Slow Dancing in the Darkness

“Gabriela?” Lionel posed gently as he stepped into the nursery that he had been working on for their daughter. It had been a few hours, Gabriela had put on a brave face whilst she took Noah to school and Lionel had had to make it through training, but he couldn’t take it for much longer. If she was going to yell, he wanted it over and done with.

Gabriela, who had taken a seat in the rocking chair beside the window, looked up at him. “I didn’t think you’d come in here” she murmured.

“I figured you had to be in here. You’re not anywhere else in the house” he noted with a small half smile.

Gabriela shook her head. “I was trying to keep out of your way” she murmured.

“Gabriela” he murmured, taking a few steps towards her “Mi amor, that show she put on in the kitchen, that was her petty way of getting back at me for saying something about her and Elliot. I was trying to stick up for you and she just…”

“I don’t want to know” Gabriela murmured.

“Gabby, I swear, I didn’t do anything wrong” he insisted as he stopped ahead of the chair, kneeling down ahead of her “It was Elena” he added.

Gabriela sighed. “I know it was” she murmured “I am not some idiot, Leo, not anymore, and I know a staged kiss when I see one, but it was like my worst nightmare coming to life. I watched her take Elliot from under my nose, I watched her tear apart my marriage in front of my eyes and seeing the pair of you, regardless of the fact it was her who instigated it, it hurt me” she admitted gently. She was upset, she had been from the second she witnessed it, but she knew that she had to believe him. He’d trusted her about Elliot when he’d attempted to kiss her and Gabriela wanted to give him the same benefit of the doubt.

Lionel sighed and sat down, resting his back against the crib which he’d built a few days earlier. “I wish I could have spared you from seeing that” he noted gently.

Gabriela looked down at her husband. “I knew I shouldn’t have let her in. She’s still the same petty witch she was in high school” she mused.

“Petty witch?” Lionel posed.

“She’s like a female Eli” Gabriela noted “Always after something she can’t have. In school, it used to be a pair of my jeans or a shirt I bought, but then Eli walked into my life and then you…I don’t know why, but she’s always wanted to take things of mine” she explained softly.

Lionel noted the tone of her voice, not missing the slight shake of it, and stood up, making his way over towards her. “Gabby, she’s not going to take me away from you” he noted gently.

Gabriela sniffed. “I thought that last time” she murmured, quietly ruing her pregnancy hormones for making her more upset than she wanted to be.

Lionel placed a hand on her cheek and ran his thumb beneath her eye, gently wiping away the salty tears which she was trying her hardest not to cry.

“I thought he would fight for me, for Noah, but he just sort of shrugged and conceded. I can’t fail at this again, Leo, I can’t be 30 years old and twice divorced with two kids by different men” she babbled tearfully.

Lionel shook his head. “You’re not going to be” he assured her gently.

“Are you sure?” Gabriela posed “Are you sure about me and you?” she added, her blue eyes peeking up at him.

“Gabriela, I have never been surer” he noted gently “I love what we have here” he insisted.

“Really?” she peeped.

Lionel smiled at her gently and pressed a kiss to the top of her head, his hand sinking down to the bump on her stomach. “I know it’s been rushed, and I know that that plays on your mind more than it does on mine, but Gabby, what you and I have made here, it’s amazing and I am not going to run away from it now just because Elena’s a witch. She might have taken Elliot from you and Noah, but I am going nowhere. I am not going to run out on you or our girl, Gabby, and you need to believe that” he insisted, his thumb gently running over the material of her t-shirt.

Gabriela watched the small movement of his thumb before she looked up at his face, not missing the sincerity in his eyes. “I believe you” she murmured, tweaking a small smile.

Lionel smiled back at her gently before he ducked down, kissing her bump gently. “What do you think about Sofia?” he murmured.

“Sofia?” Gabriela posed.

“I was thinking about it as a name. I’ve been batting a few around for a little while and I decided that Sofia was the one I liked the best” he explained.

“Sofia” Gabriela repeated “Sofia Messi Cruz” she added.

Lionel smiled. “You don’t have to say yes, you know” he teased, his hand still brushing away a few loose tears which were on her cheeks.

“It’s nice” Gabriela commented gently “I like it, I just…when I named Noah, I knew what I wanted to call him when I held him for the first time” she explained.

“So you want to wait?” Lionel posed.

“I want to wait” she confirmed gently.

Lionel nodded his head. He wasn’t about to insist that they choose their daughter’s name in that moment, especially after the small fight that they had had. “We can wait” he mused gently “I just want to make sure that you’re OK, Gabby” he assured her gently, pressing a light kiss to the top of her head. It was always going to be on her mind, her marriage breakdown with Elliot clearly had stuck with her, but he didn’t mind reassuring her every now and again that he wouldn’t be like the lawyer. Elliot had messed up in letting Gabriela go and Lionel wasn’t going to make the same mistake.

Gabriela noted the kind smile on his face and sat up a little, pressing a kiss against his lips. “I will be if you stay around” she mused between innocent pecks.

Lionel smiled. “I’m going nowhere” he replied.