~1978~

Diana twirled her pencil in her fingers as she read over the homework from her students. Suddenly she felt something hit the side of her head. The ginger looked down to see her wolf plushie on the floor next to her chair. The young woman picked it up, shooting the thrower an unimpressed look. "Real funny", Diana said somewhat sarcastically, setting the toy down "I have work to do Michael".

"You can do that in the morning", Michael said, strolling over to her desk and plucking the pencil out of her hand "come out and have a drink with me".

"On a Tuesday are you nuts?" Diana asked, taking the pencil back "I have work tomorrow and so do you. Not sure your boss would appreciate you going into work drunk…again". The young woman turned back to the school work.

"Suit yourself", Michael muttered and left the room. As soon as he was gone, Diana sat back and sighed, worriedly. She loved him, she really did but she wasn't sure how much more she could take. Here she was, working as hard as she could as a teacher and occasionally picking up an extra side job just to pull in enough money to pay the bills. Meanwhile, Michael can barely keep a job to save his own life and the drinking was a big reason why.

She picked up her wolf, hugging it to her chest "One of these days, I swear I'm going lose it with him", she grumbled. Diana set her toy aside, picked up her pencil and continued to mark her student's homework. It was around 9pm when she finished with the 26 history reports on Queen Elizabeth.

The ginger rubbed her face tiredly as she tidied up her desk before she headed upstairs to get some sleep. She needed to get as much as she could as she had a very fully day tomorrow. Unfortunately several hours later, Diana woke with a start when she heard Michael crashing around downstairs. The 22 year old knew that she shouldn't go down to check on him and yet…that's exactly what she was doing. "Hey! Hey!" Michael cheered "there's my woman!" he hugged her tightly, touching her in a wildly inappropriate way. Diana wiggled out of his grasp.

"You're super drunk", she stated.

"Yes I am. Drunk on yooouu!" Michael slurred. He tried to kiss her but Diana moved back, away from him.

"You need to go to bed", she said firmly.

"I don't want to, I'm not done drinking", Michael told her. The woman watched him stumble toward the kitchen.

"Michael, I don't think that's a good idea", Diana said, going after him. She placed a hand on his arm which was a big mistake as he backhanded her across the face causing her to fall to the floor.

"Oh, babe. I'm so sorry", Michael said, helping her to her feet, suddenly sobering up "let's go to bed, ok?" he suggested.

"Yeah, ok", Diana mumbled, rather shaken up by what he'd done. Despite his drunken escapades, he had never laid a hand on her before. Never.

Within 10 minutes, Michael was fast asleep, his arm wrapped around her. Diana just lay there, gingerly touching her cheek. She really hoped that this was just a once off. Otherwise, she might be in some serious trouble. Diana closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.


Over the next few days, Michael's attitude improved. He didn't go out and get drunk and he didn't lay a hand on Diana. Instead he was much more attentive toward her. In fact, when Friday rolled around, he came to the school at lunch time with a bunch of flowers. "Oh, Michael", Diana breathed when she saw them "they're lovely. Thank you".

"You're welcome", Michael said "Now!" he clapped his hands, rubbing them together "Tonight I'm gonna take you out".

"Where?" Diana asked.

"It's a surprise", Michael said, giving her a kiss "now I'll see you later, ok?"

"Ok", Diana said. She watched him go before glancing down at the flowers in her arms and smiled. It seemed like things really were getting better between herself and Michael.

Later…

The ginger haired woman laughed as she and Michael danced with some of the other pub goers. "You really are bad at dancing!"

An offended expression crossed her boyfriend's face "I am not! I'm an awesome dancer!" he proclaimed, waving his arms about. That only served to make Diana laugh even more.

"You're so silly, Michael", she giggled and kissed him "I love you".

"I love you too", the man said, pulling her in for another longer, deeper kiss.

Over at the bar, Logan was eyeing the couple or more specifically the ginger haired woman. He didn't know why but he felt drawn to her. He barely suppressed a growl, his hand tightening around his beer glass when the male kissed the woman. Why am I feeling this way he thought, completely confused. He had seen his fair share of couples kissing over the years that he'd been alive and none of them had elicited this reaction from him before. He watched the pair dance, his anger spiking when the brown haired man did something highly inappropriate. Before he knew it, he was off his stool and walking over to them.

Diana and Michael moved off of the dance floor, just missing Logan. They walked to the door where a couple of Michael's friends came in. "Hey, Mike!" Jared greeted "leaving so soon?"

"Well, I…." the brunette started.

"Oh, come on. Why do you and Diana stay and have a couple of drinks with us?" Liam suggested.

"Thanks for the offer but I'm getting a little tired", Diana admitted. She was surprised when he boyfriend gave her the keys to the car. "Michael?" she questioned.

"I'm gonna have a couple of drinks with the boys", the man replied "I'll see you at home, ok?" he kissed her cheek "I won't get really drunk, I promise".

"Ok", Diana said. If it had been a few days earlier, she would've insisted that he come home with her but since he was doing a lot better, she was going to give him the benefit of the doubt. She pocketed the keys and left the pub alone.

The young woman walked along the road to where the car was parked. She paused when she sensed something behind her. Diana glanced back but didn't see anything besides people coming out of pubs and clubs. She shook her head and kept walking. The ginger ignored the wolf whistles aimed in her direction from across the road as she passed. "Hey baby why don't you come party with us?" one of them called.

"Just keep moving Reyes", Diana muttered to herself "don't look around". She sped up when she heard them walk towards her. "Why didn't Michael park somewhere close by?" she griped.

"Hey! Wait up!" the same male called. Diana yelped when he grabbed her by the arm and pushed her against the nearest building.

"Let me go!" the ginger exclaimed, struggling in his grasp.

"Don't be like that baby, we just wanna have a little fun, right boys?"

The man's mates drunkenly laughed in agreement. "Well, I don't!" Diana cried ramming her knee hard into his groin. The drunk stumbled back, clutching the injured area.

"You bitch!" one of his friends snapped before he slapped her. Diana fell to the ground, hand on her stinging cheek. She flinched when he brought out a switch blade, flicking it open.

"Ooh, James going to give it to ya now", one of the other drunks jeered. The young woman eyed the blade, trembling as Jared brought it closer to her. Diana closed her eyes and let out a whimper as the blade touches her skin.

"Get away from her!" another male voice shouted, this time from behind the group of four drunks. They glanced back to see a tall muscular man standing there. James and his buddies stiffened when three bone claws slowly extended from his knuckles.

"Shit man, he's a freak!" one of them exclaimed and three of them scarpered, leaving James behind. The man glanced at Diana, who was now staring up at him and then down to the blade in his hand. The ginger screamed when he stabbed her in the stomach before taking off.

Logan hurried over to the young woman, quickly retracting his claws as he did so. "You're going to be ok. Just hold on", he said, carefully extracting the blade.

"I don't wanna die", Diana whimpered as he pressed his hands over her wound.

"You won't", Logan assured her "I'm gonna make sure of it". He picked her up and ran. Diana tried to stay awake as best as she could but unfortunately she succumbed to the pain and blacked out.