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The best thing to hold onto in life

Is each other.

A cold that had nothing to do with the morgue's low temperatures seeped into Nathan's bones. He had seen plenty of bodies on these metal slabs, blue-lipped and skin a bloodless grey. Stringy blonde hair fanned out, spilling over the edge of the table.

"You're sure?" Nathan asked thickly.

"I wish I wasn't," Gloria carefully turned the dead woman's head so Nathan could see the hole at the base of her skull. "But there isn't much that could make a wound like that."

Maybe the universe was playing some kind of joke on him, seeing how far Nathan could be pushed before he snapped and became a permanent resident of the Freddy. "This can't be happening. We just started living again."

Gloria's eyes filled with sympathy. She pursed her lips as she pulled the white sheet back over the girl's face. "I'll let you know when I have an ID."

Nathan nodded, and left feeling numb. He had hoped he would never feel that way again. But even though the Troubles were over, it was clear his problems weren't. Whoever killed that girl with a bolt gun was making sure of that.

2\

Duke had thought the isolation would be the worst part of death, being so completely cut off from the people he cared about. "Good morning," the small red-head said cheerfully as she joined him.

He was wrong.

The worst part was that Claire could nag him whenever she wanted. Which, apparently, was always. "It was," he said, walking across the road to Joe's Bakery and unfortunately being followed.

"Have you thought any more about what we talked about?" Claire said, moving at an awkward pace between walking and jogging to keep up with his long strides.

"You know, I meant to, but then I realized," he stopped suddenly as he turned to look at her, taking a deep breath and letting it out in a small laugh, "I don't care."

Exasperation washed over the small woman's face, her hands went to her hips as she glared up at him. "Why are you staying here? Why walk around a town you no longer live in, see people you can no longer talk to, and stew in your own misery?"

"Hate to break it to you, sweetheart, but you brought the misery. I was feeling pretty good before you showed up." Turning on his heel, he continued down the sidewalk.

"It's been six months, Duke. I understand you're need to grieve the loss of your own life, but maybe it's time to move onto the next phase."

"You've been gone for almost two years," he argued. "Why should I walk into the great, bright, light of nowhere when you haven't?"

"It's been two years since I died. We're dead. I'm staying here because I have work to do, you don't." She grabbed his wrist, bringing him to a stop. He quickly pulled away from her. "You're free. You made your sacrifice, saved thousands, and now you are free."

Free? The thought was laughable. No one was ever free of Haven. "I don't have time for this."

"Because Paige will be leaving her apartment any minute?" Pity colored her voice, and wasn't that just so much worse than anger? "This isn't healthy. Audrey wouldn't have wanted—"

"Shut up!" He snarled, his gaze snapping up to meet hers. Whatever she saw in his eyes surprised her enough that she took a step back. "You can pester me until world stops turning. You can bitch about how poorly I'm handling death— yeah, I get it, I died. You can even hit me if you get pissed enough. But you don't ever get to tell me what Audrey would have wanted, you don't get to stand there and act like you knew her better than I did," he paused, the rage drained away and left him exhausted. He was always so tired lately. He took a few steps back, shaking his head as he did. "You didn't. You never will."

This time she didn't follow him when he stalked down the street towards the apartment building Paige had settled in.

3\

"That was amazing," Nathan said as he helped Paige gathered the dishes and move them to the sink. "But you know you don't have to feed me, right?" It was the fourth night that week she had invited him to her place for dinner.

"Oh, right," she huffed a laugh. "If I didn't you would eat at that bar every night."

Paige had a strong aversion to the Grey Gull. Nathan wasn't sure why, but ever since she had come to town she avoided the place like the plague. Gloria had offered Paige her apartment— Audrey's apartment, but she had turned it down, claiming she couldn't live above a bar with James. Gloria had been disappointed, it seemed she was trying to preserve the Gull, freeze it in time. A time when Duke wasn't dead...

"Are you alright?"

Nathan blinked. "Yeah, sorry. I spaced out for a minute."

She smiled, and he did his best to return it. "Is it anything I can help with?"

His brow pinched in confusion. "Is what something you can help with?"

"Whatever it is you're worrying about." She turned the faucet on, and the sink started filling with water.

He leaned against the counter. "It's nothing you should worry about. Just work stuff." It was still strange, to not talk about cases with her.

She arched a brow."You're a cop. If something in town is worrying you, I definitely want to know."

The way she spoke, for just a moment, sounded like Audrey. Just enough to remind him. Just enough to hurt. "It's a case I haven't been able to figure out."

"Is it bad?"

Only my nightmares come to life, he thought. Nathan shrugged. "Not really."

Paige didn't look convince, but at the moment James began wailing from the other room, saving him from any more questions. She went into the bedroom to get her son.

He glanced at the sink, and quickly shut off the faucet to stop the mound of foaming bubbles from spilling onto the counter. The sight brought a slight smile to his face, she always used too much soap.

4\

The doorbell rang through the house, immediately followed by the loud thump thump thump of footsteps running down the stairs. Dwight smiled as Lizzie shot passed him and flung open the front door.

"We made a fort outback!" Lizzie announced to the three sisters standing on their porch.

"Cool!" Sophie exclaimed as the two girls ran down the hall towards the back door.

"Don't go to far!" Frankie yelled after them. She gave him a tired smile, holding up a ceramic dish.

"I told you not to bring anything," he said with a smile of his own, though he wasn't surprised she had.

"You told us that last time too," Amelia said, shutting the door behind her and her older sister.

"I remember," he tilted his head in thought, "I believe you brought yams."

"They would have gone bad," she waved her hand dismissively.

They moved the conversation to the kitchen, talking about nothing important as they finished making dinner. As it turned out Frankie had made a caramel banana cobbler, that Dwight was actually very glad she brought.

Once the table was set Frankie turned to Amelia. "Go get the girls, will you?"

Amelia left to drag Lizzie and Sophie away from whatever game they were playing. It was like the absence of her sister flipped a switch, Frankie suddenly looked more than tired. She looked half dead as she leaned heavily against a chair.

"Hey," Dwight set a hand on her shoulder, "what's going on, kid?"

She squeezed her eyes shut, taking a shuddering breath. "I don't know what to do. I lost my job at the coffee house, if I can't make rent this month our landlord will evict us," her shoulder began to shake with suppressed sobs, "and Sophie auditioned for the school play, and got the lead, which is great but the parents are supposed to bring the costumes, and I..." Her voice broke as she dissolved into tears.

Dwight pulled her into his arms, holding the girl who was much too young to have this much responsibility. "It's going to be fine," he assured her.

"How? I can't even afford to buy my little sister a fake sword."

"Sword?"

Frankie sniffled as she pulled away, wiping at her tear stained cheeks with her sleeve. "She's Hamlet."

He gave her a confused look. "They're putting on Hamlet?"

She laughed hoarsely. "I thought it was weird too." She squared her shoulders. "I'll figure it out, I have too, right?"

"Yes, and while you do the three of you can stay here," he said.

Frankie's eyes widened. "We couldn't. I mean, we already... We couldn't ask you to—" She sighed. "You've done so much for us. I don't want to ease my problems by adding to yours."

"It's not a problem. We have the space," he said, and it was true. His family had never had much money, but the family house was twice the size of most homes in Haven. "Besides Lizzie and Sophie would love living together."

This seemed to sway her, but before Frankie could answer Amelia returned, followed by Lizzie and Sophie who both looked slightly miffed that their game had been interrupted.

"They were having a 'sword fight'" Amelia said, using air quotes. "Which mostly meant trying to poke out their eyes with sticks..." She trailed off at the sight of her sister's red eyes. "Is everything okay?"

Frankie forced a smile. "Everything's fine." She paused for a moment, looking distantly at the floor. Then she set a hand on her hip, running the other through her dark hair as she looked back to her sisters. "How would you guys feel about staying here awhile?"

"Like we get to sleep here and everything?" Sophie asked excitedly.

Frankie nodded. Lizzie and Sophie shrieked with joy as they threw their arms around each other.

"Amelia?"

"Okay," she agreed even though she was clearly confused by the situation. If not for the eleven year olds in the room she probably would have asked more questions before accepting the sudden move.

Frankie was one trouble lighter as a genuine smile broke across her face. "Let's eat."

5\

The streets of downtown Haven were empty as the blue bronco rumbled towards Nathan's home. Dark had fallen by the time he had left Paige's apartment. It still frightened him sometimes. When he would wake up in the night and, still half asleep, would panic that the darkness would melt the flesh off his bones.

The Troubles had ended, but the trauma they had left in their wake was still causing damage.

Distracted by his thoughts he almost missed it. Nothing more than a shadow really, disappearing into an alley, but it made his skin prickle with discomfort.

Pulling onto the side of the road, he killed the engine and got out of his truck. As he followed the shadow a horrible feeling grew in the pit of his stomach. When he turned the corner his fear manifested in the form of a slim woman in a leather jacket.

For one horrifying, heart-wrenching moment he thought it was Arla, the bolt gun killer, the skin-walker. Then the girl turned as if hearing him, relief crashed over him like a wave. She looked similar, with delicate features and long blonde curls, but she was not Arla.

Before he could apologize for skulking around, the woman raised her hand to show the bolt gun in her grip. She smiled darkly, waving slowly with the weapon. Then, she vanished. And Nathan was alone, fearing what was hidden in the dark much more than the dark itself.

6\

Duke sat against the wall of freezer doors and watched Gloria shuffle around paperwork. The new body must have been gruesome to make the irreverent old woman look so disturbed. Whatever it was, it wasn't anything he could fix. It wasn't his problem, even if he wanted it to be.

"You'll figure it out. You, and Nathan... Because you're alive." He sighed, letting his head fall back against the cinder blocks. It didn't hurt. Nothing ever hurt. "Claire's right. I can't change anything, not what happened to me and not what happens to you. Why am I staying here? In this place I never wanted to come back to and then always wanted to leave... I can feel it lately. A pull to some other place. I feel like eventually it'll pull me in anyway... Goodbye, Gloria." Duke stood, and headed for the door. He would do it tonight, after he said goodbye to Nathan and Audrey, even if she didn't remember who she was, he had to say goodbye to her. Then he would ask Claire to help him move onto whatever was next.

"An orphan," Gloria's voice made him falter. Was she thinking out loud about the body? "A thief, a liar, a damn pirate," Duke slowly turned back to the woman, his heart nearly stopping when he saw she was looking straight at him. "A consultant detective, a hero. You've been a lot of things, kid, a quitter was never one of them."

"You can see me?" His voice was brittle. How could that happen? No one had seen or heard him since Dwight, the day the Troubles were purged. "How can you see me?"

"Guess having one foot in the grave gives me a visitors pass to the dead side of things," Gloria said.

Duke laughed, it was a borderline hysteric sound. She raised her brows. "Thought it'd take longer than six months to make you crack."

"I'm dead," he said, sobering suddenly.

"That's true enough," Gloria said evenly.

"I can't leave."

"I'd say that's pretty true too."

Duke pushed his fingers through his hair. What did this change? He was dead. His stomach turned at the thought of leaving after this. She could see him. "What should I do?"

"How should I know? I'm just some crazy old lady talking to a dead guy." She clicked her tongue. "But if you feel a sudden pull to the light, maybe it's because something here doesn't want you in its way."

A\N: Any guesses as to who the new Bolt Gun Killer is? Please leave a review, they really do motivate writers. Thanks for reading, hopefully I'll update again soon. The quote is Audrey Hepburn.