Very well written ficlet

Truly lovely. (Please please please someone tell me what CS stands for...?)

Love it!

I think I can manage to word now, after four read-throughs I have finally mastered my emotions here. This is just so powerfully RAW - raw emotion in the face of the retirement, the New Year, leaving one house behind and looking forward to another type of life (with no small amount of trepidation, to be sure).
Elsie's need for her husband, to be so intimately close with him, is palpable. I love the bit where you wrote, "... their passions have always run deep. Love and devotion stand side by side with frustration and bickering." GUH
And you've crafted a scene full of love and reverence between them once again, and we know that, in the end, they WILL get through it.
Thank you for this lovely New Year story. x

Sad and beautiful

Can the first part of this wonderful story please happen in the final episode? Please please please? It felt so real! So them! So needed!
(The latter part too of course ;) but I'll doubt Fellowes had the guts to write such a scene. Although the final dialogue fits into that scene perfectly ;))

Cannot word. Love how you work the bits we've scene/read about the CS in here, especially the singing and the kiss - and I love how you point out that Elsie doesn't close her eyes (she doesn't seem to most of the time) and explain it with her waiting so long for him and loving him so that she doesn't want to miss a moment of watching him, of seeing his love for her. And I like that you made Elsie the melancholy one in this, because while she's the one usually most open to change, retirement could be just as scary for her as for him, especially when she's identified for so long with her position in service, earned respect and carried authority. The role of beloved wife is still new to her and a life where they live just for themselves is so sing they've never had before. But I love that Charles is there to comfort her, to love her, to wrap her up in his loving arms and kiss her and answer her overwhelming passion with his own. And they will get through it together. Thanks for this!

Augh this is so moving and melancholy and delicious. Well done!

if only we could see it on screen!

I love this. I love that you address something that I have been wondering about for so long now: everyone assumes that it's going to be tough for Charles, but he is really all about the style and show of the house - he announces guests, rings the dressing gong, but it is Elsie who does actual work. How will she occupy her time? And yes - perhaps her husband is ill and yes, of course they'll figure it out together, but still. And I am just really happy to read what your thoughts on that are - in your absolutely divine style. Definitely a favourite.

Absolutely beautiful. I love how you turned her melancholy into something passionate and lovely, giving them both a chance to express themselves and to be together in the quiet of their own home. Loved the ending!

Beautiful, passionate, and sweet. I love it! :)

Steamy and dreamy. Angst and passion collide. Well done!

Lovely take on things! I like this version. Thank you for this wonderful little fic!

Elsie's searing kiss was a delight! And I like your 'eyes open' reference ;-) how I would love that last line to follow such a lovely and passionate scene. Well done x