Here is the AU fic I mentioned. It features all of my faves from DA. I don't want to give too much away so I'll just say that this is set in the modern day and away from Downton, though that does come in, but you'll have to read to find out how ;-) .

Elsie Hughes sighed as she looked out on the city she had called home for the last twenty years. Her divorce had been made final a month ago, her name change two days after that. It had felt good to be just Elsie Hughes again, though after twenty-one years of being Mrs. Burns, she still found herself not responding from time to time to being called Miss Hughes. Occasionally one of her employees would slip and call her Missus then correct themselves and say Hughes instead of Burns so that she became Mrs. Hughes. She was tempted to tell them to call her that all the time, but that wouldn't do, so she'd left it be.

"Elsie?"

Turning at the sound of her friend's voice, she smiled tiredly. "Beryl, what are you doing here?"

"Our lunch, remember?" Beryl asked even as she frowned. "Elsie? What's the matter?"

"I'm sorry, Beryl. I completely forgot. I've a lot on my mind right now."

"Yes, I see that. You said you had something you wanted to tell me. That was the reason for lunch."

Elsie nodded. "I do have something that I need to tell you." Grabbing her handbag, she walked with Beryl out of her office. "Angelique, I'm going out to lunch with Beryl. I don't want to be disturbed unless it's an emergency."

"Yes, Ma'am. Don't forget your appointment at two, Miss Hughes."

"I've got my phone set to remind me." Elsie told her. "I won't be back unless something comes up that Mr. Stone can't handle."

"Yes, Ma'am. Enjoy your lunch."

"Thank you, Angelique. Take off early."

"Thank you, Ma'am."

CnE

"You're going to do what?" Beryl asked then took a long gulp of her wine.

"Beryl, please." Elsie sighed. "I'm going to need you. You've had children and know what to expect. Please be happy for me. You've known me for years, you know how much I've always longed to be a mother."

Smiling softly, Beryl reached across and squeezed Elsie's hand. "I love you, Elsie Hughes, and I am happy for you. It just makes me sad that you have to do things this way. That blasted," she scowled, not finishing because she didn't want to say the name of Elsie's ex. "Well, anyway. You know that I'll be right there with you for all of it." Letting go of Elsie's hand, Beryl took another sip of her wine. "Are you going to say anything to Charlie?"

"I'm to meet him for dinner tonight. I don't know how he'll react. You know how he feels about children."

"With good reason. That witch of an ex of his tricked him with a pregnancy she never intended to follow through with."

"More than once." Elsie scowled. "And the last time the babe wasn't even his."

"Do you really think the other time was?"

Elsie sighed and shook her head. "No. I don't. I think both times the babe was Grigg's. Lousy man. I've always been very grateful he got himself in trouble and couldn't follow us here."

"Is all of that why you didn't ask Charlie for help with this?"

"I thought of going to him, of asking him to be the father, but then I thought of what Alice had done." Elsie shook her head. "I just couldn't do it. I would love to know that my baby's biological father is a good man because I know him, not because some profile in a book of donors says that he is, but I'll just have to trust the people at the clinic."

"No matter if it's truth or not, Elsie. Your child will be a wonderful human being because it will have you as a mother." Beryl assured her with a smile.

"Thank you for that, Beryl." Elsie sighed as she stared down into her wine. "I just hope it's not too late. I was told I could get pregnant again after the miscarriage, but what I didn't know was that while I was in the hospital, Joe was having surgery. A little snip, snip, and my dreams of a child were gone. And now," she shook her head. "I'm forty-five, Beryl. Why did I wait so long to leave him?"

"Because you weren't able to until now. You've got one of the most successful magazines in the country, Els. It's given you power and prestige you didn't have before." Beryl sighed then took the last sip of her wine. "Your magazine finally making it big gave you the strength to leave Joe. The kind of man that he is, it would have been more dangerous to have done so sooner."

Elsie sighed as she nodded. "How did I ever think that was love, Beryl?"

Beryl reached over and laid her hand over her friend's. "Because you didn't know any better, Love. A girl learns from her family, and your father wasn't much better than Joe."

"At least Da never hit Mam."

Beryl gave Elsie's hand a squeeze. "And Joe will never hit you again." She smirked. "I daresay he'll never hit anyone again after Richard finished with him."

"I've never seen Richard so violent."

"He was protecting you. You know that he looks on you as a sister. Besides, Izzie would have beat him if he hadn't been violent."

Elsie laughed at that. "She can be fierce."

"I think fierce is a mild description."

"I'm just glad Charles wasn't there."

Beryl nodded. "Charlie would have killed the man and asked questions later. No one messes with his Els."

Elsie shook her head. "I've never understood why he's that way about me. He wasn't that way with Alice."

"You're different, Elsie. And his rescuing you when you were young, well," Beryl shrugged.

"I don't know if I like the fact that I inspire violence in the men in my life."

"You didn't inspire violence in Joe, nothing you ever did deserved that. He broke your jaw, Elsie. If Richard and Isobel hadn't been coming to visit," Beryl shivered at the thought.

"But they did and they took me away from that."

"That's right. And you have the money and power to protect yourself. You're free."

Elsie nodded. "And going to be late for my meeting."

Beryl laughed as she pulled out her credit card. "Lunch is on me. You go on and head to your meeting. Let me know how things go with Charlie."

"It will be late when I get home. You know that his new play is opening tonight."

"Fine then, but first thing in the morning."

"Not first thing. I won't have your mister grumbling at me for waking him."

"Oh pfft." Beryl waved her hand. "Go on with ya."

Elsie smiled as she leaned down and pressed a light kiss to Beryl's cheek. "Thank you, Beryl. I promise to tell you everything."

Beryl nodded as she watched Elsie leave. It was good to see her friend living her life without fear. Signing when the waitress brought back her card, Beryl smiled at the young woman then stood up to leave.

As she left the restaurant, she wondered how Charles Carson was going to handle Elsie's news. Beryl was sure Charlie was in love with Elsie, always had been she suspected, but after everything his partner and wife had put him through, she wasn't surprised he either didn't see the love or was choosing to ignore it.