All of this Past [Dies Irae, TakodaVega, mad hatters revenge]

[TakodaVega]

The screams that had echoed that night twenty years ago had lingered the streets of the busy city. No one could hear her scream though. Lost in the screams of those who had come before her. Yet as she lay dying there with a knife buried deep in her heart, the blade twisting inside of her telling her to suffer as the man. The man whose face she could never forget as her life depended on it.

As the darkness filled her vision, she refused to let go. She had to bring justice, she hadn't been the only one who had died because of this man. She refused to give in and let the developing darkness take her away. She need to live. To live!

Twenty Years Later

The death of Willow Adams had been had been added to the cold case files for over a decade. The apartment where she had been murdered, had been cleaned, painted, re-carpeted several times since then. Til the murder itself had been but a memory. Well almost just a memory considering her current state. Not that anybody could have seen her before, a ghost was not normally visible to the naked eye. They had to make themselves known. It cost them energy to do so.

A lot of energy sometimes.

And what was worse was one could never change clothes. In the twenty years since she died, Willow had not given up hope that somebody would be able to help solve her murder, and the murder of several other girls. She knew he had done it, she was almost sure of it. Her body hovered on the edge of the counter, seeing as how she couldn't actually feel anything from the corporeal realm without using up a lot of energy.

Something she didn't have much of at that given moment. Her short hair was cut in an almost pixie style, still wearing that midnight blue spaghetti strap dress that she had worn to her mother's wedding ceremony. At twenty-one she had been able to attend the festivities afterward. Too bad her night had been cut short. She had almost ceased speaking considering nobody really heard her yet today had to be different. Someone had to save her from the encroaching madness of the quietness and her inability to gain justice and perhaps move on to the other side.

[Dies Irae]

"Get some sleep, it's late", a female voice called out to him, sitting at his desk, buried in another case file, one last arrest before he was transferred, just one more, it was all he could think about for that night, looking up he nodded slowly, brushing the mess of brown hair from his blue eyes eyes "I'll be going soon, thanks for the concern though" he muttered as he looked over the crime scene photos again, searching for something, some inconsistenancy, some way he could pin the murder of that man onto the prime suspect.

Rubbing his eyes slowly, Logan looked at the clock on the wall, packing the case file together and sitting it the middle of his empty desk, the small cardboard box next to it the remainder of his office belongings. Being promoted from homicide to detective was becoming a real pain in his side, being assigned a new precinct because had little of his rank in, turning the desk light of he, stood, grabbing the box of his belonging and heading out, locking up as he did.

The next few days passed without an arrest, though he'd left behind a great deal of cricumstancial evidence but they just couldn't find the hard proof to make the arrest, holding the suspect on a 48 hour concealed weapon charge was all they could do, but he wouldn't budge on a confession during interrogation. Leaning his head against the wheel of his car he groaned before pulling out of the driveway, staring at the for sale sign before heading to the new place he'd bought so he could be closer to work, some small apartment, nothing major.

Pulling up to the entrance of the building, his hair a little neater though not that much, he was off duty so he didn't need to worry about appearences, wearing black slacks and a white dress shirt, he opened the trunk of his car, piling the last few boxes he'd brought on the sidewalk, locking up before taking them inside. Kicking his shoes off as he got inside, looking at the furniture the movers had brought and placed at his request, smiling a bit as he set the boxes on the counter, taking a look around the apartment, going to balcony overlooking the street to have a cigarette.

He'd get around to unpacking later on, once he'd driven to the precinct and got his desk set up, been given a patrol car and all that other welcome to the team stuff they did, looking back at the room, he couldn't help but feel like he wasn't alone, shrugging it off he lent on the railing of the balcony, looking back to the room for a moment, before dragging a chair from inside outside and sitting down, staring up at the sky. "New home, new job and a bunch of new problems" he sighed, sitting up as he heard the door. "It's open!".

[mad hatters revenge]

Morgan was nervous. Well she'd actually been nervous all day. Everyone at the office wouldn't shut up about their new detective, the one who had got to deal with the stuttering genius. Though they didn't mean any harm when they called her that, the men at the office hadn't over looked that even with the cute nervous stutter, she was every bit a women as she was an officer. Joining had kept her in shape, but had made her a bit uncomfortable in the dating world. The last time they'd tried getting her to go to a club, she'd broken a guys arm when he'd tried offering his hand for a dance. Social situations made her nervous, the only time she didn't stutter, was when they were talking about a case. It was the one thing the brunette loved about her job, it was the only time of day she felt confident.

Her stutter had been around since a young age, her mother had turned abusive after their father died, not above selling her daughter to make a few extra bucks, thankfully someone had tipped off the authorities before the girl had to deal with such horrible things for long, and sitting in the police station, telling them what happened, she'd felt safe. It was the first time in twelve years the girl hadn't stuttered. They placed her with a loving foster family, and now, she was one of the hardest workers in the office. Usually she was partnered up with whoever was odd man out for the day, their new detective evened those numbers out, and she was suppose to show him around and get him comfortable with his new surroundings.

Starting with at home, they took partnerships serious here, all partners were close friends, and they talked about more than just work. Everyone was comfortable with each other, and they were tormenting her by telling her to stop by and see her new partner to help him get settled before meeting him in the office as she had planned. Her nerves were already through the roof, and normally she had another officer to explain her stutter to anyone talking to her outside of work. Now, they wanted her to explain it to her partner herself, determined that the more they pushed her, one day she wouldn't feel nervous when she wasn't talking about a case, and eventually the stutter would fade. It had gotten better, but when she was nervous it only seemed to go right back to how it use to be.

Her eyes had scanned her closet forever trying to figure out what she was suppose to wear. They'd told her not to show up in her uniform, it was Sunday, the day they were suppose to be dressed comfortable. One green eye, one blue, a result from having a twin with her in the womb, one that had died before birth, an emergency c-section had kept Morgan alive, but it had been a 50/50 chance of how well she would develop in the hospital. Yet here she was, 24 years old and rummaging through her clothes like a school girl before her first date.

Finally, she'd decided on some fading blue jeans, black sneakers and a simple black tank top. Badge in her back pocket, wallet in it's opposite, she ran a brush through the long chocolate brown locks, debating on up or down. Down seemed laid back enough, so once the straight locks were tamed, her bangs falling as neatly as she could make them, she walked the few blocks from her apartment to her partners.

Knocking, she waited patiently, a bit surprised when instead of opening a voice simply informed her the door was open. Hesitating, she took a deep breath, letting it out slowly before opening the door. Peeking around it, she slowly walked in, glancing around to see if she could figure out where he was. "L-Logan?" She called, a blush rising to her cheeks as she instantly struggled to talk, failing on the first shot at keeping her stutter. Her eyes caught the open balcony door so she made her way over, eyes scanning the apartment as she did before she finally caught sight of her new partner.

Still blushing, she walked out and extended her hand, "Hi, I'm M-Morgan, you're new p-partner." Sighing, she looked at the floor for a second, trying to get herself to calm down. "Sorry, I-I have a s-slight st-stutter, I-it's h-horrible when I'm nervous." At least she'd tackled the word nervous fairly well, the boys would be proud.

[TakodaVega]

Willow had watched the movers, with interest as she continued to hover around the counter at least that was until he showed up.  Her ghostly eyes watched him. Her vivid green eyes seemed to be the only thing, outside of her dress that wasn't a shade of gray. Floating out of the way of the boxes, though considering her form they would pass just right through her she investigated her newest guest. They were all guests here to her at this point. She still viewed this as home. Not necessarily an intruder, considering she didn't drive them away, at least not intentionally. However as a ghost she was inquisitive.

She glided about the man she looked him over carefully. He was taller than her, she held her head in her hands in curiosity. She twitched her nose as she continued to watch the male.  A smoker. Meant he was a stress magnet. Not that she no longer had most of her corporeal senses. Actually most of these had been replaced by her most ghostly ones. At least he smoked outside. She froze however as he turned to look straight at her. Did he see her? Did someone really sense she was here?!

Her excitement was shortlived when he turned away and she sulked floating back towards the door. A door that didn't stay closed as the woman made her way to the door, walking straight through Willow to reach her goal. Frowning she hovered a bit before sticking her head out the glass door. Partner hmm? She wondered what she meant by partner as she glanced between the two. Her nose crinkled at the smoke again, twenty years and it still made her want to reach over and stuff the ember out. She used to be able to, but until she got her energy back she wouldn't be able to.

[Dies Irae]

Hearing the voice, and the obvious stutter to go with it he smiled, dragging the cigarette lightly as he thought on it, years of working homicide had made his brain try to piece together information, was her stutter caused by trauma, abuse? a simple speech impediment from a young age? he ordered his mind to stop treating the social interaction as a case and turned offering a welcoming smile as he watched her extend her hand, nodding with a slight hint of surprise when she mentioned the stutter, it was cute if he had to place a word to it "I'm sure we'll make a great team" he said shaking her hand lightly, extinguishing the ended smoke on the balcony dropping it in an empty bucket next to the door.

Walking inside he scratched the back of his head lightly feigning nervousness, the truth was he had intended to spend the rest of the day unpacking, stake out the building and the surrounding perimeter for a few hours then cook a small but acceptable dinner, her presence wasn't unwanted but working homicide as hard as he had, he'd lost his touch with social gatherings, if that was the word he could use. He was more in the notion of not wanting to make a bad impression, though he did his best to be a gracious host, offering a drink or food, until he got comfortable with her at least.

Then he felt it again, freezing in place as if time itself had stopped, was that a? no it couldn't be, tired from the drive, there only me and her here, but i swear that was a woman in my living room, his mind was playing tricks on him, the drive must have made him more exhausted than he thought, that was logical, made sense and it was the reasoning he was going to go with, there couldn't be anyone else here, he was a dectective he'd have a gut feeling if there was an unwanted guest in his home.

Setting the now steaming mug in front of his new partner he smiled sipping his own "So how's the crime rate here?" drifting the conversation to work, something he was comfortable with, he would find out anyway at his inital briefing and first case, but a little casual work conversation would be could to relieve the tension in the room, but he still couldn't shake the feeling of being watched, looking at his mug his hand shaking lightly, the hairs of his arm standing upright, something was amiss in his home, he'd find out later.

Looking up to Morgan he smiled once more, staring into her eyes, almost as if he was searching for something, a reason for his suspicions, though he drew his gaze to the clock on the north wall, overlooking the small and sealed fireplace, reverse cycle air conditioning had made that obsolete but the nostalgia was well appreciated, looking back to Morgan "Shall we get aquainted over dinner i'd be happy to pick you up later, or if you wanted to go now a late lunch might suffice?" he said adding a carefree tone to the half question, half request.

[mad hatters revenge]

Morgan smiled at his thoughts that they would make a good team, she was certainly hoping so. Not that she minded being the odd one out, but having a partner might get the guys off her case about not being able to handle social situations anymore. They of course were only teasing, treating the stuttering girl like a younger sister, with the right amount of kindness but the right amount of pushing, they'd fix her up. That was the plan anyway, "I h-hope so. I-'ve been t-told I'm easy to g-get along w-with." When she wasn't tripping over her words like an idiot at least.

Trying not to let it get to her, she glanced at him when he froze for a moment, her eyes followed his own, but whatever he'd seen in the living room was gone. He said nothing about it though, and she did her best to shrug it off, he looked tired, and judging from his file, he hadn't had the easiest time in his transfer.

Taking the offered mug, she took a small sip, her eyes brightening at his question. Not that her answer was a happy one, but it was work, work was what she was good at. "Big city like this, sadly there's just a lot of unsolved crimes, disappearances, murders. We haven't had anything big happen lately, but the unsolved ones are piling. None of them are linked in anyway, things like robbery shootings, gang members murdered, people who just don't come home one night and are never seen, break ins that turn into murder." Pausing she took another sip, mentally beaming that work also meant she didn't stutter. Hopefully it would make it easier to avoid the stutter when talking about anything else. "Sometimes there's enough left behind to catch the bad guy, but sometimes we just run out of time and the evidence gets cold."

At his question, she contemplated how she should answer. It was just one of those questions where she felt like there was a wrong answer and she didn't know which one it was. After a moments pause though she got herself to nod, "D..inner sounds fine." Her words were slow, careful, she could do this without stumbling. "It'll give you t-time to u-unpack a bit. Get c-comfortable." Mentally she kicked herself, she'd been so damn close. Sighing, she knew it wasn't going to just magically go away over night, hopefully the dinner would work at getting them acquainted and the stutter would slowly fade when speaking to him.

A chill ran down her spine, the kind one gets when someone's looking at you for a long period of time. Glancing over her shoulder, playing it off as looking at the clock, she now began wondering if that was the feeling that had gotten him to freeze earlier when he was looking in the living room. Maybe it was just the air, or her own nerves messing with her head, so she shrugged it off and returned her attention back to her new partner.