Epilogue

Nine months later.

"Yo, Fitz! Don't forget your cousin's coming!" called a voice after Fitzwilliam as he walked out of his office.

He turned to his admin who sat at that same desk though it looked distinctly different from when Alex had distinguished it. Different doodads were scattered over the top.

"Thanks Ron," he said. "Just getting coffee while I also run to get paperwork from Claire."

When he came back to his desk, Bob had invaded his office, and was looking comfortable in a chair. Fitz was almost surprised that Bob had not usurped his own chair.

"I see you got a new chair," grinned Bob.

"Yes, finally," said Fitz. "Old one drove me crazy it squeaked so much." He scratched his head a little as he sat down in it. "Flight okay?"

"Great," said Bob.

"Claire's got the last of the paperwork drawn up. I think she's given me everything though we still need to do one set of signatures in front of her—for her to notarize," said Fitz. "We are cutting it really close."

"Twins, huh?" grinned Bob.

"Yes. I think she's under doctor's orders to be done with work, but she came in to make sure the final papers were all drafted," said Fitzwilliam Darcy. "We still have to wait for the final stockholder approval at the meeting in July, but I don't see a problem."

"I'm sure I can manage to come back out again then too," said Bob who was fiddling with a pen he had snagged off of Fitz' desk.

"How's retirement?" asked Fitz who sank back into his chair while he sorted the legal papers into two piles.

"I can't say I've really retired. Property manager now, ain't I?" grinned Bob. "With the money I made from my house here I bought two in Massachusetts. And one's a two-fer, so I live in the top half and rent the bottom, doing the landlord thing. I can't help but always be thinking about money apparently." He grinned even wider. "But Mary and I have the band. Sammy my old drummer had a day job and couldn't move east but we've found this girl drummer, Francine, who's good and we've had a few gigs, still just at college bars and venues, but I like Boston."

Fitzwilliam pushed forward the first of the paperwork over to Bob to sign. Robert Richardson picked them up and began to read with a practiced air about him; a man used to reading financial and legal documents.

"You're staying for Liz' party too?" asked Fitzwilliam as he watched Bob read.

"Yes, of course. Mary's flying in on Friday though Bridget couldn't get time off from work."

"No doubt Bridget isn't in a hurry to encounter Minerva Bennet," said Fitz.

"No doubt," said Bob without a real opinion as his nose was so immersed in the papers under it just then.

"Bridget probably doesn't want Minerva badgering her to get Mary to move back to California," said Fitz.

"Um hmm," murmured Bob, still with his eyes on the documents.

"On the other hand, Charles has been…distracted, high-strung. I get the idea that he is going to propose to Jane."

Bob laughed and put down the paperwork. "You are so wrong about that!"

"What do you mean?" asked Fitz.

"She's pregnant!" cried Bob.

"How do you know?" Fitz leaned forward to stare at his cousin.

"Cause Mary told me."

"If Mary knows that must mean Liz knows," Fitz frowned. "Why wouldn't Liz have told me?"

"I don't know. She had a bad day? Or maybe she assumed Charles would let you know? Maybe it's just a secret between sisters she doesn't feel inclined to share," suggested Bob.

"Wow! Somehow I always thought it would be Liz who would be pregnant first," said Fitzwilliam.

Bob sat up with such a look on his face that for once his ugly mug really looked ugly as his brows contracted together, "wait a minute! You two aren't thinking about having a kid, are you?"

"No, just history. Liz once said that it was her job in the family to have the grandkids. She was going to be the first daughter to be pregnant," explained Fitzwilliam.

"Somehow that doesn't fit with what I know of the three of them," said Bob.

"All three said as much," Fitz assured him. "They're an odd set of sisters."

"Oh yeah!" agreed Bob. He went back to reading.

"So with you going," said Fitzwilliam. "That means I need a new CFO. Do you remember Lauren?"

Bob's eyes trailed up and he looked blankly at him for a few minutes before he asked, "wasn't that one of your ill-fated girlfriends for want of another phrase?"

"Yes. I ran into her at an event about three weeks ago. Anyways, Epsom is having a tough time and she's thinking of moving on and I think she'd be a good fit as your replacement."

"Stop right there," cried Bob. "If you want Liz to remain in your life you cannot fill your company with your ex-girlfriends. It's bad enough that Claire works here. You can't hire Lauren," he huffed. "Does Liz know about Lauren?"

"Yes. We talked about her," said Fitz.

"Does she know about the other two?" pressed Bob.

"Aahh. Yes. I finally got around to discussing my…dating that ill-fated April," Fitzwilliam looked over at the corner of his office.

"Even after dating Liz for a year, you can't hire Lauren," growled Bob.

"But she's the best I know of."

"Look. Liz is the best. Think about that. You don't want her running off with some charming barista that she buys her coffee from every morning as she's going to work because she feels more comfortable with him than with you. Stop and think about this one and just go through Mrs. P. and the usual channels. Don't think you need to cut corners to hire a new financial person. Don't be in a hurry. Jumping the gun and assuming you have to be the one and only one who knows what's best is probably one of your biggest faults." Bob waggled his finger at his cousin. "I'm sure Mrs. P. and the stockholders will have some idea of what's required to fill my shoes."

Fitzwilliam smiled sheepishly as he continued to look at the corner of his office. He took in a deep breath then looked back at Bob. "Okay. Point taken. I admit I often rush into things with my mind made up. I'll let HR advertise and see who we get."

The air between them was stilted as Fitz listened to Bob fiddle with his pen. Fitzwilliam nodded at the pen, "you done signing? Should we run off and see Claire for that last notarized set?"

"Almost," answered Bob who picked up the papers to leaf through them.

"Boston treating you good?" prompted Fitz. "Though you're not in downtown properly, you're out a ways, aren't you?"

"Yeah," said Bob without looking up. "I can take the T in to town to see Mary and Bridget or catch a game or go to bars. I can't believe how much I've taken to the city, the area." He put the papers down and looked at his cousin. "I have to say the women are completely different. East Coast girls like love, or Boston ones do. Silicon Valley girls only love money." It was his turn to look away, off towards nowhere but not at the other person in the room. "I once said I was looking for love, just in all the wrong places. Well, Silicon Valley was definitely the wrong place."

"You've met somebody?" stammered Fitz.

"No," answered Bob. "I just have the feeling that I will."

"When are you going to tell Mom?" asked Liz. She and Jane were decorating the lounge for her graduation party.

"Never, I am never telling Mom," growled Jane. "It's bad enough that she grills me every time on the phone about marrying Charles." She got down from the step stool and moved it a few places before crawling back up it then to tape another flounce of crepe paper.

"She will probably camp out on your front lawn until you two marry," smiled Liz who was attaching crepe streamers along the edge of the bar.

"She's been on grandchild watch ever since she found out about Charles and me," sighed Jane. "Weren't you supposed to have the kids?" There was a small laugh. "Why doesn't she bug you and Fitzwilliam?"

"I think she's scared of him," said Liz. "When I first told her I was moving in with him she was thrilled because I'd kept him a secret, but when she made dad drive her over to help me move so she could see his house and actually meet Fitz, it didn't go so well." Liz clipped off the end of her streamer and put the roll of crepe on top of the bar. "Mom couldn't think of anything to say beyond 'hello, your house is really nice.' I have finally found a way to make her shut up: show up with Fitz in tow and she clams up."

"She talks Charles' ears off," laughed Jane. "He goes so far as to poke me whenever she visits if she's there too long to hint that she's over-staying her welcome and he'd like his house back."

"Done with the step stool?" asked Liz as she watched Jane attach the last flounce and climb down. Red crepe streamers were definitely not the professional touch had some party planner been hired to plan her graduation party, but she and Jane were doing it Bennet-style. That meant the food would be great, some home-cooked dishes they could prepare ahead of time, but also some items brought in so Liz could talk to friends and family and not be cooking day of, hour of, the party. Aunt Alice even had coverage for the shop and was to come down.

"Yes," answered Jane who folded it up and brought it over. They proceeded to decorate another wall with red crepe paper (the Stanford mascot was the color Cardinal). When the crepe paper was up they sat down to rest on one of the many little two-seater lounge units which had a small table between two backless seats. Liz had fetched them chilled bottled water.

Jane blew out a breath. "Parties are always fun but planning and prep are hard work."

"You'll have your hands full in December."

"Perhaps I'm in denial. A baby wasn't part of The Plan, but neither was Charles. Life happens like that, doesn't it? I hadn't thought I would drop out of graduate school and be working, but here I am. Only a small part of me was disappointed Berkeley turned me down."

"I guess Aunt Alice was right, or is it that Mom is?" said Liz. "But we always land on our feet."

"Life gives you things you didn't know you needed." Jane took a sip of her water. "I was so focused on me and school and wasn't exactly happy with either. So then this opportunity at Pemberley came along and I met Charles as well.

"But I doubt any of my good fortune would have continued if not for Charles' insistence," continued Jane. "I realize you can't go through life as a one-woman show though he did convince Fitzwilliam to hire me permanently. I'm still not sure who thought about the patent for my design."

"I'm sure it was Bob. For all that he says he thinks about music; Mary says he still seems to breathe money. But I think you're right. You can't go through life being a one-woman show as much as I tried to do that for years," said Liz. She had thirstier than her sister and her bottle was almost empty. "I appreciated having you and Mary and Char even, but always kept my own counsel, didn't I?" Her eyes sought her older sister's.

Jane considered the question for many minutes. They were not uncomfortable minutes, but quiet and contemplative ones. "Yes you did, but I think you did in part as a response to me, knowing that I was most likely to come back with advice to you—probably unwanted advice—about how to act or behave. Even though you always tell me I'm sweet and perfect I also know I'm still a bossy older sister. I'm sorry Liz."

"You know, I wouldn't have you any other way Jane," said Liz. "I'm learning to let the past simply be and appreciate here and now. To view the future with hope, but still, attempt to be in the moment." She took a sip from her water. "And being a one-woman show sucks!" She chugged her water and then screwed the cap back on before she put it down on the small table between them.

"I can't be an island, it's hard for people to just live like that, alone in a bubble," said Liz. She slumped down a little. "Even when I thought I was doing stuff on my own and trying really hard, I realized I was still trying to please like I was still trying to be that good little girl for Mom."

"Mom encourages that in us, didn't she?" said Jane.

"Very much so," said Liz. "But I hadn't realized how much it affected me; I realized that I didn't have a sense of self. You're supposed to find that as a teenager, aren't you? I watched you and Mary succeed in that—I mean Mary was always in your face about who she was—but I kind of felt a little lost."

"I'm sorry if you did," said Jane. "I suppose being sandwiched between us wasn't easy."

"No, yes…um…it was interesting," said Liz diplomatically. "But I've had Fitz to kind of help me along."

"I think you've talked my ear off about him now," said Jane. "At least since you've been back together. You only gave me tidbits before, but before you'd always been a little shadowed, a little hesitant about him."

"Shadowed," said Liz who sat up again. "As an English major I have to appreciate that word use!" She grinned at her sister. "But I discovered that you can be with somebody without being one hundred percent sure that you want to be with somebody. Like we're back to being little middle school girls who are learning all about sex and we're thinking about falling in love and we've these wild ideas that are black and white and very concrete about what it means. But the reality is very different. You can be quite hesitant even though you're still involved with somebody. That's okay. It doesn't have to be this fairy-tale, wild romance. I think that in some ways with Fitz allowing me room to grow, the fact that I wasn't completely in love meant I had room to grow in love with him. Far more deeply, as we have this past year."

"So you admit to being in love with him?"

"Yes," said Liz.

"Your new job will put a new test to that," said Jane as she took another sip of water and then burped and put a hand over her mouth. She looked at Liz. "I haven't had too many issues, but I sort of get an upset stomach sometimes. Do you have any crackers?"

"We probably have tons of food upstairs since I do the shopping now," said Liz. She stood and picked up her empty water bottle then waited for Jane to stand.

Liz squeezed the bottle a few times making a rather sharp crackling sound and Jane stopped in the act of standing. "So annoying, just stop."

"Sorry," said Liz. "Just going through my to-do list." Her eyes twinkled as she looked at her sister. "My college graduation party is on Saturday!"

"I know," smiled Jane in her knowing way.

They walked back upstairs to the kitchen without talking. Liz presented a number of options to her sister who opted for a piece of toast. It was still mid-morning and that seemed the most appealing thing.

"It's not that I didn't love Fitz before," explained Liz. "But there's been room to grow, which I think is good. If you're totally over-the-top crazy about someone at the beginning then the only thing that happens is that it fizzles out. There's nowhere to go, no up. It feeds on itself and burns up."

They had gone to sit in the living room in the front of the house. The light of the day made it a pretty little space. Like other parts of the house, Liz had added her own touches to it, messing with the interior designer's cold vision to put splashes of color. In this case, she had added some deep greens to enliven the grays of the furniture and added a number of potted plants.

Jane smiled over at her and raised an eyebrow. "So you're saying that Charles and I being crazy in love from the beginning is all wrong?"

Liz sputtered into her reheated coffee. "No!" She put the coffee cup down. "Not at all. I was just talking about me, you know I am, right?"

Jane's face indicated she was teasing. "I know. We all find love in different ways. Mary and Bridget were friends and sort of group-dated until that fateful Halloween party, so however you find love and make it work, well, at the end of the day, you've found love."

"I've said before how much I love you as a big sis, right?" said Liz.

"Maybe not often enough," said Jane who picked up a tea cup and blew on the contents.

"Graduation party on Saturday. Two weeks off to catch-up on stuff then a new job. Life does give you things you don't realize you need."

"Are you sure you can handle commuting to LA three days a week?" asked Jane.

"I know it sounds tough," said Liz. "But it's piggybacking on what I did for my first grant-writing position. But this one really is a microlender. I'm just happy that they'll let me work from home two days a week and I'm surprised that they allow such flexibility. I guess, once again, that San Francisco is getting to be an important place and maybe they're considering opening an office up here. Maybe I'll be the first employee if they do."

"It does help to have a rich boyfriend," smiled Jane.

"It does," agreed Liz. "I've argued until I was blue in the face about merely renting a room for the days I'm down there, but I suppose it doesn't hurt that he has property in Thousand Oaks. But I'll still have to commute when I'm down there."

"It sounds tough, to do all that traveling," said Jane.

"I'm young. What else am I supposed to do? Plus I've finally found my passion in life, my focus besides cranking through college. I won't always have to commute. I am sure in a year or two I will find something closer to home and settle down like you. But I love grant-writing."

"You've really changed a lot, yet you haven't. Maybe it's you come into your own," said Jane. "I'm happy to see you blossom."

"Thanks," replied Liz. The sounds of a cat hissing and growling interrupted their discussion. "That damned dog."

"Isn't that your cat?" asked Jane.

"Georgie's dog spends her days ferreting out wherever Morgan is hiding. I had these high hopes that the two of them were both so evil that they would naturally get along. Fat chance. They fight like a cat and a dog. But I blame Cherie since neither Fitzwilliam nor Georgie is here to defend her."

Liz walked off and found Cherie growling at a cornered Morgan Le Fey who was up on one of Fitzwilliam's shelves in the study. Both of them stopped their antics the instant she walked in even though she hadn't bothered to go fetch a water bottle to spray the pair of them. Cherie went trotting off, her toenails clicking on the hardwood floors. Morgan curled up to go back to sleep among the knickknacks on the shelf. Liz returned to Jane.

"Do you ever think about getting another dog?" asked Jane when Liz curled up with her lukewarm coffee.

"No. I think it will be many years before Fitzwilliam will ever consider getting a dog," answered Liz. She looked at the cup, sniffed and put it down on the coffee table.

"Liz," Jane said, mimicking her sister's action. "Charles and I were thinking of going to Vegas next week."

Liz' eyes snapped up to look at her sister. "Circumventing Mom?" Jane nodded.

Jane folded her arms across her chest then moved them down across her abdomen though she had no baby bump yet but her nervousness was evident to Liz.

"I…I've been hesitant to tell you. What with your graduation party and all. But also because I wasn't sure how you felt about Vegas. Last time you considered going to Vegas it was…ugly. But we would really like it if you and Fitzwilliam came with us and saw us through. I know Charles has been hesitant to tell Fitzwilliam because he didn't want to bring up past hurts and all. But will you come?"

"Oh yes, Jane, yes!" cried Liz. "I think we're ready to go to Vegas together." Liz looked at Jane. "But no trying to drag us to the altar as well. I think we're still not quite ready for that step."

"Pinkie swear," said Jane. "I just want you by my side."

"I'll be there," promised Liz.

A/N: I had a computer virus take my computer down for five days. I am just finally returning to some normalcy.