I'll be updating 7HV soon and 12LofC soon too, so be on the look out for that.
In the meantime, enjoy this fic!
Just a little side note before this odd little one shot: I've let this stir for about a year in my head. I thought it was really odd that the doctors found Tom medically unfit for duty in 2x03, especially when the doctor was surprised that he hadn't been taken sooner. Tom was in good health and I feel like the diagnosis of Tom's mitral valve prolapse was just a way of trying to stop him from objecting the war. He found a way eventually to protest, but I think that someone found out about his plans and decided to take matters into their own hands.
Maybe someone changed the results form the physical…
. . .
Sybil watched as Tom stepped out of the exam room. He adjusted his tie and straightened his jacket. He turned his head and Sybil saw his face.
The smug smile on his face was enough proof that he didn't care a fig about the war. Tom was going to protest and go to prison. He didn't care about the consequences. He wasn't scared at all.
Tom Branson wasn't afraid to fight for his ideals.
Most times, she thought that this was one of Tom's best qualities.
Not today.
She was afraid for him. She was more afraid for him than she was willing to admit. She feared that she would never see him again. Sybil imagined the guards throwing him into a dank prison cell and they would throw away the key. She imagined her papa telling Carson to throw everything from the chauffeurs cottage away since Branson would never be coming back. She imagined herself constantly wondering where he was and if he was okay. Sybil imagined herself finding the prison he was being held in and finding out that he had left for Ireland, no goodbye, no nothing.
She was his only friend for miles and he was willing to give her up for his ideals. Their friendship and his feelings for her weren't important anymore.
It hurt her.
She decided to do it then.
'I almost lost him once. I won't lose him again.'
She made sure to hide in plain sight. She turned her back to him as he passed by on his way out of the hospital. Her gray uniform and nurses cap helped her blend into the background. She was just another face in the endless crowd of patients, nurses, and doctors.
Tom passed by her without a word, not noticing where she was or who she was. She watched him stride out of the hospital, all ready for his certain fate.
Sybil rushed to the exam room Tom exited and slipped in. The doctor had already left the room, but he had forgotten the papers from Tom's physical on the desk. She took the papers out of envelope out and examined them. Her eyes immediately went to the last page where the doctor had made his ruling.
FIT FOR DUTY
Sybil's head spun.
He would go to prison.
Her nightmare was about to come true.
She took a deep breath to stop herself from panicking. She needed a plan. What could she do? She thought of throwing the papers away. No. That wouldn't work. They would just ask him to come in for another physical. She needed to do something that would make the army not want him…But what?
She looked around the room for some ideas. The medical book at the corner of the doctor's desk caught her eye. She took the book and flipped it open. She read the first line
Page 147
a mitral valve prolapse can cause a pan systolic murmur…
'That sounds good enough.'
Sybil took a pen from the desk and proceeded to write:
MITRAL VALVE PROLAPSE. PAN SYSTOLIC MURMUR.
She wrote NOT in front of FIT FOR DUTY and examined her work. Sybil put the papers back into the envelope and sighed. She felt a pang of guilt for ruining his plan and she felt like she was being selfish for wanting to keep him at Downton for as long as possible. But that didn't matter now. He was safe. The army wasn't going to get him.
She saved him from making the biggest mistake of his life.
'Please wait Tom. I'll have an answer for you. I promise. Just don't give up on me.'