"But you did get married, didn't you?" Jane leans forward, her brow furrowed, as she sits on the bed next to Lizzy. As far as brothers-in-law went, Charles Bingley is the best there is just for allowing Lizzy to steal his wife for her own selfish therapeutic purposes, after arriving unannounced. "When you say that this is a fake marriage - "

"Not legally, no." Lizzy sighs. She's sprawled out on the guest room twin bed at the Bingleys', and all she really wants is to be home with her maybe-real husband. "All the paperwork and vows were real - but I guess I always assumed things were temporary, at least. That prenup was supposed to be my tether to reality."

"With reality meaning that you aren't married - or that you are?" Jane asks so sweetly that Lizzy sort of lies in quiet awe. The world might think Jane fragile and weak, but she can ask the right questions when she needs to. "I'm not sure what you mean, Lizzy."

Lizzy sighs, again. "I'm not sure I know what I mean either."

For a long moment, the sisters sit in silence.

"I admire him, you know," says Lizzy. "I admire him and I think, deep down, a part of me regrets not even giving him a chance when he proposed all those years ago."

"You would have married him then?"

"No, never, not on those terms." Lizzy laughs briefly. "But I've come to know him better since then - especially since our supposed marriage - and I'd like to say that he improves upon acquaintance, a lot."

"Well, it's always good to admire one's husband."

"I suppose it is, huh?"

"And Charles and I have always thought you would be good together." Jane pulls her feet up demurely and sits closer to Lizzy. "He was really surprised and sad when I told him Darcy has tried to propose before - and that you turned him down."

"He wanted us together that much?"

"I won't lie that it's a nice idea to have my sister marry his best friend."

Lizzy chuckles, a little less hollowly this time. "I guess, in a way, I did."

"But not for real?"

"I don't know."

Jane nods, looking wise and motherly. She asks softly, "But when you think about it - is there any reason it can't be real?"

Lizzy stares at the guest room ceiling, analyzing the pin lights for a good ten seconds. "What if I want it to be real - but he doesn't?"

"I'm not sure I have all my facts straight, but doesn't it seem like he's the one who didn't hand in the prenup?"

"Yes."

"And wouldn't that be the sort of gesture to prove that maybe he does want a real marriage?"

Slowly, Lizzy smiles. She pushes herself up to a seat and cocks her head at her sister. "You know, it's kind of hard to argue with that."

"Maybe because it's the truth?"

Lizzy breathes in deeply, slowly, and then lets out all her fears and unfounded insecurities out in an extended exhale. "What if he thinks I'm using him - to get all the fame and fortune?"

"Your signing a prenup, and insisting on one, sort of throws that doubt out the window."

"What if he thinks I'm just using the situation to gain access - to him?"

"He willingly married you."

"But not for the right reasons."

"Did you marry him for the right reasons?"

"I don't know."

Again, Jane nods thoughtfully. "If, as you say, this started off as a marriage of convenience - but then, somehow, it ends up being real - do you really think he minds? Isn't there a chance that he is happy to be married to you, perhaps for real?"

Lizzy lets the thought marinate. "Maybe? Maybe not?"

Jane smiles. "Then maybe there's only one way to find out."

"How was I to know that she would be so offended? Isn't it all for her benefit?" Darcy groans, his limbs sprawled all over Richard's couch. "I wanted to tell her, obviously - but it wasn't meant to be a big deal. If our marriage had become real - "

"And it has never occurred to you to tell her about it?" Richard retorts.

Darcy looks a little helplessly at his cousin. "I would have."

"Would you?"

"Eventually." He shrugs.

Richard scoffs. He shakes his head. "Whatever your reasons, you obviously deceived her - inadvertently. And speaking as someone who is set to be married to another highly intelligent woman, they don't take kindly to being disrespected like that."

Darcy sighs. "I know. I know. I messed up. If I had always been upfront about my intentions, maybe, it would have been easier. But Lizzy was offering to marry me. She was offering to marry me - how could I risk it?"

The men sit in silence for a good, long while.

Then Richard smiles. "It sounds to me that your biggest problem right now is that you are hopelessly in love with your wife - a wife whom you may win back with just the right amount of groveling. Boo hoo. Big deal. Go grovel and make it up in the bedroom. She didn't mention an annulment, did she?"

"Oh gosh, I hope not." Darcy sinks even deeper into the couch.

"Well, that's a start."

"I never meant to marry her under false pretenses."

"And yet you sort of did, didn't you?"

"Because of the prenup."

"Because of you, you nincompoop. Because you refused to tell her that you love her and probably always have since high school."

Darcy grumbles. "Have I always been so obvious?"

"To everyone except her, apparently." Richard laughs. "Seriously, get a grip. Go home, tell your wife you love her, and kiss and make up. It's not that hard."

"Speaking from experience?"

Richard's grin widens. "You have no idea."

A/N: Sorry they spent this chapter apart! I do like this Richard though. Lol.

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