After a few dozen minutes of the tour around Button house, men both fell into old routines. Not much had changed about Button house at its core, the house still retained some of the same features as it had during the war. Havers recognized the worn bedframes he'd slept on, the kitchen cabinets he'd secretly hide his own stash of coffee in for special occasions, and the giant mirrors scattered throughout the house- that now were nearly all damaged or cracked in some way or another. But even though he could recognize some elements of his time, he spotted newer items as well. The different kinds of radios and telephones, and even home-cinemas that The Captain had informed him were Home televisions. He'd even exclaimed in an offended horror that they broadcast The King's- Queen's speech on it now. How improper.
Once they completed the tour it was like they'd never been parted at all. So comfortably had they fallen back into routine and familiar conversations, that Havers would find himself surprised anytime he was reminded that it was in fact, not 1944 every time he walked past a piece of strange technology or modern invention he hadn't seen before.
"Don't worry Havers." He heard The Captain say from behind him. He turned his head from where he'd been staring at a laptop Mike had no doubt been using moments before. It was still left open on some google search about bolts- the hardware, not the runner.
"I know it must be strange. But you're a very capable man. One of the smartest people I know. I have no doubt you'll get the hang of it in no time." The Captain said, giving him a reassuring smile. William returned it gratefully.
"Thank you, Sir." he paused for a moment.
"I think I'll go find Alison now, I'll still need to thank her." He continued.
The Captain nodded.
"I can do it for you, if you'd like." He offered.
"Oh, thanks Captain, but I think I should thank her myself. This entire situation would have been a lot harder on me if she'd not shown me the kindness she has."
The Captain chuckled and straightened his back.
"Very well, goodnight then, Havers. I shall see you in the morning. He was silent for a moment, seemingly listening for something.
"Goodnight... Captain." He replied, watching his Captain turn around and walk into the dark hallway behind them, in the direction of his room. They'd walked by it earlier. His old office of course. The Captain had explained how it'd been converted into a bedroom years before, when Button house had been turned into a shelter for a few years following the end of the war, with all the extra housing needed for Jewish people returning from the concentration camps, who'd found themselves alone or homeless after the Blitz had destroyed their homes and they'd lost their families in the camps.
"It was heartbreaking." The Captain had muttered his eyes glazing over for a few seconds as he no doubt remembered the broken people who'd taken up shelter at the house at that time. And Havers could only imagine their pain.
He'd also said the room had been occupied first by other ghosts ("How many more are there?" William had exclaimed.) and then by the lady of the house up until her death, he'd finally managed to get it back after she finally kicked the bucket.
Havers turned around himself and made his way back to the main staircase, hissing as he suddenly got a headache. He steadied himself on the railing and waited for a few seconds, hoping for it to pass. Strange, he'd never had a lot of headaches. Maybe it was just the stress of the day, the information a bit too much to handle now that he was finally alone with his thoughts for a bit. After a few seconds it indeed passes, and after a few deep breaths he makes his way down the stairs, making his way to the only room where the light is still on. The Kitchen.
He finds Alison there, behind one of those laptops. She doesn't notice him in the doorway, so he clears his throat politely. She jumps and looks up at him. But then laughs. "Oh, Lieutenant. Havers! You startled me!" She says with a smile, closing her laptop. She'd been researching anything she could on mysterious legends from the second world war, hoping that maybe she'd could find something on the sudden disappearance of a Lieutenant. She hadn't found anything relevant though, just a bunch of ghost hunter pages, which she knew from experience were probably fakes. She saw the Lieutenant shift on his feet, his posture tense.
"Apologies. And please, just call me William."
"Okay William, did you finish your talk with The Captain?" She asked.
"Yes, it was... quite enlightening." He said, trying to not get into specifics yet. He would love to go into detail, but he wanted to go to bed more. He'd probably have more than enough time to tell her everything about it. Even though Alison was dying- no pun intended, to know more about the situation, she bit her tongue.
"You must have had a long day, William. How are you holding up?" She asked. The Lieutenant- William looked tired. She probably would be too, she couldn't imagine how exhausting a day like this must have been for him.
"Well, all things considered. I wanted to thank you Mrs. Cooper." He said.
"I'll admit that it hasn't been my idea of a fun day by any stretch of the imagination, but if you hadn't shown me kindness and been as welcoming as you had, I'm sure it would have been even worse."
"Oh no it's no problem. Besides, you're not the only strange person who has nowhere else to go in this house. What's one more person? And you're a friend of the Captain, so I'm sure you're a great guy. And what did I tell you about calling me Mrs. Cooper?" She said the last part in a faux-stern way, pointing a teasing finger at him, which made him relax a bit. A small smile appeared on his face, his cheeks colouring a bit red against his pale skin at the mention of The Captain.
"Oh God, I totally forgot to show you around!" She gasped suddenly, jumping up from her chair. Havers shook his head.
"No, that's quite all right! The Captain has graciously reacquainted me with the house. He even helped me pick a room. My old room was still unoccupied." He replied with a fond smile.
"Oh, wonderful! Which one did you pick? Not one of the downstairs rooms right? They aren't isolated as well as the other ones I'm afraid, so they get really cold at night."
"No, it's upstairs, at the end of the hallway in the East wing." He replied. Alison knew immediately: Next to Cap's room. She supposed that would make sense, to stick by the person you knew the best. Especially when everything else you knew is gone. It also suddenly made much more sense as to why the Captain had always been so concerned with the room. On the one or two occasions where she and Mike had discussed renovating it, he'd protested it louder than anything else he'd ever protest over. So they'd mostly left it untouched.
"I'll head upstairs then, thank you again, Alison. Truly." He said again.
"It's no trouble William. Rest up, I'll see you tomorrow. And I'll promise we can figure this whole thing out. Even if we can't do anything, we can still maybe find the cause." She replied.
"Thanks Alison, Goodnight." The Captain replied, turning back into the shadows of the hallway. She heard him walk down the hall and disappear up the stairs. She sighed, sitting back down behind her laptop again. There was no way she'd be able to sleep tonight anyway, so she might as well make the most of it by doing some more research. Even if she didn't make any mysterious discoveries, at least she would be a bit more wise on the events of the war. Maybe that would help William feel a bit more at home.
The next morning, William woke up in a soft and familiar bed. For a moment he was incredibly confused- but then he remembered the events of the previous day. He checked his wristwatch, that he hadn't even bothered to take off the night before. He'd shrugged off his coat, shoes and Sam Browne belt before crashing into bed and basically falling into a coma from utter exhaustion. His sleep was dreamless, and when he woke up he felt groggy as he hadn't felt in ages. His watch told him it was almost 2 in the afternoon. He'd slept for nearly 14 hours. He nearly fell over from shock. How had nobody woken him up yet? On the rare occasion he'd overslept the Captain had shown no mercy. He was nothing if not a punctual man. He managed to heave himself out of bed, pausing as his eyes landed onto a mirror at the other side of the room. He looked absolutely horrible. His hair was messy, and despite the many hours of sleep he still had dark circles under his eyes.
He sighed as he turned back and started to get himself ready for the day in a hurry, grabbing his belt with all its weapons off the floor and checking them like he did every single morning. He was about to put it on when he remembered the very crucial detail that there was no longer any war on, and that he'd no longer need to be downstairs for his usual work anymore.
For a few minutes he just stood in his room, not really knowing what to do next. He hadn't felt this lack of purpose in years. Not really ever when he really thought about it. He always buried himself in his work. A distraction from the complexity of his feelings maybe, or a need for structure in a chaotic world. He'd always made sure he knew exactly what his purpose was, what his duty was. But now, standing in an oh so familiar room, in an oh so familiar house that he somehow did- and did not recognize at all... He was completely lost. He knew he should go downstairs and face this new world he'd found himself in, but deep down he was scared. Everything was new to him outside of these 4 walls, heck- he wasn't even sure if it hadn't all been a dream. The fact that nobody had burst into his room to wake him up for the 8 'o clock training told him otherwise though- he was quite sure this was his new life.
With bated breath he made his way over to the dresser that was placed beneath the window. His Sam Browne belt, his hat, his pistols and his extra pouch were all placed neatly inside the top drawer of the dresser, out of sight for now. His coat he hung inside the antique wooden closet next to it, leaving him simply in his dress shirt, trousers and tie. He also kept his watch on, for no reason other than he hadn't seen any other clocks around Button house.
He opened the door slowly, stepping into the hallway with a deep breath. He first made his way over to the next room, a familiar routine for him, but when he knocked there was no answer. The Captain must already be downstairs. He decided to follow his example and once he'd made his way into the sitting room, he found Alison and Mike there, both sitting behind their laptops where they'd been discussing a problem with the Wi-fi. He'd never heard of it, but it sounded serious.
"Good morning William!" Alison called cheerfully, which made Mike's head snap up as well. He laughed shortly. "Wow, I suppose I should get used to being able to see an actual person when Alison starts talking out of nowhere." He says jokingly. Alison waved him off teasingly.
"Are you hungry William? There's still some eggs in the fridge if you want some fried eggs?" She suggested. He was, he hadn't eaten any real meal in days. The last thing he'd eaten had been a protein bar during the little break he had been given before they'd made their way over to their new mission, which had done little to settle his hunger. Between the ambush and his strange journey back to Button house, he hadn't had time to think about food, but now he was starving.
He followed Alison to the kitchen where she made eggs for all of them, lunch for her and Mike and breakfast for Havers. He'd never enjoyed a simple eggs and bacon breakfast quite this much. Between mouthfuls he asked Alison if she knew where the Captain was. He was excited to talk to him again, he'd missed him. It may not have been as long as the Captain had had to miss him, but he'd missed him nonetheless.
"Oh yeah, the ghosts are doing one of their clubs. I think they said it was film club today? They usually do that upstairs, since that's where we put their TV." She answered with a laugh.
"The secondary staircase and then the first door on your left. You should walk right by it." She continued when she saw the puzzled look on Havers' face. "Thank you" He replied.
"So, William." Mike piped up. William turned to the man, waiting for him to continue.
"Have you found out how you got here yet?" Ah, it seems Alison had caught him up this morning.
"Not really... it seems neither The Captain or I have any idea what happened, though... I did find out some news that seems like it could have something to do with my appearance here at Button house." He said. Mike's eyebrows raised slightly, his curious gaze not leaving Williams'.
"Oh? What's that?" He asked. But Alison interrupted him.
"You don't have to tell, of course. If you don't want to." She reassured him. But the Lieutenant shook his head. He'd have to tell them sooner or later anyway. She's promised to help him, so what good would it do him to keep information from her?
"No I... The Captain told me- He-" He stumbled over his words a bit, trying to find the best words. "He said he'd gotten a letter saying- Saying that I died." He swallowed, trying to keep the lump in his throat down. They all fell silent for a moment.
"William... That's horrible..." Alison said finally. Mike nodded along, continuing. I'm sorry mate." He said, obviously regretting bringing up the subject. But Havers didn't mind.
"No, no. It's quite alright. No need to dwell on it. I'm here now anyway, and very much not dead." He replied, trying to lighten the mood a bit more.
"Yeah, I suppose you're right." Alison agreed, silently agreeing to move on from the subject.
"I think I'll go find the Captain." Havers said, taking his plate and walking over to the sink. "Where do you keep your soap?" He asked. Alison waved him away from the sink with a grin. "No, don't be silly! We have a dishwasher for that." When he only stared at her with a puzzled look, she suddenly remembered he had no idea what that was.
"Oh, it's a machine that washes the dishes. Look!" She says excitedly, striding over to the dishwasher and opening the door to show Havers the racks of dirty dishes from the previous night. She saw the Lieutenant raise his eyebrows in surprise. "Wonders never cease." he mumbled, before snapping back to reality and straightening himself out.
"Very good, thank you for the breakfast Alison." he said, making his way over to the door. He heard her reply with a simple "No problem!" as he walked out, finally ready to properly start his day. Minutes later he stepped into the TV room, as Alison had called it, finding the Captain there watching a screen, occasionally whispering to thin air who Havers assumed must be the other ghosts. On the television screen was a war film. Havers couldn't help but freeze as he saw the images flash on screen. It seems 70-odd years had done a great deal for advancements in picture quality, because he had never seen any moving picture this clear. It felt like he was right there in the middle of the action, and he held his breath as he felt another headache come on suddenly. It stung worse than the one he'd had that morning, and he clenched his jaw in a desperate hope to relieve the pain. The little sounds of pain escaping his mouth must have alerted The Captain of his presence, because his head snapped back. His initial joy in seeing his old friend- and getting confirmation that last night hadn't been a dream after all- his smile fell, replacing itself with a concerned frown.
"Havers? Are you quite alright?" He said, standing up from his place on the couch and starting to make his way over to his Lieutenant. Havers nodded in response.
"Just a little headache, Sir. Jet lag I suppose." He tried joking. And though the Captain gave him a polite smile, he could tell that it was forced. He was worried.
"It's really nothing, Captain, it's already mostly gone again. Had the same thing this morning and that was gone too. I really am just a bit tired still. Silly right? After I've slept for nearly 14 hours." He said. The Captain raised his chin a bit, one eyebrow shooting up in surprise.
"Yes. Must be it. But please, Havers. Keep an eye on it." He said, turning back to the television for a brief moment before turning back to Havers. He didn't know if it had been the documentary that triggered Havers' headache- it was still fresh in his mind after all- but he didn't want to risk triggering it more, so he suggested talking a walk outside to get some air. Havers agreed gratefully, just glad to be getting outside for a bit. Great as the walls of Button house were, they had not gotten any less stuffy since the war ended.
Downstairs, Mike and Alison were busy rummaging around in the library. They'd promised the organizer of the party that they'd have the rooms on the ground floor of the house tidied and clean before the decorators came, and there were a lot of rooms and all of them were kind of a mess.
Alison wiped her sweaty forehead on the sleeve of her sweater after she managed to hoist an extra chair from the sitting room into the library. Those things were heavier than they looked! She heard Mike setting up the ladder they'd brought out earlier that morning near the book cases and watches as he steps on it with one foot and pushes down to test its strength. When it doesn't immediately fall over he pulls a surprised face and looks over at his wife to make sure she'd seen that as well. "I'm so getting better at this." he said, half-joking, half-seriously proud of his handiwork. Alison gave a chuckle, she loved her goofy husband. They'd cleared a nearby table that morning so they would be able to pull all of the books down and get to the grimy and dusty bookshelves that probably hadn't been properly cleaned since Lady Button died. The only thing left to do now, was actually do it. But great as the plan was in theory, in practice it dawned on Alison just how many books there actually were in the library.
"This is going to take forever." She sighed defeatedly. She definitely hadn't had enough sleep for this. Mike tutted. "Nonsense, you've got me! Mr. and Mrs. Muscle at your service, m'lady" He said suavely as he pulled up his sleeves and showed off his (not that impressive) biceps. Alison laughed.
"Right then Popeye, I'll step up and hand the books down and you can carry them over to the table." She said, walking over to the ladder and climbing on it, barely managing to reach the top shelf. She began pulling off the leather-bound books that seemed to be older than the ones at the bottom, so she warned Mike to be careful with them. And that's how they continued down, spending a majority of the afternoon completely clearing out the bookcases that lined the entirety of the walls of the library.
Around 6 PM, just before Alison had planned to take a break and start dinner, they were growing tired. They'd only made it around halfway down the rows of the bookcases, this section having coincidentally probably been used around the time of the war, since there were quite some books on weapons, ammunition, battle strategy, and even the lone lewd picture book. (Alison supposed it was only logical that soldiers would get lonely). They'd agreed to finish the last shelf of the row, when Alison managed to put her foot down onto the ladder in an odd way, which caused her to slip and fall. She wasn't actually very high up at all, but the shock of the slip coupled with the fact that she was already grabbing the shelf in front of her to balance herself, had her grabbing onto the aged shelf entirely as her body left the stability of the ladder. The shelf, of course, was only meant to bear the weight of a few books, not an entire grown woman. So, after a short but resounding 'CREAK' the old screws gave out and the shelf, along with poor Alison and all of the books that had been placed on the shelf- were sent crashing into the wooden floorboards. Alison grunted as she fell ungraciously on her bottom, Mike immediately rushing over to check if she was okay.
"One of them again, yeah? I'll get 'em proper this time, I swear to-"
"No Mike! There's nobody here, it was my own clumsiness." She said, giving him a short laugh. "Plus, you know you can't actually hurt any of them. I've seen you try." She said with a soft laugh. Mike rolled his eyes, but was relieved to see his wife was okay. He then turned to look at the mess around them. The floor around them was a mess, with books strewn around mixed with the wood chips from where the old wood had splintered. But there were also... envelopes? Strewn about the books was the occasional loose paper and envelope, with one even being an entire pile of envelopes, tied together with a thin string. Alison reached over to a few of the nearby envelopes, picking them up. They must have been behind or between the books.
It was the same handwriting on nearly all of them, they were certainly all written by the same person. A few were unmarked, but some had what seemed to be codes on them, other ones just had dates or names. She thought she saw William on one or two of them. Could these really be from the war? Were they Williams'? Before she could answer that question, she heard footsteps rushing over from the hallway, a bunch of voices talking over each other in concerned ways before she saw the entire group of ghosts stumble into the library, Havers included.
"Alison! Are you alright?" Kitty cried out in surprise when she saw Alison still on the ground, books and splinters all around her. Alison quickly scrambled up, declining a hand from Mike before replying.
"Sweet Alison! Do you need me to kiss away your troubles, your pain...-" Thomas began.
"Oh sod off, you sap! You're just looking for an excuse to kiss her ass... Literally!" Julian cut him off with the loud laugh he always did when he found one of his own jokes particularly funny.
"Yes! Guys! Totally fine. Just had a little accident is all." Alison said, giving not only Kitty, but the rest of the concerned ghosts a reassuring smile like the one she'd given Mike earlier. The Captain was the first to nod, undoubtedly anxious to get back to his downtime with his long-lost friend, before his eyes fell onto the envelopes and he froze. The other ghosts didn't seem to notice as they all gently dispersed, going off to do whatever it was they were doing before. The only ones still standing in the doorway were Havers and The Captain, who still staring at the envelopes, his blue eyes wide and glossed-over.
"Good Lord." he mumbled stiffly. Alison snapped her attention back to the envelopes as well.
"Are these yours Captain?" She asked, holding up the ones she'd picked up earlier and using them to gesture to the rest of them that were still scattered around the room. The Captain pursed his lips and hesitated for a moment before seeming to realize there was no use in lying. One of the letters in Alison's hand very clearly stated Operation William. An operation that he had happened to tell Alison about a few weeks earlier.
"Mhmyes." He said in a hum, not quite knowing how to go about asking if she could burn the lot of them. He watched a smile spread across her face, and he dared not look at Havers, who's eyes he could feel pierce into his skull from behind him. The whole situation made him incredibly nervous.
"Those old things. Might as well throw them out. Classified operations and secrets of the like- won't do us much good now. Shouldn't dig up the past." He said curtly, straightening his back and hoping that his air of authority would be enough to persuade Alison to throw the damned things out. She, however, didn't seem fazed by his suggestion.
"That would be such a shame! Even if you'd have no use for them, maybe they'd be worth some money to a museum or something" She said excitedly, making short eye-contact with Mike. The Captain sputtered.
"Absolutely not! Those are private. Private, you hear me? It is highly inappropriate to read a gentleman's personal letters. Now, please, just throw the damned things out!" He said, beginning in a controlled tone, but raising his voice more and more as he went along. Alison couldn't recall the last time she'd seen the Captain this worked up.
"Okay... I'll throw them out if it's that important to you." She relented, bending over to pick up the rest of the letters and gathering them up rather sloppily into her arms to take to the trash. She started to make her way over the doorway that lead into the kitchen, stepping past the Captain and William, when one of the letters accidentally slipped through her fingers and floated to the floor, landing in front of the two soldiers, its front message written in a shaky but nonetheless clearly readable handwriting that Havers immediately recognized as the Captains'
William Havers.