Bertie entered a large and bright room behind Celia and soon found himself politely nodding and trying to look interested in whatever Celia and her friends seemed to be talking about.

He never did get an answer from Michael, and he couldn't decide on whether he wanted to see Edith or not. On the other hand it was pointless to be concerned about it, she probably wasn't here, he knew that she preferred to spend her time at Downton.

He soon caught Michael's eye as it looked like he was being dragged somewhere by his wife, Michael jerked his head behind him and gave Bertie a prolonged stare.

Bertie looked toward the large windows and saw Edith standing there, looking like she was having an intimate conversation with a young man in a dinner jacket. They both looked relaxed and happy, smiling at each other and speaking freely.

It shouldn't have surprised him but it did hurt him that she seemed to move on, but he shouldn't be one to judge he came here with Celia after all, it would be unfair to expect someone like Edith to not have a suitor.

He saw the young man give Edith a bring smile and lean in to give her a kiss on the cheek, Bertie felt a profound disappointment then, in the fact that there were so many opportunities he had to do that very thing that he didn't take advantage of.

Before he knew it the young man walked away and he realized Edith was looking at him and he managed to eek out a friendly smile

"What do you think Bertie?" Celia tried to catch his attention and bring him into the conversation

"What's that?"

"Italy or France? Which one would you prefer for a holiday?"

"Um, the last time I was in France I didn't enjoy it very much so I'd say Italy, if you'll excuse me I just spotted an old friend." Bertie quickly said and stepped away before anyone could respond, he felt his feet taking him towards Edith it felt like he didn't make a conscious decision to go to her but he was drawn to her, he didn't even know what he was going to say

Edith was watching Bertie walk towards her and it suddenly felt like Michael and Lizzie's sitting room was much bigger than it actually was

Bertie soon arrived, standing in front of her and managed to say "I didn't expect to see you tonight."

"And I didn't expect to see you either but I guess London is never as big as you would think." Edith replied hoping she wouldn't make a fool of herself

"I guess not, I hope you don't mind me coming over to say 'hello' it's just that I thought..."

"Of course not, I'm very glad you did. How are you?" Edith asked him, in a surreal situation considering she had been wondering how he was doing nearly everyday for the past few months

Bertie gave her one of his light smiles that she had spent a great deal of time thinking about and answered

"Busy with planning the upcoming harvest as you can probably guess, taking care of the improvements I told you about, other than that much of the same really…" Bertie hoped that he was being convincing enough for Edith to think that he actually was doing well "…and you? I've been reading your columns, they've been very good."

"Have you? That's very kind, thank you."

"Of course I have, I've always been a fan of yours I didn't stop just because-" Bertie stopped himself from finishing that sentence and was quickly saved by the young man he saw earlier returning with Edith's drink

"You've replaced me quite quickly Edith." He joked as he took his spot next to her and Bertie tried to hide the disappointed expression on his face

Edith seemed a bit flustered but tried to recover "Not exactly, Evelyn this is Bertie Pelham and Bertie this is Evelyn Napier, Evelyn is an old friend of our family."

"Oh, this is Evelyn? Yes I remember you mentioning him." Bertie said as he shook Evelyn's hand

"And you're the Marquess of Hexam. Very sorry to hear about your cousin we only spent a year at Eton together but I remember him being well liked." Evelyn earnestly replied remembering that Mary did mention Edith being involved with the new Lord Hexam

"Yes, thank you I appreciate that."

"I'll let you two catch up while I try and find Michael, I'm afraid he's getting low on the gin." Evelyn managed to deftly leave the two alone as it became obvious he was a bit of a third wheel

"He seems like a very nice chap, I'm happy for you Edith." Bertie kindly said hoping again that Edith believed him

"What? Oh no, Evelyn is a dear friend but we never would be more than that."

"I'm so sorry, how stupid of me." Bertie said clearly embarrassed

"It's fine, either way it was very big of you. You've always been extremely kind." Edith told him with a blush of her own rising up to her cheeks

"Edith, forgive me for being so forward but would you mind taking some time to speak to me? I have some things that I'd like to say to you and this doesn't seem like the most appropriate place." Bertie was close to pleading and hoped that Edith would agree to it

"I like the idea of that very much, I'm free tomorrow afternoon." Edith said maybe a bit more eagerly than she intended

"Good, I'm very glad. We could meet at Russell Square, maybe where we used-"

"I remember Bertie, and I'd be happy to, let's say around two?"

"That will work nicely, I'm looking forward to it. I'm afraid that I only stopped in for a moment before my dinner reservation and it seems I'm running late already, but it was wonderful to see you, give my regards to Michael." Bertie finished by taking Edith's hand, he felt bad about fibbing to Edith but he couldn't imagine just milling about the party pretending like she wasn't there

"I will, have a nice evening and I'll see you tomorrow." Edith told him as she gladly let her hand rest in his

"You too, take care." Bertie told her and turned around to leave and grabbing Celia's attention as he did

"I'm so sorry but my butler just called and apparently there is a terrible emergency at the house and I have to get back immediately." Bertie didn't like the fact that he lied to two different people back to back and looked forward to clearing up the situation soon

"How did he know you were here?" Celia questioned as she walked with him to the door

"Um,..well he called your butler and he told him to call here, you know how servants all know each other, but I'm so sorry I have to run off."

She seemed satisfied by that answer but disappointed she'd be loosing her escort for the night

"How sad, well you'll have to make it up to me." Celia pouted expecting that she'd be able to convince Bertie to stay

"Of course I will, but I'm sure you'll have a grand time without me, goodnight!"

Bertie told her as he stepped out the door away

A/N: I hope you all like this! I originally planned for Bertie to see what his mother was doing right away and go off after Edith but I thought about this version at the last minute and liked it a bit better, maybe a bit far fetched but not so predictable hopefully.