Downton Abbey Drabble: Sin & Punishment
Title: Sin & Punishment
Author: mrstater
Fandom: Downton Abbey
Characters & Pairings: Lady Mary Crawley, Mary/Matthew
Rating & Warnings: rated PG-13 for sexuality
Format & Word Count: drabble, 281 words
Summary: Lady Mary's crimes seem to keep finding new victims.
Author's Note: Written for gilpin25 for International Women's Day 2011.
When Matthew enlists, the nightmares begin.
Not of him falling on a battlefield in Germany, but of his face above hers, one moment aglow with passion, the next, his eyes fixed and sightless; of his body, lean and warm as he meets her and retreats, then falls onto her, heavy and cold and unmoving, overwhelming her with the claustrophobic sensation of being buried alive, even though he's the one who's dead.
The dream is so ridiculous that Mary wants nothing more than to tell it to her mother, to sneer at the morbidity of it and say, Clearly I'm warped on the matter of sex forever! Is that punishment enough for my sins? But her mother is, of course, the last person to whom Mary can speak about her night terrors, and when Cora does note the dark circles that ring Mary's eyes, she only pats her daughter's hand and says, with a rueful sigh, "Sleep eludes us all these days. But we must be strong for our men who are out there fighting for us."
Not fighting for us, in Matthew's case, Mary thinks. Fighting for freedom from us. A freedom that will, most likely, be found only in death.
No--she shakes her head--she shouldn't give herself so much credit. Matthew is too practical to run off to war because a woman wouldn't marry him, but he would because he is noble, and patriotic. If he dies in Germany, it won't be her fault.
Nevertheless, Mary can't help but believe that if Matthew dies, he will be one more man punished for her sins.
And then she really will be warped on the matter of sex forever.
Author: mrstater
Fandom: Downton Abbey
Characters & Pairings: Lady Mary Crawley, Mary/Matthew
Rating & Warnings: rated PG-13 for sexuality
Format & Word Count: drabble, 281 words
Summary: Lady Mary's crimes seem to keep finding new victims.
Author's Note: Written for gilpin25 for International Women's Day 2011.
When Matthew enlists, the nightmares begin.
Not of him falling on a battlefield in Germany, but of his face above hers, one moment aglow with passion, the next, his eyes fixed and sightless; of his body, lean and warm as he meets her and retreats, then falls onto her, heavy and cold and unmoving, overwhelming her with the claustrophobic sensation of being buried alive, even though he's the one who's dead.
The dream is so ridiculous that Mary wants nothing more than to tell it to her mother, to sneer at the morbidity of it and say, Clearly I'm warped on the matter of sex forever! Is that punishment enough for my sins? But her mother is, of course, the last person to whom Mary can speak about her night terrors, and when Cora does note the dark circles that ring Mary's eyes, she only pats her daughter's hand and says, with a rueful sigh, "Sleep eludes us all these days. But we must be strong for our men who are out there fighting for us."
Not fighting for us, in Matthew's case, Mary thinks. Fighting for freedom from us. A freedom that will, most likely, be found only in death.
No--she shakes her head--she shouldn't give herself so much credit. Matthew is too practical to run off to war because a woman wouldn't marry him, but he would because he is noble, and patriotic. If he dies in Germany, it won't be her fault.
Nevertheless, Mary can't help but believe that if Matthew dies, he will be one more man punished for her sins.
And then she really will be warped on the matter of sex forever.