"Mama, please. I am not coming to Downton for that. Papa told me he is fine by doing those things himself. If he wants me there, he can call me."

"Robert, do not be this childish, why do you want to be in London so badly?"

Robert sighed. "There is not one reason you could think of?"

"Are you that serious about that woman?"

"That woman you are talking about, happens to be my girlfriend and yes, I am that serious about her. But it is not only Cora why I want to stay in London. I love it here and Papa has said so himself, the business is doing better since I work here. As long as Papa is around, I will stay in London."

"John, so good to see you. It has been too long."

John laughed. "Two weeks is not that long, is it?"

Robert sighed. "It feels way longer."

"Is your misses tiring you out?" John winked.

Now Robert laughed. "I wish." He felt his cheeks colour slightly. "Unfortunately, it is my Mama."

John gave him a cheeky smile. "I never realised you were that type of guy."

"John!" Robert exclaimed. "Please, now I cannot get that image out of my head." He shivered. "As always my Mama is bugging me to come back to Downton. And I do not understand why. My Papa is feeling alright, he has enough functions back to run the estate the way he wants. I am to no use there. It feels like she trying to drive a wig between Cora and me. She is still not convinced that Cora is right for me."

"A more important question is: are you?" John asked.

"Convinced the is the one for me?" Robert raised his eyebrows.

"Yes, are you?"

Robert felt a foolish smile coming up. "More than convinced. I just know that she is the one."

"Why are you not making things serious than?"

"What do you mean? We are dating?"

"You both are no teenagers anymore, why are you not living together or something?"

"It is not that easy. But I have slept at her place a couple of times."

"Has she seen your Westminster apartment?"

Robert raised his eyebrows. "I do not see, why that would be important. I am almost never there anymore. We spend our time in her house or mine in Richmond. We rarely go into the city centre. She writes a lot and the other hours of the day she works in the restaurant. Why would I take her to Westminster?"

"That is a part of your life. And I would have figured you want to share your life with her? You said you have slept at her place; did she stay the night at yours?"

"John, I do not see where you want to go with this. Has Anna slept at your place?"

This made John smile. "Of course, we try to be together as much as we can and if that means sleeping at my place that means sleeping at my place. Maybe I can understand why you do not want to take her to Westminster, although I still think you are making a mistake with that. Your mother could be at your doorstep unannounced, and she does not know your address in Richmond. Robert, you need to grow up and stand up for yourself and Cora."

Robert felt he was getting angry. "Do not act as if I never do that. I have stood up to my Mama and defended Cora. Was there anything else? I think Cora is almost done with her afternoon shift and I promised to pick her up."

"Just think about sharing more of your life with her. She will be loyal to you, when you share."

Still upset about John's interfering Robert arrived at the restaurant. He saw Cora in the entree of the restaurant talking with Rosamund. This made him even more upset; it looked like Rosamund was making more effort including Cora then he did. Cora spotted him and a wide smile appeared on her face. Rosamund turned around, her belly was growing steadily, and he imagined how it would be if Cora would be pregnant. He shook off that thought, they were not in that stage of a relationship, and he was not sure they would ever get. He just did not know how to combine his Downton life with that one he shared with Cora. It felt like two different worlds, and he was not sure if he liked one better than the other.

"Hello darling." Cora greeted him with a kiss on his cheek. He loved how she always rested her hand on his stomach when she got on her tiptoes. "Rosamund just suggested to grab some drinks at the White Cross, Marmaduke will join too. Do you fancy a drink?"

"As if you would drink?" Robert said grumpy looking at Rosamund. Cora's hand was still resting on his stomach, and she softly squeezed him, which made him look at her. She raised her eyebrows.

"Something wrong?" she asked quietly.

"Never mind. Let's go for that drink." He took Cora's arm and started walking.

Cora glanced back at Rosamund who started following them. Why was Robert behaving like this, he had more of these outburst recently. He brushed her off to the side, whenever she asked about his work.

Rosamund took Marmaduke's hand in hers. "We want to ask you two a question.

Cora saw how Rosamund squeezed his hand, she looked at Robert, who was keeping his hands around his glass. Something was bothering him; she should try to get him to stay over tonight and get him to talk.

Rosamund rested one hand on her belly. "As you of course know in about 4 month's we will have our little on in our arms, if everything goes right."

Cora smiled, she could already see Rosamund rocking a little one, it would be the perfect addition to their family.

"We want to baptise our boy or girl." Marmaduke continued. "We'd love to have you two as godfather and godmother! We thought of you when we were talking about the ceremony."

This made Cora gasp, and she put her hand on Robert's leg. He did not seem to react, but then he looked up. "We are not married, what if we do not marry in the future?"

Cora pulled her hand back and looked at him in shock. What was he saying? Was he having doubts?

Rosamund looked puzzled and her gaze went from Cora to Robert and back. "Robert what are you saying? I thought you and Cora were happy together?"

Cora looked at her lap. "I thought so too." She felt her cheeks colour and tears burning.

Robert realised his mistake, he quickly put his hand on Cora's back. "I did not mean it in that way. I love you." He kissed her cheek. "I thought godparents had to be married to each other?"

Marmaduke laughed. "Why would they? Oh Robert, you should be a bit more open minded my boy."

"Robert, I do not understand you." Rosamund said firmly. "You say you love Cora, but you are showing her and us something else. Is mama bugging you again?"

"At the moment everybody is bugging me. First Mama, John this afternoon, Cora asking constantly what is wrong and now you two. When is anybody going to leave me alone."

"Hoh, Robert." Marmaduke raised his voice slightly. "Do you think you are being fare right now? Why do you think Cora is asking you if something is wrong? Would that maybe be, because you show here signs something is wrong? Do you honestly think you can shut her out constantly and then that she would be waiting for you at home, until you decide to open up? You are thirty-four years old and need to grow up and be a man. Cora deserves better, honestly I am amazed that she is still around."

Cora's cheeks were now burning red, and she knew that the only reason why Robert was still seated was, because she blocked him in, in the booth. She started to move and get up, when Robert put his hand on hers.

"Please sit back down." His cheeks were red too. "Marmaduke is right, I should not react my frustration out on you." He turned towards her. "As I said earlier, I do love you my dear. I am just scared of what will be. I am scared how Mama will treat you. I am scared how we will manage living in London and managing the estate in the future."

"Do you remember that afternoon we walked to the Temple of Diana? Do you remember what I said when we were there?"

This time Robert gave her a puzzled look. "I was too much engaged with enjoying having you next to me, I honestly do not remember."

"I told you that I did not want to go back to London when we were there. I loved the peace and quiet. You replied that you could picture me writing my book in that spot. How could you ever think that I would not want to go with you to Downton? Robert." She paused and put her other hand on top of Robert's that was still holding her hand. "I go wherever you go. I am not tied up in this city. As long as I have a calm and inspiring surrounding I can write." She almost mentioned the grand piano at Downton but remembered just in time that Rosamund and Marmaduke did not know about his talent.

"That is settled then, you two will be the godparents of our little bean." Rosamund smiled.

"We should toast on that." Marmaduke said. "Let's see what fun alcoholic free drinks they have, darling?" He extended his hand towards Rosamund, who followed him to the bar.

While Rosamund and Marmaduke stood at the bar, Robert put his hands on Cora's face. "I am so stupid for not loving you the way you deserve." Softly he kissed her.

Cora leaned into his kiss. 'Do not worry about that." She murmured against his lips.

"But I do. You deserve so much better." His thumb stroking her cheekbone.

"Stop worrying sweetheart." She put her hand up towards his neck. "You worry enough about everything. Let this go, I am here, and I will not go anywhere." She pulled him closer for another kiss. "We have found each other again and again, and every time I realise that I love you a little bit more. It has not even been a year, but I cannot imagine my life without you in it." She kissed him again. "Promise me one thing." Another soft kiss on his lips. "Never stop talking to me, if something is bothering you, do not shut me out or think that I cannot handle it. I hate being left out and ignored. My mum has done that long enough, and I need you to involve me in your life."

Robert kissed her intensely.

"On our madly in love godparents." Marmaduke said, making them jump.

Cora looked at Rosamund and mimed a thank you. Once again it had been Rosamund and this time also Marmaduke, who managed to help them safe their relationship.