Home with the dead
William sat on the couch and rested his head in his hands. He couldn't think of a more confusing day. he had arrived home with Wendy, and set her up in his bedroom, after moving all his occult texts and the like into the basement. he grabbed spare blankets and the like, and had tossed them into his chair, knowing that after another Destiny arrived home and they had another of their recently strained conversations, he would have to asleep. On the couch.

Destiny opened the front door and came into the room, eyes still rimmed with red. She heard someone in the den and a quick glance confirmed it. Will. Someone she did not wanna deal with right now. He didn't get it and would probably scold her for crying and grill her for her conversations with Adam. If this was what Watchers were really like, she didn't want one. She walked quickly, trying to sneak past without being noticed.

William heard Des enter the house, and the fact that she was trying to slip past him. Part of him wanted to just let her go, as he didn't want to really deal with this. She had always been spirited, but now she was difficult. he understood as best he could, but she was being even more single minded than usual. But he needed to do this. "Des, can you come in here?"

Destiny stopped in her tracks halfway up the stairs and muttered a curse that involved Will & what he could do with a certain kind of outdoor plant. She came down the stairs and noticed the blankets on the chair. "Is this my punishment? Sleeping on the couch. And you didn't even ask me for my transcript of any conversation I had today. Let's hear it for Will and his attempt at punishing preemptively." She mock clapped and flopped onto the couch. The videotape was on the coffeetable, rewound and back in its case. The emotions of the day hit her again and she slumped under its weight.

"Destiny Brown, I have no time for this juvenile behavior. I am not punishing you. I am the one who will be sleeping on the couch, as we have another house guest. You aren't the only one being visited by the deceased." Will narrowed his eyes and looked at her, and then his face softened. She had obviously been distraught. "Did... did he say anything? Did he hurt your feelings?"

Destiny's mouth dropped open when he mentioned another deceased. "Wait a sec. You too?" Without thinking twice, she knew. "Wendy?"

William nodded. "On the nose. I found her at the shop with Emmeline. She had wandered in with no memory whatsoever of who she was or how she had arrived. Since she has nowhere else to go, I gave her my bedroom, and will be sleeping on the couch until we have resolved all this. I had no intention of scolding you. You are a grown woman, after all. And all i want to do is what's for the best for you."

Destiny nodded. "I'm sorry. It's just... so much to handle. I accidentally told him he died when I was showing him my mementos. And I realized that I don't know when God's gonna take him back. He's so much younger than me and I still love him as much as I did eight years ago. I'm so confused." Destiny was quiet for a second. "He didn't hurt me. I cried and ran away when I figured out the whole little time thing. He's up in the study. And he's just as confused as me now."

William didn't know what to say. Part of him was angry that she had talked to Adam abotu these things when he had told her not to. Part of him wanted to tell her everything would be all right. But he knew it wouldn't be. "I don't know, Destiny. Honestly I don't. I just want to find out why it's happening, and why it's happening now." He felt lost, like he had after Wendy died the first time. He flet like he was going to screw up again. All his hard earned confidence felt like it was slipping.

Destiny got up and crossed to William. She slipped her arms around his waist and embraced him gently. "We're gonna try to get through this. The two of us. And maybe we'll get our happy endings. God knows we deserved them." She let go and put her arm around his shoulders. "I have my fiance back and you have your Wendy back, whatever she'll be to you now. We can live here together until Adam and I can support each other and then you and Jordan can move in together and we can put Wendy in the house by the library." Destiny smiled. "It'd be great."

"Fiancee?" William was startled by the word. "Since when was he your fiancee, Des?"

Destiny laughed. "He asked me to marry him when we were seven. After we made up because of that sandcastle thing. Anyway, we didn't know anything about marriage. But one day we were in the park and he turned to me and said 'When we're nineteen, we're getting married.' I said 'Okay' and we went to get ice cream." Destiny shook her head, laughing. "For the longest time, we joked about it and he reminded me of it the night he... died." Even when Adam was there, the word was hard to say.

William bit his lip for a moment. This was a girl in love. As old as she was, there was still a part of her that was very young, and that was the part that had to do with Adam. William hugged her briefly, then sat her in his chair. he took up a place across from her on the couch and looked in her eyes. "Destiny, we need to face some facts here. People don't just rise from the dead. It doesn't happen. There is a reason for whatever has occurred here, and it's just as likely malevolent as beneficent. This could all be a game to demoralize and distract us. I... I don't know what to do, I'm as lost as you, but we can't let hope take over our world. We need to... face facts, I guess. I'm not trying to be hurtful. I'm just trying to be truthful."

Destiny looked him in the eyes. "And I'm saying that this happened because we deserve it. Why else would God send the loves of our lives to a dinky little town in Nevada? If they wanted to distract us and piss us off, the Powers that be would've sent Dyan with a horde of vampires." Still stubborn as ever, she stuck to her beliefs. Woe be to him who tried to combat her opinions.

William shook his head. "Destiny, Wendy was a part of my life when I was your age. She isn't the love of my life. Maybe Jordan isn't either, but I know it's not Wendy. And you are assuming it's the Powers That Be. A couple days ago I had a visit from a lawyer from Wolfram & Hart. they are a lawfirm that represent demons, vampires, and just plain evil people. And he was taunting me about something coming. This could be his doing, playing with us. or someone else entirely. You know the kind of things this town attracts."

Destiny sighed. "Yeah. But can't I have hope?" Her voice raised in volume with every sentence. "Or if he's going to be taken away from me, why can't I enjoy the time I have with him? Why can't I be with him? I don't give a flying fuck who did this. I'm glad he's here. I could kiss this person because he's with me. I have my life back. He is my life." She crossed her arms.

William felt his heart go out to her, but he had to stay firm. "Destiny, Adam has been dead for years now, and you've kept going. You have a whole other life now. I can understand how important he is to you, but you need to see this as what it is. You can relish the time you have, but if he's gone tomorrow, you have to realize it has nothing to do with you, and what you've done. That life goes on."

Destiny stood firm. "He's going to stay with me, come Hell or high water. I'd willingly help whatever entity did this. And what kind of life was that? A girl with a record? Eight lost years? You're one of my only bright spots and sometimes even that's shaky. I'm going to bed and I'm waking up tomorrow and telling Adam everything. You can't stop me." She turned on her heel and went up the stairs, slamming the door as hard as she could without breaking it.

William let her go, and shook his head. He knew nothing he could say would change her mind. And he felt like he couldn't do anything right now. And he knew he needed help. He reached out for his cell phone.


"Hello. It's William. It seems we have a new problem. Destiny and I have both found old dead loved ones returned from the grave and with no memories. Have any of you found anything like this, or heard of anything like it. Things are getting dire here. Please respond to this as soon as you can. Thank you all."