Fic: Something Worth Having (8/?)

[mrstater]

Title: Something Worth Having (8/?)
Author: mrstater
Fandom: Downton Abbey
Characters & Pairings: Mary Crawley/Richard Carlisle, Isobel Crawley
Rating & Warnings: M for references to power dynamics in relationships; adultery; PTSD; terminal illness; widowhood; sex (in future chapters); spoilers for S3
Summary: When Mary moves to London to escape painful

Comments

[glorious_clio]

The tension just... boils off them. They sit and simmer in it. And you once compared them to Scarlett and Rhett and now I can't stop seeing it.

I want to lock them in a room together and tell them they can't come out and tell they've gotten rid of the sexual tension and talked like grown-ups.

Lovely chapter, as we've come to expect.

[mrstater]

Ugh, Richard really does suffer the same problem Rhett did, of not being able to swallow pride and admit he loves Mary until it's too late. I never read that GWTW sequel but things eventually worked out, didn't it? If that's any indication of how this fic will go. ;)

I'm so happy I've managed to capture their sexual tension! They really do need to do something about it, don't they? ;)

Thank so so much, my dear. As always. :D

[glorious_clio]

Take my advice, do not read it. Yes they work it out, but I should have stopped reading after Scarlett sold Tara to Will and Suellen. And left Wade and Ella with them and moved to Ireland. Whyyyyyyyyyyyyy?!

*ignore ignore ignore*

And of course!! I'm happy to review this excellent story. :D

[mrstater]

WOW. That kind of defeats the whole point of the original where THE LAND'S THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS...THIS RED EARTH'S A PART OF YOU, KATIE SCARLETT.

I will not read it. LOL.

[gilpin25]

Important steps forward in this one, and some important admissions along the way. Your Mary continues to be so well-developed; the War casts a long shadow, and it's easy to think she would look back on such as Matthew's arguments with Robert with somewhat different eyes. (Thanks for that, because you know I think Robert seemed to manage pretty well for however many years till Matthew had to take charge!;)) Richard, too, seems to have a not unsympathetic understanding of what war can do, and I wonder if he feels any guilt about not fighting himself.

It's easy to see how drawn Mary is to Richard, and to having challenging, grown-up conversations compared to going home to see Isobel or her son, who perhaps only gives her a different challenge right now. But Isobel's pin pricks of guilt are rather good ones, and I did LOL at: "Perhaps someone ought to speak to him about how it's common practice to sleep at night and be awake during the day." I can hear Mary saying that

[mrstater]

I wonder if he feels any guilt about not fighting himself.

No. Not a smidgeon. LOL!

I thought that moment in Richard's first episode where he tells Violet his duty is to his investors rather than supporting the propaganda department is very telling, isn't it? I wish we'd gotten to see more about that--can you just imagine how exciting it would be to have him, Robert, Matthew, and Branson all chatting about the War? (Yet more missed opportunities...) In any case I think Richard, like Rhett Butler, only believes in one Cause: Richard Carlisle. (And unlike Rhett, I'm not sure Richard actually does have a fondness for lost causes...)

You have vladnyrki to thank for me coming around more to your view of Robert. I still think he can be an oaf but I realized the issues I was having with him were more Matthew issues. (I mean, I thought Cora should have been angrier with him about the money and about Sybil and I'm forever pissed off at him about Jane and also for how he treated Edith...) But as for the management of Downton, no, he's not guilty of

[mollywheezy]

I LOLed at the discussion of Mr Battle's name. It also amused me that our mayor's last name is Battle. ;)

WOW. What a last line! So much about Mary's character summarized in so few words. And I agree with other comments that you have definitely captured the tension between Richard and Mary beautifully.

[mrstater]

Ha! Mayor Battle! You couldn't lose an election with that name.

Thank you very very much! It's been a real challenge capturing Mary's state of mind at this point in her story, and with the plot in this direction, so I'm very very happy you think I've got her--and of course that tension between them. ;)