Author: Regency
Title: Love Increases
Pairing: Mark Darcy/Bridget Jones
Rating: E/G
Warnings: None
Summary: (Spoilers for BJB.) Bridget is acting strangely. Strange for Bridget, anyway, and Mark wants to know what's wrong. Nothing, it turns out.
Or how Mark Darcy learns he's going to be a father, again.
Prompt: Bridget/Mark and a second baby?!
Author's Notes: Come flail with me at sententiousandbellicose on Tumblr!
Disclaimer: I don't own any characters recognizable as being from any incarnation of the Bridget Jones series. They are the property of their actors, producers, writers, and studios, not me. No copyright infringement was intended and no money was made in the writing or distribution of this story. It was good, clean fun.
Bridget is acting strangely.
Mark's definition of strange has changed in the nearly twenty years he's had Bridget in his life, but even for her this is strange. She's been secretive and snappish. Prone to fits of skittishness and then alternately insatiable. Not to say Mark hasn't enjoyed her more…sociable moods, but she always squirms away afterward, citing a need to check on William or see to work. Mark doesn't take it personally, really. He has his own share of untimely work commitments that cut into their personal encounters, but he doesn't seek them out. Bridget is usually even less prone to seeking distractions when they're alone.
Were Mark younger, in relationship less trusting than this one, he'd worry that those signs indicate a loss of interest in him personally. Instead, he worries about his wife, that she may be shouldering some burden she feels he'd consider beneath his notice.
Mark confronts her after one such 'sociable' encounter when she's retreated to her work desk to read emails. She's curled up in one of his old jumpers from before he undertook a workout regimen to match hers during their original romance. It covers as much as it shows, offering a tantalizing glimpse of toned thighs and legs and a naked shoulder spilling from the collar. As men since time immemorial, Mark loves the look of Bridget in his clothes.
"What's wrong?" He feels like a large portion of their conversation start this way. An alarming fact, but still a fact.
Bridget hugs her knees.
"Have you given any thought to us having more children?"
Mark had, actually, right after they were married, but Bridget had been happily establishing herself as a producer at her new network and he hadn't wanted to raise the issue for fear of causing contention. Their marriage, unlike many of their past romantic engagements, has been a happy one. He has no desire to rock the boat by asking for more than she can give him. If I wanted a houseful of children, I should have got my act together years ago. William is enough.
"Some," he acknowledges.
"And?" She sits up, letting her feet drop down the floor under her chair. "Do you want them? Are you happy with just one?"
"I…What do you want?"
"I'm asking you."
"I'm happy with the way things are; however, I wouldn't be opposed to another child."
Bridget gapes. "Really? You never said."
Mark rolls his shoulders. "You've got work and I still travel too much. It didn't seem fair to stick you with two children and not enough help."
"You don't travel that much." She gets up and crosses the room hug him, looping her arms around his neck to look at him very seriously. She's wonderfully soft in his arms. "You're doing much better than you used to. I would complain if I was upset about how often you're gone."
It's true that Mark decreased his travel schedule when William was born. He was gone no more than a week at a stretch and no more than once a month, save for international emergencies. As William has gotten older, he's increased the frequency of his travels abroad to twice a month, but he still insists that his total time away not exceed a fortnight. When there is a danger of that occurring, he trades off with another barrister and handles the domestic end of the matter till it's all resolved. That isn't a sacrifice for Mark, that's being a family man.
"So…" Bridget bites her lip, indecision marring her expression. "Another baby is not out of the question?"
"Not at all. I'd have a football team with you."
She giggles. He could listen to that sound all day. "I don't know about a football team, but perhaps a playmate for William. Maybe a sister."
"That's very specific."
She smiles secretively. "Isn't it?"
She guides his arms tighter around her waist and it's then that he notices that she's a touch rounder than she was a few weeks ago. He doesn't usually make note of her weight given how much of a bone of contention it was for her when they were dating, but it's obvious she's gained a few kilos. And she doesn't seem unhappy about it.
"Maybe a sister?" he asks, softly. All the pieces click together in his head. The moodiness, the, ah, excitability, the introspection, the weight gain. "Only maybe?"
Her smile has grown positively beatific. She's glowing. How did I miss that?
"Definitely a sister."
Not a football team, but it's a start.