Gabe and Genevieve: Chapter 1

Gabe and Genevieve: Chapter 1

Genevieve arrived in Riverview disgruntled at just about everyone. Her father had dumped her here as some sort of punishment or lesson or some such non-sense. He was "nice" enough to set her up at a Bed and Breakfast for a bit but beyond that she was cut off. When a large, muscular man walked into the B&B's garden headed straight for her, she just knew it had more to do with her father.


"Genevieve?" the unknown man asked her. She gave him a piercing look as a reply.


"I'll take that as an affirmation." he replied coolly. "You've been summoned." Genevieve attempted to mask her curiosity and made no reply.


The man looked at her quizzically. "Do you speak?" he asked sarcastically. Genevieve didn't like his tone and finally did speak up, loudly.


The man waited for her to stop ranting before speaking. "You've been summoned. Come along." He arched a brow at her waiting for a retort. She looked disgruntled as she finally followed him. After he got her in his car, he introduced himself. "My name is Eric, I work for the Regent."

This time Genevieve couldn't hide her curiosity. "This is a farming town in the middle of nowhere - there are no Regents." she replied.

Eric merely smiled at her and kept driving. Riverview was indeed a farming town and not particularly large so they arrived at a large house set on a cliff over looking the town. Genevieve was impressed but didn't show it to Eric.


Eric led her to a private office and left her there where she waited, and waited. She was getting annoyed with this "regent" guy and hadn't even met him yet. He was probably crazy, the highest position of power in this small town was the mayor - a portly man who had come to dinner at the B&B last night. He seemed to have a thing for the owner of the B&B...


Finally the Regent showed up, a man named Gabriel. He introduced himself pleasantly enough but after Genevieve made one tiny complaint about the unannounced visit of Eric, the fact that she had to ride in a Prius, the fact that she was kept waiting, the fact that he hadn't acknowledged any of these things - all pleasantness went out the window. Gabe reminded her of all the reasons she was in Riverview...

"Your father told me about you..." Gabe told her, not elaborating.
"He didn't!?! I knew it! I knew the moment tall and bald showed up in the garden that it had to do with my father!" she replied shocked


"Yeah, he did. I know he can bring out the worst in people so I was willing to give you the benefit of the doubt but you complained about everything under the sun the moment I walked in the door!" Gabe said trying not to get too upset with her.


"I was going to wait to tell you this until we got to know each other a bit better but you're moving into this house. Eric has already gone to retrieve your stuff." Gabe said point blank.
"I'm what? Wha? Why?! What are you talking about?" Genevieve sputtered.


"It's not my choice but it is what it is. If you want to go out in town, you'll need to take Eric with you - particularly at night. There's a lot of riff-raff in this town, trust me on this if nothing else." Gabe said offering her no other explanation.
"But I don't want to move in here!!" Genevieve whined


Gabe looked at her her curiously but said nothing. He'd never seen a grown woman - albeit a young woman - whine so well. Genevieve caught him watching her and rolled her eyes at him. "This is a joke right? You can't keep me here, I'll just leave." she said.
"You can try. But I wouldn't advise it." Gabe said before taking a seat at his desk. "Eric is back with your stuff, he'll show you around the house."


Genevieve left the office feeling even more disgruntled with life. As she looked around the house though she started to feel a little easier. It was certainly better than the B&B. If Daddy wanted to teach her a lesson on living on her own, this was hardly the way to do it.




Gabe showed up in the upstairs hall and showed her her room. The room was on the smaller side but it was comfortable with two twin beds. It also had an attached bathroom that she didn't have to share at the moment so it was acceptable.


"I hope you'll be comfortable here, I know this is..." Gabe paused as he thought of the right word... "difficult. But no one here will hurt you. Eric is a friend and...very protective." he said with a small smile. He wasn't telling her something but she could hardly guess at this point. "Eric's room is next door to yours. The room across the hall from you is locked, and will stay that way." he said somewhat darkly. They walked into the hall and he pointed to the door at the other end of the hall. "And this is my room." he said without opening the door.
"Do I get to go in there?" Genevieve asked, a little peeved about the mysterious locked door across from her room.
"No." Gabe replied.


"Seriously?" Genevieve asked starting to get annoyed by the growing secrets in this house.


"Seriously." Gabe replied. "It's late, I suggest you retire for the evening and get some sleep. I'm sure it's been a long day for you."


With that final note, he left her standing in the hallway and went downstairs.

The following morning, Gabe left for work at the local newspaper before Genevieve crawled out of bed. She'd slept like a rock and had almost forgotten the bizarre events of the previous day until she opened her eyes and realized she was not in the B&B anymore or even back home. She sighed, closed her eyes and tried to go back to sleep for almost an hour before she finally headed downstairs. Either forgetting about, or not caring about Eric (and Gabe's) presence, she didn't change into everyday clothes as she walked around the house. Eric was willing to ignore it if she was until she went outside to get the mail and the paper in her underwear.


Even after she changed, the two continued to fight and get on each others nervous and large mansion house just wasn't big enough for the two of them apparently. Eric, a perfectionist, had no problem pointing out her every flaw to her and she had no qualms about implying his mother (who she didn't realize was dead) was a llama.


Eric was waiting for Gabe in his office when he returned home. "Boss, you have to do something about that girl. Send her to someone else!" he said trying to remain marginally calm.
"Who exactly am I supposed to send her to Eric?" Gabe asked. "Everyone else was fine to leave her to the wolves under her father's 'suggestion'. No one else will take her in and old lady Brown at the B&B certainly can't handle this..."
Eric said nothing but grumbled a little in agreement as he left the office. He might just strangle the girl one of these days but Gabe was right.


Genevieve was relaxing on her bed, completely unaware of the debate going on downstairs. Despite the secrets and the general odd turn of events, she was more comfortable and taken care of here.


There was a knock at the door and Gabe entered. He seemed calm but Genevieve eyed him suspiciously.


"We need to talk." Gabe said calmly. He couldn't let this Genevieve and Eric thing continue. "How was your day?" he asked, a leading question.
"Eric is horrible! He's completely harsh! He got onto me about going outside in my underwear - it's not a big deal! And then he nitpicked everything I said or did all day." Genevieve said.


"And calling his mother - his dead mother - a llama was what? A way to make him stop that? To like you?" Gabe asked
"Well I hardly knew she was dead" Genevieve replied
"Not the point!" Gabe said raising his voice an octave. "You and Eric live in the same house, you and Eric will continue to live in the same house for the foreseeable future and getting blood out of the furniture is really expensive! So just try to get along with him!"


Gabe took several calming breaths while Genevieve fumed silently. "We're having a party on Friday night and you need a dress, I'll meet you downstairs." Genevieve wasn't normally so quick to forgive but she liked parties and the man was offering to not only go shopping with her but pay for said shopping. She met him in the car.


When they got home, he asked her to please try on the clothes so that they could pick one for the party. He was surprised at some of the things she managed to get a hold of during the shopping trip considering he was near her most of the time.


"Funny, you're funny." Gabe said. "No. And you can throw that one out, I don't think you'll find a time to wear it as long as you're here...next please."


Gabe and Eric just looked at her. "Obviously not." Genevieve said with a half-smile. "I'll go change."


"Better, much better. It'll do." Gabe said, looking to Eric. Eric didn't say anything but Gabe really didn't need his opinion. He looked back at Genevieve and smiled. "Thank you."

Once again, Gabe had to go to work early. When Genevieve woke up, she slipped out the front door trying to get into town for a bit. Gabe had stressed taking Eric with her "at night" - or at least those were the words she clung too as she left the house alone. Eric, however, saw her leaving...


Eric ran out to his car to trail her and keep an eye on her. Even without the circumstances, she had a way of getting into to trouble from what he'd seen.


When he tracked her down at the Gazebo, she was in a fight with a local. Like I said, she can get into trouble in the best of circumstances. She held her own but spotted Eric. That didn't help their relationship.


She returned home shortly after the altercation, purposely ignoring Eric as her constant tail. When Gabe gets home, Eric heads in to the office to let him know.
"She went into town today Boss."


Gabe glanced up from his work. "Really? Any problems?"
"She got into a fight with Malone" Eric said "but she held her own and Malone seems oblivious."
"Malone is always oblivious." Gabe said with a smirk. "Thank you for keeping an eye on her Eric, she has no idea what's going on."

Gabe went to track Genevieve and attempted to talk to her about going out.
"You don't rule over me Gabriel! I don't know whose Regent you are but you aren't mine, if I want to go into town, I'll go into town - any time I want!"


"You are quite possibly the most irritating person on the planet Genevieve!" Gabe exclaimed and walked away


Back in his office, Gabe called Eric in. "I need you to stay with her - constantly."
"I will Boss." Eric said, he already knew this but Gabe needed to say it and Eric was willing to listen. "Are you going to tell her?"
"Not yet. She's angry enough at her family - I don't think she needs more fuel for that." Gabe said as he spun a pen between his fingers.
"So you want her to calm down first and then make her angry again?" Eric asked. "She'll point her anger at us since we're here."
Gabe shook his head. "Okay Eric, you tell her that not only did her father kick her out, he also dumped her in the one place in this hemisphere where she would probably get eaten alive - literally. Yeah, you two are good friends, I'm sure that'll go over well."
Unbeknown to Gabe and Eric - Genevieve was in the hall and overheard the enough of the conversation to scare her.


She ran away from the office and out of the house before they saw her in the hall, Eric, however, saw her running across the lawn. They both bolted for the car.


She ended up back at the Gazebo and let off some of her steam by dancing with a few townsfolk.


She told the stranger she'd had a really bad day and just needed to relax. He gave her a hug...


Gabe arrived and confronted the man. Even if Genevieve didn't know Patrick, Patrick knew who Genevieve was.


"Gabriel!" Genevieve cried! "What ARE you doing?!"
"Stay back!" he told her sternly. He looked back at Patrick. "She's protected. She's Protected!"
Patrick sneered and Gabe and threw a punch...


After Gabe got rid of Patrick, he whirled on Genevieve. "I told you not to go out alone!"
"Why Gabe!? What are you not telling me?!" she yelling at him. She didn't give him a chance to reply as she steamrolled on "I heard you! And Eric! I heard you talking!"


She suddenly dropped her voice and unshed tears glistened in her eyes, "Is it true? I don't need to know everything but is it true...about my father?"
Gabe didn't reply at first. He watched her and then nodded slowly. "I'll tell you whatever you want at home." he said offering her his arm. She leaned into him and he walked her back to the car. When they were all in the car, Genevieve fell asleep on the way back to the house. Eric offered to carry her upstairs but Gabe took her in his arms and laid her in bed. "Tomorrow" he whispered.