A/N: Thank you for continuing to read, review, follow, and favorite.

Lia, in answer to your question. It'll be the next chapter after this one.

Warning; there is mention of non-con elements in this chapter as we have a callback to the events with Pamuk.

Late August 1914

Edith was tired of arguing. Neither of her parents had understood her sudden need to travel to London, and she was sure she didn't even want to know what Mary would say about it. She'd hoped Sybil at least would be on her side but instead her youngest sibling was sitting on Edith's bed and trying to convince Edith to stay at home.

"I just want to see Wendy and the new baby" Edith said quietly, it was a lie of course and they both knew it, but Sybil hadn't yet brought up Sir Anthony or Mary, and Edith certainly wasn't going to.

"But there's no real reason to run off to London, you can see Wendy any time" Sybil argued fiercely as Edith tried decide which items to have Anna pack when the time came.

"I'm finding every reason to be gone, real or not" Edith said firmly from her place at her jewelry box as she held up a necklace and pondered whether to take it with her or not.

"But Edith, I'm sure Mary didn't mean to… well…" Sybil trailed off, no doubt knowing that there wasn't anywhere to go with that sentence.

Edith smiled gently at her little sister "I love how you always defend both of us equally, no matter how dreadful we both are".

Sybil shook her head "you're not dreadful, either of you, you're just bad at knowing where to draw the line when it comes to each other" she sighed "I'm going to miss you terribly".

"I'll be back in a month or so" Edith replied, "in plenty of time for your birthday; I can go shopping for your present in London".

A knock on the door prevented Sybil from replying. Anna entered the room with a letter in her hand.

"This just arrived for you Lady Edith" she handed the letter to Edith.

"Thank you Anna" Edith looked down at the letter and felt her heart begin to race 'no no no' she thought 'he wouldn't dare, would he?' the letter in her hands was proof he would. She barely even heard Sybil and Anna talking but she looked up when the door closed. They'd left her alone, alone in the room where he'd been with her and suddenly she couldn't breathe. She kept the letter clutched tightly in her hand as she stood and practically ran to open the door; she rushed out without looking where she was going and crashed into a warm body. A hand reached out to steady her but she didn't know whose it was, she blindly lashed out and when another hand touched her she cried out in panic. Fighting back tears and trying desperately to twist out of the other person's grip she stumbled backwards and fell through the doorway.

Thomas hadn't thought much of it when Lady Edith initially crashed into him, she didn't normally rush about as far as he knew, but Lady Edith didn't interact with the servants as much as Lady Sybil and he could acknowledge that he didn't really know her that well. Still, he knew her reaction to his hands on her arms was not normal and when she cried out his eyes widened in shock. He'd seen this type of reaction to touch before, he'd had this type of reaction to touch before and he sincerely hoped he was wrong about the cause of Lady Edith's distress.

He should've let her go the moment she tried to twist away but his shock kept him still too long and when she stumbled he lost his own balance and landed on his knees.

"Fool" he berated himself quietly as he stood up and did a quick sweep of the corridor, nobody was around and Thomas breathed a small sigh of relief, it would've been very bad if anyone had seen Lady Edith struggling in his arms. He looked down at her; she had curled herself into a small ball and had buried her face in her arms. He quickly closed the door, trying hard not to hit her feet with it.

"Lady Edith" he said softly, kneeling down next to her "Lady Edith, everything is fine; it's just me, just Thomas".

"Thomas?" she whispered. He hadn't thought that he even had a heart anymore, but her scared voice assured him that he did because it was beginning to hurt at seeing her brought down so low.

"That's right Lady Edith, just Thomas" he waited as she slowly lifted her head and stared at him.

"Oh Thomas" she said "I'm so sorry. I… I don't know what came over me" she was obviously lying; she did know what caused her panic. But Thomas wasn't going to call her on it, he'd noticed the envelope she'd dropped when she fell and he figured it must have something to do with her sudden onset of panic. Besides, it wasn't really his place to say anything.

"It's alright milady, should I get someone for you? The countess, or Anna perhaps?" Thomas offered.

Edith's eyes widened in panic "no no, I'm fine! Really" she sat up quickly. Thomas noted her reaction 'nobody else knows' he thought to himself, not really surprised, it was no real secret that Lady Edith was often neglected by her parents in favor of her sisters. And Thomas doubted very much that Anna had noticed, she was too wrapped up in Bates and in Lady Mary's troubles to pay too much attention to anything else.

Lady Edith was making a valiant effort to get up off the floor by herself, but her arms and legs were trembling and her skirts had gotten tangled up when she fell.

"Milady" Thomas stood and offered his hand, carefully making sure he didn't get too close to her. She hesitated slightly before placing her hand in his and allowing him to pull her to her feet. She stood awkwardly for a moment before turning and hastily sitting down in the chair by the fireplace.

"Thank you for your help Thomas, you may leave" she dismissed him quietly.

"As you wish milady" he didn't really want to, she was obviously still distressed and he hated to leave when she needed someone, but again, it wasn't his place so he bowed slightly and made to leave the room.

"Thomas" she turned in the chair to look at him "please don't mention this to anyone; I was just being silly is all".

"Of course milady" he answered, checking carefully before he stepped out into the corridor. He was closing the door behind him when he heard her whispered "thank you". In truth he almost couldn't handle her gratitude, he wasn't sure he deserved it for simply keeping quiet. "And there's another reason you don't deserve it Barrow" he whispered to himself as he looked down at the envelope in his hand. His curiosity had gotten the better of him when he'd stood up and he'd swept the letter into his pocket before he could think better of it. He could slip it back under the door, Lady Edith probably wouldn't notice and she'd just think she'd dropped it when she fell, as in fact she had. But as Thomas looked at it he noticed she hadn't even opened it, just seeing the name on the envelope had caused all of this. He flipped it over and his eyes widened again when he read the name.

"Pamuk" he practically growled "damn him!" Thomas seethed, no wonder he'd been so interested in a tour of the house. And Thomas, it was Thomas who'd shown him where the family slept, Thomas who had actually pointed out Lady Edith's bedroom. How could he have been so stupid? A noise around the corner brought him to his senses and he hastily slipped the letter under the door before straightening up and hurrying off.

In his mind Thomas was already wondering how to deal with Pamuk, the thought of letting him get away with all of this was abhorrent but Thomas didn't exactly have the power to have him arrested. And anyway, that would just make things worse for Lady Edith, the scandal would be terrible. And doing anything else would require resources he wasn't sure he had. Maybe instead of either justice or revenge he should be thinking of how best to actually help her, but he wasn't sure he knew where to begin.