A/N: To tell you the truth, I'm usually not this terrible at posting. I can usually get something up once every week and a half or so, never this long ─ a month and half? I'm so sorry. This summer has been very hectic and busy for me. Amazing and, all in all, just a great summer, but very busy.

Warnings: mentions of suicide

III: Details and Doubts

Krissy and Aiden followed Charlie's obnoxious yellow car down the street. This time, Aiden was driving. He'd made sure of that.

"So, suddenly you trust that chick?" he said, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel.

"She knows Dean." Krissy avoided giving a straight answer. She wanted to trust Charlie, simply because of that link, but she knew that trust was not something to be given away quickly. They all had experience with that, and, frankly, it was not something she wanted to repeat. On one hand, though, Charlie was nothing like Victor, and neither were the circumstances under which they'd met. "Maybe she can help us on the hunt. We'll leave it at that for now."

"If she does help?"

"Then we'll take it from there. I don't know, Aiden. We'll see." She stared out the window. Thinking. Maybe it was time they found another hunter to team up with. After, all they were all teenagers still. Homeowners, business people, everyone was wary of them. An adult could be useful. They couldn't pose as FBI agents. Too short. Too young. Not enough money to buy suits ...

"I mean, she likes Star Trek, but still. Be careful. I bet Dean knows lots of less than perfect people."

"Yes, I know, Aid ─ dude. You just missed the turn. Pay attention to that car. It can't be that hard. It's bright yellow."

Aiden swore and hastily turned into a driveway so he could go back the other way, and, this time, missed the turn. He then began to rant about distractions while driving.

Krissy smiled a little. She liked it when their interactions were normal. When they were talking about stupid things. Driving. Homework. Food. And that was what she didn't understand about herself ─ sometimes, she wanted to hunt. She wanted to kick some monster ass and help the world. But, yet, other times, she wanted to be a normal teenager, contribute to society in exactly zero ways, and argue with her best-friend-brother-hunting-partner hybrid.

"Earth to Krissy. The park's here. Get out."

She made a face at him and opened the car door, slamming it a little more forcefully than she'd meant to. Aiden looked at her funny, but they both saw Charlie by a picnic table a little ways away and went to meet her. The older woman ─if you could call her that─ was leaning against the table languidly, and she waved at them with a smile.

God, she's enthusiastic.

"So," Aiden said when they reached her, drawing out the word. "You were going to explain what's up with that ghost?"

"Yep!" It was almost unnerving, how Charlie could talk about hunting like it was something simple, everyday, and exciting. Like it was a game, not life or death, not a job. "I went there yesterday. With an EMF. I was really thorough, though, because, to be honest, I haven't really dealt with a ghost before─"

"No ghosts? Never?" Krissy repeated, amazed. "But they're ... they're elementary. The building blocks, you know."

She was quoting Victor, she realized, and that sent a sharp wave of anger through her. Though he'd been an evil man ─he'd killed her parents! She hated him, she did, she was glad he was dead─ but she couldn't deny he'd been a good hunter. A great one. His advice had been sound. And that never ceased to piss her off.

Victor had no right to be both evil and smart. Why were the worst people the smartest? He knew just how to get to her, to Aiden and Josephine...

Pay attention to Charlie. She cut into her own thoughts, blocking them off. You're on a hunt. This isn't the time to wallow in self-pity.

"Well," Charlie was saying, looking a bit sheepish, "I haven't been hunting for all that long. But I do have experience! I saved Dean and Sam's asses twice."

Krissy could appreciate that. "Same." She grinned.

Charlie shrugged. "To be fair, they saved mine, too."

"Yeah."

"Guys." Aiden cleared his throat. "The ghost?"

"Right. Yeah. Sorry." Charlie straightened up. Was she trying to be professional? It wasn't working. She wasn't wearing the right clothes for it ─ she wasn't the right person for it. She had an air of energy and warmth that most business people didn't have.

She wouldn't make a very good FBI agent, either, Krissy noted with chagrin. Too perky.

"But, as I was saying, I did check every room for any sign. The EMF was silent, except for that bathroom upstairs. Which I find odd. They say the girl was found in the dining room."

"Maybe she dragged herself there," Aiden said. "Trying to call 911, or something."

"Wouldn't she have dripped blood?"

"Not necessarily. She could've put pressure on the wound and made it downstairs, then finally have lost enough blood to die."

Krissy wondered if Aiden knew these things from school or cop shows on TV.

"Or," she said, wanting to put in her input, "it wasn't something supernatural. It could've been a person. Maybe there's a haunting in her bathroom, but maybe it didn't harm her."

Your mind is just on evil people today. Is there something wrong with you? Can't you be optimistic and just think it's something bad by nature?

Stop it. She commanded the thoughts away. They weren't helping.

Aiden and Charlie were both inspecting her like they were worried or confused. "Dude," Aiden said, "I don't think so. There weren't any fingerprints or anything. The cops are clueless."

"Gloves?" Krissy suggested.

"What's with you? Why are you so set on it being a human? It's a ghost, Krissy. You wanted it to be a ghost."

Yes, he's right. You want it to be a ghost. This is a hunt. Stop being so pessimistic.

"I'm just going through all the options," she told him, her voice terse, more so than she'd wanted it to be.

All the while, Charlie's eyes were flicking between the two of them, concern barely concealed in her expression. It made Krissy slightly uncomfortable.

"Both of your theories are possible," Charlie said. Just to placate them.

Krissy sighed. Aiden remained stubbornly silent.

The other hunter gave a tentative smile. "Maybe we should go check out the house again? With these ideas in mind?"

Krissy didn't have time to respond; her phone buzzed in her pocket. She took it out, not really in the mood to be texting anyone. But, when she saw it was Josephine, she knew she had to answer.

How's the hunt going? You guys alive?

Man, she's such a worrier. Krissy put her phone away. Of course we're alive. Does she think we're so incompetent that we can't handle a ghost? She has no faith, for God's sake.

"Yeah," she said. "Let's go back to the house."

xxxxxx

Josephine kept telling herself that she was being unreasonable. Maybe it was just the fact that Krissy and Aiden hadn't hunted in a month period, and hadn't hunted a ghost in six ... their specialty was vampires. That would've been safe for a start. For the time being. Why couldn't they have started with something they knew? Ghosts were relatively easy, but she figured that the two may have lost their touch ... rusty with disuse ...

"You're acting like a mother," she scolded. Aloud, just because there was no one there to hear her. "They'd be annoyed if you bugged them. They can take care of themselves."

She was busying herself with mindless work. Cleaning the sheets, cleaning the dishes, sharpening the knives, reorganizing the basement ... Yet there was a nagging voice at the back of her mind that went, One of those things isn't like the others.

She really couldn't escape hunting.

Eventually, when all the guns were cleaned and all the beds made and the pantry sorted out, she collapsed onto the couch and put her head in her hands.

If she were to be honest with herself ─and she tried to be─ she wanted to be out there with them.

But that was unreasonable.

Just text them. Yeah. A text is acceptable. Make sure they're alive.

She got out her phone and sent a pretty innocent text. Nothing they could get offended over. A few minutes after she sent the text, though, she heard a sound that was not reassuring at all.

Aiden's text tone.

On the coffee table across the room, his phone laid upside down, bright green and standing out like a sore thumb.

"Damn it!" Josephine stood and swore. She couldn't help herself. "You must be blind, Aiden!"

Krissy was more organized, though, and never went anywhere without her phone, so she was glad of that fact. And that fact only.

So she waited.

With her phone right in front of her, ringtone up as loud as it could go. So she wouldn't miss if they responded.

"God, I'm overreacting." She laughed at herself. "I know they can do this."

But they'd done it six months ago, with constant watch from Victor, with practice, with days of planning instead of ours, with Josephine herself there, the three of them together...

She shook her head and forced herself to do her calculus. Work that would actually make her think and take her mind off things. She should be focusing on college, not hunting. Something that would ensure her future, keep her safe.

Thirty problems of calculus. Enough to keep her busy for hours.

But, every so often, Josephine found herself checking the time, checking to see if Krissy had responded.

And, every time, Krissy hadn't.

She's busy. She's hunting. Give her some time.

Eventually, she resolved her worries.

If Krissy hadn't responded in an hour, she was going after them.

She tried to tell herself that that was only out of concern for Krissy and Aiden, but, realistically, she knew she wanted to be out there with them. Hunting. Kicking some ghost's ass.

She missed the exhilaration.

xxxxxx

Krissy felt a strange sense of deja vu as she led the way under the crime scene tape to the front step of the victim's house. This time, in a more practical frame of mind (the newness and excitement had worn off, and she could think more clearly, albeit pessimistically) she hoped to God there would be no police coming back while they were there.

Again, Aiden picked the lock, but that was where they broke the sameness of earlier in the morning - because Charlie started chirping about how that was such a useful talent and how amazing it was he'd done it that fast.

"How'd you get in, then?" he asked, focused on the doorknob and not her.

"Oh." Charlie smiled. "I checked under the mat. She left her spare key there."

Both Krissy and Aiden turned to stare at her. "What?" Krissy said.

"Seriously?" That was Aiden.

Charlie nodded, evidently very pleased with herself. "Mmhmm!"

"But─" Aiden stumbled over his words. "That's so ... hell. Ordinary."

Krissy let herself grin. "Yeah, ordinary. Kinda sad that we're surprised by something ordinary and non-criminal. Why didn't I think of that?"

"It's okay," Charlie said. "I don't think too many people actually do hide their keys under the doormats. I do, though, so I checked. Just to make sure."

"Wow." Aiden opened the door, swept his arm out. "Ladies first."

Krissy made a face at him but went in anyway, closely followed by Charlie. Aiden sent one last glance around the neighborhood before shutting the door behind him.

"All right. What are we doing here?"

"Figuring out what happened," Krissy answered just as Charlie opened her mouth.

"So, what ideas do we have? Suicide, ghost, murder?" Aiden blew out a long breath. "Well, that's uplifting."

After a moment's silence, Charlie offered, "Just act like it's a videogame."

"What?"

"No," Krissy said. "You don't want to dehumanize the victims. You don't ever want to pretend it's a game. Then you'll be less careful with your life."

She realized with pride that those were her own words. Not her father's, not Victor's, not Dean's. Maybe the three of them had believed that, but they'd never needed to tell it to her. She took the job seriously. She always had.

Charlie was watching her with an expression that wasn't only curious. "Sorry," she said, slow, like she was choosing her words warily. "Did you ─ are you in the business of hunting because of someone you know?"

Krissy closed her eyes to stop from snapping at her. She didn't want to think about any of this. "Originally, no. I took a break. But I was dragged back in because of that, yeah."

"Oh." Charlie's happy confidence seemed to have seeped away.

"But I like it," Krissy defended. "I'm meant to do it. I get stir crazy when I'm not."

"Okay." That word came out even weaker.

"Less talk, more action, huh?" Aiden broke in. "Focus?"

"Yeah," Charlie said. "Let's."

"So we know nothing about the potential ghost, nothing about the vic, and no potential murderer?"

"That about sums it up." Krissy gave a fake-enthusiastic smile.

"Oh, I know!" Charlie bounced just a little ─ the motion was odd on a grown woman. But somehow natural. "I looked up stuff about her. She was in med school, she was twenty-nine, and she moved from Alabama two weeks ago."

"Huh," Aiden said. "Doesn't sound like your prime candidate for suicide. Med school? Nah. And if she moved two weeks ago? I don't think she'd have any enemies that quick."

Charlie chewed on her lip, then said, "Serial killer?"

Aiden raised an eyebrow at her. "Well," he said, emphasizing the word, amused. "Aren't you a ray of sunshine."

That made her laugh ─ an explosive laugh, but not a loud one. "I guess so."

Krissy sighed. They were never going to get anything done if they stood around and chatted. "What do the police think?"

"Suicide," Aiden answered. "You should know that, Kris. We looked that up yesterday. And you also know that the police don't know shit."

"They solve normal stuff all the time."

"I hate to break it to you, but this ain't normal." This time, when Aiden looked at her, it was seriously. "You okay? You're acting weird."

"Weird?" No. She just wasn't used to it all. "I'm okay, yeah."

Charlie cleared her throat. "How about we go look at the vic's bedroom? If she killed herself, there could be an indication there."

It was a smart idea, so Krissy consented, and they followed Charlie upstairs to the only bedroom there. Charlie opened the door cautiously, her hand clutching something in her pocket. But when nothing jumped out, she opened the door the rest of the way at normal speed and stepped into the room.

The bedroom wasn't anything special. Plain, white walls with a poster for some band hanging near the window. The bed was neatly made, the covers a nondescript green. There was an old, weathered desk in the corner, and a fluffy blue rug, but not much else.

"She was living Spartan," Aiden commented.

"Yeah." Krissy went to the bed, pulling back the blankets, and, finding nothing, looked underneath it. "I'm not seeing anything."

"I am," Charlie said. Her voice was grim. Just the tone was enough to bring both Krissy and Aiden over.

One word was carved onto the top of the old desk, the grooves relatively new and fresh.

Goodbye.

"Holy shit." Aiden bit his lip. "So she did?"

"Would make sense," Charlie said.

"But that doesn't explain the EMF in the bathroom. And the flickering lights. Maybe the ghost didn't kill her ... maybe it convinced her to kill herself. You think it could do that? We should check out the bathroom." Suddenly, Krissy was getting into hunting. It was enjoyable, now that they were making progress, even though the case itself wasn't very nice to think about.

Maybe she could do something.

"Yeah." Aiden stood up from his crouch from where he'd been studying the desk.

They made sure to close the door quietly behind them, leaving the room the same way they'd found it. Krissy was the one to open the bathroom door, the same way Charlie had opened the bedroom one. With care. There was actually a possibility that there was a ghost.

Charlie got out her EMF, which looked newer and fancier than any Krissy had ever seen. They entered the bathroom single file, as it was tiny, and had barely enough room to fit all the necessities.

Sure enough, the EMF started beeping loudly and incessantly.

"O-kay," Aiden said. "Definitely a ghost."

"But why here?" Krissy looked around. There seemed to be nothing abnormal about the bathroom whatsoever.

Then, surprising her, Aiden grinned and punched her arm. "Could be a basilisk."

"What?"

"Moaning Myrtle? You've got to have read Harry Potter?"

She scowled. "Now is not the time."

Aiden shrugged. "What I don't understand, though, is why Susan would kill herself. I mean, she was in med school, it was a new start, she obviously had enough money to rent a house for herself ... She had no reason to die. I mean, why would she? And why so violently? And─"

"Guys." Charlie's voice jumped nearly an octave. Panic colored it. "Either I'm going through menopause way way early, which I really doubt ─oh, God, I hope not─ or it's getting cold in here."

Krissy shut her mouth.

Yes.

It was getting cold.

"Shit," Aiden said.

Krissy knew exactly why.

"Oh, God, I've only got a ziploc baggie of salt. Didn't bring the shotgun. That was supposed to be tomorrow. And the iron ... it's not going to ... shit."

Charlie's eyes were wide, but when she spoke it was confident and quick. "You guys think you can handle it yourselves? I stuffed my purse. I've got five extra baggies of salt and a wrought iron pan. Take it. I'll go and kill the ghost."

"You don't know where─"

"I can find it." Her eyes were alight. "Don't worry. Computers are my thing. I won't let you die. I can save your lives. You'll thank me later."

"Okay," Aiden began, but Charlie was still talking.

"Man, I've always wanted to say that ─ here. Take the bag." She practically threw her purse at Krissy, who took out the salt and started to make a circle, pulling Aiden close to her so they could save some salt. He grabbed a short iron rod that he'd had in his boots, and Krissy took out the pan.

She felt perfectly ridiculous.

"All right. Go."

Just as Charlie was running out the door, Aiden cursed and held his iron rod out.

The ghost.

It was a girl, about their age when she'd died, but not too ancient. Her clothes looked fairly recent. She had a wound in her stomach so huge that, if she'd been a newly found body, it would've been pouring blood. There were shadows under her eyes, and her hair, which had turned gray, was a mess.

"There are always reasons to die," she said.

She flickered once.

"You ready, Kris?" Aiden asked, voice wavering slightly.

"Hell yeah." The adrenaline was pumping through her. "We can take her."

The ghost came towards them.

xxxxxx

Josephine couldn't believe it. She was breaking her promise. She was hunting. She was hating herself for it all the while, but this was for Krissy and Aiden. They hadn't texted. She had no choice. She pulled up to the victim's house, glad they hadn't cleared their history.

There were two cars. Victor's old one. And a bright yellow one.

More alarmed than she had been, she hurried up to the door. "Crap, crap, crap, oh God, please─"

Just before she was about to open it, it opened in her face, and a tall, thin, redheaded woman came practically flying out and crashed into her.

"You the police?" the woman asked in a frantic voice.

Wordlessly, Josephine shook her head.

"Good. Awesome. That's great." The woman grabbed her arm. "Get in your car. I need you to drive. Go. Please. Now."

She figured the woman must be a hunter, and that this must be serious, so she complied. Maybe it would help Krissy and Aiden. It would be a good deed. She got in her car and started it, her hunter's instincts taking over.

The woman grabbed something from her car, which looked like a tablet, and hopped in. She was typing furiously on the tablet. "Okay," she said. "Go straight until you hit the main road. Gogogo."

Josephine went.

Then the woman looked horrified.

"Oh, God. You are a hunter, right?"