Hello, hello, it's me again. On my rewatch of 6x07 I couldn't help but wonder what happened with Cora and Robert after Bates said "He went to bed right after dinner." This is my take on that night. Gets pretty M at the end, so here's your heads up. Do let me know your thoughts!

All characters are property of Downton Abbey and all mistakes are mine :)

"Poor Mary. Maybe I should go talk to her." Cora cast her focus to rubbing in the lotion now covering her hands.

"I gather she wants to be alone rather than have someone trying to empathize with her," Robert responded from his place in bed.

Cora's hands stilled. She looked up at him with incredulity lining her face. Robert saw her jaw set as she turned toward her mirror. Even in the dim glow of the room he could tell he'd spoken out of turn, wounding her. After all, it was only a few weeks prior that she had dealt with the same panic, the same uncertainty as she watched her beloved suffer.

"Of course you can empathize. Forgive me, I'm tired." His voice was no longer gruff; a softness had replaced his previous timbre.

"Doesn't matter. It's alright." She clicked off the vanity lamp and rose to move toward the bed. Just before she managed to reach her side, Robert spoke again.

"No, it isn't. That was insensitive, I'm sorry."

Cora finished her task of turning off the light and the only remaining illumination stemmed from Robert's bedside table. He waited until her futzing with the comforter had ceased and offered his hand. Sighing, she took it, unwilling to drag up any further emotions after the horrors of the day. He brought her fingers to his lips and placed a couple of kisses on her knuckles and palm. Cora scratched at his cheek and he closed his eyes at her touch. The jasmine of her lotion wafted into his nose and he took a breath as if the scent was all the air he'd ever need. "I smelled jasmine," he remembered voicing those very words not too long ago. His grasp fell to her wrist and she trailed her fingers down his neck to rest on the the skin that was not concealed by the buttons of his satin pajamas.

Their backs remained against the headboard, Cora's eyes pinned to her hand lightly stroking his chest. Try as she might, it was still near impossible not to conjure up images from Robert's illness. Occasionally they would hit her blindly, but she had expected the events at the racetrack would cause them to surface again. And with the images came the other sensations; the heat of Robert's cheek as she held the napkins close to his mouth, the metallic smell that she couldn't seem to wash off, and the grips of the girls' hands that conveyed all their trepidation at the thought of possibly losing their father. She had sensed the same fear in Mary the moment they arrived at the track.

Robert had since opened his eyes and was watching her thoughts ebb and flow, the slightest crinkle in her brow being the only indication that she was far away. He gazed at her, softly stroking the inside of her wrist where her pulse was quickening. Finally, once her eyes became misty, Robert tugged on her arm and she folded into his chest with a ragged breath. Only when her tears had made their appearance had he realized that this had gone beyond his impertinent remark.

Cora had refrained from crying in his presence since the night she spent at the hospital. A specific moment that had rooted itself in her brain brought her out of the darkness whenever she was feeling particularly low.

"You stayed all night." This wasn't a question.

"Yes." No other words would come without bringing tears along with them.

"I woke up in the middle of the night. I didn't know where I was, I couldn't really feel much and I was too tired to open my eyes. But I knew I wasn't dead. Because I didn't smell blood or...or metal."

Robert paused to catch his breath.

"I smelled jasmine. The same jasmine I have laid next to for thirty-five years."

Another pause, then—

"And I knew everything was going to be alright."

She had not been able to stop her weeping until she left his side the next day and that had felt like more than enough tears for one lifetime. Of course there were moments that she was overcome, but she had mostly been alone for these sudden emotions. Robert had witnessed the aftermath when she would appear with puffy eyes or a headache, but would fill the situation with the touch of his hand or a kiss on her cheek.

It brought him momentary comfort to feel as though he was being useful, that he might actually be providing solace for his usually resilient wife. Her chest was pressed to his own and her head had found its accustomed place in the crook of his neck. Holding her like this, with his hands molding into the muscles of her back, was the warmest he'd felt since before his surgery. Even with her eyelashes prickling his neck and the stray splash of a tear near his collarbone. She'd kept her distance, physically, no doubt wanting to avoid causing him any discomfort during his convalescence. And while she had frequently held his hand or kissed his jaw, they had not found their way back together in the method they both individually longed for.

"I'm here, my darling. It's alright, I'm here." He cooed these words of assurance into her hair following them with a kiss. Her similar words from when he laid, presumably dying, on the dinning room floor filled his ears.

"I'm right here."

He felt her prepare to move, but realized she was only trying to make their bodies implausibly closer. She wrapped her foot around Robert's ankle and he interpreted it as a plea for further connection.

Gingerly guiding Cora onto her back, Robert pulled away from her just enough to bring her into focus. Blotches of red created a rouge around her nose and rims of cerise outlined her eyes. He smoothed his hand over her forehead to erase the flyaways that had become stuck there. She was burning and her breath hiccuped at the gesture. The movement of the pair lulled and they marveled at each other's apparent need. A need for reassurance. A need for support. For intimacy.

In that moment, Robert knew that this was not going to be a frenzied display of passion. Those nights, while having served them both well, were in the past. They had come and gone through reconnecting after Cora's bout of Spanish Flu, reconciling after Sybil's death, and reclaiming their marriage following Mr. Bricker's advances.

Cora's palms pressing into his shoulder blades brought Robert back to the present. Their lips met and Cora's head swam. Tongues slid together in a well rehearsed dance and he ran his fingers over any portion of exposed skin he could find. Robert's ministrations combined with the effects of her crying spell were doing absolutely nothing to bring down her temperature. Cora was scorching. A line of sweat was already snaking down her back and it was all she could do to break their kiss and tug at the neckline of her nightgown. Robert caught on immediately and found its hem, pulling it over her knees, her breasts, and off her body at last. No time was wasted in divesting Robert of his shirt and their upper bodies were breathing as one, locked together.

The blaze just under Cora's skin accompanied Robert's lips as they descended on her neck. Pulse still racing, Cora let out the smallest noise of contentment at the move and traced his bare back with her nails. He smiled into her flesh and placed one last peck before checking in one last time. He knew there would be no stopping until they both were fully satisfied if he kept going. Her eyes were clear, void of the wretchedness that plagued them when the evening began. They were still dewy, but emanated entirely different emotions: desire and love. Her lips separated in a contented sigh.

Confirmation. She needed him as desperately as he needed her. Finding his rhythm again, Robert shifted his attention to the tender skin between her breasts. His lips were like ice on her chest and she involuntarily arched her back as he teased her peaks. Her moans filled the hot air of the room and he made her feel as though she would ignite at any second.

Cora barely noticed his arousal throbbing against her thigh, but the moment he finished with her breasts, leaving their peaks hard, she reached for the waistband of his pants. One step ahead, he was already slipping them over his hips and resting against her once again. The contact between their nakedness brought a whimper to Cora's throat and a groan to Robert's. Her legs had fallen outward automatically and his hipbones were flush against her own. The heat between her thighs was so enticing and it took every ounce of control not to surround himself in her dampness. Instead, he let his arousal slide over her wet folds. Sweltering, Cora frantically squirmed under the sensation of having him so near, but not near enough. Seeing her writhe before him, unable to manage her ache, he grinned and slipped inside her. A gasp escaped her lungs as his subsequent thrust sent her moaning in euphoria.

His hand found her hair and he stroked it gently pressing up to look into her eyes before moving within her again.

"Are you alright..." his words were slurred and husky.

She bit her bottom lip and nodded, hips rocking underneath him, begging him to continue.

He understood her meaning perfectly and gave another wholehearted thrust and pressed his cheek to hers. This time he did not slow. The pace they set was one of a gentle hunger that would not allow this ecstasy to be over before they'd barely started. The hand that had been resting next to Cora's braided curls stroked down her side, passing her navel and landing underneath her knee. Pulling it toward her breasts, he fell further inside her walls reaching for that place that sent her over the edge every time, without fail. Eliciting a "Robert," from Cora's mouth next to his ear, he accelerated his movements. He sensed her tightening around him and it filled his heart with an all consuming passion.

Cora kneaded at his shoulders as much as she could, for it was becoming increasingly difficult to direct her limbs in any sort of coherent manner. Stars flickered into her vision and her breath hitched. She was nearing her climax and wanted him to share in the rapture. Fumbling her hands toward his hips she pressed her fingers there and met his motions with equal urgency. Robert felt her straining to wait for him, but he was nearly there himself. Registering that she longed for release, he found her lips and tasted the perspiration, and a bit of something else that he couldn't put his finger on.

This was the undoing. His loving gesture in the height of their fervent yearning for one another threw Cora into total bliss. Robert let go the instant she contracted around him, practically drawing him with her. She relished in the feeling of his softening member as she continued to pulsate around him. Their kiss had been halted as they came together, an experience they had been deprived of since Robert had been recovering. But now, Cora lifted her chin and their lips returned to each other, just as their bodies had. Each of their heart rates slowed while they stayed joined below the waist. With a mutual lament at parting, Robert gradually pulled out of her comforting sheath.

She was cooling down, at long last and reveled in the way Robert prolonged their closeness. He draped his arm across her stomach and lazily pecked her jaw. He tasted it again and it wasn't only perspiration. There were tears, but of a very different variety. An irrepressible smile had spread across Cora's features and she turned her head to look at her husband.

"Oh, Robert." She whispered.

"I'm here, my love."

Not a murmur was heard from then on. The two lovers slept in peace, Robert's arm splayed over her torso and Cora's fingers entangled with his own.