A/N: As usual, I would recommend putting the video on loop.

Safe. Some element of safety was provided to all of them. Somehow, they all had made it back. The car was parked in the garage, and everyone was in the home. Ren and Chris moved back to their shared room, relieved and happy smiles on their faces. They conversed about wedding plans, forcing thoughts of the dismal cemetery to the back of their minds. Deidre headed into the kitchen to prepare tea and coffee for everyone while Nick made himself scarce and headed into his bedroom to get some of the team's paranormal work done. Before he had left, however, he had mentioned that Ether could take the mini freezer out of the garage and place it in their room.

No thanks were exchanged, but Ether gave him a simple nod. His very pale blue eyes glanced to (f/n), the freezer and to the corpse. "I guess that I'll have to put her in there already." He frowned as he set (f/n) down on a spare chair in the garage. "He could've moved the body again," he mumbled in annoyance at Nick.

"In the bedroom?" She raised a brow as she relaxed back onto the chair. "Yeah, no. There'd be a smell in the room for awhile." A giggle left Ether, but she wasn't amused at the idea. Thankfully, though, there was only one body. The security guard was left sleeping by the entrance of the funeral home's main building. Hopefully, she wouldn't ask questions when she got up, or she might not be alive for too much longer.

"She's going to be in the bedroom eventually."

"She'll be in a freezer by then. Not like ..." (F/n) looked away from the corpse, and Ether rolled his eyes.

"You act like you haven't seen a corpse before." She was about to argue, but he cut her off. "I know that you've been exposed to rotting corpses too much, though, for right now." His gaze softened, and her expression bore a smaller frown on it. "Will you be alright if I take her apart in front of you?"

"I don't have much of a choice." Her optics averted down to her lap. "I'll just look away. Otherwise, I might not be able to hold down the food I ate before we went on the trip." She managed to turn on the chair and face away from him. "But, get a shower afterwards so that you don't smell like her or the cemetery."

Giggling, he dragged the woman's corpse over to the freezer before he dropped her by it. He walked over to the shelves on the other side of the garage and retrieved a box of plastic freezer bags. "You realize that you'll need to get a shower too, right?"

Momentarily, she froze before she forced herself to relax. Slightly, she turned up her nose to him and remarked, "Deidre will help me if I need it." She looked to him out of the corners of her eyes and saw him giggling more. "What? That's what she's been doing."

Ether shrugged. "I suppose, but ..." He trailed off and looked directly to her. "It's cute." She raised a brow. "Your tone got all embarrassed when you said she'll help you." A frown met her lips. "It's as though you got all heated up at the idea of me bathing you again." Annoyingly, a dreamy sigh parted from him. "You haven't gotten embarrassed in awhile at that. At least, not noticeably." On his lips, a pleased grin formed. "I missed that."

Now, she rolled her eyes. "Get a grip." She crossed her arms as best she could. "Besides, don't you have a body to deal with." A multitude of giggles parted from him, and she tried her best to ignore them. Instead, she ended up sending a stern scowl his way.

"Now, I know that you're really embarrassed to bring up the corpse again." An arrogant, playful grin fell onto his lips. "Did you miss me that much?" Her cheeks heated up, and she didn't look at him. "Maybe, you even secretly miss me taking a bit of your flesh and blood."

"I don't," she firmly replied, staring at the garage door as though it was the source of her problems. "That's a fantasy of yours that'll never come true."

Moving back over to the body, he giggled and set the bags down. "I suppose that you're right, but that's fine." Slightly, she peered over her right shoulder at him. Quickly, she looked back, and she winced at the action. Ether noticed, but he relaxed when he saw that she was alright. A grin fell back onto his lips. "After all, one of my fantasies has come true." Silence greeted him, so he continued, "You missing me and wanting to remain by my side was one of them."

"And, you crying was one of mine," she retorted back, a victorious smirk meeting her lips. That smirk, though, lived briefly when she heard high-pitched giggles behind her. It reminded her of the tunnels all over again, and she cringed at the memory.

"I'm glad to hear it because I probably was tickling your heartstrings, then." She paused, and he giggled again. "See," he practically sang out. "Worked like a charm."

"... Was that all fake?" she asked, anger starting to bubble up within her. She was sure that it had been genuine at the time, but had he actually been tricking her incredibly well? Her hands gripped the arms of the chair, and she faced him.

Immediately, Ether's grin dropped, and a small, reassuring smile greeted his lips. "No, that hadn't been. I truly had been crying." He focused on the body, and she looked away from him. His confirmation eased her anger a little, and she slowly started to relax on the chair again. "You told me about my parents. I finally learned how they felt about me. I couldn't fake my emotions."

A longing sigh escaped past his lips. "I wish that both of them still could be alive. If my father could've found a way to save her. Then, maybe, they could've left before my grandfather had decided to ruin everything. Maybe, we still would've met somehow, and you would've given me a chance."

Bringing her feet up onto the chair, she rested her chin on her knees. "A chance at having a child with me." He giggled, but it was a lighter one, and she didn't pay attention to the tearing of flesh in the background. "If you saw that it could've worked out."

"If your parents were alive, Ether, we wouldn't be together." He paused and glanced over to her, but she didn't meet his gaze. "Yes, we could've met, but you wouldn't be who you are now. You probably wouldn't have gone into Cankerfell and did what you did." Finally, her (e/c) eyes met his very pale blue ones. "You only took an interest in me because I had a knife on me, and you took it into your head that meant that I had wanted to offer you some of my flesh. If your parents were alive, do you think that I would've been put into a situation to pull a knife on you? Do you think that such an action would've intrigued you so much?"

"... I ..."

That time, she cut him off. "You don't know." Her eyes drifted away from his. "And, I don't know. But, I have a feeling that you wouldn't have become so sadistic. Nor, would you have become so obsessed with me. If anything, I might've just become another target for your father and you." She shrugged. "Then, I might've pulled a knife on you, but your intrigue in the action might've been gone." A sigh left her. "There are so many possibilities about what would happen if your parents were living still."

"Exactly." He didn't look to her; he concentrated on cutting. "Maybe, the odds would be against us becoming a couple, but I'd like to think that it could've happened." A small smile formed on his lips. "After all of this, I think that I can have a little happiness like that."

"I thought that you were already happy." Ether stopped again and diverted his optics to her. She still had her knees up by her chest and her chin on them. "You've told me that you'll be happy just by being with me even though you would like more." That time, a quiet laugh parted from him, and the sound caused her heart to skip a beat. Then again, she only had herself to blame for saying those things to him.

"You're right." His smile didn't last long, however. "But, seeing you like this." She felt him scanning over her curled-up body, and she tensed a little. "All of those bruises that I know are under your clothes." The statement caused her stomach to tighten as memories of the subway greeted her mind. "I can't be at my happiest when I know that the person who caused you those is still out there. I want him dead, and I'm going to enjoy killing him slowly. And if I have to kill him fast, I'll be cutting up his body long after he's dead until all of my rage at him is gone."

"Maybe, play darts with his head when he's dead," she muttered even though the idea of him still terrified her extremely, but she did cause several giggles to leave Ether. Then again, he probably was appreciative that she was suggesting such a sadistic action, but she didn't care since she wouldn't mind her prior tormentor suffering. But if he just could die without torture, she would be happy too; she simply wanted him gone.

"If that's what you want, I'll save his head for you." He packaged some of the corpse into the bags and placed them in the freezer. "You even can throw all of the darts."

Steadily, she shifted her eyes back onto him. He looked over to her and grinned. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," he answered, his grin relaxing into a smile. Slightly, a smile met her lips in return.