February 1929

Twisting and turning. Shuffling to sit. Laying on her side, then her back and her side again. Why was it so hard to get comfortable?

A sharp pain rushed through her swollen body, causing Mary to grip the metal bars on the headboard of her bed, taking slow and deep breaths to get through the pain. She gasped as it shot through her, all through her pelvis, her back and her legs. She felt a soothing hand place a cold flannel on her head and a soothing hushing sound assuring her that all was well. Mary opened her eyes, looking to her left as she saw her mother sat patiently at her side.

"Mama?" Mary whispered.

"I'm here my darling," Cora assured her quietly, "Isobel has gone to fetch Dr. Clarkson."

"Where's Matthew?"

"He's with your father and Edith, Dr. Clarkson didn't want a crowd."

Mary shifted uncomfortably until she was sat up slightly against the pillows. Before she even had time to get comfortable, she yelped in pain. Her stomach tightened; pain washed through her entire body as she tried to breathe deeply through it. She felt her mother's hand on hers, gripping tightly for support. Isobel entered the room with Dr. Clarkson and joined her side.

"It won't be long now." Isobel said supportively.

"Gaahhh!" Mary gasped, wincing in pain as the contraction ended and another began almost immediately.

The door to her private room opened and Dr. Clarkson stepped in, his sleeves rolled up and a large apron covered his clothing. Two midwives along with a nurse stepped in after him and the door closed behind them.

"Mr. Crawley is in the waiting room, Lady Mary, he sends his best wishes." Dr. Clarkson informed her.

The contraction ended with Mary looking at the doctor directly.

"I-I w-want him i-in here!" she demanded.

"Lady Mary, I'm afraid I can't allow it this time. You've made it to thirty-five weeks, a miracle for a twin pregnancy. If things were to go wrong, I need as much space as I can get." Dr. Clarkson stated firmly.

She rolled her eyes, yelping loudly as another contraction washed over her. As she focused on getting through her pain, she nodded her consent for the doctor to examine her. Her legs raised up, a long sheet covering them as the doctor examined her. Mary felt a pressure in her pelvis, the feeling she had come to know that in a matter of minutes, she would be delivering her first baby.

"When you feel the next contraction, Lady Mary, I need you to push." Dr. Clarkson instructed.

And she did. She pushed her chin down to her chest and pushed as hard as she could, screaming through the pain as her mother held one side of her tightly and Isobel the other, both using words of encouragement as she pushed. When she stopped pushing, she panted and cried through the pain, pushing as each contraction came and went. Mary screamed at the fiery feeling as the baby crowned, falling back against the pillows with her entire body shaking as she heard the loud cry of her newborn baby fill the room.

"Oh darling." Cora gushed.

Mary felt dizzy, her vision blurred.

"I-I-I d-d-d-on't-"

"Mary?"

"I-I-I-"

Her eyes closed.

Her eyes opened.

She wasn't in her private room at the hospital. She didn't know where she was.

Mary looked around, squinting her eyes as all around her was a white void. It wasn't that she felt unsafe or that she was in any danger, she just wanted to see where she was and understand why she was here. She wanted to know what was happening.

"Mary." A soft voice called.

Mary turned around, seeing a womanly figure gliding gracefully towards her. She squinted, trying to make out who it could possibly be. The figure came into focus until it stopped just mere centimetres away from Mary, her blue eyes sparkling as she smiled warmly. Her face still youthful, her chestnut hair flowing down her back. She looked not a day over twenty-four.

"Sybil?" Mary gasped.

Her youngest sister smiled brightly, the white void that surrounded them shining bright with her.

"Darling, it's been far too long." Sybil beamed.

"A-Am I d-dead?" Mary questioned.

Sybil shook her head.

"No and you won't be for a long time to come." Her sister answered.

"I don't understand." Mary muttered.

"I watch over you all. I watch how beautiful and grown my daughter gets with every passing year. I watch Tom finding his happiness once again." Sybil stated.

She didn't understand why her sister was here, or why she was here. She didn't understand how she had arrived in this place or what this place was.

"What's happened?" Mary asked.

"You're giving birth, darling, and your family wait for you." Sybil replied.

Mary frowned.

"Sybil-"

"It's not your time, Mary. All will be well, just trust in your strength. Trust in your love of Matthew. Bind your strength to your love for him and you will get through it." Sybil promised.

"Sybil-"

"I love you, darling. Give Sybbie a kiss for me."

"Sybil!"

But her sister faded quickly, and the white shined brightly, almost blinding her as she closed her eyes and the white turned to blurred vision when she opened them again. Everything was blurry but she could make out faces and hear distorted voices until she came back into focus. She could feel the sweat dropping down her forehead, the heat rushing through every inch of skin.

"Lady Mary, I need you to push very hard on the next contraction!" Dr. Clarkson urged.

She looked to her left; a faint newborn cry hit her ears in the background. Cora looked at her with tears flowing down her cheeks.

"I thought we'd lost you." Her mother cried softly.

"Mama….Sybil…." Mary coughed.

"Any moment now Lady Mary." Dr. Clarkson warned.

"Hold on to me, darling, and push as hard as you can!" Cora urged.

It was as the doctor predicted. The next contraction came quickly, and Mary tuned her thoughts to her husband, knowing that he was waiting somewhere for news of her and their children. She bit down on her lip as she sat up straight, holding on to her mother as she pushed, her thoughts on nothing but Matthew.

You've lived your life and I've lived mine, and now it's time we live them together.

I will love you until the last breath leaves my body.

I didn't think it was possible to love as much as I love you.

I'm not ready to part with you yet, Matthew Crawley.

Thoughts of sentimental words flashed through her mind, the vulnerable moments. The romantic and intimate moments. The loving things they had said to each other in nearly nine years of marriage. The harder she pushed, the harder she clung to her memories she had made with her husband. The pain was excruciating, burning, as if she were being set on fire. She huffed and screamed, gripping her mother tighter and tighter until, at last, it was all over.

As Mary collapsed back on to the pillows, she heard the screams of two newborn babes in unison. She looked to her right, seeing a midwife take her second baby from Dr. Clarkson and over to where Isobel stood cradling the first.

"Are they okay?" Mary asked croakily.

Isobel met her gaze and smiled brightly.

"They are well, Mary." Her mother-in-law assured her.

Mary let out a cry of relief, tears falling down her face as she lay back against the pillows. She felt Cora squeeze her hand happily.

"What are they?" Mary asked curiously.

"Congratulations, Lady Mary, you have a son and a daughter." Dr. Clarkson replied.

Another son and another daughter.

It felt so surreal.

She closed her eyes after consenting for the midwife to clean her up and relief Dr. Clarkson, who himself, had left the room to clean up. Mary sat up, allowing Anna to wash her at her bedside and then changed into a fresh nightgown. Once she was freshened up, Isobel handed over the first baby and then midwife the second. Mary raised her knees, wincing in pain and positioned the babies against her knees so that she could better look at them.

"Your daughter came first," Isobel informed her, "And your son second."

"Did anything go wrong?" Mary asked quietly, not looking at her mother-in-law.

There was a slight pause.

"You passed out and your breathing was shallow. Dr. Clarkson spent minutes trying to bring you round whilst the midwives prepared the forceps." Isobel replied delicately.

"You were lucky, my darling girl, any moment longer and it would be a different story." Cora assured her.

Mary nodded, looking down at her newborn children and studied their faces. They were tiny, tinier than her other three children had been. Tinier than George had been, and he had been born a month early like the twins. They had the same tuft of dark hair on their heads, their facial features they shared with their older siblings, it was hard to determine who they were like at mere minutes old.

There was a knock on the door, and it opened, with Matthew appearing in the doorway. Mary met his worried gaze; he looked worn out from the waiting.

"Congratulations, my dear, you have another son and daughter." Isobel beamed.

Matthew smiled, entering the room, and closing the door behind him. He walked to the bed and knelt at Mary's side, looking over her arms that cradled the babies in her lap.

"Shall we give you a moment alone?" Cora asked.

"Please." Matthew requested.

Cora nodded, kissing Mary on the cheek, and offering congratulations to the couple and she and Isobel left the room. Mary looked to her right, watching as her husband gazed lovingly at their children.

"I heard it was terribly difficult." Matthew muttered.

"It was. Mama says I passed out after our little girl was born first." Mary confirmed.

"Are you alright, my darling?" Matthew asked, looking at her.

She met his gaze and shrugged her shoulders. She didn't know if she was alright. She knew that she was exhausted, that she was in pain. She knew that whatever had happened during her labour, she had passed out and had seen Sybil.

Had it been real?

Had she hallucinated her sister because she was so delirious from her labour pains?

Mary closed her eyes and hummed contentedly when she felt Matthew place a kiss to her forehead.

"Do you have any ideas on their names?" he asked.

She opened her eyes and nodded.

"William Robert for our son." Mary stated.

"And for our daughter?" Matthew asked.

Mary looked at her daughter, trying to study her and smiled as her daughter wriggled in her sleep. During her pregnancy, they had tried to come up with names they liked for both babies should they have been boys or girls. But now that they had one of each, she wasn't sure which name she should go with.

"I want to keep the tradition of having their middle name after someone we love. But we've named William for the man who saved your life during the war and then Robert after Papa. George is named for you and Charlie for your father, Catherine is named for me. Who do we call this beautiful girl for?" Mary sighed.

"She'll have a long name." Matthew agreed.

"It was simpler with Kit. You were insistent on her middle name being for me. We agreed that we liked Catherine. But I just don't know what name to choose." Mary muttered.

"I quite like the idea you had of combining two names to make one. Of course, it is a nice name, and you have a cousin with the same name but has no sentiment behind it. For us, her first name would be combining the names of two people we love and then we can use another two for her middle names." Matthew suggested.

"I suppose when you put it like that, her name is clear." Mary smiled.

"So we're agreed?" Matthew asked.

"Yes. She will be called Annabel Violet Cora."

Matthew placed a gentle kiss to her lips before Mary handed him one of their babies. She readjusted Annabel in her lap as Matthew cradled William in his arms, she smiled as her husband looked down devotedly at their son. Their moment of blissful silence was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Come in." Mary yawned.

The door opened and entered Isobel, Edith, Cora, and Robert, closing the door behind them.

"We won't stay for long, we just wanted to see you." Robert said brightly.

Mary smiled and held her daughter out to her father. Robert beamed with pride as he held his youngest granddaughter in his arms and showed her off to the rest of the family.

"Have you decided on names for them yet?" Edith asked.

"William Robert." Matthew announced with pride.

Robert looked like he could burst with joyous laughter. Cora placed a kiss to her husband's cheek as Isobel stood by Matthew's side to look at William.

"And the name of our new granddaughter?" Robert asked.

"Annabel Violet Cora."

"That's a lovely name." Cora gushed.

"Yes. We've named her for Anna, her two grandmothers and her great-grandmother." Matthew said proudly.

The two babies gurgled and then started crying, alerting the midwife who entered the room once more and ushered everyone but Matthew out of the door. Her parents bade her goodbye and left the two of them alone with their children.

"Dr. Clarkson will keep you in for a few days, Lady Mary, to oversee your recovery." The midwife said politely.

"Thank you." Mary replied.

"Would you like me to summon the wet nurse?" the midwife asked.

"In a little while, I want to try myself first." Mary replied.

The midwife nodded as Mary adjusted her nightgown and placed Annabel to her breast, trying to find a comfortable position to sit. Matthew helped her with William, trying to position him in the right position so he could latch. Mary winced as she felt the tug on each breast, closing her eyes as her back ached. Holding both the babies in her arms was uncomfortable, even with Matthew placing a pillow under each baby to ease the positioning. William kept moving his head away from the breast, his crying becoming louder. Mary closed her eyes and took a deep breath before she used her free arm to cradle William as close as she could to her breast. The baby latched once more, started to suckle, and then wriggled his little head away and cried again.

"Matthew…he doesn't want to latch…" Mary muttered helplessly.

"What can I do?" Matthew asked.

"C-can you h-hold him…I-I c-can't hold him c-comfortably…to get him to-"

She trailed off, fresh tears falling down her face. She had given birth to three children prior to the twins. She had fed them at her own breast alongside a wet nurse and knew the positions, the hold and how to get a baby to latch to her breast. She had never nursed two children at once before. Annabel was suckling instantly, her little hand resting on Mary's chest, but William was fussing, letting out a loud wail which made Mary feel helpless.

Matthew sat on the edge of the bed to face her. His left hand wiped a tear from her cheek before he readjusted the pillow in front of Mary and held William's back in his hand, his hand cupping the baby's head as he positioned their son against Mary's free breast. William fussed before Mary used her free hand to guide her breast into William's mouth. She winced again, taking slow, deep breaths as she felt an after-birth contraction flow through her body like a stabbing pain.

After a few moments, the pain passed, and she opened her eyes and looked down at her babies. Annabel had stopped feeding and had drifted off into a peaceful sleep whilst William suckled greedily on her breast.

"It's alright, darling." Matthew soothed.

"I'm exhausted." Mary yawned, her eyes watering.

"Once William has finished, I'll have the nurse come in to tend to them so you can sleep." Matthew stated.

Mary nodded tearily, allowing Matthew to take Annabel from her and cradle her in his arms. She shifted uncomfortably and used her free hands to hold William as close as she could as he continued to suckle. She let out a loud yawn, her eyes struggling to stay open. Matthew stroked the back of her hand soothingly until he lifted Annabel into his arms so Mary could focus on William.

"I want you to know…I'm so proud of you, my darling." Matthew whispered.

Mary smiled weakly, wincing as she felt more after pains soar through her body, making her feel weak and tired on top of how exhausted her labour had left her feeling. Matthew placed Annabel in the little crib next to her bed and then handed William over to him who was then placed next to his twin sister in the crib.

"Matthew…the labour…I can't do it again…." Mary yawned.

"And you won't." Matthew promised.

"It…"

"Hush my love, go to sleep, I'll stay the night."

Nodding her head, she adjusted her nightgown to cover her body and lay back against the pillows, her eyes closing and sleep coming swiftly.