.Wednesday two days before the first court date.
"Ashley I need to head to work, are you sure you're okay to stay alone today?" Over the past two days, Gabriel had made Ashley stay at his place and not go into work.
He was worried about her still, she wasn't doing well. Though the break had definitely helped her again, she still was quiet and was spaced out a lot. He had called Tommy and gotten her to come into the building for the next two weeks, if not to help Ashley then just help out in general with everyone else.
With Ashley being away for a few days again, it made almost everyone question things again and get worried. The first day her phone was blown up and the next it was still constant messages.
Gabriel had to shut her phone down for hours on end because it was making Ashley more panicked, and that is what they were trying to avoid at the moment.
"Y-Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"
"You've been locked up in here for two days now, I just want to make sure you're okay being alone."
"I'm okay. Really."
"This is the last day. Okay? I really need my secretary, you know." Gabriel jokes the last part out while getting up and kissing Ashley's head. Both the joke and the kiss made her smile.
"Okay. I'm sorry for taking days off-"
"Don't be sorry, you needed it. It's fine. I need to go though, I'll be back later tonight."
"Alright, have a good day at work." As Gabriel went down the stairs to the door, Ashley got up and watched him leave. Waving lightly as he winked and locked the door.
She did feel bad for not coming in again. She felt insanely bad that Gabriel was dealing with her anxiety right now too.
For the past two nights it's been tears or silence or shaking. It was just panic wave after wave hitting Ashley. She had trauma because of a man that manipulated her over the years. Not just over the recent hittings or women or even breaking down her work place.
It had gone on for a long time; and he still terrified her enough to cause her to panic this much and shut down. Even after a month away, and getting the steps to get better, it was just the trauma of John.
She felt that she hadn't hardly talked to people again and that Gabriel was taking care of her.
————————
.Hours later.
"Danny?"
"One seco- oh. Hey Gabriel." Danny was sitting at his desk working on paperwork for new clients when Gabriel had come into his office and shut the door.
"Can I speak with you for a moment?"
"I mean you're already here...sorry, yeah what did you need?"
Taking a seat in a chair by Danny's desk, Gabriel folded his hands and leaned on his knees before speaking. "Have you talked to Ashley lately?"
"Um...no. She's shut herself off again I guess. You would know..." Danny knew very well that Ashley was staying with Gabriel and didn't like it one bit. He knew that Gabriel knew what was going on more than Danny, and he hated that fact as well. Needless to say he was bitter towards his boss at the moment.
"How often does this happen with her?"
"Not a lot, only when her anxiety goes up enough. It just helps her a bit if she doesn't have to deal with a lot of people or anything. She can get like that for a few days if it gets bad enough. That's why her phone is off."
"I figured, but thought I should ask someone closer to her. I think you should try to get through to her. She's been really reserved lately."
"It's hard to talk to her when she doesn't answer her phone and is locked up in that apartment of yours." Danny had practically spit his words out to Gabriel now, not looking at him and down at his work instead now, but not touching it.
"That's also what I wanted to talk about. I told her to take a day or two off of work again, but she is completely alone there right now. I think she should stay with you for a few days to get back on track."
"Oh you think?"
"Danny please, this is not the place-"
"Don't this is not the place. She shouldn't even be in your home. She shouldn't have been in your home for the past two weeks! You don't know how to deal with her, you don't know her. You shouldn't have taken her and offered all this to her. You should have let me deal with her Gabriel."
"Danny-"
"No! You don't know her. You don't know what she is going through or what she has been through! I do! The fact that I can barely talk to her right now because of you makes me sick, you need to stop. She doesn't need you, she needs her friends. That's not you. She doesn't need whatever you're giving her. You don't know her."
It was a pause of silence between the two men. Suddenly the air felt thick and heavy. Danny couldn't move and Gabriel just stood there looking at him.
The fact was, Danny was wrong.
Gabriel knew what she was going through, on an entirely new and old level. He knew what she was feeling, he sadly knew what Danny was feeling as well.
Gabriel himself was a victim. And no one besides him and very, very few people knew. His trauma was there, in the back of his head. Haunting him anytime he did something with someone.
That's why he suddenly took a protective role to Ashley. That's why he wanted to help her, because he never got that help until it was too late. He wanted to give Ashley somewhere safe, because he never got that. He wanted to give Ashley something that she could use to take a grasp onto the world.
And yet he was seen as another bad guy in Danny's eyes. And that hurt him as well.
"I'll talk to Ashley about staying with you for a few nights. I would prefer you to still stay at Jack's for your safety Danny."
And with that Gabriel was gone and in his own office, gripping a chair tightly as his breathing was off balance and harsh.
His mind fogged up, his hands shook, he panicked.
Danny yelling at Gabriel about Ashley and not knowing what she went through sent his mind to terrible memories. He knew and he hated that.
Suddenly wave after wave sent him to the floor against his desk with tears sliding down his face.
For an hour he sat like that, eyes wide with tears running over his cheeks and stubble that was growing. His black hair was disheveled and messy and his hands were still shaking.
It wasn't until Tommy had come in for a question when his mind was brought back out of that haze of memories. He hadn't realized she was there on the floor with him until she took his hands and in hers.
"Gabriel, dear?" He only looked at her and cried. Tommy knew Gabriel's trauma. She was one of the people who knew and helped him get better in a way.
She was close to Gabriel's family when she was younger. Almost no one knew their relationship, because Gabriel didn't want people to know at one point.
But nevertheless she was there for him, sitting down with him and holding him as he cried. She hadn't seen him break in years.
He almost never broke down like this.
"Gabriel Dear, it's alright. What happened?"
"I-...I was talking to Danny about Ashley. I'm worried about her. She's with me in my home. She had a meltdown and just shut herself off. I'm worried about her and I don't know what to do. I tried to talk with Danny about her but he blew up. He...he thinks that I'm awful for helping her. That I should never have gotten involved. That I don't know her. Or what she's been through. But I do...I know it well, what she's been through. I'm just trying to help. T-those memories just got triggered. Badly."
"Oh sweet boy...I'm so sorry. You have done nothing wrong."
"I-"
"Just breathe dear...just breathe. It's alright. You have done nothing wrong with helping Ashley, she needs help. And you probably were the best choice of people here to help her Gabriel. You may not know her that well or get along with people well, but you are very much a good person for helping her through everything. Danny overstepped, he is just upset. He had every right to be upset though." Gabriel could only nod as Tommy held him close on the floor.
"I'll speak to Danny, and Ashley. But Gabriel, you did nothing wrong my dear boy. Nothing at all. Do you understand that?"
"Yes."
"Good. Now come on, get yourself off of this dirty floor." Tommy had used all her might to pull Gabriel's frame up with her old and small body, wiping away his tear stained cheeks with her frail hand. Smiling at him for comfort.
In reality Gabriel needed physical touch for comfort, for help. It had always been that way since Tommy could remember.
"Now then, clean your face, and go home for the day. We can run things here without our boss man up in his office. Go check on Ashley, she probably shouldn't be left alone for that long." Tommy smiled still while Patting Gabriel's arm, giving him the small bits of reassurance that he needed. Gabriel only nodded and thanked Tommy for talking to him.
When she had gone back downstairs, the first thing Gabriel did was call Ashley. Hoping that she had turned her phone back on this morning.
"Ashley?"
"Hey, what's up? Is everything okay?"
"Y-Yeah...do you wanna go get lunch? I'm coming home early so I thought..."
"I would love that." Ashley sounded hesitant at first but eventually lightened up, making Gabriel give a sad smile before telling her he would be there soon to get her.
He had promptly left the building through the back and sat in his car for a while before actually starting it. He still felt awful, he just wanted to be gone. He felt bad because he knew what Danny was feeling too, sadly. Danny did have every right to be upset at him. He knew that not being there for Ashley in certain ways that could hurt him, they were incredibly close.
He just felt bad.
He hoped Ashley would be able to fix that a little bit; because he truly had no idea on how else to fix it.
——————
Our baby...we will warn you that heavy topics come up in the next chapter or two...we will put trigger warnings, but we want to get into more of Gabriel and his past before we continue anywhere else.
Gabriel has trauma and we want to show how truly protect he is of Ashley and why.
so with that being said, prepare yourselves children of ours!
sad boi hours coming soon.
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