Author's Note: Thanks for sticking around!

I hope you'll like this chapter, too.

*Mini-Spoiler* (don't like don't read): On the medical account I make here on CAT scans – I couldn't find it on the internet if you can work it like that. I just build on Josh being really smart to figure out a way how to. I didn't want to go too much into detail about it. The main point is that he didn't want anyone to know.

Read, review, and hopefully enjoy ;)

Even monsters are seemingly creatures of habit.

While others are busy going to clubs and making day trips, Sally, Josh and Aidan have yet another movie night. However, the house council has decided against romantic comedies or other romances whatsoever. Instead, they settled with a good old action film.

And so the three friends are in the living room, glancing at the screen. Aidan is sitting in the armchair while Sally sits on the couch cross-legged. Josh sits on the armrest of the couch, arms crossed over his chest in a relaxed manner.

"I would dig being a ghost on Hawaii," Sally blurts out with a grin as the images of a tropical island are flashing over the TV screen.

"How's that?" Aidan frowns.

"Well, coconuts, sunshine, cute divers and swimmers in tight shorts... palm trees, the ocean, the opportunity to pass for some kinda Voodoo ghost, cocktails with those wee umbrellas and glittery stuff in them so that you can hardly drink from it. A-mazing. Anything's better than this house," Sally shrugs.

"Hey, you were the one to rent it in the first place," Aidan argues.

"Coz we didn't have the money for Hawaii when we rented it. Otherwise I would've said Aloha to Boston long since! Aloha!" Sally huffs. Seriously. If she had the choice between Hawaii and Boston, Boston wouldn't ever win the fight.

"Well, I'd burn alive if I ever went there," Aidan snorts.

"We could bury you in sand all day long," Sally suggests.

"That is so tempting," Aidan rolls his eyes.

"Right? What about you, Josh? Hawaii?" Sally asks hopefully.

"Well, there are no snakes on Hawaii, other than those in the zoo, which is a huge plus to me, but I don't dig seeing one of those... Theridion grallators. They gimme goosebumps whenever I have to think of them," Josh shudders.

"The what?" Sally makes a face.

"Happy Face Spider. They have markings that look just like a creepy happy face. Saw that on Animal Planet once, awful, really awful," Josh explains.

"Oh, eww!" Sally almost jumps up from her seat.

"Sally, there is no spider, so calm down," Aidan sighs.

"But that's so blegh!" Sally shudders. "You are officially banned from watching those stupid documentaries on Animal Planet late at night, my doggy friend!"

"I watch on TV whatever I want, Sally," Josh scolds her.

"I will just switch off TV," Sally narrows her eyes at him.

"As much as I love you, you can't do that yet. You are still in training, my young Padawan."

"Oh, you just wait until I wield the remote on my own," Sally warns him.

"Well, until that's happened, I do, and that means I watch my show whenever I feel like it," Josh shrugs.

"You're so mean," Sally narrows her eyes. "As are spiders."

"But what do you complain about these?" Aidan makes a face. "No spider can harm you."

"They are still creepy," Sally argues vehemently.

"Even if it's just a not-poisonous one?" Aidan grins.

"All the same!" Sally declares.

"But that makes no sense. Why is it creepy just coz it has eight legs? I mean, the thing is so tiny!" Aidan argues. He never got that phobia. Fine, if it is a poisonous one, you should stay away from it – and then someone gets to scream, but what do people have with all the non-poisonous spiders? But butterflies are pretty? That's... racist.

"But it's disgusting and has eight legs... and it's disgusting!" Sally makes a face.

"But why?" Aidan insists.

"Hairy long legs and so many eyes and then cobwebs and those weird teeth sticking from the side of the mouth and the way they move, it's just... blegh!" Sally shudders, screwing her eyes shut.

"Didn't think you'd be that sissy about the matter," Aidan shakes his head.

"Oh, on that one I'm a total girl," Sally shrugs, but then whips her head around to look at the vampire with wide eyes. "So you like them?!"

"I don't necessarily hate them," Aidan replies.

"Please tell me you don't want to get that as a pet," Sally cries out.

"I had one, couple of years back," Aidan shrugs. "Tarantulas."

"Oh, eww, sometimes I don't even know you!" Sally shrieks.

"What? They are small and it's not like they can do severe harm, if they are not poisonous. Personally, I think they are kinda cute," Aidan shrugs, hugging his arms.

"God, how could I ever befriend a spider-lover!? I thought vampires are creepy enough, but now they are spider friends on tops! That's just too freaky! No!" Sally shakes her head.

"Seriously? That's the thing that creeps you out?" Aidan grimaces. Really, Sally deals with the supernatural on a daily basis, but she has a nervous breakdown after seeing some spider?

"It creeps out almost anyone!" Sally tells him.

"Josh?" the vampire turns to his roommate, who replies, "As I said, I don't like them. I had that experience once when I woke up and one was crawling over my face... that picture never quite left me."

"Oh, eww, eww, eww!" Sally cries out, tapping her body with her hands as though she was trying to swat off some spiders.

"Hey, Josh, what about Spider Man, then?" Aidan argues.

"Maguire royally screwed it up for me," Josh replies. Aidan nods, "Okay, I give you that."

"Plus, you only see the spider like... once. After that it's just a guy wearing too tight overalls, swinging from building to building so that Tarzan would be proud of him," Josh argues. "And only Tarzan."

"But there's really worse, guys," Aidan insists.

"Sure as hell, doesn't mean I have to like the lesser evil," the werewolf argues, and Aidan is bound to agree, "That's of course true."

Josh smirks, "Then maybe not Hawaii for our aloof entity, huh?"

"I will figure this out. There must be some place without creepy spiders or so," Sally puckers her lips.

"That's only true for some uninhabited parts of Siberia and both poles of Antarctica," Josh shrugs. The roommates generously ignore that Josh even knows this.

"But that's not sunny!" Sally pouts.

"Well, coconut-sunny and spiders go hand in hand. You have to choose," Josh argues.

"Hm, Antarctica sounds kinda tempting," Aidan grins.

"A place with no blood supply? And where the blood would freeze? And you would have to lick blood-sicle, and not suck someone dry. Yeah, sure as hell you'd love it there," Sally huffs.

"Nah, okay that's true of course," Aidan grimaces. Even if the blood-idea doesn't sound like the almost bad.

"Maybe you could feed on ice bears or... penguins," Sally suggests.

"Yeah, right. Coz all vampires eat small baby seals and ice bears because we are fang-y," Aidan snorts.

"Ugh, now I have that picture of you nibbling a cute little penguin baby inside my head," Sally makes a face, massaging her temples.

"You brought that on yourself," Josh lectures her.

"You had to mention Antarctica," Sally retorts.

"You asked for a place without spiders, and that is Antarctica. If that makes your mind go wild, then this is hardly my fault," Josh argues. Aidan and Josh crack up laughing. Sally joins, too. Really, the best thing about their project of normal are exactly those moments when they are just a group of friends bantering and bickering, talking about nonsense. That is when it's not even about pretending to be normal, it's because they are – in being as messed-up as they are.

They go on laughing for a while, but suddenly Aidan and Sally grimace at Josh, staring, eyes growing wider with every second passing.

"What?" Josh frowns at them. He didn't make a comment to destroy the moment, or did he? However, Aidan is already at his feet and runs into the kitchen.

"Oh God!" the female ghost stammers.

"What is it?" Josh asks. Why is no one talking to him?!

Josh eyes drift down to see a small puddle of blood forming underneath him. The werewolf tentatively fingers for his face, feeling the warm wet above his lip dribbling down his chin. As he brings his hand in front of his eyes, he sees them covered in crimson.

"Oh okay, uhm... Josh, keep calm, okay?" Sally holds up her hands nervously.

Aidan comes back with a bunch of towels. The vampire quickly drops a few on the ground to cover the bloodstain. Another two he holds against Josh's face. The werewolf grabs the fabric nervously. Aidan makes Josh sit down on the couch fully, taking Josh's spot himself, a steady grip on his friend's neck to offer comfort and support.

"Easy, breathe through your mouth. Easy," Aidan tells him in a calming voice.

"I know what to do. I learned that shit," Josh brings out. He treats patients with nosebleed at least thrice a day. He knows the drill, for goodness' sake.

Aidan fights any urge not to roll his eyes at his friend.

Really, worst patient ever.

And he is not even throwing stress balls.

"Pinch your nose, breathe through your mouth and try to relax," Aidan goes on, unwavering.

"Shut up already," Josh mutters. Aidan pats him on the back gently. He knows that Josh knows what to do, but he also knows how resistant his best friend is – and damn, this helps him calm himself, so Josh will have to deal with it.

"What the hell is going on here?!" Sally demands. One moment they are just fooling around, having a good time, the next Josh is bleeding so much that Sally would like to faint.

"Later," Aidan replies curtly. Sally lets her shoulders drop in defeat. She understands that her freaking out is no help for Josh at that point. Even without a medical degree she knows that he has to keep calm now, or this will never stop. But still, it pains her deep down that she can't help. In a twisted sense, she always envies Aidan that he can help Josh, if only by providing some towels or patting him on the back.

They wait in silence for minutes and minutes.

"Did it stop yet?" she asks tentatively. Josh peels away the layers of fabric, feeling a new gush of blood running down right away. Josh grunts incoherently as he brings the towels back to his face, shaking his head.

"Okay, keep pinching it," Aidan tells him. Josh faintly nods into the fabric. He is pale and his hands are slightly shaking. One can see that even he is freaked by the amount of blood coming out of his body, not that anyone would ever blame him for it.

"Aidan, we should bring him to hospital! That is not normal!" Sally turns to the vampire. If only she could hold a phone, Sally would have already called ambulance, police, everyone.

"It'll stop soon," Josh brings out.

"It didn't stop for the last twenty-five minutes," Sally argues.

"Just a nosebleed," Josh grunts.

"This is definitely more than the last one," Aidan argues, which gets Sally's attention, "What last one are you talking about?"

"He had one like... yesterday, but it was over after two minutes, and not nearly as much," Aidan tells her. Josh nudges him in the side – that is his business after all, but Aidan purposely ignores the gesture.

"And why is no one telling me about this?!" she cries out.

"Because that is still my body and my decision," Josh retorts.

"Josh, you're flooding the ground with blood, this is kinda our problem, too!" Sally huffs.

"I'm sorry for ruining the floor, okay?" Josh grunts, meaning to tear the towels away to say something else, but Aidan pushes the towels back in place, "Josh, keep calm, and the towels to your face. You know as well as me that stressing out will only make it last longer."

Josh nods into the fabric, sucking in a shaky breath.

"If this doesn't stop within the next five minutes, we're going to hospital – and no, you don't get to argue. We are both from the health department, thirty minutes is maximum," Aidan tells him sternly.

"It is just a nosebleed," Josh insists.

Or is it?

"You know as well as me that this might be more than a nosebleed," the vampire huffs.

"What?!" Sally cries out. Now it's not just Josh bleeding out from his nose, but something worse? There is something worse?!

"It is not," Josh argues vehemently.

"Josh, you went to med school. You know this is possible," Aidan shakes his head.

"Possible, but not the case," Josh grunts.

"It could even come from the brain, okay?" Aidan insists. And no, he won't let that go, not again.

"What?!" Sally cries out again, since no one was paying attention to her last time.

"Sally, stop freaking out already," Aidan rolls his eyes. That is not exactly helpful.

"You tell me Josh might have some brain disorder and I'm not supposed to freak at that?!" Sally shrieks.

"I checked for all indicators. Blood test is normal. I don't have haemophilia, I don't have nose cancer and it's not related to the brain," Josh says. Aidan wordlessly pushes the towels back under his nose.

"You checked? How?" Sally demands. How would he know?

"... CAT scan," Josh shrugs.

"You had a CAT scan and talked to a doctor without informing either one of us?" Aidan now cries out, too.

"I didn't see a doctor obviously," Josh rolls his eyes.

"Then how did you get the blood tests or the CAT scan?" Aidan demands.

"I did them myself, obviously. For a blood test you just go and give it to them, they check it for you without asking for names. As for CAT scan: I know how to do that. There's a way this thing works autopilot. I just hopped on and ran the scan. Had a look at it, nothing unusual. And before you ask, Sally, I know how to evaluate those scans. There was nothing. This is probably some blood vessel inside my nose on the loose. I'll simply see an ENT 'bout it so he can atrophy it," Josh explains.

"Goodness sake, Josh!" Sally sighs exasperatedly, throwing her hands in the air.

"She's right, you can't just do that, you idiot," the vampire lectures him.

"What? I needed a result, fast, and I wasn't fancying to pay for that. No one realized," Josh argues.

"I'm talking about keeping that from us, you jerk," Aidan grunts. He would like to hit him in the back of the head, but that will have to wait until Josh is better again.

"I didn't think it was a big deal," Josh argues.

"Well, you were clearly mistaken about that," Aidan huffs. This is definitely a bigger deal.

"... it is just a nosebleed... which I think just stopped," Josh argues as he peels the towels away and actually the bleeding finally ceased. He lets out a shaky breath, honestly relieved.

"Okay, so now I'll just clean that up and then...," Josh mutters, but Aidan quickly interrupts him in his rambling, "You stay right where you are or I knock you out for good."

"What?" Josh blinks at him.

"You well heard me. Might be you get around hospital for now, but that doesn't mean we will just take that for nothing. Coz this is not nothing," Aidan tells him.

"Aidan, c'mon," Josh sighs, but Aidan his having none of it,"I won't argue with you about that, Josh."

"And I'm with Aidan, that means you are outnumbered," Sally agrees, nodding frantically to emphasize her will.

"You guys," Josh closes his eyes, shaking his head. Aidan grabs a few blankets and pillows and stuffs them on the other side of the couch, nodding at Josh to scoot down and lie down.

"Seriously?" the younger man snorts.

His friend can't mean that, can he?

"You either do it or I make you, your choice," Aidan tells him sternly. "It's leveled so if there's more blood it won't get stuck in your airways. You know the drill. So now, stop being a lousy patient and lie down."

Josh grunts as he leans against the cushions. He knows that this is a fight he won't win, not with a vampire and a ghost up against him. And his head pounds too much to put up a serious argument. Aidan gets up from his seat and gathers the bloody towels together, "I'll just get rid of these."

The vampire walks into the kitchen to throw them in the trashcan. He doesn't dig cleaning them out – and Josh shouldn't either. Is not like those two bucks will ruin their finances. Aidan makes quick work at filling a bowl with cold water and getting out another set of towels. They really have to buy new ones, he notes. Aidan walks back into the living room where Sally is anxiously sitting on the couch table in front of Josh. The vampire rounds the sofa to kneel in front of his friend, putting the bowl down next to him, "Okay, I think now is time we make you look less like... one of my kind after a blood feast."

He plunges one of the towels into the water.

"I can do that myself," Josh huffs.

"Just shut up for once, Josh," Aidan rolls his eyes. The vampire tentatively brings the cloth down on his friend's face and starts to wash off the dried blood. Josh simply tries to ignore that everyone is mothering him – just as he tries not to blush from embarrassment.

Sally: "So okay, what the hell is going on with you?" Sally asks. Someone owes her some answers, for goodness' sake.

Josh: "I just had this nosebleed yesterday... and now again. As I said, it's probably a blood vessel," Josh tells her.

Sally: "I thought werewolves don't get sick," Sally grimaces.

Josh: "This is not necessarily a sickness, but just a blood vessel, understand?" Josh argues.

Sally: "But the full moon is not far away. You shouldn't be like this," Sally retorts.

Josh: "Sometimes it's a lost cause to reason over such things," Josh sighs.

What does he know why his wolf doesn't prevent that from happening? It's not like Josh really cares for what the wolf does.

"But...," Sally means to argue, but Josh interrupts her, "Sally, you know I love you, but... could we delay this discussion to a later point? I'm really drained right now, quite literally."

"Oh, ugh, yeah, sure," Sally nods, sheepishly looking to the side.

"Thank you," Josh exhales. Aidan plops the towel back into the water, which is now tainted red, "Okay, you look halfway human again, with a bit of wolf, of course, but you know what I mean. It's not like I can wipe that away."

Josh smirks at him faintly, seemingly glad for Aidan to simply be funny now, so that they don't have to talk about the problem on hand in all severity, because he is really exhausted.

"Okay, how about you try to grab some shut-eye, huh?" Aidan suggests.

"Might actually be a good idea," Josh exhales.

"Then you do that," Aidan nods as he claps his friend on the shoulder as he gets back up to gather the bowel in his arms.

"C'mon, Sally," the vampire orders the female ghost, who means to argue, "But..."

"Now," Aidan interrupts her sternly. Sally follows Aidan into the kitchen where he cleans out the bowel with a lot of water, to make the stench reaching his nose finally go away. He can feel his teeth poking against the inner parts of his mouth because this is just too much blood he got to smell. Not to mention how disgusted Aidan is once again that he gets "vampire-turned-on" thanks to his best friend's blood. Sally frowns at Aidan, since he makes no attempt of making conversation, at all. No, once the bowel is clean, the vampire continues to stand over the sink, his hands on either side of the rim, knuckles white. After a few minutes, his features ease, though. He turns to face her, indicating that he's ready to talk now.

"He's sleeping now," he says. Aidan wanted to be sure that Josh is out of it before they start to talk about the matter. Close around the moon, he has the ears of a bat.

"How'd you tell?" Sally makes a face, to which Aidan rolls his eyes, "Vampire, remember? I can hear his heartbeat evening out – and his snoring. Though I give him credit that his nose is probably shut."

"... so... what the hell?!" Sally questions.

"Yeah, same thought I had," Aidan sighs, hugging his arms.

"Why didn't you tell me about the other day?" Sally questions, narrowing her eyes at him.

"I didn't think it was that much of a big deal. I see people with nosebleeds every single day. I mean, I told myself to have a close eye on Josh, but that I needn't fuss over the matter. I know that only makes things for worse," Aidan argues. And he really had an eye on his roommate. Josh was fine throughout the day. He was a bit tight and maybe a bit pale around the nose, but nothing that made Aidan's alarm shrill in his ears... well, that was until Josh decided to drench the floor in his own blood of course.

"But this is now fully grown fuss-material for good," Sally argues.

"Yep, I'm... ugh, freaked, so to speak. This was almost 28 minutes. That is not normal, even with some funny blood vessel he thinks is causing it. This is like chronic nosebleed – and as far as I'm concerned, he's not prone to that. He said he had that only till he was five, but then it stopped, so really. This is getting me concerned," Aidan grimaces.

"He seemed pretty exhausted, too," Sally nods.

"Yep," Aidan agrees.

"And he was spacing out, I mean... more than he usually does. He always spaces out on us," Sally rolls her eyes. Sometimes she honestly wonders how he does that. Sally herself already likes to go with her mind some other place at times, but the werewolf puts a new edge to it.

She can still remember one time he was eating dinner alone because Aidan was on shift and Sally talked to him for about an hour. At some point, the werewolf just turned his head and asked her what she just said. Apparently, her roommate had been musing about a new medical report he read three days ago.

"Yep again," Aidan nods.

"Do you think we should bring him to a doctor or something?" Sally grimaces.

"I don't think he'd let us," Aidan shrugs.

"You're stronger than him. You just overpower him," Sally gestures. "I won't even make any cavemen-jokes, I swear."

"Hey, if this is happening again, sure as hell I drag him to the hospital by his feet if it has to be, but only if it has to be," Aidan tells her.

"Then why not now?" Sally insists. That much blood on the ground makes it a case of "if it has to be" already.

"Because I think he was earnest with the tests he ran. If they turn up with nothing, then bringing him to a doctor won't solve the problem, at all. It will only make matters for worse, even, because we always have to keep in mind that Josh is not exactly human. Perhaps this is a wolf-thing after all," Aidan argues. "And we shouldn't risk it for him to be uncovered."

"So what do we do?" Sally questions.

"We ground him," Aidan shrugs.

"He'll hate us for that," Sally grins.

"That never really stopped me," Aidan smirks.

"Good," Sally nods. "And if nothing else helps, we can make him go on a health resort on Hawaii."

They seemingly have a new mission – make sure Josh finally gets better.

Even if that means playing nurses for a pouting werewolf.

Because that's what friends are for, right?