Disclaimer: CW owns Beauty and the Beast.


For Tess, this was what happiness was all about: a quiet birthday dinner with friends. I watched her interact with JT and somehow watching them communicate through body language made me feel calmer. Gabe was watching me. He kept trying to grab my attention, distract me from our friends. But I felt self-conscious. I knew Vincent was near by. I felt like I was cheating, it was wierd. Gabe sensed my distance and retreated to his cheerful friend façade. I hated doing that, after all I had made the first move, I liked him.

After dinner he helped me with the dishes. I think we both needed a break from all the flirting going back and forth between Tess and JT. Gabe nervously chatted away about the large hadron collider in Switzerland. I couldn't make myself concentrate. I kept staring at the window, expecting Vincent to knock, even though I was sure he wouldn't, especially sensing Gabe there. Why had he even mentioned that heartbeat thing...

...

"Cat?" JT's voice. I think it was JT. I heard Tess weep. Was I dead? I was cold, it was too cold. "Can you hear me, Cat?" I couldn't move. Why couldn't they just let me die in peace. "I need you to open your eyes for me Cat." I tried, I couldn't. I tried to tell him but my throat hurt. Did I mumble?

"Detective Vargas, I need you to snap out of it!" he barked at Tess. That made me upset. How dare he be mad at her? He'd lied to us. He did know Vincent was alive. Hell, he'd known Vincent was not human. "If you want me to help her, you need to help me get her in there!" He was pleading now. I could still hear Tess crying. Didn't he know it was too late? Maybe I should have listened to Tess and gotten rid of the baby.

"Why do you have a cell in your...?" Tess asked.

"I need to inject her with this serum, in there she will be... safer."

"You must be joking! I'm not letting you drug her."

"Really? You're really pulling a gun on he only person who can save your friend's life?" I heard him laugh. I wanted to laugh at them both, couldn't they see how hopeless it was? I felt their hands on me, nudging. I tried to move, the baby kicked and pulled and tore at me. I mumbled for it to be quiet. Then I felt a sharp pain on my arm and I knew they had stuck a needle in me. My eyes fluttered open: Tess was holding the syringe. I smiled at her before everything went black.

...

After we sang and Tess blew out the candles of her cake, we all sat on the couch to watch a movie in the dark. JT and Tess held hands. Gabe tried to pull me into a hug but I just sat fidgeting. My eyes pinned to the balcony window. I knew Vincent was on the other side. I could feel him there. A trace of his scent filled my lungs, the soft certain beat of his heart reached my ears. Gabe's hand on my knee called me back to attention. I looked back at him. His eyes were pleading. He didn't deserve to be ignored, he didn't deserve pretending nothing had happened.

"It's getting late." He whispered. I just nodded. "I'm heading out. Do you want to meet up tomorrow for coffee?"

"Sure." I smiled but my heart wasn't in it. I walked him to the door. He turned back and pulled me close into a hug. I was dreading he wanted to kiss me. But he didn't, he let go and mumbling a good bye he closed the door behind him. I was mad at myself.

...

I woke up at sunrise. I felt hot. Thirsty. My throat was sore. I was laying on a stone floor. The light coming from the window hurt my eyes. There was a sweet familiar smell around me... what was it? sweet and metallic... kind of sickening... "What's that smell?" I rubbed my nose.

"Hey! you're up!" JT. Sitting on a chair, across the hall... and bars. I felt the heat rise up from the base of my spine to the back of my head. It felt like my chest was on fire and it was difficult to breathe. The sweet smell seemed to grow stronger.

"Why am I locked up?" I snarled. Snarled? My voice was not my voice. I was confused. JT stood up. A dart gun in his hand. Was it for me? I tried to focus, he seemed to be telling me something important, but I couldn't focus. I just wanted the heat out of my the hell was that nauseating smell? I blinked, the light was still hurting my eyes. I looked down. And got angrier. What had they done? Did they kill Vincent's baby? I roared. roared? A dart shot from the gun into my leg. I fell to my knees but I wasn't feeling the heat any more. I heard Tess's voice.

"She's alright, Cat! I've got her..." Tess moved to my line of sight she was holding something but I couldn't make it out.

Something clicked in my mind. "Blood." It reeked of blood, all around me.

...

As I came back to the living room, I found myself alone. JT and Tess had locked themselves in her bedroom. I smiled to myself. Finally! I went to my own bedroom and started to strip out of my clothes. His scent invaded me again, and I felt my body react. A slow fire building between my legs. I knew he was at the fire escape, looking in. I didn't have to turn around. I removed my underwear. I wanted him to see me naked. I wanted him to remember me. Just for a second. He couldn't hide that rising rhythm of his heart from me. It was a song I so desperately needed. Had it been like this for him three years ago? Hearing the sing song from my own heart? I turned back to the window and two golden orbs flared back at me. The window was unhinged and he pulled it up easily. A second later he was standing in front of me.

"I said, I'm here to protect your child." he whispered angrily. I just nodded and smiled. He took a step closer. "I said, I don't remember you." I nodded again and placed my hand on his chest, just above his heart. That heart was not lying, he knew it, I knew it. I felt his hand on my breast. "You're smoking hot!"

"You said that." I whispered back, pressing my naked body against him. I could feel his hard arousal pulsing against my belly.

"I don't remember you..." He leaned in closer, but stopped before kissing me. I felt his ragged breath on my skin, it made every pore of my skin swoon.

"It's ok." I laced my fingers behind his neck. "I'll help you remember." I pulled him closer. He placed a chaste peck on my lips, then another, then he ravaged my mouth, lips, tongues, teeth, a song of sex and violence, just like before, except he wasn't beasting out.

"You smell of sex." He whispered in my ear. "All the time, why is that?" I shrugged. JT had explained it to me once, I had zoned out on all the biology, animal behaviour crap.

Vincent's fingers made circular movements against my back, pulling me closer. Then he released me and pushed me on to the bed. I scooted to the pillows but he just grabbed my ankle and pulled me to the edge of the bed. He knelt and placed himself between my thighs. "I need to taste that smell." He whispered against my thigh. He licked the inside my leg dangerously close. I was about to say something... but all my thoughts melted away as I felt his tongue enter me. He swirled, lapped, bit, kissed. Violence and sex. I felt my hips buckle and my own electricity build up... I knew I was close to growling, my fingernails dug into the mattress... and then, he just stopped and looked towards the door.

"Cat? are you awake?" Tess knocked on the door. Vincent was out the window in less than a second.