Not a Problem

She was still buzzing with the excitement of it. Unused to not eventually getting her way, Mary Crawley simply did not have the same trepidation and hesitation as did Anna Bates. Her Lady's Maid and, dare she say it, dear and loyal friend would be pregnant. Her wishes and desires, always seeming just out of reach or ripped away when least expected would be brought to fruition.

That is, if Lady Mary Crawley had anything to say or do about it. And she did.

As her mind flew through the arrangements that would need to be made, the subterfuge necessary to assuage Bates' suspicions, she knew she was smiling broadly. As the details began to come together in her thoughts, she paid no attention to the bustle of the maids in the rooms or the opening of her father's dressing room door.

It was thanks to his quick reflexes, and a sudden pivot on his cane, that Mr. Bates did not walk right into her. He had tuned to close the door behind him and, not seeing her striding down the corridor, nearly rammed into her when he turned back to begin his measured way towards the servant's stair.

Mary gasped and jumped slightly to the side to avoid him. He pressed himself back against the wall with a grunt and fumbled to keep hold of the armload of His Lordship's clothing.

"Oh! Goodness! You came out of nowhere, Bates."

"I'm very sorry, M'lady," he replied immediately, professional politeness overriding any impulse to raise the point that she hadn't been watching where she was going and that her father's dressing room was hardly nowhere.

Professional politeness was unable to prevent a small lift of his eyebrow when she did not accept his apology with a gracious nod of her head and move on. As she stared at him for a moment, a hint of a smile at the corners of her mouth, the first eyebrow was joined by the other one and he tilted his head in uncomfortable confusion.

"Can I help with anything, M'lady?" he finally asked after clearing his throat.

"No. I think you've done quite enough already," she responded.

"Is there a problem?" he asked brusquely, wondering at her smile, which was beginning to look more like a delighted grin, to his great consternation and wonder.

"Not at all. No problem, Bates," she promptly replied, biting her lip to stem the extremely uncharacteristic urge to giggle. At his expression, she had to walk away quickly, throwing a dismissal over her shoulder at him as they shook with repressed laughter. She could feel his eyes boring into her back as she stepped quickly to the stairs and hoped he didn't catch her bark of laughter as she descended.

"Is Lady Mary quite alright?" Bates asked his wife in a low voice the first moment they had together.

"I think so," she replied. "Why?"

"I just had the oddest conversation with her."

"Really? I didn't think you and Lady Mary had conversations."

"I didn't think so either. But I almost ran into her upstairs. She seemed very…preoccupied about something."

Anna hummed noncommittally and directed her gaze at the top of the table.

"Ordinarily, she doesn't pay all that much attention to me. But something about me struck her as funny."

"Oh?" she said nervously.

"And when I asked her if there was a problem, I thought she was going to burst out laughing.

Anna's tea cup began to rattle in the saucer and she set it down. Fortunately, Mr. Bates didn't notice her expression twist to hold back a sudden giggle.

"What do you suppose is going on?" he asked, a thoughtful frown on his face.

"Honestly, I couldn't say," she murmured.