"Are you sure you can do this today?"

Lee watched Irene over her coffee mug as the shorter woman cleaned the kitchen after dinner. Her mug, which was just a little too small for her long fingers, had been empty for ten minutes but she didn't want to get up and disturb Irene as the witch paced back and forth. It had been a week since the miserable town hall gathering and they'd spent that week cleaning up the shop some more. Today, they had finally finished putting away the piles of tea and goodies that had collected on the shop's doorstep. Is it reallyWednesday already? Lee thought, narrowing her eyes a bit. Time blurred more than it should have for the werewolf, not that she'd mentioned it. She knew it was just the remnants of the amnesia spell. Hopefully.

She wouldn't lie - she didn't entirely trust the witches here. Or the vampires. But she'd seen the scared looks from witches and the aware mundanes as she walked down the street to drop the mail off in the early mornings, the angry glares from bloodsuckers at night as she and Irene walked back from the grocery store. This town had scars deeper than she could imagine, she knew it. But a nagging voice in the back of her head insisted it had something - no, everything - to do with what had happened to her.

"I can handle the strain. You're the one I'm worried about." Irene dried her hands off with the dish towel, turning around to look at Lee. Every night since the meeting, Irene had pried at the broken memories in Lee's mind as gently as possible. And each of those nights had resulted in nothing but Lee screaming in fright and agony. "You sobbed for hours last night, Lee. I'm not sure I can keep doing this to you. My mother can-"

"I don't know your mother. I know you." She pointed both fingers at Irene without putting her coffee cup down. "Whenever you're in my head, it's... You ooze calm. I don't know what it is but, even though I'm so anxious," she put the mug down and crossed her arms on the table, "the minute you open my head up, it just stops. Even when I was a human, I never... I never had days where the anxiety stopped. Unless I got really hammered." Lee looked down, maybe a bit guiltily. "Your mother just scares me."

Irene sat down across from her. "She scares everybody, Lee. It's just how she's been all her life, I guess. She's really not..." Irene saw the tears in Lee's eyes and stopped talking, reaching over with both hands and resting them on Lee's arms. "Hey, we can skip today. Give you a break. We'll go see a movie. I'm sure there's a bunch you haven't seen."

Lee shook her head, pulling away a bit. "I can do it. Just... give me a minute to calm down. I know the spell won't work if I can't focus." She rubbed her face with the sleeve of her plaid shirt, wiping the tears away. She looked up at Irene. "Thank you."

"For what?" Irene raised an eyebrow. Lee smiled weakly and patted one of her hands.

"For everything. You could've tossed me back to the vampires, but you didn't. You're busting your ass and giving yourself nightmares trying to help me get my head back on straight." Lee looked worried as Irene leaned back, a frightened expression on her face. "What?"

"I'm not having nightmares. I don't dream." Irene stood up, picking up Lee's coffee mug to refill it.

"What-? That's silly, Irene, everyone dreams." Lee stood up with her and leaned on the counter next to her. She had to mind her head, otherwise she'd bonk her head on the cabinets.

"I don't." The terse, flat one of her voice made Lee worry more and she put a hand on Irene's shoulder, not flinching when she was shrugged off.

Lee took the offered coffee with a mumbled gratitude and took a sip, just standing there in silence with her friend as they both looked out the small kitchen window over the sink.

Eventually, Lee spoke, "If you don't dream, then you don't. But I'm here if you do. I owe you that much." She knocked the rest of her coffee back and washed her cup out, putting it in the drying rack and turning to Irene. "I'll be waiting downstairs in your work room when you're ready. I'll take a book to read." She hesitated, seeing the determined and forced blankness on Irene's face, before deciding not to pat her shoulder and heading downstairs. She didn't even see which book she grabbed; she just wanted to get away from the situation as quickly as possible.

When her footsteps ceased to thump on the stairs, the witch exhaled the breath she hadn't noticed she'd been holding and rubbed her face. "Damn it," she whispered. "Damn it." She splashed some cold water on her face to clear the redness in her eyes and dried her face with a paper towel, crumpling the slightly soggy paper and peering outside again. Her shields hadn't gone off, nothing was walking on her property. Good. They could keep their attention on the matter at hand.

Downstairs, Lee looked up from the book - something about gods and America - and smiled weakly at Irene. "Hey. Ready?"

Irene nodded numbly and took her seat in front of Lee's shorter seat. It was more of a spinning work stool than a chair, but it was the closest to the floor. Some spells weren't meant to be used on people who were standing up. Lee put her bookmark in place and shut the book, setting it on the workbench and scooting away from it. "Okay, hands together, rest your head against your hands," Irene said.

"Like when I was five and had to sit in church and pretend to behave," Lee giggled, but followed the directions, her thumbs against her forehead and her elbows on her knees. She sobered up after a moment though and looked up, her thumbs against her lips instead. Irene had her nose buried in her spell book, peering over the words inside and mouthing the words to herself. Lee smiled to herself and tilted her head back down, taking a deep breath and letting it out as slowly as she could.

"Count backwards from ten please. Focus yourself, close your eyes, and picture a quiet space." Irene's right hand rested on the crown of her head and she nodded slightly, shutting her eyes and doing as she was asked. With each breath she took and each number counted down, her senses dulled until she saw not even light through her eyelids or heard Irene's quiet whispers. Magic tingled across her skin but even that faded.

Irene's voice broke through, a strange whisper in the silence. "Tell me what you see."

The werewolf opened her eyes and sat up straight. She was still in the workshop with Irene... this was new, and she frowned at her. However, this version of Irene just stayed reading her book, frozen in time. "I see you. Is this working?"

"I'm trying a different method to keep you grounded, to keep the backlash down. Focus." It wasn't a reprimand, just a gentle nudge to remember what she was doing.

Lee swallowed hard and nodded.

Irene had her eyes shut as well, having already memorized this spell a dozen times before, as she whispered the incantation, her hand on Lee's head glowing a dim red as she probed the tangled web blocking the werewolf's memories. Lee mumbled things periodically but never anything concrete.

After nearly an hour of solid nothing, Irene was ready call it quits - maybe the grounding method worked too well? She frowned though, feeling something push back inside Lee's mind. "What-?"

She felt Lee tense up under her hand, a low growl making the witch's eyes shoot open. "You-!" Lee's eyes opened too, staring up at Irene but clearly not seeing her. What limited command Irene had over her kept the woman pinned to the stool, but god, the strain! "You did this!"

"What did I do?" Irene asked, trying to goad more information out of her.

"You took them from me!" Lee shrieked, but she couldn't move... though she damn well tried. "My pack! My brothers and sisters, what did you do?!"

Irene just stared at her, stunned. Lee didn't remember having a pack - had stated point blank she hadn't had one before, that she'd been alone for fourteen years.

Lee physically struggled against the bond, starting to sob. "They're dead... They're dead and it's all your damn fault, you son of a bitch!"

Irene pressed both hands on either side of Lee's head, her magic glowing brighter and starting to crackle as tendrils began rising up and disappearing off of her skin. "Keep talking, Lee, who am I? What do I look like?"

"That's not my name! If you're gonna kill me too, remember my name, you sick fuck!" The werewolf managed to stand up marginally, pressing her forehead against Irene's and making her chair slide back just a little, but she pressed forward, making her sit back down with minimal effort. Lee's skin started to change to a more furry texture, then shifted back to smoothness as Irene began prying the memory out. "G-Get back here! Don't you run away! Finish the job!!" A choked gasp escaped Lee and she seized up, eyes glazing over a bit before slumping, her head against Irene's collarbone. Lee's body trembled with sobs but she made no noise, tears running down her cheeks.

Irene didn't even notice her own wet cheeks as she finished the spell. The corrupted memory strands, normally bright red but now tainted with cracks that oozed dark intent, seemed to slide into her fingertips and the witch sucked down a grunt, feeling her body flinch at the conclusion of the removal. It took only moments to bring Lee back up to the surface and Irene wrapped her arms tight around her, hugging her close. Lee returned the gesture even harder, still shaking and managing to slip off the stool and almost pull Irene off her chair in the bargain.

The last attempts had ended sharply and shortly, no conclusive evidence found - most memories were hazy and damaged. But this, this was crystal clear. And Irene had no idea what to do with the images and faces flashing in her head. She put the memories down and away, counting back from twenty until the noises fell silent.

"Irene?" Lee's faint voice broke the quiet of the workshop. "Are you there?"

"I'm holding you, and you're squeezing me like a teddy bear. I'm right here, I won't go anywhere." Irene stroked her hair. Lee sniffed hard and lifted her head, staring around the workshop for a few minutes before sitting back on her heels, rubbing futilely at her face to dry it but her clothes were drenched in sweat. She stared at her hands, flexing her fingers and clenching them into fists before apparently satisfying herself and looking up at Irene.

"I-I don't remember the name and the face is- it's really hard to make it out." Her words shook harder, "I think I-I was feral for a lot longer than-than just two years." The tremble in Lee's voice made Irene's chest hurt and she cupped Lee's face in her hands.

"We'll discuss the memories later. Let's get you washed up and comfy in your pile and something hot to drink." Irene brushed more tears away as Lee nodded numbly.

-----

Over the last seven days, Lee had somehow amassed an even bigger pile of pillows, blankets, and squishy cushions to curl up on. Irene stared at the mess of softness but didn't ask, just sat down next to a more bumpy pile of blankets and gently shaking Lee through the covers. "I've got that tea you like."

"Thanks." Lee stuck a hand out and took it gratefully, gingerly pulling it back in and covering up again.

"Are you sure you're not a dragon? Quite a hoard you've got in here. Kind of jealous..." She trailed off, squinting at the pile Lee was in. "Is that my winter blanket!? It's summer!"

"It smells like your body wash, I like it." Lee put the empty mug on a bare square of floor before retracting back into her hiding place. Irene crossed her arms on her knees, resting her chin on her arms and just sitting with her in silence. "... It- That wasn't too weird, was it? Me um, stealing it because it smells like you- uh, your soap..?"

"I mean, it's rose scented, what's not to love?" Irene chuckled, feeling a blush on her cheeks. She felt Lee move around a bit before sitting up and wrapping her arms around Irene, hugging her close for comfort's sake. "Warn me next time," she giggled.

"Sorry. You're warm. Kind of need that right now." Lee's voice was muffled against her spine. Irene rubbed the arms wrapped around her, squeezing her hands once she found them.

"Well, you can hug me as long as you want, Lee. It's sort of my fault you're like this right now." She brushed some of Lee's hair out of her face after turning around.

"No, it's not; it's all my head's fault, because I fucked up." The bitterness of her words made Irene's heart sink into her stomach. "I remember almost everything now and god, I'm such an idiot, I never should have left them on their own, they were still young, I was the oldest, they-"

"Easy, easy. Slower." Irene stroked her hair, easing her a little. Lee took a deep breath and just buried her face in her side. The werewolf didn't talk again for nearly an hour.

When Lee did sit up, she wrapped her arms around Irene and hugged her close. "I don't want my old name. I'm not her anymore. I don't even know what my real memories are now." She went quiet for a moment, clearly fighting with her words, before gritting her teeth and saying, "When we find him, he's going to pay."

"He's got to have figured out where his little cadre of wolves is by now. He's probably coming for you. For us," Irene admitted.

Lee hugged her tighter, resting her head against hers. "He's not going to hurt a damn hair on your head," she growled protectively. "Not after what you've done for me."

Irene shook her head. "I can handle it."

"I owe you my literal life, Irene, they're not getting within ten feet of you." Lee felt her own face burn bright red but didn't pull away when Irene stared at her in surprise. "Y-You helped me so much. You're just so kind, I- I'm sorry, this is kind of weird." Lee bit her lip.

"It's not... it's not weird. Why would it be?" Irene blinked at her.

"Because you're... you're a witch with a blood spell on my brain and I'm a half-feral wolf? People are going to think you've bewitched me!" Lee made a face at her. "I'm not sure you haven't."

Irene just laughed, lifting a hand and brushing some of Lee's newly shortened hair out of her face. The werewolf had insisted on cutting it as short as possible after she'd calmed down; her hair was in a rather perky pixie cut now. "Lee, I've protected myself for nearly two hundred years. This isn't any different than the usual to me."

"I know you can protect yourself. I just- I want you to know I've got your back, Irene." Lee hid her face in her shoulder.

"I've got yours, Lee. I promise." Irene hugged her back tightly. "They're never going to do that again. I stake my life on it."

"No steaks unless you can grill them," Lee mumbled crossly. Irene just chuckled and kissed her cheek, settling down in her arms. Lee soon drifted into an uneasy sleep, slipping down in her pile and not letting go. The witch wiggled out of her grip after an hour, but she stayed there next to her, unwilling to fall asleep - unwilling to face whatever had scared Lee so much.