Trees be damned, Tom mused, this is my favorite part of Christmas. It had become their own tradition, not consciously (at least not at first), but driven by practicality. Their first year together, they were poor as Church mice and agreed not to exchange gifts. Besides, they had only just learned about the baby. So, they shared a brief dinner with his family and attended Midnight Mass before returning to their small cold flat, tumbling into bed together, warmed by the friction of their skin. And each subsequent year, they shunned the presents and frivolities in favor of each other. After all, from the time he was hired at Downton until their marriage, he anticipated nothing more than the annual Christmas Servants Ball and the rare opportunity to wrap her in his arms. By their fifth year of marriage, his Christmas wish hadn't changed, except now they were permitted more than a simple dance, shy smiles, and chaste glances in the company of her family and his former colleagues.
It had been so long since she carried their son, that intimacy required they re-discover some of their more creative encounters. With patience and concentration, though, they maneuvered into a comfortable, but efficient position. And it was like coming home, instinct leading the way. Sybil's back melted into him, the hair of his chest, his abdomen, and parts lower brushed softly against her skin and sent shivers through her spine as they writhed on their sides. The air of their room was shrouded in a winter chill, cast in by a fresh dusting of snow that had fallen the night before. She freed one hand from his to tug the duvet further up their bodies, but as her fingers reached the hem, he somehow sank further into her (how he managed to do so in this position, she would never know) stroking a spot that conducted a surge of euphoria, a pre-cursor, deep into her core. His hand floated down her arm, disengaging the coverlet from her weakened grasp and drew it around their shoulders.
She remembered her previous pregnancy, the final uncomfortable month or so when her body enlarged rapidly, when daily activities ultimately became a painful chore. Her sexual appetite finally stagnated, postponed until her body returned to normal and adjusted to nurturing a new life. She knew they might still have a few weeks to enjoy one another, but nestled in his arms, their fingers interlaced and gripping frantically as his hips furrowed rhythmically into her, she secretly wish Mother Nature had been kinder to women. To trade one for the other, even if only for a few months, seemed so viciously unfair.
Since their wedding night, he reveled in watching her as she came, somehow controlling both nature and his sanity long enough to see her set free. But just as often, as on this Christmas Eve, he gave into his own desire, sharing each wave with her. Come for me, my darling, he whispered. I'll never let you go. It was the kind of invitation that had she been standing, would have crumpled her to the floor. His intoxicating voice, the soft Irish timbre sweetened this evening by the flavor of whiskey, melted in a soft murmur against her neck. He could feel her body, sheathed warm and clenching around him, willingly respond and he let himself go. Mindful of their child, he clutched her gently, one arm wrapped around her shoulders as he burrowed into her neck, his mouth slack against her, weakly calling her name. Her fingers first dug into his hip and then steered his hand below her swollen middle, in a wordless plea. Her neck arched against him as one nimble finger slipped downward, teasing urgently, and her breath escaped with languid, raspy sounds. The final tremors coursing through them, neither worried about the reverberations from the pale patterned walls or even considered tempering the whimpers or soft moans. Shaking with satisfied fatigue, they finally relaxed, effectively melting into the other.
His warm mouth pressed to her shoulder, he placed a weary hand on her stomach. "Baby's getting bigger."
She laced her fingers with his, savoring the slight movements both above and below. "Along with everything else," she replied softly. "I had almost forgotten how foreign my own body could feel carrying a little person around inside."
"And I had almost forgotten how beautiful you were like this."
"How beautiful we are like this," she corrected, fighting a contagious yawn.
He hummed his approval, the gentle vibrations tickling her skin. "Go to sleep, love," he whispered. His fingers brushed her cheeks, urging her eyes to close and he waited, each breath longer and deeper than the next, until she grew heavy in his arms. He burrowed his face into her neck, his hand resting protectively above their child, and drifted into a peaceful sleep.
--”Remember the Children”, chapter 4 of “Home” by wslowry
25 days of Bransons CHRISTMAS fanfic moments
Day 1
