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Zoe was halfway through her second cup of coffee when a soft knock echoed through the hotel room's door, making her reach for the gun she had tucked under her belt as she went over and peered through the spy-hole. It was still mind-boggling to her that they were trusting Eddie Brock, of all people, but she pushed that aside as she unlocked and opened the door. "Hey. You're early. Are those donuts?"

Angel poked her head out of the bathroom, raising her voice to be heard over the hairdryer as she helped Cat straighten her auburn hair. "Did someone say 'donuts'?"

"Bottomless pit," Zoe chuckled fondly, shaking her head as she glanced back at Eddie. "C'mon in. Just don't wake Jaz, she's only been asleep for an hour."

There was a groan from the nearest bed. "S'too late. M'up."

Frowning, Eddie stepped into the room and looked over at Jasmine as she sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed, rubbing at her eyes as she yawned. "Sorry to wake you."

"S'okay. Zoe? Coffee?"

"Just a sec. Double strong, double sweet?"

"Please." Jaz ran her good hand through her tousled hair, then gave Eddie a tired smile. "'Mornin'. You're early, aren't you? Sit down. Zoe? What the hell time is it?"

"Nine-thirty," Zoe supplied as she handed a mug of coffee to the mutant. "Angel's up, she's just tying Cat's hair into a braid."

Amused, Eddie claimed a chair and set the box of donuts on the small table, watching as Jasmine sipped at the steaming hot liquid. Her shoulders were slouched, betraying how worn out she was, and it was easy to see the lines of pain on her face. The dark circles under her eyes along with her pale complexion made the almost healed cut on her cheek look worse than it was, and he winced in sympathy as she stiffly rose to her feet and stretched, a grimace of pain flitting over her expression as she curled her cast encased arm against her side.

A blur of movement from the bathroom doorway announced Cat's entrance into the room, and the young teen used the second bed as a trampoline in order to propel herself onto Jasmine's back. Afraid that they would both end up crashing to the floor, Eddie lunged to his feet with the intention of catching them, stopping short when Jasmine merely grunted at the impact, not phased in the least by Cat's abrupt leap onto her back.

"Oof! You're getting a bit old for this, aren't you, pup?" Smirking, Jaz turned her attention away from the girl that was now attached to her and arched an eyebrow at Eddie where he stood frozen in mid-lunge, chuckling at the expression on his face. "I'm stronger than I look, remember?"

He blinked, then returned her smile. "We remember." Relieved, he sat back down again, nodding to Zoe in thanks when she handed him a mug of coffee.

"Alright, velcro girl, off!" Wielding a rolled up magazine, Zoe lightly smacked Cat on the shoulders, chasing her off and away from Jaz. "Give her a chance to finish her coffee and get some painkillers into her before you start jumpin' on her."

-Yes mother,- Cat signed, rolling her eyes at Zoe as she did so.

"Don't you sass me," Zoe teased as she pushed a bottle of juice into the young girl's hands. "Eddie brought donuts, so if you want any you'd better claim one now before Angel gets out of the bathroom."

"I heard that!"

Cat snickered and went to pluck a powdered donut out of the box, grinning at Eddie. -She's only mad because it's true.-

He smiled around the rim of his coffee mug as Zoe translated Cat's sign language, chuckling when Angel let out another yell of protest. They've done a complete one-eighty since we spoke to them last night. Could they have accepted us that quickly?

[See? We said that they were different than the other humans.]

It's still surprising.

[True.]

With a shake of her head, Jaz went to rummage through her backpack, growling in triumph as her questing fingers closed around the bottle of extra-strength Tylenol. A quick rattle of the bottle told her that there were plenty of pills left and she smirked as she shook out seven pills and quickly downed them with the rest of her coffee, pointedly ignoring the worried looks that the other three in the room were giving her as she set her mug on top of the tv and went to invade the bathroom.

Angel, who suddenly found herself shoved out of the bathroom, turned to stick her tongue out at the closed door before letting her attention wander over to their guest. "Morning! Oh, you really did bring donuts! I could kiss you!"

Zoe laughed. "The doctors said that she shouldn't drink coffee while she's pregnant, so she switched to sweets," she explained to Eddie. "You should consider yourself lucky that you weren't here when she went through caffeine withdrawal."

"That was not my fault!" Glaring at Zoe, Angel lowered herself into the second chair at the small table, smiling as she inhaled the smell of fresh donuts. "You try quitting cold turkey when you're used to drinking at least ten cups of coffee a day. Gods, I could have strangled him."

"You could have strangled him?" Zoe snorted and folded her arms across her chest, leaning one hip against the shelf that the TV was perched on. "We're the ones who had to live with you. If you weren't pregnant, we would have drugged you unconscious."

"Gee," Angel muttered sourly, sinking her teeth into a chocolate donut. "Thanks."

-You almost sent us screaming up the walls,- Cat signed, shrugging apologetically when the redhead frowned at her. -Well you did.-

Yawning, Jaz toed the bathroom door open and stepped back into the bedroom, grimacing a little as she dragged a brush through her tangled hair. "Fuckin' fur," she snarled under her breath, pausing in mid step when she saw the disgruntled expression on Angel's face. Unbidden, a low, protective, growl rumbled out of her, drawing Eddie's surprised gaze, and she panicked for a heartbeat before grumbling and going to sit on the edge of a bed. "Sorry."

Taking pity on her, Cat went and knelt on the bed behind her, wrestling the hair brush from Jaz's hands and taking over the task of brushing her hair, knowing that the contact would help calm the mutant. She knew that Jasmine was exhausted, hungry and in pain. All of those things made it harder for her to fight her wolf instincts, and, unfortunately, that added stress only suceeded in bringing her wolf closer to the surface.

Jasmine shifted a little then, leaning back towards her, and Cat peeked over Jaz's shoulder, following the raven haired woman's gaze down to her hands. She was fisting and unfisting her hands, black talons gleaming in the light of the room, and because the young teen was so close, Cat was the only one who realized that Jaz was growling low in her throat.

The conversation that the other three were having fell away as Cat leaned forward and reached out to clasp Jasmine's hands in both of hers, hugging the older woman in an attempt to comfort her. As she held her, the growling slowly stopped, until the mutant gave her hands a gentle squeeze and rose to her feet, dragging Cat along with her.

"I see that growth is back," Zoe smiled as Jasmine joined them, Cat once again clinging to her back. "Feel better?"

She blushed and scratched at what little skin she could reach under her cast. "Yeah."

Angel shook a half-eaten donut at her. "How many times do I have to tell you not to fight your instincts?"

A weak smirk spread over Jaz's lips. "About a few more thousand."

"Oh, haha. Very funny. Just for that you can explain your 'wolf-thing' to Eddie."

Jaz exchanged amused glances with Eddie. "He already knows," she said, blinking when Zoe gaped at her. "What?"

"'He already knows'?" Zoe echoed, eyebrows raised as she glanced between Jaz and a smirking Eddie. "And when, pray tell, did that conversation happen?"

There was an absurd moment where she felt like a pup being chastised, and had she been in her wolf form, her tail would have tucked itself between her legs. Luckily, the moment passed quickly, leaving her to roll her eyes at the teenagers as she folded her arms across her chest. "Gee 'mom', I'm sorry. I didn't realise I needed permission t' have a conversation with someone."

Angel snickered, avoiding Zoe's annoyed look by pretending to be engrossed in plucking another donut out of the box. "This is like watching a kid trying to berate her parents," she mused to Eddie, who looked like he was trying very hard not to laugh.

"Oh, shut up," Zoe grumbled, feeling a blush heat her face. "I just meant... I didn't... dammit."

Taking pity on her, Jaz reached out to touch Zee's arm, smiling into the teen's brown eyes. "I'm touched that you worry about me, pup. That's normal. We're Pack. But I'm quite capable of taking care of myself."

"Not to be a Devil's Advocate," Angel murmured, drawing Jaz's attention, "but have you looked in a mirror recently?"

Jasmine frowned at her. "You're not helping."

"I'm supposed to be helping?"

"Eat your donut."

"Yes'm."

Cat muffled a snicker into Jaz's hair.

"Anyway," Jaz continued, quirking a brow at Eddie when he smirked at her. "My instincts when it comes to my Pack are complicated by Angel's pregnancy. Now more than ever because she's getting close to birthing her pup."

Angel facepalmed. "Don't call my baby a 'pup'. I'm not giving birth to White Fang!"

"Pup. Baby. It's all the same thing."

"No it's not!"

Eddie chuckled, hearing the symbiote snicker in the back of his mind when Angel gave him a dirty look. "White Fang, that's cute." When Angel threw a donut at him, the symbiote quickly lashed a tendril out from his shoulder to snatch the treat out of the air, waving it at her playfully before dropping it back into the box.

Cat glanced at her watch, eyes widening as she jumped off of Jasmine's back, hands moving rapidly. -If we don't leave soon we'll miss the bus!-

"Huh?" Zoe looked at the watch that Cat held up for her to see and cursed. "Bloody hell! We're running late!"

"Bring everything important," Jasmine ordered. "If we have to run again, we should at least have the essentials with us. I can always come back for the rest our things."

"Aye, aye, Cap'tin!"

"Shaddup!"

"You'll get used to the dysfunction," Angel told Eddie with a smile when his jaw dropped a little upon seeing the other three women burst into action and begin running around the room, shoving their meager belongings into backpacks. "The only thing that drives me daft is that they won't let me do anything."

He dragged his gaze away from the whirlwind of activity and gave her a reassuring smile. "Can you blame them? You're what, in your third trimester? Too many things could go wrong, especially since you four have been living on the streets."

"Yeah. I know. But it's still annoying." Frowning, she sunk her chin into the palm of her hand, then grimaced, her free hand lowering to her belly. "Oof! And if this kid doesn't quit kickin' me I'm gonna be black and blue from the inside-out."

"You going to be alright to go out?" Jasmine asked as she rejoined them, hopping into her sneakers while simultaneously tugging her jacket on, cursing when the sleeve caught on her cast. Annoyed, she used a talon to slit the cuff, growling in a feral victory as she yanked the sleeve over the bulky cast.

"Come here, you fool." Laughing, Angel reached out and rolled the sleeve up so that the cast was uncovered, then copied the motion on the other sleeve. "I'll be fine, O' Overprotective One. The bus stop's only a block away. I think I'll survive."

"We could carry you," Eddie suggested, keeping his tone gentle, feeling the Other shift over his skin in agreement. "We wouldn't mind."

She smiled a little and shook her head. "Thanks, but no."

"Stubborn," Jasmine muttered as she slid her arms through the straps of her backpack, then reached down and picked up the other bag that belonged to Angel. Cat tugged on her arm, and she smiled as the young teen handed her blue-tinted sunglasses to her. "Thanks, pup. Zoe?"

Brown eyes sparkled under flame coloured bangs. "Ready. Let's get our asses in gear." Grinning, she grabbed the last donut, shoved it in her mouth, and stomped out the door, humming to herself.

-Well,- Cat signed, a smile tugging at her lips. -We can't ever accuse her of being shy.-

"I can think of other things to call her," Jasmine mused, watching as Eddie got to his feet and offered his arm to Angel, who smiled as she placed her hand in his and let him help her stand. It still bothered her, how her instincts were reacting to him. She couldn't quite filter everything out, but there was certainly a lot of trust involved. Just what I need. Another thing to worry about. I need to find a quiet corner and mull this through. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she quietly ushered Cat after Eddie and Angel, then yanked the door closed and locked it. It's going to be a long day.
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tbc