Aw, thanks guest. It's not, but that's nice of you.

Freezing cold.

Night.

Moon.

Sky.

Now the Sun.

Love.

Help.

Wake up.

Wake up.

Wake up.

Surface.

Who.

Her.

Katherine hurried down the steps, holding onto the railing. She was dressed in sensible heels and a casual black and green dress that stretched to slightly above her ankles, ready for another day of work at the clinic reception. She'd missed out on a day of work in her sadness and wasn't going to keep moping around. More importantly, she looked damn good, if she did say so herself, and she wanted Dustin to notice.

She also told herself mentally that this was it. One final chance for Dustin. No more playing around. Either it was official, or it was officially over. She had too much to work for and a son who would always be her first priority. She didn't have the time or the patience with herself to be crying in her room, feeling sorry for herself while her worried son watched from afar, unable to help.

"You with me, girls?" she asked, having felt the presence of the ghost sisters protecting her from dangerous vengeful specters. Two hands grasped her shoulders as the owner materialized behind her. She turned to see Bertha behind her, giving her a thumbs up and a smile. "Okay, good. I think I'm gonna need your support."

A gentle squeeze and affectionate pat on the shoulders was her response and Bertha vanished from sight. Katherine chuckled. "Thank you." Walking through the front door and closing it softly, she made her way to her car and unlocked it. As she entered the car in silence, she spoke to the air, "You girls are so quiet this morning."

A feminine giggle was her response. "Alright, be that way," Katherine said with a laugh and a roll of her eyes. She started up the car and pulled out, heading down the dirt path and towards the streets of the town.

As Katherine departed, Dean opened his eyes, awakening from his sleep, and found himself looking right into Vera's face. She was sleeping as well, right beside him, and not floating in midair like she usually did. She was... very close. Their noses almost touched.

Her eyes fluttered open and she smiled at him. The hair strands running down her cheek made Dean stare for a moment. He'd always noticed Vera's beauty, but seeing her wake up close to him with warm sunlight fluttering through the window was different somehow. Comforting, almost. Like he wouldn't mind continuing to wake up beside her.

Pushing the feeling away, Dean moved away from her, rising up to a sitting position on the bed and resting back against the ornate headboard.

"Sorry," she said softly. "I guess we must have tossed and turned in our sleep."

"Yeah. Luckily, we didn't bump heads. Or, well... I guess mine would have passed through yours. Luckily, we didn't meld our heads into one."

Vera giggled. "That sounds gross."

"You're right... poor choice of words." His cute smirk and tone of voice made it clear it had been intentional.

Vera smiled, deciding to hit back with her own teasing. "Oh well. I guess I shouldn't apologize. It's not like we haven't been a lot closer than that before."

"Uh... what?" Dean asked confusedly.

Vera sat up, placing a hand on her cheek as she rested her arm against her knees. "You know, when we kissed? Twice?"

"Oh, r-right," Dean stammered, his heart pounding and his cheeks getting hot.

"We've never really mentioned those times, you know," Vera said absentmindedly. "Something always came up or we'd be too preoccupied with other stuff. Kind of weird, huh?"

"Yeah, it kind of is," Dean agreed, nodding. He wasn't sure what to say. He'd always been aware of the fact that they had kissed, but he'd just assumed they didn't mean anything. Not that he had necessarily regretted the kisses or anything, but... wait. Where did that thought come from?

"You know, if everything goes well... I'll be alive tomorrow."

"Oh, yeah, that's right! You will... wow." Still, he was at a loss for words. But he didn't feel uncomfortable. Not at all. If anything, he almost felt a sense of anticipation, waiting to see where Vera would take this thought.

A silence passed over them, and Vera rolled her eyes. Of course Dean wasn't getting the hint. "Anyway..." She giggled and floated upwards. "Come on, get ready. Don't want to be late for school."

Dean nodded and hopped out of bed as Vera floated away from it as well. He grabbed some clothes from the drawers and made his way into the shower. After yet another internal debate with her evil side, Vera floated out of the room and into the second floor hallway, left alone with her thoughts.

She berated herself a bit for not just coming out and saying what she felt. Still, she couldn't help but take notice of how far she'd come in such a short time. It wasn't too long ago that she had been stumbling over words and being very shy and awkward in the presence of her crush, pining for him from a distance while succumbing to the realization that it would never be. But she had long since gotten past that, for the most part. She figured it was due, in part, to the looming possibility of her own resurrection. But she knew that wasn't the only reason she had become so much more confident around him. So much more sure of herself.

She knew what she wanted. She wanted to be with Dean. The only question was if he wanted the same thing.

She looked around for anybody else in the house. Katherine's room was empty, and she didn't feel the presence of her sisters anywhere in the manor. Where was everybody?

As she approached the library, she began to feel the presence of her father at last, still down in the basement, toiling away. She smiled and floated through the floor and down into the secret chambers, eager to see him.

As she entered the laboratory, she found him backing away from the machine with his arms crossed, nodding as if in confirmation and seemingly pleased with himself as he looked it over. "Father?"

William looked up at her and smiled. "It's just about ready," he said.

"R-really?"

He nodded. "We'll be able to start our grand experiment soon enough." He stared at the machine, an unreadable expression on his face. "It's strange. I will be more than happy when this accursed thing is gone forever. But at the same time, I can't help but feel excited to see it fully functional again. Such is the mind of an inventor, I suppose. I do not even fear the prospect of stepping into it myself."

"You're not afraid?" Vera asked.

"It is hard for a ghost to fear the prospect of death," William murmured, almost mournfully. "Even the most permanent of deaths. Well, perhaps not newly born spirits... or mischievous ghosts who have found ways to have fun with their afterlives. But for those of us trapped on Earth for uncountable years... the specter of Death is little more than a ridiculously late party guest who found themselves lost on the way."

Vera giggled at the metaphor, recalling a few memories. "Yeah. I can definitely understand that feeling, having mocked the specter of Death itself many, many times. Pretty recently, actually."

Her father chuckled and returned his attention to the machine. "Well, I suppose tomorrow was the deal."

Vera looked at him, barely able to contain her excitement. "Finally."

William nodded with a smile at the look on her face. "Everything is ready. More importantly, if indeed that serpent Kress is looking to use this machine, I'll feel much better when we get it over with and out of the way."

"You're right," Vera agreed, her excitement vanishing. She looked at him worriedly. "Father... do we have any plan on what to do about him? Even if whatever grand plan he has fails and he stays a ghost, he may still be significantly more dangerous than he would be as a human."

"I know," William said. "And so does he. He would have made a move already if he knew he could handle us all, bring himself back to life, and sneak off. But he knows he would be putting himself in a vulnerable position. He's definitely planning something." His face darkened. "I have been assuming, foolishly, that his feeble plan was to attempt to reach the machine when we are not present, with the only danger he poised being the ability to harm the Robisons. A harm we could mitigate. But if it's only your sisters after tomorrow, and if he has powers similar to yours..."

At the worried look on Vera's face, he smiled and kissed her hair. "Do not worry, love. I actually believe your sisters would be a force to be reckoned with... once I... well, we teach them about the extent of their abilities."

"Me?"

"You've already experienced it before... you told me about it, when you taught your sisters a lesson." Vera's face took on an expression of understanding as he chuckled and continued. "Kress liked to call it 'the wrath'. Overdramatic, pretentious serpent. I called it what it is, emotional energy. When a ghost's emotions run high enough, they can produce these blasts of psychic energy of some kind. The source of this ability is unknown. We had our own theories, but that's not important. All that matters is that you can do it. And once your sisters know how to handle it, Desmond Kress won't be able to fight back against the three of them."

He looked away as he floated away, deep in thought. "After that... yes, I do have a plan." He looked at the machine with a sigh. "It seems I just can't get away from this damned thing no matter how hard I try."

Vera understood immediately. "You're going to use it to destroy him."

"Like it did his son." He shivered. "It makes me feel sick to use it that way, but it's the best course of action. Desmond Kress is a demon in human form. He deserves to be wiped from existence. I don't know when he plans to make a move, but when he does, we can either lure him in, or your sisters can force him in. Most likely the latter. He is unlikely to trust our word and will suspect a trap."

"But we'll do it."

William nodded. "We will. But first, there's the matter of us going through. I have septuple-checked the inner workings, and I'm going to triple-check it again in a moment just in case."

Vera laughed but quickly turned serious again. "Good. Last thing we want is an accident. Especially not to you, dad." She wrapped her arms around him as William smiled contentedly and leaned his head against hers.

"It won't happen that way again. I know it."

Katherine parked in front of Dustin's home, checking herself in the mirror as she put on some lipstick, smacked her lips and smiled confidently. She happily stepped out of the car and walked up to the front door, raising a hand to knock on it.

There was never a knock.

The door swung open suddenly and Katherine cried out as she was forced inside by a pair of unseen hands behind her, and the door slammed shut. She stumbled forward and fell to the floor. She looked around wildly. The lights were off, but sunlight still somewhat poured in from the windows, allowing her to see. Directly in front of her, she saw Kathleen Kress sitting on her couch in the living room, shivering violently with dark shadows under her eyes. It looked as though she hadn't slept at all last night. Even more worrying, she had bruises on her face and arms.

"M-Miss Kress?"

A ghostly form then materialized beside the terrified looking woman, giving the room a faint ethereal glow. "Ah, Miss Robison. We meet at last. I see you are well-acquainted with my great-granddaughter."

Katherine shivered violently. "No..." She looked around wildly for help, from the sisters who had seemingly betrayed her. She looked up to her right to see Bertha floating beside her, only to scream as the disguise dropped instantly to reveal an older looking woman looking down at her with green eyes. There was a mournful expression on her face, so unlike the cruel smile on the man who had ensnared her, but it did nothing to alleviate her fear.

"Shapeshifting. Incredible, isn't it? I wouldn't have thought it possible, but I received some unintentional help from her- Bertha, I believe?- on your little date night." Katherine remembered Bertha shapeshifting into Dean as a joke and realized with a shiver that he'd been watching her.

Desmond Kress fixed the female ghost with a piercing look and gestured with an inclination of his head. "Return to the house. Send Bill to me, and remain with your two companions. Keep the girls trapped there."

Katherine's blood ran cold as she realized they had ensnared the sisters in a trap of some kind. The ghost woman looked at Katherine for a moment. Her expression seemed regretful.

"Now," Desmond whispered threateningly, his eyes glowing red. The woman nodded quickly and floated out of the house as he chuckled. "If it makes you feel any better, she was hesitant about tricking you. Didn't want to involve you and your son. But I straightened her out. You can understand. After existing for so long lacking any and all senses... a jolt of pain goes a very long way."

"Dean..." she whispered softly, desperate to get back to her beloved son before anything happened to him. She pulled herself up and ran for the door, desperately pulling on the knob as some kind of force kept it shut.

"Ah, the love of mother and son," Desmond said mockingly. "Or so you would no doubt have me believe. But here you stand, having forsaken your only son in pursuit of a man's love."

"No..." she gasped, a tear running down her face as she continued to struggle. It was completely false and she knew it. Dean had encouraged her, after all. But his words cut deep nonetheless.

"I'm afraid so. Now give it up, and let's all just have a nice talk about that fascinating machine."

"He said a ghost attacked him! And you sent it after him! Is it true?"

"I have no idea what he's talking about. They just ran off after locking me in. I still say they saw a hanging coat or something and it made them piss themselves and make a run for it."

The girls laughed and walked off into the crowd of students flooding out of the school. For the past two days, Avery and his troupe of morons had been avoiding Dean ever since the incident with Samantha. Having come out of the house alive and well, they were convinced Dean had set a ghost upon them somehow and was some kind of a creepy ghost whisperer or something. Which, he supposed he was, but they didn't need to know that.

Dean was having quite a bit of fun with it. It meant Avery stayed the hell away from him, and best of all, nobody believed him when he tried to tell everyone what happened. Dean caught sight of Avery, glaring at him with a black eye, which made Dean smirk back. He had not only been punished by Samantha for his crime.

"Want me to even out the eyes?" Dylan asked him as he walked by his side.

Dean chuckled. "No, it's all good, man. I appreciate the first one."

"No one messes with my boy," Dylan said, pulling Dean close into a one-armed "manly hug", as he called it. "Like I always say."

"Not that I don't think he deserved it, but you're lucky you didn't get suspended," Jennie said, shaking her head.

"I knew he wouldn't rat me out, babe. Little bitch is too proud to go crying to the principal that he got his ass kicked."

Jennie shook her head again, as she usually did, and focused on the notes she was taking in her little notebook. "Like I was saying, Dean... we'll be over at about 3:45 to set everything up," Jennie told him, scribbling some more on the paper. "Should be ready at about 6:00 for everyone who's coming."

Dean nodded at her with a smile. "Sounds good!" Truthfully, he hadn't really thought about the dance in a while. Honestly, why would he? He'd seen things in the past few days most people on the planet hadn't seen. The dance seemed trivial now. Of course, he wasn't going to squash the enthusiasm of the others, namely Rory and Amy. He could tell even Jennie was excited about the prospect of holding the dance at someplace far more atmospheric than the school gymnasium.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow," he said, waving as he usually did before heading home as they nodded and returned to conversing with each other.

He had turned a corner and started walking down the main road back to the manor gotten when he heard Amy calling his name. He turned around and smiled at her, but he stopped when he saw her expression. She didn't look very happy. "What's up?"

"Is... um, is Vera here with you?"

"Yeah, I think so..." He looked around at thin air before he felt a pat on his butt and he jumped before smirking. "Y-yeah, she's here."

"Okay. Um... could I talk to you alone real quick?"

"Alright. Um, Vera? You don't mind right?"

"It's fine," she whispered to him, floating away and upwards to sit on a branch of a large tree growing in somebody's front yard. She watched as Dean nodded at Amy and she led him a few feet away to talk privately. It'd be too easy to listen in, and a part of her really, really wanted to, but she decided to let things be.

"What is it?" Dean asked.

Amy turned and looked at him seriously. "Do you... still want to go to the dance with me?"

Dean raised an eyebrow. "Well, yeah, of course."

"Because you said you would, or because you actually want to?"

"Because I want to. What's this about?"

"We haven't really been hanging out lately. Like, just us. I thought we had started to go in that direction back at that town fair. But then... well, Vera showed up and you had to leave. I've asked you a few times since, but you've been so busy with her, and the few times we're alone or with Rory, all you talk about is Vera and the work that's going on over there."

Dean wasn't sure what to say.

"And I get it! Don't get me wrong, it's fascinating, and obviously, what's really going on at that house is more interesting than anything we could bring to the table. I just can't help but wonder if we're on the same page as far as the two of us are concerned."

"The same page?"

"We almost kissed at that fair, Dean," she reminded him gently, making him blush and look down. "I think I've made it clear that I like you. I was sure you felt that way too. But lately, well... kinda seems like you've got your eye on someone else. Whether you know it or not."

"Wait, you mean Vera?" Dean asked in a tone that suggested surprise, but he wasn't entirely taken aback by it.

"Bingo. And you know... I kinda thought there was something when I first met her. But I told myself it was silly to be jealous of a ghost girl, and it wouldn't get between us. But lately, it really doesn't seem like 'she's a ghost' is much of a deal breaker anymore. Not when she'll probably be joining us pretty soon as a... human, or living girl... whatever."

Dean shook his head in bewilderment as he tried to find words. "I... I honestly don't know what to say. You're right, I've been pretty distracted lately, and Vera and I... we've gotten pretty close lately. We've seen... a LOT in a short time. Some stuff I haven't told you about yet. So I've had a lot to think about. Vera obviously isn't just some other girl. She's just... different. It's hard to really wrap my head around how I feel about her. It's not easy to articulate."

"I think it is... you're just not saying it." Amy looked down at the ground. "And I know it's not your fault. Like you've told me, you never had time to get close to anyone. You've moved around so much, so this is obviously a big first for you. It's awkward and difficult to just come right out and say it."

Dean nodded in agreement. It somehow made more sense when she said it for him.

"But personally, I think it says a lot that you acknowledge that Vera makes you feel all these kinds of ways... but not once did you say that you like me too."

"I do!" Dean said quickly. "I really do..."

"But not as much as her." She smiled through her sadness as Dean looked taken aback. "See? You can't deny it. It's fine, Dean. Or at least it will be. I just needed to know for sure. So I could stop getting my hopes up that this would actually go somewhere."

"I'm sorry..."

"Guess I should have seen it coming, really." At his questioning glance, she continued. "Come on. I'm just some random girl who draws pictures and asks the teacher if there's any homework. It's okay, you can laugh. A beautiful ghost girl who literally changed your life and has even more life-changing stories to tell? I don't think I ever had a chance."

"Amy... that's not-" Dean started to say.

She waved a dismissive hand. "Yeah, I know, I know. I let it get to me for a second. Trust me, I'll get over it. It's not like we're breaking up here. We never even started anything."

"It kinda feels like we did, though," Dean said softly. "Or could have, at least."

"Yeah... maybe. But I mean, hey, if things don't end up going that way between you two, you know I'll be around." She gave him an exaggerated wink, making them both laugh. "But we're still friends, Dean. Don't think we're not just because of this. You can't get rid of me that easily."

"I'm really sorry," Dean whispered, two tears running down his face as he looked down at the ground. He could practically feel the pain Amy was feeling and trying to hide. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

"You didn't," Amy said, wrapping her arms around him tightly as he let out a shuddering breath of emotion. "These things just happen sometimes, without anyone intending it."

"You deserve better..."

"All I deserve is a friend. So do you. And I'm happy to give that to you, as long as you do the same for me." She pulled back, holding his shoulders and smiling. "You're just lucky I'm not my sister. I'd be plotting ten different ways to sabotage that dance tomorrow if I was."

They shared a laugh, and then a moment's silence passed between them. "I should go," Amy said softly, letting him go and turning to walk away. "See ya later."

"Amy."

She looked back at him.

"About tomorrow... do you..."

"Will I come to the dance with you as a friend?" She asked. He blushed and nodded. "Of course!" She grinned and pointed at him. "I get the first dance."

He laughed and nodded again. "You got it."

She blew a kiss at him and turned back around again, headed for home.

Dean watched her go for a second and let out a deep sigh. He waited another minute or so before he could sense Vera's presence near him again. "Did you catch any of that, Vera?"

"Nope. I figured I should leave you two alone and I did. Anything I should know about?"

"Nah," Dean said, allowing himself to smile. "Amy's a pretty amazing person."

"She is," Vera agreed, and she meant it. It wasn't too hard for her to understand what had just happened, and her heart went out to Amy. I'm going to be the most loving best friend ever to her... if everything works out tomorrow...

"Come on, let's go home." Dean said.

The walk home continued on as they finally made it to the dirt path leading to the manor, Dean starting to break into a jog, eager to get back. Vera chuckled as she floated faster to keep up with him. She stopped suddenly, calling his attention as she sensed and then saw something coming their way. A ghostly form.

Dean stopped and looked in the direction of the woods as Stella came out of the woods, hurrying to the manor as Vera called out to her. "Stella! Over here!"

The youngest sister turned to see her and zoomed towards Vera, throwing her arms around her. "I'm so glad you're okay..." Stella sobbed.

"Stella... wh-what's going on?"

"They have... Lena and Bertha... barely got away... we have to save them..."

"Whoa, whoa... slow down. Explain it to us, slowly."

As Stella explained what had happened, Vera's face turned from worried to stony. Then determined. And then angry.

"Take me to them."

Desmond had finally made a move against her family. And she would ensure he would pay for it.