Go Back To The Start

by Starkidpotter-jackson-odair

This starts out the day after Colin reveals Whistledown at the Hastings Ball. The spouses all wake up in the same place they were on the day Daphne and Penelope debuted. Will they change things for the better or will things get worse. And are they the only ones to come back? You'll have to wait and find out. So without further ado I present… Go Back To The Start!

7. You'e Whistledown?

Authors Note: I AM SO SORRY! My computer was out of commission for a few days and I can't type chapters with my phone! But this is a longer chapter to maybe make up for it! Hope you like it!

Chapter 6: You're Whistledown?

April 7, 1813-Day After the Ball

Sophie POV

"Posy! You scared me!" Sophie exclaimed with a hand at her chest. For a second before she turned around she thought that Araminta had come to find her.

"I am sorry, Sophie. I did not mean to startle you." Posy looked back at the bag in Sophie's hand. "But where are you going?" She looked up quickly. "Mother did not kick you out did she?"

"No, she did not kick me out. I am leaving before she has the chance to. I turned 20 a month ago and I can not stay here with her hanging my 'employment' over my head. I have a friend that will give me housing for a time until I can figure out my next steps." Sophie quietly said. "But please do not let your mother know. I know she will be furious that I left without her permission." She was not going to tell Posy that her friend was Simon or that she would be living at Danbury House. "I just came back to get my things and then I am leaving. I'm begging you, Posy, please let me leave."

Posy looked at her for a moment. It made Sophie a little nervous because she knew that Posy was not good at keeping secrets. But before she could say anything else, Posy's arms were wrapped around her. "Go. I'll try to distract Mother once calling hours are over so you have more time. I hope you have a much better life than you had here."

For the third or fourth time today Sophie felt tears in her eyes. She knew that Posy always tried to be nice to her and she was so glad she got to know her as a true sister in the future. "Thank you."

Posy pulled away and started to walk out the door. "Mother and Cressida are still entertaining callers so you should be able to make it out with them none the wiser."

Sophie could only nod as she carried her bag out of the room. She did not take any more chances and made sure to look around every corner as she walked to the servant stairway. Once she was in the kitchen she let Mrs. Gibbons know that she was leaving and that she would try to let her know when she was settled.

She didn't take a true breath of air until she was sitting in the Hastings carriage with Simon on their way to Lady Danbury's.

"Did something happen?" Simon asked the moment he saw her face when she returned.

"Posy found me packing. Thankfully she said she would help to keep Araminta from realizing too soon."

Simon grabbed Sophie's hand and said, "You will never have to go back again." And then he smirked a little bit as he let go and sat back. "And this time she can't truthfully accuse you of stealing anything. So hopefully you avoid jail."

"I would be most joyful to avoid that this time."

They sat quietly most of the carriage ride because they knew everything would be a repeat once they arrived. But Sophie did have one question she asked right before they stepped out of the carriage. "Did you send word to Penelope and Lady Danbury that I would be accompanying you?"

She was a little startled when she saw the smirk on his face. "I did send word to Lady Danbury but not to Penelope. Most likely it would not have reached her before she left, but it also felt rather nice to know something she didn't for a change." That statement didn't truly make any sense to her but Simon seemed practically giddy.

"Will I learn what you mean by that today or will I continue to be kept in the dark about this secret for longer?"

"Oh I will make Penelope tell you today. I must be able to see your reaction to this news. Kate would…" He trailed off at the mention of Kate. She wondered if he was thinking the same thing as him. If the three other in-laws returned, could that mean that Kate had returned as well? With how far she was in this time they wouldn't find out for ages.

Simon cleared his throat and said, "Well, as I said, she must tell you today! But we should make our way in before she arrives so as to not ruin the surprise. Calling hours should have just ended."

And with that they stepped out of the carriage.

Penelope POV

Feeling the carriage come to a stop in front of Danbury House filled Penelope with such happiness. She knew that all of their problems weren't going to be solved in one meeting but she felt hopeful. Three minds should definitely be able to come up with some ideas.

One of the first things she thought of as the Danbury butler showed her to the Drawing Room was proven to not be necessary once she entered the room.

"Penelope!" she heard someone exclaim. The very someone she was just trying to think of how to save from her family.

"Sophie! You remember as well?" Penelope asked as she went over to give the older woman a hug.

"Yes I do. I was so worried I was losing my mind until I read about your dance with Simon in Whistledown today. I did not remember that happening the first time so I went straight to Simon when I was able to leave the house undetected."
"I am so grateful. I was trying to think of ways to convince you to come work for one of us the whole way over. But I am very happy we don't have to go that route. I am also glad I was able to help lead you to Simon with the column."

"I am glad you danced together and Whistledown paid enough attention to write about it. I could hug the columnist if I ever found out who she was."

To say Penelope was shocked as an understatement. After the very public announcement her husband had made she didn't think there had been anyone in Mayfair that still did not know her identity.

"Penelope did you remember that Sophie and Benedict had gone back to Wiltshire not long after your wedding." Simon said, coming up behind Sophie to smirk at Penelope. "With everything that had gone on the night of Daphne's ball and waking up bad in this time I had completely forgotten that they were not there."

Penelope's eyes widened at that and as she looked past Simon she could see Lady Danbury silently laughing as well.

"Yes, and now Simon keeps teasing me with something that happened but he will not tell me what it was!" Sophie exclaimed. She almost looked like she was pouting to Penelope. "He said that I had to wait for you to tell me because apparently it had to do with you."

Penelope turned her gaze back to Simon and asked, "He said that?"

"I couldn't ruin your news without you even there. That wouldn't be fair to you." His eyes widen slightly to give him a more innocent look.

"I'm still not sure what news you would have had that isn't going to be relevant in this time. And it was only a fortnight after your wedding so it would not have been any baby news." At that Sophie looked quickly over at her. "It was not baby news, correct?"

Penelope quickly shook her head. "It was not baby news!"

Simon and Lady Danbury were not even trying to hide their laughter now.

"Then what was the news that you must tell me and that everyone else here already knows?"

Penelope took a moment to think of how to tell Sophie. She never had to tell anyone before. Colin had found out by following her and reading the column she was dropping off and he had truly been the one to tell the rest of the Ton. But before she could really think of a way to tell her she blurted out, "I am Lady Whistledown."

Simon POV

"I am Lady Whistledown."

Simon had been waiting for Penelope to reveal that to Sophie since he found out she wasn't aware of the fact that morning. And he was not disappointed in her reaction.

Sophie stood in silence for all of a minute before she let out an unholy screech. "Kate and I both thought it was a Bridgerton. We were partially right. You have been a Bridgerton in all but name for ages. I have so many questions for you!" He could barely understand everything that she was saying to Penelope with how fast she was talking.

"Do you understand now why I thought Penelope should be the one to tell you?" He teasingly asked her.

"Yes. As I said I have so many questions. But my biggest one would be, why did you announce your identity? From the way Simon was talking it seemed like it was announced to the whole Ton. Why? You had kept it a secret for so long already and had retired."

"That was a question I planned to ask today as well, Miss Beckett." Lady Danbury stated. He had wondered that as well when Colin had told him. He and Daphne had talked about it before bed that night. She had planned on barging over to their house in the morning to find out. But that had not been able to happen.

He saw Penelope look down at her hands and realized it might be a long story. "Why don't we sit down and enjoy some of the tea and biscuits that Lady Danbury's staff graciously laid out for us. And Penelope can tell us at that time." She looked over at him with a grateful look. He realized it might not be a good story either.

After they had all sat down and prepared their tea Penelope started. "I was not planning on ever telling anyone that I was Lady Whistledown. Even Colin didn't find out until the day he proposed." Simon saw her make a face before continuing. "He had seen me enter a hired hack and decided to follow me into the city." She must have seen Simon's face because she quickly followed with. "I know that it's dangerous. I have not been delivering myself in years. I had a business partner who made the deliveries for me most of the time. But it was a rushed delivery and I had a plan with the printer if I needed to get him a column quickly."

"And Colin followed you to the delivery site and discovered your secret." Sophie stated softly.

"Yes, and long story short by the time we had arrived back in Mayfair we were engaged."

The way Penelope stated that had Simon raising his eyebrows. "So he discovered your secret and proposed?" He asked incredulously. He could see the blush on her cheeks and quickly asked before she could try to spin a tale. "Did he compromise you?"

"No!" she answered him quickly. "We talked on the ride back. We each confessed feelings for the other and then he asked." He could see her cheeks getting even more red but decided he would not get any more information out of her. Not that he had any room to talk of compromising a young lady.

"But the reason Colin made the announcement," Penelope went on. "Was because someone else discovered my secret as well. The day of the ball Cressida came to call on me. Colin had left to see Anthony about some reason or other and so it was just the two of us. She told me that she had deduced that I was Lady Whistledown from my last column stating that she was not. She also told me that she wanted 10,000 pounds in order for her to keep the secret. When Colin arrived home I told him and he came up with the plan." Then for Sophie's sake she added, "He made a big speech at the Hasting's Ball and at the end told everyone I was Lady Whistledown."

"I told Benedict we should wait until after the ball to go home! He is… was so protective! And why am I not surprised that Cressida was the cause of the whole thing. Everyone knew that she was left almost destitute."

Lady Danbury cleared her throat slightly and said, "As much as I'm sure we would all love to continue to ask Mrs Bridgerton, I mean Miss Featherington questions, we don't have much time with her today and many things to discuss."

"Of course, Lady Danbury. I will be sure to tell you allmore later." Penelope said.

"What was the first thing you thought we should discuss?" He wasn't sure what his godmother thought most important.

Penelope was the first to speak. "Well first thing to say is that it is apparent that none of the Bridgertons remember anything. I spent the whole afternoon with the family before the ball and there was not one hint that one of them remembered." He could see the sadness in her eyes as she spoke.

"Simon told me he thought that was the case after last night. Which means we have our work cut out for us. None of us had an easy start to our marriages." Sophie commented.

"Another topic to discuss is the matter of the future Lady Bridgerton." Lady Danbury stated. "I will let you know that I have already written a letter to Lady Mary letting her know that I would like to sponsor her daughters next season and also invited her to join us early this season so that they can learn what it is like before their debut."

"I have been contemplating if Kate might also remember. Other then you Lady Danbury, the only people that have been discovered to remember are the Bridgerton spouses that were alive the night we came back. If that is true Kate might be working on coming here already." Simon said thoughtfully. He had been thinking of that idea since Sophie had knocked on his door this afternoon.

"The last most important topic is where will Sophie stay?" Penelope said. "Because she is obviously not going back to Penwood."

"Yes, that is not happening. She already went and got anything she needed from her previous residence." Simon said and then turned to look at his godmother. "I was hoping you would be able to host her. I would not be able to do so as an unmarried man. Especially because she will not be going back to being a maid."

"Already done. I alerted a maid to prepare one of the guest rooms the moment I saw her with you." Lady Danbury stated.

"Thank you so much, Lady Danbury. I don't need to take up one of the guest rooms. I can sleep in the servants' rooms and you can put me to work." Sophie said gratefully.

"You will most certainly not be put to work. I will be taking you in as my ward until we get all of your marriages taken care of." His godmother almost sounded insulted.

"Well since we have Sophie settled then the next thing to talk about is how to get the first Bridgerton wedding started." Penelope said happily as she turned to look at him.

"As much as I love Daphne and can't wait to be married again, why am I to be the first again?"

"Because my husband is currently courting my cousin, Kate is not here with us, and unfortunately Benedict needs to find his true passion for art before he thinks of settling." She said matter of factly.

He winced a little at that. He had almost forgotten what Colin had gotten up to this season. He had been preoccupied at the time with his marriage falling apart. "He started this early in the season?"

"Oh yes. He spent most of calling hours in our Drawing Room. Not for me of course even though we did converse."

"Oh Penelope, I am so sorry." Sophie said sympathetically. "I can't imagine having to sit and watch that."

"Well that is also another thing we need to work on. The scandal your family dealt with at the end of this season does not need to happen. Do you have any idea on how to draw him away from Miss Thompson?" He figured if anyone would have an idea it would be Penelope.

"Unfortunately no. Once I found out that she was going to trap him I tried everything to dissuade him and nothing would get through to him. I brought up his plans to travel, told him that she loved another, and tried to bring attention to the fact that she was putting on an act. He wouldn't listen."

"Well maybe that's it. You didn't start until she was putting all of her charms on him. Maybe if we start letting him know things before she gets her claws in him then we will have a chance."

"That might work. If I don't have to expose her that would make me feel so much better. When I found out she died a year ago I felt so much grief for what I did to her and I never got to tell her and ask for her forgiveness."

"Maybe we can think of a way to draw his attention to you." Sophie pondered. "You both had said that it was sudden and you told us how you confessed your feelings in the carriage. But did he ever say what made him realize his feelings?"

Penelope suddenly blushed more than she had when talking about the carriage ride. "No, that would not work in this time. And I don't want him to focus on me until he does some traveling. I might have loved him for most of my life but he didn't truly become the man I love until he had those experiences. Just as with Benedict and his art."

Simon saw Sophie put an arm around Penelope's shoulder in comfort. So again he turned to his godmother. "I know you and Violet started meddling early with the family dinner. Is there a way to try and have all of us there?"

"Not me." Penelope said quickly. "My mother would spend the entire time shoving my sisters at you and Anthony. It would not be worth inviting my family anyway. I already spend so much of my time with all of the Bridgertons. It would be a time for them to get to know the two of you," she said, gesturing to him and Sophie.

"I will bring up the idea in a few days. As you remember the reason why we considered it was because the viscount chased all suitors away. So we must give Lady Whistledown some time to cause Violet to worry." Danbury finished while looking pointedly at Penelope.

"I will start reporting once I see no carriages in front of their house. But are you going to properly court her this time or will it be a ruse all over again?"

"It all depends on how receptive she is to me when I am not in shock."

They spent the rest of tea time discussing different topics and what should and should not be changed. Penelope left first so as to not cause her mother to be suspicious. Simon did stay a little longer then he probably should have. He just could not face going back to his empty house. Eventually he decided it was time for him to leave but instead of going home he went to White's.

Thankfully he didn't run into any of the Bridgerton sons. He needed the noise of the club but he had talked himself out that afternoon.

April 12, 1814- Small town in India

Kate POV

She was packing a few of the things that she wished to take with her to England. Since this time she did not plan on coming back to live here she was taking more then she did the first time. Newton was sitting at the foot of her bed staring at her. One of the things she loved about being back in this time is that she gets to see Newton young again. He had been Charlotte's favorite cuddle buddy but he had definitely shown age. It had been harder for him to get around. Now he is almost a puppy again.

She looked up when she heard a knock on the door. She could see Mary had a letter in her hand. "Is that for me?" The only letter she was expecting was a response from Lady Danbury but it had only been 1 week since she sent her letter. It couldn't be a response already.

"It was actually addressed to me but it is from Lady Danbury." Mary smiled. "It seems she was of the same mind as you. Your letters must have crossed paths. But she has written to let me know that she wanted to sponsor both you and Edwina next season but that she would love to host us for the end of this current season and the off season."

Kate's heart started beating wildly. That had definitely happened previously. Which means that Lady Danbury must remember! "We should write back at once to say we accept. I know I sent a letter asking the same but we should let her know we received hers."

"I have already penned the response and sent it along." Mary smiled at her. "But I wanted to talk to you about something."

Kate could tell this was going to be a serious conversation and had a feeling what it would be about but she gestured for Mary to continue.

"I know you have insisted on focusing all of our energy in having Edwina prepared for her debut. I also know that you have stated on multiple occasions that you are planning on being a spinster, but you are still young. I don't want you to give up on finding a match before you even try. Please take the time during the end of this season to focus on you. Edwina will not be truly out in society yet and you deserve to try and find your own happiness."

Kate felt tears building up in her eyes. She knew that Mary loved her and was happy when she married Anthony but its still hard to believe at times.

"I promise. I will spend time focusing on me for that time." she wiped her eyes before the tears could fully fall. "But once Edwina has debuted I will focus on finding her the perfect match." They both laughed at her stubbornness. "I will work on finding a ship with space leaving in the next week. That way we get to see a good amount of this season. "

"I will let Edwina know our updated plans and we will both finish packing to be ready."

Once Mary left her room she collapsed on the bed. Looking over at Newton she started to quietly squeal. To find out that someone else must remember and being able to start the journey to the rest of her family made her feel ecstatic.

"We are going to see your daddy soon, Newton. No matter how much he'll be a grump when you first meet. He will love you just as much as I do."

With that she got ready to head to the docks to find their transport. Only 2 more months!

Authors Note:

Please leave reviews! It really helps encourage me and you all have some great ideas that you want to see in the story!

I have been trying to figure out Taylor Swift songs that fit each couple. Some are easy and others not so easy. Here's what I came up with but let me know your thoughts!

Saphne: Wildest Dreams is good but I think there is a better one
Kanthony: Treacherous
Benophie: Enchanted (obviously)
Polin: You Belong With Me
Philloise: Begin again (from Phillips POV)
Franchel: I almost Do (From Michaels POV)
Hyareth: Willow sort of fits for me but don't have a really good one
Grucy: Speak Now (again obviously)