The Branson Home, London
Tuesday, 25 August 1936

It was half past twelve in the afternoon when the black cab carrying Tom Branson home arrived outside his house. He grabbed his belongings, hopped out of the car, and quickly paid the driver, including a generous tip. Turning to his house, he smiled, already feeling relaxed. He had missed the place dearly, but he especially missed his wife and children. Tom even missed their black cat Samhain and their Glen of Imaal terrier Faolàn. He traipsed up the walkway and threw open the door.

"I'm back!," he called out, expecting to be greeted by the usual Branson household chaos. Instead, he was met with silence, a unusual occurrence on a Tuesday afternoon in August. Tom kept calling out as he moved further into the house, but still did not receive a response. Once he reached his office, he placed his suitcase on the floor next to his desk.

Leaving his office, he went to the kitchen. Seeing no one there, Tom walked out the back door to the garden. The sight that greeted him brought a smile to his face. There was his beautiful Sybil, wearing his old, light blue shirt, a pair of faded brown trousers, worn work boots, and a straw sunhat sitting on a blanket with Connie, who was wearing an adorable pair of blue gingham overalls and a white cotton shirt. Faolàn was looking into the picnic basket next to Sybil, happily yipping at the food. He continued to smile as he saw his wife and his youngest putting plates, utensils, and napkins on the blanket. As Sybil began to remove food from the basket, Tom decided he needed to interrupt.

"What are you two having for lunch?"

Sybil and Connie looked up when they heard Tom's voice. Connie squealed, "Daddy!" and ran up to him.

Tom bent down, and tapping his right cheek said, "Kiss," which his youngest enthusiastically did. He then swept her up into his arms and kissed her on the forehead. "How are you, sweetheart?"

Connie beamed at him. "I'm great!" She then wrapped her arms around her father, burying her head into him and spoke into his neck. "I missed you, daddy."

"I missed you too."

Faolàn followed on Connie's heels and barked in happiness at his owner's return.

Sybil came over to him and hugged him. Kissing him on the lips, she added, "I also missed you."

"I missed you as well, love." Looking around, he asked, "Where are the other four?"

"Sybbie went to the British Museum for the day, Tommy and Aidan went to the cinema, and Moira is down the street playing with Gerry and Mary Arden." She smirked at him. "Were you worried when you came in and it was quiet?"

Tom laughed. "I admit it was unusual to come home to a calm house. But I'm thrilled to have lunch with you two, if I may?"

Connie piped up. "Of course you can, daddy!"

"Well, what are we having for lunch?"

"Sandwiches, carrots, and custard with strawberries."

"Sounds delicious. Let's go eat."

With his youngest child still in his arms, he held out his left arm to his wife. She took it and the three of them strolled over to the blanket, with their terrier following. Tom placed Connie on the blanket before he sat down himself. He took off his jacket, carefully folding it and placing it to the side. Faolàn settled down next to Tom, waiting patiently for his lunch.

Once Sybil settled down, she grabbed two sandwiches and turning to Tom, asked, "Ham and cheese or egg salad?"

"Ham and cheese, of course."

She handed him a sandwich and then took out a cheese sandwich for Connie and some sausages and vegetables for their dog. As she took a bite of her egg salad sandwich, Tom asked her a question.

"I didn't tell you when I was getting back. How did you know to have a sandwich prepared for me?"

Sybil continued chewing her bite of food and quickly swallowed. "I wasn't sure if you would be back for lunch, but I hoped. I know you, Tom. You would do everything in your power to get back home as soon as you were able. I decided to make a ham and cheese sandwich because it wouldn't go bad out here." Reaching into the basket next to her, she pulled out a thermos. "I even made some coffee for us to split over dessert."

Tom smiled at her. "One of the many reasons I love you. You always think ahead." He then leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, causing Connie to giggle.

Sybil playfully swatted him. "Eat," she playfully ordered.

With that, the Branson trio ate their sandwiches and carrots, talking about what they did while they were apart. Tom discussed the treaty negotiations and how he would need to be at the Foreign Office for the signing of the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty in the morning. He asked Connie about Liverpool and got a chatty response about spending time with her cousins and seeing the sea. Sybil talked about the hospital and expressed how grateful she was that Kieran and Sharon allowed the children to visit while she worked night shift for Dr. Barnes. Once they were done with their main meal, Connie moved over to her father and sat on his lap.

"Custard, please!"

Sybil and Tom chuckled. She took out a bowl and put some custard and fresh strawberries in it for her daughter. Once she received it, Connie went about eating it very slowly. Tom, having seen her eat so neatly in the past, couldn't help asking her a question.

"Little one, why do you eat your favorite dessert so calmly? Your siblings never had the same restraint."

She nodded her head and replied, "You get more eating slower."

Tom chuckled and kissed her on the head. About fifteen minutes later, the custard and strawberries were gone and the thermos was nearly empty. Sybil and Tom quickly cleaned up while their daughter sat in the living room with her stuffed rabbit and their dog as company. As they cleaned, the couple talked.

"It was really nice of Kieran and Sharon to let the children stay with them last week. We should offer to take their four for a week in the future. God knows they could use a break," stated Tom.

Sybil nodded in agreement. "I can't thank them enough, especially because they did it on short notice." She sighed. "I know Dr. Brown had a family emergency, but I wish that the other doctors on staff would have switched with me so I wouldn't have needed to work the overnight shift. If you had been home, I wouldn't have cared. But I couldn't leave the children alone overnight."

He leaned over and kissed his wife on the temple. "I know. I'm sorry about that."

"Don't be. It's well known in our department that I rarely work overnight shifts. Dr. Woodburn and Dr. Randall were being difficult by refusing to switch shifts with me." She turned to her husband. "They just don't like me." She then smirked. "However, I got my revenge. I put in for two weeks holiday for Christmastime before they did."

Tom smiled. "Are we going somewhere? Or did you want to make sure they can't enjoy Christmas?"

"Well, they constantly make comments about how they don't have husbands or children to worry about, so I assumed they wouldn't mind spending the holidays with our patients at the hospital."

He laughed. "You minx!" Tom then leaned in and kissed her passionately on the lips.

After several heavenly moments, Sybil gently pushed Tom away. "Enough of that for now. We need to talk about something that happened when the kids were in Liverpool."

Sensing the change in his wife's demeanor, he sat down at their kitchen table. "What happened? Are you okay? Anything wrong with the children?"

Taking a seat next to his, Sybil grabbed his hand. "We're fine, but my family saw Sybbie and Tommy."

Tom was shocked. Neither he nor Sybil had seen her family, with the exception of Isobel, since April 1919. "How on earth did that happen?"

Sybil sighed. "On Friday, Kieran and Sharon took the children to Formby for the day. Sybbie noticed a swimmer struggling in the water and dove in to save him. He-"

"She did?!," interrupted Tom. "I'm so proud of her. How does that relate to your family?"

"The boy she saved is George Crawley, our nephew. His mother and grandfather saw Sybbie and based on those looks, Kieran realized who they were. Tommy was with Kieran and Sybbie when my father and Mary saw her."

Tom was surprisingly speechless. He squeezed Sybil's hand, wanting to offer her some comfort. After several minutes in silence, he asked, "What do you want to do?"

She shrugged. "I'm not sure. It's been such a long time since I've seen my family, I don't know what I would say to them. I have no regrets about my decision that night. The life we've built together, our five children…I can't imagine my life without any of you and I don't want to."

Tom gently tugged Sybil, pulling her onto his lap. He wrapped his arms around her. "Love, whatever you want, we'll do. If you're not ready to see your family, then we won't see them."

Sybil gave him a small, sad smile. "Thank you, darling."

"For what?"

Wrapping her arms around his neck, she uttered, "For being my Tom."

He kissed her chastely on the lips. They held each other for several minutes, neither speaking. After a bit, Tom asked Sybil a question. "Since our children are sharp, do you think we should finally tell them about your family?"

Sybil looked up at him. "Well, Sybbie already knows. She might have already told Tommy who probably told Aidan."

"Well, we'll sit them down tonight and tell them everything together."

At that moment, Tom felt something rubbing against his ankle. Looking down, he saw the family's black European shorthair cat, Samhain. "There you are. I was wondering where you were hiding."

He reached down to pet the cat, rubbing it's forehead gently. He received a contented purr in response. Sybil took that as her cue to get up.

"Okay. No more of that. I need to harvest some aubergines and beets. Why don't you go change your clothes? You and Connie can sit outside and read while I tend our garden."

Tom rose and did as his wife told him to, quickly climbing the stairs to their bedroom and changing. When he returned to the living room, he surprised Connie by picking her up and carrying her on his shoulders to the bookshelf.

"What do you want me to read to you, poppet?"

She leaned forward, grabbed a green book, and handed it to her dad.

Tom arched his eyebrows in surprise when he saw it was Mary Poppins Comes Back. "You already finished the first one?"

"Tommy read to me. But I like your voice more," she replied.

Tom chuckled and walked them out to the garden, followed closely by Faolàn and Samhain. He smiled on seeing that Sybil had already taken out the lawn chair and placed it underneath the Ash tree. He ambled over to it and removed Connie from his shoulders. Once he sat down, she scrambled onto his lap and waited for him to being reading.

Opening the book, he began to read. "It was one of those mornings when everything looks very neat and bright and shiny, as though the world had been tidied up overnight."

"In Cherry Tree Lane the houses blinked as their blinds went up, and the thin shadows of the cherry trees fell in dark stripes across the sunlight. But there was no sound anywhere, except for the tingling of the Ice Cream Man's bell as he wheeled his cart up and down."

Connie sat rapt in her father's voice. After a half hour or so of reading, she nodded off along with the cat and dog. Tom stopped reading when he noticed her breathing had evened out. Putting the book down, he too soon fell asleep.

Downton Abbey
28 August 1936

It was just after midnight when George left his room and headed for the library. As he had for the past week, George was struggling to fall asleep. Part of this was caused by the tension that filled his ancestral home. Ever since he met his unknown cousin the week before, his grandparents had barely spoken to each other. While it was never said out loud, George knew that his grandfather was sleeping in his dressing room, banished there by his grandmother. He didn't blame her. His grandfather was being particularly obstinate over the issue of his Aunt Sybil. His grandmother wanted to hire a detective to look for her, but he insisted that she knew where they lived and could have come to us by now.

Reaching the Main Hall, George sighed. Thank God he's in York for the night. The house was more relaxed without him here. He continued to the library, pushing open the door only to find his grandmother sitting on the light red sofa.

"Granny what are you doing up?"

She gave him a wan smile. "I was looking at old photos of Sybil. I only take these out when your grandfather isn't around." She paused, gazing at one of the photographs. "I've taken them out to look often since Formby."

The boy ambled over to his grandmother and sat down next to her. Peering over at the photographs, George saw a young woman the spitting image of Sybbie Branson. While he knew that they looked alike from his mother and grandfather, he had thought they were exaggerating. Now he knew that they weren't. Sybbie Branson was the spitting image of her mother.

"Mama and grandpapa weren't lying. Aunt Sybil," he paused, still not used to the phrase, "Aunt Sybil and her daughter look exactly alike. They're both beautiful."

Cora gave him a small smile. "I know. Sybil's looks came from my father's side of the family. She looks like my Grandmother Rachel." A tear rolled down her cheek as she gazed at her youngest's photo. Softly, she added, "I miss her very much."

George looked at his heartbroken grandmother and not for the first time that week did he get the urge to kick his grandfather. "Well, why don't we look for her and her family?"

Cora's head shot up in surprise. "What?"

"Grandmama, you miss your daughter and I'd like to know my cousins. We can hire someone to look for them. We can ask father to help."

So many emotions came across his grandmother's face. She was torn. On one hand, she desperately desired to see her youngest daughter again. However, on the other hand was her husband and his obstinacy. In the end, her desire, her need to see Sybil and her family won over Cora.

"Let's do it." She pulled him close and hugged him tight. "Thank you."