Chapter 1: Act One
Chapter Text
{SEASON ONE}
In which a girl is reunited with her first love 25 years after they were separated by death.
"Cause after all this time
I'm still into you"
"I should be over all the butterflies but I'm into you, I'm into you"
"And baby even on our worst nights"
I'm into you, I'm into you
Let 'em wonder how we got this far"
"'Cause I don't really need to wonder at all"
"Yeah, after all this time"
"I'm still into you"
***
Sabrina Carpenter as Caitlyn Warren
Charlie Gillespie as Luke Patterson
Jeremy Shada as Reggie Peters
Owen Patrick Joyner as Alex Mercer
Jennifer Aniston as Natasha Warren
Timothee Chalmet as Micheal 'Mikey' Warren
Emily Rudd as Melissa 'Mel' Warren
Madison Reyes as Julie Molina
Jadah Marie as Flynn
Savannah May as Carrie Wilson
Booboo Stewart as Willie
Carlos Ponce as Ray Molina
Sonny Bustamante As Carlos Molina
Cheyenne Jackson as Caleb Covington
Sacha Carlson as Nick
Steve Bacic as Bobby Shaw/Trevor Wilson
The Rest of the cast as their respective characters
Chapter 2: 01. Now or Never
Chapter Text
Hollywood 1995
17-year-old Caitlyn Warren stood outside of the studio where her boyfriend and three best friends, who just so happen to be in a band called Sunset Curve practiced.
She had a smile plastered on her face as she looked at her boyfriend Luke "Tonight is the big night, you guys are playing The Orpheum that's huge and I know you guys are gonna absolutely kill it."
He gave her a goofy grin with a hopeful look in his eyes as he stared down into her eyes "you're gonna be there tonight right Cait? You gotta be there, you're my lucky charm."
The blonde pecked him on the lips "of course I'm gonna be there babe, I have practice at 4 so here in a few minutes but, just for this occasion I will cut it short and I'll be there before you guys do soundcheck, Promise. My boys are gonna make it big tonight, no way would I ever miss that." then she laughed at the second part of what he said smiling up at him "you are so cheesy, but I love it and you."
She kissed him again, he grinned at her as she pulled back "I love you too Cait."
She gave him another goofy smile before she walked away heading to the studio that her mother owned where her band Fear on Fire practiced.
Fear on Fire consisted of Caitlyn the founder and lead singer and guitarist, her younger brother Micheal who played bass, and her younger sister Melissa who was on keyboard and backup vocals. Mel and Mikey are twins and only 11 months younger than Cait. Melissa's boyfriend Tate is their drummer, and Michael's best friend Jordan is the rhythm guitarist. They mostly did Punk Rock music but they had several Rock songs as well Cait could write for different genres but they only played the songs that went with the sound they had, but Cait would play the others with an Acoustic guitar when it was just her or her and her siblings or her and Luke and the guys of course.
Mel gave her sister a teasing look "ohhh look at that our leading lady is on time for once." The others laughed as Cait rolled her eyes.
"Well my boys have a gig, they sold out The Orpheum tonight and there is no way I'm missing it so we gotta be outta here by 5 so I can get over there before they do soundcheck at 7, so yeah I am here on time."
Mel grinned "sweet, that's awesome Cait!"
Mikey smiled at her as well "one day that's gonna be us on that stage as well."
Cait nodded before grabbing her guitar and taking her place "Damn straight we'll be there one day."
After they finished band practice Cait ran into their house which the studio was in the backyard to get ready, she changed into her Sunset Curve shirt with a pair of black jeans and her combat boots.
Once she was happy with her look she grabbed her bag and headed downstairs her mother smiled "have fun tonight, tell the boys that I said good luck."
She kissed her mom on the cheek "will do mom, I'll probably be home late but I'll see you later, love you."
"Love you too." That was what she heard as she ran out the door and made her way to The Orpheum, to meet the guys.
She slipped in and smiled at the waitress, "they haven't started yet have they?"
She shook her head "no they were just about to start I'm Rose by the way."
Cait smiles "Good, I promised I'd be here before they started and I'm Caitlyn but my friends call me Cait."
"You their groupie?"
Cait laughed with a grin on her face "something like that, I'm their best friend, biggest fan and I'm Luke the lead singer's girlfriend, so I guess it's a three-in-one with me."
Rose laughed "you're funny, I have a feeling that we're gonna be great friends."
Cait smiled at her. "I second that Rose." Cait wrote her number down on a piece of paper giving it to the girl "We should definitely hang out sometime." Then Cait's smile widened hearing the intro riffs to 'Now or Never' it's one of her favorite songs that the boys have done.
Rose smiled at her putting the paper in her pocket "yeah we should."
Alex started them off with a count "One, Two, Three."
" Take off, last stop
Countdown 'til we blast open the top
Face first, full charge
Electric hammer to the heart"
Cait blew a kiss towards Luke as he caught her eye making him grin as he kept singing, with Reggie and Alex joining in.
"Clocks move faster
'Cause it's all we're after now, oh"
Won't stop climbing
'Cause this is our time, yeah
When all the days felt black and white
Those were the best shades of my life"
Cait had a huge grin on her face singing along with the boys from her spot by the table with Rose.
"Don't look down
'Cause we're still rising
Up right now
And even if we hit the ground
We'll still fly
Keep dreaming like we'll live forever
But live it like it's now or never"
Luke shot a wink at her, making her give him a laugh as they continued.
"We ain't searching for tomorrow (tomorrow)
'Cause we got all we need today (today)
Living on a feeling that's been running through our veins
We're the revolution that's been singing in the rain"
Rose smiled looking over at the girl who was as always mesmerized watching her boys perform. "They're really good."
Cait nodded with a smile not taking her eyes off the stage, "yeah they are."
"Don't look down
'Cause we're still rising
Up right now"
Luke grinned as he finally perfected his guitar flip, making Cait smile again "he's been practicing that flip for weeks and figures he nails it on their big night." Rose chuckled at the blonde girl's words.
"And even if we hit the ground
We'll still fly
Keep dreaming like we'll live forever
But live it like it's now or never
It's now or never (now or never)"
The song ended and Cait and the other people in the place cheered for them "Yeah!"
Reggie grabbed his mic looking at Rose "Thank you we're Sunset Curve."
Bobby looked at the boys as Cait made her way towards the stage "Too bad we wasted that on the soundcheck, that was the tightest we've ever played."
She hopped up onto the stage with them as Luke grinned "But wait until tonight, man when this place gets packed with record execs."
The blonde girl grinned at them fist-bumping, Alex, Reggie, and Bobby while she wrapped an arm around Luke "You guys rocked that, so hard!"
Luke wrapped an arm around her shoulders kissing her on the head "Of course we did, we had our biggest fan here to cheer us on."
She laughed as she pushed him off "Ew, you're all sweaty and gross."
He just gave her a look and laughed before wrapping his arms around her again picking her up into a hug this time making Cait laugh.
Reggie looked at Alex "Alex you were smoking."
The blonde boy defects the compliment "Oh no. I was just warming up. You guys were the ones on fire." he motioned to three boys.
Reggie gave the drummer a look "Could you just own up to your awesomeness for once?"
Cait grinned at the blonde drummer "Dude, Reg is right, you gotta own up to your awesomeness Alex." Luke and Bobby both nod at him.
He turned back towards Reggie "All right, I was killing it!"
Cait grinned at him "Atta Boy, own it!" The boy laughed hugging the blonde girl that was like a sister to him.
Luke grinned at the boys and Cait "Well I'm thinking we fuel up before the show. I'm thinking street dogs."
Alex and Reggie are both down for it "Oh!"
"Yes!"
Cait gave her boyfriend a look "Luke! Those things are disgusting and so unsanitary." He shrugged helping her down off the stage, wrapping his arm around her again, this was the norm for them to be touching almost constantly in some way or another whether it, be holding hands or arms wrapped around each other, it was something that the other boys were used to at this point.
"Bobby, where you going?" The four follow Bobby over to Cait's new friend Rose.
"I'm good." he passes on the street dogs. "Vegetarian, I could never hurt an animal."
Cait snorted at his attempt to impress Rose knowing good and well that it was a lie. "You guys are really good."
"Thank you."
Cait leaned into Luke's side a little with a smile on her face as Rose kept talking "I see a lot of bands, been in a couple myself. I was really feeling it."
"That's what we do this for, I'm Luke by the way."
Cait waves at her "Hello again."
Rose laughed "Hi there."
Reggie introduces himself "Hi, I'm Reggie"
Alex points to himself "Alex."
The last introduction is Bobby "Bobby."
"Nice meeting you guys." Cait laughed as Luke reached around her and gave Bobby a wet-willy, the boy sighed and gave Luke a side glare "I'm Rose."
Reggie gives her a shirt "Oh uh, here's our demo and a t-shirt, size beautiful." Alex groaned but Cait grinned reaching around her boyfriend to fist bump Reggie on that one. "Smooth Reg, real smooth." He fist-bumped her back.
Rose smiled at him "Thanks, I'll make sure not to wipe down the tables with this one." Cait laughed she liked this girl, they had the potential to be really good friends and Cait could feel it.
"Oh good call, whenever they get wet they just kinda fall apart in your hands," Alex told her.
Bobby looked at them "Don't you guys have to go get hot dogs?"
Luke nodded "Yeah" and pushed Bobby back slightly "He had a hamburger for lunch." Reggie slapped Bobby on the shoulder as they walked away, Luke looked down at Cait "You coming with us?"
Cait shook her head at her boyfriend "I'll pass on the street dogs, I suggest something a little more sanitary." She gave him a pointed look before she pulled Luke's face down and kissed him "I will see you when you guys get back and I know you're gonna kill it tonight."
Luke kissed her again "I love you."
Cait grinned at him "Love you more rockstar."
He gave her that goofy grin that only she can bring out "not possible princess."
She couldn't help but grin back at him pulling him into what they were both unaware would be their last kiss, "go on, Reg and Alex are waiting for you."
"Alright, I'll see you later Cait." Then Luke ran off to catch up with Reggie and Alex.
Rose smiled as the girl walked back over "You guys are really cute together."
Cait smiled back at her "Thanks, we've been friends our whole lives and we are coming up on three years as a couple in April. He is absolutely my future. I love him more than I ever thought I could love someone and I couldn't see myself with anyone else."
Rose smiled at her "That's cute, Cait, that's really sweet."
That is when they heard the sirens and Cait's heart dropped down into her stomach, the feeling of dread seeping into her bones, she bolted out of the theatre and towards the sirens, and what she saw when she got there was the boys being loaded into an ambulance.
She did the first thing she could think and ran towards the ambulance, frantically tapping one of the paramedics on the shoulder "my boyfriend and two of my best friends are in that ambulance... are they okay?"
"We have to go now if we stand a chance at saving their lives it doesn't look good but if we get there in time they'll be fine."
She saw the look on his face even as he tried to sound reassuring and she knew that they weren't okay, tears blurred her vision as her knees buckled, had it not been for Bobby who had followed her out of the place grabbing onto her and keeping her upright, her legs would have given out and she would have hit the ground.
The ambulance drove off, its sirens blaring.
Cait felt numb inside after getting the confirmation that Luke, Reggie, and Alex were dead, they never even made it to the hospital. She went home that night and collapsed into her mother's arms as sobs wracked through her body, not only had she lost the love of her life that night but two of her best friends as well.
Chapter 3: 02. Aftermath
Chapter Text
April 1995
Six Months Later
In the months after the death of three of the four members of Sunset Curve, Cait stopped functioning normally for a while, she would barely sleep, eat or leave her room, she stopped playing and singing in front of other people, but she still used it as an outlet for her pain but she wouldn't let anyone else hear her and to top it all off she had lost her other best friend Bobby as well because of the fact that he took several of the songs that Luke had written and was profiting off of them passing them off as his own.
Cait completely blew up on him for it. He just shrugged her off as if what he was doing wasn't wrong causing her to scoff before she left him with the final words that he would hear from her "as a musician, I get it the show must go on and all but this is not the way to honor them, you and I both know that Luke wrote those songs and you don't even give him the writing credit that he deserves, you disgust me." Then she walked away and it's been three months since that happened and a total of six months since their deaths and Cait is finally back to functioning semi-normally.
Today was one of the days where it was hitting her really hard, April 15th... It would have been her 3-year anniversary being Luke's girlfriend.
She let out a shaky breath and got out of bed and got ready, she knew that if she didn't get up Rose the girl she'd met that night would literally drag her out of bed, it wouldn't be the first time it happened, they were meeting for lunch and she was told not to be late, the girl along with Mel and Mikey had become her lifeline of the last 6 months, she would not have made it as long as she has without them and her mother.
The four of them had been her support system.
She got dressed and walked downstairs, her mother giving her a smile and a bit of an apprehensive look knowing precisely what day it was "Mornin', what's on the agenda for today?"
She gave her mother a small smile "morning mom, meeting Rose for lunch, and then she's gonna watch us practice, we have that show this weekend and she's been wanting to see us play since I started playing again so I told her she could sit in on tonight's practice"
Natasha smiled at her daughter, it had been a rough few months for the blonde and the older woman was happy that she was finally getting back into the things that she loved. After grabbing some breakfast, Cait headed out of the house she had one stop to make before she met Rose at this little cafe that they found one day.
She dropped down on her knees once she got to her destination, a sad smile on her face as she brushed some of the grass off the headstone, laying the flowers that she brought on it "I know I don't come as much as I should but I know you'd understand it just hurts too much" tears welled up in her eyes "but I couldn't not come today of all days... would have been three years, we would have been together three years today." the tears fall down her cheeks "I miss you so much and sometimes I feel like I'm suffocating, with how much it hurts... you were my future, my forever, and now I'm just left here wondering how I'm supposed to live without you."
She blew out a breath wiping the tears that were still falling down her face "it feels like everyone just expects me to be fine and forget, but they just don't understand that I can't do that, at least not right now... maybe I'll never be able to who knows at this point, it's only been six months. How am I supposed to just move on so quickly, when everything in my life revolved around you, the guys, and my band and our music now all I have left is my band and our music, it's a rough adjustment."
She sat there for a little while longer before deciding that it was time for her to go "I should go... I'm meeting Rose for lunch and she hates when I'm late... I make no promises but I am going to try and stop by more, but I love you Rockstar, always that is something that is never going to change." she wiped her tears again and got to her feet walking away.
She was walking with her head down and not paying attention to where she was walking and she ran into someone, Cait looked up "I am so sorry I wasn't paying attention" she saw a weird look in the guy's eyes.
Cait could almost describe the look in his eyes as crazed as he looked around before looking back at her, then he shoved a knife into her chest and ran away, Cait hit her knees staring down at the knife sticking out of her chest.
The last thing she remembered hearing was someone yelling to call an ambulance and then it all went dark.
The next thing Cait sees is herself lying on the table in the morgue of the hospital with her mother and siblings were there and all three of them were in tears staring at her body in disbelief.
"I'm dead?" was the question that fell out of her mouth, Mel and Mikey looked at each other they both would have sworn that they had heard Cait's voice at that moment but they both brushed it off as grief of finding out that their older sister was just murdered and not wanting to believe that she was really gone.
The blonde who was now a ghost sighed "Well this is not how I expected my day to go at all." she rolled her eyes "guess I should have been paying more attention to where I was going... Seriously how was I supposed to know that the random guy I ran into was gonna stab me?"
The first thing she did as her first task as a ghost was try and find her boys but she couldn't find anything about them anywhere.
So Cait spent her time for the most part following her siblings or mom around, sometimes she would check in on Rose just to see how she was doing.
One time when she was checking up on Rose, something was different because that time Rose's 12-year-old daughter Julie saw her which had never happened before. It freaked them both out, Cait left for a while, and Julie ran and told her mom about the girl that she saw in the studio, though Rose didn't quite believe her at the time.
Cait came back a little while later to find Julie alone in the studio waiting for her mom to come out, Julie looked at the ghost cautiously "who are you?"
The blonde smiled at her "My name is Caitlyn, but my friends and family called me Cait."
"Why are you here?"
"I was just checking up on a friend, only you saw me this time, that's never happened before."
"Why wouldn't you be seen?"
"I'm dead, a ghost."
"This friend who was it?"
Cait smiled at her again "your mom Rose, when I was alive she was one of my best friends, she was one of the people that helped me through a really rough spot."
Julie looked at her wide-eyed, but more at ease knowing that Cait was once a friend of her mom's "Oh." that was when Rose walked in.
"Julie? who are talking to?"
Julie looked at Cait who shrugged "you can tell her if you want, I don't know if she'll believe you but you can tell her."
Julie decided to tell her the truth "mom, there's a ghost here, the girl that I told you I saw earlier."
Rose nodded still skeptical about it "can you tell me what this ghost looks like Julie?"
The 12-year-old nodded "okay well she said her name was Caitlyn but her friends and family called her Cait, she's blonde and has green eyes, she wearing a black hat that says Fear on Fire... a black shirt that says Sunset Curve, black ripped jeans and combat boots."
Rose sucked in a breath hearing both band names, she hadn't heard either of them in 25 years, "Caity... is that you are you really here?"
Cait smiled teary-eyed "oh Rosie, it's me I'm really here, I was just watching over you."
Julie replayed what Cait had said to her mom who also smiled a teary smile "oh Caity I've missed you."
"Missed you too Rosie, I've been here even if you didn't know it." Julie once again relayed the message. Cait smiled it was nice to be seen by someone other than her siblings who had both inherited their great-grandma's gift of sight.
Chapter Text
Los Angeles.
Los Feliz High School.
2020
Caitlyn didn't really have anything better to do, her brother and sister were both working, and she didn't want to bother them at work, so she decided to tag along with Julie to school.
The blonde ghost was standing by Julie's locker with the curly-haired girl, they were waiting for Julie's friends to show up Flynn, Cait had been around before but the other two she had yet to meet in a sense, but she knew they were twins and that Julie had met them through a friend of a friend of her mom's a little bit before her mom died.
Cait always seemed to be doing something else when they would hang out.
"Hey, underachiever," Flynn said as she approached, the two, though Flynn wasn't aware of the blonde being there.
Julie smiled at her, "Hey, disappointment."
Cait was surprised to see two familiar faces walk up to the girls, "sup losers, the party has arrived." Caiden said with a smirk on his face while, his twin sister, Catelyn, rolled her eyes.
"Caid obviously means me when he says that."
The boy rolled his eyes playfully, "Whatever you say, Cat."
The blonde ghost looked between her niece and nephew and Julie, she had not seen that coming." The curly-haired girl noticed the looks and noticeably furrowed her brow. Cait just smiled and mouthed 'later' to which Julie nodded slightly.
The four friends laughed as Flynn gave Julie a look. "Okay I know you don't want me to ask you this but have you figured out what you're going to do today?"
"I'll know in the moment." was what Julie said, and while Cait understood her hesitation to play music after Rose's death, she probably understood that better than anyone else, the blonde ghost also knew that Julie's spot in the program was in jeopardy if she didn't perform today.
Cat looked at the girl, "Jules, Flynn has a point."
Caid nodded in agreement with his sister, "Yeah, Jules, this performance determines if you get to stay in the music program."
The girl sighed, she knew that they were right, but just couldn't bring herself to take the leap.
Cait gave her an understanding look, hoping that telling her this would help, "Jules, you've got this, okay? I believe in you and trust me you'll feel better once you let the music back into your heart. I understand your hesitation, and I am probably the only one who knows exactly what you're going through right now... because I went through something similar prior to my untimely demise."
Both the twins slightly jumped at the voice, they were still coming into the gift they inherited from their mother, so they weren't used to being able to hear and see ghosts yet and this just happened to be the first time they had actually heard one.
Julie smiled at the blonde appreciatively, she's been able to see the blonde ghost since she was 12, but still didn't know much about her before she died. It was something Cait didn't like to talk about because it hurt that she didn't know what happened to her boys, Luke especially, she knew they were dead but had found nothing on them in the entirety of the 25 years that she'd been dead.
Flynn gave the girl another look, "Really Jules, that's all you're giving us? Like Caid said, Miss Harrison said that this is your last chance."
Julie looked between her friends, "I know. I was there."
They heard Carrie's voice and Flynn made a face, "Ugh! What is she handing out?"
"Desperation." they all looked at Carrie and the twins gave them a look that said be nice, which was promptly ignored by the other two girls, making Cait snicker.
Carrie Wilson walked up to the group and handed a flier to Cat, "Here you go." then she handed one to Julie and Flynn as well. "My group's performing at the spirit rally tomorrow. I'm sure you guys have nothing better to do."
"Oh my gosh, Carrie. Thanks!"
"Oh my gosh, Flynn. Don't bother coming!" then smiled at the twins, "Hope to see you guys there." then she walked away and Julie and Flynn both crumbled up the fliers. Making the twins shake their heads.
Flynn gave them a look, "I don't get how you two can be friends with her."
Cat gave the girl a look, "Well we still don't know what you three had your falling out about, none of you will talk about it." the two girls were quiet after that before Caitlyn, the twins, and Flynn all noticed Julie staring dreamily at Nick.
Flynn is giving her best friend a look, "Nick? Still? You know they're going to get married and have a bunch of unholy babies."
"Nick's a sweetheart" Julie defended her crush.
Cait grinned at her teasingly, "You know Jules, you'd have to talk to the boy to know that."
"Only one of them has to be a demon to make a demon baby." Cait laughed as Flynn yelled, "Demon!" At Carrie, making her turn around and glare at her, as Flynn and Julie laughed slightly, ducking their heads. While the twins shook their heads in amusement. They were still friends with Carrie, even if Julie and Flynn were no longer friends with her.
The blonde ghost grinned at her friend, "God it's times like this that I really wish that Flynn could see me too just so I could tell her how much I love her, I mean my God girl knows how to make you laugh."
Julie just shot a smile at the blonde.
While the twins looked startled since they hadn't noticed the blonde there before, even if they heard her voice they hadn't exactly looked at her. Their eyes widened as they recognized the blonde from the photos their mom had of her in the house.
Flynn smiled at Julie, "There's that smile."
Caid lightly pushed the girl's shoulder, "Now let's go prove everybody wrong, you can do this, Jules." Caitlyn smirked, seeing the look in her nephew's eye that meant that he had a little crush on Julie, his sister gave him a teasing look as they walked to the music classroom.
Their music class had started and Nick had just finished his guitar solo and Ms. Harrison, nodded at him as the class clapped and cheered for him, "Nice job, Nick, almost as impressive as your game against Glendale, okay we have two more performances, Caiden, Catelyn your up first," she always let the twins perform together if they wanted to and they usually did.
The twins got up, Caid playing the guitar and Cat sitting down at the piano, they were playing a song that their mom and uncle Mikey had written with their aunt Caitlyn. Cat smiled, "the song that we're going be performing today is called If We Have Each Other, and it's very special to Caid and I."
Cat started singing first.
"She was 19 with a baby on the way
On the East-side of the city, she was working every day
Cleaning dishes in the evening, she could barely stay awake
She was clinging to the feeling that her luck was gonna change
And, 'cross town she would take the bus at night
To a one-bedroom apartment, and when she'd turn on the light
She would sit down at the table, tell herself that it's alright
She was waiting on the day she hoped her baby would arrive
She'd never be alone
Have someone to hold
And when nights were cold
She'd say
The world's not perfect, but it's not that bad
If we got each other, and that's all we have
I will be your mother, and I'll hold your hand
You should know I'll be there for you
When the world's not perfect
When the world's not kind
If we have each other, then we'll both be fine
I will be your mother, and I'll hold your hand
You should know I'll be there for you."
Then Caid took over in the next verse.
"They were 90 and were living out their days
On the West-side of the city, next to where they got engaged
They had pictures on the walls of all the memories that they'd made
And though life was never easy, they were thankful that they stayed
With each other, and though some times were hard
Even when she made him angry he would never break her heart
No, they didn't have the money to afford a fancy car
But they never had to travel 'cause they'd never be apart
Even at the end
Their love was stronger than
The day that they first met
They'd say
The world's not perfect, but it's not that bad
If we got each other, and that's all we have
I will be your lover, and I'll hold your hand
You should know I'll be there for you
When the world's not perfect
When the world's not kind
If we have each other, then we'll both be fine
I will be your lover, and I'll hold your hand
You should know I'll be there for you
You should know I'll be there for you."
They sang together for the next verse.
"I'm 23, and my folks are getting old
I know they don't have forever, and I'm scared to be alone
So I'm thankful for my sister, even though sometimes we fight
When high school wasn't easy, she's the reason I survived
I know she'd never leave me and I hate to see her cry
So I wrote this verse to tell her that I'm always by her side
I wrote this verse to tell her that I'm always by her side
I wrote this verse to tell her that
The world's not perfect, but it's not that bad
If we got each other, and that's all we have
I will be your brother, and I'll hold your hand
You should know I'll be there for you
When the world's not perfect
When the world's not kind."
Caid took the last verse and sang it solo while Cat played the piano.
"If we have each other, then we'll both be fine
I will be your brother, and I'll hold your hand
You should know I'll be there for you
You should know I'll be there for you."
They finished the song, and there were a few teary-eyed people in the room as they clapped and cheered for the twins, making them both smile as they bowed. Cait had a grin on her face hearing them sing a song that she wrote with her siblings. They took their seats.
"All right now we just have one more performance, Julie." she nodded at the girl, and she got up and walked to the piano.
"Come on, Jules, you got this," Cait whispered as Julie started to play a few notes, but then the girl froze and got up, "I'm sorry."
Cait sighed at the girl, "Oh, Jules."
Carrie made a comment, "is this when we clap?"
Then Julie ran out of the room, Flynn giving the brunette a look, "Watch it Carrie." and followed after Julie. The twins followed them as well to check on Julie, while Cait just poofed out to where Julie and Flynn were, and the twins joined them a moment later.
The three friends wrapped Julie in a hug to comfort the girl. Cait wished that she could have hugged the girl then too but knew that it was impossible. So she settled for giving her a sympathetic smile.
It was now after school and the twins were waiting on their dad to come and pick them up and Julie was waiting for her dad as well, "so Jules," Cat said, finally deciding to bring up the blonde from earlier.
"Yeah, Cat, what is it?" Cait chose that moment to poof back to the Molina girl's side.
"Well, Caid and I noticed earlier that there was a blonde girl with you and Flynn and Flynn didn't seem to notice her, but you did, because she was speaking to you, and you were trying to subtly answer back with nods and such."
Julie looked surprised at that, "oh uh, how can you see her?"
"It's a little complicated," Caid answered.
Cait shrugged and spoke up, "I'll simplify it, it's a family trait..." The three jumped at the sudden voice.
Cat and Caid looked at her weirdly, "our mom explained to us, that we would possibly be able to see ghosts after we turned 16 since mom and Uncle Mikey were 16 when they first started being able to do it."
Caitlyn snickered at the memory of almost giving her siblings a heart attack that day when they discovered they had the ability. "Mom said not to be alarmed if we ever just randomly started seeing a blonde girl in the house, and then explained that the blonde was our aunt who died when she was 17."
Their respective fathers pulled up, and they all got into the cars and were headed home, but the twins told Julie they would come over later and would talk more about it.
Cait had just poofed back into the studio where she stayed most of the time. She somehow felt closer to Luke and the boys in the studio, since it's where they used to practice and Luke, whenever he wasn't at the Warren house when he would fight with his parents, slept on the couch in the studio.
Notes:
Omg the Cait and Luke reunion happens next chapter and it's going to be an emotional one OML I can't wait to start writing that.
Also I do not own any of the songs I use for my OCS in this all rights go to the rightful owners.
Chapter Text
Cait had been up in the loft, in the studio she liked to sleep up there sometimes even if she didn't technically need to sleep, most of the boys' stuff was up there so that was the main reason that she liked to be up there not knowing what happened to them after they died being near everything they left in the studio made her feel closer to them.
The blonde ghost had been asleep, and even being dead the blonde was still a heavy sleeper, so the first screaming match between Julie and the boys didn't budge her.
After Julie had run out of the studio and the boys disappeared the very first thing Luke did was try to find Caitlyn but was very disappointed when he didn't find her at her mom's house he went everywhere he thought she might be but came up empty each time, so he decided to try again later and poofed back to the studio with a very discouraged look on his face and Reggie and Alex both knew why. The shaggy-haired brunette had hoped to find his girlfriend but was unsuccessful and his two friends knew that he was going to be unbearably sad until he knew something about the blonde girl whom he loved.
Thinking about Cait was what kept him calm while they were in the dark room.
Julie had come back into the studio to find it empty, but she wasn't alone this time, the twins were with her, she was holding a cross out in front of her that made the twins laugh when she came out of the house holding it when they had arrived after the 911 text, yeah Cait was a ghost, but she didn't know these boys or their intentions, so she held the cross tentatively in front of her.
Only for the three boys to poof back in resulting in a second screaming match but more so from Alex and Reggie, as Luke still looked very dejected. Which Cat seemed to take note of as she tilted her head to the side, seeing the three boys, she noticed that they looked familiar.
"Caid," she spoke quietly and nudged her brother.
He nodded. "Yeah I noticed it too Cat, pretty sure mom has pictures of them and Aunt Cait from when they were teenagers," he whispered to her.
"I thought they looked familiar." the 16-year-old answered back to her brother.
The second screaming match was what woke her up, the screaming was somehow louder than before, and Cait cracked an eye open. She was a little annoyed that she was woken up.
She poofed down to the main part of the studio, she looked at Julie first not noticing the boys yet, "What's with all the damn screaming? It sounds like someone's performing an exorcism down here." Then she blinked and realized that Julie was in the studio... and was holding a cross, "Welcome back to the studio Jules and why the hell do you have a cross?"
That earned a snicker from the twins, while the three dead members of Sunset Curve's head whipped to the side at the sound of a very familiar voice. Julie bit her lip, giving the blonde ghost a look, "Well you see funny story, so dad wants me to clear out the studio right, so he can take pictures and put the house on the market, so I was out here and found some kind of old CD up in the loft I was very quiet, so I didn't wake you earlier because I know how much you hate being woken up... like I don't get it you shouldn't even need to sleep but yeah, and so I played the CD and then there was a screeching sound and then poof these three ghost boys just appeared out of seemingly nowhere so, we screamed at each other and I ran into the house and I panic sent out a 911 text hence the twins being here and the cross."
Cait snorted "Oh my god Jules, why does all the interesting shit happen while I'm sleeping which no it's not necessary but gives me something to do whenever everyone that can interact with me is busy... honestly, I sleep like the dead... no pun intended by the way, so I'm surprised your screaming woke me at all but wow, that's something, so you said three ghost boys huh." there was a feeling of hope flooding into her chest that maybe it was her three ghost boys. "Did you happen to catch their names or anything of that nature?"
Julie gave her a look, "No, I didn't happen to do that, I was too busy freaking the hell out because three ghost boys appeared in front of me."
"Well then that's just not helpful at all, now is it Jules?"
Cat giggled at that, "god, you sound like our mom with that sass."
Cait smirked, "Well who do you think she learned it from, my darling little niece."
Cat beamed "Oh my god, I thought you looked like her, mom has pictures of you all over the house and always tells us stories about you, but then again doppelgängers do exist, so I wanted to be more sure about it before mentioning it, but you are our aunt..." she slapped Caid's shoulder, "see Caid I told you!" she slapped his shoulder again.
"Damn it, Cat, stop slapping me... I agreed with you, woman."
Cait laughed at that, which made Luke's breath catch in his throat, "my god, you two sound just like Mel and Mikey..." The twins beamed at being compared to their mom and uncle.
Julie looked between the twins and Cait, "Wait, hold on a minute... what is going on here?"
Luke was just staring at Cait, he wondered if it was really her, he bit the inside of his cheek, figuring that there was only one way to know for sure, it all depended on the way she reacted to the nickname, it was his nickname for her no one else ever called her this. His voice was a little shaky, really hoping that it was her, the room fell silent as the word came out of Luke's mouth, "Princess?"
Cait's breath caught in her throat, hearing his voice for the first time in 25 years... there were confused looks thrown between Julie and her two friends while Alex and Reggie were almost holding their breaths they didn't know if they could live with Luke's sad looks and grumpy attitude if this wasn't actually Cait. They both hoped it was because they knew Luke would be insufferable.
Green met Hazel as Cait turned toward his voice, seeing him, Cait's face lit up in a way that Julie had never seen before, but the twins had in a photo their mother had hanging on the wall at the house, it was their aunt Cait and 'uncle' Luke as Mel always said when she told them stories about Cait.
Everyone in the room noticed the way her face lit up when her eyes landed on the brunette boy, "Hey Rockstar." that was their thing, she was his Princess and he was her Rockstar. There was silence in the room again, all that could be heard was the sound of Cat slapping, Caid's arm.
In that instance no one else was in the room with them, all that mattered was, Cait and Luke, she launched herself directly into his arms as tears welled up in her eyes, Luke's arms wrapped around her waist the moment that she had her arms around his neck.
He held her tightly as tears fell down both of their faces, she had missed him so much, and she finally knew that he was okay, even though he was dead, he was in front of her, and she had her Rockstar back.
"Cait," he whispered into her hair as the two stood there, lost in their own world.
Cat was practically jumping up and down watching this, she had heard so many stories from her mom about her aunt Cait and 'uncle' Luke and how they were pretty much the definition of 'soulmates' and ever since then she had wanted to find a love like that and just to get to witness it for herself she was excited and could finally understand what her mom had meant when she said that about the two.
Julie looked confused and Caid was giving his sister an amused look, knowing exactly why she was all excited, Reggie and Alex were just happy that it really was Cait, and they didn't have to deal with a sad Luke.
"Luke," Cait whispered back to him as Green met Hazel once again, the boy brought a hand up and brushed his thumb across her cheeks wiping the tears away, he always hated to see her cry. To them, it was still just them in the room, even if there were five others watching them.
Cait had brought her hands down and grasped Luke's face as she also wiped the tears from his face. Julie went to say something and inevitably ruin the moment, but before she could, Cat clapped a hand over the girl's mouth and shook her head no. Startling the girl who gave Cat a look, but Cat was back to watching Cait and Luke reunite after 25 years of being apart, even if one of them wasn't aware of how long it had been yet. Julie gave Caid a look, but he just looked amused at his sister's antics and shook his head at Julie, he knew how much of a hopeless romantic his twin sister was.
Cait and Luke's moment was ruined by Cat squealing when Julie licked her palm that was still over the Molina girl's mouth. Cat shot an apologetic look at the ghost of her aunt for ruining the moment, but the blonde just shook her head, a look of amusement on her face.
Reggie was the first to react after Luke and Cait's moment was interrupted, "All right now, don't hog her." Cait laughed as she was hugged by her other two best friends, pushing Luke out of the way, which made him pout about it, which Cait found absolutely adorable.
Cat gave Julie a look," what was that for Jules? You see what you made me do?"
"Cat you had your hand over my mouth, and I wasn't going to get it off any other way and we both know that, and I see but don't really understand what is going on here so can someone please explain that to me?"
Notes:
Okay so first off you may notice that things are gonna be slightly different from the actual show, but I hope that you guys enjoyed the chapter (: also Cait and Luke OMG they're gonna be so adorable and very hard to separate for a while.
Chapter 6: 𝟶𝟻. 𝙴𝚡𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜
Chapter Text
Cait had an amused look on her face as she looked at her niece, before looking at Julie, "This is a very long story, Jules, okay?”
The 16-year-old nodded slowly, still a million questions on her mind, “Okay, but who are they and how did they get here?”
“I can answer the first part of that,” Cait held up her hand that was now interlocked with Luke’s, “so this one here is Luke,” Luke gave a wave at the mention of his name, “the one in the leather jacket is Reggie and blondie there is Alex and as for how they got here I have no clue I was passed the hell out in the loft when that part happened.”
Julie gave the blonde ghost a look, “Okay, but Cait how do you know them?”
Cait laughed as Cat raised her hand as if to ask a question, making the blonde laugh, “You want to answer that question don’t you?” Cat nodded at her, “Well, looks like Mel’s been telling stories again… kind of curious to see how much of this you actually know.”
Caid laughed, giving his aunt a look, “Oh, you’d be surprised… Cat hangs onto every word of Mom’s stories, especially those stories.”
“All right, Cat, go for it.”
The 16-year-old beamed and turned to Julie, “Okay so basically, Cait and Luke met when they were kids, and they became best friends, and then they met Bobby who would later be the rhythm guitarist in their band Sunset Curve, and then they met Reggie and then lastly Alex and the group of ‘em become really close, and then they were 15 when the boys formed a band called as I mentioned Sunset Curve, Cait was their number one supporter from the get-go and then when Cait was 16 she formed a band of her own called Fear on Fire they were a pop/punk/rock band.” she blew out a breath as she finished that.
Cait whistled, “damn, she did not leave anything out, did she? That was actually impressive Cat.”
“Told you, that you’d be surprised.”
The three ghost boys looked impressed too. Cait looked at Julie who still looked confused, “Okay that answers that question, I guess, but how did they get here?”
“I can't answer that one, Jules.” then she looked at Luke, “What do you remember before you ended up back here?”
Luke looked at her, “Well we floated off out of the ambulance and then were in a dark room, and then I heard our song, and then we got sucked out of the dark room and ended up back here in the studio…” he had a confused puppy look on his face that Cait wanted to coo at but knew it wasn’t the appropriate time for that. “Like the girl said, we’re in a band called Sunset Curve.
“Tell your friends.” Reggie cut in making Cait snort.
Luke continued, “and last night was supposed to be our big night … it was gonna change our lives.”
Cait bit her lip as Alex leaned forward, “I’m pretty sure it did.” the blonde knew that she had to be the one to break it to them, that they would take it better coming from her than anyone else.
“Hey, Rockstar look at me.” Luke looked at her, and Cait sighed, “Come here,” she motioned the boys to gather round her, which they did.
“Cait what are you doing?”
The blonde looked at Julie, “No offense Jules, but they're gonna take this a lot better coming from me.” that confused the boys.
Cait squeezed Luke’s hand which was still firmly grasped in her own, “All right boys no easy way to say it, but you didn’t die last night, that was 25 years ago in 1995, it’s 2020 now…” she trailed off looking at the three Luke squeezed her hand a little tighter as he processed the information given to him by his girlfriend.
“That’s not possible,” his voice came out softly. Cait’s face softened at the tone of his voice, Luke looked into her eyes, and he could see that she was being truthful, “But how it was only like for an hour, and then we showed up here…”
Reggie shook his head, “No, that can’t be right, all we did after we floated out of the ambulance was go to the dark room where Alex cried.”
Alex gave Reggie a look, “well… I don’t think- I think we were all upset.”
“Like I said, that was only for an hour before we showed up here,” Luke repeated himself. His mind spiraling with questions, while they were all conversing, Julie had pulled her phone out and googled Sunset Curve.
“No, Cait is right,” she showed them her phone and the three boys looked confused.
“What is that?” Alex questioned.
“My phone,” Julie answered, “and it says that you died in 1995 when you were seventeen, it’s 2020 now like Cait said… it’s been 25 years.”
Cait gave the girl a look, “Jules, I was handling it.”
“Wait,” Alex started… “So- so it’s really been 25 years? I have been crying for 25 years?” getting more worked up about it as he continued talking, “How is that possible?”
“Well, you’re a very emotional person,” Reggie answered honestly.
“I am not!” Alex denied it, but his voice cracked slightly at the end.
Cait sighed and gave Julie a look, “See Jules, this is why I was easing them into it.”
The girl winced slightly, giving the blonde an apologetic look, ”my bad.”
While Reggie and Alex were having their little argument with the three living teenagers watching them, Luke looked at Cait, and spoke softly, “If it’s been 25 years, why do you still look exactly the same as you did the last night I saw you?”
Cait sighed as she looked into his eyes, “It's a long story, Rockstar.” she spoke just as softly and tried to unnoticeably pull him over to the couch but was noticed by the twins, and then Julie and then Alex and Reggie which made them all congregate around the couch, Cait sighed seeing this. She looked at the twins, “I don't know if Mel’s told this one before.” The blonde looked back at Luke, “It was six months after, and things were slowly starting to go back to semi-normalcy, some days were better than others, it was April 15th and everyone was basically walking on eggshells around me for the most part which is understandable considering what day it was.” Luke nodded at her, that would have been their three-year anniversary as a couple. “Anyway flash forward a little into the day I was meeting a friend for lunch after a little pit stop which again understandable because of the day and then as I was leaving to meet her, I ran into someone, and the next thing I knew the little bitch that I ran into stabbed me, and then I was floating above myself in the hospital morgue and yeah that is how I died.”
Julie looked at her, “The friend that was my mom, wasn’t it?”
“Indeed, Jules, your mother helped get me through the darkest period of my life… I would not have made it as long as I did without her or Mel, Mikey, and my mom, the four of them helped to keep me grounded” Luke wrapped his arms around her, hugging the blonde ghost, he hated that she died the way she did, but the more selfish part of him was happy that, she did because he had her back. Cait hugged him back, she had missed this being in his arms, she had missed him so much and was happy that he was back in her life and was determined to not let anything else come and separate them.
Julie was looking between the two and had to admit that they were extremely cute together. Caid noticing the look chuckled and spoke quietly to the girl, “Our mom and Uncle Mikey always said, when they would tell Cat and me about them, that they were sickeningly cute. And I can see that having seen them interact.”
Cat smiled hearing the conversation and came into it, “Mom also said that she believed that they were the definition of soulmates, that they complimented each other so perfectly that they were made for each other.” Cat leveled her fellow 16-year-old with a look, as she spoke her next words, “Mom’s stories of them are the reason that I am such a hopeless romantic.” her eyes flicked over to Cait and Luke, a smile gracing her face, as the couple once again seemed to be in their own little bubble “I want a love like that, I want someone to look at me the way he looks at her like she’s the most important thing in the world to him…”
Julie followed her friend's line of sight and immediately noticed the look of complete adoration on Luke’s face as he looked at Cait, and she nodded and had to admit that Cat was right, and it would be nice to have someone look at her like that and if she had looked to her left at that moment she would have realized that she did have someone that looked at her like that, but Julie was just too oblivious to realize it at that time.
S_VanOosten on Chapter 3 Wed 07 Sep 2022 03:38PM UTC
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