If you can read this, the formatting error is fixed.

Gentle Reader,

Thanks for letting me know about the formatting error.

Got any ways you desperately want to see Darcy propose? Comment or DM me, might happen.

Love,

RobinDesBois

You and I

The morning after Lizzy's birthday, she woke up before he did. She hated waking up, but she did love the unguarded moments when he was still asleep. He never looked so relaxed and vulnerable awake, and from her vantage point on his chest, she couldn't think of a better view in the world.

Her moment was short-lived, but not missed. William woke a few minutes after she did, tightened his arms around her and pressed his mouth very firmly to hers.

"And happy anniversary to YOU!" Laughed Lizzie when he released her. William gave her a quizzical look.

"Today's not our anniversary."

"It is if you start with the full day. Besides, I refuse to let you make our anniversary about just me, it's supposed to be about us. And I know you well enough to know that attempting to share my birthday with our anniversary would be utterly pointless," she smirked.

"True," he admitted, kissing her on the forehead.

"I have a present for you," she whispered as his kisses trailed from her forehead down to her collar bone.

"Can it wait?"

"Not really."

"Alright, you've piqued my curiosity. I'll let you up just long enough to go get it."

"Oh, but I don't have to go get it. It's right here."

"You're still naked from last night, so I doubt it's new lingerie."

"No, but you're not far off. My gift to you is that today I would like you to tell me one of your fantasies so I can make it come true."

William blinked a few times, then reached up and kissed her with all the passion he couldn't quite verbalize.

"Do you have something in mind already," Lizzie laughed, "Or would you like to think about it for a little while?" William briefly toyed with the idea of telling her he had a fantasy of getting engaged and getting his mother's ring out of the night stand, but rejected it as not quite the style of romance he wanted to be telling his kids and grandkids about one day.

He settled on something else.

"I do have this one idea that might be…a little odd." William's chin drew back into his neck.

"Anything you want, William, it's your present."
"You're sure?"
"Would I say I was if I wasn't?"

"Very well, I have this...fantasy. About you...bossing me around."

"Bossing you around how? Like, having you cook and clean? Because that would be a little strange."
"It's a bit more...intimate than that. More like taking direct care of you, things like drawing you a bubble bath, for instance, then helping you bathe."

"William Darcy, are you trying to tell me you have a fantasy about being my slave?" His chin drew the rest of the way into his neck.
"I might be."
"I think we might be able to arrange that."

"Well, Lizzy, that actually ties in perfectly with my anniversary gift to you."
"Oh, I have so many follow up questions to that statement," she called after him as he walked into the closet for a moment, and returned with a spa gift basket.

"Wow," whispered Lizzie, pulling off the bow tying the cellophane in place. It fell off to reveal the largest assortment of bath materials she had ever seen. "And here I thought I was going to be the gifting champion of the day."

"It's not a competition," he laughed. "Besides, I could've gotten you ten of these and it still wouldn't show you how excited I am for my present."

Lizzie blushed as she started to pull things out of the basket. She found multiple candles, assorted bath bombs, a sugar scrub, two kinds of lotion-one with whole flowers in it-bath salts, bubble bath, bath oil, a box of chocolates, and a face mask.
"Are you trying to spoil me?" she laughed.
"Yes." His face betrayed absolute seriousness. She blushed again.

"Hey, hold on. I thought you thought our anniversary was yesterday?"

"I also saw your little plan coming," he said, leaning forward and pressing a soft kiss to her lips.

"I think the people at the store saw you coming." Lizzie smiled again and resumed their kiss.

Lizzie and Darcy decided to go to their Italian restaurant for lunch that day, and a long walk after, since the weather was on their side and they had no particular obligations. They ended up walking to the Queen Wilhelmina Tulip Garden, which was at the peak of its bloom for the year. Lizzie had never seen anything so exquisite, and William found that, despite all the time he'd spent there since childhood, the flowers were new-dyed with Lizzie's smile

As he watched Lizzie slowly turn and look at the stunning flowers blooming in full force around her, William slipped a hand into the pocket of his jacket, knowing that the Darcy family ring was still where he had placed it that morning. Following Lizzie's dancing steps as she took photos with her phone, he screwed his courage to the sticking place once again.

"Lizzie," he began as she climbed onto one of the benches to get an aerial shot of one of the flower beds. "I love you."

"I love you, too, Will-"

William wasn't fast enough. When she lost her balance, when her feet slid out from under her and she crashed onto the sidewalk with a sickening "thunk" that struck him immediately as too loud. He wasn't fast enough to catch her before her ankle broke, before her head hit the bench.

The ambulance took them to the UCSF emergency room, and the nurses took her back immediately. They did not let Darcy back with her.