Thomas must have re-read that telegram a thousand times by now. When he first saw it, he couldn't beleive it. The telegram didn't give much away of course, it didn't answer the questions that had been burning in his mind for months now, but he would be seeing him soon. When the sun sets today, he would see him. Thomas was still worried that Richard was only gonna meet with him to put him out of his misery, but as the sun rose in the morning, he had felt something he hasn't felt in a long time. Hope. He looked down at the telegram that was sitting on his desk again, and smiled.
Throughout the day, he had been trying to do as much as possible to try and distract himself from every thought, the good and the bad ones, that were floating around in his mind still. It was odd because one moment, he'd feel full of happiness, like everything was possible. Then the next he'd feel terrible, wondering how he was gonna cope with any bad news. By the time the evening was approaching, and all the the staff were sitting down to their evening meal, Thomas didn't feel like eating anything. Mrs Hughes and Miss Baxter were the only ones who knew the contents of the telegram, since they had been kind enough to help him through this, and because he felt he could trust them, he'd shown them the message. Mrs Hughes gave him an encouraging smile and told him to eat something, or he will feel hungry later on. He ate, but only for the sake of it.
Immidiately after dinner had finished, Thomas rushed out to grab his coat and hat from his room. He checked his pocket watch, the golden one that Richard had brought for him from Selfridges in London on their last trip away together. He hadn't felt like wearing it recently, it reminded Thomas too much of Richard and, although he cherished the memories of their time together, during those darkest moments, even those happy memories were too much. "You off then?" Miss Baxter said to Thomas, as he came down the stairs. By the look on her face, she must have sensed his unease at dinner.
"Yeah," Thomas said, not managing to say much else.
"It will be fine, take a deep breath. He wouldn't come all this way if he didn't still care about you," Miss Baxter said, glancing at the gold pocket watch in Thomas' hand. He'd never mentioned where that had come from, but he held it so tenderly, she guessed it was a gift from Richard at some point. Thomas smiled, trying to look confident. "Now go, you don't want to keep him waiting."
Thomas sat on the same bench he had sat on only a few days ago, when he had taken his razor blade with him. How things can change with only a little time, he thought, smiling in victory at knowing that the blade was lying somewhere on the bottom of the river bed. The sun had just fallen below the horizon. He had sat there for ages watching it, the golden semicircle of red and yellow getting lower and lower, until only a pinprick of light remained for a moment, until that finally disappeared too, leaving an orange glow in its wake. Despite it being a cold November evening, the birds tweeting around him made it feel more like spring. A blackbird landed on a branch in front of him near the river, tweeting tunefully, until its partner landed next to it. They sat there for a while tweeting to each other before flying off towards the woods together.
Richard stood in the small gathering of trees behind the seat that Thomas was sitting on near the river. He wasn't sure why he was just standing there watching him. It had been so long and he just liked to see him, to appreciate him being there for a moment. He was nervous. He didn't get nervous that often, he knew Thomas saw him as the confident one, most people saw him that way really. But there was the one person he had been desperate to see for a long time now, just sitting there. The soft but cold breeze hitting his face reminded him that this wasn't a dream, it was real.
Thomas had been watching the world around him fade into the stillness of night for a while now, that he'd almost forgotten why he was sitting here in the first place. Almost, but not quite, as a crunch of leaves behind him, reminded him, and he woke from his little daydream. He looked up, but didn't turn around, as footsteps came closer. He closed his eyes and held his breath. Yes it was, he thought, those footsteps of that man, he'd know anywhere. He still hadn't turned his head, when the footsteps stopped next to him and the wooden seat he was on flexed a little, as he sat down next to Thomas. Thomas then turned to his right and smiled. Richard.
Richard didn't say anything as Thomas turned to face him. God he had missed him, he thought. He had missed his face and his smile. His real smile, that was meant only for him, and the way it made his eyes light up. It was still daylight though getting dimmer by the second. Still neither of them spoke, each of them not able to take their eyes of the other. Thomas made the first move by gently taking Richard's hand, whilst looking into Richard's eyes asking him silently, Is this still what you want? and Richard answering by moving in closer to Thomas, squeezing his hand before kissing him gently, Yes it is. Thomas pulled back after that moment, and looked to his side down the path that led to the village green, where he could still hear the sounds of the village in the evening. "Let's go somewhere," he said, turning back to Richard.
They walked up the path away from the village, towards the edge of the woods where they had sat down together before, a few years ago. They walked side by side for the first part of the way, but as they got further away from the village and more out on their own, Thomas took Richard's hand again, the sky getting darker around them. They walked up a steeper slope towards the edge of the woods, and then further in, so they were amongst the trees a little, but not so much that they were in amongst the darker shadows the trees provided. Here they stopped, underneath several tall evergreen trees. They stood there a moment in the silence, until with what felt like a rush of energy, they each pulled the other into a tight embrace. Thomas wrapped his arms around Richard's waist, Richard doing likewise to Thomas. "I've missed you so much," Thomas said when he managed to control his beating heart enough so that he could hear the sound of his own voice.
"I'm so sorry Thomas," Richard said, "I didn't mean to cause you any pain. I love you. I always will," They kissed. Frantic chaotic kisses at first, making up for the unbearable time they had been forced to spend apart, before falling into their calmer and gentler rhythm that they'd known before. They stay like this for ages, until they are alone in the dark, that protects them once again. Each discovering the other again, finding their footing again in their complicated but absolutely worth it, relationship. Thomas ran his fingers through the hair on the back of Richard's head, taking in everything about him that he was so scared of losing forever. Richard, drank in the taste of Thomas' lips and tongue, he's had whisky before coming to meet him, he thought. He could feel the chain from the pendant he gave Thomas after their first kiss around Thomas' neck under his shirt. After a while, they sat down at the base of a tree, it was a bit damp on the ground underneath, but neither of them seemed to either notice or care.
"Were you okay?" Thomas said after a while, not letting go of Richard for a second.
Richard sighed, "I got into trouble. I was stupid. My mother said to me to be careful, that love makes us do stupid things. I left a letter from you out on the table. Long story short, some bastard tried to blackmail me. It's over now though, he won't bother us again." Richard laughed a little, in spite of himself, when he saw the look of shock flash over Thomas' face when he said that last sentence. "Nothing sinister like that, I promise. The man is still breathing if that what you're thinking." Thomas laughed, and kissed the side of Richard's head gently. "But I don't want to talk about him right now, I will tell you everything that happened another time. I don't have much time here."
"What do you mean?" Thomas asked, concerned.
"Only that well, technically I don't have this time officially off work. I got the afternoon and evening off, but I have to be back at the palace tomorrow morning. I mean, tonight really. But I doubt the king would need his valet in the middle of the night, so I doubt I'll be missed. I caught the earliest train I could to get up here, and I have to get a night train to get back to London for the morning. I suppose I could have telephoned you from Izzie's place to tell you all this but, I had to see you myself. I needed to know you were okay. Are you okay Thomas?"
"I wasn't, I was a mess to be honest Richard. But I'm okay now. I was worried about you, but I'm okay now. We're okay?"
"Yeah, we're okay," Richard said whilst he smiled, and kissed Thomas again for a while longer. "I will have to go soon, but I will have some time free at the end of the year just after christmas. I will come and see you then, and we can spend some proper time together. I would come sooner, but I have to let things smooth over a bit at the palace. As you can imagine, the servants talk about nothing else and my blackmailer spread several unwelcome rumours about me. I need to let them fade a bit before I come and see you. But I promise that I will."
Thomas nodded, he didn't want Richard to leave his side ever again, but he understood the reasons why. They were sensible. Besides, he had a date when he'd see him again. "Make sure you sleep on the train a bit darling, don't want you to dress his majesty back to front or anything."
Richard laughed, "I will promise I'll try." They really were okay. They just fell back into how they were before all this trouble. It's just so natural between them both, so normal, Richard thought.
Later on back at Downton, Thomas looked out the window of his room at the cold and clear night sky. He smiled and despite having to wait a month or so to see Richard again, he felt good. He was doubtful that he'd sleep at all, but only because he was bursting to tell someone about how fantastic everything is and that Richard and him were okay. However, Thomas slept peacefully, for the first time in months, the recent kisses from Richard Ellis still fresh on his lips.
Note: I know some people have been desperately waiting for Thomas and Richard to see each other again, so I hope this helps. This story is far from over, but is gonna get even more cute from now on. You have been warned! ;)Also, thanks for those lovely reviews, they really encourage me to write even more!