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"How dare you!" A short dark haired man stormed into the room forcibly shoving the door open, so that it crashed against the wall causing an echo to reverberate around the room. The man was about 5ft 9in, a good half a foot shorter than Darcy, but Darcy found himself retreating back against towards the safety of the window as the livid man advanced on him.
"The previous indiscretions of Francesca Bennett should not be cruelly revealed at a time like this," the man practically spat at Darcy, and a vein visibly pulsed in his temple. "Do you not know her son is here?" he paused for dramatic effect. "Who are you to speak about such atrocious things at a time like this; what gives you that right?"
Darcy flapped his gums, "I -." He was completely taken aback that someone was calling him out after everything that had happened between him and Elizabeth.
The man's face was slowly rising in colour as his ire grew, and he was within spitting distance of Darcy when Georgiana rushed into the room – the whole scene was like some comedy sketch. Georgiana practically flew into the room, her blonde hair flying out around her, and the skirt of her maxi dress gathered in her hands to make it easier to storm into the room without incident.
Georgiana stopped within two feet of the angry gentleman, placing her hands on her hips to indicate indignation, "Will has every right to call that witch every name under the sun if he feels like it. He is William's father." she said with determination, and locked her eyes on the now stunned gentleman.
A look of confusion spread across the man's face. He was flummoxed – why was such a beautiful young woman springing to the defence of the gentleman that had offended his niece? The man tried to control his surprise at the obviously new information, so he turned sideways to face both Darcy and Georgiana; it was sensible not to have your back to the enemy.
The room fell into uncomfortable silence.
Darcy was completely floored, had he just heard right… did Georgiana know that he was William's father… how did she know? His head felt light as struggled for words, and he couldn't string a coherent thought together.
One question kept springing to the forefront of his mind - how long had she known?
In the silence the puzzle pieces started to slide into place for Darcy. It certainly made sense now why she had been so determined to get him here. "YOU have to be there," she had said. At the time it come across as sisterly concern, but now he realised that the whole time she had had an ulterior motive - how could she keep it from him?
"Sir, I think there has been some misunderstanding," Darcy interjected.
"There has been no misunderstanding; you were ruining the happy memories a little girl has of her dead father and neurotic mother," the man said with absolute certainty, breathing a sigh of relief that the silence broken.
"Sir, I think it would be best that we do not continue this conversation now. There are some things I would like to remain private," Darcy said quietly, avoiding his sister's curious gaze.
Georgiana looked to Will, puffing out her cheeks and letting out a deep huff; he better tell her what was going on later.
"Oh really! So you are happy to parade my family's dirty laundry in front of Elizabeth's face, but now it doesn't seem appropriate," Darcy crinkled his nose at the man's terminology. "I defer to Elizabeth's judgement, however I feel it is time you both leave, this is a time for family," the man said with conviction.
"Have you not listened to a word I've said? He is family," Georgiana practically screamed, and pointed one of her slim fingers at Darcy, just in case the man was left wondering who she was talking about.
"This is ridiculous, get -" The man started to declare.
"Edward Gardiner, will you please desist!" Elizabeth spoke loud and clear, in a tone only mothers can master. Her voice immediately filled the room and stopped the fighting. She spoke in a tone that suffered no reproach; she was determined to be heard.
The anger visibly coursed through Elizabeth's curvaceous form - first she was offended that her own uncle had been speaking of her as if she was not in the room, second she was still fuming at Darcy for revealing the truth about her ridiculous mother so abominably and thirdly she couldn't believe no one had introduced Georgiana Darcy, and yet she had been in the room ten minutes.
Darcy, Georgiana and Edward turned to Elizabeth; they had completely forgotten she was in the room, and each of them bore a different expression of shock as they remembered she had been there the whole time.
"Uncle Edward, meet Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy and his sister, Miss Georgiana Darcy," she paused steadying her erratic breathing. "Mr. Darcy is William's father," Elizabeth spoke with conviction, avoiding Darcy's gaze.
Darcy threw his head up, completely surprised to hear the words coming out of her mouth - he still couldn't believe he was a father.
Darcy cast an eye to Georgiana. She was staring through narrowed eyes at Elizabeth, sucking air in through gritted teeth. Her entire posture had changed, it was like a rod had straightened Georgiana's back; raising her to her full height and she stood clenching and unclenching her fists at her side.
Darcy was completely perplexed at Georgiana's behaviour, he wanted to shout at her because she hadn't told him about William, but there was a sadistic pleasure he was trying to repress when he realised that Georgiana was just trying to protect him.
Edward Gardiner, stood in bewildered silence staring at Mr. Darcy, a deep blush spreading across his cheeks, as he realised he had spoken out of turn. Now that the rage had subsided he surveyed the tall gentleman's profile - they had the same nose, face shape and dark brown eyes: there could be no doubt that Fitzwilliam was William's father.
"Perhaps we can save this for later?" Elizabeth offered calmly.
Darcy looked with admiration at Elizabeth; gone was the hysterical wreck and in her place stood a refined and composed woman who was taking the unfortunate situation in her stride. Darcy observed that her eyes shone with unshed tears and her cheeks were inflamed from their heated conversation but she looked undeniably beautiful, positively stunning – this was the woman he had fallen in love with.
"You'd like that wouldn't you?" Darcy inwardly cringed when he realised how petulant Georgiana sounded next to Elizabeth.
"Yes I would actually and I hope that your brother will agree with me that now isn't the best time to throw around insults."
"I don't think you have any s -," Georgiana started petulantly, stamping her foot in vexation.
"Georgiana, we are leaving!" Darcy interrupted and looked away, avoiding the look of hurt on his sister's face.
Georgiana began to protest, but Darcy silenced her with a dark look and a gentle shake of his head; there was no room for negotiation. Darcy immediately took his sister by the upper arm and marched her to the door, turning at the last minute to face Elizabeth, who was focusing all of her attention on Edward.
A stony look set on Darcy's face, "Elizabeth –," she turned to face him, but avoided his intense stare. "Wi . . . Will you let me know how William is?" Darcy's voice hitched as he spoke of William, and Elizabeth was powerless to refuse him. She looked at him through a curtain of black eyelashes, and gently nodded her head in assent – it broke his heart and he swiftly left without another word.
They would see each other again.
A short while after Darcy and Georgiana left, the female doctor came into the room to find Elizabeth sitting with her uncle in the waiting room. She was resting her head against his shoulder, as her uncle soothingly stroked her soft brown hair; it looked like she'd been crying.
"Miss Bennett," the doctor spoke with the hint of a smile in her voice.
Elizabeth immediately jumped to her feet, despite the exhaustion coursing through her veins, "How is William?" The words rushed out of Elizabeth's mouth, and Edward stood behind her, gently rubbing her arm in comfort.
"Don't worry, William is fine. The MRI showed nothing out of the ordinary – he is going to make a full recovery."
Elizabeth clasped her hands against her mouth, and her breathing became ragged as she bit back the tears, "Oh thank god." Elizabeth spoke just above a whisper, and tears of relief slid down her face.
"Can we see him?" Edward continued, pulling Elizabeth into a hug.
"Of course, we would like to keep him overnight, but it's just precautionary." The doctor reassured.
"Can I stay with him?" Elizabeth said with a hint of hope in her voice.
"Yes, your partner has arranged for a private room for William," the doctor said, missing the look of confusion spreading across Edward's face.
"My Lizzie doesn't have a par -," Edward started, but was abruptly cut off.
"Thank you," Elizabeth's said her voice thick with emotion.
"Right well I better get off, but I just want to say William is beautiful, you and your partner should be very proud. I will be round in the morning to check on William, but I hope to never see you again," the doctor winked, and left the room.
As soon as the doctor left Elizabeth crumpled onto the sofa behind her, throwing her head back in torment and running her hands over her face. It felt like a huge burden had been lifted off her petite shoulders, but it didn't take the giant weight off her heart. Darcy's face kept flashing through her mind, and right now she didn't feel like she could face their son without him – she needed him!
Edward watched as a wave of emotions ran over her face, his heart broke for the little girl he had come to think of as his own. From their talk yesterday he had known that Mr Darcy was William's father, but he had been so blinded by rage that he hadn't realised who he had been speaking too until it was too late. From the tone of the young gentleman's voice and the look of total devastation on Elizabeth's face he gathered that she had told him the truth, and he gathered it hadn't gone as planned.
"So . . . that was William's father," Edward stated, rocking on the balls of his feet.
Elizabeth grabbed a cushion from the sofa, and held it to her face, screaming into it, "I don't want to do this now."
"No one's asking you to sweetheart."
"Eddie subtlety should be left to Ali because you are naff at it."
Edward chuckled. "Alright, alright I guess I'm just a little surprised you let him treat you like that," he finished softly.
Elizabeth lowered the pillow and said, "What did he say that I didn't deserve?" her voice was thick with guilt, but no hint of pity.
"Depends on your point of view, you've been rather cloak and dagger about William's parentage to everyone and we haven't treated you so abominably."
"Perhaps . . . but then again I didn't keep a child from you."
"Touché. I guess I just never expected you to fall for someone that treated you like that."
"Please don't speak about Fitzwilliam like that. You know nothing about him; you can hardly judge him by that outburst alone."
"But then as you say my dear I have no prior knowledge of the gentleman. To me he has always been like this."
"I have just caused the man an unconscionable amount of pain – I knew who he was, and yet I kept a son from him. What kind of woman does that?"
"Lizzie-bean, I have seen you care for four sisters, a mother who doesn't deserve it, a silly uncle and aunt who adore you and the most precious little boy in the world," he coughed to clear his throat. "You haven't got a bad bone in your body. I am 100% certain that you must have had very good reasons for not telling Mr Darcy about William sooner."
"But what if they aren't good enough for him?" Elizabeth hid behind the pillow again, doubting herself.
"Then the man's an idiot – your previous dating history proves that," Edward joked.
"Every time I'm around him I act so irrational. Everything I say causes an argument."
"Then you're perfect for one another. My dear I'm convinced you could formulate an argument before you could walk."
A small smile pulled at the corner of Elizabeth's rosy lips, and Edward smiled at her in response.
Edward hesitated before he spoke, conscious he might bring up unpleasant memories. "Do you want to talk about what happened with your mother?"
"Hasn't today been horrific enough?" Elizabeth raked her hand through her lank curly hair, and let it fall across her face. The vision of her mother being caught in her negligee by a young Darcy was haunting enough, and she felt she had enough on her plate without opening that door today – it could wait until a time when she was ready to inspect it further. "Grrr . . . he hates me," Elizabeth said, feeling totally dejected.
Edward crossed the space between them in a second and pulled his niece off the couch into a tight hug, resting her head against his shoulder and stroking her hair. "His words were spoken through hurt and anger; give him time, my love."
Elizabeth gripped onto her uncle's shirt, smelling his earthy scent, letting it calm her ragged nerves; she was positive no amount of time would fix the pain she had inflicted, but it would be nice to claim ignorance only if it was just for tonight.
"Now come on – there's a little boy out there that needs his mother," Edward pressed a tender kiss to Elizabeth's head, and took her by the hand leading her to William's bedside.
For the first time in weeks, regardless of the setting, Elizabeth cradled her precious son in her arms, savouring his warmth and surrendered to dreams of Darcy.
A restless William squirmed in his bed, until his mother took him in her arms and placed a tender kiss to his soft forehead and after hours of confusion, he gave into exhaustion and slept through the night.
Jane and Charles intruded briefly on the tender moment between mother and son and swiftly departed to separate beds, in separate towns, but with dreams filled with one another and the promise of a date very soon.
Georgiana refused to acknowledge Jane when she and Darcy left the hospital earlier than everyone else, and she ignored her brother the entire journey home, but she felt comforted when half way home he gripped her hand; when she left she slammed the car door and went back to her apartment, thinking only of Darcy, Elizabeth and William.
William didn't speak a word to Georgiana on the way home, he turned his back to her and focussed on the lights in London, today had been emotionally draining, and he needed to just not think for a few minutes. After what felt like an eternity of silence, the emptiness gnawed at him and he ached for comfort again and took her hand in his. He didn't let go until they departed at her flat.
Meanwhile, Edward replaced the cover over Elizabeth and William, smoothing her hair and kissing Will on the head and left the room, turning out the light on the day – tomorrow could only get better.
Authors note:
First of all let me thank alice-in-vunderland and noukinav018 for being the betas on this chapter. It means a lot to me that you guys take the time to read my stories and I wouldn't feel confident enough to do it without you - thank you :)
Secondly thank you to everyone that continues to review and story alert 'It Can't Stay Hidden Forever' you have no idea how much it brightens my day when my Blackberry has a bllinking red light telling me I have another message from - you are all ace and deserve ooddles and oodles of cookies, hugs and caramel macchiato's (best drink ever).
Right so - what did you think?
I know I promised an update pretty soon and it didn't happen, so I shall crawl back under the bed covers and hang my head in shame; sorry for keeping you all waiting, I hope it wasn't too much of a disappointment.
I imagine you guys were looking for more of a reolsution to the situation than you got, but I thought it was important to bring in Darcy and Elizabeth's families because they will play in a bigger role over the next few chapters. Anyway I will try and resolve some of the tension in the next chapter, which you will be pleased to hear, I have already written 3000 words of, so hopefully you won't be waiting too long.
With regards to the upcoming chapters I would really like to know whether you think I should send Darcy to Japan and bring back George Wickham; what do you think? I'd be interested to see what you guys would like to see addressed/happen (see if there anything like the plan I have in mind) over the next few chapters - do you want more Lizzie/Darcy interaction? Lizzie's past? Darcy's past? Lizzie and Will? Jane and Charlie? Lizzie and Richard? Darcy and a girlfriend perhaps?
Anyway that's enough from me, I will try and update all three of my stories as soon as possible, but I am at a conference in Frankfurt from Thursday till next Saturday so I will be busy busy busy.
Look forward to reading your reviews (bit presumptious I know but a girl can live in hope :)).
Till next time . . .
Kx