Chapter Text
“I’m gonna be a dad!”
“Yeah, Frank just told us.”
“Well, now that that’s out of the way,” Y/n laughed as she and Kat walked back into the living room where the rest of their friends were standing. She walked up to Colby before pulling him aside. He already knew what was coming, so he leaned against the wall and pulled her against him by her waist. “We need to set some ground rules. We’re already here, so we’re not leaving before the week is up.”
“But what if-” Colby tried to interject.
“I said we’re not leaving, Cole,” She snapped, putting her hand over his mouth. “I am still capable of doing the investigation for the week, so we are not leaving just because you know I’m pregnant now. Secondly, which I don’t think you will object to, but I’m not doing solo investigations. I wasn’t going to anyway, but now, I don’t need to make up an excuse for why.”
“Yeah, that one’s valid,” Colby admitted with a light laugh as he left butterfly kisses on your shoulder. “I’m not letting you out of my sight now.”
“You’re going to have to when you and Sam do the solo investigations because I can guarantee that Kat isn’t going to do them,” She laughed with him as she leaned into his body and moved her arms to rest against his shoulder. She played with the hairs at the nape of his neck as she leaned in to kiss him. She pulled away after a moment, causing Colby to chase her lips to keep kissing her. She chuckled lightly as she leaned away. “As much as I would love to stay here in your arms, I think it’s time we head back.”
“Can we just wait a second?” He chuckled as he let out a breath, hiding his face in her shoulder as an arm tightened around her waist while the other moved to rest against her stomach. “Maybe I just wanna hug my girlfriend for a minute after finding out she’s pregnant. Let me have this.”
~
Most of the week went smoothly. There were obviously times that scared the group, and they all had to take breaks, but honestly, for the conjuring house, they were all expecting worse. They got some good evidence, and they had very interesting conversations. Unfortunately, Frank did not come through much, but the group was able to talk with other relatives and spirits of the house.
Currently, it was day four of seven. Sam, Colby, and Y/n were all sitting in the attic, recuperating while waiting for the next special guests to arrive. Kat had to head home, but she agreed to pick up and drop off some food. Kat had texted Y/n a few minutes prior, letting her know that she was almost there, so when Y/n heard knocking coming from downstairs, she assumed it was Kat.
“Kat’s brought the food!” Y/n cheered as she jumped off the bed she was sitting on with Colby. Then, she turned to Colby and joked, “I’ll race you.”
“You’re on,” Colby smirked as he took off down the stairs with Y/n trailing just behind him. Ironically, Sam started recording on his phone, mainly just wanting to have proof of who beat who. Sam adjusted to get the perfect view of his two friends running down the stairs as they chased each other.
All of a sudden, Y/n felt a presence behind her, thinking it was Sam. That is until she felt a hand push her on her back, followed by heat. She stumbled down the last couple of steps. She immediately shrieked and grabbed onto Colby’s shoulders as she lost her footing. This almost caused Colby to lose his own footing if he was not so used to her randomly running up behind him and jumping onto his back.
“Did you trip?” He chuckled at first as he grabbed her hands to hold her securely against his back and walked down the last couple of steps. Then, with a smile on his face, he turned to face her, but his face dropped immediately as he saw her grimace. “Are you okay? Did you hurt your leg or something?”
“Y/n!” Sam yelled, still holding his phone recording, as he ran down the stairs to see Colby holding her up. “You’re not gonna believe this! There was a handprint on your shirt!”
“Wait, a handprint?!” Colby responded, just as loudly. His eyes darted from Y/n’s face to Sam multiple times before he led her to the living room. He kneeled in front of her, held her hands, and helped her breathe. “Was that before or after she fell?”
“She fell?” Sam asked, confused. He did not even notice her fall after being distracted by seeing such a clear handprint on her shirt.
“Did you not see it? She screamed!” Colby snapped as he glared at Sam for a second before returning to Y/n when she whimpered in pain.
“Can you bicker like a married couple after one of you check my back? It’s burning so bad,” Y/n said painfully as she moved to sit toward the end of the couch and leaned onto Colby’s shoulder. Sam took the lead as he set his phone to the side, forgetting to stop the recording, as he slowly and carefully lifted her shirt. Y/n hissed in pain again, and now Sam could see why. Colby watched Sam’s eyes widen in shock as he froze. “What is it?”
“Y/n, don’t freak out-” Sam started but Y/n and Colby cut him off.
“It’s too late for that!”
“Okay okay! Uh, Y/n, you have five scratch marks down your back. Like someone dug all of their nails into your back, and three of them are bleeding,” Sam explained quickly as he lightly tapped the top of the scratch near her shoulder blades and the bottom near the bottom of her ribs.
“You’re lying, Sam,” Colby said in disbelief as he gently pulled away to see for himself. “Holy shit! Y/n you need to get out of here.”
Colby did not want to waste any time, so he pulled Y/n off the couch and out to the car. Thankfully, they had a first-aid kit in the car, and Colby left one of his hoodies in the car on accident, but it came in handy now. Sam followed them out with their main filming camera, not recording yet, but ready if Y/n was okay with it.
“Y/n, am I allowed to record this?” Sam asked because consent is important and this is a traumatic thing. Sam was not going to push her boundaries.
“Yeah, sure, but where is Kat? She knocked on the door,” Y/n asked as she pulled her shirt off and turned her back to the boys, so Sam could get a shot of the damage, and Colby could help clean it.
“Kat’s not here,” Sam replied baffled. Kat had texted him just before the whole ordeal started, saying that she was stopping to pick up your favorite ice cream as a little treat and totally not bribery for godmother status. He knew she was at least 20 minutes away, so he was confused as to why Y/n thought Kat was there.
“The knocking. I thought it was Kat,” Y/n trailed off as she started thinking through the events. “What if the ghost, whoever it is, wanted to get me to go downstairs for this? What if I did not tell Colby to race? I would’ve fallen down the stairs and maybe…I don’t want to think about that.”
“Was this what Frank was talking about?” Sam suggested, turning the camera from your back to Colby, whose focus was finally broken as he placed the last bandage on her back. COlby’s eyes widened as he slowly turned to Sam. “Protect Y/n…”
“Protect me from what? What’s happening?” Y/n rapid-fired as she put on Colby’s XPLR hoodie that he left in the car. When she turned around, it looked like Sam and Colby saw a ghost. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“When we found out you were pregnant, Frank came through and told me to protect you,” Colby explained as they all sat or stood around the car. “I thought it was when you fell on the ice. That’s why I ran up to you so panicked, but I think Frank knew that some negative entity was going to hurt you. I’ll be honest, I don’t think you should stay here for the rest of the week.”
“How would Frank know that?”
“Maybe he heard something through the grapevine,” Sam proposed, “Satori and Cody said that the spirits were asking for us, so it would make sense if Frank heard something.”
“Honestly, I really don’t want you to stay here,” Colby said seriously as Kat pulled up. Sam took this as a good time to head over to her and explain everything that just happened, and it would give Y/n and Colby a chance to talk. “You could’ve gotten hurt and worse, the baby. I don’t want to risk that. I may have just found out, but I can’t risk anything happening to either of you. I promised you on our first date that I would protect you with my life, and I’m telling you, this is for the best. Please, please don’t fight me on this.”
“You say that like I’d want to go back in that house!” Y/n laughed nervously as she felt herself start crying as the emotions of the event finally caught up to her. Colby immediately wrapped his arms around her carefully as he stroked her hair to calm her down. “Colby, that spirit did not want me in that house. If I hadn’t challenged you to a race, I…Colby. I can’t even think about that. Colby, I’m not going to fight it because I need to think about them too, and honestly, I’m fine with going home or staying in a hotel for the next few days. I don’t care, I just don't want to go back in that house.”
“I’m not gonna let anything happen to you. I promise.”