I wedge my phone between my ear and my shoulder, then set down the takeout bag, trying not to drop everything.

“You sound busy, honey,” my mom observes, hearing the clatter of all the stuff in my hands going down on the kitchen counter.

“Yeah, a little bit, but it’s fine! I've just been running errands. I came home and Aiden wasn't here, so.”

“Have you had time to sort out dinner?” I hear the sound of the fridge opening from my mom's end of the call. “Why don’t you come here and pick up some-? Oh, Marcus! He ate so much of the leftovers, there’s nothing left of what I was saving for you and Aiden!"

“Nothing?” I repeat doubtfully, leaning down to give Luna’s furry nose a scratch of greeting.

“Nothing at all!” my mom says, in a despairing voice. “All that's left are some sweet pies and the roasted chicken, a few hot rolls, only one plate left of the garlic baked potato wedges-”

I lose the battle against the laugh I’ve been fighting down. "Yep, sounds like nothing to me."

“Nice as apple pie, aren’t ya?” she asks, in a wounded voice. “My own son, laughing at me! Do you want me to be cross with you, too, or do you want it all directed at your father? Oh - he knows he’s in trouble. He just came in here, turned right around and ran when he saw me at the fridge!”

I can picture this so clearly that I let out a snicker of laughter before I can stop myself.

“There's no need to get dad in trouble, mom! It's really nice of you to offer, but I already picked up dinner for tonight, and - oh, can I call you back later? Roger is calling me.”

I can almost see my mom's eyebrows fly up. “Roger?”

“We’re friends now, it’s a long story - I’ll tell you at my birthday dinner!”

“Fine, but do let me know what dessert you want for that, sooner rather than later, please!”

I promise that I will, then hang up just in time to catch the call from Roger on the last ring.

“Hey, Roger! How’s it going?”

“Hey, man. Pretty good.” His heavy footsteps tell me that he’s in his firefighting boots, walking around the station. “Sorry I missed your call. Just got back from dealing with a grease fire in the kitchen at Mugshot.”

My eyes instantly get very wide, my heart coming to a momentary stop. “At Mugshot? Oh, no!”

“It’s alright, dude,” Roger assures me. “We got it put out just fine. Have a little faith.”

“God, thank you, Roger! Mugshot is kind of a special place to me and - Aiden…”

I slow down automatically, then stop, forgetting for a split second that Roger doesn’t care about this anymore. But he doesn’t. In fact, I can practically hear him smiling on the other end of the line.

“Aw,” he says.

“Shut up!” I groan, immensely relieved.

“Nah, I get it. Luc and I have a place like that, too. Juniper’s. It was already my favorite bar before, but now, 'cause of him, it’s - twice as much - like - I don’t know how to explain.”

Something about the way he says Luc - in a voice glowing with love and warmth - makes me smile.

“Wait, it was your favorite bar before?” I answer, a little surprised. “That’s weird, I don’t remember you taking me there when we were together.”

There’s a brief, puzzled silence from Roger’s end of the line, like he didn't realize that.

“Guess it never occurred to me to do that,” he murmurs thoughtfully. And then, a little defensively, “You never asked me to.”

I plug my headphones in, then stick my phone in my pocket. “But it occurred to you to take Luca there?”

“Yeah, because - I was excited to show him. Really wanted him to check it out, and to like it. Felt important that he did. I dunno.”

“Oh, my god,” I groan, leaning into my hands on the kitchen counter. “Roger, please tell me that now you see why you and I weren’t-”

“Yep, mhm, saw it a long time ago. And I'm definitely hearing it right now.”

There’s a pause, and then we both dissolve into quiet laughter. I roll my eyes affectionately as I start unpacking the sandwiches and two big bottles of cold lemonade from the takeout bag.

“Big dumb fireman.”

“Yeah, yeah. This reminds me, I want that Funko Pop I gave you back. I know it's rude to ask for a gift back, but I also know that you hate it."

"Oh, thank god. What's the fastest way? Can I leave it in your mailbox, or-?"

“Alright,” Roger groans. “Why’d you call me, man? I was afraid it was an emergency, but you only called once and didn’t leave a message. And you sound fine. Clearly you're feeling well enough to give me backtalk.”

“Right, yeah.” I turn to run an eye over the potted white kalanchoe on the kitchen counter, drawing it closer to me. “So, Aiden and I are heading out of town this weekend to take care of something in Port Sitka-”

“Take care of something? You guys have got to be the sketchiest people I’ve ever met.”

“The fuck we are!" I protest, pinching a failing leaf off of the kalanchoe. “We’re not doing anything sketchy, just - there’s this abandoned, collapsed farmhouse-”

“Oh, Christ.”

“Nevermind about that! The point is, Aiden and I are going to be out of town all day and night on Sunday. I wanted to let you know, so that if anyone calls for help from Aiden, you and Luca…”

I trail off, hesitating over the obvious problem with this plan, which isn't lost on Roger.

“What are we supposed to do if someone does that? We can’t find them without Aiden.” There’s a brief pause, and then he adds, very casually - “Unless your superpower can help us?”

"Ugh, for the last time, Roger, it’s not a superpower! And I’m not telling you what it is, right now. One thing at a time.”

“Alright, well - you got another way that Luca and I can help, without you guys here?”

“I - no, not really. I just think that Aiden would prefer it if somebody was on the clock while he’s not. It might make him feel better. He always gets a little nervous when we have to go out of town, so… yeah. I don't want him to worry.”

There’s another pause from Roger’s end of the line, and then -

“Aw,” he says again, around a soft snicker of laughter.

“For fuck’s sake, dude.”

“If you guys have to rush back and meet us, we’ll be ready to go. You can tell Aiden that.”

I close my eyes in relief. “Thank you, Roger.”

“No worries. I’ve gotta run, though. The local daycare had to close for today, so everybody on the squad with a kid under six years old has them at the station at the moment.”

“Oh, that sounds hectic.”

“Yeah.” Roger tries to sound annoyed, but I know how much he loves kids, and it’s deeply unconvincing. “We decided to put on a movie to mellow them out, and we only have this old-ass TV, so Andrew picked up a DVD from the library on his way here. But nobody told him it was for the kids, and I don’t think we can play the one he chose.”

“Are you sure?” I ask, at work on the kalanchoe again. “Kids can handle a little more than people give them credit for, and it’s not a bad thing to challenge them. What movie is it? The Sound of Music, or something?”

“No, it’s Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn.”

I let out a sputter of startled laughter. “Oh, um."

“The tagline on the front literally says, 2 Terrifying, 2 Frightening, 2 Much!”

“I mean, it's a great movie, love that part with the desk lamp, but-”

“And on the back it says - The Sequel To The Ultimate Experience In Grueling Terror.”

I bite back another laugh. “Yeah, maybe not for the six-year-olds.”

“Speaking of people who act like six-year-olds, please tell me that you and Aiden put the fire extinguisher I gave you somewhere in the kitchen, and not someplace ridiculous?”

“Oh, that. There was an - incident.” I cringe deeply, once again busted by my unfortunate honesty. “One of our friends can’t be trusted with fire extinguishers, so we had to hide it, and now Aiden can’t remember where he put it. But it’s cool, we haven’t had a fire in ages! A record amount of time for us, really. It’s been at least a couple of weeks.”

Roger makes a strangled sound, and I whip around as the kitchen door swings open. Aiden steps inside in his jogging clothes, a little out of breath. Stray strands of grass are clinging to his ankles, his soft chestnut hair all messy.

“Jamie,” Roger begins, in an agonized voice. "You-"

“Sorry, I’ve got to run, Aiden just got home! Thanks again, good luck with the kids and the grueling terror, bye!”

I hang up before I can get any pushback, and find Aiden staring at me with questioning eyes, half-laughing.

“What the fuck was that?” he rumbles, tugging his headphones out.

I don't answer, since I'm busy appreciating the yummy sight of him in his knee-length athletic shorts, his big, built, bronze body glowing with a soft sheen of sweat.

When he bends down to kiss me, there’s cool night air clinging to him, sweetened with the perfume of the garden. The saltiness of his sweat, the scent of grass. And beneath it all, the smell of binding glue and old leather and aged paper. The scent of the Archives.

I lean into him, breathe it in deeply as he brushes a soft, intimate kiss onto my lips.

“You went on another run?” I murmur, tugging on his athletic shirt. “Didn’t you go on one before work, too?”

“Mhm. I had enough energy to go again. Wasn’t tired.”

“Really? This is the third time this week you’ve gone on two really long runs in one day.”

“Is it?” he asks breezily, taking a long sip from his water bottle. “Huh. Didn’t realize.”

I draw back, narrowing my eyes at him.

Usually after Aiden goes on a particularly long run he comes back ravenously hungry, but he hasn't gone right for the sandwich. And I haven’t noticed him looking sore or exhausted after any of the long runs he’s been going on lately.

Was he really running, that whole time he was gone? If he was, he should be drenched in sweat, not dusted with a light mist of it.

More than a little suspicious, despite the innocent expression in his blue eyes. But whenever I catch Aiden sneaking around behind my back, it’s for a reason I’m going to be happy about later. And my birthday is coming up, so…

“Go for as many runs as you want to.” I smile playfully up at him. “As long as you’re not too tired out for me when you come home.”

“For you?” He ruffles my hair with his long, warm fingers, blue eyes smiling down at me. “No. Never.”

I nuzzle my nose into his chest, take another deep breath of him, and let him go. “I got us sandwiches from Big Belly Deli.”

“Oh, yes,” Aiden sighs happily, bending down to say hi to Luna. “Who were you on the phone with?”

“Roger.” I cast a bright smile at Aiden over my shoulder as I get our food unwrapped. “Turns out we make really good friends. Sometimes I think all the other stuff between me and him really just - got in the way of that.”

Aiden matches my smile, folding his elbows on the counter. “I like him, too. Now that he’s not after you anymore.”

“He seems to think it’s not great that we lost the fire extinguisher he gave us, though.”

“Mmm. I wouldn’t worry. We’ve always got Luca around for when we inevitably explode a section of the house. I’m sure he’ll be more helpful in rescuing us than a fire extinguisher would be.”

“No, Aiden!” I groan-laugh, throwing my arms out wide, as if to protect the house. “We’re not doing that!”

Aiden nibbles his lip, the subtle crimson glow in his cheeks growing deeper.

“I - was afraid I actually might, at one point last night,” he admits, all in a rush.

“Last n-?” I begin in surprise, then cut myself off, blushing with him when I realize what he’s talking about. “Oh.”

“Sometimes I think it might be safer if we do that in the garden,” he laughs helplessly.

A flicker of wild, glowing fire moves through his eyes as he looks at me, a shy smile turning up the corners of his mouth. He uses his shirt to wipe off his face, and I stare at the flash of sweat-glazed bronze muscle, his graceful tapered waist, the soft, smoky line of fine dark hair running up his lower stomach.

I give myself a shake.

“I don't think so, Callahan! I can just see us accidentally crushing some saplings. Your hands alone are the size of catcher’s mitts, to say nothing of the rest of you, and we’ve got one of the most precious plants in the world out there, so… yeah, no.”

“We don’t have to lay down.” His rich voice drops to a soft, deep purr. “Plenty of trees out there I'd love to press you up against.”

I freeze where I am, a flaming blush shooting up through my face at the vivid images that my imagination instantly gave me in answer to this little statement from Aiden. Heat rolls through my body like sweet, molten syrup, sparkling and electric.

I swallow dryly, blinking fast at Aiden, too flustered by that to come up with an adequate response.

Aiden cracks a tiny, victorious grin, like that’s what he’d hoped for.

“Oh, my god.” I turn around on the pretense of taking down plates for our sandwiches, my entire face burning. “Anyways! I was talking to Roger because I thought maybe he and Luca could be on watch while we’re gone this weekend. In case anyone needs a Guardian.”

Aiden pauses, tips his head to the side thoughtfully. As usual, a silence falls before he comes back with an answer.

“What could they do, though?”

“Yeah, I know. Not much, but… we could call them, at the very least. Even if we can get them heading in the right direction, it could help. Right?”

Another silence from Aiden.

“Yeah, maybe,” he says doubtfully, after a moment. “Too bad Roger and Luca can’t see the ghosts. Then we’d have four members of the rescue team ready to go, instead of two who don’t have any magical abilities to help them out.”

A thought strikes me all at once, stopping me still.

“You know,” I begin slowly, thinking it out as I go, “We've talked about trying to give Floyd and Spencer the Vision, eventually. Maybe Roger and Luca - I mean, we'd have to ask them about it first, but maybe you could-”

“Jamie,” Aiden cuts in, with some exasperation in his deep, rumbling voice. “Once again: I don’t know how to do that, and I’m not just gonna start fucking around with someone’s vision. Is the phrase unintended consequences one you’ve heard before?”

“Really, man? Have you met me? I’m the gold medal champ of unintended consequences.”

“Then you should realize the problems with this idea pretty much instantly.”

“I do, but…” I reach out and catch Aiden’s hand, gazing earnestly into his eyes. “You only don’t know how to do it now, Aiden. I know that we could figure it out together. I know that you're capable of this, because - I've seen you work, Guardian. You’re capable of so much more than you give yourself credit for.”

Aiden stares into my eyes, then abruptly drops his gaze to the floor. A subtle, golden light begins to glow from him, casting its soft radiance in a halo around him.

"And I'm here to help, however I can," I add softly.

“I - I don’t even know where to start, though,” Aiden protests, but this time not as firmly or forcefully. “I’ve only ever given the Vision to you, and that was an - an accident…”

He trails off into silence, his dark eyebrows slowly furrowing in thought.

I tilt my head to the side, watching him with affectionate eyes. “You’ve already got an idea, don’t you?”

“Yeah,” he says slowly, his deep blue eyes lighting up. “Think I might.”