Don't You Just Love Work [Logan]

[DANIELLE O'SHEA]

The roads were fairly clear for the time of year. Still that didn’t mean she liked driving down them any more then necessary. She had arrived at work today only to find a big stack of books covering more than half of her desk accompanied by a small note from her boss telling her these would have to be delivered to a school somewhere in a small village a little away from Seattle. She had groaned and pleaded with her boss to send someone else but like always she wouldn’t take no for an answer. So now Danielle was on her way to what she had heard was one of the rainiest places in the US. Atleast now she would have an opportunity to check the city out, since she had been thinking of moving there. Something just seemed to pull her there, a feeling. Asides from that she needed time for herself. The blackouts were becoming more frequent and she wasn’t feeling like herself anymore. Yesterday she had caught herself absentmindedly licking her hand while watching a movie, and that’s not even speaking yet of her senses lately. It was like all of her senses had grown tenfold of what they were before.

Pulling up in the school parking lot she glanced around for a second. It was just another typical high school, Goths in the corner, the popular kids sitting by their cars. Nobody seemed to have noticed her yet, it was a small town so they would probably go paparazzi on her the moment she stepped out. Better get over with it fast. Throwing her door open she quickly opened the trunk and took out one of the boxes with books. Strangely enough it didn’t seem heavy to her at all, even if she had the feeling that it should somehow. Picking up another box she placed it on the first lifting up both of them without any effort. Deciding it was probably all in her head she closed the trunk behind her walking towards the entrance of the building .

[loganwhite]

~~~~~~~~~~

Logan was sitting on the ground by her locker. It had been raining too much earlier for her to walk home. She loved the rain, as long as it wasn't soaking her to the bone. So she had been left sitting there alone. Luckily she had her MP3 player. Sitting there she had the music low, low enough most humans would hear it. Her ears were sensitive. Logan's thoughts drifted to the school year so far. She knew there was a group of vampires that went there but she had yet to meet any other lycans. Then there was Benny, she wasn't quite sure what he was yet but she knew he wasn't human. She hadn't asked. He was cute though and Logan hoped he would be back in school soon.

Getting up to check on the rain Logan spotted a girl walking towards the school. Her eyes lit up as she took a quick sniff of the air. Leopard! Quickly she turned off her MP3player and tucked it into her bag. Slinging her bag over her shoulder she skipped down the hall to the doors. She opened them just as the girl got to them. Logan held one open till she came the let it go, quickly sliding the top book out of the girls hands. "Hi!!" Logan said brightly to her. "You looked like you could use some help. I'm Logan by the way. Who are you?" Logan was her bubbly self and seeing the look a few of the kids gave her made her grin. She had only been in school a week and she was the freaky fighter chick.

[DANIELLE O'SHEA]

Wondering to herself how she was going to open the door the young brunette held her head to the side slightly. Maybe she should have thought the plan through before taking two boxes, well maybe she could balance them on her one arm. It seemed though that once she reached the door her worrying had been for nothing because a girl opened the door for her right when she reached it. “Thaa.. hey!” She said surprised as one of the boxes was taken out of her hands. She was about to drop the second box and run after the girl when she noticed she wasn’t going to run. Blushing she threw the girl a thankful smile. “Thank you, they’re quite heavy.” She said. Well to her they weren’t but her boss has said they were, so she wasn’t really lying. “I’m Danielle, nice to meet you.” It was at that exact moment a scent suddenly hit her nose causing her entire body to shiver.

Gritting her teeth together she took a deep breath trying to regain control of herself, this was usually how she felt right before a blackout, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to faint in a school hallway. “Excuse me..” She said quietly placing a hand against the wall trying to calm down. The scent continued to attack her nostrils making it very hard for her to concentrate, looking at the girl she realized that she was the source of the scent. She had never smelled anything like it, it was very pleasant and sweet. One of those smells that made you want to just be in a happy mood, sort of like strawberries. “Do you think you could guide me to the secretary?” She suddenly asked now watching the girl with a new sort of curiosity, while trying to fight a strange part of her that wanted to reach out to the girl and see if she was real.

It wasn’t until after the question that she finally seemed to have snapped out of it and managed to stand straight again without the need to place a hand against the wall for support. “Like the first of September all over again.” She said throwing a few looks at kids that seemed to be staring at both her and Logan. “It’s kind of funny how every high school is the same, a new person arrives and it’s like every student turns into a kid going to the zoo for the first time.” She said amused.

[loganwhite]

~~~~~~~~~~

Logan giggled and nodded at the girl. The box was quite heavy, but to her and the new girl, if the girl was what she thought she was, it was light. "Well it's nice to meet you Danielle. Do you live around here?" Logan stopped walking and blinked watching the girl shiver. Gently she let her leopard reach out towards the other girl. There. She could feel the girl's leopard but it was scared. A worried look came over Logan face as she watched her lean against the wall. Something told her the girl had no idea what she actually was.

Logan nodded agreeing to lead her to the office. "Are you feeling OK?" She asked carefully. Just how long had she been turned Logan wondered. When the girl straightened Logan gave her a bright smile. Reaching out with her leopard again she touched the other leopard with her leopards mind and soothed it, hopefully helping the girl to calm down. Once they took these boxes to where ever they had to go Logan was going to have to get this girl somewhere they could talk. She felt there were a lot of unanswered questions in the girls mind.

Logan giggled at the girls comments about all the stares. "I got over it about five schools back." She said softly. She had always been the new girl and she quickly made a name for herself as she had here. She couldn't help but giggle again at her comment about the kids acting like it was their first time at the zoo. If only she realized just what she was she would find it funny too. Alexis had said something about the school acting like a zoo on Logan's first day too. It seemed like a popular comment, and an accurate one though none of them would ever understand why.

[DANIELLE O'SHEA]

Danielle smiled at the girl as she thought of how to answer her question. “Yeah.. I’ve been feeling very off lately you know.. Almost feels like I’m constantly fighting with myself.” She hesitated for a second clearly upset by the fact glancing away for a second. Most people would have probably gone and seen a doctor by now but Dani never really had been a fan of going anywhere near a hospital, even if it was just to visit somebody. Forcing a smile on her face she looked at the girl trying to somewhat change the subject. “I’m from Seattle, I work at the library there.” She said trying to make conversation. “Why I’m here now, my boss asked me to deliver these books this morning.” Shaking the box for a second as to empathize her point she heard some books fall and move around. “And I should probably not have done that…” She laughed nervously

Feeling calmer and more sure than she had before she nodded at the glass door in front of them at the end of the hallway. “I’m guessing that’s it?” She said smiling as they approached it close enough for her to confirm her words. Opening the door she held it open for the younger girl before stepping inside herself. “Oh you must be delivering the books dear.” She heard someone speak up while she was closing the door. ”That I am” She said her New York accent clearly hearable as she placed the box in front of the desk. ”If you could just sign here and here..” She added taking out a small paper and pen.

Stepping out of the office several minutes later having finished the paperwork she turned to Logan again. “Hey thanks for the he..” Her sentence was cut of short as a guy suddenly hit her butt followed by a loud cheering of what had to be his friends. Hey babe.. haven’t seen you around here? He asked winking at her as if nothing had just happened. Anyone that had been watching Danielle though would have seen a very obvious change. Rage was burning in her eyes as she grabbed onto the guys hand and applied as much pressure as she could, hearing something snap. ”Don’t.ever.touch.me.again.” She said through gritted teeth almost growling at him before letting him go. The rage in her eyes suddenly replaced by confusion, raising a hand to her head and shivering again.

[loganwhite]

~~~~~~~~~~

Logan nodded again. She knew what the older girl was going through. She had gone through the same things in her first month. Until Paul had come and talked to her about what had happen and what she was. This girl had had none of that. Logan knew someone had to help her with it and while she didn’t think she could help with a lot, at least she could explain what was happening to her. “Is it like this in Seattle too? The weather I mean.” Logan asked. She missed her sunny California but would get used to the rain soon enough. She adapted to situations quickly. It came from the constant moving and switching around that happened in her life. She giggled as Danielle shook the box of books and some of the books shifted and moved inside. “Do you come into Forks often? Or is this your first time?” Logan asked, trying to keep the girl talking to her as they walked down the hallway.

Glancing ahead she nodded as the older girl asked about the glass door at the end of the hallway. “Yup that’s it.” She thanked the older girl as she held the door open for her and waited to be told where to put the box she was holding. She smiled watching the older girl pull the paper out and had the secretary sign the paper. Logan longed to get a job of her own but so many places wouldn’t hire people until they were sixteen, something about the law or something. Logan disliked it whatever the reason. ‘Glad to see you help others out rather than fighting Logan.’ The secretary said. Logan made a face that she couldn’t see and set the box down where she was told. Logan flashed the secretary a smile and nodded before following Danielle out of the office. She made a face again that the secretary didn’t see before smiling up at Danielle. She was about to tell her it was no trouble when trouble hit. A boy had come over and smacked Danielle on the butt. Logan’s eyes flashed silver for a minute. She had decided Danielle to be one of her friends and she did not like the way those boys were treating her. But Danielle had things under control.

Logan watched as she saw anger flow like liquid over Danielle’s face. Things were about to get ugly if she had the control that Logan thought she did. Danielle’s hand darted out and grabbed the boy’s wrist, squeezing it. Logan heard the snap of bone and knew that she had to get Danielle out of there. Biting her lip Logan glanced at Danielle again and saw the rage gone from her eyes, only to be replaced with confusion. Making her decision she grabbed Danielle’s wrist and started pulling her towards the door. If what Logan was feeling was right it wouldn’t be long before the older girl would shift. And that happening in the middle of the school’s hallway was a bad idea. “You’re lucky that’s all that’s gonna happen to you.” Logan growled at the boy who was now holding his wrist and staring at the two girls. Logan quickly turned and led Danielle out of the school building and up the hill, towards the woods behind the school.

[DANIELLE O'SHEA]

Looking confused as Logan grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards the exit Danielle felt a massive headache come up. “I don’t feel so good..” She muttered quietly gritting her teeth together as she started to shiver. Looking back at the guy she felt another wave of rage run through her body a loud hiss escaping her lips before she could stop it. Almost the entire hallway was staring at them and part of her felt bad for putting Logan in this position. She clearly remembered the secretaries nasty comment from earlier and she wasn’t going to get the young girl in trouble again just for something she did. She hadn’t’ meant to snap the guys wrist at all, she just applied some pressure that was it. Looking down at her own hand disgusted she noticed herself getting very hot, which didn’t make sense at all since she was shivering so bad she was starting to worry her teeth were going to fall out.

Continuing to follow the girl out of the building and into the woods behind the school she bit her lip hard. “Where are we going?” She asked her. She wasn’t sure that she should be running away from civilization right now considering the fact that she felt like she was going to faint any second. Reaching the edge of the forest she couldn’t take it anymore and fell down on her knees. “I can’t..” She gritted her teeth together placing her hands on the ground and trying to fight the blackness that was trying to overtake her. “What’s happening to me..” She asked not really expecting Logan to answer her question. A scream made its way past her lips as she felt like her flesh was being ripped apart. Keeping her eyes closed from the pain she didn’t see how her body started to change. “Please.. get help..” She begged with Logan before screaming again. It took several minutes for the pain to suddenly stop, but this didn’t mean it was over yet. A huge wave of exhaustion suddenly ran its course through her body and she managed to lift her head to look at the young girl one more time before simply passing out on the forest ground.

[loganwhite]

~~~~~~~~~~

“Shh…It’s gonna be ok…” Logan whispered softly to the older girl as she led her out of the school. She ignored all the stares that were directed at her and the red head. She would deal with whatever came with this situation on Monday. Right now her thoughts were on the older girl who seemed to have no idea what was happening to her. Logan could feel the girls heartbeat speeding up from the pulse in her wrist. She could feel Danielle’s temperature shoot up too. This was not good. Logan feared her shifting before she could get her away from people. That would cause more than just a fuss at the school.

They managed to make it outside without her changing and luckily none of the kids from the school seemed too interested in finding out what was going on. “We’re going somewhere safe.” Logan said carefully to her. The forest was truly the safest place for the two of them. The excitement of the older girls leopard was beginning to have its affects on Logan’s. Logan had stopped tugging at the girl when she had realized she was following her willingly and when Danielle fell to her knees Logan stopped and knelt next to her. “It’s ok…Relax…” Logan said softly to her. “You’re…you’re shifting…We can talk more after…just relax…” Logan said, worry in her voice. She knew the pain that the girl was going through with fighting it. She hoped she would be able to talk to the girl after and explain things to her.

Logan brushed a hand carefully over the girls hair as she screamed. “Shhhh…”She tried to soothe her as she looked around to make sure no one had followed them. The sound of flesh ripping and bones popping made Logan turn her attention back to the older girl. Her shift had begun, she begged Logan to get her help and Logan knew that she was the best help the girl could get at the moment. Logan herself didn’t yet know any older more experienced lycans in the area. Logan held off her shift for as long as she could. It was only just as the older girl finished shifting that Logan’s own shift began. She relaxed and let the change happen. It still hurt but not as much as when she had fought it. A moment later where Logan had been kneeling was a pile of clear goop and a small snow leopard cub.

Shaking herself Logan went over to the older girl, who was now a snow leopard like her, and licked her cheek gently. ‘Hey…Danielle….can you hear me?’ Logan said softly into her head. One thing she had learned that she loved about the shift was that as long as another lycan was in their animal form they could talk. It was pretty cool. Now she just had to get the older girl to wake up, and not totally freak out on her. She had no idea what the girl’s leopard would be like. It seemed that the girl didn’t know what she was so Logan had to be careful.

[DANIELLE O'SHEA]

Hey… can…me Trying to push away the darkness that was holding her down Danielle attempted to focus on the voice calling her in her head. It sounded miles away from her and the more she tried to reach for it the farther it seemed to disappear. No matter how hard she tried it seemed like she couldn’t reach for her body, she wasn’t real in some way. For what seemed like years she fought until finally it felt like someone had just taken a huge weight of her. Groaning loudly as she managed to open her eyes only to scream at the sight in front of her. The scream however never seemed to pass her lips cause all she heard was a really loud roar. Several images flashed in front of her eyes and in her panic she tried to get up only to fall over landing on her back hitting her head hard against a tree. Another stream of images passed in front of her eyes as another part of her seemed to take control and jumped forward towards the small cub. Growling dangerously at it she crouched down ready to leap and attack if necessary.

It felt extremely wrong to do so though. Especially since it didn’t look like it wanted to cause her any harm. Trying to fight her way to the surface again she felt herself tense, shaking her head as whatever was holding her back just put more and more effort in it, only resulting in a headache. She felt like a prisoner behind bars in her own body, if this even was her body. It wasn’t until now that the sudden changes seemed to become obvious to her, where her hands were suppose to be there were two black and white spotted paws and she could have sworn she saw what looked like a tail flicker at the edge of her eye. Fascinated and panicking by the sudden realization she seemed to gain control again and turned around real fast confirming the thought that had come to mind. ”Oh hell no!” She tried to say but again the only sound that seemed to escape her was a disappointed sounding growling.

[loganwhite]

~~~~~~~~~~

Logan jumped back as the leopards eyes flew open and a roar slipped through her lips. She crouched low as she watched the leopard attempt to stand. Logan attempted to slip back into the older girls mind as she watched her. She was pushed back though by a flood of images that the girl was seeing. Logan only caught a glimpse of a few. Shaking her head Logan stayed out of her head and watched. As it seemed the beast in her took over Logan’s eyes grew wide as the leopard jumped towards her. She took a few careful steps back, her eyes never leaving the other leopards. Danielle was in there somewhere and she just had to get her out long enough to talk to her and get her to relax so her and her beast would stop fighting.

Logan watched at the larger leopard fought with itself before suddenly spinning around. It seemed Danielle had gained control again and was finally realizing what she had changed into. ‘Danielle!’ Logan shouted hurriedly to her. She wasn’t sure how long the girls control would last over the leopard. ‘Danielle listen to me….You need to relax, you’re beast won’t hurt you unless you keep fighting her. Relax and let her become part of you. Then we can talk considering we’ll be like this for the rest of the day.’ Logan was still crouched low to the ground watching her. She didn’t know if Danielle would listen to her or not. This was never something Logan thought she would have to do so she wasn’t quite sure about the right words to say to her. This was totally off her character other than the fact that she needed help and at that moment Logan was the only one who she knew who could give her the help she needed. Logan made a promise with herself of seriously finding someone older and more experienced to help the two after this.

[DANIELLE O'SHEA]

Wincing at the sudden loud noise in her head Danielle looked at the younger leopard her eyes filled with surprise. Logan.. She thought confused trying to remain focused so she wouldn’t lose control over herself once again. This can’t be real.. I’m dreaming.. I must have fainted.” She thought to herself starting to panic her claws burying themselves in the dirt while the hair on her neck and back started to stand up. This hadn’t happened before had it? Lifting her head to the smaller leopard she felt something tug her forward again, resisting at first she felt the pull become stronger and stronger while the younger girls words sounded in her head. She had to relax and become part of her, but how did she do that? She didn’t want to be locked in her own body.

Roaring loud again she tossed her head back as the last of her defenses were broken down with force. “I can’t..” Her legs seemed to gave away under her and seconds later she found herself on the forest ground panting as is she had just undergone a very tiring exercise. The beast, as Logan had called her, was in control again pulling her body to the younger girl and circling it once slowly. She didn’t look however as if she any intension of attacking her, there was just curiosity in her eyes. Not trying to regain control this time Danielle tried to focus and work together with the other part of her. Shivering once she could feel her slowly starting to regain control again over her body, although there still was a clear difference compared to the control she had earlier. She wasn’t alone, it wasn’t comfortable exactly but it was doable.

Still allowing the beast to move her forward she lied down carefully next to Logan’s side, nudging her shoulder and licking her neck. “Okay.. I think..” Closing her eyes she stretched her tail moving from side to side showing off she was still quite nervous. “Please.. talk.” She said not taking her eyes off the younger girl. “What am I?” She added a few seconds afterwards sounding truly scared.

[loganwhite]

~~~~~~~~~~

Logan offered her a small lopsided leopard smile as she said her name. At least Danielle knew it was her. Her eyes stayed focused on the older leopard as she watched the confliction flicker through her mind and her eyes. Logan thought back to the memory loss Danielle had mentioned. Putting two and two together she realized that every time the girls beast had come out the girl lost the time. 'This isn't a dream. Its very real.'

[/i] Logan whimper lightly feeling the girls fear and frustration at the situation. There was little Logan could actually do for her other than tell her the truth that she had never learned.

Logan stiffened at the girls words of 'I cant'. Watching her eyes Logan saw her lose the little control she had to the beast. Logan lowered her head to the other leopard, showing submission to her and that she would not attack. As the other leopard circled her Logan watched her. When she finally stopped and laid next to her, Logan huffed a small sigh if relief and relaxed. Logan nuzzled her back glad to see the beast allowing Danielle to relax, even just a little bit. Logan's own tail flicked side to side with the other girls. Hearing the fear in the other girl as she asked her question Logan nuzzled her again before beginning.

'You've heard of werewolves right? Well you've heard stories of werewolves. Well most of the stories are wrong but they do exist. We're like them, but leopards instead if wolves.'[/i] Logan thought it best to just explain what they were and leave the rest of the supernatural world out of it unless she asked. 'Were you ever attacked by an animal of some sort?'[/i] Logan waited here for her answer. Even just learning that werewolves existed was a lot and that there were wereleopards was even bigger.
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