Eye of the Beholder

Author’s Notes: I’M SORRY!!!! I’m really, really sorry. My muse has completely gone off the deep end with ideas for other stories that I’m not ready to write yet, including one of the continuing stories for this story. Did I mention that there will be at least four stories to this series? Hopefully they won’t be as long as this one has become. At any rate, thanks to moon_muse, Capt_DavyJones_Lover, jesi, Aderiana and blue_lioness for your reviews.

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Hank is peacefully reading the lovely book Amanda gave him, enjoying the peace and quiet since Annie and Mike left with the kids to go visit with Mike’s family shortly after lunch, when Cathy walks in with a large box in her arms. Before he can say anything, she quickly puts it down and leaves the room. He looks at the box questioningly and a few moments later, the older woman returns with several rolls of Christmas wrapping paper, gift bags and a couple pairs of scissors.

Bemusedly, he watches as she clears off the coffee table of all of the decorations and then opens the box, revealing bows, ribbons, name tags and a tape dispenser. While it looks like she’s getting ready to wrap presents, it’s very obvious that there is nothing for her to wrap in the brightly colored paper. He opens his mouth to ask her about this when Stuart and Amanda come into the room, each carrying two large shopping bags filled with toys, games, books and what appear to be clothing boxes.

“Would you like some help?” Hank asks as he carefully marks his place and gets to his feet.

“Oh, don’t be silly, Hank,” Cathy answers while she takes the first bag that’s offered to her and starts to pull various items out. “Go back to your reading and enjoy yourself.”

“Please, I insist,” he says as Amanda and Stuart put down the bags they’re carrying near the older woman and leave.

“You’re a guest, Hank, I can’t possibly ask you to help,” she replies as she opens the first roll of paper.

“An uninvited guest,” he reminds her. “Please, I would really like to help.”

“I just wouldn’t feel right putting you to work,” she counters while she measures out the amount of paper needed to wrap the first present.

“I assure you, helping out friends never feels like work,” he tells her with a genuine smile.

Before she can put forth any further arguments against him helping out, a startled yelp, sounding distinctly like Amanda, and a loud ‘THUMP’ reach their ears. Without waiting for the older woman to so much as get to her feet, Hank is out of the room and down the hall in a heartbeat. He finds Amanda and a couple of bags worth of unwrapped presents sprawled out on the floor with Amanda partially through a door that Hank had previously assumed led into a closet, but in fact is the door that opens to the basement.

“Amanda, are you alright?” he questions worriedly as he helps her get unsteadily to her feet, resisting the urge to scoop her up and take her upstairs where he can examine her in private.

“Yeah, I just tripped,” she grumbles while she brushes herself off and Cathy joins them a moment later. “You must think I’m such a klutz.”

“You do seem to have an affinity for getting yourself hurt when I’m around,” he softly chuckles as he goes to collect the scattered gifts with Cathy’s help while Stuart stops at the top of the steps.

“What happened?” Stuart asks.

“I missed the top step and tripped,” Amanda tells him with a shrug.

“Are you ok?” her father asks.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Amanda assures him. “Just a bit bruised, but I’ll live.”

“If there are more presents to be retrieved, I would more than gladly lend a hand at bringing them upstairs,” Hank offers as the last of the gifts are picked up.

“That would be great,” Stuart responds before Cathy can protest. “The kids are getting new bikes this year and I was dreading dragging them upstairs.”

“Then it’s settled,” Hank states happily as they head towards the parlor. “I’ll help bring up the presents and when that’s done, I’ll help wrap if you like.”

“Actually, if you’re as handy with a wrench as you are with an axe, I could use some help putting the bikes together too, if you don’t mind,” Stuart suggests.

“Gladly,” Hank responds with a smile.

The next few hours are spent bringing up the presents, putting the bikes together, wrapping the gifts and then seeing to them being properly labeled, all the while the four adults talk and laugh the time away, munching on the goodies Cathy and Annie baked earlier. Hank gets the job of writing the names on the tags since the kids won’t recognize his hand writing while Stuart attaches the labels and Cathy and Amanda arrange the packages just so. It’s been many years since he’s had such a heartwarming holiday and as he glances over at Amanda when her father isn’t looking, he hopes that there will be many more of these to come.

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Several hours later finds Hank waiting patiently at the bottom of the stairs, expecting Amanda to make an appearance at any moment. He hasn’t seen much of her since they finished wrapping the presents earlier mainly because she had to rush off to church to rehearse for this evening’s performance and only returned shortly before dinner. Then she and her parents had all settled down to take naps soon after dinner had been cleared away in order to make it through this evening’s midnight mass while Hank had stayed up, his mutation making it possible for him to go on less sleep than most people.

So now he waits and he can hear her parents just down the hallway, talking in hushed voices, not knowing that their voices are still quite clear to him as he half listens to Cathy telling Stuart to back off once again. Hank has to smile to himself after spending the afternoon with Stuart not so subtly making sure he was between Hank and Amanda at every possible moment and this is what has set Cathy on her husband again with threats promising many cold, lonely nights on the couch if he messes this up for Amanda.

“They didn’t answer right away when I called them,” Stuart hisses, reminding her about Hank and Amanda’s disappearance into the woods that morning. “I had to call them three times before they put in an appearance and he was carrying her over his shoulder.”

“Oh for heaven’s sake, Stuart, what were they going to do out there?” Cathy demands quietly. “It was thirty-something degrees out there this morning. If they did anything more than making out, they would have been freezing off body parts.”

Any response the man may have is interrupted by the sound of a door quietly opening at the top of the stairs. Hank eagerly turns his attention back up those steps and he feels the air go rushing out of his lungs at the sight before him.

Mate, Beast whines plaintively.

Hank can’t even begin to think of a response as he stares at the vision before him. The black crushed velvet skirt and long sleeved button up blouse show off every curve that that the bulky sweaters she’s been wearing she’s been wearing the past couple of days have hidden and the green of the blouse makes her eyes seem even brighter. He doesn’t miss the fact that his present to her sits gleaming against her smooth, creamy skin in the ‘V’ of the blouse and it warms his heart to see her wearing it so proudly. Her hair is pulled up into a loose bun on top of her head with a few curling tendrils framing her face, not that he really notices her hair since it’s her neck that has been covered by turtleneck tops which he’s finally able to see that has his undivided attention and the urge to start kissing that part of her body becomes almost overwhelming.

“I’d ask if you liked how I did my hair and makeup, but I don’t think your eyes have gotten past my neck yet,” she teases as she makes her way down the stairs.

“You are a vision of loveliness, my dear,” he softly assures her while he holds out a hand for her to take.

She gladly slips her hand into his and allows him to escort her down the last few steps where he pulls her into his arms.

“After everyone is asleep, I will come for you,” he whispers into her ear and he nearly purrs when he feels her body shiver against his as she takes a deep shuddering breath.

He reluctantly steps away from her when he hears her parents moving towards them and stares mesmerized into her eyes. When her parents step into the hallway, they find the couple standing there, holding hands and gazing into each others eyes. Cathy’s breath catches in her throat and she goes all teary eyed at the sight before her while Stuart’s back goes ramrod straight as he feels his overprotective nature take over. He goes to break the couple up only to be yanked back by his arm. He turns to look at his wife only to meet those piercing green eyes and he matches her glare for glare.

“If you two are through glaring daggers at each other, perhaps we should get going,” Amanda suggests several moments later.

Cathy and Stuart turn their attention back down the hallway and see Hank helping Amanda into her coat. Stuart casts a disapproving look at Hank’s jeans, boots and sweater, but says nothing.

“I must apologize for my attire,” Hank states as he gets his own coat on. “When I packed for my trip I did not anticipate having to dress nicely.”

“Amanda didn’t tell you we attend church?” Stuart asks, confused and more than a bit miffed.

“Oh, she told me, but you see, I wasn’t originally planning on coming to Virginia for the winter holidays,” Hank explains while he slips on his custom made gloves. “I was all set to go to Vermont when I learned of Amanda’s dilemma and I could do nothing else but assist her in any way that I could.”

“My knight in shining blue fur,” Amanda softly chuckles and he captures one of her hands before she can put her gloves on and kisses the back of it causing her to blush a bright red.

“As I hope to ever be for you,” he quietly replies after he reluctantly releases her hand.

“I’m a bit confused,” Cathy states as she wraps a scarf around her neck. “You were all packed to go to Vermont when you got Amanda’s call?”

“Oh, Amanda never called me,” Hank tells her while the front door is opened and they quickly hustle out of the house. “You see, I had arrived at her place just before I headed out of town to drive her to the train station when I found her distressed about her situation. I could hardly call myself worthy of her attentions if I didn’t offer whatever assistance that I could.”

“So you just gave up your trip to Vermont so you could drive her all the way down here,” Stuart states suspiciously.

“Well, I must admit, I did have an ulterior motive,” Hank admits as they pile into Stuart and Cathy’s car with Hank in the front passenger seat.

“Oh?” Stuart asks, trying to keep the disapproval out of his voice and doing a poor job of it.

“You see, Amanda has told me such wondrous tales of her family that I was very anxious to meet all of you,” Hank tells him while Stuart starts the car.

“What in the world did you tell him?” Cathy asks her daughter as Stuart pulls out of the driveway.

“Only the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God,” Amanda replies with right hand raised. “I even told him about the ‘Doug incident’ to try and dissuade him.”

“And you still wanted to meet us after hearing about that fiasco?” Stuart questions Hank. “You’re either the bravest man I’ve ever met or the craziest.”

“We’ll know the answer to that by the end of the week, won’t we?” Hank chuckles and the others laugh along with him.

The rest of the drive is spent with Hank regaling them with some of his more memorable Christmas memories as he studiously ignores Beast whining for its mate.

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They get to the church about half an hour later and no sooner does Hank step out of the car then he’s dragged away by the twins. Amanda and her parents follow after them at a more sedate pace while Hank is given a whirlwind introduction to Mike’s rather sizable family. Once that’s done, the girls proudly march into the church with poor Hank still in tow and a quick glance over his shoulder shows him that his beloved girlfriend has a huge grin on her face with probably no intention of saving him.

As soon as they step through the doors, silence spreads through the room like ripples in a pond from a dropped stone. People turn to see what all the silence about and more than a few jaws drop open as the twins proudly drag Hank down the main aisle like a pair of fishermen with their prize catch. While Hank, Amanda’s family and Mike’s family are getting situated in a couple of rows worth of pews, rapid whispering can be heard throughout the fairly large church.

Hank finds himself seated between the twins as a program is handed to him by one of the girls and he quickly looks around to find Amanda. Much to his disappointment, he finds her at the far end of the pew, near the outside aisle. She looks over at him and gives him a sad smile and a little wave before stripping off her outer garments. A flash of gold as she shrugs out of her coat brings a smile to his own lips, happy that she’s wearing the necklace for the entire world to see.

He contemplates joining her, but before he can get to his feet, he’s drawn into a conversation with Mike’s mother. By the time he’s able to end their little talk, everyone has taken their seats and Father Clancy has stepped out onto the dais to start services. Fighting back his disappointment and a cranky Beast, he turns his attention to the front of the church.

The service is filled with laughter and singing and Hank can understand why Cathy and Stuart attend this church. The natural charisma of the priest coupled with the man’s joy of doing a job he obviously loves make for a very compelling service. It seems no time has passed at all when the candles start to be handed out and once they’ve been distributed, he sees Amanda rise and make her way to the front of the church.

He watches her intently as she makes her journey, barely even aware when someone lights his candle for him or that everyone else is singing ‘O Holy Night’. He can’t pull his eyes away from her while she closes her eyes, takes a deep calming breath and then lets it out as she stands up a little bit straighter. With head held high, she steps up onto the dais and takes her place behind the microphone that other performers have been using all evening.

Father Clancy lights Amanda’s candle himself as the lights are lowered and then whispers something in her ear which causes her to smile like she’s fighting back a laugh. Hank can see her glance his way and then watches in amusement as her cheeks turn a much brighter pink then can be blamed on the makeup on her face. A second later the harpist starts to play making Amanda becomes all business again as she looks out over the crowd before her, staring at some unknown spot over their heads and then she opens her mouth to sing.

“Ave Maria
gratia plena
dominus tecum
benedicta tu
in mulieribus
et benedictus
fructus ventris
tui Jesus

Sancta Maria
Sancta Maria
Maria
ora pro nobis
nobis peccatoribus
nunc et in hora
in hora mortis nostrae

Sancta Maria
Sancta Maria
Maria
ora pro nobis
nobis peccatoribus
nunc et in hora
in hora mortis nostrae
amen amen”

As the last notes fade away, Father Clancy once more commands everyone’s attention while Amanda quietly leaves the dais to retake her seat. Hank never even notices as he’s too busy replaying every second of her song in his head, committing it to memory.

Mate, Beast whispers and Hank has to beat back the urge to go to her and then taker her someplace to make love to her for the rest of the night.

Soon, Beast, Hank assures it. Soon.