To the person who suggested Elizabeth married Darcy out of gratitude: a polite "f*** you" from someone who loves Elizabeth Bennet.

She would not do anything of the kind. She did not marry him out of gratitude when she found out about his help with Lydia in the original version of this tale, and nowhere did I suggest it was any different in this story. She says she loved him for the qualities and the person she discovered beneath his frosty exterior, which began all the way back when she received his letter. Gratitude my arse.

To everyone else, thank you for sticking with this. I am open to requests for the future, and would love to hear from anyone and everyone who wishes to clarify anything or note things I have missed in this story. I don't have an editor and essentially post these as I finish them, so there are bound to be mistakes. All my love and good wishes to everyone in the wide world of fanfiction.

Lady T
xxx

Ten Years Later

Elizabeth Darcy watched her children dancing about the grounds and felt completely content. Her eldest daughter, now eight years old, was spinning the younger girl around and both of them kept running up to the house to say hello to her and back down. She laughed every time they dashed to her side and glanced around in search of her son. She spied him sitting halfway up a tree, leant against the trunk on a branch, flipping through a large book. She looked behind herself to the large grandfather clock to see the time. It was nearly of the hour to put the children to bed, and Darcy was supposed to be home a long while ago. She pushed down the flicker of worry that tugged at her belly and picked up her youngest daughter as she reappeared next to her.

"Violet, do you know where Daddy is?" She asked, and the little girl yawned and scrunched up her face adorably.

"No." She said grumpily, "Where is daddy?"

"He is away on business." Annabelle said matter-of-factly and Elizabeth nodded.

"And does anyone know when he is getting back?" She asked the two of them and they nodded and started giggling madly at her.

"What is so funny my little princesses?" Lizzie raised an eyebrow comically at them, which only made them chuckle more and she found she could not help but smile along with them, "What on earth is the matter with you two? You must have lost the plot! I shall send for the doctor immediately!" She joked, and Violet wriggled out of her grip and ran behind her. She turned and saw her husband scooping their youngest into his arms and laughing as she pulled his nose. Annabelle approached him for a hug and he knelt down to her level, placing Violet gently to the floor as he kissed his eldest child on the cheek and then grabbed her and lifted her up. Annabelle squealed loudly as he swung her around and Violet waddled up to Lizzie and tugged her dress. She looked down and Violet smiled widely, her huge cheeks rosy red and gorgeous.

"Mama!"

"Yes Princess?"

"Is Daddy here now?" She asked.

"Yes, Daddy is going to be here for a long while yet." Lizzie said and Violet beamed yet wider, which her mother had not thought possible until she saw it with her own eyes.

"Miss Daddy."

"I know Princess, we all missed Daddy." She sighed, and Violet danced to Annabelle and tugged her away to the garden.

"Daddy missed all of you." Darcy said, and Lizzie rolled her eyes.

"It's easy to miss us when you're not being waken up in the middle of the night because Violet wishes for cake immediately and cannot wait until morning to ask."

"Please tell me you did not let our youngest daughter eat cake in the middle of the night."

Lizzie twinkled at him and he stepped closer, his arm circling her waist as he kissed her neck, "Of course not. At least, not alone. I decided a much better course of action would be to wake up the other two and then all of us ate cake together."

Darcy groaned into her hair and she laughed as she leaned back into him, savouring his warmth.

"What am I going to do with you all?" He asked.

"Perhaps you should stay here for a while." Lizzie said softly and he kissed behind her ear.

"I will. My business affairs in London are settled for the moment. Your aunt and uncle send their love."

"How are they?"

"They are struggling with an eighteen year old daughter who believes she knows everything, and a sixteen year old who follows in the elder's example. The two boys are of the age where they don't much mind about society, but they know it is only a matter of time."

"We should invite them out here for a few weeks – perhaps some space from London company will do the girls some good."

"It is a good thing then, that I offered while I was there. They will visit next month." Darcy said and Lizzie turned in her husband's arms and kissed his cheek.

"Maybe the boys will be good companions for William." Lizzie lamented, "He is so painfully similar to you. Sometimes I wonder that he is Anabelle's twin; they are so much the polar opposites of each other."

"Ah, yes, where is the little imp?' Darcy made a show of looking around and Lizzie pointed. He saw the boy and exhaled slowly, closing his eyes and pressing a kiss to his wife's temple, "You are right, of course, we are far too similar in our inclinations. I did much the same thing when I was a boy, as did Georgiana when she was young."

"Georgiana wrote while you were away." Lizzie handed him a letter and he reluctantly released her so he could sit and read it.

Dearest brother, Dearest Lizzie,

Oh I am so happy! Paris is so beautiful and Frederick is showing me everything he can before we return home. I have seen priceless works of art and eaten delicious food. I am convinced I shall miss it terribly when we alight on English shores.
How are the children? I do miss them so, as I miss the two of you. I am worried we will not see as much of each other now that I am married, and Frederick lives so far away from Pemberley. We must always be in each other's lives, for I am sure I should die of sadness if we ever drifted apart. Give my love to Jane and Bingley, and ask how Caroline is. How often does Anne visit now? Do write back soon, I so long to hear from you. All my love,

Georgiana Huxley.

PS: Frederick misses you too.
PPS: The moment we are fully settled we shall visit, I swear it.

Darcy folded the letter and looked to Lizzie, who had taken her place beside him. She stretched across and grabbed the paper from his hands, tucking it behind her on the seat.
"Honeymooners," they muttered in unison, recalling their own trip across France and Italy.

"How is Caroline?" He asked.

"She fares well, although the weight of her child has made her nearly bedridden. She wrote not two weeks ago to tell me in no uncertain terms that if the baby is not born soon she will divorce her husband."

"That seems a little drastic." Darcy noted.

"Expecting women always are." Lizzie said, and Darcy agreed, solemnly remembering the weeks leading up to the birth of the twins. Elizabeth had been brought to tears on many occasions by things which he was certain had never bothered her before or since, "Anyway, Mr Thornton is a sensible man, he shouldn't take it to heart."

"How is Lady Anne, have you visited her estate since Lady Catherine passed?" Darcy asked.

"No, my love, just as you have been busy in London, I have had my hands full with the children and matters of importance here at Pemberley. We shall visit her together soon, as I am sure she misses her mother, and she was all alone up there."

"Was?" Darcy regarded her suspiciously.

"Well, when the Bennets visited a short time ago, I spoke to Mary, who is also quite lonely since Kitty and Lydia have been spending so much time at Netherfield."

"Ah yes, the tenants. They are…?"

"Still very respectable young men and their parentage has given leave for them to marry, so it should only be a matter of time. And all of them enthusiastic for country life, according to mama."

"And what does Mr Bennet say?"

"He thinks they are kind-hearted boys that his daughters must be frightening by now, although they are still courting the girls after a year, so he believes they are here to stay. He is still thankful, however, that he pulled them from society for that time, as he believes they are now much more respectable than they would have been a few years ago."

"I find I am inclined to agree with him. Lydia and Kitty are an acquired taste and it was helpful for them to learn sense and gain stronger sensibilities."

"True, but Kitty is now seven and twenty and Lydia is six and twenty – if they are not fully sensible now, they never shall be. Anyway, Mary does not attend as often as my sillier sisters, and so has been quite lonely, although she would never say so. She has been resigned to a life of solitude for some time, I believe. So I may have suggested that Anne could be in need of some company. She packed her bags and left within the week."

"Goodness," Darcy paused, "I think it is a good arrangement for both of them." He decided after a moments pondering.

"Good, because we are visiting next fortnight." Lizzie stated.

"Jane and Charles were visiting London while I was there."

"Oh? Yes they brought the children around not four days after you left."

"How are Emma and Hazel?"

"They are well, and they played well with the girls, although William found their company to be tiresome," She said, "Just as my husband is wont to do." Darcy grumbled at her and she pulled him close so that she could reach his face to kiss him. Their lips had almost touched when Lizzie froze.

"I have missed you my love." She said.

"I know."

"The house feels so empty without you." She continued silkily.

"My bed felt bereft of warmth without your presence." Darcy returned, and leaned in again. She pulled back with a teasing smile playing about her lips.

"As did mine. But you did choose to leave. And two months is an awfully long time."

"I sent letters." He tried.

"First Georgiana left, then you disappeared – I was all alone."

"You had the children. And your family visited."

"I started to believe you would never return."

"I bought you gifts in London."

"You left us."

"I invited the Gardiners."

"Two months, Darcy."

Darcy growled and yanked her to him, his hands on her hips, her face, her neck. She kissed him passionately, remembering how it felt to be touched by him, kissed by him, loved by him. His fingers played with a curl that had sprung free on her neck while the other stroked her waist. She ended the kiss swiftly, pressing her forehead to his, "We must put the children to bed. It will be dark soon, and they have already had their tea."

"Right, the children." Darcy kissed her cheek and released her, heading down to the lake and grabbing the hands of his two daughters to lead them inside. Lizzie sprung to her feet and marched across the field to the large oak her son was in.

"William?" She called and he ignored her, pretending he couldn't hear while he read.

"William, it is time for bed."

He squinted even harder at the book in the fading light and she knew what she had to do. She yanked up her skirt and climbed up to his branch. He finally put his book down and stared at her sitting across from him.

"The light will be gone soon, you know. Then how will you read?"

"But I don't want to go to bed. I want to keep reading." William said, his eyes filling with frustrated tears. She took pity on her son and ruffled his hair.

"But if you go to sleep, then you may wake early tomorrow, which leaves you even more time to improve your mind through extensive reading."

"Promise?" The boy asked uncertainly and she nodded. He agreed to return to bed and she waited for him to climb down before handing his book to him. She was about to shimmy down the branches herself when she caught her husband staring at her from below.

"Can I help you, Mr Darcy?" She asked loftily.

"Not at all, I was simply admiring my gardens. They do offer the most remarkable views." Lizzie took his hand as she stepped of the last branch of the mighty tree and he kissed her knuckles, "Although I am sure the picture would be prettier by far if your skirts were covered in mud and your eyes were wild."

"Truly?" Lizzie asked, amused.

"I do believe I've never been more certain of anything in my life. My ravishing, untamable, wife looks her best when doing exactly what she wishes, society be damned."

"And here I was, believing I looked prettiest when in the nicest dresses and with my hair exquisite and proper. I suppose we shall now have to burn any item of clothing I own which exceeds your incredibly low standards of appearance, as there is obviously no point in keeping them." She skipped ahead of him and he laughed as they made their way inside.

They found their son with his nose still in his book, tucked up in bed already. Annabelle was jumping up and down on her mattress, which seemed to be frustrating William a great deal as she kept bouncing past the lamp and making the light flicker. The maid watching over them made a great show of relief as the Darcys entered the room, and she scurried away. Violet had fallen asleep on the floor by the fire and Elizabeth picked her up and placed her down in her room next door. She closed the door as carefully as possible so as not to wake her and winced as she heard Darcy loudly asking his daughter to please stop jumping on the bed as she will give everyone a headache. The squeaking of her bedsprings stopped and Lizzie sighed in relief. She returned to the room and kissed first her son's forehead, then Annabelle's and turned out the light.

Later, when Darcy had eaten and they had retired to bed, she sat up straight and grinned at him.

"I have a surprise for you." She said sneakily and he raised an eyebrow.

"The last time you said that, you were expecting Violet."

"Well that was a nice surprise…"

"Darling, I love you, but you did promise no more children – after the first two." Darcy remarked and she smacked his arm.

"And what would our lives have been like for the past three years without Violet?"

"It's nearly four now. And I expect they would have been quieter." He said and she flopped on top of him, her head under his chin as they both lay together, staring at the ceiling as they recalled some of the brightest and loudest years of their lives.

"True. But I still have a surprise for you."

"Ah, yes, of course."

Lizzie reached beneath her pillow and pulled out an old, neatly maintained, open envelope with a letter inside. Darcy paled and reached for it but she held it to her chest protectively.

"Why on earth do you still have that?" Darcy asked worriedly.

"Because you sent it to me."

"Yes, in a fit of anger after a rejected proposal, please give it to me."

"No, you will destroy it."

"Yes. Of course I will. I would have done so many years sooner if I had known you still had it. What could have possibly possessed you to keep it all these years?"

"It played a huge part in my change of heart. Honestly, it played a large part in bringing us together. After I read your letter, I took it with me everywhere. It was thinking about your letter that got me through the night before I arrived at Pemberley. It was the contents of the letter that made me realise when you found me crying on your grounds that I could trust you. It is this collection of paper that reminds me how wrong I was about you, and how glad I am to have righted such wrongs."

Darcy finally managed to snatch it from her and threw it across the room, the contents scattering across the floor. He rolled over until he was facing her, their legs tangled together haphazardly as she frowned at him crossly.

"You shouldn't throw someone else's letters, Mr Darcy. The man I love sent me those."

"It is hardly a love letter, Elizabeth."

"It is to me." She said quietly, "Since the evening you left, those letters have been under my pillow as assurance that you would return, safe and sound, to me."

"You do not need those to know I will come home."

"I know, Fitzwilliam, but… I… I missed you a great deal. Two months felt like eons."

Darcy nodded guiltily and stroked her hair from her face, "Two months was too long, I am aware."

"How long shall you be home?"

Darcy moaned deeply and pulled her to his chest, kissing her, "Forever, I hope." He whispered in between kisses, and Lizzie gripped his shoulders as though she was afraid he would disappear.

"Forever? Is it possible? Can you promise me forever?" She asked and kissed him back ravenously.

So there you have it. For anyone who is curious, the children's names:
Annabelle Jane Darcy
William Samson Darcy
Violet Georgiana Charlotte Darcy

Hazel Elizabeth Bingley
Emma Kathryn Bingley

And for those who noticed - yes that is a North and South reference. I will be posting a N&S fanfic in the future, but am quite busy moving countries at the moment to be doing anything except packing.
Thank you all again for the support and reviews. I adore you all.