Chapter 3

Homecoming

Abram Daniels woke to sunlight stabbing through his eyelids, a stick jabbing him in the back and cold dew covering his body.

"Damn fine way to wake up, I'll tell ye," he mumbled as he propped his aching body up on his elbows. He blearily looked around, noting to himself with pride he had gotten damn near home before changing back.

He was completely unclothed and the chilly morning air, not to mention the dew, was making his skin crawl and shiver. He was used to this though, had been a werewolf for three years. You got used to things like this. And besides, it wasn't like there was anyone there to see him lying there grumbling in the buff.

This is where he was wrong. His eyes finally landed on a young boy, no more the seven, in the same shape he was in, curled tightly on his side in the grass, not too far away.

What in the fresh fecking HELL is going on here?! he thought a bit frantically. I mean, think about it, a twenty-four year old male werewolf living by himself rarely finds himself waking up the night after the change with a child asleep nearby .

Abrams pale blue eyes watched the child with confusion before the memory of the night's incidents came back to him. He was never fully able to control the wolf side of him during the change but he still had it's memory when he awoke. He remembered the boy and his old man out in the woods...and he had..

He swallowed hard against the sick feeling he got and looked at the boys small wrist. It was covered with laceration marks and the bone stuck out at an odd angle. The boy whimpered a little in his sleep, but didn't stir. A cricket hopped it's way onto the boy's bare shoulder and from there onto his cowlick.

Abram dropped his head into his hands and let out a moan of guilt. What was he going to do with this kid? He gave a sigh and rose to his feet gingerly, going to where he hid a fresh pair of clothes. He pulled the pants on and did them up, and then looked at the shirt. He went to the kid and gently as he could, put him in the shirt. It was big enough to be like a nightshirt to him.

He picked the boy up gingerly, trying not to hurt or wake him, and he didn't as the boy was almost unconscious from exhaustion and blood loss. He walked the rest of the way to his house, barefoot, and his feet were just about frozen by the time he got there.

Damn winter. he thought bitterly as he pushed the door open and let it shut behind him.

Abram was a Muggle, a werewolf, but a Muggle, so he would know of no way to heal or set bones as a mediwizard would. So, he did the next best thing. He took care of the boy first, washing the cuts off, and getting salve of some sorts that he had gotten from the drug store and band aids for the smaller cuts, bandages for the larger. The major problem was the broken wrist. He considered resetting it, which he knew was what should be done, but he couldn't bring himself to pop the broken bone back in place and hurt the kid even more. So, he doctored the wounds and wrapped it, and then tended to his own minor scratches.

He got up and started a fire, and then got a blanket to put over the boy, whom he had laid on the couch, to keep him warm. He looked down at the boy, his own shirt making him appear smaller and thinner then he already was, and the white color making his face more pallid. A child. Just a little child. The thought sent a wave of nausea over him and he barely made it to his restroom.

Once he was threw emptying the contents of his stomach, what little there was, he stood up shakily, and went to the basin. He turned on the faucet and filled his hands with cool water, sloshing it around his mouth and spitting it out to clean out the taste, then proceeding to wash his face.

He looked up at his reflection as he grabbed for a towel, knowing his face wasn't going to be a pleasant one to wake to for the kid. He was young still, and handsome before having been bitten. Still was probably, but the shadows under his eyes, the weeks worth of stubble over sunken cheeks and the worn glaze to his eyes diminished that fact. He dried his face and went to the kitchen, putting a pot of water on the stove to make tea. Once it was done, he made two cups and went to sit down beside the couch until the kid woke.

It wasn't that long he would have to wake. Remus' eyes flew open and once they took in the strange house and bedraggled and harassed looking young man beside him, both hands went to the couch and shoved himself up with a scared gasp, which of course, turned to a sharp cry of pain as his broken wrist gave way under him sending him back to the couch.

Abram nearly fell off his chair at the kid's reaction, which he should have expected, and put his hands on the boy's shoulders to calm him.

"Kid, hey, hey Kid, come'n I'm not gonna hurt ya..." No more then I already have, he told himself darkly, sickened by the thought. "Calm down now, you're gonna mess up that wrist even more."

The boy stopped his struggle and looked up at him with pain- and fright- tear filled tawny eyes. He swallowed, and nodded to the stranger, forcing himself to be brave, but allowing a sniffle to escape him to make known his plight.

"There now. Here, have some tea." he said, handing the kid a cup of tea. God, this is why I didn't want kids.. I don't know how to talk to 'em....he mentally mumbled. "You gotta name?"

"R-R-Remus Lu-upin." came the unsteady reply.

"Ah, good name. Now.. er..." he trailed off, not knowing what to say.

"Why am I here? Who are you?" the kid (Remus, not the kid,) asked, taking up on the questions.

"I'm Abram Daniels, call me Abe. You're at my place because... I found ya this morning, laying out in that pasture there," he pointed out to the pasture lined with trees where he had awoken. "and I brought ya in to fix ya up..."

Remus nodded morosely, quiet for a moment. "Thank you," he said finally, startling Abe again.

"Wha was that?" he asked, amazed for a minute. A thanks? No one thanked him. Except for his ex, who thanked him for nothing when they split, but that didn't count.

"Thank you, for helping me." he said again, calmly as if it were a blatantly obvious fact.

He's got manners 'est, praise God. "Oh, ah, no problem... Say, what happened to you, you look like you got jumped." he said, regretting his words as soon as they were spoken.

The boy's lower lip trembled and a shiver passed over him. "I...I don't remember much. Just that I got.. I got..." he stumbled, not sure if he should say.

"Go on kid, ya can tell me," he said gently, already knowing.

"I got.. b-bite by a wolf." Remus finally said, looking a bit paler.

"That would explain that nasty problem ya got with your wrist. Hmm, ya don't think you'll be able to help me get you home do ya?" he asked, wanting to give the kid back to his parents more so now then ever. He doesn't even have the slightest clue it could have been me that bite him, what am I gonna tell his folks?

###

Xavier Lupin woke up early the next morning, not particularly caring to. He woke up and found the spot beside him where his wife slept empty. A heavy sigh was given and he pulled himself to his feet and put on a bathrobe over his night clothes to ward off chill and made his way downstairs.

His wife was in the kitchen, absently washing an already clean dish in the sink, eyes intently staring out the window over it, watching the tree line as if expecting someone to come out. The sight of this made his stomach turn a little, guilt weightily on his shoulders.

Clara gave a bit of a start as her husband put a hand on her back , and looked at him with startled, red rimmed eyes. When her husband and neighbor had returned home with just her son's rent and bloodstained jumper, she had fainted, flat out. Her son, only son was gone. This morning it wasn't much better, but at least now she was convinced it was some heinous joke.

Xavier didn't go to work that day, not caring if his boss would give him hell the next day, he already had his own personal one, what was one more? After a painfully silent half an hour with his wife, who was still watching out the window, he went upstairs and changed into decent clothes. He had gotten downstairs just in time to hear a sharp rap at the door.

Probably Frank, coming over to say his grievances, he thought, not wanting it to be that, but somewhat expecting it. But when he opened the door, that was not who it was. In fact, it was the very person he least expected to see.

###

Abe had dressed the kid as best he could, settling for a pair of his cut off shorts which fit the boy like high waters, and the shirt he had put on him earlier. He'd managed to remember to drag a comb through his silver flecked black hair to make himself somewhat more presentable and put a shirt on gingerly.

"Ok, lets go to the truck." he told the kid, Remus, who looked frankly puzzled at the word.

Once they went outside to his truck, it became apparent to Abe, that this kid had never seen nor been in a vehicle. After a minute of persuasion, and stacking a phone book or two on the seat so he could see out, Abe got in the drivers' seat and gunned the truck to start.

Soon enough, the truck was sailing at an easy speed down the country road. Remus had walked with his mother to town, a good length away and knew the road vaguely, but he still made Abe pass up the street so they had to turn around and go back to it. But other then that, finding home was second nature to him.

The truck came to a stop in front of the house and several of the families with houses nearby looked out curiously at the machine. Wow... must be pretty old fashioned, I don't see a car here. Abe thought vaguely, as he took the boy's hand and was led to the proper house. He ran his free hand through his hair nervously, and then rapped on the door, rather sharper then he intended.

A very tired looking man, roughly over five years Abe's senior answered and with a perplexed look his eyes went from Abe to the boy and widened in shock.

"Da!!" the boy cried out (causing Abe to about jump out of his skin) and threw himself at the older man unheeding of his broken wrist, to be caught gratefully by the elder.

Abe coughed a bit. "Guess I'll be goin' now.." he said uneasily, preparing to turn around and walk back to his truck, hands in his pockets now.

"Wait," the older man said, catching him by the elbow. Abe shuddered at the touch. "...thank you...and...how...?" he said, a bit in awe, watching the younger man.

Abe turned around and gave a small, weak smile, his haggard but still youthful face lighting a bit. "No problem sir, he's a good kid. Found him this mornin', asleep out in one of my pastures...brought him in and patched him up best I could, then he helped me get him back here...Nothing really." he said a bit awkwardly, not used to having people be openly kind to him, and in a bit of confusion over the others dressing.

"I can only thank you so much, but...you gave me my son back, there's nothing I could ever do for you that could repay that," Xavier said sincerely, arms around the boy protectively.

You could find me a cure...all of us for that matter. But no one can, and that's ok. "Don't think of it...Honest." Was what he said, rather then verbalizing the previous thought.

He soon found in his hand a gold piece, evidently pulled from some pocket or another from the other man's, well, robes he guessed he could call them.

"Xavier, what's the- REMUS!" a woman's voice said, her voice raising two octaves as she caught sight of the boy and she soon scooped him up in her arms, tears of relief on her face.

Abe coughed awkwardly again, fumbling with the coin in his hands.

"It's the least I can do, and, thank you again." Xavier said, his own face breaking into a smooth smile.

For once, Abe found himself giving the odd man a true smile back. "Anytime." he said and walked down the path to his truck, and drove off thinking what in God's name he was going to do with a gold piece.

Author's Note: Heheh! I think I like my O/C were Abram more then my lead now!...Nah, not really ;) Well.. hope ye liked ^^