Author's note

Thank you so much to everyone who has read/followed/reviewed/favourited this collection so far! I always love to hear from you.

With this story, I wanted to explore a bit more the impact of the Easter Rising on Sybil and Tom, based on what happened in episode 2x03.

Easter Rising

1916

"Colm – where are you going?"

"Don't worry Mam – I'm only headed down the street to see what's going on – I'll be fine."

Colm Branson stuck his head out of the door – all seemed to be reasonably quiet. They weren't that far from the Four Courts in their corner of Dublin, and even at 16 he knew to keep his head down when trouble flared in this restless city.

He turned into North King St. A few blocks down, he saw some British soldiers rampaging their way down the street, breaking into houses. He heard gunfire and the keening cry of a woman and realised with a shock that something was very wrong. Jimmy Burke from next door came running towards him – "For feck's sake Colm, get out of here!" Colm hesitated as Jimmy bolted past him, and turned to see a soldier levelling his gun at him – "Oi, rebel scum!" The last thing he sensed was the report of a rifle, a blinding pain in his chest, and then nothing.

Jimmy, horrified, kept running – it was more than his life was worth to help his friend now. "Mrs Branson – come quick, come quick!"

The soldier meanwhile was turning Colm's body over with the toe of his boot, unmoved when he saw the boy's face, frozen in an expression of terror. "Probably a rebel, right Sarge? Even if he wasn't, I don't care – these bastards deserve everything they get."

1917

Tom Branson read the letter with a mix of relief, fear and anger. What was a mitral valve prolapse when it was at home? He pulled the car around to the front of the house, and started to polish it.

Sybil came towards him – she looked tired after a full shift at the hospital, and he longed to take her in his arms to reassure her that things would be OK while knowing that he couldn't, that he didn't have that right. He told her about being rejected from the army – "I suppose you're glad." Sybil was glad and told him so, but something about the way she said it, and the expression on her face, made him remark that if he couldn't get them one way, he'd get them another.

"Why do you have to be so angry all the time? I know we weren't exactly at our best in Ireland." Somehow, coming today, from her, this made him snap. He told her angrily about Colm and how he had been killed by a soldier just because he was probably a rebel. Sybil didn't get the chance to answer him, as Lord Grantham emerged from the front door just then, and she could see the angry expression still on Tom's face as he drove away. He felt himself fuming as he steered the car down the driveway. Somehow, whatever it took, he would get back at them for what had happened.

1919

"See those holes? Those were left by bullets during the Easter Rising." Tom and Sybil were walking hand in hand through Dublin – he loved to show her around his hometown and point out locations that meant something, to him or to his country. Sybil's expression softened at this, and he saw a tear in the corner of her eye. "Tom, was this where your cousin was killed?" They had never spoken of it again after that day two years ago, but what had happened had made a deep impression on Sybil, not only because it was the first time Tom had been angry with her.

Tom saw her distress and pulled her into his arms, looking into her face – "Love, are you remembering that day? I never told you why I got so upset with you, did I?" Sybil shook her head – "I thought it was because I hadn't been very sensitive about the British in Ireland, and it reminded you of your cousin."

Tom frowned – "Yes, that was part of it. Colm was just a young boy, shot for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Do you know what it was really about, though? I had wanted to be called up and then take a stand, to show you I was serious about what I said – I really would have gone to prison rather than fight in that war. When I didn't get the chance, I took my anger about that out on you. Then there was that mad incident with the General – God knows what would have happened if Mr Carson hadn't stopped me! Is it too late to say sorry for the way I behaved that day?"

Sybil looked into his eyes as she touched his cheek and kissed him lovingly. "Tom, it's OK – what matters to me is that we are here in Ireland, starting a life together at last. We will disagree about things sometimes – life would get a bit boring if we didn't! – but we are in this together now, and always. Will you take me to meet your aunt sometime? I'd love to hear what happened back then."

Her words sounded to him like an echo from the future of the wedding vows they would be making in a few days' time, and Tom was too moved to speak. He pulled Sybil tightly into his arms, burying his face in her neck and closing his eyes as he breathed her in. Nothing, not even the freedom of his homeland, mattered more to him than his love for the girl he was holding in his arms. Somehow, whatever it took, he would prove himself worthy of her.

A/N - This story tries to put the death of Tom's cousin (fictionalised here) into the context of a real historical incident during the Easter Rising of 1916. 15 civilians were killed by British soldiers of the South Staffordshire Regiment on North King Street, not far from the heart of the action at the Four Courts building, allegedly to take revenge for the comrades they had lost in an assault on a nearby rebel position.