Surrogate
Chapter 1 Of Things in the Past
The sound of her hand meeting his cheek rings loudly around them for a moment before it's drowned out by the heavily pouring rain. His head snaps to the side, following the direction of her hand, the pale skin immediately turning a vibrant red as he lets out a snarled curse under his breath.
She is shocked by her response for all of a minute, before she remembers that she is totally justified in slapping him.
"How dare you?" she hisses, hands coming to rest in tight fists next to her body and she tries not to think about how much her palm stings when her nails sink into the tender flesh.
His blue eyes find hers through the heavy rain, searching for something but no answering her question.
"How dare you!" she repeats, her voice not as harsh as before and she hopes that he can't tell her tears from the rain splattering down on them.
"Elizabeth" her name slips from his lips like its the most amazing discovery he's ever made. He takes a step towards her, she doesn't like to admit it, but she is frozen in place by those blue eyes and before either of them can stop it, their lips meet in a fight for dominance along with hands that grab at soaking clothing.
Neither is sure who starts it, and she blames it entirely on him (even though a part of her knows that she moved forward to meet him and she isn't pushing him away either). And suddenly kissing him seems like the only thing she can think about, even though he is the last man she ever wants to see again.
Somehow they make their way back into the hotel, avoiding the questioning eyes of friends and family and newlyweds, and into his room. It takes five tries to properly swipe his room key and open the door so they can tumble inside with her hands tugging at his shirt so its half undone and his hands fighting with the zipper running down the side of her dress.
When they reach the bed there is a trail of wet clothing that follows them, and he is down to unzipped dress pants that she is sliding down his hips and the only clothing still left on her body are a matching set of red lace bra and panties.
He wants to stop and admire the beautiful body that is crushed against his, because this is what he's been dreaming about for the last three years, but he's afraid that if his body isn't touching hers she will realize how big of a mistake this is turning into and run away.
They fall into the very comfortable bed with him on top of her and he finally tears his mouth from hers so he can run his lips down the soft column of her pale throat, leaving red splotches along her skin and getting in return breathless moans from her.
"I hate you" she mumbles against his lips later, her back arching so their chest meet against one another as her hands pull him closer and he deepens the kiss.
He pulls her flush against himself as his eyes close, enjoying how her body fits against his own.
"I love you" he whispers against the skin of her shoulder and she tells herself it's not what he said as she slips into unconsciousness, feeling like this is tragically the safest she's felt in years.
In the morning she is gone and all he has are crumpled sheets and half a trail of damp clothes still laying on the carpeted floor.
(Three Years Later)
She groans, not wanting to open her eyes and wishing death on anyone who even thinks that calling this late is a good idea.
Her cellphone is dropped twice and she has half her body out of bed when she is finally able to properly grab it underneath the nightstand, quickly checking the glowing screen for the name that is going on her 'I must murder someday' list.
"Charlie, you are my favorite brother-in-law but I will kill you" she mumbles, getting the rest of her body back on the bed and burying her face on her ever-so-comfortable pillow.
"Liz, something's gone wrong" she can hear the desperation on his voice and it makes her heart stop. She almost jumps up from bed, pulling yesterday's pants back on and searching for a clean shirt before he is even started to explain.
"I'll be there as soon as I can Charlie"
Elizabeth is almost jogging into the emergency room, trying to keep track of her bag and the two-year-old on her hip as she slides to a stop in front of the nurses station.
"My sister was admitted a few hours ago, Jane Bingley. Could you please tell me where she is?" she desperately says, bouncing the toddler to stop her fussy crying and trying to hold her own tears till she has all her facts in check.
"She's just gone into surgery, the OR is in the fourth floor you can probably find her husband up there in the waiting room" the nurse explains calmly, looking at the limited information displayed on her computer screen.
"Is she ok, what's going on?" Elizabeth begs, her voice so soft it almost disappears in the space between them.
"I really don't know, you'll have to wait for her to get out of surgery" the nurse looks up at her with kind brown eyes, reminding her about the fourth floor.
"Charlie!" She breaths a sight of relief at seeing the red-headed man sitting in what looks to be one of the most uncomfortable chairs known to men.
"Hey Liz" he says like he can't truly breath yet, before giving her a one armed hug and giving the little girl in her arms a half smile.
"How is she?" Elizabeth asks, handing the little girl over so she can take out her coat and set down the bag that has almost slipped to the ground several times since she left the parking garage.
"It was a cervical pregnancy, one of the babies attached to the wrong place and there was so much bleeding, out of nowhere and they couldn't stop it. She's had blood transfusions but she just kept bleeding and... Oh Liz, she's getting a hysterectomy" He sinks down on the chair his head in his hands like he's trying to catch his breath, with the little girl looking in between them trying to figure out what's happening.
"And.. and the babies?" she asks after a moment, sitting herself next to him baffled at the news because it just can't be true. Something this horrible could never happen to her sweet generous sister.
"We lost them" it's the first time she's ever seen him cry.
"Mommy" the little girl speaks up, her little arms reaching for Elizabeth who takes her back and lets Charles break into himself with shaking shoulders and hot tears.
"Aunty Jay sick?" she asks, gray-blue eyes wide behind the light brown hair escaping her little pink knitted cap.
"Yes, she's very sick sweetie. So we have to be extra nice to her when we see her ok?" Elizabeth says slowly, pushing hair away from her daughters eyes.
The little girl nods, letting out a yawn she's been holding since her mother hastily woke her up a few hours ago.
Its a little over an hour later when the doctor finally walks up to them and explains details that Elizabeth doesn't understand but Charles does, because he nods and tries to hold tears through out the whole thing. When he is done explaining what has been happening is the last hours, he informs them that she will be moved to recovery in a few minutes and walks away with an apology that sounds very rehearsed.
Jane looks both lovely and heartbroken when they walk in to her too white room, Charles immediately pulls her into a hug and they cry with each other over their loss, it makes Elizabeth feel like she is intruding and she is about to leave them alone for a few minutes when she is almost hit by another solid body coming into the room. It's of course the one person she doesn't want to see and she tries everything to avoid his eyes.
He is shocked to see her again (though he really shouldn't be, this is her sister after all), though she still looks the same her hair is longer and in a messy bun that is threatening to fall apart at any minute, with a little girl sleeping on her arms that looks exactly like her. It isn't the time to bring up all that they need to talk about, so he walks towards his friend closing the file in his hands.
"There was nothing else they could have done" he says simply, knowing that this isn't the answer they want and it's the one he doesn't want to give.
"It's all my fault" Jane whispers, her eyes red and distant because all the light has gone out of the sea green that was so joyful.
"Of course not. Things like this, they happen, it's no ones fault" Darcy tries to make this easier, because the chances of this happening were so slim no one could have predicted it.
Suddenly the room is so quiet with only the hums of the machines around them to break a horrible silence, till the little girl starts fussing again rubbing sleep from her eyes.
"Hi aunty Jay" she mumbles, smiling because it's her favorite aunty but when no one else smiles she is confused "It's otay, we 'an kiss it and make it bwetter"
If only it could be that easy.
I know this chapter sounds very confusing, hopefully things will clear up with the next one or two chapters. This is all basically background information that will be needed for the main plot of this story. This is my first Pride and Prejudice fic, but please don't make that be a turn off. It's far from my first fic and I really hope I get as great a response for this one as well.
Please review.
GabbyAbby
PS: anyone up to being a beta for me? I currently don't have one so I apologize for the grammatical errors.