A/N: Thank you all (reviewers, guest reviewers, readers, Tumblrites. Friends!) for your warm welcome back. I really appreciate all your kind reviews and PM's so much - they mean the world to me. This is the final drabble in the Snippets-series: Charles Carson and it contains a spoiler (though at the moment of writing we have no confirmation on it). If you would prefer to remain spoiler-free, I advise you to click this final chapter away.
Thank you all, again. I really missed being part of the ficcing community during my hiatus. If there are things you feel I should read (and review) please drop me a line. Now. Lets get to that drabble, otherwise this A/N will be longer than the actual chapter…
He jerks awake from the sound of footsteps on the stairs towards the green baize door. His neck hurts. He glances at the clock: it's going on ten o'clock. Mr Barrow will be overseeing the goings-on in the library (port and cigars for the men) and Mr Molesley will be serving coffee in the Drawing Room to the ladies. He has been giving both of them more responsibility. Mrs Hughes suggested it a few weeks ago, saying that they would have to learn to fend for themselves, especially now they would be leaving soon.
The thought fills him with joy and dread and he doesn't know which one outweighs the other.
Leaving Downton will be difficult. It's been the only home he's ever known. Of course he'll be making a home for himself now, with Elsie. He wonders how long it will take for him to call her that - again. He remembers when she arrived: the new Head Housemaid. Attractive, purposeful, approachable.
He thinks about how she changed her name and her dresses. She replaced her cap with a chatelaine that announced her presence with it's melodic tinkling. He might miss that sound, but there will be others to take its place. He clears his throat at the thought of what his wife will sound like when he holds her close in the still of the night.
He hopes for both their sakes he'll be able to adjust to life away from service. He knows she will. There is enough to keep her occupied by the sound of the plans she relays to him every evening before the go up (to their separate bedrooms still, for now.) Church choir practice. Visits to the Bateses when the little stranger arrives. Going to see Becky as often as she can. Other things that make him feel like a much younger man (they don't speak of them, but they are part of their collective visions for their carefree years together and those thoughts were on both their minds when they went to pick out furniture for the house at Brouncker Road.)
No matter how Elsie intends to fill their days, he knows he will miss Downton. Grand dinner parties and the annual fete. Watching the Christmas tree being lit in the hall. The smell of crystal polish and the sound of creaking leather in the courtyard where a new footman breaks in a new pair of shoes. the routine of waking at 6:30 and knowing that his footmen and hallboys have already gotten dressed and ready for the day. Knowing that if the Dowager comes to call, they'll pull out all the stops to make sure she doesn't feel standards have dropped. Style and show. And purpose.
In their home their lives will be their own, finally and he'll have a love that surpasses his wildest dreams. But he knows a part of his heart will always be at Downton.
And that's just the way it is.