He drops off her official birthday gift before anyone else arrives at the office – the latest Chanel has to offer and a collection of all her favorite flowers collated into one gigantic bouquet. She thanks him with a wink when she arrives, before she's flooded by everyone else's congratulations and ill-masked attempts at gaining her favor.
He has her favor.
After all these years, he inexplicably does – and he intends to keep things that way.
He stays late on her birthday, like he does every year. And when everyone else has gone ahead to the penthouse bar across the street, waiting for Lizzie to finish up and join them, Darcy carries the real birthday gift – all twenty carats of sparkle – out to her desk and clips it on her beautiful, delicate wrist.
He wants to kiss her face when she beams up at him like this, so he lets himself kiss her hand instead.
When everyone oohs and ahs over Lizzie's personalized bracelet, she smiles and attributes it to a secret admirer. Only when no one's looking would she send Darcy and his smirk an air kiss and a conspiring wink.
Darcy's smirk deepens.
All the glamor fades two days later, when he hears her sobbing in the abandoned ladies' room after hours. It was supposed to be a last stop, a quick visit to the restroom before he heads to the bar to woo his faceless lady for the night.
"Lizzie?"
"Sorry, Will, I – " She wipes her face frantically. He enters the tiled room fully to take her by the shoulders.
"Lizzie, what's wrong?"
"I just hope it won't come out positive." She sobs – and it takes him a few seconds to register what exactly she's holding in her trembling hands.
Darcy swallows. "I'll stay with you. We'll figure it out."
"Thank you."
He does wait with her, nameless bimbo at the bar forgotten, until she finally gains enough courage to take the test and wait for those three excruciating minutes while folded in his arms.
He wishes he were holding her for other reasons.
She shakes with relief when the test – and the next one – come out negative. Darcy smiles faintly.
"Whose would it have been?" He asks later, trying to sound casual, when he helps her pack up her stuff for the day.
Lizzie looks at him, straight in the eye, and he could swear there are tears in hers. "Some random guy I met at the bar last month. It would have been disastrous."
Darcy feels his chest tighten. "Good thing then."
"Yeah, very good thing. It was this moment of weakness and I – " She sighs deeply. He lets her. "Thank you again."
"No problem."
He wonders if he should hug her, though he really isn't the hugging type. He thinks about it for too long and misses the chance.
"Enjoy your night. Call me if you need anything." Lizzie's smiles borders on a smirk. She knows what he was planning to do.
But what Darcy knows now is that he's not about to have another one-night stand with a random stranger ever, ever again.
"I'll drive you," he offers.
"I'm a little on edge, but not drunk. Don't let me derail your conquests." Lizzie smirks and sashays her way out.
He wishes he could tell her she's the only conquest he's ever really wanted to win.
"Congratulations!" everyone shouts when they crowd around Lizzie on Monday. Darcy figures they're adulating her latest professional feat. When the universe pools its resources and creates the miracle that is Lizzie Bennet, it's only natural for mere mortals to fall at her feet.
It's not until an hour later, when professionalism and a very stern and frowning Catherine de Bourgh finally kicks everyone back to their own desks, that Lizzie enters his office.
"Will." There's a fondness to her tone. He likes that fondness. "Is everything alright?"
"Seeing as I haven't had to call on your emergency services the whole weekend, I suppose everything can be considered to be going tolerably well."
She chuckles, but it's not as hearty as her usual way.
It makes him look up.
And it makes him exert all his effort not to gape at the gigantic diamond ring on her left hand ring finger. He saw that design when procuring her bracelet last week. It's not bespoke, not like his gift for her.
"I see congratulations are in order?" He manages.
She offers a smile, but it doesn't really reach her eyes.
"Thank you."
"I hope it's not the guy from the bar."
Now, she laughs. "No, thank God. John was away during that time, and I just couldn't – anyway, thank you – for everything."
"You still have to butter me up to approve your honeymoon leave."
"Copy that – boss." They exchange smiles – and he keeps his up until she takes her coffee break.
John – John Lucas – he searches and finds and researches within minutes. There are pictures of him and Lizzie – nice, tame, happy pictures. By all accounts, it looks like they've been dating for at least a year.
He wonders why she's never mentioned it – or if it's he who hasn't been listening at all.
A/N: She's not an angel either, hehe. And they need each other because no one else can know the other better or care for the other more!