Chapter 27
When Lizzie woke up the next morning, she was alone in her bed, and for the briefest of moments, she feared that last night had all been nothing but a wonderful dream. Opening her eyes properly though, she knew that it hadn't been a dream, it really had happened. The drapes had been drawn to block the bright morning sun, and on the bedside table Lizzie could see a large glass of water and some painkillers waiting for her. Sitting up to reach for them, she felt the dull and familiar ache in her head that was so common after a night of drinking, and was thankful for the kind gesture from Darcy. He was taking care of her.
Looking across the room, she could see his white dress shirt and pants were still draped over the chair from the bureau where he'd left them last night, and then burrowing back down into the pillows, she caught the lingering scent of his cologne.
Yes, last night had been real. She'd spent the night with Darcy, and this time, she didn't regret it. She couldn't help but smile.
It was Saturday, so Lizzie knew that Darcy wouldn't be at the office, but glancing at the clock, she saw it was only a little after eight, much too early to be out of bed on a Saturday in her opinion! Lying in bed, curled up in soft blankets and breathing in his scent, she was sorely tempted to drift back into dreamland, but she was also painfully curious about Darcy's whereabouts.
She knew, from the past week of living in his house (let alone the three years she'd already worked with him) that Darcy was a productive person, he was always doing something, and once he was out of bed for the day, he was up for good. So, as much as Lizzie hoped he'd come back to her and snuggle under the covers all day, she knew it wasn't highly probable.
Unless she asked him to, then she was sure he'd agree. But no, she would get up and go and find him. She could hear muffled voices coming from elsewhere in the house, it was time she joined the living.
Climbing out of bed, she took a quick hot shower to wake herself up and rid herself of hangover residue, and changed into a pair of dark blue skinny jeans and her red cardigan, she started to pull her hair up into a pony tail before she hesitated, and instead let it fall down her back. She brushed it out quickly, and the soft curls that Katie had styled it in last night made for a wavy curtain down her back.
She skipped down stairs in her socks, unable to keep the smile from her face, especially once she reached the bottom of the stairs and felt her stomach rumble at the delicious scents wafting over from the kitchen. She walked in to see Darcy was at the stove, frying bacon as he chatted to Georgiana, who he'd brought downstairs and sat in the big reclining chair from the sitting room, that now sat in the arched doorway between its former home and the kitchen.
"Ah, you're up!" Will exclaimed with a grin, Lizzie smiled right back.
"I am, good morning Georgie!" She said merrily, making her way towards the coffee pot that sat warming the dark liquid of the gods. She poured herself a mug before joining Will at the stove, stealing a rasher of bacon from the plate beside his frying pan and munching on it.
"Hey!" He exclaimed, "Did I say you could eat that?" he teased, his eyes glinting with a playfulness that Lizzie hadn't known he possessed. She just grinned and poked her tongue out.
"Who's going to stop me?" She asked, swiping another piece and eating it before he could stop her. From her position in the recliner, Georgiana was grinning, happy to see her two favourite people in the world finally progressing in the right direction.
When they'd left last night Georgiana had hoped that the best would happen, and while she was sure that her Harlequin Mills and Boon inspired wish hadn't been quite fulfilled, she could tell that they'd taken a few steps towards it. They'd have their happily ever after soon enough, she was sure of it.
"Save some for me please!" She cried, joining in and breaking the bubble that the two of them had gotten lost in… after all, she wanted them to get together, but she didn't need to see it happen. Will was still her brother!
While Will finished making them all breakfast Lizzie made work of dragging the breakfast table and two extra chairs across to the doorway where Georgiana sat, so that they could all eat together.
Darcy was slowly chewing his breakfast, a piece of buttered toast perched in his hand as he looked over the top of it at Lizzie, who was speaking animatedly with his sister. For the first time, this morning, he'd woken up incandescently happy.
Lizzie was sprawled across the bed at an angle with her head resting on his chest. His arm was wrapped around her and he was grinning. Oh he could get used to this. The sun was rising, and intruding. Slipping out from beneath Lizzie he'd moved across the room and drew the curtains, shutting out the intrusive sun and crawling back into bed. Lizzie had moved in her sleep and curled up on her side of the bed enabling him to crawl up the pillows and watch her sleep. He savoured this moment, the last time he'd wanted to do this, she had run away.
He couldn't tell you how long he lay in that bed in his guest bedroom, gazing at that woman, but soon the soft voice of his sister calling stirred him, and he had to leave her, even though he wanted nothing more than to stay here with her all day. Gazing at her now, over the top of his toast, he was sorely tempted to take her back to bed.
"So, have you decided what you do about school Georgie?" Lizzie asked, pulling Darcy out of his reverie. His eyebrows furrowed and he dropped his toast. What about Georgiana's school?
"What about school?" he asked, leaning his forearms on the table and looking to his sister.
"Yes Lizzie, I have!" She answered before turning to Will to explain, he didn't know she'd been talking about this with Lizzie all week,
"Well, the break is over next week, and obviously I'm not going to be able to go to back this semester," Georgiana started, "I was still supposed to have a semester in Paris, but I called my exchange officer Natalie and she's pushing it back for me. I'll do it next year. But I don't really want to take a whole semester off so I'm going to take classes online this semester," she finished.
"I didn't even think about school," Darcy said, rubbing his chin, "Are you sure you don't want to take some time off?"
Georgiana nodded, "I've already thought about it, I don't want to push my graduation back another semester, besides, being confined to my bed with nothing to do is hideously boring. This way at least I can do something worthwhile."
"I think it sounds like a good idea," Lizzie interrupted, giving Darcy a pointed look. He knew what it meant. Leave her be, she can make her own decisions. And he decided to let it go. Lizzie and her pointed expression were right, but it was hard to break the habit of taking care of his sister after he'd been doing it his whole life.
"Alright then," he said, and leaned back in his chair, "I was thinking," he mused, "What if we all went out to Pemberley this week?"
"Oh yes!" Georgiana exclaimed, her demeanour was giddy, "That sounds great!"
"Good," Will smiled, looking over to Lizzie, "Then we'll leave on Monday,"
They finished their breakfast in relative silence then Georgiana asked if Will would carry her out to the courtyard so she could work on her sketches in the garden, while they were gone, Lizzie started to clean up the breakfast mess. She was stacking the dishwasher, her back to the main door when Darcy came back.
"Sleep okay?" he asked, startling her, his voice sounded hesitant. She turned to face him with a smile.
"Very well actually," she blushed. The stood still, staring at each other for a moment.
"So did I," he said, very softly with a grin. She smiled back, then he turned away and went about putting the furniture back where it belonged while Lizzie finished the dishes.
The rest of the day was spent in a comfortable quiet house. For most of the morning, Lizzie sat out in the garden with Georgiana, stretched out on a sun longer reading a book while Georgie sketched away in her art pad. Will was working in his office and arranging their Pemberley trip. Lizzie made sandwiches at lunchtime and they ate in the garden, enjoying the warm day. It all felt very domestic, and surprisingly comfortable.
It wasn't until later that night that things started to feel wrong. It was late, and everyone had gone to bed, but Lizzie lay awake in her room, staring at the ceiling, absolutely unable to sleep because she couldn't turn off her brain. She couldn't stop thinking about Darcy, and their date last night, and the fact that her was just across the hall right now, and she was alone.
She tossed, and she turned. It was in a fit of frustration that she threw back the covers and swung her legs out of the bed, her feet touching the cold wood floors and making her jump a little. She hesitantly made her way across the room and peeked out into the hall. All the lights were off, it was dark, the passage way lit only by the moonlight from the window at the end of the hall. Across the way, Darcy's door was ajar, leaving a few inches of open space between the door and its frame. Feeling exceptionally brave, Lizzie left the safety of her room and quickly tip toed across to his door, pushing it open.
His room was dark, but the dim moonlight flooded in when the door opened the rest of the way, silhouetting her figure in the shadows. He was awake, and he leaned up on one arm as she entered.
"Lizzie?" He asked, his voice cracking from sleepiness.
"Hi…" she whispered, standing still in the doorway
"You okay?" he asked, neither of them moving.
"I can't sleep," she admitted, and he saw her shoulder shrug in silhouette. He smiled, but she couldn't see it in the dark.
"Me either," he whispered back. This was invitation enough for her to pad across the room to his bed. He shuffled over to the far side as she approached, hoping she'd climb in with him. He couldn't help his feeling of elation when she did exactly that, pulling back the covers and slipping between the sheets. The spot warm from his being there moments earlier.
"You can tell me to leave if you want to," she whispered into the darkness as her head nestled into the pillow. He shifted towards her and took her small frame in his arms.
"I don't want you to leave," he assured her, tucking her into him, her body fitting into his like a jigsaw puzzle.
"Don't leave," he whispered, and she nodded her agreement.
"Okay."
In the darkness, he pressed a kiss to her temple and settled in beside her. Both of them lulled into sleep within minutes.
They were woken the Sunday morning by the ringing of the landline phone. Lizzie was still entangled in Darcy's arms, their legs crossing each other, her head rested on his shoulder. He stirred as the phone woke him, nuzzling into her hair and stretching his arms out around her body, the phone stopped ringing and he nestled back against her, tightening his hold on her body and she relaxed into his touch, content.
Then the phone rang again and he groaned, obviously frustrated. He pulled away from her to roll over and pick up the extension on the bedside table. Lizzie felt her disappointment as he let go and she frowned even though her eyes were still closed.
"Hello?" He said, irritation radiating in his tone, Lizzie curled up a little tighter on her side of the bed, looking for the warm spot he'd just rolled out of, "Oh, hi Jane" he said, and she opened her eyes. Brows furrowed. She glanced at the bedroom clock, worried something was wrong, but the clock said it was almost 9.30. Darcy obviously had very good drapes. It didn't look like long after dawn from the amount of light in the room.
"Yes, she's right here," he said next, and held the phone out to her. Lizzie struggled into a sitting position and took the handset.
"Hello?" she asked, her voice cracked from lack of use overnight and she coughed to clear it.
"Lizzie, are you sick?" her sister's voice came back across the line, "Why aren't you answering you mobile?" She sounded worried and Lizzie rolled her eyes, but at the same time wore a grin, touched by her sister's constant concern for her.
"I'm fine Jane, I just woke up. My phone's in my room," she said, settling into the pillows, she grinned and Darcy reached out to take her free hand.
There was a short pause on the other end of the line before Jane spoke again.
"If you just woke up, why aren't you in your room as well?" she asked, from her tone Lizzie could tell she was both worried and excited and she bit her lip. She hadn't meant to give away her sleeping arrangements to her overprotective big sister.
"Ummm..." she said, looking to Darcy, who was oblivious to Jane's side of the conversation. Before she could answer Jane, Katie's boisterous laughter could be heard in the background on Jane's end.
Brillant, Lizzie thought, this is not the way she wanted them to hear about this.
"She's sleeping in Darcy's bed!" Katie's distant voice cried out, "About time Lizzie!" She yelled.
Lizzie dropped her head in embarrassment, incredibly glad that Darcy couldn't hear this. His face was all neutrality as he fiddled with a lock of her hair.
"Lizzie, I thought you said you weren't ready for that yet? He's not rushing you is he? You're not going to do something you'll regret?" She said, concern had evidently won out over her previous excitement.
"Jane!" Lizzie cried, in the background she could hear Katie singing some song about just having sex and she flushed bright red.
"Firstly, tell Katie to shut up, that is not what happened, and secondly, can you not?" she said, then dropped her voice, more out of shame than trying to prevent him hearing, "Will is right here!"
Hearing his name he looked up from his hair twirling and raised a quizzical eyebrow, she shook her head. Jane was silent and Katie's singing stopped short after a yelp, and Lizzie was sure that Jane had pinched her. Beside her Darcy was edging out of the bed and Lizzie wanted to pull him back, tell him not to leave. She didn't need to give Jane an opportunity to rehash this conversation. But he was already too far off the bed. He mouthed his sister's name and pointed to the door indicating he was going to check on her and then Lizzie knew she had to let him go. No matter how selfish she was feeling.
"I just want you to be happy Liz, I worry about you." Jane said, pulling her back to their conversation as Darcy left the room, then she sighed, "I'll stop. I know you're a big girl, you can figure it out on your own and you'll ask me if you need advice. You don't have to remind me," she laughed half heatedly.
"Thank you, Jane," Lizzie said, feeling relieved. She loved her sister, she really did, but sometimes she could be rather over the top. But then again, Lizzie was the same for her, fiercely protective.
"Anyway, why are you phoning me so incessantly, it's early, go back to bed," Lizzie laughed, knowing she'd like to do the same.
Jane laughed.
"I just want to know if you're coming to Mum and Dad's today, you haven't been for a few weeks. Mum's been going postal."
"IF LIZZIE'S NOT GOING THEN I'M NOT GOING!" Katie yelled in the background, and Lizzie smirked.
"You might be on your own Janie," she smiled.
"So you're not coming?" She sounded dejected "And why not exactly?"
"Probably because she's going to spend all day screwing her boss," Katie teased, much closer to the mouthpiece than she had been previously. Lizzie imagined her leaning over Jane's shoulder and waggling her eyebrows in that way that only Katie can do.
"Oh, honestly Katie, must you be so crude?" Jane admonished and Katie squealed, Lizzie listened to her thumping footsteps as she ran away.
"This probably isn't the best time to tell you that I'm not coming to lunch next week either, is it?" Lizzie interjected.
"Are you kidding me? Lizzie that will be like, a month without Mum seeing you! She'll be mercurial!"
"Well, the good news is, you won't be there to experience it either!" She said, just as Darcy came back and resumed his position on his side of the bed. Lizzie allowed him to pull her into his arms, and sat against his chest.
"What are you talking about?" Jane asked.
Lizzie grinned, covered the mouthpiece and looked to Darcy.
"Charlie hasn't asked her about Pemberley yet," she said with an eye roll.
"Course he bloody hasn't, git. You'd better tell her, he'll undoubtedly forget," he said, smoothing her mussed bed hair. Lizzie felt her stomach flip and her heart beat pick up at the sensation of his tender attentions. She took her hand off the speaker and returned to Jane. Darcy kept stroking her hair. For a moment, Lizzie felt like a pet, but that passed when he bent the few inches and kissed the top of her head. This was comforting.
"I guess Charlie hasn't told you yet," She started, "Will and I are taking Georgiana to Pemberley this week, you and Charlie are invited to join us over the weekend. He's already agreed for you. I assumed you knew,"
Jane sighed,
"No, he must have forgotten!" Then she laughed, "Good thing you told me, or I'm sure he'd come to pick me up next weekend and I'd still have no idea!" Lizzie giggled, imagining that exact scenario. It was quiet accurate.
"That sounds really nice actually," she continued, "Thank Will for inviting us,"
"She says thank you for inviting them," Lizzie directed at will, and Jane groaned.
"I keep forgetting where you are," she said, quietly, as if Darcy might hear her. "Are you sure you won't come to lunch?" she asked, in her regular voice.
"Ah no," Lizzie said, "Besides, we're taking Georgiana to the doctor today, to see how she's doing before we leave town,"
"On a Sunday?" Jane asked
"Yeah well, pay enough money…" she trailed off shooting a look at Darcy, who had in fact paid an extra fee for this afternoon's appointment.
"Of course," Jane muttered, "Well, Mum isn't going to be happy,"
"She'll get over it," Lizzie assured her, "She'll probably forget all about me before you even set the table,"
"Lizzie" Jane sighed,
"Don't pretend it's not true," Lizzie retorted, "Give daddy a kiss for me, okay?" she asked.
"Alright, I'll talk to you later. Love you Liz,"
"I love you too Jane, bye,"
She hung up the phone and tossed it towards the end of the bed where it got lost in the blankets, and she nuzzled back into Darcy's arms.
"Georgie okay?" She asked
"Still asleep," he said and she nodded, he held her tighter and kissed the top of her head.
"Breakfast?" He asked. She shook her head and shuffled down the bed so that she was lying down, he followed suit.
"Not yet," she said, curling a leg around him and closing her eyes. He tucked her into his side and smiled. He could go without breakfast for a while if it meant they could stay in bed together.