Miss Jane Austen

This AU is based on a fix-it fic I wrote for Becoming Jane that's here.

After Jane leaves Tom at the inn, he returns to London and helps a lord in trouble who provides him with a landholding. Slowly Jane and Tom come together and I'll be bringing her in from when they're still in their first few months of marriage. At the moment, they are living in a modest house in London as Tom's name is growing as a lawyer. They have enough money that she can still be his wife and write.

After talking to Mrs. Radcliffe, Jane and Tom retired to a charming coffee shop that Tom knew of. As she contemplates her drink, Jane traces designs on the table, the past day has not been easy.

She was too clever at dinner the night before and Tom's uncle did not approve and Mrs. Radcliffe seemed so unhappy.

It is so hard to know what to say to voice these worries without betraying her own fear of losing their chance together.

My dear Tom,

I read your letter with delight. I look forward to London more each day and do miss the moments that we shared in the woods and other places in between. Of late, there was a glorious dance held in Milliways with a marvelous variety of styles of dance. I wish that you might have joined me that night for whenever I dance, I wish that I was dancing with you. For the occasion, I even wore a dress that was of a slightly modern cut that I feel you might have approved of.

It pleases me greatly that you have learned the charms of Selbourne Wood, but I do look happily anticipate the bustle of London. For while trees may be inspiring in their peace, they do not make the most exciting companions.

Mayhaps I can show you my skill in mixing drinks when I visit though not near your uncle. I have been reading some of his judgments and do hope that I will sufficiently impress him. Henry appears to believe so, but he is my brother and obliged to say such things. I will strive to please him for I wish nothing more than to announce our engagement to all.

Now if only time will speed for us so that soon we will be together once more.

Yours Ever,
Jane Austen

Jane found herself moving through the ball with far less joy than she wished as her thoughts seemed to circle ever around what it means to be sensible.

Mister Wisley was a fair dancer but he did nothing to make her enjoy her time on the floor, but she would give him the dances that he asked for.

She knew that it would be sensible and profitable to accept his offer of marriage but Jane was not sure if she truly could.

So she moved around the floor, not truly hearing or seeing simply walking the steps and wondering if perhaps Mister Lefroy had decided he had no wish to attend the ball.

The encounter with Mister Lefroy, Tom, in the woods was still on Jane's mind as she was reading so when she heard herself discussed by her parents in the next room it was hard not to listen in.

Her father of course used such lovely language, "Her heart is stirred."

While her mother would look for an easier answer, "Its a summer squall. Mister Lefroy will soon be gone and Mister Wisley will be waiting, I hope."

Jane flushed as she listened, she hadn't realized that her thoughts were so clear to others though she almost laughed at her father's answer, "The man's a booby."

"He'll grow out of that and she could fix him with very little trouble. You could persuade her."

Her father's next words struck Jane more than she expected, "To sacrifice her happiness?"

Was Tom her happiness, even she wasn't sure, "Jane should not have the man who offers the best price, but the man she wants."

She had never heard her father speak so on her behalf and Jane smiled again as her mother spoke, "Oh, Mister Austen. Must we have this conversation day in and day out? We'll end up in the gutter if we carry on like this."

As always her mother did strike to the heart of things and the fact that more money never went amiss. Jane smiled thoughtfully as she quietly left her seat and walked outside.

Jane has found herself a nook in the library and is lost in the poetry of Catullus, a translation she found that she's not seen before.

The night is starting to draw in and so her shawl is pulled tightly around her as she wonders about the kind of passion and lust that inspired such words.

The road was muddy but Jane enjoyed it even more because she could tramp and tramp on her way to mail the letter to Cassandra.

That horrible, snobbish, infuriating Tom Lefroy, she would not give him the satisfaction of anything.

How dare he even dare think that she thought badly of her home, her home, she would decimate him next time they met.

Not that she wished to meet him of course, the lout but next time, oh next time she would be prepared.