A/N I don't have any excuse this time. I'm sorry for the long delay. I hope you'll pardon me and that you'll enjoy this new chapter! I still do not own Downton Abbey or the characters... etc. Enjoy! I love it when you guys tell me what you think, so please do!

Chapter 5

December 24th

"Oh Anna! Thank you!" Mary exclaimed.

Anna smiled at Mary in return. She would do anything for her mistress, or almost anything really. "You simply need to be back before the servants woke up and everything should be fine."

"I won't forget, I promise."

"And please milady. Be careful, I'll never forgive myself if something… "

"I'll be perfectly fine Anna. You must not worry." Mary said trying to comfort her maid.

A day after her early meeting with Matthew, Mary had tried to explain everything to Anna. She needed to tell someone, keeping all of this to herself was so very hard sometimes. Mary knew that Anna would never speak about her secret to a living soul. In all honesty, she was the only person that Mary trusted enough to talk about such a thing.

"And he kissed you?" Anna inquired seriously.

Blushing, Mary nodded in response.

Anna knew that Lady Mary and her were not friends, not really anyway. There was always this line that they couldn't cross, a thin, sometimes barely visible line, but it was always there. But over the years, she had learned that when her mistress was confiding in her like she was doing today, she could usually say what she thought about the situation without being inappropriate.

"I think he likes you milady."

"Don't be silly. 24 hours ago he didn't even know who I really was!" Mary responded sincerely, dismissing that idea quickly. "We're… friends."

Anna nodded simply, trying to hide her smile.

And so, after Anna heard the whole story, she agreed to help Mary escape the house the night of the 24th.

At a quarter past midnight everyone was finally in bed. Anna made sure that the way was clear and led Mary to the stable through one of the back doors. Silently she helped Mary to put on some warmer clothes that she had hidden there previously.

"Thank you Anna." Mary whispered, smiling. "Do you have the box?"

"Oh yes" Anna said bending down and searching in the large bag where she had put all the clothes Mary might need for the night. "Here it is!"

Mary took the box and thanked Anna once again. "I should be on my way now or else I'll be late."

"And we don't want that." Anna added.

It was only a matter of a minute or two before Mary was properly settled on her horse. She left the stable making Diamond walk very slowly so it wouldn't make any noticeable noises for the people sleeping inside. If they were to caught her leaving the house at this time of the night… To meet a man no less… Well, big troubles would come her way. She would have never agreed to such a plan before. But there was something about Matthew, something about the fact that no one would approve, that made the whole thing thrilling. Plus, it's not like they were going to burn a house down tonight. They were only going to distribute Christmas presents for some children.

Once she decided that they were far enough from the house; she made Diamond go faster, and faster, until she knew that he had reach he's full speed.

Matthew was waiting silently outside the house. Everything was ready, but she was late. Only a few minutes late, but still, she was late. Maybe she decided not to come after all Matthew thought. "I probably scared her and now she doesn't want to have anything to do with someone like me." He murmured to himself. Or perhaps she just hadn't been able to escape her house, he tried to rationalize.

Sitting there, waiting, just in case she would finally appear, Matthew remembered their last encounter. He couldn't help a small smile from appearing at the thought of their kiss (or of their kisses!). Because she had kissed him too. He was well aware that it had not been proper, not at all in fact. Especially since he knew for sure that she was already engaged to someone else. But he couldn't bring himself to be sorry. Oh no. He definitely couldn't be sorry about that!

In the past days, Matthew had wished on multiple occasions that he could talk to his mother, about Mary. About how beautiful and perfect and funny she could be when she felt at ease. About how he loved to make her laugh, about how he wished that he could see her every single day but that such a thing was not possible.

He looked at his pocket watch yet another time. 1:15 a.m. and still no sign of Mary. So he stood up, ready to leave. He looked to be sure that everything was in place in the adult size, kids wagon, he had built especially to deliver the gifts. The table and tea set for the Johnson's daughter had been previously delivered since it was too big to bring it with all the other toys.

Taking one last breath and making some fog swirl in the air in front of him, Matthew took the handle of the wagon and started to walk in direction of the first cottage on his route.

Mary knew she was late. She might have gotten herself lost at one point. Perception was so very different in the dark than in the daylight! Though she would never admit that to anyone.

She saw him, walking slowly with what she could decipher as a little mountain of wooden toys. He had not seen her yet, and he was leaving, without her. Perhaps she was even later than she thought.

"Matthew!"

He suddenly looked up, startled. It was her.

"I should hope that you were not leaving without me!" She said trying to sound offended that he would do such a thing.

"I… I thought you were not coming anymore." He trailed off and then smiled brightly at her pushing away all the disappointment he had felt only a few seconds before. "But I'm so glad you're here!"

"People went to bed later than I expected." She explained then smiled a little.

Understanding what she meant and glad that she had been able to get out of the house without too much trouble, Matthew signalled her to follow after him. They hid Diamond in the shed quickly before they finally started the gift distribution. They walked silently side by side for a moment, both simply enjoying the walk and the presence of each other.

"Do you know what?" Matthew asked suddenly.

"No. But I have a feeling you're going to tell me." She replied. Was that even a question in the first place? So American, she thought.

"Your weather is worst than in America! It's colder back at home but it's dryer. Here the humidity is unbearable. It always finds a way to pass all your layers of clothing and reach your bones until you freeze, right there, on the spot!"

Mary couldn't help herself and she started to laugh. "Oh dear, stop being so dramatic!" Matthew tried to look offended at her comment but that made Mary laugh even more. "Oh stop it! Just promise me that you won't 'freeze right there on the spot' tonight." She mimicked him.

"I promise." He said solemnly looking right into her eyes. "And I should hope that you wouldn't let such a thing happen!"

For a moment Mary didn't see anything except his face, or more particularly his eyes. How was it even fair for someone to have such beautiful eyes? She only managed to give him a small, shy smile as an answer.

Before they both knew it, they had reached the first cottage. It was the Jones' house.

"What do we do now?" Mary whispered, not wanting anyone to hear them.

"Ok, so you have to find the gifts for Nicolas, Peter and Elizabeth. They should be on the top of the pile." Matthew told her, also whispering.

Every single one of the gifts had a tag and a pretty red ribbon on it so Mary had no difficulty at all the find the right ones. There was a wooden train for little Nicolas, a race car for Peter and a little dog with four wheels and a small cord as a leash for Elizabeth. Mary was quite fascinated by the latter. How did he manage to do that?

Seeing the quizzical expression on her face Matthew said: "It's not that hard you know… and my father was a good teacher." then he added. "Now come on, we're late enough as it is."

He took the train from her hands, their fingers brushing for the shortest of moment –though they both noticed- and with a little movement of the head, invited her to follow after him. They walked slowly, trying not to make any noises and reached to main entrance were they laid the three presents. Matthew whispered a very sincere "Merry Christmas" and then they were off to the next house.

Fortunately for Mary's feet, the next cottages were closer to one another. And so they did the Williams, the Driscolls and the Deasys in only a small amount of time.

Mary loved it. The whole thing, it was fantastic. Being outside so late, making the kids happy; even though she wouldn't notice their cheerful faces, she knew there would be lots of smiles and laughs in the morning because of Matthew's presents. And of course, this night was even more memorable because she was spending it with Matthew. She could, at least admit that to herself. There was so many things she didn't know about him. He was still an enigma to her in many ways, but she liked that. He didn't push her to talk, and she didn't either and it was perfect that way. All resentment or angriness from their last meeting seemed to have disappeared completely and she was grateful for that. It was like it never happened at all! But of course, there was some particular moments from that encounter that Mary couldn't bring herself to forget, or to stop thinking about for that matter.

After a moment Matthew finally spoke, bringing Mary back to earth. "Here's a question for you." Mary couldn't help but smile. His way of always saying when he was going to ask a question before actually asking it was quite endearing. "What is the best Christmas present you received as a child?"

"That's a good one." She said then thought about her response for a few seconds. "When I was only a little girl, around 5 or 6 probably, my granny gave me a little stuffed dog and she said that it would bring me luck. That little dog has been my lucky charm ever since." She smiled. "What about you?"

"My father's pocket watch." He answered without hesitation. "He gave it to me as a Christmas present, saying that I was finally old enough to take care of it." He cleared his throat a little; trying to gain some composure, talking about his parents was still hard for Matthew. "It was the last Christmas we all spent together."

"Oh Matthew. I'm so sorry…" Mary said in her most sincere tone. She never had the best relationship with her parents but she still couldn't imagine her life without them! How horrible it would be to lose them both. She thought that Matthew's father must have been a great man, because his wife and him raised a very good man, who would surely be an amazing father himself in the future.

At this point, there was only one more cottage to do. Matthew looked at the time (probably on is father old pocket watch Mary thought). "We need to hurry up if you want to be home in time." He finally stated.

Mary looked at the wagon, there were still eight toys and to be honest she didn't really know where they were anymore. "How many cottages left?" She asked.

"Only one." Matthew replied simply.

"Dear God. I only have two sisters, and trust me, it's enough."

"They all get along very well you know. I would have liked to have some siblings." Matthew admitted.

"Well, I guess it can be boring not having anyone to fight or argue with." Mary said seriously.

"Or perhaps to play and have fun with?"

"Yes, I guess you could add that to the list." She chuckled.

It took them about half an hour to reach the last house and another quarter of hour before they finally came back to their starting point.

"I… Thank you for letting me come with you tonight." Mary said nervously. She couldn't tell why she suddenly felt some nervousness took hold of her.

"It was my pleasure. I'm glad that you came. It's definitely more fun when I can share this moment with someone…"He trailed off trying to open the shed to let Diamond out.

Once her horse was finally out and ready to leave, Mary reached in one of the little leather pockets attached to Diamond's back and pulled out a medium sized box. "Here" She said, extending her right arm.

"But I… I didn't get you anything. I didn't think that… " Matthew babbled taken aback by her gesture.

"It's nothing. Truly. Take it as a thank you, for tonight."

"Mary I can't… "

"It really is nothing I promise. Please open it!" She smiled trying to be confident.

And so Matthew finally opened it. Tea, six different sorts of tea. He beamed at Mary. "Was it that bad?" he chuckled.

"Of course not. I told you it was perfect. I just thought that maybe you would like to try something different."

"Well in that case, thank you so very much darling!" Matthew said happily before realizing his mistake.

Mary stood there, shocked. Darling, darling, darling. The word was resonating in her mind over and over again. She didn't know what to think of it. Was Anna right?

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. It just slipped..."

"It slipped." Mary said more to herself than to Matthew. "I should go."

"Mary, please." He said reaching for her wrist and grabbing it in is hand. Making her turn around so she would be facing him.

She couldn't look at him. She kept her head down so she wouldn't meet his gaze. She knew that if she did, look into his eyes, she wouldn't be able to think properly. Just like the last time they had been so close to one another. And she couldn't let that happen again. Even if some part of her wanted to.

"I need to go." She repeated.

"Mary, look at me, please." It took a few seconds for her to do so, but she finally did. "I'm sorry. It's silly, I always end up apologizing when I'm around you. But I am. I shouldn't have let it slipped so easily. I didn't want to make you feel uncomfortable, or be inappropriate."

"Tonight was inappropriate Matthew. Same goes for all the times we've seen each other." Mary stated matter of factly.

"I guess you're right. But I like them, our times together." He admitted shyly. I like you, very much, he wanted to say to her. How stupid he was being, she was engaged to another man. A man who was not him.

Mary only gave him a shy, tiny smile in return. She couldn't say anything, couldn't think properly. Of course she likes their moments together. She hadn't even been uncomfortable when he had called her darling, she had only been... very surprised. It seemed so natural. But it was not. Not natural, nor was it normal. But the fact that it seemed so, scared her, a lot. What was wrong with her. "I really need to go Matthew."

"Yes, I know. Be careful on your way back Mary. And Merry Christmas."

"I will. Merry Christmas to you too."

Two minutes later she was gone, with no promise of seeing each other again this time.

Anna was waiting for her mistress. She was late. And she couldn't help but worry. What if something had happened to her? But then she saw her. Relieved, she hurried to help Mary get back on the ground.

Without a word, they both erased every traces of their passage and hurried into the big house.

"We need to do this quickly milady. Servants are getting ready to start their day."

They both hurried down the corridor. Tiptoeing. Trying to be as quiet as a mouse. They finally reached Mary's bedroom. They both let out a sigh of relief. Mary needed to sleep. She was exhausted to say the least. She also wanted some time alone to think about the event of the night, to analyse everything. She seemed to do that a lot after she had seen Matthew, analyzing, thinking.

Once Anna left her room, and that her head hit the very welcome pillow, she fell asleep, oblivious to the fact that contrary to her belief, a pair of dark brown eyes had seen her tiptoeing quietly down the corridor.

A/N I hope you liked it. Please review and let me know what you think!