Yes, I know, another one for today. That's what happen when I'm down and the weather rainy. As soon as I saw this scene with the pigs, I wished it was a Mary/Tom's moment remembering their love ones. But it wasn't...so I wanted to do my thing. I hope you'll like it and, as usually, reviews are welcomed. No beta, all mistakes are mine. Dedicated to Darlingsybil whose birthday was yesterday.
Dance with the pigs
After the madness that was raging a few moments ago, the pigsty was now completely silent. The pigs were saved or at last, the things were looking brighter than before and the animals were finally quiet. Seated in the mud in their smart clothes, the only two human's occupants of the place seemed to be exhausted, their bodies and faces covered with black mud.
"Look at us!" chuckled Mary. "We must be quite a view."
"It's what happen when you play farmer while in a gown", answered Tom.
He slid his muddy hand on his face, making an even bigger mess with the mud and Mary just laughed. Tom glared at her before a snaky smile appeared on his lips. He took a fist of mud and threw it at her.
"Hey!" exclaimed Mary.
"You started it", said Tom.
"Oh, you're gonna pay for that", murmured Mary.
Not wasting any time, she reached for a big fist of mud and threw it at Tom, hitting him right in the face.
"What the fuck?" he groaned, startled.
"War time", breathed Mary.
After that, it was like the two of them had lost their minds. Was it the stress? Was it the fear to lose everything? They didn't know. They just knew that, for now, they wanted to be ten again and play with mud. Downton abbey's pigsty knew then the biggest mud fight it even knew. That was just laughs, cries and "splash" sounds as the mud balls were flying everywhere.
But after a few minutes, the two fighters surrendered, overcame by laugh and tiredness. They went silent again before Mary's hysterical laugh broke the silence.
"What now?" asked Tom again.
"Nothing", answered Mary, shaking her head. "I'm just being silly".
"Did you hit your head at some point?"
"No, no…it's just…Never mind…"
"No, tell me, please."
"I…I was just thinking about…about how Sybil and Matthew are probably looking at us from whenever they are on their heart shaped cloud, laughing hard at us and at the mess we did."
A pinch of pain went through Tom but was soon replaced by peace. He chuckled.
"Yeah, you're probably right. They are seated on a cloud and I already can see the frown on Sybil's face, wondering if I lost my mind."
""Look at them, Matthew"", said Mary, trying to do Sybil's raspy voice. ""They really can't behave themselves when we're not around". "You're right, Sybil,"" she said now imitating Matthew's voice."" I think they're worst than George when is trying to put some food in his mouth. They should really grown up.""
They both laughed hard then stopped suddenly.
"I miss her", said Tom softly. "Badly."
"I miss him too. But I thought the feeling should fade away after a while?"
"It should, yeah…"
"You seem to be quite well yet."
"The days are all right. I'm busy enough not to think too much. But the nights…they are the worst."
"I'm sorry, I didn't know. I shouldn't have to speak about them."
"No, no, it's all right. I like to speak about her. Strangely, do you know what I miss the most at nights?"
"I'm sure you're gonna tell me anyway…"
Tom chuckled.
"I miss the feel of her cold feet against me."
Mary's eyes went wide. She was expecting a lot of things but not that. She laughed lightly.
"It's funny you know because, do you know what I miss the most about Matthew at nights?"
Tom shook his head.
"I miss the fact to slide my cold feet against him. It's probably a family thing."
Mary grinned and Tom chuckled.
"Just to be clear, never sneak in my bed with your cold feet. I just tolerated Sybil's one."
Mary pouted.
"And I thought I would get an invitation…"
This time, it was Tom's eyes that went wide.
"I'm kidding, Tom! Believe me, between Evelyn, Mr. Black and Mr. Gillingham, I have enough suitors for a lifetime!"
"And you want to choose…?"
"…any of them any time soon. I'm not ready yet to move on. And you? Do you have someone in mind?"
Tom shook his head.
"I'm not ready to move on either. I…I feel like I'm stuck."
"Is that why you want to leave for America?"
Tom thought a second before answering.
"I don't know, maybe", he shrugged. "But leaving Downton would also mean leaving…her. And I'm not sure I can bear to say goodbye a second time."
Mary shivered. She didn't know if it was from the sadness in Tom's voice or from the cold but he saw it.
"You're cold and we're wet. We'd better go back to the house before we get a cold or before rumors started. We've been out most of the night and I'm starving."
"You're right as always."
Tom smiled at her and moved to her to help her to stand.
"You're really a mess", he chuckled.
"Said the one covered in mud."
He released her hand but Mary took it back and squeezed it.
"Tom?"
"Yeah?" he asked his voice still full of sadness.
"I want you to know that I'll support you. Whatever your decision is regarding America."
Tom gulped and looked at her with watering eyes.
"Thank you, Mary. It means a lot."
She smiled then pulled at his hand.
"Come on now. I'll make you scramble eggs once we're at the house."
Tom stopped abruptly in his tracks.
"Eggs? Scrambled eggs? You know how to cook them?"
Mary turned to him, her muddy hands on her hips, pouting.
"I should feel offended by this but…"
She shrugged.
"Whatever. Sybil taught me how to cook them when we came to Dublin for your wedding. It was a kind of bet we had. You're interested?"
Tom looked at her still surprised but he smiled widely.
"I wouldn't miss that for anything. You're really full of surprise you know, Mary Crawley."
"And you don't know the beginning of it", she answered, shaking her eyebrows at him.
Tom laughed and followed her out of the pigsty. This evening had been quite unexpected and even if he was still feeling a little bit down like he was feeling since the past few months, Mary Crawley had, for the time being, brightened him a bit.
The end