Timeline: Still 3x01.

Song: You Were Made For Me - Augustana

Propped up against a pillow, Sybil leaned back into the headboard. Her eyes danced across the page of a book she had picked up from her father's library. Like the memories this house held, she was sure she had read it a million times but somehow had forgotten the ending. She wished it was a happy one so she could go to sleep knowing there was good in the world.

Tom had left after dinner. He was off to Crawley House to mollify the current situation between Mary and Matthew. Happy he was going but wanting him to herself that night, she walked him to the door before stopping into the library to pick up the book she was currently enveloped in. The pages she skimmed did nothing for her the way Tom would. He had been gone for almost two hours now and she hoped he would return soon so she could have him before bed.

She was just managing to drift off when she heard the door creak open, revealing a rather jovial Tom. "All is well, I hope?"

The sound of her voice urged Tom to shut and lock the door. He turned around, staring at her still awake, reading a book. "I think so," he began. "I walked back with Matthew. Him and Mary are talking now, I think."

"Talking? Is Mary aware of this? She would never see him the night before her wedding."

Tom laughed, beginning to get out of his suit. "She seemed to be willing to talk. So yes, I'd say she's aware." Now it was Sybil's turn to watch him undress. He must have not known, for he was rather hasty with the process. All too quickly for Sybil's liking he was in his pajama bottoms, walking toward her to get into bed. She would have complained if he didn't immediately grab her face to kiss her lips. She smiled against him, needing this more than he could have imagined.

"You're a good man, Tom Branson."

"I didn't do anything Matthew wouldn't have done for me. I'm appreciative of the offer he gave me the other night. He didn't need to do that but I think already your father is starting to be kinder to me because of it…"

"He's nice to you because you've been so well behaved," she teased before kissing the corner of his mouth. "Besides, I talked to Matthew the other night and he was all too happy to extend the offer. He's right. This is a tough family to marry into and you boys need to stick together."

"Says one of the Crawley girls," Tom quipped. "What are you reading?"

Sybil looked at the cover of the book she was holding in her hands. "Something on the Boer War. I don't even know what I grabbed. I just wanted something to keep me busy until you got home."

"Waiting for something?" Tom teased, nipping at her lips again. She let the book she was holding fall out of her hands, down into her lap and then off the bed completely as she leaned into him, grabbing her face in his hands.

"Mhm," she whispered in between kisses. After being married for close to eight months and being pregnant for almost as long, Sybil was still unable to tell Tom exactly what she wanted. He saw it though, painted across her face in a deep crimson.

"I want you too," he said in quick agreement. Tom knew all of the words Sybil would never say.

"We haven't been together since Dublin," she reasoned, suddenly feeling the need to explain her position in a way that Tom had never needed nor wanted. He felt her these past few days reverting to the Lady she used to be. She would always be that girl to him, with or without the frocks and false pretenses.

"It's been two nights, Syb. We were both exhausted the first night and I was practically drunk last night-"

"I know, I just-" She paused, unable to say it. "I want you," she whispered gaining the courage. It caused a shiver down her spine, causing her to buck down into him as it hit her.

Sex had been different since she found out she was pregnant; Tom was even more cautious than Sybil. He had read a book, the way he always did when there was something he did not fully understand. In it, he found himself encouraged to remind Sybil to never be on her back too long, to take showers instead of baths, and to get plenty of rest.

Their exploration of one another was still so new, and once again Sybil and Tom found it changing to accommodate the ever growing life inside of her. It made making love to Tom all the more exciting as everything was now gradual and calculated.

"Tom, pleaseee," she begged. "Don't you want me?"

It was a bold question, one that caused Tom's eyes to widen as he pulled away from her neck. "Of course I want you, love. I told you, I'm always wanting you."

"Me too," she agreed. Sybil moved up so that she was straddling Tom. Hungrily, she leaned into him again, nipping at his lips while her hands played with the hair at the base of his neck. She chewed lightly at his bottom lip causing him to moan into her mouth. His reaction only made her smile, something she knew he would return, even with her eyes closed.

Tom's lips were attacking her neck now, making sure not to leave a mark. Sybil remembered the first time she saw it, the red and purple wine-like stain on her collarbone evident of the late night lovemaking her and her then fiance had shared. She enjoyed it then, when the cool Autumn and Winter months of Dublin allowed her to wear scarves and sweaters that covered up such intimacy. Now, in the dead of Spring as they lay on the bed she used to sleep in as a child, Sybil found herself not wanting a mark. It was something she did not want to have to explain away.

When he stopped her, Sybil's face fell, thinking that maybe he wanted to stop. Instead, he pulled at the hem of her nightgown which rested at her hips now from moments of grinding against him. The lace knickers she wore were peach, covering only her most private areas. He wanted to kiss her there and everywhere else but he stopped himself, resolving to take it all so slow.

Sybil smiled into him, wrapping her arms around his head as he kissed a path down toward the valley of her breasts. She giggled and then cooed as he took one nipple in his mouth, using his hand to tweak the other. Immediately, Sybil hardened in his hand as he palmed her breast. She dropped her head back, loving how sensitive her body was to his touch now that she was carrying his child.

"Tom," she began. She stopped, unable to speak as Tom removed her brassiere to reveal her chest enlarged because of the pregnancy. He kissed one breast, then the other before staring back up at her to answer her with his eyes. "We can do all of that after, okay?"

Tom could only laugh. Sybil had never been this wanton of him, nor this forward when it came to exactly what she wanted. He admired her determination, his feelings shown so clearly by the bulge in his pajama pants rubbing up against her crotch.

Feeling him beneath her, Sybil ground down into him. Her arms were still draped lazily around his shoulders as he instinctively bucked up toward her. She giggled, doing it again only to feel him moan as the pressure in his trousers grew to be too much.

Sybil stood up, knowing the release of her weight against his hips would be just as deliciously painful as the feel of her body rubbing against him. A teasing smile stretched across her cheeks as she rid him, slowly of course, of the pajama bottoms he wore. Next came his underwear, finally allowing his rock hard member to spring free and attempt to rest against his lower abdomen.

Any other time, Sybil would have kissed him there and then pleasured him before milking him to a climax. Slowly, such an oral fixation had become a favorite of hers since that night so many months ago back in Dublin. Now, standing before him in nothing but her lace knickers, she felt as naked as she could have been. His eyes stripped her of the garment while his hands echoed their plea, peeling the fabric off of her hips so that it could pool at her ankles. Sybil kicked them off and Tom watched as they hit the light fixture on the wall. Both lovers laughed as Sybil got into bed with her husband.

"Syb, why don't we try you on top?"

"What?" she croaked out. They had tried such a task a week ago and it ended with Sybil in tears. She couldn't exactly get the momentum or the energy down to allow her husband to stiffly slide in and out of her. Never one to give up, she felt defeated and quickly rolled over to cry leaving Tom no other option but to mollify her as his stiff cock pressed into her lower back, begging for release.

"I just don't want you on your back for too long. Or we could try it from-"

"Don't even say that, Tom Branson. You know I like to look at you when we make love…" Her face fell, prompting Tom to lift her chin with his thumb and index finger. As her eyes met his, he kissed her nose. "Okay," she breathed out.

They didn't exchange anymore words. Sybil straddled her husband now, squatting above his chest so she could take him in her hands and point him toward her wet core. Tom did his best to guide himself there, though he found himself easily distracted by her breasts just inches away from his face.

When he entered her, Sybil cried out. She still wasn't used to the feeling of having all of him inside of her, especially not from this angle with the weight of her body giving her no other options but to take him fully. Slowly, and with a look of pure determination on her face, she began to rock into him, inviting his length in and out of her wet folds. Tom helped as best he could, but soon found himself using his thumb to rub down on her clit. Sybil jerked as she first felt him there, but then invited his teasing as it brought her closer to a climax she so hopelessly craved.

She swelled with confidence when she saw his face, dropped back to accompany the ragged breathing heaving from his chest. The air he inhaled made his lips dry. Sybil kissed them, feeling the moist confines of her mouth sooth his shin. Clearly she was doing something right as this was the most ecstasy either had experienced since their first time together. The climax they both reached moments later hit them both in relief and rapture. It was sealed with a chaste kiss closing off the distance between them as Sybil rolled off of Tom and onto her back.

If she wasn't exhausted before she was now, her chest heaving and her now short hair undoubtedly frizzy. When she caught her breath, she leaned back into Tom, assuming the position she always took before they fell asleep with her head precariously placed on his chest. Tom kissed the top of her head and then brought the finger tracing circles on the tufts of hair on his lower abdomen up to be kissed.

"We just made love in my childhood bedroom," Sybil breathed out softly, unable to suppress the laugh she felt building as she said such a thing. "And I do believe that is the best it's ever been…"

Tom nodded. He kissed her lips once, then three times, unable to get enough of her. "I would agree with you there," he reasoned. "God Sybil, that was…" But he was unable to finish. There were no words to describe the feelings he had watching her move above him so gracefully.

Sybil giggled into his shoulder. "Thank you, Tom."

"Can I be crass for a moment?"

Sybil looked up to him. "I'm sure you will be with or without my permission," she said, arching an eyebrow in the process.

"I have dreamed of taking you in this bed for years now. I mean, I never knew what your bedroom even looked like but I imagined us sneaking around and you inviting me up here-"

"Me too," Sybil stated plainly.

The words caused Tom to shift upward in the bed. She could only smirk, knowing all too well what her words had done. "You lie," he challenged.

Sybil continued to smile as she joined him to sit up on the mattress. "I do not! I have nothing to lose anymore. I was a young woman then. A girl can dream, can't she?"

"You're unbelievable."

"You love me," she quipped.

"I do."

"Tom…"

He looked down at her now, all of her body pressed against him while her backside was covered by the plush material of the comforter. Their bodies appeared in shades of orange as they fireplace continued to crackle on.

"Yeah?" He managed when he was finally able to get over how beautiful she looked staring up at him.

"It's important you know how much I wanted you all those years. And how I know it wasn't fair that I kept silent for so long and denied you my feelings, really, it wasn't, but that doesn't mean they weren't there. I know I've said it before and I know you say you believe me but it's important to me that you really get it. That you feel that I wanted you just as much as you wanted me."

"I feel it."

"You promise?"

"I feel it everyday. And I felt it then, too," he added. "I wasn't stupid or blind. You may have said one thing but your heart told another. I wasn't going to wait for a girl that didn't love me, but you, I'd wait forever for. Part of me thinks this is all so surreal, that I'll wake up and be working back in the garage with you visiting in between work shifts or after dinner."

"It's real, love. Believe it."

A silence settled over them. Tom felt Sybil soften into him, signaling she was almost ready to fall asleep. "I just made love to you in your childhood bed," he breathed out. The thought, both true and perverse sent them both laughing. As it all settled down, Sybil resumed her previous position, nestled into the crook of Tom's shoulder. A final kiss sent them both to sleep, only to be woken the next morning, still naked, when a housemaid entered their room to open the blinds and invite the morning sun inside.

WOW! All of the reviews I got last chapter were amazing! You guys are amazing! I was speechless by how many of you responded! Challenge: can we keep it up?

Seriously though, I am forever thankful for the time people take reading this and then sharing their thoughts with me. I know I say it a lot but at the same time I feel like I don't say it enough. So thank you.

x. Elle