Author's Note: So I left it open ended because I like where it's ends in chapter 3 but wanted to keep an open mind for a future story. But it is Complete! The idea came from watching Las Vegas TV show where they did Ghosts of Christmas. This my weirdo un-christmas related version of that so please be kind with your reviews.

#################

Mike stopped before the headstone, he knew it was silly to fork out the money for a slab of stone given there was nothing buried beneath. It was an empty grave but he'd needed something, he had needed something to mark their existence, the loss of their life.

He knelt down and brushed the autumn leaves off the stone, the names revealing themselves. 'Slattery' read at the top while it listed his wife Christine, his children Hannah, Courtney and Lucas. He'd finally found out what had happened to his wife and daughters. They had died from the virus.

The immunes had infected their camp, when the symptoms of the first victim showed- well it was too late for the rest. It had taken three investigators and every spare moment Mike had away from the ship to find this information out. They had been cremated, their ashes lost in a pile of many. No bodies to bury, no physical form for him to farewell, only a piece of paper that read 'Christine Ann Slattery, found deceased with two children; names unknown.'

He moved the dried up bouquet from his last visit to the side; replacing them with a fresh one. He pressed a palm to the cold stone. "I miss you all so much." He told them in a hushed voice, pain laced through his chest as he felt so painfully hollowed out. He wished he could feel something more than the deadened feeling inside.

The days passed slowly, he just kept going with the flow but he'd lost the passion of life, he'd lost the ability to smile, some days he wondered if he was really still alive as he couldn't feel his own heart beat. But he knew the truth, he was just as dead as his family. His throat ached and tears filled his eyes.

He closed them, letting the tears fall; he was alone in a graveyard. The caretaker a few yards away wouldn't notice. Thoughts of his children and wife brought fresh pain and grief to the surface. He wanted to be able to say something but the words would not come out. The pain was so great, he pressed a hand to his chest and tried to breathe but instead fell to the ground.

The next moment, he was standing over his own body in confusion. He watched as himself cry out in pain, the caretaker must have heard him as he came running.

"It's not as dramatic as the TV shows, where is the music and the montage of activity?"

Mike turned to find Christine at his side, he looked back to where he was laying on the ground and then to her again. His brain couldn't compute.

"I know, it's confusing." Christine told him sympathetically as if this happened to everyone.

"What's going on here? Am I dead?" he asked part of him didn't care as she was here. She was here beside him and all he could think was how much he'd missed her. How beautiful she looked, it was like no time had passed for her, in fact she looked just the way she had when he'd kissed her goodbye before leaving on the Nathan James for the Arctic mission.

"Oh no," she shook her head. "But you're dying right now, broken heart. If you live, they'll tell you it was a mild myocardial infarction. Right now it's all in the air as it were." Christine added in such a jovial and conversational manner like they were talking about breakfast options not his life.

"What?" he asked confused by everything that was happening.

"Heart attack, you've been killing yourself with grief and work. So don't pretend you didn't see this happening. Let's walk. We don't need to watch this." Christine said, she took his hand in hers and pulled him to follow.

"But-" he didn't finish the question as he wanted to follow her instead. He let her pull him away as he could physical feel her hand in his. They walked hand in hand through the cemetery. It was so surreal to see her so alive and well.

"You've gotten old." She teased him.

"You died." He retorted, she gave him a soft smile and chuckled.

"I did," She agreed, there was no argument or delusion to this.

"Where are the kids?" Mike asked her, if he was in some kind of limbo, then he wanted to see them. She stopped walking and turned to him with a sad smile.

"Happy and safe, they miss you, they are sad they couldn't be here but there was only so much time and you know how good they are at distracting us." She said to him the sadness evaporating from her smile, turning it warm. Mike wrapped his arms around her, relishing the physical contact even though it wasn't real.

"So why are you here?" he asked her.

"Think of me as the Ghost of your Past. This is your spiritual intervention." Christine told him as she ran her hands down his arms. She chuckled at her own joke or maybe at him as he was gobsmacked.

"You're my present-" Mike started to argue but she cut him off.

"No, we had our time and it was beautiful. I will always treasure it, always but it's over." She said looking up at him.

"I don't want it to be over." He told her, his heart aching for the future stolen from him and his family.

"I know, it's why you're lying on the ground over there. But Mike, I want you to live, I want you to be happy, your life is not over." She told him.

"Maybe I want it to be. Maybe I want to give it up." He told her, part of him was telling the truth and there was relief in admitting it. But she just shook her head.

"That's not who you are, that isn't the man I married and made three beautiful children with." She said.

"You're all gone, I'm alone." Mike said painfully. Tears filled her eyes as she shook her head again.

"No, you're not. You never have been because we are still with you; in here." she placed a hand on his chest over his heart. "You take us everywhere you go, and we want you move on and be happy." She told him, she pulled out of his arms and took his hand again.

"I don't think I can." Mike said as he followed her.

"You can, I know you can." She assured him. Mike heard the slam of door behind them and turned to see the doors an ambulance close. He turned to Christine but she was gone, instead he found himself holding hands with Tom.