AN: Now we go back to how it all began. I will make note of time jumps whenever they occur.

Three and a half years earlier...

It was the scent of her perfume that first alerted him to her arrival. It wasn't that she was wearing an overwhelming amount of it. But after sitting next to her in class all of last year (alphabetical seating arrangements all but guaranteed that), it was so familiar to him that it was second nature. As Mary slid into the seat in front of him, he was tempted to do something he never felt the need to do before but she beat him to it.

"Oh, hello Matthew." She smiled back at him as she caught his eye, brushing her hair back over her shoulders and reaching into her bag next to her. "How was your holiday?" It took Matthew a second to realize she had asked him a question.

"Um, uh, it was alright I guess. How, how was yours?" He cursed himself mentally for stammering.

"It was fine." She didn't offer up any details and he didn't ask. She turned forward in her seat and waited for the meeting to begin.

Matthew fell into step with Mary as the meeting began to break up. It had been a brief meeting, thankfully, and he was looking forward to some down time. It was the last night before term began he wanted to finish his book before he became too busy again.

Mary didn't say anything as they navigated through the rest of the students at the meeting who were milling around, catching up. His hand began to hover behind her back, as if to settle there and help her push through but he resisted. There was no way that could be construed as just a friendly gesture, he was sure of that. But he did hold open the heavy door for her causing her to smile in thanks as she stepped across the threshold.

Compared with the dim lighting of the old chapel, where the meeting had been held, the bright sunlight that filtered through the clouds was jarring. Mary was still walking next to him, seemingly waiting for him to catch up as she slowed her steps. The idea that she may want to walk with him was surprising to him but it was a good surprise. A very good surprise.

They weren't talking but, then again, Matthew wasn't much for idle conversation anyway so he didn't mind. Mentally sorting through his thoughts, he tried to work out how to ask Mary if she would want to meet up to do some classwork when someone shouting broke through his thoughts.

"Mary!" Looking around, he saw Tricia Lane, another girl in their class fast approaching. Matthew saw Mary freeze at the greeting, her grip on the straps of her bag tightening ever so slightly. He wasn't sure if he should leave or not. After all, it wasn't his name the Tricia called out. But by the time he had made the decision to go, Tricia was in front of them and it would be rude to leave.

"Hi Mary." Tricia asked smiling widely. Matthew was sure he could count almost all of her teeth.

"Hello." Mary remained neutral, polite but detached. He sensed she didn't want to talk to her but propriety forced her hand.

"How was your holiday?" Tricia was bouncing on the balls of her feet, out of excitement or pain from her ridiculous shoes, Matthew wasn't sure.

"It was fine." The same answer Matthew had received only an hour prior. Apparently, she didn't want to talk about it.

"That's great! Well, some of the other girls and I are meeting up, I wondered if you would like to join us. I know we would all love it." She emphasized the word love to get her point across.

Matthew couldn't help the brief look of incredulity that flitted across his face. He had known that most of girls at this school seemed to all clamor for Mary's attention but Matthew had never seen it happen in person before.

"It was very kind of you to invite me, but unfortunately, I have to decline. Matthew and I have some things we need to look over before tomorrow." Matthew was pulled from the amusing turn his thoughts had taken at the sound of his name.

"Oh, that's too bad." Tricia seemed genuinely upset. "Maybe next time?" She cheered slightly as she considered it.

"Maybe." Mary smiled before clasping her hands together. "We should be off then." She began to walk off quickly and Matthew hurried to follow.

"Sorry to force my company on you." Mary shook her head in apology as soon as Tricia was out of earshot. "Do you mind if I hide out in your room for a few hours?" She was still walking a bit too fast and Matthew doubled his step to match hers.

"Of course not."

"Why am I not surprised?" Mary laughed lightly as Matthew let her into his room.

"About what?" He shut the door behind them and dropped his bag onto his bed.

"Your room is as neat as a pin." She rubbed her fingers over the polished surfaces looking for dust. She didn't find any. "In any other guy's room, there would be a film of dust and God knows what on everything."

"You caught it on a good day." Matthew shrugged dropping into his desk chair, waving for Mary to sit at the more comfortable lounge chair. "So, uh, not that I mind you here, but do you mind me asking why you didn't just go to the party?" He twisted his chair back and forth nervously.

"It isn't a party. It's a bragging session. Who did what and where. I'm not interested." Mary crossed one leg over the other as she rested her head on her closed fist. "What did you do for your holiday?"

"Nothing interesting. I went home. I can't, uh, really afford to…" He trailed off, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Right, sorry. Scholarship. That was rude of me." Mary shook her head.

"What did you do?" Matthew was curious now.

"Same. I went home." Mary broke eye contact, looking down at her nails. "My cousin died." She supplied after a moment causing Matthew's eyes to widen in sympathy.

"Mary, I didn't know. I'm so sorry for your loss." He felt horrible for asking.

"How could you have known? I didn't tell you until right now." Mary looked over his face, noting the sympathy etched there and it grated on her nerves. "And while I appreciate the sympathy, it's not necessary. Patrick was a particularly selfish person. We never got along." She said it with such antipathy that he sensed something must have made her feel that way,

"It must have been hard. To deal with such a thing. It's okay to be sad about it."

"But see, that's the thing, I'm not as sad as I should be. And that's what makes me sad." She stood then, crossing his small room to stare at the awards that lined the dresser, putting her back to him. "Please, can we talk about anything else?" She didn't turn to face him.

Matthew scrambled for something to say. "Sure. How do you think the term's going to go?"

"I should head back to my room." Mary reached for her bag as she spied the sun beginning to set through the window. "I don't want a prefect to report me breaking curfew." She smirked at him.

"I won't tell if you won't." Matthew smirked back.

"It's a deal." Mary moved towards the door and Matthew moved to open it for her. "And thank you. For today." He paused with his hand on the knob as he looked at her.

"Anytime Mary." He smiled and he could see a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. What she did next took him completely by surprise.

Leaning over, she pressed her lips to his cheek, her hand squeezing his bicep lightly. The gesture lasted a few moments longer than necessary before Mary pulled away again. Matthew could feel the heat begin to crawl up his neck and he hoped she didn't notice.

"Goodnight Matthew. I'll see you tomorrow." He opened the door instinctually, watching her walk away as she turned the corner towards the Girl's Hall.

Bewildered, he made his way to his desk where a folded piece of paper rested, a piece of paper that wasn't there before. Opening it, it made his already heated skin feel hotter.

Thanks for listening. In case you ever need to chat.

-Mary.

She had left him her mobile phone number. He immediately plugged it into his mobile, afraid he would lose the paper and whatever link they had formed that afternoon. And then he remembered what tomorrow was and he felt foolish. The term began and he was sure to share at least some classes with her.

He had never been more excited for school to start.

Three Months Later...

"There is a serious dearth of available ladies at this school." Sean hopped up into the wooden table, shaking it and making Matthew mess up his meticulous notes. Matthew sighed as he reached for the whiteout.

"Dearth?" Lewis flipped a chair around, straddling it and resting his arms along the back.

"Yes." Sean nodded, peeling an orange with his fingers. The citrus smell filled the air, covering the stale scent of dust that always seemed to pervade throughout the school.

"I don't agree." Lewis argued back but by that point, Matthew was only barely paying attention.

"Yeah, but you'd date anything that said yes." Sean threw the peel at Lewis and he picked it from his hair disdainfully.

"Like you are flush with date prospects." Sean didn't have a response for that.

"Will you two cut it out?" Matthew finally interrupted. "There is more to life than girls."

"Says the man who is the self-imposed celibate. You know that you could have your pick of girls if you would just pull your head from the books every once and a while dude."

"Whatever you say." Matthew blew on the whiteout to make sure it dried completely before attempting to write over it.

"Be still my heart." Sean pretended to swoon. "Now if I could just get her to talk to me…" He trailed off as he watched the girl in question cross the room.

"Who?" Lewis looked around the slowly fulling up dining hall.

"Lady Mary Crawley." Sean popped an orange slice in his mouth. Mary passed by and Matthew glanced up quickly before looking away again. Best not be caught up in the urge to stare.

"Keep dreaming man." Lewis scoffed.

"I will." He waggled his eyebrows. Matthew tightened his grip on his pen. He wished he could say something but he but his tongue. "Matthew, could you introduce me?" Sean leaned forward so his forearms rested on his knees.

"Why do you assume I know her?" He didn't look up, instead flipping a page in his book. He feared that if he did anything else he would say something that could hurt him later on.

"Because you are both prefects."

"So?"

"Will you or won't you man? All I want is for you to tell her who I am. I will take it from there." He pulled on the lapels of his uniform confidently.

"We don't talk about those things when we do talk Sean." No, they definitely did not. They had a much better use for their lips.

"It's no use. I hear she's got a boyfriend." Lewis interrupted allowing Matthew to release an internal sigh of release before he understood what Lewis said.

"What?" He blurted out before biting his lip.

"Yeah. I heard some girls gossiping. Apparently no one knows his name or anything about him. Just that she seems to really like him or something."

"I wonder who it is." Sean mused aloud.

"Doesn't matter." Lewis interrupted. "Either way, she wasn't going to go out with you even if she were available." The clock struck 8:00 and the room began to move as if one to go to their first classes. Matthew stared into space as he turned over this new information in his head.

"Whatever. You don't know that." Sean hopped down off the table. Lewis pushed his chair in as grabbed his bag from the floor. "Coming Matthew?" Lewis slapped his shoulder as they passed.

"Yeah." He shoved his notebooks into his bag and followed the crowd out the dining hall doors.

"So I heard this rumor today." Matthew said between kisses, running his hands up Mary's stocking clad legs from where they rested in his lap.

"Hmm?" Mary didn't appear all that interested. She pulled at his neatly tied tie, attempting to loosen it without looking. All she ended up doing was making the knot tighter forcing her to pull away as she worked it free.

"People are saying you have a boyfriend." Matthew told he tipped his head back so she could loosen the knot.

"I do have a boyfriend." Mary said carefully, as if she were talking to a particularly slow person.

"I'm aware of that." The tie slipped from his neck as she worked it free and he immediately undid the top buttons. "I wasn't aware that others knew."

"They don't." Mary trailed her hands down his chest.

"Did you hear what I just told you? There's a rumor." Matthew was getting frustrated.

"So? There's always a rumor." Mary didn't much care for gossip. It was a well known fact. So of course, all the gossip was about her as a result.

"You were the one who insisted we keep this quiet." He reminded her. It was hard to be with someone and not be with them but she had persuaded him and he found he couldn't resist her.

"Matthew." She framed his face with her hands to force him to look at her. "Look at it this way. Now guys will be dissuaded from asking me out. I know it bothers you to see them try."

"It doesn't bother me per say."" He grumbled causing Mary to smirk at him.

"It does. I know it does. But now this will stop all that. So for once, and I can't believe I am saying this, I appreciate the rumor mill at this school."

"What if it makes them more persistent?" Matthew tried feebly.

"Do you really think that will happen?" She raised a brow at him and he sighed in resignation.

"No." He trailed his hands up her legs until they reached her waist. "I just don't like hearing about that sort of thing." It always put him in a bad mood to hear some rumor about Mary in relation to another guy. He couldn't help it. It was his baser instinct.

"I know." Mary understood where he was coming from. She did. It wasn't like there weren't girls talking about him sometimes. He was, after all, fairly well known at the school. "But we know the truth." She ran one hand up into his hair as the other slid down to settled over his chest. She could feel the steady rise and fall of it with each breath and used that to ground herself. "Now, if you don't mind, I think there is something we should get back to." She pressed her lips to his newly exposed throat and felt him gulp slightly.

"Excellent idea." He finally managed to get out as she pulled her in closer again.

He decide she was right. Who cared about gossip anyway? It was already three months into term and this was hardly the first rumor to get rumors weren't real and this was. His grip on her waist tightened ever so slightly as he pulled her flush against him.

AN: So this is how it all began! I look forward to hearing your thoughts!