AN: Due to some writer's block, I decided to work on some drabble stories centering around what Elle and Gabriel would be like if they were just two normal people. AU of course.

Hope you enjoy!

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It was so fun to see him flustered like this. Elle had called Gabriel over to ask for his help with her radiator. It was broken and pouring so much heat into the apartment that she was dressed only in a tiny pair of shorts and a tank top that clung to her, even though it was the middle of winter in New York. When she opened the door to let him in, he stopped halfway through the door to stare at her and swallowed thickly.

She smiled internally. He was so adorable.

"It's right over there." She pointed at the radiator even though he already knew where it was from being in her apartment so many times before. He seemed to collect himself and nodded to her before heading off. She followed right behind him.

"See," she fiddled with the knobs of the radiator. "No matter what I do, I can't turn it off! It's been baking in here all day." She pouted up at him with big eyes. "Save me?"

To her amusement, Gabriel grinned back at her a bit wolfishly. "Depends. What do I get?"

"Ahem! Shouldn't saving the life of a damsel in distress be its own reward?"

"You know those knights in all those old stories got it on with all the women they saved afterwards."

Elle looked at him in surprise and he seemed to suddenly realize what he had just said.

"I meant –"

"You must be baking. Let me get you some lemonade!"

She hurriedly went to grab a glass of cold lemonade (made with real lemons just like he liked it) from the fridge in her tiny blue tiled kitchen. She paused for a moment on her way back to peak around the corner at him.

He was kneeling next to her radiator and she could already see the moisture forming on his forehead. With the heat hitting him at full blast, he seemed terribly uncomfortable in his collared dress shirt and sweater vest. As she watched, he set the metal box he had come in with (which she assumed contained tools) down next to him and began stripping off his sweater. Elle found herself holding her breath as he paused for a moment and then began unbuttoning his shirt. He did it so slowly she began to wonder if he knew she was watching. Was he teasing her? Did he know how she felt about him? Impossible! Gabriel Gray was as dumb as a rock when it came to her feelings.

When he had finished unbuttoning himself and peeled his shirt off to review a skin tight white tee shirt underneath, Elle made a strangled noise low in her throat. His head immediately whipped around and he spotted her standing in the kitchen doorway, openly staring at him. She felt her face heat up until it was the temperature of what she estimated must be at least a thousand suns.

"Is that for me?" he asked, his eyes immediately focusing on the cool drink in her hand.

"What…? Oh! Yes! Yes, right. Yes, it's for you. Yes." She mentally smacked herself. Get a grip, Elle! She tried not to stare at him and his damnably tight tee shirt as she handed him the glass. He looked at her a bit oddly and she carefully plastered on a smiling, oblivious face.

"Thank you." She smiled at him in response and then watched him drink every drop of cool liquid in the glass. She turned her eyes away as he put the finished glass on the floor, mentally berated herself for ogling her oblivious best friend.

"Um, do you want some help with this?" She gestured to the radiator.

He looked back down at her radiator and began rummaging in his toll box. "No. Actually, it just looks like one of your knobs is missing is all. I can put a temporarily fix on it until I pick up a replacement for you."

"I can pick it up myself."

He looked at her out of the corner of his eye in amusement as he worked. "Do you know what to look for?"

"How hard is it to pick up a knob?" She said with an eye roll.

"Says the woman who's never been to a hardware store."

She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Great come back, Elle." He smiled at her teasingly through his glasses.

She wondered what he would do if she were to reach out and slide them off his face.

Before she could let herself go down that train of thought, she reached down to pick up his empty glass with a promise to bring him another. When she returned to the kitchen, she leaned against the wall out of his sight. Her eyes closed as she listened to him tinker with her radiator. The hand that was still wet with condensation from the glass smoothed over her forehead. Should she risk another peek at him? One more wouldn't hurt…

When she glanced around the corner, Gabriel was facing away from her so that only his profile was in view. Her eyes drank in the chiseled lines of his face.

Elle slowly leaned back into the kitchen to rest against the wall again. She blew some damp hair away from her face and thought.

She'd have to think of something extra nice she could do to thank him for his help.

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