The humour is over. Now back into the chasm of deep intensity I am summoned.

It is preferable that you read Withering Dawn before this (for your own benefit) as there will be numerous references to it so having read it will be advantageous and will result in less confusion and more empathy with the plot. The journey for the two main characters is quite psychological so to understand what I am doing and what is going on in the minds of the characters, Thomas in particular, it might be deemed necessary to read Withering Dawn. I hope part 2 receives as much enthusiasm as part 1.

Please enjoy Veiled Moonlight and thank you so much for reading, and any reviews/follows/favourites.

Apologies for any spelling/ grammar mistakes.

I do not own the characters, or Downton Abbey… unfortunately.

"Morning Mr Barrow, how are you feeling? You look much happier today." Daisy came into the servant's hall with a cheery smile which spread infectiously to Thomas' face as he felt a sudden need to extinguish his cigarette and reply to the girl with equally warm spirit.

"I am thank you Daisy. Are you excited about going tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I'm a bit nervous," She said, "but Mr Mason's lovely and it'll be so nice to live with him on his farm."

"I'll miss you." The languid voice of Alfred stilled all cheer in the room.

"Really?" Daisy asked in surprise, for now the kitchen maid Ivy was no longer besotted with Jimmy she didn't think Alfred would have any thought for her, especially after his declaration of love for the girl moments before Daisy decided to hand in her notice.

"Course I will." Alfred said.

"You can come visit on your half day. I can show you 'round." Daisy suggested, her feelings for the second footman still lingering restlessly on her mind, it would be easier for her when she left and was away from the idiot which embodied Alfred's runner bean body.

"Yeah, that'll be nice; maybe Ivy might like to come." Not from one conversation could he keep free the name of the kitchen maid.

"I'll ask her." Daisy said charitably, even though she was envious of the feelings Ivy had from Alfred, she was fond of her.

"No I'll do it." Alfred taking any opportunity to talk to the love of his misspent life, "What are they doing about an assistant cook?"

"I don't know, I mean Ivy's all right so Mrs Patmore should be able to cope without anyone for a while, so long as they don't have too many grand dinners."

"Can't see that happening any time soon." Thomas interjected, knowing that after the Duke's visit the family had grown very cautious when it came to visitors, and there were more and more requests from young men hoping to play suitor to Lady Mary, which upset Mr Carson distinctly, and unsettled the family, for it had not yet been four months since Mr Crawley's death.

"Mr Barrow! Where's Mr Barrow?!" Jimmy frantically entered the room adorned in an apron, holding a silver dish in his gloved hands, face flushed, his head turning every way it would allow in his search to find the under butler.

"All right calm down James I'm here, what's the matter?" Thomas rose from his seat and went over to the footman, seeing the shining object clasped so slackly in his hands he asked in disapproval, "What are you doing running around with that dish?"

"That's the thing Mr Barrow, Mr Carson says we need it for tonight, but there's a watermark on it and I can't get it off." Jimmy held out the offending dish to Mr Barrow, his words formed as a mumble in his state of panic.

"Let me see." The masterly coolness of the under butler already saw Jimmy's heart slow as Thomas took the dish into his long masculine fingers, and examined the side of it carefully. "You've already had a go at this haven't you?"

"Maybe." Jimmy tightened his lips.

"You used too much stuff didn't you?"

"Maybe." Jimmy's expression varied with his responses.

"Fortunately for you it doesn't look beyond saving. Come on." Thomas snaked around Jimmy, handing him the dish back to carry.

"Yes Mr Barrow."

The two men went into the room where all the cleaning materials they would need were kept. Thomas went over to the work surface where he waited for Jimmy to come in and shut the door. The footman set the dish on the table top before raising his head up to Mr Barrow's, those bright shining eyes affixed upon his, allowing the deep look of an untapped romance between them to linger and speak all that words never could, all the pain in their being apart until this moment in this room. It pushed them into the other's arms unrestrainedly, their two sets of lips burning together in the fires of longing which lived only in the passing feeling between their touch, two sets of hands caressing the feel of a warm body in their grasp, aching to be held. The men only parted to catch a breath and smile.

"I love it when you make yourself look like an idiot." Thomas said, tracing his thumb along the footman's lower lip which received a grateful kiss.

"It's worth it to spend some time alone with you." Jimmy grasped Thomas' hand in his to stop it from leaving his lips and he kissed each of Thomas' fingers.

Thomas buried his nose in Jimmy's hair, reminding himself of youth's intoxicating scent to take with him once they left the room. "I shouldn't do it too often or I'll start to think it's not an act."

"Would you mind?"

"Not if you keep kissing me the way you do." Thomas whispered into Jimmy's ear, his breath setting the footman's knees trembling and was glad Thomas could not see the face he was making as it would be revealing of a hidden lust which could not be quenched. His cheek not leaving Jimmy's skin he moved his lips back onto the footman's just as the door came open.

"Whoa, guys!" A female cry emitted through the room, splitting the two men from each other who both wiped their lips and straightened themselves as if the young housemaid had not seen them.

"Victoria, we were just-" Thomas started.

"I know what you were doing, and I told you before; you need to be more careful. What if I was Mr Carson, or worse O'Brien?" Victoria placed her hands upon her hips as she gave her friends a disappointed look, "Just make sure any risks you take are worth it, or at least tell me so I can keep an eye out, and so I don't have to walk in on it." She scrutinised the two men who were shuffling about in embarrassment.

Jimmy was the first to find his nerve, "Well, seeing as you're here, can you-"

"No." Victoria mouthed at them as she left, leaving a dashed expression on Jimmy's face.

"She's right." Thomas drew a hand over his slicked ebony hair.

"Yeah. I hate that." Jimmy stared at the door in an annoyance tugging at him with regards to the girl between love and hate, but only hate in that she would always bear warnings regarding his and Thomas' relationship which were always right and therefore only kept them apart.

"Come on. Let's get on."

"All right." Jimmy agreed as he pushed his lips against Thomas', who struggled to hold him at arm's length.

"I meant work you daft boy!" Thomas playfully slapped Jimmy's shrugging shoulder as the footman took up the unblemished silver bowl to return to the silver cupboard.

It had been three weeks since Thomas and Jimmy's first kiss (technically second, but the pair decided that since only one of them was awake the first did not count) and all seemed to be going well enough. Certainly as to be expected there were mishaps and close calls, but they were still going strong and determined not to let anything come between them. That first night the pair stayed up talking and making up for all those lost months with words, smiles and touches which were spoken from the heart, not a shadowed drabble of expectancy and correctness, savouring that first spark of romance which filtered through into every corner of their destitute lives filling them with happiness. It was the next night where they had to talk in all seriousness of how their relationship was going to survive, and what they would do if they were caught. Their plan came out as a list of rules; working in service rules were amenable to them. They would always be honest each other even when it meant revealing any slip ups, every night they would go for a walk, night being the only time they could be alone. They would only kiss or touch in each other's rooms or when they were sure not to be seen, possibly in the wood or the vast fields. They would tell one person about their relationship, decidedly the young maid Victoria (who pretty much knew anyway), as it would make it a little easier to bear and make them feel less deceptive. Finally they were not to take any stupid risks; no winking across the upstairs dining table while serving dinner, no hand holding under the servant's hall table, no whispering or lingering looks on each other or crude jokes. They then decided that they would both secretly save some money, so if they were caught and had to leave they would be able to get by for a while, and maybe aim to leave the country. Apart from that there was not much they could plan.

The day after this conversation took place, the third day of their secret association; several rules were broken. They both found it very difficult to keep away, finding just being near each other was not enough, they had to be close to smell one another so at least three of their senses could be overwhelmed by sensations of each other, until the need for the fourth sense of touch became too much, it was only the final want for taste which saw the men tighten their mouths, and Jimmy would put a cup of tea or whatever food was available to his lips, while Thomas forced a cigarette to his, to stay their deprived agony until that night where they would meet outside and kiss under a large bough tree until tiredness beckoned them back to Downton. Where the men would each give a low bow of respect to the night sky in gratitude for the ally of darkness it granted them in protection of their forbidden affair.

On this night in the present, Jimmy and Thomas were out walking, as per the rules they were semi- bound by. At dinner Jimmy had accidently stroked Alfred's knee under the table, thinking it was Thomas', both footmen were equally traumatised by the experience as a result, and Thomas was now comforting Jimmy whom he was sure had not blinked since the incident.

"It was a mistake; I know you didn't mean to do it. Why would anyone want to touch those knees?" Thomas rubbed Jimmy's arm to guard his petite body from the early November cold as they walked through the trees which faded as silhouettes into the darkness of the night.

"I just never thought it would be this hard; not to touch you when I walk past, to not tell you how gorgeous I think you are, or kiss you every time I see you."

"Don't you think it's just as hard for me? But we can't, Victoria was right, if anyone sees-"

"I know, I know." Jimmy nodded wearily. Remembering back to that time he was in the kitchen with Ivy, the way he could touch her cheek and complement her and no one would bat an eyelid, all he wanted was to do the same to someone else, what difference was it that that someone was a dark, intelligent, sophisticated man?

"We might have to be a bit more distant, I think some people might already be starting to see it." Thomas confessed, bringing fresh worries to the footman.

"I see. Who?"

"The usual suspects; Mr Bates, Mrs Hughes, Mrs Patmore; which isn't so bad," The senior staff tending to be more discreet and tolerant in personal matters than the more excitable younger members of staff, "but I worry about Miss O'Brien, if she finds out I don't know what will happen." Thomas said glumly, mulling over the possibilities in his mind.

"Didn't you say you had some secret you could hold against her?"

"Yeah, but that won't stop her messing up what we have, because we couldn't speak against her without telling anyone about us." Thomas considered, the importance of having to keep their affair secret from this one woman could very well be a bane on their lives.

"I guess. We'll just have to be careful; we can go for more walks. "

"We walk every night."

"Maybe during lunch we could nip out?"

"They'd get suspicious."

"I don't know then." Jimmy's train of thoughts had reached a disappointing end, and then severed with an expressed wish, "I wish we could go away somewhere together."

"Blimey, we just talked about being careful and you want to take a romantic break?" Thomas scoffed, pressing his lips to the footman's head. Every time they discussed something which could turn into a quarrel Thomas would cool down an uprising of the youth's temper with such a kiss.

"There must be somewhere we could go, maybe in London?" Jimmy asked, expecting Thomas, with all his worldly experience, to know. He was grateful for that in his older lover, as this way they weren't both a pair of inexperienced bumbling fools who would not know what they were doing, it would be fine in a heterosexual relationship, but not an illicit one, it comforted Jimmy to know he was being guided by a man, wise to the ways of those like them, it even made him feel safe.

"There are places; underground places where people like us can go, I suppose it would be wonderful for just one evening to be able to grip your fingers, dance with you, and kiss you while other people watch." The very image brought a smile to Thomas' lips; it was a dream for him that had visited his sleep many times before.

"If only we could get the time off." An impossible feat which blocked both of their dreams for the foreseeable future.

"I don't see it happening." Thomas reluctantly agreed. Sensing the youth's quiet Thomas suddenly felt guilty, that he had dragged this beautiful boy into his world, away from normality and any chance of happiness, which was clearly missed. "Jimmy? Are you happy?"

"Course I am."

"I mean are you happy with me? Do you wish maybe that things worked out with you and Ivy?" Thomas hated asking this, but he cared about Jimmy more than anything in the world, and would bring himself to let him go if it made him happy.

"The words that come out of your mouth sometimes Mr Barrow." Jimmy shook his head. Knowing that Thomas' thoughts were not so serious that he should stop a kiss from breaching his gentle lips, Jimmy held Thomas' face in his hands to show his want for him as their lips stilled against each other. Jimmy whispered a phrase, a phrase he had been thinking of all day, which sounded so pathetic and yet found it necessary to communicate to the man in his hands. "Before you came along nothing existed. Now everything exists. Because you are everything."

The response came in a grin at those words which flowed with the beauty of the speaker; a beauty which Thomas would die to preserve. "You are poison Jimmy Kent. A kind worth taking."

Hope you enjoyed this opening chapter. Thank you again for reading.