"What kind of wife are you being right now?"
He might as well have shouted it into her face instead of whispering it on the other side of the room. For an instant, her whole world stops. Then in the back of her mind, the ugly little cockroach known as Doubt raises its disgusting head and starts to speak.
He lied to me. He doesn't love me. He lied.
She doesn't really remember grabbing the robe that hung next to her much less putting it on or leaving the room or running through the house or sealing all the windows and doors closed or climbing the tree or even rearranging the branches to make a nest for herself at the spot where branches meet trunk. She's not really aware of the world around her as she curls into a fetal position and cries in near hysterics. All she knows is the pain and misery caused by nine little words.
When she first hears the voices of her parents, her first instinct is to climb down and let them fix everything. But Doubt makes Abe's words ring in her ears once more bringing a fresh wave of tears and self loathing with them. When she hears Hellboy mention Abe's name, cold numbness starts to seep into her soul, her body already shivering from it. She doesn't think she'll ever be warm again as she pulls herself into a tighter ball and tears wet the bark of the tree once more.
Abe circles around the trees until he's on the opposite side of the old oak from the rest of the group, his natural ability to see in the dark serving him well. Once he has a clear view of the back of the tree, he quietly takes off his gloves and stuffs them into one of his belt pouches. He has no doubt that the reason John fell out of the tree was because the dryad didn't want him to get to Maggie. Abe doesn't intend to give the tree spirit the same chance.
He prepares himself by getting into a sprinter's stance, flexing his muscles until he feels ready. Then with a burst of speed, he takes off like a shot towards the tree. A few feet from the trunk, he leaps into the air and hits the tree a second later with a loud 'thud.' Using momentum, strength, claws and suckers, he scrambles up to the top of the trunk where the branches all meet. Just as he makes his goal, he can feel the bark go suspiciously smooth under his hands.
He braces himself against the three large branches leading from the trunk and looks down. Maggie is curled up in a hole that she created simply by extending and moving the tree's trunk and branches. In the low light it's hard to tell, but her lips seem to be the wrong color. He reaches down and touches her hand and is surprised by how cold it is.
Before he can pull her up from her self made nest, an unseen force hits him causing his balance to suddenly shift. He quickly scrabbles to regain his position but is swiftly knocked off balance once more. He holds onto one branch with claws and suckers as the invisible foe continues its assault.
"Abe, what are you doing up there?" Selma calls out.
"Trying to get Maggie down," Abe yells back as he's hit once more.
The hits aren't hard enough to hurt him, but they are capable of knocking him off balance and quite possibly out of the tree if he lets go. He tries to see his attacker, but there's nothing there and he can't pick anything up psychically either. He wants to get to Maggie, but it's all he can do to hang on.
"The dryad thinks you're going to hurt her," Selma tells him. "I'll try and get it to calm down. But I must warn you that I'm better with animals than with plants. Maggie's the one with the talent for vegetation."
"Could you just hurry please," Abe replies with gritted teeth. "Maggie's skin was very cold when I touched it."
A second later, the attacks stop, but Abe continues to hold onto the tree until he hears Selma arguing with the dryad. Once he's sure the tree spirit is distracted, he releases his hold on the branch and goes to Maggie. He lays a hand on her back and checks her vital signs. When he looks at her face, red, bloodshot, tear filled eyes stare back at him and he can feel her body shivering. And then it hits him.
He lied to me. He doesn't love me. He lied.
"I'm sorry," he whispers, barely able to block out most of her pain as he wipes away the fresh tears. "I do love you. I was angry. I didn't mean to hurt you. I love you. I'm sorry."
She tries to throw her arms around him, but after about an hour curled up in a tree on a cold night all she manages to do is hit him in the chest with one of her arms. He gives out a grunt at the solid blow. She whimpers and pulls away when she realizes what she's done. With a gentle smile, he places her arms around his neck as he carefully pulls her out of the hole.
She holds on as best she can, but the shivering turns to shaking and then into tremors all in very quick succession. Abe holds her tight as he moves her over to the edge of the nest.
"Hellboy, please take Maggie," Abe requests of his friend as he starts to lean over the side of the tree.
Hellboy reaches up and easily catches her as Abe lowers her down. All is going well until she refuses to let go of Abe's neck.
"Maggie, let go please," Abe says as he tries to loosen her grip on him. "Go with Hellboy, dear heart. I'll be down in a minute."
It takes several heartbeats before Maggie complies and relaxes her hold. As soon as she lets go, Hellboy holds her to his chest. Rupert comes over and wraps the throw he brought tightly around her body. Abe quickly starts to climb down only to have the unseen force once again hit him and this time it succeeds in knocking him out of the tree.
"Ouch," Abe groans as he looks up at a half moon through the branches of the tree.
"Sorry about that," Selma apologizes holding her hand out to him. "The dryad of this tree has always been a bit cranky."
"Good to know," he mutters as he takes her hand.
She tries to help him up, but nearly lands on top of him instead. He releases his hand and starts to get up on his own until John grabs his arm and hauls him to his feet. Abe smiles his thanks and then quickly follows Hellboy and Rupert who've already started for the house.
"John, can you call ahead to the house?" Abe asks the young agent.
"Sure, what do you need?" John replies.
"Maggie needs a warm bath ready and tea with lots of honey in it or hot chocolate," Abe tells him.
John talks into his wrist for a minute and then listens as he gets a reply back.
"Ok, they're working on it," John informs Abe.
"Thanks, John," Abe responds as he quickens his pace to catch up with Hellboy.
A short time later, though it seems more like an eternity to Abe, they're entering the house through the atrium where Susan meets them with a cup of hot coco in her hands.
"We're working on the tea," she states as she hands Abe the drink. "Liz has the bath ready up in Maggie's room."
"Thank you," Abe replies as he carefully takes the drink.
Without breaking stride, Hellboy quickly walks through the house, up the stairs and into Maggie's room. Liz is waiting for them by the bathroom door looking worried. They all go into the bathroom where Abe places the hot chocolate onto the counter and then he takes Maggie from Hellboy.
"Should we call Dr. Hodson?" Selma asks.
"No," Abe answers as he places Maggie in a sitting position on the floor next to the tub and starts to remove her from the blanket and robe she's in. "She's a gynecologist and a pediatrician; she's not a general practitioner."
"Abe's a doctor," Hellboy assures the worried parents. "She'll be fine with him taking care of her."
"I have to strip Maggie before I put her in the bath," Abe tells the room of people. "If anyone is uncomfortable with this, I suggest you leave now. Liz, could you please stay for a few moments?"
"Sure," Liz replies as Rupert and Hellboy quickly vacate the area.
"I want to make sure the water is the correct temperature," Abe states as he dips his hand in the water. "It's perfect, thank you."
"Not a problem," Liz replies. "Anything else you need?"
"No, thank you, Liz," Abe answers as he continues to strip his shivering wife. "Sleep well. I'll see you in the morning."
"Ok, goodnight," Liz responds just before she disappears through the doorway.
"Do you need my help for anything?" Selma asks.
"Yes, please bring me Maggie's drink," Abe requests as he picks Maggie up and carefully lowers her into the tub.
Selma quickly complies and Abe takes the warm drink from her and holds it to Maggie's lips. After a couple failed attempts, Maggie starts to drink her hot chocolate as Selma watches worriedly. Once the drink is done, Maggie starts to shake very violently and she looks up at Abe with fear in her eyes. Abe hands the empty cup back to Selma before he starts scooping warm water over the parts of her that can't fit under water thanks to a not so big tub.
"It's alright, love," he calmly tells her above the sound of her teeth chattering. "It's just your body's reaction to being warmed up after being cold for so long. You'll be ok."
Abe continues to calmly talk to her as her body starts to adjust to being warm again. His whole world revolves around her wellbeing and he's nearly startled out of his scales when a hand rests itself on his shoulder. He turns and sees Selma holding a different cup than the one before.
"Here's her tea," Selma states as Abe takes the cup.
"Thank you," Abe replies as he takes the mug.
Maggie drinks the tea without complaint as Abe puts more hot water in the tub. Once that drink is consumed, the cup is handed back to Selma who disappears with it only to return a short time later with another cup. This pattern repeats for about an hour until Maggie refuses to drink anything else because she's too full.
It's just as well as few moments later, the twins wake up for their midnight feeding. At Abe's request, Selma brings them in one at a time. Abe strips them, checks to make sure their not about to have a bowel movement and then places them in the water with Maggie.
Maggie sits up in the tub while they latch on much better than expected and watches passively as their color changes and their gills flare out from their necks. Maggie sinks back into the water after Abe encourages her to do so. He monitors them closely and something he suspected would happen, does.
"What happened to their noses?" Maggie asks, staring in wonder at her children.
"The nostrils closed," Abe replies. "Like a seal's does when it swims. Their gills are giving them all the oxygen they need right now. They won't be able to stay long since there isn't a lot of oxygen in the water to begin with."
"Oh, my," Selma breathes as she watches her grandchildren go through their transformation. "They're…they're…"
"A chip off the old block," Maggie smiles fondly at the two babes.
"Not quite," Abe chuckles. "I doubt that they'll be able to talk underwater like I can."
"That's good to know," Maggie states as a wicked smile creeps across her lips. "When they start back talking, I'll just through them in the tank with you and you can deal with them."
"Might not be a good idea, my love," Abe warns with an answering smile. "You don't want to know what I'll do for revenge."
"Hm, it could be worth the risk though," she snickers.
He chuckles as he leans over and gently kisses his wife's warm lips.
"Your lips look much better pink than blue," he observes as he adds a little more water to the bath.
"They feel better too," she sighs, sinking a little lower in the water.
The twins quite happily feed as their father keeps an eye on their breathing. After Selma finally gets used to her grandchildren's unusual abilities, Abe sends her to bed. She resists at first until a very large yawn convinces her otherwise.
Just as the twins are finishing nursing, Abe has Maggie sit up a bit so they can breathe with their lungs again. Morgan finishes first so Abe takes her, dries her off, burps her, dresses her and puts her to bed. When he returns Dylan is burped and happily floating in the water with his mother, eyes half closed. Abe takes him out with some minor amounts of protesting from the little one and repeats everything with Dylan that he did with Morgan with the exception of the burping.
When the babies are sound asleep, Abe returns to the bathroom with clothes for Maggie where he finds that she's nearly asleep herself. After pulling the plug, he helps her out of the bath, dries her off and helps her dress. Once he gets her into bed, he tightly tucks the covers around her and then climbs into bed next to her. He stays on top of the bedding for fear that his lower body temperature will cool her down again. She snuggles up to him as best she can and he wraps his arms around her. Within a matter of moments, they're both sound asleep.
They're shocked out of a sound sleep by a couple crying babies. Both of them let out groans as he rolls out of bed to retrieve the screaming infants while she sits up and gets ready to feed them. A little while later, the twins are happily nursing away as their parents slowly wake the rest of the way up.
A brief glance at the clock shows that Abe will be leaving in just under an hour. She tries to hide the sadness, but he can feel it without even trying. He removes the pillow that's supporting her back out from behind her and then takes its place. She gladly leans into him as he holds her from behind.
"That's odd," she whispers as the babies near the end of their feeding.
"What's odd?" he groggily asks, shocked out of his light doze.
"One of my nipples is sore and the other one isn't," she answers. "They were both sore last night before we made love but now only one of them hurts. I haven't had time to put the lanolin on, so I'm confused."
Abe gently lays a hand on top of each breast and then lets out a low chuckle.
"What's so funny?" she demands.
"It seems the breast that's not hurting is the one I was, um, licking," he purrs into her ear.
He can hear her breath catch in her throat and feel a shiver race down her back. He chuckles as he gently starts to stroke the soft, warm skin beneath his hands. She lets out a groan as her head falls back onto his shoulder and suddenly his shorts are too tight.
"I could lick the other one if you like," he suggests in a husky whisper.
"Oh, god, yes," she breathes as she can feel goose bumps forming everywhere and a certain part of her body heating up.
"We'll need to wait until the twins are done eating first, though," he reminds her as he pulls his hands away.
She lets out a whimpering moan at the thought of waiting and the loss of skin to skin contact. He chuckles once more as he plants a kiss on her neck. Another shiver charges down her spine as her breathing becomes faster.
"Beast," she whimpers as she forces her head into an upright position.
Abe just chuckles and a few minutes later Dylan finishes his meal. As Abe deals with getting him back to bed, Morgan falls asleep while still nursing. Maggie breaks the suction and then hands her daughter over to her husband. She watches as he lovingly places the little one next to her brother and a soft smile comes to her lips to see such a tender scene.
No sooner does he lie the child down than he is across the room and on the foot of the bed in a single leap causing her to giggle with surprise and the bedsprings to squeak in protest. He crawls like a predator over her body forcing her to lie back. She snickers and a single thought enters his mind from her: catfish. Before she can so much as gasp, his lips claim hers in a passionate kiss as his hand slides up under her top, over the warm skin of her stomach to finally reach that accursed night bra which she's pulled back over her breasts though she hasn't completely refastened it.
He's barely aware of his top being pulled off of him as he frees her breasts from the binding garment. He pushes her top up, exposing her torso and all of that delicious pale skin. He lets her up for air and utters a groan at her half naked form.
Starting at her navel, he starts to kiss, lick and nip his way up to those orbs that seem to be taunting him with her every breath. He hardly acknowledges his respirator being removed as he concentrates on driving her crazy. Even the air hitting his gills doesn't slow him down.
All too soon for him and not soon enough for her, he reaches her breasts. He starts to lick the sore nipple with broad strokes of his tongue and she lets out a low moan as her back slightly arches off of the bed. A drop of her milk hits his tongue and he can't help himself, he needs, wants more.
Using his lips and tongue to protect her from his teeth, he latches on and actually starts trying to nurse. She gasps and grasps the back of his head in her hands as her back comes completely off of the bed. She's blind with need and she's not sure what to do about it.
Careful not to scratch her with his nails, he slips his hand under the covers that are still hiding the lower half of her body. He quickly and easily finds the small bundle of nerves between her legs and swiftly sends her flying over the edge. By shear luck, she manages to grab a pillow and cram it over her face in time to muffle her screaming her release.
While she's still floating around the stratosphere, he slips out of bed to rid himself of his shorts. By the time he crawls under the covers with her, she's returned to Earth and she has a look of concern on her face. He staves off any questions by kissing her slowly and deliberately.
His hands caress her body as he carefully removes her clothing. She moans into his mouth as her hands delicately trace long strokes along his body. He draws away long enough to remove the last of her clothes before he pulls her into his arms and presses the evidence of his arousal into her leg.
She wraps her leg around his hips and tries to pull him even closer to her. He resists her at first, delighting in just nibbling on her earlobe and neck until she starts kissing his gills. With a snarl, he rolls her onto her back and slides into her sublime heat.
He promises himself that he'll go slow and make it last, but she has other plans. She licks his gills and then blows cool air across them causing a chill to run up his spine. A growl resonates through the room as he starts slamming himself into her sending her flying towards the edge of oblivion. In a matter of moments he can feel the tingle that starts at the base of his spine and travels to his sack, causing it to pull up into his body as he spills his seed into her.
Their memories flood each other's minds as they hold onto one another as if their lives depend on it. As he comes back down from his high, he realizes that she's crying. He rolls the two of them over so that she's lying next to him and then he pulls the covers up more snugly around them. Sometime later, she relaxes her hold on him as she starts to drift off to sleep. He then slips out of bed again causing her to whimper.
"Hush, my love, I'll be right back," he whispers in her ear just before he kisses her temple.
She simply nods and watches him as he moves around the room. A few moments later he returns with her clothes in hand. He tries to pull the covers down, but finds that she's holding on to them. After a brief tug-o'-war, he wins by yanking so hard that he causes her to sit up.
"Well, that will make getting your clothes back on a little easier," he chuckles as he pulls her top over her head.
She simply scowls at him as she puts her arms through the sleeves. Then he hands her the panties and pajama bottoms which she grudgingly dons. When she's finally fully dressed, he crawls back in bed with her. She nestles down in his arms and in a matter of a few minutes she's sound asleep.
He holds her closer feeling as if his heart will break at the thought of leaving his family behind. He tries to hold onto the thought that she'll be joining him in a few days. But the sadness is almost more than he can bear as he closes his eyelids and holds her even closer.
"Abe!" Guillermo hisses as he gives Abe's shoulder a good shake.
"What?" Abe quietly growls, opening his eyes and glaring at the man as best he can.
"You're making that god awful keening noise again," Guillermo softly grumbles. "We leave in ten minutes, so you better get yourself downstairs. Preferably dressed."
With that, Guillermo turns and limps out the door. Abe waits until he hears the door click shut before throwing back the covers and climbing out of the bed. He quickly recovers Maggie and tucks her in before he goes in search of his gear.
Five minutes later Abe is stepping off of the staircase into the foyer. There's controlled pandemonium as the BPRD agents get ready to move out. He barely even notices an agent brush past him going into the house as he comes out.
When he steps out into the pre-dawn light, he sees that the flatbed truck is now parked in front of the house and there are two crates strapped to the back. Despondently, he climbs into his crate and sits on his bench, leaning against the back wall. Just as the agents are putting the side on his crate, all hell breaks loose.
The agent slides into the room as quiet as smoke, mindful of the sleeping occupant in the bed. He quickly collects the items he was sent to retrieve and just as softly as he entered, he leaves. He almost makes it to his destination when everything falls apart.
She's drifting in the white cloud of sleep. She floats in its billowing softness, knowing nothing but love and kindness. Everything is wonderful until she's ripped from her slumber by the sound of the terrified screams of her children.