"If you're lost you can look and you will find me

Time after time

If you fall I will catch you, I will be waiting

Time after time."


The family's return to Downton passes in a flurry of activity – Baxter catches a brief glimpse of Molesley amongst the throng of people milling across the drive, but there is no opportunity to do anything other than give him a brief smile when he catches her eye, heart fluttering.


They manage to snatch a brief moment in the hallway, as everyone else crowds around the new arrival in the servants' hall.

"So, how did it go?" Her face is hopeful.

"It went well," he says, sounding dumbstruck. "I've been offered a position on the teaching staff."

She looks at him incredulously. "You've already been given the results? You must have been amazing." Her face shines with pride.

"Mr Dawes said that I performed as well as an Oxford or Cambridge graduate." He ducks his head humbly – never one to overplay his achievements.

"Of course you did," she beams. "After all the work you put in – you deserve it. I'm just sorry to have missed the announcement."

"Nonsense," he murmurs softly. "It sounds as though you've had your own share of drama."

She nods in acquiescence. "I'm just glad to be back, and greeted by good news."

They share a smile.


Over the course of the evening everyone else retires to bed, leaving them sitting at their usual chairs by the fire.

Molesley eventually looks up to notice that they are the only two remaining – so engrossed as he had been in watching her nimble fingers sewing her embroidery.

"It must be late, everyone else has gone up."

She lifts her head to scan the room; hums her agreement.

"Are you going to take the position then?" she asks, continuing their conversation from earlier now that they are alone once again.

"I think so," he says. "Surely it's too good an opportunity to miss?"

He looks as though he genuinely is seeking her approval, searching her eyes.

She smiles softly. "Of course it is. You deserve it – deserve to do something that makes you happy."

"Being here has made me happy," he admits. "Well, since you came anyway."

His words hang in the air between them.

She lowers her head.

"I mean it," he implores. "You once told me that my strength had made you strong, but the truth is you have made mestrong. I couldn't have done any of this without your support."

Slowly she raises her head to look at him – is surprised to see tears swimming in his eyes. She remains quiet, sensing that he has more he needs to say.

"I thought for a long time that I'd missed out on everything - that I didn't deserve anything. I'd given up, but you gave me a reason to try... And I suppose now I've been given a chance to do the job I've always wanted, I can't help but wonder if there's a possibility that the other thing I've yearned for might come true."

Her eyes are soft; his are hopeful.

"What's the other thing?" she all but whispers. She needs to hear it from him – even though Thomas's words about his supposed feelings have stayed with her, she cannot take the chance. She had taken that leap once before and had fallen. She can only hope he trusts her to catch him.

"You," he says simply. "To be with you." His voice sounds wrecked, as though he's been so tired of hiding the truth, but cannot yet quite believe he has been granted the chance to confess it.

She manages not to drop the sewing in her hands, but it's a close thing. Her eyes are wide and incredulous as she attempts to stutter her disbelief, but the look in his eyes stops her.

"You mean it? You want me, even after everything you know?"

"More so," he admits. "Because I see how strong you are; how brave."

She opens her mouth to dispute it, but he stops her.

"You may not see it, but I do – as you saw it within me. You never doubted I'd pass did you?"

She can't dispute that; shakes her head.

"As I have no doubt you can move on, and be happy, if you let yourself."

"I need to see him then," she says. "I need to lay this to rest first."

"Would you like me to go with you?"

Bless him, she thinks – she can practically hear his heart breaking, and yet he's still willing to be supportive. She can't throw it back in his face.

"Come to York with me, if you can," she says. "But seeing him… I think that's something I need to do on my own. I can't rewrite that chapter of my life, but I do want to move on."

He nods, giving her a small reassuring smile. "You once said you couldn't change what you'd done, even for me," he says, recalling their conversation from so long ago. "I never would have asked you to."

"You have no idea what that means to me," she says softly. "But it mattered in another way too - I wish I had never succumbed to his charms. You see, I have been a fool, and he did ruin me."

"You haven't," he insists. "It doesn't matter, not to me."

He sounds so honest, and she can read the truth of it in his face.

"You once asked me if I wanted to be safe, and I answered 'I might'." She pauses to steel herself, but it's her turn to leap and trust him to catch her, as he always has. "What would you say if I changed my answer to 'I do'?"

It's worth putting herself on the line just to see the astounded look on his face: it flits from shock, to dawning comprehension, to exhilaration. She has never seen him look so overcome.

He recovers himself enough to answer: "I'd say go and face him, and if you feel ready to move on - once you're sure he has no power over you any more - I'll ask you again… Properly this time."

A/N: I may write more if people want it!