Author's Note:

Hi, guys! 60 chapters, can you believe this? I'm so sorry for the long wait. I've been working a lot lately (fortunately!) and I have little time and energy left to write, edit, and post. I have the feeling that you'll have to be patient with me from now on. I promise I'll do my best.

Thank you for your support. I still read every single one of your reviews and they keep me going. So, here's a new fluffy chapter. I hope you enjoy it!

Stay safe!

Jen

They heard a moaning sound as Bennet stretched and yawned.

"Papa?" he mumbled when his green, sleepy eyes spied his father in the library. "I was reading with Grandpapa Bennet."

"I see you were," Fitzwilliam smiled. "Come, let us find your nurse."

Bennet raised his arms to be picked up and then rested his head on his father's shoulder to continue his nap.

"I shall write to my solicitor today and I will speak to Elizabeth about going with you."

"Thank you, Son," Mr. Bennet nodded.

"You are welcome. I shall leave you to read in peace."

60.

Fitzwilliam did go to London with his father-in-law to meet with his solicitor. The search for the new heir of Longbourn started both across the ocean and in England. Mr. Bennet explained the Bennet family tree as far as he could go and possible heirs were listed. No one spoke yet of the possibility of not finding any, for it seemed too good to be true and neither Mr. Baker, the solicitor, nor Fitzwilliam wished to raise false hopes in the old man's heart.

Finally, after several days at Mr. Baker's office, father and son headed to Longbourn to join Mrs. Bennet and the girls. Fitzwilliam stayed the night with his in-laws and started the journey back to Pemberley to be reunited with his wife and children. He was barely out of his carriage when he was attacked by a giggling almost-two-year-old boy.

"Bennet!" he heard his amused wife chastise their son who was too happy to care.

"Papa, papa, papa!" he kept saying as he jumped up and down.

"Calm down, Son," he said, pretending to care about such ungentlemanly behaviour, but before Bennet could feel any disappointment, he was picked up and thrown up in the air. He squealed and laughed, making his enthusiasm even worse. "I am happy to see you, too."

"Papa, you were gone too long," Bennet complained once the squealing was over and he was now calm in his father's arms.

"I had to help your grandpapa with some business, you knew that," Fitzwilliam explained as he walked to his wife—who was holding his younger son—his parents, and his sister.

"But it was too looong," Bennet whined.

"It was," he agreed as he reached Elizabeth. He wanted to kiss her deeply, press her body against his, and bury his face in her neck where he would inhale her scent, which he had missed so dearly all these days and nights. However, although his family was now quite used to witness their physical affection, what he had in mind was too shocking for his family to see, and therefore, he settled for kissing her cheek while his eyes promised a more proper—that is to say, quite improper—reunion later.

"I look forward to it, Mr. Darcy," Elizabeth whispered when he leaned down to kiss Matthew's head.

That impertinent remark almost made him change his mind and scandalise their entire family, but he resisted the impulse and greeted his sister next before shaking his father's hand and kissing his mother's cheek.

They soon moved to the parlour where Fitzwilliam told his family the arrangement that they had agreed upon with his solicitor and Mr. Bennet.

"I hope the search does not take too long," Elizabeth said. "'Tis better knowing that living in suspense."

"I agree," Fitzwilliam said, reaching out to take Matthew in his arms now that Bennet had moved from his lap. "My God, how much can he grow in a sennight?"

Lady Anne laughed. "Babes do have that tendency."

Fitzwilliam watched as flapping arms reached out, waving tiny fists around. He heard his family chat around him, but he concentrated on the big brown eyes staring back at him from a little round face. He brushed a chubby pink cheek with his thumb and felt his heart overflow with love.

"Matty can still not play," Bennet said softly next to him. Although they usually called the youngest Darcy "Matthew" or "Matt," Bennet had decided he was "Matty" to him.

"He cannot," Fitzwilliam smiled at his oldest.

"He's too little," Bennet pouted. "Mama says I have to wait."

"You do, Darling, he's so little now that he could get hurt if you played with him."

"Will he grow as tall as me?"

"Yes, he will, but you will need to be patient."

"Come," Elizabeth said, "let us go find Mrs. Harris while your father refreshes himself."

The family of four climbed up the stairs where the youngest two Darcys were delivered to their nursemaid with the promise that they would be reunited with their father as soon as he could.

The door of their bedchamber had just closed behind Fitzwilliam when Elizabeth was turned around and kissed within an inch of her life. She intertwined her fingers in his curls as he started sucking on her throat. She moaned despite herself and felt his hand on her lower back, pushing her body against his. His kisses moved to her low décolletage where he took delight on every inch of her breasts that he could reach.

Suddenly, they heard a knock on the door, and Fitzwilliam removed his lips from his wife's chest only enough to growl:

"Who is it?!"

"Uhm, Master, you called for me?" his valet's voice came from the other side of the door.

Elizabeth giggled as her husband sighed.

"You did call for him," she whispered.

He looked down at himself and realised he was in no state to be seen by his valet.

"Come back in ten minutes, Rogers."

"Yes, Sir."

"Ten minutes, huh?" Elizabeth smiled mischievously.

He barely registered her words, for his gaze was fixed on her swollen lips. He ran a thumb over them and tried to resist the urge to lose himself on them again.

"Matthew was born a month ago and Dr. Johnson has not said we could yet," he sighed.

"Probably not for another fortnight, but..." she trailed off with an impish smile as she ran her hand down his chest. "No one said that I could not welcome my husband home in a way he shall not forget."

When she knelt in front of him and started unbuttoning his breeches, he knew he would need more than ten minutes to recover.

It was very late by the time that Bennet was finally asleep. Certainly later than his usual bedtime, but his father's return had excited the little boy too much for any rest to be had until he had drained all of his energy. His parents could have left him to Mrs. Harris' care, but Fitzwilliam would not hear of leaving his son when he had clearly missed him. When Bennet finally went to sleep and Matthew was, once again, fed, Fitzwilliam took him from his mother, who retired to their chambers. He burped him and, delighting in their time alone together, soothed him to sleep once again.

He was finally able to slip into bed and take his soft, warm wife into his arms.

"I missed you," she whispered against his chest.

"I missed you, too, all three of you. But I felt I had to be there for your father."

"And I thank you for that. Papa is trying, but he has never been a man with initiative."

"I think he pretends he does not care who inherits Longbourn."

"He has always known, at least since Lydia was born, that it would not go to his children. I think he tries not to let it affect him too much."

"Yet I cannot imagine what I would do if my estate were to go to anyone but Bennet. If it were taken right from my son's hands... It is not right."

"But Papa does not have a son."

"I would still feel the same had Ben been a girl. Pemberley should go to my own flesh and blood, no matter their sex."

"You have always known it would. Longbourn is smaller and the Bennets do not go as far back as your ancestors."

"It does not matter. It is his estate, his legacy. And Longbourn's Master has been a Bennet for long enough."

Elizabeth sighed into his neck and he immediately knew that she, as her father, was trying not to let it show that she felt the loss most keenly. He kissed her forehead and pressed his hand on her back to bring her closer.

"I am sorry, Dearest. It is more than an estate or a house—it is your home and it shall always be where you spent your childhood, those idyllic years in which your most distressing concern was whether or not your father would find out that you stole his chocolate."

This served its purpose and made her laugh.

"He did, apparently. I was not as clever as I thought I was," she chuckled. She pulled away from her warm haven of his neck to look at him in the darkness of their bedchamber. "I forgot to tell you. Yesterday, we found Bennet with chocolate around his lips and a very innocent expression on his face. Mrs. Harris believes he ran to the kitchen where he convinced the cook to give him some."

"He is his mother's son," Fitzwilliam laughed. "And how was Matthew?"

"He ate, slept, and cried as any one-month-old babe should. He is fascinated with faces and I believe, particularly, his brother's. Ben has been making faces to him and I think Matt likes it. He cannot stop staring at him."

Fitzwilliam smiled adoringly for a few seconds before he grew serious. "Can I confess something, Elizabeth?"

She was surprised by this but agreed immediately. "You can tell me whatever you wish."

"I should be ashamed of myself for it. I am."

She was now so shocked she had to move away to look at him better. She finally found his eyes in the dark and cupped his cheek.

"Is not your wife supposed to be your safe place? I shall not judge you," she said with a serious countenance, before smiling. "Unless you mean to confess that you fell in love with a young debutante when you were in London."

It was his turn to be stunned and that, combined with his indignation, caused him first to be silent and then to sputter.

"That's... that's ridiculous! Are you out of your mind?"

She laughed and kissed him. "I suppose then that it was not that."

He was still staring at her with his mouth slightly open which made her laugh even more.

"What was I thinking when I married such an impertinent, teasing woman!"

"You were quite insane, indeed, but love does that to people."

"Are you done laughing?" he asked, trying very hard not to smile.

"For now. I would not laugh at a real concern of yours, so you might proceed."

"I was thinking about Matthew..." he trailed off, trying to put his thoughts in order. "I do not know how to say this without losing your respect."

"Fitzwilliam! Surely you are the one teasing me now! What could you say that would make me lose my respect to you?"

"I shall try to explain myself," he sighed and took courage in the comfort of her eyes. "I love you so much it is overwhelming sometimes. You fill my heart completely. When you told me you were carrying Bennet, I was overjoyed. The fact that we had created a human being out of our love was almost too much to bear. But then, I... there was a part of me that worried."

"About what?"

"I... I was afraid I might not... be able to... to love him as much as I love you. I thought my heart was already full and there was no more to give. I was taught that parents are supposed to love their children more than anything in the world and I worried I would not be able to love him more than I love you. It simply did not seem possible to me."

"Why did you not tell me this?"

"And have you think I would be the worst father in the world? No, I think not."

"I would not have thought so!"

"I needn't have worried. When I first held him, I understood. Suddenly, there was room enough in my heart for both of you and my love for him, although still quite different from my love for you, was just as strong and as overwhelming. My love for you came slowly, I do not know exactly when or how, but it was not love at first sight."

"Don't I know that," she smiled.

"But mine for Bennet was at first sight. Perhaps it was all the more overwhelming for being so sudden. And then you were with child again."

"And you worried again?"

"Yes. I thought I could not possibly love another as I loved Bennet, being my first son and my heir... I was wrong again. I love Matthew just as much as I love Bennet. I am starting to understand that there can always be more room. So," he finally smiled at her, "if you are to give me ten more children, I now think I can accommodate them."

"Ten!" she chuckled. "I do not think so!"

"Well, we shall see."

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.