I own nothing. ONE-SHOT ONLY! Enjoy.

"We should get going, Eli," Melinda said standing up, "We have to figure this out."

"Then let's go," I said grabbing my jacket.

Melinda smiled at me and nodded her head quickly. We had been trying to figure out what the newest ghost had been trying to tell us for the past few days now, but nothing was coming up.

"Professor James, can I come in?" a voice said as a knock came from the door.

Opening the door I saw Luca Messer. Luca was a psychology student that had been in my class for the past year. He was a good student and always on time, but it was rare when he spoke.

He had shaggy dyed maroon hair that hit right at his emerald green eyes. His skin was pale and he was always wearing black clothing. He was a shy person and I don't remember ever seeing him talking to other people if he could avoid it.

"Luca," I said smiling, "I'm sorry about this, but I have to go somewhere for awhile. Can what you needed to talk about wait?"

"Sure Professor, it can wait," Luca said nodding slightly.

Smiling happily I walked past Luca with Melinda and left the school. As we walked down the hall I looked back at Luca and saw that he looked sad. I gave him a confused look, got in Melinda's car, and listened to her talk more about the ghost while I thought about what he needed to talk about.

We drove to her shop and got out her laptop. It took awhile for us to figure out what we needed to, but by the time we got the information we needed it was too late for us to try to talk to anyone.

Sighing I walked out of the shop and started to make my way towards my apartment. I walked past the park when I heard someone sobbing in the park. I looked for the person but I couldn't find anyone.

"Professor," Luca said softly, "What are you doing here?"

"I was just going home," I said looking around, "Where are you?"

"You're looking right at me."

My eyes went wide when I heard him say that. Quickly I turned around and ran back into Melinda's store. She greeted me with a smile as I pulled her outside and into the park.

"Is there a ghost here?" I asked panting slightly.

"No," Melinda said shaking her head, "Why do you ask?"

"Luca, he was here just a moment ago, but I couldn't see him."

"Your student was a ghost?"

"I think so. I have to find him."

"We'll take my car and pick up Jim on the way to the school."

Nodding my head I got into her car and let her drive to her house. Jim raced into the car and we made our way towards the school. When we got there I found out what dorm room Luca was in and got there quickly.

I knocked on the door loudly and waited for Luca to answer. It took awhile, but when he did I saw that his eyes were blood shot and he was holding his head like he had a headache.

"Luca," I said happily, "You're alive."

"Yeah," Luca said softly, "Why is that surprising?"

"Can we come in?"

Luca stared at me for a moment before looking at Melinda and Jim. He walked away from the door and sat at his desk. Calmly the three of us went into his dorm and closed the door behind him.

I looked around his room trying to find something that would cause him to die for a moment. It took awhile, but I saw a belt tied to a door knob. My eyes went wide and I looked back over at Luca.

"Luca," I said staring at him, "Do you believe in ghosts?"

"Yeah," Luca said nodding, "Why do you ask?"

"What would you say if I told you that I can hear ghosts?"

"I think I'd be too shocked to say anything."

"What if I said that just a moment ago I heard you, in the park, sobbing?"

"You couldn't have seen me. I've been in here since your office."

"I didn't say that I saw you. I heard you Luca, just like I hear all other ghosts."

"I'm not a ghost."

"No, you're not anymore, but you were. We need to know what happened to make you a ghost."

"Nothing happened, Professor James. I have a class early tomorrow. I'm going to have to ask you to leave now."

"Luca, we can help you if anything is..."

"Please, leave Professor."

Sighing I walked out of the dorm room with Melinda and Jim. They looked at me sadly before making their way out of the building. I shook my head and turned to go to my office when I heard a soft sob.

I pressed my ear to the door and heard the sobbing get louder. Running a hand through my hair I slowly opened the door and saw Luca sitting in front of his closet door wrapping the belt around his neck.

"Stop," I said kneeling next to him, "What are you doing Luca?"

Luca shook his head quickly and continued to sob. Pulling him into my arms I held him close to me and tried to think of something to say. I had dealt with these things in my office, but I had never seen it happening.

"Luca," I said making him look at me, "What are you doing?"

"Choking myself," Luca said softly.

"Why are you doing this?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Alright, then tell me when you started this."

"I was sixteen when I started."

"You're twenty now. That's four years of choking yourself. Have you ever had to go to the hospital?"

"Once or twice, but I was usually fine."

"Can you tell me why it started?"

"I heard about it over the internet and it seemed like a good idea. Then I did it a few times and I never stopped."

"What if you had died?"

"It would have been for the better."

My eyes widened and I stared at him. I had dealt with this for awhile and it tore me apart hearing people say that they thought they would be better dead. They were always so young.

"What happened, Luca? Why do you want to die?"

"I don't want to die, Professor James. I just like choking myself."

"What happens if you die because of doing that?"

"I haven't thought about it. I have to get back to what I was doing, Professor."

"You think I'm going to leave and let you choke yourself just because you said you don't want to die? I won't do that, Luca. You need someone to watch you help you get over this."

"I'm not going to a hospital again. Please, I can't go back there."

"You said you had to go to the hospital twice. Did they put you under suicide watch?"

"The last time they did, but I didn't have to be there. I'm not suicidal."

"You're coming to stay with me, Luca, and we're going to talk about why what you're doing is suicidal."

"I'm fine, Professor James."

"Either you come stay with me or I have you put under suicide watch."

Luca stared at me before nodding his head and standing up. Nodding back I watched him grab a few things and put them in a bag. I opened the door and led him out of the building.

It was quiet as we made our way to my apartment. Luca was standing to my right and his hand kept running across his neck. I looked at it a few times and saw that it was a deep bruise.

"Stop doing that Luca," I said opening the door to my apartment, "You're not going to be doing it anymore."

"You don't understand, Professor," Luca said shaking his head, "I have to do it."

"Do you know what you sound like?"

"What do I sound like?"

"You should like an addict. You're addicted to choking yourself and you're going to kill yourself one day."

"Why do you care if I die? You're just my teacher. None of this is right."

"It's because I'm your teacher that I care about whether you live or die."

With a shake of his head Luca glared at me for a moment before punching me. I stumbled backwards into the wall as Luca continued to hit me. The hits started to get softer until I could barely feel them at all.

Sighing I wiped the blood from my lip and looked at Luca who had fallen to the floor. I kneeled in front of him and forced him to look at me. I was surprised by how horrible Luca looked.

"Please, Professor," Luca said desperately, "I'll do anything you want just please let me do this."

"Luca," I said softly, "I'm not going to let you do this no matter what you do."

"Are you sure I can't do anything?"

I gave Luca a confused look wondering what he was talking about. Before I could ask him what he meant his lips were on mine. As I gasped his tongue darted into my mouth and he pushed me onto the ground.

I closed my eyes for a moment enjoying the feeling before pushing Luca back. Luca and I stared at each other for awhile. As we stared I noticed a change in Luca's body language. I tried to push his off of me, but his arm pressed against my throat cutting off my air supply.

"Professor James," Luca said growling softly, "You're right."

"What am I right about?" I asked trying to fight Luca.

"I want to die."

Luca pushed away from me and tried to run out of my apartment. Reaching out I grabbed Luca's leg causing him to fall and moved so I was straddling him. Gasping I tried to catch my breath and keep him pinned to the ground.

"What is going on, Luca?" I asked softly.

"Nothing," Luca said calmly, "I'm just thinking."

"What are you thinking about?"

"I'm thinking about hanging myself from the staircase."

"What aren't you telling me?"

Luca smiled slightly and started to laugh softly. As he continued to laugh I pulled away slightly allowing him to flip us over. He pinned my arms on either side of my head and pressed his lips to mine again.

"You need to stop, Luca," I said when he pulled back.

"Why should I stop?" Luca asked smirking.

"I don't want this, Luca. Do you know what you'll be doing if you continue?"

"It will be rape."

"That's right. Do you want to have that on your conscious?"

"I have worse on my conscious."

"What do you have to feel guilty about?"

Luca sighed and started to shake his head quickly. A soft whimper slipped from his lips and he moved away from me quickly. His back hit the wall and he wrapped his arms around himself.

"I don't have a nice past, Professor," Luca said looking at the ground, "It wasn't nice at all."

"Tell me something about your past," I said sitting across from him.

"I was in a foster home my whole life."

"What do you mean?"

"Let's just say that wouldn't have been the first time I was associated with rape."

Sighing I started to figure out what was going on in Luca's head. I moved closer to him and waited for him to say something else. I wasn't going to be able to set the pace in this conversation.

"I was six," Luca said softly, "I was fucking six years old and I begged. I begged him as much as I could."

"You begged him to stop?" I asked calmly.

"No, I begged him to continue. He said that it would be worse if I fought him."

"So you do what you could to survive. Who long did it go on for?"

"I lived there until I got a dorm here. I was eighteen."

Sadly I shook my head realizing that Luca had been abused for twelve years. Luca was resting his head on the wall while tears fell from his eyes. Shaking my head I forced Luca to look at me.

"You need to let me help you, Luca," I said firmly, "It's the only way things will get better for you."

"I don't care about myself anymore, Professor. There's not point in it anymore."

"Why don't you want me to help you?"

"I don't have anything to live for. I have no reason to get out of bed."

"You have to do this for yourself, Luca. It's the only way for you to get better and stay better."

"I'll be fine, Professor. I think I should leave."

"No, you can't leave."

"Why can't I leave?"

"You can't leave because I don't want to lose you."

"What are you talking about?"

Shaking my head I stood up and ran a hand through my hair. I looked up at the ceiling and tried to think of a way to explain this to Luca. It was times like this that I thought I shouldn't be a shrink.

"I've been a psychologist for a few years now. In that time I've found myself falling for a few different of my patients. I know I'm not supposed to, but I care so much about them, about you. I start to fall in love with them, with you."

"I'm not your patient, Professor."

"No, but you are my student."

"I won't be for long. This is my last semester of school. I can't take it anymore. I want to be a psychologist to help people, but I'm not in a good place to help anyone."

Nodding my head I pulled Luca up and hugged him tightly. Luca rested his head against my chest and let out a shaky breath. I shut my eyes while let out a breath of my own.

"Then let me help you," I said rubbing his back, "We're not going to date. I can't do that to you, but we'll do everything else. You'll stay here and I'll help you get back on your feet and in the right state of mind. If at the end of that we still want to try to be together then I will gladly do that."

"What if it takes too long?" Luca asked sadly.

"I don't care how long it takes, Luca. The only thing that matters right now is getting you healthy."

Luca nodded his head and rested it back on my chest. I slowly started to move Luca towards my room so I could get him to sleep. It was almost one in the morning now and I knew that both of us were extremely tired.

"Go to sleep, Luca," I said laying him down, "I'll be here in the morning and we'll figure out the rest tomorrow."

"Don't leave, Professor," Luca said gripping my hand, "Please, I can't be alone anymore. I don't think I'll survive."

"You're not alone anymore. I promise that I won't leave you alone again. Everything will be alright."

"How do you know that?"

"I have faith that it will be, just like I have faith in you."

"That's a lot of faith, Professor."

"Yes it is and call me Eli, Luca."

"Eli, goodnight and thank you for everything you're doing."