AN: Part 2 or this little set based at the end of series 1. Reviews extremely welcome.

"Did you ask Dr Clarkson?"

"Ask him what?" She smiles, a strange fissure of excitement settling across her abdomen as she climbs into the bed beside him. They had always teased each other and she enjoyed the process immensely, but she had a feeling that this conversation could be one of their most amusing.

"What you asked me earlier, about whether we had done anything differently." She watches the blush spread across his face before his mouth opens and closes. She raises her eyebrows in question. She was not going to let him get away with it that easily, she had been wondering all day whether he had in fact broached this subject with the doctor.

"I sense you're about to tease me my dear."

"Well, did you ask him?"

"Cora – " His tone is serious, flat and with an undertone of warning. He was trying to warn her off the subject, but she was not going to give up that easily.

"Oh come on Robert. Your secret is safe with me, I'm not going to breathe a word of it to anyone outside of this room, you know that. I'm just curious as to whether you actually asked the doctor if we had done something differently." She watches him swallow, his eyes closing, before he brings his thumb and index finger up to pinch the bridge of nose in embarrassment.

"I did." He utters the words so quietly she isn't sure she hears him at first. Then a broad smile spreads across her face. She purses her lips quickly and swallows the laughter she can feel rising in her throat, threatening to turn her lips upwards into a grin. It was too soon to laugh just yet, it would be more amusing if she took her time.

"And pray, what did he say?"

"All sorts of things I didn't want to know about. Something about your age and a change and some sort of burst of fertility." He seems to visibly wince, his brow furrowing in confusion. She squeezes her hands together to stop her shoulders from rising and falling with the laughter that bubbles within her again. It would not be sensible to laugh at his discomfort, oh but how she would have loved to have witnessed the conversation in the library earlier today.

"But nothing that suggested we did anything differently?" He doesn't seem to note the emphasis she places on the word he had used so flippantly this morning, his answer coming reflexively.

"No, no, nothing like that." She laughs now, she can't quell the temptations any longer.

"Oh Robert, of course he didn't." His gaze flicks up to meet hers and she sees the embarrassment in his eyes.

"Cora, I know this is all very amusing for you, but for me all these medical things – " He tapers off. She shuffles across the bed, and presses a kiss to his cheek, and then his neck. She cuddles herself into his side, her right arm coming across to rub across his chest. He really was the most adorable person in the world.

"That's not what I meant darling. I merely meant that of course he didn't comment on whether we had done anything differently because he wouldn't know." He frowns. "How could he Robert? Only you and I know what happens in our bed." Realisation seems to dawn on him.

"I didn't phrase that question very well did I?" She shakes her head as a fresh blush of embarrassment creep up his neck and cheeks. She leans against his shoulder again and kisses the base of his neck gently.

"Of course the doctor was clever enough to realise that what you wanted was a medical explanation as to why it had happened now. I'm sorry for teasing you, but I've been smiling about it to myself all day." She feels the kiss he plants into her hair.

"Of course you have. No doubt you have been planning this little interrogation of me all day too?" She smiles against his neck. She doesn't need to answer him, they both know that she had been planning it all day.

They lapse into a comfortable silence and Cora is soothed by the repetitive ministrations of his hand on her arm. It had been a big day. A day that had sprung a million questions into the air, most of which would remain unanswered for some months. Five months to be precise. The question and the hope that had dominated the first ten years of her marriage was back, long after it had been forgotten with all hope lost.

Would it be a boy this time?

It had been the question at the forefront of her mind with each of her previous pregnancies and this one was beginning no differently. Except, if it was possible, so much more seemed to rest on that question this time around. Before it had just been whether James would still be the heir after the end of yet another pregnancy, or whether he would finally be replaced by Robert's own son. This time though she felt acutely that she had the power to upturn several lives. Mary. Matthew. Isobel.

It had been her most constant thought ever since it had begun to dawn on her in London that she might be pregnant. The first sign had been when the sickness that had started that night Sybil had been hurt had not abated, it had kept coming back. Then she had missed her cycle, and then she had realised that the alcohol was not something she fancied at all. Robert had noticed that one a couple of times, but she had managed to lie convincingly, not yet ready to tell him her suspicions. But it had left her no choice, she had sent a letter in the post to arrange a visit with Doctor Clarkson on the day of her return from London and today that moment of confirmation had come.

After the endless questions in her mind about the possibility of it being a boy and what that would mean for her and her family, there was also a twinge of terror that consumed her. The doctor had said there was no reason that everything wouldn't be alright and she believed him. In the back of her mind though, she could feel the panic. She was older now, and Sybil had not been easy. Sybil's birth had almost been the end. What if this baby turned out to be the end? She would be causing further heartbreak. Her mother. Her girls, all without their mother when they still needed her. Robert.

She adjusts her arm on his chest so she can clasp his hand, desperate for the feel of his fingers entwined with hers. She was happy, of course she was happy. They had always wanted more children. She would have given Robert a house full of children if she could have done. It seemed she had finally been granted her wish, the timing was brutal, but she was happy.

"Robert, what are we going to do?" She adjusts her position so she is looking at him. His answering gaze tells her she does not need to explain what she means. He knows.

"I don't know. Matthew will have to be offered some provision."

"Yes I agree." And she did. They had dragged the man and his mother all the way from their home in Manchester with the promise of a life at Downton. He had given up a much better paid job in the city for the one he had here. They could not leave him without provision. "Do you think Mary will accept him?" That she knew was the crux of her discontent about her condition. The only disappointment really. She had seen Mary with Matthew, they were in love with each other, even if they didn't know it. In her opinion, Mary had already waited too long to give him her answer, even if she did understand her reasoning regarding the Pamuk incident. She now wished more than anything that she had tried to hurry Mary into an answer, at least then the engagement would have been settled one way or the other rather than this baby being yet another barrier to Mary deciding.

"I don't know. Mary is a mystery to me sometimes."

"She loves him."

"Indeed. But I am not sure Mary values love in marriage quite as highly as she ought to. Ironic, considering the relationship between us that she has witnessed." She doesn't disagree with his words. She had a feeling that Mary still viewed their loving marriage as something that had happened to them, within the confines of an advantageous match rather than as the very basis for their marriage. Technically, it could be argued that Mary was correct in this estimation, the motives for their marriage were not based on love, at least not for Robert. But Cora had always hoped that her daughters, if ever fortunate to find men they loved, would grasp the opportunity for such a fulfilling relationship because she and Robert had showed them its advantages. It seemed Mary at least was not quite there yet – she was too determined to have her place in the world of the aristocracy – something that Cora would never understand. "Cora?"

"Um?" He rolls onto his side to face her, his hand trailing down her side to trace her abdomen for the first time since she had told him this morning. He seems to get distracted from his thoughts briefly as he rubs softly over the fabric of her nightdress, caressing the child they had created together.

"You're happy, aren't you?"

"Yes, oh Robert, yes, of course."

"Good, because I don't want you to start feeling guilty or something." She swallows, he knew her so very well. Her eyes smart a little, with the idea of tears, her heart swelling with joy at his acute perception, but also bringing to the surface the worries she was trying to banish. "You didn't do this on your own. I won't have you feeling guilty."

"I don't feel guilty. A little discontent about how many lives we might be altering, and a little scared, but not guilty Robert. I could never feel guilty about producing another life with you." She reaches down and takes the hand he has pressed to her abdomen, holding her hand with his over the little life within her. His forehead comes to rest on hers, his nose dancing over hers. She tilts her face forward and meets his kiss.