A/N: Anna and Mrs Patmore discuss their superiors over tea, Charles worries about all the thing on their way home from Ripon.
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1.
"No, Ivy woke me and that's when I saw her bed had not been slept in."
Anna and Mrs Patmore are sitting in the Servants' Hall, sipping cups of tea, nibbling on florentines. Everyone is carrying out duties and tasks - the maids have been shooed upstairs to air the rooms, change the linens, the boys are polishing silver cutlery and crystal glasses and putting the dining room in order. Mr Bates is with Lord Grantham, Thomas is supervising the boys.
Mrs Hughes and Mr Carson are still missing.
"It's not like them to leave us to fend for ourselves, though, is it?"
"I cannot think of a single time this has happened before." Mrs Patmore stares at the door, looking like she is willing them to come through it.
"So unlike them to not even leave a note..."
"There was nothing in Mrs Hughes' room and nothing in Mr Carson's and I have looked in the parlour and the pantry and it's all been as if they've not been there at all."
"How do you know there was nothing in Mr Carson's room?" Anna picks up her cup, trying to look innocent.
"Because that is the first place I checked." If it were possible, Anna would say Mrs Patmore's smirk was joyous.
"What made you check his room, then?"
Mrs Patmore leans in a bit and Anna follows.
"I caught them kissing on the stairs..." She says in a stage whisper.
"They never!" Anna exclaims.
"Not before time..."
Anna agrees. It had been a long time coming and recalls the comfortable little kiss she had witnessed in the Servants' Hall.
2.
The bus is nearly empty and he takes advantage of it. His arm is around her shoulders and she leans against him, looking at her ring - it was his mothers and slightly too large for Elsie, who is a might smaller than his mother had been, stout and tall and strong. He had snatched it quickly before they left, not wanting to leave the registry office with a bare finger. She had surprised him by asking if he had his birth certificate, answering that he had indeed, then had shocked him by saying they could go into Ripon, early and be back for elevenses.
It had made perfect sense.
Part of him worries that it's the afterglow.
A bigger part of him worries what they will say when they get back to Downton. They have left without even leaving a note. She has said that it will be a good test for all of them, since they'll have to get used to it before long.
He hopes the boys (he won't admit to it, but they are his boys, even young cocky Jimmy, even ambitious Thomas) have gone about their day like it's any other. He hopes her girls (she doesn't admit to it either, though Anna is definitely her girl, as is Daisy in a way) have carried out their duties.
He worries about telling Lord Grantham.
He worries about what Lady Mary will say.
3.
He is the first to see them coming in. He has been polishing his Lordship's shoes. A minor task, always best done in the afternoon when he is not busy. He enjoys it, it allows him to let his mind wander.
Normally he thinks about Anna, how good and kind and beautiful she is. How he loves how she puts her tiny hand in his big paw when they walk home at night. How she gives his life meaning and direction. How he hopes that they have just not been lucky so far, that it's nothing serious, that her wish will be granted soon. He can feel the tension building each month, navigates through a labyrinth of comforting and keeping his distance at the outcome of things.
Maybe, if Anna tells him of the good news they long for, they can move away from Downton. They have enough put by to start that inn they talked about before the war. The door creaks just as he is starting to add and subtract and making lists of pros and cons.
"Ah... there you are." He says and he notices how the pair startle.
"Mr Carson." He nods, but doesn't get up, his leg has been playing up, Mr Carson knows, has inquired after it a few times.
"Mrs Hughes." He smiles at her and she shakes her head.
"No, Mr Bates..." She starts, but Mr Carson scrapes his throat loudly and she looks at him. Reaches up, touches his cheek.
"It's Mr Bates, Charles, surely you trust him."
He sees the ring sparkle in the faint light.
"Don't worry, I won't tell a soul, but if you don't want people to know, you'd better take that ring off and come up with a good story to tell the staff, because you have been the talk of Downton all morning."
"I think we'd better discuss this in private, if you don't mind, Mr Bates." It's not a question and the Butler guides the Housekeeper through the hall, into the corridor and quickly into her parlour.
If this wasn't an interesting development, John Bates didn't know what would be.