I can't believe myself how quickly I'm updating this at the busiest time of the year ;) I know that it wasn't until the beginning of series 2 that Mrs Hughes and Mrs Patmore became better friends but I wanted to have them as friends :)

She has been tapping her fingers impatiently on her desk, she glanced at the clock, only a minute since she'd last looked. She'd only just finished breakfast and still had nothing to do, they family were returning till tomorrow and she was now bored out of her mind waiting for Charles's return, the anticipation made her excited and nervous but at the moment she was just annoyed that this day was taking so long. She'd finished all the books she had in her sitting room, the only thing left was the diary, she didn't feel like reading it, not anymore, she was too excited to read into it anymore. If she read any more about how he loved her, the day would only get longer and longer.

She had walked the entirety of the house twice, it wasn't even an hour since she'd looked.

She was getting angry, the day was taking so long, she needed the day to be over so she could tell Charles, she leant against a pillar and sighed thinking about the last 20 years;

She'd loved him and he'd loved her but they'd never known of each other's feelings. They'd been through the torture of staring at each other during the day, at dinner, in the evenings, forced to look at each other and keep their true feelings hidden when they could have had a life together if only they had spoken out earlier. It was stupid really, wasting years and years of opportunities, they'd gained a friendship that could never be forgotten but now she was ready to have him as a lover, a husband even. They weren't getting any younger, so before she aged too much for him to stop thinking she was beautiful, she was going to tell him she felt the same way. She wondered how she should tell him; should she get him alone in her pantry in the evening and tell him over a glass of wine as they sat by the fire? Should she tell him as soon as he got in the door? No she should let him take his hat and coat off first at least. Should she wait till he came past her pantry then pull him in by his tie, press him against the door and kiss him passionately? She blushed at the last thought, as nice as that would be, she didn't want to give the poor man a heart attack.
She found surprisingly that this thought had taken a good 10 minutes and she smiled when she saw it was now time for luncheon.

It was only in the London season that Daisy and Mrs Patmore would eat with the staff, there weren't many servants to eat with so they joined them. They all managed to fit at the end of the table nearest the piano and for once Mrs Hughes had chosen to eat at that end with them, she was reminded of her housemaid days. While Daisy was engaged in conversation with one of the youngest housemaids, Mrs Patmore was in deep conversation with Elsie, she was surprised just how quickly time flied when she was distracted. She smiled to herself as she placed her knife and fork together on her plate and got up to leave.

She walked to her pantry in a reasonably happy mood, humming to herself, if she stayed in a happy mood then the day wouldn't take so long, at least she hoped it wouldn't. However when she entered, she took one look at her coat and decided that she would go for a walk, it was a reasonably nice summers day so she put on her hat and coat and left.

There was a slight breeze but she took no notice, she chose to go through the grounds rather than to the village, it would be easy enough to make her way back to the house that way plus there was less chance she would be disturbed. She was trying to waste time, but now being outside she couldnt tell how long it'd been, not long she suspected. She heard the sound of a car nearby but didn't turn to where the sound came from, being too deep in thought. She thought about going for walks with Charles, arm in arm, her head resting on his shoulder and they'd then sit on the bench underneath the old oak tree, they wouldn't speak, simply sit knowing they loved each other dearly. He would put his arm around her shoulder and she would lean against him, lifting her feet to rest on the end of the bench so she could lie against him, stroking his chest through his coat. Despite being 52, she wouldn't lose any sense of love for him, age didn't matter to them, just that they were in that moment would be enough. He would then bring his hand to hers and kiss it lightly and as she lifted her head he would kiss her lips just as gently, she would then smile knowing that years of waiting were over and they were finally what they were meant to be – together.
She broke from this thought and reaslised that as she'd been dreaming up this fantasy she'd walked almost a mile from the house as she recognised that little stream that began in front of her, this stream ran through the furthest parts of the grounds, she looked up at the sky to see it slightly clouding over, last thing she wanted was it to rain. As much as she liked rain, she couldnt do with catching a cold just before Charles returned, so she decided to return back to the house.
She entered through the back door, taking off her hat and beginning to undo her coat as she moved towards her pantry, she smiled as she thought it wouldnt be too long before Charles came through this door and her moment would arrive.

But when she opened the door to her pantry and nearly fainted at what she saw…

Oh I know you'll hate me for this, but I wanted the chapters about their POV to be separate from the ones when they are together. I'm sorry to leave it on a cliff hanger ;)