A/N: Thank you everyone for the great response already! :D Please keep it up!
"Do we really have to do this? Because I think that it's been fine going on a need-to-know basis." Ned walked down the sidewalk with his hands deep in his pockets, the feeling of dread inside of him increasing with every step nearer to the Pie Hole.
"Yes!" Chuck looked up at him with clear, honest eyes. "Olive is our friend and she deserves to know. How long have you been keeping this secret from her?"
"A long time. Long enough that I could keep it a secret for another long time."
"She needs to know, Ned. You know Lily and Vivian couldn't keep that from her." She sighed. "You're acting like you're going to tell your dad that you broke a vase that you said you didn't break three months ago."
"I am. Except my dad is Olive and the vase is you. And instead of breaking it I raised it from the dead." He shook his head. "Never mind, don't think about that."
"It's not going to be that bad. I'm sure Olive will understand."
The Piemaker smiled over at Chuck, wishing he had not left his gloves back at the apartment.
"I don't understand!" Olive exclaimed as Ned led her back into the kitchen. "What's wrong?"
"I told you, nothing's wrong," Ned said perhaps too quickly. He swallowed hard and took a deep breath through his nose.
She pointed a finger at him. "Don't act like I don't know you, Ned. I know that face."
"What face? This is my normal face when everything is completely normal, which it is." It all came out in a rush and Olive squinted her eyes.
"All right, come clean."
It was time. He had to do it now. But how to say it? How to put it into words? He had told Lily and Vivian three days ago but he suddenly couldn't remember how he had put it.
"I…" He looked out from the kitchen to see Chuck sitting in a booth and watching him. She gave him two thumbs-up and grinned. He turned back to Olive and set his jaw.
"I wake the dead."
The words hung in the air for a few suspended seconds in time. Olive's face stayed expressionless until she laughed, loud and long.
"Ned," she said in between giggles. "You really had me there! I thought you might be firing me or something." Her expression suddenly turned serious. "You didn't make me laugh just to put me at ease because you actually are going to fire me, did you?"
He stood still for a moment, thrown off by the reaction. "N-No," he finally stuttered. "I'm not going to fire you. But it is serious."
Her brow furrowed and she crossed her arms.
"Olive." He sighed. "I've been keeping something from you ever since you've known me, and you're one of the people I care about most so it really isn't fair."
Her eyes softened and she raised her eyebrows, leaning forward in anticipation.
"Chuck didn't fake her death. She died, and I brought her back to life. That's why I keep bad fruit in the kitchen." He grabbed a rotten strawberry from the counter and watched it transform into a perfectly ripe one at his touch.
The Piemaker met Olive's eyes, which were wide and staring at the strawberry in his hand. Her mouth hung slightly open, and she seemed utterly perplexed.
"Olive, I can bring things back from the dead."
And with that, Olive Snook fell head over heels – literally.