When Annalise woke up from her nap, it was dark outside. She sat up and stretched, working out the kinks from her back. One of the many disadvantages of being on the run were the lumpy mattresses that smelled damp that she had to accept because the alternative was sleeping on the floor or not at all. The bed she was sleeping in now was not any of that. For the first time in weeks, they were staying at a proper house —somewhere in the outskirts of Munich— that offered all the comforts of a modern home wrapped in a lovely nineteenth century package.
She got up and headed to the bathroom to wash her face. She still looked exhausted, but she guessed it would take more than a nap to bring back the sheen of her hair and the light behind her eyes, if it ever came back.
She padded down to the first floor barefoot, following the sounds of laughter coming from the kitchen. It smelled of slightly burned food and weed. Annalise found Nathan laughing at Gabriel, almost crying of joy.
“What did I miss?” she asked.
“Gabriel burned the rice we were going to have for dinner,” he said, still smiling. “He thinks he can fix it.”
“It’s not burned,” he defended.
“Would you feed it to someone else?” Gabriel hesitated for a second too long. “Oh my God, you wouldn’t, would you?”
Annalise laughed with him before casually asking, “what happened to our takeaway?”
“Takeaway?” asked Nathan.
“You said ‘a quiet night in. Takeaway, watch a bit of telly.’ Or that’s how much I remember.” Annalise shrugged, trying to shake off the guilt that tried to creep in whenever she thought of the morning she killed her father. She didn’t have the energy to tackle those issues today.
Gabriel turned off the stove. “Yeah, Nathan, why are you trying to get in the way of a girl and her takeaway.”
Nathan grinned at them. “I don’t think we’ll find a place that delivers this late.”
“Then we go look for a place that’s still open,” suggested Annalise with more confidence than she actually felt. She didn’t want to leave this house in case they never saw it again; she didn’t want to be chased out before she had a place to think of as home. Gabriel assured them they’d be okay there for a while but Annalise couldn’t relax yet.
“There was a bakery not far from here. They may have good cheese,” suggested Gabriel.
“Well, then. We’re going,” she said.
Annalise found her sweater on the sofa and put it on, hurrying to the door. It didn’t matter that she didn’t have any money, she knew Gabriel was following and where they went, Nathan followed as well.
They found the bakery was about to close, but the owner was happy to give them extra of everything that wouldn’t be sold, like mini loaves or sweet pastries. Annalise made sure they bought other things the owner would have to charge them properly. Gabriel noticed what she was doing and added another type of cheese to their pile.
As they walked back home, they snacked on toasted almonds while discussing what they would put on the telly when they got back to the house. Annalise wanted to watch something lighthearted and funny. For some reason, Gabriel wanted to put on a horror movie.
“I need to see the good guys win,” said Gabriel.
“So you want to watch a movie where a guy tries to kill a woman in the middle of the woods? Should I be worried?” Annalise joked.
“She lives! She survives!”
Annalise and Nathan both booed him. “Way to ruin the ending, asshole.”
Gabriel protested, but, when the house came into view, he went serious as he inspected the wards he put up for any changes. Then he opened the door for Nathan and Annalise.
They sat around the coffee table with their food, drinking from a bottle of wine they found in the kitchen and fighting over the remote when choosing a movie to watch. They ended up watching a documentary about bees, imitating the narrator to tease each other.
For the first time in so many weeks, Annalise felt perfectly, incandescently happy.
The documentary ended and they put away their leftovers with minimal grumbling. Annalise and Gabriel quietly split the minimal dish duty they had while Nathan tidied up the living room. Once they were done, they stood next to the stairs looking at each other expectantly.
There were exactly three rooms in the house, so there was no reason for them to hesitate. They had slept like shit for weeks, it would be normal to want to be alone for a while.
Annalise did not want to be alone right now, and she had the nagging feeling that neither did they.
Before she could make up her mind on what to say, Nathan spoke. “Why don’t you guys come to my room?”
Gabriel raised an eyebrow in his direction, then turned to Annalise. “Are you okay with this?”
“Are you?” she shot back.
Instead of answering, Gabriel started up the stairs. Annalise followed him under Nathan’s watchful eyes.
Nathan’s chosen room had a bed as big as Annalise’s own. Once again, she wondered how Gabriel got this place in the first place, but she wouldn’t waste her breath. Gabriel’s most likely answer would be “wouldn’t you like to know?” as he walked away.
Gabriel left his coat downstairs, so it didn’t take long for him to be shirtless lying down on Nathan’s bed. Annalise took a look at him and his smug smile, and took off her t-shirt, unzipping her jeans next.
“Are you always going to be this competitive?” asked Nathan, standing by the door.
“This is foreplay,” Gabriel said confidently.
Heat stirred within Annalise, she felt her core warm up and her cheeks on fire. It did feel like foreplay, but a part of Annalise was unsure if the attraction she felt for Gabriel was reciprocated. It was nice to know that he still wanted to have fun with her. It’s not like they hadn’t been literally sleeping together every day for weeks, kissing lazily in the mornings, holding each other’s hand through the panic. This was different. New territory for Gabriel and her.
She pulled her jeans down and stepped out of them, kicking her shoes away as she did so. Annalise held Gabriel’s eyes until he took the hint and got to his feet to remove his jeans. He stayed in his underwear only, the only other things on his body were his necklaces and bracelets, but she wanted him to keep them on. After holding each other’s gaze for a heated moment, Annalise climbed onto the bed and kissed him. It was a brief thing, but it was enough to make the hair on her arms stand on end. When they pulled apart, Annalise touched her forehead to Gabriel’s, basking in the moment. At the sound of Nathan clearing his throat, they turned their attention to him.
“Are you joining us?” invited Gabriel, patting the bed next to them. Annalise sat on her heels to invite Nathan as well.
“I don’t know,” he hesitated. “How would it even work?”
“Clearly you have not seen enough porn,” Annalise teased.
“Don’t you wanna find out together?” Gabriel said, ever the charming one.
Nathan smiled. “Yeah, yeah, I do.”
Annalise stretched her arms, then took off her bra in a fluid movement, throwing it at Nathan. “Then what are you waiting for?”
When Annalise woke up again, sunlight filtered through the curtains, bathing the room in warm light. She was squished between Gabriel and Nathan, sweaty and hot, and her legs felt like they were made of jelly. One of her arms felt numb under Nathan and her back was sticky against Gabriel’s chest. There was no other place she would rather be.