Chapter Two:

~Of dinners and families~

"So, who will I meet?" asked Clara, on the way down.

"You've already met Matthew, Sybil, Tom, and I. Then there's Edith, my other sister, and then my parents, Robert and Cora, or Lord and Lady Grantham. Oh, and I believe Granny, Violet, will be there as well." Mary counted off the people on her fingers. "Is Isobel coming to dinner tonight?" She asked Matthew.

"Yes, I believe so. Or, at least she was planning to the last time I saw her." He replied.

"Wonderful. I'm sure there will be plenty of family drama." She laughed.

"When isn't there." Said Matthew, rolling his eyes with a gentle smile on his face. Clara was very lost but remained silent. She could hardly keep the grin off her face. She tried to take in her surroundings so she could find her way around later. They soon made it to the drawing room where people were wandering around, chatting. Everyone looked up when Mary and Matthew walked in, a woman who I figured was Mary's mother, or Lady Grantham, exclaimed,

"Where have you two been?!" No one had seemed to notice Clara yet.

"Busy." Said Matthew, without thinking. He inwardly cursed himself. He practically felt Mary roll her eyes at him. Five seconds of awkward silence later Clara decided it would be best to show herself. She stepped out from behind the two and waved,

"Hello, I'm Clara Oswald and I'm here with my friend The Doctor. He's actually upstairs at the moment but I'm sure he'll be down shortly." The awkwardness was quickly replaced by surprise.

"I'm glad you've decided to stay for dinner!" Smiled Sybil from her place on the couch.

"Are you a friend of Sybil's?" asked Lady Grantham.

"Yes!" Exclaimed Sybil, saving Clara from having to make up a story. "We trained together during the war and I bumped into her earlier while Tom and I were in town so I asked her to stay." she made up the story quickly, trying to make it as believable as possible. Lady Grantham smiled,

"Well nice to meet you. Is dinner ready Carson?" She asked a man who was suddenly standing behind Clara. He nodded. The group began their way to the door, she got many "hellos" and "nice to meet yous". And was able to mostly figure out who everyone was. A woman with brown, greying hair who looked vaguely like Matthew came to say hello. She figured this was Isobel. The only other man in the room had to be Lord Grantham. Another woman who Clara assumed was Mary, Sybil, and Edith's grandmother. And finally, a woman with blonde hair came to say hello as well. This must be Edith, she thought to herself as she smiled at Clara on her way out. Clara followed the group of nicely dressed people into the great hall, where the Doctor was waiting with a very bored expression on his face.

"Well, Clara, you were right. The ghost didn't show itself." He seemed rather put out.

"Maybe you should listen to me more often." She said, grinning. The rest of the party, all minus Mary and Matthew, since they knew roughly what they were talking about, looked very confused. "This is The Doctor and he and I are here to investigate about some ghost sightings." Everyone went rather quiet until they had all settled down for dinner.

"Ghost sightings?!" Scoffed Violet eventually.

"Yes, the rude one saw it didn't you?" He looked expectantly at Mary. All eyes went to her but no one made any comment. Matthew looked as though he wanted to say something but wanted to see Mary's reaction even more.

"I do have a name you know. But yes, I did see the ghost." Mary looked around at her family.

"Oh, dear, I never thought you'd be the one to go crazy…" Said Lady Grantham smiling sadly.

"... What?" Mary was annoyed, she didn't think that her family would believe her in the first place but calling her crazy seemed a little ridiculous.

"I agree with your mother, you always did seem rather normal, although you could've made some better decisions." Said Violet. Mary sighed heavily,

"Let's not bring that up again. Plus, in the long run my bad decision did save Downton."

"Oh, will we ever just have a normal dinner?" Exclaimed Edith.

"No, I don't think we will." Grinned Matthew.

"Clara, do you feel… cold?" asked Tom, who was sitting next to her.

"As a matter of fact, I do." she glanced around the room but no one else seemed to notice the sudden change in temperature. "Doctor, do you feel colder than usual?" She asked. He looked at her, with an almost annoyed expression.

"No." But his eyes immediately went to Isobel, who at that moment violently shivered.

"Mother!" Exclaimed Matthew, "are you alright?"

"Oh, yes. Just got a bit cold." She replied.

"Ah, yes, that would be the ghost. You'll be fine. Even if you do die it will be alright because two of you are going to die soon anyway." Said the Doctor, in an offhand tone.

"Excuse me?" Exclaimed Lord Grantham, "No one is dying."

"Yes, well, not many people expect to die young do they? It just sort of happens." He shrugged, "Accidents, stupid mistakes, etc."

"Doctor, how do you know when people are going to die?" Asked Clara.

"The Tardis. It's all very… wibbly wobbly and hard to explain." He said, running a hand through his grey hair. Clara narrowed her eyes.

"Sure."

"Who are you, really?" Asked Lady Grantham from her seat across the table.

"I'm the Doctor." He said it rather pompously.

"Doctor Who?" She asked.