A/N: Back to the main timeline. It's Charles's turn to break the news to someone. And no, it doesn't go well.

Every hour, he woke up. Two o'clock. Three.

Charles did sleep for a while, but when he woke again at a quarter to five, he gave up and got up from the couch. He moved quietly around the kitchen, praying that Alice would sleep late.

You can't avoid her forever. Elsie's gone to Lexington to tell Becky and Adam. If she can face them, you can face Alice.

You have no choice. The papers are filed.

If only he had had the courage to divorce her fifteen years ago. Or even five.

It would not have been nearly as daunting as now.

You'll pay for it today.

He was under no illusions; he was not so obtuse as to think Alice would take it any other way than badly. Just be direct with her – you're getting divorced, and Elsie's carrying your child. The fewer words, the better.

It wasn't out of a sense of torturing his soon-to-be ex-wife of nearly thirty years to tell her about the baby. He just knew how news worked in town; once it was out, it would spread like wildfire. And he did not want Alice to find out from someone else.

I don't want her thinking I was trying to hide the truth from her.

He shook his head as the coffee percolated. If he had told the truth years ago, they wouldn't be in this situation.

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The clock ticked on and on.

She didn't move. Her eyesight was frozen on the wall behind him.

"Alice?" he said quietly, hesitating. He reached for her – to make sure she was breathing?

She did move then. "Don't touch me," she whispered, leaning away. She crossed her arms over her body, hugging herself. They sat for another minute. He heard the distant sound of a coal truck heading up the mountain, its engine churning with the weight of its load.

"I'm sorry," he repeated, not knowing what else to say. "For not working harder at the beginning of our marriage. I take responsibility for it. I should have told you I was unhappy."

You would not have listened. I know. I've been all but screaming it for years. It was obvious to everyone except you.

He ran a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry for the pain I've caused you. It-well, I never intended for this to happen. Neither Elsie nor I did." She flinched when he said her name. "But you and I, we're finished," he said quietly. "You've made it clear you want things to go on the way they have been, but-" he swallowed, looking directly at her, though she wasn't looking back-"-I can't live like this anymore. You'll get the house, of course, it was your grandfather's. And I'm willing to pay alimony. We'll leave the details to the lawyers. For later." He sighed, leaning back on the couch. "I'm moving out today. You won't have to see me."

"Where will you stay?" she croaked. She still sounded like she was in shock.

He blew air out through his mouth. "The cabin."

"The cabin," she mocked, in a bitter voice. Her mouth twisted into a cold smile. "Of course…your love nest." Her eyes flickered up to his. He looked away from her, out the window, and her heart cracked. "That's where you took her, isn't it? You and your red-haired mistress in that broken down shack, probably making love on an old mattress on the floor-what kind of woman goes for that? A cheap one!" she shouted. Her face was red. She stood up, clenching her fists. "A damned slut-no, a mattress was probably too good for her, I'm sure you had her against the wall-"

"STOP," he thundered, getting to his feet as well. He took a deep breath and flexed his fingers, trying to stay calm. "You know nothing, nothing, about Elsie, about us! You're angry, and I don't blame you for that, but there's nothing you can do to change it now-"

Alice didn't hear him, becoming more enraged by the second. "-Us!? There is no us, unless you're talking about me and you! She doesn't belong to you! Nor you to her!"

"We will," he said with finality, making his mind up all at once to tell her everything. "When the divorce is finalized, we're getting married."

He had never seen someone turn pale with rage until that moment. "For the female of the species is more deadly than the male." Kipling was right.

"So," she whispered, her voice half-strangled, "Everything I've had, she's stolen! And you! You're going to marry her!?" Her voice rose to a shriek. "God DAMN you! Damn you! You can go to hell for all I care!" She yanked open the hutch and pulled out a china salad plate. Hurling it at him, she missed by half an inch, as he ducked just in time. It shattered against the opposite wall. She picked up another and pitched it at him like a Frisbee. It caught his shoulder but ricocheted off the top of the couch.

There was no reasoning with her.

He ran for the door, grabbing his keys. She chased him onto the porch. He threw himself into his truck and drove away without looking back.

At least it's over.

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Alice stood, heaving with exertion, watching the truck disappear down the street. She leaned against the tall post by the steps.

Everything.

I've lost everything.

To Elsie Hughes.

I shouldn't have worried what she was going to do. I assumed Charlie would stay with me.

I was wrong.

She didn't know who she hated more in that instant; Charlie, for leaving her; Elsie, for stealing him; or herself, for missing what seemed like obvious warning signs over the years.

I knew she was trouble the second I met her. I should have let Charlie hire someone to take his place at Downton after Adam's wedding, instead of convincing him otherwise. We should have moved away then. We never would have seen her again.

You never would have moved away, whispered a voice in her mind. A small part of her knew it was true.

She went back into the house and choked back a wild laugh at the sight of the shattered china. Knowing Charlie, he would probably let her keep it. Which meant it was hers.

She swept up the mess. After she finished, she cracked open a beer and drank half of it before sitting down at the kitchen table. Never mind it wasn't 8:30 yet.

Her father had mentored most of the attorneys in the county, and it seemed half of the legal establishment on this side of the state owed something to his memory, or to his daughter at least. She would not lack for suitable representation.

But I don't want a divorce. We've been together our entire lives.

To even agree that the marriage was broken would be to lose the battle right out of the gate.

I'm going to fight this. I refuse to be utterly humiliated here in my hometown. Mama and Daddy always said there were only two kinds of people – winners, and everyone else.

They did not bring me up to lose to some Scottish bitch from nowhere.