Sybbie clung to her Aunt tightly, watching through tears as her Uncle grabbed William's shirt. He nearly lifted the 14 year old off of his feet, he looked like he was going to kill him right there and then.
"What did you do to her?!" Matthew screamed, punching the wall right by William's head. William smirked, a cruel smile which infuriated Matthew and Mary. They had both never wanted to hurt someone more in their life. They had welcomed this boy into their home, he had been friends with both George and Sybbie, they were all like siblings. Especially since George was an only child, they had welcomed William into their home and into Sybbie's life. They couldn't believe that he would do this to Sybbie and also betray George in turn. He was going to be devastated.
"I was only giving her what she wanted, she was leading me on. So, I had to teach her a lesson," He smirked, not caring in the slightest how it would affect Sybbie.
She trembled in her Aunt's embrace, turning pale. A fresh wave of tears slid down her cheeks, "Aunt Mary..." She sobbed pitifully.
"I'm here... it's ok shhh," She picked her up and held her head against her shoulder, Mary looked up at Matthew who was quickly turning red.
"You had no right to take that from her! You had no right to do that to her! How dare you... how dare you after everything we've done for you, we welcomed you into our home! You betrayed her and George!" Matthew growled, punching the smug teenager across the face. He fell to the floor, blood dripping from his nose.
Sybbie let out a small yelp, she had never seen her Uncle hit anyone before and it scared her a little. She hid her face in Mary's shoulder, taking deep shuddering breaths. She'd never been so frightened in her life, except from on the day it happened.
Matthew grabbed the teenager up by his shirt again, throwing him at Carson who was stood there in shock. He'd never once seen the future Earl of Grantham so much as raise his voice, let alone punch a teenager.
"Carson, get him out of my house! He is never welcome back here, get him out before I kill him!" Matthew was shaking, the adrenaline pumping through his veins. He couldn't believe what that bastard had done to his little niece, the little girl who was like a daughter to him.
Carson nodded, taking William by the scruff of his neck. He too had slowly pieced together what he thought happened, judging by Lady Mary's and Mr Crawley's reaction and Sybbie's he was more than happy to chuck this animal out of the house. He dragged him out through the front door and head first into the snow. He slammed the door shut and locked it, speed walking back to the servant's hall, giving the little family some privacy.
Sybbie was sat on the sofa, staring into space. She was almost catatonic, she didn't feel safe anymore. He had come back into her home, had taunted her in front of her Aunt and Uncle and had also betrayed her cousin, her amazing cousin who was more like a big brother to her. She had ruined everything. She dug her nails into her arms, only stopping when she felt her Uncle's grip on her hands.
"I am so sorry if I scared you, darling. I should never have hit him like that in front of you, it was wrong of me to do that" he held her hands tight, gently rubbing the backs of them.
Sybbie didn't respond, she shivered and whimpered. It hurt so much, this feeling in her chest was overwhelming her and all she wanted was for it to go away.
Matthew looked at Mary and sighed, running his hand through his hair. He felt completely responsible for the situation that they were now in, if only he had kept his temper in check and just thrown him out. Now, he had traumatised his niece and he had no idea how to fix it.
"I'm going to ring through for some hot chocolate, I think I need to tell her about Pamuk" Mary whispered, keeping her voice low so Sybbie wouldn't hear her.
"Are you sure my darling? Are you certain?" Matthew caressed his wife's face, in awe of her bravery. It was something that they'd never spoken of again after his proposal to her.
"It's time, she needs to know. It's something that might help her, to let her know that there is light at the end of the tunnel," She smiled bravely, kissing her husband on the mouth and heading to the phone, ringing through for some hot chocolate.
Two hours after William had been kicked out of the house, one of the maid's had bought in a tray of hot chocolate alongside some slices of cake. Mary thanked her, taking the tray and putting it down on the table. Sybbie was still catatonic, her hands wringing together and she whimpered. Matthew bent down to her level, gently stroking her cheek and making a low shushing sound.
"Sybbie, it's Uncle Matthew. Your aunt and I need to have a chat with you, would that be ok?" He sat still, unmoving. Sybbie blinked a little and held her arms out towards him, pitifully bursting into tears all over again. He picked her up in his arms, hugging her tight whilst she sobbed and screamed.
"He came back! I'm not safe, he came back Uncle Matthew. He came back, I didn't want it... I didn't want him to do that! He said I did but I didn't!" She wept, burying her face into his neck and gripping his shirt in her small hands.
"I know sweetheart, I know you didn't want it. He was the one in the wrong here, not you. You did nothing wrong, take a deep breath my darling. Shhhh..." he rocked her in his arms until her sobs turned to sniffles. Sybbie refused to let go of her uncle so he sat her on his knee, smiling encouragingly as Mary sat next to them, he could tell she was nervous.
"I don't know where to begin Sybbie..." Mary whispered, taking a hold of her hand in hers. Sybbie could tell they were about to have a serious conversation and responded by squeezing her Aunt's hand.
"Maybe try from the beginning Aunt Mary," Sybbie suggested kindly. Matthew grinned a little, smoothing his niece's hair back and giving his wife an encouraging smile.
"Back in 1913, your Grandpapa invited over a man called Evelyn Napier to stay for a few nights. They wanted us to get married, after Patrick Crawley an heir to Downton and the man I was supposed to marry was killed in the Titanic," She took a deep breath, her hands going warm and clammy. Sybbie gently pat them reassuringly.
"As it turned out, Evelyn had been charged with looking after a Turkish diplomat called Kemal Pamuk. He was over in England to attend a conference to make Albania an independent country...' She mumbled, knowing she was going off track with what she was trying to tell Sybbie. Matthew stroked her cheek, urging her to continue with the story.
"So, Evelyn bought him to Downton. Pamuk was so handsome, kind, charismatic and so much fun. The three of us went shooting together, he was a natural. Then we went back and got changed for dinner, that's when I noticed the change," Mary's eyes filled with tears which she quickly blinked away, Sybbie squeezed her hand tighter.
"After dinner, Pamuk cornered me in the library and kissed me. I told him no, as handsome as he was I just wasn't interested in him in that way. I only ever had eyes for your uncle Matthew, not that we were on real speaking terms back then," Mary smiled bravely and took another deep breath, here was the hard part.
"I thought that was the end of it, I went to my room and got in my nightgown. I then heard a knock on my door, I thought it was Anna so I let him in... I still have no idea how he found my room, not even your Uncle knew where my room was at that point," Mary's voice quivered and Matthew stroked her cheek, he was so proud of her for telling their niece this awful story.
"I tried to make him leave, to tell him I wasn't interested and that I didn't know where he'd got the idea that I was. But, he kept moving closer. I threatened to scream, but he said that even him being there in my bedroom would be a scandal. He was right of course, back then it was a completely different world. So I let him have his way with me and then while he was doing what he was doing, he had a heart attack and died in my bedroom. I had to get your Grandmama and Anna to help me get him back to his bedroom," Mary wiped her tears away and Sybbie was so angry.
"What a pig," Sybbie growled. She launched herself into her Aunt's arms and snuggled into her shoulder, twirling her hair around her fingers.
"Thanks for telling me Aunt Mary, I'm sorry that he did that." She whispered, feeling Matthew's big arms cuddle them both tight. He also kissed them both on the forehead, "My brave girls," He whispered lovingly, keeping his arms wrapped around them tight. He'd never been so proud of Mary in all his life.
Mary smiled down at the little girl, "Eventually it gets easier, day by day. It won't ever go away but it won't hurt like this either," She rubbed the little girl's back softly, kissing her on the forehead.
They made their way upstairs, Sybbie clinging on to both of their hands. She looked nervously up at them. Her heart felt like it was racing at a mile a minute.
"Would it be ok if... please can I sleep in your bed again?" she blushed at how childish she sounded, Mary smiled down at her. Her eyes filled with love, so much love.
"Of course you can, you can stay in our room for as long as you need," She said softly, her hand running through the little girl's curls. Matthew nodded his head in agreement, opening the door to their bedroom.
"You will always be welcome in here, this is a safe space. You're always welcome," He said soothingly, picking out his pyjamas and heading into the bathroom to go and change into them.
As soon as Matthew was done, Sybbie and Mary went into the bathroom. Mary helped Sybbie get changed, frowning a little as she saw the very faint outline of bruises on her body. It made her wonder how hard that monster had hit her if they were still showing after all this time. Mary got on her nightgown, taking their clothing and putting it into the washing basket.
Soon, they were in bed. Sybbie laying between them both and fiddling with the duvet cover. She felt quite sick to her stomach, she took a deep breath.
"We went for a walk...' She blurted out, biting her lip hard and sniffling again.
Matthew and Mary sat up straight, giving the little girl their full attention. Matthew glanced down at her, wrapping an arm around her.
"What do you mean, sweetheart?" He said softly, Mary looked down at her. She had a feeling about where this was going and she really didn't like it.
"When he came over on the day that it happened, we went for a walk around the grounds. We always did that, it started off so normal. We were talking about the summer, how Eton had gone and what our plans were... then suddenly it was out of nowhere, he pushed me down into the brambles. He pushed me so hard that I couldn't breathe" She whimpered.
They were both horrified, but they listened. Matthew stroked her hair, letting her talk and Mary held her hand tight letting her know that she was listening.
"He told me that I was a whore, that I should just enjoy myself, that he wanted to do it for so long. He said that I was lucky... because originally he wanted to make George watch!" She lept from the bed, running into the bathroom and throwing up into the toilet. Matthew ran after her, kneeling beside her and rubbing her back.
"Shhh it's ok, if you don't want to tell us then don't. If it's going to make you sick, then you don't need to put yourself through that" Matthew soothed, taking a damp washcloth that Mary had wet under the tap and holding it to the young girls head. That boy was nothing but a monster.
"He bit my neck hard, really hard. He grabbed my breasts..." She blushed in embarrassment, only calming down when Mary soothingly pulled the hair from her face, letting her know that she was listening and that she could tell them both anything. That she had nothing to be ashamed of.
"I begged him to stop, pleaded with him to let me go and that I wouldn't tell. I told him that he was like a brother to me and that what he was doing wasn't him but... he just laughed, I'd never heard him laugh like that in my life. He ripped my clothes off, touched me down there it hurt!" Tears rolled down Sybbie's cheeks as she threw up again.
Matthew rubbed her back, gritting his teeth he felt sick. Listening to the way she had been violated by someone who was meant to be her friend, who she had trusted implicitly made him want to throw up himself. Instead, he held the damp washcloth to her head and told her how brave she was and how proud they were of her. Sybbie took a shuddering breath, now she was talking she couldn't stop.
"He covered my mouth so that no one could hear me cry, it's almost like he enjoyed it more when I cried... he ripped my undergarments off and he..." She let out a piercing wail. Mary and Matthew winced, they just hugged her as tight as they could without hurting her.
"He did what he did to my body... it hurt so much! There was so much blood and he didn't care! He just laughed..." Sybbie had shut down now, she probably didn't know who was there or where she was. Mary shushed her, rocking her back and forth in her arms. She kissed her forehead softly, not interrupting her... how she wished she could take away her pain.
"He just kept going.. ignoring me while I begged him to stop and then he finished. He got up and he just left me there!" Sybbie wailed, sobbing her heart out. Scared, disorientated, worried he'd come back again.
Matthew shook with anger, he picked her up within his arms and hugged her, moving them back to the bed. Mary following along behind them, climbing in on one side while Matthew put Sybbie in between them. He was unsure what her reaction was going to be, whether she would fight him, hug him or stay completely disorientated. He wasn't prepared for the reaction he got though.
Sybbie laid her head on his chest, gripping his shirt and sobbing pitifully. She nuzzled in both of their arms, trembling through fear, "Mummy... daddy make it go away!" she begged.
Matthew looked at Mary and Mary looked back. Surely not... surely she wasn't calling them mummy and daddy. At first, they thought she was thinking about Sybil and Tom - that would've made the most sense. However, she had never referred to them as that... Sybil was always mama and Tom had always been papa. Matthew rocked her gently, his hand stroking her hair.
"It's ok... you're safe now. You're home, nothing can happen to you while we're here" He soothed, trying to bring her out of the flashback that she was in. Mary whispered sweet nothings into her ear, watching as Sybbie slowly came around. She blinked, taking huge shuddering breaths.
"Mummy... Daddy," She hiccuped pitifully. She hid her face in Matthew's chest, gripping onto them tight. Matthew and Mary gasped slightly, there was no getting away from it.. she clearly meant them. She clearly wanted them. They'd always been surrogate parents of sorts - especially Mary considering Sybbie had never had a mother but Matthew had always been like a second father too - even when Tom was alive.
Matthew looked down at the little girl, his heart swelled with love. He put every doubt that Sybbie had to rest, he glanced at Mary to see whether they were both on the same page - they were. He could see the love and maternal instincts in Mary's eyes and demeanor, something she would normally only reserve for George and of course, Sybbie as well.
"It's ok darling... Mummy and Daddy are here," Mary soothed softly. She watched as the little girl relaxed, she hiccuped again.
"Mummy..." Sybbie buried her face into her chest, whimpering pitifully again and hugging on tight.
"Mummy's here," She soothed, hugging her tight. She kept her within her embrace until the little girl fell asleep in her arms, she glanced over to look at her husband.
"We need to tell George what's going on... we can't spring this on him when he next comes home. We are going to Radley tomorrow," She whispered and Matthew nodded in agreement, hoping his son would take this well.