A/N: Howdy! This is my very first FanFic so I'm really sorry if you find it utterly dreadful! I was just so frustrated with the CS down to the pure lack of Carson/Hughes so I just had to write something!
Unfortunately, I do not own these characters - you'd be seeing a lot more of them if I did!
Merry reading!

Mrs Hughes had just returned from an evening out with an old acquaintance. Joe Burns had asked to meet her at the fair and so she accepted, curious as to whether the years had changed him. Of course he would be different in appearance but she wondered if he still had the warm heart of the man she refused to marry all those years ago. It obviously wasn't his warm heart that turned her away but she fell in love with her job and the people that she worked with – they were like her family – and she felt it wouldn't be fair to drag him along when he would hardly see her anyway. Joe eventually married but he came to the fair with bad news.

"How's your wife?" Mrs Hughes asked.

Joe looked to his feet before back at her, "She passed three years ago."

"Oh my goodness!" Mrs Hughes touched his arm. "I am so sorry, Joe!"

He went on to tell her that it was a struggle at first, as to be expected, but he had learned to move on. That is why he had asked to meet Mrs Hughes.

"Will you please consider it?" He asked.

"Joe," She sighed. "Marriage is a very big thing. I'm going to need time to think it over."

"I'm staying at the Grantham Arms," He told her. "I'll stay there until you tell me you're answer. I'd rather wait two weeks for the right answer than rush you for the wrong answer."

She put his arm back through his and they walked around the fair a bit longer before she realised the time and told him she must get back to the house. She kissed him on the cheek and left, promising to get in touch.

Mrs Hughes entered the house into the servants' quarters and headed down the corridor towards the hall. The sound of laughter informed her that the servants had not yet retired to bed and she decided to join them for a cup of tea before she retired herself.

"Good evening, Mrs Hughes?" Mr Bates asked as she sat across from him.

"Yes, thank you, Mr Bates. Going to the fair is a great tradition of mine and one that I hope to never break."

Although everyone else seemed happy, Mrs Hughes didn't fail to notice that William was not. She came to wonder if the expression of gloom upon his face was a result of a conversation with Thomas. Her thoughts were confirmed by the glare William gave Thomas when he declared to the staff, "We had a wonderful time didn't we, Daisy?"

Daisy just squeaked with excitement in response.

"Pity William here couldn't handle the competition on the games."

"That's quite enough, thank you Thomas," Mr Carson scowled. "Perhaps we should call it a night?"

With that, the staff rose and headed towards their rooms. Mr Carson and Mrs Hughes stayed behind to finish a few little jobs before heading to bed themselves.

As Thomas walked by Mrs Hughes' sitting room, he felt someone grab his arm and pull him inside. He was just about to throw a fit when he realised that the dark-haired woman dressed in black stood before him was not Mrs Hughes but was indeed Sarah O'brien. His frown soon switched to a smirk as he didn't need her to tell him that she was planning something devious.

"What are we doing now, then?" He asked.

"She's hiding somethin', she is."

"What makes you think that?"

"I hear her, in the middle of the night, sneaking out of her bedroom to come in 'ere."

Thomas' eyes widened, "It must be something important if she's being so secretive."

"She ain't making it much of a secret when she rattles those keys like a baby with a new toy when she's making her way past my door!"

"Keep your voice down! Do you want her to know we're in here?" Thomas hissed.

Little did they know that Anna had informed Mrs Hughes that she had seen Thomas and O'brien sneaking into her sitting room and therefore the housekeeper had heard every word that had been spoken. She chuckled to herself as Thomas suggested scandalous behaviour with the man he saw her with at the fair. I'm not that farm girl anymore, she thought to herself and chuckled once more.

"May I ask what you find so humorous, Mrs Hughes?" said a deep voice from behind her.

The voice made her jump but she soon calmed down when she realised who it belonged to.

"Thomas and O'brien are in there," she motioned towards her sitting room. "And you should hear some of the things they're suggesting!"

He raised his eyebrow, "How do you know yourself, Mrs Hughes? I don't believe you were in there with them?"

Mrs Hughes quickly found the floorboards quite fascinating, "There's a grating on the wall which means you can hear what's being said in the room."

"Now, if I were a gentleman, I wouldn't want to know."

She smirked, "But you're not."

"Fortunately..."

And so Mrs Hughes told him that Thomas and O'brien were determined to find out what she got up to in the middle of the night while everyone else was sleeping. Well, not quite everyone…

"Thank goodness they didn't decide to go rummaging through my sitting room tonight, Mrs Hughes,"

"I do agree, Mr Carson," She said as he grabbed her hand and kissed it before pulling her towards his room. "Thank goodness indeed!"