Chapter 5: Pizza, Booze, and a Haunting in a Pear Tree

About an hour-and-a-half after my little chat with the Doc, I was up in the guest room, unpacking my stuff.

Conveniently, I was putting my underwear into a drawer when:

"How do you know about my dad?"

"Gah!" I dropped my panties all over the floor.

Leah squeaked, and burrowed into the door a bit.

"No, no, it's okay." I rushed to reassure her. "You just spooked me."

I motioned for her to come in, and she just stood there, frozen, eyeing me warily.

"Oh, come on, I don't bite… hard."

She giggled softly, and stood just inside the doorway.

I laughed. "Get your little behind in here, missy. I can't stand to be alone in an honest-to-goodness cyan colored room." And I wasn't kidding. With all the white furniture, and white curtains, I thought I'd fallen into an issue of Better Homes and Gardens. It was unnerving as hell.

She smiled, and came closer. She sat on the bed.

"Well?" She prodded.

"Well, what?"

"How do you know about my dad?"

Great, just great. The kid does have a spine, and she's using it in the worst place.

I squirmed, but didn't answer.

Her face fell a bit, and she turned away from me.

She said something, but I couldn't hear her.

"What?"

She repeated herself, and I had to lean in to hear it.

"I dream about my dad sometimes." She whispered.

I went still; wishing that I was somewhere else. I so didn't want to have a conversation like this with some kid I didn't even know!

"Do you now?" I replied, just as softly.

"It's weird, but he talks to me. I tell him about my day, and whatever's going on in my life, and he listens. And sometimes, we just sit and stare at the glass in the window."

I looked at her. "What glass? What window?"

"Well, in my dream, I talk to him in a bunch of different places, but it's mostly in a chapel."

Holy crap…no pun intended.

I sat down on the bed beside her, and she leaned against me.

"Where do the two of you talk?" she asked.

At this point, I was fervently wishing myself away. I tried to answer her as gently as possible. "Honey, I don't know what's going on with my dreams. I doubt I could actually speak to your-"

Leaping to her feet, she cut me off, "Wait a minute!" she cried, dashing out of the room.

"Okay, whatever." I muttered to an empty room.

Moments later, she returned; a framed photo clutched tightly in her hand. She handed it to me. "Is this him?" She asked.

I stared at the picture, and I felt myself blanch. It was a family portrait. A man, a woman, a little boy, and two baby girls. The little boy was caught in the middle of a laughing fit, and the mother and babies seemed to be especially happy too. The man, however, just stared at the rest of them. He practically glowed with paternal pride. It was sweet…

It was also the guy that kept popping up into my head! Dammit!

"Well, is it?" Prodded Leah.

I sighed. "Yeah. It's him."

She looked at me like I was the proverbial sun and moon, but she didn't say anything.

From below us: "LEAH!"

She smirked, clearly suppressing a smile. "Yeah, Anna?"

"PIZZA'S HERE!"

I grinned at her. "Doesn't that bellow get annoying?"

She sighed. "Yeah, but I love her anyways. Besides, she makes up for the….beastly… behavior in other ways."

I bit back a smile. I got the feeling that this one never swore. Ever. It was almost cute.

I stood up. "Shall we?"

Leah smiled her shy smile, and we headed downstairs.

11:00pm

After a couple hours of arguments, homework, projects, and duels over the last slice of triple cheese pizza, the girls had turned in for the night; both complaining about their impending finals.

Me and the Doc, however, decided we needed some grown-up time. She pulled out, much to my surprise, a couple of bottle of Molson's.

"Why Doc," I mused, "shouldn't you have pulled out a bottle of some fancy-pants Cabernet, or something like that? Doesn't beer clash with this Martha Stewart image you're flaunting? And besides that, shouldn't a rich, doctor-lady abstain from booze on a work night?"

She gave me that devilish grin again. It was totally at odds with the elegant woman that was sitting across from me on the black-leather couch. "I've got tomorrow off. And on top of that, every gal needs a hobby." She purred; quirking her eyebrows at me.

I laughed. "You got me there!"

She quickly sobered though. "Back to the point…"

I squirmed. She smiled gently at me.

"Do we have to?" I whined.

"Well, hell: isn't that why you came to me?"

"Yeah." I grumbled. "But the beer is nice too."

She laughed at that; a happy burst of sound. "Yeah, it is."

"So, what is up with the Martha Stewart crap all over this house? I mean, it's gorgeous and all, but you don't strike me as the type to buy this kinda crap." I blurted.

Damn.

She laughed again. "Well, once I got onto my feet- as the saying goes- I wanted to prove to everyone that not only could I handle two kids on my own, but I could do it with style!"

I grinned. She's swell.

"You know," I poked, "you never told me what's goin' on with you and Ghost Dad."

"Ghost Dad." She muttered thoughtfully. "I like that."

"Doc…" I reminded.

She looked at me. "Alright, alright. Hold on a minute…" she trailed off.

She got up, went into the kitchen for a few minutes, and then returned with the whole fucking case of beers. That worried me… until I saw two boxes of Godiva chocolates tucked under one arm. Worry, who? Me?

"This may take awhile." She warned.

Putting the box on my lap, I pulled out a caramel stuffed chocolate with one hand, and opened a beer with another. "No worries." I consoled. I stretched out like a lazy housecat. "Where am I going anyway?" I purred.

She sighed, but echoed my movements. "Okay… well, not to use a cliché, but it all started when I was back home in Silent Hill for a weekend…"

2:00am

About twelve beers later, the good doctor finished her story.

"And that's that." She concluded. Seemingly to punctuate her sentence, she belched.

I giggled. "Well, that's one hell of a story."

She looked at me. "You don't believe me." It wasn't a question.

I shrugged. "Maybe I'm just too drunk." I muttered. Beer always went right through me.

Doc Carver staggered to her feet. "Well, I bet it's not a good sign that Garrett's talking to you. I bet you're in for one hell of an… adventure." She laughed almost hysterically at that, as though 'adventure' meant something else entirely. But alas, I was too booze-befuddled to really know what the hell she may have meant by that.

She staggered up the stairs. "Coming?" she slurred.

"Yeah." I groaned.

Then I fainted, facedown, onto her couch.

Beer always went right through me.

:A/N: Yeah, yeah, I know, another filler. Bad author! No cookie! I'm trying to build up to the good stuff. I'm having SERIOUS writer's block. Arg. R&R kiddies!

LET THE POLLS OPEN! Who would you prefer as the primary heroine of a 'Garrett' sequel? Sweet, innocent Leah? Or Anna- the bitchy twin? You don't have to tell me immediately, the twins are in future chapters of this story.

:NEXT TIME: Lucy's first vision. Awwwww.