I must apologize completely for failing to update this for two months! I just completely mind blanked, and I was so busy. I decided to cut bits and flit from past to present, to mix it up a little. Hope it's alright, there's more coming very soon.

I awoke suddenly. It was light outside, but the sun was not fully up. I felt bewildered, utterly confused. Why was there a green chair beneath the window? And why was there a body in the bed next to me? Then I realised I had been dreaming, lost in my memories, and now I had awoken to the present. But the dreams... they were so real, no wonder I was slightly confused. They were dreams of the night Larry kissed me. Frank had taken me to the gypsy carnival to try and make me feel better about Jenny. I was happy, and Frank was being very nice. The dancer was good, and everyone was in high spirits, despite the gypsies' own recent loss. Then, I remember seeing something out of the corner of my eye. Larry was walking up the path, smiling at the dancer. Frank saw him across the crowd, and he saw us. Larry's smile faltered.

"There's Larry Talbot," Frank called, pointing to him, and forcing me to look at him too.

Larry had already turned and was walking away quickly

"Let's go and say hello, eh?"

I paused hesitantly. Frank smiled at me reassuringly

"Well... I just wanted to show you that I'm not jealous."

I smiled at him widely. He was so sweet sometimes.

We made our way through the crowd, and Frank called out "Larry Talbot!"

Larry stopped and turned around, a slightly false smile stretching across his face at the sight of the two of us arm in arm.

"Saw you walking along by yourself and thought you might like to join us," Frank said, his smile slightly false too.

"Well thanks, I was just on my way home..."

Larry was clearly uncomfortable, but Frank wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"Oh don't say that, come on, we'll have some fun together!"

"Please do Larry," I encouraged, beaming at Larry, trying to hide how much his presence affected me. He looked at me, and his smile became more natural, more genuine.

"Two guns please"

Frank had taken Larry's smile for a yes, and had moved over to the stall. Larry looked at me, and without saying anything seemed to tell me that he had missed me and was glad to see me feeling better. We joined Frank with identical beams on our faces. I looked at Frank, to cover what had just passed between Larry and I.

"See what you can do," Frank said to Larry, and I turned to him, my smile changing as I felt a flush of... something hard to name at seeing his beautiful smile grace his beautiful face.

"Alright," he replied, raising the gun.

My eyes darted between him and the targets, as he hit them perfectly. One down, two down, three down-

Suddenly Larry frowned and lowered the rifle, with a terrible expression of fear and confusion on his face, as if he had been faced with a brother or even himself. I looked at the target and froze too. It was a wolf, its head thrown back and its mouth open in a roar. The much too painful and much too fresh memories of the night at the gypsy camp seared inside my mind, but I knew that there was something far worse than my recollections inside Larry's head.

"Go ahead and shoot before he bites you," Frank laughed.

The offhand joke made Larry even tenser, and an idea occurred to me, a terrible, unlikely but somehow plausible idea.

The gun beside me was slowly raised. Larry almost looked like he was about to cry, then his face hardened and he fired, missing the target completely.

"Bad luck," Frank said, a rather pleased smile flashing across his face. He was certainly jealous and eager to prove his skill over Larry. He hit the target, and the wolf fell back. My mouth fell open slightly, and I looked at Larry, and wished that I could comfort him.

"See, nothing to it. Care to try another one?"

Larry seemed to barely hear Frank, as he lowered the gun, in a sort of trance. He glanced up, smiling briefly, and managing to pull off a sense of calmness.

"No thanks, you win,"
He grabbed his cane and turned away.

"Wonder what made him dash off. Sore loser I guess,"
Frank's pleasure at Larry's tormented failure angered me.

"He didn't lose Frank, he only missed one target,"

"An easy target. Don't worry Gwen, I'm sure we'll have just as much fun without him"
His smirk and continued jibes at Larry made me furious. Frank was clearly consumed by jealously, and probably well founded jealously, but I had had enough.

"Well I hope you have just as much fun without me,"
I turned on my heel and rushed off into the crowd before he could catch me. I slowed down slightly once I had gone past a few other stall and behind some trees, and I bumped into a man coming from the opposite direction, who had been staring at the ground like I had been.

I glanced up at him, and was startled to find it was Larry, his troubled look suddenly lifting.

"Oh, Larry"
"Gwen! Gosh I'm glad to see you. I thought you left with Frank"

I began to fumble with my coat, unable to meet his gaze.

"Oh.. we had a quarrel and I..."

I couldn't say anymore. I knew that it would make Larry feel both guilty and excited that I had fought with Frank over him, and besides, I couldn't say it without seemingly accusing Larry.

"Well I'll take you home then,"

His voice was kind and gentle as he took me by the arm and turned me around. I still felt uncomfortable and nervous about being seen with him in public, and Larry sensed this as we saw the crowd of people walking past us towards their various destinations, and what looked like Frank in the distance.

"We better go this way,"

Larry led me down a small path into the trees, behind the gypsy tents, and away from all the people.

"Hectic night, wasn't it?"
"Yes"
I managed a half laugh and a smile. I knew Larry was trying to make me feel better about it, to get over the terrible feeling we both had at the gun stall.

As he moved in front of me I noticed a pendant about his neck, one that I had never seen or noticed before.

"What's that?" I asked, pointing to it.

"Oh that."

His face clouded slightly, as if it reminded him of something unpleasant.

"That's a charm, I just saw the old gypsy woman." His voice began to pick up slightly, and he chuckled. "They give you quite a sales talk don't they?"

I was becoming more and more intrigued by the charm.

"Let me see it"

I tried to make out its shape in the dim light.

"The pentagram"

I remembered the day we first met, and it occurred to me how strange it was that this werewolf legend continued to bother us.

"Yes. She said that I was a werewolf."

My head snapped up, astonished. Larry wasn't looking at me, but I could tell he was worried. I searched his face, wondering why.

"Well surely you... surely you don't believe-"

"Gwen, I won't need this."

He took the pendant from around his neck and lowered it over my head.

"I want you to have it. It'll protect you."

I was still gazing at him, completely thrown by this sinister turn of events.

"Protect me?" I half-asked him, smiling slightly, in a feeble attempt to lighten the heaviness in his brow. "From whom?"

"Me." He said it simply, with pain in his eyes. "Just in case."

I realised he was still holding the chain around my neck, and he leaned in ever so slightly towards me. I also realised just how close we were, so close that our lips-

I tore my eyes away from Larry's face, and began to try and steady my breathing. Would he kiss me? Did I want him to? Of course I did, no matter how wrong it was.

"I never accept a present without giving something in return,"

The words escaped me, and I knew what I was implying.

"Here's a penny," I added quickly, and raised my eyes.

Larry shook his head, a tiny inch of a smile creeping into his face

"It isn't enough," he said, and leaned toward me, his lips brushing against mine. I tilted my head to the side and felt his lips press more urgently against mine. They were soft, full and wonderful, better than I had imagined. I longed for it to continue, for his lips to part and for our tongues to meet. But a sudden flurry of activity and loud shouts made us break apart. Larry stepped forward to see what was happening, while I suddenly realised what I'd just done. Oh no, I thought, oh no, no, no! It can never be, so why did I even let it happen?

"Well the gypsies are all leaving..."
I started at Larry's voice and it only made me feel worse.
"I must go too," I said quickly, and rushed off as fast as I could

"But Gwen.!"

I could hear Larry call after me but I couldn't turn around. Tears were beginning to blur my vision, tears that I couldn't control. I knew what my feelings were. It felt something like love, pure and simple, terrible and true. Lawrence Talbot, the same Talbot that my fiancée worked for, had stolen my heart. And there was nothing I could do about it.

The sun was beginning to rise now. Faint tears had fallen onto my pillow at the memory of the anguished feelings I had felt, feelings I still knew to be hidden beneath the surface within me. But at that time I still wasn't completely sure... It had been later, after time, that I had finally decided what feel and what to do about Larry...

"How are you Larry?"

"Fine thank you"

My smile slipped at his less than warm reply. It wasn't that he was annoyed with me- something else was bothering him, even more so than on the night of the fair. I knew that a funeral was hardly the most fitting place to have a positive and upbeat attitude, but I was troubled at how disturbed Larry seemed. My father led me into the church, but I glanced back at Larry several times. I tried to tell him that I would gladly lend him a friendly ear, providing that he needed it.

We made our way to the front rows and sat down. The organ music playing was beautiful- tragic but not overly so. Then I became aware that the rows behind us had turned around. I glanced over my shoulder to find Larry standing at the back, guilt and anguish all over his face. We looked at each other for a moment, one single second, but in that second I tried to convey my feelings to him, through my eyes. I almost thought he was going to say something, but then he turned to look at his father, whose expression was one of disbelief, disbelief that his son was disrupting a funeral service. Then the minister rose and we all stood up, and I was forced to turn to the front and tear my eyes away from the handsome tormented face. I didn't look around again, but somehow I knew that Larry had left, unable to handle his inner turmoil any more.

I got up. I needed to finish the memories, and I couldn't do it in front of Frank. I only needed a dressing gown and slippers. The cold wasn't too bad, and the fresh autumn air made me feel better. Until I realised that my dressing gown was the exact same as the one I had been wearing a year ago, and the air was like the night... the night Larry died.