AN: Thanks so much for your reviews! You all make me smile! When I say that this is almost done, I really mean it this time. I think. After it's finished, I'll probably write some one shot type things that take place in this fic-universe. Would you all like that? Any ways, here it is.
(Two months have passed since the last chapter. Edith is now six months pregnant, the twins are eighteen months, Reggie is around six months old, and Belle Lowe is about one.)
"No. No, no, no, no!" William screamed as he tottered around on the grass, being quite a show off in front of his cousin and baby brother, who was laying safely tucked into his Pram. Catherine, or Kit as she now insisted she be called, was sitting like quite a little lady, delicately showing Belle how one was to take care of a baby- or in this case a tiny doll.
"No. It's his new favorite word- we can hardly get him to say anything else!" Mary laughed.
"Look at my grandchildren, all so happy together! And soon there will be another one! Oh, it's just wonderful!" Cora almost giggled.
"Actually, two more." Sybil said quietly as she took Tom's hand.
"Two more- Sybil! You're, you are then?" Edith stammered. Sybil nodded, and Tom pressed a kiss to her temple. Never had anyone seen Tom Branson looking any prouder.
"I'm pregnant!" Sybil said, and she felt like a ton of pressure had lifted from her heart, just at saying the words out loud.
"Oh! Two sisters pregnant at the same time- again! This is so exciting!" Cora said, rising quickly from her chaise.
"What's going on? What's exciting?" Matthew asked as he approached with Robert and Gregory.
"Oh, Mama is celebrating the news that two of her daughter's are pregnant at the same time." Sybil laughed. Matthew put his arm around Mary's shoulder and looked at her curiously.
"I thought you weren't going to say anything for two more weeks?" He asked, and she looked at him with wide eyes. "What?"
"Sybil is pregnant, Matthew." Mary sighed, and pinched the bridge of her nose. Matthew's jaw fell slack as he realized his mistake, and then he smiled apologetically at his wife.
"Mary, you aren't!" Edith gasped.
"Well, the cat's out of the bag now. I might as well tell you all that two days ago Dr. Clarkson confirmed that I was pregnant. I was going to wait for the three month mark to say anything, but I suppose there's no harm in saying it now." Mary said, and Sybil instantly charged towards her, and wrapped her arms around her.
"I can't believe it! It happened!" Sybil laughed, and jumped around in circles, taking Mary with her.
"What happened?" Matthew asked.
"Three Crawley sisters expecting at the same time!" Sybil burst out excitedly. "And you weren't going to say anything for two weeks, even knowing how long we've been waiting for the three of us to all be pregnant at the same time?" She accused after a moment.
"Well, when I had originally decided to wait two weeks, I'd no idea that you were pregnant. And then after you announced it, I thought it would be good to let you have the day to yourself to celebrate. But I suppose that wasn't to be- Oh, well, that's what I get for confiding in Matthew before any body else." Mary said, shooting an accusatory glance at her husband, which she quickly followed with a smile to show that really she didn't mind.
"Mama! Papa! Look Kit!" Catherine's baby voice called out. Instantly Mary's mind was on her precious baby girl, and she whipped her head around to see her little girl holding her brother's hand and taking a few hesitant steps in a row. Her accomplishment was met with applause and a chorus of "Ooh" and "Ahh" from her adoring family. But even more precious than that was the way William was carefully walking beside her, staring at her feet with such intensity.
"I'm glad she's finally getting the hang of walking- honestly I thought she might never! But she is quite a wordsmith! But perhaps as William is helping her to walk, she'll teach him to speak- he still is a man of few words, I'm afraid." Mary laughed, but didn't wait for any responses as she swept down towards her babies- though she had to admit to herself that they were perhaps more toddlers than babies now.
"Look at our baby girl, with her babies. Oh, Robert, doesn't the sight just melt your heart?" Cora sighed and Robert knelt down beside her chaise.
"It does." He agreed, and pressed a kiss to the back of her hand.
"You know, Belle has been toying with the idea of walking for a few weeks now. She'll pull herself up to her feet if we sit down with her, but every time we try to get her to take a step, she sits down and gives us her big gummy smile!" Edith laughed.
"That's how William was at first. But as soon as he really began to walk, he never wanted to stop. He's a bit hard to keep up with." Matthew laughed, only half listening to the conversation as he watched his wife kneeling in the grass and applauding every time their daughter took a dainty step. He couldn't help but think about just how magnificent she was. Suddenly an idea struck him, and he looked to Sybil. "Would you mind keeping an eye on them? All of you really. I think I'd like to take Mary on a walk."
"Of course!" Sybil said, already running towards her niece and nephew with Tom at her side. Matthew smiled at his in-laws, his brother and sister in law, and then he walked briskly to his wife, who looked a bit confused as to why Sybil and Tom had suddenly stolen her children's attention.
"Fancy a walk darling?" Matthew asked, extending his arm to her.
"Oh- well, Yes, I suppose I do." Mary said with a pretty smile as she accepted his arm. He glanced at their children, and was satisfied to see that William and Catherine were both tackling Tom who was laying on the grass with a very amused Sybil sitting with a bouncing Belle on her lap.
"I'm sorry I let our little secret slip." Matthew said after a moment.
"Oh, it's alright. I can't really be angry about it. It's probably better this way, surprising them all together instead of them finding out in bit's and pieces like the first two times." Mary said, dismissing his apology with a wave of his hand.
"Well, not all at once. We'll still have to tell mother. And explain to William and Kit that they're going to have another sister or "bother"." He said, making them both laugh at the term Catherine still used to identify her brothers.
"Well, actually, we don't have to tell your mother. I, um, actually told her first." Mary said a bit shamefully.
"Really? You told your mother-in-law before you told your husband?" Matthew asked in mock offense.
"She was at the hospital when I went to see Dr. Clarkson, I bumped into her, and I was so excited I just had to tell her!" Mary defended herself.
"I suppose I can forgive that offense." Matthew granted with a kiss to her hair.
"You'd better be able to forgive it! You've been there when I've been in labor before, It's terribly hard work!" Mary said, wincing a bit as she imagined the pain she'd have to go through for this child.
"As if I've held a grudge against you...well, since we've been married." Matthew said with a charming smile.
"Well, there was that little thing, when you were in your chair." Mary said.
"Hm? What thing?" Matthew asked.
"The thing where you'd refuse to talk to me for hours at a time because you couldn't understand why I wouldn't allow you to divorce me so that I could find a new "better" husband." Mary said, her throat becoming thick with the memory.
"Oh...yes, that." Matthew stammered, finding his own eyes misting. They walked in silence a bit until he had led them a good distance from the house, to the tree where Mary had gone as a child when she was upset and wanted to cry without being disturbed. "You know, those years ago, when I found you here? Sybil insisted that she could go after you, but for some reason, I knew I had to be the one." Mary turned to face him, and rested both of her palms against his chest.
"If you hadn't come after me that day- if it'd been Sybil..." Mary began, but she found she couldn't go on. If he hadn't come after her that day, then the likelihood of them being married now was slim. And if they hadn't married then, there would be no Catherine, No William, or Reginald, or even the new child she carried within her. If he hadn't come after her that day, there would've been no wedding, and Edith might never have met Gregory and sweet little Belle wouldn't be there now. All of these things, these beautiful wonderful things, had happened because Matthew had insisted that he be the one to follow her out of the house.
"But I did, I was the one who came after you." Matthew said, his voice hoarse with emotion. He quickly closed the space between them and kissed her passionately.
"Matthew, I'm so grateful that you're so stubborn." Mary said as he reached up and brushed tears off of her cheeks.
"How now?" He asked.
"You insisted on following me, even when Sybil said she would. And because you followed me..." Mary trailed off, and she lifted his large hand and placed it over her mostly flat abdomen where they had created a new life.
"God help me, I'm so in love with you." He said, his voice breaking as tears ran from his eyes. She stood on her toes and kissed him letting her fingers tangle in his blonde locks. "And I'm sorry, I'm sorry that I ever even suggested that you divorce me. If you had- oh God, If you had..."
"But I didn't. I would never have been able to- because I love you beyond all reason or thought. And look at us now darling, still happily married, you on your feet, with two children that they said wouldn't exist." Mary said. Where had all of these things they were saying come from? The afternoon had been nothing special, just a day at Downton with the family- and yet here, they found their souls crying out to each other, releasing every worry or fear that had existed between them in their marriage between feverish kisses, and holding each other tightly.
"And this child, what will it be? A boy or a girl?" Matthew asked when they had said everything within their hearts, when they sat against the tree, just holding each other tightly.
"What do you think?" Mary asked.
"I'm more interested in what you think darling, you haven't been wrong yet." Matthew said with a laugh as he ran his thumb in circles over her belly.
"Well, I'm not sure yet. With Reggie, and Catherine, I had a strong feeling. But it's still early yet." Mary said.
"Perhaps it's another set of twins, and that's why you cannot pin down what gender they are." Matthew teased.
"Perhaps." Mary agreed. "What are we going to do about living space darling?"
"I hadn't really thought about it." Matthew sighed.
"Our family is growing so quickly- I doubt we can fit four cradles in the nursery, and even if we could, Catherine and William will be ready for normal beds in a year or so! And we can hardly keep the boys in the same room with Kit once she's old enough for a regular bed." Mary grumbled.
"Well, Perhaps we could convert my dressing room into a nursery. I mean, we never sleep apart." Matthew suggested.
"Mmm. That could work- but would Mosley be scandalized if he had to dress you in the master bedroom?" Mary asked with a smile.
"He just might be. But I don't see another alternative, unless Mother were to move out, and we can hardly ask her to do that." Matthew sighed.
"What if she offered?" Mary asked hopefully.
"Well, if she were to offer, I suppose that would be alright, so long as she had somewhere to go." Matthew consented.
"Matthew, when I told your Mother I was pregnant, she did say that she thought she should move out. Granny offered to let her live at the Dowager House." Mary explained.
"I thought Mother and Cousin Violet were constantly at each other's throats?" He asked, closing his eyes and resting his head against the tree.
"Sometimes they disagree, but they get on well when they want to." Mary laughed.
"If my mother decides that she would be alright with moving out, I suppose that her bedroom could be converted into a room for Catherine, and any future girls we have." Matthew consented.
"And what if we have more than these four? Where will we put them?" Mary asked.
"Well, Babies are tiny. We could stick some in baskets, some in basins and drawers and cabinets..." Matthew rambled until Mary gasped and lightly slapped him across the arm before kissing him soundly.
"You're a ridiculous man!" She laughed.
"I'm your ridiculous man." He nodded, and then kissed her once more.
AN: Talk about fluff! Fluff here, fluff there, fluff everywhere! I'll warn you now there's only one more like actual plot point left to be revealed, so most of what I'll be posting from her on out will be family fluff, and babies and more fluff. So if you like cotton candy fluffy goodness, you'll love this story!