Disclaimer: Hellboy, Liz Sherman, Abe Sapien and the B.P.R.D. are owned by creator Mike Mignola and Dark Horse Publications for the comics, and by screenwriter Guillermo del Toro, Revolution Studios and Universal Pictures for the feature films. I own nothing, only borrow them to populate my fiction.
Ten days after their return from Moscow, all surviving B.P.R.D. agents passed a final physical upon completion of a period of quarantine.
John Myers would look banged up for awhile, but he had recovered from the concussion of the pyrokinetic blast unleashed by Liz Sherman in the confines of the hell-hounds' nursery. Tom Manning's scrapes had been inflicted by Hellboy when he elected to save the director by skidding him out of harm's way across sixty feet of paving stones. Hellboy had not contracted infection after being swallowed into the belly of Rasputin's behemoth. The multi-grenade explosion that killed the creature had left him stiff and sore, with a day's worth of headache. Liz Sherman had been temporarily separated from her soul, and after struggling through some nightmares, was very much herself again.
She bathed, dressed and prepared herself with experienced care for a secret arrangement, long awaited...
No other man had ever shown her such all-encompassing devotion, and proven it as no one else could. Possibly, it might have been more difficult for someone as full-ahead tough as Hellboy to speak of his feelings and loyalty to her, just a day before saving her life with a dare that could have sentenced him to the hell-region of his demon father for all time. No one else could ever understand and accept the past bizarre tribulations of her life as he did. And the greatest relief - there was no longer a need to fear the power in herself.
The tortured child and teenager she had been, whom he had always befriended and nurtured, faded further into the background of her psyche. He had made her free to become a whole woman, and that woman, she was about to bring to him.
As she arrived and stood in the doorway of Hellboy's room on that afternoon, he looked upon her for long seconds, enchanted that nothing about her seemed changed. She tossed a small piece of luggage for him to catch.
"Can I come in?" she asked, an eyebrow arched. He strode over, grabbed her hand and pulled her down onto his couch beside him. "Eager!" she whispered, snuggling close and drawing up her legs. "You know what? I've never known you to finish your reports so fast."
"Yeah, I didn't want the suits bugging me," he replied distractedly, slipping lengths of her shiny hair through his fingers while her head leaned on his shoulder. Liz suddenly sat up, noticing one of Red's meal deliveries covering his table.
"And I've never known you not to have finished all of that off by now!"
"It's gonna hold us for awhile – don'cha think?" he grinned.
"Oh, your analytical mind!"
"That reminds me," he cut in, "one more thing." He sent out a page. "Myers! Nobody comes in here – nobody! Not until I say. Not even for the end of the world." And he secured the door for which Myers carried the key.
"Um, got it, Red," John Myers answered to the transmission, puzzled by the forceful demand. "But you'll starve!" Deciding to stroll down to the kitchen to cancel Hellboy's orders, Myers waited for an explanatory message that never came. He thought of passing some of the afternoon by maybe...visiting Liz. But she was not to be found. Restless, Myers dropped into the library to consult Abe Sapien.
"I've looked in the usual common areas," he told the merman, "She's just not anywhere."
"Everyone must be somewhere," Abe answered with maddening simple logic, "and as you can see, Liz is not here." A confidant of the couple, he was privy to their plan, and quite gladdened by it. He would politely run interference and help in any way.
...
"This couch is way too small," Liz hinted, dropping Red's shirt to the floor, on top of her own.
"Your wish, my lady-" It was time to get comfortable. In his arms, she was no more than the weight of a butterfly, as he carried her with a careful shuffle to his steps. All cats reclining in his path, cleared the way. He set her down on her feet, tantalizingly close to his bed. Feeling that Red would not take the role of aggressor, Liz slipped an arm around his waist to caress the muscled expanse of his back, while the fingertips of her free hand softly traced his temple. Red closed his eyes, savouring the sensations. Her touch, gliding over his angular cheekbone and creeping lower along his sideburn to the line of his jaw, aroused a shiver through his mighty physique. His hands lightly drew her closer as her fingers played teasingly over his lips. However Liz prolonged her temptations, he considered every moment to be a precious gift. He surrendered himself to the spell winding around them, feeling the rush of his heartbeat quickened by the press of her soft cheek to his breast. Entwining her fingers with his, she backed herself onto the bed, drawing him with her. Intoxicated by her smouldering gaze, he lay back while she crept over him.
Liz levered her body up higher against him, seeking his small pointed ear where she breathed warmly, "Lover, I missed you."
The lonely pain of his past drained out of him as his hand cupped the back of her head, bringing her lips to his. Separated from her upon returning home to the Bureau, he let the memory of their first kiss drive his hunger. She returned it now as passionately, and having full command of her fire, withheld it from their vulnerable surroundings. It was the mark of the first time they would lie together and become complete lovers. They seized on each other with the ardor of having much time to make up. In between the deep looks, deeper kisses, and intimate caresses, all of their clothing was tossed to the floor.
Their strong physical attraction had a life of its own. It played uncomfortably in Hellboy's thoughts at the worst possible time. He had never been with a woman as slender and fine-framed as he found Liz to be. The comparison with his own three hundred and fifty pound hard-muscled bulk would not be chased away. He kept his rough stone arm far away from her tender, bare skin – was constantly mindful not to let his weight rest heavily over her. Liz certainly sensed that her intended had, without explanation, either stalled or gone into reverse. Intuiting the cause for his hesitation, she got up and knelt, straddling his sides.
"Red, everything you're doing makes me really happy, but -" she took his face between her hands and stared hypnotically into his eyes, "you're treating me like a glass doll! I won't break." As he lay seriously taking in her every word, she lowered her hands to his pectorals, then trailed down, down his torso. "You're being so slow, gentle and careful, you're driving me crazy!" Her voice melted into hushed tones. "Now, make love to me."
All his dreams, through his feisty woman, were being laid at the doorstep of his heart. Receiving his instructions in plain and desirous terms, he found no need to speak. He tumbled her to her back. She saw the trepidation in the set of his mouth as he leaned above her, his flesh hand beneath her back, drawing her to feel his burgeoning heat.
"I'm not afraid," she encouraged, her eyes invitingly seductive.
Still, he concentrated to temper down his great strength to fit the delicate endeavor. A necessary cautious approach carried its own profound satisfaction for the lovers. They spoke softly and fondly, with unbroken gaze, drank in each other's sighs as they rocked together, joining ever closer. She delighted in being so claimed and filled by him. Hellboy knew that this was his life's truest lovemaking. Liz collapsed back with gasping little cries, and clutched at his arms as he cleaved deeply into her, again and again. When she smiled dreamily and grasped his hips, bracing to match his rhythm, she set off electrified surges in him, visceral snarls through clenched teeth, that made her glow and rejoice. When he had recovered, shaken off the reverie, he needed to know, "Babe, are you all right?" In a softly awed tone, he whispered, "I went out of my mind!"
She pulled him down beside her. Sinking to his pillow, he took her hand to his lips, and waited. She stroked a finger across his cheek, beaming her satisfaction, "Red, what did you do to me?"
Blushes were never evident on Hellboy, but he drew her on top of him, and took her compliment with a modest smile and long, warm embrace. Then raising her up, he said mysteriously, "What I should be doing now, is feeding you."
"Chili, pizza, nachos, pancakes, bacon?" Liz recited by heart, a list of the available dishes.
"Nope! The best stuff is on ice. I'm gonna show you that there is some style around here." He swung himself out of bed, got busy with the offerings out of his refrigerator, and returned with a huge tray.
"How did you get all this?" exclaimed Liz, looking over the spread of cold crab on a variety of fresh greens, with bowls of sauces. "And strawberries and chocolate! I'm beginning to think you can do anything."
Red slyly reached down to the floor by the bed, coming up with a bottle of chilled champagne, and a pair of flutes.
"Raided for us by our blue friend," he smiled.
"Let's pig out!" Liz' face shone as she reached for her glass. Red exploded the cork from the bottle. Cats scattered away for dear life.
"Don't worry, kids - I still love you, too," he chuckled, filling the flutes.
They feasted on as much as they could hold. Satisfied and drowsing on Hellboy's chest, Liz whispered, "I've never had a night like this. Thank you! What more could anybody want?"
"You deserve it."
"Mmm," Liz purred luxuriantly. He felt her lips at his cheekbone, nuzzling. "Heavy?"
"Kidding?" He flexed the considerable muscle mass of his torso, bouncing her up a bit.
Hellboy felt his mate's head drop more heavily onto his shoulder. Whatever were the cares of the past days, all vanished as he reached to grasp the bedsheets, drawing them up to cover her back, cuddling her close.
Through a delicious fog of dozing, Liz asked one more thing. "Happy?"
He closed his golden eyes, breathed a contented sigh. "Blissed out, Babe..."
...
She woke hours later to a cherished feverish ache inside, to remind that he'd been there. They murmured together to set their plans, she nestling her back against the comfortable heat of his chest, his tail curled around her waist.
Collecting her scattered clothing, Red stopped to watch Liz brush her hair and glide on her lip gloss while she regarded him with a charming tilt of her head - some of those 'girl things' that he welcomed to his world. Feeling so fine as they shared a parting kiss, he unlocked his vault door. Liz had to leave him to go about her own business – for a little while.
Hellboy and Liz had no actual need to keep their new intimate relationship secret. Soon enough, they would become objects of too much curiosity, and Tom Manning would voice his opinion to Washington, but nobody and nothing was going to mess with them. Hellboy could do without that noise right now. As undomesticated as he was, Red cleared away evidence of the specially acquired dinner, feeding leftover chunks of seafood to his feline pets.
...
"John!" hailed Liz, nearing her quarters, "Are you spending your off-duty hours patrolling the halls? It's four in the morning!"
John Myers' face lit up as he continued his walk toward her. "I tried your room," he said brightly, "Where have you been?"
Liz gave him her enigmatic non-expression. "What is it?"
"Can we sit for a little while? Talk?" His eyes looked pleading and admiring all at once. Not so long before, he'd replayed dream images of Liz with her flowing hair and slim figure dressed in her favoured close-fitting black garments, just as she appeared now. And of course, his imaginings had gone further...
"Not now," she dismissed, as kindly as possible, "Things to do, sorry." She'd hoped that Myers had given up on his past attempts to court her. He had certainly been present to witness her choice. And she, too, wanted her own mind free of interference. "How about day after tomorrow?" she offered. She still owed him a colleague's respect. He signalled 'okay', as he turned to walk away, obviously disappointed.
Liz arrived at her room. Pushing open the door, she looked down to see a folded piece of paper on the floor. Quaint. A note. Scanning it, she read the salutation, 'Please, Liz', and the signature of John, at the end. Not needing to know the content, she held the paper between her fingers and incinerated it with a tiny flame. Now, she wanted only a long, hot soak in her tub, and as a freshly mated woman, to celebrate alone with her thoughts of Red.