I created a tumblr fic prompt which was 'Mrs Hughes has just confronted Mr Green and is still seething with rage. Mr Carson calms her down, without ever finding out what made her so angry'

If you feel like it, a companion piece would be 'Sometime in season 6 (or after) Anna finds out what Mrs Hughes did to protect her.'

I chose to write the second part of it ….. here you are:

It had become a ritual on Sundays after Mr Travis had blessed them and released the congregation back into the world for Mr and Mrs Carson to invite any Downton staff that felt so inclined back to their cottage for a restorative cup of tea and cake (Mr Travis having the tendency to ruminate a little too fulsomely during his sermons).

On this particular Sunday, only Anna was joining them. Little Meg had become fractious during the service and Mr Bates had volunteered to take her home, whilst Mrs Patmore had a rather grand dinner to start preparing for the following day. 'An if I don't start now, that dozy Mabel will think she can just rest up and I'll be left to do it ALL! That girl will be the death of me!'

This announcement was merely greeted with an understanding smile from Mrs Carson, who knew the cook was really just missing Daisy, now she'd finally moved to the farm. Mrs Baxter had praised Mabel the last time she'd visited the Carsons.

So it was that Anna was tucked up in the Carson's kitchen, warming her hands on her cup of tea, laughingly regaling her two favourite people with the latest adventures of her spirited nine month old daughter.

'… and then she somehow found the tin of paint we were planning on using to redecorate her room. And – I don't know how she managed it – she got the lid off and did a little 'redecorating' of her own. Which is why all the doors are now blue!'

Mr Carson chucked for a while at the end of this tale. 'I did something similar when I was near her age. 'Painted' an entire wall with coal dust. My mother was not best pleased.'

'Were you punished?' Mrs Carson asked, smiling slightly at the idea of a tiny version of her husband. He mentioned his early years so rarely that each memory was treasured.

'I'm sure I must've been. I certainly never did it again!'

Anna and Mrs Carson laughed, before the latter turned to the still laughing blonde woman; 'It's good to hear you laugh without that horrid cough to go with it. Are you completely recovered?'

'I am – thank goodness! It's been making the rounds at Downton, and the servant's hall was a veritable cacophony of coughs at one point!'

'I know – Mrs Baxter came to visit last week and said the butcher's boy had brought it, along with some inferior meat, and an even more inferior manner. She was positively seething with rage. I told her there were better things to get angry about!'

'Like lazy maids', laughed Anna. 'I'll never forget the dressing down you gave me in my first month!'

'Oh! I'd completely forgotten about that – you were always the model maid after that one time. But no – you've never actually seen me properly furious. I don't shout then. The person who knows I'm angry but can hardly hear me had better watch out.'

Anna looked amused as she shook her head: 'No – thank goodness, I've never experienced that!'

'I know what she's talking about' came a low rumble from across the table. 'Not that it was directed at me, but I have a clear memory of such icy, quiet fury.'

Two pairs of eyes turned to search the face of the former butler, but only one set connected with his.

'Ah', came a Scottish lilt, 'Yes. Then.'

'I never did discover what had caused you to be so furious, but I was glad to be able to calm you down.'

Mr Carson's wife shot him a warm, yet sad, smile as Anna's hand covered hers and she asked 'What was it?'

This was the moment to give up her last secret, but Mrs Carson wasn't sure if she could. 'Oh Anna, I don't know what good it would do to dredge it up.'

Anna's hand stayed where it was, but the other flew to cover her mouth as she gasped. 'Oh! You couldn't have ….!'

Mrs Carson glanced at her husband, whose eyebrows were drawn up in confusion as he looked between the two women. Although he was, by now, acquainted with the whole of Anna's story, he didn't appear to have made the connection which Anna had so quickly grasped.

'I did though. It was when Mr Green returned to Downton' (the name was spat out of her mouth like it had a nasty taste) 'He'd been his usual cocky and loathesome self, unsettling you and riling up Mr Bates. I couldn't very let him get away with it all. He was in the boot room. No one else was about, so I took the chance. I marched in there, shut the door and told him I knew what he was, and that he wasn't safe.' Mrs Carson gave a bark of laughter. 'God, if he'd been in the kitchen I would have been so tempted to stick a knife in him, and I've never considered myself a violent woman!'

The tiny joke (was it a joke?) fell flat. Anna had been staring at her as if she'd grown two heads, looking more aghast as the tale unfolded, and now stood to move to the kitchen window. 'Why?!' she managed to ask, 'Why would you do something so …?'

She couldn't finish the thought for the sob that choked her, but as Mrs Carson rose, she was sure she heard a whispered 'foolhardy' from her husband. Shaking her head in his direction, she crossed to Anna, turning the woman to face her.

'Because a lioness will do anything to protect her cubs, no matter what the danger. I can say this now I'm no longer your superior: you're as close to a daughter as I'll ever get, and I would do it again, and more, to keep you safe. I love …' the last word was crushed out of her by the force of Anna's embrace, and the two women crossed the final divide of friendship and cemented it with their tears.

Some time later, Mrs Carson shut the front door behind her surrogate daughter and took a great breath. She could hear her husband moving about the kitchen and knew the following conversation would have to be treated carefully.

She paused at the kitchen door and drank in the sight of her husband. He was standing by the sink, gripping the edge so tightly that his knuckles were turning white.

'Charlie ….', she began, moving forward and placing a warm hand on his upper arm.

In one swift movement he had turned and gathered her in his arms, holding her as close and as tightly as was physically possible.

'Dear God, Elsie', he rumbled, 'What possessed you? He could have hurt you! He could have killed you!'

'He wouldn't have dared touch me', she whispered against his chest, 'He knew I would never stay silent.'

'But … he could … and I ….!'

He collapsed into a nearby chair, unable to finish either thought, bringing her with him to sit on his knee. He buried his face in her shoulder and she felt, rather than saw, the wetness of his tears as they seeped through her blouse. After a moment, she pulled back slightly so she could look into his eyes.

'But he didn't, and you still have me. I love you and I am here, safe in your arms.'

She lifted her lips to his cheek, seeking to kiss away the proof of his sorrow and whispered her love once more. He responded by kissing her lips with a fervour he rarely displayed, seeking to fully convince himself she had run the gauntlet and survived.

Their kisses eventually ceased, but it was some time later before Mr Carson was willing to allow his wife to leave his knee. Her revelation had served to show her, once again, how very precious she was to him and it had brought them closed than she would have thought possible. The Carsons were united and would continue to be so for the rest of their lives.

A/N:

If the 'cacophony of coughs' sounds familiar, Maggie Smith is reported to have said it once after a particularly cough ridden theatre performance of Talking Heads in Canada.

The sitting on his knee idea was inspired by the BTS photo of them doing this very thing.