The hallways of the B.P.R.D. were dark and silent as Kate rushed to the library, clutching her robe tightly around her.

The sound of her bare feet against the cold, metal floor echoed softly throughout the corridors as she ran. Desperate to reach the library, Kate increased her speed, nearly stumbling over herself. She turned a corner and saw light at the end of the hallway; someone was awake. At last, she reached her destination and quickly surveyed the room.

Abe was not visible in his tank.

Sighing in agitation, Kate sank to her knees in exhaustion. She jumped when a pair of hands took hers and looked up to see Professor Broom watching her with concern.

"Come, sit down," he said, calmly, tugging on her hands gently to lead her to the couch.

Once they were both situated on the couch, Professor Broom waited patiently for her to catch her breath.

After a moment, he asked, "Another dream?"

Nodding slightly, Kate realized Abe must have explained to him her previous dream.

Broom furrowed his brows. "What did he say?"

Kate shivered at the memory of his voice. "He asked me my name, and when I didn't give it to him, he threatened me."

Broom sighed. "He's trying to find you."

Wondering if he had a theory, Kate asked, "Why do you suppose he's contacting me?"

Professor Broom watched her over the top of his glasses, shaking his head.

"I don't know. If I were to guess, I'd say he is sensing that someone is thinking about him frequently. He has been on your mind for a little over two weeks now as you've been researching him, and he might be wondering why. It's possible he's making a connection with you for this reason, trying to find out why you are so interested in him."

His idea struck Kate.

Of course, he must be able to tell that she had been thinking his name almost daily and be curious as to what she must want with him.

Remembering suddenly, Kate untied her robe and pulled up her pajama top slightly to reveal five fingernail marks on each of her sides. She recalled Ystehogol hurting her when she refused to give him her name.

Professor Broom eyed the cuts for a moment, then watched her with the same look of concern he held earlier.

"I'm afraid if he decides to contact you again, he may not be so kind." Lowering her shirt down over her stomach again, Kate gazed into Abe's empty tank.

"He said he'd kill me just like the others. I wonder if he meant the other agents who've died."

Following her gaze, Broom folded his hands in his lap.

"Keep up your work with Abe, Dr. Hayward, and I believe you will be able to prevent any further attacks from Ystehogol."

A silence fell between the two for a moment.

"It's an interesting thing to have your entire life change so suddenly," began Kate, adjusting her glasses.

"I went from being a boring, unsatisfied, lonely library assistant to a non-existent B.P.R.D. employee who is being threatened by a creature she didn't even know existed until a couple of weeks ago."

She chuckled and shook her head in disbelief.

"Well, I guess things aren't boring anymore."

Professor Broom smiled sadly and laid a delicate hand over hers.

"I know it's difficult. The transition is rough. I've frequently found myself in one dangerous situation after another and one learns to endure, Dr. Hayward, and to face threats with a level head and a strong heart. You will endure, and you will succeed."

Kate stared out into the empty tank again, and when she did not speak, Broom continued.

"Please, don't be afraid. We're looking out for you."

For a brief moment, Kate was offended that he believed her to be afraid, but she soon realized he was right. She was afraid, and there was no hiding it. As much as she would have loved to adjust to her new life without qualms, she knew she was insecure about it all.

Kate was pulled from her thoughts when Broom patted her hands lightly.

"Well, off to bed with you," he shooed quietly.

Lifting herself off the couch, Kate began heading back to her room.

There was nothing more to be said, and she knew Broom was aware of that.

The hallway was eerily still, and Kate continued on silently. As she reached her door, she paused. Making a quick decision, she turned around and began down a different hallway. After a brief walk, she found herself at the door to Myers' room. She knew it was early; it was probably around three in the morning. Well, it didn't matter. If she waited to talk to him tomorrow, it was likely she'd be so involved in her work that it wouldn't happen. John had been acting odd for the past couple of weeks. It wasn't as if he'd been avoiding her….well, maybe a little. Kate hadn't spoken with him much since the night in the medical bay. He couldn't possibly be mad, could he? She couldn't think of any reason for him to be. It was probably her fault for waiting so long to confront him about his behavior, but it was now or never.

Kate knocked lightly on his door and waited. She heard a rustling behind the door, and then a small crash. A moment later, the door opened and there stood a very frazzled John, holding his knee in pain. Kate was surprised to see him in his civilian clothes, and understood he must have fallen asleep unexpectedly the night before.

"You alright?" she asked, watching him rub his sore knee.

He chuckled. "Yeah, hit my knee on the corner of my desk trying to get to the door. You woke me out of a dead sleep."

Reaching up and rubbing the back of her neck, Kate offered an embarrassed, "Sorry."

Myers shrugged and regarded her seriously.

"What about you? Are you doing okay? It's got to be around three thirty."

Kate nodded. "Um, yeah…I had a bad dream."

Myers wasn't aware of Ystehogol's visits and she intended to keep it that way.

He seemed confused for a moment and then opened the door wider.

"C'mon in."

Kate allowed him to gently nudge her inside and she quickly surveyed the room. It was exactly like hers; cold, chrome, and unwelcoming.

John offered her a seat in the chair at his desk, and stood opposite her, leaning against his dresser. He was waiting for her to speak, and Kate still wasn't sure how to approach the topic.

Well, she might as well just get it over with.

"Is there something wrong?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" he replied, but the look on his face told her he already knew what she was asking.

"I, uh…are we okay?"

Ugh, this was not going well.

Myers seemed to give in and crossed his arms over his chest.

"We haven't talked in a while, I guess. You know the night you were hurt?"

Kate waited for him to continue anxiously as he changed his position to lean on his other shoulder.

"Well, uh…you were talking to Hellboy and uh…I was coming up the stairs."

Kate suddenly knew why he was avoiding her.

Damn! He'd heard her tell Hellboy that she and Myers were nothing more than friends.

She'd been right in suspecting at the time that he was looking for more than friendship. Now, she felt horrible.

"You were…listening?"

Kate didn't know why she was pressing him further.

He nodded once in response and Kate sighed. "John…"

He shook his head. "No. You don't owe me any explanation. You weren't…interested in me that way and that's not your fault. It's my fault, if anything."

He looked upset, despite his attempt at making her believe otherwise.

Kate didn't know what to say. She was terrible in dealing with situations like this. It wasn't often she was an emotional person, and she wasn't comfortable expressing feelings to others. This was no different. She saw the look of hurt on John's face, and she wanted to make it go away, but she had no idea what to do.

Rising from the chair, Kate made her way to the door.

"I should uh, probably go."

Myers nodded and forced a smile. "Get some sleep…you look terrible."

Kate waved him off and left silently.

Once his door shut behind her, Kate hustled through the hallways back to her room. She made it there quickly and slipped her key into the door. With her door closed behind her, Kate leaned against it.

Stupid! Why was she so incredibly stupid?

There he was practically begging her to say something to ease the tension in the room, and she left! Ugh, she was an awful friend. Myers was wrong; it wasn't his fault at all. It was her fault for being completely inconsiderate of his feelings. Kate knew it was up to her to fix this, she just didn't know how.

---

The next night didn't find Kate in higher spirits.

She'd woken up late, slipped in a puddle of water on her bathroom floor, sat on her glasses so that they were now crooked on her face, and lost the book that contained the most information about Ystehogol. To top it off, she was so exhausted from the previous night's ordeals that she'd hardly gotten any work done all day. Kate knew this was her payback for last night.

Around eight at night, Kate was desperately searching through files in the archive room. Any information she could attain regarding the agents who had been killed named on the list in front of her would be invaluable. They needed a lead on Ystehogol's motives for killing these agents.

Kate practically threw the papers she was holding in to the air when Hellboy's voice came from behind her.

"I've been looking for you," he said, leaning against the wall.

Kate turned on him angrily. "Damn it, Hellboy," she exclaimed, massaging her temples. "You almost gave me a heart attack."

She turned away from him and continued flipping through papers.

Kate expected him to become angry with her, but rather he was silent for a minute before he spoke again.

"Something wrong?"

Kate scoffed. "A million things."

She knew she was being a pain in the ass, but she couldn't stop.

Deciding she was being unfair to him by leaving him in the dark, she admitted, "John and I had a bit of a…falling-out."

Hellboy was shocked. It wasn't like Kate to just start telling him her problems. He only remembered her doing it once before on her first day at the Bureau.

While he was sympathetic to her problem, he couldn't help but be silently overjoyed. It wasn't as if he'd been jealous of their relationship…okay, maybe he had. He was in no way romantically interested in Kate, but he was sick of Myers getting all the attention.

He watched Kate make different piles of paper on the floor around her.

"Uh, you wanna talk about it?" he pressed gently, awkward and not sure what to say.

Thankfully, she shook her head. "No. Not particularly."

Hellboy sighed in relief.

Deciding to change the subject, he asked, "So, what've you got going on there?"

He indicated to the numerous open file cabinets and scattered papers.

Kate didn't look at him when she spoke, instead choosing to continue her work.

"I'm trying to find anything on these agents who've been mysteriously murdered. I'm assuming Professor Broom told you about his discovery."

Hellboy nodded and continued to watch her at work.

"What was it you needed?" Kate asked, a little too harshly.

She hadn't intended to sound annoyed, but she was in the middle of working and she'd had a miserable day. Kate understood Hellboy was trying to make her feel better, but she was too distracted to have a conversation at the moment.

Hellboy seemed to snap out of a daze.

"Huh? Oh, Abe told me to tell you your meeting with him started over an hour ago."

Kate looked up from her work. "Damn! I completely forgot!"

Quickly piling up the loose papers and files surrounding her on the floor, she stood up and began to race out the door.

Before she made it out, Hellboy's voice brought her to a halt.

"Kate…"

She paused and waited for him to continue.

"Uh, this'll work out, okay?"

He wasn't staring directly at her but rather the wall behind her.

Kate knew he was going to great lengths to put her at ease, and she felt the corners of her mouth curve into a small smile.

"Thanks, Hellboy."

A second later she was gone, racing down the hallway.

She hadn't made it far when an all too familiar alarm began blaring.

Kate glanced up at the flashing, red light on the wall. Suddenly the halls were alive with a flurry of activity. Agents rushed around, pushing tall, black boxes filled with weapons or ran by communicating with other agents on their radios. Kate felt helpless amongst the rush to get to the scene of the crime and was relieved when she saw Hellboy heading down the hallway in her direction.

"What's going on?" she asked when he was near enough to hear her.

He was switching on his belt locater and radio as he spoke.

"Don't know. Nobody's told me anything yet."

Kate watched the activity around her and made a hasty decision.

"I'm coming."

Hellboy glanced up from his radio, confused.

"You're supposed to stay here. Besides you-"

Kate shook her head. "That wasn't a question."

Hellboy suddenly understood this was important to her, and nodded.

"Okay. Abe and I will take you with us in the garbage truck. Do you need any books?"

"Yeah, let me stop by the library real quick and I'll meet you by the truck in five minutes."

Hellboy nodded and headed on his way.

---

Later, Kate found herself riding along with Abe and Hellboy in the 'garbage truck'. Huh, garbage truck, she thought, amused. The entire inside was a fully equipped crime lab.

"This is not a good idea, Red," sputtered Abe, sitting across from her.

Kate glanced next to her at Hellboy who held up his hands in defense.

"Hey, this was all her idea," he said, pointing an accusatory finger her way.

"She wanted to come. I don't see what the big idea is."

Abe scoffed. "Red, she's liable to hurt herself. Kate isn't used to these escapades as we are."

If Kate hadn't known why Abe was really so concerned, she'd have been offended. Abe was worried about the alarm having to do with Ystehogol; he was worried she'd be in danger if he was found at the scene of the crime.

Kate had also been aware of this, but Ystehogol was precisely the reason she'd wanted to come. She could only find out so much about the creature through books or files, but it was another experience altogether to see him first-hand.

"I'll be alright, Abe," she assured.

Hellboy nudged her with his stone hand, "Yeah, Abe. The kid's gonna be fine, you'll see."

Kate nodded and remained silent throughout the remainder of the trip.

It wasn't long before they reached their destination. The truck came to an abrupt halt and a moment later the doors to the back were opened.

It was Agent Clay who stood there, and he seemed shocked to see a third companion in the back of the truck.

"Dr. Hayward…what-"

"I'm here to observe, Agent Clay, nothing more," she interrupted, letting him help her down from the truck.

Once out of the truck, she was free to observe her surroundings and found they were in front of the very same library she and John had sat outside two weeks ago.

She was suddenly tapped on the shoulder and swirled around to meet Hellboy's gaze.

"Ever used one of these?" he asked, holding a gun in front of her face.

Alarmed, Kate shook her head and pushed the gun back at him.

"No, I haven't and I don't intend to," she answered, determined.

Hellboy rolled his eyes, and dropped the gun into the bag slung over her shoulder.

"If anything happens, aim and pull the trigger." And with that, he walked away, leaving her staring down into her bag with horror at the loaded gun.

"No one is going to make me use that," she whispered to herself, shocked at the idea of shooting a gun, then turned and followed the agents heading towards the library.

At the entrance, Kate caught sight of Myers, helping another agent move a large, black box. For a moment, he saw her and appeared shocked before becoming distracted by another agent who was trying to tell him something.

Kate tried to adjust her glasses, and then remembered they were broken. Sighing, she tried to make her way into the library when an agent stopped her.

"You can't go in there yet. We need to make sure the area is secure."

Frustrated, Kate looked around and spotted Abe coming her way, followed by an agent wheeling a small box.

"Are those the books?" Kate asked, hoping she'd brought what she needed.

Abe nodded as they two approached her.

"Yes, along with a few of my own. I always bring these with me, just in case. You may use any of them you need."

He began to open the box.

"Abe, why won't they let me in?"

Abe stopped and looked incredulously at her.

"Hellboy is always the first one to examine the scene of the crime. We have no idea what's in there, Kate, and it could be extremely dangerous."

He finished unlocking the box of books and Kate was surprised to see about three shelves of old books occupying it.

It was then Hellboy passed them, looking determined.

"Alright, Blue. I'm heading in," he said, not stopping as he spoke.

Kate watched him, awe-struck at his courage. She couldn't believe how un-phased he was by the situation.

Abe nodded at him as he passed. "Good luck, Red."

The group of agents around them became quiet as the watched Hellboy enter the library, armed with the gun usually kept at his belt. Then, Kate supposed, it was time to wait.

It wasn't long before a crackling sound came from Abe's radio.

"Red, are you there?" Abe called into the speaker.

The radio crackled again before Hellboy's voice came.

"Yeah, Blue. You'd better get in here."

Abe cocked his head. "Is it Ystehogol?"

"No, he's long gone by now, but there's something you need to see."

Abe straightened up and began forward.

"Abe,"

Abe turned and regarded Kate.

For a moment, Kate hesitated, and then said, "I'm going with you."

Abe thought about the idea, and then nodded.

A few agents joined the two, including Myers, and Kate helped one agent to wheel the box of books. As they approached the entrance to the library, Kate was beginning to wonder if Abe was right. Maybe her coming along wasn't such a good idea.

A/N: Whew, it's done! Again, for those of you who did not see the update on my profile, I am incredibly sorry for not having this out sooner. Exams, performances, finals...ugh, it's all over now for a whole month. Thank you for being so patient with me. Review!