A long, uncomfortable Sunday had passed and Dean was getting out of bed to get ready for school. Vera hadn't spoken to him at all yesterday. In fact, he hadn't even seen her. But the tension between them was obvious to everyone.

He got up and yawned as he opened up his closet. "Morning, Dean! Wake up and smell the roses!" He blinked sleep from his eyes to see Stella in front of him. Before he could react, he was enveloped in a disgusting green cloud. Stella flew out as he choked, staggering out of the cloud and into the bathroom.

He splashed water on his face as the shower turned on. He turned to the side and yelped at the sight of Bertha absorbing the water like a sponge. "Water's fine!" She gurgled, and then Dean was blasted with cold water, yelping and shielding his face from it. When she was done, Bertha flew out, leaving him dripping.

Dean sighed. It wasn't just that they had been doing these things to him all day yesterday, but it was pretty unnerving that they weren't laughing like they usually did when they pulled their pranks.

It had been pretty clear that Vera hadn't told her sisters what they had talked about, but they knew she was sad, and so they were going to defend her. Dean would have found it heartwarming, in a way... if only he wasn't the target.

Surprisingly, Lena hadn't been helping them torture him. In fact, she hadn't been seen since she had greeted William and seemed to be keeping her distance. No one was really sure why.

Dean decided to skip the shower and just dry himself off and get dressed, thankfully without incident. However, as he walked into the hallway, the hall closet door opened up besides him and Bertha bumped him with her hips, sending him stumbling into it as Stella closed the door on him.

"Damn it," Dean swore, trying to push the door open, but it had gotten stuck again. His phone buzzed, and he looked at it to see a text message from Katherine letting him know she was heading out early to run an errand. Welp, no calling her for help.

He groaned and struggled against the door, and then it swung open suddenly as he stumbled through. He kept his balance and looked up to see Lena.

"Thanks," Dean said gratefully, shutting the door behind him. "We need to do something about this door."

"What did you do?" she asked, ignoring his small talk.

"Huh?"

"Usually, my sister is all moony-eyed over you. Actually, they all usually are. Now Vera's avoiding you and Bertha and Stella are kicking your ass. I figured all this wasn't that big a deal yesterday, but it's still going on. So what did you do?"

Dean wasn't sure what to make of the moony-eyed comment and just sighed and explained the argument he had had with Vera. Or at least, the part about being worried for her, which was definitely true. Just not the whole truth.

"I suppose you're gonna lock me in this closet now?"

"Actually, I agree with you."

"Wait... seriously?"

"I do kinda want to lock you up in the closet, though," she added, making Dean's smile fade as she smirked. "But that would just be for my benefit. Seriously, though... I agree with you... to an extent. I'm worried about what my sister is getting into. If it were up to me, I'd go destroy that machine right now with a crowbar. I don't want her to do this." Lena sniffled uncomfortably. "It's so stupid, isn't it? I spent so much time away from her and for so long, and acted like a bitch to her whenever I was around... but... now I can't imagine living without her around."

"You changed," Dean said simply. "It happens."

"Not enough," Lena replied grimly, and Dean wasn't sure which part she was referring to. "The point I'm trying to make... is that it isn't up to me or you. It's Vera's choice. If she chooses to take that risk, and if she's really serious about returning to life... then that's her choice to make, not mine."

Dean sighed, leaning against the wall with a dejected look.

"But something tells me you're not telling me everything." She narrowed her eyes at him and he looked away uncomfortably. "No way Vera would be this mad if you were just worried about her well-being."

"It's... personal," he muttered.

"Not when it involves my little sister, it isn't," Lena rejected. "Cough it up."

"I lost my temper," Dean admitted. "And said some stupid things." He paused, expecting further questioning, but Lena didn't say anything. "I basically said she should accept being a ghost because people don't usually get second chances at life. She asked me why she shouldn't... and I said because my dad didn't get another chance. I didn't even really mean it that way. Honestly. It just... came out."

"Well, that was pretty stupid," Lena admonished. "But it's also pretty obvious that you didn't mean any harm. You definitely have some issues you need to work through, though."

"Yeah, I know," he admitted. "I just got done talking with my mom about my dad on the same day. I even gave her advice. Basically told her not to dwell too much on him. Turns out... I'm not even completely over losing him." He sniffled, wiping his eyes.

"You should be telling her this, not me," Lena said.

"Yeah, I know. Where is she?"

"I think she's in the lab with our father. Um... maybe you should wait until after school to talk to her about this. You'll be late."

"You're right," Dean said, making his way down the stairs and towards the doors.

"No breakfast?"

"I'm good. Not really hungry."

"Alright. Let's go."

Dean turned back to give her a questioning stare. "Let's go? You're coming?"

Lena rolled her eyes, playfully flicking his forehead. "Um, hello? Homicidal ghost possibly floating around?"

"Oh... right. Yeah, I remember."

"No, you don't. Anyway, don't worry about Katherine. Bertha and Stella left to tail her a minute ago. Vera's not in the mood to shadow you today, so that just leaves me." She suddenly vanished from view, and in seconds, Dean jumped from a sudden unexpected slap. "Get moving, bubble butt. Don't mind me back here."

"Today's gonna be hell, I know it," Dean muttered, quickly making his way out of the house and shutting the doors behind him.

"Live with it," Lena said with a giggle. "Get it? Live?"

"You're a genius."

Vera waited patiently at the water's edge as William soon emerged with a grin on his face, holding up not one, but two potion bottles from the bottom of the watery cavern. They had been sealed tight, and no seawater had gotten inside. Vera let out a sigh of relief.

"Right where I left them," he said with a chuckle. "Unfortunately, it looks like the rest hit the rocks below and broke open, but these remained intact. This is good." He placed both potion bottles on the table and turned to look at Vera with a serious expression. "Looks like I'm gonna be altering our deal a bit."

"What?" Vera asked.

"When the preparations are done, I'm going to be the first to go through." He held up a hand to silence her objection. "No, Vera. I'm not going to send you into this machine first. We'll test it out on me. If it works, then we'll have no reason not to bring you back as well. But if it fails, and I am destroyed, then you have to promise me that you will never try it again. Promise me that you'll destroy this machine and everything else in this lab."

Vera looked into her father's eyes for a moment, and then sighed. "I promise."

"Good." He looked over the machine with an expression of revulsion. "If this machine does ultimately kill me, then it'll be a fitting end for me. Perhaps the only way to repent for my sins." With that disturbing thought, he floated closer to the machine which had several panels opened up as William inspected the inner workings. "Now let's see... if I reroute power through this channel..."

Vera tuned him out as he busied himself with the machine. She knew that this new development should have been making things easier on her, but it only filled her up with dread. It had been far easier when it was only her own life she was gambling with, only her own sacrifice. Knowing that her father was now putting his existence on the line...

"Daddy?"

"Yes, love?"

"If... if this machine did work... and it brought us both back... would you still destroy it afterwards?"

"Of course! Well, not unless the girls suddenly want to come back to life as well, but I get the feeling they're just fine as they are. But yes, once we're finished with it, I will take it apart piece by piece and burn all my notes on the subject."

"We can't... well... help other ghosts out there? Other people who want a second chance at life?"

William stopped what he was doing and turned to look at his daughter. He stared at her for a long moment. "I understand your feelings, sweetie, but that isn't a good idea. And I think you already know why."

"Too many people," Vera said softly.

"Not only that... death just isn't meant to be escaped from," William whispered. "I built this machine in grief and madness to restore my own life. Because I wasn't strong enough to respect the reality of death. If I had been, perhaps you and Jacob could have crossed over together. Maybe none of this would have happened."

He paused for a moment. "It's not fair, I know. Good people die everyday far sooner than they should." His eyes turned cold. "But everyday, the evil people who do not deserve to roam this Earth also pass away. If this machine were to reach the living, or even worse, the living started creating their own machines based on my research... the evil people would be the very first to get their hands on it to abuse its power. The balance of life and death would be completely destroyed."

Vera took in his words, imagining a world where death was no longer as final as it seemed. Where the worst people imaginable could achieve immortality. Where people would definitely start to fight each other to control such a life-changing invention. Horrifying.

He let out a deep sigh and answered Vera's unasked question. "I'm only continuing to take a stand against the natural order of things because I value your happiness far more than any of that. I would tear down the barrier of life and death itself if it meant giving you and your sisters a better existence than this. And may God or whoever judge me as they wish for it. I'll accept their judgment. Because I love you."

Vera tried to hold back her tears, but failed. She sobbed, rushing over to hug her father. "I love you too, dad."

William beamed, kissing the top of her head. "I'm glad to hear that. I've needed to hear that for a century and I'm not going to get tired of it any time soon."

Kathleen nearly dropped her cup of coffee, staring at Mr. Showalter, the head of her company's board of directors. "I'm sorry... what was that?"

Mr. Showalter cleared his throat, a smile on his face that almost seemed... forced. "Mrs. Jennings has decided to... step down as CEO, and we at the board have decided to promote you to her position. CEO of Kress Beyond... as your father would have wanted."

"I... I don't know what to say..."

He continued to smile at her, his expression unchanging. "We look forward to working with you in this capacity, Ms. Kress. We know you'll make your father very proud. Oh, and Mrs. Jennings' office is available, if you desire it. We'll have some people come up to move your belongings for you." He nodded and made his way out of her office.

When he was gone, the shocked Kress spoke to seemingly nobody. "Was this you?"

"I exerted a bit of my influence, yes," Desmond said, his voice sounded like it was echoing, as if in a cave. "I looked through company records, found out all I needed to know about the board. I only needed to pay a visit to a few of them."

"Pay a visit?" Kathleen gasped. "But, what if they-?"

"Who are they going to tell?" her ancestor asked, chuckling darkly. "Who would believe them? Trust me, granddaughter... they know how unwise it would be to try and go behind either of our backs. As far as your new position goes, you never have to worry about anything ever again. So... how do you like it?"

"I- I love it..."

"I thought you might." She felt his hand grip her shoulder, giving it an affectionate squeeze.

"Th-thank you," Kathleen said sincerely. "It's... what I always wanted. Daddy didn't trust me. He wouldn't let me have the position, and he wanted them to keep me from it forever..."

"So typical," Desmond said with a pleasant, joking tone. "Parents won't let you have what you want... but your grandparents will always spoil you rotten."

They shared a laugh. "This is just the beginning, Kathleen. Like I told you, you are descended from a family of winners. The blood of the finest family in the history of Friendship flows within you. The two of us? We will run this town again... just as we Kresses did a century ago."

"I can't wait," Kathleen said with a grin.

"Good. Now tell me, is there... anything else you want, dear granddaughter?"

Dustin opened up the door of his apartment, already dressed for work, but with enough time to finish his breakfast. He nearly jumped as his visitor practically shouted his name.

"Dustin!"

He sighed. "Hello, Kath-"

"Please just let me say something first... I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything, for what I said, and how I acted. You didn't deserve it, I was stupid, you're sexy, and I know you were just trying to help me and Dean."

The corners of Dustin's lips curled upward. "What was that second-to-last one?"

Katherine ignored his question. "I lashed out at you for no good reason because I was dealing with some deep-seated emotions that I thought I had finally gotten a handle on. Turns out they were just bottled up and finally exploded at the wrong time. And I'm sorry. And you don't have to worry about it anymore, because the situation's been dealt with."

He raised an eyebrow. "It has?"

Katherine nodded. "Penny helped me. She's no longer working for Kathleen anymore, either."

Dustin recalled Penny's smiling face, and beamed. "Oh, that's wonderful news. That girl always deserved better."

"She did," Katherine agreed, practically bouncing. "You'd have been proud of her."

"But what happened? How did you handle it?"

"Well, I'd tell you, but I do gotta get to work now," Katherine teased. "And I'm sure you do too. But... if it's not too late and you don't still think I'm a total basket case who screams at innocent people... I'd love to tell you about it... say, over dinner?"

Dustin grinned. "I'd like that very much, Ms. Robison."

"Good! I'll call you and let you know where later tonight, if that's okay with you."

"That'll be fine."

"Good!" Katherine hesitated, then leaned up and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "For what you did."

"I didn't exactly get to do it in the end," he pointed out.

"Fine, for what you planned to do," Katherine corrected with a roll of her eyes, blowing a kiss at him instead. "How's that?"

"I could get used to it."

"Good. I'll see you soon." She winked and hurried back to her car as he shut the door behind her. As she entered her car, Bertha and Stella cheered.

"Woo! Nice work!"

"Get it, Katherine!"

"Thanks girls," she said, shyly giggling to herself as she imagined meeting up with Dustin later tonight.

The final bell of the day rang and Dean hurried out of his classroom. The day had gone by with relatively little incident. Lena had behaved herself for the most part, outside of occasionally tying someone's shoelaces together and tripping Avery several times.

"Hey, Dean!" He turned to see Amy jogging up beside him. "Wanna walk home together?"

Honestly, he wanted to get home as quickly as possible, but he wasn't going to deny Amy. He felt a bit guilty for how he'd acted most of the day. He'd been so consumed with thoughts about Vera that he'd barely spoken to his friends, usually off in his own little world. He hadn't told Amy or Rory anything he had learned or about their argument, simply telling Amy that Vera had discovered how to break away from the house on her own. He wasn't sure why he was keeping them out of the loop, but he figured it was for the best.

"Yeah, sure."

The two started walking from the school and into their neighborhood. "Crazy test, huh?" Amy asked.

"Yeah... I'll be lucky if I make any higher than a 70."

"Too much on your mind lately to study?"

"Something like that." Dean shrugged with a smile, and Amy laughed politely.

A long, uncomfortable silence surrounded the two teenagers as they walked. As they neared Amy's house, she turned to Dean. "Hey, actually... can I go over to your house? Just... wanna get away from mine for a while, you know?" She smiled.

Dean looked uncertain. "Um... actually, Vera and I are planning to do some important work today, so maybe tomorrow?"

Amy's face dropped. "Oh... yeah, okay. That's fine."

"Sorry," Dean said quickly. "We'll talk later, promise!" He started jogging away. Amy watched him leave, letting out a sad sigh.

"Well, that was smooth," Lena whispered in Dean's ear.

"Leave me alone," he muttered, continuing his jog until he'd reached the path through the forest area leading to the manor, finally stopping for a bit to catch his breath.

"Hey, ghost boy!"

Dean tensed up. "Don't do anything, Lena." He turned around to see Avery, flanked by two of his buddies, Roger and Timothy. "What is it now, Avery?"

"Hey, don't be like that. I know we've had our issues and I've been a dick, but I'm just here for a bit of advice. Then I won't bother you anymore."

"Advice?"

Avery nodded with a grin. "Yeah...call it some insider info, I guess. About Amy."

"Um... what about her?"

"Exactly! Anything, everything about her! Stuff she likes, stuff I can talk to her about."

"Why?"

Avery rolled his eyes. "Why do you think? I've been thinking of taking her cute ass to the dance for a long time now. Amber supports it, she keeps trying to get Amy to talk to me. But Amy doesn't like it when you and I butt heads."

Dean resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Avery was the one who always wanted to butt heads with him. Dean just took it in stride.

"So I'm gonna change for her. Show her I'm worth it. I wanna get to know a little more about her. Something to get me on her good side so she'll go with me."

"How about you go talk to her like a normal person?" Dean muttered with a shrug. "I'm not gonna play matchmaker for you." He tried to move around Avery, but he blocked his way.

"Hey, come on. I told you I was gonna lay off and leave you alone. I just want to get to know her a little better."

"Great! So go do that, then. Don't rely on me for it."

"What? You don't trust me with her? You don't think I'm good enough for her?"

Dean shrugged. "I think Amy can decide for herself who's good for her and who's not."

Avery smirked. "Look at Mr. Feminist over here," he joked, and his two friends laughed.

"Are we done?" Dean asked. "I'm busy, Avery." He started to walk, and was shoved back.

"Why you gotta be like that, man?" Avery asked, a cruel smile on his face as he shoved Dean again. "Why you gotta be an asshole?"

"Leave me alone."

"You think you're better than us?" He shoved him again.

"Hey, fuck off!" Dean snapped, shoving him back.

"You know, you've had a shitty attitude since day one, new boy," Avery hissed, his face growing angrier. "I'm getting sick of it."

Dean was about to respond when Avery sank a fist into his stomach. Dean gasped for air as pain radiated throughout his body. Before he could do anything, his backpack was torn off and tossed aside, and the three boys grabbed him and lifted him up in the air, immediately making their way into the woods.

"Get the fuck off!" Dean yelled, thrashing about in their grip. "What are you doing?! Let me go!"

"Got a new project for you, ghost boy," Avery said as Timothy and Roger both laughed.

Dean turned his head to see they were approaching an old-looking, two-story abandoned house out in the woods. It didn't look safe. "Let me go!"

They pushed through the front doors and headed right for a staircase with a closet underneath it. Dean could tell they had had this planned for a while. The door was pulled open and Dean grunted as he was roughly tossed in, banging his head on the floor and blinking away stars in his vision.

The door shut and was locked from the other side. Dean shoved against it, but it didn't give. "Let me out!" He yelled.

"Have fun, ghost boy!" Avery jeered. "We'll see you tomorrow!"

They all laughed until suddenly, Avery let out a yelp of fear and Dean felt something slam into the closet door.

"Ow!" Avery yelled, holding his nose as he staggered away from the closet. "What the hell?"

"What?" Roger asked.

"Something pulled me into the door," Avery said, utterly freaked out.

"L-let's go, man," Timothy mumbled, turning towards the doors which slammed shut.

Roger yelped as he felt one foot get lifted in the air, sending him falling flat on his butt. An old armchair suddenly moved on its own towards Timothy, knocking him flat. Avery screamed, running around as an invisible force sent him flying backwards into the wall. "Ack!"

Dean smirked inside the closet, realizing Lena was finally making her move. He had to admit, messing with them now was a great cover. They wouldn't guess that Dean had a ghost companion.

Roger got up to try and escape, but his shoelaces were already tied together and he tripped, landing on Avery. The boys' heads banged together, knocking them silly. Timothy screamed as something pulled on his legs and dragged him towards the kitchen area before letting him go. Screaming bloody murder, the three boys were finally allowed to get up and run and hobble out of the house, still screaming for help.

"Thanks, Lena. You can let me out now."

There was no answer.

"Lena?" Silence. "Hey, come on, I'm not playing." Finally, a click, and the door opened. Dean gratefully stepped out and turned towards the door, only to see Lena outside with a horrified look on her face.

"Dean! I can't get in!"

"What?!"

"Something's stopping me-!" Slam. the doors were shut tight.

Dean's breath came out in steam as the temperature dropped sharply all of a sudden. He shivered from the cold and in fear. An invisible force suddenly spun him around and he was looking at a ghost at the end of the living room, standing in a hallway. A young looking ghost girl, no more than thirteen years old, with wide staring eyes, long black hair, and a weak, melancholy smile. She seemed to notice him looking at her, and her smile became much brighter.

"Play with me," she said suddenly. Her arm stretched out several feet suddenly and Dean yelped as she grabbed the front of his shirt, pulling him towards her and dragging him off into the house.