Five Times William Walked (or Ran) Away: A Cobert fanfic with a terrified 2nd Footman in every chapter.
Author's Note: Well, many of you seemed to really like For a Love Like That, so here is the original idea I had, before remembering that Daisy went around every morning to do the fires, and had possibly witnessed sights of Robert and Cora in the morning, wrapped up in each other. I started chapter one a while back, but I couldn't find my notes, so I only just got off my feet last night and got it fully written.
Chapter One: The Missing Button
William wandered down one of the upstairs hallways on a mission. Mr. Bates had asked him to look for a button, in exchange for polishing silver for Mr. Carson. William's least favourite part of his job was polishing silver, and Mr. Bates was quite nice to him, stuck up for him to Thomas. Also, with Mr. Bates leg, all this walking and bending up and down a hallway and a staircase wouldn't do him any good. He had so far been looking for half-an-hour, and yet no sign of the missing button from his Lordship's best tweed jacket.
The family was asleep, so William remained as quiet as possible, using a candle to light the ground in front of him. He had checked many routes that his Lordship walked often, as well as the library, drawing room, the area of the front door, just outside the house, the main stairs, the dining room and now he was walking down the hallway that was home to his Lordship's dressing room and her Ladyship's bedroom.
William had a slight crush on her Ladyship, she was absolutely the most beautiful woman in the world, and William envied his Lordship for being married to her. They were a happy couple, but he still assumed that they slept apart, like upper class propriety dictated they should. His mind briefly drifted to thoughts of her Ladyship sleeping in her (most likely) large bed, all cares erased from her face, perhaps wearing a small smile as an external reaction of her beautiful dreams. After all, such a beautiful woman should only have the most beautiful dreams imaginable, correct? Of course. He looked around, thinking that his Lordship must have lost the button near, or in, his dressing room and Mr Bates could have missed it. He scrutinized the floor even more now, determined to find his Lordship's button.
It wasn't just so that Mr Bates would polish the silver for him, or to make sure that his Lordship's tweed jacket had all the buttons, but because of her Ladyship. She seemed to like him in the particular tweed jacket that was missing a button, and William thought that if he was the cause of the button being found, and sewn back on, her Ladyship would be happy to see her husband in it, and when she was happy, William was happy too. Her Ladyship was happy quite often, especially in the afternoon's after tea, when she would rest in her room, alone, until dinner.
William suddenly spotted a dark brown object on the floor outside her Ladyship's bedroom. It was the missing button. He bent down to pick it up, and that was when he heard it. A loud moan coming from her Ladyship's bedroom. He stood up with a fearful look in her eye. Surely his Lordship would have heard it and he'd go check on her. He heard a bed creak and knew that it meant his Lordship was going to check on her, until he heard it creak again and another loud moan. The pattern of moaning and bed creaking continued, and then William realized that he hadn't heard a door open. His Lordship was in his wife's room, with her. What on Earth were they doing to cause moaning and bed creaking.
"Oh Cora, darling, oh, Cora," he heard his Lordship groan, with a reply from her Ladyship that was completely muffled. William's eyes shot to his forehead as realization dawned on him. He knew exactly what they were doing. He had heard some of the other servants talk about such matters going on between the Lord and Lady of the House, but he imagined that they were all making it up and such. William turned on his heels and ran away to find Mr. Bates to give him back the missing button. Once the button was in Mr. Bates' hands and William had told him where it was, Bates chuckled and understood why William had been blushing like crazy.