A/N: Here we go! Let the good times continue! I'm going to 100 chapters, so I hope you enjoy these final chapters!

This chapter occurs about two years before "What You have Coming". The kids are 13 and 14.

Scare Tactics

It was Friday evening, almost six o'clock. The garage door opened, and Olivia leaned forward from her place where she was standing at the kitchen island. The brunette had just gotten home from a long day at Haven House and was enjoying a tall glass of water. She watched as her wife ambled in, lap top bag and purse on her shoulder, her face exhausted.

"Hey, Babe." Olivia downed the last of her water, set the glass on the wooden surface, and began removing her black blazer and moved to drape it over a kitchen chair. She turned and watched her wife again.

Alex moved to the island and set her bags down and then let out a huge sigh before looking at her and smirking.

"How are you, Al?" Olivia took a few steps forward now, moving to stand next to the blonde.

Alex took another deep breath and let it out before slithering her arms around her, their faces within inches of the other. "Long…long day, Liv. Long week, really." She leaned in close and pressed her lips to her own.

Olivia smiled through the kiss and then pulled away. "Then you should relax. It's Friday. We have the weekend to just do our thing, be with the kids…no interruptions." Olivia smiled.

Alex returned the sentiment. "Sounds nice, Babe." She kissed her once more.

Squealing now. Isabel entering the room.

"Mom! Mama! Gracie and I have a report to do!"

Alex eyed her wife, her expression unyielding. "Really, Liv? Relaxing?"

Grace entered now, as well.

Within seconds, they were both accosted by their daughters, kisses and hugs had.

With Isabel's arms wrapped around Olivia, the brunette looked down at their blue-eyed daughter. "What's up, Iz?"

"Gracie and I have to do a report on our house."

"Our house?" Alex questioned, now in the holds of Grace. She looked her daughter's face over.

Grace nodded. "We have to find out about the history of our house and do a report. What do you know about the other inhabitants?"

"Inhabitants?" Alex asked. She looked at Olivia. "I don't know much except for the last people that lived here…was it…fourteen years ago?" She looked back down at her daughter now.

"It was an elderly couple," Olivia spoke. "Gillian and Michael…Anderson, I think?"

"From what we know…" Alex began, "…they had to go to a nursing home because the husband was in poor health and Gillian wanted to be with him, so she went, too."

"But what about before that?" Isabel asked. "This townhouse was built in the thirties, right? Did they live here that whole time?"

"That…I don't know, girls." Alex moved away from Grace and took Olivia's empty glass and moved to fill it from the door on the refrigerator.

"How do we find out?" Grace asked.

"I know that there's a National Registry of Historic Places, but I don't know if our house will be listed." Olivia began unbuckling her belt now and removing it from the loops, feeling like she needed to be less encumbered. She couldn't wait to slip on something loose.

"What year was it built?" Grace asked.

"Um…" Olivia thought, looking up at the ceiling and untucking her navy silk blouse from her black pants, watching her wife approach an island stool with a full glass now and sip, "…1934, 1935? Some time around there."

"So, there could have been more people that lived here besides them?" Isabel questioned.

"Most likely," Olivia answered.

"You'll have to go to the library and look it up." Alex guzzled half the contents.

"Do you have any papers on it?" Grace asked.

"We have the closing papers and there might be more information on there," Olivia smiled.

Alex stared unwaveringly at her then. The price of the house was not something that either of them liked to reveal to anyone, much less their children. Their kids would be shocked to know that the house they were living in had been bought for just about seven million.

"We'll get you what you need, girls," Olivia offered. "Let's get dinner started. I'm gonna go change really quick and then I'll be down. Iz, get the salad stuff out. Gracie, start the rice pilaf. There's a box in the pantry. Rotisserie chicken is ready on the stove."

"Did you get it from The Whole Foods Gourmet, Liv? Or Costco?" Alex stepped to the covered dome on the stove top.

Isabel opened the refrigerator and took out lettuce, tomato and cucumber before closing it and moving to the island.

"The Whole Foods Gourmet, Babe. I know you like the chickens from there better." Olivia moved up behind her wife and wrapped her arms around her middle as Alex examined the poultry.

Alex turned her head and smiled. "And I know you do too, Liv."

Alex ran the brush through her hair and then set it on the bureau before gathering her locks and placing them into a high, loose bun. She stopped and looked at herself, hands on her hips. She had changed into a black, crew neck sweatshirt and jeans, her glasses on.

Her wife exited the master bathroom now, casual in a pair of dark gray Adidas pants and a dark gray zip-up hoodie, her hair also up.

"What is it, Al?" Olivia furrowed her brow. "I can tell you're thinking about something."

"The papers for this townhouse have the sale amount on them. It's not something I want the kids to know about."

"So, we just show them any other papers that have the history on them. Take the one with the price on it out." Olivia moved up behind her then and placed the flats of her palms on the blonde's lower belly and nuzzled her ear. "Right?"

Alex reached her left hand up and cradled the back of her wife's head, scratching her scalp lightly and smiling. "Right."

"Hungry?"

"For dinner?" Alex giggled.

"Yes, Al. For dinner."

A fierce, reverberating growl resounded from the blonde's lower torso.

"Well, I guess I am." Alex turned then and looked her wife's flawless face over before letting her gaze wander down to her cleavage—no tank or shirt beneath the hoodie, just the slight revealing of a black, lacy bra. She moved her eyes back up and into chocolate pools. "And for a little Liv lovin' later on…" She smiled.

"All weekend, Babe." Olivia patted her backside with both hands before clenching firmly. You…" she kissed her once, "…me…" she kissed her again, "…the sofa and the remote…"

"And the library, apparently."

"I'll take the girls tomorrow for a couple of hours. You don't have to worry about it." She raised her eyebrows. "OK?"

Alex nodded. "Let's go eat."

Olivia squeezed her ass once more and smiled, kissing her once again. "Let's go."

"What did you find out, girls?" Olivia asked over her shoulder as they drove back from the library. She had dropped them off, then had run a couple of errands—dry cleaners, grocery store, and filled the car up with gas.

The twins were in the back seat, having printed off a few sheets of information, a couple of books also checked out. There was a silence before Grace answered.

"We found a couple of books on the Upper East Side, the buildings, the history."

A silence then and Olivia looked in the rear view to find the girls smiling at each other.

"The house has a long history, Mama," Isabel offered.

"Oh, really?" Olivia looked in the mirror again. "Like what?"

"It was built in 1934. It's had six different owners. Three people died in there. And…"

Olivia pulled into the back driveway, stopped, and looked in the rear view once more before pressing the garage door button. "Died? And?"

"It's on the New York State Census of Historically Haunted Houses." Grace's face was straight, her lips pulled inward.

But Isabel's was slightly less contained. Their blue-eyed girl was obviously stifling a smile.

Grace nudged her in the side. "Isabel!" She nudged her again. "Come on!"

"Is that true, girls?" Olivia pulled the Rover into the garage and put the car in park and turned the engine off, removing the keys.

"Yes. All true," Grace offered.

"Well, three deaths, six owners. That's very…interesting."

"Does it scare you, Mama?" Isabel asked.

They all got out of the car and moved to the door.

"Scare? No. People die in houses all the time. It's usually the place people want to be when they're sick and know they're not gonna make it."

The girls entered the house now, Olivia following and pressing the garage door button to lower the large, metal door.

"Do you think it'll scare Mom?" Isabel smiled.

"Do you want it to scare your mother?" Olivia stopped then, keys in her hand, looking at the twins.

"Not intentionally," Isabel smirked.

Olivia paused and cocked her head to the side. "Don't do this to your poor mother. She's had a long week. She just finished mentoring three new law students and has been in court all week. She just wants to relax, babes." Olivia took Isabel's chin in her hand and raised her eyebrows. "OK?"

"OK, Mama." Isabel smiled.

"That pizza was really good, Liv," Alex oozed, cuddled up against Olivia on the sofa.

They were watching Castle Rock, Season Two on Hulu and had already partaken in a couple of glasses of Merlot, as well. The kids were in their rooms, on their phones, playing music, and doing what they always did on the weekends—but no friends were involved on this lazy Saturday evening.

"Did Iz tell you about the house?" Olivia questioned, stroking her wife's left arm as she leaned against her.

Alex moved slightly away then and looked at her. "No. What?"

"That it's had six other tenants…three deaths happened here. That's what they found out."

Alex relaxed her body against her again, both of their gazes on the TV. "No, but…"

"But?" Olivia smiled.

"But nothing, Liv. That's the history, right?"

"Yep. It appears so."

A few moments of silence. Then Olivia spoke. "Does it bother you?"

"That people have died here?" Alex leaned forward and took her almost-empty glass of wine and then leaned back. "I suppose it's a little unsettling."

"Does it bother you, though. Does it frighten you?" Olivia asked, looking down at her wife's profile.

"Y-no…no, it doesn't." Alex moved away then and took a final sip, head tilting back to finish before she placed it back on the coffee table. "Should it?"

Olivia shook her head and reached for her wife's face, moving a strand of hair away from her forehead and tucking it behind her ear. "I don't think so. We haven't had any problems so far."

Another moment of silence as they looked at each other.

"So far…" Alex smiled. "Do you think we're summoning the spirits by thinking and talking about them?"

Olivia began chuckling and pulled her wife closer to her, wrapping her arms around her, Alex resting her head on her shoulder. "No, Babe. I don't think that's how it works."

Alex relaxed. "Good."

"Have you ever had any…experiences before?" Olivia asked.

"When I was younger, I thought I saw a ghost…in Southampton. I thought I saw my grandfather in the living room, in the downstairs study of the house. He had been dead for almost seven years."

Olivia smiled. "And?"

"And I told my mother…I was about ten…and she brushed it off."

"And that was that?"

"Pretty much."

"Well…don't worry…" Olivia began, "…if there are ghosts…I'll protect you, Babe."

Alex looked up at her then, smiling. "I know you will. As you always do, detective…"

Olivia leaned in closer and their lips met—slow, searching, languid.

"Time for bed?" Alex asked.

Olivia looked at the clock on the TV—11:33 p.m. "I think so, Al. Let's go up."

Alex was freezing. Literally shivering. Top teeth clattering against bottom.

The sheet and quilt and blanket on top of them didn't seem to be enough and, although it was November, there was a chill in the air. She moaned and rolled over onto her back from her left side before moving into her wife and wrapping her arm around her, cuddling against her.

"I'm so cold, Liv," she mumbled.

"Hmmm?" Olivia moaned from sleep.

Alex jostled her a little then and spoke louder, "I'm cold, Olivia. Let's turn the heat on."

"It's on, Babe. I set it to sixty-nine before we went to bed."

"Go check." Alex placed her face in the crook of her wife's neck, holding onto her waist even tighter now.

"I'm on it, Babe." Olivia sat up now, removed her wife's arm from her midsection, and got out of bed.

Alex waited, trying to pull the covers up to her neck, still shivering.

Just as she was about to fall back to sleep, she felt the bed shake.

"Thermostat says it's set at sixty-nine, but the temperature says fifty-five? That can't be right." Olivia slipped back beneath the covers and got settled.

Alex moved into her again and needed her body heat and so she pressed the front of her body to her wife's, wrapping the covers around them. "Maybe it's broken?"

"It was working fine just a couple of hours ago." Olivia yawned and let out a moan.

Alex's eyes popped open. "Maybe we've disturbed the peace with the spirits by talking about them." She smiled and then snuggled her face into her wife's neck once more.

"Maybe…" Olivia trailed off. "I can get another blanket…" She moved to sit up again.

"No…" Alex grabbed on tighter, "…I need your body heat, Babe. Don't go…"

"OK…" Olivia mumbled before relaxing again.

Why is it so cold? Fifty-five? Alex wondered, her eyes popping open again. She looked at the ceiling, then turned to face her wife in the moonlight, noticing that Olivia's mouth was already parted with sleep. She decided to close her own eyes and let sleep take her, as well.

Alex stepped from the shower and exited the glass-encased enclave before moving to the mirror of the bathroom, noticing it heavily steamed up with condensation. She lifted her right hand to wipe it, to clear it of the steam, and swiped her palm along the flat surface.

Temporarily removing the water droplets, she stepped back and began wiping herself down with her towel, her damp, blonde locks dripping in the process.

After finishing drying herself off, she placed the towel on the towel rack and then took her terrycloth robe from the back of the door and wrapped herself in it, but not before noticing the surface of the mirror once more.

Help me! was scrawled on the mirrored surface and she gasped, taking a step back and blindly feeling for the doorknob as she backed away.

Shakily turning it, her eyes fixated on the message, she opened the door and moved into the bedroom to find her wife lying in bed, not having awoken for the day.

"Olivia." She moved to the bed and sat next to her still-slumbering wife and began shaking her hip. "Liv…"

Olivia moaned and yawned, reaching for the air as she stretched. "Mmmmm…" She relaxed again and hugged her pillow, "…what, Babe?" Her eyes were closed, and she looked so peaceful, so content, wearing a white camisole, her chestnut locks down and splayed behind her.

"Olivia…there's…" Alex stopped herself.

"Mmmm, there's what, Al?" Olivia's eyes remained closed.

"There's…" Alex paused, watching her wife, "…there's a…there's writing on the mirror."

She knew how stupid it sounded. Writing on the mirror? Really? But she had seen it.

Olivia's eyes popped open and she smiled and stretched again before returning to her relaxed pose of eyes closed, hugging the pillow. "Writing on the mirror, Al? Like…I love you?"

"No." That was all the blonde said.

Olivia opened her eyes again and looked at her. "What does it say?"

"It says…" Alex swallowed, "…help me."

Olivia sat up now, her face concerned. She rubbed her face with her palm, eyes still closed. "Let me see…" Olivia removed herself from the bed then and swung her legs to the side before standing in her gray and white plaid flannel pajama bottoms and moving around the bed. "What time is it?" she questioned as she made her way toward the master bath door.

"Eight-thirty."

"Jesus, Alex…why are you up so early? It's Sunday," she mumbled before stopping in the doorway and opening her eyes again.

"Do you see it?"

"I see it. Wh—?"

"Did you do that?" Alex asked.

Olivia turned to her now. "Did I do that?" She stepped closer to her wife and smirked. "And when would I have time to do that, Al? We made love last night, we both fell asleep…" Olivia smiled and reached for her cheek, cupping it in her hand.

Alex swallowed, looking into chocolate eyes, ones that didn't signal to any guilt.

Then, a baby crying? Whimpering? Somewhere out in the hallway?

"Do you hear that?" Alex asked.

Olivia only smiled and leaned into her wife and kissed her gently. "I don't hear—" The brunette stopped herself and listened now. "I do…what is that? A baby or someone crying?"

They both broke apart and Alex moved toward the door.

"Al…come back…I'm feeling amorous…" Olivia smiled.

Alex only looked at her incredulously. "What's going on, Olivia?"

She opened the door now, to an empty hallway.

"This isn't funny, Liv," Alex cautioned before moving into the corridor.

"I'm not saying it is, Babe," Olivia yawned, trying to hide it.

"And did you pull the sheets off of us last night? Because I distinctly remember the sheets being pulled off of us after we—"

"Alex…" Olivia moved up behind her then and wrapped her arms around her. "You need to calm down, Babe." She kissed the left side of Alex's neck.

Just then, there was a loud booming sound and then all went silent.

Alex turned and looked at her wife. "The power just went off."

Olivia narrowed her eyes. "It did?"

Alex nodded slowly, listening to the stagnant sound of their house with no electricity.

"Let me see, Babe." Olivia stepped into action now. "After all, I am the husband…" she turned back to look at Alex, "…right?"

Alex stared unyieldingly at her wife. "So you say."

The blonde followed close behind as they both descended the stairs, noting the twins' rooms' doors were closed. They made their way to the bottom steps before they moved down the hallway and into the kitchen and living areas.

And what Alex saw was almost unfathomable.

The furniture was completely rearranged—the sofas, the coffee table, the credenza with the TV on top. The only thing that was the same was the position of the piano.

"Whoa…" Olivia stopped in her tracks. "This is weird."

"Olivia…" Alex moved further into the back of her wife, holding on tightly, clutching her hips and not leaving a centimeter's of space between them. "What's happening?"

Olivia moved to head toward the garage where the breaker was. "Let me turn the lights back on…"

Alex stepped away now and folded her arms, watching her wife as she, herself, flipped the kitchen and living room lights on and off, without illumination. "They're dead, Liv."

"OK. Let me see if the breaker is tripped." Olivia entered the code to turn the house alarm off and then entered the garage, Alex waiting patiently inside in the same place in between the kitchen and living room that she had been.

"Well?" Alex called.

"Give me a second," Olivia called.

Alex looked around now, noticing the darkness in the entire space, the sun not having yet come up.

Switches were heard now off and on, off and on, as her wife tested the breakers.

And Alex waited.

She moved to the kitchen drawer where she knew the large box of emergency matches to be and then stepped to the three-wick candle on the kitchen table and struck one once before holding it to the wick, the flame extinguishing instantly.

She lit another and it did the same.

After five matches, she finally got the flames lit.

Olivia could be heard, continuing to shut the breakers off and then on again before the power could be heard kicking back on. Her mocha face entered now, smiling, and she shut the door behind her. "All should be good now."

Alex took in a deep breath and sighed, nodding.

She moved to the small lamp then, the one on the credenza—and flipped the switch, the bulb not illuminating. "It's burned out." Alex flipped it on and then off once more. "That's weird because I just replaced this bulb two days ago."

Olivia moved up to her and just then a crack of thunder reverberated throughout the ceiling of the townhouse. "It's a storm, Al…" she smiled. "Babe, you need to calm down."

Plush lips met her own and Alex only stood there, not reciprocating.

Olivia pulled away and looked at her. "What, Babe?"

"You don't think this is weird, Liv? The mirror, the breaker, the sheet, me trying five times to light the candle over there?" She motioned toward the lit candle on the kitchen table.

"Al…" Olivia kissed her once more, "…what are you afraid of? I'm here. Ready to save you."

Another crack of lightning and then thunder resounded throughout the space.

"It's just a storm, Al."

"But are you scared?" a familiar, male voice asked.

The ladies turned to find Theo entering, followed by their two girls.

Alex turned back to Olivia. "Did you have a hand in this?"

Olivia only shook her head slowly, smiling. "I promise, I didn't."

The kids were now laughing hysterically.

"Ha, ha, ha…you got me. Didn't you?"

"We did!" Isabel beamed.

Alex looked back at her wife, the brunette's arms now wrapped around her. "So, I guess we're not haunted?"

Olivia shook her head. "Not at all, Babe. Only happy vibes here."

Alex relaxed finally and smiled. "Pretty good, guys. You got me." She looked into her wife's eyes.

"And me." Olivia winked.

Olivia leaned forward and kissed the blonde again—gently, resolutely.

And Alex knew that the joke had been on her, and she smiled knowing the fun they had had at her expense.

A/N: Interested in a final 8 chapters of this? Let me know!