A/N: WOW, you guys! I woke up to a TON of reviews! :) :) Thank you! I appreciate them all, from skeptics to psychics and everything in-between. Not everyone's going to like this story, but hey, what can you do?

"A Delay" - aptly titled due to Carson's condition...

Here's a bit more Cobert (mostly Robert) for you. Enjoy!

xx

CSotA

Dr. Gill returned after about half an hour, a file in his hand, noting that Lord and Lady Grantham barely seemed to have moved an inch. He pitied them, truly, because he had no better information to share now that what he'd already given them.

"That was Mr. Carson. He went into a bit of cardiac distress, but we've sedated him and would like to keep him under for at least the next 24 hours. Do you happen to know anything about his medical history?" asked the doctor, somehow suspecting that if any Lord and Lady in England would know details like that about their staff, it would be the two people sitting in front of him at that moment – the ones who'd come to see their butler in person instead of sending another staff member.

Robert and Cora looked at one another and, seeing the look on her husband's face, it was Cora who spoke. "He has a mild heart condition, Doctor. Several years ago he suffered a stress attack, not quite a heart attack, and had to cut back a bit on his physical activity at the house. That was during the war – everyone was short-staffed, of course – and he was doing the work of at least two men. But that's been under control, as far as I am aware. He did have a rather nasty bout with the Spanish Flu, also several years ago." She looked at Robert for confirmation, and he nodded.

"Yes," Robert added. "The man does hate to rest, and in the past I've actually forced him to take half-days as he tends to skip over them. But it's true that he's rarely ill. Dr. Richard Clarkson is our local doctor, he could give you much more information – he's at the Downton Cottage Hospital, of course."

Dr. Gill made a few notes in Carson's file. "And Mr. Carson's usual temperament? I realize he is your butler and, as such, you may not see much of his natural character, but anything you can tell me will be helpful at this point."

"Well," Robert started, "he's quite reserved when waiting on the family, as any accomplished butler would be. He's a fair man, and I think the staff respect him. He and our housekeeper have a good working relationship and they share the burden of overseeing the staff, of dealing with any issues that come up downstairs. I suppose the fact that my wife and I rarely have to intervene in any of that speaks to Carson's overall effectiveness, his general demeanor."

He paused for a moment, considering his next words. "Carson has been with me for years, Dr. Gill. He served as my valet and eventually became butler at Downton. He is dedicated, honest, and faithful, and he keeps his personal self well-protected due to the nature of his job. But I do know this: I've never known him to have any family outside of Downton except for his parents, and they've been gone for decades now. Other than a brief time spent pursuing a different path in London – which lasted just over a year – he's been with my family for about forty years."

Dr. Gill nodded. "He sounds like a valued employee."

"Carson is almost family," Cora said softly. "Our staff mean a great deal to us, of course, as they are much of the reason why Downton remains a house of great standing, but Carson is ... special. He became butler shortly before our daughters were born, and he's almost like an uncle to them. He's seen us through war and tragedy and … well, he's seen us through quite a lot, really. We'll do anything we can to help his recovery and healing, and we will gladly pay for whatever is needed." She reached out and squeezed Robert's hand once again, not caring whether or not it was proper in that moment for her to need a bit of reassurance. She was managing to keep her emotions in check for the moment, but that was not going to hold much longer if she kept dwelling on tragedy, and Robert knew it.

"May we see him?" Robert asked.

"I was hoping you would," replied the doctor. "As I said, he's sleeping and will be kept under for some time – days, perhaps, depending on how his heart acts. I believe that the amnesia frightened him, and it's crucial that we keep him calm at this point in time. But there are many who believe that a patient can hear and understand voices even when unconscious, and that they may even be helped along because of it. It certainly won't hurt to try, anyhow. If you'd like to follow me …?" The doctor stood and walked over to the door, opening it for the couple as they walked through and then moving up alongside them to show the way.

As they headed to Carson's room, Robert was taken aback by the low level of noise surrounding them despite all that was happening. Nurses were bustling about, tending to the ten patients crammed into a room that Robert thought might have been meant for only six or eight had a train crash not recently occurred; everyone was speaking in quiet tones, but there was a hum of activity and nerves that permeated the room, and it occurred to him that many of the staff must be functioning on next to no sleep. It brought back memories of when Downton was used as a makeshift recovery hospital during the war, memories that were not altogether warming. He took a moment to glance at the patients before them: from a young boy of about twelve, chatting animatedly with two adults that must be his parents, to a young woman weeping over someone on a corner cot, perhaps a husband or a brother, but clearly someone who had just died. No nurses could be spared to comfort her, and Robert was instantly made to think of his son-in-law, Tom, devastated beyond belief at the loss of their dear Sybil. He turned to Cora, his eyes repeating once again what his voice could not: Thank God Carson is, at least, alive.

Robert moved a chair over to the side of Carson's bed, barely registering the presence of the nurse who stood by the bed, administering some sort of injection. He took in his butler's appearance, disheartened to see the pale skin tone and complete peacefulness of the usually robust man; it was so different from the stoic but professional quietness that Carson exuded when performing his job as butler. Robert sat rather heavily in the chair – uncharacteristically so, he realized – and tried his best to put forth a demeanor befitting of his station in life, but to no avail. Unnerved to hear the long but shallow breaths coming from Charles, Robert felt his own breath hitch in his throat as he became quite overcome once again by the seriousness of the entire situation. Whatever would they do if Carson didn't regain a sense of who he truly was? Robert would do all he could to provide for the man – cottage, job, whatever he needed – but something told him that, if Carson couldn't regain his memory of his own identity, he'd be hard-pressed to accept any gifts from a Lord who his mind no longer recognized.

Robert could hear Cora speaking in quiet tones with the doctor but, for the moment, he didn't care what they were saying. He said a few words to Carson, told him who he was and several other things that he'd be hard-pressed to remember five minutes into the future, hoping that the sound of his voice would rouse the butler from his deep slumber. His eyes moved around some more, taking in the whole scene around them. He glanced at nurse once again, who was recording something on the chart that was hanging from the frame of the cot, and thanked her quietly, feeling some strange desire to acknowledge that he realized the woman was trying to help, and that it mattered to him a great deal indeed. She was young with dark, brown hair and a caring smile that made him think once again of Sybil. Returning his gaze to Carson, Robert was struck again that he'd never seen the man so ill in all the years he'd known him, never seen him so … frail. Robert looked up as he felt Cora place her hand on his shoulder and squeeze gently, and he realized she'd stopped conversing with the doctor some time ago, that she'd been right there with her husband as he struggled to pull himself from his agonizing thoughts. It was only when she reached out to brush her fingertips across his cheek that he realized he'd been crying.

Dr. Gill was so touched by the scene unfolding in front of him that he was temporarily rendered speechless. He'd been a doctor for many years and had seen hundreds of patients cross through this hospital's doors, from near-royalty all the way down to women of the streets, but this was the only time he'd seen a Lord and Lady come in to personally see to the care of a servant, sit by his bedside, and shed tears over his condition. It gave the doctor a bit more faith in humanity; yes, this was truly a unique family, indeed and, by God, he'd do anything in his power to help them.

"Doctor," came Cora's quiet voice, "how many visitors will Carson be allowed, and do you have time restrictions?"

The doctor shook himself back into reality. "We try to limit visitors to two at a time, Lady Grantham. Mr. Carson is not one of our most critically-injured patients, and so you may visit whenever you'd like during our normal hours. If he's asleep, stay as long as you wish or are able to; if he's awake, I'd suggest limiting the length of your visits to no more than one hour at a time. Nurses will be in 'round the clock to administer medication but, as you've just seen, they can do that regardless of whether or not there are visitors present. Will you be staying in London, may I ask?"

Cora looked at Robert, deferring to him for that decision. "Robert, what do you think?"

Robert looked at Cora. "I don't know what to do, darling," he said softly. He turned his gaze back to Carson's bed, then continued in a whisper, "At times, this man has been my only friend in the world. I am afraid, Cora, afraid to make a wrong decision. I don't want to upset him, to make him more confused or frustrated than he already undoubtedly is." He looked back at Cora once again, his eyes asking her to take the burden off of him, to take charge and come up with a plan as he was currently incapable of doing so. He did this without fear of judgement, knowing that she understood what he needed, and why.

Cora turned abruptly to face the doctor, suddenly remembering a conversation that had been interrupted. "Did you say he was asking for his daughter?"

Dr. Gill nodded. "Yes, but where you've said he has no family to speak of, I'm hoping that once he awakens he will be able to tell us a bit more about who, precisely, that is."

Cora smiled at her husband, attempting to put all the love she had for him into the look she was giving him. "Well, the way I see it, based upon the information we have, we've only got one choice, Robert." Seeing that Robert didn't grasp her meaning, she explained. "I'll stay at Grantham House for the time being, and you should return to Downton. I think Tom will need you there to help with the estate, so that we can send Mary to come and visit with Carson. Who else could he have meant, after all?"

"Ah, of course," Robert said quietly. He turned back to Dr. Gill, who was trying desperately to grasp the meaning of the conversation. "Lady Mary Crawley, our eldest daughter. She's quite fond of Carson, and he of her. If he's asking for his 'daughter' then it's quite likely that, in his confused state, he's thinking of Mary." Robert was surprised to discover that, for once, it didn't pain him to think of Carson and Mary in those terms, that he didn't feel the jealousy that he'd often felt in the past when his daughter would seek out comfort in Carson's pantry rather than Robert's library.

The doctor nodded in understanding. "Yes, if she could visit either tomorrow or, better, the next day, that might help tremendously. It will give him some time to rest before we jar his senses once again. If we can get him to where he recognizes someone in your family and then sees how you're all related, how you're connected to him, he may make some progress on the road to discovering who he truly is."

As always, please let me know what you think!