Hello everyone! I hope some of you are still interested in the sequel to The Broken Places, even if Downton's ended for most of the world. (I personally am going to curl up under my bed and refuse to come out again after it ends in the U.S. in a couple months.)
I also hope you enjoy Far More just as much as many of you did TBP. (The title, by the way, is based on Robert's comment to Cora in one of the later chapter of TBP that "you deserve far more than I could ever give you.") FM has a different feel to it, and it's not precanon (which is my favorite period to write about), but I've still had fun plotting it out and writing the first few chapters, and I think you'll have fun reading it. Definitely give me your thoughts and questions in the reviews—I've been known to alter future plans based on reviews!
For those of you who haven't read my earlier pieces, this story is a sequel to The Broken Places, a fic I wrote last summer (northern hemisphere summer ;-) ). I really recommend reading TBP first, but for those of you who hate precanon or are otherwise uninterested in that story (and anyone who did read it and just needs a review!), here's a quick summary:
Less than six months after her marriage, Cora is thrown from a horse and paralyzed from the waist down. Robert has not yet fallen in love with her, but he does care about her, and he's horrified to learn that such an injury in their era will likely mean his wife will be dead within a few months from an infection. (It also means she's incapable of sex, and thus there will be no heir, but his chief concern is keeping her alive, which he feels he owes her as her husband…and as the one who suggested they go riding in the first place.) Robert finds a (historic—thanks to Settees-under-siege for the research help!) German doctor who was a pioneer in the field of spinal cord injuries who's able to operate on Cora so that she'll survive, but he can't make her walk again. This man also corrects Robert's understanding of her sexual capabilities: they can have sex, and Cora should be able to feel some of the sensations. She can also get pregnant, but she can't successfully deliver a child, and thus Robert agrees to continue with their celibate marriage until Cora is past her childbearing years. He also determines not to tell Cora they can have sex and that she can conceive, because he's afraid she'll beg for a child, he won't be able to resist, and she'll die as a result.
Meanwhile, Robert devotes himself to Cora's care and—as he always does in precanon stories—falls in love with his wife in spite of her disability, which she realizes long before he figures it out himself. Eventually, he shouts his love for Cora in the midst of an argument with his mother (who has been trying to have Cora sent back to America and replaced with a woman who can bear a child) that's heard by the whole family and a roomful of guests. He then sweeps his wife upstairs for as much intimacy as they're capable of—it's mostly a matter of what they can do with hands and mouths, since he's afraid to chance a pregnancy. Cora, of course, is stunned at how much sensation she has, and Robert explains that they can have sex the normal way, too—but not now, because childbirth would kill her. After some begging for him to risk it, she accepts this.
Cora has been asking about adopting a baby from a foundling home for months at this point, and Robert finally agrees. They adopt a baby girl (so that there's no question of her being the heir), and she doesn't receive a title as she isn't a full descendant legally—she's simply known as Miss Charlotte Crawley. They both fall in love with her, and when she's three they adopt a second baby, Eleanor.
A lot of reviewers and fellow writers asked at the time how this AU might affect the show as we know it, so I decided to attempt a sequel. Far More picks up in 1912, the same year as season 1 begins. I'll be following some of the season 1 events, with the twist that Cora's disabled and the daughters involved are not Mary, Edith, and Sybil.
So, without further ado, let's get rolling!