(BETA) This Story has not been read through thoroughly so there will be some lingering mistakes, apologies! This will be rectified once read though...when I have time... (BETA)

This is more set on the Hellboy comics/Animations then the movies. I do not own any of the world, or characters besides Alice.

OTHERWISE ENJOY!

xxx

...

A few more days had passed and her training had only improved her skill. Her ability to sense other emotions had also been refined enough for her to stand taking the bracelet off for more then a few minutes without her head screaming.

Abe had researched into the previous empaths to get a clue as to how they dealt with their talent. There were references to empaths using music to help tune their own thoughts and feelings. There was one reference that struck Abe, which was using water, some empaths would sleep in water to help block out the sounds of others emotions in their heads. This was something he thought would be best to try first, given Alice's favour of the sea…

"Are you sure about this Abe, I don't want to…defile you tank…" Alice questioned, as she was being lead by Abe's hands to the tank ladder.

"I read, that previous empaths had used this technique themselves, to help drown out the emotions around them. I also had this made for you." Abe handed her a small cylinder.

Alice looked up at Abe questionably. "What is it?"

"It's a breathing capsule. You put in between your lips and teeth and bite down to breathe in the oxygen from it. I'm not sure how long it lasts for however…it hasn't been properly tested." Abe explained pressed a button to lengthen the ladder till it reached the floor for her.

Alice grinned. "This is amazing! I guess we'll have to find out won't we!" She chimed before stripping down to her underwear. When she stood up straight she noticed Abe looking at her for a long moment…She suddenly felt shy and folded her arms over her chest.

"I-uh…" Abe turned around, his back to her.

"I should go in with you, just in case…" He turned back to look at her. "I am a professional after all." He teased.

Alice couldn't help but smile at his tone she visibly relaxed and let her arms fall to her sides. Abe couldn't help but notice the way her underwear clung to her certain curves, he kept thinking it was just a swimming costume, for some reason that felt better…

Alice started for the ladder climbing to the top and slowly stepping into the deep tank. "Goodness!" she called.

"What, what is it?" Abe called up from the bottom of the ladder, concern is his voice.

"It's so warm…I was expecting to be cold…" She called to him before she fully got in, just her head bobbing up out the top of the water.

She clasped the cylinder between her teeth and took a deep breath before letting herself fall into the water.

She opened her eyes and saw Abe's body suddenly come crashing through the water. When the bubbles from his disturbance disappeared, he was floating in the water oh so naturally in front of her. She clamped down on the cylinder between her teeth and took a deep breath.

It works! She thought to herself.

Her sight was clearer in this water too; she looked down at her wrist and looked back up to Abe as if to ask if it was a good idea to take the bracelet off.

Abe helped her, holding on to the bracelet so it didn't drop to the bottom of the tank. She floated there for a moment, her eyes closed waiting for the emotions to come flooding her mind. But there was nothing. She was cautious…it didn't seem to last too long so she kept her eyes closed for a moment to make sure it was actually working.

Abe watched her. Her short hair floating in the water above her she looked so peaceful. He was taken off guard when her eyes suddenly snapped open.

Her face was filled with glee and she started to swim around him. Taking another deep breathe from the cylinder she stated to twirl and flourish in the water.

I can't believe it works! She thought to herself.

Abe watched her with amazement; it was like she was born in the water. She had never looked more natural to him then she did now to him.

They swam around for a while Abe following her every move just in case it all came too much.

Alice suddenly came to a halt and turned in the water to look at Abe. She just floated there looking at him.

Abe had forgotten, without her bracelet she could feel what he was feeling…what was he feeling?

They floated like that for a time before Alice took the cylinder from between her lips and wiggled it between her fingers to indicate that it had run out. She pointed up but was struggling with the amount of air she had left in her lungs.

Abe didn't think she would make it to the top, they were quite far down. He grabbed her wrist and brought her to him in one swift movement. Whilst kicking his legs to help her to the surface, without thinking he pressed his lips to hers allowing the oxygen he took from the water to circulate between them, giving her more air.

Alice placed her hands on his chest whilst he had a firm grip of her upper shoulders. Alice closed her eyes after a moment until they finally reached the surface. Alice gasped away from Abe to take in more air around her. They bobbed in the water trying to compose themselves.

"So…" Alice spoke first. "How long would you say that lasted for?" She kept her hands on his chest helping her keep afloat.

Abe relaxed his grip on her shoulders and stuttered for a moment, not looking away from her deep green eyes.

"Not long enough it would seem…" Was all he could say, not having kept track of time.

Alice laughed and shook her head looking down between them resting her forehead on his shoulder.

Abe stayed still kicking his legs under them to keep them up, as did Alice, their legs brushing up against each other's every so often.

"We should get it looked at for next time then." She said softly against his shoulder.

Abe stiffened at her words momentarily.

"Relax Abe…I can always test this thing out by myself if you'd prefer." Alice said against his shoulder.

Abe opened his mouth to speak but then stopped wondering how she could've known how he was…feeling…The bracelet! He panicked and Alice could feel it. She squinted at the pang of his panic surging through her.

"Abe please…calm down..." She grumbled against his shoulder, her hands balled into fists on his chest.

Abe instantly calmed down and took a deep breath holding it in. "The bracelet…" He finally said.

Alice looked down at his hand holding the bracelet. She was so caught up in how she was feeling that she forgot all about it…she hadn't felt any pain or emotions outside of this room. Gently, she reached out her hand and placed the bracelet on her wrist with a small tink.

Abe visibly relaxed, his shoulders loosening. "You don't like your feelings being venerable do you Abe?" Alice finally spoke up, looking down at the bracelet around her wrist.

"It is not something I am used to." He finally said letting out a breath.

"You're used to having the upper hand in reading people huh?" She smiled down at the bracelet before looking up at him.

Abe felt a surge of something run through him like electricity. He visibly shivered but kept his eyes on hers. It had only been over a week since she first arrived, and already, it felt like he had known her forever. His ability to read her past when he first held her in the abandoned house may have had something to do with that, not to mention the small amount of information he would get at every contact with her. He tried his best not to pay attention, it almost felt like cheating. But with every memory he saw, only made him more curious to learn more about her. They had started to share the walks along the cost a lot more often; time just seemed to fly by whenever he was with her. Though he felt like he couldn't smile, every time he saw her he felt a pang of glee lighting up his face. His head shook at the thought; it seemed ridiculous to be acting this way around someone he barely knew.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when he felt Alice start to pull away and swim for the ladder. He watched as she pulled herself out and climb over the edge, she stopped to look at him.

"Thanks for the swimming lesson. I'll get this over to the lab and see if it can be looked at." She smiled before climbing down the ladder, pulling on her dry clothes before leaving through the door.

Abe was left floating in his tank water, still looking at the closed door she had just left through. What did she say? He thought to himself, mentally face-palming himself that he was paying so little attention that he forgot what she had even said to him. He let himself sink in the water wishing he could drown for once.

…

Once Alice had dropped the breathing capsule off at the lab, she went to the communal showers to soak. She leant her back against the cold tiled wall sitting on the floor; her arms wrapped around her knees and her chin resting on top.

Her eyes were closed letting the hot water bathe her skin and drizzle down her face lost in her own world.

She thought about earlier, trying to recapture the feeling of his lips pressed against hers. It seemed strange; she was never one to get this close or attached to anyone, especially this quickly. The episode her last boyfriend caused, whenever he touched her, she could feel his needs for nothing other then her body and money…though she chose to ignore it…

She buried her face in her knees shunning the memories away. She thought of how she felt when Abe had touched her at the coast, every time the bracelet was off, she could feel everything he was…and it was never painful. He admired her, felt comfortable and warm around her…she could feel it. She smiled momentarily at the thought, but it faded all the same whenever she thought of how long he would hold his breathe whenever she took the bracelet off. She could understand that it wasn't exactly the nicest thing to feel when someone else knows more then you do yourself…but she never felt that way when Abe could read her at any time…she trusted him…

"Hey Alice!" Alice was brought out of her thoughts when she heard Liz's voice in the cubical next to hers.

"Hey, Liz." Alice finally said standing up.

"Heard you've been training with Abe again today, how's it going?" Alice heard Liz turn her shower on.

"It's going well, Abe thinks I'll be ready for a mission any day now." Alice turned her shower off and reached for her towel running it through her hair before wrapping it around herself.

"Good times! You'll love it on the field, but I have to warn you we come by quite a few icky and spooky things…mostly icky…" Alice chuckled.

"Sounds better then being cooped up here all day, everyday…" Alice muttered.

"Let me know when Abe gives you the ok and I'll take you down to the shooting range to gear you up!" Liz bellowed over the sound of the rushing water.

"I'm not sure I trust myself with a firearm…" Alice said hesitantly.

Liz shut off her shower and came out with a towel wrapped around her; Alice was sat on one of the benches sifting through her locker.

"You'll be fine, it's real easy." Liz sat down on the other side of the bench and opened her locker.

"Abe has been giving me a few lessons here and there but I'm not much good." Alice pulled on her jeans and top before running the towel through her hair again.

"I'm better at hand to hand combat…"

"Oh yeah! Abe mentioned you have a unique ability. It's like a shield bubble thing right?"

"Yeah, Abe seems to think it's an empath ability that developed over centuries to keep people away from us…though…" Alice paused and raised her hands creating shields around them.

"they make pretty good boxing gloves…" She teased.

Liz watched the white bubbles glisten around her hands until they disappeared.

"Nice!" Liz chimed from her bench, bending over to tie up her trainers on the bench.

"Yeah, I think I'm getting the hang of it…" Alice hesitated.

"That actually might become more useful then you think, there are times when you'll have to duck and cover around me…we should see if it's fire resistant too…" Liz thought out loud.

"Oh yeah, Abe mentioned your ability. It sounds amazing."

Liz chuckled. "I wouldn't say that…you've been spending quite a bit of time with Abe huh?" Liz smiled changing the subject.

Alice looked over at her hiding her face under her towel pretending to still be drying her hair.

"I guess so…" was all she could think to say. Taking the towel off her head she turned to her locker away from Liz and gathered her things hurrying for the door.

"I gotta' go. See ya Liz!" Alice called before the door slammed shut behind her.

Liz stood looking at the door with a smirk on her face before finishing up in her locker.

…

Just keep walking, just keep walking…Alice chanted to herself, rushing down the hall way towards her room where she wouldn't be answering inane questions.

Looking over her shoulder she noticed Liz wasn't following her. She visibly relaxed letting out a sigh before it instantly turned into a yelp when she banding into something hard, landing on the floor behind her.

"Ouch!" She groaned rubbing her behind. She looked up to see Hellboy glowering down at her.

"Watch where you're goin' kid." He grumbled, leaning down to offer her a hand up.

Alice took his giant rock hand that had no effort picking her from the floor.

Alice kept her eyes down, Myers explained to her that he didn't like being stared at. "Sorry…" Alice mumbled before walking around him. Ever since she had gotten here they hadn't spoken more then a few words to each other, she didn't need to take the bracelet of to know he wasn't to keen on her. So she kept her distance…

Hellboy watched her scurry away. He just huffed and turned back around to see a flaming Liz glaring at him with her hands on her hips.

Red recoiled. "What?" He shrugged.

Liz raised a finger at him. "She's a nice kid, and whether you like it or not, she's a part of this team…you had better start treating her as such…"

Hellboy huffed again. "Ah Crap…Alright, alright!" He grumbled, watching a flaming Liz storm away.

…

Alice was back in the training room during late hours, she was having a hard time sleeping recently. So she put her sleepless hours to good use. Panting in the din light she was practising using her shields on her hands, refining them into blade shapes.

She rushed at the mannequin and tried again to shape the shield gloves around her hands into blades. Swigging at the mannequins chest she drove her hand past it, she paused, she felt as though her hand went straight through it. The gloves disappeared and she fell to her knees exhausted. She hung her head and panted but a large bang caught her attention. She looked up to see the top half of the mannequin had fallen off and landed on the floor, leaving the bottom half standing with a clean slide from where her hand had struck.

She raising her hand and fell backwards on the mat landing on her back. "I did it!" she chimed laughing. Her laughter rang in the empty training room.

Tucking her hands behind her head she opened her eyes to see Abe glowering over her with a smirk, his gill fluttering.

"Abe…" She gasped.

"Can't sleep?" He asked with a teasing tone.

Alice sat up, quickly getting to her feet. "I uh…"

"That was impressive." Alice watched Abe walk past her to the mannequin and observe the damage.

"Though I have to feel sorry for the mannequin." He teased, leaning on what was left of the mannequin and giving Alice his best smirk.

Alice was still panting, her face and chest red, both from exhaustion and a new heat of embarrassment rising to the surface.

"It was quick and painless…" Alice teased back grabbing a towel to dry her exposed skin off.

Abe had only just noticed she was wearing a sports bra with thin black leggings…that was all…and it wasn't leaving much left of her body to the imagination.

Abe cleared his throat. "Well, it should come in handy on the field tomorrow."

Alice's eyes widened. "Tomorrow?" She chimed.

"Yes, it's mostly a routine inspection. There's a house that's been bought by a film developer Oliver Trumbolt. It's supposed to be renovated into a tourist attraction, but he's reported strange happenings, he thinks it might be haunted. We're going in to investigate." Abe explained.

Alice almost leapt for joy, but decided against it. "And I'm going with?" She said excitedly.

Abe nodded, his gill fluttering.

Alice grinned. "I can't wait to work with you." She teased.

Abe cleared his throat. "Nor I you, I think you're ready, and it'd probably just a publicity stunt so it may not be as exciting as it sounds."

Alice was taking all her energy not to wiggle with glee. "All the same, I appreciate you giving me the opportunity." She smiled.

"The professor will be back from his trip in the morning so we will be briefed when he returns." Abe said before moving to the door.

"The professor?" Alice asked tilting her head.

"Oh, of course, you haven't met him yet. He's the one who started the bureau to begin with." Abe explained stopping at the door to turn back to Alice.

"I see…I think I have heard you mention him a few times before." She thought out loud.

"Yes, well he is considered a father figure to a lot of us. I'm sure he will be pleased to meet a new face." Abe smiled warmly.

Alice just nodded her head and moved to the door, they started walking down the hall together, heading for their rooms.

"Try and get some rest, you will need it, briefing is in 4 hours." Abe said reaching for the door of his library Turning back to look at Alice slipping into her room.

"I'm sure I'll have no trouble sleeping now. Thank you again Abe, sleep well…" She disappeared into her room closing the door.

"Sleep well…" Abe said under his breathe smiling at her closed door before closing his.

...

I hope you enjoyed more to come!

xxx