Ch 1- Come Away With Me

July 31st, 1896

She blushed, smiling from ear to ear, turning away quickly when her eyes met his piercing gaze from across the crowded servant's hall. Elsie Hughes had been the new maid at Downton Abbey just shy of a month, and even from her first moments there it had been obvious to her that Carson, the butler, had noticed her.

It was the end of the summer social season, and the family would be returning from London in just three short days. As such, the servants who had stayed behind at the abbey were having a rambunctious end of season celebration to commemorate the end of their own vacation. The festivities were proving too be far too wild for Carson's standards and too childish for Elsie's.

The young woman sat shyly on one side of the hall, watching everyone dance, drink and generally make a fool, out of themselves, the room overtaken by the sounds of loud music, clapping and cheering. She was overwhelmed, not by the noise, or the commotion but by the unrelenting gaze of the handsome butler who sat on the other side of the room. Normally, Carson would've called the crowd to order long ago, but he found himself transfixed by the vision before him.

Elsie smiled back nervously, even sweetly, averting her own gaze every few moments. She was very flattered at the thought that he noticed her because the feeling was mutual. Elsie had had very few romantic interludes in her life and didn't know how to react to the man whose gaze shook her to the core and awakened parts of her she didn't know existed. She wiped her sweaty palms on her knees, smiling back dreamily without meaning to: she was staring now too.

Only weeks before, when she'd left her native Scotland, she'd received a marriage proposal from her neighbor and childhood friend, Joe Burns: a nice man whom she had no feeling for. Elsie had been somewhat conflicted when she'd left, her mother's warning about becoming an old maid (literally) echoing in her mind as the train inched its way out of the Scottish highlands and into the Yorkshire countryside. Throughout the journey, she'd wondered if it were possible to find a man who would treat her as she desired to be treated: who didn't mind the independent streak she treasured about herself, but still treated her as his treasure. A man who saw her as his love but didn't expect her to slave her life away on a farm and bare him nine children. Desire to not live life destined to be the overwrought mother of nine was what had pushed Elsie to seek a new, independent life in Yorkshire: old maid or not. Somehow, even now she was not that farm girl anymore.

Elsie didn't want to miss out on life. She craved a man whom she loved, desired and treasured with all her heart, body and soul. She had spent her entire journey to a new country and home, wondering if such a man existed anywhere in the world, and what it would feel like to know him.

Elsie looked up again, finding that Mr. Carson had still not adverted his gaze. She wasn't sure how you would describe the way he looked at her, it was a kindness mixed with something much more than that, something an innocent young woman of her time knew little of, save what her body occasionally reminded her of. All she knew was that his presence gave her butterflies in her stomach and made her heart start to beat rapidly. One day, she'd come to recognize the look he was giving her as having to do with both a depth of love and a sense of longing: it was a how he would always look at her when he made love to her with his eyes.

She couldn't help but smile when he walked into the room and worse, blush when he spoke to her, which was quite often. That and the uncharacteristic clumsiness she had developed in his presence proved both embarrassing and unnerving. She'd never experienced anything like it before in her life and hated that it gave her away: she liked him and he knew it.

She would never know it with the way he stared, but she made him as nervous as humanly possible. He couldn't get the image of her out of his mind, particularly he kept thinking of the first moment he'd laid eyes on her, just a few weeks before. It was the very end of May, just before the family left on holiday and he'd been tasked with bringing the new maid into the house. He hadn't been sure what he'd been expecting, probably just what they always were: either a crusty old maid, or a little girl who he thought was too young to be working and would eventually decide to take a guarded sense of pity on.

But his heart had practically stopped when a footman had brought him a beautiful young woman whose smile and bright blue eyes struck him in an instant. She'd been so radiantly beautiful to him that he was almost afraid to look at her, and from that moment he'd been hooked. He'd never forget that she wore a baby blue sweater that made her eyes shine bright, or that something about her smile spoke to his heart, telling him she'd been made just for him to love. It'd taken him several seconds too long to say anything to her, her Scottish brogue like a lullaby to him when she spoke. And then there was just her: he admired a woman like her, young and unafraid who'd come here to have a life on her terms, instead of her family's. Everything about Elsie Hughes captivated him, drawing him into her like an unstoppable force. He was enthralled.

Carson stopped, his breath catching in his throat when Elsie looked up at him again from her place across the room. He could tell that she was reluctant but curious herself, and that he could scarcely believe. The party was growing increasingly loud, and wilder by the moment. The noise and chaos engulfed the room but the two seemed to block it out, both cautiously transfixed on the other now. He thought of getting up and asking her to dance but changed his mind, thinking intently about what to do and not daring to break the close eye contact they shared.

At first, he hadn't wanted to pursue her; too afraid of what he thought would be inevitable rejection. And then there was another part of him; one that resided deep inside and never rested: it ate at his psyche and even his soul, compelling him to engage with her whatever the costs. It was almost as if every breath he took depended on contact with Elsie Hughes.

It was that that compelled him to get up and cross the room, his spirit emboldening with each step he took in her direction. He didn't break his gaze with her as he approached, almost seeming to encroach on her like a lion squaring in carefully on its prey. From Elsie's view his gravitation toward her in the crowded servant's hall, turned dance hall was like a parting of the sea. They were not alone, but there the two of them were, by themselves in their own universe. For her, all was silent save the thudding of her heart in her ears, and everything else was a blur as he came clearly into view, extending his hand to her. She expected a dance invitation, but instead he asked:

"Miss Hughes, would you like to sneak away with me?"

Elsie looked up wide-eyed and surprised, suddenly smiling bright as she took his hand feeling everything within her electrify as she let him pull her onto her feet.