Hal snapped the garish blue gloves onto his hand and prepared himself for another day of mindless drivel.

It was 11o'clock and if he was honest, Hal couldn't understand why they were open. I mean, who wants a burger at 11am?

it was his turn in the kitchen today, Tom was out front dealing with customers and in some ways Hal was glad that he wouldn't have to converse with the dull population of Barry.

"Hal, we need some more lettuce." Tom shouted back to him. He sighed as he picked up the knife and began to meticulously slice the green salad vegetable.

"'urry up." Came Tom's impatient voice.

"Just a moment. I'm not finished yet." Hal rolled his eyes at Tom's impatience and slowed down his slicing speed in order to further irritate the werewolf.

Eventually he was done and scooped the leaves into a bowl, taking it out the front to Tom.

"Finally." Murmered Tom, what was wrong with him today? He seemed very unlike himself, too serious, not at all like his usual hyper self.

Over the next few hours, they worked in near silence, only interacting when it was absolutely necessary but mostly keeping to themselves.

It wasn't until nearly 2 o'clock that they got a single moment with no-one in the café and at the first chance Hal hurried over to the door and flipped the sign to closed.

Tom huffed loudly, "What was that for?We can't close yet."

"just a short break." Hal replied "I have a feeling that you need to talk about something."

"What makes you say tha'?"

"Well, first of all, you have hardly said a word to me all day, which is strange since normally you don't shut up and secondly, you were being rude to customers which again, you would never normally do."

Tom sat down at the nearest table and motioned for Hal to sit opposite him.

"Well, t' be hones', I really don' know. It's jus', I feel like nothin's been the same since Adam were 'ere, Annie's been acting all strange and you've 'ardly been talking an' we don' feel like a family no more."

"Ah, I hate these types of coversations... ah, it will be okay, Tom. Once everything gets back to normal, it will be fine. Annie's probably upset because she was reminded of George, Nina and Mitchell and I.."

"What?"

"Um, I.. When Yvonne came to me in a dream, I dreamt that I killed you with one of your stakes and now... I feel more dangerous than ever, if I even thought about killing you then maybe I really could. I don't want to though, believe me, I really don't."

"Hal, I know you won' kill me, and you're probably right, everything will be okay soon."

"Yes of course I am right, I'm always right. Now, we have hungry customers to feed potential heart attacks to."

Tom smiled at Hal's over-enthusiasm for the job he used to hate.

"A'right then, c'mon we got work to do."

The rest of the afternoon went fairly well and without incident. Tom seemed to be getting back to his usual self and Hal had spent most of the time polishing teaspoons.

Then disaster struck, well, it was nearly disaster.

It was less than half an hour before closing time when a woman limped into the could smell her blood before she even crossed the threshold.

He gritted his teeth and forced a smile, breathing through his mouth to avoid inhaling the intoxicating scent.

"C-can I help you?" he stammered.

"Um, yes, I was wondering if you had a plaster I could use?See, I fell over and cut my knee open."

"Ah, yes of course, I'll just go and get the-ah first aid box." Hal smiled again, before fleeing into the backroom.

" Tom, we have a.. situation, there is a lady with a cut knee out front and it's bleeding.A lot. Could you take her the first aid box?"

"Yeah, sure mate."

Tom grabbed the box and walked calmly through to the café. Hal breathed heavily, clutching the counter and feeling it warp and crumble under his fingers. He had been doing so well, but now, hehad wanted so much to leap across the counter and bite into the soft flesh of her neck, feel the metallic taste of blood on his tongue. he reached into his pocket to feel the single domino that resided there, turning it over in his fingers in a lame attempt to calm himself. He needed a distraction, to make him forget about the stupid clumsy woman and her stupid glorious blood. And the werewolf who had just entered the room provided a perfect opportuninty.

"Tom, I need your help. I need you to distract me. I can still smell her and I want to- need to feed but I can't. So do something, anything, slap me, round the face."

"really?"

"Yes just do it, now!"

So Tom did. Hal's head snapped to the side as he felt the sting of Tom's hand, but it wasn't enough, he needed more.

" Not enough, do something else!"

Again, Tom did as he was told. He grabbed Hal's head, pulled him forward and smashed their lips together. Tom gasped at the unfamiliar feeling of another persons lips against his own but he kept on going, moving his mouth against Hal's in a strange, new rhythm. His eyes flew open in suprise an the taller man began to kiss back with fervour, licking at Tom's lips and clutching at his shoulders. Tom bit lightly at Hal's bottom lip causing the vampire to let out a soft moan. As if he had suddenly be awoken, his eyes snapped open and he pulled back with shock on his face. Tom looked at the ground avoiding eye contact with Hal. Hal was the first to break the silence.

"Well, I think it worked." Tom looked up and smiled.

"Anytime mate" Hal chuckled quietly and a moment later, Tom joined in.

By the time they left the café, everything was back to normal, well, as normal as they could be.