A/n: This was something I thought up as I re-watched Downton Abbey on Netflix. I have always liked Thomas, so I will be having some fun messing with him here. I also absolutely love Matthew, so this should be fun. I know the first few chapters will suck because it takes so long to set everything up.
I have given two warnings in the story summary, so here it is again THIS STORY WILL BE VERY AU MEANING NOTHING WILL GO THE SAME WAY THE SHOW WILL OR THE SAME WAY THE CHARACTERS WERE IN THE SHOW! So you have been warned for the third time.
Also, if you don't like it, please be an adult, move on, and find another story that you would like to read. I will delete troll comments and block you, and I will not take time out of my day to deal with you.
Chapter 1: News of the Titanic
Lilly opened her sapphire eyes. She saw the wallpaper of her room going from a dark blue to pastel blue, making the pattern of cream-colored rose and vines stand out better in the light. So she was still in "her room" at Downton. There was a slight sting at the thought as she hoped that she would have woken up back in her room at her home in Louisiana with her cats waiting for her to wake up so they can get morning pets and get their breakfast, but no still in this marvelous room full of antique furniture. She had no idea how she ended up in this world, the world of Downton Abby. In her world, it was nothing more than a tv show.
She just went to bed early on a Friday night drained from a whole week's work well, more like the stupidity she had to deal with all week's from clients trying to tell her how to do her job. She had a master's degree in that area, while they can't even give her the basic information needed for her to market what they wanted. All she remembered was going to bed in her room only to wake up as the youngest Crawly sister. Not only that but the twin of Sybil Crawly. She was so perplexed and scared out of her wits. Telling them that this wasn't real, and it must be a dream. Still, the family said she had been very sick and had only just recovered, so she was confusing dreams with reality as told to them by Doctor Clarkson. He assured them that she would make a full recovery and the confusion would disappear. Since then, Lilly has kept what she knows to herself.
That was a year ago, and with Sybil's and "her" birthday coming up in May and Cora had been talking to them about the plans since it would be their seventeenth birthday. Of course, that was also another shock waking up and being sixteen again instead of twenty-eight, but she wasn't complaining much about that. Lilly had fond memories of being a teenager, and now she got to relive them in this new life.
Lilly shook her head and sat up in the four-poster canopy bed, pushing her blankets and sheets down to her waist. Then, pushing them back, she swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood up. She walked over to the large window in the room, and she pushed the layers of the sheer fabric back to let in more light. Like the room of her sisters, hers faces the lengthy drive and the perfectly manicured lawn. Indeed was a breath-taking sight.
She saw the paperboy riding his bike away from the direction where the servant's entrance was located. Looking at the small clock on the mantelpiece above the fireplace, she saw that it seven nineteen. The morning paper was late. She thought back to the show and when the newspaper was shown to be late. It was the day that changed everything in the show. The day the Titanic sank, taking with it James and his son Patrick. In the year she had been here she got to know Patrick, and he was a very kind man he would have done well as Mary's husband even if she didn't love him which he knew, but it was better to marry a kind man you have known all your life than someone like Richard Carlisle. She was not looking forward to meeting that man.
Taking a deep breath, she walked over to the other side of her bed and pulled a pastel blue strip of cloth with cream-colored rose and vines. The pull bell matched seamlessly with the room, and if one didn't know where to look for it would miss it altogether. Once the pull bell was pulled, it would ring a sprung bell on the board, signaling that it was her room and for Anna to come and help her get ready for the day. She did love the fashion of this time, especially the corset. She loved them but doing them up took some real help. Finally, she looked up, and Anna entered the room wearing her day maid's uniform. The Stack-colored ankle-length dress with the cape cod-colored teardrop pattern all over it with bits of white at the very ends of her long sleeves with her white apron. Her long blond hair was pinned up under her white cap.
"Good morning, my lady," Anna greeted. "What were you thinking of wearing today?" she knew that Lilly liked to pick out her clothes as her mother and sisters got their things picked out for them. Lilly knew that she would be in mourning soon, so she went with her favorite simple lilac dress with the sleeves stopping just above her elbow with a Dutch neckline. All the trim was in Rose Quarts and black, what was consider in her world to be called Mae Edwardian shoes. After helping Lilly into her clothes, Anna sat her down and began to style her hair. Anna pinned her waist-length chocolate hair loosely back at the crown of her head, loosely braid her hair to just below her shoulders before tying a lilac silk ribbon to secure the braid, leavening the rest of her hair to fall in waves down her back. Lilly's hair is naturally straight, but having her hair braided every night had made it have a wavey look.
"It's beautiful, Anna, thank you. I got the rest from here." Lilly said as she stared at herself in the mirror.
"Are you sure, my lady? I don't mind helping you with your jewelry. I have fished your sisters." Anna said as she fixes a stray hair back into place. Lilly just loved Anna to piece as she cared for the family and as every bit, the sweetheart as the show had depicted her.
"Yes, thank you so much for your help, but I don't want to keep you from your work. I know Gwen, and you normally start working on our bedrooms when we are having our breakfast and Daisy is probably started on the fire in Mary's room and will be working her way here, and I don't want to give the poor girl a heart attack with me being in here." Lilly spoke as she chose a simple pair of pearl earrings and began setting them in her earlobes as Anna left the room.
Once she was finished, she stood up, straightened her dress, and began making her way to the dining room, where she knew her father would be with her older sisters. As she stepped foot in the great hall, she ran into Sybil, who had just gotten the life-changing telegram.
"A telegram this early in the morning? It must be vital." Lilly stated as she walked alongside her sister.
"It also could be good news too. I see twin minds think alike." She stated as she looked at her twin.
"It was unintentional, I'm afraid, but it will please Mama and Granny. They always did love to dress us alike when we were children." Lilly replied. She only knew that because she had seen pictures of Sybil and "her" as babies and young children, but she had to admit that she and Sybil looked a lot alike, and even in the old photos, there was baby Lilly just like in her old photographs in her time only in black and white.
"Indeed, but I do like it when we end up dressing similar it's like something that only we can do. Something exceptional for twins." She said in her light and airy voice, somewhat like Lilly's own, as they walked by a window the morning sun shown on them. If anyone had them at that moment, the girls would have seemed like goddesses more than mere girls with their fair skin, blue eyes, and dark hair. Simply put, they were the very definition of perfection as not a single flaw could be seen, but as quickly as the moment came, it was gone as they entered the dining room for their breakfast.
"Morning, Papa." The twins said together as they entered the room. Even if he wasn't Lilly's birth father, but did feel like it. He was always there to listen to her trouble no matter how silly she thought they were, and he always gave out advice when asked and, if not that, some words of comfort. Sometimes even a warm hug which she thought the British didn't do. They often took walks to the village to get ice cream at this cute little shop twice a month, and it seems that was their exclusive father and daughter activity. He had an activity to do with each of his girls, it seems.
With Mary, one would be writing a letter, and the other would be reading the paper. With Edith, they would read books together. With Sybil, they would go out on horseback rides. They never show that side of him in the show, and she wished they would have. Her birth father had been in the Army for the first part of her life and then a cop for the rest of it, with both overlapping for a couple of years until his time was up with the Army. He had always told her his dream when he was a little boy was to serve his country and his community, significantly since he grew up in the more impoverished area of their city as the generations before him did. So, growing up, he kept a somewhat strict upbringing.
Lilly picked up a bone china white plate and severed herself a bit of kedgeree, toast, and some sausage. Entirely skipping the brain cakes as it had lamb's brains in them, so that was a hard pass. She sat down next to Mary as her father read the telegram, and his face went white, conforming to what Lilly had been dreaded. He rose from the table and made his excuses, and hurried out of the room while the girls just looked bewildered at each other.
Later that day, Mr. Carson came to tell Edith, Sybil, and Lilly to go to the library at their father's request. He explained everything that had happened to James and Patrick on the Titanic. When Sybil enquired about if Mary knew, he replied that he told her privately as Patrick's fiancée had it was her right to know first since this directly affected her the most. Her sisters stood up, too shocked to say anything, and left the library trying to digest the frightful news they had just heard. She didn't blame them; they had known the lords all their lives, and she only met them a couple of times during her time here. Of course, Lilly was sad, especially for Cousin Patrick. He was nice enough, but his father found him lacking in a true gentleman, but he was family to these people, so they would still be saddened by his passing.
Lilly finally made her way out of the library and into the great hall only to see Thomas Barrow, the first footman of Downton. He was a tall man, probably over six feet tall if Lilly had to guess, but not by much. Lilly loved his grey eyes as they looked like they held more wisdom than someone of his age. She didn't know because he is an old soul or just been through a tough life. She did know that he didn't get along with this father, and it was always suspected that it was because he was gay, but the show never said any reason for it, but who can tell why.
Thomas turned as he heard her light footsteps. He would know Lilly's footsteps anywhere. She never stomped around like she owns the place like the rest of her family, even if she did own it. She was a very kind person to everyone no matter their station was in life. She would even come down into the kitchen and chat with all the servants when most of the family would be out doing their own thing. Mr. Carson never minded too much if it was her. Lilly had that man wrapped around her little finger, and everyone knew it; of course, she had everyone else wrapped too, even himself.
It was a shock on this first day to see a girl no more than twelve or thirteen dressed in a pale blue knee-length dress with white lace at the hem, neckline, and the cuff of her sleeves. The dress showed off her black stockings and matching shiny black button boots. Her long mahogany wavey hair was pulled back at the front and held in place by a giant bow in the same shade as her dress. She was the child of the Lord and Lady of the manor, but to see her down in the kitchen wearing a far too large apron over her lovely dress. The apron to been fixed to fit her petite size as it had a few pins sticking out of the folded bottom and a giant knot of fabric made the behind her neck for the front of the apron at the proper height.
She was helping the cook make a cake. She had a bit of flour smudged on her face, hands, and her hair, but she just giggled as the cook said they would have to clean her up before she headed back upstairs, and she doesn't know how she was always wearing most of the ingredients. As it turned out, it was her grandmother's birthday. After they finished their dinner, the cake was brought out with a single-lit thin candle on top and was placed in front of the Dowager Countess of Grantham Violet Crawly to celebrate her sixty-sixth birthday. Lilly had proudly told her grandmother that she helped Miss Patmore make and decorate it and that she talked the cook into adding the candle as it was a tradition in America to have birthday candles on their birthday cakes. Violet said something along of lines of that must have been more American nonsense that Lady Grantham's mother had put in her head. She blew out the candle as everyone wished her a happy birthday but thanked her youngest granddaughter non the less. The one thing that she couldn't do was hide the fact her face lit up as soon as she tasted her slice of cake.
It turns out that it was very common to her down in the kitchen or the servant's hall. She helps bake cakes for everyone's birthday. When it was a servant's birthday, she would bring the cake out with a lit candle and tell them Happy Birthday. He never told anyone when his birthday was, yet she tracked him down on his smoke break and gave him a tiny cake with a lit candle while telling him she knew he didn't want a fuss to be made about it, so she made him a cake just for him to have on his birthday. He was floored that she found out when his birthday was, and she went out of her way to make him a cake anyway. He even told her this, and she said everyone needs to have their birthday celebrated by at least one other person because everyone is unique and even more so on their birthdays. No one had ever done something so nice for him like that other than his mother and his sister. That day she became his favorite member of the Crawly family.
Snapping out of his flashback, he turned to face the young woman as she approached the stairs. He turned towards her.
"I'm sorry to hear about Mr. James and Mr. Patrick. I know that you were close to Mr. Patrick. All of us downstairs are keeping the family in our thoughts and prays." He stated. She stopped in front of him and looked up. She was a tiny little thing. Only standing at what he guessed was one hundred sixty-five center miters as she only came up to the mid-chest to him even in her low heels.
"Thank you, Thomas, that is very kind of you and everyone. It is such a great tragedy not only for our family but for every family who will have no doubt have a loved one involved, especially those that were on their way to start a new and better life for their families. I will pray for those the most." She said sadly, and he could tell she meant it.
"Lord Grantham's new valet as arrived his morning, but I don't think he will be up to the task." He stated. She was the only other one he would tell things too well, not EVERYTHING like O'Brian, but still enough as he was as comfortable to share with her.
"Some good news is much needed today, and that is something to cling to. It's only the first day he will get it in time." She replied softly.
"Not when he is lame in the leg, m'lady." He snorted.
"That's so unkind. I know Papa has seen him, and he is quite pleased with him, so he does know of the situation. I know you wanted the position, but who knows, maybe the reason you didn't get it is that God has much bigger plans for you whether it is here or at another much grander manor house than this one." So she spoke as she gestured around. She was always very optimistic.
"I hope so, m'lady. Good day." He said softly before turning to the direction of the servant's door that would lead to the servant's staircase—leaving Lilly to think about how to stop his scheming from removing Mr. Bates.
A/n: I didn't know Thomas's age, and when I researched it, it always came back unknown, so I just made him a few years older the Lilly. Yes, in this story, he will be bisexual, but he well, I'm not going to spoil it for you because there will be a part in here somewhere that he will go into detail about that a little later. I have written down ideas for this story, and I have so many I don't know which ones I will use yet or even if I use many of them.
