Florence

season 1 episode 1

DISCLAIMER: All characters and locations in this story belong to Julian Fellowes except from my OC Florence Crawley. This story has been created for entertainment purposes only.

AN1: Please pardon any mistakes. I currently do not have a beta for this story.

Episode 1 - Meet the Crawley Family

Florence Crawley had always loved her life. She was the second child of Lord and Lady Grantham of Downton Abbey. She had dark black hair like her mother and her only older sibling Mary. Her skin was pale but not sickly. Her eyes were a unique emerald green that seemed to glow in the sunlight. She resembled her father greatly however her facial features were sharper than her fathers. This combination made her an extremely beautiful young woman, something that was mentioned many times during and after her season.

Florence was very close to her family, especially her father. Florence also got on well with all three of her siblings, which seemed unusual in this family. Mary and Edith have never gotten along. Florence and her youngest sibling, Sybil, were often stuck in the middle. Florence was often the one to temper Mary while Sybil tempered Edith.

Florence was incredibly smart and talented however she had some peculiar 'traits' as Grandma Violet likes to call them. In actual fact, Florence had a very mild form of obsessive neurosis, not that anyone outside of the trusted few were aware of that. Florence has to make her own bed three times in a morning before she goes to breakfast and she has to turn her pillow twice before she can sleep. Her table place must be laid perfectly otherwise she can't eat. Fortunately for Florence, they were the only compulsions she has to deal with on a regular basis. She knew that stressful situations had the potential of creating more. It was how the first three had developed.

When Florence awoke on the 16th April 1912 she had no idea that events that happened the previous night would change her life in ways that she could never imagine. Florence woke naturally and lay leisurely in her bed. Florence heard the sound of a cyclist outside. She stood from the bed and shyly looked out of the window to see the newspaper delivery boy. Florence turned to the bed and already felt the compulsion to make it. She made her bed. She unmade it and remade it before unmaking and remaking it again. Florence then felt able to ring for Anna.

Anna entered the room after a knock on the door. Anna helped Florence into her day clothes, without making any mention of the made-up bed. Anna was one of the few people in the house to be in the know of Florence's compulsion and that was because Anna was the first person to see Florence in the morning and the last person to see her at night. It was while Anna was getting her ready that Anna shared with her the terrible news. The Titanic had sunk. Florence could not believe her ears. The unsinkable was sunk.

Florence thanked Anna before making her way down to breakfast. She met up with both Mary and Edith at the staircase and they walked into the breakfast room together. The three of them immediately surrounded their father as he looked at the newspaper. It was announcing the sinking of the Titanic, the unsinkable ship.

"When Anna told me, I thought she must have dreamt it." Edith commented in shock.

"It's terrible. All of those people." Florence commented sadly as she read the paper over her father's shoulder. Florence had always been the one with the softest heart in the family, only rivalled by Sybil's soft heart.

"Do we know anyone on board?" Mary asked before moving to start collecting her breakfast from the buffet.

"Your mother knows the Astors... at least she knows him. We dined with Lady Rothes last month. There are bound to be others." Robert replied, his eyes not moving from the paper.

"I thought it was supposed to be unsinkable." Edith commented as she also turned to the buffet.

"No boat in unsinkable." Florence replied.