I went downstairs after two minutes of trying to sleep, carefully sliding out from toddler and husband's arms, glancing back at the two of them and taking a quick photo.

"Mama?" Lily glanced up. She held up her arms. "On bed?" Susie put her crayon down and wandered up to the bed, trying to climb up, a book in her hands. Compared to yesterday, everything did feel a bit better, a stronger. They weren't as heavy.

I picked them up one by one, letting them get into the bed with their sleepy Dad, then started to dress in the bathroom. Nick glanced up at me as two girls wandered over to him and flopped against him with the book.

"Going to see Elena." I explained and he nodded, yawned, and rolled onto his stomach as they climbed on him.

I tried to jump over the toddler gate like I used to, hesitating, it was too high now. So I went through it instead and went downstairs.

Elena sat on the outside of the cage, white faced, her hair unwashed, watching Clayton. She didn't notice me till I put my hand on her shoulder and she jumped, panic flooding through her face a moment, before she realised who it was.

"Sorry." She muttered and smiled a fraction, trying her best. Behind her Kate and Logan were sitting, pressed up against her, reading books. "Didn't hear you."

"I know." I glanced at Clayton. He was changed back into a human now, his body sweating, restraints keeping him down. "Do you three want some breakfast?"

"Yes." She stood up, nodding, pulling her hair behind her head and tucking it behind her ears. There was a cane there, the same one I'd needed yesterday, and Elena picked it up with a glare at it. We headed upstairs away from him. "I can't smell him." Elena said quietly as she got further away, hesitating, as if she wanted to go back down again. "I can't even hear him now."

I started to make pancakes as Elena sat down again, rubbing her head, looking like she was fighting the urge to go back down there. I twisted my head up, trying to hear Nick's voice, knowing he was probably reading to the triplets now if Susie got her way. I couldn't hear him either. He wasn't far away but ...

"I can't hear Nick." I said quietly as the pancakes sizzled in the pan. Tried to reassure her that it was okay, when really, it wasn't. We knew that. "You can smell them when you get close."

"I-" Elena paused, glancing at the kids that had followed us, and cut off. "Can you two go upstairs for a bit?" They nodded and headed away, reluctantly, clearly not liking this. "I don't know how Clayton's going to take this."

"How old was he when he was bitten again?"

"Six."

In other words, almost everything Clayton knew revolved around viewing the world as a wolf, rather than a werewolf who'd once been a human. The rest of us had a little more experience with this kind of life, this life of silence, dull smells, dull tastes, weak limbs, no wolf pacing in the back of our head urging us to behave differently. Or maybe only I had the wolf there.

We went quiet, listening to what we could in the house, feet upstairs for a moment, the sound of wind outside, a bird nearby. Jeremy came in through the back door, sudden, noisy, and we both jumped as his appearance came unexpected. He blinked at us, probably hearing my heart hammering, a washing basket in his arms. "You two okay?"

"Getting used to not hearing you coming." Elena replied.

"Want some breakfast?" I asked and Jeremy nodded. I went back to it, concentrating, trying to ignore the anxiety that had built up again. How was it going to be in public? Better? Worse? No crash of smells and sounds on me, sure, but also ...no crash of smells and sounds. They told us who was who, and who to avoid, and who was saying what... here, in the house, it was sort of safe.

Ham and pancakes, I dished them out, knowing that Elena would like it. She smiled again, relaxing a little, taking the plate and trying to eat. Jeremy sat close to her, focus on her, and I took the basket into the laundry.

"What about your breakfast?" Jeremy called. He was a bit soft, it took me a moment to know what he'd said.

"I'll get it in a sec."

"Nope, come back and eat it." Elena called, louder than Jeremy.

I came back and ate. She ordered, I did what I was told. Usually.

The two of us jumped again when Nick grabbed Elena, lifting her up, kissing her and staring at us like we were crazy.

"What?"

"Don't sneak up on us like that." Elena replied, pushing at him. "Put me down."

"Just glad to see you're back with the awake." He grinned at her, swung her around again, until one of her fists got him in the jaw. "Ow."

"Put her down." Jeremy smiled a little.

Nick dropped Elena and headed for me, but I held up a fork covered in ham instead, which he allowed to distract him a moment. Then he slid in beside me and tried to pinch some more.

"Where are the babies?"

"Reading in bed." Nick replied. Then he froze two seconds before I heard what he was hearing. A wail, a very loud upset toddler. "Be right back." He hurried away and returned with three toddlers in arms, Dominic's forehead red, his arms going for me. Automatically my nostrils flared, trying to smell them, trying to get the scent in my senses... but nothing. Grief flooded through me. I wanted their smells back.

"What happened?" Jeremy asked as I lifted up Dominic and sat back down, inspecting the red mark on his forehead, brushing his hair gently.

"He fell out of bed." Nick replied, adjusting the girls in his arms.

"Did you?" I asked Dominic, who nodded, tears running down his face. "Did you hit your head?" Another nod. I kissed the red spot and snuggled him close as I ate, offering him bites.

"Mommy's little boy." Elena commented as Dominic settled down. I saw her nostrils flare when Kate and Logan entered and recognised that distress in her face again as she couldn't smell them. Maybe that was the worst part of it. The smell of our 'puppies' gone.

"They keep telling me they can cure it." I said quietly, holding Dominic closer, breathing in with his head under my nose. Not the same smell. It worked to calm me down a little though.

She nodded, opening her arms up for her twins, the two of them gladly hugging her. "We'll go upstairs."

"You sure?" Jeremy asked. He stiffened, just his shoulders, eyes meeting Nick. It was so sudden, that I tried to listen automatically, tried to hear what they were hearing. "It's probably a good idea." When he caught my eye, he slid backwards out of her line of sight, and held a finger to his lips.

Yep. Something was going on.

Elena nodded. "I ...think I need another sleep." She stood up with the plate and headed outside, not glancing back at us, kids on either side of her.

"What's going on?" I asked as she vanished.

"We're not sure." Nick replied quietly. He put the girls down in the living room, came back for Dominic, and took him, all jokes aside. Jeremy had moved to the front of the house and glanced out. "A car. And..." He snorted then, suddenly, reaching for a camera and pointing it out the window. "Something for the photo albums."

"What is it?" I hurried to the front as well. Saw someone there, buck naked, wandering around, nearly falling over with every step.

"Clayton." Jeremy growled. "Didn't you lock the cage, Nick?"

"I might have forgotten. We'll grab him. Get a towel." Nick took a few photos and yanked the door open, a grin on his face, as if this was funny to him.

"Put that away, Nick, he's sick." Jeremy growled again. "Towel, Anne."

I decide to grab a sheet instead- that guy was giant. I hurried back for the washing basket, grabbed a sheet, and they led him inside as I offered it. He must have gotten out somehow, the two of them struggling to hold him still. I thought they'd said he'd gotten weaker? They could barely hold onto him. He was sweating again, shoving at them, soaking wet with the stuff.

"Shower?" I asked.

Jeremy nodded. He glanced out the door. "Karl will be here in a few minutes. Make some breakfast for him, please."

I didn't ask how they knew he was coming. Silly question. They'd heard the car. Instead I went in and poured some of the batter left over into the frying pan, letting the pancake sizzle and heat up, as the front door opened and Karl called, "Jeremy?"

"He's upstairs. Want some food?" I called. He ducked his head into the kitchen and nodded. Out of all the pack, this was the man I knew least, the one who was usually away with business or Hope. I still hadn't figured out if he was with Hope or not. Just that half the time she was here, he ended up showing up, and that she now had his son.

"Pancakes? You make them?" He flopped down.

"Easy to make. Here." I tipped it onto his plate and offered the leftovers from earlier, the ham, cut meats and cheese, letting him figure out how he wanted to adorn it.

"Are you weak now?" Karl asked, not mincing words, his eyes going back up to me. When I frowned he nodded. "I thought so."

"You were investigating a mutt?" I asked, ignoring the pain those words brought, and he nodded as he piled things on top of it. "Well?"

"He's in the trunk. Looks like it's spreading." He replied. "Fork?"

I slid one over and sat back down, letting this news sink in, that it wasn't just us. It wouldn't be long then before the mutts, the bitten and the hereditary, to connect this disease to us somehow. "That's not good news."

Karl nodded a fraction as he ate. Jeremy came back down, soaking wet, apparently having heard every word. "Did he get attention?"

"In hospital, a little, but we were quick to get in before he started the changing." Karl answered.

"We?" Jeremy raised an eyebrow.

"Hope assisted." He didn't explain and Jeremy didn't ask. "Paige had to go somewhere else. He's in the trunk."

"Does this mean it's not just us?" I asked and Jeremy's dark eyes met mine.

"Seems so." He sighed out slowly. "I'll have to talk with Elena about our actions."

"Actions?"

"He means, do we warn the mutts, or do we keep it quiet." Karl explained. "Right?"

"Exactly." Jeremy nodded a fraction. "I'll be upstairs."

Karl excused himself later, apparently called upstairs for help, and I spent most of the day trying to run around after the triplets again. It was easier, just a fraction, but just as exhausting. It had been easy to take for granted the energy and endurance that naturally came after the bite, I'd used it without thinking after a while, and the triplets hadn't exhausted me like this. They had been tiring, sure, but ... nothing at this level.

I suddenly understood why mothers talked about having a nap while the kids had a nap. By the time I'd washed laundry, again, changed the triplets over and over and over, fed them, kept an eye on the triplets as they ran all over the backyard and got into everything, eating anything that was small enough to pick up, while hanging up washing, and got them lunch to fill the gaps snails, mud and leaves hadn't filled... I was buggered. They weren't. They were very much awake when I suggested a nap and very upset about the idea, rolling around the little room they'd been given, ignoring their beds. This was okay. I shut the door, curled up on the ground on a cushion, and went to sleep. They'd either join me or they'd keep playing, but if I knew them, they'd prefer joining me.

A little body snuggled against mine when I woke a few hours later. I was half right. Dominic, like he always liked to do, had copied me and was curled up on a teddy bear for a pillow. Susie and Lily were on one of the little beds side by side, fast asleep, a blanket tugged over them.

Nick sat behind me, I realised, his hand stroking across my back when he heard me wake, flipping a page.

"Hi." I rolled onto my back and gazed up at him. He smiled, put a finger across my lips, and stroked my face gently as he mouthed 'Hello' back. When I pulled him down, fingers tangling in his curls, he didn't resist, just threw the book aside and slid down to lie on my other side. The nightclub was weeks ago.

Dominic grumbled when my warmth left his side, sliding closer, the teddy bear squeaking as it was pulled across.

Nick held up a piece of paper with a red crayon, his handwriting, 'Date tonight?'

I shook my head and yawned. He pouted, raised the crayon, and added something else. Stick figures. Going at it. I laughed, his hand covering my mouth, and took the crayon.

'Two men?'

He scowled and added breasts to one.

I pointed an arrow at the other one. 'No gender?'

Nick added a penis, his grin back now, a penis that was ...creative. Very creative. Very large. Then he wriggled his eyebrows. I took it and made it a little more realistic. He shook his head and tried to draw another one. We fought over it, crayons digging into the paper, giggling, Nick's hand trying to muffle mine. Finally he had to lift me up and take me out of the room.

"It's that big."

"Uh huh." I laughed, folding it up and sliding it in my bra, his eyes watching the path of it with increased interest.

"That's a nice bra. Who bought you that?" He tried to see, yanking my top down, fingers tracing along the nude lace and I pretended to fight him off, getting pinned against the wall in the hallway. "Is that one I got you?"

"Maybe." I had planned on surprising him with it at some point. Now was as good a time as any. I unbuttoned my shirt a little, as he reached in to stroke it, looking delighted. Then I hid it again, seeing Elena come out, pushing his hand out. "Look later."

"Third date tonight then?"

"If Elena gives permission." I nodded at Elena, who was standing in her doorway watching us with an amused look. Nick pretended to be surprised to see her.

"Elena!" He captured her in another big hug, grinning. "Can I take her on a date?"

"Have you kissed any more strangers in nightclubs?" Elena raised an eyebrow at him as she batted at his head.

"No. I have been very good." Nick protested as he lowered her down. "Can I tak-" He cut off, blinking, then called, "Coming!"

Elena and I blinked, glancing at each other, as he seemed to answer someone neither of us had heard.

"I'm needed. Pick you up at eight!" He winked at me, jogging away down the hallway, heading for the other half of Stonehaven.

"I didn't hear it." Elena muttered.

"Neither did I." I glanced after him. "Should I-"

"No. Probably not. Jeremy, or Reece, whoever it was... would have yelled louder." Elena sighed and moved to stand beside me against the wall. "Babies down?"

"For a little while." I relaxed a little and glanced at the phone in my pocket. "Maybe till Matt gets home." I yawned, shutting my eyes.

"I'll cook dinner."

"You sure?"

Elena nodded. "By cook, I mean put in the oven and warm it up, but yes."

"I'll help. Ice cream in bowls." I offered and she laughed. We yawned, sighing again, both clearly buggered. I told her, "You'll feel better tomorrow," and she smiled somewhat. "Stronger."

"You can go with Nick out tonight after the toddlers are in bed. That is, if you can stay awake." Elena's head turned to Kate, who had leaned out of her door looking for her. "I'm coming back. We'll watch a movie downstairs."

I nodded and smiled. She stood up, groaning as her body resisted that simple move, a push from me helping. "Twins. Exhausting. Can't imagine what it's like with three two year olds."

"Don't ask. I'll be asleep by nine." I muttered. She laughed and headed back into the bedroom, just as Kate poked her head out again with a DVD in one hand. Or was it a blue... thing? Who knew anymore.

It was much later than nine by the time we got the toddlers asleep, Nick still busy with Clayton, who had run around naked again, sprouting bullshit, trying to find Elena. Something about Christmas. She seemed to understand and helped them by luring him back into his room, waving tinsel, which had a surprisingly calm effect on the big guy. Nick vanished for half an hour in the car, heading to Forestwatch to 'set up', and I made myself drown coffee so that I could prepare too before I wandered over there.

I wanted to reward him for being so good to me, well, except for the bar. He had spent the past two weeks slaving over us with the other werewolves and seemed to genuinely be sorry. Maybe I was a sucker for falling for it so easily. Maybe not. I decided that I didn't care tonight. Instead, I dressed up, wore 'winter' undies which were silky blue-white silk things with a fur lining, hiding them under a big coat. Google had yet again paid off with tips. It was teaching me more about surprising Nick than anything else. Ever. Trenchcoat? Underwear? Heels? Makeup?

It wasn't something I would do for just anyone. I'd gone to job interviews in jeans and thongs. This man? He could get me to walk down the street naked in public if it made him happy. I suspected it would have amused him too.

I walked to Forestwatch, boots on, heels in one hand, when it got to the correct time to leave. Twenty minutes walk, the night cool, a torch in hand as I tried to not freak out or have an anxiety attack in the dark. Funny how it was easier to do this, ignore a fear of the dark, when you knew what was going on in the dark. By the time I got to the edge of the forest and saw Forestwatch's lights on, I had to use breathing techniques to keep calm, trying to rattle logic through my head.

The sight of Nick at the end of the walk, a dark figure in a doorway, leaning casually there as he waited, was enough to calm me down again. I threw the boots away into the forest, as he waited patiently, sliding the heels on and striding the last of the distance on them.

Nick was leaning against the doorway, a lazy grin on his face, eyes going down to the heels with amusement. "You walked all the way in those?"

"Can't you tell?" I tried to walk sexy, swing hips, and stumbled over the hose. Who left that out? Nick stepped forward to catch me, laughing, swinging me up into his arms.

"Yeah, you're a pro." He tried to undo the coat. "What's with this?"

"Surprise. No touching." I slapped his hands away and nipped his neck to distract him. "What's for dinner?"

"We're going out for pizza in town first." Nick replied. He carted me out to the car and lowered me in it. "Unless you want to get changed?"

I shook my head, and he raised an eyebrow, trying to see under it again.

We sat there, eating the pizza in a corner in town, ignoring the stares or the comments. They weren't about me or the giant coat I wore, I suspected no one noticed my clothing at all, but rather Nick. With a woman. I noticed he'd taken his wedding band off again but tried to ignore that. I wasn't wearing mine either- they were probably still under repair. Why would Nick keep his off though in public? That made no sense.

I amused myself with sliding my foot up his leg, hooking it behind it, our legs hidden by the table. Nick blinked at me, trying to hide the amusement there, trying to eat normally. This didn't work when I slipped the heel off and used my bare foot instead, the bare foot sliding right up the inside of his thigh.

He almost bit his own finger when he felt toes tickling that spot, yelping, dropping the pizza and raising an eyebrow at me.

"What?" I gave him an innocent look, fingers teasing the muscle along the inside of his thigh, knowing the effect I had on him. "Don't like your pizza?" I glanced around, no one looking, and lowered the coat slightly, parting it, so he could see exactly what I was and wasn't wearing under there.

"Tease." His low growl sent shivers up my spine, the look he gave me, as if he was tempted to drag me into the bathroom then and there.

"Good pizza." I pretended to agree, buttoning it back up again, leaning back. I slipped my foot back in the shoe and acted as if I'd done nothing. "I love the mushrooms."

Banana split and another chance to tease him with little flicks of my tongue at the spoon covered in icecream. The look on Nick's face was priceless. I'd flirted with him before, teased him, but never this much. Truth was, I wanted to claim him all over again, I wanted to make him mine. Make him crawl. Love him till he passed out from it.

He stood up, suddenly, dropping more money than was necessary, and dragged me out to the car. I laughed as he almost pulled me off my feet in the heels, Nick glancing back and slowing down, his face flushed. We made our way to the car, Nick's breathing a little faster, his brow shiny with sweat, glancing back at me.

"Why so naughty tonight, hm?" He growled, when we were in the car and the windows were up, though he didn't look the least bit upset about it.

"Establishing my territory."

"Keep it up."

"I will." I grinned at him, reaching across, fingers tracing along the inside of his thigh again. Nick inhaled sharply as the back of my hand brushed him, car swerving a little, and he drove just that little bit faster out of town.

When we got back, Nick told me to wait downstairs. Wait? I pouted and he grinned. "Surprise for you too. You wait in the living room, I come downstairs, we strip for each other."

"Sounds fun."

He literally ran upstairs in the empty house, I heard him trip over something that squeaked, swearing. Didn't need super hearing to hear that.

When he came down, I stared at him like he'd gone mad, a few minutes and ...he'd gone eighties. Literally. Held a boom box, a serious one, over one shoulder, eye liner, hair done up something out of a bad early music video, his own body covered in a trench coat too.

"Who goes first?"

"Let me. Music's all ready." He grinned and I nodded. Nick stood up, turning off the lights, lighting candles.

Then he turned on the music and started to strip.

Laughter didn't deter him, as 'like a virgin' came on, Nick apparently having gone for the serious 80s look. Make up and all. He milked that song for every second, singing, high pitched, as I sat back and watched, spurned on by my laugher.

"Yoou made meee feel shiny and new... like a virgin..."

"You were never a virgin." I laughed as he danced around, looking incredibly ridiculous "Never."

"What about this one?" He tugged that cassette tape out and changed it. "Can't touch this!"

I watched him do the dance, laughing my head off, the sad part being that ...well, he actually knew the dance. Was he good? No. But he knew the dance. It was sort of tragic and amusing all at once.

"I can't touch you?" I asked, halfway through, standing up. He blinked at me, grinning, "Can't touch this."

I pushed him back into a seat, standing up, eyes locking into his. Nick swallowed, turned off his boom box, and waited.

"Here's your ipod." He threw it at me.

"You want to see what I listened to as a teenager?"

He nodded.

I grinned. I'd already put a song onto his phone- I wasn't sure if he'd noticed it it yet- the bad touch by the bloodhound gang suiting him. That would have been great for stripping to but I didn't want to spoil the surprise. So... I put one earpiece in my ear, turned it up loud so his good hearing could hear it, and turned it on.

Mmmbop it was. I grinned at him as he blinked at me, probably expecting something much sexier than that, as I reached for the top button of the coat, the song going...

"Oh hell no. You're not stripping to that." He tried to grab the ipod and I ducked, tugging it behind my back, Nick knocking us both down in his attempt to get it off me.

"Hey, this is my stripping song." I protested as he pinned me down and tried to pry it out of my hands.

"That song will never turn me on." He laughed, trying to change it, easily overpowering me. "Here."

'Oh baby, baby, oh baby baby, how was I supposed to know...,' I heard it sing in my ear.

"You feel sexy to Britney Spears?"

"I like picturing you in that sexy schoolgirl outfit." He tried to undo my coat. We struggled against each other, one of the buttons vanishing past Nick's head as he yanked hard, laughing and nipping gently at each other. He was turned on, I could feel it, his face flushed, breathing hard against my neck, and he hadn't even seen it yet."What's my present?"

"I can't strip if you're on top of me." I wriggled as he tried to pry it off, holding it there stubbornly.

"I decided to unwrap you instead." Nick's thumb rolled over the ipod till he found what he wanted, a knee between my legs, his free hand keeping me pinned on the ground. "Nineties song."

'Ooh Aah ... Just A Little Bit...'

"Don't want to watch me strip?"

"You might put on Mmmbop again." He shook his head, pretending to look very serious. "I can't take that."

"Mmm bop, ba duba dop, Ba du bop, ba duba dop, Ba du bop, ba duba dop..." I teased him, loving how he growled at that, his lips finally coming down to shut me up with a hard hiss, buttons tearing off the coat as he gave up 'unwrapping it' and tore it off instead. He'd forgotten it had a belt, growling as it refused to get off me, it took him a few seconds to check what it was around my waist keeping him from getting his way.

"What's this?" Nick's head moved lower as his body scooted down, lips tracing over the soft fur and silk bra, inhaling slowly. "New?"

"Mmhmm."

"You've learnt well." He tugged the coat off, tearing seams, impatient now, inhaling slowly as his nose brushed against the inside of my breasts, the fur lining ticking each side of his face. Whiskers made me squirm as they scratched against the sensitive skin. "So well. Where'd you buy it?"

"I made it. Don't rip it." I grinned at him. "You need to shave again."

"Forget shaving, let me inspect this workmanship." He sat up, tugging me into his lap with my legs around his legs, stroking across the edge of the bra. It wasn't perfect. I wasn't that good at making clothing, at least compared to what my sister had been like, but she'd drummed in sewing into me so much that I managed. The odd strange thread or uneven stitching hardly mattered.

I watched him, reaching up to tug at his shirt, Nick's head lifting up to look at me as I pulled at it. He grinned and pulled the fabric off in a quick yank, throwing it away, his muscles tense as he returned his attention to 'inspecting' the bra. Fingers slid into the cup, against the soft fur lining, Nick inhaling sharply as he found my nipples there. What had he expected? I breathed out slowy, shutting my eyes as he wrapped his arms around me to find the clasp and undo it carefully.

"Don't like it?"

"I need to see it closer up." The bra was slipped from my arms, Nick keeping me on my stomach as he liffted it up, inhaling the scents he could still smell there slowly, his body grinding against my behind with increasingly hard pushes. "I'm keeping this. In a glass cabnit. In our living room."

"Not a chance."

"These can go beside it." He grinned and carefully put it on the table, before his hands slid down my sides with agonisingly slow strokes, I squirmed as he tickled the skin, hands finding the panites.

"You like them then?"

"Love them. We're never going to Victoria Secret again."

I resisted the urge to remind him that it was always him going, never me, and we sat there, bare chests brushing against each other, my hands in his curls as I tugged his head down to mine. We were gentle at first, ignoring the ipod as it blasted away some random song, till Nick realised that random song was 'Wannabe'.

"You need better taste." He muttered, snatching it up. I heard 'kiss me' instead, his amused look as he found it, and Nick tossed it to one side so we could return to what we were doing.

After a few minutes of kissing, the kisses getting increasingly hard and rough, Nick's hips grinding into mine, hands stroking across my skin like he couldn't decide where he wanted to touch, I knew he was about to jump on top of me. "Bedroom?"

"I don't know if I can last that long." Nick got up slowly, his hands reaching for his pants, undoing them. "These are too tight."

"So take them off." I wriggled, trying to get free, but one of his hands shot down to pin a leg down. When I reached for a hand he gave me a low warning growl. "Not going to let me up?"

When he shook his head, I twisted around onto my back, surprising him, giving him a not so gentle shove in the chest with my heel. He yelped, standing up, and I got up quickly.

"Hey!"

"Thought you liked playing hard to get?" I teased, standing back, trying to not trip over his shirt as I stood there with my hands on my hips, bare chested, the panties still there. Nick's eyes drank in the sight as he threw his belt to one side, trying to get his pants off. I stepped back one step, then another, Nick's attempt to grab me and give chance hampered by the tight pants he was trying to get down his hips.

"This is why parachute pants were popular." He muttered, cursing,struggling to chase me and undress.

"Sorry. Can't catch me... can't do much, can you?" I grinned, wheeling around as he lunged for me, racing up the stairs, trying to not trip in the heels. The house was empty, a rare freedom, the lights off, and …

Nick caught me on the stairs, more or less naked now, grabbing my legs so that we fell hard against the steps with a yelp and an 'oof'.

"Hey, careful." I protested, as he climbed up me, pushing me into the stairs, teeth finding the back of my shoulder.

"You be careful. Teasing a werewolf with a hunt, dressed like that, and..." He grinned, white teeth glowing in the darkness, tongue coming to flick against the back of my neck. He'd found the other part of the surprise that he'd been too distracted to see before. I'd sewn a bunny tail onto the back of the panties. "...dressed like this? I think I'm starting to like this view of you. " He cursed as I dug a heel into him, pushing him back, and I scrambled up again, glancing back with a teasing wink.

Nick was on me again in a second at the top of the stairs, his breathing hard, sweat making out skin slippery, hands grasping for my thighs and holding me still. "Don't you move, bunny."

"Or?" I pretended to move, testing...

He showed me, pulling the fabric out of his way, apparently unable to wait for the bedroom, his arms wrapping around my waist as we growled and nipped at each other, panting, pushing against each other, sweaty skin sliding against each other, the stairs digging into my front.

We got up after, slowly, Nick cathcing me as my weak legs almost stumbled and sent me flying back down the staircase, his breathing slowly as he carried me into our bedroom. I was bleeding again, body not like it had been before, bruises already forming from the staircase digging in...

Nick saw and smelt it in the dim light of the bedside lamp and swore softly, fingers dancing over the sore skin. "Shit. I was a bit rough. Forgot how delicate bunnies are."

"I didn't notice." I tried to grab for the heels and get them off. Nick pulled them off, throwing them over his shoulder, kissing my bare feet. "You like my feet?"

"I like every inch of you." He crawled up, kissing the spots staircases had dug in, sweaty, and slid my panties down my legs, throwing them in the same direction the shoes had gone.

"I wanted to ..." I flushed, as Nick raised an eyebrow, eyes tracing down to his groin. "I guess ...we got a bit distracted."

"Trust me. You'll get another chance if you keep looking at me like that." He grinned, shifting closer, sliding over to sit on my stomach. Nick took one of my hands and had me stroke him, slowly, a low shudder escaping as he did. "Very soon."

"I haven't done it before." I watched it, watched it respond, flushing. You'd think two years of teasing it, playing with it, and having it a major part of our sex life would have had me used to the way it ...grew like that. For me. But no. I was still shy when it came to being up close and personal. Nick always seemed amused by that.

"I know."

"Tell me what you like."

"I like it when the woman doesn't bite it off." He replied. Shifted closer, amused when it made me go redder, my eyes widening. Nick rolled onto his back. "Afraid?"

"No." I got up, stubborn, sliding over. He grinned, thrusting his hips at my mouth as I got close, the smell of him in my nostrils. Not a bad smell, exactly, he'd clearly … cleaned up... as he'd changed. But a smell.

It probably wasn't the best one he'd had from a woman, I knew that, but I did what he instructed, finding that when my eyes met his...it seemed to add something to it, something he loved. He loved how innocent I was when it came to things like this. Tasting him like this was strange too. I didn't protest when one of his hands gently guided me, murmuring gentle instructions that got more and more broken up with ragged breathing, till he couldn't speak and I copied what he and google had told me to do. This was about him, about claiming him, loving him, pleasing him. Tasting him.

Nick pushed me back as he got close, his breathing hard, muttering something about how I didn't have to swallow. Swallow?

I understood when it came, across my lips and in my mouth, on my chin, the look on his face as he saw me lying under him with his fluids on me... it appealed to something so deep down, so primal, that he dragged me into the shower and we started again, pressed against the glass, bodies rubbing and sliding against each other as we 'cleaned'.

"Love you." I murmured against his neck after his third release for the night, breathing hard, my body exhausted.

"Love you. Thankyou."

"Can I do it again soon?" I needed practice and he seemed so satisfied, so happy.

"Every night and morning if you want."

"You liked it?"

Nick nodded, releasing my legs down onto the tiles, the hot water pouring down over the two of us. He seemed lost for words now and happily let me shave him, eyes warm with affection as he watched me. He didn't even seem bothered when I accidentally nicked him a few times, stealing kisses, covering my face with foam. I suddenly understood why girls did that, gave men oral sex, it made him so happy. I sort of understood too. Every time he went down there for me, it was incredible, not just because it felt good but ...because he liked me enough to go down there.

"Sorry."

"What for?" He blinked. "I cut me all the time when you're near."

"No... I should have done that sooner."

He shrugged, taking the towel, wiping the foam off me. "Only when you're ready. I'd never force you into something you're uncomfortable with."

"Except slutty schoolgirl outfits and sex on the staircase."

Nick grinned, nipping at my lip. "Except them. Plus a few other ideas. I've got a lot I haven't tried with you yet."

"You-" I leaned up, tugging a pillow under my head to prop it up, "-are a very bad influence." He seemed amused by that, but I was thinking over all of it, giving into him after three days together, the airplane, other various locations …like he couldn't help himself but just had to use all his experience on me.

"Good." Nick yawned, rolling off me and shut his eyes. "We'll keep up your education tomorrow."

I nodded, snuggling into his side, and curled up. Now that we were both satisfied and relaxed it didn't take long to fall asleep.

The phone woke me up. Nick groaned, trying to kick at it, but I grabbed it before he could.

"Tell Dad to bugger off." He muttered as I lifted it. "Tell Jeremy that we're having sex."

"Hello?"

"Having sex?" Reece asked, voice tense but a trace of amusement. "I don't hear moaning."

Nick grunted and threw the pillow at the phone.

"Is that the sound he makes when he's on you? Poor girl."

I felt Nick pounce, trying to get the phone off me, and rolled off the bed, landing with an 'oof' onto a shoe. "We're not having sex. What is it?" It was, I saw from the bedside clock, three in the morning... "Something wrong? The triplets?" Now I was awake, wide awake, and Nick too. He sat up.

"No, no, they're passed out. Angels."

"While they're asleep." Nick muttered.

"Daniella's ...a little... upset. Sorry. I know it's late but do you think you could come back now?"

"Yeah, of course." I stood up and flipped on the light. "Upset? Is she awake?" I started to dress, Nick getting up and dressing too.

"I can't tell. She was never-" Reece hesitated. "Good with stress. Or being weak. She's either in the middle of a fever or upset."

I heard a crash in the distance. "What was that?"

"Kitchen plate thrown through a window."

Ah, fuck. "Won't be long. Can you calm her down?"

"I've been trying but ..." Another crash and a wail. Lily. "...we've got three babies here that are wide awake and Clayton's trying to get into the kitchen to take on the threat. Karl and Jeremy are with him. Elena's trying to calm the babies down. And Vi's not crash hot right now. Amar's with her but ...Dani's really hot and ...we need help."

"Is Clayton awake?" Nick called. We hurried downstairs, not bothering with shoes, the phone against my ear.

"No, he's feverish and hallucinating, and it's taking them both to keep him in the basement."

"Ten minutes." Nick called and we started to the house.

When we got there, glass was over the lawn where the plate had gone through a window, Daniella wrecking havoc in the kitchen, growls from the basement that even I could hear.

"See you soon." Nick kissed my cheek briefly, as I tied back my hair, and hurried downstairs.

Reece was trying to talk to Daniella, who threw a glass at his head, panic and rage in her face, his arms up, a cut across one cheek. She wasn't awake yet, her eyes were unfocused, all the rage and hurt from the past three years there. She'd gotten better, happier, calmer, but out of all of us, Daniella struggled the most with it. The fights she'd have with Reece usually resulted in one or both of them getting hurt in some way. And he was endlessly patient with her.

I stepped in beside him, relief flooding Reece's face when he saw me.

"See, she's here. We're here. It's okay." He held out his hands, trying to step closer, only to get another glass thrown at his head.

"Dani?" I called and she hesitated, her arms shaking, sweat pouring down her arms in obvious rivets, legs trembling and threatening to pitch her down on the shards of glass and china around her. "Want to get away from that mess?"

She let me come closer to her, leaning against me heavily, which might not have been a problem earlier but ...I got us both out of the kitchen, somehow, trying to not tip over as the taller girl literally collapsed on me, her breathing hard, salty sweat and tears on my hair, snot running down her face. She'd been sobbing her eyes out. Reece trailed behind us, trying to help, but everytime he got within her two metre space she got angry all over again.

"She needs a shower. To cool down." He explained and I nodded, guiding her upstairs and into the bathroom, Reece hovering behind. "But it has to be lukewarm. Cold would send her into shock."

I tried to take off her clothing and this just made her panic. So into the shower we went, the two of us, lukewarm water pouring down on us both, Daniella's arms wrapped around me as she stood there, blood from cuts soaking into her clothing. She was hot. Her skin felt like it'd burn me.

"This what I was like?"

"You... yes." He nodded, lips twitching. "Vi took care of it. Half the time anyone with a penis had to stay away."

I nodded, stroking Daniella's face gently, as she slid down and sat there on the edge of the bath, the water flooding onto the floor. We'd have to clean it up later. The fevers were probably forcing her into her worst nightmares, and however good our lives were, the nightmares were always in the same places. The same thing happening. The same wound there, never fully healed, and the hurt that came with it.

When she was cooled down, her temperature more or less safe, she let me strip her clothing off, leaning against the mirror, Reece throwing fresh clothing over. She was still sobbing her heart out though, hands against her stomach, and I knew what nightmade she'd been living.

"Get one of my babies." I told Reece and he blinked.

"Why?"

I stroked her face, gently, as she sobbed, clutching to me, eyes still unfocused. "Go get Dominic."

He was the calmest of the babies and least likely to care if he was in a cool shower. Reece vanished and brought Dominic back, who was completely awake, blinking at us. I lifted him onto her lap and she clutched him, holding him, tears falling on his dark hair as he stared placidly up at me with a 'What's this about?' expression.

"This got to do with her scar on her stomach?" Reece asked, lower, as I stood up and stripped my own wet clothing off. "Here, got you this." He handed me some clean stuff.

"Did she tell you what it was?" Two years since she'd told me, more or less, but I wasn't sure if she'd ever tell him all of what happened. She'd tried to, she'd talked to me about it after, but she'd always lost the ability to speak every time.

"No. She hasn't been able to." He watched her clutch Dominic who had decided this wasn't so nad and shut his eyes, snuggling up against the familiar adult, a thumb in his mouth. "I think I get the picture though. Did she have one?"

I didn't answer for some time as I dried and dressed, watching her calm down, her breathing improve, eyes focusing somewhat. "I don't know if I should tell you." I muttered. His face drained a little more.

"Anne..."

"Tell him." Dani's voice came. I blinked, Reece stepping closer, and she blinked, staring up at us, tears leaking. There was focus in them now, in her eyes, exhaustion and lucidity there, all panic gone.

"You back with us, Dani?" Reece tried to step closer, slowly.

"Tell him." She nodded, hiccuping, arms tightening around Dominic, her nose against his scalp as he fell asleep. "All of it. I'm awake now."

"You sure?"

"Just say it. I can't do it. I've tried for months."

I told him. Told him about the rapes, clutching her hand in mine, careful to stop or not say anything she didn't want me to. But she kept pushing me to tell him all of it and when I couldn't anymore, it was impossible to tell him what she had to, she spoke finally, voice cracking, eyes on Dominic instead of on Reece. The rapes, the miscarriage, and then the 'scientist' taking everything. Womb and baby and all.

Reece sat down on the bath, face white, and when I offered to leave, Daniella's hand tightened on mine.

"This why you don't want a baby?"

"Can't have one." She replied, voice breaking with emotion at that statement, tears falling onto Dominic. "Can't. I want but ..." As Daniella had been speaking, she'd started to slump, fighting sleep. I reached up to touch her forehead, tested her temperature, and it seemed to be improving.

We went quiet, Daniella leaning against the wall, Reece sitting on the bathtub, and it took the two of us a while to realise she'd fallen asleep. He stood up and lifted her up, baby and all, carrying her down to the room they shared. Reece lowered her down, careful with Dominic too, and sat on the end of the bed, his head in his hands.

"I guessed the scar was from something like that but-" He breathed out slowly, shaking. "Explains why she doesn't want sex."

"She doesn't have sex?"

"We tried a few times but she never enjoyed it." He replied, head in hands, his own body tense. "Fuck. I … I guess I knew, when she refused to touch the baby things at the start, when she was almost hostile about them... but ..."

"Everyone copes in their own way." I muttered.

"How do you cope with it?"

"Plan futures. Try to not think about the past. If I-" I hesitated, but his eyes swung up to me, and he wanted me to keep going. He yanked me down to sit beside him on the edge of the bath, an arm wrapping around me, leaning against me. "If I think about it too much, or if I think about my childhood, or my parents, I get upset. Angry. So I don't think about them too much." I replied. "It might not work that way for her."

"Can you tolerate sex with him?"

"There's some things he can't do." I replied softly. "Mostly though, yes, because Nick's always making new memories around sex, new things, new experiences, things not related to ...then. Sometimes he has to stop when it reminds me of something someone else did... but she was hurt more than I was. I can't imagine what she'd remember."

"He makes new memories?"

"I was pretty inexperienced. Almost everything he does is new to me." I glanced at Reece, the urge to suggest something there, fear of it going wrong like last time. "I ...you had a relationship with her before, didn't you? Sex?"

"Yes."

"Try and repeat some of those things as much as you can. A smell, a perfume, because she'll have a memory in her associated with it. We call them hooks... a colour, or a smell, or a taste that was with a good memory."

"When I smell home made jam made from strawberries, I remember my childhood, that kind of thing?"

"Exactly." I hesitated. "I don't know if it'd work. It might not make sex easier for her but ...it might help."

"I'll try it. Anything is a good idea if it makes her feel better." Reece inhaled slowly. "She's nearly well."

"How do you know?"

"She smells better. Thanks for rushing over. Do you mind if we have Dominic for the night?" Reece stood up, going around the bed to kiss her forehead, affection there, breathing in slowly as his nose brushed against her forehead. "It'll help her sleep."

"Go ahead." I nodded. Lily or Susie, that would have been a problem, but Dominic was much more easy going about this kind of thing. He wouldn't have minded who he woke up with as long as it was someone. It'd be amusing to see how much like his dad he was going to be. "He gets a little grizzly in the morning but it's just because he's thirsty, a bottle of warm water and he calms down straight away, and you can bring him into us."

"Just water?"

"He likes it."

Reece nodded, breathing in slowly, hands stroking her forehead slowly, and I stood up. He glanced up and smiled a small smile.

"Thanks."

Daniella woke the next morning, still lucid, remembering the night before, and was found in the kitchen trying to clean it up again. Reece didn't stop her but he was right there, beside her, the two of them working silently side by side as they swept and gathered up shards of glass and china.

Vi woke that afternoon, surprisingly having given us the least trouble in her fevers, apparently having spent most of her time sick just lying there. We found out why- Pav was on the line to her almost all the time via the computer, day or night, talking, singing to her, even sleeping beside the laptop so Vi could hear her. It was a smart idea. The disease hadn't reached Russia, though we'd heard it had been reported now in Australia from Andrew, the young Australian alpha, who struggled to get them before they were taken to a hospital.

It was the same story for them. The second they woke, they'd lost their sense of 'wolfish' smell, hearing and strength. We all needed to eat the same amount, it seemed, and our bodies still healed at a faster rate apparently, but it didn't change that we felt human.

That left just Clayton. He stayed sick, stayed panicked, no matter how much Elena spent with him, and it became a normal sight to see him wandering around half naked, broken restraints on his wrists and ankles, feverish, the full strength werewolves having to tackle him down all over again. Eventually they had to take him to Forestwatch- he started to grab Elena so hard that he hurt her, which made him panic worse, apparently caught in the moment after he'd bitten her, the same moment looping in his head over and over.

The only good thing about that was that the pool made it easy to dunk him fast if he got too hot.

He was sick for another week before he came back with a start, I was helping them drag him out to the pool, Nick and Jeremy jumping in with him. Five minutes, he'd cooled down, then, very suddenly, Clayton was lucid, wide awake, the fever vanishing.

"What the hell is that for?" Clayton muttered, staring at me accusingly, trying to shake the water out of his ears. "Why am I in a pool?"

"Is he awake?"

"Why else would I be up? Shit." He reached for his head, groaning. "This what a cold feels like? I can't hear a thing."

"I think he's awake." Nick replied. Prodded Clayton, who flinched, trying to push his hand back. "Yep. Awake."

"Where's Elena?"

"Stonehaven." Jeremy replied, tugging it around Clayton's side, tying it there like a toga. "You've been sick for a while."

"How much is a while?"

"Three weeks." I replied, quietly, and his head lifted back up to me. I wasn't sure why, out of all of us, he'd suffered the longest. It was a relief to see something back in his eyes besides the heart stopping 'eyes rolling back so far the whites show' look he got every time the fever got too much and he thrashed.

"Was it a cold?"

I shook my head and he frowned, rubbing at his ear with a finger, as if he was hoping it was an ear wax problem.

"I can't smell or hear." Clayton's eyes went past us to house. Now that he was awake, lucid, it seemed that he was doing his best to understand, take over the situation, stay lucid. "You sure?"

"It's not a cold. It's something else. Liz has it too, Matt, Elena, Daniella and Vi." Nick said, quieter now, glancing at me. "We're curing it."

"So what is it? What are you curing?" Clayton tried to shrug off their hands, one leg going forward , trying to get out of the pool. His body wouldn't cooperate and he glowered at his legs. "What's wrong with my legs?"

"First, we talk with you. Let's sit inside." Jeremy and Nick helped Clayton out of the pool, offering him a towel, and we headed inside. " You might need a few days to get some strength back."

"A few days?" Clayon inhaled. Blinked. Then he tried to do it again, and again, breathing in so hard that he almost snorted, and it might have been funny if he hadn't just realised he couldn't smell. Seriously couldn't smell. "Why the hell can't I smell you? What are we curing here?"

"We can't smell."

Elena's voice made both myself and Clayton jump, his head swinging around, her face drawn and tense as she watched him. "We can't smell like we could. Our hearing's gone too. And our strength."

"Can we change?"

"We don't need to." She was right. One week since she and I had woken, more or less, and neither of us had the urge. I wondered if it was possible. "I haven't had to chance since I woke. Neither has Anne."

"Can we?" Clayton's face was drained of all blood. "Or are we human now? Jer? Elena?" For the first time since I'd met him I saw it. The flicker of real genuine panic there. He was just a moment from snapping.

"We can change." I spoke up, Elena's eyes going to me, soft. "Matt's still doing it as much as he can. He said it hurts more and takes longer but we're still werewolves."

Clayton's shoulders visibly sagged with relief at that and he shut his eyes a moment. Elena stepped forward and touched him, carefully, ignoring his flinch at the unexpected contact.

"In a few days-" Jeremy tried and Clayton's eyes snapped open.

"We need to do it now. Now, Jer. Not in a few days. You too." His eyes snapped onto me. "Rules are, we change once a week. So we change."

"Food first." Elena didn't argue with him. "Then we can."

Clayton didn't take long to eat everything she set out for him and then made his way into the forest, refusing the cane, refusing to admit he'd gotten weaker. Elena hurried after him. I wasn't sure if I was going, at first, but Nick and Jeremy followed me in. The five of us would change.

Matt hadn't been kidding about how much more it hurt and how much longer it took. It'd been agonising before but now...at one point I passed out, I suspected, which hadn't stopped my body continuing the change. I woke on my side, panting hard, trembling as the pain faded away, needing a moment to recover.

It was like the world had been slammed back into my senses. Suddenly I could smell everything again, I could hear, I could taste, strength flooding back into muscles that had vanished. I trembled, whining slightly, sliding onto my belly as I scratched at the ground and sniffed it. Scents, complex ones, chemicals tracing up as I deciphered the meanings of them, rabbits. Rabbits crossing the ground here. Four hours go. I whined again with relief. Never thought I'd miss this smell as much as I did.

Nick pounced into my side, the two of us rolling over, his scent crashing over me and I whined again, a soft cry in my throat as I pinned him down and sniffed him from head to toe, eyes shutting, his own complex scent mingling with the smell of dry leaves, grass, dampness, dew, dirt. A tongue stroked up my neck as I made him lie there, made him let me smell him, trembling. I wanted to cry and I was making strange little noses against him.

We curled up against each other, play gone for a moment, his dark body pressed against mine, very aware that all of a sudden I was back. His mate. I was well again.

Two golden wolves sped past us, chasing each other, Clayton a little slower than usual, but whatever distress he'd felt was gone now. Nick's head jerked up as he watched them, ears pricking up, and I nudged him. Go. Play.

He sped after them, teeth catching Clayton's tail, and I smelt Jeremy before I saw him. Heard him creeping along the ground, his belly scraping the ground, and then...

I rolled out of his way as he pounced at me, teeth showing as he smiled, spinning around at me. We chased each other until Nick got bored of annoying Clayton and came back to play with me.

Elena was overjoyed too, even if she'd pretended to be okay for the past week, I saw her doing exactly what I did, nibbling and licking at Clayton. The five of us romped around, resisting the change back, and it was only when I thought of the babies that I separated from them a moment.

I made my way to Stonehaven, Nick close behind me, trying to play at first... but Elena was on his back, snapping, easily catching up to me. She must have had the same thought. After so long without the scent of our babies, our puppies, the desire to see them, smell them, it almost consumed me.

We came out at Stonehaven, circling around the house slowly, checking for humans. None. Just pack. Karl was standing on the porch on the phone. I wasn't willing to go inside the building, even if it was familiar territory, and Elena sat back as well. She then paused, sniffing, circling around the ground. When I inhaled I understood- her puppies had gone away for the day, leaving trails all over the place.

Karl called something, words that I was too focused to be bothered catching, and Reece appeared. He glanced at me, I whined, scratching at the ground, and disappeared for a moment. Nick moved beside me, brushing against my side, nuzzling against my neck.

Lily, like usual, was the first to come out, steady as she made her way slowly down the stairs with Reece's assistance. Susie wasn't far behind and Dominic was carried over, yawning, the smell of sleep and banana on him. They weren't afraid of me. They knew who I was. I padded over, circling until they were far away from the house, and nuzzled against the puppies, licking dirty faces, whining softly again. Scents filled my head, of three happy healthy puppies, baby humans, some food on them, some talcum powder, some dust, but very happy. Crayon scent covered Dominic's face but I saw none. Little hands grasped my fur, tugging me down, and I rolled over as I was climbed all over, fur tugged at, ears pulled at, Reece trying to control them.

He didn't have to worry. They could do whatever they liked to me. Nick sat back on his haunches, watching, a noise rather like a laugh from him. I yawned, relaxed, lying on my side as they played with me and talked to me, voices echoing in my head, scents filling my nostrils.

I fell asleep there. Maybe that was strange but after a week without this, without my instincts, without this nature that I'd accepted, without their smells... it was so easy to relax. So easy to calm down and go 'Okay. Every thing's all right now.' I woke in the guest room, Nick reading beside me, the smell of him and the sound of the world gone.

Sadness filled me at that, everything suddenly loosing the vibrancy and detail it once had, the 'blur' back over it. I inhaled slowly, reaching out for Nick, his hand curling around mine.

"You okay?"

"I miss it."

"Did it all come back as a wolf?"

I nodded and he sighed, dropping the book on the side, curling up against me. "Explains why Clayton and Elena are still out there."

"How long?"

"Six hours."

"Once I smelt the babies I... I wanted to nap." I admitted and he smiled a little.

"They did smell good. Yum yum."

I prodded his side and he nipped back gently, tugging me on top of him, lips and tongue and teeth teasing the side of my neck. "Reece has taken Vi and Daniella out for their run."

"Good. It'll cheer them up." I muttered. Vi had been refused entry into Russia by the alpha and probably would have refused to go anyway- not until she knew Pav was safe from it.

"I got you a present." Nick held onto me as he wriggled sideways, slowly, arm tightening around me.

"Why?"

"Because. " He grinned and yanked a small velvet bag out of the drawer there, the jangle of something metallic inside. "I can."

I opened it up as he watched, tugging some keys out, several fairly ancient in style and several much more modern. There was even a keycard amongst it. "Keys?"

"To home." He explained. "I don't know if I ever gave you them."

"Nick, I have a key to the apartment."

Nick grinned and waved the old keys. "Not to this house, you don't."

"You don't own a house."

"Haven't we ever taken you there? Where do you think Dad sleeps?" He blinked.

I blinked at him. He scratched his head, looking a bit confused and a bit taken back. "In his room?"

"That's Reece's room. Dad spends time in the apartment during the day, it's closer than home, but dad sleeps at our house."

"You have a house?" I stared at him and he really looked surprised now.

"Didn't I ...tell you about that?" Nick reached up to scratch his head.

"No?"

"Our family's house. Really old. I got an apartment because it was closer to some other ...things." He scratched his head, a sheepish grin. "I sleep there a lot. Um. Surprise!" He offered the keys again.

I took them and stared at them. How much else hadn't he told me? Suddenly I wished I'd asked more. I'd sort of taken it for granted that he'd tell me. But then, I didn't tell him much about life before him either. "What else don't I know?"

"Um." He scratched his head and shrugged. "What do you want to know?"

"Everything?" I flopped down on his lap, holding him there, stuffing the keys into a pocket. "Where is your family from?"

"We come from Italy."

"I thought so."

Nick told me about them, how they'd come here, the business in the early days, still a little surprised that he'd not said this. Maybe it was childish, we'd gotten right to the 'loving and fucking and, oh surprise, there's some babies coming', and then something else distracted us, then something else... two years on, and I was only now finding things out.

Maybe it worked differently in this world. He had a job he enjoyed, I was studying and trying to not go mad with the triplets, neither of us seemed worried about the other. I heard about it all the time, his work, his clients, knew he went to meetings, he showed me things he'd arranged, but we'd never actually really talked about it like this. The glow in his face, particularly when he mentioned Antonio, I suddenly wished I'd thought to ask him more about it. His work. It seemed selfish to ask him to do some of it here when he was really trying hard to do it right.

"I think we should move to New York." I said, as he spoke about his job, about his father, wanting to really do well.

"Really?" Nick blinked at me. It was like he couldn't quite believe it.

"You enjoy working there. Save money on the planes. Why not?" I'd miss the forest, sure, but Central Park was there. I could study again. Maybe even hire a babysitter... that might have been complicated, that idea, but ... "If you want me around more."

"Course I do." A hand snuck up my side. "You sure about this?"

"You can probably do better work there, I can study in person, and I want to see this house you hid from me."

"Not on purpose." Nick reminded me, prodding me gently. "It just never seemed to matter. Girls got taken to the house, sometimes, but never to my apartment."

"You took girls there?" Jealousy reared up.

"Only to the cottage on the outskirts. I never took them to the apartment where you are."

"Nick?" I asked and he blinked. "Do I live in the apartment?"

"Maybe for now. You know it." He nodded and then quickly, as my eyes narrowed, "The house is big and old. We'll visit it and then you can decide about it. The apartment's nicer, I think, cosy, easy to clean. The house is huge, old rooms ignored, human cleaners poking their nose in at you all the time. You'd probably prefer the apartment."

I had to admit right now that 'easy to clean' had a lot more attractiveness to it than 'giant old house with a servant staring at you all the time'. "You might be right about that."

"We'll go there when you move there. What about Forestwatch?"

"Jeremy can use it." That had been the plan originally anyway. I flopped against his chest, fingering the keys, still a little annoyed that it'd taken him this long to tell me about that. "So ...you have a huge family home."

"Giant. Gated. Pain in the ass but it impressed the girls." A hand sneaked down my back. "Are you impressed?"

"I bet it did." I muttered. "No."

Nick laughed and sat up, tugging me up with him, legs swinging out of the bed. "Good. Coming for something to eat?"

It took Elena and Clayton hours before they returned and no one seemed able to know how to deal with the change. Vi stopped talking, a miracle for her, refusing to give her opinion. She and Clayton were still deadly as hell, they kept taking it out on each other, and when Vi wasn't in the mood he'd insist I trained. Harder. More. Get stronger. He seemed to cope by doing that- physically exhausting himself.

I didn't need endless training for that. Triplets were great for it and I ended up having to nap with them every afternoon.

Daniella and Reece vanished for a while, once she was able to walk, heading back for New York with just a 'We're going tonight, see you'. Matt took it fine, better than the adults, but he didn't take the news about moving to New York well. He flat out refused. Elena had to eventually offer a bedroom to him there, at Stonehaven, and we'd see him on the weekends instead. It wasn't something I liked much but Matt had started at a school there, had Logan and Kate, and the bite he'd gotten meant that he'd bonded to Clayton in a way that he probably would never bond to me. Add to that the fact that he almost needed that forest, that wild, to keep himself calm... he never liked the city. It always bothered him now.

Antonio seemed happy though, that we were coming, and he sounded kind of surprised that Nick hadn't mentioned the house. I still couldn't quite believe it was really there. An apartment, I could picture, but a mansion?

Not exactly the most impressive thing, I had to admit I was more impressed by Stonehaven, but Nick had grown up there. That made it special.

When Elena was satisfied that there were no more side effects, and she made us promise to keep in daily contact in order to monitor the mutt's movement- we didn't want them to discover our weakness too fast- we packed up and headed for the big city.