A/N Inspired by a post on Tumblr about imagining your favorite character trying on dresses. I really wanted to put canon era Charles Carson in a dress. This turned out surprisingly less crazy than I had thought it would. My thanks to silhouettedswallow for her help with this one.
"Carson! Carson!"
Charles Carson, butler to the seventh Earl of Grantham, stopped abruptly at the sound of little feet running down the hallway. Before he could turn around a tiny set of hands had grabbed his much larger one and began to pull him towards the nursery. He nearly tripped over the small child sending her into fits of giggles. She pulled harder on his hand. Charles planted his feet firmly on the floor before he could do any more damage bringing the little girl to a halt. He looked down at her sternly.
"Miss Sybbie, what is the meaning of this?"
Miss Sybbie looked up at him the picture of innocence and pleading dark eyes, "We need your help, Carson."
"Help?" Charles asked as he allowed himself to be lead down the hallway. "Who needs help?"
"Me, George, and Marigold," Miss Sybbie declared determinedly pulling the butler behind her.
Charles furrowed his brow in confusion. Why would the children need his help? "Where is Nanny, Miss Sybbie?"
"Gone away," she shrugged.
Charles began to grow worried. Nanny wouldn't leave the children alone without having someone else take her place. At least, he hoped she wouldn't. What if something had happened to Nanny? He picked up his pace until Miss Sybbie was practically running beside him to keep up.
When they reached the nursery, Charles walked swiftly through the open door only to be accosted by two more small figures. He looked down to see the faces of Master George and Miss Marigold smiling up at him as they clung to his knees. Searching the room, he found no sign of the children's nanny. Even more worried now, but not wanting to alarm the children, Charles smiled encouragingly at them. "Master George, Miss Marigold, have either of you seen Nanny?"
"No! She's gone!" Master George cheered and pulled at Charles's pant leg to bring him further into the room.
Miss Sybbie skipped around the room and called in a sing-song voice, "I told you, Carson! We need your help!"
Charles looked around the room in dismay and spotting the bell pull decided to call for help himself. He didn't have time to be playing Nanny when there were dinner preparations still to be set and the dinner gong to be rung. He was about to reach for the cord when the children noticed what he was doing and jumped in front of him.
"No! Carson, no!" Miss Sybbie cried reaching to pull his arm back down to his side. "We want your help."
Charles sighed at the look of despair on the child's face knowing that he could deny her nothing. "How can I help you, Miss Sybbie?"
Her face lit up with joy. "Play with us!"
"Yes! Play with us, Carson!" Master George chimed bouncing up and down. Charles mentally calculated how much time he could spend with the children before he absolutely had to leave. Mr. Barrow was more than capable of making sure the dining room was set and Mrs. Hughes could rein in Mrs. Patmore just fine on her own. That left him an hour until he had to ring the dinner gong. He could stay with the children for a while and then call for Nanny-wherever she happened to be.
"Alright," Charles nodded much to the delight of the three children. "But only for a short time."
Charles suddenly found himself being pulled in three different directions. No one could agree on what game they wanted to play with Carson. He saw the beginnings of a fight and he thought he should stop it before there were tears.
"There is only one of me, so there can be only one game," he said sternly, "and you must all agree."
The three children looked at each other and then ran to a large chest on the far side of the nursery. Curious, Charles followed at more sedate pace and watched as they heaved open the lid and began to pull out various items of clothing. Master George found a pirate's hat that promptly fell over his eyes when he put it on. Miss Sybbie went for a feathered boa and Miss Marigold found a pair of long white gloves. Charles felt himself recoil in horror as Miss Sybbie unearthed a monstrosity of fabric and held it out to him.
"This is the only thing that will fit you."
Charles took a step away from the item of clothing, shaking his head in a definitive no when Miss Marigold grasped his hand and spoke to him for the first time since she had arrived at the Abbey.
"Please, Carson?"
-CC-
Elsie walked swiftly down the hallway looking this way and that for her husband. It was almost time for the dinner gong to be rung and no one had seen the man since tea time. She had sent Mr. Barrow to take care of the gong and had gone in search of her husband herself. She had checked all of the downstairs but could find him nowhere. He wasn't even in the wine cellar, which was the first place she had looked given his penchant for spending hours mulling over wine. The attics had been similarly void of the butler, sending her to check the family rooms.
She was on the verge of giving up hope when she heard his distinctive bass coming from the nursery. Her forehead wrinkled in confusion as she followed his voice and peeked silently around the nursery door. She brought her hand up to cover the surprised gasp she let out at the sight before her.
Charles Carson, dignified butler of Downton Abbey, was sitting on the floor surrounded by three children in ridiculous clothes having a tea party, but none of the children looked as outlandish as her husband. He wore a bright purple ladies coat and on his head was a feathered red ladies hat that was much too small. Elsie couldn't help the laugh that finally bubbled out of her making the foursome turn toward the door.
Charles turned a deep scarlet and made to stand, but his knees gave out, and he fell back onto the floor with a grunt. He looked defiantly at Elsie as she continued to laugh. Miss Sybbie, Master George, and Miss Marigold had no such troubles standing and ran to greet the Housekeeper.
"Mrs. Hughes!" Master George smiled. "We were playing dress up!"
"I can see that," Elsie laughed giving each of the children a hug. She looked back to Charles. "Where's Nanny?"
"She left," Miss Sybbie declared. "But Carson came to play with us."
"That was fortunate," she smiled walking over to where Charles was still sitting on the floor and offered him her hand. Grudgingly, he let her help him to his feet where he drew himself up to his full height and refused to look her in the eye. Elsie only shook her head at her husband's behavior and reached up to take off his hat and coat. Charles shifted uncomfortably as she folded the coat and placed it and the hat back into the chest of clothes. Elsie squeezed his hand as she walked by him to pull the bell for Nanny.
Charles stood stiffly in the middle of the room as Elsie listened to the children's account of their afternoon with Carson. She smiled to see them all so happy to have spent time with the butler. Elsie knew that despite his embarrassment, Charles had enjoyed spending time with the children, too.
A frantic Nanny soon arrived and Elsie reassured her that everything was fine Leaving the children with Nanny, Elsie led her husband out into the hallway and closed the door behind them. Charles began to walk away, but Elsie pulled him back to look at her.
"That was a lovely thing you did," she smiled at him smoothing the lapels of his jacket. Charles merely grunted in response, but Elsie was not to be deterred. "Those children adore you. As do I."
Elsie reached up and placed a kiss to his cheek. Charles looked at her in surprise before relenting with a small smile. He took her hand in his and they walked companionably down the hallway to the door to the servants' stairs.
"The hat was a bit much," Charles said suddenly serious, "but I do think that purple just might be my color."
Elsie stopped in shock to stare at her husband's serious face until he winked cheekily at her. She slapped his shoulder playfully and began to laugh. He soon joined her and it was some time before either of them could see the color purple without breaking out into a grin.