I own nothing
It had been a long day, Lady Grantham had entered labour at 11 in the morning and Lady Mary had decided, being the stubborn girl she was, to not make an arrival until 7 in the evening.
The house had been alive with the sounds of Lady Grantham's cries all day and Carson was worried for her ladyship.
It was 11 o'clock when he was called up stairs by Lord Grantham.
After being let into the room Carson had to smile at the sight in front of him.
"Carson, come meet Lady Mary." Lady Grantham smiled and handed the baby over to Carson who took her with the greatest of care.
"Well hello my little lady, oh!" Carson jumped a little as the baby giggled, lifting a hand to his cheek. "Well isn't she the most gorgeous thing that ever was?"
MLL
Mary had been three when she first discovered downstairs. Carson had been sat in his office when the girl ran as fast as her little legs would carry her onto Carson's lap.
"Well hello little lady, what are you doing down here?"
"I saw Nanny go through the wall last night, well a hole in the wall but when I came back today it lead down here. There was a really nice lady in that big room there and she gave me a biscuit, see?" The child held up the shortbread grinning.
"Well Lady Mary, we must get you back to the nursery."
The little girl sighed. "Must I? Edith does nothing but cry."
Carson chuckled before lifting the little girl up. "Well then, how about I show you around downstairs?"
"Really?" Mary looked as though she'd been offered a thousand toys.
"Come on milady."
MLL
After the first visit, Mary decided she liked downstairs very much. She was allowed to run around downstairs, she was allowed to snuggle up and fall asleep in Carson's lap downstairs and the nice lady always gave her a biscuit when she went downstairs.
It wasn't until Mary was nine that anyone questioned it and even then it was Edith.
"Why are you always downstairs, what's so exciting about the servants?" The seven year old questioned one day when the three sisters were paying outside. They were supposed to be playing hide and seek but Edith and Mary had forgotten so poor Sybil was still hiding.
"It's interesting, I like it. You wouldn't understand."
"And why not?"
"You're a baby, you don't understand interesting things. I bet you can't even read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by yourself, I could when I was Sybil's age."
"No you couldn't!"
"Yes I could."
"Well at least I don't flirt with Carson."
"Carson? Oh Edith if you think that's flirting you have a lot of work to do."
"Well Mama says I can dance better than you, she told me you have two left feet."
"No she didn't!"
"Yes she did."
"When?"
"Yesterday, when you were downstairs."
Mary gasped and ran towards the house, her dress bouncing against her knees as her tears began to fall. She didn't quite know where she was going, she let her feet lead her and before she knew it she was standing in Carson's office tears streaming down her face.
"Lady Mary? Oh my little lady what on earth is the matter?" Carson swung the young girl onto his lap.
The nine year old sniffled and sat up taller. "Edith said Mama said that I had two left feet."
"Oh well I'm sure that Lady Edith is making up porky pies. Tell me what happened."
So Mary told Carson the story while sniffling away the last of her tears.
"Well know how about we go see her ladyship and see what she has to say about all of this?" Carson asked, smiling at Mary's nod.
Before they started the trek up the stairs Mary kissed Carson's cheek. "Thank you Mr Carson."
MLL
It was when she hit 13 Mary really became the snotty girl, it was also around this time that Mrs Hughes arrived.
"Goodness Edith, I assume you did your hair this morning, that is what maids are for."
"Mary!"
"It doesn't look terrible Edith just ring for your maid after breakfast."
"Did you dress yourself as well; honestly someone needs to go over colour clashing with you."
"Mary! Go to the library at once! I will not have you being so rude to your sister!"
Mary rolled her eyes and made a point of scraping her chair across the floor before storming out.
She didn't know how long she sat in the library but she was surprised that when the door opened it was Carson and not her father.
"I know what you're going to say. I should lie to be nice to Edith but one day she's going to wake up and say actually Mary was right. I need to strive for greatness."
"Just try to help her in a different way milady."
Mary sighed. "Fine."
MLL
Only her family and Carson seemed to know that Mary wasn't an ice queen that was until one cold February night.
Sybil had wandered from her room unable to sleep towards the nearest room she knew, Mary's.
"Mary. Mary." The ten year old shook the older girl awake.
"Sybil? What is it? What are you doing here?"
"I can't sleep, I don't like my room, I miss the nursery. Will you sing to me?"
"Come on then, but only if we go back to your room."
"Deal."
The fourteen year old laughed at her little sister and the two made their way to Sybil's room. The younger girl climbed into bed and Mary delicately sat down next to her and stroked her hair as she sang.
Mrs Hughes had been wandering around checking that everything was in order when she heard the soft singing coming from Lady Sybil's room. She saw the open door and sneaked a peak almost gasping at the scene.
When she arrived downstairs she found Carson in his office. "You'll never guess what I just saw."
"What was it?"
"Lady Mary singing Lady Sybil to sleep, who knew that girl actually had a heart."
"I've been telling you all along."
MLL
Mary was 16 when she broke her ankle, the family had just bought Isis and the Labrador was an enthusiastic pup to say the least.
Mary and Sybil had been walking outside, trying to stay as far away from their cousins and sister as possible when the dog spotted them at a distance.
The thing about Isis as a pup was that she was very small but very fast. Neither Sybil nor Mary saw the pup until she barked around a metre away from them and by then it was too late.
Isis went careering towards Mary's feet, throwing her completely off balance and causing her heel and in consequence her foot to bend an odd way. She let out a large cry of pain as she fell and Sybil immediately discarded her shoes and headed for the house, running as fast as she could.
"Mr Carson! Mr Carson!" Sybil was yelling at the top of her lungs.
"Lady Sybil, what is it?"
"It's Mary, she fell!"
At hearing that Carson gestured for Sybil to show the way and the two ran towards where Mary was trying to stand.
"What on earth happened?" Carson asked.
"Isis." Sybil explained. "Mary? Can you stand?"
"Not really, it hurts to even move my right leg."
"Ok Milady, let's get you inside." With that the butler lifted the adolescent and headed for the house, reminding Lady Sybil of her shoes.
"My goodness what happened?" Robert asked as Carson entered the house, having heard his twelve year old screaming at the top of her lungs.
"Isis." Sybil said simply again, slipping her shoes onto her feet at her mother's disapproving look.
"Can you manage to get her upstairs Carson?"
The elder man nodded and made his way up.
"Carson?" Mary asked, smiling as he placed her on her bed.
"Yes Milady?"
"Thank you." He received a kiss on the cheek and a wink, reminding him of the little girl who always ran down to his study.
MLL
She wasn't little anymore.
She wasn't even remotely little.
She was a big grownup girl and she was married.
Carson watched the couple twirl around the hall just as if there was no one else there. As if they were the only two in the world.
"You've got to be taking this harder than his Lordship." Mrs Hughes laughed as she moved to stand next to the butler.
"Oh shush."
The woman giggled before heading over to the maids just as the song ended.
Carson watched as Lady Mary, Lady Crawley now, kissed her husband and let him go before heading over to where he was stood, the biggest smile on her face.
"Care to dance Carson?" She asked, grinning up at him.
"It wouldn't be proper milady."
"Oh Carson, let us damn propriety for one day. It's my wedding day and I want to dance with the man who has been a second father to me my whole life."
With that she dragged him onto the dance floor, much to the amusement of the guests and the two began to dance.
"I can hardly call you my little lady anymore, you're all grown up."
"Oh Carson, no matter how big or grown up I get, I will always be your little lady."
As the dance came to a close she leaned up and kissed his cheek like she always had.
MLL
It was late when she arrived back at Downton, little George in tow.
Her eyes were red and she held her son close, barely ever letting anyone else hold him.
Carson greeted her and she gave a small smile before walking to her room, tears flowing as she remembered all the times they had shared in that room.
A few hours past and Carson was sitting in his study when she appeared in the doorway.
"Oh Carson." Her tears fell quickly and she ran towards him, sitting on his lap as if she was that 9 year old who had been lied to.
"It'll be alright my little lady, it'll all be alright."