This story is a Pride and Prejudice fic, but it is based on a series of modern sequel by Linda Berdoll. Berdoll has written two books to continue Darcy and Elizabeth's story entitled; Mr Darcy Takes a Wife: Pride and Prejudice continues and Darcy and Elizabeth: Nights and Days at Pemberley. I have tried to make this story enjoyable even if you have not read them. In these two books, Berdoll goes through about 7 years of the Darcy's marriage and several adventures. They suffer miscarriage, still birth, highway robbery, troubles with acquaintances from Darcy's past, questions about fidelity, questions about the paternity of several characters, war, quarantine, a long period away from each other, pregnancy, deafness and, of course, Wickham. However, with all this, they still have a very loving and incredibly passionate relationship. These books are at least 16+. I know some people hate Berdoll's 'corruption' of Austen's characters but I completely enjoyed both stories and would recommend them to any P&P fan. (Please don't flame me if you do read them and hate them. I know all the arguments, I have my own opinion and you can have yours. End of.)
And so, getting to the point;
I own none of the characters, words or settings that belong to Jane Austen. (I can wish to own Darcy, but he glowers at me enough just for borrowing him that I'm put off the idea.)
I own none of the characters, words or settings that belong to Linda Berdoll, including, unfortunately, the Darcy twins.
However, the personalities of Jane Georgiana and Geoffrey Gerard Darcy, if not their names, do come from my own crazy head. And I am happy to be able to claim their sibling (and no, I am not telling you anything about that sibling. Yet) as coming entirely from that same mad place.
Fitzwilliam Darcy was once again sat, in an impressive, throne-like winged chair, looking at the locked door to his own bedchamber. And, once again, his darling Elizabeth was suffering a hard labour behind it.
It was almost nine years since he had last sat here. And that had ended with his son born dead, and his wife weakened almost enough to join him. It had been a harrowing labour, almost 24 hours long, with the baby too large and breech to boot. It was he who gently washed her blood from her skin while she slept afterward and he who she cried with when she awoke, some two days later. Mrs Darcy was bedridden for months after the event, necessitating Mr Darcy to physically carry her, in full view of all the staff, to their first son's small burial site. It still remained there today, in a quiet corner of the grounds. It had become the place for their daughter to go when she was sad, where she would talk to the older brother none of them had ever known.
Clearly, there had been a successful pregnancy to produce said daughter, and, in fact, that pregnancy had been so successful as to produce her twin brother also. Jane Georgiana and Geoffrey Gerard Darcy were the pride and joy of the entire household, and most likely, the entire county. Geoffrey, named for his Uncle Fitzwilliam and for his paternal grandfather, was actually the elder of the two but, like his grandfather, was so amenable to most things that his more head-strong sister seemed to be the leader between them. The twins were now six years old and, currently, locked in their nursery with several maids and their nurses, Mrs Littlepage and Mrs Yew (who had recently married one of the under-butlers).
The precaution of locking them in was taken because the twins had a history of running from where they were supposed to be, to where they really should not be. There had been some, let's say, interesting incidents where Janie or Geoff or both had disturbed their parents in company, causing them to act very oddly and to get quite a few strange looks and nervous comments. The twins would always get roundly scolded for this by their father, Darcy being the person they most hated being scolded by, but could always find some different kind of mischief to be wrapped up in for next time. They had not yet been caught by anyone outside the family, thankfully, but they had come very close.
Darcy was somewhat glad of the fact that his children couldn't hear the sounds of their dear mother's pain through the thick walls and carpets of Pemberley but did not allow himself to wish for the same thing. He was, of course, banished from the room, though the doctor, Jane and Lizzy's maid, Hannah, were there with her. He had unashamedly told Elizabeth the lie that he would stay away from the door, so she could know he did not hear her screams but there he was anyway. Apparently, Elizabeth had taken him at his word as the sounds coming from the room were so full of animalistic pain that he felt it as a knife within his own chest. He made no noise himself, not wanting to reveal his presence there so Lizzy would try to hide her pain to spare him, and so waste the energy she clearly needed elsewhere.
However, his daughter had inherited his stubborn streak and her mother's independent nature, and that made for a dangerous combination.
In the opposite wing to the Master and Mistress' bedchambers, was the Pemberley nursery. And in that nursery, one Mrs Margaret Yew was getting suspicious. The young Master and Miss were quietly avoiding all their staff and sitting together on the floor, calmly. To the maids, this was a wonderful break from the usually demanding task of amusing two small children and they were taking the chance to have a good speculation session about the impending addition to the household. Mrs Littlepage, thanks to her advancing years and tiring days, took every opportunity to take a nap here and there and that is exactly what she was doing at that moment. Only Mrs Yew was on alert.
Unfortunately, Jane and Geoffrey knew all this.
"Geoff-rey," Jane whispered slowly, having trouble as always with pronouncing her brother's name. "We need to go."
Geoff took a long look at his sister, knowing from her face that she was deadly serious. Even at six, he could convince her out of most of her outrageous plans and most of the things they did get in trouble for were watered-down versions of what she originally had in mind.
"But Father." He replied simply, not needing to say any more and knowing she would have an excuse ready.
"He never said not to go. He said 'keep it locked.'." Janie flashed her most impish smile, the one only their parents and Geoff ever saw, then subtly looked for a way to leave.
He smiled, in a way he didn't yet know was tolerantly, and started to fidget a little, to get Nurse Yew's attention, while she investigated. "Is Nurse Littlepage asleep?" he asked, his back being to the Nurses.
"Yes." Janie bit her lip gently, both out of worry for her mother and because she couldn't find an easy way to get out of the nursery. "Have to go for the maid's door."
Geoffrey tried not to stiffen. "But we do not know where it goes."
"Have to try it."
"Are you sure?"
"No other way. We have to find Papa."
"And Mother. ... Alright."
"You need to take your shoes off."
"I know."
Jane stood and smoothed down her small dress, wandering over to her extensive doll collection. She batted the frills of her cap away from her eyes as she did so, hating the silly thing.
During this distraction, Geoff carefully eased his feet out of his stiff shiny leather shoes until only his toes were still within them. Balancing with the expertise of experience, he also stood up and yawned loudly. This caused two of the maids to start to walk towards him, to see if he wanted to rest awhile. Mrs Littlepage however, awoke with a start, recognising the signal, and Mrs Yew was already halfway across the room with the aim of restraining Janie.
But, the twins were quicker than all of them. Not stopping for anything, they flew at the servant's door to their rooms, Geoff kicking off his cumbersome shoes on route, and, with their combined weight, threw it open. From there, they took every random turning they saw and were down a flight of steps before they'd noticed it, in the winding maze of narrow passages that allowed the servants to pass through such a large house as Pemberley.
Back in the nursery, Mrs Yew whispered a word it would have been very bad indeed for the children to hear and quickly send the maids after them.
"The Master cannot be disturbed," said Mrs Littlepage flatly. It was her way of asking what they did next.
"We shall tell Goodwin. He can intercept them before they reach the Master."
With a slight shudder, knowing what they would encounter down the corridor where Mr Darcy's manservant - and Mr Darcy - would invariably be, the two nurses set off.
Jane and Geoff were lucky. The entire household was waiting in trepidation for the new baby to be born, praying for the Mistress's safety. This meant no one was in the servant's passages. Quickly they found a door out into the house again, and they took it. They found themselves in a small chamber, almost directly below their parent's room. With the innate knowledge of home, the twins started carefully working their way back up, avoiding all signs of people. However, as they got closer, they both began to get very scared.
Something they had never heard before was echoing around the walls of their home. It sounded like some great deer in the park that had been hit by a stray shot from the hunt and was slowly dying of nothing more than blood loss. This was not their simile but, as Jane could have only equated it to the pain of grazing her elbow multiplied a thousand times over, it is the one I shall give you, reader. When they started to hear the strains of their mother's voice within the cries, all colour bled from their faces. They were petrified for a step, hovering on the edge of running back to the safe, silent nursery or running onward blindly to find their Father. In the end, Jane tremblingly groped for Geoffrey's hand which he took, his hand cold as ice, and he led her on. Both were willing the horrid noise not to be their Mother but the nearer they got to their parent's chambers, the louder and more piercing it got.
Darcy's composure broke. His head fell into his hands and his shoulders shook. Still no sound escaped from him but, physically, he trembled. Elizabeth's pain hurt him far more than his own.
In the pause between the screams, where only deep gasps and moans could be heard, he miraculously heard another tiny sound. The sound of dual small footsteps behind him. His head whipped round like a shot.
There stood his twins. Holding hands, near to tears, and completely terrified, Jane and Geoffrey stared at him. At first their terror increased, as they saw he was afraid and also that he was murderously angry at them for coming here. But then, as a particularly long, twisted and painful scream squeezed gleefully through the tiny gaps in the heavy oak door to claw into their ears, Darcy's face changed. All three of them winced but Jane also whimpered and the twins jumped back and looked set to run like fawns from a lamp light. Hating his normally fearless children looking that way, Darcy stood, pressed a finger lightly to his lips, and in a rare display of affection, knelt with his arms wide open for his children.
They ran to him.
Jane Georgiana and Geoffrey Gerard Darcy would always remember that day. That was the day they really learnt what pain was for the first time. That was the day they spent muffling the sounds of their Mother's screams in their Father's chest. That was the day they first met their sister; Catherine Mary Darcy, a child of Pemberley.
A/N: I wasn't trying to write in Austen style but it might have half-happened accidently. Please excuse that. Catherine Mary was, of course, named for Kitty and Mary Bennett and also Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Just for anyone who is interested in the timeline of plots (I know I am) the Darcy's are married for six years before the twins are born so they have been married twelve years at this point.
As ever, straight out of my mind, so please point out any spelling or grammatical errors.