Author's note: Thank you to NicoleR85, magistrafarris, Rasha007, partygirl98, ZabuzasGirl, Sam0728, KEZZ 1 and NotMarge for the reviews! Today's chapter has sexy time references in it, but it's not too risque (I think?).

The Morning After

It was almost noon when I woke up, pale and human-looking again, the next day. It was the first day of the rest of my life.

Logically, I knew I was in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and laying in this hotel room all day was a complete waste. But I still couldn't bring myself to get out of bed. I was just too...

Content? No, that wasn't the word. It didn't account for the level of bliss I was experiencing at the moment, this feeling of complete acceptance and love. Happy, jubilant, exultant...

Someone needs to come up with a word specifically to describe the morning after a wedding night.

A ridiculous grin came to my face as the memories from last night ran through my head.

I thought of the way Zoey had giggled and said, "I'm sorry, but that was hot," when I accidentally tore her pretty lace bra and panties set with my claws in my enthusiasm to get them off of her. How incredible it felt to join with her completely, like we'd merged into one entity. Hearing her cry out my name like I was the most important person in the entire universe to her. The look on her face when she came apart in my arms, knowing that I'd given Zoey as much pleasure as I took from her.

All of it was burned into my psyche for eternity, for which I was thankful. I never wanted to forget a second of what had transpired between us, as we explored this new way to love together.

After her whispered request I'd completely let go and capitulated to my instincts, because it seemed like thinking always got me in trouble. Being able to stop resisting, finally giving in to the burning desire I had for her was as easy as breathing. Like dropping a heavy burden comprised of self-consciousness and fears of rejection, leaving me free to love Zoey in all the ways I'd dreamed of, with everything I had to give.

Letting go of my self-control wasn't a surrender. It was a victory, allowing me to stop over-analyzing every little thing and just feel what we needed from each other, how I could please her. For once in my life I was actually thankful for my feral half, because I'd been able to let go and do all the things I had last night without feeling awkward about anything.

It was perfect in all the ways that mattered. And now... I need to pee.

But Zoey was still asleep, cuddled up against my side and using my shoulder as a pillow. We were both still tangled up in the musky sheets and naked from last night.

Her perfect lips were slightly parted as she snored away, her eyelashes so long they brushed against her cheeks. I could count every one of the faint freckles dusted across her nose and cheekbones, like constellations in the night sky.

I couldn't bear to move and possibly wake her when she seemed so peaceful. Zoey looked like an angel in repose.

An angel with sex hair, I privately amended, looking at her mussed curls with amusement. She's going to freak out.

I tried to smooth her hair with my free hand, but to no avail. Her locks just refused to behave, and nature's call was getting louder and louder by the second. I'd have to risk waking her.

Carefully- so carefully- I wriggled out from Zoey's hold and settled her back down on a pillow. She didn't react at all to being moved.

Interesting. Either I've got super stealth or she sleeps like the dead. Maybe it's a bit of both?

With a shrug- the scratches she'd managed to leave on my back through the fur stung dully from the motion- I went to do my business in the bathroom, laughing silently at the ridiculous amount of hair and skincare products spread across the counter. I'd had no idea it took so much work to be a girl.

Zoey finally woke up perhaps five minutes after I'd slid back into bed and pulled her into my arms again. Her snoring cut off and she blinked slowly, finally opening her eyes to the day. A gorgeous, hazy smile lit up her face when she saw me laying there next to her. My stomach flip-flopped at the sight.

"'Morning," she said sleepily.

"Good morning," I murmured.

I had a fleeting thought of "morning breath" but quickly dismissed it as I leaned down and gave her a gentle kiss. Zoey's smile was even brighter when I pulled away.

I'm going to wake up to this every day now, I thought happily.

"What time is it?" she asked, stretching out a little. Her naked body pressed even closer against mine wreaked all sorts of havoc on my sanity.

"Um... A-around noon," I replied, barely coherent.

Zoey's eyebrows rose. "Wow. I don't think I've ever slept in this long."

"I think it's forgivable," I noted dryly. "Jet lag and all. Plus, we stayed up late."

Our eyes met, smiles coming unbidden to our faces. Her cheeks turned a little pink, and I could feel my own face heat up in response as our thoughts immediately strayed to why we were up so late.

I think the hilarity of our mutual shyness struck us both at the moment, because both of us erupted into laughter- giddy, almost hysterical guffaws that made our sides hurt and tears come out of Zoey's eyes.

After everything we'd done together last night, there really wasn't a reason to be modest anymore.

I pressed a kiss to her forehead as we came down from our giggling fit, trying to regain our composure.

"Was there anything you wanted to do today?" I finally managed to ask. "Sight-seeing, or...?

Spending all day in bed with me? Take option two- please?

Zoey bit her lip, her eyes taking on a wicked gleam that again brought the comparison to a fire fairy to my mind. Everything in me immediately stood at attention in anticipation.

She suddenly sat up and swung one leg over my hips so she was straddling me, her curls falling wildly around her face. Zoey on top of me like that had to be the sexiest sight I'd ever seen.

"I have a few ideas," she replied coyly.

Amazingly, a fresh blush bloomed across her cheeks as she leaned down to lay a trail of hot kisses on my neck, her hands brushing along my chest, traveling lower, lower-

I decided right then that I didn't mind if she spent the rest of our marriage flushing like that. At least I'd always know when she was thinking of something naughty.

We finally set foot out of our hotel room for the first time on the third day of our honeymoon, when the maids basically kicked us out so they could at least vacuum and change our sheets. We'd been ordering off the room service menu since we got there, neither of us willing to fully dress and leave the room long enough to eat.

But once we were out and about, it was as if we both remembered that we were complete nerds at heart and had a city full of history at our fingertips. The Louvre, the Champs-Elysees, the Arc de Triomphe, Tuileries Gardens, Notre Dame, the Latin Quarter, the Eiffel Tower, and the Museum of French History... We saw all of it and more over the next two weeks.

Still- Zoey only needed to give me a look, her eyes smoldering with emerald flames, and back we'd go running to the hotel room. She'd bought all sorts of frilly lingerie for this trip and half of it didn't survive, to my dismay. It was something I needed to work on, but thankfully Zoey seemed to have no problem allowing me to practice undressing her. Over and over again.

One day we rented a car and drove to the town where Zoey's mother had grown up, where her parents met. Saint-Evroult-Notre-Dame-du-Bois was a tiny commune mainly known for the ruins of a Benedictine abbey within its bounds and not much else.

Zoey walked around with a pensive look on her face that made me wonder what exactly she was looking for. Was she hoping to feel her parents' presence here somehow, after over twenty years?

"Zoey...?"

She looked up at me with a wistful smile, already anticipating the question on my mind. "I didn't expect to feel anything magical here," she explained. "I just wanted to see it once, to know what it looked like with my own eyes."

Zoey stood on tiptoe to give me a kiss.

"Thank you for coming with me, Hank."

Eventually it was time to face real life again, though I didn't really mind all that much. As strange as it sounded, I was eager to see what normalcy would be like for us. The "after" of the "happily ever after," so to speak.

Zoey's- our- apartment was quiet and tidy when we got back to New York. Lucie, Charlie and Sydney surrounded us as soon as I carried Zoey over the threshold to our home, purring so hard that their bodies were vibrating with happiness.

I did a quick reconnaissance sweep while Zoey was busy greeting the cats, trying to find anything out of place. I was still worried that Alex and Sean had done something while we were gone...

There was a still-warm casserole on the counter with a note from Marceline, but I didn't immediately find anything else.

Not until later that night before bed, when I opened up the medicine cabinet in the bathroom to put my toothbrush away and was hit in the face by the deluge of condoms that fell out. A note was taped to the back of the cabinet door that simply said, "You're welcome. Go get her, Beast!"

Some things, I decided, never change.