Hello dear readers, a little chapter with a bit of humour. I hope you will enjoy it.

Thanks to all of you for your reviews, thanks to the guests.

Thanks to Pixie.

Protecting you

1904

It was very early, Charles knew that Elsie was leaving with Samuel for Downton. He had woken up two hours early so he could see her before she left.

He walked into the servants' dining room and she was seated next to her childhood friend, a bowl of porridge in front of them. Samuel was talking, Elsie was laughing and Charles felt that ball of jealousy creep into his body again. He cleared his throat and they both looked up at him.

When she saw him Elsie's eyes lit up, he was already in livery but he had retained some traces of sleep and that made him even more attractive to her.

"Good morning Mr. Carson. "

"Good morning Mrs. Hughes, Mr. Perkins" It was the first time he had deigned to give Samuel a word.

"Um, Elsie, I'm going to go upstairs and get our bags and er, wait for you outside in ten minutes?"

"All right, thank you Samuel." They waited in silence until Samuel was out of their sight.

There was hardly anyone downstairs, the maids and valets were preparing the upstairs rooms for the family, only the cook and her assistant cook were busy downstairs preparing breakfast for the servants and for the Granthams and their guests.

"Won't you sit down?" Elsie asked with a smile.

"Um... yes, of course." Charles took his usual seat, right next to Elsie who was on his left.

"I'm glad to see you before we leave."

He nodded, then ventured in a whisper:

"I need to ask... Elsie, this... Samuel you seem to like. He's... He's just a friend, isn't he?"

How uncertain he looked, almost fearful, as if he expected her to laugh in his face, and reject him for someone else. As Alice had done.

Elsie looked around to make sure she wouldn't be overheard, then leaned in closer to the butler.

"Charles, Samuel is a friend, just a friend. I could never have told you all that I said to you, nor could I have done..." She blushed, "What we did last night if I didn't think anything of that. Remember, Charles, you are the only one, you will always be the only one. And I will miss you. Very much."

In turn, Charles approached her.

"You are beautiful when you blush. You will write to me, won't you?"

She simply nodded, smiling at him.

"I must go if I am not to miss my train."

"I'll walk you out."

Samuel was waiting for them as he had said, with their two suitcases at his feet. He took the luggage and walked towards the gate to give them some more privacy.

"You haven't given me back my watch."

"No, it will be all yours at Downton Abbey."

He nodded.

"I shall miss you, Elsie. I wish you weren't leaving, I wish I were back already."

"So do I, Charles. I look forward to welcoming you back." she kissed him quickly on the cheek and left to join Samuel without looking back.

Charles stood in the doorway looking at the void Elsie had left for a few seconds before sending an "I love you" into the wind in response. Then he went back inside. The day was about to begin.

oOo

"Elsie, are you sure you know what you're doing? I mean, with this Charles guy."

"Oh Samuel, no. I'm swimming in uncertainty and fear, but I know not being with him is worse. He told me he loved me, I told him I loved him. We will be careful."

"What about marriage?"

"What marriage? We can't get married. We haven't talked about it, but the butler and the housekeeper don't get married. Not if they want to keep their jobs. And I can't lose my job, Becky needs me. So no marriage."

"So you're willing to live in sin for the sake of this man?"

"I'd be willing to deny my own for him. Then becoming his lover is the lesser evil. As for living in sin... Samuel, you know very well that we don't choose who we love, who we desire. Please, just be happy for me. "

"I am happy for you, I just don't want to see you suffer. Look, let's make a pact, if things don't work out so well with your butler. If you have to leave the big house, we'll get married, and we'll have the farm to ourselves. We'll just be a childless couple sleeping in separate rooms. And we'll provide for your sister. What do you think?"

She laughed happily, then held out her right hand.

"It's a good deal." They shook hands, laughing heartily.

There were a few minutes of silence between them. Samuel was reading the newspaper, Elsie was trying to concentrate on her book, but without success.

A childless couple... By golly, carried away by her love and passion she had not thought of that possibility. She was only forty-two, and she was still bleeding, regularly, every month. The idea of becoming Charles' mistress, of having him, of giving herself to him, excited her, made her heart beat very fast and put butterflies in her stomach, and all in her feelings of love and desire she had forgotten the essential. The risk of pregnancy. How to talk about it with Charles? Were there ways to protect oneself from it?

She had mourned becoming a mother a few years ago. If she got pregnant, she would lose her job. She was sure Charles would marry her if that happened, but then he would have to leave his job and he would end up resenting her and the baby. She definitely had to find a way to avoid getting pregnant. Even though the idea of a child of their own filled her heart with a whole new feeling of love, she couldn't. Elsie was a sensible and pragmatic woman, and she would remain so, for everyone's sake.

As the train pulled into Downton station, she knew that someone would be waiting to take Samuel to his new home, and bring her to the Abbey where she would wait impatiently for Charles to return.

oOo

Two weeks later

Mrs. Bute heard Mr. Carson whistling in his pantry as he tended to the silverware.

She was pacing back and forth in front of his half-open door, trying to summon up the courage to speak to him.

"Mrs. Bute, are you planning to come in or are you still wearing out the floor outside the door?"

Well it was the butler who had decided for her that she had gathered enough courage, she entered the pantry, closed the door behind her under Charles' questioning gaze.

"Mr. Carson, I hope you won't think I'm overstepping my duties. I'm here as a colleague and, I hope a little, as a friend."

"Go on..."

"You see, no one has ever seen you as happy as you've been in the last two weeks. But let me warn you. "

"Warn me? About what?"

She looked terribly embarrassed and Carson didn't like it.

"Mr. Carson, I'm not going to beat about the bush. Mrs. Hughes is a respectable woman in an important position, and you are also the head of a great house to which you are a credit. I don't want to interfere, but please be careful. You know as well as I do what a single woman who is knocked up becomes. Take care of yourself."

He didn't do her the affront of making her think he didn't understand what she was telling him. He nodded, simply, and she needed no more. She retired to her office and left Carson thinking.

How on earth could he have been so stupid? He knew that one day he would ask Elsie to be his wife, but she had told him that she wanted to be his mistress, and if he was honest with himself that suited him. There was no need to leave his job to work in the fields or the factory. All they had to do was be discreet and careful.

They knew how to do that. Discretion was part of their duties and part of being a good butler and housekeeper. Elsie knew the rooms, the alcoves, the places where they could meet without anyone noticing.

In his defence, since that moment under the tree, since she had told him she loved him, that she had given herself to him, he had found it difficult to think properly about the consequences of their actions. And in their letters they became bolder and bolder, expressing their desire to see each other, to touch each other. And Charles was so excited about it that he had forgotten the risk they were taking.

Yes, Elsie might get pregnant and if she did, they would get married, of course. But then they would both have to quit their jobs and what would they have?

But Elsie bearing his child, a curly-haired, blue-eyed baby with a dimpled chin... No, as much as he liked the idea, it was too late for him. He was going to find a way to enjoy being with Elsie, while avoiding accidents.

oOo

Two months later

Dressed in a long overcoat, with the collar turned up, wearing a hat he had more or less borrowed from the florist who delivered flowers in London, Charles was standing in a bad street in London. Where no one knew him, or so he sincerely hoped.

He pushed open the door of the chemist's shop, waited patiently for the customer in front of him to leave, and then he stepped forward and placed three fingers on the counter, the pharmacist gave him a simple nod, walked away to the back of the shop and returned with a box. Charles put down a note, took the box he had bought, slipped it into the inside pocket of his long overcoat, nodded and turned his back on the pharmacist to head for the exit.

"Sir, do you know how to put these on properly?"

Charles turned abruptly and glowered at the merchant, he moved back towards him and whispered.

"Yes, I think I know how these... things work."

"You know, if they're put on wrong they can break and it won't do any good. Here, take the instructions, there are little diagrams to explain. "

Charles snatched it out of his hand, put the paper in the safety of the box and stormed out of the pharmacy.

He was mortified.

oOo

"I mean, Elsie, I can't do that... I'm a man!

"So what? You could be married, your wife could have health problems that won't allow her to get pregnant and as a good husband you'll buy this for her. "

"But... Oh Elsie please don't make me do this!"

"Oh come on Samuel, you're being ridiculous. You're forty-three, you can walk into a chemist's shop, hand over a piece of paper can't you? "

"So can you, and yet you don't."

"But I'm the housekeeper, I'm known, whether it's Downton or Thirsk or York. I can't risk being seen buying this sort of thing. Please, Samuel."

"Oh damn it Elsie!" He snatched the paper from her hand and left, grumbling.

Four days later he had changed his hair, grown a beard for a few days, put on the coat and cap Elsie had gotten him from a charity centre and went into the chemist's wearing his father's wedding ring to help appearances.

Elsie had written on a piece of paper what she wanted, he handed it to the shop assistant who looked at him, looked at the ring on his left hand and then went to the back of the shop to get the box.

The pharmacist placed the item in a bag.

"I'll put a spermicidal ointment with it and the instructions. " he said, "and tell her to study it carefully before putting it in, otherwise it won't work properly. "

Samuel handed him some coins, took the package and left.

Put it in? Oh dear, he didn't want to know all the details.

He arrived at Downton Abbey two hours later, entered through the servants' door and called Elsie loudly.

When she arrived, he threw the bag at her as if it was on fire and said:

"You owe me one, Hughes!"

And he went out without waiting for an answer.

oOo

My Elsie,

I hope this letter finds you well.

Only three weeks to go before I return. Only three more weeks and I shall hold you to against my heart.

I have to tell you what I did a week ago, I think you will laugh at me and as I like to hear you laugh, I won't blame you.

Thinking about you, about us, I realised the risks we will take when we meet again, when I make love to you. Not wanting to put us in an unfortunate position, I walked to an alleyway frequented by a population far removed from what we are used to, and entered a pharmacy.

Oh dear, I have never been so embarrassed in my life. And yet I have experienced many humiliations, which one day I will take the time to tell you about.

All this to tell you that I bought something to protect us from a possible pregnancy.

Anyway, I feel terribly embarrassed writing all this to you when all I want to do is kiss you and hold you (naked) against me.

I'll see you soon my sweetest.

All yours,

Charles.

Elsie closed the letter, she was torn between admiration for her Charlie for having the courage to walk through the door of a pharmacy to buy her a diaphragm and terrible embarrassment at the thought that he knew how the thing fit and that she would wear it when they met. Admiration won out, after all a man taking on this responsibility was so rare.

She took a pen and paper and wrote her answer.

My Charles,

Two weeks separate me from you, my impatience to see you, to touch you, to be kissed by you, and to kiss you in the same way is so great that I cannot concentrate on my work.

Don't worry, the house will be spotless by the time the family gets back, but according to Mrs. Patmore, I'm like a flea wriggling around.

Darling, I didn't laugh, I sympathised. You see, I've got the same thing myself and I wish I hadn't had to. But now we are ready enough to meet again without fear.

I studied the leaflet and, from the explanatory drawings in it, I had the impression that I had come across some quite inappropriate images. The kind of images that are usually only found in certain places. Please tell me you haven't looked at them and that there will remain some mystery between us?

I am so touched, my darling, that you care about this too. And I thank you with all my heart for going to buy it, even if it must have been even more humiliating for you.

So we will be protected for a long time. I know you won't see me when you read this letter, but I want you to know that I blush when I imagine the pleasure that will be offered to us when we meet again.

Until I find you (naked) in my arms,

All yours,

Elsie

Charles was flabbergasted. It must have been mortifying for Elsie to have to buy condoms at the pharmacy. But what courage this woman had, for God's sake.

He reread the letter quickly and stopped at one specific passage. She had seen the leaflet! She had seen the drawings of an erect male sex. He blushed, the thought that Elsie had imagined herself with him in that state, the thought that it might be her, one day, who would put a condom on him and touch him again as she had done under the big tree...

"Phew!" He sighed as he tried to regain his composure. His body was overreacting to the idea.

He focused again on the cricketers and their big moustaches, his excitement calmed and he was able to get out of his pantry and ask the cook for a cold drink.

It was time he went back to Downton Abbey or he would explode.

TBC…