AN: Only three more chapters after this one. We're getting close, folks!
Chapter 10 – One Last Night
Tina shoved the door of the shop open, the wind chasing her in and setting off the array of windchimes hanging from the ceiling. She glanced around quickly until she spotted Rachel standing behind the desk in the corner near the window. The petit brunette looked up from her book as Tina jogged over to the table. "We need your help," Tina said without pre-empting.
Rachel's forehead furrowed and she glanced sideways at where Artie was standing beside Tina. "The spirit's here with you, isn't he?" she asked knowingly. "Yes, I can sense his aura. But it's shifted. I feel a very strong red aura now. The hostility has changed into affection."
"What?" Tina asked, looking over at Artie. He shrugged but she noticed that his ears had gone pink.
"Yes, you've both grown fond," Rachel said decisively and she smiled. "What can I do for you?"
"We need your help," Tina repeated. "You were right; Artie's not dead. He's in a coma. His family is going to take him off life support. How can we get his spirit or whatever back into his body?"
Rachel traced her fingers over the opened book on her desktop. "That's not the right question."
"What do you mean?" Tina asked frantically. "We need to know how to get him back. Why is he not in his body? How do we get him back in? How do we save him?"
"I'm sorry, but you're asking all the wrong questions," Rachel said.
Tina groaned and threw her hands up in exasperation. "There are too many questions, how do I know which is the right one?" she said. "Why is he here? Why isn't he in his body? Why am I the only one who can see him?"
"Ah," Rachel said and her eyes lit up. "There. That was the right question."
Tina and Artie exchanged bemused glances. "I don't know," he said in response to the question in her eyes.
"Neither do I," she agreed.
Rachel smiled and tipped her head. "Find the answer to that, and you'll have all your answers."
Tina was still fuming in frustration when they got back to the house. "What a load of worthless tosh," she said as she slammed the front door behind them, tossing her coat onto the sofa. "I asked her for help and that's all she gave us? A ridiculous riddle?"
She turned around, expecting Artie to agree with her, only to see he wasn't even paying attention. He was kneeling beside the sofa, a hand hovering above the edge of the silver-framed photograph propped up in front of the lamp. Tina's argument died on her tongue as Artie looked up at her with wide eyes. "You took my picture," he said, but instead of accusatory his voice simply sounded awed.
Tina felt her cheeks turn red and she shrugged. She stared over his shoulder, taking in the old photograph of Artie's smiling face, with his brother's arm tossed around his shoulders. "I stole it from the hospital when we were there," she admitted in embarrassment. "I just – I thought I wasn't going to see you again and I wanted something to remember you by."
Artie smiled and his fingers passed through the frame as he traced the edges. "I'm glad," he said. "I think you should keep it. I'm glad someone will remember me."
"Plenty of people would," Tina said quickly. "I've met all these people from your life in the last few days, and I can see they would miss you. Your friends from the hospital, and especially your family. Your brother, and your niece and nephew. They love you. They would miss you if you never came back. But they won't have to worry about that, because I'm going to save you."
Walking over to the little table beside the armchair, Tina unburied the pile of books she'd bought from Rachel's bookshop. She tossed aside one she'd already read cover-to-cover and picked up another that she'd only skimmed through. "What are you doing?" Artie asked.
"Going back through all of this," Tina said distractedly, flipping through several pages of useless acknowledgements at the beginning. "Maybe there's something I missed, something that will help."
"Don't waste your time, Tee." Artie sat down on the coffee table, folding his legs and placing a hand over the page she was trying to read. "It's not going to help," he said. "Look, I'm going to die tomorrow." The blunt statement made Tina pause and she looked up at him imploringly. "I've accepted that. I mean even if I had come back, my life would never be the same. I'm paralysed. I wouldn't have been able to keep working the way I do, and my job was my life. I'm going to die and I'm okay with that now. I don't want to spend my last night scrambling around for some scrap of hope. I just want to enjoy it."
Tina nodded and closed the book, setting it aside as her brain immediately switched gears. "Alright then, what do you want to do? Do you want to go sky-diving? Or fly to Europe? We can do whatever you want. You know, so long as they accept major credit cards."
Artie chuckled and shook his head. "No, I have another idea," he said and his tone had gone timid. "Actually, what I really want to do is take you on a date." Tina's eyes snapped open and she met Artie's gaze. "I know it sounds insane," he hurried on, "and I guess really you'd be taking yourself out since I can't actually pay for anything. I just – I haven't gone out on a real date in ages, at least not one that wasn't a blind date. I want to go out, with you."
There was a long minute as Tina tried to process this request. It was both a completely normal and totally ridiculous thing. She looked across at Artie's sweet, awkward smile, and then felt herself returning it. "Give me just a second to go put on something nicer," she said and jumped up. Artie looked shocked but he nodded, and she ran across the house to the bedroom.
Rummaging through the closet, she found one of her dresses tucked into the back. She hadn't worn any of her nice clothes in a while because she hadn't really had a reason to. Now she pulled out one of her favourites, a navy and black dress with intricate lacework around the skirt, and slipped it on. She combed her hair down so it lay smoothly, and then slipped on a pair of flats. With one last check in the mirror, she turned and walked back into the living room.
Artie looked up as she came in and his eyes widened comically. "Wow, you look –" He trailed off, apparently lost for the right word.
"That's how a girl's supposed to look on the first date, isn't it?" she replied cheekily, trying not to blush as he openly stared. "So, where are we going?"
"Well I'm a pretty classic guy," Artie said and bit his lower lip thoughtfully. "So how does a nice dinner sound? Maybe a walk in the park afterward?"
"That sounds great," she agreed and picked up her jacket. "Alright, Romeo, let's go."
Twenty minutes later they were sitting opposite each other at a booth in the back of Breadstix. The host had given Tina a weird look when she'd asked for a private booth but he'd obligingly led her to one in the back, and handed Tina a menu. "I've never actually been here before," she admitted, glancing around. "You know, except when we saved that guy who wasn't breathing that one time."
Artie chuckled. "Me neither," he agreed. "It's nice in here though."
"Shame you won't be able to eat anything," she said a bit awkwardly, twisting one of the thin breadsticks between her fingers. "That sort of defeats the purpose of going out to eat."
"It's okay, I'll survive," he said. "You'll just have to tell me how good it is."
Tina wrinkled up her nose and dropped the breadstick onto the tabletop, struggling to swallow the bite she'd just taken. "Well for a place called Breadstix, their breadsticks are terrible," she said. "No wonder they're free."
"Well that's disappointing," Artie said and chuckled. "I hope their food at least is good."
"So do I, or this'll be a pretty lousy start to a date," she replied with a smirk. Artie's lips quirked up more on one side and it gave him a playful, mischievous look. For a minute she was able to forget that he wasn't entirely real, and that this was their last night together. While she ate a dish of spaghetti he told her about his childhood and family and med school. Tucked away in their safe corner, she giggled at his jokes and caught herself batting her eyelashes at the man only she could see. And after dinner they walked side-by-side through the park and Tina was able to feel like any other girl out on a first date.
"You know this is the first date I've been on in a long time," Artie said conversationally as they ambled down a deserted path behind the playground. The sun had gone down and the place was empty and quiet. "In almost six months, I think. Or well, six months from before my accident so I guess that's over a year ago."
"This is my first date since Mike died," Tina said. "I haven't been on a first date since my freshman year of college when we met."
"So you'd forgotten how awkward first dates are too?" Artie asked jokingly.
Tina laughed appreciatively. "Honestly, this really wasn't that awkward," she said. "You know, apart from the waiter giving me weird looks for talking to myself. He probably thought I was completely insane."
"You kind of are, Tee," he pointed out and then grimaced. "Right, sorry, I forgot you don't like being called Tee."
"I don't know," she said and shrugged. "It's kind of grown on me. I don't mind it so much anymore."
Artie smirked. "I knew I'd wear you down eventually," he said triumphantly. The breeze swept through the park and Tina shuddered, rubbing her hands together and pulling her jacket tighter around herself. "Oh, we should probably get you inside before you get a cold," he said quickly.
"But what about our date?" Tina asked. "We're supposed to make it really great for you."
The smile that slipped over Artie's features was soft and affectionate. "It already is," he said. "C'mon, the night doesn't have to end just because we go home. We can watch a movie, have some wine, whatever you like."
"Alright," Tina agreed reluctantly and they walked back to where her car was parked. Artie hummed along with the radio again as they drove and this time Tina joined in. They were both singing along loudly by the time they got back to the house and she let them in, draping her coat over the arm of the sofa. When she turned around Artie was watching her with a curious expression on his face. "What?"
"You really do look beautiful," he said sincerely. "Not just tonight, but always. You're beautiful." Tina shifted uncomfortably, feeling the heat creeping up through her face. "Can you ask one last favour from you?"
"Of course," Tina said. "Anything."
"Lay with me?" he asked sweetly. "I don't want to sleep alone tonight." Something caught in Tina's throat, but she nodded and gestured for him to follow her. She walked down to the bedroom and then stretched out on one side of the bed, turning on her side and tucking her arm under her head like a pillow. Artie lay down on the other side, copying her position, and then smiled at her softly. "Thank you."
Tina wordlessly held up her free hand between them and Artie placed his against hers, their skin blurring together around the edges. A strange, indistinct tingle spread through her fingers and made her chest feel light. "I can almost feel that," she said with a smile.
"Me too," Artie agreed and his expression became more intense. "You know, sometimes I think if I could ever really touch you like this, it would wake me up."
They didn't talk after that, just lay there next to each other. Gradually Tina's hand drifted to lie on the mattress and Artie set his on top of hers, although it passed straight through. She fell asleep with the tingle of his hand on hers and his blue eyes filling her vision.
Tina grudgingly pried her eyes open up as awareness swept back into her, and the moment she realised that the bed next to her was empty her heart jumped into her throat. "Artie?" she asked in a panic, bolting up.
"I'm here." She pivoted around and saw he was sitting on the bench in the bedroom window. A relieved sigh left her.
"I thought you'd gone already," she admitted anxiously.
Artie smiled. "Not yet, it's only nine," he said and pointed at the clock.
"Good, we've got time," Tina said and jumped out of bed. "I figured out what I've got to do."
"What do you mean?" Artie asked curiously.
Tina tugged on the nearest pair of jeans and then pulled her dress over her head without any regard for modesty. As she slipped into a camisole, she turned back to him and said, "I was dead, and it was you who brought me back to life. So I'm going to return the favour. It's my turn to save you."
"Tee, we went over this," he said. "It's too late."
"No, all we need is more time," she said insistently. "We just need some more time to figure out how to get you back, which means I have to stop them from killing you. And last night I thought of the answer." She slipped on her shoes and then fixed him with a piercing stare. "I'm going to steal your body."
