~ Jed ~

Holding the door open, I escorted Kate to my room, figuring she'd be more comfortable there rather than staying in Gemma's room at this point. Once we were inside, Kate immediately turned to me for a hug, her cheek resting against my chest. My arms went around her automatically, but it was different now. I didn't feel that same pull. And I strongly suspected she was doing her best to get me onto her side, not Gemma's. Where she thought I belonged.

"This has all just been a nightmare," she sniffed.

"I know. I know you didn't ask for any of this," I said, trying to offer her what comfort I could. "Neither did I."

She pulled back to look up at me. "Is what she said true? Was Grandfather really your father?"

I let go of her. "Yes. Warren confirmed it."

"But… I don't understand." She blinked fast, processing. "All these years, he let me believe… Why didn't he ever say?"

"I don't know," I shrugged. "Maybe one day you'll be able to ask him. But for the moment, he's…" I couldn't say it, I wasn't sure how much she knew about his condition, but she surprised me.

"Yes, I know. I went to see him before I came here, but it was like he didn't even see me. He's completely lost his mind. Please, won't you tell me exactly what happened here? And don't leave anything out. I get the feeling that Ryan skipped over quite a lot."

"Alright," I allowed, and sat her down on the bed to listen while I told her the whole thing, warts and all.

"But you were free… Why would you try to kill yourself?" She stared at me, puzzled.

I wasn't sure why people kept asking me that. It'd seemed perfectly clear to me that I'd had little choice if I ever wanted to see Gemma again. "It was the only way."

"For her," Kate said softly.

"Yes, for Gemma."

"But you barely know her."

"I know her." In some ways far better than I'd ever known Kate. Sure, we had a lifetime of memories and secrets between us, but Kate had only let me in so far, keeping a wall around her heart. With Gemma… Gemma lived life with her whole heart and she'd taken me into her life without question. And I'd taken her into mine. "Besides, why would that matter when it comes to saving her life?"

"At the risk of your own?"

"If that's what it takes. Kate… I couldn't just do nothing, not when there was a chance to stop him."

"I still can't quite believe my father did those things," she said, a forlorn note creeping into her voice.

"I know, and I'm sorry, but Warren's been serving him for years." I sat down on the bed beside her. "It has to end, Kate. You know that."

"I know," she said, sounding like a lost, little girl, and I pulled her into a hug.

"We'll figure it out."

"But I guess we'll never figure us out, will we?"

I pulled back to look at her, seeing the regret and loss there. "Sure we will, just in a different way."

"I guess in the back of my head I always thought we'd…"

I raised a brow at that. "The back of your head that wouldn't take my calls for weeks after I was dead?"

"But how could I face you? What would I say? Sorry you almost died helping me?"

"It wasn't your fault, Kate. Let it go. I have."

She shook her head. "Never have been good at letting things go."

"You should get some rest. Here, take my room."

"Will you stay with me?"

Part of me wanted to, maybe it always would. But I'd meant it when I said I'd moved on. "No, I'll leave you to it," I said, standing.

"Back to her then." A petulant note crept back in.

"Gemma's a good person." Hopefully Kate would come to see that in time.

"Are you in love with her?"

That question made me smile. "Maybe I am. I think that's the sort of thing I should talk to her about first, don't you think?"


~ Jed ~

I knocked softly at Gemma's door, relieved when she called out for me to come in. She sat on the edge of the bed, neatly folding a basket of clean laundry.

"I'm sorry about that," I apologized. "Kate can rub people the wrong way sometimes."

Gemma rubbed at her reddened knuckles. "You're not wrong."

I sate beside her and picked up her hand. "Did you hurt yourself?"

"Yeah, on her fat head," she grumbled, and I chuckled at that, laying a gentle kiss to the bruised knuckles.

"Nice to know you can take care of yourself."

"I'm sorry. She doesn't have a fat head, she has a lovely head," Gemma sighed. "And I didn't mean to make things worse for her with all she has going on right now and…"

I silenced her with a kiss, cutting her off with a muffled mmph before she kissed me back.

"What was I saying?" she asked, a little dazed when the kiss broke.

"You were inviting me to stay the night in your room since Kate's in mine."

"Oh, I was, was I?" she smiled.

"I suppose I could always sleep on the sofa…" I started to get up, and she caught hold of my arm with a tug.

"Don't you dare…" she said, pulling me in for a deeper kiss. "What are we going to do?" she asked once it drew to a close.

"I don't know. But we'll figure it out together."

"Together," she agreed.


~ Gemma ~

The next day was super awkward when Kate came down for breakfast while Jed was still upstairs in the bathroom. I tried being nice to Kate, but Jilly wasn't so willing to let things go, pulling stupid pranks like stealing her fork and adding salt to her coffee.

"Jilly, you're not helping," I whispered, pouring Kate a new cup of coffee.

"She deserves rat poison instead," Jilly muttered.

"No, I get it," Kate said with a faint smile. "Sorry I was such a bitch last night."

"It's alright. We've all been under a lot of strain," I said with a tight smile, trying again. "Jed said you've been abroad for a while. Were you off someplace nice?"

"Yeah, Tahiti with a mate of mine."

"Molly, right?"

"Yeah." Kate gingerly tasted her new cup of coffee and relaxed a bit when it was fine.

"She didn't want to come back with you to see the boys?" I asked, popping the toast in.

"She did, but she's gone home to visit the family. I think there are too many painful memories for her here."

"There seems to be a lot of that going around."

"I'm sorry you've been dragged into this," she said after a moment's thought.

"It's alright. He's worth it," I smiled.

"Yeah, he is," Kate agreed with a smile of her own just as Jed strolled into the kitchen. "Speak of the devil."

"Uh oh, have you two been telling stories about me?" he asked, going straight for the coffee.

"We'll never tell," I said with a wink and a smile, glad when his expression turned more relieved that we'd been getting along. Breakfast went smoother after that, with Jed and Kate trading lighthearted stories about growing up together. I envied them that connection a little bit, but it was my cheek he kissed in passing and my hand he squeezed when we sat down at the table, and that was good enough for me.

Ryan stumbled down a bit later, looking bleary-eyed from lack of sleep. "I've been doing some research on our little ghostie problem," he said, skipping the coffee and going right for one of his vile energy drinks.

"I love how you call it that. What would you call appendicitis, a wee pain in the tum?" Kate smirked.

"Have you found anything? Jed asked, his face anxious again.

"A few things. I'm not sure how helpful they are. Most references to getting rid of bad spirits are to cleanse the space with sage or other elements that remove negative influences, but I think we're a bit beyond that."

"What about an exorcism or something?" Kate asked.

"That's a possibility, but finding a priest who actually does them might be a bit of a challenge. We can petition the Vatican, but who knows how long that would take," Ryan shrugged.

"What about Jed?" Jilly suggested.

"What about him?" I asked.

"That old lady said he might be able to stop him. When she was blathering on about his otherness. Or rather she said he couldn't then since he'd died again and gone all normal. But he's not normal anymore, is he? No offense." Jilly turned to Jed.

"None taken," he replied.

Kate's brow crumpled in confusion. "Ah… excuse me? What's going on?"

"Jilly thinks I might be able to stop him," Jed replied.

"Who's Jilly?"

"My sister," I explained. "Or what's left of her since she died."

"Right, of course," Kate muttered, and then her expression smoothed out. "Ah, okay. I get it now. You can see them too?"

"Just Jilly," I replied, and then turned back to my sister. "How would Jed be able to stop him though?"

"Beats the sh-stuffing out of me," Jilly shrugged. "You could always ask her."

"Go and see Grace?" Jed looked slightly uncomfortable at the thought.

"That's not the worst idea ever," Ryan considered.

"Yes, it is," Kate frowned. "If she died in the building, won't you have to go there to talk to her?"

"That is usually where they can be found, yeah," Jed nodded.

Kate fixed him with a look. "And won't Ba'laam be there too?"

"She has a point," I agreed, but Jed just shrugged.

"I don't know what else to try."

"Will she need to speak through me again?" I had to admit, I was more than a little nervous about that.

"No," Jed assured me, taking my hand. "I should be able to reach her myself now."

"I can talk to her," Jilly offered, and I immediately shook my head.

"That's dangerous to you. What if he tries to bind you there the way he has the other ghosts trapped?"

"Nah. If that geezer comes near me, I'll just leg it," Jilly said, all brash confidence.

Not really able to follow all of the conversation, Kate finished her coffee and stood. "Well, first thing's first, I've got to contact the tenants and get them out of there. The last thing we want is more bodies attached to the place."

"Plus, we want to keep them safe…" Ryan pointed out, and she shot him a pained look.

"Obviously."

"Right then. We'll go there after breakfast," Jed decided. "Ryan, you'll stick with Kate while she goes to the office to get the contact info for the tenants. I'll try to talk to Grace with Jilly."

"What about me?" I asked. "I have today off of work." Thanks to the fiasco with Warren, my boss had given me an extra long weekend to recuperate.

Jed took both of my hands in his. "I was thinking you might stay here and sit this one out."

"You were thinking wrong," I frowned. "I'm not letting you go back there without me."

"I need you to be safe, Gem," he said softly, but I wasn't budging.

"And I need you to be too. That's why I'll be with you. Come what may." It wasn't like the ghost had hurt me before in any case. With Warren gone, I wasn't in any more danger than any of them were.

Kate cleared her throat. "Right, well. It sounds as if we've got a plan."

Jed's gaze held mine for long seconds before he gave a short nod. "We have a plan."

~ Feedback is Love ~