A/N: Very, very late contribution to Lady Sybil Lives and Smut Weekend Part Deux.

Thanks to Tripp3235 for a quick beta. Same universe as The Journey to Happiness and Branson and Crawley and one where Sybil and Matthew live and (which is a slight change from an earlier chapter of Branson and Crawley) is that Edith marries Sir Anthony in 3x03.

Disclaimer: Not mine. All Downton Abbey characters belong to Julian Fellowes and ITV. I'm just playing with them.

Chapter 1 - Love in the Afternoon

It was a rare sunny October Sunday afternoon after mass in Ripon and Nora was napping. So Sybil and Tom took advantage of the glorious warm sun to have a simple picnic in the private backyard of their cottage with a couple of sandwiches and a shared bottle of fizzy drink.

After they ate and drank, Tom took off his jacket and leaned against the lone ancient tree while Sybil leaned against him between his legs. The smell of her lilac scent intoxicated him.

"This reminds me of the time before we married in Dublin," Sybil sighed, breaking his reverie. "When we spent nearly every sunny Sunday afternoon at the park by the church."

"Hmmm." Tom smiled at the thought. "I remember. I also remember trying very hard not to make love to you."

Sybil turned to look coyly at her husband and started playing with his tie. "I seem to recall at times that you were the one who kept us chaste."

"Perhaps," said Tom, reaching for her and caressing her cheek with his thumb. "But we're man and wife now. There's nothing keeping us apart." He then leaned in to kiss her.

After a short first kiss, Sybil turned around fully and placed her hands about his arms, eager for another lingering kiss. Though they had made love by the light of the dawn that morning after an early morning feed, the kiss reignited their passion for one another quickly.

While Sybil was unbuttoning Tom's waistcoat, she asked between kisses, "Inside?"

"No, let's stay out here." Tom then moved to kiss her jaw and down her neck.

"But what about the protection?" asked Sybil with a sigh. They had been using French letters for the past month.

"There's one in my jacket pocket." Tom murmured against the pulse on her neck. "Let's not worry about it yet." His hands wandered to the back of her dress.

Sybil twisted slightly against his hands. "Let's not get too far undressed. I'd rather not let anyone get an accidental glimpse."

Tom looked up at her in askance.

"I was just thinking that it might be warmer and more fun to expose as little as possible to make it work." Sybil pleaded with her best pout and then leaned down to kiss him.

When they broke the kiss, Tom said, "When you put it that way…" Tom kissed her again while his hands wandered up her full skirt, past her stockings and garter to find that she wasn't wearing any knickers. Eager to feel her behind, he grabbed and squeezed, which caused her to break the kiss. "You little minx," Tom murmured into her ear. "How long have you not been wearing anything here?"

"Would it be ungodly to say that I've been like this since before mass this morning?" asked Sybil innocently.

The thought of his wife being knickerless at church aroused him so much that he groaned loudly.

"Shhhh!" Sybil whispered quickly. "I don't want our neighbours to hear."

"What neighbours?" asked Tom, who was now uncomfortable enough in his trousers, that he was shifting a little. "We don't have neighbours on any side for a mile."

Sensing his discomfort, Sybil reached to unbutton his trousers and his hardness sprung forth when it was released. "Well, there might be passers by."

"Which we will hear before they will hear us." That was the last coherent thought in his mind while Sybil stroked him and he groaned again loudly.

"Shhhh!" remanded Sybil.

"That's easy for you to say, when you're not the one enjoying the attentions!" Tom stage whispered before another sharp intake of breath. Taking matters into his own hands, Tom quickly moved Sybil until she was the one on his lap with his hands between her legs rubbing her nub frantically. He whispered while he nibbled her ear, "Are you enjoying this?

"Oh Tom!" Sybil panted, desperately trying to remain quiet. "Oh, yes." When he inserted a finger into her core, she couldn't keep quiet any longer and used his shoulder to muffle her moans. When she was close to the edge, she begged, "Faster, Tom, faster!" He complied and soon after she fell over with a shudder and Tom could feel his fingers getting wetter.

When Sybil came down from her high, Tom was licking his fingers clean. He then pulled her into a kiss, while she reached to stroke him again. His hardness having softened slightly while he was tending to her.

"Oh Sybil!" groaned Tom when she was firming him up again with her hands. When she moved, he thought she was moving to get the French letter from his jacket but instead, she moved to take him in her mouth while she caressed his other parts and before long, Tom could not easily form a coherent thought in his mind while he rested against the ancient oak.

Taking care not to muss her hair, Tom stroked her back while she tended to him. Just as he was tensing before he couldn't hold it anymore, Sybil stopped her ministrations to retrieve the French letters, opened the packet and expertly rolled it on him. She then moved to align her core on his engorged member and slid it in.

Though the thin sheath of protection dulled some of the senses, it didn't dull it nearly enough to prevent Tom's sharp intake of breath. While Sybil moved steadily in front of him, he savoured the sensation and tried to kiss her, but her movements prevented him from getting much of a kiss, so he moved his hands to her behind to squeeze it and help her move. However, he was at a slight awkward angle so while she was slowly nearing the edge, he was not close enough to go over when she would have gone.

"Can we move to a different position?" asked Tom between pants. "I'm not in the best place."

Sybil nodded, stopped and moved off of him.

"Did you want to try the crawl position?" asked Tom. He knew that she enjoyed this position when she had already gone once before.

Sybil then placed herself on all fours facing the house since there were wild bushes that gave them more privacy from that view.

Once Tom kneeled behind her and lifted her skirts toward her back, he stroked himself a few times and entered her once more. When he started moving in and out, he reached around to rub her nub. Before long, Sybil was panting from the charge she felt every time Tom entered her. "Faster, Tom, faster!" Tom complied as best as he could while still rubbing. Once she fell over with a moan muffled in the blanket, Tom stopped rubbing and frantically moved in and out of her, his breathing rapid and his whole body tensing to reach his release. Sybil started rubbing herself while he furiously pounded into her and just before he reached his high, she went again this time gripping his shaft with intense pulses. Her moan which was unmuffled this time brought him over the edge. "Oh God!"

The exhaustion washed over Tom almost immediately thereafter and he collapsed on his side with Sybil while still inside her. Moving the front of her skirts to cover her legs and pulling the picnic blanket about them, they fell asleep quickly.

They eventually awoke to the sounds of Nora crying. Sybil in a slight daze, sat up. Tom had fallen out of her in their slumber. The sun was lower in the sky. Looking at still sleepy Tom, she quickly kissed him. "Can you clean up the rest while I feed her?" Tom nodded slowly while he willed himself awake while Sybil ran into the house to feed the baby.

Later that night, after another round of passionate lovemaking, Sybil looked up at Tom in the afterglow. "We should try what we did this afternoon again, while the weather holds."

"Oh, why's that?" Tom asked.

"I like the thrill of possibly being caught." Sybil's cheeks reddened slightly in the dim lamplight, while she glanced at him. "It was possibly one of the best encounters we've had and we've had some good ones." Seeing that Tom seemed less enthusiastic about the encounter, Sybil added, "You did promise to devote every waking minute to my happiness."

"I did, didn't I?" Tom sounded resigned, but a telltale twitch of his mouth told Sybil that he didn't mind it the least.

"Perhaps if you could arrange to be home before sunset tomorrow?" Sybil asked boldly, leaning in for her goodnight kiss.

"Perhaps I will," said Tom before turning off the lamp and curling against his wife.

A/N2: Hope you liked. I'll be adding chapters as time permits. Would love to hear what you thought!