And we're done!
I know this is only short but - it was stuck in my head.
Thanks to all of you for reading! :)
.
"Aunt Georgie! Aunt Georgie! Tell us another one?" Little Georgiana - Anna as she was known to her family - looked up at her aunt with such a pleading look that Georgiana found it hard to resist. Still, she knew she must. Anna was only six, and while little was still the eldest of the Darcy children. Thomas came next, named for his maternal grandfather, and last of all was the baby - Jane - although she was asleep in the nursery.
"Not right now." She said the words as gently as possible although of course Anna settled down almost immediately. The children could be a lot, especially in the wrong circumstances, but most of the time they were as adorable as Georgie had always imagined they would be. It was just a pity that she could not see them more often. "I was going to go to the nursery."
"We can come too?" Thomas finally spoke up. Anna seized the idea.
"May we?" She was almost jumping up and down. "Mama! May we go with Aunt Georgie to see Jane and William?" Lizzy, who had been sitting comfortably across the room, supposedly reading, looked up and smiled.
"You may - but try not to disturb them if they're asleep." Anna positively beamed. She had always been a lively child, much to her father's delight and bemusement. Thomas simply reached out and grabbed a hold of his aunt's hand, pulling himself towards Georgiana.
Georgie couldn't help but feel brighter as she headed to the nursery - she had laid down her William to rest, but was sure he would be awake soon. She had married earlier than she had thought she would - younger than she was sure her brother and Lizzy had expected her to as well - but she couldn't regret it. And as she entered the nursery, Anna and Thomas running ahead of her, she couldn't help but feel the joy of it as she watched her husband holding his child, rocking William back to sleep.
He and Mr Darcy had set out riding that morning - although clearly the occupation hadn't lasted them long before they had been drawn back to their house. Georgiana and her husband had travelled as soon as they felt William was old enough, but he was still slightly confused by the changes she could tell. He needed their familiar presence as often as they could spend it.
Mr Darcy, for his part, had turned as soon as his children had arrived, attempting to hug both of them at once. A nurse quickly swooped in, although, she knew the Darcy's oddities well enough to not openly scold the children for treating their father with so little respect.
"What have you done with your mother?" He smiled even as he spoke over their chattering - that expression came so easily now that his children would have been surprised to think of him without it.
"She was reading." Thomas supplied.
"In the music room." Anna continued just as eagerly. "But Mama said that we might come up with our Aunt..."
Mr Darcy nodded and soon excused himself, heading down the stairs. His wife was exactly where his daughter had said she was, relaxing upon a chair, deeply engrossed in a book.
"I hate to disturb your peace..." He said, not feeling a bit of remorse. Lizzy looked up with a smile of her own, shifting to allow her husband to sit beside her.
"The disturbance is not at all unpleasant I assure you." She placed her book to the side as she spoke. "I was just contemplating how very sad I will be to see Georgie leave again - although I know she must. She lives far too far away."
Her husband chuckled at her petulant expression. "I have some news that might cheer you up."
Lizzy couldn't help that she looked up at that. "Charles has written that they are curtailing their season, and plan to be back within the fortnight."
Jane and Charles had bought a modest estate less than twenty miles from Pemberley, and while the distance was not inconsiderable, they were near enough that their disappearance to town while the Darcy's and remained in Derbyshire was perfectly noticeable. Even Anna and Thomas had seemed forlorn without their playmates.
"Georgiana was telling them our story again." Lizzy noted a few moments later. It was one of the children's favourites - and ever since they had heard Georgiana's rendition, they - or, at least, Anna - had thought that no other version compared. "I can't imagine how we would have muddled through without her."
"We would have." Mr Darcy spoke without doubt. "Although, I dare say, we would have shouted at each other more."
Lizzy's laugh was still ringing when Georgie and her husband returned to them. It was one thing that could always be counted on with Mr and Mrs Darcy - or so Georgie reflected - no matter how many trials they faced - or how many arguments they had. They would always end up back in each other's presence, perfectly comfortable, laughing about something that made sense only to them.