A/N: I was in dire need of some fluff while checking the RP on Tumblr. The AU Elsie and Charles were driving me around the bend and i want them to be kind and cuddly and all kinds of fluffy feels. So i started a new chapter fic, starting with this short chapter! I am hoping to update soon, but i have not yet written the second chapter.

As always: reviews appreciated, there is nothing for me to learn if i don't know where i am going wrong.

"Look at them." Anna thought. "Like two strict but loving parents overlooking a bunch of children who are all in dire need of direction and guidance." The new maids were young and inexperienced. Learning under the wing of Mrs Hughes was a wonderful opportunity for them, even now when nothing was the same it had been before the war.

Before the war, service was a respectable position and it was something girls looked forward to. Anna left school at fourteen and came here, to Downton. A roof over her head and food on the table morning, noon and night. A warm bed and good night's rests. She learned skills and she was respected for what she could do and for who she was.

Mrs Hughes was strict and she did not tolerate breaking the rules, but she was kind and caring too. Anna could still feel the warm embrace she had received when she broke down after handing in her notice because John was going to be hanged. How long ago that seemed. Not only was he reprieved, he was home and they lived in the cottage nearby.

The war had taken its toll on Mr Carson especially. While Mrs Hughes thrived under the pressure and rolled with the punches, Mr Carson had tried to hold on to standards and traditions. Mrs Hughes had given him a piece of her mind and she had given him her full support and often both in the course of an hour. Anna had seen the looks between them grow softer and kinder. More loving in a way.

Now sometimes Mr Carson would look at Mrs Hughes as if she was the only one in the room. Anna saw Mrs Hughes knit her eyebrows together in worry over Mr Carson and sometimes gently touch his shoulder in passing. Letting him know she was there.

"Whenever you come across something you have never done before, or get questions you don't know the answer to, you report to Mr Carson or to me." Mrs Hughes said to the small gathering. "Anna will come with you on your rounds and Thomas will be going with you." she addressed the maids and footmen separately. "Don't worry. You are all here to learn. And learn you will."

Oh... they would learn. Faster than they had ever learned anything. Mrs Hughes did not suffer fools and Mr Carson did not suffer shoddy work. Anna never wondered why Downton Abbey ran so smoothly. With Mr Carson captain and Mrs Hughes his second in command, there were always new servants trained to ensure the family upstairs were not left wanting for anything.

But what about them? Did they know how much they were appreciated and respected/ How much she loved them? Anna could not imagine her life without the pair of them in it and she left the house to go to her cottage wishing them good night every evening.

Anna wondered if there would be anything they could give the pair of them to show how much they all thought of them. Picking up the pressed sheets from the table, she left for the linen cupboard, determined to give the butler and housekeeper a great gift. Wandering the corridor, she thought the perfect ally would be Lady Edith and after putting the sheets on the shelves, she made her way to the morning room.

A/N: For the RP, check out: .com/ - you'll be able to follow things from there onwards.