Fluff, fluff, fluff because sometimes that is what need. There is a slight inconsistency here with the original story, but I hope that you can forgive me for that.

Sentimental Haste update coming up today as well.

Liverpool 1894

"Your name, sir?"

"Viscount Downton."

"I am sorry my lord."

"Don't worry. It is not as if I was wearing a sign."

"No."

The man in front of the ship scrutinizes him as if he wasn't sure to believe him. Although he supposes he doesn't look like a Viscount at the moment. He is overly tired, Cora and he returned from their wedding journey only in the middle of the night. They tried to sneak into the house and get some sleep and while his parents were still up waiting for them at 2 am, the only briefly greeted them and then retired themselves. But once they walked past the nursery, Mary came almost shooting out of the door and ran to them so fast that Cora had to catch her and still almost toppled over.

"You are back!" Mary had shouted at the tops her lungs and then began to cry and clung to Cora in such a manner that both Cora and he knew that they would not spent the night alone. Mary's scream had woken up Sam who began to wail and he didn't have any other choice than to go into the nursery and pick up the screaming boy. As a reward however, Sam smiled a lovely smile at him and it made his heart melt for the little boy. Mary was beside herself so much that neither he nor Cora really slept because Mary kept waking them.

They left the Abbey again after breakfast this morning, without any servants. They decided not to take Mary's nanny because they want her to be reminded of home as little as possible and Cora's parents promised to find one for her and Sam. They also promised them to supply a valet and a lady's maid and he and Cora took them up on the offer, thinking that travelling alone on a ship with two small children could not be that bad. Right now he regrets that decision. His travel clothes are full of wrinkles and Sam is clutching to him as if his life depended on it. The boy has been asleep for some time now and keeps drooling on him. Cora looks a little better than him, she at least slept on the train that took them from Downton to Liverpool, but she too is carrying a child. After having been up almost all night, Mary is now so tired that she can't even walk anymore. They tried to switch the children, Sam is much lighter than Mary after all, but the boy screamed bloody murder when he was passed off to his mother and so Cora had shrugged her shoulders and lifted Mary up again.

"And you are travelling with?"

"My wife and two children."

"Last name?"

"Does that matter?"

"Standard procedure mi'lord." He wonders if that man is making fun of him. He briefly considers telling him that the boy drooling on his shoulder is a duke but Cora looks as if she had read his mind and stares daggers at him.

"Crawley. The last name is Crawley."

"And the first names?"

"We are not emigrating to America. We are just visiting my wife's parents."

"Mi'lord, we have to know this to complete the passengers' list." He wants to argue with the man, his title and the information that he is traveling with his family should be enough. But Cora leans forward and says:

"The first names are Robert, Cora, Mary and Sam." The man writes something down and then looks up again.

"Sam as in Samuel?"

"Yes."

"Samuel Crawley," the guard mumbles and writes the name down. He wants to protest but Cora shakes her head.

It gets much better when they are on the ship, they are treated according to their position again, although they receive a few raised eyebrows about carrying their children onto the ship themselves. They have booked a suite with several rooms and once they are left alone they turn to each other and smile.

"Let's try to put our children to bed," Cora says. She carries Mary to the room that has obviously been designated for the children and puts Mary down on the bed. The girl curls up right away and only says "Princess Lucy." Miraculously Cora is able to produce the doll in less than a minute from the top of the children's trunk.

"I was a little girl once," she says and smirks at him.

He tries to ease Sam's grip on his shirt, but to no avail. Cora has to stifle a laugh, but he does not find it funny.

"Cora, I need to sleep and that boy is not letting go of me."

"He missed his father." When she says this warmth spreads through him. He doesn't really know how he thinks of Sam although he thinks that Cora is right. Sam is only nine months old and as far as children that young can have any concepts of parents, the boy probably believes him to be his father. He kisses the boys head and says "Sam, let go of me please," but all the boy does is pull at his jacket.

"I wish I could take a picture. You look perfect together. But let's see what we can do, maybe I can help you now because we both need to sleep." Very gently Cora eases Sam's grip and then takes him form her.

"Get changed darling. I'll try to put him to bed and if it doesn't work, he'll just have to sleep in our bed."

"Papa, wake up."

"I am still tired."

"Papa, I want to see the ship."

"Go back to sleep Mary."

"No."

"You'll wake your mother."

"Mama is up already."

"Then ask her."

"Alright. Mama?"

"Don't yell. Go to her."

He feels the weight of his daughter leave the bed, turns around and grabs Cora's pillow. It smells like her and he drifts back to sleep.

"Robert, darling?"

"Yes, take Mary. Show her ship. I am still tired." He hears his wife laughter at this.

"I'll do that. But Sam will wake up in about half an hour. I've already rung for his milk and the baby food we asked them to prepare. It will be brought here in about 20 minutes. And then you have to feed and probably change him."

"Alright." He doesn't care, he wants to sleep. The people bringing the food will knock and Sam will scream when he needs something.

"Don't fall back to sleep. Sit up." Why does this woman have to be so insistent? So he opens his eyes and looks at her.

"You look nice," he says.

"Thank you," Mary pipes up. "Mama said I look very grown up." Only in that moment does he realize what exactly his daughter has said and he smiles at her.

"Well, your Mama is right then."

"We'll walk around the ship and then sit on the upper deck. Why don't you and our little sleepyhead join us there once you have taken care of him?"

"Alright." He wants to lie back down but Cora raises her eyebrows at him.

"I am getting up. You win."

"Good." His wife gives him a kiss on the lips as a reward, then takes Mary by the hand and they leave their suite. On their way out he can hear Mary say

"Mama, Papa is a sleepyhead too. Do you think Sam gets that from him?" He can't hear Cora's answer but still chuckles about his daughter's question. And the fact that she called him a sleepyhead. Sam is a sleepyhead because Cora is one, he usually isn't, but all that traveling just exhausted him. He is dressed when the food for Sam arrives and as if on cue the boy begins to cry. He takes care of the boy the same way he used to take of Mary and this is of course not the first time he feeds him or changes him. After his engagement to Cora, Cora and Sam did not leave the Abbey again and they fell into a routine of taking care of their children together. Once he is done, he takes the boy and walks up to the upper deck to look for Cora and Mary.

"Robert!" He turns around and is faced with a man about his age he is sure to have met before but he can't remember the man's name.

"Andrew Davis." Someone he went to Eton with.

"Oh hello there. This is a small world, isn't it? I'd ask you what you were doing here but I suppose you are going to America."

"Yes. I've always wanted to see the New World and thought that I should do before settling down and getting married. But I see that you are doing that the other way around." Andrew looks pointedly at Sam.

"Yes. We are visiting my wife's parents."

"Showing of the grandchild I suppose."

"The grandchildren. My wife and daughter are somewhere over there." He vaguely points in the direction Cora said she and Mary would go.

"The way you say it, I assume that this one is your son." Andrew nods at Sam and smiles. He deliberates for a second because he doesn't really know what Sam is but then decides that there is no reason to make this complicated.

"Yes. This is Sam. My son." Although he knew that by marrying Cora, Sam would become his son, he knew that it was very likely that would eventually feel about Sam that way, it still almost knocked the wind out of him when he said it out loud like this. Sam grabs his collar now and he places a soft kiss on his head. "Would you like to meet my wife?"

"Yes, of course." So he takes Andrew with him and looks for Cora. He finds her sitting on one of the chair with Mary on her lap and it appears that Mary is reading to Cora. Both his wife and daughter look up to him and smile and get up when they see him. He makes the introduction, although as soon as Mary realizes that there is a stranger standing in front of her, she hides her face in Cora's skirt. Cora looks at Mary, then touches the girl's head and says "She is a bit shy around other people."

"Well, better too shy than too forward," Andrew replies and laughs.

Cora takes Sam from him when the boy becomes a little fussy and goes back to their suite with their children. He keeps on talking to Andrew for a while and eventually invites him to dinner in their suite. "We can't go to the dining room, we did not bring a nanny. But we have a small dining room in our suite and you are more than welcome."

"Thank you. You've got a lovely family Robert. I hope you know how lucky you are."

"I think I do. Until tonight then."

He joins Cora on their balcony and takes her hand in his.

"I've invited Andrew to dine with us here tonight. I haven't seen him since leaving Eton and I rather like him. I also thought that you could make some introductions once were in New York."

"Of course I can."

"Thank you darling. He said that I was lucky and that I had a lovely family."

"He is right." Cora's tone is teasing but to him this is more serious. Maybe she has already had this revelation.

"Yes he is. It's time to leave the past behind. Andrew doesn't know that we've been married for a little over two weeks only. He doesn't know that the two children he finds so adorable aren't really our children. Not in the eyes of the law at least."

"But that doesn't matter, does it? To all intents and purposes I am Mary's mother and you are Sam's father." He squeezes Cora's hand, slides of his chair and kneels down next to her.

"I have a son, don't I?"

"I think you do." Cora leans forward and kisses him and it is a kiss that even more than their wedding turns their two families into one.