How Elizabeth Survived the Playoffs Part 2

(This story is also known as: How Elizabeth Discovered JAFF)

Hello everyone! I’m back with the second part of my story about how Elizabeth found JAFF—and survived the hockey playoffs. You can find the first part here.

When I originally wrote this story, it was for a specific storyboard; I’ve modified it to be more generic. If you’ve been on the boards, you’ll know that there is often ‘adult content’, and at the time, and at the time, we liked to talk about certain pretty, pretty men (like Richard Armitage). I mention it because Elizabeth comes across this. On to the second half of the story! J As a reminder, this story does not have adult content, but it is a little suggestive. (Elizabeth reads a ‘naughty’ story and encourages her husband to give up on hockey in favour of spending one-on-one time with her.)

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The next day she received a welcome email from the story site, letting her know her registration was complete and she could now access the forums. She hadn’t spent very much time looking at fan fiction sites the night before as she decided making holiday plans had to be her priority. They were leaving for England in just over two months, and she might need to make reservations, and she definitely wanted to draft a schedule to share with Will and the kids.

Having developed several good ideas for their holiday, she presented them to her family at breakfast. She ignored Daniel and Emily’s dubious, scowling faces and blithely discussed her decision to have them watch the six-episode Pride and Prejudice series as a family and told them she had ordered a juvenile-adaptation of the novel that she intended to read to them.She decided the style of writing in the original might be a bit hard for them to follow and they might protest less to the simpler version. Her immediate intention was to have them understand the story; there would be time to help them gain an appreciation for the classics, a project she intended to start before the next school year. Will reacted favourably, although cautiously to her holiday plans. It was good enough for Elizabeth.

That afternoon, while Will and the kids watched yet another playoff game, Elizabeth sat down at her computer determined to see what Jane Austen fan fiction was like. She didn’t have very high expectations (although she didn’t know why) but thought it might be diverting, and if she could find some amusement in it, it might help her survive the next six-to-eight weeks of the playoffs. A pan of lasagne was ready to put in the oven for dinner and she had the next couple of hours to herself. She was going to meet up with her friend Rebecca that evening while, in her opinion, Will, Emily, and Daniel allowed their brains to rot staring at the television, watching yet another hockey game.

After doing a quick scan of the site to get a sense of what there was, she popped into a forum devoted to stories told in one short post, making for quick reads, thinking she could check out a story or two to help her decide if it was the sort of thing for her or not.

Three stories in, she sat back and stared at her screen. This was Jane Austen fan fiction? If this was a good sampling of JAFF, as it was affectionately called, Elizabeth was hooked.

Out of curiosity, she next selected a story with a mature rating, and she soon understood why the site was age-restricted. She found she didn’t object at all, and found herself glancing over her shoulder and listening carefully to make sure her family wasn’t coming to find her.

“I never imagined…” she mused. “This puts a whole new twist on my favourite characters. And some of the not-so-favourite ones! Huh.”

After devouring about a dozen shorts, all of which she enjoyed a great deal, she decided to visit some of the other forums, to round out her preliminary study of the site. When she spotted a picture of a semi-clad, gorgeous man on the homepage she nearly jumped out of her seat and momentarily panicked thinking Will or one of her children was behind her, demanding an explanation for why she was looking at pictures of partially naked men. She went to closed the door before returning to the computer.

“I have got to know to whom that body belongs,” she muttered as she clicked on what turned out to be a picture forum. She blushed and felt a tingle of guilt. Will would probably not like to know that she was ogling semi-clad men, and with her own very handsome, real-life Mr Darcy she hardly needed to. But it was just a bit of fun, and she wouldn’t make a habit of it.

“It’s that guy from North and South!” she proclaimed as she discovered the picture belonged to a page dedicated to Richard Armitage. She took a closer look at several other pictures, only stopping when her daughter Emily came into the library. Elizabeth quickly clicked on the link to get to the site’s homepage and angled her computer away from her daughter’s eyes for good measure.

“Hi honey,” she said.

“Why is the door closed, Mom?”

“Umm, well, the noise from the TV. I’m doing some reading, and it was distracting.” Lying to your child. Great job, Elizabeth!

Emily eyed her suspiciously. “Can I have one of those puddings? I’m so hungry!”

“What did Daddy say?”

“He said to ask you.”

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. That was what Will always said, and she should have predicted the response.

Anxious to get back to her JAFF exploration, she said, “All right. Give one to Danny too.” Then, realising she hadn’t paid that much attention to her daughter and she had just okayed her having chocolate pudding and feeling that she should be more motherly, she called, “But have a banana or apple too! Both of you!” to Emily’s retreating back.

Turning back to her screen, she saw there was a banner proclaiming it was ‘Ludicrously Bad Sex’ month and directing viewers to a specific forum for short scenes related to the theme. Elizabeth giggled and snorted her way through quite a few, laughing so hard at a stomach-turning plot involving Mr Wickham and Mr Hurst that she had to make a quick dash to the bathroom.

Soon after, she had to abandon her new favourite hobby for the time being. Her darling husband’s voice, calling up the stairs, asked if he should put the lasagne in the oven, and it made her realise how much time had passed. She called back that she would be down in a minute.

As she made dinner and did the right thing by sitting with her family for the last bit of a hockey game, Elizabeth’s mind wandered to JAFF. As they ate dinner and Will, Daniel, and Emily talked about that afternoon’s games and the one they would watch that evening, she thought about JAFF.

I can’t wait to dive into the actual stories forum! If the what I’ve read already are any indication, it is going to be fantastic! And I have got to sort out what all of those acronyms I keep seeing mean. ODC is our dear couple, ODB our dear boy, meaning Darcy, and ODG our dear girl or Elizabeth, but there are so many more that I just don’t get.

In between commenting on the hockey or listening as one of her family shared an observation about how well this or that player was doing (or how terrible their playing was), she continued to contemplate JAFF. There were several of the stories she had taken a quick peek at earlier, and she was anxious to read more of them. Darcy and Elizabeth in a modern setting was one. Elizabeth had always wondered what her darling Jane Austen would write if she were alive now. If Elizabeth Bennet was independent-minded in 1811 or so, what would she think about the freedoms afforded women (at least in many countries) in the twenty-first century? Then there were questions about what happened after the end of the novels. The scope for what-ifs was enormous, and that seemed to be represented in the stories, from her quick scan of titles and brief descriptions. What if Wickham had never come to Meryton? What if Mr Bennet died; would one of the Bennet sisters marry the ridiculous Mr Collins to provide for her mother and sisters? It was endless! What most excited Elizabeth was finding out that, like her, so many other people also wondered about questions like these—and not just wondered, but actually wrote out their ideas and posted them for the amusement of whoever was fortunate enough to know there was such a thing as JAFF. It was fantastic!

At dinner, at various bits of hockey information floated in the background, she made occasional, vague noises of interest and contemplated what she had read earlier. There was one vignette, as the author called it, which was apparently related to a longer story. She would definitely need to find it. Recalling the piece involving Wickham and Hurst, she involuntarily snickered and attempted to cover it with a cough.

“Okay, honey?” Will asked.

She looked at him, sitting across the table, her own Mr Darcy. He was very handsome and generous and kind, and she was a fortunate woman.

“Yes, yes,” Elizabeth said. For good measure, she smiled at her children. She really should pay more attention to the conversation, hockey-related or not.

“What were you thinking about?” Will asked, proving she hadn’t done such a good job at hiding her distraction.

“Uh…Jane Austen,” she said. “I found some great stuff online this afternoon. I’m really excited about our trip this summer.” Not a single lie or half-truth in there! Way to go, Liz!

“I wish you were watching the game with us tonight, Mom,” Emily said.

Daniel finished her thought. “The Capitals have a chance to go up three games to none. You’ve got to see Ovechkin, Mom! He’s doing sooo great. You should have seen the play he made in game two.”

Elizabeth’s mind started to wander as Daniel described the play, and she had to force herself to pay attention.

Fortunately, Will realised there really had been more than enough hockey talk for one night. “Mom’s going to see Aunt Rebecca tonight, remember?”

“And I did promise to watch tomorrow’s game. Montreal, right?”

“And Boston. I hope Boston wins,” Emily said her voice becoming very animated. “Kaberle plays for them now, and it would be awesome to see him win a Stanley Cup.”

“Yeah, but Montreal is Canadian,” Daniel said.

“Okay, kids!” Will’s voice rose above theirs. To Elizabeth he added, “Why don’t you tell us what you found for us to do in England. What fabulous Jane Austen adventures will we have?”

“Aww…” Emily’s voice dripped with disgust, and Daniel made gagging noises.

“The children and I are very excited by it, aren’t we Daniel, Emily?” Will said sternly.

Both children muttered obediently, if not sincerely, “Yes, Daddy.”

Elizabeth outlined a few ideas, tossing out general tourist activities that weren’t related to Jane Austen so that the kids would show a little bit of enthusiasm.

The conversation, inevitably, returned to hockey as they were tidying up. Elizabeth felt free to return to her JAFF musings, trying to figure out when she would have time to get back online again. Such was her anxiety about doing so that she almost regretted making plans with Rebecca.

No sooner had she finished that thought then the phone rang.

A minute later, Elizabeth said, “Oh Rebecca, I’m so sorry you have a migraine! Of course, I understand. Go to bed, and make that husband of yours take good care of you. We’ll talk when you’re feeling better and reschedule.”

Yes! Elizabeth thought as she hung up the phone. She was sorry her dear friend had a migraine, understanding only too well how rotten they could be, but now she had the evening free.

“Stories forum here I come!” she murmured.

She kindly (she hoped) refused Daniel and Emily’s request that she watch the game when she told them of her change of plans. Will, good, wonderful, understanding Will who would so be getting lucky that night for helping to keep her evening free, reminded the children that she would spend Sunday visiting their hockey-dominated world and so tonight, she didn’t have to.

***

There were so many stories to choose from, she hardly knew where to start.

“What to do, what to do,” she murmured as she scrolled through the forum.

A title caught her eye.

“‘Mr Darcy Learns to Please’. All right. That sounds good, and it’s completed. There are only six parts, so I should be able to finish it tonight unless the posts are really long. Some of the other stories have a lot more. Look at this one, it has 104 [1]! How on Earth can someone write something so long?”

She selected the link for ‘Mr Darcy Learns to Please’ and read the author’s introductory blurb.

I’m back! This is a short story. I should have it posted in six parts – no longer, I promise! LOL. I’ll post Saturday and Wednesday mornings. It’s low angst (really!), post-Hunsford, and definitely naughty (starting in chapter 3). Hope you enjoy! Thanks to my awesome beta-babe. What would I do without you?

Elizabeth chuckled. She had no idea what a beta-babe was, but she was a fan of life-long learning.

Her eyes flew across the lines of the story. She had to stop part way through to attend to Daniel and Emily when Will sent them up to bed. They told her more than she wanted to know about the hockey game, but Elizabeth was confident she managed to sound interested and spent long enough commiserating with their disappointment at the outcome that her darling children were satisfied.

“Daddy gets to watch Vancouver. He’s so lucky!” Daniel said, pouting. “I want to, too!”

“It’s almost 10 o’clock. There is no way you are staying up a minute longer,” Elizabeth said. “You both have hockey in the morning.” As though there isn’t enough hockey in our lives… But I have JAFF now, so I shouldn’t complain!

“Just for the first period, Mommy? Please?” Emily asked using her innocent little girl voice as though that would sway Elizabeth’s opinion. “Daddy would let us if you said it was okay.”

“No!” she replied and got them tucked into their beds.

She went downstairs to speak to her husband.

“Did you tell Danny and Em they could watch the first period if I said it was okay?”

He knew, he should know, she would never okay the kids staying up so late, Saturday night or not. It set a bad precedent for the rest of the playoffs and wreaked havoc on their sleep schedules. Knowing how she would react, if he had told them to ask her, it would have meant breaking one of their rules.

“No, of course not,” Will replied.

He was obviously distracted by the television. A panel of sports journalists (so-called journalists, Elizabeth thought) were yammering on about hockey. Elizabeth rolled her eyes.

“Good,” she muttered and started to leave the room. He could have hockey; she had a story to get back to.

“Hey Liz, honey,” he said, standing and grabbing for her arm.

Although he was speaking to her, he kept his eyes on the screen.

“Wanna’ watch with me? Or”—he paused to listen to something and then huffed, clearly disagreeing with whatever it was—“or I suppose we could change the channel.”

It was a nice gesture, but she knew he really wanted to catch some of the Vancouver-Chicago match.

“Nope, it’s okay,” she said. “I’m in the middle of something. Reading.”

He nodded and sat down again, his eyes still glued to the television.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes again. “Enjoy,” she said as she left the room. If he heard, he gave no sign of it.

By the time Elizabeth finished reading ‘Mr Darcy Learns to Please’, she was…impressed (and a little shocked) by the fictional Mr Darcy’s ability to please his new bride, the couple enjoying a lively wedding night in the closing chapter.  She stared at the screen, her eyebrows arched, and her cheeks flushed.

After a few minutes, she decided to join Will in the living room.

“How’s the game going?” She asked as she sat down next to him, curling her legs under her and snuggling to his side.

“Huh? Oh, uh, fine. Well, no, not fine. Luongo [2] is having a bad night.”

He turned to give Elizabeth a quick kiss, wrapped an arm around her waist and became engrossed in the game again.

“Almost over? It’s getting late.” Elizabeth didn’t really care about the score or how Vancouver’s goalie was doing. Sure, she hoped a Canadian team would win the Stanley Cup, but it was just the first round, and she had something else very much on her mind.

Will grunted. “I think it’s over for Vancouver tonight.”

“Sooo…why don’t we turn this game off and start one of our own?” she whispered.

That definitely drew his attention away from the television.

* * *

Thus began a new routine. Elizabeth had found a way to survive the playoffs without going mad. It was, for the time being, a delicious secret. One the 2011 playoffs were hockey history, she would tell Will, figuring he would get a kick out of it.

A couple of days after beginning her reading journey, she decided to stop lurking and made her first post, introducing herself.

Hello from Toronto! I’ve just discovered the site (and I love it!) and the JAFF world (love it too!). My husband—more about him in a moment—gave me an Austen inspired book for Christmas, and although I always meant to see if I could get my hands on more like it, I never thought to search the Internet for JAFF. I stumbled across this site while trying to find ideas for an upcoming trip to England and now I am completely addicted!

All right, a bit about me. The first thing you have to know is that I married Mr Darcy. Literally. LOL My husband’s name really, honestly, truly is William Darcy. His paternal grandfather (also a William) emigrated to Canada from England after the Second World War. And my name really is Elizabeth. I’m not a Bennet, though. That would be too much, don’t you think? For real life at least. I’ve discovered anything goes in FF and all I can say to that is hurrah, yippee, and you get the idea!

We’ve been married ten years and have nine-year-old twins – Daniel and Emily (thus D&E’smom as my username). I work as a policy advisor for the provincial government (municipal affairs).

I’m still more or less an Internet newbie. I know, almost unheard of in 2011. I always thought I spent enough time in front of a computer at work, and with the kids and Will and everything… Now that I’ve found this site, however, I expect I’ll be spending a lot more time staring at a screen!

Back to exploring the site. I’m loving the stories. Thank you, all of you wonderful, generous authors!

Elizabeth <3

There were lots of replies, and everyone was welcoming and laughed at the coincidence of her actually being married to a Mr Darcy. One of the moderators was particularly helpful when she wanted to add a photo to her profile and a signature so everyone would know her proper name. When she mentioned her planned trip to England and attempts to find child-friendly yet Jane Austen-oriented activities, someone else pointed her to another part of the site. When she asked for suggestions in that forum, she received so many great ideas, she thought she, Will, and the kids could double the length of their trip and still not run out of things to do. The friendliness and sense of community was incredible, and Elizabeth loved every minute of it!

She continued to read through the stories, spending perhaps more time than she ought at it, but there was so much catching up she had to do. She learned the lingo quickly, having found a FAQ file during one of her early roams around the site. Anything that confused her, she asked, and always received a quick, cheerful reply.

Never had Elizabeth enjoyed hockey more!

Neither had Will.

***

“All right then, I think I’ve got the trip schedule straight in my mind. All of the necessary reservations have been made. I can hardly believe the hockey season is almost over!” Elizabeth said one evening in early June.

She and Will were in the kitchen, tidying up after dinner while Daniel and Emily were finishing their homework. She smiled at him and started to hum a happy tune while drying a large pot.

“What has gotten into you, sweetheart?” Will asked. His tone was light, showing curiosity, but also amusement.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, honey,” he said cautiously, “at the start of the playoffs you were rather…uh…unhappy about it all, but now you’re…well, you don’t seem to mind. And you’ve been very…amorous lately.” He hastened to add, “Not that I mind.”

Elizabeth shrugged and smiled again. “I guess once I found a way to occupy my time while the three of you are wrapped up in hockey, I stopped being bothered by how much time you spend on it. As long as we manage to talk about something other than hockey at meals and remember there are other things in life.”

Will looked at her suspiciously. “What exactly have you been doing?”

Elizabeth put down the pot and walked up to her husband. She caressed his cheek. “Reading, Will, I’ve just been reading, and rediscovering my love for all things Jane Austen. I’m really enjoying it.”

She stood on her tip-toes to give him a kiss. In response he studied her happy expression and slowly nodded.

“Just Jane Austen? Jane Austen is having this much of an effect on your mood?”

He still sounded a little dubious, and Elizabeth laughed and gave him another kiss, this one longer than the last.

“It all comes back to Jane. I’m improving my mind by extensive reading.”

“And I suppose, good husband that I am, I should encourage you to keep at it.”

Elizabeth laughed. “Oh, I will, my darling husband, I will.”

The End

 Notes

1 I was poking fun at myself with this and referring to my monster story, otherwise known as The Course of True Love. It is about one million (that is not a typo) words long. By comparison, my latest novel, The Truth About Family, was about 100 000.

2 Luongo is the Vancouver Canucks’ goaltender.

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That’s it! I hope you enjoyed this wee tale. Have a wonderful day!