FanFic: BB The Camera - Ch3 - Explanation
Title: BB The Camera
Chapter 3: Explanation
Pairing: Catherine/Vincent
Genre: AU/Angst/Ship
Rating: R
Warning: Blood, Language, Mental Mayhem and Sexual Suggestions
Spoiler Alert: S1 E9
Summary: Vincent tries to clear things up from the past before things go any farther. He knows he has to let her see his transformation, which will let her know all those years ago who saved her and her mother.
A/N: I want to tie things together…physical/emotional, past/present. I am also going to allude to other works in this chapter. It just feels right because in our own everyday life things make us think about other creations, so the characters should too.
I did some editing today 01/04/2013.
Click if you need to go back to Ch2.
Catherine had her hands on his shoulders trying to lean down to see his face. “Are you ok?”
She gave up when he cringed, and she kneeled in front of him as tears started to form in her eyes. “Do you need me to call Evan or an ambulance?”
Vincent’s voice was deeper than usual, and he would not make eye contact. “No.”
“Is it because you were trying to change?” Catherine reached her hands up brushing his hair back from his eyes and cupped his face.
“Talk to me, Vincent.” Catherine pleaded with him.
She had a sudden fear that he would drop dead at any moment. She fretted that she would find out later that he needed medical attention and she didn’t get help. A picture of him laying there dead flashed in her mind.
Her mother had always warned her and Heather that people always say no that they don’t need to go to a hospital. She told them that it was their responsibility as the person who was not impaired to make that call if it needed to be made.
Vincent heard her heart and breathing speed up as if she was in a flat out run. His eyes lifted, but he kept his head down. He saw the genuine concern that she felt. He knew that she was seconds away from dialing 911 on her cell.
“I’m fine.” Vincent tried to convince her with a half smile. “I’m ok.”
He didn’t look as bad as earlier, but she still did not let him go. “What happened?”
He contemplated making something up or diverting her attention to something else. He watched her knowing that he couldn’t.
“You don’t have to be here if you don’t want to be.” The words were practically whispered, but caught every other word on the rasp of his voice.
Catherine had no idea why he was saying that to her. “Yes, I know that.”
She reminded herself that Evan said he was in isolation for years and his social skills were not up to par for parties. Evan gave that as a reason why Vincent had not attended Thanksgiving dinner at her parent’s house.
She guessed he misunderstood something she said.
“I want to be here. With you.” She whispered the words back at him as she tipped his face up toward hers so she could see him better.
She knew his emotional state changed when she took that last photo and seconds before that when she laughed.
“My finger was on the button and when I moved it snapped that last photo. I didn’t mean to take it. And, I um…giggled partially because I find you attractive and my brain started talking to me. Well, not a real voice, but…” She glanced up with a silly expression, “I started thinking crazy things about myself. I’ve seen things before that really weren’t there, sooooo.” She lowered her eyes to him again with a laugh, “Now I sound crazy, but it’s just me being me.”
Catherine knew if he wanted to look away that he could and her strength was no match for his. But, he let her move him so she could watch his expressions, and he stayed that way.
Vincent watched her give him an explanation that she didn’t really need to, but knew it was for his benefit. She didn’t have to care what he thought, but apparently she did.
It amused him that in this moment she was the happy fun girl that she usually was at her birthday parties. He was now on the receiving end of that infectious happiness that always reminded him of a little kitten excited with a new toy.
After her parties, he would check in with her mother to see if she had any new results and he would pass on information from his roommate JT. It was set up that they had once a year meeting where they kept in touch about the research. Her mother had a burner phone to call if there were any signs of Muirfield, and he was thankful every time a year went by and burner phones were never used.
“Ok.” Vincent felt the intense emotions of sadness decrease to the point of being tolerable. He glanced over her for signs of a lie and did not find any.
She had never seen this side of him in the partial interviews and the pictures taken of him. To Catherine, he looked lost, uncertain and wounded. It was as if he didn’t know what to do, but he trusted her and let himself be open with her.
She knew now that he kept himself hidden even when he stood in plain view. He protected himself by acting gruff or smiling fake plastic smiles for the cameras. She mused it might be the reason why she thought he looked void of emotion in the photos the other person took.
“It’s ok. I’m not going to run screaming from the building if you transform.” She let her hands slide off of his face, and she instantly felt the loss of the connection.
Her body pushed at her again letting her know just in case she forgot that she wanted him naked and growling covering her body with his strength.
“Last guy did.” He had a wicked smile dancing on his face that appeared to be genuine. It was as if a darkness was lifted off of him.
Catherine smirked back and sat back on her heals thinking of the Lord of the Rings. She changed her voice to sound like the actress. “I’m no man.”
He caught the reference and huffed approval knowing now she was a SciFi fan. He guessed that it might be some of the reason his medical condition was interesting to her. That he could handle…pity he could not.
Vincent felt relieved that she truly wanted to be there with him. He chided himself that he was overreacting to her giggle and the flash of the camera that now sat behind her on the ground. He told himself that earlier her attraction was to him and not someone she was thinking about. The idea calmed him and the last of the doubt and pain slipped away.
He thought he should tell her they met before in the past. He could not deny the need to tell her now before things went any further. For her to find out later, might be perceived as a betrayal or that he lied by hiding something from her. He corrected himself…if there was a later.
He also worried that she might regret it if anything physical happened between them. He wanted her to feel a lot of things toward him and regret was not one of them.
“Do you remember when we first met?”
Catherine remembered the question as being one that Arwen asked her romantic interest Aragorn. She knew the phrase because it was a scene that she had watched over and over again. She memorized every word, every movement and every detail down to the clothing and where the stood. She had even set a wallpaper on her computer to that scene for an entire year.
It had been her obsession and always found it intriguing that the ruler of an entire people was out gallivanting as a Ranger in the wilderness. Strider, who was Aragorn the rightful heir to the throne, risked his life on countless occasions to save people who seemed to be of no consequence. She hid from her friends and family that she even wrote a few fanfictions where Arwen had visited him in the wild.
She snapped back out of her thoughts about the movie and concentrated on what his quote implied. To Catherine’s knowledge she had never met Vincent before. Evan always found some reason why they should not meet, but Heather had set up this photo shoot.
“I thought I had wandered into a dream.” He spoke the second part that was Aragorn’s reply with such conviction and emotion that she leaned forward trying to read every flicker of emotion on his face. She knew he was trying to tell her something important, but could not come out and say it.
Vincent reached foreword and gathered a few strands of her dark hair into his fingers then pulled his hand back letting the silk slide over his skin. It was something he had done years ago when he saved her mother from being killed.
He remembered showing up just after the gun fired one time. He managed to insert himself in front of Catherine’s mother then took a few hits before he lunged forward ripping the men to shreds.
Vincent turned to the women still in his Beast form and went to them.
Catherine was holding pressure on the bullet wound her mother sustained. He noticed that she had fell and hit her head on the car. She had taken out her braids with one hand in an attempt to inspect the wound herself and keep pressure on her mother’s wound.
He remembered he reached forward intending to check Catherine’s head to see how big the gash was. She pulled back and it caused part of her hair to wrap around his hand. He slowly pulled his hand back letting her hair slide over his skin while he was still in Beast form.
Sirens glared in the distance and he had to leave. As he ran for the tree line, he had heard her voice whisper. “I don’t know who you are, but thank you.”
Vincent paused just at the trees and turned back to her. She was watching him. And, she continued to watch as he nodded once then went into the woods as police cars pulled into the saloon’s parking area.
Now, Vincent watched Catherine as she tipped her head as if trying to remember something.
He continued with the quote. “Long years have passed…”
Catherine registered him saying the next part of the quote as a dizzying sensation came over her. Her mind was trying to put the pieces together.
Vincent skipped ahead before continuing using words from the scene, “I would rather share one lifetime with you than face all the ages of this world alone.”
Catherine stopped trying to remember as her brain was blocking her as if protecting her.
She focused on the quote he just spoke. The words impacted her like never before.
This moment was more to her than any fantasy she had thought up, read about, written about or watched on television. A man, a very attractive and intriguing man, was saying the words to her and it appeared that he meant them.
Vincent lifted his head toward the glass ceiling of the Conservatory and stretched his neck. He reached inside himself pulling up Beast. He exercised control so that it was very gradual.
As he allowed his body to change, he knew that he would not look exactly the same as Catherine might remember. After the treatments calmed some of the effects, his transformations left him the same claws and raised veins, but his teeth stayed in place and his face did not contort quite as much.
He could feel his black claws extending and his fangs lowering. He was thankful that his fangs only extended about a half an inch in comparison to his claws that extended about three inches. He could retract them, but it was painful.
Night vision flickered on and off, and Vincent knew his eyes now glowed slightly gold.
He tried to speak as he lowered his focus on Catherine, but only a growl came out. Speaking while in full Beast form was something he had not mastered yet.
Catherine was still sitting on her heals when Vincent stretched, and he started to change. She watched transfixed like a rabbit hypnotized with a cobra’s dance and peering stare. His fingers had black talons coming out of them and there were bluish purple veins standing out on his neck, chest and arms. She also noted his face changed slightly.
Vincent’s once hazel eyes turned golden as he lowered his head watching her.
She opened her mouth to try to speak and ask him if he wanted her to get the camera when he growled at her flashing his fangs.
The sound exploded in her mind like gun fire. Instantly, images flashed then solidified of the night her mother was shot and almost killed by robbers outside the saloon where she worked in college. She felt the impact again as she spun smacking her forehead against a car door. Intense pain seared on her head where she had banged it nine years ago.
Simultaneously, she could feel her mother’s sticky warm blood on her hands as she applied pressure trying to save her life.
Flickers of almost video played before her eyes of a horrible monstrous beast towering over her and her mother taking gunfire. Her vision blurred from her injury but she could make out that the beast was shredding the men to death. She could hear her own voice speaking words of thanks before being swarmed by police and the EMT workers.
She remembered hearing her mother say that there was a bear or a panther that attacked the men and that the beast had saved their lives. Catherine told everyone that she didn’t see anything because of her head injury, and they believed her.
Only one second had passed since he growled and her brain had processed everything so quickly. It was such a shock to have all those memories, feelings, sensations and images flood over her that her boot tipped causing her to tumble back on the floor of the Conservatory.
Catherine was in total shock and almost started hyperventilating as she untangled her legs lying on the ground on her back. She was panting watching Vincent still sitting where he had been.
His eyes were closed and his head was lowered again. She tried to sit up as he raised his hands gripping his head and rested his elbows on his knees.
Vincent had watched her shock before her face contorted and she touched her forehead. He closed his eyes after he watched her look at her hands in disgust, and he believed it was because she had touched his face with them.
He had no idea what was happening inside of her, and he believed his worst fears had just come to life before him. He closed his eyes and rested his head waiting for her to flee. She was already on the ground, and it sounded as if she was scooting backwards.
“You’re him.” Catherine’s breathy voice floated toward him on the humid air. “You’re the…” She almost said beast, but changed her wording. “…one who saved us.”
Vincent felt as if he was standing on the edge of a blade and his fate could tip to either side.
One side was where she was just shocked to learn who he was, and she fully intended to stay. The second side was where she was disgusted with the way he looked and more terrified that he was the monster that ripped two men to pieces all those years ago, and she was about to leave forever.
He literally tipped his head to one side then to another thinking of each option.
Catherine believed he was trying to say no. She thought over what he had quoted before, over the images in her mind, and the man before her. “You’re him. I know you are.”
Vincent stopped moving and dared to hope that it was the first possibility because she was not running at this point. He kept his eyes closed and his whole existence was the sound of her voice.
It was something he craved all year during his wait to see her on her birthdays. He had even recorded her laughter and replayed it over and over.
In the past, he felt his purpose in life was to use his medical skills to save people then later he used his body to protect people. Once he returned State side, there was no purpose to his life, but to keep her safe.
He now needed her voice like a drowning man needed oxygen…with every fiber of his body on a cellular level. Without her, he felt that his life was over and he might as well be dead.
“You saved us, and I thanked you.” Her voice finally sounded like her own to her ears.
With her words, he opened his eyes and happily stepped off of the blade falling into his fate.
Catherine finally moved past the shock that the wild animal beast that took bullets for her and her mother was the handsome intriguing man before her.
All those years, she believed she went crazy because of all of her mother’s blood that covered her hands and arms. She believed that fate had tossed them a blessing by having a wild animal not attack the wounded smaller women covered in blood, but the armed men.
She stood up shakily and took the couple of steps to the bench and sat down clasping her hands together. She leaned forward looking at his abdomen where she remembered seeing deliciously faded scars earlier. Her eyes fixed on them knowing they were bullet wounds. Bullets meant for her mother’s heart.
Catherine gasped picturing what they would have done to her slender mother. She straightened and her hand went over her mouth as tears burned her eyes. Pressure built behind them that caused tension to spread down her neck as tears fell on her hand.
Vincent’s hands dropped as he reverted back to himself. She was in pain and there was nothing he could do to help. There were no bad guys to kill. He didn’t know how to save someone from their own thoughts.
He did the only thing he could think, and it was from a memory of when he was a doctor. He put his hand over her hand that was in her lap.
Catherine visibly relaxed then spoke. “Those bullets would have killed her.”
Vincent sat quietly and remembered that you have to let someone talk at their own pace.
“She would be dead now. Dead and in the ground.” Her voice broke off as she shook from the force of the emotions and the tears that would not stop. She pictured her father peering down into her mother’s casket saying good bye to the love of his life. The finality of it dug claws into her emotions as she knew that had been a possible outcome of those events if Vincent was not there.
Vincent’s arm went around her, and he pulled her into his lap pressing the side of her face into his chest. “It’s ok. Shhhhhh She’s ok. I’m here. You’re ok. Those men are gone, and they’re not coming back. It’s ok now.”
His eyes scanned the area inside the glass building then toward the exit points. He relaxed knowing they were alone. It was still hard for him because he went for so long knowing that Muirfield was hunting him. He mentally reminded himself that he was ok as well.
Catherine started to calm and the shaking subsided. She relaxed into the feeling of Vincent rocking her gently as he murmured again that everything was alright. His strong arms wrapped around her and his hand stroking her hair made her feel protected. Her tears stopped.
She absently remembered hearing two police officers talk that day that they found rope and duct tape in the trunk of the robber’s car. They speculated if the perps knew a young college girl would be there alone and what they might have done to her.
They said it was an attempted robbery and kidnapping that ended in murder and an animal attack. One officer added that whichever young woman was taken that they would have ended up dead eventually. Catherine didn’t even want to think about what the men would have done to her after they killed her mother because nothing good came to mind.
For the next few years, she refused to date or be alone with a man because she remembered what the police officers had said. It pushed her to concentrate on her classes and finally her job.
“I always push them away.” Catherine spoke absently as she wiped tears and makeup from her eyes.
“Who?” Vincent’s chest vibrated with his baritone voice.
Catherine pressed back against his lightly moist chest hearing his steady heart beat. She wanted him to keep talking. It was helping.
“Men. On some level, I’m always afraid. I keep them at arm’s length then I push them away.” Her words were whispered out as if the fact embarrassed her to admit it.
“I know.” Vincent stopped rocking her and breathed in the scent of her hair.
“You know?” Catherine tapped on his chest a couple of times with one finger. “How? And don’t say your Beast X-men powers let you read minds.”
Vincent chuckled before he spoke. “Once a year…on your birthday, I check up on you to make sure you’re ok.”
Her eyes were open and focused up at his neck. She speculated over information that Evan gave her knowing that he must have just returned from overseas when he saved her. That was a time when he didn’t have control. He did not hurt her, but saved her.
“Have you been stalking me?” It was a delicious idea that Vincent had been her secret stalker and protector over the years. She leaned back to see is face better.
He loosened his grip and watched her still reddened eyes, “I wouldn’t go that far.”
“So you stalk me and save people in your spare time.” She said it as a statement.
“Ok, fine. Yes, but don’t tell JT if you meet him. He’ll flip out that I was around you when I was in a fugue state.” Vincent grinned at her as she smiled pushing the sadness away.
“Evan said that JT was your roommate back then and he recently got married to a colleague, but what do you mean by fugue?” Her hand lifted and absently ran over his chest where her tears and makeup were smeared.
“Um…fugue state is where I would Beast Out and have no memory about what I did or where I went. It happened quite a bit right when I saved Evan and he started giving me treatments. The blackouts were a side effect from the experiments.”
Catherine could see by his expression that he didn’t really want to talk about it. “Oh. And, sorry about the tears and makeup.”
Vincent started becoming aware that her body was pressed against his. “Don’t worry about the face paint.”
“Alright.” Catherine smacked her hand down on his chest. “I think we’ve had enough drama for one day. Don’t you agree?”
He nodded yes and wondered if she was leaving. His hand pressed on her thy. “You didn’t get your photo yet.”
Catherine became very aware that he was touching her leg and that she was sitting in his lap. She blinked blankly wondering how she had not noticed.
He continued after seeing her expression. “The before and after photo for the book. You didn’t take a Beasting out pic.”
Catherine was thinking of her weight where it was pressing and the placement of her hands. “Right.”
She slowly stood up trying not to grind against him as it was evident that he was also aware that she was sitting in his lap. As she stood, she let her face come very close to his, and she saw his eyes flicker gold before he transformed back to his Beast form for her photo.
He tipped his head to one side like he was going to put his mouth over her shirt and suck in her nipple that was pressed against the fabric pointing at him.
When he didn’t, she went for the camera.
She purposefully bent over from the waist to pick up the camera that was on the ground. “I hope the heat and moisture is not messing with it.”
Vincent in his Beast form growled in approval of her action and choice of words. He envisioned gripping her hips and pressing himself against her.
His Beast instincts pushed at him, and he caught himself about to stand up to go to her. He was hard again and ready for anything she would allow.
AN: I could not help but use some wording like “Horrible monstrous beast” from Disney’s BATB. I also could not help using a LOTR scene. I first thought ok about 3-4 pages on the Beasting Out then we can get to a make out scene. Sorry Stanford, no green bra this chapter. I wonder if this is how the actual writers for the show feel because for some reason there is no kissing. *takes deep breath* Enough pain, now they need some comfort kissing!
Don't forget to leave fic prompts: Here!
Pic1: bench and fountain, Pic2: hanging vines and branch and Pic3: the Conservatory's ceiling.
Real LOTR Movie Quote: If you want to read it.
Arwen: Do you remember when we first met?
Aragorn: I thought I had wandered into a dream.
Arwen: You did not have the cares you carry now. Do you remember what I told you?
Aragorn: You said you'd bind yourself to me, forsaking the immortal life of your people.
Arwen: And to that I hold. [hands him her pendant]
Arwen: I choose a mortal life.
Aragorn: You cannot give me this.
Arwen: It is mine to give to whom I will. Like my heart.
Click to go to Ch4!
~~
Chapter 3: Explanation
Pairing: Catherine/Vincent
Genre: AU/Angst/Ship
Rating: R
Warning: Blood, Language, Mental Mayhem and Sexual Suggestions
Spoiler Alert: S1 E9
Summary: Vincent tries to clear things up from the past before things go any farther. He knows he has to let her see his transformation, which will let her know all those years ago who saved her and her mother.
A/N: I want to tie things together…physical/emotional, past/present. I am also going to allude to other works in this chapter. It just feels right because in our own everyday life things make us think about other creations, so the characters should too.
I did some editing today 01/04/2013.
Click if you need to go back to Ch2.
Catherine had her hands on his shoulders trying to lean down to see his face. “Are you ok?”
She gave up when he cringed, and she kneeled in front of him as tears started to form in her eyes. “Do you need me to call Evan or an ambulance?”
Vincent’s voice was deeper than usual, and he would not make eye contact. “No.”
“Is it because you were trying to change?” Catherine reached her hands up brushing his hair back from his eyes and cupped his face.
“Talk to me, Vincent.” Catherine pleaded with him.
She had a sudden fear that he would drop dead at any moment. She fretted that she would find out later that he needed medical attention and she didn’t get help. A picture of him laying there dead flashed in her mind.
Her mother had always warned her and Heather that people always say no that they don’t need to go to a hospital. She told them that it was their responsibility as the person who was not impaired to make that call if it needed to be made.
Vincent heard her heart and breathing speed up as if she was in a flat out run. His eyes lifted, but he kept his head down. He saw the genuine concern that she felt. He knew that she was seconds away from dialing 911 on her cell.
“I’m fine.” Vincent tried to convince her with a half smile. “I’m ok.”
He didn’t look as bad as earlier, but she still did not let him go. “What happened?”
He contemplated making something up or diverting her attention to something else. He watched her knowing that he couldn’t.
“You don’t have to be here if you don’t want to be.” The words were practically whispered, but caught every other word on the rasp of his voice.
Catherine had no idea why he was saying that to her. “Yes, I know that.”
She reminded herself that Evan said he was in isolation for years and his social skills were not up to par for parties. Evan gave that as a reason why Vincent had not attended Thanksgiving dinner at her parent’s house.
She guessed he misunderstood something she said.
“I want to be here. With you.” She whispered the words back at him as she tipped his face up toward hers so she could see him better.
She knew his emotional state changed when she took that last photo and seconds before that when she laughed.
“My finger was on the button and when I moved it snapped that last photo. I didn’t mean to take it. And, I um…giggled partially because I find you attractive and my brain started talking to me. Well, not a real voice, but…” She glanced up with a silly expression, “I started thinking crazy things about myself. I’ve seen things before that really weren’t there, sooooo.” She lowered her eyes to him again with a laugh, “Now I sound crazy, but it’s just me being me.”
Catherine knew if he wanted to look away that he could and her strength was no match for his. But, he let her move him so she could watch his expressions, and he stayed that way.
Vincent watched her give him an explanation that she didn’t really need to, but knew it was for his benefit. She didn’t have to care what he thought, but apparently she did.
It amused him that in this moment she was the happy fun girl that she usually was at her birthday parties. He was now on the receiving end of that infectious happiness that always reminded him of a little kitten excited with a new toy.
After her parties, he would check in with her mother to see if she had any new results and he would pass on information from his roommate JT. It was set up that they had once a year meeting where they kept in touch about the research. Her mother had a burner phone to call if there were any signs of Muirfield, and he was thankful every time a year went by and burner phones were never used.
“Ok.” Vincent felt the intense emotions of sadness decrease to the point of being tolerable. He glanced over her for signs of a lie and did not find any.
She had never seen this side of him in the partial interviews and the pictures taken of him. To Catherine, he looked lost, uncertain and wounded. It was as if he didn’t know what to do, but he trusted her and let himself be open with her.
She knew now that he kept himself hidden even when he stood in plain view. He protected himself by acting gruff or smiling fake plastic smiles for the cameras. She mused it might be the reason why she thought he looked void of emotion in the photos the other person took.
“It’s ok. I’m not going to run screaming from the building if you transform.” She let her hands slide off of his face, and she instantly felt the loss of the connection.
Her body pushed at her again letting her know just in case she forgot that she wanted him naked and growling covering her body with his strength.
“Last guy did.” He had a wicked smile dancing on his face that appeared to be genuine. It was as if a darkness was lifted off of him.
Catherine smirked back and sat back on her heals thinking of the Lord of the Rings. She changed her voice to sound like the actress. “I’m no man.”
He caught the reference and huffed approval knowing now she was a SciFi fan. He guessed that it might be some of the reason his medical condition was interesting to her. That he could handle…pity he could not.
Vincent felt relieved that she truly wanted to be there with him. He chided himself that he was overreacting to her giggle and the flash of the camera that now sat behind her on the ground. He told himself that earlier her attraction was to him and not someone she was thinking about. The idea calmed him and the last of the doubt and pain slipped away.
He thought he should tell her they met before in the past. He could not deny the need to tell her now before things went any further. For her to find out later, might be perceived as a betrayal or that he lied by hiding something from her. He corrected himself…if there was a later.
He also worried that she might regret it if anything physical happened between them. He wanted her to feel a lot of things toward him and regret was not one of them.
“Do you remember when we first met?”
Catherine remembered the question as being one that Arwen asked her romantic interest Aragorn. She knew the phrase because it was a scene that she had watched over and over again. She memorized every word, every movement and every detail down to the clothing and where the stood. She had even set a wallpaper on her computer to that scene for an entire year.
It had been her obsession and always found it intriguing that the ruler of an entire people was out gallivanting as a Ranger in the wilderness. Strider, who was Aragorn the rightful heir to the throne, risked his life on countless occasions to save people who seemed to be of no consequence. She hid from her friends and family that she even wrote a few fanfictions where Arwen had visited him in the wild.
She snapped back out of her thoughts about the movie and concentrated on what his quote implied. To Catherine’s knowledge she had never met Vincent before. Evan always found some reason why they should not meet, but Heather had set up this photo shoot.
“I thought I had wandered into a dream.” He spoke the second part that was Aragorn’s reply with such conviction and emotion that she leaned forward trying to read every flicker of emotion on his face. She knew he was trying to tell her something important, but could not come out and say it.
Vincent reached foreword and gathered a few strands of her dark hair into his fingers then pulled his hand back letting the silk slide over his skin. It was something he had done years ago when he saved her mother from being killed.
He remembered showing up just after the gun fired one time. He managed to insert himself in front of Catherine’s mother then took a few hits before he lunged forward ripping the men to shreds.
Vincent turned to the women still in his Beast form and went to them.
Catherine was holding pressure on the bullet wound her mother sustained. He noticed that she had fell and hit her head on the car. She had taken out her braids with one hand in an attempt to inspect the wound herself and keep pressure on her mother’s wound.
He remembered he reached forward intending to check Catherine’s head to see how big the gash was. She pulled back and it caused part of her hair to wrap around his hand. He slowly pulled his hand back letting her hair slide over his skin while he was still in Beast form.
Sirens glared in the distance and he had to leave. As he ran for the tree line, he had heard her voice whisper. “I don’t know who you are, but thank you.”
Vincent paused just at the trees and turned back to her. She was watching him. And, she continued to watch as he nodded once then went into the woods as police cars pulled into the saloon’s parking area.
Now, Vincent watched Catherine as she tipped her head as if trying to remember something.
He continued with the quote. “Long years have passed…”
Catherine registered him saying the next part of the quote as a dizzying sensation came over her. Her mind was trying to put the pieces together.
Vincent skipped ahead before continuing using words from the scene, “I would rather share one lifetime with you than face all the ages of this world alone.”
Catherine stopped trying to remember as her brain was blocking her as if protecting her.
She focused on the quote he just spoke. The words impacted her like never before.
This moment was more to her than any fantasy she had thought up, read about, written about or watched on television. A man, a very attractive and intriguing man, was saying the words to her and it appeared that he meant them.
Vincent lifted his head toward the glass ceiling of the Conservatory and stretched his neck. He reached inside himself pulling up Beast. He exercised control so that it was very gradual.
As he allowed his body to change, he knew that he would not look exactly the same as Catherine might remember. After the treatments calmed some of the effects, his transformations left him the same claws and raised veins, but his teeth stayed in place and his face did not contort quite as much.
He could feel his black claws extending and his fangs lowering. He was thankful that his fangs only extended about a half an inch in comparison to his claws that extended about three inches. He could retract them, but it was painful.
Night vision flickered on and off, and Vincent knew his eyes now glowed slightly gold.
He tried to speak as he lowered his focus on Catherine, but only a growl came out. Speaking while in full Beast form was something he had not mastered yet.
Catherine was still sitting on her heals when Vincent stretched, and he started to change. She watched transfixed like a rabbit hypnotized with a cobra’s dance and peering stare. His fingers had black talons coming out of them and there were bluish purple veins standing out on his neck, chest and arms. She also noted his face changed slightly.
Vincent’s once hazel eyes turned golden as he lowered his head watching her.
She opened her mouth to try to speak and ask him if he wanted her to get the camera when he growled at her flashing his fangs.
The sound exploded in her mind like gun fire. Instantly, images flashed then solidified of the night her mother was shot and almost killed by robbers outside the saloon where she worked in college. She felt the impact again as she spun smacking her forehead against a car door. Intense pain seared on her head where she had banged it nine years ago.
Simultaneously, she could feel her mother’s sticky warm blood on her hands as she applied pressure trying to save her life.
Flickers of almost video played before her eyes of a horrible monstrous beast towering over her and her mother taking gunfire. Her vision blurred from her injury but she could make out that the beast was shredding the men to death. She could hear her own voice speaking words of thanks before being swarmed by police and the EMT workers.
She remembered hearing her mother say that there was a bear or a panther that attacked the men and that the beast had saved their lives. Catherine told everyone that she didn’t see anything because of her head injury, and they believed her.
Only one second had passed since he growled and her brain had processed everything so quickly. It was such a shock to have all those memories, feelings, sensations and images flood over her that her boot tipped causing her to tumble back on the floor of the Conservatory.
Catherine was in total shock and almost started hyperventilating as she untangled her legs lying on the ground on her back. She was panting watching Vincent still sitting where he had been.
His eyes were closed and his head was lowered again. She tried to sit up as he raised his hands gripping his head and rested his elbows on his knees.
Vincent had watched her shock before her face contorted and she touched her forehead. He closed his eyes after he watched her look at her hands in disgust, and he believed it was because she had touched his face with them.
He had no idea what was happening inside of her, and he believed his worst fears had just come to life before him. He closed his eyes and rested his head waiting for her to flee. She was already on the ground, and it sounded as if she was scooting backwards.
“You’re him.” Catherine’s breathy voice floated toward him on the humid air. “You’re the…” She almost said beast, but changed her wording. “…one who saved us.”
Vincent felt as if he was standing on the edge of a blade and his fate could tip to either side.
One side was where she was just shocked to learn who he was, and she fully intended to stay. The second side was where she was disgusted with the way he looked and more terrified that he was the monster that ripped two men to pieces all those years ago, and she was about to leave forever.
He literally tipped his head to one side then to another thinking of each option.
Catherine believed he was trying to say no. She thought over what he had quoted before, over the images in her mind, and the man before her. “You’re him. I know you are.”
Vincent stopped moving and dared to hope that it was the first possibility because she was not running at this point. He kept his eyes closed and his whole existence was the sound of her voice.
It was something he craved all year during his wait to see her on her birthdays. He had even recorded her laughter and replayed it over and over.
In the past, he felt his purpose in life was to use his medical skills to save people then later he used his body to protect people. Once he returned State side, there was no purpose to his life, but to keep her safe.
He now needed her voice like a drowning man needed oxygen…with every fiber of his body on a cellular level. Without her, he felt that his life was over and he might as well be dead.
“You saved us, and I thanked you.” Her voice finally sounded like her own to her ears.
With her words, he opened his eyes and happily stepped off of the blade falling into his fate.
Catherine finally moved past the shock that the wild animal beast that took bullets for her and her mother was the handsome intriguing man before her.
All those years, she believed she went crazy because of all of her mother’s blood that covered her hands and arms. She believed that fate had tossed them a blessing by having a wild animal not attack the wounded smaller women covered in blood, but the armed men.
She stood up shakily and took the couple of steps to the bench and sat down clasping her hands together. She leaned forward looking at his abdomen where she remembered seeing deliciously faded scars earlier. Her eyes fixed on them knowing they were bullet wounds. Bullets meant for her mother’s heart.
Catherine gasped picturing what they would have done to her slender mother. She straightened and her hand went over her mouth as tears burned her eyes. Pressure built behind them that caused tension to spread down her neck as tears fell on her hand.
Vincent’s hands dropped as he reverted back to himself. She was in pain and there was nothing he could do to help. There were no bad guys to kill. He didn’t know how to save someone from their own thoughts.
He did the only thing he could think, and it was from a memory of when he was a doctor. He put his hand over her hand that was in her lap.
Catherine visibly relaxed then spoke. “Those bullets would have killed her.”
Vincent sat quietly and remembered that you have to let someone talk at their own pace.
“She would be dead now. Dead and in the ground.” Her voice broke off as she shook from the force of the emotions and the tears that would not stop. She pictured her father peering down into her mother’s casket saying good bye to the love of his life. The finality of it dug claws into her emotions as she knew that had been a possible outcome of those events if Vincent was not there.
Vincent’s arm went around her, and he pulled her into his lap pressing the side of her face into his chest. “It’s ok. Shhhhhh She’s ok. I’m here. You’re ok. Those men are gone, and they’re not coming back. It’s ok now.”
His eyes scanned the area inside the glass building then toward the exit points. He relaxed knowing they were alone. It was still hard for him because he went for so long knowing that Muirfield was hunting him. He mentally reminded himself that he was ok as well.
Catherine started to calm and the shaking subsided. She relaxed into the feeling of Vincent rocking her gently as he murmured again that everything was alright. His strong arms wrapped around her and his hand stroking her hair made her feel protected. Her tears stopped.
She absently remembered hearing two police officers talk that day that they found rope and duct tape in the trunk of the robber’s car. They speculated if the perps knew a young college girl would be there alone and what they might have done to her.
They said it was an attempted robbery and kidnapping that ended in murder and an animal attack. One officer added that whichever young woman was taken that they would have ended up dead eventually. Catherine didn’t even want to think about what the men would have done to her after they killed her mother because nothing good came to mind.
For the next few years, she refused to date or be alone with a man because she remembered what the police officers had said. It pushed her to concentrate on her classes and finally her job.
“I always push them away.” Catherine spoke absently as she wiped tears and makeup from her eyes.
“Who?” Vincent’s chest vibrated with his baritone voice.
Catherine pressed back against his lightly moist chest hearing his steady heart beat. She wanted him to keep talking. It was helping.
“Men. On some level, I’m always afraid. I keep them at arm’s length then I push them away.” Her words were whispered out as if the fact embarrassed her to admit it.
“I know.” Vincent stopped rocking her and breathed in the scent of her hair.
“You know?” Catherine tapped on his chest a couple of times with one finger. “How? And don’t say your Beast X-men powers let you read minds.”
Vincent chuckled before he spoke. “Once a year…on your birthday, I check up on you to make sure you’re ok.”
Her eyes were open and focused up at his neck. She speculated over information that Evan gave her knowing that he must have just returned from overseas when he saved her. That was a time when he didn’t have control. He did not hurt her, but saved her.
“Have you been stalking me?” It was a delicious idea that Vincent had been her secret stalker and protector over the years. She leaned back to see is face better.
He loosened his grip and watched her still reddened eyes, “I wouldn’t go that far.”
“So you stalk me and save people in your spare time.” She said it as a statement.
“Ok, fine. Yes, but don’t tell JT if you meet him. He’ll flip out that I was around you when I was in a fugue state.” Vincent grinned at her as she smiled pushing the sadness away.
“Evan said that JT was your roommate back then and he recently got married to a colleague, but what do you mean by fugue?” Her hand lifted and absently ran over his chest where her tears and makeup were smeared.
“Um…fugue state is where I would Beast Out and have no memory about what I did or where I went. It happened quite a bit right when I saved Evan and he started giving me treatments. The blackouts were a side effect from the experiments.”
Catherine could see by his expression that he didn’t really want to talk about it. “Oh. And, sorry about the tears and makeup.”
Vincent started becoming aware that her body was pressed against his. “Don’t worry about the face paint.”
“Alright.” Catherine smacked her hand down on his chest. “I think we’ve had enough drama for one day. Don’t you agree?”
He nodded yes and wondered if she was leaving. His hand pressed on her thy. “You didn’t get your photo yet.”
Catherine became very aware that he was touching her leg and that she was sitting in his lap. She blinked blankly wondering how she had not noticed.
He continued after seeing her expression. “The before and after photo for the book. You didn’t take a Beasting out pic.”
Catherine was thinking of her weight where it was pressing and the placement of her hands. “Right.”
She slowly stood up trying not to grind against him as it was evident that he was also aware that she was sitting in his lap. As she stood, she let her face come very close to his, and she saw his eyes flicker gold before he transformed back to his Beast form for her photo.
He tipped his head to one side like he was going to put his mouth over her shirt and suck in her nipple that was pressed against the fabric pointing at him.
When he didn’t, she went for the camera.
She purposefully bent over from the waist to pick up the camera that was on the ground. “I hope the heat and moisture is not messing with it.”
Vincent in his Beast form growled in approval of her action and choice of words. He envisioned gripping her hips and pressing himself against her.
His Beast instincts pushed at him, and he caught himself about to stand up to go to her. He was hard again and ready for anything she would allow.
AN: I could not help but use some wording like “Horrible monstrous beast” from Disney’s BATB. I also could not help using a LOTR scene. I first thought ok about 3-4 pages on the Beasting Out then we can get to a make out scene. Sorry Stanford, no green bra this chapter. I wonder if this is how the actual writers for the show feel because for some reason there is no kissing. *takes deep breath* Enough pain, now they need some comfort kissing!
Don't forget to leave fic prompts: Here!
Pic1: bench and fountain, Pic2: hanging vines and branch and Pic3: the Conservatory's ceiling.
Real LOTR Movie Quote: If you want to read it.
Arwen: Do you remember when we first met?
Aragorn: I thought I had wandered into a dream.
Arwen: You did not have the cares you carry now. Do you remember what I told you?
Aragorn: You said you'd bind yourself to me, forsaking the immortal life of your people.
Arwen: And to that I hold. [hands him her pendant]
Arwen: I choose a mortal life.
Aragorn: You cannot give me this.
Arwen: It is mine to give to whom I will. Like my heart.
Click to go to Ch4!
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