Work Text:
The door to the vault was locked because nobody knew the passcode. But what they also did not
know was the Captain knew the passcode for he was the one who made the vault in the first place.
“One of you guys must know it!” Alison grumbles as she tries yet another random combination of
digits, “seriously did not one of you witness when it was built.”
“Yes,” says Thomas, perching on the banister where the ghosts were gathered by the vault, “I seem
to recall it was built in the late 1930s, but one cannot be fully sure after the passing time.” Some of
the ghosts (Kitty, Lady Button, Robin) murmur in agreement.
“Oh, yes, that’s right!” Humphrey’s head shouts. He was lying on the stairs, all the ghosts turn to
him. “I remember now, I was in the library and there was speak of a decoding office during the war.
This is probably what the vault is. Of course, I never saw it get built, but it was so secret, I suppose
that would be why!”
All heads turn to face the Captain.
“Did you know about this?” Lady Button enquires.
“I umm, well,” the Captain stutters. He clears his throat, “no. I did not.” It was a lie, of course it was a
lie. He was commanding officer! One of the few that did know!
“Well,” Alison says, sceptical of the Captain’s knowledge, “what could the passcode be?”
“Ohh! Good idea!” Pat put in, “Captain, what could have been chosen for the passcode!”
“Umm,” the Captain pretends to think, “try 1803. Was the date we set up camp here.”
Alison put in the passcode and everyone held their breath (except the captain, who knew it was
wrong) as she tried the door.
“Nope,” Alison sighs, dusting her hands off.
“How about 1410,” the Captain says, “was my se—.” He stops himself, clearing his throat again, “was
the number of volunteers we had sign up to work at Button House.”
The fourteenth of October was actually the Captain’s second in command, Lieutenant Havers’
birthday. He had chosen it because he knew no one would figure it out. Alison tried the door once
more, with the new code and the handle clicks as the door opens.
“Mike!” She shouts excitedly, “Mike, I got the vault ope—…” her voice fades away as a ghost steps
out of the safe.
The Captain’s stomach drops, “Lieutenant Havers.” He says automatically.
“Hello, sir,” Havers replies.
“I’m sorry, you two know each other?” Julian says, interrupting the stunned silence that stood
before them all.
“You real dumb, huh?” Laughs Robin, “they both got uniform, obviously know other one!”
“Yes,” Havers continued idly, “he’s my old CO, I was his second in command.”
“I thought you left for Africa!” The Captain cries, “how are you here?”
“I happened to have gotten myself locked in right before I was due to leave, sir,” Havers explains,
“couldn’t get out, and so I very slowly suffocated.”
“Wait, so that means that…” Alison interjected, peering into the vault.
“Yes, my corpse is in there,” Havers replies simply. Alison sees it in the corner of the vault and gags.
“You called?” Mike says, skidding into the hallway. The ghosts move away from Mike to stop him
walking through them. “Oh cool, you got the vault open,” then he notices Alison’s face, “what?
What’s in there.”
“There might have been a ghost in there…” she says.
Mike looks a little startled before he looks up to where he assumes the new ghost is (obviously being
very incorrect as the ghosts don’t float) and says, “hello, new ghost, nice to meet you.”
“Greetings,” Havers nods to Mike from next to Alison.
“Yeah, his corpse is in the vault,” Alison sighs.
“What!?” Mike explodes.
“Yes,” Alison confirms factually, eyeing Havers, “a ninety year old corpse.”
“Apologies about that,” Havers muses politely.
“It’s okay,” Alison lies, firing a smile and the shooting Mike a very worried look when Havers looks
away.
The Captain did not no what to do. He had slipped away from the situation downstairs and was now
pacing in the library. Loosening his tie a fraction, he looked out the window momentarily before
continuing his pace.
He never could have dreamed this would happen.
Ever.
He could imagine a million parallel universes where he found Havers again and this wouldn’t ever be
the situation that occurred to him.
He never thought he’d get to do this: see his love again in his lifetime (afterlifetime) and get another
chance with him in a world more tolerant to those like them.
“Sir, are you quite alright?” The Captain jumped as Havers spoke. How long had he been standing
there?
“Yes. Yes, I am, thank you.”
“I know that must have come as quite a shock,” Havers continues, cautiously stepping toward The
Captain, “it startled me too.”
“Yes,” The Captain says carefully, “but it is nice to see you again, Anthony… I missed you.” The
Captain avoided Havers’ gaze as he spoke. He hadn’t spoke his name in so long, nor outright
admitted he missed him.
“And I you,” Havers agreed instantaneously, “I apologise for not admitting so earlier.”
There was a short silence between them before The Captain says, “you’re here now."
Havers’ breath caught in his throat, “so I am,” he says in realisation, taking another slow step toward
the other man. They held each others gaze as it played out in slow motion before The Captain could
hear his own heart in his ears which scared him into saying: “Havers, I—.” The he began. Havers
froze as The Captain continues with, “Is this a good idea?”
“James,” Havers face crumples with sympathy, but his eyes spoke pain, “yes.”
The Captain stumbles over his words, “well, yes, but it’s… different now, isn’t it?”
Havers put a steady hand on The Captain’s shoulder, “you don’t regret it, do you? Us?”
“No,” The Captain whispers with a smile closing the gap between them.
They break apart for air, keeping their foreheads touching, smiling at each other with all the love
they couldn’t show during the war.
“What was that?” Havers asks when a muffled sound comes from outside the library door. He pulls
away from The Captain a little in alarm. The Captain, who knows exactly what, wanders over to the
closed library door and sticks his head through it.
“Aah, yes,” he muses seeing the faces of Thomas, Julian, Kitty, and Pat, “spying, are you?”
“No. No. No,” Thomas lies immediately, “we were just umm…”
“Enjoying the door!” Julian jumps in. There’s a silence as the others look at him in a ‘why the hell did
you say that?’ way.
“Yes,” Pat continues, trying to think of a reason why they’d be enjoying a door, “it’s a good one! I
had ones just like it in my house. Carol picked them out when we moved in because she was very
particular about those kind of things.”
“I love it!” Kitty babbles, “it’s actually always been my favourite door in the house, actually!”
“Quite so,” Thomas says, preparing his mind for poetry, “the door, the door, a hole like a pore. Take
me to the library, for… hang on, what rhymes with library?”
The other ghosts groan, walking off.
“Oh, I see!” Thomas yells after them, “got no respect for art, have you!”
The Captain steps back into the library.
Havers smiles, looking deep into The Captain’s eyes.
“You get used to them,” The Captain chuckles.