Family Visit: Chapter 1

It was raining outside. It was always raining outside. Or at least, that's what Tom felt. It had been raining on and off for weeks. There were rare intervals of sunshine, but mostly it was cold and windy, or pouring from black clouds overhead. Or both. Yes, usually both. Tom was beginning to get a bit depressed with the weather. He loved being outside, so this meant he couldn't do much of what he wanted to do anymore. But it did mean he got some of the work done that had been sitting around for months waiting for him to do it. Being a journalist, a lot of what he did was 'on the job', but he still had a lot of work to do with his home and his family among other things that he'd put to the back of his mind and forgotten about. It was Sunday and Sybil and Tom had come back from church. Their six year old son, Finn, had gone straight off from church with a friend to spend the day. Sybil thought that perhaps it wasn't the best idea, as it was a Sunday – people were supposed to be resting – and she knew that Finn would be restless if he weren't let outside due to the rain, but the Morgans were insistent that it was no trouble and they'd be happy to have Finn for the day. But Sybil and Tom were grateful as it gave them some time to relax without having to chase after a small child or make him do his schoolwork. Tom was in the process of making two mugs of tea when he heard the roar of thunder and saw the bright lightning flash light up the whole room. Although to be fair, the room wasn't very big. He was standing in his small, dimly lit kitchen. Sybil was upstairs in their bedroom – a bedroom that was far smaller than what Sybil had had when she was living with her parents at Downton. Once Tom had made the tea, he carried the two mugs carefully up the wooden staircase to Sybil. He found Sybil sitting on their windowsill (it was a wide windowsill – one could sit on it without worry of falling off the side) reading a book. Her legs were bent up in front of her and a thick and fluffy red blanket was draped over her. Tom held out a mug to Sybil and Sybil put her book down at her side to free a hand in order to take the mug. "Are you feeling any better?" Sybil shook her head gently and began to drink her tea with a subdued expression. She looked a little pale – Tom could tell she wasn't well. It didn't help that Mary and Matthew were coming down to visit tomorrow. "Is that my jumper?" Tom said, all of a sudden changing the subject. Sybil smirked slightly but said nothing. Tom looked at Sybil.

"What? I was cold and this was the first jumper I came across!" Sybil said with a smile. She liked wearing Tom's jumpers due to the fact that they were always too big for her, so made her feel warm and cosy, and they always smelled of Tom. It was partly his deodorant and aftershave, but it was also just him. And Sybil loved the smell of him and his clothes. She found that it comforted her.

"What do you want for lunch?" Tom asked.

"Pasta, please," Sybil said in reply. "And tomato sauce."

"Alright then!" Tom said as he got up. But he didn't move away from the windowsill just yet. Instead, he walked over to Sybil and placed his hand on hers to comfort her a little. "Are you sure you'll be alright?"

"Of course I will, Tom. I appreciate the care, but you don't need to fuss about me that much. What's going to happen to me, exactly? I'm pretty sure the window is not going to murder me!" Sybil laughed at the fact that Tom was worried to leave her while he made lunch. Tom didn't reply, but bent down to kiss Sybil before heading downstairs to make lunch. As soon as Tom left the room Sybil began to read again. She'd got through three chapters and fifty or so pages before Tom came back into the room with lunch and a pot of tea on a tray. Sybil looked up once she had finished her sentence and said, "Oh, Tom, thank you. I love you, you know?" Tom kissed her and gave her a plate of pasta and tomato sauce. It wasn't exactly a grand meal, but it was what Sybil wanted, so Tom was more than happy to make it for her. Sybil sat on the windowsill to eat and Tom sat on his chair.

"Do you know what time your sister's coming tomorrow?"

"Not a clue. Pass me the phone and I'll ring her and find out," Sybil said looking towards the phone at Tom's side. He picked it up and passed it to her. Sybil dialled the number and waited for Mary to pick up.

"Oh, hello! Yes, right – do you know what time you'll arrive down here tomorrow? Alright. Are you going to want to do anything then when you get down here if you'll have been travelling all day? That's fine! I'm sure you men can go down to the pub!" Sybil looked at Tom with a smile when she said this. "Yes, Finn hasn't stopped, but he's round at a friend's house today, so hopefully that will keep his mind off if it for a while. Yep, okay – see you tomorrow, bye!"

"So, what time?" Tom said as Sybil pressed the red button on the landline.

"Matthew thinks about 3 o'clock, but it could be any time before or after that with about an hour's span. And he thought that perhaps you two could go to the pub down the road for the evening and Mary and I'll stay here and look after Finn and George."

"Are you sure you'll be alright with that?" Tom asked, obviously thinking that the pub was a good idea, but also clearly worried about whether Sybil would be okay if she wasn't feeling quite perfect.

"I'll be perfectly fine, Tom, dear. I'll have Mary here, and by that time the boys will have gone to bed, won't they, and I'd like to have a catch up with Mary anyway. I haven't seen her in ages and I'd like to know how the rest of the family are doing. I'll be absolutely fine, Tom!" Sybil finished her food, but kept her tea with her and then Tom went to put things away downstairs. It was still raining, but Sybil didn't care. She was just as excited to see Mary as Finn was to see George.

Let me know what you think. It's going to be a short fic - as in there will probably be less than five chapters, but please let me know what you think about it so far (I know it's only been one chapter so far!).