A/N: Okay I didn't get any hate mail and I even got once nice review so here goes with the next chapter. I'm assuming, by the way, that because Mr Bates is still in prison, and Anna keeps losing roomies, that they would be sharing a room. Oh yeah and I'm making it so that Daisy isn't a kitchen maid any more, she got promoted, so now she doesn't lay the fires or get up before everyone else.

They were woken next morning by a sharp rap at the door and a shout from one of the early-rising kitchen maids. Kitty groaned and rolled over so that her face was squished into her pillow. She made a muffled sound and Anna chuckled.

"Not a morning person, then?" she queried. Kitty mumbled something into her pillow that sounded suspiciously like an insult, causing the older woman to laugh again. "C'mon. Up you get."

Groaning some more, Kitty slowly pushed herself to sitting up. She glared across the room at Anna, who was already at the wardrobe, pulling out her morning dress and looking annoyingly cheerful. Kitty eventually managed to dress herself and she was a little more alive by the time they came down for breakfast. That didn't mean she was anymore cheerful.

"Morning," Daisy greeted Kitty cheerfully as she sat down next to Anna. It took Kitty a moment to realise that she was being spoken to and when she did, she merely looked up at Daisy with bleary eyes. There was a chuckle from further down the table and Kitty turned, groggily, to see its source. Everyone else looked too, but from surprise. Surprise because the one who had chuckled was Thomas, standing in the doorway at Mr Carson's end of the table. He was looking genuinely amused.

"Morning, Sunshine," he said, sitting down next to her with a smirk, "Woken up yet?" All Kitty could do was glare at him, as fiercely as she could manage in her present state. Everybody else was still in a state of shock, so nothing further was said.

It was Anna who recovered first – she was just as surprised as everyone else but she figured it probably wasn't bad thing that Thomas was smiling.

"I don't think she's properly said more than two words this morning," she smiled at Kitty, "When she woke up, she grumbled at me into her pillow but I don't think there's much more she can manage." More people laughed this time, Anna and Thomas included.

It seemed for a moment as though Kitty might just recede into her chair, like a tortoise might into its shell. But then she sat up straight and turned her glare to Anna.

"I am perfectly capable of speech, thank you very much. I just don't see the point of articulating meaningless greetings and phrases, when all anyone really needs to say at this time in the morning are the bare necessities. In fact, until I've had a cup of tea, all I have just said is completely wasted breath. It was used merely to prove a point, not to convey any sort of important information. So there," Kitty then, rather childishly, stuck her tongue out at Anna. The whole table erupted into laughter and applauded, until Mrs Hughes walked in. At which point, the sound in the room returned to quiet morning chatter.

Soon, a cup of tea was placed in front of Kitty and she managed to hold conversation with Anna for a while. When Lady Mary's bell rang, Anna had to leave to see to her. Deciding she actually wanted conversation now, Kitty turned to Thomas. Who, she discovered, was sitting pleasantly close.

"See? Cup of tea and I'm a new person," she toasted her teacup towards him.

He smiled at her. "Did you not sleep well, then?"

"Oh no," Kitty shook her head, "On the contrary, I slept very well. It's the getting up part that I have trouble with."

"I can sympathise with that – I never want to get up, good sleep or bad," he looked at her, seemingly contemplating before deciding to say what was on his mind. "Do you ever have those mornings where you get woken from the nicest dream, and all you want to do is get back to it?"

"But you never can?" Kitty supplied sympathetically, "All the time. Although, not this morning. I slept so well last night that I didn't even dream once."

"First day tiredness," he grinned, "I had one of those experiences this morning, you know. Got woken up from the best dream I've had in a long time."

"Oh really? What was it about?" her curiosity was piqued – what kind of dream would be the best for such a man? – but before he could answer, Lord Grantham's bell rang and Thomas stood up.

"Maybe I'll tell you one day," he was very serious and, for a moment, Kitty thought he might say something else. Then his face split into a grin and he said, playfully, "If we ever had the time in such a busy house, that is. See you later, Kitty. Enjoy your first full day."

"Thank you, Thomas. Good-bye." She watched him as he took the servant's stair two at a time, thinking.

Every conversation she had had with Thomas flatly denied any words of caution that had been given to her. For one thing, he had not said one word against her in her short time here. Granted, she had only had three proper conversations with him, but Anna had said last night that he was usually nasty straight off the bat, to affirm his stance to any new-comers. So why hadn't he been like that with her?

And there was another thing too. Mrs Hughes had said that he wasn't one for the ladies. Kitty was not a naïve young woman and she knew exactly what that meant. So how to explain the obvious physical attraction between them? Surely it couldn't just be her, could it? She had noticed at breakfast that he had actually moved towards her slightly as they were talking. And yesterday, they had been standing very close as they talked – a fact she hadn't noticed until she talked with others afterwards, who she had stood much father apart with. She reasoned with herself that she didn't have time to think about it now; she was far too busy.

Soon she forgot all about it because she was racing about the place, trying to complete all her duties. She met most other members of the family throughout the day and they were all very kind to her.

At the end of the day, she nearly fell asleep getting into her nightdress and could only give Anna short answers to her questions. She had enough energy to worry that she might be offending Anna but an amused chuckle after one of her mumbled answers was enough to quell that. Just as well; she probably didn't have enough energy to even attempt to apologise.