Ch 10- Unseated, Part I

Because the three babies were born in the middle of the night the whole house rose very, very late the next morning, so late it almost felt like the afternoon to most of them. Elsie and Carson had woken a half hour earlier, surprised that their newborns were such a good sleepers and had only woken a handful of times during the night. Elsie wasn't sure that was normal but it sure was pleasant, at least for now.

Carson had gone downstairs to have breakfast with Lord Grantham, something he was not comfortable with but felt obligated to do, having been invited as a friend and not a bulter. Before he left he'd taken their still sleeping newborn twins and put them in bed with Elsie, kissing her atop the head.

Elsie lay there, holding them, staring back at both babies for what seemed like ages. It was her first time holding them both together and she was overcome with awe. Hours after they were born, the twins still didn't seem real to her. It didn't matter that she'd bore them and nursed then and spent nearly every waking moment thinking of their wellbeing for the last eight months, she still could not believe she was a mother. Their mother. Finally the little girl, Charlotte, woke and yawned, settling deeper into her mother's arms.

"Good first morning my Charlotte." Elsie giggled, kissing Charlotte on the nose. The baby blinked.

"Elsie." Cora called from the other side of the door. "May I come in?"

Elsie looked up, surprised. She'd heard what had happened during Cora's labor the night before…literally and couldn't believe she felt like getting up: especially when she didn't yet herself.

"Y-Yes, of course m'lady."

"How many times must I ask you to dispense with that?" Cora laughed when she opened the door.

"Sorry, habit I suppose. Are you alright?" She asked carefully.

"As much as I could be. I really shouldn't be out of bed but I wanted to meet your little bundles of joy. I heard its twins!" Cora was excited.

"Yes and they were the most pleasant of surprises too."

Elsie smiled, looking down at the twins. Charlie was sleeping, his tiny lips puffed out in an adorable little pout that Elsie thought looked like her husband when he slept, and Charlotte was wide-awake, doing her best to look back at Cora and her baby.

"May I?" Cora asked, sitting on the edge of her bed.

"Of course. He's a handsome one." Elsie giggled, looking over at Cora's baby who rested sleepily in his mother's arms.

Elsie was secretly relieved to discover that the Crawley baby was actually a bit smaller than both Charlotte and Charlie. That idea made her feel calm as if she'd done something right. Elsie looked down when she felt her half sleeping baby boy squeeze her finger tightly and begin to stir.

"He's so cute!" Cora squealed as Charlie yawned. "Did you have any idea you were having two?"

"No, well..." Elsie paused. "Perhaps an inkling, but overall I'm just as surprised as you." She laughed, rocking her babies gently.

Friends or not, her ladyship was still her ladyship and she didn't want them to start wailing in her presence. Charlie settled back to sleep and Charlotte opened her tiny brown eyes wider, also taking one of her mother's fingers in her bitty hand.

"Lady Grantham," She said, introducing her this way for the twin's benefit. "This is Charlie and Charlotte Carson."

"Well hello sweethearts, I may be Lady Grantham but you can just think of me as your friend Benjamin's Mommy." Elsie smiled, a little surprised when she said this. "Benjamin my love." She began, looking down at her partially awake newborn. "These are your new friends Charlie and Charlotte." She introduced. "Can you wave hello." She took his hand and tried to make him wave.

"Charlotte, this is Benjamin." Elsie did the same with Charlotte, neglecting Charlie because he was asleep. "Can you believe you were all born the very same night?"

"It's amazing." Cora reflected, smiling down at Benjamin.

Cora elected not to say anything but she felt strongly there was nothing coincidental about all of this and had from the moment Elsie had told her she was pregnant. She wasn't exactly sure what she thought but knew right away that the children's friendship had to be fostered and that the Carson baby needed to be included in the things her child did. Having been excited about it for months, she'd become even more convinced of it when they went into labor at the same time. And now that the Carson baby had turned out to be babies she was doubly thrilled that her son would have not one but two playmates to grow up with.

"Are you alright?" Cora asked. "I know you had the other month almost."

"Yes. They're just wonderful. Mrs. Crawley said, after I had Charlie, that they were big enough and my body couldn't hold two anymore and that's why it happened so soon."

Baby Charlie Carson was unexpected and had been born just ten minutes after his sister. Elsie had already held Charlotte and kissed her when she started to feel pain again. It was just after Charlotte had been handed off to Daisy to be washed and wrapped up, that Isobel discovered there was a second baby about to be born. Charlie had arrived quickly and with relatively little effort on the part of his exhausted, overwhelmed mother. Because his sister continued crying the entire time, his father and Lord Grantham hadn't heard his cries when he was born.

"He's such a wonderful little surprise." Cora added.

"I think you're forgetting they all are." Elsie beamed.

She'd known for a long time she couldn't have children and didn't think she'd ever fully be able to fathom that she was the mother of twins. Charlie and Charlotte would always be a surprise to her, no matter what.

"Yes they are." Cora smiled. "You know, Dr. Clarkson…he told me I can't have another, that if I do I…well there's a good chance I'll…. die." She bit her lip, looking down at Benjamin.

Cora was in a daze about everything. She knew she and Benjamin were more than lucky to be alive; in fact it was probably a true, modern day miracle. Dr. Clarkson had all but said that. It'd been nine hours since Benjamin was born and in away, she felt like she hadn't caught her breath (she didn't know Dr. Clarkson felt much the same way). Cora couldn't feature how she would tell Robert all of this, only that she had to at some point.

"I'm sorry to hear that. But I'm so glad you're both well and with us."

"Oh me too. You have no idea." Cora smiled warmly, appreciative of her friend's encouraging thoughts.

"I hope…" Elsie said quietly, pausing for a moment and looking down at her twins.

Charlie snored his little head had fallen to the side, and rested on her breast. She giggled, again thinking he looked like his father when he slept resting against her breast. Charlotte was more awake than she'd probably ever been and Elsie caught her looking up into her face, seeming to study her. She smiled down brightly at her daughter and leaned into kiss her tiny face, sensing that the tiny girl craved her attention.

"I hope." Elsie continued. "That it'll be alright with you, and nanny that I've had twins, I…"

"Oh Elsie it's just wonderful! Little babies are a handful, but they'll be a little bigger by the time they get to nanny, after all you need to bond and heal and …actually I'm going to keep Benjamin myself…more often than I'd expected."

"Oh?" Elsie was surprised.

"Life is short." She said simply. "And I feel bonded to him in a way I never have anyone else."

It was true. Mother and son shared an incredible life and death battle that he would not be able to recall and she'd never forget. But that didn't matter. It changed the course of how she'd always see him and how she'd treasure him, and as a result, the brown haired little boy, who looked very much like her and his sister Sybil, would always remain bonded to her, no matter how old he got or who he loved.

"That's so sweet." Elsie said, hugging both the twins tight.

She wished she had that option. In many ways she loved the fact that she worked and throughout her pregnancy she'd told Charlie she wanted to stay on as Downton's head housekeeper, but now that she'd had her babies and started to bond with them she didn't want to leave them for a second and the thought she had to made her almost sad enough to weep.

But the need to provide for her sister, Becky, made it financially unfeasible for her to quit work and stay home with the babies. At least with this arrangement she'd be able to make time to take them from the nanny in the day…and with this arrangement, Elsie was already starting to sense they might have a better life than she and Charlie could give them without the Crawley's help and that maybe that was alright.

…

"Look at you, you're the spitting image of your ma!" Beryl laughed, excitedly, rocking Charlotte in her arms.

"She is not." Elsie corrected, looking down at baby Charlie as he started to nurse.

She was still not accustomed to this and found it painful and awkward, enough to where she did not want to continue with it much longer. She'd yet to say this to anyone, even Charlie who'd been up with her during the night, helping her nurse the twins for the first time. Neither of them had really known what they were doing but figured it out enough to get the children fed.

"Yes she is. She looks just like her Mummy. Hello Charlotte, it's Auntie Beryl! See I told your Mum you were a girl, I promised you I'd set her straight, and I have!"

Charlotte recognized Beryl's kind voice and had already taken a liking to her.

"And I told you I thought it was a boy." Elsie sighed. "Who knew we were both right?"

"Are you as excited as I am?" Beryl didn't think she could be even though they were her babies.

"Oh I'm over the moon." She smiled down at her son, patting his thigh gently. "Mrs. Patmore, perhaps you could take Charlotte down to the kitchen and make her a bottle? There's some baby formula in…"

"But why, when your…"

She sighed. "Because Charlie's just like his father."

Beryl paused, tilting her head as she watched her good friend nurse her newborn baby son. She didn't know a thing about nursing and couldn't tell that Elsie had no clue what she was doing or that the newborn boy was famished.

"O, so he's a bit attached to your…"

"No! He's just an eater and if he's hungry there's no one getting in his way."

"Oh, I thought you met he liked…"

"Well I think he'd rather I nursed him, if that's what you met." Elsie raised an eyebrow, understanding what her friend had been insinuating about her husband's attachment to her. She found it partially distasteful and partially hilarious. "But truthfully, I haven't quite gotten the hang of this and poor Charlotte's going to be hungry in a moment and I know there's not enough for her, so please…."

"Alright then, we can't have her starve, I'll take her down to get something to eat."

"Knock-knock." Isobel said, quietly knocking on the open door.

"Oh, Mrs. Crawley, please come in." Elsie smiled, she'd been waiting for her to visit all day.

"I'm just here to see how you are and to see the twins." She smiled pleasantly.

"Well in that case, would ya like to hold miss Charlotte while I get her a bottle?" Mrs. Patmore asked, not really wanting to give up any of her time with her brand new goddaughter, but she realized she couldn't really make a bottle while holding her.

"Oh, thank you, I'd love to!" Isobel took Charlotte in her arms and smiled, looking carefully back at Elsie as Beryl left the room. "Mrs. Carson, why would you nurse one and not the other?"

"Oh?" She was a bit embarrassed. "Charlie he…he's always hungry first and he seems to not leave enough for his sister and she goes without and we can't have that now can we?"

"No I suppose not." Isobel contemplated.

"I would've liked to have nursed them but it's just not going to work I'm afraid."

"Oh? Not at all?"

"No. Charlie is much too much of an eater and…" She paused, ashamed to admit this, but deciding to be frank. "I know nursing is better for them. I know they're premature and they need it and they need me. But, I just am not going to have the time, Mrs. Crawley, with having to work." She wanted to cry when she said this. It made her feel like a miserable failure as a mother. "I can't nurse two newborns, I'll be up in the nursery at all hours of the day and I..."

"I see." Isobel understood quickly.

"I know nursing's better for them." She said, looking down at Charlie. "And with every bit of me I want what's best for them."

"What if I talked to Lady Grantham?" Isobel asked, Elsie's head snapped up.

"You'd do that?"

Even if she and Cora were to be friends, Elsie did not feel comfortable asking for the space and time to nurse the twins…partially because she didn't think she could do it physically. She wanted to bottle-feed and was ashamed to admit it.

"Yes. And don't worry about Charlotte not getting enough for now, really. I know its hard at first but please, don't let anything stop you. Some of that formula can be risky." It was back in 1915.

"I know…" Elsie paused.

"Its only your first day." She encouraged. Isobel understood everything that Elsie was not saying about the experience. "Gradually there will be enough to feed them both, and the three of you will get used to each other….and as for the time. I'll make sure it's made."

"Thank you." She said sincerely. "And thank you for everything else. We couldn't have done it without you." She smiled, feeling a little better now. She was a nurse, and the mother of a grown son, perhaps she was right.

"It's my pleasure. I'd much rather be here, delivering a baby than at the hospital… well you understand." She said, not wanting to get into detail about her life at the hospital, feeling it would cloud an otherwise happy event.

"I do." Elsie agreed.

"And these wonderful little twins, they're something I'll never forget." She said, smiling down at Charlotte.

"Mrs. Crawley?"

"Yes."

"Do you suppose the twins could call you Auntie Isobel? You were so loving with us and everything you did last night…"

Isobel had stayed up with Elsie and Charlie long after the twins were born, helping them to get settled as a family. She'd made sure Elsie was recovering, that the twins were well, that they knew how to care for them and countless other things. Both Carsons were touched at her generosity and the level of caring she showed them, neither would ever forget that she made their first night as parents all the more joyous of an occasion.

"Mr. Carson and I, we have no family but each other, really." She continued. "So we've decided that it's important that the babies have friends, baby Benjamin and Lady Grantham, and their godmother Anna, who will care for them if anything happens to Mr. Carson and myself, and their godmother, Mrs. Patmore who loves them and is there to spoil them everyday."

Isobel and Elsie shared a laugh about that. It'd been obvious to Isobel just how much Mrs. Patmore loved the twins, she'd doted on the girl from before she was even born, and gone crazy fawning over the boy from the minute she'd announced an unexpected twin was about to arrive.

"Anyway." Elsie continued. "Would it be alright, since you delivered them, if the twins called you Auntie Isobel, and if perhaps you'd like to be a godmother too, perhaps the one who imparts a lot of wonderful wisdom?"

"I should love that!" She smiled brightly. "I'd be honored. Hello again Charlotte." She said, turning to the baby. "I'm your Auntie Isobel. Did anyone mention yet," She said, turning back to Elsie, "that Charlotte looks just like you?"

…

"Charles Hughes Carson." Elsie confirmed.

Elsie was happy when Charlie came back from his time with Lord Grantham and got into bed with her and the babies. He took their son in his arms, giving her some time to try and nurse Charlotte again. It was not working out well.

"I like the sound of that." He smiled, looking down at his son and kissing his head.

They were busy filing out the twin's birth records and trying to relax while the twins were calm and they weren't needed elsewhere. Soon, Elsie would be served dinner in bed (Cora had insisted that the Carsons be waited on along with the family while the twins were newborns), and Carson would go downstairs and dine with the family as he had at breakfast, something he would always be uncomfortable with.

"And Charlotte Elspeth Carson. Both named after Mummy and Daddy." He laughed.

"I think its perfect." She reflected.

"So do I." He confessed. "How's the nursing?" He brought himself to ask.

She sighed. "Charlie…it hurts." She admitted.

"I'm sorry my love. I wish there was something I could do to help."

Carson felt horrible about everything she'd been through, but he felt worse about this. Neither of them had anticipated that nursing would be painful, or that she'd ne nursing for two, and didn't know what to think. Moreover, he wanted to help feed the twins just as he could help with everything else. He hadn't said it yet, but he also hoped that in the end she'd choose to bottle-feed.

"Mrs. Crawley says it'll get better, but I'm unsure." She explained.

"It probably will, and I really do think nursing is better…for them."

"I know you do." She hadn't picked up on his tone.

"But there's nothing I hate more than seeing you in pain. Nothing."

"Oh Charlie that's sweet."

"I wish I could take all that pain for you."

"I know my wonderful husband."

"If you'd like, I think we should start formula with the next feeding, that way you can get some sleep." He said, kissing the side of her head.

The twins had slept through more of the night than they'd expected but had left their mother no time to nap during the day and she was quickly growing tired.

"Hmmm how about we try this, I nurse in the day and you bottle-feed at night, so we do a bit of both."

"That sounds perfect, Mrs. Carson. See, you're already a wonderful Mother."

"I don't know about that…" She hesitated. "A good mother would nurse exclusively no matter how tired she got, or how much it hurt…but Charlie, it hurts really, very badly."

"My love you are only human and if you can't get rest, what good are you to them or yourself?" He asked. "And don't worry, you're going to be the best mother they could ever ask for. I love you."

"Oh Charlie I love you more." She promised, still nursing Charlotte as he leaned down to kiss her.

…

Carson got Elsie and the twins to sleep before he went downstairs. He found that he too was exhausted and would much rather retire for the evening than dine with Lord Grantham and his daughters, but again, he felt obligated more than anything else.

"Something wrong, m'lord?" He asked, meeting Robert at the entrance of the dining room.

"Yes Carson, yes there is." He sighed.

Someone had made the mistake of handing Lord Grantham the paper that day. The news was stressful and they should've thought better of it, but without Carson and Mrs. Hughes downstairs to manage things, no one had had the foresight to exercise discretion in this matter. It was something that should've waited.

Carson followed his employer into the dining room where Mary, Edith, Sybil and Isobel and Violet already sat waiting for them. Carson didn't know that Matthew had left, hours earlier after an argument with Mary, who was still not technically his fiancé but was, at the same time, assuredly not his ex. Mary was upset about his having left the way he did: angry with her, somewhat heartsick, and she hoped just a little bit in love.

Carson and Lady Mary made eye contact as he sat down at the table across from her, the two of them the most uncomfortable about the situation. No matter how comfortable the family became with breaking protocol, he knew he'd never be all right with it and did not want to be part of it. As such, Lady Mary felt similarly and he knew it.

Many years later she would look back on that night's dinner as a sign of times to come. Matthew gone and Carson across the table from her signified madness and a world turned upside down. She should've known right then, that she had been right about Charlotte Carson eventually taking her place in the house without even trying. Just in being born, Benjamin and Charlotte had easily unseated her and Matthew and sealed everyone's fate. Mary saw this all very clearly, and in thirty years time, would despise herself for ignoring what she knew to be true.

"Papa, what's wrong?" Edith asked.

He sighed, taking a drink of water before he began.

"It's not about Benjamin, is it?" Sybil asked. She adored Benjamin; he'd quickly become her favorite sibling.

"No, no. Benjamin and the twins are all doing splendidly." He smiled briefly before continuing. Carson nodded in agreement at his words. "No, this is about the war." He stopped.

"Oh?" Isobel asked. She and Sybil exchanged glances, wondering if this new news met that they should get back to the hospital soon.

"It would seem that Germany has declared war around the British Isles."

"Does that mean they could invade?" Edith asked anxiously, not really understanding how this was any different from the war that had already been declared.

"Hopefully not." Robert assured. "Most likely, it'll just be a heightened naval battle; but that said, it's all coming closer to our shores."

Mary drew a ragged breath, her concern for Matthew piqued exponentially in that moment, and she felt she'd made a grave mistake in saying no.