This is just a one-shot that came to me. I deliberately am not starting anything with more than one chapter as I am fully aware that I am neglecting my other stories. I hope whoever reads this enjoys it and please let me know what you think.
This day was perhaps the greatest test of the strength of Fitzwilliam Darcy. Or maybe I should not say day as it in fact spanned for many, however the day in which it started was the one that stuck clear in his mind.
'The common cold'; an illness so easily treated and very rarely fatal, yet with medicines being what they were at this time (meaning rather lacking) one could never be certain of any outcome.
If Darcy had his way, Elizabeth would never leave the house again. All it took was to be caught out in the grounds of Pemberley in the rain to damage his precious wife so naturally he would want her to remain safe and by his side at all times.
'Mrs Reynolds! Quickly, Elizabeth needs to be made warm this instant!" Mr Darcy carried his drenched wife through the front doors calling out to the housekeeper. Mrs Darcy however was adamant that she needed no spectacle mad and she was quite alright. All she could want for was a dry dress and a warm fire but it was thought by her husband that she did not know what was best, and in this instance it was a good thing that he did follow his own feelings rather than hers as she was quite ill due to the rain.
"Mary light the fire in the mistress's bed chamber. Anne, you come with me and help to change her into something dry." Mrs Reynolds instantly took control of the situation at hand issuing out orders and beckoning Mr Darcy to follow.
Mr Darcy lay his wife down on her bed and turned his back as his servants changed her, towelled her hair and pulled it back into a plait. He knew that propriety would have him leave the room but he worried too much for her.
"I assure you Fitzwilliam, I am quite alright," his wife assured him. "There was nothing to fear, I was just a little cold." She smiled and beckoned he come and sit beside her.
He obliged to what she had requested, just like he did to everything she asked. Mr Darcy's will was no longer his own one could say. Although he thought for himself, he did not act for himself. Everything he did was for his wife or his sister Georgiana. "There is nothing for you to fear my love. I shall never leave you, I promise."
"You had better not dear Elizabeth for I could not be without you. Now rest please; it will ease my mind." Elizabeth simply smiled in response and closed her eyes. Darcy stayed by her side until her breath evened out and he was assured she was asleep. Although he did not wish to leave her, he knew she should sleep sounder if he retired to his own room for the night.
Placing one swift kiss on his wife's forehead, Darcy returned to his room, quickly changing and going to sleep.
o.o
"Mr Darcy sir, wake up."
Tom was shaking his master and calling out to him in hopes to rouse him. After several minutes he woke and looked at his manservant with a puzzled expression. "It's Mrs Darcy sir, she is most unwell."
Now Darcy was most alert and after Tom assisted him from his nightshirt into more appropriate clothes his rushed to his wife's bedside.
She was very pale and sweating. Mary was wiping her head with a cold cloth but Elizabeth was shivering.
"Mrs Reynolds? Have you sent for a doctor?"
"Yes sir, Anne went directly and should return soon."
"Thank you." Mrs Reynolds had been in service to the Darcy family for a very long time and it troubled her to see the (once) young Mr Darcy so worried about his wife, especially feeling as helpless as she did.
Elizabeth started to rouse, although she was not fully conscious. Darcy was immediately at her side, holding her hand.
"Didn't I tell you my love," Darcy attempted to joke but the smile didn't touch his eyes. "I told you the rain would make you ill. You must admit I clearly have superior knowledge." Elizabeth smiled in response, hers much more sincere.
"Sir, I must insist there is nothing much wrong with me, indeed the rain may have made me a little out of sorts but nothing a little rest won't solve." Mr Darcy shook his head.
"You'll never admit to needing help will you? Please calm yourself as we wait for the doctor to arrive, he will determine how well you are for he is trained in it." Mr Darcy took the rag from Mary and continued to hold it to his wife's forehead. Mary tended to the fire before leaving the room.
He sat on the bed and shifted his wife's head onto his lap.
"What can I do for you my love?"
"Would you hum me a tune? For I would dearly love to hear one and I know how you hate to sing."
Of course there could be no objections so Mr Darcy hummed to his wife until the doctor arrived to examine Elizabeth forcing Darcy to move to the hallway.
o.o
"Mrs Darcy has a slight fever; she will need lots of rest and fluids. I would recommend that she does not leave her bed for at least a few days. I shall leave her in your care and return on Thursday. Call if there is much change." Dr Branwell instructed Darcy on how best to treat Elizabeth and had assured him that there was no real danger and no reason to expect that she wasn't going to make a full recovery in due course.
As instructed, Mrs Darcy kept to her room for the entirety of the day and all her food was brought to her on a tray. She had more books by her side than she could read in a year and she had the frequent company of Georgiana so she could not complain that there was anything she needed that she didn't have.
Mr Darcy did not leave her room either. He sat dutifully by her bed despite being called away many times during the day. He had food and business affairs brought to him and no matter how much his wife insisted there was nothing much wrong with her he would not leave her side.
o.o
As the day passed, Darcy also insisted to stay in the same bed as his wife that night. To this Mrs Darcy did not object and she moved to accommodate space for him next to her.
"How are you feeling my love?"
"You should worry less; people do not die of little trifling colds. Soon I shall be just fine and I will laugh at how ridiculous you were." Darcy smiled and pulled his wife closer.
"That maybe be true, and when it happens I will let you laugh to your hearts pleasure."
o.o
She was hot, for Darcy it was like sleeping next to an open flame. She was cold, she felt like ice and she couldn't warm herself. She couldn't sleep and that meant that neither could he.
Darcy didn't know what time it was, sometime in the early morning he'd say if he had to guess and she was suffering. His Elizabeth was suffering.
Darcy sat up with his back against the headboard and pulled his wife between his legs. He wrapped his arms, and the covers, tightly around her and kissed her cheek.
"Sleep my love."
o.o
Mary walked into her mistress's room early the next morning in order to light the fire and maintain the warmth. Upon entering she looked upon a most shocking sight. Her master was sat up, his arms tightly wrapped around his wife and his head lolling on her shoulder. She bustled around the room trying to make as little sound as possible.
She had never seen as much admiration between two people as between her master and her mistress and she wondered whether or not she could find that.
She doubted it. Mary was no fool; she didn't have anything to tempt a man into matrimony. She was a servant, she had no money, no connections, she was plain and she had no great intelligence.
But she did have hope.
She had seen her master take a wife, who to the entire world was beneath him so surely there was no reason that the same couldn't happen to her? She wasn't deluded; she knew that no man of great importance would take a fancy to her but surely someone? Anyone?
Mary stacked new logs into the fire that had almost burned out which had alerted the lightly sleeping Darcy to the presence of someone else in the room.
He moved his neck, feeling the satisfying crack as he stretched it out of its uncomfortable sleeping position. Upon noticing her master's awakening, Mary hurried from the room to give him some privacy.
It had been a restless night and Darcy did not feel well rested but he was happy that Elizabeth was now sleeping soundly in his arms and didn't want to change that so he stayed as still as he could except for his steady breathing.
o.o
Most of Darcy's body had become numb by the time that Elizabeth woke in the early afternoon.
"Fitzwilliam? What time is it? Why didn't you wake me?" She enquired groggily.
"It's a little after lunch my love and you had such a poor sleep last night I just wanted you to be fully rested. How do you feel?"
"Much better now. I told you that I'd be fine, I don't plan on leaving you anytime soon."
"That's good. I don't plan on loosing you anytime soon either."
o.o
Now you may be thinking that if this is the worst thing that Mr and Mrs Darcy had to face in their marriage then surely they were very lucky. That is not what I said however. I stated that this was the worst Fitzwilliam Darcy had ever felt in their marriage. This is owing to the fact that this was their first problem. Over time Darcy learnt to deal with issues that arose, he looked after his wife, and she looked after him. Despite time though, he always remembered this. This was his first scare.
Good? Bad? Just sort of meh? I don't pretend to be an expert in this era of history so of course this probably isn't how Mr Darcy would behave but it is in my head which of course, is the most important thing! Obviously there's a line in the that belongs to Jane Austen, not me, you know which one it is.
Unscenced X