A/N Ahhh, we can all relax. Love is once again in the air, all is well with our Romeo and Juliet... but things are afoot. Lady Mary is not prepared to take things lying down (if you will excuse the pun) and the worm is about to turn and bite the early bird squarely on the doo dah!

Again, and honestly I cannot say it enough. To everyone who is following, reviewing, favouriting or just even reading this story. I cannot thank you enough for the enormous support I have received. It is beyond touching, so thank you, thank you, thank you.

Enjoy.

Matthew Crawley paced up and down the drawing room, his jaw tight, and his fists clenching and unclenching. Mary watched him from her place on the sofa. Her foot now bandaged, she sat with it resting on a stool. Someone had set a cane by her side. She was incredibly glad that Sir Richard was out of the house.

"I do wish you'd sit down, you're making me quite dizzy." Mary said wearily.

Matthew, his eyes blazing, duly sat briefly in one of the large wing backed chairs, before getting up again and resuming his pacing.

"Matthew! Please!" She said again.

"The bastard!" He muttered under his breath.

Mary sighed.

"He's got to go Mary. When your Papa hears what he has done to Anna… she must be devastated, after everything she's been through!"

"She is. He has played on her one weakness. She wouldn't accept money, but we have made hardly any progress in getting Bates' release, if only we could find that relative… We know first hand how desperate one can feel if you are separated from someone you care for?"

Matthew nodded, his agitated pace increased.

"I'm also convinced that Richard is behind this sudden visitation from Peter Gordon. Edith asked him to track the man down. She swears she didn't expect him to just turn up here and claim to be the heir. I must admit, I am inclined to believe her." Mary continued.

"So you don't think he's genuine?"

"My darling, he is no more Patrick Crawley than I am. It's all too convenient. This Gordon character goes to Montreal, and then a Patrick Crawley turns up with a Canadian accent. Granny was right; he is using his injury as a meal ticket."

"Mr Murray will check out his credentials."

"Signed witness statements, affidavits… all of which can be bought. What we need to do is expose him for the fraud he is… and Sir Richard may be the key to doing so."

"You are not surely suggesting that we say nothing and let Carlisle think he has gotten away with it!"

Mary smiled. It wasn't a warm smile, rather that of someone who has a plan.

"I am suggesting exactly that. He seems to have embarked on a course which he hopes will hurt and destroy me. He promised me as much. Clearly he believed that were you not to be the heir, then I would walk away. Anna was to be his eyes and ears."

"All the more reason to throw him out on his own ear!"

"Ah. All the more reason to let him believe, at least in some part, that he is winning."

"I am not pretending for one moment that we are not getting married." Matthew said firmly.

"Neither am I. That is the one thing that will irritate Richard more than anything else. If I learnt anything from him, it is that you exploit your enemy's weaknesses. I think the time has come for us to start playing him at his own game."

"And how do you propose we do that?" he asked, finally able to be still.

She moved to get up. "We need to enlist the help of an expert in these things. We're going to see Granny." There she stood, leaning on the cane, jaw pushed out, head held high and a look in her eyes that suggested someone was going to pay and pay dearly.

A slight smile played about his lips. Cousin Violet's words came back to him, he was going to spend forty or fifty years with this woman and right now he was getting a very clear insight as to what his future held.

"What is so amusing?" She asked haughtily.

"Nothing." He said quickly, "Absolutely nothing at all."

"What in heavens name do you think you are doing?"

Thomas nearly jumped out of his skin. He turned to see the housekeeper standing behind him.

"Mrs Hughes." He said unnecessarily, desperately stalling for time.

"I know full well who I am Thomas Barrow. I ask you again. What on earth do you think you are doing in my sitting room?"

"I…" he had to think fast. He had been sure she was upstairs. How could he have been so careless?

"Mrs Patmore asked me to confirm that the ingredients had been ordered for the wedding cake. She didn't want to upset you by asking herself, so she said if I could pop in and just check for her?"

From Mrs Hughes' face it was clear that she did not believe a word of it. True she and the cook had never seen eye to eye in that it was the housekeeper's role to order provisions, but to send Thomas in for fear of offending. It didn't ring true.

"She did, did she?" She said eventually. "She asked a valet to check things had been ordered?"

"I just happened to be around when she was talking about it and had a few spare moments, anything to help with keeping the peace Mrs Hughes."

"Are you suggesting that Mrs Patmore and I are at war?"

Thomas smiled. "Far be it for me to even hint at such a thing Mrs Hughes."

O'Brian stopped as she passed the open door. "He's right. I heard Mrs Patmore talking about it earlier." She said, with a quick glance at Thomas.

The valet visually relaxed.

Mrs Hughes looked from one of them to the other. It was difficult to call Thomas a liar when he had a supposed witness, albeit O'Brian.

"You know Mrs Patmore is sensitive about the ordering, and with everything else you are having to arrange for the wedding, she didn't want to be bothering you." The lady's maid said smoothly.

The housekeeper sighed. "Well you can tell Mrs Patmore that everything is under control." She said. "Now I will thank you to get back to your duties."

Thomas didn't need to be told twice and was out of the door almost before she had finished the sentence.

"Do you think she will check with old ma Patmore?" Thomas asked as he and O'Brian walked away.

"She might. What the hell were you thinking nosing around her sitting room?"

"I wanted the list of suppliers."

O'Brian stopped and eyed him critically. "Are you sure that this is going to be worth it?" She asked.

"Definitely." He said leaning forwards. "And there could even be something in it for you?"

The lady's maid stepped back. "What could there possibly be for me?"

"How would you like to be offered the role of housekeeper in a grand house, one easily as grand as this?"

O'Brian seemed incredulous. "Me? Housekeeper?"

"Stranger things have happened." Thomas said smiling, before sauntering off along the corridor.

Richard and Rosamond had returned from their outing and were sitting uncomfortable in the drawing room.

Their visit to the Dower House over, Mary and Matthew sat on the sofa together. Oblivious to anyone else, they were talking in low voices while she traced the lines on his palm with her finger. Something he said made her laugh.

Edith and Patrick were ensconced on the other side of the room. There was an awkwardness between them, which seemed to sharply contrast the intimacy of the other couple.

If he thought she hadn't noticed, then Patrick was wrong. Several times during the course of the day Edith had caught him take a sip from the silver hip flask he carried in his pocket. She hadn't said anything, even though she was slightly shocked at his drinking so often. She supposed it might be a result of his experiences in the war and his current appearance. How would it affect you to look in the mirror and see something other than your own face?

"Were we like that?" he said, breaking her thoughts. He was watching the happy couple with a broody expression.

She looked at him brightly. "Um… no I don't think so, not really, we got on jolly well, but what with you being intended for Mary…" She said apologetically.

He turned his attention to her. "No… sorry… that wasn't what I meant. Mary and I, were we like… that?"

Edith felt as though the wind had been knocked out of her. For a moment she was entirely unsure what to say. "No, you and Mary were barely on speaking terms most of the time." She forced herself to respond. "She teased you horribly… Don't you remember?"

He paused in thought. "Well, there are some details that are a little vague; it was a very long time ago."

Edith nodded uncertainly.

"You, my dear, are a genius!" Matthew exclaimed suddenly, drawing the attentions of all in the room. He took her face between his hands and kissed her soundly before jumping to his feet.

"But… I only said…?" Mary looked completely bemused.

It was as though he suddenly remembered the others present. With a slight glance of embarrassment in their direction, he turned back to Mary.

"I must go and speak to your Papa. It could be the key to helping Bates, and I can't believe none of us thought of it!"

He bent to kiss her cheek before hurrying out of the room.

Richard tried to control the irritation that he felt. It was almost as though, with the prospect of Downton gone the couple had become even stronger. Any previous attempts to dampen their affections in his presence were gone. They now openly had eyes only for each other. It made his blood boil.

Mary sat with an innocent look on her face.

"What was that all about?" Edith asked.

Mary shrugged. "All I said was I hoped Sybil would be able to attend the wedding, if she and Branson could get a passage from Ireland?"

Smoothing her skirts, Mary recalled the earlier conversation with her grandmother. The Dowager Countess had listened patiently to their account, only occasionally interrupting to confirm details.

"So Granny, what do you think, will you help us?" Mary asked.

Violet had sat for a while regarding them with an almost gleeful visage.

"Of course my dears," She said eventually, "I am only surprised that it took you so long to ask."