Alex's P.O.V.

"What!" exclaimed Josh with eyes as wide and unblinking as a goldfish. Alex almost lost control and laughed at seeing such a face from his kid brother.

He knew beforehand, of course, that Josh wouldn't agree to dining with Esmond and his fiance. Alex remembered when he was seventeen and still dating the man, it was so surreal how protective Josh was whenever Esmond would blame Alex for something that wasn't his fault or insulted him for no reason. It was almost like Josh forgot he was ten years younger than Alex and then took it upon himself to be Alex's big brother.

The newly hired man brought a hand to the child's shoulder. They were sitting at the park, each brother with a nice ice cream cone. Alex thought that having a sweet treat would lessen the blow the news would give Josh. Apparently not.

"You know he's only going to try and get you back! Don't do it, Alex," Josh looked up at his brother pleadingly, melting strawberry ice cream completely forgotten.

"He's getting married, lil bro. Don't sweat it. Besides, you should have seen them at the museum. Those two are so googly eyed for each other that Esmond can't possibly look at anyone else."

"Then why would he invite you for dinner?" Josh demanded.

Alex licked his vanilla flavored treat, trying to look bored in order to hide the suspicions he held himself. Josh had a point, that much was true, Esmond had never been one to give up easily. But as Alex thought about his pay rate and how much he could provide for Josh with it, he found himself desperate to believe his ex innocent in his intentions.

"Us, Josh. He invited both of us. He and Carl. And I convinced them to take us to Olive Garden, your favorite restaurant."

Though it had been a pain in the ass to convince Esmond. He wanted to treat them to some fancy five star restaurant. Alex and Josh would both stick out like a sore thumb if they went there, besides it had been so long since he had a nice dinner with Josh at Olive Garden. He remembered before the whole 'incident' with the boat that they would occasionally dine there, just the two of them. For a short while Alex could treat himself to Josh's company without his parents doting on how much better a son Josh was. For a short while, Alex was free to love without envy and hatred getting in the way.

Alex immediately shook his head of these thoughts, for they were going down a path he didn't dare his mind to take.

"I don't care. He's a bad man, Alex! Just do your job and take his money. Don't be his friend."

Alex sighed. A flash of realization went through Josh's eyes.

"Unless you're afraid he would fire you if you told him no. If he would do that, it would prove that he only hired you to get back into your life. Don't be stupid!"

"You're the one being stupid," Alex found himself suddenly angry, "If I let this job go, I will never find one that pays half as well. I can't risk that Josh. I want to feed us and buy you toys for Christmas and take you places and pay for your college! This is the best way I can do that. Hell, it might be the only way!"

Josh pouted with his head held low, not complete submission but at the very least he seemed willing to drop the subject. He and Alex finished their treats in silence. The elder brother noted a small figure coming toward them and was shocked when Josh greeted him.

"Hi Walter."

The young stranger raised a hand awkwardly, turning his eyes to Alex.

"Is this your new friend?" asked Alex hopefully.

"I guess," Josh mumbled.

"My name's Walter."

The boy looked so young. Alex looked around for whoever Walter's guardian was. There didn't appear to be anyone in sight.

"Hey. Who are you with?" Alex asked.

The boy named Walter stared at him questionably. He wasn't here all by himself, was he? Walter pointed upwards to his left but there was no one there.

"I'm with Henry."

"What about a real person?"

Walter glared at him offended.

"Henry is real!" he insisted.

"Where do you live?"

"With Mom."

Alex was about to ask where the boy's mother was when Josh stood up.

"Let's play on the swings, Walter!"

Walter agreed and the two boys ran off, leaving a bewildered Alex behind.

x

Henry's P.O.V.

He still couldn't believe that Cynthia was right and Josh could see him. But how could that be? He didn't mention the boy to anyone, not wanting Walter to overhear. If the killer thought Josh being able to see them was a problem, he might hurt both him and Alex.

It was a few days ago when Henry went with Little Walter and they met the strange boy. Josh greeted Walter and to his astonishment greeted Henry too. Little Walter didn't seem surprised by the fact that Josh could see ghosts. As a matter of fact, Henry was wondering why Little Walter couldn't understand why Alex thought he was imaginary. Little Walter usually seemed to understand that no one else could see him, so the reason he thought Alex could was beyond Henry's understanding. Henry sat down next to Alex as they both watched the little boys play. Henry flushed from time to time, sneaking peaks at Alex as if there was any chance of him getting caught. He wondered what would've happened if he had survived the 21 Sacraments. He might have been able to introduce himself to Alex and then…maybe a relationship would have started. But Henry knew that was just wistful thinking on his part. Henry couldn't speak to Josh, for the last time the boy spoke to him in front of another living being, the person watching Josh thought out loud to herself about taking Josh to counseling and that scared the boy enough for him to stop speaking to Henry altogether.

Henry could sympathize, he never found counseling to be very helpful. And Josh didn't need therapy, other than the odd fact that he could see ghosts, Henry felt Josh had a pretty sane head on his shoulders. He tried not to dig too deep into his reasoning because he was afraid that believing a kid with such an ability to be sane was proof of his own mental instability. He couldn't help but wonder from time to time if he wasn't insane and if he was, when did it happen? Did he snap sometime while he was alive and still fighting sniffer dogs or did spending his time with the dead slowly deteriorate his sound mind?

He snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a small snore, then he turned his head to Alex, who was lolling his head. Henry felt this was very sudden. Alex seemed to have gone from awake to looking as exhausted as the dead. Little Walter and Josh were still safely playing around, this time playing some sort of chasing game.

Henry took a moment to appreciate how the younger male appeared in his slumber, Alex's slightly plump lips parted just a bit, shoulders relaxing as if they had been tense for years. Henry could easily imagine him as a type of soldier resting from a bloody battle. At the risk of sounding cheesy, Alex looked like an angel when he was asleep. Maybe his dreams were nothing short of innocent, full of high school crushes and scenes from movies. Well, like he would know what Alex dreamt about on a daily basis….

Wait a minute! He suddenly remembered what Eileen had told him. This was the perfect opportunity to introduce himself. Hell, it might be the only opportunity.

Now how was he going to-

Henry decided to try to enter him like he entered through walls. That wouldn't count as a sexual violation, would it? No, Henry knew better than that. He closed his eyes, concentrated and moved his hand into Alex's head. Turns out that was all he needed to do, for the next moment Henry found himself in a nice looking house with a teenage Alex resting on a couch. He had been reading a magazine before he looked at Henry the moment the ghost entered.

"Who are you?" he asked, sounding a bit unstrung.

It took all of Henry's willpower not to flush. Alex could see him. He could see him! Henry knew that his time was short, for surely he would be pulled out of Alex's mind the moment that Alex woke up.

"I…I….I…." then Henry remembered he could never speak more than one word to someone he really liked. Way to go, Henry. He gave himself a sarcastic mental pat on the back. How could he forget how shy he could be? It took him a year to gather the courage to say hi to Eileen and he was never even attracted to her.

Alex stood up to examine him closely. Henry didn't know what to make of the look he was receiving but it seemed like Alex was showing interest. That was good, right?

"What's your name?" Alex asked, this time a lot more gently.

The gentleness calmed Henry's nerves just enough for him to say one more word.

"Henry."

"I'm Alex. Did you just move here?"

"Alex. What the hell is this?" a harsh voice cut through the air.

Henry and Alex both jumped at the intruding voice. A blonde haired teenager was staring at Henry like he was a giant cockroach. He aimed his glare at Alex.

"You're whoring yourself to older men now?"

"For God's sakes, Esmond! I was just talking to him."

"Bullshit!"

Alex looked at Henry.

"This is Esmond Anderson, Henry. Don't worry about him."

Esmond wrapped a possessive arm around Alex, who rolled his eyes in disgust. Henry flushed at the display, was the real Esmond like this, treating his lovers like a hundred dollar bill that would be stolen at any time? Now wonder Alex left him.

"Look for someone your own age, you perv."

Well, it wasn't like Henry was infatuated with teenage Alex. Still, Esmond's words stung and made him feel guilty.

"Stop that, Esmond. I can't make one friend without you going off on a tangent."

SLAP!

Henry jumped again as the hand made impact with Alex's cheek. What was strange was how Alex didn't seem surprise. In fact he seemed to have been expecting it. Henry felt his fists tighten by his sides and he was reminded of the time Walter hit the still-living Eileen with a hard bat, bruising her terribly. How he had wanted to throttle the blonde haired man when he saw his friend in danger. He was experiencing the same feelings all over again.

"Maybe if you would stop being such a goddamn cock-slut. You look at every man on the street. And you gave Mr. Smith your number, you whore!"

"He was my boss for my summer job," Alex defended but his voice was wavering from weariness.

"You didn't ask me how I would feel about you handing out your number. How would you like it if I pass my number to anyone I wanted? Huh?"

Alex recoiled, looking more than ready to give up the fight. Perhaps the slap affected him more than Henry first realized.

"I….I would be jealous."

"See?"

"I'm sorry, Esmond."

"Fucking sorry?" Esmond grumbled.

"Please don't hate me."

"Everyone hates you," Esmond declared.

"I don't," Henry spoke with a firm voice that he rarely used.

Esmond glared at him while Alex stared at Henry questionably.

"Stop trying to get into my boyfriend's pants!"

"I'm not," Henry argued, "I'm sorry that he has you for a boyfriend, seeing as how you hate him. He needs someone that will love him."

Esmond suddenly vanished in much the same way as a haunting did when Henry used to dispel it with a holy candle. Alex didn't notice that his boyfriend was even gone since he was staring intently at Henry, his face one of shock. Henry nearly shuffled his feet like he was in kindergarden and his teacher asked him a question he didn't know the answer to.

"You really think that?" Alex asked.

Henry flushed and nodded silently. Why couldn't he stop acting like a little kid? Even Little Walter would laugh at how childish he was being if he witnessed this. Speaking of laughter, was that Alex chuckling just then? Great, now his crush thought he was a doofus. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.

"No one ever told me that before. And it had been the only thing I ever wanted to hear."

The flash of honesty shocked Henry but what really caught him off guard was when Alex took a step closer, closing his hand around his in a handshake.

"Thanks." It wasn't a declaration of love but it still filled Henry's dead heart with delight to hear it.

Come on, Henry, he told himself. You went head to head with the mass murderer Walter Sullivan and you're telling me you can't say anything else to this guy? Stop being such a scardy cat. You can do this!

"Um…Alex. You know I'm really…"

The earth shook out of the blue and Henry was pushed out of Alex's dream. He scrambled to his feet, instinctively looking back at Alex to make sure he was okay. It turned out that the source was Alex's little brother shaking him awake.

"Hey. If you want to make your abusive boss happy, we better not be late."

"Abusive?" Henry exclaimed. That ex boyfriend they were talking about. Was he using his power to hurt Alex? And where did Little Walter run off to?

Alex had the same thought.

"Where's your friend?" he asked in concern.

"He went back to his mom."

"Oh, so his mother had been here," Alex checked his wristwatch, then suddenly jumped out of his seat, "Christ! We got to leave like….right now!"

"That's what I told you."

x

Alex's P.O.V.

Despite all the struggling getting to Olive Garden on time, Alex still found time to wonder about the dream he had from his nap. Dreams usually meant something, right? If so, what was Henry supposed to represent? His ideal perfect man? Maybe he should look it up online.

They made it just as the clock struck five. The waitress eyed them like she had been expecting them. Obviously, she was.

"Greetings, Mr. Shepherd. Mr. Anderson is this way."

She walked away for them to follow. Josh gave Alex a knowing look and the two set off. Esmond and Carl waved at them as they approached, both paying more attention to Alex than to the little boy.

"Hello, Alex. Just in time," Esmond commented.

"Are you Josh?" Carl asked his little brother.

"Yeah. You're Carl," it wasn't a question.

"That's right," Carl confirmed, happy to be recognized. Josh started coloring with the crayons provided for him. Esmond glanced at Alex in interest.

"What would you like to drink?"

"I'm just going to get water."

"Really? You don't want anything else?"

"I'm getting soda," Josh announced.

A second flashed with an annoyed look from Esmond but it left so suddenly that Alex thought he had only imagined it. Alex just wanted to have his meal and get as far away as possible from the couple. Perhaps he could spend the rest of his evening thinking about Henry. He couldn't figure out why but the man from his dream really fascinated him, so much so that Alex wished he was real. Maybe Henry really was the embodiment of everything Alex wanted in a lover? He definitely had the quality of actually loving him and that more than anything got Alex's heart pumping.

The waitress set down some wine for all the adults, Alex included, he turned to his ex for an explanation. Esmond offered him a friendly smile, the same one he would use when they were lovers and Esmond was happy with him. That smile came less and less as time wore on, which was one of the reasons Alex terminated the relationship.

"Remember when I promised I would buy you your first drink? I might already be too late but at least I can give you this."

Alex vaguely remembered that conversation. Esmond had said something about how he wanted to be with Alex when he went to a bar in order to make sure no one slipped a roofie in his drink and raped him. Alex had thought the concern unusual but sweet. Now Alex was wondering if Esmond was really worried about his well being or if he was just jealous of the idea of someone in bed with him, even if it wasn't with Alex's consent. It was such a sick idea but try as he might, Alex couldn't cast the thought aside as an impossibility.

"Thanks, Esmond."

He took a sip just to be polite, he was much more a beer guy than a wine drinker but he knew better than to refuse a gift from his ex, even if he believed Esmond had changed.

"So, are you seeing anyone lately?" Esmond asked. Alex nearly spat out the wine in shock. A little too much wine filled his mouth, forcing him to swallow and feel the rush of alcohol going through his brain.

"No. I'm still single," he replied honestly.

"That's too bad," Esmond said not sounding as sympathetic as he should.

Josh looked up at Alex.

"But I know someone who likes you."

With that statement, Esmond was now looking at Alex in shock, his previous satisfied expression gone in a flash. Alex was just as surprised that Josh knew someone who liked him. True, many people thought he was handsome but as far as he knew none of them ever confided in Josh.

"Who are you talking about?"

Carl sipped at his wine, glancing at his fiance nervously. At this point Alex didn't have the courage to see what Esmond's face looked like now. He didn't want to know. It was laughable that Alex was willing to stick his hand into a hole in the wall that was oozing blood but he didn't have the gumption for that.

"His name is Henry. Henry Townshend."

Alex felt his jaw drop as he remembered his dream guy. Surely it was just coincidence, it wasn't like Henry was an uncommon name, after all. Alex was still curious about the Henry Josh was speaking about. If there was someone who liked him, there was no reason not to learn more about him. Maybe Alex could start meeting people again, it would certainly take his mind off of Esmond.

"Where do you know him?"

A teacher maybe?

"He lives in South Ashfield Heights."

Carl wasn't so lucky with his wine as Alex had been. The news shocked him into a coughing fit, causing everyone to pause and wait for it to pass. Carl glanced at Esmond in horror and Alex's ex gave the little boy a stern look.

"Please don't joke with your brother like that."

He had no right to reprimand Josh, though fear kept Alex from saying anything about it.

"What do you mean joke?" he asked his ex.

"Surely you know about Ashfield Heights," Esmond exclaimed, "A series of murders took place there not too long ago. Everyone who lived there is either dead or gone. They think it might be some Walter Sullivan copycat."

Walter, the name sounded familiar to Alex. Carl's complexion was white as snow.

"They still haven't found him even though the killings seem to have stopped. His victims had numbers carved on their bodies but no one knows what they mean."

Alex's heart plunged, he thought he had found a safe place to keep Josh but he ended up taking him to a town with murderers.

Come on, Alex, he scolded himself. You really think you can find a place without crime? We're not in fairy tale land.

"I had no idea…"

"But Henry does live there!" Josh insisted.

"Josh," Alex began when a loud gasp from Carl interrupted him.

"I thought the name sounded familiar. Remember, Esmond? Henry Townshend was the name of the resident who was found mutilated beyond recognition. He was the last victim they found with numbers."

"That's right," Esmond noted, "They said he went crazy and locked himself up for days before they found the body-or the remains of it. Apparently he was completely in pieces."

"I still think those victims knew something about the murderer. They all seemed like they were chosen targets to me," Carl pointed out, "I have no doubt that Townshend thought locking himself up would keep him alive. But his killer got to him anyway."

Alex wanted to ask Carl what made him so sure the victims were specifically chosen and not random. But Josh spoke up first.

"Shows what you know," he muttered to Carl.

"Josh, be nice," Alex couldn't afford to get on Esmond's bad side.

Esmond showed more interest to Josh now than when they began to talk.

"So, you know what happened?"

"Of course. Walter told me."

"Walter Sullivan?" Esmond was smug, "He died ten years ago. They even found the body."

"They don't still have it," Josh argued, looking angry at Esmond for being so arrogant.

"Oh really? How are you so sure?"

"Because Henry told me the body was still in room 302."

The last bit of information was enough to send Carl over the edge. The weak man fainted like an old woman who saw a mouse and Alex watched as Esmond tended to his lover. He glanced at his little brother in worry. This seemed too much to be a joke. If Josh thought he was talking to ghosts, he needed help right now. Maybe the whole ordeal with the Order scared Josh senseless.

Or maybe it was all real. Alex had no reason to doubt that, since he witnessed monsters thought to only exist in horror movies.

Esmond managed to wake Carl up. He stared at Alex and Alex could tell already, he was not happy.

"I am so sorry for Josh's behavior. He's been through a lot. Please forgive us."

Josh glared at Alex like he was a traitor.

"Of course," Esmond's expression softened ever so slightly, "Let's not talk about this anymore."

The rest of the dinner was a silent one. It took forever but Alex was finally home with Josh. He instructed his brother to get ready for bed. When Josh was gone, Alex left the room to see his superintendent. He was an old man with a beard long enough to braid and unusual spectacles. He had been in his room when Alex pestered him to let him use the computer. Butterfly Gardens had one computer that was always being used during waking hours. In order to get in, you needed the key. To Alex's luck, no late night visitor was using it. The superintendent didn't seem to mind being bothered for the key but Alex still wondered why he only had one. Why not make a few copies?

He made his way to the computer. He took in a deep breath and googled Henry Townshend, praying to God that his fears were wrong.

They weren't. The image of the man in front of him looked exactly like the man from his dreams.