Never Letting Go

1. Waking Up To An Empty House

It's been twelve hours since Anna's attack. It gave her some bruised ribs, but nothing serious. She stirs in her unconscious state and opens her eyes. *What the heck happened? I remember seeing Gabriel kill Dracula and me running at him with the cure poised in the air. After that... nothing. Why am I in my room?* She thought to herself. *I better go find Gabriel and get some answers.* She thought and stood up to look for him.

After an hour of running all over the manor, she could find no sign of the monster hunter nor the Friar Carl. *NO!* Her mind screamed as she ran through the den to the front door tears starting to sting her eyes. As she was about to burst out, the doors flew open to reveal the man of her thoughts and she ran right into him.

Gabriel caught her before she fell and steadied her upright. "Whoa." He said then saw her tears. "Anna? What's the matter?"

Anna blinked and looked at him realizing who she ran into. "Gabriel?" She asked in a whisper.

"I wasn't expecting you to be up yet. Are you alright?"

She said nothing and threw herself into his arms wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him for dear life. Carl came running in at that moment. "Van Helsing, y..." He stopped mid sentence and just stood there.

"Not now, Carl. Go Cable Rome." Gabriel said holding Anna and rubbing her back.

Carl shrugged and scurried off towards the tower. Anna pulled away just enough to look at him, but never tried to stop her tears. "I woke up and you weren't here. I looked all over the manor for an hour and with no sign of you or even Carl, I got scared. I thought either I didn't save you or you left me. I thought for sure I was alone."

Gabriel wiped her tears with the pads of his thumbs and cupped her face. "Of course not. We left to help Frankenstein start his journey to a new life. Then we went to town because I had something to buy that was important and Carl decided to buy some food to restock your kitchen. I wasn't expecting you to be up until sometime after we got back. Otherwise, I would have left a note."

"Please wake me next time. I was so scared and my heart just shattered when I couldn't find you."

"Alright. Though I may not need to."

"What do you mean?" She asked confused.

He said nothing pulling something from his pocket and getting down on one knee. Opening the small velvet box he smiled. "Anna Marie Valerious, will you marry me?"

Anna gasped covering her mouth in shock. Not trusting her voice, she nodded vigorously. He slid the ring on her finger and stood up to face her smiling. She smiled back then pulled him down for a sweet and soft, but passionate kiss. After a minute, she pulled away. "I love you, Gabriel Van Helsing."

"I love you too, Anna." He replied and kissed her forehead.

"So what now?" She asked looking at him.

"Well, I can't just not go back to Rome. So, first we'll go there after we hear back from the cardinal and then Carl and I will pack our things. Then we'll marry there and go on our honeymoon while Carl brings all of our stuff home and settles us in." Gabriel said.

"But what of your job?"

"The assignments will be sent to us in letters and we'll fight the monsters together. Side by side as husband and wife."

"You mean that I won't ever be left home alone?"

"Nope. You're coming with me. You're my equal in every way, Anna. I couldn't stand leaving you here alone. Even with Carl as company. He wouldn't be very good company anyway. Not to be mean or anything. It's just he's so attached to his books and inventions, you'd almost never see him."

"Oh." She said and nodded in understanding. "But what about a family?"

"We'll manage. When the time comes, each time you first give birth, you'll only be home for the first six weeks on maternity leave to recover and then you'll meet me wherever the assignment is taking place. Or if it's done, I'll meet you here at home."

"And what of the children?"

"Until they're old enough to start training, we'll just keep them with us. Unless you'd prefer Carl watches them."

Anna thought for a minute imagining Carl watching their kids then shook her head making a face. "No. He'd most likely blow them up."

Gabriel chuckled. "With the stuff he messes with, you're probably right." She giggled. "Come on, Darling. Lets go put the groceries away."

She nodded and helped pick some bags up full of food and followed him to the kitchen.