Chapter Text
Most people who knew him would assume that the Captain didn’t care much for others, but they were wrong. The Captain didn’t exactly show affection in the usual ways, and he was very hard to get to know, but underneath that cold, fastidious exterior was a man who cared. A lot.
The Captain noticed things others didn’t. Every morning he took a silent register to see if any ghosts were not where they were supposed to be, which happened occasionally. The reason for this was more than a compulsive need for order amongst chaos or control over his fellow ghosts, as one would assume of the tight-lipped army Captain.
One summer morning, Kitty was not her usual bubbly self. In fact, she was not there at all, and nobody but the Captain had spotted her absence. He set off around the sprawling manor house in search of her, patrolling the gardens and knocking on the door of every room. One such door, which led to a rather dusty cupboard, had rather a strange noise coming from it. Cupboards didn’t usually sob, so the Captain knew he had found his mark.
He stood outside respectfully, waiting to hear if the other ghost had noticed his presence. After a while, he cleared his throat softly, and the sobbing died down.
‘Hello, Katherine. Is everything all right?’
He asked gently. There was a silence.
‘I noticed you were missing and came to find you. If you would prefer me to go, that’s fine. I can fetch Alison, if you wish?’
‘No - you can stay.’
A muffled voice came from the cupboard. He sat himself down outside the door, sensing the need for companionship.
‘No-one’s ever come looking for me before, you know. You’re the first. I thought that’s because I was so good at hiding, but it’s not, is it, Captain? It’s because - it’s because they want me to stay hidden.’
The Captain’s heart ached for her. He had pieced together snapshots of Kitty’s past life - how her cruel sister had tricked the naive Kitty out of her Christmas presents, and left her hiding in the garden all day and all night. No wonder the poor girl had latched onto Alison so forcefully - she was desperate for a friend.
After a moment, he said,
‘Katherine, I promise you that’s not true. Maybe your sister did, but that’s because she was a horrible person who enjoyed causing others pain. I’ve known many soldiers like that in my time.’
He paused, remembering his own tormentors. He’d wished nobody could have found him then, back at school, but they always did. After all these years, their names and faces were still burnt into his memory.
‘Maybe the others get a bit cross sometimes, but that has nothing to do with you. You’re a very sweet person, Katherine, and you make Button House a lovely place to be.’
There was a sniff from the cupboard.
‘Then why has nobody come to look for me, if I’m so lovely?’
The Captain sighed.
‘I came looking for you, Katherine. And I promise that the others will, if you stay here long enough. We’re all caught up in our own lives, but that doesn’t mean we don’t care about each other.’
‘Whatever your sister said, however she made you feel, she's wrong.’
There was a noise, and the Captain felt Kitty sit down next to him. He felt her arms tighten around him in a hug; he stiffened instinctively but let it happen. After all, she really needed a hug, and who was he to deny her that comfort - even though it made him feel like his muscles were on fire. How could she have known that he didn’t like hugs, anyway?
‘I had another dream about her last night. About Eleanor.’
She mumbled into his shoulder. He gave her an awkward pat on the back and whispered ‘there, there’ like he’d seen other people do when someone was upset.
They stayed there for a while, until Kitty felt ready to leave. Before she went off to find the other ghosts, she turned to thank the old army Captain.
‘It was no trouble, Katherine. No trouble at all.’