/AN: So guess what guys? My computer crashed. It's completely dead. I'm taking it to a repair shop to see if it can be salvaged. If not, I'm screwed and chapter updates will be sparse. If it can, I should have my computer back in a week or two. For now, I'm using my mom's computer. Here's a little note: We don't share electronics well in my house. So we'll see how this works out. -_-. Anyway, enough about my sucky life. Here's Chapter Nine: Ghosts Suck. PS. This chapter has been edited.

Disclaimer: Kelley Armstrong owns it... Stop asking me. T_T/

Chloe's POV

When I awoke, I found myself staring at the ceiling. I sat there for a minute, taking in my surroundings. I was in the living room. But, hadn't I been in bed with Derek? I tried to sit up, but pain exploded through my left side and I cried out. In the next few seconds, Marlee was beside me.

"Hey, take it easy," She said softly. "You hit your head… can you remember anything?" Marlee asked.

I shook my head. "The last thing I remember is being in bed with Derek. And then, nothing. Why can't I remember? Marlee, what happened?" I looked to the shaman.

Marlee sat at my feet. "Chloe, I need you to stay calm when I tell you this." I nodded slowly. "A few hours ago, Lauren attacked you with a scalpel in the abdomen. We aren't sure how she got it, but we think she was trying to jump start a miscarriage." Marlee explained slowly. "You went into shock and lost consciousness. You hit your head pretty hard when you fell, which is most likely why you can't remember anything. It could also be because your subconscious is blocking the memory."

I was surprisingly calm. "So did she do it? The twins… are they…?"

Marlee smiled a little. "Both twins are fine. Luckily, Lauren missed her target. A few inches deeper and she would've hit your left ovary, rendering it useless. So you got very lucky." She replied. I nodded somberly.

"Where is Lauren now? And Derek?" I asked.

"I had to give Derek a sedative because he was so upset and wouldn't calm down. He's still out and probably will be for a few more hours. I had Mason and Simon take him back to bed." Marlee paused. "Derek in his rage, snapped Lauren's neck. Kit and Mason have gone out of their way to bury her a few cities over so there's no risk of you accidentally raising her."

I noticed something I hadn't before, moving behind Lauren. Through the blinding pain I felt behind my eyes, I focused and saw Lauren's spirit glaring at me from the corner. "Just because I can't raise her, doesn't mean her ghost still isn't around." I said. I looked back to Marlee. "But tell Kit and Mason I said thank you." I tried to move again and had to bite my tongue to keep from screaming. "Shouldn't I be healed already?"

"I did the best I could to repair the wound. It's up to you now. Yes, you heal fast, but it'll be a few more hours before the muscle inside is completely healed." Marlee explained.

"That sucks." I forced myself up, despite my screaming side.

"Looks like you could use some help." Simon met me in the kitchen.

I looked at him with a blank stare. "Thanks, Simon, but I'm fine." I said slowly, after a minute.

He gave me a skeptical look. "You don't look fine. You look like you're about to pass out." He said. I rolled my eyes. Simon sighed. "At least let me help you up the steps?"

I turned to walk away and instead ended up losing my balance. Simon was next to me in an instant, helping me up. "Sorry I don't have Derek's reflexes… are you okay?" He asked. I nodded. "Can I help you up the steps now? Or are you gonna wait until you fall again?" Without waiting for a response, he lifted me into his arms bridal style and I let him.

When we stopped in front of my door, he set me down. "Are you gonna be okay from here?" Simon asked.

I would've been if I hadn't noticed Lauren's ghost following us since I walked out of the living room. Why did she say anything? I looked at Simon. "Can you wait in here, while I take a shower? I don't wanna be alone… and I know Derek's here but—"

"He's out cold. I get it." Simon gave me a reassuring smile.

"Thanks." I tried forcing a smile, I don't think it came out right.

I entered the bathroom and shut the door. I leaned against it, taking a moment to breathe. Then Lauren appeared in front of me. "Go away. Haven't you done enough?" I said.

"Clearly, I haven't since you're still carrying Derek's bastards." Lauren replied. Her glare was full of disdain.

"You'll never stop will you?" I asked her.

Liz appeared next to me. "Need me to take care of her for you, Chloe?"

"I'd just like both of you to disappear, so I can take my shower in peace!" I snapped. Liz gave me a hurt look and turned back to Lauren.

"If you know what's good for you, you'll leave and never come around Chloe again." Liz said.

"What are you? Half Demon? Go play poltergeist with someone else." Lauren sneered.

"Or I could just play poltergeist with you!" I watched as Liz rammed her body into Lauren's so hard they disappeared through the wall. I waited a few minutes before stripping out of my clothes and turning on the water, making sure they didn't return. I didn't mind Liz, but I didn't care if I ever saw Lauren again.

I removed the patch of gauze that Marlee had placed over my wound and examined the damage. The stitches were almost dissolved, but it still looked red and angry. The scare would be small though.

Without another thought, I climbed into the shower, letting the water cascade down my shoulder. I slid down the shower wall and wrapped my arms around my waist, trying to stop myself from shaking. A sob escaped from my throat and I snapped my eyes shut, biting my tongue to keep sound from being emitted.

I took a deep shuddering breath and put my head between my knees. I would not have a panic attack right now. The twins had been through enough trauma the last month. I wasn't going to add anymore stress on them. I had to be strong. If not for myself, then for them.

I took a few more minutes to get myself under control, then I stood. I washed my hair and body before stepping out of the shower, determined to not let Lauren get to me. And then I remembered that I'd been so upset that I'd forgotten to get clothes. And Simon was right outside the door. 'Well, fuck.' There was only one thing I could do. I grabbed a towel and wrapped it around myself before opening the bathroom door a crack.

Light flooded in from the hall, and I surveyed the room for the first time since I'd entered that night. Derek was still passed out in the middle of the bed. Simon was sitting on the floor by the door, using the light from the hall to draw in his sketch book. From what I could tell from the lack of light from the window, it was either very late or very early. I returned to Simon.

"Hey, Simon?" I whispered.

He looked up and his eyes widened. "What the fuck are you doing?" He covered his eyes with his hands. "You realize if Derek wakes up and sees you in nothing but a towel in front of me, I'm gonna get massacred, right?" He said, sounding like he was about to have a panic attack.

I rolled my eyes. "I wouldn't be in a towel if my dumb ass had remembered to grab clothes before getting in the shower. Can you just grab a tank top, some underwear, and a pair of shorts from my dresser, please?"

"Yeah, just get back in the bathroom and away from my line of sight. I don't have a death wish." I smiled a bit and shut myself back in the bathroom. A few seconds later, Simon's hand appeared in the doorway. He still had his hands over his eyes.

"Thank you," I said.

"Don't mention it." I shut the door again and got dressed, exiting the bathroom a minute later. Simon rose from his spot on the floor and face me. "Are you gonna be okay from here?" he asked.

I nodded. "Thanks for staying. I know you probably wanted to go to bed instead." I replied.

Simon shook his head. "You're welcome, but no. I haven't been able to sleep since Lauren pulled her stunt. Too wired, I guess."

I looked at the bed where Derek lay. As much as I'd been through in the past two days, sleep didn't sound inviting. It sounded terrifying. I turned back to Simon. "You know, I could really go for a coffee. Do you think if you went with me, Marlee would let us walk down the road to the Starbucks?"

"There's no harm in asking." Simon replied.

We headed down the steps and found Marlee sitting in the kitchen. "Shouldn't you two be sleeping? Especially you, Chloe."

"We were actually wondering if we could walk down to the Starbucks. Neither of us are able to sleep." I explained.

Marlee opened her mouth to protest. "I'm going with her. And I'll bring a fire arm if you want me to. It'll be safer if we walk, and it's just down the street. Plus, we could both use the exercise." Simon pleaded.

Marlee sighed. "Rules. The only way I am letting either of you out of this house is if you follow exactly as I tell you." Simon and I both gave her our full and devoted attention. "Simon, I want you to take the Barretta 9000 from my dresser. It's the only hand gun we can spare and it's a hell of a shot. You watch her back like a hawk, you hear me? Anything happens to her, I'm blaming you." Marlee said with a stern look on her face.

Simon swallowed nervously. "Yes, ma'am." Marlee raised an irritated brow. "Do I look like a 'ma'am' to you?" the expression said. "Er, you can count on me, Marlee." It sounded like a question. Marlee nodded as if to say, "better."

"It's not like I can't take care of myself. I have for the last two and a half years." I argued.

"Good. Because I'm giving you my Southwest Gerber pocket knife and you better bring it back clean or I'm gonna make you take it apart and clean ever piece. Then I'm gonna make you put it together again. And I lost the instruction manual years ago." Marlee threatened.

I nodded.

She pulled the knife from her jeans pocket and tossed it to me. Surprisingly, I caught it with ease. The Chloe from two years ago, hell, the Chloe from six months ago would've fumbled and dropped it. Marlee smirked and said, "Looks like your hand/eye coordination is getting better. Excellent." I looked at her. Oh. Right. I was turning into a werewolf. So many things had been happening lately that I kept forgetting that little detail.

"Next order of business. If you're planning on getting a coffee, you can forget it. It's not good for the babies. Don't look at me that way. You can settle for a hot chocolate for the next two years. Coffee is bad for you and the twins."

"Two years?" I felt my eyes widen. Was she insane?

"A werewolf infant will settle for no less than real breast milk—"

"Okay! I think I'm gonna go wait in the other room while you guys, uh, talk about… things." Simon tried to hid the blush of his face as he left the room.

Marlee rolled her eyes. "He is such a child in some ways." She said. "Anyway, with ninety nine percent of werewolf infants, human formula will make them very sick. They can't process the artificial enzymes the way that a human infant could. I can get a pump for you if you pref—"

"What's the other condition. I really don't wanna talk about this right now." I said.

Marlee gave me a look. "You can't avoid it forever Chloe. But I guess the subject can be waived for now." Simon apparently over heard and walked back in to the room, shoving Marlee's handgun into his pocket. "I hope that's on safety. I don't think you want to shoot your balls off."

"I'm not an idiot." Simon replied simply.

"The last condition is that you stick to the shadows and try not to draw attention to yourself. I'm trusting you here. Don't let me down. "You're you're not back by six am, you better hope that you're dead, because when I find you, you're never leaving this house again. And then you'll wish you were dead." Marlee instructed.

"What time is it now?" I asked.

"Just after four am." Simon said. "Thanks Marlee." Simon linked his arm through mine and practically ran from the room.

We were both silent as we walked away from the house. "Can I ask you something?" Simon asked as we passed the barn at the entrance of the woods in front of the house.

I looked at Simon. "You've never asked to ask me something before. You just always asked. Which makes me think that it's a serious question. I'd rather avoid those right now." I said.

Simon smiled. "It's not that serious." He said.

I motioned for him to continue. Simon stayed quiet, hesitating.

"Simon?"

"Are you having second thoughts? He asked abruptly, turning to face me.

"What are you talking about?"

"The twins. Are you having second thoughts about keeping them?" He elaborated.

"What? No. I meant it when I told Lauren I wanted to keep them. It's just…" I sighed. Simon waited patiently for me to continue. "Everything has felt like a dream since I got back from the hospital. I mean, I know it's real. I know this is really happening… it's just subconsciously, I think I'm waiting for myself to wake up.

It's like, my inner self has been in a coma. In my own waking mind, I'm okay with being pregnant, excited even. Or at least I was. And then Lauren showed up. She tried to kill me, tried to kill the twins. And then my inner Chloe woke up and said, 'whoa wait, back up. You're seventeen. You're pregnant. And you're okay with this?'" I paused. "Is this making any sense?" I asked.

Simon nodded. "I follow you. It's a hard thing to adjust to."

"It's not just that. For a minute I thought, maybe, Lauren was right. Maybe I am crazy for keeping the babies. I mean, I don't know how to take care of a kid. And Derek and I can barely take care of ourselves. What's gonna happen when we have two other people to watch over that can't take care of themselves?

And then Derek reminded me that we still had you, Lucy, Tori and everyone else who would be willing to help out and watch over the twins. And we saw them on the sonogram, and started talking baby and it hit like a ton of bricks. This is really happening and everything is going to change. And I'm still getting used to the idea of being a mom. When Marlee started talking about breast feeding, I just lost it." I sighed. "I feel like I'm rambling."

Simon chuckled. "Rambling is good. It means you're venting properly. Feel free to keep going. I'm listening." We stopped at the end of the drive and turned left. There wasn't anyone on the road.

"I just feel like everything is happening so fast. It's going to take some getting used to. So the official answer to your question is, no. I am not thinking of giving up the twins." I said, finally.

"I don't know what I'd do if I got Lucy pregnant." Simon said, mostly to himself.

I laughed a bit. "I don't think you'd have to worry about it.

"Why is that?" Simon asked, looking at me.

"Because Mason would kill you as soon as he found out." We shared a laugh.

"Yeah, I guess I forgot about Mason. You're right. I'd be dead before I could say, 'Oh, shit.'"

I smiled. "So clear up the rumor for me. Do you and Lucy really get that kinky?"

Simon laughed. "No. Mason thinks we are because Lucy happens to be comfortable with her body. She was in my room after a shower completely naked, I had just walked in when Mason chose to walk by. And he took it the wrong way and didn't bother asking for the real story. I'm guessing that's how this rumor came to be. But in reality, we've never had sex or anything remotely on those lines. And I don't think we will be anytime soon. There's definitely no rush." Finally we crossed the street and entered the twenty four hour Starbucks.

We ordered two large hot chocolates and sat on the benches outside. I felt Simon shiver next to me. "Cold?" I asked.

"Just because you don't feel the cold, doesn't mean the rest of us can't." Simon replied.

I glanced down at my skimpy attire. "Yeah, well. I also have a fever. So. The cool weather feels nice on my skin."

"The perks of being a werewolf," Simon mused. He checked his watch. "Shall we begin the trek back?"

I nodded, standing with ease this time. "Let's hit the road."

We walked a few feet. "So I have another question." Simon said. I motioned for him to ask, as I took a sip from my hot chocolate. "Are you upset about Lauren?"

"No." I didn't hesitate with my answer and kept moving.

Simon stopped walking. I turned to look at him. His face sported a frown. "I know she was a sociopathic bitch, but she was also your aunt. You really feel nothing about her death?"

I took another long sip from my drink. "There was a time, when I thought of Lauren as my surrogate mother. My own mother had died, and Lauren was there to try and fill the gap. And she did. For a while. Then I got sent to Lyle House and she lied to me. I was willing to forgive that. I was willing to forgive her prejudice against Derek, if it meant I got to have the comfort of having a family member along for the ride.

When she swung that bat at Derek's head the night he marked me, and made me choose between her and you guys, I wasn't sure I could forgive that. I was pissed. I was hurt. She wasn't the woman I remembered my aunt as. And when she showed up yesterday, I wasn't sure how to react. I wasn't sure I liked the fact that Kit had been keeping in touch with her. I wanted to trust her and I guess I did out of habit. But something in the back of my mind told me to stay hostile, stay cautious.

The more I saw of Lauren's hostility towards Derek, tot the twins, the more I realized she wasn't my aunt. I didn't know her, I didn't love her, I just wanted her to leave me alone." I paused. "If you had asked me three years ago if I loved Lauren, I would've said yes in a heartbeat. Now? Now, I'm just sorry she was too much of a bitch to let me be happy with my own decisions."

Simon gave me a sad look. "I'm sorry that it didn't work out that way."

I shrugged. "What's worse? She's still there. Her ghost is. Liz drove her away, but that won't keep her away forever. Neither will banishing her. It'll work for now, but she'll find her way back. And what if she brings a friend? A ghost like Liz? I don't think I could live with myself if something happened to the twins because of her."

"Is that why you asked me to stay with you?" Simon asked.

I nodded. "Her and Liz had it out in the bathroom. She made it clear that she won't stop until the babies are dead. And from past actions, I don't think she cares if I get taken out either. And we both know what almost losing me did to Derek. I don't wanna know how he'd handle my death."

"I hate to say it, but I think the man's crazy enough to do something stupid." I gave Simon a "don't even go there" look. "If it meant being with you, he'd do it. Whatever it takes."

I looked at the gravel beneath my feet as we took a right to get onto the lengthy driveway. "Let's hope it doesn't come to that."

"I can agree to that. I just got you back. I don't wanna lose half of my sisters again." Simon said with a smirk, wrapping his arm around my shoulders.

I laughed. "I'm not going anywhere."

By the time we neared the front yard, the sun was just beginning to rise over the horizon. We stopped to look at the frost covered scenery. Suddenly, Simon went ridged beside me. "What is it?" I asked. I followed his gaze over to the barn at the edge of the yard. Just tucked behind it was a shadowy figure. "Simon—"

"I know. Stay here." He gave me a look. "I mean it Chloe. I'm going to circle around and tackle him from behind. Get into the woods and keep your pocket knife out. Follow the edge of the trees until you reach the back yard and cut through the gardens to the back door. If I'm not back in ten minutes, send out back up." Simon said.

I nodded. That, however, didn't mean I was going to listen. I wasn't going to leave Simon out on his own. I'm pregnant, not disabled.

I watched as Simon inched quietly toward the figure. I stayed where I was, scoping out the scene from a distance. I saw Simon perform a knock back spell. The figure stumbled and Simon took his chance to tackle him. I sprung into action picking up a small, but thick fallen branch, and ran towards the two. Simon and the guy struggled throwing punches here and there. I saw my chance and took it, swinging the branch at the intruder's head. He stopped struggling long enough to perform a binding spell.

"And you never listen…" Simon shook his head and took the guy by his feet.

"If I hadn't shown up, you'd be toast." I replied.

Simon rolled his eyes in annoyance. "As long as you're here, pick up his hands. I'm no where near as strong as Derek. And if we're going to question this guy, we need to drag him all the way across the yard and into the house. By the way, this binding spell will only last about five minutes. Give or take."

I helped Simon drag him to the house. Marlee was waiting for us. "You're ten minutes late. Who's this?"

"We found him standing by the barn watching the house." Simon said. "He's awake, but I did a binding spell that's only gonna last about two more minutes."

Marlee took over my position. Inside, Simon helped tie him to a chair.

"Where have you been?" a voice grumbled behind me. Oh shit.

I turned to see Derek leaning against the wall, as casually as a worried pissed off adult werewolf could. His eyes bore into mine. "Simon and I went for hot chocolate at the Starbucks two miles down the road." I replied.

"You were stabbed with a scalpel seven hours ago… and you went for hot chocolate." Derek gave a small humorless laugh and wiped his hand down his face.

"Go easy on her, dude. It's been a stressful night, and she couldn't sleep. You think I'd let her go alone?" Derek's gaze drifted to Simon. "And we were armed. Plus the trip went smoothly… er, well, mostly."

"You let her attack someone?" Derek asked, a hint of anger in his voice.

"What? No. I told her to stay hidden. She apparently, had other ideas." Simon said.

Derek rolled his eyes. "Of course she did." Finally, he strode over and pulled me into his arms, breathing deeply. "Don't do anything stupid." He said softly.

"I didn't…" I pulled, noticing the guy in the chair was starting to move. "Are Kit and Mason back yet?" I asked.

"They just called about ten minutes before you got here. They'll be here with in the next half hour or so."

"Damn girl… you've got a nice swinging arm…" The guy mumbled. I got a good look at his face.

"Holy shit, I know who that is…" I said. I recognized him alright. But what the hell was he doing here? And how did he find me? That was twice now.

He looked at me. "Hey, Chloe. Nice to see you again. Glad to see you got over that food poisoning. Are Tori and Lucy here?" He asked.

I didn't like this. I didn't like this at all.

/AN: So do you guys have any idea who the mystery guy is? I kinda made it obvious with the hints I gave. Lol. So not too much of a cliffy this chapter. :) I'm using my brother's computer to update so I should have the next chapter up with in the next few days or so. Leave a review please! :)

-Kit/