Faith and Mort followed Tanya down the hallway, and looked at the room. Soft brown carpet covered the floor, and there was what looked to be a large closet and a massive dresser that looked to made from some dark wood, maybe walnut. A queen-sized matching bed with a brown and gold comforter and fluffy pillows was along one wall, and there were thick golden curtains that entirely covered the window. The whole room looked slightly old fashioned, and conveyed the impression that it was intended for guys that dropped by. Possibly other watchers.

Mort dropped his duffel near the closet, opening the door to peek inside. "Should I ask why there's a spear with feathers tied to it in the closet?"

Tanya just shrugged. "Uncle was probably just meandering around with it, or maybe one of his friends was looking at it and just figured the closet was convenient. Either that or he was afraid that he'd be attacked in his own house. I've been finding weapons all over, from a mace in the pantry, a crossbow in the downstairs bathroom, a sword in the coat closet, and a set of throwing daggers in the basement… There's probably more scattered around."

Mort touched the spear, his shoulders slumped just a little. "It sounds like being a Watcher is pretty dangerous. Faith's told me that vamps need an invitation to come in, but I'm betting a lot of things don't. Maybe he was afraid. Especially if the people telling him to go watch the demons didn't bother to do more than say 'Watch you head' after that. They can be… scary."

"Does that compare them to the Friends of Humanity?" Tanya was watching, her eyes sorrowful.

Faith shivered, remembering her own introduction to those people. Hiding under masks and trying to kill some frightened kid… That was just wrong, and scary. "It's not the same. They're a different sort of scary."

Mort turned, leaning in the closet doorway. "Faith's right. The anti-mutant people are scary when they're a mob, or if you think about the long term. But if there's just one of them right there, it's not the same as having a giant, man eating lizard with claws right in front of you. Demons are a lot scarier as individuals than humans, even humans with bad ideas."

"I try to avoid the demons altogether." Tanya's voice was soft, and she shivered a little. Was it from fear or the slight chill in the upstairs? "Anyhow, the pair of you can stay here and help me fix the house for as long as you want. Let me know if there's anything in specific that I should pick up for groceries, and I'd really like it if you let me know before you leave."

Faith shrugged, thinking that she really couldn't have asked for much more than this if she could describe the ideal place to rest. "Sounds fair enough. Oh, umm… could you get some chocolate chip cookies?"

Tanya chuckled, suddenly looking almost maternal. "Of course I can get chocolate chip cookies. There's also vanilla ice cream and cocoa mix downstairs. You have to add the marshmallows separately if you want them, but I have a couple bags of the little ones that are just perfect for cocoa. There's never enough marshmallows in the cocoa that comes with them already inside…"

As Tanya left the hall, walking back down the little stairway, Mort came over to stand beside Faith. His voice was soft, full of questions and a little bit of wistful hope mixed with amusement. "She thinks that we're… a runaway couple."

"Yeah, but why's that seem funny?" Faith looked at him, realizing just how close he was standing. She could feel his presence, even if he wasn't radiating a lot of body heat. "Something wrong with the idea of being my runaway boyfriend?"

"Not that I can see." His eyes were focused on her, and they seemed very dark and mysterious all of a sudden. "I just wish that things really were that simple."

Faith sighed, letting herself lean back against Mort. Closing her eyes, she tried to imagine things differently. If she was just a girl who'd had to run off with her mutant boyfriend. If she didn't feel the weight of destiny grinding her down, the shame of failure and the guilt from what had happened in Sunnydale. She just couldn't quite picture it. "I can't even see it. I can't even see myself as a normal girl. Someone who hasn't… who didn't mess up that badly. Someone who thinks a terrible thing would be wrecking the car, not accidental manslaughter."

Mort's arm wrapped around her waist, and he leaned his head on hers. "Normal's overrated, Faith. We'll manage this, together. You don't have to be alone anymore."

Faith smiled, her eyes still closed. One hand came to rest on Mort's arm, enjoying the closeness. It felt good to have someone with her. Not just another body hanging around, but someone who was there for her. Someone who cared. "Thanks for that, Mort."

End part 14.

After stowing their few things into the closet and the dresser, they explored the house a little bit. Faith wanted to know where all the exits and possible points of entry were, just in case something did try to come after them. Mort went with her, both to know the escape routes, and because if he was going to be fixing things, he needed to figure out just how bad they were.

After walking a ways along a third floor hallway, Faith opened a door, wondering how many rooms could possibly be there. She abruptly threw her weight backwards, her eyes wide as she stared through the door at the sky. "Who in the hell puts in a door to the outside on the third floor?!?"

Mort put a hand on her shoulder, looking at it as Faith tried to regain her composure. "Looks like a pretty solid door. It's even got a couple inches there on the outside."

"And the reason for it being there is what? Who could even use it?" Faith felt a little better now, having settled her stomach after the lurching shock of open air instead of a hallway or the floor of a room. It still seemed almost unnatural, and it almost felt like a trap.

"I could, if it wasn't locked." Mort's voice was pretty calm. "Of course, this house looks pretty old, maybe even a century. Kind of makes you wonder why the door is even here. I don't think there were a lot of mutants that long ago."

Faith looked over at him, seeing the thoughtful look on his face. "You could really use this door? As in, from the ground, to the door, and into the house? But… but… that's just…" She looked back outside. "This is the third floor, Mort."

"I know. Mutant with super jumping abilities, remember? When danger rears it's ugly head, I demand to know who took Sabertooth's beef jerky… oh, wait, not that." Mort paused, half smothering a chuckle. "If it's something that I can't fight, I run like hell and jump for something high."

Faith wanted to protest the idea, but she'd seen some of Mort's jumps. They were impossible looking. It was amazing to see, and gave her an idea how someone might feel watching her do some of the more demanding things. "I guess there are worse strategies. But I still don't get why that door's even there."

"The good news is that the roof over this part is in pretty good shape. Floor's pretty solid, just all these mostly empty rooms. I've got to agree that her uncle had a few odd ideas. Unless maybe he didn't want to be going up the stairs all the time." Mort ran his fingers through his hair. "Shall we go figure out what our working orders for tomorrow are? Or do you want that to wait until morning while you sneak out to figure out if that was or wasn't a deer?"

"Hmm… let's figure out the plan first. Maybe Tanya knows if anyone's been spotting mutant wildlife in the area before." Faith smiled, feeling better as Mort closed the door, locking it with the little chain and catch.

By the time they found Tanya, she was sitting in the kitchen, wrapped in a large fuzzy robe, holding what looked like a steaming mug of marshmallows. Her bare feet were peeking out from under the robe, with purple painted toenails. Setting the mug on the table, she gestured towards a cupboard. "Hey you two. I have more mugs, and the kettle has hot water if you want some cocoa."

Mort walked over, pulling down two mugs, and adding a couple heaping spoons of cocoa mix and a handful of marshmallows to one mug before looking over. "Faith? A few or a lot of marshmallows?"

"Lots." Faith smiled, remembering for a moment Joyce Summers, and her sweet if a bit misguided idea that a mug of cocoa and marshmallows and a sympathetic ear could solve anything. "Tanya? We found… this weird door, and it seemed… entirely weird. What's up with the door to the great outdoors on the third floor?"

Tanya blinked, for a moment looking a bit confused as she held her mug of cocoa. "Door? What door… oh. That door. I asked my uncle about that once, years ago. Apparently, this place was built by some eccentric guy that believed in both grand entertainment and ghosts. He was afraid that someone would die inside the house, and their spirit would be trapped, and unable to leave, so he had a door put in for them. And eventually, he died, his son inherited, lived here for about forty years and then sold the house to Uncle Elijah."

Mort looked over, having sipped his cocoa. A ring of marshmallow clung to his lips. "Did anyone ever die here?"

Tanya looked over at him, giggling a little. "Marshmallow mustache… There are some napkins over by the sink… But more seriously, yeah, there were some people that died in here. One of them was the guy that built the place. Neither uncle Elijah or myself have seen anything to make me think the place is haunted."

Faith snickered a little. "Yeah, but you have to watch that first step."

Tanya chuckled, stirring her cocoa just a little. "I know. I used to wonder if that's what he'd do with unwelcome visitors. Just show them to the door… Maybe there just aren't ghosts, or maybe none of the people who died here had the right circumstances to become ghosts if they are real, but… There aren't any here."

"I've talked to a couple people that ran into some ghosts, so they are real. But as for why there aren't any here… who knows, maybe the door really works." Faith shrugged, sipping at her own cocoa. It was almost too hot, and tasted sweet from all the marshmallows, making it utterly perfect. "But it still looks pretty silly."

"Well, maybe a little… or a lot." Tanya sipped at her cocoa, licking off the bits of marshmallow. "Anything else you wanted to ask about?"

"Well… yeah. On our way in, we almost hit this thing jumping across the road. Didn't really get a good look, just big, blue and jumpy. Any ideas what it was?" Faith asked, her mind wondering if the blue thing would be dangerous.

"Oh, you mean Binky. One of the local kids tried to make a pet out of an injured deer a couple years ago, a pregnant doe. She dropped a pair of twin fawns, and one of them was blue. Binky's never acted differently than any other half tamed deer, but I guess she would be pretty startling." Tanya smiled, looking as if she was thinking of pleasant memories. "I spent that summer here, and I saw Binky as a little baby… just adorable."

Faith blinked, considering the idea. A mutant deer. If there was one mutant deer, it was possible that there were more, or maybe mutant rabbits, or squirrels, or… Or mutant demons. But a mutant deer that acted like a normal deer was no problem at all. "Yeah, Binky gave us both a bit of a surprise."

End part 15.