The half-god, the sea monster and the princess in question

Summary: Britain at war! Lady Mary Crawley a bigamist! The stunning revelation of Carson's very secret identity! What happened to Mrs Patmore's chocolate sauce? And who is late? And what has this all got to do with Shakespeare? Or in other words: a Downtonverse –style M/M wedding.

A/N : I feel like I should give an overview in which order an interested reader should read my stories to avoid getting confused (including myself)

Proper ladies and gentlemen - January 1912
Proper gentlemen and ladies - January 1912
Failed meeting of expectations - October 1913
Turning tables – April / May 1914
What Lady Mary wants - June 1914
A chance at happiness - Spring 1918
A dying man's musings – Christmas 1919

Chapter I

Double, double toil and trouble

The storm broke loose roughly a week before the wedding – masterfully executed by the spurned Sir Richard, who gave the family no quarter. He dragged it all out and gave it the worst spin possible, tightening the screw with each turn, every day. He started "gently" with the story of the whorish Ethel and her bastard child, which led to loaded questions just how "well" the convalescent officers had been attended to by nurses and house-maids on Downton Abbey. Next he tore into Daisy, portraying her as a greedy girl preying on the affections of a dying soldier and making him marry her in order to secure a war widow's pension. Then he revealed Carson's history as one half of the "Singing Charlies", ridiculing him and the Earl of Grantham.

The tones got darker again, when he revealed O' Brian's best kept secret – the soap incident. This time he targeted Mary and Matthew, who had back then asked Mary to marry him. Ingeniously he made it look that Matthew had stood to gain most by this tragic 'accident'. Matthew wanted Mary, to whom he was a slave, but the cold and scheming Lady Mary wanted only Downton, its riches and the title as Countess, so in order to get Mary he had to remove the obstacle of Cora's unborn child. Very visibly Matthew was picked up by the police from his work for questioning for conspiracy to murder and how fortunate that a reporter working for Carlisle was nearby, when it happened and therefore the whole of England could read all about it the next morning as a nice follow-up. Thank God, the inspector in charge in York dropped his charges quickly enough on the insistence of his superior, when O' Brian's motives were revealed and she swore that Matthew was never a factor in her deeds, as if she would have ever lifted a finger for this social upstart and wanna-be gentleman! And Matthew's total bewilderment spoke of his innocence most eloquently in all this.

Next he revealed the misappropriation of army funds to help pay for the soup kitchen the staff in Crawley House had installed for discharged vagabonding common soldiers instead of using it to cover the running costs of the convalescence home for officers, which alerted the War Office and suddenly Lord and Lady Grantham had to answer for every farthing they had received during the war. This was directly related to the rumour that Lord Grantham had heavily invested in the Canadian Great Trunk Line - a now bankrupt company - and Carlisle openly speculated how much his lordship had lost of his wife's fortune to sheer mismanagement.

Another day was devoted to Bates's murder trial in York – a man who had killed his wife in order to marry another woman. Granted, it wasn't the first time in history, but he was the valet of afore-mentioned earl, his intended Anna Smith an aspiring lady's maid of Lady Mary, which made it all the more scandalous.

Three days before the wedding the sad and tragic story of Patrick Crawley/Gordon was revealed and how his arrival at the Abbey had split the family in two camps. Lady Edith had staunchly supported the burned beyond recognition Patrick, Lady Mary had equally fought ruthlessly for the crippled Matthew. The rest of the family had helplessly watched as the well-known pure hate between the sisters had soared to an all-time high. The Earl was torn between the two men: One presumably an imposter, but potent, one acknowledged as heir, but impotent and unable to continue the line of Grantham. So, who was the true heir? And where was Patrick Gordon a.k.a. Patrick Crawley now? Was he even still alive? No one had seen him leave and his fate was left in the mists. Carlisle even had the gall to offer a reward for any valid information on the whereabouts of Patrick Gordon/Patrick Crawley. And once more Matthew Crawley had stood to gain most. Graciously Carlisle let the reader make up their mind what to make of that.

Then he turned to Sybil and her mésalliance with the chauffeur, an outspoken socialist and Irish rebel, who had used his position in the Abbey's household to seduce an impressionable, war traumatised young woman, whose rebellious bucking against the customs of her class was well-known. Carlisle made it a symptom of the degeneration and moral bankruptcy of the ruling class and speculated, if all Crawley sisters had a taste for the lower classes and if this was to be considered a declaration of war against their own roots, which was retaliated in equal measure by making the entire family the social pariah among their peers, as their general consensus appeared to be to maintain and cling to the pre-war status at all cost.

And then one day before the wedding Matthew once more got dragged through the mud. This time the story was told about how he tried to seduce the happily engaged to be married Mary, while his own fiancée laid on her deathbed fighting for her life, mere three days before their wedding. This time Matthew did not get off scot-free. While the partners at his law firm had been somewhat understanding and lenient due to his position as future Earl of Grantham when he was questioned earlier by the police and proven innocent, this was the final straw. Matthew's contract was terminated immediately. They couldn't afford to keep a man employed who was so heavily shrouded in scandal and of such objectionable morale.

Raising the stakes every day with a new, even more scandalous story about the infamous Downton Abbey and the not so honourable Crawley family, he had all of England in suspense and thrill. It was a mess and England sat down to watch, as Richard kindly provided his readers with the consequences of their scandals blow by blow. Everyone was sick and tired of war stories and how England struggled to stay afloat with the crippled in body and mind, the many, many hands that were needed in agriculture and every aspect of industry and the service sector and Women's Rights. Sir Richard delivered what the nation needed – a delightful distraction from everyday sorrows. After all he needed to be compensated for his efforts over four years of painful courtship and when the selling of Haxby Park hadn't even come close to cover the costs of buying and renovating it with prices as they were in post-war Britain and the economy struggling.

It very nearly tore the Abbey apart. Accusations at breakfast, tears for luncheon, shouting matches as evening entertainment. Upstairs, downstairs, tensions were running high. They drowned in cancellations. The day before the wedding their number of guests had dwindled down from over 200 to merely 40, consisting of the closest family and trusted and faithful friends. The staff was accosted in Downton village the moment they dared to show their faces and deliveries were suddenly inexplicably delayed. Suppliers, who had faithfully delivered goods and rendered services to the family for decades, suddenly tried to cash in every outstanding invoice or refused to act without a payment in advance or severed ties based on moral grounds. And the bookmakers had bets running, if the Crawley wedding would take place or not.

Carlisle's Fleet Street competition jumped onto the band wagon, when Downton Abbey started to fight back against the bad press by telling how things really were with Edith of all as spearhead and chief strategist. In turn it was they to point out that Carlisle had been engaged to Lady Mary for three years only to be thrown over the very moment Matthew Crawley had come out of mourning, so how credible were Carlisle's revelations truly? Officers who had been nursed at the Abbey wrote letters to the editors to support the Crawley family. One Mrs. James Wakefield, mother of the late Private Jack Wakefield sent flaming letters to Sir Richard's office and the Times to extoll the virtues of Captain Matthew Crawley, a beacon of light in the darkness of the killing fields in France, a most honourable, decent and brave man. Others who had served under Matthew and lived to tell the tale followed – Matthew Crawley became almost overnight one of Britain's most renowned war heroes - to the man's utter and embarrassed astonishment.

In short, Britain was at war – a press war. And Carlisle suddenly found himself on the defence. But as long as it sold newspaper copies faster than he could print them, he shrugged it off. He had one last arrow in the quiver. And he shot it on Mary's and Matthew's wedding day. The overwhelmed constabulary in Ripon promptly requested additional forces from York to contain the expected masses that were there either to support the Crawleys or to riot against them as representatives of the useless, blood-sucking, morally bankrupt upper class. Others were simply curious, if there would be a wedding after they had read for breakfast the salacious story of the Crawley slut. And others again just wanted to glimpse the purportedly dashing Captain Crawley, who had stood up from his wheel-chair and wanted to marry his true love, even if she had fallen – a most romantic, fairy tale love story.

The family and staff rallied to present a united front and then it was time and the faithful guests were first to arrive and were promptly accosted on their way to church by onlookers and members of the press.

Matthew and his best man and friend Philipp Finley were taken aback, when they arrived at the church next. They were forewarned by Mr. Travis of the thousands of people, who were swarming the small village since the day before and with clever businessmen setting up booths and turning the wedding into an impromptu country fair, but this was beyond anything they had imagined. Hands were raised up to the air, shouts of support, cheers and boos accompanied them, British flags were waved and children held up by their parents to glimpse the groom while dozens of police men tried to cordon off the street to let the groom's car pass on its way to the church, where photographers and reporters had assembled to be as close to the action as humanly possible.

Getting out of the car, Matthew turned around to smile and wave back, dozens of flashlights blinded him momentarily and catapulted him back into the trenches for a moment, but Philipp jostled him out of it before anyone noticed. Impressed to the point of sheer intimidation he exclaimed unguardedly and was later quoted in most newspapers: "Bloody hell, Matthew, have they forgotten this is only Downton and not Westminster Abbey?"

And then the tension rose again. Would Lady Mary show her face? Matthew sat relaxed in the front pew after he had chatted with their guests, joked with friends, charmed the dowager countess and won over for good Mary's American grand-mama, smiled, laughed and gave off the air of a man without the slightest care in the world.

And from far away a roar echoed through the streets, getting louder by the second – Lady Mary arrived in her carriage. Robert, her godfather Lord Merton and Thomas tried to shield her as much as possible from the questions reporters shouted at her and the flashlights, and then they were in the church. The doors got closed on reporters and onlookers.

It was time for Mary. Taking deep breaths to collect themselves in the anteroom, Anna helped straighten Mary's train. The music began and Mary took her first step on her father's arm down the aisle, conscious of the dozens of eyes following her, taking in her radiance and Matthew's bright eyes and happy smile. Robert handed her over to Matthew with a benevolent nod and poorly concealed relief and then…

… Matthew stopped everything with a small wave of his hand.

TBC...

I know, some of you will be disappointed that not Tom but Phil is Matthew's best man. But trust me he's there for a very good reason!