Between Us Girls
Anna and Ethel have a short discussion concerning Mr Bates.
A/N: Just assume Bates didn't propose until the second day after he got back.
Disclaimer: I don't own Downton Abbey or its characters. Just having a bit of fun.
Anna was please to say the least. Bates had returned a few days early, envoking a grin she'd worn all day since greeting him and Lady Mary in the drive. It graced her lips even now, as she braided her hair in front of her modest vanity in preparation for bed.
"How did a man like that get a post here?" Ethel inquired from the other side of their room, already in bed.
"Who do you mean?" Anna asked, even though she suspected Ethel was most likely referring to the very man who possessed her thoughts just a moment ago.
"Mr Bates, of course."
"Oh," Anna pretended to be in thought. "He was his Lord Grantham's batman in the Boer War."
"Well, that explains it then. Couldn't quite figure out why they'd go and hire a cripple."
"Don't," Anna warned, her tone suddenly sharp, "say that." She had championed Mr Bates with poise since the day of his arrival, and would gladly continue until the day of her death. And while, normally, nothing could spoil her mood when she was in such high spirits, the newest employee of Downton, who unrelentingly insisted upon expressing her opinion, had been getting on her last nerve.
Ethel was taken aback as she met Anna's glare in the mirror, stunned that the usually mild Head Housemaid bristled in an instant. Curious, she pressed: "So I guess it's true then?"
"What's that?" Anna turned to her, voice returning neutral.
"About you and Mr Bates, that the two of you . . . you're together."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Anna responded cooly. "Mr Bates is a highly respected man here and my friend. I'll not have anyone, certainly not a housemaid in my charge, speaking of him that way." Anna hated to pull rank, but she wanted to make it crystal clear to the young girl that such disrespect was not something she would tolerate. "Who told you that anyway?"
"Miss O'Brien mentioned something of the sort."
"Well, that I can believe," Anna answered honestly as she climbed into her bed. "She's had it out for Mr Bates since he set foot at Downton."
"Why's that?"
"Doesn't matter," She dismissed. While Anna hadn't quite set aside her grievance with O'Brien, she wasn't about to dig up old gossip. "It's in the past." With that, she blew out her bedside candle and snuggled deep under the covers, eager for dreams concerning a certain dashing Valet to take her away. "Well, goodnight," she said, ending the conversation there.