The main street was crowded with couples holding hands, standing on corners in each others arms, kissing, touching, showing their affection. And blended right in with it all was Christian and Gabrielle. In one hand, she had bags of various clothes and in the other hand, was Christians. He had actually bought most of what was in the bags. Stopping on the site of the walkway, she looked up and squealed the girlish squeal of finding a favourite store. Gabrielle wasted no time in dragging Christian into F/X, her favourite store of the moment. The combination of a candy store in the front and the variety of rare clothes in the back made it a popular place to shop, even though for some reason, it was often deserted. Gabrielle wasted no time in amassing a rather large handful of banana-chocolate lollipops and handing them, and the bags, off to Christian. She darted to the back half of the store, looking for the newest one of a kind outfits to grace the punk shows and clubs with. He followed, sitting down on an inflatable loveseat, parked carefully outside the change room. She entered with an armful of clothes, mostly punkish. Christian had noticed that since her rebirth, Gabrielle had thrown herself almost completely into the underground punk scene. She still never went out alone, and insisted on dragging someone off to the shows, often, it was Jeff. His love and thirst for music mirrored hers, and he was the only one who could tolerate such frequency of the same bands, over and over, night after night.

Gabrielle walked out of the small cubicle she had been changing, and stood before Christian, arms outstretched. Her first outfit consisted of jeans that couldn’t really be classified as jeans, as they were covered with patches, and an original style Misfits T-shirt with safety pins around the sleeves.

"No." He just said, looking at her, and she nodded.

"I know, its horrific. It just stood out on the rack. It must be the lighting." She said, before turning around to try on another outfit.

"What are you looking for new clothes for now anyway?"

"The Save Ferris show. They may be mainstream, and not punk, but I love them."

"And I've never even heard of - " Gabrielle walked out of the change room, and noted Christian's reaction. He stopped talking, rose and stared, open mouthed. Gabrielle raised her eyebrows and looked at him, then past him to the hat rack, looking for a black bowler that would set the whole outfit off. She brushed past him, finding the exact thing she was looking for. It somehow made the red plaid skirt, which was fairly short, and plain white tank top, seem like something wearable to a concert.

"Christian, close your mouth and help me find shoes." She called from the mirror, adjusting the hat so her hair fell perfectly. Christian walked up behind her.

"I can't pick out shoes. Just get another pair of docs." Her eyes lit up at the suggestion.

"Good idea. Do you wanna buy them for me? Knee-high ones this time." Gabrielle gazed at his reflection in the mirror. He smiled and shook his head.

"Sure. If you wear them with that outfit, its worth it." She smiled back, and he watched as she spun around, and then walked back into the change room. As he sat back down, Gabrielle still on his mind, and he realised he felt more love for her in that instant than he ever had before.

They spent the rest of the day drinking coffee at the Café du Monde, sitting and noting things about the people that walked by.

"He's cheating on his new wife with his ex-wife." Gabrielle said of the man in a business suit, walking past them. Christian pointed to someone behind her, setting down his coffee.

"And that young man over there is utterly, and hopelessly in love with his best friend." She raised her eyebrows.

"I thought we were talking about strangers, not each other, Christian."

"We are."

"No, we're not. And I already know how you feel. I feel the same, but we agreed to put it on hold so I can find my place with Edge." Christian sighed quietly.

"We Did. But its hard for me. Every time I see you, alone or otherwise, I just want you. And I need you, but so does Edge."

"We can still have a relationship. Just not physical…."

"I know…but sometimes, its not enough." He shook his head. "Let's stop talking about this, shall we? There's no use."

"No Problem." She sniffed at her coffee. "I'm hungry. Want to feed? We can share…" she said, teasingly as a spark grew in Christians eyes. Quickly, they both rose smiling, and were off, in what had become their nightly ritual.