Next Door Neighbour
Chapter 1: Babysitting Lydia
Lady Sybil Crawley, or Sybil, as she preferred to be known, was tidying the house she shared with her best friend, Gwen, on the outskirts of London. It wasn't the most beautiful house in the world, nor was it in the most beautiful location, but it was functional and it was all the two of them needed. It wasn't hard to keep clean and tidy, and there was enough space for the two to live harmoniously side by side, even when they did have the odd argument.
Sybil and Gwen had been too busy to keep the house organised over the past few weeks, so Sybil was trying to give the living room a much-needed tidy up. She was playing music from her phone as a soundtrack to her tidying, but was surprised when it suddenly stopped mid-song. She turned around to find Gwen standing the doorway, having paused the song so that she could speak to Sybil.
"Do you want to go out tonight?" Gwen asked. She hadn't been enjoying her work recently, and had been dealing with it by drinking too much alcohol on the weekends.
"I can't," Sybil said. "I promised Tom I'd babysit for him."
Tom Branson, an Irish journalist, lived next door with his five year old daughter, Lydia. When Sybil and Gwen moved into their house, Tom had helped them move boxes and set up furniture to speed the process along a little. On one occasion, Tom had been in the middle of building furniture when he noticed the time and had to go and get Lydia from school. Sybil and Gwen were grateful for the help and could have finished building the furniture on their own, but Tom was insistent that he wouldn't leave the job half done, so he returned with his daughter and finished the job. This was the first time that Sybil and Gwen had met Lydia.
She had blonde hair and dark brown eyes and looked nothing like Tom. She had very fine features and her cheeks were rosy and sprinkled with freckles. She had lived her whole life on the outskirts of London, so didn't have even the slightest Irish accent, yet despite the differences between father and daughter, she had him wrapped tightly around her little finger. Tom doted on her and she was the most important thing in his life.
"You can't babysit for him," Gwen moaned.
"Why not?" Sybil asked.
"Because I need you!" Gwen said very overdramatically.
"I'm not going to cancel on him, Gwen," Sybil said with a raised eyebrow.
"Is that because you're honouring a promise or because you want to spend more time with him?" Gwen teased.
"Oh come on, Gwen, he needs someone to look after Lydia. I'm just giving a helping hand."
"Mmhmm," Gwen hummed. "I'm sure a helping hand is what he wants!"
"Gwen!" Sybil shrieked, feeling her cheeks deepening in colour.
"I'm only pointing out the obvious!"
"Go away!" Sybil said, shooing her out of the room. "Take your dirty mind somewhere else and let me tidy up in here."
"Can we go for brunch tomorrow then? If I can't drown my sorrows with you, the next best thing is talking about them to you over food," Gwen asked.
"Are you sure you'll manage brunch? Mid-morning's a little early if you've got a hangover," Sybil warned.
"I'll be fine," Gwen said. "I'll try not to get too drunk."
"Try being the key word," Sybil mocked.
Gwen mocked being offended. "I'll have you know that I can hold my drink!"
"Gwen I can't remember the last time you went out drinking and didn't wake up with a hangover."
"Hey!" Gwen wailed indignantly.
"It's true!" Sybil stated. "Now, go away, I need to keep on tidying."
"Yes, mum," Gwen teased.
Sybil flashed a disapproving look of amusement at the redhead as she turned her back and left the room.
-ooo-
Later that evening, Sybil stood on Tom's front porch and knocked on the door. Lydia opened the door with an excited grin and immediately hugged Sybil.
"Hello, my lovely," Sybil said, smiling back at the five year old.
"Lydia, are you in your pyjamas yet?" Tom called from somewhere else in the house.
Sybil stepped into the house, closing the door behind her, whilst Lydia ran off upstairs.
"Hi Sybil," Tom said as he left the kitchen and saw Sybil by the door.
"Hi," Sybil said, trying to stop herself from squealing at the sight of Tom. He was wearing a smart suit, but he hadn't got his jacket on yet, his shirt sleeves were rolled up, his bow tie wasn't yet tied and his hair was a mess. (A gorgeous, sexy mess, but a mess nonetheless.)
"Lydia's been a bit of a pain today," Tom sighed. "She's got far too much energy and I'm already running late."
Sybil left her bag on the floor and said, "Look, you finish getting ready to go out, and I'll go and get the munchkin into her pyjamas."
Tom visibly relaxed a little at Sybil's suggestion. "Would you? Thank you so much, Sybil."
"It's what I'm here for," Sybil said with a smile as she began to go upstairs.
Half way up the stairs, Sybil was nearly knocked down by Lydia running down them.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Sybil said, taking hold of Lydia to slow her down. "Where are you going?"
"I need to get Patch from downstairs," Lydia said quickly.
"Who or what is Patch?" Sybil enquired.
"He's my teddy bear," Lydia said. "I left him downstairs. I can't sleep without him."
"You also can't sleep if you're not in your pyjamas. So let's go and get you in your pyjamas first, and then we can go and get Patch, okay?"
"Okay," Lydia said, turning around and bounding back up the stairs.
Sybil sighed quietly. She knew that tonight would be a long night. She followed Lydia to her bedroom, just by the top of the stairs. It was surprisingly tidy apart from a few toys on the floor. Lydia opened her drawer and pulled out her favourite pair of pyjamas. They were particularly soft and warm with blue and beige horizontal stripes. As Lydia put the pyjamas on, Sybil picked up and folded the clothes she had just taken off and put them in a neat pile in the corner of the room.
"I need to go and get Patch now," Lydia said, running out of the room.
Sybil followed her with a little less enthusiasm. She walked into the sitting room and saw Lydia holding Patch. He was a dark brown teddy bear with patched elbows, knees and ears. He looked tatty and worn, but Sybil hadn't recalled seeing him before. Lydia had certainly never mentioned a bear called Patch.
Tom walked down the hallway and into the sitting room. "I need to go, but I can't go without a kiss from my girl," he said.
Lydia jumped up and ran to her father, wrapping her arms around his neck as he lifted her up and gave her a kiss.
"You must promise to be good for Sybil tonight, okay?"
"I promise," she said with a smile. "You must promise to have a good time tonight, okay?"
Tom laughed at his daughter's words. "I promise."
He put Lydia down and she disappeared upstairs. He turned to Sybil. "Thank you so much for doing this. I wouldn't be going out if I didn't have to," he said. Tom was going to a works event. He never wanted to go, but the networking opportunities were too important to risk missing it.
"It's really no problem," Sybil said cheerfully.
"If you need me, you've got my number," he said.
"Yes I do," Sybil confirmed. "But I'm sure everything will be fine."
Tom smiled.
"Enjoy yourself," Sybil said.
"I'll try. Thank you," he said, walking towards the front door. "Bye."
"Bye."
The front door closed behind Tom and Sybil turned to go back up the stairs to get Lydia into bed.
"Sybil, can you tell me one of your special stories please?" Lydia begged when Sybil stepped into her room.
"Only once you've cleaned your teeth," Sybil said.
"But I want-"
"No buts," Sybil interrupted. "Come on, it's non-negotiable. You are going to clean your teeth, I am going to tell you a story and then you are going to go to sleep, yes?"
"Yes," Lydia huffed as she walked towards the bathroom.
Sybil smiled to herself as she watched Lydia walk past her. She was a child who would go far. Nothing was going to stand in her way. She took after her father in that respect.
Once Lydia was settled in bed, Sybil sat beside her and began to make up a story. No two of Sybil's stories were the same. Some of them involved adventures, some of them involved fantasy creatures and some of them involved strange plots that made Lydia laugh.
Sybil would put on different voices for the different characters in her tales and really make the characters come alive. Whenever Sybil was around, Lydia refused to let her read one of her normal bedtime stories, because the ones Sybil made up were so much better.
Tonight's story told the tale of an ancient purple dragon who was consumed by vanity and hoarded mirrors. He had large reflective wings and flew through the air, but couldn't breathe fire. One day he decided that none of his mirrors were large enough for his liking, so he flew to the nearest lake and gazed upon himself in the still glistening waters. He spent hours looking at himself, making sure that every scale was exactly where it should be. If he looked his best, then the world had nothing to worry about as far as he was concerned. When the sun began to set and it became hard to see himself in the water, he returned to his cave to gaze at himself in all of his thousands of mirrors. But upon his return he found nothing more than smashed metal and glass. Somebody else had ransacked his hoard. He had no way of knowing who it was or how long ago the crime had taken place. All he knew is that he was angry about it. He got cross and then he cried and then he mourned the loss of his mirrors. All of his hard work collecting mirrors had gone to waste. But perhaps the destruction of his property wasn't the worst thing in the world. For, the purple dragon realised that he had spent so much time looking at himself that he never looked upon others. He cared only that he looked good and didn't even acknowledge others. This thought upset the dragon, so he decided to sweep all the broken mirrors out of his cave. He would no longer hoard anything. Instead, he would collect whatever he could find and donate them to other dragons for their hoards. For the rest of his life he helped other dragons before himself and everybody began to look upon him with admiration and thanks rather than with disgust and hatred, as they had before.
By the time Sybil had finished telling her story, Lydia had fallen asleep. Sybil smiled at the little girl lying beside her. Sybil stood up and pulled a blanket up over Lydia's shoulders. She turned the light out as she left the room and whispered, "Good night."
-ooo-
Once downstairs, Sybil turned on the television, turned the volume down and flicked through the channels until she found something vaguely interesting to watch. It was only eight o'clock and Tom wasn't expected back until at least eleven, so Sybil had some time to kill. She had brought a book and some work with her, but she didn't really feel up to anything that required intense concentration. In the first advert break Sybil realised how thirsty she was so she went into the kitchen to make herself a cup of coffee. She knew the caffeine would help her stay up for a while. Despite the fact that she grew up going to a lot of important social events which took place late at night, Sybil was naturally a morning person. Given a choice she would rather go to bed earlier and then wake up earlier than go to bed and wake up late, but since becoming a nurse she had trained herself to be able to wake up and go to bed at any time, provided that she had enough fuel to keep her going. This cup of coffee was the fuel she needed to be able to cope with staying up so late tonight.
She settled back on the sofa and continued watching television for an hour or so before Lydia made an appearance.
"Sybil," she said quietly from the edge of the room.
Sybil was startled by the voice and jerked her gaze behind her to see the little girl with Patch in her arms. Sybil stood up and walked towards Lydia.
"Hey, what's up? Why are you awake?" she asked gently, crouching beside her.
"I had a nightmare," Lydia said slowly.
"Oh, darling," Sybil said, feeling sorry for her. She reached across and wrapped her arms around her. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Lydia shook her head.
"Do you think you can go back to bed?" Sybil asked.
Lydia shook her head again.
"Do you want a quick cuddle on the sofa?" Sybil suggested.
Lydia nodded, her face still holding a sad expression.
"Come on then," Sybil said.
Lydia climbed onto the sofa and Sybil found a blanket to lay over them both. Sybil sat next to Lydia and wrapped her arm around her.
Lydia fell against Sybil's side and held Patch close to her.
Sybil picked up the television remote and began flicking through the channels again to find something suitable for Lydia. All the children's channels were off air so late at night, so Sybil tried to find something that was interesting but didn't contain violence or nudity or swearing. Planet Earth. That would do. It was interesting and educational, but not so complicated that Lydia would be unable to follow it, and there was no nudity, swearing or violence, so Sybil decided that it was a good choice.
Before long, Lydia's breathing was slow and consistent, and she had stopped wriggling. She was asleep. Sybil thought that perhaps she should take her back up to bed, but she didn't want to risk waking the little girl by moving her, so she left her where she was and continued to hug her. The episode had finished, but there was another one starting straight away, so Sybil had no reason to change the channel. The topic changed from oceans to deserts and Sybil nodded off herself whilst David Attenborough talked about the wildlife of the Sahara Desert.
-ooo-
Tom arrived home just before midnight. He quietly shut the front door and walked into the sitting room, expecting to find Sybil eager to get back home. What he saw instead surprised him. Sybil's arms were wrapped around Lydia, who wasn't quite sitting, but wasn't quite lying down, leaning into Sybil's body. The blanket over them was pulled up to keep them warm, and Patch's head was peeping out over the top.
Tom stared at them for a while. Lydia looked so much like her mother, even at only five years old. The fact that she had fallen asleep in Sybil's arms pleased him. Tom always needed his daughter to have a positive role model. Tom's own sister was a good influence on Lydia, but living in Ireland meant the bursts of positivity were short-lived and uncommon. Tom was glad that Sybil had moved in next door. Not only was she a positive influence on his daughter, but she was a positive influence on him. She was beautiful and clever and good with children and well-rounded. Tom wanted to take it further with her, but he hadn't quite figured out how.
At this moment, his grip loosened and he dropped his keys on the wooden floor.
Sybil woke suddenly and saw Tom standing before her.
"Hello," Tom said. "Sorry, I um-"
"Hey," Sybil said, "sorry she's not in bed."
"Don't worry about it," Tom whispered, trying not to wake Lydia.
"She had a nightmare. I didn't mean to fall asleep too," Sybil stuttered.
"Really, it's fine," Tom said. "I'll carry her upstairs."
Tom slipped off his jacket, took off his tie and loosened his top buttons. Sybil smiled at him, suddenly more awake. He was attractive, she couldn't deny that. And he was kind and generous and Sybil wished she could just kiss him there and then. Tom slipped his arms around Lydia and lifted her from the sofa, making sure Patch was still with her. He carried her up the stairs, placed her down in her own bed and pulled the duvet over her body. Sybil followed behind him. Together they waited in silence in the doorway of Lydia's room, just for a moment, to make sure she wasn't about to wake up, before going back downstairs so that they could talk a little louder.
"Thank you so much for babysitting tonight," Tom said.
"No problem," Sybil said with a small laugh. "I enjoy looking after Lydia. She's well behaved and she never causes trouble."
"You've only seen one side of her," Tom said with a smirk.
"Shit," Sybil said under her breath as she looked through her bag for her keys.
"What's wrong?"
"I can't find my house keys. I think I might have left them on the side at home," Sybil said, still searching.
"Would Gwen still be awake to let you in?" Tom asked, looking at his watch.
"She's gone out with friends tonight," Sybil said. "She won't be back for hours."
"Well, I suppose-"
"I could see if Edith would let me stay for the night," Sybil said, getting out her phone.
"No, no, don't do that," Tom said, a little too quickly. "She doesn't live near enough to make it worth it. Why don't you stay here? You can stay in the spare room, and I've got a spare toothbrush. It's pink with princesses on it, but if it works, it works…"
"Are you sure?" Sybil said. "I wouldn't be putting you out?"
"Not at all," Tom said. "I can lend you an old t-shirt if you want something to sleep in."
"Are you sure?" Sybil asked again. "Only if it's not any trouble."
"It's no trouble at all. With all the favours you've done me over the last few months, Lord knows I owe you," Tom said.
Sybil smiled coyly at him. "Well, thank you," she said.
"You go up to the spare room and I'll find you what you need," Tom said.
Sybil obeyed his orders and slipped past him to go upstairs.
She dumped her stuff on the floor of the spare room and sat on the bed. She took off her socks and jumper (the only items of clothing she felt she could take off without it being too much for Tom to see). Tom knocked on the door and entered with a pink "Tangled" toothbrush and an old t-shirt that he'd had since his university days.
"Thank you," Sybil said, taking them from him.
"You're welcome," he smiled. "Any time. Good night."
He turned to leave the room.
"Good night," Sybil said, trying to stop her breath from hitching in her throat.
She quickly took the toothbrush to the bathroom and cleaned her teeth before returning to the spare bedroom to get changed and go to bed.
Once she had taken off her jeans, top and bra she pulled the t-shirt over her head. It smelt so strongly of Tom. She felt almost privileged to be able to wear it.
She climbed under the covers of the bed and pulled out her phone to send a text to Gwen.
Spending the night at Tom's. Will explain tomorrow. Hope you're having a great night out. Xxx
With that, she settled down and went to sleep, wishing that she wasn't in the spare room.
-ooo-
When Sybil woke up, it took her a few moments to recognise where she was. Ah yes; babysitting, no keys, princess toothbrush – it all returned to her memory now.
Once Sybil had woken up a little she got dressed in the clothes she had been wearing the day before and made her way to the bathroom to clean her teeth. She actually quite liked that little pink toothbrush. She found it amusing and sweet.
She went back to the spare room to grab her phone, which she stuck in her pocket, and then made her way downstairs to see if anyone else was up and to make herself a cup of coffee. Tom was in the kitchen wearing only a pair of pyjama bottoms. Sybil slowed in her tracks, but tried not to gawk at him too obviously. (But oh God how she wanted to!)
"Mornin'," Tom said in a thick Irish accent, his voice scratchy from only recently having woken up.
"Morning," Sybil said with a smile.
"Coffee?" he asked.
"Please," Sybil said, pulling out a chair to sit at the table. She reached her phone from the pocket of her jeans only to find that Gwen had sent her endless messages.
You're doing what?
Are you insane?
He has a daughter and you're spending the night with him?
Sybil talk to me
Does he have a nice body?
I always imagine that he does
Is he even hotter with no clothes on?
I WANT DETAILS!
Sybil found it hard to stifle a laugh when she saw the messages. No doubt Gwen was drunk and was either reading too much into the text Sybil had sent or hadn't read it carefully enough. With Gwen's words in her mind, Sybil looked up at Tom. He had his back turned to her as he made the coffee, but that didn't make him any less beautiful. Sybil stared at his shoulder blades as they moved to allow his arms to make the coffee. And his arms! They should belong to a Roman god, not to the (very single and eligible) father living next door.
Tom turned and approached Sybil with a mug of coffee, and Sybil immediately darted her gaze away. She quickly sent a message back to Gwen.
Nothing happened. It wasn't like that. I forgot my house key and you were out, so I couldn't get back in the house. I slept in the spare room. Let me know when you are awake. I'm going to need you to let me in. Xxx
"Everything okay?" Tom asked, placing a steaming mug of coffee in front of Sybil.
"Everything's grand," Sybil smiled. "So," she changed the subject, "how was your evening out?"
"Oh, it was alright; posh food with portions too small, a lot of slightly tipsy people in suits and not hugely riveting conversation. But I've got a lot of new contacts which will no doubt prove useful in the future."
"Sounds just like every other works networking do in the history of the universe," Sybil said with a laugh.
Her mobile phone rang.
"It's Gwen," she said as she looked at the screen.
"Does she know why you're not at home?" Tom asked, concerned that Gwen might be worrying about Sybil's whereabouts.
"Yeah, I sent her a message," Sybil said. She answered the call. "Hi, Gwen."
"Don't hi Gwen me!" Gwen said indignantly and loudly enough that Sybil visibly winced and pulled the phone away from her ear slightly.
"Lovely to speak to you too," Sybil said sarcastically.
"You can't just leave me hanging like that," Gwen said. "You can't tell me you're spending the night next door and then not give me any more information."
"I'll come home in a bit," Sybil said, "and I'll explain."
"What do you mean in a bit?" Gwen asked.
"I've having a cup of coffee. And then I'll come back home. Give it maybe half an hour?"
"Fine," Gwen huffed. "I'll be waiting for all the juicy details!" she teased and then hung up the phone.
"All good?" Tom asked.
"Yeah, everything's fine. I think I'll go back home once I've finished my coffee," she said.
"Sure, no problem," Tom said. "It's been a bit of an eventful last twelve hours for us both," he laughed.
Sybil laughed with him, wishing he would either put a few more clothes on himself or take all of hers off.
"Daddy," Lydia called, running into the room in her pyjamas and very messy hair. "Oh, why are you still here?" she said upon seeing Sybil.
"I forgot my house key to get back home yesterday. But now Gwen is home so she can let me back in soon," Sybil explained.
Tom picked up his daughter, who wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Is Sybil going to stay her in the night again?" the little girl asked her father.
Tom blushed deep red and spluttered, "Um, I suppose, if she forgets her keys again, she might have to."
Sybil could feel the blood rushing through her face.
"I'd like that," Lydia stated simply, more to herself than to anyone else. "Daddy, can I have pancakes for breakfast?" she asked, giving him her sweetest smile.
"You want pancakes for breakfast?" he asked cheerily.
Sybil could practically feel her ovaries exploding. He was gorgeous. He was kind. He was topless. He was good with children. Oh, good Lord, how she wished he was hers.
Lydia nodded.
"Will you help me make them?" he asked.
She nodded again, enthusiastically. "Do you want some pancakes, Sybil?"
Sybil was caught off guard. She snapped her vision away from Tom's arms (she hadn't even realised that's where she was looking) and looked up at the little girl. "Oh, um, no I… I think I should go home."
"Please Sybil," Lydia begged.
"I, er…"
"You're more than welcome to stay for pancakes if you'd like to," Tom said. "But don't feel obliged."
"I'm really sorry," she said to Lydia. "I really think I ought to be getting back. I promised Gwen we'd go out for brunch today."
Lydia stuck out her bottom lip in disappointment.
"How about we invite Sybil for pancakes another time," Tom suggested.
Sybil's heart sped up.
"We could have Gwen round too, and have a grand pancake breakfast together."
"Yay!" Lydia shouted loudly.
Tom put Lydia down and she began to get out the ingredients for pancake-making.
Sybil quickly finished her coffee and stood up.
"Are you going?" Tom asked.
"I need to go upstairs to get my things, but then, yes, I think I should be off," she said.
Tom smiled at her.
She turned and made her way upstairs. Her head was in the clouds and her heart was pounding out of her chest. She went into the spare room and made sure it looked at least vaguely neat. She left a note on the side.
Tom, at this point I feel inclined to leave you my number, but you already have that. So, instead, I will say that I'd very much like to have to use this toothbrush again in the future. Maybe next time I'll "forget" my keys on purpose. Sybil
She took a deep breath and left the room.
"I'm off then," she said with a bittersweet smile as she popped her head in through the kitchen door.
"Bye Sybil," Lydia said as she stood over a glass bowl mixing the ingredients together.
"I'll come and see you out," Tom said quietly.
He walked with Sybil down the hall, wanting to make the most of every second he had with her.
"Thank you again for babysitting Lydia yesterday."
"Thank you for giving me somewhere to sleep," Sybil said with a small laugh.
"Friends help each other out," Tom said. It hurt him to call her a friend and not something more.
"That they do," Sybil smiled. She opened the door and stepped outside. "We need to make a pancake date for the four of us." Or preferably actually just for the two of us.
"Absolutely," Tom said.
They heard a crash from the kitchen.
"I ought to go and sort that out," Tom said.
"Right, then," Sybil said, backing down the path a few steps. "Bye."
"Bye," Tom said, reluctantly shutting the door.
-ooo-
Sybil walked back next door and found the front door open before she'd even knocked on it. Gwen had been waiting for her to return home.
"Tell me everything!" Gwen shrieked, dragging Sybil into the house.
"There's not much to tell," Sybil laughed.
"There's everything to tell! Come on, I want to know every juicy detail."
Gwen dragged Sybil into the kitchen where Sybil sat on the counter and Gwen sat on the table. Gwen dragged just about everything out of Sybil, despite Sybil's reluctance. The one thing Sybil didn't mention was the note she left on the side in the spare room.
"Oh," Sybil added to the end of her story, "I promised them that we'd go over to theirs soon for a pancake breakfast."
"Ooh!" Gwen said excitedly. "It'll be like a first real date!"
"Well," Sybil said, "not really. You'll be there and Lydia will be there. I don't even know if he likes me back."
"What do you mean you don't know? Of course he does! Have you seen how he looks at you? He's smitten already!" Gwen said.
Sybil hopped down from the counter, wanting to get away from the conversation. "I need to get changed and you need to get dressed and then we can go out for brunch and talk about your problems."
"My problems are so boring compared to your problem though," Gwen said. "And actually, your problem isn't a problem. Sybil and Tom sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-"
Sybil lurched forward and hit Gwen with a tea towel.
"Hey!" Gwen squealed.
"Stop being cheeky then!" Sybil said in good humour. She waltzed out the room and went upstairs to get changed.
Once in her room, she looked at her own bedside table. She wondered how long it would take Tom to find that note.
This is quite different to what I normally do, but it was really fun to write. I don't know exactly where I'm going with this, but I do intend to write more on it. Let me know what you think in a review.