"You're not talking to an amateur here. "We've both seen the ugly of the abnormal side up close."
"We've also seen its wonder. Its beauty."

Henry was in his usual haunt, the computer lab, fingers flying over the keyboard as he ran diagnostics on the perimeter defenses and the EM field. Everything was looking good and it gave him the necessary time to go over his latest ideas for new and improved tech gizmos. Some were near completion and he had a new gun he wanted Ashley to test later this week, so he had to run that as well and…

Footsteps alerted him to a visitor and he looked up to find the object of his musings leaning against a rack of gadgets.

"Checking up on me?" he said in ways of a greeting, taking the edge off his words with a smile.

Ashley returned the smile. "Nah. I know you can take care of yourself."

"Checking if I have his body hidden in a corner?"

She chuckled. "If I were you, I wouldn't let him out of my bedroom for a week."

"We're past that stage, Ash."

"How can you? Will's hot. And I mean that in a purely observant, sisterly sort of way."

He knew that. He felt no jealousy rise at her words. She was no threat.

"And as the purely observing sisterly person you are… you came here to quiz me?" Henry wanted to know.

It got him a shrug. Ashley regarded him both curiously and seriously.

"Are you okay?" she asked, now all serious.

"Fine. Couldn't be better."

"I mean, getting hit by the clue bus…"

Henry laughed and nearly threw a wadded up piece of paper at her.

"And in your case the clue bus came in shape of a giant snake, too. Sucks, huh?"

"It did. And maybe I should listen to my instincts more."

"They're there for a reason." She pushed herself up onto his work table, legs dangling. "I'm also glad you want to keep them."

The surgery. Yeah. That had been a major point of arguments between them. Henry nodded.

"I think I've started to come to terms with my bad self," he heard himself say.

"Bad self? Henry…"

He raised a hand. "Yeah, I know, I know. There is no bad or evil self. There's always the whole. But you have no idea, Ashley. You don't know what's inside me, what it craved and how it clawed at me to be free. At the time I didn't know it was reacting to him…"

She leaned forward, elbows resting on her knees. "In a way I do. I've my own heritage. I might not turn into something else physically, but when I go into a fight, I feel these urges. Can't say how much they're like lycan urges, but they're strong."

Henry looked into her eyes. Ashley had her own mixed heritage, genes thrown together to form a fighting machine that would only develop more in time. She was just twenty-three, but she was devastating in a fight.

"I don't have a control mechanism either, Henry, but you have one advantage now."

"Will?"

She nodded, smiling softly.

Henry returned the smile. "Yeah."

"Sleep again?" Ashley asked.

He nodded. The smells no longer overpowered him, food tasted good once more, and he slept. He slept really well. No nightmares, no bloodied bodies, no roars or cries of pain, no screams of adult lycans dying, of his pack being killed. Normal dreams, gentle dreams, waking up to Will and the safety of their room.

"So you had the happy end," she stated.

"In a way. Thanks for being there, Ash. I appreciate it. Really."

For kicking him repeatedly in the butt about the surgery, for giving him a piece of her mind.

"Hey, that's what I'm here for." She grinned and slid off the table.

Henry found himself hugged, strongly, fiercely, and he hugged her back.

"You're one lucky guy. Will's great," she whispered into his ear. "Good choice on the wolf's part."

He laughed a little. "I want to think so, yeah."

"You love him." It wasn't a question.

Lycans didn't love like humans. Lycans had different emotions, but they didn't take the unwilling mates either. It was a matter of two willing participants, not influenced by pheromones or a wolf in heat. Matings happened before the heat cycles.

Henry just smiled.

"And I know Will's drooling over you," Ashley added cheekily. "Did so for a while. I wonder what might have happened if that Nubbin had been with you… and he had walked into your room."

Henry groaned. "Don't remind me of those things. Allergies."

"Oh. Yeah. That puts a dampener on the whole frenzied sex thing."

He glared at her half-heartedly. Ashley smiled softly.

"You believe it now? The wonder? The beauty?" she asked.

Henry nodded slowly. Her features softened even more.

"I'm happy for you. Both of you."

"Thanks, Ash."

Acceptance meant a lot him. More than anything else.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Now I am one of them… I'm terrified."

The whole incident with the super-sized cockroach had been the first time Henry wanted to come along on a mission. A real mission. Not just tagging along as the surveillance guy or to keep Mutant Will from cracking open heads. Maybe because Will was coming, maybe because he wanted to prove himself to his mate. He wanted to impress Will, show him that he was worthy. Wolves apparently were just as stupid as humans in that regard. Keen and eager and ready to do whatever it took to be seen as strong and powerful.

Yeah, wolves were idiot, too.

Henry had known he was that idiot, that he wasn't a front line guy, that he was batter as the support back home, but the Y-chromosome had overridden all logic and he had behaved like a moron.

In the end, the shock web hadn't worked. His great solution, the quick way of earning brownie points with his mate, had failed.

At that time, in that very moment, he had wanted to hide and bang his head against a handy wall.

Idiotidiotidiot!

If at all, it had made the thing even angrier and more determined to kill them off. It had been embarrassing to fail like that, in front of his mate, knowing that they had no Plan B right away. That the female reporter had tried to, admittedly clumsily, flirt with him hadn't helped either. Sure, Henry had answered her questions, aware of her own eagerness to prove herself. It hadn't helped with his mate, though. And the kiss… geez!

Chicks love dudes that go on missions.

The head-banging continued. What had he been thinking?! He had failed to be impressive to Will, but he had impressed a girl he had had no interest in!

Henry groaned. He had thought being mated was easier than the whole mess before, but it was an even messier mess now. Will's tolerance of it all made it all even worse, drove home the point that Henry Foss was an idiot. He, the lycan part of this pair; he, who had followed instinct and stupid hormones; he, who should be more secure in the whole matter.

"Screwed," he murmured. "So screwed. Screwed up, too."

Now that they had finally cleared the surviving creature, its eggs, and its dead mate out of the warehouse, had the survivors safely set in one of the artificial environment cells, Henry sat back and stared at the images from the surveillance camera. The creature was busy taking care of its eggs, but he wondered if it would miss its mate. They had no idea if the survivor was the male or the female of the species, and Magnus would start on the carcass of the dead one tomorrow morning.

Stretching, he felt vertebrae crack. He was sore, tired and in need of a good night's rest. He had also been avoiding Will. He had made a fool of himself. He had tried to show off and things had severely back-fired.

Henry finally rose and padded over to the elevator. It took him upstairs in no time and he automatically headed for the old room, then stopped. Right. He had moved. New place. Big place. Shared place.

A brief grin swept over his features and he walked past the door and down the hallway to the corner room. The big, big corner room full of Will's stuff, mixed with his own. The grin wavered and he stopped outside the door.

Go in. Face the fire. Fess up to the mess up.

Inhaling deeply, steeling himself, Henry entered. He found Will in their shared bed, out like a light, still dressed. Henry felt a fond smile coming. Shedding his own clothes, not caring where they landed, he crawled into bed, jostling Will a little. The other man cracked his eyes open and muttered something unintelligible. Henry started to undress Will.

"Tired," Will protested.

Henry chuckled. "It's not always about that, Will. You're in bed, fully dressed. Get the clothes off, so we can go to sleep."

It was more of a wrestling match than an undressing, but finally Will was almost naked, curled up under the cover, and Henry was next to him, spooned up. He kissed the scar from the bug, then rested his forehead against it.

"Done?" Will mumbled.

"Yeah. Creature's all cozy in its new habitat. Not sure what Magnus wants with a whole family of them. Those babies will hatch soon."

Will linked their fingers, resting their joined hands against his stomach. "Done pondering stupidity and impressing your partner?" he clarified.

Henry froze. "Uh…"

Will twisted in his hold, looking at him out of sleepy, blue eyes. "I was kinda impressed." He grinned slightly. "With how you think you need to impress me."

"Instinct?" Henry squeaked weakly.

"You impressed Amy."

Panic rose inside him. "I…"

There was mirth in those now more awake eyes. "Seems like your aiming needs improvement."

"I wasn't…"

Will kissed him, dry lips brushing over his own. "I'm not a girl that needs to be impressed."

"I know that!"

"I think the wolf knows it, too."

"Uh…"

"And still you begged Magnus to come along. You tried to show off."

Henry opened his mouth to say something, but nothing intelligent came to mind.

"Which is cute."

"What?!" he blurted. Cute?! What was next? Fluffy? Cuddly?

Will grinned mischievously. Henry groaned and hid his face against his mate's chest.

"You don't have to impress me," Zimmerman repeated, voice calm and reassuring. "And you don't have to come out into the field either. You don't have to protect me."

"Tell that to my abnormal side," he muttered.

"I think it knows. You just need to listen to it."

"Thank you, Dr. Zimmerman," he grumbled.

"You're very welcome."

"I don't need someone psychoanalyzing my bad self."

Will rolled them around, looking seriously at the other man. "There is no bad self. You're all Henry Foss. And no part of you has to impress me."

"No?" he asked softly.

"No. I want you just the way you are, wolf and geek. I think the geek's really hot."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Cool. Because I really hate all that running from creatures stuff. I'd rather have Ashley use my gadgets instead of using them myself," he confessed with a small smile.

"So do I."

"I just don't like the idea of you out there, me here…"

"It's how it works."

"Don't like it," he repeated.

"And we both know neither of us is going to change anything about it," Will told him. "Even if I stay here, I work with dangerous creatures."

Henry knew that, too. Still, knowing Will was at the Sanctuary, even with a dangerous Abnormal, was preferable to having him outside, in the field, attacked by whatnot. Henry fought down his instinctive response and let his hands play over his mate's skin.

"Let's get some sleep," Will decided, sliding into place at his side, one arm slung over Henry's stomach.

The wolf never slept too deeply inside him, always ready to spring up into action should something threaten them. But they were safe here. Perfectly safe.

Henry kept on running gentle patterns over Will's smooth skin until sleep claimed him, too.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Difference between you and me is, you can control your power."
"And in time, so will you."

Christmas at the Sanctuary wasn't at all like in the world outside the protected walls. There was no exchanging of presents, no Christmas tree, no carols. Christmas didn't exist for the Abnormals, though Bigfoot served homemade Christmas cookies and the tea hat a cinnamon flavor. Will hadn't lost a thought about the season. The colder weather and the snow should have been a clue, but he had been too busy running after an elusive new creature that had apparently been imported and sold as a pet. Since it had killed its owner and abducted the owner's child, Magnus had been hot on its tail. Ashley had nearly caught it twice, but it wasn't just dangerous, it was also cunning and fast.

In the end they had it, with a few more bruises to show, and in Will's case a mild concussion, slash marks across his back and onset of hypothermia. The thing had been rather fond of cold lakes. The kid had survived unharmed. It turned out that the new creature protected abused children and the boy's parents had beaten the child. That had launched the aggressive behavior.

Will, clad in layers of thick clothes, still cold to the very bone, watched the now docile Abnormal as it inspected its new, sub-zero habitat. It looked rather harmless, all blue-white fur and big eyes, rather like an overstuffed toy. The long claws Will had been introduced to personally were sheathed, the canines hidden underneath the furry lips, and it actually purred.

"Will?"

Henry's soft voice broke through his musings about innocent looks and deadly behavior. Will reached out and wrapped an arm around his partner's middle, pulling him close so he could rest a head against one bony hip. He felt tired and worn.

"How is it?" Henry wanted to know.

"Like a pussy cat. Magnus is still looking up what she can find about it. It's intelligent, but doesn't react to attempts of communication. She wants to move it to the lower levels, give it one of the larger rooms."

Henry nodded, fingers playing through the short, dark blond hair. "And you'll work with it."
He didn't even have to make it a question. Will had been working with a lot of the residents and patients, Henry included. For Henry, therapy was different than for the others. He almost laughed. Yeah, it had included mating. So much for professional distance.

"Yes," Will answered, sighing. "It was only trying to protect the child."

"Still cold?" Henry queried.

"Freezing," his partner confessed.

Falling into a lake did that to a human body.

"More tea?"

"No. The Big Guy made me drink gallons of that stuff. Can't take much more." Will grimaced. He turned his head to bury his face against Henry's stomach. "Y're warm," he mumbled, sighing contentedly.

Henry chuckled, still carding his fingers through Zimmerman's hair. Having Will plastered against him wasn't bad at all. It actually calmed his more primal nature in the face of the creature that had attacked and harmed him.

"How about a bed?"

"Sounds wonderful."

But he didn't move. Just the thought had Will exhausted.

"Want me to carry you?"

The teasing had Will groan in protest. "I'm not the girl!" But he was still hanging on to Henry, face mashed into the t-shirt.

Henry leaned down and placed a kiss on the tousled head. "Never said that. Think you can coordinate enough to get upstairs?"

Will mumbled something unintelligible, but he made an effort and together with Henry's help he managed to stand. Strong fingers buried in his multiple layers of clothes, half dragging, half supporting him as they staggered to the elevator. He was careful not to come in contact with the bandage-covered injuries, something that had him angry at the creature because it had hurt Will, and angry at himself that he couldn't protect him.

Will gave him a half-lidded look in the elevator. "Stop it."

"Hm?"

"Beating yourself up over this."

"I'm not!"

"Right." He yawned. "You are. Psychiatrist here. Know it."

Henry kept him from sliding down the elevator wall, chuckling. "I better get you to bed, Doc. You're dead on your feet."

"You fall into a lake and freeze, then we talk." Will winced when his back made too much contact with the wall.

"Not high on my list."

They probably looked funny as hell, staggering to their rooms. Henry managed to get the slightly taller man onto the bed and under the covers. Will was already more or less asleep.

"You got work t'do," Will slurred.

"I can stay here."

"Watch me sleep?"

"There's worse."

"Go. You got a job, too. Not goin' 'nywhere."

Henry smiled and leaned down, kissing the dry lips. "Be good."

It got him a mumble, then Will was dead to the world.

Henry stayed a while longer, a long while. Finally he managed to drag himself away from the sleeping man and went back down into the heart of the Sanctuary to finish his work. He only glanced at the cell holding the now docile creature. The wolf bristled a little at its presence, but that was it. His mate was safe, the threat no longer there.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"I guess you can say I'm a changed man."

When he finally returned, Henry had to smile at is mate. Will looked adorable, curled up in their shared bed, layers upon layers of warmth around him. He had his face buried in Henry's pillow, sleeping deeply.

Happiness.

This was happiness. This was what it was like, after the frenzy of the claiming, the first days after mating, when the realization of what he had settled in.

Completion.

Maybe his parents had been just as happy. Living in the moors, within their pack, protected by the others, protecting them in turn. He had only hazy memories of the adults of his former pack. He knew them as lycans, never as humans, but he had been able to tell his family apart from relatives and pack mates.

Wolves weren't ferocious by nature. They were only dangerous to those threatening them or their pack. They loved their offspring, they cared and they were gentle.

Henry's smile grew more wistful.

He had avoided his heritage, had seen it as monstrous and dangerous, and while he was still not in control of the wolf one hundred percent, he now was certain that there was at least one person who could talk him down should he lose it. Magnus would have to stun him, but Will… he believed that Will could handle the creature.

Sitting next to his mate, studying the young, smooth feature, Henry gave the wolf a little more freedom. It rose carefully, almost gently, not as violently than before. He felt its instincts to protect what it loved and he could only agree. Laying down next to Will, he heard a soft whine coming from his throat as he nuzzled against Will's side, content and happy.

Control. Will gave him control. He could work with that, work with their resident psychiatrist, learn about what he could do, how far he was able to go. Henry knew it was a long road, one filled with obstacles, but he was now more confident than ever before that he could do this.

Will murmured his name, slurring it mostly. He rolled closer, seeking more warmth, and Henry kissed a patch of exposed, very warm skin.

Bigfoot had been right. Ashley had been right. There was wonder and beauty in his gift, there was power and he could control it.

Maybe there was a best of two worlds. Maybe this was it.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

fin for this one. Sequel is in the works.