SPRING/SUMMER 2012 (AFTERBIRTH)

Maybe the worst part of Vivien's death was watching Ben's suffering afterwards. He was ruined, spent his days roaming the house calling to her and to Violet but never getting a response. I didn't think he'd left more than a few times to see the baby, who was still with Constance.

(It was strange, but keeping that child out of Murder House was the best thing she ever did.)

He was in the house for a little under a month, mourning his loss, before he tried to leave. I'd missed the finer details of what happened, but apparently Vivien and Violet had both appeared to convince him that escape was his only option.

But – because the house takes what it wants and because Hayden couldn't resist her natural state of being an evil bitch – he was dead before he set foot out the door.

It was sad, really, but certainly not the saddest thing that had ever happened in the house. At least he was with his family again, after all.

For me, the weeks since the birth were some of the best I'd had in recent years.

Though Tate and I had not fully mended our broken relationship, we were in a good place. We could spend time together without fighting, and I could spend time with other spirits without him raging for hours in jealousy. We still weren't back together in the romantic sense, but I was glad to remember why I'd put so much value into our friendship all those years ago.

I knew he missed Violet – I'd seen him staring into nothingness a few times, looking upset and confused. He told me that he worried about her, that he thought she might be lonely and that he felt like it was his entire fault; but he was repentant more than depressed

Halfway through the summer, we even got to have some fun when a new family moved into the house.

The Ramos' were a nice little family. Miguel and Stacy were sweet to each other, and they were more in love than anyone I'd ever seen; and they had a teenaged son, Gabriel, who looked to be around 17. It occurred to me more than once that he was the same age Tate and I had been when we died, but I felt far older now and knew there was no romance to be found there.

It wasn't long after they moved in that Moira approached me, asking for help. The Harmons wanted to scare the family away from the house, and needed the other spirits to band together.

I was all for it; the house was easier to be dead in when no one living was there, so I helped her gather the spirits. The Harmon's plan was certainly quite cheesy and, I thought, a little over-produced, but it would work.

That night, I played my part well, making sure everyone "hit their mark," and was heading up to the attic to check on Beau when I heard screaming from Tate's old room.

I immediately re-routed my path and entered to find Tate with a knife against Gabriel's neck. They were both breathing heavily, and I quickly figured that the Ramos boy had put up a fight.

"Tate," I stated loudly, closing the door behind me. He turned to me with a look of surprise across his face, a thousand emotions on his face. "What are you doing?"

"I have to," Tate muttered. "I have to do this for Violet. I couldn't save her. It's… It's my fault she's alone."

I opened my mouth to speak but was interrupted by a voice from behind me. I quickly turned to see Violet, looking tremendously tired, standing in the room with us.

"I'm not alone," she stated, moving forward. "My family's here now."

"But it's not enough," Tate argued, looking at her incredulously. "You need someone!"

"Not him," she scoffed.

As they argued, I moved to stand beside Tate, placing my hand on his shoulder. He looked at me with nothing but sadness and conflict.

"What am I supposed to do?" he asked me quietly, tears filling his eyes.

"Let them go," I instructed. "Violet will make sure he gets out of the house. Just let go, Tate. It's over."

He nodded once, stepping back from Gabriel, muttering a "sorry, man" at the teenaged boy. I was quick to pull Tate against me, holding him tight enough that he wouldn't be able to change his mind as I watched Gabriel run from the room. Violet nodded at me once, a look of understanding on her face before she disappeared from view. She and I would never speak again, but her look had said it all; I knew she had been afraid of Tate then, and I knew she had been telling me it was alright that I wasn't.

Tate sniffled against my shoulder, rubbing his face into my bubblegum bright hair as he cried.

"No more blood in this house," I intoned, rubbing his back as I held him. "Not from us."

Chapter Title: Fear Fun - Father John Misty - released April 2012

A/N: My alternate title for this chapter was "Shit Gets AU For Once" because this was - I believe - the only time I have actively changed the plotline of the show. The final episode of this season was something I found to be really bizarrely written, so I wanted to change how Tate's story ended. I hope you didn't hate it.

There's one more chapter after this. Coming very soon. x