Author's Note:

Hi, guys! I'm sorry this chapter is so short, I will try to post tomorrow or the day after to make up for it. This is my last week of intense work at uni, so I'm busier than ever. I should have a break soon, so I hope I will be able to both write more and post more often.

Thank you very much for each review! Although I didn't have time to reply to all of them, I did read them all. To answer your question: I don't think possums would have been known to Lizzy then, and I think it is even less likely that the idiom 'play possum' existed, but I thought it was funny and so I decided to write it anyway. I try to keep the language formal and 'old-fashioned' as much as I can, but there might be exceptions (sometimes intentional and sometimes not!). Still, if you see something that looks too modern, let me know, just in case.

I hope you like this chapter. Thank you for your support!

Stay safe!

Jen

Many congratulations followed Mrs. Reynolds' and they knew it would only be a matter of time before even the scullery maids heard the good news. The rest of the day was one of the happiest Fitzwilliam could remember and that night, before retiring, he walked to their shared study and saved his new book among his most precious possessions, knowing it would never be in the library for as long as he lived. No, this book was the most precious of all, not because of its age or its edition, but because it was the first book dedicated to 'Papa.' He thought his children might offer him such gifts in the future and the word 'papa' would come directly from them, and he went to sleep with a smile on his face.

25.

Elizabeth woke up the next morning feeling kisses down her spine as she lay on her stomach. She smiled and remembered the previous morning when she had been the one doing the kissing. She had feared she would not be able to wake up before him, for she was now sleeping more and usually woke up after he was almost ready to go to breakfast, but she had been so excited to tell him her news, that her enthusiasm had not let her sleep until late. But apparently, now they were back to their routine of late and she had the immense pleasure to be the one woken up in such a tender fashion.

He slid the sheets down as he kissed until they covered her only from the hips down, and when his kisses reached her tailbone—which caused her to shiver—he slowly kissed his way back up. He moved her hair from her face and kissed her cheek before he whispered:

"Good morning, Elizabeth."

"Good morning," she said, sleepily.

"Should you be sleeping on your stomach, darling?"

She chuckled. "For as long as your babe allows it."

Still, she turned around and stretched her arms and legs as he watched with his usual look of both desire and fascination. He lay next to her, on his side, and laid a hand on her lower stomach. There was indeed, a tiny bump there, which was imperceptible when she was dressed, for the high waisted gowns hid her stomach quite well.

"I wanted to tell you on your birthday, but I feared you would notice it before I did. It is getting bigger every day and harder to hide. I am surprised you did not notice it, considering how much time you dedicate to study my body from every possible angle," she teased with a smile.

"I did notice it, my love," he smiled back. "I have your whole delectable body memorised."

"You noticed?" she asked. "Did you know already?"

"No, I never suspected a thing," he replied, honestly, as he started caressing her stomach. "I think it was last week when I, well... I noticed your stomach was a bit bigger. And these beauties," he grinned and his lustful eyes moved to her breasts, before he pressed a kiss to each one, "are definitely larger."

Elizabeth chuckled. "But you did not mention it."

"I may not know much about women and marriage, my love," he smiled down at her, "but I know you do not tell your wife her figure looks a bit fuller, no matter how attractive you find her."

"Shall you still love me when I am big and heavy with child?" she asked, with that impertinent tilt of her head.

"Always," he said against her skin. "You were always curvaceous, my darling, but now you are positively buxom," he attacked her neck with kisses and nibbles, making her laugh, "and I shall have to restudy you every day to memorise each small change. I admit it is a study I do not mind undertaking."

Needless to say, they were late for breakfast that morning again.

Elizabeth took great delight in writing her family with her news. She wrote a loving and sweet letter to Jane and made no effort to disguise her happiness and enthusiasm for she knew Jane had such a good and pure soul that she would never feel anything but joy at her younger sister's happiness. Had she been any other, she would have feared to provoke jealousy to another recently married woman or she would have feared the other woman thought she was bragging. But Jane would never feel or think such a thing and so she wrote happily and honestly, without censure. She usually wrote to Jane once or twice a week, so her letter to her sister was not as long as the one she wrote to Mrs. Gardiner or her father.

She particularly enjoyed her letter to her father. She wrote a very long and detailed letter about her days at Pemberley. She wrote about the estate and the tenants, about the duties that Lady Anne was slowly and subtly passing on to her, about her literary discussions with Fitzwilliam, about her lessons with Mr. Darcy and her piano duets with Georgiana. She wrote about London, leaving out her experience with Lord Brooke, but offering extensive details about the ridiculousness of some of the clothing, customs, and superior airs she had seen among the ton. She made an effort to be especially witty and amusing and to give her father a good laugh. She told him about Fitzwilliam's birthday, asked about her sisters, sent her love to her mother, and finished her letter with:

I thank you very much, dear Papa, for your help in finding and securing Fitzwilliam's book. He liked it very well indeed, although I admit he liked another surprise much better. Should I be offended that this other surprise was so very well received in comparison to my poor book which took us weeks to find and buy? In any case, I assume you shall also be happy with this surprise. Tell me, my dearest Papa, how would you like to be a grandpapa?

Your loving daughter,

Elizabeth Darcy

Oh, it was cruel to drop her news in such a way, but she knew her father would be greatly amused once he recovered from his surprise. She went back to Jane's letter and added a postscript:

P.S. Please, dearest, if you receive this letter before Papa receives his own, do not tell him my news. I have written him a very teasing letter that I hope shall surprise and amuse him. I give you permission to tell Charles, of course, but do not say anything at Longbourn. My letter to Papa should reach him at the same time than yours, and being from me, Papa might deem it important enough to read within a week.

She could not help but laugh as she started sealing her letters. She took her letter to Aunt Gardiner and pressed the stamp with the D'Arcy crest into the wax.

"What amuses you, my love?" Fitzwilliam asked as he wrote his own letters in their shared study.

She smiled as she handed him her letters to Jane and her father, happy she had not sealed them yet and watched as he read through them, smiling and chuckling from time to time.

"You are very cruel to your poor father," he said, giving her letters back. "Why do you not tell him anything at all about your pregnancy? No information about when you are due or whether you have even seen a doctor."

"There is a strategy, my dear," she teased. "My father rarely replies to his letters."

"And he shall have to reply to this letter if he wants more information, is that your evil plan?"

Elizabeth laughed. "Quite evil, indeed."

"He could ask Jane or Bingley. You have told your sister everything."

"He could, but he will not, for he shall see through my intentions and indulge his daughter for her cleverness."

"Quite clever, Elizabeth," he grinned. "My letters announcing your pregnancy to Uncle Henry, Richard, and Bingley are not nearly as pretty as yours."

"I am sure they shall be satisfied," she replied and sealed her letters to her family.

I do not own any Pride and Prejudice properties, nor do I make any money from the writing of this story.

Characters and situations, created by Jane Austen, are taken from Pride and Prejudice and from the Pride and Prejudice (1995) adaptation created by Simon Langton and distributed by BBC.

This story is released under the GPL/CC BY: verbatim copying and distribution of this entire work are permitted worldwide, without royalty, in any medium, provided attribution is preserved.