They kept smiling softly at each other, Mary's eyes still red from her crying.

"So am I forgiven, Mary?" Matthew asked. Mary looked down, still smiling softly.

"Well... Not completely. But I do believe it was your mother who accidentally found him" she smirked.

"Oh what must I do for your full forgiveness then?"

She paused for a moment, before she continued, "You must promise me one favour in the future, without conditions. I don't know what it'll be yet, but I will probably need one sometime" she grinned to herself. She raised her eyes to his.

"Fine. As long as it's not something like 'jump off that cliff Matthew'" he laughed, raising his eyebrows slightly.

"Hey! It's my choice remember!" she laughed, "right. Deal?" she held her hand out to him. He shook it firmly.

"Deal."

Mary went to pull her hand away when Matthew kept hold of it, "Thank you, Mary"

Mary simply beamed at him in return, withdrawing her hand. She walked over to the door and opened it, walking through it. She held the door open for him as she gestured him to follow her. He did so and they headed back to the drawing room. When they entered Matthew looked over and saw Evelyn and Tom. He simply nodded, telling them he and Mary were okay. Matthew went to walk over to them when Cora burst through the door.

"It's a girl" Cora announced, beaming. Tom immediately had many people offering words of congratulations to him.

"Can I see them?" Tom asked eagerly.

"Of course you can!"


Tom hesitantly stepped though their bedroom door which was held open by a grinning Isobel. She announced she would leave them alone for a moment. He saw a clearly exhausted Sybil lying in the bed across the room. She was smiling at him, holding a bundle of blankets in her arms. He was speechless at the wonderful sight in front of him. He crossed the room quickly and sat down on the edge of the bed to get a closer look at his daughter.

"Oh my darling" he kissed Sybil's forehead, "She's beautiful."

"I know. I can't believe she's ours" Sybil replied, handing the baby girl to Tom.

"So, what were you thinking then?" Tom asked, referring to names.

"Alice. Alice Branson." Sybil answered. They had argued over names but Alice was one of the few names they agreed on.

"A beautiful name for a beautiful little girl"


The next morning everybody was still alive with excitement from the baby. Sybil was to stay in bed for the day to recover, but the family would take full advantage of this time with little Alice. Everybody had gone in to visit Sybil and Alice one by one, Tom remaining at her side the whole time, unable to bring himself to leave his daughter. Sybil had given her the middle name Mary. Mary was of course very touched at this gesture. When she asked why she had named her that, she told her it was because she was the best storm braver she knew. Mary had welled up with tears at that point; she couldn't believe her baby sister thought that of her. Sybil had always been the strong one; she was surprised when somebody else had actually thought that about her. Apart from Matthew of course.

Granny, Isobel and Matthew stayed the night of course, it would have been far too late for everybody to travel back home.

The weather seemed to be holding up well, Mary had decided she needed to get out of this house, what a perfect opportunity.

"Edith dear, do you fancy going for a ride later?" Mary asked as she entered the breakfast room.

"I can't, sorry Mary. I promised I'd help sort out the nursery for Alice today"

"Okay fine. Papa?"

"I'm afraid I can't either Mary, I need to go to London to talk to Murray today, maybe another time perhaps"

She sighed, frustrated. Then in a sudden burst she blurted out "Matthew?"

Matthew nearly choked on his coffee. Mary wanted him to go riding with her? He quickly swallowed his coffee and turned to Mary, his mouth open with shock, "W-What Mary?"

"Do you want to go riding with me? I'm sure the stable boys could find you a suitable horse" she replied smoothly.

Matthew swallowed the lump in his throat and looked up at her, "Why not?"


Matthew hated to admit to Mary, but the truth was Matthew hadn't ridden a horse in years. Mary had found Matthew some suitable riding gear and thrust it towards him, telling him to put it on and to meet her at the stables, which he did as soon as was humanely possible. Mary was already there waiting for him when he arrived though. How did she do that?

"Hello Matthew" Mary said, setting up her own horse Diamond, giving a brief glimpse in his direction.

"Hello Mary, I-I'm sorry I'm late" Matthew replied. In truth Matthew thought he was early when he left Downton, but obviously Mary was used to doing this.

"No, I'm just quick! I haven't seen Diamond for months you know, I've missed him" she smiled softly, stroking the hands through Diamond's mane, "anyway, Matthew, go and see Jimmy over there, he'll set you up with Chestnut, he'll go easy on you."

He simply swallowed and nodded. He located Jimmy around the back of the stables, after looking for him for a few minutes. He was a nice boy, about seventeen years old. He was just finishing up putting Chestnut's saddle on, and was securing it in place, and making sure the reins of the bridle weren't tangled. Matthew had a job mounting the horse, he hadn't quite anticipated the difficulty of the task. But with a slightly embarrassing amount of help from Jimmy, he was soon on top of Chestnut.

Mary soon came around to see him, she was of course already mounted on top of Diamond. She looked very happy to be reunited with her horse again after such a long time. She chuckled at the sight of a very awkward Matthew, he looked so worried! Mary turned Diamond around and she began walking off across the field. Luckily Chestnut automatically started to follow behind. Phew. Matthew watched Mary, puzzled at how she was controlling the horse. She knew exactly when to tap her feet and pull different sides of the reins. He seemed to gain more confidence as they went along, the horse riding techniques coming back to him with each stride.

"How are you getting on back there?" Mary asked cheerily, calling over her shoulder.

"Oh, fine I think!" his voice faltered slightly as the horse stumbled slightly, "are you feeling glad to back on Diamond?"

She looked up into the sky, "Yes, I really am, more than you can imagine."


After a while Mary decided it was time to stop and have a rest for a minute. Matthew agreed. Mary smoothly dismounted her horse, while Matthew ended up nearly slipping off Chestnut. She led both horses to a nearby fence and tied them to it, using a very intricate knot. Matthew picked a spot and sat down on the grass, which was luckily now dry from the previous morning's rain. Mary soon joined him and sat down.

"How long are you staying?" Matthew asked hesitantly, breaking the silence.

"I don't know."

They sat in silence for a few more minutes when Mary turned to him.

"I have something for you Matthew" she knelt, reaching into her coat pocket, pulling out what was inside and placing it in his hands, closing his fingers around it.

"But Mary? Why would you give this back to me?" he asked, staring at the toy dog in his hand, touched at her gesture.

"Well I said you had to return it safe and sound. You didn't give it back did you? Edith did" she smiled lightly, "anyway... I wanted you to have it" Mary hadn't moved her hand from Matthew's.

"Thank you Mary. You have no idea how much this means to me, it was- no it doesn't matter" he stopped mid sentence.

"No. What were you going to say?" she encouraged.

He raised his eyes to hers, smiling slightly embarrassed. He went on, "well, that dog, I suppose it sounds silly but I suppose it was all I had left of you"

"Oh Matthew" she said simply, resting her head on his shoulder, leaning on him. They stayed like that for a while longer until Mary spoke.

"Matthew. I would like that favour now."

"Already? Oh lord nothing too terrible I hope" he looked at her grinning, "What is it?"

"Kiss me."