The Story of how Lizzie met Darcy-Bear
Lizzie came home from work, completely exhausted. Her company was doing well, but not so well that there weren't constant crises to deal with. She dropped her coat and shoes and padded across the lush carpet to the couch in the living room. She dropped onto it face first.
"Uuuuuuugh," she moaned, trying her best to sink into the soft cushions until she all but disappeared.
Tonight there was no Darcy to commiserate with her as he rubbed her sore feet. He was on a business trip to Hong Kong, trying to bring Domino into the Asian market. He was gone for a whole month, and Lizzie was already bored and lonely when sitting in their shared apartment after only a week. Not that she didn't have plenty to do during the day, Lizzie just hadn't realised before just how much she relied on Darcy as a sounding board for ideas and as a sympathetic ear for her rants about stubborn investors. She could count on him not to judge her or think that her frustrations meant she couldn't do this on her own.
Heaving a sigh, Lizzie sat up on the couch and pulled out her phone. She dialled the number and sat there in the dark listening to the tone. She was just about to give up when someone picked up on the other end.
"Heeeeeeey, sis!" Lydia almost shouted at her in excitement. "What's up with you and Darce-face?"
"Hey, Lydia," Lizzie replied, smiling to herself. Her relationship with Lydia was so much better and she missed seeing her sister so often now that she had moved to San Francisco. "We're good. But Darcy is on a business trip to China. Can I persuade you to come over this weekend to keep me company?"
"Hell yeah," said Lydia, "I can drive over Thursday night. I don't have class on Fridays this semester."
"That sounds great," Lizzie said, "but can we hash out the details later? I am dead on my feet and about to fall asleep on you."
"Sure thing! This is gonna be awesome! Bye!"
Click. She had hung up.
Lizzie yawned, and then finally got up from the couch to find a real bed.
Lizzie was waiting outside the house when Lydia drove up, waving wildly out of her car's window. She smiled when she saw her little sister so exuberant and happy, reminding herself that Lydia was okay, was going to be fine.
Lydia jumped out of the car and hurtled across the sidewalk to give her big sister a hug. She was already talking a mile a minute, telling Lizzie about her drive.
"... and then that asshole totally cut me off when I got on the highway but it was cool, I was totally fine, and you can tell Mom to stop worrying, because I really can drive and I arrived safe and sound."
Smiling to herself, Lizzie helped Lydia heave her gigantic suitcase out of the trunk of the car and then up the front steps. Thankfully, there was an elevator to take them to the fourth floor, as Lydia seemed to have packed a couple of bricks as well as her entire wardrobe.
When they had deposited the suitcase in the guest room, Lizzie dropped on the couch while Lydia checked out the apartment's sock sliding capabilities. After some experimentation, she pronounced them satisfactory.
After Lydia had caught Lizzie up on all the goings-on at home, they sat together planning their weekend. Lydia had never been to San Francisco before, so Lizzie was going to show her everything Darcy and Gigi had shows her when she herself had been new to the city.
Now that dragged up pleasant memories... Lizzie had to endure a bit of good-natured teasing after Lydia noticed that her sister was no longer listening to her, but rather staring into space with a dreamy expression, absentmindedly touching her lips and chuckling softly.
Lizzie had taken the weekend off from work, promising herself that there was no possible emergency that her team couldn't handle competently by themselves.
They had a great weekend, exploring Golden Gate Park and Ghirardelli Square, visiting the Golden Gate Bridge and riding around in the city's famous cable cars, eating dinner at the marina and even climbing Lombard Street, determined not to let themselves be defeated by the unforgiving hills.
Both girls had a wonderful time, able to let go of the stress of Lizzie's business and Lydia's studies.
However, even good things must come to and end, and so the time drew near when Lydia must depart if she wanted to get back home in time. Lydia's suitcase was, if that was even possible, even heavier that it had been when she had arrived, but finally the girls had wrestled it back into the car's trunk and it was time to say goodbye.
"Thanks for coming, Lydia," Lizzie started. "It was really great to have you here; I had so much fun this weekend."
"Yeah, me too." Lydia answered. "Listen," she went on, suddenly much more serious, "I think you and Darce-face are really great together. It sucks that he's away for so long right now. I could really hear how lonely you were last week on the phone. So I got you this."
She held out a small brown teddy bear wearing a newsie hat and a bow tie.
"I made him so he could keep you company when the real thing's not available," she said all in a rush, then waited to see what her sister's reaction would be.
Lizzie took the bear, then threw her arms around her sister and hugged her tight.
"Thank you, Lydia!" she said, her voice getting choked with unshed tears. "You're the best, you know that, right? My smart, beautiful, awesome sister..."
Lydia grinned into her sister's hair and held her closer still.
"Plus," she whispered into Lizzie's ear with a giggle, "if the real Darcy screws up you can always threaten to leave him for his fuzzier, cuddlier self..."
Lizzie burst out laughing.
"Maybe I will do just that" she said with a grin. "But seriously, Lydia, thanks."
The sisters hugged one last time, then Lydia got into her car and drove off, waving out of the rolled-down window.
Lizzie took a good look at the bear, and then headed back into the house, a soft smile playing around her lips.
And that was how it came to be that, when he returned from Hong Kong two weeks later, William Darcy found his girlfriend asleep on the couch, cuddling a teddy-bear version of himself.