Snow stared down at the floor as she listened to the door slam behind Holly and Colin as the pair chased after Bigby. She let out a shaky breath and wrapped her arms around herself tightly. This would be better in the long run, that's what she was telling herself. She couldn't let herself openly reciprocate Bigby's love, even if she really did, she couldn't actually be in a relationship with the big bad wolf. And she definitely couldn't let the aforementioned wolf suffer for her anymore. If watching Bigby's memories taught her anything, it was that Bigby would do anything for her, he'd already done so much and she never even realized it until now! And just how much more was he willing to do? The concept of it all frightened her.

Everyone knew how the big bad wolf was, when he wanted something, he'd go to great lengths to achieve it. After all, that's how he became the feared monster he once was, and it was how he became the sheriff of fable town. All it took was for him to simply want something, and he'd reshape himself completely to get it. And now he wanted her of all people.

Snow furrowed her brow, how could Bigby want her? When exactly had he started wanting her? Was there something special about herself that piqued his interest when they first met? Snow remembered Bigby's mother mentioning something about scents and she frowned, was that all Bigby needed to know she was the one for him? No, Bigby had talked about being cursed in one of the memories they witnessed. It was her scent that attracted him, but he clearly wasn't sure what it meant. Snow huffed, now he probably was sure that it meant that he was cursed.

Snow didn't have anymore time to dwell on those thoughts since Grendel promptly stomped over and roared at her while grabbing her by the collar on her button up shirt. She gasped and looked up at him.

"Bitch! What did I fucking say?! I told you! I fucking told you not to fail us again!" Gren roared at her as his glamour flickered.

Snow quietly stammered, but no words would leave her mouth. Beast roughly pulled Gren away, "Stop! Don't you touch her!"

Gren immediately fought back by pushed beast and Snow away, "No! You motherfuckers! You selfish assholes! I'll fucking kill you!"

Woody rushed over and tried to restrain Gren, "Hey man, we don't have to- "

Gren swung Woody off and into the wall, "Shut the fuck up! I'll kill you too!"

Beauty rushed over to her husband and Snow, as Greenleaf watched the growing chaos in her apartment grow. She glared, "Enough! I want all of you out! Now!"

They glare at her but Gren huffs, "Fine. As for you," he snarls at Snow, "Stay away from the wolf. You don't fuckin' deserve 'im."

He stormed out of the apartment and Woody soon followed.

Beauty and Beast tried to help her up but she swatted them away and quietly went back to the office, she had work to do.

Holly awoke the next morning to yelling, men yelling in her bar. She growled, "Dammit Gren. What shit is he starting now?" She got up with an annoyed groan and stretched before looking around her room, she gasped, suddenly remembering that Bigby Wolf was currently staying here at her bar, and he was no longer sleeping in this room. She shot up and rush out into the bar, suddenly worried about the wolf. When she slammed the door open, she saw four people. The first she noticed was colin sleeping on the floor, and Woody clutching a bottle of cheap beer not too far from the swine. Then she turned and there was Gren pestering the sheriff. Gren was being needlessly loud in his attempts to comfort the wolf, and while Bigby was squeezing his glass of whiskey that it was bound to crack soon, he still seemed resigned to just deal with it, just as he had been the night before with Jack.

"Come on Wolf! Talk to me here! I'm trying to hold a conversation with ya'." Gren sneered, but was surprisingly sober. Holly went behind the bar and rised herself a glass.

Bigby looked up at her, his hand relaxed, releasing the glass from his death grip, "Holly...Good morning…"

She smiled, "Good Mornin' Bigby. Sleep well?"

Bigby looked back down to his glass, "As well as can be expected."

Holly took note of that, she sighed. She hated how much of a mother hen she could be sometimes, she had always been protective of Lily, not that Lily was gone she was projecting that same protectiveness onto Bigby. It was poetic in a way, an older sister that lost her sibling, and a baby brother that lost his as well, as far as she knew. She figured that Bigby would probably hate this, but she couldn't find it in herself not to care for this dumb and grumpy wolf, that was now officially like a brother to her. She pours herself a drink and gives Bigby a suspicious look, she wasn't going to let this go, "And what's that supposed to mean?" she asked with an authoritative and concerned tone.

Bigby looked back up at her, annoyed with her tone, "What do you fuckin' think? I don't get much sleep. I'm a light sleeper, I usually can't go more than two hours before it's interrupted or I just wake up on my own. "

"That's not healthy. Go back to sleep in that case. Take the bed this time. "

"No. "

"Bigby." She put a hand on her hip.

Gren laughed, "What are ya doing Holly? You don't gotta force 'im."

"You shut up, you're partially to blame for this dumpster fire Grendel." She snarled and he shrunk.

Bigby glared, "I'll sleep later. End of story."

She pours some more whiskey into Bigby's glass before drinking her own, "Fine. I'll hold you to that."

Bigby downed his drink in a single swig.

Woody got up and joined the trio at the bar counter, "So…Wolf…What's the plan?"

Bigby looks at him with an unreadable expression before looking away, "Who fuckin' knows. Maybe I'll go out for a bite to eat." Bigby smirked at his quip, effectively dodging the question.

Woody cringed as Gren laughed, "Aw come on! Take this seriously!"

Bigby Scoffed, "I am! I'm gonna eat. And I'll start with you."

Woody flinched, "Bigby…Don't joke around about that! I can't tell if you're actually gonna or not…"

Gren burst into howling laughter, "Woody, you coward!"

Bigby's smirk grew and Holly felt herself relax; this was probably the first time that she'd seen Bigby smile since yesterday, "Come on, don't torment him like that boys."

Bigby snorts, "Okay, okay. "he put his hand on Woody's shoulder, "I promise, I ain't gonna eat you...yet."

Woody smacked his hand off, "Asshole!"

Bigby sighed, almost wistfully, "Yeah…But seriously…I'm not. I ain't hungry. "

Woody sighed and opened his mouth to say something but Holly stopped him as she took Bigby's glass away from him, "Then you won't mind me taking this away, you've had enough. "

Bigby nodded, "Yeah…probably…"

After that they were quiet for a long while. Gren was the one to break that silence, "Bigby…I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"Yesterday…. I shoulda' kept my damned mouth shut. But, I ain't sorry about that bitch! She can go fuck herself! You don't need her!"

Bigby tensed, "Don't…" he growled lowly, "Please. Don't talk about her."

Gren frowned, "I don't get you. What did you see in her?"

Bigby sighed, "Gren."

"No, I wanna know! Why are you so fucking hung up on her! All she'd done is bring you trouble! You're better off without her!"

Bigby growled, "Enough. I said I don't want to talk about this!"

Holly watched the two sadly, but didn't interfere.

Gren scoffed, "Right. You can't forget this so fucking easily. I'm trying to give you a chance to vent about its dumb mutt."

"Stop trying to force me to do shit. I don't answer to any of you. I appreciate your abrupt concern for me, but I don't want you damned help or your pity!"

Gren snaps to look at Bigby, "We don't pity you! At least I don't. "Holly and Woody nodded in agreement.

Bigby stared at them then scowled, "I'm still not going to talk about her. Change the topic or I'm leaving."

Gren smirked, "Okay." He rubbed his chin and thought to himself for a while before asking, "So, do wolves really howl at the moon?"

Bigby sputtered, "What…? Where the fuck-?"

"I'm curious wolf. So, answer the question." Gren's shit eating smirk grew

Bigby frowned with an annoyance and intensity that almost made it a pout, Holly nearly laughed but she kept herself in check. Bigby crossed his arms, "Wolves don't howl to the fucking moon. That's all bullshit. Honestly, I couldn't give less of a fuck about the damn moon. That doesn't mean that there isn't a connection between wolves and the moon, it's just a connection that irrelevant to howling and to me."

Woody took a swig from his beer then asked, "Why do wolves howl then?"

Bigby scoffed, "Isn't it obvious? Communication."

"Can't you just talk then?"

"No, it's a different kind of communication. Howling is typically for long distance, like letting the pack know where you are, that kind of shit…But sometimes it's just more…personal?"

Holly took an interest at that, "Personal?"

"I don't know! I just think it's easier to understand a howl than it is to listen to words. A howl can say a lot more in a short burst, and be a bit more accurate …Words, they get misinterpreted and jumbled. I always preferred howling, but most of my brothers preferred talking because that's what our father would've wanted."

Holly thinks back to some mundy documentaries that she'd once watched, she couldn't decipher the howls she heard from the mundy wolves on the tv, she couldn't imagine understanding it now.

Bigby continued, "I don't know how to explain it so that you'd understand…"

Woody and Gren though for a bit, "You said most of your brothers preferred talking with words, that means there was one that didn't?" Woody spoke.

Bigby almost smiled, "Yeah…My brother Wren. He constantly howled. We called him Wren because he would howl while the wrens that sang in the morning. Most times we joined him…Otherwise, he was mostly silent. "

They nodded and allowed Bigby to reminisce in silence for a moment Before Woody and Gren gave each other mischievous looks and then looked to Bigby. Woody hummed, "I still don't get it."

Gren nudged the wolf, "Why don't you just show us?"

Bigby froze, "What? No!"

"What, you shy Big bad wolf~?" Gren teased

Woody joined in, "Yeah, you want us to understand then just show us!"

Bigby growled.

Holly smirked, she deemed this to be mostly harmless and joined in now as well, "Yeah, I'd really like to hear that." She encouraged.

Bigby looked at all three of them like he'd been betrayed, "Wait! I can't just-"

"Why not?" holly leaned on the counter, closer to the wolf.

He leaned away from all of them, "I can howl in this form." He stated simply. The trio frowned; they weren't letting him back out that easily.

"Then just change." They all offered.

Bigby huffed, "I'll be cramped! You seem to forget that I'm actually eight fucking feet tall. I doubt I can fit in here without breaking something."

Woody and Gren shot up from their seats and moved all of the chairs, tables, and the pool table out of the way. Bigby watched in disbelief as Holly giggled, "There, that should be better right?" Holly poked him, "Please, for us?"

Bigby grumbled, "I can't alright…I'm not supposed to be drawing attention to myself like that… Maybe another time…"

Woody and Gren growled, "Aw come on!"

Bigby snarled, "I said no."

Holly sighs, "He's not going to do it guys, just back off."

They both sit back in their stools and grumble in annoyance as Bigby lights a cigarette. Holly sighed, "Bigby- "

Bigby abruptly stood up, "I appreciate all of this…but I have to go…" Bigby spun and stormed out the bar as the rest of them were left to simply watch him go.

I'm so sorry for taking so long with this one, I've kinda hit a sort of block with this story, but I was able to churn out this chapter for now.

In the meantime, everyone stay safe out there!