly... this was a hilucination.
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Post by Tori on May 23, 2008 17:39:24 GMT -6
It was a quite rude awakening, really. I mean, the man had only fallen asleep about two hours ago, and then he gtes hit in the face by the elbow of a woman who clearly had no idea what was going on. The pain and shock of the blow sent Gabe Harvest rolling off the mattress and onto the floor, which hurt, but not as much as his now bleeding nose did.
So, with a throbbing head, bleeding nose, and leg twisted in an awkward way, Gabe watched Amanda panic and bustle about looking for something. He'd forgotten what a strange woman she was and smiled. Lord, he'd missed her. He made a note of this moment, because his happiness and her not-knowing-he's-there-ness were probably not going to last long. No doubt she was upset--neigh, livid--about him leaving in the first place. But coming back unannounced...what was he thinking?
The way he saw it, he had three choices. One: he could stand up and face Amanda. Two: He could walk out the door, with her still seeing him. Three: He could roll under the bed and hope not to be seen.
Choice three was sonding very tempting, but he wasn't sure if there was anything that might bite him under there so he had to go with choice one. If he went with choice two, she'd find him eventually and he'd still have to face her. Better get it over with than put it off and let her anger fester and boil.
Ew. Fester.
Sighing with regret and fear and preparation, Gabe stood up and wiped his nose on his sleeve. It was quite gross, but there wasn't that much blood. It didn't feel like it was bleeding anymore.
Amanda was sitting next to Gabe's suitcase--after she'd tripped over it. She was staring at the nametag in disbelief. There was no escaping it now. She knew. And she looked confused as hell. Gabe took a deep breath and walked up to her, standing behind her.
"Amanda," he said, trying to be confident. It didn't work out to well.
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Post by .Scotchy. on May 23, 2008 18:15:09 GMT -6
Seeing the name tag had put things together she wasn't really quite sure of. Like, she distinctly rememered falling asleep in the chair and not in the bed. But she does remember something strong wrapped around her in the middle of the night and she felt so safe. Something she hasn't really felt in a long time. It was like randomly a safety net popped up under her and was ready to take care of her. Part of her was at a relief and part of her was still a little mad at him. Which she had every right to be. He was gone for a long time after promising that he would stay and help her with the babies. He wasn't going to leave her. But he did, much like Ace did. And now he was back and in her house (which she didn't mind at all), but she had this feeling she was never going to be able to teach today. Which she probably wont. And by the sounds of loud talking coming from the other side she could already depict that she was late, really really late. She had to at least try getting ready.
If there were any doubts of Gabe's return, they were all whiped away with a single sound from his voice that came from behind her. "Amanda." She closed her eyes hearing him. It has been so long since she had she wanted to savor the sound.
She put up a finger, not looking at him yet, "Hold on." She then got up and this time stepped over his bags and towards her door. She opened it and popped her head out to the students, who quickly stopped talking. "Today is a silent study. You all have papers do in my class tomorrow, and I highly doubt any of you are close to being finished. I suggest you work on them now, and when I come back if I don't see you working I will double the size of your three page report and give you detention with the caretaker in the woods tonight." They all blinked at her silently, "And same if I hear a peep coming from this room. I mean it. Not a word."
They all quietly got out their papers and continued to work on them. She poked her head back in her room and then closed the door. She stood there facing the door still really unsure how she felt about all this. She was mad, and she should be, but at the same time she had no claim over him. He wasn't her boyfriend, or husband... just a friend. But oh how she wanted a claim on him. She wanted to say 'This is Gabe, my boyfriend.' to people. And she wanted to feel his arms around her and him loving her.
She turned around and took a nice long look at him. He was so tall, if she had walked up to him her head would be literally at his chest. She loved it. Her heart learched though as she can give another once over. She missed him. A lump was crawling it's way up her throat and tears were making themselves almost promonate but she refused to let them roll down her cheek. You could only see her eyes so teary that perhaps she couldn't really see herself anymore.
She stood there awkwardly, looking at him for the first time in a long time, "Where did you go?" She asked a bit more upset then she had hoped to sound. She then looked at him more closely, "Oh my... is that... is that blood?" She asked quickly and looked moved closer to him. She then saw that it was blood on his sleeve and some around his nose. And his nose was still bleeding some, "what happened?!" Her anger was gone and her curiousness about where he was was gone. All she wantde to do now was fix him and do that motherly thing.
She took his hand and led him to the bathroom. "Sit on the toilet." She said as she pulled out a mini - first aid. With Katherine busy so much she picked up the mini ways of muggles. She only did this with little things like bloody noses, small cuts and bruises, nothing major. She opened it up and found a little wash clothe that she ran under the sink with hot water. She than gently placed it under his nose and whiped away the blood.
She was closer than she had ever been before. She had her legs on either side of his thighs and her hips really close to his abs as she cleaned his wounds. She bit her lip searching in her box to find anything to prevent it from keep bleeding. She found a cotton swab and handed it to him, "If you put it in your nostril it will stop the bleeding," her voice was soft and mother like at this moment.
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Post by Tori on May 25, 2008 21:02:50 GMT -6
Gabe watched as Amanda stalled for a moment to instruct her class. He knew that she didn't want to teach today, and he could understand why. God, he was an idiot for coming here. Something bad was going to happen. Amanda could be one fiery girl, and if she was still mad--which he was sure she was--he might be in for it.
When she turned around, she didn't look angry, though. Gabe was slightly relieved. And then he got something worse than anger. She looked upset, and hurt, and lost, and he felt terrible.
"Where did you go?"
Gabe closed his eyes. Such a straightforward question, but there was so much behind it. Gabe opened his mouth to speak, but she got there before him.
"Oh my... is that... is that blood? What happened?!"
Gabe closed his mouth. He barely felt pain in his nose anymore. Before he could explain that she'd clobbed him with her elbow, Amanda was dragging him to the bathroom. It felt so nice to have her hand touching him again, even if she was in a motherly frenzy and would be upset again in about two minutes.
"Sit on the toilet."
Gabe sat patiently while she dug through a little tin box with a red plus sign he'd never seen before and pull out a few things. Must be muggle healing supplies, he thought. While she wiped the blood from his face, he thought about how he'd explain this to her. No matter what he said, he couldn't take away the fact that he hadn't told her he was leaving. Which would be the whole reason she would be mad at him.
"If you put it in your nostril it will stop the bleeding."
Gabe took the little cotton ball and shoved it up his bleeding nose. It felt weird, considering he usually just chewed a nougut to get rid of nosebleeds. But hey, whatever made Amanda happy. And right now, that was his number one priority: trying to make her happier with him than he knew she was. Good luck, Gabe.
"I'm so sorry," he said to her, voice as soft and filled with remorse as he could ever imagine. "You can't imagine how sorry I am."
He paused and took a deep breath. This was probably the best way to start off, if there even was a right way to start this off. "You have every right in the world to hate me right now, and I wouldn't blame you if you cast Avada Kedavra on me right here on your toilet." He poked his nose a bit. "I can't make this go away, and I can't make it right, no matter how much I want to. I screwed up. I left and should have told you. I had to leave, I had no choice, but I don't know why I didn't tell you. Maybe...maybe I was afraid you'd be mad at me for leaving. It wasn't until I got to Greenland that it occured to me that not telling you would probably be worse than telling you and leaving. I'm a damn fool, and I know it. I felt like an jerk every day I was there. I would have written, but if anyone could find one damn owl there, I'd give them a million galleons."
Gabe took another deep breath and continued. "So that's where I was. Greenland, on animal business. Something was killing the D--you know, that doesn't matter. But that's where I was, and there's no excuse for how terrible it was for me to just up and leave, because I know I said I wouldn't."
Gabe stood up. "So I'm not telling you to forgive me, because I know damn well I probably wouldn't. I don't expect you to. I hope you do, eventually. But I'm not forcing you to. I just want you to know what a mug I am, and how sorry I am, and that it wasn't anything you did that caused me to leave. It's my fault for not telling you. So again, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
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Post by .Scotchy. on May 25, 2008 21:53:00 GMT -6
He was a good patient. He sat there quietly and let her do her thing. And when she had him stuff a cotton ball up his nose (very muggle like) he didn't say a word, he just did it. Amanda loved that about Gabe, he seemed to do anything to make someone happy.
She bit her lip as she felt a serious conversation start up. She wanted to advoid it so mch, but at the same time she wanted to know everything: where he was, why he left, what happened, did he still like her, did he perhaps love her, did he find someone else? They were all things that were flying through her mind. But the finding someone else stood out the most. What if he found his true love and he left to be with her? And now Amanda was standing in the way. She could never do that. She knows frome xperience how hard it is to find love that actually stays.
"I'm so sorry, You can't imagine how sorry I am." His voice was soft and genuine. Something that made Amanda know he really truly was sorry.
Her golden eyes lifted up from his blood stained shirt (that she just so happened to be staring at the spot) to his eyes. His asking for forgiveness, and hers pleading for an explanation.
"You have every right in the world to hate me right now, and I wouldn't blame you if you cast Avada Kedavra on me right here on your toilet."
She glared at him just then, "I wouldn't do such a thing to someone I-" she was about to spill it all. But thankfully he kept going on.
"I can't make this go away, and I can't make it right, no matter how much I want to. I screwed up. I left and should have told you. I had to leave, I had no choice, but I don't know why I didn't tell you. Maybe...maybe I was afraid you'd be mad at me for leaving. It wasn't until I got to Greenland that it occured to me that not telling you would probably be worse than telling you and leaving. I'm a damn fool, and I know it. I felt like an jerk every day I was there. I would have written, but if anyone could find one damn owl there, I'd give them a million galleons."
She listened to him, and he really did make it hard to be mad at him. She understood that he had to go, and she was relieved it wasn't anything she did or another person. It was just a saving of the day kind of thing. It whiped away a lot of questions in her head. But she couldn't help being a tiny bit mad at leaving after promising he wasn't going too.
"So that's where I was. Greenland, on animal business. Something was killing the D--you know, that doesn't matter. But that's where I was, and there's no excuse for how terrible it was for me to just up and leave, because I know I said I wouldn't."So I'm not telling you to forgive me, because I know damn well I probably wouldn't. I don't expect you to. I hope you do, eventually. But I'm not forcing you to. I just want you to know what a mug I am, and how sorry I am, and that it wasn't anything you did that caused me to leave. It's my fault for not telling you. So again, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
He stood up making her stand a bit more in front of him with some space actually. She looked at him biting her lip some. "I could never be mad at you. I was only upset." Her voice was soft, "And to be honest I really don't deserve to be mad at you. I don't have any claim to you whatsoever. And if you want to leave you are free to leave. It was just that you promised me. And then you did without telling me... much like Ace. And then I got stuck alone." She felt like she sounded like a little kid. But it was true. She did get stuck alone with twins that she probably couldn't even handle right now by herself. She was still young.
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Post by Tori on May 26, 2008 9:39:55 GMT -6
"I could never be mad at you. I was only upset. And to be honest I really don't deserve to be mad at you. I don't have any claim to you whatsoever. And if you want to leave you are free to leave. It was just that you promised me. And then you did without telling me... much like Ace. And then I got stuck alone."
Gabe sat down again. Sitting down would have been perfectly normal if it hadn't been on the toilet. To Gabe, that took away some of the sentimental value.
"Amanda," he said, voice whisper soft. "You have to know that I didn't want to leave. I really didn't. I had to. But I was stupid not to tell you. I wish I had. If I could go back, I'd tell you. I'd take you and the twins with me, although they might not have appreciated the harsh climate. I hate Ace for leaving you, buch like I hate myself for doing the same. I like to think Ace is a bigger jerk, considering he's the father of your children, but here, I did promise I wouldn't leave. And while I didn't have a choice about leaving, I had a choice whether to tell you or not. And I chose not to. Any semi-smart person would have told you he moment they found out they were leaving, but I, the idiot, didn't."
Gabe stood up. "The truth is, Amanda," he continued. "Not a minute passed in Greenland that I didn't think about you. About how much I missed you. About how much I lo--..." He stopped. Was this right? Was this the right time?
Yes.
Without saying anything more, Gabe stood up and walked toward Amanda. "I realized it in Greenland, probably a week after my arrival," he said, about an inch away from her. "It killed me to be there that long without you. I need you in my life. I love you, Amanda."
With that, Gabe leaned down, placed his hand on the back of Amanda's head and kissed her with every apology he'd ever felt and all the love he knew he felt for her.
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Post by .Scotchy. on May 26, 2008 19:07:16 GMT -6
Amanda watched as Gabe moved like he didn't know if he wanted to sit or stand. Sitting would have made it more meaningful maybe, but it would be on a toilet and that only made it awkward. She couldn't help but find the comic relief in this a bit funny, so she struggled on keeping her laughter inside her. But once he started talking, all laughter was gone.
"Amanda, you have to know that I didn't want to leave. I really didn't. I had to. But I was stupid not to tell you. I wish I had. If I could go back, I'd tell you. I'd take you and the twins with me, although they might not have appreciated the harsh climate. I hate Ace for leaving you, buch like I hate myself for doing the same. I like to think Ace is a bigger jerk, considering he's the father of your children, but here, I did promise I wouldn't leave."
She blushed and looked down at her feet. She was reminded of Ace and what he had done to her. Yes, she said it, but it never seemed so bad coming from her. Only when other people could say it and point out what went wrong and why she had gotten pregnant in the first place at such a young age. And why she was alone in the first place. It was all Ace's fault, except for the pregnancy... she had a nice part to play in that as well.
"And while I didn't have a choice about leaving, I had a choice whether to tell you or not. And I chose not to. Any semi-smart person would have told you he moment they found out they were leaving, but I, the idiot, didn't."
"It's ok," her voice was soft as she lifted her head up from looking at the ground, to him. Her gold eyes filled with forgiveness. But he insisted on pressing more into his apology.
"The truth is, Amanda. Not a minute passed in Greenland that I didn't think about you. About how much I missed you. About how much I lo--..."
Pause. Amanda didn't move, waiting for him to finish.
"I realized it in Greenland, probably a week after my arrival, it killed me to be there that long without you. I need you in my life. I love you, Amanda."
And with that he had closed in on the small room between her and him and pulled her in closer with his hand on the back of her head. His lips met hers and she instinctively kissed him back. Her eyes closed and her body pressing into him. She needed him as much as he needed her. And she felt safe and loved with him around. It was perfect.
She pulled her head back slowly at the end of it and looked up at him with a small smile pasted on her lips, "I love you too."
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