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How long have I been going on for? Henry thought to himself as he felt his eyelids droop down for the umpteenth time in the past ten minutes. God he was exhausted, unknown to Henry, he had spent nearly up to a full day looking over files and files of evidence towards the case he was working on, going over every minute detail countless times trying to see if he had missed anything. To anyone else this would be the definition of madness, a sure fire way to drive a person insane but to Henry this was normal. Though this time he was definitely overdoing it but the dark ginger haired man didn’t care. He had to do this, he was the only person who could help his daughter in this case.
Despite how much his body pleaded for him to stop, he knew giving up wasn’t an option. Giving up meant he was giving up on his daughter. Giving up what was left of his family. And he wasn’t going to allow that.
He took another glance at his case files, the lines and letters all blurring together to form an abomination of what looked like to be a pile of paperwork. And then his head began to sharply send shock waves of pain to his nerves, making him groan to himself. He didn’t want to admit defeat yet; he just needed to focus, he just needed to not let the weariness of his body stop him–
“Henry?” Another strangely familiar voice spoke out in the silence, making Henry’s heart drop down to his stomach.
“A-AH?!” Henry yelped out, jolting in his chair from the very presence in the room. As he adjusted his glasses to see who was standing right before him, he immediately recognized Charlie’s green robes and magatama surrounding her shoulder – although she was a bit taller than usual? Not that it mattered.
“Charlie! You can’t keep scaring me like this–”
“AH?! That’s the first thing you say when you see me again?”
Henry glanced over his desk, surprised to see not Charlie, but someone else. Her black hair flowed beautifully behind her, and he immediately recognized her the moment he saw her little mole on her cheek.
He didn’t want to believe it. But the words escaped out of his mouth before he knew it.
“I-I’m sorry–”
The woman tutted. “Not even a hello? Glad to see you?”
Henry didn’t want to say her name. The possibility of him being completely mad was still up in the air.
“...how are you even here right now?”
The woman burst out laughing at his question. “Oh Henry, you’ve really been neglecting your Kurain homework.” She said, in between her giggling fit. “But then again that’s not surprising.”
“This doesn’t make sense– Charlie's still in training!” Henry blurted out, standing up from his chair and coming face-to-face with the woman right in front of him. God, what was he doing? What was he expecting? This was what came with anyone from Kurain. The least he could do was let it be. He let out a sigh, massaging his forehead with his fingers. “You know what, I’m not even going to question it…”
“We both know that’s not true.” The woman replied, with a smirk forming on her face.
Of course you’d say that.
Henry lightly rolled his eyes, trying to release the tension from his shoulder. He let out a soft chuckle, something he hadn’t really done in a while. He knew at that moment who he was really talking to “...well, I’m glad that you’re here Caitlin.”
“What brings you back from the grave all of a sudden?” He jokingly remarked, walking away from the desk into his tiny kitchen to turn on the coffee machine.
“Multiple things.” Caitlin sighed, before stamping her ghostly foot against the floor. “First off, you need to eat something!”
“I’ve already done that–” Henry paused, briefly browsing through his memories, before realizing that the last time he had eaten anything was lunchtime, and that was noon. He looked at his watch to see that it was midnight. “...oh.”
Blood rushed to his cheeks ever so slightly, and he wanted to put his head into his hands.
“It’s okay, doofus.” Henry heard Caitlin softly say. “Just put something on now. I’m not going to disappear if you’re having something to eat.”
“You better not.” Henry crocked out, nervously chuckling at his own reply. He was half expecting this remnant of Caitlin to disappear right then and there, leaving him with nothing but the silence of the room to have as company.
Instead of the expected silence came Caitlin’s hearty signature giggle that immediately made his heart start pounding with joy. “Have I ever let you down before, honey bear?’
Henry shook his head. “No, you haven’t.” He said, opening the office door and walking out of it, turning his head every so often to check if Caitlin was still following.
“Hehe, you look really silly right now.” Caitlin continued to giggle, levitating in the air as she followed him without breaking a sweat at all.
“Hey, just making sure.” Henry managed to turn himself away from Caitlin for once to prepare some toast on the toaster. “Besides, for all I know, you could be a hallucination.”
Caitlin leaned her head onto the kitchen counter with her arms. “You miss me that much?”
“O-obviously I do,” Henry retorted, pulling the toaster button on with a click. “...in fact, I wish you were here...”
Before Caitlin could open her mouth, Henry quickly corrected his words.
“Physically, I mean.”
“I know what you meant.” Caitlin replied, a tint of sorrow coming from her voice.
Henry meekly looked away and scratched his head. ““Sorry, it’s just... I wish you were still here. I don’t know what I’m doing.”
“Did you ever know what you were doing?” Caitlin joked, making the two of them both chuckle at her comment.
“I hate that you’re always right. You should’ve been the lawyer at this rate.” Henry joked back, finally being able to stir his coffee after settling it in his cup.
“Being a lawyer is boring though.” Caitlin scoffed, waving her hand away. “Besides, if I had to be in court arguing against a very clearly guilty party I would have punched someone.”
“I don’t think that's true.” Henry replied.
“No, I definitely would.” Caitlin said back, confident in her point. “Like if I had to argue against that cocky William Aston guy I would have socked him in the face.”
Henry couldn’t help but burst out laughing. “His last name is Afton, Caitlin, not Aston.”
“I could care less about what his full name is!”
Henry almost jumped at the toaster springing to life with two slices of toast in its dispenser, but he still found Caitlin’s annoyance towards William amusing. He hadn’t seen her this annoyed about something before. “Glad to know I’m not alone in hating that guy. But he’s not too bad.”
“Pfft, doubt that.” Caitlin scoffed. “Though his son’s not that bad.”
“He’s alright. Charlie and him seem to... get along?” Henry replied, but then something hit him. “Wait, how come you know Michael?”
“Do you really not think I wouldn’t be following our daughter around?” Caitlin asked, raising an eyebrow at her husband.
“Hey, I’m just surprised, that’s all.” Henry raised both of his hands in surrender. “I guess that means…”
“You’ve really been watching us all this time...” He murmured, his heart slightly fluttering at the idea. He always hoped she did, he used to even assure Charlie about it. He couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed from his words being proven right; chuckling a little to himself while he thought about it.
But then tears began to well in his eyes. Henry didn’t know why he was shedding them, but it didn’t matter.
“H-hey, what’s wrong?” Caitlin began to get worried.
“N-nothing, it’s...” Henry was barely figuring out why he was like this. But he had to try. He crossed his arms, leaning his back onto the kitchen countertop. “I’m just... glad you’re here, that’s all.”
Caitlin floated right next to him, gazing at him with gentle eyes. “Nothing else?”
“I don’t know, Cait, it’s...” Henry couldn’t bring himself to look at them. “...I’m scared.”
“Of what?”
“Of everything, I guess. I’m scared that I’ll never be able to defend Charlie, I’m scared that I’ll never be able to see her again. That I’ll mess up the trial, that I’ll never be able to say anything by the time William’s there...”
Henry gazed at the floor, trying to keep keep himself together, but he could feel his body shiver.
Caitlin frowned a little, pitiful eyes carved into her face while she watched him crack by the minute. “Hey... you’ve been working so hard trying to solve the case...”
“But what if it’s not enough?” Henry has never sounded so desperate before. Not even in his entire life.
A sigh escaped out of Caitlin’s lips. “Well, all I can say is... it’s probably not gonna be enough for you, not like this.”
“W-what do you mean?” Henry blinked, his expression softening.
Caitlin floated closer to him. “Henry, listen to me... can you do that for me?”
Henry lowered his head. “...of course.”
“I get it, not feeling like you’re not enough... but also, you’ve been sleepless trying to save our daughter. I just wish you could see what I’ve been seeing these past few days...” Caitlin shook her head. “But you’re pushing yourself too hard.”
“If you want to do so much more for Charlie, the least you could do is take care of yourself.” She added, her eyebrows furrowing with insistence. “And there’s your nephew as well.”
Henry felt his throat tighten up at the mention of his nephew. “...right. Sammy.”
He tried to ignore the bitter bile rising from his stomach. He hated it. He didn’t mean to forget about him...
“Maybe you’re right, that I don’t know what I’m doing.” He sighed out, staring at the floor below him. “I don’t know if you know, but... I wish I knew how to connect with him better. I feel so stupid, that Jessica is somehow the one helping him open up. That he feels safe enough to tell her anything, but not me. His own uncle.”
At this point, Henry was choking on his own words. “I really wish I knew what to do. I wish you were here, Cait, you would’ve known what to do.”
“Hen, it’s okay.” Caitlin softly said. "You're doing the best you can do with everything going on.”
“Am I?” Henry blurted out, tears streaming down his face. “Jen’s dead, Charlie’s accused of murdering her, I’m not talking with Sammy and I’ve not got any progress on this case done!” He paused to catch his breath and fell to his knees. “I’ve got no one to help me, I’m all alone, Cait– I really don’t know what to do...”
He looked up at the ghostly figure of his wife, hoping, praying that she had an answer to ease up his troubles.
“...I understand.” Caitlin began, trying to piece her words together. “I don’t think anyone in your shoes would know what to do either, but… I think all you can do right now is just, call it a day, sleep and reset your mind. I know you think you’re alone Henry, but you're not, there’s other people who want to help and get Charlie out of this situation.”
Henry tried to compose himself, taking a breather as he tried to properly stand up from the counter. “It’d be nice to know who would help me out...”
“Who knows, maybe they’re just right around the corner.” Caitlin grinned with assurance, shrugging her shoulders a little.
“It’s good to hope, I suppose…” Henry exhaustedly stood up, walking right past his desk and sitting right on his sofa instead. “Maybe I’ll get a lead tomorrow, too. Who knows.”
“Or maybe you can ask for help in general.” Caitlin added, with a knowing twinkle in her eyes. “Now come on, you need to get to bed.”
“Alright, fine...” Henry groaned a little, but smiled a little. “But I’ll sleep on the couch.”
He gestured to his blanket that was hung up onto the couch’s armrest and slung it over himself, wrapping it around his shoulders. “I know, I know I should use the bed, but the couch’s just more comfortable. And it gets me to work immediately.”
“Hm, for now, I’ll allow it... as long as you sleep.” Caitlin crossed her arms, insistent in tone.
Although Caitlin’s words seemed slightly supportive, Henry knew from her tone that she was judging him, maybe to another person they would’ve annoyed but instead Henry couldn’t help but softly smile at his wife’s reaction. “You’re going to pester me about this aren’t you?”
“Oh absolutely.”
“It’s not that bad–”
“You have a bed! Use it!”
“What’s in it for me?”
Caitlin looked up at the ceiling to think for a bit, and then smiled. “Well you won’t have a bad neck when you’re older if you sleep in a bed and not a sofa.”
“And you won’t also complain about having back pain.” She added.
Henry chuckled a little, shaking his head as he finally admitted defeat by standing up from the sofa. He stretched his arms for a bit, and then proceeded to go up the stairs to get to his bedroom. “And I’m surprised you’re not a lawyer.”
“I get it from the best,” Caitlin giggled as she followed right behind him.
Henry opened the door to his bedroom, the door letting out a creak as it revealed a surprisingly neat bedroom. It was definitely much neater than the rest of his home, that’s for sure.
He didn’t waste much time, his back finally lying down on the mattress itself.
“Happy now?”
“Yes.” Caitlin grinned with satisfaction. At least there wasn’t a judging look on her face anymore. “And I’m jealous, that bed of yours looks soft.”
“It is. I forgot how soft it was.” Henry said with a sigh, relishing the comfort and softness enveloping his body while he closed his eyes for a little bit. “If only you could feel it.”
“I know, right?”
And then a peaceful silence occurred between the two; Henry letting his eyelids grow heavier by the second, while Caitlin quietly watched him finally get some rest for the night, watching the slow pace of his breathing on his chest.
“Will I see you again?” He weakly asked, fighting off the urge to sleep just a little bit longer.
Caitlin just smiled at her husband. “You know you will Henry.” She answered softly.
“No, I meant will I see you tomorrow when I wake up.” Henry clarified.
”Probably not.” Caitlin replied honestly with her tone having a slight sound of sadness in it. “But you know I’m with you, always.” There was a moment of silence before Caitlin hovered over to the bed, lifting herself so she was on top of him, the ghostly figure moved her hands to cup Henry’s cheeks and she slowly leaned down, pressing her lips against Henry’s. Despite being a ghost, Henry could feel the icy cold touch of the ghost but instead of shuddering at his wife’s cold lips, his heart pounded with joy and his whole body flared up.
“I love you, Cait.” Henry murmured, as he felt Caitlin’s frosty lips leave his.
”I know you do, Hen.” Caitlin whispered back as Henry’s body finally drifted off into a deep sleep.