call of the wild

“So - you’ll never guess what happened this morning,” April prompted over the cutting board. 

Gabriel’s first instinct was to snap at whomever had barged into his office without notice. 

Ever since he had chosen to move the company’s resources for another useless sky scraper to building on-site child care for new mother’s, his father’s punishment had been to bury him in paperwork. It had been the final reality check that his father cared more about money in the bank than the people they employed - as well as his own grandson and daughter-in-law. 

Now he had a tough decision to make... buy out the company with the majority of his shares and lose his father for good, or allow Edward Romano to leave a foul legacy for his son to grow up with. Gabriel already knew the right choice to make, but the heart he had grown ever since he met Sofia was giving him a hard time. 

“ - I have a technical question?” 

He purposely waited until her coffee cup was empty before approaching his girlfriend, clad in just a pair of his sweatpants that hung low on his hips. If he wanted to get dressed and ready for the day, the puzzle plaguing his mind had to be solved first.

“When people comment on your video of us saying they ‘want to punch me in the face’ - what does that mean? Is it some sort of euphemism that I’m not understanding? And why are so many people saying it?” 

“I know we said we weren’t going to do gifts... but we also said we weren’t going to fool around in public again... and that didn’t really work out. Wait, no -- it worked out! It really worked out! Unless you were the waitress... or the usher... or Athena, for that matter.” 

He’s yammering. He knows he’s yammering, and it had always gotten worse when he was nervous. But Sloane was different - she was so special to him - the last thing he wanted to do was fuck up his first real relationship. 

“I guess they need hobbies too,” Maya agreed with a soft laugh, though she couldn’t help feeling like he was right; she loved her parents, but growing up hadn’t been exactly easy with them. She once again stopped herself from telling him who she was, mostly because it seemed he was starting to relax, and she really didn’t want her name to scare him off. “Why? It’s fun to brag, people are always so outraged,” she joked, and gladly took his elbow, stepping a little closer to him. She told herself it was so it would be easier to make their way through the crowd, but the truth was that she just liked him. “Well, I can tell you I suck at scrabble, but I am a dragon at charades,” she answered, wearing a proud smile as she declared it. She made sure not to acknowledge anyone as they walked out, to make sure they wouldn’t be stopped. Once they got past the exit, she relaxed and hugged his arm, a rush of joy at having escaped the event at least for a while making her feel particularly playful. “I’ve been told I’m also an excellent kisser,” she dropped almost casually, adding a wink for good measure, before she looked at the street ahead. “What do you feel like eating?” 

“I thought being a parent was a hobby?” Thank God they were no longer within earshot of the senior citizens in the event hall - one of them would be having a fit. “I got lucky on the parent front - there were four of us to keep an eye on. Do you have any siblings?” Maya fit so easily against his side that it almost felt natural. Natural enough for him to temporarily forget about the butterflies swarming in his chest, and the fact that she was way out of his league. “A dragon, huh? I never knew those things were competitive.” Nate had begun to steer them in the general direction of the nearest hot dog stand the had passed on the way back. At least until he nearly stumbled head first into the pavement from her teasing tone, barely able to catch himself before gravity yanked them both down. “Ack! Sorry, I’m so sorry. What do I feel like eating?” Nate bashfully rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand. “You. I mean - food! I mean...” 

Before getting pregnant and before even meeting Gabriel, Sofia never would’ve thought that she’d be a working mom. She’d always thought she’d stay at home with the kids and be the boss around the house, but having Xavier had entirely changed her mind. She was the boss around the house, naturally, while also being able to work and not feel tied down at home because that was that way things were supposed to be – or so she’d been taught. Luckily, she had Gabriel, who had encouraged her to go back to work despite her having sobbed every morning her first week back from maternity leave, both out of guilt and sadness because she was leaving Xavier at home so soon. “I’d genuinely be calling a priest to exorcise that baby if he got out of his crib and down the stairs at five months, I’m just sayin’,” she nodded, a serious look on her face that was quickly replaced by a smile as Gabe’s lips pressed a soft kiss to the tip of her nose. “A lot of cars involved but only a few scratches and bruises, all good.” While there were times when she most definitely did not want to talk about her job, she was grateful that she still had someone who genuinely seemed to care not only about her but also enough about her patients to make sure they all made it out okay. Honestly, the man was perfect. “Oh no,” the pout was right back on her lips when he explained his day, and a sense of guilt washed over her for not having been there when their baby was clearly not feeling well. “Fever? Cough? Was he pulling at his ears?” It took everything she had not to go upstairs and check on him, despite the baby monitor being on the table beside them, but worry quickly occupied her mind. “Should I go check on him?”

She must have been able to see the way his eyes widened at the thought of an exorcist, images of split pea soup and Xavier spider walking kicked the drowsiness right out of his body. “Oh come on, not the exorcist! Ever since that movie came out they scare the hell out of me. No pun intended.” As much as he missed having frequent alone time with Sofia, he knew her job was extremely important to her. She had found a job that gave her fulfillment and happiness for the most part, something that he’d never had before. At least until he became a Dad. Gabriel’s parents never spent quality time with him when he was growing up, so even holding Xavier while he wailed in his ear gave him more fulfillment than his Stanford degree. He could deal with a boring office job as long as he had his real family.