Out of Time (Collectors Cross-Over)

Chapter 9

Nate - Matched

Emily just left, and I'm about to die. I feel the same as we did when we first got married and had to go to school the next day. Only this time, the person who kept me sane during class isn't here. And I feel that absence more than I thought I would.

Carl, the demonologist has been at the house for about an hour, and I've not heard a damn word he's said in that entire time. Emily wouldn't be back for another hour at least, and I have no idea how I was going to make it. I was hot, and every article of clothing was bothering me. My hair was on every nerve I had.

I stood up and left the room. I made no apologies to them. I couldn't. I was afraid if I spoke, I'd tell everyone to get the fuck out. As I walked up the stairs to my room, I started taking my clothes off. It was the most unreasonable thing I'd ever done, but I couldn't stand the feel of them any longer.

Someone was calling my name, but I couldn't answer them. Sean found me in the bathroom.

"Dude!" he jumped when he realized I was standing there naked. "What the fuck are you doing?"

I looked down, noticing something other than how I was feeling for the first time since Emily walked out the door. Half of my hair was in the sink, and I had a huge handful of it, and scissors about half way through that. "Guess I needed a haircut." That's all I could say. I finished snipping the hair in my hand and let it fall into the sink.

"Emily's going to kill me first for letting you do this, then she's going to kill you," he dropped my clothes. "Put a towel around you or something. I can't talk to you with your dick hanging out."

"What?" I looked at him like I couldn't understand him.

"Nate, you're naked," he'd dropped his head. "You need to put it away or something."

It was the first thing that had registered with me since the front door closed after my wife. I was naked in front of my best friend. Cutting my own hair. The towel was behind the door, so I grabbed it and wrapped it around my waist. I hated the feel of it, but I needed it, something, anything, to cover with. "There."

"You've been a mess since my sister left this morning. What's wrong?" Sean leaned against the doorway and watched as I made some kind of effort to clean up.

"I really fucked up my hair didn't I?" I ran a hand through what was left of it. "Shit."

"Don't worry about that now," Sean grabbed at my hands. He was treating me like a little kid, but that's how I felt at the moment. "Talk."

"It's like after the wedding," I dropped my head and sighed. "Only worse."

"Because Brody isn't here," he finished for me. "Anything I can do?"

"Let me get dressed and find me a place to get my hair fixed?" I scoffed at myself in the mirror. "Holy fuck."

"Just stay there," he turned and left the room.

I forced myself to put my clothes back on, making myself do anything that just resembled normal, because damn, I was losing my mind. I heard Sean yell down for Sam, and a couple of minutes later, Sam walked into the bathroom.

"Oh, Nate," she looked at me. "What have you done?"

"I don't even know," I sat back down on the toilet. "I don't feel like I can function. I can't concentrate, and I have no idea what Carl said."

"Don't worry about that," Sam picked up a comb and the scissors. "These are crap for cutting hair," she started working on me. "Sean went to find something close by. Brody M. and I listened to everything that Carl said. We need Charles in order to cast a spell, then we can start tracing the demon. It'll take a few days to get it ready, and a few days to cast it."