This is my first Downton Abbey fanfiction so I'm not sure how good it is going to be and whether or not people are going to enjoy it so please feel free to leave any reviews or suggestions about it as it would be really helpful. I have based this chapter on the ending of the Series 3 Christmas Special so if you have not yet watched it, then spoilers could be included but with a different character than the one on the show. I hope you enjoy and I do not own these characters. Thank you!

Chapter 1

The sun was beginning to set over the mass of trees that shadowed the road beside the woods. It was starting to get dark, temperatures were beginning to drop making Tom all the eager to get back to Downton to settle down in his warm room, fire blazing, and being able to see his darling daughter Sybil.

Tom was travelling back from the train station as he had spent a day down in London sorting an issue out that had occurred and was longing to get back to Downton as it felt so much like home to him. He was missing Sybil to bits as he had never been away from her for a full day before and he was missing her so dearly as she was his world, more so since Lady Sybil, his true love, passed away giving birth to her.

As Tom drove down the darkening road – he had refused to allow Lord Grantham to send the chauffeur to get him as it was only from the train station and a car was already there – his mind kept wandering to how much his life had changed from when he used to be a chauffeur to the Crawley family and to now being part of that family. Even though he didn't always fit into the family at first and often disagreed with people and Lord Grantham though that idea was impossible, it finally worked out and finally felt like part of the family.

The sky was getting darker as the sun completely set and the trees made the road look darker than ever, even with the lights from the car shining ahead of him. Tom turned the wheel as he headed round the corner and through a gap in the trees he could see the outline of Downton Abbey faintly in the distance. Home. Never had he felt so relieved to see the striking building as the trip to London had completely tired him out as he wasn't used to travelling such a long distance without a break in between.

Dark skies always seemed to make Tom become engrossed in his thoughts no matter how minor they were so as he drove down the familiar road, he left his mind to wander about in the different thoughts that swirled around in his head as no matter how hard he tried to stop and concentrate, it did not work.

Approaching a corner in the road, the car carried on straight as Tom was deep in thought on other troubles when he snapped back into reality and swiftly turned the steering wheel hoping to get round the corner in time but as the car turned, another car emerged from round the corner causing Tom to suddenly swerve to avoid hitting it resulting in the car tumbling down a ditch at the road side before resting peacefully at the bottom.

People from the other car hurried out of their car in order to go and assist Tom as quickly and in whatever way they could but it was no use. As they approached the car, they could see the smoke rising from the engine and the masses of dents and scratches on the metal body of the car. A door had been flung open from the impact leaving Tom draped across the woodland floor, blood seeping from a large slash on his head, the sparkle vanished out of his eyes and his skin growing paler by the second.