Shadows

Stars plagued the night and the full moon glistened upon anything it touched. Shalimar Fox had snuck out of Sanctuary after getting a scrambled message through her computer, asking for help. The place it asked her to go to, she had already arrived. It was a filthy alley and Shalimar could hear the pitter-pattering of tiny feet she could only assume were the rats. Shalimar didn't know who the message was from, hell, it could've been from Eckhart for all she knew. She also knew it could have been a mutant being hunted down by the GSA and sincerely needed her help. She was not going to let that person down. When she left everyone was still asleep and she didn't want to disturb anyone, so she had left alone. With hindsight though, she probably should have brought some back up.

Brennan Mulwray had heard someone moving around Sanctuary at about 1:30am, but figured it was just Jesse, Lexa or Shalimar getting a drink from the kitchen. Brennan had been thinking about Shalimar, as more than a friend lately and thought he might be falling in love with her, which was probably a problem since he doubted that Shalimar felt the same way about him. A bit later though, he heard a car leave Sanctuary. Brennan instantly got out of bed and instinctively checked Shalimar's bedroom first. She was gone. Dammit! Brennan thought as he hurried to get changed and into his car. He was going to follow her. Brennan had put a tracker on Shalimar's car, unknowingly to Shalimar. He put it there as a way of looking out for her if she did anything stupid. Sometimes he worried about her. Her wild side had a way of controlling her. Brennan began to speed up; the tracker showed that Shalimar seemed to be heading to an alley near Elm Street. What the hell are you doing Shal? With the many thoughts in his head about what Shalimar could possibly be doing, he sped up more.

Shalimar had been pacing the alley for 15 minutes, waiting for anything to come her way. She saw a poster on the side of a door she could only guess lead to a club in the building beside her. It was a poster advertising a new movie that had come out recently called "To Live or To Die", sounded good, but it was more of a couple movie, so in order for her to see it she needed to be coupled with someone. She immediately thought of Brennan, how his kindness, warmth and softness just sort of flowed to her, pulling her near. She looked at him sometimes and just thought, do you love me too? Shalimar had never really been one to fall in love, except for Richard, but these feelings she had for Brennan were so strong, they almost controlled her. As she was pondering over her thoughts, a man screamed above her and then threw himself off the building, landing on top of her. Shalimar had let her guard down and he had taken advantage of that moment. He had flattened her and he rested on top of her back, keeping her down. This person was incredibly strong and fast. Almost like a feral. Shalimar spun round on the ground to have a good look at her attacker. He was a disgusting looking person really. Dirty brown hair with eyes to match and a long grey coat with holes in it. Shalimar struggled, used all the maneuvers she knew to get out of his hold, but they all failed. If she couldn't fight her way off him, that meant only one thing. He flashed his eyes yellow like she had so many times before that.

"I knew it!" She declared. A feral like herself.

Suddenly, blue thunderbolts hurdled toward him and threw him, making him fly 20 feet away. There was no doubt he was dead. Shalimar flipped up and threw a punch at the thunderbolt guy who was shadowed in the dark. She made contact with his face.

"Ow!" Brennan shouted. "What the hell did you do that for?" Brennan said as he looked at Shalimar.

"Brennan?!" Shalimar exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"Helping you." Brennan remarked. Concentrating back on his face, he said, "Have you improved your punch?"

Shalimar playfully punched him in the arm.

"Who was that guy? And why are you here?" Brennan asked, as the pain in his face began to disintegrate.

"No clue who he was. As for why I'm here, I got a scrambled message through my computer, but I figured it might have been someone needing help." Shalimar shrugged.

"Sloppy work Shal. You could have been killed. Good thing I got here when I did." Brennan said.

"Yeah. How did you know where I was?" Shalimar inquired.

Ut oh, Brennan thought, Shal will get mad with me if I tell her that I put a tracker on her car.

"Um, instinct?" Brennan smiled innocently.

"Yeah right, " Shalimar said. "How did you really find me?"

Dammit, if I lie, she'll see right through me, Brennan thought, truth time.

" I put a tracker on your car." Brennan confessed. Shalimar stared at him with disbelief.

"You did what?" Shalimar shouted.

"I just wanted to-" Brennan began.

"Do you really distrust me that much?" Shalimar shouted.

"No, of course not. I just wanted to protect you." Brennan argued.

"Well, I can take can of myself." Shalimar declared.

"Like you did tonight? You could have been killed!" Brennan raised his voice.

"I was on top of it." Shalimar turned and started walking to her car. Brennan grabbed her arm and spun her back around.

"No Shal, he was on top of you!" Brennan replayed that sentence in his head and that did not sound so good. Shalimar stared at him.

"Are you-" Shalimar paused. "Are you jealous?"

"No!" Brennan quickly remarked. They both knew he was lying.

"God Brennan, how can you be jealous of a guy who attacked me?" Shalimar asked.

"I'm not!" Brennan shot at her. "But I do worry about you a lot."

Well that's something, I guess, Shalimar thought, slightly disappointed.

"Look, I'm fine, you're fine and he's dead." Shalimar stated, pointing to Feral Guy.

"I know, it's just-" Brennan cut himself off.

"Just what?" Shalimar questioned.

"Nothing, let's just go." Brennan began to walk towards his car, passing Shalimar as he did. Shalimar reached out for his hand and flipped him in the air, leaving Brennan flat on his back. Brennan let out a moan of pain. Shalimar sat on top of him, pinning him to the ground.

"Is this how you want it?" Shalimar asked.

Well it's definitely how I want you, Brennan smiled.

"What?" Brennan acted confused.

"Well, you were jealous. Don't deny it, you're a lousy liar." Shalimar stated.

"Look Shal, What do you want me to say?" Brennan asked, still helpless underneath Shalimar.

"Why did you put the tracker on my car?" Shalimar asked.

"Because I care-" Brennan began.

"Let's just cut through the bullshit, shall we. You care for Jesse and Lexa, but I'm willing to bet you don't have trackers on their cars." Shalimar stated.

"You really wanna know?" Brennan asked.

"Yes, I really wanna know." Shalimar replied, still on top of him.

"Fine, I give up. It's because I'm in love with you." Brennan confessed.

"What?" She paused and got off him. "Are you sure?" Shalimar was stunned. She'd wanted for so long to tell him the same.

"Well, yeah," Brennan replied, getting up. "Look, I get it if you don't feel the same way, but don't tell me to stop caring." Brennan pleaded.

"I do." Shalimar whispered.

"Do what?" Brennan retorted.

"Love you." Shalimar answered. Brennan's face fell soft.

"Really?" Brennan asking, hoping she wasn't just playing.

"Really." Shalimar confirmed. With that, she wrapped her arms around him and kissed. Brennan instantly gave in to Shalimar's soft and tender, yet powerful kiss and let the whole world fall away behind them. Everything was how it's supposed to be. With Shalimar in his arms.