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Beauty and the Beast Within	By : TheShadowCat Category: G through L > Hellboy Views: 15623 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Hellboy, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Abe walks into the communal area where the rest of the agents are sleeping, partially dragging the brass door along with him. Once he’s all the way in, he carefully props the banged up door in the doorway even though it doesn’t fit perfectly. He had grabbed the less damaged of the two doors, but it’s still pretty bent up.

“What’s that for?” Evans quietly asks the merman.

“Trying to keep what little heat is in here, in,” Abe explains as he tries to straighten out on of the bigger dents. “Night will be falling soon and the front doors are beyond use now. With that storm raging outside, the temperature will be most deadly.”

“What about Hellboy and Liz?” Evans inquires as he goes to help Abe try and straighten out the door.

“I’ll go and check on them in a bit,” Abe answers while they get the door as straight as possible. “They were still occupied when I left.”

“When we left it looked like they were about to…,” Evans starts. “And that was hours ago.”

“Yes, they were and if you’re smart, you’ll leave it at that,” Abe warns. “Hellboy is very possessive.”

“Yeah, sure, ok,” Evans replies and lets out a yawn.

“Go get some rest,” Abe gently orders. “If we’re lucky, this storm will pass quickly and we’ll be able to call for help.”

“What if it doesn’t?” Evens questions worriedly.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” Abe replies evasively. “Now go to sleep. That’s an order.”

“Yes, sir,” Evans automatically responds and heads back to his pallet.

The agent lies down and watches Abe at his post near the door, the blue being ever vigilant. Evans thinks briefly about seeing Liz dressed only in flames and quickly realizes that she’s literally too hot to handle. Within moments, exhaustion claims him and he never sees Abe’s sudden departure.

Liz’s scream of ecstasy echoes off of the chamber walls as her fire literally explodes turning the chamber into a furnace. As soon as her body stops convulsing, she goes completely limp and he has to wait until the raging inferno dies down to check to make sure she’s ok. With a sigh of relief, he sees that she’s simply passed out and he gently kisses her forehead.

He relaxes his fist and then ever so carefully, he pulls his hand out of her. He shakes the cramps out of his hand out and then notices the blood on it. His stomach turns and he feels like he wants to retch when he realizes it’s her blood. He pulls her closer and gently rocks her while Anung un Rama howls with delight over what he had to do.

He grabs his duster, dragging it over to himself and trying not to think about what he’s done to her. He carefully wraps her in his coat and then gently lies her down on the floor. He gets up, properly fastens his pants, retrieves the Samaritan, collects Liz and then hops off of the dais.

He starts to head for the exit when he notices a blackened lump in the middle of the floor. He walks over to it and after toeing it a couple of times, he realizes it’s the charred remains of the head priest that caused all this mess. With a low growl in his throat, he continues his journey towards the door only barely noticing the blackened walls that are still smoking from Liz’s fire.

He looks down at her and he can feel his stomach twist itself up again knowing that he hurt her on purpose. He knows he had to do it to save her life, but it still tears him up inside and Anung un Rama isn’t helping with his gloating. He kisses the top of her head as they leave the ritual chamber and step into the smaller room just beyond the ruined doors. The area is blackened as well, but the walls aren’t smoking nearly as badly as in the other chamber.

He’s tired physically, emotionally and spiritually so he just trudges on, not really caring where he’s going. He follows the twists and turns of the corridors barely remembering how he got in. He comes around a corner and encounters an all too familiar blue figure standing in the middle of the hallway.

“She’s out,” Hellboy states as he carefully hands her over to Abe. “That priest guy they’re going to have to pick up with a broom and a dustpan now.”

“I had a feeling that would be the case,” Abe replies as he turns to lead Hellboy back to the others. “It’s just as well. I learned everything I needed to know earlier when I touched him. Such prolonged use of her power will probably mean she’ll be out until morning, but it’s just as well. Even if the storm were to clear out now, they wouldn’t be able to get a helicopter up here until after dawn.”

As he steps into the room where the others are, Abe looks behind him and realizes he’s been talking to himself. Hellboy is nowhere to be seen so Abe finds an empty pallet and lays Liz down on it. He moves her and the pallet closer to the fire before taking off one of his gloves and gently touches her bare skin to examine her.

Once he’s sure she’s just resting, he touches a finger to her temple to make a connection with her mind should anything change. Once he’s sure that the connection is strong, he gets up and heads back out, making sure the makeshift door is in place to keep the heat in. As soon as he’s done, he goes in search of his best friend who he finds easily enough.

“Is there any particular reason you’re trying to turn yourself into a giant red Popsicle?” Abe asks with both mouth and mind as he steps out into the raging storm to stand beside Hellboy.

“I hurt her, Abe,” Hellboy answers, not bothering to try and be heard above the howling wind. “I intentionally hurt her and now her blood is on my hand.”

“I just examined her and there is some vaginal tearing, but that is to be expected,” Abe tells him as they stand there in the storm, barely able to tell that the sun is still up but only just. “She’ll heal with no need for medical intervention. However, she’s likely to be sore for a few days, so you might want to keep your libido in check.”

“I doubt she’ll ever want me to touch her again,” Hellboy moans as his head and tail droops down.

“Red, she loves you,” Abe reminds him as he places his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “I highly doubt she’s going to hold it against you because you had to hurt her to save her life. She will heal. Now, let’s go inside. I have no desire to become a frozen fish stick.”

Hellboy snorts at Abe’s comment and after a bit more coaxing from his friend, he allows himself to be turned around and lead back inside. He picks his tail up enough so that it doesn’t drag along the stone floor as he follows Abe through the labyrinth of corridors. When they get to the chamber with the others, he just stands there and stares at Liz’s sleeping form before noticing the mixed company in the room.

“Why they hell are our guys sleeping right next to the enemy?” Hellboy demands, suddenly standing straight and tall again.

“They were prisoners of the head priest,” Abe explains. “When you killed him, the spell he was using to control them was broken.”

“Where’s Slate?” Hellboy asks after doing a quick head count.

“I’m afraid Agent Slate didn’t make it,” Abe answers as he points off to the side where the covered body lies.

“Crap,” Hellboy mumbles.

“Grab a pallet and go lie down next to her,” Abe instructs.

“I’m not sleepy,” Hellboy grumbles.

“Doesn’t matter,” Abe replies. “She’ll need you there when she wakes and she could probably use the extra warmth.”

“She doesn’t need me,” Hellboy mumbles dejectedly.

“Just like you don’t need her I suppose,” Abe responds with an all too familiar head tilt. “Just go lie down and take care of her.”

“You intend on to keep badgering me until I do, don’t you?” Hellboy asks.

“Yes,” Abe answers very truthfully.

With a growl that starts in the vicinity of Hellboy’s hooves, he glowers at his blue friend but Abe doesn’t back down. Then with a snort of disgust, Hellboy looks back over the sleeping forms in the room and finally spots an empty bed. Without another word, Hellboy works his way across the room until he gets to the pallet and then carries it over next to Liz.

“What about you, Blue?” Hellboy questions when he sees Abe hasn’t moved. “Aren’t you going to get some sleep?”

“I don’t sleep well outside of my tank,” Abe confesses. “I’ll be fine. Go ahead and get some rest. I’ll keep an eye on things.”

“You sure?” Hellboy questions, eyeing his friend.

“I’m sure,” Abe assures him. “I’ll wake you if the need arises.”

After Hellboy lies down on his back, he stares up at the ceiling; he’s sure that Liz will want nothing to do with him ever again. He’s nearly startled out of his skin when something warm moves against his arm. He looks over and sees that Liz has rolled over in her sleep and is snuggling against him.

Even in her sleep she seeks you out, Abe silently tells him. Hold her. She needs to be kept warm.

Hesitantly, Hellboy moves his arm so that she can lie flush with his side and as soon as she’s comfortable, she lets out a contented sigh. With a sad smile on his lips, he gently strokes her hair as he closes his eyes to fully enjoy the feel of her tresses. Within a few minutes, he’s softly snoring beside her.

Abe goes through the packs and starts pulling out items they might need for the night. Sleeping bags are taken out and unzipped to make wide blankets which Abe uses to cover his friends and the agents, pushing some agents closer together so that they can share. The former prisoners are next and when he runs out of sleeping bags then he pulls out the silvery space age thermal blankets that are tucked into each pack.

By the time everyone is well covered, he notices the fire is getting low. He searches and finally finds their fuel of dried animal dung sitting in a nearby basket. Thankful that his sense of smell is almost nonexistent when he’s out of water, he grabs a couple of disks and tosses them into the dying fire.

Once he’s sure that everyone’s comfortable, he goes in search of the animals that must be somewhere nearby. He slips past his makeshift door and even he notices the severe temperature change. With a bare hand scanning the various corridors and chambers he finally finds a room as big as the one he just left behind another brass door, but there are no pallets on this floor only about twenty yaks and a dozen or so chickens.

The animals are all standing huddled together with the younger ones huddled in between the older ones for warmth. The room is absolutely freezing and he sees why at the other end of the chamber. A large tunnel leading directly to the outside is wide open and wind and snow are blowing in.

Squeezing past the animals and trying not to step on any of their leavings, he makes his way to the tunnel. There’s another pair of doors on either side of the tunnel opening and with a bit of difficulty, Abe finally gets them locked shut. After searching in adjoining chambers, he finally finds food for the beasts and sets about making sure they have food and water.

When he’s sure the animals will be fine until morning, he returns to the sleeping chamber and finds that nothing has changed since his departure. He does another check on Liz and then finds a quiet corner away from the fire to meditate and restore his energy. Soon, his metabolism slows down and his body finally gets the rest it so desperately needs.

Three days it takes for the storm to clear and by then John’s leg has become badly infected. Even though the storm has passed, the winds are too treacherous for a helicopter to pick them up. After improvising and scrounging, a kind of stretcher is made using parts of the battered down doors and some blankets and then attached to a harness on one of the yaks.

John is bundled into one of the sleeping bags before being strapped to the stretcher to be dragged down the mountain while Slate’s body is wrapped in some thin worn out sheets and then strapped to the back of a yak.. All of the chambers are gone through and anything of value is packed onto the back of the yaks. Of the chickens, there are no survivors since they all went into the pot to feed the nearly two dozen people stuck there.

It’s slow going and it actually takes longer to get out of the mountains then it did to get up there, but they finally arrive in Patna more than a week after they left. The survivors of the women who were killed divvy up everything that was scrounged out of the caverns and are then taken home. The BPRD agents are quickly transported back to Calcutta where their plane waits to take them home.

Once on the plane, Abe gets John set up on an IV drip with antibiotics and painkillers and then waits for takeoff with the others. Once they’re up in the air, Abe strips off his gear right down to his shorts and then crawls into the small tank he uses for travel, sighing with relief at the feeling of water on his skin for the first time in about two weeks. He’s just drifting off to sleep when Hellboy shows up to check in on him.

“Feel better?” the demon asks.

“Much,” Abe mumbles barely able to open both sets of eyelids to look at his friend. “Any longer on this mission and you would have had to soak me in lye, rinse me, steam me, bake me and call me Lutefisk.”

“Aren’t you supposed to beat Lutefisk too?” Hellboy teases.

“Yeah, I think there’s a beating in there somewhere, but I’m not sure where,” Abe mutters sleepily, his eyelids drooping close. “Not that I need one after this assignment.”

“Good night, Blue,” Hellboy says quietly only getting a hum in response as Abe slips into peaceful oblivion, continuing only after he’s sure Abe’s asleep. “I’m breaking up with Liz. I can’t chance hurting her again. She’s better off without me anyways.”

With that off his chest, Hellboy goes to find a quiet corner to hide in and get some sleep.

John is finally released from the medical ward a couple of weeks after their return and walks with a bit of a limp. He’s not too happy about that, but Abe assures him that the limp will lessen over time until it disappears all together. Not that it really matters as John knows he’s not going to be doing much walking until the mountain of papers that have accumulated on his desk is dealt with.

While John struggles to catch up, Abe finds much to his dismay that the agent isn’t the only one having troubles. Abe has just returned to his tank after having to get out and turn the pages of his books for himself when Liz walks in. He doesn’t have to be a telepath to know that she’s upset. Her face is red and blotchy and her eyes are puffy from so much crying and as she steps up to his tank window, the tears start again while sinking down to the floor.

“Liz,” Abe softly calls as he sinks down to her level and puts his hand on the glass.

“Abe,” she whimpers as her hand mirrors his on the other side of the window.

Powerful images and emotions flood his mind and he nearly pulls away from the intensity. Hellboy has withdrawn from her both physically and emotionally to the point where he’s locked himself in his room again. The emotional anguish has gotten so bad that she’s been getting physically ill and she can’t seem to keep anything down.

“How long have you been sick?” Abe quietly asks as he pulls his hand away.

“A couple of days,” she sniffs, trying to get herself under control. “I can’t eat or drink just about anything. One of the women agents gave me some mint tea and toast and I was able to keep that down for a while, but when I went to get a cup of coffee I just chucked it right back up.”

“Liz, I want to examine you to make sure that there’s nothing wrong with you,” Abe says as he swims towards the surface of the tank. “I’ll be down in a few moments.”

When Abe finally arrives on the main floor of the library fully dressed in his dry land gear several minutes later, he finds Liz still in the same spot next to the window. He helps her up and leads her down to the infirmary where he carefully examines her and runs a couple of tests. Once he has the results back, he makes a call while Liz watches him questioningly.

“Yeah?” a gruff voice answers.

“Red, it’s Abe,” Abe announces. “I’d like you to come down to the infirmary.

“What for?” Hellboy roughly demands. “There’s nothin’ wrong with me.”

“It’s Liz…,” Abe starts but doesn’t finish as he hears a click of the phone being hung up.

With a disapproving hum, Abe calls again only to get no answer. After listening to the phone ring on the other end for several minutes, Abe hangs up. Determined to get the big red oaf down into the infirmary even if he has to drag him by his tail, Abe starts towards the door. Before Abe can reach the exit, the door slams open with such a loud bang that even Abe jumps.

“What’s wrong with Liz?” Hellboy growls at his blue friend, not even noticing Liz sitting on the exam table. “If this is just a trick to get me out of my room, you better start running pal.”

“This is no trick, I assure you,” Abe calmly replies as he turns back towards the woman that’s sitting there. “Liz came to me because you two have been having problems since our last mission.”

“This doesn’t concern you, Blue,” Hellboy snarls.

“Well, the emotional strain has been making her physically ill and she hasn’t been able to keep anything down the past couple of days,” Abe continues as if Hellboy hadn’t said anything. “I decided to err on the side of caution and bring her down here to examine her.”

“So, what’s wrong with her?” Hellboy asks nervously, his tail swishing in agitation as he casts a quick glance at Liz before looking away in shame.

“There’s nothing wrong with her, per say,” Abe states as a tear rolls down her cheek.

“Then why the hell did you drag me down here!?” Hellboy yells.

“I’d thought you’d like to know,” Abe states, turning back around.

“KNOW WHAT!?” Hellboy bellows in frustration.

“That Liz is pregnant.”
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Beauty and the Beast Within