A.N I'm already reaching the end of the part I had carefully written out, so this is where the real fun begins.
Thank you for reading and extra thanks to my reviewer and story followers!
Sarah didn't have a single opportunity to speak to Lady Grantham again for the next six months, only ever seeing her for the briefest of moments when she was asked to take something up to her room. Somehow she often ended up being the one who brought things to her Ladyship, since none of the other housemaids – who were all younger than she – were too keen on facing the formidable Miss Adams, who considered Lady Grantham's chambers her own and would shoot any intruder a smouldering glare. Sarah on the other hand couldn't care less about her – not since she had found out precisely where her Ladyship's maid disappeared to on her days off, at any rate...
She enjoyed being able to see the Countess of Grantham nearly every week, although being in her presence made her more nervous than she would ever care to admit. Her pulse raced with anticipation whenever she was ordered to go up, and she had to focus so hard to keep her hands from shaking that it was almost miraculous that she managed to walk at all, let alone carry a tray full of china.
Invariably, the moment was almost over before it had even started. Sarah barely had the time to steal a furtive glance at her Ladyship and she was already turning back, without even meeting her gaze, already thinking of the next time she would be allowed to lay eyes on the woman's beautiful face.
Quite irrationally, Sarah kept hoping that one day Lady Grantham might actually notice her. One day, she would bring her tea in her room, as she had been doing every now and then since she had begun working here, but on that day the countess would actually look up at her and she would smile, that sweet smile she had aimed at her on the day they had met in the library and that Sarah hadn't seen on her lips once ever since.
On the rare occasions when she had to make her Ladyship's bed on her own, she would daydream about the countess coming back unexpectedly. Of course, Sarah would have to apologise for letting herself be found in her bedroom. However, instead of being angry, Lady Grantham would want to know how she was settling in and she would even remember her name.
On the day when the head housemaid announced that she would be leaving Downton to work at some house with "better prospects", there was one person who privately relished the news even more than Miss Adams. Sarah, however, knew better than to smile stupidly for everyone to see.
As the rumour would have it, Lily couldn't bear wasting any more of her precious time here knowing that it would be another ten years before any of the girls got married and needed their own lady's maid – and, quite obviously, that Miss Adams clung to the countess like a limpet to a rock.
As it was, the poor girl truly didn't stand a chance. She might have reconsidered, however, if she had been even remotely as well-informed about her rival's private affairs as Sarah was.
Sarah looked at Nancy Adams' smirk, thinking that she who laughed last laughed longest. How stupid the lady's maid was to believe she was untouchable when she had for all practical purposes forfeited her position months ago, at the exact moment when Sarah's gaze had landed on the white envelope sticking carelessly out of her pocket. It had been most satisfying to witness her poorly-hidden fear after her love letter had vanished, knowing that she now had the power to get rid of her in the shake of a lamb's tail.
Sarah had discovered Miss Adams' dirty little secret a mere three weeks after she had begun to work at Downton, and the dream of becoming Cora Crawley's lady's maid, which had taken root in her mind right after their first meeting, had immediately gone from a distant, shapeless hope to a very real possibility. Of course, Sarah would need to be next in line when she used her knowledge to push Adams out, and she had been wondering how long it would take for her to help Lily – cumbersome but none the wiser – to understand that she had hit a brick wall and that it would be in her best interests to resign and kindly get out of Sarah's way.
Now, as she sat at breakfast, looking between the two women, Sarah thought about the long way ahead of her – while she may have taken a step closer to her goal, she would still have to wait for years, be patient and prove herself as a head housemaid. She prayed that nothing unfortunate happened to her or to the puppet who kept her seat warm...
Practicalities of Sarah's daily life didn't change much in the wake of being fast-tracked to head housemaid. At first it even seemed like she had earned herself nothing but the privileges of being personally ordered about by that annoying housekeeper and bossing around the lower-ranking maids in turn. Still, Sarah's dad was very happy with her new situation – the O'Brien family could certainly use the extra money that came their way – and so was Sarah herself... albeit for different reasons altogether.
Every other Thursday for the last six months, she had watched with envy as her Ladyship's maid spent her entire day off God-only-knew-where while Lily was left to cover for her... Now, the mere idea of being the one to spend that much time near Lady Grantham nearly made Sarah's heart spring out of her chest.
She was incredibly nervous on the first day it happened, plagued by irrational fears which had nothing to do whatsoever with Hughes and Adams pestering her with unnecessary advice and warnings. Sarah knew that she was perfectly capable of handling a lady's dressing and undressing, thank you very much. She was no junior housemaid; she had often taken care of the occasional guest who didn't have a maid at her two previous houses and without some haughty lady's maid first laying out the clothes for her too. She was an expert at getting things done, coolly and efficiently; she was impeccably polite and reserved, and she had never had to worry about forgetting her place, if only because it wasn't in her nature to be overly warm and familiar.
That was precisely what worried her so much now.
The flawless professionalism on which she used to pride herself suddenly appeared to her like an ugly fault. It was one thing to dress some faceless stranger who expected just that – getting as perfectly elegant as fast as possible – or even, as Sarah was supposed to do, to act as an acceptable substitute for a lady's personal maid. Getting in the lady's good graces was something else entirely. Sarah was acutely aware of how crucial those few hours every other Thursday would be. They were her long-awaited chance to prove herself, to gain her Ladyship's trust, to make her appreciate her. The problem was that she had absolutely no idea of how she was supposed to go about making herself likeable. She had seen enough of Lady Grantham to realise that the two of them were as alike as water and fire. What if the countess took an instant dislike to her? What if she dismissed her as cold and dull?
Sarah could see Mrs Hughes glancing at her from the corner of her eye as she escorted her down the gallery toward her Ladyship's bedroom. Thank God it was too late for any last minute recommendations, because Sarah would have bet her month's wages that the housekeeper had them in store by the dozen. Mrs Hughes paused right before knocking, eying her critically. It was all Sarah could do to refrain from sighing in exasperation as the white cap on top of her head was straightened up none too gently. The one bright side to all that fussing was that it irked her just enough to keep her from focusing fully on what awaited her beyond that door.