A/N I apologise my dear dear readers. I am afraid due to circumstances beyond my control I was forced to enter the real world. It's no fun out there I can tell you! But my muse and I are back and determined to resume our productivity.

I want to thank everyone who has been providing such impetus for me to get back into the literary saddle, especially Serena89 who has been such a massive supporter. Again I can only apologise for my tardiness, but I am back baby!

This may take a bit of getting back into, so you are probably going to want to catch up. I don't think it's too scary though.

Enjoy. x

Lady Cecily Carlisle had been busy. She was a woman who once prompted into action, her ingenuity and resourcefulness knew no bounds. But her spies in Ireland were proving to be unhelpful. This she found frustrating beyond belief, mainly because she had a very good idea why.

"Richard!" She trilled.

Closeted away in his study, Sir Richard grimaced. He buried his head in the report he had been reading.

The door opened. "Ah there you are Richard, didn't you hear me calling you?"

"I did." He said without even looking up.

She moved to stand behind him, her eyes trying to scan the papers on the desk. Deftly, her husband swept them into a pile and turned them over, but not before she had seen the word Belfast. He turned to face her.

"What can I do for you?" He asked with as much charm as he could muster. "I am terribly busy."

"What are you working on? Really Richard, you should try to grasp the concept of semi retirement."

He smiled humourlessly. "But my dear, that is what keeps you in this fine house with its expensive things."

Cecily perched on the desk. "It wouldn't have anything to do with this terrible bombing in Belfast would it?"

Richard paused for just a moment, but his wife had been watching him carefully.

"That is old news Cecily." He said dismissively. "You know as well as I do that the public will be bored with it by now."

"Of course." She said cheerfully. "But surely with the Lady Sybil angle there are a few more lines we can get out of it?"

Richard's jaw tightened. "Was there something you wanted?"

"No." She said with excessive brightness. "I was just coming to tell you I will be joining you in the city this week. I have some shopping I need to do and there is that new show at the Apollo, I thought we could get tickets?"

With great effort he managed to keep the frustration out of his voice. "That would be nice Cecily. Although I am not sure how busy I am likely to be here. Perhaps you could go with one of your friends?"

"What a good idea, I wonder if Lady Rosamund would be free?"

Richard regarded his wife for a long moment. "Whatever you think will entertain you." he said eventually.

With a small sniff that her baiting had been to no effect, Cecily rose and made her way back towards the door. "Will you be joining me for dinner?" She asked.

"Of course my dear." He said jovially, "I just need to finish up here."

He heard the door close behind her and allowed himself a small smile. There was no doubt he would have to be careful. He was certain that it wouldn't take much to engineer the release of Lady Sybil. His contacts had unearthed a few people who would be willing to testify to her innocence, and this would be the final gesture that would bring Lady Mary to him. Her husband appeared to have disappeared from his radar at the moment, but Richard had no doubt he would soon locate the errant heir. The final wedge would be hammered home as Crawley discovered his wife's indiscretions, which Richard fully intended to facilitate. Such a man of honour would struggle with the shame, and possibly not return at all. There was the small matter of dismissing her lover, but given how things were going so in his favour, Richard did not imagine this to be too much of a problem. Abandoned and alone with a new baby on the way Lady Mary would be completely primed to come back to his protection, only this time she would not be offered his name or his home, but there was something more appealing in having her a grateful and willing mistress.

As Matthew Crawley and James Lansdowne left the Georgian house, they each resisted the urge to look over their shoulders.

"I cannot believe we got away with that." Matthew said from the corner of his mouth.

"We're not home and dry just yet." James replied.

They each tried to keep their pace at a measured level.

From the other side of the street a man was watching them carefully. Paidric O'Cleary had spent a good deal of time ingratiating himself into the very heart of the Fenian Men. A writer for whoever would pay the highest bounty, he now found this paying dividends with a very lucrative stipend from non other than Sir Richard Carlisle on the mainland. As the two Englishmen rounded the corner he hurried towards the Fenian Men's headquarters and let himself in.

"What were they doing here?" He asked a smug looking Holmes.

"O'Cleary, don't get me wrong, we are grateful for your support, but I don't think we need to tell you everything that we do. You have to remember you are not actually one of us."

Paidric waited patiently. He knew Holmes would be unable to resist.

"Actually," The small Irishman said eventually, "We have just come by some major sponsorship. Those gentlemen were decidedly sympathetic to our cause."

"I bet they were. Did you tell them about the explosion?"

Holmes sniffed. "That was unfortunate. But this time we will have the funds to do it properly!"

"You can have all the funds you like but if you are not willing to stand up and say 'It was us' then it will all be for nothing. I doubt those gentlemen will be willing to assist you in your campaign."

"There I think you will find you are wrong." Holmes was almost bursting with smugness.

The reporter rubbed a hand over his face in frustration. "Please tell me you haven't confessed the whole thing?"

"Confessed? That is an odd way to put it, but it was necessary to prove our commitment to the cause."

Paidric wondered for the hundredth time how these idiots had ever gotten the notion that they would be any good in politics. "The gentlemen you have just proved your commitment to…"

"Mr Carson and Mr Bates?"

"Mr Lansdowne and Mr Crawley." He waited a moment for the information to fully sink in. As the horror slowly crept across the Fenian's face O'Cleary continued.

"You have just confessed to being responsible to Lady Sybil Branson's brother in law."

"I cannot stay here any longer." Tom said in frustration.

"And what do you propose to do?" Mary asked calmly. She had no doubt that the waiting and wondering was having an equally frustrating effect on her brother in law, but now that she had her plan set the last thing she needed was him blundering back in.

"Just sitting here, doing nothing… how do you stand it?" He ran a hand through his hair.

"It may seem as though we are doing nothing, but believe me, there are forces at work."

"What forces, what does that even mean? This is why I never understood you people. It's all code, all who you know and underhanded dealings. Why can't you just send your high powered barrister over there and make them release her."

Mary envied his straightforward approach. "Because they are likely to dig their heels in and do anything they can to prove she did it."

"Michael and I are going home." He said doggedly. At this Mary did start.

"You are not taking the boy with you." She said.

"He is my son and he needs to be with his family."

"He is with his family." Mary said firmly.

"This is not his world." He swept an arm around expansively. "The cricket on a Sunday, crooking your finger when you drink your tea and that bloody nanny, she watches me as though I was about to make off with the family silver."

"Nanny Stevens?" Mary asked.

"Yes, every time I turn around she is looking at me. I know she's been asking the staff who I am and what I am doing here."

Mary was grateful she had instructed the staff to say nothing and she knew Ms Stevens was hardly popular with the rest of them.

"Listen to me Tom; this is the safest place for you to be, for you and Michael. Sybil charged me to take care of the boy and that is exactly what I intend to do. You have to trust me that everything will be all right."

Yvette Stevens had indeed been busy, but it was not Tom who was the main object of her interest. She caught up with Smith in the garden.

"How are you getting on…? Sarah." The Nanny began. "Now that Anna has left you to it?"

Sarah started. Stevens had shown no interest in her before; in fact she had been decidedly standoffish. This sudden amiability was wildly out of character. If she was honest, Sarah didn't like Nanny Stevens one bit.

"It's all right…" Sarah said.

"She's a right one… that Lady Mary…" Stevens said conspiratorially.

"What… what do you mean?"

Stevens looked around to ensure they would not be overheard. "Moving the Irish chap in the minute Mr Crawley is away…" She raised an eyebrow.

"Moving him in?" Sarah said confused.

"And saying he was the Irish brat's father… I suppose she had to say something."

"But he is Michael's father." Sarah said.

"Don't you think it's a bit strange? The mother in prison and apparently the father turns up here. I know you're no fan of her ladyship… She hasn't exactly been good to you has she, I heard they were shipping you off who knows where?"

"Mr Crawley will be finding me a new position when he comes home." Sarah said almost primly.

"If he comes home you mean." Stevens scoffed. "I mean, let's face it, we all heard the ruckus the night before he left."

Sarah drew her slight frame up to its full height. "Mr Crawley will be coming home as soon as he has assisted Lady Mary's sister. I don't know why you imagine anything else to be going on."

"I suppose Lady Mary doesn't trust you the way she trusted Anna." Stevens said snippily.

"Anna was with her Ladyship for a very long time. It is only natural she should find adjusting to a new maid difficult."

"Especially a temporary one."

"The length of my stay doesn't come into it. Now if you will excuse me, I have duties to attend to." Sarah said.

As she moved to leave Stevens placed a hand on her arm. "Don't think she will change her mind. You committed the cardinal sin with Mr Crawley…"

"I did no such thing!" Sarah said in horror, shaking off the woman's grasp. She only wished she could have controlled the flush which flew to her cheeks.

"But that's not what her Ladyship thinks is it?"

The maid's eyes betrayed her for just a moment. "Whatever anyone thinks, Mr Crawley is a gentleman."

She turned and strode back towards the house.

Stevens watched her go, her eyes narrowed.

There were some advantages to separate bedrooms Cecily thought as she crept down the stairs towards Richard's study. It had seemed an age before he had finally gone to bed, but eventually she heard the house settle into the silence of the night. Creeping through the door she made her way towards the desk. Tentatively in the dark she turned on a lamp. She tried the top drawer; it was locked as she expected it to be. Glancing quickly over her shoulder she fumbled with the bundle of keys in her hand. How naive Richard imagined her to be. Every stick of furniture had been made or purchased to her specifications, did her husband really imagine she would not have the foresight to ensure an extra key was made. She turned the small key slowly and breathed a sigh of relief as the lock yielded almost silently. Sliding the draw on it's runners she began to flick through the papers within. There was the bundle that Richard had been reading earlier. With another furtive glance around she removed them carefully, ensuring she noted the way they had been bound. Within seconds she was reading through the first page, she gasped as she realised the full extent of her husband's illness.