Isobel looked out of Richard's office window, rearranging her hair, she sighed letting the tapping on the glass relax her. She had been having the most stressful day. Patients started popping out of nowhere and she was so knackered she felt like she could cry. More over, Richard and her had had a small set-to about the patient where she basically called him a bad doctor and he told her he had no time for her nonsense. That's where the tears started to fall.
The blonde doctor and her had gotten very close as they worked together, he calmed her down after her arguments with violet. She cheered him up when he discovered he needed spectacles and was coming to terms with the fact that as he bluntly put it 'he was an old man', she pointed out that she needed them herself for years when reading and was four years younger than him.
They knew exactly how the other liked their tea and started sharing his office as she gave up hers to turn it into a small maternity ward. Maybe it wasn't such a great idea, she thought, as she started to like him more and more with all he quirks and defects. One syllable in Scottish lilt from those beckoning lips beneath that military mustache and her heart would start to pound and her eyes widened. He, on the other hand, showed no sign of reciprocating her feelings and after today he must be pretty fed up with her. The notion of him tolerating her simply because she was part of the Grantham family and chairman of the board made her stomach turn.
Let's face it - he was doing just fine before she came along. He did not have arguments with the dowager and never had to listen to rants nor had he shared his authority or his treatments methods with anyone else. She was an unhappy genetic incident he was faultlessly paying for.
The realisation hit her square in her guts as a sob escaped her lips before she could raised her hand to her mouth to stop it. She dashed into the pouring rain and came back dripping with a wooden box in hand - she'd rather work from an inventory than be a burden on somebody else!
Richard looked at his watch as he headed back to his office from the operating theatre, he was exhausted and in a really bad mood. It was a really trying day and foolishly snapping at Isobel did not improve his mood. Something felt wrong in his waters when they were at odds. It was time to apologize to her, preferably with some chocolates and a cup of tea - their was no denying that she was the work wife he never had - apart from the married and intimate part - much to his sadness. Finding his office door closed made him feel as if something was wrong. His office door was only closed when he wasn't in. Opening he found the room void of her things, her desk was empty, no teacups or pictures of Matthew or those blasted incomplete charts which drove him crazy like the woman who left them there.
Christ, she hadn't left, had she?
Ducking his head back out, he conveniently saw McBride putting on her coat at the end of her shift.
"McBride, have you seen nurse Crawley?"
The girl looked back before turning the knob on the staff door "Yes she's in the inventory. Good night doctor!"
"Yes, see you tomorrow."
Confused, he ran down the steep stairs to the inventory, almost tripping on his own two feet. Sighing in relief he spotted her hear the lamp on the towel shelf, placing a pile of papers on a makeshift desk she made out of said shelf.
"What are you doing?" he asked, gobsmacked and a little offended.
"If you didn't want to give up your office you should have just said so." he said stepping in getting closer to her only to notice tears in her eyes. His blood running cold and his arms getting a right mighty urge to pull her to his chest and hold her until she smiled again. "Isobel...I didn't mean to be such a cad before. I'm so sorry."
His softening voice was the last straw for her and her shoulders started shaking in earnest.
Not being able to stand it anymore, Richard followed his instincts, gently turned her round by the shoulders and cuddled her to him, rubbing her back and pressing his lips to her head as she let all her tempestuous feelings out. "I'm sorry!" she cried against her shoulders "I'm trying to see where I can be useful I didn't mean to be a burden to you! I never wanted to be a burden to anyone - I can take care of myself."
Moving his head so his mouth was next to her ear, he tightened his hold on her. "My darling girl, you're life's unexpected miracle - not a burden - you lovely creature..." he pulled back and wiped her tears which where now slowing down.
"We basically live together now, we see the good sides and the bad - but never have I held you in anything but the highest regard possible - I love you. As odd as it sounds, this rude old beast of a village doctor is capable of love and it had to be you that ignited this flame."
She was no longer crying, she was smiling, angelically - or so he thought before her lips touched his. She was salty from tears and sweet by her very taste. She loved him - the very thought almost made him explode as her soft body moulded to his. As the rain tapped outside it rained love as Downton Cottage Hospital.