~~~~ Peter took off his glasses and squinted at the newspaper. He still wasn't used to them, and he squinted at the paper. He heard a noise off to his side and turned to see Thomas scurrying along on the floor, giggling. He turned to see Nicole come into the kitchen, following him. She watched as the child ran on into the living room and sighed, not bothering to follow him. She stood behind Peter, rubbing his shoulders. He looked up, startled by the unexpected touch, and smile absent-mindedly before returning his attention to the paper. He squinted at the paper and sighed.
"You're supposed to wear your glasses, you know," she scolded him for the umpteenth time that day. She picked them up off the table and put them on his face. He sighed, rolling his eyes, and squinted at the paper through the lenses.
He looked up at her again. "Morning to you, too," he said, smiling. She grinned, and they kissed each other good morning. They didn't get very far in it, though, because just then there was a knock at the door.
Nicole sighed. "Sometimes, I wish we didn't live right next door," she muttered under her breath, and Peter smiled at this. He got up and opened the door. Mike stood there.
"Hey y'all, what's happening?" he asked. Peter rolled his eyes, and Nicole giggled at Mike's cheerfulness. Then, Mike hunched over, grabbing his stomach in pain.
"Mike?" Nicole asked, but before she could do anything, Peter did the same. "Peter?" she asked, rushing towards him. But before she could get there, her own stomach began to hurt, and she doubled over in pain. She looked up, with tears forming in her eyes, to see the child return to the kitchen. He, too was doubled over in pain. Already she could see the fur begin to pop up all over his face and arms.~~~~~
She woke up screaming, sweat popping out on her forehead, and found herself in her own bedroom, with Peter sleeping silently next to her. At her screaming, he immediately awoke and put his arms around her.
"What's the matter?" he asked, but he didn't really need to. She had these sort of dreams every month. He glanced over at the clock, squinting through the darkness, to see that it was only two in the morning.
"Peter, it's Thomas," she said, a single tear falling down her cheek. "He changed in the dream." Unable to stop the coming waterfall of tears, she buried her face in his chest, sobbing.
"It's alright, honey, he won't change, he's normal," he said, putting a protective arm around her and stroking her hair. She nodded, and finally stopped crying.
"I know," she said. "It's just scary." He held her in his arms, and they were finally able to fall back to sleep.
Bangs and crashes alerted Peter and Nicole at seven that morning. They awoke sharply, jolted awake.
"What was that?" Nicole asked. She was answered by more bangs and crashes. "Wait, I know. Micky."
Peter nodded and rolled out of bed. It had become almost a routine for them to be awakened nearly every morning by the banging of Micky's drums. It was annoying, and one could hardly blame him, but he'd been like this for two years now, and Micky wasn't showing any signs of getting over the dark depression that he'd slumped into after his wife had taken advantage of him and divorced him. The only thing he did to get over it was play the drums. Every morning. Peter often wondered how Mike and Davy managed to live in the same house.
He sighed, putting on his bathrobe and heading out the door. "I'll be back in a minute. He opened the door and walked the short distance over to the Pad. He stopped in front of the door and banged loudly on it. The drumming stopped momentarily, and the door opened.
"Gee, Pete, ain't it a little early to borrow sugar?" Micky asked. Peter couldn't help but smile at this.
"I'm not here to borrow sugar, Mick," he said. "I came to ask if you could.."
"..Stop playing?" Micky asked. He looked at the ground and sighed.
"Please?" Peter added. "At least for a while? We do need to sleep." Micky nodded, eyes never leaving the floor. "Micky, I'm sorry." He put a comforting arm around Micky.
"Daddy?" Thomas asked. "Why are you over Uncle Davy's?" Peter turned around and bent down on his knee.
"Thomas, what are you doing over here?" he asked. Thomas just smiled, a smile he'd obviously learned from Peter, shy and cute, even with dimples. "Go on home, Thomas," Peter said, returning the smile. He ruffled Thomas' hair.
"But Daddy, Uncle Micky's sad, and I wanna see Uncle Davy," Thomas protested. Peter sighed, agreeing, and let the boy into the house. Maybe having Thomas around would cheer him up enough so that he's stop playing the drums. He came in, and looked up at Micky thoughtfully.
"Don't worry, Uncle Micky, you'll find a nice yady soon," he said. Micky looked down at the kid in surprise and smiled.
That night, Thomas stayed over the Pad with Micky and Davy. Mike retreated to his room to do something.
"Uncle Micky, what are we gonna do tonight?" Thomas asked. Micky led the boy over to the couch and sat down. He ruffled Thomas' hair and smiled.
"We're gonna watch a movie, Thomas," he said. Thomas grinned. "It's called The Wolfman. "
"Wolfman?" Thomas asked. "Cool." They settled down to watch The Wolfman and Thomas seemed to be enjoying it, although he was a little scared at the part where the monster killed the grave digger.
At a very exciting part, where the wolfman had changed from a normal man to a ferocious looking beast, a long, low, mournful howl came from the second floor of the Pad. Thomas buried his head into Micky's chest, whimpering.
"It's okay Thomas, it won't hurt you," Micky reassured the boy, rubbing his head comfortingly.
Thomas looked up at Micky and nodded, wiping his eyes. "Uncle Micky, that sort of stuff doesn't happen in real life, right?" he asked innocently.
"Um, no," Micky said, looking distractedly around the room. "That's just make-believe."
Meanwhile, at the small chateau next door, Peter and Nicole were proving Micky's statement to be false. The full moon was high in the sky, and that meant that their animal instincts were more than in control. They both were lounging comfortably on the floor when Peter heard a noise from outside. He lifted his head and tilted it, moving his ears in the direction of the sound. He glanced back at Nicole, the unspoken question asked. She nodded and nuzzled his neck for reassurance and luck. He moved toward the door and pushed it open with his nose. It opened, and he bounded out into the world.
(five hours later)
Peter returned to the house near sunrise. Nicole was worried and began to pace. Her animal instincts tempted her to gnaw at the leg of the table, but her human side thought that would be a bad idea. A very bad idea. So she just paced. Then, the door opened, and she turned joyously to the door to see her weary husband enter just in time to collapse on the floor before the sun rose. Then, the change began to reverse itself. The hair that covered the canine bodies began to recede and the appendages became human again. The faces of the two contorted and twisted so that they were now human again.
Lying on the floor, panting, Nicole rose her head and glanced over at Peter, surveying the scene she now saw.
"Peter, what happened?" she asked. He looked up and smiled a half-sided smile mischievously at her.
"Nothing much," he grinned. He rolled over and smiled again. He reached up and touched her face, smiling. "Nothing that could keep me away from you, that is," he added, grinning.
"Aw, Peter," she said, smiling sweetly. "That's so sweet," she added, and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He wasn't satisfied enough, however, and, grabbing her face, pulled her over to his lips for a much morepassionate kiss. Her eyes grew wide in surprise, but she smiled and relaxed. He put his arms around her neck just as the kiss ended. She smiled again but broke the embrace, standing up. She realized she wasn't wearing any clothes and grabbed a nearby blanket to wrap around her.
"Modest?" Peter asked, smiling his mischievous half-smile yet again. "Not like I haven't seen your beautiful body ever before."
She smiled sweetly and turned toward the bedroom. "I know, but I've got to go pick up Thomas. He's over the Pad. " He sighed, leaning back. "Um, Peter, aren't you gonna get dressed?" she asked.
He shrugged and grinned. "Well, you better be dressed before I bring Thomas home," she said. He nodded, folding his arms behind his head. She smiled and headed into the bedroom to get some clothes.
But it turned out that there was no need for her to worry because as she was in the bathroom getting dressed, Peter had gone into the bedroom and done the same. As soon as they had finished, there was a knock at the door.
