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Jane pulled up outside the terracotta brick house; dimming her lights as she surveyed the sleeping house in front of her. Elizabeth's red Audi was parked haphazardly outside of her double garage; the tracks where the tyres had driven were still visible by the snarled up stones. 'Well at least I know she's home.' Nightfall had made the atmosphere chilly and where the full moon peeped out from behind the clouds it shone vibrantly across the courtyard, reflecting an eerie bright light on the windows and water in the fountain.

Jane had cut the day with Charles short to speed all the way to Elizabeth's; crying all the way to the house in frustration, she couldn't believe she had been so stupid and now she was going to have pay for it. Jane thought back to her day with Charles and all the new information she'd learned; she was desperate to share it with Lizzie.

Earlier in the day. . .

After her lunch with Charles, they had taken the afternoon off work and spent the remainder of the day shopping together in London; although neither of them had bought anything for themselves, Jane had done a fair amount of shopping for William and even bought a beautiful white dress for Lizzie, which she hoped she'd wear to the party Charles had invited them too in a few weeks. Ordinarily Lizzie hated parties because of the amount of shopping it involved to find the right outfit or at least that's the story she used but Jane devilishly reasoned that she wouldn't have an excuse if the dress and William were already taken care of.

The shopping trip had been a wonderful break from the relentless onslaught of work she'd been ploughing through, that is until Charles had seen a pack of pens that didn't have lids and offered to get them for Lizzie; unfortunately Jane hadn't seen the funny side of the joke and in a secret jealous rage she'd stormed out of the shop to get some fresh air.

Oblivious to the reason behind Jane's sudden mood swing Charles had made every attempt to try and make it better; to see her smile again but it irked her that Charles could still be thinking of Lizzie's cleavage; Lizzie had hit puberty a year before Jane, even though Jane was two years older and as such she had always been jealous of her sisters' curvaceous figure and ample bosom, men were always fascinated by Lizzie's breasts and now she was breast feeding William they were even bigger and Jane couldn't help but feel inadequate with her size 32B chest.

Jane had continued giving monosyllabic answers to all of his questions until they met one of the most beautiful blonde haired woman that Jane had ever laid eyes on and been shocked to learn that she was 'Georgiana Darcy' Mr Darcy's younger sister.

Georgiana was a statuesque beauty standing at about 5ft 10in, the light blue maxi dress she was wearing clung to her figure in all the right places and made her appear very ethereal. The ladies attire complimented her honey blonde hair as it fell below her shoulders in gorgeous curls and her piercingly blue eyes, had flecks of sapphire and lapis lazuli in them, which made them so enticing that Jane was almost sad that she'd kept them hidden behind a pair of Bvlgari sunglasses for the majority of their acquaintance.

Georgiana had joined them both for a quick coffee and to Jane's surprise had spent the majority of it making Charles and Jane laugh with private stories about her brother. Miss Darcy was so different to Mr Darcy in every way; they were the exact opposite in looks and demeanour, she was easy going and genial where as he was standoffish and noble but Jane was surprised to find that when Miss Darcy left she was ready to believe that her first impressions of Mr Darcy were completely wrong; he was obviously very caring, witty and intelligent which made him a perfect match for Lizzie.

For the duration of their meeting Charles treated Georgiana like she was a little sister, ruffling her perfect mien and teasing her incessantly about everything; Jane truly believed they were like brother and sister and for that reason she couldn't be jealous of their intimate friendship; well maybe only a little.

Georgiana did not commandeer all of the conversation with talk of her brother and she plied Jane for information about William, after Charles had volunteered details about her nephew. Jane had been hesitant to talk about William at first, afraid she might slip up and say something about how he looked like his father, Fitzwilliam but after a little coaxing she waxed lyrical about her nephew, entertaining them with all the recent details about him, 'Georgiana could share these kinds of stories too, if she knew she had a nephew,' Jane thought.

"Oh yes, he's a little rascal at times, he knows who he can wrap around his little finger. A few weeks ago my third youngest sister, Mary was over from America and because she hasn't seen William for about a year she spent all of her time playing with him. So anyway when Mary, Lizzie, our aunt Alison and I sat down for tea and homemade cake, we were all eating quietly when Lizzie gets up from the table and when she's out of earshot William turns to Mary with tears in his eyes and holds out his little pudgy hand, as if he were Oliver Twist and say's "Mar-e, bluh bluh bluh bluh . . . cake." Of course Mary didn't have a clue what to do, Lizzie had already told her not give him anything but we were all laughing so hard, she couldn't help but give in." Georgiana, Charles and Jane fell about laughing; at the time Jane had found William so cute, even she would have had a hard time saying no to him.

"He sounds very clever; does he live with your sister and her husband?" Georgiana spluttered through another giggle.

"Lizzie isn't married, they don't live with William's father but you're right he is so intelligent, when Lizzie is going to work is the worst, he often finds new and inventive ways of trying to keep her home. A few weeks ago she found him hiding under her bed covers, pretending to not be there so she'd have to stay and look for him – what he failed to realise is that he's not completely flat and was rather visible with his foot poking out from the covers."

"Awww he sounds adorable. How old is he?"

"He's 15 months old but he acts so much older."

Charles turned to Jane with a look of confusion on his face, "What's wrong Charles?" Jane interjected.

"I could have sworn Darcy said that William was 13 months old when he called this morning."

'Why would Lizzie tell Darcy William was 13 months old?' Jane would have to take that one up with her sister later.

"No he's definitely 15 months old. 15 months, 3 weeks and 2 days old to be precise. I don't know why Elizabeth would have told him that; scatter brain."

"Your nephew is the boy my brother was telling me about last night? Have you got a photo of him, Fitzwilliam spent so long telling me about him, I would love to see what he looks like." Jane had failed to miss the devious look that crept across Georgiana's face as she waited for the evidence.

"Of course I do, like every obsessive aunt" Jane fumbled in her bag until she found her compact blue leather purse and pulled out a photo of William that was taken about three months ago. In it William was looking into a mirror, with a look of pure confusion on his face, he couldn't figure out why there was someone inside the mirror. His dark brown hair was curled above his ears, his brown eyes shone intensely at the reflection in front of him and his chubby fingers rested on the mirror. Jane didn't realise until it was too late that it was a bad move to give Georgiana the photograph. Miss Darcy's eyebrows instantly shot up and she looked at Jane and back at the photo completely speechless; her eyebrows furrowed together and she removed her sunglasses, in utter disbelief as she stared with wide blue eyes at the photo. Georgiana gingerly trailed her fingers across the face of the boy looking back at her and it brought a tear to her eye.

"He's positively delightful; he looks so much like Elizabeth." Charles was completely oblivious to the expressions on both girls' faces. Jane felt sick, the bile was rising up her burning throat and the colour had drained out of her face as she stared at Georgiana, who was still gripping the photo in her hands tightly. Jane prayed that Georgiana hadn't noticed the similarities between William and her brother but with the look on her face and what she said next, Jane knew she was no longer the only keeper of Lizzie's deepest secret.

"He resembles his father." Georgiana spoke clearly and with narrowed eyes stared at Jane, passing a signal woman to woman that she knew the truth; Charles was oblivious to the true sentiments of the statement and blundered on regardless.

"Well, what do you say Jane does he?"

Jane's motor functions failed her, there were no words of comfort or contradiction that she could offer and so she slipped into a stupefied silence. 'Oh god, Lizzie is going to kill me.' Georgiana didn't stay with the group much longer, she made her excuses and left, shaking Jane's hand and promising that they would see each other again soon; Jane was now positive that they would.

Every fibre of Jane's body begged that she leave the cafe and get to Lizzie's before she could wreak anymore damage but she couldn't help herself she had to have some tangible information to give her about Mr Darcy and his sister.

"Georgiana is beautiful Charles but she looks nothing like Mr Darcy!"

"Darcy looks like their father and Georgie looks like their mother."

"Well she was delightful, how old is she? She mentioned studying at university, so what about 22?"

"She's turning 23 in a few weeks, in fact it's her birthday party I invited you and Lizzie too." Oh crap, Jane thought.

"Are her and Mr Darcy close?"

"Very, he loves Georgie more than anything; he's an extremely protective brother, he even wanted her to live with him while she's studying at Central St Martin's. They talk to each other regularly; I can safely say I would hate to see either of them if the other was suffering, woe betide the offender is all I say."

"Why didn't she, live with him I mean?"

"Well did you want to live with your parents when you were at university?"

"I guess not but Mr Darcy doesn't strike me as someone a lot of people say no to."

"Me included . . . Georgie may not look like Will but she certainly inherited his Paddington hard stare. Now I have one thing to request of you, can you please stop calling Will, Mr Darcy; it makes him sound like some heartthrob in an old romantic novel and makes me feel very inadequate."

Jane laughed, gently touching Charles's arm for comfort; at the same time they both looked at her slender fingers as they rested on his forearm and it a sweet blush spread across her nose and cheeks but as Jane tried to discreetly move her arm away, he stopped her and wound his fingers through hers; he escorted her hand-in-hand to her car, planting a delicate kiss on her cheek as she got into her car.

Back to present . . .

A cold chill ran through Jane's body, she'd tried to warm herself up by putting on the heater and seat warmer but she knew that it wasn't the twilight chill that coursed through her veins it was the knowledge that she would somehow have to tell her sister everything that had happened today; that she'd potentially ruined her life.

Since Elizabeth's talk with Jane in the park, they hadn't had the opportunity to discuss what Lizzie planned to do about telling Mr Darcy; Jane thought ironically that she didn't have much choice now.

Jane dropped her head back against her headrest and took a deep breath, closing her eyes to savour the calm before the storm, after several minutes of silence ensued she finally opened the car door, letting the cool night air wrap around her body; it felt oddly comforting considering how cold she had felt in the car. Jane let her eyes roam over the house one last time, stopping on Williams window just as a silent tear of desperation crawled down her cheek; tomorrow William you might have a father.

Elizabeth lay in bed staring at the ceiling, after such an exhausting day she'd retired early, hoping to catch up on all the sleep she'd missed due to a certain someone's handsome face. Crawling on top of the covers in her flannel pyjamas, she closed her eyes and breathed a deep sigh of relief, taking comfort from the smell of her son that still lingered in the air.

. . . Sleep eluded Lizzie; she heard every creak in the floorboards, every tick of the clock and she took in every detail of the ceiling above her, committing every line to memory as she stared at it over and over again. In frustration Elizabeth tossed over and over in her bed, rolling from her back to her side to her front praying for her mind to shut down and let her sleep but it didn't, Darcy plagued her every thought, she kept replaying their time together two years ago and yesterday and then there was the fact he'd asked her out, she hadn't been expecting that.

Today had been a terrible day and only picked up momentarily when Mr Darcy had called, his deep voice had been so soothing and his laugh was like chocolate to her soul; she'd needed it. When Darcy asked her out, at first she thought she'd misheard him and it was only his gentle cough that reminded her he was real; 'Yes' was about to roll over her tongue when she realised that she had already agreed to see Richard, damn him, she had thought. Richard was handsome and there was something very familiar about him that put her at ease, Lizzie didn't see it as a long term relationship, just dinner with a friend, so in a state of mortification over what had happened with Mr Bingley she found herself agreeing to a date before she could stop it. It had been such a long time since she'd had a good night out but not too good a night; she had a 15 month old reminder of what happened when you had too good a time.

Tired of tracing the ceiling Elizabeth closed her eyes and pictured Williams' face, unfortunately it morphed into Mr Darcy's; god the image of him was going to drive her insane.

Rolling onto her side Lizzie closed her eyes tight and pushed her hands under her face, 'Lizzie get a grip, he's hardly going to be thrilled when he finds out you've been keeping a son from him, get the romantic delusions out your head, you'll be lucky if he ever stops hating you' on that thought she shot up out of bed as someone rang her doorbell.

The day before. . .

The elevator opened out on Darcy's penthouse apartment, it was a modern living space decorated in black, white and a shimmery brown with all the latest technology and the best views of London. Darcy strode out of the elevator purposefully, pulling off his coat to give to his butler who walked with him across the living room, "Evening Mark, where's Richard?"

"In the kitchen, Mr Darcy."

"Very good, is everything ready for Japan?"

"Yes sir, we're all packed. How was your evening?"

A smile spread across Darcy's face as he thought back to his time with Elizabeth and William; her sent still lingered on him and it sent him into a premature comforting sleep the whole ride home.

"It was one of the best I've had in a long time, how is Maria?"

"Good, still suffering from bad headaches but the hospital has got her under observation."

Darcy stopped abruptly and turned to his butler, resting both of his hands on the tops of the man's arms, looking into his eyes, "Mark, why are you here, you should be with your wife."

"It's alright sir, keeps my mind off everything."

"Mark, it is no longer necessary for you to accompany me to Japan. I will go alone."

"But . . ." Darcy silenced him with one hand.

"Thank you Mr Darcy."

Mark thanked him, as Mr Darcy walked towards his bedroom, picking up one of the house phones on, he reasoned that it was about time he called Georgiana and update her with everything that was going on. On entering the bedroom Darcy had nearly finished dialling Georgiana's number when Richard practically skipped into the room with a large grin on his face.

"Evening cousin, where have you been all evening? I was hoping you might take me out on the town."

"Just because you happen to grace us with your presence doesn't mean I am going to drop all my plans, you used to live in London it's hardly like you're a tourist in a foreign land besides when you called earlier you said you had a date."

"Had being the operative word, she left me."

"Already, normally it takes a few days before they see the real you."

"I take offence cousin, we can't all be as respectable as you some of us prefer to have a little fun before we die. Shall I tell you what happened, I think you'll find it hilarious."

"You want to tell me what happened and I have no objection to hearing it so spit it out."

"She is so beautiful, she has this soft curly brown hair that you could just run your fingers through all day and these deep brown eyes that sparkle when she smiles and these amazing . . ." Richard signalled breasts with his hands and his cousin gave him a disapproving look "Relax Will even you might get your knickers out of a twist for this one; just your type as well incredibly witty." Darcy snorted, he didn't think he would ever see beauty in anyone Richard liked but he let him continue nonetheless "Anyway after our lunch I went to the coffee shop across the road from your place and ran into her again, with a bit of persuasion she agreed to go out with me only to leave as I got the coffees; she didn't even say goodbye."

"Wow, a record, where is she I must congratulate her for seeing sense."

"I have her number Will, what do you think I should do? Should I call her, she must have had a good reason for ditching me. What if something was wrong with her son?"

Darcy nearly chocked, Richard hadn't volunteered that she had a son before, "Her son? God Richard not another married one, did the last time you got your arse kicked not teach you anything?"

"I didn't get my ass kicked and I don't think she's married, at least she didn't seem married; she didn't have a ring."

"That's just circumstantial she could have been just been to the gym."

"I met her at your office, do people often go to the gym when their supposed to be working for you. Be serious cousin I value your opinion and I could be in serious danger of really falling for this woman."Richard pouted and relaxed onto Darcy's bed, causing his to scowl at his cousin until he moved to a chair.

"Richard you can't seriously entertain the idea of having another man's left over's." Richard was with another woman everything other week, Darcy didn't seriously believe he'd just happened to stumble across his dream girl in Darcy's building but then stranger things had happened, he was in the middle of a particularly confusing situation at the moment. All the same Darcy was not pleased, Richard easily fell in and out of love but he had never been naive and he didn't want his cousin to be taken for a ride by a strumpet.

"Will why is everything so black and white with you?" Richard took to his feet and paced the floor in impatience, he didn't know what he'd been expecting Darcy to say but it wasn't this.

"Because I am not naive . . ."

Richard threw his hands up in frustration and growled at Darcy "God, I can't wait to see the woman that breaks your heart," and then he promptly turned on his heel and walked out of the room, slamming the door to Darcy's bedroom in a fit of pent up anger.

Darcy didn't feel any remorse until he thought about Elizabeth and William. William was Elizabeth's child by another man, could he be as kind to himself as he had been to Richard; he already knew the answer to that.

Darcy emerged from the shower half an hour later, the rivulets of water glistening off his chest and working their way down to the soft white towel that was wrapped around his waist; he had taken a shower to take his mind off Elizabeth but instead all he'd thought about was her joining him in the shower, her naked body pressed up against is as he massaged her shoulders.

Slipping on some long grey cotton pyjama bottoms he picked up the phone and called Georgiana, it took her several rings to answer and when she did it bought a big smile to Darcy's face.

"William, you haven't forgotten how to use a phone."

"I'm sorry Georgie, forgive me, it's been a . . . hectic few days."

"You're forgiven so long as you tell me it's something other than work that's been keeping you occupied."

"For once yes . . ." Georgiana didn't say anything which was a first for her.

"Be serious brother, I don't like being teased."

"Do you remember that girl at the AGM two years ago, Emily?"

"How could I forget, you didn't stop talking and moping about her for months." Darcy winced, he didn't like to be reminded of that dark time "Oh my god Will, did you find her? What's she like?"

"Her names not Emily, it's Elizabeth and she lives just outside of Windsor with her a son called William."

"Okay, I'm confused; who are we talking about Emily or Elizabeth?"

Darcy chuckled, he wasn't surprised Georgiana didn't understand "Emily is Elizabeth; she was using a pseudonym the last time we met."

"OKayyyyyy and why would she do that?"

"Something to do with her family, her father was Anthony Bennett, do you remember dad's publisher."

"No."

"Oh well, it's a pretty moral story really, she wanted to get work on her own merit rather than using her family name when she was working in London so she went under the name Emily Benedict. There was no reason why she would of told me her name was any different."

"Wait Will, did you say Bennett? As in one of Catherine de Bourgs cohorts? The one that tried to get with . . ."

"Yes the one and only."

"Does Elizabeth know?"

"No and I don't plan on telling her anytime soon; her mother's an imbecile I can see why Elizabeth would want to have no connection with the insufferable woman."

"Me too! So a son, does that mean she's married or divorced?"

"Neither, she's single; it beggars belief Georgie, William doesn't see his father and I just can't understand why, he's amazing, so handsome and intelligent, he's just . . ." Darcy sat in stupefied silence, thinking about William and how endearing he was; it was difficult for him to articulate how much of a hold the toddler had on him in such a short time.

"You met him?"

"I spent the afternoon with him, he's incredible, and he looks so much like her. We spent the whole afternoon playing at her house and it was just so comfortable, natural even. You should see him, he's just figuring out how to make facial expression and every time he laughs one of his eyebrows shoots up."

"Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy, giving consequence to a child! Who are you and what have you done with my brother?" Georgiana laughed, obviously mocking him but she had never heard him speak fondly of any child. Darcy normally avoided children like the plague, he never took the time to play with his friends children and he had probably only held about five babies in his entire life and one of those was Georgiana. "So what are you going to do?"

"About what?"

"Will, you have spent the last two years pining over a woman that I was convinced didn't exist and now you know she's real why haven't you asked her out already?"

"Georgie, be serious she has a son, that changes thing the fantasy. Can you imagine how the media will react? No I couldn't do that to her or myself, it wouldn't be worth it."

"Sod the media! Never say that again Fitzwilliam Henry Darcy it is always worth it, do you want to be miserable for the rest of your life? Wouldn't it be worth all the stress to maybe have a shot at a happy life with the woman you love? Besides you're obviously besotted with her son; nothing is stopping you apart from you. Seriously Will for someone so business savvy when it comes to women you are a clueless."

"Georgiana, I'm not sure I like you admonishing me."

"Get used to it Will, someone has to stand up to you."

"Don't I know it, look listen Georgie I have to go, Richard has just stormed into my room and I'm preparing for him throw a tantrum so I'll call you from Japan. Bye, love you." Darcy put the phone down to Georgiana and looked at Richard who was glaring at him with his arms folded across his chest and a deep scowl on his face.

"Richard, are you going to say something or just stand there."

"You're a hypocritical asshole." Richard didn't stop to say anything else; he slammed the door behind him and left Darcy to stare after him in confusion; had Richard just overheard his conversation?

Pushing a button at the side of his bed he allowed the room to be shrouded with darkness as he lay on his back and allowed himself time to recap on the events of today. He couldn't believe how much his thoughts were filled with images of William; there was something so intoxicating about him and Darcy couldn't figure out why he cared so much so quickly about a little boy he had never met before; was it because she was Lizzie's son? Bloody hell, he thought, Elizabeth, my Elizabeth has a son, the most magnificent little boy I have ever met but could I ever really be with a woman who has a son by another man; a little voice inside him betrayed his true emotions 'yes, you love her.' With that realisation a smile crept across his face and he allowed himself to fall into a deep sleep, full of dreams of Elizabeth being woken up by William rushing into their room, as she lay next to Darcy at their home, Pemberley.

Author's note:


Thank you to everyone for your reviews, I really enjoy them so keep them coming, they make the working day just that little bit better.

Sorry it has taken me a few day's to finish this chapter, I kept writing it when I was really tired so in the end I scrapped it and started again.

Coming up is Janes conversation with Lizzie and how Georgiana deals with the news about William.

I hope you like it, keep reviewing :)

Kx