I own nothing
"So how are things going with your new career path Cousin Isobel?" Cora began to make small talk smiling as the rest of the family joined in. Well, nearly the rest of the family.
Mary and Matthew were sat on the sofa, both reading a section of Mary's book.
"Oh Edith are they not just adorable?" Sybil smiled, nodding towards their sister.
"You see adorable, I see sickening. They're all you ever hear about around here, Mary and Matthew this, Mary and Matthew that." Edith rolled her eyes, taking a seat.
"Honestly Edith, they're newlyweds, what do you expect?" Sybil smiled as Tom took a seat next to her.
"They've been married for months now." Edith sighed and Mary rolled her eyes as she overheard.
"Honestly Edith, don't be ridiculous."
"Ssh darling, there's no need to be rude, I'm sure Edith wasn't trying to annoy you." Matthew tucked a straying strand of hair behind Mary's ear and kissed her cheek, making her laugh slightly.
"Must you always be so neutral on everything?"
"I'm a solicitor my darling."
"I thought they had strong opinions on everything."
"Maybe I'm just a really bad one."
This elicited a laugh out of the gathered party but Matthew only had eyes for Mary. His eyes lit up as she laughed, seeming proud to have brought her joy, even if only a little.
"How about we go for a walk my darling? We'll be back in time to change for dinner."
"Hmm that sounds delightful."
The couple stood and bid their goodbyes, promising, mainly to Carson, that they'd be back before the dressing gong.
"Alone at last." Matthew smiled, his arm slipping around Mary's shoulder as they exited Downton.
"Finally." Mary replied, making her husband chuckle as he pulled her close.
"They love you; they want to make sure you're happy."
"I'd be happier if they didn't cut into optimal time that could be spent with you. Why do they need to know every single detail of the honeymoon anyway?"
"Well they don't know every detail." Matthew kissed her hair as she chuckled, the two stopping under a tree.
Ever the gentleman, Matthew removed his coat and placed it on the grass for Mary to sit on, earning himself a kiss.
They sat under the tree just talking for a while, they'd found it was pretty much impossible for the two of them to run out of things to say.
"How's everything going with Papa and the grounds?"
"Ugh, I just wish that they'd understand how much good this could do for the estate."
"They'll come around; neither of them particularly likes change."
"This coming from the queen of tradition?"
"Tradition, yes. How we deal with the grounds? No. To be quite honest darling, I couldn't care less."
Matthew gave a laugh and pulled her onto his lap, capturing her lips.
"Hmm, can we skip dinner?" Mary asked, snuggling closer on his lap.
"I'm afraid we can't darling, Cousin Violet is coming and I think she may have something to say if we did. We do still have two hours before we need to be back inside, so what shall we do?"
"How about we go visit the girl's school? I've been promising to and they said I could drop in anytime."
"Well then, let's go, we must hurry though, they'll be finishing in an hour."
The pair stood up, Matthew offering his arm to his wife and they set off into the village heading for the quaint school near the edge.
The school offered education for the girls of the village from 8-5 everyday with girls ranging from 5-11. If they could afford it, the girls would then go to grammar schools or boarding schools in bigger towns and cities.
"Lady Crawley! Hello! It's a pleasure to have you." The headmaster had ran outside to greet them as he saw them approaching.
"Well Mr Crawley and I had a few hours to spare so we thought we might come a take a look at the magnificent work you're doing here." Mary spoke elegantly as ever, a smile gracing both the couple's faces.
"Well it's lovely to do something milady. If you'd like to come inside, I'll give you a tour."
They were shown around the classrooms and introduced to the teachers one by one.
"I'm afraid our youngest class are outside at the moment, if you wish to we can go see them it's just around the back."
"Oh could we, darling do we have the time?" Mary asked, looking at her husband hopefully.
"Yes we do, we would very much like to Mr Thomason."
The headmaster gave a smile and led them around the back of the school to where the class were gathered.
"Now class, it seems we have some very special visitors. Can you all wave hello to Mr and Lady Crawley?" The teacher asked, spotting them walk around the back.
Mary's heart swelled as the youngsters waved. She let go of Matthew's arm and walked towards them, crouching down as she reached them.
Matthew saw Mr Thomason rush to get a chair next to him but he held out a hand, Mary was fine.
She had spotted a little blonde girl that reminded her of Anna. "Well hello there, are you planting flowers?"
The little girl nodded and smiled before whispering something in her teacher's ear and running off after seeing the teacher's nod.
She returned a few seconds later with a bunch of tulips in hand. "These are from our garden over there, they're for you Lady Mary." She handed the tulips to Mary with a smile.
Mary held a hand up to silence the teacher who was insisting for the young girl to correct herself and call her Lady Crawley.
"Well that's very nice of you, what's your name?"
"Isabella, Lady Crawley, Isabella Smith. My big sister works at your house and my dad's the gardener."
Mary pretended to gasp. "Is her name Anna?"
The little girl nodded enthusiastically and grinned at Mary.
"Well I'll tell you what Isabella, you keep this flower and I'll give one to Anna, I'll make sure to tell her exactly who it's from." Mary removed a flower from the bunch she had been given and placed it in the young girl's hair, working it into one of her French plaits.
"Thank you Lady Crawley."
Mary didn't know what it was, maybe it was the fact this little girl had something she knew would cheer poor Anna up or maybe it was just the way she was so sweet but she had a sudden urge to hug the young girl, so she did. Isabella wrapped her arms around her as well, giggling at the pretty lady.
Matthew grinned at the exchange and watched as Mary turned to the other girls, hugging them and paying avid attention to the flowers they showed her. She was so good with children, he couldn't wait until they had their own little prince or princess to spoil rotten and cuddle with until dawn.
He was distracted from his thoughts as he felt a tug on his trouser leg causing him to look down. Isabella was stood there with a sunflower in hand. "Lady Crawley said to give this to you."
"Why thank you Isabella." He smiled at the young girl and walked over to where his wife was discussing something with the teacher.
As he reached the women, he slipped his arm around Mary's waist. The teacher ran off to deal with one of the girls attempting to eat a plant and Mary turned to face her husband. He held up the sunflower and worked it into her hair as she had done with Anna's little sister earlier.
They shared a smile and Mary kissed his cheek before the both of them bid farewell to the girls and headed over to where Mr Thomason stood.
"Well Mr Thomason, I shall certainly mention your success to Lord Grantham though you may get a bit more of a response from Mrs Crawley, she does like helping out an awful lot." Mary smiled, still holding the bunch of tulips from Isabella.
"Thank you so much Lady Crawley."
"It's a pleasure but I'm afraid we must be heading off."
"Of course."
"It was a pleasure Mr Thomason." Matthew held his free hand out for the man to shake before the two of them headed off to the house.
They reached the main hallway just as Carson was sounding the dressing gong.
"We told you we'd be back before the gong Carson." Mary smiled on the way upstairs.
"Very good milady."
Matthew laughed and headed to his dressing room but not before giving Mary a kiss.
"Anna?" She asked, walking into her room.
"Yes milady?"
"Matthew and I headed down to the girl's school in the village this afternoon, we ran into someone."
"Who was it milady?" Anna asked sorting out Mary's hair.
"A young girl by the name of Isabella Smith, she was very keen to tell me about her big sister who worked at my house and she asked me to give you those." She pointed to the tulips laying on the vanity, looking up at Anna's reaction.
"Oh thank you milady, is she alright? I know my father finds it hard having one so young at his age."
"She's absolutely fine, not to mention sweet as pie."
"Thank you milady, thank you so much. What do you want me to do about this sunflower?"
"Place it in the vase over there please." Mary smiled as she rose; beginning to undo the buttons on her blouse she had been wearing.
At that moment Matthew walked in smiling. "Seems I've arrived in time for the show."
Mary and Anna laughed but made no move to kick him out as he sat on the bed.
After a few moments Mary was dressed and began to put her jewellery on, excusing Anna.
"My darling, this clasp is a little fiddly, could you?"
Matthew came over, taking the necklace from her hands and clasping it in place, placing a kiss to the back of her neck.
"Those girls were very sweet today." Mary smiled at him in the mirror.
"They were and you were very sweet with them." Matthew smiled back, kissing her temple as she applied her perfume.
"It was kind of impossible not to be, it just brought something out in me."
"Well it gives me high hopes for the future."
"That's a statement." Mary raised her eyebrows but took his hand and the two headed down for dinner.