Barrow's Boy - A Downton Abbey Fanfiction

Past, Present, and Future.

 Hello readers! I have messed up the entire canon timeline by assuming that the entirety of the Christmas Special takes place over the Christmas season, which is not the case. So... bear with me?  

    "What do I do, Dad?" Teddy asked, pacing back and forth in his room. They were back in Downton now, but his anxiety over Sydney's latest message had not dwindled. "They have a lawyer and status. I have nothing. I mean, I don't even care about the money, but the principle of the thing-"

     "I know," Thomas responded from where he sat on Teddy's bed. "Try to calm down, we'll figure this out."

    "My mum would have hated for them to get the money, I know it," Teddy said, turning on his heel to face the man.

     "You're probably right."

     "So what do I do? It's not like we can afford a lawyer. I can't use Augustus' money for one at a time like this."

     "We'll figure it out, Ted."

    "Oh, God!" Teddy exclaimed, dropping down perpendicularly on his bed. "This is it. If they don't win the legal case, the Knightons are going to order an assassin for me. Remember me when I'm gone."

     "Theodore."

     "Thomas."

     "Is there anything that would calm you down right now?"

     Teddy turned to look at his father, and once they had locked eyes, he nodded. 

     "I'll telephone and see if she can come."

      Teddy's head rested in Abi's lap, the girl toying with his curls as she spoke. 

      "I would offer to see if my family's lawyer would help you, but I'm fairly certain that he has some sort of connection to the Knightons. Most people involved with my father know each other somehow."

      "I appreciate your support either way," Teddy responded, smiling up at her. "God, I was panicking before you came."

      "Thomas said as much. You seem alright now, though."

     "You calm me down."

     Abi leaned down, pressing a kiss to Teddy's forehead.

     "Glad that I'm useful for something," she joked, smoothing back his curls again. Teddy closed his eyes, basking in the feeling of her hand at his scalp and the knowledge that she was here for him. "I'll try to find some other solutions."

     "That's not your job."

     "I know, but I want to anyway."

     Theodore,

     December 14. The information for our court date is attached.

     We'll settle this dispute soon enough.

     S. Knighton.

     "Do you have to go with Lord Grantham? I don't get it, Bates is his valet, not you," Theodore practically begged, looking up at his father.

     "I wish I could stay with you, Ted, truly, but you know as well as I do that if I don't have power over this. Do what Carson says and all that."

     "It's not fair," Teddy said, looking at the paper in his hands. "Bates gets to stay with Anna, but they can't even consider that you might want to stay with me."

    "I'll be back long before the fourteenth, so at least we have that."

    Teddy swallowed, staring at the page again. "I guess they don't know about this, so they wouldn't understand."