Challenges in the hometown left behind and more to face in a new town. But the past is sure to come back to haunt someday. ;)

Chapter Six

Onward to Bolton

15 years ago

A year later, after the two nightmares of Arkham, Herbert and I finally left the town we grew up in and moved to Bolton, the smaller neighboring town which was the home of factories. It was bittersweet for me to leave behind the home of memories, mostly because I grew up in Arkham, my mother raised me there, and I got into college where I made it through and won my scholarship...but it was also where it ended in tragedy, death and mayhem. Sometimes when I slept at night, I would remember the face of my mother in her peaceful eternal sleep before the man I was beginning to fall in love with and shared the passion of conquering death with injected her with his solution - and failed. The next was with better but disastrous results, including the deaths of less than twenty people in its wake, and now it was in a padded cell at Sefton.

The home Herbert and I shared now was the beautiful suburban home I dreamed of, but it was farther away from most houses on our street, and it was as close as we could get to the potter's field, also taking care not to say to anyone who asked why we lived there that it was very close to said field.

I remember the day we first moved here, taking in the brick-accented white, two-story house set upon a lush green lawn stretching acres towards the potter's field and the woods nearby. It was how I envisioned for a family one day, but Herbert liked it mostly because it was close enough to the place which our goal included. I was disappointed that he wasn't interested in making this feel like home for us both. Two years hadn't changed much of anything with him.

"Oh, Herbert, at least tell me you love this as much as I do," I protested when I set down the last box in the doorway, looking around again at the warm wood complemented with soft ivory walls, the great curving staircase and second level broadcasting open air; the staircase railing was accented with iron crafted into vines. In the middle of the floor was a marble interruption, rectangle-shaped and bearing the resemblance of a Moroccan mosaic pattern. How could anyone not have their breath taken away?

Herbert's lips were pursed when he tore his blank eyes from the house to me. "Who said I didn't love it, dear?" he purred, meant to set me on fire when it only rattled my nerves.

"Herbert West," I scolded, "we just left our old life behind, got our MDs and are now starting over, and you're not the least bit excited!" We had decided to set up as general practitioners, and our practice was large enough to please me as any other young doctor, but for Herbert - whose real interest was elsewhere - it was a bore and a burden. "You're so caught up in the work you don't pay attention or interest in anything else around you."

He glared at me and took a step forward. "Don't you dare accuse me of that," he snarled. "And who said I wasn't interested in you, eh?"

Oh, here it goes again. Him turning it onto me. "I'm not talking about us," I returned. "I'm talking about more to do than just dead bodies and quests amid 'black and forbidden realms of the unknown'," I said, quoting Mary Shelley, making him laugh now, his moods changing with the speed of lightning cracking.

"Quoting Mary Shelley on me doesn't always work, Barbara."

"And neither does you pretending to be interested for my own sake," I countered, frustrated with both him and the move. "Besides, I don't remember you ever telling me you love me yet." It had been months since I made the move in kissing him first, but things had gotten nowhere further than that. It hurt my feelings because I wanted so much to hear him say that, and I wanted to feel good telling him I loved him. I would sometimes wake up at night from dreams about Herbert and I. Pretty hot ones. What could you expect at my age? But I had no idea how to ever convince Herbert to get into bed with me since we were obviously getting to be more than friends and housemates. Friends and housemates don't simply kiss and fool around; not in THAT sense of fooling around.

He stared at me, jaw slack, but he said nothing. I scoffed and bent down to pick up the box I'd dropped and started for the stairs. This one was full of my books, and I do mean my books, not Herbert's.

We decided we ought to share a room now, because I simply wanted to, since I couldn't handle sleeping alone anymore despite how childish and inappropriate it was, but it wasn't like anything happened between us in that way. Yet. The bed was made with realistic prints of magnolia flowers, exquisite crystal lamps on either side, and the table in the middle of the floor having a glass surface on a base masterfully constructed into a mystical tree. I'd wanted something more mature and up-to-date, and the magnolia was one of my favorite flowers. But now, I didn't feel happy. I felt like crying. I'd lost my mother who had been the only living family I had left, Herbert's father was who knew but didn't care. Just because he lacked female figures in his life did not mean he should stop caring about anything else that made life worth living.

That was it then. He did not know how to cheat death because he didn't understand anything in life that made it worth happiness.

~o~

Present Day

I walked through a very beautiful upstairs hallway, giving off the old-fashioned Victorian vibe. Both carved ivory stone and faded wooden panels resided in both the arched doorways and the bare floors. The hall was long and seemingly endless even though it DID have an end, but it felt as hollow as my heart as it yearned for the man taken away from me. He hadn't always been interested in the little things that made a difference, but that didn't mean he wasn't as human as I was.

~o~

15 years ago

I looked up when Herbert came in. I decided then, without thinking about it, that nothing could wait anymore. I wanted to show him how precious life was besides the work. We had plenty of time to cure death, and right now I wanted to teach him a lesson without forcing him to do anything he didn't want to. Unpacking could wait.

"Barbara!" I was on him, grabbing him by the jacket and pulling him towards the bed, spinning him around and onto his back so he lay beneath me. I kissed him hard, sticking my tongue into his mouth to fight with his, so we had to taste each other. He let out muffled protests against my mouth, trying to fight me off until his hands accidentally cupped my breasts beneath my sleeveless lacy top. I didn't know how to describe it other than feeling so damn good I wanted more of it, but Herbert's words tried to ruin it. "Barbara, what has gotten into you?"

My breathing was out of control because I was struggling to get out what I knew I had to say, as well as the fact his hands were still on my breasts that I didn't want them to remove themselves. "I want to...show you how to be alive," I answered, the words so stupid and cheesy to my own ears, but it did the work in bewildering him.

"Alive? Barbara, what are you talking about?" Yep, his hands were leaving, but I brought mine up to cup them into place.

"You don't know how to stop death without experiencing life this way. You never said so yourself, but I know you find relationships not up your alley. But what about me? The woman who has been by your side all this time, helped you this far, and now promises she won't ever leave you?" I meant it here and now, from this day forward. I was straddling him, and since I was wearing knit tan-colored pants, I could feel him getting hard beneath me.

"This is pointless," he ground out, "this talk about being alive when you've never done this yourself." I lost my temper and struck him across the face. His skin turned bright red from the pressure my hand applied as well as rage. Then he reversed our positions and had me pinned down to the bed. I grinned in triumph when he grinded his hips against mine; I somehow found myself liking it rough despite being a virgin and how the first time always hurt. I also moaned when his bucking sent a shiver of pleasure straight to below my stomach. I felt myself getting hotter and hotter with the growing moisture there.

Herbert's face had contorted into that of a wild animal, hungry and angry, and it turned me on more. "You want this now? You're getting it."

"Give it to me rough," I urged, reaching to undo his belt and zipper. A part of my mind was whispering to me that the first time was supposed to be slow and gentle, but I didn't care anymore. I wanted him now, and I knew he wanted me, too, but it made me wonder why he gave in so suddenly. Was it because I'd made him so angry he was taking it out on me? Or because he simply liked it rough, too?

I sat up for him to help remove my top to show my white bra which unhooked in the front. At the same time, I lifted my hips to get both my pants and underwear off; he did the same with his, and I reached up to undo his tie and unbuttoned his shirt. We were both naked then, for the first time to each other's eyes. I blushed when I looked him over, seeing how skinny he was but so amazing. Just looking at him was exciting and did the same to right between my legs. "Herbert," I started, unsure of what to say; my speech had been rendered helpless.

His body shifted between my legs, his twitching member pressing against my front eagerly. "Here it comes," he said, easing in, the sensations sweet and jolting before being interrupted by the pain of the tearing of my hymen. I screamed and threw my head back, screaming to the heavens that this hurt so much, but when Herbert began to move slow at first and then faster, it wasn't so bad. I had originally wanted to wait for marriage, but the circumstances had changed. I had finally gotten the cold scientist to break his shell and join with me in our becoming one; I hoped things would change now for the better in more years to come, despite the forebode returning in a matter of time.

Herbert and Barbara have somewhat of a complicated relationship, and I don't normally do couples like them. Of course EVERY couple has their quarrels and moments, but with these two, it's much more tougher than simply that.