EASTER BUNNY

Hello dear people. I know that I have two other stories unfinished, but today I felt like writing nice and hopefully funny one-shot for Easter. Inspired by a lovely picture of Jim Carter with bunny ears, that I saw on Tumblr recently. Just a silly fluff which I hope you will like.

The sun was slowly setting when Charles and Elsie came back to the cottage on Easter Day, even though it was only April, the weather treated them well and they had a lovely, sunny day behind them. Easter was not celebrated in as festive way as Christmas was in Downton, but the day was full of duties that needed to be executed.

However today, both Elsie and Charles were not overwhelmed by those duties, as they sometimes felt, on the contrary-they both had a light, happy feelings in their hearts.

The family made sure that this day was all about children and from the early morning, Andy, Mr Molesley and Thomas, were running around the garden, hiding colored eggs, so the children could look for them.

Elsie, Anna and Mrs Baxter, had lots of laughs watching them running around, trying to be inventive in hiding eggs.

As for Charles, in the beginning of the day, he kept on his usual, reserved attitude, focusing on the tasks that needed to be done, making sure that the family has everything they needed, but pretty soon, Elsie decided to pull him right into the middle of this Easter joy.

She heard from Andy, that His Lordship wished to make their grandchildren especially happy today and he was looking for a candidate to perform as an Easter bunny. He even purchased a special requisite for this occasion-a bunny ears and he was wondering who could be the best choice for this.

Elsie was in a light-hearted and frolicksome mood today, so she immediately thought of giving this task to her husband. She presented her idea to Beryl and Daisy and all three of them were laughing their heads off, imagining strict and buttoned up Carson, parading around with bunny ears, in front of the children.

There was no doubt about the fact, that he adored all the Crawley grandchildren, but some things were unimaginable for him.

Beryl dared Elsie, saying that she will not believe for a second, that he will do it, even if she begged him about that. Elsie took the challenge and she hurried into Charles's pantry, closing the door and giving him the request...Charles was flabbergasted...

"Elsie that is so inappropriate...I will not do it...I'm the butler here...I can't make a fool of myself running around with bunny ears! What would the staff think?"

"But Charles you are the best for the role..Those children adore you, all of them..."

"Still that is not the reason to..."

"And you have the stage experience that nobody else does. I'm sure you will be perfect..."

"No Elsie...You are asking too much. They would never respect me after something like that, not ever again..."

"Charles...Think how happy the children would be and how grateful the family will be for that..."

"No Elsie...I won't do it and that is final..."

Elsie bit her lower lip, worrying, that she probably lost her bet with Beryl and Elsie was not a person who liked to loose..She was about to give up and admit her defeat, when a sudden thought came to her mind...She neared Charles, cupped his face and gave him the sweetest and most loving kiss...He was so amazed, that he didn't even protested much, he seemed to enjoyed it a lot...When they finally parted, she wrapped her hands around his neck, scratched the base of his neck lightly and she said:

"I would bo so grateful Charlie and I already now the way to thank you for this my love...Do you want to hear it?"

He noded his head, still being in a trance after the kiss. She came closer to him and whispered something into his ear, something that made his face blushed and something which caused a sloppy smile on his face...

Half an hour later, the whole household went into the garden, to watch as Mr Carson, with bunny ears attached, was entertaining children, carrying a basket full of Easter presents and sweets for them. It was the most adorable sight that Elsie has ever seen and even the staff, who was initially extremely amused, had to admit, that Mr Carson, among other talents, was also a very effective joy machine for the children. There was a lot of laughter and positive emotions on Downton that day...The children were delighted with the show and the adults had some fun too!

When Elsie and Charles came back to the cottage, made some tea and sat on the sofa, to reminisce the events of the day, Elsie was so proud of him and she wasn't going to be quiet about it.

"Charles...What you did today was marvelous...Did you see how happy the children were today? Nobody could do it better than you..."

Charles was beaming from joy, hearing those compliments from his wife...

"Thank you Elsie...I admit that I had a very nice time today...At the beginning I thought that I would not be able to do that, but in the end, I think you were right..Children had a lovely time.."

"And you could relax a bit...Finally...I'm glad that I was the one who set free this joyful side of you..."

"Elsie...You always set free all the best things in me...Always...Thanks to you, I'm not the pompous fool that I used to be and I'm so grateful for that..."

He hugged Elsie and they've kissed softly...There was so much warmth and love in those kisses...

"Charles.."-said Elsie when they parted.."I believe that I made a promise to you and I intend to keep it now..."

"Do you really my love? I thought that this was just a trick to make me do what you wanted..."

"Now, now my dearest...I always keep my promises..."

"I know you do..I was just teasing you..."

"You still didn't get out of the bunny role, did you?"

"Maybe...I recall that the bunny was offered a special treat tonight by Mrs bunny?"

"You recall correctly...Come upstairs my hunny bunny...Where you can pick your reward..."

That's all guys...As I mentioned, no serious plot or nothing meaningful, just a silly story for amusement. I think that we would all love to see Carson with bunny ears ;-) That would be something. I swear that he is like a clay in Elsie's hands. She is able to convince him to do anything. Stay safe and have a very happy Easter!