((Contains reference to adult material.))

The room was dark, the only light creeping in from the cracked bathroom door. Enough light for a being of the night to see by easily. A single heartbeat thumped in that darkness, steady and strong beneath the gentle rise and fall of breath, drawing the eyes to the woman asleep in the wide bed. Willow looked exhausted still, despite a long night of sleep, disturbed by dreams, deeply worried for her husband. The sheets bunched about her bare body, her neck on display, showing no sign of the trauma inflicted the night before. She was almost peaceful, but for the faint frown that marred her sleeping face.

It was strange, but somehow he seemed to move silently, almost as if he was gliding along rather than walking, footsteps nearly silent but for the creak of wood beneath his feet. He had washed and changed into a clean shirt and pants, the blood he'd consumed making him look almost human, his flesh no longer deathly pale, his eyes no longer inhumanly yellow. At first glance, there was very little that seemed different about him. Like Tobias, so long as he was fed, he could easily pass for a mortal, so long as he stayed away from sunlight.

Nick paused in the doorway, silently watching his wife who was peacefully at rest. From here, he could hear her heart beating as clearly as he could were she lying beside him. He could see her clearly, despite the darkened room, the soft curve of her body, the lovely profile of her face, the silky tumble of sable hair across the pillows. He knew her intimately, had memorized her, and yet, as he gazed on his wife - the only woman he'd ever truly loved - it was almost as if he was seeing her for the very first time all over again

She seemed somehow aware of his presence there, stirring only a little from her deep sleep as she rolled to her back, her face turning toward the door, one hand reaching toward where he stood. That worried frown on her face softened as she breathed out, and on that breath was one word. "Nick ..."

What was it the legends said about vampires" That they had to be invited in and that once they were invited, they were free to come and go as they pleased. But despite Willow's invitation, Nick remained where he was in the doorway, thankful it was too dark for her to see the tears he felt stinging his eyes. So, it seemed vampires could still cry. What else could they still do' Tobias' warning came back to him as he felt a wave of desire stronger than ever before. It wasn't bloodlust, not this time. It was the kind of desire a man felt for a woman, whether he was undead or not. What would happen if he stepped closer" Her mere presence was already flooding his heightened senses with an array of sights and smells.

The dark eyes he knew so well blinked open, at a distinct disadvantage in the darkness. Willow thought there might be someone in the doorway, but she couldn't see much besides a deeper shadow in the dark. Drawing in a deep breath, she yawned, stretching catlike beneath the sheets, rubbing a hand through the tousled fall of her hair even as the horror of the night before came back to her. "Nick?" she made a guess, hoping that it was her husband there in the darkness. "Baby, is that you?"

"It's me," he replied, unable to keep her guessing as to who was standing in the doorway, watching her like a guardian angel - or a monster in the night ready to devour her in every way but one. His voice sounded strange, ragged, rough with worry and pain, on the verge of tears. In all the years they'd been together, she had never seen him cry, not even when his parents had died, the victims of a drunk driver. "Are you all right?" he asked uncertainly, feeling his own heartbeat thumping in his chest, nearly in time to hers.

Unaware that he could see her clearly, her hand rose to touch her throat where Lorelei's fangs had penetrated her flesh, encountering nothing but warm, unbroken skin with a shaking sigh of relief. "I ....I'll be fine," she promised him, rising onto her knees as she angled herself toward the door. "Baby, you sound so strange. Are you okay' Come here."

He hesitated, afraid to go to her, afraid she'd realize he'd changed, afraid she'd see him for what he now was and find him repulsive. "Willow, I..." he started, swallowing that thickness that was clogging his throat. "I'm not..." Those last moments of humanity were something of a blur in his mind. He remembered the sharp pain of Josef's teeth as they pierced his flesh, Willow screaming in terror in his head, and then there was nothing until he awoke in Tobias' cellar feverish and starving. She must have seen him turned. She must know what he had become, and yet, still she summoned him.

"Not what?" Fear flashed into her eyes as her gaze darted about the darkness, tears beginning to glisten. Tobias had told her everything, had let her see Nick's unconscious body before sending her to bed. She knew what had happened ....she also knew her husband. "Don't you dare leave me, Nicholas Gregory," she said in a vehement tone, her voice shaking with suppressed tears. "I know what happened. I might not understand, but I know. Please, baby, I'm scared. I can't do this on my own. I need you." The first salt tears trickled down her cheeks as she faced into the darkness, her mind on the horrifying thought of living the rest of her life alone. "I love you, Nick."

Tobias was right. Nick knew if he got any closer, there would be no more talking. He wanted her too much, if that was even possible, more than he ever had before. He'd foolishly worried that he wouldn't be able to love when the truth was that he only loved her more than ever before. He felt the first of his own tears trickling down his face and he lifted a hand to wipe them away, though he sensed she couldn't see them in the dark. He could see her as clear as day and knew she was crying, too. He longed to go to her and kiss away her tears, but he was afraid. "I don't know if I can do this, Will. I'm not..." Not what? Not human. "I'm a monster. I don't want this, Willow. I don't want to be this."

"What do you mean?" She couldn't see him, couldn't see his face. She could only hear the torment in his voice through the sound of her own tears, feeling her heart freeze at the odd finality in his voice. "Baby, come on. You're not a monster. What do you mean, you can't do this" Can't do what?"

"Stop saying that!" She struggled against his grip, startled by how much stronger he seemed to have become, her efforts not even offering the slightest suggestion of movement from him. "You are not a thing, you are a man! You are my husband; I love you! I love you ..." All the shock and pain washed over her once again, and Willow dissolved into tears, curling her arms around Nick's waist as she pressed into his arms, needing the comfort only he could give her. "Please," she whispered. "Please don't break us."

He held her close despite her attempts to break free, knowing deep down that this was what she wanted, needed even. She had been through so much because of him, and though he knew it wasn't really his fault, he also knew she needed him now more than ever. "Stop it, Will. I'm not going anywhere, okay?" he assured her, lifting her chin to face him, even as she dissolved into tears. He was close enough now that she could see him more clearly in the dim light cast from the bathroom, see the tears that were shining in his own eyes to match hers. "I need you to know what I am, what I've become. This isn't just about me, Will. It's about us. It changes everything, and I need you to understand that."

Gazing up into his eyes, seeing the tears she had never seen before on his face, Willow swallowed, forcing herself to calm down. "I know what?s happened," she promised him quietly. "And I mean it, Nick. I don't care. I understand." Unconsciously, her gaze flickered to his lips for a brief moment, rising once more to his eyes as she unwound an arm from his waist to gently wipe the tears from his cheek. "We'll get through this. Together."

He had nothing to say to that. He had a feeling it was going to be a lot harder than either of them expected, but they had made a vow five years ago to love and to cherish, until death did them part. Not undeath, but death. How ironic was that' He hadn't even started to consider all the consequences of what he'd become. It seemed Tobias was way ahead of him there, already helping them to accept what had happened and adjust to it, and though they could expect plenty of changes in their lives, maybe together they really could survive it. Tobias had survived for nearly two hundred years. All Nick was asking for was one short lifetime with the woman he loved. He returned the favor, brushing the tears from her face with fingers that were deceptively warm. If she didn't know what he'd become, she might not even know the difference. "I love you," he told her again, as if those three words alone could sum up all he was feeling.

A flicker of a smile made itself known through her tears, her cheek tilting into his touch, needing that contact more than she could possibly have described. "Then that's all that matters," she told him, sniffling quietly as she tried to sort herself out a little. No, she hadn't really thought it all through; no, she didn't know what the consequences of last night would be. Her response was honest and heartfelt, without logic or rational thought getting in the way. "I love you back," she promised him, rising onto her toes to kiss him tenderly. "I'm never gonna stop loving you, baby."

As she kissed him, as her lips met his, it was like a flame of heat swept through his body, desire the like of which he'd never known. It was like a hunger that ached deep inside, but not for blood - for something far more primal, far more immediate. He kicked the door closed behind him to give them some illusion of privacy, though he sensed Tobias already knew what was going on. "I will never stop loving you either," he breathed against her lips, driving her back toward the bed, only one kind of desire on his mind.

She sensed the sudden rise in his desire, her own need rising to meet his even as she gave up control to him entirely. Driven back, there was no protest in her as her knees hit the bed, knocking her down onto her back with Nick atop her, her arms refusing to release him as she gasped beneath his lips. She needed this, she needed this reminder that she was alive, that he was still with her, something forceful and deeper than any words could reach to reassure her aching heart that she was not fooling herself. Her hands clenched in his shirt as those kisses deepened, tenderness giving way to hungry desire, to eager, desperate need.

She was not alone in her need, as it seemed he needed this, too. He needed to know that she still wanted him, loved him, desired him. In that, nothing seemed to have changed. He loved her just as he'd always loved her. If anything, the passion they shared was deeper, stronger than anything they'd shared before. There was still so much they had to learn, so much they had to talk about, but right now, the only thing that seemed to matter was that they were together. Despite what he'd become, despite everything that had happened, they had both survived. Things would be different, but they'd find a way, so long as they were together.

Frantic, frenzied in the need to reconnect with him after their ordeal, Willow cared little for the damage she did to his clothing as they wrestled together, hearing cloth tear beneath her hands as she drank him in. Something was different, yes, but it was negligible to her. She barely noticed the changes he had been so worried would repulse her, desperate to feel him as close as they could get, skin to skin, heart to heart.

Somehow he managed to get his clothes off amidst the frenzied tangle of limbs, the hungry kisses, the shared moans. He felt as though he needed her more now than ever before, his desire like a fire burning hot deep inside him that nothing could extinguish but her love. He kissed her hungrily, needfully, not really caring if Tobias heard them. Let him hear, let him know that Willow still wanted him as much as she always had. His lips lingered for a long moment against her neck, where he could feel her pulse beating softly against his lips. It would have been so easy to pierce her flesh, to savor the essence of her life and then give it back, but he wavered, keeping his promise to not hurt her, even if deep down she wanted it. His lips moved on to explore the rest of her, to taste the sweet nectar of her womanhood and show her that in this, he had not changed.

If anything had changed, it was that sense of being possessed, of utterly belonging to this one man. A small part of her thought that perhaps she should protest at that feeling that she now belonged to him in a way she had never done before, but it was quickly overwhelmed as she gave herself over to the predator he had become, willingly making herself his without a moment's hesitation. The sound of her pleasure, her desire, her love, filled the old house, uncaring that there was another not so very far away who could hear her. She was Nick's, as he was hers, and nothing would ever change that.

He did not ask for permission, did not need to ask. She had given herself to him long ago, and like long ago, he claimed her once again. But even as he claimed her for his own, he gave himself to her. They moved as one, tangled together in a lovers' embrace - the fledgling vampire and the woman he loved. Lover, wife, friend, soul mate - she was his everything, all he ever needed, all he'd ever need. There was no turning back now. She had given herself to him, and he had claimed her. Whatever fate they now faced, they would face it together.