Written for NanoWrimo 2016.

Disclaimer: Neither Call The Midwife or Downton Abbey belong to me. I just enjoy both immensely and am having some fun by mixing both up.

Summary: When Charles Carson and Elsie Hughes run into trouble as teenagers in Yorkshire, they make a choice which defines the rest of their lives. Little do they know, their choice will also change Julienne Newgarden's life forever too.

Turning Points

Chapter 1

Yorkshire, the late 60s…

There was something about being hand in hand with Charles Carson which Elsie Hughes did not think she was ever going to be able to put into words. It was the sheer connection of feeling him right next to her, palm to palm.

It was intimate in a way that did not need to be shut behind closed doors, that was what she had heard one of the other lasses at the Abbey say. She had been out for the evening with her feller and she had come back full of it. Of course, the others had all either quizzed her, desperate for the gossip and for a love of their own, or they had ignored her and insisted they were too high above her to care about such things when nothing could be further from the truth as the poor lass had come back to the female corridor that night.

As for Elsie she had had a different reaction – that was because for the first time in her life she had understood what had been described. She had lain in her bed and she had listened through the open door and she had had a smile on her face as she heard every word. But it was not because of the other lasses date night.

It was not a foreign concept to her or something to be longed for. It was something which she had, something which she knew she was lucky enough to have in her life. It was something – something very precious to her indeed.

She and Charles had been working together for three years – she had arrived at Downton Abbey when she was fifteen, fresh out of school, right in the twilight of its day. There was no chance she was going to spend her life in service there and for that she could only be glad. She wanted so much more for herself than the girls had had in the past and she was not going to settle for anything because other people though it was the right life for her.

She knew for example the day that she gave the job up her mother and father were going to think she had lost her mind. But that would not be the truth. She would leave at just the right moment when there was somewhere for her to go.

And when she did go she was not going to be leaving alone.

She and Charles Carson had always got on. They had a lot in common after all. While she knew he had had a lot more love for the place where they worked and for that matter, the people … what the two of them did share was work ethic. Neither of them were slackers or likely to tolerate it later in their careers.

They both also loved to read, to walk in the beautiful country side in which they were lucky enough to live and also to spend their evenings quietly but at the same time, together.

But that did not got to say the two of them were identical in everything for she knew that at times, they could be very different. There were faults in his character which she recognized and did condemn from time to time but not too strongly. After all, she was as human as he was and she had no doubt she had her own faults.

Besides anything else, she loved him – all of him, for good and ill – far more than any condemnation.

She loved his strength and his truth and his honesty.

She loved his eyes and his smile and the touch of his warm hands.

She loved his laugh, she loved his voice, the way he said her name.

All of it – and all of it she had discovered just this summer.

It had been the day of the fair – that was when this new chapter in their friendship had begun - and she did not think it was an exaggeration to say her life, she felt, had begun. He had not even been sure that he wished to go. Some silliness about getting something done when the rest of the household were out…

She had rolled her eyes. She knew he wished to progress in his job and he was not afraid of the hard work to get there.

But when the house was busy he did his own work load and about ten other foot man's job (which was lucky because there were only two others – and having two footmen in the sixties was almost unheard of)… She had decided then and there she was not going to stand for it anymore… he was not a man to put himself first and it was beginning to show. He had bags beginning to develop under his eyes and she had begun to notice he laughed less easily. Not a great surprise – though the estate had not ran as it had done in its hay day since the two of them had joined, they were both nevertheless aware that the time in which the Crawley's were going to life at the house were numbered. There was much change in the air and if there was one thing her friend could not stand then it had to be change.

Every day there was more and more talk of whether it was going to be English Heritage or National Trust who took it over and while Elise found the idea that the house was going to be conserved appealing – for she was not immune to the beauty of it, even if she could see the grotesque which was involved in it – Charles could not quite believe that their, or more correctly his family, would not remain where they had been of so many years.

As she had said to him in one of her harsher moments though, the world was never going to again be in the Victorian or the Edwardian period – they had come so far from all of that there could be no return to the time of their grandfathers, especially not after the world had suffered through two world wars. Then there was the poverty which so many families had still had to endure after…

No, the time of grand lord and ladies was well and truly done.

"I know that!" he sad said with annoyance before storming off.

But none of that had taken place on the day of the fair. On the day of the fair there had been no annoyance or crossed words.

It had been the kind of day when the two of them had could just enjoy being together.

"Oh no – not today!" she had said as she had begun to drag him out of the abbey and down to Downton village. "You my lad are coming with me." she did not know what had inspired her to take him in hand that day. There had been a million other like it when she had left him to his work but – but there was so much more to life than work.

And all of a sudden she had been the one who wanted to make him see that.

And so they had gone down to the fair together and she had made him watch while she and Beryl went about on the carrousel before making it up to him by buying him a beer. The frown which had been on his face since they had left the house begun to begrudgingly turn into a smile.

Quite aside from the fact that she had been right – it was good to get out of the old place for a while it turned out – she did look very, very pretty in her pink shirt and denim dress. He was the last man in the world to be unaffected by the charms of Elsie Hughes, not that she knew that.

That was when Charles had begun to open up. When in Rome, after all…

"Well if I am here then I may as well have a go on the coconut shy!"

He, in return, had won her a little toy bear. For a moment it had reminded her of another fair and another life time ago, but then she had shaken the thought out of her head. She had not wanted to remember Joe Burns. Not quite then – he had been a nice enough lad… but not when she had been with Charles Carson. Joe was nice enough. But all of a sudden it had seemed as if it was wrong to compare the two. Silly as it was to think, she mused to herself, even though the two of them were just friends – there seemed all of a sudden to be a lot more weight to what she shared with Charles.

She told herself it was because they were that little bit older – they had a bit more in common. They shared more aspects of their lives. After all she may have gone to school with Joe, but she worked with Charles, lived in the same building. They shared nearly every meal time in that out dated servants hall.

"The two of you are having fun – I am going to leave the two of you too it," Beryl had said to her with a wink as before she had gone off to find Bert Mason, one of the team of gardeners at the Abbey who Beryl would quite like to have some fun with herself.

Elsie had grimaced for she had not quite liked the mirth with which her friend had said that before he had returned to Charles.

"It seems as if we have been abandoned," she said with a roll of her eyes.

"Well, we can only count that as her loss… candy floss?" he had offered.

"I was beginning to wonder what was taking you so long to ask!" she said with a grin. He knew she had a sweet tooth after all.

And that was where the night had really begun.

It had ended with the two of them walking back up to the abbey.

It was the kind of summer night that they did not often get up in Yorkshire. Even through there was a breeze it was by no means cold and Elsie had no need of the contingency cardigan which she had taken down to the fair in her bag.

The sun had not long since set. No one had told the stars that though – far away from the lights of the fair, they shone as brightly as they ever had.

"Thank you for tonight," Charles had said to her with a soft smile on his face – not the huge bright one she had seen throughout the evening, but one which suggested there was true sincerity breath its depths.

"You're quite welcome…"

There had been a pause before he had turned to her. "I did need to get out," he admitted.

He hadn't wanted to say it at the beginning of the night. But she had seen that was the truth and like the true friend she was she had made sure it had happened.

"I know you are taking all of this hard – but it is not personal. It is just the way of the world." she said softly.

It was not meant as a rebuke or a lecture.

"The truth is I envy you. Having something which you are so proud of and able to be so passionate about."

It was not that she had a lack of these things – the Scottish highlands and the strength which they had shown after all they had had to endure in the last few years – the last century and beyond - was surely which she was proud of. It was something which she was fiercely proud of.

But it did not harm to be gentle with him.

They were from very different backgrounds and they were from very different lives – but it was all relative and despite her young age she felt she had lived through enough years to know that.

He gave her a soft smile and took his hand in his own before lifting it to his mouth and leaving a kiss there.

"No matter what changed the two of us have to face – I think I will be ok with them if the two of us can face them together." His voice was low as he said that and she knew like many Englishmen he could have more than a little trouble admitting the truth of how he felt, which made it all the more precious to her when he did.

A huge smile graced her face as she cup she cupped his own handsome face between her two hands.

There beneath the moonlight, on a perfects summer evening, the two of them kissed and the world seemed to fade into nothing.

X x x

That all seemed as if it was a long time ago as the summer drew to a close. Not a season had passed since the two of them had begun to get closer – not a full one any way – and yet it seemed as if the two of them had been especial friends a lot longer.

And so together, Charles and Elsie had walked out of the abbey that evening in pursuit of quiet time and somewhere to have a picnic.

It was in many ways the perfect end to the summer. What she could only hope was going to be their first summer together. It had been a season of hand holding and lips brushed up against one another and all manner of blissfully innocent expressions of love and due to Beryl being the one to pack their picnic basket rather than one of them, they now had a delicious meal to end it with.

The sandwiches of ham and cucumber had been made with just the right amount of spread, the small, cold pies which had been part of the luncheon meal were as delicious as they had been when they were served warm and the crisps and cordial packed finished the meal nicely.

"It is not going to be too long before it is too cold for us to do this," Elsie said as she leant back into Charles arms.

"This is why we are doing it now," he hummed softly. "So the memory can keep us warm over winter."

"Is there going to be nothing else to keep me warm in the winter?" she asked in a manner which she was well aware was just a little bit tartly.

Craning her head round she was able to see his face she was pleased to see there was a rather devilish smile there.

"I can think of one other thing," he said as their lips brushed together.

"So I can feel," Elsie smirked before turning to look at him.

"I – I – Elsie, I am sorry."

Elsie could not help but laugh a little at how flustered he was.

She hushed him gentle before finding her fingers was on his lips and their eyes locked.

For just a moment it seemed to her as if the entire world was perfectly still.

There was no wind in the air.

There were no sounds from any other being human or animal. It seemed too Elsie in a way desperately quiet. It was almost as if the earth itself was making its mind up about them.

This was not the first time they had found themselves caught in such a moment.

There had been quite a few throughout the summer and Elsie knew them for what they were.

Turning points.

Did she go left or right?

She knew what her mother and father would have her do and that would be save herself for marriage. But the closet she got to him the less she wanted too.

Emotionally she loved the way the two of them were together. The two of them were in sync. That was not to say they agreed on everything – god knew they were never going to do that.

But the wobbles and the fights were not important. What was important was they felt. And when it came down to the things that mattered – the two of them agreed.

She kissed him, gently at first there lips brushing together as they had done so many times before. And as the kiss deepened, she leant into him, just as she had done before.

But every other time she had been able to stop it – make some reason why the two of they had to stop, whether it be to get back to the house to go to work or to get somewhere else or simply to say good night.

But his hands were so warm and she loved him so much,

Her hand sort the warm flesh beneath his shirt. That was new.

It was softer than she had thought it was going to be.

It was Charles who pulled back then – not her.

She knew he was a man of tradition. May be he was the one who would stop them. And may be that was going to be all for the best in the long run.

But he did not say anything. He only looked deep in to her eyes once more as if he was looking for something. He cupped her cheek gently and run his thumb back and forth across her check. And it was apparent he found it for soon he was returning her kiss with the passion with which she was giving to him.

For the first time ever when they were together he was less than a complete gentleman. His hands begun to wonder.

She was not sure if she was more intrigued or afraid but the one thing she did know was she did not want to stop. She had never let the fear of the unknown stop her from doing anything. Not leaving home. Not starting work. Not anything.

She would be damned if she was going to let it stop the two of them becoming closer.

For a moment she wondered if they should go down and in to the village. They could not go back to the house to do what they wanted to do… but they could go to the Grantham Arms.

Yet... She did not want to move from where they were out in the last of the summer's evenings with no one but each other.

His hand went higher and higher up her leg and she breathed in and out.

And kept steady.

"I love you," he said very gentle as his fingers brushed places she was not used to being touched.

Whether she was entirely relaxed or entirely on edge… it didn't matter.

"I love you too – and I trust you."

That was all he needed to know.

They did not get back to the abbey till long after curfew having had a night the two of them were bound never to forget and having made a choice at a cross roads which would rule the rest of their lives.

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