Actions

Work Header

Rating:
Archive Warning:
Category:
Fandom:
Relationship:
Characters:
Additional Tags:
Language:
English
Stats:
Published:
2021-07-05
Words:
1,913
Chapters:
1/1
Comments:
4
Kudos:
73
Bookmarks:
7
Hits:
697

Episode 82

Summary:

He’s watched every Lizzie Bennet Diaries video to date, the good ones and the bad. And although many of them had made him anxious, none of them had made him feel like this.

 

William watches episode 82: "Checks and Balances"

Notes:

Back again with some more Darcy siblings content, because I love them and will never stop writing content, despite the fact I seriously doubt anyone actually wants it.
I promise the next one will be Dizzie :)

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

When William hears the sound of a Youtube notification on the morning of Thursday the 24th, he knows instantly what it was and goes straight to his computer, clicking over to the tab he may have already had open in anticipation.

It came every Monday and Thursday at around the same time, and he was only subscribed to one channel, so he knew there was no chance of it being anything else. Lizzie’s latest video.

It comes as no surprise when he sees it in his notification bar “The Lizzie Bennet Diaries has uploaded a new video”, but what does surprise him, when he clicks the link, is his sister’s face in the thumbnail. What surprises him even more, is the title. Checks and Balances. William’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t have the greatest feeling about a title like that.

Reluctantly clicking on the video, he relaxed a little and smiled a bit when he sees Lizzie sitting there alone, smiling and looking as gorgeous as she always did. Since Lizzie’s arrival at Pemberley Digital and since the beginning of their, would you call it a friendship, he found himself enjoying the videos a bit more. It was a lot easier to watch them now that he didn’t have to worry as much about the things Lizzie said about him, now that they’d sort of gotten to know each other and now that Lizzie had read his letter. He liked listening to her talk, he’d always enjoyed listening to her talk, though now it was all, mostly, positive things, he was enjoying it a whole lot more. 

He watches intently as Lizzie begins to talk before she is cut off by a rogue hand entering the frame, and yep, that’s Gigi. That’s her top and that’s certainly her voice speaking.

His heart clenches as she sits down beside Lizzie, and within a few seconds, he knows this is going to be bad, because Gigi has that ‘deer in headlights' look she gets when something is wrong or when she’s nervous, and the title below the image is taunting him, Checks and Balances, because this can only be about one thing. The letter has been read, and William knows what was in that letter. Gigi knows the letter has been read, and although she doesn’t know its contents, one could only guess.

He’s watched every Lizzie Bennet Diaries video to date, the good ones and the bad. And although many of them had made him anxious, none of them had made him feel like this.

The mention of math makes him smile a bit, fondly at the memory and his little sister’s antics but even that won’t distract him from the look in Gigi’s eyes. Lizzie may not be able to tell, but he can. That looks of pain and sadness and panic. Her fragile voice when she tells Lizzie ‘it’s serious’ freaks him out a little more, but he takes a deep breath and tells himself to get through it.

She was right, this was serious.

“Record this one. Your viewers need to know.” All William could think was ‘Please don’t do this ,' the message running in his mind on repeat. His protective instincts are running full force, and part of him wishes this was live so he could go and stop her from doing this. They’d worked so hard on patching this up, piecing Gigi back to her old self, and he’s terrified that this is going to do the opposite of what Gigi thinks it’s going to do, is going to reopen everything she’d tried to heal instead of helping, but underneath the pain and fear, Gigi is determined, and she is confident. She’s actually going to do this.

And then Lizzie realizes because of course she does, she’s a smart girl, and Lizzie, who doesn’t even know half of it, looks panicked in herself. He’s thankful that Lizzie tries to stop her, seemingly pleading with her to think this through, and she’s right, Gigi owes Lizzie’s viewers nothing. The only reason she’s in this whole mess is because of him, she plays almost no part in he and Lizzie’s stories, but Gigi doesn’t budge.

It isn’t a shock. Darcy’s are a stubborn bunch.

“My name is Gigi Darcy, and I’m going to tell you what happened with George Wickham. And me,” The voice of his sister on the screen announces, and William pauses the video, hitting the spacebar a lot harder than he intended. He knew it was coming, but nothing could have prepared him for hearing her say it out loud.

Another wave of anxiety rushes over him, because oh Lord, Gigi’s going to tell her story, recount it all out loud for the first time since it happened. Her story is going to be out there, in the world, for the whole internet to hear.

He suddenly feels a little sick, and barely resisting the urge to message his sister, who, come to think of it, he hadn’t heard from in a couple of days, he resumed the video.

He wants to protect her, to shield her from all of this but knows that isn’t an option. It was Gigi’s story, and if she wanted to, she had the right to tell it. And William, who would rather do anything than have to recount this, was going to listen to all of it. He owed her at the very least, that.

His fists clench as Gigi gives the backstory, scoffs at the things she says about George. Hating the universe because it’s all true. George was around all the time, George was his best friend. This wasn’t costume theatre, this wasn’t Lizzie’s over-the-top storytelling. Every bit of this was the truth.

At least as much of the truth that Gigi knew, because it isn’t the truth that George just disappeared. There was a lot more to it than that. 

He listens as Lizzie puts together the puzzle, as Gigi recounts college and the swim team and ‘hours in the pool together’ (William could practically feel his blood boiling). He watches as Gigi becomes more and more crestfallen, as her face becomes more downcast, and as it all progresses, he becomes sadder and sadder with her.

He still couldn’t believe what was happening.

And then, at the two-minute fifty mark, comes what breaks him. “I wanted something… that was mine. Maybe even something that William disapproved of. But I knew it was a bad idea, and he said he needed me. No one’s ever needed me before,” She admitted tearfully, burying her face in her hands with another apology. Lizzie is trying to comfort her, but there’s a jumpcut, and William knows what that means.

And his hand slams down on the spacebar once again, and he swears and takes several deep breaths. Gigi really thought that? He couldn’t believe that she thought that way about herself. Not needed? It was crazy.

Because William needed her. He doubted he’d still be alive after everything they’d gone through without her. When their parents died, when their lives were flipped on its head, she was the one thing getting him through it. Did she not know that to be the truth? 

What kind of brother was he to let her think like this? To let her think that he didn’t need her?

But this wasn’t about him, it was about her. He resumed the video.

The anger was back in full force as the story reached the climax, and he agreed instantly when Gigi said she thought he was going to strangle George because that certainly had been the plan. He remembers it all in excruciating detail, receiving the email with that photo attached to it, and instantly thinking of nothing but knocking George’s head off. He wasn’t a violent person, never the one to get into fights, but at that moment, it became his only option.

His mother had taught him to never say he hated anything, that hate was too strong of a word to use for things he disliked. There was nothing William Darcy hated more than George Wickham.

He watches the rest of the video, cursing himself when she brings up the things she had said to him (None of it even felt like it mattered anymore, not after everything they’d been through since), and then just like that it’s over. The screen changes from Lizzie and Gigi’s faces to recommended videos, and William stares at it blankly, taking in everything he just watched.

He’s reaching for his phone and dialing her number before he can even think about it.

She answers after one ring, clearly expecting his call. “You watched her video, didn’t you?” She asked, her voice meek, and it sounded like she was trying not to cry.

William nodded, despite her not being able to see him. “I did, yes.”

“Probably not what you were expecting when you got your notification, was it?” She joked, trying to make light out of the situation.

William let out a breathy laugh. “No. No, definitely not.”

“Look, William, I’m really sorry for bringing it up again but I knew I had to say something and-” Gigi started to ramble, but William quickly cut her off.

“No, don’t apologize. It’s your story, and you have the right to tell it if you choose to. I’m… I’m very proud of you Gigi. That must have taken a lot of courage,” William said sincerely.

The line went quiet for a few moments before Gigi spoke up again. “Thank you, William, that means a lot.”

William smiled, and for a few more minutes they spoke about nonsense, quickly deterring from the original subject as not to get too worked up so early in the day and over the phone (The subject at hand was definitely a subject to be spoken about at home), talking about their weekend plans with Lizzie as Gigi teased him. William took it, just happy to hear the happiness in her voice again.

“Okay, well,” Gigi said eventually after giggling about something William had said about Lizzie, “I should go. I’m sure by now Fitz has seen the video and God knows how he’s gonna react, so I’ll probably have to call him too.”

William nodded in understanding. Fitz was just as bad as he was when it came to protecting Gigi, possibly worse when it came to this. Lord knows what was going through his mind right now. “You’re right, you should. I wish you good luck with that.”

Gigi gave a small laugh. “Yeah, thank you.”

They said their goodbyes with a promise they’d talk about this properly later when they got home, and just as Gigi went to hang up the phone, William stopped her. “Gigi?”

“Yeah?”

“I know you think no one has ever needed you, but don’t for a second think that’s true. Okay? Because I’m always going to need my little sister,” He promised. And it was true because he and Gigi relied on each other. They needed each other to stay afloat. That’s how it worked with them, ever since the death of their parents.

The line went quiet again, the only thing that could be heard was Gigi’s shaky breathing, and for a second William panicked, until he heard her speak up once more. “I love you, William,” She said simply, her voice sounding vulnerable like it did when she was a kid. 

William smiled. “I love you too Gigi.”

Notes:

It's currently 2 am so I apologize if this isn't great.