She slowly pulled back from his gentle hold on her and carefully studied his eyes, searching for the answer that she already knew. Those words he so tenderly spoke seemed all too familiar as his ocean-blue eyes continued to stare into her soul. One name instantly entered her mind, and she wanted to know if it was really true… "Casper?" she asked breathlessly. All the fair young boy now standing in front of her did was graciously smile back at her, confirming his answer. She couldn't believe her eyes. She was amazed to see his boyish figure in front of her now, and realized that her ghostly pal was this chivalrous young man. She gasped with delight and smiled brightly as she rejoined him in their slow dance, holding him in a tight embrace. The music seemed to fade away as they swayed in their dance, the air clearing as the crowd formed a circle around them. It simply felt as though time had stopped.

Time.

The dusty grandfather clock that sat on the stairwell began to toll the hour with a loud, gong-like sound. Remembering the angel's words only earlier that night, he lifted his eyes to stare at the time on the clock and unfortunately knew what it meant. It was the moment that he hoped would not come. To have to say goodbye to her now in the body he wished he could stay in. His movements started to slow as the clock continued its announcement of the hour. She kept her tight embrace on him, which made it harder for him to leave. She suddenly realized he had stopped moving and was distant. Something was wrong. Worried, she pulled back from the embrace to look deep into his eyes once more. He gazed lovingly upon the soft, beautiful features of her face and couldn't help but look at her as if she were the most precious thing in the whole world. He didn't want this moment to end. He didn't want to let her go. She looked up at him fearfully and wondered what was wrong. "Casper?" she breathlessly asked once more. He looked upon her affectionately one last time, taking in all her beauty and grace and the feel of her form within his arms, and leaned in… giving her a soft, tender kiss…

The muffled sound of distant thunder awoke Casper from his thoughts. Night had fallen and he was once again sitting atop the dusty lighthouse with his elbows on his knees; his head cradled in his hands. He went to the lighthouse every night. To be alone with his thoughts, or just to be alone in general, away from the taunting and teasing he constantly received from his uncles. They just never seemed to let up on him, and Casper knew that they probably never would.

The sky that once let the moon cast its egg-white glow upon the earth was now overclouded with the intention of rain. Off in the distance, gray storm clouds released a burst of lightening or two, followed by the ominous sound of thunder. Close by, the waves from the sea lapped upon the rocky shore in shorter intervals. The wind had picked up, carrying the waves to shore at a quicker pace. Even the air wafted with the smell of rain. Another bright burst of lightening lighted up the sky, a bit closer this time to the sleepy town of Friendship, and a loud clap of thunder boomed through the night, lightly shaking the lighthouse underneath him. The storm was drawing closer to shore. Casper decided it was time to go back inside. With a lonely sigh, he floated himself up and back to Whipstaff Manor.

Casper got back to the balcony that belonged to Kat's old bedroom, and his as well. The wind had picked up even more, making the balcony doors swing violently back and forth. Casper had left them open like he always did when he made his journeys to the lighthouse, he just didn't expect the wind to pick up as much as it did tonight. Fighting against the wind's force, as well as the disadvantage his ghostly form had against it, he slowly got both doors shut, locking them back into place. Casper turned around and slowly floated back down to the floor, surveying Kat's bedroom with his wide, blue eyes. It had been a very lonely and empty place since Kat left to go to university, taking only the necessities. Kat was so full of life that she brought warmth to the place whenever she was there. Now the room was cold and dark, much like how it was before Kat and her father moved in to Whipstaff Manor.

While his eyes roamed the room, they came to rest upon a picture frame that sat upon her bedside table. Casper floated up and over to sit upon Kat's bed next to the table, picking up the frame with his ghost-white hands. When Kat first moved to Whipstaff, the picture had been a black and white photo of her mother, Amelia. Casper remembered how Kat reminisced about her mother one night in her room, how she loved her mother very much and remembered so much about her. Casper knew that Amelia still lived within Kat's heart, and that nothing would ever change that. The photo was one of Kat's necessities, so she took it with her to the university. Now the picture frame was a bit different, with a different intricate pattern of silver metal used with a different picture. The photo was that of Kat in her graduation cap and gown, holding onto the diploma prop that the photo studio used, smiling with delight as if it were the real thing.

Casper remembered. She looked so beautiful that day, going to the town to get her hair and makeup done, wanting to look just perfect for her grad picture. Casper felt she didn't need all of it because she looked perfect already, but he didn't say anything. Even on her prom night, she looked amazing. She couldn't have picked a more perfect dress: an all-white strapless gown with a small white lily pinned in her hair. The color reminded him of the dress Kat wore the night of the Halloween dance she hosted, the prom being another night he would have liked to spend with her in his human form. But alas his dreams of becoming human again by hand of the Lazarus were long gone, and Kat ended up going to the prom with a high school friend of hers.

"Knock, knock," a voice said from behind Casper, the sudden break in silence making him jump a bit. He turned around to see Dr. Harvey standing in the doorway, his hand pulling back from his knocking motion against the door.

Casper turned back to the photo in his hands and gently placed it back on the table where it stood before, "Oh… hi, Dr. Harvey…" Casper said glumly.

"I, uh, felt a draft and saw the storm coming in, and I knew you might've left the balcony doors open again so I came up to close them before the storm got any closer…" Dr. Harvey said, noticing Casper had been looking at Kat's graduation photo again.

"Oh…" was all Casper replied, still facing away from Dr. Harvey. A period of silence followed. Dr. Harvey wasn't sure what to say. Sure, he was a ghost shrink and all, but he wasn't exactly sure how to deal with Casper at times. He was the one ghost in the whole house that he felt was more fragile than the others let on. He was friendlier than the others, that was certain, but more lovesick than anything… and Dr. Harvey's intuition sensed it all. He walked into the room, and rounded the bed to sit down next to Casper.

"Kat phoned earlier this evening."

Casper looked up at Dr. Harvey from his glum state, his eyes lighting up as he did, "She did?"

Dr. Harvey nodded and smiled, "Yes. She did."

"Well, what did she say?" Casper asked eagerly.

Again, Dr. Harvey smiled, "She said that she was all packed up and ready to come back and stay for the summer. She's leaving early tomorrow morning and sounded very excited about coming back home."

Casper couldn't believe it. Kat was coming home. He had almost lost all track of time while she was gone, everyday seeming like every other without any difference in between. Of course it all made sense to him. Summer break. Kat had said at Christmas time she would come back to stay for the summer. It was summer now. Casper's insides screamed with joy, but on the outside he kept a calm composure, "That's great!"

Well, almost calm anyway.

Dr. Harvey was happy for the young ghost. He had noticed him being fairly sad and unresponsive a lot of the time, keeping to himself in Kat's room often. Seeing the ghost's face light up for the first time in months was a welcome change. "Yes, it is great," Dr. Harvey looked up at the clock that sat on the bed side table next to the grad picture, "And I think it's time both you and I get some rest," he motioned his head toward the clock, making Casper look at it as well, "Don't want to be too groggy with sleep when Kat comes back tomorrow."

"Ya," Casper replied, "you're right."

Dr. Harvey got up from the bed and walked back to the doorway, turning around to regard the ghost one last time, "Good night, Casper."

"Goodnight, Dr. Harvey."

With that, Dr. Harvey turned and went back down the small flight of stairs, tripping like he sometimes did on the last step, and headed to his bedroom down the hall.

Casper, still grinning, looked back up at the picture on the bedside table.

"Kat's coming home."

Everything glistened that morning with the fresh touch of spring rain that had apparently come down the night before. It was on the oak tree leaves, windows of the downtown shops, and on the grass of every well manicured lawn Kat's taxi passed that morning through Friendship. She had packed up all her things and stood outside her dorm early at 7 that morning, waiting for the taxi that would bring her back home. It was now almost 9 and the town seemed to be slowly waking up to start the day. Kat rolled down her window a bit to catch the smell of the fresh rain that hung around that morning. She loved that smell and truly knew that she was home.

The taxi finally made it's way up the one hill that seemed to tower over the town's landscape, and made it's way along the road through the gates and finally stopped just in front of the long staircase that led to the front door.

The taxi driver cut the engine, but didn't get out of the car. Instead he looked up through the windshield and stared in awe at the huge house in front of him. Kat looked out through the windshield as well, but had a different expression on her face. It was one of happiness and content, knowing that she was finally home. Kat undid her seatbelt, and was ready to open the passenger door when the taxi driver suddenly spoke.

"You actually live here?" he asked with great surprise.

Kat remembered something similar being said on her first day of school in Friendship. One of the students, like the rest of the class, just couldn't believe that she lived at Whipstaff Manor.

She smiled, "Yes. I actually do."