Barrow's Boy - A Downton Abbey Fanfiction

Not Signed

     There was too much chatter between the servants that morning for Theodore to not think something was going on. His arrival in the servants' hall seemed to go unnoticed by all except one. Somehow, Mr. Carson had seen him and had quickly found something for him to do.

     "Take this up to James or Alfred. They seem to have forgotten it," Mr. Carson told him, handing him a box. Teddy was thrown off by the weight and almost dropped it before he got his arms around it properly. "Do it quickly."

     Teddy knew that Carson's final words were code for 'do it before the family wakes up and don't let any of them see you', so he began to make his way up the stairs, box in his arms.

     As he reaches the top of the stairs, he's met with a strangely empty corridor. He pauses for a moment, then begins his search, relying solely on what he remembered of the house from during the war.

     His first stop is the library. He walks in to find it, oddly, empty. He knew that the family wasn't awake yet, but surely someone should have been in there doing some sort of job. Instead, it's only him, a single boy standing among artifacts that he could never afford, yet lived around every day. It was an odd thing, once you considered it, how you could have such things so close to you, yet never within your reach at the same moment.

     He put down the box, deciding to give his arms just a moment of rest before continuing his search when the door opened and someone walked into the room. He didn't recognize her, but it was easy to see what her role in the house was. She was the nanny for Miss Sybbie and Master George.

     "I'm sorry, I thought that one of the maids or footmen would be in here," she said, taking a look around. Teddy bent down, picking up the box again.

     "As did I," he responded, beginning to walk towards the door across the room. "Unfortuantely, it seems we were both mistaken, ma'am."

     "Well, you may have been mistaken, but I wasn't. They're usually in here at this time." Teddy paused, looking up at the woman.

     "If you'll excuse me, I have to go find one of the footmen," he said after a moment, knowing that Mr. Carson would kill him if he wasn't back downstairs soon.

     He was walking through the door when the nanny spoke again.

     "Could you tell someone that-" the door closed before Teddy could hear the rest of her sentence. Something in him told him not to bother with it, so he continue his walk.

     He found a large group of the staff in the main foyer, in some sort of discussion. He approached then, glad that the box would soon be out of his arms. As he walked up to where Jimmy and Thomas were standing, he put it on the ground.

     "What's gotten everyone so talkative today?" He asked, causing both men to look at him.

     "No one's told you?" Teddy shook his head in response to Thomas's question. At the realization that he would get to share the news again, a small smirk came onto Thomas' face.

     "Miss O'Brien's gone." Teddy stared for a moment.

     "You're joking."

     "No, apparently she packed up and left in the middle of the night last night." Teddy couldn't stop the smile that came onto his face or the laugh that came after.

     "If I was a few years older, I would suggest bringing out some wine and celebrating," Jimmy smirked at Teddy's words.

     "No more O'Brien and a bottle of wine? Now we're really talking."