A/N: I started a little writing challenge for myself on tumblr and began writing drabbles for my "Cobert Flufftober". Now I thought I could share them here too :) I will slowly crosspost the ones I already wrote. I hope you enjoy it, and please leave a review!

prompts: brushing a strand of hair behind their ear & playing with their hair right before falling asleep


The only sounds that Robert heard were the light crackling of the dwindling logs in the fireplace and Cora's deep breathing. Her head nestled on his bare chest. Her arm rested weakly on his upper body. She was pressed close to his side, and Robert held on to her lazily with one arm while his other hand ran through the tousled curls at his hairline. Robert pulled the sheets even higher up around them; the heat of their passion slowly wore off.

"That was nice," Cora's soft words carried easily to his ears. The dulcet breath of her voice needed no more vigour to be understood perfectly by him.

He hummed in agreement. It was very nice. He thought maybe it was even nicer to bask in the afterglow with her now. Her warm skin on his without the impatient urge of passion. Just her calming and warming presence. At this moment, her soft and relaxed body was the ultimate reassurance.

It had been a long day. Robert had been out and about all day. He made a tour around the grounds, visiting some of his tenants, even though the weather had been ghastly. Matthew had accompanied him after lunch when he came from his office and had asked a bunch of questions as he usually did. Good questions they were, but an abundance nevertheless. Robert knew that dinner wouldn't portray an all too relaxing situation as well with Mama, Isobel, and Matthew all coming over. It was quite late when he finally followed Cora upstairs and got ready for bed.

When he had entered her room and slipped into bed next to her, she had snuggled up to his side. She came really close, seeking warmth on this cold day of autumn. She loosely held on to his biceps and leaned her head partly against the headrest of the bed, partly against his shoulder, while he thoughtlessly browsed his book. She didn't give him a chance to read properly as she threw in her thoughts about this and that every other minute. But Robert didn't really care either. His mind was already a bit drowsy.

"I hope Cousin Isobel didn't feel too put off tonight. Mama was being particularly harsh today," Cora mused. Her voice rang sympathetically in the silence.

"I wouldn't worry too much about that," Robert gave back. "I always got the impression that Cousin Isobel could handle Mama's jabs remarkably well." He didn't look up and turned the page when the letters began blurring before his eyes.

Cora adjusted her grip around his arm as her thoughts wandered further. Robert felt her curls tickling his neck when she spoke again.

"But I do not like it when she is like that," and Robert could hear it in her voice. She probably remembered many an occasion where she had been the target of Mama's hardly amiable digs. Robert lowered his book a little and looked at his wife from the side. Her brow was furrowed, an expression of worry etched on her face. He pressed a chaste peck on her hair.

"Dearest, I think we can agree that it's hardly one of her best traits. But not everyone can be as gracious and good-natured as you, my dear." Robert spoke softly as he planted another kiss right above her ear. Just as he had hoped, some of the wrinkles on her forehead disappeared, and he could see a smile tugging on the corner of her mouth.

"But that doesn't mean she could not at least try being kind," Cora emphasised. She turned ever so little at Robert's side, not turning to look at him but her front still being closer to him, giving him more access for his light kisses.

Robert put a finger of his left hand between his current pages and slung his other arm around Cora's shoulders.

"I know," he said.

Robert couldn't have foreseen that this evening turned out to become so ardent when they lay heavily breathing in each other's arms sometime later, Cora's leg wound around his hips and his palms spreading on her back beneath the mass of hair that he had let loose from her braid. He wasn't as tired all of the sudden and she wasn't worried at all anymore. Her little sounds, her verbal affirmation that this was exactly what she needed right now, his name falling from her lips repeatedly, spurred Robert on. Holding her like this just felt so right.

And holding her afterwards, when all hunger was sated was the sweet reward. He expected her to slowly doze off by the minute. The pauses between her exhales were getting longer. Her slender fingers had long ceased their drawing circles on his chest. But just then, Cora lifted her head. She pressed her hand onto his chest for support as she raised her upper body and turned to look at Robert. Their faces were a few inches from each other. Her serene and calm expression broke into a little grin.

Robert had to chuckle. "Still thinking about how nice it was?" he remarked in a whisper. Cora gave off a light snort before she blinked heavily. She looked so endearing to him with the way her open hair was a bit dishevelled and built a halo around her head, the errant curls illuminated by the embers of the fireplace. This was his dearest Cora right in front of him, not the honourable Countess of Grantham she had to be all day. Robert reached out to brush a strand of her chocolate hair behind her ear. It was soft and unruly beneath his fingertip. The serene smile returned to Cora's face and it grew even wider when Robert's fingertip traced the shell of her ear. Her eyes wandered lovingly across his features.

"Come, let's go to sleep now and dream of all the nice things," Robert suggested, and Cora's heavy head sank onto his chest again. She shuffled a bit under the covers until her head was tucked into the crook of his neck in the right manner and a long sigh escaped her. Soon, her breathing had slowed down again and her gentle snores filled the room.

Robert though couldn't seem to close his eyes. He was trapped in a blissful state of trance. The movement of his chest matched Cora's rhythm of breathing but he didn't find it in himself to succumb to the land of dreams as he had Cora advised to do. On its own accord, his hand found its way into Cora's hair. His index finger was wrapping a tress of her soft hair around itself with a circular motion. Cora stirred in her sleep when he didn't stop and the curl around his finger was getting rather tight. He loosened it and repeated the process with a new strand of hair and in a fashion a bit more careful.

It was a great reassurance to be this close to her. She was a great reassurance. Feeling her, and every part of her, not only her skin and her warmth pressed to his body. Not only her heartbeat and her respiration projected onto his chest. He wanted every part. The cold soles of her feet glued to his shins. The sound of her light snores in his ears. And of course, the silken texture of her hair between his fingertips.