After a few more heated kisses Sam left Penny to continue with her cleaning, saying that he had to go pick Regan up at the airport. She rushed to make up the lost time and was just finishing the bathroom when Celeste returned.

"What are you still doing up here? You should have finished this floor hours ago."

Penny wanted to tell Celeste that Sam had come home and they had had a quick make-out session, but she didn't think that that would help Sam, so she just smiled and played dumb.

"I'm really going to have to talk to Sam about your continued employment here." Celeste looked around the room and couldn't find anything to critique so she settled for shooting Penny a disgusted look. "Go get cleaned up and meet me in the living room. We have to discuss tomorrow's party." Then she spun around on her heel and left.

Penny sighed deeply as she stored the stepladder then gathered her cleaning supplies and headed to her room to get 'cleaned up'. She took her time and met Celeste half an hour later.

"About time. You don't rush to do anything do you?"

"I do when it matters," Penny said, and had the satisfaction of watching Celeste flush in anger. She had brought a dust rag with her in hopes that it would distract her from attempting to do bodily harm to the woman who had ruined Sam's life.

When she thought of what she had put Sam through it angered her and it was amazing to her that she could feel so deeply about someone other than herself. She would have to be careful to guard her tongue and her thoughts. Sam still had a battle ahead and she didn't know what it was yet so she didn't want to put her foot in it and mess it up for him.

"Are you listening to me Penny?" Celeste asked, breaking Penny out of her thoughts of Sam.

"No, I'm sorry, I wasn't, what did you say?" Penny started to dust around the mantle taking her time with the family photographs and the old photos of the house from the turn of the twentieth century.

"If I didn't need you tomorrow I would make you pack your bags and leave right now."

"Regan and Dr. Evers hired me, and I'll only be dismissed by one of them," Penny insisted as she polished a spot on the mirror. She had noticed once, during her cleaning, that some long ago Evers children had carved their names in the base of the pediment for the mantle and she squatted down and wiped the dust away from there as well.

"You really do love this house, don't you?" Celeste asked.

Something in her tone made Penny turn to stare at her. "Yes, I do."

Celeste's smile grew vicious at her admission.

"It's a beautiful house that has had generations of Everses living in it. To have that much history in one house, to be able to pass it down to a child, is a remarkable thing," Penny insisted.

"You really are in love with him aren't you?" Celeste looked at her with pity. "How trite, the little maid in love with the master, at least the story is fitting for the house." She poured herself another drink then walked over to the window to look out at the street below, flicking the thick curtains with disinterest.

Penny remained silent as she waited.

"It's a shame really, it was all going so well until Jason had to mess it up with his little display of anger. He's an amateur with control issues."

"How do you know Jason?" Penny asked, finally realizing that she had had more to do with that afternoon's scene in the square than Penny had realized. Jason had said 'she' and she had been too upset to connect the dots, but Sam must have.

"I made it my business to know Jason, for all the good it did me, which wasn't much. He was a waste of time and effort."

Penny watched as Celeste walked over to the fireplace and looked at herself in the mirror, tweaking her perfectly coiffed hair. "I hate this house, I hate everything about it, but it has been useful in getting me Sam."

Penny wanted to scream that she didn't have Sam. "Why do you want him so badly?" she asked instead.

"Why wouldn't I? He's rich, handsome, and famous, at least in this city, and if I'm going to stick around I want only the best." She ran her fingers over the photos knocking them down much the way a bored cat would do.

Penny was confused, she didn't understand exactly how the house was going to help her get Sam, that must be why Regan was coming, and why Sam wanted to talk to them. Was he going to have to give up the house?

"I'll gut it and redecorate it, or at the very least I'll just sell it. The money will be useful."

There was a sudden rumbling above Celeste's head and Penny watched as the mirror above the mantel began to shake. Penny was afraid that the one-hundred plus year old mirror was going to crack or shatter. Then there was a giant burst of air that ripped past them from the fireplace and they watched as the grate filled with decades old ash and soot. The dust coated Celeste, who was still standing in front of the fireplace, before rolling out and leaving the rest of the room coated in a fine dust.

Penny held her cleaning rag up to her face and tried to hold back a laugh at the sight of Celeste covered in ash. To laugh wouldn't help anything.

"You did this!" she screamed. "This is all your fault!"

"I don't see how you figure that," Penny said from behind her rag. She wished she had a camera so that she could take a photo to show Sam. He would have loved it.

"Ughhhh! I HATE this house!" Celeste screamed, as she headed for the door and the staircase beyond. She stopped in the middle of the hallway to look down at Sentry, who had chosen the worst possible time to make an appearance.

Penny swooped down on the kitten and scooped her up holding her close.

"What is that?" Celeste pointed at Sentry.

"She's mine." Penny held her close.

"She goes!" She ordered before she stomped up the stairs leaving ashy footprints the entire way. "Clean up that mess. I hate this house!" she shouted one more time before she slammed her bedroom door.

Penny walked over to the fireplace with a grin as she remembered Celeste covered in ash. Penny knew that she was covered in it as well but she didn't care. "Sentry, I think this house hates her too!" She kissed the kitten's head before setting her down, and watched as she played in the ash, chasing the floating bits that were in the air and leaving little kitten paw prints all over the floor.

Penny stood in the middle of the room feeling as if she and the house had just executed the most perfect plan ever. She knew that the fireplace chimneys were carefully inspected and cleaned every year, so where the ash had come from was a mystery to her.

Maybe the house really was haunted.

"Thank you!" she whispered as she patted the mantel. "I don't suppose you can suck it all back up again?" She waited and when nothing happened she laughed again. "That's alright, it was worth it."

"Penny, who are you talking to and what on earth happened?" Regan asked, coughing as she took in the sight of the living room. Sam followed her taking in the scene, an eyebrow raised, but otherwise keeping his usual calm manner despite the fact that all of the house's antiques were covered in a fine coat of dust.

"Celeste and the house had a fight. Celeste lost," Penny said happily as she reached down and scooped up the kitten.

"When did you get a cat?" Regan asked, coughing again.

"Sam bought her for me," Penny said, leading the way out of the room and down the hall. "Where's Ian?"

"He's at my mother-in-law's house."

Penny handed the cat to Sam who was bringing up the rear of their little group before she went out on the side porch and started to dust herself off as best as possible. When she returned a few minutes later Sam and Regan had made themselves a drink and were sitting at the table. Sentry was laying in Regan's lap.

"We have mice?" Regan asked, when Penny returned.

"Not anymore, I hope." Penny said, getting herself a glass of water.

"Your brush down didn't do much good." Sam grinned.

Penny returned his grin and shrugged. "Doesn't matter, it was worth it. If you think I look bad you should have seen Celeste. She was standing in front of the fireplace saying how much she hated this house when, wooosh, a big gust of air, and then there was ash and soot everywhere."

Regan was watching their interaction with a suspicious look.

"Maybe the house really is haunted," Sam teased.

"Well, considering the fireplace and chimney gets inspected and cleaned every year it's a good possibility." Penny and Sam's eyes met as they both remembered sitting on the porch and listening to the tour guide tell about the haunting of the house.

"Wait, what do you mean the house is haunted?" Regan insisted as she continued to look at the two of them. "What have I missed?"

"I have to go to the hospital and check on a few patients, I'll let Penny fill you in on the haunted tale of the Evers house." He rose, walking his glass over to the sink before leaving them with a chuckle.

Penny watched him go, glad that he was happy. She went over to phone and dialed the company that took care of the chimney every year. After a five minute conversation they said they would be over within the hour to check it out and make sure everything was in working order.

Penny had a lot to clean and only a limited amount of time to do it in, and she still had to get dinner. 

Regan must have read her mind. "The party's tomorrow night, isn't it?"

Penny nodded as she gathered the supplies she would need.

"I'll get dinner this evening," she said helpfully, walking over to the fridge.

"There's a casserole ready for the oven and I was going to make a salad."

Regan nodded as she continued to stare vacantly into the fridge. "What's between you and my brother? I sensed something the last time I was here but I wasn't sure. Are you and he having an affair?"

Penny turned and looked at her, Sam had a plan and she didn't want to mess it up, and she knew Celeste was somewhere listening. She listened to everything.

"No, your brother and I are not having an affair," she answered honestly.

Regan nodded. "But you have feelings for him?"

Penny nodded watching her carefully as she absorbed this information.

Eventually she turned back towards the fridge not commenting one way or another on the subject. "Let me get dinner going then I'll change and help you clean."

"Sure, I would appreciate the help," Penny said, gathering her things and leaving Regan to her thoughts. She had no idea if Regan was upset or not, and she couldn't help but wonder what she would say if she knew that Sam had proposed to her.