❖Anna❖

Waking up is always a strange experience.
The dreams you where in are still at the back of your mind, but you're also already thinking of the day that is waiting for you.
Sometimes you wake up and have no idea where you are, until you realise that you are in your own room, snuggled up in your own bed.
And sometimes, you wake up and seriously have no idea where you are, because you don't recognise the things around you.

I slowly sit up in the bed and look around. This is not my room, that's for sure. It takes me a couple of minutes before realisation falls upon me.
I'm in Gabriels house.

The memories of last night start to come back to me, with Gabriels' words roaming around my head.
'I am the leader of the Capello.'
I'm not sure how I feel about that. I know the normal reaction would be to run away while screaming bloody murder. But I don't have that reaction. Everytime Gabriel has been around me, I felt safe. I never thought about the possibility of him being 'the bad guy'. Sure, he has the vibe, but that's all.

I get up and decide to take a quick shower, allowing my mind some more time to think.
The water is warm and suiting. And by the time I get out of the bathroom, I've made up my mind.

"Good morning. I see you've found the bathroom." a voice behind me says. I turn around to see Elliot leaning against the wall with a smile on his face.
"Hello Elliot." Elliot gives me a quick hug and together we walk to the kitchen.

Aro is busy making breakfast and Joel sits on the counter, telling his brother what to do.
" No! I said salt you idiot! That was sugar!" "Well then maybe you should do it yourself. And would you stop being so annoying!"

Elliot snifs, hiding a laugh. "Sorry Anna, this is how it always goes between the twins. You better get used to it.""
I laugh and the twins turn around. "Hello pretty thing!" they say in sync and Elliot answers with, "I know I'm pretty." before I even have to time to react.
Aro raises his eyebrow. "I wasn't talking to you." "I was talking to Anna." Joel finishes his brothers sentence as if they are the same person and I laugh again.

"It's their special talent." Elliot says, while holding out a high chair for me to sit on.
"That and annoying Raphael."the twins, once again, say in sync and they focus again on the food.

"I know about you guys." I say to Elliot carefully.
"And we know you know. Gabriel explained us everything this morning." I nod, focussing my attention to my hands, folded in my lap. I have no idea what to say next.
"Don't worry about it Anna. We'll keep you safe." Looking up at Elliot I see that he really means it. I notice how grown up he looks, way more of an adult then most people around his age.

"When are you officially joining the gang?" I ask Elliot after a little while.
"In three months, then I'll be 18." I nod my head and turn towards the twins. They might join next year since they are 17.

My mind wanders off to the story Gabriel told me yesterday. The twins must have been around the age of 5 when their mother died. The idea of a Gabriel having to take care of his brothers at such a young age, breaks my heart a little.

"Why are you staring at us like that?" "Are you undressing us in your mind?" "Don't tell Gabriel, he will be furious if we steal his girlfriend."
The twins snap me back out my thoughts and I can't help but smile ate them. "I'm sorry, I was just thinking."
"Well you can stop doing that now, cause breakfast is ready." Aro says and puts some plates on the table. In two second all three boys are hanging over the table, fighting for some food and I can't help but laugh at the scene in front of me.
Gabriel did a great job with those two.

❖Gabriel❖

"And you are a 100% sure about this?"
"Yes the elders need to know about the situation. I'm going down there tomorrow to talk with dad. If anyone wants to join me, feel free to do so."
River, Nicolaas, Raphael and I are in the meeting room, still going over some things for the gang.

"I'll come along." River says and I nod. "That's settled then. Anything else we need to discuss right now?"

"If you can date Anna," Raphael starts, "Does that mean that I can ask out Christy?"
"Who is Christy?" Nicolaas asks. He hasn't been to the pub a lot. He prefers staying home and playing games.
"A hot blond from Pub Gunn." Raphael says, at the same time as I answer with, "A friend of Anna."

"And here, ladies and gentleman, we see two different species of man. One looking for a prey, and one completely hooked." Nicolaas says, trying to imitate the voice of one of those wildlife documentaries, which result in all of us laughing.

I look at Raphael. "You do whatever you want to do with that girl. You always do as you please. So why would that be different now?"
"I choose to ignore the insult that was not so well hidden in there." Raphael answers.
"Who says I was hiding that?" I shoot back with a smile. "Let's go get some food. I'm hungry and I'm sure the twins already ate most of it."

Nicolaas and Raphael look at each other and fly out of the room, trying to get to the kitchen first.
River stays behind and looks at me. "Are you sure about all this?" he asks and I nod. "I haven't been sure about something like this in a long time. There is something about this girl. Something special."
"I can see that." River says and he stands up. "Whatever your decisons are, I'm right behind you."
"Thanks Riv. Now lets go get some food before it's all gone."

When we walk into the kitchen I notice that a lot of food is already gone.
Anna is sitting on a high chair near the counter. Amusement dances in her eyes as she watches the twins.
I walk up behind her and wrap an arm around her shoulders. She slightly jumps in suprise and I smile down at her.

"Good morning beautiful." I say to her and I see a small blush appear on her cheeks.
"You startled me." she says, softly poking me in my side. "I'm sorry angelo. Forgive me?"
"I'll think about it." she says with a wink and I smile again.
Nicolaas appears behind us, humming 'can you feel the love tonight' which makes Anna blush once again.

"Want to get out of here?" Anna nods and I hold out my hand for her to take and together we walk out of the kitchen.

"Did you get any food?" I ask once we are in the halway. "No, the guys were to quick."
I laugh, "Yeah, you need to be fast to get some food in this house." I look down at her and let go of her hand. "Go grab a coat, I'll take you out for breakfast." I softly push her towards the stairs and watch as she walks away.

"Going out?" River appears in the door opening once Anna is gone. "Yeah, we are going to grab some food."
River pushes his hands in his pockets and nods. "Just keep your eyes open and text us when something is wrong."
"Don't worry about me. I got my gun with me like alwyas."
River nods again. "Just remember what we talked about this morning." he says and walks back into the kitchen, right as Anna comes back down.

"Ready?" I ask her and hold out my hand for her to take again.
"Ready." she answers, and together we walk outside.

❖Anna❖

Gabriel and I are sitting in a cute, old stuled, dinner. We've already orderd some breakfast and are waiting for it to arrive.

"Does this count as a second date?" Gabriel asks out of no where. "Two dates in a row, isn't that a little heasty?" I answer his question with a smile. "Nha."he says, looking quite pleased with himself, "I think that it is just about right." Gabriel winks at me and I laugh at his boyish behavior.
"Okay, then we count this as a date. But, you are not paying for everything again." I say.
"Anna, money really isn't a problem for me. Plus... a gentleman pays for his lady" Gabriel tries to persway me. But I already made up my mind about it.
"Ofcourse it isn't a problem for you mister big boss. But I won't let you pay everything all the time. I wouldn't feel good about that."
"How about, we split the check. You will pay for the drinks and I will pay for the food." Gabriel offers as a middle option. I agree, knowing that this is the best Gabriel is going to give me right now.

"If you hadn't taken over the 'family business', what would you be doing right now?" I ask Gabriel after a little and he raises his eyebrows at me. "Why do you want to know?"
"I'm just curious. And since you decided that this was a date, I'm allowed to ask some questions to get to know you better."
Gabriel smiles and takes a sip from his coffee. "Technically, we both decided that this was a date. But to answer your question, I never really thought about it. I always knew that I, eventually, would take over."

"Okay, how about, if you could switch, what would you want to do?"
Gabriel laughs, "Let me think about it." He takes another sip and stares out the window. "I always liked history. I was fascinated by the old greeks when I was little. So maybe I would do something with that."
"That does sound very interesting indeed." I answer.
The waiter comes over with our food and we start to eat, still talking about everything we can think of.

At the end of our 'breakfast date' we both pay our parts and I ask Gabriel to drop me off at my place so I could do some study before I have to go to the pub.
"I had a wonderful time Gabriel. Thank you." I say when we stop in front of my appartment door.
"Anytime mio angelo. The pleasure was completely mine."

I smile up at him and we stare at eachother for a minute. I see Gabriels eyes flicker towards my lips.
And then, we slowly lean in.

His lips are soft on mine, warm and lovingly, but the longer we kiss, the stronger it gets. His hands find their way towards my back, pulling me closer, and I wrap my arms around his neck.
The kiss ends way to soon and we slowly pull away from each other.

I look up at him and find Gabriel already looking down, both with a smile on our faces.
"I'll see you tonight beautiful." Gabriel says softly and pecks my lips. "See ya." I answer, still repeating the kiss in my mind.

Gabriel smiles at me and slowly walks backwards. I quickly open the door and get in my appartment.
I turn around to get one last look at Gabriel, who is now at the staircase and sofly wave at him. He was back and turns around to walk down the stairs while I close the door, still grinning like an idiot.