Richard folded the last of his clothes, having emptied the wardrobe onto the bed. After returning from Larry's they only had a couple of hours to pack and say their goodbyes. A pile of neatly folded clothes in front of him, arranged into sections to make fitting them into his case easier, Richard put his hands on his hips and nodded in satisfaction. He turned his attention to the room. They'd only been here a week but it seemed longer than that somehow. He'd changed so much over that time. He'd made progress, begun to heal, address the past and look forward to the future, with Thomas by his side.

A draft of cold air blew around the room. Richard crossed the room to close the window, only to find it shut. Assuming the draft came from a window in another room, he left it as that. Spying a comb left cast aside by the mirror on the dresser, he picked it up. "Thomas." He smiled to himself, deciding to make a start on Thomas's packing for him, since he still hadn't come back upstairs. Another chill ran through him, making him shiver this time.

"Richard."

The comb clattered onto the wooden floor. His breath caught in his throat as Richard froze rigid.

No, it couldn't be.

He dared not hope for it but he knew that voice.

"Richard."

Richard closed his eyes, squeezing them shut as he focused on the sound. He wasn't mistaken. He couldn't be, even though logic deemed it impossible.

He turned around.

"Jack?" he trembled, surprised by his ability to even speak.

"Yes. It is me Richard."

Richard clasped a hand over his open mouth as he stumbled backwards upon seeing a man, whom he hadn't seen for almost a decade and a half. He hadn't changed. In terms of his physical appearance, he looked exactly the same and just as Thomas had described, as real as any other living person. "I-I..."

"I'm sorry." Jack stepped towards him, holding out his hands in an appeasing gesture. "I didn't know if this was a good idea. I don't want to scare you, or undo the progress you've made by being here. Tell me if I should go and I'll—"

"No!" Richard launched forward to grab Jack's hand, but he was met only by air. "Don't go. I've been wanting to see you, I think I've been wanting it so much I've been imagining you."

"I've been debating with myself whether I should let you see me for days. I almost did a few times. You never imagined anything, I just couldn't. I didn't want to be selfish."

"Oh Jack," Richard breathed. "No, you're not that at all. You were never that." Richard found himself staring at the man he loved before. Jack's thin expression broke into a grin, then merged into a smirk. "Sorry. I just...This is hard to..."

"Get your head around?" Jack guessed.

"Yeah. How long have you got? I mean, how long can you stay?"

"As long as I want I think. It gets tiring showing myself to those living, but I'll manage."

"I see." Richard fumbled with his hands as he looked towards the bed. "Do you want to sit down?" He rubbed his chin. "Can you sit down?"

"I can actually." Jack sat on the edge of the bed, a strange sight as the mattress did not depress under his weight as it should. Richard tentatively followed his lead. "It's a funny thing. I can walk through walls and doors, I even climbed through a ceiling once, but for some unknown reason I can sit on chairs and lie on beds. Don't ask me why cause I haven't a clue!"

Richard found himself laughing, surprised again that he could do so considering that the ghost of his dead boyfriend was sitting right next to him, looking at him as though he could see right into his mind. They fell silent, and even though Richard had imagined this moment a thousand times, planned out everything he wanted to say, he had no idea of how to start. "I've missed you."

"I know. I've missed you too."

"I loved you, I was stupid to never tell you but I always did."

Jack shook his head gently and reached for Richard's hand, withdrawing at the last moment. "There's lots of ways those three words can be spoken and shown. You said it many times Richard. I knew."

Richard tore his gaze away from Jack's eyes and gulped, not in fear but in relief. He jerked back in Jack's direction again, a stream of questions queuing in his mind. "Are you okay? You're not in any pain are you?"

"No, I'm not, I promise. I get shivers sometimes, but I had a high fever when I died so..."

Richard opened his mouth to speak, but didn't find the words. "Are you lonely?"

Jack let him lead the conversation, as though he knew how much Richard had on his mind. "No. I miss you, but I have friends. Some are a bit strange. I've told them to hang back while I'm here with you."

"Wait, there are others?"

"Yeah." Jack rubbed the back of his neck under his collar, looking sheepish. "Might be best not to tell Izzie this, but her house has a few more residents that she knows of. In our old room, there's an elderly couple who waited for each other, a cat who's playing a continuous hunting game with a mouse. In the basement there's a Tudor nobleman who got poisoned by the cook apparently and, oh... and then there's the Roman soldier."

"Roman soldier!" Richard exclaimed louder than he intended. "Roman soldier," he repeated quietly.

"Yeah. He's mainly outside, comes inside sometimes. Decent fellow, great legs, and if it weren't for the spear in his chest then I think he'd be attractive. If it weren't for that, then I wouldn't know how he died as I don't speak much latin. I know the scientific names of different species and diseases but one can't make much conversation on that front."

"You're joking right? You're having me on!"

"No. All true. I'm okay though Richard, I'm not alone and I've been hanging around here to make sure you've been okay. That was hard at first, seeing you struggle, but I can't tell you how much it pleases me that you've found Thomas Barrow."

"You like him then?"

"Oh I do! I can't believe he's a butler, too handsome for one thing."

"Too young for another?" Richard suggested.

"Maybe, yes. But I get the feeling he's more than experienced, and isn't one to miss a step, nor let anyone else do so either."

"He told me, when you spoke to him that he was rude to you, and you still like him?"

Jack shrugged. "He was but I don't know, I like the snarky attitude he has, it was amusing, and could be attractive too."

Richard smiled knowingly to himself. "It could be."

Jack turned to him with a sincere expression on his pale face. "You two complement each other perfectly, from what I've seen. I wasn't sure what I would feel when you found someone else. I hoped you would, but I am...was, only human. It was difficult not to be envious. But he loves you more than anyone, I can see that, and you him."

Richard, feeling a pang of guilt deep within him, opened his mouth to speak, but Jack held up a hand to stop him.

"No it's okay Richard, really. I'm not the possessive kind of ghost."

"Will you stay?" Richard blurted out.

"I seem to be stuck here so yes. I don't know what controls if I stay or leave, or if there is even anything waiting for me to leave for."

"Will I see you again?" Richard swallowed hard, tears threatening in his eyes.

"I don't know, I hope so. I think I'm stuck in this part of the city though, but Richard if we don't, I should tell you that even though we only had a short time together, I loved you for every second of it, each single one. You made a lonely man feel as though he belonged."

A breath shuddered out of Richard's mouth. "I-I—"

The door flung open behind them. "Richard, sorry. I was caught up downstairs." Thomas burst in, red faced from hurrying up the stairs. Richard jumped. He should have heard him coming. "I'll do my share of packing, I'll be quick." Thomas strode round to Richard's side of the bed and gave him a quick kiss before starting to rummage through the draws below the wardrobe.

Richard blinked multiple times, dazed as though waking from an unexpected bout of sleep. Jack was no longer beside him, if he were Thomas would have leant right through him. He threw glances around the room, but he was gone, or at least not visible to him anymore.

Thomas threw open his case on the bed and started folding clothes, with less care than a trained butler should, into it. He slowed and narrowed his eyes at Richard, who looked down at his hands. "I heard voices earlier? Were you talking to yourself?"

"Yeah...no."

"Hmm," Thomas mused with a quizzical, but concerned expression. "If you're worried about going home and everything returning to how it was before we left then I understand. But you've done so well, I'm proud of you." Thomas sat down next to him, just where Jack had been moments before. Richard found himself captivated by the way the mattress compressed under Thomas's weight. Thomas took his hand, warm to touch. "You don't need to be perfect though. I know how hard it is to feel as though everyone expects you to be healed after a short while. If you have bad days, I'll be there too, as will the others, your friends."

"Thank you Thomas." Richard squeezed his hand. "But it's not that. I was talking, but not to myself." He took a deep breath. "Jack was here."

Thomas drew back. "Here? As in, this room?"

"Right where you're sitting."

"And I interrupted?"

"Yes, but it's fine Thomas, we'd talked for a while. I got the answers I needed and said what I needed to say."

Thomas nodded, still holding his hand. "I'm not sitting on him am I?"

Despite the whirl of emotions that still filled him Richard cracked a smile and laughed. "No! At least I don't think so. He can choose who can see him, doesn't mean he's gone so you may well be yes."

"Ah. I have no idea what to say to that." Thomas turned to look behind him. "Err...Jack? Sorry?"

Richard burst into laughter again. "Mr Barrow, if anyone else could see you now..."

"They'd take one look at me and call me insane? Yeah I know."

Richard let go of Thomas's hand and touched the left side of his face. "I love you." Thomas's breathing slowed from his own laughter and they kissed in a chaste fashion at first, Richard wondering in the back of his mind if Jack was watching. He knew it was possible that Jack had seen them doing much more than just kissing, he hoped for his sake he had not. His situation was an odd one, unique. He couldn't change it and since he now found it possible to hold love for a man in the present as well as the past, he decided to forget his worries. Richard shuffled closer, angling himself to better reach Thomas and deepened their kiss.

…

Crowds on the platforms of Paddington station heaved in the early afternoon as the four friends arrived. They'd taken a taxi, abandoning the plan of getting to the station via the underground upon Izzie's advice that it will be packed nearing rush hour. Richard clutched his bag, checking the inner breast pocket of his coat for his wallet and ticket, his heart tripping a little with relief to find they were still there. Pick pockets love a crowded train station and flustered travelers who might be too distracted to keep a wary eye on their belongings. Years of traveling with the royal household had taught him trouser pockets were an easy target. Thomas would have done the same, and David was no idiot. As for Chris, he'd once told Richard he kept money in his shoe.

"How much time do we have?" Thomas asked, from in front of him.

Richard halted as a group of people pushed through the crowd across his path. He sped up to reach Thomas again. "A while, half an hour give or take."

"The train is already there," Chris pointed out.

"I should have eaten more of Larry's food, I could do with a second lunch," David grumbled.

"Since we have the time, we could get some food for the train back," Richard advised, raising his voice over the hissing train and the rumble of the crowd.

"Train's going to be busy," David complained, his usual cheery personality made absent by his dislike of city crowds and chaos.

"How about you and Chris go and find a seat for the four of us while people mill around on the platform, and Richard and I will see to refreshments?" Thomas proposed as they stopped on the correct platform, nearest the third class end of the train.

"If you don't mind...?"

"Not at all, not if it means we get a good seat." Thomas slapped David on the shoulder in a friendly manner.

"We'll see you soon then, keep an eye on the time," Chris said, David already making a beeline for the relatively more peaceful train coach. "Thanks Thomas, he would have been in a mood standing here otherwise," Chris joked, out of David's earshot.

The station building was not short of shops and cafes hoping to take advantage of passing trade, raising their prices in the process. Richard and Thomas settled for a sandwich stall where they picked food they knew their friends would like, Richard handing over money that would likely buy twice as much outside London. After queueing and winding their way back to their platform, they stopped to pack away the food into paper bags, not having had the chance earlier on. A small space in the crowds opened up under the glass roofed station, their faces warmed by the sun in an environment not dissimilar to a giant greenhouse.

"Right, we got everything?" Thomas asked, as Richard handed him one bag.

"Yep, think so." Richard checked his coat pocket again. "Yeah." He looked up at the large roman numeral clock hanging above them. "Ten minutes, we should go."

Thomas clasped his arm. "Richard."

Richard gave Thomas a bewildered look at the familiar gesture right out in the open.

"Richard," Thomas repeated. "Look."

Richard turned in the direction of where Thomas was staring, mouth parted in shock. He scanned the crowd of unfamiliar stranger's faces, back and forth. He didn't need to ask what Thomas had seen. His more pale than usual complexion told him who he was searching for.

A face in the crowd, flickering in and out of view as people passed in front of him. Jack didn't move, he didn't attempt to come closer or indicate that he wanted them to come to him. He stood there, a smile on his face that spoke of too many emotions to describe accurately. At peace. It was a muddle of others, but Richard boiled it down to that, knowing from their conversation earlier that he was right.

"You see him?"

Thomas nodded. "Yeah I see him."

"All aboard! The train to York leaving platform twelve will depart in five minutes! All Aboard!" The announcement rang out, shattering their moment.

"Thomas I—" A lump rose in Richard's throat.

"He's okay Richard. We're going to be okay."

Jack smiled again, his eyes shining, with tears, Richard wasn't sure, though his look spoke of no sadness. Jack gave them a slow nod and raised his hand in farewell. After the next wave of people passed, like a cloud in front of the sun, to clear their view of him again, he was gone.

"Come on," Thomas encouraged, his tone soft. "Let's go home."

Note- we're almost done here, but not quite.