So this chapter has been a LONG time coming now, armis37 has pestered me relentlessly for it and I am finally delivering it! I hope you all enjoy :)

Affections

Going back to the Pudding and Pie to apprehend Crane was simple enough; Georgie and his girls weren't threats, and Crane wasn't even worthy of being called dangerous in any way. When they found Crane he was yelling at Nerissa, and the poor girl was crying her eyes out...

He was yelling some crap about how the girls knew of a 'plan' that supposedly implicated Crane when he was totally innocent. Bullshit. Bigby had found the pictures in room 207, and searching Crane's apartment had turned up a strange message along with an envelope filled with money and an incriminating note.

Crane wasn't just a pervert with a sexual lust for Snow White; he was also embezzling money from Fabletown. But the murdering part still didn't add up, Snow was right when she labelled Crane as a coward and a liar, and Crane had never killed anyone before. Bigby still had to arrest him though, and for now Crane was the murderer until new evidence came up.

Outside the Club was when things turned bad; Bigby and co. were intercepted in the alley by the Crooked Man's people: the Tweedle brothers were armed with shotguns and a scary woman called Bloody Mary had a revolver. Bigby wasn't scared of them at least.

The Tweedles opened fire and blasted Bigby away like a gangster in the 1940's, but unlike those Mundy scum, Bigby was still alive in the aftermath. He rose up and changed into a hulking Werewolf, charging the 2 men down and shrugging off their every attempt at defending themselves. With Tweedle Dee thrown into a neon sign and incapacitated, Tweedle Dum was left at Bigby's mercy. The Wolf had every intention of ripping the fat man's throat out; it was everything he deserved...

But Bigby had changed, and Snow was only feet away. Bigby instead growled at Dum and dropped him to the floor, glancing at Snow afterwards with a smirk. Snow was in too much shock to do or say anything; Bigby Wolf was standing in front of her, morphed into a monster.

Then a shot rang out and everyone went quiet, Bigby especially. Mary had fired her revolver into the Wolf's side, and he collapsed in a heap; Snow ran to Bigby's aid to inspect the damage as Mary prattled on about silver bullets and god knows what else. The scrapping of the Woodsman's axe against a brick wall would've sent a chill down Snow's spine if she wasn't already afraid for Bigby's life.

In this moment, Snow had tunnel vision; she was focused fully on Bigby, he was all that mattered right now. If he died...

Snow had no idea why such thoughts were running through her head; she was a colleague to Bigby not his lover! But Snow's heart told her otherwise, if Bigby died now then she would never forgive herself, she would have things to say that he would never hear. Why now though?

Why did she want to say that she liked him now? Was it the fear of Death? Or the pain of seeing him so hurt?

Mary raised the axe, and Snow played her trump card "Wait, stop!"

Snow had no regrets about her current decision "Just... take him ok, take Crane"

Mary lowered the axe and pondered the offer with much exaggeration "Hmmm, yeah I don't know..."

Bigby found the strength to speak, though his wolfish voice was strained and low "Snow... don't do this!"

Mary looked back at the limo, the rear window rolled down and a skinny arm appeared, it gave a simple wave before retreating back into the vehicle. Mary turned around "It's your lucky day kid; the Crooked Man says it's ok with him"

In amongst the commotion, Crane was planning on slipping away, until Mary spotted him "Hello Ichabod, got a stomach ache?"

Crane stopped dead in his tracks as the petite woman walked over to him, as she did so, Snow dropped to a sitting position beside Bigby.

"Oh and just between us girls, Crane ain't no killer. I mean look at him, couldn't stick a pig if his life depended on it"

Mary then focused her attention on Bigby "Kinda like your boyfriend here! Too pussy to ruin a Tweedle's day" Mary's arm tattoos glowed an intense red as she raised up her right foot and stamped it down onto Bigby's left arm, splitting it into a horrific compound fracture at the forearm.

As she left with the others, Snow gazed at Bigby, and he was a mess. Riddled with holes from shotgun pellets, a badly broken arm and a silver bullet in his side; how was he still alive?

Nerissa poked her head around the corner into the alley after hearing the cars screech off from the scene; she too was in shock at seeing Bigby the way he was. Like Snow she felt for him, and maybe more so than she thought. Their brief encounter at the Club much earlier in the day was tense, and Nerissa would be lying if she said she wasn't attracted to the Sheriff, and she hoped he liked her as well...

O Bigby's Apartment

After making a call to Swineheart from the Club; Snow had managed to get Bigby back to his apartment. In amongst getting Bigby into the car, Snow had become caked in his blood, but she didn't care. As they drove back to the Woodland's, Bigby had slowly morphed back into a human; and his injuries looked much worse without the gray-black fur to cover them.

Swineheart set to removing the shards of silver from Bigby's body; they were causing the most damage at this point in time. Bigby set his own arm back into place and after getting bandaged up, he found movement again. Swineheart left and it was just Bigby, Snow and Colin now.

Colin kept going on about how he had seen Bigby survive worse, but Snow wasn't paying much attention. She was more interested at how Bigby was being so casual about the whole thing, he wasn't angry or crying or even distant, he was just being Bigby.

Snow moved towards Bigby as he held his previously fractured arm, she placed her hand on the wound and the words came soon after "You um... you stopped breathing and, um... it uh, it kinda scared me"

Bigby's face sobered "Snow, I don't die so easily"

Snow smiled at the comment, and in the moment she found Bigby to be... beautiful. He looked like the man of her dreams, and she was about ready to do something that she thought she would never do-

"Yeah Bigby, they did a real number on you, you looked like when you take an action figure and bend it's limbs the wrong way" Colin's timely interruption halted the two in their tracks.

Snow realised then of how weak she had allowed herself to become, she had let her barriers down and exposed a side to Bigby that she wanted no one to see. It was the side of her that wanted companionship, she wanted desperately to fall in love and share her entire life with someone! She wanted to fall asleep in a man's arms, wake up in a bed they shared, make him breakfast, do everyday things with him, maybe even have children with him and start a family...

"Stupid girl, true love and happily ever after's don't exist and you know it..." Prince Charming had loved Snow once, and he betrayed her. No one would do that to Snow ever again, especially not the likes of Bigby Wolf. Even if he did turn out to be the right one, there was the case of Bigby's violent past and his animal nature; it was too much for Snow to comprehend, so she left it at that. Bigby Wolf was a pipe dream and nothing more.

O Bigby's Office

After Snow had suddenly turned cold and business-like once more, she had suddenly forced upon Bigby the duty of sending Colin back to the Farm, her firm hand was already set on enforcing the laws of Fabletown. In spite of Bigby's love-hate friendship with the pig, he agreed to send Colin back to the Farm. Besides, he knew that Colin would just sneak off of it again in a month's time or less...

A call to Bigby's apartment revealed that Nerissa was waiting for Bigby in his home-away-from-home, the Security Office. He had an idea of why she was there, but was hesitant to talk to Snow about it given the sudden change in her personality.

Bigby walked into the Office to see Nerissa standing there in that same baby blue dress, she smiled at him as he entered "Hi, Sheriff"

Bigby walked past her to behind his desk "Hi, Nerissa... have a seat"

Nerissa took a seat opposite a very tired looking Bigby; she scanned around his small office. It had various files and folders scattered around it, along with a few empty bottles of scotch and a seriously overfilled ashtray.

Nerissa's face took on a concerned look "I, um... how do you feel?"

Bigby replied bluntly "I'm fine, don't worry about me"

Bigby pulled out a Huff n' Puff and offered one to Nerissa, she looked at it with some disdain "Huff n' Puff's? Not many people smoke those..."

Nerissa pulled out a carton of Shorette's and put one between her lips; Bigby lit his cigarette and then Nerissa's immediately afterwards, she replied with a small smile "Thanks"

Bigby proceeded to throw his questions at her, but once again Nerissa's spell prevented her from speaking. She wanted to help, Bigby could tell that much, and he wasn't going to let her leave without some kind of a lead. Although he had no intentions of being mean to her, in fact he felt more compelled to be nice to her...

Bigby tried to find ways around direct questioning, but it wasn't working. All he could figure out from Nerissa's talk was that he should pay closer attention to those around him. The purple ribbon around Nerissa's neck was still in the exact same spot as it was before, it hadn't shifted or even been removed.

"Ribbons. That's how they prevent you from saying things; it's the ribbon, isn't it?" Nerissa didn't respond, in fact she looked frozen, as though she didn't know whether to speak or to run.

Bigby moved around to her side of the desk and tried a bold move, he reached for the ribbon as he spoke "Do you mind if I-"

Nerissa bolted upright, knocking her chair over and backing away to the wall, her arms up defensively "No! Stay back, these lips are sealed!"

Bigby was confused, but also in some shock at Nerissa's outburst "What?"

Nerissa replied quickly "You can't do that!"

Bigby gestured for Nerissa to calm down as he picked up her chair "It's alright, I'm not gonna do anything"

Nerissa sat down, and Bigby sat down opposite her. As she took the time to compose herself, Bigby made a comforting gesture by putting his hand to her shoulder; Nerissa looked up and took Bigby's other hand in both of hers, the two stared into each other's eyes for a while...

Bigby spoke softly "I'm not gonna hurt you, Nerissa" Nerissa moved closer to Bigby "...I-"

There was sudden yet sharp knocking at the door; Nerissa stood up again "If anyone finds out I was here-" Bigby interjected "That's probably Snow..."

Before Bigby could open the door, Nerissa took his hand in hers again "Bigby, no one can know I was here"

Bigby smiled and moved closer to Nerissa, he could smell the attraction in her scent again "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone" She smiled back "Thank you" Nerissa surprised Bigby then as she moved her lips to his.

The kiss was brief, but affectionate, and Bigby enjoyed it along with Nerissa. But then the door opened, to reveal Snow on the other side.

She didn't look impressed as Nerissa pulled her mouth away. Snow folded her arms and looked very cross "I hope I'm not interrupting?"

Bigby didn't need his senses to know that Snow was pissed off, but why was she this mad with him? Sure Nerissa was an accessory to the case, but Snow's anger was way beyond mad, almost as if Bigby had crossed the line of love by cheating on her!

Bigby gathered himself as Nerissa let go of his warm hand (albeit slowly) "No, Nerissa was just leaving-"

Snow interjected "Well, Beauty called asking for you, maybe she can give you the answers you need" Snow walked away briskly, as Bigby looked at Nerissa.

"Sorry about that" Nerissa smiled a sweet smile and replied at a sexy whisper "I'm not; I'm glad that happened..."

Bigby smirked "Why did you do that?"

Nerissa picked up her purse and ran her hand across Bigby's cheek as she walked out of the Office "These lips are sealed; though you should GO onto your next appointment, I don't think you'll be let down"

Nerissa walked away down the hall towards the elevator; just as it arrived she looked back at Bigby and gave him a final smile before leaving.

So Bigby and Nerissa are getting sweet with each other!

Until next time dear readers! XD