Ghost, Chapter 6

Ghost

Author's Note – The ending. I hope it's what you were waiting for. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter (camikaza, multiples of six).

.thayer

I stay up all night thinking about the Ouija board and tarot cards and unconditional love. And when Cameron wakes up in the morning to go to school, I'm still thinking about it. He doesn't talk to me about the previous night, just makes small talk. I can't keep my eyes off him and I keep wishing that I was able to touch him.

He leaves for school and I'm alone in the house. I wander around the house and end up back in his father's office later. I want someone to talk with.

"Mr. Harrington?" I call, hoping that the ghost of his father will show up. He's easier to talk to than Elias is. A moment passes, and then another, before Mr. Harrington appears, looking bemusedly at me.

You rang? He sounds amused and I have no idea what's so funny.

"I, uh, I need your help with something." I feel stupid asking him this, but I don't know what else to do.

You love him, do you not? He asks, as though it were the simplest question in the world.

"Who?" But I know who he is talking about it, and he knows that I know. I'm just making this more difficult than it has to be.

Thayer, what you must do is tell him how you feel. You must tell him and you must love him unconditionally, and you must never hurt him. He speaks as though his words are the answers to all the questions of the universe. And I know that they are.

"That's all I have to do?" I ask, finding it hard to believe that the very thing I've been wanting all along is the answer to my riddle. Mr. Harrington nods.

It is no trivial thing! He says. Unconditional love is rare. Everlasting love is extremely rare. It is also difficult to stay together when times get tough. You and Cameron will survive it; I am sure of that. But it takes work. I feel him pat me on the shoulder and give me a smile. Then he is gone and I am left standing in the office, completely alone again.

All I have to do is love Cameron and tell him this? I won't have to leave him after all! But what I have to do is wait for him to come home from school. So I wait in his bedroom, sitting on his bed and thinking long and hard about what I want to say.

Cameron, I figured out how to get my body back, and all I have to do is – No, that sounds silly.

I love you and I want to be with you forever. No, that sounds like something from a movie. That's way too cheesy.

I know I was an asshole to Paul, but I've been given a second chance and – I don't want to remind him of Paul because he'll think that I'm going to act that way to him!

I still haven't come up with anything that sounds right when I hear Cameron come into the house downstairs. Instead of going downstairs to join him, however, I wait upstairs and continue to think of what to say.

It seems like it is hours, days, eons, before Cameron finally comes upstairs to his room. He's holding a chocolate cookie in his hand and he's gotten a bit of the chocolate on the corner of the mouth. I'm overcome by the urge to lick it off, even though I can't. Not yet.

"There you are," he says, smiling brightly. I can tell it's fake, though. He's still sad. I hope that my words will make him feel better. I want to make him feel better. I want to solve all his problems and be his protector forever and for always.

"I was waiting for you," I tell him. He just nods and finishes eating his cookie.

"Did you find anything more about your unfinished business? Anything that will help you?" Cameron doesn't look like he actually cares, and I wonder if that means that he doesn't want me to leave. I hope that it means he doesn't want me to leave.

"I talked to your father." I'm not expecting the shocked look that appears on his face.

"Daddy?" He sounds like a little child and he gets a faraway look in his eyes. "You saw Daddy?" I nod. "What did he say?" For the first time since I've seen him today, he looks genuinely happy.

"He said that ... well, it doesn't matter what he said. What matters is what I'm going to say to you right now." I still haven't come up with the right words for what I want to say. However, I know that it will come to me if I just talk.

"Thayer?" His voice is asking a question and I try to give him a comforting smile for an answer.

"That unconditional love that's supposed to solve everything ... it's, I mean," Dammit, just say it! I take a deep breath and start over the beginning.

"Cameron, I think I love you." No, that sounds like you don't know what you're talking about, and you DO! "That's not true. I know I love you. I love you. I love you and I don't care who knows it or what happens. I want to be with you forever." I'm aware of how cheesy this sounds, but I don't care because it is entirely true. Cameron is just staring at me.

"You know, I'm pouring my heart out here. You could at least say something." I'm trying not to be annoyed but it's hard because he's just standing there like an open-mouthed idiot.

"Thayer, you're changing!" he exclaims, pointing at me. I look down at the ground and realize that my feet are changing into solid, real feet. At the same time, I feel myself being surrounded by a bright light and I can't see anything except whiteness. It's total silence, and I half-expect music like there is in movies when the transformation happens. But I'm not likely to have my own soundtrack.

As the light surrounds me, feeling slides over my body - real, genuine feeling and I know that, like Pinocchio, I have become a real boy at last.

Then the bright light fades and what is left is Cameron and his room. And me with a real body. This is what I've waited for and now it's here.

"Is this … I mean … are you … are you real?" His voice is soft and hoarse as he looks at me.

"Let me show you." I step forward and gather him in a hug, feeling the weight of him in my arms. I put my hand under his chin and tilt his face up so that I can look into those beautiful eyes. He is startled, but not startled too much to wrap his arms around my neck, to look up at me and blink his eyes. I bend my head down and capture his mouth in our first kiss. Soft and gentle, just two mouths meeting, it is True Love's First Kiss defined. If there has ever been a fairy tale story in real life, Cameron and I are sharing it right now.

He puts a hand on my chest, gently pressing and I stop kissing him, looking down with what I'm sure is a confused look on my face.

"I just have to tell you that…" He looks nervously away for a moment, "I love you too." His voice is a whisper, so soft it is almost not audible, but I hear him loud and clear. I kiss him again, allowing my hands to stray a little bit because there is so much of his body that I want to touch and experience.

We walk backwards until he's fallen onto the bed and I climb on top of him, still kissing and trying at the same time to lift his shirt up. Finally, I realize that I need to breathe, and that it's pretty much impossible to take his shirt off while kissing him. So I remove my mouth from his and start sliding his shirt up.

"I don't …" begins his weak protest, but he doesn't say anything else as I look down at his naked chest. I run my hand over his stomach and up his chest. My other hand keeps itself busy working at sliding his sweatpants down.

"Should we … ?" He starts again. I stop what I'm doing and look at him, waiting for him to finish the sentence. If he wants me to stop, I will. I won't go anywhere he doesn't want to, because it's all about him. He looks up at me, wide-eyed and innocent. I forget that he hasn't done this kind of thing before. I should be going much slower than I am, but I'm just so excited about being able to touch him that I can barely contain myself.

"I'll slow down," I promise. He doesn't say anything else, just nods and tentatively reaches for me. I bend down and kiss him again, a long slow kiss where I can taste every bit of the cookie he had and most of all, the taste of Cameron.

He grows a bolder, reaching his hands up and touching my stomach underneath my tank top. We kiss for a long time and even as it gets dark outside, I curl up beside him underneath the covers. We fall asleep together.

.&.

When I wake up, it is done slowly, thoughts of the previous night swirling around in my head. But I'm not in Cameron's bed. I realize this almost instantly as I notice that there is a tube in my nose and an IV in my arm. I blink and look around. This is definitely a hospital room as evidenced by the horrible white walls and bleeping machines. I try to sit up, but my chest hurts.

"Oh, Thayer, honey, we thought you'd never wake up!" My mom exclaims. And she is my mom. I recognize her curly blond hair and pink glasses. She is smiling at me and I smile back.

"We're sure happy to see you feeling better, aren't we, Lydia?"

"Yeah, whatever," says my younger sister. I remember her, too. I remember being a butthead to her. I'm not going to do that anymore. I'm going to be nice to her and treat her the same way a good big brother would. I'm going to be a better person now. I don't want to hurt anyone like I have before. Especially not -

"Where's Cameron?" I ask. Mom and Lydia both look at me as though I'm crazy. But I don't pay attention because I want Cameron. Where is he? Am I ever going to see him again?

"How did you ..." Mom begins, but shakes her head, "he's waiting in the hall with your father. Would you like me to send him in?" she asks softly. I nod. She and Lydia leave the room. A moment later, the door opens and Cameron walks in. He looks exactly the way I remember him and I wish that I wasn't in pain so that I could hug him.

"Um," he says, "I'm glad you're feeling better." He smiles at me and comes to sit by my bed. He takes my hand and I know that I'm never going to hurt him or leave him. Cameron will be mine forever.

Author's Note- Sorry if it's a little sappy… but I just love Cameron so much that he needs a sappy ending to his love story. Or beginning, I suppose.

P.S. Addams family reference? Obviously Thayer has never seen The Addams Family, so he has no idea. But maybe you did. Or do.

I also wanted to thank everyone who has read this story, whether you reviewed or not. Thanks!