"Downton Abbey: The Story of Emma Barrow
" is a Downton Abbey fanfic which centers on Emma Barrow, a child abandoned at Downton Abbey and is adopted by Thomas Barrow.
Tropes that appear in this fanfic:
- Affectionate Nickname: Thomas calls Emma his "little dwarf".
- Adaptation Expansion: Chapter 12 has Thomas and Emma returning to his hometown to pay his respects to his deceased sister.
- Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: Thomas and O'Brien's relationship deteriorates a lot faster than in canon due to Emma's presence.
- Adaptational Timespan Change: In the series, there are two years between the end of Series 1 (outbreak of World War I) and Series 2 (the Somme). Here it appears to be three years as Thomas encounters Matthew in 1917.
- Baseball Episode: The local cricket match takes up Chapter 39, ending with Emma learning that her father has been promoted.
- Bearer of Bad News: Thomas has to tell Emma that Lady Sybil has died.
- The Beard: Martha Turner is a retroactive example given that Mary suggests that Martha was Thomas' wife who died in childbirth as a cover story for Emma being at Downton.
- Big Bad: Miss O'Brien is arguably the biggest threat to Emma, seeking to get her into trouble or make Thomas' life harder.
- The Bully: Katherine Sheppard, who does her best to make Emma's life miserable just because she's the daughter of a servant.
- Call-Forward: In a reference to his job as a teacher in the show's last season, Mr. Molesley is shown helping Emma with her homework.
- Cure Your Gays: Emma was conceived when Thomas had sex with a childhood friend of his named Martha in an attempt to see if having sex with a woman would make him heterosexual. It didn't work.
- Dead Guy Junior: Thomas named Emma partly after his mother Emmeline.
- Death by Childbirth: Heavily implied with Emma's mother Martha because whoever wrote the note to Thomas directly blames him for her death.
- Doomed by Canon: Edward Cortenay, William Mason, Lavinia Swire, Lady Sybil, and Matthew Crawley all die the same ways they did in canon.
- Doorstop Baby: The story begins when Thomas finds Emma lying in a basket on the doorstep of Downton Abbey.
- False Widow: Thomas; the cover story for Emma's adoption is that Thomas was married and his "wife" Martha died in childbirth.
- Grave-Marking Scene: Chapter 35 opens with Emma at William's grave talking about everything that has happened recently including the death of Lady Sybil and Bates returning to Downton. Matthew also comes to pay his respects.
- Homework Slave: Thomas discovers that Katherine is forcing Emma to do her homework for her.
- I Take Offense to That Last One: Thomas isn't bothered by Bates calling him out for bullying William, but is clearly biting back a retort when he's called a deadbeat dad.
- Killed Offscreen: Thomas' sister Margaret dies shortly before Chapter 12, so he and Emma go down to London to attend her funeral.
- Missing Mom:
- Thomas' mother Emmeline died at some point before 1917, as he and Emma visit her grave.
- Martha Turner died in childbirth, so her newborn daughter is sent to Downton.
- Named by the Adaptation: The canon series briefly mentioned that Thomas had an unnamed sister who was friends with Baxter. This sister is named Margaret here.
- Original Character: Emma Barrow, an infant abandoned at Downton Abbey and adopted by Thomas Barrow (who is also her father).
- Orphanage of Fear: Referenced by Mrs. Patmore, who says putting a child in an orphanage is akin to leaving her outside in the cold.
- Parents as People: Thomas himself. He genuinely loves his daughter, but can't bring himself to say it.
- Shout-Out: O'Brien calls Emma a lilliputian in Chapter 25.
- Sick Episode: Emma deals with a fever in Chapter 3.
- Time Skip: After a prologue in March 1912 (one month before Bates arrived alongside news of the Titanic sinking), the story picks up a year later during Episode 4 of Series 1, the day the fair was in town and Thomas asked Daisy to go with him just to hurt William. An even larger one is between Chapters 5 and 6 which skips from 1914 when World War I breaks out to three years later when Thomas intentionally gets his hand shot through.
- Toxic Friend Influence: Emma considers O'Brien a bad influence on Alfred.
- Unnamed Parent: While Thomas' mother is named Emmeline, his father's name is unmentioned.
- You Remind Me of X: Nanny West reminds Emma of O'Brien, due to their dislike of children.
