Author's note -

Thank you so much to everyone who has read/followed/reviewed/favourited the story so far! As always, I love to hear from you. Look out for a familiar face making an appearance in this chapter...

Chapter 4 - Tom's realisation

The taxi eased its way though the early evening traffic on Fleet St with Sybil in the back. She was trying not to fidget with the neckline of her dress, which was cut lower than she was used to - Mary had insisted she buy it when they had gone shopping together the previous Saturday.

Mary was used to attending fancy events, thanks to her job at a PR firm, and as a perk of her job she had discounts at several upmarket shops. She had encouraged Sybil to try on a dress at Whistles which was out of her normal price range, and when Sybil looked at herself doubtfully in the mirror, she had said, "Are you sure about this, Mary?"

Mary had whistled and replied, "Sybil, you have to let the girls out to play sometimes! God knows, you are better endowed than I am - why not show it off? I guarantee you, Tom will not be able to take his eyes off you in that dress."

"It's not his eyes I'm worried about," Sybil laughed and they shared a sisterly giggle as they headed to Ottolenghi on Upper St for a late lunch.

Sybil was on her way to the British Journalism Awards at Stationers' Hall. Tom's team at The Guardian had been nominated for their coverage of the EU financial crisis, and Tom himself was nominated as young journalist of the year for his contribution to a leading article on the end of austerity, highlighting the French and Italian election results as pointers towards a changing mood in Europe. When he'd asked Sybil to be his date, she felt excited about the idea of being with him on the most important night of his career - it made her feel as if they were taking the next step in their relationship.

The dome of St Paul's came into view as the taxi pulled up outside the venue and Sybil made a dash for the door through the spitting rain. Crossing the threshold, she looked up at the beautiful vaulted ceiling and remembered reading about a disastrous fire at the Hall not so long ago, and the recently completed renovations which had restored it to its previous splendour. She headed towards the door of the Main Hall and lingered for a moment, trying to see if Tom was there already.

In a few minutes, she saw him - as usual, he was the centre of a laughing crowd of people. However, what was not so usual was the sight of a woman hanging on his arm and looking up into his face with no attempt to hide her flirtatious expression. Sybil saw to her dismay that the girl looked like Carey Mulligan in her pixie cut phase - young, blonde, beautiful and with a style of her own. She watched as the fringes on the other woman's red flapper dress moved with her, ensuring she was the centre of attention.

Some well meaning remarks Mary had been making recently about her and Tom, along the lines of "Are you keeping up with him OK - must be exhausting, spending time with a younger man with your schedule?", had continued to stoke the slight fires of insecurity she felt. Seeing him with a woman so much younger - she couldn't be more than 20 - made those feelings flare up again.

Tom looked around and spotted Sybil at the door. His jaw visibly sagged when he saw her smooth black satin column dress that clung to her beautiful curves. Her slightly tousled updo, dressed with a diamond clip borrowed from Mary, and the silver velvet ribbon tied as a choker around her neck completed an impression of beauty and grace which left him breathless.

He could not believe she was there to be with him and he felt an overwhelming sensation flow through him as he realised that he loved her. Not just because she was so beautiful, and sexy as hell, although he adored the way she looked and their physical connection was amazing. He loved her even more because of her care for others, her loyalty to those she loved, her quirky sense of humour, her intelligence and her passion for making the world a better place. He even loved her soft spot for romantic movies starring Kate Winslet, for crying out loud!

He started walking towards her and as he caught her eye, he saw a hesitant smile cross her face.

"Hey, you. You look absolutely stunning - that dress should be licensed to kill. You get here OK?" He leaned in to give her a kiss, but she didn't immediately respond.

"I saw you with a young woman just now - who was she?"

For a minute he could not think what she meant. Then he realised - "Oh, you mean Edna - the blonde? She's part of the marketing team at the paper."

"You two seemed very... c-close." Sybil stammered slightly saying that - she surprised herself with the feelings of jealousy she was experiencing.

Tom quickly reassured her - "Sybil, I promise there is nothing at all going on there! Believe me, there is no-one else for me except you tonight - you are the most beautiful woman in the room."

He moved towards her and slid one hand around her waist, pulling her towards him and smiling so sweetly that she couldn't help but believe him as his lips met hers. The electricity that was always just below the surface sparked up between them so quickly she forgot all about Edna, closing her eyes and moving into his body as their kiss grew deeper.

It was one of the most romantic moments of her life - standing there in that beautiful room with Tom's arms around her, feeling his hand slowly slide up her spine to caress the back of her neck, surrounded by soft music and glowing light. When Tom eventually broke their kiss he heard her sigh - "Plenty more where that came from later," he joked. He was happy to see her lovely smile back on her face as she took his arm and they headed over to Tom's colleagues.

Sybil took a glass of champagne from a passing waiter and heard a bell ring as a deep voice announced "Ladies and gentleman, please take your seats as the ceremony is about to begin."

They headed towards a table set with a damask cloth, silver cutlery and shining glassware and settled into place as the MC made his opening remarks and their dinners were served.

Tom's award was up after only a few categories - he was glad he had practiced his gracious loser face before he came, since someone else's name was announced. Although he was disappointed, he knew the woman who had won was a wonderful journalist whose work he really respected, and having Sybil lean into his ear and whisper "Don't worry, you will get your award later tonight..." quickly took the sting out of the moment.

As the evening progressed, Sybil really started enjoying herself, getting into an animated discussion with Tom's boss about the Yorkshire versus Lancashire rivalry, as he had moved down to London from Rochdale around the same time as Sybil had left Downton to start her training. It was fun listening to the banter around the table, and trying to understand the in jokes of the journalism crowd. She thought about how different her work outings usually were - a group of exhausted registrars, mostly coming off double shifts, competing to down pints as quickly as they could and swapping the most gruesome stories from the ward to show what "real" surgeons they were.

She felt Tom's arm across the back of her chair and leaned into him as she reached for another glass of wine, smiling as his fingers gently stroked her shoulder. As the last award of the evening was announced, everyone at their table let out a shout of joy - they had won! Tom's managing editor headed up to collect the prize on behalf of the team, and ordered another bottle of champagne for the table. Things got quite hilarious after that.

After a while, Sybil left the table to freshen up. When she got back, she was not very happy to see Edna had taken her seat and was leaning in close to Tom, with her hand on his arm and nodding seriously at something he was saying. Sybil felt a tigerish instinct strike her - "get off my man!" - and moved around to stand on Tom's other side, leaning into his face and planting a lingering kiss on his lips, which he returned with interest.

"Come on Tom darling, shall we dance?" Tom smiled at her - he knew exactly what she was doing, and he found it amazingly arousing to see her marking her territory like that.

They took a turn around the dance floor dancing to one of Sybil's favourite songs, "Dream a Little Dream," with Sybil leaning her head on Tom's shoulder all the way through. Then, they said their goodbyes and headed out into the night.

Sybil stopped under a streetlight and wrapped her arms around Tom's neck, pulling him in for a kiss - as her tongue pushed its way past his lips, Tom let out a moan and leaned her up against the wall. A group of lads strolling past on a stag night let out a shout - "Get a room!" - and Tom released Sybil long enough to murmur into her hair, "That's exactly what I intend to do."

Sybil smiled demurely and looked up at him through her eyelashes in a way perfectly calculated to drive him crazy as she pulled his shirt out of his waistband and he felt her hand stroking his stomach. He growled, only half in jest, "What are you doing to me, woman!" and felt his heart begin to race as his love for her swept over him again. Mind you, he admitted to himself, what he felt definitely wasn't courtly love at that particular moment - all he could think about was getting her home and finding out what was underneath that dress...

A/N -

The article Tom helped to write was inspired by a real article by the Nobel Prize winning economist, Joseph Stiglitz. Search for "Citizens in Europe are rejecting austerity policies as deeply misguided" on The Guardian website if you want to read it.