Downton Abbey doesn't belong to me

Fast Comes Marriage!

Matthew Crawley heard a noise and woke up from a not-so-sound sleep. Matthew never slept well when he wasn't in his own bed so one had to wonder why he had let himself to be persuaded to stay the night at Downton Abbey instead of going home.

He didn't have to think about why he had stayed. Mary, it was always about her these days.

She had ignored him the whole evening talking instead to Pamuk but being the glutton for punishment that he was, he'd elected to stay the night and endure more torture.

Thud.

There was that noise again.

Matthew pulled on his night gown and walked cautiously to the door. He listened through it and thought that he heard voices, female voices to be exact and unless he was very much mistaken one of them sounded just like Mary's.

'Stop dreaming about her,' he told himself.

He opened his door slowly and there in front it stood Anna, Mary and Lady Grantham; they were carrying the Turkish gentleman, Pamuk, between them.

"What - ?" he began only to be sshhed by Mary. 'What was going?' he wondered as he helped them carry Pamuk to his room. They settled Pamuk in his bed and Anna after being thanked profusely by both Mary and her mother was the first to leave. Lady Grantham stood in the room for a while, looking as if her whole world had crumbled around her, and then she left looking close to tears.

Matthew tried again, "Mary is going on?" he asked his cousin. Mary appeared not to have heard him and Matthew sensing that he was unwelcome went back to his room.

He had barely entered his room when Mary walked in. "Thank you for helping us," she told him.

"Mary, what happened?" he asked again.

"Pamuk died." Matthew nodded; he had already seen that for himself. He waited for her to explain further.

"Pamuk was in my room with me when it happened. We were together - ," she paused looking at him.

"You were with him." It wasn't a question but a statement. Mary knew she had let everyone including herself down. Matthew had turned away from her, angry, how dare Pamuk go to his Mary's room in the middle of the night? The nerve of foreigners, Matthew felt sure that if Pamuk wasn't already dead he would have beaten him up and killed him.

Mary touched him on the shoulder and said, "Please. I'm sorry. Let me explain - ."

"Yes, explain. I would like to hear the explanation for this as well." Mary and Matthew turned.

Lord Grantham was standing in the doorway of Matthew's room. They hadn't heard him arrive. They looked at him in silence. Lord Grantham waited for a while, his disappointment with his daughter clearly showing on his face, and then he waved his hand.

"On the other hand," he told them, "there are no explanations necessary. Tomorrow, I will announce your engagement."

He pulled his daughter out of the room. "The wedding will take place in a month," he said, "Under the circumstances I don't think it would be wise to wait any longer than that."