Work Text:
It’s waiting. Day in and day out, Elizabeth sits on the white bench in her father’s garden, and waits for news. Good news hopefully, or as good as it can turn out to be, but sometimes she thinks that any news would be preferable to this state, where she’s spending so much time on the bench, she can see the grass growing.
It feels like all she’s ever done is waiting.
It makes her want to curse and damn Lydia, even as she sits with her hands folded and her face in a serene expression – all for Jane’s sake, because darling Jane has always had the biggest heart of all, and even now, when Lizzie knows she can take care of herself, does she feel the need to protect her older sister. And she wants to protect Lydia too – it is merely too late for that.
Some days, she sits on the bench until dark falls, watching the stars come out one by one. Jane would come, at first to beg her to come back in lest she catch a cold, but when this doesn’t work – and Jane can’t say that she’s surprised – she brings her a blanket or her coat instead, leaving her alone, because she knows that’s what her sister needs right now.
Elizabeth practically feels like she’s been sitting on this bench forever, even if as much of the day is spend hurrying around, listening to Mary and Kitty, comforting Mama and talking with Jane. And thinking, wondering, imagining. And it isn’t always of Lydia.
Then comes a few hectic days, stretching from her father’s gets home, to the happy news that Lydia is married and everything is turning out alright. It truly is alright and she should be happy.
Only, she isn’t. So she walks outside and sits on the bench again.
And waits.