I let Aiden catch Kasey up on everything she missed. Normally I’d want to be the one to tell her, but after a full weekend of stress, I’m just happy to finally curl up on my own couch. Sit in my boyfriend’s arms, nestle in the comfort of his warmth. I’m leaning back against his chest, and I can feel the low rumble of his voice, on top of hearing it. It’s nice.

Aiden reaches the end of his recounting. Kasey stares at us, then sits back in the armchair, shaking her head in a dazed kind of way.

“You two,” she says, “Have a gift for failing your way to success.”

“Thank… you?” Aiden rests his chin on the top of my head. “Honestly, that could be the motto of the Ghost Office. Blow things up until you succeed.”

Kasey frowns. “That’s too long for a motto.”

“Blow your way to success,” I offer, and Kasey chokes.

“Okay! If there’s ever a motto for the Ghost Office, I will be the one coming up with it. Clearly.” She tries to scowl at us, and ends up beaming. “Whatever, I can’t even be mad, right now. Jamie! I can’t believe you got through that! And Aiden - you’re a fucking rockstar!”

Aiden grins, then looks down at me. I keep my head against his shoulder, but tip it up so I can smile back at him.

“Couldn’t have done any of it without your plan, Kase-face,” I tell her.

“Seriously,” Aiden puts in. “All that shit you told us to say, that’s what sold it. You should have seen Coburn’s face when I said casualty collection point.”

Kasey nods sagely.

“Sounds scary, doesn’t it? I’m just glad he didn’t pick up on the Sutton Foster thing.”

I look at her, then look at Aiden, but he doesn’t seem to know what she’s talking about, either.

“What Sutton Foster thing?” he asks. “The names you picked out for us?”

“Yeah, but also the name of an actress I saw on Broadway, when I was in New York.” A dreamy expression takes over Kasey’s face. “I have such a girl crush on her.”

“What?” I gape at Kasey. “So you named us Agent Foster and Agent Sutton? You said that getting cute with the names would be a mistake! I wanted us to be Scully and Mulder!”

“Oh, okay!” She rolls her eyes. “Or how about Agent Obvious and Agent Duh?”

“Excuse me!” I glare at her, then twist to face Aiden. “Back me up, here, please?”

“Leave me out of it, Sutton.”

Kasey cuts back in. “Come on, stay focused. You guys didn’t open the locket yet, did you?”

“No. We figured you would probably find a way to murder us, if we did that.”

“You figured right, Jamie! What did Coburn say about it, again?”

“He said…” I close my eyes, trying to remember. “It’s a guilloche locket.”

“Not helpful. That’s just in reference to the decorative style. What else?”

“Cast… foliate bezel? I think he said? And um - engraving on verso.”

“Foliate just means a leafy design, and verso means the engraving is on the back.”

“And he said there was no portrait, but a hair compartment.”

“A hair compartment.” Kasey stares at the locket. It’s sitting on the coffee table between us, picking up the afternoon light. “Well, that’s not uncommon. People used to take hair cuttings for memorial lockets. Especially if they couldn’t afford to have a portrait painted of whoever they lost.”

“So…” Aiden glances at the locket, then back at Kasey. “That locket has a cutting of Will’s hair inside?”

Kasey nods slowly. “Probably, yes.”

I can tell the wheels are turning in her head. I’ve been excited to get the locket back to her ever since we made our escape. Aiden and I can only see a piece of jewelry, but our team historian can read all of its hidden messages.

Of course, there’s also the very obvious message, right on the back. On verso, I guess.

Ariana Callahan’s name.

“Weird, right?” I say quietly. “Knowing that Will and Ariana were in love?”

Kasey’s eyes linger on the locket. She answers slowly, thinking it out as she goes.

“You know… everything about this is so weird, it’s actually not striking me as that much crazier than any other aspect of the ghost hunt.” She nods at Ariana’s name. “This right here, this is only a symptom of the bigger weirdness, which is that Will lived centuries before I did. Our lives, our histories, the worlds we’ve lived in, they’ve been completely different.”

“Not completely different,” Aiden tells her. “You have Ketterbridge in common.”

“Yes, but…” Kasey folds her arms around her knees. “Think about what things were like when Will was alive. He was born in 1797, died in 1822, right?”

“Right.”

“So…” Kasey takes a moment to sift through the library of historical knowledge that lives in her head. “America would have had what, only about ten million residents, at that point? Lewis and Clark set out on their expedition when Will was seven years old. In fact, I think - yeah, George Washington was still the president, the year that Will was born. The first president.” She looks out of the window, nibbling her thumbnail. “If Will had lived only like, twenty years earlier, he would have been around to see the Declaration of Independence signed and the Constitution ratified. That’s how far back we’re talking.”

Aiden and I have fallen silent, listening. Kasey stirs from her train of thought. She blinks, and shakes her head.

“Anyways, I just have no idea what he’ll be like. He’s had two hundred years to become whatever he is now.”

“Yeah, but…” I tip my head to the side. “Kasey, isn’t that kind of cool? You’re going to be the only modern-day historian to actually get to talk to someone who lived during Will’s time - and during every time, since! He can tell you everything!”

“That’s… yeah.” Kasey breaks into a tiny smile. “I have thought of that. And I suspect that he’ll probably look the same as he did when he died.”

Aiden quirks an eyebrow. “What makes you think so?”

“Because I’m not changing.” Kasey takes a strand of her black hair between her fingers. “My hair isn’t growing. I can’t eat, but I’m not losing weight. I can’t change my clothes. This is what I’m going to look like forever, I think. No reason that Will would be any different.”

“Well, there’s that!” I fix Kasey with a giant grin. “Good to know he won’t look like a two-hundred-year-old man, which - honestly, I can’t even picture-”

“You know,” Aiden interrupts, “The best way to get actual answers about any of this stuff would be to just summon him. Right?”

All eyes go back to the locket.

“Aiden,” Kasey says. “Open it.”

He gently shifts me off of his chest, ruffles my hair, and reaches for the locket.

Kasey and I lean forward. Aiden carefully puts his thumb on the latch, hesitates, and depresses it. The locket opens with a soft click.

We all stare down at it, confused.

There’s nothing. The inner part of the locket is a flat, golden surface. No engraving, no decoration. It’s just blank.

“There’s a second latch.” Kasey points, and only then do I notice it. A tiny knob, set into the inner surface of the locket. It's cleverly disguised to look like one of the engraved golden leaves that frame the locket's outer edge. “That’s unusual,” Kasey observes. “The hair is usually behind a piece of glass. Easier to look at it that way.”

Aiden puts his thumb to the second latch and presses. Nothing happens.

“Push harder?” Kasey suggests. Aiden does, and still nothing. He tries hooking his thumbnail beneath and pushing the latch up instead. It doesn’t budge.

“Maybe there’s a trick to it?” He holds the locket up to the light, squinting. “Wait - it looks like maybe the latch turns? Should I try to turn it, instead of pushing?”

He does, gently at first, and then with more force, but the thing won’t go. He gives the entire locket a shake, and - a small noise comes back to us.

We all look up at each other.

“Well, there’s definitely something in there,” Aiden says.

“Okay.” Kasey sits back, one eyebrow raised. “So just how the hell do we open it?”

~~~~

God, it feels so fucking good to be back in my own shower. I stand under the water with my eyes closed, thinking about what’s next.

It’s not like we can go back to Coburn and ask him how to open the locket. Even if we could, there’s no guarantee he’d have the answer. He didn’t mention anything about the trick lock when he told us about the locket. He only knew that there was a compartment of some kind.

Which leads us to believe that even the professionals at the Bratton Collection couldn't get it open.

We decided that taking the locket to a jeweler or some other kind of expert is out of the question. That would leave too much of a trail. We managed to come away clean from the heist, and to fuck it up retroactively would be the worst.

I pointed out that Aiden could use magic to break the locket apart. Apparently a wild suggestion to make to a historian and an archivist, both of whom looked like they would rather die than do that.

In retrospect, I agree. It’s too risky. The locket’s contents could be damaged or destroyed in the process. I mean, Aiden obliterated Will’s pocket watch. He turned it into a pile of golden dust, and he was actively trying not to break it.

We tried putting the locket directly on the map. It didn’t work. We need to get that compartment open.

But in my mind, the hardest part is over. We have the locket, and I know we’ll find a way to crack it open. Kasey is headed to Benton Street, to update Will. Maybe he’ll have an idea. Maybe he'll finally talk to us again.

The door of my bathroom clicks, pulling me out of my thoughts.

“Can I come in?” Aiden murmurs.

“Hi, yes, please do.” I hear the door click shut again, and he says something I can’t hear. “What? Come closer, please.”

He slides the shower curtain back a little bit, then leans in to talk to me.

“Hi, I wanted to let you - know that - that - I’m…” He fades off, staring at me, his lip pinned between his teeth.

I tap his nose with my finger. “You’re what?”

Aiden blinks.

“What? Oh. I - was gonna say-” He stops again, then shakes his head, his cheeks coloring. “Fuck. I don’t - I don’t fucking remember.”

I let out a laugh and take his face in my dripping hands. “You know, you’ve seen me naked kind of a lot of times, by now.”

“So? What’s that got to do with anything?”

“So, you’re not getting used to it?”

“Getting used to-?” He laughs like I just said something hilarious. “Um. No.”

Sweet, sparkling warmth spreads out from my core. The smile on my face is starting to hurt my cheeks.

“Aiden, your shirt is getting all wet, you leaning in here like this.”

“Oh no, is it?” But he doesn’t move an inch, or even bother to look down. His gaze is still glued to me. I laugh again, then drag my knuckles down his jaw.

“Babe, what were you gonna say?”

“I - honestly, dude, I don’t know.” He lets out a helpless laugh, and I do, too.

“Well - do you want to just come in?”

“Yeah. Cool. Alright. Definitely.”

Aiden disappears to get his clothes off. Then he comes back, and now it’s me who can’t tear my eyes away.

He steps into the shower, ducks beneath the water. He’s tall enough that he has to bend to get his hair wet, and I laugh again, turning away to set down my body wash. When I straighten up, Aiden pulls me backwards and locks his arms around me, pressing his body to mine.

I lean back against him, letting out a long breath, letting the water run down both of our bodies.

“What a wild fucking weekend.” I trace my fingernails along his forearms. “I’m exhausted. It feels good to be back here, with you.”

Aiden's nose is pressed to the back of my neck, his lips close enough that I feel him smile.

“Yeah. I feel the same way. I’m glad I took the whole day off.”

“I’m glad you did, too.”

“We could spend it together. No heist stuff, no ghost hunt, no impending burglary charges, just - some time for us.”

I snuggle back against him, my heart lifting. “Okay, yeah. That sounds nice. What do you want to do?”

“I was thinking of going to Mugshot, picking up some coffee and snacks-”

“Wow, love this plan right off the bat.”

“And then, since we’re both tired, maybe just - have a lazy day? We can watch that show you like. The spooky one.”

“Which spooky one?” I ask. “All the shows I like are spooky.”

“The one set in Argentina. The animated one.”

“Oh, The Kirlian Frequency?”

“Yeah.”

“Well - I mean.” I stroke my fingers over Aiden’s. “We should watch something that you want to watch, too. Didn’t you say that The Kirlian Frequency freaks you out?”

“I said I thought it was creepier than Twin Peaks, but - if you want to watch it, that’s fine with me.”

“No, come on, what do you feel like?”

“I guess…” Aiden drags the tip of his nose up the curve of my shoulder. “I did record the game I missed over the weekend.”

“Oh. Okay, you know what? I’ll watch it with you, but then let’s go back to The X-Files. Does that work?”

“Yes.” Aiden kisses the tender spot right behind my ear. “Whatever makes you happy.”

This makes my heart swell, but also gives me pause.

“Aiden, it’s not just about me. You realize that I want you to be happy, too? You should tell me, if there’s stuff you want us to do together. I’m down. I just made it through a fucking heist, I think I can make it through a football game.”

His huffing laugh rushes down the back of my neck. “Okay. Yeah, I - okay.”

“You’ll tell me? You promise?”

He tightens up his arms, gives me a little squeeze.

“Yes. I promise.”

I smile to myself, and we stand like that for a minute, just enjoying being close to each other. He smooths his thumbs over my skin, back and forth. Being cocooned in these warm, strong arms is the best feeling, and I close my eyes to savor it.

Then open them again.

“Um, Aiden.”

“I’m sorry.” His voice has turned all rough and husky. “It’s not on purpose, I know that you’re tired. It’s just - you look really cute in here, and I’m holding you like this…”

“No, don’t - don’t be sorry.” I glide my palms over his arms, then turn to my head to kiss him. Drag my fingernails down through his beard.

Aiden makes a quiet, breathless sound into my mouth. An answering burst of heat rushes through me, and I sink even further back into his arms.

“You know what?” I stammer, when I get ahold of myself again, “Maybe I’m not like, that tired.”

Aiden’s mouth quirks into a teasing smile.

“Hmm.” He turns me to face him, takes me by the waist. “You did say that I should let you know if there’s something I want us to do together.”

A bead of water rolls down the sharp cut of his jaw; another catches on his lips. His chestnut hair is all wet and messy, half-falling into his face. His graceful body is all slick with glistening droplets, like it was that first night at the Ghost Office.

He’s still waiting for me to say something. I got lost for a second, looking at him. Ugh. He's so damn fine. It's annoying. Infuriating, honestly.

“I hate you," I tell him.

Aiden breaks out into that sexy little smirk, the one that always makes me melt. His eyes do a slow drag down my body, then come back up to rest on my blushing face. My heart leaps wildly.

“Oh, I think you like me just fine,” he says, and - well.

There’s just no point trying to argue with that, so. I turn off the shower, take his hand, and lead him directly to my bed.