Hi, so this is my first story, so enjoy :)
It had been three years since Lizzie Bennet had signed off on her videos for the very last time. A lot can happen in three years and Lizzie had decided that she owed her old viewers a bit of an update. So she dug out her old camera and set it up as he had so many times before and pressed record.
"Hello everyone!. It's been a while hasn't it. Three years is a loooooooooonnng time and a lot's happened since we last met and I'm pretty sure you guys have a lot of questions that I have the answers to. My name's Lizzie Bennet and you are about to get filled in!"
There was a pause, and Lizzie hummed her old theme song. She missed it a little.
"Okay first things first, I know absolutely everyone watching wants to know what happened with me and Darcy. And I think it's better if I just show you... here"
She pointed to a blank space to her left, where she would later edit in one of their wedding photo's.
"Yes, William and I got married in a small ceremony, much to my mother's despair, in a small vineyard just over a year ago. My legal name is Elizabeth Darcy but I go by Lizzie Bennet-Darcy for business purposes. Speaking of my business, Bennet Productions is still going strong and producing a lot of fun, fresh content. But I am not going to use this video to advertise my company's content."
She shifted the stool slightly so she was sitting a little more to the left and continued.
"The second thing most of you are probably dying to know about is Jane and Bing. It took Bing about six months to crack and propose. Jane said yes and five months later were married in a large ceremony that my mother thought was more than adequate. They are still living happily in New York with their little boy Charlie, who is the cutest thing ever and his Aunt Lydia loves to spoil him rotten every time she goes to visit."
She took a pause.
"Lydia is doing great, she finished up college and is currently working in LA to raise awareness of sex tape blackmail. She didn't want anyone else going through what she did and we are all incredibly proud of her for what she is doing. Gigi is now a permanent resident of Sanditon and frequently sends craft projects from craft night at Sanditon Scoops which is still going strong. Yay Clara! She is currently in a relationship with Sidney Parker whom you all saw in her last Sanditon video and it seems to be going pretty well. William, was understandably sceptical at first, after the last time, but he is accepting of their relationship and trusts Sidney not to hurt his sister. Or else."
Lizzie made a mock threatening face to the camera and shifted her stool back to the middle of the frame.
"So yeah I guess that's about it..."
She was cut off by the opening of a door and her husband's torso appearing in frame.
"What are you doing?" He asked bemusedly
"Updating the internet on everything that's been happening since we last spoke. Come say hi. I'm sure they missed you."
William Darcy brought over another stool and soon his face was in frame. He was in his usual dress shirt, bow tie and suspenders, and he looked like he had just come from work.
"So, what are you telling the internet?"
"I was just telling them about Gigi's stream of craft projects that seem to show up on our doorstep every month."
William chuckled.
"Speaking of Gigi's craft projects..."
He leaned out of frame and reappeared with a small brown box in his hand.
"... here is this month's"
He handed it to Lizzie who started to open it immediately.
"I wonder what it will be this month."
She opened the box, glanced inside and burst into laughter
"What did she make this time?"
Lizzie reached into the box and brought out a small knitted newsie hat and showed it to William.
"Oh wait, there's a note."
Lizzie pulled out a small piece of card from the box.
"Just in case the first one is a boy."
As soon as the last word had escaped her mouth, she suddenly donned a look similar to a deer in headlights.
"What?" William asked
"I left the camera on."
"Yes..." William looked confused
"I haven't told them yet."
"Oh."
Lizzie turned back to face the camera and sighed.
"There was one more teensy little detail that we haven't quite filled you in on yet, but from Gigi's parcel you can probably guess and I guess I should just stop talking and show you."
Lizzie stood up from her stool so that her torso was in frame. She looked normal. Apart from the large smooth bump sitting on her stomach.
"Tah dah!" She said, still standing up, doing jazz hands next to her bump. William was wearing a slightly bemused look on his face, a slight grin on his face from his wife's antics.
She sat down again, a slightly guilty look on her face.
"I may have forgotten to mention that I'm seven months pregnant with our first child. Whoops."
She smiled innocently at the camera, knowing that her viewers, if they were still there, were going to kill her.
"We decided against finding out if it was a boy or a girl because it is one less thing for my mother to freak out about."
"And we wanted a surprise." William added promptly.
"We decided to wait until three months in to tell my mother. And we did it over the phone because we are both cowards. And we didn't want the same hullabaloo that happened when Jane and Bing announced they were having Charlie. Smelling salts were needed."
Lizzie grimaced at the memory.
"Gigi is thrilled to become someone's aunt, and her last five craft projects have all been baby related, the most recent..."
She held up the little knitted hat.
"... you've already seen. She is going to spoil this child isn't she?" She asked William.
"I thought it was the job of Aunts to spoil their nieces and nephews."
Lizzie sighed
"I suppose it is. Lydia is thrilled to be gaining another niece or nephew and Jane is happy that Charlie is going to have a little cousin to play with when they come visit."
William looked at Lizzie with a slightly mischievous glint in his eye.
"And what about you? What do you think of all this baby business?" he asked.
"I'm happy, even if this child seems to think that my bladder is it's own personal trampoline, I am very happy. It all happened a little quickly, but I'm glad it did."
William Darcy grinned one of his rare grins.
"I am too. And I'm glad that it's happening with you. I'm not sure I would have been this happy had it been anyone else."
Lizzie smiled and at looked at the camera.
"Well I guess that is you all filled in on our lives now. If you are still here and watching I cannot thank you enough. You were all such a big part of our lives at one point and I am so grateful for all your love and support and well wishes over the years. Thank you."
She waved at the camera for a moment, before leaning over and turning it off. The video was promptly edited and uploaded to YouTube the next day, Monday, at nine am. To her surprise the view count was as it ever had been, and the comments were flooding in at a rate of knots, asking about baby names, due dates, how was Charlie, how successful had Lydia's campaigning been, how was Charlotte and did Mr Collins' mysterious fiancée actually turn out to be real? Lizzie spent hours scrolling through comments and answering questions. It all calmed down after a few days, and the online world of Lizzie Bennet went silent, as it had been for the last three years.
Until two months later, when William Darcy tweeted for the first time in almost three and a half years. The tweet simply read:
"Baby Anne Darcy was born at 5:32am this morning. I guess Gigi's hat will have to wait till the next one."
Thanks for reading