Kelly was lagging behind him, and Franklin didn't want to turn around again.

He didn't know what it was but he could barely control his anger around her. The last thing he wanted was to hurt the new tenant of his town but it seemed all he was capable of doing.

Maybe that was her curse, she'd always bring out the worst in everyone so that they'd always treat her badly? No, that couldn't be it, that wasn't Lydia's style. She was more into physical manipulation and making people as ugly on the outside as they were on the inside.

Still it was odd that her curse hadn't manifested yet.

Franklin slowed his pace so the girl could catch up with him but as soon as he did her pace got even slower.

She was doing this on purpose, to get away from him.

Okay, maybe he did deserve that, he did slap her around his office. Even though Franklin knew she wouldn't try to run until she had her brother this was still annoying him.

He came to an abrupt halt and startling her. He turned around and glared at her and she glared defiantly back up at him. Already he could feel the anger. Why did she have to be so judgemental? Why couldn't she see the handsome face like everyone else, no she saw the monster and just had to freak out? What? There couldn't be a friendly zombie?

"Look, you want to see your brother, right?" he asked her. She nodded quickly a glimmer of fear crossing her features that made his frown deepen. Like she thought he wouldn't let her see him again. "Well, keep up with me or it will take all night to get to him."

He turned and stomped back off happy to see that, this time, Kelly was keeping up.

Franklin was still feeling funny around her. Nervous almost, his palms were sweating, his heart was racing, he kept swallowing, and for what?

This girl was nothing special, all around plain actually.

Medium length brown hair and green eyes, she liked plaid, jeans and big boots. But apparently, she didn't like clean clothes or showers. She looked too dainty to be homeless or a runaway so he didn't know what this was all about.

He wanted to talk to her, to try and figure her out, but he was also worried that it wouldn't come off well. And what would happen if he said something completely stupid and made a complete fool of himself? See, nervous.

"So where are you from?" he asked stiffly.

He watched her glare slide over to him before she said: "New York," through grit teeth. She was lying, of course, any idiot could see that. Fine, so she didn't want to tell him where she was from, whatever.

"You could try losing the attitude Kelly, I'm not the bad guy here," he snapped.

"I mean... you only threw me across a room, what, twice now? ... Wait... you know my name?"

she came to a complete stop like Franklin knowing her name was a massive revelation. Like she wasn't the first new comer this town had seen in forever. A small town, by the way. Small towns were notorious for gossip, how did she not know that?

Franklin turned to tell her that gossip went through the town quickly but she merely rolled her eyes and said: "Elouise, there's just no shutting that woman up is there?"

For the first time since she had screamed zombie in his face, Franklin smiled. "Yeah, if you ever need to advertise something Elouise is the person to go to."

They started walking again and Franklin could feel some of the tension dissipate between them. They were finally moving towards a positive experience.

He cleared his throat before saying: "I'm sorry for the scene in the office. I am, I'm not usually like that. I know all villains say that, but I'm being honest. Sometimes I just, I just forget my strength." He glanced to her to gauge how she was taking his lame excuse, and he could tell she wasn't buying it. "To be fair, you did stab me so it's not like I was the only one who caused damage."

Kelly glared at him again. "You didn't even feel it, did you?"

"No," Franklin said with a shrug. "The perks of being a zombie."

They were silent a bit more before she said softly: "It's not fair that you know my name but I don't know yours."

"Elouise didn't mention it? I figured she would," he said.

"She did, but I was so busy freaking out about your creepy behaviour and the fact that you were an undead walking corpse to remember it," Kelly shot back.

"It's Franklin and I haven't been creepy!"

"You've been watching me from your office windows and going around paying for my stuff!" Kelly cried stopping again.

Franklin stopped as well. Jesus at this rate they were never going to make it to Hubbard's.

"I was busy, I didn't have time to come down and introduce myself. Besides I wanted to get a good feel for you before I came to meet you, which is a good thing because kicking me in the nuts in the middle of the street wouldn't have gone down well for you," he snarled. Kelly put her hands on her hips and glared up at him clearly no longer as afraid of him as before. Problem was, her attitude was making him angry again. He was trying to be nice, why was she acting like he was the bad guy? "The paying for things was just to be nice. You're new here and you look like you haven't eaten or bathed in weeks. I figured you needed a break!"

Kelly continued to glare at him. "Well thank you for the kind gesture but I don't need nor want your help!"

"Fine! Then I won't help you anymore. You can be on your own from now on in."

"Oh, don't worry once I get my brother I'm leaving and you will never have to worry about me again!" she near screamed.

Oh, so she still thought she could leave? Was she delusional or dense?

"What? Don't you get it? You're stuck here! No one that gets sent here leaves, it's just how it works!" Franklin screamed back.

"You're just crazy!" she shouted and then stormed the rest of the way to Mother Hubbard's Day Care. She threw open the door and stomped in, putting a finger in poor startled Selena's face before screaming: "Give me my brother back!"

"Kelly!" came a cry from the corner of the room and then Sammy came running over. He practically launched himself into Kelly's arms. He sobbed and snotted all over her shoulder. Hiccupping through his words as he told her about how worried he was and asking if Kelly was okay.

He wanted to watch their exchange more closely. He had a feeling that something was off with the two of them, they didn't exactly look alike. He sort of wondered if maybe Sammy was actually Kelly's son, or maybe she had stolen him or adopted him or something. However, Selena had an arm around his waist before he could see anything more.

"I hear you've been scaring the locals again," she purred into his ear. Usually the proximity and the way her voice vibrated by his ear and down his neck was enough to turn him on but it wasn't doing it for him tonight.

"She's annoying and stubborn and ungrateful," he snarled under his breath. "I threw her by accident. I momentarily forgot how strong I was. Then she up and stabs me..."

"She stabbed you?!" Selena shrieked, causing Kelly and Sammy to jump. "Oh baby! Are you okay? Does it hurt?"

Franklin couldn't help but be completely embarrassed by her sudden baby talk. She knew he couldn't feel pain so obviously he was okay and he had told her time and time again that he didn't like the baby talk both in public and in the bedroom. She kept saying it was a habit that was hard to break, seeing as she was with kids all day, which was just girl-code for she wasn't going to chance and he would just have to deal.

She disentangled herself from him and turned on Kelly who was now standing protectively in front of Sammy.

"Listen you little bitch, if you hurt my...." she started, but Franklin wouldn't let her finish. He dashed over to her and picked her up with ease, ignoring her cries to put her down. He dropped her on the other side of the room and then quickly pushed Kelly outside.

"We will talk about that little outburst later," he growled as he slammed the door and turned around hoping his newest guest hadn't up and run after that display.

Kelly hadn't run. She was holding Sammy's hand and glaring up at Franklin so he was glaring right back at her.

"I was going to say thank you for taking good care of him, but now I never want to see her again," Kelly growled.

"Well, unfortunately you'll see a lot of her, seeing as you'll probably want to put Sammy into school."

"We are not staying here," Kelly repeated through grit teeth.

"You don't have a choice."

"You can't keep us here."

"If I could send you off, I would. Trust me, I don't want you here just as much as you don't want to be here, so stop taking it out on me. Lydia sent you here, it's not my fault you pissed her off, nor is it the fault of anyone else in this town so don't take your attitude to them either," Franklin warned her.

"Okay, firstly, she called me a bad word, in front of a child! And she's supposed to be a child care professional? I mean I get she's your girlfriend but the only reason I stabbed you was cause you were throwing me around and being all menacing!" Kelly cried.

Franklin was glaring down at her, his hand on his hips. He had completely forgotten that the mask wasn't on anymore, he caught Sammy staring and turned his glare to him.

Sammy yelped and hid behind her leg. Franklin rolled his eyes. Kids were always the most scared of him. Before Kelly could say anything else, he snapped his fingers and put the mask back on. She momentarily paused, as she took in the change, she clearly wanted to ask why he did that, but she decided that her original point of argument was more important.

"And secondly, I did nothing to this lady. I did her a kind favour by not stealing her money and she sent us here for a break. Thirdly, curses and magic don't exist, you're just crazy!"

Franklin leaned back on his heels and crossed his arms over his chest smugly. "Then how do you explain how can you see the magic I use to make my mask?"

Kelly fell silent. She stared at him, eyes wide blinking over and over. She very clearly did not know what power she possessed. Interesting.

"The sparkles are... magic?" she asked.

Franklin shrugged. "It's my best guess."

Sammy tugged on Kelly's hand. "What sparkles Kelly?" he asked in a hushed voice. Interesting, so Sammy couldn't see the sparkles? Maybe the power wasn't genetic, or maybe he just didn't get it, or they really weren't related. This was getting more interesting by the minute.

Franklin looked up to the rising moon and sighed. "Look, it's late, we're all stressed and tired, how about we pick this up where we left off tomorrow, okay? I'll meet you at Granny's for breakfast and we'll figure everything out. I'll even let you stab me again if that will make you feel better."

He waited for her to argue, he half hoped he'd have to carry her all the way to Granny's. The trip from Granny's to his office hadn't been as fun before, though he had got to cradle her to his chest. Like she belonged to him. Likes he was his to have.

He had a feeling he would enjoy it better when she was kicking and squirming against him, just not shrieking in horror, but in that delightfully annoyed way.

Instead Kelly just mutely nodded and began the walk back to town and Granny's Bed and Breakfast. This time Franklin didn't try to engage her in small talk, she'd only lie to him anyway.