Bad Moon [Jess, Sam]

He could only look up at her with a horror stricken expression as she spoke, fighting back his own panic at the implications of what she was saying, "No...No I...I wouldn't hurt anyone...I..." But it made sense, that thing had thrashed their home and he hadn't seen a single hair of it, the blood, her words made sense no matter how much he wanted them to be untrue, "god...god..." He wrapped his arms over his head and curled in tight, feeling his tears well up as he choked out a distressed sob, "I'm a monster...I'm a monster...I don't know why...I'm sorry..." He whimpered miserably.

"...I'm sorry...Didn't mean to..." His voice was small as he spoke, frightened and confused, but the worst thing was realizing that Jessica was looking at him like he would kill her where she stood, "I don't know what that was...I-I don't know how it happened...B-but that wasn't me..." He looked up at her with a desperate plea in his eyes, "You know me Jess, you know me...The men poke fun at me because I have trouble hunting...I-I would never...Especially not you." He had to make her see that he was him, no matter what he was last night, he was still himself, "Please Jess..."

Her hesitation stretched on, fighting between what she knew she'd seen, but also the man she knew he was.

"I saw it." She repeated, not sure what else to say. "You...it...staggered here...and fell...and then was you."

She drew a few careful steps closer. He was right, he wasn't the sort to hurt anyone, especially not her, but she couldn't shake the sight of all that blood. "You...really don't remember? Anything?" Another step.

"Has...anything odd happened to you in the last few months? There...must be some answer...you need to think..." She was often the logical one, and that's where her brain tried to grasp now, there must be an answer here that made some sense.

Mido glanced up at her finally, trying to parse through his own thoughts to make sense of the things she was saying. She'd seen that monster become him, and Jessica had never been the type for grand stories, she was smart, logical, he knew that what she saw was the truth, but that only made him more afraid.

He was somewhat comforted when she came closer, looking down and nodding, "I remember being feverish...Agitated...But then I blacked out again and came to here..." He put a hand to the side of his head, "exhausted, everything hurts...Was...I was really that thing?" He still couldn't grasp the concept, it was straight out of some fable, some wild story that Sam would tell.

His face screwed up in thought, and then he sighed, "I mean...I was attacked by...Something?" He still wasn't sure what it had been, "that last hunting trip..." He pulled the collar of his t=now torn shirt to show her the scars, "remember? No one knew what it was...No one saw...But that's the only thing I can remember of note..." He let out a shaking sigh and pulled his knees to his chest, wrapping his arms back over his head and looking distressed, "What kind of monster have I become..."

She frowned, she remembered that hunt, the injuries he'd returned with. Then men had said it had been some sort if crazed wolf, but that they had killed it. But come to think of it, it had only been a week or two after that that this had all started. She'd worried his fever had been infection setting in or something of the sort...but nothing like this.

She slowly sat down near him, just outside his reach still, watching him carefully, but she no longer seemed likely to run.

"Someone must understand what this is better. Maybe...maybe it wasn't an animal, maybe it was something cursed or evil." She frowned a little, still not sure she believed her own words, but little that was logical made sense here.

"Maybe Vicor Johnson over at the church...or...Mr. Caldwell, he seems to know about bizarre things..." she'd honestly rather go to the church over the gruff, strange man...but she wasn't sure either would believe them, or be willing to help them when it came down to it.

Mido looked over at her when she sat next to him, hating this distance she was putting between them, the first time this had happened she'd held him through the night to make sure he was okay, this was more of a hell than anything, realizing his wife trusted him about as much as a diseased dog. He couldn't blame her, of course, after what she must have seen in him, but the pain and the regret was still there.

He looked back up at her with an unsure expression, "if we...Wont they want me dead if they know what I've done?" He looked down with a morose expression, "maybe that would be better...If they beheaded me...Put me down...Killed whatever monster I've become before I can hurt anyone..." His eyes filled with tears and he wrapped his arms around himself, "I'm so scared...I don't want to hurt anyone...I-I don't want you to have to be afraid of me..." He made a pitiful sound in his throat and rocked himself gently, finding little comfort in the action, "I-I guess we can speak to Vic...I-if death is the only way to protect you..." He trailed off, looking ahead with a hollow, fearful expression.

She frowned, realizing he was right. She'd only brought up the suggestion in the hopes that maybe someone with more experiences in the bizarre and unnatural might better understand what was happening to him, but also, if they figured out he'd caused all that destruction they might well decide he deserved to die for crimes he didn't even remember committing.

She bit at her lower lip. "No...I hadn't thought of that...I want to help you understand what's happening to you. Not put you at risk that someone will want to...kill you..." The words stuck in her throat a little.

Her hands were balled up in her lap, still twisted around her shawl. "I...I don't know how to help. I don't know what to do...or who we can talk to..." She was normally quite the ambitious woman, enough so sometimes that people even whispered about how she didn't know her place, or who it must be that surely ran that relationship...but she never paid them any attention. It only bothered her in moments like this, when all of her drive to help still led her to dead ends.

He couldn't help the hopeless expression that had settled over his features, if this had happened twice now, it would surely happen again, who would he hurt the next time? What if he did hurt her? He glanced over at her with a suffering look on his face, "maybe that would be for the best, Jessica...I'm a monster..." He glanced down and ran his hands over his face, "I don't want to put you or anyone else at risk...Maybe they should know..." He could see no other way out of this, no way to protect their village or the one he loved.

After a moment he glanced up at her, "what happens now? W-with..Us?" He glanced down, "you could easily find someone else...You're an amazing woman...You deserve a husband who isn't some monster..." He could disappear into the woods, or turn himself in to the townsfolk and let them decide his fate, "I want you to be happy...That is all that matters to me...I want you to be happy and safe..." After a moment he managed to struggle to his feet, "I-I will go turn myself in...Let them decide what to do with me...You and everyone else deserve to live in peace..." He couldn't remember the last time he'd ever felt so hopeless, he didn't want to lose his wife, or the life they'd worked so hard to build together, but surely she deserved better than a husband she had to fear?

"No." She stood up, his words shaking her at least somewhat out of her daze.

As frightening and disturbing as this had been...it had to only be worse for him. And no matter what, until, God forbid, such a day came when this side of him no longer came back to the surface, this was still the man she loved, and she knew she would never forgive herself or find anyone else quite like him again, if she allowed him to just walk away and turn himself into whatever mercies faced him.

"No...don't. Please. At least let's try to figure this out. Let's at least try something...anything...before we go to that option." She frowned, hesitated, slowly reached a hand out towards him. "Please don't go."

Mido looked back at her with a hopeless expression on his face, "I don't know what else to do..." He glanced over his hands, still bloodied, before glancing away with a disgusted expression, "what if the next time it's not just livestock, Jess..." The thought sent a chill of horror through him, but it was a very real possibility, and one that he hated having to consider, "there's no one we can talk to...Who wouldn't want my head on a pike..." He turned back to her, "you're my priority, I have to keep you safe..." He hesitated a moment before taking her hand in a gentle grip.

"Are you sure about this Jessica?" He looked into her eyes with a serious expression, "I can't...I can't make promises about our future...Are you sure?" He looked to the side, "I wouldn't think ill of you if you decided to run, I want you to feel safe, I want you to do what you think is best for you." They'd always been a rather outlandish pair in the eyes of their community, where other men ran their households with an iron fist, Mido and Jessica shared every decision, talked every choice over, it earned them both scathing comments, but he felt they were happier for it, "It's your choice, Jess, I'll never stop loving you regardless of what you choose."

She took in a deep, slow, steadying breath as she gripped his hand. Her resolve was slowly returning to her, after her initial fear had started to fade, at least a little.

"What did we promise each other?" She asked him. "For better or worse, in sickness and health." A pause. "I...I will not lie to you...and say this doesn't frighten me. Because it does. But...I love you. And I made a promise. And I will stay while we figure this out, for as long as it takes, even if it is just us against everyone else."

"But I'm sure we can find someone. Something. Anything." She continued. "Even if we leave here...even if..." She trailed off, shaking her head. "We will talk about it. After you rest. We will decide what to do." He looked as exhausted and beaten down as he had the last time this had happened, this was not the time or place to make permanent decisions about their future, she realized.

There was a visual relaxing at her words, a weight lifting off of his shoulders. He breathed, and despite himself his eyes began to well up with tears, "Jess..." He didn't know if it was the exhaustion making him weak or what, but he suddenly found himself unable to help the tears that shook him as he put a hand to his face, choking back a sob, "I love you...I love you so much...I'm sorry for all of this mess...I'm sorry for scaring you...I'm just sorry..." He was sure this was just his emotions becoming overwhelming after everything, but he couldn't seem to stop his crying.

He did manage however, to calm it a little bit when she spoke again, nodding and giving her a look that was utterly defeated and tired, "I-I would like to go home...I feel horrible..." He let out a shaky breath, "I think maybe things will come together easier after we've both rested..." He gave her a half smile, and a gentle tug on her hand.

She did not try to stop him from crying, or rebuke his feelings, she could only imagine how lost and helpless and hopeless he must feel in these moments. She let him have those feelings, there would be time to try to figure them out and fix them later. It still hurt to watch though, she wished she could do something better to help.

She took his hands. "You felt better after you rested last time." She gently assured him. "We'll talk about it in the morning." She began to lead him back home, even though she kept promising it would get better though, she really didn't see how. They couldn't really stay here, she was reluctant to leave the only home she'd ever known, but the might not have much other choice.

===Two Months Later===

They'd tried to settle back into a normal life, tried to recover from the heavy burden they both carried now. But the fallout was inevitable, and it was really only a matter of time before Mido did something he regretted. When he'd came to at the end of that episode, he'd been in the same field, covered in blood, but there was clear evidence that he'd done more than tear up livestock this time.

He was lucky, blessed beyond all belief that Jessica hadn't ran, she stayed beside him, when he was panicking over the realization of the horrific thing he'd done, when he'd tried to hang himself in the rafters of their home, and when they were forced to leave because of his crimes, she stayed beside him then too. He owed a lot to her, more than he felt he could ever repay.

It had taken them a while to find this place, these people, the only people that seemed keen on this sort of thing who might not immediately call for him to be executed.

The home was very classy looking, nestled in an old looking town, it was well loved as evident by the well kept lawn with all manner of flowers in the garden. It certainly didn't look like the home of a pair of experts on the occult. But Mido had come to expect anything these days.

Harley was dusting the well stocked bookshelf when there was a knock on the door. It wasn't often that the pair got house guests, but a letter a few days ago had alerted them of these two headed their way. It was an unfortunate situation, and a very tricky one, but he was confident that they could help the young couple.

He had a beaming smile when he opened the door with an enthusiastic greeting, "Ah good morning! My partner is in the kitchen I believe, would you two like breakfast before we get down to business?" He pursed his lips in a sympathetic expression, "you both must be starving...Come in, come in!" He waved for them to follow as he headed for the kitchen, "Ian, my dear, our guests are here!"