"What do you mean you've never done Halloween?" Alex demanded of Tom, sounding completely scandalized. "It's only the funnest holiday ever."

"Most fun," Hal interjected.

"Whatever," She said dismissively, her attention still focused on Tom. "You've seriously never done anything for Halloween in your entire life? No costumes or partying or making yourself sick on sweets?"

"McNair always said it wasn't proper," Tom said a touch defensively. "He said it was just a day for young ladies to dress in demeaning costumes and for young men to behave like hooligans and for vampires to take advantage and do bad things without having to hide."

"Well, what about you?" Alex asked, rounding on Hal. "Surely you've managed to celebrate Halloween at least once in the last five hundred years."

"I have in the past," he admitted, clearing his throat uncomfortably. "But it was more along the lines of 'taking advantage' as Tom put it than actual celebration. Now it's easier to just keep it all at a distance."

"Okay, you two are not ruining this day for me," Alex declared determinedly. "This year we're doing Halloween and we're doing it right."

Tom and Hal nodded in agreement, Tom with enthusiasm and Hal with resignation.

"Okay," said Alex, clapping her hands. "First thing's first: costumes. We only have a few hours before trick-or-treaters start coming round, so we'll have to work fast. What do you lads want to be?" They stared at her blankly.

"Oh, come on," she said exasperatedly. "You have to have some idea."

"I don't see why I have to dress up when I will most certainly not be interacting with any humans this evening," Hal protested.

"Well, you will be interacting with me and Tom so you're dressing up whether you like it or not. Oooh I know! You can be Dracula!"

"No," was Hal's instantaneous response. "Not happening."

"Come on, it would be great! You'd look good with the whole fancy suit and cape."

"No."

"Hal, I swear I will do the washing up for an entire month if you dress up as Dracula."

"We both know you won't. And no. It's. Not. Happening."

"Fine," Alex sighed in irritation. "Tom, you can be Dracula.

"Can I be Iron Man instead?" Tom asked eagerly.

"Yes!" Alex exclaimed, but Hal interrupted.

"And where do you think you're going to find an Iron Man suit," he asked skeptically.

"I can just rent-a-ghost onto set and borrow it. It'll be back before anyone notices it's gone."

"Oh, can we please, Hal?" Tom pleaded.

"No," Hal insisted. "Absolutely not."

"Ugh, you're such a killjoy. Fine. I have a better idea." Without another word, she rent-a-ghosted away.

"Great," Hal said, throwing his hands in the air.

"Come on, Hal, be nice," Tom said. "Alex is stuck here all the time and she can't talk to anybody or do owt. Just let her have some fun." Hal sighed, but before he could reply, Alex popped back into the room.

"Here," she said cheerfully, dropping a pile of black fabric into Tom's arms.

"What's all this?" Hal asked as Tom worked to untangle the rather shapeless garment.

By way of an answer, Alex plopped a curly white wig on Tom's head.

"Tom McNair, barrister," she announced.

"Really?" Tom asked, his entire face lighting up. But then it fell a second later. "But I ain't clever enough to be a barrister."

"Tom, it's Halloween," Alex reassured him. "You can be whatever you want." She took the long robes from him and pulled them down over his head.

"Perfect," she announced once Tom had gotten his arms through the sleeves and had straightened the robes into place. "You just need a nice black suit to wear under it."

"But I don't have a black suit."

"Hal does," Alex pointed out, looking at Hal pointedly.

"Hal," Tom asked as politely as he could, "would you be so kind as to allow me use of your black suit?"

"Of course," Hal agreed graciously. Alex gave him a smile and a thumbs up behind Tom's back.

"Cheers mate!" Tom exclaimed, then bounded off up the stairs.

"Do I want to know where you stole that from?" Hal asked Alex once Tom was out of earshot.

"Borrowed," Alex corrected. "I just popped down to the law firm where dear old Cutler used to work and borrowed it from one of the offices. Nobody'll notice that it's gone for the evening, but I don't give a flying fuck if they do." At the mention of Cutler, Hal chose not to push the matter.

"So what are you going to be?" he asked, eager to change the subject. Alex whipped a red wig out of her jacket and pulled it on over her hair.

"Ta da!"

"And I suppose you borrowed this one as well?" Hal sighed.

"Don't be silly. I know how you feel about that so I bought it from a costume store. I just left some money on the counter."

"Did you steal my wallet?" He demanded. She pulled it from her pocket and tossed it back with a sigh.

"Come on, Hal, it was only a few pounds. And it's not like you ever have to spend money on me for anything else. It's not like I need food or clothes or anything what with me being dead and all."

"Fine," he relented. "So who are you supposed to be, then?"

"Guess."

"I honestly haven't the slightest."

"Are you Black Widow?" Tom asked as he reappeared.

"Got it in one!" Alex confirmed, giving him a high five. "If I'm stuck in this stupid dress and these uncomfortable fucking boots until the end of time, I'm sure as hell gonna be a superhero. Who else would wear combat boots and a leather jacket with a dress?"

"Who?" Hal asked.

"Oh you really need to watch some Marvel movies."

"I think you make a wonderful Black Widow," Tom announced decisively.

"Why thank you, Tom."

"So how do I look?" he asked eagerly.

"You look quite the professional," Alex assured him. He grinned broadly at the praise.

"Quite proper," Hal agreed as Alex prompted him with an elbow to his ribs.

"What about you?" Tom asked Hal. "Now you need a costume."

"I really don't."

"No, you really do," Alex ordered.

"Fine. I suppose I have something upstairs that will do."

"So, Tom," Alex asked as soon as Hal was safely upstairs, "do you think I could borrow a few quid? Hal's already pissed with me for stealing his wallet to get my wig, but I need some more supplies."

"Sure," Tom agreed instantly, pulling out his wallet. "I've never had a real Halloween before so I want this to be brilliant as much as you do."

"Aw, cheers." She gave him a quick hug, then disappeared.

0 0 0

Alex had just returned with several bulging bags and stashed them behind the bar when Hal came back downstairs.

"Ta da," he said flatly, holding his arms out to the sides for their appraisal.

"Wow," Alex forced out after a long moment of staring. "That's, that's rather good."

"You look right handsome in that, Hal," Tom agreed, looking impressed and a bit jealous.

Hal was wearing his old military uniform, the red trousers crisply pressed and the dark blue jacket buttoned up neatly to the collar.

"And you just had this lying around?" Alex asked, finally recovering her speech capabilities.

"For about a hundred years," he confirmed nonchalantly. "There's not many personal items I've been sentimental about from that part of my life, but I have kept a few of my nicer outfits."

"Yeah, I suppose this is pretty nice," Alex agreed, then paused. "Hang on, the colors are wrong. Blue and red were French colors. Why've you got a French uniform?"

"Because I had been living in France at the time," he replied as if it were obvious. "Why do you think I speak such good French?"

"Hang on," Tom exclaimed, deeply impressed. "You lived in France?"

"France, Poland, Belarus, Hungary, a dozen other places in between. Five hundred years is far to long to stay in one place," Hal shrugged it off. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'll go prepare dinner."

0 0 0

Alex snorted with laughter when Hal emerged from the kitchen an hour later to announce that dinner was ready. Even though he had removed his dress coat to keep it clean, he still looked quite comical with his marigolds and striped apron on over his rolled up shirtsleeves and braces.

He glared at her reaction, then did a double take as he took in the transformation of the living room. Alex and Tom had draped orange and black streamers across the ceiling and adorned the entryway with fake cobwebs. A large bowl of sweets sat on the end of the bar next to a row of four pumpkins they had enthusiastically but inexpertly carved.

"What do you think?" Alex asked, gesturing grandly around the room.

"It's very festive," Hal noted finally before retreating to the kitchen with a shake of his head.

He returned a moment later with heaping plates for him and Tom. As the two of them ate, Alex brought out a large tub from the back storage room and filled it with water.

"What's this for?" Tom asked as he finished eating.

"Apple bobbing," Alex announced.

"What's that?"

"It's unhygienic, that's what," Hal muttered as he bussed the plates to the sink.

"Shush," Alex said dismissively. "It's fun. You float a bunch of apples in a tub of water and then you have to try to get one out using just your mouth." She dumped a bag of apples into the water with a flourish.

"As I said, unhygienic," Hal insisted. "Grabbing food in your mouth from water that everybody else's mouth has been in."

"Fine," Alex said, "You can go first if you want but you're still participating."

"Fine," Hal retorted, "but Tom needs to change first. I will not allow him to bob for apples in my suit, or someone's borrowed court attire."

"Don't you want to change too, then?" Alex asked as Tom hurried off.

"No," he replied confidently. " I know what I'm doing."

"Okay then," she said as Tom thundered back down the stairs. "Show us how it's done."

Hal knelt on the ground next to the tub and leaned over it. He paused for a moment, strategically choosing his apple. Then he focused hard for a long second. His eyes flashed black momentarily and his fangs descended just long enough for him to bite into an apple and pull it from the tub without even touching the water.

"That's cheating!" Alex protested. "We don't all have fangs we can just pop out. And that takes away all the fun! I'll show you how it's really done, Tom."

She pushed Hal out of the way and took her place next to the tub. She too carefully selected her apple, but instead of grabbing off the surface, she plunged her entire head and shoulders into the tub, pinning the apple against the bottom so she could grab it in her teeth. After a long moment, she pulled back, spraying water everywhere and grinning around her apple.

"Well you're cheating too in a way," Hal pointed out. "You don't need to breathe and your clothes can't get wet. And you can't even eat your apple." Alex responded by throwing said apple at his head.

"I wanna have a go!" Tom said excitedly.

Alex moved so he could take her place and Tom immediately plunged his head into the tub. After a long several seconds, he spluttered to the surface just long enough to take a breath, then dove back in. A moment later, he emerged again, apple triumphantly caught in his mouth.

"That's brilliant!" he exclaimed. "Can I go again?"

Hal gestured invitingly at the tub and Tom immediately went for another apple. Alex and Hal watched in amusement as he continued until he had retrieved the remaining half dozen apples. By then end he was thoroughly pleased, and thoroughly soaked.

While he went upstairs to dry off, Alex emptied the tub and put it away. Hal mopped up the water that had sloshed over the side in Tom's excitement.

"Movie time!" Alex announced once they had finished clearing up and Tom had joined Hal on the sofa with his costume back in place. She pulled out a startlingly tall stack of DVD cases but was interrupted by a knock at the door.

Tom double checked that he had a stake handy in his pocket, then bounded over to the door with the bowl of sweets.

"Trick or treat!" came a chorus of young voices as he opened the door.

After he had passed out handfuls of the sweets, he returned to the sofa with a delighted grin on his face.

"Alright, now it's movie time," Alex said.

"Nothing with vampires," Hal said instantly. "I don't need to be reminded of that."

"Oh and no werewolves too," Tom agreed. "I don't want to think about hurting people either."

"Fine then," Alex said, slightly irritated. "No ghosts either, then, if you two are gonna be like that." She flipped through her stack, discarding about half of them.

"How about Sweeney Todd?"

"That has rather too much blood for my comfort level," Hal replied. "And eating people."

"Come on, Show Tunes, I thought you'd like that one," Alex said disappointedly. But it joined the discard pile.

"Scream?"

"What's that one about?" Tom asked.

"It's a guy who dresses up with a creepy mask and breaks in people's houses and kills them."

"Can we not do that one please?" Tom asked "I know lots of vampires do bad stuff some werewolves and ghosts too, but I don't want to think about just ordinary people doing bad stuff too."

"Fine," Alex sighed. Half a dozen horror movies joined the rapidly growing discard pile.

"Nightmare Before Christmas?"

"Surely something called Nightmare Before Christmas is a Christmas movie?" Hal asked.

"No, no, it's a Halloween movie. The main character is the pumpkin king from Halloween land. He just tries to take over Christmas." Hal just looked at her skeptically until she discarded it.

"Rocky Horror Picture Show?"

"No," Hal said immediately, looking pointedly at Tom.

"But it's a cult classic," Alex protested.

"What's it about?" Tom asked curiously.

"A newly-engaged couple and an alien-transvestite-mad-scientist," Hal said bluntly. "Complete with seduction and homicide set to musical numbers. I think it's perhaps a bit risqué for your tastes."

"Ooh," Alex said, looking at Tom's very surprised face. "No. That's very much a no."

Hal grabbed the dwindling stack from her and flipped through it.

"What about Phantom of the Opera?"

"First of all," she said petulantly, "Mr. Phantom of the Opera, Opera Ghost skirts very close to the no ghost rule. And secondly, it very definitely takes place at New Year's."

"Alex, you were the one that chose these movies," Hal pointed out.

"Okay, fine," she relented easily. "I'm willing to graciously waive my objections for the sake of Gerard Butler's voice and Patrick Wilson's face."

"What insightful criteria you have for selecting your movies," Hal commented dryly as Alex popped the disc into the player.

"Well it's not as if I want either of their characters for their personalities," Alex quipped back, pushing Hal to the side so she could sit between him and Tom. "One's a creepy, murdering stalker and the other's nice and gallant but also a pushy, whiny prick half the time."

"So aesthetics are the only reason you like this movie?"

"Not only. I like the music and the costumes, and the plot and characters and stuff are interesting."

"But you don't like two of the three main characters?"

"I wouldn't want either of them trying to woo me, but that doesn't mean they're not interesting characters," she pointed out. "Good and nice and interesting aren't the same thing. You can recognize someone's flaws and still appreciate them or find the good bits in them. I like you after all." She elbowed Hal in the side.

"Oi!" Tom interrupted, feeling left out of the conversation and wanting to know what they were going on about. "Can we just watch the movie? You can discuss all this at the end."

"Fine," Hal relented, grabbing the remote from Alex.

"I always wanted to visit Paris," Tom said longingly as the movie started. "But McNair always said there were plenty of vampires here in Britain so there was no point in going to another country to find some more."

"It is a beautiful city," Hal said. "Perhaps you'll get there one day after all."

"We could've gone for my unfinished business but somebody said that was impractical," Alex pointed out.

"It was impractical," Hal countered. "We have jobs and a limited income—"

"Oh, hush."

"How come in all these fancy buildings the statues never have any clothes on?" Tom complained sadly as the shot panned over the theatre's elaborate interior.

"It's art," Hal said as if stating the obvious.

"It's demeaning," Tom argued.

"Here. I've gotcha covered," Alex said, sticking her hand over his eyes. "I'll let you know when it's safe to look."

At that moment, there was another knock on the door and Tom pushed her hand away to run to the door.

"Oi, bring the sweets back with you when you come," Alex called over her shoulder at him. "I want to try something." He plopped the bowl in her lap and she started to dig through it eagerly.

"But you can't eat it," Hal pointed out.

"Thank you, captain obvious," she said sarcastically. "I'm painfully aware of that. You two can though."

"Well how's that gonna help you?" Tom asked, confused.

"Just watch," she said eagerly, handing him a packet of Maltesers. As he ripped it open, she put her hand on top of his head. He turned to look at her curiously.

"Eat!" she ordered. He put one in his mouth and tentatively started to chew.

"Shit the bed!" she shouted. "I could actually taste that! More!" Tom tipped the entire packet into his mouth and chewed enthusiastically.

"Oh, Christ, that's good!"

"How did you learn that?" Hal asked, thoroughly surprised. "Did Annie teach you?"

"No, it was actually that crazy friend of yours, Lady Mary. Learned a lot interesting things from her. But that's not the important bit. The important bit is that it works! So eat!" When he opened his mouth to protest, she shoved a Galaxy bar in it. He glared at her around the mouthful of chocolate, but dutifully ate it.

"I really don't like this Angel of Music, Phantom bloke," Tom said, engrossed in the movie once more. "He shouldn't be looking into her dressing room like that."

"Like I said, creepy stalker," Alex agreed. "How about this: every time something happens in the movie you think is wrong or demeaning to women or whatever, you eat a sweet? And just be glad we're not doing this with alcohol."

"Alright," Tom agreed readily, grabbing a Mars bar out of the bowl. Alex grinned broadly and put her hand back on top of his head. Hal rolled his eyes but found himself smiling anyway.

"You know," Hal said conversationally a bit later, "the movie, and the stage production for that matter, is quite a bit different from the original book."

"I hate to break it to you, sugar, but that's usually how it goes with adaptations." Alex winked at him. He glared back.

And so the evening passed. Tom delighted in sharing out sweets with every knock at the door and grew increasingly sugar-crazed as the movie progressed. Alex reveled in tasting sweets again, even if it wasn't quite the same, and continually snarked commentary at Hal. Hal quipped back and quietly hummed along with all the songs.

It was a different sort of Halloween than they were all used to, something new. But something good.

A/N: Okay so I know I'm like two weeks late for Halloween and several years late joining the fandom, but here, have this anyway. I'm American so I apologize if this isn't an accurate depiction of Halloween in the UK or if any of my word choice or phrasing is a bit off. The characters obviously aren't mine and are belong to the wonderful Toby Whithouse and the BBC. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!