AN: Don't worry, I will post the whole story here :) It will just be the last thing I post, so if you want to follow me, either you can find me on tumblr or on archiveofourown as "srebrnafh". Registering on AO3 takes a while, I know, but just submit your e-mail and wait a few days.

I just don't have enough energy left to fight with FFNet formatting, eating parts of text, eating spacers and messing up my paragraphs.

On Monday morning Lizzy woke up with something of an incipient headache. She rolled in bed, pulling the duvet over her head, trying to block everything out, but nothing helped. Even as she rested her face in the silkiness of the pillow, she was further irritated by the small scratch at her neck - the tag on her shirt was now digging at her skin.
It was going to be one of these days.
She got the girls out in time for them to catch the bus, blinking blearily in the light filtered through the clouds. She really needed to find her glasses. The weather was going to be atrocious. She always got headache when the light was diffused in that way, no exceptions.
Maybe it was time for a new pair, actually. Why not. She could probably write them off as a work-related expense.

#

The new job was reasonably challenging but not very far outside of her comfort zone, so once she had ingested the required dose of painkillers and brewed a pot of tea, she curled up on William's chair in the library and went to work.
The heady aroma of old books and slight undertone of dust soothed her and allowed her to work that much faster. She fetched a reference book from "her" room (barely used now, except for keeping mostly still-packed boxes of books and craft materials) and spread the notebooks on the large, heavy table.
There were some luxuries only a big house could provide.
For a moment, she just stood there, caressing the dark, smooth wood of the tabletop.
And of all of this I might have been mistress for the last thirteen years. Had I not been a whiny, uncommunicative idiot. Well, better late than never.
The chair was luxurious and, being made to fit a big man like William, dwarfed her slightly, yet giving her the comforting feeling of being embraced rather than loomed over. Pulling her laptop into a new position, she propped a notebook on a reading stand next to it and got back to work with newfound enthusiasm.
Which lasted all of about twenty minutes, because her phone rang.
MOTHER
"Oh, that's just grand" she sighed and tapped the green icon.

####

Elizabeth's voice was coming very clearly through the small crack in the library door. Very, very clearly. Probably more than she would have wished.
"And I will live in as much sin as I wish to!"
He jumped, just a bit, but managed to stay quiet.
"I don't give rat's ass about the neighbours. If you ask me, you can tell them I have joined a convent. Or, I don't know, I've run away to Norway. To study trolls. Basically, tell them whatever, I don't... No, I don't care about it either. Yes, I know my classmates have brilliant lives, all around. Absolutely. Yes, she is a model, I've seen her in the papers. No, still don't care. For one, I'm too short. And my boobs are too big. Yes, I'm so going to use this word. BOOBS."
A pause.
And the temperature fell a few degrees.
"No. You don't get any say in how I bring up my kids. They are mine and mine alone. Well, William's. Not yours, not Dad's. And yes, I am reasonably sure I know who their father is, it's not like we're in a bloody Mamma Mia reenactment. Good to know my own mother's opinion of my morals, thank you."
He pushed the door open and peeked inside, but didn't find her.
"Don't you dare. You have no right to threaten me like this. No. And no, even if you try to declare me unfit as a parent, I'm not the only legal guardian Mina has. Oh, you have no idea, mother. Simply no idea. No. I don't give a fuck. No."
The clattering of the mobile on wood punctuated the last sentence.
Oh, Lizzy.
He stood there for a moment, trying to decide whether she would be more angry if he came in to comfort her or if he sneaked out quietly.
Comforting won.
He pulled the door closed behind himself and approached Elizabeth, who was now curled up in his grand desk chair, both hands in her hair, pulling slightly. Sending some unknown deity a quick thanks for the fact that he had dressed rather casually that morning, he crouched in front of her.
"Lizzy?"
"You heard?"
"I'm afraid the passengers boarding the train at Matlock have heard. What did that..." he swallowed the noun "what did she want?"
"To piss me off?"
"She does this even without resorting to usage of modern technology. Was there anything specific she wanted to discuss? Something we could ask Charles to squash...?"
She rolled her eyes and slid forward, pulling him in closer and resting her cheek on the top of his head.
"She wanted to inform me that people have been asking about me and how I'm doing. And that there are rumours about me running away with some man, because I pulled Mina from school so abruptly. And that I'm failing in my basic duty of securing you. Also, that my classmates have burgeoning careers in various trades, including international modelling, real estate, trade and being a trophy wife."
"That last one is a career, too?" he pulled her closer, off the chair and into his lap.
"Well, I suppose for some it is the epitome of the Regency Myth. Catching a man and being set for life."
"If you wanted to..." he shrugged. "We could make her shut up."
"But you mean as in 'hiring a sniper to take a shot at her' or something less dramatic?"
He bit the inside of his cheek.
"How do you feel about... No, another question. What is a chance that anyone in your family knows something about cars?"
"Please. Dad is like a geek of old cars. He can recognise a 50's Skoda by its front lamps setup, or whatever."
He allowed himself a small smirk.
"And new ones?"
"That would be Lydia. Dad, too, but he tries to hide it. Why?"
"Just thinking..." he mused, not looking at her directly. "You will find this probably a bit middle-age-crisis-y, but how do you feel about Jaguars?"
She looked at him with a suspicious frown.
"As in animals or as in bloody expensive cars?"
He pursed his lips to avoid smiling.
"The second one."
"William..."
"To my defence, I... No, I have none. I simply bought it. Can't really explain it away. It's waiting to be used, in the secure garage in Lambton. Has been delivered recently, I didn't even have time to test it yet. But we could use it next time we go to London."
She was rubbing the tip of her nose, her lips trembling with suppressed smiles.
"You have a Jag."
"Yes...?"
"You haven't told me that when we were going to London the last time."
"It hadn't been delivered yet at the time."
She leaned closer, breathing in his laundry-aftershave-pine-wood-warm cotton scent.
"You want to bludgeon my family with a luxury car?"
"Why not?" he shrugged. "Whatever works."
"You are a naughty boy, Mr Darcy" she tapped his nose with her finger.
He caught that hand and quickly pressed a lingering kiss to the thin skin of her wrist.
"Give me twenty minutes of your precious invoiced time and I will show you just how naughty."
A split second later he wanted to smack himself and then crawl under the table and die there. Yes, they had slept in the same bed for the last few days - ever since their guests had left. They cuddled. They kissed, a lot. Still, they had not progressed to anything more... advanced. Definitely not to intim...
"Oh, only twenty minutes?" she asked with a sad pout. "Is this all you can offer me, Mr Darcy? Measly twenty minutes? I may have to reconsider our agreement, I think - maybe I need to find myself someone slightly... younger? More... eager? Fancy cars and big houses are all good and fine, but a girl needs something solid to..."
"Oh, you...!"
He pulled her down, into his lap, capturing her lips with his, dragging her closer and closer, both hands on her rounded hips, catching the belt loops of her trousers to bring her flush with him.
"I will show you younger and more eager" he whispered into the pink shell of her ear. "Just, maybe, not in the library where everyone may walk in."
And so he proceeded to, barely giving her time to save her work on the laptop and whisking her upstairs, locking the bedroom door and snogging her senseless until she went slightly weak in the knees and her breaths came in desperate puffs.
They only crawled out of bed once they noticed the time and calculated that the girls would be home in less than half an hour.

####

She felt... different. It was one thing to know she had gone without any kind of relationship for these thirteen years, because she had never been one for one-night-stands or silly flings and being a freelancer and a single mother didn't leave her a lot of time for dating. It was however a deeply humbling thing to find out the love of her life had done the same when he definitely had had more than enough chances to find someone else.
William's mumbled assurances had warmed the skin they were breathed onto and her heart at the same time.
It was lovely to lie down in post-coital haze, being held securely to William's dependable warmth, cocooned in the blankets and duvets. It felt equally good to lean on him as they sat to tea, waiting for the twins' arrival. There was something changed, even on a purely physical level. They left much fewer inches between them as they sat at the table - in fact, there were no inches at all at certain moments. Will's free hand wandered to her hip by itself and secured her snuggled closer to him, repeatedly. Her lips found their way to his clean-shaved cheek more than once.
It felt so new and so theirs at the same time.

####

"I just had the most inconvenient thought a man can have in such a situation" he groaned under the weight of sudden reflection. "Lizzy, are you... I mean, we didn't use any..."
She giggled. The faintly musical way she laughed always attracted him, but right now he felt a bit annoyed with her enjoyment of his discomfort. She must have noticed it, because soon there was hand caressing his face and she leaned in closer.
"Don't worry. I'm on the pill. I need it to manage my cycle. We will be fine. And, Will..." she smiled and rose on her knees, forcing him to look up at her. "Even if I wasn't on anything, would we really need to worry?"
His brain stuttered to a halt.
Well, there were all the downsides of pregnancy - hormonal imbalances, mood swings, sleepiness, nausea and physical discomfort.
But... Well, they had only discussed it no more than week earlier. They had considered it, yes. They agreed that having more children right now would not be optimal.
But... It wouldn't have been a catastrophe, would it?
He pulled her closer.
"We have to finish the house first" he reminded her lightly. "Unless you want to inhale all these lovely fumes when your hormones go into overdrive and make you twice as sensitive to smells as normally."
She shuddered.
"I agree, not the best idea, when we take the house into account" she sighed. "Yet, otherwise..." she smiled, cocking her head to the side. "Let me put it like this, Mr Darcy: you better finish that house soon."
He nodded and rearranged her into a more comfortable position, resting against his chest, allowing him to hide his face in her hair.
"Now that we've covered the topic of children we don't have yet, I think we need to consider the pair that is already hanging around the house."
She sighed and rolled her head to nuzzle against his shirt.
"Meaning what?"
"I think we'll have to talk to them."
"But..."
"It's high time. We should have done this before, but I never thought..."
"Mina knows everything about birds and bees."
"So does Rose. And a bit about farm animals, too, actually..."
"So, what do you want to talk to them about?"
He sighed.
"The rules? I mean, what kind of rules did your parents have for you all about dating?"
She squirmed and looked away.
"They never..."
There was a pause. Just a beat as he cocked his head to the side and looked at her.
"Lizzy?"
"Dad never paid attention... He never saw me as a girl-girl. Jane was always reasonable and never caused any trouble and he never really cared about the other three. So there were no rules. I'm not even sure what rules there could be."
He rubbed his nose, trying to focus.
"Not sure either" he admitted. "But... I don't feel comfortable with them just... just..."
"Teddy is a good boy" she pointed out. "It's not like they are being very sneaky about it. Most of the time Rose is with them or they are at school or..."
"Liz" he groaned, leaning back on the sofa and pulling her closer. "I was a fifteen-year-old boy. They are a mess of hormones and idiotic ideas barely kept in check by school, being too tired to think and the possibility of getting slapped in the face. Reason and sense don't even make it to the top five causes for proper behaviour."
"But he seems..." she tried to put it in the right words. "So upright. Also, I don't believe you for a moment, Will Darcy. I don't imagine you as a fifteen-year-old Don Juan!"
"Well, I didn't really do that much. But I certainly fantasised about it. So I know what young men think about and I'm not allowing one of these creatures near my daughters without supervision!"

#

From the window, they saw the girls hurrying up to the house, very intently discussing something. The moment they entered the house, the news exploded.
"Teddy said his aunt said he is not supposed to be dating me because you're a monster!"
William stood still and the "we need to talk" he had prepared died on his lips.
"Teddy... dating... what?" he managed to utter, feeling suddenly completely disoriented and thrown off the track.
"Teddy said his aunt was talking crazy and she called you a heartless monster because you make people leave their houses and that you force them to move to tiny flats or cottages and then raze the old building to the ground, leaving them with nowhere to live."
Elizabeth didn't manage to stifle a giggle.
"Kitten, what are you talking about? How did this even become a topic?"
Rose pushed their jackets into the hall closet.
"Teddy told Mina in the morning that his aunt was taking crazy stuff. She says Dad steals people's houses under the guise of renovation and then they are left with no house and no money."
"And that you're planning to get rid of half of the houses in the county."
"More or less. And that you want to demolish all traditional buildings."
"And that people will lose their homes and land."
"And that Teddy shouldn't come near Mina because she is demon-spawn."
"Teddy thinks his aunt had gone crazy and his mom is worried."
"And that's all for the Historical Society for today."
"And we've got tons of homework."
"So, upstairs, little sister."
"After you, old woman."
"Ooh... you little..."
"Calm down or you'll overtax yourself, my poor senior citizen."
"Impudent girl!"
The workroom door shut behind them.
William turned to Elizabeth, but she looked equally disoriented.
"What has just happened?"

#

A half hour and one call to the Stricklands later they had learnt a few things.
The Historical Society was definitely Up To Something, capital letters.
Irene Strickland's sister, Gisela, had been thoroughly brainwashed by someone.
The theories she spewed were worrying enough for Percy to actually take notes.
"I thought I would call you later today, Darcy" he admitted with a sigh. "I came back rather late yesterday, a week business trip, you see. Enormous pile of things to deal in the office, too, so I didn't have time during the day. Now, Teddy told me he related the most salient points to your daughters, but I suppose you'd like to hear some details..."
And details there were, from the supposed plans to flatten the area for council buildings to poor landowners being kicked out of their property into pounding rain.
"Gisela always struck me as slightly... prone to flights of fancy" Percy sounded apologetic and embarrassed "but she had never before expressed herself in such a manner. I think... She must have come under someone's influence on one of these meetings."
"Thank you, Strickland. I appreciate your frankness. It will be of enormous help to us. Please, do let me know if you hear anything similar from other sources, will you?"
"Absolutely. I know you do good work and I've seen some of your projects that have gone live recently. Nobody can complain about how they had been conducted."
"Thank you again. It's scary how quickly one can lose face if something goes, as the kids now say, viral."
"Not a problem, Darcy. I will let you know, absolutely."

####

She couldn't even focus on work again until late that evening. The whole debacle with Teddy's crazy aunt and the Historical Society had thrown William severely and they spent the rest of the afternoon researching the structures of that organisation and trying to find any friends of William that would give them some kind of more personal relationship to anyone on the inside.
It turned out that, in fact, a large number of elderly relatives of almost everyone in the area belonged to the group and some were willing (if reluctantly) to talk to William away from the protest line.
"She says she doesn't believe you would be able to steal someone's house - but she mostly says it because she doesn't trust your aunt Catherine, not because she is personally convinced of your overwhelming virtues."
She winced as they listened on the loudspeaker, but William interrupted his old classmate.
"Josh, what do you mean about my aunt Catherine? What does she have to do with all... Oh don't tell me."
"Yeah, I'm afraid so. She's been actually making tours of the neighbourhood, talking about estate stuff. I was going to call you about that horse you supposedly have on sale - Star?"
William ground his teeth and looked up at her with a murderous expression.
"No, we are not selling her. My aunt is no representative of the estate interests. If there is anything else she had offered, or will offer, ignore her completely. She has no right to sell anything from Pemberley."
"Well, we didn't hear about anything except the horse, but you may have people coming to view parcels of land pretty soon."
Elizabeth cursed softly.
And it wasn't the only conversation that went that way in the next few hours.
Which, as a whole, left her utterly drained and tired emotionally, but finally able to focus on her work at around eleven.
The house was silent, small noises of an old building notwithstanding.
The girls were in their room - no "talk" for them, yet. This could wait.
William had drifted upstairs sometime around half ten, extracting a promise from her that she would finish before midnight.
She spread the notes on the table and opened the database script on the laptop.
"OK, that looks... doable" she mumbled and started putting in a query to bring her the set of data she was aiming for.
Of course he had to come for her and almost bodily bring her upstairs at half past twelve.
She wasn't protesting very loudly, though.

####

Temperature dropped slightly.
The girls dug in their wardrobe for warmer sweaters.
Elizabeth located the box labelled "sock yarn".
William took a day off at the office and together with Brian and other estate workers spent whole Tuesday securing more delicate rosebushes and trees against frost.
Mrs Reynolds unearthed a crate of lemon and ginger preserve and brewed pot after pot of ginger-infused tea.
Cold draft bit their bare feet in the morning.
The wind brought scents of leaves, rain and smoke.
Someone was having a bonfire on one of the pastures.
Sheep were herded to their winter shelters and hay was being transported in huge loads to stock for colder months.
The weather was turning.

####

Georgiana watched them as they splashed in the water. Sometimes, just sometimes, she wished she had had a sister and a more relaxed childhood. An upbringing that didn't consist in equal percentage of "be quiet, Daddy is thinking" and "uphold the family name" served to her by her aunts. One definite positive of her own youth was the distinct lack of Aunt Catherine in the picture. She hoped the changed circumstances now would be some kind of compensation for Rose for the years spent with their least favourite relation.
She envied the girls their childlike resilience. Only a month, even less than that, and they were as relaxed with each other as if they had grown up together. The grownups were still trying to work with the others without clashing, but the girls were perfectly assimilated. Of course, they had the two months of summer as practice, but the level of familiarity they were displaying was uncanny.
Right now, Mina was revelling in the idea of finally teaching Rose something purely physical. School outings and occasional visit to the pool were nothing in comparison to regular training Mina's school had offered since daycare. Mina swam like a little fish, while her sister treaded water stiffly, holding onto a swimming board and watching the younger one with a bit of annoyance.
She hoped that whatever Will and Lizzy had been trying to hash out with each other it wouldn't take much longer - despite the temperature of the water, the girls were starting to look a bit blue and they had to go home at some point.
She glanced at the clock and shrugged.
"If they don't wish to be disturbed, lets' hope they will have finished by the time we get back."
They were out of the water and under a hot shower in minutes and girls started regaining their natural colours as they scrubbed vigorously.
"I wish we had sauna in the showers" Rose sighed wistfully. "Marika said that when they visited Finland with her family, every flat had a sauna and there was a huge one at the pool, in the showers."
"Maybe we can ask Dad to put a sauna in the new house" Mina suggested from her spot under the pounding water. "It would be nice to get into one after coming back from school. Especially if it snows."
"Well, you can try, but I'd hurry up if I were you" Georgiana tilted her head under the spray to wash away the shampoo. "Or they will have to redesign the whole thing just to fit a sauna room in."
The girls looked at each other and smiled widely.
Uh-oh.

####

All three "girls" looked tired and slightly sleepy, so, after exchanging a look with William, she decided to forgo the complicated topic of teenage love for the day, but to request their daughters' help with something of a vastly different calibre.
As they semi-crawled upstairs after eating a light supper, she accompanied them, carrying additional blankets for their beds.
"Now, I will need your help. Both of you. Different tasks, both interesting, each requiring certain level of... maturity."
Mina frowned at her from the heap of pillows she had managed to collect.
"What is it?" she finally broke the silence. "Mum?"
"Well, we need you to take part in our wedding. As in being part of the wedding ceremony."
Mina shrugged.
"I suppose you want me to sing? Do you have anything chosen?"
Elizabeth just smiled.
"Go and talk with aunt Georgiana. Not now. When she is up. Pick a few songs and try them out. I trust you two to pick something... appropriate. Can you make this a surprise for us? Please?"
Mina nodded slowly, but Elizabeth saw her confusion at the request.
"I want to have something there that I won't have to plan myself" she sat on Mina's bed and pulled her younger daughter in. "Rose, on the other hand..."

#

"How did it go?"
She yawned and closed the laptop, putting it away on her night table.
"Mina will work with Georgiana and Rose is somewhat scared of the responsibility with which we are burdening her."
"She will cope. It's not a big task, but rather crucial to the whole proceedings. She will be fine."
"I sold it to her as a simple means of ensuring someone without the need to show off will be taking care of them. Also, I suggested that if not her, then Richard. She took the task rather eagerly then. She is still a bit scared, though."
"We just need to make sure she knows we trust her" he pulled her closer and nestled his nose in her plait. "Now, where were we, Miss Bennet?"