Trigger warning in that Mary tells Tom about Henry's assault. It doesn't go into any great detail.

Tom sagged back in relief in his chair when the door to the office opened around 10 o'clock on Monday morning and Mary walked in.

'Oh, thank God! Where have you been? I've been worried sick about you!'

'I went riding this morning,' Mary said, slipping her coat off and hanging it on the rack beside his. 'I'm sorry, Tom, I didn't mean to worry you.'

'I've hardly seen you all weekend and you didn't come down for breakfast again today.'

'No, I breakfasted in my room.'

Tom frowned. 'But…'

'But what?'

'Henry told me to tell you goodbye and that he'd be looking forward to coming home on Friday. Why would he do that if he'd just seen you?'

'I didn't see Henry this morning, but Anna told me he was leaving for Birmingham today instead of last night.'

Tom frowned again. 'Didn't you already know he'd delayed his departure until today?'

'Not until this morning. I went riding straight after breakfast.'

He looked at her thoughtfully, still puzzled by the timeline of events this morning. 'You seem to have gone riding at every opportunity this weekend.'

'Well, it helps me clear my thoughts. I know it's not your thing, but sometimes when I'm galloping along, just me and my horse, it feels like nothing else in the world matters. I feel… I feel free in a way that I usually don't, especially at the moment.'

'Are you… are you feeling trapped?' Tom asked, carefully, as Mary hung her hat on the coat rack. He watched as she stilled. She turned to look at him, smoothing her hair, saying nothing.

Tom looked at her anxiously. 'Am I part of what's making you feel trapped? Because of what I said to you on Friday night?'

Mary stepped forward, shaking her head. 'No, no, you could never make me feel trapped. Never. In fact, when I'm with you, I feel almost like I do when I'm on my horse.'

Tom quirked his lips up in a small smile. 'Are you saying I'm on a par with your horse in your affections?'

Mary smiled, feeling her spirits lighten for the first time in days. 'Well, the horse doesn't write endless letters to other women, so I'd say you probably rank below Blaze.'

'Ooo, you know how to wound,' he said, putting his hand over his heart in mock pain. His smile dimmed as he looked at her, noting how pale she looked. 'Talk to me, Mary. Tell me why you've been spending hours in the saddle these last few days and why you didn't know Henry hadn't gone to Birmingham last night.'

Mary stared down at the floor, twisting her hands together. 'I needed… I needed to put some space between me and Henry.'

Tom got to his feet, anger and concern warring with each other on his face. 'Why? What's happened? What has he done?'

Mary bit her lip, debating how much to tell him.

'Has he hurt you?' Tom asked, rounding his desk to stand in front of her. 'Because if he's hurt you, I swear to God, it will be the last thing he ever does once I get hold of him.'

Mary closed her eyes and sighed, shaking her head. She opened them again to find his eyes raking over her, searching for any signs of injury. 'Don't, Tom. That is precisely the last thing I need, you going all avenging angel on Henry.'

Tom pressed his lips together, trying to control his emotions. 'So, he did hurt you then? I know things were tense between you on Saturday. I saw it.'

He narrowed his eyes as he spotted the bruise she'd tried to hide with a scarf. He reached out and gently pushed the scarf down, sucking in a breath at the purple and yellow mark on her pale skin. Very carefully, he traced his fingers around the edge of it, making Mary shiver.

'Did he do that to you?'

She hesitated then nodded.

'I'll kill him!' Tom said through gritted teeth, feeling an immense rage well up in him.

'No!' Mary grabbed the front of his jacket, stepping in close to him. 'No! It's nothing. It's not worth even mentioning.'

'He's bruised you, Mary!'

'We had a fight. I handled it.'

'You handled it?'

'Yes. And I haven't been alone with him since.'

Tom stared at her. 'Jesus Christ. Are you scared of him?'

'No, no, I'm not,' Mary said, realising suddenly that was true. 'I'm wary of him, but he doesn't frighten me. I'm Mary Crawley. It takes more than the likes of Henry Talbot to scare me.'

'But you don't want to be alone with him?'

'No, I don't.'

'He's your husband, Mary. How are you going to manage to not be alone with him?' Tom asked in a low voice, his face troubled. 'In fact, how have you managed that so far?'

'I've been sleeping in Edith's room for the last few nights.'

Tom stared at her, his mind turning things over. 'When did he do this?' he asked, raising his hand to trace her bruise again.

'Friday night.'

'And when did you start sleeping in Edith's room?'

'Friday night.'

'Friday night,' he said bleakly. 'After he caught us hugging on the stairs.'

'Yes. He didn't like that.'

Tom chewed his lip. 'Does he think we're having an affair?'

'No, he hasn't said that. I don't think he seriously thinks that, but he's becoming more and more jealous of you and your place in my life. He thinks we're too close and he's keen to impress on me that I am his wife. His property would actually appear to be more accurate.'

'His property?' Tom said in disbelief. 'He thinks you're his property?'

'Yes, I believe so.'

'You're a person! A woman to be cherished, not a thing to be owned!' Tom cried, enraged.

Mary smiled, a wave of love rushing through her. 'And that is one of at least a thousand reasons why you are ten times the man he will ever be.'

'And how did he try to impress on you that you are his property? Did he… did he…' Tom started to ask but couldn't finish.

Mary shook her head. 'I told you. I handled it. That's all you need to know.'

'My mind's drawing pictures, Mary. Terrible pictures. Did he put his hand round your throat? Is that how you got that bruise?'

'No, no, it was nothing like that,' she said, cupping his face to reassure him. She thought quickly, wondering whether to tell him, but one look at his face told her he was already imagining something much worse than had actually happened. 'He tried to have sex with me, and he was rough, but I slapped him and shoved him off me.'

Tom's clenched his jaw. 'He tried to force you? I am going to kill him.'

'No, no. It's done, Tom. It's over with.'

'Has he done it before?'

Mary released his face and dropped her eyes, not wanting to look at him.

Tom crooked his finger under her chin and tilted her face back up. 'Mary.'

Mary slid her eyes sideways, feeling awkward talking about this with him. 'He's rough sometimes. It excites him. I've let him get away with it before. This is the first time I've rejected him. He didn't like it. He says I'm over-reacting.'

Tom gazed at her, his face troubled, then he pulled her into his arms, wrapping her up tight. 'Oh, Mary. Why didn't you come to me?'

'How could I?' she whispered next to his ear. 'How could I come to you without everybody knowing about us? I might as well have shouted it from the rooftop if I'd done that.'

'I don't care what anybody else thinks,' Tom muttered, fiercely. 'You're the only thing I care about. There's nothing I won't endure to protect you.'

Mary tightened her arms around him, loving him more than ever. 'I know that, but I don't want Henry to know his jealousy has grounds. So, I need you to promise me something.'

'What?'

'That you won't go after Henry. You have to carry on with him just like before.'

Tom pulled back, gazing at her incredulously. 'Are you mad? I can't do that. Not when I know he's done this to you.'

'I've had a lot of time to think this weekend, Tom. Hours and hours alone in the saddle. I have a plan, but I need you to let me do things my way.'

He looked at her, appraisingly. 'What's your plan?'

'I'm going to divorce him, but I need to go about it carefully. I need to bide my time, and either make him want to leave me or gather evidence of his behaviour. At the moment, he's done nothing anyone would consider unreasonable -'

Tom made a strangled noise. 'He has in my book! If he lays one more finger on you -'

Mary put her finger over his lips silencing him. 'I won't let it get that far unless I have no other option.'

Tom's eyes bulged in horror. 'Mary! Don't! You can't let him hurt you, so you can leave your marriage!'

'It's a last resort, but if I have to, I will.'

Tom shook his head desperately. 'No! Come to a hotel with me instead. We can hire someone to 'accidentally' catch us in a compromising position. That gives him grounds for divorce.'

'As much as I suspect I would enjoy being in a compromising position with you, I can't do that. I need to divorce him with my reputation intact, otherwise everything Granny warned of will come true and we'll be facing scandal. That's why you need to stay out of this. You can't become enmeshed in this.' Mary gazed intently at him, willing him to understand.

'But... but... I can't stand by and watch him hurt you. I can't,' Tom said, anguish on his face.

'I have allies in the house. They will help me.'

'What do you mean 'allies'? If you mean Anna, I hardly think she's a match for Henry if he gets physical with you. He could snap both of you in half,' he said through gritted teeth.

'I do mean Anna, although not in a physical way. But she's clever, much cleverer than Henry. There are other ways she can help me. She's the reason I knew to go riding this morning and not come down to breakfast while he was still at Downton. But I also mean Barrow. He has already proved himself a valuable ally. And Andy is aware to be on his guard when Henry is in the house. Anna has put Bates in the picture too, so he is ready to assist if needs be.'

Tom stared at her. 'You're marshalling an army.'

Mary nodded. 'I am. My grandmother taught me well.'

'It will look odd if I'm not part of that army. People know how close we are. They know I would always take your side.'

Mary cocked her head, thinking about that. 'You're right, but this is a secret army. Henry won't be aware of them watching over me, except for maybe Anna. He's already suspicious of you. If he does something overt in your presence, you can react because that's what you would do under normal circumstances. But whatever you do, Tom, you mustn't let him know how much you love me, otherwise the jig is up.'

'But I do love you,' he said, softly.

A slow smile spread over Mary's face. 'I know you do and that makes me happy. But you have to pretend you don't. Well, you have to pretend that it's purely platonic. You and I, we must be whiter than white. We can't let Henry have any idea about how we feel about each other.'

Tom gazed at her, chewing his lip.

'Tom? Please tell me you understand. If he finds out about us, he'll be able to divorce me and I am simply not having him drag this family through the mud.'

'All right,' Tom said, reluctantly. 'I do understand that, but I'm going to have to be the best actor in the world if I'm to treat him as normal. And you know how bad I am at lying.'

'It's not a lie. It's a secret,' Mary said, with a small smile. 'And you are excellent at keeping secrets. So, I'm asking you to keep my secret. Henry can't get even the tiniest inkling that I'm going to divorce him.'

Tom nodded, still feeling uneasy. 'But if he hurts you…'

'He won't. Not like you mean. He won't hit me. And I don't intend to ever share a bed with him again, so he won't be able to assault me like that. With my army of helpers – knowing and unknowing – I won't be alone with him again.'

'Unknowing?' Tom asked.

'Well, I hardly think he will try anything if I'm with Mama or Papa.'

'No, I suppose not. And how are you going to make him want to leave you?'

'Would you want to stay married to a woman who won't give you the time of day?'

'No, but I'm not Henry. There are plenty of things he does that I wouldn't do,' Tom said, with disdain. 'And that might take ages, getting him to want to leave you.'

'Henry has no patience, you know that.'

'He also has a temper.'

'Then we'll row. I can give as good as I get in that department. And the more miserable I can make him, the better,' Mary said, confidently. 'And Henry has a high libido. If I keep denying him sex, he might begin to look at things differently.'

Tom looked at her dubiously. 'I hate to say this, but he might just go elsewhere for that.'

Mary shrugged. 'All the better. Perhaps we can hire a detective to catch him in a compromising situation.'

Tom hesitated. 'What does all of this mean for us? Do we have a chance now?'

Mary reached up a hand to cup his cheek again. 'Not while all of this is going on. If we start a proper affair now, I'm not sure you, in particular, could hide that and that could ruin everything with Henry. So, we wait. That's… that's if you're prepared to wait for me.'

Tom gazed at her, tightening his arms around her. 'Oh, Mary, do you have to even ask? If there's a chance for us to be together after all this, of course, I will wait for you.'

'You don't want to take the easy route and choose Lucy?' Mary asked, holding her breath.

'I'm fond of Lucy, you know that. But I don't love her. I love you. So, I will wait for you,' he said, dropping his forehead to lean against hers.

'I don't know how long it will take,' she murmured.

'I don't care. I won't abandon you.'

'There's one other thing,' Mary said, hesitantly.

'What?'

'When it's over, all this bother with Henry, we might have to remain a secret to the wider world. You're still my brother-in-law. It would still be scandalous if people knew we were lovers. We may not be able to marry. At least not for a while until the world loses interest. Would that bother you and your Catholic sensibilities?

Tom cocked his head, considering that. 'Would you take me as your lover or are we talking a chaste relationship?'

Mary laughed, astonished he would even ask that. 'Tom, I've been trying to get you to sleep with me and you're the one that's been saying no! Do you really think I want a chaste relationship with you? No, if you're willing, I'll go to bed with you at the first available opportunity when this is over! In fact, I can't even promise I will wait for a bed!'

He grinned at her. 'That's all I wanted to know. Then I am quite happy to be your secret lover. Unless I get you pregnant and then I'm marrying you and scandal be damned.'

'Well, I think a pregnancy out of wedlock might trump taking my brother-in-law as my lover as a juicy topic of scandalous gossip, so I think we're agreed on that,' Mary said, feeling a little taken aback by that thought.

'So, that's the plan then. You antagonise Henry into divorcing you then we have an affair on the quiet,' Tom said, summing it all up neatly.

'That's about the size of it, yes.'

'I'm still not sure the first bit will work. It worries me, your plan,' he said, honestly.

'Well, I'll try it and see how it goes. If it doesn't work, I'll think of something else,' Mary said, her tone brooking no argument. 'Because one thing I do know, I will not spend one minute longer married to Henry Talbot than I have to.'