A/N: Readers go bye-bye? Oops? Oh well... for anyone who is interested, this part needed re-writing three times, and I really hope it reads okay now. My beta seemed to like it.

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

4. Night of the Full Moon

Virginia had been very careful when she and Wolf picked their shifts at the Grill on the Green. The night of the full moon could not exactly be used as an excuse without giving far too much away. Eventually, they had figured out a way around it and Virginia was glad of that now more than ever.

The cramps had started right around sundown. Perhaps not as bad as they had been in Little Lamb village, but bad enough. After the last time, Virginia was wary about supplying rabbits or any other warm furry creatures for fear of them being eaten. Wolf had changed, she knew that, but battling your true nature was never easy. She couldn't imagine he could ever bottle up his wolf side completely. Honestly, she wouldn't want him too, but for the sake of their survival in the place they called the 10th Kingdom, he would have to try his best on the night of the full moon.

A hot water bottle seemed to help a little, and Virginia laid down beside her man in the dark, reassuring him everything was going to be okay. He seemed coherent at least, apologising for causing problems, grateful for all she had done for him. Copious amounts of meat had been eaten for dinner, and somehow that seemed to sate the beast within. Now he just looked tired and was sweating profusely despite the fact he swore he was not hot at all.

"It scares me," he admitted shakily. "I scare myself," he whined.

"Well, you don't scare me," Virginia promised as she snuggled in close to his side, laying her head on his chest.

It was a lot of trust she was pinning on him. She was more sure than Wolf himself could ever be that he would do no harm here tonight. Hurting Virginia was what scared him most, not least because she was carrying their cub. He hoped and prayed that if the worst should happen, if the animal urges in him took over, he could at least see through the darkness that engulfed him enough to keep her safe. To wake tomorrow with no memory and the sight of his darling fiancée in any kind of injured state would kill him. He would kill himself, he knew that much. If he could just get through tonight, it was all Wolf needed.

At some point, they both must have fallen asleep. Virginia was surprised how peaceful she had felt when she awoke to find she was alone in the bed. Initially, she wanted to panic, to worry where Wolf had gone and what he might have done. Instead she took a breath and bit down the fear that rose in her throat. It would be okay, she repeated the mantra to herself, as she got herself up and quickly dressed.

Searching the apartment, she realised Wolf was not there, and so headed out to see if she could track him down. She was waiting for the elevator when she heard a familiar sound, a howling that she would know anywhere, coming from above her. With a smile only because she was so relieved to know where he was, Virginia hurried into the elevator that had just arrived and punched the button for the top floor. She was on the roof access stairs just a minute or two later and then emerged in the cold crisp night air.

Wolf was near the edge of the roof, looking up at a gloriously clear full moon, letting out a howl that was neither pained nor angry. He almost seemed happy to be here, and only wanted the celestial body above to know it.

"Wolf?" she called to him as she carefully approached from behind.

"Virginia!" he ran to her the moment he realised she was there.

It surprised her that he hadn't smelt her coming, but then perhaps the moon was the single thing able to distract him from her scent. If anything were likely to be able to do that, this would be it.

"Are you okay?" she checked, a little surprised by how well he really did look.

"Okay? Virginia, I'm wonderful! I'm... amazing!" he declared, actually laughing as he grabbed her, spinning her around until her feet came up off the floor.

She might have complained about being dizzy if she weren't so elated. He looked like her Wolf, like the man she loved and not the animal she knew he was capable of becoming. His eyes were clear and bright with the merest glitter of sparkling gold, and his smile was entirely infectious.

"It's great that you feel so good, but I don't understand," she told him as he set her back on her feet. "You felt the effects so badly before, and now it's... it's almost as if the moon isn't even there," she shook her head.

"Oh, it's there," he nodded positively, looking up at the big round shining full moon above them. "It's there and it's be-auoooo-tiful," he half-howled the word. "I feel it. With everything in me, I feel it," he explained, holding onto her still as they both gazed up into the sky. "But I have control. I didn't think I could do it, but you, you believed in me, and now I just want to tell the world that this wolfie is cured! Cured by the love of a beautiful, wonderful, scrumptious woman!" he yelled too loudly, until lights in the next block started coming on.

"Sssh, Wolf!" Virginia urged him. "I'm happy about this too but please don't wake up all the neighbours," she told him.

She couldn't really believe he was cured, not literally. His wolf side was not an illness, it was a part of him. Of course, if he could at least gain some control over it, that was a kind of cure she supposed.

"People need their sleep," she reminded him, when he looked completely unashamed about waking so many.

"I don't," he declared with a grin that was as wolfish as ever. "I couldn't sleep, Virginia, not tonight. Not when I feel soooooo alive," he howled to the moon and his fiancée almost wished to do the same.

She could live with this, easily. With Wolf just being excitable and frisky when the moon came out to play. So long as he could keep the blood-lust down to a dull roar, that was all they needed to fit into this world and still have him be himself. He did seem to have a handle on it, as incredible as it was.

Virginia had hoped things wouldn't be so bad in the 10th Kingdom. Doubtless there was power in the moon beyond the magic mirror that this one did not have. Besides, a lot of the uncontrollable urges Wolf battled in Little Lamb Village had been down to the Evil Queen rather than just the moon's magical sway. She had made him think too much about the dark power within him, the beast that wanted to hunt and harm and kill. All animals were capable of violence, Virginia knew that, including regular human beings. Control was the key to everything, and if her love was helping Wolf have the confidence in himself to keep a check on his wolfie nature, then she couldn't be more proud and grateful. She couldn't love him more.

"I don't think I could sleep anymore tonight either," she said then, finally prising Wolf's gaze back from the moon. "Of course, that doesn't mean we can't go back to bed..." she told him with a look in her eyes bordering on wolfish herself.

"I'll give you a ten second head start," he growled near her ear, faking a lunge at her as she took off running back through the hatch and down the steps.

It was the fastest countdown from ten to zero that anyone had ever heard in their life, and then the sounds of growling and giggling combined echoed through the building as he chased her back to their apartment and their bed.

Yes, Virginia was glad the full moon hadn't made Wolf lose himself, but she would never regret falling in love with a man that had plenty of animal passion inside of him.