For the second night in a row, Mrs. Hughes was woken by a violent clap of thunder. She looked around momentarily confused until she realized where she was. She was seated in a chair in Mr. Carson's pantry. Why was she in Mr. Carson's pantry? She hadn't fallen asleep here, had she?
A low groan from behind Mr. Carson's desk drew her attention to the rest of the room. In various positions, Mr. Barrow, Mrs. Patmore, and Ms. Baxter were lying about almost lifeless on the floor. Mrs. Hughes stared hard at them trying to think of a reason why they would all be in the butler's pantry unconscious. She couldn't think of a reasonable explanation for—
She gasped as realization hit her; the switched bodies, trying to think of a way back and failing, realizing they were probably going to be stuck like this forever. She dropped her head into her hands holding back a sob. Crying now was not going to help the situation.
"Please tell me I didn't faint again," rumbled a deep voice from behind Mr. Carson's desk.
Mrs. Hughes stopped breathing. She would know that voice anywhere. She peered from behind her hands and noticed for the first time since waking that she wasn't wearing men's trousers like she had for most of the day. She was wearing a dress; her dress. Now she remembered that the last thing she recalled before waking was sitting behind the butler's desk as Mr. Carson, but now she was sitting near the door. She was sitting near the door and she was in her own body!
She leapt from her seat and nearly bounded around the desk to where Mr. Carson—Oh, please let it be Mr. Carson!— was lying on the floor. She knelt next to him and asked hopefully, "Mr. Carson?"
He nodded looking up at her groggily. "Please tell me that you are Mrs. Hughes and not Mr. Barrow."
Tears flowing freely, Mrs. Hughes smiled at him. "Yes, I'm Mrs. Hughes! We're back! Thank goodness! We're back!"
She laughed uncontrollably until Mr. Carson pulled her down to him and kissed her passionately.
"Oh Lord! Get a room, you two!"
They broke apart to see Mrs. Patmore standing over them grinning like the cat that got the cream. Mr. Barrow and Ms. Baxter were just behind her. Mr. Carson stood quickly and then helped Mrs. Hughes to her feet.
"I take it we're all back to normal then?" Mrs. Hughes asked.
"As normal as we can get after witnessing that," Mr. Barrow exclaimed in disgust. Mr. Carson began to growl at the under butler but Mrs. Patmore beat him to it with a swift kick to Mr. Barrow's knees.
"Yes," she grinned. "All back to normal. I don't know how or why, but I am ever so glad we are!"
They all looked at each other in happy relief until a scream from the hallway sent them scurrying to see what had happened.
Isobel woke with an awful headache. It took her moment to remember where she was-the Abbey kitchens-and why she was laying on the floor-Violet's awful spell book. Groaning she turned her head to see Mary unconscious beside her. Throwing her head to the other side, she gasped in horror. She sat up quickly, looking down at herself and then at the unconscious person beside her.
"Oh bugger all!" She cried realizing the body she was looking down upon was her own. She was Violet! Oh, but this was just wizard. Violet was going to pay for this.
"Granny?" a voice called behind her. Mary was blinking up at her in confusion. Well, she assumed it was Mary. Isobel didn't think that Violet would call herself Granny.
"Mary? Are you alright?"
Confusion flashed across the young woman's face, "Granny? It's me, Edith?"
"Oh bugger all!" Isobel repeated. She turned back to where her body lay unconscious and shook whoever it was awake. "Violet, I am going to kill you if we are stuck like this. I swear to God."
"Oh stop being so melodramatic! It's not that bad. I haven't felt this young in years!"
She watched Violet in her own body giggle and before she knew it she was hitting the giggling woman as hard as she could. "Violet-smack-this-smack- is not-smack- funny!"
Violet stopped laughing and sat up to take a look around her. "Well, at least it's just the two of us that's switched. We can fix it easily enough."
Isobel rolled her eyes. "We are not the only ones that have switched. Mary is now Edith."
Violet sighed in frustration, "Oh for goodness sake, Edith!"
She was stopped from further reprimanding the girl when a scream came from the stairs.
"Goddammit, Edith! You always ruin everything!"
A/N That's the end! I hope you enjoyed this slightly manic story. I appreciate each and every review I've received for it. Thank you all so much for the support for this mad little fic both here and on tumblr.