Breaking Hearts and Breaking Bones Has Never Been So Romantic

Giggling like a little kid, I released Gabe's hand and skipped down the sidewalk, chasing after the butterfly that had glided past us. I reached up, trying to catch it but seeing me, it flew higher just out of my reach and lingered there momentarily as if it were laughing at me before it flew off. Hearing the laughter behind me, I turned around and found Gabe to be watching me with an amused look on his face.

Raising an eyebrow at me, his laughter subsided into a small smile before he motioned for me to go back to him. As I made my way toward him, he sighed softly, his eye lighting up once more as the playfulness returned to his expression.

"What the hell was that all about?" He asked, holding his hand out to me as I approached.

"I wanted to catch that butterfly so that we could look at it." I admitted. "I haven't caught a butterfly in a long time." I added, earning a strange look from Gabe.

Gently taking my hand in his, Gabe pulled me closer to him and then reached over, kissing my cheek softly. "You make it sound like you catch butterflies as a daily habit." He said, releasing my hand and wrapping it around my shoulders.

"No, not as a daily habit." I said defensively. "When we were little, Alex and I used to run around outside with this butterfly net our mom got us, and catch butterflies just to look at them. After we were done looking at them, we let them go."

"You and Alex used to run around, catching butterflies?" Gabe asked slowly.

I glanced up at him and found him to be fighting back a smile and then couldn't help but smile myself. "What? You don't believe me?"

"I'm sorry babe, it's just that I'm having a hard time imaging you and Alex running around as a couple of punk ass little kids, catching butterflies." He grinned. "I'm trying, but I just can't picture it."

"If you don't believe me, I have pictures somewhere to prove it." I insisted. "You'll love them."

"Oh?" Gabe asked, raising an eyebrow. "I guess I'm gonna have to take a look at these pictures when we get back home." He laughed softly.

"As long as you don't tell Alex what we're planning to do; otherwise he'll never let you look at them."

At my words, Gabe laughed loudly before tightening his arm around my shoulders. "If Alex tries to stop us, I'll take him."

"Oh really now?" I asked, a smile clinging to my own lips. "You really think that in a fight between you and my brother that you'd win?"

"You really think that in a fight between me and him that he would beat me?" Gabe questioned.

"Hmm, I don't know." I teased. "I've heard that you fight pretty dirty from time to time, and my brother doesn't exactly fight fair either. It's hard to say who would win between you two."

"Well," Gabe sighed as he led me down the sidewalk, with no general destination in mind, "maybe someday we'll find out who would actually win between us."

"Gabriel, I honestly don't think that you and my brother would ever get into a full blown fist fight." I said truthfully. "Unless ... " I trailed off, quickly shaking away the thought almost as fast as it had come.

"Unless what?" Gabe pressed.

"Unless you end up breaking my heart." I mumbled.

"Hell, I think that your brother would come after me with a baseball bat if I do so much as make you cry." Gabe muttered, his voice clouded with a gloom I hardly ever heard in it. He sighed to himself as he stared at the sidewalk in front of us before he turned his brown eyes to meet mine, giving me a somewhat hurt look. "You know that I would never make you cry, right?" He asked quietly. "I mean, at least not intentionally." He added softly.

"I don't know that for sure, Gabe," I replied, "but I'd like to think that you wouldn't."

Studying me intently, Gabe lowered his arm from my shoulders, and reached down to grasp my hand tightly. Squeezing it, he brought it up and placed a soft kiss on the back of it, his eyes never once leaving my own.

"I don't ever want to hurt you Angie, or be the one responsible for making you cry." He whispered. "You have me so fucking whipped that I don't think I could handle it, knowing I made you cry."

"Well Mr. Saporta, you're just going to have to make sure you never do." I replied quietly.

Slowly, Gabe nodded his head in agreement before he leaned over, pressing his lips to mine. He held them there for a while, taking his time with the kiss when a familiar voice interrupted us.

"Well, well, well, what have we here?" Ryland teased.

Growling lowly, Gabe pulled away from me and together we shot Ryland an annoyed look as he and Nate approached us. Ignoring our looks, Ryland looked at us in amusement before he nodded to a place behind us.

"We were just heading to the café at the corner a couple of blocks up here." He said. "You guys wanna go too?"

Gabe looked at me, questioning with his eyes whether or not I wanted to go and I shrugged my shoulders in response. "Sure," I said, "we don't have any other plans except for to wander around aimlessly for the day." The band had the day off, and we had decided to go off and explore the town for the day.

Without another word between us, Gabe nodded his head and gave my hand a quick squeeze before he stepped aside, allowing for Ryland and Nate to walk ahead of us. Glancing at me out of the corner of his eyes, Gabe tugged on my hand, leading me after them. After about a minute of silence, Nate struck up a conversation about a new video game coming out, and he and Ryland began talking animatedly about it, while Gabe and I would throw in a comment every once in a while.

Finally, the café which was our destination came into view. For some unknown reason, Nate and Ryland were in a hurry to get there once they caught sight of it, and they quickened their footsteps, racing each other to get inside. I laughed quietly to myself as I watched them, and then shook my head.

"Those two are odd." I said simply.

"You should see them when we get toward the end of tour." Gabe mumbled, shaking his head at the thought. "You think they're odd now? Just wait and see."

"I don't know, Gabe," I grinned, "judging by your tone, I don't know if I even want to stick around and see."

"Hey, you can't just up and leave me here." Gabe whined, "you said that you'd stay with me the whole tour; you can't back out at the very end."

"We'll see, Gabriel." I teased. "If you make me a good offer that I can't refuse, I suppose I'll consider stickin' it out."

Gabe stuck his tongue out at me in a childish manner before his handsome face broke out into a grin. Giving me a little wink, he reached over and opened the café door for me so I could go in, but I stopped myself short when I heard a small, yet agitated meow coming from somewhere up above me. I stepped away from Gabe and looked up, seeing a small, orange kitten perched high in a maple tree planted on the edge of the sidewalk.

"Aww, Gabe, go rescue that kitten." I insisted.

Gabe gazed at me, giving me a look that asked whether or not I was serious.

"Gabe," I whined, "look at it, it's stuck up there and it can't get down."

"Angie, it found out how to get up there, it can find a way to get down." Gabe sighed.

Stubbornly, I shook my head. "Cats claws are designed to climb up trees, not to climb down. Its stuck, just climb up there and rescue it."

"Angela, that's gotta be at least fifteen feet from the ground." Gabe retorted. "I'm not going to climb up there to rescue some damn stray cat."

Frowning to myself, I gave Gabe a look that clearly said I wasn't going to have it any other way. "Gabe, you're going to make me cry if you don't climb up there and rescue it." I said. "Didn't you just say that you could never make me cry?"

A hint of annoyance flashed in Gabe's eyes before he sighed heavily. "That was below the belt, Angie." He muttered. "Not fair at all."

"Babe, go rescue it." I said softly. "Seriously, I can't stand to see it stuck up there; it's just a little kitten."

Gabe stared up at the kitten, and then turned his eyes back to me, studying me for a few seconds before he looked back to the kitten. His eyes narrowed in irritation before he let out a somewhat overdramatic sigh and then he took off his jacket, handing it to me.

"If I fall and end up breaking something, you're going to owe me big time." He mumbled as he set off toward the trunk of the tree.

Silently I watched as he hopped up, grabbed a hold of the lowest branch, and then pulled himself up. Carefully, he balanced on the branch before he made his next move, climbing onto the next branch. He reached the branch that the kitten was stuck on easily enough, but when he tried to reach out and grab it, it shied away from him.

"Damn it." Gabe growled. "Get over here."

"Gabe, don't talk to it like that." I said. "It's just going to keep trying to get as far away from you as possible if you use that tone of voice."

"Well what do you want me to do?" Gabe grumbled.

"Just use a softer tone." I suggested.

Gabe muttered a few incoherent words under his breath. "Here kitty, kitty." He called, but the kitten didn't move an inch, causing him let out a little sigh of frustration. "Angela, I feel so stupid up here."

"Gabe, just reached out and grab." I said. "It's not that far away."

"Honestly Angie, this branch doesn't feel that stable." Gabe replied. "I don't know about this."

"Fine then," I frowned, "just forget about it. You climbed all the way up there, but if you're afraid you're gonna get hurt, you might as well just come back down here."

"Angie," Gabe growled, "don't use that tone of voice; you're making me feel like a fucking douche bag."

I didn't reply, but rather watched as Gabe slowly inched his way toward the little kitten, who was now clinging to the branch.

"Damn it cat, if I get hurt because of you I swear I'll ... " Gabe trailed off as he reached out and snatch the kitten by the scruff of its neck. The kitten let out a loud yelp as it released the branch, and then Gabe cradled it against his shoulder. "There, I got it," he said, now speaking to me, "happy n - "

Gabe's sentence soon turned into a surprised yell as the branch he was on gave way, and he fell to the ground. He landed just in front of me and I stood in shock for a second or two, before I rushed over to him and squatted down, frantically checking to see if he was alright. As I squatted down, the kitten, who had magically been unharmed during the fall, jumped out at me and scrambled up onto my arm, not stopping until it was perched nervously on my shoulder.

"Gabriel? Gabe?" I asked hurriedly. "Gabe, are you okay?"

"Damn it!" He yelled as he rolled over, clutching his right wrist. "Son of a bitch!"

"Babe, what's wrong." I asked in a small voice, knowing that this was my entire fault.

Gabe closed his eyes, holding his wrist as he did he best to lay still. I saw his nostrils flare up as he breathed deeply through his nose, and his jaw was set firmly in place, indicating that he was trying his hardest not to utter a whole new string of swear words.

"Gabe, I'm sorry." I whispered. "I shouldn't have made you go up there."

His eyes still closed, he replied, "its fine."

"No, it's not fine; it looks like you might have broken your wrist." I frowned, noticing the swelling.

Finally, he opened his eyes, and stared up at me for about a minute or so in silence, before a sparkle of amusement began to shine in his eyes. Tilting my head to the side a bit, I gave him an odd look, questioning him with my gaze.

"This seems like something that should only happen in those horrible chick flix." He said. "I can't believe that I actually climbed up that tree for some damn cat."

"You shouldn't have climbed up after it if you didn't want to." I frowned as I reached down and carefully helped him sit up.

"You asked me to, and I just couldn't say no to you." He admitted. "You have me whipped beyond recognition."

Despite the situation, I couldn't help but laugh softly. "You're not whipped."

Gabe raised an eyebrow, before a smile broke out across his face. "I just fell out of a fucking tree, holding onto a damn kitten." He said. "I think it's safe to say that I'm whipped." He mumbled as he stood to his feet.

Still feeling guilty, I did my best to dust him off, all the while with the kitten still perched on my shoulder, meowing every so often to remind me that it was there. After I had rid Gabe of most of the dirt on his clothes, I reached up and took the kitten into one hand, while I used my other to pet it. It stopped meowing and instead began to purr nonstop as it butted its furry little head against my hand.

"Looks like you have yourself a new pet." Gabe said. "I don't think Alex is going to be too happy about that."

"Alex is just going to have to cope for now." I sighed, holding the little kitten close to me with one hand, while I gently grabbed Gabe's arm with my free hand. "Come on, babe, let's get you to the ER to get your wrist looked at."

Gabe didn't reply, but let me lead him to the next street over where we were able to flag down a cab. The cab driver gave us a questioning look when he saw me packing a kitten, but he didn't ask any questions as he drove us off to the nearest hospital. Beside me, Gabe took a deep breath and let it out in a heavy sigh as he shimmied down further into the seat, and then rested his head against my shoulder. Smiling to myself, I rested my head on top of his, somehow knowing that no matter what I asked of him, Gabe would never say no to me.