A/N: Good evening everyone :) I hope you all had a great week! It's finally Friday and that means a new chapter. Things are moving slowly for Anna and John but maybe, this chapter will have a little surprise by the end. Now, don't get too excited (yet), but we all know that Anna knows what she wants and that she's not afraid to show her feelings. Go Anna! We love you for that!

Also, I want to thank Isis the Dog for her amazing reviews! She always writes lovely messages that make me so, so happy! In all the fics out there really. Thank you so much for that, it means a lot to us writers :) As for the other guests who review, you are not less loved, not one bit! Thank you all so much for your support :D You, dear readers, are who keep us writing. After all, we do this because we love to share our stories with you.

Enjoy chapter 4! I wish you all a great weekend!

Disclaimer: Same as chapter 1-3.

- Light -

John was rifling through an old chest in the attic, trying to find a relic from his youth. His knee was bothering him a lot lately, probably due to his long walks on the irregular ground of the high cliffs. But he couldn't make himself stop, mostly because he knew how much she loved it there. He knew he had a better chance of being with her alone on those cliffs. It was the place where they first actually talked and had already shared moments he would never forget, even though he tried to convince himself his walks there were nothing but an escape. An escape from bad memories... and the claiming of new good ones. Very good ones.

'John?' his mother's voice startled him from his thoughts and he couldn't help but bring a hand to his chest.

'Mother...you gave me a fright,' he said.

'Well, you gave me a bigger fright! I thought there were mice up here again, or bats, or someone!' she shot him a look. 'Where did you find the keys?'

'In your drawer...I meant to ask but you weren't home.'

'Oh yes.' Mrs Bates rested her hands on her broad hips, eyeing him. 'You've been barging into other people's rooms lately, I forgot.'

John stood up at once facing his mother with a questioning look on his face. 'What do you mean?'

The older woman stared at him and he couldn't help but dropped his eyes to the floor for a moment, before facing her again. 'I didn't know it was her room.'

'I know you didn't...I was just saying -'

'There's nothing for you to say, mother,' he told her, slightly irritated. 'Don't you go seeing what's not to see, please.'

'That's exactly what I do, son. I only see what's right in front of me eyes...no more, no less, and you should know that by now.'

The certainty in her voice was almost overwhelming and, as he usually did when his mother was right and he wasn't ready to admit it, he chose to ignore her and resumed his quest.

'Didn't you have a chest with my old things? From when I was a boy?' he asked her a moment after.

'I do, whatever for?'

'I need...' he sighed. 'I had a cap that always wore. I want it back.'

'Over there,' she pointed to the darkest corner of the room. 'Why do you want it? Surely it won't fit your big head anymore.'

John chuckled loudly as he opened the chest. 'It's not for me - ah, here it is!' he smiled, holding his old cap between his hands, a feeling of melancholia creeping into his bones. If he could go back in time, when he was small enough to be wearing that cap once again, he would have done everything differently. But that's life, isn't it? A collection of mistakes and experiences that we long to forget, or relive. But that was impossible. What was done, was done.

He turned to his mother then, his smile still there, to see the questioning look on her face.

'Johnny has a spinner competition today. I'm going to give him my cap for good luck,' John explained, taking his cane and walking out of the attic, leaving his mother behind with a immense feeling of joy growing within her. At long last, her son was beginning to look like himself, but she knew better than anyone that his steps would be slow and unsure.

'You better run then...they just left,' Mrs Bates yelled as John climbed down the stairs, and she couldn't help but grin when she heard him walking faster and then swearing.

'Bloody hell!'

'Watch your mouth, John Bates! His father's son, for sure...'

xxxx

He didn't actually run but he was walking as fast as he could, and he would probably pay for it later, but at the moment, he had one aim and he would get there in time. Johnny mentioned the competition would be outside the local pub, due to the fact that there was a bit of cemented paving in front of the small building. It was the perfect spot for spinners to do their spinning job, and thankfully, not very far...but still far enough, and John was sweating and breathing erratically when he got there.

It was not long past three o'clock in the afternoon, and the sun was high, masked now and then by weak clouds that blew in from the sea. His shirt was stuck to his back, and he would give anything to remove his jacket right now, but he wouldn't do it. Maybe the cool breeze that was so common on this Isle would make him feel better soon.

He watched as a growing crowd of children gathered on the pavement outside the noisy pub. The men sat on stools with cups of beer and scotch in their hands, waiting for this competition to start, as if it were nothing less but the happening of the year.

His eyes roamed through the crowd, trying to find little Johnny, but yet again, she would be the one finding him first.

'Mr Bates!' she walked towards him smiling and he couldn't help but let out a relieved sigh. 'We couldn't find you. I trust Mrs Bates told you we had to leave without you.'

Anna was wearing a flowery dress, very similar to the one she had worn when they met, and a maroon cardigan. Her hair was braided at the front, and she had wrapped it around the back, some golden strands falling to her shoulders. Her lips and cheeks flushed with a bit of colour.

'Oh yes, she did. I was...' he took the cap from his pocket, and cleared his throat, somehow feeling shy. 'I was looking for this.'

'A cap?' she asked him. 'Is that your fancy cap?'

John looked at her with a surprised smile on his face. 'My fancy cap,' he smiled at the old thing in his hands. Her son had told her everything and for some reason that pleased him greatly. 'Where's Johnny?'

Anna looked around before spotting her son talking with some of his friends. 'He's right there,' she pointed it out. 'Johnny!'

The boy came running as fast as he could, once he saw that John was the reason his mother was calling. He stopped by them breathless, with a broad smile on his face.

'You came, Mr Bates!' he exclaimed excitedly.

'I wouldn't miss this grand competition for the world,' John told him, smiling down at the boy and placing the cap firmly on his head. 'There, my lucky cap to bring you good fortune,' he winked.

Johnny's eyes looked up, trying to see the cap better, but without wanting to remove it from his head. He was awed by the gesture, shocked even, looking at his mother with wide eyes once he began to feel the warmth of the fabric against his blond hair.

'Won't you thank Mr. Bates?' Anna said raising her brows at her son.

'Thank you, Mr. Bates…' the boy's voice was enthusiastic, with a faint hint of emotion. 'I will do my best to honour your fancy cap,' he said resolutely, puffing his chest out to make his point.

John nodded down at the boy, before patting his shoulder, not knowing exactly what to do upon seeing the look on Johnny's eyes. 'You just do your best, no matter what the result is.'

After that the boy ran back to his friends, the competition about to start.

'Thank you so much for your gesture, Mr. Bates. Johnny was very touched, as am I.'

When he looked at her, he could see a trace of unshed tears in her eyes, that she was quick to smile away. Somehow that teary smile suited the colour of her eyes, making the deep blue of her iris shine.

'Aren't you hot?' she asked him a moment later, and he faced her with curious eyes.

'I am rather,' he answered and she shot him a dubious look.

'Why don't you take your jacked off then? You are always in a suit, you should wear something less…' she tried to think of the right word, 'strick... something more comfortable,' she smiled. 'Or maybe you just really love suits.'

Anna chuckled trying to spot her son in the middle of the other children and John couldn't help but agree with her. He didn't love suits but he liked to present himself in a proper manner...probably the only thing in his life he had control over. Maybe it was time to free himself a little more, now that he was trying to free himself from everything else.

'It's quite silly, isn't it? Wearing a suit in such a place? Going for walks and sitting on the grass all buttoned up?' he asked aloud but all the questions had been enunciated for himself.

She couldn't help but nod in agreement with a tender look in her eyes, before telling him to hand her his cane while he took his jacket off. 'Sometimes it's good to leave the rituals of the past behind...it's frees the spirit,' she told him.

'You're right.' He took his jacked off in silence then, taken aback with her words, as if she knew exactly the reason behind this old habit of his. 'Thank you.' She handed him his cane back after he folded the jacket on his arm.

'So much better, isn't it?!'

The sun was behind clouds a moment later. Clouds as white and pure as the snow in the highest mountains. Fluffy and cotton like Summer clouds, that showed no threat of rain, only there to make the blue immensity of the sky a bit more interesting.

Then, there was silence. Adults and children gathered around the little set ring of spinners on the pavement. Anna walked to the front of the row, for a better look at her son's performance, but John remained in his spot. He was tall after all, he could see everything clearly from where he stood.

There was cheering as the four boys and one girl who were competing, threw their spinners on the ground, and after that silence again, until the last spinner would stop spinning.

'Away for quite some time and enough to forget your friends.' John lost all his concentration on the competition as the man spoke.

One of the boys spinner had stopped; a boy named Keith, now crying on his father's arms.

'I certainly haven't forgotten you,' John smiled.

'You arrived here and we barely spoke! One invites you for a pint and some nuts and you refuse like a Judas.'

'I don't drink anymore, I told you.'

'I will drink for you, I told you,' Joseph, an old school friend of John's, grinned. 'What have you been doing? Writing in that journal of yours?'

'Yes.' John's answer was restrained. Not writing, more like trying to write.

'You know, whenever you are bored there's plenty to do in the barn. Cows to milk, shit to clean, all sorts. You chose.' the old friend patted his back, making John lose his balance for a second. 'But then, I reckon you have plenty of reasons to stay home, hm?'

'Do I?' John questioned, confused, trying to keep an eye on the spinners.

'Ay. With a pretty lass like that Anna living under the same roof as you...I wouldn't be going out too often neither.'

John swallowed hard, trying his best to pretend Joseph's words hadn't had any effect on him. 'Anna is a nice girl, Joseph, that's it.'

'Ah!' the man faced him with a serious look. 'Didn't say she was bad, did I? She's nice all right. She's nice to everyone and we all like her here. Good teacher and very good to the children, they all love her. But we are only men, ya know, no harm in admiring from afar.'

'If it's only from afar.' John managed a small smile. This conversation was not pleasing him at all. 'Aren't you married?' he asked, masking his annoyance behind a smile.

'Very well married, thank you. I was only joshing with you.' Joseph elbowed him. 'She wouldn't have it anyway. There's plenty of young blokes come sniffing around her when she first arrived. She sent them packing, nicely, mind you, but packing none the less.'

'Young blokes? What young blokes?' John asked intrigued.

'You know, John...everyone here is either your sister or your cousin, comes in the new, young, pretty teacher, everyone goes mad.' Joseph laughed aloud, and John joined him, glad to know she could handle it herself.

One more spinner was down.

'It's sad though,' Joseph continued. 'I mean, such a young beautiful woman alone with a child. Her man died in the war, you know. Sad business.'

'Indeed,' John sighed innocently as if he knew nothing else about her past. He was glad that that was what people thought. As good as everyone here was, society wouldn't allow someone with her story to come out clean, much less teach their children.

There were three spinners on the cement, as fast as the eyes could see. Johnny was crouched, watching his toy in concentration. The girl, named Ailsa, was standing beside him, her arms crossed over her chest and a smile on her face. Her hair was dark and her eyes were green as olives. She had freckles covering her cheeks and most of her teeth were gone making her speech difficult but that certainly wouldn't stop her from speaking. And there was another boy, sitting on the ground with his hands closed in fists that he hit slowly on his legs, sort of rooting for his own toy. His name was Tim and he was almost as blond as William. No freckles and all his teeth in his mouth, one soon to be missing, his eyes dark brown, almost black.

Then, another spinner stopped and Tim punched his legs strongly, letting out a cry, more for the pain on his limbs than for heartbreak over his beloved toy.

Johnny and Ailsa took their spinners and wrapped their strings around them. One final throw would set the winner, and both were eyeing the Number One mug with longing. The boy straighten his new cap before the spinners were freed into the middle of the cemented pavement, the sound of metal hitting concrete feeding their need of victory as they both stood facing each other, while their toys spun between them.

But for some reason, the lucky cap wasn't lucky that day, or maybe Johnny just needed more practice, after all, one week was not enough to perfect the art of spinning tops. His toy stopped, falling dead on the ground.

'I won!' Ailsa shouted victoriously, jumping up and down, both of her braids joining in the cheering, while Johnny took his spinner, sad and downcast, and walked towards his mother, dragging his feet.

'I lost,' he told her, looking down at the spinner in his hands. 'I'm so bad not even the cap worked.'

Anna shook her head, readying herself to cheer her little man up, until she felt John's presence beside her. When she looked, he was grinning down at the boy, a tender expression on his face.

'Nonsense, Johnny,' he told him, resting his cane on the inside of his elbow and placing his hands on the boy's shoulders. 'You were brilliant! You've tried your best and you made second place. You just need more practice. No one does perfect on their first try.'

Anna smiled down at the boy, nodding her head in agreement.

'Plus…' John looked over at Ailsa for a second, as she drank some water from her new mug. 'She's a feisty girl...no boy should ever best her,' he winked and Johnny smiled.

'Johnny!' the girl ran to them with the mug in her hands. 'Are you thirsty?' she asked and the boy nodded. 'I'll let you drink from my mug if you want.'

'Ailsa, have you met Mr. Bates?' Anna spoke. 'She's Jephery's youngest.'

'Ah, of course! You have Kenneth written all over your face,' he told the girl and she stretched her hand out in greeting.

'I'm Johnny's friend and I passed to Primary two, and I just won.' Ailsa smiled proudly.

'That is very good information to have.' John chuckled at the little girl. 'I'm Mrs. Bates' son, do you know her?' Ailsa nodded, shooting a curious look at his cane. 'I'm a former soldier as well.'

'You fought for King and Country?' she asked widening her eyes.

'I did, yes.'

'That's extraordinary.' The words left her mouth followed by lisps and Anna and John couldn't help but find the girl extremely adorable.

Not much long after, as soon as defeat was forgotten by the boys, the children began to play together, each taking a turn to take a sip from the Number One mug. Tim would try to take it home later that day, sneaking it beneath his shirt but Ailsa handled that issue with ease when she kicked him and threatened to knock his teeth out before they were ready.

xxxx

'I will practice and practice and one day I will win!' Johnny said at dinner while he chewed on a piece of sausage.

'If you are persistent you certainly will,' Mrs Bates replied, passing a bowl of beans to Anna.

'Mrs. Bates?' Johnny furrowed his brow in deep thought, rubbing his chin. 'I've heard stories about the lighthouse.'

'Have you now?' the old woman smiled, as she spooned rice on to her plate. Anna and John stopped eating and looked at the boy with curiosity.

'Ailsa said it's haunted by some ungodly demon.'

'Johnny...you shouldn't believe everything you hear, darling,' Anna cautioned.

'Oh, no, Anna, in this case he should. It's haunted all right.' Mrs Bates rested her cutlery on the edge of her plate and Anna looked at her with doubting eyes. 'The Ol' Piper is up there, I'm just used to him. He's been there since my husband was a boy, since his father was a boy even!'

Anna looked over at John, who was nodding at his mother's words. 'I didn't know you believed in such things, Mr. Bates.'

'Not usually…' he smiled down at his food. 'But I do believe this one. When I was a boy, my friends and I went up there one stormy night and we did hear the piper. I don't know if it's a demon or a ghost or…' he shrugged his shoulders, 'I don't know what it is, but there's something there.'

'They were so frightened they came running down the stairs. Apart from John, who came rolling down only stopping because he hit the door. That's why he's got that nasty scar on his cheek. Broke his left arm too.'

John shook his head shyly. 'I was never a good runner. I can't really blame the limp for that,' he joked, pleased with himself that he had been able to talk about his wound in a light manner for once.

'Do you never listen to the pipes, Mrs. Bates?' Johnny asked, his eyes wide with excitement now that the story was confirmed.

'Not much...I only go there for work. I don't bother him. He doesn't bother me. But I have once or twice.'

'If you call him he'll come up to you,' John added, bringing his fork to his mouth.

'Call him?' Anna questioned, curious.

He nodded, swallowing his food before speaking. 'Ol' Piper, playing pipe and rotting in the sea. Ol' Piper playing pipe, show yourself to me.'

'Rotting in the sea?' Anna crinkled her nose, aghast at the image.

'Rumour has it he was an old lighthouse keeper who threw himself from up there after he lost his wife and children to the consumption back in the old days. No one is sure about it though. And no body was ever found,' Mrs Bates said, after a long sip on her water.

'That's a tragic story,' Anna expressed, pursing her lips. 'If it's in fact what happened.'

'I reckon it's more about frightening the children and giving it a propose. Maybe the ghost just likes to hang in there for no reason at all. I mean, when I die, I want my spirit to remain in this house, the place where I became a wife and a mother,' the older woman reasoned.

'I think only tormented spirits stay behind, Mother, isn't that what they say?' John asked in mocking manner.

'I will definitely stay then.' His mother shot him a look and Anna couldn't help but giggle, her mouth full of rice, trying her best not to spit it all over the table. John on the other side of the table, rolled his eyes at the older woman's words. Actually, there was some truth in them, even though he hated to admit it.

As the adults talked, Johnny's eyes wandered out the window, from where he could clearly see part of the lighthouse, standing tall at the edge of the land, the setting sun casting an almost surreal look upon the structure. The voices around him became distant as he imagined what was like to see a real ghost. He did think, at first, that Ailsa was only trying to scare him, as she often did, but this time she was telling the truth!

'You could take me one day, Mr. Bates,' the boy spoke all of a sudden.

'Johnny…' Anna shook her head at her son.

'But mummy, I've never seen a ghost!' he pleaded. 'And the ghost already knows Mr. Bates and all.' Johnny placed his elbows on the table, resting his face between his hands. 'I always wanted to see a ghost,' he pouted.

'You've never been in the lighthouse?'John asked as Anna shot Johnny a scolding look.

'Not at night,'Johnny answered downcast.

'Well...maybe one day. If your mother says it's all right and when my leg feels better. What do you say? Maybe you can invite Ailsa.'

'Yes!' the boy exclaimed excitedly. 'And Tim too!'

'Whoever you want,' John replied, smiling at the boy, before looking over at Anna, as he felt her eyes on him, and they stayed there for a moment longer.

'Maybe I can go too?' she asked him and smiled when he nodded his approval.

It was much later that night when they met alone again. John was sitting on the stoop overlooking the sea, the book in his hands, gazing the stars as he often did. This time, there was a moon, full and bright, showing all its dark spots and flaws, all that made it so beautiful. Nature is perfect the way it is, crooked, twisted, discoloured...why do people have such high standards when we are nothing but nature ourselves?

That's when she approached him from behind, one mug of steamy tea in each hand. His shadow was broad between the door frame and she lingered in the darkness of the hallway for a second more, just looking at him. Something about him, in the way he presented himself, made her unable to look away for too long.

'It's chilly, I thought you would like something to warm you up.' She sat down beside him, handing him his mug and was surprised when he began to make space for her even before she spoke.

'Thank you, much appreciated.' But the sight of you is enough to make me warm. He smiled taking the mug in his hands and giving her the book. 'It's signed.'

Anna rested her tea on the step and took the book in her hands, opening it and reading in the light of the moon...

"To my newest friend, Anna, with whom I am honoured to share MY spot and this wonderful Isle,

From the wonderful, not that famous writer, John B."

She felt her cheeks warming after reading his words, and a shy smiled crept over her features. 'Thank you, Mr Bates.'

John nodded not daring look at her. He took a long sip on his tea and sighed pleased, 'You do your tea well.'

'Tea and soup, that's about it really,' she chuckled. 'Mother would scold me...she used to say no man would want to marry me if I didn't know how to cook.'

'Only those men who think that women belong in the kitchen,' he told her. 'You should stay away from them in any case.'

'I don't think about it anyway.'

'You should, you're young,' he told her and a selfish feeling grew inside his heart.

'I have a son and...I don't...I'm well as I am. Johnny, he fulfills me.'

'No child replaces a true companion.' He spoke again, words leaving his mouth without a second thought. What are you trying to do?

'What about you? Have you thought about marrying again?'

John chuckled loudly, then, as he thanked the unknown for her ever-present curiosity and cleverness. 'You're going to turn this on me as you often do.'

'It's just,' she smiled, shaking her head. 'You give advice but never follow.'

'Those who give advice live without second opinions, didn't you know that?'

'So your answer is no?'

'My answer is…' he thought for a moment and could feel her eyes on him, waiting eagerly for him to continue. 'The future is as unpredictable as human life. Living one day after the other is what people like me should do. People who've already had a good share of living, mistakes and bad relationships. People whose age is tracking them down like a goose in hunting season. That's my answer.'

Anna wrinkled her nose at that and he let out a laugh at her expression.

The moonlight above their heads shone as brightly and as strongly as a lamp against the black sky. The stars mere whispers of bodies a million years away. The hill in the distance seemed to be bathed with crystal lights, and the moon reflected on her pale skin, as if she was meant only to be seen at this time of the night. And maybe in a way she was, as all of their deepest conversations were held in the darkness and in low voices. It was as if they tried to mask all of their feelings with the excuse of late hours and tired minds. But that was never the case. Whenever they were together, alone or not, their senses were working fully and their minds didn't stop for a moment. When they were together, alone, at night, there was nothing being missed or misspoken.

She held the mug between her graceful fingers, trying her best to take in whatever warmth she could for herself while she stared at the night sky, enamoured by it. The day was trees and birds and laughter, it was sunshine and colour, but the night...the night had the ebony sky and billions of wonders to discover, and the more you look the more you are rewarded.

He found it impossible to avert his eyes from her, the shawl around her shoulders, her hair loose, cascading down her back, her lashes flickering in unison with the stars. She would tell him, later on, that she knew about all his gazes and looks, furtive moments of admiring, and he would smile shyly, asking her why she had never told him about it before...but for now she would let him think this was all his, that she didn't feel his eyes claiming what his body and words were so afraid to do. For now she would pretend the sky to be her only passion, even though her heart already beat in simpatico with his.

'Thank you...' she said a moment later, and he locked his look on the faraway hill ahead of them, before facing her again with a questioning look. '...for everything you are doing for Johnny...it means so much to us. I'm grateful.'

'You don't need to thank me, Anna.' The sound of him whispering her name sent shivers down her spine. 'I should be the one thanking you two. You've helped my mother in more ways that I could explain and...you've helped me as well. I've been greeted with nothing but kindness and friendship.'

'We're even then…' she smiled.

He nodded in agreement, although he was sure he would never be even with her. She would always be a light, the hand that protected his fragile flame from being extinguished. And then, he felt it, warm and soft against his cheek, and he did try to think of any other reason for such feeling but it was all her. Her lips against his skin, brief and ever so gentle, like a warm summer breeze in the early hours of the afternoon. He froze in his place before looking at her, a smile on his lips he didn't even know he had, and her eyes sure on his.

Anna looked down shyly before rising, telling him it was time to go to bed, the day had been long and she was rather sleepy.

John could only nod, words still too unsure to be formed...what if he said something he wasn't supposed to? He, who tried his best to hide his emotions, knew better than anyone else that once they were running wild there was no way to stop them, and that was exactly why he tried to avoid emotional contact at any cost, but with Anna, that was completely impossible. First, because she was always able to find him out, as if her mission in life was to bring him up from his darkness, and second, because all he wanted was for her to do just that.

He made his way to his room, long minutes later, the hot feeling of her lips still burning on his skin. When he looked at himself in the mirror he saw the mark she had left...no, not on his cheek, but in his eyes. They had light in them again, maybe even hope, and he sat down at his desk and began to write.

"June 24th, 1945,

I now know why I returned here…"

Next Chapter: John decides to put his hands to work when he sees that his father's beloved garden is abandoned, and as he searches for gardening tools, he finds yet another relic.

Thank you for reading :)