Day Nineteen cont

"Congratulations, Anna Smith – you are the final house leader of Lady Grantham's big brother's game," O'Brien announced, as the remaining three housemates filed back into the room.

There was no time even to think, as Matthew and Mary took their seats, as if they had not been nominated by default.

Anna wished she had time to write in her diary, as she looked back from one to the other. Matthew – who'd been a member of her alliance, and Mary – to whom she'd been loyal from almost the beginning.

"Anna Smith, please stand and cast your vote to evict Matthew Crawley or Mary Crawley," O'Brien ordered, impatiently.

With a deep breath, Anna stood. "Right. I don't have a lot of time, so…I think it's important to do what's right." She smiled at the thought of Bates as she continued, "The truth is – someone has saved me once today, and so…with regret, I vote to evict Matthew Crawley."

Matthew smiled, the tension seeming to leave his body as he stood. He extended his hand to Anna, and she shook it briefly. "Thank you," he said, simply.

Then he came to Mary.

"Matthew Crawley, you must say your goodbyes promptly – else I come to get you." O'Brien's usual warning sounded particularly rote today.

The tension effectively broken, Mary smiled obligingly, and extended her hand for him to shake.

He curled his fingers around her palm, as if to hold her hand instead of shaking it.

Then he smiled. "Final two," he said, simply – dropping her hand and walking quickly out the door.

When the door closed, she turned back to Anna and her expression melted at the sight of Anna's broad grin.

"Til the end," she reminded Mary, smiling.

Mary smiled back as sincerely as she ever had, and raised an eyebrow. "Was there ever any doubt?"

It was almost more awkward to eat together when there was no one else there, but it would have been even stranger for each of them to eat alone.

"So, the last seven evicted housemates decide the winner," Anna mused.

Mary nodded. "Matthew, Bates, Branson, Sybil, Richard, Vera and…" She paused a moment. "Oh yes, Edith."

Anna laughed at this. "At least I'll be guaranteed one vote."

"I think you'll be guaranteed quite a bit more than that." Mary's lips turned up. "Or did you forget about Bates so quickly?"

"That's only if Vera doesn't blackmail him or threaten him into voting against me," Anna joked, half-seriously. "Or if Richard doesn't offer everyone jobs if they vote for you."

Rolling her eyes, Mary remarked, "As if Richard Carlisle would waste his time on favors for me. Besides, I don't think he takes too kindly to those who vote him out when they are meant to be aligned with him."

Anna shrugged. "Either way, you've certainly got Vera and Sybil."

"Well, you have Edith and Bates," Mary reminded her.

Now Anna laughed aloud. "Aren't you forgetting someone?"

Mary gave her a knowing look. "That's certainly no guarantee. And then, of course, there's Branson."

"There's no love lost between him and me," Anna pointed out.

"Seeing as I all but threatened him to stay away from my sister, I don't see him eager to vote for me either. He'll probably vote for Sybil as some sort of rebellious gesture or refuse to vote entirely," Mary mused.

They were silent for a moment.

"Tomorrow, we get to leave this house," Anna commented.

"I suppose we do." Mary did her best not to sound too enthusiastic. "The first thing I'm going to do is read a book."

"There must be so much mending," Anna said. "I'll have to see that Gwen hasn't been too put out by my absence."

"And then a newspaper. I don't think Papa should be surprised if I grab it clean out of his hands during breakfast."

Anna thought for a moment. "Then there's the dusting. I do hope Mrs. Hughes brought some local girl up from the village, else I'm not sure how they could've handed it all for weeks on end."

"No, the first thing I'm going to do is go riding," Mary decided. "I don't think the fresh air and outdoors has ever sounded so appealing."

"I'll have to sort out your riding clothes, then," Anna said. "Your boots might still be at the menders, so I'll have to see about…"

They looked up at the same time, meeting each other's eyes across the table that now seemed as if it had grown twice as wide merely during this conversation.

"But…we can worry about all that after tomorrow," Mary put in, quickly. She glanced round the table. "It seems so empty. I keep expecting Sybil to encourage us to enjoy our meal."

"Or Branson to comment on the quality of the food," Anna said.

"Or Richard to come up with some sort of entertaining form of disruption."

Now Anna laughed briefly. "Or Vera to glare at everyone, like any chatter was somehow interrupting her precious supper."

Mary smiled back. "Or Matthew to…"

She stopped, as they looked down at the 10 empty seats surrounding them.

"Tomorrow, we'll only wish it was so quiet," Mary commented.

"Quite right," Anna replied.

But neither could tear their eyes from the empty table.

I can't believe I'm in the final two with Lady Mary, though I'm not keen about arguing against her, Anna wrote, excitedly. I'll most likely lose to her, but it's alright. Whatever happens, it's really been a fantastic experience.

Of course I'm grateful Anna chose me to be in the final two, Mary sighed as her pen moved listlessly across the paper. She was the only one who was loyal to me throughout this entire game. I think I would almost rather—

Then she stopped abruptly, put her pen down and slammed her diary shut.

Day Twenty

"Housemates…"

O'Brien interrupted Mary and Anna's meager breakfast, though both were far too anxious to eat much.

Mary replaced her cup on the saucer. "There aren't 12 of us anymore, O'Brien – surely you can use our proper names now."

Anna giggled under her breath.

There was a slight pause before the response: "Mary Crawley and Anna Smith, please adjourn to the sitting room after breakfast for further instructions."

"That's better." Mary looked exceedingly satisfied at this seemingly small victory.

"Thank you…Sarah O'Brien," Anna said, daringly – catching Mary's shocked, but somewhat impressed stare.

"Now we'll have no more of that, Anna. You'd best hope I don't get Lady Grantham in here early, so she can bear witness to your insubordination." O'Brien sounded particularly annoyed.

"But isn't that what my grandmother said several weeks ago?" Mary insisted, almost innocently. "That we are all equal inside her big brother's house?"

"I suppose you'll find that out soon enough…" O'Brien paused – but resisted the temptation, "…m'lady."

And for that moment, all three women in the room (including the voice in the grate) did indeed feel some kind of kinship between them. In this man's game, the last three remaining in the house were women.

Perhaps it wasn't true equality – but for that moment, it was close enough.

Mary and Anna went into the sitting room, as requested – to find it had been cleared out of all furniture except two chairs.

"I thought there was supposed to be a jury." Mary frowned, as she glanced round the room.

Anna shrugged, her brow furrowing as she did the same.

"Housemates, Lady Grantham is listening to you live. Please do not curse."

"O'Brien," Mary said, crossly. "Where on earth is everyone else? Why are we just seated in the room by ourselves?"

There was a pause then, followed by, "…Mary?"

"Granny?" Mary asked, trying to keep the slight excitement out of her voice at hearing anyone familiar again. "Granny, what is it? Where is everybody?"

"Ah, yes – well…they're all here, with me—oh, O'Brien you can explain it better than I can," Violet mumbled, and there was another brief pause.

"Mary Crawley and Anna Smith…you'll first have a chance to make a statement – an argument explaining why the jury should vote for you. The last seven evicted housemates will then have a chance to ask one or both of you a question before they cast their votes to determine the winner of Lady Grantham's big brother's game," O'Brien explained.

"Mary Crawley, you'll go first," said O'Brien.

With a sigh, Mary said, "I'm not sure what you want me to say. I clearly played a better game than all of you, because I'm sitting here and you're not. I suppose I didn't really need an alliance at the end and I never made a promise I couldn't keep. That's really the long and short of it."

She turned to Anna, who looked almost startled. "Alright – well, I had a wonderful time playing this game. I suppose I won house leader twice, and I was loyal to my alliance. I'd appreciate your vote, but I understand if you don't vote for me."

There was a long pause, then a familiar, high whiny voice sounded through the grate: "This is Edith Crawley," she said slowly, as she'd clearly been instructed to introduce herself. "Mary, if you didn't have an alliance, then didn't you just sit back while other people made the decisions for you?"

"That's a ridiculous question," Mary said. "O'Brien – do we have to answer their questions?"

"It's not ridiculous!" Edith's voice protested. "It's a perfectly valid question, for anyone wanting to brag about the fact that others carried them to the end."

"Which is more than I can say for some of us," Mary mumbled.

Finally, O'Brien jumped in: "In answer to your question…no, m'lady. You don't have to answer anything you don't want to – just as your fellow housemates don't have to vote for anyone they don't want to either."

Appropriately chastened, Mary simply rolled her eyes in defiance. "Is that all?" she asked, impatiently.

"Congratulations, Anna," came Edith's voice a final time before another pause.

"This is Vera Bates," came the thinly pitched voice, and Anna couldn't help but suppress a shudder. "Anna Smith – I want to know when you started putting the moves on my Batesy…"

"Oh, for heaven's sake," Anna muttered. "Mr. Bates and I are friends, Mrs. Bates – nothing more."

"Because if I find out that you tried to share any prize money with him, well…I will be back to claim my share," Vera practically snarled through the grate.

"Can we move on to the next question, O'Brien?" Anna asked, impatiently – putting her hand to her head. Mary gave her a sympathetic look and for once, Anna was the one rolling her eyes.

"This is Richard Carlisle." Mary sat up almost imperceptibly straighter as the soft, honeyed tones of his voice filtered through the wall. "My question is for Mary Crawley. If the votes had gone the other way, and Anna had been evicted when she was up against William…would you have voted out Bates the next time?"

At first, Mary rolled her eyes. Then she glanced at Anna, who was looking at her expectantly. "Yes, I believe I would have," she replied, keeping her eyes fixed on the grate in front of her.

She could practically hear a smile in his voice. "Good luck," he said.

"This is Sybil Crawley," came a cheery voice through the wall, and Mary and Anna both smiled instantly. "I don't really have a question. I'm just happy there are two women at the end – I think it proves we really are all equal here." The sound of her laughter was almost infectious. "Best of luck to both of you."

"Thank you, Sybil, darling," Mary said.

"Thank you," Anna chimed in.

There was another pause. "This is Tom Branson." Both women could practically hear the smirk in his voice. "My first question is for Anna Smith, and it's a simple one. Why did you vote me out?"

Anna looked slightly thrown by the question. "Well, you…you wanted to get rid of, of Mary, and Matthew Crawley was in my alliance," Anna answered.

"Fair enough," Branson replied. "Mary Crawley. Similar question: Why didn't you vote to get rid of me?"

She could tell Anna was looking at her, wanting to know the same thing. Smiling to herself, she realized what she had to do. "I figured on Anna voting for you and well, I wanted to force a tie. I saw nothing wrong with the house leader making the decision."

Again, Anna looked at her, and Mary avoided her eyes.

Luckily, it was short-lived, when the sound of a softer, gentler voice filled the room: "This—this is John Bates." Anna smiled in spite of herself at the sound of his voice. "It's…a bit of an odd question, but it's for both of you. If you could have anyone else sitting next to you in the final two, who would it be?"

Mary glanced at Anna, indicating she should answer first. "Oh!" Anna said, sounding shocked – followed by a brief nervous laugh. "Well…I couldn't say, really…" Her expression softened. "I suppose…it'd be someone loyal and trustworthy. Someone who I think deserves to be here just as much as I do." A gentle blush colored her cheeks as she spoke.

"I would choose Richard Carlisle," Mary said, "because then I would surely win."

There was a brief period of silence after that, and Mary found herself tensing in her seat in anticipation. "This is Matthew Crawley." The low, resonant voice wafted through the grate. "I want to say congratulations to you both. But my…my question is for Mary…"

Rolling her eyes, Mary shifted in her chair – trying to look as annoyed as possible.

"…Why did you take Anna to the final three?"

Her eyes widened. She wasn't exactly sure what question she was expecting, but it certainly wasn't that. "Well, who wouldn't take Anna?" she answered, breezily. "She's certainly almost as deserving of being here as I am."

Before Anna could even react to this statement, O'Brien's voice interjected, "Anna Smith and Mary Crawley, your former housemates will now cast their votes to determine the winner of Lady Grantham's big brother's game."

Mary once more kept her eyes on the wall in front of her, though she closed them briefly as if in prayer. Anna seemed less comfortable – and kept glancing at Mary.

"Did you really mean…everything that you said?" Anna whispered.

"No talking during the vote," O'Brien admonished.

Anna did as she was told. Mary's eyes bore holes into the wall in front of her. It really did seem an inordinately long time to wait. Finally…

"Mary Crawley and Anna Smith, the voting is now closed."

Anna looked over at Mary, who swallowed noticeably.

"The votes have been counted and verified."

Out of the corner of her eye, Mary saw Anna hesitantly extend her hand – stopping just short of Mary's own chair.

"And I can now report that by a vote of 4-3, the winner of Lady Grantham's big brother's game is…"

Briefly, Mary grasped Anna's hand, and the two women looked at each other.

"…Mary Crawley."

When she heard her name, Mary's eyes closed once more. She could hear Anna's words of congratulations. She could almost hear the sound of what sounded like some form of murmuring or polite applause from the grate on the wall.

Then her eyes flew open, as she spoke in a loud, clear voice. "O'Brien, might we be allowed to leave now?"

Anna and Mary stood at the door, expectantly. Outside was the world, freedom and a return to real life.

"Congratulations, m'lady," Anna said.

Mary dipped her head. "I'm not m'lady until we leave, you know."

But Anna merely smiled. "You were m'lady once the game ended." She paused, then asked, "Those…things you said in there – during the questioning…"

"Oh, Anna," she sighed, with a smile. "You know you must always forget what I say."

With an understanding smile, Mary turned the door handle and she and Anna stepped out into the bright sunshine. Twenty days, they had been locked away from the world. She wondered what had changed.

She wondered what would remain the same.

Violet had arranged for a garden party on the grounds of her big brother's house before all the housemates were scheduled to return to Downton, and the rest of the housemates in the jury were milling about the lawn.

Richard came right up to Mary. "Congratulations," he said, extending his hand. "That was a fine game you played. I knew you'd win in the end."

"Did you?" Mary asked, taking his hand as she raised an eyebrow. "And how, pray tell, did you figure that?"

Now he smiled. "I'm a journalist," he said, simply. "It's my job to find the story."

Before Mary could react to that, Sybil had run up to her and Anna – wrapping them both in a firm embrace. "Congratulations, Mary!" she exclaimed. "Anna, you did wonderfully. Wasn't this fun? Oh, I hope we can do this every year!"

She nodded to Branson in the corner, who nodded back, and her grin widened.

"Not if I have anything to say about it," Mary cautioned.

Leaving her sister to continue chatting, she continued to where her grandmother was standing.

"Congratulations, my dear," Violet greeted Mary.

"I don't understand…" Mary said, finally dropping the façade she'd maintained since she'd heard her name called. "Anna should have won, shouldn't she?"

Her grandmother nodded. "Anna played the nicer game. She was the most loyal and trustworthy, and there was never a worthier final two adversary for you."

"Then…why didn't she win?" Mary wondered.

Violet seemed to smile at this. "Because not everything is fair, and not everyone is equal. If it wasn't evident before, then it should surely be now."

Mary seemed confused, but decided to let it go for the moment. "Well it's of no matter now. You…mentioned something about a…prize for winning the game?"

Now Violet raised her eyebrow, briefly touching her eldest granddaughter on the elbow. "My dear, that is your prize. Knowing that sometimes even when life is unfair, you will generally come out on top. The question is what you do with this information once you leave here."

A bright-eyed Sybil then interrupted them. "Granny – oh, I'm sorry, Mary – Granny, I was wondering if I might speak to you about a new chauffeur…"

Mary glanced behind to see Branson standing a safe distance away. She raised her eyebrows as if to communicate some kind of wish for luck.

She then saw Bates, Anna and Matthew chatting away from everyone – most likely trying to avoid Vera.

"Congratulations," Bates said again.

She smiled. "Thank you, Bates." Turning to Anna, she remarked, "I think I'll put off riding once I get back to Downton. In fact, I believe I may have a rest. And I'll instruct Mrs. Hughes that you're to do the same."

Anna grinned. "Actually…I'm anxious to get back to work if it's alright, m'lady. All this laying about isn't good for anyone."

After a moment, Mary smiled. "Quite right."

"Well, I…think I see Miss O'Brien over there." Bates indicated the ladies' maid, who also looked relieved to be out of the house. "Perhaps we should be polite and say hello."

To his surprise, Anna broke into a grin. "Why not?" she shrugged, happily.

As they left, Mary pondered all the unusual ways in which this game had brought people together.

Sighing, she turned to Matthew. "Well…I suppose I should thank you."

"For what?" he wanted to know.

"For my win, of course," she said, flatly. "It was a 4-3 victory. Your vote clearly put me over the top."

Now he smiled. "Oh, I didn't vote for you."

Her eyes grew larger as she stared at him. Her brow furrowed, though she felt the distinct hint of a smile bubbling to the surface. "And…may I ask why not?"

"Well, Anna deserved to win. She played the best game of anyone." A smile played on his lips as he turned to her. "Don't you agree?"

Despite her raised eyebrows, she could feel her lips curving upward as she held his gaze.

Then they turned back towards the party – to their former fellow housemates – sibling, strangers and servants – all of whom had shared in this unbelievable experience of her grandmother's big brother's game.

And for a moment, they really were all equal.

The End.

A/N: I sincerely hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it! I could not have done it without all your support!

Special thanks to those whose support got it off the ground – Silvestria and Pemonynen – and those whose support kept it going – Chickwriter, smndolphin and OrangeShipper.

And go, Dan – my favorite Big Brother player ever! May you get to F2 and win twice…with my love.

Happy S3 Premiere Day!