Tag: rock the road trip AU

Ok :) rock the road trip AU – Sybil and Tom – show era and beat up old clunker :). I would like to see pumpkin spice in here as well since you love pumpkin spice lattes. Btw do you like pumpkin spice tea? Teavana is selling it now 😘💕

HA, this took some creative thinking, but hopefully this works :oP Also, I’ve never tried pumpkin-flavored/scented tea before, just coffee! But thanks for the tip!

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Sybil
sighed as she watched her husband load their suitcases into beat-up old
clunker that was their car. It wasn’t so much how it looked; after all,
there was a certain charm to the “old girl”, as she had heard Tom on
more than one occasion call it (though always when he didn’t think she
was paying attention). No, rather it was the smell of the vehicle.

In
Boston, they had less of a need to drive it. The hospital where she
worked was only a few blocks away from their brownstone, and Tom always
took the streetcar to get to the newspaper office.  No, the car really
spent a bulk of it’s time in the tiny garage behind their house, where
Tom would tinker with it on the weekends, and the few times it was
brought out, was for trips like these, when they traveled to visit her
American grandmother in Newport.

It was Labor Day weekend, the
“last great weekend of summer”, and already there was a change in the
temperature. They had been living in America for almost three years now,
and were slowly starting to get a hang of the seasonal changes in New
England. Autumn came faster here than other parts of the world,
including both Ireland and Yorkshire.

“That’s the last of them, love!” Tom called out, shutting the boot. “Best get the kids.”

Sybil
nodded her head and turned back towards the house, but she didn’t even
have to open the door and call the names of her children, as Martha
appeared, holding the tiny hands of her son and daughter, the latter of
the two holding something wrapped in a checkered cloth.

“What’s
this?” Sybil asked, but Martha hushed her and embraced her
granddaughter, kissing her cheek and wishing her and Tom and the
children a safe journey back to Boston.

Sybil smiled and thanked
her grandmother for her hospitality, as did Tom, before taking their
youngest and hoisting the boy onto his shoulders and carrying him to the
car.  As for Sybbie, she continued to hold the cloth-covered item with
some reverence, which naturally caused Sybil’s curiosity to grow further
and further.

“What did your great-grandmother give you?” she asked her daughter.

“She said it’s for the car,” Sybbie informed her.

Sybil frowned.  For the car?

“Come
on, love!” Tom called, and the two remaining Bransons soon climbed into
the car, Sybil taking notice of something…different…as soon as the
door shut.

Tom noticed it too, because he paused before starting
the engine, and lifted his nose into the air, taking a big sniff.  
“What…what is that?”

Sybil sniffed the air as well.  It
was…different, certainly.  She could hardly smell the old clunker’s
distinct aroma now, as it was masked by something else…

Sybbie giggled.

Sybil
and Tom turned their heads and looked in the back at their children,
both of whom were grinning widely.  “What’s so funny?” Tom asked.

Sybbie looked down at the thing she was holding and then back up at her parents.

Sybil reached forward and before Sybbie could protest, lifted the cloth from the item.

“PUMPKIN PIE!?” she gasped.

Tom stared at the round, orange colored custard, and felt his stomach start to growl.  “Where did you–?”

“Grandmama,”
Sybil answered for him.  “But why did she say it was for…the car…”
her voice trailed off as she slowly made the realization.

The spicy pumpkin aroma was blocking the stink of the old clunker…at least for the moment.

“Come
on, Tom, best hurry home,” Sybil encouraged.  After all, who knew how
long that scent would last?  And judging from the way her children were
looking at, practically devouring it with their eyes, it wouldn’t be for very long.

S/T and M/M on a crosscountry road trip? :)

Thanks for the ASK! I’m going to make this one “modern AU” if that’s alright :o)

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Mary sighed and closed her eyes, leaning her head further back into the car seat, wishing not for the first time, that she had thought to bring he ipod, if for no other reason than to drown out the “conversation” taking place up in the front of the car.

“…Or we could stop somewhere and ask for directions…” Mary murmured in a somewhat “sing-song” tone, one that only the person who was sitting next to her could hear, and indeed, Sybil heard it and had to stifle a giggle.

“The map doesn’t say that!” Matthew argued.

“Then you’re reading it wrong,” Tom muttered back.

“You should have taken a left back at that junction–”

“I think I know Ireland a bit better than you, thank you very much.”

“Well, not as good as you think, because if you did you would have known to take a left back at that junction!”

“Boys?”

Both Tom and Matthew paused in their argument and turned to the backseat.

“As fascinating as this cross-country journey has been…” Sybil continued with a sweet smile. “I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we’re tired, and it would be nice to stop somewhere and stretch our legs for a bit, before finding a place to rest for the night, yes?”

Mary, who had turned her head towards the window and was looking out at the Irish countryside from behind the darkness of her sunglasses, secretly smirked at her sister’s sweet sounding, but no-nonsense question.

Tom and Matthew’s faces burned brightly and they glanced at each other out of embarrassment.  This trip wasn’t going at all to how they had imagined. This was their first holiday away with their respective girlfriends. The two friends had met the Crawley sisters a few months ago, and after several successful dates, things seemed to be moving in a positive direction towards a weekend getaway.

Tom suggested Ireland, which Sybil quickly agreed to, wanting to see the homeland of her boyfriend very much, and Matthew suggested renting a cabin by the seaside, which he knew Mary would like very much. And so here they were, in a rented SUV, all of their stuff crammed into the back…and apparently lost on some country motorway.

“This is how horror movies start,” Mary muttered under her breath to her sister.

“This is turning into a horror story,” Matthew muttered under his breath to Tom.

“There’s a petrol station up ahead,” Tom announced. “I’ll find out where we are, and you can stretch your legs and get something to eat, yeah?”

Mary snorted. “Lovely, petrol-station crisps for dinner.”

“Alright, ease up a little, they’re trying,” Sybil whispered.

“Not hard enough,” Mary muttered.

Matthew was in charge of seeing to the car being filed, while Tom went inside to speak with the attendant.  Sybil went with him to get the aforementioned food, while Mary chose to remain in the car, stretching her legs out on Sybil’s no unoccupied seat.

“I um…I’m sorry about how this has been going,” Matthew murmured to Mary. Her window was down, but she might pretend not to hear him. He couldn’t exactly blame her, this wasn’t at all what he had promised.  “I’ll make it up, I promise!”

Mary lowered her sunglasses and eyed him, before a slow smile spread across her face.  “I’m sure you will,” she simply answered. He wasn’t sure whether to be worried or…aroused. Perhaps both?

Meanwhile, in the petrol station, Sybil had just finished making her purchases and was about to exit the station, when Tom moved to quickly open the door for her, his face even redder with embarrassment.  “I could have gotten–”

“It’s alright,” Sybil giggled. “You were busy talking with the manager about directions; speaking of which, do you know where we go from here?”

“Aye, I do,” he answered, still embarrassment.  “Um…we um…” he swallowed and looked up a bit guiltily.  “We should have turned left back at that junction…”

Sybil’s eyes widened, and then a burst of laughter escaped her throat. “Oh dear,” she giggled, before leaning a bit closer. “Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.”

Tom smiled, despite his embarrassment, but he looked a bit worried as well.  “I’m sorry for how all this is going–”

“It’s alright,” Sybil reassured, and then for good measure, leaned up on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. “Just don’t get us lost anymore,” she said with a wink. He blushed, but smiled and nodded his head.

They hit the road again soon after, Matthew smirking but choosing to remain silent when Tom turned back and took the left he had mentioned earlier. Clouds started to roll in and the roll of thunder could be heard in the distance. Rain soon started to pelt the car and Tom and Matthew cursed as it became harder and harder, making it difficult to see (and drive).

“We’re going to have to stop,” Tom told Matthew, depression sinking in.

Matthew groaned, but then his eyes lit up. “Isn’t that…?”

Tom followed Matthew’s finger and saw the inn sign. FINALLY! Something good was happening! He pulled the car over and Matthew jumped out, dodging raindrops as best he could, rushing inside to get them some rooms.

Only it was taking him much longer than it should to do so.

“Something isn’t right,” Sybil whispered to her sister, and sure enough, when Matthew returned, he didn’t look pleased.

“So they have a room,” he explained. “Only…only it’s just one room…” he swallowed and glanced at Tom and then at the girls. “And just one bed…”

Mary and Sybil looked at each other and then back at the boys. Then Mary’s smile began to spread and she looked at Matthew and said, “Well, I suppose this is where you’ll make it up to me.”

“To both of us, I think,” Sybil added, smiling sweetly at Tom.

Tom swallowed. “W-w-what do you mean?”

“Well, I should think that obvious,” Mary announced. “Sybil and I will take the room…and you two can sleep in the car.”

With that, both sisters leaned forward and brushed their lips on the stunned faces of their respective boyfriends, before murmuring together, “nighty night!”

Hiya if u r still dong the prompts for “Rock The Road Trip AU” can u do a Drabble with obviously Sybil and Tom but with Cora as well and set in the show era with the prompt ” knick knacks” please❤️

Absolutely! THANK YOU FOR THE PROMPT! I’m setting this in the mid-1920′s; the Bransons have moved out of Downton, but are still living in England, a few hours away from Downton by train.

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“Oh! What about that place?  What are they selling?  Tom, be a dear and pull the car over please!”

Tom gritted his teeth but forced a smile for his mother-in-law and did as she asked, pulling the car to the side of the road, before turning and looking helplessly at his wife.  “This is the fifth time,” he muttered under his breath.

Sybil sighed and glanced over her shoulder at her mother, who had already climbed out of the car without any help, and was hurrying to the little roadside stand, her granddaughter in tow, who seemed to be sharing her grandmother’s enthusiasm for these constant stops.

It was meant to be a simple little drive to the seaside, a chance to enjoy these last days of summer before the weather began to chill. Robert and Cora were visiting, but sometime on the train journey over, Robert’s hayfever began to act up, so he remained in bed, while Cora announced she would still make the journey.

The trip would take just a little under two hours, however it seemed to be taking a great deal longer.  It was Sybil’s fault, initially; she asked Tom to drive down a specific road because she knew there was a kind farmer who sold some of the best fruit in all of Yorkshire, and she wanted to get some strawberries to preserve for the winter (something her mother-in-law had taught her to do). Cora had heard of such “road-side fruit stands” but had never stopped at them. Not a mile later, they drove passed another one, this being a book cart of all things.  Sybbie, who shared her parents love for reading, squealed and begged her father to stop the car so she could get a book, and Tom indulged her, seeing as this was a special holiday.

But then just a few miles more, it was Cora who asked Tom to slow down when another stand came into view.  An old woman was selling glass beads, hardly anything “worthy” of the Countess of Grantham. Yet Sybbie saw the beads and declared, “Grandma, those would look beautiful on you!” and that was that.

The fourth stop had been a peddler, whose porcelain china had Tom inwardly questioning if the man was the original owner, but he didn’t say anything, and plastered a patient smile on his face as he watched his mother-in-law look over the peddler’s wares, admiring various knick-knacks, but never thinking she would actually buy something…until she did.

“Do you think Donk will like this snuff box?” Cora asked Sybbie, who was nodding her head before the question had been completed.

Tom narrowed his eyes as he watched the peddler consider the price of such an item. Cora was not used to “haggling”, in fact he highly doubted that the Countess of Grantham had ever “haggled” for anything in her life! And the peddler looked as if he had struck a goldmine when Cora drew her coin purse out.

Tom cleared his throat and fixed the peddler with a hard look, one which the other man caught, and he grimaced momentarily, before politely lowering the price from what he had originally been calculating.

Now they were at their fifth stop…and still had an hour of driving left before they reached their destination.

“At this rate, it will be dark by the time we get there!” he muttered to Sybil.

Sybil glanced at her mother and daughter and despite Tom’s words (which had a great deal of truth) she couldn’t help but smile. “Perhaps today isn’t about the destination but the journey?” she offered, which caused Tom to frown in confusion. Sybil smiled up at him and squeezed his hand. “Look at Sybbie; she’s having a grand time simply traveling and ‘shopping’, if you will, with Mama.”

Tom looked at his daughter and found himself nodding in agreement. She was giggling and grinning quite happily. “I suppose,” he murmured, putting his arm around Sybil’s shoulders, smiling himself as he felt her lean her head down against his own shoulder.

“Da! Mummy!” Sybbie turned and waved her little arms.  “Wait till you see what Grandma bought!”

Tom and Sybil’s smile faded then. “She’s already bought something?” he asked his wife, who had already begun to move quickly towards the stand to investigate the purchase. He groaned, imagining the lecture Robert would give them when he learned all that Cora had bought (and how much she had paid).

“Next time we have one of these drives with my mother,” Sybil muttered to him, “we’re bringing your mother along.”

I’m in a drabble mood!

Today and tomorrow are the last days of “Rock the Road Trip AU”, so send me a prompt from this month’s list and if you have a “universe” preference (show era, modern AU, a specific type of AU universe, etc.) *AND* if you’d like other characters involved (I write S/T but I can make room for other ships too to join the road trip!) then let me know!

But send me a prompt please! THANK YOU :o)

crystabelshalott:

Requested by @yankeecountess

#ok tom loves driving his car and all but train rides are something special#because they can just sit there together and look out of the window#enjoying each other’s presence#there’s a stillness to it that causes them to just sit there in silence#close to each other#and look out of the window#it’s relaxing#and sometimes Tom kisses the top of Sybil’s head#and
sometimes they talk about important things or share worries about
whether or not things will go straight as they visit downton#when
they go back for Edith and Bertie’s wedding Tom tells her about his
lessons to Edith and they both agree that Edith deserves everything#Sybbie enjoys train rides too but mainly they make her fall asleep#going by car is far more exciting and adventurous!#so
when she’s asleep Sybil and Tom still get their moments of stillness as
in the early days of their marriage and before Sybbie was born#and as much as sybbie enjoys going by car with her dad it’s even better when aunt Edith is driving#and that really has nothing to do with the fact that Edith sometimes pins her feet on the accelerator#but only for short times when Sybbie’s in the car and without accelerating#too much plus Sybbie likes cars#she takes after her father#listen I have too many feels about the bransons travelling 

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Originally posted by forbeautifulpeopletv

sending you a prompt; tackle it whenever you’re able, no rush! :o) And the prompt is–“beat-up clunker”

zip-goes-a-million:

I tried to write this earlier, but my mum distracted me and I ended up accidentally closing the tab, which meant I lost my reply. That’ll teach me not to save what I do. So I got annoyed and then started again. I hope you like it. As per, I haven’t proofread it. Some of it changed slightly from the original plan, but I think this actually turned out quite well.

*****

Sybil and Tom were on their second date. They had been set up on a blind date by friends about a week previously and they practically hadn’t stopped talking since. In getting to know each other, they realised that their personalities more or less belonged together. They fed off each other’s words and thoughts and they could spend hours talking to one another and have it feel like only ten minutes.

They had agreed that for their second date, they would go to see a film. Tom would pick Sybil up from her flat and drive her to the cinema.

When Tom arrived, he climbed the stairs to flat number 22 and knocked on the door. He could feel his heart beginning to beat faster.

Don’t be so nervous, Tom, he thought. She’s not out of your league if she likes you back. She was the one initiating it all. She sent the first text, she called you first, she proposed a second date. She must be into you. You are not punching above your weight. She likes you back. Breathe. Nothing’s going to go wrong.

Before Tom could get too lost in his thoughts, the door opened and Sybil was standing right in front of him.

“Hi,” she said with a smile.

“Hi,” he said.

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