The Footmans Love

Chapter Five

September 1912,

"He believes papa will shove one of us at him" Mary informed her sisters, laughing slightly at the words. Matthew was certainly not the type of man she would want, perhaps Edith would go after him, she was desperate for a mans attention after all.

Sybil took a short sip of tea, "cousin Matthew does seem to make assumptions" she whispered, her words somehow seeming kind.

"What are you three doing" Laurence said, walking into the library novel in hand.

"Their gossiping about cousin Matthew" Edith informed, already having a soft spot for the new heir despite having never met him. "Ignore her" Mary began lifting her face so Laurence was in her view, "she just fancies him already" she added with a sly smile. "Do not" Edith countered, sounding slightly like a young girl.

Laurence laughed at his cousins antics going to sit next to Sybil on one of the sofas, Mary and Edith continued to bicker, slowly becoming louder with each sentence.

"They're quiet dramatic" Laurence leaned in to tell Sybil in a hushed tone, "but it is fun to watch" Sybil responded equally as quiet. "Is it true uncle Robert has allowed them to reside in one of the estates?" Laurence questioned, Sybil silently nodded. "We're having dinner with them" Mary said, breaking up the fight with Edith by simply moving her topic of discussion to another matter.

Edith's face turned a slight pink at the mention of Matthew coming for dinner, she most definitely fancied the man.

Laurence continued to sit by and listen as his cousins bickered, his mind shifting to Thomas who had not spoken to him much at all since the what could now be confirmed as a fight. What had he said that had made Thomas so angry? he truly could not wonder why the footman wouldn't just share his emotions with others.

He couldn't have known how long he sat there, slowly zoning in and out of the three girls conversation. Pulled out of his trance by Mary announcing her, Edith, and Sybil would have to go change for dinner with the Crawleys.

Laurence stood up after they had left, making his way to his room to find his evening suit waiting on the bed for him. Thomas was no where to be found so Laurence decided he would dress himself tonight, he had done it before and it did not prove too challenging.

Once everything was properly on his body he went to grab his dinner eyepatch, only finding it wasn't where he had left it, nor was his brown one. He had left them both lying on his desk, not believing he would need them while simply lounging around Downton. He began to search high and low for either one, something to conceal his, what he believed to be hideous face. Cursing under his breath at the realization that he would not be able to find it, he began to panic.

Would they be repulsed by his appearance? would they insult his deformity? would they be simply down right rude?

He brushed the questions away as he heard a knock at the door, "Laurence are you jointing us?" "one moment Sybil!" he yelled back grabbing a handkerchief and covering his face with it.

Sybil and Edith stood waiting once he made it to the door, "you are not wearing that to dinner" Edith said bluntly, "but" he began only to be cut off by Sybil, "mark my words they will not care now let's hurry" she said, grabbing the handkerchief from him and throwing it inside the room before leading Edith and Laurence down the stairs.

He followed them and stood behind Sybil in the line they were to great the Crawleys in, he very much did not want to exit the room and enter the hall but he did not have much of a choice.

Violet and Cora would most likely drag him out kicking and screaming if he said he would not greet them.

following the ladies out to the great hall he held his breath, hoping that the Crawleys would be far more focused on Cora and his cousins. Lord Grantham began slowly introducing everyone to one another, that attempt at peace being cut off by the dowagers sarcastic remarks.

Cora led the way into the drawing room, very clearly in hopes that they could be civil to one another in a more private environment. Laurence paid no attention to anyone much, his attention shifting to Carson's shock when he realized the boy did not have his eyepatch on.

Somewhere in his mind he registered that Matthew and his mother stared slightly at his face, who wouldn't have? the damage being made apparent by the lack of fabric covering it.

"And who are you?" Isobel questioned Laurence kindly, "Laurence" he responded briefly, not wishing to continue the conversation any further which it luckily did not.

The dinner had not gone extremely well, snide comments being made from practically everyone besides Sybil, Edith, Laurence, and Cora who all stayed relatively quiet. The following dinner they had with the Crawleys was not much better, in fact it had gone fairly worse with Mary going on a tangent about a greek myth. Which if Laurence was to be frank was rather disgusting, Matthew didn't appear to be a spectacular gentlemen but he was decently kind. Not as kind as Sybil of course, but still kind.

The following two months were somehow even worse, for both Laurence and Downton as a whole.

Thomas would barely speak to Laurence, Matthew seemed to further distance himself, Mary seemed to be increasingly rude, and in November Downton went through a major scandal. Mary had invited a supposedly old friend who had brought along a Mr Pamuk from Turkey, who had died inside the estate the morning after he had arrived.

More or less things were appearing to be going horrible for the Crawley family, perhaps Christmas would bring the mood around in the grand house, perhaps indeed.

(A/N: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, I have chosen not to write in a chapter for episode three instead skipping straight to a little Christmas special, as I have not been able to find a way to fit Laurence in that episode without ruining a bit of the plot. Non the less until next time dear reader!)