I apologize for the wait. The last few times I tried posting ANYTHING on , I was given the "document did not process" message. I've worked a little bit on this between homework, and I hope you guys like it! I thank everyone who's reviewed my story, and, again, I apologize for the long wait. Please read, review, and enjoy!

This just wasn't right.

How could a giant, red, horned man-thing walk around with a half fish-half man creature and not be noticed? He had nothing against Abe or Hellboy, but he just assumed it would be much easier to find them, especially considering their, for lack of a better word, distinguishing features. Liz he could understand, since she was the only one who was fully a technical human, but he'd gotten the impression from some of the other agents that Johann wasn't so easy on the eyes either.

The ride from Dublin had been nearly 5 hours, and he began to go a little stir crazy. His driver had dropped him off at an elegant looking building overlooking the coastline. It was situated at the fork of a road. He was to be staying at the York directly in Porstewart. When he got there, he was pleasantly surprised to find that his room was ready upon arrival and wasted no time in dumping his things into his room. As he wheeled in his suitcase, John felt his jaw drop and he gaped at the positively ornate room. It was an alien sight, even before his transferral.

For the last two hours, John had been seemingly every where in town, asking whoever he could about his "friends" to no avail. John hadn't so much as a whiff of kitty litter or rotten eggs. It had seemed as though they'd just dropped off the map, most probably the work of Abe and Liz.

He was about ready to call it a day and hole up in the hotel by the time the sun was setting. On his way back towards the York, he saw a small coffee shop and decided to grab a cup.

Inside he grabbed a rather large coffee and sat next to the window. The glass on the pane was fogged, so the cashier, who obviously had nothing better to do on this slow night, cracked it open a bit to clear the fog. The air in the shop had the sour-sweet smell of different pastries and breads baking, and as it met the crisp ocean-licked air, John had the inkling that this was what the "beach-house" scented candles were trying to capture.

The scent of cinnamon and sea salt was haunting his nostrils when he noticed a figure striding down the street. He could almost feel his eyes dilate while he moved to get a glare-free angle through the window. The long-black hair of a woman whipped about as it was buffeted by the brisk sea breeze. The woman came closer and John noticed something familiar about her gait and the shape of her face.

He placed his coffee down and quickly jumped out of the door as the figure neared. After the moment it took for his eyes to adjust to the light, John's breath caught. Over 3000 miles away from where they'd last met, John stood face to face with Elizabeth Sherman.


The moment dragged on like an eternity as they both stood as enemies in a stalemate.

Liz regained her composure and found her voice. "J-John? John, is that you?"

John could hardly believe how time had treated her. The worry lines on her face had become much clearer than before, and her clothes were threadbare, making her seem at least 10 years older. Back in Newark, the Liz he knew was also considerably slimmer than the one standing before him.

"Yes..."

Without another word, they approached each other and shared a long embrace. Though neither of them were telepathic, thoughts and words flowed through their touch faster than any of them could be coherently spoken. Eventually they broke their hug and just looked at one another.

"So how are you?," asked John. He knew just from looking that there had to be something wrong. A precursory analysis of her face showed from her puffy eyes and red nose that she'd be crying recently and the scent of fire hung over her like a veil.

"I've been better," she admitted. "I'm not sure that we can keep going, Myers. I don't know if you've noticed, but things aren't as great as we imagined they would be when we left." She spread her arms and looked around herself as if inviting him to insult her appearance.

John only nodded in agreement. Moving onto a different topic, John asked, "How're Abe and this Johan guy?"

"They're fine." Liz knew from looks alone that John had found out about Hellboy's involvment in his transfer, and the fact that he purposely avoided talking about him up to that point only confirmed it.

"And... Hellboy? How's he?"

Liz's brow furrowed in concern as the air grew tense. John's tone was much lower, and at the same time, menacing. His intensity could almost be felt like one of Liz's heatwaves as it rolled across a room.

"As good as he'll ever be, I suppose," Liz said. John's curt nod served to place her off the hook. John totally forgot about his coffee and just walked with Liz in the direction of his hotel.

"I'm staying in the York, do you want to room with me? We could talk about... things."

Liz smiled genuinely for the first time in a long time. "Y'know, for a schmuck, you really do have excellent timing."


Thank you guys so much for reading, and I'll try and get the next chapter up as soon as possible. It may take a while though, since SAT's and whatnot aren't far away.