T/W: Minor innuendo and frightening images, creepy laughter and shadow figures.

***

For the second half of the investigation, Nolan switches up the teams. He decides to have it girls versus guys.

"Lola and Avery can go together and us guys will team up," Nolan says.

"I hope you'll actually get some investigating done," Lola taunts, smirking. Lennox laughs.

"Maybe we should be investigating the boys instead of the ghosts," Avery jokes. Lola chuckles.

"Not a bad idea," she agrees.

"Hey, we're professionals!" Sid protests, looking grouchy.

"Yeah, professional screw arounds!" Lola says, grinning.

"All right, all right," Nolan jumps in before things spiral out of control. "Lola, you and Avery head up to the master bedroom. There's been reports of shadow figures in there. Us guys are going up to the attic. There's been reports of children's laughter in there."

"Sounds good." Avery studies Nolan's facial expression. He's so...intense during these investigations. She wonders what he does for relaxation.

The two groups split up, Lola and Avery heading to the master bedroom, while the guys head up to the attic.

As soon as they're in, Lennox immediately begins sneezing. Sid chuckles. Lennox tosses him a dirty look, while fumbling in his jeans pocket for some tissues.

"So the reports of this, are creepy children's laughter," Sid says, panning the camera slowly around.

"Is there a Sally Anne or a Jimmy up here?" Nolan asks. There's a small, scurrying noise in the back corner. All of them look at each other.

"Please don't let that be rats," Lennox whispers.

"Use the thermal camera," Sid suggests. "If there are rodents, they'll show up on that." Nolan aims the thermal camera in the direction of the noise, even though they haven't heard anything more.

"I'm not picking up any heat over there," Nolan reports.

"Sally Anne?" Lennox says. "Was that you?" Nothing.

"Jimmy? Are you here?" The scurrying noise sounds again, followed by some faint laughter.

"Jimmy, why are you here? Are you scared to leave?" Nolan asks.

More faint laughter.

"I'm picking up something on the camera here," Sid informs them. Both Nolan and Lennox, crowd close to Sid, who points out the faint, dark mass in the corner.

"It's gotta be Jimmy," Nolan says.

"I'm thinking so as well," Sid says. "Especially since we got an intelligent response almost immediately."

"Awesome!" Nolan grins. "I can't wait to show this to the client."

****

Meanwhile, Avery and Lola are having their own experiences in the master bedroom.

"Nolan said that there's reports of shadow figures in here, right?" Avery asks Lola, who nods.

"Let's just sit in here for a few minutes and see if anything shows itself," Lola says. Avery goes to sit down on a chair in a corner, while Lola takes a seat on the edge of the bed.

"Is there a Henry, Sally Anne or a Jimmy here?" Lola asks. They wait.

"Why are you still here?" Avery asks.

There's a knock on the wall. Avery and Lola lock eyes.

"Henry? Was that you?" Avery asks. Nothing.

"Sally Anne?" Lola asks. The knock comes again.

"Okay, Sally Anne," Lola says. "Is there a reason you're still here?" Another faint knock.

"Okay," Avery says. "Since you prefer to communicate by knocking, let's play a game. One knock for yes, two knocks for no."

Another knock. Yes.

"Are you scared?" Lola asks. One knock. Yes.

"Are you here alone?" Avery asks. Two knocks. No.

"Who's here with you?" Lola asks. "Is Jimmy, your little brother here?" One knock. Yes.

"Is Jimmy scared?" Avery asks. Two knocks. No.

"I'm sorry that you're scared," Lola murmurs. "We can help you move on, if you want." Two knocks. No.

"You don't want to move on?" Avery asks. "Why? Are you afraid Jimmy will be alone if you do?" One knock. Yes.

"Jimmy can go with you," Lola explains. "You can move on, together. Would you like that?" One knock. Yes.

"Good." Avery frowns, looking at Lola. How do you help a spirit move on? She has no idea what to do.

"How do you accomplish that?" Avery whispers to Lola.

"We'd have to bring in an expert," Lola tells Avery. "Someone who knows how to guide spirits to the spirit realm."

"Like..who?" Avery's baffled.

"A psychic."

****

By six o'clock the following morning, Avery feels like she just wants to crawl into her bed and sleep for a week. She stifles a yawn as she helps Sid load up the last of the equipment.

"What's gonna happen now?" Avery asks Sid.

"Nolan will contact his psychic friend, Billie North and she'll meet up with us at the society and then, Billie will come out here, hopefully guiding them over, if that's what they really want," Sid replies.

"Sounds complicated," Avery comments.

"I don't think it really is," Sid says. "A lot of it is if the spirits are willing to speak with Billie. If she can make contact, then she'll be able to point them in the right direction."

"Cool." Avery smiles a sad smile. "This might sound silly, but I feel badly for those child spirits."

Sid smiles, patting Avery on the shoulder. He has to say, although Avery didn't make that great of a first impression on him, Sid thinks now that she's not so bad.

"No reason to feel silly," Sid says. "It's called having empathy. We've all felt it at some point since we've been investigating."

"That makes me feel better," Avery says. Nolan joins them.

"Really to head home?" He asks.

"We're good to go," Sid informs Nolan.

"Great! Let's get home, get rested up and then, start reviewing the footage."

****

After Nolan drops Avery off at home, she immediately goes inside, takes a quick shower and, heads for bed for a few hours.

It takes her a little bit to fall asleep. Avery keeps replaying what she experienced in that old farmhouse. She can't help but think: is that stuff she heard and saw actually true? It seems kinda weird. It's not necessarily that Avery didn't totally discount the supernatural, she's just never really thought about it much.

As she's drifting off to sleep, the last image that pops into her head is that of Nolan. She falls asleep, a faint smile on her face. Maybe she could hang out with him, without having the paranormal part involved.

***

A few hours later, everyone is back at the paranormal society, eager to go over the footage and see everything they got.

Nolan helps Avery, sitting beside her and trying to stay focused on the footage. Instead he finds himself growing more and more distracted by the scent of her perfume.

"Here's the knocking noises," Avery says to Nolan. She turns her head, noting the dazed look in his eyes

"Nolan?"

"Oh! Yes?" He starts, mentally scolding himself for getting so easily entangled by sitting this close to Avery. Nolan looks at Avery, who looks somewhat amused, as though she knows what's going through his head.

"This is the part where Lola and myself were in the master bedroom, where I'm pretty sure we were communicating with Sally Anne," Avery tells Nolan.

Nolan grabs the headphones, slipping them on and listening to the audio. After he's ran through it a few times, he nods, removing the headphones.

"This is some of the best footage we've had," Nolan says to Avery, who beams with pride.

"Thanks," Avery murmurs. She looks into Nolan's eyes. "You know, I had a lot of doubts about what your team does, but maybe you're the real deal."

Nolan give Avery a Look.

"Maybe we're the real deal?"

"No offense," Avery hastens to add.

"Even after everything you've witnessed, you still doubt?" Nolan asks.

"What can I say?" Avery shrugs. "I don't necessarily take anything at face value."

"That's understandable." Avery leans a little closer to Nolan, boldly touching his knee. Nolan gazes into Avery's eyes, slowly inch his hand towards her cheek.

Avery holds her breath, desperately waiting for Nolan's fingers to make contact with her bare skin. When they do, her breath comes out sharp and shallow.

"Is this..okay?" Nolan asks softly, his fingers caressing Avery's cheek. Avery nods, reaching out her own hand, tenderly cupping one of Nolan's cheeks in her palm.

"Are you okay with me doing this?" Avery asks quietly and Nolan smiles.

"Yeah." Nolan leans in even closer, her lips so close. He wants to taste her. Before Avery realizes what's happening, Nolan's lips are on hers. She leans into it, enjoying the feeling of Nolan's kiss.

"Ahem!" Nolan and Avery spring apart, both of their faces burning with embarrassment. Sid is standing there, looking annoyed.

"Have you finished reviewing your part of the footage?" He asks.

"Almost!" Nolan says, his voice laced with false cheerfulness. Avery turns her head, covering her still flaming face.

"Great," Sid says flatly. "Lemme know when you're done." He hurries off.

"Oh my gosh." Avery mutters. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't apologize," Nolan murmurs, his face still red. "I'm the one who who initiated it."

Avery slides her chair back, needing to put some space between them. As much as she'd really wanted Nolan to kiss her, now that its happened, she feels uncomfortable about it.

"I'm gonna take a quick break, if you don't mind?" Avery tells Nolan. He nods, looking as uncomfortable as she feels.

"No problem." Avery hurries away from Nolan, silently cursing herself. What a time for Nolan to decide to kiss her.

☆Nine☆

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