Anonymous prompt: from season one when bates wears that nasty leg brace that cuts his skin and puts him in so much unbearable pain, Anna is the one to discover what he's doing to himself. (obviously AU so give me some smut or form of loving or something here... or you know, just do as you please... but some of us are about to start watching season 4 again and we need these things in our life :P)

Disclaimer: I own nothing but a laptop and an evil cat.

'I wish you'd tell me what's wrong Bates. You'll be in no trouble, I only want to help.'

'I know that Your Lordship and I am grateful, truly, but there's nothing I need help with.'

Robert was worried about his old comrade in arms. Bates was a strong man, and always showed little emotion; seeing him so uncomfortable made him really preoccupied.

Lord Grantham exited the room at once, wanting to give Bates some space.

'Oh! Anna. Good morning.'

'Good morning, My Lord.'

'I wonder if...can you call Mrs Hughes? I want her to check on Bates. He seems a little...'

They both looked towards Lord Grantham's dressing room. 'Sure, My Lord.' she smiled and watched His Lordship walking down the corridor. Once he was out of sight she decided that she would take a look at Mr Bates herself. She had been worried about him for the past couple of days, and she needed to know what was going on.

'Mr Bates?' Anna called, opening the door ever so slowly and taking in the sight before her. Mr Bates was leaning over the edge of the bed in pain. He was shaking and she could see sweat on his brow. Something bad was going on and she would find out what it was.

As soon as he saw her, he stood up in attention, trying to pretend that nothing wrong was happening, that he was alright...

'Anna? What are you doing here?' he asked, slowly, trying to mask his pain.

'You should tell me what's wrong, so I can help you.' she said gently.

'There's nothing wrong Anna.' he smiled 'I twisted my bad le...'

'Surely you know that I'm no fool, Mr Bates.' the conviction in her voice made him fear her for a moment.

'Surely I do.' he said with a serious look on his face.

'So tell me.' she brought her right hand to her hip, and he knew he had to tell her the truth.

'Alright,' he sighed sitting down in the chair. 'I hope you have a strong stomach.' he grimaced.

He rolled up his trousers and she saw it. She felt sick. And angry.

'Mr Bates!' Anna said bringing the hand that was resting in her hip to her mouth. 'What's that?'

'A limp corrector.'

'Why on Earth would you use such thing?'

'To correct my limp.' he said in an annoyed voice.

'And you would die before you were able to walk normally?'

'I hoped not.'

'Well, you won't. You'll take that off at once, and you won't even think about using such a thing ever again.' She was mad now and she felt her eyes stung with tears.

'Anna...'

'You'll go to your room and you'll take that off. I'll tell Mr Carson if you don't.'

'Alright. I'll take it off. But please, don't tell anyone.'

'I won't, if you promise to get rid of it for good.'

'I will. I promise.' He said looking down, ashamed, defeated, and now Anna had seen his leg, in its worse possible form. No wonder she was so shocked. He was disgusting.

'Now Mr Bates,' her voice was soft again. 'I'll have to go down, and next time I see you, you better not be using that wicked device.'

'I promise.' he said again. He was being honest and he wouldn't break his promise. Not to Anna.

Anna exited the room and went down the servants corridor. She was trying to fight back her tears. If someone saw her crying she would be washed with questions. If everyone was kinder to him this never would have happened. Everyone looked wickedly at him. Everyone judged him. A man that fought for his country and saved His Lordship. The world was unfair. And then, she liked him the way he was.

The day passed in a heartbeat. She saw Mr Bates at lunch and she knew he had taken that awful limp corrector by the way he nodded at her.

Bates was in his room, in his pajamas, getting ready to go to bed when he heard a soft knock on the door. At first he thought it was just a noise from one of the other rooms, but then he heard it again. Perhaps it was William, the poor lad liked to talk to him now and then.

He opened the door and was surprised when he had to look down to see who his visitor was.

'Anna?'

'Let me in.' She said looking down to the corridor. 'If Mr Carson sees me here he'll have me exorcised.' she smiled.

Bates eyes were wide. What on Earth? There was a woman, Anna, at his door asking him to let her in. Oh my. This is wrong. This is very wrong.

'Mr Bates.' she said and passed through him inside the room. 'Do you want me to get caught?'

'No, I just...what are you doing here?' He closed the door behind him but didn't dare to move from where he was. 'You'll be in trouble if...'

'I get caught. But I won't.' she smiled, placing a little box and a towel in his bed.

'What's that?'

'Can't you read Mr Bates?' she giggled. 'First aid' she said pointing out the words.

'Yes I know but...' he didn't know what to do, he was scared for her, for both of them. 'What are you doing with that?'

'I'll take care of your leg, of course.' she said looking at him and placing her right hand on her hip. He knew he couldn't run when she did that. 'You have a big infection and if you don't treat it, God knows what could happen.'

'I can do that myself.'

'You can but you won't.' she lowered her voice. 'Let me take care of you, Mr Bates.'

'It's not proper Anna. You here, in my room, taking care of my leg? What if we get caught? Mrs Hughes will...'

'She knows.'

'She knows?'

'Of course. I asked Mrs Hughes for the key. She gave it to me.'

'What did you tell her?'

'I told her that you hurt your leg, and asked if I could help you. She made me promise to be quick, but with all this chatter I'll be here all night, Mr Bates.' she giggled. 'Don't worry. I heard Mr Carson snores...if you don't shout for mercy we'll be fine.' She smiled at him and leaned towards the aid box opening it up and taking some things from it and placing them on the bed.

Bates realized that he'd had his back leaning against the door the whole time. He took a few steps towards the bed, but stopped to stare at her.

She was wearing her nightdress and a shawl. Her hair was braided and the room smelled like lavender, and it never did before.

He was admiring her figure, beautiful and graceful, wandering his room to fetch some water from his vase. He looked down and noticed that the candlelight made her nightdress transparent from the waist down and his eyes widened at the sight. His breath caught in his throat and he had to look away. Oh my God. This is so very wrong.

'What's the matter Mr Bates?' she asked him all of a sudden.

'What?'

'You look restless.'

'No. I am not, I'm just...ahmm…I'm not.'

'Alright,' she said giving him a tender smile. 'Sit down. Let's treat your leg.' He nodded and limped towards the bed. 'And don't worry...I'll be gentle.' she giggled.

'I hope so.' he said giggling back.

He sat down and stared at her.

'Anna...I don't want to shock you, that's all.'

'Don't worry, Mr Bates. It won't shock me.' she patted his shoulder reassuringly.

She knelt in front of his legs and Bates rolled up his trousers not taking his eyes of Anna. He wanted to see her reaction, if he saw shock on her face, he would put an end to this. He didn't want her to feel disgusted.

But as he rolled them up, he only saw tenderness in her eyes. Surely he was going blind but when she looked up at him with her reassuring smile he knew he had nothing to fear.

'Alright, let's disinfect it first.' she said 'This might burn.'

'I know, it's alright.' he smiled down at her.

And it did burn. It burned like hell. Her hands were gentle on his leg, but it did burn.

'I'm sorry.' she said.

'It's alright. When it burns it heals.'

'Not about the burning.'

His eyes were questioning. 'About what then?'

'Being so harsh on you, when you showed me the limp corrector.' Her voice was soft.

'The truth is,' she was cleaning his leg with water now. 'I was angry because...you shouldn't have to suffer for something you can't help. You should know that. You know yourself that this wound is a noble one.'

'Noble?'

'You fought for your country and you saved His Lordship's life.'

'People don't see it that way.'

'I do.' she looked up at him. 'And I always will. I am proud of you Mr Bates. And I like you the way you are…If you had not received this injury, you would never have come to work at Downton and we never would have met. And I'm so glad you are here.' She had tears in her eyes and her voice was shaking.

Bates was staring at her, as she resumed her task. The way she said it, it made him glad for that limp. He cared for her, well, more than that. He loved her. He loved everything about her. In his eyes she was perfect. He never really believed in calling people perfect. Humans aren't perfect. They all have flaws and addictions and some kind of wicked thoughts, but then he met Anna and she was indeed perfect.

'Alright. I think you are good to go, Mr Bates.' Anna sniffed, still trying to hide her tears from him.

'Your words gave me strength Anna.' he stared down at her.

'I'm glad.' she said smiling.

In a bold motion, he reached for her chin and brought it up with his right hand, making her look at him. 'Thank you.' he caressed her lips with his thumb and leaned down to kiss her. Her lips were silk and he heard her sigh in the kiss. Much to his surprise he felt her arms around his neck bringing him closer to her. He hugged her as he felt her mouth open to him and he ran his tongue along her lips before entering her mouth.

The kiss was passionate but slow, both of them wanting to savour every taste and every feel they could.

They broke the kiss panting for air staring at each other's eyes while John ran his hand through Anna's braid.

'Oh my!' Anna abruptly stood up from the floor.

'Anna...I am,'

'It's very late. I must get back.' She said smiling.

'Anna...'

'Don't worry Mr Bates. I'll come again tomorrow.' she winked at him, gathered everything and exited the room as fast as she could after looking down the corridor and giving him a reassuring smile.

Once he closed the door, Bates limped towards the bed and sat down.

In all his life he had never experienced such a passionate kiss. He was sure their feelings were mutual. He loved her so. He wanted her so. If only...

In Anna's room, Gwen was sound asleep when Anna slipped into bed with a flushed look on her face, giggling into her pillow. She touched her lips with her fingers savoring the taste of his tongue on her mouth. He loved her back, she was sure.

With that thought in her mind she fell asleep with a huge smile on her face, while Bates dreamed of having Anna in his arms all night long.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed it :) Please review xxx