Author's note -

As always, thank you so much to everyone who has read/followed/reviewed/favourited the story so far! I love to hear from you. Also, since alerts were not working for some people when I published the previous chapter (the long weekend in Portugal), you might want to go back a chapter to check it out if you missed it.

Chapter 8 - The birthday party

As Sybil came out of the Tube she checked her email and saw she had a new message:

Hey Sybil – give me a call when you can. We thought we'd give Tom a surprise party for his birthday – want to help organise? Cheers, Gwen

Sybil smiled – she had met Gwen quite a few times out with Tom and his friends and they always had a good time chatting. Since Gwen was a medical student, Sybil had been able to share a lot of her experiences as a young doctor already in the system, and a result they had become quite good friends, going out for drinks on their own a couple of times.

Sybil didn't have time to call her back till she had a quick cup of tea at about 11 – "Gwen? Hi, it's Sybil. Got your message – great idea! I'd love to help get things organised. What's the plan so far?

"Hiya, Sybil – thanks for calling back. What plan? Seriously, we haven't really done anything yet. You remember Tom's friends Jimmy and Thomas? They were the ones who suggested it, but then – typical boys, right? – they have done sod all since then apart from basking in the glory of their idea." They shared a giggle at that. Thomas and Jimmy were two of Tom's football mates – great guys but not exactly organised.

Sybil said - "It shouldn't be too hard, right? Choose a venue, invite people, organise music or whatever, maybe some nibbles – that's really all there is to it."

Gwen made encouraging noises – "Yes, agreed. The venue is the hard bit – we want Central London because Tom's friends come from all over, but it's not easy finding something that's cool but also not going to break the bank. Any ideas?"

"Actually, yeah – I went to a party a while ago at a pub in Clerkenwell and it was really good - ever heard of the Blue Lion? You can have your own music, big but not too big, food if you want it – we had a great time. What date were we looking at?"

"Well, Tom's birthday is on the Tuesday, so how about the Saturday after?"

"Sounds good – do you want to meet me at the pub tonight and check it out?"

"Let's do it – Sybil, you rock! I hope Tom knows how lucky he is to have you. See you there at eight."

Sybil was excited by the idea of helping organise Tom's party – it felt good to be clearly acknowledged as someone who mattered in his life, not just by him but by his friends.

Gwen loved the Blue Lion and they booked it on the spot. "I'll do all the invitations – I have everyone friended on Facebook so it should be pretty easy."

Sybil thought for a minute – "Can I invite Mary and Matthew – you know, Matthew goes out with my sister and plays football with Tom too, and he introduced us?"

"Sure – of course. Why don't you just send them the invitation when it goes out? The one group I am not sure about is Tom's work crowd – he's good friends with quite a few of them I know, but I don't really know them."

"Oh, I can take care of that too – I got on really well with Tom's boss at the awards night and he and I have connected on Facebook since then, so I can just get him to invite everyone."

"Nice one! Now the last thing to think about is, how to get Tom there? Sybil, I think you should look after that – is that cool?"

"Yeah sure – leave that to me."

"Come on Tom, we have to get going..."

"Mmm, five more minutes..."

Tom held Sybil back, stopping her from getting out of the shower. His hand slid smoothly across her wet skin, tangling in the long hair falling down her back as their lips met in a kiss. Sybil found herself closing her eyes, with her hand cupping the back of Tom's head and her tongue teasing his bottom lip as she felt his other hand trailing up from her waist towards her breast...

"Famous last words – if we don't get out of here now, we never will." Sybil took Tom's hand and pulled him unwillingly out of the shower, and he pretended to sulk as he grabbed a towel and started drying his hair.

Sybil was mesmerised for a minute, watching the water droplets roll down the muscles of Tom's arms and chest. She had to shake her head and start getting dry and dressed herself, or she knew they might not make it to the party at all.

Ten minutes later, they were in a cab, on their way to Clerkenwell.

"Where are we going again?"

"Oh, meeting Matthew and Mary for drinks – nearly there – driver, just down Gray's Inn Road please."

The cab pulled up and they jumped out, hand in hand as they walked through the pub door. Sybil pretended to look around – "Let's try through that door over there..."

"Surprise!"

Sybil had kept the secret well, and Tom really was surprised to see all his friends in the back room of the pub, and hear his favourite music already playing as someone pushed a pint into his hand.

"Happy birthday, darling," whispered Sybil into his ear, and he turned towards her with a loving look.

"Sybil, you are amazing – did you do all this?"

"It was me and Gwen together… here she is!"

Gwen came up smiling as she grabbed Sybil for a hug. "Come on, let's get a drink!"

Later that night, Tom was having a great time – as usual, he was the centre of a laughing crowd as he told some story about a reluctant source he was trying to charm for a story he was writing. Sybil was at the other end of the room, chatting with Matthew and Mary, when she spotted a familiar and unwelcome face making her way towards the group around Tom – she was almost sure it was Edna, the marketing girl from Tom's work, looking absolutely gorgeous in a casual, undone way in skinny jeans and off the shoulder black top, with a sparkly scarf around her neck.

Sybil watched her make her move, throwing her head back to laugh at Tom's joke and putting her hand on his arm. "If her hair was long enough, she'd be tossing it now for sure," fumed Sybil. While she knew how much Tom loved her and how much she meant to him – Tom showed her that every day they were together – she couldn't help feeling a bit insecure when faced with a rival as beautiful and young as this one, even though Tom didn't seem interested in her at all.

Gwen came over with another glass of wine in her hand. "It's going well, isn't it?"

Sybil couldn't help herself – "Gwen, I hope you don't mind me asking – what do you know about Tom's exes before he met me? He told me he broke up with his last girlfriend nearly a year ago but I wasn't sure about before. Do you know if there was anyone serious before me?"

Gwen looked at her with a friendly smile – "Sybil, one thing I know for sure is that Tom's absolutely crazy about you – I don't think he's ever been in love before the way he is now. As to what happened before – you should really ask him..."

Sybil cajoled her – "Ah go on, please Gwen?"

Gwen relented – "Mmm, apparently there was someone back in Dublin before he moved here that ended badly, and I remember he dated a couple of people at college, nothing major though. Since he joined the paper there was that Lizzie girl – I think she must be the one he told you about. They are still mates, in fact she's here tonight."

Sybil processed this – she hadn't known one of Tom's exes would be at the party! "Really, she's here?"

"Hey, don't worry – she is here with her new boyfriend – look, that's them over there."

Based on what Sybil could see, the pretty dark-haired girl with her boyfriend's arms wrapped around her wasn't any threat to what she had with Tom and she felt herself relaxing a bit. "I know it's silly of me to feel this way – it's just that I only had two long relationships before this one, one at high school for a couple of years when I was 17, and then Larry at university - I dated him for a long time but it just fizzled out last year, and then I met Tom. I sometimes feel as if he knows more about this stuff than I do, even though I am older!"

"Not that much older – he's 23 now, remember – only a five year difference, that's nothing!"

Sybil looked out at the dance floor. Tom and the rest of his football crowd were jumping up and down, messing around to The Fratellis' "Chelsea Dagger" and shouting the chorus – "Do, do do do, do do do, do do do do dooo!"

Then, Bruno Mars' song "Just the Way you Are" came on and Tom instinctively looked around for Sybil – this song had been playing the night they met, and ever since then it had been their song. Their eyes locked across the room and they moved automatically towards each other.

As they met, Tom's arms wrapped around her waist and he pulled her close, singing in her ear – "She's so beautiful, and I tell her every day..." and then pulling slightly back from her to look into her eyes. "Sybil, is tú mo ghrá – thanks for organising this! Although to be honest, as long as you were there, I would not care that much what we did tonight." His arms tightened around her and as they danced, they moved into a passionate kiss.

Mary looked on, smiling and fanning herself jokingly. "Whew – I'd say get a room, but it's probably too late for that, right?" She was in a happy mood that night, having spent the evening showing off her newly acquired diamond ring to anyone within reach, since she and Matthew had gotten engaged recently.

Matthew grinned – "It's great seeing them so happy – anyone can see how in love they are. Tom is quite boring sometimes on the subject of your sister, I'd say!"

Tom and Sybil came over, still wrapped around each other, and Tom leaned in to kiss Mary on the cheek – "Congratulations! Great news you and Matthew are getting married. You already know each others' families, don't you – one less thing to worry about. I just told Sybil my mum is coming to town next weekend from Dublin, so we will be rolling up for her inspection."

Sybil nodded - "I just hope she likes me!"

Tom grinned - "Apart from the fact that no girl is ever good enough for her beloved Tommy... no, I'm kidding! She will love you - how could she not? Let me get you another drink, love – the night is still young and I intend to get you tipsy and have my wicked way with you later!"

The twinkle in Sybil's eyes at that cheeky remark told him everything he needed to know. The feeling was definitely mutual.

A/N -

is tú mo ghrá = I love you in Irish Gaelic, per Google translate. Thank you to my friend angiemagz for the suggestion for Tom and Sybil's song!