Jason walked through the grocery store in silence, his thoughts trained on his childhood. After everything he went through...there was a reason he despised the idea of ghosts. There was a reason he hated everything about them.

His mother... No, he wouldn't think about it. Maddie just had an imaginary friend, that was all...that was all...right?

Jason grabbed a pack of bacon, threw it in the cart. Katie liked bacon.

Katie...his only daughter by blood. When he met Piper, she had a newborn on her hands from a man that had walked out before she was even three months pregnant. She and Katie hit it off, he fell in love with that little baby. Before long, they had gotten married with Leo and Calypso as witnesses.

Katie and Maddie were his babies, even if not by blood. They were what kept him and Piper going. They were what kept his heart soft. He'd do anything for them, and what he could do now was fill up that cart to make it up to them for the breakfast they had earlier.

He got Maddie's favorite, got her animal crackers and chocolate milk. He made sure to get an assortment of dinner items for Katie.

Checked out, piled the bags into the car, drove home.

The country roads were long and empty, surrounded by forests or fields of corn. In the ditches, leaves piled up as winter loomed on the horizon. And with the winter came the storm.

As soon as he got home he knew something was wrong. He could sense it as he pulled into the driveway, could sense it as he parked the car and stepped out. The crisp air entered his lungs, sharpened his brain. He looked up, saw a window open on the third floor, a window that didn't have a screen or anything to stop something from falling out.

And through the window, he saw Maddie's brown curls.

"MADDIE-" Jason stopped mid-scream as he saw the window slam shut. There was no one by it, no force to do it. But he saw it close, saw it latch. For a minute, he saw his daughter escaped the danger that had enveloped him in panic only seconds before. And that relief calmed him until Piper came out of the house to see what happened. But then, as he explained to her, his mind froze as he tried to make sense of the closing window.

"Jason..." Piper was paler than she had been before. "Look...I...I need you to believe me when I say this..."

"What's that?"

"That window..." Piper swallowed thickly. "I've closed it five times today. It keeps opening without either of them in the room."

Jason stared at his wife. "You're serious?"

"I'm serious."

Jason shook his head in disbelief. "Pipes..."

"I know, I know." she put her head in her hands. "I feel damn well insane. But I saw it... I canceled with Leo. I couldn't think to leave my babies here with...with whatever opened it."

"Piper, I would watch them," Jason assured her.

"I know."

"Then why won't you let me?"

Piper's eyes moved to the ground. "Jason..."

"What?"

"I...I..." Piper spread her hands helplessly. "You'll hate me for saying it."

"Piper...I won't leave it alone until you tell me. That's how marriages work. We have to speak the truth." he crossed his arms. "Especially if it's about the kids."

Piper sat on the front steps. "If...if the girls were in danger..."

"I would protect them." Jason sat next to her and held her hand. "You know I would."

"I know." Piper gripped his hand. "I know, Jason."

"Then what are you worried about?" he asked. "That I won't be able to protect them from a stupid ghost?"

"Ghost? No, no." Piper shook her head. "I'm worried you're going to have to choose and you're going to choose Katie cause she's your kid. And I get it. I...I would choose Maddie... I love Katie, I do. But Maddie's my baby."

Jason looked ahead of them at the large driveway. "Oh..."

"Yeah, oh." Piper looked away. "And I'm starting to realize they're in danger here. So I'm not going to leave them alone."

Nico looked over at Will, having been watching from the doorway. "Do they realize that they've been leaving them alone the whole time they've been talking?" Only when he finished his question, only when he saw Will's pale face, did he realize that he had spoken for Piper and Jason to hear him.