"Abe?"

The Icthyo Sapien turned away from his four books at the familiar voice.

"Liz?" The fish humanoid swam up to the glass of his tank, so as to float in front of the woman. He placed his hands on the glass, head tilted slightly in confusion, "Is everything alright?"

"I...I'm leaving, Abe," Liz choked on her words, holding back a sob. Abe's expression softened, but he wasn't too surprised; the pyrotechnic had left three times in the last year alone- altogether, this would be the 11th time.

"What has suddenly brought this on, Elizabeth? You haven't had an outburst in months!"

Liz knew Abe was saddened by her departure: he only ever used 'Elizabeth' when he was upset, or disappointed, or both.

"I...I can't stay here, Abe... every time we have a mission, every time we leave the bureau, I... I see what normal people look like; I see what normal women look like... I want to be like that, Abe. I want to be a normal twenty-one year old, with no strings attached! I want to have a normal life, a normal job! No secrets, or agents, or stupid FBI bases! I want to be able to go out whenever I want, with my normal friends, friends that don't eat rotten eggs, or have to wear a breathing apparatus and a pair of goggles when they are on land! Friends that aren't red skinned, or friends that don't file down their horns, friends that don't have stone hands, friends that aren't-,"

"Liz" Abe cut her off calmly, "I understand. Friends that aren't freaks; friends that aren't us,"

Liz gasped slightly, "Oh, Abe, I... I didn't mean it like that," she moved her eyes to the floor, ashamed of what she had just implied.

"It is quite understandable, Elizabeth. Red and I, we aren't human, we don't even look human. We don't fit. But you could, and," He took a deep breath- it pained him to have to be so understanding of one of his closest friend's reasons to leave, especially when they almost always seemed to concern Red and himself, "I understand,"

Liz closed her eyes, a tear dripping down her porcelain cheek, and released a long sigh "Thank you, Abe" She looked back up to him, eyes watery, "You always do,"

Abe smiled weakly at her- well, as much as he could smile, his mouth didn't exactly possess the right muscles to actually smile. But there was something a little bit... off. Sure, she wanted to be normal, but usually there had to be an outburst of her losing control to trigger her to quit the BPRD again. There was more to Liz leaving again; he could sense it... but what, he wasn't sure.

Liz smiled sadly back, but it didn't reach her eyes.

What she had told Abe wasn't exactly a lie; it was true, just not the entire truth. She didn't want to tell Abe about what she was... feeling. Especially since those feelings concerned Hellboy.

She didn't want to tell him how, since she had returned to the BPRD (around three or four months ago), she had been seeing Red in a, ah, different light. She didn't want to tell Abe, for example, that every time she saw him, her heart skipped a beat. Or that, on their late night horror marathons, Liz could never stay focused on the movie anymore- her mind was always drifting to how his left arm felt draped lazily across her shoulders, how his fingers lightly brushed the skin of her upper arm, how she seemed to fit perfectly into his side (as if she was meant to be there), or how he sent shivers up her spine with the lightest touch of his tail against her thigh.

She didn't want to tell Abe how he sent confused little butterflies free in her stomach every time he gave her that smile, that smile that he reserved just for her. She didn't want to tell Abe how she couldn't get Hellboy off of her mind. She just hoped to God that leaving would subdue the feelings, the confusing, goddamned feelings, and that, if she ever came back, she would be able to go about her business with Red without wanting to pull him down to her by the collar and kiss him senseless.

No, she didn't want to tell Abe how Hellboy made her feel, and she wasn't going to.

"Are...are you leaving now, Liz?" Abe asked slowly, after a moment's silence.

She nodded solemnly, "I've called for a cab to pick me up a few miles down, Clay's taking me that far,"

"What did Red say?"

Liz flinched visibly, and the merman drew in a sharp breath-

"You haven't told him?!"

"I- I don't want to hurt him..."

"And you think that leaving in the middle of the night without a word won't? Imagine how he'll feel tomorrow morning, when he wakes up and can't find you anywhere, you think that won't hurt him?" Abe had raised his voice a little, hoping that it would help get his point across. A few more tears escaped Liz's eyes, and she looked back to the floor, placing her hands against the same spot Abe's were on the other side of the glass.

She forgot about his 'unique' frontal lobe.

Abe saw everything; movie nights- red hands on white shoulders, her wondering mind, the shivers, the butterflies. Smiles, heartbeats, brushing fingertips, objects being passed with lingering hands that held on for a little too long. Her confusion, her sadness, her guilt. She thought leaving would help. She thought leaving would help!

Abe's eyes widened, his brow bone skyrocketing upwards in surprise, "Liz! You're in love with him!"

Liz pulled away from the glass fast, taking a good five steps back, "No I'm not," She insisted casually.

"Yes, you are," He had to get across to her that Hellboy loved her too, that leaving would certainly not help. Liz took a long sigh, looking away from Abe. She smiled thinly, weakly, when she turned back to meet his eyes, her own glistening with tears.

"Goodbye Abe," with that, she strode towards the huge wooden doors to the library.

"Liz, wait!"

But the door had already shut. Abe sighed quietly to himself, shaking his head.

"He loves you more than you could ever know,"

When Liz emerged from her bedroom, clutching her old, worn, brown leather suitcase, she found herself bumping into something hard; Red's chest.

"HB?! I-,"

"You're leaving?" his yellow eyes shone in the darkness, full of despair and sadness and confusion and- hope.

Hope that I'll stay...

"Oh, Red, it's not what you think..." She couldn't meet his eyes, those eyes that were suddenly devoid of all hope, and instead let her own fall to the floor.

"Liz... you were doing so well! I-I don't understand?!" He almost shouted, but then remembered what time it was, and lowered his volume.

"I can't stay here, HB, I just can't,"

"Why? Whatever needs to be changed, I'll change it! You wanna go out more? I'll make it happen! For you, Liz, I'll make it happen! I- I promise... you know I'd do anything for you," his words dripped with sincerity and despair, and hope that he could change her mind. Her heart hurt at his words, and she didn't even realize that she was crying until the salty tears reached her lips. Red instantly stepped forward, wiping the tears from her eyes with his thumb, but Liz pulled backwards. She couldn't stay.

"I'm sorry, Red, I really am," Her voice cracked and she backed away from him, down the corridor, and then all too quickly she found herself outside. Clay sat in the driver's seat of one of the BPRD's sleek black Mercedes SUV. He gave her a sad smile and nod as she opened the door to the passenger seat.

Liz took a deep breath before she climbed in, and chanced a look back up at the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defence. There, stood in one of the few, thin windows at the very front of the building, was Hellboy. Both hands pressed up against the glass, begging her not to leave with his yellow, yellow eyes.

Her heart broke.

But still Liz climbed into the SUV, eyes clasped shut to try and contain the tears. Hellboy's hands fell from the window in defeat as he watched Liz drive away.

The urge to just kiss him had never been so strong, and she fought with herself not to barrel roll out of the car, run back into the huge stone building and just kiss him. But she couldn't.

Liz had to leave.

A/N: Hi! Thank you for the read! This story is going to have six chapters, I think, the first five of which containing the times Liz almost kisses Red, and the sixth being the time she actually does. I've been meaning to write this for a while, so I really hope you guys like this! Btw I am aware that Abe, Red and Liz are probably super OOC in this chapter, but I think I kinda have them pegged in the others to come...

Tell me what you think! Reviews=LOVE XOXOX