A/N: Thank you all for (still) being here!

My husband and I are leaving for our vacation tomorrow, so updates might be absent or erratic for a while, but writing is my happy place, so I will do my very best to find little pockets of writing between all the stressful wedding reception planning.

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Coconut Trees
by Anton M.

Chapter 14: Little Darcy

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The rest of the group returned to the airplane when the wind picked up, all except Charlotte and Orri, who stayed to take care of the fire – and, of course, Lydia and Wickham, who still hadn't shown up.

With virtually infinite amount of new water available, Roger, Elizabeth and Fatemeh created a system for washing feet. Doing it outside would've exposed them to potential colds (if not worse), doing it against the plane would've created a literal slope under the door after the water froze, and so a galley box was chosen for washing feet and a plastic cup used for pouring water. A pawpaw-scented shower gel was used for washing.

Everyone changed socks. Anna, Lei and Roger suffered from athlete's foot, but Lei's seemed to be the worst. He grimaced through washing, and Juan refused to let go of Lei's elbow as the little brother cried in fear. But there was not much to be done other than using ointment to curb the infection and trying to keep his feet dry and clean. Roger and Anna kept an eye on the fire outside to give Charlotte and Orri a chance to wash their feet as well.

Elizabeth helped Darcy do the same. He was too sick to pay much attention to anything, but it was still a new experience for Elizabeth to be by his side now that their feelings were out in the open. He did not show excessive affection around others beyond the proximity everyone was already used to, but the love in his eyes and voice as he made sure Elizabeth took care of herself, too, it was almost beyond her comprehension.

He did not, at least, have athlete's foot on top of his pneumonia, and when Elizabeth helped him back to his seat, he eyed her face with an earnest affection that made her feel aflame.

But his coughing, when it began, lasted longer, and the near-wheezing sound he produced made Elizabeth's hair stand on her neck. It felt eerie, the way he sometimes almost gasped for breath, and Elizabeth squeezed his hand, feeling helpless and wrecked with worry.

Roger and Orri helped Sam use the lavatory, keeping him in the horizontal position for as long as possible, and although Sam lost some blood, standing up, he did not lose consciousness when he sat down next to the plane wall again.

All the little chores were done that the weather had prevented – the waste boxes in the lavatory were emptied and rinsed with snow (and hands washed, now that they had soap and water). Water that was brought to a near-boil was cooled down and taken back to the plane to fill bottles.

The three new suitcases were opened, and a radio so antique-looking it must've been a collectible brought happy tears in Sam's eyes. It was a bright red Emerson that must've been at least half a century old, but it gave Sam some of the analog components that were virtually indistinguishable (and useless) in the new digital electronics.

Lydia and Wickham were searched for before sunset but there was no sign of them. Anna and Roger agreed to keep an eye on the fire for a few more hours to thaw more snow and keep an eye out for the missing couple, but everyone agreed that they should let the fire turn to embers in the night and start a new one in the morning. It was too foggy for the fire to be visible from afar and the excess energy to keep rekindling it was unnecessary given that they had matches.

Sam built two small lights out of the tiny LED bulbs of an e-reader and an X-box controller. The batteries were kept in the (if not warm then at least) not-freezing cocoon of hair ties and pieces of summery clothing with no other use. Sam attached the brighter one on a seat divider next to where he sat so that the lights lit up the floor and a part of the seat. Kitty delivered the other one to the other isle, and soon, most of the survivors huddled around either light, talking or reading. Charlotte and Orri gave everyone their candies and half a sandwich, and the mood was friendly and hopeful. It was almost cosy, if such a word could be used for a broken plane after it crashed.

Elizabeth helped Darcy eat and take his medicine, and made sure he drank as much water as he could.

She found Kitty. Unsure as to whether she should scold the girl or kiss her, Elizabeth gave her a hug.

"Thank you," she said. "But please don't do that again."

"Why?" Kitty asked, looking happy and a bit smug. "It worked, didn't it?"

Elizabeth held her arm around Kitty's shoulders, unsure how to explain the complexity of her history with Darcy and how wrong Kitty's plan could've gone. But Kitty was just a child, and worse decisions had been made under better circumstances.

"We have a complicated history and Darcy almost… it could've ended badly."

Kitty stared at Elizabeth's face, dim in the distant light of the lamps, thinking.

"Okay," Kitty replied.

"Thank you."

They observed the others huddling under their blankets, reading, talking, laughing. Fatemeh started humming Somewhere Over the Rainbow before Mary and Sam recognized the tune and sang to it. A moment later, everyone else joined in and a few people cheered after they finished the song. Elizabeth and Kitty smiled at each other.

"Hey, do you think Lei can talk to Li?" Kitty asked. "She seemed to be in pain before but when I showed her a thumbs up she did the same. I don't know. I don't speak Chinese."

"Mandarin," Elizabeth corrected automatically, barely registering that she said anything. Her eyes were glued on Li, huddling under the blanket in the middle row on the left side of the plane, a few metres behind the crowd crouching under one of the lamps. Kitty started saying something, but Elizabeth put her finger on her lips, staring at Li, waiting.

Li grimaced, inhaling sharply and hiding her face as if to look outside, and she did not appear to start breathing normally until half a minute later.

Elizabeth's stomach dropped. They were not equipped for this.

"See?" Kitty asked. "I told you, she's in pain but I don't understand…"

"She's having contractions," Elizabeth whispered, squeezing Kitty's shoulder.

"What?!"

Kitty's exclamation was so loud that everyone stared at them for a moment, but Elizabeth waited until the attention was gone before she let out a slow breath.

"I'll ask Lei to come talk to her," Elizabeth said, hoping that her fear wasn't showing in her voice.

Together, they walked to Darcy. He opened his eyes when Elizabeth crouched next to his head.

"Li might be going into labour."

Darcy blinked. He coughed for almost a minute before he sat up.

"No." Elizabeth squeezed his hand. "It could be hours. We can handle it until you might be needed."

"It could be Braxton Hicks," Darcy replied, voice so hoarse it was nearly unrecognizable. "Let's see if it's real, first."

Darcy took off his watch and cleared his throat. His eyes were glassy, voice hoarse, face red and sweaty. He looked miserable.

"Here." He offered his watch to Kitty. "Count the minutes between contractions."

Kitty stared at Darcy, wide-eyed. "I don't know how."

Darcy could barely form sentences, so Elizabeth squeezed Darcy's hand and answered. "Count the minutes between the times she grimaces, okay?"

"Okay," Kitty whispered, scared but determined as she sat across from Li with Darcy's watch and waited. Elizabeth left Darcy on his seat when she walked over to Lei, sitting on the floor under one of the LED lights.

"I'm sorry to disturb you but we need a translator."

Juan looked up at Elizabeth, but Lei kept unscrewing the console in front of him. "What for?"

There was no way around announcing their suspicion. "Li might be going into labour."

Lei stopped turning the screwdriver and looked up in disbelief. Sam, Charlotte, Orri, Fatemeh, Mary and William Collins all looked at Elizabeth and then at Li.

"We're not sure yet," Elizabeth said. "But we need your help."

Li did not enjoy being the centre of attention, and when Lei asked her if she was experiencing contractions her response was a vehement shake of her head, followed by a silent, repressed grimace during which she did not appear to be capable of talking.

"Six minutes," Kitty said. "I think."

Li said something in quick Mandarin while Fatemeh and Mary rushed to the suitcases.

"She says she's not in labour," Lei said.

Darcy sat opposite Li, holding his forehead, grimacing. "And how long—" His voice was a near-whisper. "How long has she not been in labour?"

Li whispered something in Mandarin.

"She says she's not having the baby right now."

"How nice," Darcy said, his hoarse voice dripping with sarcasm. "Has she informed her baby?"

Sam laughed in the corner while Darcy sat, elbows resting on his knees and palm covering his eyes. When he looked up, Fatemeh and Mary had already brought clean towels and some folded, unused fabric.

"You get some rest," Mary said, putting her hand on Darcy's shoulder. "I have three children. We will need clean, warm towels, we will need to help Li wash herself and wash our own hands. Anything else?"

Dame Catherine started talking, sounding loud and preachy from her corner, but everyone ignored her.

"I'm no midwife," Darcy rasped.

"We will do that part," Fatemeh replied. "Just tell us what we haven't thought of yet."

"Make sure—" Darcy cleared his throat. His breaths were shallow. "Make sure Roger and Anna know to keep the fire going to boil water. Do we have scissors?"

"Three pairs," Sam said.

"This could take all night," Fatemeh said, taking a deep, worried breath. "Is this her first child?"

Li nodded when Lei translated the question. Li's eyes were wide and full of fear.

"How long has she been having contractions?" Mary asked Lei.

"Two hours," Lei translated after Li whispered the answer.

"I had my kids three decades ago," Mary said. "Have the recommendations changed? Should she lie on her back?"

"No," Darcy replied. "Let her be—however is comfortable. Do not—" He cleared his throat. "Don't rush her to push before she absolutely must."

"We'll call for you if we run into trouble."

Darcy nodded, having spent all his energy talking, and Elizabeth took his arm to guide him to lie down. His breathing was rapid and shallow.

Elizabeth felt useless but grateful as Mary and Fatemeh took charge. A corner was separated from the rest of them with a fabric loosely tied to the ceiling. Li was not comfortable giving birth with men in the vicinity, but it was not to be helped, and nobody on the other side of the fabric actually wished to see much, so the make do curtain served its purpose. Darcy, although lying down, made Lei tell Li that a quick birth, while terrifying, meant that everything was going as it should. When Lei sat behind the curtain with Juan clutching his arm and translated what Darcy had said, Li let out such a loud scream that Lei facepalmed.

"I'm never having kids," he whispered, to no one in particular, but Kitty, sitting only a few metres away on the floor, looked up at him.

"Me neither," she replied, cringing before she returned to the book she was trying to focus on.

Anna and Roger delivered a galley box full of steaming, just-boiled water before Elizabeth dumped a pair of scissors into it, and the three of them stared at each other in silence. Anna joined the other two women helping Li but Elizabeth was positive she would never agree to have kids if she were to witness childbirth. She kept herself occupied and distracted in other ways, delivering items to the women, making sure the kids were okay, making sure that Darcy was drinking water. When Mary shouted that they were seeing a head, Elizabeth helped Darcy wear a surgical mask. He sat up, looking red-faced from fever and utterly miserable.

A dry towel had been wrapped around the steaming galley box for the infant, and Darcy joined the women after the baby had been delivered and wrapped in the towel.

The baby was resting on Li's chest under her coat.

"A daughter," Fatemeh whispered. A quiet smile was shared, full of disbelief.

Darcy kept himself away but walked around the seats to see the baby's face.

"She's not breathing," he whispered, and although Li did not understand English, she, too, looked at him with alarmed eyes. Elizabeth jumped to Darcy's seat, taking a scarf and wrapping it around his mouth and nose as Darcy instructed Mary to take the baby and clear the amniotic fluid from her nose and mouth, keeping her head lower than her body.

Li let out a small whimper when it did not work. Darcy took the infant, a tiny little thing in his arms, resting her stomach on his forearm and lowering her head below her feet as he vigorously rubbed the baby's back and sides. Fatemeh reached for the sterilized scissors.

"Don't cut it," Darcy whispered. "It's her only source of oxygen."

Everyone held their breaths.

"If she doesn't start breathing in half a minute I will need a volunteer who can gently blow air into her mouth and nose."

Elizabeth stepped forward but Darcy shook his head. "You can't," he rasped. "You might have what I have."

"I brushed my teeth after dinner," Roger said.

Darcy nodded, eyes tearing up as he desperately held back his coughs. Li watched, helpless and scared as Darcy massaged her daughter, but a second later the girl spluttered, started coughing, and then cried bloody murder.

A collective breath was let out as everyone thanked whatever deities they believed in. Li watched Darcy with tears in her eyes as he placed the girl back on her chest. Li smiled, looking deliriously happy as she spoke quick Mandarin, clearly thanking Darcy, but he was so exhausted from standing up that he collapsed on the row ahead of her and held his head in his arms. He tore the scarf and mask from his face and almost wheezed as he breathed. Elizabeth squeezed his shoulder, feeling helpless and terrified by the sounds his breathing was starting to make.

"Man that is an ugly potato," Lei said. "Do all babies look this ugly?"

The crowd laughed.

"Please don't say that to Li," Fatemeh said, looking happy but exhausted.

Lei said something in Mandarin, and Li paused.

"Darcy," she whispered, eyes shimmering as she looked at her daughter.

Darcy took a while to stop coughing and clearing his throat. "Yes?"

"No," Lei said. "That's what she said her daughter's name was. Darcy."

"She can't name her Darcy."

"Why not?"

"It's not fit for a girl. It's a last name."

Lei spoke to Li before he shrugged. "I don't think she cares."

Everyone congratulated Li on a healthy baby, and while she didn't understand their specific words, she understood the sentiment. Darcy instructed most of the crowd to leave to give Li relative privacy, and Anna massaged Li's stomach for half an hour before Li delivered the placenta. Elizabeth prepared Darcy's medical kit. Darcy explained the procedure as he knew it before Mary, with clean hands, cut the umbilical cord and wrapped it in sterile gauge as best she could.

Exhausted eyes met, and the women hugged each other. Elizabeth was so beyond impressed with the three women, Mary, Fatemeh and Anna, that she did not know how to put her feelings into words and hugged them all twice. She had prepared for a lot, but she could never have delivered a baby with such patience, knowledge and experience as the three women had. The women, in turn, expressed their joy that Elizabeth would be well-equipped to deliver Darcy's baby just about anywhere in the world, given his quick and patient handling of little Darcy.

Li, wrapped in blankets, looked dazed in her exhaustion and joy, but she needed help nursing, and Elizabeth left the women to share their knowledge in miming, expressions, and three different languages.

When Darcy slumped in his seat, wheezing with every breath he took, Elizabeth sat beside him, holding him, her joy replaced by a sickening worry.

"Elizabeth," Darcy rasped, squeezing her hand. His desperate, affectionate eyes brought tears in hers.

"I love you," she whispered.

His eyes softened, but he took a painful-looking breath and swallowed. The laughter, talking and joking faded as Darcy rested his forehead against hers.

"I could not be more proud of you," he said, quietly, clearing his throat.

"Stop it." Elizabeth sniffed. "You stop that right now. You'll be okay. Tell me later."

"No." Darcy cleared his throat. His breathing was quick and shallow. "I can barely— every breath is— it's like, like a knife. My lungs— it feels heavy. After I, after I fall asleep, I may not—"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence." Elizabeth's throat was on fire. "You'll be okay."

Darcy, ignoring her, kissed her knuckles before he pulled back his sleeve and took off his precious family heirloom. He uncurled Elizabeth's fingers before squeezing them around his watch. Elizabeth's face crumpled as she fought her tears.

"I want you to, to have it," Darcy rasped.

"No," she whispered. "No. No. You'll be okay."

Darcy attempted a smile. "I would give you my—my bracelet but, but I'm afraid I—" He coughed into his shoulder. "I'm quite determined to be buried with it."

"Oh my God, Darcy. Please."

He took short, deliberate breaths as he slid his hand in his breast pocket and held out a folded piece of paper to Elizabeth.

"Here."

She shook her head, refusing to take it.

"No. I don't care what it is."

Darcy looked at her, softly, desperately, looking so sick and in love that Elizabeth's world blurred.

He slipped it in her coat pocket.

"It's a part of my, my will," he whispered, taking both of her hands and squeezing them. "I wrote it today. Georgie will not—contest you for what's rightfully yours but my handwriting, it's, it's all the evidence a court would need if she does."

"Shut up," Elizabeth whispered through her tears.

Darcy trailed his fingers along her face, admiring, memorizing, remembering.

"Those months I spent with you were—" A coughing attack hit him for almost a minute before he gathered his breath. His inhale was sharp and he grimaced through it. "They were the happiest of my life."

Tears escaped her blurry vision as she swallowed.

"Mine, too," she replied, voice so heavy with tears she could barely hear her own words.

She couldn't take it anymore. She sat in his lap, careful not to crush his chest as she wrapped her arms around him and buried her nose in his neck.

"You are not allowed to—" she whispered, desperate to hide her sobs. "You cannot leave me."

"I love you," he replied. "But listen. If I do not wake up, I, I—there will be a few hours during which I might be unconscious but, but I'll have a pulse. Only take my coat after—"

"No."

"Please," Darcy whispered.

"No."

"Elizabeth," Darcy repeated, struggling to breathe. "My pneumonia seems to be resistant to penicillin—"

"No."

"It's okay. And listen—when, when you're ready to move on—"

"No," she whispered. "Never. I cannot—"

Elizabeth rocked with silent sobs against Darcy. He put his large palm against her back, rubbing it, and she felt unreal heat radiating off of him.

"Just find a bloke who, who doesn't take—two bloody years to realize what a brilliant girl—"

"No," she repeated, inhaling sharply through her sobs. "I love you. I love you. You're going to—to be okay. You'll come home with me and rub it in Caroline's face that we're, we're together. You will ask me to move in with you and, and, and—hate how Coconut sharpens her claws on all your fancy furniture. I'm supposed to make you squirm when you're not living up to the man you promised you'd be, and—I'll admit one night under your fairy lights that I'm pregnant and you'll kiss me breathless and, and, we'll have to find a bigger place. I want that. I want you. I want—" She sobbed, taking a shaky breath. "I want your love, and I want it always."

Darcy pulled back his face to see hers. His eyes were shimmering.

"Sounds like a dream," he whispered. He swallowed and took sharp breaths, smiling through his tears.

"It's not a dream," she insisted. "It's not. You'll get better, and we'll do everything—everything I just told you."

Darcy lingered against her face, trailing faint little lines on her cheek with his knuckles before he kissed her cheek. "I'll fall asleep to that dream."

Elizabeth helped him lie down and cried harder when he gasped for breath. She crouched beside him as he held her hand against his lips. "I love you," he said.

She pressed a desperate, lingering kiss against his lips, beyond caring whether she got his pneumonia at this point.

"I love you more," she whispered.

"You can't," he rasped, attempting a smile. "I definitely love you more."

"Then how about you wake up tomorrow so that we can continue this debate?"

They whispered words of love as Elizabeth sobbed in silence. She kissed his face, holding his hand, desperately wishing for him to hold on and to be okay, but it was probably a worse idea to keep him awake than to let him sleep, even with the risk it posed. When his gasping breaths evened, Elizabeth pressed one final kiss against his lips and covered him in blankets. She stood up and wiped her face, stretching, ignoring the burn in her throat. Somewhere, in the back of her mind, she realized that Orri and Charlotte were agreeing to keep an eye on the fire for the night while Fatemeh, Anna and Mary were sorting out a night shift to help Li with washing and taking care of little Darcy. All kinds of small decisions were taking place around her, and she felt a surreal determination wash over her.

She took out her camera and took photos, as she often did, of the night. She adjusted the watch around her wrist that Darcy had given her, and she knew that she would not go to sleep before she had helped Sam build the damn transmitter. She felt almost enraged at the unfairness of the world as she walked over to Sam and crouched beside him.

"Explain what needs to be done."

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A/N: Thank you all so much for reading! Your thoughts mean the world to me.