A/N - Welcome to The Definition of Complicated, a modern P story that explores the fake dating to workplace romance pipeline. E , J pairings. It'll get steamy in later chapters, but plenty of slow burn first. Final story will be around 50k words. Enjoy this first taster!
Chapter 1 - celebration / ultimatum
Elizabeth Bennet was certain that she had been cursed with the most overbearing mother on the planet. Despite having moved out of her family home over twelve years ago, she had never managed to move far enough away to escape the grasp of Mrs Bennet's helpful suggestions and altruistic demands. More often than not, this advice was parcelled as helpful tidbits to improve her love life (or lack thereof). Whether for her own benefit or not, her mother's demands often fell on unhearing ears, for Elizabeth was fiercely independent and exceedingly intelligent. She had experienced a great deal of professional success by leveraging both of these traits. Graduating from Cambridge was a natural springboard into her hugely successful consulting career, landing her her current position as the youngest female associate partner that her firm had ever had.
It was mid-evening when she arrived at her parent's home on the day of her promotion, full of excitement to share the news at her family's Friday Night Dinner. It was not an uncommon occasion, as all five of the adult Bennet children were expected home whenever they could attend. On this particular occurence, Mrs Bennet had the great joy of welcoming her two eldest daughters to dine with her and her husband. Both had travelled together from their shared apartment an hour's train ride away in the city of London.
Jane, for her part, contributed towards the shared upkeep of the apartment with her role as a head of key stage in a nearby primary school. Both had their fair share of job pressures, but both found a good sense of fulfilment from their respective roles. And it was a major benefit to return home at the end of a long day to the comforting arms of someone she had known for almost all of her life. The two sisters had always been close, so it had been a no brainer to move in together when they both began working in the city after university. Renting together had turned into buying together within six years, and they had been happily living in the same house for about a year.
They always approached these dinners with reserved fondness, and almost always attended in tandem. The constant comments from their mother were much easier diluted with the both of them in attendance.
~.~
Once the main meal had been ferociously consumed, Elizabeth found a moment to break two exciting pieces of news to her family. She had been excited to reveal the first piece of news, bubbling with ill-contained pride at the knowledge of her impressive promotion. Her announcement was well received by all both of her parents, whilst her older sister Jane had shared a knowing smile on multiple occasions throughout dinner, in full possession of the prior knowledge of both pieces of news.
"We must toast," her mother said, the telltale wobble in her voice warning Elizabeth of the upcoming tears of happiness. "Dearest Lizzy, we are so proud of you, smart little cookie." Well, she thought, might as well go the whole hog. She looked at her father as she permitted herself to boast a little.
"I was told that I am the youngest female AP that they have ever had, which is quite nice to know," she said in an even tone, as if commenting on something as benign as the weather.
"The youngest-" her mother's sentence was unintelligible from her noisy sobs. Whilst she may be overbearing, Lizzy was at least glad that she was proud of her achievements.
Her father, although not one to share grandiose verbal declarations of celebration, grinned from ear to ear in a rare display of unfettered pride at his favourite daughter and her brilliance. Though he said little, his eyes told her of his love and admiration of her. She smiled warmly back at him.
Upon hearing the news again, and seeing her parents reactions, Jane leaned over from the seat next to Elizabeth's and gave her an uncharacteristically fierce hug, quietly sharing her unsurprised but effusive praise for her sister and her professional success.
"Lizzy, I am so glad they can see how brilliant you are," she said, squeezing the air from her dear sister's lungs.
"Thank you," the younger sister said simply, then spoke louder. "But that is not the only good news I wanted to share today."
Her mother calmed herself, and the table went unusually quiet in anticipation of what further news there could possibly be.
Fran Bennet, carried away by the excitement of the work news, thought of the only thing that could make her happier.
"Have you finally found your future husband?" She asked excitedly.
Elizabeth's face fell. Leave it to her mother to ruin a moment. Her face told the room all they needed to know, but she spoke in any case.
"I am sorry," she said before thinking. It was a knee jerk when her mother spoke - she had learned that either she was at fault or she needed to apologise for something that Mrs Bennet had said. She pressed on, excitement dulled but present nonetheless, to share the next piece of happy news.
"Charlotte Lucas, you remember my best friend from school?"
"Of course we remember, Lizzy. Why, she was the one who used to come for sleepovers all the time?"
"Yes, the very same." Lizzy smiled to remember their clandestine forays into the kitchen to pilfer snacks under the moonlight. "Well, she asked me to be her bridesmaid a few months ago," She told the room. "And she's getting married in six week's time."
"She asked me too, and I was overjoyed to say yes," Jane added, the picture of beautiful happiness.
"Oh what marvellous news, both of my daughters in beautiful bridesmaid's dresses," her mother recovered, crying happy tears again. She always got excited over weddings, even if they were not her daughters' as she so wished. "Who is the lucky man?"
"Her name is Sophie," Elizbeth grinned, thinking of her friend and how happy she was with her fiancée. "They met at a bar about a year ago, and I must say she is wonderful."
"Good for her," Mr Bennet cut in, smiling so it graced his eyes with a crinkly warmth. "Wish her the best from us, please girls."
This was readily agreed to, before Mrs Bennet resumed her usual disappointed tirade about their romantic affairs.
"Oh dear," she exclaimed from nowhere. "Whatever will you do for a gentleman each to bring along? You cannot go by yourselves. People will think you live to work. They will think you so highly strung. No, it will not do."
"Is that what you think, Mama?" Elizabeth challenged, enraged. Jane's anger was quieter, but it was there. The difference in outward display of hurt and upset laid in the fact that Elizabeth did not desire a partner in any stretch of the imagination, whereas Jane had been quietly pining for the past eight months after a particularly unhappy break up.
"Well, you could be slightly more open to the idea, darling," she softened her earlier statement.
"Mama!" She exclaimed in her indignance. "If my life does not revolve around finding a spouse, so be it. I am wildly happy with my life. I have a job that I love, I have so many friends and hobbies I do not have time for them all. And what's more, I like myself."
The silent challenge was clear, for her family to reflect on whether they had the same self awareness and self love. She carried on, momentum encouraging her to say things she knew she may come to regret.
"Any future partner would have to live up to the standard I hold for my own company. And I am yet to meet anyone for whom that is the case."
She took a deep breath to slow herself down.
"If all that I am is not enough for you without a partner, then I am exceedingly sorry to disappoint you." Silent tears streamed on her cheeks, both of anger and sadness.
"Elizabeth-" Mrs Bennet implored. "I did not mean to upset you."
"You are not the first person who has said that kind of thing to me," she explained, now in full charge of her breath and her temper. In fact, she had overheard multiple colleagues call her some version of the same. Whether it was that she was supposedly frigid, or a workaholic, or the endless jokes about who would do what to break in the ice queen, the words were always in jest and always about her lack of sex life. They were never office appropriate, and whilst she did not pay credence to them, they did chip away at her.
"I should not have spoken so directly," her mother half-apologised.
"You should not have spoken at all," her husband muttered under his breath. Lizzy smiled weakly at him.
"Well, you have managed to secure an apology from your daughter for the heinous crime of being single at the age of twenty nine. I hope you are satisfied."
"I know you don't think you need a man to be happy, Lizzy," her mother said by way of explanation for her outburst. "But please, just try going on a couple of dates. It cannot hurt. Just find yourself a man in time for Charlotte's wedding."
"What is in it for me?" Lizzy said, wavering. She was tired of having this conversation over and over again. Her mother squealed her delight at eliciting such a promising response from her usually disinterested daughter.
"What can I give you?" She said, her words rushed.
"If I agree to this, to finding a date for Charlotte's wedding," she began. "You must stop mentioning my love life at every dinner. In fact, I want you to stop mentioning it at all."
"Done!" The reply from her mother came immediately. "But on two conditions."
Lizzy gestured for her to name them.
"First, your sister is included in this agreement."
She made it sound like a business deal, which Lizzy was grateful for as it would make it easier to hold her mother to account later when she inevitably broke her word.
Jane was not best pleased with the latest development. "Mama-"
"I think it will do you well too, my love," Mrs Bennet entreated. To Elizabeth's surprise, Jane did not press her. Perhaps she had done the maths and realised that her mother's silence in all future dating ventures far outweighed any concern over this particular one.
"The second, I do not want you going with just anybody. Yes, the two of you must bring them to dinner at least once before the wedding. If I do not approve of them, you can kiss my silence goodbye."
She took a sip of wine, very much pleased with herself.
Lizzy did not think it was very fair to bring two innocent people into the fray by forcing them to endure a Bennet family dinner. But the sweet temptation of her mother's future silence was too much to pass upon. She looked at Jane for silent confirmation before accepting her mother's terms.
"I am very excited for the both of you," Mrs Bennet exclaimed.
Sarcastic grumbling was the only reply she got before they moved onto dessert and less confrontational conversation topics.
~. ~
Jane turned to her sister on the train ride back to the city, with a glint in her eyes.
"So what are we going to do about partners for the wedding?" She asked.
"I was thinking we could bribe-"
"No. It has to be real. Mum will see right through it if we bring friends as our dates. She knows most of the eligible choices."
"Damn," Lizzy exclaimed. "You are right." It was not often that Lizzy conceded, and her sister chuckled to see her off-balance.
"What about putting an ad in the newspaper?" Lizzy suggested.
"Wow, maybe mum wasn't so wrong about you, grandma!" Jane teased her little sister.
"Ouch," Lizzy mimed taking an arrow to the heart. "I thought you were on my side."
"I am, silly. But I do not think we will find anyone we actually want to spend even an evening with in the paper, let alone three!"
"Three?" Lizzy asked.
"A date to explain the situation, an evening with Mum and Dad, and the wedding itself."
"Right you are," Lizzy groaned. "Remind me why I signed up for this?"
"Seemed like a good idea at the time, I guess," Jane laughed openly at her sister.
"Can we set up a double dating profile in an app?" Jane suggested.
"I really am an idiot," Lizzy self-admonished.
"No you're not," Jane offered.
"The last project I worked on was marketing a dating app which let you create group profiles. It was sort of targeted for poly people, but it actually got a lot more traction for double dating."
"Sounds perfect," Jane gushed.
They had a great deal of fun setting up a profile together, and were overjoyed to have received multiple likes by their arrival in London. In just an hour, Elizabeth had approved a shortlist of three pairs to "interview." Lizzy refused to call their first meeting a date, no matter how much Jane teased her for viewing it as a business transaction.