July 1895
The shrill sound of a baby crying resounded throughout the household, and the two eldest Crawley sisters looked at each other in excitement. The service staff, although supposed to be carrying on with their everyday work, were crowded around the doors to Lord and Lady Grantham's room, right behind the soon-to-be older sisters.
"Is it a girl, O'Brien?" four year old Mary Crawley asked whilst jumping up and down. A young Sarah O'Brien shrugged.
"We'll see. Your father would rather it be a boy, but girls seem to have been on the menu the past two instances." She mumbled the last part so that Mary would not hear, although it would have gone over her head anyway. O'Brien bent down and picked up three year old Edith Crawley, who was attempting and failing to reach the doorknob on her own. It had been a shock to all of them when the Countess of Grantham had gone into labor so early; after all, she was not due for another three weeks.
Mary looked up at Carson and tugged on his sleeve. "Carson, Carson, Carson, when are we going to meet the baby?"
Carson smiled and looked down at the small brunette. Edith was quiet and well behaved, but even so, he'd always had a favoritism towards Lady Mary. "It won't be long now, m'lady."
Just then, the door opened, and on the other side stood the proud Lord Grantham. "Edith, Mary, come meet your new sister," he said, his eyes glistening with oncoming tears of joy. That's as far as they'll get, Mrs. Hughes, the head of the housemaids, thought to herself as she smiled. Lord Grantham was not one to cry.
Mary walked briskly to her mother's bedside, and Lord Grantham took Edith from O'Brien and brought her in as well. Cora was breathing heavily, looking down at the crying baby girl with such a love that only a mother can feel.
She finally looked up at the rest of her family. "Mary, Edith," she said to her two eldest daughters, "this is Sybil, your little sister."
Robert chuckled. "She looks just like you, Mary, the hair and everything."
Mary reached over and held her new younger sister's hand. She was not aware of it at the moment, but it marked the beginning of a sisterhood that would end up lasting very short for Mary, but would be lifelong for Sybil.
a/n so this is somewhat of a repost of a story that i used to have on here; i got to ch 7 and then deleted. i really liked it so i'm reposting it and adding in the hella new chapters i wrote. enjoy & please review! (they're not all this short i promise)