Author's Note: M-rating for this chapter
Halloween was never a day that Robert Crawley had ever cared about before. He and Cora had been invited to parties on occasion, but he idea of dressing up in spooky costumes and telling ghoulish tales had never appealed to him. Only now, of course, he was living in a ghost story of his own. It was hard to appreciate the irony of Halloween now that spirits haunted him every day of the year.
But last year, after having had so long to get used to the reality in which Downton Abbey now found itself, they had discovered something quite shocking. On the Thirty-First of October, from sundown until sunup the next morning, the ghosts became…well, not alive, per se, but they were as close to alive as they could be. They could still walk through walls, they could still appear and disappear at will, but they could eat and drink and interact with the world. With the living. With Robert.
The discovery last year had been quite by accident. Robert and Cora had been lying in bed, not touching, as always. But he rolled over to turn out the lamp and his foot accidentally hit her leg. Instead of going through it and feeling the icy feeling that came with touching a ghost, he hit a warm, solid leg. They both leapt out of bed and hugged and kissed each other and shouted for the rest of the house to see what was going on. After Robert got to hug his daughters and shake hands with Carson, he left Bates to spend some time with Anna while Robert took Cora back upstairs and made love to her until the sun came up. And that was when they learned how much time they had on All Hallows Eve.
This year, they were prepared. In the early evening, Robert dismissed Bates to be with Anna and his friends downstairs, and he waited in the library with his wife and younger daughters. All thoughts and concerns about Matthew and Mary and everyone else were far from his mind. He would go back to thinking about what to do with them soon enough, but tonight he would enjoy the gift of having his family whole once more.
The sun lit up the sky in orange and pink, and Robert watched out the window with Cora and Edith and Sybil. And then he felt a tentative hand on his shoulder.
He turned, smiling so wide, he thought his face might split apart. It was Sybil who reached out to him, and there they all were, his beautiful, magnificent girls. Robert reached out one arm to Sybil and one to Edith, and the girls fell into his embrace. He held them tight and wondered briefly if a man could die from happiness alone.
"I can't tell you what it means to me to be able to hold you, my girls," he murmured. His voice cracked with emotion.
"And us as well, Papa," Edith answered, clinging to him somewhat desperately. In any other circumstance, Robert would have scolded her for such a display. Edith, more than his other daughters, was apt to be far too emotional. But oh, he could not scold her for anything now. Not when he could hold her.
"I'd forgotten what it felt like to be warm," Sybil commented, also hugging him and her sister tightly.
Robert pulled back then, and in turn, he took each of his girls' faces in his hands to stroke their cheeks with his thumbs and press a gentle kiss to their foreheads.
A small noise caused him to turn away from his daughters. Cora stood there, watching with a smile and tears falling down her cheeks. "Oh my darling." He took Cora in his arms. She held him tight and cried into the collar of his shirt. "Shh, no more tears, Cora, only happiness tonight," he murmured soothingly.
She sniffed back her tears and stepped back, gratefully taking the handkerchief he offered her. Cora dried her eyes and turned back to Robert with another happy sigh. "Only happiness tonight, darling," she agreed.
"If it's alright, I thought I'd go see Branson," Sybil said slightly warily.
Robert felt a growl of disapproval bubble up inside him. But both his daughter and the Irish Republican chauffeur were ghosts the other three hundred sixty-four days of the year. What was he to do about it? "Yes, alright," Robert conceded.
Sybil grinned and gave her father and mother and sister all a kiss on the cheek before rushing off excitedly.
Edith frowned. "Then what am I to do? You two will go upstairs, and I'm left on my own, is that it? Even in death, I'm an afterthought to everything," she pouted.
"That is patently untrue, Edith," Cora scolded.
"Oh never mind," Edith grumbled. She turned and walked out of the library. Perhaps she would go downstairs to see the servants.
Robert watched her leave, feeling a bit conflicted. "I'm never quite sure what to do about Edith," he wondered aloud.
"Not much to do now," Cora pointed out sadly.
"No, I suppose there isn't." After all, she was dead. But now was not the time to contemplate dark things. Only happiness tonight. He turned his attention back to Cora and took her hands in his. "But there is plenty that we can do," he said.
Her smile lit up her whole face. Her eyes were still a bit red from her crying, but she was happy. That was plain to see. "Shall we go upstairs then?"
Robert nodded. "I already had Bates send trays up to the bedroom so we can eat when we want and we won't be disturbed."
"Oh wonderful. I do miss Mrs. Patmore's cooking. But I must say I miss you much more."
And with that, Robert wrapped his wife's arm around his and led her up to her bedroom. Sure enough, the trays with some cold chicken and bread and mustard and cheeses were waiting for them. They sat together by the fireplace and ate and talked and remained touching as much as possible. When they had their fill, they sat back, Robert's arm around Cora's shoulder and her head resting against his shoulder.
"Robert?" Cora began.
"Yes, Cora?"
"I think we're both quite overdressed."
He chuckled. "I'd say so. That must be fixed right away."
Robert did not call for Bates or any of the other staff to assist them. This was Robert's one and only night with his wife, and he would not be robbed of this opportunity to continue to touch and be touched by her. They had only this one night, but they did have all night. The pair of them were unhurried as they each rid each other of layer after layer of clothing. Before too long, however, they were both bare and curled up together in bed.
It seemed like something out of a dream, being here with her like this after being bereft of her touch for so long. She wrapped herself around him and pressed little kisses to his neck and chin and cheeks and lips. Robert reveled in every second of it.
He shifted himself to kiss her properly, and Cora sighed into his mouth. Robert nearly broke the kiss to smile, but he didn't want to stop. Her tongue slid against his in that wonderful way that made him tingle all over. It had been an entire year since he had kissed her. Since she had kissed him. He had been forced to survive this whole year with the fading memory of her kiss.
Robert rolled over so that she was lying on top of him. To be covered by her, to feel her whole body pressed against him. He was already half-hard and half out of his mind with lust. Their legs tangled together under the bedsheets, and his hands mapped her body. She was lithe and soft and so very warm. A blessed change from the tragic cold whenever either of them accidentally touched the other on any other time but this Halloween night.
Cora sat up to catch her breath, perching herself on top of his lap. Her lips were swollen from his kisses, and her hair was already mussed from his fingers tangling in it before they'd rolled over. His hands rested on her thighs. The soft skin of her legs was enough to make him want to weep. He dragged his palms down to her knees and then up to her hips and back down again. She sighed in appreciation of his touch.
She leaned in to kiss him again, though her lips soon traveled down his jaw to his neck, her tongue darting out teasingly. Onward she went, moving herself down his body and peppering his chest with her kisses.
"Oh Cora," he groaned as her tongue flicked against his nipple. His fingers clenched around her thighs involuntarily. Her hips began grinding against him in response.
Robert could not manage much more of her teasing. He was quickly becoming overwhelmed and his control was waning. He summoned whatever strength he could muster and rolled them back over so it was Cora lying supine with Robert hovering over her. He kissed her deeply, and one hand found its way between her legs. She whimpered against his tongue.
She was already remarkably wet. Though, to be fair, it had been as long for her as it had for him since they'd last made love. Perhaps such feelings of arousal were different for a ghost. Robert did not waste any time to ponder it, however.
He continued to tease her with his fingers as she bucked against his hand. Robert took pride in driving her wild like this. Ever since their honeymoon when they had learned of lovemaking together, he had learned that his arousal was at its peak when he could cause her to come undone. It was pride and love for her that caused such feelings in him. Such feelings he'd lived without for so long.
Robert felt her hand around his wrist. He thought perhaps she was guiding him where she wanted him, but as soon as he felt her other hand clawing at his hip, he understood what she wanted. And he was just as eager as she. They had all night for perhaps more drawn-out foreplay, but neither of them had the strength for it just now.
He kissed his way back up her body, from her soft belly to the pale valley between her breasts. His tongue gave a bit of teasing attention to one and then the other in turn as he held his cock in his hand and spread her wetness, mixing it with the leaking wetness of his own.
"Robert," she whined, rocking against him and wrapping her legs around his waist wantonly.
Without further delay, he pushed inside her. He slid in slow and deep, pressing himself in until his hips were flush with hers. When he was fully seated inside her, the impatience that had consumed them both seemed to melt away. Robert was at home here, inside her body. She was a welcome warmth after a year of cold loneliness.
Cora shifted her hips, adjusting to make room inside her body for his hardness. His head ducked down to lick a line across her clavicle and up her neck before he kissed her again. This was not a fiery kiss of need as before. Instead, it was lazy and loving and soft. She felt soft. All of her felt soft and pliable beneath his body. She was warm and soft, and he could finally feel her at last.
Robert pulled his hips back at last, slowly so they could both savor every inch of him. And then he thrust back inside her all the way, as deep as he could. A cry escaped the back of Cora's throat. It was so good. So much and so very, very good.
She tilted her hips to meet him each time he moved. It was slow and gentle and yet powerful in its own way. How long he lasted, Robert could not say. It felt like an eternity, as though time itself swirled around them as they moved together that magical night.
"Cora, my Cora, my love," Robert chanted. His voice was barely more than a breath, a whisper against her cheek between his kisses. Cora herself could not speak, just whimpers and gasps and moans that fell from her lips as he continued to build her up to her peak and send her crashing into release, only to build her right back up again.
His movements were slow but relentless. He lost count of how many times she came before he could hold out no longer. His steady, seductive rhythm stuttered and halted. Robert let out a bone-deep groan and released.
Robert collapsed on top of her when his arms gave out at last. He was bathed in sweat, though the autumn evening would cool him quickly. He was hot and panting and barely conscious. But he could feel Cora surround him still. His cock was still inside her. She had one leg wrapped around the back of his while the other was off to the side. One of her hands stroked the slickness of his back, and the other of her hands was buried in his hair, damp and curling something awful, he imagined. Cora had mentioned on occasion that she liked the curls of his hair, so perhaps she did not mind.
"Robert," she whispered.
He mumbled, unable to form words.
She chuckled lightly. "What was that?"
"I'll move in a moment," he managed to say.
Cora turned her head to kiss the shell of his ear. "You're alright. I'm not nearly ready to let go of you yet."
Robert hummed in response.
"I love you very much, Robert," Cora told him.
He smiled. "I love you," he replied.
They both rested for a little while before they inevitably started up again. It was much, much later in the night when they were both exhausted beyond repair. Robert fell asleep holding Cora in his arms, and he tried not to think about the fact that when he woke, she would no longer be there.