A special thank you goes out to my beta reader Mountain Girl.
As always this is for Heather.
Chapter Fourteen
Stewart, Massachusetts 1943
Horatio Stratton sat in his chair staring out at nothing his clothing soiled from his latest attempt to destroy the garden.
"Where is my son?" A lilting voice questioned.
"Leave me be," he muttered his eyes fixed on the door to the study. He was hiding again praying that they would leave him alone.
"Where is my son?" She repeated unseen or heard by anyone but him.
"Leave me be," he repeated lost in his own world.
"Never," a second voice taunted laughing wildly.
"Then I’ll join you," he sneered vowing that when his time came he would make them pay for their sins. "When my time comes your trickery will come to an end. You belong to me. I am going to make the two of you pay for your sins."
"Do it, end your miserable excuse of a life," the second voice challenged.
"All in good time," his insane laughter echoed throughout the manor startling the meager staff who were toiling about the house. "All in good time."
New York City, 2003
"I said don’t you think it is time?" Shawn repeated her companion still staring up at the building.
"I should be going," Carey suddenly blurted out shoving her hands in her pockets. "Hey like you said she ate the good pizza. I’m just going to see if Brian and the Captain need my help."
"Why am I not surprised?" Shawn sighed deeply watching the retreating figure disappear in the darkness. Her head pounded violently as she made her way up to her apartment. Her headache grew worse upon entering her home.
"I said stop it!" Faith shouted into thin air.
"What now?" Shawn hissed rubbing her throbbing temples.
"Fucking Willie keeps screwing with the television," Faith bellowed like an insane woman.
"Oh for the love of God, he is just a little boy," Shawn fumed weary of everyone’s nasty disposition.
"Send him into the light?" Faith glibly requested bobbing her head up and down.
"You know I can’t do that," Shawn muttered locking up her apartment. "Besides I happen to enjoy the company."
"Get a cat," Faith snapped flinging the remote onto the sofa.
"Yeah that would be a good idea," Shawn sighed pulling off her sweatshirt. "Since I’m almost never home a pet would be perfect. This isn’t just about Willie, what’s up?"
Shawn tilted her head trying to understand Faith’s muttering. "Come again?"
"I said the Yankees won," Faith scowled the sounds of a child’s laughter echoing in the air. "Knock it off the Yankees weren’t even a team when you were alive you little shit. Were they?"
"I don’t know," Shawn growled her headache growing. "And stop telling him he’s dead he doesn’t care. There isn’t anyone waiting for him on the other side and, like I said, I enjoy his company. We play checkers together."
"Oh now that’s twisted," Faith roared her jaw dropping suddenly. "Shawn? Oh my God what happened? Never mind we need to get you into bed."
"Do I like that bad?" Shawn choked in response allowing Faith to usher her into her bedroom.
"Yes," Faith’s soothing voice answered her hands gently guiding Shawn down onto the bed. Shawn parted her lips needing to say something her words halted by Faith’s fingers pressing against her lips. "Ssh, rest now," the brunette insisted busying herself with undressing the weary blonde. "You’re spreading yourself too thin," Faith cautioned tucking the naked woman under the blankets. "Maybe we can ditch Scotland, so you can take a break?"
"I can’t," Shawn argued nestling her aching head against the pillows. "Wait you’d stay behind just to take care of me?"
"Yes," Faith asserted nestling beside the smaller woman. "I’ll even play nice with Willie."
"That is sweet of you, but we can’t," Shawn sighed praying for the pain to stop. "I’ll be fine it has just been a bit much, Salem, Whispering Pines all of it is catching up to me. Maybe Scotland will be quieter."
"Maybe we could switch assignments?" Faith suggested massaging Shawn’s throbbing scalp. "Hawaii might be nice?"
"Namaka is doing Hawaii," Shawn laughed in response.
"Lucky bastard," Faith pouted with a heavy sigh.
"Not luck just location," Shawn supplied. "It is the same reason we tend to get the East Coast and the same reason Connor is working Edinburgh. Why hire some one you have to fly a great distance or house when you can hire local talent? It is just good business."
"Connor Alysia is working this gig with us." Faith beamed.
"Oh man, I keep forgetting how much trouble you and he can get into," Shawn laughed feeling the pain ebbing Faith’s talented fingers caressing the weariness away.
"Hey Connor is a great guy," Faith explained. "And he is one of the few who hasn’t treated me like a redheaded stepchild since I jumped over the fence. I had no idea when I stopped debunking how many people it would piss off. Still, even though Connor knows the best pubs in the city, I think maybe we should just stay behind. The intensity of the back-to-back shoots isn’t good for you. Or trade for some nice farmhouse, lighthouse or outhouse even. My mother gave me a quick history lesson on what happened there. This is going to be another very intense shoot. Not to mention after we wrap we’re supposed to go to Whispering Pines again. I don’t want to risk your health over a job."
"I’ll be fine," Shawn sighed tracing the bare flesh of Faith’s forearm with her fingertips. "Thank you though. I can’t believe you were willing to take time off and play nice with Willie."
"Well Willie isn’t that bad," Faith grumbled. "I am thankful he stays out of your bedroom and doesn’t play in the bathroom if anyone is using it. Still I wish he’d stop messing with the remote. Speaking of Willie I am curious about something."
"Why he keeps playing with the water in the kitchen? Flushing the toilet when no one is in there, flipping the lights on and off or screwing with the television?" Shawn murmured nestling closer to Faith’s body. "None of these things were a part of his world when he was alive. He’s just curious."
"That makes sense but it wasn’t what I was going to ask," Faith smirked spooning Shawn’s weary body. "What I was going to ask about was Deb? As much as I want to pretend that she never slept over, I know that at some point she visited your home. Didn’t you say that she doesn’t believe in your gift or ghosts?"
"She doesn’t," Shawn yawned her body tingling from the feel of being held in Faith’s arms.
"How is that possible?" Faith pondered. "Even if I had never set foot in Whispering Pines, I’m pretty certain that one visit here, and Willie’s antics would have been very convincing that not only do you see dead people one of them is fascinated with flushing your toilet."
"He didn’t like her," Shawn yawned once again her eyelids growing heavy. "Because he didn’t like her he never wanted to play with her. Not once in all the times she stayed over did he make an appearance."
"All the times," Faith drew out slowly her tone revealing how truly miffed she was.
"You could just go back to pretending that I never got naked with the woman?" Shawn muttered.
"I think I will," Faith asserted. "Sleep."
*********************************************************
Hours later Faith hurried from the bedroom as the sound of the television blaring in the living room disrupted the quiet. "Ssh," she whispered turning off the television. "We have to be quiet, Shawn isn’t feeling good," she looked around waiting for some sign Willie understood and was going to behave. "Man I can’t believe I just did that," she laughed knowing that just a few short years ago she would have slapped herself for talking to a ghost. "Thank you," she offered to the empty room. She turned to go back into the bedroom a knock on the door halting her escape. "Now what?"
Faith peered through the peephole her heart pounding when she spied the woman waiting in the hall. She threw open the door quickly uncertain what she should say or do. "Hi," she managed to stammer out Jessica’s eyes narrowing.
"I wanted to speak to Dr. Williams," Carey coldly responded as Faith stepped aside offering her sister a chance to enter the apartment. "I’ll just wait here."
"Shawn is asleep," Faith quietly responded regretting the past and praying that there was something, anything she could say that would erase the pain in Jessica’s eyes. "She had a rough go at it today. It happens with an intense vision."
"Yeah, I noticed that in Salem," Carey answered thoughtfully. "And today, she didn’t look good when I left her."
"Come in?" Faith offered with a jerk of her head.
"Why?" Carey challenged.
"Wow we really are related," Faith snickered. "Uhm well we could just stand here with me feeling like the bitch of the universe and you agreeing or you could come in and tell me what you need with Shawn. There is some pizza left?" She threw out in a lame attempt to get Carey to enter the apartment. Much to her surprise the policewoman did step into the apartment. Faith’s heart was pounding as she closed the door.
"Pepperoni?" Carey questioned lifting the lid of the remaining pizza box. "You ate a whole pizza?"
"Yes I did," Faith boasted. "What? Shawn won’t touch anything with meat and I didn’t want it to go to waste."
"I can’t even pick all that healthy crap off," Carey muttered with disappointment. Her head suddenly jerked as her eyes looked down at the gun holstered to her hip.
"I could order a new one?" Faith offered in a hopeful tone. It was the first time in years that Jessica had acknowledged her presence. For years after she had grown up their paths crossed on occasion yet all of Faith’s attempts to mend fences were flatly rejected by Jessica.
"No," Carey bluntly refused her hands and eyes jerking to her hip once again. "What the fuck?"
"Something wrong?" Faith questioned.
"Sorry," Carey shook her head in response. "I keep feeling like someone is tugging on my gun. God, I must be tired."
"No, bad!" Faith bellowed into the air. "That isn’t a toy."
"Who in the hell are you talking to?" Carey demand flustered by yet another tug at her hip.
"Willie, he’s Shawn’s ghost," Faith shrugged. "So how about that pizza?"
Carey laughed wildly rubbing her brow. "I don’t know what I find stranger at this moment," she slowly began. "Sharing breathing space with you or that I really believe that Shawn has a ghost. This entire month has been beyond funky. Uhm, no pizza. Just because I’m speaking to you doesn’t mean we’re going to get all warm and fuzzy."
"Warm and fuzzy?" Faith sneered. "You really don’t know a thing about me do you?"
"And I don’t want to," Carey fumed.
"Fine," Faith accepted feeling a strange tugging at her heart. "So, sit and instead of us trying to chat and wipe out a lifetime of pain why don’t you tell me about this case Shawn wrangled you into?"
"No," Carey flatly refused.
"Why not?" Faith pushed noticing that Carey wasn’t making any attempt to leave. "You’re a cop certainly you’ve have had to talk to people you hate before. If I piss you off you have a gun, you could just shoot me."
"Don’t tempt me," Carey cautioned removing her jacket and making herself comfortable on the sofa. "So, you ordering that pizza or what?"
*****************************************************
"Excuse me," Carey stifled a belch after taking a swig from her beer. "That is everything," she concluded after replaying the day’s events. "Brian and the Captain went back to the station to review the files. When I got there we decided to set up a little stake out. The three of us huddled together in the Captain’s Wrangler and watched the building."
"I’ve spent more than a few nights like that when I was reporter," Faith smiled opening another bottle of Heineken. "So, did Maynard take his trash out? I just love trash; it is fair game, no subpoenas, no cops getting pissed and no violating some scum bags civil rights."
"Hey I am the cops," Carey fussed. "But you’re right discarded items are legally fair game. Maynard snuck down to the dumpster and buried a single trash bag at the bottom. Which is why I made Brian climb into the dumpster."
"Let me guess what was inside." Faith eagerly began. "An old letterman jacket just like Shawn described with a large, dark stain on it."
"Several medium sized stains, but you get the idea," Carey conceded. "We bagged it, tagged it and rushed it to the lab. Brian and the Captain are going to contact Hester’s mother in the morning, we’re going to try for a reverse DNA match. It isn’t as strong as a DNA match, but if the samples are good enough it will prove that the blood belongs to someone in Sophie’s family."
"That’s one approach," Faith responded thinking about the blood.
"What?" Carey demanded.
"Well I was just thinking," Faith slowly began. "Moms never throw anything out. I’ll bet your mother’s refrigerator is loaded with crap about you."
"What’s your point?" Carey fussed.
"Nothing," Faith slyly countered. "Just I know my mom has boxes full of my crap. School papers, doodles, baby teeth, locks of hair and stuff like that. I would imagine that these things mean a lot to a mother, more so if they survived their child."
"And chock full of DNA," Carey concluded flipping open her cell phone. "Yo Brian," she began. "It is your ever loving ex-wife. When you talk to Hester’s mother ask if she saved a lock of hair or baby teeth." She paused for a moment as Faith busied herself with cleaning up the mess from their impromptu meal. "Thanks for the suggestion," Carey conceded when Faith returned. "Tell me about Whispering Pines?"
Faith blew out a sigh of relief that Carey wasn’t bolting. She offered her sister another beer and sat down beside her. "It was a freak show," Faith began in an unsteady tone. "Shawn wasn’t the original psychic assigned to the case. Milo, who a major dufus, was but he went screaming from the house. Everyone thought I had driven him out but I didn’t. It was the kitchen. Milo’s gift is touching things and seeing the past. He made the mistake of touching the kitchen and bolted like a fat, sweaty bunny rabbit. Chicken shit."
"What happened when Shawn arrived?" Carey pressed while peeling the label from her beer bottle.
"Oh she loved the place all that spooky energy," Faith snickered. "Until I got bitch slapped in the kitchen then all hell broke loose. I can still hear that voice calling me a sinner. Freaking creepy," she added with a shiver. "We were left alone in the house which had already been wired with cameras and sound equipment. Neither of us went into the kitchen we just decided to bunk upstairs. Then it started not just bumps in the night; it was a full show I could see them, kind of. Shawn saw it all the murders everything and she just went into shock. I couldn’t open the doors or windows we were trapped. I managed to get her upstairs and well we just waited for the sunrise. The equipment had cut out long before that but some of it was captured on film. That’s it."
"That is it?" Carey pressed curiously suspecting that Faith was omitting something.
"Hey buy the book," Faith laughed. "Well there is more but that is none of your business."
"Fair enough," Carey stammered suddenly realizing what Faith was discreetly omitting. "I should be going."
"How long were you married?" Faith blurted out in an attempt to delay Carey’s departure.
"Look," Carey slowly began. "I meant what I said we’re not going to get all warm and fuzzy. I appreciate Shawn’s help and it was nice to share a pizza and not dwell on how much I hate you, but it doesn’t change anything."
"I don’t do warm and fuzzy," Faith dryly countered. "But it is nice to know that we’ll be able to work together during Whispering Pines."
"I still might shoot you," Carey quipped as she stood.
"So long as you don’t shove me into the kitchen," Faith responded earnestly. "I had to sell my soul to have Althea add an amendment in my contract stating that I didn’t have to go in there."
"Because you got slapped?" Carey snickered.
"Not just slapped it attacked us," Faith trembled. "Whatever is lurking in that house has a real hard on for homos. Look what happened to Anna and Catherine."
"There were police reports that Captain Stratton beat Anna," Carey supplied. "A couple of staff members complained. Nothing was ever done since the old man owned most of the town."
"Some things never change," Faith grimly supplied. "Shawn is convinced the bodies are in the house but where?"
"That is the million dollar question isn’t it?" Carey sighed slipping on her coat.
"Hey you two were throwing a party without me?" Shawn called out as she staggered into the living room.
"Feeling better?" Faith questioned instantly rushing to Shawn’s side.
"So, so," Shawn grumbled.
"I was just leaving," Carey offered staring at Faith with utter disbelief. "Faith can fill you in on what we found. I’ll see you in a couple weeks."
"How did it go?" Shawn questioned once Carey had departed and Faith guided her back into her bedroom.
"She didn’t shoot me," Faith sighed tucking Shawn into bed before slipping beneath the covers and cradling the weary blonde in her arms.
***********************************************************
Edinburgh 2003
"This weather sucks," Faith grumbled as they trudged up to the quaint Inn.
"Welcome to Scotland," Shawn sighed wearily.
"I still think we should have backed out you don’t look like you’re feeling any better," Faith groused as they stepped inside the cozy Inn.
"I’m fine," Shawn snapped. "Sorry," she quickly apologized only to have Faith shrug in response. "We are with Sunny Hill," she informed the desk clerk. "Williams and Charles."
"Yes, room three do you need help with your bags?" The man responded with a heavy brogue.
"Oh we’re sharing again," Shawn sighed. "No we’re fine," she explained accepting the keys to the rooms.
"Just up the staircase to the right," the clerk gleefully informed them.
"It is not uncommon for us to share," Faith sighed disturbed by the way Shawn seemed disappointed with the room assignment. "We use to have to bunk together long before we got along. If it bothers you I could see if there is another room available," she offered. "Of course I fail to understand why it would bother you since I just spent a week in your apartment. In the same bed until the end of my visit."
"I just," Shawn stammered as they approached the room. "There is something."
"Fine I’ll ask for another room," Faith huffed confused by Shawn’s sudden interest in having space as they stepped into the small room. Her jaw dropped. "And that would be the problem you sensed?" She sputtered noting that the room was very cozy and only had one bed.
Shawn peered at the bed for moment while Faith felt her ire growing as she tried to juggle the luggage. She narrowed her gazed watching Shawn’s eyes darting around the room. "Just a ghost," the quirky blonde blew out. "Well put the luggage down so we can unpack."
"Anything for you princess," Faith snarled tossing the bags on the bed. "Thank the heavens we travel light. So that was it a ghost not the tiny bed we will be sharing?"
"Yes," Shawn responded in a slow direct tone. "Jilted lover I’m sensing late fourteenth century. She is displeased when couples share this room."
"We’re not a couple," Faith grimly noted. "I am curious as to why Althea booked us in such a cozy room not that I’m complaining. Just how displeased does our entity get? I am not looking forward to being woken up at all hours of the night. Jet lag sucks enough without one of your little friends messing with me."
"Why are they my friends?" Shawn questioned pushing past the agitated brunette.
"Because you seem to attract them," Faith groused as she watched Shawn carefully unpacking their bags. "I can do my own."
"You’re a slob," Shawn sighed wearily. "And for the record I don’t attract spirits they are all around us, I’m just a better listener. Donald."
"Who?" Faith grumbled itching to stop Shawn from touching her belongings.
"That was his name the one that fled the night before the wedding," Shawn calmly explained as if she was reading an article in the Sunday paper and not peeking into the past. "I can’t get a sense on her name. What time do we have to meet with Althea?"
"We have a couple of hours," Faith sighed checking her watch that she had reset after the airplane had landed. She sucked her teeth as Shawn refolded that last of her clothing. "I hate it when you do that."
"Fine walk around with wrinkled clothing," Shawn taunted the tall brunette as she stored the last of the clothing in the antique dresser. "I’m going to try and catch a quick nap."
"Want company?" Faith eagerly suggested already setting the alarm on her watch.
"Yeah," Shawn yawned kicking off her shoes and climbing up onto the bed.
Faith curled up next to the small blonde cradling her in her arms and quickly drifting off to sleep. What seemed like only a few moments later she was awakened by the persistent beeping of her watch. She cleared her throat licking her lips as she glared at her watch. Her eyes widened with horror when she spied the petite redhead loaming at the foot of the bed. "Holy shit," she bellowed as she sprung from the bed jostling Shawn’s body in the process. She was shivering; the room felt cold and the mysterious redhead vanished as Shawn looked up at her with confusion.
"Sorry," she choked out. "We had company."
"Oh," Shawn yawned scratching her head in an effort to tame her unruly locks. "What?" Shawn yawned once again while climbing off the bed. "Did she do anything?"
"No," Faith timidly confessed. "She was just looking at us."
"Okay," Shawn shrugged. "I’m going to take a shower. If you’re afraid you can join me."
"I’m not afraid," Faith barked in response Shawn snickering while gathering up her toiletries and ducking into the bathroom. "I’m not!" She repeated loudly hearing Shawn laughing in response from behind the bathroom. She paced back and forth muttering under her breath that the blonde had dared accuse her of being frightened. After pacing for a few moments reality dawned on her forcing her to halt her movements. "Wait did I just turn down a chance to take a shower with Shawn?" She sputtered upon realizing that her bravado might have clouded her judgment. "Dumb ass," she scolded herself as she quickly began to shed her clothing. She knocked timidly on the door. "Shawn, I take it back I am afraid. Crap," she huffed when Shawn emerged from the bathroom wrapped in the towel.
"Too late," the blonde laughed her hazel eyes drifting up and down Faith‘s naked body.
"What did you do just look at the water?" Faith snarled with her hands planted firmly on her hips.
"I took a very quick shower," Shawn sighed her eyes darkening ever so slightly. "The water pressure sucks and since I was alone I didn’t dally. Now go freshen up we have a meeting."
"You suck," Faith grunted as she stomped into the tiny washroom.
************************************************************
The meeting took place in the dinning room of the hotel. Faith always hated these pre-shoot meetings that could drag on for hours since everyone had an opinion on how things should proceed. ‘What do we need to talk about? We go set up, shoot and hopefully something entertaining will happen,’ she silently scowled. "Huh?" She sputtered upon realizing that Althea was addressing her. The tall reporter had zoned out over an hour ago becoming more focused with playing with the ice in her scotch than actually listening to what was going on around her.
"I said is there anything you’d like to add?" Althea sighed as she glared over at the reporter.
"No," Faith threw out casually praying that this meant that the tedious meeting was about to end. Thankfully the meeting broke up most of the crew wandering off to get some sleep or hit the bar.
"Could you at least pretend to listen during these meetings?" Althea grumbled towering over the smug brunette.
"Why it never changes?" Faith challenged.
"That is a bit presumptuous," Althea sneered.
"Speaking of being presumptuous," Faith tersely began. "What’s with my room assignment?"
"I thought the two of you were getting along," Althea wearily responded. "Don’t tell me you’re fighting again frankly I don’t have the strength to deal with it."
"No," Faith quickly cut her off. "We’re fine but a single? That’s a little pushy."
"What?" Althea sputtered shaking her head in confusion. "I specifically had my assistant request a double."
"Trust me it is a single very cozy not even enough room for a cot," Faith expanded amused by Althea look of shock.
"I’ll have Esmarelda fix the problem right away," Althea stammered snatching up her ever-present cell phone.
"Don’t bother," Faith laughed.
"Really?" Althea beamed.
"Not what you are thinking," she added quickly. "We’re getting along, but we’re not getting along if you get my drift. Bunking together won’t be a problem. Heck Shawn even found a ghost so she’s ecstatic and no we didn’t take any pictures."
"A ghost?" Althea questioned brightly.
"Yeah some chick who got dumped back in the fourteenth century," Faith yawned. "Scared the bejesus out of me. I swear hanging around with Shawn just attracts them. When I first started doing this crap I didn’t believe, now I can’t turn around without bumping into some bizarre specter. It can be a little nerve wracking at times."
"It is a part of what we work with," Althea theorized taking a sip of her drink. "Speaking of business the Whispering Pines shoot is going to include a police investigator from New York."
"I know," Faith snickered.
"Uh huh," Althea sighed. "Unbelievable as it may seem she doesn’t like you. Which tells me the two of you have met before. Promise me you will play nice."
"Oh I’ll play nice," Faith quipped.
"I mean it Faith whatever you did to piss this woman off forget about it," Althea sternly cautioned. "She’s done some very interesting work which will add a lot to the finished product. So no playing any of your pranks or trying to scare her."
"I wouldn’t dream of annoying my sister," Faith retorted in a cocky manner as Althea choked on her drink.
"Your what?" She sputtered. "But she’s so nice."
"Hey," Faith bellowed. "So am I."
"Right," Althea laughed heartily.
"Fine she’s my half sister which is why she isn’t so fond of me satisfied?" Faith snarled. "We did talk in New York when I was visiting Shawn; I think things in Stewart will go smoothly."
"I hope so," Althea snickered. "I know how I and my sister get along. Sometimes we are glued at the hip and other times we are ready to claw each other’s eyes out."
"Maybe it is a good thing we grew up in separate households," Faith noted thoughtfully.
"So you spent time with Shawn in New York?" Althea hedged.
"Yes," Faith responded with a crooked smile. "And no we’re not back together. Oh but she did solve a murder case from the fifties. Personally I would have settled for shopping but Shawn has a way of attracting these things."
"A murder?" Althea eagerly questioned.
"Yeah she got Jessica I mean Cary involved so you can ask her all about it," Faith muttered. "Knowing you’ll get another special out of it."
"Do you have any idea how hot shows with psychic detectives are right now?" Althea gushed. "Never mind one shoot at a time. I need to get some rest. Goodnight."
"Goodnight," Faith smirked waving goodbye. "Connor," she greeted her old friend when he took the seat next to her.
"Charles," he smiled warmly. "Not hitting the bar? I was looking forward to a round or two before we have to start working. Or when you hopped the fence into spooky world did you give up on hoisting a few?"
"I wrote the truth," she quickly defended. "Have you ever known me to lie?"
"Only to that bar maid in the shit hole back in Glasgow," he jested nudging her with his elbow.
"Oh she was hot," Faith laughed smiling at the memory of the beautiful redhead she seduced a few years ago after Connor struck out with the lady. "I have time for a pint but only one Shawn isn’t feeling good."
"Now I thought the two of you were on the outs," he inquired as they strolled into the bar. "Two pints," he gleefully ordered. "I fail to understand you; first all this nonsense about seeing ghosts and now you’re a married lady. Whatever happened to the Charlie I once knew?"
"I grew up," she sighed before taking a sip of her ale. "I know that on most of these little treks you and I have only seen and heard people who claim to see and hear things. What I experienced at Whispering Pines was the real deal. Not just a house settling or the wind I’m talking bitch slapping misty apparitions. As for Shawn and I well that all depends on what day you ask."
"Hey don’t get me wrong love," he chuckled. "I’ve been happily married for over twenty-three years."
"And you and Sara haven’t lived together for over what seventeen years?" She challenged him.
"And we couldn’t be happier," he laughed. "Now Shawnee she is a special girl. What is the problem, did you step out?"
"I left the country without consulting her," Faith explained.
"So?" Connor shook his head not understanding the problem.
"Okay," Faith laughed still sipping her ale. "You’re a scientist let me try to explain it to you in terms you’ll understand. You know how when you have two magnets and if you face them in the right direction they lock together so tightly you can’t separate them and if you face them in the wrong direction they repel one another?"
"Yes," he curiously responded.
"That is how Shawn and I are," she concluded with a shrug. "Sometimes we face the right way and sometimes we don’t."
"And today how are you facing?" He encouraged as he waved for another round.
"Somewhere in between," Faith explained pushing the fresh pint towards him. "I have an early shoot and she’s not feeling well. No pouting. I’m just trying to keep my magnets aligned."
"Carry on then and I’ll see you in the morning," Connor complimented her with a pat on the back.
********************************************************
Shawn was nestled comfortably in bed happy that the voices seemed to be quiet at least for the night. She sighed heavily wondering if Faith was with Connor stirring up trouble. She smiled thinking about how the two of them were almost kicked out of London one year. The door creaked as Faith stepped inside. "Hey I thought you’d be playing with Connor," she whispered watching Faith stepping carefully into the room.
"Not tonight," Faith smiled sending a warm current through Shawn’s body. "Are we alone?" The reporter teased as she began to disrobe.
"I think so," Shawn smiled in return as Faith turned so she could finish undressing in the washroom. "You don’t have to," she blurted out a little too quickly. "I mean the bathroom is very small and it isn’t as if I haven’t seen you naked before."
"Well not in a long time," Faith shyly threw out. Something about the cocky brunette’s sudden shyness made Shawn blush.
"Just a few peeks here and there," Shawn confessed pulling back the comforter making room for Faith to join her.
"Pervert," Faith laughed the shyness still echoing in her tone.
"I wasn’t the only one," Shawn smirked confidently. "And before you deny it remember who you are talking to."
"Right because you’d have to be a psychic to know I peeped at you while you were in the shower," Faith laughed heartily.
"Come to bed?" Shawn timidly requested.
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