The Wolf Within Us
Since the battle with the Crookedman Bigby's wolf side is stronger than ever and the sheriff is unsure of how he will handle it. Things get more complicated when a mundy comes on an unexpected visit to Bigby's apartment looking for answers. Things do not go according to plans.
AN/ Hi, this is my first try at fanfiction of any kind so do not expect Jane Austen. English's also not my native language, a factor you will most likely discover if you decide to read the story below. You're free to point out errors and give criticism (as long as they're said in a kinda nice way), as it helps me get better at writing!
About the story, let me just say that it will be spoilers mentioned from all the episodes, and that this story takes place some weeks after the last episode in TWAU.
So just relax n' let it go… And just enjoy the show:
Disclaimer: No characters below belong to me :'(
"Tell me."
"No."
"Bigby..." Colin looked at Bigby with a frown on his face. Or if a pig could frown this would be it. "It's only going to get worse you know, sometimes it helps to open up… Or so I heard anyway."
Bigby sighed and put his head in his hands, feeling for the first time in many years almost desperate.
"It won't go away just because I", Bigby gestured with his hand towards the pig standing in front of him. "Open up."
"Maybe it'll get easier…"
"NO", Bigby crossed his arms over his chest afraid of what they might do if he didn't.
Things had become more complicated of late. It had all started with those murders and trailed down to him doing the killing. Not a pretty sight but when nobody would take the role of the executor it seemed to fall naturally on Bigby to make the calls. And still… Not a damn soul showed any gratitude for it.
Bigby's hands almost trembled as he remembered how The Crooked Man had struggled with breath those last seconds before he'd given up what was considered life. Bigby on the other hand had an entirely different perspective of living; he had just finished an on going process a bit quicker.
Bigby's hands definitely trembled now; he steadied them by pressing his crossed arms closer to his chest.
"Come on Sheriff", Colin studied him wary. Like he measured how much he could press the issue before it backlashed at him. Surprising really, last time Bigby checked Colin didn't measure people, he just said what was on his mind ignoring the consequences.
Did he really look that out of control?
"Colin", Bigby groaned. He paused considering the results of continuing; before realising he honestly didn't give a damn. "It's gotten worse."
Colin looked him in the eyes. The eyes that at this very moment shimmered with glowing yellow, a colour that had been there since The Crooked Man's downfall. Or perhaps it was since Bloody Mary's?
"You got to tell Ms White…"
"I don't have to do anything…" Even Bigby noticed the unnatural growl that had mixed with his ordinary voice in that sentence.
If Colin had had hands he would have shown his palms in submission.
"Okay, Okay…"Colin tried to calm the Sheriff. "You don't have to tell her. Look here; I'm not going to saying anything you don't want me to. But Bigby… Something's wrong, isn't it?"
Bigby stared at the floor for some seconds, wondering if saying something to Colin would help or do it worse.
"Look here… Colin", the Wolf was gone from his voice, a good sign. "The thing is… We all have our quirks left from the homelands. I mean we've changed but we can't change our instincts." The pig just looked at Bigby, silently telling him to go on. "But even thought I've never gotten rid of the feeling that…" Bigby gave Colin a quick and searching look. Perhaps finding what he looked for as he continued. "That everyone is food."
Colin didn't show anything indicating fear, he was rather proud of himself actually. But there was nothing fooling The Big Bad Wolf, he could probably smell the fear radiating off of him. Bigby gave him a deliberate look before continuing:
"But over the years it's gotten better. A lot better actually." He paused and his eyes drifted of as a thought of Snow crossed his mind, she would judge him, she'd always done. But frankly she was the only one he'd never seen as food, not even now, when everyone that walked around seemed to appetising to resist.
"Soo..." Colin's voice pulled Bigby abruptly from his thoughts. "Since the business with The Crooked Man, you…"
"Yes", Bigby interrupted. "To much blood wakes up old habits."
Colin considered this for a moment, perhaps to much killing was a big factor as well. Better not mention that trail of thought.
Bigby seemed to have calmed down, even thought his eyes still shimmered with that glowing yellow that seemed to scare the shit out of everybody, his body had somewhat relaxed. Well his hands trembled slightly but of late his hands seemed to do little else, except holding one of damn Huff 'n Puffs.
"So now you know, and what good will that do you? Perhaps you finally take up on my advice to go to the fucking farm. At least you won't have a bloodthirsty wolf as your roommate." Bigby felt the wolf growl return in the end of that sentence. He occupied his hand by taking out a cigarette to light.
"Ha", Colin gave him his pig version of a smile. "You're not getting rid of me that easy, so what if it's gotten worse? As long as you're not attacking people on random the farm is far worse than this!"
They were interrupted by a knock on the door. Colin quickly went away to his usual hiding spot in Bigby's closet while Bigby put out his cigarette pleased that the nicotine had calmed the tremors in his hands.
On the other side of the door was someone he really hadn't expected he would ever see again.
"Hi excuse me for disturbing this late, but have I come to…" Detective Brannigan stopped talking as soon as she laid eyes on Bigby's ruffled appearance. At the sight of the NYPD detective Bigby remembered a night he rather would have left forgotten, the night when he was certain that he'd lost Snow White for good.
"YOU", she all but screamed as she pushed her way into Bigby's small apartment. Bigby was half stunned with shock as he felt the tremors return to his hands undoing the nicotine's magic.
"Fuck", he mumbled to himself as he closed the door turning to face the detective. Brannigan stood in the middle of the flat as her head spun around to take everything in. Everything from the files on his desk to the faint blood marks on the couch and the floor. She then looked up facing Bigby. He wasn't surprised that she shrunk back after looking him in the eyes. The yellow didn't seem to go away and had been there since the fight with Bloody Mary. And a yellow that Fables found intimidating was downright frightening for mundies. But detective Brannigan seemed to have a strong backbone as she persisted stared back at Bigby, yellow eyes or not.
"Do you care to explain to me what is going on?!" Brannigan's eyes shot daggers as she crossed her arms over her chest angrily.
"I don't know what you're talking about", Bigby replayed with ease. She gave him a hard stare and began pacing back and forth in the small apartment.
"People keep saying that, all the FUCKING time. But you know what? I'm done getting that crap, I know that there's something going on and I know you're in on it!" She stopped her ranting and gave him a pointed stare. "So just do us both a favour and skip the crap! Maybe it's just me that thinks it's suspicious that a whole police station wakes up after being unconscious for the last three hours, but damn suspicious it is."
Bigby simply crossed his arms, as much a defensive pose as a mean to stop his hands from trembling. Why couldn't they just stop tremble, he thought as he watched Brannigan stare at him with absolute fury written on her face. She obviously expected a confession from him, but that was one confession he wasn't ready to make today.
"Sorry, but I don't know you Ms..?"
Brannigan didn't answer him just held her grounds. Bigby sighed tiredly as he made his way over to the door opening it up.
"Now if you excuse me, this is my apartment and I don't remember giving my permission for you to enter it. So if you may be so kind?"
Brannigan stared at Bigby with burning eyes. She started to say something but no sound came out of her mouth, Bigby recon that she had one of the fit rages that usually threw him over the edge. She crossed her arms over her chest before uncrossing them; clearly building up to something Bigby didn't feel like facing today. She already seemed to small and fragile not to be broken, making noise would only annoy, not change that.
"DO YOU THINK THAT I WOULD JUST LEAVE? DO YOU…"
"I DON'T FUCKING CARE! LEAVE! NOW!" Bigby did indeed not care about how she flinched at his roar or how she visually paled as his appearance lost a bit of its humanity. All he wanted was for her to leave, and fast.
But even thought most fables would have jumped at the chance to flee when Bigby was about to go from sheriff to wolf, humans didn't seem to have that survival instinct. Not this one anyway.
With a shake on her head, barley visible to the naked eye, the detective held her ground.
Stupid, stupid… prey.
Bigby slammed the door shut with a bang, loud enough for whole of New York to hear. The prey shivered and the smell of fear thickened in the air, this was only going to take a moment.
As Bigby took a step towards the quivering remains of a confident woman Brannigan's instinct finally kicked in as she drew her service weapon from its hidden holster.
"Now look here, sir. I need you to back away from me immediately and just start to answer some of my god damn questions! I don't like people fucking around with my life…" She had a steady aim at Bigby's heart. The pray… no Brannigan would pay for that. "And I'm sure you hate me coming here fucking up yours. So just take it easy and I'll take it ea…"
Brannigan's gun was separated from her hands as Bigby's quick backhand made her wrists burn of the sudden hit. As Brannigan looked at Bigby stunned and confused of the sudden action (which probably had been to fast for her human eyes) Bigby seized the opportunity to grab the detective by her throat and pressing her up against the closest wall.
Bigby felt himself fighting his instincts, but knew it was a losing battle. As soon as she had aimed that gun at him she was dead meat, everything between that moment and her lifeblood painting the floor was just gameplay.
Brannigan's breath came wheezing through her mouth as Bigby's hand held her nailed to the wall, still squeezing tighter.
"Sooo…" Bigby purred to his prey. "If you had just left. We wouldn't be in this… what would you call it? Lose-Lose situation."
Brannigan's fear was literarily radiating off her as she struggled to stand on her toes to keep breathing, her arms to numb after the disarming to do any good.
Bigby grinned wolfishly at the detective.
"I mean", he continued happy. "You lose your life…"
At this Brannigan started trashing around, trying to make the wolf drop her by weak kicks and dull punches. She gave up after Bigby stopped her airflow altogether for a moment. He eased up a bit on the pressure after a while, making Brannigan's head stop spinning and taking away the black edges from her vision.
"But of course I said a Lose-Lose situation… I guess you can say that I will make people disappointed by killing you."
Brannigan's cheeks were wet with tears that didn't want to stop flowing and she thanked herself for the lack of oxygen. Otherwise she might have begged for mercy, something that was definitely useless when standing in front of death himself.
"Soooo…" The wolf of death stared at her with a bored expression, yellow eyes turning red. "Bye."
Brannigan was expecting the burning sensation of strangling; therefor she was surprised to feel a numb feeling from her right shoulder.
She looked down at it and saw red liquid colouring her white shirt.
"Oh god", she whispered, mentally preparing herself for a blow that would bring black or pain. Pain came, but only from the initial wound and not really remembering that she was suppose to flee, Brannigan sunk to the floor in a bleeding, quivering mass of a broken person.
"COLIN!" Colin's body shivered and he was happy that he'd never been the target when Bigby was on a murder streak. Well it wasn't too late for that to happen just yet.
"Bigby, pull your shit together mate. Think of Ms Snow." That got a reaction from the wolf. He glared murderous at Colin with those blood-drenched eyes glowing sinister at him.
Colin could see why people hid under their beds when Bigby was out for blood. He was still amazed that he had managed to shove away the wolf from the mudy without being severed for life.
Bigby had aimed for the mundys heart, a claw dressed hand raised in the air, ready to cut out vital organs. Quite a nightmare coming to life, not least for the mundy.
Colin gave the girl a quick look; the shock was written in her face, and the blood… let's just say that it upgraded the floorboards colour.
Well, at least there aren't any beating hearts out for display, Colin thought bitterly. But he had bigger things to worry about than a mundy, like his own life for a change.
"That was my FUCKING prey!" Bigby still had more wolf than sheriff in him at the moment but some of the steam seemed to have disappeared after mentioning Ms Snow, so Colin held onto that trail of thought.
"I know shit has been going down. I know that everyone has been ungrateful for everything you have done. But Bigby you're not the monster everyone says you are. Ms Snow believes in you, hell even I believes in you, don't do anything stupid because of some mundy. I know you don't want that."
Bigby had straightened from his crouched attack pose now pacing back and forth getting back to his senses. His eyes had returned to a glimmering yellow and his appearance had stopped screaming murderer.
"Bigby think of Ms Snow", Colin saw with great pleasure the last remains of the wolf disappear from Bigby. Instinct fought back, at least for now.
"Fuck, Colin", Bigby dragged a shaking hand over his face.
He looked almost sick as he noticed the blood dripping from his other hand and the read dots that was all over his clothes.
"She had a gun at me." Bigby tried to justify his actions, probably more to himself than to Colin.
"I know", Colin answered, keeping the panicking wolf on earth.
"She shouldn't have been here, the witches ward didn't work…"
"I know", Colin interrupted. "But think about that later. For now call doctor Swineheart and make sure the mundy doesn't die."
Bigby's head snapped up at that and he glanced towards the bloody heap of a mundy on the floor. He quickly lit up a cigarette before heading over to the phone on the other side of the room. Colin went over to the mundy, trying to deduct the fatality of the wound.
It was not a pretty sight. The right shoulder was a mess of flesh and red, the blood still visually pumping out of the wound. It didn't seem like a lethal wound but there was still the risk of bleeding out, a risk getting bigger by the second.
"Bigby, could you hurry?" Bigby finished his call and went over to Colin with a look of worry and self-blame on his face.
"Is it bad?" Bigby took of his shirt using it to wrap up the wound and stopping the blood flow.
"Perhaps, when's doc coming?" Colin looked down at the already drenched shirt and wondered how much blood one could lose before it was to late.
"He said he would be right over. Usually it takes about ten minutes?"
"Then… Perhaps it is bad."
Colin didn't have to turn his head to see the look of pain on Bigby's face. Usually he didn't care when fables were concerned; most of them had it coming. But this mundy was no fable with a history of eating children or murdering ones neighbour. This was just someone being at the wrong place at the wrong time.
The minutes dragged on as Colin sat beside the Sheriff who kept pressure on the wound. There was not much to say in the waiting for the doctor to arrive except a word or two for comfort when the mundy mumbled in her dazed state. She had not shrugged away from Bigby, but then again she had not questioned the talking pig, which spoke of some kind of shock.
When the door was knocked on seven minutes later, Colin went to puff the door open revealing a stressed doctor Swineheart with the medicine trunk case in right hand.
"Hello Colin", he greeted the pig. Colin nodded in recognition as the doctor passed by, already spotting the patient.
"So what do we have here?" Swineheart may have asked one question, but looking closer at the mundy he expected two answers from Sheriff Bigby.
Bigby removed his hands and shirt from the wound letting the doctor get a closer look at the disaster.
"She's pierced through the shoulder and probably have a bone fracture as well as blood loss from the…"
"I can see that", the doctor answered as he also noticed the start of a hand formed bruise around her throat. "But please leave the body examination to me. Just tell me what happened?"
The doctor had seen Bigby guilty before, a lot of late actually, but not like this. The sheriff cursed under his breath as he looked up in the celling with a heartbreakingly expression in his face.
"I attacked her." Bigby's voice was rough and he looked tired. Even thought the doctor just had his suspicions confirmed he still felt surprised at the confession. He let his hands work out of old habit as he nodded for the sheriff to go on.
"Well, she's a mundy and we met earlier at the case with the Crookedman. She's a mundy detective and was exposed to a memory wipe spell… She shouldn't be here, why didn't the witches spell work? And what about the wards around this building?"
The doctor frowned as he heard the story, it still didn't explain why he was sewing up a body thought.
"Go on", he told the sheriff. Bigby sighed but complied.
"She was throwing accusations around, aiming a gun at me and I…" He trailed of as he watched Swineheart work his magic. The doctor left Bigby to tell things in his own pace.
"Things haven't been easy since the case with the Crookedman. After all that… death."
Bigby stared down at the mundy on the floor.
"I haven't felt like I use to, I feel more like I did back…" He trailed of once again and the doctor filled in for him.
"Like back in the homelands?" Swineheart asked. Bigby only nodded in response and for being the most feared monster in town, the big bad wolf didn't seem all that frightening anymore. Of course the doctor knew that even thought Bigby seldom showed his true colours, cases like these came along proving that a wolf in a bad mode wasn't a wolf to mess with. This mundy just happened to stand in the line of fire without having learned how to duck.
Incidents like this one weren't rare when taking the sheriff into consideration. What was rare on the other hand was Bigby regretting it to this extent something that showed how much the recent murders affected the wolf instincts within him.
The doctor continued working with the sheriff beside him, both quiet and with a look of concentration on their faces. Even Colin kept that snout of his shut, standing far away from the mending.
"There you go", Swineheart shut his trunk case shut as he headed towards the door.
"Thank you doctor", Bigby replied nodding in approval. The doctor smiled at the sheriff briefly.
"I want you to give her the medicine and tend to her arm when she wakes up", he glanced towards the mundy. "You have to talk to Ms Snow about what to do with her when she's better. No memory wiping spells as long as she's in such a weakened condition."
"Calm down doc I think we can handle one mundy."
"Colin", Bigby sighed annoyed. The doctor gave Colin a tired look before returning his attention to the sheriff.
"I'll come by later this week to change her bandages. Until then." Doctor Swineheart gave a nod before heading out the door, leaving behind a tired wolf and an irritated pig.
People were screaming at each other.
That was the first thought that ran trough detective Kelsey Brannigan's head before the pain hit her.
She let out a painful cry that made the people screaming grow silent. Brannigan moved her gaze from the dark room to her shoulder that felt possessed by liquid fire, and was greeted by a lot of bandages keeping the cause of the pain hidden. She felt heavy in the head but still tried to think back about what had happened before she'd fallen into darkness. All she could recall was eyes that'd burned into hers, glowing in an evil yellow light before turning blood red. Then everything had gone black.
Brannigan's eyes swept past her shoulder and she felt herself go numb when she saw the deep red colour that had replaced her once white shirt. But it wasn't only her shoulder that hurt (even if the pain was worst there) as her throat throbbed with a dull pain every time she moved her head. The detective put two and two together and came to the conclusion that she had been attacked.
At that discovery the memories came crashing down, making her body shiver with the recalled fear.
She remembered Mr Wolf, what a fitting name now when she thought about it... After he had shown his true colours the only description of him was a monster of everything evil in this world. Before her mind had turned to blackness she'd been certain that she'd stared into the face of death himself. She couldn't stop her body from shaking and she silently wondered why she wasn't dead.
Brannigan felt a sting of pain in her heart as a thought of Tom crossed her mind. She wondered if Tom would miss her if she'd died?
He was still furious at her for not remembering about picking up Josh from the kindergarten a few weeks ago. But she had not remembered making that promise, she hadn't really remembered doing anything that evening.
And then it had been that accident at the police station earlier that day. Waking up in an empty interrogation room felt weird and if she hadn't made a habit of always writing things down during an interrogation, she might have missed the whole thing.
She'd found some notes in her scratchpad about a strange case no one (including her) remembered anything about.
Mr Bigby Wolf was stated as a witness and she'd been able to remember something obscure when hearing that name. Finding the apartment had been easy as the crime scene was scribbled down in her notes, and after seeing Mr Bigby Wolf she just knew she'd found her man.
Then things hadn't gone according to plan.
She touched her throat and felt the pain intensify at the touch. Had she been saved? Had he come to his senses? No, someone that out of it didn't suddenly start to think rationally.
She looked up as she heard someone approach, raising her hands protectively in front of her on instinct.
"Don't worry I want you no harm", the smooth voice calmed Brannigan as she slowly lowered her arms to see who the voice belonged to.
A very beautiful woman stood in front of her with blue eyes and a kind smile. Her hair was black and tied back in a bun while her skin was white as snow.
"My name is Snow and under your recovery I will be one of those who'll look after you."
The detective felt almost dazed as she watched the beauty in front of her speak, she could easily be some model, but her formal clothes made the detective doubt it. As the words Ms Snow had been saying to Brannigan sunk in she felt a great fear disappear as she realised she must be safe, far away from that monster that had tried to take her life. The only odd thing was that Ms Snow felt awful familiar, like she'd seen her face somewhere before.
"Have we met?" Brannigan's voice was raspy and her throat felt fragile and sour.
Snow gave her a searching look and shook her head in a negative response.
"No, Ms Brannigan I don't think so."
"Call me Kelsey, feels so formal with all this Brannigan…" She managed a weak smile directed at Ms Snow before she suddenly started couching.
The pain in her shoulder made her eyes start tearing up and a shout of hurt escaped through her lips at the sudden movement. The dull pain at her throat was barely registered as the burning sensation in her shoulder made her mind go blank. Snow put cool hands at her healthy shoulder and her forehead, steadying the detective during the violent couches.
After a while Kelsey's body stopped its violent shakes and she found herself just breathing until the pain was dulled.
"Thanks Snow", the detective whispered weakly. "That helped."
"Anytime", Snow smiled at the tiered mundy in front of her.
"So Woody, care to explain why this is the fifth time I've had to separate you and Gren from one another?" Bigby all but growled that sentence in the Axe-mans face as the man in question stood in an alleyway smoking a cigarette.
Bigby couldn't really get angry with the Woodsman thought. Ever since the fight with Jersey Devil they had come to one sort of truce. Gren on the other hand had made a point of doing Woody's life to a living hell since he got to know about him and Lily, meaning starting fights at sight.
"Well Wolf, what do you want me to say? I've made a mistake and it looks like it will hunt me for life? Because that's exactly what this is…" He took a smoke before continuing. "But I can't say that I regret it."
Bigby stared at the crunched figure of the once fine Woodsman and felt a sting of sympathy.
"We all have shit hunting us", Bigby replied and lit a cigarette on his own.
"It's just…" Woody said with a sad expression. "I've been an ass. To everyone Lily, Faith, Gren and Holly… And now it's to late to make things right. It's just… shit."
Woody spit out some blood before taking a drag on his cigarette. Bigby made an agreeing sound as he thought about the last hours.
After doctor Swineheart had left, Bigby had managed to move Brannigan to his couch and gently placed a pillow under her head. He couldn't help to feel troubled by everything from her scared sleep-mumbling to her bruised throat.
And then Snow had come.
He hadn't had time to inform her about the incident before she had knocked on his door to send him out on an assignment. The first thing that she'd seen was his blood drenched clothes and the second thing his glowing eyes. Snow wasn't stupid and her first question was if there were any casualties involved. The whole story was soon revealed and after a quick look at the mudy, Snow had gone from worried to furious.
Bigby and Snow's arguments had never been a pretty sight and Colin had actually fled the scene after a minute or two. It was first when the mundy started screaming that Snow sent him away telling him to come back as soon as he finished the task.
Well Woody and Gren was almost unconscious from their fight-mixed-with-drinks clash when Bigby arrived. Leaving him the simple task of separating them and fixing a taxi for Gren.
What a day.
"So…" Bigby stated as he finished of his cigarette. "Stay out of trouble?"
"You know I'll try to, Sheriff."
Woody stayed in the alley as Bigby raised his hand to call in a taxi.
"And Sheriff", the Woodsman shouted over the low rumble of traffic. "Don't overwork yourself."
Bigby smiled at that before walking over to a stopping cab. Woody should listen to his own advice for a change.
Snow had listened to Kelsey's story about everything that had happened and realised one thing. She needed a memory wipe spell ASAP. But according to Bigby, Swineheart had made it clear that her mind was in no condition to handle such a spell, thus only leaving the option of waiting.
Snow knew that Bigby had been… Edgy, but she had not in her wildest fantasy imagined that it was this bad.
The Crookedman business had been ugly and the dead fables were only the tip of the iceberg. Even Snow had felt a feeling of caution following her around the weeks after the case been resolved and she knew that other fables felt it too.
Beast had had a hard time concealing his… Beastlier side and Holly were in troll shape most days. Gren and Woody had been at it more times than she cared to count and it was always chaotic at the business office now days.
She needed to be able to count on Bigby, who would otherwise help her running fable town? Snow would always care about every fable but she knew that she could never get the same respect that Bigby had. But most important of all she needed him as a friend.
A soft knock on the door made Snow wake up from her thoughts as she hurried to open. Outside of the small apartment was the sheriff himself, ruffled and smelling strongly of cigarette smoke. He looked at her with those yellow eyes that make everyone uneasy, even Snow.
"How is she?"
Snow let him in before thoroughly closing the door, you never know who might be listening.
"She's fine and will probably be completely healed. The only trace will be a scar."
Bigby nodded somewhat relived.
"How did it go with Gren and the Woodsman?" Snow straightened her coat. Bigby shrugged his shoulders as he lit a cigarette.
"Same as every time. Both almost to drunk to have a proper fight but managing to create quite a mess anyway. I sent Gren home in a cab…" Bigby cut himself short as he heard a painful groan from the other room. He gave Snow a quick glance before moving towards the sound. Snow grabbed his arm before he went into the sight of the mundy.
"Are you sure? She was pretty shaken up when telling me what had happened."
"Yeah, but I got to talk to her. She's going to met me some point onward, why not now when she can't run away?" Snow nodded at that and let go of Bigby's arm. Bigby gave Snow one last searching look before turning the corner that had shielded him from Brannigan's vision.
The first thing Bigby noticed was that the mundy was in pain. A layer of sweat covered her skin and she looked like shit in her face, not mentioning the slight tremors that shook her whole body.
She might recover from this, but it was a long fucking way to get there.
The mundy looked up as she noticed Bigby's slow walk towards her. When her eyes met his she screamed.
"What's going on", Snow appeared by his side in an instant as she heard the cry of terror. Bigby took the final steps and stood beside the mundy covering her mouth with his hand.
"Shh", he whispered reducing the screaming to panicked inhalations. Brannigan didn't take her eyes of him as her whole being yelled fear and dread. Bigby could almost hear her heart doing a quickstep for him as tears had started to flow down her cheeks.
"Kelsey calm down, he won't hurt you", Snow's voice made Brannigan's eyes snap away from Bigby.
"Help", her voice sounded hoarse and broken.
It had been a long time since Bigby had gotten this kind of greeting and without taking his eyes from Brannigan he started talking in his calmest voice.
"Listen here detective", Brannigan's eyes snapped back to meet Bigby's and she whimpered at the sight of the glowing yellow. "You caught me in a bad timing last time and I wasn't myself. I won't defend my actions but trust me when I say that it won't happen again." Brannigan just shivered as she looked at Bigby with mistrust written all over her face. The sheriff sighed and stepped away from the terrified mundy who visually calmed down a notch. Snow hurriedly sat down on the edge of the couch where the mundy was resting, speaking calmly.
"Listen, no one is going to hurt you. Not Bigby, not me, no one. Can you calm down for me Kelsey? Yes that's right take deep breath, just like that…"
Snow kept encouraging the detective and soon Brannigan's heart was back to a (almost) normal rhythm. The detective gave Bigby a quick glance and turned to face Snow again.
"You don't understand", Brannigan whispered to Snow. "He's not human, can't you see his eyes? That isn't normal, there're not suppose to shine like that."
The detective was casting worried glances towards Bigby; like she thought he would get upset over her reviling this information. Bigby just sat by observing the scene in front of him.
"Listen Kelsey." Snow looked briefly at the sheriff before turning back to Brannigan. "Bigby is… Special. There's not really any other word for it. And this special strength that he has is very hard to control, like trying to stay sober when drunk…"
Great now she was comparing his wolf instincts to being intoxicated.
"So, usually Bigby doesn't have any problems with controlling it, but thing's haven't been usual for us of late."
Brannigan listened to Snow with a frown on her forehead. Probably realising that she got the simplified version of recent events.
"I want you to know that Mr Wolf didn't want you any harm, but being threatened by a gun…" At this Brannigan looked ashamed. Interesting, Bigby thought as he'd started to form a different opinion of the detective. "…He couldn't fight the instincts that comes with his unusual strength."
Brannigan looked somewhat guilt ridden even thought it was she that lay in bed (couch?) hurt.
Brannigan looked undecidedly at Snow as she bit her bottom lip.
"Look Snow, I know that I'm getting the easy story, but…" She trailed of and gave Bigby a look of regret. "I just want to say sorry for what it counts." She gave the sheriff an apologetic nod mumbling sorry.
Snow just sat at the couch with a look of surprise on her face and Bigby felt an odd feeling filling his cheats at the gesture. This must have been the first time (EVER) anyone that Bigby messed up actually apologised for his or her actions. Bigby was as stunned as Snow as Brannigan kept on talking.
"I mean I am a detective and that was a grave misuse of my service weapon… I'm usually using it as a last resource I guess I was just feeling…"
"Afraid", Bigby filled in for her.
"Yeah and with good reasons it seems", Brannigan absentminded touched her shoulder.
Snow seemed to have regained her composure as she got up from the couch and straitened her coat.
"Very well", she said looking around in the dark room. "I'll have to get going. There are probably heaps of new jobs in the Business office." Brannigan seemed to sober at that sentence, she might have apologised to Bigby, but she wasn't anywhere close on trusting him.
"Are you just going to leave me with him", the detective gestured towards the sheriff.
"Yeah hey Snow, is that really a good idea?" Bigby did not feel like babysitting a terrified mundy the whole day, especially one that had already managed to make him lose control. Snow just raised her eyebrow as she studied the two arms of the law showing doubts about her sanity.
"Listen here I will come by tomorrow morning", Snow looked down at her watch. "Oh wait, this morning. And I want you to behave until then, understood?"
Two pair of eyes watched her; one pair glowing yellow with annoyance and one pair of green grey filled with worry.
Snow just decided there and then that this would just have to work; there was no other place the mundy could stay at during her recovery. The Business office was filled with things that were to be kept away from mundy eyes, and they hadn't really rooms available for situations like these. So for the time being Bigby's apartment would be hospital for the mundy, until they could preform the memory whip spell on her.
Snow would have to get back to Swineheart about what time frame they were talking about.
"Anyway, I'll see you in some hours. Try get some sleep, and that goes for both of you", Snow concluded.
She walked out of the small apartment with a smile tugging at her lips. What only an hour ago had seemed like a disaster, didn't seem that bad all of a sudden.
Things will work out, Snow thought as she closed the door behind her.
Probably…
AN/ If you read the story through, awesome! Hope you liked it and if you liked it so much that you want a chapter 2…? You will most likely not get it; I'm the slowest writer in history plus… I have a busy life :( . So this story is meant as an one-shot… Something to read while waiting for season 2 of TWAU (they must do a follower! Right?) Until next time… Stay Awesome, Stay Special!:)