Barrow's Boy - A Downton Abbey Fanfiction

Lewis' Story

     With Mr. Crawley and Lady Mary now a married couple, it seemed that the eventfulness at Dowton was finally dying down. How wrong Teddy was.

     Teddy walked into the servants' hall that morning, about to head out for school, with only two people sitting there at the time.

     "Morning Alfred. Morning Mrs. O'Brien." Alfred offered a small smile and a nod of his head, but Mrs. O'Brien simply just ignored him. He stared at her for a moment, a bit confused, but decided this was just her being herself and continued on his way out of the building. 

     He met Percy down the road, and the two continued their trek to school together. The other boy had since gotten his stitches taken out, but was left with a scar on his forehead from what Teddy was now referring to as the assault. 

     "Everett says the scar makes me look hard-boiled." Teddy couldn't help but laugh. 

     "Well, you look much better than those dates, I'll tell you that!"

     "And how!" Came a voice from behind them. Teddy and Percy turned to see Abigail, who grinned at both of them. Together, the three talked and walked to school, meeting Everett at the building. 

     They were just about to head into class when a large hand grabbed on to Teddy's arm. Turning and looking up, Teddy met eyes with Lewis, who had a smug look on his face. His friends all became defensive, standing up a little straighter and gathering around him. 

     "No need to be unwelcoming," Lewis said. "I just want to talk to the kid. Alone." They all exchanged glances before Teddy gave in.

     "Alright. You get five minutes." He replied, handing his things to his friends for them to bring into the class for him. 

     "Good. Over here." Lewis practically dragged Teddy away from them around a corner, then out of the building and to a few trees in the schoolyard. Alone was right, all of the other students were far enough away that no one was within earshot of the boys. 

     "See, midget, I've learnt some information," Lewis said, leaning back against the trunk of the tree.

     "You have?" Teddy replied, trying not to let the panic growing inside of himself show. 

     "Yes. You see, I have ways of finding things out, and what I found out is quite the story." 

     "What is it then?"

     "Tell me if this sounds familiar," Lewis said, a smirk forming on his face. "There's a young woman living in the city. Around all of these handsome men, she becomes a quiff. Starts sleeping around for the fun of it. She's not married, so it's seen as rather sinful. So, of course, she deserves it when she gets knocked up. Has her bastard child." Teddy clenched his jaw, very afraid of where this was going.

     "You'd think the woman would at least stick around to raise her own kid, but then she just drops dead. And the kid gets sent to live with the only friend she has left." Lewis finished, the smugness on his face making Teddy want to vomit. "Sound familiar?"

     "Why would it?" Teddy tried to turn and head inside, away from Lewis and his accusations, but the older boy grabbed hold of him. 

     "Don't play dumb with me, kid. I know about you."

     "It's not true!" Teddy yelled, pulling his arm away from him. 

     "Which part? You can't deny the truth, Theodore." Teddy clenched his jaw. 

     "My mother made a mistake. That doesn't make her a quiff, and it doesn't mean she slept with other men too."

     "Oh, so he admits it." Teddy took a shaky breath, trying to compose himself. "The bastard's been lying to us this whole time. That man isn't your father. You don't even know who your father is, do you?"

     "You won't tell anyone," Teddy says, ignoring the truth in Lewis' last sentence.

     "What's stopping me? You go around spending time with your high hat friends and the spade, but I know how filthy you really are. And I bet they wouldn't be your friends anymore if they knew too."

     "What can I do? What can I do to keep you quiet?" Lewis seemed to already have an answer to this.

     "You can start with my homework. I hear you're good with words and numbers and science. Those aren't my areas of expertise. I'll give it to you after class."

    All Teddy could do was nod.  

     "Why do you have so much work?" Thomas asked, looking at the various books and papers surrounding his son. Teddy looked up at him from the complicated equations. 

     "This half is mine. The other half is Saffer's." He replied, then looked down at his work again. 

     "Wait, why are you doing that heel's work?" Teddy sighed and, glancing around to make sure that no one else was paying attention to them, quietly said;

     "He knows."

     "What?" Thomas said, clearly confused. Teddy wasn't sure if he just hadn't heard or didn't know what he was talking about, so he patted the seat next to him, resulting in Thomas sitting with him as Teddy quietly explained. 

     "Lewis knows about me and how mum and my father weren't..." Teddy trailed off as realization crossed Thomas' face. The man would have uttered a swear word, had he not wanted to save his son from the profanity. 

     "Are you sure?" Teddy nodded.

    "Gave me this whole story and everything," Teddy replied, going back to the mathematics. He would have to keep working to get all of this done before dinner. 

     "But how? You haven't told anyone, have you?" Teddy shook his head.

     "Not even Abi." Thomas thought for a moment, then stood up. 

     "I'll ask his father then. Get this all sorted out. Tell the boy he was mistaken."

     "That won't work," Teddy confessed. "I tried not to admit it, but after he didn't give in- I'm sorry." Teddy looked up at his dad, hoping the tears in his eyes weren't too obvious. He hated the thought of letting Thomas down, especially not after everything he'd done for him. But Thomas' expression softened.

     "Don't be sorry, Teddy." He replied, sitting back down in the seat. "We'll figure this out together, alright?" Teddy smiled thankfully at his father and nodded.

     "Thank you, Dad. I love you."

     "I love you too, Ted," Thomas replied, ruffling Teddy's hair. "Alright, give me some of his literature work and I'll see if I can figure it out." 

     "Really?"

     "I have nothing better to do anyway." Teddy smiled and slid the books over to Thomas, both of them doing their work for another few minutes before Teddy spoke up again.

     "You know, no matter what Lewis says, you are my dad. And you always will be." Thomas looked at Teddy and smiled a bit.

     "And you'll always be my son," He replied. "And I couldn't have gotten a better one."