Sorry for the delay in updates! I have been a busy beaver with other fics, but will make sure to get a few more updates in this week :o) Anyway, here is a chapter I know many of you have been eagerly anticipating ;o) that's all I'm going to say. And just a reminder, THIS IS AU, meaning it will not follow the show's timeline with every detail. THANK YOU FOR READING!
Transition
April 1912
He's in London, visiting one of his favorite clubs, when he learns what's happened.
"Grey!" someone shouts when he walks in the door. "Have you heard about this?"
The newspaper is thrust in his face and he stares in confusion at the headline, his eyes widening in shock.
TITANIC SINKS; GREAT LOSS OF LIFE
The ship that was declared unsinkable is lying at the bottom of the North Atlantic. And hundreds…possibly thousands…are dead.
Patrick.
No, no, it's not possible, surely! Patrick is a gentleman; the future heir to Downton Abbey! They would not have allowed a gentleman to drown.
But his fears are confirmed when he returns to his family's town house and finds a telegram waiting for him, sent directly from his father.
Tragic news [stop] Patrick Crawley believed dead [stop] return to Downton [stop] come immediately
It's not possible. It can't be possible…
But it is.
A million thoughts fly through his head; disbelief, denial, anger, sorrow, even guilt. But eventually they all cumulate to numbness.
Numbness.
That's what he feels when he leaves London that afternoon, when he boards the train and travels to Yorkshire.
He can't believe that this person he's known his entire life is gone. This person whom he has gone to school with, who has gone shooting with, hunting with, who he has played cricket with, who has been is main source of sanity whenever he found himself at Downton Abbey. He can't believe that this person whom he has envied, sometimes despised, sometimes even hated…is gone.
Patrick, whom he realizes now, was quite possibly his only friend in the world.
Patrick is dead; died at sea, alongside hundreds or thousands of others. A gentleman, a scholar, the future Earl of Grantham and the heir to Downton Abbey for God's sake! He's dead! Drowned…alongside the rabble.
Death isn't supposed to happen to people like them. Not now, not when they're only twenty-two. This has to be a mistake! What makes them think he's dead? What proof do they have? No, it's just not meant to be like this!
He grits his teeth as he hears several women behind him wailing as they cry over the headlines of the paper, murmuring something about people they think they knew who were on the ship. He wants to shout at them, to tell them to shut up and take their tears to another car!
Instead, he rises and pushes his way past other passengers, growling at anyone who gets in his way, hoping to find some car where he can sit in peace.
But it's no use. There are sniveling women everywhere. And they're all crying over the same thing.
It's already dark when the train arrives, but he's never been happier to see the Downton station. He exists quickly and looks for the car that will take him to Downton.
"Mr. Grey?"
He's startled by the voice and abruptly turns to see an unfamiliar face.
"Tom Branson; I'm here to take you to Downton."
DUN! DUN! DUN! :oP Also, the headline that Larry reads is the actual headline that appeared in the London Herald in 1912.