Look at them! They kill me. Break my heart. I need more of this. (Screencap from the series two finale)

Yep. This is going to be another Sybil and Branson rant.

I am really obsessed with this couple. And when I say I’m suffering from withdrawal, I think I mean it. I alternate between two states: 1. nearly crying because I miss them so much, and 2. being totally okay, happy, and excited because it looks like they’ll have a really great storyline this series. At least they’ll make an appearance next episode. I’m trying to keep myself afloat until then by reading theories, watching gifs, and looking at promotional photos. It either makes things worse or makes everything better, depending on my condition.

To keep myself sane, I’ll bounce some theories around.

It’s pretty settled that the Bransons are going to have their baby this series. Next episode, according to previews, Sybil is pretty far along in the pregnancy and has a very noticeable baby bump. She’s stroking her darned baby bump in the preview. That kills me. And in The Chronicles of Downton Abbey, there are already photos of the baby! Baby Branson! So excited. Literally hopping in my chair. I think they’re going to have a girl!

But wait, I heard something about the fourth episode of series three. (Wait! Ref or it didn’t happen! Not exactly the most glittering of sources but here are three: SpoilerTV, Oh No They Didn’t!, TVFilmNews. The last two have a preview for the next episode, and Sybil’s baby bump is in it!) Part of the short summary for S3E4: “Branson’s political views land him in hot water, and Sybil’s loyalty is tested to the limit.” Lordy. What does that mean? Well…

We were promised some Ireland scenes, though I don’t know where I heard that one. In the series three trailer (located below), there’s a scene of a man running through a dark rainy night (at 0:38) . And there’s Sybil and Branson (in a suit that clearly isn’t his. He doesn’t own suits like that) running to one another, kissing passionately, and the camera dramatically spins around them (at 0:26). That kiss can’t be for anything other than “I was worried you were dead” or the like.

So, I believe that Branson and his political views get him and Sybil into trouble with the violent radicals in Dublin. He and Sybil decide to stay at Downton for their own safety, and more importantly the safety of their child. He goes back to Dublin to wrap things up there (grab the possessions, quit the jobs, whatever you do when fleeing the county), but he gets caught and gets stuck in Dublin. He barely escapes the house, but can’t get a telegram out to Sybil and has an extremely hard time getting back to England. Sybil (and probably us) don’t know what happened to him after. She probably has the baby here, as those Chronicle photos show him wearing the same dress shirt and tie as the epic kissing scene. Maybe I’m wrong, but she doesn’t seem to have a bump in the epic kiss scene, so she probably has the baby before it. We sit with sick worry for most of the episode (or episodes). Sybil leaves the house for a while, and Branson returns with the clothes on his back (and that hat!) Maybe he’ll burst into Crawley House (which he would get to first because it’s located in the village), and Mrs Isobel Crawley feeds him, reassures him, and gives him some clean clothes to wear. He gets up to Downton, but Sybil isn’t there.

The moment Sybil returns, they can’t wait for a more private space and then we get the epic kissing scene. Then there’s an adorable exchange in which Sybil echoes Branson’s line from the second series, “I love you. We have each other. [or something like that] The rest is detail.” Everyone else presently arrives and watches awkwardly. Then we have a wonderful Branson family reunion.

Repmet on Tumblr has expressive pretty much the same theory, in more eloquent terms. I’m just happy that I’m not totally cray-zay! Watch it doesn’t happen and it becomes the stuff of fanfics.

Of course, I’m not really sure if any of that addresses how “Sybil’s loyalty is tested to the limit.”

Either way, it looks like they have an epic storyline coming up. I know it’ll just kill me. I’ll need to bring tissues.