Matthew Crawley had the day from hell. As a solicitor he rarely had a rough day working for the publishing clients, but it had been hell. Working in Paris had been great, but the meetings while in London were back to back and ran incredibly long. Then there was missing Mary. He never thought it could be possible to miss someone as much as he missed her. He missed the way her face scrunched when she was waking up, the way she sipped delicately at a glass of water as if it was the most expensive glass of wine and he loved the way her body fit into his when he hugged her or kissed her. That was probably what was making this trip hell. He loved that woman more than he could put into words and it was killing him to be away from her. They had texted back and forth, then he would text Anna to find out how she really was. Mary always said she was doing well and Anna would be honest. Mary had stopped keeping food down overnight and now he was worried. He told Anna to make sure to give her the nausea medication again and if that didn't help, take her to the hospital. So far, Anna had responded to say Mary was sleeping on and off. He really wished he could go back to Paris and get in bed with her, kiss the side of her head, place his hand on her slight abdominal bump and fall asleep next to her. That was how he slept now and a pillow in his London rental was not cutting it. Just as his food was delivered, his phone rang and he lit up when he saw it was Mary. "You're awake."

"Anna said you texted her earlier to check on me." Her voice was soft, tired and a little more raspy than normal.

"I did." He smiled into the phone, wondering what she was doing. "How are you feeling?"

"Better." Mary breathed and he could tell she was moving around a bit. "My baby doesn't like Yorkshire putting or tomatoes. I believe he or she is staging a riot."

"A picky eater." He leaned back into the chair of the restaurant. "I see a lot of dinner battles with a determined toddler in our future."

"Great." She said sarcastically, before changing the subject. "What are you doing now?"

"I just ordered dinner." Matthew responded, reaching for his drink. "What about you?"

"Anna is making popcorn and I am hiding from the smell just in case." Mary laughed, before clearing her throat. "We are going to watch movies, but we decided I would hide from the smell just in case."

"That is a good idea." Matthew said into the phone, looking up as patrons walked by. "Hopefully the nausea goes away soon."

"I hope so." Mary sighed, taking a deep breath. He listened to her for a moment, wishing he was there with her. Just to see her and talk with her. She was amazing company and the trip he was on couldn't end soon enough. "I would love to eat a big meal and not feel like death afterwards."

"When it subsides, I will buy you your dream meal." Matthew promised, reaching for his fork. "I'll be home soon."

"You will." Mary said, her voice soft. "Matthew?"

"Yes?" He stirred his fork around his plate.

"I miss you." She admitted, sending goosebumps to his arms.

"Mary, I wish you knew how I miss you too." He smiled into the phone, hoping she could hear the smile. "The trip is winding down. I'll be back in Paris soon."

"Good." She replied, before he heard Anna in the background ask if she was ready. "Hey, I have to go. The popcorn is finished and Anna has quite a few movies lined up. Apparently, Bates wasn't in agreement about a few movies so I have to watch them with her."

"I should be grateful for Bates, that might mean I am off the hook with a few myself." Matthew laughed, knowing he needed to let her go, but also wanting to hear her voice just a bit longer.

"Possibly." Mary replied, confident but exhausted. "I should go. Anna is ready."

"Okay." He couldn't stop smiling as the restaurant he was in got a bit louder from the crowd. "You go. I'll call you in the morning."

"Alright." She breathed and he wished he was right there with her. He'd watch any more she wanted, just to be back in Paris. Shortly he would be. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight." He breathed, before disconnecting the call. Matthew knew he had probably fallen way too hard for Mary this time around. Every other time in the past, there had been this push and pull relationship. He wanted her, she wouldn't want him. She wanted him and he would let her go. There weren't a lot of periods where they were doing really well for an extended period of time. Except when he had let her walk out and get married, it didn't really take long for him to realize he'd made a mistake. There was a small part of him that had wanted to immediately go find her in London in the weeks after the nuptials and plead with her to back out and leave him. Except, he knew it was wrong. He wouldn't heave felt right and normally he wouldn't have felt right about kissing her during the carnival or running off to Paris with her, except he didn't know he would be possibly saving her life. That night on his front porch, he initially had no idea what was going on for her at home. He should have felt bad, but once he knew it changed everything. It had become a fight to save her and to right his wrong. He would spend the rest of his life wanting to makeup for the love she didn't receive when she was married. For the care, for the comfort and for the sense of safety. She would always be safe, that was the most important thing for her to know.

"Matthew Crawley." A stern voice came from in front of him and he looked up to find a man in a coat with a top hat, who promptly removed it now that he was inside. Standing in front of him was the devil himself, Richard Carlisle.

"Richard Carlisle." Matthew stood up out of respect, though he was instantly reminded this man wasn't worthy of any respect.

"I see you've made your way to London after convincing my wife to take up with you and her family." Richard was uninvited, but pulled out a chair and sat down across from him anyways. "I see you've filled Mary's head with lies and invented truths about me."

"We've done no such thing and you know that." Matthew scoffed, leaning forward to avoid shouting. "We got her out of your grasp which nearly killed her. We'd do it all again."

"Mary has contrived stories in her mind and decided to share them with others." Carlisle sighed, acting as if he was concerned. Matthew knew better. "My wife. I care very deeply for her. She's sick. I had a strong feeling she wasn't right in her mind and then when she started drinking. The alcohol. She was bored. I knew it. She knew it and I tried. I tried to make our lives better, but she was servant to the bottle."

"You're telling lies." Matthew gritted through his teeth, remembering Carlisle wasn't worth it and sitting back in his seat. "You want to anger me. To give me doubts in Mary."

"I want my wife. I want her back and I want to get her the help she needs." Carlisle's voice remained even, his face serious. "We need counseling, but sadly I can't ask her for that due to the agreement with her father's lawyer. The only way that is broken is if Mary comes to me."

"She won't come to you." Matthew assured him. "She's far better off out of your grasp. Where you can't hurt her, where she can be happy and treated well."

"And you're the best to make that decision? To raise my child?" Carlisle asked.

"You don't care about that child."

"You're right, but Mary is far more valuable to me than a baby." Carlisle boiled, leaning forward with his fist on the table. "Do you think a child would fit into my life? No, I needed something for Mary to do. I needed it for the reputation and because you, Lord Grantham and everyone else, you've convinced her of things."

"We've convinced her of nothing other than to go after what is better for her."

"And you're the best judge of that?" Carlisle groaned. "You can't handle her Matthew. She's too much to handle. I'll sign those papers, but she'll never be happy with you. Or that baby. Mary will be a terrible mother. She's too selfish."

"Maybe she wasn't selfish enough." Matthew replied, waiving for the bill. "Sign the paper's Carlisle. Your reputation would never recover from what Lord Grantham and the rest of us can bring you down with and you know it. Let Mary be happy with her baby. You just admitted you didn't want it."

"And you do?" Carlisle had some nerve. Matthew couldn't believe he had the nerve to sit down at this table and then try to say these lies about Mary.

"What I have or don't have with Mary isn't any of your business. What I will say is that this child is about far more than blood." Mathew gritted his teeth, wanting to punch Carlisle. That wouldn't fix anything. "You let that go the moment you laid a hand on her."

"She slipped."

"You may tell yourself that." Matthew began, sliding his card onto the tray and the server came to pick it up. Matthew wasn't going to sit here and listen to Carlisle lie. He stood, waiting for the server to come back as he slid his jacket on to his shoulders. "Except we all know the truth and we know you've made an agreement. Sign the papers. You don't really want her for anything else than having a wife with a position and to look good on your arm and you certainly don't want that baby."

"You won't ever fully make her happy, you know." Richard Carlisle said, folding his hands on the table. "You'll be boring to her. She won't be your biggest cheerleader or the mother of the year. She doesn't believe in serving her husband and one day you'll wake up and realize she's nothing special."

"Richard, one thing you have wrong about me is assuming that I will cave to your allegations against Mary and urge her to return to you. I would never direct her back to a life where she's treated as someone's personal punching bag only to die shortly after, regardless of loving her or not." Mathew signed the receipt, sitting it down on the table. "She's moved on with her life and with her child."

"With you." Carlisle smirked, rolling his eyes and looking back at the table. "Enjoy your life with delusional, alcoholic bitch."

"Sign the papers." Matthew glared, before walking past the table and not caring that he bumped Carlisle. He thought about what it would have meant to go back and thank Carlisle for not loving Mary the way she deserved, because that meant he could. He could go to bed with her, wake up with her, spend nights sleepless caring for a crying baby with her, but that would do nothing. He didn't need to go back and say anything to him. Carlisle's lies had no place in his mind. They were laughable and he wasn't even going to tell Mary. There was no reason to mess with her wellbeing right now and stressing her out over Carlisle wasn't on his list of priorities. She was getting to a better place. Things between the two of them had moved fast if they were new to each other, but really slow for anyone that actually knew them. He wanted her to be happy and this wouldn't make her happy. It would add unneeded tension to her pregnancy and Carlisle had an obligation. The papers would be signed and there would be no place for him in their lives. Mary would have a baby and they could raise it together. He'd do anything for her. He'd raise the baby as if it was his own and frankly, he hoped she would let him. Falling asleep at night with Mary while clutching her stomach had become his favorite thing and he couldn't wait to see it grow. The baby wasn't his blood, but he was fascinated by how he felt. Maybe it was Mary, maybe it was a feeling that the baby might one day recognize him as the only father figure in his life or that Mary would even allow him to be there. Carlisle was wrong about everything. He wouldn't regret loving Mary and her baby. He never could. They were his family now.