Chapter 3

Notes: Thank you for the faves, follows, and / or reviews, they are like a warm hug ^_^

Disclaimer: I own nothing! Any resemblance to existing stories is unintended.

"HEY!"

Eli James bolted out of his bed with a shout.

"Damn it! I wish you ghosts wouldn't do that!" He said as he clutched his chest.

"I love how they react, it never gets old!" One of the ghosts said with a giggle.

Her companion shot her a scolding look, but chose to ignore her. "Sorry to startle you, but we have a problem. The man … the ghost whisperer's friend … he's leaving." She said.

"Who… Rick? So?" Eli replied irritably as he rubbed his eyes in an attempt to shake off the fog of sleep he was still in.

"Sooo … we need you to stop him." She replied.

"I'm sorry , I must still be half asleep… can you repeat that?" Eli said as he rubbed his ear.

"We need you to stop him, as long as she stays in a state of extreme grief, she is shut off to the spirits that need her help." the ghost replied.

"And you two think that Payne is the key to her happiness?" Eli said with a mocking, amused laugh.

"I don't know, but when she's with him, the wall built by her grief weakens ever so slightly." She explained.

Eli blew out a long, suffering sigh.

"Okay … okay. I'll see what I can do." he said.

"Eli … ?! What are you …" Delia exclaimed as Eli walked rudely into her house, not waiting for an invite.

"Sure, come on in." Delia said, annoyed as she shut the door behind him.

"I'm sorry I just … I have something really important to tell you … but it's going to be hard to believe." He said.

"I am Melinda's friend, remember? My definition of 'hard to believe' has become a hell of a lot more lax over the last year … so try me." she said as she crossed her arms in front of her expectantly.

"Well … a ghost came and woke me up to tell me that apparently, Professor Payne is planning to leave town, and if he does that Melinda will never be able to let go of the grief she has after losing Jim." Eli explained.

"Hey … you told me to try you." Eli said when he noticed Delia's disbelieving expression.

"Come on, if we hurry we can still catch him." Eli said as he tossed Delia her coat.

"But … why ….?" Delia said, not following.

"Because, I know how this works, these ghosts are never going to leave me alone unless I do what they say, now come on!" He said as he pulled her out the door.

Rick was walking out to his taxi to the airport when Delia's car screeched to a halt in front of his house.

"Rick, wait!" Eli said as skidded to a stop in front of him and blocked his entrance into the cab.

"Hey, buddy, get a move on! Time is money, you know!" the cabby said.

"He's changed his mind, here's a twenty for your troubles." Eli said as he thrust the money at the cabby, who shrugged as he pulled away.

"What the hell, Eli!" Rick said feriously as he shoved Eli back with so much force that he almost lost his footing.

"Rick … please listen … we had a very good reason for doing this." Delia offered gently, as she held her hands out in front of her defensively, treading lightly, she had never seen Rick so unstable.

"It never fails … every time I try to leave this infernal place, it pulls me back in! It's … It's … like a preverbal black hole!" Rick shouted in declaration as he shook his fists at no one in particular.

"Listen, we're sorry, but we had a good reason for stopping you." Delia said.

"Ah … well … come on then, lay it on me! I guess the universe didn't think I was suffering enough!" He said dramatically as he grabbed his suitcase and turned back towards his house.

Delia suddenly smacked the Professor hard in the back of the head.

"Now, I've heard about enough of your whiny, selfish behavior, mister! I know you don't want to hear this, but this isn't about you! This is about a friend of ours who has lost someone very special to her!" She said as she shook her finger at Rick.

Rick blew out a sigh and chuckled embarrassingly as he realized just what a gigantic, selfish, jackass he'd been.

"You're right … you're totally right, I've been a real jerk, haven't I?" He said as he sunk down on his front steps.

"A little bit of an understatement, but yes, you have" Delia said matter of factly.

"Kate and I used to fight about my selfishness all the time … and she was right … maybe if I had realized that sooner, we might have had a better marriage." He said as he chuckled humorlessly, Delia sat down on the steps beside him.

"Hey, no need to divulge into feeling sorry for yourself, you can't change the past, but you can change your present and future behavior. Put your own feelings aside just this one time." Delia said as she put a hand on his shoulder.

"Alright … Eli, tell whoever might be here that they can leave you alone, because I'm not going anywhere. Now, if you all don't mind, I've had quite an … exciting night and would like to get some sleep before I have to teach class tomorrow morning." He said as he stood and retreated into his house without another word to them.

Melinda blew out a long, bored sigh. Delia had the day off and on top of being alone, business was slow. She checked her watch, it was only eleven in the morning. She suddenly found herself picking up her phone and before she knew what she was doing, she was dialing Rick's number.

"Oh my god, what's come over me?!" she said as the phone rang, but before she had a chance to hang up, he answered.

"Melinda … hi!" he said, he seemed pleasantly surprised to hear from her.

"Uh ... I was wondering if you wanted to … I dunno … do lunch?" She asked, grimacing at her awkwardness.

"I'd love to, actually." He said, there was something more in the tone of his voice, he sounded … different. She couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"Great! Would twelve work? We can meet at that little café half way between the University and the shop." Melinda offered.

"Yeah, that should work, just get us a table if I'm not there yet." He replied.

"Okay … I will." She said, wondering at the feeling of joy churning inside her as he cut their connection.

Rick stared affectionately at his phone as his mind started to wonder, his heart skipped a beat excitedly, anticipating their lunch date … wait … could he even call it a date? He surely wanted to.

He was suddenly roused from his daydream by his eleven o'clock class, who were beginning to filter in, he cleared his throat nervously as he attempted to refocus his mind back to teaching.

Melinda arrived at the café and sure enough, Rick wasn't there.

'his class must've ran late.' Melinda thought to herself as the hostess showed her to a table.

"Anything to drink?" The hostess asked.

"Just water, please." She said, the hostess nodded and set down a menu before flitting back to her post at the front of the restaurant.

The minutes ticked by and Melinda nervously glanced at her watch, what if he forgot, or worse, what if he just … blew her off?

"Melinda!" she heard his breathless voice call her name, why did her heart suddenly summersault? She looked up as he jogged towards her table.

"I'm sorry … lecture ran long, you know how I am when I get going." He said with a chuckle as he sat down in the seat across from her.

She smiled at him as their gazes met and they seemed to get lost in each other's eyes.

"Excuse me … but are you two ready to order?" The waitress' voice intruded on their moment.

"Huh? Oh! Yeah! Our order! Uh … why don't you go first?" Rick indicated to Melinda, who gave him a playfully scolding look as she glanced over the menu.

"I guess I'll have the turkey panini." She said as she looked to Rick with a raised eyebrow.

"Cheeseburger, please." Rick said as they handed their menus back to the waitress.

"For a minute there, I thought you weren't coming." Melinda said, in an attempt at humor, Rick snorted.

"Are you kidding?! A guy would have to be clinically insane to stand you up." He said pointedly, his eyes not wavering from hers.

Melinda felt a warm, comforting feeling rise within her as she blushed.

"Thank you, that's very nice of you to say." She replied.

"Well … it's true." He said as their food came.

The remainder of their lunch was a pleasant one; they laughed, told jokes and stories, and reminisced about old times.

"Damn, look at the time! I have a class in ten minutes!" Rick said as they stood.

"Thank you for the lovely lunch, it was just what I needed to lift my spirits." Melinda said.

"Hey! Maybe we could make it a daily thing, this could be our spot!" Rick replied, Melinda abruptly threw her arms around his neck, surprising him.

Rick wrapped his arms around her waist and drew her in closer; she was wearing that perfume, the same one she wore the first time she had come to see him … the one that had always driven him nuts.

As she pulled back, she pressed her lips to his cheek in an intimate kiss.

"See you soon." She whispered into his ear, she pulled back and waved a final goodbye to him as she trotted to her jeep without a second look back. As she drove off, Rick let out the breath he didn't even realize he was holding.

Melinda suddenly awoke with a start and sat bolt upright in bed, a chill washed over her and her breath hung silvery in the air in front of her, she knew she wasn't alone.

"Hello? I know you're there somewhere, I can feel you, tell me how I can help you!" she said to the darkness. A shadowy presence rushed up to her so fast that it took her breath away.

"I've been trying to reach you." A hoarse female voice said as the shadow materialized into a woman who looked to be in her forties with shoulder length brown hair that was covered in leaf litter and her face had the bluish-grey tint of death.

"Yeah … I know I've been kind of out of it lately, and I am sorry for that." Melinda said, wondering to herself just what had changed to make her receptive to ghosts once more. She still felt the pain and grief of Jim's death but it didn't seem as strong as it was before.

"I know you have … it's weird … all those questions I had when I was alive about the afterlife I just … know the answer to now." The woman said.

"What is it you need help with?" Melinda interjected as she rubbed her forehead wearily.

"I need you to find my killer … before he kills again." The ghost said cryptically.

"Your killer … wait … someone murdered you?" Melinda replied.

"I have to go now." The woman said as she disappeared.

"And that's it? she just … poof?" Rick said that next morning in his office.

"Well … yeah … something like that." Melinda said with a laugh as they heard a knock on Rick's door.

Melinda swore she heard Rick groan audibly when a woman about Melinda's age entered; she was tall and slender with the body that would make any super model jealous, and legs that seemed to go on forever. Her long blonde hair was done up in a neat bun, she wore a simple white blouse that was tucked into a black knee length pencil skirt, she could have been a dead ringer for a young Sharon Stone.

"Ready to go, Rick?" She asked flirtatiously.

Melinda pinned Rick with a pensive look. "Go?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Why, yes, Rick and I have a … pressing engagement." The woman answered for him.

"Melinda Gordon, meet Professor Ramona Hockmeier … she teaches modern and classical languages … and I would hardly call a staff meeting a 'pressing engagement'." He said, an edge of venom in his voice as he glared daggers at Ramona.

"Well … I wouldn't want you two to be late on my account." Melinda said, her pleasant tone not quite reaching her facial expression as she brushed past Ramona.

"Well … this meeting shouldn't take more than say, a couple of hours, you can stop back by then and we'll talk about … you know." Rick said, not sure what to call the topic of ghosts without giving away Melinda's secret.

"I can't … I'll be working at the store until six. But why don't you stop by my house about eight and we'll pick up where we left off, and who knows, I might have found out more information by then." She said with a sweet smile and a wave as she exited his office.

"See you then." Rick said to himself, wearing a huge stupid grin, he knew he was acting like a lovesick puppy and he hated himself for it … but he couldn't help it.

He only snapped out of it when Ramona cleared her throat loudly.

"Oh … yeah … staff meeting!" He said as he grabbed his jacket off the back of his chair and shrugged into it. Ramona sighed annoyingly as she followed him out.

Melinda was halfway into her second glass of wine when she heard a knock on her door.

"Sooo … I spent the evening rifling through the periodicals in the library and I came up with this." Rick said as he walked in without waiting to be invited and handed her a copy of an old newspaper article.

"Sure, come on in." Melinda said as she shook her head endearingly at him, she knew full well that when Rick was trolling for knowledge, he had a one track mind.

'Woman Found Buried in Woods.

Alissa McDermott, 43 was discovered by hunters over the weekend, authorities suspect foul play' Melinda read.

"Police had their share of suspects, in particular, a man by the name of Moriss Gesner, but they couldn't make anything stick." Rick said.

Suddenly, the lights began to flicker as the woman appeared, standing behind the couch.

"Alissa McDermott, that's your name, right?" Melinda said, startled and intrigued, Rick followed her gaze and looked around, as if expecting to see the ghost himself.

"Wait … she's here? Now?" He asked, Melinda ignored him and pinned her gaze on the ghost.

"Yes, that's me." Alissa replied as she began to fade in and out, Melinda shook her head as she began to feel woozy.

"Moriss Gesner, is that who murdered you?" Melinda said as she struggled to focus her blurring vision.

"No! Moriss was a good man … tried to save me … you have to stop him … the man who killed me ... before he kills again!" Alissa said as she faded away.

"Melinda!" Rick cried, catching her as she fainted.

Notes: sorry all, I had to end it here or else it was going to be way way too long, remember, faves and reviews are like a warm hug ^_^