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Animal Instincts

The sun sits high in the clear summer sky. A thin winding road curves along the coast of a sparkling lake, its deep blue surface broken up with gentle waves. Following the road is a silver sedan, its driver swerving to miss the worst of the potholes that litter the forgotten stretch of pavement. The driver's wife leans forward to turn up the AC in the middle of her scathing report of a new coworker.

"And I'm telling you this new guy has absolutely no filter. None whatsoever. Zip. Zilch."

"I thought talking about that sort of thing was normal for people in the medical field."

"No way Gary, not about something so disgusting and definitely not during lunchtime."

He points an accusing finger at her.

"Remember that time you gave me a detailed description of the puss coming out of that dude's ulcer on...what was it...our third date? Remember how I suspiciously wasn't hungry when the entrees arrived? What about that Lucy?!"

"Oh come on, I was just making sure you could handle hearing stories about my particular line of work. Because if you couldn't I may have had to block your number and ghost you." She states with a healthy dose of sarcasm.

"Oh really? Or were you just testing to make sure I would have the balls to handle seeing something as freaky as your monthly transformation without having a heart attack?"

"I probably could have given you more warning about that, and for the millionth time my bad. But it's just a bodily function like any other you big scaredy cat. It's perfectly normal. And that was like what? 3 years ago?"

AN: Keep this updated

"Ya Lucy, a bodily function that turns you half wolf. Real uninteresting. You make it sound like it's just as normal as taking a piss or sneezing. Freaking unbelievable."

"Oh my god Gary chill out. It's not like you died or anything. And I did at least give you_some_ warning."

"What the- Lucy! You said "Hey, want to see something cool?" and then you stepped into the moonlight. I thought I was high, or maybe really drunk, or maybe I had snuffed a little too much glue when I saw what was happening to your body. All that facial restructuring and lengthening of limbs and stuff. You have any idea what that sounds like to a bystander? Absolutely terrifying I tell you!"

She puts on a playful smile and looks at Gary.

"I remember the face you made."

"I did not make a face." He says with a clearly false sense of confidence.

"Yes you did, I saw it with my werewolf eyes."

"A trick of the light."

"Gary, you looked...just...like...this!"

She puts her face into an exaggerated horrified expression, tongue flopping out of her mouth and eyes crossed. Gary can't help but laugh.

"Okay honey, fine. I was pretty scared. Which makes what I did right after all the more reasonable. I mean who wouldn't try to run after seeing their girlfriend morph into a 7 foot tall lean mean killing machine?"

"Well I don't know, maybe boyfriends that actually love their girlfriends? People with slightly stiffer backbones? People that like dogs? And I'm not apologizing for chasing you. Wolf instincts are kind of hard to ignore, I gotta chase my prey and take what's mine." She snatches the air in front of her for effect. "And besides, you know how bad things could have been if you went out and told people about my gift."

"If I did that they probably would have just put me in the looney bin. Werewolves don't exist and all that nonsense."

"What can I say, we have been very good at hiding ourselves the past several centuries. Not that there's ever been many of us around in the first place. Speaking of which..."

"Lucy, no. You already know my answer."

"Oh come on Gary, it would be fun! We would be a great pair!"

Gary puts his hand out in a defensive gesture.

"Listen it's just, I would prefer to keep myself the way I am. I love you, I really do, occasional werewolf dandruff and all, but I would prefer to keep my humanity fully intact. No offense."

Lucy slumps down in her seat, disappointed that yet another attempt to convince Gary of the benefits of lycanthropy has failed.

"None taken. And not to rush things but I've already told you about the pup situation right?"

"Yes, and when we have kids I'll love them just as much as I love you. Regardless of the lycan blood they get from their maternal line and monthly nights out."

She puts a hand on his shoulder, squeezing gently.

"Well that's good to hear Gary. I think we're almost there."

"You're right Lucy, just a little more money in the bank, maybe a bigger house, and then I think we'll try for our first. It's getting close." He puts his hand up to his chin. "If you had twins would you call it a litter?"

"Gary! I was talking about where we're supposed to turn!"

He's snapped out of his thought as she points to a rapidly encroaching turn off.

"Ah shit, right."

The sedan makes a sharp left turn onto a small dirt road. Winding through the forest it eventually ends on a small parking lot. A clearing surrounds the parking lot, several wooden tables with bench seats are scattered around the area. The whole place is peppered with families and couples eating, roaming, or otherwise enjoying the idyllic summer day. Gary parks the car and opens the trunk removing a picnic basket.

"Have everything?"

"Yes, and I even included a spare set of clothes for you to prevent another flashing situation."

Lucy taps her foot on the ground and crosses her arms.

"Gary, nobody saw me naked on the way back." She states defiantly.

"I did. You really ought to remember to take all of your clothes off before the moon comes out. You don't want to traumatize some poor boy scouts hiking in the woods on the way back to the car do you?"

"Oh please! It's not going to happen twice."

"Okay, well maybe I should double check that you're naked before nightfall. You know, just to be sure." He winks.

She raises an eyebrow.

"Ya, maybe you should. Or maybe you should get the food out so I don't eat you after your little inspection. I'm starving after the drive down here."

"I thought you were supposed to be a werewolf not a wereprayingmantis." Gary says insufferably.

"Okay that's it, I'm definitely taking some chunks out of you when night comes around. I hope you have good cardio Gary. And better luck than the first time you saw me change."

"I don't know about cardio, but I did consult my lucky eight ball before the drive and it said I would most likely survive our marriage with all of my limbs attached."

"Careful there buckaroo, there's still a chance I may get my payback."

Gary shrugs his shoulders and rolls his eyes.

"Ya, but I mean, probably not."

Gary and Lucy take a seat at one of the benches and take out their food, bodies bathed in the slowly dying sunlight. A simple meal of homemade ham sandwiches, orange soda, and potato chips sates their hunger. A few kids play with a frisby in the distance. Slowly the sound of cicadas fills the air as the sky becomes a dimming orange haze. Gradually the families that were in the clearing pack up their things and leave one by one, not having any plans for the coming darkness. Eventually it's just the Gary and Lucy sitting alone on the bench.

"Well that meal was good, don't you agree?" He subtly brags.

"I don't know Gary, I think I still have enough room for desert. One with a gooey red filling and soft outer skin."

Gary's face shifts to one of genuine aggravation at her gruesome innuendo. He speaks in a hushed yet serious tone.

"Can you fucking stop joking about eating me? It's creeping me out." He almost takes another bite of his sandwich before a thought enters his head. "And it's killing my future boner."

Lucy puts her hands up in front of her.

"Fine, if a little joking bothers you so much then I'll stop. I wouldn't want for our night out to end with a click and no bang."

"Good. I mean sometimes I think you don't realize just how bestial you look after you change. The teeth, the claws, the eyes. The rational side of my brain says they belong to my sweet little Lucy who wouldn't hurt a fly, but the lizard part of my brain still says to run away, run far away."

"You know, I guess being around lycanthropy my entire life has dulled me to the shock associated with the changing. Both my parents are lycans. So were my grandparents. I first remember seeing my parents change when I was like...3? To me the fur, the teeth, the limbs, the tail, and everything else are all perfectly normal."

"Well I wasn't raised by wolves like you were Lucy. There's still just a tinge of fear lurking deep in my consciousness when I see you all toothy and grinning."

"Pussy." She says with a joking smile.

Gary looks to the horizon. The sun is about halfway below the trees and the forest surrounding them is rapidly becoming darker.

"We should get going. I'll put our things up."

Gary throws all of their garbage into a nearby trash can and returns the picnic basket to the car. While there he retrieves a blanket and carefully hides a wine bottle plus two glasses within it. A little secret for his wife. As Gary walks back to the bench he observes her staring longingly into the horizon towards the dying sun. He steps right next to her and she's still staring. Something was clearly on her mind.

"Distracted Luce?"

Disturbed from her thoughts, she looks to Gary, a faint smile on her lips.

"Oh, just thinking."

"About what?"

"The future, the world, us."

"They were happy thoughts I hope?"

"Very happy. Now let's get to the focal point of this evening, follow me."

Together they move into the forest, first onto a small winding trail leading them around the nearby lake then onto an unmarked dirt path leading further into the forest. At Lucy's command they break off and head into the wild bush surrounding them. After several minutes they reach their goal, a small clearing by the shore of the lake. Large trees surround either side of the clearing giving them some level of privacy, their bodies only visible to those on the far side of the water, well beyond where the human eye could reasonably make out any details.

"This is it."

"Yep, in fact I'm pretty sure the first time I saw you change I ran in that exact direction."

Gary points a finger to the forest behind them.

"And not even 20 yards in you tripped on a tree branch. Ya big klutz."

They both chuckle at the shared memory.

"Hey! It was dark, the moon was in my eyes, I was tired, I didn't have breakfast, you were spooking me."

She smirks as her next words drip with confidence.

"I'm pretty sure I would have caught you even if you didn't trip. Guarantee it in fact."

"I don't doubt that, I never was much of a runner. Hey, you see that boat out there?"

Lucy moves towards the edge of the shore staring intently into the distance.

"What boat? I don't see anything."

Gary takes the bundled blanket and quietly removes the glass contents from its center, still wanting to keep it hidden from Lucy. He unfolds the blanket and rests it on the soft grass.

"Oh it's right in the middle of the lake out there, the one with no running lights. I think it's running drugs or something."

Slowly, quietly, he grabs the bottle and begins inching off the cork giving occasional glances to Lucy to ensure she's still staring away from him. First he gets it to wiggle, then it moves up a slight bit, then a bit more, then a bit more, surely any moment now...

"Gary I don't see shit out there, why are you even-"

*POP*

Lucy's shoulders jump up and her hands move to her head as she's startled by the sound. Her frightened gaze moves towards Gary who's sporting a smug smile.

"I got something I think you'll like Luce!"

Her tense posture loosens as she sees the source of the sound.

"Well I guess that makes up for scaring me. You dick."

"You guess? Wine that has your desired level of sweetness is hard to find. Had to trawl every sketchy website under the sun to find a place that had this particular brand both in stock and shippable. Supposed to be sickeningly sweet, which means you'll find it almost too dry I bet."

"Okay, you're forgiven. But I get the first taste."

He hands her the bottle and a glass. She pours until her glass is half full and returns the bottle. She takes a short sip of the blood red liquid, savoring the flavor before swallowing.

"Now this...is a nice wine. Tastes good, though I wouldn't mind it a touch sweeter."

She stares into the dark glass with an inquisitive gaze.

"Maybe we should get a different year next time. And it's imported all the way from the finest winemakers in, uhh..."

He takes a look at the bottle.

"...Italy apparently."

"Italy huh. Maybe we should go there for our first wedding anniversary, get some of this stuff right from the source. Maybe eat some spaghetti, see the colosseum, take some pictures, get drunk off our ass and act like stereotypical tourists."

"Well our anniversary isn't for what? Like 3 months still? We have plenty of time to decide on what we want to do. We'll have to either time it so we'll be back before the next full moon or have a plan for what to do after you turn. It's going to make things complicated if we go international."

"Oh don't worry about that sort of thing Gary, we'll feel it out as we go. If we decide to stay longer than we planned to then we'll come up with something on the spot. Maybe we'll have a midnight tryst in some spooky art museum or something. Do it right in front of the Mona Lisa and make her blush." She giggles at the silliness of her own idea.

"That sounds like the plot to a B movie Lucy. I can see it now, "Attack of the Art Enthusiast Werewolf Babe", coming to a shitty run-down theater near you."

Lucy suddenly turns her head to the horizon. By now the only remnant of the sun was a dull glow from where it had once been visible, a great portion of the sky was now dark and would soon be filled with stars.

"Hey, Gary, the moon is coming up soon."

He gets up off the blanket and rushes over to her.

"Shit, give me your glass and take your clothes off, we don't need you flashing any boy scouts tomorrow morning!"

She gives him a sly smile as her glass is handed over. She slides her shirt over her raven black hair exposing her pert breasts in a bra. She kicks her shoes off before undoing the belt on her jeans letting them fall to the ground. Now in nothing more than her panties and bra, she gives a quick look around before reaching behind her back to undo the bra clasp. Gary notices her hesitation.

"What? Afraid we have a peeking tom out here?"

"Ya, there's one right in front of me!"

She throws her bra at his face, by the time he's removed it she's completely naked from head to toe. She gathers her clothing and creates a neat pile at the edge of the blanket then walks up to Gary.

"You get unclothed too mister. You have a job to do."

"You're awfully pushy tonight."

"Oh you haven't even seen me be pushy tonight yet." She comes closer and puts a finger to his chest, a devilish grin on her lips. "By the time I'm done with you you'll have even more scars on your back."

"And my poor pelvis?"

"Turned to dust."

He shakes his head and mutters something about hospital bills before getting undressed himself. When he's done he turns his head to see Lucy standing by the shore, ready to become bathed in the pale embrace of moonlight. Even in the darkness her raven hair contrasts greatly with her ghostly white skin. Gary suddenly perks up as he remembers something.

"Luce! Did you take your ring off too?"

"Ah damn-"

She moves to take it off but stops mid action. The moon was now shining light upon the lake and her unavoidable transformation into lycan form had begun. Her head cranes up to the sky and her mouth becomes agape. A brief pained grunt escapes before her head shoots down to look at her arms. They were becoming covered in fur, a slowly thickening coat of black bristles covering her pallid skin. Finely trimmed nails darkened to an opaque black and lengthened until ending in a fine point, and the digits themselves lengthened and expanded, faint fleshy pads now appearing on her palm and fingertips. A loud metallic klink could be heard, the wedding band that was once on her finger now lay on the ground, its circular shape broken. A long furry tail extends from her back and droops down under its own weight. Her head extended into a muzzle, dull incisors became razor sharp canines that filled her maw, ears became pointed and wolf like. Bones creaked and joints popped, her limbs extended and reshaped to become longer, thicker, stronger. Below the knees were now digitigrade legs ending in a wide paw, toes tipped with thick claws.

Jim watches the whole process a good distance away. To be honest he didn't like watching the transformation, something about the sounds and sights of it made him feel sick to his stomach. The crunch of a bone shifting, the brief grunts Lucy made as her lungs expanded and took in new breath, the change of human into werewolf, it still seemed unnatural to him despite having seen her change well over a dozen times. He disliked that she almost seemed in pain during it. He had asked her before if it hurt and she responded with a disappointingly vague "Not really.". She always described it as a gift, what kind of gift causes pain?

When her body stopped shuddering and the pops of bones rearranging ceased she stood in place, breathing heavily. She moves her hands in front of her face, as if to ensure it's still her in control. Yep, still her. On instinct she shoots her head to the sky and sounds off. Jim manages to cover his ears a millisecond before her exclamation.

"AAWWWOOOOOOOOOO!"

Her instinctual obligation now complete; her mind moves to the ring she was thinking about just before the change began. Milky white eyes search the ground, eventually finding the broken piece of metal hiding under the grass. Her tail drops and ears pin themselves to the back of her head. Jim sees her pick something up and move towards him, her form now at least two feet taller than he was. Her lips curl into an apologetic smile as she drops the broken ring into his waiting hand. Despite the changes to her body her voice remained hers, though her enunciation was a touch off courtesy of the canine mouth.

"Sorry Gary, it's pretty much scrap metal."

"Don't worry Luce, we can get it reforged. Worst case scenario we melt it down and sell it to help pay for a new one. I was only joking about the pre-change inspection earlier but now I'm beginning to think I should actually start doing that."

"Or maybe you should stop giving me wine before every full moon."

"Don't try to blame this on me Lucy. You only had half a glass there's no way it made you tipsy enough to forget. Speaking of which you need to finish it, you know how expensive this stuff is."

He hands her glass back to her. She has to take it into her furry hand with great care, with the strength contained in her new form it wouldn't take much more than a very slight error in judgement to break the glass into pieces. They sit back down on the blanket. Just a regular guy and his werewolf wife enjoying the night, perfectly normal.

"I've always wondered, do things taste different after you've changed?"

She takes a sip of wine.

"What on Earth are you talking about Gary?"

"I mean, you're half wolf right now, right?"

"Yes? And?"

"So if I gave you a handful of dog food..."

"Oh. My. God. Gary! I have standards you know! If you gave me a handful of dog food I would probably smack it out of your hand. And if you're lucky you would still have that hand!"

"Oh yeah? What about a juicy steak?"

"Well, I would probably enjoy that even more compared to being unchanged. The enhanced sense of smell does help get the saliva dripping easier."

"So it does taste different?"

"Not different, just more intense I guess is the best way to describe it."

"And you wouldn't need to use a knife and fork like the rest of us dentally challenged peasants."

"Nope!"

She grins and chomps the air in front of her for effect. Jim refills his glass and turns to Lucy.

"Luce, you want to finish this off?"

"Don't mind if I do, not like it's going to get me buzzed or anything with this big furry body of mine."

She takes the bottle from Jim and downs the remainder in one long gulp. As she removes the bottle from her black lips she misjudges her own strength and its neck shatters in her hand. Dark green glass shards bounce off her body and fall onto the cloth below.

"Ah, damnit, sorry again Gary. There's glass all over the blanket."

She shakes her head at her own clumsiness.

"Geez Luce, and I thought I was supposed to be the klutz?"

She gives him an annoyed glance. He continues.

"Well, you aren't hurt are you? No glass stuck in your hand? I don't need to take you to the vet?"

"Ha! No. Takes more than a little glass to injure a werewolf. We can clean the blanket off in the morning. For right now I want to get to the fun part of the evening."

"The part where I get half my bones broken?"

She puts her nose an inch away from his, a sultry tone in her voice.

"Ya, like I said, the fun part."

He pushes her muzzle away, not intending to get down to business just quite yet.

"Well we can't do it on the blanket. Your fur may protect you from the glass shards but I'm still very squishy. How about we go to uhhh...fuck it let's just find some grass and do it there."

Her lips curl into a smug smile, her eyes barely containing the carnal fire within.

"Like an animal in heat, you're just rearing to go huh? Don't even need a man-made surface to rut on."

"That's _real_funny coming from the lady with a tail and wolf ears right now. I think..." Gary looks all around him, looking for a spot they could both lay on without getting poked by a branch or get covered in dirt, "...there's another clearing over there."

He points deeper into the forest and they begin walking to their new hotspot. Halfway there Jim suddenly turns around and begins walking back towards the blanket.

"You go ahead, I need to get something out of my clothes." He shouts over his shoulder.

"You know it doesn't work that way."

"I just want to be sure."

She puts her hands on her hips in annoyance.

"It's a biological impossibility you safety sally. You aren't going to give me pups while I'm changed. Not unless you're also somehow a werewolf. Which you aren't."

He shrugs while turning around to face her.

"I just want to be sure. I mean think about it, what happens if there's still some of my little swimmers by your baby maker after you change back to human form? What about that?"

"I just said it doesn't work that way but fine, get the condoms, see if I care." She grumbles.

AN: reassess implicit tones for entire above section

She dismissively waves her clawed hand as he walks away. By the time Gary meets her back at the clearing she's laying on her side, chin resting against her paw.

"Oh Gary, paint me like one of your French werewolves." She says with a great deal of false enthusiasm.

"I can't paint, and I've never seen a French werewolf naked."

"You too can paint."

He squints his eyes and shakes his head.

"What? No I can't."

"You can paint but only in white. You've done it plenty of times before." She raises her eyebrows up and down.

"Was that analogy supposed to get me hot and bothered? Because it didn't."

Not wanting to ruin the mood further, Lucy decides to cut to the chase and springs up from the ground, putting two lanky arms around Garys back pulling him against her. She then falls onto her back letting him lay across her soft body. She continues to pin Gary against her as she speaks, ears back and teeth bared as much as possible.

"Listen here you little shit. I'm your canvas and you're going to paint the crap out of me tonight. I'm talking big goopy blotches of mystery fluids across both of us. Red lines across your back. Tired achy bodies in the morning. I'll be walking bow legged and your dick will be red and raw. Do you get me?"

Gary looks up at her fierce white eyes, barely stifling a laugh as he stealthily moves a hand up her body.

"Heh, you're just saying that because this is the only day of the month you're guaranteed to be the one on top."

Deeming his hand now close enough, it shoots up to her face and boops her right on the nose. The commanding expression she wore before vanishes as her mind tries to think of a way to deal with her insubordinate husband. When she finds one her eyes squint and her lips curl into a devious smile. Gary speaks.

"You uh, going to do something or will I be pinned here for the rest of tonight."

"No more talking!"

She pokes his nose with a claw before grabbing his shoulders and rolling so that their positions were now reversed. She leans back and quickly gets up on her feet, taking just a couple steps forward so that the moist fur between her legs now loomed above his head. Gary realizes what's happening just moments before she lowers herself, his first word of protest coming out muffled as werewolf pelvis blocks his mouth. Lucy slightly repositions herself so her pussy is in just the right position to be serviced by the human tongue beneath her. And yet, the tongue and mouth below her continue to try to do silly things like shout muffled words and not pleasure her clit and folds like they're supposed to. What the fuck. She grabs his head, fur intertwining with hair.

"I said no more talking Gary." She states with a commanding tone.

Gary gives a muffled surrender before switching his attention to the werewolf pussy above him. Lucy was finally feeling what she wanted to be feeling, a soft human tongue caressing and exploring her depths. She loosens her hold on his head allowing him some movement and basks in the sensation, the humans nose occasionally tickling her clit causing flashes of intense feeling to take the form of involuntary shudders. Gary feels her soft tail lift and wag over his chest, the trails of fur feeling good against his cool bare skin. Lucy's muzzle turns to the sky as she loses herself, strands of saliva dripping out of the corners of her relaxed jaw. She was getting close now, the waves of pleasure growing larger and larger with each second. As if on cue, Gary moves himself up slightly and gently sucks her love button sending her over the edge. Her hands move from his head to the ground to steady herself as she climaxes, pleasured whimpers escaping her mouth as she slowly descends from her high. When she feels in control enough to move her legs she gets up and off of Gary, staring down at his soaked face. She points a claw at him.

"Why can't you ever eat pussy like that when we're at the house?"

"When we're at the house you aren't 8 feet tall and packing claws and 3 inch canines. I've found that fear is a powerful motivator when it comes to pleasuring your wife."

"Well I'm not fearful enough to cause your little man down there to run away apparently."

They both stare at his erection aimed at the sky. He looks back at her with a smug grin.

"That's because he's scared stiff."

She looks back at him with an unamused glare.

"Get it Lucy, he's stiff. My penis is scared stiff. Get it?"

She leans down over him.

"I think it would be in your best interest to keep your mouth shut for the rest of the night. Either that or you'll be eating pussy for the remainder of the evening."

"Okay." He says meekly.

"Good Gary, now that we're in agreement it's time I return the favor."

Lucy moves between his legs and gets on her knees. She grabs his rod with one hand and places the other on his side. She leans down and opens her mouth letting her tongue flop out. It wasn't quite a dog tongue, being thinner and longer than one would expect. It also had the distinction of being fully prehensile. She wraps it around his cock and moves her muzzle forward, coating the entire length of it in her warm breath. She moves her head and tongue up and down along its height as she works. Gary lets his head flop to the ground and puts a hand on the top of her furry head, stroking a pointed ear as it moved. Lucy kept her teeth at safe distance from his manhood, an action that required a great deal of finesse gained over many carnal nights spent with Gary. Eventually Lucy feels two fingers squeeze her ear, a signal that he was close. She carefully closes her mouth to the point that she can wrap her black lips around his diameter and speeds up her actions anticipating a climax. When it comes Gary bucks his hips up slightly and coats the interior of Lucy's maw with several waves of cum. When he's done, she straightens her back and licks her lips. Gary speaks as if he's in a daze.

"Damn Lucy, why can't you ever suck dick like that when we're at home."

She leans forward and pats his cheek.

"I think you know why big boy. Now pull yourself back together and get ready for your monthly pelvis crushing."

"Yes dear."

She moves back down between his legs and once again wraps her tongue around his dick, eventually stimulating it back to full hardness. Once there, she gets back up and places her feet on either side of his hips. But just before she lowers herself onto his mast he stops her.

"Lucy wait. I got to do the thing you hate."

He grabs a nearby condom wrapper and tears it open, placing the it upon his penis.

She looks at him with an annoyed stare.

"How many times do I have to tell you Gary, it doesn't work that way. You're just wasting money."

"Can we not argue about this. You may now proceed with the pelvis crushing."

He waves his hand across his crotch. Without further delay she lowers herself onto his erection, covering his full length with her warm velvet. Once hilted, she places two hands on his sides and begins the up and down action. Soon after she starts Gary feels her canals sporadically tighten and release, internal muscle control being a quirk of werewolf biology. Lucy's breathing gradually becomes heavier as she progresses towards another climax, her milky white eyes fixated on Gary's own the entire time. She also becomes more violent with her thrusts, her pelvis hitting Gary's own with a plap that slowly rises in volume over time. When Gary hears pleasured grunts coming from Lucy he knew she was getting close and he puts his hands over her furry wrists. The last few thrusts before she climaxed could best be described as violent, not that she had any say over it as by then her own animalistic lust was practically moving her body for her. It was one of those perfect nights, and they both climax at the same time. She lets out another howl towards the sky and he squeezes her wrists as he bucks into her. When her howl was complete she looks down to Gary with a pleased smile and falls on top of him, completely covering his bare skin with her furry body. As Gary comes off of his climax he feels an odd sensation down below. He moves a hand between her fur and his skin and reaches his penis, removing it from Lucy's still dripping pussy. Man that must have been a really thin condom, it feels as if there's nothing there. Wait, actually, there isn't anything there. He moves his hand down his penis to feel the rubber ring of the condom attached to a few tattered rubber remnants.

"Luce, the condom broke."

She chuckles before responding, amused at the pointless information.

"I told you. It doesn't work that way. Dummy."

She inhales and exhales deeply before speaking.

"I liked tonight." She coos into his ear.

"So did I babe. You tired?"

She mumbles an affirmative.

"We can rest here and leave in the morning."

She mumbles another affirmative before shifting her body off of his and onto her side. She raises an arm and quietly whimpers while looking at Gary.

"Little Spoon?" He whispers.

She shakes her head. He gets onto his side and wiggles backwards towards Lucy, his back soon hitting her furry chest. She lowers her arm over him and moves her legs so as much of her was touching him as possible. Gary could fall asleep right here right now with how comfy being against his warm furry wife was, but he fights back sleep just long enough to tell her goodnight.

"Night Lucy. See you in the morning. Love you."

"Love you too little spoon."

AN: Need a phrase for callbacks somewhere around here, something about the moon?

Forestalled Form

As Lucy and Gary slept the moon crept across the sky shining pale light across the two intertwined bodies. She held him against her bosom, arm across his chest the way a child might hold a teddy bear close to keep frightful thoughts at bay. Eventually the sun makes its daily return and brilliant orange rays pierce the air. One of them hits Gary right on his face, the trees failing to shield him from the sun's morning brilliance.

Yielding to the coming of morning he slowly raises his eyelids, peeking from the small slit of vision he gives himself. He glimpses the morning sun shining upon the grass in front of him. Oh right, the grass they had to settle for since she broke the wine bottle. She was always a little clumsy as a canine. If anything that just made her more endearing, he liked the contrast between her superhuman senses and butterfingers. A smile crosses his weary face and he gives a morning greeting to his wife, slurred words betraying his still half-asleep state.

"Good morning Lucy. Wakey wakey eggs and baky."

He hears a long and drawn out yawn behind him.

"Good morning Gary. I guess I'll get up and get dressed first, as usual."

"A very good idea babe." He lazily points a finger somewhere behind him. "And could you grab my clothes and bring them over here. I'm not sure my lower body still works after last night."

"I guess I can. But only because I'm such a nice person. It's not because I like you or anything."

Gary raises his hand in the air and sticks his ring finger out, emphasizing the ring on it.

"Okay I guess I'll also do it because I love you or some other nonsense."

"Thanks Luce."

He feels a furry paw release itself from his chest and Lucy get up behind him. She was always more of a morning person than he was. Always doing unbelievable things like waking up early enough to make a decent breakfast and getting out of bed before noon on weekends. Truly superhuman. He always liked it when she made breakfast, she was a great cook. Her blueberry pancakes were to die fo-

A furry paw?

Gary's mind shocks itself awake as it slowly processes the sensation he felt moments earlier. A furry paw? What? She turned back to her human form as soon as the moon went down. She wasn't supposed to be a werewolf now, hell the sun was in the sky! A surge of adrenaline from the sudden revelation purges his body of any lingering sleepiness.

Gary turns himself over to see Lucy towering over him, her mouth agape and wild eyes staring down at her furry body. Digitigrade legs, muzzle, fur, tail, she was definitely still in her lycan form. Gary was almost as dumbfounded as she was. She continues staring at herself and attempts to form a coherent sentence.

"I don't-I don't-I don't-I don't this shouldn't be, I mean, this isn't, how can..."

She stares directly at the sun beaming above.

"Lucy, how are you still a," Gary shakes his head in confusion, his mind somehow unwilling to say the W word, "still not human?'

"I don't know! The sun is right fucking there!" She exclaims while angrily pointing a clawed finger at the burning sphere.

Now it was Gary's turn to fuck up forming a coherent sentence.

"Well maybe-what if-is it possible..."

Failing to even come up with even the vaguest beginnings of a plan of action he looks at the ground, a stupefied expression on his face. Lucy's breathing increases in volume as her mind strains under the shock of what her eyes were seeing. Feeling dizzy, her butt hits the ground in a barely controlled fall as she tries to regain her bearings. Her hands move to her forehead, the feeling of fur on fur only serving to drive her panic further.

Gary is drawn out of his daze as he hears his wife begin to hyperventilate, her eyes locked to the ground and hands squeezing her head. Slowly he gets up and walks over to her hunched over form. When he nears her he gets on a knee and places a hand on her head, gently stroking a pointed ear. Not seeing much improvement in her state, he takes his other hand and gently lifts her muzzle up so her eyes met his.

"Hey, Luce, I'm here with you."

Her breathing slows just a bit. A small improvement but an improvement nonetheless. He decides to continue talking to her even if she was too frazzled to respond.

"Lucy, honey, there's no need to be so nervous. We can figure this thing out. Together. It's all gonna to be okay."

Her breathing soon slows to a somewhat normal pace. Before responding she takes a deep inhale and exhale.

"You're right. Okay. Figure this thing out. Parents. I should contact my parents. They would know what to do more than anyone."

"Good idea Lucy, but we don't have any service way out here. We'll have to get back to civilization before we can call them."

"Fuck. Okay. Well we need to get out of here then."

"You're right, we can't stay here for much longer Luce. Soon there'll be people roaming around the lake and if more than one of them sees you we're screwed. We need to get back to the car and get you home. Then we can contact your parents and see what they know about getting you back to human form. But first, the car."

Lucy's mind slowly pieces itself back together, their quickly made plan helping her focus less on her fucked up situation and more on how to fix it.

"We do need to get out of here. If we're lucky the picnic area will be empty and we can just run across it to get to the parking lot. If it isn't then..."

She looks back to the ground, a slowly creeping anxiety bubbling back to the surface.

"Then we'll figure something out, don't worry. Baby steps here Lucy. After we get home we have as much time in the world to figure out what we'll do next." He stands up and extends a hand to her. "Now let's get a move on before someone sees you."

A hesitant smile creeps across her mouth before she takes his hand and stands up. "Okay, but you're also butt naked you big dummy. Now get dressed before you mentally scar any girl scouts."

Gary smiles before jogging over to the pile of clothing by the blanket, happy that her panic attack was apparently over. He quickly throws his clothes on before shaking the blanket free of any glass and bundling Lucy's clothes and two wine glasses inside of it. By the time he's done Lucy is by him and sniffing the air, apparently interested in something on the wind.

"What do you smell? People? Animals?"

"There's a deer over there." She points a claw in a direction further in the forest. "Adult male, healthy, and on the move."

Gary stares at the direction she's pointing at and sees nothing but trees and leaves.

"Well that's very interesting Lucy but I don't see how that's relevant to our situation."

"I'm just saying, it's not like I get to use these senses in the morning very often. By the time you and I have had our little date every month I usually just go to sleep until the sun comes out. Never had a chance to hunt game while changed like my father used to do."

It takes a couple seconds for Gary to process what she just said.

"Hold up, you're telling me he went out in the forest, as a werewolf, and caught animals to eat? With his claws and bare teeth? You aren't bullshitting me?"

Lucy responds in disbelief that Gary couldn't have known such a thing was possible.

"Well yeah, what the hell do you think these things were used for hundreds of years ago?" She suddenly bares her teeth and raises her clawed hands causing Gary to recoil slightly. "Cutting vegetables and chewing chocolates?"

"Okay I get the point. Now with the sun out we really ought to get going." He points a finger at her. "And no impromptu hunting trips on the way there."

"You better not start becoming a vegetarian. Now if you don't mind I'll lead the way back to the picnic area. Don't fall behind or I may leave without you."

"I think we both know you're too big to fit into the driver's seat."

"You better not be calling me fat."

"Nope, just big boned. And I do mean that literally."

Together they move into the forest, Lucy always a few steps ahead of Gary. The trip there is surprisingly boring, Lucy doesn't detect a single human close to them while they sneak past the trees and bushes. Gary hopes this means that the way to the parking lot is similarly deserted, as there's no way Lucy could make it across the clearing without someone noticing her. Eventually they reach an area just before the threshold of the clearing.

"God fucking damnit." She growls.

"What is it Luce?"

"I smell people up ahead, in the picnic area."

"How many? If it's just one or two I may be able to distract them while you make it to the car."

She sniffs the air a few times.

"Shit, there's about 10 people out there. And they have food. I think it's barbecue. And like 3 of them are children. And one of the children has a cold."

She was really going to have to learn to stop giving irrelevant information at some point.

"Lucy you hold here while I scout ahead."

Gary cautiously moves ahead. In reality there was no need for him to be so cautious, some guy walking in the woods carrying a blanket was odd, but it's not like anyone was going to call the cops over it. Yet the situation with Lucy kept him on edge, a lingering feeling of anxiety remained with him causing an excessive display of vigilance. He moves past the last few trees and spies the picnic area. Sure enough, there are several families there. Unfortunately they were all spread out across the clearing so Lucy avoiding their line of sight would have been impossible. Shit. Gary sneaks back to where his wife should be, again acting with an unnecessary amount of stealthiness. Yet when he arrives at the spot he doesn't see her lanky form.

"Hey, Lucy?" He whispers.

"Hey!"

Her toothy visage appears from behind a tree startling Gary.

"What the hell Luce! You must have known it was me!"

"Just wanted to be sure, my sniffer stopped working for a second there."

"I don't believe that for a second. Anyway, you were right, there's people all over the picnic area so you going through it is not an option. But I have an idea, you remember that road we traveled on to get here? The one that went by the lake?"

"What about it?"

"What if I drive the car along it and stop at some point. You can travel through the forest and meet me at the road then hop in. We can cover you with the blanket just to be sure no one sees you on the way home. It should work."

She gives an annoyed groan.

"I guess that works. But for the love of god the car is just over there. I can practically smell the air freshener you put on the rear-view mirror!"

"I know it sucks but you can't let anyone see you Luce. This is the safest bet."

"Okay, I know what general direction the lake is in so I'll move there until I hit the road. Keep the engine running so I can hone in on you after you stop."

"Good idea Luce, and remember to keep a low profile. No spooking any park rangers or anything."

"Me? Spooking someone without a good reason? You've got the wrong werewolf buddy!"

"Ya right. Now it's time for us to split. If anything goes wrong or you can't make it to the car for whatever reason just come back here and we can make another plan."

There's a silent pause as they both stare at each other, both unwilling to make the first move to leave the other. Lucy, having decided how she's going to say goodbye, moves towards Gary and plants her nose to his. She parts her lips and kisses him deeply for far longer than she's ever kissed someone before, yet it still seems too short. Finally she moves her head back and stares him in the eyes.

"I'll see you by the road Gary. Love you."

"I'll be there. Love you too Luce."

She smiles, then turns and heads into the forest leaving Gary to watch her disappear into the trees. When she's out of sight he turns and heads towards the clearing. As casually as humanly possible he passes by the people enjoying the day in the picnic area. Just a normal guy emerging from the forest with a blanket filled with glasses and smelling like dog, nothing to see here folks. He avoids eye contact and eventually reaches the car, taking his keys out to unlock the doors. Placing the blanket in the back seat he moves to the drivers seat and starts the engine. He knew everything was going to plan, yet there were still questions in the back of his head causing a great deal of worry. Why did Lucy not change back? Can she change back? Is she going to okay? How long will she be like this? What if her parents can't help? What if someone somehow sees Lucy on the way home? Is this all because of something you did? So much uncertainty. Gary takes a few deep breaths and puts the car into reverse. These thoughts can be dealt with later. Focus on the objective, get Lucy home. He looks behind him and pulls out. The drive along the lake is a short one as he didn't want Lucy to have to walk very far to find the car. Finding a nice shoulder to wait on he turns onto it and puts the car in park. The only noise was the engine smoothly idling as Gary nervously waits for Lucy to show. He swivels his head around taking a good look at the forest to his side. Trees, rocks, branches, leaves, no Lucy. Not yet. He glances at the clock on the dashboard. 7:45. He alternates between staring at the forest and glancing at the clock. 7:50. 7:57. 8:00. 8:17. She should have been back by now, 32 minutes should have been plenty of time to get here. He takes one last glance at the forest and puts his hand on the shifter.

*CRACK*

A metallic breaking sound fills the air as the car is rocked to one side. Gary shoots his head behind him to see a furry mass by the side of the vehicle. Lucy's head leans down and moves to his window, he rolls it down.

"What the hell Gary!"

She holds up the exterior door handle she tried to use earlier. Fuck, all that time thinking about Luce and he forgets to unlock the car doors. He smashes the door unlock button far more times than necessary and looks to Lucy.

"Fuck! My bad, try the other door!"

She runs to the opposite side of the car and opens the rear door, practically throwing herself into the car. The car rocks again as the shocks try to handle all the shifting weight inside. She reaches back with one hand and shuts the door with a resounding thud as it latches closed. Seeing the blanket placed beforehand resting on the seat she drapes it over herself and lays flat on the back seats, the car just barely wide enough to handle her curled up body. Gary looks back at the lumpy blanket in the back seat.

"Okay Luce, ready to go home?"

She sticks her muzzle out of the blanket to speak.

"Let's get the hell out of here Gary."

He shifts the car into drive and speeds away.

Family Matters

The silver sedan rolls down a suburban neighborhood. Houses on either side reflect across its windows, their structures uniformly single story. The brake lights turn on, and the car turns into a short driveway. Gary touches a remote clipped to the sunshade and the door to their single car garage opens with a loud rattle. The car slowly enters, the garage door closes, and the engine shuts off. Gary looks behind him.

"Hey Luce, we're home." He whispers to the covered mass taking up the entirety of the back of the car. A canine head pops up from the blanket.

"About damn time. I'm sweating like a pig back here."

"Head inside and cool off, I'll get our stuff out of the car."

She throws the blanket off and opens the car door, carefully maneuvering her lanky limbs in the small space between the car and garage wall. Gary gets out and retrieves their belongings from the trunk. He steps from the garage into their kitchen to see Lucy sticking her head inside of the freezer, eyes closed and mouth open.

AN: add something about him obscuring the windows

"That hot huh?"

"You try spending an hour in the back of a car with a fur coat and blanket covering you and see how much you like it."

"I had the AC turned up full blast."

"The rear of that car has no vents Gary!"

"Well I doubt keeping a werewolf cool was in its design specifications."

"Then maybe we should be pickier about our next car. Now could you get my phone out of my clothes, I'm well overdue for a conversation with my parents."

He lays her clothes and the picnic basket on a counter, then searches through her jeans pockets feeling for a familiar plastic rectangle. "Here's your phone, careful with those paws of yours."

She takes her head out of the freezer and gingerly takes the device out of his hand. She looks at her own spindly hand for a moment, quickly making the determination that there was no way in hell the fingerprint sensor would recognize her lycan digits. The tip of her pointer finger touches the screen attempting to input her passcode, but what appears on the code line is a mess of numbers mistakenly pressed, her finger just a bit too large to use the keypad without pressing more than one button at a time. Groaning in annoyance, she tries using a claw to type but only succeeds in putting several large scratches on the screen.

"Damnit!" She angrily exclaims. "Gary can you call them, I'm losing my mind and patience over here."

Gary reaches into his pocket to retrieve his own phone, quickly picking Lucy's mother from his contacts and setting it to speakerphone before placing it on the countertop. Lucy raps her claws on the laminate countertop as it begins to ring.

*ring*

*ring*

*ring*

A click is heard just before a feminine voice comes through the phone's speaker.

"Hello? Gary?"

"Hey mom! Me and Gary are here on speakerphone, get dad on here too."

"Oh it's great to hear from you Lucy! It's been a while since you last called us. Your father should be around here somewhere. Jack! Lucy and Gary want to talk to us. Get over here!"

A muffled yell is heard, eventually a jovial masculine voice is brought on the line.

"Lucy my girl! What have you and your lesser half been up to? I hope you went somewhere special last night. Me and your mother went to the cutest little-"

Lucy cuts him off, her serious tone sprinkled with a hint of desperation.

"Mom! Dad! Something went very wrong after the full moon yesterday. Gary and I had a nice night out by the lake but when morning came we both woke up and I-I-I woke up and-and-and" She stutters, unable to get the words out. Her mother responds with a caring maternal tone.

"Lucy, whatever happened you can tell us. Did someone see you out there? Are you injured? Is Gary alright? What happened baby?"

Her father talks next.

"You can talk to us Lucy, you woke up and then what?"

Breathe in. Breathe out.

"I woke up and I was still changed. Me and Gary managed to sneak back to the house but I have no idea what the hell to do now." Lucy spits out.

There's a shocked pause as her parents absorb what she said, the quiet tension only causes Lucy's worry to heighten. Her father eventually breaks the silence.

"You're telling me you're still in lycan form as we speak?"

"Yes!"

"Are you injured?"

"No."

"Have you touched sunlight?"

"Yes, been in the sun all morning."

"Any contact with silver?"

"No I don't think so."

"Okay, uhh, hold on a second."

There's muffled conversation as her parents discuss their daughter's predicament in hushed voices, apparently not wanting the details of their discussion to be heard. Lucy and Gary wait anxiously as they wait for her parents to provide some assistance. Lucy steps away from the countertop and begins nervously pacing back and forth in the kitchen, arms folded and head staring at the ground. Gary looks at her with a worried expression, he doesn't remember the last time he had seen her so distressed; she was usually such a resilient fiery woman but here she was on the verge of another full blown panic attack. He walks over to her and puts a hand on her furry back, she stops the pacing but remains staring at the ground.

"Hey, Luce, this is all going to be alright. Your parents are going to figure something out and you'll be back to your usual little five foot eight self." He softly says.

"And if they don't?"

"They will. Worst case scenario we just wait for the next full moon and you'll go through another change."

Her head turns to face Gary, white eyes filled with worry.

"You act as if you know what you're talking about. Hell I'm from a family of werewolves and even I barely understand the mechanics of the change. What if something got fucked and now I can only be a human during the full moon and a werewolf on every other day? What if I'm like this forever? What if the next change kills me? I can't fucking live like this forever Gary. I can't hold a job, or go into town, or-"

A voice comes the phone.

"Lucy, you still there? Me and your mother might have something figured out."

They hurry back to the phone, leaning over it with rapt anticipation.

"Please tell me you have something dad."

"Okay Lucy, well, you said that you and Gary had a night out?"

"Yes, what about it?"

"Did you and him have sex?" He bluntly states

Lucy's head recoils a bit at the out of the blue question, but she's quick with a response.

"Yes, we did, so what?"

"Were either of you using protection?"

"Yes, Gary used a condom and-"

Gary puts a hand on her shoulder to stop her, then speaks.

"Yes, but it broke. Does that change anything?"

"Well, yes, but...can you all hold on for a second? Me and your mother need to consult the tome again."

"Of course, we'll wait however long it takes."

Her parents muffled conversations grow quieter as they move away from the phone. Gary turns to Lucy.

"Tome? What are they talking about?"

"Oh, you wouldn't know about the family tome, would you? What they're talking about is a big book containing stories and information kept through the ages by each werewolf pack. It contains some useful advice though it's poorly organized, it's got things like stories of werewolves that lived notable lives, family trees, herbal remedies, ancient fairy tales, a moon calendar, how to turn another into a werewolf, wildly outdated tips and tricks on how to not get caught while changed, those types of things."

"Sounds just like what we need to get you turned back."

"Or find out just how bad my situation is." She hissed under her breath.

"Hey! Stop it with those negative vibes Luce." He leans in speaks with gentle reassurance. "I'm sure your parents are about to send us the recipe for turning a werewolf back into a human any second now. I bet it'll even come in herbal tea form, with a nice mint flavor!"

An impish smile comes across her lips as her spirits are slightly lifted with his optimism. After several more minutes of anxious waiting her mother comes back on the line.

"Hey Lucy, baby, you still there?"

"We're still here mom, what do you have for us?"

"Okay, so the closest thing we found to your situation comes from an old story in the family tome. Now I would like to preempt this by letting you know that it's a very old story, with what are no doubt quite a few mistranslations since it was originally written. And some of the text has been faded so-"

Lucy cuts her off, annoyed at her mother's obvious attempt to soften the blow of the information that would come next.

"Mom! Please, just tell me what happened."

"Okay, so, I'm paraphrasing here but sometime in the late 1700s there was a Lycan by the name of Adriana Abruzzo. From what we know she was a farmgirl working in the outskirts of some city in Italy, but that's the limit of what we know about her backstory. In the story she apparently took a human mate and soon after they got married. Now here's the important part, after they, well, consummated their marriage Adriana found herself unable to transform back into human form after a full moon. In fact she remained in lycan form for the next three months. Then she, well...ummm..."

There's a brief silence as Lucy expects her mother to continue. Tired of waiting, Lucy breaks the silence.

"Then after three months she returned back to human form and everything was hunky dory? Right mom?"

A depressed sigh is heard on the other line.

"No Luce, after three months she was eventually found hiding in her mates house and they were both killed by the resulting angry mob. And that's the end of the story. I'm sorry but that's basically all there is."

Gary looks over to Lucy and sees her expression turn sour and breathing quicken.

"That's it? That's it?! There's nothing else in the entire fucking tome about this? Not in all of its several hundred useless stained pages? Are you sure?"

"Now Lucy we've only had a small amount of time to research this and the version of the story in this tome is quite fragmented. Give us more time to sort things out, contact other packs, and maybe we can get a clearer picture of what to do."

Lucy's tone becomes more aggressive.

"Maybe? Maybe?! MAYBE?! I'm a 7 foot tall walking carpet right now and _maybe_you'll find some way to help me? Fuck mom! What the hell are me and Gary supposed to do until I change back? I can't work! I can't drive a car! I can't even go outside! Fucking hell even assuming I am pregnant that means 9 months of this bullshit. But that isn't even supposed to even be possible since I was changed last night. What the fuck!"

Sensing her rising temperature Gary puts a hand on her shoulder and speaks quietly, once again trying to calm her down.

"Hey Luce, we can get through this, it's not going to be as bad as you think."

She forcefully brushes his hand off while staring intently at the phone, her father soon comes on the line speaking in a calm yet serious candor.

"Now is not the time to lose your cool Lucy. Right now the only similar trait between you and Adriana is that you both fucked a human which is hardly the first time such a thing has happened in lycan history, for all we know you could change back tomorrow. For the time being you and Gary need to lay low, stay vigilant, and for the love of god don't let anyone see you."

"And if I don't change back tomorrow? Or the next month? Or the next year? What then dad? What then?"

"Then we can figure something out. It's not the end of the world."

An tense silence fills the room as Lucy cools down, eventually her mother speaks up.

"Do you want to stay with us Lucy? Just for the time being? I know how you both live in that little suburb. Staying with us out in the country might make things a little easier as you get through this. It'll be just like old times!"

She's quick with an answer.

"No mom, me and Gary can handle this, we're adults. And I don't think a 12 hour drive in a cramped car is a good idea for me right now. Now I think Gary and I need to discuss some things in private."

"We understand dear, me and Jack will contact some other packs around here, see if they've ever encountered a situation like yours. In the meantime you can call us if you ever need anything, we're here to help."

Lucy sighs, her anger now nullified.

"Ya, thanks mom, thanks dad. Talk to you later."

"Bye Lucy, talk to you soon." Then her father responds. "Bye Lucy, and remember, you'll always be our favorite daughter whether you're a 7 foot tall walking carpet or not."

A soft smile finally graces Lucy's lips.

"I'm also you're only daughter dad."

"That doesn't make my statement any less true!"

"Bye dad."

"Bye Lucy."

The line dies as her finger presses the big red end call button. She turns to Gary, her expression stern but neutral.

"Well congratulations Gary, I may or may not be pregnant, but either way I'm stuck in this form for the foreseeable future."

"Well I don't know what to tell you Luce, I honestly thought your parents would have a better answer for your situation besides a vague story that doesn't actually help us."

She shakes her head and crosses her arms.

"Don't blame them Gary, they're doing the best they can. And like I said, the mechanics of the change aren't exactly well understood by any of us."

"But you think they'll actually come up with something? Something to change you back?"

"Who knows, it's midday and I'm already tired of thinking about this whole mess." She stares at the ground and chuckles nervously. "I feel like today's all been a bad dream and tomorrow I'll wake up outside, with you in front of me and my little human arm wrapped around you. Like usual, like how things are supposed to be."

Her stare moves from the ground to Gary and she continues.

"But this isn't a bad dream, is it?"

Gary stares at her for a few moments, unable to find a response to what was ultimately a rhetorical question. He tries to change the subject.

"Tell you what Lucy, I'll go make lunch, in the meantime I think it would be best if you took a nap. You've had a long morning."

"Talk about understatements of the century, but sure, go ahead." She turns and sluggishly walks to the bedroom, claws clicking on the linoleum floor.

Gary moves to the fridge and surveys what they have in stock. Gary wasn't much of a cook, he usually left that to Lucy given her far superior skill, but he did have confidence in his ability to make the simpler things. He grabs the ingredients for a grilled chicken salad and gets to work putting it together. Salad bowls made and chicken cooked, he sets it all out on the table and calls for Lucy.

"It's ready!"

Heavy footsteps are heard coming from the bedroom and soon enough a canine muzzle comes into view. She sniffs the air a few times before revealing the rest of herself.

"I smell chicken."

"I made salads. Probably a good idea for me to make the food from now on until you overcome your butterfingers."

She sticks her head out towards him and speaks with mild aggravation.

"You try living in a totally different body from the one you're used to for a whopping one day out of the month and see how good you are at using it." She fires back.

"Okay okay, now take a seat and dig in before the chicken gets cold and the lettuce gets warm. Might make you a little less hangry."

Lucy pulls the chair back from the table and stares at it with questioning eyes. Would it be capable of holding her weight now? It sure as hell wasn't designed for someone as tall or heavy as she was now. Deciding it's worth a try, she slowly sits down. It thankfully doesn't break despite the creaking sounds coming from its wooden legs. She takes what is now a comically small fork into her hand and begins picking out the bits of chicken from the salad. Gary attempts to break the silence with topical conversation.

"So I guess I should probably make you bigger portions in the future, huh?"

She shakes her head while stuffing another piece of chicken in her maw.

"And you probably want a bigger chair?"

"That would be nice."

"I'll go to the store after work tomorrow then, see what I can find."

Having eaten all of the meat on her salad Lucy stares at the remaining leafy greens.

"Sorry Gary but I...can't eat the rest of this." She states with a hint of guilt.

"Oh damnit, did I mess up your salad?"

"No the salad is fine. I guess I really shouldn't blame you for not knowing this considering we always eat right before I change but werewolves are carnivores. When in lycan form I mean." She stabs some lettuce with her fork, staring at it. "I could try eating the rest of this, but I would probably just end up throwing it up." The fork falls back into the bowl. "Sorry. Probably should have told you before you made it."

"That's no big deal Lucy. Here, have mine." He begins moving the meat from his bowl to hers." Our food budget is going to become a lot bigger if all you can eat is meat."

"I know. That's hardly the only thing that's going to change as we get through this. I'll use up what PTO I have at the hospital. Hopefully my parents are right and I do change back soon. If not then I'll have to quit my job." She states dejectedly.

"We'll survive Luce, and I'm sure you can always get the job back when this is all over. Hell, maybe you'll find some way to work from home to supplement your diet of rib eyes and fillet mignons."

She looks up to Gary with an impish smile.

"I appreciate your optimism Gary, I really do. I have a feeling I'm going to need all those positive thoughts around as we progress through this...situation."

"Well I have plenty to spare. Hey, catch!"

He tosses his last piece of chicken into the air, Lucy's head reflexively shoots towards it and her jaws snap shut. She can't help but laugh at herself as she slowly chews. Gary leans back in his chair and joins in her laughter, happy to see her mood lifted, and hoping his little distraction was enough to prevent her from detecting the lie he just said.

Month 1: In it for the Long Haul

The silver sedan pulls into the short driveway, its trunk filled with shopping bags and the driver bearing a tired face. The car stops and he goes around to stuff his arms full of bags, hauling them to the front door. With a few awkward motions he manages to get his keys out, almost drop them, reshuffle his load, unlock the door, almost drop his keys putting them back into his pocket, then finally slip out of the dying sun's heat and into the frosty embrace of modern air conditioning. After a few long strides towards the nearby couch he drops his bounty onto its cushions before quickly moving back to close the door. He looks around his quaint living room, the quietness slowly becoming unsettling.

"Lucy? I'm home."

Heavy footsteps come from the master bedroom as their owner emerges from a short hallway and into the living room. Lucy rubs her eyes as her head turns to Gary, black fur across her right side flattened from a long stay on the bed. She advances towards him and holds her lengthy arms out in a hug that he warmly returns.

"It's late, I was getting worried." She mumbles into his ear.

"Did I wake you up from another nap Luce?" He whispers.

Her face backs away from his to return a brief nod.

"Sorry, I know your sleep schedule is all kinds of crazy right now."

"Don't worry about it Gary, soon enough either my human side or lycan side will have to beat the other out and determine if nighttime is for sleeping or creeping. You get everything on the list?"

"Ya, place was a madhouse but I'm pretty sure I got everything." He moves towards the couch and begins looking through the bags one by one. "Let's see, enough shampoo to bathe a mammoth, extra extra large shirts for your petite frame, lint rollers for the fur from the only canine in the house, some odds and ends for me, oh, and how could I forget this?"

He holds up a package of a sizable sirloin steak, red and raw. He hands it to her.

"Just one package? A seven foot tall wolf woman needs a little more than this to keep her going for long. And this better not be a poorly timed attempt to make me lose weight!" She jokes, pointing the meat at him for emphasis.

"Of course not Luce, there's more in here, bought the whole place out so this should last us a while." He hoists up a bag and hands it to her, her musculature handling the weight far easier than he does.

"Thanks babe, I'll put this in the fridge."

Gary looks at the pile of bags still on the couch. Time to get these things sorted. He pulls up a bag containing several large bottles of shampoo, one of Lucy's most urgent requests after her original supply ran out only a couple weeks ago. Only one place these belong. He walks to the bathroom passing Lucy delicately placing the meat in the fridge, her butterfingers having become significantly less buttery in the weeks since she last changed.

He steps into their small bathroom before sliding open the frosted glass door to the shower. After filling what remaining space they had on the shower's lone shelf with shampoo bottles he decides to store the remainder under the sink. Leaning down he views the small trash can next to the cabinet, still full of a dozen used pregnancy tests uniformly displaying positive results.

He walks back into the living room to see Lucy holding up one of the T shirts he got her, a perplexed look on her face.

"Seriously Gary? I mean no one is going to see me in it but still..."

"Lucy, please, the three wolf moon shirt is a classic, and they honestly didn't have many options in your size."

She turns her head to the shirt, then to Gary, then back to the shirt.

"They really didn't have many options?" Her disbelief is palpable.

"Incredibly limited stock, I swear it on my life. And like you said, no one is going to see you in it." He states with great sincerity.

She sighs.

"Okay, fine. Guess I'll see if it fits."

She lifts it over her head and begins wiggling it down her body. Only after it's on does she notice a few cuts in it's fabric caused by her claws.

"Luce, we uhh, should really do something about those nails of yours." He states while staring intensely at the long jagged holes on the shirt.

"You think I haven't already tried dulling these things? Every file in the bathroom broke before it even made a dent."

"Maybe we should get some better files then. Or hell, maybe we should just get a Dremel if it's really that much of a problem."

Her eyes briefly widen in shock.

"That seems...excessive." She puts her hand up in front of her, studying the long black daggers hanging off her fingertips. "But, you're probably right, add industrial strength files and a Dremel to the shopping list." She concedes.

Gary didn't like that yet more items were being added to the next shopping trip.

"Okay, sounds like a plan. Now if you don't mind me asking why did you want me to buy those shirts anyway? I hardly believe you need them for the warmth. Is it modesty?"

She grins shyly.

"No Gary, you've seen me naked and furry enough times that it doesn't bother me. Honestly I wanted you to get them because well..." She stares down at her shirt while figuring how to word her answer. "...I guess, it just helps me feel normal. Like I'm human again."

"Luce you are normal. You're just stuck in your Lycan body for longer than you're used to. I know that under all that fur and behind all those teeth you're still the Lucy I love, nothing is going to change that." He states reassuringly.

She laughs nervously while pinching her brow.

"Gary, I know that, it's just, I don't...sorry for bringing it up. Let's sit on the couch and watch some TV, come here."

She sits down on the couch and pats the space next to her. Gary, though keenly aware of her abruptly ending their conversation, decides not to push it. She would talk about whatever was bothering her when she was ready. He sits down next to her and hands her the remote, several claw marks and welts visible on its plastic casing. She takes it and with a great deal of concentration works its buttons with a single claw.

"You're getting pretty good at using that thing Luce."

"Thanks. Watching TV is kind of all I have to do around here so I've had lots of practice. Which reminds me, did you ever get my phone fixed?"

He shakes his head.

"Nope, those scratches apparently went deeper than the screen and tore up its insides. It would cost more to repair it than replace it so for right now we'll just have mine and the landline."

"Buying a new one isn't an option?" She sheepishly inquires. He gives her a solemn glare.

"No Luce, with you not working we don't have the cash for a new one. Or a used one for that matter. You'll always have the phone at the house so if you ever need anything feel free to call me with it."

"I understand. And just to make sure, money isn't going to be a problem for more...essential goods. Is it?"

He stares at the TV blankly watching the pixels dance for several seconds, the gears turning as he builds a response.

"No I don't think so. I'll need to work extra hours but I think we should make ends meet for the next several months."

Lucy, concerned with his response, leans in close.

"How many months are we talking here Gary?"

Another several seconds of him staring at the TV.

"Enough to get through this." A curt response.

Lucy backs off, unsatisfied with his vagueness but at the same time trusting he had a plan.

"Okay Gary, but if we ever need money my parents can chip in. They're good people."

He finally turns his head to her.

"Lucy your parents don't have much money in the first place, I'm not going to ask them for anything unless it's an emergency. I don't want us to become a burden on them."

"We wouldn't be a burden! It's called taking care of your loved ones. I know they would be more than willing to help us out if we asked."

"Well I wish I could say the same for my parents." He glumly whispers before resting his forehead on his hand, eyes now focused more intensely on the television.

AN: This will connect to month 7 dream sequence, update this when final details are worked out

Neither wanting to continue the conversation, they both turn their attention to the TV. Their eyes watched the commercials and segments of programming come and go but the whole time their minds were focused on everything but the screen, uneasy thoughts drifting like dark clouds through their consciousness. Lucy, always having had a sharper sense of time than Gary, turns her head to a curtained window to be met with the dull orange glow of sunset.

"Hey, Gary, it's almost time again."

His hand shoots to his forehead in a frenzy.

"Ah fuck me! It's the next full moon tonight isn't it? Thought we had more time, I'll get dinner ready real quick then we can go out back. You still remember the recipe for that tea your parents gave you?"

"It's on the fridge, wrote it down just in case."

"Great, thanks, I'll get everything going."

Gary quickly gets up and moves towards the fridge, throwing the door open and grabbing two packs of steak. He tears through the thin plastic wrapping holding them onto their foam tray and throws them on a pan, sprinkling their moist exterior with a store bought seasoning mix before placing the pan on the stovetop and turning up the heat. While the meat is cooking he goes back to the fridge and removes the recipe Lucy left secured on the fridge door with a magnet. He occasionally peers at the note while rummaging through their pantry and spice rack, intently searching for every esoteric spice and odd ingredient needed for the strange herbal drink.

AN: Don't fix this part

Lucy smells the cooking going on and moves to the entryway of the kitchen, leaning against the doorframe while her milky eyes tracked Gary move about. Having finally found all the ingredients for the tea he places them into a sachet and puts a pot of water onto the stove to boil, cursing himself for not heating the water when he put the steaks on. While there he slows down in his frenzy and finally notices Lucy with a quick glance before turning his attention back to the steaks.

"Oh hey Luce, your food should be ready soon."

"And what about you?"

He waves a hand dismissively.

"Oh I'll just eat leftovers or something. Don't worry about me."

"Gary you know...you know you don't have to cook those steaks, right? Werewolf stomachs are much hardier than a humans and it's unnecessary work on your end. Just don't worry about it."

He responds with unexpected aggravation.

"Oh for the love of god Luce, I am NOT going to give my wife uncooked meat for dinner. That's disgusting." He turns one of the steaks over.

"I'm not like any old wife Gary. You don't need to coddle me." She counters.

"I'm not trying to coddle you it's just..." His gaze moves from the steak to the empty space in front of him, a motion to flip the other steak aborted. "...it's just, I'm just trying to provide for you is all. I know you're going through some major shit right now and I'm just trying to help. Be a good husband and all that. I don't exactly feel that way if I'm feeding you the same thing some wild fucking animal would eat, so I'm not going to do it." He shakes his head defiantly before turning attention back down to the pan and whispering to himself. "I'm not going to do it."

He suddenly feels two furry arms wrap around his torso and a muzzle rest on the top of his head, the sound of her movement masked by the sizzling meat.

"Oh Gary..." She trails off as her grip on him grows tighter. "...I love how much you're trying. And I love how much you care. And I love your attitude about all this. But most of all..."

She lowers her nose beside his ear and whispers.

"...I love you."

He smiles and puts a hand up softly stroking her muzzle.

"I love you too Luce."

Dinner is quick and mostly silent. She devours the two slabs of tender steaks in just a few bites while Gary tries to make quick work of some leftover pasta. As he twirls the last few noodles and stuffs them into his mouth he notices the glass of tea he made for Lucy still sitting by her plate. The steam that had once come from its rim had long since dissipated yet the glass still seemed completely full. He puts his fork down.

"You should drink the tea, your parents said it might help tonight."

She stares at the dark liquid with a vaguely hostile expression.

"Gary, I don't mean to make you feel like your efforts are going to waste, I really appreciate you making this," She picks up the glass and stares at the cloudy contents, white eyes and canine face reflected in the shiny clear exterior. "but my parents got the recipe for this concoction from our tome."

He leans back in his chair and crosses his arms, dissatisfied at her reluctance.

"Lucy, come on, just because it's an old recipe doesn't mean it won't help. You said it yourself you barely know about the mechanics of the change, this could be the key for all we know."

She stifles a laugh before responding.

"The key? Gary, the thing still has sections recommending leeches for when you have a headache. You can't trust half the stuff in there. Just because some mad werewolf a few hundred years ago got the bright idea that the incredibly specific blend of ingredients in this drink was supposed to help ease lycan transformations doesn't mean it actually does that. Or does anything at all for that matter. And besides!" She can only sniff it a couple times before her head jolts back in disgust. "This stuff smells revolting! Not that you would know with your pitiful human sense of smell. No offense."

His arms remain crossed as he gives a tired command.

"Lucy, just drink it. Please."

She alternates quick glances between the glass and her husband before finally conceding.

"Okay, fine." She raises the glass to her lips but stops just short of drinking it and points a claw at him. "But if this stuff ends up making my fur fall out it's all your fault!"

He chuckles at her incredulous accusation.

"I...highly doubt that's going to happen. Now come on, just drink it."

She sheepishly raises the drink to her mouth and in a rapid motion pours the liquid down her throat in one long gulp. She sets the glass back down onto the table and looks at Gary with a neutral expression.

"See? It wasn't that bad now was-"

He's cut off as she grabs her throat and gags. She barely regains enough composure to talk.

"Oh my god! Disgusting doesn't even begin to describe the taste of that foul concoction you brewed up. It's all in the aftertaste too! ALL in the aftertaste!"

"Well...sorry? I followed the recipe to a tee. You want some water?"

She's already hunched over the sink running water down her mouth by the time he finishes his sentence. She soon straightens her back and licks her lips.

"Now if that crap doesn't work I'm really going to be disappointed." She looks out the sliding glass doors to their small backyard. "It's time, let's hope for the best Gary."

They move to the small patio attached to the back of their house, its wooden floor barely large enough to hold a bench and a couple chairs. Beyond it was a quaint and featureless backyard, green grass surrounded by a mercifully tall privacy fence hiding the rear of their house from any nosy neighbors. Lucy sits down on the wooden patio and Gary follows suit sitting next to her. Her dull white eyes scan the sky searching for a moon that has yet to appear. Gary turns to her.

"So, did you ever ask your parents about the tests?"

Her gaze moves to the ground as she gives the answer with a hint of reluctance.

"Ya, I did. My mother never tried using one while changed but then she asked around. Turns out pregnancy tests do in fact give the correct result when we're in our lycan form." She gives a flustered chuckle before turning her eyes to Gary. "Half wolf but still making the same pregnancy hormones as a human, isn't that some weird shit?"

He exhales deeply before responding, deciding that now was the best time to discuss the topic that they had spent the past several weeks carefully avoiding with quickly changed subjects and delicate wording.

"I think we both remember what the results to those tests were."

"Right..." She trails off as she looks down at herself, a clawed hand now placed on the thin layer of fabric covering her stomach. "I uhh, I guess we should start preparing for, you know."

"The baby." He states matter of factly, not sharing in her shyness about the subject.

"Right..." The same trailed off word with a more depressed tone than the last time. Not wanting the mood to turn somber, and wanting to offer her some gentle encouragement about the times ahead, he puts his hand on hers. Bare skin over furry hand over expectant belly.

"You're going to be a great mother Luce. I know it."

She responds with a nervous smile. "Heh, never thought I was the motherly type. I'm not exactly patient, or nurturing, or empathetic, or even all that nice." Her smile dies. "I mean, shit, let's be honest here Gary, I'm barely confident enough in my ability to take care of myself much less another human being. I don't have the faintest clue how this is all supposed to work out." She removes her hand from her belly and Gary takes back his as well. "And the fact that I'm stuck in my lycan form for the foreseeable future really isn't helping things. I mean fuck, can this body even give birth normally? What if something goes wrong? You can't exactly take me to a hospital for a C section without causing some serious shit!"

Gary looks into her worried eyes. He knew she had a lot of questions and doubts about the pregnancy but the fact that he had no good answers to her concerns was causing a pit to form in his stomach.

"Look Luce, we'll just...cross that bridge when we get there. For right now we just need to hold ourselves together and stay strong. Remember your parents are doing their best to try and help us, with any luck they'll get you changed back before the birth."

His words did little to calm her.

"That's another thing Gary. This kid's been growing in my belly for a month now. What if changing back after growing in my lycan form for so long causes...I don't know...something to happen to the baby? And what if it's a few more weeks until I change back? A few more months?" She leans in closer to Gary and whispers with great unease. "What if I never change back? Even after the birth?"

God did Gary want to answer her question with a straightforward answer. A confident reply to calm his worried spouse. But he had none. Nothing. Not even the vaguest beginnings of an answer to what doubts lie ahead. He couldn't bear to lie to her.

"Look Luce, I don't know. I just don't fucking know. I wish I did but I don't."

There's an uneasy silence as they both find themselves unable to find the words to continue the conversation. Gary sat with his head in his hand staring blankly at the grass in front of him. Lucy absentmindedly surveyed her long black claws in the dim light, an attempt at keep her mind from turning darker with yet more questions.

Gary feels someone nudge his shoulder.

"Hey, Gary." She whispers.

He looks over to Luce to see her pointing towards the horizon. There, just above the fence line, was the moon. It was still partially obscured by the top of the fence but the point was clear, she should have changed by now.

"Feel any different Luce?"

She shakes her head dejectedly, yet Gary still clung to a rapidly shrinking sense of hope.

"Well, let's just...wait for it to come up all the way and see what happens."

They waited in silence as the white orb gradually revealed itself in the night sky. When its full shape was finally visible Gary looks to Lucy, the question visible in his expression.

She once again shakes her head. He stands up.

"Well, no point staying out here any longer. Let's head inside and get ready for bed."

He offers a hand to help her up and she accepts, the gesture being more important than the fact that she both didn't need and could barely feel the help.

"That's alright with me Gary. And I trust you won't make any more of that awful tea again?"

Gary pauses slightly before answering. She wouldn't like his response but he determined it needed to be said.

"It might...be a good idea to keep drinking it before every full moon. For the next couple anyway. I understand you don't think it does anything but who knows, it might help in the future."

"You seem to be forgetting the fact that it tastes revolting." A faint smile finally graces her lips. "I mean seriously Gary, you should try drinking it. We can place bets on how long you can keep it down and the loser has to-"

She stops her sentence suddenly. The smile disappeared and a strained expression came upon her face. Gary looks on with concern.

"Luce? Something wrong? Talk to me."

She covers her mouth with a paw and backs up. Her eyes turn to the moon and she can no longer contain her instinctual obligation. She removes the paw from her mouth and quickly shouts one word before her instincts take over.

"Sorry! AWWOOOOOOOOOO!" She howls into the night sky with great intensity.

Gary removes his hands from his ears as the howl dies and her head lowers.

"Goddamn that was loud Luce. Whole damn neighborhood probably heard that!"

"There was nothing I could do! Unavoidable instincts!" Her ears perk up as her heightened sense of hearing picks up the sudden mumbled conversations coming from nearby houses. "Damnit, looks like you were right Gary. I've got to get back inside before someone peeks over the fence."

She stomps back into the house and Gary follows, sliding shut the glass door behind him. As if on que the doorbell rings just as they both enter the kitchen, it's happy chime instilling a sense of dread into both of them.

"Goddamnit, Luce you go to the bedroom and wait there, I'll deal with whoever is at the door." He orders.

She wordlessly sneaks down the hall towards the bedroom and Gary casually walks over to the entrance. He takes a deep breath to compose himself before grabbing the doorknob and opening the door.

He's met with the face of one his neighbors in a slight grimace. It was Ms. Nezbit, the pudgy retiree that lived across the street. She stares up at him with her signature coke bottle glasses and a face caked with makeup, her red hair in a slightly frazzled bob cut. Of course it was her, she was after all the HOA president of the neighborhood and notorious busybody of the street. The kind of woman that would conduct a detailed survey of who in the neighborhood had grass that was .5 inches too high for HOA standards and personally place the notice letter in their mailbox. Of course it was her. Gary puts on his best fake smile and tries to sound laid back.

"Hey! Ms. Nezbit, what can I do for you tonight?" He opens.

"Gary did you hear a uhhh, a..." She trails off, almost embarrassed to finish her question.

"A what?" He tries to sound as perplexed as possible.

"A wolf howl just a minute or two ago? I was getting ready for bed when I heard the most startling screech come through my window. Sounded like it came from somewhere around your house, just wanted to see if you knew anything about it, make sure you and Lucy were doing okay." Was she coming over to ensure they were safe? Or was it just her nosy disposition and a convenient excuse?

Gary scratches his head.

"A wolf howl? Sorry but I didn't hear anything Mrs. Nezbit. Are you sure it was from around here? You know there is a little forested area a couple streets behind our house, maybe a wolf got lost or something and is trying to find his pack."

She doesn't seem to buy it.

"Ya, it could be that, or..." She begins to eye the houses around her with suspicion. "or maybe someone around here is keeping an illegal pet on their property. Like a wolf. You know you need a permit to keep wild animals around. Not to mention how dangerous they could be if they somehow got out of their enclosure. I mean think of all the kids that live in this neighborhood!" Her eyes grow wide with her last revelation and her glasses make them seem even wider.

"Well I assure you Ms. Nezbit me and Lucy don't have a wolf hanging around out back. It was probably just someone's dog you heard." He calmly refutes.

She finally seems to back down.

"Well that howl seemed awfully loud for a dog, but then again," She chuckles to herself. "it would be pretty crazy for someone to keep a wolf on their property around here without someone else noticing. I mean this is a residential neighborhood."

He tries to chuckle along with her.

"Heh heh, you're right Ms. Nezbit. I mean who would even do such a thing?"

"Well Gary I'll let you go for right now. Oh, is Lucy around?"

"Yes but she's in the bed- bathroom. She's in the bathroom right now. Taking a shower. Did you need to speak to her?"

"Oh no, just wanted to say hi. Anyway you all have a good night, and stay safe!"

"You too Ms. Nezbit."

They give a quick wave to each other before she steps off the porch. Gary gently closes the door and locks it. As soon as he turns around he sees Lucy's head peeking out from the hallway.

"That was the asshole from across the street, wasn't it?"

Gary just nods.

"God I could smell her perfume from the bedroom, heard most of the conversation too. Do you think she knows? About me?"

"No way Luce, she's just being nosy as usual. None of the other neighbors seemed to care about it so we're in the clear for now. If anyone asks I'll just tell them it was someone's dog... or something."

"Good idea. Now, you got me the shampoo I requested right?"

"Yes, I already told you, it's all in the shower. Go ahead and take one before I have to get the hose out and do things the old fashioned way."

She chortles at his threat before running off to the bathroom for a long shower. After she's done Gary enters to do the same and notices the drain dangerously close to being clogged with werewolf fur. Yet another item is added to the shopping list.

Gary emerges from the shower feeling refreshed and ready for a nice long sleep before tomorrow. He walks through the dark house and to the only room still with a light on, the bedroom. Lucy was once again taking up most of the bed, not that he could blame her given her lanky lycan body. Hearing his approach she lifts her head up and pats the empty space in front of her, a wide grin on her maw.

"Come over here sleepy head. Let me be your very own walking talking heated blanket for a while."

Gary chuckles. They discovered not long ago that Lucy overheated when she tried sleeping with a blanket on so their now useless covers laid in a pile in the corner of the room. Not that he minded, Lucy's fur and body heat was more than enough to ease a man into a good night's rest.

"Don't mind if I do."

He shuts the light off and walks towards the bed in the dark. As soon as he lies down Lucy's furry arm pulls him towards her body. He ends up facing her on his side, face full of her pleasant smelling neck fluff.

"Luce, you think you'll actually fall asleep tonight?" He whispers into her shoulder.

"Maybe, maybe not, it just kind of depends on what my body's feeling like. If I don't then I'll try not to wake you if I get up."

"Thanks, don't worry about it." He sleepily mumbles.

Gary nearly falls asleep before remembering one last thing he wanted to stress to Lucy.

"Oh, Luce?"

"What's up babe?"

He gently rubs her furry side.

"We still have next month. You never know, you might change back."

She gives a pained laugh.

"That's a big if Gary. Personally I don't think it's going to happen anytime soon."

"Stop being such a downer. Have a little faith in the future babe."

She sighs.

"I guess you're right, after all I do have a lot of things to look forward to if I change back. Meeting people in person again, leaving this house, wearing my old clothes."

"Not clogging the shower drain every time you use it."

A genuine laugh from her this time.

"Ya, I guess that too. See you tomorrow Gary."

"Good night Lucy."

Month 3

Terrifying Familiarity

You feel comfortably warm, almost as comfortable as being wrapped up in a toasty blanket while a blizzard rages outside. But thankfully this isn't winter. The sun warms your bare back with gentle rays, the soft grass beneath you feels cool, but not too cool. Birds greet the morning light with happy chirps. And in front of you is the warm blooded mammal known as your husband. Your left arm is draped across his bare chest while your head rests in the bent elbow of your right. Left arm not being long enough to touch the ground while propped up on Gary's side, your hand floats lazily in the air as a pleasant morning breeze passes through your delicate fingers. Much to your surprise Gary is the first one to speak this morning.

"Good morning Lucy. Wakey wakey eggs and baky." Heh, it was easy to tell from his slurred words he was still half asleep despite beating you to the punch.

You yawn mightily to purge yourself of any remaining drowsiness and tighten your hold on his chest.

"Good morning Gary. I guess I'll get up and get dressed first, as usual."

"A _very_good idea babe." You see him lazily raise a hand and point a finger behind you. "And could you grab my clothes and bring them over here. I'm not sure my lower body still works after last night."

Typical Gary, always making up excuses so he could sleep in just a little while longer. While it did mildly annoy you that his morning shyness conflicted with your get up and go attitude, the fact that in the end the both of you always left the house at the same time made it a non-issue. Not that you couldn't tease him for his lack of drive every now and then.

"I guess I can. But only because I'm such a nice person. It's not because I like you or anything."

Gary raises his hand in the air and sticks his ring finger out, emphasizing the ring on it. A hard counter to your playful chiding.

"Okay I guess I'll also do it because I love you or some other nonsense." You concede.

"Thanks Luce."

Releasing your hand from his chest you raise yourself up and off the ground, the dull ache on your side reminding you why bringing a blanket to the little dates Gary and you had was so important. But it's not like you didn't have a good excuse for breaking the wine bottle, you only get to use your lycan form for a few hours each month! And it's not like you even wasted any of the wine!

The cool grass feels good beneath your bare feet on the walk over to the pile of clothes. You begin dressing yourself, panties first, then bra, jeans, shirt, and shoes. Now fully clothed, and definitely not going to cause another flashing situation, you merge Gary's garments into one big bundle and turn around to walk back to him.

But he's no longer there. Just you, the grass, the forest, and the sparkling blue lake beyond the shore. Your head turns every which way to try and gain sight of him.

"Gary?" You shout towards the lake.

No response. Where could he have gone? He was just right there! Still holding his clothes you circle around where you two slept while shouting his name into the surrounding forest. Yet your search efforts are in vain. It's like he just evaporated into thin air. Well there's no way he went into the lake, Gary never was a good swimmer, so that means he must be somewhere in the forest. Maybe he went back to your original spot by the lake? Ya that's it, he must have gone back to get the blanket or something.

New destination set you make your way back to the clearing by the edge of the lake. Your eyes eventually find the blanket on the ground but still no sign of Gary. You stop just short of stepping on the glass covered cloth and let out an aggravated sigh. Where. The hell. Was he?

"Gary!" You scream into the trees. "Gary come on! I know you're out here! Stop messing with me!" As much as you would like to hear a familiar voice respond all you hear is the echo of your own. And now the sound of glass breaking beneath you. You look down.

The blanket, it was no longer the off white color you remember. It was covered in dark red splotches. Like dried on blood, or was it wine? Despite years of working in a hospital you suddenly find yourself unable to discern the difference. Yet you know you should be able to. Something feels off about this situation. You aren't supposed to be here. The blanket wasn't supposed to be stained. You aren't supposed to be-

AN: Adjust section marked green as later months are written for FS

A scream from off in the distance breaks your train of thought.

"Lucy! Help!" In an instant you recognize the voice of your husband.

You pan up to look towards the source of the sound and it's night-time. It wasn't dark just a moment ago. Or was it? You don't care, you need to find Gary. That's all that matters.

You drop his clothes and break into a dead sprint towards the direction of the call for help. But it's so dark you can barely see where you're going. Your feet stumble as you rush across uneven ground and push through bushes and branches to the source of the sound. You shout his name to try and illicit a response yet you hear nothing back. Fuck, is he injured? Being attacked by a wild animal? Shot? Stabbed? Dead? He can't be dead. He can't be. Your pleas for a response rise in desperation as you trample through the forest.

How long have you been running through this dark outdoor maze? Minutes? Hours? Based on how your body feels it must be days. You slow to a stop and catch your breath. Every muscle feels like it's on fire, your lungs can't seem to get enough oxygen no matter how deep your breaths are, sweat cools on your forehead as you rest an arm against a tree, shoulders rising up and down with each labored inhale and exhale. You brush the hair out of your eyes and survey the surroundings. Dark indistinct shapes all around, barely enough moonlight to be able to see anything at all, not a trace of civilization and you have no idea where the hell you are. Fuck. Hold on, off in the distance and just barely detectible is a faint orange light. Could that be where Gary is? Well it is your only lead, might as well investigate.

A few more deep breaths and you step away from the tree. A steady walk is all you can manage in your haggard state. You edge closer and closer to the light and slowly it grows brighter. The orange glow separates into two lights, two windows to be exact. You move past the last few trees blocking your view and what you're met with is a familiar yet at the same time terribly out of place sight.

It's your house, your front yard, your silver sedan parked in an open garage. Out here in the middle of the forest. The orange lights are coming from the two windows on the front of your house, their glow eerily lighting the trees that hug the sides of the small front yard. Movement in one of the windows. Your eyes spy a head bobbing up and down from the kitchen window, it's Gary! He's smiling and from his movement it looks like he's washing dishes while listening to some catchy song. He's right there, time to go ins-

Another person comes into view. Female, shorter than Gary, jet black hair, she's...you. But she can't be you. You're out here. You can only watch in abject revulsion as she comes up beside Gary and places a hand tenderly on his shoulder. He turns his head towards her and his smile grows wider. She cranes her neck upward and he cranes his down, their lips touch in a passionate kiss. Who the fuck was in YOUR house kissing YOUR husband?! That imposter, or whoever the whore was, was going to pay for this. And you might have to give Gary a few strong words too. The imposter in the house exits the kiss and removes her hand from his shoulder. Her head slowly turns from Gary to out the window. She's looking right at you, her stare turns your cheeks red with anger. The imposter's lips slowly curl into a smug smile.

You can't take this any longer, you have to get inside and let Gary know that isn't you. You run towards the front door while the imposter's stare follows you the entire way. You give her a glaring scowl and increase your pace to the door, opening it with a mighty thrust. Head full of hellfire, you stomp into the house and take the first right towards the kitchen where the imposter and Gary were. You reach the kitchen and...there's no one there. The light's even turned off. An ominous silence fills your ears as you stand there stupefied. Where were they? Why is the house dark? Why doesn't Gary know that isn't you?

If you can just talk to Gary and set things straight then everything will be okay. But first you need to find them. They aren't in the kitchen, maybe the living room? You rush to the living room only to be met with an empty couch lit by a TV playing static. The bedroom? You slam open the door only to see an empty bed. The bathroom? The door slams open, no Gary, no imposter. The backyard? You slide open the glass door to see moonlit grass and wooden patio. The garage? Just your silver sedan sitting quietly. The basement? It's got to be the basement! That's the last place in the house they could be! You make your way to the basement door and swing it open, turning on the stairwell light so you can see. You climb down the creaky wooden steps and survey the unfinished space. Particle board, boxes, shelves lined with miscellaneous items, the hot water heater. No sign that anyone's been down here in ages.

Mind still on edge you climb back up the stairs and open the door. But it doesn't open to the hallway you're expecting it to. You're facing the kitchen, right where the sliding glass door that leads to the patio should be. The hell? You step into the kitchen and look behind you towards the back yard. You see nothing but the door to the basement flanked by concrete walls. This isn't right. It shouldn't be like this. You need to get out. You must get out. You're overcome with a strong feeling of claustrophobia and your mind races at a frenzied pace. You dash to the front door to leave, peering out its small glass windows to be met with the view of your neighborhood. The door opens and you're met with...the bedroom. Your breathing quickens. Your heart races in your chest. You back up and turn tail towards the door to the garage. You open it to see a bathroom. You're beginning to hyperventilate. You slam the door shut and turn around to see light coming from near the front door. Was it open? It must be your way out! You sprint to the front door but stop dead in your tracks as soon as you turn the corner.

There's Gary and the imposter standing by the open front door, it's hanging loosely at an odd angle from one hinge as it had been ripped off the other, the glass windows are cracked from when it was slammed open and impacted the wall. Flashing lights from police cruisers outside light up the entrance hallway in blue and red bursts. Nezbit and a policeman are talking to Gary.

"I'm telling you I've never seen anything like it in my life." Gary states emphatically. "I was just washing the dishes and that wolf...thing bursts through the front door." He puts a hand across the imposters shoulder to bring her closer to him. "Thankfully me and Lucy are safe but who knows what could have happened if you didn't show up when you did."

The imposter speaks next. "Seriously thank God you guys got here so fast. I was worried sick when I heard the front door getting torn open."

You have to say something and let them know you're here. You put a pleading hand out towards Gary.

"Gary! Gary it's me! Lucy! I don't know who's next to you but she isn't me!"

The heads of the four people by the door slowly turn towards to you in unison.

"Is that the beast?" The officer asks with a deadly seriousness. He slowly unholsters a shiny silver revolver.

"Ya, that's her." The imposter adds.

Gary stands there with a scowl, the flashing lights outside casting deep shadows on his face.

"Gary!" You shout. "Come on, it's me, your wife. Don't you remember?"

He scoffs at your plea while shaking his head.

"Listen whatever the hell you are, if we're supposed to be married then where's your wedding ring?"

He brings his hand up to flash his golden wedding band. You bring yours up and your eyes go wide in shock as they're met with thin furry fingers tipped with ebony claws. You look down to see lanky limbs and a naked fur covered Lycan body.

"No no no." You can't help but whisper to yourself as the terrifying realization hits you.

Mrs. Nezbit turns to the policeman.

"You know officer, it's illegal to keep wild animals in a residential neighborhood without a permit." Her coke bottle glasses turn to you with a mocking stare. "She needs to be put down, HOA regulations are very clear on the subject."

"I agree." The imposter states with a certain amount of glee. "She doesn't belong here. Not with those teeth and claws, she might hurt someone. Even an accident could cause a lot of...damage."

"Might even be fatal." Nezbit adds with a red lipped smile.

The officer begins raising his pistol and you try one more time to get through to Gary, your eyes on the verge of tears.

"Gary please! I'm your fucking wife! We have a baby on the way! Tell him to lower the gun!"

He looks at you with an expression equal parts disgust and hate.

"I don't have any kids."

The officer's weapon was aimed at your feet now.

"And even if I did."

His sights were rising above your chest.

"They wouldn't have your tainted blood."

His silver revolver was aimed right at your head.

"Gary?" You whimper.

Darkness.

Your eyes shoot open as your body is suddenly awoken with a surge of adrenaline. You rapidly lean up from your horizontal position and become aware of where you are. You're in your bedroom, Gary is sleeping soundly next to you, the sweaty dampness of your fur and lack of morning sunlight means you must have just woken up from a dream. No, not a dream, a nightmare and a nasty one at that. You put a hand to your bare chest as your heart rate slows to a more normal pace and intensity. Damnit, as if you didn't already have problems getting enough sleep now you had nightmares waking you up prematurely. You lean back down to the bed and close your eyes. It doesn't take long to realize that you weren't going back to sleep anytime soon, your body has decided it would slumber no longer regardless of how many sheep you counted.

Might as well get up and do some chores, or read a book, maybe watch some weird late night programs, or maybe- Hey! You suddenly remember that today holds special significance for you and Gary, the kind of significance that ought to be celebrated. Thankfully you already came up with what his gift will be some time ago, you just need to make it and there's no time like the present to get it started.

You lean back up and swing your legs over the side of the bed, careful to not let your shifting weight move the mattress enough to wake Gary, today was the start to a well-earned weekend for him. You slowly lean up from the bed and onto your feet, sense of balance still a touch off from the baby bump protruding from your belly. It wasn't very large, almost hidden under the baggy t-shirts you wore, but it was enough to be a constant reminder of the new life you carried.

A silent yawn and quick stretch later and you're lazily stumbling to the bathroom for a quick morning routine. You enter the bathroom and close the door but pause before flicking the light switch on. Preemptively you shut your eyelids so you aren't blinded by the lights situated above the mirror, werewolf eyes weren't made for going straight from total darkness to bright artificial lighting after all. The lights flip on and you step in front of the mirror, closed eyes adjust to the ambient light, eyelids slowly open and you're met with...you.

A tall gangly body covered in silky black hair. A canine head with pointed ears and wet ebony nose. Fur covered breasts and rounded belly offering unmistakable signs of your femininity. Cloudy white eyes staring at you from the other side of the mirror. Some might call the furry creature staring back at you a monster, actually most would, but that doesn't change the fact that this is who you are until you change back. Or should it be if you change back? You shake the unpleasant thought out of your head and start getting ready for the morning.

Opening a drawer you grab a hefty metal file before reaching beside the sink and fetching a small trash can. You shut the lid to the toilet and take a seat placing the trash can in front of you. File touches ebony claw and you get to work dulling the daggers mounted on your fingers. It was a total mystery as to how they managed to become sharp again a mere day or two after a dulling but at least the task itself was easy, though tedious. With each thrust and retraction of the file a small trail of fine gray powder falls into the trash can. The trash can serves two purposes, one to catch the surprising large amount of nail powder that was produced from a dulling, and two to serve as an emergency receptacle for last night's dinner if it proved to be a bad day for morning sickness. Thankfully today wasn't.

After fixing your claws you would normally brush your fur to get it looking neat but recently you decided it was a waste of effort, not like anyone was going to see you other than Gary and maybe your parents on a video call. Neither party cared much about a patch of unkempt fur here or there. Now it's time to take care of an equally pointy part of your anatomy, your fearsome canine teeth. Standing up from the toilet you place the trash can back besides the sink and retrieve a toothbrush and tube of toothpaste from a drawer. The process of brushing them was basically the same as when you were in human form, though Gary did have to get you at least 5 different types of toothpaste until you found one that didn't taste repulsive to your werewolf palate. A thorough brushing of your inch long chompers and you wash your mouth out with a swishing of water. You curl your lips up to see how good of a job you did. Their color remained the bright white you remember your human teeth being. However the teeth in this mouth had far more points and a distinctly fearsome set of four canines. They were sharp, long, slightly curved, an optimal shape for rending tender dripping flesh from marrow filled bo-

You seal your lips to cut off the intrusive thought. The lights shut off, the door opens, and you slink over to the laundry room to get dressed. Ironically, it's much simpler to pick an outfit out now than when you were bare skinned and an average height. A baggy gray t-shirt with a graphic logo for a company that's never existed, a pair of large basketball shorts with a makeshift hole cut out for your tail, and that's it! Once again you slink through the house, this time your destination being the kitchen. Time to get to work making today a little more special than the rest. You do remember the recipe, right?

AN: Lucy's 2nd person dream sequence turned out to be 3,500 words, maintain parity for Gary's dream sequence in month 7 or cut things down, stop letting this happen you wordy fuck

Blue and Orange

Ah, Saturday morning, a special time of the week that Gary cherished every time it rolled around. He gets to sleep in, not worry about the constant toil of work, maybe do something fun or just chill out for the next 24 hours. Truly the best day as far as he was concerned, even if Lucy sometimes dragged him out of bed for an adventure she had planned for the weekend. Or at least that's what she used to do.

Gary lays on his belly splayed out on the bed, limbs in awkward positions as his consciousness gradually returns to him. He lazily licks his dry lips before weakly repositioning an arm to the opposite side of the bed. Gary expected to feel the soft fur of his wife, but his hand only detects the bare sheets. Huh? He opens his eyes to be met with what his arm already told him, he was alone on the bed. Guess he had slept in a little too late today. Lucy must already be up and about somewhere else in the house, probably watching TV or reading a book or one of the other activities she used to pass the immense amount of free time she had.

Gary rolls over onto his back. With his nose no longer smushed into the pillow he takes a breath of fresh air and detects something sweet, a scent that Gary hadn't smelled in quite some time. He smiles. One of her special treats.

Lucy stood in the kitchen hunched over the stove. An oversized shirt sporting a jagged graphic logo hung loosely off her frame. Its fabric was speckled with pancake batter, the messy result of getting a little too motivated when mixing ingredients together. She stares at the fluffy tan circle slowly cooking on the pan. Its center slowly started to bubble and rise, the blueberries embedded within its center casting purplish splotches on the pancakes surface. Pointed canine ears hear every pop and sizzle as the pancake slowly cooks. But they also hear something else. Footsteps. Lucy turns her head towards the hallway and soon sees Gary emerge. His hair was messy and pointing in odd directions, his eyes were still half lidded as they had yet to fully adjust to the morning light. He stops at the edge of the kitchen and leans against the counter. Lucy cracks a smile.

"Hey there sleepy head. I hope you got your daily recommended 12 hours of sleep."

"Lucy it's Saturday and I can sleep in if I want to." He states with an air of defiance.

"Well you'll be glad you finally woke up in time for breakfast. Look what I made!"

She enthusiastically holds up the pan almost causing the pancake it was holding to fall out, she just barely manages to adjust her grip to stop it from sliding off the pan in time. "Lucy's world famous blueberry pancakes, made by the one_and _only." She explains haughtily.

"Wow Lucy that's really great." Gary sleepily walks over to the kitchen table and takes a seat. He props an arm up on its surface and rests his cheek on a closed fist. "And what, pray tell, is the special occasion?" The smirk on his face revealing that he already knew the answer.

"Well, assuming that I haven't lost my mind entirely, I seem to recall that me and you are supposed to be married or something like that."

"What? Really? I'm married to a werewolf? No way!" He shouts with clearly false bewilderment.

She puts the pan back down onto the stove and takes a seat opposite of Gary.

"Yes, really! And if I have my dates correct I also seem to recall that we gave our vows somewhere around..." She puts a hand in front of her and begins counting her lengthy digits. "three hundred and sixty five days ago. Which makes today..." She trails off and cocks her head giving Gary the hint to finish her sentence.

"Our first anniversary."

"Bingo! And since our trip to Europe isn't going to happen due to, uhhh, circumstances beyond our control I thought I could at least do a little something to make today a little more special than every other boring day around here." Her wet black nose raises into the air and sniffs. "Last one's done! It smells a little burnt actually." She rushes back to the stove.

"Ah don't worry about it Lucy, a burnt pancake from you is still worth at least 3 regular pancakes made by anybody else!" He declares with a smile.

She slides the fluffy disc onto a plate already layered with several other pancakes and turns her head.

"Even your own mothers?"

"Well I don't know about that." Time to change the subject. "Anyway, I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that I too have a gift for my spouse on this very special day."

"ooooooo, and what might that be?" She happily questions before setting Gary's breakfast in front of him. He retrieves the fork placed on the plate but stops just short of digging in.

"I'll tell you after breakfast. I want to keep it a secret just a little while longer."

His response only served to drive Lucy's curiosity further.

"Oh come on! Just tell me what it is already. We aren't supposed to keep secrets from each other, that's like, the leading cause of failed marriages or something like that."

Gary aborts an attempt to cut into his breakfast after she finishes her sentence. He turns his head up to her with an incredulous smile and loudly clears his throat.

"Babe, I seem to recall that you kept a certain something about yourself a secret from me for quite some time." He narrows his gaze. "A certain something involving maws, paws, and claws."

She crosses her arms.

"Again with this? Gary there are no hard and fast rules as to when you're supposed to let a non-lycan loved one know about your gift. Some wait months, others years. Frankly you should be glad I told you as soon as I did. Two years after we started dating really isn't that long."

AN: Marked green for future reference

He finally takes the first bite of Lucy's pancakes and speaks with a mouth half full.

"Lishen, all I'm shaying is that I would have been fine with you telling me shooner." He swallows his first bite. "And Luce, I gotta say, your cooking is still world class. You should get on one of those cooking shows on TV or something."

She smiles at both his compliment and the obvious impossibility of his suggestion.

"Thanks Gary, I'll consider sending my application into one of the big television networks tomorrow, photo ID excluded of course." She replies with a cheeky smile. Gary stuffs another forkful of pancake into his mouth.

"Maybe I could go in your stead, you could whisper secret cooking tips to me through an earpiece while I compete. Then we'll split the winnings after our inevitable victory and-"

He cuts himself off as his jaw stops moving and his lips turn into a faint frown.

"Gary?"

"It's fine, there's just a...." He barely manages to enunciate the words with a mouth full of pancake. He puts a hand to his lips and pulls out a lengthy black hair before swallowing so he can speak clearly. "There's a werewolf hair in my food."

Lucy's ears flatten against her head in embarrassment.

"Oh, sorry about that. Getting my hair in the food wasn't something I really had to think about before...this." She looks down at her furry body before leaning over the island to get a closer look at Gary's plate. "Shit, there's not that many hairs in the pancakes is there?" She states with noticeable amount of distress.

Gary smiles and puts a finger on her shiny black nose, slowly pushing her head back across the island.

"Luce, don't worry about it. I'm pretty sure accidently eating a few werewolf hairs isn't going to kill me, or make me sick, or turn me into a super werewolf or anything like that." With his arm at full extension and Lucy's head now back across the island he once again picks up his fork. He postures to attack the pancakes again but stops suddenly as a thought enters his head.

"Hey, Luce?"

"Ya?"

"How...how does someone who wasn't born a werewolf become one anyway?" He states his question apprehensively, almost as if he didn't want to know the answer. Lucy chortles before resting her lengthy chin on an open palm.

"Oh Gary, don't tell me you've picked now of all times to join the pack? Has my incessant pestering finally gotten to you?"

He shakes his head.

"No, no offense but my answer remains a negative. But I just mean...like...is the process painful? Long? Easy? Quick? I don't think you've ever given me the exact details." He squints his eyes and moves his head forward. "Do you have to...bite me or something like that?"

Lucy looks at his pursed lips and curious eyes, her mind very carefully wording her response as to not alarm him. She joins her hands in front of her and straightens her back.

"Well Gary, personally I've never seen anyone turned and I've never done it to anyone myself. The only information I really have on it comes from what I've read in the tome over the years. You see the vast majority of my family got their lycanthropy genetically, actually most werewolves I'm aware of have, so the fact of the matter is not many of us have ever turned someone...manually. But I mean, if you wanted to do it, the process, well you have to start with, umm"

There's an awkward pause as Lucy looks down at her lap and twiddles her thumbs, thinking of how to start her explanation. Gary's macabre interest in the subject eventually drives him to push her.

"What did it say in the tome about it? Surely it would have a lot of information on the subject, werewolf lore and all that. Right?"

She chuckles nervously and runs a paw across the top of her head while still staring at her lap.

"Yes Gary, it had lots of information on the subject." Her eyes pan up to Gary's with an uneasy stare. "But you know how it is, very old fashioned."

Gary throws his arms up and leans back into his chair.

"Oh come on Luce! Just tell me!" He puts a hand over his chest. "We're all adults here, I can take whatever the gory details of the transformation are."

Lucy stares at him while deciding on whether she should tell him further details or just end the conversation right here. Despite his insistence to the contrary she always considered him a bit squeamish, much more squeamish than she was, but at the same time he does have a right to know considering how long she's been pushing him to undergo the change. Or would it be better to just not tell him? Or tell him a lie? Those options would be simpler, cleaner, easier. But then again, he always rejected accepting the gift. What harm could there be in giving him the details of a process he was never going to undergo in the first place?

Lucy takes a deep breath before continuing.

"Alright Gary, so the first part of turning a human into a lycan involves the of the phase of the moon."

He responds before she can continue.

"Let me guess, it has to be done during a full moon?"

"Yes, not exactly a big surprise is it?"

He shakes his head. She continues.

"Next, a couple of conditions must be met. First, the subject cannot be wearing any silver on their body or the process will fail before it even begins."

"Also not a big surprise."

"Right, the subject also has to be wearing the body of a wolf in some way. The tome mentions wolf pelt coats, fur hats, and claw necklaces being the most common bits of clothing used."

Gary looks to Lucy with an incredulous expression.

"Most common?! Where the hell would you even get an actual wolf pelt these days? Are werewolf hopefuls just supposed to go down to the wolf pelt store and grab a couple?"

She can't help but chuckle at his outburst.

"Gary you know how old the stuff in the tome is, back when it was written it was probably expected for you to go out and hunt and skin one yourself. Either that or go out to a trading post in the middle of nowhere and exchange a few cents for one. But thankfully I happen to know that my parents have a few old claw necklaces stored away in the attic back home. Never really knew why they kept them around until I started reading the tome one day."

"It doesn't creep you out keeping the body parts of a wolf stored away in the attic?"

"Jesus Gary, just because we turn half wolf once a month doesn't mean we have some spiritual connection to our feral cousins or anything. Doesn't bother me in the slightest."

"Okay, okay, please continue."

"So, the next step of the ritual is restraining the subject. The tome suggests securing the subject to a tree with heavy chains and leather wrist restraints, though I guess any restraints would work if they're strong enough."

Lucy notices Gary's expression turn austere.

"And uhh, why does the subject need to be restrained Luce?" He flatly questions.

She puts a hand up and gives a nervous smile.

"I'm just getting to that part. Next the subject has to drink a goblet of fresh blood extracted from a lycan, as the tome so eloquently put it. So they have to drink a cup of werewolf blood."

Gary stares at his plate idly poking his pancakes with a fork.

"Well that's...disgusting. But you still haven't told me why they have to be restrained, unless werewolf blood just tastes that awful?"

"No Gary, the reason why is the next part. So we have our subject, any silver on them has been removed, they're wearing part of a wolf, and they're restrained. The next phase is traditionally done by the lycan that introduced them to the pack they're now being made a part of."

Gary takes his eyes off his plate and looks up to his wife.

"So that would be you."

She shakes her head.

"Yes, me, though in reality it can be done by any of us. So the lycan goes up to the subject, puts their teeth around the subject's neck and, well, bites down."

An awkward silence. Gary stares at her for a few moments before breaking the tension.

"So you _do_have to bite me."

"Yes, I would have to bite you. Something about the combination of werewolf blood, saliva, full moon, and wolf parts is what causes lycanthropy to manifest in an otherwise pureblooded individual."

"And then that's it? You bite me on the neck and then I transform into a werewolf just like that?"

Lucy looks back down into her lap. It would be so easy to answer his question with a simple "Yes." And be done with it. But the ritual doesn't end there, not quite. After twiddling her thumbs for a few moments she points her muzzle back up to Gary.

"No, not yet. I know I just said bite but it's not really a bite, it's more like a..." She tilts her head back and forth while trying to word the answer in the least brutal manner possible. "...bite and hold kind of thing."

The color drains from Gary's face.

"Bite and hold? Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"Listen Gary I don't want to ruin your breakfast it's fine if you just want to end it here and-"

"No." He interjects. "No, you've already told me most of it, if you don't finish this is going to keep me up all night."

"Okay..."

She takes a deep calming breath before continuing.

"So the Lycan bites the subject deeply on the neck and maintains their hold until the subject passes away."

Gary puts a hand up.

"Stop right there, the subject is bitten by a werewolf and fucking bleeds to death?" He shakes his head and blinks a few times in disbelief. "What?"

Lucy tries to make her next words as reassuring as she can.

"Now Gary the subject doesn't remain dead for long. As soon as the subject passes away they're brought back to life almost immediately and undergo their first change. The tome says some vague words about needing to be born again for the gift to transferred to the subject so that's why it has to happen. I know it sounds bad, horrific even, but it's a very straightforward process." She puts a lengthy arm out and places a paw over his hand squeezing gently. "And during the entire thing I would be there with you to make sure nothing goes wrong, my parents would want to be there to witness it as well, they're sentimental like that."

"Well Lucy that's reassuring, I guess, and I appreciate you for telling me. But I think you still know what my position on becoming a lycan is."

Gary gently removes his hand from under hers and picks up a fork to begin eating his breakfast again. It takes noticeable difficulty for him to swallow his next bite, Lucy knows she just ruined his appetite. He points a fork at her.

"You should eat something too Luce. You're eating for two after all. Unless you're feeling sick this morning."

"No, it's not particularly bad today. I can probably keep down a light breakfast."

She gets up and walks over to the fridge. As usual she opens the meat drawer and peruses the contents within for her next meal. Steak? Nah, that was more of a dinner thing. Ham? Not feeling it. Ground beef? Only half a pound left, and also not really feeling like it. Sausage? Gave her nasty heartburn. Bacon? Bingo we have a winner! She removes the slim package from the fridge and closes the door.

"We need more ground beef babe. Getting a little low over here."

"How much is left?"

"Like half a pound, enough for a small snack for me or a taco Tuesday for you."

A grin briefly appears on Gary's face.

"I'll get some more later. And Luce, would you be okay with the 80/20 stuff instead of the 85/15?"

"Shouldn't make the slightest difference to my taste buds, why?"

Gary pokes at his pancakes before bluntly answering.

"It's cheaper."

Lucy retakes her seat across Gary and opens the bacon pack with a claw, even after being dulled it was easily capable of puncturing the thin plastic package.

"My little Gary, always looking out for the bottom line. And just to remind you again, the stuff you get me doesn't have to be top shelf you know. Werewolf stomachs were made for digesting meat still warm from the kill."

Lucy separates a strip of raw fatty bacon from the rest and brings it up to her mouth. She almost opens her jaws to devour it but sets it back down when she sees Garys eyes quickly flick from the bacon down to his plate and remain there. Right, his aversion to seeing her eat raw meat.

"You're usually still in bed when I have my breakfast, do you want me to..."

He nods his head.

"Yes, thanks."

Lucy walks over to the stove and turns on one of the burners. She retrieves a new pan from a nearby cabinet and places several strips of bacon down onto it. Gary calls over to her from the island as he continues picking at his pancakes.

"So Lucy, how's junior doing?"

"Junior's doing alright. Still doing the whole being a growing fetus thing."

"No back pain?"

"I am happy to report no back pain yet. Still got the nausea and heartburn though." She grumbles.

"Well they do say your first pregnancy is supposed to the hardest. And remember, all the hardships your body is going through right now are temporary. Six more months and junior won't be calling your belly home anymore."

She looks back to Gary and waves a hand across her furry body.

"I hope all of this fur is temporary too. You have no idea how much I want to stop cleaning my hairs off the furniture or leaning down to fit under doorways or having to find new and creative ways to entertain myself in this small little matchbox house."

"You still have the backyard you know."

"That tiny little patch of grass? I can't even run it Gary. I have all these long powerful limbs aching for some kind of activity and I can't even use them. I swear it feels like my body is atrophying."

"Well we can't just go to a park and let you run around, you know how dangerous that could be."

"I can't stay cooped up in here for the next six months Gary. I'm going to go insane!"

Gary sighs.

"Well, I'll try to figure out something. Some way for you to get out of the house and still be safe from prying eyes."

"That's what you said last week."

"I know." Gary slumps down in his chair. "Here's the thing Luce, every forested area within easy driving distance is going to be too crowded for you to run around in and I don't exactly feel comfortable driving you several hours out into the middle of nowhere. I mean what if we get pulled over? What if our car breaks down? What if, I don't know, some hunter mistakes you for an actual wolf and..."

AN: Marked green for future reference.

Gary stares blankly at his plate pondering more dark possibilities. A soft chuckle from Lucy draws him out of his gloomy stupor.

"What are you laughing at? I'm serious."

She can barely stop herself from full blown laughter.

"Gary, babe, love, my one and only. I will dress head to toe in fluorescent orange clothing and cover every inch of me in body armor and promise to not annoy you on the longest drive in the world if it means that I get to spend a few hours outside of the house. I'm serious." The bacon starts to sizzle and she takes the seat opposite of Gary, a lively look on her furry face. "We should make a plan and set a date for a little excursion into the wilderness."

Gary stuffs the last bite of blueberry pancakes into his mouth to buy time before responding.

"...Okay Luce. We can figure things out later if that makes you happy."

AN: This isn't even in the outline, keep it to a reference unless 5 ends up being shorter than expected

Her tail starts to wag at the thought of having an outdoor adventure after several months of indoor monotony. She rests her head on two hands and looks to Gary with her best puppy dog eyes.

"Glad to hear it honey. Now that your breakfast is gone are you going to tell me what your gift for me is yet?"

Gary looks at her with a sly smile.

"Not yet Luce, there's something I want us to watch first."

I Went Down, Down, Down, and the Flames Went Higher

The credits roll as a sentimental ballad plays from the television set. Gary and Lucy sit on the couch, Gary on one end his back leaning against a pillow and Lucy's head resting on his lap. He absentmindedly strokes her pointed ears and looks down.

"Well Luce, was it as good as you remember it?"

She takes his hand off her ear and wipes an eye with it. He notices a distinct lack of any dampness.

"Oh Gary, it's still the most romantic love story of our time." She gives a few loud overly dramatic sniffles. "I mean, who could have ever believed that in the end her love for that wooden door would be greater than her love for the poor Irish boy. The love triangle twist in the end was totally out of nowhere!"

She looks up to Gary with a mischievous grin.

"So...you still like it?" Gary questions.

Her smile grows wider.

"I liked the parts where the ship fell apart. And that one scene where that one guys hits the propeller on the way down."

He violently rubs the top of her head with a closed fist.

"I thought you said this was your favorite movie missy!"

She giggles before grabbing his wrist to stop the onslaught.

"It is my favorite movie! Just the last half of it though." She removes her head from Gary's lap and leans up on the couch beside him. "Now you better tell me what your anniversary gift for me is, I've waited patiently all day."

"Alright Luce, but you seriously don't know what it is yet? You want me to give you some hints?"

She crosses her arms and groans.

"Alright! Fine. I'll play your little game. Give me some hints."

"Okay Luce. So, when was the first time you and I saw that movie together?"

She puts a hand up to her chin as she racks her memory.

"It was...after we started dating. I invited you over to my place for the evening and we decided to watch a movie before dinner."

"But then the power went out." Gary says.

"Yes! The power went out and that ruined our plans for the night. So we huddled up on my couch and you pulled your phone out. Then we watched the whole thing on that tiny little screen."

"Uh huh, and then what happened?"

Lucy smiles as she recalls the rest of the night.

"And then when it finished you went off to grab the wine you brought. You came back with two glasses, gave one to me...and then I practically choked on the ring you put in it!" She playfully punches Gary on the shoulder as they both giggle at the shared moment. "I mean come on Gary you must have known I couldn't have seen it with how dark it was!"

Gary's chuckles simmer down as he prods her for the next part of the story.

"And then what happened after I gave you the Heimlich maneuver and had a mini panic attack over almost killing my fiancé?"

"Then you proposed, and I said yes, and then we lived happily ever after."

"Just as I remember it." Gary reaches a hand behind the pillow he was resting his body on. "Well Luce, you'll be glad to know I've gotten better at my technique, I highly doubt you'll choke on this one."

Gary retrieves a small black felt covered box and presents it to Lucy. She puts her hands up to her cheeks while squealing in excitement.

"Oh my god oh my god! Did you get it reforged?"

"Yep, I know we're short on money right now but I found a place that could do it pretty cheap and you've been looking like you could use some cheering up." He says with a warm smile.

Lucy gingerly retrieves the box and opens it to be met with a shining golden wedding band. She reaches down with two claws and plucks it out of the box while admiring its golden luster in the light.

"Oh Gary, it's just as I remember it." Her joyful expression dies as the next thought enters her head. "I can't wear it though, not until I change back. My furry fingers are too damn big."

"Well that's all the more reason to look towards the future Luce."

Lucy spends a few moments admiring the shiny metal ring in the light, an ebony claw keeping it suspended in front of her.

"Man I wish I could just put this thing on already."

"Why? Have a lot of bachelors been catcalling you around here? Is there one hiding behind the couch?" He sarcastically responds.

"Heh, no. I guess it's just the...familiarity I want. You know, to feel like I'm human again and not have to wake up every morning to see a wolf's face staring back at me in the mirror."

Gary pokes her shoulder.

"There's no denying you have quite a few canine features right now Luce, but you need to keep your chin up and remember that it's all temporary."

"We don't know that for sure." She bluntly counters. "We still don't know why this happened or how to fix it."

"No word from your parents?"

"They're still doing the best they can, contacting other packs and trying to get more information. They were supposed to call me this morning with an update, guess they're still busy."

"Maybe they'll call you later today, keep your hopes up. And Luce?" Her milky eyes meet his as he opens his arms for a hug. "Happy anniversary."

"Happy anniversary babe." She responds.

Lucy clutches the ring in a closed fist and leans forward to hug Gary. She engulfs him in her embrace and tightens her grip on his back, Gary doing the same to hers. For a few short moments they sit there in silence simply enjoying the warm contact of the other. However Lucy begins to feel a strange sensation in her hand, an odd kind of feeling, one that felt kind of like a pinprick. In a flash that pinprick turned into a knife going right through her hand and she leaps back from Gary's embrace.

"Lucy?" A startled Gary shouts.

Through the immense amount of pain now coming from her hand she manages to uncurl her digits around the ring. As soon as its metal surface entered her vision bright yellow flames jumped up from her palm bringing the pain to a new excruciating height. With a pained yelp she violently thrusts her hand towards the television, the ring flying through the air and landing on the carpet. For a brief moment she stares at her injured hand, the center of her palm still burning with short flickering flames as the foul smell of burnt fur filled the air.

"FUCK FUCK FUCK!" She yells and runs to the kitchen, Gary still on the couch attempting to make sense of what the hell just happened.

Lucy reaches the sink and turns it on with her good hand. She places her injured palm under the cool running water and the flames extinguish with a hiss. Gradually the pain fades to a dull throbbing as the cold water numbs her nerves. One thought was running through her mind as the water splashed onto her hand and down the sink. Silver. The fucking thing had silver in it.

Gary gets up from the couch and cautiously approaches the ring now laying on the carpeted floor. With a quick movement he snatches the ring from the ground and rests it in an open palm. Seemed fine to him. Time to check on Lucy and see if she's okay.

Gary emerges from the living room to see Lucy still running water over her hand.

"You alright Luce?"

She turns to him with an angry scowl.

"No I'm not alright!" She screams with unrestrained anger, her teeth bare and glistening. "That ring had silver in it Gary! Silver! You idiot! What the fuck are you doing giving me a silver ring?!"

He recoils backwards from her outburst then looks down in confusion as he fails to come up with an explanation.

"Maybe it, it shouldn't, it was made from the same metal as your original ring Luce! It doesn't make any sense why it would have silver in it. I don't..."

He trails off as Lucy rubs her palm under the sink trying to move fur out of the way to get a good look at her injured paw pad. She speaks with a softer but still fiery tone, her anger having gone from white hot to simmering red.

"Gary, you said the reforging was cheap. How cheap?"

His shoulders slump with his response.

"Real cheap."

"And do you think a place that does it real cheap cleans their equipment after every job? Or is above replacing a little bit of that gold with a less expensive metal, like silver?"

"...no...fuck" He admits dejectedly before walking to Lucy's side. "How bad is it?"

Lucy tests the movement in her fingers to find them working as expected, though the damage to her palm seemed to be significant. This wasn't something she could let just heal on its own. She turns to Gary.

"Go into the bathroom and get me the first aid kit. Make sure it has fresh gauze, burn cream, and scissors." She flatly orders.

Gary dashes to the bathroom and grabs the clear plastic box from under the sink. After verifying the requested items were within it he returns to Lucy in the kitchen and presents it to her.

"It's all here. You need any help? Painkillers? Anything?"

She wordlessly snatches the box from his grasp and lays it on the kitchen counter. From its contents she retrieves the scissors and begins carefully cutting away clumps of burnt fur. As the dark hairs fall into the sink the state of her injury becomes fully apparent. A deep burn in the shape of a circle now laid in the thin fleshy pad that made up her palm. On her fingers were patches of singed fur from where they had touched the other side of the ring. Hints of bright red flesh appeared next to the blackened skin on her palm, despite only being in contact with her hand for a few short moments the silver had done a remarkable job in damaging it. Lucy retrieves the burn cream and places a generous dollop of the white paste onto the burn. Taking a roll of gauze she begins wrapping it around her hand. Gary look at her with wide eyes.

"So the uhh, burn. Is it bad?" He nervously inquires.

"Worse than it looks actually." She hisses under her breath. "Injuries from silver take longer than you may expect to heal."

"But it _will_heal?"

"In time, though there will be scarring, lots of scarring." She finishes wrapping up her hand and faces Gary. "Normally an injury like this would be healed quickly, within an hour or two when in Lycan form. It helps prevent people from picking out who's a werewolf if we sustain any injuries when out and about."

AN: Marked green for future reference

"But not injuries from silver?"

She shakes her head.

"No, any contact with it and we burn up. Don't know how, don't know why, I just know that if we don't die from the injuries then they take months if not years to heal. That ring probably had just a small amount of silver in it, just a tiny bit." She points to her bandaged palm to emphasize her point. "But even that small amount was enough to cause this. Just imagine what could have happened if that ring was completely silver, or if I tried to put it on."

He shakes his head apologetically.

"Oh my God Luce I'm so fucking sorry. I had no idea that ring had silver in it, I never should have given it to you without checking. Goddamnit, is there anything I can do to help you out?"

She looks at her bandaged hand.

"No, I don't think so. At this point all we can do is wait for it to heal, however long that ends up taking. And Gary..." She steps towards him and places her good hand gently on his shoulder, looking down at him with pleading eyes. "...you've _got_to be more careful about what you bring into the house. Not just for me, but for the baby too." She implores softly, her anger having faded with the pain.

"I-I know I should, it's just I wanted to do something nice for you ya know? Thought you might like having the ring back after it broke."

"I know that. Just...just be more careful in the future. Do you have the ring?"

"Ya." He reaches into his pocket and retrieves it. Lucy only gives it a brief glance before turning her eyes back to Gary, the mere sight of it now making her uneasy.

"Well now you know I can't wear it. Sell it, or put it in storage, or just do something with it. I appreciate you getting it reforged but I can't even touch it, sorry."

He sighs.

"No, don't apologize, it was my fault. I guess we can sell it and put the money towards a new one so it's not a total loss."

Lucy gives a faint smile and leans against the fridge.

"Typical Gary, always looking on the bright side. Now I think I'm going to go lay down for a while. Not feeling so great after this little accident."

"You certainly deserve some extra rest. You want me to let you know when dinner is ready?"

"Doubt I could keep it down with how I'm feeling right now. Just put it in the fridge, I'll eat it later. See you in an hour or two Gary."

"See ya Luce."

She walks past him and towards the bedroom. Gary remains in the kitchen staring at the ring in his hand. He moves it around in his hand to view every bit of its surface. Not a single silvery detail could be seen, yet it must have had the element in it somewhere. If it didn't then it wouldn't have ruined their anniversary in one fell stroke.

AN: Character introspection additions?

Would You Like to Know More?

Lucy feels a dull throbbing pain lull her into a state of awareness. Her eyes lazily open and she's met with the dimly lit sheets of the bed. Dimly lit? How long was her nap? She turns the alarm clock on the nightstand to read its glowing red digits. One o'clock in the morning. Seriously!? Her ears turn to hear Gary softly breathing next to her. Well that was a long nap, much longer than she anticipated. She sets her head back down onto the pillow and tries to force herself back to sleep. Don't think about the pain coming from your hand. Don't think about the events of today. Don't think about tomorrow. Don't think, or worry, or reminisce, or plan...or remember...or acknowledge...or want...or...or...

Nope. Not happening.

With a quiet groan she leans up from the bed and gets on her feet. Guess it was going to be another one of those nights. The kind of night where no matter how much she tried fighting her werewolf instincts they were just not going to let a perfectly good moonlit night be interrupted by something as silly as sleep. Instincts that still didn't understand that she had nothing to hunt, or stalk, or explore in the house she was trapped in. Nothing to do but read the odd book, binge watch notflix, laugh at some garbage cable programs, or maybe use her labtop to try and keep up with whatever passed for current events these days. Though it wasn't entirely without brief flashes of excitement, there was that one time she caught a mouse...

Lucy silently walks through dark halls towards the kitchen. It's not like she needed the lights on, her vision was more than good enough to work with the small amount of ambient light coming in through the curtained windows. She reaches the fridge and pulls the door open with a clawed hand. The lights flick on and with squinted eyes she surveys each row searching for what Gary cooked her for dinner a few hours ago. On a plate lay two sirloin steaks covered in shrink wrap. She could already tell with her nose that they were seasoned with a few herbs and spices, an unnecessary gesture given her taste buds only had sensitivity for meat and little else, but one she appreciated nonetheless. She removes the plate from the fridge and gently closes the door. After setting it on the island she removes the shrink wrap and brings one of the steaks up to her muzzle. With a single bite she tears off a quarter of the hunk of meat and slowly chews, savoring the flavor. The flavor that seemed a little more, what's the word, vibrant? Punchy? Rich? Savory? That seemed to be the one, savory. It tasted a little more savory than the steaks he usually cooked for her. Her gaze shifts to the steak in her hand.

Despite its brown exterior and the faint hints of black carbon dotting its surface this steak was in fact barely even cooked. It has a dark red center encircled by a thin pink ring of slightly more well done meat. Usually when he cooked her steaks it was at least medium if not medium well yet this one barely even qualified as rare. For months she had been telling him not to even bother cooking it at all, guess her nagging was finally getting to him a few degrees at a time. She takes another bite and lets the meaty juices drown her taste buds. She would have to tell him to keep cooking them like this, not only did the meat give her mouth a one way ticket to flavor town but more importantly it kept Gary happy with his aversion to seeing her eat anything raw. Two birds with one stone. Though there was one thing she would have to tell him to change when he woke up tomorrow, and that was to get bigger steaks when he went shopping. Lucy had noticed a definite increase in her hunger the last several weeks. The reason why was obvious. Not only was she sating the appetite of two but her body was adding on a bit of plush as well. Where fur covered skin once stretched tightly over lycan muscles there was now a thin but noticeable softness separating the two. Hormonal changes, she thought. She quickly snarfs down the other steak and moves to the living room.

AN: A second regression could really be added here

AN: Add "wrote 500 words detailing a pregnant woman eating raw meat" to volume 4 of my list of reprehensible acts

Plopping down on the couch she finds the remote and turns the TV on to be met with the main menu for a familiar streaming service. Might as well browse it, even if she had watched every video worth a damn in its catalog weeks ago. She lays her body across the length of the couch and rests her furry head on a pillow at one of its ends. Lazily sticking an arm out she begins flipping through movie after movie, show after show, documentary after documentary. Already seen that one, the narrator for that one has an annoying voice, the acting in that one was shit, that one had a dumb plot twist, that one was literally made by high schoolers and a smartphone, that one's a soulless cash grab remake, that one-

*RING RING RING*

Her ears perk up at the unexpected noise. Someone was calling the house? At this hour? Finally something approaching excitement. She quickly moves to the kitchen and picks up the house phone.

"Hello?"

"Lucy? Is that you?" A welcome but tired sounding voice.

"Mom! Why are you calling so late? Something wrong?"

"Oh no dear, just calling to give you an update, if it could even be called that."

"Been doing a lot of research? The other packs haven't been giving you a hard time with access to their tomes have they?"

"No, they've all been very open to our inquiries so far. Not that it's brought us any closer to finding a solution to your particular problem." Lucy's ears fall flat against her head, the hopes for a revelation about her condition dashed once again. "But," her mother continues, "I have uncovered a great deal more information about the only other werewolf to share in your problem, so at least there's that."

"More about that she-wolf from Italy? You don't have to spend all night giving me the details mom, I know you're tired."

"Oh please Lucy, I spent a lot of time reading through dusty old tomes other packs graciously allowed me to study and I'm not going to end this phone call without at least giving you the short version of the story, the one in our tome turned out to be lacking in a few specific details."

"Go ahead, the short version sounds fine. Preferable even, I've never been one for history lessons."

Lucy's mother takes a deep breath to prepare for her monologue.

"So, in 1780 there was a lycan by the name of Adrianna Abruzzo living near the city of Trevisso. Now I know I said earlier she was a farmgirl, that was something of a mistranslation as she was only there to help with the annual grape harvest in the fall. From what we know she was a vagrant, traveling from place to place every few months and getting by with money from odd jobs. Not an uncommon life for a werewolf in those days."

Lucy softly chuckles.

"I seem to recall us doing a lot of traveling when I was a kid mom."

"We only did that because we wanted too, not because we had too. There's a difference you know."

"Didn't exactly make it easy for me to make friends being on the road so much, not that I'm complaining about your parenting skills or anything. I mean I think I turned out alright."

"Good, because as far as I'm concerned we raised a perfectly successful daughter who found a loving mate and is about to add a new addition to our family within a few months. I really couldn't ask for more from you."

Lucy's eyes turn down to her belly.

"Oh believe me you'll be getting something within a few months. Can't guarantee they won't have white eyes and be covered in fur when they arrive into the world though."

"Baby werewolves are just as cute as baby humans Lucy. I remember when you had your first change and you became the cutest little ball of fur we ever did see. I think I still have the pictures somewhere around here."

"Please mom, I already know how cute I am. Now by all means continue with the story."

"Alright, so Adrianna is in Trevisso looking for work. She eventually finds a vineyard willing to employ her for the season and while there she made contact with the son of the vineyards owner. They became infatuated with each other, and one moonlit night she revealed her secret to him. Now the trouble starts the next month. According to the story she underwent the change and the next morning she found herself still in her lycan form, just like you Lucy."

"Did any of the stories say why? It's kind of important."

A depressed sigh is heard on the other end.

"No, I've read close to a dozen slightly different versions of them and unfortunately none give a credible reason as to why she never changed back. There are some vague explanations about curses and divine punishment but that's all just pointless superstition. Continuing with the story, her mate was able to successfully hide her for the next few months in his family's house on the vineyard. But eventually their luck ran out and someone ratted her out to the locals. Nearly every version has a different person be the one to rat her out. Some say it was her mate's jealous brother, others say it was one of his parents, or a random workhand, I guess the real answer has been lost to time. After the city found out about her a mob consisting of angry locals promptly surrounded the vineyard and burned the place down killing them both in the process. Then, well, that's it. Every version of the story ends the same way. They both die."

"That's...awful. You sure they all end that way? No happy fairy tale endings? They both don't escape and live in the countryside until they die of old age?" Lucy asks with a rapidly fading sense of optimism.

"No honey, so far every version I've come across shares that ending. Personally I'm inclined to believe that really is what happened to Adrianna Abruzzo and her mate, assuming they actually existed in the first place and this isn't just some old tale that's been exaggerated after every passing. Sorry Lucy, I know you wanted something more concrete than an old story with questionable legitimacy but this is all we got regarding your condition."

"It's okay mom, thanks for finding this all out for me. I know it must be frustrating going through all those dusty tomes just to end up with no good answers at the end of the day."

"Don't feel sorry for me Lucy, I'll gladly go through a hundred more of these things if it brings us closer to helping you, lord knows you need all the help you need right now. Speaking of which, how have you and Gary been holding up?"

"We're managing, for now at least. You know I had to quit work so money's been tight but Gary's been putting in overtime to make up for it, bless his heart. Not going to lie I've been getting awfully restless being cooped up in this house all day. It's not like I can go on my daily runs anymore, not without causing one hell of an incident."

"Hey! You and Gary should plan a little field trip to somewhere outdoors, where you can stretch your legs and get some fresh air! It'd be good for you, and therefore the baby."

Lucy's mood perks up as her mind shifts to visions of wide open fields and moonlit forests.

"Me and Gary were just talking about something like that earlier today! Great minds think alike mom!"

"Sounds like just what you need to take your mind off all of this. You and him have any ideas on where you're going to go? A park? Field? That place by the lake you and him like so much?"

"We haven't gotten that far yet in terms of planning but personally I would be fine just driving down to some national park and spending the night in there. We could eat dinner, go for a walk, explore some of the area, maybe spook some hikers real bad or something, heh."

"Now now Lucy, don't think that just because the world doesn't believe we exist mean that it's a good idea to go around showing your lycan form to anyone that isn't in the know." She sternly lectures.

"I know mom, it was just a joke. I wouldn't do anything that would put junior here in any danger. I'm not _that_reckless."

"That's a good attitude to have, I know you don't mean anything by it but you need to think about more than yourself as time goes on. More is at stake right now that you may know."

"I know, I know, I know." Lucy repeats softly. "I guess it's just that, I don't know, this is all still happening a little fast. Me and Gary weren't exactly ready for a baby when we found out I was pregnant. We were still trying to get more security in our lives, we wanted a bigger house, we were both waiting on promotions, this whole thing just blindsided us."

"I know exactly how you feel Lucy, me and Jack weren't exactly planning on starting a family when we learned I was pregnant with you either."

"What?!" Lucy exclaims. "I wasn't planned?"

"Uhh, no." She sheepishly admits. "What we were planning on was a few more years of living together traveling the country before settling down. But then I forgot my birth control, he wasn't fast enough and...yeah."

Lucy gags before responding.

"TMI mom! TMI!"

"Lucy my point is that just because you weren't one hundred percent prepared for a kid doesn't mean that everything is going to go wrong. You and Gary just need to learn to support each other, adapt, and deal with whatever life throws your way. It's going to work but it's also going to take work."

"Mom, with all due respect, my situation is different than yours. I've been stuck in my lycan form for months now. I can't work, I can't go outside, I can't go to a doctor or see a movie or eat at a restaurant. And to top it all off I don't even know how the birth is going to work out if I'm still in Lycan form when the time comes. Speaking of which, have you learned anything on that front? Adrianna died before she gave birth so the story you told earlier isn't much help."

There's a slight pause before she answers, reluctant to give her an answer she knew Lucy wouldn't like.

"Well, to put it simply, no. Like you said Adrianna died before the birth and in all of the tomes I've looked at none mention a Lycan mother giving birth while changed. Plenty of accounts of it happening just after or before a transformation but none during. It just...doesn't happen."

"Well fuck." She hisses.

"I know that isn't what you wanted to hear, but it's the truth. As much as I hate to say it I doubt we'll uncover many answers to the uncomfortable questions I know you have. And Lucy?"

"Yes?"

"Keep your chin up! Don't focus on the negative possibilities or you'll just fall deeper into that swirling pit of despair that the future so often appears to be. Try to focus on the things that would make you happy, like that excursion you and Gary were thinking about! Have any dates in mind yet? Maybe we could meet you all somewhere and have a little get together. The holidays are getting close you know."

A faint smile graces Lucys muzzle.

"Ya, that sounds nice. But I would prefer not to wait until the holidays to finally run around a bit. How about this, me and Gary can decide on a location and try it out. If we like it you can drive down in a couple months and we'll all meet there. I know it's a long drive for you guys but-"

"Lucy! All you had to do was ask! Of course we'll come down to visit the two of you. Nothing would brighten my day more than being able to talk to my baby girl in person."

Her toothy smile grows larger.

"Thanks mom."

"You're very welcome. Now I think it's about time I get some sleep, it's far past my bedtime. And if you have any more questions don't be afraid to call us, we'll always be here to help you out."

"I will, Goodnight mom."

"Goodnight Lucy."

Lucy removes the receiver from her ear and ends the call. Unlike how she felt when she woke up she now felt drained of energy, it wasn't clear if her instincts had finally faded enough to let her get some sleep or if the conversation with her mother had sapped her. She walks back to the bedroom and quietly enters. Creeping over to the bed she gently gets climbs on as to not wake Gary and-

"Hey Luce."

The unexpected sound causes her to jump, but her mind quickly gathers itself and she lays down beside him.

"Hey Gary." She whispers.

"Couldn't sleep?"

"Nope. You know how it is. Sorry for waking you."

"Pretty sure it was your absence that woke me actually. It gets cold in here when you aren't around. Did I hear you talking to someone in there or was it a dream?"

"My mother called me."

"Did they finally give you an update?"

"Yes, but nothing that could help us out unfortunately."

"Okay. See ya tomorrow Luce."

"See you tomorrow Gary."

AN: Adjustments complete

Month 5

Collateral Damage

Another workday, another dark drive home for Gary. The amber glow from streetlamps illuminate the way ahead of him. He didn't like driving home this late, but there was only one way to get more money in the bank and that was overtime and lots of it. He passes the last few houses before hitting his own and feels the tension from the day already start melting. He was going to get in the house. Take a nice hot shower. Eat some dinner with Lucy. Then sleep until the weekend starts. Not a bad way to end a Friday.

His gaze shifts to his humble abode as it comes into view. The car slows and he turns onto the short driveway in front of the garage. In his peripheral vision Gary catches a sudden movement. He can only witness the aftereffects of it, the gentle waving of the curtains behind a window, but he already knows what caused it. With a grumble he pushes a button on the remote clipped to the sunshade and the garage door squeakily draws upward. She should know better. Especially by now.

Gary throws open the door from the garage and marches into the living room to be met with Lucy lazing belly up on the couch, her body stretched across its entire length and the TV remote dangling from her bandaged hand. She casually yawns and points her muzzle towards him.

"Oh hey Gary, I'm glad you're finally home."

She gives a brief smile he doesn't return.

"You know you shouldn't do that." He enunciates every syllable, his tone low and serious. "What if someone sees you? Or takes a picture?"

Her gaze shifts back to the TV before telling a casual and obvious lie.

"I...don't know what you're talking about."

"Like hell you do." He fires back

Gary steps in front of the television blocking her view. She lets the remote fall onto the ground and leans up on the couch, her mood turned sour as she realizes he was not going to simply let this issue go.

"Gary, for the love of God, it's not a big deal. Me staring out a window every now and then is not going to cause an international incident."

"Every now and then? Your head's in front of a window all the damn time!"

Lucy's tone of voice grows harsher, her temper starting to flare as she has to explain something she knows Gary is already aware of.

"That's because_there's _nothing to do around here Gary. I'm five months into this involuntary house arrest and I've watched every show on any streaming service worth a damn, read all the books in our bookcase including the goddamn dictionary, put together every puzzle, melted my brain trying to pass time online, and I can only talk to my parents so much until they run out of things to say. This isn't boredom, this is something beyond it. And now you won't even let me look out a fucking window to people watch. You're crazy!"

Gary's rising tone matches Lucys.

"This is not a game damnit. I'm not telling you to stop because I hate you, I'm telling you this because I don't want you to get discovered. All it takes is one person spreading rumors about the strange looking animal they saw looking out our window and things could easily escalate. People might start asking questions about us, asking where's Lucy, why no one's seen you in person for a while. Then the cops try to do a welfare check and we're fucked." He raises his arms in exasperation. "Fucked!"

Lucys lips reflexively curl upwards as her temper grows more heated, eyes squinted in a predatory fashion.

"I look like a dog Gary! A fucking dog! Nobody is going to raise hell because they saw a dog staring out someone's window! I am NOT going to spend an eternity in this-this-this prison. That's what this place is to me. I feel like I can barely breathe in here!"

Lucy stands up from the couch and points a claw at him to emphasize her next point. Despite towering over Gary he seems undisturbed by the seven foot werewolf now baring teeth at him.

"But this wouldn't be nearly as much of an issue if you didn't pussy out on our excursion you coward!" Spit flies as she belts out her accusation. Gary's eye quivers as an attempt to suppress his own anger quickly fails.

"Shut up!" He shouts. "I did not pussy out. There were hunters. Hunters that could have mistakenly shot you."

"We were in the middle of nowhere Gary! The middle of bumfuck nowheresville USA! Just because you saw some hillbillys with their daddy's deer rifle slung across their back at a gas station doesn't mean they were going to hunt me down like the fucking terminator and ventilate me. It was already getting dark, who the hell hunts in the dark anyway?!"

"I already told you they had thermals on their rifles. Thermals that could pick you out a mile away. And you know what you would look like on a thermal scope from that distance? A big fucking wolf Lucy. A big fucking wolf I bet they would just love to shoot and mount on their trophy wall."

"Bullshit! You're just making that up. Trying to hide the fact that you're paranoid about me getting in the slightest bit of danger. You're smothering me Gary! Smothering me! I need out!"

Gary shakes his head and begins walking backwards towards the bedroom.

"I'm not arguing with you again Lucy. I'm tired as shit and I'm going to bed." He flatly states. "We can talk about this-"

He cuts himself off as his foot hits something unexpected at an odd angle. The object slides under his foot and he now found himself off balance, reflexes after a 12 hour shift so dulled that he can't find his footing in time before falling towards the ground. Instinctively he puts his arms out in front to try and arrest his descent.

AN: Make it more obvious it was the TV remote he slipped on?

Thankfully Lucy's reflexes are sharper than ever and in a split instant she grabs Gary's forearm with a strong hand to stop his fall. However her grip on his arm is so tight that one of her razor sharp nails digs into his arm, the unmistakable feeling of claw tearing through skin and flesh flashes into her conscious before she lets go of Gary, his body finishing its descent to the ground. As soon as his back hits the carpet he clutches his bloodied arm and lets out a pained grunt.

"Gah!" He looks up to her with a shocked expression. "What the fuck Lucy!"

She stares blankly at him for a brief moment before gathering herself.

"I-I didn't mean to-" She cuts herself off and kneels down besides Gary, her focus quickly shifted from apologizing to assessing his injury. "How bad is it? Let me see your arm." She orders, the previous hostility in her voice instantly replaced with calm concern.

AN: Removed redundant text, reason for motive shift is implied

Gary fails to respond to her request, looking at her with nervous eyes and a bloody limb held close to his chest. She puts a hand towards him, palm facing up.

"Gary, that was an accident. I need to make sure I didn't cut anything important. Just let me see your arm."

With no small amount of trepidation he slowly extends his arm onto her hand, the extent of the cut now apparent to both of them. Lucy surveys his arm with a focused stare and rotates it slightly to view the laceration from all angles.

"Okay, let's see. Just one laceration across the forearm, thankfully it's not terribly deep but, damn, you're still going to need stitches. At least it's only one cut and not five. And though it's bleeding quite a bit it looks like I didn't nick an artery so that's good." Her gaze moves up to his face. "In the official medical opinion of this werewolf you're gonna make it. Now head over to the kitchen table and sit down. I should have an old suture kit somewhere around here."

She shoots up and quickly walks towards the bathroom to acquire the necessary medical supplies leaving Gary sitting on the floor. For a brief moment he looks at the long cut across his arm, it's red center already starting to glisten with freshly drawn blood. With the sight stirring a sickening feeling in his chest he quickly looks away and gets up, changing his focus to getting to the kitchen. He takes a seat at the same time Lucy enters the room, a clear plastic box and a towel held under her arm. She sets the towel on the table and the box beside it.

"Put your arm on the towel so you don't get any blood on the table. I'll get you patched up here in no time."

Gary dutifully complies, she was the professional here after all. As Lucy sets her supplies out in front of her she turns to Gary, her voice filled with a genuine sense of guilt.

"Gary I am so sorry about this. I didn't mean to grab your arm like I did and cut you."

"So this isn't payback for the burn on your hand?" A question asked in earnest.

She tilts her head and bears an impish grin.

"Of course not. I'm not so petty as to cut someone's arm up over a simple accident. It's still going to take a long time for my hand to heal up though, well after your cut heals." Her grin growers wider. "You dick."

AN: Tonal inconsistency?

She gently nudges his arm with an elbow eliciting a stunted chuckle from both of them.

When Lucy has her supplies laid out and prepared she turns to Gary once more.

"Alright Gary, you ever had stitches before?"

"No."

"Really? You never cut yourself as a kid?"

"I tended to play things safe, never even broken a bone."

"Damn Gary, when I was a kid I got into all sorts of scrapes. Thankfully mom had a healing hand, always knew the best remedies for everything from a compound fracture to an upset stomach."

"That must have been nice."

"You remember the story I told you about the time I was exploring that old house out in the middle of nowhere?"

"Yep, you were snooping around the second floor when the ground caved in right? And you fell all the way down to the first floor like in some kind of cartoon?"

"That's right, though what the cartoons tend to leave out is the fact that sort of thing leaves you with broken bones and a head full of hurt in the real world. Thankfully it was just my ankle that was broken. Anymore and I might not have made it back to the RV."

"Why were you exploring that abandoned rickety house in the first place anyway? Seems like a lot of risk for little reward."

"I was a teenager, I was bored, and you try living in a cramped little RV with no one but your parents for a few years and see how long it takes until you'd do anything to spend some time away from them. But enough about my little spout of teenage angst, I'll tell you what I'm going to do before I start so there aren't any surprises okay?"

"Sure."

Lucy scootches closer to Gary and switches her focus to his arm, a threaded suturing needle held between two lycan fingers.

"Alright, so the first thing I'll need to do is..."

Lucy's words become background noise as Gary stares intently at his arm.

Red.

So much red on his skin right now. Bright and rosy and causing him to feel lightheaded already. He had never liked the sight of blood. Something about it caused an uneasy feeling to take over every time he saw a wound nastier than a papercut. He knew it wasn't quite the same aversion to gore most people had. It was more easily triggered, more base, more gut wrenching than what other people seemed to experience. And yet he couldn't seem to take his eyes off his cut. So much red...

AN: No incongruity with the way he reacted to Lucy's burn but additional connective text can be added

"Gary?"

Hearing his own name snaps him back to reality and his gaze shifts up to Lucy.

"Ya babe?"

"Is something wrong? You're pale as a ghost." Her milky white eyes are filled with concern.

She still didn't know about his weakness to blood despite their time together. Gary never revealed it to her partly because there had never been a reason to but mostly out of embarrassment. After all, what kind of guy can't handle the sight of blood?

"No Luce, it's just the pain I guess. I'll take something for it after you're done. I'm fine."

"You poor thing. I think I have a shot of morphine in here somewhere. That should get numb you up real good for at least a couple hours."

She sets the suturing needle down and begins rummaging through the first aid kit.

He almost shouts his next words but keeps his tone low enough as to not tip Lucy off to how desperately he just wanted this thing to be over with.

"No. I said I'll take something for the pain later. Just focus on sewing me back up for right now. Please."

"Okay, okay. Keep your arm still while I make these stitches. And this is going to hurt a bit."

He didn't mind, the pain wasn't what bothered him.

"That's fine, just, go as quick as you can please."

He breaks eye contact with Lucy and shifts his gaze to the floor. Which is where it would remain until she had stitched the wound and cleaned the area of blood. He finally looks back to his arm as he feels a bandage being wrapped around it. No more red, no more broken skin, no more ripped flesh. With the sight of the tan bandage his mood instantly improves.

"You're a real trooper Gary. You didn't even cry."

"Does this mean I get a sticker and a lollypop?" He says with an impish grin.

She chuckles.

"That's only for children Gary, but there are a few beers in the fridge you're welcome to. Not like I can drink them."

"That's a substitution I'm more than willing to make."

She finishes wrapping the bandage around his forearm.

"All done! I'll have another look at the cut in a few days, just want to make sure it doesn't get infected."

"Thanks Luce. I appreciate you doing this."

"Don't worry about it one bit Gary, I'm the one that caused it in the first place. It's the least I could do."

"Speaking of that, why didn't you dull your nails today? I thought we agreed doing that would be a good idea specifically so things like this didn't happen."

She breaks eye contact and her pointed ears fall flat across her head. She didn't want to tell him why. She knows he wouldn't like the answer. Yet she felt honor bound to disclose the truth after injuring him, an injury that was the indirect result of a secret she had been hiding for the past several weeks.

"Well Gary, it's just that-"

*DING DONG*

Gary groans in annoyance.

"I'll get the door. You wait in the bedroom."

Guess her confession would have to be delayed. Lucy slinks off to hide in the bedroom while Gary casually walks to the door, already seeing the vibrant red hair of their unexpected visitor through the frosted glass. With a deep breath he puts on a fake smile and opens the door.

"Hey Ms. Nezbit! What can I do for you?"

"Good evening Gary! Sorry to be disturbing you so late but I just wanted to make sure you all knew about the biannual HOA meeting at my house in a couple of days."

She hands Gary a flyer for the event and he receives it, briefly glancing at the glossy paper before reluctantly turning his attention back to nosy nagging neighbor in front of him.

"I'll be there Mrs. Nezbit. Wouldn't want to miss any important announcements or anything like that."

"Glad to hear it! Say, Lucy wouldn't be attending by any chance would she? It's been such a while since I've seen her around."

Gary's fake smile falters.

"She's uhh, been pretty sick the past few...weeks. With the flu. She doesn't want anyone else to catch it so she's been in the house mostly." He manages to bring his smile back up. "We've been going through lots of chicken soup and cough syrup lately."

Nezbit puts a hand to her chest at hearing the news.

"Oh my gosh! I hope she gets better. You don't think she caught the Heineken virus did she? Last I heard the only known cases were still in Canada but, oh my god, what if she's the first victim in the US? The whole neighborhood could be infected with how long the incubation period is! You said she's been eating chicken soup right? Was it made with Canadian chickens by any chance? Or geese?"

She stares at him with wide open eyes, her question apparently asked in complete seriousness. Gary puts a pleading hand up and stifles a chuckle.

"Ms. Nezbit, I assure you it's just the common flu. Nothing to be worried about. She knows a hell of lot more about how to deal with these things than either of us do. Don't worry, she'll be fine."

She breathes a heavy sigh of relief.

"Oh you're probably right, it is very unlikely for such a thing to happen. Then again, there is a chance. So how do you all like your new dog? I see his fuzzy little face sticking out your window from time to time."

Gary stares blankly at her for a few seconds as the gears turn in his brain. New dog? What new dog? We don't have a new-oh!

"She, actually. It's a female. Got her from the pound not long ago."

"A rescue, how wonderful! You did make sure to give them a good bath right? Strays tend to be filthy."

"Yeah. She's got all her shots and everything. We absolutely love her."

"Good for you all, what breed is she? The rest of her must be pretty large given how big her head is. Is she some kind of husky? If I didn't know better I might mistake her for a wolf given her pointy ears!"

"She's a uhh..."

There's an awkward silence as Gary racks his brain for what kind of dog his werewolf wife most closely resembled. Not quite a husky, nor a German Shepard, or a malamute, and her coal black fur narrowed down the list even further. Failing to come up with a definite answer he gives her a vague response, partly because he disliked the act of comparing his wife to a dog and partly because he just wanted to get this conversation over with as quickly as possible.

"She's probably a mix of a few different breeds. Like I said, we got her from the pound so we aren't really sure what she's made up of."

"A mutt huh? Can't say I've had many good experiences with mutts. One tried to tear apart my poor little Barty just a few days ago. I was just walking him along the street and this vicious beast of a dog runs up to us and starts barking and snapping his teeth like some kind of furry demon. I had to pick poor Barty up and run back to the house before he tore into both of us. I could see the lethal intent in that mutts' eyes. An absolutely dreadful encounter!"

Nezbit? Running? Gary doubted it.

"I'm sorry to hear about that Mrs. Nezbit. I'm guessing Barty is your dog?"

"Yes, Mr. Barthalamule Nezbit. He's my purebred Chihuahua. Such a darling little thing, he yaps a lot but at least he's house trained. By the way, is your dog spayed? You know the bylaws explicitly disallow any resident to possess a canine or feline that hasn't been fixed. We don't want strays coming around here looking for some tail, it gives the neighborhood a bad image if we have to call animal control."

AN: Are purebred chihuahuas even a thing? Research this

Gary rubs the back of his neck.

"Umm, yeah, she's spayed. Absolutely no puppies anytime soon."

Nezbit slowly nods her head and takes on a barely hidden accusatory tone.

"Good, good. And if you don't me asking, is that bandage on your arm from your cute little dog getting a little too playful or..." She trails off expecting Gary to give her an answer.

Gary casually moves his arm behind as to not let Nezbit catch anymore glances at it. He knew where this conversation was going and it only made him hate it even more. Coming over to his house this late, asking all kinds of pointless private questions, poking and prodding trying to get him to admit to breaking some banal bylaw. And now the asshole was trying to get him to admit that his "dog" was a threat to the neighborhood or some bullcrap like that. Suppressing a rising sense of anger Gary responds matter of factly.

"No. I cut my arm while making dinner last night. Just a slip of the knife."

Nezbit shakes her head up and down, a sly look on her face.

"Well, I hope you heal up soon. And that whatever made that wolf howl the last time I visited you all doesn't show up again. It would be a shame if-"

A loud hacking cough comes from behind Gary and they both turn their attention to inside the house.

"Honey?" Lucy weakly says from around a corner. "Can you bring me some more cough syrup? My throat feels like it's on fire over here."

"Be there in a minute honey!" Gary yells before turning his attention back to Nezbit.

"Well I gotta go Ms. Nezbit. See you later."

"I'll see you at the meeting Gary. And be sure to take good care of your wife in there. And your dog too."

AN: Reference the meeting in seven?

"I will. Bye."

He shuts the door and walks over to where Lucy's voice came from to see the werewolf leaning against a wall.

"Thanks for the quick thinking Luce. Thought she was going to talk me to death for a minute there."

"Don't worry about it. If she comes over again we can just keep up the me being sick routine. Ought to keep her nosy little face off our doorstep for a while."

Garys tone becomes more serious, much to Lucy's dismay.

"Lucy, she's probably not the only one who's noticed you looking out the window. You have to stop doing that. For both our sakes."

"I know, I know." She whimpers. "I just hate being cooped up in here all the time. I'm not joking when I say that I need out. Which brings me to the reason why I haven't been dulling my claws lately."

"And why's that?"

"Well...Gary...my parents are coming over." She answers with a great deal of hesitance.

"I don't have any problem with that, when are they arriving? We'll need to clean the house up, get the guest bedroom-"

"Tomorrow." She blurts out stopping Gary mid-sentence.

"Tomorrow?" He says in disbelief. "Tomorrow?! Why the hell didn't you tell me about this sooner?"

"We're going on a hunt after they arrive. I've already talked to them about it over the phone. You don't have to join us but I will be getting out of this house tomorrow and breathing some fresh air. I don't know how many times I've told you but I need out Gary, my mind can't take any more of being stuck in this house."

"I can't believe this! You've been hiding your little plan from me because you knew I wouldn't approve of it right? Just waiting to spring the news on me before I could make any meaningful protest. For the love of God Lucy think about what you're doing!"

She takes several steps forward, her tone rapidly changing from nearly apologetic to forceful.

"I know exactly what I'm doing Gary, I'm not some kind of mewling pup. My parents and I are going to go into the same national park that you almost took me to last time. We picked a good location, out in the middle of nowhere, plenty of undisturbed woodland, lots of wildlife, and most importantly it's not well traveled. We're just going to drive out there at sunset and hike our way into the woods until the moon comes up and all 3 of us are in Lycan form. Then from there we'll try to go and acquire some game. Maybe we'll get something, maybe we won't, either way I'll be happy since I get to stretch my legs and my parents will be happy since they'll finally get to see me in person after all this time."

"A stupid idea. Risky. Dangerous."

"Oh please, get a grip." She commands. "It's going to happen whether you like or not at this point so I highly suggest you learn to deal with it."

He points to her belly.

"Think about the baby Luce. It isn't just yourself you're putting in harm's way. Are you completely sure you want to go through with this?" He desperately asks.

"Just because I'm pregnant doesn't change the fact that I'm a seven foot tall werewolf with senses far better than any animals and claws that can cut through steel Gary. Not to mention that mom and dad will be with me too, junior will have three fully grown and experienced werewolves protecting him." Her eyes drift down to her baby bump. "Nothing's going to happen to Junior, I promise you."

Gary crosses his arms and leans against the wall deep in thought, his eyes tracing the floor. An uneasy silence fills the air. What to do about this? It's not like he could just call her parents off, and it was clear Lucy seriously wanted this excursion to happen or she wouldn't have kept it hidden from him. No, not wanted it to happen, needed it to happen. She was never was the kind of person that thrived in a domestic environment, she was always too active, too energetic, too brightly spirited. Frankly it was amazing that she lasted 5 months in here with her sanity still intact. As Gary concedes to the reality before him he looks back to Lucy with a response.

"Three werewolves and a human. I'll be going with you. No point in me staying at the house when you and your parents go out."

Her ears perk up but her tone remains low.

"Good. Now you better get some sleep, we're going to have a very busy night tomorrow." She shifts her weight off the wall and walks away from him, stopping before sheepishly turning around.

"And Gary?"

"Hmm?" He mumbles, looking over his shoulder to see her.

She timidly raises a hand in apology, taking a couple seconds to find her next words before settling on a single one.

"...sorry."

His head turns back to look at the floor in front of him.

"I know."

Transient

Lucy and Gary sit side by side on the couch, Lucy dressed in a baggy t shirt and basketball shorts and Gary in a heavy jacket and boots. Gary checks his watch.

"I thought you said they would be here by five."

"That's just what they told us, in reality they've never been very punctual. And give them a break Gary they have a long drive down here, probably got stuck in traffic or something."

"All I'm saying is that it's already past seven and the moon comes up at ten, with a 2 and a half hour drive to the park we're going to be cutting it close." He stands up off the couch. "I'm burning up in this jacket. I'm gonna-"

Lucy puts a lanky arm up and turns her ears towards somewhere to the left of the house.

"Wait wait wait, I hear the RV coming up. They're almost here!"

He sits back down on the couch with a tired sigh.

"You sure?"

"Yes, I'd recognize that sound anywhere. It's not like I spent years traveling in it or anything."

Soon enough Gary sees the blurry shape of a large vehicle park itself on the road in front of their house through the front door windows. He checks his watch again. Five after seven, guess they had a bit of time to talk before piling back into her parents RV and racing down to the park. He moves to the front door and Lucy stands up from the couch, giddy with excitement to finally see her parents but keenly aware that someone might see her if she greeted them at the door.

Watching through the windows Gary views two figures make their way up to the front door. Before they even have a chance to ring the doorbell he swings the door open and is met with the smiling faces of Lucy's parents.

"Hey Jack, hey Loraine!" Gary says with a mostly genuine smile.

"Gary!" Bellows her father, a tall man with a bald head that's more than made up for with his bushy salt and pepper beard. Jack rapidly closes in on Gary and wraps him up in a bear hug that Gary attempts to return.

"Good to - see you - too." He barely manages to get the words out with his diaphragm being squeezed so tightly.

Lucy's mother rushes to her daughter who leans down to hug her.

"Lucy looo!" She sings. "It feels like it's been forever since I've seen you! How have you been my precious little pup?"

They exit the hug and Lucy smiles.

"Not so little anymore mom. Especially not for the past several months."

"You'll always be my little pup Lucy, even if you have a couple feet on me."

Her mother reaches up and tenderly rubs the top of her furry head, Lucy laughs before grabbing her wrist in a weak attempt to make her stop.

"Come on mom, you're embarrassing me." She manages in between fits of laughter.

Her mother's expression turns to one of sly superiority.

"Lucy loo, we both know if I wanted to embarrass you all I would have to do is tell a few stories about when you were a child. Like the one about when you tried to drive the RV and-"

"Mom! Don't even joke about telling that one!"

"Okay, okay, that one'll just be between us then." Loraine leans down and puts a hand on Lucy's baby bump. "And how has my first grandchild been doing?"

"They've been doing a lot of growing. And a lot of backflips lately too. Maybe they'll grow up to be a gymnast or something, heh."

"You picked out any names yet? Me and Jack spent forever trying to pick a name out for you, must have gone through dozens before settling on Lucy."

"No, not yet. I guess we won't know if it's going to be a boy or a girl until the birth considering I can't go in for an ultrasound anywhere."

Her mother straightens her back and puts a hand on her chin, intensely studying Lucy's posture before giving her assessment.

"Well, based on the way you're carrying the baby it's going to be a boy." She says matter of factly.

AN: Marked green for future reference

Lucy can't help but tilt her head and chuckle at her mother's words.

"Mom, come on. There's no way you can tell the gender of the baby by the way they're carrying. It's all just superstition."

"But you can!" She shoots back. "It takes a mother to know but it is possible."

Jack and Gary move to stand next to them, the four now standing in a circle.

"So," Jack says, clapping his hands together. "we're all going on a little hunting trip tonight. Gary was just telling me about how long the drive over there is so we better get a move on soon, unless we're all comfortable hunting lighting bugs in the backyard until the sun comes up that is."

"Let's go! Let's go!" Lucy excitedly yells. "I cannot wait to get out of here."

"That's the spirit Lucy! Now I don't suppose there's going to be room in your car for 2 human sized werewolves, a werewolf sized werewolf, a pureblood, and deer's worth of meat?" Jack says turning to Gary.

"Assuming you actually catch one this time." Loraine quietly says under her breath.

Jack doesn't respond to her teasing, continuing to wait for Gary to respond.

"Uhh, no. Definitely not. I suppose that means we'll have to take your RV down to the park."

"That's good with me." Jack moves to the front door and opens it, peeking outside. "I don't see anyone out here, no lights in any open windows either. I'll walk over to the RV and open the door then Lucy can dash through your front yard and hop in. After that Gary and Loraine can walk over and we'll be ready to go."

Jack awkwardly shifts as Gary tries to peek out the door as well.

"Are you sure about that?" Gary asks.

Jack gives the surrounding neighborhood another look over, his conclusion unchanged.

"Yes, unless you see something I don't there's nobody out here that could see her, not to mention the sun's already down and with her black fur someone would have to have military grade night vision to pick her out of the darkness."

"I don't know. I mean what if someone has one of those fancy home security cameras that can see in the dark. Or what if a car suddenly turns the corner and she's right in its headlights. Maybe we should-"

Jack stops him with a gentle hand on the shoulder.

"Gary, it's going to be fine. She'll only be out in the yard for a couple seconds. Nothing to worry about."

"...Okay. Right. Nothing to worry about."

With his concession Jack steps outside and starts up the RV, holding the door open for Lucy.

Seeing it's her que she waits just outside the front door, turns her head left and right to look for any new onlookers, then quickly sprints out the door across the front yard. Gary watches her make it to the RV, almost slamming into Jack as she passes inside the boxy vehicle. He lets out a relieved sigh and zips up his coat, Loraine already walking outside. Gary closes the front door, locks it, then turns to walk to the RV. But just as he does a small speck of light appears and disappears in the corner of his vision, like a light being turned on then immediately turned off. He looks to where the light was only to see the usual rows of dark houses. Nothing unusual, nothing out of the ordinary.

"Maybe I really am getting paranoid." He whispers to himself.

Fit for Purpose

AN: Beginning expedited

"And then after that I just waited in the tree until he came along and BAM! Dropped right on top of him and secured the kill. Poor deer didn't have a chance, not against a Lycan with senses as good as mine, ha!" Jack proudly boasts while twirling his lengthy claw tipped digits in the air.

Loraine gives an annoyed sigh and slows down her pace to be side by to Lucy.

"What your father really means is that after spraining his ankle in the middle of climbing a tree a random deer just so happened so pass underneath him. A stroke of luck really."

Hearing this he turns around, arms spread out in exasperation.

"Loraine that was a perfectly legitimate kill! I knew the deer was going to pass by that specific tree because I could hear which way he was moving. That takes skill! Gary tell her that it takes skill."

He points towards the back of the group to Gary. He shrugs.

"I don't know, I guess? I'm not sure how difficult it is for you to take one down considering you're both stronger and faster than any deer I've seen."

"Well the key is not to scare them off too early." Jack explains. "If they get a head start on you it's a real tough sprint to catch up to the deer. Which makes stalking them to get close the most important part of the whole operation. Which is technically what I did, it's just that instead of me getting close to the deer I let the deer get close to me. Which arguably takes more skill!"

An exasperated sigh escapes Lucys lips.

"Dad, if the key is not to scare them off then why are we all walking in one big noisy group?"

"You know...that's a good question Lucy. Why don't we all split up into two groups of two. I'll teach you the ropes of Lycan hunting while Gary and Loraine can go do their own thing. How does that sound guys?"

"Good with me, just be safe out there." Says the only human.

"Howl if you all need help with something. Me and Gary will be there as quick as we can." Loraine adds.

"Thanks honey, doubt we'll need much help out there though. With me and Lucy working together there's nothing we can't deal with. Quickly now, I think I smell a buck in that direction."

Jack points to some indeterminate point in the woods and quickly speeds up into a jog, his footsteps remarkably silent despite his size. Lucy turns to Gary with a smile and waves.

"We'll be back soon, see ya mom, see ya Gary."

They wave back.

"And remember Gary, seven foot tall werewolf, claws that can cut through steel, senses you could only dream of. Me and Dad will be fine."

She briefly puts her arms in the air and flexes her muscles with a cheeky grin finally putting the first smile on Gary's face since they left the house.

"Okay, just, like, don't do anything stupid out there."

"I doubt dad would let me, bye!"

"Bye."

He watches her until her form could no longer be seen through the darkness, then for some time after.

***

Lucy puts her nose to the air as she moves through the forest, the scent of her father still present on the wind. It felt good to finally be able to run around a wide open space like this, really good. Every stretch of a muscle and footstep on the ground brought a smile to her face. And the piney cold air, so refreshing after months of being cramped indoors! There were other scents on the wind beside her fathers. An owl somewhere up high. The burrow of a rabbit to her left. Her mother and husband somewhere behind. The scent of her father grows stronger. With milky white eyes piercing the darkness she finally glimpses his hulking form leaning against a tree. She runs up behind him.

"Hey dad, finally caught up to you!"

Lucy rapidly sniffs the air.

"I don't smell that buck. You lose track of it?"

He finally turns around to face her, a stern look on his face.

"There is no buck. I just wanted to talk to you alone out here for a bit."

Lucy takes a step back and crosses her arms.

"About what? I thought we came out here to hunt." She says with a great deal of impatience.

"We will, don't worry, but me and your mother are worried about you. I just want to talk some things over."

"Dad, please, me and Gary are doing just fine. Can we please get back to the hunt now?"

"Just fine?!" He shouts. "We arrive to your place after not seeing you for months and you have a silver burn on your hand and Gary has an awfully long cut on his arm. What the hell's been going on between you two?"

"_Nothing's_been going on dad. I got the burn after he tried to get me a new ring and made a mistake. It was just an accident. And Gary got the cut after he fell and I tried to grab his arm to stop his fall. I just misjudged how sharp my claws were, that's all. Both our injuries are healing up just fine."

"An injury from silver does not heal up just fine Lucy. We both know your mother still has scars from when she tried picking up a piece of silver cutlery when she was a child. He could have killed you with that stupid little mistake!" He snarls.

"Dad! He was just trying to do something nice after I forgot to take my ring off during my last change and it broke. It was my fault it happened in the first place."

"That's not what I'm getting at. I do not want to lose a daughter and grandchild just because some fucking pureblood made a little oopsie and forgot that silver _kills_people like us."

"That pureblood is my husband so watch your damned mouth. It was an accident. It's not going to happen again. End of conversation."

"Okay, fine, if you have full confidence that it won't happen again then so be it. Now what happened on your previous trip down here? You talked with Loraine so much about how excited you were for it, you and Gary were about to go, then radio silence. That's not like you Lucy."

AN: Expand section marked green, he drops it too quickly

She breaks eye contact.

"We just...nothing happened. That's the problem is that nothing happened."

"What do you mean?"

She looks back to him, a guilty look on her face.

"We didn't actually go on the trip. Well we tried, we were on the way there, but then Gary got spooked."

"Spooked by what?"

"I...don't know exactly. We spent so much time planning for the trip then at the last second he turns the car around. It pissed me off like you wouldn't believe but at the same time I know that he was just looking out for me. He's just been so overprotective lately. It's like I'm a prisoner in my own home."

Jacks expression turns to one of grim remembrance.

"Well, you do know why right?"

"I know. I'm all he's got."

"You and the baby are all he's got." Jack adds. "He just doesn't have the same familial support that you have. If I was in the same position as he is I might even be a little overprotective of the only family I had as well. Still, it isn't right of him to keep you all cooped up in that house all day. We're Lycans, we need to stretch our legs every once in a while, taste the outdoor air, feel the ground under our feet. Especially with you being in Lycan form twenty four seven. That instinctual need just isn't something a pureblood is going to understand."

"You're right. I'm overdue for some outdoor exercise at this point. Well overdue. We tried letting me run around the backyard but it just isn't the same as really being out here, in the wild. Our yard is too small and it's just too..."

Lucy pauses to try and word her response, Jack takes no time in finishing it for her.

"Too sterile."

"Yes! Too sterile. Sure there's grass and the night sky and the moon up above but it just feels so lifeless. My brain is telling me there should be prey, and trees, and the wind flowing through my fur but there's just nothing there. It's no better than being indoors."

"Heh, that's half the reason me and your mother traveled so much when we were younger, and the reason why when we settled down we did so in the middle of the woods. The whole suburban lifestyle just wasn't for us. Always felt wrong, for the reasons you already said."

"I've never particularly liked it either, but with the monthly dates me and Gary used to have it makes it tolerable. When we get a bigger house we'll move to somewhere a little more remote, where we won't have so many nosy neighbors and houses practically stacked on top of one another."

"That sounds like a good idea, have you talked to Gary about it?"

"No, but I've been meaning to. We always discussed moving to someplace bigger, just never really discussed the location much. I'll be sure to bring it up to him the next time we get to talking about it. Now could we please get back to the hunting? You'll only be in Lycan form until sunrise and I really want to get some exercise in tonight."

"There is just one more thing Lucy."

She groans in annoyance.

"Okay, what is it?"

"About Gary, why has he still not accepted the gift?"

"I've already told you he prefers being a pureblooded human, wants no part in the monthly transformations. It's his choice as far as I'm concerned."

"Now Lucy I'm not disagreeing with you here, it's fine if he doesn't want it, but we both know that the relationship between you two would be stronger if he were a Lycan as well. The pair bond between two werewolves is unbreakable, just look to me and your mother as an example."

She chortles in response.

"Oh please dad, it doesn't take much searching in the tome to find out that Lycan relationships can be filled with just as much drama and infidelity as pureblood relationships."

"They only put those stories in the tome because they're so rare it's notable!"

"Uh huh, right." Lucy responds with a disbelieving smirk.

"All I'm saying is that if both of you shared the same blood then it might smooth things out in your relationship with each other down the line. You would have more things in common, more shared experiences, and then you could both be on even terms during your monthly dates! Or even on hunts, just like what me and your mother do!"

"I'm not going to pressure him into a lifelong commitment he doesn't want just because it means we can maul a deer together dad, Jesus. His blood, his choice with what he wants to do with it. I mean have you seen what the process is to turn a pureblood into a Lycan the manual way? Shit's terrifying!"

"I've read the tome just as you have, I know it's not pretty. But the advantages Lucy, they're not insignificant. I mean don't you enjoy being a werewolf?"

"Yes, but I never got a choice in the matter. My fate was sealed the second mom got pregnant with me. His situation is different. And to honest I haven't been liking my werewolf blood so much these past few months with me being stuck in Lycan form all the time. It's incredibly restricting."

"True, but will you just talk to him about it? I really think he ought to give it some more thought."

"Okay dad, fine. I'll talk to him about it again sometime soon."

"Good, thanks Lucy." Jack suddenly turns his nose to the wind, a new scent traveling through the air. "Hey, there actually is a buck out here." He points into the darkness. "Over there, a few hundred yards away, on the older side, he's alone, and foraging. You sense him too?"

Lucy turns her nose to the wind as well.

"I do."

His speech quiets into a whisper.

"Stay behind me, keep your voice down, and try to be silent. I'll tell you what to do on the way there."

"Stealth mode engaged, lead the way dad."

***

Gary leans against a tree, eyes still locked to the direction Lucy and Jack ran off in. Loraine yawns and sits with her back against a tree behind him. Noticing his longing stare she tries to reassure him.

"They'll be fine Gary. Jack is the most skilled hunter I know of. A real apex predator among apex predators."

He pauses before responding, eyes still fixated on the woods.

"I know. It's just...I wish I could be out there with them."

"Gary, honey, no offense but I don't think having a noisy human with a flashlight tagging along with her would make for a fruitful hunting trip. Besides, I think it's good for you and her to have a little time apart tonight."

He turns his head to look at her out of the corner of his eye.

"What is that supposed to mean?" He fires back with barely hidden venom.

Loraine takes a deep breath, his unexpected defensiveness now meaning she was going to have to treat this conversation with a great deal of care.

"Why don't you sit down here next to me? Staring off into that forest isn't going to do you any good."

She pats the ground next to her and he turns his gaze back to the forest.

"I'd prefer to stand, thanks."

"Come on Gary, it was a long hike down here and I know you could use a rest."

"I feel fine."

"Your shivering says otherwise."

He pulls his hood up and shoves his shaking hands into his pockets.

"I'm fine."

Alright, if he wasn't going to listen to reason then she was just going to have to lie a little.

"I'm getting cold, why don't you sit next to me help me warm up a touch?"

Still seeing no response after several seconds she gives an absolutely pitiful whimper causing Gary to finally face her, with a reluctant huff he walks over and sits down. She swings an arm over his shoulders, the heat penetrating his jacket telling Gary that she wasn't the one needing warming up.

"Gary, all I meant earlier is that Lucy's been feeling a little boxed in lately. She needs some time away to gather her thoughts. I know that you've been doing all you can for her, she told me as much herself, but she needs an opportunity to reset, away from you and the house. We all need a little time away from others once in a while, even people we love."

"I know that I haven't exactly been giving her a whole lot of freedom, and I know that she hates me for being so restrictive. But I feel if I don't take every precaution then I'm not doing my duty as her husband you know? Her situation sucks, it really sucks, and I hate to see her have to quit her job and stay hidden in the house every day but I just don't want to have anything happen to her." He gives a pained laugh before continuing, his voice on the verge of cracking. "I just look at her and she's my life you know? I love her, I don't want her to suffer any more than she already has, but I can't just let her loose because then it feels like I'm failing her by not being there. I don't want to fail her, but if I do my best to protect her then she hates me for boxing her in. I can deal with her hating me, but I couldn't forgive myself if something happened to her."

Loraine squeezes him tightly against her.

"She doesn't hate you Gary, she just hates the claustrophobia. And I can only imagine how much stress you two have been going through."

"Tell me about it. This whole situation just feels so damned precarious. Every day I wake up and just worry. Worry about money, about the pregnancy, about her being stuck in Lycan form, about if someone's going to see her, about what could happen if we go out, about what would happen to her if something happens to me, about...us. It's been tearing me up inside. And I know she's been feeling it too. We...argue...now. We never used to do that."

Loraine tilts her head down and lowers her voice, trying to squeeze every bit of reassurance she can into each syllable.

"Arguments are nothing to be ashamed of, that's normal in every relationship. It's just the stress and situation that's making them seem bigger than they really are. You and her will make up when this is all over. She's not the type to hold a grudge, we raised her to be better than that. And Gary?"

He looks up to her with moist eyes.

AN: Find a better descriptor

"Me and Jack will be there for you just like we're there for Lucy. I'm sorry about what happened to your parents, I can't even imagine how it must have been losing them so young. Lucy may be our favorite daughter but you'll always be our favorite son in law."

He grins shyly.

"Thanks Loraine. I appreciate it."

They sit by the tree for some time, Gary occasionally scanning the forest and Loraine trying not to fall asleep. As he sits there being warmed by her fur he can't help but scrutinize every sound. Was that a gust of wind or a distress howl? A bird call or a yell? A branch snapping or a gunshot? Gradually his attentiveness fails him and he finds himself becoming sleepier. Loraine wasn't lying when she said it was a long hike over here, and he is quite comfortable with the body heat of a werewolf radiating onto him, it's vaguely reminiscent of when he sleeps with Lucy on the bed. Maybe a little nap wouldn't be such a bad idea. Just a 5 minute power nap. 5 minutes. He shuts his eyelids, leans his head against the tree, and-

*crreeaaak-snap-snap-snap-BOOM*

His eyes shoot open and his flashlight turns on, it's beam furiously moving from place to place. He looks to Loraine who appears just as startled as he is, her ears erect and muzzle pointing in the direction of the sound.

"What was that?" Gary frantically questions.

She stops to listen before giving her assessment.

"Just a tree falling down a couple hundred yards away. I don't hear anything from Lucy or Jack so they're fine. That sound probably scared off any game they were tracking though."

"You sure?"

"I'm as sure as can be. It's just a tree falling Gary, happens all the time. Nothing to worry about."

She yawns before resting her head against the tree once more, eyes now half lidded. Gary stands up.

"I'm going to investigate. Just want to make sure."

He moves to leave but a paw on his wrist stops him.

"Lucy is fine. Jack is fine. I'm telling you it was just a tree falling in the woods. Gary you've got to get a hold of this protective instinct of yours."

"I know I know, it's just...I've got to take a leak as well. Why not hit two birds with one stone right?"

He laughs but Loraine is clearly having none of it.

"They're both okay. But if you have to use the restroom then go ahead and do so. Just holler if you encounter trouble or get lost, with three werewolves in this forest one of us ought to hear you."

"Got it, I'll be back soon."

Gary turns to trudge further in the forest. As the snow crunches under his feet and his flashlight shows the path ahead he delves deeper into the great mass of towering trees. He walks to where he thought the sound ought to be, sees no such fallen tree, then continues for some time further. When he becomes certain he should have seen that tree by now he stops for a breather. The dark branches of the evergreens above him rustle with the wind. His light causes the falling snow to dazzle with reflections. He grows colder. Probably just got turned around on the way here and missed the tree, he thinks to himself. He takes one more exhale, his breath turning into a foggy cloud, then begins following his own footsteps in the snow back to Loraine.

But then he hears something. A rhythmic beating off in the distance. Like footsteps, but heavier. He points his flashlight in the direction of the sound and as it grows closer a shape explodes from a nearby bush. It was large, dark brown in color, and appeared to have several horns pointed right at him as it sprints forwards. Gary is frozen in shock for a few moments before his reflexes kick and he throws himself to the side mere milliseconds before the deer would have struck him. He lands on the ground hard, rocks and ice covered branches hitting his chest painfully. He remains on the ground in anticipation of hearing the deer gallop away but detects a very different sound. Rustling, a gurgled breath, a deep growl. Gary pushes himself off of the ground and slowly turns around to face the sound, his flashlight illuminating the view before him.

The deer is on the ground, bloodied but still alive. Lucy has her fangs sunk deeply into its neck and claws gripping its body. It kicks the ground impotently, each pointless thrust growing more and more pathetic as blood loss saps its strength. Lucy snarls as the deer continues to show signs of life, biting more deeply and tearing at its throat with each movement. Gary can't help but watch as the deer gradually becomes still, a sickening feeling rapidly rising in his gut. Convinced that the deer wasn't going to put up a fight anymore Lucy widens her jaws and releases the hold on its neck. Every one of her teeth is now coated in a bright red shiny layer of blood, a constant dribble of the liquid falling from her lips. She turns to look at Gary, her entire face now more red than black. Her lips curl into a wide satisfied smile as if to put her gore covered teeth on display.

"My first kill!" She proudly proclaims, eyes full of joy.

Gary wants to turn away, or shut his eyes, or just blink but he finds himself unable to look away. It was like passing an accident on the highway, you know there's nothing there you're going to like, you shouldn't stop and stare, yet at the same time you just can't not. He takes in the blood soaking into the snow, his wife's gory grin, her reflective white eyes, the bloody corpse on the ground, it's mouth frozen in a silent scream.

So much red.

The world feels like it's spinning. He leans up against a tree to steady himself and puts a hand to his forehead. But when his hand reaches his skin it feels...wet. He brings his hand in front of his face. It's covered entirely in blood.

"Sorry Gary, some must have gotten on you when I rushed in for the kill."

He looks up and Lucy is standing right in front of him. When did she get so close?

"Here, let me get some of that off of you."

She brings a hand up to wipe some of the blood off of his face but flinches as Gary suddenly bends over, puts his hands on his knees, and vomits.

Jack enters the scene shortly after Gary finishes emptying his stomach. Lucy stands by his side, rubbing his back.

"What's wrong with Gary? Dinner not agreeing with him?"

Gary manages to stop dry heaving long enough to briefly nod his head. Mystery solved, Jack walks over to the dead deer to inspect Lucys work. Throat ripped right where he told her to aim, cuts from where she griped it's hide, enough meat on this one to fill a freezer. It was a satisfactory, though not necessarily clean, kill. He gives a satisfied grunt before looking up to Lucy.

"Not bad for your first try. After that tree fell I thought for sure he was going to escape us but you're quicker than I thought, especially considering you're pregnant."

She shrugs.

"What can I say? I've been waiting to come out here for weeks. Just the chase itself is satisfying to me, never mind actually taking down some prey."

"Take him down you did, though not quite as quickly as I had hoped. I can tell he struggled for a bit after you got him on the ground. I don't think you pierced his artery on the first bite, should have gone in for a second one more quickly."

"I'll consider it a lesson learned. So what's next now that it's dead?"

Jack kneels down by the deer.

"Well, as is tradition you now have to drink a steaming hot cup of your first kills blood."

Gary begins dry heaving again and she resumes rubbing his back.

"Number one, that's disgusting, and number two I'm pretty sure I've already swallowed a cups worth of deer blood while I was biting its neck."

Jack chuckles to himself.

"Just joking. On a more serious note we've got to gut, skin, then section the meat out. We should do this quickly before bacteria has a chance to grow or anyone that eats it will end up like poor Gary over there. Come over here and I'll teach you how."

She leans down to talk to Gary.

"Feeling any better?"

He wipes the spit from his lips.

"Ya, I think so."

"Good, there are towels in the RV we can use to clean you up before heading home. I know I probably spooked you earlier when I took the deer down, you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I would have warned you if I wasn't in the middle of a chasing it."

He continues to stare at the ground.

"Don't worry about it. Now why don't you go over there and help your father. I'll stay here and try not to puke the rest of my guts out."

She pats him on the back.

"On the bright side I have a feeling we'll be eating good for the next several weeks based on the size of that deer. If you like venison that is."

"Thanks, but I'll let you have most of the meat. I never had much of a taste for venison."

Bad touch

AN: Beginning expedited

Gary lathers his hair in a steam filled shower. This was what? The third time he's washed his hair since getting in? Yet he still felt just as dirty as when he had arrived back home after the hunt. And a successful hunt it was, the freezer was now filled top to bottom with venison ready for consumption. This thought brings him some peace of mind, he wouldn't have to buy Lucy any meat at the store for at least several weeks saving them a hefty chunk of change. Yet despite this good fortune every time he thinks about the hunt his mind goes back to the same mental image. Lucy and the deer. Her shiny white eyes. The frozen scream.

An image he'd rather not think about. But one he might see again if they go on another hunt. Should they? It would save them even more money, a resource that grows increasingly precious with each passing day. Gary made it a well-kept secret that they've been burning through their savings at an alarming rate the past several months. But more important than money it would make Lucy happy. She had been in an absolute chipper mood since the ride back. A stark difference to the depressed apathetic cloud that had been hanging over her lately. Though he didn't show it, seeing her mood improve made him happy as well. He just wished her smile was a little whiter.

*knock knock knock*

"Almost done in there Gary? It's been thirty minutes you shower hog!" Shouts Lucy through the door.

"Just a couple more minutes Luce."

He washes the shampoo from his hair and shuts off the water. After performing the usual post shower ritual he emerges from the bathroom in a loose t shirt and pajama bottoms. Lucy waits just outside the door with fresh clothes bundled under an arm. Gary can't help but notice the dark red blotches still present on her body.

"I hope you left me some hot water. My fur is absolutely filthy after all that time running around the woods."

"I did, don't worry. And remember to brush your teeth too."

"You don't need to remind me that with how bad animal blood tastes. Seriously it's almost as bad as that tea you used to make me drink. I'll probably use a whole bottle of mouth wash after I'm done just for good measure."

"Be my guest. Well Luce I'm headed to bed, will you be joining me or..."

"You bet I will! I'm so tired right now I'll be sleeping like a baby the second my head hits the pillow. First time I've felt this way in months."

"Good, you deserve a good nights rest after bringing home the bacon tonight. Well it's not bacon, but you know what I mean."

She bears a toothy smile.

"Awww, thanks Gary. I'll see you in bed."

She shuts the door and Gary makes his way to the bedroom shutting lights off along the way. He falls onto the soft mattress and rests on his side. With no covers it was a little too cold to fall asleep right away but that would soon be fixed with the warm embrace of his furry wife. After laying there for some time he hears the bathroom door open and soft footsteps coming closer. A heavy weight lands on the bed beside him and a furry arm wraps around his body. A strong floral scent comes across the air. She must have used a whole lot of shampoo. Good.

His mind drifts peacefully into a neutral state. No more worries, or concerns, or meaningful thoughts. Just him, the werewolf at his back, and the soft bed under him. That is until he feels a slimy tongue brush across his cheek. He turns his head to face her.

"What?"

His question is met with another brush of her tongue up his chin and across his lips. She pulls him closer to her body before responding.

"Well Gary, I guess you could say I'm not quite as tired as I originally thought I was."

"So? I'm trying to sleep here."

"Oh come on Gary. I'm still feeling a little hot from the chase. All that running really loosened up my muscles and I'm still up for a little late night exercise. I just need someone to...tire me out."

AN: One day I'll learn how write pillow talk that isn't cringe, one day

She gives him a few kisses on the neck coupled with a needy moan.

Gary adjusts his pillow and places his head back down on it defiantly.

"Not tonight Luce. I'm tired."

"Oh come ooooon." She whines

She licks his cheek with increasing intensity and a clawed hand pulls his back to her chest, his lower back resting against her baby bump. He endures the tongue lapping against his face for several seconds before turning to face her, staring into those reflective white eyes of hers that seemed just a little hungrier than normal.

"Lucy. I'm just not in the mood right now. Maybe later."

She huffs in frustration before loosening her hold on his chest.

"What's the deal Gary? Still not feeling well? Did the deer gross you out? It was the deer wasn't it?"

He gives a tired sigh.

"No, I'm just tired. It was a long hike into the forest for me, though it probably seemed much shorter for a werewolf."

She nods her head.

"Understandable, I'll let you get some sleep tonight. But only because I know you're gonna need it since I'll be twice as needy tomorrow."

"I'll be in a much better mood tomorrow, I promise."

"Okay, good night Gary."

"Night Luce."

Her head hits the pillow with a thump and Gary gets back to trying to sleep. Only to have his attempt to sleep disturbed once again a few moments later. He feels puffs of warm air hitting the back of his neck. Then a cold wet nose moving along the side of neck. Eventually the dark mass of her muzzle appeared in the edge of his vision as the entire front of her face rested on his head. She was warm, sure, but he doubted his head made for a very good pillow. He gives an annoyed sigh.

"What is it Lucy?"

Her hand starts slowly moving down his chest and onto his belly.

"Are you _sure_you aren't in the mood right now? Because I know a trick or two that might light your fire." She lustily suggests.

The sight of her teeth so close to his face and neck wasn't improving his mood at all.

"Yes Lucy. We'll have some fun tomorrow. Right now I'm just-"

He cuts himself off as one of her claws brushes up against his belly. It wasn't forceful enough to cut the skin or even pierce the thin shirt he was wearing, but after the events of tonight all it takes is a dangerous feeling in a vulnerable spot to get the adrenaline pumping.

"Lucy!" He shouts with an unintentional loudness.

She takes her hand off his body and scoots back on the bed.

"What?"

"Did...did you dull your claws after coming home?"

"I-oh my god I didn't! Did I cut you?!"

She sits up on the bed and cranes her neck to look at his belly.

"No, no, it's just...could you go do that please?"

"Absolutely, sorry it totally slipped my mind. I don't want a repeat of what happened yesterday any more than you do."

"Thanks."

She rises from the bed and moves to the bathroom. Gary lays on the mattress, his skin already cooling from not having Lucy's fur against it. Too cold sleep, but too tired to do anything other than lay on the bed and listen to the grinding sounds coming from the bathroom. In this stalemate he finds himself craving her embrace yet at the same time a tiny part of himself wished for something different. It was the part of him that remembered the bloody snow and silent scream.