Chapter Text
Elizabeth and Darcy pulled up to their cottage a little before 4 p.m. on a Friday. It was the earliest he could escape work, but he didn't mind too much, because they would be there until the end of Monday. It was their first anniversary and neither of them could imagine spending it anywhere else. He'd bought the place immediately after Elizabeth's first visit when she loved it as much as him. Ever since then it was their go-to for weekends and vacations, exactly as he'd hoped for when he spent that week alone, but even better because he was with the woman he loved.
They placed their bags in their room, put away their groceries, and then Elizabeth decided to shower as they were planning on staying home for the rest of the day. She plugged her phone into a charger in the living room, where Darcy sat down with a book, and made her way to the bathroom.
About five minutes after the water started running, the notifications started coming in. Her phone was on vibrate so it wasn't loud, but there were multiple messages coming in and it was distracting. Darcy also got concerned there was some problem with her parents or something that she'd need to know about immediately, so when Elizabeth finished her shower and moved from the bathroom to the bedroom in her towel, he called to her, “Your phone’s been blowing up, do you want me to bring it to you?”
“Can you just check it for me, please?” Elizabeth called back. “And let me know if it seems important?”
Darcy went over to her phone and opened her notifications. “It's Charlotte,” he announced. He skimmed the messages as lightly as he could to discern if it was urgent without actually reading anything meant to be private. “Not important, it seems to be about a date tonight, or something.”
“Thanks, let's leave it,” Elizabeth said from the other room.
Darcy backed out of that text thread and marked it as unread so Elizabeth could get to it later. He was about to lock the phone and put it down when something made him double-take. He peeked down the hall but Elizabeth was still in their room. He looked at the phone again, studying her second-most recent text’s snippet and time stamp. He pulled his own phone out of his pocket to make a comparison. He skimmed the list of Elizabeth's most recent texts, not to read anything but to confirm what he was pretty sure he was seeing.
“Elizabeth?” he finally called out to her.
“Yeah?”
He paused, and then: “Sweetheart?”
“Yeah?” A little louder.
“Love of my life?”
“That's me!” She finally came out of their room, wearing a bathrobe and towel-drying her hair. She was smiling. “What's going on?”
He looked one more time at her phone, then back up to her. “Am I… saved in your phone as ‘Hot Elevator Guy'?”
Elizabeth doubled over with laughter, clutching her towel to her stomach. Darcy stood there in the middle of the living room, bewildered. “Did you…” She wheezed. “Did you not know that until now?”
“Well, no,” he said a little defensively. “I don't make it a habit to snoop through your phone.”
“But to not notice for a year?!” She was still in hysterics.
“I don't know! Why would I look at our texts from your end? If I'm texting you we wouldn't be in the same room.”
Elizabeth was really trying to gain control of herself, but it was a struggle. Darcy watched her with his heart overflowing with affection for her. Nothing made him happier than making her laugh, however unintentionally he sometimes managed it.
She finally seemed to be past the worst of her fit. “I hope,”—she cleared her throat—“I hope you didn't think I'm two-timing you with a different hot guy I met in a different elevator.” She snorted.
“That would be pretty impressive, if you'd managed it,” he said, “but no. I'm just confused, because I know you knew my name when I gave you my number.”
“Yeah, but you were ‘Hot Elevator Guy' in my head for so long before we introduced ourselves,” she explained, “and I didn't know if this would go anywhere beyond a couple of lunch dates. So I put it like that thinking if it fizzled out in a week I'd be able to come across ‘Hot Elevator Guy' in my contacts every now and then and remember how I went out to lunch with someone I met in an elevator. Obviously we ended up getting serious, but I dunno. I never felt like changing it, it made me smile. But I will if you want me to!” she hurried to add, after seeing him turn away.
He shook his head and turned back to smile at her, knowing she'd see his pink cheeks. “Name me whatever you want. I just think it's… funny. And sweet. I didn't know you thought of me that way.”
She pulled him by the hand to sit him in an armchair and settled herself into his lap. “I love you for a lot of reasons,” she began, “and most of them are for who you are on the inside, like your big brain and your big heart.” She smiled mischievously. “But also, I think you're hot. And I like remembering that feeling of being the one you noticed, and you chose, when other women stare at you everywhere you go.”
“They do not!” he objected.
“They do so!” she countered. “Trust me on that one. You're just oblivious. But it doesn't bother me at all, because I'm shallow and silly and I like being seen with you.”
“If you're shallow and silly, then I am too.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “I'm the one proud to be with you, the most beautiful woman in every room you enter.”
“I absolutely am not! But I do like you thinking of me that way, it makes it fair. We just can't ever change, I guess. No aging allowed.”
“I'll still feel that way about you when we're a hundred years old. I'll fight the other men in the nursing home over you.”
Elizabeth snickered and tucked her head into his neck. “Do you think we'll grow old together?” she asked, shyly for her.
“I plan on it,” Darcy immediately assured her, then he swallowed. Here was an opening, given to him on a silver platter, and he couldn't pass it up. No time to get nervous and lose his chance. “Elizabeth, I want you to marry me,” he blurted out clumsily.
She sat up straight and looked him full in the face, her eyes as wide as he'd ever seen them. Several seconds passed until she finally came out with, “Really?”
“Yes, really. I actually have a ring in my bag, I was already planning to propose this weekend. So will you?”
“Yes!” Her shock gave way to a beautiful big grin. “Of course I will!” She wrapped him in a tight hug and laughed and laughed.
They hugged and kissed and snuggled in that armchair for a little while. Darcy looked down at her, cuddled into his chest, and marveled at it. They were engaged. He was going to marry her! And it had been so much easier than he'd expected. No speeches were necessary, only sincerity. Really, he should have known that was all Elizabeth would need.
She sat up straight again and looked at him with a mischievous glint in her eye. “I, Elizabeth Bennet,” she said while holding back laughter, “take thee, Fitzwilliam Darcy, to be my lawfully wedded hot elevator guy.” She snorted. “I promise to think you're hot for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health—” She cracked herself up so much she had to stop.
“That's perfect,” he said, completely deadpan. “Don't change a word at our wedding.”
She finished laughing, gave a big sigh, and snuggled back into him again. “We should go out tonight and celebrate,” she eventually suggested.
Darcy fiddled with the sash to her bathrobe, which they'd both forgotten she was still wearing. He did want to celebrate, yes, but she was right there all clean and fresh from the shower and still mostly naked. Today was the day for seizing opportunities.
“Later,” he said, and he kissed her.