“Hey, Gabriel!” Gabriel looked up to see Alex standing in his office doorway in jeans, a long sleeved t-shirt, and a pair of converse sneakers. Gabriel approved. Very non-medical. Very casual. Very unable to dampen the impact the sight of him had on Gabriel’s heart rate. Guess it wasn’t just the blue cashmere sweater. He’d get immune to it at some point, Gabriel was sure, as long as he kept microdosing with little exposures to The Face. And the Forearms. And the Ass.
“Ah, a wild Alex appears," commented Gabriel, greeting him with a smile. He uses off-the-charts charisma. It's super effective.
“Yeah, that is definitely not an ogre," Jaiden muttered under his breath as Alex stepped into the office. Gabriel snorted.
Alex held out a fist to Jaiden. “You must be Jaiden? Gabriel’s a big fan of yours.”
Jaiden duly bumped the fist and gave Alex a tight smile. “Yeah. I’m a fan of his, too.”
“That makes two of us. So Gabriel told me you might have some questions for me?” Alex pulled a seat around and gave Jaiden his full attention.
Twenty-five minutes later, Jaiden was smiling, had an appointment for the following afternoon at the clinic and Alex had charmingly pumped him for information about his father, including his work schedule and address. Gabriel was impressed, but not surprised. When Alex dialed up the charm, who was going to resist?
Gabriel made plans to meet Jaiden at the clinic to keep him company during his appointment, and Jaiden left to catch the bus, looking much less terrified. Things were moving in the right direction.
Gabriel and Alex watched Jaiden walk towards the bus stop through the glass front doors of the building. Gabriel was so relieved and excited he turned and grabbed Alex's hand in both of his, squeezing for a moment. “Thank you so much!” he said and stepped back, smiling up at him gratefully, releasing his hand. Alex had a funny look on his face and for a second Gabriel wondered if he’d offended him with the touchy-feeliness. But no, after a second Alex gave him a high-beam smile, looking perfectly unoffended and relaxed.
Alex sat down in one of the waiting room chairs and leaned foward. “I’m happy I could help. I don’t have any surgeries in the morning and I’m caught up on charting, so I’m going to run by the dad’s house and see if I can connect with him. It does sound like Jaiden misses him. Sometimes Alpha dads just back themselves into a corner and pride keeps them there. Maybe I can talk some sense into him.”
Gabriel threw up his palms in a praise-the-lord gesture. “If you can pull it off, that would be amazing. You’re like a fairy god…person. It runs in your family, I think.”
Alex, meanwhile, was going to stay right in that chair until he got the situation in his jeans managed. The feel of Gabriel's hands on him, however briefly, had sent blood rushing to all the wrong parts. His brain was parched, but his pants were a little tight. His plans to save their coffee date for a rainy day evaporated. Lack of impulse control was becoming a pattern with him. Just another hour, he promised himself, and then I’ll be ready to let him go for the night. What was the last thing he said? Fairy god person? “Yeah, right. My pumpkin carriage is parked right around the corner. Listen, I’m starving. Any chance you want to grab some dinner? There’s a really good little Lebanese restaurant a couple blocks over, and I owe you for the coffee last night anyway. Falafel is really good for pre-gaming a study session– full of fiber and protein. It’s science.” Alex held his breath and tried to look casual.
Gabriel was hungry. And in the mood to celebrate. “Sure thing. Let me grab my bag.”
The falafel was amazing. They chatted and laughed for an hour or so and then Alex gave him and his bike another chivalrous ride home and Gabriel hit the books with renewed energy. That night he dreamed about rain again, and this time he walked out of the pavilion into the rain and it was warm as it washed over him.
Gabriel arrived at work the next day in a chipper mood, but quickly discovered that the office was, collectively, in a mood. And the mood was outrage. Senator Thad Daniels had apparently announced that he was running for president while Gabriel was writing his practice essay last night. Daniels' whole platform was basically a greatest-hits list of “Alpha First” propaganda. And, terrifyingly, he seemed to have a large crowd of people who were buying into it. Everyone in the office, and certainly Gabriel, agreed that if he got elected, he’d set them back by decades. They prepared to redouble their efforts going forward.
In the afternoon, Gabriel met Jaiden for his appointment at the clinic. He got a big "welcome back" hug from Teneisha, who remembered not to touch his back, and who spent about five minutes talking about his hair. He got a handshake from Dr. Caris and swapped business cards with her. Gabriel was looking forward to working with her under better circumstances. Jaiden and Dr. Caris also hit it off, and after a long talk, Jaiden decided to start suppressant therapy. He was given a bag full of samples to get him started immediately, and Dr. Caris sent in a prescription for more. He looked so hopeful and relieved to have found his way forward that Gabriel could have cried.
Gabriel and Jaiden were just getting ready to leave when Alex returned to the clinic from the hospital with more good news. He'd done a surprise visit to Jaiden's house that morning before work, and he'd gotten Mr. Jeffries to agree to come in and meet with Jaiden and the clinic's counselor, Dr. Charles, for a session. "Your dad seemed a little lonely, Jaiden. He misses you a lot, I think, and I know he's regretting some of the things he's said and done. If you're ready to talk, I think he is, too," Alex told Jaiden in a confidential tone.
If Jaiden wanted that, of course. Jaiden did. They set up the family appointment for the next day, and Gabriel was pretty sure that Alex had pulled a couple of strings with Dr. Charles to get Jaiden and his father in to see her so quickly. Alex and Gabriel walked Jaiden to the metro station on the hospital campus and saw him off.
Gabriel checked his watch as they walked back towards the clinic. Only six. Still plenty of study time. Alex offered him a ride home and suggested they stop at a new ramen place for a quick dinner on the way. "Only if you let me pay this time," said Gabriel. "To thank you. And because it's my turn."
"Sure," said Alex. "Then I'll owe you one."
The rest of the month was a blur for Gabriel. He was so consumed with, and sick of, prepping for the Bar that when the test date drew near, he was more relieved than anxious. Alex had lured him away from his work and books several times for cups of coffee or meals to keep him fueled or for a ride home or just to update each other on Jaiden’s progress (his second surgery was in three weeks, he had moved back in with his father after the counseling session, and they were meeting together with Dr. Charles once a week).
At his most recent invitation to grab dinner with Alex, arepas this time, Gabriel had protested that he was afraid he was taking up too much of Alex's time. Alex retorted that it was in the best interest of the Foundation that Gabriel get through the exam in one shot. He was just being a team player. Besides, Gabriel was a better dinner conversationalist than Stoffel.
And then, finally, it was time for the Bar. The exam was spread over two days. When he walked out of the second of the two six-hour testing sessions, Gabriel was brain-dead, but satisfied. It had been hard, and the essay section had been particularly intense, but he thought he’d done well. Now he just had to wait.
He reached into his pocket to grab his phone. He turned it on and saw that he had texts from his mom, his brother, several friends, and Alex, all wanting to know how it had gone. He typed up an update and copy-pasted it to everyone but his mom and Alex. He called his mom and let him cheer and squeal and Gabriel basked in his mom-praise and enthusiasm for a while. Then he called Alex, who was at a conference in Chicago. He wanted to thank him for helping him get through the entire ordeal.
They talked for almost an hour. As Gabriel hung up, he felt a little wistful, which was weird. He felt the urge to call Alex back immediately. He hadn’t seen Alex in three days, which, come to think of it, was maybe a record since they’d reconnected at the board meeting. Because they’d been working together to help Jaiden. Obviously. And Alex was making sure he got through the Bar so he would no longer be restricted in what he could do at the Legal Fund office. Obviously. His mom had probably pressured him to help Gabriel. So he didn’t miss Alex, they’d just gotten into a little pattern that he’d gotten comfortable with, and the pattern was interrupted by the trip. He was noticing the interruption. That’s all. Obviously.
Get it together, Cooper.
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