Ello, guess what's tomorrow? Yep, the 27th. And you know what that means.
New episode of The Wolf Among Us! Woot! Seems like everyone including me are holding our breaths for it to come out. x3
I want to thank Drecklyn for being so awesome to me and gave the right direction on the Fables comic and I started reading it last night! First off, I just wanted to say (Without giving much spoilers on Fables) That Bigby's detective skills? DAUMN! HE GUUUD HE REEL GUUUUD! ...been watching too much Gabriel Iglesias stand up lol. But yeah, it's good.
Anyways, another 'bleh' chapter here, but enjoy
Music: Modest Mouse - Little Motel (This was a real nice song to listen to while writing Red's thoughts, I recommend looking it up, it's so lovely)
Chapter 18
Bigby arrived at apartment complex, determined to find something to figure out who could have done this to Red's grandmother.
He rushes up to the 3rd floor and right away he caught the faint smell of shit and urine in the hallway, he continues to make way to Red's apartment while listening in to each neighbors yelling as he passes there doors, mostly talking about Granny.
"Better ask questions to the neighbors on what they saw" He said to himself to keep a mental note on it. Once arriving on apartment 6 Bigby noticed the bottom corners of the door was broken, he kneels down and grabbed a piece of the wood that was chipped off.
"This door has been gnawed and chewed by something big, " he observed while studying the teeth marks, he then glances back and furrowed his brows together. "and more than one of them too..."
He gets back up and grabs the door handle, discovering that it's unlock, perhaps due to the paramedics rushing Granny out. He let's himself in and quietly closes the door behind him, upon glancing around he noticed one of the 3 dining room chairs has been knocked down as well as the living room table lamp with jewelry scattered all around. It looked like Granny was stumbling her way to the door by the looks of it.
It seemed out of place to see the apartment a mess, Red's home is one of the cleanest apartments he's ever seen in his line of work, most pleasant smelling as well; Every time he would come here after getting a call he would always get a whiff of food or cakes that leaks out of the door as he passes by, always making him imagine Red cooking and baking on the other side of the wall that separates them.
But now all he can smell in the cold apartment was the familiar scent of Granny's blood and...shit? Bigby glances down to his feet and notices the large amount of droppings on the wood floor, making him more cautious on where he stepped on.
"Trained rats?" He said out loud, as he notices the trail only going to the bedroom and out the front door, only coming in specifically to attack Granny, he continues on in the apartment and gives a few light sniffs in the air if any rats still lingered here, Instead he caught the familiar scent of flowers coming from the second room. Bigby's head shot towards the direction of Red's room and starts to head to it with quiet steps, until he heard soft sobs and the sound of furniture shifting inside.
Bigby ran towards the door and barges in to see Red trying to pull on the boards that were nailed down to the broken window, she had tears running down her cheeks and the palm of her hands where becoming pink due for struggling to remove the old wooden boards.
"Red?" Bigby called her out but she didn't hear him, too caught up in her own world to notice. another sob came out of her lips than a cry of pain as a piece of rotted wood broke in her hand and stabs her palm. He rushed towards her and reaches for her hand first before spinning her around, scaring her by the sight of a strangers hand.
"No!" she cried out as she gives him an elbow to the back but Bigby wraps his arm around her chest while grabbing a strong grip of her injured hand, locking her ability to move her arms to hurt him more, or herself. "No please! don't!" she continues to cry as she fights her way out of his arm "Pipe-!"
"Hey hey hey, easy easy it's me, It's me Red" he says to her as he pulls her away from the window.
Red stops with her fight and looks up at him with glass eyes of fear, she than relaxes and leans further back into his chest as Bigby loosens his arm around her. However he quickly wraps the same arm around her waist as Red breaks down to the floor, making Bigby drop down with her in a sitting position while Red hides her face in the crook of his neck.
"It's only me.." he says to her again in a quiet tone as he starts to stroke her hair. Red starts to cry once again as the Wolf brings her closer, "It's going to be okay, everything will be fine" he whispers in her hair; making her remove her face from his neck.
"It's not okay, my grand-" she tries to speak between sobs, but Bigby sushes her and holds her tighter. Comforting her for a while.
"it will be, I'll make it okay." he comforts her as his lips brushes her hair, "I'll fix this, I will"
Bigby gently pulls in her injured hands and pulls out the wood sticking as Red averts her eyes
"Owh.." she whimpers out
"Sorry" Bigby said to her as he removes the bandages of his hand and places it on her palm to stop the bleeding. "You and I gotta stop getting hurt"
Red laughs at that while drying her tears as Bigby chuckles with her, "First Aid kit is in the bathroom" Red informs him as she gets up, making Bigby feel loss by her lack of touch when she pulls away.
"Right, that's better than this. " he agrees as he gets up and opens the door. "Don't touch anything, it's a crime scene okay?" He reminds her as they make there way to the bathroom.
Red frowns at him as he pulls out the first aid kit from under the bathroom sink. "This is my home" She says as she sits down on the edge of the tub
"I know Red, but in order to catch this guy I gotta-" he tries to explain as he starts goes on one knee and starts cleaning up her hand
"It's a rat infestation Sheriff, there was no one here." Red said to him with haste, Bigby caught the scent of fear coming out of her as he mentioned a possible suspect, he raised an eyebrow At that and continues.
"It may look like it, but someone's behind it. in one quick glance from the entrance there was no signs of rats being in the living room and kitchen, as well as your room"
"So?"
"So it means Someone controlled these rats specifically to hurt you and yours, or else they'd be all over the place and still be here, do you see them now Red?" He asks her as he rubs some cream in her cut.
"You're just over thinking things Wolf" she shot back while pulling her hand away from his.
"Oh yeah? than why did you try to run out the window? "
"Just wanted to get some fresh air"
"Getting fresh air when you thought I was someone else, someone who could have done this " Bigby said as he forced her hand back in his and started to wrap it up.
"You would reacted the same way if a stranger was in your home" she hissed back which trying to pull her hand back, but Bigby had a firm grip on her wrist so she started to Try and pry his grip open.
"A stranger you knew there name? you were gonna say a name that was 'Pipe', is his name Piper? " he asked while pulling her closer to him by the hand.
"No, I was calling out a magical pipe to beat your ass!" she snapped back while placing her two feet on his chest and started to push him with the strength of her legs. "Let go of me!"
"Not until you fuckin' tell me what's going on Red! Who's after you! I can help you! " Bigby's voice starts to rise as well as his temper.
"I don't need fuckin' help from a good for nothing Wolf like you! Now let! me! go!" Red yells at his face as she continues to push him off.
Bigby clenched his teeth and growled at her as he let's go of her wrist, making Red fall back in the tub causing her to expose her white panties. Bigby quickly got up on his feet and pulls her up and out by her arm.
" 'Good for nothing' Good for nothing my ass! I work damn hard to try and keep people safe, to keep YOU safe! " He yells at her as he pushes her against the bathroom wall, and traps her between his arms.
"Oh yeah, by getting drugged up and feeling up on the girl you ate!" she yelled back while giving him a knee to the crotch, causing him to curse out and let go of Red to cup himself.
She escapes from his trap and heads back to her room and starts to put on one of her black slipper shoes until Bigby grabs her from the back and pushes Red on her bed, forcing her to bend over as Bigby forces her face on the mattress.
"The only fuckin reason that happened was because I was trying to figure out why the fuck you've been buying drugs!"
"I wasn't buying drugs you idiot! I was-" Red stopped with her explanation and bit her lips.
"You were what? What were you doing? " Bigby leans in over her and reaches over her shoulder and grabs her chin for her to look at his face while he asked the questions.
Red tries to pull away and claws at her bedsheets to try and escape from under him. Bigby grabs her wrist from her injured hand while he grabbed her other hand and tangled his fingers In the back of hers, stilling her movements as he leans in closer and asks again.
"What were you doing? " Red was squirming under him to get free but he kept her pinned with his body, his temper was close to the roof, he was angry with Red's stubbornness and her back bone to fight back. What he hated the most was that it was turning him on from way beyond measurement, and what's worse; due to breathing hard through his nostrils he caught Red's scent of her own arousal as she squirmed and panted.
"Fuck you Wolf, I'm not telling you anything! "
"Tell me what's going on! "
"Never!"
"God Dammit Red!" He breathes out as he got up and pins her head further down to the mattress, making her moan out by the impact. With her face on the side she looks up at him with her green eye while continuing to pant, her hair all wild and sweat on her forehead, as well as the smell of her arousal clouding his scenes, Bigby was so close to the edge of losing himself again, and it was Red that was pushing him to that edge like no one else could, It was always her that's able to do such a thing, always. "GOD DAMNIT RED!"
He yells out as he grabs her arms and pulls them on her back, cuffing her than pulling her up to stand. "What are you doing? " she asked him while he pushes her towards the door.
"We're leaving!"
"Wait! I have to get clothes for grandmother! " she says to him with fear of not getting just that. Bigby starts to growl as he picked her up and threw her back on the bed, he then grabbed her brown messenger bag that was on her dresser and threw all its contents out by shaking it upside down and storms off to the second bedroom.
After a moment he came back in with a long white sleeve hanging out of the bag, he reaches for Red's arm until she kicked his hand away.
"I need clothes too! I'm gonna shower at the hospital" she snaps at him, Bigby growls in frustration and went to her dresser, he forcefully opens the first drawer and grabs a handful of panties and stuffs them in the bag, he then opens the second drawer and pulls out random clothes and stuffs them in as well.
"Hey wait those are my-"
"Don't care, we're leaving" he said to her while pulling her up but Red stood her ground and wouldn't walk, so Bigby grabbed her up and threw her over his right shoulder and started heading out the door.
"Hey put me down, you better not take me to the hospital like-"
"You're not going to the hospital, If someone's after you, they will expect you there" he said as he slams the apartment door shut a little too loud, causing the neighbors look out to see the Big Bad Wolf stealing Little Red Riding Hood.
"But I have to-"
"I'm taking the clothes to her don't worry"
"Than where are you taking me? "
"You're now under the witness protection program, so I'm taking you to the safest place to be" he says to her while lighting up a cigarette with one hand.
"Oh yeah, where at?"
Bigby blew out smoke and flicks some ashes before replying to her question, "My place"
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
"Put me down Wolf, Put. me. down! " Red continues to fight back as Bigby unlocks his apartment door and kicks it open, he closed it shut behind him as he puts her down and throws the keys next to his phone while Red stops with her nagging and looks around.
"You live in a dump. " She said to him as she takes a few steps forward inside, and it was a dump, dirty clothes everywhere, the thick smell of cigarettes was in the air, take out trays were all over the tables and next to the couch, stacks and stacks of newspaper articles were cluttering up the place, and cigarette butts all over the place along with empty beer bottles of midas gold and whiskey.
"Well sorry princess it's not to your liking" Bigby answers her sarcastically as he starts to dial on his phone,
Red furrows her brows at him as she takes a look around In the living room area while Bigby talks on the phone, the place was depressing to see, as she notices the peeling light wallpaper of purple flowers and an old rusted radiator against the wall by the window with the fans. Bigby hangs up the phone and starts to fish out the keys to the cuffs.
"Called in the hospital for your grandma, she's stable now and patched up, though she won't be leaving anytime soon" he says to her as uncuffs One hand
"Great, when can I see her?"
"When it's safe" He answers her as he forces her down on her knees and handcuffs her on the radiator.
"Hey! What the hell is this about?" she demanded as Bigby places the keys on the table lamp next to the couch that was just beyond Red's reach.
"I'm going to check on your grandma myself, letting you know that you're safe and ask her some questions if possible. " he said to her while pulling out her clothes and throwing them on the couch.
"Still doesn't explain why you cuffed me here like a dog! " she jerks her hand, making the cuffs clank on the metal.
"I don't trust you loose here, I need you here safe instead of running off somewhere" He says as he pulls the strap of the messenger bag over his shoulder and makes his way out the door.
"But I'm hungry"
"I'll bring something to eat"
"And my shower? "
"that can wait" he paused by the table and lit up a cigarette before reaching for the keys
"I have to pee!"
"Hold it" He says as he opens the door and heads out.
"But-" Red's next excuse was cut off by the loud slam of the front door as Bigby heads out. leaving her all alone in his apartment.
Red let's out a annoyed sigh and starts to rattle the cuffs until she gives up and leans her back against the wall. She sat there for hours, just brooding her mind away from the things thats going on. her grandmother in the hospital, owning Piper more money, and Travis making things worse for her.
Red thinks back with Travis at the park earlier last night, when he kissed her and said he loves her, it was so sudden, so fast; yet, so expected of him. Not the 'L' word part that threw Red off, in her case, threw her off the cart. She doesn't really know what love is, she never really experience it in her homeland, her mother and grandmother made sure of that when they kept a close eye on her. All she knew is that, according to her mother, it's a powerful connection between two people, a connection they feel at the same time the moment they lay eyes on each other, and Red never felt that with Travis. She likes him, she knows that, but can there be more feelings of like that's not love?
"Grrrr I don't wanna think about iiiiit" Red smacks her head to wash away the thought, After what he did anyways Red isn't too sure that Travis should even BE under that category, even though he doesn't really know what's really going on. And because of it, her grandmother got attacked, Piper is demanding more money and her body to have his way with and the Wolf is getting way into her business about everything.
If Bigby were to catch Piper the coward will tell him her secret about her Mundy friends, getting her in deeper trouble.
"The Wolf is gonna kill me..." She sighs and closes her eyes, as if admitting defeat. If he wanted to do that, than why is he protecting me? a thought came to mind. Red looks at her wrapped up hand than to the handcuffs and scoffs out
"Handcuffing me to a radiator is NOT protecting!" She yells out and groans in frustration, she didn't find it fair that Bigby is treating her like his damn property while she still gets strange butterflies in her tummy, and because of last night at the motel she's starting to feel something else thats new to her as well, down below...Red blushed at the thought of Bigby grabbing her hand and pinning her down from behind, causing a warm jolt going between her thighs.
"You damn jerk!" She kicks down the table lamp, causing everything on it to fall to the ground, including the keys to the handcuffs that bounced to her side. Red blinks at them for a moment, thinking to herself if that really happened, she than reaches for the keys and started to remove her handcuffs and got up on her feet while rubbing her wrist.
"Did he..." Red thought for a moment, asking herself if Bigby really placed the keys for her in the first place. She headed towards the phone and started dialing the number to the hospital, after they transferred to her room a familiar voice answered.
"Hello?"
"Snow? is that you? "
"Red? How are you? are you safe? " Snow asked with worry, Red glances around the apartment before answering
"Yeah, I'm 'safe', how's my grandmother? Where's my mother? "
"They are alright, both sleeping right now, Bigby told us your helping with the case, your mother wasn't too happy about you helping him I'm afraid, but, she finally calmed down about it. Bigby sent one of the Woodlands security guards to keep watch outside the room as well so that helped her with the complaining"
Red was surprised to hear about the guard, thinking that's going a little too far. "Where's Bigby anyways? "
"Well, He went back to the apartments to look for more clues, after that, he said something about picking up french toast? " Snow made the last comment like a question, as if she was having a hard time believing if it was true.
Red couldn't help but blush at that and felt her lips curve up and tries to hide the chuckle of amusement coming up. "Okay then, thank you Snow. " Red was about to hang up until Snow spoke out.
"Oh wait Red and another thing, Bigby told me that if you called, to tell you to stay put, you're safe were you are and to trust him"
Red's heart beated on that as she blushed deeper, "Okay, thank you Snow, I'll call back later. " she said before she hung up the phone.
Red was lost in thought for a moment, thinking about all the things Bigby is doing right now for her, for her family. She tangled her fingers with each other as if she was about to pray, she then raised them up to cover her nose and mouth as she glances over to the front door, thinking whether she should leave or not.
If I leave now he can just catch my scent and track me down fast..She thought to herself as she paces around the room, with one last glance, and after smelling her clothes, Red decided to stay until Bigby came back.
"I'm in desperate need of a shower" she said to herself, "And this place is desperate for a quick clean up..." Red shook her head as she started to pick up the trash, "if I'm going to stay in this dump, might as well clean. "
Red threw away all the bottles, take out boxes, and cigarette butts away, next she started to clean up in the kitchen, washing dishes, and cleaning the counters. everything else Red organized, dusted, collected the dirty laundry and mentally scolded at Bigby for not even owning a simple broom and mop.
Once done what she could, She let's out a sigh and started to remove her clothing as she made her way to the bathroom, she jumps into the shower and started to wash up and scrub using Bigby's soap until she was sure she was squeaky clean. Once done, she looks around the tiny bathroom and realized she had no towel to dry herself with.
"Bigby gotta have a towel in his room" Red thought as she went outside of the bathroom naked, she went to go opens the second door only to groan out and see that it was only a closet. "Should have known, it is just a Studio Apartment after all"
Red pulls out one of Bigby's clean 'white' button up dress shirts and wraps her body around herself with it as she made her way to the couch were her clothes were only to groan out again.
"I told him, I TOLD him! But no, he wouldn't listen! " Red pouted as she threw her clothes back down. Bigby was pissed off and in a rush to leave, that he didn't even see that the only thing he got for Red were under garnets and a flimsy and exposing white t-shirt she would wear to sleep, He didn't even to stop and listen that Red was trying to say all her real clothes were hanging in her closet.
She threw all of her underwear back into a plastic bag and started to put on her red clean panties, Once on she decided to put on Bigby's shirt since she had nothing else decent enough to have on and sat herself down on the couch and turned on the TV.
"As soon as Bigby gets home, I'm leaving. " She reminded herself as she started to flip channels.
It wasn't until hours later Bigby arrived home with food, only to see Red sleeping on his couch half naked with his shirt on.
