Author's Note: So, I know I said last time that I would post every other Sunday, but I'm off of school for Thanksgiving and since you're other favorite American authors probably aren't posting this weekend, I thought I would. I've also already started on Chapter 4, so you can expect another update by this Sunday. In other news, this chapter is a bit longer, and switches POV's quite a bit. If anything confuses you, don't hesitate to ask in the reviews. I'll probably respond in the reviews, so you have to check the site to see if I responded, you won't get a notification. Please, please, please review, share with your friends, mark this story as a favorite, your responses are what keeps me going! Also, I'm looking for a beta reader... so Private Message me! Ok, I'm sone now, enjoy the chapter:)


3. He's Not A Chauffeur

"Here they come!" Coraline shouted from the doorway.

"Not so loud, darling," Matthew scolded jokingly as he and the rest of the family went out to join Cora in greeting the car.

It was a beautiful September day, and the sun warmed their faces, despite the cool breeze. The car pulled up in front of the family and Hendricks, the chauffeur hopped out to open the passenger door. The last time the two sisters had seen each other had been Papa's funeral, which had was such a somber occasion that neither of them had felt like talking and catching up much. Then Coraline and Isobella fell ill, and the Bransons left early so little newborn Eric wouldn't catch it.

"Sybil!" Mary rushed forward to embrace the sister she was all too excited to see, "Why didn't you say you were pregnant? Very pregnant!"

"I wanted it to be a surprise." Sybil laughed, returning the embrace- made awkward by her belly, "Though, now that I think of it, I should have told you, because if I stay longer than two weeks, I'll be having the baby here!"

"We can discuss that later, right now I want to greet my niece and nephew!"

"And I mine!"

"Aunt Sybil," Abi stepped forward to kiss her cheek, "It's so good to see you."

"Oh Abigail," She embraced her squirming niece, "There's no need to be so proper, God knows I never was."

Abi gave a polite smile as Sybil moved on to give Robert and Reginald both similar embraces, "I wish it was Aunt Edith coming, I'd never throw my life away to marry a chauffeur," she whispered to Coraline.

"I like Aunt Sybil," Cora retorted, "Aunt Edith just sits and stares at me. It's horrid."


"Hullo Izzie," Emily said, sidling up to her cousin from behind.

"Emily!" Izzie jumped, then pulled her best friend into a hug.

"Not to offend your family," Emily stepped to stand next to Izzie, their pinkies linked, "But you're the only person here I'm actually excitedto see."

"Come on, I'll show you your room," Izzie pulled her towards the stairs, "I convinced Mama to give you the one next to me!"


"Mama," Abi pulled her mother aside as the family was entering the library, "I have rather a headache, I think I should go lie down so I'm able to attend dinner."

"Oh, I'm sorry you don't feel well, do you want me to send Emma up with some tea?"

"No, I don't feel much like tea... I'll ring for her if I change my mind."

"Alright, rest well and get better," Mary strode into the library and loud, lightheartedconversation, leaving the door wide open.

Instead of heading to her room, however, Abi snuck out the front door, and round the house the way the servants came when greeting guests. Just before reaching the corner, she ducked through a gap in the hedges and onto another path that led her to a wooded creek. Once meeting the creek, she left the path to follow it until she reached an old treehouse on the edge of the grounds. She sat at the base of the tree that housed the fort, and waited for him. This place was Abi's favorite in all of Downton. It was easy to get to, quiet, calm, and beautiful in all seasons. It's our spot, Abi smiled giddily, and no one knows that it's here.


Emily looked out the window of the pale yellow room as Izzie rambled on and on about how they should sneak to the study at the end of the east wing with Coraline later that night.

"We can tell Abi, Robbie, Reggie, and Eric to meet us there as well!" Izzie exclaimed as she absentmindedly played with the clock on the mantle, "It will be just like old times!"

"Except Johnny's off at war," Emily whispered, her voice breaking on war.

"Oh Em, I'm sorry... I didn't mean... We don't have to..." Izzie muttered these small comforts as her cousin's tears began to fall.

"I'm just being silly," Emily laughed weakly after a brief moment of crying.

"No, you're not," Izzie glanced out the window to the ground below, "Hey! There's Abi! On
the servants path..."

"I wonder where she's goin- where'd she go?"

"There! On the path leading towards the creek!"

"I thought she told your mama she had a headache?"
"She did," Izzie started towards the door, "Let's go follow her!"

Izzie and Emily raced outside as fast as their legs could carry them, taking care not to slip, and not to bring notice to themselves as they passed the open library door.

"Iz, where do you think she went?" Emily asked as they sprinted across the grounds.

"The old tree house. But we can't take my usual route there, in case we catch up to her. We also need to beat her there."

"How do you know she's going to the treehouse?"

"She never goes anywhere but the servants drawing room, and the old tree house."

"She spends time in the servants drawing room?"

"None of the servants know that it even exists. Now, quiet down! The treehouse is just up here, and if we're not careful, she'll hear us!"

"Now what?" Emily whispered once they had scaled the ladder and were inside.

"We find some place to watch."

They found one of the corners to be rotted out and settled down on their stomachs to watch just in time for Abi to come into view and sit right beneath them. She sat quietly for a few minutes, and Izzie and Emily were holding their breath to make sure she didn't hear them. Then, suddenly, Abi stood, and the spies in the tree heard the sounds of an approaching person.

"I knew you'd beat me," Keiran's beautiful Irish voice was barely more than a whisper as he wound his arms around Abi's waist, "Your aunt's family travels with too many bloody cases."

"No matter," Abi said breathlessly, winding her arms around his neck and pulling him into a deep kiss.

"Abi," Keiran began.

"Yes Keiran?" her brown eyes met his blue ones.

"Abi, I love you."

"I love you, too Keiran," she stood up on her tiptoes to give him a kiss on the tip of his nose.

"No Abi, what I'm... trying to say is that... that," He said the next part as if he were in a race, "I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

"What?" All Abi had heard was 'I love you'.

"Abigail Violet Crawley," now he actually got down on one knee, "will you marry me?"

"Oh Keiran," She pulled him to his feet, "haven't I always said I would never throw my life away to marry a chauffeur?"

"Does this mean..." Keiran looked crestfallen.

"Let me finish," she took his face in her hands, "I was going to say that it's so good for us that you're a footman, and not a chauffeur." She leaned forward to kiss him, but he pressed a finger to her lips to stop her from coming any closer.

"Was that a yes?"

"Oh Keiran! Yes, yes, a million times yes!" Abi burst out into tears as their lips met.


"Umm..." Emily began uncertainly after Keiran and Abi practically skipped away, arm in arm. "That was..."

"I can't believe it! There's no way the prim and proper and entirely traditional Lady Abigail Crawley would ever marry a footman," Izzie sat up in disbelief.

"But that's just the thing isn't it?" Emily began to crawl towards the trapdoor, "Your mother was supposedly prim and proper, Aunt Edith was definitely prim, proper, and traditional, and my mother at least pretended to be so. Abi's like our mothers combined, outwardly a perfect daughter while secretly kissing a footman."

"But we tell each other everything, absolutely everything."

"She probably just thinks you're too young to handle this big of a secret."

"That seems to be everyone's reason for not telling me things these days!"

"It happens to me all the time, frustrating, isn't it?"

"Extremely. Let's ask her why she didn't tell me in the drawing room after dinner tonight, so that we're in public and she can't smack us for spying," the two cousins and life long friends laughed and began the long, leisurely walk back to the house.


Another Author's Note: Wait- what?! Abi's dating a footman?! yep! Too much like Sybil, I know, but trust me, Abi and Keiran's story won't be like Sybil and Branson's at all. I promise. Also, a shoutout to Nelson, who is my bestie in real life, not the internet. She's genuinely critiques my work, over texts and such. So, love you Nelson! You're the best!

Alright, I'll let you go now... ^May your life be filled with Downton^