October

Melinda smiled as the last person exited her class, and she assessed the room in front of her. One of the best things about teaching tai-chi, was the fact that after each class, her studio was hardly ever left in a mess. She knew full well that each evening the general gym area required a major clean up; people left empty water bottles, energy bar wrappers, weights, exercise balls - whatever really - all over the place, and it took up to an hour every night for the team-member on duty just to get it tidy again.

Her class required nothing more than the individual themselves, and occasionally a mat each, but once they had been stacked against the far wall, her work was done. Maybe her students took their bottles with them because they were just tidier people, or maybe they were slightly afraid of her, knowing she also taught kick-boxing and self-defence, but either way, it was good to not have to spend her lunch break sorting out other people's messes.

Locking the door behind her, she checked her phone, happy to see she had almost the full thirty minutes remaining for her lunch, and headed off through the gym, listening to the combined sounds of various pieces of equipment running, and the pounding of autumn rain on the roof above her. She found it almost relaxing, which was probably a good thing seeing as she spent five days a week there.

Shooting a death glare at the youth who whistled as she walked by, Melinda swung open the glass doors at the end of the gym and headed towards the staff room, mentally debating whether she actually wanted the food she knew was waiting in the fridge for her. Cold couscous wasn't exactly appealing today, and the temperature outside made her long for something warm.

Passing reception however, she stopped and headed over, grinning as she noticed who was manning the desk.

"Check you on reception."

"I know," Maria rolled her eyes – Melinda was well aware of how much her friend hated answering the phones, especially considering she was practically the deputy manager. "But Donnie phoned in sick – something about falling over on the ice-rink in town and having concussion or something – and there was nobody else available to cover… unless you fancy it for a bit?"

Maria looked at her hopefully, but Melinda just snorted.

"Not a chance, I've got a class in half an hour and then another two after that."

"You busy today?" she asked, returning to typing something on the computer in front of her, and sending it to print.

"Yeah, my afternoon classes are virtually full," Melinda replied, leaning on the wooden desk with her arms. "Which is weird."

"It's school holidays."

Ah. "True."

Maria grinned up at her, knowing just how busy the classes could get in half-term. "Fun."

Melinda shrugged. Sure, the more people in her classes, the harder they were, and the hotter the room got, and the more crowded together everybody was, but more customers meant she was helping more people learn to control their bodies and kick ass, and that was always a good thing in her mind.

"What you doing Friday, Mel?"

Melinda watched her carefully over the top of the desk. "Nothing," she replied warily, knowing Maria already had something up her sleeve.

"In that case, you're coming out with me."

"Oh no," she shook her head. "Not again."

"Come on," she whined, looking up from the computer with pleading eyes. "When was the last time you went on a night out?"

"My birthday, three weeks ago, which you'd remember if you hadn't practically comatosed yourself."

That night still resounded painfully in her memory – Maria had insisted she did something to celebrate, so on a whim Melinda had invited Natasha and Bobbi along too. It was a rare occasion they were all free the same evening, but unfortunately the four of them had consumed far more alcohol than should have been allowed, and then somehow ended up spending the rest of the night in A&E after Maria drunkenly tripped over her own feet, dragging Melinda down alongside her. Her wrists still ached now from where she'd hit the floor.

"Exactly" Maria continued, as though she thought the previous time had been anything but a disaster. "You need to get out more."

"One, no I don't –"

"- You'll never find a man if you don't go out."

"And two," Melinda ignored her and carried on as though she hadn't spoken, "It'll be Halloween."

There was something about Halloween that made her uncomfortable – it had done ever since that night. Being surrounded by people hiding their identities behind rubber masks, leering out to anyone and everyone in the street, left her with a deep sense of unease each year. It was fine for kids, dressing up and carving pumpkins and trick-or-treating, but she'd had enough experiences with the holiday occasion to know that a lot of people took it as an excuse to act like little shits.

"Exactly, you have to do something on Halloween."

"You know full well it's the one night of the year that all the psychos come out."

It was meant as a joke remark, but even as she said it Melinda felt the all too familiar punch to her stomach she got every time her mind flooded with memories she did not want.

"99% of the people out there are not psychopaths" Maria said softly, watching Melinda's eyes glaze over as she relived what was probably her worst nightmare. "They're just normal people, on a night out."

She sighed, and met Maria's gaze again. "I know they aren't, I just…"

"I know."

They looked at each other, a silent understanding passing between them.

"Look," Maria said, tapping a set of perfectly manicured nails against her desk, and bringing Melinda back to present day. "There's this bar downtown – Jackson's it's called – and they're having a Halloween party on Friday night. Nothing massive or crazy, and the door is ticketed. I'm meeting a few friends there, and my brother has just moved to the area so he's coming too. You should join us."

Melinda sighed. In fairness, it would be better than staying in alone all night, despite how raucous she knew Maria's friends could be. There was just one thing that was niggling at her.

"When you say party… please tell me it isn't fancy dress?"

The smile that spread across Maria's face made her groan. Of course it would be fancy dress; she shouldn't have expected anything less.

"I hate dressing up."

"But you do it so well" she replied, wheeling around the reception area on her chair, fetching the papers from the printer before moving back again.

"Only because if I have to do it, I'm going make sure the effort is worth it."

"Look" Maria chided, stapling the pages together. "It's better than watching cheesy vampire movies on your own."

"You're right; I'd much rather the real thing" she replied sarcastically. "I'd love to spend the evening in a bar surrounded by men wearing fake blood and plastic fangs, drunkenly attempting to bite the neck of anything remotely resembling a female."

"Sound like just your type then" Maria muttered, earning her a glare from Melinda.

"Is Steve going?" she asked desperately, hoping that if at least he came there was a chance Maria wouldn't get so ridiculously intoxicated she lost control.

Maria's eyes lit up at the mention of her fiancé, as they did every time his name cropped up in conversation. It was sweet really, how much they were in love, despite the fact Maria took every opportunity to piss Melinda off by acting overly "couple-y" with him in front of her. Public displays of affection? Really not her style.

"Yeah, he's bringing some work colleagues. Come on Mel, it'll be fun."

She sighed in response. "What are you going as?"

"You want to know that" Maria said smugly, as the phone on her desk began to ring shrilly, "You have to turn up."

And with that, she answered the phone, slipping straight from sarcastic friend into professional business woman in just a blink.

"Good Afternoon, Providence Fitness Centre, this is Maria speaking…"

Melinda just rolled her eyes, before heading away from the desk and through the doors across the room, ending up in the staff lounge. Grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge, she took a deep swig, allowing the cold liquid to refresh her mind. She had another four days of classes to run before Friday, and she couldn't do it if her head was awash with vampires and nightmares and ghosts.

Not even the imaginary kind.

Melinda wasn't sure how she'd been talked into it, but sitting on her bedside table was a ticket to the Halloween party she was going to the following night. Maria was thrilled. Melinda less so.

She glared at the ticket again for good measure.

Now all she had to do was find a costume of some kind, and as usual, she'd left it until the last minute to sort something out. Literally. It was almost midnight and she had classes the whole of the next day, so it was a case of now or never to find something to wear. Sliding open her wardrobe doors she stared at the mass of clothing facing her. Maria always complained she wore too much black, and the contents of her wardrobe seemed to confirm that. Natasha didn't seem to care – she also lived in black a lot of the time – and often when her Russian flatmate was home the two would share jackets and shoes. But right now Tash was off performing a tour of Swan Lake at a fancy theatre in Washington, so Melinda had the flat to herself for a few weeks.

She sighed as she looked over the collection in front of her, and picked up the steaming mug of tea from her bedside table. Sipping slowly at the liquid, and feeling the burn as it travelled down her throat, she let her mind wander through her limited options. She was determined to be able to create a costume without actually having to go and spend a fortune on new items after work tomorrow, so it had to be something relatively simple.

She was almost tempted to wear her usual clothes and just buy some fake blood to put on her face, but she knew from experience how hard it could be to get that stuff off of her skin the next day. Much harder than real blood, that was for sure. And anyway, if this event was ticketed, then chances were they would expect guests to actually make an effort.

She could practically hear Maria shouting suggestions at her in her head.

Vampire? Witch? Character from a movie or series? Ghost? Cat?

Cat. A cat was simple enough. She could wear her own clothes, and just add a few details.

Melinda placed her mug down and switched the radio on quietly, before turning back to the task at hand. Pulling off the baggy tee she usually slept in and throwing it onto the bed behind her, she set about removing various garments from her wardrobe and combining them into outfits.

After around half an hour of switching and changing and shaking her head, she decided on what to wear; wet-look leggings, with a black corset top she'd bought for a burlesque hen-do she went on several years ago, and chunky studded heels. She'd much rather wear flats, but if she was out with Maria (who was tall anyway, but would also more than likely be wearing shoes with a ridiculous heel height) then she'd rather not feel dwarfed by her friend. Inwardly cursing her genetics, she turned around to look at her reflection from all sides in the mirror in front of her.

"It'll do" she muttered to herself, changing back into her sleepwear, and hanging her "costume" over the back of a chair in the corner of the room. The chair had been her grandmothers, and the dragons that had been intricately carved into the wooden legs used to intrigue her when she was a child. When her grandmother had died, Melinda had rescued the chair, and each time she looked at it she was reminded of the innocence and freedom her youth had brought. She smiled as the memories washed over her, before turning off the radio and climbing into bed.

All she needed was to find a pair of cat ears – she was sure she had some shoved in the back of a cupboard somewhere – and dig out her black eyeliner. Whiskers she could draw.

But there was no way in hell she'd be wearing a tail.

Lying in the darkness, surrounded by cool silken sheets, she let the distant sound of the city lull her to sleep.

She couldn't lie, from what she could see through the cat-eye contacts she'd bought at the last minute, the bar looked amazing. A hell of a lot of effort had definitely gone into making it look so good, and Melinda was almost glad she had actually agreed to come. Almost.

The whole room was illuminated by an eerie glow, each bulb hanging from the ceiling surrounded by an orange paper shade. There were fake cobwebs drifting across the doorways, and resting on the corners of the artwork on the walls, and someone had placed a hand-print on the mirror on the far wall in what looked like blood. The bar itself was mostly clear aside from a couple of artistically carved pumpkins set upon the surface, the flames from inside them glinting reflections onto the black marble.

Clearly the staff were taking the whole Halloween theme to heart, and alongside the usual bottled drinks – various beers, fruit ciders, spirits – there were themed cocktails available for that night only. Melinda perused the menu before settling on a "Ghostbuster". What turned up in front of her was an acid green liquid, and as she tapped her black nails against the bar and tasted the sweet liquid, she had to admit that this was not as bad as she had thought.

"Mel!"

She turned to find Maria stood behind her, and she had to smile. The girl really did go all out at times like this. A straight black wig reaching halfway down her back, deep scarlet lips, sweeping eye-shadow, and a floor-length gown trailing around her feet, Maria made one hell of a Morticia Addams. Steve followed her to the bar, and Melinda was amused to see that he was dressed, naturally, as Gomez, right down to the moustache and pin-striped suit. He'd even dyed his hair.

"Nice eyes" he said in greeting, and Melinda smiled a little more. The yellow contacts she'd found would probably hurt later on, but for now, she was glad she'd got them.

"Thanks, you both look amazing."

"It was her choice" he replied, indicating at his over-excited fiancé currently was greeting various other people Melinda had never met. "And what the lady wants…"

"The lady shall get" she finished for him. She'd known her friend long enough to understand exactly how persuasive she could be. Melinda found it kind of adorable how much Maria was in charge in her romantic life, and yet Steve never seemed to have any issues about it. To him, as long as she was happy, he was happy, and it had been working for them for almost five years. They were getting married the following summer, and Melinda was already dreading what her bridesmaid's dress would look like…

The next couple of hours flew by. Melinda couldn't believe how fast the night had gone, and before she knew it they were calling last orders at the bar.

"I'll get this round" she announced to the group at her table, standing and swaying slightly as she registered how much she had already drank. She'd ended up sitting with Maria and a few of her friends from college, who, whilst she'd never met them before, all seemed really nice, but were definitely party people, and afterwards were planning to head off to one of the local clubs. She put her foot down at that, insisting it wasn't her scene.

Reaching the bar, she found a large crowd of people also gathered around, obviously planning to stock up on drinks before they stopped serving. The guy next to her, who looked vaguely familiar, although she couldn't figure out where she knew him from, was dressed in what was actually a very impressive Captain America costume, and he smiled shyly at her as she reached the bar. He ordered an array of drinks, and the bartender put them onto a tray for him to carry, which was in hindsight probably a very bad idea considering both how busy and how drunk everybody around them was.

She saw what was about to happen before it did, but could neither do anything to stop it, nor get out of the way in time. As he picked up the tray, somebody behind them pushed forwards, knocking him off balance. Melinda watched in virtual slow motion as his hands wobbled, and the tray tipped sideways, multiple cocktails and drinks sliding across the surface before falling over the edge, crashing and smashing onto the bar below, their contents pouring out and all over the two of them.

"Shit!" they shouted in unison, attempting to jump away from the onslaught of liquid, and failing miserably as loud cheers (and jeers) from people around them began.

"Oh my God I'm so sorry" he cried, looking desperately from the liquid pooling across the marble, to her shocked face, to the state of both their clothes. Somehow, despite it being his tray of drinks, it was Melinda who had suffered the worst of the spillage.

"I…" she didn't really have any words, but she could feel the cold seeping through her outfit, and the sugary drinks sticking to her skin.

The woman behind the bar threw some towels at them with a roll of her eyes, insisting it happened all the time, before moving on to serve another patron.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I can't believe I just did that" the guy stammered, trying to stop the liquid trail before any more of it soaked them; his mission was flawed already, because Melinda was pretty sure she couldn't have got any wetter if she'd climbed into the bath.

"It's fine" she muttered, brushing herself off as best she could. It was a good thing her clothes were black. "It wasn't your fault."

"I've probably just ruined a great night out haven't I?"

To her surprise, Melinda found herself exhaling with a shaky laugh, and he looked at her confused.

"It's ironic really," she explained. "I didn't even want to come out tonight, but my friend forced me to, and then I almost decided I was glad I did….until now."

"I should have held on to the tray better or something, I'm sorry, my sister always used to tell me I was clumsy after drinking…"

Melinda looked at him properly, taking in his appearance, from his apparent age, to his comic-book styled costume, right down to his blue eyes. Looking at them, something in her mind clicked, and it gave her the answer she'd been looking for.

"You're Phil aren't you?" she asked, her brain finally snapping the right conclusion.

His look of surprise told her she was right.

"Maria's brother," she explained, reassuring him she wasn't just psychic. "I thought you looked vaguely familiar."

"Yeah, I am. Is she the friend who dragged you here?"

Melinda nodded.

"Sounds like her."

He smiled at her a little, and she found herself smiling back despite the creeping chill she was getting from her damp clothes. The shiver that ran through her however was involuntary, and his smile vanished again, getting replaced by a frown when he remembered how wet she was.

"Do you have a jacket or something with you?"

She shook her head, mentally reprimanding herself for her decision not to bring one. She'd thought she would need to, seeing as she was travelling by taxi there and back. Now she wasn't sure if a taxi driver would even take her, not if she was this wet.

"I have one over at our table," he gestured behind himself vaguely. "You can have it so you don't freeze when you leave."

Melinda shook her head. "Oh no it's okay."

"You can take it."

"It's fine honestly."

"Please?" He looked at her pleadingly. "I'll feel so much better knowing you're not freezing to death."

With a small smile she relented, nodding as she picked up her clutch and followed him over to his table, reacting in surprise when she noticed he was sat with Steve. But then obviously if he was Maria's brother, he would know her fiancé.

"I guess you two know each other?" Phil asked, seeing her expression and indicating between them both as he reached over for his jacket.

"Yeah, this is Maria's kick-ass friend" Steve replied with a grin.

"Where are those drinks Coulson?" a larger guy with dark hair interrupted, waving an empty beer bottle in their direction.

"Here" Melinda replied, pointing at her soaked outfit.

"Can't drink it from there sweetheart" the guy leered. "Although I sure wouldn't mind trying" he added with a wink. It took all of Melinda's strength not to smack him there and then.

"Ignore him" Phil muttered, handing her his jacket. "He's just drunk."

"It's fine" she replied quietly, taking it from him and glancing over at her table. Maria was watching her with a strange expression on her face. "I'll be back in a minute."

She wandered back to the group.

"What happened to you?"

Melinda glanced down at her outfit; in fairness, being black she couldn't actually see how wet it was (but she could sure as hell feel it).

"I met your brother, and he decided to pour a tray of drinks all over me."

"Idiot." Maria shook her head, taking a small handful of crisps from the bowl in the centre of the table. "Is that his jacket?"

"Yeah, I think he feels bad."

"So he should."

Melinda smiled. "I'm gonna have to go," she explained with an expression she hoped was disappointment. "I'm soaked." She pulled some notes out of her bag and dropped them onto the table. "Last round is on me but you'll have to go get it yourself."

Maria rolled her eyes at her, but nodded, glancing back towards where her brother was stood.

"Night Mel."

"Night."

Melinda walked back to Phil at his table, pushing through the crowds of vampires, witches and ghosts enjoying the end of their evening. At a guess, it was probably around 2am, and Melinda knew getting a taxi right now would be a pain.

"Should I give this to Maria when I see her at work or-?" she asked when she reached him, indicating the jacket. He moved away from the table slightly so they could talk more privately.

"Or I could give you my number so we could meet up next week or something?"

She raised an eyebrow at him, and he gave her a goofy smile in response.

"Sorry, that wasn't meant to sound like a chat-up line."

"Of course it wasn't," she shook her head with a grin.

"I blame the alcohol; I don't get the chance to go out and drink much these days… I think I'm out of practice"

She was going to ask why, but then they both headed outside, and fifteen minutes later Melinda somehow found herself typing his name and number into her phone anyway as a taxi pulled up.

"I never got your name?" he said suddenly, holding open the cab door for her. She turned to face him just before she climbed in, hugging his jacket close.

"Melinda."

Phil smiled.

"Goodnight Melinda."

"Goodnight."