Fanfiction in several chapters inspired by 'Grantchester'

When it all starts

First part

Y/N was new to Grantchester. She ran out of London, where she studied and lived most of her life in order to discover new places. When she settled in Grantchester, she was not expecting much but thought she could still find a job in Cambridge or in a local pub, until having a proper job.

Her first days in Grantchester went quite apocalyptic. Grantchester not being London, she had not thought for one second that people could be mean to strangers and especially women who are quite extrovert and new. Y/N, albeit growing-up in the late 30s and early 40s, surrounded by men forcing women to be dressed in an uncomfortable way and to be perfect housewives, had never felt inferior to men and is glad every time she can prove that she is as worthy as a man. She could see people staring at her in a fishy way, but she did not really care.

Days went by as she discovered the town and Cambridge on her bike. It is a lovely bike she brought from London, where people started to be alright with the idea that a woman could have a bike for herself. But in Grantchester, people just found it odd when they saw Y/N the first time riding her bike. She found a job as a waitress even though she was qualified enough to be a teacher. She thought it would be for another time.

While riding her bike, she stopped at one house where a neighbour of hers had invited her to ring. She had been told that Leonard Finch was the best person to talk to if she wanted to know more about the town, that he once was new too but quickly fell in love with Grantchester and hoped that Y/N would eventually appreciate it as well. Deep down, she truly wished the same thing.

An elderly opened the door instead of the young man she imagined.

"Oh, hello, I was expecting to see someone else", said Y/N "is your son here?", she asked.

"I don't have any son, miss. But you might talk about Sidney?"

"Erm, no... Isn't Leonard Finch living here?"

"Of course he does. I'm Miss Chapman, their landlady. Please come in, I'll call Leonard", explained the woman, Mrs Chapman.

Y/N did not quite understand why two men would live together in a flat lent by an old woman but entered the charming house and waited near the threshold.

"Leonard! A woman in trousers for you!", yelled Mrs Chapman. The way she had forced her voice on the way Y/N was dressed had Y/N to blush lightly. Since her arrival, she never believed her trousers would be an impediment to social relationships but apparently it was.

An handsome and young man reached out for Y/N and introduced to her.

"Good afternoon, I'm Sidney Chambers, the local canon. How do you do?"

"I'm Y/N and very pleased to meet you, Mr. Chambers", she said. She meant it. She had never seen a man with this aura. She felt her heart leaving her slowly, not quite getting what was happening.

A canon. That explained the landlady. But not the smell of alcohol nor the smell of tobacco.

Soon after, another young man appeared, with his white collar. He, too, was clearly a priest.

Y/N spent the rest of the afternoon with Leonard and noticed several common points of interest with the young man. Like Finch, she likes Shakespeare and Keats and like Finch, she could spend hours admiring paintings in a museum. Nevertheless, she could not truly focus on anything but the very few words Sidney Chambers had told her.

Leonard fetched Y/N back to her house after a whole afternoon in the town and near Cam River. They had seen everything there is to see in only a couple of hours.

When he came back to Mrs Chapman's house, Leonard thought he had seen his friend Sidney looking through the curtains Y/N and himself waving goodbye. But it was probably a sheer illusion, he thought.

Mrs Chapman talked to Leonard of his walk with Y/N.

"You shouldn't go with this kind of girl, Leonard"

"You know that I am not inclined to like women this way, don't you? You must be aware by now that my heart does not beat for women. And as for the friends I choose, you must not interfere. Y/N is a delicate person and I'm quite convinced you could like her if you had no prejudice of this sort", he said quite low and slowly. He had never talked like that to Sylvia whom he often gave marks of respect. But it was true that Mrs Chapman could sometimes be quite harsh on people and Leonard would not let go, not this time.

"So, she is a friend of yours, now, Leonard? Be careful Leonard with these women"

Leonard preferred leaving the conversation for the peaceful silence of his bedroom. On his way to his room, Leonard was held back by his friend.

Sidney made Leonard enter his room and started to talk to him.

"What you said to Mrs C was brave, Leonard! I started to believe you were a coward when it comes to talking to her..", he said before laughing.

"So, you heard... Y/N is a lovely woman and I disagree with Sylvia talking like that about her. I'm sure you will like Y/N. She seemed to like you, she has barely said a word while we were out. Since you talked to her, really. She likes jazz and she rides the bike. And well, I don't believe in coincidence"

Sidney smiled softly at Leonard's words. Y/N was still stuck in his head and her eyes and her hair. Since Amanda, he had never felt attracted this way.

.......

On the next Sunday, Y/N decided to join the church for the weekly mass. She had never been the most religious woman and was far from being a devout. Religion did not mean a lot to her but she needed to see Sidney. As a matter of fact, since the very last time, she could not help but thinking of him: she knew it was probably not the best idea to have but she still made her way to the church.

Leonard greeted her when she arrived, quite surprised to see her. Once again, Y/N was also surprised of what she was doing.

Sidney spoke out for the believers who were praying in a quiet way. When he looked at the audience, he saw Y/N amid the usual people. She was marvellous, even more gorgeous now than the first time he saw her. Many times during the week, he would stop writing his preach to have the chance to see her entering her house, even for a couple of seconds. Or he would ride his bike until the dawn to be fortunate enough to talk to her. But he had been quite unlucky in his quest. She was there, the rest did not matter.

Y/N was staring back at him and smiled softly before looking down to her knees and blushing. She felt quite silly to act as a teenager who meets her first boyfriend and was hoping really hard that Sidney could not understand what was going through her body.

At the end of the service, Sidney gathered his papers quite quickly with one idea in his mind: talking to her at all costs.