The boys belong to me in my dreams, but nowhere else.

.~o()o~.

It was a rainy Thursday just before 4:00pm. Leah stepped throught the back door at A&W and wiped her feet on the mat, shaking the water from her hair.

"Hey Leah," Samantha, greeted her as she clocked in.

"Hey," Leah smiled. "Did I miss anything exciting?"

"Oh gosh no, This day probably couldn't go any slower. We are actually completely empty now. At least I only have half an hour left," Samantha sighed.

"Oh lucky you, I am closing tonight so I have at least eight hours to go," Leah sighed.

"Really? You better be careful," Samantha said, looking a little worried."

"Why would I need to be careful?"

"Don't you know what day it is?"

"Um. . .Thursday?"

"You seriously don't know?" Samantha asked, incredulous. At Leah's confused look, she continued. "50 years ago today, this restaurant opened and on the night of its opening, the owner, Ephraim Bauer, disappeared without a trace. Nobody knows what happened. The door was locked, everything was cleaned and finished and closed, but he never made it home. The case grew cold and people stopped caring. Then, exactly ten years later, two more people disappeared and then every ten years since then, two more. One closing in the front, the other in the back, and it is always the same, everything clean, finished and locked up. They never make it home and in the middle of the counter, there is one deep red rose. Not a single one of them has ever been seen again. so be careful tonight. It would suck if you disappeared."

"And you believe in this?" Leah asked, one eyebrow raised. "You think its what. . .a ghost? I don't believe in ghosts."

"You don't have to believe in them. They will kill you anyway."

They were interrupted by the sound of the door opening. Leah looked over at the two young men walking in and stopped breathing for a second. She nudged Samantha with an elbow and nodded toward the door.

Samantha looked over and said "Mmmhmm!" her eyebrows shooting up nearly to her

hairline. She nodded emphatically.

The two men walked up to the counter where Leah stood ready to take their order.

"Hi Sweetheart," the shorter of the two spoke first. "I would like the Grandpa Cheese burger with extra cheese, extra bacon and extra onions, onion rings, large fries and large chocolate shake and maybe a large coke too, plus whatever girly crap Sammy here is having." Leah punched in his order and looked up. . .and then up again at the taller guy. He began to speak.

"I will have your Chicken Grill Deluxe, side salad with ranch dressing and an iced tea." He looked down, puzzled, when he saw Leah had made no attempt to put in his order. "You alright?"

Leah was staring, mesmerized, at his lips when she realized he had asked her a question. "What? Oh. . .yes. . .sorry. . .Chicken Grill?" She looked down at the till as he repeated his order, her face burning bright red. She could hardly stand to look at him as they paid for their order, took it and sat down.

Samantha looked over at Leah and giggled. "Smooth, real smooth."

"Shut up," Leah said. "Did you look at him? He is pretty much too gorgeous for words. i just froze. . .how embarrassing."

"No worries. You probably will never see him again anyway. but you're right, they are gorgeous. . .both of them. . .and wearing far too much clothing. Mmm. . .yum."

The two girls giggled before going back to work. Samanthat finished her shift and then the supper rush started and soon neither was thinking about the two young men that sat at the table in the corner.

.~o()o~.

"So what do you think, Sam?" The shorter young man asked as he took a huge bite out of his cheeseburger.

"Honestly, Dean, its too soon to tell, but if we're right, two of the people working here tonight stand a good chance of not getting out alive." Sam answered.

"I meant the girls. The redhead was totally checking you out. You practically had her speechless and drooling," Dean winked.

"Haha, funny, she's cute, but that's not not why we're here," Sam rolled his eyes.

"Why not, she may be more on the cuddly side than your usual but I bet she could still do something to make tonight a little more. . .fun for you."

"Shut up," muttered Sam. "Suppose she was one of the ones staying late tonight. Do you think she would want me to flirt, or do you think she would want me to save her life?"

"Buzz kill," Dean whined. "Ok, what about that one?" He pointed to a newly arrived blonde girl.

"Dude, does the word jailbait mean anything to you?"

"Oh come on, she has to be at least nineteen. Besides, she's hot," Dean grinned.

Sam just rolled his eyes and turned back to his notes. "Ok, so every ten years, just like clockwork, two people die in this restaurant. They are male or female of any age, one closing the restaurant in the front, one closing in the back. They all disappear sometime after 11:00pm. The manager survives but notices nothing. They either don't leave the office and hear nothing or they leave for a moment and find the door locked when they return. Instead of trying to get back in, they just go home and go to sleep. They don't remember why they left in the morning."

"So obviously we are thinking ghost," Dean observed, trying to ignore the beautiful distraction that was talking and laughing with the redhead.

"It is the most likely scenario. We just need to figure out who it is and we have about six hours to do it in," Sam looked at Dean, trying to convey seriousness, but he burst out laughing when he saw Dean staring as the girl finally walked into the back, love sick expression on his face.

"Can we interview her?" Dean asked.

"No, Dean, we'll stick to the girls behind the counter. And you had better behave yourself."

"Don't I always?" Dean pasted a hurt expression on his face.

"I am pretty sure the last time I saw you behave yourself, you were unconscious."

"Hey, be fair, what about when I am asleep?" If possible, Dean looked even more wounded.

"Not all misbehaving is physical."

A big grin spread across Dean's face. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I remember the dream I had last night. I was a very bad boy. There was this blonde chick with the biggest pair of. . ."

"Dean!" Sam practically shouted. "TMI!"

". . .couches in her living room. We each had one of our own and we sat there and watched a movie and I refused to share my popcorn, no matter how much she asked," he laughed at Sam's red face. "What did you think I was going to say? You really need to get your mind out of the gutter, Sammy."

"Shut up," Sam glared at his brother. "and don;t call me Sammy or I'll. . ."

"You'll what, give me your best bitchface? Hate to tell you this, but I've seen it before and I'm still standing. In fact, I can see it right now and I'm pretty sure I'm not running in fear."

Sam shook his and stood up, taking his tray with him. "I'm going to go do some real work. you are free to join me."

Dean sighed, slurped up the last of his shake and stood. "If we have to."

.~o()o~.

Leah turned beet red again when she realized the two young men from before were walking toward the counter with their trays. She looked around at everyone, but they were all occupied. She listened, hoping for an order from drive through, but she couldn't legitimately ignore them without being rude.

"I can take those," she said, proud she managed to get the words out without stuttering. She turned to go, but the taller one stopped her with a word.

"Hey, if you have a minute I would like to ask you a question or two."

Leah nodded mutely.

"My name is Sam, this is my brother, Dean. We are writing a book about the paranormal, focusing on ghost stories in rural areas and were wondering what you could tell us about this place."

Leah smiled, this she could handle. "Someone told me the story today. Apparently, the original owner of the store, Ephraim Bauer, disappeared the night the restaurant opened and every two years since then, two people die, leaving nothing behind but a single red rose."

"And no one knows what happened to him?" Sam continued.

"Not that I heard, but I only heard the story in passing. The girl who was telling me left already and we kind of got distracted. . ." her cheeks turned faintly pink again.

"So you couldn't tell us where he is buried?" Dean made an effort to focus on what the girl was saying, but he was trying to catch a glimpse in the back of the girl he had seen before.

"I am assuming since he disappeared, there is no body. No body. . .no grave," Leah smirked.

Sam laughed at his brother before turning back to Leah. "May I ask who is closing tonight?"

"Well, I am closing out here and Shelby is closing in the back."

"Shelby?" Dean spoke up again. "By any chance is that the hot blonde I saw clocking in earlier." He winked at Sam and nudged him with his elbow.

"Uh. . .she is the only blonde girl working in the back right now."

Sam ignored his brother's glee. "So what do you think of all this? Does it scare you?"

Leah turned red again. Factual explanations were fine, but he was just too gorgeous. . .and he was asking about her feelings. "Uh. . .no. . .its fine. . .they probably made it up to scare people. . .uh. . .that's the drive through. . .I gotta go." She started to walk away.

"Can you at least tell me your name?" Sam called after her as she walked away. She looked back at him and bit her lip before smiling shyly.

"Its Leah," then she did walk away. "Welcome to A&W, how may I help you?"

"One thing is for sure," Sam said as he watched her walk away. "We need to find a way to be in here when the restaurant closes. She is not dying tonight."

.~o()o~.

Reviews, as always, are welcome.