Are You Feeling Better Already?
AN: the characters do not belong to me. From a tumblr prompt from everyshipunsinkable. Thank you so much and I hope you enjoy!
It was time for the annual Downton cricket game, and Robert was as intense as ever when it came to choosing men for the house team. It was his particular obsession to win over the village team, which didn't often occur but was always Robert's greatest hope for the outcome.
Cora always had viewed this time of year with mixed feelings of amusement, annoyance, dread and joy. Watching Robert get so excited was hilarious as he reminded her of a child playing in his first sporting match. This quickly became wearing, though, as every conversation he had with anyone and everyone in the days leading up to the match centered on cricket. As the day of the match grew closer, she knew she'd be horribly bored sitting on the sidelines for what felt like days, not hours, as a crowd of men dressed in strange clothing traipsed through the cricket field. Yet watching Robert enjoy himself with abandon brought Cora happiness as well.
On the day after the match in which the house team had finally won, Cora noticed Robert limping a little, grimacing when he sat down in the library.
"What's wrong, Robert? Are you feeling the effects of the game yesterday?"
"I hate to admit it," Robert said, "after such a wonderful victory, but I think I've strained my knee a little."
Cora was about to say that he was probably a little too old to be playing cricket like a man twenty years his junior, but she bit her tongue. The poor fool was in enough pain as it is.
"Is it serious? Should I ring Dr. Clarkson?" Cora asked.
"No, I think it'll feel better in a few days. Just a bit stiff," Robert replied with an air of nonchalance.
Cora had to avert her eyes in order to keep her face from giving her away.
Throughout the day and evening, Robert wore expressions of discomfort as he stood, sat and walked. Cora abandoned her ideas of it being just a reminder of his age after a particularly challenging cricket match and began to worry a little. But Robert was stubborn, and she knew that unless he was willing for Dr. Clarkson to take a look at the injured leg that whatever she or anyone else said would make no difference. Cora kept an eye on him, discreetly following him wherever he went the rest of the day, by purposeful happenstance being in the same places as her husband.
That night as they climbed into bed, Robert was still complaining about his knee. "It's still quite uncomfortable," he muttered.
"Would you like me to massage it for you?" Cora sincerely offered.
"That would be magnificent!" Robert stretched the leg out toward his wife's side of the bed. She immediately set to work massaging the strained muscles.
Robert groaned with relief. "That is so much better, Cora. How I wished I'd asked you to do this after every cricket match."
"Every cricket match?" She raised an eyebrow. "My fingers would be sorer than your leg!"
Robert turned to her with a serious expression. "Do you really think I'm getting too old for cricket, my dear?"
Cora was flustered. "I never said that, Robert! How did you-"
"I could see it in your eyes that you think me rather silly, he said. You didn't have to say it."
"I don't think you silly." Cora said, resuming the massage. "A bit intense, perhaps, but never silly. And, no, you're not too old for cricket!"
"Really?" He asked incredulously.
She looked him in the eye. "Really."
"Well," he said as he reached over to turn off the lamp on his side of the bed, "I know one thing I'm not too old for. This," he declared as he kissed her deeply with passion.
"I see," Cora noted, amused. "Are you feeling better already?"
"Oh, yes," Robert smiled. "So much better. Very much better," he continued as he began to pull off Cora's nightdress.
"Oh, I see," Cora smiled coyly. "That much better." She watched him pull the silky gown over her head. "I ought to give you a massage more often," she said while he peppered kisses all the way down her face onto her neck.
"Or I ought to play - and win - cricket more often," he murmured between kisses.,
"I thought that perhaps I wasn't paying enough attention to the actual match," Cora exclaimed as she returned the favor and began to undress Robert, "but I can't because I'm so distracted by one of the players that I can't focus on anything else!"
"Or this..." Robert grinned slyly.
"Or that," Cora agreed. "I suppose you are that much better. Very much better."
The End