The Normal Life
By Didi

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters that are recognizable and I certainly don't own the show. Don't sue me cause all you're going to get is lent, and not much of that either.

Summery: Life is hard enough as a teen without in the problems of being wolf. Sequel to "Eyes of Brown... or is it Green," kind of.

Timeline: Hum...this is a toughie. Okay, Eyes was written after the cancellation of Wolf Lake from CBS. I had assumed that it was never coming back again so I can do whatever I wanted with the story without interfering with the show's canon.

Note: For those of you that read my first Wolf Lake fan fic, this story will follow a similar but slightly altered format, you're get it when you read it. And for those of you that have not read my first, it's pretty easy to pick up once you start.

Acknowledgement: Hooray for the return of Wolf Lake!!! Thank you UPN for your wonderful taste in programming. And thanks to everyone that read my first Wolf Lake fan fiction. I hope you all like this one too.

Rating: R for restricted under 17.
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-Sophia's POV-

It's cold, almost frighteningly so. The chill of the night cut through the thin cotten and seem to pierce my skin, drawing blood in the form of goose bumps. Was I frightened? You better believe it. My heart felt like it was thumping away just next to my ear. I don't even remembered getting out of bed.

But here I am, three a.m. in the morning and standing out side of John Kanin's front door. Or I should say his new front door. He had finally decided to take a permanent place in town, a small cottage by the woods. Why did he decide to settle down all of a sudden? I'm not sure. But then again, I'm not sure of anything much these days.

I shouldn't be here; it was too dangerous. Heck, I don't even know what I'm doing here only that I am. My dad would kill me if he knew I was out after curfew. But then again, he'd be also worried to death about where I was, what I was doing and what I might have become. It's the latter part that frightened me more than anything.

"What am I doing here?" I asked the wind as it blew pass me, lifting my hair and carried with it the scent of a man near by. John Kanin.

Looking down at the white nightgown I wore, I was relieved to find it still intact. At least I didn't go canine and simply forgot about it. But then I doubt anyone can forget his or her first time.

Stepping up to the porch, I wondered for a brief moment how I was supposed to explain my sudden appearance at his door. But before I can come up with a feasible excuse, the door was jerked open and I was looking down the barrel of a nine-millimeter. I wonder if I should have been surprised.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Kanin asked sleepily as he lowered the gun and flipped the safety back on. Rubbing his face, he opened the door wider. "Get in here before you freeze to death."

I almost smiled, he sounded so disgruntled by my disturbing his sleep. "I'm sorry to wake you."

"You skulking around my porch at..." He peered at the clock in the darkness of the living room. "Three in the morning and I'm suppose to be all bushy tailed and happy? All the coffee in the world isn't going to do that for me right now. Again, what are you doing here?"

"I..." No excuse as yet to formulate in my mind. "I couldn't sleep and..."

"And you decide to take a walk in the dark," he made a face and sat down on the rub indicating the only chair in the room for me to sit. "Try not to insult my sense of humor while trying to override my intelligence here."

"I'm sorry," talk about feeling completely stupid. I can't even tell him why I'm here since I have yet to figure that part out myself. Well, they say that honesty is the best policy. "I just don't know."

Kanin sat there and sighed, looking at me with those dark-haunting eyes. I wonder if that's what Ruby first saw in him, those eyes that were so beautifully mesmerizing. "You want coffee or tea while we talk?"

"Tea please," I smiled wondering if he knew how much he sounded like my father just then. He didn't even question my motives, just simply let be. "How do you like the new place?"

"Better than the motel," he said putting the kettle on. "Thank your dad for bringing me the crock pot for me will you?"

"Dad got you a crock pot?" This amused me, my father was one of the few people in this world that I know of that really cannot cook. How many pots and pans did he burn to uselessness over the years? But like a good soldier, he kept trying.

"Yeah, I didn't have the heart to tell him I have no idea how to use one." John turned and picked up a book on the counter. "But I did receive a nice crock pot receipt book from Sherman."

"They planned it together I'm guessing."

"Don't guess," he made a face and got down two mugs, both with wolves head on the handle. "By the way, is there anyway I can talk you into finding me some decent mugs?"

"What's wrong with those?"

"Vivian Cates gave them to me," he slanted me a look. "I boiled them in hot water for three hours. If there was poison laced in them, I hope they're all gone."

I nodded in understanding but for totally different reasons than the one he must be speculating. "Mrs. Cates would be more subtle than poison."

"Like?"

I grinned. "Like a nice hunting accident?"

He turned and looked at me with serious eyes, startling me for a moment. "The kind that killed her husband?"

I could have bitten off my tongue for that. "No, I... I'm sorry. That was a really bad joke."

Shrugging those broad shoulders, he turned off the whistling kettle and poured the water before adding the tea bags in. "So why don't you tell me what's got you running around in the dark in your nightgown?"

"Nothing," I shrugged and accepted the hot mug with a thanks. "I really can't think why I just suddenly had to get away."

"And come here?" He grinned and sat on the ground again, settling his mug on the cardboard box turned coffee table. "Sophia, I know that this town has more than its share of secrets and I know that you probably know a lot about much of it. I can respect that your need to keep certain things to yourself but if you need help, I've got to know the truth."

"The truth?" I wanted to laugh. Truth was definitely one of the hardest things to uncover around here. "I can honestly say that I'm not sure what's going on anymore. Things have been going wiggy on me lately and I feel like everything is just spinning out of control. Ever get that feeling? Like you're not in control of anything in your life any more?"

"Yeah," he nodded with a sad smile. "When Ruby disappeared, I felt like my world was collapsing around me and that I can't seem to get a hold of anything."

The haunted look in his eyes, I've seen it many times before in my own father's eyes when he gazed at pictures of my mother. A love so deep and so strong, even when apart it was almost tangible. "You love her?"

"Love?" He looked at me. "A three letter word means almost nothing to me. You can't describe what I feel for Ruby with something so simple, I don't think anyone that's been here before could."

I wanted to tell him then, to try to lift some of that pain of loss I see in his eyes. "What would you give to have her back?"

No hesitation, no regrets. "My life."

I didn't know what to say, if I knew the pack as well as I do, he may end up giving just that for his love. Why did things have to be so complicated, even for a normal person like him? Why can't we get normal lives, as we should be entitled to in this lifetime? Why did things have to be so hard? "I better get going. My dad will be worried if he comes home and I'm not there."

"I'll drive you."

"No need."

"Sure there is," he smiled and grabbed his keys from a hook on the wall.

It suddenly occurred to me that throughout the whole conversation, he never once turned on the light and I never once asked him to. We sat, talked, and had tea in the darkness with only the moon through the window as our only illumination. And while for me, it can be understandable that my hyped up senses no doubt made this a frequent occurrence, Kanin should not have been able to see so well in the dark.

Just when I was about to dismiss the whole train of thought on Kanin's excellent night vision, something else occurred to me. "Hey, how did you know I was on the porch anyways?"

"I heard you," he answered as he started up his car.

Heard me? If I had made even so much as a decibel of sound, I'd suck the tailpipe of this car. He heard me in the silence? I don't think so. What the heck is going on?

TBC