Hello, everyone who has ever read this story who wants to know what happened.

So funny thing, when you have a terrible no good very bad year (2019), once it's over, you think, I'm going to tell everyone how bad that year was and then do everything I can to manifest better for the next one.

Then, 2020 came in and said: Hahahahahahahahaha.

To be honest, all things considered, 2020 wasn't terrible. I still have my job, my family members who got COVID recovered, my kids battled through online school and are back in person. We are making it and consider ourselves extremely lucky. What made 2019 bad was specific to me. 2020 in spite of the challenges was not great, but for me it wasn't as bad as it has been for many more people who have lost jobs, homes, loved ones, etc.. And the times that I felt down, I knew I wasn't in it alone.

One thing I did gain this year is perspective on how I spend my time—what little of it belongs to just me—and while I have enjoyed the time I spent writing this story, there are too many things on the to-do list of life for me to realistically think that I will get back to it any time soon if ever. Some days I think I will and some days the knowledge that this story is hanging here unfinished feels like an albatross around my neck. I have said from the beginning that I knew how it would end, so I'm going to share some of that now, for those interested, taking a page from ARCurren who wrote out what the conclusion of her story Lost Time would be . That story was the reason that I started writing Tom/Sybil fan fiction so this is a bit of a tribute I guess. (If you haven't read that story, lucky you! Go and enjoy it now.)

Below, I'll write out what happens to the main characters and close some of my invented arcs so if you want to know, here ya go. Maybe someday, I will truly be the master of all my time and have the emotional wherewithal to return to it and write it out. But for that to be true, I need to have some time free of it, and I won't feel that while it sits here waiting for me. Thank you so much to everyone who read this and who offered encouragement over the years. It means a lot. If I left details out in what's below that you are curious about feel free to comment with a question. I am never on this website anymore, but I'll keep an eye on reviews and reply as best I can.

So here goes . . .

Matthew and Mary - They get married. That's it. That's the plot. Haha. There is some drama with Sir Richard but nothing on the level of what was on the show. Because Downton Place will be Mary's (because Matthew gave it to her), she considers Richard because he would have the money for the upkeep, but Richard sees Downton Place as less than what he wants. Mary figures that if she can't marry Matthew she wants the house because he gave it to her—it is proof to her that she was loved and she wants to hold on to it, but it's also ultimately the reason things break down between her and Richard. Matthew realizes that he was wrong to have let her go watching her from the sidelines. Eventually, as other drama unfolds around them, they come back together and get married on par with when they did on the show, after the Spanish flu and the drama that unfolded around it (described below).

Edith and Anthony - Anthony gets involved in the war after having held off for Edith's sake, and he dies just a couple of months after having left. Edith is, of course, heartbroken. Her grief is such that she becomes sick and too tired to get out of bed. Sybil finally comes to check on her and why she's still so sick a month after Anthony passed and she realizes that—after two years of no children—Anthony left Edith pregnant. Her baby, Percival Strallan, is a healthy boy and the apple of his mother's eye. He and Lady Alice grow up as close playmates and confidants. Anthony's sister and Edith, who were at each other's throats after his death, make peace after Percival is born. Edith brings on Ivy to work for her when Alfred also dies serving in the war. Bertie did not exist when I started this story, but I wholeheartedly loved him when he did, so I imagine him meeting Edith as a single mom later on and falling in love just the same, without the drama of a child out of wedlock.

Imogen and Tom Bellasis - Bellasis gets badly injured in the war, losing a leg and experiencing scarring on his face, but Imogen is there at Downton hospital when he's brought in for treatment and is with him every step of the way when he convalesces at Downton Abbey. He suffers from PTSD and encourages her to leave him for someone "whole" but she remains by his side and insists that she prefers him as he is because, "Before too many girls thought you handsome for my liking. This way only I do." They get married impulsively at a registry in Downton Village with Tom and Sybil as their witnesses because Bellasis is afraid his uncle won't approve. Imogen turns her activism to disability rights, on her husband's behalf. They eventually go to New York, to return to where Imogen feels most at home, although the return to England regularly once Bellasis inherits his uncle's title, and they remain close with Sybil and Tom their whole lives.

And finally . . .

Tom and Sybil - When Tom returns he is somewhat depressed that he never found his brother after waiting all that time for him to return. Sybil navigates life as a nurse in her family and, though they never broke up, she and Tom have to rekindle the fire after two years apart. They do so amid the challenges of the war, and start making plans for themselves again through the ups and downs of life with their family. When the Spanish flu hits, Claire (Tom's mom) catches it and dies. Tom is heartbroken at the loss. He gets advice from Violet who suggests that he take Claire's body back to Ireland so she can rest next to her husband and he can move on. She goes with Tom and Sybil as their chaperone. While in Ireland, at the church yard where they bury Claire, by chance, Tom meets the priest (very old, now retired) who married their parents. The priest shares a letter that Colin sent him just before he died in which he mentions Tom. Tom asks the man to marry him and Sybil. While the Banns are read, the rest of the Crawleys arrive for the wedding. Tom and Sybil go back to Cork (where Tom had been living waiting for his brother) for their honeymoon and in conversation with the woman who had been Ciaran's landlady, it dawns on Tom that the reason he couldn't find Ciaran Harrington in the Army is because Ciaran must have changed his name and enlisted as Ciaran Branson. They find him in London, and the three of them move to New York together, where Sybil eventually applies to medical school and becomes a doctor. Tom gives up practicing law and becomes a writer, writing a novel with Ciaran about their imagined version of their father's life in Ireland. Tom's cousins Paddy and Aidan eventually move there as well. They lead long happy lives, but Sybil outlives Tom. Their youngest granddaughter eventually becomes a writer like her grandfather and eventually writes a book about Sybil's life, based on the journals she has kept her whole life. The book becomes the basis for a TV series. Matthew and Mary's descendants invite the surviving Bransons to come to Downton for a party to celebrate the premier of the show. Sybil, now elderly, returns to her home and asks her kids to take her to the spot where she and Tom used to go. The Crawleys that now own Downton suggest putting a commemorative bench there. That evening, Sybil dies in her sleep, dreaming of Tom.