Barrow's Boy - A Downton Abbey Fanfiction

A Wild Rose

      Editing the school newspaper wasn't always the easiest job. On the days that Theodore was meant to do this job, he would stay after school, until everyone else in his class left. Then he and Miss Gibson would sit together and go through the articles for the newspaper until all of the edits had been made. 

        By the time he made it back to Downton, he was always relieved to be done reading through the same articles over and over again. As he walked into the servants' hall, he placed his schoolbooks on the table and took a seat next to Jimmy, then proceeding to rub his hands on his face. Thomas looked over at him from a seat by the fireplace raising his eyebrows. 

     "What's going on with you?" 

     "I swear that none of my classmates know what a dictionary is," Teddy replied, moving his hands away from his face and looking over at his father. Jimmy quietly laughed from next to him, having ditched the piece of silver he was supposed to be polishing to instead focus on the conversation. 

       "Was today an editing day?" Teddy gave Jimmy a single look, however, it was enough to answer the question. "There had to be something good."

       "Oh yeah, Abi's designs were wonderful. As they always are." 

       "Which one is Abi again?"

       "The brunette." 

       "Right," Jimmy smiled to himself, picking up the silver again. "And the blonde is Katherine?" Teddy nodded in confirmation, although it took him a few seconds to notice the look on Jimmy's face. His jaw dropped, and he turned to look over at Thomas. 

      "What have you told him?" 

      "I have no idea what you're talking about," Thomas responded, lighting a cigarette. Despite the facade that the man had put over his face, Teddy had a strong feeling that that sentence was a complete lie. He looked between Thomas and Jimmy, then shook his head. 

       "Him, tell me something? Where would you get an idea like that?"

      "Absolutely preposterous."

      "Insanity." Teddy furrowed his brow as the two men went back and forth. 

       "I don't like you two being friends," He said, shaking his head. Thomas took a drag from his cigarette, although his expression was clearly one of amusement. 

       "What's going on in here?" Anna asked as she walked into the room, carry one of Lady Mary's black shawls and a sewing kit.

      "These two are tormenting me," Teddy replied, motioning between Thomas and Jimmy. Both of them quickly responded. 

      "Hey now!"

      "We would never!"

      "I'm your father. Show some respect." Anna looked between all of the boys in the room, then laughed to herself. 

      "I'm beginning to feel sorry that I asked," she said, taking a seat at the table and placing the shawl and kit on it.

      "Asked what?" Daisy inquired, now standing in the doorway to the kitchen. Anna quickly shook her head, making Teddy quietly laugh. 

      "I'm not quite sure what's going on here. And I don't think that I want to know."

      Teddy hadn't met Lady Rose, despite her staying in Downton previously with the Dowager Countess, however, he had been bound to soon enough. 

      He'd been walking down the long path leading away from Downton - or towards, depending on which direction you were walking - on his way to run a quick errand for Mrs. Patmore. Despite the list of ingredients clutched in his hand, he had been repeating them in his head, not wanting to forget anything. It was this fixation on the ingredients that caused him to almost walk into the young woman walking towards him. 

      "I am so sorry Miss," he said, looking up at her. 

      He didn't recognize her, but he was able to make a few observations based entirely on her appearance. She was wealthy, based on the clothes she was wearing. Definitely wealthier than he was. She was also younger than he had expected her to be when he had almost collided with her. In fact, Teddy would venture to say that she wasn't very much older than himself. Unlike many of the people at Downton, who were born before 1900, he would say that the two of them had been born in the same century. 

       "Oh, don't be. I wasn't watching where I was going. I was too busy looking at this." The young woman motioned towards the trees, where a single rose had somehow grown along one of them. It definitely hadn't been planted there, Lady Grantham would have ensured that it was put in the gardens. Teddy looked at the rose for a moment, then up at the young woman and smiled. 

     "I wasn't paying attention either if I'm honest," Teddy responded, sheepishly shrugging. The young lady smiled kindly at him. 

   "Well, then there's clearly no one here to blame." She stuck out her hand. "I'm Rose. It's nice to meet you." Theodore hesitantly took her hand, moving the list to his free hand so that he could. 

      "Theodore. But my friends call me Teddy." He shook her hand, then came to the realization that probably should have hit him sooner. "Wait, Lady Rose. I'm so sorry, I had no idea."

      "Don't worry about that right now. I don't mind. I'm not Carson, after all." Teddy couldn't help but laugh at this. 

     "You've gotten to know him rather well, it seems." Lady Rose laughed, causing Teddy to smile. It was becoming clear to him that status wasn't the most important thing to her. 

     "I wouldn't be so sure about that. But I know enough." She looked down at the list in his hand, then at his face again. "Where are you headed on this fine day, Theodore?"

    "Out to the shops. Mrs. Patmore is in need of some new ingredients, and she's asked me to get them for her." Having noticed Lady Rose's interest in the list, he offered it to her. She read over it, a small frown coming onto her face. 

     "And you're supposed to carry this back on your own?" 

      "I'm sure I'll manage, milady," Teddy replied, taking the list back as Rose offered it to him. 

     "Well, in that case, at least allow me to accompany you." 

      "You don't have to do that. I'll be alright."

      "Oh no, Theodore, you misunderstand me. I want to go into town, but they won't let me go alone. Can I please come with you? You can be my escort!" Teddy blinked once. Then again. He'd never been asked to be an escort before, and it made sense. He was 13 years old, definitely not an adult, and, on top of that, his background wasn't one that many people approved of. 

      Despite this, Lady Rose's pleading gaze made him slowly nod. There was something about it that made him unable to say no. After all, he supposed that he couldn't get in trouble for simply doing what one of the ladies had asked from him. 

      "You can come, but I must confess that I'm not sure how good I'll be at escorting." 

      "That's alright. I'm not very good at being escorted." Teddy couldn't help but smile, continuing to walk as Lady Rose started to lead them down the path. "Although, I have one question for you, if you don't mind."

        "Ask me anything, my lady." Lady Rose looked over at him and smiled. 

        "Can I call you Teddy?"