A/N: This chapter has been updated. I started my next chapter and then decided that the beginning of chapter 4 belonged at the end of chapter 3.
Sybil stood up and went over to Tom who was still standing by the bookshelves trying to leaf through multiple books at one time.
"Tom, I think you should sit down." She was right. Tom knew he was only trying to divert attention from the fact that he was quivering inside. He put the three books back on the shelf and went to the hard leather sofa situated in the middle of the room with books for walls. Tom disliked most of the rich upper class British people, with their extravagant houses and decorations. Having never grasped how wealthy Sybil's family was the whole house was a bit of a shock to him and usually he would have despised its very existence, but of all the places Tom had ever seen, he knew that if he had the money he would have a room like this. Maybe two if it was a possibility.
As his eyes glanced around the room admiring the mass of books, his gaze was drawn back to Sybil. She was stood by the window, looking out at the lush fields that she and her sister may have played around in when they were younger. Well, Sybil may have. But after meeting her sisters once when they came to open the new wing of the publishing house, he knew that they didn't like and never would like getting their hands dirty. Compared to them Sybil was a free spirit. He admired that in her. The way she always seemed to go against what her family stood for. That messy, swept up thing she did with her hair even contradicted her family roots. Just looking at her standing there reminded him of just how much he loved her, and how much he was going to fight to keep her.
The door opened, and in came Robert Crawley. His face was ice cold like a glacier.
"What is this boy doing in my house!? Sybil Crawley you have a lot to explain!" And so it begins, thought Tom. He was fiddling with his fingers nervously. Lord Grantham had a strange effect over him that made Tom feel as if he should grovel at his feet. Perhaps it was the fact he was always in a suit, or his grand library. Maybe even just the manner he walked about the place - carefree and its owner no matter where he was.
"Is it not humiliating enough to have my daughter working as a nurse!? Clearly it was not. You have decided to run off with this. This wretched boy. This wretched boy that works, for a newspaper. This is the type of boy that will twist every word that is said in this room right now if he had the chance. Sybil have you no shame!? Have you no common sense?" Tom stared at Sybil, willing her to turn around and face the brute that her father seemed to be turning into. Respectable, calm, kind, reasonable Lord Grantham. If that were the case, perhaps he might be a little more reserved instead of blaring for all to hear.
"Give her some credit! At least she knows her own mind!" Tom stood up quickly and defensively as he said this. Lord Grantham turned fast on his heels.
"Don't you dare talk to me in that manner young man!"
"Oh papa, have some respect!" Sybil said.
Lord Grantham turned his back to Tom again and looked straight over to Sybil, who had her back turned to both of them.
"Sybil Crawley you better turn around this instant!"
"Why? So you can shout at my face like the uncivilized wretch that you're becoming?" The words came out before Sybil could stop them. She meant them, and the force they came out with seemed to have stopped her father from talking. "Maybe you can look at yourself in the mirror before you go around accusing me of being the humiliation of this family." She was still staring out the window, watching as Mary and her mother walked down to the gardens. In the reflection of the glass she saw her father's face drop, she saw him readjust his suit jacket and replace his look of surprise again with his stone cold look of disapproval. She laughed.
"This is no laughing matter Sybil!" But no matter what he did, Sybil could see the worried look in his eyes, the look of confusion on Tom's face in was priceless but she'd mock him about that later. This was going better then she had planned. She turned around with a slight smirk on her face.
"Oh papa, if you only knew how funny it was." Robert's eyes went cold again, as did the rest of his expression. She felt the tables turn again. Back in the favour of her father, but she couldn't quite grasp how it had happened.
"Who else knows of this, preposterous relationship then Sybil?" the question was curt and abrupt. But it was to the point, and if he kept asking things like this Tom thought maybe they could leave sooner, rather than later.
"Mary. She has already tried and failed to talk me out of it." Sybil was clearly just as abrupt as her father.
"You will be disinherited!" The threats started coming. "You'll be ruined" Tom shuddered. Lord Grantham had said the same to him.
"You still don't know the whole story." The response that Sybil shot back at her father shocked Tom. Especially after the way she had shaken after discovering that her father knew.
"I won't allow it! I won't allow my daughter to throw away her life!"
"You can poster it all you like papa it won't make any difference!"
"Oh yes it will!" The angry husk in his voice resonated throughout the room. He was starting to draw the attention of the staff. Many of whom were standing around the doorway listening to what was being said. Sybil noticed this before her father.
"How!?" Sybil retorted. "It's not like I want any money and you can hardly lock me up until I die! Mr Crawley." Tom didn't expect this either. To address her father like he was a stranger, and to not use his title, was enough for anyone to realise that she had just acknowledged the change in her father. The way that he was a different man now, and only she seemed to know why.
"Do you think I don't hear anything Mr Crawley? I bet you think that my good friend Jane would keep anything from me?" She saw his face drop. "Oh I know about your affair." She started to walk towards him. "How long do you think it will be until I tell mother about it though?" She noted Tom's face. Again it was a picture or both confusion and admiration. "Oh and one more thing, it's Sybil Branson from now on."
Branson looked from Sybil to Lord Grantham and then back to Sybil. The reality of the situation hadn't sunk in yet. Was this Sybil saying yes to marrying him? After a week of uncertain deliberation he had asked her, and it was now two weeks on and she hadn't given him an answer. He knew it was probably because she had a lot to lose if she did marry him, but he loved her and had trusted her to make the right decision. Maybe she was just saying it to annoy her father? If that was the case then it had done the trick, Lord Grantham's face was reddening. It wasn't just scarlet with anger it was also tinged with the pink of embarrassment. Tom's eyes locked with Sybil's for a moment and he saw the reassurance and the answer in her eyes. This was her decision, they were going to marry. Soon, hopefully. But it was definite. Tom couldn't hide the smile from his face.
"Mr Branson! I don't think this is the time for you to be smiling like a Cheshire cat!" Lord Grantham bellowed.
"He can do what he likes Mr Crawly. You are not the boss of him. Or me anymore." Sybil said in reply to her father's remark.
Sybil walked over to Tom and slipped her hand into his and held it tightly. It was then that Tom realised that she wasn't as confident as she was making out. He could feel her arm shaking slightly. She had never done this before, never stood up to her father before. He felt her hand tighten around his.
"I will come back tomorrow for Matthew's wedding. But don't expect my mind to have changed overnight." Sybil paused for a moment thinking things over. "Oh and Tom will be coming too." She then tugged slightly on his arm and they left the room, walked out of the house and went down to the lake where they had planned to go that afternoon.