A/N: Sorry it's been so long, I got distracted and had WB for ages, please review and hopefully more coming. Any suggestions would be great!!
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The party arrived at Longbourn on the Saturday. The journey was undertaken by almost all the two families as it was only Mr Darcy missing from his wife and children while Mr Bingley and Jane had their boys sitting quietly all the way to the ----shire. It was not, as they had hopped, Mrs Bennet who welcomed them but only the unmarried daughters who greeted the travellers when the carriage halted before the door.
"Oh Lizzy, Papa will be so glad you are here, and Mother will be so diverted with the children." Kitty had grown in sense since Lydia had gone and was much more welcome company than her sister Mary. The elder girl said the necessary greetings and then went back to her books and piano.
"You need not worry about her," Kitty began, "Mary has not had time for anything now that Papa will not leave his room. She is reading all she can so as to be attractive." The girl laughed and the eldest sisters exchanged amused looks as it was very clear to them both that their sister was plain and often spoke too much of her reading. Mrs Bennet returned shortly after the party had arrived and took the children into her care, for their amusement as much as her own. Elizabeth was very distressed after she had seen her father as he did indeed stay in his room, sitting in his powdering gown with a book, a glass of sherry or brandy and his pipe. He was paler than he had been and there was an aged look to him that upset even mild Jane. It had already been decided that the old rooms of the eldest Bennet girls would be used for their children and they and their husband could share two converted rooms unless someone wished to sleep in the hermitage which was off to one side of the main house. Mrs Bennet was most distressed when Elizabeth opted for the hermitage, as it offered her the solitude she would find essential in dealing with her father's illness. What she did not tell her dear relations was that the distance from the house was enough so that if her husband was to arrive at Longbourn they could argue in peace, displaying civility when in public and thus not straining the already stretched marriage out of all proportion.
The morning dawned and after breakfast with her mother, sisters, the children and Mr Bingley, Elizabeth fancied a walk to clear her head. She had received no word from her husband and did not believe any would appear directly. Jane was content to busy herself with Mr Bennet until her younger sister was able to bare the sickness of age that had settled upon the shoulders of their most beloved parent. Mary was, quite extraordinarily, going into Meryton to meet some of Kitty's friends who were new to the area and had a brother who was reputed to be as studious as Mary herself. The youngest remaining Miss Bennet would accompany her sister but be very well entertained as her new acquaintances were slightly more like Lydia than anyone hoped. However, Mr Bennet seemed unconcerned and as such the women living at Longbourn were free to do as they would, so long as Mr Bennet was not disturbed.
Miss Bingley gave an outraged sigh before sinking onto the bed Elizabeth had been using at her brother's house. There was nothing that she had left behind that could be used as leverage to work upon her. Then the light caught the edge of one of the letters that had been written. The woman seized them with vigour and returned to her sister's company to discuss what would be done with them. There was always the option of sending them on, or even keeping them from Mr Darcy entirely, but as Miss Bingley was desperately in need of chatter and her sister in ever so great need of entertainment, they sat for an entire afternoon and discussed nothing else.