Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters and I certainly do not obtain any economic benefit out of them.

Chapter 1

"Hello? Beryl?" Elsie called out through the door that was ajar, peering into the shadowed hallway when there were no replies to the doorbell which she had already tried several times over.

"Coming right through!" Beryl's voice sounded from somewhere close to the kitchen and hurried footsteps approached the door. "Good morning sweetheart," Beryl smiled opening door for Elsie, almost breathless from having to hurry.

"Good morning!" Elsie greeted entering and paused to look around the house while Beryl closed the door behind her. "Bloody hell, this is a mess!" Elsie exclaimed eyeing the large packages piled on the coffee table, on chairs and even on the floor of the living room.

"It jolly well is," Beryl muttered stepping to Elsie's side. "I've been up almost all night getting it all together."

"It's a big job? This one?" Elsie asked turning towards Beryl.

"Oh yes! Very big! And if I can pull this off successfully I'll be absolutely famous!" Beryl chuckled making her way through the hall to the kitchen. "Careful lass. You are treading through my reputation!" she laughed glancing back at Elsie who was following her, making her way carefully through the large packages and boxes.

Elsie rolled her eyes and muttered, "As if!"

Beryl put the kettle on and Elsie took a seat at the kitchen table and eyed the mass of covered trays upon it.

"Where's Daisy?" Elsie asked, fiddling with a ball point pen that was lying on the table while watching Beryl make the tea.

"Sent her to bed a couple of hours ago," Beryl replied adding tea leaves to the pot. "Sugar?" she asked, turning her head towards Elsie.

"No thanks. Poor girl must be exhausted," Elsie commented accepting an empty tea cup and saucer from Beryl and held them in her hands till Beryl cleared a place on the table for her to set it down on.

"I'm exhausted! Daisy does some of the work but I'm the one who has to do most of the work and help up with the messes she makes as well and on top of all that Ivy is ill, so my 'sort-of-helper' is gone too!" Beryl retorted pouring the tea into Elsie's cup from the tea pot.

"Daisy's much better at it now, I think. From what I've seen. She'll make you proud of her one day, I know it."

"She's good, I'll not deny that but that girl has her head too far among the clouds and far too clumsy for me to believe that she's actually my daughter sometimes!" Beryl said clearing a place for herself on the table and pouring the tea.

Elsie laughed at that and took a sip of tea. She sighed deeply as the warm, soothing liquid hit her throat.

"You're just saying that to appear unsentimental. So what's this event by the way?" Elsie asked as she placed her cup on the saucer.

"A charity dinner. A fancy one at that too. Not exactly a conventional but fancy nonetheless. Ever heard of Isobel Crawley?"

"No. Doesn't ring a bell. You know I'm not familiar with the county celebrities as much as you are."

"She owns a private hospital, used to be her late husband's. The big one on the main street."

"Oh that one!" Elsie exclaimed, realisation dawning upon her. "Never knew who owned that really."

"Surely you must be familiar with those people given your line of work."

"Never came across this one."

"You must know the Crawley family," Beryl added taking a sip. "I need a biscuit. You want one?" Beryl got up from her seat.

"Yes, thank you," Elsie nodded. "Yeah heard of them. You mean Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham's family right?"

"Yep. Ever met them?" Beryl asked returning with a jar of biscuits. Holding the jar out to Elsie she asked, "You know, ever organised an event for them? Or met them at something you've organised."

"I've heard of them. Seen him with his wife at something or the other a couple of times. But I don't actually know them," Elsie replied taking a biscuit out of the jar.

"Well, this Mrs Isobel Crawley's son is to marry his eldest daughter," Beryl said munching her biscuit.

"My, my," Elsie raised her eyebrows. "So she's one of those toffee nosed, high and mighty types?"

"Fun fact, not at all. She's very down to earth. I heard they are related in some long drawn distant way."

"That's a surprise!" Elsie laughed finishing her biscuit and taking a sip of her tea.

"So this Mrs Crawley does a lot of charity work and I'm catering for one of her dinners this time. It's a big job Elsie. If I can pull this off, I might be able to get a lot of high end contacts," Beryl finished her cup of tea and leaned back in her chair.

"You will dear. You are the most brilliant cook I've ever met, even if not the one with the best temper or the best sense of humour," Elsie giggled and bit her bottom lip as Beryl scowled.

"My sense of humour is in excellent shape I can assure you. And as for my temper, there's the pot calling the kettle black. Your temper is worse than mine, Mary bloody Queen of Scots!" Beryl folded her arms in front of her and scowled again.

"That's probably right," Elsie chuckled. "But you have to become a tyrant if you want to be an events planner."

"Well, I bet you didn't become a tyrant. You were probably born one!"

"That my dear is you. So what kind of charity event is this?" Elsie finished her tea and asked.

"A dinner as I said, but it sounds fun. They haven't got real waiters. It's just people from their circle who have volunteered. Stuff that you read about in posh magazines," Beryl said, reaching for the tea pot. "Another?"

"Sure, thanks. Nothing like getting drunk on tea," Elsie remarked and they both laughed together. When the laughter subsided Elsie added, "I've organised a few like that myself. They usually don't go smoothly because the waiters-for-the-day sometimes mess things up."

"How so?" Beryl poured another cup of tea.

"In all the million ways it could go wrong!"

"You mean like spilling ice cold water onto laps?" Beryl giggled.

"That is a minor example," Elsie quirked an eyebrow.

"I'm sure Mrs Crawley would have given them the prep talk a hundred times over. She's that enthusiastic I can tell you. Reminds me of someone I know," Beryl hid her giggles by bringing the tea cup to her lips.

"Don't you start!" Elsie rolled her eyes and huffed.

"Good morning," a sleepy voice called out from the kitchen doorway.

"Good morning love! Breakfast?" Beryl tilted her head to look at Daisy who stood by the door in her pyjamas, rubbing her left eye with the back of her hand. Her hair tied on top of her head, messy from her sleep.

"Yeah. Some toast would be nice," Daisy replied stepping towards the kitchen table.

"Hi Aunty Elsie," Daisy greeted, pulling out a chair from the table to sit down. "I'm sorry I just got up. Looks a right mess now."

"That's alright my dear. Beryl said you did a good job," Elsie smiled and patted Daisy's hand that lay on the edge of the table.

Daisy smiled shyly at Elsie, "She's being polite because you're here. Or else she'd be biting my head off for coming downstairs without getting properly dressed."

"I would, even now. I'm just holding back because you're tired. Elsie knows my colourful language, don't you worry miss. And I'd be dragging you up by the ear if you don't get ready by the time we have to leave!" Beryl said while cutting the bread for the toast.

"It's better now. Mom's incorrigible when she's busy," Daisy leant towards Elsie and whispered.

"Don't we all know it," Elsie whispered back, with a smirk.

"I may have got the cataract operation done, but my ears work still fine!" Beryl warned turning around and pointing the bread knife at both of them causing both Elsie and Daisy to erupt into giggles.

"You're sure you have to come Daisy? You look as if you could do with a few more hours of sleep," Elsie said, eyeing the dark circles around Daisy's eyes.

"Yeah I certainly could do with a couple more hours. On top of everything Ivy got ill," Daisy said stifling a yawn.

"Beryl mentioned it. It must have been hard to get it done between the two of you."

"Bloody nightmare it was!" Beryl chimed in.

"I don't think she's really ill. She's just taking the day off probably to go on a date. Otherwise why is both Alfred and Jimmy not here too? Probably fooling around with one of them," Daisy frowned and crossed her hands in front of her.

"Jimmy?" Elsie questioned, not very familiar with who was being referred to.

"My new delivery guy. Got him to help out Alfred. But looks like he's helping out Ivy more," Beryl turned back to the table with a plate of toast.

"She's fooling around with Jimmy and what's more she's stringing on Alfred as well!" Daisy reached for the toast, a scowl upon her face.

"So you are getting jealous young lady?" Beryl grunted with a lop-sided smile on her face. She offered the plate to Elsie, "Elsie? Want some toast?"

"No thank you Beryl. I had breakfast before I came," Elsie shook her head and declined with a polite smile.

"I'm not jealous. Just… it doesn't seem fair on Alfred. She doesn't love him you know. Just pretends to do so," Daisy said nibbling on the end of her piece of toast. She leaned back on her chair and frowned at Beryl, muttering under her breath, "Jealous? Really?"

"And besides Alfred took the day off weeks early 'cause he's got a cookery exam. I don't know what the hell has happened to Jimmy. He's not answering his bloody phone and he'll have another thing coming the very next day he steps foot on my doorstep," Beryl burst out.

"A cookery exam?" Elsie asked, quite amused.

"Yeah. He's trying to become a Chef. It's at the Ritz too, fancy that?" Beryl's eyes glistened with traces of what Elsie saw to be pride.

"He'll get through. If you're the one to train him," Elsie smiled and patted her hand.

But Daisy couldn't help herself, the green eyed monster creeping back into her veins. "He's heart-broken you know," she said popping the last bit of her piece of toast and reaching for the serviette on Beryl's hand to wipe some of the crumbs off her hand. "He's heart-broken because of her. He almost gave everything up because of that slut."

"Daisy!" Beryl raised her eyebrows in horror and glared at her daughter.

"What? That's what she is. Shagging every good looking guy she can lay her eyes on and stringing the rest of them behind her just for the fun of it," Daisy shrugged.

"Now listen here…" Beryl began, quite mortified by Daisy's behaviour in front of Elsie.

Sensing the tense situation that was multiplying in leaps and bounds, Elsie interfered, "Beryl... uh… should we take the utensils, the dishes and sorts to Mrs Crawley's first or is it the food?"

Beryl thought for a second, her mind completely returning from the argument that was simmering between mother and daughter back to the catering. "Uh… the desert and some of pre-prepared starters first. I'd like to send in them earlier, it's safe that way. Then we can slowly move the rest of it. Alfred said he's coming back anyway after his exam so he can help out when it comes for food later on in the evening."

"Right. Uh… at what time should we get a move on?" Elsie checked her watch and looked up at her friend, her bottom lip involuntarily coming between her teeth.

"It's around nine now is it?" Beryl squinted and leant a bit forward to peep at her friend's watch. But turned back at the clock in the kitchen unable to read the time form the tiny dial of Elsie's watch.

"8.40 am," Elsie replied.

"Yeah okay. So 9.30?"

"Alright," Elsie smiled.

"Thank you so much for this Elsie. This is such a great help for me," Beryl smiled, reached out and squeezed Elsie's hand.

"No problem dear. That's what friends are for," Elsie smiled back. "Now what about you have a nice shower and get dressed?"

"Yeah I probably should. Don't want to get late," Beryl stood up from her chair and asked her daughter. "You could make yourself some eggs, could you Daisy?"

"Yep," Daisy nodded. "I don't have to come, do I?" she asked looking at Beryl and then at Elsie with wide yet tired eyes.

"No dear, we can manage. You have a nice, long rest," Elsie smiled and the young girl and playfully patted her cheek causing Daisy to giggle.

"You're spoiling her," Beryl mock glared at Elsie, a rather mischievous tone in her voice and Elsie rolled her eyes, while Daisy stuck her tongue out at Beryl, which the latter did not notice.

To be continued…

This is my first time writing a modern day AU and I'm rather nervous about it. Hope you liked it! I'd be very grateful if you could let me know your thoughts about this chapter in the reviews. See you soon with a new chapter! Thanks again!