Attention, there are 3 new chapters today. This is the second.

Dream.

The rest of the morning passed rather quickly in Elsie's eyes. Anna and Miss Baxter certainly did all they could to keep the household running as usual while Mrs. Hughes was away from Downton Abbey, and she was extremely grateful for their support. But the experienced housekeeper did not miss the unfinished business of the last few days. She quickly and eagerly whirled through the house to bring everything back up to the usual standard.

During lunchtime, she quickly ate her lunch with her colleagues and was pleased to find distraction in a few conversations with Mr. Bates. She spent the rest of the break with Charles. Mrs. Patmore had been kind enough to cook a clear soup for Mr. Carson at her request, which she would take upstairs with her.

Elsie knocked gently on his door, opened it a crack without waiting for an answer and peeped into the room before entering. Charles was sitting up in bed, leaning against the headboard. A subdued smile played around his lips when he saw Elsie's face. She stepped inside.

Elsie carefully placed the tray on his desk next to the door and closed the door behind her.

"I've brought you some hot soup." Elsie began to break the silence. "How are you feeling?"

"I feel very tired and out of breath." Charles replied languidly but visibly pleased with his visitor.

Charles pointed with his hand to the chair next to his bed to invite Elsie to sit down, but she had other plans: She sat down next to him on the mattress. She wanted to be as close to him as possible. As his future wife. And not just as a visitor.

"You scared me, Charlie." Elsie whispered, as saying the words seemed to frighten her. She felt safer when she whispered them just audibly to his ears. She took his hand, placed it against her cheek and closed her eyes. "Don't ever do that again, Charlie! Do you hear me!" Elsie savoured the feeling of his caressing, warm hand on her face.

Charles was visibly relieved to feel Elsie's affection and desperation. As dishonourable as his feelings made him feel at that moment, he was infinitely grateful that Elsie was worried about him.

"Elsie, I'm so unspeakably sorry for what I did to you. What I did to us." Charles struggled to hold back his tears. "Please forgive me!"

Elsie realised how Charles was pulling her towards him by her cheek and gave in to his guidance. Her lips landed on his.

"Please forgive me.", he breathed again after the kiss was over. His hand still rested on her cheek, his thumb stroking lovingly up and down her cheekbone a few times before he pulled away. Elsie sat up again.

After all the days of grief, disappointment, emptiness and, finally, fear for his life, Elsie was no longer in a position to refuse Charles' apology. She missed him immensely. Considering that she had almost lost Charles forever due to a heart attack caused by all the turmoil, she felt it was even more impossible to go her separate ways.

"I forgive you. I told you a few days ago that I forgive you, Charlie.", she replied, her cheeks reddening as she thought about it.

"But I didn't feel it then."

"But it didn't seem like you didn't feel it, the way you pushed me to my desk so forcefully." Elsie countered mockingly.

"I felt my relief at your words (and gave in to them), that's true. But I didn't feel that you believed your own words."

Elsie was surprised at Charles's sensitivity and regarded him thoughtfully.

"Enough of all that now. Otherwise your soup will get cold. Are you hungry?" Elsie changed the subject.

Charles nodded, whereupon Elsie took the tray from the secretary and placed it on his thighs. As a matter of course, Elsie lovingly covered Charles' chest with a cloth napkin. It was a gesture that triggered cosy and nostalgic feelings in Charles. It had been a long time since he had been cared for so unconditionally. Of course, far be it from him to compare Elsie to a mother, but the love radiating from her at that moment was just as strong.

He took the spoon and dipped it into the soup. As soon as he had dipped the spoon out of the liquid again, it jumped back down in small waves. His hand began to tremble with exertion, causing him to pause. Elsie observed an utterly horrified expression on Charles' face as he fixed his gaze on the unsteady spoon. The situation struck Elsie as odd and she alternated her gaze from his face to the spoon. Charles seemed to freeze at the sight of his hand. Elsie decided to get him out of his thoughts and took the spoon from his grasp. Apparently it was still too much effort for him. Spoon by spoon, Elsie emptied the soup for him and carefully brought it to his mouth.

When the plate was empty, it was time for Elsie to get back to work.

"Don't worry about the tremors, Charlie. Your whole system is still very weak. You'll soon feel better." Elsie tried to reassure Charles (and secretly herself too), as she was still thinking about the strange situation from earlier.

She lovingly pressed a kiss to his forehead as a farewell after she had once again freed it from the loose strand of hair. "You know, Charlie, I like your hair when it's messy like that.", she said with amusement and added in a more serious tone: "Dr. Clarkson will visit you in the afternoon. Rest until then. I'll leave you the plate with the biscuits, maybe you'd like to have some in between." Elsie tried to make the biscuits palatable to him and placed them from the tray on his bedside table together with a fresh glass of water.

Charles thanked Elsie for her care and slid back down the head of the bed until his head was resting on the pillow. He was indeed tired again.

As Elsie stood by the door, ready to open it, she paused for a moment. One hand was already resting on the doorknob, the other was balancing the tray. She turned to Charles once more, as a small inner barrier prevented her from simply walking through the door.

"I love you, Charlie."

With those words, she finally opened not only her heart, but also the barrier and the door.

"And I love you, Elsie."

Now she was ready to leave his room.

_C&E_

When she went up to Charles at dinnertime and took a small ham and cheese sandwich for him, she was eager to hear what Dr. Clarkson had to say to Charles that afternoon. She hoped the doctor would be pleased with his condition.

Elsie knocked and entered.

She saw Charles lying in his bed, a book resting on his chest, gently bobbing up and down with his breath.

She gently placed the book on the bedside table and sat down on the mattress at Charles' side.

Elsie took his hand and stroked it, which woke Charles from his doze.

Dr. Clarkson was pleased with Charles' condition and explained once again that he would need a lot of rest over the coming weeks and that the many stairs in the house would be a big hurdle for him. Until he could manage them without strain, he would have to stay in his room.

Elsie held Charles' hand during the whole report and unconsciously played with his fingers.

She yawned. She was tired from the day. But she couldn't go to bed yet, there was still a bit of work waiting for her in her office.

"Are you coming again today?" Charles wanted to know as Elsie got up from the mattress and prepared to leave.

"I'll look in on you again as soon as I've finished my entries in the housekeeping book." Elsie replied, kissed him on the forehead again and went to the door.

"Oh, one more thing, Elsie." Charles stopped her and tried to straighten up as best he could. "Can you tell me what smelled so strange in the cottage before you left?"

"I was baking. A cake."

Charles didn't know what to make of her answer and wondered what the cake looked like given that smell (stench). His features slipped at the thought, which did not go unnoticed by Elsie.

"Thank you very much!" she replied snappishly.

"But I couldn't see any cake, where was the cake?" Charles wanted to know, but all he got in reply was the sound of a door closing and falling into the lock.

_C&E_

When Elsie had finished all her work for the day, she was already looking forward to going to bed, but even more so to her upcoming visit with Charles. She was determined to free him from the oppressive thoughts of her 'love letter', which he inevitably still harboured.

So she knocked on Charles' door one last time for the day and entered.

Charles was already asleep, but that didn't stop her.

She pulled a piece of paper out of her skirt pocket and quietly unfolded it. She carefully smoothed it out and laid it out on Charles' bedside table. Elsie sat down on the mattress and placed a hand on his chest. She began to stroke him and spoke his name softly, causing him to open his eyes.

"Hello, Charlie."

"Hello, my love. How nice that you're here. I've been waiting for you." Charles said with a grin.

Elsie was flattered by his words and gave him a genuine smile.

"Charles, I've brought you something. I want to show you something. But first I'll tell you about the day I wasn't here." Elsie noticed that Charles was beginning to tense up, just as she had feared beforehand and didn't want him to.

She quickly started humming an old Scottish lullaby, snuggled up to Charles in bed and made him snuggle against her back (lack of space didn't allow for anything else anyway), she led his hand to her stomach and held it close with her hand. She noticed on her body how Charles began to relax. She continued to hum quietly, Charles listened to her sounds.

"What kind of song is that?" Charles breathed into Elsie's ear.

"One of the songs that mum used to sing to Becky and me when we went to sleep. It was my sister's favourite song. We listened to it often. And I still hum it to myself sometimes to fall asleep. Often when I'm feeling unwell or lonely." Elsie replied and started humming again.

He felt sad at the thought of her ever feeling lonely and regretted the many lost years between them. Charles hugged Elsie tightly, not wanting to leave any space between them. He wanted her to know that she would never be lonely again. He listened to the melody.

When Elsie thought Charles had relaxed sufficiently, she spoke again: "I've been to see Becky, Charles. I was with her at the sanatorium in Lytham St Anne. She gave me a drawing as a parting gift."

Charles quickly began to realise that the love letter could possibly be this drawing and continued to listen to Elsie's words, which finally confirmed his suspicions.

"Saying goodbye to Becky was very difficult for me, Charlie. I knew it would be goodbye for a very long time, or even forever. Becky's drawing means so much to me that I couldn't part with it, so I kept it with me in my skirt pocket, or looked at it in a quiet minute."

Elsie detached herself from Charles and sat up. She thought he was now open enough for the paper and handed it to him.

He tentatively took the piece of paper in his hand. He looked at the picture and slumped down. How stupid he hadn't been. But after a few seconds, when he recognised the motif, Charles began to smile fondly as his eyes remained fixed on the drawing. He recognised his Elsie, sitting lovingly next to her sister.

"She's done you very well, Elsie. It's a great drawing. It really is a love letter you've received."

Elsie smiled at him with tear-filled eyes, squeezed his hand in gratitude for the words he had found and lay down with him for a few more moments, it had been too nice cuddling up to him earlier. Relieved. Warm. Protected. Together.

Unintentionally, but somehow feared, they both fell asleep cuddled together.

_C&E_

As far as her daily routine allowed, Charles was cared for by Elsie over the next few days and weeks.

She wanted to trust Dr. Clarkson's words and held on to the belief that Charles would soon be well again. This confidence made it easier for Mrs. Hughes to cope with the extra tasks that Charles's absence entailed, in addition to the tasks of the long working day. She spent her few free minutes carrying food upstairs and crockery downstairs, reciting from books or reading from the newspaper (only unexciting articles, of course).

But she did all this with so much love and dedication that she felt no stress. On the contrary, the moments she spent with Charles allowed her to calm down. Not only because she enjoyed the togetherness with Charles, but also because the daily improvement in his condition calmed her down.

His shortness of breath became less and less, his attentiveness more and more.

Gradually Mr. Carson was reinstated in the Downton Abbey business.

_C&E_

When Elsie awoke, a grin crept across her face. How relieving to know that it had all been weeks ago and that the memories of that gruelling time only came up as dreams now and then.

She was still cuddled up under her blanket as the memories were increasingly pushed aside by the powerful anticipation. Today was finally the day.

Elsie sat up and rubbed her hands together, beaming with joy and nervousness at the same time, her beautiful long braided hair hanging in a plait over her shoulder. Before she could think about what to do, there was a knock on her bedroom door.

"Come in." Elsie said firmly, still sitting in her bed wearing nothing but her nightdress.

When Mrs. Patmore opened the door with a hot cup of tea and came to her bedside, her eyes shone as sincerely and honestly as those of a child.

"Oh, thank you Mrs Patmore. That's lovely.", and took the cup from the cook's hand.

Unexpectedly, Miss Bexter and Anna appeared in her room. Mrs Hughes became nervous when she noticed them.

"What's happened? What's the matter?", she asked anxiously from her bed.

"Nothing's the matter." Anna replied giggling.

"We've come to dress the bride.", added Miss Baxter happily, having put her ladyship's shortened coat over her right arm.

No sooner had Miss Baxter finished the sentence than Mrs. Hughes let out a surprised "Oh!" and looked at Mrs. Patmore in disbelief "Well, there's a sentence I never thought I'd hear." All four ladies burst out laughing at Mrs Hughes' words. They were all delighted that Mrs. Hughes and Mr. Carson had reconnected and resumed their wedding plans.

Attention, there are 3 new chapters today. This was the second.