Authors Note: I just love when a series will take their UST characters and force them to pretend to be a couple to heighten the tension between them. So that's what this is in all it's cheesy goodness.

Also, I'm ignoring the fact that destroying ghosts on physical contact is probably slowly killing Rory. Or at least weakening her. I hope you enjoy it. I'm debating whether to leave this as a stand-alone story or continue on with more. Feedback on this would be much appreciated.

Spoilers: The Name of the Star, The Madness Underneath, The Shadow Cabinet, and maybe The Boy in the Smoke.

"I don't think he's going to show." I set her drink down on the bar next to Stephen's.

Stephen, unreadable as usual, picked up his drink while surreptitiously scanning the room. He remained quiet for a moment longer, eyeing the dozen or so patrons spread out around them.

"He'll show up." When he finally spoke he didn't look at me but kept his eyes out on the crowd. "He has to. This is his pattern. Serial killers like him always follow a pattern."

I shivered at the words serial killer. The last time I had dealings with a serial killer I had almost died. Now here I was, again, willingly putting myself in the path of another killer. I caught Stephen studying me, as if he could read my mind.

"Are you sure you're okay doing this?"

"Will you stop worrying about me? Yes. I've told you. I'm fine. I want to do this. I'm a member of the team now — this is my job."

It was obvious Stephen was still not thrilled about my eagerness to put myself in danger. I knew he felt okay with it for himself It was because he had no one. I, on the other hand, had a family I loved and who loved me back. He had warned me this wasn't an easy job even for those without family ties.

"Stop analyzing me." I pointed my finger at Stephen. "I know what you're doing. You're using your computer brain to assess my capabilities. I'm fully capable. So just shut that part of your brain down right now, mister."

I was enjoying this maybe a little bit more than I should. We hadn't had much opportunity to talk about what happened between us before he had died, nearly died, I still hated to think about that. I still can't handle the thought of Stephen not being in this world even for just a second. The miserable grief I had felt for him was still too recent even after these last couple of weeks. Stephen had kept his distance from me. I wasn't sure if he regretted kissing me or if he thought I had betrayed him with Jerome when I was trying to get him to run to safety. It had become an elephant in the room that neither of us were talking about. I had tried to bring it up a few times but every time I lost my nerve. I couldn't bear it if Stephen told me it had all been a mistake. Better to keep the unspoken tension between us rather than have that memory ruined with regret. Finally I was alone with Stephen in social setting, well sort of, and I still couldn't bring myself to say anything. Of course, we were technically working on a case so it really wasn't an optimal time to have that kind of a talk. Although I couldn't help but wonder why Stephen had agreed to go undercover with me as a couple. It had been my idea which he, of course, balked at but as our group discussed other options it become the best idea we had so far. We could have left it up to chance and hoped we could tail him when he went after a real couple, before he murdered them, of course. But it would be impossible to control the situation like we could if we were the couple. And none of us liked the idea of letting anymore innocents be in danger of this maniac. Originally I suggested Callum and Boo as the couple because I knew Boo was hoping to spark something more with Callum but Stephen pointed out that the killer had only targeted white college students so far. Then there was the awkward moment when Freddie and I exchanged glances, knowing that Stephen was the only guy left that fit the victim profile and he would need to choose a partner. Seemingly without much deliberation he had assigned me to be his pretend girlfriend. I'm not going to lie, I squealed a little on the inside. Ever since I met Freddie it was painfully obvious to me how well she fit into the group and why Stephen had been vetting her. She and Stephen had so much in common, similarly single-minded in their obsessions. I tried to ignore how that made my stomach turn a little sour whenever I thought about how well they work together.

"So why me?" I picked up my drink again to give me something to fiddle with. This would be closest I would come to asking him how he felt about me. Yeah, I know, I'm a coward. But I was also just buzzed enough to follow through with my inquiry, vague as it was.

"Why you, what?" He kept his back to the bar, leaning against it, without looking at me.

"Why did you choose me to be your partner tonight?" I tried to act nonchalant but I wasn't sure I was pulling it off. Stephen still wasn't looking at me so I took this opportunity to study his profile. I still felt a rush of emotions when I thought about how many times I had studied his face since that night Jane kidnapped me. In his parents bedroom and again when we thought he was dead. And again when I found him again. It was too good to be true to have him back but he was still just as out of reach to me as ever.

"Freddie is still too new." That sour feeling was edging into my stomach again. "You've worked with us longer. And…," he trailed off into his beer.

"And?" I might have been holding my breath a little.

"And," Stephen glanced my way but then quickly returned it to resume scanning the room. "We have a believable chemistry." It came out as a mutter as if he was trying to be casual but failing at it. Even so I could feel a blush creeping up my neck and into my face.

A smile teased at the edges of my mouth so I quickly grabbed my drink to hide the goofy grin I was fighting. He was about to say something more when his eye caught on someone walking into the bar. Stephen turned towards me and leaned in as if to give me a kiss on the cheek. I was caught of guard by the way I felt when the scent of him hit my senses.

"He's here." Stephen whispered. "By the door."

"Show time." I tried to force down the jittery nervous feeling rising up inside me. Some of which were due to the fact I could feel Stephen's breath on my skin.

Trying to act natural, I laced my fingers between Stephen's and smiled up at him with what I hoped was a seductive smile. Following my cue, Stephen leaned in again towards the side that was facing away from the ghost and pressed his check against mine. His skin was soft with just a gentle hint of stubble that stirred up some very unprofessional thoughts.

"Is he watching?" Stephen asked just under his breath and pulled back, much to my disappointment.

I shook my head almost imperceptibly causing Stephen to frown.

"There's another couple behind you that he's watching. The woman is practically sitting in the man's lap." I casually glanced at them before meeting his eyes.

"We might have to step this up then if we want to draw his attention." My pulse fluttered as I felt Stephen's breath in my ear as he leaned in again.

No small part of me wished he would really kiss me instead of miming it. I ran my hands up his arms to grip his shoulders, pretending that more was going in than there really was. I could feel his muscles through his shirt and recalled how good he had looked when I had seen him without a shirt on. I let my hands rove over his shoulders, down his back and then back up again to encircle his neck, burying my fingers in his dark hair. I suppressed a sigh at how soft his hair felt between my greedy fingers. Stephen must have been inspired by my acting because he trailed his hand along my outer thigh until his fingers reached the hem of my mini skirt where the heat of his lingering fingers seared my skin which made my breath hitch in my chest that I'm certain he noticed. A heavy breath fell on my neck right before I felt his lips land there sending shocks of electricity coursing through my body. Everything around us faded away from my mind except where his lips met my skin. Stephen pulled back enough to look into my face before leaning in to kiss me. I felt like I couldn't breath as his lips came down to meet mine. I had been replaying our last kiss over and over in my mind ever since. Fantasizing about how I would be able to get another chance to kiss him again. And I was finally getting my chance.

When we kissed before it was a shy, gentle meeting of lips. The last one a tender connection we shared in that other dimension. This kiss was nothing like those other two times. This time he crushed his lips against mine with an intensity that slammed me against the chair back of the bar stool. He was hungry for my lips, my tongue, my teeth. I grabbed fistfuls of his hair to steady myself and he cupped the back of my neck in kind.

Finally he pulled back to rest his forehead against mine while we caught our panting breaths. I was stunned by the way his eyes had darkened and grown heavy as he looked at me. My lips rose up to meet his again almost of their own accord.

"Wrap your legs around me." He breathed against my lips just before I could capture his mouth with mine.

He swallowed my shuttering breath as I opened my legs for him, my entire body sizzling in response. The heat of his body seeped into me as he pulled me into a tighter embrace. I squeezed my legs around his waist in an effort to draw him in even closer. Stephen's hand slid up under my skirt to reach higher up my leg and I moaned into his mouth. My head spun from the sensations of his body pressed against mine and his hand burning a path up my thigh. Our original objective had completely left my thoughts and I grabbed at him like we were the only two people in the world.

I was immersed so completely in Stephen that it took me a few seconds of the bartender yelling at us to pull me back to reality.

"Hey! Hey! This isn't a motel. Go hump each other somewhere else."

I blushed furiously as I pulled my skirt back down over lap while Stephen disentangled himself from me. To my surprise Stephen didn't seem as sheepish as I felt. As amazingly hot as our mad make-out session was I was hyper aware of the looks we were getting from the patrons nearby. The man next to us made a remark I didn't quite catch but from his tone I had a pretty good idea what it was he meant. I took Stephen's hand when he offered it to me and escorted me out of the bar with an arm firmly around my waist, very low on my waist, holding me impossibly close to him. He made a point to stop us by the door to capture another kiss from me, threading his fingers in my hair to tilt my face towards his. This was a side of Stephen I had never met but I was certainly hoping to get to know more of.

He led me to the alley way three doors down from the bar and pressed me against the building when we were a few feet in. I felt the rough bricks firmly against my back and bare legs when Stephen leaned into me. He was solid and warm and in that moment completely mine. I groped every part of him I could get my hands on. He responded by kissing me with that same ferocity as before that would have made me collapse if he wasn't pinning me to the wall.

I sighed his name as his mouth blazed a trail of hot kisses down my throat and I turned my head to expose more of my neck to him. His voice was coarse in my ear and it took me a moment to register what he was saying. It sank in just as the specter rounded the corner of the alleyway. It felt like I was hit with ice water that overpowered the heat from Stephen's body. The heat spreading through me from Stephen's body was immediately extinguished with a cold shiver. It was like ice water had been poured over us and I knew that Stephen was counting on me to take care of this. Callum and Boo had the only other terminus but they were still in position down the road in the waiting in case something went wrong. It made more sense to let the murderous ghost get close enough to us for me to grab him than try to keep him in one place long enough to hit him with their terminus. The mental fog I was in quickly faded as I recalled the brutality of his murders on unsuspecting lovers sharing an impassioned moment as any couple is apt to do. His M.O was always the same. He would come up behind the man and bash his head into whatever was handy — a wall, the ground, a rock. Once the guy was incapacitated he would then slam the woman down until she died from the impacts. Stephen had a theory that the ghost was jilted in his former life and was taking it out on the couples he had to watch all around him every day.

I let my lashes fall just far enough to look like they were closed as I watched his slow but steady approach. He was clearly reveling in this moment, emboldened by the assumption we were unaware of his presence until it was too late. Like all ghosts, he moved with an eerie fluid grace that made no sound as he advanced towards us. I pretended to cry out in ecstasy for good measure as we continued to play the part of a horny couple grinding against each other, too consumed by our own passion to wait until our night out was over. My breathing quickened and I felt Stephen tense in response than with one quick motion I pushed Stephen off me to the side just as the ghost brought his hand up to grab him. The stunned ghost stood there with his arm outstretched just long enough for me to reach out and grab him. A second later, the familiar flash of light and smell of flowers filled the alley way.

I could still feel the residual tingle of energy from the banishment as Stephen pulled me into an embrace.

"Are you okay?" He whispered into my hair.

"Yeah." I answered, pulling myself tighter against him. He returned the hug with equal force, as if he couldn't get me close enough.