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The last thing Richard expected when being woken at 3:30 in the morning was to look up into the panicked eyes of Thomas Barrow, his hair flopping into his eyes and giving him a rather disheveled look. Any other time, Richard might have commented, quipped that it was a good look for him, but not as terrified as he looked in that moment. Instead, Richard sat up, and frowned as he asked him, “Thomas, what’s the matter?”
“I lost the dog,” he answered, whispering anxiously.
Richard blinked a few times. “The… dog? What dog?” he questioned.
“His Lordship’s dog.”
Richard’s eyes widened. “You don’t mean…? Thomas, you lost Isis? ”
Thomas didn’t answer aside from nodding vigorously, which caused Richard to curse quietly under his breath as he got up out of bed and started trying to grab something to change into. “Alright, start at the beginning and tell me what happened?” he requested. “How did you lose her?”
He ran a hand through his hair and said, “I took her and hid her so I could find her later and bring her back, so His Lordship would keep me on, but she isn’t where I left her and I don’t know where she’s gotten off to…”
Richard nodded a little as he listened. It was… a downright terrible plan, but as distraught as Thomas was he didn’t much feel like pointing it out. “Hey, Thomas,” he said, laying a hand on the other man’s arm. “It’s alright. Just take me out to where you know you last saw her, and we’ll see what we can do. Okay?”
Thomas gave a small nod, and then went to lead Richard out of the room. They hurried down the stairs, being as silent as possible so as not to wake anyone- especially not Carson, if worse were to come to worst- until they finally made it outside. Richard followed Thomas out through the woods, well away from the house, and eventually Thomas led him up to a shed.
“The door was already open when I came,” he said. “And Isis was gone.”
Richard sighed and looked around. No prizes given to the person who realised they were in deep trouble. Or Thomas was, rather, although Richard had no intentions of leaving him to deal with it alone. In fact, he rather liked the other man’s company, and he wanted to be sure he got to stick around.
“We’ll find her, don’t worry,” he assured Thomas, who was beginning to work himself up again with worries of being sent to prison if they didn’t find her. “And don’t worry about what happens if we don’t, either. Someone would have to know that you took her in order to tell, so unless you’ve told anyone…?”
“You know,” Thomas pointed out, which earned a soft, fond chuckle from Richard who laid his hands on his shoulders, holding him there gently.
“I won’t tell,” he promised. “If I wanted you out of this house, I’d have told you good luck, and then told His Lordship first thing when I went in to dress him. Instead, I’m out here helping you look. And, if we can’t find her, I’ll make a show of being tired, and when His Lordship asks, I’ll tell him how I found you going out to look again, and decided to join you so you wouldn’t be wandering the woods alone all night. If that doesn’t make him think well of you, I’m not sure what would.”
Thomas looked at him with wide eyes, blinking a few times as he stared up at Richard in shock. “You’d do that for me?” he questioned. “Just to keep me around? Do you realise if His Lordship ever found out…?”
“I’d go down with you, yes,” Richard said. “But the truth is, Thomas… I do enjoy your company, and I like the convenience of having it here at Downton. Not that I wouldn’t try and see you elsewhere, but why bother with that if we can be in the same house, hmm?”
Thomas still looked stunned as he processed this, and Richard wished he didn’t recognise that kind of expression. He could see clearly the disbelief in Thomas’s eyes, that he didn’t expect anyone would want to help him, and he practically expressed as much when he said, “You don’t have to do this, you know. I really don’t want to drag you down with me…”
“You won’t be, and I want to do this,” Richard assured him. “This isn’t a good situation, I’ll admit it, but I think it’s salvageable. Let’s just focus on salvaging it, alright?”
Thomas nodded a little, as if trying to shake off the surprise which still clung to him. “I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you for this, Richard,” he said. Richard chuckled and immediately waved the idea off.
“You haven’t got to,” he countered. “Otherwise, what are friends for?”
Thomas finally found it in him to offer a small, albeit shaky, smile. “We’re friends, then?” he asked.
Richard smiled at him with an almost conspiratorial sort of mischief in his eyes, and replied, “If that’s all you do want us to be.” Then, entirely unaware of the way Thomas’s heart stopped beating for a moment in his chest, he grinned at the wide smile that broke out across his lips, and inclined his head back toward the way they’d come from. “Better get a move on, if we want to find her.” Thomas nodded, and the two got to work, scouring the woods and roads around Downton Abbey for any sign of the Earl’s beloved Isis.
They searched well into the morning, and by the time the sun was rising in the sky, both men were more disheveled than they’d been when they left the house, hair flopping in their faces and coats thrown over their arms. It wasn’t a particularly warm morning, no, but after walking for hours on end, it was warm enough.
It was during this walk back up the drive, fruitless in their efforts, that they encountered Lord Grantham himself, walking the very dog in question. Richard thought Thomas might collapse from relief, though he himself only smiled happily, keeping his own relief tucked away. When Lord Grantham saw the pair, his eyes went wide with disbelief and he asked, “Thomas, Mr. Ellis, where on earth have you been? Carson had to come in and dress me this morning, and he said he hadn’t seen either of you at breakfast, and you weren’t in your rooms when he went to check.” He paused and looked them over, frowning slightly. “What have you been up to, anyway? You both look a mess.”
Thomas looked to Richard, who chuckled almost self-consciously. Showtime. “I’m afraid I got up to go and get some water in the night, and found Thomas going out to look a little longer for Isis, Your Lordship,” he said. “I decided to go out with him since four eyes would be better than two, and wandering about by yourself through the woods is a bad idea on the best of days.”
Lord Grantham’s eyes widened further as Richard spoke, and he looked between them before asking, “You mean to tell me you’ve been looking for her all night?”
“I didn’t feel right about giving up when the rest of the search party did, Your Lordship,” Thomas confessed.
The shock finally began to leave Lord Grantham’s face, being slowly replaced by thoughtfulness as he regarded the two men before him. “I’m impressed,” he stated. “At first, Mr. Ellis, I was concerned about you just disappearing with no word, and even more so when I heard you’d both gone. But I’m afraid I may have jumped the gun… I’m grateful for your loyalty, both of you.”
The way Thomas lit up made all of this worth it for Richard, who smiled a bit after seeing this. “We’re just happy to see she’s home safe,” he said.
“Yes, the paperboy found her on his way up this morning,” Lord Grantham explained. “But don’t think I’ll forget your dedication to finding her- either of you.”
“Thank you, Your Lordship,” Richard said graciously.
Lord Grantham nodded a polite reply, and said, “You’d better get inside before Mrs. Hughes works herself up too much. Carson insinuated she was already quite worried.”
Richard chuckled quietly. “I’ll be sure we let her know what happened,” he assured him, and Lord Grantham gave another nod, satisfied.
“Good,” he replied. “Well, Isis and I better be off, we’re walking into town and I don’t want to take too long.”
“Of course,” Richard said. “Please, don’t let us keep you.” He stepped aside and gestured for Lord Grantham to pass between us, which he did with a kind wave, before letting Thomas and Richard start toward the house once again.
As soon as Lord Grantham was out of ear shot, Thomas let out a sigh of relief. “I can’t believe… all night, and he already had her,” he said. Richard couldn’t help himself from laughing a bit.
“Better that than she was never found, and we never looked,” he pointed out. “And we managed to still impress His Lordship, so I think I’d count that as an overall win.”
“Now we just have to hope that’s enough for him not to throw me out on my ear,” Thomas said, and Richard frowned a little at the more frustrated sigh he let out then.
“If it’s not, we’ll come up with another move,” Richard promised. “But… maybe we should make those sorts of plans together? I’d rather we not do something worse than losing his dog …”
Thomas flushed and chuckled a little. “Didn’t go at all like I’d hoped,” he said. “And I don’t know why you’re getting wrapped up in this now, aside from saying we’re friends…”
“If that’s all you want, yes,” Richard confirmed, and Thomas gave him a thoughtful, if not confused, look.
“What do you mean by that anyway?” he questioned. “‘If that’s all I want’? Is there something more I should want?”
“You can want as much as you’d like,” Richard answered with a little smirk.
Thomas smiled interestedly. “And if I said I wanted a great deal?”
“Then I’d say you’re in luck, because I want a great deal, too,” Richard said. “Including you.”
If Thomas had flushed before, he turned bright red now, and stopped Richard near the door, where they wouldn’t be seen or overheard. “What do you mean, ‘including me’? And please be straightforward. I don’t think I can afford to get this wrong…”
Richard offered him a smile, taking his hand and lifting it to his lips to press a gentle kiss to his knuckles. “You haven’t got it wrong, Thomas, not at all.”
Thomas’s eyes shifted once again as he squeezed Richard’s hand gently, prompting Richard to tighten his grip a bit. “You do want me then, you mean?” he questioned once more for clarity’s sake.
“I do,” Richard confirmed. “If you’ll have me.”
Thomas let out what sounded like an incredulous chuckle as he smiled widely up at Richard. “Of course I’ll bloody have you,” he said. “What sort of an idiot would I be not to?”
Richard chuckled and used his hold on Thomas’s hand to pull him closer, where he could press a soft kiss to his forehead. “Doesn’t matter,” he said. “Because you’re not an idiot. Even if you do think stealing a dog’s the right way to get on someone’s good side.”
Thomas groaned and chuckled. “ One time , and you’re never going to let it go, are you?” he asked.
“Not until you’ve let me go,” Richard confirmed with a mischievous grin.
Thomas looked up at him with a similar expression, and he chuckled. “Then I think I’ll be hearing about that for a very long time to come,” he said, and Richard nodded, smirking.
“A very long time, indeed.”