Nella waited anxiously at the street corner, tapping her foot irritably. Again she looked back and forth down the road, waiting to spot the bright yellow tank known as a school bus. Finally it rounded the corner and Nella stood up straighter, glad to not have to wait much longer. Technically it was still business hours for her and she had left Constance and the more helpful spirits to handle things.

"First time?" asked a voice from behind her.

The blonde dumbly reacted with a 'huh?' while turning to find the source of the voice. A slightly older woman with chestnut hair stood beside her. That was the second time today someone had asked that question. She wondered if she was really that obviously clueless. The woman raised an eyebrow at Nella.

Nella looked back at the quickly approaching bus and then to the lady again. "Um, yeah."

"Don't come so early the next time," the brunette offered, "the bus is always at least five minutes later than the schedule says." She held out a hand, "I'm Kelly."

"Nella," she responded, accepting the woman's hand shake.

The bus rolled up to the corner and no sooner than the doors had opened a young girl with a pink bow in her French braid flew out of the vehicle and into the arms of the other woman. Nella watched her smile down at her daughter and ask, "Did you have a good time?"

"Yes!" the little girl exclaimed. "I love school!"

She was so distracted by the scene of normalcy that she didn't notice Michael until he tugged on her hand. She squeezed his hand back instinctively and peered down at him. "How did it go?" she purposely asked a more open-ended question than the other mother. Other mother. She was still going to have to get used to that.

"Good," Michael answered, smiling up at her in a way that peaked her suspicions. "I love school."

Nella almost narrowed her eyes at him before she heard the girl's voice call out, "Mommy, mommy! This is my new friend, Michael! We're in the same class and everything!"

Kelly smiled at Nella before greeting Michael warmly and it was all Nella could do to bite back the grimace. "Looks like we'll be seeing more of each other then," Kelly said to Nella.

"Looks like," The blonde agreed with a (forced) smile. She then looked down at Michael and said, "Come on, kid. We've got a visitation tonight and there's going to be more than a few children. I'm gonna need your help."

Michael smiled up at her and agreed with an, "Okay, Mommy." Nella imagined the scene looked quite normal from an outsider's perspective.

The pairs parted ways with smiles and waves and they trailed the sidewalk back down the block to their home. While they were walking Nella kept peering down at Michael. He may be the Antichrist, but at least it seemed like he was making an effort to…fit in, she supposed.

She figured too that she should also try and make an effort where normalcy was concerned. The entire time that she had been reminding herself of the boy's evil roots, she kept forgetting that he was just a five-year-old. "Sooo, what did you do today?" she asked. It was a pretty lame attempt, but it seemed to please him.

"We played a lot of name games today. And the other kids learned how to write their names. Grandma already taught me that," he boasted proudly.

Nella grinned at the childish pride. "Have you made any other friends?" she inquired.

"They're all my friends," he claimed.

This had Nella's eyebrow raising as she glanced down at him. "Oh?" she prompted.

"Everyone really likes me. Miss Nickels said I'm popular," he explained.

The woman frowned a little and chewed on her lip. Of course he was just a boy, but she worried what kind of influence popularity would have on him. How was she supposed to teach him to be good when he had that kind of power? Nella was a firm believer that power was a cause of corruption. Although she was a little biased, never having been popular with children her own age.

The pair reached the front door to find Tate leaning on the porch outside. Michael of course let go of her hand to fling himself at his dad in a tight hug. Nella leaned over the boy to give Tate a small kiss on the lips. It was quite the little happy-family scene.

"When everything's cleaned up, you can tell me all about your first day," Tate promised.

"I love you," he said.

Nella still felt a torrent of butterflies in her stomach every time Tate told her that. She did nothing to fight the grin that found its way onto her face and told him, "I love you too."

It was his turn to grin down at her. Tate considered himself the luckiest…well, ghost ever. It was almost hard to believe he was sitting in what looked like paradise with who he would consider the perfect woman. But there he was.

They were spending time on the gazebo with all the fairy lights plugged in. It was still balmy at night, not having gotten into the fall chill yet. September had only started and yet it felt like he had already known her for an eternity. He could see her golden soul shine through her skin the way the low lighting played off the contours of her face. Nella didn't mind at all that he seemed happy to just stare at her—she was pretty well doing the same with him.

"When did you know?" Nella asked idly.

Tate tiled his head to the side, not pausing his hand running through her golden hair. "Know what?" he asked.

The blonde smiled bashfully and wanted to look away, feeling silly for asking in the first place. But with her head on Tate's lap she opted to close her eyes instead before clarifying, "That you loved me. Love me."

When he didn't say anything Nella cracked one eye open to peek up at him. His brow was furrowed and he started straight out ahead. She absently lifted her hand to brush the curls off his face. A small smile slipped back onto his lips and he glanced down at her. "When I became your underling," he teased.

Nella couldn't help her laugh, "What?"

He sported a boyish grin saying, "Yeah. I mean, from the moment you moved in I knew there was something different about you." Nella's smile fell, concentrating on his speech. "We all did," he shrugged. "Not to mention how beautiful you are." The woman blushed and rolled her eyes. "But spending that whole day with you, even if half the time I wasn't really with you was what really got me. I was just some guy…and you took a chance on me. You were always kind to me. Patient. Genuinely caring. It's why the house picked you I guess, but…it's also why I fell in love." Nella was staring up at him almost disbelieving. He made sure he was looking into her eyes when he declared, "Because you're the most beautiful, caring woman in the whole universe and I wanted some of that love you have that glows right through you."

Nella swallowed thickly and in response said, "You have more than some of it."

Tate's stroked Nella's cheek and she captured his hand with hers, still pressed to her face. "I'm never going to let you go," he told her.

She felt her heart rate speed up, although she couldn't tell if it was from the endorphin rush or the prickle of fear that sizzled down her spine.

Thankfully she didn't have to decide quite what she was feeling or what to say back to him. A small 'meow' and a bump to her leg pulled the pair out of the moment. Ghost was rubbing his fuzzy head on her outstretched legs. He looked up and meowed again expectantly at the woman.

Nella sat up from her position to reach out and stroke the black and white feline. "Hello there, Ghost," she cooed. "What is it, kitten?"

He meowed again, this time with more force and skittered just out of reach. Nella smiled and tiled her head, assuming it was just a cat looking for attention. She frowned however when he walked a few paces towards the house before sitting down and mewing at her again.

Nella looked back at Tate and shrugged before getting up and dusting herself off. Who knows? Maybe being dead made the animal more able to communicate than when he was alive. After all, despite Michael killing him he had grown quite attached to the little boy. For all she knew, the cat had become a messenger for the Antichrist. There were probably weirder things in the supernatural world than messenger ghost cats. The blonde mulled over that thought while she followed the fuzzy animal into the house, not paying attention to where she was being led.

Before she knew it, she had almost lost sight of the cat, only catching the flick of his tail as he snuck through a cracked door. Nella's frown deepened when she looked up to find herself staring at Constance's door. She had a very bad feeling about all of this.

Cracking the door open a smidge more she whispered out, "Constance?" When she didn't receive a response she opened the door fully and peered into the darkness of the room calling out quietly, "Constance, are you awake?"

The figure in the bed wasn't moving and Nella quietly tip-toed to the bed side, noting Ghost was curled at the older woman's feet. She huffed a little and shook her arm demanding, "Constance, wake up."

Her arm fell limply off the edge of the bed. Decidedly not attached to the rest of the woman.

Nella screamed.