Penultimate chapter people ! I can't realised I did it. I went to the end of this story despite my difficulties in writting in english soc yes, time for some autosatisfaction. This is another sexy chapter. Sorry for that but after all the wait I felt like they and we deserved it :) Thank you to those who reviewed and are still on this story with me. Enjoy !

The aftermath of their second encounter let them both tired, happy and satiated. At last for some time.

They were facing each other under the sheets, their hands lazily stroking the skin of the other one. Words weren't needed after what they had just shared.

"When do you want to go back to Dublin?" Asked finally Tom after a while.

"When you'll be stronger and completely healed. But also, I want to wait after the birth of the baby."

Tom's hand that was stroking her back stilled.

"A baby? What Baby?"

Sybil chuckled seeing his scared look.

"Not mine, silly! Matthew and Mary's one!" She said, slapping his chest.

"Mary's expecting?"

"Yes! She's due at the beginning of spring. But that means spending Christmas at Downton. Do you mind?" She asked softly.

"No, not at all as long as we are together. My mother won't like it but…"

"We could make her come here?" Exclaimed Sybil. "You know, to meet properly with Eirin before we returned."

"Well, at least we can try to ask her. But I don't want you to be upset if she says no because you know her. She won't feel very at ease in there."

"I'll write to her when the time comes and we'll see."

"You know, my mother isn't the only one who has to meet properly with Eirin. I'm sure she doesn't remember me. Tell me about her."

"She's the cutest little girl in the world."

"That's for sure; you don't have to tell me that. With both our looks and brains, she just can be perfect!"

"You're so full of yourself!"

Tom chuckled and kissed her soundly on the cheek to make amend.

"She's smart for sure", continued Sybil. "She knows what she wants."

"Hum, wondering who she got that from..."

"Stop it already or I won't tell you anything else."

"Ok, ok, sorry. I only saw her yesterday from so far away. Does she look like me or like her beautiful mother?"

"Well, everybody says she looks more like me but her eyes are definitively yours. It was difficult to look at her in the early months after your arrest. As soon as she was opening her eyes, it was like it was you looking back at me."

Sybil wiped a tear that suddenly had slid down her cheek.

"Aw, Love, I'm sorry to bring back that bad memories", breathed Tom while hugging her against him.

He kissed the top of her head before pushing away slightly to look in her eyes.

"It's too bad she's looking like you", he said the more seriously he could.

Sybil frowned.

"Because, I would have to lock her in her room until she's old enough so no horny boy can stole her from us."

Sybil looked at him with wonder before seeing a smile tugged at his lips and they both started laughing out loud, the action bringing happy tears in their eyes this time. When their laugh subsided, they looked at each other with adoration.

"I love you so much", breathed Tom.

"And I love you and don't ever doubt that, whatever the circumstances", answered Sybil, caressing his cheek.

"Promised."

They seal this confession of love with a kiss then Tom pulled her hand up and kissed it. Sybil reached out too and gently touched his cheek with the tips of her fingers as she gazed into his eyes. She stroked down to his jaw line and forward to his chin. Slowly she explored his face, brushing his forehead, his eyes, his lashes, his nose, his lips. She pushed him gently onto his back and leaned over him, running her hands up the sides of his face and into his hair, massaging his scalp as he closed his eyes in enjoyment.

"Tom?" She whispered, moving her hand down his chest.

"Yeah?" He whispered back, opening his eyes again.

"You remember our wedding night, when we finally made love for the first time?"

"More than vividly", he said.

"You know what was the best part for me?" She asked stroking a scare on his chest.

"Uh, I'm hoping the incredible sex?" He tried.

"Not exactly. I mean that was great", she smiled seeing his wide eyes. "But the best part for me was just finally being allowed to touch you. All those years, wanting to be able to touch you like that, but not having the right. It was the most incredible feeling of freedom to be able to touch you as much as I wanted, wherever I wanted."

Tom lay there a little stunned as she continued to move her hands across his chest and along his sides. He had never thought of it before, but he realized now that he had felt a similar satisfaction at being allowed to touch her like he'd always wanted to before. As he mused on this, Sybil moved her hands lower, skirting his groin and wrapping her fingers around his left thigh. She kneaded his muscles firmly, then repeated the action on his other thigh, purposely avoiding his groin.

"Uh Syb?" He said in a strangled voice.

"Yeah?"

"I want you so bad right now it hurts. "

"You don't know how happy I am to hear you say that", she said, pulling him to her and fusing her lips to his.

Their lips and tongues danced as they stroked their hands down each others' bodies, revisiting all the spots they had touched before, reigniting the fire.

Pulling his mouth reluctantly away from hers, Tom moved a hand up to cup her cheek.

"God, I love you, Sybil", he whispered urgently. "You have no idea . . . "

"Maybe I have a little bit of an idea", she whispered back, touched beyond reason by his words and the look in his eyes.

A little bit of the urgency seeped away as she held his gaze. Tom slid a hand gently down her side to her thigh and hooked his hand behind her knee, pulling her leg over his. Never looking away, he ran his hand back up her thigh to her buttocks and slowly slid a finger between her cheeks to her center. She sighed and shifted as he touched her warmth, but she didn't look away, mesmerized by his gaze.

Finding her already warm and wet and ready, he shifted downwards slightly and slid into her, savoring the sensation and the gasp of pleasure from Sybil that his movement brought. Still looking into her eyes, he began to move inside her.

Sybil shuddered in pleasure as she felt him in her core. She swept her hands down his back and closed them around his cheeks, kneading them in time to his easy strokes. She wanted to close her eyes, to throw her head back, but she couldn't look away from him. So she hung on and stared into his eyes as he made slow, gentle love to her.

Tom could have looked into Sybil's eyes forever as he moved in and out of her, but his body wasn't so patient. Touching and being touched like they were before while chatting had brought him to a state of tautness, and each time he pushed himself inside her heat it pulled him a little bit tighter. Finally he couldn't hold back any longer. He pulled her against his chest and rested his head on top of hers as he thrust into her harder and faster, pulling her leg up higher against his hip. Then he froze, gasping as he broke apart inside her, filling her with his warmth as she held him to her.

For long moments they held each other close as he regained his breath. Then he pulled back and leaned down to kiss her.

"Tom, that was so…great", she breathed.

He gave her a long kiss. Then he stopped abruptly.

"But wait, you didn't come", he realized. "Oh, Syb, I'm so sorry. I was just so…"

"Shh. I don't but it doesn't matter", she told him seriously." It just felt so good. So right…so perfect. It…it felt like you loved me. "

He brushed her hair back from her face.

"I do love you", he told her. "That's why I hate this to be just about me. I want you to be satisfied, too. We both deserve it after all this time."

"I was satisfied", she tried to assure him. "Tom, it was different that's all. Plus, I hate to break this to you, but I don't come every time we make love."

She laughed as he looked aghast.

"But I always enjoy it. It always feels great to have you inside me. I mean, it feels great physically, not just emotionally. It's just that women aren't made the same as men. It's a little harder to make us have an orgasm. That's how we get you to keep trying", she laughed, nudging him.

"My illusions of being a fantastic lover have just been shattered", he said, shaking his head in mock shame.

"Get over it, Darling", she laughed. "And if it can comfort you, when I come, almost each time for your knowing, it's incredible", she finished.

Seeing that he looked unconvinced, she added.

"Unbelievable. Mind-blowing. The earth moves. The angels weep . . ."

"Alright, alright, I get the idea", Tom said, grinning. "But you know, today is kind of a special day and I just can't let it end like this. Come here", he said, turning her so her back was to him and pulling her against his chest. "I know for sure THIS works each time because you told me so", he whispered in her ear, sending a shiver down her spine.

He stroked his hand down her front and then returned it to her breasts, lifting one and kneading it gently, plucking at the nipple until it was tight, then moving to the other breast. She sighed as he touched his lips to her neck. Moving his lips to her ear, he began whispering to her. Not the gentle, loving words of before, but hot, erotic words designed to arouse her.

"Love, I love touching you."

Sybil groaned inwardly. She was pretty sure Tom didn't know it, but hearing him speaking like this turned her on. Maybe it was because he didn't do it often when they have sex.

"I love touching your breasts", he continued. "They're so full, so perfect. Your nipples get so hard when I touch them. Just for me. I love wrapping my hands around them and lifting them to my mouth and hearing those sounds you make when I lick your nipples."

She was making them now even though his mouth was against her ear, not her nipples. So Sybil liked him to talk dirty to her, did she? He filed that information away. He picked up her hand and brought her finger to his mouth, sucking it, stroking it with his tongue, wetting it with his saliva. Then he brought it to her breast and circled it around her nipple and aureole. She gasped.

"Do you like that, Love?" He told her.

"You know . . . you know how I like to be . . . ohhh", she cried as he left her hand on her breast and moved his to the curls between her thighs.

"Ah, you're wet for me again. You're always so hot and wet for me. Do you know how that makes me feel?" He whispered into her ear." Like I'm the biggest king on the planet because you want me. Because I can make your juices flow."

"Only for you, Tom…"she mumbled.

He slicked his fingers through the moistness of her arousal and the remnants of his recent visit to her and brought them up to her clit, circling it and then stroking across it, over and over.

"Does that feel good, Darling?" he asked. "I want to make you feel good, like you made me feel. I want to make you hot, Syb."

"Oh, God Tom, she moaned. It feels so good."

His touch and his hot words in her ear were bringing her to a fever pitch. She shoved her ass against his groin and rubbed against him, feeling his reawakening arousal in the process. His hard length against her buttocks felt so good, and she kept rubbing against him, drawing a groan from him. Reaching between her legs, she grasped him and brought him between her legs, rocking against him to lubricate him with her moisture.

"Ah, Sybil, this is supposed to be for you", Tom ground out.

"It's for me, Tom, please, don't stop touching me", she begged, closing her legs tightly, trapping his shaft against her crotch and bringing his hand back to her clit.

She rocked against him as he resumed stroking her. She could feel his thick cock rubbing against every sensitive inch of her and she moaned, sensation piling on top of sensation. Tom began thrusting against her, groaning, but never stopping the pressure of his fingers.

It took just moments for Sybil to fly over the edge, crying out her pleasure. Tom rocked gently against her as she peaked, then pushed her shoulders forward and pulled her leg up and back across his thigh. He thrust into her as hard as he could, feeling the last of her contractions grabbing at him. The angle was a little awkward, but it didn't matter, because all he needed was a few strokes . . . he groaned and came inside her for the second time.

He pulled her back against him and sighed into her hair.

"See", he said when he could breathe again. "Wasn't that a nice way to end the afternoon?"

"I have to agree with you", she said, leaning her head back to kiss him. "That was a fantastic way to end the afternoon. Incredible, mind-blowing . . . "she added, only half kidding. "I never told you but I like it when you talk dirty like that, Tom."

She blushed and Tom chuckled, bringing her to him for a kiss.

"Well, at least it worked. I have to keep that in mind. Because, , there is no way from this day on that I ever make love to you again without you having a mind-blowing orgasm."

"Promises, promises", joked Sybil.

Tom pulled her then rolled them around in the bed so she was now lying on her back.

"I'm so happy I came back to you", he said seriously, looking down at her. "I'll never be grateful enough for Matthew to have caught me yesterday as I was about to make the biggest mistake of my life."

"We both owe him a great deal", she smiled, stroking his face.

"Yeah…"

He rolled on his back and took Sybil in his arms. She cuddled on his shoulder, stroking his chest with one hand.

"What time do we have to go back to Downton?" He asked after a few moments.

"Matthew said he was expecting us for Diner. "

Tom groaned.

"I don't want to face them…yet. "

Sybil pushed herself up a little and looked down at him.

"Look, we don't have to stay. We can just get back, say a quick hello then go to the nursery. I can't wait for you to see our daughter."

"I'm not sure your father nor would Carson like that. After being away for so long, it's a little bit rude, even for me."

"I don't care anymore what they're thinking or feeling. What's important is us, that's it. The rest is detail."

"If you're sure", hesitated Tom.

"I'm sure. And I think to remember that this room comes with a bathroom. So, what do you think? We quickly take a bath then go see our daughter?"

"You and me together in a bath?" Chuckled Tom." I don't see how it could be quick!"

Sybil threw the sheet away and got up, Tom following her naked body with hungry eyes.

"There's only one way to find out. Are you coming?" She called from the bathroom.

Tom laughed and decided to join her when he heard the water already running. There was no way he let her have all the fun alone.