It's late when Hal leaves the cafe, thoroughly disgruntled and quite ready to get home and be done, once more, with the human race as a whole. He stops for a moment though, after locking up, and looks to the sky and at the full moon hanging above him. For a moment, he stares up at it with his hands at his sides, tries to take a breath that catches in his throat, and then continues home.

The house is quiet on the approach, and Hal announces himself, practiced as he moves to unlock the door. "It's me," he says to what turns out to be no one, the living room almost irregularly empty. There is something almost unnerving about the quiet, and he moves to hang his coat before starting towards the stairs, and then hesitating.

Something draws Hal to the basement door despite his urge to go upstairs and get changed outo f his work clothes, despite the things his day of work has left undone. He touches the door with a cautious hand, and from there he can hear the movement inside. The restlessness of the trapped wrewolf inside. He leans his head against it, listening more carefully, and the sudden bang against the other side of door shocks a short laugh out of him.

"Hal?" Annie asks, suddenly just there, and it's as normal as anything can be. "What are you doing?"

He draws away to look at her, as the wolf scratches at the door, his hand lingering against it for just a moment. "Nothing." he tells her, with a small tight smile, and he finally moves away from the door more fully. It's a moment before the wolf runs back down the stairs, and he smiles to himself again, before becoming aware of Annie's gaze. "...it's nothing, really, Annie. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to change my clothes."

Hal is almost to the steps for the second time that night when Annie speaks up again, behind him, her arms wrapped over her chest, and a small smile. "You were checking on him weren't you?"

"It was quiet. Excuse me." He tells her, his answer short before he continues upstairs. She doesn't follow him when he goes to take his shower or dress, but when he goes downstairs again there's a cup of tea waiting for him by his domino case. Hal picks the cup up, examining the table for marks before he carries it to the kitchen where Annie is waiting, and sits down almost reluctantly.

"You were smiling," She says, almost curious, and he gives her a very questioning look.

"And?" Hal asks her without hesitating, raising his cup to his mouth as he watches her. Annie falters for a moment, and he takes a sip of the tea before setting it back down. "Alright, why do you think I shouldn't have?"

Annie pauses again, before speaking carefully. "Well, there was a werewolf trying to break down a door and kill you. One who's usually your boyfriend?"

"Yes, and he's doing quite well, as far as I could hear. He's energetic for sure." His eyes weren't quite smiling, but he looked down a moment, and shrugged, eyes on the contents of his cup. "It's a fact of life for him, and aside from the transformation there's no reason to be upset about it. Especially not in this case. He's down there, and safe, the same as we are up here."

"On top of that, it isn't as if he's been fixated on the door, so there must be something down there to occupy himself with. Trust me, the last thing you want to see is a lethargic werewolf. It's a bad sign, but...he's fine, and I don't recall deciding to dump him once a month, even if I'm not stupid enough to go down there, or to expect the wolf to have knowledge of such. He is just as important to me now though. That doesn't change, Annie, nor should it."

When Hal looks up at her again, finally, she's smiling, and something about her expression makes him look away. "You really love him, don't you?" Annie asks, and he holds onto the edge of the table as he stands up, looking at her.

"Do you have to ask?" Hal inquires, and a flicker of a smile crosses his face when she opens her mouth again. "Yes, I do. Thank you for the tea, Annie, and good night." He says, not unkind, but somewhat pointed, and goes to set up his dominoes.

Annie leaves him be for the rest of the night, to his dominoes and what else he didn't get the chance to do during the day, and still could. He stays awake the entire night, and by the time morning comes he is waiting by the door again, listening as silence dawned. In a motion that's almost practiced he takes the robe Annie had found somewhere to leave out so that Tom wouldn't have to make his way to his room naked, and opens the door to go downstairs.

It doesn't take long for him to find Tom, already coming to his senses in the middle of the floor, and he smiles, small, as Tom yawns. "I woulda been up in a mo'.." Tom comments when he sees him, working to get to his feet.

Hal helps him into the robe, offering him minor support. "I was awake, so I thought I'd come to meet you," he tells him by way of explanation, not quite a white lie. Tom kisses him, and he grimaces just slightly, after, even though he returns it. "Your breath is awful by the way." The words are edged in a fondness, that Tom almost misses, and when his expression falls, Hal kisses him.

"Ya just said..." Tom tells him with another yawn that's larger than the first.

"I think I'll survive," Hal informs him, not quite flatly. "Now let's get you to bed, and out of here." Tom smiles sleepily at the inflection on the last word, the familiarity of the annoyance with the basement's state.

"Alrigh', 'fore you start cleanin' down'ere all up, an' I just make anoth'r mess of it." he teases, kissing his neck, and the two head up the stairs, where Tom strips off the robe and curls up in his bed to sleep, pulling Hal down with him to only minor protest, wrapping his arms around him and falling asleep close, Hal following soon after.