Gabriella's House

[Hollywood Heidi]

Gabriella's House

Gabriella's house located in the main residential area of Storybrooke.

[Hollywood Heidi]

GABRIELLA

Gabriella dropped her purse on the coffee table and collapsed onto the couch with a dramatic sigh. She'd been putting in long hours at the hospital lately and it was wearing on her. Things weren't exactly crazy at the hospital but she'd gotten tired of the four walls of her house so she was constantly finding things to do around the hospital to keep her busy for long hours. What else did one do to fill the hours of the day when one did not go out?

She had a perfectly valid reason for living like a hermit. At least she felt it was valid. It had been over a decade since she'd lost control and she was constantly paranoid of doing anything that may trigger it. Hence the hermit-like lifestyle and habits that allowed her to be practically invisible when in public--frumpy clothes, no make-up, hair in a messy bun or ponytail, face always turned downward, watching the ground or studying a medical chart.

Gabriella looked at her cell phone. Still nearly an hour until her next dose. Speaking of, she'd been meaning to talk to Dr. Whale--John, she reminded herself--about the dosage. The voice of Elle, as the person buried inside her head called herself, had been invading her head with snide or inappropriate comments and suggestions with more frequency lately than she was comfortable with.

John had been her boss, Dr. Whale, longer than he'd been her step-brother and she still found herself thinking of him as Dr. Whale, especially since their parents didn't marry until she and John were both adults living on their own. Now that her father was enjoying his retirement with his new wife by traveling the world, her father had passed the responsibility of her medicine to his new stepson and she gave up her apartment to move back home at her father's insistence as a permanent house sitter.

She set the alarm on her phone and rested it on her abdomen, then drifted off to sleep. As soon as she fell into a deep enough sleep, her finger twitched and slowly made it's way to the power button, holding it down.

[Hollywood Heidi]

ELLE

For over a decade, she waited for her opportunity to come out and play. Damn Gabriella's father and that damn medicine for burying her. She had just as much right to exist as his precious Gabriella did. For the past decade, she had to watch from the far background as Gabriella wasted their life away. It was torture, watching the years melt away while Gabriella worked and holed herself up in this house. She thought she would die of boredom.

So she stopped trying to fight against the meds and practiced patience as she built up strength. Definitely a huge undertaking as patience was not part of Elle's personality. But it finally was starting to pay off. She gathered strength as Gabriella wore her's thin by working herself to the bone.

As soon as Gabriella was in a deep enough sleep Elle put some of the strength she'd gathered to use. Amazing how much of a chore it was to simply move a finger and hold down the power button on a phone. She let out a sinister laugh of triumph which she quickly cut off as Gabriella stirred. Patience, she reminded herself. She was far too close to ruin it all now. And so she waited.

A couple hours after the alarm would have gone off, Elle finally shoved her way to the forefront, trapping the still sleeping conscious of Gabriella to the back of her mind. A smile spread across her face as she stirred and stretched out her body. What a wonderful feeling it was to once again have a physical presence in the world.

Elle opened her eyes and looked around, laughter bubbling up as she sat up and pushed herself off the couch, dancing around and enjoying the pleasure of physical movement. She stopped and looked around, disgusted. "I'm so sick of this damned house. I've got to get the hell out of here before I burn it down." For a moment, she considered it but decided against it. She did a roof over her head after all.

She made quick work of going through Gabriella's closet, tossing clothes left and right with comments like, "Ew." "Seriously, who the hell would wear this?" "Something passed down from grandmother?" "She actually paid money for this?"

The contents of the closet were strewn around the room and Elle frowned, racking her brain for ideas. She snapped her fingers as one came to her. "Let's see what our new step-mummy left behind." Elle made her way to the master bedroom and opened the closet. "Much better," she said, carelessly tossing some items out until she came across a V-cut black dress.

She laid the dress across the bed and went to the mirror, cringing at the image staring back at her. "Good God, woman. How could you go out into public looking like this?" She tossed the glasses aside and stripped as she headed for the shower, dropping the clothes wherever they landed.

Now she stood in front of the full length mirror, admiring her figure in the black dress. On Gabriella's mother, it would have been sexy, but decent. On her taller frame with a figure fuller in all the right places, it was perfectly snug and form fitting as the designer had probably intended the dress to look. Make-up applied and hair fixed and left down to flow free, she again stood in front of the full length mirror. A grin spread across her face. "We grew up quite nicely, didn't we Gabs?"


***Elle leaves for The Rabbit Hole***

[Hollywood Heidi]

***Gabriella and Michael enter from Storybrooke Dock***

Gabriella opened the front door and locked it behind them. "So this is my place," she said as she dropped her keys on the small table by the door. She removed her glasses and hair clip, also dropping them on the table. "I'll give you a tour," she began with a sultry smile, shaking out her hair as she approached him, "later." She pushed him back against the door and leaned up against him, threading her fingers through his hair as she pulled him in and kissed him.

[The Jester Of Tortuga]

Her hair became a free flowing mess as she let it down and before he knew it she Gabriella had pounced upon Michael and what he could only describe as her using him as her personal scratching post, not that he was complaining. In one quick swift motion Michael picked her up both hands firmly grasping her cheeks and they began to get hotter and heavier, he took a few steps only to twirl and his back to end up slammed against a wall followed by the sound of something smashing. "Sorry... Bout... That... Love..." Michael managed to get out through the kisses.

[Hollywood Heidi]

Without breaking contact, Gabriella gave a dismissive wave in the general direction of the broken whatever. At this moment, she didn't care if the roof fell down around them.


~ * ~ Later ~ * ~

Gabriella awoke from a light doze. Somehow, they'd managed to make it upstairs. The whole thing had been a whirlwind. No, more like a tornado. It had been entirely too long since she'd done anything remotely thrilling and all that pent up energy had finally broken free.

Gabriella carefully untangled herself from Michael and the sheets, trying not to disturb him. She grabbed an oversized t-shirt from her dresser and pulled it on as she padded barefoot out of her room. She caught herself smiling as she noted that she didn't feel an ounce of remorse. Both were getting what they wanted and nobody would get hurt. No games. Purely physical. No illusions or expectations of anything beyond that or even beyond today.

She headed downstairs, automatically making a beeline for the living room. After pouring the last of the contents into a tumbler, she placed the empty rum bottle back down and stood in front of the fireplace, studying the map propped up on the mantle. She took a sip, thinking how it always felt like the appropriate drink when one was studying an old map. A very odd and unique map. Whether it was the real thing or not, it was most definitely a work of art with its moving pieces that seemed to produce an endless supply of unique outcomes. Turning her head to a slight angle, she spotted another partial word and carefully turned the circle next to it until the rest of the word lined up. "Hm. Tortuga."

[The Jester Of Tortuga]

When Michael awoke from his post coitus nap alone and slowly and somewhat begrudgingly got out of the bed and tied the sheet around his waist before venturing through strange house while trying to find his wench. Eventually finding some stairs to decend and going from one room to another Michael found himself a tumbler, an empty tumbler which he picked up and smelled it's previous contents, rum... "Why must the rum always be gone..." Michael's voice full of melancholy. It wasn't until he heard a voice that he notice Gabriella was in the room with him, slinking over to her position in front of the fire place Michael slid his hands under her t shirt then placed his fingertips on the curves of her waist and ran them up and down around the curves while he kissed her neck and down a long her shoulder, round 2 was never out of the question. That was until he noticed what she was looking "Well now that's interesting..."

[Hollywood Heidi]

Gabriella leaned back into him as she took another sip. "Mm, that's what I thought when I first saw it. Found it at Mr. Gold's and it just seemed to..." she paused to think how best to describe the feeling, "call to me. Bought it on the spot." She glanced back to see that the map had a similar effect on him. "Can I get you a drink while we study it?"

[The Jester Of Tortuga]

"Can I get you a drink while we study it?"

"I would but you are all out of rum love." Michaels head tilted slightly as he studied the circular map and he understood exactly what Gabriella had meant when she said it called to her. His hands left the underneath of her shirt as he reached out to touch it, there was something oddly familiar about it, like a distant dream or a scattered memory he couldn't recall. Touching one of the rings with his middle and ring finger Michael began to turn the dial until he had formed a word, 3 words in fact, a riddle or a clue Michael had quickly surmised from this that it must be a treasure map and that thought was almost as exactly as round two with Gabriella. Michael looked intently upon those three words and imagined all the possibilities that could be contained within this map or if there were any more maps like this at Gold's Store normally he would have nothing to do with Gold never had never thought he would but more of these maps could be worth investigating and it was then his mind was filled with those three words again. "Up is down? Well that is maddeningly unhelpful, why can't these things ever be clear?"

[Hollywood Heidi]

"I would but you are all out of rum love."

"Never," she said in mock offense. "I'll have you know I run a civilized household." She moved to the liquor cabinet and opened the bottom cabinet, retrieving a new bottle.


"Up is down? Well that is maddeningly unhelpful, why can't these things ever be clear?"

"That would take the fun out of it," she said with a wry grin as she returned to his side. She held a glass out to him as she studied the new positioning of the map. "I've come across so many riddles and so many places and I feel I've only just begun." She gingerly touched the drawing of the ship near the words he read. "It makes me want to hop on a ship and find these places. See if they really exist. Even if I find nothing, the adventure alone will have been worth it."

[The Jester Of Tortuga]

"It makes me want to hop on a ship and find these places. See if they really exist. Even if I find nothing, the adventure alone will have been worth it."

Michael truly admired her in this moment her sense of adventure was outstanding and akin to his own, although his involved a lot more treasure and rum. This map could be a key to some great things, he could be immortalized for finding a hidden stash of doubloons or even something better who know where this map could lead. Unfortunately it wasn't his so he would have to either cozy up to Gabriella in order to use it or he could always just steal, that idea seemed a lot easier. He took the glass of rum from, maybe she wasn't all that bad to be around, and he took a sip... a long sip.

"Aye love, to go anywhere and do anything; find the seventh wonder of the world, see the world in all its shining, shimmering splendor."

Michael placed his middle finger on the edge of the outer dial and slowly began to run his finger around the outside of it smoothly and gentle like he was tracing the outline of a woman's curves. Slowly he began to turn the dial while words slipped past his lips that he did not intend to "Danananana dananada and really bad eggs..."

[Hollywood Heidi]

"Drink up, me hearties, yo ho," she automatically replied without thought as she distractedly studied the change in the map as he slowly turned one of the dials. A strange sense of familiarity struck her as an image from two of the dials matched up.

"Wait!" she said, reaching out to still his hand. She slowly moved his hand back the other direction until the familiar terrain appeared once again. Turning her head at a slight angle she said, "Am I crazy or does that oddly resemble the shape of our harbor," she traced the line between water and land, "and our cliffs?" she traced the cliffs. "I mean, I know it could be any of a hundred different little spots in the world but look how it juts out here and here," she pointed out the spots where the land jutted out into the water, popular spots for fishing from land, "and this," she said, pointing to a lower cliff spotted with trees nearer to the outskirts of their town, "looks like Tarzan's Lookout." So named by the kids who liked to daringly swing from the tree into the water below.

[The Jester Of Tortuga]

Ok so now sticking with her might not be such a bad idea, intelligent and good in the sack Gabriella did have her 'perks'. "Looks like you may have found us a starting point love." Michael had a hope that there something near the location that would help him... them work out the map and given them a second point to go to... or maybe it was a just a location that looked similar as the map had to be incredibly old and to have that detail in its location... Michael put the thoughts out of his mind and turned his attention to Gabriella placing his hands on her hips and pulling her tightly kissing her enthusiastically, he now seemingly had a golden goose.

[Hollywood Heidi]

She kissed him back just as enthusiastically. Very nearly hopping from foot to foot with excitement at an adventure, even though the chances of this being real and being right here in Storybrooke didn't seem plausible. Just the idea of it was enough to make her feel alive.

She beamed up at him. "How 'bout a not-so-quick shower and then we set out on a treasure hunt?"

[The Jester Of Tortuga]

"How 'bout a not-so-quick shower and then we set out on a treasure hunt?"

Michael smiled and let the sheet he was using to cover his lover half fall to the ground it was kind of nice having a partner in crime and something to look forward other than rum that is. Michael then turned her around to lead the way to the shower pinched her lower right cheek playfully "Let us go make a mess to clean off savvy?"

[Hollywood Heidi]

Gabriella yelped and then laughed as she rushed ahead of his grasp, tossing off the shirt as she reached the top of the stairs.


***LATER***


Gabriella ran a comb through her wet hair, deciding to let it air dry. She was too excited to get going to bother with the blow dryer. She automatically picked up her glasses and paused as she looked at them. She dropped them back onto the dresser. They were just part of her slump look. She didn't really need them and she suddenly didn't feel like bothering with them.

"Ready?" she asked, her eyes on her phone as she sent out a quick text to someone at the animal shelter that she didn't plan on returning and to contact her in case of an emergency.

She picked up the map and carefully rolled it before holding it out to him.

[The Jester Of Tortuga]

"Ready?"

She handed Michael the map which he graciously accepted. Michael gave his facial hair a quick rub to smooth it out before flashing Gabriella a gold toothed grin "I say we abscond for all the sparkles and glitters mate."

[Hollywood Heidi]

Gabriella couldn't resist grinning in return. "I like it when you talk pirate," she said as they headed out the door.


***Gabriella and Michael leave for Tarzan's Lookout***

[Hollywood Heidi]

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The clock, which has been stuck at 8:15 for as long as anyone can remember, began to move once again promptly at 8:15 p.m.


Several hours pass.  It is now the morning after the clock has started.


A few may have noticed the clock moving last night and those close enough may have realized when it chimed the 9 p.m. hour.  Others may have learned by word of mouth or not until they next arrived in town.

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[Hollywood Heidi]

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Several hours pass and it is now the evening after the clock started moving.

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[Hollywood Heidi]

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The night passes and it is now Tuesday morning,

two days after the clock started moving.

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[Hollywood Heidi]

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The rest of Tuesday passes uneventfully.


It is now Wednesday, October 26, 2011, early morning.


Three days after the clock started moving

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[Hollywood Heidi]

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The rest of Wednesday passes uneventfully.


It is now Thursday, October 27, 2011, early morning.


Four days after the clock started moving

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[Hollywood Heidi]

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Approximately nine hours later.

The early morning and afternoon have passed.

It is late afternoon of Thursday, October 27, 2011,

four days after the clock started moving.

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[Hollywood Heidi]

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Several hours pass.

It is late evening of Thursday, October 27, 2011,

still four days after the clock started moving.

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