Disclaimer: Not mine, no money made, just passing time until series 5 :)

16. January 1962

Mornings were mostly a quiet time in the little household above a barbershop in Southend-On-Sea. Pearl needing no sleep always made sure breakfast and tea were ready at shortly after six o'clock when Leo and Hal came into the kitchen. Pearl liked taking care of "her men", her little family. Making sure everything around the house was clean and on time took her mind off thoughts of her real family and the live she was never going to have now.

Every morning she could hear Leo's alarm clock ringing like a fire alarm throughout the flat waking both the werewolf and the vampire in the room next to him. Then she could hear them in the bathroom and later rummaging around their drawers and wardrobes choosing clothes to wear. While the men dressed Pearl having set the table would vanish from the kitchen to appear on their doorstep and get the daily newspaper. She'd place it neatly next to Leo's plate since he always read it first.

The two men both lived by fixed timetables, Leo because of his shop and Hal because routine helped him manage what he euphemistically called "his condition". To aid Hal in this nearly impossible task Leo even on weekends never turned off his alarm or slept in. The only difference was that the barber shop stayed closed on sundays and Leo spend most of the day with Pearl and Hal.

Breakfast itself was coordinated like a play. It was so nearly exactly the same every day that Pearl had been slightly lightheaded with constant déjà-vu during the first week she'd live with her boys. They had slowly integrated the ghost into the complex drama – more like a comedy really – they played day in and day out until she had started to feel the comfort of routine as much as they did.

It made life easier if you knew exactly what to expect from each new day. Pearl could predict breakfast down to the smallest breadcrumb, from the way Hal buttered his toast – always from the middle outwards, always two toasts, never any red jam, ever – to how and when Leo would refill their tea cups and the way Hal would perfectly align the cutlery on the plate after he'd finished eating. Pearl always cleaned the table at the same time each morning and then washed the dishes while the men took turns reading the paper. Then they'd both thank her for the delicious breakfast and vanish to their morning tasks giving her time to leaf though the paper on her own.

But this day brought a disruption to their routine which ironically made Pearl feel as out of sorts as their scheduled life had in the beginning. Today Leo wouldn't open his shop. He needed to make some repairs on the chairs. He also had been saving money for new lamps and they had finally been delivered last week. So the werewolf had told his regular patrons about his day off and put up a sign saying "Closed for Renovations" last night as he'd locked up.

This was why Pearl was not alone in the kitchen this morning as she read about the more or less important news of the past day. Leo was still sitting at the table disrupting the flow of their lives' script according to which he should be downstairs getting the shop ready. It made Pearl feel slightly self-conscious to be alone in the kitchen with her friend at this time of day. The way he didn't take his eyes off her even when she did nothing more interesting then read made her fidget and play with her hair.

In time the silence became uncomfortable for the ghost. She felt like the turning pages made too much noise, like she was leafing through the paper clumsily and the werewolf would surely laugh about her. She hardly understood a word she read being to preoccupied with sitting up straight and making a good impression on the man opposite her. She couldn't even remember when she'd started caring so much what Leo thought of her but slowly over those first few weeks in their household whenever the barber complimented her it had felt like the most important thing in the world.

Pearl found herself doing little things to make Leo comfortable, like unobtrusively leaving a bottle of cool water for him in the shop or cooking his favourite food. She'd never done something like that for anyone before, had never wanted to do it either.

And now she was sitting in the kitchen with him and couldn't come up with any subject for conversation that didn't feel dull or too gossipy. She had just reached the page with the marriage announcements which she usually avoided because they made her sad when an advertisement caught her eye: A young couple, the woman looking serenely happy with her eyes closed while her man whispered into her ear or maybe kissed her cheek, above the prettiest engagement ring Pearl had ever seen.

"Oh it's so beautiful, don't you think", she asked her housemate half lost in thought about all the plans for her wedding day she had made as a little girl. She used to dream her "knight in shining armour" would appear in her life one day to sweep her off her feet and they would live happily ever after. But she had waited for him in vain for 23 years, slowly losing hope that any man could ever love her and ask her to be his.

Now that she was dead she would never find that love. What man would love a ghost? And with this painful realisation in the back of her mind she looked up to find Leo's eyes still on her. He looked slightly worried and also slightly uncomfortable. "I just wish I'd been loved," she admitted, looking into his kind eyes, hoping he wouldn't laugh at her foolishness. "I wish someone would give me a ring, just like this one." She pointed at the black and white picture in the advertisement, feeling jealous of all the happy women announcing their love in the paper. "But it's not going to happen, is it?" She was fighting the tears then and dared not look up again.

They sat in silence for a while, Pearl closed the paper still holding back tears and Leo unsure how to respond to this admission. Finally he stood up, walked around the table and put a hand on Pearls shoulder. "I'm so sorry," he told her in a quiet voice. When Pearl looked up at him, trying to force a smile she could have sworn that he was blushing. "It's alright, Leo, it's not your fault." She put her hand on his and patted it as if he needed comforting instead of her. They stood like this lost in each others eyes for an eternity that lasted only seconds until the werewolf cleared his throat and announced that he'd better get started on those lamps if he wanted to get it all done by tonight. Pearl watched his hasty retreat with a feeling of longing she'd never experienced before.