Night's Omen

Wesley thought back to how he'd come to be standing before the lovely Delilah. It had all started with a phonecall - or lack thereof. While he himself thrived on punctuality, he knew that Drew wasn't a master of the clock all the time. However, Drew had always called when running late, and he'd never just flat out vanished, which, as Wes was finding out, was definitely the case. His eyes were more gold than he'd like for them to be at the moment as he and Delilah, whose name he'd learned was Aimee, exchanged a worried glance.

She had turned her head and quietly whispered something to the smaller girl who was currently bawling her eyes out. Wesley knew that she was Melisande, and he was suddenly very aware of how severe the situation was becoming. The story he'd gotten was that she'd not been able to get ahold of him either - she'd assumed she was dumped, and she'd been upset about that, but when Joshua and Wesley showed up to see if she'd seen him...

"Delilah, may I speak with you for a moment?" he asked. He wasn't going to call her Aimee, even in the office where Eden had let them talk, because this was still her work establishment. He cared about his friends, but he wasn't going to make waves, regardless of how incredibly pissed off and afraid he was.

He nodded to Josh, who handed Melisande a bottle of water and rubbed her back lightly. Wesley held the door open for the brunette and walked alongside her to the side exit, and then leaned against the wall, looking at her for a long moment. The scent of leopard was filling his nostrils, so much that he wanted to just rub his cheek against hers to comfort himself. He pushed his inner lion back down for the time being, though, because obviously there was more important shit going on.

"Mel says she hasn't talked to Drew or seen him, and while I didn't know what to expect, when I rolled up and saw her crying her eyes out, I am fully ready to believe her. Now, SWAT members don't just disappear. Is she connected to... to Midnight at all?" He hated to ask, absolutely positively hated to, but... people vanishing into thin air? That was a little too familiar.

"Aimee, if you can think of anything - please, tell me. The city is about to release the dogs on this one so to speak, but I'm trying to handle it myself before we turn up a cold body." His voice was soft, but low and dangerous. He was afraid, and it showed.

This was highly irregular, even for a person who had a fairly irregular job and life pattern like Aimee did.  You didn't have SWAT officers showing up on 'unofficial' business asking about a situation involving your friend's new boyfriend being missing very often, and finding out that Melisande's little human boyfriend was friends with a LION was even more surprising.  Who would have thought?

Unfortunately, that made this whole situation that much stranger.  Drew probably didn't know about his friend's little 'uniqueness' anymore than he knew that Aimee was a leopard, and that left him open for attacks from other things he didn't know about.  It was such a tough call, deciding whether it was better to tell humans about the world behind the 'veil' of normalcy they saw, or leaving them ignorant of it.  Some people drew less attention if they didn't know, and others were left completely open for horrors they wouldn't ever even know to protect themselves against.  Aimee was worried that Drew might have become one of the latter.

That was NOT good.

Actually, she wasn't so sure that leaving Melisande with Josh was good, either, but the man had a good way about him, and really?  If Josh and Wes had meant them any harm, Melisande couldn't have held Josh off, and Aimee couldn't have held off a lion.  She'd have tried just because she had to, but she couldn't have done it, and she knew it.  Especially, a male lion.  Fortunately, she got more of a 'cuddle pile' vibe out of him than anything threatening, which she found interesting.  That didn't usually happen to her, though she'd grant it to him that she didn't spend a lot of time around other felines, other than Nikki and Drake, who were also friends.  This was the first time she'd met Wes.  So far, she liked him, but she wished it would have been under other circumstances that they'd met. 

So, she thought of Nero, and how nice it'd be to cuddle him for dealing with this situation, and it was just a little easier when Wes 'suggested' that he might not have believed Melisande without the tears.  "Of course you should believe her.  She's not going to lie about it, and no, she's not connected to Midnight!  She really liked, likes Drew, and she was really upset when we thought he'd dumped her.  What else were we supposed to think?" 

If she could think of anything.  Damn, what was there TO think?  "Honestly, I really don't know what happened to your friend, but I wish he did.  I just know that he never got as far as All Hallows that night.  Wasn't that the plan?  He was going to come here?  Melisande said something about you guys coming over," she pointed out, figuring that working backwards was the best way to do things.  Of course, the SWAT boys would know that better than her, but this wasn't her usual thing.  She was trying from a scientific point.  "I think that working our way backwards, hitting the places he should have been, would be the best idea to figure out where he could have vanished from, if it's at all possible.  He's really not the sort to just impulsively run off to do something like this?"

FAIL. He hadn't meant to imply that Melisande was connected directly. He facepalmed and leaned against the wall, trying to clear his head. "Not how I meant it," he said flinching. "I meant to ask if there wasn't anyone who'd had their eye on her - someone you'd seen or noticed? That girl knew what I was the moment I walked through the door. You don't just know things like that without attracting some attention." He folded his arms and sighed, lowering his voice and taking the harsh sound. "I'm sorry, miss. I just... this is beyond my comprehension right now."

He wanted to punch the wall, but he didn't think it'd really do any good, and letting his beast walk a little closer to the edge wouldn't do anything except accelerate the situation to a further level of not good. "Yeah, this was the end point. He was excited about us hanging out, said Melisande had some nice friends, that the place was pretty decent, even if it was - y'know, a strip club. But after a full two days, we haven't heard shit. I damn near broke down his girlfriend's door, only to find out that she was flipping out as bad as we were."

He closed his eyes. "I've been over and over in my head a thousand times, but the only way to do this is to get Silvera on something else and to sniff him out myself. He was on the phone with Josh when he got... grabbed, or whatever the hell it was. Josh said he was walkin' through Central Park, so that's where I'm going to start."

"If it's all the same, I think it'd be better if someone kept an eye on Melisande. I don't know where Drew is or what happened, but I know he would want that girl watched over like a hawk if there was any sign of foul play, which at this point, all signs point to. I'm going to have Silvera round her up and get her things. I know this is going to sound really forward, but can you stay with her? Is there someone else who can? Someone... not human?"

Wesley hated to admit how frail his best friends were, but when it boiled down to it, he'd put Aimee on detail over Mel before he would Silvera, simply because Aimee would be able to handle getting thrown through a wall. Josh would probably suffer massive internal bleeding and die. It didn't work out for Wes in his head.

Oh.  Oh, no no no.

"Mr. Bishop, if we had any inkling that someone Midnight-related may have taken an interest in Melisande, she wouldn't have been permitted anywhere near your friend, just to be safe.  She is the only human who works here, and we all keep that fact in mind where her safety is concerned.  Honestly, I worry about whatever it is that lets her pick out vampires and shifters so easily, but we've kept an eye on her," the leopard explained, and she meant it.  That was why Nikki, Marius and Drake walked her home, and why the dancers were all so in her face, besides the fact that they just liked being around her.  They liked her, she was one of the 'family', and they weren't letting anything happen to her.  She was fragile in the grand scheme of things, and Aimee personally never wanted to see her hurt.

If she'd known that Drew was potentially going to get into this mess, she'd have discouraged the whole encounter with him just to avoid the potential for trouble in Melisande's life.  Too late now.

"Believe me, we'll be watching out for her.  I may have her stay the night at my place, if I can talk her into it, or I'll be forcing Nikki or Marius to camp on her couch.  It's not like they have to sleep, or that they have anything better to do."  They'd manage entertaining themselves, of that she was sure.  From what she'd heard, they could both use some practice with the Mario Kart and Super Smash Brothers, because Melisande was always talking about beating their asses at it.  "We'll take care of her, I promise, so don't worry yourself about that.  It's your friend that we need to worry about, so what do you plan on doing about him?  I doubt Josh is going to want to hang out on the sidelines, and if it is something Midnight or vampire related, he's going to have to know eventually, don't you think?  Or do you never plan on telling him?"

She wasn't so sure, for reasons previously stated, if that was the best idea.  Josh might be better knowing, given the seriousness of the situation.  "You said he was on the phone with Josh when he vanished.  Has anyone found the phone, or his car?"  Didn't cell phones have some sort of GPS in them?

He frowned as she asked him if he'd been planning on keeping Joshua in the dark forever. "I wasn't, actually," he snapped, letting her know she'd struck a chord. He had to deal with the daily debate of telling his two closest companions that he was different, nevermind how he still couldn't figure out how to breach the subject with his little brother. He wanted to bang his face into the wall now instead of his fist, and sighed, trying to find something to do with his energy otherwise. He began to pace, like a caged animal, which wasn't too far from the truth.

He opened his mouth to speak again when the sound of a voice at the back door startled him. He turned and half-stepped to Aimee's side, just a slight amount in front of her. He could feel the hair on the back of his neck stand up, and realized that his paranoia was just about tangible at this point. He was relieved to see Josh and Melisande coming out of the door, and unfolded his arms, relaxing visibly as his shoulders lowered themselves a little.

Josh gave him a questioning glance, and then looked at Aimee. He realized he'd probably still call her Delilah, and sort of shook the thought off as he folded his own arms. "James just buzzed me in. He says that they definitely managed to find the signal on Drew's phone, and it's somewhere in the Central Park area, which makes sense, since that's where he said he was when I talked to him last. I'm guessing we get Mel home, and head that way. Your brother is a resourceful shit when he wants to be," he added.

"Uh, I'm not going home," Melisande piped in weakly. She looked at Aimee, blinking rapidly as both men stared at her. She glanced to Josh, and then to Wes, and said, firmly again, "I'm not going home. Drew's my...  I'm coming with you guys. I don't care if this is official business or not. I'm going."

Wesley glanced at Aimee again. If Melisande always seemed to know what people were, then he wondered how good at tracking she was. Could she 'feel' Drew through the din of the city? He looked at Melisande, and nodded. "Okay, fine. You come with us. You stay by my side, though. No questions." He ignored a curious glance from Josh, who no doubt suddenly wondered why Wesley was all chest-puffed about Melisande, but then again, he wouldn't question him. Wes was a big guy.

Well, this was going well.  Aimee actually wilted a little, feeling bad for getting him more upset.  Obviously, he was worried about his friend, and it didn't seem like much she was saying was doing anything other than make things worse.  Fortunately, she was saved from putting her foot in her mouth again, if that could even be described as what she'd done, since she hadn't really said anything WRONG, when Josh and Melisande joined them in the hallway.

Personally, she'd have preferred leaving Melisande with their two vamp boys at the bar than take her with, but she supposed that a lion AND a leopard could keep the girl safe.  It wasn't like Josh would be useless, either.

She hoped that's all that would matter, anyway.  They really didn't know what to expect.

"You just stay out of the way if something happens, okay?  We'll take care of things," Aimee added as they essentially decided that they were all going.  This was like the set-up for a bad Final Fantasy, the party being formed.  Hopefully, Melisande wouldn't end up as a sort of Rinoa character that got kidnapped every five seconds.  Aimee might spaz, and Wes looked like he'd destroy something. 

Wesley looked at Aimee, almost as though he knew what she was thinking. He looked back to Melisande, and then to Josh, and nodded his head. "Let's go, then." He'd noticed Mel had changed back into her normal clothing - jeans, shoes, and a tank top. He couldn't say he completely approved, but then again, he felt like the only way to keep this one safe was to load her up in battle armour. Where was an Abrams when you needed one?

He watched Josh as the man produced an extra magazine for his gun from out of thin air, and then dropped it into the back pocket of his pants. The gun, he knew, was tucked in his belt, covered by the back of his t-shirt. Wesley took a shaky breath as he moved to let Aimee and Melisande pass in front of him, trying to steady himself. He told himself firmly that they would find Drew, even if it meant exposing himself. He didn't have a choice at that point in time.

About halfway to Central Park, however, Melisande stopped dead in her tracks. Wesley nearly barreled over her - she'd been doing a good job of staying directly next to or in front of him at all times, and he was glad for it. This stopping shit wasn't going to work, though.

"Hey, c'mon. You wanted to come - we need to keep moving," he said gently, reaching out for her shoulder. He looked up at Aimee, desperate for some sort of... calm, rational voice, because he was about to lose his.

"No, I -- " she trailed off. She closed her mouth, shrugging into the light grey hoodie she wore, and glanced around. "It's like... It's like we're going the wrong way. Like he's here, somewhere, and we already passed him." Her lower lip quivered a little, but Melisande wasn't one to discount her own instincts. "Can we run this way, really quick? I mean, if you don't want to, you can keep going, I can go do it on my own. It will only take a second."

Her eyes slid to the right, and it was pretty apparent that she was going to go whether she got the green light or not. She looked back at Aimee, wondering how to try and explain that sometimes she just knew things. Would Aimee back her up?

"Hey, why we stopped?" Josh asked, turning around. "I got James on the horn again, he's put a few cruisers out in the area to patrol. Mel, if he's up walkin' around, they're gonna see him," he said firmly. "I mean, shit. It ain't like he's just chillin' out in the alley by his apartment. That would be nice, but this is reality."

"Uh, I'm sure you meant that a lot less asshole-ish than it sounded, Silvera," Wes said, holding a hand up to him with a flat tone to his voice. He got a returned shrug from his teammate, who turned on a heel to keep moving. He could hear him muttering something about 'sandbox' and 'goddamn stupid ass city', but he couldn't really make it all out.

He turned back to say something to Melisande, but all he saw was her figure headed down the street at top speed. "Oh, Christ," he growled, his voice deepening more than was necessary for his human vocal cords.

Aimee couldn't deny that she was somewhat impressed with Josh's ability to conjure up a spare magazine for his gun like that, but she wasn't exactly an expert in weaponry, so she knew that having her impressed wasn't much of a compliment.  Wesley, yes, her, no.  She'd never handled a gun in her life.

That definitely didn't mean she'd be useless, though.  She didn't crowd Wes' personal space like he was demanding that Melisande do, but she kept close, mostly for her friend's sake.  If anything happened, she was going to be doing her best just to keep Melisande out of danger, and that meant away from the boys if they were going to be fighting.  Honestly, she didn't expect much in the way of fighting, not in broad daylight in Central Park, but stranger things had happened, she was sure.  It just didn't seem like a good idea to her to bring Melisande along when they were looking for someone who may be in danger or around someone else who was dangerous.  Of course, Melisande wasn't going to take no for an answer, and Wes HAD already agreed.  They'd just have to be careful.

Yep, and right there, they weren't.  Melisande stopping was one thing, but then she was off while the men were trading comments about what their friend WASN'T doing.  Meanwhile, hers was doing what they didn't want.  Aimee was after her instantly, leaving the men to figure out what was going on and follow. 

"Melisande!  Where are you going?" she called out, hoping to get the girl to stop and TALK.  She didn't know what had prompted the sudden feeling the girl had gotten, and she didn't usually question those things, but running off like that just didn't sound like a good thing to her.  She wasn't exactly expecting Melisande to just FIND Drew like that, though.

She was wrong.  Melisande ducked into an alley suddenly, and Aimee just stopped dead when she saw red hair.  That had to be...impossible, but it wasn't.  It was real.  How?  "Is he a--alright?" she asked, having been about to ask if he was alive, but that wording probably would have upset Melisande, even if it was a concern.  Tact was key.

There was a trail of colourful explicatives from Wesley as he ran after the two women who suddenly decided to break free of the party and go on a little side mission of their own. The closer to them he got, though, the closer to something else he got - Drew's scent. With Joshua at his heels and swearing all the way, he arrived just as Mel ducked around the corner.

"Oh shit," he breathed. Let him be alive.

He heard Silvera say the words, "Un-fucking-believable," as he pushed passed the lion and went into the alley. There was muffled noises, and then relieved laughter. Wes came around the corner to find Melisande stuck to Drew's side like a backpack while Silvera crouched down to try and look for head injuries.

Of course she knew where to look - Melisande always knew. She cried out, and flung herself at Drew, voice escalating to a high-pitched, shrill nervous explosion of phrases, things that hardly seemed intelligible except perhaps to other women. As soon as she had him conscious, she was wrapping her arms so tightly around him that if he'd any broken ribs, she'd probably make them worse.

"Oh my God, oh my God," she breathed, burying her face into his neck. Warm tears spilled down from her cheeks again, splashing onto his skin, as she no doubt squeezed the air out of him with all of her yanking and holding.

Josh practically had to push her out of the way to try and check for a concussion, while posing questions such as, "Where in the fuck have you been?"

Aimee knew enough of the situation by the time Josh and Wes caught up the last few steps to know that she wasn't needed in the mix.  She was glad to see Drew found and seemingly alive, since he started stirring with Melisande clinging to him, but she wasn't particularly close to him.  Her concern had been over Melisande, and the fact that she'd liked him when she met him, and didn't want to see anything bad happen to a good person.  These were his friends, and his new girl.  Aimee allowed them a few steps of space, and merely watched the situation.

For as 'uninvolved' as Aimee was behaving, Drew was pretty much in the opposite end of the ring where 'calm' was concerned.  The very first thing he noticed upon being TACKLED and SQUEEZED was that he had a MASSIVE headache, and something was clinging to him and making a LOT of noise that did NOT help his head.  Then, he had the opportunity to squint his eyes open against the light, realize that he was in an...alley? with Melisande clinging to him and crying, and that Josh and Wes were both looking pretty pole-axed.  At least Josh was asking questions, though he didn't really feel like he had any answers.

What the HELL was going on?

It took him a few moments to get his shit together enough to even know what was happening right then, nevermind answering questions, but Melisande's grip seemed to loosen just a touch when he hugged her back, and his eyes adjusted without giving him more of a migraine.  It was really pretty tempting to just let his head fall back and pass out again, but something told him that wasn't for the best.  Then, little things started weaving back into his mind, and he was even more confused.

He'd never had memory problems before.  Why couldn't he remember more?

"Someone jumped me...a woman?  How the hell did I get here?" he finally put together, looking totally baffled.  This wasn't going to help them in figuring out what had happened, obviously.  "What's the time?"

It didn't occur to him that she'd knocked him out so many times that it had been DAYS later and not just hours.  It was daylight, and he'd last seen the sky at night.  He had no way of knowing, not until his brain caught up with itself and decided to remind him of other factors, like the fact that he hadn't eaten in days.  That was going to be a big deal after he could think straight. 

A spilling of "I'm sorry!"s came from Mel's mouth as she backed off of Drew only enough to allow him room to breathe. It wasn't until Josh physically moved her that she ended up crouched against the wall, as close as she could get without actually getting right in on the situation. She looked absolutely crestfallen, but she stayed quiet long enough for them to get the situation sorted... Sort of?

"All righty, cowboy, sit up and let me check you for a concussion," Josh said, crouching down in front of him and going through the motions of making sure Drew wasn't going to die in the next seven minutes. He gave him a good once-over, and then sat back a little before standing, offering a hand out. He wasn't surprised when Melisande jumped up as well, but he kept his trap shut on that matter - he was only slightly envious of Drew somehow landing the girl, but it wasn't an issue.

"Sooo... jumped by a woman. She probably slipped you something. Got your wallet and stuff still on you, or is that all gone?" he asked. He tried to skip the teasing for the moment - women could be thieves, muggers and murderers just as men could, he'd found - insanity didn't discriminate.

Melisande crept back in to touch his shoulder gently. "Honey, it's been like, two days," she said softly. "The whole police force is looking for you. We thought -- " she stopped short, her blue eyes filling with tears again. She shook her head. "At first I thought maybe you'd just decided to dump me without saying anything, and then Josh called me to see if you were at my apartment.. it took a full twelve hours for all of us to realize that you weren't anywhere we could find you." She bit her lip, looking pretty upset.

Wes nodded. "You gave us a good scare. Can you remember anything?" he asked, shooting a glance to Aimee. It plainly said, vampire, but it wasn't something he could say aloud at the moment. He rubbed his face a little, weary from all the adrenaline he'd had going through his system. "Josh, call the search off," he said with a little nod to Silvera.

Drew = o.O ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? !!!

---

Actually, Drew wouldn't be at all surprised when Josh settled in with the teasing about getting jumped by a woman.  He was a former Marine and a SWAT officer, and he'd been jumped by a woman?  And she'd managed?  What?

Yeah, he was expecting the jokes.  They were inevitable, but he really didn't think that Josh would have fared all that much better.  Drew knew better.  He wasn't a pushover.  Something was funky about that situation.

Josh was trying to find out if he had a concussion, which was fine with him, so he cooperated.  He ached, but nothing really stood out just yet.  He just generally felt like shit, and when one took into account the fact that he was jumped, he wasn't all that surprised.  Still, nothing stood out just yet, which was a good thing.  "I don' know what she did!  I remember gettin' to my car, she walked up, then I was somewhere else an' she's talkin' shit 'bout sittin' still an' my face or some weird shit!"

No, it didn't make sense to him.  At all.  It was about to get worse.

"TWO DAYS?!"

Forget the wallet, forget his credit cards or whatever.  Two days. 

He'd been taking Josh's hand, pulling himself shakily to his feet, and he almost fell right back down.  He'd have realized without much effort that it had been awhile, because his body FELT like it had been two days.  He hadn't eaten, he hadn't had anything to drink, he'd been hanging in chains all that time, because he hadn't been in that first room long.  Oh shit.  That's right.  She'd had him chained up.  It was all way too fuzzy, that was wrong, but he remembered that.  He somehow couldn't pull together her face, but he could remember that.  She'd had him chained there.  Who had chains?  For real?  How was he even alive?!  Didn't only serial killers have that shit?

He calmed suddenly, the gravity of the whole situation becoming very obvious very suddenly.  Call the search off?  He'd been gone two days, with no word.  He'd been in some crazy lady's basement or something, and he had no idea what she'd done.  This wasn't good.  This was the exact opposite.  He had to figure out what he remembered before he took time to relax, and they needed to figure out what had happened.  "I remember chains, in a dark room.  Can' remember her face, an' that makes no sense.  I thank there was someone else there, but can' remember that, either.  She kept talkin' 'bout paintin', though.  Paintin', an' me holdin' still.  Kept pissin' her off 'cause I wouldn'."

That was the big thing he remembered.  She didn't like him moving.  Really, he would have preferred to have this conversation JUST with Wes and Josh, since Melisande just looked like it was making her upset, but he knew better.  If he slept or something, he might forget things.  That wasn't acceptable.

From the looks of things, they were all content to just let Aimee vanish into the background, but she was playing close attention.  She may not get much credit for brains in her line of work, but she was a scientist for real.  She was watching, listening, and she was in agreement with Wes.  Vampire.  Definitely.

He glanced her way, and she nodded to agree.  There was no way to address it in front of Josh and Drew, but she was pretty sure that Melisande was going to realize the same thing.  Strange that two of the group that should have been the most capable of taking care of themselves were the least prepared.  That sort of irony killed her about humans.  She was going to have to talk to Melisande later, perhaps with Wes present.

"Melisande, why don't we get Drew back to the club.  That way he can get something to eat and relax a little, instead of out here?" she piped up, knowing that the girl would like something to do.  She looked like she was a wreck already.

Actually, Drew couldn't say that sounded bad.  Josh had gotten him as far as his feet, and then Melisande had crept in to touch his shoulder and just be close.  He liked it, and appreciated it, which was why he reached for her hand when she started to withdraw.  She seemed so worried, something that actually made him feel bad, even though he hadn't really done anything himself.  It wasn't like it was his fault, but he still felt bad.  The last thing he wanted was to be trouble in her life. 

Aimee's words seemed to fall on deaf ears as Melisande stared off into space, squeezing Drew's hand as tightly as he'd allow her to. She took a step closer to him, so happy to feel his warmth that she was practically beside herself - and she felt like she was, suddenly. She could only think of a handful of creatures strong enough to chain someone like Drew down in a basement, and the blood visibly drained out of her face when the notion finally hit her. She glanced between Aimee and Wes, eyes narrowing only slightly.

"I don't really feel like going back to the club. My apartment isn't that far - can we just go there? I can get Drew cleaned up and I know I've got food there. I can make you guys lunch or... something," she said, trailing off absently. She was still trying to wrap her head around the idea that a vampire had snatched her Drewbear off of the street. It didn't go over well, so when Wesley opened his mouth to suggest going back to the club like Aimee had suggested, Melisande found herself nearly gnashing her teeth at him. Luckily Drew and Josh had engaged in some sort of conversation by that point, because the gesture was out of character for her.

Wesley held up his hands, surprised. "Okay. Okay. Apartment," he said, giving in with a bewildered expression. She'd done all but give him a good scruffing for trying to go along with Aimee's suggestion, and her reaction was enough. She looked positively murderous at the moment towards anyone trying to put themselves between she and Drew, and it was amusing, but annoying. He moved by Aimee's side swiftly, watching Josh give Drew an arm to aid his cause of walking.

"....she always like that?" he asked, tone still betraying shock. "She seemed so... nice." He couldn't think of another way to put it.

It completely baffled Drew that going to Melisande's place would be a problem, and so he didn't consider it.  Aimee offered the club, Melisande disagreed, and he was cool with whatever they chose.  Melisande was holding his hand, squeezing it kind of tightly actually, and that was cool with him, too.  Basically, he was cool with just about whatever they decided right then, since he was feeling shitty, hunger and thirst were starting to set in as panic faded in the presence of safe people, and he was generally not in the mood to argue.

Melisande had that covered, apparently, but he didn't take a lot of notice.  Her aggression on the subject was lost while Josh addressed him, though he noticed that Wes gave in on the subject rather quickly.  He just didn't linger on that thought.

Aimee did, and she frankly thought it was hilarious.  She actually smirked, finding little Melisande pushing a full-grown male lion around to be too amusing to ignore.  She couldn't blame Wes, though.  Personally, she didn't see a reason to argue.  She'd call Eden, let him know what was going on, and he'd tell her to deal with it and let him know what happened.  As long as things went smoothly, Eden wasn't going to get involved, so long as he was well-informed.  If it got out of hand, then he'd step in and see what he could do.  As much of a pain as he could be, Aimee respected him for that.  He'd already offered to do what he could on this situation, considering Melisande's emotional involvement. 

Not that he didn't like the idea of having SWAT guys who owed him, either.

"Oh, don't act like such a housecat!" she teased Wes quietly, giving him a small shove.  "She's worried about him.  At least you know he'll be taken care of."

That much was true.  Josh was helping Drew along for as much as he needed it, and Melisande was hovering like she was going to carry him herself if the men didn't manage.  Not that Aimee really thought she could, but it was the general feel she got from the situation.  She was a little surprised at how much this man mattered to the girl, but if that was how it was, then she was determined to make sure it worked.  They had a lot to discuss, the three of them.

"Yay!" she cheered, more to herself than to anyone else, and commenced to sticking to Drew like a koala. She listened intently to Josh as he spoke, going through the motions of theories on what had happened. Her stomach twisted on the inside, though, as Melisande knew what the city kept within it, and it disturbed her to know that one of those kept things had taken her Drewbear and...  Well, what had happened? She wanted to know, but she knew better than to try and bother him for information. Josh had come to the same conclusion she had, which was that Drew would be useless without food, water, and real rest, which had Melisande cooking up ideas of her fluffy bed and lots and lots of pillows - and Drew, of course. She smiled in spite of the situation, and wiggled a little in her own way - she was like a happy puppy, so glad to have him back. It was... silly.

Wesley kept a healthy pace behind them, trying not to crowd them, for one, and using the opportunity to talk to Aimee without having to whisper quite so low. "I'm not acting like a house cat," he hissed through his teeth, turning his head to look down at her as they made the trek to Melisande's apartment. "And besides - I'd make a horrible pet. I'm as big as any normal couch, so they're shit for napping on." He spoke indignantly, almost, and fluffed a little, like a bird might, as he looked away.

"I can see that she's not going to let him out of her sight easily. We'll have to con her into relinquishing custody to Josh so that we can talk to her. I don't think it'll be hard for Josh, though. He's got oodles of questions, I'm sure - plus, he's Drew's best friend. He can think of something stupid to amuse him with while we corner her. How is it, by the way, that she can look right at me and just know? She psychic, or something?" he inquired, scratching his head absently.

He glanced back to her, watching how she interacted with Joshua and Drew, and then looked back at Aimee. "Really, it's a valuable talent to have, but I feel like it's going to get her into trouble sooner or later. It's easy to keep that blindfold on. It's almost nicer that way, until shit like this happens." He spoke ruefully, as though he wasn't quite up to terms with his own situation - and it wouldn't be fair to say that, precisely, but sometimes he wasn't exactly thrilled with the animal he had become. It was a tricky thing, to control such primal, base instincts. They were so much stronger than the ones humans claimed to have.