Moments between us

This chapter took longer than I thought but I'm taking it as a good thing! I really want to put more work and effort into my stories, I don't wanna just churn them out without any kind of depth being put into them. I'm still building up the relationships between the two lead couples. The actual crossover part will be here in the next chapter! There will also be continual references to certain episodes in "Extreme Ghostbusters" as well as "Chrono Crusade" episodes. However, I will clarify and explain those references as they occur, since I sadly know all too well not too many people are familiar with this excellent Ghostbusters cartoon. Another big thanks to Janika for beta reading this chapter, feel free to leave comments, critiques, questions and ENJOY!

Christmas celebration had come and passed; now was the time to get back to work. Rosette and Chrono had been preparing to head to San Francisco to investigate the possibility of finding Joshua there. Though Rosette knew not to get her hopes up, she still had some hope this would finally lead her to her long lost brother. The car had been packed with Chrono and Rosette's belongings, but it would still be a few hours until they needed to be at the train station. Rosette smiled and placed the last bit of luggage into the trunk. The blond girl nodded and rubbed her gloved hands together.

"Okay, that's the last of everything, Chrono. I made sure to pack some extra gospels just in case we run into any trouble on the trip there."

Rosette looked behind to double-check with Chrono if they forgot anything but the baby-faced devil was nowhere to be found.

Rosette scratched her head. "Now where did he get to?"

A voice from afar called out, "Miss Rosette, I have the last suitcase Chrono was carrying."

Rosette heard Azmaria's voice coming from behind a rather large suitcase, the pale girl was barely able to hold the luggage. Azmaria was wobbling in her pink boots.

The blond nun angrily placed her hands on her hips. "Now what in the world are you doing with that? I told Chrono HE was supposed to carry that thing, that lazy flat tire!"

Azmaria struggled to keep the suitcase up. "No, no it's all right, Miss Rosette. I want to pull my own weight around here so I told him it was fine."

Azmaria gasped, for at that moment she tripped on the inevitable loose pebble whose only purpose was to foil her up, falling backwards as the suitcase landed on her like a ton of bricks.

Rosette groaned and pulled the luggage off her friend. "This is a load of baloney, dumping this stuff onto you when he knows I asked him to do it," Rosette said as she reached down and helped Azmaria up back to her feet.

Azmaria brushed her clothes clean. "He said he had something important on his mind and asked if I could load this up while he took care of whatever it is he needed to take care of."

The blond exorcist frowned and began stomping off in search of that sneaky red devil. Azmaria tried to stop Rosette and tell her it was no big deal, but the blond girl was already steaming like a boiling kettle and not about to simmer down that easily.

"Azmaria, watch over the car and luggage while I drag that bum back here. Soon as I find Chrono we're getting our wiggle on and don't take any wooden nickels while I'm gone."

After a few minutes of searching, Rosette spotted him by the entrance to the Elder's shed. The Elder was in the back getting something for Chrono who looked anxious and nervous.

Rosette growled and clenched her fists tightly. "I'm gonna go give him an earful for horsing around with the Elder at a time like this."

The Elder returned and carefully slipped Chrono something wrapped in brown paper. The devil quickly stashed it inside his coat and sighed heavily.

"Hey, Chrono, WHAT do you think you're doing?"

Chrono froze stiff at the sound of Rosette's voice. "Applesauce, it's Rosette! I'm so toast if she finds out what I had you make for me."

The Elder looked over Chrono's shoulder and saw that Rosette practically had steam shooting out of her ears. "Based on how angry she looks, you're probably toast even if she doesn't find out."

"Good point, but no matter what don't let her know—"

"CHRONOOOOOOOO!"

The devil gulped in fear of what painful horrors the blond exorcist would unleash upon him if he dared turned around to face her. Rosette tapped her brown boot in annoyance. Since he was unwilling to voluntarily turn, she grabbed Chrono by the shoulder and forced him to look at her infuriated blue eyes.

Chrono laughed weakly. "H-h-h-h-hey Rosette how's it g-g-going? You're looking especially d-d-dolled up today. Is that a new habit?"

"Stow it, staller, I know exactly what you did and you are not getting away with it."

Chrono's eyes widened. "You do? B-b-but I thought you'd be happy about it."

Rosette shook her head with confusion. "What could have possibly given you the idea that would make me happy?"

"I just thought this could solve a lot of problems for both of us; or at the least, make things easier for you."

The blond pointed her finger at him like a nagging mother. "Dumping your workload onto Azmaria doesn't make things easier for me; it makes it easier for YOU and that's just lazy!"

Chrono was about to protest again until he realized what Rosette was actually angry about. The devil looked back at the Elder who gave him a thumbs up sign to indicate Chrono was safe and Rosette knew nothing about the "special package" he'd just given him.

Chrono turned back to Rosette with almost cheerful relief. "Oooooooh, I get it now. You're mad I asked Azmaria to carry that big suitcase."

BONK!

Chrono cried out as Rosette busted her fist across her purple-haired head. The red devil was left clutching his throbbing noggin.

"Of course I'm mad at you for that! What the hell else did you think I was talking about? For someone with pointy ears you sure don't hear things very clearly."

But the smile on Chrono's face never left him even as he held his head where a lump was now forming. Despite the possibility the device would be a failure; still, Chrono was happy the Elder was able to come through for him before they left for San Francisco.

Chrono rubbed the back of his head, smiling. "I'm really sorry Rosette; I didn't mean to dump it onto Azmaria. I just uh…needed to clear my head of a few things first."

Rosette sighed. "Well, why didn't you say so? I know we've got some time before our train leaves but you can at least tell me these things so Azmaria doesn't end up holding the bag."

Rosette's blue eyes suddenly widened, something or rather someone was rubbing their pervy little hands across her butt. The nun angrily pulled out her pistol and aimed at the wrinkly skull of the Elder. He held his hands up in mock-defeat.

Rosette looked down at the Elder sinisterly. "And speaking of holding things, if I ever catch you holding any part of my body like that again I'm going to test every new bullet you make on your wrinkly old carcass."

"Heh, can't blame an old man for trying now, can you, dear?"

BONK! BONK!

Rosette stormed off dragging Chrono by his purple hair back towards Azmaria and the car. The Elder was left nursing two large bumps on his head from the butt of Rosette's gun. The old man groaned and twitched on the ground like a wounded fly.

15 minutes later…

Chrono and Rosette stood by the car in silence. Azmaria was nowhere to be found, despite the fact that Rosette had strongly urged her to stay put. The bitter, blue-eyed blond tapped her booted foot on the ground. Chrono sighed at Rosette's rising anger as she began to pace in an erratic circle.

Chrono raised his hands to try and calm his best friend. "Rosette, please take it easy. Azmaria probably just forgot something and went to go get it. You know she's not one to shirk responsibility."

Rosette ceased pacing and froze perfectly still at those words. She turned her head and locked her menacing blue eyes onto Chrono's. The devil boy slowly lowered his hands and gave a nervous laugh that felt about as hollow as an empty milk jug.

"Unlike SOME people I know."

"I know, I know. I have no room to talk. We don't need to make a big deal out of this."

"Well I want to talk about something while were waiting for Azmaria, so it might as well be this."

"Geez, you're really not going to let this go, are you?"

Rosette sighed and rubbed her temples. "I just don't understand what was so important you had to wander off and not tell me." The girl's gaze intensified, "You know finding Joshua means everything to me. Even if we do have hours before our train leaves I want to get there as soon as possible."

Silence once again emerged between the two exorcists.

Chrono looked down with a solemn look on his youthful face; his blood-red eyes appeared deep in thought. The soft silence and sorrowful look on Chrono's face caused Rosette's anger to melt away. Chrono looked up as he felt something soft and warm gently take his hand; he noticed Rosette had removed her gloves, the contact speaking more than any words could. The partners locked eyes.

"Hey, it's all right… You can tell me anything Chrono…I promise I won't get mad."

"I don't want to overburden you Rosette. You've got so much to worry about with Joshua. I can figure this out on my own."

"But what if I don't want you to?"

Chrono was about to protest but stopped himself and sported a warm smile. Rosette returned the boy's grin with one of her own. He always looked so much more handsome when he had that lovely smile of his.

Giving in to her smile, Chrono laughed and nodded. "Oh, all right. You win."

"HA! Of course I do!" Rosette cheered, her fist proudly pounding her chest. "Did you expect anything less from the great Rosette Christopher?"

"Heh, perish the thought."

Being an immortal devil that has experienced so much pain over the years has no doubt given Chrono many reasons not to smile; which is all the more reason why Chrono's smile is so precious to Rosette. Every day Rosette wakes up, she is reminded of that clock draining time from her life little by little. Sometimes her mind screams at her to break this contract, be free of this infernal clock so she could live a long and meaningful life. But whenever Rosette starts to think like that, she is reminded of Chrono's sweet…adorable smile and she knows that every day with him is meaningful.

"So," Rosette sat on the luggage Azmaria had carried, softly patting next to her. "What's on your mind, Chrono?"

"Well…this may sound strange but..." Chrono paused as he sat down. "I've been thinking a lot about the future."

"The future? Like what kinds of things about the future?"

"Yours, mine, Azmaria's, the order, the world...even Aion's."

Rosette scratched the back of her head, nearly upsetting her veil in the process. "Uhhhh, yeah I'm not really following where you're going with this." She looked around in search of her missing friend, "Where the heck is she? I'm tired of chasing after everyone today." Her gaze returned to her partner's.

"Lately I've just been thinking of what happens after we rescue Joshua and stop Aion; what then? Will there still be a need for the Order? Will there still be demons for us to stop or will all of it vanish once Aion is defeated? I can't help thinking about how the world is going to change."

"Whoa, buddy! Hold your horses. We've still got to FIND Aion before we can talk about celebrating his defeat. There's too much going on right now that we need to be doing." Rosette stared into the sky, her tone becoming soft and distant. "The future is far away and I haven't really had time to think about it. I guess you could say I'm just waiting to cross that bridge when we come to it."

The smile on Chrono's face widened at Rosette's response. He was slightly amused at Rosette's line of thinking though not entirely surprised. Rosette returned her gaze back to Chrono as he began to speak.

"I'm not the least bit surprised, Rosette. We've been fighting Aion and looking for Joshua for what seems like forever. All those years I spent in Hell and even with Mary Magdalene feel like it was another life completely. When you and Joshua opened the tomb, I was surprised at how much the world has changed and spending time here at the Order has only made me realize how rapidly the world is moving forward."

Rosette leaned back and laughed casually, "Well it's lucky for you then. You're going to live on forever and see the world. Not to mention you get to keep your—"

Chrono pleadingly interrupted, "NO, don't say that."

The devil boy lunged towards Rosette and hugged her as if he never wanted to let her go, burying his face into her chest. Rosette blushed at this sudden burst of affection.

"There's no future worth living unless you're in it. If you were to die, it'd be like I was living inside that tomb all over again…and that's a nightmare too horrifying to even imagine. It kills me to see your life get reduced by our contract, even if it is the thing that brought us together. But no matter what happens, don't act like there's no tomorrow for you," Chrono looked into Rosette's eyes, "because as long as I'm around I promise there always will be."

Rosette's eyes slowly began to tear up. "Chrono I…I…I…" she wiped her eyes clean, gasping to find her voice. "I don't know what to say."

Chrono giggled mischievously. "Say you'll let me drive so there's no chance of us crashing along the way?"

BONK!

Rosette crunched her knuckles into Chrono's head, ending the tender moment. The blond nun stormed back to the car while muttering insults under her breath.

Chrono winced as he rubbed his aching head. "Sorry Rosette, I just wanted to make sure we got there in one piece."

Azmaria returned, bowing repeatedly to her friends for being late.

Sorry Rosette, I really didn't want to end that perfect little moment we had…but it needed to be done. There's too much going on right now. The last thing we need is me confessing my true feelings for you.

The young devil removed the amplifier from his pocket and examined it with solemn eyes.

I believe we will find Joshua; I truly do believe that. And when we do find him, I want to make sure you have all the time in the world to spend with him. I don't care about the risks. This device HAS to work…it just has to.

"Hey slowpoke! Stop daydreaming, we've got a train to catch so let's crack on."

Chrono quickly pocketed the amplified and nodded to Rosette. "All right I'm coming!"

Now's not the right time. I'll show her when she needs it the most...

Present day…

Kylie slowly searched the hallways of the firehouse, her dark eyes moving from room to room. The pale girl clutched the future diary. Kylie's pace became slower with every step she took. She was reluctant to find what she was looking for and was seriously considering abandoning her search and going back to the library.

"HA, HA, yes! Now that's more like it!"

Kylie stopped and turned to the room where that voice was coming from; it was Eduardo's.

The dark-haired girl sighed and closed her eyes. "Well girl…this is who you were looking for, might as well get it over with."

Kylie opened her eyes and approached the door to the room. Reaching for the handle, she heard Eduardo say something but could not make out all of it. She paused, listening.

"No…no…NO!" Banging sounds came from within. "You stupid IDIOT! Ugh! No merece la pena."

Kylie gasped at Eduardo's sudden rage and outburst. She finally opened the door and instantly heard the sound of papers and books being shuffled. The girl's dark eyes spotted Eduardo clutching a mass of papers and books; he was holding them against his chest like a security blanket. The two teenagers were stunned into silence. Neither one knew what to say or how to react to the other's stare.

Eduardo angrily broke the stalemate, "You just gonna stand there like a gargoyle statue or are you going to close the door?"

Kylie frowned and slammed it shut. "You are such an ass, you know that?"

Eduardo ignored her words and gathered all of his papers and books into a single pile on a table. Kylie's darkly-lined eyes curiously looked at the paper pile on the table. Eduardo quickly stepped between it and her, crossing his arms over his chest in a businesslike manner.

"It's called knocking, Kylie. Read about it." Eduardo's eyebrows were furrowed with annoyance.

The Goth girl scowled bitterly, "Quit whining. You act like I caught you looking at dirty magazines or something."

"Did you come up here just to insult me some more? Because as hard as it may be for you to believe this; I've got more important things to do."

Kylie took a long, deep breath, restraining her eagerness to reply with a snotty comeback. The girl approached Eduardo and looked to him with eyes devoid of hostility.

"You're right. I didn't come here to insult you." Kylie's grip around the diary tightened. "Actually…I came here to talk to you about something…potentially very important."

"Potentially? What is that supposed to mean? Is it like you want me to replace the milk in the fridge before it goes bad or something?"

The pale girl rubbed her temples softly. "It's…ugh…really complicated to explain and I…I just don't know when there will be a good—"

Before she could finish, Kylie's gaze unconsciously peered towards the books and papers behind Eduardo's back, tempting her with crippling curiosity. The girl blinked when she saw what looked like a test sheet with multiple red marks.

"QUIT LOOKING!" Eduardo shouted, smacking the diary out of Kylie's hands.

Kylie's face twisted with venomous hatred and she slapped Eduardo across the face, and then quickly reclaimed her tattered future diary. Eduardo held a hand to his cheek, a look of genuine shock on his face.

"I…I can't believe you just slapped me."

"Forget your stupid face! Do you have ANY idea at all how priceless this book is? It's irreplaceable. If you knew what this book meant to me your empty head would explode."

"Hey, I didn't pry into your stuff so don't go prying into mine."

"This was a HUGE mistake. I don't know why I thought I could have a civil conversation with you. Just forget everything I said."

Kylie stormed towards the door, black lips curling with boiling anger. Eduardo sighed and rubbed his spiky hair in frustration. Kylie's hand reached for the door but Eduardo quickly shouted to stop her from leaving.

"I'm just trying to give you what you want!"

Kylie stopped dead in her tracks, eyes bulging as she found herself paralyzed by confusion and curiosity. The pale girl turned around, her raven black hair flowing like a dark, majestic wave of shadows. Kylie's eyes latched firmly onto a suddenly motionless and voiceless Eduardo.

"What is that supposed to mean? What do you mean what I want?"

Eduardo bit his lip nervously. "I…uh…can't explain yet. I know that sounds loco but trust me, it'll all make sense sooner or later." Eduardo's eyes wandering around the room and avoiding direct eye contact with Kylie.

Kylie ruffled her hair in annoyance. "Ugh, you're making my brain hurt with all this weird behavior." The girl shook her head and looked firmly at Eduardo. "Why can't you just spit out whatever it is your trying to say or hide or whatever it is you're doing?"

"Look lady, I'm not like you! I'm not great with words and I don't read so good."

"Well…you don't read so well," Kylie dryly corrected.

Eduardo turned his back to Kylie and growled, slamming his fists onto the table. "That's my point, dammit! I'm no good at any of this stuff and until I am, there's no way I can talk to you about what this stuff is."

The frustration and fear in Eduardo's voice was vivid, Kylie could tell he wasn't being sarcastic or playing any games with her. This was serious. In all the months she had worked with Eduardo, Kylie has never known him to be this dramatic or expressive with his personal problems. The Goth girl felt genuinely moved by Eduardo's feelings. The longer she stared at his back, the more her mind raced with questions that surrounded Eduardo like an aura; an aura that brimmed with pain and passion…it was quite a beautiful sensation to experience.

What is this I'm sensing in Eduardo? He sounds like he's suffering, like there's something so important burning in his soul that it's crippling him by just talking about it. I've never seen him like this before. Eduardo always seems to be cut off from the rest of the team by some kind of sarcastic, rough exterior shell. Then again…people have said the same thing about me in the past too.

Eduardo sighed and slowly returned his gaze back towards Kylie. "Look, there's something on my mind that has been bugging me since it happened. If you don't know what it is don't worry. You're an Egon-level genius and I know you're smart enough to figure it out."

Kylie's face suddenly wrinkled with confusion. Did I just hear…did he just…did Eduardo just give me a…compliment?!

"This isn't a joke or a prank. I'm dead serious Kylie. I want to talk to you about this more but I can't say anything else until I sort this all out." Eduardo approached Kylie and gently placed a hand on her shoulder, "Just give me some time and I promise everything will be cool again between us. This is important to me…this 'thing' with us is important to me…so please just chill for now, okay?"

At that very moment Kylie felt like she had been magically transported into an old episode of the "Twilight Zone." A faint shade of warm red blush colored those colorless cheeks at Eduardo's sudden affection and charms. Affection and charms were two words Kylie NEVER thought would be associated with the griping slacker known as Eduardo.

Unable to process or pronounce anything that resembled a proper response, Kylie merely nodded to Eduardo and watched as his hand was removed from her shoulder. Before she realized it, she was standing back outside the hallway in a daze with her diary still in her hands. The girl had become so overcome with confusing emotions that she didn't even remember leaving the room or if Eduardo had said anything else to her.

Garret and Roland stood in the hallway staring at Kylie's haze.

"Um... Kylie, are you all right? You look a little..." Roland couldn't quite put a name to her expression, so he did his best to imitate it with wide, staring eyes and a sense of having lost something.

Roland's question stirred Kylie back to normal, her friends staring causing further embarrassed blushes to color her cheeks. The female Ghostbuster quickly ran past Roland Garret, muttering a quick "Sorry, gotta go" as her only means of explanation.

Garret blinked and turned to Roland. "What was that all about?"

"I don't know but…at least they're not trying to kill each other."

To be continued…