AN: The idea for this story came to me some time during the summer and I have it all planned out. I am very sorry about killing Isobel off right at the beginning, but this story only makes sense if she is not alive. After all, why would Matthew have spent his entire childhood at Downton if his mother had been alive?

Just to be sure, I actually am quite the Isobel fan and I really, really want her to be happy at the end of the season six (and I think I am rooting for Dr. Clarkson to be the man to make her so, although I also think that Dickie Merton's sons are unbelievable and should not ruin their father's or Isobel's happiness).

This story will be updated once a week. I am planning to always update on Sundays. I wanted to do it on Saturdays first but then I remembered that Countess of Cobert always updates on Saturday (if you haven't read any of her stories, you should start reading them today, especially if you are a Cobert shipper and like surprising turns). I thought that it might make more sense if this story was not updated the same day as 'Love Lost' as I suspect that there are a few people out there who read Countess of Cobert's stories and mine. Then I thought that maybe I shouldn't update on Sundays either as 'the real Downton' is on TV then, but let's be honest, how much Cobert are we going to get with this being the last season and neither Mary nor Edith married so far?

Alright, this is the end of my rambling.

Please tell me what you think of this story (I promise Cora will be introduced in chapter 3).

Happy Downton Day everyone!

Kat

June 1888-December 1888

Robert

"A cousin of mine has died."

"Oh?" He doesn't really know what to say, only that he has to say something. He hates being at the breakfast table and not talking to his father, it always feels as if they had had fight, even if that was not necessarily true. Ever since Rosamund got married almost two years ago it has always been just him and his father at the breakfast table. His mother always breakfasts in bed and there is no one else. Rosamund used to talk to their father throughout breakfast, about everything and nothing and all he had to do was listen. But now that his sister doesn't live at Downton anymore, he feels as if it was his job to keep his father in a good mood.

"Which cousin?" he asks. His father has a lot of cousins, first cousins, second cousins, third cousins, once removed, twice removed; Robert really has no idea what it all means, only that they have a huge family and that his father as the Earl of Grantham is the head of them all. As he will be one day.

"Reginald Crawley."

"I don't think I've ever heard of him."

"No, maybe not. He is a doctor, living in Manchester." That of course explains it. No one would ever talk about a relative who was a doctor.

"Well, he used to live in Manchester, as he is dead now. And so apparently is his wife. It was a carriage accident. They have a small son, three years old."

"How tragic." He really finds this tragic. The poor boy, losing both his parents in one accident at such a young age. He only hopes the boy's parents were somehow able to provide for him.

"We are asked to provide for him. Not take him in, only pay for his education, possibly support the family that will take him."

"I think we should do that," Robert replies and he sees his father nod. It does not surprise him, the Earl of Grantham is expected to help in such circumstances and his father would never refuse to do what was expected of him. Robert of course would have helped too, but for a different reason. He would have helped because he felt sorry for the boy.

"What's his name?"

"Whose name?" His father looks at him perplexedly.

"The little boy we just talked about."

"Matthew. Matthew Reginald Crawley."

.

For the next two weeks little Matthew Reginald Crawley enters Robert's mind quite frequently. He feels so sorry for the little boy and hopes that he has been given into a good family. But when they don't hear anything about Matthew at all for the following three months, Robert supposes that the boy is doing well and puts him out of his mind. The child is after all only three years old, he has never met him, probably will never meet him and in any case, Matthew is just a very distant relative the family is helping because they are obliged to help. So he puts Matthew out of his mind and thoughts. That is until another letter arrives and this time his father reads it out to him

.

Dear Lord Grantham,

We are addressing you concerning a rather unpleasant matter. However, do not be alarmed, this letter is intended only to inform you of some proceedings regarding the orphan Matthew Reginald Crawley whom you are kindly supporting. The child has proven to be rather difficult, in fact too difficult to stay with his current family, the family of his mother's cousin. Fortunately, another relative of his mother's has offered to take him in, in the hopes of changing his behavior and bringing him onto the right path. The new family would greatly appreciate it if you continued to support the boy.

Yours sincerely,

Edward Watkins

.

"Well, I suppose it does not really matter to us where he lives."

"So you will continue to support him?" Robert wonders why he cares so much about this boy he has never met, but maybe it is because he himself is now an adult and this is the first time that the family is asked for help with him being an adult. Of course his father has done so before, but then Robert had been a boy and did not really grasp what 'supporting' meant in this case.

"Yes, it is what we are supposed to do. It is what is expected of us." 'What is expected of us', a sentence that has been Robert's companion all his life. He sometimes feels as if all he ever did was done because it was expected of him. He is unsure whether he likes or despises this, it gives his life a structure but he is not sure whether it also gives his life a purpose. But this is not something to be discussed with his father, so he merely nods.

.

Again they don't hear anything about little Matthew Crawley for several months and Robert had almost forgotten about him when one day during an almost lonely dinner with just his parents his father brings Matthew up again.

.

"Matthew Crawley, the son of my cousin who died in Manchester, turns out to be rather bothersome." Robert's mother looks up at this, surprise written on her face.

"Who is Matthew Crawley?" Robert is not surprised by his father obviously not having told his mother about the little boy the family is supporting. The Earl of Grantham treats this as a matter of business and business is nothing the Countess of Grantham should not be bothered with. Robert is not sure whether his father wouldn't do well to sometimes involve his mother a little more. Violet Crawley is a very intelligent woman after all and for Robert it is much easier to look up to his mother than to his father. His mother, just as his father, is a creature of duty, but she at least has a heart that does not only exist for the purpose of pumping blood, even if she continually tries to hide the fact that she has feelings.

"A distant relative we are supporting because it is what is expected of us."

"And why is he bothersome? Supporting a distant relative cannot be very expensive. We won't have to spend a tenth of what we spent on Rosamund's clothes on him." Robert wants to laugh but his father looks pointedly bored at his mother's comment and so he holds back. He sometimes thinks that his parents pretend to be more disinterest in each other than is good even for them. Their marriage of course is one of convenience, just as his will be, he is sure. Rosamund is the only person he knows who got married for love and he admires her greatly for it. But he knows that he can never follow her example, she is the daughter of an Earl, he is the only son of an Earl, there is quite a difference between the lives that have been mapped out for them.

"We've been asked to take the boy in. He seems to be a lot of trouble. So much trouble that his mother's relatives think that it would be best if he lived in a household with a nanny for a time." Robert sees his mother raise an eyebrow at this and her face contorts.

"We don't have a nanny," she remarks and his father replies "Even though God knows we could use one because some of the servants behave like children."

"That is because some of the servants are children," his mother shoots back. The age of the servants they employ is one of the many things his parents fight about, his father thinks his mother should not bother about and that Robert thinks his father should listen to his mother about. His father employs children as young as ten, his mother thinks they should be at least twelve and have a little more than just a rudimentary education. She always argues that while servants certainly need not and should not attend Oxford or Cambridge, they should at least be able to read and write and do a bit of calculating, just to be able to 'do their job properly', as she likes to say.

"We could employ a nanny," Robert says to his own astonishment.