Truth be told, Elise was a bit surprised when Charles confessed that Lord and Lady Grantham already knew, and approved, of his plans to court her. She wasn't upset with her man, Lord knows it would take more than that. No, this was a pleasant sort of surprise. The realization that he had wanted to be with her so badly that he risked his position in a house he loved. He was also not willing to risk harming their impression of her by trying to keep a hidden romance below stairs. They had wanted to do this the right way, so they did. Thankfully their generous employers were quite appreciative of their honesty and were more than willing to support the couple however they could.

Charles proposed to Elise about a month after they had officially starting courting. He packed a picnic and brought her to "their" spot by the pond. That afternoon as they lounged against the tree where they had shared their first kiss he held her hands and looking deeply into her eyes admitted he could not live this life without her in it, promised to love and cherish her forever and asked her to make him the happiest and luckiest man in the world, and then, presented her with his grandmothers ring. Through her happy tears she choked out a yes. No hesitation. No questions asked.

But now a few weeks later wedding plans had been put on the back burner. They still continued to spend as much of their free time together as they could, running errands, evening walks around the estate. But it was late summer and the family and the staff were currently tangled in preparations for the garden party, both Charles and Elsie were more than a bit busy.

Late one evening sitting in his pantry pouring over involves Charles realized that he hadn't had a single conversation with Elise all day. In fact, he wondered if he had even seen her since breakfast. The entire day had been a blur of guests and chaos. And to top it off the upstairs dinner had been more demanding than usual forcing Charles to miss supper downstairs. Upon returning to his office he had found a covered plate of sandwiches and a generous plateful of gingersnaps on his desk with a note that simply said "You didn't think I would possibly let you starve now did you? I love you. -E". He had gone in search of her only to discover that she had been called to deal with some sort of linen disaster in one of the guest rooms. Looking at his clock he was shocked to read that had been more than 4 hours ago. He got up from his desk and opened his door and noticed the lights in he servants hall were off and the only hint of light appeared to be a few candles flickering in the kitchen. As he headed for the kitchen he sent up a silent prayer that the light belonged to Elise.

Elise hadn't seen him since breakfast. They had both been so busy all day. She was grateful to find 5 extra minutes to sneak a plate of food into his office. She had walked past a few times since then with the intention to knock but every time something or someone had caught her. Once everyone had headed up to bed she thought she would finally have a moment with him until Beryl caught her and insisted she walk upstairs with her. Elsie played along wishing Beryl a goodnight and went into her room. She changed into her nightgown (grateful to be out of the corset), pulled the pins out of her hair and twisted the dark locks into a quick plait, waiting to hear Beryl finish in the washroom and return to her own room. Once she was sure the coast was clear Elsie pulled on her dressing gown and headed back to the kitchen for a "glass of water." She was grateful to still see light shining from the crack below the door to Charles' office. She made her way into the kitchen to put a noisy kettle of water on for tea, with every intention of distracting a certain butler. As she placed the two cups on the counter she felt two very familiar arms embrace her waist.

Charles made it as far as the kitchen doorway and froze as he took in the sight in front of him. Elise was in her dressing gown, hair down, barefoot, in the kitchen making tea. She hadn't seen or heard him so he waited until she put the two cups on their saucers and then did what any sane man would do: wrapped the unsuspecting love of his life up in his arms.

"Charles!" she half gasped half giggled as she wrapped her own arms around his

"Mmm hello my love…" he said placing a generous kiss just behind her left ear before whispering

"Elise Grace Hughes, do you have any idea how glad I am to see you? Or how unbelievably beautiful you look right now?"

She turned herself to face him wrapping her arms around his waist cuddling into his embrace

"Thank you my darling, and if you're half as glad to see me as I am to see you then yes I do have some idea. I've missed you terribly today… it that horribly pathetic?"

He ran his hand languidly up and down her back

"No my love, far from pathetic. I've missed you too."

As she tilted her head up to try and kiss him, barefoot Elise realized that she was just too short to do so. Taking matters into her own hands she grabbed the collar of his shirt in both hands and pulled him to her. Charles laughed as he obeyed her tugging and brought his lips down to meet hers. What started as a casual kiss quickly turned rather heated as Charles continued to let his hands wander over Elsie's silky dressing gown. No corset, he thought. Seeing her so incredibly casual in the candlelight, barefoot with her braided hair, was something he was not prepared for. Had he mentioned she was gorgeous? It also wasn't helping that Elsie was rubbing her nails across his lower back, she knew he loved that. Between the soft warm lips and their tongues battling for dominance they had somehow managed to get pressed against the counter and Elise was unbuttoning his waistcoat pushing it open to place her hands on his undershirt clad chest. Next thing he knew he had picked her up and put her on the counter. Then she did the unthinkable. She parted her legs as far as her nightgown would allow and wrapping her arms around his waist and running them up his back pulled him closer to her. Charles pulled back just enough to gently take her face in his hands tilting it up to look at her. The desire he found in her eyes was almost his complete undoing. Just when he thought this woman couldn't get any more beautiful. He brought his lips back to her but instead of kissing her he whispered to her letting his lips gently ghost over hers as he slowly spoke

"I. Love. You."

She couldn't believe the sensation that simple act had on her. She wanted to give the same to him so mimicking him she ghosted her lips over his as she whispered back intentionally thickening her brogue

"Charles. I. Love. You. Too."

It was more than either of the could take and their lips eagerly found the others. His left hand moved down to rest on her hip as his lips moved to her neck softly nipping as he worked his way down gently tugging on her dressing gown with his right hand to expose her collar bone and kissing his way down to it. Her hands where in his hair holding him to her body. As his left hand worked its way slowly up her silk covered thigh…

"SQQQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE"

Elise jumped off the counter shocked and slightly disoriented as Charles quickly moved to pull the damnable bloody whistling kettle off the stove.

She managed to catch her breath as she took in her surroundings. Her disheveled dressing gown half off her should and Charles unbuttoned waist coat and mussed hair. She realized just how lost they had managed to get in one another as he walked back over to her. He wrapped his arms around her pulling her gown back up over her shoulder place a gentle kiss to it once it was back in place pulling up to look in her eyes

"My love I am so sorry. I completely lost myself just now"

She placed her hands on his chest kissing the area where she could feel his heart beating

"Charles we both got very lost just now. But please love, I don't want you to feel you have to apologize for loving me."

He pressed his forehead to hers and whispered

"Elise I will never ever apologize for loving you. I just don't want you think I have no self control…until you are officially my wife there are certain… privileges… we should not allow ourselves. You deserve to be treated a certain way, Elise. That's just how it is."

She loved knowing that he would never push her or make inappropriate requests.

"Charles what did I do to deserve you?"

"No my love, what did I ever do to deserve you?"

Their lips met, this time in a single slow, sweet and tender kiss. He pulled her left arm away from his waist bringing her hand to his lips placing another tender kiss on the ring he had placed there. Smiling he asked

"Elise, my dear, while we are on the topic, should we not start planning that wedding?"

She smirked up at him

"Mmmm Charles… what do you say to October?"

"I say… we should probably meet with Mr. Travis about having the banns read."