AN: This one was requested by Corbert4ever and aligned with a note about this scene that I made whilst rewatching series 2. I thought it was high time we left the angst behind. The italics belong to Julian Fellowes but I felt were needed.
I am still working through the other requests. Please keep asking.
I had a request from a guest for a pre-canon one-shot. Firstly, thank you. Secondly, I will write this for you but I am not sure it fits this story (since it is pre-canon and these are canon based). Therefore, I will probably post it separately. This being the case, anyone that has any pre (or post) canon prompts, please do send them in as well!
Finally, please do review (it would be lovely to reach 100!). One or two words is enough to make me smile, open up one of my three current projects and write some more!
Now, I think, perhaps, I should make one thing clear. Downton is our house and our home, and we will welcome in it any friends or any relations we choose. And if you do not care to accept that condition, then I suggest you give orders for the nurses, and the patients, and the beds, and the rest of it, to be packed up and shipped out at once!
Thank you, Lord Grantham, for making your position so clear.
Oh, just one more thing. The dog. What should we do to stop Isis getting into the patients' rooms?
I can answer that. Absolutely nothing.
He hears the door close behind him and he exhales in relief. He thought agreeing to have the house turned into a convalescent home and then arranging the furniture and nurses would be the hard part. He had not expected the hard part to be managing the good doctor and Isobel. She was family, yes, but this was not her house and it was certainly not the doctor's.
"Thank you." He starts as much from Cora's words as the way her hand presses into his back. He turns to looks at her. As he turns, her hand ends up coming to rest on his side.
"I thought everyone had left." She now places her other hand on his other side. Stepping closer, she smiles up at him coquettishly.
"I wanted to thank you properly, for defending me." Her voice is soft and low, verging on the more seductive tones she used occasionally. He knows he is probably blushing, goodness, the collar of his heavy army jacket was feeling rather tight.
"You don't have to thank me."
"I'd like to." The tone was unmistakable. Even without the deliberate brush of her hands up the lapels of his jacket, he would have known her intentions. Her hands come to rest on his collar. The ends of her fingers tickling against his bare skin. Her touch was so relaxing. She drops her gaze for a moment, watching her own hands as they begin to massage gently at the skin behind his ears. Her touch is deliberate and he holds her waist firmly to steady himself as her fingers begin to trail into his hair, twisting and tugging gently. Her tugging becomes more insistent and her body presses into his. "I find you strangely endearing when you get angry defending me."
"Cora..."
"Sssh." She leans towards him, and her lips brush tantalisingly close to his. He pulls away before she has a chance to capture them entirely.
"Cora..."
"Oh Robert, come on, it's just a few kisses. We've done this before." He smiles, they had indeed done this before. But it had been some time since they had kissed in the way he thought Cora was implying somewhere they might be interrupted. "Or are you nervous that you might lose control of yourself?" He blushes, she knew him so well. Either way, with the soft smile and the way she teased him, he would always be softened. She would have the power to melt him if such a thing were possible. He encircles her waist with his arm and traps her against him. If she was going to try and play with him, he would play back.
"I was more concerned about your control." She bites her lower lip, tilting her head to the side. She looks down, refusing to meet his eyes, and then she lies.
"I'm in perfect control of myself, thank you darling."
"Really?" He drops his forehead down to hers. Rubbing his nose gently across her own. Her chin tilts upwards instinctively, searching for his mouth. "So when you said it was endearing seeing me angry, I was wrong to assume you really meant, what's the word, appealing?" The crimson blush that floods immediately across her cheeks is the answer. She pulls away from him just enough so she can look him squarely in the eyes. "You needn't be embarrassed Cora. I find it appealing that you found it appealing. If that makes sense?" He laughs softly and she smiles. She is smoothing her hands on his lapels again.
"Will you please let me kiss you then?" She doesn't wait for his reply. Her lips finally close the gap between them. Her mouth pushes his open insistently, and she grips firmly to the back of his neck clearly with no intention of releasing him. Her hands push up and into his hair, where she tugs and twists the curls in a rhythm that matches the flicks of her tongue. He meets her vigour by pulling her hips towards his own. She answers his action with a soft murmur. He pushes his thumbs repetitively into her dress just above her hip bones. He thinks she can feel something of his touch because she seems to arch her body intentionally into his hand. She emits a soft sigh of contentment when he moves one of his hands higher up her side, his thumb gracing the edge of where her breasts swell. He presses more firmly, sweeping his thumb over the front of her dress. Her lips momentarily stop moving, they part and a soft gasp falls from between them.
"I should get angry more often." He whispers the words against her mouth.
"Only at other people." He laughs. He knew that was true. Getting angry with Cora only ever left him in the dressing room. He kisses her softly once more whilst she remains stood in his arms. "It's been a long time since we really flirted with each other." He sighs. It had been a long time. And even longer since they had kissed with such abandonment in the library. The world had been ripped apart, Downton was being pulled from beneath their feet. Time for flirting, time for their marriage had vanished too, except in their most private moments.
"The world went to war my dear."
"Do you think we can try and forget that occasionally? Just for a moment every so often?"
"Well we managed today."
"We've hardly started with today darling, not if I get my way." Her voice is low, and her eyes wide with meaning.
"You always get your way. I wouldn't have it any other way."
"I'm not sure I always do. I've never exactly been averse to letting you have your way with me." She is blushing, but her gaze is unwavering. Robert blushes under her scrutiny. He tightens his hold on her hips and takes a slow deep breath. He needed to calm down, before things got out of control again. She interprets his tightening hold incorrectly and leans towards him. He leans backwards.
"Cora...we have a whole afternoon and a dinner to get through. I'm going to need you to behave."
"I'll do my best. But I promise not to behave once you're safely ensconced in my room later." She raises her eyebrows and smirks. She takes his hands and removes them from her waist before stepping backwards. With a twirl and a last turn at the doorway, to smile back at him coquettishly, she disappears back to the madness of their house full of strangers. Robert smiles after her, his thoughts already drifting to the things they might do later.