Sybil asked Miss Dawson how Edie was, the following morning when she first came into to work, She hoped that her query wouldn't be considered inappropriate after her short stay by Edie's bedside. Thankfully, there were encouraging signs of improvement and the baby's heartbeat had returned to a more normal level. There had been no further bleeding and for the time being at least, the danger seemed to have passed. However, Edie would stay in hospital for the near future, until it was felt that there was no immediate cause for concern.

Edie had woken up about ten minutes before Tom's return and after her initial surprise at seeing Sybil sitting beside her, had been friendly and grateful for the favour she had bestowed. Sybil hadn't waited around once Tom entered the room, she politely asked him how his interview had gone and when he replied positively, had taken her leave and headed home. Tom had seemed highly relieved that their plan had succeeded, without any change to Edie's circumstances and again thanked Sybil gratefully for her kind offer.

The next day, Sybil finished work at 5.30pm and headed downstairs in the lift. As she stepped out and entered the lobby, she saw Tom leaning against the adjacent window. Smiling, he stepped forward and held out a small bunch of flowers, which Sybil recognised as having been purchased from the hospital shop. Her heart started thudding unexpectedly fast and she could feel her cheeks commencing an unwelcome blush.

"Just to say thank you again for what you did yesterday" he said cheerfully.

"Oh, I was happy to, honestly" Sybil replied truthfully "You needn't have bought these."

"Edie asked me to"

"Oh" Sybil felt a sudden rush of disappointment, but she made sure that she kept smiling.

"She feels bad about me having to be here with her so much, so she was relieved that I'd been able to do the interview. She knew that it was important to me."

"Will I be able to read your article in something?" asked Sybil and Tom mentioned a well known monthly current affairs magazine.

"Anyway," he continued brightly "we really appreciated it and our Mam too. She's here now" and he nodded his head towards the lift. His face suddenly flashed a brief grin. "Actually, Mam thinks that I should be taking you out for a drink to say thank you but I assured her that it would be a fate worse than death for you and that you'd probably prefer flowers."

Sybil looked down at the bouquet and lifted them up to pretend to sniff them so that she was occupied. "It wouldn't" she said quietly. Looking up at Tom, his face was entirely expressionless, but he didn't make any move to leave.

"Well…" Sybil wasn't quite sure what she was going to say next, but she suddenly knew that she needed to offer something more in return. "I don't expect it would be your idea of fun after my behaviour in the past, but you know….um….if you did ever want to….er, well, you know…..have a drink sometime, then I'd like that. So…."

"OK" replied Tom, cutting into her ramble. Sybil's head jerked up and she looked at him smiling at her.

"Let's have a drink in Clapham one night. To be honest, it would probably be best while Mam's still over here, because if Edie's still in hospital once she's gone home, then I'll be here every evening. While Mam's in residence, then I'm allowed some time off for good behaviour. So you tell me, what day suits you best?"

After agreeing a time, day and place, Tom nodded brightly, before starting to walk to the lift. "Good, OK. It's a date", then he blushed slightly "well, you know. As the saying goes."

They settled on Friday and Tom suggested a bar that he thought she would probably know. Sybil had been there with her friend Gwen on a couple of occasions. She had absolutely no idea what to wear. Was it a date, or was it just a thank you drink? Would they just have one drink or be out all evening? Should she make an effort to dress up, or just look casual? She considered asking Gwen round beforehand in order to help her decide, but Gwen would make much more of it than it was likely to be and for the time being, she wanted to keep the situation to herself. She knew now that she found Tom attractive, but the thought actually terrified her, for it had been so long since she'd felt any more than friendship for a man. Although he'd certainly been interested in her when they had first met, too much ill will had subsequently passed and she didn't know whether or not he was simply obeying his mother in taking her out. She was also fully aware that she ought to tell Miss Dawson that she was going to see Tom socially. It wasn't that her mentor would be unhappy with the situation itself, but she would certainly ensure that Sybil wasn't assigned to treat Edie in the future. There was a strong possibility, Sybil decided, that the evening would be a one off and that there would be no further consequences. Added to that, nobody knew if Edie would even return to being an outpatient and if Sybil would therefore be attending any of her further appointments, so it seemed pointless to rock the boat.

At 7.30, Sybil tentatively pushed open the door to the bar and saw Tom immediately, sitting in the corner with a pint. He waved and stood up as she walked towards him.

"Hello, you look very nice" he offered with a cheery smile. "What do you want to drink?" Sybil had settled on leggings and a sparkly tunic, together with her favourite high heeled boots, which she hoped looked as if she was out for an evening, but hadn't made too much of an effort. Tom returned with a glass of wine and as he handed it to her, he lifted his pint towards her.

"Well, thank you again. Here's to…a truce?" Sybil smiled and nodded.

"Definitely. I'm really sorry again about what I…." Tom held up his hand to try and stop her

"A truce is a truce. We were both out of order at times, so let's just forget it, shall we?"

They were initally a little awkward with one another, each asking politely about the other's work. Tom explained that he was based mostly from home, but was sometimes at the office of whichever publication he was writing for. When there were few assignments available, he occasionally worked a weekday at the garage. Sybil told him a little bit about her job and where she had studied and they discussed Edie and the possibility of her staying in hospital until the baby was born.

As they neared the end of their drinks, Sybil nodded at his glass and asked,

"Would you like another one?" She was fully prepared for him to make his excuses, having done his duty and if that was the case, then she would simply nod in agreement and head for home.

"I'm supposed to be buying you drinks" Tom protested and began to stand up, putting his hand in his pocket to pull out his wallet. Sybil grabbed his now empty glass and willing herself to sound more confident than she felt, turned for the bar.

"You'll have to buy me a third one then!" she said teasingly over his shoulder. As she stood waiting to be served, she glanced back at him cautiously and was relieved to see him smiling as he fiddled with his beer mat on the table.

By the time that they had finished their second drinks, Sybil could feel the alcohol taking effect and some long forgotten sexual confidence seeping through her body. She looked at him expectantly, meaning to suggest that he return to the bar, however he was staring hesitantly at her. Her stomach knotted slightly, had he had enough of her company now, just as she was starting to relax and enjoy herself?

"Sybil…" he said awkwardly, "I'd love to have a third drink, but…"

"No, it's fine!" she cried, leaning down to pick up her bag, "You probably need to get home to see your Mum once she's back, don't worry. Sorry, I shouldn't have…"

"No" he interrupted loudly, "It's not that, it's just that I need to eat something." He paused and looked queryingly at her "I haven't drunk much recently and it's going to my head. I'm going to be slurring my words if I have a third pint on an empty stomach." Sybil smiled and chewed her lower lip anxiously, she still wasn't sure if he was inviting her to be part of this arrangement or not."

"So, do you fancy getting a pizza or something?" he asked.

The pizzeria was pretty busy, so they had to wait in a queue for a while and Sybil was actually fairly ravenous by the time they sat down. Her lunchtime sandwich seemed a long time ago and she was very pleased to note that Tom was ordering a starter as well.

"So is it just you and Edie in your family?" she asked, after the waiter took their orders and menus.

"No," Tom replied, "there's two more in between us. Kieran is two years younger than me"

"How old are you?" Sybil interrupted, "if you don't mind me asking?"

"29" Tom gave a sigh for dramatic effect "So the big 3-0 next year, I can't quite believe that really. Anyway, Kieran's 27 and he's up in Liverpool. He followed a girl from home there." Tom paused and smirked "unfortunately for him, the girl carried on to Leeds, but he had found a job by that point and liked it, so he stayed. He's a mechanic as well, our Dad owned a garage you see, so we helped him out at weekends when we were growing up. And then Fiona 's nearly 25 and much to Mam's relief, is quite happy to spend the rest of her life in Dublin. She got a traineeship at a big department store when she first left school and is doing really well there. And she's had a steady boyfriend for a while, so I can't see her leaving. I don't think Mam could cope with all four of us being so far away."

"You talked about your Dad in the past tense?" asked Sybil gently. Tom nodded.

"He died of cancer almost five years ago."

"I'm so sorry"

"Thanks. It was a huge shock because it just all happened so quickly. He was fit and healthy and only in his early fifties, but he had cancer of the colon and it just spread so quickly that they couldn't do anything much to help him." Sybil looked at him sympathetically, thinking of her own father and how devastated she would be if anything happened to him.

"So were you already in London by then?"

Tom nodded "I worked for a local paper in a suburb of Dublin after graduating and then applied for a job over here. I just wanted to live somewhere else for a while, just because I was 23 and I could, then he died about a year later. Mam told me that I should stay because Dad wouldn't want me to give up something I enjoyed, so I did And then two years later, they made me redundant anyway." He gave a rueful smile.

"So then you decided to go freelance?"

"Well, yes in principle, but it's taken 3 years to build it to a point where I earn a reasonable sum. I got a job at Dave's garage to tide me over and I just dropped a day a week as I could afford to. He's been brilliant, he knows it's not my priority, but he's kept me on and always asks me first if he needs another pair of hands. I do enjoy it, sort of, but I'd like to give it up eventually and just tinker around with my own car when I feel like it. But you know what London prices are like."

Sybil thought guiltily of the flat she lived in, owned by her father and for which she paid no rent. She knew she was very lucky, her nurse's salary alone would never enable her to live in this part of London otherwise. There was no need for her to reveal that information unless pressed, she decided.

"So what about you? Didn't you say that your father is in Yorkshire?"

"Yes, although my parents are down here a lot. They, um…have a flat down here and Dad works here a bit, so they go back and forth."

"What does he do?" Sybil decided to be as vague as possible and waved her hand around in the air in what she hoped was a nonchalant fashion,

"Property. And business stuff. It's all a bit complicated."

"Well he must be doing alright if he can afford a place down here too" Tom leant back as his starter was placed before him and smiled at her. "Any brothers and sisters?"

"Two sisters" replied Sybil, relieved that the topic had moved away from her parents. "Mary is 26 and a solicitor in Manchester. She's doing really well, probably because she can be a bit ruthless at times." Tom looked at her questioningly before Sybil continued, "I mean she's lovely at home, but I should think she's a bit scary at work. She's always known exactly what she wants and worked towards it, she never seems to doubt herself, it's a very enviable quality. She's going out with a really lovely man called Matthew, who it turned out is our third cousin, which was a bit weird."

"What, just a coincidence?" asked Tom

"Yes, they were introduced at a conference – Mary Crawley meet Matthew Crawley and so they talked about where their families were from and it turns out that our great grandfathers were brothers. And then Edith is 24 and after never knowing what she wanted to do, has started a farm shop on our estate and done brilliantly..." Tom stopped eating and stared at her incredulously,

"Your estate?" he queried. Sybil raised her hand to her mouth, furious with herself that she'd been so careless. She stabbed her food with a fork a few times and then continued,

"Yes. We come from quite an old family you see and there's a bit of land, and the village, and…"

"A village?" asked Tom, not quite able to believe what he was hearing. "Your Dad owns a village?"

"Well not the roads and things, they're owned by the council, but a lot of the buildings, yes. Shops, businesses and houses, that kind of thing."

Tom smiled, still stunned by her revelation and gently mimicked her earlier hand waving,

"Is that property, business and stuff?"

"Er yes." As Sybil watched him, she couldn't see any malice in his response, simply surprise. You know, it probably sounds really grand but my parents are lovely people and you can't help what you are born into…"

"Of course not, I just didn't….well you know, I don't usually mix in those kinds of circles", he laughed softly. "He's not a Duke or a Viscount or something, is he?"

"An Earl" admitted Sybil. Tom chucked again, "Then do you have a title too?"

"Please don't tell anyone" Sybil looked at him with pleading eyes. " Nobody at the hospital knows, I don't want to ever use it again. But yes, officially I'm Lady Sybil Crawley."

Tom returned to eating his meal, still shaking his head in amazement, but smiling all the same.

"My Dad must be spinning in his grave"

"Why?" Sybil retorted indignantly. "For socialising with me, just because of where I was born? Would he have judged me purely on an accident of birth? Isn't that just inverted snobbery and no better than what the upper classes have been accused of for hundreds of years?" Tom had the grace to admit that she was right.

"You're quite intimidating when you're cross" he said grinning at her. "I'm not judging you, I promise. I take people as they are, Earl's Daughter, nurse, journalist, mechanic, it's what's on the inside that counts, isn't it?"

With their awkwardness over, the two chatted easily from that point onwards, discussing Clapham's high and low points, films they'd enjoyed, debating music and books. They had plenty in common, but were able to argue healthily about some of each others choices.

"I'm sorry, but you will never get me to see a James Bond film" stated Sybil, putting her hands up in defiance, "I don't need to see one to know, I've seen enough adverts for them"

"You're missing out on an important part of your cultural heritage, you know…." teased Tom

"I'll live"

"I feel much the same about musicals" he admitted, "all that prancing about and taking three times as long to say something as speaking it."

"Musical films, you mean?"

"Musicals full stop. Mam and Dad took us all to see Cats when I was about 15 and God, I was so bored. If the Sound of Music comes on the TV, I have to leave the room."

"You have no soul" retorted Sybil, smiling. "You should see West Side Story, I bet you'd love that, it's in another league, I promise you. I've seen it about five times, in fact it's coming back to the West End again soon, I can't wait."

Tom placed his hands on the table in front of him and looked at her intently. His eyes bored into hers and Sybil felt her stomach do a brief somersault.

"OK, I'll offer you a deal" the corners of his mouth turned slowly upwards, before turning into a broad grin. "If you come and see Skyfall with me, you can take me to see West Side Story."

"Haven't you seen Skyfall yet then, if you're such a fan?" Sybil asked with surprise.

"Of course I have. Twice actually. But it has many hidden depths," he said laughingly "and I am more than happy to see it again if it educates you in the finer nuances of Mr Bond"

Sybil's mind was spinning, ' He wants to see me again' she thought, "oh God, I want to see him again, but what if it all goes wrong, I can't face being made a fool of again…" she could feel her heart racing and knew that her cheeks were once again betraying some of her thoughts. He was still looking at her, waiting for a response and she was delaying too long, she could see a slight seed of doubt form in his expression. She gave a loud cough, sat straight up in her chair, smiled broadly and put her hand out to shake his.

"You have a deal."

They left after that, Tom insisted on paying and then offered to walk her home.

"You don't have to, honestly. It's only 10 minutes, I'll be fine, I've done it lots of times before." she protested, wondering if he was simply being gallant, or had ulterior motives. "Besides, it's completely the wrong way for you."

"It doesn't matter. I wouldn't want Edie to walk the side streets on her own at this time of night and I don't want you to either."

They chatted amiably as they walked briskly along, the early November chill forcing them to each hunch into their coats and stick their hands in their pockets.

"Well, it's just here" Sybil indicated as they turned into a tree-lined avenue and nodded at a smart Victorian semi. "I've only got the ground floor, just in case you thought…"

"That your Dad had bought the whole thing?" Tom asked smiling. He had guessed her living arrangements now that she had explained her background. He didn't resent her for it, he knew that his parents would have tried to help their children with deposits and mortgages if they'd been in a financial position to do so. Sybil was fortunate, that was all.

"So the cinema visit will have to be after Mam goes home and when I know if Edie is going to be in long term. Can I ring you next week and firm it up?"

"Of course" replied Sybil, standing with anticipation at her front gate. Tom looked at her and smiled, her stomach did another somersault as she held his gaze.

'He's going to kiss me' she thought and with relief, realised that the thought no longer made her nervous. Tom leant forward slightly and Sybil moved her head to meet him.

Then he turned slightly to one side and planted a soft kiss on her left cheek, before standing back to his full height.

"Thank you for a lovely evening, Sybil. I'll phone you next week."

As he turned neatly away and started to walk back, Sybil sighed.

"Bugger" she muttered regretfully and turned to open her gate.