A/N: Just a warning that I'm back at school finishing up my last semester of my undergrad degree. I'm pretty far ahead in the writing of this so I will try to post when I can but it probably won't be as often as it has been. I promise to try my best!

Timeline: Dublin. Post-Marriage.

Song: Love Is Not A Fight - Warren Barfield

Marriage had been just as she was told it would be: simple. Of course that was something Sybil was sure she was told, that would later hold no weight but it turned out to be quite factual. Marrying Tom, living with Tom, and spending every night with Tom was the most simple thing in the world; Sybil wondered everyday why she hadn't done it sooner. The latter thought was quickly brushed away every time he kissed the corner of her mouth or held her hands so delicately in his own. It took time for them to get here and that time allowed them to be what they were when they arrived: happy.

"I'm not stupid Tom."

"I never said you were, love. I just asked if you stopped at the bank today…"

Sybil looked up at him. She was hit by it, the way his eyes knew things her lips were not yet ready to reveal. "Can't you do it? I mean, on your way home from work…?" She questioned, hoping she suddenly didn't seem like a wife that wanted to stay home all day while her husband went out into the world to collect a wage. After all, that was far from who Sybil was. She had been endlessly searching for a nursing position since her arrival in Dublin and had been turned down at every option. She was always too inexperienced, or too young. All of which Sybil understood to mean "too English."

"What is our account number, Syb?"

He had caught her. Sybil bit her lip as she looked up from the current application she was filling out. She dropped her pen and looked to him, her long hair in it's plait being flipped over her shoulder in the process. "That's not fair! I'm trying! I can do the laundry now and I've been making dinner lately and I do believe I can take the train to work by myself now!"

"You're right." Tom said no more. He walked into the bedroom to get out of his work suit and into something more comfortable. If he had it his way, he would just be able to collapse into bed and forget the articles he had just left at the office and the argument he had unwillingly just started.

Sybil followed, leaning against the door frame as she watched him change. "I don't want to be right, Tom!"

"And I want you to not feel so out of place." His moves were hasty and full of stress. He ran a frustrated hand through his hair as if trying to brush it all off. He wasn't completely mad at her, but he also could no longer blame work for all of his worries. He was trying, but he needed her to try too.

She was trying, but in a different way. Her version of attempt was different than his; another reminder of the life she left behind to create a new, better life with him.

Tom stepped into her, shirtless and still. She stared at him, at the way the muscles of his stomach were taut and perfect, just begging for her to reach out and touch him there and then everywhere.

In a way that was unusual for his character, he ignored her eyes and looked past her. "Do you understand how frustrating it is that I have to undress you every night not because you want to be intimate but because my own wife can't undress herself?" he spat. Tom knew what he was doing and he encouraged the way she was about to react. He hadn't seen it before but he knew she was capable of such things causing his body to harden at the thought.

Sybil curled her hand into a fist. "Oh fuck off!" It was then that she headed back into the kitchen to prepare a dinner she was sure she would be eating alone. Sybil had never said that word or any others like it. But the response she was expecting when she tasted it on her tongue was not the response she would soon get. She felt empowered and not nearly as cruel as she had expected. His reaction was confirmation enough, making her feel it and him all the more fully.

Tom smiled, suddenly forgetting about bank accounts "Say it again," he whispered, closer to her than she had ever felt before this moment. Of course they had been closer, but this felt different. There was a spark here just threatening to start a fire so passionate and wild it could burn this flat down. It scared and thrilled them, knowing that once it began they'd both be too distracted to put it out.

As a blush crept across her cheeks, she looked down, half out of habit and half out of coyness. It was then that she saw his hand on her hip. His touch sent a jolt up and down her spine, causing goosebumps to appear on the skin she exposed to him. Behind them, the fire crackled on but they stared at each other, noticing a whole different kind of warmth entering the room. They had been here so many times before but not once was it provoked by a fight. Sybil could only smile, wanting to tease him more. "No…" she whispered back before attacking his lips with as much fervor as she could muster. It was hungry and lustful, though neither of them seemed to mind. Everything they wanted to say to one another since Tom had left for work that morning was now evident on their lips, exchanged back and forth in the form of words only they could taste.

She was up against him now, their hips creating a fiction as he hoisted her up with her heels digging into his lower back. Pushed up against the kitchen wall, Tom thanked the thin cotton material of Sybil's nightgown as he felt her breasts through the fabric. So suddenly she was pert and ready for him, further emphasized as he teased at her skin through the soft cotton. She had changed when he did before work and he wondered when she had gotten back into her nightgown, almost as if she was preparing for such a rushed action to occur when he returned home.

Sybil dropped her head back. Her fingertips, previously caressing the soft skin of his back were now digging into his shoulders as he kissed up from the valley of her chest to the tip of her chin. Unable to take it anymore, she aggressively grabbed his face and brought his lips to her. Tom nibbled on his wife's lower lip causing her to moan into his mouth. Their breathing alone was enough to send the room they were standing in up in flames. So ragged and uneven, they moved against one another until Tom could not take the pressure anymore and brought them to the couch. He needed something, anything, other than the feel of her hips grinding against him. He thrust up against her, forcing her to feel him hard against her center. It was his turn to bait, knowing that no matter what angle it was coming from that Sybil would always accept it.

She needed and wanted more than he was willing to give, his body already weak as she teased. He laid her down, allowing her hair to fan out beneath her. As he straddled her waist, Sybil ran her hands up and down his chest. Tom paid no attention, focusing instead on the belt he wore. Quickly, Sybil stilled his hands. "Let me," she whispered, kissing him, slipping her tongue past his lips as her hands lazily undid his belt. They separated, lips barely touching as Tom helped Sybil out of her nightgown. Aside from her knickers, she was naked for him. A blush spread from her toes to her cheeks, highlighting all she was ready to give him.

"I need you," he whispered. He was unable to say much else. Tom leaned in to her to seize her lips again, but Sybil leant back, taunting his craving. She giggled, something that was lost as her fingers daintily played with the zipper on his trousers.

Not even getting his pants off his hips, she held him in her hand, feeling heat pump through his member as she ran her hand up and down the length of it. She smiled up at him as she continued to encourage him. She stopped though, right before he reached his much awaited climax. In apology, Sybil kissed his lips, feeling him almost tremble beneath her. A pain appeared but was quickly wiped away as Tom silently agreed with Sybil to come together.

In all honesty, she loved the power she had. He enjoyed something of the same when minutes later he had her screaming his name as he pumped his two fingers in and out of her tight center. So much for coming together, she thought, her lips curling into a devilish smile.

Sybil remembered the first time he had touched her like this. It was their wedding night and she remembered her legs tensing as he touched her there, slipping one finger then one more past her wet folds to feel the heat at her center. Sybil had always imagined married life to be a duty, something she would do as many wives before her had. Instead, she found herself in love and married to a man that made it his job to pleasure her in every way possible. The comfort and need Tom paid her was more than enough reassurance as they continued to explore one another, night after night.

He loved her like this, and though she would never admit it, Sybil loved it too. It was the lack of control and her body's willingness to give herself to him that made her always so unsure. Tom often had to coax her through her orgasm, to let her know it was okay to let go. Tonight, there was no coaxing. Nothing could be heard in the air but her breathing. Her mouth was dropped open, closed shortly when she bit her bottom lip to keep from yelling out again.

With his fingers upon her skin, Tom nibbled at her collarbone as she shook beneath him. Tom licked his fingers before paying special attention to her still swollen clit. When he did so, Sybil jerked, unsure of whether she'd ever escape from the current state of euphoria she was seemingly lost in. When she finally came down, Sybil leaned up, grabbing Tom by the chin to taste herself on his lips.

"I want you...now," she said, her voice guttural and honest. Their kisses were full of the very thing she was proclaiming.

"Sybil, I'm sorry-"

"Enough. It's over. Now," she gritted through her teeth. What she wanted to tell him was to shut up, but such words would never fall from her pretty lips. Not now, as he tasted them again and again.

Tom obliged, but only because her hands were between them, bringing the head of his length to tease her lower lips. She used the precum on the tip of his cock to ease him into her, still unable to resist the urge to drop her head back as he filled her completely. It was always like this, and she was especially glad they remained the same even in this altered state. Were they even still arguing? She had forgotten what for as he began to move against her, causing her hips to do the same without much encouragement.

It was then that Sybil reached up to move some of Tom's fringe off his forehead. Perspiration began to coat his forehead and for a small moment she wondered what she must have looked like. Forgetting everything but this vision of him moving above her, Sybil's touch softened, allowing her hand to rest behind his ear so that her thumb could lovingly stroke the stubble on his cheek.

"Dear god," she moaned, not even aware that the same feeling she had experienced minutes before was already beginning to exist in her belly again. "Tommmm..."

"I love you, I love you, I love-" He was chanting the three words against her neck, feeling himself grow close as well. He wanted them to come together, and they did. Passionately, they connected at the lips as well, letting go in the process. The air around them crackled before fizzling out and leaving them both to relax against one another. There was no anger, only love to fill the stagnant air and they were both thankful the threat of flame from before had died out. They both drank in the moment as their bodies shook against one another.

Tom's head was on Sybil's chest, listening to her quickened heartbeat. After their first week of marriage he knew better than to ask her if she wanted him to move. Sybil's favorite part of lovemaking was the aftermath when Tom covered her body with his own weight, resting on her for the support he often so desperately craved. She'd caress his cheek and kiss his forehead, thanking him for the love he had just showed her. Unable to say anything, he'd smile into her, praying that things, specifically nights like these, would never change. Part of her knew they would not. It was something she never needed to doubt as each night they were together they grew closer and closer as a comfort swept them away to where they both needed to be.

When Sybil finally let them separate, Tom slipped out of her. Sybil reached up, grabbing for the throw that rested folded on the back of the couch behind Tom's head. He stopped her, instead scooping her body up to bring her into their bedroom. Sybil hid her face in his neck as he moved them. Marriage would never eliminate the reality of it all; the feeling of his skin against hers, getting rid of so many more boundaries than the clothes they were previously wearing which now littered the floor of the kitchen and living room.

He laid her down, much like he had before. When she hit the mattress, she scooted up toward the pillows and quickly covered herself with their duvet. Tom joined her; he felt self-conscious with the fireplace illuminating his backside.

Without a thought, Sybil leant into her husband, resting her head on his chest. He kissed the top of her head forcing Sybil to decide she had not yet had enough. She pulled his face down to hers again, giving him a kiss that made him dizzy. Just as quickly as she had done it, she was the same innocent girl he had fallen in love with. They were back to being best friends, not lovers, though the latter never disappeared for too long.

"You know," Sybil said, looking up at Tom. "I do believe there has not been a night since we've been married where we haven't made love so while yes, I may not be able to undress myself completely, I don't believe I've left you too unsatisfied...and I've sold those clothes so you're welcome..." She finished with a satisfied smirk. She didn't look at him. She didn't need to see his face to know that he felt bad about what he had previously said.

He still would have felt bad even if it were true. Tom and Sybil respected one another in a way that perhaps not many couples their age could. They didn't talk to each other that way or in any tone similar. They were honest and their communication was always open, but it didn't have to occur at a price. Tom knew better, even before he was provoked to apologize during their lovemaking, than to belittle Sybil like that. She deserved better, a face that was only reassured by the comment she made and the way they both allowed each other to brush it off as if nothing happened. It was almost as if they were keeping a tally in their heads for a day that would come when Sybil would say some thing equally as cruel. Sybil and Tom were told days like that existed in marriage but knew all the same that for them they would be few and far between.

"Please don't make me seem like such an abusive husband..."

Now Sybil looked up. The smile from before still played itself across her face. "Oh, never." She kidded, but her words were true. Sybil was all too forgiving of the man whose chest she rested on. She hoped he understood, and most of her knew that he did, that she was kidding. Sybil hoped that the movement of her body against his, the way she kissed him so passionately and tasted him against her tongue was enough to reassure him that she wanted this, all of it, just as much as he did.

"You're a minx," he stated plainly.

"Perhaps." She lifted her leg so she was straddling him. She was thankful for the fire on the far wall for keeping her exposed shoulders warm. A different kind of heat rubbed at her center as she felt him writhe beneath her while he stiffened.

"You tease," he groaned, eliciting a moan from his wife as he jerked his hips upward in anticipation.

Sybil nodded, holding her bottom lip in between her teeth. "Always."

Tom took her in. Her hair was frizzy and her lips plump, matching the way her chest was swollen and exposed to him. He breathed in, loving this side of her, a side that only he saw. Something changed, causing the electricity that existed in the air to subside and make room for the truth. "Syb?"

"Yes, love?"

"You know how happy you've made me right? How happy you make me?" The tense didn't matter. He said it all those years ago and he had said it many times since: he was in love with this girl and was so happy for the life they had built and were still building together.

"I'm guessing it's as happy as I am..."

"More." Once again, the air changed. He was defiant now, gladly taking on the role as tease so Sybil could have a break.

She willingly played along, looking up from where she was kissing his chest to respond. "More?" She smirked. "Do you want to fight about it?"

Tom could only drop his head back and laugh, giving her more access to the skin below his adam's apple. "Absolutely."

They were both laughing now as Tom flipped Sybil over onto her back to cover both her body with his own as his lips tasted her. A few kisses to her lips, then one to her nose and then he was inside of her again, both of them working toward something so familiar and safe. Minutes later, when they'd both come down, a feeling of elation would fill the room and they'd settle further into the mattress to hide from the world. Only when one of them would wake the other in the still of the night would their activities continue, as if never needing more than a few words of reminding to pick up exactly where they had left off.

There's still so much more of this to finish writing and post but I already have another fanfic idea brewing. Hmmm…

Thanks for reading! Review if you can!

x. Elle