"Why was this happening?" It was the thought that kept running through his head as he watched the blood run out of his body. That and how his great grandmother's rug was going to be stained beyond repair.
Why was this happening now? He was still young and had so much he still wanted to do in his life. The tears began to fall silently as he felt his heartbeat slow. The men ransacking his house looking for anything of value were nothing compared to the thought of what he was losing. Lost before ever having found love, marriage, children to carry on the family name. He was the last son, his family name would disappear into the past now with no one left to carry it on.
In his mind's eye he could see her, the child he had always wanted but would never have, running in the yard of the family estate, the sun shining down on her blond hair and hazel eyes. Hazel? That was odd, his eyes were not hazel. No one in his family had ever had hazel eyes. This was one final mystery of his mind that he thought would never be answered as the blackness took him.
He was wrong.
Even as he sunk into the darkness and a sense of cold, calm serenity overtook him, his soul cried out for all he had failed to find. It was like a knife to his heart, it tore at him and he reached out into the blackness to try to find something to hold onto, to pull himself back up. He didn't know where he was going, just that he didn't want to be there. He wanted to go back, he wanted to go home. He screamed, but no sound escaped him. And in that moment a bright light engulfed him, and he was no longer in the darkness. He was nowhere.
Then he was home. Specifically in the little room in the attic he keep his telescope set up in. It had a wonderful view of the night sky from a large window. He would spend so many nights here staring at the sky. In fact this was where he had been when he heard the front door get kicked in. He had run down the stairs without thinking about what could possibly be the reason for someone to do that. He could hear them still in the house below and everything started to rush back to him in a wave, crashing into his mind.
The gunshot to his stomach was like a punch, but then he saw the blood on his hand when he went to grab the wound, and the loss of feeling in his legs as the bullet severed his spine. He immediately collapsed at the foot of the stairs, the intruders just stepping over him as he lay gasping on the floor. The blood so much blood. The memories were still so painful and he screamed again and was gone..
When he came back,he was still in the attic room but sunlight was streaming in through the window. He somehow knew that days had passed while he was in that nowhere place. When he looked out the window he could see police cars in the yard, and an ambulance. Was he still alive? Is that why he was still here, a soul waiting to go back into an unconscious body? He started to feel a warm hope in his chest, until he saw them carrying out the body bag and cold reality sank in. He was dead; they had killed him right there at the foot of the stairs.
He died in a pool of blood on his great grandmother's rug. It was days before anyone came looking for him. The thought that no one noticed he was missing, that no one cared that much about him was like being dunked in a bath of ice water. He felt another scream coming on, but he tried to hold it back, he didn't want to go back to that nowhere place. It was building inside him, he could feel it and no matter what he did he couldn't stop the despair from taking him.
He screamed.
The next time Jim was aware of his surroundings he knew a few more days had passed. When he looked out the window into the afternoon sun he could see a large truck in the yard in front of the house. There were also men loading his furniture and other belongings into it. At first he was worried but when he saw a familiar old buick four door pull up the drive he knew things were okay. Christopher Pike stepped out of the Buick and onto the front porch of the old farm house, and Jim seemed to feel his despair all the way up in the attic. The dark suit he was wearing made Jim think Chris might have just been to the funeral of one his favorite students.
When Jim was young, not yet ten years old, his father had been killed in a tragic car accident, hit head on by a drunk driver. The loss had hit his mother hard. It took a couple years but the courts eventually found her unfit to raise her child, and Jim was sent into the system, while his mother sought help.
The first place he was sent was The Tarsus Institute, a hellish home for children. They were under strict rules that were too easily broken or changed on a whim to suit the administrations need to punish. And punish they did. Children were starved or made to do hours of manual labor for a meager offering of food. Jim learned early that the world inside those walls had no mercy for the weak, so he had to have it for them himself. It was months before the authorities finally came and closed the place down only to find the children all severely malnourished. Jim was the worst of them all, as he regularly shared his small meals with younger kids he felt needed it more.
The next place he was sent was a vast improvement. The Academy was run by Headmaster Pike. It had an older but well maintained campus of buildings with many amenities most kids in his position only dreamed about. They challenged Jim's intellect, and made him strive to improve himself. Once Pike found out about Jim's love of stargazing he bought him a telescope to use on clear nights. He took a real interest in Jim and his future, he was the father figure Jim needed at the time.
Once his mother was deemed fit and ready to take him back, he didn't want to leave. Pike appealed to his caring nature and made him see that if he should stay he would be taking a spot from another child who needed it, who might not have the best place to stay at the moment. Jim conceded because he knew how good the Academy was for him and couldn't dream of denying that chance to another.
He and his mother lived together in the old Kirk family farm house for many years. Even after college, he came back to the farm. After she died, a few years later from illness Jim realized that he needed to think of the future and drew up a Last Will and Testament. He didn't have any family to leave his estate to at that point but he knew that accidents happened, and murder as it would turn out, and someone should get his things. So he left his estate and all his worldly possessions as a charitable donation to The Academy, to be sold off and the money used to improve the lives of as many at risk children as possible.
So the sight of Headmaster Pike supervising the packing of his things made him sigh in relief that his final wishes were being upheld. It was in that moment of calm that the door to his little attic room was opened and in walked two moving men and Christopher Pike himself. Jim startled and froze for a moment wondering if they would see him standing by the window, but they made no indication that they did. Chris walked around the tiny room with a look of exhaustion on his face. When he spotted the telescope by the window a small sad smile formed He walked over to it, laying a gentle hand on the brass as a silent sob wracked his tall frame.
Jim reached out to try to comfort his friend only to have his hand pass right through Chris' shoulder. The man shuddered and turned to dismantle the telescope, carefully placing it inside the felt lined case on the floor beside it. He took the case and placed it in the trunk of his car and left the house. Jim was so distracted watching him go that he didn't even notice when the movers finished clearing out the few other items in the room and left closing the door behind them.
He tried to follow them but his hand went right through the door knob. "Well shit," he thought, but then it occurred to him, if his hand went through the knob maybe the rest of him would too. He stepped towards the door, fully expecting to pass right through it. Instead his head slammed against the door and he was knocked back on his ass.
He was trapped in the attic.
Years passed before his eyes. The Academy put Jim's house up for the sale. He saw the realtors come with happy couples looking to settle down and start a family. They were always smiling and in awe of the house at first, but that would change when the history of the home was revealed. Each couple would walk back to their car, shaking their heads, never to be seen again. Eventually they just stopped coming.
Christopher Pike didn't let the house fall into disrepair though. Every week someone came to care for the lawn. Every few years they checked to make sure the structure was still sound. Jim just stared out his window at the world. Thirty years passed and it felt like an eternity and at the same time like the blink of an eye.
One day Pike came back to the house and Jim could see the years on him. His hair was grey, he was walking with a limp, but he seemed better. Of course he did. Thirty years was too long to mourn. Jim was sure he had moved onto the happy memories of their past together rather than the loss. He then noticed that Chris was not there alone. A tall, dark haired man stepped out of the passenger side of the car and went to join Chris as he walked up to the porch.
Jim strained to hear the conversation going on downstairs through the vent in the floor. It seemed Chris was giving the mystery man a tour of the house. As they headed up the stairs it became easier to hear what they were saying. "It might be old, but it's in good shape. I think it would be perfect for you and your girl."
"It gorgeous, I can't believe it's vacant. Jojo's gonna love it here." Jim could listen to that southern drawl all day, every day for the rest of time.
"Well we were trying to sell it for the longest time, but the property has a bit of a sordid history. Most people just couldn't get past it, so we just stopped trying. Decided it might just come in handy some day, and here that day is." Sordid history? God Chris what an understatement, thought Jim. It was so ridiculous to him he actually laughed.
"Did ya hear that?" the mystery man asks Chris, and if Jim could breathe he would have held his breath at that moment. Had this man heard his laugh?
"Oh, I'm sure it was just a breeze making the house creak some. The attic is pretty drafty." Chris just blew it off . "I'll get someone out to look at it, but there is only so much you can do for a house this old."
"I wouldn't worry too much about it. I grew up in an old house like this, I understand. Honestly, I can't tell you how much I appreciate you offering this place. It's more than I could have hoped for from an employer."
"Hey, anything to get a doctor of your caliber on staff at The Academy. I know the past couple of years have been tough on you and your girl, but I want to make sure you feel at home here. So what do you say Leonard?"
"I'll have the movers bring my things first thing Monday, get myself and Jojo all settled in and be at work in a week." Jim could almost hear the smile in the man's voice.
The weekend seemed to drag for Jim. He wanted to see this Leonard again. He might not be able to leave the attic, but he still had his window. Chris was obviously trying to make a good impression for this guy as a cleaning crew came to the house on Saturday. They cleaned and polished all the wood throughout the farmhouse, which was pretty much the whole house. The electricity was turned back on and the appliances plugged back in and checked out to make sure they still worked. They even came all the way up to his little room in the attic to dust and polish. He had hoped they would forget to close the door all the way when they went back downstairs. He wasn't so lucky though.
When Monday finally rolled around he couldn't stop staring out the window, waiting for Leonard to arrive. So when he saw the truck pulling up the drive he was practically jumping up and down in excitement. After thirty years of isolation the thought of having people in the house with him again was almost to much to handle. The fact that this person also happened to be an extremely handsome man with a southern drawl that made Jim tingle was just the icing on the cake.
The moving truck pulled up to the house and parked close to the porch. Two large men in coveralls got out of the cab and opened up the back to start unloading. A small green car pulled up alongside the truck and Jim could see Leonard as he got out of the drivers side. A moment later the back door whipped open and out jumped a girl of maybe six years old. She was wearing a purple sundress and sandals that must have had some sort of glitter or sequins on them as they sparkled brightly in the sun. Her long, light brown hair flowing freely over her shoulders. This must be the Jojo that Jim had heard Leonard talking about with Chris.
The sweet little girl skipped out into the yard and proceeded to start spinning in place, arms out stretched, face lifted up towards the sun. Jim noticed a small stuffed bear in her hand, and her hair was shining in the sunlight and looked blonde from up above. Jim thought she looked familiar to him, which was confusing as he'd been alone for thirty years, and hadn't spent time with children for decades prior to his death. Jim was convinced he had seen her before though and he searched his memory for an answer.
Suddenly a vision came to him, and he remembered when he had thought it before. The girl, this Jojo, was the spitting image of the child Jim had seen in his mind's eye as he lay bleeding on the rug at the foot of the stairs. The vision of the child he would never have. The child with the hazel eyes. A cold shudder ran through what he knew as his body, and cold dread began to curl in the pit of his soul again, for the first time in thirty years.
He watched as Leonard called Jojo into the house as the moving men began to bring in their furniture and boxes. He needed to see her up close, he needed to see her eyes. He needed to prove to himself one way or another that she was not the child he was meant to have. That what was moving into the farmhouse was not the life he was meant to be living. It was too much to think he would have to watch the perfect family life he would never have play out below him, while trapped in the attic.
In a panic he slammed against the barrier over the door, again and again, trying to get out of that room. He hit it harder and harder and the door shook in the frame but would not open. He could hear them downstairs.
"What's that noise daddy?" She was scared, he was scaring her but he had to get out.
"Sounds like the attic door. It's a bit drafty up there sweetie, probably just a strong wind," Leonard rationalized. Jim's panic turned to despair as he failed to release himself from his prison. He screamed silently and then was gone.
"It's scary daddy, make it stop." Jojo voice was small and scared as she gripped her father's leg.
"Come on, let's go take a look so you know it's nothing to be scared of, okay." Leonard picked up his daughter and headed up the stairs towards the attic.
"Together?" she whispered.
"Of course together. I'll never leave you, I promise." As they entered the top floor they saw the only closed door was the one to the small room near the back of the house. Leonard gently turned the knob and opened the door as Jojo hid her face in his shoulder.
The door opened easily enough and the room inside was empty, save for the large window. "There, you see it was just the wind sneaking in through the old window that was making the door shake like that. Nothing to be scared of."
"Yeah, okay daddy. Can you leave it open though, so it doesn't happen again?" She asked her father with a small voice.
He set her down on the floor and started looking around, "That sounds like a good idea jelly bean." He bent over to pick up something near the door. It was an old, rubber doorstop. He placed it at the bottom of the open door and pushed it tightly under it with his toe. "That should do the trick. No more scary door shaking. Come on, let's go see if the phones are working yet and order some pizza."
All fears forgotten Jojo jumped for joy, "Pizza!" and then ran back down the stairs to the first floor.
"No running on the stairs! And hold onto the bannister!" Leonard called out as he took after his child at a quick pace.
When Jim came back it had been a few more days but he hadn't calmed down that much. He knew they were still downstairs. He stared out the window as he reappeared in the little room in the attic that had become a prison for him for the last thirty years. If he could cry he would. He could feel the new presence in the house. They seemed so happy, the giggly little girl and her doting father. They lit up his small corner of the world. It was everything Jim had always dreamt of for himself.
He wished in that moment he could just disappear and not return. He felt himself start to slip away and he turned around to wish the house on last goodbye and he was greeted by an open door. His jaw dropped open as he saw the little rubber door stop shoved into the bottom of the door that had barred his way for thirty years. His feet were firmly in this plane of existence again when he took the first step towards the opening before him.
As he slowly moved forward towards the doorway fear gripped him. What if the barrier was still there? What if he was still trapped in this room with an open door to taunt him? If that happened and he could not move on he wasn't sure how he would cope. When he reaches where he knew the barrier had been he stopped, took a deep breath, closed his eyes and stepped forward. His foot passed right over the threshold and into the next room. His eyes flew open and his excitement to finally be out of that little room made him giddy.
He nearly ran towards the stairs, but decided at the last moment to slow down, in case he hit another barrier. He didn't want to get knocked down again and scare his new roommates with a loud noise. He grinned broadly at the thought. Roommates, they didn't even know he was there. He took the first step on the stairs and once he was sure there was no force blocking his way he headed downstairs to the second floor.
He could hear Leonard reading a bedtime story to his daughter. "He wasn't hungry anymore, and he wasn't little anymore. Now he was a big, fat caterpillar." The girl giggled at the funny way her father read the classic story to her. It warmed Jim's heart. He slowly made his way down the hallway towards the voices. He realized that Jojo was set up in Jim's childhood room. "Alright jelly bean time to sleep. Give me a hug and a kiss." Jim snuck a peek around the door, knowing he would be unseen. The father and daughter's precious moment was enough to make some of what Jim had been through worth it to see this.
"But daddy, I can't find Buttons." The little girl's voice was obviously distraught. From Leonard's immediate panic, Jim could tell that it was important to find this Buttons. He watched Leonard drop to the floor and start looking under the bed and around the room. He started to crawl towards the door Jim was standing in and he involuntarily started to back up, out of the way. He stepped back into the bathroom directly across the hall.
As he turned to look at his surroundings, he saw the small teddy bear he had seen her holding that first day, sitting on the counter next to the sink. This must be the lost Buttons. He reached for it only for his hand to pass right through the toy, but it did tip over onto it's nose. That was interesting. Jim reached for the bear again to see if he could move it again, only for another hand to reach the bear first. Jim looked up, into the face of the most handsome man he had ever seen.
"There you are Buttons, you shouldn't wander off like that," Leonard said loudly enough for his voice to carry across the hall to Jojo. He smiled and Jim's heart melted at the sight of his dimples. Leonard turned back towards the hall to return the bear to it's owner.
Jim spent the next few weeks wandering the house. Testing his limits. It turned out he could go anywhere in the house now, regardless of closed doors. He couldn't move past the porch though. Jim figured this was about as good as it could get and spent some time sitting on the porch watching the world go by.
He also took some time to look at all the things that Leonard and Jojo had brought into his old home. Photos on the wall, knick knacks and family heirlooms, and artwork that now hung on the fridge. Turned out that Jojo, which was short for Joanna he learned from eavesdropping, was a happy child with a bright imagination and a love of finger paints. Mostly her paintings seemed to be the Adventures of Buttons the Bear. He did quite a bit of traveling while Jojo was at school.
Wednesday was art day for Jojo's class and every week Jim would make sure to be in the kitchen when his two roommates came home so he could hear all about Buttons' latest adventure and see the painting that went with it. It made him think of all the stories he came up with in his youth.
Another thing he tried to do was move things. He was sure he had made the bear tip over that night and wanted to know if he could move anything and how far. He was able to strengthen this skill enough to actually pick up Leonards keys out of the little bowl he kept them in. He was so excited by it that he immediately lost concentration and dropped them right in the middle of the floor and was unable to pick them up again.
When Leonard came looking for them later Jim couldn't stop apologizing. Even though he knew he wasn't being heard, but then Leonard looked behind him and around the corner of the wall like he had heard something. When he couldn't find the source of the noise, he shrugged it off and put the keys back in the bowl. Jim was so flabbergasted that he just stood there for an hour letting it process that Leonard had heard him.
After that he tried talking to them all the time. It didn't worked though, neither Leonard or Jojo seemed to notice him at all. Until one night after Leonard had finished reading Jojo her bedtime story, that night it had been Ferdinand. Jim had stayed behind in the room, as Leonard moved down the hall, Jim sighed "That is a great one, I love that story."
"Me too, it's one of my favorites." Jim stared at the girl all bundled up in her bed, bear tucked up under her chin.
"You can hear me?" He whispered, moving closer to the bed.
"Of course I can silly." Joanna looks in the direction she thinks the voice is coming from.
"But you never acted like you could before?" Jim was trying not to get too excited about this development.
"That's because Daddy can't hear you and I didn't want to be shipped off to the crazy people place." The 'duh', was obvious if not vocal.
Jim laughed a bit and sat on the floor next to the bed, "Your daddy would never send you anywhere, who told you that?"
"Missy at school says people who hear voices no one else can hear are crazy and get sent to a place full of other crazy people and live in rooms with pillows on the walls." This Missy was obviously the authority on these things.
"You're not crazy, and even if you were your daddy loves you too much to let anyone take you anywhere." Jim smiled at the girl, he wanted so much to hug her.
"So, are you dead?" Jim was taken back a bit by her blunt question.
"Uhm, yeah, I am. Does that scare you?" He certainly didn't want to scare her, but he didn't want to lie either.
"Are you mean? Are you going to hurt me or Daddy?"
"No, no absolutely not. No." Jim was a little hurt by the child's accusation, but knew she was just trying to figure him out.
"Then I'm not scared of you. Do you have a name?" She didn't seem like his answer was a surprise, and just kept on with the questions.
"James, but you can call me Jimmy or Jim."
"I like Jimmy, that's a nice name. No one scary could ever be named Jimmy. My name is Joanna, but everyone calls me Jojo." She smiled and snuggled Buttons a little closer. "Why are you in my house?" She let out a little yawn, she wasn't going to be awake much longer.
"Well, it used to be my house. I grew up here. This was my room when I was a kid. Maybe tomorrow I can tell you about my secret hiding places." Oh he was going to really enjoy his time with Jojo, now that he knew they could talk to each other. He smiled down at her. "I just wonder why your daddy can't hear me?" he muttered under his breath.
"Because he's a grown up and lost all his imagination. He doesn't believe in ghosts." The answer was so obvious that only a child could see it. When he looked down at her again, she was fast asleep. He leaned over and gently kissed her forehead, and she smiled in her sleep. He was just going to have to work harder to get Leonard to hear him.
Jim headed down the hallway to go see what Leonard was up to. He could usually find him on the couch downstairs and would watch a bit of TV or a movie with him. Tonight though Jim could tell that all the lights downstairs were off and there was no sound from the TV. Leonard must have gone to bed early. As Jim passed by Leonard's bedroom door he heard the sound of talking coming low from behind the door. The voice Jim could hear was much too deep to be Leonard, but Jim didn't remember anyone else come by the house.
He faded into the room through the shadows as he had learned to do when entering a room with a closed door. Once inside he found Leonard on the bed in nothing but some old baggy sweat pants, bare chested the thin patch of dark hair that trailed down below his belly button clearly visible. The sight of it did things to Jim that he hadn't experienced since his college days.
Leonard's laptop was sitting on the mattress next to him, there was something playing on it but the volume was turned way down and Jim couldn't quite make out what the people were saying. He moved closer and marveled at how far technology had come in thirty years. He moved forward to see what movie Leonard might be watching. He hoped it was science fiction, he loved space movies.
As he got nearer to the bed he couldn't stop staring at Leonard's chest. It was the most magnificent thing he had seen in a long time. It was so distracting he had stopped paying attention to the laptop screen. Now that he was close enough he could hear the movie, not that there was much dialogue.
It was the sound of flesh hitting flesh that finally caught his attention. Leonard was watching porn. Male on male porn, and from the way the front of his sweats were starting to tent he was really enjoying it. jim watched as Leonard's hand slowly slid down his stomach towards the waistband of his pants, his eyes never leaving the screen. His fingers hook over the edge of his pants and pulled them down, freeing his erection. If he had needed to breath Jim might have stopped right then.
Leonard pulled up a small bottle of lube from beside him, slicked up his palm and started to slowly stroke himself. He was larger than Jim had imagined he might be, and he was regretting not living long enough to feel it for himself. Just the thought of Leonard taking him with that made Jim shudder with pleasure. He moved his own hand to his pants, wanting to join Leonard. He wasn't thinking about whether or not he actually could, suddenly he just was. Part of him still remembered what it felt like and he held on to that memory tightly. When he looked down he saw he was naked and had taken himself in hand. He began to speed up his rhythm to match Leonard, who was trying to match the men in the movie.
Watching Leonard's face as he brought himself closer Jim involuntarily reached out to wrap his hand around Leonard's. Instead of passing right through him though Jim's hand seemed to meld with his. Jim could feel the weight of Leonard's penis in his hand, the girth and warmth. Leonard let out a groan that made Jim's hips jerk forward, and he sped up his strokes as he brought both of them closer to orgasm. Leonard had closed his eyes and flung his head back on the pillow his hips thrusting up to meet each stroke. Just watching what was happening brought Jim to climax. There was no mess though just a surge of heat and pleasure shooting through him.
Jim kept moving his hand with Leonard's. Or was Leonard's hand moving with his? He tried slowing down his pace to test it and it slowed, and Leonard was too far gone to notice that he was no longer in control. Jim moved closer, kneeling on the bed beside him. He wanted to try something. He leaned over Leonard's waist and swiped the flat of his tongue over the tip, licking away at the precum that had collected there. He didn't actually lick it up, just moved it a little, but the reaction he got from Leonard was unmistakable, Leonard had felt that. The thrill of this new discovery made Jim brave, and he leaned over again and took as much of Leonard's length into his mouth as he could. Leonard cried out as he came suddenly, completely taken surprise by the sensation. Jim could just taste the saltiness of his cum, even if it only dripped down onto Leonard's hand.
Leonard's eyes had flew open, and he scanned the room as he sat up. Jim was kneeling on the bed right beside him, but he was still unseen. "What the hell was that?" Leonard was out of breath but seemed satisfied as he flopped back down on his pillow. Jim left the room as silently as he had entered, thinking of all the new possibilities this discovery could open up for him.
The next morning Jim was starting to feel a little guilty about what he had done with Leonard. What he had done to Leonard, if he wanted to be realistic, done without permission. Sure Leonard had enjoyed it, but that didn't excuse his behaviour. He spent the rest of the day in his little room in the attic, punishing himself. It wasn't until later that evening when he was listening in as Leonard was putting Jojo to bed that he realized he wasn't only punishing himself, but her as well. Which made him feel all the worse.
"I can't go to bed yet daddy, I can't find Jimmy. I have to say goodnight to Jimmy or he might be sad." The little girl whined.
"Who's Jimmy?" Leonard was wondering which of her stuffed animals she had misplaced this time.
"He's my ghost friend. He used to live here, this was his room." She explained.
"Your ghost friend? Do you mean your imaginary friend?" Leonard smiled, imaginary friends were normal for kids her age.
"He's not imaginary, he's real." Jim could practically hear her stick out her bottom lip as she pouted. Of course Leonard would think him imaginary, Jim was fine with it too. Much easier to explain away.
"Alright, he's real. Maybe he had another little girl to go visit today. I'm sure he'll be back tomorrow," Leonard tried to calm her worries.
"But what if he doesn't come back, what if he's gone forever?" Jojo questioned.
"I wouldn't worry too much about it jelly bean." Jim could hear Leonard move from the room into the hallway. Well at least he didn't seem to traumatised by his experience last night, but it could not happen again. At least not until there was a clear understanding of what was happening. Leonard's bedroom was off limits from now on Jim decided.
The next day was Saturday, so no school for Jojo. The perfect chance for Jim to do a little groveling to his new best friend. At first Jim was worried she couldn't hear him any longer, she wasn't responding to any of his apologies. He soon realized that she was ignoring him, so he had to think of a better way to win her forgiveness. She had her back to him and was playing with a lovely doll house, she was sitting too close to it for Jim to get in front of her to manipulate the dolls without touching her. So he decided to go a different route and picked up Buttons the bear from her bed. He started making him 'walk' over to Jojo all while speaking in a funny, bear voice about how sorry Jim was and that she should forgive him so they could play together. Jim saw her peek a glance over her shoulder, her eyes widening as she saw the bear gliding across the floor seemingly under its own power, until it jumped up and started nuzzling her cheek and tickling her into a fit of giggles.
"Okay, okay, I forgive you! Stop tickling me!" Jim relented in his attack and set the bear on the floor between them.
"I am sorry for not being around yesterday. Something happened and I was upstairs thinking it through." Jim sighed. "I never meant to upset you. I would never do that."
"Were you sad about something?" Jojo asked, clearly worried about Jim's well being.
"Kinda, but I'm doing better now."
"I wish I could give you a hug. Daddy says my hugs are magical and could brighten up a cloudy day." Jojo smiled in his direction.
"I bet they could, you seemed like just the girl too have magic hugs." Jim was happy to have earned his friend back.
Jojo scooted over a little bit, "Would you like to play dollies with me?" She asked gesturing to the dollhouse.
"I would love to." Jim and Jojo spent the rest of the morning with the dollhouse. Jim gave all the dolls funny voices and made them dance around until Jojo couldn't stop laughing at their antics.
When Leonard came upstairs to get her for lunch he heard her talking from the hallway. He was glad that her imaginary friend seemed to have come back for another visit. He was about to leave her to her playing for a few more minutes as she seemed to be having a lot of fun, but then he heard what was unmistakably a male voice come from the room. Was there a man in the house he didn't know about, maybe Jimmy wasn't as imaginary as he thought. It scared him to think some stranger was hiding in his house, befriending his daughter. He burst through the door ready to fight only to find sitting Joanna alone in front of her dollhouse. It didn't make sense. "Daddy! Jimmy came back and is playing dollies with me."
"I can tell, there is no way just one little girl could make this much of a mess by herself." Leonard joked, trying to make sense of what he had heard from the other side of the door. "Come on, your lunch is waiting."
"P B and J with the crusts cut off?" She stood and headed towards the door.
"Of course, and some grapes and cheese." Leonard smiled at his daughter as she gave him a big hug around his waist.
"Don't worry Jojo, I'll get this mess cleaned up while you eat. Then we can play something else when you come back." Jim whispered. He knew Leonard probably wouldn't hear him, but the way Leonard had burst in the room Jim wondered if that wasn't entirely true anymore. Though Leonard didn't make any sign he had heard him then.
Jim was good on his word and by the time Jojo came back upstairs her room was spotless. And soon she was running down the stairs to show her father her newly found treasures. "Daddy look, Jimmy showed me where his secret hiding hole in the floor of his closet was and his stuff was still in there." Leonard looked at the armful of things and motioned for her to put them down on the coffee table.
Included were an old photograph of a mother, father and young son standing in front of the porch, a old deck of cards, a bag of plastic army men and a couple of comic books lovingly stored in plastic comic bags with cardboard backboards. "Jimmy said I should give the comic books to you to hold on to and by the time I'm old enough they may pay my way through college. He wouldn't even let me read them." Joanna pouted.
Leonard stared at her, there was no way his daughter could have come up with that. He set the comics aside and picked up the photograph, the family in it looked very happy. All three were blonde and blue eyed, and from their clothing Leonard would say it was at least forty years old. "Is this Jimmy?" He showed the picture to Jojo.
"I can't see Jimmy, only hear him. He said the picture was taken when he was little, but he's a lot older now." She answered. "Can we put it on the fridge?"
"You mind if I take this for a few days first. I want to show it to Mr. Pike, see if he knows who it is, okay?" Leonard's mind was reeling.
"Okay daddy, but don't lose it." She grabbed the army men and ran back upstairs.
When Leonard went back to work on Monday he took the photograph over to the Headmaster's office. Christopher Pike took one look at the photo and got a sad smile on his face. "That's James. He's a little younger here than when I met him, but that is definitely him. He came to me after his father had died and his mother was too gone to take care of him. He had a rough time in care before he came to The Academy. He was so smart and caring, but with a fearless streak. I kept tabs on him even after he left us and went home, the house you're in now. It was a real shame what happened to him." Chris sighed as he leaned back in his chair.
"What happened to him? You said the house had a sordid history, is what happened to James what you meant?" Leonard leaned forward and took the photo back and stared down at the happy family, so this Jimmy was real. As Chris recounted the sad tale of James Kirk's last day and the three drug addicts that had broken into the family farm that night it made Leonard feel like crying. If Jimmy really was James, if there really was a ghost of a murder victim playing with his daughter what was he going to do?
Chris turned around and picked up a photo frame from behind him and past it to Leonard. It was obviously some years old as Chris looked much younger. He was standing next to a man who looked to be in his mid-twenties with blonde hair and the bluest eyes he had ever seen. "This was taken about a week before his death. He was here volunteering for sports day. James loved helping out when he could." Leonard handed the photo back to Chris who gazed down at it with the look of a proud parent.
"Was he married?" Leonard could help feeling sad about a life lost so young.
"Jim? No, I remember a girl or two, but he seemed to prefer the company of men. It wasn't as easy back then so he was alone in that house." Leonard could only nod. He had it much easier than Jimmy would have, but he knew a bit of what it was like. "That reminds me," Chris got up from his desk and walked over to a cabinet and began rummaging through it until pulling out a wooden sign and handing it to Leonard. "It's from the house. The men who broke in damaged the original when they were leaving. I had a new one made, but never got around to taking it back there."
Leonard looked at the sign that was painted in the same colors of the house, the words carefully carved into it. "Fleeting Stars?" He questioned.
Chris smiled, "Like many old family homes, it was named. Jim's great-great grandfather built that house and named it after the beautiful view of the sky at night."
"Well it should go back there then. A house needs it's history," said Leonard before standing and extending his hand, "Thanks so much for seeing me Chris."
"The pleasure was mine Leonard."
As Leonard was leaving the office he passed by the administrative manager Uhura. She must have seen the shell shocked look in his eyes and stopped him with a gentle hand on his arm. "Are you okay Leonard?"
"My daughter's imaginary friend may actually be the ghost of the murdered former owner of the house. Yeah, I'm just peachy," he muttered as he moved past her.
At the end of the day Leonard headed down to the kindergarten room to pick up Joanna to head home. "Hurry up daddy, Jimmy said he'd play hide and seek with me this afternoon," she called to him as she ran to his car. He smiled at her excitement at having a new playmate, but there was still that worry about the nature of the playmate himself.
As he was getting into his car Leonard's phone rang. He was surprised to see it was Nyota calling him. "Hey Nyota. Did you need me to fill out some paperwork? I'm just about to head home but I can swing by the office real quick if you need me to."
He could hear Jojo start to whine about the delay in the back seat and he just ignored it. "No, Leonard that's not why I'm calling. I was wondering if i could swing by later this evening, I realized that I never got you a housewarming present." Her voice seemed a bit odd, but some adult company in the evening might be just what he needed to get his mind off his unease.
"Sure, that would be great. Do you need directions to the house?" he asked her.
"No, I've got the address on file, I'm sure my GPS can find it. I'll call if I have any trouble though. See you later."
"See you then. Bye." Leonard hung up the phone and headed for home, an overly excited Jojo cheering in the backseat.
When they got back to the farmhouse Jojo ran inside and straight up the stairs to play with her unseen friend. Leonard could still hear her running around upstairs and then silence while she was hiding and laughter when Jimmy had obviously found her and then more running footsteps. It would seem to anyone outside of the situation as nothing but innocent fun and the imagination of a child, but Leonard had another view of it.
She had plenty to talk about at dinner, and Leonard listened with a smile on his face because the little girl's happiness was a wonder to see. If this was a ghost and not just an imaginary friend he did not seem to be dangerous. It was still a strange situation to him though, and he liked to think he was wrong in believing it was anything more than Jojo's imagination.
The rest of the night went by without incident and just as Leonard was about to put Jojo to bed there was a knock at the door. Leonard sent Jojo up to brush her teeth as he went to see who it was.
When he looked out the window, he could see Nyota was standing there. Leonard opened the door and invited her inside. "Wow, this place is beautiful," she gushed as she looked around downstairs. The way she moved from room to room made Leonard think she was looking for something.
"Yeah, it's a great, old house. Pike really kept it up nicely, and Jojo loves having room to run around. it's quite a change from the little apartment we were in before." He followed after her as she looked in every room until returning to the foyer and the foot of the stairs.
"The wood floor up front here, at the bottom of the stairs, is stained a darker shade than the rest of the house. I wonder why that is?" She asked, looking at the floor in the foyer.
"Yeah, I had wondered that too, but after hearing about the home's history from Pike today, I'm not sure I really want to know." Leonard grimaced at the thought that the handsome young man in the picture on Chris' desk may have been right there in the last moments of his life.
Just then Jojo came bounding down the stairs, already in her pajamas. "Daddy, I brushed my teeth, and Jimmy helped me into my pjs. Is it time for a bedtime story?" She looked up at him smiling before noticing they had a guest. "Oh, hi . What are you doing here?"
When Nyota didn't answer right away, Leonard noticed that she was staring at a spot at the top of the stairs with a slight smile on her face. Then she suddenly turned her attention to the little girl. "Why I just came by to see your daddy and check out your new home. It's a lovely house. Do you like it here?"
"Oh yeah, I love it!" Jojo was practically bouncing in place.
"I'll have to come back for a grand tour sometime when it's not bedtime and you can show me around." Nyota smiled down at her.
"Okay!"
Leonard bent down and scooped the little girl up, "She's right though, it is your bedtime. Nyota if you want to wait in the living room I'll be right back down."
"Sure Leonard, I think we've got a lot to talk about." The smile she gave him and the way her gaze shifted back to the top of the stairs seemed a little odd to him, but he shrugged it off and took Jojo upstairs to get her all tucked in.
When Leonard made it back downstairs he found Nyota sitting on the couch with a glass of wine. "I hope you don't mind, I found the wine and poured myself a glass. I also poured you some scotch, I think you're going to need it."
"I would have offered you some wine when I got back down here anyhow, so you just saved me some time," he smiled at her before sitting down in the arm chair next to the couch. "So do you want to tell me why you're really here? Am I in trouble or something?"
She put her hand on his thigh, "No, no Leonard nothing of the sort. It's about what you said earlier today about Joanna's imaginary friend."
"Oh Nyota I don't know what I was talking about, I'm sure it's nothing. I mean, Chris had just told me about the former owner's death and I think it just shocked me a bit. I didn't mean it." He tried to make it sound as convincing as he could, last thing he needed was to be fired because they thought he was nuts.
"Really Leonard, are you sure about that." She eyed him warily, but then something seemed to catch her eye in the doorway to the foyer. There was nothing there that he could see.
"Of course I'm sure. There is no such thing as ghosts." Leonard took a deep swig from his glass, hoping it would hide the uncertainty in his voice.
She was no longer looking at him, but she seemed to be tracking some kind of movement into the room, it was like watching a cat stare at shadows. "What if I told you there were ghosts in the world Leonard, and what if I told you that you are right about Jimmy." Her movement stopped and she was now staring at the open space in front of the fireplace with a sly grin on her face that Leonard was starting to think wasn't for him.
Jim was rooted to the spot. This woman was looking right at him, he moved and her eyes followed him. Then she dropped the bomb about ghosts being real, about him being real and he was so shocked he could do nothing but stare at her as she smiled at him. "You...you can see me can't you?" He stammered.
"Yes, I can." It was with those three simple words that his whole worldview shifted.
"You can what?" Leonard asked, snapping Jim out of his shock.
'Sorry Leonard," the woman turned her attention away from Jim and back to Leonard, "I am what they call a medium. I can communicate with spirits that have not moved on from this plane of existence. I can see them, and talk with them, including Jimmy." She waved her hand in Jim's general direction.
Leonard sputtered into his glass, "Wait, what?" Leonard got up and headed towards the kitchen to get a towel, "So you're telling me that my daughter has been playing with a ghost." He came back into the room and wiped up the little bit of spilled scotch before he started pacing, "Well that is just disturbing."
"Disturbing?" Jim was a little insulted, he was anything but disturbing. It's not his fault Leonard couldn't hear him too. The woman just waved a hand at him, to relax.
"He doesn't feel dangerous Leonard, quite the contrary he seems like a normal person with no ill intent. Almost as if he didn't know he was dead and was just living his life as if nothing had happened." Nyota was concentrating on Jim, feeling him out.
"Oh trust me, I know I'm dead. I remember what happened, I just don't like to think about it much," Jim said to no one in particular.
"He doesn't seem dark or vengeful, you really don't have anything to worry about from him, Leonard. I don't think he would hurt Joanna," she continued, giving Leonard a smile.
"Hurt..hurt Jojo! I would never do that, I love that little girl almost as much as you do!" He was facing Leonard, insulted that he could think so low of him.
"Calm down Jim, no use getting upset with the guy who can't hear you," Nyota said.
Leonard continued his pacing, walking right through Jim causing him to shiver and Jim to roll his head back in obvious exasperation. "Wait, so he's here right now, and talking and you can hear him?"
"Yes Leonard and he was a little insulted by the suggestion that he would ever hurt Joanna. He cares about her deeply. Who wouldn't? She's a darling girl." Leonard nodded his agreement with Nyota's last statement.
"Alright fine. He's not a danger to Jojo, but what about me? How do we know if he likes me? Jojo seems to be able to hear him, but I can't." Leonard stopped his pacing to look at her as he asked this question.
"Well if the way he's been staring at your ass is any indication I'd say he likes you just fine." Nyota smiled as she took another sip from her wine glass.
"Oh come on! That is not cool." Jim waved his arms in frustration, having her give away his secret crush on Leonard.
It was a couple moments of silence till Jim and Nyota both realized that Leonard was standing still, his face was pale as his mind worked out something before he spoke. "So you can ask him questions for me?" Leonard looked at her.
"You can ask him yourself, he can hear you just fine, but I'll tell you his answers." Nyota was concerned by the sudden change in the tone of Leonard's voice.
"Uhm, okay, uh Jim, can I call you Jim?" Nyota copied the nod she got from Jim, who was also getting concerned, "The other night, in my room," Jim's eyes went wide as he saw where this was going, "Was that you?" It came out a barely more than a whisper.
Nyota looked to Jim for an answer, but he couldn't speak, he just stood there staring at his feet. "I'm going to take his embarrassed silence as a yes, and not ask for details."
Leonard turned a bit green, "Oh god." His body bent over as he put his hands on his knees and started taking deep breaths.
"I'm sorry, I am so sorry. I got carried away and I promise it will ever happen again. I went way over the line, past the line, not even in the same zip code as the line. I honestly don't know what I was thinking." Jim couldn't stop apologizing and Nyota was trying desperately to keep up with him, trying to make his sincerity clear to Leonard. Suddenly it was too loud in the room for Leonard, too many voices speaking at once.
Wait, what? He waved at Nyota to stop talking and she did, but the sound continued as Jim kept apologizing. Leonard turned towards where the voice was coming from, there was nothing there but he could still hear it. "I can hear you!"
Jim stopped mid sentence and stared at Leonard, "You can hear me?"
"Yes." Jim nearly jumped for joy at that one little word.
Now that Leonard could hear Jim, it was a lot less stressful and a lot more interesting. Jim's abilities to move things became stronger the more he worked at it. Or perhaps it was the more real he was perceived to be by those around him, Nyota suggested. Soon he was able to help around the house with the cooking and cleaning and taking care of things, it gave him a purpose and he was thrilled. No more moping around the attic when Jojo was in school, or after she had gone to bed. He was free to spoil her just like he had wanted to spoil a child of his own, by doing all her chores for her. Well, he tried anyhow, but once Leonard got wind of it he put his foot down. Jojo would do her chores herself, and Leonard would find something else for Jim to do.
Leonard appreciated the help Jim gave around the house, being a single father was tough. Jim made it almost as if he had a maid. He didn't want to think of Jim like that, but it sat better with him then thinking of him like a partner, or house husband. Though the more he got to know Jim the more he thought they could have been good together if the situation had been different.
Leonard knew Jim had been a good looking man, and he obviously liked to be with men, but if he had lived he would be almost thirty years older than Leonard now. Not that Leonard had anything against older men, but that might have been pushing it. So it was almost a relief that Jim was perpetually in his early to mid twenties. At least for the moment.
They regularly spent their evenings together in the living room, talking or watching a movie. Getting to know each other's personalities, likes and dislikes. Which books they loved, music they enjoyed. With Leonard's slightly old-fashioned sensibilities they ended up with quite a bit in common. Jim might be a little more energized than calm serene Leonard, but they worked.
Leonard loved how Jim was with Jojo as well. The two of them got on like a house on fire. Leonard would spend hours just watching and listening to them playing together. It was more than he could have hoped for in any kind of companion to get along with his daughter so well.
Leonard was starting to think about how good it was to have Jim in their lives, and how much happier they all were because of it. Even if he insisted on calling him Bones all the time, because he had a body and Jim didn't. And he also kept thinking about the night in his room, and how it had felt when Jim had touched him in that way.
Jojo had already been put to bed for the night and Leonard and Jim were finishing up the dishes. Leonard washed while Jim dried. It was a bit unnerving to watch his plates floating in the air and the rag seemingly drying them on it's own but hearing Jim talk while doing it made it a little less unnerving, and talking was one thing Jim had no problem doing. He was going on and on about how Leonard should take Jojo to the zoo. They were learning about different animals in class, and it might be good to see the animals for real to better grasp what she was learning.
Leonard decided it was now or never and interrupted him, "Jim, next week is the fall break from classes. Now I'll still have to work but Jojo will be off."
"We've discussed this Bones. I am not a good choice for child care no matter what Jojo thinks. If something were to happen…" Jim starting but Leonard was soon waving him off.
"Jojo won't be here. She's spending the week with her mother. We will have the house to ourselves, and I was thinking about that night..in my room." The dish Jim was drying suddenly stopped, it seemed to be just hanging in mid-air. "I was thinking," Leonard continued, "maybe we could try that again, maybe a little bit more to." The dish dropped a few inches before stopping again. Jim had good reflexes when it counted.
He laid the plate down on the counter gently before speaking. "Are you serious? I didn't think you were interested in me, in that with me. You hadn't seemed like it."
Leonard leaned back against the sink, arms crossed as he chuckled slightly, "Kid, if you were alive I would've had you six ways to Sunday by now." Leonard was pretty sure he had just rendered him speechless. "But if you're not interested, I won't push it." He added.
"No I'm interested. God, I am interested," Jim answered quickly.
"Alright then." Leonard turned back to the dishes as Jim put away the plate he had nearly dropped.
"I should make you buy me dinner first," Jim joked.
"You don't eat." Leonard countered with a comfortable ease.
"Oh, right. I guess we can skip that part then." Jim chuckled as he picked up another plate to dry.
Friday afternoon came too slowly, and too fast for Jim. It's not that he wanted to get rid of Jojo, he loved his time with her, but he was looking forward to some more private time with Leonard. He was nervous too. What if he couldn't do it again? What if it didn't work? What if Leonard decided he didn't like the way it felt after all? By the time Jocelyn had buckled Jojo into her car and driven down the drive away from the farm house, Jim could have been considered a nervous wreck. Leonard seemed to be in the same boat and suggested they watch a movie first.
As they sat on the couch together neither of them was really paying attention to the story. Finally Leonard hit the stop button before the film was over. "I think we should head up stairs before we both lose our nerve."
"Yeah, alright." Jim followed Leonard towards the stairs, "God! What is wrong with me? I feel more nervous than I did when I lost my virginity in college."
Leonard let out a bit of a nervous laugh, "I'm feeling a bit of that too. Just relax, and I mean that for the both of us. It's meant to be enjoyable."
They entered the bedroom and Jim quietly closed the door behind him as Leonard started to undress. When he was naked he laid down on the bed and Jim couldn't stop staring. Here was this gorgeous man waiting for him. He moved slowly and crawled up from the foot of the bed towards his waist. "Maybe you should close your eyes, so you can pretend I'm actually here."
Leonard looked towards Jim's voice and nodded, "Yeah, that might be good." Leonard took a deep breath, closed his eyes and laid back on his pillow as Jim reached out and took his length in his hand. "Oh Jesus, it tingles." Leonard started getting hard very quickly as Jim slowly stroked him.
Leonard's moans gave Jim more confidence, and he leaned forward to lick the underside of Leonard's dick from the base to the tip before taking it into his mouth as far as he could go. Leonard shuddered and muttered some incoherent praise to a god and Jim couldn't help but smile. As he sucked Leonard in and out of his mouth he felt a hand being placed gently on his head. Leonards fingers ran through his hair and rubbed against his scalp Jim wondered what it actually felt like to him.
Jim pulled off of Leonard for a moment that made him whine a bit. "Leonard, I want to try something else. Is that okay?" It was a simple request but he was still afraid Leonard would change his mind about the whole thing.
"As long as you go back to blowing me with that incredible mouth of yours, you can do whatever you like." Leonard sounded languid and relaxed, yet happy.
Jim immediately went back to what he had been doing with his mouth, but his fingers moved lower. Gently, they pressed against Leonard's entrance, there was a little resistance but then his finger pushed past the tight ring of muscle. Jim began to move it in and out with ease, being a ghost seemed to mean he didn't need lube. "Oh fuck, yes!" Leonard cried out and Jim decided to add a second finger. He curled them, trying to remember where the prostate was. When he found it, the effect on Leonard was incredible, his back arched up as he seemed to scream soundlessly. Jim felt his balls tighten up and knew that he was about to cum. Quickly he added a third finger and started working Leonard open, spreading his fingers as he pumped them in and out as Leonard came crying out his name again and again.
Jim's crawls up the bed towards Leonard's head. When he gets there he sees that his eyes are still closed and he is breathing hard. "I really want to fuck you," he whispers in Leonard's ear. "Can I do that, Bones? Can I fuck you?" He tries not to sound to needy, but the desperation he feels is strong, he needs to know what it feels like to be inside him, he's not sure why he needs it so badly but his mind is screaming at him to do it.
"Yes, god yes. I want to feel you inside me," Leonard gasps as he speaks, as if he is going through the same thing as Jim. Jim gently lifts Leonard's legs and positions himself before slowly sliding into him until their hips are flush. "Oh god, you feel so good. Tingly, like static electricity, but only a little tingle, and so thick." Leonard's hand reach out blindly till they land on Jim's shoulders.
Jim begins to move inside Leonard and he knows he won't last long. Leonard feels so snug and warm around his cock, better than any other man or woman he can remember. He wants it to last, he wants to hear Leonard keep moaning like this. He wants to keep going because it is better than anything he could have hoped for and he never wants it to end.
After a few minutes of keeping a slow pace, Jim starts to speed up, he can't help it. He can feel himself slapping against Leonard with more force and it makes him want to go faster, harder. He wants to make Leonard feel him even after they are done, and the way he is groaning beneath him, Jim thinks he's doing a good job of it.
Leonard can't believe how this feels, and he is regretting waiting so long to try this. It is the best sexual experience of his life, the only thing more he could ask for would be to see his partner. He can feel him there beneath his fingers, between his thighs, thrusting inside him. He just wants to see him, and look into his eyes. Leonard opens his eyes expecting to see just darkness above him, but instead he is greeted by a pair of the bluest eyes he has ever seen. It is the young man from the photo above him, slightly translucent and glowing. He is the most amazing sight Leonard has ever beheld. "You are beautiful." He whispers before pulling a shocked Jim down and into a heated kiss.
The sudden shocking revelation and kiss causes Jim to lose concentration and he comes right then. Like before there is no sticky mess just a rush of warmth, pleasure and energy. The energy seems to shoot out of him and into Leonard who gasps into his mouth. Jim can feel him become hard again in an instant, pushing between their bodies. Jim pulls away, just far enough to look into Leonard's eyes. "You can see me?"
"I can see you." Is all he says before flipping them over and ramming his now hard cock into Jim. The sensation is nothing like he has felt before, it is so much better. "Can you feel that?" Leonard asks him.
"God yes, can you?"
"Yeah, you're so tight, it feels so good. I'm not going to last long." Leonard replies as he begins thrusting hard and fast, kissing Jim the whole time. He's right, he doesn't last long, and his cum lands on the sheets beneath Jim. Leonard rolls off of him and they both lay there next to each other trying to catch their breath. "We are definitely doing that more often."
"Oh yeah." Leonard is soon asleep and Jim goes to retrieve a wet washcloth to clean him and the bed up.
The next morning when Leonard wakes up Jim is nowhere to be seen. He worries that Jim is gone, or back to being invisible. He throws on some boxers and heads down the stairs. He can hear movement in the kitchen, and smells bacon and is relieved that Jim must still be there. When he enters the kitchen he can see Jim standing by the stove. He appears to be dressed in jeans and a simple t-shirt. He is still slightly translucent but isn't glowing any longer. "You don't have to cook me breakfast, you know?"
"Can you still see me?" Jim turned towards him and Leonard sees his eyes are still incredibly blue.
"Yeah darling, I can still see you." Leonard smiles as Jim passes him a cup of coffee made just how he likes it. He sighs as he takes a sip, "What did I do to deserve you?"
"I don't know, but it must have been something really good because I am awesome." Leonard just about melts at the sight of his cheeky grin.
As he sits and eats his breakfast his mind starts to wander back to a conversation he had had with Nyota earlier in the week."Why are you here Jim?"
Jim looks at him for a moment, trying to figure out where Leonard was going with this line of questions. "It's my house. I grew up here."
"I know why you're in this house. I mean why are you still here?" Leonard was trying not to use the word 'dead.' He hated to be reminded of that as much as he thought Jim might be. "Nyota was telling me that for you to still be here there had to be a reason, unfinished business she called it."
"Oh, well I'm not sure. I mean the guys that broke in that night were caught right, so it's not that." Jim considered things.
"What about regrets?"
"The last thought I had before...you know, was how it wasn't fair that I didn't get the chance to have a family. You know to fall in love, get married, have kids. It was the one thing I had wanted in my life and I hadn't found the time for."
"Really. You wanted a wife?" Leonard wonders if he is just convenient.
"I hadn't really decided on a wife. Kinda like guys better." Jim smiles and leans in for a quick kiss.
"But kids?"
"There are plenty of kids who need a good home in the world already. I just figured I could adopt." Jim looked at his hands, "I always kind of wanted a little girl."
"Well, I think I know a little girl who already considers you family, and I wouldn't mind having you stick around for awhile." Leonard moved to stand in front of Jim, placing his hand gently on his cheek.
"You want me to be part of your family?" Jim leans into the touch.
"Absolutely." He pulled Jim towards him till their lips meet. The kiss is gentle and loving and full of emotion. It makes Jim start to glow a bit. "Plus, I kinda wanna see what it's like to blow a ghost." His other hand dropped to the front of Jim's pants, stroking at the bulge forming in his jeans until his jeans disappear.
Now naked, Jim watches as Leonard drops to his knees in front of him. "What about the dishes?" He gasps as he felt the heat of Leonard's tongue on him.
"The dishes can wait, I can't." Leonard watches Jim glow brighter as he takes him into his mouth. He wasn't sure how his life had ended up this way, but he was going to enjoy it for as long as he could.