A/N: I want to clarify I wrote the first scene of this chapter before the news of Casper's passing was posted. So please don't make any weird inappropriate comments about it.

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Josh gave Ghost a comforting smile. Perhaps there was even a little sympathy in his face. "You look nervous." He said, pointing out the obvious.

She shrugged, though it didn't lift any weight from her shoulders. "I just don't want to say something stupid or anything like that."

He lightheartedly chuckled, "Don't worry. She understands that it can be... Hard, for people to approach her, sometimes. She could use a friend like you. I know how upset it makes her that she can't do her makeup or her hair, or find the right outfits to wear, because she can't see. Maybe you could help her with that."

"I'd love to, if she'll let me. I don't even know if she'll like me." She laughed nervously.

"I'm sure she will." Josh pushed the bedroom door open, stepping aside to let Ghost inside.

She hesitantly stepped forward. Their bedroom, much like the others, was decorated with Gothic decor. There was a lot more dead things in here, though. A large skull, looking like something from a bison or a buffalo, hung over the bed. Plenty of other bones and taxidermist critters were strewn about. Ghost was slightly uneasy with it, being that she's give her own life for an animal. Seeing the three pets sitting on the bed gave her a sense of ease that they weren't heartless killers.

Between the two balls of fluff and a hairless cat, a gorgeous woman sat in the center of the bed with her legs criss-crossed. She continued to pet over her Pomeranian's fluffy head as he breathed heavily. Ghost was blown away by how beautiful she was. There was no way, she thought, that this could be the woman that hid herself away from the others because she feared the way she looked. Her tattooed body made her a living piece of art. Silver curls cascaded down the side of her defined face.

At first glance, she didn't look as if her physical appearance was altered from her prior infection. Under dim candle light, it was hard to see. When Ghost took a closer look, she saw her skin had grayed. Thin veins, branched out like the roots of a hundred yet oak, covered her face. Despite the fracture, she was still astonishing. As soon as she heard her husband's voice, she looked up, revealing eyes that were purely silver.

"This beautiful goddess, who is obviously way too good for me, I mean way out of my league-"

"Josh." She playfully cut him off.

He snickered under his breath and calmed his tone, "Is Ryan-Ashley. The light of my life. I'd like you to meet the girl that Vinny somehow tricked into mating with him. Her name is Ghost."

"Hi," She softly said, "You are so gorgeous."

Ryan-Ashley tilted her head down, smiling gently, "Thank you, but," She frowned, "I know that's not true."

"Yes, it is." Josh insisted, "I'm going to go start dinner. I'll leave you two to have some... girl time."

"Thank you. Maybe the smell of food will finally drag Chris and Kuza out of their room. Not that it's a bad thing they want to spend some quality time together." Ghost joked.

"Quality time." He laughed, "That's certainly one way to put it." Josh left the room, shutting the door behind him.

"Kuza, he's the one that came here with you?" She asked, "The one that merged with Chris last night?"

Ghost sat down on the edge of the bed. She grinned when one of the dogs ran over to her. As she pet him, she responded, "Yeah. Him and Chris didn't get along too well at the beginning of all this, but I'm sure you heard how last night went. They must be getting along famously now."

Ryan-Ashley was slightly scared to ask her next question. She nodded slowly in response, debating whether or not she should. Even with Josh, she didn't like to ask any questions that acknowledged her lack of sight. "Wh-What does he look like?"

"A lot like Chris, actually." She replied, not missing a beat, "His hair is a lot longer though, and I think he's an inch or two shorter than Chris. He's a lot thinner too, but that's just because we didn't eat much on our journey here."

The silver haired beauty's curiosity reminded her of her late brother. Though Casper had his sight, he was inquisitive about nearly everything. That's why it came to Ghost so naturally to speak without hesitation. She didn't even think that most people wouldn't act that way. To be treated a little more... normal, for once, made Ryan-Ashley happy. The others would tend to act so overly delicate to her.

"Josh told me he's really nice, but stubborn. Which makes him a perfect match for Chris." She softly snickered.

"Exactly." Ghost responded. She took a glance down at the pup she kept petting, "What're all their names? The dogs and the cat?"

She scratched the head of the heavy breather in her lap, "This is Casper, and the other one is Toronto. The cat is Pia."

"My brother's name was Casper. He wasn't as cute as you, though." She mused as she leaned over and kissed the pooch.

"Cas is blind like me, but you could probably tell by his eyes. He reminds me that I can still be happy, despite what happened."

"Then why don't you leave this room?" Ghost carefully asked.

Her smile dropped as she answered, "I've always taken pride in the way I look. I'm a mess, now. My hair is gross and I can't do my makeup or anything like that. Even if I could, I... I doubt I could cover this up." She raised her hand to her ashy skin.

"Before the world went to shit and everything, I was an professional FX makeup artist. Not to brag but, I've worked a few miracles before. If you want, I could do your makeup for you."

She seemed taken back in her tone, "You would do that for me?"

"Of course," Ghost beamed, "What are girlfriends for?"

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Kuza drew in a revitalizing breath as he sat up in bed. He groaned in a stretch, earning the attention of his partner. Chris, who was currently at the dresser mirror, glanced over his shoulder to look at him. A small smirk crept onto his face to see Kuza blinking himself awake. It reminded him of a little Labrador puppy. He set down his brush after fixing his hair and approached the bed.

"Evening, sleepy." Chris teased as he sat down beside him on the bed.

"Mmhf," He groaned, still trying to wake up fully, "I can't believe I slept all day."

He narrowed his eyes, playfully whispering, "I guess I wore you out." Chris chuckled at his own humor and leaned forward. He put his hand on the other side of Kuza's waist to keep himself from falling over. Then he glanced down at his lips briefly, "May I?"

"Hnhn," Kuza sleepily hummed, "Later. I smell food."

"Josh just started dinner." He replied, "C'mon, just one kiss?"

"It's never just one kiss with you, Romeo. We can have our fun later. I'm too hungry to think about anything else." He pushed the covers off of his body and stood out of bed. Walking over to his side of the room, he found himself some jeans and a shirt.

Chris took a second to blissfully enjoy what he now could call his own. He'd come to accept the fact that he had fallen for Kuza, hard. The feelings were reminiscent of his early days with Angelo. Something you may assume was painful for him to relive, but on the contrary, he was thankful for it. To feel something so innocent and warming was a rarity these days. Especially when you consider that the creature who gave him these emotions was anything but innocent.

Kuza picked up the brush setting on the dresser. For someone that wouldn't even share a kiss with Chris, he had no problem following the "what's yours is mine" policy of a marriage. He started to brush out his long black hair, the brush getting stuck on a knot formed in his sleep. Yanking on it, he huffed out of frustration.

Quietly, Chris laughed to himself. He walked up behind Kuza, taking the brush from him hand. "Let me help."

"I don't need help." He grumbled. His independence was something he was adamant he wouldn't surrender, even to the person who now was responsible for half his soul.

Chris pecked his cheek, "You want to take my brush, you have to take my help too."

"You're such a pain in the ass." He replied. The smirk on his lips told his mate he was only kidding. Maybe there was a little honesty in it. Living in this small inn, with no way of ever leaving and little to do, it was easy to get irritable.

"But I'm your pain in the ass now." He reminded him happily. The Cheshire Cat couldn't match the grin on his face.

Chris gently ran the brush through Kuza's hair. The little Devil glared at him out of the corner of his eyes, "Don't remind me." He let a small snicker escape his lips. His laugh lit up Chris' heart like Time Square at New Year's Eve.

"You're stuck with me." He replied, changing the subject, "You have such beautiful hair." Chris twisted a lock around his finger, bringing it around to the front of Kuza's face.

A blush crept onto his porcelain face. "Thank you. One of the few things in life I'm actually proud of."

"Yeah? What would some of those other things be?" He asked, fishing for an answer he was a little too hopeful for.

Kuza sighed, "I don't know."

It wasn't an "I don't know, more of a "I don't want to tell you". Chris' smile faded somewhat. He was too hopeful that his mate would admit he actually wanted to be with him. The tables had turned, it seemed. Kuza began this relationship desperate for someone to fall in love with, while Chris offered him nothing but anger. Karma is a killer, it seemed. In the question he'd asked, Kuza had a flashback to his first night here. He suddenly moved away from Chris and began to walk towards the door.

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There was a thick silence that coated the room when Kuza hastily came down the stairs. He slowed his pace when he realized all eyes were on him. Awkwardly, he combed his hand through his hair and continued to the table with his head down. Josh pulled a glass down from the cabinet, setting it on the bar top. For someone who didn't drink, touching alcohol made him slightly uncomfortable. He left that job for someone else.

Ricky got up and started to search through the almost empty bottles behind the bar. They were running low on everything. Fuck only knows how they'll handle stress once the booze is gone. For people like Kuza, it's all he has to rely on when times get tough. When Ricky set a glass of gin down in front of him, he paid him with a gentle smile.

Chris hurried himself downstairs. Truthfully, he had hesitated for a minute to come down. He didn't have a good gauge on his partner's anger yet and he wasn't about to test the waters. A sigh left his mouth when he saw in that short amount of time, Kuza managed to down poison. He pulled out the chair beside him and cautiously sat down. Chris knew the others were watching, so he kept his voice low.

"I'm sorry I upset you." He softly spoke in his ear, delicately pushing his hair back.

He opened his mouth to reply but decided against it. Even he was scared of something more vile than intended would leap off his tongue. "I'm fine." He muttered.

Right, because in a relationship "fine" really means "fine". Being that he'd taken the dominant role in their dynamic, Chris knew damn well he was responsible for fixing this. He was the one who fucked up anyways. Their conversation ceased as the others came over to the table for dinner. Usually their meals only consisted of soups, rarely ever meats.

"Where's Ghost?" Ricky asked.

"She's having some girl time with Ryan." Josh replied, laughing to himself, "I'm sure they're both enjoying it."

Kuza pushed aside his personal issues to try to have a normal conversation. "Is that your mate?" He replied.

"Yeah, but she's..." Josh trailed off when he heard the old stairs creek. Shock swiped across his face to see Ryan-Ashley out of her room for once, "She's right there." He smiled.

Ghost held onto one of her hands while she tightly gripped the railing with the others. This was the first time she'd descended stairs since losing her sight. She was utterly terrified, but her new friend was insistent on helping her learn. Regrettably, Josh never pushed her. He only ever tried to make her comfortable. Too scared to rock the boat, he simply helped her without forcing her to do anything for herself.

Though her eye makeup and lipstick was applied flawlessly, Ghost didn't put much foundation on her. She rather preferred the way Ryan looked without it. The beauty may not like the spider veins in her face but she's never understand the others never saw anything wrong with it. They didn't stare at her for the way she looked. More so, they were captivated to see her out of her room for once.

Josh quickly took up and rushed over to her. He picked her up, making her yelp out of shock. It turned into a laugh as he spun her around. "You look absolutely gorgeous." He mused, "You always do."

She smiled softly, "Thanks to Ghost."

Ghost waved her hand dismissively, "Don't thank me. I didn't really need to do much. You're naturally gorgeous."

He took his wife by her hand and led her over to the table. Ghost found her place beside Vinny, who was extremely proud in his mate for what she'd accomplished. They'd all lost hope in Ryan-Ashley being able to be apart of the family again. Things were definitely... They were rough to start with. So far, it seemed, the new comers have turned into amazing people.

For the first time in awhile, dinner was filled with laughs and smiles. Even Chris and Kuza could manage to get along for the time being. That was all crudely interrupted by the loud howl of a Sullen in the distance.