In honor of today's LSL's theme ("Family & Friendship") I decided to bring a certain "former footman" into this story. So for those of you who are fans of Sybil and Thomas "bromance", here you go! :oD

OCTOBER 10–"cider doughnuts"

"'Morning, Thomas!" Sybil greeted as she entered the nurse's locker room on Monday morning. Thomas was the only other "English" nurse that she knew, originally from Yorkshire like herself (though from a much less "posh" background).

"'Morning, Crawley," he returned, knowing full well that it would get a bit of a rise out of her. She had been married for almost a year, but he continued to call her by her maiden name, regardless.

Sybil rolled her eyes and opened her locker. "And just for that, I think I'll keep these all to myself."

Thomas seemed to notice the box she was clutching to her chest. "What's in the box?" he asked, ignoring her previous comment.

Sybil eyed him with a haughty look. "As you know, Tom, his mother, and I took the children to an apple orchard this past Saturday, and they just so happen to make the most delicious cinnamon-sugar cider doughnuts…" she opened the box to make her point, and smiled as she watched Thomas' eyes widened and his mouth fall open, looking as if he were going to start drooling. He even started to reach for one of the doughnuts, but Sybil quickly snapped the box shut before his hand could claim its prize. "…But I think I'll share with them with the nurses on Ward B instead."

"You'll do no such thing," Thomas muttered, reaching for the box again. "Don't waste those on the hags in Ward B."

"Oi!" Sybil swatted at his hands. "Don't call them that, they're perfectly…" she was going to say "nice", but she remembered a few of those nurses, and how cold they had been towards her when she first started.

"My point exactly," Thomas muttered, reaching for the doughnuts again.

"Stop it!" Sybil scolded, though she also laughed, especially when he put on a pout. "Seriously, I got them for ALL the nursing staff in our ward."

"I'm not going to eat the entire box," he groaned with a roll of his eyes. "After all, I have my manly figure to consider."

Sybil groaned and shook her head, but finally relented and allowed him at long last to remove a doughnut from the box. "Mmmmm…" Thomas happily groaned, licking the cinnamon-sugar off his fingers. "On second thought, maybe I will—"

Sybil swatted his hands away from the box, which did Thomas to chuckle. "You should have brought two boxes; those things will be gone before the hour is out."

He was probably right. After tasting one for herself at the orchard, she wisely insisted they buy a box just for their family. She set the box aside, and proceeded to take her coat off and hang it in her locker. Thomas continued munching on his doughnut, savoring it as best he could, and leaning against her locker as she finished getting ready.

"Hey, what are you doing on the 22nd?"

Sybil glanced up at him, her brow furrowing at his question. "Is that a Saturday?"

Thomas nodded his head. "Roughly two weeks," he clarified.

"Um…why? Do you need to change shifts, or…?"

Thomas chuckled and shook his head. "No, Crawley, that's when my party is."

Sybil's eyebrows rose. "Party?"

Thomas nodded and handed a piece of paper to her. "Is this my invitation?" she asked him, teasing him slightly because it was simply a torn piece of notebook paper with his address and a time listed.

"Yeah, well, what I don't spend on fancy posh invitations, I make up for in booze and sweets," he told her with a wink. "Seriously, my Halloween parties here are legendary—you don't want to miss it. I'll even let you bring that husband of yours along," he teased, turning to look at the picture Sybil had taped up in her locker, one she took at the end of summer of Tom holding both Aidan and Suzy. "Maybe he has a brother he can introduce me too…"

Sybil playfully pushed his shoulder away from her locker, before grabbing the doughnut box and shutting it. "We'll see…I would need to find a sitter for the kids."

"Can't Tom's mother look after them?"

Sybil frowned. "I'm grateful for all that Margaret does, but I sometimes worry that we're taking advantage of her willingness to babysit—"

"She's a grandmother, that's what they do," Thomas reminded, leaping away before Sybil could swat him.

Other nurses were filing into the room now, a sign that their shift was about to start. Sybil put her identification tag around her neck, and placed the box of doughnuts on the break table just inside the room, swatting Thomas' hand away as he tried to reach for a second one. "Share," she warned. "Honestly, Thomas, you're worse than Suzy."

Thomas opened his mouth to say something back, but paused…and pointed at her neck. "What's that?"

Sybil's smile faded. "What?"

Thomas peered closer. "Did something…bite you?"

Sybil's eyes widened and her hand flew to her neck. "No," she mumbled, before quickly turning and walking away before he could question her further. Thomas simply shrugged his shoulders…before taking another doughnut.

To be continued...