A soft breeze blew through Annalise and she shivered, despite the jacket she had thrown on when she came to sit outside.
For the third night in a row, she woke up from the same nightmare where she was in trial for killing her father. Her mother's I have no daughter rang in her head as real as the cold sipping through her skin. The passage of time had only made her aware of all the places where her soul had cracked when she fought him —when she killed him, she reminded herself bitterly.
Ever since they arrived to the Munich house —a place she had reluctantly started to think of as her own—, nightmares had plagued her nights in one way or another. If not hers, then Nathan's. If not Nathan's, then Gabriel's. They all had unlocked a lifetime of nightmares since Wolfhagen.
Annalise usually sat outside, waiting for one of her boys to wake up so they could go on a walk. She didn't need any of them to protect her, but she knew she'd feel a lot better if someone who could wipe someone's memories or stop time were with her in case her powers were out of control. Not that it would do any good, but still. Maybe she just waited for them because she didn't want to be alone.
She heard the door behind her open and close, then footsteps, then a sigh as Gabriel sat down next to her. Annalise looked at him, took in the dark circles under his eyes and said, "nightmare?"
Instead of answering, which was an answer in itself, Gabriel got his bag of weed out and shook it in front of her.
"Isn't it a little early?" asked Annalise, gesturing to the sky greying around the edges with the promise of dawn.
"Mon amour, ma chérie, is it ever too early to start the day right?" he asked, grinning.
She rolled her eyes at him, but smiled. Gabriel's preferred method of dealing with nightmares was to put as much distance as he could between himself and the memories. Annalise was quite fond of it, if she was honest. Smoking with Gabriel was one of her favorite ways to unwind, right up there with mind blowing, out-of-this-world threesomes.
As Gabriel prepared the weed, grinding the buds slowly, mindfully, he said, "Nathan woke me up."
"You couldn't wake up?"
"He's training," Gabriel said.
Annalise sighed, tired. Nathan's preferred way to unwind was to exercise until his limbs went numb. Gabriel and Annalise had tried to give him alternatives, but he was adamant that it was the only thing that helped him come down from it all. Annalise had the suspicion that it was more punishment than relaxation, but she never said anything. She didn't know what she was supposed to say anyway.
Her eyes followed Gabriel's pink-stained fingers as he rolled the joint expertly, her pulse racing when Gabriel's tongue licked the edge of the rolling paper to close it. When he was done, he glanced up at Annalise and raised an eyebrow, clearly amused by having her stare at him. When all Annalise did was raise and eyebrow back, he smiled and offered her the joint.
"I don't have a lighter," she said.
He sighed dramatically, clearly joking, and patted himself down until he found the cheap lighter she gave him back in London, before her father tried to kill her and her boys, before she was chased by the people she thought she knew, before, before, before… It seemed like a lifetime ago, when in reality it hadn't been more than three months.
Annalise took the offered lighter and lit up, swallowing the wave of sadness that threatened to make her cry once more. She took a deep hit, held it in as long as she could, then exhaled looking at the fading stars high up in the sky.
Distractedly, she wondered where Gabriel had gotten weed, but decided not to question it. The last time she asked, the only answer she got was I have my ways.
When she passed Gabriel the joint, the man said, "we should go on vacation."
"Vacation?" she repeated.
"Yeah, vacation." He took another hit and passed the joint back before continuing. "Munich is not a vacation destination."
"What do you suggest?"
"Something warmer. Italy, maybe. I hear Sardinia is beautiful this time of the year."
Annalise took another hit, feeling the smoke curl inside her lungs as she held her breath. She tried to blow rings as she exhaled, the way Gabriel showed her, but she barely got one before the smoke rushed out of her in a cough.
Gabriel laughed as he took the joint from her and patted her back.
"I don't speak Italian," was the first thing she said, trying to find a practical reason not to leave.
"I can get by. Might be a little rusty, but I'm sure my pretty face will be more than enough to help us where my vocabulary lacks."
"You speak Italian?" she asked, surprised.
"Perché questa sorpresa? Most Europeans learn another language." He exhaled, blowing rings that looked perfect to Annalise's eyes. Show off.
"I'm European," she defended.
"Only by technicality," he joked. "The English forget that not everyone loves their boring language."
When he passed the joint back to Annalise, she said, "then teach me."
His eyes lit up, but his voice was flat as he said, "you're not serious."
"I am," she insisted.
After a moment of consideration, Gabriel nodded. "Okay. I'll teach you. Later though, Nathan is coming."
True to his word, not a minute later, Nathan opened and closed the door, sitting on Annalise's other side. He was sweaty and disheveled, and Annalise had to stop herself from licking the side of his face.
"You know," Gabriel started, "if you wanna kill yourself with physical exertion, I know of other much more pleasurable activities to pass the time."
Nathan, ragged breathing and all, said, "fuck you."
"Fuck me yourself, you coward," replied Gabriel with a smile.
Nathan put his hand out and Annalise wordlessly gave him the joint. He took a deep hit and coughed immediately. She laughed, feeling slightly lightheaded from the weed, but not enough to forget herself yet. After the coughing fit passed, Nathan smoked the rest of the joint in silence.
Annalise basked in their company, as the sun came out and bathed everything with its warm light. Gabriel, for his part, rolled another one and passed it to Annalise to light up.
Ten minutes later, when they were all feeling a little loopy, Annalise spoke up. "Gabriel thinks we should go on vacation."
"Yeah, where?" Nathan asked.
"Italy."
"Never been."
"Neither have I," she said.
Nathan looked pensive as he said, "would we come back?"
Annalise's stomach tightened. She didn't think they would, but this house was the first place she had felt safe in months. She wanted to keep it a little longer.
"Maybe. Who knows?" Gabriel replied. In Annalise's mind, that was a clear no. "I have a feeling neither of you will want to come back."
Nathan nodded. "Sometimes I wish we could stop running."
"We will," Gabriel said, almost immediately.
"Gabriel—"
"I mean it. Just name the place, I'll make sure we get to stay."
Annalise's heart warmed. The longer she knew Gabriel, the more she fell for him. How could she not, when he was ready to do whatever it took to keep them happy and safe? Nathan looked at them with something that felt a lot like devotion. He swallowed and nodded.
Trying to lighten the mood, Annalise said, "so… Italy?"
Nathan gave them his brightest smile. "Pack your bags, family. We're going to Italy!"
Their loud cheering woke the neighbor's dog, and his barks made them shush each other in between giggles. Still, Mrs. Glas yelled from the second floor window in heavily accented English, "it's six a.m. on a Saturday! Go the fuck to sleep!"
Later, much later, as they left carrying the meager possessions they accumulated during their month in Munich, they stopped by Mrs. Glas' house with a basket of cheese and a bottle of wine. The woman hugged them goodbye and wished them a good trip, saying they had been the nicest neighbors she had in a long time and couldn't wait to have them back.
Gabriel sighed as he used the memory powder on her.
"Thank you for your help," said Annalise, watching as the woman looked at the basket in her hands curiously.
As they walked out of town, on their way to the closest cut that would take them to Italy, Annalise sent a prayer to whatever God was listening hoping that their next destination would be their final stop for a while.