(A/N: just read on... and, no, this has nothing to do with Abbey staying dead or somehow coming back to life.)

For every night after Abbey's death, Heath had the same horrifying and vivid dream of what exactly had happened that day.

He'd either wake up screaming or crying (he wasn't one to cry, either), and his 'sister-friend', Jackie, would have to climb out of the guest bed and comfort him back to sleep.

He felt like a toddler.

A weak, defenseless, young lifeform who couldn't get a grip.

But he couldn't hold it back, stirring emotions and thoughts raging and taking over his body.

In other words, he felt like hell.

On this particular night, Heath had fallen out of bed, interrupting the never-ending nightmare. He simultaneously bursted into tears and shouted for his dear friend.

"JACKIE!"

Jackie came in, her green robe tied from the last time and her hair like it's usual ways when she slept: a rat's nest.

Sympathy in her tired eyes, she kneeled down and gave her cold, shivering friend a warm hug, letting the warm embers inside of her heat him up.

Releasing him from the lengthy hug, Jackie sat across from Heath. "Who knew the ghoul you said you 'absolutely despised' would get you breaking down like this? I sure know I didn't."

Heath looked up at Jackie, and the Jack-O-Lantern finally noticed his appearance. With the combination of his bloodshot eyes and his deathly pale skin, Jackie felt like crying herself.

Jackie pulled him closer, it not being so awkward, for the two had been best friends since the fifth grade.

Running her thin, long fingers through his messy and knotted locks, Jackie decided to ask something she wouldn't of asked at the beginning of his trauma.

"Heath, sweetie, would you like to talk about it?"

He gave her a sharp glare for daring to ask that question, then said, "I don't want you to suffer either."

Jackie shot him a questioning look. What the heck did he mean by that?

"It'll make you feel better..."

Heath crossed his arms, obviously trying to escape Jackie's mother-like embrace. "Why does everyone say that when we all know it doesn't?"

"Maybe this time, it might just take an ounce off your shoulders. Just a bit. It's worth a try, is not?"

Heath sighed. Maybe she was right. He could tell her, after all, for she had become more of a motherly figure than a friend since his parents had died not that long ago.

"Can... can I tell you about everything?"

Jackie raised an eyebrow. Honestly, that boy asked some pretty stupid questions. "What do you think?"

A smile smile crept across his visage for the first time in weeks. "If I tell you, than you can't tell anyone. Some of this is top secret information."

Jackie stifled a smile. "Sir, yes, sir."

Heath explained everything from the beginning of when he was hired to be Abbey's assistant. And he explained how he and Abbey had bonded over the silliest things, like her awesomely fast car or how evil Toralei Stripe was.

But, most of all, he explained his love for Abbey.

Yeah, she had made him do the most ridiculous tasks around the building, and she would often call him 'asshole' when he would flirt with her on the job, but, as the way he would put it, she was definitely the most attractive living being in the universe in his eyes, inside and out.

"...and you do you wanna know the worst part?"

Jackie nodded her head, hugging her robe closer to her chest.

"When she was disappearing, I pretty much dissed the fact that the was a spark between her and I, and also the fact that she was dying. Dying in what could have been my arms, but I showed no affection. Maybe she was right. I am an asshole."

"You're not an asshole. Yeah, sure, we've all made mistakes, but there's always someway to patch things up, isn't there?"

Heath nodded his head solemly. Why did Jackie have to be so smart? "You're right. I'm tired. What about you go correct other people outside of here while I attempt to sleep? Deal?"

Jackie rolled her eyes. "You've got a deal. Goodnight, my firefly."

"Will you stop calling me that?"

"Not until you admit you like it."

"Then that would be a no."

"Goodnight, Heath, don't let the frostbite bite back."