This is a short snippet featuring John and Nick, the characters from Laying a Ghost because today is Alexa's birthday. It's set some time after the trilogy ends. A few others are on my LJ here

Echo

Nick walked into the bedroom to find a strange man kissing his husband. The tray he carried was heavy, laden with a teapot, two mugs, a plate of buttered toast, and a pot of homemade raspberry jam, so he set it down on the bedside table before doing anything else.

John was fast asleep, snoring in a way Nick found endearing now, less so when he was trying to go to sleep. It was past eight in the morning; on the decadently late side for John to be in bed, but they'd made a night of it.

Nick swallowed, the back of his throat raw, matching the throb in his ass. Oh yeah. Quite a night. There was something about his birthday that made John express his love in a way that went beyond passionate and into insatiable, as if the awareness of another year gone made him want to make the most of those that remained.

Nick had no complaints. None. And he wouldn't be the only one moving with a little extra care today.

He'd planned to wake John with the treat of breakfast in bed, then maybe keep John between the sheets for a gentler version of the lovemaking that'd kept them up until the small hours, but the stranger would have to be dealt with first.

John frowned as a kiss landed on his ear and rolled over, his hand exploring Nick's side of the bed, vaguely groping for him.

Also endearing.

Less so was the woman who shimmered into view where John had been lying. Turning her face up for a kiss from the stranger – no stranger to her, Nick guessed from the loving smile on his face – she murmured something.

What it was, Nick didn't know. Sounds tended to die away over the centuries.

Not ghosts, but an echo. He sighed. A fresh ghost in the house would've been a pain in the ass, but once gone, they were gone. An echo was harder to eradicate; the paranormal equivalent of rising damp.

He chewed his lip, watching the couple repeat what seemed to be about thirty seconds of kissing, ending with that smile and murmured words. John would wake soon and what Nick had planned wouldn't work with an audience, even if only he could see them.

He'd never seen the couple before which implied something he'd done had triggered this echo. They seemed happy and in love, but it couldn't have been the wild night that had created the link between past and present. John and he had plenty of those, even if they didn't always match the heights of a few hours ago.

His gaze went to a scrape on the wooden floor that was on the to-do list to fix and he exhaled. Shit. That had to be it. They'd rearranged the bedroom furniture a few days ago, and the bed was against a different wall. Last night was the first time they'd made love with the bed in the new position. The combination of the intense emotions taking place in the exact place these two had experienced a similar moment of shared passion had created the echo.

It was a working theory, anyway.

John stirred, his hand rubbing his face. "Imph."

"Morning, love. Happy Birthday."

"Mmm." John blinked, yawned, then opened his eyes fully. "Tea? You brought me breakfast in bed?"

He sounded so pleased Nick decided to do it more often. Of course, that resolve was tricky to execute when John got up before him pretty much every morning…

"Yeah. Planned to feed you until you got your strength back, then pick up where we left off."

"I'll not make it to the end of the day, let alone my next birthday, but aye, why not? Come here and give me a kiss then."

Nick scratched his cheek. The couple was as clear to him as John was and it was really disconcerting to see them kiss with John oblivious. "Uh, hold that thought and get out of bed?"

"Why?"

"Because we need to move the bed back where it was and with you in it, we'll do more than scratch the floor."

"You're going to explain this, aren't you?" John threw back the sheets – which passed through the kissing couple – and planted his feet on the floor.

Nick eyed John's lean back appreciatively and when John stood extended his admiration to John's ass. He could see faint marks on it from his fingers, but John hadn't complained at the time and wouldn't be likely to today. He'd been the one driving into Nick and making him cry out incoherently after all.

"I walked in to find you in the middle of a smooch session with two ghosts. The filling in a sandwich." He explained his theory, wondering if he was even close to the truth. When it came to events like this, it was all mostly guesswork.

John's hand went to his face again, rubbing it irritably as if he'd felt the kisses from whoever the hell the guy was. Interesting. And annoying. "Oh for the love of— Well, we'll put it back where it was. And you can tell them, whoever they are, that they've got no manners."

Laughing, more in love with John than he could ever express in words or actions, Nick went to him and pulled him close. "I'll scold them all you like, but they won't hear me."

John leaned his forehead against Nick's shoulder, his breath warm through the T-shirt Nick had pulled on. "And you're sure we have to move it? I liked it fine where it was."

"I'm not sure, but if they disappear when we do, it's probably fixed it."

"We move it an inch at a time," John said grimly. "And you tell me when they disappear."

The bed ended up on the same wall, completely off-center, with no room for the table that went on Nick's side of the bed, but John gave a satisfied nod. "That's sorted them."

"You know we can't leave it like that."

John got back into bed, snagging a piece of toast on the way. "Pour the tea before it's cold and stewed and stop nagging me. We can put the bed in the middle of the garden later, if that's where you want it. Right now, I just want to know the only man I'm sharing it with is you."

Nick checked the room again for ghosts. "You are."

John gave Nick's side of the bed a pointed glare. "I am not then."

Without bothering with the tea – John was right, it'd be too strong to be drinkable – Nick got back into bed. "You are now," he said and put his kiss over the ones John had gotten from the ghost, replacing a distant echo of love with the warmth of reality.