"Whatever the question is, princess, the answer is no."

"Come on, Gabe, don't be an asshole."

His amber eyes shot up to her blue ones. They were dancing. Teasing him. He loved that look. A smirk settled on his lips, and he leaned back in his seat. "What's in it for me?"

"Uh, reckless mayhem and chaos, duh?" The young woman, perhaps no older than twenty, reached over and took one of the chocolate covered strawberries off his plate. Had it been anyone else, they may have lost a finger. Or a hand. Maybe an arm if he was feeling particularly hungry. She took a bite of it, a wicked smile on her face.

"Oh, is that all? I was hoping for something with a bit more… pizzazz, kiddo."

"Don't," Darla pointed a finger at him. The nail was painted black. "Call me kiddo. I hate that."

"Why do you think I call you that?" Gabriel grinned at her as she scoffed at him.

Pointedly, she told him, "Because you're a dick."

"You love me." He winked at her. Watching her stand, the archangel took in the human's form for probably the thousandth time since their meeting some four years ago. He rather liked her shape… who was it that said humans were works of art?

"Of course I do; why do you think I keep coming back?"

This was actually true. She did love him. He was her mentor, her hero… but that was all. He made it pretty clear from day one she was his sidekick, not his equal. And she could accept that. As long as she got to go along for the ride, she could handle being second banana to his troves of women. Absently, she rubbed the small beauty mark on the side of her cheek.

Gabriel smirked at her back. He really did get a sick thrill from teasing her. "Okay, fine. You've forced my hand."

Darla turned quickly to face him. A grin lit up her face, even as her long black hair spun around it. The archangel liked it best when she did that. Made her look so… happy. When he had met her she wasn't. She was a street kid. A con artist- a damn good one too. Almost managed to pull the wool over his eyes once. Almost. Made him feel like a real (as seen on T.V. anyway) angel to help her. Like a big brother again.

"Aw, Trick, you are the king!"

He smirked impishly when she threw her arms around him. "So I've been told." He patted her ass and she was quick to pull away.

"Dick." She punched him in the shoulder. Harder than necessary, because she knew he could take it.

He shot her a mocking, overdramatic look of pain anyway. "Easy, young blood, my old man suit can't take it."

She scoffed. "Please." The young woman was a few inches shorter than him, probably five foot three inches tall, if he had to guess, but her shoes made them almost eye level. Darla cracked her knuckles. "Let's get to work."

Gabriel sighed and rolled his eyes. He moved to teleported her, but she stepped away. When she saw the confusion on his face, she wiggled a finger at him. "Ah, ah, ah. The human way."

He grimaced. "Walking?"

"Yeah, Trick, we can't all be psh-cho!" She waved her hands animatedly in front of her face. He smiled at her and nodded. "Atta boy!"

A brow raised rose over caramel coloured eyes.

"Atta…atta, Trickster?" Blue eyes blinked slowly at him before she snickered. "I dunno man, I'm still a little drunk from this morning."

-Fifteen minutes later-

"We have to buy it! You didn't tell me we'd have to-!"

"Gabriel!" The woman snapped under her breathe. "You are causing a scene!"

The archangel gaped at her. The insolence of her! "Causing a- you want a scene, I'll give you a scene!"

"Shush!" She grabbed him by the arm and tugged him closer to the aisle. The grocery store was practically deserted; the few lone exceptions being drug addicts and a few disgruntled workers. But that was to be expected, it was nearing three a.m. He glared at her as she looked around. No one was paying any attention to them.

"I-"

"Gabriel, you promised we could do this my way." Darla cupped his face in her hands. Her face and stare turned somber. It caught him off guard, and he was shocked into silence. Taking advantage of this, she went on, "You have taught me well, Master Trickster. Do not lose faith in your student now." A smile quirked at her lips, and she gave him another punch in the chest. "Don't worry, Trick. Doing things the human way can be fun, too."

He nodded skeptically. He wasn't entirely sure what all that had been about, but… he did trust her. Maybe to a fault, but he knew she wouldn't do anything to harm him. She had put that faith in him many times, countless, and he was happy to return the favor. Rolling his eyes, he asked, "Can we get out of here? It smells like bleach and shame."

She snickered and nodded. Looking down at her –their- cart, she told him. "Yep. This will do."

One glance at his pout told her it would not, and she tossed a box of candy bars in the cart.

-/-

Gabriel stared blankly at her. He just couldn't grasp why she was so pleased with herself. His eyes went from her (down right) gleeful expression to the house. It was a standard, two story home. The only thing that differentiated it from the the rest of the block was the blue streams that were wrapped around various parts of the porch and landscape. "Are you telling me, we drove an hour to TP a house in the middle of the suburbs? Why?"

Darla snatched the roll of toilet paper he was twirling in his hand off away from him. "Why not?"

"Hey, I am all for random acts of mischief, especially when cloaked in the cover of darkness and sticking it to some dick who owns a freaking Hybrid, but this just seems…"

He shrugged absently, another roll appearing in his hand as she tossed the first one around a tree. "Pointless. Personal, maybe, if I had to guess."

"It's nothing." She didn't look at him. Instead, she focused on making a spiral.

Knowing to take the hint, he beamed along with her and hurled the toilet paper over the house's roof. Forty minutes later, the house was covered. Gaband they were staring at it. Gabriel had a pleased, almost proud look on his face. She had been right. This had been fun. He'd have to do it again sometime. He looked down at her and his expression fell.

She didn't look happy. In fact, Darla looked kind of miserable as she glared at the quaint, two story home. A shaky laugh escaped her lips and she shook her head. Gabriel took her hand and snapped his fingers. The two vanished into thin air. His apartment was warmer than the October night air, and it took the girl a moment to adjust. The archangel dropped her hand.

"What about my car?" She shrugged her coat off idly as he moved to pour himself a drink.

Again, Gabriel snapped his fingers. It was now in his apartment's car park. Turning his face toward her, he asked. "Wanna tell me what all that was about, kiddo?"

"Nothing."

"Don't lie to me."

Darla raised her eyes to find his amber ones boring baring down at her with annoyance. She chuckled. It was fake. "I'm not, geez, Gabe, chill out."

Irked, he crossed back over to her. He spun a straw in his glass and frowned at her. She said nothing as it pointed the straw at her. "Liar, liar, pants on fire."

"Come off it, man, I'm not in the mood." She rolled her eyes at him and stepped back. "It was just for fun."

"Bull shit, it was just for fun. You think you can lie to me?" He let out a scoff as if it were the most pointless thing in the world. "The Trickster? Come on, kitten, I wrote the book on deception." He snapped his fingers and they were on the couch. Darla in his lap. "Tell daddy what's wrong."

She shoved herself off him and stormed over to the door. "Nothing! Geez, can't you take no for an answer?"

"Nope." He was by her side again. He had a smile on his lips, but it didn't reach his eyes. "Never have, never will, kid."

The girl sneered at him and threw the door open. "Piss off."

Gabriel blinked in surprise as the door slammed in his face. A very cold feeling settled in the pit of his stomach. That was odd. She usually worshipped the ground he walked on. He'd been nothing short of her god for the past four years. Once she had found out he was a Trickster, she had begged him to take her on as an apprentice. Even when he explained, thoroughly, that she could never hope to learn anything, she still wanted to be involved in his lifestyle. Darla thought he hung the moon. When she disrespected him it was playful, teasing. Not genuinely angry.

Swallowing, Darla made it to the elevators before he caught up to her. She had just pressed the close button when he appeared.

"You didn't honestly think it would be that easy, did you?"

"I hoped."

The doors opened and they stepped inside. Gabriel put his fist through the elevator control panel. His companion jumped, but didn't panic as a normal person would. Instead she made it a point to look at her reflection in the steel walls. Black bangs, pale skin, nothing that couldn't turn a few heads. It would've been a lot easier to boost her self esteem if Gabriel wasn't leering at her with disappointment. She glared back pointedly.

"Come on, Darlin'. You know you're just going to end up telling me anyway."

With a sigh, she nodded. "That's true."

"So." He took a step closer. "Who are they?"

"My parents."

The archangel's brows rose. "You have parents?"

The young woman snorted. "Everyone has parents. Mine are just douchey-er than most people. Thus the…"

Together, they said, "Hybrid." Gabriel frowned, his body slouching against the steel wall across from her. "That why I found you living in a junkyard?"

"No, you found me living in a junkyard because you're a creepy old man who likes to follow little girls around."

"Little girls who con good people out of their hard earned money." His amber gaze sharpened angrily at her.

Her blue eyes rolled in response. "Gabriel. It was like, five years ago. Get over it."

"I was expecting Girl Scout cookies! Do you know how crushed I was when I boxed opened the box and found nothing but rocks?"

Darla chuckled. "Yeah…" She crossed her arms, a satisfied smirk on her lips. "That was a good one."

"I almost chipped a tooth!" The Trickster took a deep breath. They were getting off topic, just like she wanted. He rubbed his temple. "Look here, Little Orphan Darla. I know all about dysfunctional families."

"Oh, I bet you do."

Gabriel felt his jaw clench as she scoffed at him. "Don't laugh at me."

"I'm not, I just…" She shook her head, her bangs falling in her eyes as she dropped her gaze. "I can't imagine you with a family."

"Like I said, dysfunctional… You think humans are the only one with problems within their bloodline?" He tilted his head. She still wouldn't look at him. He approached her casually, a swagger in his step. "What's your dysfunction?"

"Didn't have one. Not really." Darla frowned and looked at his reflection. With a shrug she admitted, "My parents fought a lot. My sister was always kind of the buffer between them."

"Ah, so you were the un-favorite?" He leaned next to her. "I can relate to that."

"When she moved out… I don't know." Black painted nails tapped on the rail of the elevator. Her head rolled on her shoulders. "Everything went to shit. They fought over every thing. Mostly me. What I'd do. Who I took after. Whose fault it was that I wasn't a honor roll student," She laughed bitterly. "Even who was screwing me up more."

"It was your dad." When she shot the angel a confused glance, he went on. "You're a girl. It's always the dad's fault."

She shook her head. "Yeah…"

Gabriel grinned at her. "Runaway, huh? I can relate to that. Left home, never looked back."

Darla looked up at him curiously. "Really?"

"Sure. But that doesn't mean I don't love my family." He shuffled a little closer to her. Awkwardly he patted her shoulder. He honestly didn't mind talking about his family. He missed them. It was nice knowing he wasn't the only one on the outskirts.

"I didn't say I didn't love them. I said I didn't like them." She met his eyes seriously. "They're assholes. Well, most of them. I guess, I just…"

When her voice trailed off, Gabriel took it upon himself to speak up. "Miss them? It's okay you know. You are human."

"That I am. And I am also growing tired of this conversation." Her eyes sparkled up in to his. "And frankly, this elevator."

The Trickster smirked. With a snap of his fingers, they were back in his apartment. She rolled her eyes and dropped down on to his couch. Propping a leg up on his coffee table, she asked, "Does it bother you?"

"Does what bother me?" He grabbed his discarded glass and took a sip from it.

"Not seeing them?"

"Every day." He looked down at her and tilted his head. "You?"

After a moment, she met his stare. "No. Not my parents. Just Marley. She's cool." With a nod, he motioned for her to sit up. "Probably pregnant too, if those streamers on the porch are anything to go by." She did as she was told and when he sat behind her, she rested her head in his lap. "Gabe?"

"Yep?" His hand found her hair, and he began to tease it with his fingers.

She closed her eyes, relaxing a moment. "I'm sorry I shut the door in your face."

"No biggie. I'm sorry I had to find out your dad drives a Hybrid." He looked down at her soberly. "I've lost a lot of respect for you this evening, Darlin'."

They stared at each other a moment before cracking up. Everything was back to normal.

A/N: I don't know if there will ever be a series for this couple, but there will be a few more oneshots about them.