#throws cindy in to make her happy before she eventually distances herself from everyone and then runs away

[elizabeth-mitchells]

Journeys end in lovers meeting - Sam/Deena - Fear Street x Bly Manor AU

Chapters: 3/10 Fandom: Fear Street Trilogy (TV) Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Samantha "Sam" Fraser/Deena Johnson, Sarah Fier/Hannah Miller (Fear Street), Christine "Ziggy" Berman/Nick Goode, Samantha "Sam" Fraser & Deena Johnson Characters: Samantha "Sam" Fraser (Fear Street), Deena Johnson, Kate Schmidt (Fear Street), Simon Kalivoda, Josh Johnson (Fear Street), Constance (Fear Street Part 3: 1666), Christine "Ziggy" Berman, Nick Goode (Fear Street), Alice (Fear Street Part 2: 1978), Sarah Fier (Fear Street), Hannah Miller (Fear Street), Solomon Goode (Fear Street) Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, The Haunting of Bly Manor AU, Not Canon Compliant, Haunted Houses, Ghosts, Character Death, Minor Character Death, Canon Lesbian Relationship, First Meetings, Fluff and Angst, Eventual Smut, Happy Ending, Au Pair Sam, Gardener Deena, Housekeeper Kate, Cook Simon, Josh and Constance as troubled kids, Ziggy and Nick in an unhealthy relationship, minor Cindy/Alice, Martin cameos, special appearances of all the Shadyside killers as ghosts, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, The Rest Is Confetti Summary:The year is 1994. Samantha Fraser recently moved to Shadyside, and she desperately needs a job that will help her leave her troubled past behind. She starts working as au pair at Shadyside Manor, where she is not the only one tortured by ghosts. Grief, regrets, guilt, innocent victims, and an ancient curse. At the center of all of it... love.

Chapter 3:

“We have to call the police.”

“No.”

“Why not?!” Sam exclaimed, throwing her arms up. She couldn’t believe Kate and Deena would refuse to call the police when a potentially dangerous stranger was wandering around the house. The three women were standing in the foyer of the house, but she took one look at Josh and Constance in the living room, sitting by the fire. Josh had a towel wrapped around him and he was still shivering. Sam was aware she barely knew them, but she felt so protective of them already. What Sam heard next, startled her out of her thoughts.

“Because the police would take his side,” Deena explained.

“Wait… you know him?”

“His name is Nick Goode,” Kate explained. Her shoulders deflated and Sam suddenly understood why they had looked so disturbed by her description of the man she saw outside the window. “He used to work here at the manor. He is a Sunnyvaler with a fucked up interest in this property and… in Christine Berman. We don’t know what he did to her or what he stole or what of shit he got himself into but one day he just… disappeared. The police, of course, blamed us. Blamed her. And… well… Christine killed herself waiting for him to return.”

“I’m going to call Simon,” Deena blurted out. She turned her back on Sam and Kate and moved to the phone. Sam couldn’t help noticing her hands were shaking. “It’s best if we all stay here tonight.”

“It’s pouring rain outside,” Kate pointed out.

“He can hold a fucking umbrella!”

While Deena made the call, Sam was lost in thought. Her hands were still tightened into fists and she made the conscious move to lose them. “Is he dangerous?” she asked Kate.

“No,” the housekeeper shook her head softly, but her distaste was clear as day on her face. “He’s just an entitled asshole.”

“Then I’m going out.”

“Sam, don’t,” Deena said, putting down the phone.

“It’s not raining that much,” Sam insisted, putting on her denim jacket and grabbing the fire poker again. “I don’t even need an umbrella.”

Sam walked out of the house, throwing a smile over her shoulder, which froze Deena in the spot. At least, until Kate slapped her arm.

“Deena, you go too.”

“It’s raining!”

“I’m going to kick your ass,” Kate rolled her eyes, she wasn’t fooled by Deena’s protests. She was just helping her friend, making her feel she was blindly following the new au pair out in the middle of a storm because she was instructed to and not because her heart told her to. “I’ll take care of the little shits. Go!”

Deena took a deep breath and glanced back at her younger brother. Somedays, it felt like they couldn’t recognize each other, but she would die for him, she would do absolutely anything for his safety. So, the gardener grabbed her jacket, her keys, and left the house. Kate stood in the doorway for a moment, until she couldn’t see Sam’s blonde head anymore. She had a bad feeling about all of this. She had been having a bad feeling deep inside her that she couldn’t shake for anything in the world, but she tried her best to ignore it. She shook her head a little, passed her hand over the back of her neck, and stood straighter. Then she walked toward the kids, determined to get them to bed before any more trouble could find them. 

In the foyer, the only person left was Ruby Lane. She was hiding among the shadows, but even if she took one step forward nobody would see her, nobody ever saw her. She still wore that familiar skirt, and her blouse, and she couldn’t get rid of the razor blade in her hand. The sharp edge glinted menacingly, but it wasn’t half as frightening as her face. She used to be so beautiful, and now her features were dimmed, they had softened, lost some of their definition, but her angry, disgusted frown was still firmly in place.

--

Once outside and under the rain, which thankfully had slowed down considerably, Sam felt her determination waver slightly. But her bravado was renewed when she heard someone, not an attacker, catch up with her.

“Hey, Sunnyvale! Wait up,” Deena called out, and jogged the rest of the way to Sam’s side.

They exchanged a long look, studying each other. Apparently, Deena took a detour to go pick a shotgun from her truck, and she was currently carrying it as if it were an everyday occurrence for her. But, she was also frowning at Sam.

“So, what was your plan here, huh? Go out in the middle of a storm, chase a creep, and tell him that if he doesn’t leave you’ll give him extra homework?”

Sam scoffed, turned around, and started walking away, assuming Deena would follow her, or not. She understood that a large part of her bravado upon seeing Deena was just her desire to prove people wrong about the assumptions they might make about her. She didn’t stop to dwell on it for long, afraid of what else she might realize, but Sam did notice that with one look at Deena, her posture, her expression, she could tell the gardener wasn’t in one of her sweet moods and, instead, she was going to be, well, a little bit of an asshole.

“This is hardly a storm, it’s just drizzling,” Sam eventually said, raising her voice to be heard through the roaring of the wind around them.

“Really? That’s the part you’re going to respond to?” Deena chuckled, and hurried up so she was walking beside Sam. “I didn’t take you for the confrontational type, Sunnyvale. That’s all.”

Sam stayed silent for a moment. She was suddenly reminded of the last time, or the first time maybe, that she stood up to someone. The time that she faced her fears and fought back against a force that had been terrorizing her for years. Then she thought about how badly that had turned out, and how she was still dealing with the consequences.

“Well,” Sam cleared her throat, “I’m trying something new, I guess.”

“Oh yeah? I’d say-”

“What?!” Sam snapped. She wasn’t in the mood to deal with Deena’s smug tone, and maddening smirk, and only mildly accurate remarks about Sam’s entire personality. Perhaps she should have considered the sharp-edged weapon in her hand when she turned around hastily to face the gardener.

Deena jerked her head back when she was met with the fire poker, but she was still smirking, much to Sam’s irritation. Deena slowly raised her hand and gently pushed the poker’s sharp end again from its previous aim at her face. “I’d say,” she repeated, “it looks good on you.”

For a second, all they did was stare at each other. Deena’s smirk softened into a genuine smile, whereas Sam’s frown only deepened, but she wasn’t as angry as she was perplexed. She tried parting her lips to say something, but nothing came. Eventually, it was Deena who broke the silence.

“Let’s go check the chapel,” Deena nodded her head toward the small building, and the two of them were on their way. 

--

The two women arrived at the chapel just in time, because the rain was worsening again. Deena stood by one of the windows and grimaced. “It’s raining too much now, maybe we should wait it out here for a moment,” she suggested. Not that she seemed very happy about it. It was like every attempt she made to distance herself from the intriguing au pair completely backfired.

Sam was casually wandering around the place, taking in the details. It was a spot that had been skipped over during her tour of the house. “What are those candles for?” she asked.

“That’s all Kate,” Deena replied. “Shouldn’t leave them burning though. But she never listens.”

“Oh,” Sam mumbled and walked closer. She observed, a little mystified, the way Deena blew over the four candles, killing each of them.

“They’re for the dead,” Deena explained upon noticing Sam’s curiosity. “At least that’s what Kate says.”

“You don’t agree?” Sam wondered. She took a seat in one of the pews, and Deena followed her lead, sitting in the one in front of her, and turning her body so she could look Sam in the eye.

“They’re for the Bermans, I think,” Deena shrugged. “If we were to really light up candles for everyone we’ve lost, we’d run out of space in here.”

Sam hummed in understanding, and for a while, they were silent. Each of them was lost in their own memories about lost ones. Neither of them was aware of an additional presence in the chapel with them. Tommy Slater didn’t mind going unnoticed. He could barely see them anyway. He could only tighten his grip on the axe, rest his back against the wall, spend one more day, or month, or year, in the quiet corners of Shadyside manor.

Eventually, Sam broke the silence. “So,” she cleared her throat, “do you just casually carry a shotgun with you everywhere?”

Deena chuckled, and Sam couldn’t help but notice the way her eyes sparkled when she laughed. “It’s for rats,” Deena explained, “which includes Nick fucking Goode.” She made a pause, and because she liked the way Sam listened and smiled at her, Deena felt compelled to do something against it. “You don’t have to risk your life for… the kids, or the job, you know?” For us, Deena stopped herself from saying that.

“Don’t belittle me, Deena, please,” Sam said with a small frown.

“I’m not. I’m just trying,” to protect you? “to warn you, Sam.”

Sam pursed her lips and considered Deena’s words. The gardener was content seeing that Sam didn’t just immediately disregard what she was trying to say. “I dealt with enough shit in Sunnyvale,” Sam admitted quietly, but later added a smile. “Your haunted house doesn’t scare me, Deena.”

Her words ignited a bright smile to take over Deena’s face. The gardener, of course, immediately looked away, trying to get her expression in control. When she looked back at Sam, her smile was much smaller, but her eyes said it all. “What scares you then?” Deena asked.

“What scares you?” Sam said and squinted at her.

“Hey, I asked first!”

“Well, will you answer if I answer?”

Deena shook her head, but she was having trouble holding back her smile. Where did this adorably awkward school teacher come from? More accurately, how the hell did she end up in Shadyside manor out of all places, in Deena’s path, more precisely?

“Alright,” Deena relented, and leaned her head on her hand, ready to listen.

Sam smiled, and then took a deep breath, gathering her courage. “I suppose I’m scared of… hopelessness,” she said slowly. “I’m scared of giving up. Scared of having nothing worth fighting for anymore. Uh… does that make sense?”

The gardener blinked twice, trying to clear her mind. She hadn’t expected that answer. But it would have been foolish to expect an answer along the lines of heights or spiders. It was obvious that Sam Fraser was infinitely more complicated than she seemed at first sight. Deena had to use all her strength to keep herself from wishing to know more about the au pair.

“I don’t know if that’s more Sunnyvale or Shadyside of you, but yes, it makes sense,” Deena finally replied.

Sam beamed at her, and asked, “What about you?”

Deena had known her answer for many years, but she still put on a show about thinking about it. She really was thinking about it or, at least, about the right way to say it after what Sam just said. “I’m scared of hope,” she replied.

“Are you making fun of me?”

“I would never,” Deena shook her head. “I’m genuinely not very fond of everything that comes along with having too much hope. Broken promises, crushed expectations, being let down… letting people down. It’s best to save yourself from it all.”

Sam had been listening very seriously. When Deena met her eyes both of them had a little trouble breathing normally. The small chapel suddenly felt too crowded. Sam was beyond thankful that Deena had trusted her with her words, but she could tell in those sweet brown eyes that the gardener was growing uncomfortable. Before Deena could grow desperate enough to take back her words and her moment of vulnerability, Sam tried something. A tiny smile crept into her lips. “That sounds boring,” she said softly.

Deena raised a playful eyebrow at her. “It’s safe,” she said. She was relieved for the gently offered exit out of the heavy emotional place they had wandered into. “Don’t go making fun of me now. I still have a shotgun here, you know?”

Sam laughed wholeheartedly, and Deena easily joined her. The silence afterward was different, comfortable, and easy. Deena was leaning over the back of the seat, and Sam was leaning forward. That left them a little closer than they had expected. It became a little too easy to get lost in each other’s eyes. Those two pairs of eyes that were full of secrets and trying their hardest not to let anyone else see.

Then, very suddenly, the windows of the chapel were lit in bright light. Those were a car’s headlights. “Must be Simon,” Deena cleared her throat and jumped out of her seat. “We should go back.”

Sam nodded in silent agreement, and started following Deena out of the chapel. But halfway through she let out a quiet gasp. “Do you think I shouldn’t have left the kids in the first place?”

Deena fondly chuckled and gently pushed the anxious au pair out of the chapel. The two of them walked outside and closed the door behind them. The chapel was left completely empty.

--

The storm got worse, and this time it definitely didn’t show any signs of stopping soon. Luckily, everyone had made it back to the house. Constance and Josh had finally fallen asleep, not without a fight though. The adults were gathered in one of the rooms of the big house, seated close by the fire, drinking hot chocolate, and with blankets on their laps. Sam was finally warming up. She had put up her damp hair in a ponytail, and she was listening intently to her coworkers. The three of them were finally unveiling the tragic story behind Christine Berman’s death. Kate was the one to lead the story.

“After Cindy and her husband died, Christine had the reins of the entire property. Alice owned a chunk of it, but she’s never wanted to get personally involved with this place, I guess. The house can be scary but it’s still a big property with a lot of value. Christine and Alice decided to get someone to protect the place, you know, keep an eye on the property and the few of us living and working here. That’s when Nick Goode came into the picture. Supposedly, he was tired of the police department of Sunnyvale, and moved here in search of something different.”

“And there’s nothing more different to Sunnyvale than this shithole, isn’t it?” Deena joined in. Her jaw was tense and her eyes displayed a wave of anger in them that almost frightened Sam. “Nick and Christine started dating almost immediately and it wasn’t cute, let me tell you. They were obsessed with each other. It was a picture-perfect toxic relationship. He was so… controlling. It was almost scary. He decided everything they did, when, and how they did it. He had a say in everything she said, and wore, and did. It was fucking suffocating just to watch them from afar. She made him her everything, and when he was gone, well… she had nothing left.”

That’s when it clicked for Sam that the anger in Deena’s eyes was much more complicated than that. It was grief. It was regret. In some way, Sam wouldn’t be surprised if Deena blamed herself for not intervening in some way to help the other woman. The next one to speak up was Simon. The poor man tried his best to keep up his usual spark, but it was pretty much impossible. He was fidgeting on his seat, running his hand through his hair repeatedly, and moving his eyes across the room to avoid letting anyone see the way they watered at the mention of Christine.

“He went missing, one day. Nick was a weird dude, if we’re being completely honest. He always acted weird with the rest of us, he was shifty and shit. He was weirdly obsessed with this house. There’s no way he wasn’t hiding some dark shit. And whatever that was, it came back to bite him in the ass. He had to run away. He just disappeared, like the cowardly rat he is. But… you know. Christine lost herself after that. The police didn’t help either. They were convinced she had killed him or something. They harassed her half the time, and she tortured herself waiting for that piece of shit the other half of the time. But she… she was our friend, you know?”

In the end, Simon was biting his nails, his eyes were distant, and he was shaking a little, not from the cold. Sam nodded slowly, she felt like she couldn’t really breathe easily, and she couldn’t imagine how the others were dealing with it all. Kate took her turn once more to finish the story.

“Constance found her. One damn foggy morning. Floating on the stupid lake. Then Deena found Constance.” There was a pause, and none of them could avoid glancing at Deena, but the gardener didn’t meet anybody’s eyes. When Kate continued talking, her voice wavered, and soon enough her eyes were tearing up beyond any attempt to hide it. “That kid really loved her aunt, you know? I mean, Constance adored Christine. Even more after her parents… And then motherfucking Nick Goode even stood in between them as much as he could. Some days I look at Constance and it’s like watching a younger version of Christine. She’s so much like her. It hurts. Because, in the end, Christine wasn’t a happy person anymore. We don’t want that for Constance, you know? She hasn’t been herself for a whole year. But since you arrived… she’s fighting with you all day long, running, protesting, yelling, and I just think… that’s our girl, she’s not gone. She’s still a little shit though.”

When she was done, Kate was wiping away tears, and trying to take deep breaths. But at the end of her story, she had laughed tearfully, talking about Constance. Deena and Simon had joined in. Soon enough they were sharing all kinds of stories about the young Berman girl. Kate had known her almost her entire life, when she started babysitting for her. Deena and Josh arrived just a couple of years later. Simon joined in last. He was hired after the Bermans died, but before Nick Goode showed up. Sam listened intently to their stories. Somehow, they managed to make her feel welcome, and like a part of that mismatched family they had formed in that objectively unlucky place. She appreciated it. And she also realized that she had stepped into a story that was infinitely more complicated than she could have ever expected. 

--

Maybe it was the drinks that Kate and Simon brought out at one point during the night. but Sam was getting a little dizzy trying to understand the tangle of limbs that were the housekeeper and the cook. They fell asleep pretty much on top of each other and it didn’t look very comfortable, but it made Sam smile.

“Are they… a couple?” Sam asked Deena in a hushed tone.

The gardener chuckled and moved from her previous chair to sit beside Sam on the sofa. They were the only two people alive awake in that house. “God no,” she shook her head. “That embarrassing sight is completely platonic.” She made a pause, enjoyed Sam’s small laugh, and then decided to take a risk. “Why you ask?”

“Just, uh, curiosity,” Sam replied.

“I hope you weren’t too interested, Sunnyvale. I’d hate to break your heart letting you know Simon’s gay.”

Sam smiled and shook her head. “I wasn’t… I’m not… it’s not like that,” she stuttered.

“Okay,” Deena nodded. She kept her smirk controlled, and tried to convince herself she was only doing this to tease the other girl, with no ulterior move or secret interest in her answer. “If it helps… so is Kate.”

Sam was staring into Deena’s eyes when the meaning of her words registered. The panic in the au pair was instant, and it worsened when she took notice of how close Deena was, how intently they were looking at each other, and how heavy were the additional questions hanging in the air between them. “Oh,” Sam croaked out, and attempted to clear her throat. “So… um… you, uh… why do you think Nick Goode would come back now? After abandoning Christine before.”

At first, Deena was quiet. She bit her lip, doing what she could to hide how confused she was about the contradicting feelings of relief and disappointment at the change of subject. Then she relaxed, leaned back on the couch, and searched for an answer. “He probably doesn’t even know she’s dead. People like Nick Goode aren’t happy losing. They want to have it all. No exceptions. He isn’t content just walking away,” Deena said. She was surprised by the clear as day understanding she saw in Sam’s eyes.

“He can’t just let her go. He has to feel like he still owns her,” Sam added. She looked a little dazed for a moment, but she was brought back to the conversation at hand when she noticed Deena agreeing with a nod. “But… that feeling doesn’t come from a place of love, does it? It’s the opposite, really.”

Deena shifted uncomfortably on her seat. “Yeah,” she agreed softly. She couldn’t stop staring at Sam though, and she had a strong suspicion that she was in serious trouble when it came to the things the peculiar au pair could make her feel.

--

Not too long later, Sam and Deena parted ways and walked to their respective bedrooms, not without a significant amount of awkwardness hanging between them. Especially when Sam nearly crashed against Deena when the brunette stopped in front of her bedroom, because then Sam was a little too aware of standing right outside of Deena’s room. She failed to save the situation by walking away in a flurry of apologies and “goodnight”s, waving so enthusiastically and looking back so nervously that she did crash into a wall and had to dismiss Deena’s soft “Are you okay there, Sunnyvale?”

Finally, Sam made it to her bedroom, locked the door behind her, and shortly later collapsed in her bed. She was restless though, tossing and turning in bed while her mind ran wild. She couldn’t help but flash back to several moments throughout the day she had shared with Deena. She thought about Deena’s smile, and Deena’s frown. About Deena’s obvious defense mechanisms, and Deena begrudgingly letting down her guard in front of her. Deena walking with the shotgun gripped firmly in her hand, Deena draped comfortably over the couch, stealing glances at Sam and boldly refusing to look away when Sam caught her. 

Eventually, even though she fought her hardest to restrain herself, Sam’s imagination got the best of her. There was that one moment with the two of them seated close together on the couch. So close that Sam could still remember the warmth of Deena’s arm next to hers. So close that Sam couldn’t stop herself from imagining what would have happened if she had leaned in just a little closer, and then just a little more…

Before picturing exactly what would have happened, Sam made the terrible mistake of rolling to her side again, just to find out she wasn’t alone in bed. She came face to face with a sight that wasn’t that unfamiliar to her, yet it was the most horrible thing she could have imagined. She screamed and scrambled backward in bed until she fell to the ground. She stayed there, eyes closed tightly and tears streaming down her cheeks. She had just seen him. He was right there. He wasn’t in the mirror, he was in her bed, in Shadyside, and it wasn’t fair. She had turned around in bed to see him there more than enough times before. She ran away to avoid precisely this and it didn’t even work. He was there, blinding eyes, a disgusted snarl of his lips, a furious frown, strong arms covered in blood, and the watch on his wrist broken beyond repair. Why was her mind doing this to her?

Sam rocked back and forth on the floor of the bedroom until her breathing calmed down enough. She tentatively raised her head to take a look at the bed, and then the rest of the room. She was alone, completely alone, permanently alone.

--

Life at Shadyside Manor was complicated enough. But, tragedy and threats aside, Sam’s job was the kid’s education. The next day, there was still a soft rain falling down over the property. They didn’t have another option but to spend the morning cooped up in the classroom, and apparently, it was taking its toll on the teenagers. Well, at least on one of them. Josh was quiet as usual. But Ziggy was in a particularly sour mood. Sam could understand kids trying to act way older than they were. She had worked with eight years old Sunnyvalers who were already looking forward to being CEOs of their parents’ companies. But Ziggy… she was a peculiar case.

“Sam, you’re giving me a headache. Just fucking call me Ziggy, okay?” the teenager complained.

“The headache is mutual, Ziggy,” Sam replied, leaning against the desk in front of the room. “Now, could you please just answer the question?”

“What’s the point?” Ziggy scoffed. “Look, it’s not the first time some emotionally fragile girl tries to teach me arithmetic.”

“What do you mean?”

“It doesn’t matter! This shit is useless in the real world.”

“You need an education, Ziggy, if you ever want to have a life.”

Ziggy chuckled darkly, with bitterness beyond her fifteen years. She slammed a hand on the table in front of her and jumped off her chair. “Fucking maths won’t give me my life back!”

“Ziggy!”

Sam was startled. It was Josh who had called out the girl’s name, and he sounded really angry and not like himself at all. He stood up from his seat and walked slowly toward Constance, who immediately sat down and was suddenly very quiet and still. He placed a hand on her shoulder and she pretty much shuddered at the contact. Sam thought that was really odd, considering she was usually the extroverted and lead troublemaker in their dynamic.

“I apologize for Ziggy’s behavior,” Josh addressed Sam with an odd and unfamiliar formal tone. “I think she needs a moment. We’re just tired of spending the entire day in the classroom. You know, with the storm last night and everything, we’re restless. You get it, don’t you, Samantha?”

Sam tried hard not to visibly frown at the way Josh talked to her. It rubbed her the wrong way. She glanced at the clock and noticed there would have been only about twenty minutes left of the class planned for the morning. 

“If you don’t call me that again, we can call it a day for now,” She said.

“Thank you very much,” Josh replied with a grin she had never seen on him before. Well, except for the day when he gave her those roses that made Deena so furious.

As the two teenagers walked to the door of the classroom, Sam addressed the young girl once more. “I expect a better attitude tomorrow, Constance.” It was like the girl didn’t even hear her. “Constance?” 

Constance was already on the other side of the door, but when Sam repeated her name she stopped in her tracks. She turned around hastily. “Huh?”

“Did you listen to me?”

“What? Oh. Um… Yeah…” Constance mumbled, looking more than a little confused, and then she walked away in the opposite direction from Josh.

--

That night, things were much better. The rain had finally stopped not too long ago. During dinner, Ziggy had suggested watching a scary movie with such childish excitement that nobody could have said no to her. Even Simon, not without some hesitation, agreed to stay at the manor one more night, trusting that his neighbor, Mr. McQueeny, was taking good care of his mother.

All of them were having a good time. Ziggy was having the time of her life making fun of the character’s poor decisions. Josh reacted badly to the jump scares, but he proudly announced himself as smartest in the room for predicting almost every single plot twist. Kate and Simon were in a constant argument, because she playfully insisted that her microwaved popcorn was much better than the creative array of snacks he had prepared for their evening.

Sam and Deena were on a different couch, fondly watching the others enjoy themselves. Deena was about to make fun of Sam, who looked almost as scared as the main character of the movie, running for her life. The gardener looked at the woman sitting beside her and she was pleasantly surprised to find Sam meeting her eyes. Sam didn’t look away from Deena, even as her hand moved swiftly to find Deena’s hand, which had been resting on the space between them. The movie and their friend’s fuss continued in the background, but for a moment, Sam and Deena felt like they were the only two people in the world.

Deena couldn’t keep up Sam’s stare. She had to look down at their intertwined hands, to make sure it was real. She gulped nervously and looked back up at Sam. “Are you okay?” she had to ask, dreading that maybe the au pair was just scared of the movie.

Sam smiled a little, and nodded. She squeezed Deena’s hand a little, softly rubbed her thumb over the gardener’s knuckles, and then she let go. She returned her hand to her lap, but she looked happy in a way that Deena hadn’t seen her before. “I actually love these movies,” Sam confessed.

Deena chuckled. Although her hand ached to reach out for Sam again, she understood. “You’re full of surprises, Sunnyvale.”

The two women relaxed, but it was short-lived. A moment later, a loud thunder rattled the entire property, and the lights went out. Apparently, the storm wasn’t done with them. All of them gasped, some of them screamed. The lights came back on, flickered menacingly, and went out again. Everyone scrambled off their seats, Ziggy tried to scare Kate, Simon went off looking for a flashlight, the phone started ringing and everything was a mess. Lightning bolts illuminated the room, only briefly. But, in the commotion, nobody paid any mind to Ryan Torres. He watched everything unfold from a corner of the room. He couldn’t understand everything that happened, he couldn’t make himself be a part of any of it. He glanced at the knife on his hand, and another strike of lightning reflected on it. Still, nobody else noticed.

The ringing of the phone was driving them crazy while trying to deal with the power outage. Deena couldn’t stand it anymore. She marched to the other room and yanked the phone from the wall. “What the fuck you want?” she snapped at the innocent person on the other line. Everyone had followed her lead and Simon was shining a flashlight in her direction when everyone noticed the way the gardener’s face completely changed from annoyance to shock and devastation. “It was your neighbor, Mr. McQueeny,” she was clearly addressing Simon. Her face said it all. “I’m so sorry, Simon.”