Mrs. Hughes remained on the floor holding her scissors. Greens blood was on the blades. She stared at those blades completely in shock. Green remained unconscious he did not stir. Elsie slowly crawled over to the chair in the room so that she could pull her self up to stand. She caught sight if herself in the mirror. Her face was bruised. Her lip was swollen and bleeding.

She realised her blouse was ripped. Still holding her scissors she desperately tried to cover herself up by holding her blouse closed. She was a mess. She wiped the tears away from her face with the back of her hand. Elsie was so distraught she could feel the blood pumping so hard she felt it in her head. She could hear Green's words about Charles playing over and over again in her mind.

Elsie heard footsteps of several people coming to the door. Lady Mary came in behind Lord Gillingham and his butler. The men stood watch over Green until the authorities arrived. Lady Mary took her shawl that she had forgotten to take to dinner with her and gently wrapped it around Elsie without saying a word. Elsie took hold of the shawl and hugged it to herself crossing her arms in front of her. Lady Mary put one arm around Elsie's shoulder and the other on the elbow of her other arm and guided her out of the room slowly.

Mary walked Elsie to her room. Guiding her to the bed they both sat down quietly for a few moments. Elsie began sobbing into her hands. Mary put her hand on Elsie's shoulder.

"I just want to go home m'lady... I want Charles..."

Mary gasped to herself upon hearing this. She had her suspicions but now she knew they were true, Carson and Hughes love each other.

"Of course Mrs. Hughes...we will go home as soon as it is possible, I promise."

She sat with Mrs. Hughes a while longer. Eventually Elsie had fallen asleep on the bed and Mary thought it was best to let Elsie sleep . She went back upstairs and watched as the police took Green away from the house.

Mary was in shock, she still couldn't believe what she had walked in on. What if she didn't go up to get her shawl. Mary shuddered at the thought. Upon speaking with Lord Gillingham She thought it was best that they left first thing in the morning. Mary took it upon her self to call Downton and inform them of their early return.

-
The phone rang at Downton and Carson ran to see who it could be calling at this late hour.

Breathing heavy into the phone from his exertion "Downton Abbey, Charles Carson, butler speaking."

"Carson?"

"Lady Mary, wha...is everything alright?"

Carson was nervous, hearing the phone ringing this late in the evening was so unusual.

Lady Mary had built up her nerve to make this phone call but now that she was on the phone with Carson she wasn't sure how to tell him what had happened. She certainly didn't want to risk having the switch board operator over hearing what she was saying. She thought it would be best to be vague but to prepare Carson for what he was going to see when he saw Elsie tomorrow.

"Carson, Mrs. Hughes has been hurt. She is resting now but I think it's best we come home first thing tomorrow morning. Can you please arrange for the car to pick us up at the train station?"

Charles couldn't imagine what could have happened to Elsie.

"M'lady? What has happened, what's wrong?"

" Carson, I think it is best that Mrs. Hughes tells you herself what has happened."

There was a brief silence, Charles understood that Lady Mary didn't want to divulge any information through the phone, but he was worried now more than ever.

"I...understand m'lady, is she going to be alright, do I need to prepare anything for her return home?"

Lady Mary sighed softly into the phone, "She only asked to come home, to you Carson, she wants you..."He didn't respond but he was becoming sick with worry. "We will see you in the morning then. Don't worry, Carson...I'll take care of her."

Carson hung up the phone but kept his hand on the receiver and pondered the words Mary had said to him. What on earth could have happened. The conversation he had with Elsie earlier came rushing back to Charles.

Safe and sound...I knew it...I knew something was wrong when she called..Damn it why didn't I push her to tell me more...these secrets..all these Damn secrets. Why won't she trust me? Charles was furious now. He ran his hand through his hair rubbing his neck. He was angry with himself for not pressing her to tell him. He thought maybe if he used his authority his position in the house he could have forced her to tell him what was wrong. That wasn't Charles' way, though...not with Elsie, he loved her too much to to that. He respected her. Charles went back to his room but sleep did not come to him. He lie awake till sunrise thinking of Elsie and these feelings he had for her, worried sick about what could have happened to her.

Elsie woke up to the sun rising. She still had the shawl wrapped around her when she slowly started remembering what had happened.

Her jaw was soar and her lip was swollen and split where he had hit her. There was dried blood that had dripped from her lip down to her chin. She slowly rose from the bed and looked at herself in the mirror...her hair was a mess...her blouse was ripped and her face was bruised and her lip was cut. Elsie touched her jaw and winced in pain. She ran her fingers through her hair.
She ran her hands down her neck settling them on the ripped material of her blouse. Elsie's emotions began to stir with in her. She was angry and sad. Elsie did what she always did; she pushed these emotions down deep inside and began readying herself. Redirecting her angry energy, Elsie began readying herself to go home. What will Charles say when he sees me. I have no choice now but to tell him about Anna and what happened here, and removed her clothing and began washing up. She saw the bruises on her arms from where Green had grabbed her and a bruise on her hip from falling to the ground when he hit her. The scene replayed over and over in her mind but she did not cry.

There was a knock on the door. Elsie walked over to it and rested her hand on the knob. Turning it slowly she peaked first to see who it was. She saw Emma and Monica were at her door holding a tray of tea. They were surprised to see Elsie completely ready. Elsie let them in. " We thought you might want to take your breakfast in your room this morning while you got yourself ready to leave?" Monica busied her self settling the tray down and took it upon her self to collect Elsie's things and begin packing them away. Emma stood in front of Elsie with her hands folded in front of her wringing her fingers in a nervous manner. "Elsie, I took the liberty of getting Lady Mary's things ready last night and this morning so you could rest. There is no need to worry about anyone but yourself this morning." Elsie smiled slightly and nodded her head in thanks to Emma. Monica had made her way to stand next to Emma and looked down at the floor. Elsie was feeling unsettled and spoke, "Is...he gone?" Monica looked up at Elsie and responded softly holding back tears "Yes, he is gone Mrs. Hughes, he can't hurt us anymore." Elsie tried to speak but she was trying to keep her emotions in control. Elsie reached out to Monica and placed her hand on her arm giving it a gentle squeeze. The women left the room leaving Elsie alone with her thoughts again. Green will now pay for what he did to Anna and Monica and for hurting Elsie. Maybe now they can all find a way to move on.

-
The train ride home for the ladies seemed to take ages. Lady Mary kept her promise to Carson and did what she could to take care if Elsie. Mary bought a first class ticket for Elsie to ride with her so she wasn't alone. Elsie, protested at this but Lady Mary explained, "I promised Carson I would take care of you and I plan on keeping my promise Mrs. Hughes."

Elsie asked Lady Mary "What did you tell him happened m'lady, does he know?" Elsie was worried about Charles and what his reaction might be.

"I told him that you were hurt and that we would be home this morning. He had asked me to tell him more but I thought it best that he heard from you ."

They sat on the train in silence thinking about the events of the previous day. Elsie tried to think of how she would tell Charles about Anna and what had happened to her at Cotswold . They were both eager to get home and get back to their lives at Downton.

As the car pulled up to the Abbey, Elsie' heart began to race. She could see Charles standing at attention at the door.
The car came to a stop and Jimmy proceeded to open the car door for Lady Mary, and Mr. Carson extended his hand out for her to take she could climb out. Lady Mary whispered as she exited the car. "Be patient with her, Carson..." and walked into the Abbey through the front door.

TBC...

To those of you still reading, I thank you so much for sticking with me and reviewing. You ate all too kind! Thanks buddies :-)