A/N: This is the same week as the last time Rick came into the story in chapter fifty-one. Enjoy! xoxo Mariah

Jim - 45
Melinda - 41
Rick - 43
Katie - 16
Aaron - 12
Mackenzie - 6

The first time Melinda saw the boy was on her way back from getting some coffee from Village Java. At first glance, he didn't look like anything special. He had black hair, jeans and a red and white t-shirt. He was sitting on a bench hunched over, drawing in a notebook, but something about him made her do a double-take.

She stared across the street at him, confused at first by how normal he seemed—because on the second glance, she felt a soft wash of emotion come over her. It was empathy, amusement, determination, and kindness all at once. And it wasn't hers, but the feelings were so similar to her own that she could've mistaken them, but these are things she only felt when she was looking at a ghost.

"Melinda?" Her husband, Jim came up beside her, looking in the direction she was—toward the benches right across from the statue of the soldiers. "What is it? Do you see someone?"

"No," she said softly, shooting him a reassuring smile, "It's just... never mind. It's nothing."

"It's never just nothing, honey. I know that after being married to you for twenty years," he laughed, wrapping his arm around her affectionately, "Come on, what is it? Was it someone from that mudslide last month?"

"No. He looks familiar like I've seen him once or twice before, but he's just a teenager Jim. He can't be older than Katie." She shook her head sympathetically, still looking in the boy's direction-he was still drawing, biting his lip as if he was trying to keep from laughing at his own drawing. "He hasn't noticed me yet, but I bet it won't be long before he asks me for help."

"Okay, well, let me know how that goes," he kissed her forehead, giving her a quick squeeze before adjusting the hand holding his coffee, "My pager went off. I need to get back to work. See you at lunch?"

"Yes, bye honey. See you later," she turned her head and kissed her husband on the lips as they parted and he grinned at her before jogging back towards the hospital.

Melinda stood across the street contemplatively for a while, then sigh and decided not to bother the boy, finally taking a step off the curb and crossing the park square.

The boy didn't even look up as she passed—no surprise since she was pretending not to notice any of the five ghosts around the square.

There had been so many ghosts these days and Melinda didn't attract any ghosts that didn't come to her. Though with how peacefully that black-haired teenager was drawing and minding his own business, she couldn't help but wonder what was holding the boy back.

Melinda sighed as she unlocked her shop and walked inside. She went to her laptop on the main counter, facing the window and placing her coffee down. She looked out at the square, keeping an eye on that strange black-haired boy.

She idly began typing in searches for recently deceased teenagers, but her hands froze when she noticed the boy finally moving something other than the pencil in his hand. The boy's muscles were tense as if he knew he was being watched and he looked up and locked eyes with the ghost whisperer, unblinking.

His eyes were a clear, lively, shocking blue. The same as her husband's. Melinda stared back apprehensively, not wanting to leave his eyes for a moment. This was usually the part where said ghost started freaking out that she could see them and asked for help, but then her phone buzzed and she looked to it, reading the text from Delia about Mackenzie (who was still homesick with a bad stomach virus). She looked back to see the teen simply blink a few times and grin at her boyishly before going back to his drawing.

"Well, that's... odd." She murmured to herself. Ghosts didn't normally just ignore her like that. She didn't know what to think of the boy, but nothing came up when she hit enter on her search. "Damn."

She wondered idly if he was attached to one of the objects in the shop, as her newly acquired items tended to bring along extra guests. If he came from another city or wasn't recently deceased, he could be a lot harder to track down, but there was something familiar about him.

Had he been in the newspaper before?

The boy didn't contact her for the entirety of the morning and she figured he wanted to get her alone, but after dealing with a rush and looking back out the window, the boy was gone and didn't reappear.

"Shoot," she whispered softly, before turning around to go grab a box from downstairs.

Usually, it didn't affect her much when a ghost would just disappear, but this boy was different. He just left this overwhelming feeling that she couldn't shake. One that drew her to think of her daughter Katie and she didn't like the thought of that. She had been so much lately with Henry and rumors at school. Ned wasn't helping either. She could sense they'd gotten closer, that something had to have happened, but Katie had kept quiet for now and Hannah hadn't told her anything.

The ring of the bell from above sounded and she jumped in surprise.

"I'll be just a minute," she called up the stairs and grabbed the first box she saw labeled NEWEST SHIPMENT. She slowly walked up the stairs and set the box on her desk with a huff. "Alright. Sorry for the wait... how may I help— oh Jim," she breathed in relief, going over to hug him and kiss him. "I'm glad it was you."

"Sorry, did I surprise you?" The dark-haired man asked her, stroking her cheek gently and kissing her again lovingly. "Lunch plans, remember? You seemed a little out of it this morning."

"No, it's fine, I was just, um, bringing a few boxes up." She looked over to the box, which was heavier than she believed it to be. "I forgot about lunch. The ghost has been on my mind."

Jim turned to follow her gaze, blinking a few times. He grinned sheepishly. "Would you like some help? I've got some time before my next surgery."

"It would make things a lot easier," she said, smiling up at him.

"This was your evil plan all along wasn't it?" He asked and then crossed his arms over his chest. "Were you just gonna flash your sweet smile and have me carry up boxes for you?"

"You're the one who stopped over," she laughed.

"Well I see I've made the wrong decision," he said and pulled off his scrub top, not wanting to get it sweaty. He wore a black tank top and walked toward her. "Just kidding."

"My god do you look good with less clothing on," she said, kissing him deeply before pointing down the stairs. "But if I didn't need these boxes up here I'd totally close the store and..."

"And what?" He whispered in her ear, following her as she walked toward the basement stairs.

"I don't know... let you do your thang." She said, laughing as the bell rang out. "I'll meet you down in a minute. Someone is here." She kissed him before pointing to the basement. "Bring up the boxes that I wrote the newest shipment on."

"Alright," he said, jogging down the stairs. "Sounds like a plan."

She turned and walked out to the front of the store. The man standing just behind her was older than the picture she still remembered, a little grayer and less blond, but nothing would ever erase that boyish grin from her memory. Especially considering how many years she spent being absolutely furious with him. He must have seen that in her expression because his grin faltered for just a moment.

"Well, well. Professor Payne," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. "What did I do to get the honor of our presence in my store today? I haven't seen you since the one morning when you mysteriously returned, ate breakfast at my house, and then you disappeared again just like you did all those years ago."

"Melinda, still ever as enchanting, I see," Rick said and his grin widened, no doubt trying to win her over.

"And you're still just as insufferable," she muttered. There was no way she was going to let him off for what he did with a smile and a compliment. Too many rude words floated through her mind, but years of motherhood have wiped them from her vocabulary. "How have you been? You were quiet before. We talked. You apologized, but I didn't learn anything about you."

"Who's here?" Rick heard the sound of Jim coming up the stairs and she turned her head, smiling as he came up with the box. "Oh, it's just Jim. For a second I thought you got someone else to do your ghosty-goo research and that I should be jealous." The professor laughed.

"You don't have any right to be jealous, and you know it." She said, pausing to look back at him and smile. "You've been a jerk, Rick Payne, and I want to forgive you, but I just haven't yet."

Both his eyebrows rise into his already receding hairline. "I don't blame you," Rick sighed. "I am sorry for not keeping in touch. I really am."

"Mel? Is the customer gone?" Jim asked as he approached her, carrying a heavy box. The professor furrowed his brow. Damn him. He was still muscled and still had mostly black hair. "Rick, it's good to see you. Are there any more boxes for me to grab honey?"

"One more," she said as he set it down on her desk nearby. "If you didn't bring up the fragile one, it's fragile."

"Okay," he kissed her forehead and turned back. "Well, it's nice to see you. It's been so long."

"Yes. I'm in the flesh," Rick replied half-heartedly and came closer, leaning on the front desk. "I see you still enjoy tank tops these days."

"I didn't want to get my scrubs all sweaty." He shrugged his answer on the way back toward the basement as Melinda's cell phone rang.

She grabbed it off the desk and answered it, seeing that it was Katie. "Hey Katiebug, what's up?" She said smiling. "Shouldn't you be in class?"

"I'm outside. Can you come out front?" Katie whispered. "Something happened at school so I called the school pretending to be you to get myself out."

"I'll be right there. Are you right out front?" She asked, walking toward the door. She turned the sign on the door and saw her sitting on the bench outside as she turned back to Payne.

"Yes. Please hurry, mom." the phone crinkled and Katie hung up.

"I'll be right back," she said as she opened the door and walked out. "There's something I have to do really quick."

"Alright. I'll be here," Rick said and she almost turned back around to say something snarky to him, but seeing the tears on her daughter's face from through the door, she went there first.

"Katie? What wrong?" She sat next to her quickly and wrapped her arm around her. "Why did you want to leave school early? You never want to miss your second half of the day. That's where all your elective classes are."

"I know, but it's Henry... he's back." Katie sobbed and pressed her face into her mother's shoulder. "He is already making my life a living hell."

That's all she needed to know for now. She held her close and kissed her forehead. "It'll be okay. I'm here." She whispered. "Baby, I'm here."

"That's what I needed," Katie whispered and held onto her a little tighter. "I couldn't be at that school anymore today."

"So much boy drama," Melinda whispered, thinking of Rick Payne inside her store and now Henry, messing with her daughter's heart, and before that, it was the ghost. Would there ever be a break?