Wildest Dreams (A Downton Abbey One-Shot)

Lady Mary lay in her bed, the silk blankets surrounding her in a manner that would make it seem that she was sleeping. Sleeping. That's all she had been doing for the past few days, and she was caught up on it now. She had been ever since...

Ever since Matthew died.

Mary knew that the whole situation was not fair- her son had a mother who was incapable of taking care of him at the moment. It was horrible, the whole situation was, but at least she knew that her son, George, was in good hands.

The previous night, she had clutched a photograph of her late husband in her hands and slept on his side of the bed that they once shared.

There was a faint smell of him on his pillow and blankets. Oh, Lady Mary longed for that smell to linger here forever. But death was just something that was inevitable. Matthew's death, however, was something that she was not expecting to happen. He was too young.

The only thing that mattered at the moment was her well-being, in her opinion. But George mattered more, didn't he? Oh, what was she to do without Matthew there to help guide her along the path of adulthood?

She remembered her wedding day almost as if it was yesterday. It felt like a life time ago, given the current situation.

Lady Mary grasped a photo off of the nightstand next to her late husbands side of the bed.

It was her and Matthew, dressed up on their wedding day. A small smile went upon her face, but it quickly vanished as a tear rolled down her cheeks.

"Say you'll remember me," Mary began to choke out. It has been days since she had last talked.

"Standing in a nice dress, staring at the sunset babe."

Lady Mary glanced at the mirror across her bedroom, and saw her face in it. It wasn't in good shape.

"Red lips and rosy cheeks," Mary stated, the irony too much for her to handle, causing more tears to roll down her cheeks.

Her lips weren't red; they were chapped. Her cheeks were only rosy due to the tears washing down her face like raindrops on an automobile window.

"Say you'll see me again, even if it's just pretend," Mary choked out, her voice cracking.

In any other circumstance, Lady Mary would snort- especially if it was dealing with Edith- because she knew that she would never see him again. Not until her death, anyways.

Then again, Mary wasn't the religious one at Downton Abbey.

Lady Mary put the picture down. She threw the silk and satin blankets off of her, deciding to get out of bed.

It took her a minute or so to stand up properly, as she had not stood for a good long while.

That was the upside of living here at Downton Abbey, Mary had realized long ago. There were servants to bring up food to her.

There was a downside to living at the estate as well. She often had no privacy, as people were shuffling in and out nearly every single minute of the day. It got annoying after a while.

She shook as she got up. Black spots danced in front of her eyes, and Lady Mary wanted to just lay back down in bed.

"I can't, I have to get up and face the world at some point," she told herself.

Mary almost made it to the door.

Almost.

"But that will not happen today," she reprimanded herself, plopping back down on the bed and throwing the covers back on herself.

Her eyes seemed to be welling up again- she was going to cry. Mary thought that the amount of tears that she had already shred was enough to dry out her tear ducts. But what did she know? She was far from a doctor. Nothing near it.

"Say you'll remember me, standing in a nice dress, staring at the sunset babe, red lips and rosy cheeks, say you'll see me again even if it's just in your wildest dreams..."

Wildest dreams.

That would be the only place that Mary would be able to be reunited with Matthew. She would long to have those dreams every night until the day that she was to die. She would desire to have those dreams, even if she would only see him only once every twenty four hours if her wish was successful.

That would be the only place she would ever see Matthew again.

In her wildest dreams.