Well well well…More than ten hours of writing behind me and it's finished!

A while ago my dear friend lovemesomechelsiecarson challenged us Chelsie shippers on Tumblr, to write a little piece of Elsie during/after her cancer scare (S3E3) and how much she really needed a hug. So, I took it upon myself to write this!

My friend, I sincerely hope it is at least a bit like what you had in mind, and that I have somehow understood the assignment. It is slightly more than a thousand words, but these goobers had it their own way, resulting in a 1,5k+ words. And please excuse any typos etc., because I did write this partly in the middle of the night, instead of trying to fix my sleep schedule before school…*awkward smile*

But now, I will let you all get to reading and I hope you enjoy! More stories and updates to my WIPs coming as soon as possible. Stay safe and Chelsie on!

It was not cancer.

She wasn't dying.

His Mrs. Hughes would be fine.

Hearing she would be fine - it was like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders and he could finally take a deep breath that filled his lungs fully.

She was fine.

He was so happy he had sung. Had sung for her. Although he was not supposed to know anything had been wrong. But he had known.

And now it was over.

And she was fine.

Charles couldn't stop smiling as he polished the silver to a state where you could easily see your reflection on the platter. It was a task he had taken on when he had waited for the cook and housekeeper to return from seeing the doctor. But now they were back, carrying good news, and the butler had put the silver away to its righteous place in the cupboard.

Tonight, he would sleep especially well.

Because he knew she was fine.

He glanced at the clock on the wall, noticing it was much later than he had thought. He had hoped to catch Mrs. Hughes before going up. But he suspected she would have retired for the night already. He cursed himself a bit, knowing he'd be terribly tired tomorrow morning.

Charles carefully closed the cupboard. He would lock up and head to bed. Tomorrow would be yet another early morning for him.

He was happily humming away as he moved about his pantry, shutting the lights, and closing the door before entering the hallway.

The whole downstairs was dark, but luckily, he knew his way around. He slowly made his way towards the backdoor with a key in his pocket. Only when he reached her door, the housekeeper's sitting room just to his left, he stopped in his tracks. There was a ray of light shining form under the door.

His eyebrows were sown together in confusion. Was she still up?

He cast a look around the hallway and lifted his hand to gently rap on the wooden panels of the door.

He heard no reply and thought perhaps she'd simply forgotten to turn off the lights when she went up. So, without further hesitation he pushed the door open with his free hand.

Only, to his surprise, he found the room was not empty like he had expected.

"Mrs. Hughes?", he asked into the quiet of the room, his voice slightly worried upon finding her there.

He found her with her back turned towards him and staring at the wall before her. She had clearly been lost in thought and hearing his voice seemed to have taken her by surprise, making her jump before turning to face him.

"Oh Mr. Carson.", her hand came up to wipe at something wet on her cheek.

Had she been crying? The thought instantly made him worried, and his earlier relief was quick to leave him.

"Whatever are you doing down here at this time of night?"

She looked slightly confused and glanced at the clock. It was well past twelve. A sigh left her lips.

"I seem to have lost track of time, Mr. Carson.", she looked up at his face, but not directly into his eyes, and forced a smile."I'd best retire for the night."

"I'm afraid it'll be an early morning tomorrow.", Charles smiled sympathetically.

"Quite right.", her answer was accompanied with a nod.

Mrs. Hughes moved to her desk, her back towards the butler once again, and she grabbed her purse from where it was placed on the table – presumably after she had returned from the village. For a while she fidgeted with the handle, and he could hear how she let out a sigh.

"Did you get on well…today?"

He had not exactly meant to ask the question, but it had left his mouth before he could stop himself. And she seemed to be surprised to hear it. Slowly, she turned around to face him, her purse now held in her hand.

"I suppose so, Mr. Carson.", Mrs. Hughes said, falling silent for a moment before adding to her earlier words."Yes. We did."

Elsie lifted her gaze to stare in his eyes. And she was taken aback by what she saw. There was something different about them. She tried not to let the flicker of hope inside her sparkle into something more. And she instead replied with a:

"I trust Mrs. Patmore told you."

That you are fine, yes. Something for which he was incredibly grateful.

"She did, yes.", he was eyeing her very carefully.

"Well…that's that then.", she said quietly."Now I best head upstairs."

She made it to move past him towards the doorway but a gentle hand on her arm stopped her. She dropped her gaze to where his touch burned against her skin.

"Mr. Carson?"

She looked back up, their eyes meeting. Charles let his hand fall to his side.

"You didn't want me to know that something was wrong, Mrs. Hughes.", he spoke quietly, not wanting to put her off."But I was very worried about you."

She was worrying her lip as she listened to him speak.

"I'm afraid I…forced, Mrs. Patmore to tell me the truth."

"Oh?", whether she was surprised or not remained a secret.

"But I won't apologize for doing it", he said, hoping she understood he meant every word."And I'm very glad that you are alright, Mrs. Hughes. I really am."

At his words she dropped her face towards the floor, unable to look at him anymore as she fought back a wave of tears.

She had been holding her tears inside since receiving the good news from the doctor earlier that night. She just didn't want to cry anymore. Not now that everything was fine. Not even if the tears would be of relief, and not because she was scared. But soon she felt herself shaking, unable to fight the tears no more as they fell down her cheeks in earnest.

It took him a while to register what was happening but then he realised that the woman before him was crying. He felt panicked, unsure of what to do.

Mrs. Hughes brought a hand up to cover her mouth, trying to muffle her sobs. Of course, it was of no use, and she eventually hid her face in her hands. The purse she had been holding in her hand fell to the floor with a thud.

"Oh, Mrs. Hughes.", he frowned, seeing her in such state deeply saddening him.

She was gasping for air as her cries filled the quiet corridors of the downstairs. And he had no clue as to how he could comfort her. But oh- how badly he wished to do something.

And so he did. The only thing that seemed reasonable enough to him was to put his arms around her, to envelope the housekeeper in a soothing embrace.

At first, she was shocked by what was happening and almost pulled away, only to find his embrace so welcoming. So safe. And she let herself get lost, leaning into his chest in a way that might not be entirely proper for the butler and housekeeper of Downton Abbey. But she didn't care. All she could think of was how right it felt to her.

The thought pushed new tears from her eyes.

"There, there, Mrs. Hughes.", he let her cry, unconsciously rocking her side to side gently in his arms.

The only thing he knew was that she was a perfect fit against his chest. And it felt so right to have her there.

"I'm not even sure why I am crying.", she let out a bitter laugh, her eyes filled with tears."I'm not ill. I'm not dying. It would be different if I was-"

"Hush now, Mrs. Hughes. Don't speak like that."

Elsie closed her eyes tightly, shaking her head. She was begging for the tears to stop falling already.

And after a moment they did. Mr. Carson never let go of her. He held her and made soothing circles on her back with his fingers. And even if she didn't want to, she reluctantly pulled away from him and dried the tears with his handkerchief, which he had handed to her upon realising she might need one. Her face now free from tears, her eyes however remaining red and puffy, she forced herself to look up at him. And she could have started crying right away again, seeing the loving look he wore on his face, but she fought the tears and this time she was successful.

"I'm afraid I've made rather a fool of myself tonight, Mr. Carson.", Elsie tried to show him a smile, but she wasn't quite sure whether the attempt was a success.

"Never, Mrs. Hughes.", he simply shook his head and smiled at her."You could never be a fool to me."

This time she did manage a heartfelt smile at him:

"And I thank you for that, Mr. Carson. It means more to me than you know.

And with those words, she stood on her tiptoes and leaned to place a quick kiss to his cheek. She wasn't entirely sure what came over her, but she didn't fight it. When she pulled back, she could see he was blushing.

"It means a great deal to me indeed…Good night, Mr. Carson.", and she disappeared into the dark hallway without another word.

That night Elsie Hughes fell asleep quickly without the weight of the world on her shoulders…

Because she knew she'd be fine. And she was most certain they'd be more than fine too. In the end.