Chapter Eight
A/N: No reviewers, unfortunately.
As the sun rose bright in the morning, young Sybil Crawley rose with it, preparing to spend yet another day watching the Doctor squirm under the watchful eyes of her cousins. It had been extremely amusing to view his silly expressions, and to see her cousins' questioning glances as he gave the most obscure answers she herself had ever heard in her life, let alone her rather more conservative family members, who were not quite as used to the Doctor's eccentricities, as she was.
It was hard to tell what the day would bring when travelling with such a madman, though she had had only one day's experience of doing so, but Sybil had found that she liked a life of freedom, rather than the strict guidelines of the upper classes that she had been held back by for sixteen years. She liked the idea of not being restricted, by anyone or anything, and being unrestricted, having the ability to go where she wanted, when she wanted to do so, with whomever she wished to do it with, and not having it dictated to her, by the King, or by her parents, or by anyone but herself. It was what she had always dreamt of, and now she had finally got it, all thanks to the Doctor.
It took only a few minutes for her to prepare herself for the day, due to her overwhelming wish to see how the madman would be able to deal with the way of life that the upper classes were accustomed to, particularly when he had so many eccentricities about him that would not be well placed in the dining rooms and halls that Sybil had become used to, growing up in a house as grand as Downton Abbey.
When she reached the first class dining area, it did not take her very long at all to decipher the location of her three companions, as the Doctor's distinctive laugh echoed across the room from the very moment she entered, leading her directly to the place where the trio was sat, drinking cups of tea and seeming to have quite a jolly time without her company, much to the unmistakable disappointment of the young woman, who felt a little left out of all the fun they seemed to be having, and very much wished to know what they all found so humourous.
To her intrigue, as she arrived at the table, the laughter died down very swiftly, though the smiles on the men's faces remained, as if they had been discussing something extremely amusing that they did not wish her to know about. It was a little annoying for the brunette to regard the people she knew extremely well as being willing to withhold a joke from her, as when the family had made a wise crack, most likely Patrick himself that had done so, she had always been let in on it, or at least she had never been deliberately left out. The Doctor himself had never even considered not allowing her to know what he laughed about, an action that he did often.
"Good morning, gentlemen." she greeted, attempting to keep the suspicion from her voice, as she sat down in the chair beside Patrick, pouring a cup of tea the moment she did so, for the sake of something to occupy her hands, which were shaking a little with the anger she was attempting to repress. "Are you all alright?"
"Yes, thank you, Cousin Sybil." James responded, his stony expression resumed after just a moment, as he had been practiced at doing so in his life. "Are you well yourself?"
"I am, Cousin James." she answered, though her gaze had fixated on the Doctor and had not shifted to look at the man she was speaking to, as she had always been taught to do in childhood, sending a little shiver down her spine as she thought of the time her aunt, Rosamund, had threatened her with the cane for disrespect. "I was wondering what you men were laughing about, actually. It looked to be very amusing."
"Oh, it was nothing, really, Sybil." Patrick said quickly, seeming to be sharing even more glances with the Doctor than he and his father had been previous to her arrival at the table.
"Alright, then." she told her second cousin, an inclination of her head accompanying the almost sickly sweet smile that she had plastered upon her face, in an effort to distract the men, a plan which succeeded swiftly, as the face of each of the three of them seemed to freeze in an expression of obvious confusion. Sybil was never usually as eager to give up on an inquisition, something that the entire quartet knew quite well. That was precisely what the girl sought to use to her advantage, and, having distracted them all rather easily, her hand darted out under the table, to the place near the Doctor's kneecap where he was clutching a piece of paper tightly to the material of his trousers, as if trying to hide its contents.
Before the men could gauge what had happened, the young woman had seized the paper and placed it flat down on the table, so that she what it was that had amused the men so much about it. The moment she caught sight of it, though, her mouth dropped too wide open from propriety, something that her mother would be horrified by if she had seen it, partially because of the shock the image imprinted on the paper had caused her and also partially because of the overreaction the man had given to it.
The image on the film lined piece of paper was that of Sybil herself, barely three years old, if she had been even that. She was dressed in a ballet style dress covered in any number of frills, which she recalled to this day as having been a frivolous shade of yellow, clutching a stuffed bear tightly in her arms, a slight pout on her face as if someone had attempted to take the animal from her, which they may well have done, if she remembered correctly.
"Is this all you were laughing about?" the brunette asked, in a state of utter disbelief. The men gave no verbal response, but nonetheless, they nodded in the affirmative. With a sigh, Sybil rose from her chair, taking the picture with her as she left the room, still shaking her head as she did so. "Men are unbelievable!"
A/N: Just thought I'd have a little bit of a comedy chapter, before it gets serious. Please review!