I've been writing this on two different computers and two different versions of Word so when you see words spelled like th-is I think that's why. Sorry!

Anna was just as resilient as Robert thought her to be. However he was still troubled that she had not come to him to ask for any assistance. He had almost decided to approach her, wondering if the reason she may not have asked him was reserve, though he admitted this hardly seemed likely.

But before he could speak to her Anna came to him. One bright morning, just as the weather was beginning to turn cold, Robert came into the library to find Anna and one of the other maids still cleaning.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were in here." He said.

"We're nearly finished, your lordship. Although I do have something I've been meaning to ask you, my lord."

"Really?"

"Yes, my lord." Anna glanced over her shoulder to be sure that the other maid had left before she continued. "You see I wrote to my mother some time ago about…my situation and she's written back. She wants to know if I could find some time to come and see her so we could…she write 'talk' but I think debate is the more accurate word."

"She disapproves of Bates?"

"I think she would prefer it if her son-in-law wasn't in prison, my lord."

"And you're going to convince her of his worth?"

"I'm going to try, your lordship."

"Well should you need any help in that I can write a glowing report on Bates."

"Thank you, my lord. I might call on you for that."

"How long will you be gone?"

"A week, I think."

"It's perfectly fine with me. Take all the time you need. Can I do anything else?"

"There's only one thing I can think of, my lord…" Anna replied, hesitantly.

"Name it. Please."

"If your lordship were to visit Mr. Bates while I was away would you mind very much if I wrote a letter for you to give to him?"

"Is that all? Of course I can do that." Robert replied.

Anna left Downton at the end of the week, which spurred Robert to make his visit to the prison.

"Anna hasn't come with you, my lord?" Bates asked, anxious.

"No, she had to see her mother but she asked me to give you this." Robert retrieved the envelope from his pocket and handed it to Bates. Bates took it and Robert noticed his fingers were trembling as he turned it over in his hands.

"I wonder, my lord, if you would mind if I read this now."

"No, not at all. Please."

Bates tore open the envelope and gently lifted the paper out. His eyes flickered swiftly over the page. The further they moved down the page the more Bates became hunched over, his expression growing more and more miserable. He placed the letter on the table and stared at it tensely.

"Is…forgive me if I'm prying but is everything alright with Anna?"

"She writes that not only does her mother wish to see her but she is feeling unwell-not in a harmful way-simply that…" Bates swallowed, "that the pregnancy is wearing on her some-what and she felt that coming to see me might be…a strain that she didn't want to risk." He finished in a strained voice. He gazed at the letter, his eyes beginning to fill with tears and his face slowly crumpling. Bates covered his face with his hands.

"I'm sorry, my lord."

"Please, there's nothing you need to apologize for. This has to be horrible for you." Robert looked at Bates, who seemed to be drowning in misery before his eyes. "Bates we're friends and…should you like to un-burden yourself, divulge your personal afflictions to me…"

Bates raised his eyes. "You wouldn't mind, my lord? I shouldn't force my confidences on you but..I can hardly tell Anna these things."

"Please. Say whatever you need to."

"You see what troubles me most isn't what is happening to me. I know I can bear this. And it isn't that Anna is weak. She, in many ways, is stronger than me. But…with the child coming and my being in here, with no way to help her, to comfort her…that troubles me more than anything else."

"I understand. If it's any consolation, I can assure you that Anna and the child will be cared for…I was thinking-Do you remember when I said that I would give you and Anna a cottage once you were married?"

"Yes, my lord."

"Well you are married. There's no reason Anna couldn't move in there…and then once all of this is over with you can join her."

Bates made no reply. He stared, an intense look of wonder in his eyes. Robert felt himself blushing.

"What is it?"

"Should…should the worst happen-"

"It won't, Bates. You'll be set free. Just wa-"

"My lord, we're all hoping that I will be but if I'm not…I-we have to consider it. I'm afraid that if I'm…" Bates swallowed, "executed I worry that Anna will be shunned. She'll be the widow of a murderer-"

"You aren't a murderer!"

"But my lord that is how it will be seen!" Bates exclaimed, his eyes very bright, his hands shaking as they lay on the table. "To any employer, to anyone who doesn't know her she'll only be the widow of a murderer, mother of his child. I can imagine all too vividly my wife and my child living in a hovel, destitute, barely…perhaps barely living and all because I…I-" Bates broke off, closing his eyes tightly.

"That won't happen. None of it will happen." Robert said deter-minedly.

"You can't know that, my lord." He whispered.

"I do know it." Robert said adamantly, sitting on the edge of his seat. "You'll be set free. Anna will have the child. This whole mess will be put behind you. You'll all be very content and you both will always have a place at Downton. That is what is going to happen. I refuse to see any other bleak outcome."

Bates pressed a hand to his forehead. Robert sighed and sat back in his chair. He hadn't realized quite how animated he had become. Trying to recover from the intensity of the previous moments, they sat. Then, very quietly, Robert heard Bates laugh.

"What?"

"I was only thinking how very lucky I've been throughout this or-deal."

"You've been lucky throughout the time you've been imprisoned for a crime you didn't commit? How so, exactly?"

"I have been lucky to have had your advice and…friendship during all of this. I don't know where I would be if I had not had it. And, of course, you're attention to Anna-my lord, I'm grateful-"

"I know you are, Bates. I know. You needn't say it."

"My lord, this is the only way I can repay you."

"But…Bates, you don't have to repay me at all. As you said friend-ship…" Robert sighed, "I can't put it into words as eloquently as I would like. I'm sorry."

"No, I understand, my lord."

"Besides," Robert said in a lighter voice, attempting to free the conversation of the darkness it had acquired, "it's almost over now."

"Yes. Only two more weeks until…" Bates didn't continue, his eyes distant.

"Until you're released." Robert finished for him.

"Until I'm released." he repeated, smiling sadly.