Downton Abbey: The Next Generation

Chapter 5: Jack and Cate

Jack's POV

"What do you mean?" I asked Caroline after she made her announcement. 

"Just that," she replied. "If a war comes and they call up the young men to fight, I'm going with them." Everyone had stopped eating and stared at Caroline.

"Is this because of what I said?" Grandpa Robert asked her. Caroline nodded and looked at him smugly.

"That has some part to do with it, Grandpa Robert," she said. My cousins and I all looked at each other, shocked. That was the first time Caroline called him Grandpa Robert instead of Donk.

"She must be really mad," I whispered to George. 

"I think so too," he whispered back. "She's never called him Grandpa Robert in her life, so this is clearly the maddest she's ever been."

"Well, I think that's wonderful," my sister, Cate said. "Woman making their own lives and wanted to do hat the men do."

"Of course you do," I muttered. "Lousy little suck up." Cate whipped her head at me, angrily.

"What did you say?" She said. 

"I said you were a lousy suck up who only agrees to make people like you," I shot. She snarled at me.

"Did it ever occur to you that that's what I believe. That I am more than just a pretty face. That I have brains and thoughts of my own."

"I wouldn't say you were a pretty face."

"You are such a..." Cate started, but Mum cut her off.

"Jack and Cate that is quite enough," Mum said angrily. "You too are spoiling a very nice dinner."

"But Mama," Cate protested, but Mum gave her an angry look. I smiled at her smugly and she shot me a nasty look. She may have a louder voice, but I had the leg up on my twin. I was older and the heir. 

Cate's POV

"I can't believe him!" I complained to Grace and Caroline after dinner. "He just has to poke fun at me just because he's older."

"That's the way it goes sometimes," Grace said. "Brothers and sisters fight and poke fun at each other." We were quiet for a moment be fore Caroline broke the silence.

"I just had the craziest thought," she told us.

"Even crazier than being a female soldier?" Grace asked Caroline, teasingly. Caroline shoved her with her elbow and went on talking.

"I just thought, if George does get called up to fight, who would he put in charge of Downton?" The group of us sat there for a moment, thinking about what Caroline had said. 

"What if he appoints Cate and Jack!" Grace said suddenly. "That would be hilarious." She and Caroline burst into fits of laughter.

"That's not funny, Grace," I snapped. But then I thought about it more. If George did go off to war, the only other of us who knows about estate management is Jack and myself. We were the only one's, other than Aunt Mary and Uncle Tom, who knew how to manage an estate.

"But it is funny, Cate," she told me. "You and Jack are constantly at each other's throats. Imagine if you had to work together on the estate." I growled at the pair of them and decided to talk to another group. 

"Um...Cate," someone said, tapping my shoulder. I turned to find my brother, standing sheepishly behind me.

"Yes," I said. "But are you sure you want to talk to a lousy suck up like myself." He gave me a nasty look and pulled me aside.

Jack's POV

"What do you want me for?" Cate asked, tapping her foot, impatiently. 

"Oh shut up," I told her. "I need to ask you a question." Cate stared at me with wide eyes and an "O" of a mouth.

"You, oh high and mighty Jack, need to ask little peasant me a question," she said laughing. "I never thought I'd live to see the day."

"Will you just shut up and listen," I shot at her. "Have people been telling you that you and I will be in charge of the estate if George has gone to war?"

"Yes, why?"

"Well, do you think they're serious?" I asked, nervously. Cate looked at me as though I was stupid.

"Of course not," she said. "I don't think we'll have to go to war, let alone have us be put in charge of the estate."

"I know, but hear me out. We are the only ones who know anything about estate management and we are family to George." Cate suddenly started looking nervous. She started chewing on her finger nails as she always did.

"What are we going to do?" She asked. "What if we are put in charge, what if we start messing things up around the estate. We make the estate lose money and then we drove our family to ruin and what if..." Cate started spiraling as she did usually did. Mum always said Cate had attacks when she felt as though she couldn't breath. They usually happened when she got too nervous. 

"Cate, Cate breath," I told her. I may not like her most of the time, but she was still my sister. Cate put her hand on her chest and took deep breathes. I looked at her and studied her carefully. Marigold, Mum, Dad, and I knew the signs of Cate's panic attacks. I sat her down in a chair and helped her breath.

"Thanks Jack," she said after she had calmed herself down.

"Of course Cate. You're my sister, I may not like you, but I'll always love you."

Cate's POV

"Now," I said after pulling myself together. "What are we going to do?" Jack said we needed to plan in private. I told him I was sharing with Marigold and to meet me back here once everyone had gone to bed. We all split of to our rooms and I quickly changed into night clothes.

"Cate," Marigold said when we reached our room. "Are you alright? It looked like you had a panic attack tonight."

"I'm fine, Mar," I told her. "I got a little nervous about the war and what we would do if George went off to fight and if Caroline followed through on her plan and and..." I felt myself not being able to breath anymore. I focused on my breathing and sat down on my bed.

"It's alright Cate," Marigold told me. "Remember, focus on the things you can control, not the things you can't." I nodded and kissed my sister on the cheek. We turned off our light and crawled into our beds. I waited until I knew everyone was asleep, then silently crept back to the drawing room. Jack was sitting with a light in a chair near the no longer lit fireplace.

"Took you long enough to," he said, exasperated. "I thought you actually fell asleep and would have left me waiting all night."

"Oh shut up," I told him. "Now what's our plan?" Jack lean closer to me and we sat in the darkness, discussing our plans.