As the evening came, after Claire spend the afternoon chatting with Eva, they made their way towards the city centre where Gina, Joe, Zoe and Mark were already waiting.
They were talking about nothing much when Alex came up with Jacque and Matthew. Claire looked at them in embarrassment, remembering the state in which they saw her last.
"Hi, Claire." Jacque said with a warm smile.
"I'm glad that we get to meet under better circumstances." Claire mumbled to Jacque and Matthew as she turned red, shaking their hands.
"Come on, Claire. There's no better way to make an impact than what you and Eva did." Gabriel said with a chuckle.
"She definitely did make an impact." Alex said with a smile and a roll of his eyes. "But you shouldn't be encouraging that kind of behaviour."
"I wholeheartedly blame Eva." Gabriel turned to his sister.
"Look, I thought you fancied her so I've tried to get her drunk enough to find out if she fancies you back. I'd say that I was somewhat successful." Eva said defensively.
"Oh, you didn't know either?" Alex asked Eva.
"Well, no! Gabriel hid everything from me!" Eva said in a disgruntled tone.
"And I thought that it was just us." Alex said as he nodded at Jacque and Matthew behind him.
"Hang on a moment." Jacque said seriously. "Was he serious on Thursday? I thought that it was a joke."
"Oh no, it wasn't." Eva and Alex shook their heads in unison.
"You're married?!" Jacque turned to Gabriel.
Gabriel and Claire looked at Jacque, rather puzzled.
"I thought that it was blatantly obvious." Gabriel answered. "Claire was rather clear on Thursday." Gabriel said teasingly. "Weren't you, Claire dear?"
"Don't remind me." Claire blushed.
"Hang on, are you Mrs Moore now?" Alex asked curiously. "As I'm pretty sure that I've heard you use Thompson still."
"Mrs Thompson at work but I guess I'm actually Mrs Moore." Claire shrugged.
"You may want to message dad about your legal name." Alex mumbled uncomfortably. Claire looked at him with her lips parting at the sudden realisation. The lawsuit should be Moore vs. Moore as her legal name was no longer Thompson. That made her feel nauseous.
"How long?" Matthew asked shortly.
"Actually…" Gabriel hesitated. "Our six months together is coming up next week."
"Six months?!" Jacque exclaimed. "And it didn't cross your mind to let us know? The invitation would have been nice too."
"They've eloped." Alex said quickly. "But yeah, they should've told us."
"How do you know?" Jacque asked Alex.
"I thought Gabriel acted odd at dinner and I felt bad for possibly upsetting him so I found his new place - by the way, he moved without telling us either - and that's when I've found out." Alex frowned. "It would have been nicer to find out before finding my cousin in his house. What about you?" He turned to Eva.
"Well, I saw them together when Claire called Gabriel an asshole while going to see him in his office. That was odd, especially considering how unusually nonchalant Gabriel was with it. But I found out on the night out when Claire announced it to everyone. I thought I was drunk out of my mind at first but I was re-informed during dinner last night." Eva admitted.
"Self-righteous asshole." Gabriel corrected Eva. "Claire called me a self-righteous asshole earlier this week."
Claire blushed in embarrassment at a reminder.
"Did anyone find out in a normal way?" Alex asked Claire's friends. Zoe, Joe, Gina, and Mark looked at each other before shaking their heads. "And are you all okay with that?" Alex asked in disbelief. To his surprise, they just shrugged.
"It's kind of growing on us." Gina admitted with Zoe quickly nodding in agreement.
"Yeah. I don't think we ever expect normal from Claire so it wasn't quite as shocking." Zoe added.
"I think that extends to Gabriel, too." Mark said. "Especially considering the past year or so."
"Now, is that why Claire is okay to deal with my project?" Jacque asked curiously. "Because our deal was not working together."
"Claire has full autonomy over her department." Gabriel said quickly. "Besides, I don't think I can tell her what to do or not to do without some serious consequences." He looked lovingly at Claire who still looked down shyly. "Not like I would try to stand in Claire's way."
"Okay, I can't stand it." Alex announced in disgust. "Let's get some drinks."
They've walked in, quick to order a few drinks, Claire and Gabriel particularly conscious of their alcohol intake.
Before long, everyone relaxed and they started singing. After some encouragement, Gabriel went up too, with Alex as his back. They sang something on top of their lungs, completely off pitch and meddling up the lyrics. It was a great laugh for all of them, each of them having their turn but also plenty of duets forming through the night.
Claire loved how relaxed Gabriel seemed with his friends, and how well Matthew and Jacque got along with her friends.
Eva was quick to get into the guest bedroom as their returned but Gabriel and Claire were still giddy. Eva came back down to get herself a glass of water when she found them in the living room, dancing to music playing through the speakers. She couldn't resist it before she took the photos, watching her brother smiling widely, and a woman he loved so dearly was smiling back at him. It was something she never expected to see and which she was ever so thankful for, especially knowing how much Gabriel went through himself. She disappeared before they noticed her.
Gabriel slow danced with Claire for a while, chatting to her about his misadventures through the years, telling her of the time Alex got him arrested by starting a fight over a pen. Claire laughed and shook her head in disbelief.
"Eva is going to leave soon." Gabriel said with a smile.
"You don't have to look so excited, you know." Claire reprimanded him.
"No, it's not that. I know we were meant to have a bit of heart to heart and she's kind of in the way of that. After she's gone I will tell you all of the dark secrets from my life. I hope that's okay with you?"
"I am still worried that you're hiding things from me." Claire said with concern. "But I guess that you can say the same about me."
"Claire, whatever it is that you're afraid to tell me, I can tell you for sure that I will love you all the same." Gabriel mumbled as he pulled her into an embrace, continuing their dance.
Claire haven't say much more as she buried her face in his chest.
They soon went to bed, agreeing to sleep in Claire's bedroom together as Claire didn't want Gabriel to leave. She realised that her nightmares weren't as regular with him around and she needed it before yet another challenging day.
Monday was particularly challenging as she had to deal with the incident on one of the sites and meet the family of the victim. Claire showed her genuine upset over the incident, which made the family of the construction worker a little bit calmer, especially once she reassured them of all the auditing and safety checks they were doing to investigate it, and that they were to be supported and compensated appropriately.
Throughout the evening Claire managed to spend some time with Eva alone as Gabriel had a business dinner to attend to.
"How are you finding my brother?" Eva asked as she turned onto her side, facing Claire as they both lay down on a sofa.
"He's alright." Claire said with a smile.
"I don't want a dismissive answer. I want honesty." Eva grumbled.
"We had a very turbulent start and sometimes I wish we'd started differently. But I think that he's quite a good man."
"You know, he didn't use to be like that." Eva sighed.
"Like what?"
"So self-absorbed and angry. He was so caring and kind and he had such a soft heart." Eva smiled at the memory. "He was the kind of kid that if he saw a hurt animal on the side of the road, he'd drag it back home in the hope to save it."
"I think I can see it." Claire nodded, looking up at the ceiling.
"Our dad wasn't the kindest to him. But our mum was the sweetest woman alive and she really doted on him. She protected us from our dad throughout the years. But even then, she couldn't all the time. And once she was gone…" Eva sighed heavily. "We grieved very differently. I went to the States to run away from my problems. Gabriel internalised it, building an iron wall around himself. I've tried to reach out to him, but I really couldn't. He started acting very different. His hurt turned into anger at the entire world."
"That's understandable. People grieve very differently. He needed time to be able to face it." Claire said quietly.
"Do you even like him?" Eva asked with worry. "I'm not going to judge you. I am curious. And I do feel bad for you."
"I do." Claire nodded. "Not at first though." Claire laughed. "If I could, I would've killed him at first."
"What changed?"
"I'm not sure. I guess it's several things. I was finally able to see how much he was doing for me in the shadows. He was genuinely trying to help me without flashing it out and trying to get credit for it. And secondly, Gabriel is working very hard on himself. I appreciate that. I know it's not only for me, but I really can recognise how much work he is doing to work on his issues. He seems more open with me than ever before. He has changed in the most incredible way."
"Nah, it's probably for you." Eva chuckled. "Not like that's a bad thing."
"I think if it were only for me he wouldn't have gone this far with it. And I think that he is doing really well."
"I can definitely see the difference. I can see some of old Gabriel shining through."
"You know, people don't come out the other end as they were before."
"No, you can't just fix what's broken. You can mend it though." Eva nodded in agreement and then laughed. "Gabriel found himself a right gem."
"Don't be silly. I'm more broken than him." Claire replied with a smile.
"What happened to you?"
"I think it's my clue to overshare now." Claire laughed. "I've been fighting a form of water phobia. It started when my then boyfriend, with whom I was on the swimming team at uni, and his buddies tried to rape me and then proceeded to beat me up to the brink of death, before pushing me into the water and trying to drown me. Since then I've had a fear of men, relationships, and water."
"What an sc*m!" Eva exclaimed feeling angry. "I hope he got what he deserved."
"He was given a life sentence recently. Thanks to your brother, actually." Claire said as she thought carefully. "And that's not the only thing Gabriel did for me…"
"I'm sure that you did plenty for him too." Eva said as she looked at Claire's profile.
"I don't think I did anything for him. I think that I've hurt him quite badly though." Claire said as she remembered that she left Gabriel without a word for two months, not giving a sign of life throughout that time.
"You don't even realise it, do you?" Eva asked Claire.
"Realise what?"
"Gabriel was depressed for years. You helped him climb out of the gutters, Claire. You were the one giving him hope."
"Don't be silly." Claire waved her hand at Eva's statement not realising that Gabriel just came back from work and he overheard the latter part of the conversation. "I only made things worse."
"No, you didn't. Eva is right." Gabriel cut in sternly.
Claire and Eva got up quickly to welcome him home.
"Good evening, Gabriel." Claire said with a smile as she walked up to him.
"I'll be leaving after the opening event." Eva announced quickly. "I'll come back for Claire's and your birthdays though."
"Oh, you're going to the event?" Gabriel asked curiously.
"I thought I'll show my face around. Besides, I want to be there if Claire gets drunk and decides to announce that she's Mrs fucking Moore to many more people." Eva laughed.
"I do not have it in my plans." Claire said quickly as she blushed.
They continued chatting until they went to bed. Claire still ignored the previously agreed deal with Gabriel, crawling into his bed as soon as she was in her pyjamas.
Until Thursday afternoon things didn't seem to be out of the ordinary. Claire was returning from a meeting in the town hall when she was stopped by a very familiar woman whom she hoped to never see in person. Claire looked at her hand which was grabbed to stop her, scowling at the person holding it.
"Did you ever wonder what Gabbie is doing every Thursday at noon?" Francesca asked with a smug smile.
"Are you implying that he's doing something with you?" Claire asked as she shook Francesca's hand off with slight disgust, unaware of the fact that Gabriel, Eva, and Mark just came into the lobby. The former two actually hoped to find Claire as they hoped to drag her out for a coffee as reporters finally quieted down.
"Aren't you curious?" Francesca asked, her wicked smile landing on Gabriel who was behind Claire.
"Not really." Claire shook her head.
"We are childhood sweethearts, you know."
"Good for you." Claire was still not fazed by Francesca's provocation.
"Aren't you a little bit jealous? After all, no matter what, he's always going to pick me."
"Miss Jones, I find it rather pitiful that you think this is some competition." Claire said sharply. "If you think that I would ever compete for a man, think again. I know my worth, and I wouldn't compete with any other woman. No man that I have to compete for is worth my time. Furthermore, I'm sorry if you determine your worth by trying to put other women down."
"You b*tch!" Francesca raised her voice. Claire visibly struck a note with her.
"And if you are indeed seeing Mr Moore on Thursdays, I just hope that you're enjoying it. In the future, however, I'd abstain from flaunting your love life. It makes you seem desperate. And as a woman to another woman, your worth is not determined by whose d*ck you suck." Claire straightened up. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting to attend." She turned around and started to walk away. Francesca was barely holding it together.
Claire watered the elevator only now noticing Gabriel and Eva walking through the lobby still a few meters away from her. Francesca was beetroot red as she stood in the centre of the room.
"Gabbie…" Francesca started pitifully as soon as she noticed him, her eyes welled up.
"Mark, get security, please." Gabriel said coldly. "Miss Jones overstayed her welcome in this place."
"Of course." Pattison nodded with a wide grin.
"Gabbie?" Francesca looked at him in disbelief. However, before long, several security guards showed up. Francesca dropped to her knees, trying to grab onto Gabriel in despair, but security quickly removed her.
"Is it weird that I might've just fallen all over again for Claire?" Gabriel asked Eva quietly.
"She's a bad*ss." Eva laughed.
"I guess that you have nothing to worry about." Mark said to Gabriel.
"I guess not." Gabriel laughed.
"What are you doing on Thursday's lunch?" Eva asked curiously.
"Don't worry, Claire knows." Gabriel smiled reassuringly. "Nothing dodgy, I promise."
"So, Francesca lied and Claire knew about it?" Eva asked him.
"Yes. Which only makes the entire situation more ridiculous." Gabriel pondered for a moment. "I might sue Francesca for slander."
"Yeah, maybe." Eva nodded. "I never really liked her. Maybe that'll teach her a lesson though."
"I'm already filing one for harassment and I'm trying to get a restraining order. But it has proven a bit challenging. Apparently, they like to wait until someone goes completely psycho before acting upon it."
"She's going to go psycho soon enough." Eva said in contemplation. "You should warn Claire though as she might be on the receiving end."
"I will. I need a good conversation with her anyways." Gabriel nodded as he entered the elevator with his sister. They've decided to go to the forty-second floor first before massaging Claire to go out for a coffee with them.