"Sit up. Drink your coffee." Diego pulled and tugged until Finn sat with his back against the cabinets.

Finn hunched over the steam, the mug nearly disappearing in his long fingers. He sipped, made a face, sipped again, and shuddered. "Dreadful."

"OK, so coffee goes on the short list of things you won't put in your stomach. Normally. Now tell me what's happening, cariño. What in the world is wrong with you?" Diego stroked a lock of tangled blue-black hair from his eyes.

"Winter."

"Winter?"

"Yes."

"Are you saying you always get like this during midwinter?" Diego struggled to puzzle out what he meant.

"Not…always." Finn took a long pull at the coffee and seemed better able to hold his head up. "Sometimes. A few days or weeks of sleep."

"You…hibernate?" Diego blinked. He had never considered that. "What do you…I mean, isn't it dangerous? Sleeping for weeks? What if something comes along that wants to hurt you?" He rose from the floor and padded to the microwave to reheat the enchiladas.

"I burrow," Finn's answer came back oddly muffled.

"You what?" Diego turned and saw only the blanket in a heap. He hooked a finger under one edge and lifted to find a large, black badger where Finn had been, the coffee mug still clutched in its claws.

"Burrow." Badger-Finn growled.

"Oh."

He folded the blanket back from the furred head and sat down beside him. "A little better?"

"Beginning to be." The black muzzle nudged at Diego's hand. "I am sorry, my hero, that I've worried you."

"I thought you were sick." He reached out for the mug, careful of thick digging claws. "Here, you should shift back. I don't think badgers should drink coffee."

With a grunt, Badger-Finn relinquished his hold. Blue light danced over his fur and he melted into an indistinct glow, his shape elongating and reshaping until Finn once more sat on the kitchen floor.

Diego took him under the arms and helped him into a chair. "Please eat, querido. Make me happy."

Finn took a tentative sniff of his lunch, and then with a pleased growl, devoured the first enchilada in three bites. He held out his mug for a refill without slowing down on the second one.

"Half a cup," Diego insisted.

Intent on his food, Finn didn't argue. The caffeine in chocolate had never bothered him but his body's reactions were unpredictable and black tea had caused a fit of tremors once.

"Any idea what brought this all on?" Diego asked as he wiped down the counters.

"Too blasted cold here," Finn grumbled. "Winters are dark in Eire but not so harsh."