Single Night, Double Trouble

A/N: Two NSFW paragraphs; the rest has been censored for rating.

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Anna knew that it was going to be a bad day when she entered the office to find Mary Crawley standing by the window, glaring out at the dreary city buildings as if she would quite like to knock them all down.

"Oh dear," she said, dumping her bag on the desk and throwing down her car keys. "What's happened?"

Mary span around, fixing her with that same steely gaze. Anna almost wished that she would go back to laying every pagan curse she knew on the landscape. Still, she tried not to show that she was being affected, bustling around her space to collect the day's memos. There was never a dull day in the advertising section of Crawley's Publishing.

"That bastard's gone and done it!" Mary hissed, beginning to pace back and forth like an angry, regal cat. "I can't believe that he would!"

"Gone and done what?" Anna enquired, though she wasn't sure she should get too involved; since Mary and Matthew's recent breakup, any conversation about her best friend's ex was dangerous territory.

"He's gone and hooked up with some other floozy!" Mary hissed.

"Well, you could hardly have expected him to remain a monk forever," said Anna, then wished she hadn't—if looks could kill, she was quite sure Mary would have had her drop dead with the glare that she shot her.

"It's only been a few months!" she growled. "A few months, and he's already jumping into the sack with someone else!"

"How did you find out?" Anna asked tentatively.

"Edith is still friends with him on Facebook. Apparently he's changed his relationship status and tagged her in. Lavinia Catherine Swire is her name. Edith was practically crowing when she told me, you know she's so pathetic that she just loves it when anything goes wrong for me."

Privately, Anna thought that was a little uncharitable towards Mary's middle sister. While it was true that the two didn't particularly get along, Edith had matured a lot during the years and she was nowhere near as bitter as Mary still seemed to think she was. And Mary herself hadn't exactly been a saint. But she could understand some of Mary's ire. Her best friend was obviously still in love with her ex, despite the fact that she had been the one to end their relationship. She was simply far too stubborn to admit it, or indeed do anything about it. That was one of Mary's most frustrating qualities.

"So I assume you've looked at a picture of her?" she prompted. It seemed like it was ingrained in women to torture themselves when new girlfriends were involved.

"Of course I have," Mary grumbled.

"So what's she like?"

At this, Mary deflated a little. "Honestly? She's gorgeous. She's got a very lovely face. I'd say she's the complete opposite of me in every way. Looks like he's trying to run a mile."

"Maybe it won't last. It might be a rebound thing. You said yourself, he can't have been looking for too long."

"Oh, who knows." Mary straightened herself; Anna could see her physically pulling her invisible armour back on, ready to face the world once more. "Now, what are your plans for tomorrow evening?"

Of all the line of questioning, Anna hadn't been expecting that. Warily, she asked, "Why?"

Her friend rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Because it's Valentine's Day. I assume you don't have plans. You haven't had a date in years."