START NOTES: starts off with a bit of Lizzy's POV, then switches to Darcy's. I thought it was gettin a lil long, so I split up the birthday scene so I could post ASAP. Pretty much all fun birthday fluff that made me happy :) have a great day, y'all! ~Vinny

"Are you feeling selfish yet? Feeling the greed beginning ooze through your veins? Sensing the PAIN of guilt creeping into your heart?"

"Oh I'm sensing a pain alright, but it's in a lower region than my heart," Fitzwilliam said deadpan.

It was probably only Lizzy that noticed the slight twitch to the side of his upper lip, the brief twinkle in his earthy brown eyes, that gave him away.

As Blondie staggered back, really playing up the bit, Lizzy silently thanked him for the distraction. They had just about finished with the cake (Lizzy had taken lots of pictures of Fitzwilliam blowing out the candles) and were getting ready for presents. But Fitzwilliam had started to look a bit too… relaxed for Lizzy's taste.

She tightened her fingers just slightly, and some of the frosting squelched between her knuckles. The handful of cake was moist and gooey, and was beginning to melt a bit, but Lizzy wasn't really worried. She would be wiping it off soon.

"Come ON, Williams!" Fitzwilliam was laughing, "What are you waiting for? Let's skip the teasing and get right to the presents, shall we?"

"Ohhh, but we're not all here…," Blondie trailed off. Only one of his eyes blinked. Lizzy's grin widened. He knew the plan exactly.

On the other hand, her oblivious boyfriend had recoiled his chin, and was glancing around the table. "Hey," he said, "Where's Li.."
"Hi," Lizzy interrupted, whispering in that low, breathy voice she knew he liked.

Her chin was perched above his head, and so when he startled, she was able to see the look of delighted surprise on his face. With her clean hand, Lizzy skimmed his chest, pulling him towards the back of the chair.

"Hi," Fitzwilliam replied, smiling. He tilted his face up to kiss her— just according to plan.

With the whooping noise of a demented kazoo, Lizzy smacked her cake-filled hand onto Fitzwilliam's nose, getting bits of blue frosting on his cheek and lips.

He cried out, then stopped. He touched his face.

Across the table, Georgiana gasped, and turned white. She only breathed again when her older brother cracked a smile, wiped a hand across his nose, and licked the frosting from between his fingers.

"You," he said, pointing a now blue-stained hand at Lizzy, "are despicable."

"And you," she laughed, kissing the cake on the bridge of his nose, "are messy."

"And whose fault is that?!" Fitzwilliam cried, laughing.

"Not mine, I'm never at fault."

Fitzwilliam snorted as Lizzy winked at him, passed a napkin his way, then sauntered off to grab the presents. It was only after he lovingly watched her walk away, that his eyes turned to his family— or, more specifically, those of his appalled sister.

"..what?"

Georgiana's mouth closed, then opened again. "I… I didn't know you would be.."

Darcy's eyebrows lifted slowly with every second of silence that went by. They were almost to his hairline when he finally asked, "That I would be.. what?"

"Darcy. You're like a completely different person 'round Lizzy," Williams filled in, taking another bite of cake.

"And.. is that a bad thing?" He asked, wiping off his face with little success.

"No, no not at all!" Georgie cried. "I'm just…" She smiled at him, her thin face folding into the shape. "I'm so happy for you."

"I.. I am too." Darcy breathed out. He looked after Lizzy, to where she was now walking towards him with her arms laden with presents. "I don't think I could be happy without her at this point," he murmured, his voice thick with heartfelt honesty.

Williams and Georgiana looked at each other. Nobody said another word until Lizzy rejoined the table, plopping down the stack of gifts with a sigh.

"Jeez Lousie," she grumbled good-naturedly, "What did y'all get him? Bricks?"

"Coal, actually," Williams grinned.

Darcy laughed, then accepted the two boxes from his cousin. He opened the shoebox-sized one first. "Ties?" he said, raising an eyebrow. "Isn't that what kids get their deadbeat dads for father's day?"

"Noooo, it's what MEN get their deadbeat dads for father's day. Older cousin also works too. Besides, did you even look at them?"

Darcy heaved a sigh, but really, he was touched by his cousin's gift. He and Williams didn't always get along, but he was the closest thing Darcy had ever had to a brother. A boisterous and annoying meathead of a brother, but wasn't that what brothers were all about? So Darcy smiled as he looked through the box of ties. Some of them were very very nice ones, Armani (his favorite type), and even the ones that weren't incredibly expensive, he could see working with a suit or two of his.

He slipped the emoji ones a little deeper into the gift wrapping, in the hopes that the light of day (or Lizzy) might never see them.

The second box was smaller, with a ribbon over the top. Darcy unwrapped it to find two tickets to Vienna, and a hastily scribbled birthday card. He grinned, and pulled his cousin in for a hug.

"Thank you, Williams."

His cousin laughed, and hugged him back for a second before pushing him away. "Happy Birthday, ya knucklehead."

Darcy just shook his head at that, and reached for the largest gift, the one that Georgiana had placed on the table softly, as if afraid to break it. Darcy carefully unwrapped it to find.. "A typewriter?"

"Look closer at the keys," Georgie said, shyly.

Darcy took it out of the box (straining a little), and peered at the keys. Instead of letters, each circular key was labeled with a different little picture. They were in hieroglyphics.

"Georgie, what..?"

"I thought it would be cool," she blurted out. "Since you have the keyboard memorized already, you would just need to have a grammar chart or something, and then we could write secret messages or notes or…"

She stopped her babbling, as Darcy pushed back his chair and lifted her into a hug. He spun her around fast, her feet above the ground, and she started to laugh.

"HIEROGLYPHICS!" he shouted, still spinning her. "HOW DID YOU EVEN FIND THAT?"

"I had it made!" Georgie said, once he set her down and she started breathing again. "I thought it would be cool, and you would find it interesting."

"I do! I do! I've never.. Wow, just, wow."

"Yeah, wow is right," Lizzy chimed in, "That's so cool, Georgie! I totally want one of those now."

Georgiana blushed under the praise, and shrank back into a smile. Darcy grinned at his two favorite women in the world, basking in the atmosphere for just a minute, before a clearing throat brought him out of the moment.

"aHEM," Williams said, impishly, "You still need to open Lizzy's. She won't tell me what she got you."

"I SAID it's a surprise!" She shot back.

Darcy bobbed his head in amusement, saying nothing, and reached for the presents. Lizzy pushed them towards him, her smile fading back to almost hesitance. "I got you three. I.. uh, wasn't sure if you would like the first one, and the other two seemed kinda small, so.."

"Lizzy." He put his cake-stained hand over hers, and smiled. "I'm sure whatever you get me, I'm going to love."

She smiled back at him. There was a hair, a brownish-goldish curl, that was stuck to her freckles by a smear of blue frosting. Her eyes swirled with shades of green intertwining the irises. Her delicate hand, dwarfed by his own meaty paw, curled around two of his fingers.

Darcy was sure, that in that moment, and every one going forward, he would love this woman, forever.

It wasn't his fault that he thought this was true.

It wasn't his fault he couldn't see into the future.

Otherwise, he would have kissed her right then. And told her he loved her, over and over and over again. And then, maybe, nothing would have gone wrong, after the balloons popped and the party ended.

Maybe.

END NOTES: OKAY OKAY. Now. I KNOW that wasn't what a lot of y'all wanted to hear, but I have to prepare you guys for what's coming up. I won't be too harsh, I promise ;) I couldn't take an unhappy ending either lol. I will have the next one, and maybe a few more after that being fluffy, but there's ANGST COMING SOON. And I wanted to keep y'all aware of that :)

Anyway, try to stay positive, take the bitter with a spoonful of sweet, and don't forget to comment! I love reading y'alls stuff 3
~Vinny