Chapter 4

Mary and Matthew woke up late. It had been an eventful day previously, with the Doctor and the bad news and the arrangements for Anna and everything else, so, although Mary had slept most of the day before, she still slept in. It had become a habit that both Mary and Matthew woke at the same time – they often slept in each other's arms, so when one woke and rose from the bed the other tended to wake, even if only from lonely coldness. Mary was still bound to bed, and it had been only one day, but she was fed up. She wanted to live the normal life she was so used to. She knew that if she stayed bound to her bed much longer she'd feel guilt for making Matthew stay with her so much of the time. "Matthew, I can't stay in here all da-"

"You must stay in here all day again, I'm afraid. Doctor Clarkson insisted that you stay in bed for two weeks. You mustn't go out, darling. He's said that to keep you as healthy as you can be," Matthew ordered climbing back into bed to keep his wife warm.

"Not out, as such, but I can't stay in bed. I need to get up and at least move around a bit. Surely that can't hurt. Oh, please Matthew. Can't I just go down and have breakfast? I can tell Anna to keep my corset as loose as is physically possible... Oh please darling?"

"I won't do anything until I've had conformation from Doctor Clarkson."

"Then ring him, please. Just ask if I can get dressed to have breakfast?" Mary looked at Matthew in a way that she knew he could never resist.

"Oh alright then, I'll go and ring him in a minute. Let me just wake myself up properly first." Matthew kissed her forehead and got up. Having found his dressing gown he ventured to the hallway to find the telephone. Mary waited patiently. Patience wasn't something she was used to having to use, but she knew that she had asked for something that she wasn't allowed, so she decided to play it safe and be as patient and understanding of the outcome as she knew how to. After what seemed to her like a lifetime Matthew re-entered the room. "Well, Doctor Clarkson has said that it's not ideal, but he knows how you feel as he also had the flu when he was about our age, so he's letting you get out of bed, but he's said to do as little as possible. Maybe read a book, or write a few letters, but no walks around the estate or hurrying around to find Carson or anything of the sort!"

"Oh, thank you, Matth-" Mary was interrupted in her words by that very man's lips. She didn't reject the interruption, but instead accepted it with open arms, or rather open lips...

"I'll go to my dressing room and then you can call Anna, so I'll meet you down at breakfast – everybody else is already there." Mary was tempted to tell him that she loved him with all her heart, but she decided not to. It was best to save that for later; instead she just smiled. She rang the bell for Anna to come up to her room, and again, waited patiently.

Downstairs Anna heard and saw the bell and began upstairs. She knew Mary was bound to her room, so didn't take up clothes or any such thing. Although she had no idea what Mary wanted she didn't only visit her because it was her job, but because she delighted in speaking to Mary. It gave her day some substance. Anna did enjoy her job, but it got better when she saw Mary. She would go as far as to say that she and Mary were friends – good friends; perhaps not as dear as Sybil and Gwen were, but they weren't far off. When Anna turned up in Mary's room Mary was standing by the window longing to go outside, despite how much she knew she couldn't leave the house. "Forgive me, Milady, but weren't you told by Doctor Clarkson to stay in bed?" Anna would never speak like this to any other member of the house, but Mary was different. Anna knew Mary wouldn't care, even if she should.

"He did, you're right," Mary responded, turning away from the window and walking towards Anna. "But I can't stay in bed for two weeks – it's not who I am, so I've conned him – or rather Matthew has conned him into letting me get up, but I still can't go out."

"I don't believe I've ever known anyone so stubborn Milady!" Anna joked.

"I'm glad I have the honour to take that title!" the banter that shot between Anna and Mary on every meet was so clear, yet neither one of them thought about what they were saying to each other – it was just casual conversation between two great friends.

"I'll just go and get what you need Milady," Anna said on a more serious note.

"Oh, Anna," Mary called out as her maid left the room, "Could you be careful with my corset when it comes to that? I promised I'd keep it looser than usual – I think it calms Matthew to know that I'm looking after my health at least a little bit!"

"Of course I'll be careful, Milady," Anna smiled and laughed slightly as she left the room to fetch Mary's clothes.

Matthew soon arrived downstairs and began to serve himself some breakfast. Sybil, Tom and Edith were still there. They were just finishing, so Sybil and Edith left soon after Matthew had sat down, but Tom stayed. Matthew had been the only Crawley apart from Sybil to welcome him with 100% open arms – they were definitely friends, and neither were afraid to admit it. "You don't need to stay you know, Mary'll be down soon to keep me company," Matthew told Tom in a stern, but very kind way.

"I thought Mary was staying in bed for two weeks. And I'm going to stay no matter what you say – with a pregnant wife and an angry sister in-law I'd rather be with you at the moment. I need some form of time off from emotional women!"

Matthew laughed and said, "Yes, Mary is supposed to be in bed, but she's conned me into letting her get up. Is Edith still holding a grudge about the ride?" Matthew sighed.

"Of course she is. Do you really think she would have let it go?" Tom laughed, and Matthew soon joined him.

"No, now that you mention it, forgiveness isn't something Edith is particularly brilliant at, but nevertheless when her sister's bound to her room I would think Edith would have a bit more of a heart."

"So would I, but Edith is truly phenomenal when it comes to being spiteful," Tom joked, but then kicked himself a bit inside. He knew that he was still an outsider – not in Matthew's or Sybil's, but in the rest of the Crawleys' eyes, and he thought that teasing them about terrible personalities may not be the best way to stay on their good side. "Did Edith visit Mary yesterday at all? Were they on speaking terms?"

"Not since cousin Violet took Mary's side in the battle of Mary over a horse! After that Edith didn't come to our room once. I assume she was trying her best to avoid Mary – when I went off to visit mother Edith saw me and spoke to me in a perfectly kind manner, but she didn't make a mention of Mary. I wonder where she'll go to avoid Mary today. With Mary in the house they're bound to walk past one another at some point."

"Well she can't lock herself in her room all day and expect not to see Mary at all. Won't they have to come together at meal times?"

"Well, yes, unless she goes to visit people. She's avoided Mary at breakfast, so maybe she'll walk round the grounds a little, maybe go to cousin Violet's for lunch and maybe Sir Strallan's for supper?" Matthew pondered aloud.

"Violet's? I thought she and Edith were on different sides of the argument?"

"They were, or rather they are, but Violet's always willing to do what she can to get an apology out of Edith, and if the only way of doing that is to feed her then that's what she'll do." Mary walked in and Tom stood up to leave, whilst Matthew stood up to tell her to sit down.

"Tom, you don't have to leave. I don't want to push you out," Mary said, welcoming Tom into her house and into her family.

"Thank you, Mary, but you're not pushing me out, I need to go and see how Sybil's feeling anyway," Tom smiled and turned to leave.

"What's wrong with Sybil?" Mary enquired, clearly genuinely concerned about her little sister's welfare. Matthew tried to get her to sit down, but she refused to move until she knew Sybil was alright.

"Nothing's 'wrong' as such, but pregnancy is making her quite emotional," Tom continued out of the dining room, leaving Mary contented with Sybil's health.

"Sit down, darling," Matthew ushered as he pulled out a chair for her, "I'll get you some breakfast." Mary did as he said, but added in a kiss at the beginning. Matthew appreciated it, and returned the favour, but also insisted that she ate, so made her stop kissing him so that both himself and his wife could sit and eat in peace.

I hope you like this. I'm so excited about the new season of Downton Abbey, but I've tried to keep this as it's own thing forgetting about what's happened in the episodes, because I know some of you haven't seen it yet. I've decided I'm not sure if I should continue writing this. I just don't know if the story is being appreciated because nobody's reviewing and telling me what they think or what to improve. Even if you just say well done or keep it up it's better than nothing. Of course, longer comments are more useful when they tell me what's good and what's bad and what to put more of in (like Mary and Anna scenes) and what to avoid and the rest of it. Please let me know what you think, because if I keep thinking that nobody's reading it and liking it enough then I will just give up on it. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it - now I just need to figure out where it's going next...