A/N: Just though I'd clear a few things up before I get going this time round :3 First off, if you get confused because I call Soultar Golem...it's because his full name is Soultar Golem XD A few people got confused with that =/ Sorry guys ^^ Second, Abe and Taya didn't go the whole way in the previous chapter... if you get me? Well, I re-read it and though it sounded like they did, so I just needed to point that out :P The link to my art failed (Curse you !!! lol) If you still want to go look, just go on my main page and you'll find the link there(: And last but not least, please forgive me for misspelling the word 'definitely' with the word 'defiantly'... I do that a lot DX

Enjoy people!(:

Abe awoke at midday, greeted by the small sweet song of some far off winter bird. He searched for the sleeping woman beside him, but found the bed had grown cold where she once lay. His eyes opened slowly, slightly confused and even a little worried that she hadn't woke him up to say she was going somewhere. With a grunt of pain, he sat up in his bed. The world was a bit of a blur to him at first, as his eyes grew accustomed to the light. He found that any trace of Taya had gone – the clothes that had been scattered around the floor, the other bed had been stripped of sheets, there was nothing to indicate another person had been sharing the tent at all.

He began to panic, thoughts of her making a quick escape while he slept flicking through his mind. He tried to get up, but he seemed even sorer than last night. He was just getting to his feet when the tent door was flung open, allowing an arguing Manning and Hellboy to step into the room. Abe sat back down quickly, like he was doing something wrong. The two seemed to already be well into their 'discussion,' almost completely unaware of the world around them. Blue watched and listened, startled by their entrance and unwilling to join in with the shouting,

"...I don't see why we can't just stay here!" yelled Red, towering over Manning with a snarl slapped across his face. His tail was whipping back and forth, like an enraged cat who had had enough of chasing the string, and just wanted to be left alone. Manning, though he looked intimidated, also had some sort of determination about him. He tried to puff out his chest a little, and for a moment, Abe spotted him perch on his tiptoes like he thought that extra height would help him win the argument.

"Because it's not safe Hellboy! Any hiker could stumble up on the camp and see you lot!" he shot back, but Red already had a comeback for that.

"What does that matter?! We've already been on TV! How much more public could we go exactly?"

"That isn't the point! I want your updates back at the BPRD anyway," he turned to leave, as if that was that, but Hellboy was having none of it.

"It's just going to slow us down, going back and forth like that! We don't have time, camping outside the caves makes much more sense!" he garbed hold of the agents shoulder as he tried to exit, causing him to look back over his shoulder. Their eyes locked in another silent fight, and that's when Blue decided to remind them that he existed,

"Where is-"he began, but Hellboy snapped his head in the fish-man's direction, and somehow Abe understood what the demon meant by that gesture. "Liz?" he finished, "where is Liz?"

Manning saw the look the pair were giving each other, and instantly knew they were up to something. As innocently as he could he asked,

"Why do you need Liz?" Blue looked back from Hellboy to Manning, searching his brain for something to say. He didn't really want Liz, he wanted Taya, but apparently, Manning didn't have a clue she had been found. That explained why her stuff had been cleared away, she must have known Manning would be paying them a visit and opted for a hasty get away. He felt himself blink a few times, before he flexed his gills and stood up,

"I haven't seen her yet, that's all. Why are you two in here anyway?" he asked, making the decision to change the convocation before Manning caught onto anything else.

"We came to ask your opinion actuarially," said Hellboy, putting his arm around the agent's shoulders, earning an odd glance from both of the other men. Abe tilted his head to the left and fidgeted with his fingers,

"How can I help you?" he asked, feeling nervous. He was very bad at lying and he knew it. Manning was bound to ask him something to do with Taya and the truth would get out.

Manning shrugged Hellboy away, brushing down his suit like the demons touch had left dirt smeared on it. Red didn't take offence to this, already too used to the man's grumpy, obnoxious attitude to anything other than humans. Well, including humans on a day that particularly stretched his patience.

"Maybe you can tell him that travailing from cave to cave instead of coming back in-between missions is a bad idea!" For a second Abe wondered why Hellboy was even bothering complaining about this, but then he realised it was for Taya's benefit more than anything else, and that instantly meant Abe was on Red's side. If they had to travel home every time they had finished exploring a cave, the cat would be left by herself, because at the moment there was no way of getting Manning to except her back.

"I don't see why we have to travel all the way back to the BPRD either in all honesty," Blue declared calmly. Manning's face slowly formed into a frown, but before he could say anything, Abe continued, "Besides we don't have time for it, Soultar seemed to be growing impatient and I fear if we don't catch him soon, he'll do something irrational," Now Manning face looked slightly surprised,

"Irrational?" he laughed, "You think what he's doing now isn't irrational?"

"Yes I do," said Abe, irritated, "But I think he might resort to acting quickly and killing now instead of waiting for Hellboy here," he pointed at the red giant, who gave him a nod of agreement, "So we have to do something now, we don't have time to go back and forth."

As manning turned red in the face, it seemed like he was going to continue his debate, but instead he just snapped the word "Fine!" and made his way out of the tent and towards his waiting helicopter, "I expect reports three times a day!" He roared over his shoulder. Seconds later, the blades of the copter sliced through the air, disturbing trees and causing the tent to sway. When the noise ebbed into silence, Hellboy turned to face Blue.

"How you feeling?" he asked, slightly awkwardly. The demon still felt like what happened was his fault somehow, like each and every cut on Abe's body was because of him. Abe sat back down on the bed, feeling his legs shake, but apart from the pain, he felt amazing.

"I'm fine Hellboy," he reassured his friend. He leaned back and stretched, long arms reaching out and grasping the air. His mussels complained greatly, but it still felt good.

"Thanks," said Hellboy a few seconds later, rubbing the back of his neck like he was embarrassed. Abe continued to flex his unused limbs for a few more seconds before replying.

"Whatever for?"

"For the whole Manning thing, he listens to you, he hates to admit it, but he does. Liz can't stand being at the BPRD anymore. I think," he stopped, closing his eyes and turning around, "I think she won't go back," without hesitation, Red left the tent, leaving Abe slightly shocked. He knew Liz didn't like being at the BPRD, but things seemed to be getting a whole lot worse. There was a lot of pressure on all of them, and now, this little family had two more on the way, of course Liz didn't want her children to e brought up amongst all this chaos. He just wondered where this left their futures, he could hardly imagine life without Hellboy, Liz and Johann, but he had a feeling life would take them on different paths.

Carefully he got up again, swaying slightly before finding his balance. It was all very difficult and strange life, but it seemed to be getting more difficult and stranger by the second. And he really couldn't decide if that was a good thing, or something that could break them all.

Then he remembered that life had just given him something beautiful... he just had to go and find her. Breathing her name as he stepped out of the tent, he set out to search for the hiding cat-girl. Thinking of it as a game of hide and seek, he found his step had a particular bounce to it. The warm day and amazing sun shine added to his new found cheery mood and as he walked through the lush, ancient trees, past the exotic bright flowers and clinging vines, he could think of no better setting for a new start, in a rain forest that seemed so full of energy.

It didn't take long to find her, but what he saw surprised him. She was sat in a tree overlooking a small pond of ice clear water, straddling the branch as if it were a horse, her back leaned against the trees trunk. The slight breeze made her hair flicker gently, the blues of the sky matching her pyjamas perfectly. Abe blushed slightly when he realised he was staring at her long legs, that were, for the first time he could think of not covered by black jeans. Instead she was wearing shorts that only reached half way down her thighs. Abe cought the feeling that she was in a rush when she heard of Manning's impending arrival. He had never seen her looking so peaceful... or so feminine for that manner.

As he approached her, he saw her back-pack tucked between the roots of the tree, a book lying just on top of it. The leather back seemed to have no title, and by the messy bits of paper sticking out of it at all angles, he guessed it was some sort of journal. He didn't let his thoughts linger to long on it, though he was surprised that she kept one.

Suddenly something hit Abe on the head and he froze with a startled cry. He kept extremely still... Until from above, Taya burst into a fit of giggles. He opened his eyes to see the offending object – a blue bunny slipper – sitting on the grass a few feet away. Smiling to himself, he looked up and his eyes met her's that sparkled with laughter.

"O Romeo, Romeo wherefore art thou Romeo?" Abe laughed at her words and gave her his most charming smile,

"Well I was vanquishing demons... well Manning, but that's just two sides of the same coin," grinning at her responding smile, he looked for a way to get up the tree. A few seconds later, he decided it was impossible, considering he didn't have much of a climbing ability and he was still fairly injured. She saw his dejected look and with a graceful pounce, she landed on the ground beside him, instantly finding his hand.

Her warmth raced through him instantly, followed by the tingling sensation she left him with. Without realising it, she was slowly leading him to the water edge, only thinking about the time he had gone without its cool embrace when his foot slipped into the clear blue. Taya was already up to her knees and was pulling him forward encouragingly, but he wasn't hesitant at all. He let his grip on her hand go and dived forwards, disappearing below the surface.

Taya watched the water, but couldn't spot him, the tiny ripples lapping at her legs the only things that told her it had been disturbed at all. For some time she just waited, knowing he had gone without water for quite some time. But after a few minutes, for some reason she got worried. Leaning closer to the surface, she squinted and took a few steps further into the pond, until the liquid was just at her tail bone. It was when her face was inches away from the surface that Abe decided to strike. He had his lips on hers before she could react, a simple, friendly kiss that he only held for a second. When he drew away, he saw her cheeks turn crimson and her mouth curve into a surprised smile. He stared at her for a long time, until he grabbed her upper arms, and pulled her down below the water. She cried out in shock, her yell only drowned out by the water. She struggled back up and gasped for air, even though she'd only been under for a second. When she was over the shock, her face set into a frown and she cast her eyes over to the blue fish-man, who had repapered a few meters away.

He gave her a cheeky grin and waved before disappearing below water again.

"Abraham Sapien!" she yelled and trudged forward to where he had been. She soon found herself tiptoeing in the water, practically swimming her steps. Her playful grin slipped away when something tapped her on the shoulder. She spun around to see him, giving her an innocent look, but when she lunged for him he was gone again.

"Damn it!" she exclaimed, laughing but whishing she wasn't. He was far too fast for her in his own element, even though he was injured.

"Damn what?" said a surprisingly feminine voice. She looked back to shore to see Liz and Hellboy, one of the demons hands resting on his girlfriends shoulders.

"Oh, hey guys... nothing it's just-" she was cut off when Abe appeared in front of her and kissed her again, this time wrapping his arms around her body and holding her close. He felt fairly rejected when she pushed him away and held him at arm length by his shoulders.

"You're not that angry with me are you?" he asked suddenly whishing that he'd let her make 'the first move' in their new relationship.

"No, of course not... but I thought we'd wait a while before showing public displays of affection," she smiled.

"Public displays of affection?" he asked, confused. It was only when she nodded over his shoulder that he turned around. Embarrassment flooded over him at the sight of Hellboy and Liz, who hadn't moved from their original positions, only their expressions had changed. Hellboy was grinning, and was really desperate to make a cheesy comment, where as Liz had a hopeless romantic look about her. Which was very strange, even to herself. She convinced herself that she wasn't going soft by thinking about how she'd always wanted Abe to find someone. That was it. Defiantly. No mushiness at all.

"It's not what it looks like?" Said Red, raising his eyebrow, causing Liz to elbow him in the side. He grunted slightly, but he couldn't help the laughter escape his lips. Taya was standing very still, a little confused to why Hellboy was laughing, but then she glanced sideways to see Abe's face... and it was quite funny. He looked like he'd done something very, very wrong. She reached underwater to his hand and gave it a squeeze.

"It's ok Blue, calm down..." she soothed. He looked at her and then back to the couple.

"I didn't know if you wanted them to find out," he explained sheepishly and she drew a little closer to him.

"Why wouldn't I want them to know about...us?" she asked, now totally ignoring the demon and his girlfriend. Abe wasn't sure if he should say what he was about to, but he felt like he had to,

"I didn't know if you'd be ashamed of me... I mean let's face it, I'm not exactly hansom am I?" he looked away, as if he was ashamed of something, of himself.

"You're an idiot," she said, then kissed him on the cheek before wading out of the water towards Hellboy and Liz, who had both gone quiet.

Taya faced Liz, a distant smile on her face,

"Sorry about that, do you need us?" she asked, avoiding the subject of her and Abe for the fish-man's sake.

"Erm," started Liz, wondering if her and Hellboy should just leave, but the demon spoke up,

"Yeah, Dinners ready," he explained, "Nothing to romantic I'm afraid... Unless you really, really like rations," he said, directing the last part to Abe, who tried to smile to hide his uncertainty.

"Okay," said Taya, going to grab her bag. When she leaned down to take it, Blue beat her to it.

"Allow me, please," he said giving her a sideward's smile. He was suddenly desperate to prove Hellboy's childish comments hadn't gotten to him. She shrugged and thanked him, making him feel a little better about the current situation.

Abe lagged behind on the way back to camp, suddenly very unsure of himself. What exactly was he thinking when he decided to act like a teenager? Who knows. He was fairly sure at the time she was enjoying herself, enjoying the innocent game they were playing, but now he felt almost guilty for putting her in an awkward situation like he had, and he knew he wouldn't hear the end of this from Hellboy. He watched her up ahead with the couple, talking about what Liz was going to call her children. Well, Hellboy and Liz were no longer talking, they were now on the verge of a small argument. He saw Taya shake her head, then glance over her shoulder at him, giving him a smile that said 'you ok?' To reassure her, he straightened his walk and adjusted the pack on his back. But she didn't seem to convinced, slowing down until she was in step besides him. She entwined her fingers into his, and they walked like that for some time, until Taya gave a short sigh,

"We'll slow down," she said, knowing he felt like she did, like they had to enjoy each other now, before something messed up, like life had a tendency of doing at the moment. Abe blinked, swallowed then nodded, taking her hand tighter in his. She was right of course, but all this was oh so new to him. He had never been allowed to kiss, allowed to hold, allowed to feel like he did, so now he was so sure this was his only chance, he was so afraid of destroying it.

"I know we can do it," she continued confidently, and made him smile. From somewhere inside him, he knew she was right, "Just, let's take our time... I don't think I've been in love before... and that scares me a lot...Ok?" Blue was shocked at her confession, that she had never been in love before, but kept quiet. He supposed he was surprised because she was so easy to fall in love with, he didn't understand why no one else had.

"Slowly, yes. Thank you Taya," he said softly, and they left their convocation behind them as they strode into camp.

That night went quickly, Taya spending most of the nestled against Abe's chest as he read up on the caves, and which would be best to investigate next. He found that she could be quite the distraction when she wanted to be. They spent all of the evening together and with the gang (Which consisted of Hellboy, Liz, Johann, Ed and a load of other agents who had been sent to clear the caves of chimeras,) until everyone retreated from the insects that swarmed to cool nights, and headed to bed. Abe was once again happy to fall asleep with Taya pressed against him, in her peaceful slumber. Sometimes, he swore he heard her purring, but he knew she'd never admit to it.

Taya fell, and there was nothing Abe could have done about it. He heard her land with a thud some seconds later, as he scurried to the hole that she had disappeared down.

"Taya?!" he yelled, no longer afraid of giving away his position to any chimeras. He listened intently and tried to see, but there was nothing but blackness meeting his eyes.

"I'm okay!" came a shaky reply . The relief that overwhelmed him was amazing. Sighing he reached for the torch at his belt, and shone it down, to get a better view. Sitting on the floor, a good thirty meters down, was Taya. She was smiling at him, and he smiled back.

"I told you to be careful!" he said, giving her a stern look. She shrugged,

"Sorry Blue, but I was being careful,"

"You have a funny idea of careful, skipping in a possible deadly situation," he laughed, replaying the sight of her prancing across the floor in his mind, which made him laugh even more.

"I was happy," she said, crossing her arms over her chest defensively.

"Because Mannings given up on your search?"

"...Yes. And because I had lots of sugar on my cereal this morning," she giggled.

"Is she okay?" Abe then looked up, and what he saw made him drop his torch.

"Ouch! Abe, what the hell?" yelled Taya when the torch hit her on the head, but she got no reply from the shell shocked fish-man.

"Are you ok?" said the same voice, almost playfully. Taya heard the female voice from above her and stood up.

"Abe? Who's with you?" she asked, slightly panicked. She knew Liz was the only other agent in the team at the moment, and Hellboy wasn't letting her go anywhere. Whoever was up there, wasn't someone she knew.

Abe didn't move an inch, he just lay on his belly, like he had been when he was looking at Taya. But now he was staring at the figure crouched on the other side of the hole, hands resting on her knees. For a long time, her image was the only thing that registered to him, but Taya's panicked cries became louder, until he screams finally absorbed far enough into his thoughts for him to take any notice of them.

"Abe!! Who's there?!" she screeched. Abe didn't know quite how to answerer that, so he just said her name, barely loud enough for the cat to hear,

"Nuala," he said.

A/N: =0 Ooo, it's all strange XD Sorry this chapter kinda sucked, I had to establish a few things between Taya and Abe, maybe rebuild some of that tension I had before between them =/ I don't know XD Anyhoo, hope your all still likeing it, there's quite a bit more to come now I think about it :P I'm dreading doing the chapter when Liz had her babies DX It will have to come soon me thinks... I did another pic on this chapter... Just skip over to my main page for the link my lovelies(: Big hearts to you all!! ^^