This was lovely! Matthew and Mary sound exactly right, and I like their talk and how Mary gets him to laugh again. Thanks for writing!

This scene fits beautifully into canon, nice job! I loved the topics covered and the way that Mary works him out of his funk by teasing him mercilessly about it...nice explanation for one step of the process of how he went from "You and I are cursed" to their apparent ease with each other at the beginning of the S2 CS.

I just came across this and it's adorable. Classic Mary/Matthew. I wish we'd seen more of the rebuilding of their relationship - you seem to have captured it really well.

Mmm, mmm. Matthew and Mary - there are many people I love in this show, but these two are consistently the best written and played. And here they are delicately rendered - Matthew's agonized longing and painful conscientiousness, Mary's poise, brilliance, and passion, all concealed under a good aristocratic shell. Makes me almost think of Lord Peter Wimsey, if he were an eldest daughter instead of a youngest son...

So funny, and not at all too sweet. I think your Matthew is so true to canon, season 2s Matthew is so annoying at times, and it is lovely that in this story, he realizes that. Thank you.

Hello there! What a lovely little tidbit this was!

"maybe she was always changing and he was the one frozen in time and space" was a very nice line... this one and some like it could have been straight from the pen of Mr. Fellowes himself.

Well done:)

beautifully written story. love the interaction between Mary and matthew.

I've already told you how much I love this, but I felt like making it official on here. I love this. Their angsty banter is beautifully written, and you've portrayed their repressed hope and tenderness so well. There's a weary heaviness that descends on me whenever I read this, but the end always leaves me hopeful.

Beautiful and thoughtful. I can really picture them falling Ito laughter in a church hall over ther little argument.

Ah... this was lovely. Thanks for sharing (still haven't seen the Xmas special, so my feelings about them might be changed, but for now I do have hope).

There was an amazing Rightness about this vignette...a perfectly balanced feeling of the banter between M&M, and his internal monologue. Lovely piece. Strong work! Thanks for sharing.

the lines are just... perfect. please please please continue the story! :)

Omg your amazing I love this! I wish you would continue it!

Nice piece! And thanks for the Carlisle ambiguity...I think I'm at a similar stage of denial regarding what the 8 month gap means...

very nice!