Paul Adams

"When that baby comes into his life...man, don't miss a second. Not one second. Nothing waits for you. That's the one thing he's gotta remember."

Paul Adams is a military sergeant who fought during the Vietnam War in Fort Driscoll and died in action.

Pilot

"I missed it all? It's woke up, and...now it's all over."

When his son, now 33, fully grown, and married himself, is expecting a child of his own, a ripple is sent through the spirit world that calls Adams back to Grandview. He finds Melinda and starts to haunt her by leaving a compass design in condensation on a window during her wedding. Melinda later finds his military compass in her antique shop and recognizes it from the misty window design. When she's brushing her teeth late at night after another nightmare, she sees the steam on the mirror has another compass design, but when she turns her head and looks back, it disappears. She then hears noises outside, and sees Adams, in spirit, stumbling un the stairs of her new house. Melinda jumps back in fear when he gets close to her and looks her in the eye; all he can grunt through gritted teeth is, "Help. Help me!", before he disappears. Melinda sighs afterwards. She and Angela discuss Adams the next day, and Melinda says she didn't tell Jim "not to spoil the moment". Referring to two spirits in the coffee shop where they are as examples, she explains people are haunted, not places, and says Adams is lost when Angela asks why he's haunting Melinda. When Melinda wakes up from Jim tying a tarp back on over their house, and after she accidently breaks off a window, Adams appears behind her and startles her. Adams slowly moves towards her out of the shadows, dirty and pale with eyes jaundiced, and says he doesn't where he is, he needs her to help him, and that "they" told him she could. When Melinda asks who, he replies he doesn't know. After she says being in her home isn't how it works, he pleads for her to take him home, believing his wife's still alive and pregnant. Melinda asks what he sees around him, and says he's in a "low valley" that's "dark" and again pleads for her help. She says she doesn't know if she can and asks for his name, which she tells her along with he's a sergeant from Fort Driscoll before he disappears. Melinda later goes to the town square's veteran memorial just when she sees it after almost running over a dog, and she finds his name and his given status with other Vietnam vets engraved into the statue. She goes to the local V.F.W. post and asks Joe Grimaldi, who's working there while his deceased wife watches him, for any information on him. e comes back with a first initial, last name, and the address of his family house. She goes to the address, causing Adams' compass' hands to move north, and she finds Michael Adams taking out the trash. She introduces herself, and he himself in return, and when he asks about how she knows his family, she says she's doing research on local Vietnam vets, and she found his father's name at the post. She asks what Michael knows about his father, and he explains how he's presumed dead by the military and government and relays a few stories about him his mother told in Michael's youth. Before he walks back to his pregnant wife, he turns to Melinda and earnestly requests she tell him if she finds anything, stating, "It's amazing how much you can miss somebody you never met." Melinda sees him with his wife, Vera, and their unborn child, and she realizes why Paul's returned after so much time has passed. She later explains to Angela what happened and what she realized, saying she couldn't tell Michael "his dead father was dripping mud all over [her] living room floor" when Angela says she must have been "dying to tell him". After Angela hears Paul doesn't know why he's returned, she remarks Melinda has to tell him, to which Melinda replies she knows and has to wait until he finds her again. That evening, Melinda has a nightmare where she's walking down an upside-down hallway with many doors, switching between her younger self and her current age and hearing her name being whispered. She opens one door and sees Adams in a forest, asking him who sent him to her. She hears a voice call out her name angrily, and she wakes up immediately, shrieking in terror briefly when Jim approaches her just before he holds and comforts her. She tells him she can't let Adams go because he's a soldier, to which Jim says it's okay but to keep it at arm's length and remember the magic word: "balance". She later does some online research on Vietnam and the war and finds the Lo Valley, realizing that's what Paul meant by a "low valley". When walking to her shop, she sees Paul standing in front of it and then behind her when she turns, to which she replies by having him walk with her to the local cemetery. She tells him about the Lo Valley and asks him to recall the night he died, which he does in "bits and pieces". Melinda shows him the epitaph marked for him and is in disbelief, insisting his wife's pregnant. Melinda tells him about his descending and married family and how his son has his medals and knows everything about him. Still in further disbelief, Adams asks about his wife, and Melinda tearfully apologizes and explains she died a while ago. Adams sits down starts to cry himself, and then he asks what his son was named. When Melinda tells him, he cries even harder, explaining whom his name came from. He requests to see and his wife and asks Melinda if she can talk to her, and Melinda says she wishes she could, but she can only see spirits of people not crossed over into the light. He asks is Michael knows how he died, Melinda says what he heard from the military, and so he asks her to tell his son the truth. Melinda relays Paul's message to Michael and Vera, giving them Paul's compass, and when they here Melinda explain her gift and Paul's spirit, Michael believes the whole account is a scam for money dishonoring his father and furiously screams at her to get out of her house, slamming the door in her face with his wife behind him when Melinda pleads with him to say what she relayed to the Pentagon offices and vehemently affirms she doesn't want anything from them. After Vera makes Michael call the Pentagon, Michael comes to her doorstep and explains they narrowed down where he might be and their working with the government of Vietnam to find him. He inquires demanding and still in partial disbelief where she got her information and how she found the compass, and she firmly asserts she told the truth, that she spoke to Paul, even though it's hard to believe. Paul appears behind her and asks about his last letter to his wife and Michael's mother, if Michael kept it all those years. When Melinda relays, Michael, anxiously excited that his father's with them both, says to tell him "yes". Paul says he grew up really well and he's proud of his son, and when his son asks if he suffered before he died, he says he doesn't remember and only remembers thinking of his family. Melinda then says Paul is right next to her and can hear them, to which Michael responds to by looking at Paul directly. Michael explains how his mother and Paul's wife never forgot him, telling stories about him to Michael every night, "mostly happy ones, sometimes sad ones". Michael said "she made [Paul] alive to [him], but it just made [him] miss [Paul] more". He then asked if Paul saw him grow up, to which Paul replies he was lost, but he can, and he sees his daughter-in-law and grandchild, and that he'll always be close by and watching over them. When Michael says they'll find them, even if he has to go their himself, Paul tearfully he go home to his wife, for she needs him when their baby comes, and the one thing he needs to remember is to never miss a second being with his family and raising his child. Michael insists he doesn't want to leave because there's so much he wants to know and he has so many questions. Paul says everything Michael needs to know is inside of himself, and if he ever gets lost, to just look at Paul's compass because it got Paul home. Paul then moves to the bottom of the front door stairs and says he wants to walk with Michael. Michael thanks Melinda, who tearfully nods, and he stands right next to Paul and asks if he's there, Paul replying by placing his hand on Michael's should, which Michael feels. Paul pats his son, and they walk off together into the night to Michael's car. Some time later, Paul watches at the funeral proceeding from a distance with Melinda next to him, watching the gun salute as well as Michael, Vera, and the newborn Adams family grandson, amongst the rest of the attendees. When Melinda asks what he thinks of the baby boy, he says it's funny that by looking at him, he feels like he can go, and he asks her if he can. Melinda replies if he's ready, he should see something or someone. Paul turns and sees the light right by a tree behind the two of them, asking if it's what she meant. She says she doesn't know, only he can see it. He says he does see it over there, and then gasps softly, Melinda asking what he sees. He tears up saying he sees his wife telling to come, says see looks just as beautiful as the day he left. He them walks off, stops and smiles at Melinda over his shoulder, and crosses over into the light.

Behind the Scenes

He is portrayed by Wentworth Miller.

Notes

• Paul Adams' spirit is the first for whom an episode of Ghost Whisperer centers around.