A/N: Part two of the Rick arch is finally finished! I know it's been a while, about seventeen chapters since I first introduced this (so if you need a refresher to go back to chapter 103 :) and then come back here) but it's finally here! I hope you enjoy the second part and hopefully, I'll have the third and then the fourth and final one finished soon. Enjoy! xx Mariah

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

The rest of the car ride was quiet. Rick had driven back to Melinda and Jim's house in the quicked route possible.

The moment the car was parked, Katie grabbed her things and got out of the car. Melinda moved just as quickly, following her daughter. The teen jogged across the yard, up the stairs and put her house key in the door. As she flipped her hair over her shoulder, she opened the door and walked inside the house.

"Katherine," the mother called out to her daughter, jogging to catch up with her. "Wait…"

"Mom, please, don't follow me." Her daughter begged as the front door closed behind her. "I need to be alone."

Melinda already knew by Katie's words that the teen would beat her up the stairs and lock her bedroom door before she even had the chance to reason her out of that decision.

She plopped down on the stairs and sighed as Rick walked across the yard, toward her. "I'm sorry you got all tangled up in this," she whispered, wiping her tears away. "It's just… it's been a long week."

The older man sat down beside her placing her keys in her hand. "Yeah, I can see. Don't worry Melinda Gordon, you have been tangling me in your messes for as long as I care to remember, even if it's been a while. Don't beat yourself up," Payne reminded her. "You're a great mother, Melinda."

"Am I?" She whispered, sniffling. "I don't know what to do anymore or how to help her through this."

"You'll figure out a way," Payne's words were falling on deaf ears, but he decided to try again anyway. He could see Melinda was beating herself up over and over in her head but she didn't deserve that. "You always usually do, Mel."

"I don't know what to do. No one really showed me how to do this. My mom was the toughest person I knew. I mean, she was just a cold steel door, and even if I could get through there was another room of spikes right behind it." Melinda explained, her head falling into her hands. "And I always wanted to have a daughter because I wanted to do it differently. I wanted to be the kind of mother whose arms were wide open, but I don't know if that's helping."

"From the last hour or so I've seen you with your daughter, you were better than I'd assume your mother ever was. You have a supernatural teenage daughter under your roof, god knows what's going through her head. You're just doing the best you can," Rick reassured her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder.

Melinda didn't remember this side of Rick that often. She remembered the witty, and often sarcastic, but sometimes tender one. He'd always been a great friend, no doubt, but the man had never gone to such lengths to make her feel better. She nodded and wiped away the last of her tears.

"Of course I don't mind. I'll look into this ghost business, alright?" He said, pulling out his phone as he opened the front door. "I can do almost anything on this bad boy nowadays."

"Try and find any notable car pile-ups," she said, pulling her coat off and heading up the first few stairs. "Probably in the last twenty years."

Payne looked up from his phone and held the door ajar, "What's my job again?"

"Check the newspaper archives to see if there were any notable car crashes in the last twenty years that I don't remember." She reminded him as she kept walking up the stairs. "Goodbye, Rick. Talk to you soon."

Katie watched as Professor Payne walked down the walkway and toward the taxi cab that pulled up. She pushed her window up just in time for him to look up and see her standing there before he got into the cab.

She didn't know exactly what she thought about him yet. She could tell that her mom had reservations about him and until she knew why she wouldn't know how she felt about him.

She walked away from the window and over to her bed, flopping down on it. The was a knock at her door, she sighed. "Go away," she said as nicely as she could to her mom.

She didn't want to be around anyone. Not even Melinda. All she wanted was to be normal. Even if it was just for a day, and when she was alone she could pretend that she was.

"Katie, I just want to know if you're okay." Her mom said from the other side. "You know I can open this damn door on my own, right?"

She sighed looked over at the closed door as her mom spoke to her. She scoffed and got up, unlocking the door and opening it enough to lean against the doorframe, but not enough for her to budge in her room. "I'm fine, mom." She whispered. "I'll keep it unlocked, but can I be alone?"

Melinda touched her cheek. "I know how hard this ghost stuff can be," she said softly. "It's hard to take it all in, especially at this age."

Katie nodded. "I'm dealing with it just fine, mom. If I need you I'll tell you."

"Okay, well, I'm going to get a start on dinner." Melinda started to turn away. "I might do laundry too in case you need anything done."

Her door widened and she walked away, grabbing a basket of laundry. "Since you mentioned it," she said softly. "I do have quite a lot from dance this week. I spilled the foundation in my bag all over my black pants and socks."

"I'll have it up here and folded before bed," Melinda said taking the basket from her. "Are you sure you're okay, bug?"

Katie was stretched across her bed, laptop opened, and on her lap. She looked up as she waited for it to boot up. "Yeah, I'm fine mom. As long as you make your mac and cheese casserole for dinner."

"Consider it done," Melinda set the basket on the foot of her bed and leaned in to kiss her daughter's forehead and cheek. "I love you so much."

"I love you too, but, ugh," Katie groaned and pulled anyway. "Mom, stop," she laughed and grabbed her computer as it loaded up.

"Okay, I'm going." Melinda laughed, grabbing the basket on her way out.

After the stressful day of ghosts with Katie and Rick, Melinda retired to her and Jim's bedroom. Her husband was already sitting in bed, reading through some files from work. Jim had been at work and didn't even know the full story about how long her day had been. It wasn't even just the ghost, it had been busy at work and she had two other children and a house full of chores to do, plus she and Katie were still trying to learn more about this girl to cross her over.

The whole day had been a bust. The girl was still roaming around somewhere and her daughter was still tightly in the ghost's grasp. Melinda hated it. She just wanted to take her pain away.

Jim looked up at her, and she knew he could see right through her alright. He set his file down and waved her over. "Hey you," He smiled at her, looking over the reading glasses that sat on his nose. "Stressful day?"

"You don't even know the half of it," she sighed and walked toward him. She'd just gone through and said goodnight to each of the kids, even if Katie hadn't said anything to her. "It was so long."

"Yeah, I had a busy day too." He took his glasses off and set them on the side table. "How's Katie feeling?"

"She was pretty shaken up after today. This is the first time a ghost has ever really affected her at school." She didn't know if Jim wanted to know she was closing her out. Was she closing him out too?

"Do you want me to go talk to her?" He asked.

"I don't think she wants to talk to anyone right now." She muttered.

"Not even you?" He asked.

She flopped down on the bed dramatically and shook her head. Her body relaxed into the bed and he laughed, moving her hair out of her face. She smiled at him, his hand cupping her cheek. She touched him, rubbing her hand up and down his forearm.

She saw his look, the one he always made before he kissed her. She met him halfway, his body moving over her, laying her back down. His hands were in her hair. She pulled him closer, needing more.

If there was anything to get her mind off today, it was this. It was Jim.

He was moving up, pulling her with him as they kissed until she's straddling him. They made quick work of their clothes. He was desperately pulling at her shirt, reaching under it, sliding his strong, warm hands up and down her back. A current of electricity ran up and down her spine as he unhooked her bra, pulling it off with her shirt quickly.

She groaned and threw her head back as he pressed against her. She found a rhythm, moving her hips in tight movements on him.

The doorbell rang as his lips touched her neck, his face pressing into her. "Damnit," he cursed.

"Ignore it," she gasped, her fingers running through his hair.

She wasn't about to stop now. Not even if it was his mother or the Queen of England herself.

Her skin was on fire. She wanted to feel her husband's hands slide up her body and blaze a trail of heat until they covered her breasts. She heard him speak her name. She was so lost in how he was making her feel. She wanted him.

Whoever was at the door could wait or even come back another time. She didn't care what happened, just that she was with her husband right now and this is all she wanted after today. She whispered his name in his ear and then nipped his earlobe. His breath went ragged and she used her lips and tongue on his neck and throat as she tugged his shirt over his head. She threw it aside.

The doorbell rang again, and his hands slowed on her waist gain.

"No, no," she warned, looking up down him.

"I'm just gonna peek out the window," he said, starting to move. He was going to slide out from under her, but she pinned his arms over his head and he chuckled. "Melinda…what are you doing?"

She glanced at the alarm clock. "It's almost ten o'clock, honey." She whined, kissing his throat. "Who'd be ringing the door at nine that we'd want to talk to?"

He met her halfway with another eager kiss and he rolled on top of her. "You have a point," he drew back from her lips and pulled back to slide his pants off just as there was a knock on the door. He groaned and turned to sit next to her and look at the door, pulling the blanket up. "What?"

"Is mom in there?" That voice was clearly Aaron from the other side of the door. "Some man is here for her. He said his name was Rick and it was important."

"Of course it's him," Jim sighed. "Just like always."

Melinda laughed, kissing his cheek as she slid out of bed. She grabbed her nightgown that was hanging on the closet, sliding it on and enjoying the glance her husband gave her before she secured her robe. "Did that make you feel better?"

"A little," he grinned, pulling her to him for a brief kiss. "Hurry back."

"I'll be right back," she laughed, rubbing his cheek. "You never know what he might tell me. Maybe it will break the case." She winked playfully, but he didn't respond. "Oh, come on. I was trying to comfort you there."

"It's not helping, but I'm glad to know Rick still has his impeccable timing," Jim groaned, leaning back to against the headboard. "Both Rick and our son. We could've ignored the door if Aaron hadn't gotten it."

She couldn't help but laugh again at her husband's words as she jogged down the stairs and found Rick standing in the foyer. The professor's eyes darted to the slit of where her robe opened, showing the blue nightgown her husband fancied, and his cheeks flushed red as she turned to look away.

"I didn't mean to interrupt anything," Rick stuttered, shuffling toward the couch as she directed him there.

She quickly realized she hadn't really fixed anything besides throwing a robe on before she came downstairs. "Is it that obvious?" She didn't feel like hiding anything anymore, shrugging as she sat on the sofa.

"A little," Rick chuckled. "But I wouldn't have come if it wasn't important. I found something. A few newspaper articles about a car crash. It seemed like something pretty significant." He pulled out a printed version of the three pages of different articles throughout several months.

Melinda looked over the information. The first article was about a three-car pile-up around fifteen years ago. Some teenagers had been drinking after a big soccer championship win and drove home. When one of those teenagers, Millie Cameron, drifted into oncoming traffic and caused a pile-up.

The ghost then appeared in front of her, her hands on fire. "That's not what happened."

"Millie," Melinda's words were soft, catching the teen's attention quickly. Rick was looking everywhere, trying to think of where she could be. "Will you tell me what really happened?"

"I wasn't the one driving!" The girl screamed and her hair ignited slowly into a small flame. "HE WAS!"

"Who was?" She asked.

"My stupid boyfriend," the girl's entire body started to burn now. "I should've never believed that he was sober."

Melinda's blood pressure spiked as she held the ghost's gaze until Katie's blood-curdling scream filled her ears. She was up and running toward the stairs before she could even comprehend what could have possibly happened.

Why would Katie scream like that?

Melinda ran through the open door to see that the blanket had been kicked off of her daughter's bed and Katie was still frantically rubbing at her skin. "I'm on fire! NO, NOT AGAIN!" The teen cried, kicking her legs frantically as if would make the pain she was feeling stop. "Make it stop… please make it stop daddy."

That was when Melinda saw him. Her husband, sitting beside their daughter, cradling her like he would with her. Jim was trying to soothe her the best he could for his sake and Melinda felt Rick standing behind her she tried to think of what to do.

She felt so guilty. She'd done this to her own child. She'd put Katie through this. Why had she ever had children when they had to go through this?

Even with all the good their gifts could do, this was the hardest part and now she had to watch her children go through it.

In the next moment, she was moving toward the bed, leaving Rick in the doorway.

"I'm here," Melinda was sitting opposite of Jim, her lips touching the teen's sweaty and warm forehead. She moved onto the bed and wrapped her arms around Katie's waist tightly "Mama's here. Just breathe through it. It will pass."

"Make it stop," Katie whimpered, slowly relaxing in both of her parent's arms. "Why won't it stop? Why does she want to hurt me?"

"It'll stop. Millie doesn't want to hurt you, she's just confused." She reassured her, wrapping her arms around Katie. "Breathe, in and out." She rubbed circles into her back as she looked at her husband, and then at Rick, who was once again scared out of his wits by what this gift actually could do.

"I know. I just wish it didn't hurt so much," Katie whispered, her voice muffled by her mother's shoulder.

"Me too, baby." She leaned in to press her head against her.

Katie rose her head, looking over at her. "Will you stay with me until I fall back asleep?" Katie asked, looking over at Jim then. "You too, daddy?"

"Always, Katiebug. I'll be right back," Jim nodded and kissed her cheek before he moved out of bed. He walked over to let Rick out, glancing back at them.

"Yes. We both will. Everything's gonna be fine, sweet girl. Just breathe," she whispered, trying to soothe her back to sleep. She pressed a kiss to her temple and felt her head settle against her cheek. "I know this is tough, Katie. No one ever has to go through anything as tough as this, and I'm so proud of you. We will cross Millie over, and it will be better. It'll get easier."

"I hope so," Katie whispered. "God, I hope so, mom."