Disclaimers: Although I wish I were the creative genius behind John's and Robert's character, they belong to Julian Fellowes. It also appears I was off with the dates of the 2nd Boer War (and now decided to modify Sybil's birthday, which makes more sense in order to have the dates of the war right). I'm apologizing, it's all very new to me. I didn't even know about this war before Downton, I'm not from England... So I wanted Sybil to be conceived during the story. And since she's somewhere around 17 in 1912, she was born around 1895. So I'm asking you to accept that in this universe, Sybil is born later... Sorry again.

Thank you for your reviews, they are highly appreciated!

29 May 1900

The sunbeams were entering the quarters of Captain Crawley as a new day was arising.

It was 2 months now that they had last visited London and Robert was anxious to get back to his expanding family. John knew it was hard for his Captain to be away from his now pregnant wife and daughters, but it was his duty to be fighting for his country.

John was helping him get his uniform on, adjusting his white belt and brushing his shoulders. He then reached for the sparkling sword he had been polishing the evening before and carefully handed it to Robert who put it into his sheath. John did the same with his colt. When he had finished, he faced Robert.

"Will that be all, sir?"

"Yes Bates," he said before turning back to him. "Well, not quite, actually. Today we will ride into battle. It will maybe result in our taking of Johannesburg. You will need to prepare my horse as well as yours. And before you go, I have received a letter for you. From England. It doesn't say from whom it is though. But I'm afraid you're gonna have to wait before opening it up, my friend. War doesn't wait for us."

With that, he handed John the brown letter before leaving the room. John carefully placed it in his front pocket before heading to the stables and preparing the horse. It was surely a letter from his mother, though he found it very odd that she didn't mark her name on the back of the enveloppe.

After traveling all morning, and waiting for other units to arrive, they had finally all gathered just before crossing the Klip River where the Boers were certainly waiting for them to come for several days. It was the last Boer defences before taking the city of Johannesburg. After a full year of defeat and lost battles, struggling against the Boer tactics and their better weaponry, they had turned the tables during spring and had, for the first time, good chances to win this war. Johannesburg was just one of the first great cities to be conquered and it was only a matter of time before they'd invade Transvaal like they had done with the Orange Republic three days prior.

But for now, they had to make it a reality and fight valiantly to reclaim those territories. The Boers were known to fight until their last breaths, never giving up, making them dangerous enemies. John had had experience fighting them before being assigned to be Captain

Crawley's batman. All the battles had been lost and he had been lucky to have escaped unscathed.

But this time, the British Army was well prepared. Recruits from all over the empire had been called and new machineries and guns had been provided. Looking around him, John was impressed by the number of men assembling by the river. Three canons were towed by horses, infantry and cavalry alike were forming their units position again, in preparation of the imminent battle.

John, in his khaki uniform, wearing his pith helmet, white belt and his survival knife in his sheath was holding Captain Crawley's and his own reins in his left hand and his brand new Lee-Enfield rifle on the other. The sun was now high in the sky and the heat was uncomfortable.

Finally Robert came back towards Bates, wearing his bush slouch hat and the same khaki uniform, his sword dangling at his left side.

"Ah, Bates! Here you are! You can let the horses here, we won't need them in our task. Our unit will have to make sure that our battalions are safe. A Boer farm has been located on the South East part of the battlefield. We will have to attack the snipers positioned there and reverse the situation by taking advantage of the location and shooting at Boer units. Go fetch our men, we will begin the attack in ten minutes."

"Aye, sir," answered John, making the salute before going to look for his comrades. There was no backing out now. The battle was to begin and though John would not be at the heart of the fighting, he was not entirely relieved as the task they had been given was as risky as it was crucial in their victory.

They were hidden behind rocks, flat on their stomachs, biting the dust to avoid the bullets. The element of surprise had already faded, the enemies were now more organised and hidden behind the walls of the farm. John had managed to shoot two Boers when they had launched the attack. But the numbers of enemies killed had decreased and their number of casualties increased. Robert had said that the Boer gathered in the farms couldn't be more than ten men. But their rifles were inflicting great damage to the rocks and trees hiding them.

Robert tried to motion towards a bigger rock but his white belt reflected the sun and gave his position away. John saw the gliming of a rifle and without hesitation jumped on Robert as the shot echoed. They rolled on the dusty ground and hid behind a dead trunk. It was just enough space for the both of them.

"Are you alright, sir?" John asked, concerned.

Robert patted himself.

"It appears so, Bates. But I can't say the same for my hat." John looked in the direction where they had fallen on the ground and saw Robert's hat in the dust with a big hole on the top.

"What now, sir? It seems our tactic isn't very effective…"

Robert sighed. He looked up for a few seconds, more carefully this time, and turned back to face John.

"There is still a sniper at the big window facing us. If you could take him down, Bates, we could try to barge in there and outnumber them. Letting them hide is giving them the advantage."

John shifted uncomfortably.

"I don't know if I can do it, sir. The distance is quite considerable from the farm and they are well hidden."

"Nonsense, Bates! I've never seen a better shot in my life! I will try to create a diversion while you prepare to shoot so he will come out of his hiding-place."

"I can't let you risk your life, sir! It is my duty to protect you!" Bates said, alarmed, grabbing Robert while he was trying to reason with him.

"What do you think I am? A hot-head or a fool?" At John's hesitation, Robert continued. "Please, don't answer that. I'm not going to sacrifice myself so you can shoot. I will throw this branch on the other side to get his attention, and then you'll kill the man."

John left a sigh of relief he didn't know he was holding. No one would be at risk, except himself if he failed. Robert looked at him as if he was asking if he was good with the plan and John nodded. He put himself in position, ready to shoot. Robert instructed the other man to wait until the sniper was dead to run to the farm and attack the men left inside.

Robert took a big stick and gave a nod to John who adjusted his rifle on his shoulder. The blue-eyed Captain threw the stick opposite their position and as predicted, a head came out of the window and shot towards it. At the same time, John took aim and shot the man right through the head.

"Attack!" yelled Robert who rose with his men and ran towards the walls of the farm. John followed. Bullets were flying all around them, and a man running alongside him collapsed to the ground. John knew he couldn't stop here where he was exposed or he would be the next one with a bullet in his body.

He reached the walls of the farm and collapsed near Robert, panting, his rifle held closely to his chest. But something caught his eye on the ground next to him. Some brownish paper. His letter must have fallen from his front pocket while jumping under the protection of the wall. He reached for it and as he was placing it back, he noticed the torn envelope and discerned a few words on the white paper inside. He only managed to grasp two words out of it: 'Vera' and 'pregnant'. The world around him seemed to vanish as the meaning of these two words stoke him. The shock had taken possession of his muscles, forbidding him to move. He could vaguely hear the sound of Robert's voice giving an order to attack as men from the farm got out of their protection to engage in hand-to-hand combat. How could it be true? He had only spent a night with her, completely unable to remember any details from that evening after his second glass of whiskey. And now, two months later, he was to be a father from a child whose mother he barely knew, out of wedlock. How would his mother react to the news? What was he to do? He had never thought of becoming a parent. Not after seeing his father treating his own son and wife.

But those questions were interrupted in a flash when someone grabbed him and threw him onto the ground. John caughed, having eaten some dust, and realised his helmet had rolled a few metres away from his position. He tried to turn around to see what had happened, but a fist collided with his jaw, sending a sharp pain up to his ear. He felt something on his left side and with a reflex, managed to stop the two hands holding his knife to stab him in the chest. A man with a brown beard and beady little eyes sat on him, pushing with all his strength to close the gap between the tip of the knife and John's throat. The position was clearly not in his favour, the gravity and laws of physics working against him. Every second feeling like an eternity and the tip getting closer every time. John yelled a cry of despair at the effort and as he was about to give up, completely exhausted, the knife fell on his right side and a dead weight fell upon him. John felt something warm running on his face.

"Bates!" he heard a familiar voice call his name. "Bates, are you alright? Please tell me you're alive!"

John felt the dead weight on his body shifting on the side and he breathed loudly, after holding his breath for several seconds as the pressure on his chest was preventing him from breathing. John saw for the first time the body lying next to him on the ground and he suppressed the urge to throw up on Robert's boots.

"Oh good lord in the heavens! Bates!" Robert said. He had seen Bates frozen, being savagely attacked by a Boer and had just arrived in time to plant his own knife on the Boer's neck. His hands were shaking as he helped John get up and pulled him into an embrace.

"I thought I lost you! What would I do without you?", he said, his breath jerky with emotion, tightening his grip around John.

The moon had risen in the sky. They had achieved their goals, killing the snipers in the farm and had successfully defended their troops on the battlefield. The British had pushed them to a corner and had made their way to Johannesburg. Captain Crawley's battalion had been ordered to stay up at the farm in case any more Boer forces were to come and claim back what they had lost.

They had found food in the drawers and had cooked a meal for the 6 men remaining. They had endured great losses today, and though it had been a key victory, none of the men had the heart to celebrate.

Robert handed a cigar to John that he had found along with the food left by the Boers. They were sitting there, outside the barn, looking at the starry sky above them, looking dishevelled with mud on their face. John still had some blood on his right cheek where his assailant had fallen upon him. He had tried to scrub it, but nothing could be done. It was now dry and John felt dirty. The vision of the man lying next to him in a puddle of blood was still dancing before his eyes. John was still in shock and Robert must have picked up on it as he broke the silence between them.

"Are you really alright, Bates?" he asked him, his big kind blue eyes staring right into his own, full of concern. John was touched by his Captain's care.

"I will be, sir," John finally answered. "It's just, coming so close to dying and then seeing the man…" his voice cracked. He didn't need to finish his sentence. Robert was nodding, knowing full well what John meant.

"I know. I'm pretty shaken up, to be honest. I never had to kill someone that close before. I knew going into a war would be pretty horrible, but one can never prepare for facing this kind of situation and dealing with it."

Silence felt again between them until John felt the urge to reassure his superior.

"You did what you had to do sir. You saved my life, and because of your quick thinking, we won today."

"You're maybe right, Bates," he paused. "What happened there? I saw you froze… It's unlike you. You're always so careful."

John sighed. He knew that he couldn't fool Robert, he already suspected there was more.

"There is more troubling me, sir." He reached for the enveloppe he had picked up from the ground after nearly being killed. "It is because of the content of this letter. You see, I was getting ready to charge in when I saw it had slipped from my pocket and as I reached to put it back I saw the content of it." John handed the letter to Robert, and put his head into his hands, too ashamed to look at his Captain while he was reading the trouble he had once again managed to get into.

"Goodness me, Bates! It says here you're going to be a father! What wonderful news! You never told me you had a girl at home!" But Robert stopped when he saw the look on John's face, and continued his reading. "Ohhhh… I see."

"She says her family will dishonour her if I do not marry her before she gives birth. How could I let this happen? I'm a stupid, stupid man!"

"Don't be too hard on yourself, Bates." said Robert while putting a friendly hand on his shoulder.

"And my mother will kill me for putting myself in this situation. I've already disappointed her enough as it is… I only see one way to solve this. I have to go back to London and marry Vera, a woman I hardly know."

"Have I ever told you how I encountered Cora?" John shook his head. "Well, my father was broke, and the family needed money in order to save the estate. So I went to America and found the daughter of a wealthy American family. I married her for money, Bates. I am ashamed of my motives back then. But it didn't stop us from falling in love. If it can happen between Cora and I, I'm certain it can happen for you and your Vera. And Bates, you are going to be a father! How wonderful is that?" Our babies will almost be born at the same time! How exciting!"

Robert was gleaming just at the thought of his daughters and his unborn baby. The pride on his face was so apparent, it was almost as bright as the moon in the sky.

"That is because you're a natural, sir. I don't think I could be a good father…"

"What makes you say that?" Robert looked confused, frowning at his statement.

"It is because of my own father… I'm afraid I will perpetuate the Bates curse."

"Now I know you're talking nonsense. A curse! It doesn't exist."

"My grandfather was a drunkard and a bad father. He used to beat up my dad when he was young. And when my father had me, he started drinking and beating my mother and I. I'm afraid I will turn like them. I don't want my child to be afraid of me and to grew up like I did."

Robert was now smiling.

"What did I say that makes you smile, sir?" Bates asked.

"You've spoken like a father. You didn't know this child existed 4 hours ago and you're already concerned for its well-being. I say you already love this baby. And if what I see in you is any indication, then you will be a great father. Go marry that girl and be happy!"

John still had some doubts in his heart about Vera but he had to admit that Robert was right. He knew what he needed to do and he was thankful for having Robert sharing his experience and giving him some hope in the future.