Chapter 2

Mary woke in the middle of the night. All she knew was that she was cold. She remembered how she'd fallen asleep so hot only a few nights ago. Perhaps Matthew was right to insist on calling out the doctor she thought as she turned in bed to face that very man – her wonderful, smart and terribly kind husband. She tried to intertwine her feet in his to gain some warmth, but this clearly woke him from his sleep, "Gosh Mary, you're decidedly cold!"

"Oh, Matthew, I'm sorry, I didn't intend to wake you."

"Mary, it's fine. If I was going to be woken in the small hours of the morning, I would've chosen you to do the honours any day." Matthew kissed Mary's forehead. Mary willingly accepted this as a chance to move closer and steal some body heat. "Maybe you should stay in tomorrow. I'm sure Edith wouldn't mind if you missed the ride. You certainly don't seem well enough even to leave the bed at the moment."

"Well, I don't want to leave the bed at the moment – you're here keeping me warm! And anyway, Edith could go either way. She could be inordinately sympathetic towards whatever it is that's wrong with me or she could be spitefully bitter. This ride has been planned for weeks, so I wouldn't be at all surprised if she goes towards being bitter."

"There'll be other times to ride. Your health is more important."

"Try telling that to Edith!" Matthew laughed and kissed his beloved partner's forehead and waited for her to fall unconscious before joining her dream world.

It was morning now and Matthew rang Dr. Clarkson at the first opportunity available. He had forbidden Mary to get out of bed until the doctor had given the all clear. Although Mary protested to his order at first, she was beginning to see why her mother enjoyed breakfast in bed so much!

When Dr. Clarkson arrived Matthew led him upstairs. "I'm sorry Mr Crawley, but this will have to be a quick examination. I've another four patients to see within the hour."

"Of course," Matthew replied as he directed the way to the bedroom.

As they entered Dr. Clarkson remarked, "Oh heavens, you're white as a sheet my girl."

Matthew was concerned for Mary's health. He rushed towards her and sat next to her on the bed holding her hand and caressing her hair. She was clearly still cold so Matthew spoke for her, "She's had a fever and chills in the past week, along with a headache, stomach ache and a just-about-everywhere else ache and she seems to have been rather tired recently as well. Oh, and last night she seemed to lose her appetite at supper."

Doctor Clarkson didn't say anything for a few seconds and then, "Well, you seem to be showing strong symptoms of the flu. I'll just examine you a little further." Dr. Clarkson then examined her quickly reassuring Matthew the entire time that it wasn't going to kill her. It was clear that he was worried after losing his last love, Lavinia, to Spanish flu only a few years ago. Dr. Clarkson came to a final conclusion. "Well, it certainly looks like the flu to me. Now then you mustn't go outside and you must only get out of bed if it's absolutely necessary. You'll need plenty of rest and perhaps a hot bath would help ease the muscle aches." The clock chimed ten which prompted him to say, "Ah, it's getting on. I'd best be off. You should be back to normal in a couple of weeks time, but if something gets worse, or new symptoms develop contact me as soon as you can and I'll see what I can do," he gave Mary some medication to help her immune system.

"Thank you doctor," Mary called quietly as he was shown out by Matthew.

Once they were out of Mary's hearing range Dr. Clarkson turned to Matthew, "Matthew, I've known Mary for a very long time, and I know she can be extremely defiant when it comes to following instructions she doesn't want to follow. You must keep her in bed – it's for her own health. If she goes on with her normal life she could get considerably worse."

"I'll make sure of it doctor. I'm quite used to her habits by now. Thank you doctor," Matthew replied as the doctor hurried out to keep to his schedule.

Matthew instantly went back to comfort Mary. He knew her well enough to know that she wasn't the sort of person to sit around and wait for her body to get rid of an illness. Once he had entered his temporary bedroom he realised that Mary's expression was unusually distant. She was clearly upset with the news she had received. Matthew had never seen Mary quite like this in all the years he had known her. She seemed so secluded, but it was so unlike her. She always wanted to be around people all day, getting included, being involved, but she knew this illness would change all that for a week or so. Matthew sat next to Mary on her side of the bed and held her hand reassuringly. Her blank expression didn't change despite Matthew's efforts. He sighed, "My darling, it's not the end of the world. What do you find so unsettling about the whole thing?" If Matthew was worried before he didn't know what he was now. He tried not to show his stress for Mary's sake. He just tried to coax an answer out of her. He stroked her hair and her face. He squeezed her hand and after what seemed like a lifetime of patience and silence she looked at him. She didn't say anything, but at least she was back in the land of the living. Matthew kept searching for an answer. He continued to stroke her face with a delicate finger. There never came an answer to his question, just a sweet, velvet kiss. Their connection lasted until Robert entered the room. He had clearly come to check on Mary and her husband. As soon as they heard the click of the door they both knew their kiss had to end, so they pulled away, but it was clear to each one of them that the other was reluctant to leave the comfort of each other's warm lips.

Mary certainly looked less remote. She smiled at Matthew before turning to the door. "What did the doctor say? Are you alright?" Robert said impatiently. It was clear to the couple that he was just trying to look after his daughter who was still only a child in his heart, but they couldn't help but wish he'd shown up later.

"We've been told that Mary has the flu," Matthew answered as he grasped that Mary was still too detached from the world to answer to anyone on a first ask. He knew it had taken himself a good ten minutes to get an answer out of her, and that wasn't really an answer and if it was then one that only Matthew could understand and could never be translated into English.

"Oh Mary," he said supportively as Sybil set foot in the room.

"Mary, you look unusually washed out. What did the doc-" Sybil was interested as a nurse, but was interrupted by her father.

"She's been diagnosed with the flu," Robert answered in a hushed voice, but loud enough for Cora to hear from just outside and say, "Oh, my darling."

Matthew was clearly getting distressed about Mary's well-being and said, "Wait, we can't overcrowd her in this condition," all the while squeezing her hand a little tighter and not showing any signs of planning to leave her grip.

"Matthew, I'm quite fine. I like the company. If I'm going to be stuck in bed for two weeks, I'd like people to keep me occupied." Matthew was astonished that Mary had been able to speak for herself with her illness. She had seemed more distant than ever before – he had never seen her at that extreme, and now she was speaking and happy to be in bed with her family around her. One by one the rest of her family arrived and were told of the doctor's orders, including Branson, as he was at Downton with Sybil, but he took some coaxing to get him into Mary's bedroom as he still felt a little like an outsider to one of the women he used to drive around every day. Most were sympathetic towards Mary being bound to her bed, but Edith decided that the horses' happiness was far more important than Mary's health. Sybil then decided that perhaps the flu was a good thing, as Mary didn't argue with her sister which, quite frankly, was a novelty, but then Violet took Mary's place, and Edith still got the fight she was looking for.

Sorry this took so long, but I've just come back from camping, but here it is now. I thought I'd have a third chapter up too, but I spent too much time doing other stuff camping instead, so I'm in the middle of writing it, but it should be here soon. I'm not entirely sure where this is going and I know that a few of you thought it was going a different way, but I'm not a normal writer. Anyway, I hope you're enjoying it so far. Constructive criticism is much appreciated! And also, I'm going back to school on Wednesday so I probably won't post chapter three for a while as I'm going to be doing school shopping and tidying the house and a few other things too. I know it's annoying to wait so long, but once I start school the chapters should flow more regularly. Sorry for the wait.