Eye of the Beholder

Author’s Notes: Thank you blue_lioness, Takerslady, Capt_Davy_Jones_Lover and WillOTreeBee for your reviews. You can put away the voodoo dolls now, here’s the next chapter.

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He drops his face into his large hands and quietly cries while Beast screams at him from inside his head. He just ignores his primal self, figuring it’ll lose interest and settle down after a bit. By the time the tears have stopped, Beast has done anything but calm down and if truth be told, it seems to be fighting even harder for control.

MATE! Beast shrieks.

“It’s better this way,” Hank tells it sadly, feeling as if his heart has been ripped from his chest.

NO! MATE MINE! Beast screams. MINE! MINE! MINE!

“For how long?” Hank demands of it. “Until something new comes along? Until we get her pregnant?”

Life, Beast hisses.

“What?” Hank asks, confused by the new word Beast has learned.

Life mate, Beast states, calmer but by no means ready to give up the fight. My life mate. Mine.

“I doubt she’ll want anything to do with us now,” Hank sighs as he gets up off of the bed and goes to get a fresh pair of boxers and sleeping pants from his bag.

Mine, Beast growls. Want now.

“Well, I might as well face her now,” Hank states as he heads for the closed door. “My tux is still in her room.”

He gently taps on the door with just a finger nail and Beast scoffs at the wimpy attempt at knocking. He tries again with a knuckle and a bit harder but Beast is still unimpressed. Rolling his eyes at himself, he forms a fist and gives the door a good solid knock.

The door clicks open and Hank stares at it in surprise. When it doesn’t open any more than the couple of inches it’s already ajar, he gently pushes it open and sticks his head in her room, half expecting the door to be slammed in his face. He looks around but the room appears to be empty.

“Amanda?” he softly calls, but there is no answer.

He cautiously steps into the room, noting that nothing seems to be any different when he left it a few minutes ago and sees that the door leading out is still locked, he gives a small sigh of relief that she hasn’t run off. Then he notices the bathroom door is shut and he can see light shining out from under it. As he steps closer, he can hear the shower running and turns away from the door to collect his things.

Mate now! Beast demands.

“I’m not about to go bursting in on her while she’s taking a shower,” Hank tells it irritably and images of her wet and naked flash through his mind. “Stop that.”

He starts to collect his things when the sound of something large falling in the tub stops him in his tracks. Without thinking, he drops what’s in his hands and he’s through the bathroom door in the blink of an eye. He roughly yanks the shower curtain to the side, ripping it in the process and finds Amanda curled up in a ball it the tub, crying and shivering. He can understand the crying, but the shivering has got him worried and he reaches over to turn off the water.

Cold, Beast states and Hank pauses.

Hank belatedly realizes that his primal self is right, the water is freezing cold. In his haste to get to her, he hadn’t noticed the lack of steam coming from the shower. He looks down at her again and sees that her lips are starting to turn blue.

He quickly turns up the heat and then goes to shut the door while Beast whimpers with worry in the back of his mind. By the time he returns, steam is starting to rise from the shower and he kneels down next to the tub, adjusting the temperature so as not to scald her. He can hear her teeth chattering now as she takes great gasping sobs and her shaking has become rather violent.

Knowing that the shaking is just the body’s way of getting warm again, he grabs a folded up towel off of the sink and puts it under her head to try and make her a little more comfortable. As he’s laying her head down on the makeshift pillow, he notices that she hasn’t taken her hair down and he begins to meticulously remove the bobby pins that are holding the strands in place, not caring how wet he’s getting. As he’s removing the last few pins, she weakly tries to wave him off and he ignores her attempts to stop him.

Once all the pins are out, he tosses them into the sink and then grabs the bottle of shampoo. He’s not sure why, but he feels the need to wash her hair despite her feeble attempts to halt his actions. Once he’s sure she’s fully lathered, he makes her sit up so that he can rinse the shampoo out. She doesn’t fight him, but sits there listlessly and while the shower makes it impossible to see the tears, he knows they’re still coming.

“I’m sorry,” he says as he gets the last of the lather rinsed out. “I never wanted to hurt you.”

“Could have fooled me,” she grumbles as she tries to pull away from him.

“Listen, I know I’ve hurt you…,” he starts.

“So has every man who’s ever expressed an interest in me,” she mutters miserably as she pulls her knees to her chest. “Why should you be any different?”

“One would think that I’m smarter than they are,” he replies and she snorts in response. “I’m afraid I can’t argue with your assessment.”

“What do you want?” she demands, in no mood for much of anything any more.

“Right now, I want to get you out of this shower, dried off, dressed and put to bed,” he tells her and she glares at him from the corner of her eye. “I swear my intentions are completely honorable.”

“Get out,” she orders and his stomach drops.

“We need to talk,” he points out.

“I don’t see what you could possibly say to me,” she snarls. “You made yourself quite clear earlier.”

“Amanda, please, let’s talk,” he begs and she sighs.

“Fine,” she grumbles. “Now get out so I can get dried off.”

“As my lady commands,” he quietly replies as he gets to his feet.

“I am not your lady,” she growls and he can hear the pain in her voice.

“I’ll be waiting for you when you come out,” he tells her, grabs a towel to dry off his arms and then leaves, quietly shutting the door behind him.

He leans against the door, closes his eyes and sadly sighs. He can feel Beast waiting expectantly and he knows that unless he can fix things, life is going to be pretty miserable with the primal half of him. With a resigned sigh, he pushes himself off of the door and goes to pick up his clothes.

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By the time she comes out of the bathroom wearing nothing more than the hotel’s bathrobe and her hair wrapped up in a towel, all of the clothes have been picked up and put away, including hers and he’s patiently sitting on the edge of the bed. He stands as she steps into the room, but she doesn’t quite look at him. He can tell she’s been crying even more since he left her and he feels even worse than before which he didn’t think was possible.

“Amanda, I’m sorry,” he starts as he steps closer to her.

“You said that already,” she interrupts as she heads for the closet.

“I know,” he replies, watching as she opens the closet door and pulls a bag out. “I was hoping you’d believe it this time.”

“Why should I?” she shoots back as she roots around in the bag, obviously looking for something.

“Because I really mean it,” he answers while she tosses the bag back into the closet and pulls out another one.

“When were you planning on telling me about this split personality thing?” she demands as she goes through the second bag. “Our wedding night?”

Life mate? Beast purrs, perking right up at the idea.

Not at this rate there won’t be, now hush, Hank thinks back to it.

“You plan on answering me?” she questions heatedly as she throws the bag back in the closet.

“I don’t know,” he finally answers while she drags yet a third bag out of the closet. “It’s not something that can just be brought up at the drop of a hat in the middle of dinner.”

“So of course last night, when I was spilling my guts about my lack of love life wouldn’t have been a good time at all,” she replies sarcastically while she begins to dig through the latest piece of luggage.

“You’re right, I should have told you last night,” he admits as he moves a little closer to her. “I thought I could keep it in under control. I was wrong and I am sorry. What are you looking for?”

“My hair brush,” she answers, irritated that she can’t find said item. “I had it this morning, but now it’s gone.”

“It’s over on the desk,” he tells her. “I saw it when I was looking for my tie.”

“Right, I was admiring the view while I brushed out my hair this morning,” she remembers as she returns her bag to the closet. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” he replies as she walks past him. “Amanda, please, I really am sorry.”

“All I’ve ever wanted in a guy was for him to be nice and gentle and to treat me with kindness and respect,” she tells him quietly as she picks up her brush, her back to him. “Is that too much to ask for?”

“No, it’s not,” he softly answers as he steps up behind her.

“Every guy I’ve dated has found a way to hurt me,” she whispers. “Was I hoping for too much when I thought you’d be different?”

“No, you weren’t,” he replies and he hears her draw a ragged breath. “Please forgive me.”

“How can I be sure you won’t hurt me again?” she asks in a hushed voice.

“You can’t,” he responds, sounding miserable. “All I can do is tell you that I don’t ever want to be the cause of your tears again and I swear I will do everything within my power to make it right again.”

He hears her take another choked breath and then she slowly leans back against him. It feels like his heart is finally beating again and his arms carefully come up and hold her. When it seems like her legs no longer want to hold her up, he gently scoops her into his arms and carries her over to the bed.

With his superior strength and agility, he’s easily able to climb onto the middle of the bed and settle down with her cradled in his lap. His own silent tears fall as she buries her face into his chest and has another good long cry. By the time her tears dry out, she’s completely exhausted and just sits in Hank’s lap, unable to muster the strength to move or talk.

He quietly takes the brush from her limp fingers, pulls the towel off of her head and then starts to gently brush out her still damp hair. She sighs and relaxes into him, making Beast purr happily while Hank continues to take care of her. Even after all of the tangles and knots have been removed, he continues to brush her hair, just happy to have her back in his arms. Eventually, she reaches up and takes the brush from him, tossing it towards the bathroom when she does.

“I was beginning to think you had fallen asleep,” he quietly says while he wraps his arm around her.

“Nearly,” she replies as she starts to gently stroke the fur on his arm. “Tell me about Beast.”

“It wasn’t until after I took the serum I told you about, that Beast developed,” he answers after several moments. “It took me a while to realize what was going on. When I got into fights, I would go into these frenzies that would take some time for me to regain control of myself. At first I thought it was just adrenaline and that my new mutation was causing my body to produce an overabundance of it. But after a while, it became obvious to me that there was something more going on. I went to the Professor and asked for his help. He confirmed that the primal part of my brain had become more than the basic instinct for fight or flight, but was actually developing a type of basic personality. Until recently, all it really wanted was to fight and it gets very agitated when I don’t give into its demands. I’ve always managed to keep it under control unless I was in an actual fight.”

“But that’s changed,” she puts in when he pauses for a few seconds.

“After our first date, it started to talk to me,” he admits with a sigh. “Nothing complex, mind you. It said just one word at first. Mate. I had no doubt that it was referring to you. Since then its vocabulary has grown to nearly a dozen words, most of them it started using this evening. I’m actually rather impressed with that.”

“Why should that surprise you?” she asks as she shifts around a little to get a bit more comfortable. “He’s a part of you. Why shouldn’t he be smart?”

Mate, Beast purrs eagerly and Hank sighs.

“Careful, my dear, it’s getting amorous again,” he warns.

“Us talking about him is getting him horny?” she questions, looking up at him.

“No, you wiggling around on my lap wearing nothing more than a bathrobe is,” he tells her and tries not to look down for fear of getting Beast even more worked up.

“What about you?” she softly asks. “Do you still want me?”

“Oh my stars and garters yes, I want you,” he moans as he holds her closer. “But the hour is quite late, we’re both tired and I’m afraid I wouldn’t be able to keep my word about making you forget that any one else has ever touched you. We should get some sleep, if for no other reason than so we can function properly tomorrow.”

“Are you still planning on driving up to Vermont?” she inquires.

“That is my current plan,” he tells her. “There’s a quaint little cabin that I’ve rented and I figure a week of just reading and relaxing will do me world of good.”

“I wish I could join you,” she sighs and Beast gets excited by that idea.

“You’d miss Christmas with your family,” he points out and Beast hisses at him.

“A week of being badgered by my mother about finding a man and settling down while my sister holds the Sword of Damocles over my head or spend a week with you on in a quiet little cabin in the middle of nowhere,” she muses. “Not a really hard choice if you ask me.”

“When you put it that way, I can see your point,” he chuckles as he reluctantly lifts her out of his lap.

“Hank?” she hesitantly calls as he slides off of the bed.

“Yes, my dear?” he responds, turning to help her off of the bed.

“Would you…,” she starts, her cheeks starting to turn pink.

“Would I what?” he prompts as he reaches over and helps her off of the bed.

“Would you sleep with me tonight?” she mumbles, her face turning a bright red.

“I thought I just pointed out that we need our rest,” he reminds her.

“That’s what I mean,” she hastily replies. “Would you sleep in here with me tonight?”

“And that’s all we’d do? Sleep?” he questions.

“Well, until we’re rested,” she tells him, the blush creeping down her neck now.

“I must warn you, my dear,” he purrs as he pulls her into his arms and nuzzles her hair. “If I sleep in here with you and I wake up with you in my arms, I may not be so inclined to let you continue sleeping.”

“And what exactly would you be inclined to do to wake me up?” she asks as her arms snake their way around his neck.

“I will make love to you,” he replies as he kisses her neck.

“In that case, you’d better make sure that little brown bag of yours is within reach this time,” she warns just before she gently bites his ear.

“Than again, sleeping may not come to us for a while,” he moans as he holds her close and she can feel a certain part of his body is very awake.

“Then you’ll sleep in here tonight?” she inquires softly.

“Just try and keep me out,” he replies, his voice a seductive purr.

“Speaking of keeping out, how did you get in here?” she asks suddenly, leaning back enough to look at his face. “I know I shut that door.”

“I knocked and it popped open,” he answers.

“But I’m sure I closed it,” she states, a perplexed look on her face.

The scientific part of his brain is now curious, so he releases her and then turns his attention to the door in question. He shuts the door as far as it will go, but notices he doesn’t hear the latch click into place. With a frown wrinkling his brow, he pulls the door open and examines it, examines the latch and then carefully checks the door jamb.

“Ah ha, here’s the little culprit,” he chuckles as he stoops over to pick something up and then turns to face her, showing her his prize. “The missing button from my shirt.”

“This is what kept the door from latching shut?” she asks as she takes the small item from him.

He shuts the door and the latch is clearly heard clicking into place.

“I’d have to say yes,” he answers as he takes the button back. “Now, I’m going to put this in a safe place and then I’m going to get ready for bed.”

“So, I’ll meet you back here in a little bit?” she nervously questions.

“Wild horses couldn’t keep me away,” he tells her as he cups her face in his hand and gently kisses her.

Before she can even catch her breath, he’s back in his room and she stands there for a moment complete impressed by the man’s speed. After collecting a few of her own things, she returns to the bathroom to get ready for bed. When she comes back into the bedroom, she finds the bed already occupied by a very welcoming presence.

He throws back the covers to welcome her into his embrace and she gladly climbs under the blankets with him. After a few quiet kisses, she rolls over and snuggles up against him. After turning off the light on the nightstand, he gladly cuddles up to her, spooning her from behind. She adjusts herself just a bit and a strange crinkling sound catches her attention.

“What was that?” she asks into the darkness.

“I believe my lady requested that a certain brown bag be kept close at hand this time,” he softy purrs near her ear. “If you like, I can move it.”

“Where is it?” she questions as the warmth of his body starts to lull her to sleep.

“Between the headboard and the pillows,” he answers as he slips a hand under her pajama top to rest it on the soft skin of her belly. “Shall I move it?”

“No,” she replies with a yawn. “It’s fine where it is.”

He listens to her breathing as it becomes slow and regular and then turns his attention inwards. Beast is making contented sounds in the back of his mind and he takes it as a good sign. With a happy sigh, he buries his nose in her hair and closes his eyes, soon drifting off to sleep with his soon to be mate in his arms.