This story takes place right after Season 4 ends….so there will be lots of Spoilers in this from Season 4! Please don't read unless you are prepared for Spoilers!

For the rest of you, hopefully, this will bring you a smile as we wait for the next season.

I do not own Miss Scarlet & The Duke and this is my first-ever attempt at writing historical fiction, so please go easy on me!

Flashbacks are Italicized.

Chapter One

"I should have said wait," Eliza whispers as she sits alone in her kitchen, aggressively poking her dinner with her fork.

"I'm going to New York." Duke sighs as he walks in the door with his suitcase.

"Why didn't I say wait? Why am I so stubborn?" Her peas fly off her plate with the next poke and she startles as the kitchen door swings open.

"Did you say something my dear girl?" Ivy comes through the door, balancing some clean linens in her hands.

"No. Ivy, how is Mr. Potts doing since his eh…urm…" She thinks about what she is trying to say but runs short. She hasn't been feeling quite like herself as of late.

"You must be ill if you are truly asking me about Barnabus." Ivy chuckles and sits down next to an uncharacteristically quiet Eliza.

"Eliza…" Ivy whispers, tearing Eliza's eyes from burning a hole through her dinner plate.

"It's okay to miss him. Haven't you two been writing?" Ivy places her hand over Eliza's forearm, squeezing it gently.

"Yes," Eliza beams, drifting her eyes up from her plate to Ivy's glances. She blushes, easily recalling his last letter to her.

"Dearest Eliza,

I am sorry to hear about your exit from Nash & Sons. However, make no mistake, I am fully confident in your abilities to start over. You've done it once, and you will manage to do it again, and with great success, I do believe. Tell me, how is the weather there? I thought New York would surely provide more sunshine than home, but that proves false. I could use a little more sunshine in my life here. You know, even though it's rather dreary at home, you are my sunshine, Eliza. You light up my life. I miss you.

Love, William."

Thinking of his letters makes her heart skip a beat, and warmth floods her cheeks.

"I was just thinking that's all. Maybe I will go write a new letter. Thank you for dinner and the idea." Eliza says, offering a small smile to Ivy. She walks out of the kitchen and turns back one moment later, sticking her head in again, calling to Ivy, "Oh, and Ivy! Mind the peas!" Her eyes meet Ivy's scrunched-up brow as she holds just that, a smooshed pea in between her thumb and index finger.

"Sorry." Eliza chuckles.

"Oh my girl, it is good to hear you laugh," Ivy says.

"Indeed, it feels good to laugh with you. Goodnight Ivy." She grins and walks back through the kitchen door once more.

As it swings open and shut she thinks of her first moments with William in that kitchen, her heart stirs as she heads to the drawing room for paper and her pen.

"Dearest William,

Thank you for your vote of confidence in me. It means so much coming from you. The weather here is quite dreadful, it's cold and very rainy. Although, as you've said, that is common to home, especially through this season. It will be Spring soon, so sunshine is on the horizon. I cannot believe you will be gone until next winter. However, will I pass the time? I do hope cases pick up again soon. I believe they will. They always do. I will always find a way.

Sending you sunshine,

Eliza"

Eliza addresses the envelope and presses her lips to the front of it. He left too quickly, she should have gone after him. It was a cold and dreary night, the night he left. As the thunder rumbled outside, she should have hastened after him, out the door, down the stairs into his arms. She should have kissed him, with the same urgency she kissed him with the first time. It had never been about that stupid dog, it was always William. It wouldn't have been very ladylike but she should have chased him, but what he said keeps running through the back of her mind.

"Something has to change, perhaps for you, perhaps for me. This will give us the time to consider our options."

She walks to the mirror, ready to confront herself.

"If I ran after him, would I have known what to say? Would I have known the answer, of how we could make it work? Would I have known?" She says, holding the letter to her chest. Inhaling and exhaling, feeling a lump in her throat. Tears come to the surface of her eyes. After a few moments, she answers herself,

"No. I wouldn't have known. I still don't." She nods away the pain in her voice. A tear falls. She quickly wipes it away, remembering what her father would say, "No tears or there will be no supper." And she would say, "You always say that, and there always is."

She turns to place the letter on the desk. She will mail it in the morning on her way to work.

Back to her work, her stomping grounds, her name above the door, "Miss Eliza Scarlet - Private Detective."