FicWad

Willow woke to the sound of Gerard singing in the shower. She smiled as she listened to his voice but then it abruptly stopped and a moment later he walked out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel. He saw she was watching him.
“Morning.” He said softly. “Are you feeling better?”
She nodded, “Yeah, much better, thanks.”
Gerard walked over and sat down on the bed. “Willow he need to talk.”
Something in his voice made her realize that the chances were very good what he wanted to talk about was going to upset her. “Okay.” She said slowly. “What about?”
He looked into her eyes, “Look we both know that we only have a few more days at the Paramour. We need to discuss what is going to happen when we leave there.”
Willow nodded, “Okay.”
Gerard sighed. She was not making this any easier. “Look you have to know that what we’ve shared isn’t normal.”
Willow was wounded by his words. The fact that he seemed to be speaking of their relationship in a past tense upset her. “That’s true.” She agreed looking away.
He continued. “Whatever this feeling that happens when we touch is, well it sorta scares me.” There, he thought, I’m being honest with her.
Willow frowned, “Scares you?”
“Yeah, it scares the fuck out of me. It ain’t normal, hell I don’t even know what to call it.” He realized by the look on her face this wasn’t going well.
Willow felt tears threaten her eyes, “Well there is an easy solution.” She said pushing back the cover and standing. “Just don’t touch me.”
Gerard sighed, “Stop it. You’re taking what I’m trying to say all wrong.”
Willow turned to him. “Well how do you want me to take it? Seriously you just said that the feeling we share when we touch scares you.”
“Of course it does because I don’t understand it. Fuck woman, since I met you I don’t understand anything anymore.”
“Well that’s what happens when you let a freak like me into your life. But don’t worry I’ll be gone soon enough.” She turned and headed towards the bathroom. Gerard grabbed her before she got to the door.
“No.” He said roughly, “Don’t start that shit again. Every time you can’t deal with something you run.”
Willow’s eyes flashed, “I run?”
“Yeah, you fuckin’ run. And you hide yourself by starting that shit about being a freak. Don’t you think I understand what you’re doing? It’s time to stop that shit Willow. Stop being afraid of being hurt.”
“That’s not what I’m doing.” She tried to wrench her arm from his grasp.
“Yeah, it is. You think that you can just blame everything on your abilities. You blame them by saying you’re a freak and that allows you to hide.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” She said angrily. All the while her body was tingling from his touch. That just made her angrier.
Gerard felt it too. But this time he wouldn’t let it distract him. There were things he needed to say to her. Things she needed to know.
“Willow….” He stopped when his cell phone rang.
They both stood glaring at each other. Finally Willow spoke. “Answer it.”
He shook his head, “No, this is more important.”
“It might be Mikey.” She whispered. In truth she’d been worried about him since leaving the mansion. She felt so much guilt over leaving.
Gerard sighed and released her arm. She went into the bathroom when he turned to grab his phone off the nightstand. When Willow returned he was packing his bag.
“It was Mikey. Something happened and he wants to talk to you.”
“Is he okay?” Willow asked quickly. “How did he sound?”
Zipping up his bag he spoke without looking at her. “Not bad just excited, I think. I told him we would be there soon.” While he was worried about his brother he wished the call hadn’t come now. He and Willow really needed to get some things straight between them.
Willow grabbed her cloths out of the bag and headed towards the bathroom again. Gerard’s voice stopped her.
“Why do you do that?”
She gave him a puzzled look, “What?”
“Dress in the bathroom. It’s not like I haven’t seen you naked before.”
Willow stared at him. “I don’t know. I guess I’m modest.”
Gerard laughed, “Oh Sugar. Why be modest in front of me? I’ve seen you hanging in my closet.” He felt himself harden at the memory.
Willow’s breath caught at the memory too. “Oh shit, we don’t have time.” She whispered knowing he felt the same way.
“No we don’t.” He said unhappily. “But I wish the fuck we did.”

“They’ll be here soon.” Mikey reported to the others who were settled around the dining room table enjoying breakfast.
Ray nodded, “Good we need to get some work done.”
Mikey took a seat and looked down at this plate. “Uh, yeah. But I have to talk to Willow first.”
Frank looked at him closely, “Did something happen?” He hadn’t seen Alicia helping Mikey into the mansion last night and no one had clued him in.
When Mikey didn’t answer right away Bob did. “Yeah, something happened and Mikey needed Willow but she wasn’t here because Gerard took her to a hotel.” The anger in his voice was obvious.
Mikey didn’t want him to be mad at his brother, “It’s okay, I dealt with it.”
Ray looked over at Bob, “So you gonna talk to Willow too?” He was wondering if Bob was going to share what had happened to him last night.
Bob looked uncomfortable, “I don’t think it’s important.” He said looking down at his plate.
Mikey turned to him, “What happened?”
Frank looked around the table. “Why is it I’m feeling very left out? What the hell is going on?”
Alicia took a drink of her coffee then answered since on one else seemed to want to do it. “Mikey saw the little girl again last night.” Proudly she added, “And he understood the images she showed him.”
Her husband reached over and squeezed her hand. It meant a lot to him that she was proud he’d been able to do that.
“Okay.” Frank said slowly. “So what happened to Bob?”
Alicia shrugged.
This time it was Christa who spoke. “Bob tell everyone.” She urged softly.
Bob looked over at Ray, “So you told her?”
Ray nodded, “Yeah, was that wrong?”
Bob sighed, “No, I guess not. But you know what? I liked it much better when I just had water filling up my bathtub. I don’t like seeing things.”
“Seeing things?” Mikey said excitedly, “What did you see?”

On the way back to the Paramour Gerard tried to get Willow to talk to him about their relationship. She was having none of it.
“Gee, I need to concentrate on what’s going on at the Paramour so I can help Mikey.” She said tiredly.
“Fine, I get that.” He said pulling into traffic. “But we have to deal with this sooner of later.”
Willow didn’t need her heart anymore broken at the moment. “Ask me about Martha again.” She said softly.
Gerard tried to hide his disappointment. “Okay, tell me what happened with the Dark Man. Tell me how you saw Martha’s murder.”
“I saw it through the images he projected. But he fucked up. He didn’t realize that now I can also feel not just see. He loved her.”
Gerard glanced over at her. “Wait. This feeling stuff is new right? You couldn’t do it before?”
“Not really. Like with your grandma. That night she showed up in my car I could see she was frantic and I could see images of where she wanted me to go. But I couldn’t feel true emotion.”
“But you can since you met me, right?”
Willow sighed, “Yeah, lots of things have changed since I met you.”
He wondered if she thought that was a bad thing. “So tell me what you felt?”
She looked out the window at the passing scenery. “He was showing me images of her death. She was upstairs in the room Mikey is staying in. She was checking to make sure it had been cleaned properly. As she was standing by the bed he came up behind her.” Willow took a calming breath, “He pushed her down on to the bed and held her face tight against the mattress until she suffocated.”
“Fuck.” Gerard muttered.
Willow had tears in her eyes as she continued. “He let her body slip to the floor then just walked away. But I saw what was in his eyes. They were full of sorrow and regret. I caught a quick glimpse of a memory of him watching her before. He loved her.”
“So why did he murder her?”
“I don’t know. But the fact that he realized I knew the truth of how he felt angered him. That was when he became violent and started projecting the terrible images in my head to hurt me.” She wiped away a tear, “I did see other things I’m trying to figure out. At one point he briefly showed me the little girl. I’m sure she was Martha’s daughter.”
“What was the image?” He was so caught up in the story he almost missed his exit.
“She was standing at her mothers grave crying.”
“Why would he show you that?”
“I’m not sure he meant to. Things were coming at me so fast that I don’t think he was truly controlling what I was seeing and that made him angrier.”
“Willow I’m not gonna lie. I’m scared for you. This Dark Man can hurt you. I’m not sure you should do this anymore. I can explain it to Mikey.”
Willow cut him off, “I’m not going to fail Mikey. He’s right we need to reunite Martha and her daughter. Martha needs to understand that the man who murdered her can’t hurt her daughter. I’m sure that’s what she’s afraid of. She believes she is protecting her daughter by not going to her.”
“I’m confused.”
“She knows the man is still in the house. I think she’s afraid that if she is reunited with her daughter that the man can somehow hurt her. I think he’s convinced her of that. But it’s not true. The little girl has moved on. She comes from a good, pure place.”
Gerard interrupted her, “How can you tell?”
“By the way she looks. Like Mikey said she’s lighter. You can just see it. She comes to look for her mother because she wants to take her back with her”
“So all you have to do is explain this to Martha?”
Willow nodded, “Yes but that won’t be easy. The Dark Man will do everything he can to prevent that. He wants to keep Martha with him.”
“Because he loves her?” Gerard guessed.
“Yes, but it’s a sick love. A tormented and brutal love.”

Willow walked into the mansion feeling very nervous. She tried to take a deep calming breath before walking through the door but it wasn’t helping.
“Willow.” Mikey rushed toward her and enveloped her in a tight hug. “I’m so glad you’re back. I saw her again and I understood.” His words were rushed with excitement.
“Dude, calm down.” Gerard said walking in behind Willow.
Willow smiled and ignored Gerard, “Tell me what happened.” She said taking Mikey’s hand.
“I have so much to tell you.” He smiled. “So much.”
“I’m gonna take our bags upstairs.” Gerard muttered feeling left out.
They both once again ignored him.
“Lets go sit in the sunshine and you can tell me.” Willow suggested. The dark feeling of the mansion was beginning to bother her again.
“Sure.” Mikey agreed.
Alicia walked towards them. “Is it okay if I come too?”
Willow and Mikey exchanged a look.
“Sure, I think you should.” Willow said with a smile.
Mikey nodded, “Yeah.” He dropped Willow’s hand and put his arm around his wife’s shoulder. “I’ve told you already but I’m sure you want to hear Willow’s take on it.”
The three of them walked out into the rose garden and settled on the benches.
“Okay, tell me what happened.” Willow urged softly.
“I was walking down the driveway when I suddenly knew I wasn’t alone.” Mikey explained, “At first I was kinda scared but when I saw it was Mary it was okay.”
Willow interrupted him. “Mary?”
Mikey smiled, “Her name is Mary.”
“How do you know?” Willow asked.
“She showed me her grave. It took me a minute to figure it out. But then I realized she was doing it so I’d know her name.”
Willow nodded, “That makes sense. So what else did she show you?”
Mikey’s smiled slipped, “She showed me how her mom died.”
This shocked Willow. “What?”
“Martha was upstairs in my room when it happened. It was a man…”
“The Dark Man.” Willow nodded. “He is the dark, evil presence who is still here.”
“I know and I saw how he murdered Martha.”
Willow shuddered, “Yeah, I know. I’ve seen it too but how could Mary show you that? They can only show you things that they’ve actually seen either while they were alive or after ….” She took a deep breath, “Oh shit, she saw her mom’s murder.” She whispered.
Mikey nodded sadly, “Yeah, I figured that out. One of the images she showed me was her in a dark place.”
“A dark place?” Willow repeated confused.
“It took me a bit to figure it out but it’s the closet in my room. She must have seen him kill her mom while she was hiding in the closet.”
“Poor baby.” Alicia whispered.
Willow nodded sadly in agreement.
“But it’s good that my boy got all of this, isn’t it?” Alicia said looking into Willows eyes. She wanted Willow to hear her thoughts and she did. Alicia was telling her that Mikey had been very upset by all of this at first. She wanted Willow to understand that it was important to keep him positive about his abilities. Willow smiled at her.
“Yes, it’s very good. I’m impressed, Mikey.”
He smiled, “Thanks but now we have to figure out what to do. Time is running out and we have to leave here soon. We have to make Martha understand she can go with her daughter. She has to understand that the man can’t hurt Mary.”
Willow was truly impressed with his understanding of the situation. “That’s true and I will help you if I can but this is really something you’ll have to do. Martha and Mary both are drawn to you, not me.”
Mikey took a deep breath, “Yeah, I know. But the man is drawn to you” He looked into Willows eyes and shocked her by adding, “And Gerard.”
“And Gerard, what?”
They all turned to see Gerard standing a short distance away. Mikey looked over at Willow. She heard his thoughts. He understood so much more then she’d imagined.
“So?” Gerard took several more steps towards them. “What were you saying Mikey?”
Mikey continued to look at Willow. He was telling her that he understood she loved his brother and that he understood the man would try to use that against her. Willow needed to talk to Mikey alone. She wanted to know how he knew these things.
“Fine.” Gerard spat angrily. “I’m not invited to this party.” He turned and walked away.
Mikey sighed, “I’m sorry Willow.”
“Mikey how do you know?”
Alicia looked at them both wondering what was going on. It took a minute but then she realized that Willow had been listening to Mikey’s thoughts.
He smiled sadly, “That was the other thing Mary showed me. She showed me what the man did to you regarding my brother.” He looked away, “She also showed me a little bit about how he used Gerard to release his anger. I saw a flash of Gee attacking you.”
Willow was shocked, “I don’t understand. Why would she show you that?”
Alicia was confused, “Gee attacked you?”
This was something Willow didn’t want to discuss. She nodded then turned away.
“Okay.” Alicia said understanding that Willow didn’t want to talk about it. “But how did Mary know? I thought you just said that they can only show you things that have seen? Did Mary see Gee attack you?”
Willow realized that was a very good question. She hadn’t felt Mary’s presence in the room when it had happened. That left a more unsettling possibility. “She may be able to tap into the man’s images.”
“Shit, that’s not good.” Mikey muttered.
“No, it’s not.” Willow said trying to make sense of everything. “And I still don’t get why she showed you.”
Mikey shrugged, “I’m not sure. Maybe to warn me about how strong and evil that man can be?”
Willow looked across the lawn lost in thought.
“What are you going to do?” Mikey asked softly.
“What?” Willow pulled her thoughts back.
Mikey locked eyes with her, “About loving my brother.”
Willow shook her head sadly, “There is nothing I can do about that.”