A/N: Not sure how much I like this story anymore but I did feel I had to involve some more of the servants so here we are.
Mrs Hughes was sitting at her desk, going over some receipts, when there was a soft knock at her door. She called out for whoever it was to come in and the door opened to reveal Downton's butler.
"Ah, Mr Carson."
"Mrs Hughes," he nodded, shutting the door behind him. When he turned back to her, Mrs Hughes saw for the first time the grave expression on his face.
"Whatever's the matter, Mr Carson? You look as though there's been a murder!" she exclaimed.
Moving to sit down, Mr Carson began, face still grave. "It's...well, it's Thomas."
"Ah," Mrs Hughes nodded. She had been wondering when this conversation might happen.
"Well I won't insult you by asking if you've noticed the interactions between Kitty and Thomas. A blind man would notice it, let alone a sharp-eyed housekeeper."
"I thank you for that, Mr Carson," she replied, "but what you really want to talk about is the possible consequences of these 'interactions'; be they good or bad."
"Yes," he agreed, "On the one hand, Thomas is changing for the better and I have no complaints there. But..."
"But, indeed. But what if they have a fight? What if she breaks it off with him and he doesn't like it? Do we suffer for it?" she shook her head, "Do we even know if any of this is genuine? Will she get hurt?"
"I think you'll agree with me that there are too many uncertainties there, Mrs Hughes," he looked at her, "You've brought up all of my concerns and some. So what do we do?"
Mrs Hughes held up her palms in a half-shrug. "At the moment, we have no real reason to step in. All we can do is keep an eye on the pair of them. I've already spoken to her a few times but I don't know how to approach him. And no offence Mr Carson, but you wouldn't be the best person for that job."
Mr Carson laughed shortly. "No offence taken; I quite agree. Thomas and I are not on good terms. And despite his apparent change in temper, I shouldn't imagine he'll take kindly to my interfering."
"So who do we ask?"
Just then there was a knock at the door and when Mrs Hughes bid them to come in, Miss O'Brien opened the door.
"Mrs Hughes. Mr Carson," she nodded to each in turn.
"What's the matter, Miss O'Brien?" Mrs Hughes asked.
"Well, it's just...I know it's not my place but I wanted to bring up the topic of Thomas and Kitty..."
Mrs Hughes and Mr Carson shared a significant look before she turned back to the lady's maid.
"Come in and sit down, Miss O'Brien. We wanted to talk to you about that, actually..."
It felt like forever since Miss O'Brien had last gone out into the courtyard with Thomas to discuss whatever plan they had going, under the pretence of smoking. And, she supposed, that wasn't really what they were doing, even now. She was concerned for him, under the pretence of nosily snooping. Thomas could tell what she wanted to talk about, even as she asked him to join her for a smoke, but he didn't instigate the conversation. He just waited for her to start. After a few moments of heavy silence, she did.
"Are you going to tell me what's going on then?"
"Going on? What do you mean?" he took a drag from the cigarette, knowing exactly what she meant. But he didn't want to talk about it unless she completely spelled it out. And even then, he didn't plan to tell her much.
"Do I have to say it?"
"Yes."
She glared at his smirk at he took another drag on the cigarette.
"Alright," she snapped, "You and Kitty – what's that all about?"
"Well you're a woman of the world, Miss O'Brien. I'm sure you know what attentions of a man to a woman are all about," he replied, much to Miss O'Brien's frustration.
"Well maybe, but it's not about the birds and the bees with you, is it? People don't just change their ways all of a sudden like that, do they?" she spoke in a low tone but her voice was still fierce, "So what's going on? Have you got some plan going that I don't know about?"
"You're right, of course," he dropped his cigarette and squashed it with his foot. Miss O'Brien gave a self-satisfied smile for a moment but then he turned to her with an angry gleam in his eye and the smile disappeared. "It's not just about the birds and the bees. Because I care about Kitty. And if that's so hard for you to believe, then I'm very sorry and more than a little sad. I thought maybe you had more faith in me than the rest of the world, but apparently not." And with that, he stormed back inside.
Mrs Hughes stared at him as he passed her where she stood in the doorway of her sitting room. Looking back at the door to the courtyard, she was met with by a disbelieving and slightly struck look from Miss O'Brien.
Kitty smiled up at Thomas as he came to sit next to her but her smile quickly faded when she saw the storm clouds gathering across his face. Forehead wrinkling with concern, she reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"What is it?" she asked. He turned to her and immediately his expression softened.
"Nothing," he smiled reassuringly, "Just got a bit wound up over some misplaced concern."
Kitty was in no way satisfied with this answer but she didn't press it. She simply turned the conversation to a lighter topic. But she didn't miss Thomas's glance across the table at Miss O'Brien as the lady's maid sat down. Nor did she miss it when the woman met the housekeeper's eyes and shook her head slightly.
Every now and then, throughout the remainder of the day, Kitty caught a flash of anger in Thomas's face when he thought she wasn't looking. Suspicions thoroughly aroused by the time it came to retire, Kitty bid him a goodnight before heading to the housekeeper's office. The door was open when she got there but the occupants of the room didn't notice as she stood in the doorway, arms folded across her chest. The conversation continued and Kitty looked on, listening.
"He really said that?" Mrs Hughes asked the other woman in the room disbelievingly.
"I'm not making it up, you know," Miss O'Brien replied haughtily.
"We were not suggesting that you were, Miss O'Brien," Mr Carson cut in, "But you can understand our disbelief."
"Your disbelief?" the lady's maid scoffed, "I wasn't sure I hadn't just imagined it! Thomas – having feelings for a woman?"
Kitty had heard enough. While she was pleased to hear what Thomas had said about her to others, she was also very annoyed at them all for being so mistrusting and for thinking her incapable of looking after herself.
"Well," she said loudly, causing everyone in the room to spin and face her, "at least I know now why he looked like he could've killed someone all evening." And with that she spun on her heel and quickly headed to her room. She didn't stop to see the looks exchanged in the housekeeper's sitting room, but she did hear Mrs Hughes's quiet statement and was gratified to hear shame in her tone.
"Oh dear."