Hey guys! So I am opfficially in Michigan, and it's snowing! It's so beautiful, but then again, I've always found the winter to be beautiful. My thanks go out to chng234, Beautiful Destination, pbgurl, Court123, incognitus, botanybay, Raziya, notjustink, violet-eyez, Lildreamer's handguide, Tasha Vasari (That's a really sweet thing to say! Thank you!), 123, twilight24, Ck90, XWolves-R-LoveX, Devilish Kisses, Evanescence's Love, Night Kitty, CLOUDSTRIFELOVER4ever, helzyeah, Its. Not. Me. Its. You., xxXNightsareDaysXxx, Hydie, QuantumGlow, ShootMeStaRs, Lily Laurence, Shadow of Love, and Ali Paige Axxx. You guys are wonderful and sweet and awesome! Please continue to tell me what you think about the story - it really means a lot! Have a wonderful Monday, and thanks so much again!

022. Sound

"By the way you lift me up when I am fading"

It had been two days, and the couple that was supposed to be getting married in a few weeks' time had barely even spoken to each other. Gemma only addressed Daniel when it was necessary, and he seemed to feel the same way when it came to the young woman. They had to spend much of their time together due to the fact that it was his job, and despite the fact that Daniel was still as mad at her as she was at him, he still cared about her and didn't want her to get hurt.

He was still unsure as to why he had snapped at her. To be honest, Daniel had never really liked talking about Eva since their separation even though both his mother and his sister wanted nothing more than to see Daniel finally settle down with someone. They had thought Eva was the woman for him, and Daniel had genuinely thought the same thing.

It was odd; Gemma made him feel so different, different than anything he had ever felt before, even when he was supposed to have been in love with Eva. Maybe it was the age difference; she saw things in a different way than he did, but that wasn't necessarily bad. In fact, he was interested in what Gemma had to say concerning nearly every matter (except, of course, Joel McHale, but Daniel would never admit to being jealous of someone famous). And Gemma was so warm and open while Eva was cool and calculating. He had thought he was supposed to be with someone like Eva, someone like him. But… Well, apparently, that wasn't the case.

Daniel wasn't sure when – if – he would apologize to the woman currently occupying his thoughts, though he knew he probably should, and sometime soon, seeing as how they had a scheduled engagement party where family and friends and… He didn't want to think about it, actually. But he wasn't yet keen on apologizing, at least not yet.

Gemma, her mind currently in the same arena as Daniel's, was trying to distract the fact that Daniel had yet to apologize by going to a party Troy had invited her to without actually telling Daniel. He had texted her the invite and she would have said no if Daniel hadn't been so incredibly rude to her. But he was and so her answer was her way of revenge. She had said yes, and she was standing in front of her full-length mirror, deciding if the outfit she was planning on wearing was too slutty. She cocked her head to the side and bit her bottom lip, still unsure. Gemma would have loved to have invited Gillian over, but apparently Dana Carvey was going to be on David Letterman and she didn't want to risk missing it, despite the fact that it wouldn't be on for another five hours.

She finally decided on black, boot-cut jeans that were low cut and tight, and a cranberry colored corset-like top that formed around her body, but actually masked her breasts save for a slight portion of cleavage quite well. She decided to keep her hair long and wavy, and though she didn't particularly like makeup, she put some eyeliner and mascara on in order to make her eyes pop even more than they already did. On her feet were knee-length faux-leather black boots worn outside of the jeans.

It wasn't too slutty, but it definitely wasn't conservative.

On her way down the stairs, something inside of her hoped that Daniel would be in the living room and stop her from leaving. They could apologize and instead of her going to a party, they could catch a late night movie at a nearby theatre. Except he wasn't in the living room. He was probably in his room doing God knows what he usually did. And so with no reason to stop, she grabbed her keys and headed out the door, heading to a party she didn't want to go to because her pride wouldn't let her do anything otherwise.

He hadn't heard her in a half an hour and that started to worry him.

Daniel headed up the stairs to her room, and he was thankful her door was slightly ajar so he could look through it without having to knock and then have some sort of awkward confrontation. But when he did look in, he realized it was empty. The whole house was empty save for him. She had left. But where?

All the color drained from his face as he burst into her room, his blue eyes frantically searching for any sort of clue it had to offer. He was actually on the verge of calling Gillian when his eyes caught sight of the bulletin board. Though his body was tense, he tried to focus his frantic thoughts in order to properly scan the notes her parents had written to her in order to remind her of something. But there, in the bottom right corner was a note she had written to herself using today's date. Troy's house. Party. 7:30pm.

For whatever reason, Daniel felt his body surge with anger. Whether it was directed at Gemma or Troy, he couldn't figure out. It was probably Troy for illogical reasons, but he was slightly offended by Gemma's choice at actually going to the party. But then again, she was mad at him after all.

Well, it didn't matter. Daniel would go to the party and fetch Gemma, even if he had to toss her of his shoulder to get her out of the house. And finding the house? All it would take him was one call.

Working for the CIA definitely had its benefits.

Gemma was regretting her decision from the moment she stepped into the house. The music was loud and obnoxious, the house was already filled with people she didn't know and didn't want to learn more about, and everyone was drunk. Gemma didn't really drink; there was that one time with Gillian, but it was so hard for her to actually swallow the alcohol and after waking up with a hangover… No. No drinking. Which was silly because she had come to a party. There were only three reasons people came to a party; sex, drugs, and alcohol, and Gemma really didn't do any of those things so she knew she wouldn't enjoy an actual party. Which, of course, was fine.

She just shouldn't have come.

Before she could turn around and leave, Troy gently touched her shoulder. "Gems!" he exclaimed. "I'm so glad you could make it!"

Gemma was a few feet away from Troy, but already she could smell the booze laced with his breath. She scrunched and tilted her head, hoping to avoid the stench.

"So, where's that guy?" Troy asked, glancing around. "Is he here?"

"No," Gemma murmured, shaking her head, though somewhere, deep down, she wanted him there. She was feeling uncomfortable. "No, my fiancé is not here."

A smile slid across Troy's face as he regarded her. "Good," he said, nodding. "Actually, I've been meaning to ask you something." Though his face was serious, he was still drunk and it took him a while before he finally could look Gemma in the eye. "Um… I've seen you staring at me during the classes we shared last semester, and I'm gonna be honest… I thought – think – you're way hot. And, um, I was wondering if maybe you wanted to go out with me?"

"Are you serious?" Gemma asked flatly, pushing her brow together.

"Ah, I knew you'd say yes!" he said with a grin, and then took a step towards her and forced his lips onto hers. Apparently he had mistaken her question with one of surprise rather than sarcasm.

Gemma took her hands and pushed Troy away. "I'm engaged!" she exclaimed as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I don't want to go out with you. I especially don't want to kiss you."

"You don't know what you're saying," Troy said, and moved in to kiss her once again.

Before he could, however, someone grabbed his arm and turned him around.

The fact that Daniel was there wasn't exactly what had surprised Gemma. The look on his face, the sharpness of his cold blue eyes – that's what stunned her in surprise. He glared at Troy long and hard before he reached back and socked Troy across the face. The sound echoed throughout Gemma's mind, and she flinched at the sound. She always knew Daniel was strong, but she didn't exactly realize his capabilities until she had seen – heard – what he could do.

Although, to be honest, a drunken Troy was kind of an easy target.

Then, without warning, Daniel walked up to Gemma, picked her up, and threw her over his shoulder. Surprisingly, she didn't protest, but that was probably because she didn't want to be here anyways. He walked over to where he had parked his car and opened the passenger door before setting her inside. He walked around and slid into the driver's seat, starting the car before glancing at her.

"We can come back for your car tomorrow," he told her in his crisp, cold tone.

Gemma nodded her agreement, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm still mad at you," she told him, pointedly holding back a relieved smile.