Title: The Rightful Heir

Pairing: Lady Mary Crawley/Matthew Crawley

Rating: PG-13 (this chapter)
Spoilers: Season 1 & 2 trough the Christmas Special

Disclaimer: Any names off characters you recognize from Downton Abbey are not mine. All original characters do however belong to me. Fanfiction is in my opinion the ultimate form of flattery to a screenwriter :)

Chapter Summary: Mary is gone and the people left behind must adjust to a Downton without her. Matthew finds himself getting closer with the Dowager Countess. There are ups and downs at Downton. As months become years the Crawley family worry that Mary might never come back. Then in one bold move by Parliament, everything changes, and Matthew feels hope return.

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Special thank you to the lovely Tambear for catching missing commas, odd grammar and offering excellent suggestions & advice!

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The Rightful Heir

Chapter 2: The Silent Years, 1920-1925

He had returned to Downton that Christmas, only because Robert begged him to. His mother was delighted at seeing him. Isobel actually cried when he walked through the door to Crawley House.

Christmas had been a small family affair. Sybil was pregnant again so she and Tom had decided to stay in Ireland. Matthew missed them, knowing that the holidays would have been much more tolerable with them present. Edith and Anthony had joined them. Matthew glanced at his cousin and her husband standing by the fireplace talking to Cora. How different Edith was from that terrible Christmas back in 1919. He heard her laugh and watched her husband smile at her with so much adoration it almost made Matthew laugh. Assuming the reason for Anthony's pathetic look, Matthew's eyes wandered lower to the small bulge under Edith's hand. Apparently the next little Strallan would make his or her appearance sometime in May. He was very happy for them as was the rest of the Crawleys. Sir Anthony was a very attentive husband and Edith seemed to blossom as his wife. Matthew was truly happy for them.

"I heard from Mary the other day."

Matthew jumped at the Dowager's voice next to him. "Oh? How is she doing?"

"Very well it appears. She has bought a house in California and she says it's lovely. Apparently the weather there is like a perfect English summer day, every day."

"Goodness," he chuckled. "that does sound lovely."

"She has a swimming pool," Violet said and her mouth tightened a little. "Such frivolousness, only Americans would indulge in such a thing."

"But Mary is English," he pointed out.

"I think that her American genes from her mother's side are blossoming over there," Violet huffed.

"Perhaps you should visit her then?"

"Me?" Violet gasped. "You are as insane as Mary. I would never survive the trip!"

"Of course you would," he said and smiled fondly at her. "Perhaps Cora would go with you?"

"Yet another American," Violet huffed. "That's what I mean. Surrounded by Americans on every side; I would suffocate to death."

Matthew laughed and shook his head. "Perhaps she will come and visit?"

"I don't think so," Violet said, suddenly sounding sad. "She wrote that with the new house and everything she would not have time to come this year."

"I'm sad to hear that."

She looked up at him. "I held Mary when she was only minutes old. She's my eldest granddaughter. We have always been close. The truth is, Matthew, that I am getting old. I don't want her to know, but I'm grasping on to this life only so that I can see her again."

He stared at her. "My God! Are you not well?"

She chuckled and patted his arm. "I'm just old, Matthew. I have lived my life and I wish to rest soon, to see my husband again."

He nodded. "Perhaps you could wait a little longer?" he said cheekily. "I don't know if I am ready yet."

She chuckled and her blue eyes twinkled. "I will see what I can do."

Matthew wrote to Mary a couple of times, but received no answer. Spring became summer and soon the autumn leaves were dancing outside his office window. This year he had invited his mother to Paris for Christmas. Anything really to not have to spend the holidays at Downton. Sybil was coming and Edith and her family would be there. For the first time ever he would experience a Christmas with children at Downton. Matthew could not wait to get on the train for Paris. He knew with certainty that he would not survive watching his cousins and their growing families, not without realizing what he had lost. The sound of children laughing and playing at Downton would slowly, but surely, drive him mad.

The following spring Violet Crawley suffered a minor heart attack. They all hurried to Downton to be with her. She huffed and objected to the fuss, but asked Matthew to stay.

"My time is running out, Matthew," she said to him. "Promise me that you will always look after Mary."

"I will, if she would let me," he whispered, tears in his eyes.

"She will come back to you," she assured him. "She often writes about you, and asks about you."

"Then why won't she write to me?" he exclaimed. "I've written to her several times, but she never writes back."

"I'm sure she has her reasons."

Matthew sighed and jumped to his feet, pacing back and forth, running his hand through his hair.

"Please sit down, Matthew. You're making me dizzy."

He sank down in the chair again and took her hand. "I'm sorry. It's just that I care deeply for Mary, and I know she cares for me too." He looked at her, his brows furrowed in confusion. "Why won't she accept me?"

"I think, Matthew, that Mary is for the first time in her life experiencing true freedom. Freedom to make decisions about her own life and she is not yet willing to give that up."

"I wouldn't take that away from her!" he almost cried out, looking wild-eyed at her.

"You would be her husband, Matthew. That gives you power over her. She would no longer be completely in charge of her own life, her money, or anything else there is."

Matthew hid his face in his hands as he cried. "I just want her back."

"Matthew, pull yourself together!" Violet snapped.

He nodded and blew his nose. "I'm sorry. Here I am going on and on about my sorry life when you're the one who's sick."

"I'll pull through," she said with a smile. "There is one thing I need to speak to you about, Matthew. Professionally."

"Of course."

"I wish to change my will and testament."

He smiled and squeezed her hand. "It will be my pleasure to help you with that."

Matthew was deep in thought on the train ride home. His conversation with Mary's grandmother had confused him, more than it had enlightened him. Her cryptic words about who she was leaving her assets to still bothered him. It had not surprised him that she wanted to leave most of her money to Mary. What came as a surprise was the money set aside for Mary's child. He had objected that Mary did not have any children and had no plans of marrying any time soon. Violet had just smiled and made a gesture for him to go on. He sighed and glanced out the window. They were in the outskirts of Manchester and the buildings looked rather ominous in the faint light.

He sat up straight as something occurred to him, but then he relaxed again. No it was impossible. Surely she would have written to him if that had been the case. He pondered Violet's words again. Give Mary time. She will come back to you.

"Will you?" he whispered softly to himself.

The phone call he had expected came shortly after eleven in the morning. Of course his mother had called first thing once she had read the paper.

"Crawley," he said assertively as he answered the phone on his desk.

"Matthew," a voice said gently on the other end. "It's Robert. I assume that you've heard?"

"Yes I have."

"Murray is coming up from London tomorrow. Do you think that you could make it here?"

"I will do my best," Matthew said with a sigh.

"I am so terribly sorry, Matthew."

"I know. Still, it changes nothing really."

"You know I think of you as my son."

Matthew smiled; he could hear the pride and the smile in Robert's voice. "I do, and it has always made me proud to be a Crawley."

"Come home, Matthew."

Returning to Downton this time had turned out to be easier, even though the significance of the event that had forced him back.

"So this is where you're hiding!"

Matthew chuckled and got up offering his hand to her. "Cousin Violet."

"No fussing now, Matthew," she muttered and sat down next to him on the bench, catching her breath. "Why you had to pick the bench furthest away from the house I simply don't understand."

"It holds special meaning," he said and looked away.

"Mary," she said firmly. "She carved her name into it on the back when she was seven. Has she told you that?"

He burst out laughing. "No. Where?"

She gestured to the side with her cane. He got up and crouched down searching for it. Smiling, he traced the name still visible. "Lady Mary Crawley," he whispered.

"You might still inherit, Matthew."

"Why is that?"

"Mary might not come back," she said and met his eyes.

"But surely she must! This changes everything," he exclaimed. "She is finally able to get her birthright! Downton is hers. All of it. The law says so!"

"True," she huffed. "But just because parliament decides to change the law and make things right, it might not be soon enough. Mary has made her decision."

He sighed and rested his head in his hands. "Dear God, why?"

She patted his back. "Patience, Matthew."

"I fear that I've reached my limit. I'm going to America!"

He stood up and faced her, stubbornly challenging her to object. To his surprise she just nodded.

"Do me one favor, Matthew. Stay until things settle here, and then book your crossing."

To be Continued…

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*** TEASER ***

The story continues in Chapter 3: A New Heir. It is 1925 and a new law has been passed in Parliament. The Crawleys have mixed feelings about it. Mary is gone, maybe never to return. Matthew, once ridiculed and disliked as the new her, now finds only sympathy and discomfort in his relatives' eyes as they adjust to the changes. Then one day, without warning, Mary shows up at Downton. This time however, she is not alone.