Elizabeth woke up to a strong hand caressing her tummy and warm breath in her ear. Without opening her eyes, she snuggled deeper into her lover's embrace, happy and content, and not at all surprised when the hand traveled northward to cup her breast under her tee shirt.

As Fitzwilliam slowly teased her nipple, Elizabeth became aware of her surroundings. She was in their bunk, pressed tightly to Will, simply because there wasn't any room to not be. The bus had stopped and she could tell by the light peeking around the curtains that it was daytime.

Elizabeth put her hands over her head and stretched the best she could. Will, fascinated by her motions, took this opportunity to pull her tee shirt up and began licking and sucking her nipple. Elizabeth relaxed, letting his mouth work on her. In the month they had been together, she had learned that Darcy was a 'morning person', and she had grown accustomed to these kinds of wake-ups.

Not that she was complaining. If he didn't mind pleasuring her body while she was in a semi-comatose state, who was she to complain? Elizabeth, feeling more awake, and aroused now, parted her legs to his hand, which slipped into her panties to touch her, stroking and stimulating her until her blood sang with sweet pleasure.

When she was ready, she gently pushed him, and her panties, away and rolled to her stomach, not needing words to express her wishes. Darcy crawled on top of her, his hands slipping underneath her to cup her breasts, his lips kissing her neck, as he entered her.

Elizabeth sighed deeply. It was all the sound she dared make. She arched her hips up to hold him deeply inside of her, his rich length filling and stretching her.

"Lizzy," he breathed in her ear, a single word of love and passion. He kissed her neck again, then rose up on his hands, altering his angle, penetrating deeper and Elizabeth sank into the heat. She felt his weight, bearing down on her, pressing him against that place, there! giving her what she needed. She bit her arm, hard, to silence herself as she lost her mind. His thrusts were growing harder and deeper, and then she peeked and tipped over the edge into bliss.

He followed a few seconds later, and they lay together, still connected, gasping softly as they exchanged gentle kisses of love and sweet words of reassurance. The moment was ended as she felt him reach to look at the clock.

"What time is it?" she murmured.

"It's time," he replied. Elizabeth groaned and Darcy gave her a sympathetic, "Sorry."

Elizabeth pulled her shirt down, found her underwear, pulled them back on and stumbled to the tiny closet of a bathroom. She thought happily of the large bed and bath that were waiting for her that night. The tour had pulled into Portland and would be staying there for four nights; two performances, followed by two nights off. Bliss Elizabeth observed.

She exited the bathroom to find Darcy up and holding out a phone to her with an apologetic expression. "What?" she barked. Couldn't these people wait?

"Have you had your coffee yet?" Alex Lucas grinned.

"Does it sound like I have?" Elizabeth snapped back, followed by a few choice swears. "What time is it anyway?" she asked as she looked at the clock.

"Its 10 there and 2 here, Mary Sunshine. You should be grateful I let you sleep in. We've got trouble."

Elizabeth scratched her hair, "What's wrong?" she yawned.

"Hackers got the LBS page overnight. It now reads 'Lizzy's Been Sucking', with appropriate graphics."

"Oh gawd!" Elizabeth exclaimed with annoyance. "Don't they have anything better to do?" She sighed. "Did they get Slurry's page too?"

"Nope, just you. You're special."

"You are enjoying this way too much," she said, fighting the grin that was rising to her face.

"That's because there is a nice whole continent separating us. I feel safe."

Elizabeth giggled and accepted the cup of coffee Darcy handed to her, giving him a quick kiss in exchange. "Okay, I'll fix the web page after breakfast, but it will take awhile."

"Why? Don't you have a saved copy of it somewhere?"

"I do, but just reloading it won't be enough. They broke my security, so I'm going to have to rebuild that, otherwise they will just do it again. And I'm going to have to have words with my provider."

"Sounds like fun," he replied in that humoring tone that told Elizabeth that he had no idea what she was talking about and could care less. "Can you put Darcy on?"

Elizabeth passed the phone after giving Alex a quick goodbye and sank down onto the bench to sip her coffee and think. This was not what she needed right now. She was already overwhelmed. She did not have time to play with hackers, especially when the field of battle was her band's web site. She mentally reviewed her schedule for the day. As soon as Darcy was off the phone, they would be having breakfast, then their meeting with Caro and Rachel. Her mood sunk a little lower as she remembered that she had an interview today with that writer from Glamour to talk about "Women in Rock" or some such nonsense. (Elizabeth privately believed she just wanted to get something on her and Darcy.) All this on top of the small matter of rehearsal and performing tonight. Elizabeth found herself wishing for a clone or a vacation, or both.

She turned to look at Darcy, who was discussing contracts with Alex and smiled. At least she had the comfort of knowing he was working just as hard as she was, maybe even harder. He had let go of Darcy Technologies, only getting monthly reports from the company, but his workload hadn't appeared to decrease any now that he and Alex were running Pemberley Records. Not for the first time, she worried about him, that he was pushing himself too hard.

She was still frowning when he hung up, took her into his arms and kissed her soundly. "Don't worry about the web page," he told her reassuringly.

"What?" she grunted, as understanding followed a half second behind. "Oh, I'm not. I can fix that. It's just," she stopped, not wanting to sound like she was whining.

"Lizzy?" he asked. His deep dark eyes searched hers, telling her that she was the most important thing to him and eliciting her trust.

Elizabeth smiled and shook her head. "I'm just feeling a little overwhelmed right now. What with the interview, and the web page, and the concert ..."

"Did you call that band yet?"

Elizabeth slapped her forehead and sighed. "No, I forgot. I'm sorry. I'll try after breakfast."

Darcy looked concerned. "Elizabeth, why don't you have Jane do that interview today?"

"I can't, Jane's going to the obstetrician today. Otherwise, believe me, I would."

Their conversation was broken by the arrival of Rebecca, who was there to take them into the hotel. Ever since the incident with Wickham, Rebecca had upped the security for Elizabeth and Darcy, which didn't make them any safer, just more harassed.

They went to their usual breakfast meeting, which was interrupted by Charles and Jane's departure to the doctor. After breakfast, Elizabeth and Darcy met with Caroline and Rachel. Elizabeth listened to the meeting with one ear as she quickly reloaded the LBS web page and changed her passwords. It was just a temporary fix until she could get back to it later and redo her security.

At the meeting with Rachel, Elizabeth was reminded that she needed to call a band that Pemberley Records had been courting. It had to be kept very quiet, and the band had insisted on talking to Elizabeth herself. Unfortunately, the band was currently touring in Europe and nine hours of time difference, along with both parties traveling, had made it difficult for Elizabeth to reach them. She made of note of it on her to-do list, which was depressingly long, left Darcy with a kiss, and went to see the reporter.

Elizabeth clicked off her phone. The band she was trying to reach was on stage, and while she had a pleasant chat with their manager, she was informed that the members of the band really wanted to speak to her. When Elizabeth asked why, she was told that the band had been burned by their last record company and didn't want to make the same mistake twice. While Elizabeth could fully sympathize, she was also suspicious. Certainly talking to Alex or Darcy would be more reassuring than talking to her. She suspected, as far as her vanity would allow, that someone on the band wanted to talk her up. She really wanted to tell these guys to take a hike, but being in the position of suitor, she really couldn't.

She spared a moment to wonder why Jane and Charles weren't back yet, but was distracted by her phone ringing. "Hello?"

"Hey Lizzy" Alex's voice greeted her. "Bring up your web page. They got you again." He chuckled. "I think you are going to like this one."

"Shit!" Elizabeth swore as the page came up. Instead of the usual, montage of pictures with her voice in the background, she was staring at the grinning faces of Bill & Ted proclaiming this page now belonged to 'Wyld Stallyns.' The 'Guardians of Rock' had, they announced in a manifesto, taken over this web page in an effort to stamp out Alt-Crap and protect the sanctity of Rock & Roll.

"I don't have time for this, Alex."

"Oh come on, it's kind of funny," he reasoned good-naturedly.

"Do you have any idea what my schedule looks like? This is not funny." She muttered as she began accessing the source code. "Fuck! Those little bastards have locked me out!" Alex could almost hear her grit her teeth in challenge. He knew Elizabeth well enough to know that no one messed with her programming. Her music was one thing, she could admit that taste in music was subjective and not everyone would enjoy her work, but damn, don't you dare fool around with her web pages.

She focused on breaking the firewall that had been set up against her, when Charles came in. Softly he said, "Lizzy, Jane needs you," but there was something in his tone that stopped her cold.

"Alex," she snapped, glad she hadn't hung up. "I can't work on this now. Jane needs me."

"When can you get to it?" he asked calmly.

Elizabeth did some quick thinking. "I can't, not until tomorrow. It'll keep."

"Liz, I'm going to hire some outside help to deal with this. You don't have the time for this."

"Who?" Elizabeth demanded, her attention torn between Charles' retreating back and her injured pride. She bristled at the idea of being replaced, even as she knew she was overloaded.

"Do you remember that French woman?"

"Sophie?"

"Sylvie."

"Sylvie, right." She made a snap decision. "All right, she's good. Can you get her?"

"Oh, I can get her," he said in a tone that made Elizabeth frown.

"Okay, have her call me if she needs any thing, bye." She clicked off the phone before Alex could reply and went to the room when Jane was sitting. Not surprisingly, the others were there as well.

Jane sat in a chair, Charles hovering behind her. Elizabeth took an empty spot on the couch next to Darcy. Charlotte sat on Darcy's other side, with Richard perched on the arm of the couch. Caroline stood nearby, her headset resting on her neck.

"Jane, what's wrong? Elizabeth asked, before the silence could grow too strong.

Jane smiled weakly and lifted her eyes to Charles. "Nothing's wrong, Lizzy. We're just surprised," he answered. He passed her a small gray photo, which she recognized as an ultrasound.

"What am I looking at here?" she asked letting Darcy look at it.

"It looks like two beans," he added, turning the picture upside down.

"The key word there," Jane said, her voice soft, "is two. Two beans, two heartbeats, two babies." Her voice cracked on the last word and Charles caught her hand in his.

The residents of the couch expressed their surprise while Caroline lifted an eyebrow at her brother, but said nothing.

"Jane!" Charlotte exclaimed, "That's great! You must be so happy!"

"I am happy," she said unconvincingly. "I am," she repeated to Charles. "But it's a big change. And I'm afraid it's going to affect our plans. We had planned on keeping the pregnancy secret until the tour was over."

"Well, that's not going to happen," Richard observed pointedly. "No offense Jane, but you're so thin, you're already starting to show."

Jane nodded, her hand dropping unconsciously to the slight swell of her belly. "We realize we can't keep this a secret long. The question is how are we going to tell it, and when?"

"The writer from 'Glamour' is coming back tomorrow for a photo session with me," Elizabeth offered uncertainly. "If we wanted to go that route, I'm sure they would love an exclusive."

"What's more important is how is this going to affect the future of the bands? It was one thing knowing we would have one infant, but now two might change things."

"Darcy," Charles began, his voice more sure than it had been all day. "It won't make any difference at all. Slurry is going to have to take a break after the tour to get Pemberley up and running. It won't harm us to not tour for a year or two. It's not exactly our strength," he grinned. "We can still record our CD in the spring, as we planned. It will all work out. Don't worry."

"What about LBS?" Charlotte asked, looking at Jane.

Jane looked at her friend and her sister sadly. She knew this discussion had been coming since she found out she was pregnant. "I'm sorry about this. It wasn't my intention to get pregnant so soon and I know it's harming the band."

"Jane!" Elizabeth interrupted her. "Stop that! We are a family. This is unexpected, yes, but you are not harming us, and don't you dare suggest leaving."

Jane smiled and looked down.

Elizabeth continued. "We'll be okay. We can record when the tour is over, and then we'll do single appearances until we are ready to tour again."

"Lizzy, how exactly are we going to tour with a pair of babies?" Richard said coldly. "You're all in a little fantasyland thinking you are going to be hauling a bunch of toddlers on tour with us. I mean come on, we're Slurry! Loud music, bad reputations and you want to saddle us with a bunch of car seats and nannies? Why don't we just fuckin' trade in the tour buses for mini-vans while we're at it?"

He looked around the room and snorted with disgust as he stormed out of the room, Charlotte following him a moment later in silence.

Richard burst onto the empty stage, stopping only long enough to light a cigarette before he sat down behind his drum kit and let go. Charlotte followed the pounding to find him there. He wasn't even bothering with a rhythm. He was just pounding out his feelings, as loudly and as violently as he could. Charlotte waited, knowing that he was struggling. She was ready to pull him out if he got into trouble, but the therapist had emphasized the importance of Richard finding an appropriate way to feel, acknowledge and express his feelings. Charlotte felt a wave of pride as she watched him. She alone knew how strong he was being at that moment.

Gradually the pounding changed to a steady beat, which then changed into a complex rhythm. She waited and watched him. His eyes were open, but not seeing anything as his arms windmilled around. The tips of his drumsticks moved like a hummingbird's wings, so fast they were a blur.

After awhile he slowed, then stopped abruptly. And Charlotte was there, her arms around him, holding him tightly as he vibrated against her.

"That was good," he said dryly, the shaking of his body making a mockery of his easy tone.

"Let's go talk," she said, and led him to a private dressing room. They settled together on a plump couch, Charlotte being drawn into his lap, where he held her for comfort.

"So, what was that about?" she asked calmly.

Richard snorted. "I thought I made myself clear."

"I'm not asking about your point, which, I grant you, is relevant." She kissed his temple. "I'm asking about the mad."

Richard let out a long sigh and rested his head against hers. "You know, sometimes I wish you were less perceptive."

"You wouldn't love me, if I were." She smiled softly. "Now talk."

"Char, they are talking about having fucking babies. Christ! That little surfer punk is going to be having baby surfers and I ..."

"You what?"

"And I can't even make love to you without a condom." His voice was soft and fragile. "I'm such a fuck-up, Char. They are all going ahead with their lives, and I'm stuck here, and I hate that you're stuck with me."

Charlotte shook her head and made soothing noises as she held him tight.

"It's not right, you know? Stupid punk ass used to do more pot that I ever did. Did you know that?"

Charlotte looked up at him, puzzled. "Charles was a stoner?"

"Oh yeah," he replied, his emotions giving away to laughter, which mixed with Charlotte's. The sound was rich and heady and comforting. "So why is it that he's up for father of the year and I'm still on the edge?" he asked sadly.

"Does it matter?" Charlotte asked.

"It matters to me. It matters that I can't give you what Charles is giving Jane."

"Richard" she sighed. "Will you please, please trust me to tell you what I want? Please?"

Richard looked at her, listening carefully.

"Have I ever shown any interest in Charles? Any at all?"

"No," Richard answered easily.

"That's because he's not what I want. And believe me, Jane's life is not what I want. Babies- ugh!" She made a face. "Richard, you're making yourself feel like less of a man, because you can't give me something I don't want. And let me tell you, even if you were perfectly straight and clean, I still wouldn't want to be making babies and settling down. I want you. I want what you are: strong, brave, flawed. You aren't less of a man than Charles, you are just different, and that is what I want."

Charlotte could feel his body relaxing, even if his words were still hesitant. "Char, don't try and pretend I don't have a problem. You might say you prefer me, but at least Jane doesn't have to worry about Charles sleeping around."

"You sound pretty sure of that fact."

"He's a fucking boy scout."

"Boy Scouts don't do pot. You just told me he's a stoner."

"He was. He stopped doing that when Jane came along."

"And you stopped sleeping around," she said earnestly, her eyes making her point. "How many days has it been?"

"Eighty-six."

She smiled warmly. "And you are doing great. Yes, you have a problem, but we are dealing with it, and that doesn't change what I feel for you. I love you for you. So don't sell yourself short." She stopped abruptly, compressing her lips as a memory of those words flitted across her mind. "You're mine, and I'm so proud of you." She laid her head across his chest, letting his strong arms soothe her.

"Should we go back and talk to the others?"

"Later."

Elizabeth watched Jane's expression crumble as she heard the door slam behind Charlotte. She was out of her seat and kneeling before Jane in a heartbeat, gathering Jane into her arms as the crying began. "He's right. He's right, Lizzy. What have I done? I've destroyed both bands."

"No, no," Elizabeth soothed. "Jane, that was not about you. It's going to be okay. Charles said so,"

Darcy was there and helped move Jane to the couch, where Elizabeth held her and let her cry. They all knew the crying was a result of the pregnancy, having witnessed it before. Elizabeth looked up for Charles and noticed him standing off to the side, with Caroline, who was apparently chewing him out.

A minute later, he rejoined the group, as Caroline left the room. Darcy got up and let Charles have his place and Jane switched over to his arms. Elizabeth and Darcy were getting up to leave when Charles stopped them.

"I have something I have to tell you," he started, looking very guilty. "I knew Jane was having twins."

"What?"

"Charles?"

"How?"

Charles passed a hand though his hair, making it even wilder. "I should have told you before, especially you, Jane. But it never came up when we started being together, and then it was too late."

"How did you know, Charles?" Darcy asked.

"Because Bingley's make twins," he shrugged. "In the last four generations there have been at least four sets of twins. There might even be more, but we just don't know about them. My father was a twin. His uncle was a twin. His father was a twin. It's all there. Then when Jane started showing so early, I just knew it."

"But you had no medical proof?"

"No, just gut instinct."

"Charles?" Jane asked softly. "How is that even possible? Wouldn't that be something that is carried in the mother's line?"

"I don't know how it's possible. We have discussed it with doctors and according to them, it's all just coincidence. Not statistically relevant."

Jane put her arms protectively across her stomach. "My babies are too- OH CHARLES!" she stopped, her eyes filling with awe. "My babies! Our babies! Charles, we're going to have babies!"

Charles scooped her into his arms, covering her with kisses while telling her how wonderful their babies would be. Elizabeth shared a look with Darcy, knowing it was time for them to leave.

Silently they exited and found an empty dressing room. "I think she just got it," Elizabeth commented on Jane.

"You think?" He smiled back. "They'll be okay."

"What about Richard?"

"Well, the pounding has stopped, so I'm hoping for the best."

Elizabeth smiled and crawled into his arms. "And what about us?"

"What about us?" he asked as he hands toyed with her hair. "You seem to have your hands full lately."

Elizabeth looked up to him, surprise written across her face. "I had noticed, Love," he chuckled, and found himself receiving an enthusiastic kiss.

Elizabeth felt as if a huge burden was being lifted from her shoulders, just from his awareness. She was touched by his thoughtfulness. She snuggled warmly against him, feeling his fingers gently tracing designs on her neck.

"What shall we do about it, Lizzy?"

"Alex has hired a designer to take care of the web pages," she murmured.

"I think you need a personal assistant."

Elizabeth froze, her affectionate mood broken. "Really?"

"Now don't look at me like that," he scolded her. "I'm not saying you're a failure, but you can't do it all. You need a staff, otherwise you are going to burn out."

"I will not!"

"Have you done any composing since we went back on tour?" he challenged her.

"No," she admitted glumly, knowing he was right.

"Lizzy, that's what I mean. Other people can keep web pages and make phone calls, but only you can be you. You need to stay focused on what makes you unique: your performance and your music." He stopped to stroke her cheek, "That's what makes people love you."

Elizabeth was moved by the intimacy of his words. She arched her neck to follow his fingers. "You know, I can't say no to you when you touch me like that."

"I know," he whispered hotly in her ear. Elizabeth shivered as she felt his hand drift down and cup her bottom. "Say 'yes'," he whispered.

"Yesssss," she sighed, as his lips descended to her collarbone, and sucked lightly there. Elizabeth whimpered lightly, her eyes slowly closing as she surrendered to his heat. "You know, you don't have to seduce me to get me to agree," she protested weakly, the force of her words lost in her feelings of bliss. "I'm an intelligent, ration person. I can -oh!- evaluate the merits of an idea as well as the next person. I have sound judgment and good -ah yes!- taste."

"Excellent taste," he agreed. "Elizabeth, I know I don't have to seduce you, but I like it. It's much more fun thea- Damn!" His words were interrupted by the shrill ringing of his phone.

Elizabeth withdrew from his arms and tried to quiet the pounding of her heart. She heard Darcy say, "She's right here," and took the phone he offered her.

"Hey, Darcy said you are going to get a PA," Alex's grinning voice came to her over the statically line.

"Um, yeah. I guess so."

"Great. I've got three candidates ready. I'll email their résumés to you and they'll be there tomorrow for interviews."

Elizabeth suddenly found herself alert and clearheaded. "What?" she demanded.

"Don't get all upset. Darcy and I both felt you were running yourself ragged, so I started hunting for assistants and his job was to convince you to accept one. Or did pretty boy fail in his mission?" His voice was thick with irony.

Elizabeth sighed and pushed her hair back from her face. "I don't know what's worse; you two fighting or you two working together."

Darcy was pointedly avoiding eye contact with her. "Hey, don't knock it, Lizzy. A woman like you needs two keepers. You are complex, with an artistic temperament." She could hear the smile in his voice.

"Fuck you!"

"I think someone would have a problem with that, baby."

"Yeah, well that someone is going to get a talking to in a moment," she replied lightly. "I can't believe you two are conspiring against me. What happened to 'I don't trust him'?"

"We find we can get along very well at a distance."

"I see that."

"So, I'm about to close shop for the day. Anything else I need to know about?"

Elizabeth chuckled. "One little thing." She proceeded to tell him about Jane's babies and their plans to announce the news.

"Okay, let me know how it goes with the interviews," he said afterwards. "Bye Lizzy."

"Bye." Elizabeth turned off the phone and looked at Darcy, who was waiting for her. "Want to explain?"

"Nothing to explain, really. We both came to the same conclusion at the same time and it was pretty clear what we needed to do."

"All very business-like," she observed dryly. They both knew she wasn't really upset.

Darcy shrugged. "Gotta keep the talent happy, you know?" He smiled as he closed the distance between them, taking her back into his arms and kissing her firmly. "And perhaps I have some personal motivations to not have you working all day long." He kissed her slowly, "But what would you do in my position?"

"You make a good point," Elizabeth purred, as she ran her lips down the side of his neck.

Banging on the door prevented any response he would have made. "Lizzy!" Caro's voice called to them. "Breaks over. I need you on stage now."

Elizabeth groaned discontentedly, but a look at the clock told her Caroline was right. With a quick kiss, she left the room, to find Caroline, Jane and Charlotte waiting outside her door.

"Oh, you're dressed," Caroline observed with surprise as she moved to her control center.

"What does that mean?" Elizabeth asked.

"Hey!" Charlotte announced, "For the record. I was dressed."

Jane laughed softly and Elizabeth slipped her arm around her waist. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm good."

"You aren't going to need us soon." Elizabeth teased. "You've got a whole band in there."

Jane smiled and looked down uncertainly. "I didn't mean to upset everyone."

Charlotte put her arm around Jane's shoulders. "If you mean Mr. Fitzwilliam, I can assure you that at the minute he's far from upset." The women laughed. "Seriously, Jane. That wasn't about you. Richard and I talked and it'll be okay. He's just got a lot of stuff on his mind."

They never talked about Richard's progress or his struggles. It was the solution they had all worked out: offer support when needed, but don't dwell on it. As they took their places on stage, Elizabeth realized that the 'rags to riches' story that the reporter was writing about her would be wrong. Her life was far from a fairy tale. Yes, she was now successful, and in a relationship with an amazing man, but troubles, both her own and her band's, hadn't disappeared. She knew they never would. That was life. It might not be what the public wanted to read, but it was the truth. Jane was carrying twins and her career was in jeopardy, Charlotte was coping with Richard's addiction and recovery, and she was trying to start a multi million-dollar company sandwiched between her lover and ex-lover. Oh yeah, she thought. Hell of a fairy tale.

Darcy stood off stage, watching the women rehearse and musing. He found himself joined a few minutes later by Charles, his hair damp from a shower. Together they watched and waited.

It didn't take long. Before the second song was finished, Caroline and Richard appeared, and they went as a group to the green room. These meetings had become their habit during the last month. This was the time they needed to talk as a band, just the four of them, while LBS was occupied. Darcy sat with Charles on the couch, while Richard took a chair and Caroline stood.

"So?" Darcy began.

"I'm sorry I lost it there." Richard said slowly. "I shouldn't have said that."

Charles nodded, his expression unusually closed. "The point is, did you mean it, Richard?" Darcy asked.

"I do have some questions about how we are going to manage with babies, but I certainly didn't mean to get angry like that."

Charles spoke softly. "We all have questions, Richard. This is new territory for all of us."

"And not just the babies." Darcy continued. "I mean everything: the record company and the wi- the women. It's all new and I don't think any of us can say we really know what we're doing. But the advantage of writing our own script is that we don't have to follow anyone else's rules."

"It's overwhelming sometimes."

Charles laughed, "Tell me about it."

Richard looked at Charles and smiled, his face relaxing into its familiar good humor. "Twins, Chas. Damn!" He shook his head. "I'm glad I'm not you."

"I'm not worried. When they get to be too much, I'll just send them over to their Uncle Richard for a few days. "

"I'll get 'em their first tattoos,"

"Oh yeah, Jane will love that." They laughed and the tension seeped from the room.

"Are we good?" Caroline asked.

"Yeah, we're good," Richard replied.

"How are the girls?"

The men quickly surveyed each other's faces. "I don't think they have dealt with this professionally yet. " Darcy said, expressing the other's thoughts.

"Yeah, Jane's still coping with the mother thing."

"And Char was helping me."

"Okay, so they still need to comes to terms with this, and we need to be ready for that," Caroline observed, pulling over a chair and sitting on it. "The other question on the table is what do we do about this? We can't hide it, so the question becomes how much do we tell and how?"

"Jane could announce she's pregnant and not volunteer any more information. Stonewall the press, confirm or deny nothing." Richard suggested.

"The Liz Hurley method," Caroline observed.

"Can Jane do that?" Darcy asked Charles.

"I'm not sure." He looked unhappy. "I'm not sure if that's what she wants to do. We're proud of our babies."

Richard and Darcy exchanged a look. "I know. We're all excited, Charles. But I'm not sure you want to share this with the world."

"Or," Richard said, turning to Darcy. "We can go the other way, reveal everything. No secrets. Charles and Jane, You and Lizzy, Me and Char. MTV baby."

"And your addiction? We're not doing that."

"Don't write if off so quickly, Will. We need publicity for Pemberley Records. This would help, and it would be us controlling the information, not letting some media leech dig it out and mangle it in the process. We could control the spin that went on it."

"Would you listen to yourself?"

"Richard's right, Darcy," Charles said. "I know you hate this. Hell, if it was up to you, we would be reading that Jane was carrying Elvis' love child. But I think we need to come clean this time."

"In any case, we need to discuss this with the girls before we can make any decision," Caroline reminded them.

"I'm just saying, announcing that all three of us were off the market, once and for all, might not be a bad thing." Richard added.

Darcy's eyes flicked to Richard, as he nodded slowly. "Okay, we'll discuss it with the women tonight." He rose from his seat. "Come on. They should be done soon."

They exited the green room and were surprised by silence, instead of the music that should have been there. Involuntarily, they found themselves rushing to the stage, where they found Jane seated in a chair, her head down, and Lizzy and Faust crouched down beside her.

"She's okay," Elizabeth said to Charles' shout. "She just got a little light headed and we're taking a break."

"Jane?" Charles asked, his eyes searching hers.

"I'm okay, Charles. It was just a little too much excitement. I didn't eat any lunch and that caught up with me."

Charlotte came up to them with juice and made her way through the crowd. "Here, drink this, slowly."

Jane took the cup, and sipped as Lizzy and Charles fussed over her. Standing back, Richard and Darcy exchanged a worried glance. "She's okay," Darcy said.

"Yeah," Richard replied doubtfully, identical frowns on their faces.

Jane was helped offstage to a dressing room, where Elizabeth volunteered to sit with her. Charles returned to the stage. "She's fine," he told his band mates.

"Is she?" Richard asked doubtfully.

"Yes, she is. Unlike some people. Jane recognizes when she has a problem and knows when to get help." He strapped on his bass. "Look, pregnant women are not invalids. She's okay. Now let's get started."

Darcy launched into "Crawling in the Dark" to forestall any more bickering, letting his fingers find their own way, as Richard and Charles joined in, and Charles begin to sing. They were okay, but for how long? Darcy could feel the pressures pulling at them. There were too many things going unsaid between them, as a band, and between Slurry and LBS.

How much farther do I have to go
And how much longer til I finally know
Cause I'm looking and I just can't see what's in front of me
In front of me

Charles sang the words that Darcy had written years ago, but he was struck by how appropriate they were. He should change the name of the tour to 'Crawling in the Dark', he thought with dark humor. Unwilling to deal with the tension anymore, he let loose, pushing his playing and caressing the notes of his melody line, his energy being picked up by the others in a wave. When they finished the song, ending together flawlessly, he knew it would be all right. They were more than a band. They were family, they were artists and they were meant to be together. They were going through a rough time now, but their music has renewed his trust that they would do the right thing.