Chapter 9.

Lydia slouched into the hospital chair beside me with a heavy sigh. Glancing over, she moved her hand to offer me the extra cup of water she had.

"Thanks," I replied, taking the cup and draining it in a few moments. "How…is he?"

"Fine. Sleeping now. The doctor had to stitch up the cut on his leg and put some medication on the burn he had…but nothing serious."

"That's good."

"It's not your fault you know," she offered, looking straight ahead with hands folded in her lap.

I didn't answer.

"Really was Medulla's fault for not screening the competition entries more closely and since part of that was my job too…that kid had no idea the ingredients he was using were so volatile."

"It's not your fault either," I said, looking over at her, realizing how tired she seemed.

She shrugged and suddenly shivered, a result of the drafty hallway we were currently sitting in. I eased out of my jacket and handed it over; wary of putting it over her shoulders myself. It was like some invisible wall was there, five years of words not said to each other and time not spent together.

"Thanks," she offered and put the jacket on, subtly smelling the collar.

"I know," I offered with a smirk, "I should stop smoking."

She smiled a bit and looked over to meet my eyes briefly. "You said you had something to say. Something about me and Fintan being in danger?"

I didn't want to ruin the momentary truce but knew it had to be said sooner or later. "I think some of Secondhand's guys are out to get you. Fiona…her message was about the Mortis Angelus, the weapon that...killed Knight."

"You wouldn't tell me what happened with Knight," she reminded me, crossing her arms, "And now you just want me to trust you that some crazy person wants to use it on me?"

"Fiona wouldn't just send a message like that for no reason. I think Fintan had told her what to say- the future Fintan, not our Fintan."

"They're both our Fintan," she corrected me, sounding annoyed again.

"Anyway, if Secondhand is trying to settle things with you and the Mortis Angelus is floating around it makes sense that he might have something to do with it. Even if he doesn't, they're both threats."

"Wait a second," Lydia said, holding up a hand, "Can we start from the beginning at least? Who the heck is Secondhand anyway?"

I stared back at Lydia, wondering if this was her idea of a joke. She raised an eyebrow at me, obviously waiting for an answer. An answer I couldn't begin to give.

"Your dad- he has a twin brother right? Secondhand is his villain name. You stopped him…in another dimension. That's why he wants to kill you."

Lydia stared at me emotionlessly. In a couple moments she wore the same look as she checked Fintan out of the hospital and carried him to the car.

"No Warren- I don't know what you're trying to pull, but this isn't funny. Making up a whole story just to talk to me? Something is wrong with you," she fumed, opening her car door and buckling the resistant Fintan into his booster seat. She shut the door after finishing and whirled to face me.

"Lydia, this isn't- I don't-"

"Don't what?!"

I grabbed her shoulders, "Look, I don't know why you can't remember Secondhand, or that dimension, or any of that crap. But it happened alright. The guy knew your name, he knew everything about you and about me. There was no reason for him to lie about that. Somehow….somehow you're just not remembering!"

Pulling away, Lydia took off my jacket and shoved it into my arms. Opening the driver's door, she got into the car, obviously eager to make a quick getaway. I bolted around to the passenger's door, glad that she didn't have the money for a car with automatic locks. The door slammed shut as I pulled it and Lydia and I stared each other down for a moment. Without Fintan in the car, I might have felt this was the perfect prelude to some make-up (or make-out) time, but at the moment Lydia's memory loss was regrettably more important…that and the fact that she didn't want me anywhere in a mile radius of her.

"I'm not getting out," I said simply as I clipped the seatbelt.

Jaw set, she started the car and drove slowly out of the hospital parking lot.

The ride back to the house was silent for awhile, her unwilling to talk in front of the half-awake Fintan and me unable to explain what was going on. By the time we pulled into the driveway, I realized that this mystery couldn't be solved without some outside help. Medulla didn't like me, but surely he'd agree to perform the scans for Lydia's sake. The only thing stopping me was Lydia herself. She wasn't about to agree to a brain checkup just because I insisted.

"Look, just go with me to Medulla. He'll be able to do the brain scans. If anyone can figure out what's wrong, he can."

"I don't think there is anything wrong- other than the fact that you want me-" she broke off, wide-eyed and staring out the front of the car at where the headlights shone on the garage.

I looked and started, spotting what had made Lydia stop talking. Fiona was standing there, her projected image looking a little more like a ghost now that I knew she was really dead.

"Sissy!" Fintan exclaimed from the back, suddenly awake. He unbuckled his seat in record time and managed to climb out of the car quicker than we could. Excited, he dashed over to her image and took her hand. The hand I knew felt like nothing.

I opened my door and then realized Lydia wasn't moving. She was still staring at the two of them and her hands gripped the steering wheel tightly, knuckles white. The blood had drained from her face, but there were no tears. I couldn't look away.

"Lydia," I offered softly and put a hand over one of hers, "Lydia…it's ok."

"Don't tell me that," she snapped, hands moving out from under mine. She looked over, eyes wet. "You didn't have to deal with this- see her die and then talk to her again and again. She'd pop up and every time I tried to tell myself it wasn't really her…Don't tell me it's ok Warren." Her voice was shaky and I thought she might start cursing at me, "She told me there'd be one more time," her voice shook and then broke completely as the tears finally streamed down, "One more time before the messages would stop."

I looked out the window again at the twins standing in front of the car, holding hands and smiling at their mother, and their father I added mentally. Getting out of the car, I circled around to Lydia's door and opened it. She stayed still as I reached over and unbuckled her, switched the control to park and took out the keys. The lights went out and I grabbed her hand, extracting her gently from the car until she stood beside me. She didn't let go this time and we held hands as we walked over and stood in front of the other pair.

"Hi daddy," Fiona said, lisp sounding the same as ever.

"Hi babe," I answered.

Fintan looked between us, a scowl beginning to form. He leaned over and whispered to his sister's ghost. She smiled and nodded at him. I figured he'd have to believe I was his dad if his sister had sent a message saying so. He still didn't look very happy about it nonetheless.

"I'm sorry mama," Fiona offered, looking bashfully up at Lydia through a mess of long, brown hair. "He said I should come one more time."

"It's alright," Lydia managed and released my hand to crouch down next to them. Her tear-stained face was unnaturally white in the darkness. "I'm glad you're here, one last time," she offered and put her arms around the little girl who felt like air. "What did you come to say?" she asked, withdrawing from the hug.

Fiona looked up at me and smiled, "Daddy wants you to do something…you should do it."

Lydia dropped her head slightly, but nodded, her hair falling in front of her face before I could catch her expression. "Alright. Anything else?"

"I love you mama," the little girl added and bent over to kiss the top of Lydia's bent head. She looked up at me with a smile, "Love you too daddy, love you Fin."

"Love you Fiona," I offered and swung the lighter than cotton candy ghost girl up into my arms.

"Love you sissy," Fintan said, not letting go of her hand.

We were silent.

The front light on the house turned on.

"What are you all doing standing out here," A boisterous voice questioned. Mr. Leopard came around from the door and stopped short at seeing me. "Hey Warren," he greeted, smiling wider, if that was at all possible, "Didn't know you'd be coming over."

"Me neither," I answered shortly, dropping my arms. Fiona was gone.

Lydia turned quickly and went to shut her driver's side door. She stood for a moment with her back to us. I knew she was rubbing at her cheeks, wondering if her mascara had smeared, hoping she didn't look too pathetic. I wanted to punch Mr. Leopard, but since that feeling seemed to be my natural reaction to him, I ignored it for the moment.

"Hey little man," the smiling surfer model said to Fintan with a huge grin.

Fintan looked up at the guy and then ran off into the house with a sullen grimace. I was suddenly much more approving of the kid's manners.

"Sorry about that James," Lydia offered, looking pale still but not weepy in the least. She smiled at the golden Hercules and my fingertips started burning. "He's had a hard day."

"Doesn't look like the only one," Mr. Leopard offered, "But it's gotta be hard for a kid, not knowing his dad and then meeting him suddenly," he stepped over and slapped me hard on the back. I thought my hands were going to turn to ash and just fall off, but there was still no sign of flame, "You'll just have to give him time Peace."

"Sure," I answered through gritted teeth, "I'll keep that in mind," I said, resisting the temptation to ask him if he had any kids of his own. "We still on for tomorrow then?" I asked Lydia, almost insisting then and there that my legs hurt too much to walk home. I might have, but James would have offered me a ride then and the purpose would be thwarted.

Lydia nodded slowly, "Sure. Tomorrow," she answered and walked to the front door without looking back.

"Need a ride home?" Mr. Leopard asked, smiling.

"No. I'll just walk," I said, turning and forcing my feet to take one step at a time down the driveway, up the street, around the corner and towards the Stronghold residence.

The night air didn't do much to cool down my hands.