As soon as the light allowed Isobel left Crawley House. The hospital loomed and was well lit. As her status as a Nurse and with her status as Mother of the future Earl of Grantham she was granted access. It was comforting to hear the whispers of nurses it was a welcome change from the eerily stillness of the dream. Nonetheless, she had to gather her courage to knock on the door. As her knuckles made contact the door opened somewhat. She pushed it with her forefinger and went inside. Slumped over his desk was Richard Clarkson. She raced towards him, her keen eyes searching for a wound. There was none, his color was good and he was breathing. Just for her own comfort she reached out and touched his cheek. At her contact he awoke.

"Isobel" he rasped and she was touched by the tone of his voice.

"Are you alright?" She asked softly.

Scrubbing a hand over his face he shook his head. "Haven't been sleeping much."

Isobel scoffed in agreement, "With the second round of the Spanish Flu I would agree!"

His defenses were down, "It's not that."

Immediately the jokes were set aside, "What is it? Can you tell me?"

"Dreams, I keep dreaming of Sybil." He muttered.

A cold wind blew through Isobel. It was one of the dangers of being in the medical profession that wasn't taught in medical school. She wanted to reach out and hold him and her fingers twitched to do so when a nurse came in for authorization on medication.

Richard gave her a watery smile before rising to help the nurse.

Isobel then knew that this was what Reginald had meant by help. Richard didn't need another set of hands to take the load off of him in the hospital. He needed a pair of hands to take a load off in his life!

She would ask him to dinner tonight, she would command it! She grabbed a clean piece of paper to write her demand. She then left the hospital to make the arrangements at Crawley House.

Richard was sad to her go, he was still engaged the nurse as he watched her exit. He went back into his office to retrieve a chart. On top of the stack was piece of stationery with the Downton Cottage Hospital emblem. He knew the flowing script of Isobel Crawley.

Dinner tonight at Crawley House. No need to dress or any formalities. Just come. I will brook no refusal.

He folded the piece of paper and tucked it into a pocket. He wouldn't refuse her.

As Isobel returned to Crawley House it was quiet Mr. Molesley was trying to divide his time between Matthew at the Abbey and herself at Crawley House. Isobel had admired this and after catching him out of breath from having ran told him to stop. While Matthew was at the Abbey he was to stay there as his valet.

Isobel breezed into the kitchen. Mrs. Bird was visiting her sister in Manchester. However, the cook had not left Crawley house bare. The pantry and larder was stocked and she had made an assortment of pork pies and other savories that could be stored and eaten later.

Dinner while simple would be filling and her mother had told her once, "It's not what you serve, but how you serve it."

Cora picked at the breakfast O'Brien delivered to her. "Has Lord Robert awoken yet?"

"Yes, M'Lady he went into York." The maid informed.

Cora's memory blazed as the memory of him telling her came back to her. She would have to wait to do what Sybil had asked. At least it would give her some time to think. "O'Brien, I'll be going to see Mrs. Crawley today. Can you find something suitable?"

O'Brien perked up, Lady Cora hadn't shown any interest in anything. She rushed away to find a dress.

Cora was surprised when Isobel answered the door but quickly remembered that Molesley was at the Abbey. Isobel ushered her inside, "Mrs. Bird is visiting her sister but I can make us some tea."

"Let me help you" Cora declared. They found themselves in the kitchen. Cora had been in here before, feeding the soldiers that had returned home and were hungry and out of work. The kettle was filled, the tea was measured and placed in the pot.

"I dreamt of Sybil again." Cora said as she spun her teacup again.

"Did she speak to you?" Isobel asked.

"Yes" Cora said simply.

Isobel beamed, "That's what you wanted, aren't you happy?"

"What if I don't do what she asks?" Cora whispered.

Isobel thought of her own dreams involving Reginald, "Then she might just keep asking."

While the prospect of dreaming of Sybil again was tempting Cora was disturbed by the nature of her dreams with Sybil. She resolved to do what her departed daughter had asked. She returned to the Abbey to await her husband. She spent the evening downstairs so she could meet him when he came in.

"Hello Robert" She said trying to inject warmth into her voice.

"Cora" He delivered coolly.

She resisted the urge to scowl, she had been icy with him for days. He brushed past her and went to the library. She could hear the clink of ice cubes as they hit the cut crystal of the tumbler, no doubt the glug she heard was whisky.

"How was York?" She asked.

Robert then launched into the dealings of the day. Meeting with solicitors and accountants. At this Cora did scowl, was business all he thought about?

Robert slammed his tumbler down, the ice launching out.

"You asked me." He said curtly.

"You just don't care, it hasn't affected you at all." She cocked her head to the side as if something had just occurred to her. "You weren't affected the first time."

At this Robert's eyes flashed, he stood his fists clenched at this sides. He forced himself to relax, unclenching his fists, before telling her in a calm voice, "Come with me."

She followed him with her arms crossed over her chest as they made their way to his dressing room. He opened a drawer and removed a small box. Cora recognized it as a jewelry box, did he really think a trinket would fix everything?

She opened the box with force and saw a ring made of gold. On the top of the ring was four stones. Three of them she recognized as the birthstones of Mary, Edith and Sybil the fourth was a garnet. She then realized that this was the stone of the baby she had lost. If she had carried the child to term it would have been born in January. "I ordered that the day after Dr. Clarkson told me the news of your pregnancy. After you fell I didn't think to cancel the order. When it arrived I kept it, I didn't know if giving it to you would have been wrong. There are times that I take it out and look at it wondering what our lives would be like."

Cora saw tears welling in his eyes. The only times she had seen her husband cry was when he thought he had failed her. How he had wept over the bad investment of her fortune sprang to mind. She had truly thought he hadn't cared since he had shown no emotion when it came to the miscarriage and now with Sybil. She had been wrong, he was trying to spare her. She looked at the ring again and found it had become blurry. She was crying, deep heavy sobs at the realization that her husband did care and that he missed Sybil and their unborn child just as much as she. He reached for her and she clung to him, the small bed holding them up as they cried over their loss.