Chapter 3:

"All right, I'll turn down the music!" yelled Brad from inside. The music was lowered just a fraction but still blaring through the door.

I got that déjà vu vibe before replying, "It's me, Brad. I need to talk to you."

There was a pause and he said roughly, "Can't it wait?"

The music started to turn back up. I snorted with impatience, "No, it can't." When the volume was still going up, I added, "I know you can hear him, Brad." The music cut off abruptly and there was long pause.

His door opened a crack and Brad peeked through, looking down at me. Well, more like glared. Like it was my fault he could hear Jesse and possibly other ghosts. The things I do for my family. He even had the nerve to say, "You're freaking nuts." But of course, he didn't say 'freaking.'

Normally, I would've left it at that, but I remembered what Father Dom had said. No one deserves a nervous breakdown after all. So I said, "Look, just let me in and I'll explain everything. Do you want to know the absolute truth or not?" As thick-headed as Brad is, I could see this caught his interest. He reluctantly opened his door enough for me to walk in.

The room was same as before. An odd odor bouquet of gym socks and baby powder, clothes thrown everywhere, and an unmade bed. Brad closed the door and sat back down on the workout bench he was presumably on before I interrupted him. He looked at me expectantly. "Well?"

"Jesus, how do I even start?" I paced a little in front of him. This was making me a lot more nervous than I thought it would. I mean, I can't just say 'hey, I see ghosts and you can apparently hear my boyfriend who is one. What's up with that?' So I decided to start off where Brad apparently knew. "Ok. First: Jesse. You can hear him, right?" Brad nodded grudgingly. It didn't seem like he was too willing to admit that he was sharing what were apparently hallucinations with his stepsister. "So when did you? Start hearing him, I mean?"

Brad grimaced as he thought about it. Must be pretty hard to dust off the old gears upstairs, if you know what I mean. He said finally, "Last summer. I heard you in David's room for some reason. I was going to get up and tell you to shut up or get out, but then I heard that guy's voice too." Brad added, "Thought it was just your newest crush victim until… you know, the party."

So that was it. Brad's room is on the other side of the hall, right next to David's. He had heard me explaining to Jesse about Maria and her affinity for knives. I wondered how much he heard. "Did you listen to what we were talking about?" I asked, glaring a bit.

"I could only hear you when you weren't crying," It looked like he would've sneered at me if his sanity wasn't on the line. "So I only heard something about that Jesse guy and a Maria. You were talking too fast." Good, so there was nothing too embarrassing in there.

I continued, "Well… do you remember that skeleton we found in the backyard?"

He frowned up at me, "What does that have to do with anything?" God, how hard is it to put two and two together? Did he think that Jesse was just invisible and hanging out at our house for fun?

I spelled it out for him. "They're the same person, Brad."

Now that really caught his attention. Brad's eyes widened considerably and he said, "That's him?! You're dating the dead guy we found under the porch?!" He sounded really freaked. Or maybe it was revulsion.

I scowled at him and explained, "I met him before that, stupid. Jesse's been here for 150 years. He only just moved out." I didn't really want to go into the reason why he had to. I mean, I'd have to explain the whole Maria/Diego thing that led up to the exorcism and then the kissing and then Paul. It was just way too complicated. I'd need to write a book or something. Then again, Brad didn't seem like the reading type.

This didn't really calm Brad down. Screwing up his face in disgust, he said, "He's a ghost? Sick…!" He made it sound like I was dating the corpse and not a ghost. I hate it when people get the wrong idea. Jesse looks just as hot as he did years ago, thank you very much. Ghosts don't even show signs of how they died or their death age sometimes. They usually pick when they were most comfortable and sprightly and just go from there. When Brad finally pulled his thoughts together, he demanded, "Why the hell are you dating a ghost then? You can't see him."

Ah, the golden question. Taking a breath, I just said it. In simple words so he could understand. "I can see him, Brad. I see ghosts. It's what I do." I waited for a reaction. Any reaction. When I didn't get one, I raised my gaze away from my nervously fidgeting feet and to him again.

Brad just stared at me and asked, "Like that kid in the movie?" Ugh. I knew that was coming. I wish people wouldn't associate me with that whiny kid. Why not Buffy? Her boyfriend was undead too. And she kicked a lot of paranormal butt.

I rubbed the bridge of my nose in frustration and just went with it, "Yes, Brad, like that kid in the movie. I see dead people, all right?" Elaborating, I continued, "I'm called a mediator. I help dead people move on to whatever it is they do normally after they die." I decided not to go into the shifter thing. Even I didn't understand the whole thing with that. Not yet anyway.

It still felt really weird to be explaining all of this to Brad. If I was ever going to explain everything to one of my stepbrothers, I thought it would be David, the sensible one. Or if not him, Jake, since he looks after me like a big brother should. Granted this is probably the closest Brad and I have ever been – and probably ever will be – to bonding, but it just goes to show it takes nothing less than possible mental crisis and the paranormal to bring us together.

Brad asked, "Then how come I can hear that Jesse guy and not see him?"

"I dunno." I ran a hand through my hair as I thought about that – a habit I picked up from Jesse. Ever since Brad suddenly voiced that he knew about Jesse, I asked myself the same question. Out of everyone it could have possibly been in Carmel, it was my middle stepbrother who could hear him. I thought back to how Father D had explained it to me. "Some people can just notice them better than others. Animals can do it too, that's why Max doesn't come near my room." Personally I chalked it up to Brad having the same mentality as Max, but I wasn't about to tell him that at the moment.

"What about that ugly cat?" Who could forget Spike, the maniac furball? If Jesse wasn't so taken with him, I would've just shipped him off to a shelter. A nice shelter though, to be honest, unless I wanted to upset that ghost of a little boy. At least his afterlife-preventing problem was just the concern over his lost pet.

I rolled my eyes at the thought of that flat-faced menace anyway. He was probably getting cozy with Jesse at that very second while I handled this. "Exact opposite. Spike is all Jesse's and the thing absolutely hates me."

Brad eyed me suspiciously and asked, "How do I know you're not just crazy like they say you are? Maybe we're both cracked out of our minds." He crossed his arms and dared me to explain otherwise.

I shrugged, "You asked for it." Before he could ask what I meant, I called out both mentally and aloud, "Jesse!"

Ever faithfully, Jesse appeared out of thin air right next to me. He looked around curiously; maybe he had never been Brad's room before which was entirely possible. Dunno if they had barbells in 1850, like the ones Brad had strewn under the workout bench. I just figured Jesse had kept in impeccable shape because he was a rancher. Of course, this led to thoughts of him on horseback, like Tom Cruise in that movie Far and Away, looking as hot as ever. In fact, maybe he'd get a little too hot and take off his shirt…

I was forced back to reality when Jesse turned to me and asked pleasantly, "You called, querida?" I had to wipe that lecherous grin off my face before he noticed.

Brad stood up and looked around fearfully, having heard him. "Seriously, Suze, that's not cool. He's in here, isn't he?" He took a couple of steps back towards his bed, tripping over one of the weights on the floor.

I ignored him though and said to Jesse, "Um, I guess just talk to him. Let him know you're not the boogieman or something."

He raised an eyebrow at the boogieman comment, though I don't think he knew what it meant. But he introduced himself formally anyway, "Hello, Brad. My name is Hector de Silva, but you may call me Jesse." He glanced over at me uncertainly, "I see Susannah has explained at least partially about this."

"Just the part about being a mediator and how long you've been here," I told him.

"Yeah…" Brad shifted uncomfortably from where he was standing. There was no other exit besides the one right behind me, so escape was impossible. Instead, he asked, "So, how do I know you're not just some voice in my head?"

Jesse looked around the room and spotted Brad's messy bed. Without moving himself, Jesse had the sheets straightening themselves and the pillow in its proper spot. It looked just like that scene from Mary Poppins, I swear. Even I thought that was pretty cool. Now how come Jesse never cleaned up after himself when he goes through all my CDs and books, huh?

"Whoa," Brad looked impressed despite himself. He looked in Jesse's general direction and asked, "What else can you do?"

Jesse said simply, "Nothing I'm willing to show here." I glanced at him, eyebrow raised. I knew Jesse was pretty powerful for a ghost, having been one for 150 years. But even though I've known him for a while, I haven't seen him do anything major besides use his powers to rip nails out of shutters. Which was still pretty cool, you gotta admit.

Brad was disappointed though at the lack of special effects. He muttered like a spoiled kid, "Aw… what a load of bull."

Even though I had used worse language myself, Jesse suggested politely, "You should watch your language in front of ladies, Brad." Funny how his Old World manners makes him all the more endearing to me. No one else in a million years would consider me a lady.

Brad seemed to think the same. "Lady?" He glanced at me doubtfully, "Yeah, right."

I was about to give him a piece of my mind, when Jesse attempted to explain, "Susannah is a bit… " Oh, now they were both talking as if I wasn't here. Great. Brad starts talking to Jesse for five minutes and he's already having a bad influence on him.

Before I could ask what he meant, Jesse had a sharp intake of breath. Like he was hurt. Scared, I asked quietly, "Jesse?"

Brad asked in surprise, "What's wrong?"

Jesse put a tanned hand over his chest and whispered with a pained expression, "Nombre de Dios…" And doubled over, sweating and shaking.

Brad could only hear Jesse being hurt and looked wildly around where I was. He looked almost panicked. "What's going on?"

I was kneeling by him now, completely terrified as to what was happening. I was practically hysterical, "Jesse?! Jesse, what's wrong?!" This was not good. If Jesse was alive, I would've thought he had been shot. He was in so much pain that in between his Spanish curses were cries of agony. Jesse kept his hand fisted into his shirt, twisting as if trying to stop whatever it was that was hurting him. And that's when he started to flicker.

Ghosts do not flicker. They shimmer, appear out of nowhere, and occasionally pop into existence, but they never flicker like a light running out juice. But that's how Jesse looked. I held him as close as I could to me, his head on my shoulder and still curled up tightly. The tears were streaming out of my eyes now. Something was happening and I couldn't stop it. Something terrible. I said pleadingly into his ear, "Please don't go, Jesse…"

I only heard him murmur, "Susannah…" And then he was gone.

A/N: A bit short and sudden. Trust me, I had to do it. There is much more to this story than you think. In the next chapter, more Suze-to-Brad explaining, comforting, and a confession.

Also, Graduation on May 21!!