I'm so sad that Downton is over, but I'm so pleased by how it ended for Charlie and Elsie !

I hope you enjoy this chapter !

...

"Elsie?"

"I'm in here! Sit down Beryl. I'm coming." Beryl sat on Elsie's bed.

"Well, I just wanted to know if.." The red-haired woman stopped at the sight of Elsie getting out of the bathroom. "I wanted to know if you would like to join us for dinner, but apparently you have other plans..."

Elsie had put on a pair of black combi-trousers that hugged her curves. She was still barefoot but had done her makeup and her hair.

"Yeah, I do, actually. I'm going to dinner with Charles." Elsie felt herself blush, and Beryl smiled at her.

"Okay, well, I'm leaving. Have a very nice evening, and try to not be too nervous."

"Thank you. And Beryl, I mean it: thank you." Elsie hugged her friend tightly and kissed her cheek. Beryl returned the hug and closed the door quietly behind her.

Elsie was very nervous, she wanted this dinner with Charles, but it had been years since the last time they had been all alone together.

"Well, except in the plane," Elsie thought smiling. They had spent the one and a half hour of flight very close to each other.

"You're alright now?" Charles asked when he let go of Elsie's lips. She slowly opened her eyes and turned her head to Charles.

"Yes." Elsie laughed a little.

"What?" Elsie leaned towards Charles, her mouth close to his ear to whisper to him.

"You have lipstick on your lips."

"Really? And whose fault is that?" They both laughed a little. Elsie looked around her before kissing Charles again. She let go of his bottom lip to whisper against it.

"We look like teenagers..."

Elsie shook her head and opened her bag to search for her shoes. She put on her red heels and stood in front of the mirror. She had her hands in her hair when Charles knocked at her door. She opened it with a big smile on her face.

"Elsie, you are absolutely beautiful."

"Thank you, Charles. You look very handsome, I must say. Come in."

Charles closed the door and took Elsie's hand in his when she started to walk away. She looked up at him and put both hands on his chest; he put his around her waist. He bent down on her and kissed her.

"Hello, Elsie."

"Hello, Charles." Elsie let her hands go around his neck, touching his hair. She put her forehead against his.

"God, it's been so long."

"Too long." Charles added before kissing her again.

They kissed. Again and again. In her hotel room with no one to stop them. Charles walked and trapped Elsie between his body and the bathroom door. They kissed again and again. When they were breathless, Charles buried his head in her neck, smelling, kissing and nipping her skin there. Her hands were roaming in his hair and against his back. His hands were on her hips, the curve of her back and up in her hair. Elsie was moaning quietly against him, kissing him wherever she could reach.

"He's back," Elsie thought smiling. And then, she remembered. Their last time together in their home, their bed, as husband and wife. And she had been pregnant. Elsie froze against the door and put her hands against Charles's chest, pushing him away.

Charles smiled down at her but stopped when he realized that she had tears in her eyes.

"Els, Darling, what's wrong?"

"Go away, Charles! What are we doing?" She was openly crying now, and it broke Charles's heart even more.

"But Elsie, I thought that we... I just... I don't know..."

"You thought what? That I wanted you? Of course I do! But Charles..." Elsie took a step closer to him. "We are divorced, and you asked for it."

That remark took Charles aback.

"Well, yes, but that was because of you; it was for you..." Charles could feel a pain in his stomach, tears prickling his eyes when he looked down at her. She was absolutely beautiful, her lips swollen red from their kisses and her blue eyes bright with tears.

"Wh... What do you mean for me?" She wiped her tears with the back of her hand.

"You didn't want to be near me anymore after... after..."

"After William's death." Elsie closed her eyes when she said that, a sharp pain in her stomach.

Charles could feel his anger coming, anger against himself, against an unfair life.

"YES! Yes, exactly. After our son's death. You didn't want me near you anymore. I was the one getting you pregnant. And you were so sad, didn't want me to sleep with you, touch you, speak to you..."

"Oh, god! And it's because I was a selfish, broken wife that you started working awful hours, leaving me all alone in our house only six months after Sybil left for college, and started walking out with your secretary!"

"What? What the hell are you talking about, Elsie? I've never cheated on you! I would never do that! I loved you!"

"Please! You hated me! You hated me for not giving you a boy! Well, I'm sorry! I'm fucking sorry to have lost my baby!"

Charles was fuming, but so was Elsie. She was trembling with rage. They had never talked about it before, not ever. Now, all the anger they felt against one another was coming, and neither was able to stop it.

"Don't swear."

"I'll swear if I want to! Fuck you, Charles!" Elsie shouted, her cheeks now wet with tears that she didn't even try to stop. "Get out! Get out of here! Get out of my life and go back to your Frenchy girl!"

Charles took a step toward her. "You're sure about that? Because if I pass this door, you'll never see me again!"

Elsie came even closer to him, looking up at him, her jaw clenched. "Good."

When Charles shut the door loudly, he heard her shouting, "I fucking hated you!"He needed air.

"You're... You're pregnant?" Charles asked, his eyes wide open.

Elsie bit her lip and nodded.

"Yes. Yes!" Charles jumped to his feet and bent down, kissing her everywhere on her face. Elsie was laughing. She knew that he loved his girls more than anything, but she also knew that Charles would want a boy. Teaching him to walk, run, read, play, biking... And she was about to give him that.

They were living a daydream until one day during one of Elsie's ultrasounds. The baby was not growing anymore; he would not be growing anymore. But Elsie had to give birth. It would be too dangerous to wait, and she had to give birth to a dead child.

Charles was with her when that happened. He had one arm around her shoulders and the other one around hers on her belly. When the nurse put the baby on her stomach, she had asked for a name, and they had both answered "William".

Elsie had cried on Charles's chest, but never stopped looking at her baby. After that, nothing had been the same.

Charles was devastated. HE was the one who wanted to have another baby. HE was the one who had convinced Elsie. And now they were both unhappy, but he could not go to her... He was too sorry for what he had done. On the other hand, Elsie felt miserable, SHE was the one who had kept the baby to make Charles happy, and now, because of her, they were both unhappy, because she couldn't make it. They were so deep in their own sadness that they didn't manage to notice the other's grief.

Charles walked around the hotel for almost two hours before he came back in. When he passed by the bar to go to his room he heard a laugh. A laugh that he would recognize anywhere. Elsie was there, leaning on the bar, a glass in her hand, laughing with another customer. She had removed her eye makeup, but she still had the same clothes and shoes. She had obviously had too much to drink.

When she heard someone behind her, she turned on her seat.

"Charlie! I wondered where you had gone! Charlie, this is Lucas. Lucas, this is my ex-husband, Charlie!" She exclaimed to the man next to her.

"Elsie, how many drinks did you have?"

She bit her lip, tried to get up, and almost fell down. Charles easily caught her.

"Come on, Elsie. I'll help you to your room."

"Hey, leave her alone! She's a grown woman!" Lucas stood and tried to put his hand on Elsie's shoulder. Charles caught it and pushed him. Elsie had her forearms on the bar, her head leaning between them.

"Charles, Charles..." she whispered. "I think I'm going to be sick. Please!"

Charles turned his head to her. He put his hand on Lucas's chest and pushed him back on his seat. He then turned to Elsie.

"Come on; come here." She turned to face him and took his arm. But with her first step, she almost fell back.

"Take off your shoes, Elsie." She tried, but she thought she might be sick just there. Charles told her to sit and bent down in front of her to take off her shoes himself. When his hands touched her silky calves, all the anger he had felt just disappeared. He then picked her up, one arm underneath her arms, the other one underneath her thighs, her shoes in one of his hands.

She put her head against Charles's chest. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry for the things I've said and done. I don't hate you, Charles. In fact, I love you." Charles pulled her closer to him, kissing her head. He could feel tears in his eyes. "I love you too, Darling." Elsie turned her head and kissed his neck.

Charles opened her door and put her on the bed. He took off her clothes but had to stop several times to pushed off Elsie's hands on him. Each time he smiled a little, kissing her forehead. He sat down on the bed beside her.

"Stay with me, please. I told you horrible things. I want to hold you, Charles, please." So he took off his shoes and his clothes, leaving only his undershorts and shirt.

Elsie turned, her chest to his. And then he could not take it any longer. He cried, and Elsie cried, too. They cried for hours, for their baby, for their wasted years, until they fell asleep together, for the first time in a very long time.