Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story


- Text Size +
Author's Chapter Notes:
stories/537/images/smalluntiltheendoftime1.png


Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.


Gabriel walked into his dressing room and wanted to just break everything. Why was Salomi treating him like this? He knew that she still loved him,he could see it in her eyes, but her stubborn self was getting in the way. He couldn’t bear the fact that it might be over between them. Everything was finally going right for him after the tragedy of losing his best friend and grandmother. He couldn’t bear to lose her too.

A knock on the door made him jump out of his skin,”What!”he said harshly

The door opened and Tina,one of the Tumbling Twins came in,”Hello Gabriel, how are you?”

“Not good,what do you want?”he asked her without looking at her

“Ruth told me to tell you that you are on in 5”she said to him

“Alright,thanks”he said quickly

“Are you ok?Do you want to talk about it?”she asked him,walking toward him and touching his shoulder

“No Im fine”he said shrugging her off

“Alright”she said quietly and left.He sighed,he didn’t have to be that mean to her. He didn’t know what to feel anymore. He got his props together and then he picked up a pencil and started to write a little.

Im lost without you
I cant help myself
How does it feel?
To know that I love you baby?

More knocks on his door made him stop his creative moment,”ALRIGHT!”he shouted back and the knocking stopped.He took a deep breath and put on his fake show smile and walked out of the dressing room and went onstage and wowed the crowd yet again with his antics.At times he looked to see if Salomi was watching but for the first time,she wasn’t there.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

“Salomi! Are you sleeping!?”Ruth said as she walked into Dorothy’s office and saw Salomi’s head on the desk. Salomi jumped up quickly.

“Shit Ruth,I was just resting for a little bit, can I have some privacy?”Salomi asked.Her head hurt now, she must have had too much whiskey. She quickly hid the glass and empty bottle before Ruth could see it, hopefully.She also made a mental note to find herself another full bottle of whiskey.

“I don’t know Salomi. Can you have some privacy?”Ruth asked as she looked behind the door, she then opened the small closet and looked under the desk

“What on earth are you looking for?”Salomi asked her. Then she sighed,”Or should I ask who?”

“I just have to make sure that you are behaving. Dorothy has trusted me-“

“I know Ruth, God!”Salomi said to her,”Besides thanks to you and recent events we arent doing so good anyway”

“What do you mean?”Ruth asked her

“Ever since you have been on Operation Babysitting we have been arguing. He came in here earlier to apologize for some rude things he has said. I said some back and he retaliated and said some more back to me….we are fighting again”

“So he was here. He snuck in here to see you?”Ruth asked

“Yes, but I didn’t tell him to and I kicked him out”Salomi said

“Oh…well thanks for being honest”Ruth said to her

“When haven’t I been?”Salomi asked her as she left the room.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

“Shit”Gabriel said as he looked at his new pocket watch. He had only 30 minutes to get downtown to swap another deal. He got his special bag and put on his hat. He had to get out of here.

“You did a good job up there Gabriel”Tina said as she stood at his door

“Thank you”he said hurriedly as he tried to find a few other things

“How did you get so talented?”she continued to ask

“Look Tina, I would love to talk but I cant. Im in a hurry”he said to her as he closed his dressing room door behind him.”See you tomorrow,oh and tell Ruth to slide my check under the door. I’ll just get it tomorrow”he said and then disappeared out the back exit.

Tina nodded, she turned around and walked right into Ruth.”Oh Gabriel had to run”

“Alright…wait run where?”she asked her

“I don’t know,he said slide his check under his door”

“Oh alright then”Ruth said with a frown

“Oh Ruth?”

“Yes Tina?”she asked him

“Gabriel and Salomi are together right?”she asked her

“They were, but they might not be…they are always fighting she says”Ruth asked,”Why?”

“Oh…no reason”Tina said with a smile and walked away.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

A week has gone by and Dorothy was arriving later that day. Salomi was actually grateful. Since she and Gabriel haven’t spoken to each other at all that week, she wanted someone to talk to. It was hard to confide in someone like Ruth, not after what happened. Salomi took a cab to Grand Central Station and waited for Dorothy’s train to come. Soon she saw her and smiled.

“Hello there sweetheart”Dorothy said as she hugged Salomi close,she pulled away a little and looked at her,”You are still in one piece! You look a little older too”she said with a laugh

Salomi laughed,”And you look very tan”

“Well we shot a lot on the water and the beach and it has been very hot lately”Dorothy said and then gave her a hat box,”This is a gift for you and I have a few other knick knacks in my other packages”she said to her

“Oh thank you Dorothy”Salomi said.She helped Dorothy to the cab and the driver packed everything up. As they waited, Salomi opened the hat box and saw a very beautiful formal dress,”Oh…its beautiful. Now I need a place to wear it to”Salomi said as she hugged her

“You do. The film premiere of course. Its in a few weeks. Want to be my date?”she asked her

“Oh really?Yes I would love to”Salomi said happily,”Thank you.I would think that you would take Charlie Chaplin with you”she said with a wink

“You believe the rumors?”Dorothy asked her and laughed,”News travels fast.But no we just have a professional relationship. Besides hes very reserved, much different than the characters he plays”

“That’s what I hear. Gabriel loves him…”she said and stopped.She needed to stop talking and thinking about him. He probably put her out of his mind by now.

“So how is your lover boy?I expected him to be here with you”

“He couldn’t come”Salomi said,”Things arent going so good”she admitted

“Why not?”

“We just fight a lot now over little things. Then he claims that I treat him like a child and he called me one. We haven’t talked since”

“Must be awkward”Dorothy said,”So…you are going to let a few name callings end your relationship?”

“He hurt me”Salomi said

“Well huney maybe you hurt him too”Dorothy said

“Im trying to do the adult thing and give us some space. Im trying not to be too attached either-“

“But you are huney. You have been ever since you two met on that ship. You know the adult thing to do is to put all that anger aside and talk it out. Apologize and get over it. Life is too short”Dorothy said to her

Salomi looked at her. She was right. “But it might be too late. I barely see him anymore-“

“Thank God for Maisy’s huh?”she asked her,”And maybe it is. But tell him how you feel and I have a feeling that he will at least listen. If he has moved on already, his loss”

“Or mine”Salomi said

“Don’t think like that”Dorothy said,”You are beautiful and even though you are really young, you can get any grown man in this city. Its scary actually”she said with a laugh.Salomi laughed a little,”Tell you what…”she said and then said,”Oh driver? Can you take us to Reed’s Pub?”she asked him,”Lets get lunch”she said to her

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

A week has gone by and the argument that Vernon had with Abby was still on his mind. Could he possibly do this anymore? When Abraham was still alive, it was like they were a tag team. They were having the time of their lives. But now that he was dead, it wasn’t fun anymore. It was just a job. The money meant nothing to him anymore. Now that he had Abby and his two babies, all he wanted was to be with them.

But he couldn’t just quit. If he did, he might as well kiss his heartbeat goodbye. He just wished that he could find a way to get his old life back. To not be a hustler anymore. But still be alive to tell the story that was.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

A week has gone by and Gabriel has been working overtime to forget about Salomi. However, whenever he showed up at the club and saw her, he always fell in love with her all over again. But he couldn’t talk to her. He was still upset with the way she treated him. Call it pride. He didn’t want to run back like a little child. Because unfortunately, that’s what she thinks he is.

Gabriel took a bow and walked offstage.”One down,one more to go”he said to himself as he walked into his dressing room.He sat down and then winced,he had a sudden pain in his neck. He tried to massage it out but it wasn’t working,”Ahhh”he said

“Good job again table boy”Tina said.He looked in the mirror and could see her standing at the doorway.

“Thanks”he said

“You hurt yourself?”she asked him

“I think so”he said

“Here let me, its dangerous when you do it yourself”she said as she ran up behind him,”Here?”she asked him as she pointed to the tense spot.He nodded,”Oh boy,you are tense”she said as she massaged his neck

“That feels good”he said to her.

“You’re welcome”she said,”So I hear you used to be in a circus?”

“Yes.I didn’t learn how to pick up tables with my teeth in school”he said with a laugh

“I think that its great”she said,”I wish I could have been in a circus.Was it fun?”

“Yes it was.We traveled up and down the east coast and we went to Europe for a few months. I didn’t think that I would have seen so much by the time I was 15 but I did”

“Why did you leave if it was so wonderful?”she asked him

“The owner died and it all fell apart then.It took us about a month to get back here”

“Who’s us?”she asked him

“Me and Adam….”he said and stopped

“Whats wrong?”Tina asked,”I didn’t hit a bad spot did I?”

“No…”

“So where’s Adam?Performing somewhere else?”

“No,he passed. We planned to leave Europe and go back home on the Titanic-“

“You were on the Titanic!?”Tina asked him,”Oh no….Adam?”

“Yes, he didn’t make it”he said.Tina hugged him.

“Im so sorry”she said to him and went back to massaging his neck

“Actually Im fine”Gabriel said as he stood up,”You worked out all the kinks”

“Well do me now”Tina said as she sat down,”I perform soon anyway and it will take your mind off of…you know.You can ask me anything”

“Alright….”Gabriel said hesitantly.He started to massage her shoulders,”So how’s your twin sister?”he asked her

“Still pregnant”she said quickly and then moaned loudly,”Oh that feels good” This startled Gabriel and he stopped,”No..keep going”

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

“Salomi!”

“Huh? What?”Salomi asked

“Huney Ive been calling your name repeatedly”Dorothy said to her,”Look you are no good to me working if you are going to daydream all night”she said to her,”Gabriel is backstage, talk to him”

“I don’t know-“

“Go on”she said to her.

Salomi got up and took a deep breath and walked backstage.There was the usual hustle and bustle while the other acts prepared to go onstage.She went over and over in her mind what she would say.Well first she would say sorry right?

She approached his door and saw that it was open. Then she heard a loud moan. It couldn’t have come from his room could it? She stood at the door and gasped a little. There was Gabriel, massaging Tina’s shoulders, they both looked pretty cozy, having conversation while she moaned here and there.Her face got hot with anger.How dare she? She knew that they were together! Everyone knew!

“Shouldn’t you be getting ready to go onstage?”she said sternly

Tina and Gabriel both jumped.Gabriel saw her and pulled away from Tina, like she was a disease or something, which was right.”Lomi I-“

“Get ready to go onstage now Tina”Salomi said to her,not looking at Gabriel

“Who said?”Tina asked

“Oh I don’t know,the person who pays you to perform!”Salomi said.Tina sighed and got up and left.Salomi looked at Gabriel,not knowing what to say.

“Lomi listen…we were just talking.I had a-“

“Save it”Salomi said and walked off.She held her composure and walked quickly to Dorothy’s office and locked herself in.She sat down behind her desk and cried.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

“Got em boss”a man said Morietti.”They match the profiles we have on the lost suitcase of money”

Morietti looked at the pictures.”You sure that’s them?”

“Yes, these two women were seen on the Titanic with Abraham Squires before his death.They should know where the suitcase of money is”

“They do match”he said,”Ok,we gotta send one of our men to persuade them to give it up if they haven’t spent it already”

“And what if they wont?Or what if they already spent it all?”

“We kill them”Morietti said simply

*__________________________*





Chapter End Notes:
"Poem" featured is the song "Lost Without You" by Robin Thicke




You must login (register) to review.