Thomas shrugged off his jacket as he casually walked along the lane towards one of the last fields of wheat that needed to be harvested before the end of the month. The weather so far in August had been fine and ideal for the farmers, but September signaled the end of Summer and the beginning of Autumn, where the likelihood of more changeable weather was far more certain, hence the need to get the work completed sooner rather than later. Thomas's morning had been ordinary enough, but in a repeat of last year, he was once again asked (not that he could say no) to spare some of the male staff to help with the harvest. Thomas was not as irritated by this request as last year though. In fact a part of him had hoped that Lady Mary or Mr Branson would ask him that very thing. After enjoying observing Richard tanned and shirtless as he cut the crops in the field alongside men from the house and the village, Thomas was hoping for an excuse to get away himself. Stephen had been most enthusiastic about helping too. Thomas knew why of course, and any raised eyebrows over his eagerness to do manual labour by the others downstairs was easily explained. Thomas just simply lied and said that he couldn't blame Stephen for wanting any excuse to get out of the house on a hot day.

Thomas put his jacket over his arm with one hand as he fiddled with the top button of his shirt to loosen it a bit. He was not like Richard or David in that regard. They didn't mind working outside, he on the other hand, knew that he would only end up sunburnt and with a headache. He didn't offer to help for that reason, and no one asked him too. If anyone did or accused him of being selfish, he would simply tell them that he is far too busy running Downton Abbey and that if no one was in charge nothing would get done.

Thomas was just thinking about how he could do with a little more breeze to cool himself down, or some fresh cool water, when something fell onto the ground in front of him. It narrowly missed hitting him on the head, as he saw it pass in front of his eyes, but too close to see what it was at the time exactly. He picked the object up from the ground. He had expected to be a twig from the tree above him but it was actually a pencil. Odd.

"Dammit."

Thomas looked up at the sound of the familiar voice of his friend, Chris Webster. Thomas did not expect to see him here. He did expect him to be around this area as David would be working, but not sitting on top of a stone wall that was so much covered in undergrowth that the stones of the wall were obscured completely from view, save the ones right on top. He was sitting with his back leaning against the trunk of the tree that was growing out of the hedge. "This yours?" Thomas shielded his eyes against the glare of the sun so he could see Chris more clearly.

"Fancy seeing you here Thomas. What brings you out here?" Chris spoke cheerfully which was no surprise to Thomas. His friend was basking in the warmth of a new relationship. Richard had told him about how he had found David and Chris in the office yesterday.

"Same thing as you I reckon Chris. I'll come round okay, the hedge is lower on the field side I expect." Thomas walked on a short distance, opened the field gate and then headed back down the hedge again to where Chris was sitting happily on the hedge top. Thomas passed Chris the pencil, now that he was able to reach him. "So, I see you are making yourself busy? Must be hard work sitting in the shade of a tree whilst everyone else is hard at work."

"Don't use sarcasm on me Thomas, I have a job to do sitting here actually. Although, for a place to be working I'll admit it's not too bad here. The view is rather marvelous." Chris grinned as he put the pencil onto a stone where it would not so easily roll away and fall into the lane below.

"I agree, the view is worth it," Thomas said as he spotted Richard in the distance. "But don't people question your purpose here?"

"Maybe they do, but I am keeping a written record of everything that is harvested today. Mr Tomlinson said it would be a good way of making myself useful here today, some of this you see is kept for animal feed for the winter months but the rest is to be sold and therefore needs counting so the correct value can be put on the crop. That is where I come in. Simple. I don't have to move too much and I can still keep an eye on things whilst enjoying the view, as I said."

Thomas nodded approvingly. "You have a good head on your shoulders Chris. Not sure if I could have thought of such a good way of..." He lowered his voice. "...such a good excuse to admire Richard."

"What's your reason now?" Chris asked. "The official reason that is."

"I'm here to find my staff to tell them I'll need them back in two hours. Also I brought Richard a drink." Thomas held up the bottle in his hand that was under his jacket to keep the sun off it.

"Seems we both have a good level of quick thinking don't we?"

"We do, come in handy for us. I have said before, I think we are similar."

Chris nodded, "Well I'll take that as a compliment Thomas. Isn't something alcoholic too much for the middle of the afternoon?" he asked, referring to the bottle Thomas held.

"It contains lemonade actually. Daisy had made some for the children and asked me to take the rest of it for Richard. I only had an old wine bottle to put it in," Thomas explained to Chris, although Chris didn't reply to him as he was smiling at someone behind Thomas. Thomas looked behind him and saw the reason for Chris's behaviour. David was walking over and Chris was trying his hardest to act indifferent.

"Hello Tommy," David said loudly as he neared the two men. "You come to help?"

Thomas rolled his eyes at David's affectionate nickname for him. It was becoming harder and harder to keep it a secret. "No, I have a job of my own, but I'm here to tell Stephen and Alfred that they need to be back at Downton in a couple of hours. I can't serve dinner and drinks on my own to a party of twenty."

"Downton never stops does it? So you're not here to see Richard then?" David asked as Chris leaned down and passed him a drink from his position on the hedge. David took a swig from the bottle and passed it back to Chris.

Thomas smiled. Maybe it was the heat from the sun beating down on him, but he felt his face warm up. "Well, since I'm here I brought him a drink. And no before you ask, it's lemonade from the kitchens."

"Oh lovely. I'll tell him you're here. It is getting hot here, even for me," David said as he pulled his shirt off over his head and tossed it onto the wall. "I should be getting back." He flashed a grin deliberately in Chris's direction. "You carry on keeping an eye on things okay?"

Chris smirked back. "Don't worry, I have a lot to look at to keep my attention sharp."

"Well that was a deliberate move," Thomas remarked with a raised eyebrow in Chris's direction as a now topless David returned to the field.

"I know. Can't complain though."

"No, absolutely not," Thomas agreed. Whilst it had been a very long time since he had fallen for David, Thomas was not blind to how David looked and he did, albeit silently, agree that David was a sight to behold in an environment like this.

...

Richard found it easy to recall how this year's harvest was turning out to be very similar to last year's in terms of how Thomas was here under the pretense of providing refreshment. He recalled how Thomas was unable to hide his desire for him when he had approached Thomas shirtless and sweaty last year. This year was no different judging by the way Thomas kept looking at him, letting his eyes roam freely over his chest, before looking away as though burned, only to be pulled back into admiring him. Thomas did not need to come all the way to an August harvest to see Richard gleaming with sweat from exertion. He only needed to go as far as their bedroom for that. Maybe Richard was a bit vain. But if his actions brought Thomas pleasure then he wouldn't stop on that account. There was a blush forming on top of Thomas's dimpled smile as he handed him the bottle that he quickly explained was lemonade not wine. "Mmm, now that is divine Mr Barrow," he said as he drank about half of the bottle before putting the lid back on. Thomas had found a screw cap bottle not a corked bottle.

Thomas took a step closer to Richard as he took the bottle back from him. "As are you."

"Now you see Mr Barrow, I have to restrain myself. I am finding it hard to resist pulling you over to that pile of wheat over there and having my way with you." Richard didn't look at Thomas as he spoke instead he looked over into the distance, but his tone was raw enough for Thomas to see his desire.

"Now, I would like that, but..." Thomas looked around at the number of people present, unaware of their unlawful exchange. "...we can save it, maybe tomorrow? I have plans."

"Oh?"

"Indeed. But you will not know anymore Richard," Thomas playfully slapped him on his arm. "Not gonna spoil anything for you now. And you can't try to persuade me as you have done before, as we would have an unwelcome audience!"

Richard played along. He loved the secret when Thomas planned little things meant just for them both, but he also enjoyed the game of trying to tease Thomas for clues. "No I cannot. Shame. I'll see you later then Mr Barrow?"

"You will. Oh Richard-" Thomas called as Richard walked away.

"Yes?"

"I almost forgot, the official reason I am here is to tell Stephen and Alfred they are needed back at Downton in less than two hours. Have you seen them around?"

"I've seen Alfred, but I haven't seen Stephen for a while," Richard called back. Or Daniel for that matter. Putting two and two together he reckoned he'd find them together.

Thomas looked concerned and Richard reckoned he had come to the same conclusion. "Can you find him now and let him know?" Thomas called back.

"I will. Don't worry." Richard knew that the urgency in Thomas's voice was not due to his desperation to get Downton's footman back, but more to do with his concern that Stephen and Daniel might be seen together, considering how many people were around. It was not the first time he had thought of it, but Thomas had a fatherly fondness for Stephen which Richard found himself touched by.

…

Thomas lifted the deliciously smelling joint of pork off the tray and onto a wooden board so he could carve off slices for himself and Richard. Richard had gone to York earlier that afternoon with Chris to visit the bank and then to see his parents. After the incident in York a few months back where Chris had been brutally attacked, they agreed to make any future visits as a pair to be safer. The harvest yesterday ended without any problems. Richard had found Stephen, as they both had suspected, with Daniel but it didn't matter as Richard had found them before anyone else did. Thomas had also found the time to ask Daisy for a big favour. He wanted to make dinner for when Richard returned, but since he was not as talented in the kitchen as his partner, he needed a lot of help.

Thomas checked on the vegetables that were still boiling. Daisy had offered to stay until everything was cooked but Thomas didn't want her to be around when Richard arrived home and also he was sure that he could boil some cabbage on his own. He had insisted on the latter despite Daisy's teasing that he would regret it. She had been in their kitchen for a couple of hours in the evening and had left just as it was beginning to get dark. Thomas had offered to pay her for taking time out of her evening to help him, but she had waved it off saying that they were friends and so she didn't need any money for it.

Thomas put the plates in to warm up and found a bottle of wine he had been saving from last Christmas for a special occasion. He was happily surprised that everything so far had gone well. Nothing had burnt, or broken and Richard had even telephoned from the station to tell him when he would be back which gave Thomas a rough estimate of how much time he had to sort out this surprise for him. He had been thinking about arranging this for a while. At first he had thought about trying to get some time off so they could go to a restaurant and do this properly but in order to do that he would have to find a place where they could be themselves which was tricky and he didn't want the evening to be tainted with potential danger. This was the next best option but had brought up its own challenges as Thomas had to wait for a time where Richard would be away long enough for him to arrange it all.

As his mind wandered though he lost his concentration and the knife slipped suddenly as he cut another slice of meat. "Shit," Thomas cursed under his breath as the knife narrowly missed his finger and instead tossed a perfectly decent slice of pork onto the floor. Wilde, who had been sitting under the table watching Thomas with the same patience he would watch a bird in a tree, quickly trotted forward and claimed the accidental gift of meat as his own by licking it. Thomas smiled and admitted defeat. "Well I suppose we would have given you some anyway." Just then, he heard the sound of a key in the lock of the side door. Thomas had shut the door between the kitchen and the small hallway and stairs so the smell of any cooking (or potential burning) wouldn't escape and ruin the surprise prematurely. He abandoned the carving and crossed the small room quickly to reach the door before Richard did. "Back on time," Thomas said as he greeted Richard with a kiss in the dim light of the hallway as Richard was still removing his coat. "Everything go well?"

"We did and yes it did." Richard looked at him curiously in his proptness at greeting him, not that there was anything particularly unusual about that, but Thomas suspected that Richard now had a feeling that he was hiding something. "Everything okay here, with you?"

"Fine, absolutely fine. How are your parents?" Thomas said taing Richard's coat from him and hanging it up before Richard had the chance to do so himself.

"They are well." Richard narrowed his eyes in suspicion at Thomas's quick and vague answer. "Darling, what is going on? You are hiding something I know it." Richard sniffed the air. "Is something cooking?"

"Maybe." Thomas cursed his inability to lie to Richard. There was no point, he'd be able to tell anyway even if I did. "You'll see soon enough okay? Go upstairs, get yourself changed and join me in the kitchen alright?"

"Right, but I am curious now Mr Barrow. This isn't anything to do with your plan you said you had yesterday, is it?"

"I couldn't possibly say, now go away so I can...um...sort something out." Thomas kissed Richard's cheek before Richard smirked as he obeyed and walked up the stairs. Thomas then quickly returned to the kitchen to see Wilde, eyeing the meat on the worktop with interest. "Oh no you don't! Not for you, not all of it anyway." Thomas saw Wilde scowl and retreat under the table once again, most likely waiting for him to make another mistake. Thomas hoped that Richard would take his time in returning downstairs as he needed to plate everything up and lay the table still. He managed to serve up the food on to plates, putting spare meat into another dish so they could have extra if they wished, as well as putting a few more slices aside for Wilde, who would not be excluded from this occasion.

The door to the kitchen opened. "Can I come in now?" Richard asked from behind the door.

"Hang on a second," Thomas said as he put a couple of glasses, the nicer ones, on the table and laid out the cutlery. It was habit, after over two decades in service, but he set the table as he would for an upstairs dinner party, except he didn't have an unnecessarily large number of spoons. "Okay come in."

Richard smiled with delight as he surveyed the room. "You made dinner?"

"I arranged it, I can't lie I had help. Daisy was here earlier, she did most of the actual cooking. Bit of a cop out I know but I wanted to do this for you." Thomas could see the love on Richard's face as he looked around and then as he looked at him. "We have been so caught up lately in David and Chris's business that I thought, since that is all sorted now, that we should have something just for us. You have been amazing putting up with my insistence on helping friends of mine who keep randomly showing up here, and whilst I don't think there are many more who can come and interrupt our lives here, I know you will help if it happens again. When I say this is for us, I suppose I mean it's for you. I wanted to take you out somewhere, to a restaurant or something but I thought we could enjoy this more in the safety of our home so I hope this is a satisfactory alternative?"

"You're instance at helping people is amazing Thomas and I never just put up with you helping them. I love you for it, your kindness is underrated. We both played a part so this is for us and is a more than satisfactory alternative. Restaurants are nice, don't get me wrong, but it is like you are trying to impress all the time with all those people around you so this is better, even if Daisy did all the work!"

Thomas laughed, "She cooked it, but it was me who finished it all off and served it up. One slice of pork landed on the floor but the rest was fine. Wilde grabbed that bit before I had a chance to do anything."

Richard beant down to look under the table where Wilde was still licking his lips after the unexpected treat he received. "Oh I see. Well in that case, it was a good mistake to make don't you think Wilde?" Wilde ignored him and carried on licking his lips and then his face. "Do you need any help with anything or shall I sit down?"

"Sit down please. It's all sorted, just need to open this," Thomas said holding a bottle of wine.

"Where did you get that from?"

"Not stolen okay? That was one time many, many years ago."

Richard chuckled, "I know sorry. It's a good joke sometimes."

"It was my Christmas present from His Lordship last Christmas," Thomas poured some wine into each of their glasses. "I had been saving it for a special occasion." Thomas sat down and they both tucked in. Thomas waited until Richard had eaten a few mouthfuls. "So how is it?"

"Wonderful, not just the meat but all of this. I will admit I was not looking forward to making dinner on my return. Train journeys make me tired. You are a godsend Thomas, you really are."

...

"That's the last of it," Thomas said as he put an oven dish in the cupboard and the tea towel on the rail. "I could make us some drinks to take upstairs?"

"You could, but I have a better idea," Richard said as he embraced Thomas from behind, with his hands on Thomas's waist. He felt Thomas lean back into him.

"Oh?"

"Mmm I do." Richard turned Thomas around to face him and lifted one hand off Thomas's hips and onto his neck, his thumb stroking his neck gently before they kissed tenderly at first but then with more vigour. Thomas's hands were tight on his lower back as he pulled him in closer and then both of them stumbled backwards into the corner of the kitchen. They exchanged heated kisses in succession as Thomas ended up half sitting on the kitchen worktop, his eager hands pulling Richard in closer still so he was almost between his legs. Richard moaned into Thomas's mouth as he heard a clang as his hand knocked a kitchen cupboard door.

"Richard, darling?" Richard heard Thomas ask as he battled with a stiff button on Thomas's shirt.

"Mmm?"

"Upstairs?"

...

Thomas gasped as he slid off Richard later upstairs on their bed and laid to the side of him. He could still feel the feel of Richard's fingers digging into his back, there would be a mark there later, and the grip of his heels on his behind, although their legs were now loosely tangled up under loose crumpled sheets. He smiled down at Richard who grinned up at him as they both breathed heavily, gleaming with sweat. "You okay?" he asked "I mean, I wasn't too...euthustaistic?"

Richard treated Thomas with a low chuckle. "Do I look like I am complaining Mr Barrow? No you were spot on. I did tell you multiple times not to stop if I recall?"

"Yeah, thank goodness we have no one living on the other side of that wall!" Thomas smirked.

Richard pushed himself up so he could kiss Thomas and pull him down onto him. "How late can you be tomorrow?" he asked as he kissed him on the neck.

"Not very, but...?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't need much sleep."

Richard laughed again, this time into Thomas's neck and Thomas shivered as it radiated warmth through his naked body. Richard pushed him back and Thomas found himself lying back on the mattress, Richard looking down on him. "I'll be ever grateful for everything you've done tonight Thomas."

"How grateful?"

"Very."

"Show me."

Richard chucked again. "Oh how demanding you are Mr Barrow."