Disclaimer: I own nothing much to my chagrin :(

A/N: Thank you for your reviews and patience, it has taken me a lot longer to write this chapter than anticipated (five drafts to be precise) because I wanted it to be perfect.

I would like to take this oppportunity to thank noukinav018 who beta'd this chapter for me . . . some of your comments really made me laugh and I'm glad you liked it. I have changed some little bits of it in line with your comments so I hope you enjoy it too.

Enjoy

George's head shot up, a look of dumbfounded confusion on his face, "Pardon?"

George turned to face Lizzie, who kept her eyes on William. The train had left the station and she still wasn't sure she wanted to be on board. "Where do you get off saying things like that?"

Elizabeth knew that instinctively George would jump on the defensive but she was powerless to calm him down, he had always been a little hot headed and hated being challenged, but Lizzie was too absorbed with Darcy finding out that he was William's biological father to pay any attention to the curses George was struggling to conceal in vain.

"William can only have one father and that said person can only be me!" George shot a menacing glare at Darcy as he spoke, even though the tall gentleman didn't seem affected by the young doctor's effusions of paternity. Instead Darcy kept his eyes on William, taking in every feature of his son's face, drinking in all the similarities he hadn't noticed before.

"Elizabeth, who is this guy?" Wickham turned his menacing countenance on Elizabeth and gripped onto her upper arm, shaking her slightly when she didn't respond.

Wickham's hand clamped around Lizzie's arm in a vice-like grip, causing all the blood to pool in her shoulder and make her hand with pins and needles, "George, you're hurting me!" Darcy looked to Elizabeth and saw the distress lines creasing her forehead as she stared up at Wickham pleading with him to let her go. As chaos ensued deep inside Darcy, he saw red. How dare this jumped up prick touch my Elizabeth. In an instant Darcy was standing between Wickham and Elizabeth, impressing his full height advantage over the other gentleman.

"Remove your hand," Darcy's voice was low and menacing, his dark eyes appeared to have turned black; it made Wickham's blood run cold.

"Pardon?" Wickham visibly gulped.

Darcy kept his icy eyes on his prey. If looks could kill, George Wickham feared that he would have been exterminated by now. As these thoughts passed through the paralyzed man's hectic mind Darcy spoke again in a low steely voice that even made Elizabeth cringe "I didn't stutter." He clenched and unclenched his fists, his nostrils flaring as his voice dramatically increased "I said: remove your hand from Elizabeth!" Wickham was stunned, Darcy's warm breath kept tickling his face and it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. It took Wickham a few seconds to realise that this was a lost battle. Even he could not deny that in a fight Darcy would clearly have the advantage, his muscular torso and upper arms were far greater than George's. Childishly Wickham wanted to interject and say 'or what' but he felt that that would be unwise; he wasn't that much of a fool after all.

Darcy didn't take his eyes off Wickham and after a few seconds George relinquished his grip on Elizabeth's upper arm leaving the patches where his fingers had been white.

"George I think you should leave," Elizabeth spoke quietly and to everyone's surprise she moved in front of Darcy to protect him and discourage any further fighting.

"But."

"No buts."

"Can we talk later?"

"About what?"

"Everything."

"You mean William? I'll be happy to let you know how he is, but aside from that I think everything has been said on the subject."

"So it's true then, I'm not his dad?"

"That's what I've always told you."

Wickham nodded and turned to kiss William on the forehead one last time, then Elizabeth on the cheek; Darcy tensed as he touched her but he didn't do anything else, he just left, without even looking back.

The room fell into uncomfortable silence.

Until now William had been sleeping soundly too exhausted to open his eyes, but with all the raised voices, he woke up and immediately began reaching for Elizabeth. William shifted on the bed and attempted to sit up, "Up . . . Moomah" William drew both of their attention to him as he tried to wriggle out of the covers that had been placed over him. Thankful for the distraction, Elizabeth and Darcy instantly stepped closer to his bedside, Elizabeth placing tender kisses on his forehead whilst stroking the soft baby curls that had fallen into his eyes and Darcy took his son's hand in his own, flabbergasted at how tiny it was in comparison to his own.

There was so much Darcy wanted to say, so much he wanted to shout and understand but right now the time he got to spend looking after William was priceless. Darcy savoured the touch of his son's soft pudgy little hands and he placed a tender kiss on the little ones fingers. A solitary tear travelled down Darcy's cheek as William traced his five o'clock shadow with his hands, he had a son, he had made a son, for two years he had dreamed of what his life could have been like with Emily Benedict and their children and here he was, William Bennett . . . well that name would have to change.

A petite ash blonde doctor hesitated near the curtain, watching the tender scene unfold. It made her a bit misty eyed to see such a happy family, the hospital was often full of disjointed families blaming one another for someone else's misfortune but not here, here they were happy. "Pardon me, Mrs Bennett."

Darcy and Elizabeth both looked up at the same time, to see the white coated doctor standing by the entrance. "Sorry to interrupt you but I would like to take a look at William, would that be okay?" The doctor seemed a bit timid as she spoke but she had a gentle smile and both Elizabeth and Darcy felt slightly more at ease that William's doctor seemed so nice.

The doctor leant over William and gently pinched his nose causing him to giggle and then she set about listening to his heart with her stethoscope and performing other tests to assess his wellbeing.

Darcy looked to Elizabeth, who was stood by the bedside biting her thumb and despite all the anger he felt, he couldn't resist touching her; it felt too natural. So as not to startle her he gently placed a hand on her shoulder and pulled her back gently so that her body rested against his chest. Elizabeth was thankful for the affectionate gesture and unconsciously she laid her head back against Darcy's chest, allowing him to place one tender kiss on the top of her head. Darcy inhaled the smell of her hair, it was just as he remembered fruity with a hint of honey; it was like heaven.

The anxious parents watched and waited as the doctor scribbled different readings and observations on her clipboard, it felt like an eternity before she turned to them and smiled "From the initial tests the nurse performed earlier it appears William is going to be just fine, however because of the length of time he wasn't breathing it is possible that there is some damage we cannot detect."

"Like what?" Darcy choked out.

"It isn't uncommon for people who haven't been breathing to suffer some brain damage."

"Brain damage!" Elizabeth cut the doctor off, instantly stepping forward but Darcy held her firm and pulled her back to be with him.

"Don't panic, we just want to be safe, I have scheduled an MRI for him, now can you tell me did he cry at all?"

"Yes, at the house and all the way here, as soon as we got here William went quiet; why is that bad?"

"Not at all, it's just good to know. Now, my colleagues will be coming in here to take William down to radiology, would you both like to accompany him?"

"Yes please." Darcy spoke for both of them.

"Okay," the doctor nodded and smiled, "don't worry, from the initial tests conducted William seems fine but we just want to make sure." Two male nurses entered the room and prepared the bed for transportation, within seconds they were out the door and Elizabeth, Darcy and the doctor were trailing behind the bed.

"It makes a nice change to see a contented family in A you would be surprised at the amount of arguments we have to wade in on." The doctor filled the silence; Elizabeth and Darcy just nodded, looking anywhere but at each other.

"So . . . you must hear this all the time but you look just like Fitzwilliam Darcy!" A rosy blush spread across the young doctor's cheeks as she batted her eyelashes at him, Darcy didn't even notice this flirtatious gesture, there were much finer eyes he could indulge in if he chose. Nevertheless a small smile traced the lines of Darcy's mouth which he tried to hide "You'd be surprised how often people call me that," he gave a side wards glance to Elizabeth who had a hand covering her mouth, as she tried to hold back the laughter. Regardless of everything she had done, he couldn't help himself, he wanted to see her smile, her smile was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen, it made her eyes sparkle and caused small dimples to appear either side of her mouth, her exquisite pink lips.

"So, how long have you two been married?"

"We're not married." Elizabeth answered bluntly, avoiding the look of hurt that spread across Darcy's face.

"Oh, oh, pardon me, I just thought . . ."

"It's fine." Darcy cut her off, everyone was clear that the conversation was over.

A short silent elevator ride later and William was being taken into the MRI room, "I'm afraid neither of you can accompany him into the room, however I promise we won't be long." Elizabeth and Darcy kissed William on the head and watched the nurses and doctor led their son away: a piece of both of them went with him.

Embarrassed and conscious that people may see him staring at a closed door Darcy abruptly walked into a private waiting area to the left of where William had been taken, he looked back at Elizabeth, holding the door open for her signalling that she was to follow him; shame faced and apprehensive she followed his retreating form and shut the door behind them.

Darcy was standing in the centre of the room, staring at her as she wrapped her arms around herself for comfort.

"Well!"

All the fury Darcy had been suppressing for the last hour was starting to seep through his pores, his body language was stiff and imposing and his mouth was in a hard line. "Say something!"

"I . . . I'm," Elizabeth practically begged herself internally to say something, anything constructive but her brain flat lined, she just stared at the floor, taking in the swirling patterns on the dire 1980's esque carpet.

"You're what Elizabeth? sorry . . . ?"

Elizabeth snapped her head up, her eyes wide with disbelief. She stared deep into his soul, trying to search for the Darcy she knew but all traces of the tender knight she had known were gone and in his place was a monster motivated by pure unadulterated hatred. Her mind was ablaze with answers to questions she knew he would ask but still she could not find the words to fight her corner; in truth there could be no podium place for her, what she had done was one of the most terrible things imaginable. All these years Elizabeth had convinced herself that everything she had done she did because she wanted to protect William and Darcy but in the harsh light of day she was forced to reconsider: had she done them all for herself? Had she been too scared to open her heart to a man that she admired, feared and respected? How could she live up to the expectations of someone like him?

In William's first hospital room she had felt some small measure of hope that they could have some kind of future together but now . . . now she knew she had won the battle but she could not win the war.

Tears crystallised on her lashes and magnified her brown eyes as the realisation hit her that for two years she had secretly harboured a dream that one day they could be together as a family and when she saw him again last week she knew that fire had never gone away. Lizzie still looked for Darcy at everyone conference she organised and in every news paper or magazine she bought, one day perhaps she had planned on telling William the truth, since his birth she had been storing away little memoirs for him and one of them was a picture of Fitzwilliam at the conference where William had been conceived, before leaving the company Charlotte had sent her the photo . . . she had never understood why Lizzie wanted the photo but it would make perfect sense when she found out the truth.

She was cut out of her musings remembering how Darcy's clipped voice sounded, he hated her, the animosity was visibly rolling off his shoulders (his broad muscular shoulders) and a pang of guilt shot through her heart as she realised that even though she had played out this conversation in her head a million times there wouldn't be a happy ending, no matter how many times she said she was sorry it would not make up for what she'd done.

"Yes," she replied in defeat as there were no words, to express how sorry she was. She just mentally braced herself to keep her wit and not to sink under his scrutiny.

"Sorry, is that really the best you've got . . . you lied about who you were, you kept my son from me, you disappeared and sorry is supposed to cover it?"

"Darcy, I am so many degrees sorrier than you could ever possibly imagine but I can't take what I did back."

"Why?"

"Why . . . do you mean why did I keep it from you?" Darcy nodded his head once, "because I thought I was doing you a favour."

Darcy blanched, "and how is that Miss Bennett?"

"Darcy, we had one night together, one night. If I'd of turned up a few months later, telling you I was pregnant you wouldn't have believed me that the baby was yours and I don't blame you for that; you know nothing about my past, my family, my character, I didn't want you to think I was trying to trap you into something, it was my fault I got pregnant, I chose to keep the baby, I didn't see why you should have to suffer for my choices."

Darcy was pacing the floor furiously, dragging his hands though his curly mass of hair causing it to stick up at odd angles, "You didn't even give me a chance."

"I know and that is why I'm sorry, but you made it very clear the morning after we had sex that it meant nothing to you, I got the impression you did it quite a lot."

Darcy stopped and walked over to her, standing over her with dark eyes, "What gives you the right to make that decision; I gave you no such indication that I make a habit of having sex with strangers, I had never done anything that impulsive in my life; I did it because I wanted you."

"Maybe it was impulsive but you seemed pretty keen to be rid of me the following morning, I seem to remember that you said nothing when I left."

"That might be because you left when I went into the bathroom: I don't have more than one pair of eyes."

"You said 'Shit' and then ran into the bathroom; I didn't get so much as a good morning or a thank you."

"Miss Bennett, do you often wear rose tinted glasses? I went into the bathroom because I was late and when I came back you were gone, I tried to find you and one of your colleagues told me you weren't well. I went to your bedroom and discovered for myself that unless you'd changed into a 5ft Chinese man you'd left without even saying goodbye. You had the final say about how things ended, disappearing like a coward leaving me to clear up the mess."

"How dare you! What mess?" As they had been arguing Elizabeth and Darcy had naturally gravitated towards one another and now they were standing mere inches apart.

"Some trigger happy security guard saw us . . ."

Elizabeth's face was a picture of pure horror, her pulse was racing and her face drained of colour, "Saw us?"

"Saw some of what happened but it is of no consequence I took care of it."

"Well I'm sorry I nearly ruined your reputation."

"I did it to protect yours."

". . . Thank you . . ." Elizabeth suddenly felt uncomfortable that they were so close, so she tried to take a step back but he reached out to her, keeping a hand on her upper arms.

"I wouldn't have sent you away, sure I would have been sceptical but you didn't give me a chance." Darcy looked into her eyes, searching their depths for any indication that she believed him.

"I know and for that I'm sorry, but if it happened again, I would still make the same decision." Darcy jerked his hands away from her shoulders as if he'd been shocked; did she not care for him at all?

"Then you are not the kind caring woman I fell in love with . . ."

"In love with . . . Darcy I mean that knowing what I knew then. . ." Elizabeth reached out to him but as she closed the distance between them she felt self conscious, she couldn't believe he said he loved her.

"Spare me Elizabeth; you have made your feelings on the matter quite clear. I am only sad for you. I searched for you, for months after that conference, god I made Charles employ the same goddamn events agency in the vain attempt that you might come back. I would have been ecstatic about having a baby with you, the first time I laid my eyes on you I dreamed that I'd marry you, I dreamt we'd raise a family together, looking after our grandchildren years later and die by side-by-side but it appears you have other plans. Miss Bennett, would you have ever told me if I hadn't figured it out?"

"Yes . . . I've been to your office so many times, I am confident that I could navigate the stairs to your office blindfolded. The day before yesterday I came to tell you, Jane was right I did come to your offices but I got to your door and all the shame of keeping William from you caught up with me . . . I didn't know how to tell you."

"Was two years not enough to piece together some semblance of a conversation?"

"Every conversation we have ever had has started or ended with an argument, what could I have said to make what I did okay?"

"Nothing but the point is you would have tried. William is my son and yet I know nothing about him, when is his birthday, what is his middle name, what day was he born on, what makes him happy, what makes him cry, how many hours does he sleep at night, what was his first word, these are all questions a dad should be able to answer. It seems you enjoy making a fool out of me!"

"That isn't true!"

"Oh really, so the other day when Charles was teasing me about having a 'love child' you and Jane weren't laughing on the inside?"

"No, Jane didn't know you were William's father."

"Don't trifle with me."

"I'm not. Jane only found out after out lunch the other week, she has only known you are William's biological father for a matter of days. Until then I had not told a soul about you. I would have died if it were exposed in the papers."

"You would have died, that's rich."

"No, I would have died for you, Fitzwilliam don't you see . . ." Elizabeth didn't realise but she had Darcy's face in her hands, looking him in the eye, "I didn't want you to suffer from the revelation that you had a bastard child. Until the other day I never knew you came to my apartment, I didn't know you came looking for me, I was trying to keep you safe."

Darcy took Elizabeth's hands off his face and turned his back to her, looking out the small window at the far side of the colourless room, "It seems the Bennett women are all cut from the same mould," he paused for dramatic effect "I'm not talking about Jane; I'm talking about your mother."

"My mother?"

"Yes unfortunately, are you aware that your mother tried to have an affair with a married man?"

Elizabeth shook her head and Darcy watched her pained reflection in the window, "It was my father she tried to seduce, appalling woman, definitely deserved to be cast out from society." Darcy knew he was hurting her, he was insulting the memory of her father but he had a gaping wound gnawing away at his heart and he wanted to cause her some amount of pain for everything she had done to him.

"Wh . . .what? What are you talking about? When was this?"

"Just after your father died, I would never have known it was your mother until you told me your real name but I guess you could say the deceitful apple does not fall far from the tree."

"How do you know this?"

"I saw her, Elizabeth. It was late one night and I couldn't sleep so I went downstairs to get a drink and on the way to the kitchen I passed my father's study and because the lights were still on I went inside and much to my horror I found your mother draped across his desk in lingerie that left didn't leave much to the imagination, she was waiting for my father to return. Your mother was desperate and she definitely wasn't prepared for a boy to see her in her negligee. It seems kind of sad now; she couldn't even wait an appropriate grieving time before trying to satisfy herself after your father's death."

"You bastard!" Elizabeth sank down in the seat nearest the door, letting the cushions envelop her, as the tears cascaded down her cheeks, "I'm sorry about William, I am and I know there are no words that can make the cruel and heartless thing I have done go away but that . . .that was . . . " Elizabeth struggled to continue, as choking sobs consumed her. "If I could have had it any other way I would have done, do you think I wanted our son to grow up fatherless, do you think I wanted to do everything on my own, I wanted you by my side, the day I found out I was pregnant I imagined telling you and watching the smile spread across your face as you swept me up into your arms.

I hurled blue curses at you when I was giving birth but all the time I wanted you there, I wanted William's father taking photos of our baby as he was born, I wanted to see you hold him for the first time and every day since then I have dreamt about sharing every last minute of his life with you . . . I have made a terrible mistake but Mr Darcy that gives you no right to bad mouth my family, only me. Recompense injury with justice not revenge."

A very small sadistic part of Darcy was mollified that she was crying but the bigger part of his being was guilt ridden that he had brought her to tears; after everything she had done, how could he hate the mother of his child, the woman he had spent months dreaming about, sure it was too soon to know exactly how he felt but he simply couldn't banish months of longing.

Darcy watched the salty tears cascade down her plump cheeks, her brown hair was dishevelled and hung down her back in messy curls and until now he hadn't noticed that she was wearing pyjamas underneath her coat; it was officially Elizabeth's darkest hour. He didn't know how to react. His mother & sister had always teased him because he simply couldn't deal with people crying. If he ever saw Georgie crying he kept trying to make her laugh until the tears disappeared, but now Lizzie's tears unnerved him. He felt it tipped the balance out of his favour and he had no control over the situation.

Darcy kept looking out the window; he couldn't move a muscle, it felt like steels rods had bolted him to the floor, making him endure the silence that was filled with Elizabeth's stifled sobs. Darcy mentally went through everything he had said, he was ashamed of how everything he said came out but he couldn't say sorry. After an unendurable amount of time he was grateful when someone threw open the door to the private room, that is until he saw the look of pure hatred spewing from the persons eyes . . .

Elsewhere . . .

"Did you tell him?" Jane made Georgiana jump as she quietly whispered to her from behind.

Jane, Charles and Georgiana had been sitting in silence for over two hours, at first Charles had tried to ease the tension by trying to entertain the ladies with stories about work and Darcy's drunken escapades but even his normally most successful stories barely even raised a smile to the girl's lips. So defeated he had sank into one of the waiting room seats, in between the two girls and satisfied his boredom by playing on his phone – that is until one of the nurses informed him that all mobiles had to be turned off, 'fucking hell' he had muttered under his breath, causing both of the girls to laugh under their breath.

Georgiana turned to face Jane, ceasing the incessant tapping of her foot that had been bugging Jane, "No."

Jane visibly relaxed, which caused Georgiana to tense, "that doesn't mean I'm not going to," Georgiana shot Jane a dark stare, how dare the bitch's sister try and keep the secret hidden even longer? Georgie had duty to no one but her brother.

"I know, I wouldn't want it to be any other way, but I didn't have a chance to tell Elizabeth and I can't stand the thought of her being under further pressure with everything that's going on with William." Georgiana suddenly felt bad that she had jumped to the wrong conclusion, Jane was obviously a loyal & caring sister and they had that among other things in common. Georgie pulled her knees up to her chest on the seat and pulled her maxi dress around her so it cascaded over the edge of the seat, it was suddenly very cold.

Jane the younger woman's pose and removed her jacket placing it around Georgie's shoulders, without looking at her, Georgie just smiled and wrapped the jacket firmly around her, Jane had another think coming if she thought she was getting this back anytime soon – childish but it meant Georgie could hang onto her anger a little bit longer.

"Why didn't your sister tell him? Does Charles know?"

"Do I know what?" Charles suddenly looked up, happy to be involved in the conversation again.

Jane shook her head at Georgiana without Charles noticing, "Do you know if the coffee machine takes 5p's?"

Charles raised his eyebrow and was almost certain this wasn't where the conversation had been heading, "Yeh, it does . . . why would you like a drink?"

"I'd love one, thanks for offering Charles, coffee one sugar," Georgie smiled up at him sweetly.

Charles huffed and stood up ruffling Georgie's blonde hair as he went, "Jane would you like anything?"

"No thank you."

"Alright then, one coffee coming right up." Charles disappeared down the hallway, in search of coffee, leaving the two girls to talk.

Jane watched Charles' retreating form, she thought to herself that his broad shoulders were rather spectacular and she wondered what they were like underneath the jacket. After a few seconds of fantasising Jane became aware that someone was coughing next to her and she turned to see Georgie raising an eyebrow at her, a furious red blush spread across her face.

"So . . . why didn't she tell him?" Georgiana was a persistent younger sister; years of having a brother that gave her everything made her so.

Jane sighed, "I don't know, Lizzie didn't tell me that Mr Darcy was William's father until a few days ago."

"What kind of woman is your sister?"

"Excuse me, Miss Darcy but my sister is the best sort of woman and the most loyal mother."

"The best sorts of women don't hide a son from their father."

"If my sister said she had her reasons then she does, I trust her. You have every right in the world to be angry with her right now but I've seen the way my sister looks at Mr Darcy and I know she couldn't have kept the truth from him because of a lack of affection."

"My brother went looking for her you knew, it nearly killed him."

"Excuse me?"

"After the conference . . . I have never seen him so possessed, he was determined to find her, he thought he was close a few times but they all turned out to be dead ends."

"I know he did."

"You knew?"

"Yes, he came to mine and Elizabeth's old apartment."

"What? Why didn't you tell him where she was?"

"Because he didn't ask for her"

"Ah yes, Emily Benedict, it appears your sister has a penchant for lying."

"And it appears you have a penchant for speaking about things you do not understand."

Georgiana was getting more incensed by the argument and stood up to tower over Jane, who sat composed in her seat, both girls were glaring at one another, refusing to give the other ground.

"Georgiana, they don't have any coffee, so I got you tea." Charles appeared out of nowhere and nearly spilt the tea over himself when Georgiana rounded on him.

"Just forget it Charles." Georgiana didn't take the cup and stormed off down the corridor, in the direction of the room where Fitzwilliam had gone earlier.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed it, I would really appreciate your thoughts on this chapter to see if it lived up to how you perceive Elizabeth, Darcy, Jane etc.

I'll try not to keep you waiting for an update next time.

Thanks again

Kx