A/N This is only a short chapter but I thought: better update than keep you waiting!

chapter 03


The handkerchief was read, dotted with blood, not much but enough to be clearly noticeable to the sharp eye. Quickly, Grigg stuffed it back into the pocket of his outworn grey overcoat.

"Nothing to worry about." His smile faltered, was no longer that self-confident grin and his hands started to fidget with the candle. "So, how's life treated you?" He did not even look up, instead concentrated on the spilled wax on the wooden table.

Charles took a moment to observe his old acquaintance, one he had at one point in his past called a friend when he did not yet know what this term really involved. When he was still young, friends were everywhere, easy to find, easy to forget. Only in later years, the time on the stage long passed, did he realize what it meant to have a real friend in the true sense of the word. A confidant, someone he could trust unconditionally, whose advice he cherished and whose company alone was enough to brighten the most tiring day.

Elsie Hughes still had her hand on his thigh, had not moved it, kept it there to emphasize what she had said earlier you should not deal with all of this alone. She was the best friend he ever had, the only true one.

"I'm still butler." What else could he say? He would not tell this man everything that had happened in the last ten years since they last met.

"Good for you. Very good." Grigg still kept his head down. "And not married."

Charles thought they had finished this discussion already. Elsie had been very clear with her remark earlier. "No I told you already."

"She did." And here he pointed at Elsie, stared at her. "She said you weren't married to her."

Charles was close to loosing his temper, to do something he would later regret terribly. "Why is this so important? You never cared about what I do and did before. So why now?"

Finally the man left the rest of the candle alone and faced Charles again. "I'm sick. You saw it." Grigg reached for the handkerchief but before he could pull it out again, Elsie stopped him.

"We saw and heard it. And now you remembered your fold friend," Charles noticed the way she pronounced the word, knew that she did not believe that Grigg really was a friend or ever had been, "and thought he would help you."

"Your woman is clever."

Charles's fist hit the table top with an unexpected force. Even some of the regular guests, used to small fights and a noisier environment than the Grantham Arms, turned their heads. "Enough!" He stood again, towering over Grigg, trembling with anger.

"Please Charles." Again it was Elsie who intervened, her hand on his arm, gripping it with that reassuring strength.

"No Elsie. I regret that you had to witness all of this. I wish I could have spared you from this encounter entirely." He did not want to sit down again and listen to this man for a minute longer.

"We are leaving. Have a good day Mr Grigg."

cccc

The walk back to Downton Abbey in the beginning twilight was awkward, the silence between them almost unbearable. He felt guilty, had told her earlier to stay behind, not to worry about his past, not to get involved at all. But she had refused to obey. Charles Carson too often believed he could handle problems on his own, when in reality she was the one who took care of so many things behind this back. He never noticed it and honestly, she did not want him to.

He walked too fast, was always a few steps ahead of her, mumbling something to himself she could not understand. After they had left the last of the village cottages behind, Elsie had enough.

"Charles, for heaven's sake, stop!" She sounded harsher than intended. He was not one of her girls she could scold for their ill manners or badly done work. "You mustn't feel guilty or blame yourself. Not about me. I can handle this Mr Grigg." She tried to console him but the man still walked on, his pace maybe a bit slower now. "He hadn't been nice to me, but believe me, I have dealt with worse." Elsie quickened her step, managed to catch up a bit.

"Fine." He stopped abruptly, turned around and was clearly surprised to find her standing right in front of him. "I'm sorry Elsie. I expected this meeting to be unpleasant, to say the least, but I obviously underestimated the situation completely."

"Don't worry about that anymore. Please." She felt the need to touch him yet again, something so unlike her, but today he needed more than just a few friendly words from her. His hand was so large and strong when she took it to run her thumb across the back of it, letting him know that she was always on his side. "We will not see him again."

Elsie felt how he turned her hand around almost immediately, enclosed her smaller one with his own completely, securely, accepting her offer of friendship and help.

"Thank you for that." The smile he offered her came directly from his heart, from her dear friend Charles, the only true one she ever had and would never disappoint. How little did she know that she would break this promise soon and betray this precious friendship.


TBC (I KNOW I have a thing for cliffhanger) Please let me know in a review what you liked and disliked. thank you 3