Possibly a One Shot.
Henry was feeling very discouraged as the day of things that wouldn't go right continued. The computers kept crashing and needed updates installed some of the guests chamber doors kept malfunctioning, Helen needed his technical expertise for a project she was doing and Will was trying to make a supply order but was getting nowhere. He could feel his stress level rising and he didn't want to trigger a change, so he did as much as he could and wearily wandered to Helen's office.
"Henry, how are things going."
"Terrible. I have systems doing their updating processes, which could take a few hours, and the… um the..." But he lost his train of though. The sunlight outside caught his attention. When was the last time he went for a stroll? Magnus followed his gaze and could see he longed to feel the sunshine. For a moment, he looked like a puppy longing to go outside and play, although Helen would never admit this out loud, not wanting to insult him.
"Uh, sorry, the systems are doing their thing and I can't do much else until that is all finished." He blinked a couple of times to shake the dark spots in his vision that the sun had left.
"Why don't you go take a walk outside? I'm sure it would do you some good."
"But I still have-"
"Henry, please. When was the last time you got outside? A week ago?"
"Point taken. Are you sure that you don't want me to wait until those programs are done running?"
"You said they would take a few hours correct? Just come back in a few hours and start from where you left off. We can manage in the meantime." Helen smiled at him. The poor man did need some fresh air.
"Okay. A few hours. I'll get the system to send me a notification when the updates are complete." He tried really hard to contain his excitement. "Thanks Helen." He said and ran to his room for some keys. Henry knew exactly where to go on a day like this.
The Park.
Henry walked out the front door and left before he had to explain to anyone where he was going. It took him a short time to get to the park but he barely noticed because he was just enjoying the sunshine beating through the buildings. It seemed to melt away his worries of the day. Henry thought it over in his head, how long had it been since he had been outside. Eight days. How could he have neglected such brilliant weather?
He got to the park and even considered getting an ice cream but thought against it. He walked the trails until he found his favorite one; the hiker's trail. He didn't like it because he felt like being an athlete; he liked it for the solitude. He had even gone there one night while he was transformed, so that no one could see him. Henry still didn't like anyone seeing him as a werewolf, despite everyone at Sanctuary accepting it openly; he didn't want them getting the impression that he couldn't control it.
Which he could.
Mostly.
The urges to change hit him more when a full moon was in the sky or he was under a lot of stress. The calendar said that there wouldn't be another one for a week or so, so he was alright.
Crash!
Henry jumped a foot in the air; he had forgotten that others use this trail as well. It was the smell that caught his attention; Blood.
He scrambled up from his spot and headed towards the origin of the crash.
There was nothing on the trail for a good 20 feet, but there were tracks that lead off the main path. There was a ditch farther down the side of the main path and he could hear movement.
Henry looked over into the ditch and found a cyclist entangled with their bike. They were not moving very quickly.
"Hey, um are you alright?"
"Do I look okay?" A lady answered.
"Well no, but I mean, do you need help getting your bike out of there?" The blood smell was getting stronger.
"I'll be fine but thanks."
"Okay, but for my own conscience, I'm going to come down and make sure." Henry began to climb down to help the woman trapped under her bike. She was trying to push it off of her but she couldn't get her leg out.
"Okay, uh..." Henry didn't quite know where to start.
"Not to be rude, but could you just get the bike off of me?" She growled through a clenched jaw. She was in major pain.
"Yeah, sure." Henry rushed over to the obscured bike. He saw it was on top of one her legs and the other weaving through the bars. He slowly lifted the bike to give her time to remove her legs. He saw the source of the blood was her left leg, the one that had been pinned under the bike. The woman scooted into an upright sitting position and looked over her leg.
"Damn tree branch, snagged me on the way down."
"Here, I know first aid. Let me patch it up for you."
"No, I'm fine." She looked around but only found dirt to support her. She started to try and unzip her jacket.
"Let me at least help you get out of the ditch and I will leave you alone." Henry was getting the sense that she didn't want him helping her, or being near her.
The woman stopped fiddling with her jacket and looked him over. She starred at him for a good long minute, which made Henry a little uncomfortable but then she said
"Okay." Henry smiled and slowly offered her his hand to help her back on her feet. She gave him her right arm and he pulled her to her feet. She stood mostly on her right leg, favoring her left one. She looked up to the path.
"This will be interesting." She looked at him.
"Yeah. Um, I could carry you-"
"No."
"-Or you could sort of slide backwards up the hill and I could help you." Henry realized how perverted he must sound.
"Like instead of sliding down the hill on my butt, I'd be sliding up?"
"Exactly. I'll help be the support of your hurt leg so we can still get you up."
"I guess." She sat down and let her left leg so slack before it was obvious she was in pain again. Henry shook off her annoyance and got behind her. He made sure his hands where in appropriate places and would not slip. He started sliding up the hill and pulled her up along with him. He could smell her perspiration and shampoo but knew that was his extra sensitive olfactory working and tried to focus on getting the woman to the top.
After a few minutes, they got to the top and Henry offered his hand to her again. She was about to reject it but took it and tried to stand on both legs. Nope. Not going to happen.
"I'll go grab your bike, wait here."
"Where else am I going to go? Run a marathon?" Henry ran back down the ditch and practically ran back up with the bike in his hand. His gracefulness ended as he got part way up and slipped. His face planted into the side of the ditch and got dirt all over it. The woman covered her mouth with her hand so he would not see her laugh. He got the bike back to the main path and shook off the remaining dirt.
"Well your bike is bent a bit but it should still, y'know, work. If your hands are okay, you can use it as a support. Or I… never mind."
"Thanks," The woman grabbed the handles and tried using it as a crutch but it was not going as smoothly as she wanted to.
"I have an idea, can you get on it?" Henry asked.
"Why? I can't ride it."
"Just sit on it and I'll keep it from falling over, you can still use your other leg to push it along."
"Sounds good." The woman leaned the bike onto her right leg and slowly lifted her left leg over it, trying not to bump it on its frame. She almost lost her balance but Henry caught woman's arm and stabled her. She got her leg over and they raised the bike up with her on its seat. The woman pushed off with Henry holding onto one of the handles in silence.
"So what were you doing off the trail?" The woman asked finally.
"I was just taking in the view from one of the little clearings back there."
"Looking at what exactly? It's all forest."
"That's exactly why. It's nice to get away from the city once in a while." Henry looked up at the sunlit trees. "And I guess asking you what you were doing would be sort of pointless considering you have your bike and helmet and stuff." He stammered. He was losing his touch of talking to people.
"Yeah, I miss the trees when I'm in the city too. I like to come out here and forget I'm in a big city. You can almost hear the birds instead of the cars." The woman straightened up and took off her helmet. Long orange hair spilled out from underneath it.
"Grr, my hair tie snapped." She held it in front of her.
"I'd offer you one but I left all of mine back at home." Henry joked. She looked at him for a second then laughed.
"I'm sorry I've been so grumpy. It's nothing personal. I just don't trust strangers right away."
"Well some random guy hiding out in the woods is definitely questionable." Henry commented.
"I'm Natalie by the way."
"Henry." Henry was going to offer his hand to shake but his right hand was on the bike handle.
"Henry, hmm. It suites you."
"I'm glad you like it because I plan on keeping it for a long time." Henry laughed. They reached the beginning of the trail close to the cars and their stroll through the park came to an end.
"Do you want to have dinner sometime?" Henry blurted out before he could catch it.
"You don't waste time do you?" Natalie laughed a little awkwardly.
"Ah, is it too early in the day to ask?" Henry looked at the dirt shuffling his feet.
"How about a movie? I don't even know what's out anymore." Natalie shifted on her bike seat.
"Sure. How about tomorrow night?" Henry asked. If he had a tail, it would be wagging.
"I work till 6, but anytime after that is okay with me." Natalie suddenly clenched her jaw together to shake off a surge of pain. "Do you mind if we work on the details a bit later? I'd like to get this leg dealt with first."
"Absolutely, um." Henry looked around for anything that would be remotely useful in binding her leg. A washroom was a few feet away. "You sit here and I'll get something to wash that up with." He set of for the bathroom and returned with some wet paper towels and a small handful of soap.
"I found something to partially clean it up with but I'd still recommend some antiseptic or rubbing alcohol when you get home." He looked up at Natalie as he crouched down to the bleeding leg. "This will sting a bit." Natalie gripped the handle bars.
"Go for it." She set her jaw again, bracing. It reminded Henry a bit of Ashley when she did that. As gently as he could, Henry rubbed some of the soap over the wound with one of the pieces of paper towel. He saw her grip the handlebars tightly but said nothing. Next, he used a slightly damp one to clean the soap off of it.
"There we go. Good to go." Henry got up and smiled at Natalie. She smiled back but couldn't help but laugh at his enthusiasm.
"Well thank you Doctor Henry. I feel much better." Henry's phone beeped at him. He checked it grudgingly. The diagnostics and upgrades were complete. Play time was over.
"Aww, I'm sorry but I gotta head back to work. Are you okay for getting home?"
"I'll manage alright. Don't worry about it if you need to get back to work, you've done more than enough already. Besides, we can hang out at the movie."
"Right, the movie. Um, I don't know what's playing either."
"Here, I'll see what's playing and see if anything interests you. What's your cell number?" This set off warning bells in the back of Henry's mind but who back at the Sanctuary was going to know? He was allowed to talk to people outside of the Sanctuary…wasn't he?
"Or email?" Natalie asked sensing that asking for his number was a bit much.
"Email might be better. I'm on the computers a lot so I frequently check it. Um…" He tried to remember if he had any fake ones set up still. One came to mind.
He found a pen in his pocket but not paper. He ran back to the bathroom and grabbed more paper towel.
"Here" he handed her the paper towel and the pen. "I'll send you a list of the movies that are playing and see if you wanna see any of them. Any one you want."
"Any one I want? Even if it's a chick flick?" Henry hesitated
"I might start snoring a bit but if it's what you want to see." Natalie laughed again. Henry was really starting to like her laugh. His phone beeped again. Will was demanding where he was.
"I'm really sorry but I really gotta go now. I'll talk to you soon!" He took off.
"Bye!" Natalie waved.
Henry ran all the way back to the Sanctuary without stopping. He felt great. The sun was shining; he helped an injured woman and got a date out of it. Nothing was going to ruin his mood.
"Henry!" The Big Guy called to him on his way down to the lab.
"Hey Big Guy, I'm just about to fix everything and then you can do whatever on them okay?"
"Will has been looking for you. Where did you go?*Ack*"
"Down to the Park. Needed a bit of air. Alright I'll get working on the systems again." He turned through the last corridor and back to his chaos of a workspace.
Henry got to work on the systems, typing at the keyboards and clicking away with his mouse. When he looked at the clock, it was nearly eight. He suddenly realized he had not contacted Natalie yet. Henry looked around to make sure no one was looking and opened one of his fake email accounts that he knew still worked. He found a link to the movie times and sent her the link. He decided to write a quick note too.
Hi Natalie,
Hope your leg gets better for tomorrow. Any one looks good.
Henry
And he sent it. He smiled at how excited he felt about making date plans with someone. His excitement seemed to be noticeable to those around him though.
"You look better." Will commented behind Henry's chair. Henry jumped.
"Geeze, how did you get in here so quietly?"
"I walked in as normally as I always do. What are you so hyped up about?" Henry smiled before he could stop himself.
"Nothing." He said, returning to his computer screen.
"Nothing? Last time I checked, computers don't make you this happy." Will sat on the desk next to Henry.
"Okay, I went to the park and this lady, Natalie, had crashed her bike into the ditch to I went to help her and got a date." Henry turned to Will with a smile.
"Wow, we let you out of here for a few hours and you rescue a damsel in distress and get a date with her too. Nice work. When's the date?"
"Tomorrow night. I'm letting her pick a movie." Henry was grinning ear to ear.
"Wow, letting her pick the movie. That can be dangerous." Will laughed. "I hope it goes well for you." Will patted Henry on the shoulder and left. Henry knew that this meant everyone would find out he had a date, but he didn't care. He had a date.
Henry received a notification that he had a new email. He quickly opened the email to see what Natalie had said.
Hi Henry,
The leg is doing better, thanks for all your help. How about Jurassic Park 3D at 7:30? I'll get the tickets if you get the popcorn?
Natalie
Henry couldn't stop smiling. He quickly typed back
Hi Natalie,
Yes, Jurassic Park sounds great. Do you want to grab dinner before the show or get extra popcorn? I know a great little place down near the theater there.
Henry
The response came quicker this time.
Hi Henry,
Dinner sounds good. I'll meet you at the theater right after work, it's not too far so I can get there in about 20 mins. What kind of place is it?
Natalie.
Henry and Natalie kept emailing for a few hours before they realized how late it was. Henry's work on the computers was pretty much finished now and his eyes were beginning to droop. Helen came in.
"I can see you're working hard." She observed as she saw him typing an email.
"The programs are all up and operational now. I am just running one more test and then I'm going to head to bed." Henry yawned.
"So you have a date tomorrow I hear." Right to the point.
"Yeah, and for once I'm kind of excited." He swivelled in his chair to face Helen. "It was a chance meet but I'm stoked."
"I'm glad to see you happy Henry," Helen said but her expression said something else.
"What?"
"I just want you to be careful. About what you talk about." Henry looked at Helen with a meaningful look
"What I do and what I am are the last things I want to be discussing with this girl. I want a chance to know her before I completely freak her out." Henry said.
"You can't hide the truth forever Henry. If things do get serious with Natalie, you will need to tell her."
"It's a first date. Let's get through that before we talk about long term stuff. How did you know her name was Natalie?" Henry asked suspiciously. Helen smiled.
"I saw it when I came in." She answered but Henry was not convinced. He finished his last email and the last test then headed off to bed.
The next day was going to be eventful, but not in the same way Henry had hoped for. The potentially quiet day turned into a busy one.
"I just received intel. of a creature that has found its way into the train tracks near 4th station." Magnus informed her employees.
"We need to go there, investigate and bring it back here before we have any incidents. Henry, I need you to bring up any surveillance you have so we can get a good look at this creature. Will and Kate, I'd like you to grab some gear and head down to the tracks where it was last seen, and I will go talk to the guards that were on duty at the time. Apparently, one of them scared the creature and it ended up biting him. His body is not reacting well to it so I am going to see what I can get out of it."
"On it." Kate looked at her partner and they headed down to the weapons room. Helen went to her vehicle and Henry went to work tapping into the train network. He couldn't find very much that would be useful. A little while later, he found something that was very out of place; a very large reptile running down one of the tracks. Quickly he tried to zoom in but it would take time to filter through with the low tech cameras the feed came from.
"Magnus, I found what looks like a large reptile down the tunnel. It sort of looks like a (find reptile name) but I have to filter through the feed. These cameras are way out of date." Henry whined a bit. He knew it would take longer than he wanted to. He avoided looking at the clock because he knew he still had plenty of time.
The filtration program finished and he had a semi clear image of a large lizard. He started cross-referencing what he saw to those he had in the database.
"Henry, I have a DNA sample of the creature. I want to have it tested so I can find an antidote for this poor man. Can you prep my lab so I can get the results as fast as possible?"
"I'll have it ready in 15 minutes." Henry responded and headed to one of the labs to get it ready. Magnus came in and set to work right away the test results.
Blah blah blah, test results blah blah Will and Kate tracking down the monster Blah blah blah.
Will and Kate were having difficulty tracking the thing down and headed back to the sanctuary after a while with no luck. Henry had no luck tracking it on the cameras either.
When 5pm came around, they still had no luck finding the lizard but Helen was able to come up with an antidote for the injured guard. Henry knew he had to get ready to go soon. He scrounged up the effort to ask Magnus if he could leave because he knew he couldn't just get up and leave in the middle of a search and rescue. Helen was in her office.
"Hey." He knocked at the door.
"Henry, how goes the search?"
"Nothing, the little sucker is good at avoiding the cameras. Will and Kate took some heat seekers to see if they can spot him somewhere." He reported. Helen sensed there was more.
"Would it be alright if I left for a couple of hours?" Henry asked. Helen debated this for a few minutes.
"The systems are still keeping an eye out for this creature in the train tracks, there is a cell waiting for him all prepped and ready to go, and I even have a few vials of the antidote just in case someone gets a nasty surprise. You won't even realize I'm gone." He pledged.
"Go have fun on your date Henry; we can manage on our own for one night." Helen smiled. She wanted to see him happy again after all. Henry nodded and headed for the door.
"Thanks!" He called back.
"Keep your phone on though!" She yelled to him. She shook her head and continued her work.
Henry ran to his room, showered, shaved and even gelled his hair. He picked out his best shirt, a vest, his best pair of jeans and even put on his dress shoes. He had everything he needed and headed out to the theater.
Henry arrived before Natalie did, but he was early. He was nervous and started pacing a bit. He tried not to keep checking his phone.
"Hello." Someone tapped him on the shoulder. Natalie was standing next to him with a backpack on her back.
"Hey!" He nearly dropped his phone. "H-how are you?" Was the first thing that popped into his head.
"I'm good. The leg is healing nicely." She shook her leg to prove her point. She smelled like perfume and it was mixed in with coffee, eggs and meat. She must work at a restaurant or a diner.
"Good. The Shackle Tack is this way." He pointed down the street. "So how was work?" He asked.
"It was busy. The good weather brings everyone out of the offices and keeps us on our toes."
"You work in a restaurant? Diner?"
"Diner, how did you know?"
"Well like you said, the nice weather brings people out for lunch. So I guessed restaurant." He kept an eye out for the Shackle Tack. "These guys have the best cheeseburgers on the planet." Henry boasted as they came up to the door.
"My uncle can make some pretty good cheeseburgers. They are the best I've had in my life and I still haven't found one that can compare."
"Just wait and see." Henry said. They found the place and went inside. It was packed in there.
"Aw man." Henry groaned as he realized this.
"Do you think we will have enough time with this lineup?" Natalie asked. Henry didn't think they would. He went to ask the host how long it would take. Twenty minute wait time. Down hearted, Henry returned to his date.
"He said it would be a good twenty minutes or so to get seats and that's just sitting down."
"Maybe another time?" Natalie suggested. Henry nodded, disappointed and left.
"Can you settle for a quick slice of pizza?" Natalie pointed to a pizza joint across the street.
"It's not my first choice but I guess it will do."
"What's your favorite kind?"
"Meat-lovers, hands down."
"Carnivore all the way I see."
"Yep. I don't think I could handle being a vegetarian."
"I could if I had to. I have done it before when I was doing- but I really missed it." They ordered a massive slice each and grabbed some stools that looked out the window at the street. They ate in silence for a while, eating their dinner.
"What were you avoiding meat for?"
"I was on a diet." Natalie gave in.
"What were you doing a diet for?" Henry asked then bit into his pizza.
"It was for a fitness thing I was doing. I like a good workout and I was trying this new program they had, but the diet was too difficult to keep up with between work and school." Natalie took a bite of her pizza.
"You're a student and a working lady. What are you taking?"
"Anthropology, Medieval History, and Psychology. What about you? What sort of work do you do?" Henry stopped in mid bite. What was he supposed to say?
"I um, do some work for the government." He said between bites, trying to be as graceful as possible.
"What sort of work?" Natalie pressed. Henry fiddled with his pizza a bit.
"I work with rare and endangered species. Species that either needs protection or we need protection from. Species that are often misunderstood or just need a home."
"Animal rights activist. Oh joy." Natalie looked out the window.
"No no, nothing like that. More like animal control." Henry chuckled darkly. "There are parts of my job I'm not supposed to discuss." He added.
"That's fine, with the government that usually seems to be the case." Natalie sipped on her water.
"So what are you planning to use your schooling for?" Henry asked to change the subject.
"I really have no idea. I don't think there is a program for my field of interests. What time is the movie again?"
"7:30."
"We should head out if we want a good seat." Natalie looked at her phone for the time. They finished up their pizza and Natalie stuffed the waters into her backpack. Henry noticed that it was full of textbooks and a uniform. Reading in between work and school he guessed.
They headed to the theater and Natalie ordered the tickets.
"Hang on a second. It's customary for the gentleman to pay for the movie isn't it? I should be treating you to the movie." He offered her money to cover the tickets.
"Oh, I did say I'd pay for them." She was going a bit red in the cheeks.
"I'll swap ya, I'll get the tickets and you get the popcorn. Deal?"
"Okay. For the record, in the 21st century it's sort of neutral as to who gets the tickets."
"Gotta keep a little tradition going. My boss keeps going on about how it's wasting away."
"I like traditions, but I don't like making the guy think he has to pay for everything. You did buy me dinner too."
"Don't worry about that. If it helps, I eat a lot of popcorn." Henry gave a big grin to try and lighten the mood. Natalie laughed and ordered two large popcorns. Henry held them patiently, trying to snag a few pieces with his tongue when she wasn't looking.
"Alright, time to relive the time of dinosaurs." Natalie thrust her drink forward like a sword, nearly loosing the lid. They settled down in a couple of chairs and braced themselves for the previews. They chattered a bit more about the Jurassic Park series when Henry's phone vibrated in his pocket. He dreaded looking at it because he knew it would be Helen. He pressed the ignore button in his pocket. The lights went out and the trailers began. His phone vibrated again but he continued to ignore it. He leaned to one side so he wouldn't feel it, but it only vibrated louder against the seat. Natalie looked over at him. He gave a weak smile but continued to watch the movie. Later on, a text came that beeped loudly. Henry was ready to throw it across the room but decided to check it.
Helen: Lizard close to you. Keep an eye out.
Perfect. Now he had to worry about a lizard chasing them in real life, not the ones on the screen. Henry looked over at Natalie who didn't seem to notice.
Will: Coming your way, be careful. Help?
Henry ignored that one too. Natalie leaned over to tell him something.
"If it's important, go. I understand." She whispered.
"It's work." He whispered back. They were three quarters of the way through the movie. They were at the kitchen scene where the two kids were trapped in the kitchen with two raptors. Pots and pans clanged on the screen but one crash was out of place. It came from above them in the projector room. Next thing they know, the picture became fuzzy and then came to a stop. There was a large wave of complaints but Henry jumped up to get up there.
"Wait, Henry."
"I'll be right back." He called back and ran out the doors. He found the stairs that lead up to the projector room and literally ran into Kate.
"Ow, man. What are you doing here?"
"That lizard thing is in that room, or at least it was a few seconds ago." Henry pointed at the room that had a 3 on it.
"How do you know?" Kate asked disbelieving.
"Because he just ruined my movie that's why." They heard a loud crash of glass breaking and an eruption of screams from the theater. They ran into the room to see a gaping hole in the projector room and could see the lizard running to the fire escape at the very front of theater.
"Great." Henry moaned.
"Come on, we have to catch it before it makes headlines on the news." Will said and they all headed down the stairs. Kate noticed what movie Henry had been watching.
"Jurassic Park? The giant lizard crashed the theater with Jurassic Park in it. That's hilarious." She laughed.
"Yeah yeah, extremely funny. Now go get it." Henry pushed her into the theater and she ran after the creature. Henry hung back to look for Natalie. In the chaos, he found her standing in the foyer clearly looking for him.
"Henry!" She ran over to him when she saw him. "There was a real dinosaur. A real dinosaur jumped in from the projector room!" She looked scared but excited too.
"A real dinosaur?" He asked, trying to sound like he didn't believe her.
"Yeah, it jumped in and ran out the door." She pointed towards the theater. Natalie looked around and realized she had forgotten something.
"What?" Henry asked.
"My backpack. I left it in the theater. I gotta go back and get it." She headed towards the doors to the theater but Henry grabbed her arm.
"Wait, what if it comes back into the theater?"
"That bag has at least $300's worth of textbook in there that I am not leaving it. It will only take a second." She shrugged him off and went inside. Henry rolled his eyes and went in after her.
She found her bad but unfortunately Henry's theory was correct.
The lizard had come back into the theater.
Natalie froze in the main isle and kept her eyes on the lizard, which was now lurking at the front of the screen. It was looking around for something, probably somewhere to hide. Instead, it found her standing there. Henry crept up behind her and put his hand into hers to let her know he was there.
"Now what?" She whispered.
"I'll distract it and you run." He whispered back.
"What about you?" But Henry didn't have time to respond. The rood flew open and Kate and Will came barging in with their guns at the ready.
The lizard crouched away from them and headed towards Henry and Natalie.
"Henry, watch out!" Will yelled. But it was too late. The lizard crouched and swung its tail at Natalie and Henry, knocking them both on the ground. The end of its tail was as sharp as a knife and sliced their stomachs. Natalie was bleeding but Henry faced away from her. The lizard headed for the door but there was someone else there already. Helen was holding a gun of her own and got the creatures attention. Natalie could feel her stomach gushing blood everywhere but was trying to turn Henry over to see how bad he was. Will came over the two of them and was on the same side Henry was facing. The tail had left a large cut on Henry's stomach and had triggered his werewolf alter ego. Henry was fighting it as best he could. He looked at Will with glowing yellow eyes.
"Get her out of here." He grunted out. The change was not easy to hold back, especially when this creature was threatening his friends. Kate and Magnus had cornered the creature at the other end of the theater but were having no success at taking it down. Will moved over to Natalie who was still trying to get Henry's attention.
"He's fine, he's going to be fine." Natalie didn't believe him but she was losing strength. She was losing a lot of blood. She watched Henry struggle and heard some strange noises, life fabric ripping.
"Whoa!" Will shuffled back as the creature fell near them. It landed very close to Natalie and took a snap at her. She screamed in pain as it but her leg and that was it for Henry. He let go of his control and took his wolf form. He leapt up and tackled the lizard to the ground again.
"Henry!" Will yelled, who moved back to a fear stricken Natalie. He could tell by the look on her face she had seen what had happened. She had seen Henry change. The lizard fought the werewolf but eventually gave in to the tranquilizers that Helen and Kate began firing at it. When it finally stopped moving, Henry looked over at Natalie. She was in Will's arms with a look of shock and fear on her face. Henry's heart sank below the floor the theater. There would be no second date. He saw her go slack and fall unconscious.
"Magnus, we really need to get her looked at. Like now. Both of them." Helen rushed over to check Natalie's vital signs. Henry changed back to his old self and crouched by a chair.
"Magnus." He called.
"We need to get that antidote working again. The supply we had earlier expired after it got knocked out of the truck. We need to make more and fast."
"Here." Will tossed Henry his coat. Henry was grateful and used it as a cover while he tried to recover what remained of his clothes. Shreds.
Natalie woke up in a bed she did not recognize. The room was not familiar either. She did notice that she was attached to a bunch of tubes and little wires that were monitoring different parts of her body. She tried to sit up but her stomach protested greatly to this idea. She winced in pain.
"I wouldn't move just yet. The stitches need time to heal a wound like that." It was the one that one of them called Magnus. Natalie's head began to spin with nausea and she leaned back into her pillow.
"Where am I?" she asked.
"A safe place. We had to get you here as soon as possible so that I could produce an antidote for that bite on your leg. It was having some uncomfortable side effects unfortunately so we felt it was best to keep you until they wore off." The woman named Magnus came over with a chart in her hand.
Natalie looked up at the ceiling and tried to remember what happened before she blacked out.
"Henry! Is he okay? He was hurt too! Can I see him?!" She bolted upright. Magnus put her hands on Natalie's shoulders and gently leaned her back onto the bed.
"He's fine. Everything is fine now." Natalie tried to sort things out in her head. "Try and get some rest." Magnus insisted and proceeded to the door. Natalie didn't have to make much of an effort to go back to sleep, it came over her after a few minutes.
When Natalie woke again to see the man who had helped her in the theater.
"Morning." He greeted her with a smile. He was sitting in a chair next to her bed.
"Morning already?" She asked wearily.
"Yeah, you've been sleeping for two days. That was a nasty bite you had." He tried to keep things light.
"You helped us in the theater." Natalie recalled.
"Yeah, I'm Will, Will Zimmerman. I'm one of Henry's co-workers." Natalie let this sink in and then asked.
"How is he?" She looked Will in the eye to see if he was going to lie to her.
"He's upset about what happened but physically he's fine. We patched him up."
"He really turned into a… werewolf?" She asked, trying to see if werewolf was the right term to use. Will hesitated, he wasn't sure if he was supposed to be answering this question.
"I'm not an idiot." Natalie suddenly had a spark of anger hit her. They were patronizing her.
"No, not at all." Will glanced up at a surveillance camera and looked back at Natalie.
"What do you remember last?" Will asked.
"I remember going to a movie with Henry, it stopped, Henry went out I guess to check what was going on, the giant lizard crashed in…" She looked at Will for any confirmation about this but he stayed neutral, "And I found Henry outside… I needed my bag so I went back in… and the giant lizard was there." She stopped as the rest of the events unfolded in her head. Henry and her getting whipped by the lizard's tail. Henry refusing to look at her.
Henry turning into a werewolf.
"He's is a werewolf, isn't he." It was not a question. Again, Will didn't answer. She was not surprised. She was probably not supposed to know this stuff.
"Are you okay?"
"I guess so. Can I see him?" She asked Will. Will checked his phone and got up.
"I'll see if I can get him to come see you. He's busying himself with work at the moment." Will looked sympathetically at Natalie. "I'll make sure he comes soon."
"Thanks."
"Oh yeah, one more thing." Will lifted up a bag; Natalie's backpack.
"My backpack! Oh good. That's why I went back in the theater to begin with." She chuckled.
"Don't want you to fall behind in school." He smiled. "Oh, we phoned your work to tell them you were sick in the hospital. I also got a hold of your teachers so that you don't miss much."
"Thank you, at least it's partially true. I take it I'm not in the basement of the hospital." Natalie noted as she looked around the room. "What about that lizard…thing?" She asked.
"We got it. Took some effort but we have it secured in one of the high security cells." Will said. Natalie had the sneaking suspicion he was analyzing her.
"Anyways, I gotta go. Enjoy the homework."
"Oh yes, loads of fun." Natalie grunted. She watched as Will left and took a good look around the room. It seemed like they were underground because there were no windows. The equipment was very high tech and must have been near new. Government funding went to all of this? What exactly was this facility? Natalie thought about it but ended up unzipping her bag and digging out her homework.
Will found Henry working away at his desk. He didn't even look up from his work as Will came in.
"Hey." Will said to him. Henry continued doing his work.
"I talked to Natalie. She's a nice girl. Magnus says she is going to be fine." Henry paused from his work.
"No thanks to me."
"Hey, how could you have known that that thing was going to end up at the movies? In your theater?"
"I should have left sooner. I ended up putting her in danger instead."
"No, you saved her from that danger."
"I shouldn't have been in the same room as her! What if I'd attacked her? What if I'd hurt her?" Henry shook his head.
"You've been making awesome progress on that. You recognized her when you were in wolf form and you showed concern for her. Henry, she's been asking for you since she woke up." Henry shook his head again.
"I talked to her about what she saw-"
"Yeah, did you see the look of horror on her face when she saw me go after that thing? She was terrified of me!"
"She was going through shock. Look, we can do this dance all day, but when I talked to her about it, she was genuinely concerned for you. She wants to make sure you're okay. Just tell me you'll consider it." Will could see the heavy cloud of depression hanging over Henry's head. All he had wanted was a normal date but it turned into a disaster.
"If she was terrified of you, she wouldn't want to see you." Will said and left. Henry wouldn't admit it, but Will was right.
Henry looked around to see if anyone was there and took a look at the surveillance camera in her room. She was calmly lying in bed, reading a book. Her red hair was tied back into a messy pony tail now. It hadn't been before when he checked up on her. After a long time of deliberating, he got up and headed down to Natalie's room.
Natalie was reading one of her textbooks and noticed someone standing in the door.
"Henry!" She cried. She quickly put her book on the table beside her and tried to prop herself up properly. Henry didn't come in right away but when she didn't scream in fear at the sight of him, he slowly wandered in. Something in the back of Natalie's mind warned her to be careful but another part of her had so many questions for him. She felt like a child discovering Santa Clause.
"Hi." He said quietly. Natalie could see he was very unhappy with how things went. She couldn't help but watch him. She tried to contain her excitement because she could see the current situation was leaving Henry distraught.
"I heard you're doing better." He said finally.
"Yeah, the bite on my leg is stitched up and feeling better now. The cut on my stomach is doing pretty good too. How are you doing? How's your stomach?" Henry's hand went towards his stomach.
"It's fine. Helen stitched it up for me." He showed her a large bandage covering his stomach. Natalie had a million questions to ask but didn't want to make him feel worse.
"Look, about the other day, I actually had a good time, except for being bitten. I just wasn't expecting…"
"That the guy you were dating was a monster?"
"You're not a monster. Actually, you were quite the gentleman."
"Yeah, I can put on a good show. I'm dangerous. I can't control it all the time." He walked over to the monitor. "I didn't want you to find out what I am."
"To be honest, I find it quite fascinating. I didn't know werewolves existed until recently."
"I wish you didn't."
"Henry." She put out her hand to touch his face, but he pulled away.
"You saved me from being lizard food and brought that thing down so it couldn't hurt anyone else. Take it." Henry gave a weak smile.
"Didn't go the way we'd planned did it?" He asked.
"Not exactly, no." Natalie laughed. She was watching Henry intently. "Can we try again?"
"I'd like that." Henry smiled. She wasn't terrified of him and still wanted to see him.