Glass & Roses (BBC Ghosts)

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S4E7: It's Behind You

o0O~~~O0o

As the days tiptoed closer and closer to Christmas, the lands grew colder and colder. Lucille would find herself reminiscing over the time spent as a child, crunching through the frozen grounds of Button House; times where the realities of life seemed so far away, a thought for a distant day. She supposed that, as the times went on, reminiscing over the past was the only way to feel truly alive - it was easier to fool oneself when Alison made such an effort to embrace them and their lives, but every time she slipped through a wall or the floor it was like she was dragged, kicking and screaming, back to her sordid reality. Lucille didn't mind it, all that much, really. Alison was the breath of fresh air, breathing warm life into the ancient walls of her family home, somehow making life seem worth it. 

With some, careful prompting from Lucille, and to an extent Pat, Alison had invited Pat's old scout's troop to do their activities on the lands of Button House. Whilst Lucille was sad that she never got the chance to join in, Pat was thrilled. He always lined up with the troops, and 'helped' the scout leader in any way he could, despite only being heard by Alison and the other ghosts. Today, for the troops, it was their archery session. Lucille had been prepared for Pat to have some form of traumatic response to the bows and arrows, but had been pleasantly surprised when he all but sprinted to join them first thing in the morning - "keeping an eye on the young'uns" he had said.

Christmas Day was going to see Alison and Mike leaving Button House to see Mike's family; it would certainly be a different feel for Christmas the year, but at least the house was fully decorated for it, to make up for Alison being gone all day. Some of the ghosts, Kitty and Thomas, were taking the idea of a Christmas without Alison quite hard. Lucille was going to pull a page from Thomas' book and submerge herself in the lake if she had to listen to one more spiel about the 'woes of the fair Alison leaving'. 

Lucille stood in the counter by the toaster as Alison and Mike packed an entire Christmas meal into varying trays and Tupperware to take away with them. The noise, and the smell, had pulled most of the ghosts to the kitchen, whilst others were still frolicking around the house.

"It's ingenious." Captain marvelled, waiting Mike fill up the Tupperware closely. "Perfect for field rations."

"You have to go away on Christmas Day?" Kitty complained to Alison.

"Just for the day. We'll be back in the evening." Alison told her.

"Right. So all this can reheat." Mike gestured at a growing pile. "That's on a timer, so it could come out of the oven before we go." 

"It's... It's a lot." Alison stated as she looked over the table.

"Would make a delicious meal though." Lucille sighed mournfully, mouth practically watering at the memory of Christmas Dinner.

"I mean, did you need to do all this?" Alison asked Mike. 

"Just a couple of sides." Mike defended himself.

"I'm sorry, this is sides?" Lucille gestured to the entire table. "I wasn't aware you were going to visit King Henry VIII!"

"Mike, that's a turkey!" Alison pointed incredulously. "It's a whole Christmas dinner. You're doing what your dad did to us."

"Well, to be fair to him, I mean, we ate it all."

"Yeah, true." 

"Join Cinderella, Buttons and the whole gang for an evening of family fun at the Corn Exchange!" An advert rang out from the radio.