Scene 6:

Carter strode up the path to Alison's house, but then paused at the door, feeling suddenly awkward. Should he ring the bell? Or should he walk right in? The move from friendship to romance had been recent and it still felt so new. He didn't want to take too much for granted, but he also didn't feel like a random visitor. His dilemma was solved for him when Kevin pulled open the door.

"About time you got here, man. I'm starving." Kevin reached for the bag Carter was carrying and pulled it out of his hand, immediately turning and heading into back into the house toward the kitchen.

Carter blinked with surprise. In his experience, a broken bone meant an uncomfortable couple of days lying on the couch, either comfortably stoned on painkillers or uncomfortably waiting for the next dose of painkillers. The first thirty-six hours were usually the worst, but Kevin had broken his collarbone barely ten hours ago.

Shrugging, Carter followed Kevin inside. Alison was in the kitchen, unpacking the food with one hand, and feeding Jenna bites of cereal with the other. "Thanks so much for picking this up, Jack. I know I said I'd cook, but it was a long day."

"My pleasure," Carter brushed her cheek with a kiss and then took the bag away from Alison and started unpacking it himself. "I tried to convince Vincent to give us all cheeseburgers and fries, but he didn't think you'd be too happy about that, so you're stuck with his special fettuccine Alfredo and salad."

Alison dimpled, "I think we can handle that."

Kevin slipped into his chair and started rapidly unloading pasta from the take-out container onto his plate.

"Slow down, Kevin," Alison's reproof was half-laughing. "The food's not going to run away."

"I'm just so hungry," Kevin replied, picking up his silverware impatiently.

"You just ate an apple, didn't you?" asked Alison.

"And a bowl of cereal, but I'm starving."

Alison looked worried. She put her hand on Kevin's forehead. "You feel a little warm," she said thoughtfully.

"I'm fine, Mom, just hungry." Kevin pulled his head away. "Can I start, please?"

"Ma! Ma! Ma!" Jenna demanded attention.

"Okay, Jenna, okay. You can have some, too. Go ahead, Kevin." Alison shook her head, and smiled at Carter. "Dinner-time chaos," she said, as she chopped up some fettuccine into baby-size bites and put the pieces on the tray in front of Jenna.

Carter was watching Kevin eat, thoughtfully. "How's your collarbone feeling, Kev?" he asked, trying to make the question sound casual.

"Feels fine," said Kevin, shoveling pasta into his mouth as quickly as possible.

Alison glanced back at Kevin quickly, and paused to watch him. He was using both hands for the pasta, expertly twirling the long strands on his fork against the bowl of his spoon. She looked at Carter. He very slightly raised his eyebrows and cocked his head, sending the silent message, "Yes, I think this is weird, and no, let's not worry Kevin." Alison nodded, and finally slipped into her own seat to grab her share of the pasta.

With dinner over, Kevin disappeared upstairs. Alison and Carter cleaned up together to the tune of Jenna's cheerful babbling. At last, with Jenna happily playing on the floor, they collapsed onto the sofa. Alison tucked herself under Carter's arm, resting her head on his chest.

"I'm so used to worrying about Kevin," she said quietly. "Am I overreacting or am I right to be worried right now, Jack?"

"I don't know," Carter replied honestly. "Not feeling pain from a broken bone isn't the worst thing in the world, but unless you have some really great new drug that you gave him, it's a little unusual. The way he was eating—it was as if it didn't bother him at all. He was barely using the sling."

"I used the ultrasonic transducer on him; it does speed healing. But it's not magic, and it can't repair a broken bone in a day."

"I'm not sure we can do anything except keep an eye on him. If you wanted to, we could take him into GD and you could run tests on him tonight, of course. But what would you be looking for?"

"We could run another scan, see if his collarbone is still broken," Alison suggested, before laughing. "And just saying that out loud makes me realize how ridiculous I'm being. Kids heal fast, but not that fast. He must have just had a good reaction to the painkiller. And worrying because he's feeling fine is silly."

She tilted her head so that she could look up into his eyes. "It's almost Jenna's bedtime. How about I put her to bed while you find us some nice escapist television? Then we can pretend we're watching TV while we make out on the couch until Kevin's bedtime."

"That sounds like heaven," Carter said, tightening his arm around Alison, and pulling her close for a long, slow, sweet kiss.

Upstairs, Kevin was hot. Too hot. He'd gone up to his room to play a little Xbox, maybe talk to Dre, but he couldn't concentrate. It was just so uncomfortable. The sling itched and there was sweat dripping down his face.

He pressed his face against the cool glass of his window. That felt better. But he would feel even better if the window was open. He flipped the latch and tried pulling the window up, but he didn't often open his windows this late in the year and it was sticking. Irritably, he pulled off the sling and used both hands.

Ah, that was nice. The cool breeze felt great against his sweaty skin. He took a deep breath. And it smelled great, too. He took another breath. What was that? It was incredible. That smell—it was so rich, so warm, so delectable. It smelled of forest and wild things. He leaned out of the window and took a deeper whiff.

His skin was prickling all over now, itching tremendously, but he didn't care. And his nose—something was dripping from his nose. He wiped it absently, barely registering that it was blood. He pulled his shirt off and held it to his face, trying to mop up the now freely gushing blood, but the shirt reeked of chemicals and soap. He dropped the shirt to the ground next to the window in disgust, ignoring the blood.

He wanted to be outside, outside with the night air and the sounds of the darkness and the amazing smells. Without further thought, he scrambled through the window and as he scrambled, he changed. By the time he landed on the ground and began trotting down the street, his hands and feet were paws, his nose a muzzle, his ears pointed and alert, and he had a glorious tail. Kevin was gone, and instead, a grey wolf was running through Eureka.

Downstairs, Alison broke free from Carter's kiss. She smiled at him. "Let me put the baby to bed. I'll be right back."

"I'll be here," Carter stroked her hair one last time and then let her go.

Smiling to herself, Alison scooped up Jenna and headed up the stairs. Humming lullabies, she carried the baby into her bedroom. Jenna protested slightly when Alison changed her diaper, but as soon as Alison was done and picked her up again, Jenna tucked her head into Alison's neck, heaved a huge sigh, and let her eyelids droop closed. "My sweet girl," Alison murmured, dropping a kiss on the top of Jenna's head as she carefully transferred her into the crib. She pulled a light blanket over her, and whispered goodnight, but Jenna was already out.

As she left the baby's room, Alison glanced at the time. It was barely 8:30, early for Kevin to go to bed, but given his day and his broken collarbone, maybe he'd take a suggestion. And it was probably time for another painkiller for him. She walked down the hallway to his room.

"Carter!" The scream penetrated the house. Within seconds, Carter was bounding up the stairs. Alison was frantically backed up against the wall outside of Kevin's room, hands over her mouth, her eyes wide with horror. Carter brushed straight past her to the door of the room, took everything in with a single glance, and then turned and wrapped his arms around her.

"Breathe," he ordered. "Breathe, Ally. It's going to be okay." He turned them both, so that she was facing away from the room and he was facing into it. Holding her close, he ran his hands up and down her back as he tried to make sense of the room and what he was seeing.

"Allison," he said. "Could someone at GD be working on…werewolves?"

"What?" Allison pulled back, looking up at him in surprise. The absurdity of the question was enough to break her out of her shock. "Carter, there's no such thing as werewolves."

"I know, I know, but…could anyone at GD be working on something that could be sort of like something that might look like a werewolf?"