CHAPTER FIVE

Julie stopped at the door before she opened it. She asked Nick if he was ok and when he nodded his head she proceeded to enter the house. As soon as she stepped through the conversation around the room stopped and then she was engulfed in a hug by not only her dad, but Carlos and Flynn as well. They all started talking at once, asking her where she had been all day and most of the night. Julie couldn't answer even though she had worked out a cover story because none of her family would give her a chance to speak. She took a step backwards and bumped into Alex, which was strange in itself. She quietly apologized and then turned back to her family.

"If you would all shut up I can explain what happened."

All eyes turned to her, human and ghost alike. Her friends had no idea what she was going to say but she silently pleaded with Nick to go along with what she had to say, When she saw him nod his head she turned back to the others and started her explanation. She told them that after they had gone for coffee, she and Nick decided to go for a walk but she had left the coffee shop without her bag and it wasn't until much later that she realized and by that time they had been lost.

Ray asked her how she could get lost; she had lived here her entire life. She quickly told him that they had gone up to Griffith Park and had taken a wrong turn on one of the trails and got themselves turned around and then they had wandered for ages before they found the right way out again. And it was during that time that she realized she had left her purse, which had her phone in it, at the restaurant. Ray asked why they hadn't used Nick's phone. Thinking quickly, she said that his phone had died and as she looked at Nick, she saw him put his hand into his pocket, hopefully to turn his phone off. Smiling at him, she turned back to her father. Ray continued to watch her intently, looking to see if she was lying and Julie just looked back, trying not to look like a liar but it seemed to work because Ray smiled at her and opened his arms. She ran into them and he gave her a hug, whispering into her ear that he was so very glad that she was home safe and sound. She hugged him back and told him that she was sorry to have worried him. When they stepped apart, she said that she was just going to go to the studio and relax if that was alright with him. He nodded his head and Julie grabbed Nick's hand and left the room with Flynn and Carlos following them.

Alex and Reggie poofed into the studio to let Luke know that everyone was coming. Luke nodded but didn't move from his seat on the couch. He had to decide if he should stay here now that he knew that Nick was the one that Julie belonged with. But he told himself that he didn't have to make that decision right now, hell he wouldn't make any decision until he knew that Caleb was no longer a threat to Julie. Just then the door opened and the five of them entered the room. His eyes automatically went to Julie, he looked her over making sure that she was alright which was silly, she had only been out of his sight for twenty minutes and she had been with her family the whole time. Thinking of her family, his gaze move to Rose and even for a ghost, she looked very pale. Slowly he stood up and walked over to her. She had helped them earlier and he wanted to do whatever he could to help her.

"Rose, are you alright?"

She smiled at him and told him that she was fine. He said that he knew that she wasn't.

"Being around Ray and Carlos hurt you didn't it?"

She looked at him with surprise and asked him how he had figured it out. He told her that he understood what it was like being with family and them not being able to see you. He had been around his own family so much since he had returned and he knew that it broke his heart every time.

"You're pretty smart for someone so young. And yes, you're right. I've watched over my whole family for nearly a year but actually being in the same room as my boys and them looking right through me hurt much more than I expected. My focus was so much on Julie that I pushed everything else to the side but I can see how hard it was for everyone. The way Ray looked when she walked in, the fear that had been on his face and in his eyes just vanished the moment he'd seen her. How often in this past year has he felt like that? I can't help them Luke, I just have to stand aside and let them deal with it themselves and that is so very hard to do. I think that is why I needed to help Julie and you boys tonight."

Luke told her that without her help, they would not have been able to save Julie and Nick but Rose quickly rebuffed that notion and told him that he would have worked out his powers in time and they would have succeeded but it felt good that she was able to help.

Julie watched Luke and her mother talking for a moment before she turned her attention to Nick. She asked him if he was okay, if he was handling everything that had happened to him. He looked at her for a moment before he spoke.

"I don't even know if I can even work out what the hell happened to me today. First I had someone else in my body and man does that sound weird. Then we were held captive, you were tied to a chair and then you started talking to your band mates who you told me lived in Sweden. I don't know what the hell is going on and I think that I'm going to need therapy for the rest of my life."

Julie decided that after everything Nick had been through today he deserved the truth about the boys so she sat down next to him and told him everything from the moment that the boys first appeared in the studio to right now. He just looked at her like she had lost her mind and she knew that the only way to prove it was to call the boys over to them. She noticed that Luke didn't come over. He looked at them for a minute but stayed with her mum. She was hurt and she didn't know why but when Alex and Reggie stood before them she explain how she had told Nick everything and she asked them if they could help her prove that it was all true. Reggie quickly poofed in and out and Nick's eyes widened. Alex then offered for Nick to wave his hand through his body. Nick looked at him as if he was crazy but on prompting from Julie he did it and then he quickly pulled his hand back.

"They're ghosts."

The three of them nodded their heads and Julie quickly explained that he must be able to see them now because of his possession by Caleb. She then looked over at her best friend and her brother.

"But as for you two, how can you see the boys? When did it start happening?"

"Just today, when dad told me that you were missing, I came out here to tell them even though I knew that I couldn't see them. But then I could, and Flynn did too when she came over this afternoon."

"Yeah, they scared the crap out of me when the popped up in front of me. It's one thing to know that they are in the room and to see them when you are playing together but to see them when you aren't here is just plain weird."

Julie asked the boys if they had worked out why this was happening. Neither of them could give her an answer but it was Luke, who had walked over just as she was asking the question, who had an answer. He wondered if it could have had anything to do with what happened to the four of them last night. Julie looked at him in surprise. After everything that had happened today she had forgotten all about last night. She had been able to touch the boys and even today it had continued to happen and now, people who had known about them being ghosts were able to see them.

"Luke, I think you're right. It has to have something to do with last night. I just don't know how. Or why."

"Neither do I. But that's only one of the weird things that have happened in the last 24 hours. What you did to get us out of Caleb's club was amazing. Clearly Caleb was right, you are very powerful but we have to figure out how to stop him once and for all."

Everyone nodded their heads and they sat in some sort on convoluted circle as they discussed everything that they knew which admittedly wasn't much. Julie asked Reggie and Alex if they could do what Luke had done and they both told her that they didn't even know what he had done. When Alex asked Luke to do it again, he told them that he didn't know if he could. She encouraged him to give it a try. Standing up, he then walked over to the other side of the room and faced the open door, focusing on the rocks in the garden. Picking out one specific rock, he closed his eyes for a second to try and centre himself and then he raised his hand like he did at the club and flicked it at the rock. Nothing happened. Luke tried again and still nothing happened. Growling in frustration, he turned back to the group.

"I can't do it. I tried."

"Do or do not, there is no try."

Everyone looked at Reggie and he shrugged his shoulders.

"What? It's relevant, because it looks like he's trying to use the force."

"Like Luke Skywalker."

"Exactly little dude. See, he gets it."

Julie just shook her head and laughed a little whilst she looked at Luke. He smiled back at her but turned his back on her quicker than she would have liked. She didn't understand why he had gone cold all of a sudden. She had thought that they had a connection but obviously she had been wrong and it hurt her because she didn't know why.

Flynn looked at her friend and then at Luke. She could see that they were both hurting and she wanted to help them. She watched them for a moment longer before walking over to Luke. Now that she could see him she thought it was time for her to tell him that he was acting like an idiot. When she reached him, she stood directly in front of him, almost nose to nose.

"What is going on with you?"

Luke was taken aback by her, not sure where she was going with her questions so he thought it best to stay quiet so he shrugged his shoulders. That didn't divert her, and she asked him again before saying that she had seen how he and Julie had looked at each other whenever they had sung together and she could see now that his feelings were still there. Luke looked at her for a moment before he told her that she must be seeing things. Julie was a friend, someone who had helped them find their music again just as they had done for her. Flynn knew that he was lying but she didn't know if he was just lying to her or to himself as well. And she told him as much but he just told her to mind her own business and turned away from her. She watched him walk away and went to sit beside her friend. When she sat down, she picked up Julie's hand and gave it a squeeze before asking her if she was ok. Julie tried to smile back and tell her that she was fine but Flynn wasn't taking her at her word.

"Don't give up on him. He likes you too. I can see it every time he looks at you."

Julie was about to answer when Nick asked her a question and she turned to talk to him and it was at that moment that Flynn looked over at Luke and she could see the jealousy in eyes and she knew right then that he thought that Julie was into Nick even though she had moved on. He clearly had some twisted sense of honour and she was going to have to set him right. She once again walked over to him and went to hit him on his shoulder but she forgot that he was a ghost and her hand went straight through him. He looked at her with shock before asking her what the hell was going on.

"You are an idiot and I really wanted to hit you. You like Julie but it seems like you are avoiding her because you think that she likes Nick and you couldn't be more wrong. They've been through something traumatic today and they are friends first and foremost. You being an idiot is hurting you both."

"She deserves someone living, someone who can do things with her. Someone who can be seen with her. Not someone that only a select few can see. I won't do that to her."

"Oh my god, even as ghosts, boys are so stupid. She doesn't like Nick that way. Well, not anymore. Not since you came into her life and turned it upside down. Don't be a coward Luke, go to Julie and tell her how you feel. Everything else you can work out together."

Luke hesitated for a moment and it was a moment too long for Flynn and she gave him a look of determination so fierce that Luke took a couple of steps away from her before he turned and walked over to the couch where Julie was sitting with Nick and Carlos. When he reached her, he asked if he could talk to her privately. Julie looked at him and then stood up and followed him outside. They walked over to the garden wall.

Luke reached out and took Julie's hand in his, still amazed that he could now touch her. He looked at their joined hands and smiled, running his thumb up and down finger, feeling the tactile response and the flutter in his heart that that touch elicited in him. Without even thinking, he tugged on Julie's hand and pulled her close to him, close enough that he could wrap her in a hug. His heat kicked into overtime when she rested her head on his shoulder and he placed a quick kiss on the top of her head.

"I was so scared today when I knew that Caleb had you. I couldn't bear for you to be harmed. You mean the world to me Julie. Without you, my life, well my afterlife, would mean nothing. I need you in my life."

Julie lifted her head and he could see tears in her eyes and that panicked him. He hated to see her crying and he told her as much. She smiled at him and said that they were happy tears and that she felt the same way. That she needed him in her life and that they would work out everything together. They would figure out how to use his powers, help Alex and Reggie find and use theirs and stop Caleb once and for all.