A/N:may continue, may not! Hope I got the charictarisation right on both sides :-)

1925

5 years after Mary and Matthew married, a strange man turned up at the doorstep of Downton, claiming to be the Earl of somewhere or another, and asked if he could just 'Pop in for a bit'.

It just so happened that Matthew was returning from a walk round the grounds at precisely the same time, and being so intrigued with the sprightly young man, in a tweed jacket and a bow tie, he insisted that Carson let him in.

Upon entering the house, a heavily pregnant Mary wondered down the stairs to see what the commotion was about. She had been sleeping a lot, nine months into her third pregnancy, but she knew by now that this was normal, and her husband usually kept well out of her way during these midday naps in order to forgo the wrath that could be expected, should anyone wake her. The nanny also knew to keep the children amused towards the other side of the house.

She worked her ways down the stairs in the most ladylike fashion she could manage.

Only to be greeted by a loud exclamation,

"Lady Mary Crawley..." said a strange man in a tweed jacket and a bow tie, "How lovely to see you again!"

Again?

The mans face dropped as he realised something.

"what year is it?"

"1925" Matthew interjected, now questioning his judgment on letting such a man into his house.

"Oh" he chuckled " I'm few years early! Haha, oh well, the old girls giving me the run around I expect!"

And with that he clapped his hands, and walked into the library.

And promptly walked out again.

"I do apologise for my manners, My name is John Smith, Doctor John Smith, Earl of ..." he paused"... Galifray, and you," he said pointing to Matthew, " Are Matthew Crawley, Earl of Grantham and owner of the estate, and you," he now turned to Mary, "must be Violet Crawley, pleased to make your acquaintance...again"

"My name is Mary, you must be getting me confused with my late grandmother" she hoped.

"Nooooo, I wasn't talking to you, I'm not that silly, you are Lady Mary Crawley, Daughter of Robert and Cora," he began to walk towards her, "sister to Edith and Sybil, sister in law to Tom Branson, who used to be your chauffeur, and Anthony Strallen, mother to Patrick, Anabelle, Violet and..." he paused, Mary shot her husband a look, "nope, to early for that, anyway, it was nice to meet you all, especially you Violet" he pointed at Mary, turned on his heel and walked confidently out the door.

Mary looked once again at her husband who, thankfully, looked just as confused as she felt. She ran, well moved swiftly, to the door and called out to the strange man in the bow tie,

"Who's Violet?"

"Look Down!" he shouted back over his shoulder as he sauntered down the drive way, merrily whistling to himself.

Realisation dawned on her, he was talking about her baby, but how did he know? She voiced this, to which he chuckled then replied,

"You'll be seeing her very soon!"

Carson then tapped her on the shoulder, "Milady, perhaps you ought to be going back inside now?"

She nodded and allowed him to close the door.

Two hours later, as she was recounting the story to her mother who had come from the Dower house to visit, she felt a twinge.

Four hours after the twinge, she was handed her daughter.

Violet Jane Crawley