A/N: I know some of you don't like the return of any kind of conflict, but I assure you- it's really not that bad! There are only about three more chapters, and they're pretty much completely light-hearted

…

My parents are out for drinks, Sybil's out with Tom and Edith's working late. Come over?

Matthew grinned as he read Mary's text. He had just left the office (at 5.30pm on the dot, miraculously) to go home, but was more than happy to take a detour to Mary's empty house. It was Wednesday, and he'd not been able to see her since he dropped her home on Sunday morning; he'd had long days in the office on Monday and Tuesday and she'd been unable to meet him during their lunchbreak. This meant they'd had to make do with phonecalls, which, Matthew realised, were nowhere near as pleasurable as Mary's physical company.

Definitely. See you in half an hour.

…

"Hi, loser." Mary greeted as she opened the door to a smiling Matthew.

"I think we need to have a conversation where I explain to you the concept of 'endearments'." Matthew suggested. Without waiting for her retort, he stepped into the house, wrapped his arms around her and kissed her deeply. He'd almost forgotten how good it felt.

"Wow." Mary said under her breath as Matthew pulled away. That was a good kiss. His lips were softer and even tastier than she'd remembered.

Having satisfied his craving for her to some extent, Matthew noticed Mary's attire. "You're wearing an apron. Are you cooking for me?" He smiled excitedly at the prospect.

Mary shook her head as she turned to walk to the kitchen. "Actually, no. I am making myself some dinner. I didn't know what you'd want, but you can raid the fridge and see what you fancy."

Matthew followed her, curious to see what she was cooking. He halted when he saw what was on the counter and raised an eyebrow at her. "You're making instant noodles?"

"Yes." Ignoring the patronising tone in his voice, she put a saucepan of water on the hob and turned the heat on.

"OK. First question- why don't you just heat water in the kettle like a normal person?"

"Because, Nigella, the kettle is broken." Came the dry response.

"Fair enough. Second question- why are you wearing an apron?"

"Because…I like this top and I didn't want any water to splash on it." Mary replied rather pathetically, gesturing to her chiffon blouse.

Matthew knew that she'd think he was laughing at her, but he couldn't help his wide grin- she was unknowingly adorable sometimes.

"Well I'm glad you're taking precautions." Matthew walked to stand behind her and encircled her waist with his arms. "I like you in this top too." He dropped a couple of affectionate kisses on her shoulder, indulging in the ability to do this so freely.

Mary, although smiling, gently nudged him away. "You're distracting me." She was only half-joking; the feel of Matthew's lips on her, even his mere presence, instantly transported her back to Saturday night in that glorious king-size bed, making her unable to concentrate on anything else.

"Are you sure you'll be able to handle the noodles if I turn away and have a look through the fridge?" He asked very seriously. He chuckled when he received an eye-roll in response. "Maybe we should plan what to say if your parents end up returning home early again. We didn't recover so well last time." Matthew suggested as he surveyed the contents of the refrigerator.

"Er, I think you mean that you didn't recover so well. The only reason they didn't suspect anything was because I was able to form a coherent sentence."

"Yes, yes, I forgot- you're amazing at everything." Matthew goaded. "I don't know why I-"

"Oh shit!"

"What?" Matthew whipped around to see what had happened.

"I dropped the sachet in the saucepan." Mary said forlornly.

…

A little while later, Mary settled down on the sofa with Matthew and her bowl of chicken noodles. Matthew had heroically risked his life by fishing the sachet out of the boiling water with a fork, before making himself a sandwich.

"Do you want some?" Mary twirled some noodles around her fork and held them out in front of Matthew's face.

"Are you sure you don't want us each to take one end and meet in the middle, like in Lady and the Tramp?" Matthew asked deliberately mushily.

"Just eat it." Mary shoved the fork into his mouth.

Matthew chuckled as he chewed the (rather delicious) noodles. He marvelled at how Mary could be so forward and confident in bed (although, to be fair, they were both more confident than usual owing to adrenaline and the remaining dregs of alcohol in their systems) but could still be uncomfortable with less passionate ways of showing affection. He'd called her 'darling' on the phone a few times but she'd merely teased him, telling him he needed to update his vocabulary to the 21st century.

"Is that sandwich enough for you?" Mary asked, wondering why Matthew had opted for something so small and simple when he loved to cook, and they had a kitchen full of ingredients to rival most Michelin-starred restaurants.

"Yeah, it'll be fine- I spied something in the kitchen that I want for dessert."

"Fatty." Mary teased, poking his stomach. The two sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes, finishing off their budget dinners in the grand townhouse.

"So what time will your parents be home?" Matthew asked after he'd swallowed his last mouthful.

"Probably not before 8pm, they've gone for a few cocktails with Dad's new CFO or something. Why?" Mary asked slyly, thinking she could probably guess what Matthew had in mind.

Matthew feigned innocence. "I was just wondering."

"Hmm, sure." Mary replied, unconvinced. She stood up and took Matthew's empty plate from his hands. "So what was it that you wanted for dessert?" Her journey back to the kitchen was abruptly halted when Matthew's arm curled around her possessively.

"You." He said into her ear, his voice brimming with desire.

Mary almost dropped the plates on the floor.

…

"I like your bed." Matthew said approvingly. After their rather intense round of love-making, in which they didn't even take the time to undress properly before going at it, they'd cuddled up under the covers (ignoring the fact that it was only just 7pm).

"I'm glad," Mary grinned, her head resting on the same pillow as Matthew's, "as you'll most likely be spending a lot of time here from now on." She suggestively raised an eyebrow at him.

"I should hope so." He winked flirtatiously. His lips sought hers for a quick kiss. And then another. He couldn't get enough of her, it seemed. "But why don't we just go to my place from now on? It'll be easier, and you can stay the night." The truth was, as much as Matthew found the Crawley's house breath-taking, the scale of it and the haughty atmosphere was quite intimidating to him. His childhood home had been small, warm and cosy, and he'd deliberately chosen a flat which mirrored it.

"Mmm, that's true." Mary pondered the suggestion as her fingers lightly played over Matthew's chest. "Although, I'm not sure I could come up with enough excuses for my absences in the evening. My parents will start getting suspicious."

"Just say you're working late. Or that you're with friends." Matthew turned on his side so that they were fully facing each other. He began playing with the strap of her bra, which he hadn't gotten round to undoing earlier.

"I can't really use the 'working late' excuse unless I only stay at yours for about half an hour. Travelling from the office to yours, and then from yours to here, will take an hour-and-a-half at least. They know I don't have that much on at the moment."

"Half an hour is enough time to do things." Matthew said cheekily, earning a playful scowl and slap on his chest. "Just say you're staying with friends, then."

"I don't have enough friends for that to be a plausible alibi." Came the rueful reply.

Matthew tried not to look piteous, but he did feel sorry for her; she was the most amazing, captivating girl, but her 'social circle', as the Crawley family always called it, seemed to reject her friendship in favour of making her the subject of gossip. Thankfully, she'd made a couple of good friends while at university, and she had one or two friends who she'd grown up with, such as Isobel McIntyre. "OK, well I suppose I'll just have to make love to you in your massive, well-laundered bed, then." Matthew lay on his back and sighed dramatically, as if resigning himself to a great sacrifice on his part.

"Poor Matthew." Mary stuck her bottom lip out in a mock-pout. Her body moved over his and her fingers slid up the side of his face and into his hair. "I'll make it up to you." She whispered. Her tongue slowly traced his top lip before kissing him deeply.

Matthew smiled into the kiss. Round two.

…

"Are they still not dry?" Matthew whined. It was Saturday afternoon and he was lying down on Mary's bed while she sat next to him, painting her toe-nails. Apparently this was a very long and drawn out process- and one which Mary took very seriously, as he'd learned from her smack when he'd playfully nudged her arm in the middle of a paint-stroke.

Robert was in Edinburgh for the week, taking part in some sort of finance-related conference, while Cora was spending the day shopping. Edith and Sybil were out with their respective friends (although Mary suspected that Sybil must really be with a certain security guard), so Mary took the opportunity to have Matthew over, allowing them to spend the day together. She'd managed to briefly visit Matthew at his flat the previous night, claiming to her parents that she was having post-work drinks with her colleagues.

It wasn't that the idea of her ever going to Matthew's flat would horrify her parents- she'd visited him several times while they were just friends, and he'd hung out at her house a few times too, but things had changed since then. She didn't worry about her father, but she felt like her mother was on high alert that something might be afoot between them. Over the last few days, furthermore, Edith had been rather suspicious too; she'd seen how close they'd been during Robert and Cora's anniversary party, plus she'd noticed Matthew's name flash up on Mary's phone several times. All this made Mary rather paranoid, and therefore extra-secretive about her meetings with Matthew. Moreover, she knew she'd have to tell her parents about him eventually- and when she did, she knew they'd be even less likely to approve if they thought she'd been sneaking around behind their backs beforehand. Despite her age, Mary was still expected to run all her dates past her mother before she was even allowed to meet them. Mary being seen out and about with an unsuitable boy would fire up the rumour mill and could damage the family's reputation, she was repeatedly told. Given that malicious stories had been spread about her liaisons with men whom she'd never even met before, she presumed that any relationship of hers would be gossiped about and speculated on regardless of who the boy was. But, this was Matthew, and she was falling more deeply in love with him every day. Therefore, she wanted to handle the situation as carefully and as delicately as possible. It might seem absurd to most people to be so clandestine, but to Mary it was just good sense.

"Almost." Mary replied, blowing cool air onto her neatly-painted toes. "You didn't have to sit there and watch me, you know."

"I know." Matthew sighed, raising his hand to lazily run his fingers along her thigh. "Oh, by the way, my mother wants to have you round for dinner at some point. Maybe next week?"

"So soon?" Mary was taken aback. They'd only been together for a week!

"She's eager to meet the incredible new girlfriend whom her son can't stop boasting about." Matthew smiled, sitting up enough so that he could kiss her.

Mary's surprise at potentially being introduced to Matthew's mother dissolved at the feel of his lips. Forgetting about her toe-nails, she turned her body so that she could deepen the kiss more easily. His tongue licked along her bottom lip, causing her mouth to open and her head to spin. She steadied herself by resting a hand on his chest.

Matthew's hands tugged on her waist, pulling her down on top of him as he lay back on the quilt. He moaned slightly as she positioned herself so that her legs were tangled with his, their bodies completely against each other. Craving the feel of her skin, he gently clutched the material of her dress and began dragging it up, hoping to uncover as much skin as possible without breaking contact with her mouth.

In the back of her mind, Mary was very pleased with her decision to invite Matthew over today. It was so nice to just be able to kiss like this, without having to worry about rushing to ensure that they had sex before one of them had to leave. Although, the way this kiss was heating up, with Matthew's hands on her now bare back and toying with her lacy underwear, she suspected that they might not be merely kissing for much longer…

For some bizarre reason, the thought of her mother entered into her mind. Pushing this un-enticing thought away, Mary reached her hands down to pull at the hem of Matthew's T-shirt. She loved the feel of his strong torso under her delicate hand, and the trail of hair that led all the way from his chest down to his-

"Mary?" Cora's voice was right outside her bedroom door. Mary almost choked on Matthew's tongue with shock and fright. Rolling away from Matthew, she began adjusting her dress and frantically searching the room for somewhere to hide him.

"Can I come in?" Cora asked. Panic set in as Mary realised she hadn't locked the door- she'd not thought she'd needed to, her mother was supposed to be out all day!

"Just a second, I'm getting changed." Mary tried to delay her mother's entrance. "Quick, in here!" She whispered, pulling a rather put-out Matthew by the hand, towards one end of her room.

"Why can't she just come in? We're not even doing anything anymore." Matthew sounded particularly annoyed when whispering his last remark.

"Just get in here." Mary pushed him into her walk-in wardrobe before hurrying back to the door. Matthew was right, but having a man in her bedroom while the house was empty wouldn't be something her mother would take lightly. This wasn't the way she wanted her parents to find out about her and Matthew. "Hi, Mum." She said as casually as she could, standing in the doorway to ensure her mother didn't enter the bedroom.

"Did you not hear me? I've been calling your name for about two minutes." Cora asked.

"I vaguely heard…" But I was too busy making out with my new, secret boyfriend.

"Why are you getting changed?" Cora looked curiously at her daughter's dishevelled state.

"I was going to pop over to the beautician. What is it?" Underneath her cool exterior was a bag of jitters. She had a horrible feeling that Matthew might sneeze or have a coughing fit or something, and that would definitely be difficult to think of a cover for.

"I wanted to talk to you about something." Cora's eyes lit up in a way that could only mean one thing. Mary grew even more uncomfortable.

"Can we talk about it tonight? I should probably go now." Mary said with a sense of urgency that her mother found peculiar.

"Alright, fine. I'm going back out in a couple of hours, for tea, but I'll be back for dinner." Cora eyed her daughter suspiciously before leaving to go downstairs.

Mary closed and locked the door behind her. Opening the wardrobe door, she found a rather entertained Matthew rifling through her clothes.

"I've never seen you in this before." He raised an eyebrow as he held out a barely-there lacy black camisole with matching girl-briefs. "Who do you wear this for?" He added, a hint of jealousy in his voice.

"As you can see, the label is still on it. I bought it because it was on sale but I've never worn it." Mary replied, snatching it away from him and putting it back in its rightful place. She took great pride in keeping her wardrobe in a very particular order.

"Well, there's a first time for everything…" Matthew had to hold back the drool as he pictured Mary sauntering around in that lingerie, the lace gliding over her skin as he slipped it off her.

"Only if you're a good boy." The misty-eyed look on his face was quite amusing to Mary. Not all men were that turned on by the mere idea of their girlfriends in negligee, and she liked it.

"I'm always a good boy." Matthew replied innocently. "So what did your Mum want?" He pulled her to him, his hands clasped behind her back.

"Didn't you hear?"

"Nope. I heard voices, but couldn't make out what you were saying. Must be sound-proof in there. Although, to be honest, I was rather distracted by all your sexy outfits." He grinned, leaning down to kiss her cheek…and jaw…and neck.

"Oh," Mary sighed, partly in response to Matthew's answer, and partly as a way of releasing the tension that he was causing to build up inside her. "She just wanted to talk, but we'll talk later."

"Good." She felt Matthew say against her neck. She could feel his hands resume their earlier position (before Cora had interrupted them).

"Matthew," she warned, "she's still downstairs." Fearing she might collapse on her jelly-legs, she clutched his T-shirt for support.

"Then we'll be quiet." Matthew replied in between kisses, his fingers creeping beneath the waistband of her underwear. They'd 'got it on' (as Tom so sensitively put it when he asked Matthew how their evening had been) in his bed the previous evening, but it seemed that the more he had of her, the more he wanted.

"I don't know if I can be." Mary was already struggling to contain her moans as she felt one of Matthew's warm hands on her buttock, while the nimble fingers on the other worked on unclasping her bra.

Matthew smirked at this. He loved that he- he, of all people- could have this effect on her. It still boggled his mind that, with all the choice she had, she'd chosen him. And she loved him. He was her first true love. Him! He felt like he'd won the greatest lottery of all time.

"Let's go in your wardrobe, then." Matthew suggested, dragging her backwards towards it.

"What? With all my clothes?" Mary shook out of her reverie slightly at the thought of her beautiful clothes possibly falling victim to their energetic love-making.

"Yes, that wardrobe." Matthew said drily, desperately hoping she'd stop talking soon so they could get down to business. "Come on." He urged. He pulled back, his eyes twinkling mischievously. "I know you'll probably be more aroused at the sight of your Gucci dress than at me, but I'm OK with that."

"Shut up." Mary giggled, finally succumbing to her beautiful boyfriend and his clever idea.

…

A/N: as ever, please let me know your thoughts!