A/N: Hi this is Amylase, like Preston said before I am writing the POV of Sammi. I just want to mention we apologize for not getting this up sooner, hope you all enjoy!
Preston here! I wrote the Aidan/Josh POV, and Carson's POV. Give us some feedback on the structure of the chapter please, as we're still working out how it's going to, well, work out.


Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.


*Sammi's POV *

As soon as we were out the door, I released Aidan from my death grip. But I still can't believe I let Carson compel me to do this. I am now dragging this hot guy down to my car… which just so happens to be a mess.

Disregarding every bone in my body I begin a conversation, "So Aidan, right?"

"Yeah," He paused as we continued to walk down the almost empty hallway together. "And it's Sammi, right?" He added as his dark brown eyes stared into mine.

"Yep." I said very exasperatedly. I quickly averted my gaze, and looked down at the floor as we walked down the hallway.

By the time we finally reached the front doors of the hospital I have worked up enough courage to apologize. "Aidan, sorry about back there…" But as I trail off, I notice that Aidan isn't getting what I am trying to say. "Sorry about Carson… she doesn't normally act that way," though knowing full well that she pretty much does.

"It was probably just the pain killers," Aidan told me as he held the door for me like a gentleman.

"Thanks," I said giving him a little smile, which he returned kindly.

"So where's your car?" Aidan asked as I just headed straight for the second row to the right.

"It's that blue 2010 Ford Focus over there," I said as I pointed to my car with my keys, which I had just pulled out of my jeans pocket, but kept walking hoping that Aidan was still behind me.

"Oh, nice car," Aidan said as he trotted up beside me.

I hated the awkward silence that followed. We didn't say anything to each other the entire walk to the car. I mean the only noise made was me unlocking the car as we got closer.

"So, I hope you can carry a ton of books Aidan," I told him as I opened the back door.

"Why?"

"Because this isn't even half of it," I said as I pulled out a huge stack of books and handed it to Aidan.

When I grabbed the next stack of books from the car and was about to hand them to Aidan, I noticed he was having trouble with the first stack I had given him.

"Having some trouble over there?"

"No," Aidan said, as I noticed the books were teetering from side to side. I gave him my usual 'sure you aren't' look. I guess Aidan noticed it because he added, "Okay maybe a little… but only because they're not stacked properly."

I sighed as I set the second stack on top of my car. "Here," I said as I took about half the stack from him. "Why don't we just place them all on top of my car for now, and then we can work out the travel arrangements."

"Um, yeah sure," Aidan said as he placed the book stack next to the other ones I had created.

As I pulled out Carson's books from my car, my neuroscience book fell out of the car and between my legs. I couldn't exactly pick it up, seeing as my hands were full with all of Carson's books. But as I was placing the last stack of books on top of my car, who decides to bend over and pick up my huge text book, but Aidan.

"So who is into neuroscience?"

"Me," I said quickly taking the large text book from his hands and lightly tossing it back into my car.

"Oh, is this just a hobby…"

"No," I interrupted him a little annoyed that he was poking his nose into my stuff. "I didn't spend four years in medical school just so I could read neuroscience textbooks as a hobby," I continued still a little annoyed.

"Oh…. cool." Aidan told me like we were five again. There was a long awkward pause as we just stood there not making eye contact but facing each other. "So do you know where you're doing your residency?"

"Yeah, why do you think Carson and I moved out to the suburbs of Boston?" I asked, as I looked up to see if Aidan understood.

"You mean you're doing your residency here?" Aidan said as he stood with his shoulders backward, and his arms crossed, a stern look on his face.

"Yep… when you graduate from Harvard Medical you can pretty much go wherever you want…" I let slip from my mouth before I could catch myself.

"Why would you come here?" Aidan asked me honestly.

"Long story," I said not looking at Aidan, and not wanting to reveal the entire back story of the past few months.

"Oh," Aidan said, like he knew he had brought up something personal that would definatly not be divulged after knowing him for all of ten minutes.

"So how are we gonna do this?" I asked him, trying to change the subject, but also asking a really good question since the stacks of books were rather large.

"Why don't you take the stacks on the left," which were the smaller ones, of course. "And I'll take the stacks on the right." Aidan said, already reaching for them.

"Okay, but you sure you don't want me to carry some more books?" I said looking at Aidan carrying twice as many books as me and making me look like a weakling, which I hate. "I was a Division I NCAA swimmer you know."

"You were, huh?"

"Yep, breaststroke and IM, made it to the NCAAs sophomore through senior year."

"Well congrats!"

I chuckled a little. "Thanks, but now I just swim in the morning at the local Y."

"Well at least you still workout…"

"Wait, you don't work out?" I asked, astonished that this man standing before me, with what appeared to be a pretty buff body, didn't workout.

Aidan appeared to be contemplating what I had just said, which seemed odd to me. But I must have been making faces because he quickly responded, "Why do you ask? Does it look like I do?"

I was definitely not prepared for that, and I could feel my face getting red. I quickly shut the car door, locked it, and grabbed the books from on top of the car. Then added, "Carson is probably wondering where we are… we should get back there before she starts speculating on what we've been doing for the last fifteen minutes, cause she certainly will."

I quickly walked away from Aidan before he noticed my tomato-red face. I smirked and laughed to myself at how stupid I must have looked just a few minutes before, and how ridiculous my answer must have been. Aidan must think Carson and I are complete freaks now, and he probably won't ever want to talk with me again.

But just as that thought crossed my mind I got to the front doors of the ER, so I turned around to make sure Aidan was doing okay with his ginormous stake of books. I laughed a little at the sight of him walking carefully with the books so as not to drop any of them.

When he walked by me, I saw a smile come across his face in what I thought was accomplishment, which made me give him a smile back. I mean come on, I would be lying if I said he isn't charming, and god I absolutely love his smile, it makes me melt like the wicked witch of the west, and become dumbfounded and red in the face.

He entered the ER before me so I followed behind to make sure he didn't drop any books on the way to Carson's room, because she would be furious if any of them were missing.


-Carson's POV-

I probably sounded like I was crazy, looked like I was crazy. Oh well. That's one of the benefits of being in the hospital: you could get away with saying anything and blame it on the painkillers. Josh was a dork. A nerdy, nervous, cute, twittering, funny, lovable dork. Finally! Someone with whom I could share my passion in the realm of B-movies and anime! Don't get me wrong, Sammi's awesome! But, that being said, she's slightly...robotic. She's brilliant, driven, and completely lacking in social graces. Ok, not all of them; she can laugh and smile, even if she has a few boundary issues.

Josh is still standing in the same place, awkwardly so, and I'm tempted to say nothing because his discomfort amuses me, but I'll take pity on him. I'm still flying high over freaking Edward out.

"So Josh, how long have you lived around here?"

"Not too long, maybe a little over a year."

"Oh? Why'd you move?"

Josh visibly flinched, causing my curiosity to be piqued. "Just needed a change of scenery."

"It sounds like there's a story there."

"What?" He laughed nervously "No! No story!"

He must have seen the unrelenting curiosity in my eyes, because he quickly changed the subject.
"We're having a party two weeks from Saturday. You want to come?"

Huh? Party? I felt my brain slow, my heartbeat diminish in speed, a wave of nausea overcome me - the dizzy kind that makes your head spin, makes you feel like you're a puppet on a string with no control over your body. My heart plunged to the bottom of my stomach, my heartbeat was pounding in my ears. There was screaming, new decibels of pitches reached in pure agony. And blood. So much blood. I could see the multicolor strobe lights, flashing...flashing...They were in my eyes, behind them, through them.

My consciousness flashed with the lights and I could catch glimpses of things - gleaming steel, people with inhuman grace and faces of fallen angels, mass chaos. People being trampled, the wailing of men and women as they lost their hope and fell to the ground. A flash of bright blonde hair, Sammi and I have found each other. We cling to each other, panicked but not screaming. Where is she? Where is she? Where is she? Nothing.

"Carson?"

I snapped back to the present, swallowing, my breathing somewhat labored.

"Hey...are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Josh!" I bring a bright smile back to my face, willing the images to disappear. "I've just got a headache. Too much plotting will do that to a girls head, you know?"

"Uh huh," He's looking at me like I'm a freak. Good. "Are you sure that's all?"

"Of course!" I lie. "I would love to come to your party!" I lie again.

"Awesome!" He's bought it, hook, line, and sinker. His ears perk up, and his big brown doe-eyes regain their twinkle. "Well, um, it starts at 7:30 or 8:00, no gifts are required though edible food is always appreciated - I'm a lousy cook, and Aidan...Well, let's just say he's not useful in any acts of domesticity whatsoever."

"Oh. So you are the girl!"

"...What?"

"The girl. You now, the catcher. I kind of had Aidan pegged as the dominant masculine in the relationship."

"But...But, we're not a couple! We're not even gay!"

"Really? Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure!" His voice hit a new octave, and I couldn't help but laugh, try as I might to keep the ruse going.

"Sure thing, Josh. What-ever-you-say."

"I do say!"

"Anyway, speaking of parties, we're having one a week from today. It's not really a party, more just a social gathering in which people bring us things for our poor, beat-up, house.

"So it's a housewarming party."

"Yeah. We're moving into the Victorian manor on the edge of the south side, by the river."

"The one with the battered picket fence, and broken windows? The one everyone says is haunted?"

"Yes," Odd. "How'd you know?"

"Aidan and I live a few blocks away. You're house is on our neighborhood watch route."

"That's really..."

"Weird?"

"Yeah, I suppose that's one word for it."

"Creepy being another, right? But, I mean, it's not like you're stalking us."

I grinned, saying nothing, watching his reaction. When his eyebrow started to twitch, and I couldn't hold back my laughter. "No, no stalking. Just a...lucky, happy coincidence. Are you going to come?"

"Wouldn't miss it. I'll drag Aidan there too."

"That's probably a good idea. Better you bring him than have him not show up. Sammi would get upset...and promptly drag him here forcefully."

"She couldn't even if she tried."

I smiled. "You don't know Sammi."

Aidan and Sammi chose this moment to enter the room, stacks of books in their arms.

"Are you happy now, Carson? You killed our backs for your boredom."

"Thank you! And yes, it was worth it. If my boredom is reigned in, I'm not plotting to take over the world."

Aidan's looking at me like I'm one cocoa puff short of a box of cheerios. Josh is looking at me like I'm Princess Leia.

"Well," Aidan began, drawing our attention to him. "As fun as this has been, Josh and I need to get back to work."

"Don't forget Josh!" I reminded him gently, still smiling despite the fact that the ring on my middle finger seemed heavier, held more presence, than before.

"Yeah. I have to get back to the house and finish painting."

The guys waved, rushing out of the room. There was a moment of silence between Sammi and I before I spoke up.

"They're back, Sammi. The memories. I had a flashback. Snapshots."

"Yeah...me too. Not just now, but in my dreams...The screams, the smell of sweat and blood co-mingled. I don't think we'll ever get over it, not really, but...I do think it's time to move on, to make peace with what happened and get on with our lives."

I said nothing, twisting the ring. She makes it sound so easy, so simple. But then, she wasn't the one covered in blood. She wasn't the one who lost it and killed someone. she wasn't the one who picked up a sword and ran him through without a second though. No, that was me.


Aidan was tired. Exhausted. Worn out. The shift had been long, the emotional drama over Ray and Danny mentally crippling. The crick in his neck hadn't dissipated yet, but Aidan was sure that given a few hours with his neck bent at a one-hundred and thirty-five degree angle on the couch he would survive. Not that he really had much of a choice; Josh had confined him to the couch the moment he got home.

The only time Aidan had even been let up was to lift the fridge so Josh could obsessive compulsively clean underneath it.

"Hey, uh, Josh?"

"Yeah?"

"Why are you acting like a real housewife of Boston?"

"What are you talking about?"

Aidan craned his neck to watch Josh dust the top of the fan. "Right. In plain English, what the hell is wrong with you and why are you cleaning everything?"

"Well, it's a funny story actually..." Josh kept his eyes on the ground as he ran around the house, adjusting pillows and the like.

"Go on."

"Well, you know I thought Carson and her friend were kind of cool and they're kind of our new neighbors, so I invited them to the party we're throwing in two weeks."

"What party?"

"You know, the one we're throwing!"

"...So, let me get this straight, you invited the girls over to a party which you hadn't actually planned on throwing until you invited them."

"Yeah, that about sums it up."

"Uh huh. And, uh, when were you going to talk to me about it?"

"...Before they got here?"

"Right." Aidan sighed, exasperatedly.

"And you're cleaning compulsively because you want the house to be clean for them in two weeks?"

"Well," Josh paused, suddenly realizing the flaw in his plan. "There will be less to do then!"

"We're having a party?" Sally materialized, seemingly out of thin air, behind a rather startled Josh.

"Yeah. A pretty girl talked to Josh and he went and invited her, and her friend, to a party he didn't plan on throwing until the words had already left his mouth."

"Oh."

"Hey! You didn't seem to be complaining when her friend was making googly eyes at you!" Josh retorted, only temporarily distracted from his dusting.

"Josh, most women make googly eyes at Aidan," Sally calmly intervened "The question is, how did you feel about her making eyes at you Aidan?"

Josh and Sally looked at him expectantly, waiting for a response. Aidan looked between the both of them, pausing before he spoke "Well...I'm...not...completely...upset about it, by any means. But that doesn't mean anything," he added quickly, recognizing the meaningful glance Sally and Josh shared. "I like her. She's a nice girl with a good head on her shoulders. Her friend..."

"Hey! Don't pick on Carson. She's less crazy than she seems, really!"

"She called you gay, why are you still defending her?"

"Well, she's a woman who saw and appreciated, though misread, my softer side."

Sally giggled. "Well, I for one can't wait for this party. I want to meet these girls."

"Josh, I'm really not sure this is such a great idea. I mean, how much do we even know about them, really?"

"Well, not a whole lot, but trust is a two-way street! Besides, you're always talking about fitting in and being human, right? This is part of being human! We have friends, and acquaintances, and have parties and go to parties."

"Now we're going to parties?"

"Well, they're having a housewarming party in a week and Carson invited us. It wouldn't be polite to not go!"

"Do you even know where they live?"

"Yeah. They just moved down the block from us, into the old manor."

"The old, haunted manor?" Sally questioned, a skeptical look on her face. "Who would willingly move into an old manor with broken windows...and ghosts...and all that creepiness?"

Josh looked at Aidan before turning back to Sally. "Well, uh, we would, and we can even see and hear you!"

"Well, yeah, but I'm not creepy."

"No, but you are a ghost."

"Look," Aidan spoke up, interjecting before WWIII began in their household. "I think what Josh is trying to say is that they obviously don't care about the 'creepiness', and are most likely looking for an affordable place to live."

"It's a little more detailed than where my thought process was, but sure, let's go with that."

"Still...there's still something fishy about all of this."

"Sally, there's nothing fishy about any of this. They're a couple of nice girls, fresh from college, looking for some place they can afford that's close to where they work."

"Do you even know where they work?"

Aidan raised a hand to get their attention. "I'm not sure about Carson, but Sammi is actually starting her residency at Suffolk County General."

"What, really?" Josh's curiosity piqued, easily distracted from his argument with Sally.

"Yeah. They both graduated from Harvard, Sammi from Harvard Medical. I have no clue what Carson does though. Maybe something...writing related?"

"Why do you think it would be writing related?" Sally asked, frowning.

"Because Carson told him she was going to write a romance novel about him. And call him Edward, at least until she can come up with something cutesy for him."

"Edward, as in the vampire Edward from Twilight? Am I the only one here with alarm bells going off in their heads? They move down the street, one of them gets a job at the hospital you two work at, and now you have the other comparing you to a vampire!"

"Sally, you're reading way too much into this."

"Even still, "Aidan, ever the mediator, stepped in "It can't hurt to be cautious. We'll be careful and do a little digging to see what we can find out."

"Better yet," Josh turned to look at Sally "If you're so concerned, why don't you go check out their place. See if you can't find anything incriminating, or at least moderately suspicious!"

Sally huffed and disappeared with a snap. Elsewhere in the house, a running toilet could be heard.

"Do you always have to act like that?"

"What?"

"Come on, Josh! The girl just found out that her fiancé murdered her!"

"I know, I know. She just...drives me a little crazy sometimes. I mean, what's so wrong with wanting to connect with another person?"

"I don't think it's that. Josh, the love of her life murdered her, she's dead, and her family and friends are moving on. We are all she has left!"

"I'll apologize when she gets back. I just...I really don't want anything to go wrong, you know? I don't want another Ray fiasco! I want to have a normal relationship with a normal human, and I don't want it to go to hell because of something supernaturally related. And it bugs me that she automatically thinks that somethings got to be wrong with them for talking to us and liking us and wanting to hang out with us!"

"I don't think that's why she's so worried. A big part of it is probably the fact that if we do have normal relationships with normal humans, it's less time we spend with her. I'm not suggesting that she's that needy or petty, necessarily, just that, given everything that's happened, she might be a little insecure. Ease up, okay?"

"Yeah...You're probably right. I just want this to work, with no complications this time. I think if we don't look for trouble, trouble won't find us. Right?"

"Right." Aidan smiled, seeing his friend finally calmed down.

Wrong.


A/n2- So, we would like to take a moment to thank everyone who reviewed and/or favorited/alerted this story. A big hand for: WaffleNinja, Aurora528, TarotChild Conan, Coffeegirl182, XxXCarnageXxX, and kutoki.

Without y'all's encouragement and support, this chapter wouldn't have made it out.