A Pink Corner House, Bristol, Thursday

[chosehumanity]

It was relatively late into the morning when the portal finally dropped them back off in the alleyway near the house (which was always The House, in Mitchell's mind, as opposed to his house back in Fandom, which was just a house). He took a moment to inhale the crisp air, plastered a smile back on his face, and guided Chloe towards the front door.

Pushing his keys into the lock, he muttered a silent prayer to the Gods of PMT that Annie would be a little calmer after Tuesday, and headed on in.

"There we are."

He could hear George bustling upstairs.

[[ to she who be here ]]

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[awakestheghosts]

Chloe would probably never get used to portals. (After all, the last one she had seen had brought her a child.) However, she gave Mitchell a cheerful smile as they entered the house.

"She'll be okay," Chloe did her best to assure him. "We'll take care of her and remind her that she has people who care about her."

This was said with a lot more confidence than she felt at the moment, but damn it. Annie was Mitchell's friend and Chloe was determined to do something to help.

[chosehumanity]

"If you can get her to calm down long enough," Mitchell muttered. He wasn't entirely at his most optimistic. "Annie?" he called, raising his voice a bit.

There wasn't any sight of the ghost. Yet.

[awakestheghosts]

She reached out to squeeze his arm gently, giving him one of her usual shy smiles. "How can she not come through this all right when she has someone like you looking to help?"

[chosehumanity]

He shot her a slight smile. "Ghosts are complicated," he settled on. "But there's hope."

[awakestheghosts]

Chloe couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at him. He was telling her that ghosts were complicated? He must be a lot more worried about Annie than she had originally thought.

[chosehumanity]

Well, Annie was-- Annie was Annie, all right? "Annie!" Mitchell yelled, accordingly, and this time he got a reaction--

--in the shape of an annoyed ghost sticking her head through the doorway from the kitchen. "I heard you the first time, you know," she started, ready to tell him off, when her eyes fell on Chloe. "...and you didn't tell me we had guests. Mitchell?"

"It's all right," he said, "She can see you."

[awakestheghosts]

Chloe waved at Annie. "Hi Annie. I'm Chloe."

She wasn't going to bring up that they had met when Annie was a guest speaker in one of Mitchell's classes because her questions had upset the ghost, and the last thing that Chloe wanted to do was upset Annie.

[chosehumanity]

"Hi," Annie said, waving a little overly-casually. "Mitchell didn't tell me he was bringing over any students. If I'd known, I would have put the kettle on, or something." At that, Mitchell got a rather substantial glare thrown his way.

Mitchell held up his hands. "She's just here for a couple of days," he said, "She can see ghosts, like I said. Maybe she can... spend some time with you and Gilbert, you know. Talking about... ghostly things."

"It's not like a disease, you know," Annie griped, eying him some more. "I mean, obviously I'm dead, so it'd be a bit hard for me to get sick in the first place, and even if it was contagious, it's not like you'd--" She threw a look in Chloe's direction. "...not have caught it by now."

[awakestheghosts]

Chloe shook her head. "I wanted to come and see you, Annie," she said with a shy smile. "You sounded nice and I wanted to spend some time around a ghost who didn't want to hurt me for some reason. Besides, I'm sure the boys are nice and all, but sometimes it's nice to have some girl talk, right?"

Please say yes, Annie, because Chloe wasn't sure what else to say right now that wouldn't make Annie mad at Mitchell.

[chosehumanity]

See, and it was Chloe's overwhelming natural talent at playing the adorable-youngster card that made her such a much better fit for this particular issue than Kate did.

... Mitchell was going to have nightmares about Kate intervening in this one.

"Right," he jumped in, quickly. "Chloe can help you with tea, and I... will go see if George has died in a puddle of his own OCD yet. Have fun."

At which point he fled upstairs, rendering Annie's choice in the matter fairly moot.

[awakestheghosts]

Chloe watched Mitchell flee and shook her head, looking back at Annie with bemusement. "Are all guys like that? Duck and run when they think they're either in a lot of trouble or that spending time with girls would turn them into a girl?"

[chosehumanity]

"Oh, he is in a lot of trouble," Annie replied, glaring after him as he went. "Pff. Coward." She barely left off giving him a rude gesture, too, because there was a kid present. "But yeah, they usually do. Absolutely hopeless sometimes." She laughed. "...Though Owen never did that, he wasn't much of a runner."

[awakestheghosts]

"My friend Derek always beats a hasty retreat when he thinks he's in trouble with me," Chloe said with a shy smile. "And he's a werewolf. Do I look scary enough to send a werewolf running? Because I didn't think I did."

She tilted her head. "Owen?"

[chosehumanity]

"I'm not the one in this house you should be asking about werewolves, sweetheart," Annie said, distractedly, but then Chloe said Owen and she brightened up considerably. "Owen! He's my fiance. Well. Ex-fiance. I was going to marry him, and then I went up and died." She grinned as she said so, sounding a lot like dying was just 'tripping over my feet and whoops!'.

[awakestheghosts]

"Derek is one of a kind. I've never met any other werewolves." That she knew of.

Chloe leaned against the wall and smiled at Annie.

"What's he like?"

Not what was he like. But what is he like.

Because she wanted Annie to talk to her and wanted to try and make her feel better -- and not just for Mitchell. She didn't like anyone being sad or unhappy.

[chosehumanity]

"Owen?" Annie's eyes fogged up a little, dreamy, and she leaned into the doorway. "He's really smart, he's got such a knack for commercial things. And he's kind, and loving, and a little forgetful sometimes - he used to lose his keys all the time."

[awakestheghosts]

"He sounds like a wonderful guy," Chloe said with a small smile. "How did you guys meet?"