William's Calendar
A Lizzie Bennet Diaries fanfic by Aisling Yinyr Ngaio
Pairing: William x Lizzie

Time was unquestionably the most precious commodity to William Darcy; those who knew him well could testify that he regards his calendar and pocket watch as the cornerstones of his life, sacrosanct and unchallengeable.

Since he became the head of his family, William's calendar went from a habit to a necessity. After all, when one didn't want a private secretary crowding one's intensely private lifestyle, it was crucial to maintain a calendar covering the activities of three offices, countless investor meetings and personal appointments in order to have a clear, concise agenda every day.

(He didn't think he'd ever live down the embarrassment of agreeing to chair two different departmental meetings in his Los Angeles branch at the same time during his first month as CEO, for all that it was nine years ago, and hadn't happened again since)

His calendar used to be one of those management diaries Pemberley Digital had taken to giving out to their senior executive staff (yet another legacy of his father) back in the days when phones weren't smart enough or had memory space enough to deal with his heavy schedule. Besides, there was a comfort about writing down his itinery on a diary page instead of the calendar program that came with his PD email, besides easy access to it at any time of the day even when he wasn't near a computer.

He almost resisted upgrading to a smartphone, comfortable as he was with his existing calendar system, but gave up the fight when Gigi's birthday gift to him showed him just how convenient the search and filter functions on the planner app were. So he migrated his calendar over, but the pocket watch stayed. It was in perfect order, even though his new phone had the ability to show different time zones. Besides, as a family heirloom, it allowed him some measure of closeness to his father, and strangely, to the grandfather he'd never known as well. Three generations of Darcy males, united by common characteristics, a name, and a pocket watch.

If there was something else to be said about William Darcy, it was that he was a sentimental and meticulous man. So in addition to his current and future appointments after receiving his new phone, he also keyed in his Most Important Dates, many of which were Firsts. Things like his parents' death date (even if it was unlikely he'd ever forget the date), his first board meeting as CEO, the day he brought in his first new investor, first successful product launch, the opening ceremony of the Darcy Memorial Hall... Flip further back and one could even find the date of his first day of college, graduation day, George day, first alcoholic drink, his first kiss, his first... time...

But suddenly, one day, the last two mentioned entries mysteriously vanished from the database, with several new entries keyed into a more current date.

17th March 2013:

First kiss with Lizzie.

Began relationship with Lizzie.

Lizzie's birthday.

William Darcy was a man of many talents, yet he spent a full five minutes after typing in the new milestone just marvelling at its words. After a whole year of struggle, half a year of agony, and a few weeks of uncertainty, she was finally his, in every way that mattered. For the first time in years, he felt that he actually had something to live for other than his responsibilities. Even now, he was trying to adjust to the fact that he could touch Lizzie, kiss her, enter the en-suite where she was currently showering to continue where they left off last night, and she would love it as much as he did.

(He had to forcibly remind himself that it was Monday morning, and there were the teleconferences Reynolds had successfully set up in lieu of the actual meeting with the departments of his San Francisco HQ and had already updated his planner with the details, the first of which was at 10am sharp, and if he skipped out on any more meetings after the Novelty Exposure fiasco there was going to be trouble with the Domino beta launch.)

As it was, he regretted that he only had time enough to bring her out for a (hopefully lengthy) breakfast before driving her back to the Bennet house and leaving her to the mercy of her affectionate, if slightly crazy, family. Still, there were benefits to being able to telecommute to the office, and being CEO – since he had already instructed Reynolds to postpone all non-urgent meetings and only penciling him into those he absolutely could not ignore during this critical week, then he could damn well spend the rest of the day after finishing the meetings and clearing his top priority emails with his Lizzie – perhaps a romantic dinner for two to begin with? They never did make it to their first date after all. He'd have to search out a suitable establishment before meeting her that evening.

There was, however, one first that was never entered into William's calendar, and it wasn't because it wasn't important, or memorable, or something he'd like to remember.

No, on the contrary, Lizzie calling him by his given name for the first time was preciously important, extremely memorable, and something he didn't think he'd likely forget for the rest of his life, even if it never made it onto his list of Firsts. Even thinking about it now was making him blush a rosy shade of red despite the lack of audience. No, that memory was for them and them alone, not for his calendar, not for embarrassing sibling interrogations, and certainly wouldn't be contributed to Bing's eventual best man speech.

The first time Lizzie called him William was when she screamed his name as she came for the first time in his arms, with him following soon after inside her.

He only prayed that he would eventually be able to control his blush whenever she called him William again in public.

- Finis -