Chris was sitting at her kitchen table with a hot cup of decaf coffee clutched tightly between her shaking hands. She looked down at the steaming caramel colored liquid and then up at her friends. "I can't believe that I fainted." She hid a smile that played on her lips as she drew the cup up for a sip.
Sam smiled softly at her while Dean patted his hand on her arm. "We thought you did really well considering you were just hugged by a ghost," Sam said softly.
Dean rubbed her arm as he broke the next bit of information to her. "You were right. It does seem that this ghost has attached himself to you. Now we just need to find out who he is and why he is has taking a liking to you," he squeezed her arm, "besides the obvious." Chris smiled sweetly at Dean and placed her warm hand over his.
Dean looked into her dark brown eyes and saw that she was truly scared. Despite this fear, he was amazed at how she looked the same as she did in high school, other than the little extra weight she carried then was gone. She now had a thin body that was tone with muscle and made her slight curves standout even more than they normally would. Her face was a heart shape with high cheek bones and medium lips. Her eyes were large with long lashes that were as dark as her hair. Her nose was thin and sloped at just the right angle that made the Native American features to her face come together in a way that made her exotic. Her brown hair was just to the top of her shoulders with a slight wave to it. He knew that when she was in the sun that her red highlights would shine to give her hair an auburn hue. She was stunning, but not what he typically found attractive. That had to come from how nice she had been to him while they had been at Lake Haven High School. When he had told her what his family did, she was fascinated, after thinking he was kidding and crazy.
"The play has put rehearsals off for a couple of days while the police look for this guy," Sam said while Dean rolled his eyes.
"Cops are dumb. There are only a few that know what's really going on. Unfortunately, Tampa doesn't have one." Dean said with a cold tone to his voice.
"While Tampa PD looks for this guy, we will be doing the same." Sam took a sip of his coffee and watched Chris and Dean. "I know this is hard, Chris, but we need you to tell us what happened when he appeared the first time."
Chris took a deep breath and tried to calm her nerves. She knew ghosts were real. She'd seen one once, years ago, but that was it. She'd never been near one or had one attack her. "Um, the first time I saw him was backstage. I was checking my makeup in the wings. I looked up, and he was several feet from me. The other cast members acted as if he wasn't there. I looked back at the mirror and turned back around and he was gone." Chris looked into her coffee. "I didn't think much of it. Tampa has lots of ghosts. I just never heard of the PAC being haunted, but that doesn't mean anything." The she told them about when he appeared on stage during the dress rehearsal. "And once Greg hit the floor, he was dead." A single tear fell down her cheek. "He had two kids at home." A sob caught in her throat and Dean wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. He gave Sam a look that said they needed to find this guy and put an end to this now. It was bad enough that his friend was scared and a man had been killed, but now two kids had lost their father.
"We're going to salt and burn this son-of-a-bitch!" Dean said with heat to his voice just before he kissed Chris on the top of her head.
Chris lifted her head to look at Dean. "Thank you. I know it's been years since we've seen each other, let alone talked, and you came when I called. Thank you." Sam suddenly found his coffee cup really interesting while Dean and Chris shared this moment.
"You're welcome. I told you when we left that if you ever needed anything, even if it didn't have to with this kind of thing, I'd be here as soon as I could." Dean smiled at her and then looked at his brother. "Why don't you go rest while Sammy and I start searching for who this guy is and why he seems to be interested in you?" Chris nodded as she got up from the table and headed upstairs to her room. She looked back at Dean a little nervous. "We'll be right here if you need anything." She nodded again and left the room. Dean turned to look across the table at Sam who was shaking his head. "What?"
"And you swear you never dated?" Sam asked with a cocked eyebrow.
"Nope. Never." Dean glared at his brother as he laughed and went to get his laptop.
"Who is he?" Sean yelled as he kicked her in the stomach again.
"I don't know what you are talking about!" Chris cried in pain as she tried to roll away from her husband. He'd come home from work drunk and yelling about her having an affair. She denied it. She had never cheated. He didn't believe her and started beating her mercilessly. Both her eyes were swelling shut and her lip was split. She knew her right arm was broken and now he was kicking her stomach. Not her stomach. She was going to tell him tonight that she was two months pregnant. God, please, not her stomach.
"I saw you! You were walking out of the school with him and he hugged you!" Sean yelled as he kicked her again. Chris screamed in pain.
"I didn't have school today, Sean!" Chris cried between sobs and yelps of pain. "I was home getting ready for tonight." She felt her stomach cramp. "Please stop!" He had hit her before, but not like this and only once. Sean swore and stomped out of the room. Chris grabbed her stomach and cried, and tried to crawl to the phone. She reached the phone after a few painful minutes and called the police.
The next thing Chris knew she was waking up in the hospital with her mom by her side. "Mrs. Johns, you have a broken arm and a lacerated liver."
Chris slowly shook her head trying to clear the fog that she was in. "What about the baby? Is the baby okay?"
The doctor shook his head. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Johns. We tried, but the force of the repeated kicks did too much damage. The baby was gone by the time you were stable." Chris felt the tears prick her eyes and she screamed the anguish of a woman who had lost a child, even if it had not been born yet, because it was already a part of her and always would be.
Dean looked up at the ceiling as he heard the cry carry down the stairs. "Did you hear that?" Sam nodded as he looked up from his laptop. "Keep digging, Sammy. I'm going to check on Chris." Sam nodded again as Dean was halfway up the stairs already. The master suite was at the end of the hall, and the door was wide open. He could hear Chris crying and ran to her.
She was asleep and tossing her head from side to side. Dean sat on the side of the bed and tried to wake her. "Chris. Chris. Christy! Wake up!" He shook her shoulder gently. Chris slowly came around and when she saw Dean she let out this heart wrenching sob and rolled to him. He closed his arms around her and held her tightly as she cried. "Shh. It'll be all right. It was just a dream." He was stroking her hair as she started to shake her head.
She looked up and wiped her tears. "It wasn't just a dream." She hiccupped as a sob caught in her throat. Dean cocked his head at her and waited for the explanation. "You know how we lost contact after I graduated high school?" She stifled a sob again as Dean nodded. "Well, we got married, Sean and me." She sniffled and hiccupped again. "He didn't like me talking to other men. I tried to call you and tell you, but your number had been changed, so that was easy. I still had Bobby's number if I needed you. Everything was fine for a while, but then he suddenly changed. He was angry all the time and started drinking. And then he came home drunk and accused me of cheating on him. I never did. He got really mad and started beating me. I mean like 'Lifetime movie of the week' beating me. I got away and called the police. A neighbor had also called because the yelling was so bad. They arrested him and took me to the hospital. I pressed charges and he was locked away. The worst part is that I was pregnant and the beating caused me to lose…" Chris tried to finish, but the tears came hard and fast again.
Dean just held her while she cried. He was awkward at this, but he did the best he could. This was not his territory. Sam was better at this. Chris's crying slowed, and she wiped her face again.
"The trial was a few months later. Because I was pregnant he was charged with second degree murder and domestic battery. Even though he said he was innocent, he was found guilty and sentenced to life without parole. I had already filed for divorce, and since he was in prison it was quick. That was four years ago. I still feel like it was yesterday that I lost the baby." Chris laid her head back on her pillow and looked up at Dean. "The funny thing is that if I had not known what he'd done, I'd have sworn that he was innocent. He was very convincing that he didn't do it." She looked at Dean with a weak smile. "Does that sound crazy?"
Dean shook his head and brushed her hair out of her face. "Not crazy at all." He didn't have the heart to tell her he'd seen families torn apart by creatures before that did that same routine just to get a meal or to play with a few humans' heads, especially demons.
He bent down and kissed her forehead. "Get some rest. Sammy and I are working on finding this guy, this spirit." She smiled and mouthed 'thank you' and closed her eyes again. This time her sleep was uninterrupted.
"So where do you want to go for dinner tonight?" Robert asked as he helped Alison with her coat.
"I can't tonight, Rob." She smiled sweetly at him. She knew he was interested, but she wasn't. She was madly in love with her husband, and she would not ruin that with a friendship that might be misconstrued. "Frank has dinner waiting on me and then we're watching a movie and eating popcorn together." She smiled again. "This play has taken me away from home more than we both like."
Robert looked at his co-star with a cool gaze. "We had lunch during rehearsals the other day. How is this different?" She could see the muscle in his jaw twitch.
"That was because we were working and you are my friend. Lunch with a friend is different than an intimate dinner with a man that is not my husband." Robert took a step closer to Alison.
"I don't see much difference." Again his gaze was cool and steely.
"I'm sorry, Rob. I know you like me. I get that, but I love Frank. We can be friends, but nothing more, and until you can understand and respect that, then I'm going to have to distance myself from you." She was trying to be nice. She was trying to avoid a confrontation. She had to work closely with him. He was her love interest in the play. Robert stood there with his jaw twitching and anger and hurt starting to fill his eyes. Alison cleared her throat and backed away. "Good night, Rob. I'll see you tomorrow." She turned and walked down the dark corridor to the side entrance of the theater.
Something in Rob snapped. Anger surged through him and it was uncontrollable. He stormed down the hall. He was going to have Alison if it was the last thing he did.
He slammed the side door open to see Alison a few feet away. "Alison!" Robert's voice boomed in the ally and Alison turned and fear filled her face. She had never seen a man look that angry. He was so angry she swore for a second that his eyes were totally black. "I have had enough of your teasing! We will be together! Now! Tonight!" He was screaming and his voice almost had an artificial, evil tone to it. Alison turned to run, but was not quick enough. Robert seemed to close the gap between them in a matter of seconds. He grabbed her arms and threw her against the wall.
Alison tried to fight her way free, but Robert was too strong, stronger than she would have ever thought. She felt his body press in on her and began to panic. He lowered his mouth to hers in a crushing, violent kiss. She screamed against him and pounded her fists against her chest, but he acted as if he didn't feel her blows. His attack was becoming more aggressive. Alison could feel herself beginning to lose the strength to fight him off when his body was pulled off of hers.
"Let go of her!" She opened her eyes to see Frank throwing Robert to the ground. He was on top of Robert and throwing punches that didn't seem to faze Robert. The men went rolling on the ground in the ally. Alison fumbled for her bag. She knew her gun was in there somewhere. She finally found it and silently thanked her father for teaching her to shoot and making her get her concealed weapons permit. She took aim, but it was hard to tell Robert from Frank in the dim light of the ally, and they kept changing positions. "How dare you touch my wife?" She could hear Frank yelling.
"I didn't!" Robert was yelling. "Get off me!" Robert sounded panicked and almost back to normal. More punches were thrown. Robert knocked Frank off and tried to get to his feet. He was catching his breath and looked at Alison again. He smiled, but the smile was cold and menacing looking. Robert cocked his head at an odd angle and said the most menacing words she ever heard. "Say good-bye to your husband." There was no anger or heat to his voice. It was cold, cold and evil. It had that same tone it did a few minutes earlier. She looked at him and his eyes appeared to be black again. She shook her head and watched as he dove at Frank with a speed and a force that was not natural. The men went flying through the air. In her panic, Alison pulled the trigger. The bullet flew toward the men in what felt like slow motion. It hit one of the men and blood splattered. Frank yelled and hit the ground. Robert got up and looked at Alison, shock etched in both of their faces. "Alison, what the…" he let the question trail off.
Tears filled her eyes and she stared at her husband lying motionless in the ally with blood forming a puddle around his body. She raised her gun again. "Don't!" She screamed. "You did this! You will pay!" She pointed the gun with a steady hand and pulled the trigger. The bullet hit Robert squarely between the eyes, and he fell to the ground. She dropped the gun and ran to Frank. She gathered her husband in her arms and cried. She found her phone in her bag and dialed 911. She held her husband while she waited for the paramedics to come, but she knew it was too late. He was already turning cold.