Chapter 10: Back home

As soon as Sybil got home she realised that she hadn't dropped Tom back at his house and didn't know where he lived. "Where do you live? I probably should have dropped you home, shouldn't I?"

"Well, I only live three streets away so I can walk – I like the fresh air anyway." The two of them got out of the car and Sybil said,

"You can come in if you want, but I start work in three quarters of an hour and I want a shower beforehand, but you're welcome if you've got nothing better to do."

"Yeah, I'll come in… you know… if you really don't mind."

"No, I'm fine with it – why else would I invite you in, you silly idiot!" Sybil twisted her key in her door and let Tom in. She flung her keys and bag on the side and said to Tom, "I'm going to go upstairs, have a quick shower and get changed, but there should be some food in the fridge if you fancy some lunch. Plates and glasses on those two shelves," she said as she put both arms out and pointed at opposite sides of the room. At this point, when she was about to go on about something else, Tom walked up in front of her and wrapped his arms around her waist, pressing his lips against hers. She loved it when men shut her up with a kiss. She kissed him back, but neither of them were planning on a snog – it was just a loving kiss for two people that love each other. Sybil slowly pulled away and said, "I love you," but then she went upstairs to have a shower. Tom made himself a cheese sandwich and got himself a glass of water.

It wasn't long before Sybil was downstairs with mostly damp hair and her uniform on. Tom looked at her and his eyes widened. "Don't comment – if you do you'll be out the door! Too many men have tried to ask me out just because of this uniform." Tom smiled, walked up to her and said,

"I won't say a word…" Instead he gave her a quick kiss. Then Sybil went over to the fridge and looked for something to eat. She closed it, but had taken nothing out of it. She went over to a cupboard on the opposite side of the room and pulled out a can of tomato soup. She heated it up, poured it into a bowl, grabbed a spoon and a slice of bread and then went to sit next to Tom at the island in the middle of the kitchen. Sybil then ate it as she and Tom talked. "How come your hair is still wet?"

"I didn't dry it completely. My hair takes forever to dry with a hair-dryer, so I just left it half way through."

"Fair enough. What time do you have to leave?"

"Well, my shift starts at 2:30, and it usually takes about twenty minutes to walk to the hospital, so I need to be gone in ten minutes."

"Can I walk you down?" Tom asked. As he had said previously, he liked walking in the fresh air and he loved Sybil, so it wasn't a problem.

"Sure! I'd love you to. You're my man now."

"And proud to be!" This made Sybil smile. She let Tom do most of the talking for the next ten minutes as she had to finish eating quick enough to make it to work on time.

Before long, the two of them were walking down the street, on their way to the hospital. As they walked across the top of Tom's street, he said, "I live down there. Number 23."

"Oh, right – I looked at that house when I was looking to buy around here. How long ago did you move here?"

"About three and a half years ago. I've had three Christmases here if that helps. I think I moved here in November."

"Wow, so we must have moved here within a few weeks of each other – I moved in around that time too!"

"So, do you believe in fate?" Tom asked, as he held Sybil's hand and kept on walking.

"I'm afraid not," Sybil answered.

"What about love at first sight?"

"Nope – not that either… but I do believe in soul mates…" she said, squeezing Tom's hand in hers.

"Glad to hear it!" he said with a smile, a bit of a laugh and a squeeze back. The time went quickly and soon they were at the hospital and Sybil was a few minutes late, so had to rush in quickly, but still took the time to kiss Tom, tell him how much she loved him and let him know when her shift was due to finish. She then walked into work and started her day. It wasn't a long shift – only going until 7 that evening, but it was enough time to think about how much she loved Tom.

She got on with her work and forgot about it really, but then she had a break, and she and some of her colleagues relaxed a bit with tea, coffee and biscuits. Sybil wasn't saying much, so one of her best friends – Jemima – who she'd known since University said, "So, come on Sybil; tell us about this new man of yours."

"Well, there isn't much to tell, I guess…" she said sheepishly. She wasn't usually shy around the other nurses – she loved them all, but she had a sudden wave of coyness around them.

"Of course there's something to tell, there's always something to tell, Sybil – I know what you're like. A rebel like you, you can't say that you haven't got anywhere at all!" one of the older nurses said. Sybil gave in,

"Fine! He's Irish, 27 and really sweet. He came up to me and said he'd been looking at me through the café windows for a few months and that he wanted to go out with me. So I said yes! And then yesterday was awful actually – we went up to my sister's house for her husband's birthday, which was fine in itself, but I ended up drinking too much to drive back home from Yorkshire, so we ended up staying the night at their house, which meant we've had to spend most of the day so far on our way back here from up north."

"I told you she always liked a man with an accent," Jemima said to everybody else, at which they all laughed.

"Southern or northern Irish?" another nurse asked.

"Southern. Lived in Dublin for years until he moved here for his work."

"Oh, alright, so what does he do?"

"Come on girls, have you never heard of a bit of privacy?" said Jane, a nurse that had been working at this hospital longer than everybody else in the room.

"Thank you Jane – finally somebody who understands personal space! But he's a journalist for those of you wondering." Then a new doctor came in looking for some help. The new doctors had been at the hospital for a little over a week and were still finding their feet. "I'll go!" Sybil said quickly, taking this as her chance to get away from prying eyes. She placed her coffee down on the table and left the room. The new doctor asked her how to do something and where the things were to do it, which kept her busy for long enough to push the other nurses to the back of her mind. And then, by the time she'd finished helping, it was time for her to start working properly again anyway. Much to her surprise the rest of the day flew by quite quickly and she managed to avoid any crisis, so could actually get out of work on time as well. As she walked out of the doors, Tom was standing there, waiting to walk her home. "How long have you been waiting here?" she asked, kissing him and taking his hand.

"Only ten minutes," he said with a smile. It was a lie. He's been waiting there for about half an hour, but he didn't want to come across as too keen, even though he was very keen to see Sybil after work. Tom walked Sybil home and went in with her. They decided to sit back and snuggle on the sofa, and naturally, they talked about the days they'd had. Tom was sitting with his back pushed into the corner of the sofa and Sybil was slouched, leaning on him, but had her back to him. One of Tom's arms was wrapped around her middle and Sybil was exploring Tom's hand with hers. When Tom heard about her conversation with her colleagues, he said, "I'm not invading your personal space, am I?"

"No, love, I want you in my personal space." She snuggled closer to him and brought her knees up to her chest, trapping Tom's hand between her legs and her stomach. Tom quietly took a box out of his pocket with his spare hand, opened it and held it where Sybil could see it.

"Want to get married then?" Sybil raised her head, looked at the ring and could feel the tears begin to fall down her cheeks. She turned around to face Tom and kissed him passionately. As soon as she had no more air left in her lungs she pulled away slightly and whispered,

"Yes!" Tom carefully put the ring on her finger and then continued to kiss her into the night.

I'll let you fill in the blanks. This was supposed to be the last chapter, but I think I might do an epilogue. You tell me - is it worth an epilogue a few years into the future? I hope you've enjoyed the story and thanks for sticking with it! Your support means the world to me. Feel free to leave a review if you can.