"His name was Larry - well, Laurence," said a new voice, causing the Captain to jump back from Kitty and Pat in shock and stare at the ghost of a younger soldier who had just appeared at the kitchen door. "Wh- uh- Havers?! Is that you?!"


"Mrs. Cooper? Alison? Are you alright?" the living Havers asked in concern.

"Wh- yeah yeah, I am, just zoned out for a second," said Alison, thinking: Whew, being the only person present who can see and hear ghosts is awkward sometimes!

Barbara Havers looked she was about to question that, but decided against it and rose from the table. "Thank you for the tea, and for letting me see your house from the inside. But I'm afraid I have to get back to London now."

"Duty calls, huh?" said Mike as him and Alison accompanied the policewoman to the door. "Should we exchange phone numbers, in case you or we find out anything new about your great uncle and what he did here at Button House?"

"Good idea," Alison agreed, saving DS Havers's number into her phone. The policewoman did the same with Alison's number, then got into her car, and with a last exchange of "goodbye"-s and "Have a safe trip"-s, drove down the long, tree-lined road that connected Button House to the next town.


In the kitchen, the ghosts still stood much the same way as Mike and Alison had left them. The Captain seemed to be rendered both speechless and motionless, staring at his fellow soldier like he'd seen... well... a ghost, while Havers was apparently in the middle of telling the story of his death. "...so there I was, thinking I'd get to really fight some Jerries, only to be bitten by a deadly poisonous snake on my second day on the front," he concluded, with a rueful little shake of his head.

"But how did you end up here? I've only ever known of ghosts who stay in the place they died, and you just said you died in Africa," wondered Humphrey's head from his place in Mary's arms (the Stuart woman had quickly gone to fetch the head from the hallway while Alison and Mike were seeing DS Havers off).

"I'm afraid I don't know that for sure," said Havers. "My theory is that my... soul... or whatever it is that causes humans to keep walking the Earth as ghosts, ended up tied to that picture of me I carried in my pocket, rather than to the place where I died."

"And when your... grand-niece, was it? Brought the photo to Button House with her, your ghost was released?" Alison tried to make sure she'd understood the ghost correctly, and Havers gave her a nod. "That's what I'm thinking, ma'am."

"Oh you don't have to call me ma'am, Alison is fine," she replied with a smile before starting to collect her and Mike's dirty breakfast dishes from the table.

Havers stared. "But-"

"Alison isn't a ghost, mate," Pat explained softly. "She's a living person who can see and hear us - long story. I'm Pat Butcher, by the way," he added with a friendly wave.

"Er, yes, I should have noticed that. Uh, I'm Lieutenant William Havers," the new ghost, in turn, introduced himself, looking like he was fighting the urge to stand at attention.

"I'm Kitty!" the young Georgian noblewoman piped up happily.

"Me name's Mary," said Mary, giving the new ghost a little smile.

"Robin," grunted the caveman ghost.

"And I'm Humphrey. Well, part of Humphrey, my body is probably wandering around some other part of the house right now, as it often does."

"Julian Fawcett MP," said Julian, entering back into the kitchen thought the wall next to Pat, "and yes, I managed to die trouserless-"

"...and we don't want to hear that story now," the Captain interrupted firmly, apparently having overcome the shock of seeing his Lieutenant again. He then turned a little to properly look at Havers for the first time since the new ghost had appeared in Button House. "Havers."

"Captain," Havers nodded back, still standing next to the kitchen door.

"Oh come on, kiss already! Or hug, at least!" Julian needled them, raising his hands in a Who, me? gesture when the other ghosts plus Alison glared at him. Well, the other ghosts except Havers and the Captain, whose eyes were still locked on each other across the room. That is, until Havers made a tiny, almost invisible movement with his head towards the hallway outside the kitchen, and the Captain quickly walked over to him.


Mike found his wife standing in the seemingly empty hallway near the kitchen door, a few tears glittering on Alison's face in the lamplight. "Babe, are you okay?" he asked, carefully putting an arm around her shoulders.

"Happy tears," Alison reassured her husband, snuggling into his embrace a bit.

"Ghost stuff?" Mike guessed.

"Ghost stuff," Alison confirmed. "That photo of the World War II soldier Sergeant Havers showed us? Well, the ghost of that soldier - Lieutenant Havers - was tied to the photo in some way, and he and the Captain just shared a hug that was about eighty years overdue."

"Aww, that's great! I'm happy you two found each other again, even if you're ghosts now," said Mike a little too loudly, making Alison smile. "They're not in the room anymore, Mike. They've gone... somewhere private... to catch up on everything that happened to them since the war ended."

"Huh." Mike considered that. "Private, or private?"

"Honestly? I have a pretty strong suspicion that those two were more than colleagues, or friends," Alison replied quietly. "But I'll wait for them to share more about their past on their own terms."


The end.