This fic started out as something very different to what it turned out to be, but I'm quite pleased with it. It's a little different for me, but I hope you like it anyway.
Visiting Ireland
"Are you sure this is a wise idea?" Sybil said to Tom as they stood in the queue at the airport to check in their luggage.
"I'm positive," Tom said with a smile, wrapping his arm around Sybil's shoulders and pulling her close to him.
They were on their way to Ireland to spend a week with Tom's family. They had been going out for almost a year, and Sybil had yet to meet any of Tom's family. She had wanted to meet them ever since they first started dating. It was obvious from the way he talked about them that they meant the world to him. From what Sybil could gather Tom's mother, Joanna, was officially Catholic, but in reality not very religious at all. Sybil had seen some photos of her. She was significantly shorter than Tom with long dark hair that she regularly pinned back into a bun that sat low on her head. She had had Tom when she was only seventeen, and her relative youth shone through in her bright eyes. Tom also had a younger sister. She was much younger than he was. Tom and Sybil were both twenty four, whereas Tom's sister, Grace, was only ten years old. Sybil could tell that Tom was very protective of her. When he first moved to England, leaving his mother was hard, but leaving Grace behind was what broke his heart most. She was about average height for her age and had the same sandy blonde hair as Tom, but it was just below shoulder length and was very curly. Tom's father had never been in his life. Becoming a father so young wasn't something that he was prepared for, so Tom's mother had raised him on her own. When Tom was about Grace's age, Joanna had started a relationship with a Canadian man named Mark. A few years later, when Tom was fourteen, they had Grace together. They had never been married and had no intention of getting married, but they lived together and Mark was effectively Tom's stepfather.
Tom's family meant everything to him and Sybil was excited to meet them. But she was also nervous. What if they didn't like her? What if she didn't get on with them? What if she had nothing to say to them?
"Don't look so worried, love," Tom said as the queue moved slowly forward.
Sybil smiled at him, realising that her brow had been tightly knotted. "Sorry," she said, relaxing a little into Tom's arms. "I can't help it. You've told me so much about your family and I just can't stop thinking that they might not like me."
"They'll love you," Tom said. "Mam always did say I had good taste in women."
Sybil wasn't sure how to take that, but she smiled softly and tried not to think too much about the week ahead.
The week would be fine. Of course it would be fine. Nothing would go wrong. Sybil would like Tom's family and Tom's family would like Sybil and everything would go off without a hitch… Right?
-ooo-
The flight was only about an hour long, but Sybil spent the whole time saying nothing and biting her nails, a habit from her childhood that she had kicked in all circumstances, other than those in which she was particularly nervous. In all the months that she and Tom had been dating, Tom had never seen her this anxious.
Tom had left Sybil to her own devices for most of the flight, knowing that soothing words and gentle hand holds wouldn't do her much good. But towards the end of the flight, he took her hands in his and made her look at him.
Sybil sighed, knowing what he was about to tell her, but the tension never left her facial expression or her shoulders.
"They'll love you," Tom said.
"How do you know that?" Sybil said.
"Because I know my family better than I know anyone else in the world. As far as Grace is concerned, if I like someone then she worships them, and my personality is practically a carbon copy of mam's, so I know you two will get on," Tom explained.
Sybil could physically and mentally feel herself relax as Tom spoke. She knew that Tom knew best. She knew that Tom's family would love her. His comforting words allowed the butterflies to settle in her stomach a little.
When they got off the plane they waited to collect their luggage, standing close to one another and hoping to get their suitcases quickly. Of all the words Tom could use to describe Sybil, clingy wasn't one of them, but as they stood waiting for their luggage to arrive on the carousel, Tom noticed how close Sybil was to him and how firmly she had grasped his hand. She was clearly feeling vulnerable and needed his support, which he was more than willing to give.
When their bags finally arrived, some of the last from their flight, they lifted them off the carousel and finally were able to go and greet Tom's family in the arrivals zone of the airport. As they walked down the corridors, the butterflies in Sybil's stomach made their appearance known again.
"I love you," Tom whispered into Sybil's ear just before they rounded to corner that would see them coming face to face with Ireland.
Sybil didn't have time to say it back, but those three words provided just the strength she needed to keep her moving forward.
"Tom!" Grace shrieked, running up to her big brother with her arms wide open and a smile plastered across her face.
Tom immediately let go of his suitcase, leaving it to roll on its four wheels on its own. Sybil took hold of it to make sure it didn't go astray. Tom stood with his arms open as Grace launched herself into his arms. She threw her arms around his neck as he picked her up and let her wrap her legs around his waist. She was a bit too big for this sort of greeting now, but Tom wasn't afraid of straining a muscle or two if it meant he got a long overdue hug from his little sister.
Grace was still wearing her school uniform. Today was the final Friday before the Easter holidays and Joanna and Mark had picked Grace up from school and come straight to the airport to greet Tom and Sybil.
Sybil smiled at how Tom greeted his little sister. She could feel a slight pang of jealousy for how she never had such a good relationship with either of her sisters.
Sybil and Tom (with Grace still in his arms) walked towards the crowd of people waiting for their loved ones to arrive, where Joanna and Mark were standing at the front. Tom gave Joanna as much of a hug as he could with Grace still in his arms.
"Hi, mam."
"Hello, Tommy," she said in a very Irish accent. "It's good to finally see you again." She turned her attention to Sybil. "And it's nice to finally meet the woman you haven't stopped talking about for months."
Sybil smiled and felt herself relax a little. Her heart was still beating faster than it perhaps should have been, but she did at least now see what Tom meant when he kept telling her there was nothing to worry about. She had been in the company of Tom's family for less than a minute, but already she could feel the warmth radiating from them, welcoming her into their family.
"Hi," she said to Joanna and Mark together.
"It's nice to meet you," Mark said.
"Likewise," Sybil said.
"I suppose we'd better get you two home if we want to eat before ten tonight," Joanna said.
Grace jumped down out of Tom's arms and took his hand, dragging him towards the exit.
"Dad, come on, you've got the car keys," Grace called back.
Mark dutifully followed, with a tad less excitement than that which was pouring out of Grace at a rate of knots.
"That's fine," Sybil said, with a touch of sarcasm and not loud enough for Tom to hear. "I'll bring your suitcase."
Joanna smiled at Sybil. "You'll learn, Sybil, that when Tom comes home for the first time in months, Grace is the one who get him first. The rest of us have to wait our turn."
Sybil laughed. "Quite right too!"
She was happy to wait her turn. For Tom, she'd wait forever.
-ooo-
On the journey to Tom's house, the car was full of chatter. Everyone was talking over each other and catching up on events of the last few months. Although Tom regularly talked to his family on the phone, it was never quite the same as being with them in the same place. It was an unusual environment for Sybil. In her family, talking over each other like this would never be allowed, but Tom's family were completely unfazed by it. For them this atmosphere was completely normal. Sybil liked it. She stayed quiet and tried to take in the experience. She and Tom sat in the back of the car with Grace squashed in the seat between them, and Sybil mostly watched and listened from the corner. After all, they hadn't seen Tom for months and they rightfully monopolised his time.
When they arrived at Tom's house about half an hour later, they piled out of the car and brought all of Sybil and Tom's luggage into the house.
Joanna entered mothering mode.
"Grace, you need to do your homework before dinner."
"But Tom's home," she whined.
"Tom needs to recover from travelling, which he can't do with you around, and you need to do your homework, which you can't do with him around. The rules haven't changed just because Tom's home for the week."
Grace huffed off with her school bag to the kitchen where she always did her homework.
Tom and Sybil exchanged an amused glance.
"Tom, take Sybil up to your room and the pair of you get settled. Mark and I are making dinner tonight. Just get settled and unpack and come down whenever you're ready," Joanna said.
Joanna and Mark disappeared off, leaving Tom to look after Sybil.
Tom picked up his suitcase and gestured to Sybil to follow him. They climbed the narrow stairs and Tom showed Sybil into his bedroom at the top of the landing.
"Here we are," Tom said, putting his suitcase down beside the bed.
"Was this your room when you were a child?" Sybil said, looking around the space. She put her case beside Tom's and moved to the window and looked at the view. The house was at one end of a small dead-end road on a small hill. Tom's window faced directly down the road, giving a beautiful view of the city.
"No, I moved into this room when I moved to university," Tom said. "I used to have a room down the corridor, which is bigger and nicer, but when I moved out of home, Grace got the big room and I got downgraded to the little one. Even the spare room is bigger than this one," he laughed.
"So it should be," Sybil said. "There's no point in wasting a decent sized room on someone who only uses it for a few weeks of the year. And anyway, it's big enough for a double bed. What more could you want?"
She gave him a sideways glance and he smirked at her. His influence on her was showing and it made him suddenly feel extremely in love.
"Where's your bathroom?" Sybil said, as she began to unzip her suitcase and find her toiletries bag.
"Down the corridor, second door on the left," Tom said.
Sybil left the room and went to find the bathroom. The two things she always did after travelling for a long time, especially after flying, was clean her teeth and wash her face. She couldn't explain the logic behind it, but it's the one thing she had always done since she was about fifteen. She always felt better after it. When she came back she found Tom beginning to unpack his clothes.
He stood up to face Sybil and took her waist softly in his hands.
"Are you feeling less anxious now?" he asked.
"Yes," Sybil said with a small sigh. "A little bit. I'm still a bit apprehensive about how the week's going to pan out, but my heart's stopped racing at least."
"I'm glad," Tom said. "I couldn't bear the thought of the two most important women in my life not getting on."
"The two most important women being me and…"
"Grace, naturally," Tom said. "Very closely followed by mam."
"I like Grace," Sybil said. "She obviously thinks the world of you."
"As anyone with sense does," Tom said cockily.
Sybil scowled at him, but couldn't stop a smile from broadening across her face.
"Come on," she said. "We'd better unpack."
As she tried to move away from him, Tom pulled her back and gave her a chaste kiss. "I mean it," he said. "I'm glad you're feeling a bit more settled."
Sybil smiled and placed her lips softly on his again. She could feel that the week was going to be okay. In fact, she was actually looking forward to getting to know Tom's family now.
Tom and Sybil spent the next half hour or so unpacking their bags and trying to make the most of the small amount of storage space in the room before they re-emerged downstairs.
"You two have settled in quickly," Mark said as he turned the corner to find Sybil and Tom coming down the stairs. "What's your plan now?"
"I don't think we have a plan, do we?" Sybil said, directing her question at Tom.
"Why don't I take you out?" Tom said.
"Take me out?"
"Yeah," Tom said. "We've still got about an hour to kill before dinner, so why don't we go for a walk around the village?"
"That sounds nice," Sybil said. "Let me go and change my shoes and I'll be down in a minute."
"I'll go and let mam know where we're going," Tom said.
-ooo-
Their walk around the village was slow and gentle. It was nice to be out getting some fresh air after a day of travelling.
As they walked, they talked mostly about Tom's family.
"You seem more relaxed than you were earlier," Tom said as he slipped his fingers between Sybil's.
"I am. I don't know why I was so nervous before. Your family are lovely. I had nothing to be worried about," Sybil said, shaking her head and feeling silly.
"You know, it's sweet that you cared so much, though," Tom said. "I know you don't get on famously well with your own family, so it's nice that you really care about at least getting on well with mine."
"Oh my God!" Sybil shrieked, a little too loudly.
"What?"
"There's an old fashioned sweetshop!"
"Do you want to go in?" Tom said, laughing at Sybil's reaction to the shop that Tom had spent so much of his pocket money in during his childhood.
"I haven't got any money on me," Sybil said, deflating somewhat. It was a gloriously sunny day at the end of March and Sybil had come out wearing only a thin top and a cable knit jumper. The only thing she had with her was her phone, which sat in the back pocket of her jeans.
"I've got my wallet. I'm sure I could stretch to some sweets," Tom said.
Sybil squealed and practically jumped in the air.
"You really wouldn't mind?" Sybil said.
"I really wouldn't," Tom said, unable to stop a smile from forming across his lips.
Still holding hands, they made their way across the road to the shop.
"I was never allowed in sweet shops as a child," Sybil said as they entered the shop. "So now, whenever I see one, I make a point of going in and making up for my misspent youth."
"I can't believe you were never allowed in sweet shops as a child. I was in here practically every week as soon as I was given my pocket money," Tom admitted.
"I know that voice," said a voice from behind the counter.
Tom looked up and was surprised to find that Mr Jones, the owner of the shop, was still around. He was very old now, but was still clearly full of life.
"Mr Jones!" Tom said from across the small shop, which was devoid of any other people.
"Tom Branson, well I never," he said. "What a surprise to see you."
"It's nice to see you again," Tom said with a smile.
"I've missed your custom these last few years," Mr Jones said with a jolly laugh. "Though I can see why you stayed in England," he said, glancing over at Sybil, who was on the other side of the shop, looking at all the sweets on the shelves, oblivious to the fact that she was being talked about.
"Syb," Tom called. She looked towards him and approached him. "Syb, this is Mr Jones. Mr Jones, this is Sybil, my girlfriend."
"I think you're punching above your weight a tad there, Tom," he laughed.
Sybil and Tom laughed too.
"You must be very special to be keeping Tom away from us," he said.
"She is," Tom said, smiling at Sybil. "And now I'm going to be spending a fortune on sweets I suspect."
"I promise I'll pay you back," Sybil said. "But I refuse to leave empty-handed."
"Keep a hold of her, Tom," Mr Jones laughed.
"Believe me, I have no intention of letting her go anywhere," Tom said.
"So what will it be?" Mr Jones said to Sybil.
"Could I have a hundred grams of lemon sherbets please, and, er, five traffic light lollies," Sybil said, her eyes flitting about the jars of sweets behind the counter. "Ooh, and a hundred grams of mint humbugs!"
"I've never seen you so excited!" Tom teased.
"You've never seen me in an old fashioned sweet shop before!" Sybil laughed.
Once Mr Jones had finished measuring out Sybil's sweets, Tom said, "Could I add a hundred grams of giant snakes and a hundred of peanut brittle to the order too?"
"Of course you can," Mr Jones said as he darted around, taking the appropriate jars off the shelves.
"I thought you didn't like jelly sweets," Sybil said.
"I don't," Tom said. "The peanut brittle's for me. The snakes are for Grace. They're her favourite."
"You're too soft, you know," Sybil said, leaning into Tom as he put his arm around her shoulder.
He kissed Sybil through her hair as they waited for their sweets to be weighed out and the total added up.
As soon as they had left the shop, Sybil took a traffic light lolly out of the brown paper bag and began sucking on it.
"I haven't had one of these in so long," Sybil said, revelling in the taste of the sugar.
"If I had known you liked them I would have bought you some months ago," Tom laughed.
"I don't think they would taste so good if you didn't get the experience of actually going into the sweetshop to buy them yourself though," Sybil said.
The couple continued their walk around the area, with Tom pointing out various things as they went; this is where he went to school, that is the tree he fell out of and broke his arm when he was seven, this is where the infamous great village barn dance of 2012 was held. Sybil liked hearing these little snippets of Tom's childhood. It made her feel a wave of affection for him.
"Where are we going?" Sybil asked as Tom took her down a side road. "You said we had an hour to kill and that hour is up in ten minutes."
"I know," Tom said, taking Sybil's hand and guiding her down the narrow street. "I need to show you something."
"What?" Sybil asked sceptically.
"Just come here and stop asking questions," Tom said with a laugh.
Tom led Sybil down the road and through a gate that led onto a wide open meadow.
"Where are we?" Sybil said.
"In my favourite place in the whole town," Tom said.
As they rounded a corner of the field, Sybil stopped in her tracks. The field was on top of a hill that overlooked most of the city. The evening sunset spread golden light over the buildings, making everything glow a beautiful shade of orange. It was like the view from Tom's bedroom window, but even more beautiful.
"Oh my God, Tom, this is gorgeous," Sybil said.
"I know," Tom said. "I've yet to come across a view quite like it anywhere else in the world."
"How do you know about this place? It's not like it's obvious from the main road."
"I did a lot of exploring around the village when I was little. I know about a lot of little nooks and crannies that nobody else seems to notice."
Sybil wrapped her arms around Tom's waist, leaning her head against his chest as they both looked out at the golden village.
"I love you," Tom said, repeating his words from earlier in the day.
"I love you too," Sybil said, shifting to look at Tom. "Thank you for introducing me to your family."
"Speaking of," Tom said, "we ought to get back home. Mam's never best pleased if anyone's late for dinner."
Walking hand in hand, Sybil and Tom made their way back to Tom's house. When they were half way up Tom's road, Sybil broke away from Tom and said,
"Race you to the top!"
She had already started running, leaving Tom to catch up with her. It didn't take him long to catch up with her, but the road wasn't long, so by the time he'd caught up they were practically at Tom's drive anyway. As Tom came up behind Sybil he grabbed her waist and spun her round to face him.
"You cheated," he said.
"It's not my fault you weren't prepared," Sybil laughed.
"You didn't follow the rules," Tom said.
"Sore loser," Sybil said.
"You went to the sweet shop without me?" Grace said, standing in the doorway to the front door. She was looking at the small pink and white stripy paper bags that Sybil and Tom were each clutching in their hands.
Tom walked towards her and held out the bag with giant snakes towards Grace.
"Compensation?" he said, knowing that Grace would accept the offer.
She took the bag from him and looked inside. Her eyes widened when she saw the sweets and leapt forward to hug Tom in way of thanks.
"What's happening out here?" Mark asked as he came into the hallway.
"Tom bought me jelly snakes from the sweet shop!" Grace said, clutching the bag close to her.
"That was very kind of him. You'd better all come in and have dinner before you start inhaling all that sugar."
With that, Grace jumped down from Tom and bounded inside, followed by the much calmer Sybil and Tom.
-ooo-
Whilst they were eating dinner, conversation flowed as if Tom had never been away. The conversation was monopolised rather by Grace, who insisted on sitting next to Tom so that she could spend as much time with him as possible before he left to England again.
Sybil remained on the edge of the conversation. She joined in when she felt it appropriate, but acted mostly as an observer. In her family, it was completely unheard of to have conversations like this – that were loud and had everyone talking over one another and changed topic every two minutes. It was a shock to the system for Sybil, but it was a nice one. She liked it. Just the thought of joining a family like this one made her feel happy.
"Sybil can help you with that," Tom said, talking to Grace.
On hearing her name, Sybil was dragged out of her thoughts.
"Pardon?" she said to Tom.
"Grace has to do a science project over the Easter holidays," Tom said. "None of us are particularly good with science, but you are."
"Oh, well, I'm more than willing to lend a helping hand. All you have to do is ask," she said to Grace.
"I want to do it on how plants grow," Grace said.
"Not exactly my speciality, but I'm sure I could give it a good go," Sybil said with a smile.
"Don't feel like you have to, Sybil, dear," Joanna said.
"No, no, I'd like to," Sybil said. "I like science and I'm always happy to help."
"Right," Mark said, rising from the table and collecting everyone's empty plates. "Time for Friday night games, I think."
Sybil looked at Tom and smiled. Sybil hadn't played a lot of board games in her life, but in the year that she and Tom had been together, he had introduced her to a multitude of games that she'd never played before. In Tom's family, Friday night had always been games night, where they'd play one or two board games to round off the evening before everyone dispersed throughout the house to get ready for bed.
"Can we play Articulate?" Grace asked as she stood from the table and made her way to the living room.
"Of course we can," Joanna said.
As Mark filled the dishwasher, the rest of them followed Grace to the living room. By the time Mark came in, the game had been set up and they were ready to start.
Just at that moment, Sybil's phone rang. She took it out of her pocket and read the caller ID. It was Gwen. She stood from her spot on the sofa next to Tom and excused herself as she walked out of the room to answer the call in the corridor.
"Hey Gwen," she said cheerfully.
"Sybil, I need you," Gwen sobbed.
"Oh no, what's happened?" Sybil said sympathetically. Gwen didn't cry. Gwen never cried. She prided herself on her strength to keep all of her negative emotions in.
"James broke up with me," she said through her tears.
"Oh, Gwen," Sybil said, not entirely sure what to do. "Hang on two minutes."
She took her phone away from her ear and went back into the living room. She leaned over the back of the sofa and said to Tom quietly, "It's Gwen. James has just split up with her. I think I'm going to have to sit this game out."
Tom nodded and Sybil left again, going up to Tom's room to talk to Gwen.
As Sybil spoke to Gwen, Tom's family played Articulate. They decided on having two teams, one made up of Mark and Grace, the other of Joanna and Tom. About half an hour later, Sybil re-emerged in the living room, just as Mark and Grace won the game.
"That's so unfair," Tom sulked. "They got such easy ones! How was I supposed to describe Lionel Messi when I've never in my life seen you watch a football match?" Tom whined to his mother, who just smiled at his anger.
"Sore loser," Sybil said from behind him for the second time that day.
"Hey, that's not fair!" Tom said, turning around to face Sybil. "You'd be cross too if you'd just had the game we've just had." Sybil moved around the side of the sofa and placed herself down next to Tom, curling her feet up beneath her.
"Why don't we play something a bit calmer?" Joanna said. "Articulate always gets a bit too exciting."
"Scrabble, anyone?" Mark suggested.
"I could go for Scrabble," Sybil said. "Tom might actually win if we play Scrabble."
Tom gave her a sideways glare.
As Mark, Joanna and Grace were preoccupied with putting Articulate away and setting up Scrabble, Tom said to Sybil quietly,
"How's Gwen?"
"Distraught," Sybil sighed. "She thought he was the one. They've been together for nearly six years, did you know that? She can't figure out why he split up with her. She thought they were happier than ever. I told her to take a few days to think about things and see how she feels after that."
"God that sounds awful," Tom said. "You're not thinking of splitting up with me anytime soon are you?" Tom asked.
"If you continue to be a sore loser I might!" Sybil laughed.
The game of Scrabble was much calmer than the previous game, though there was a certain rivalry between Sybil and Tom. Tom had always been better with words – his vocabulary was something Sybil always wondered at. But Sybil's collection of letters enabled her to show off her medical knowledge with a number of medical terms which Tom hadn't even heard before. In the end, though, neither of them won. Mark won, followed by Tom in second, Sybil in third, Joanna in fourth and Grace in last place.
Once the board was packed away, it was time for Grace to go to bed.
"But it's not a school night," she whined.
"You've had a very exciting day," Mark said calmly. "And the sooner you go to sleep tonight, the sooner you'll wake up tomorrow and the more time you can spend with Tom."
"Fine," she huffed, slumping off to get herself into bed.
"Goodnight Grasshopper," Tom said as she walked past him.
"Goodnight Tortoise," she called back.
"Tortoise?" Sybil mouthed to Tom, trying to hold back a laugh.
"I'll explain when we're upstairs," he said quietly. He turned his attention to his parents. "I think we're going to head off to bed too."
"Of course," Joanna said. "You must both be tired after travelling all day."
-ooo-
Sybil and Tom made their way upstairs and got ready for bed. When they were lying next to each other beneath the duvet, Sybil said,
"Why did Grace call you Tortoise?"
Tom laughed at Sybil's question. It was so normal for him that he had never really thought about how strange it was.
"When she was little she started calling me Tortoise because she was learning about animals in nursery and Tortoise begins with T and Tom begins with T, and she made a connection there that she couldn't get rid of. So I became Tortoise. And I thought it only fair that if she got to call me by an animal name then I should get to call her by an animal name, so she became Grasshopper," Tom said.
Sybil laughed.
"I wish my relationship with my sisters was like your relationship with Grace."
"I reckon it's only because we're so far apart in age. If we had only been a few years apart, we definitely wouldn't be so close. We're too similar."
"Then I'm sure she'll grow up to be just as wonderful as you are," Sybil said. She placed her head gently on Tom's shoulder and held her breath for a second. "Thank you for making me feel so welcome. I was so nervous, but now I see that I really didn't need to be. Your family are all lovely. I'm glad I've met them."
"Good," Tom said. "Because I can see us spending a lot more time with them in the future."
Sybil smiled, although Tom couldn't see it. Knowing that the thought of the two of them being together for years to come was on him mind pleased Sybil. It made her feel loved. It made her feel wanted.
Visiting Ireland was never going to be a hard task. Not with Tom there. Sybil knew that her home was with Tom. It didn't matter where in the world they were. If they were together, they could handle anything life had to throw at them.