The darkness of the tunnels was frightening, to say the least, to the little boy as he walked with his grandfather. With a reassuring squeeze of his hand the man spoke, "It's not far now, David, we shall see the light very soon."

Several steps further and the lights from the living quarters of the tunnel dwellers seemed to appear, as if by magic, ahead of them, creating a welcome glow, as figures and shadows in the light, told them someone was waiting for them.

"Hi! I'm Eric." He took the other hand of the small boy and turned to the older man. "Father is waiting for you," then turning lead the way.

Soon ttey were at the entrance to Father's study.

"James it's good to see you again." Father rose a little unsteady from his carved old high chair and leaning heavily on his faithful stick, went across the chamber to greet this friend, whom he had not seen in many a long year.

"Jacob you haven't changed much in all these years, well ... except for the limp," he glanced down in the direction of the walking stick.

"Ah, yes well, the result of a fall, many years ago, it troubles me when the weather up top is cold or damp, it's more of a nuisance really. Enough about me, please do take a seat, you must be weary after such a long walk." As he spoke, he looked across the chamber at Eric, with his large glasses and fetching smile, still holding on to the little boy's hand, near the entrance, in a protective way.

"Thank you Eric, you may leave David here, and will you go and tell William that we should love some herb tea and some fresh biscuits would be nice. I could smell cooking earlier on," he said with a smile and a wink as Eric turned and scampered away to the kitchen chamber in the next tunnel.

"Come along, David," Father indicated to an over stuffed small chair, "please sit down, don't be afraid, everything is going to be fine, you'll see." As the child sat down cautiously, Father returned his attention to his friend.

"Well James, I wish it was under better circumstances, that we meet now after all this time, can it be 14 years since you left us?"

"Yes Jacob, I too wish my return could have been on a happier note. I have wanted too often, to return to see you all, I've gone over our meeting in my minds, but I never thought in reality it would be like this."

"Have you lost ... everything?" The question hung in the air, Father's keen eye noticed his hands tremble, following a pause which seemed endless.

"Yes Jacob ... everything, the fire seemed to be driven along swallowing up everything in its insatiable thirst. The shop had so many inflammable goods, it ... didn't take long to ..." he lowered his head and wiped a tear away.

"James, James, I know what it is to lose ... everything, please my dear friend, don't agonise yourself further, we'll talk tomorrow, a new day ... a new start." Jacob patted his friend's arm in understanding.

A movement at the entrance caught his eye, "Ah! Mary, do come in. You remember James, don't you?"

Stepping across the chamber, Mary looked older than he remembered her, but she was still a striking, attractive woman, wearing the usual second hand cast off with a flare. The tray of clean, but odd cups and saucers, held the promise of the cup that cheers, something James felt he was in need of. Placing the tray on Father's desk, Mary turned and pushed a stray lock of now grey hair away from her face, then turning to James she hugged him warmly.

"Yes, of course, I do. How are you James? It's been too long since these tunnels echoed to your voice."

"Good to see you, Mary, and this is David."

Mary turned and knelt down next to the boy, "Hello."

"He ... llo," he said.

"Welcome to our home, David," and she also hugged him. "Would you like to come with me to meet the other children," she asked almost in a whisper. He nodded eagerly.

"We'll leave these two here and go and join the children, who are having strawberry juice and cookies." Then taking his little hand in hers, she led him to the chamber entrance.

"See you later," said Father as he made for the plate of cookies.

"With a reassuring smile from James, Mary and David left Father's study.

With so many people to cook for, William had to be an early to bed and early riser, as there was so much to do. Bread to bake fresh and coffee to grind, eggs to scramble. Sometimes Jamie would pop in to help or Sarah, but normally he was alone except for Arthur, cadging scraps. The kitchen was a kind of pivot the community worked from, it was the centre of things as the different aromas of the day permeated their senses and drove them into the haven of William's domain. First through the door was Mouse.

"First again, Mouse, you're here to soon, you will have to wait a little longer, 'till everyone else is here."

"Mouse can wait ... neat in here ... and warm."

"Hmmm," William looked at the teenager friend of Vincent's and shook his head.

"Just a cookie for Arthur, okay?" His face etched in a cheeky grin.

"Mouse, that raccoon of yours, it's always stealing food, why don't you leave him top side?"

"Arthur, my friend, top siders would kill him," he frowned.

William learned from experience not to argue with Mouse, you always ended up being the villain. Mouse waited for him to turn his back, grabbed a cookie and ran. On turning, William found the kitchen empty.

"God, one of these days that boy is going to give someone a heart attack," he muttered to himself, as he went about laying a place for James and David.

Father met Vincent as he came out of his chamber, "Good morning, Vincent."

"Father!"

"I thought we could go together to wake James ... if you want to, that is," he mumbled.

"Of course," came the his velvet reply.

As they entered the guest chamber, which Catherine used so often now, they found him dressed, sitting on the soft bed with its patchwork quilt. The candles flickered as the draft from their entry moved the flame and looking up a little startled, he saw his friends in the doorway.

"Vincent! It's good to see you again, you look wonderful. Can it be due to this Catherine of yours that I have been hearing so much about." He walked towards them and putting his arms around Vincent, gave him a long hug.

"David, it's good to see you too. Come, we can talk on the way to breakfast," Vincent replied.

"So, when am I going to have the pleasure of meeting this young lady of yours?.

Vincent looked somewhat embarrassed and uncomfortable at the directness of his question. "Er ... Catherine will be coming Below tonight, you can meet her then. I know she will be so pleased to know you both have arrived safe and well."

"Until tonight then, Vincent."

Father coughed, "Breakfast?", and the three of them left to find William.

Later that day James made his way to see how David was getting along in this strange place, and found him with Mary in her chamber. With one swoop the boy was in his arms, hugging him tightly, as if he would never let him go.

"Thank you Mary, you are so kind to take good care of my grandson."

"He is a lovely boy, James, and no trouble at all. Please come, sit down, Samantha will be here in a few minutes to take David to the Mirror pool. They have swimming lessons today, I am sure that David will love that."

"You have such a cosy chamber, Mary, it's one of the smaller ones, isn't it. It's got a small anti-room, I remember rightly?" He paced the chamber.

"Yes, fancy you remembering that," Mary smiled.

"I helped Vincent carve it out for you, that's many moons ago," he laughed.

"Don't remind me."

"Have you collected all these treasures over the years, or did you bring a lot with you, when you left the world Above," he asked.

"I brought some things, in the beginning it was quite sparse, but my collection has grown,' till I feel sometimes I could do with a larger chamber," she laughed.

"I always felt you and Jacob ... you know." He looked down a little unsure how to continue.

"He's the Father and I am the Mother down here, an involvement would have been ... difficult," she forced a smile.

"Rubbish ... excuse me, I shouldn't speak so."

"Mary ..." a voice from the passage way, told her that Samantha had come for David.

"Come in Samantha, David is ready, and he even has his swimming trunks on. Now David it's time to go with Samantha; have fun. Enjoy yourselves."

With a big grin he jumped off James's lap, and ran to where she was waiting.

"Take good care of him! Tea is 4.30, so mind your back by then," she ordered.

"would you like some tea, I could go and get some from the kitchen," Mary asked kindly.

"No, Mary, that's alright. I have just had some with Jacob."

"Is there anything you would like to talk to me about, I am no stranger to the pain of life, and I would be only too willing to listen." Mary sat close to him.

"The pain of life you say, that is an understatement. I wonder if I will ever get over it, or be able to forgive myself for what happened."

He bent his head, and Mary caught sight of a tear, she moved to put her hand on his shoulder, then waited until he could speak again.

"Oh! Mary, I don't know why I burden you with this. I know only too well the reason you came Below. You have become the mother of this community and from what Jacob tells me, you and he share the burdens of everyone and her I am giving you more." He took a large handkerchief and wiped his eyes. Mary sat back in her chair and waited for James to speak.

"When I left here with Edward, my son, as you know, just after my Alice died, Jacob gave me several address of people who would help us settle down. One of those was old Ted Giranger, he worshipped Eddy. When Ted died he left the hardware store to Eddy. Life then picked up and it was good, my son met a woman called Julie, and married her. They were so happy and their happiness was complete when David was born ... I never felt at anytime they didn't want me with them, we were family. I took on the role of baby sitter and the best times were when David and I went fishing. Once he reached the age of 6, they agreed I could take him with me overnight ..." he stopped to clear his throat and dab his eyes with his handkerchief.

"Are you alright, James, do you want to stop," Mary looked very concerned for her companion.

"I will be alright in a moment," and taking Mary's hand, he gave it a squeeze.

"David and I set off just after breakfast that Saturday morning, he was so excited, it was a big adventure for him. It was sometime that Sunday morning, that a police car found us. First I thought that we must have been trespassing on someone's property, I was not prepared for what I was told. There had been a fire at the shop. Edward and Julie were asleep in the flat upstairs, were overcome by smoke ..." he just couldn't go on and Mary insisted that he stop. She felt his pain and was so sorry for him.

"You are not to blame for what happened, even if you had been there, you and David might have perished also. He needs his Grandfather now ... and you need him too. I will help you all I can to remember the good things of your life together. So in the future you can tell David about his parents and how much they loved him."

Mary stood and taking his hands, encouraged him to stand beside her, "You need to rest now, we are having a celebration party tonight to welcome you and David into this community. Catherine will be here, you will like her, she is so special to all of us."

"More so to Vincent," James managed a smile.

"No doubt," replied Mary, "no doubt. Well, I will see you later ... won't I?"

Then with a kiss on Mary's cheek he left, in search for his chamber and a much needed rest.

The excited chatter of voices close by woke James with a start and a look at his watch told him he had slept for four hours. Quickly he washed and put on the clothes Mary had found suitable for him that were Jacob's. Once ready he approached the doorway as Vincent appeared.

"Come in, Vincent."

"I was here earlier, but you were sleeping, I didn't want to disturb you."

"It's been over a month, since I was able to sleep that well Vincent. I think my talk with Mary helped after all," he confided.

Vincent nodded his head and smiled, "Well, shall we go? Catherine is waiting in the great hall for us, David is already there with Mary."

"Lead on, Vincent." James followed with a new spring in his step. Yes indeed, it does pay to talk to someone, a trouble shared is a trouble halved.

Reaching the Great Hall, it surprised James to see how many people were actually there.

"Are all these people from the tunnels, Vincent?" he asked in disbelief.

"No James, some of these good people are Helpers from Above. Some you know from the past, but we do have quite a lot of Helpers. Come let me introduce you to Catherine."

Following close on Vincent's heels, James wove his wave through the mass of people, stopping here and there to speak to familiar faces from the past.

Vincent led him to where Catherine stood talking to Mary.

"Catherine."

She turned at the sound of Vincent's velvet voice.

"Catherine, this is James, a friend of Father's who has come to live Below again."

"I am so glad to meet you, James. Vincent has told me about you. I am so sorry about your son and his wife. Here you will be with people who will love you and take care of you, and that wonderful little boy of yours," she smiled.

"Thank you, Catherine, I have been very anxious to meet you, and now I can see why Vincent keeps you hidden away," he joked and smiled broadly for the first time in a long while.

"Would you care to dance Catherine," Vincent asked softly, recognising the unspoken invitation in her eyes.

"Yes please, Vincent, I thought you'd never ask!" she teased back.

They made their excuses and waltzed onto the floor into another world they alone shared.

"Where is David," James asked in a slightly worried tone.

Mary nodded her head in the direction of the huge table in the corner of the room and there, sitting on a pile of books, was David learning to play chess with Father. Both Mary and James laughed. Father had a new pupil!

James turned towards Mary standing next to him, and once more her beauty both within and without took him off guard. She radiated a special kind of warmth that he had missed for so long and one he needed so much.

"Will you risk a dance with me Mary?" he asked.

Mary turned to him, her lovely long silver hair reflecting the lights from the candles everywhere.

"Oh! James, I haven't danced in years, I'm as rusty as an old farm gate."

With outstretched hands, he pleaded with her again to dance. How could she refuse such a charming man as he, and soon they joined Catherine and Vincent dancing to a waltz, on the hand turning record machine, restored by Mouse.

"This feels so good Mary. I feel as though I've come home," he whispered against her cheek.

Vincent turned Catherine, so she too could see the love growing between this couple.

"Perhaps," said Catherine, "we will have a new romance in the tunnels. Do you think Father will be jealous, Vincent?" Catherine asked and she chuckled mischievously.

The music played on and everyone had a wonderful time. The newcomers were home to stay.