A/N: Thanks for the kind responses and reviews! I've caved in and decided to wrap this story up better. I've mapped it out and there should be 28 chapters in total.

Seven Weeks Later

As the carriage rolled to a stop, Elizabeth looked up to the grandeur that was Rosings Park. She had not visited since her engagement to Fitzwiliam, almost 18 months ago. Looking down at her son swaddled in blankets in the basket next to her, she could hardly believe how much her life had changed, how her feelings had changed. The last time she was here she practically loathed Mr. Darcy and dreaded any interaction with him. Now, the only thing she dreaded was spending a week with a dour Catherine de Bourgh.

Scooping her son up in her arms, she handed the basket to one of the footmen before accepting her husband's help stepping out of the carriage. Georgiana followed behind her.

They were taken to the sitting room where Lady Catherine sniffed at their entrance. "You're a week late," she said as a greeting to the Darcys.

"My apologies, ma'am," her husband replied. "I wanted to make sure it was safe to travel with the babe."

Lady Catherine sniffed again. "You did not have to travel here with your family. You could have come here alone. Well, show the new Darcy heir to me if you must."

Elizabeth warily approached with Alexander. When she was about a foot away, the other woman held up her hand and Elizabeth stopped, propping her son in her arms so his great-aunt could get a good look at his face.

"Hmph. He is not very attractive, is he? His face is all red and smushed. He must take after your side of the family, Mrs. Darcy."

Now, Elizabeth had never expected Lady Catherine to gush over her child, but surely the woman could at least be civil and not insult the babe?

Darcy, sensing his wife's rising anger, interjected, "We have had a long journey and would like to settle in. Would you mind aunt if a servant showed us to our room?"

"Go, go, if you must," his aunt replied, shooing them away with her handkerchief. "I shall see you at supper."

Elizabeth kissed and cooed to her son. "You are not an ugly baby. No matter what that wretched old woman says. You will be very handsome one day, like your father."

"With fine eyes like his mother," Dacy said, pecking her cheek.

"Oh, why did we agree to come here? I believe Lady Catherine has to be one of the most horrid women on earth. It's clear that she still resents me for marrying you. She thinks I stole you from her daughter Anne."

Her husband chuckled. "You cannot steal something from someone who never had it to begin with. My heart has always been only yours."

Elizabeth's left brow shot up. "I find that hard to believe. In your almost thirty years of life on this earth, you, Fitzwilliam Darcy, have never fancied another woman?"

"Of course, I fancied other ladies from time to time, but I never loved nor certainly never wanted to marry any of them. You alone hold that distinction."

Tilting her face towards his, she happily received the kiss he bestowed on her lips.

Lord Duffington did not chew. He only swallowed. He tore at the meat from the turkey leg like a starving dog, but one quick glance at his middle proved he had not gone without a meal in a long time, if ever.

Elizabeth watched as Anne genteelly cut and placed tiny bites of carrot in her mouth. She was looking healthier. At least, healthier than she had been eighteen months ago. There was rosiness in the woman's cheeks and her eyes didn't look so sullen and sunken.

As if reading her thoughts, Lady Catherine said, "Anne looks much improved, does she not? We switched to a new doctor a year ago and although he has some strange notions like encouraging Anne to take daily walks and to eat fruits and vegetables at each meal, it seems like his methods are working. She is becoming quite handsome."

Her daughter blushed at the praise. Elizabeth wondered if Anne's engagement had anything to do with her improved health, but it didn't seem as if she took much interest in her betrothed. She had barely spoken to the man throughout supper.

Oh, but Lord Duffington had spoken and at great length about the incredibly fascinating world of breeding and training hunting dogs. Before Elizabeth had a chance to reply to Lady Catherine's comment, the man took a swig of wine and began again, "Speaking of vegetables, my breeder has recommended that we add carrots and potatoes to the dogs' diet…"

Elizabeth zoned the man out, shooting a quick glance to her husband who just took a bite and chewed. She glanced at the other couple at the table, Georgiana and her Sotherby. Apparently, the late Earl of Wessex had been good friends with Lady Catherine's husband and she'd had no compunction inviting his son to stay for the week before her daughter's wedding. It had been very kind of the older woman to invite her niece's soon-to-be betrothed. And Georgiana could not be more delighted. Elizabeth couldn't help but grin when she saw how in love the two were.

Interrupting her future son-in-law's soliloquy on hunting dogs, Lady Catherine turned her sharp eyes to Elizabeth and she couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding. "So, your youngest sister has married George Wickham?" Elizabeth's eyes darted to Georgiana's face in concern, but the name seemed to no longer hold any power over the young girl as she tilted her head as if to question where her aunt was going with this topic instead of that pained expression her face used to behold at the mention of that man's name. This was going nowhere good, Elizabeth was certain. "They married quite hastily. It was rather odd. Why was that, Mrs. Darcy? Why did they not marry before their family and friends?"

Elizabeth was quite adept at conversation, but this was a topic she was not sure she could navigate without being untruthful. Thankfully, a maid arrived at just that moment asking for her as Alexander's nursemaid needed to speak with her. Elizabeth politely excused herself and left the dining room as quickly as was proper.

As she finished feeding her son, she smiled down at him. "Not only does the doctor say my milk is better for you, but you help me get out of situations I don't want to be in."

She laid him down in his bassinet, deciding to change into her own nightclothes. She could go back downstairs and socialize, but she found she did not want to. She was not alone for long, for her husband strode into the room shortly after.

He looked at his wife and said, "You're not going back down?"

She shook her head. "No, I find that I've had quite enough of Lady Catherine's company for one evening."

Darcy walked over to where she was standing by the fire and wrapped his arms about her waist. "You know it was in this room that I made up my mind to ask you to be my wife."

"Really?" Elizabeth asked, leaning into her husband and placing her hands on top of his.

"Mmhmm," he said, nuzzling her neck. "And it was on that bed that you haunted my dreams."

"I? Haunt your dreams?"

"Yes, I would spend all night tossing and turning, thinking of you, wanting to know what it was like to kiss you, to hold you, to… well, to do other things."

"Hmm, those don't sound like nightmares."

"They were when I thought I could never have you."

"You have me now," she murmured.

"I do. I am very thankful for that." Placing a kiss on her shoulder, he noted, "It's been awhile since I've had you though. Since before Alexander."

Although her back was still to him, their bodies began to gently sway. "The doctor came to visit you earlier this week. To check on you and the babe."

"Yes, that is correct."

"And you are in good health?"

"Mmhmm."

"And we can resume…?"

Elizabeth turned to him. "Yes, we can resume."

After a beautiful night spent in her husband's loving arms, Elizabeth found she could face the prospect of Lady Catherine much more cheerfully the next morning as she made her way down to breakfast. Darcy had already left to go hunting with Sotherby and Lord Duffington. It would be only the ladies who ate together.

As she skipped down the last step, feeling more girlish than the married mother that she was, a hand reached out and grabbed her by the arm, dragging her into a nearby empty room.

"Anne? What is this about? Is everything alright?"

The woman, as it was inappropriate to call her a girl as she was six years older than herself, stood pale-faced and trembling before her.

"You're the only one I can talk to about this, the only one I think will understand."

"Understand what?"

"I can't do this. I can't marry Lord Duffington."