A/N: This is my first multi chapter story so I hope you like it and all reviews will be most welcome as always. This story was developed from a script I wrote a couple of years ago after series 2 had aired. This story has six chapters, all of which I have written, although I'm not sure when I will get around to updating. The plotline is fairly unrealistic but when an idea pops into my head I struggle to sleep until it's on paper. The plotline also assumes that Cora knew about Jane and all that took place in Series 2 and that she and Robert have spoken of it. So, the question is what would happen if Jane returned to Downton?
Cora can't even cry she's so upset. She feels hollow, empty, just as she did when Sybil died. It frustrates her that she feels the same as she had then: Sybil died, Robert is still alive she reminds herself. Realisation hits her like a tonne of bricks landing on her head; that's the problem, Sybil died and there was nothing she could have done to keep her daughter in the world. Whereas Robert, he is in the world and is choosing someone else over her. Which her brain deduces must mean she's doing something wrong. Was she not a good wife? Did that maid kiss better than she did? Was there anything she could do to keep him now he'd chosen that damn maid, again?
The world just spins around and crumbles at these thoughts as she storms into the dining room, her blood boiling, her mind swimming in a sea of different emotions, most of which she can't keep track of. Perhaps that's better she decides, at least it's not swimming in images of Robert and that damn maid. That damn maid, again. How could he? How could he hurt her like that? What she hates the most though is herself, her inability to see through the fake love he's managed to bestow on her the last four years; the fake love that she's believed. But, more importantly the true love she gave him in return, wasted. Wasted? Her mind queries, was it really wasted? She pushes this unwelcome thought to the back of her mind quicker than it came.
She stalks around the table to face her husband almost tripping over that damn dog he adores as much as her, oh, wait she corrects herself: that damn dog he adores as much as that maid, which come to think of it is rather fitting. She becomes momentarily unsteady on her feet as she notes the obvious worry written on her husband's face. His very handsome face embedded with stunning blue, she snaps from her wandering thoughts as she mentally scolds herself for finding a lying, unfaithful scoundrel so attractive. That maid flashes through her mind, the phrase etching a mark on every thought she owns. Adrenaline pounds through her veins as an image of them together embeds itself in her mind. She would scream if she had enough energy left to make it sound as mad as her state of mind. The adrenaline is the only thing keeping her from collapsing on the floor and for that she is thankful, she can't let him think he's beaten her, even if he has.
"How dare you!?" She surprises herself with her ability to speak. "How absolutely dare you invite that maid back here under the notion that it's because we're short of maids. When the real reason she's here is because you're going to pay her to lie in your arms and fulfil all your hearts desires. What are the other servants going to think? And as for me, here I was thinking she didn't matter to you, thinking that I was the one you loved." Tears stream down her face but she doesn't care, perhaps he does deserve to see what he's done to her, he deserves to suffer. She lets herself hope that, that maid will find him less attractive than she originally thought, after all, it's only his money she's after, isn't it? But here Cora's not sure; her scoundrel of a husband is rather attractive. There's that grin of his she's learnt to love, and the way his arms envelope her in such a way she feels totally safe. There's his teasing, and the kisses he likes to wake her with in the morning. She takes a deep breath trying to find something else to focus on, Carson, or rather the lack of Carson provides that distraction and proves to her that there are some gentlemen still left in the world. Through her limited vision, most of which is obscured by tears she just about makes out Robert standing and walking around the table towards her, he's talking but she doesn't hear what he's saying, it's just a dirge , a dirge of lies no doubt. That, she supposes, is what he's been doing for the last four years, lying; lying about his feelings for her and that maid. She holds up her hands. "I don't want to hear it. I trusted you. I loved you. I never though you'd punch a hole through my heart, and the truth is, you haven't," she pauses wondering if he'll try to talk his way out of it, he doesn't, leaving her with a sentence she doesn't know how to finish. What has he done to her? She meant it when she said he hadn't punched a hole through her heart but what he'd done she wasn't sure, her heart certainly hurt in fact that was an under statement. Her mind is such a mess of emotions she doesn't know which is the strongest, her jealously of that maid? Her broken heart? She takes a deep breath having just thought the words she realises she needs him to hear. "You just broke my heart in half." She spins on her heels and exits the room, leaving her shattered heart behind.