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Chapter Text

When she was eight years old, Penelope met a then-thirteen-year-old Colin. They didn’t have all that much in common; after all, she was still in primary school, whilst he was already picking out his GCSE subjects, but for some reason whenever she was hanging out with her new friend Eloise, he would always be there in the room. He never said much, and he didn’t try to join their childish games, but she could always feel his presence.

One day, a couple years later, she overheard Eloise confronting him about it when she took a toilet break from their studying for the Kent Test. “Don’t you have anything better to be doing?” Eloise had asked him, and she’d heard Colin vaguely grunt. “Why are you always creeping in the corner? She’s my friend.”

“Good for you,” Colin had scoffed, and wandered off, but sure enough, Penelope practically crashed into him when she went into the kitchen to get a snack a little later.

“How are you feeling about the Kent Test then?” He asked her, ignoring her apologies and looking straight down at her, a forgotten eclair dangling from his hand.

“Um,” her eyes darted around. “Okay I guess. Pretty good about verbal reasoning, non-verbal’s gonna be the problem.”

“Really? It was the opposite for me,” he took a bite of his eclair, and she found her gaze catching on his mouth, and her heartbeat suddenly picking up in her chest. “Do you need a tutor? I’m sure Eloise is no help with all that.”

Penelope took a second to respond, having suddenly been hit with a crush that was going to last a lifetime. “That’s okay. Your mum already hired us a tutor for these a last few weeks before school starts.”

Colin’s nose wrinkled, glaring down at her. “What? Who?”

She didn’t know why, but suddenly she felt guilty, as if she’d done something wrong, something that hurt him. “I don’t know exactly… some year 11 from your school I think.”

“When are they coming over?” Colin pressed, but Eloise came barrelling in, her eyes narrowing when she saw how her brother had slowly backed her friend up against the kitchen wall.

She grabbed Penelope’s hand and yanked her away. “Come on, Pen. Mum said Marcus’ll be here in a second.”

“I didn’t get anything to eat yet!” Penelope protested, and Colin extended his half-eaten eclair, as if he expected her to take it.

Eloise made a face. “You’re so rank.”

When she was fifteen and Colin was twenty, Penelope realised he had been on a date with her cousin Marina, and her heart shattered. She genuinely thought she might be having a heart attack- it hurt that bad. Marina spent the entirety of that year’s Christmas dinner preening and boasting about this one magical date, until Penelope couldn’t take it any more and went up to hole away in her room. After an hour, her mother banged down the door, telling her she was embarrassing them all- their cousins would think there was something wrong with her. There was something wrong with her. She wanted him so much, and he didn’t even see her, even though she was always right in front of him. How had these feelings taken her over so completely?

Eventually, Penelope managed to work herself down enough to come bid her extended family goodbye, and she found that Colin had crossed the street to come see Marina. He glanced over her shoulder to meet Penelope’s eyes and then crashed his lips into Marina’s, and somehow Penelope didn’t collapse to the ground. Her legs were shaky, but she wished her family a merry Christmas and then ran across the road to go see Eloise, hoping for a distraction, but ending up sobbing her eyes out again and having to come up with some crappy excuse for why she’d done so.

No-one was ever interested in Penelope back when she was in school. She had her first kiss with a girl called Genevieve at a drunken fresher’s party her first week of uni, but never got the girl’s number and so that went nowhere. It was another two and a half years before she was asked on her first date. She was twenty-one, Colin was twenty-six and Alfie was as well. He was a PhD student, and he talked on and on about his research on penguins in the Antarctic, but he was nice and he bought her dinners and he listened to her silly dreams about being a writer. She told Eloise about him a month or so in, when she was a little more confident that it was actually turning into something. A couple days later, Colin sent his first ever DM to her over Instagram.

Seriously, Pen???? A fucking vegan with a saviour-of-the-planet complex??????

He’d attached a photo of Alfie- not the same one she’d sent Eloise that she herself had taken of him when they’d been out in the park together, but a much uglier angle that he must have gone on the hunt for, as he wasn't even following Alfie on Insta. She aired him, unsure what to say, and burning with indignation besides, because not only had he never sent her a message online, but he’d barely even spoken to her since he’d gotten with her cousin a few years ago. There were a few occasions at Bridgerton family events where he’d tried, but Eloise had always gotten her away, as if she could tell how uncomfortable Penelope was with it all. Or maybe she was just uncomfortable about it herself.

Colin sent another message ten minutes later. Another five messages, actually.

Hello?!?

Answer me, u little slut

U let him put it anywhere don’t u, ur just so desperate for touch

He’s not getting near you again

Ur breaking up with him rn

She gasped aloud as she read the messages, jarred at their graphic contents. Yes, Colin had always been a little weird around her, but nothing like this. She’d always gotten the impression that he cared about her and respected her in some small way, even if it was just as the girl who was always hanging around his house with his little sister. Clearly, she’d been wrong. What should she do? He must be drunk, or high, or both. This was out of character, and he’d surely regret it in the morning. If she told Eloise, her friend would fume and rage, and Penelope didn't want to damage their relationship, even though it didn't have all that strong a foundation nowadays anyway.

She turned off her phone and tried to forget about it, but she tossed and turned all night- Colin's words ringing in her ears as clearly as if he’d sent a voice message. When she turned her phone back on the next morning there were no new messages from Colin, and in fact, she heard nothing more from him whatsoever until another month or so later when she went back home for the Bridgertons’ annual big summer bash, taking Alfie as her plus-one.

All the other members of the family fawned over him, embarrassingly thanking him for making her happy- as if she hadn’t been before. But then Anthony and his wife Kate called her over for the family photo making her heart fluttered in happiness at the acceptance they gave her that her only family didn't, and she found her annoyance towards them morphed a little more into something you might feel towards real family members. Eloise waved her over to come cuddle into her side, but Colin appeared from out of nowhere and grabbed her around the waist.

“She should stand here, it works better with the heights.” Eloise protested, but she was immediately outvoted by the oblivious hoard of Bridgertons determined for a perfect photo, and so there Penelope stayed, with Colin’s hand tight on her hip.

The Bridgertons were chattering amongst themselves, arguing about positions and angles, and there was plenty of cover for Colin to lean in and whisper with hot breath into her ear, “He doesn’t belong here. He knows it. You know it. Everyone knows it. This is a farce. Why won’t you drop him?”

Penelope shivered, trying to lightly tug away, but he wouldn’t allow it, and she didn’t want to make a scene. “Why do you care?” She muttered back, twisting her head just slightly to direct her words back towards him. “What does my relationship with Alf have to do with you?”

If she didn’t know better, she would have sworn that the noise Colin made then was one of a genuine wild animal. “You’re only with him because you somehow don’t see that I want you every second of every day.”

“Okay, say cheese everyone!” Violet’s boyfriend Marcus said, setting off the timer and rushing back around to his place. If anyone were to look back at Penelope’s face in that photo with knowledge of the events to come, they would have asked themselves how none of them saw it then, how none of them stopped what was to come.

Chapter Text

Wishing she had some earplugs, Penelope ordered her round of shots and handed them off to Eloise and Edwina, her head already starting to swim. It was the younger Sharma sister’s birthday- a few days after the events of the Bridgerton summer bash- and Penelope didn’t feel at all like going out clubbing, but there was no way she could refuse her fellow pint-sized friend. Despite her initial reluctance to go out, by the time they’d gotten a couple of drinks in them at their pres and bundled themselves into the limo Anthony had insisted they take instead of (his words) “an Uber that could be driven by any old wanker”, she was feeling a pleasant buzzing that distracted her from everything going on.

Honestly, she knew that Alfie was definitely not her soulmate, but he was sweet and he was there. Besides, Colin’s vehement insistence that she dump him made her really never want to, and she was sort of afraid that she was going to end up married to him one day just to spite her best friend’s brother. He’d started DM’ing her again after the party. Not in quite so obviously insulting a way as those initial messages had been, but still subtly misogynistic, claiming he knew what was best for her and that this wasn’t it. Despite herself she replied once, in a rather well-composed essay asking him to please stop it and saying that he didn’t have to pretend to like her just because seeing her with someone was weird. He replied with a long list of things he professed to not just like, but love about her. It was dizzying, not having once thought he saw her that way and now constantly being assaulted with claims he did. So she stopped replying again.

He knew they were going out tonight, of course, and he refused to stop pinging her, making the girls tease her relentlessly. Eventually Eloise got fed up of it and snatched her phone off of her.

“El, no!” Penelope had exclaimed, terrified she was about to look at the messages, but Eloise just turned the phone off and pocketed it, thankfully-and logically- assuming that the person texting her so much was Alfie.

“You can have this back at the end of the night, but the boyfriend gets you all the time, this is our night!”

Having the phone off helped a little, but it was still hard to shake the memory of Colin's heated, stifling gaze at the party. If she thought back on their previous interactions, it wasn't that he'd never looked at her weirdly before, but this had been different. It had felt more blatant, more intentional than ever before. She's been able to read in his eyes exactly what he wanted to do to her, and she was sure anyone else that looked hard enough would have been able to as well.

Several shots later, Penelope was feeling entirely outside of herself, floating around the dancefloor, her boobs heaving out of her low-cut dress. Eloise helpfully shoved them back in for her with a friendly grin and pointed over to Edwina, who was locking lips with some hunk on the other side of the room. “I’m gonna go check she’s okay!” Eloise yelled through the music. “Coming?”

Penelope shook her head, waving her arms around in time with the music, feeling like she was one with it in that moment. Eloise laughed. “Okay, be right back!”

Eloise hadn’t been gone five seconds when Penelope felt a hard body press into her from behind. Too drunk to shake whoever it was off, she rolled her hips back into it, throwing up an arm to reach back around and keep the body tight against her. “I always knew you were a little whore, I should never have let you stay away this long,” an all-too familiar voice droned into her ear.

Penelope stiffened up and tried with all her might to pull away, but Colin grabbed onto her waist and steered her off of the dancefloor- the opposite way Eloise had gone, the way that led to the door. “Stop!” She whimpered, trying to dig her feet into the ground. “I’m not going with you.”

The music was so loud no-one could have heard them, but the probably mostly-sober bouncers at the door looked at them a little suspiciously. Colin smiled charmingly at them, shouting in their general direction, “My girlfriend’s had a few two many. Best get her home and into bed.”

Satisfied enough, they gave him a commiserative grin like they’d been there as well, and let him drag her around the corner like a rag doll. Shivering on the pavement, she struggled to form a sentence that would be forceful enough to make him go away, but nothing came out. The driver came around the side, not even looking up at her, and opened the passenger door. Threateningly, Colin jabbed a finger into her back, pushing through her thin slip dress. “Get in the damn limo. Or else.”

Penelope obeyed, too drunk and too distressed to do anything else. She stumbled in, falling to the empty space on the floor when she didn’t go fast enough for Colin and he had to shove her.

Cooing, he crawled in behind her, pulling her up onto his lap and wrapping his arms around her in lieu of a seatbelt. “I wasn’t planning to take you like this, Pen. I thought I’d let you see how you got along in the world by yourself, but after tonight I can see that you’re helplessly lost.”

The driver had slammed the door and gotten into the driver’s seat. She couldn’t see him- the screen had been raised to isolate her in the back with Colin. “What do you mean take me?” She stammered, her head spinning in confusion.

Colin smirked, pushing his palm into her cheek to twist her head round to an uncomfortable angle where she was looking up at him. “You can’t look after yourself, pet. Look how badly it’s gone. And it’s not your fault. You’re with this tosser. Your heinous family barely constitutes the word. Your only friends are Eloise and Kate’s sister. You need me to take care of you, and I’m going to do that from now on, I promise.”

Penelope winced, a surge of nausea rising in her throat. She reached out her hands to try to pull herself off of him, but Colin refused to let her, running his palms up and down her instead. At first she thought he was feeling her up, but then she realised he was searching her. “Where’s your phone, Pen?” She blinked at him wordlessly, and his fingers suddenly drew up to wrap around her throat, drawing a startled gasp as he cut off her supply to oxygen for a second or two. “I’m being bloody-well serious right now Penelope, where’s your damn phone?”

He released her throat and she spluttered, coughing out the answer “Eloise took it.”

Colin’s hands immediately turned soft, tracing through her curls and pulling the pins out of her hair so that it fell down around her face. “Ah, I’m sorry baby. That’s for the best. Makes things easier really, no need for me to dispose of it.” Her heart sank as she took in the fact that that’s what he would have done if he’d located it on her body. The fact that he didn't want her to have access to any form of communication.

Finished with her hair, he turned her head gently back towards him and suddenly his lips were on hers, drawing her back into him, his teeth lightly brushing against her fleshy lower lip, teasingly nicking at it. “Colin,” she protested against his mouth, forcing the words out through thin lips so he couldn’t thrust his tongue in. “Roll down the window. I’m gonna chunder.”

“No,” he refused, reaching forward to pull a brown paper bag out from where the mini-bar might usually be. Penelope looked down into it, wishing he’d just let her throw up out the window so it’d be gone. “Go on, baby,” he encouraged her. “Get that poison out of you. Don’t worry, it’ll be the last time. I’m not ever going to let you get in this way again.”

With that, the vomit flew right out of her, and he patted her back condescendingly and held her hair back all the way through her shuddering.

Penelope woke up with a pounding headache and no memory of how she’d gotten home. Wait, what was that pressing into her from behind?! Whoever it was clearly wore a pair of boxers over their appendage, and nothing else. Had she cheated on Alfie and brought someone home? Was she at some stranger’s place? She turned her head as much as she could and immediately caught sight of familiar features behind her, her heart dropping in her chest as the memories flooded back. There were gaps; she had no idea how they’d gotten from the limo to this bed he was crushing her in, or whether he had given her this babydoll nightdress or physically put it on her. But she remembered the basics. Colin Bridgerton- her best friend’s ever-present, ever-uninterested-in-her older brother- had abducted her from a nightclub and taken her back to wherever this was. She tried to shift in his arms but he only closed them tighter around her with a low, warning growl. She wasn’t sure whether he was conscious or whether he’d done it in his sleep until his fingers strayed to her neck, brushing her hair aside to draw her skin into his mouth like a succubus.

“Colin,” she whispered in a strained voice, forcing herself not to thrash and scream. “I have to pee.”

He pulled back, looking down at the product of his work on her skin and, seemingly satisfied, he released his arms from around her, sitting up. “Of course, sweetheart. Here, I’ll show you the way.” He came around to her side of the bed and offered his hand so that she had no choice but to take it, letting him guide her across the room to an en-suite that she immediately noticed had no windows- no door either. He didn’t follow her in, but he stood in the doorway facing the bed and began to speak, letting her know he wasn’t going to be giving her any further illusion of privacy than that.

“How are you feeling this morning, my darling?” She sank down onto the loo and barely restrained herself from throwing her head into her hands. How was she supposed to respond to that? Trapped? Bewildered? Terrified?

“Just a little nauseous,” she whispered. “Good,” Colin turned around as he heard her stand up and flush. “I think we got most of it out of you last night. I’ll have my cook make you something stodgy and we’ll see if we can’t get that down you.” Her hands washed, Penelope glanced out the doorway, looking for a window in the bedroom. There was one, but the glass was frosted so that she could only see vague silhouettes and colours out of it, and there were bars covering it, like in a prison, or a European villa.

“Colin, where are we?” She asked cautiously, looking up into his face for any sign of guilt, or if not then perhaps something that might give something clue away to her.

He bopped her on the nose like she’d asked the stupidest question possible, but he still thought she was adorable. “Our home, of course.”

“Our home,” she repeated back to him. Had he gone mad? And where had he found this place? She knew the Bridgerton family owned a lot of property, but this didn’t look like any place of theirs she’d seen. Admittedly, she certainly hadn’t seen them all, but if Colin didn’t want his family to come find them perhaps he’d rented something out of his own pocket.

“Come on, pet,” he grabbed her hand and dragged her towards the door. “Let’s go get that grub.”

The rest of the house was just as creepy. It was pretty big, but the only occupants beside the two of them seemed to be this cook he’d spoken of who served them food, and the driver she vaguely remembered from the night before popped up as well to wish them good morning and ask if Colin needed anything, as though nothing were at all out of the ordinary about this picture. Penelope stared at the food on her plate for a few minutes while Colin spoke with the driver. She didn’t eat a bite, partially because, with her hangover, she did still feel a little sickened by the sight of food, but partially because this choice felt like the only thing she had control over right now.

Eventually, Colin looked over and noticed, ordering with a frown, “eat up, Penelope.”

“I’m not hungry,” she said blankly, and with that Colin’s chair screeched as he pushed it back to come invade her space. He grabbed her chin and squeezed, forcing her to open up so he could push the French toast into her mouth and make her take a bite of it.

“Chew.” He instructed, like she was a toddler learning to eat, and she felt embarrassed tears shining in her eyes as the driver watched them. “Good girl. Do you need more help with the rest?” She hastily shook her head, picking up the fork and taking another bite before he could make her again. Colin smiled proudly, caressing her cheek. “See, you’re already learning. I knew this was what you needed. Just imagine how much healthier you’re going to be in a month’s time, in a year’s time!” She almost choked at the thought. Of course, this wasn’t just his idea of a little rehab stint to “get her better”- this was his deranged, long-term plan. As far as he was concerned, this was her new forever “home”.

"Alright then, Mr Bridgerton," the driver said with a nod. "I'll have the car ready for when you're finished." Penelope had no idea what they had discussed and realised perhaps she should have paid closer attention to try to scrounge up some kind of escape plan. The truth was that it still hadn’t fully set in; she had to keep repeating it to herself- Colin kidnapped me; he took me away from everything I know, from my future, to keep for himself. Despite herself, she couldn’t help but still find part of it romantic, like something she’d have dreamed up when she was little, back when becoming Mrs Colin Bridgerton was her greatest dream in life. But the truth was that she had bigger dreams now, and this Colin was certainly not the one she’d fallen for years ago either.

“Are you still feeling sick at all?” Colin asked, peering down at her from the head of the table. She shook her head. “Wonderful. I can take you to bed then."

“To bed?” Penelope scrunched up her eyebrows. “We just got up.”

Colin chuckled. “You’re going to have to get used to my romantic turns-of-phrases, darling. For now, I’ll put it a way you can understand. I’m gonna put my dick in you and officially, irrevocably claim you as mine.”

Shit.

Chapter Text

“We- we can’t,” Penelope searched her brain for an excuse he would accept, and suddenly was hit with the perfect one. “I’m not on any birth control at the moment.”

Colin laughed, cupping her cheek and looking at her like he'd never heard anything more adorable. “You think that’s going to deter me, sweetheart? Actually, that makes me all the more excited. We can start trying right away! No need to wait for that stuff to get out of your system.” Trying? That stuff? The nausea flooded back to her with force- Colin wanted to get her pregnant. “Come on, up we go,” he grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet, pulling her along behind him in the direction of the stairs.

She whipped her head back, desperately hoping a magic portal would suddenly appear to let her travel anywhere else- unfortunately Colin saw her turned head and yanked her suddenly into his chest. “I want to be gentle with you Pen, but I can only do that if you co-operate, understood? If you’re a bad girl, I’m just going to have to be crueler, even if I don’t want to be.” She nodded weakly-what else could she do- and that was enough to satisfy him for now, as he lifted her up into his arms, as if she were a new bride and they were happily on their way to their marriage bed. When they got to the bedroom, he placed her down carefully on the bed, but gave her no time to move, because he prowled over her body right away, his legs enclosing her. She squirmed, trying to crawl out from under him, but he pressed his face down close to hers. “Tell me the truth now, Pen, I’ll know immediately if you’re lying. Did he take your virginity or not?”

He could clearly only be Alfie. Colin, correctly, wasn’t even considering that she might have had a one night stand or friend-with-benefits he’d never found out about. Penelope shook her head, which felt as though it were filling up with water, drowning her. “No. We did some other things, but we never got to that.”

“What other things?” Colin pressed, running a hand all the way down her side, exerting enough pressure for her to firmly feel it through the flimsy material he’d put her in. She opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, and Colin wasn’t having that. His fingers reached up to her chest and he tweaked her right nipple- hard- and glared down at her.

“H-head,” Penelope whispered fearfully.

Colin scowled. “He gave you head or you gave him head?”

“Both?” she murmured, like it was a question, though, of course, she knew the answer.

Colin’s hand came down hard on her breast- the left one this time. Penelope gasped at the shocking current of pain that seemed to buzz through her whole body. “Naughty girl. Your mouth is mine. Your cunt is mine. How dare you give him what’s mine?” Penelope stared up at him, bottom lip quivering. “Did you touch him with your dirty hands too?” She didn’t hesitate with her answer this time, knowing he was going to hurt her even more if she equivocated. As soon as she nodded, his palm whipped down to her left breast, and then immediately afterwards her right as well. Her hands automatically flew up to try to protect herself, but Colin gripped her wrists and dragged them back down to her sides. “Take your punishment like a good girl. Maybe then you’ll actually learn how to be one, you slut.” He released her wrists but she kept them where he’d told her to, watching nervously as his hands dipped down to her flowy skirt and pulled it up, exposing her bare pussy to the cold room. “Did his cock ever touch you down here?”

She shook her head, and when he pinched the skin of her upper thigh- since a verbal response was apparently required this time, she voiced the word, “no. Never.”

Colin snorted, glancing up her body derisively. “Well, at least there’s that.” Penelope sank down into the mattress, burning with shame. She felt like the only girl she knew who’d finished uni without actually having had penetrative sex at least once, but somehow Colin was still managing to make her feel like the biggest prostitute in the UK. She wondered how he'd react if she told him she'd spent a night making out and groping another woman. Whether he'd be just as enraged, or whether the fact that it was a woman would make the situation more a possibility for fantasy for him, less of a threat.

His rough hands pried her legs apart, and her heart rate doubled, but then he stood up, getting off of her to pull down his boxers and throw them aside. She watched him, eyes wide, aching to snap her legs closed, but knowing it was a terrible idea. Colin bent down to open a drawer by the bedside table, and when she peered back to see what was inside she did a double take. Sex toys. A lot of sex toys. Spiky dildos and nipple clamps and things she didn’t even know the names of. She snapped her attention away from the drawer, hoping that Colin hadn’t seen her looking. Naturally, he had. He grinned as he settled back on top of her, and pressed a slow, sensuous kiss to her lips. “Not to worry, love,” he told her huskily when he pulled back, sounding almost drunk off of her lips. “Today, I just want to make love to you. Show you who you belong to.” He crawled back onto her, and she felt his dick weeping precum against her stomach. She had to force herself not to squeeze her eyes shut. Colin squeezed some lube out of a bottle into her hand- that must have been what he had gotten from the drawer- and brought her hand to his cock, guiding her to rub the liquid onto him, up and down, up and down. “Bloody hell, Pen, I’ve wanted this for so long, wanted you for so long, you don’t even know.” Colin’s eyes shuttered at the pleasure of this alone, and Penelope prayed that this signified that he was going to come quickly and then leave her alone for a good long while. Not yet though.

When he’d had enough of the foreplay, Colin pushed her hand gently away and braced himself above her. Penelope couldn’t stop the wince that crossed her features, and he tutted at that. “Don’t be like that, baby. It’ll only hurt a little, I swear, and then next time you’ll barely feel anything.” He got off of her again- maybe he really was going to at least give her some time? No. He took something else out of his sex toy drawer. Bindings. He used them to tie her arms to the bed, lifting them above her head so he could attach them to the bedposts. She looked up at him wide-eyed and panicked, but he shushed her before she could say a thing. “This isn’t a punishment, Pen, it’s just to help you. To make it easier. This way, you don’t have worry about keeping your hands still. I’ll take care of that for you.” When he was satisfied she wouldn’t be able to get out of the ties, Colin pumped his length for good measure one last time before approaching her trapped figure. “Colin-” Penelope interjected, cringing away as he was about to move into her. Hearing his name on her tongue seemed to make him hesitate, looking down at her, and hope filled her lungs that maybe, just maybe, she could get through to him about how insane this all was if she tread just lightly enough. “I’m scared.”

Colin’s lips quirked up in sympathy and he bent down to kiss her again. She gave into it- if this would help him- holy fuck. While he’d been busying her mouth with his tongue, he had lined himself up and pushed the tip of himself into her cunt. Penelope squeaked into his mouth, almost biting down on his tongue in surprise. Colin pulled back then, a twinkle in his eyes, looking like he was proud of that move, like he’d solved the problem. “Well done, love, look, you’re already taking some of me!” Penelope grimaced, struggling to contain the intrusion in her most intimate area. Colin stroked her cheek, his fingers then going to push back her hair. “I know it’s difficult but you need to relax again or I’m not going to be able to get in any further.” That would be great. What did she have to do to eject him entirely? He tried to push in another inch but she clenched up, making him moan at the feeling. “Fuck, Pen, I’ve never been in a cunt anywhere near this tight. Even with lube your walls are clenching so hard around me. I knew there was a good girl deep inside of you. Some part of you knew to save yourself for me.” Penelope shivered. He’d been with other women then? Well, of course he had. His relationship with her cousin had probably escalated beyond the make-outs Marina had bragged about, and his family had referenced him seeing plenty of other women since then. He probably had a body count in the twenties or thirties. Hypocrite.

“Here,” Colin said benevolently, leaning down to press his lips to hers again and bloody hell, it worked. Her vaginal muscles relaxed enough for him to push in another good two or three inches. Penelope grit her teeth and looked up to the ceiling, wishing he would jerk off already and be done with it. But he was determined to bottom out in her. It seemed like an impossible task to her- he was barely halfway, but sure enough, with a surprising amount of patience, Colin achieved what he wanted, and lavished Penelope with praise when he was finally fully encased in her warmth. “Well done my wonderful girl. I’m so proud of you. Feel that,” he moved his hips around in a minuscule circle, but it felt like an earthquake inside of her, and made her groan along with him. “All of me is in you. You’ve got my entirety in you, Pen. You’re so good.” He kissed her again. Despite herself, she felt her heart flutter at the compliments, and when his fingers dipped down through her body hair and started to trace matching circles on her clit, the soaring approach of an orgasm shot up inside her out of nowhere. She was close, keening into him, when his fingers suddenly dropped away from her clit and he gave himself up entirely to thrusting inside her until he shook and swayed above her, his eyes glazed over and a dopey smile replacing the concentrated look he’d had while he’d been trying to reach orgasm. Penelope exhaled shakily, desperate for him to finish her off but too ashamed to ask, so she let him pull out of her.

“Did you feel how your pretty cunt sucked me in? You needed me there just as badly as I needed you, didn’t you?” As he spoke, almost methodically, he scooped up every trace of cum that had slipped down the insides of her thighs and pushed it back into her, “don’t waste any of it, okay, baby?” He whispered, and pushed her legs back together tightly, then brought his sticky fingers to her mouth and shoved them against her lips. “Open up. Take a taste of what’s filling you up right now.”

Obediently, Penelope dropped her mouth open. She knew what cum tasted like, vaguely, of course. Alfie hadn’t ever come in her mouth, but she’d tasted his salty pre-cum, and she’d licked her own off of her fingers one drunk night after a heady masturbation session. Colin’s was unique though. She certainly wouldn’t call it a pleasant taste, not like cake or steak, but there was something rich about it, something creamy. She only realised she had completely failed to hide her brain’s inner workings when Colin chuckled at her, and bent down to give her one last kiss, before reluctantly pulling back. He stumbled off of the bed and began rummaging around in drawers, pulling out a clean pair of boxers and opening the wardrobe opposite the bed to find something to wear. “I’m afraid, much as I would prefer to stay here wrapped around my girl all day, I am going to have to go back to my family and pretend I know nothing about where the disappeared Penelope Featherington could have gotten to.”

Penelope’s heart skipped a beat. “Oh?” Was all she said though.

Colin was faced away from her, intent on picking something out, but she could tell from his tone that he was probably rolling his eyes. “Yeah, they’re a nightmare. Not an hour after I took you multiple family members starting blasting messages at me and in our various group chats. ‘Anyone heard from Penelope?’ ‘Eloise is freaking out, she can’t find Penelope and she took her phone so there’s no way for Penelope to contact her.’ Blah blah blah.” Did he seriously expect her to commiserate with him in finding her best friend’s family’s concern for her disappearance annoying? “Come on,” Colin urged, dumping his chosen clothes at the bottom of the bed. “Let’s get in the shower.”

“Together?” Penelope blanched.

He chuckled. “You’re so sweet. Yes, together. Don’t worry, it’s pretty big. Didn’t you see it when you went to pee?” Honestly, it hadn’t been the first thing on her mind. When Colin led her over to it, she had to admit that it was probably the biggest shower she’d ever seen, but that didn’t change her mind on feeling incredibly uncomfortable about this. Colin switched on the water and tested it with his hand for a minute before nodding and gesturing for her to get in first. Penelope frowned, but did what he wanted. It was torture. Honestly, it was potentially worse than the sex. At least she had gotten some kind of pleasure out of that. Every piece of her was uncomfortable as Colin sudded her hair up with shampoo, ran shower-gel soaked hands over her body and shaved her to his liking with a razor. She was hyper-aware of every part of her body, and didn’t like the feeling one bit.

“Now you do me,” Colin passed her the shower gel. Did he want her to shave him? Surely not. He must know she would cut him on purpose out of spite. Yeah, no, he didn’t pass her a razor, but he directed her hands when she stuck mostly to cleaning his shoulders, telling her to work her way down his chest, sometimes ghosting his hands over hers and moving them with her. Eventually, he shoved her down to her knees. She almost slipped, but Colin just told her to keep going, down his legs, around the sides to his bum and his back. She glanced up once and saw a blissed-out expression on his face that made her badly want to bite down into his leg and shock it out of him, but she was still a little traumatised by the breast spanking he’d given her, so she just got it over with by disconnecting as much as possible, and then let Colin wrap her up in a towel and dry her off.

“God,” he said mournfully, staring down at her where she sat in her towel on the side of the bed, once he’d dried himself and gotten dressed. “How am I supposed to leave you like this? You’re so perfect.”

Again, a traitorous little buzz of happiness was set off by his words, but she forced her brain to remember that the reason he was leaving was to trick his family- who cared so much about her or at least the effect she had on Eloise that they were searching for her- into thinking he had no idea what was going on, while she was left trapped here. Colin let out a long sigh, before giving in. “Alright, I’d better get going. Have a look through the wardrobe and pick out something you like. I can’t wait to get back and see what you choose, what wrapping and little bows you put on for me to open up like a present.” He nuzzled his nose to hers like they were in a five year strong relationship and this was a running joke they had going, then he turned and left.

Penelope sat frozen on the bed for a moment taking in everything that had happened, before she warily wandered over to the wardrobe. Now, truthfully, she was more of a skirts-and-dresses girl than anything else, but she was immediately struck by the fact that there was not a single pair of jeans or jogging bottoms to be found. Sometimes it was nice to just lounge around in baggy, ugly clothes, but everything here was pretty and bouncy and mini, or tight, low-cut and almost lingerie-looking. Eventually, she picked out a floral-patterned purple halter neck dress. There weren’t any proper bras there for her, just some skimpy bralettes so she put one of those on underneath and it didn’t give her breasts much support but it was something, at least. The ribbon of the halter dress tied around her neck and kept things a little contained as well. It wasn’t exactly what she felt like wearing right now, but it was certainly preferable to the leather corset tops or the sun dresses that looked more appropriate for wearing over a swimming costume. With that, she peeked towards the door. Colin had shut it, but when she tried the knob it opened easily- not locked. She peered up and down the corridor but there were no guards, no visible tripwires to catch her if she tried to step foot outside the bedroom. So… she decided to go explore.

Chapter Text

Penelope’s first steps out of the bedroom without Colin were very cautious. She felt sure this was just some kind of elaborate trap. That he was waiting just around the corner to punish her for doing something without his explicit consent. As she made her way down the corridor, she got a little more confident. She could practically hear the wind whistling through the hallway it was so quiet. Colin had most likely had his driver take him to see the family, which meant that the only other person in the big house was probably the cook. Penelope was surprised that Colin had taken the risk of hiring even two members of staff, when it surely would have been safer to carry out this whole mad plan on his own without anyone who could blab or turn on him. Maybe he wasn’t confident in his abilities to make anything more complicated than cereal. She’d certainly never seen him cooking, despite his adoration for food of all kinds, and he knew her well enough to know she wasn’t particularly skilled in the kitchen either so he wouldn’t have been able to set her to making his many complicated, favourite dishes for him. With these thoughts occupying her head, Penelope found herself wandering down towards the kitchen. Colin hadn’t shown her exactly where it was, but she could guess based on where the cook had been emerging from when she’d brought them breakfast. She wanted to find out more about the other woman. How did she get here? How did she know Colin? Where could he have found her? And what made him so confident he'd decided to hire her?

Sure enough, the kitchen was right where Penelope had thought it would be. She peeked her head inside and saw that the cook wasn’t there though. Where could she be?

“Miss? Are you hungry?” Penelope spun around, with a hand to her chest and a nervous, almost guilty laugh.

“Sorry, you scared me!” She looked the cook over properly, since she hadn’t done so at breakfast. She was a young Korean woman, surely not much older than Penelope herself.

The cook offered her a hesitant smile back, and carefully walked by her to deposit the cleaning supplies she’d been using in a storage cupboard. “Did you want me to make you something to eat?” She repeated, casting clearly-concerned eyes over Penelope.

“Oh, no! That’s fine, thank you,” Penelope fidgeted with her hands. “Well, I could do with some water maybe. But if you just show me where the glasses are I can get that myself.”

The cook beckoned for Penelope to follow her, and proceeded to point out where everything was in the kitchen. Penelope filled up a glass for herself and drank it right down, not realising until she took her first sip how thirsty she’d been. “What’s your name?” She asked the cook carefully.

The other woman’s eyes darted around, as if she too thought they might be being recorded or monitored in some other way. “Sophie,” she admitted eventually.

“Penelope,” Penelope volunteered for herself, smiling, but Sophie looked away, turning to wipe down the kitchen surfaces. It didn't seem she was going to be volunteering any further information, at least not unprompted. After a moment, Penelope tried again. “Have you… been here long?”

Sophie's shoulders hunched up, and Penelope wished she'd turn around so she could see her face. “Not that long.”

“Oh, okay,” Penelope bit her lip nervously. “How’d you get this job?”

There was such a long silence that Penelope was sure she wasn’t going to get an answer, and was about to switch gears, but then Sophie admitted, “my brother.”

“Your brother?”

“Yeah,” Sophie pulled out a chopping board, then went to go get some vegetables out of the fridge. “Step-brother, whatever. He and his mum drained the money my dad had left that was meant to last us a long time, and we were in a lot of trouble, but then a guy he went to school with offered us this job, saying he’d help get HMRC off our backs as long as we signed this contract he drafted up promising never to talk about any of it.”

“Your brother works here too?” Penelope frowned.

“He’s Mr Bridgerton’s driver,” Sophie said, deftly chopping some more vegetables before turning to finally look at Penelope head-on. There was something new in her eyes. Like she’d been unburdened just a little through the sharing of that trauma.

“I’m sorry you had to go through all that,” Penelope said, “and that it brought you here.”

Sophie scoffed. “Don’t feel bad for me, you’re the one who’s been brought here to play dollies with that messed-up rich lad.”

Penelope shrugged. “At least we’re kind of in it together, I guess. You and me... I mean… we’re both stuck here.”

Sophie gave her a small comforting smile in response.

“So what are you making?”

“Lunch,” Sophie said as she went to get a chicken it seemed she'd left to marinate. “Like you, I’m not allowed to leave so my brother handles the food deliveries and lets me work out what to rustle up out of them. I went to cooking school, back before, you know…”

She trailed off, but Penelope came around the other side of the counter to get her attention, not willing to let the connection go. “Do you want some help?”

Sophie hesitated. “I’m not sure how Mr Bridgerton would feel about that.”

Penelope quirked an eyebrow. “Mr Bridgerton isn’t here.”

Sophie looked up at her, then burst out laughing and waved her blunt knife invitingly. “Come on then, you can peel some potatoes.”

They worked on-and-off on lunch and cleaning up for the next couple of hours, chatting as they did so, although they kept matters light and didn’t go back to anything regarding how they each came to be here. Penelope still wanted to know more, but she could tell it had already been a big hurdle for Sophie to tell her what she had done, and she didn’t want to push her any further. It was all surprisingly pleasant and tranquil, until the kitchen door burst open and Colin came marching back in, trailed by Sophie’s brother. They beelined their way to the kitchen, which had Penelope certain there must be some kind of surveillance equipment in this place, for the girls hadn’t exactly been making a racket in there.

“Penelope,” Colin barked, surveying her suspiciously. “What are you doing down here?” She glanced at Sophie out of the corner of her eye, which Colin immediately clocked on to. He frowned, and grabbed her arm, practically pulling it out of its socket as he yanked her from the room.

“We were just talking!” Penelope protested. “I was helping her make lunch!”

“I didn’t bring you here to cook, Penelope,” Colin spat out venomously.

“What was I meant to do while you were gone?” She fired back, her interactions with Sophie having rejuvenated her spirit. “Lounge on the bed staring out at the lovely view through the frosted glass and prison bars?!?”

Something shifted in Colin’s mind and a small smirk graced his features. “You didn’t know what to do without me, huh doll?”

Penelope narrowed her eyes at him. “Not when you took my phone and there’s no form of entertainment or study activity in sight.”

Colin cocked his head to the side. “I’m sorry, sweetheart, I do have things for you to do. I’ll show you them properly later today. I just got so over-excited at having you here with me.”

“What’s going on with your family?” Penelope pushed.

Colin’s brow furrowed, like he wasn’t at all a fan of that question, his broodiness suddenly back. “They’re over-reacting,” he said simply, and took her hand, tracing a pattern on it.

“What does that mean?” She asked, a little more cautiously now, aware that she was wading into dangerous territory.

“I don’t want to talk about them,” He said sullenly, and suddenly his hand tugged hers right up against him. He pulled her leg up and fixed it around his waist before pushing her back onto the dining room table with a bruising intensity, one hand roughly squeezing her thigh as he plundered her mouth for all it was worth.

“Colin!” Penelope panted when he let her breath. “Not here! Please! Sophie or her brother could walk in.”

Colin’s eyes blinkered over, and he pushed her skirts back, dragging her knickers halfway down her legs, enough for them to be out of his way. “You’re mine, Pen,” he hissed, pressing her back into the wood of the table. “Why shouldn’t they know? Anyone who wants to try and get in between us should know.” As her leg started to fall from his waist, he hiked it back up to keep her wide open for him. “Pull down my trousers”, he ordered. Shakily, Penelope’s hands fumbled with the buttons until she managed to get them undone. Now was not the time to challenge him any further, not when he was so volatile. At his expectant look, she pulled down the boxers as well. And then he sprang out into her hands. He pushed her back down again, running his cockhead along her folds a few times as the only form of lubricant before he plunged into her. He wasn’t entirely dry, but she was, and it hurt. His eyes rolled back into his head as he filled her, so entirely opposite to the way he had lovingly done this morning. But he worked her clit even harder than he had, driving her to a madness she had not quite reached back then, making her keen and cant her hips up into him.

“That’s it,” Colin praised her lowly. “You were created just for me, my pretty girl, I want to see you break, come apart on me, now!” Somehow, his command dragged an orgasm right out of her. “Say my name," he urged assertively when he saw her expression change. "Who’s doing this to you? Who owns you?” Her breath hitched and then she gasped his name as she reached release, clenching her eyes shut to hold onto the feeling without having to think about how she’d gotten there. Colin wrapped his arms around her waist and carried her to the door that led to the kitchen, all while still inside of her.

“Colin, what are you-“ she started, but came to a stop when he pushed her roughly up against the door, causing a jolt of pain to go through her back. She was unable to hide the jolt of pain that crossed her face, and he cooed down at her, squeezing up his features in an imitation of sympathy.

“I’m sorry my little whore, but how are you supposed to learn if I don’t teach you?” He dragged her leg higher and higher, practically bending her in half to get leverage on her as he fucked her savagely against the shaking door she knew her new friend was on the other side of. “You’re mine, Pen. You don’t need anyone else. I can give you everything, I can be everything for you.”

“I’m yours, Colin,” she agreed in a sob. She didn’t know when it had started, but the tears were undeniable now. She was so overstimulated, so ashamed of what Sophie and her brother would be able to hear on the other side of the door. “Just please stop, it’s too much!”

Colin did stop for a second, staring at her with venom in his eyes. “Now why the fuck would you say that if you were truly mine?”

He pulled out of her and threw her to the ground. She landed with a thud, her hands and knees taking the brunt of the initial impact, but then Colin swiped her hard on the arse and she jumped in shock. “If you were honestly mine, you would take whatever I had to give you with a smile on that pretty face.” She groaned quietly in pain and Colin made a noise of dissatisfaction, coming to crouch over where she was slumped on her hands and knees to hiss into her ear, “You’re a brat, Penelope, that’s your problem. Don’t worry, I’m going to breed it out of you. I’m going to fill you with my babies and show you that you don’t need school, you don’t need Eloise, you certainly don’t need the penguin tosser.” Gripping her shoulders, he sank back into her from behind, occasionally slapping her arse again, but always smoothing his palm across it to caress the sting afterwards, sending strange mixed signals to Penelope’s brain. “Don’t hold back,” Colin ordered her. “I want them to hear how hard I make you come.” He didn’t relent for a moment, he just kept pushing and pushing and pushing. With nowhere to go, Penelope gave in, surrendering to the feelings he was constantly eliciting, trying to take them all in as they each battled to overcome the last until there was no room for her own thoughts.

Chapter Text

When Sophie served up lunch, she didn’t hang around in the dining room long, simply depositing the pre-loaded plates in front of them and excusing herself. Penelope felt bad for ignoring her, but she was scared Colin was going to blow up again, not just at her, but that he might take it out on her new friend too. Sophie’s brother didn’t sit with them this time; he was probably freaked out by Colin’s outburst too and judging it best to stay away, although maybe not? From the little Sophie had said, it sounded like he might be friendly, if not friends, with Colin. In which case, maybe all of this didn't bother him?

Either way, it was just the two of them for the rest of the afternoon. After lunch, Colin showed her the rest of the house, fulfilling the promise he’d made to give her things to do when he wasn’t here that didn’t involve talking with the staff. There was a cinema room with a plush velvet sofa and a giant flat-screen TV. There was a library with tonnes of the books Penelope cherished and consistently went back to, and others she’d been wanting to read. Maybe he'd heard her talking about one or two of them in passing, but it was strange that the collection so perfectly mirrored what her ideal one would be. She could see herself spending endless hours in there.

Since Colin was actually here this afternoon though, she wouldn’t be able to choose what she wanted to do- it was only a tour. Penelope was frightened he was going to take her right back to the bedroom- she was already sore and exhausted enough and really didn’t want to do that- but thankfully he didn’t. He took her into another room just down the hall instead. It was sort of like a study, but there wasn’t actually much inside it, just a big desk, and two comfy-looking armchairs either side of it. Colin gestured amiably for her to take a seat, so she settled down into one, and almost moaned in delight when she realised it was even more comfortable than it looked. Colin’s eyebrows raised as he stifled a chuckle, but all he did was silently hold out a silken journal to her.

“What’s this?” She asked curiously, taking it and turning it over in her hands, admiring the craftsmanship. It was truly very nice. Not just some old thing you'd get in WH Smith, like the ones she usually wrote in.

“It’s for you,” Colin said with a smile. “You’ve always been into writing, as have I, and they do say journalling is good for the soul, or something like that.” Penelope looked down at the book. God, she was itching to write, but she didn’t think what was bound to flow out of her was going to be something Colin would approve of, and there was no chance that he wasn’t going to read over her entries once she’d finished them.

“Thank you,” she said softly. Colin smiled and dropped a kiss on her forehead before passing her a pen and taking the seat on the other side of the desk, digging right in to his own writing project.

Penelope opened the journal, smoothed her fingers across the empty page, and bit her lip, pondering what to write. Fiction was certainly safer than outright writing a diary entry about this situation, so she let her imagination run wild, crafting a story as different as possible from the one she was stuck in. She got so deeply involved in it that she didn’t notice Colin had come around to peek at what she’d written until she felt his breath on her back and jumped. “Sorry,” he apologised, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Didn’t mean to spook you. That’s really good! Really engaging. Your prose is so wonderful, you’ve got such a gift for language.”

“Thank you,” Penelope said, then she ventured a question. “What are you writing about?”

“I’m editing actually,” Colin admitted. “I’ve always kept a travel journal while I’ve been away and I’ve gathered some pretty wild stories. I’m thinking an end is coming to all that though,” he winked at her conspiratorially, “so I’m trying to pick out the best bits and see if I can’t bind it up into something to be published. Might be some kind of audience out there for it.”

Penelope wasn’t really in the mood to offer him too much adulatory praise right now, but she had to admit, “I’m sure there will be. From what I’ve heard, you’ve had some unique adventures. And in lots of places too. Just a list of all the countries you've been to would probably be enough for some people to want to pick that book up and feel like they're vicariously satisfying their travel bug."

“Yeah,” Colin shrugged. “I feel like I’ve been almost everywhere I wanted to go when I wrote out a bucket list back in school.”

“Really?” Penelope asked jealously. “So there’s nowhere new left you want to try out?”

“I’m sure I could find somewhere if I did a bit more research,” Colin said. “I’ll have to look for somewhere that’d be good for our honeymoon.”

“Our honeymoon?” Penelope did a double-take. Right. She wasn’t sure why these things kept surprising her. Colin had kidnapped her. He said this was their house. He was trying to get her pregnant. Obviously, he would want to marry her.

He had the grace to almost look sheepish. “I guess I didn’t do that very romantically, huh?” He opened up the desk drawer and pulled out a little box, then came back around to kneel in front of her, snapping the box open. “I can’t wait for you to be my wedded wife, Penelope Featherington-for-now.” He teased, and slipped the ring onto her finger. Maybe she’d missed it, but she was pretty sure he’d forgotten to ask the traditional ‘do you actually want to marry me’ question that usually came with an engagement.

“You went to Aubrey Hall? I thought you were just heading to Mayfair,” Penelope said, as she blankly stared down at the glistening gem.

“I did go to Mayfair,” Colin replied. “This isn’t one of the family jewels, I got it in Thailand.”

“Oh,” she said, surprised. The Bridgertons were very traditional with these kinds of things. Violet was a classic romantic, and sometimes verged on being pushy with her offers to help her kids pick out their engagement rings from the family’s collection before they were ready.

Colin cupped her chin in his fingers, making her look up from her lap. “That doesn’t make it any less real, Pen,” he told her. “We don’t need one of my family’s jewels, this is ours. Yours and mine.”

“Okay,” she whispered, though that hadn’t been where her thoughts had actually been when she’d asked the question. She’d been wondering if Eloise had for some reason thought she might have run away to hide at Aubrey Hall, after all, they had spent a few summers there when they were younger. Maybe that might have been why he would have gone to meet them there. Well, the point was moot anyway.

By dinner time, Colin seemed to have calmed down enough that Penelope felt confident enough to whisper a hushed “thank you” to Sophie as she gave them their food. The cook looked down at her with a small smile that seemed to promise they would try to be there for each other whenever they could, before she went back into the kitchen again. The brother was back at the table though. Fife, Penelope realised his name was, now that her mind wasn’t spinning quite so much, and she was able to hear what Colin called him. There was a certain familiarity between the two of them, like they’d known each other for years, even though Fife always called Colin ‘Mr Bridgerton’. Fife did sort of sound last-namey too to be fair. They didn’t discuss much that was very helpful to Penelope in terms of getting a lock on what was going on outside of this house. They probably had the opportunity to do that when they were alone. Instead, they focussed on sports, bantering about a rivalry between the teams each of them supported. Penelope worked on her food quietly, not wanting Colin to try to force-feed her again like he had embarrassingly done at breakfast. It was a bit difficult though. Food sometimes triggered her dormant eating disorder, and with all of the time she’d spent having to confront her body and another person’s hands on it over the past twenty-four hours, those feelings were certainly coming to the forefront today. She didn’t quite manage to finish the meal, but she scooped what she left into a corner to make it look less than it was.

“Pen,” She looked up when Colin called her name, worried he’d seen what she’d done and was going to criticise her for having done it, but he jerked his head lightly up. “Wanna go up? I’ll bet you’re pretty knackered. I’ll be up soon. Just gotta sort something out with Fife before I turn in.”

She nodded listlessly and made her way upstairs, changing into the same nightie she’d worn the night before without even bothering to look for shorts and t-shirt, knowing they wouldn’t be there. Usually, it took her a good while to get to sleep, but that night it felt like no sooner had her head touched the pillow than she dropped right off.

“Mmm…” Penelope moaned sleepily, blinking her eyes open and suddenly becoming aware of an unexpected intrusion, and hands pawing at her skin, pressing the fabric of her nightie into her skin.

“Did I wake you up?” Colin asked with a grin on his face, steadying his hips inside of her. “Whoops.”

“What-“ Penelope twisted and turned, trying to move away, still only half-awake, not having comprehended what had happened, the fact that he had already entered her whilst she’d been unconscious.

Colin held her against him to stop her. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t wait,” he said huskily. “I’ve managed to subsist for so long off of daydreams and stolen looks. You’d think two times in one day would be enough to tide me over till morning, but when I saw you sprawled out so innocently, so still on our bed, I couldn’t help myself. I felt as hard as if we had never done anything. I had to take you.” With that, he started to thrust into her again, harder now that she was awake. Penelope grimaced, not ready, and not at all in the mood. “I love making your gorgeous bum move, baby,” Colin whined against her, kneading her arse cheeks with his palms. She blushed, dipping her head and, instantly becoming aware of how pebbled her nipples had become at his touching, she crossed her arms over her chest. Colin growled at that, dragging her arms back out to her sides. “Don’t hide from me Pen, you’re gorgeous- every square inch of you. Your tits, your arse, your cunt, your face. All so beautiful. All mine. It’s not up to you to choose when I get to see it." His voice got faster and breathier as he approached his climax. "I can have it all as many times as I want, whenever I want ittttttt.” Emptying himself inside of her, Colin slumped down. She grimaced at first, but he soon took his weight off of her, although he fell asleep moments later with his cock still inside of her. She could feel his cum trying to leak out; it was mostly trapped by his cock from escaping her though. Unless she had fertility issues, which seemed unlikely based on her mother and older sisters’ fecundity, she was going to be pregnant soon. What would that be like? Constantly carrying this reminder of Colin that would shape her body for months and leave it changed afterwards? And then when the baby was actually out here in the world? Unlike Eloise, she had never been against having kids at some point in the FAR-OFF future. She’d even put in on her dating profiles: open to kids someday. Someday, it felt, was rapidly approaching, no matter her feelings on the matter.

Chapter Text

Over the next week, things progressed much the same way. Colin didn’t share much about what was going on in the outside world, only that his family was being, in his opinion, "excessive" in their hunt for her. Although he didn’t want to give any specifics, just knowing that they cared enough that he had to go out every day to participate in whatever these searches involved made Penelope's heart ache for the family who’d looked after her when her own had proven lacking. She could tell, in his own way, he was trying not to hurt her by the fact that he didn't even bring up her mother or sisters, but just the fact that he didn't told her all she needed to know.

In the times where he was gone, presumably off partaking in his family's search, Penelope mostly stayed in the rooms Colin had shown her. It did seem likely based on subtle references he made to things she'd done that he hadn't been present for that he had some kind of surveillance equipment and would know if she was hanging out with Sophie. But on the fifth or sixth day she was feeling so lonely, since she'd only properly spoken with Colin and no-one else for almost a week (with a few pleasantries here and there to Sophie and her brother) that she did try to sneak down to the kitchen. But when she tried to twist the door handle which had previously been so easy to open that she’d worried she and Colin were going to fall through it when he’d fucked her up against it, it was locked. Now, she hadn’t taken a mental picture of the inside of the door in her mind, but she’d been fairly certain that it had had neither a keyhole nor any other kind of lock mechanism on it a week ago. It certainly did now though. Did Colin really not want her cooking that badly? Or was it that he didn’t want her to have access to the kitchen tools? Although she had noticed they were blunter than normal ones. Luckily, by hanging around downstairs, she managed to catch Sophie as she was coming out to start on the cleaning. The other girl looked like she’d seen a ghost when she realised Penelope was sat at the dining table waiting for her, and quickly turned around to lock the kitchen door.

“Sorry,” Penelope apologised. “I don’t want to get you in any trouble, but I really liked talking to you the other day. I was hoping maybe we could try again.”

Sophie pursed her lips. “I don’t know, I’m sorry, Miss-“

“Penelope,” Penelope insisted.

“Penelope,” Sophie adjusted. “But my step-brother was really pissed off with me, and I know that Mr Bridgerton was with you.”

Penelope blushed. She’d known Sophie and Fife must have been able to hear them- Colin had ensured that- but no-one had given any indication that they had done, or even acted strangely around her. She'd sort of been hoping they were all just going to pretend it had never happened for the rest of time.

“I think Colin was extra sensitive about it because I’d just arrived,” she said. “I'm sure he wouldn't be so upset now.”

“You’re willing to risk that?” Sophie asked disbelieving. Penelope shrugged. If this week had taught her anything, it was that Colin would find things to punish her for, even if she tried to play the meek little fiancée he wanted. She was covered in bruises, scratch marks and handprints. Colin loved seeing the work of his hands take shape on her body, even when he apologised profusely afterwards, it was like he was watching a canvas constantly being added to. The bigger issue, she supposed, was whether or not he’d take it out- or get his friend to take it out- on Sophie.

The cook started to reply but then they heard the sound of the front door opening, and Sophie grabbed her cleaning products, hurrying to look like she was just passing through. “Colin!” Penelope cried out in exaggerated exultation, running to throw her arms around him and hopefully please him so much in doing so that he wouldn’t even realise what had been going on.

“Did you miss me, beautiful?” He asked, and planted a wet kiss on her lips. However, his eyes did slide up to Sophie as she started to climb the stairs. “Sophie,” he called out, and Penelope’s heart came to an abrupt halt. She should have been more careful. She really thought Colin wouldn’t take it quite so badly this time. “You can leave all that for after lunch. Your brother and I brought some takeout back. Why don’t you girls sit down and we’ll grab the plates?” Penelope looked up at him in surprise, and Sophie mirrored her expression, even though the girls couldn’t see each others’ faces. Smiling, Colin gave Penelope a gentle push in the direction of her usual chair, and dumped a bag of food Penelope hadn’t noticed he was holding onto the table. He nodded invitingly to Sophie as well as he headed towards the kitchen, pulling out his own set of keys to open it up. Fife came barrelling in afterwards with another couple of bags that carried the pungent smell of fish and chips drenched in vinegar. Sophie approached the table and cast a confused look towards Penelope, but waited for the men to come back to take a seat, as if she thought Colin was going to change his mind. He didn’t, in fact he pulled out a chair for her and genteelly guided her into it. The two women were both so on edge and perplexed at this sudden shakeup that they didn’t really speak much aside from a couple of polite attempts at small talk, but despite neither of them being telepathic, it felt like they were able to communicate a lot just by widening their eyes to varying degrees at each other.

This is bat-shit.

Totally bonkers.

What changed?

I don’t know.

Is it gonna stay this way?

I don’t know.

It did stay that way. Colin still urged Penelope to stay upstairs when he wasn’t around, but Sophie became a permanent fixture at the dining table, rather than having to eat alone in the kitchen. Slowly, the girls got more comfortable, so that only a few days into the new arrangement they were animatedly exchanging the wildest possible conspiracy theories they could think up about how the plot of a show they both watched might go. Colin smiled widely, looking between them and seeing how much Penelope had lit-up at having a female friend again. “Would you two like to use the cinema room after dinner?” He asked. “We can set up the new episode of your show for you to watch on the big screen.”

“Oh,” Sophie baulked. “I’m not sure about that Mr Bridgerton, I wouldn’t want to overstep. I still have some cleaning up to do after dinner anyway.”

“Don’t be silly,” he brushed her concerns off. “Fife and I can handle putting them in the dishwasher for tonight. And call me Colin.”

Fife made a face. “Can I call you Colin?”

“You’ve still gotta earn it,” Colin joked.

And Penelope found herself laughing with all of her stomach.

That relaxing night with Sophie was a godsend for Penelope. Even though there had been moments where she’d felt alright, or even happy, this was the first time since she’d arrived that she’d really felt normal. Her heart sort of ached when she thought about the fact that it wasn’t Eloise and perhaps Edwina here making this night so fun, but it wasn't like she was betraying them. Sophie was a lovely new friend, and once they got the episode going, her commentary became so heated and hilarious that it made Penelope almost lose sight of where they were. It was a double premiere, but once both episodes had finished, Fife showed up almost immediately, as if he’d been lurking around the corner for the credits to start playing.

“Alright, bed time girls?” Sophie narrowed her eyes at him, but wished Penelope a good night and stormed off downstairs.

Penelope said a quiet goodnight to him as well, aware of how his eyes lingered on her breasts as they jiggled in their bralette when she brushed past him.

Colin was waiting for her in the bedroom, where he’d set up some candles that gave the room an effervescent glow. He wore a shirt, but nothing on his lower half. He took one last swig of whatever he was drinking and then smiled at her. “You have a good time?”

Penelope nodded. “The best. Thank you! It was a great idea.”

“I’m glad you think so,” Colin smirked. “Want to show me how grateful you are?”

Penelope couldn't say she was shocked he’d ask that of her, but she wasn’t exactly sure what he meant either. He’d almost exclusively been taking her vaginally, since he was desperate not to waste any opportunity to make a baby. But his state of (un)dress suggested to her- yep. He walked up to her, and put pressure on her shoulders to force her down to her knees. She looked up at him through hooded lids, meeting his eyes before she reached out to take him in hand. He clamped his mouth shut to avoid letting out the longest moan ever known to mankind, and just let her explore for a few minutes, running her hands up and down him, before he got bossier. “Use your tongue,” he ordered, and Penelope frowned. While watching Colin’s reactions to her treatment of him with her hands held a strange, intoxicating sort of power to her, she was not so enthusiastic about tasting him. It hadn’t been something she’d liked with Alfie, and it felt like it was going to get a whole lot harder to maintain control. She didn’t dare deny him though. He was so mercurial; she didn’t want to do anything to upset him. So she started to remap his length with her tongue, but after only a few moments, he was beyond the point of wanting only exploration from her. He pushed her away and then brought his leaking cock back down against her mouth, telling her, “open up, baby.” Doing her best not to let him see her distaste for this, she opened her mouth and let him sink down into her. He was huge. Of course, she knew that well by now but having him in her mouth was an entirely different challenge to having him in her cunt. Besides actually having to fit him in and feel the squeeze, her breathing was also suddenly restricted to her nose.

“I’m gonna fuck your face, Pen,” Colin promised darkly, pushing his palms down onto her shoulders and thrusting into her mouth, which made her make an unattractive snorting sound as she struggled to take it. Well, she thought it was unattractive, it didn’t seem to do anything to turn Colin off. He was just as verbose as ever, tangling his fingers in her hair and reeling off commands. Swirl your tongue around me, cup my balls with your little hand, hollow your cheeks out. Her head bobbed up and down as she did her best to follow his rapidly-fired off orders with the limited range of movement he was allowing her. It was taxing, and she was getting nothing out of it, while Colin mewled and moaned. At one point, she started to touch herself without thinking, needing something to distract her from the oppressive length taking over her mouth, but Colin moved her hands away as soon as he caught her at it.

“Did I tell you to do that?” He whipped himself all the way out of her, and even though it gave her the opportunity to at last take a long breath in through her mouth, she felt like she was being punished. Like he was withholding the ability to make him cum.

“No, Colin,” she whispered guiltily.

“What’s that?” He asked sternly, tipping her chin up to make her look him in the eyes, and then squeezing it.

“No, I’m sorry.” What was he going to do? Get the restraints out? Spank her? Finally deliver on the threat of those ominous sex toys in his bedside table.

“Alright,” Colin decided indulgently. “My wanton girl. You can touch yourself. But next time, remember to ask.”

Penelope’s eyes widened in surprise. “Thank you, Col!” His expression turned critical once more.

“How do good girls say thank you?” Penelope rearranged herself, low on her knees and threw her head back in front of him, presenting him with a wide open mouth. Smirking, Colin guided his dick back to her mouth, and then, without further warning, bottomed out, sinking so deep she almost gagged. The urge to touch herself was suddenly gone, but Penelope didn’t want to waste the opportunity he'd given her, so she forced herself to tweak at her nipples and reached into her underwear to tap lightly on her clit until some arousal awakened in her again.

“Oh fuck yeah,” Colin moaned in ecstasy."He never filled you this good, did he, Pen?” He said nothing more for a moment, as if waiting for her to object. Then he slammed down into her once more, making her struggle not to nip him with her teeth in a futile attempt to get him out. “Such a good slut- my slut. You love it here, don’t you Pen? You never want to leave? If I left the doors wide open you’d just stay anyway wouldn’t you, baby girl?- Oh fuck, oh fuck!” He exploded in her mouth and Penelope’s face lost its colour, shocked into confusion, no idea what to do. Alfie had always pulled out before orgasm and finished himself off in his own hand. There wasn’t much time to think about which route to take once her mouth filled to overflowing with Colin’s sticky, jelly-like semen. She gulped down what she could, innately knowing that that would be what he wanted, but it was hopeless- there was too much of it. A lot ended up spilling onto the floor in her spluttering, desperate attempt.

Penelope crouched over what she’d spat out, staring down at it ashamed, as she felt Colin’s ominous presence behind her. Then he grabbed her by the hair and yanked her onto his lap. She shrieked aloud at the pain to her scalp, but Colin was entirely unsympathetic. “You little brat. How dare you? I give you my life force and you spit it out like yesterday’s rubbish. I knew you were a slut, but this?”

Penelope burst into tears, lying prostate across his legs. He pulled her underwear up tightly so that it chaffed and stung, then let it go, making it twang against her legs. “I’m sorry Colin!” She begged hysterically. “I tried!”

He scoffed. “Not very hard. There’s a PUDDLE on the floor at my feet, Penelope. Do you know how that makes me feel? How emasculating being forced to stare at it is?”

“I wasn’t ready, I’ll do better next time!” She swore fervently.

Colin suddenly pushed her off his legs. “Lick it up.”

“What?” She cast her terrified eyes up to him.

“Did I not speak in bloody English? Lick. It. Up. I don’t want to see it.” She gulped, but then dipped her head and set to cleaning the hardwood floor. She felt a sharp sting on her tongue and was sure she’d gotten a paper-cut, but she pushed on, until the floor was perfectly pristine, before turning her head back to Colin eagerly. If she was expecting him to be proud, her expectations were not met. His scowl was just as scathing was before. “I thought you were resolved to doing better, Penelope.”

“I-I am-“ she started, but Colin shushed her with an abrupt gesture.

“Clearly I was a lovesick fool. You aren’t ready for more freedom. You’re going to stay right here in this room until you’re pregnant.”

Her heart sank into her stomach. “What?!?!”

Chapter Text

Penelope passed eight long days in isolation with no entertainment and nothing to do but let Colin fuck her when he deigned to grant her his presence. There was no longer much pleasure to be found in it either. He just emptied himself out into her and then made her hug her knees for twenty minutes, though she had a feeling there wasn’t much firm scientific basis to suggest that actually helped make pregnancy much more likely. He’d pinned a calendar on the wall back when he’d first brought her here and asked when her next period was meant to be so he could circle the date on it. She was officially late.

Colin brought her several kinds of pregnancy tests and paced back and forth while she peed on them and waited, but, of course, all his efforts had paid off. She was indeed pregnant. For the first time in over a week, she was granted his blinding smile, and it was so warm and loving that it made her happy too. He picked her up and spun her around, telling her how amazing she was, and promising he was going to take the best care of her whilst she was pregnant. “Come on!” He bounded excitedly to the bed, dragging her over with him. “Let’s celebrate!” The only way Penelope wanted to celebrate was by being allowed out into the corridor, like he’d promised she would be once she successfully got pregnant. Colin’s idea of celebration was something a little more heavenly, and a lot more torturous. Once he’d lain her down on the bed in the position he wanted her, laid himself out on top of her, but slid his head down so he was hovering just above her crotch. “You’re gonna be a mummy soon, sweetheart,” he said, the moniker making her quiver. “But I want to show you I’ll keep you relaxed, and healthy, and happy. I’m going to service you. All you have to do is lie still for me.”

With that, he ran chilly fingers up the insides of her thighs and dragged them further apart so that he could nuzzle his nose into her crotch and take a good, long whiff. “Mmm…” he luxuriated there for a moment before his lips started to press swift gentle kisses along her skin. As he went along, he slowly started to make them longer, until he was sucking and licking at her, making her squirm and beg for something more. “Be patient, future mummy,” Colin teased, looking up at her with a devilish glint in his eyes and holding her legs apart, and began to tickle his fingers closer towards her folds with agonising slowness.

“Colin,” Penelope moaned. “I need it.”

“I know you do,” he sighed, and then he pressed the fingers to her mouth. “Suck on them for me, Pen.” Obediently, she opened her mouth and let him draw them back and forth against her chapped lips as if they were his cock. He could have just gotten the lube out, but this turned him on, seeing any part of him inside of her, but especially inside her mouth, rendering it impossible for her to say anything about it. It seemed likely he might drag it on, but instead he withdrew his fingers, maintaining eye contact the whole time, and slipped two of them into her, curling them up to target her G-spot. Penelope inner walls clenched around his fingers in an immediate reaction and she let out a breathy gasp, causing Colin to laugh lowly. He moved his fingers steadily in that same motion a few more times before becoming impatient and sinking down to her clit, darting his tongue out, and needling her button restlessly. Her first day of isolation, he’d cornered her in the shower and shaved her fully, clearing the way so that he had easy-access to that part of her as well. Penelope cast a feverish hand to her head, a desperate keening sound dragging its way out of her throat. Addicted to those sounds from her and desperate to taste her on his tongue, Colin pulled his fingers out and switched to primarily tongue-based action, sweeping long wet strokes from her arse to her clit a couple of times before launching into her pussy properly, spearing his tongue in and out of her, bringing the fingers wet from being inside of her work their magic on her clit.

“Colin!” Penelope shrieked as the wave started to crash over her. He took the warning for what it was and feasted on all she had to give, even a sudden gush of fluid from her bladder. “Oh my god,” Penelope panted against the pillows, looking down in horror. “Colin, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to!”

He furrowed his brow. “To what, darling?” When she made a face, he laughed, and flew up to plant a searing kiss on her lips, before explaining, “you’d never done that before? Not with him, not in a dark bedroom by yourself?” She shook her head self-consciously, but Colin was still grinning. “I’m honoured, baby, thank you.” He liked that she was squirted on him? Well, okay then… she certainly wasn’t going to fight him on that. Other things however…

After having let him cuddle her for a good ten minutes, she broached the topic of leaving the room, and immediately felt him stiffen. “I don’t want to do anything in particular,” she hastily added, trying to downplay her desperation. “But it’s just a bit claustrophobic in here. And you said that once I got pregnant…”

She trailed off, waiting to see what his reaction would be. Colin lifted himself up on his elbows, closing her into a tight space on the bed. “Who knows what’s best for you, Penelope?”

“You do,” she said weakly.

“That’s right,” he shifted a few strands of hair to draw them behind her ear. “I’m the father of your child. And soon I’m going to be your husband. I’ve organised for someone to come officiate next week. So yes, you can leave the room and you and Sophie can try on dresses and choose what you like, but I want you to remember one thing.” She waited with baited breath as he held the tension of the moment, staring down at her fearsomely. “I own you.” The sentence was unequivocally, utterly deranged. She was used to his overly romantic protestations of doing everything to make her better, but this was a statement of ownership beyond his perennial habit of calling her ‘his’. It made her feel like a prized animal. Or worse, an object he’d won at an auction. “Do you understand?” She nodded hesitantly. “Tell me then,” Colin ordered.

“You… own me,” she exhaled, knowing there was no way she was ever going to get to leave this room if she refused to say it. His lips quirked upwards.

“Did that feel good, love? Cathartic? Don’t you feel like you’ve finally admitted some deep-seated truth you always had within you?” She nodded feebly. “Good,” Colin exhaled, and kissed her on the cheek. “Let’s go downstairs and see what Sophie’s rustled up for dinner then.”

Sophie’s eyes widened a little when she saw Penelope come down the stairs holding Colin’s hand, but she just said a quiet “hello” to them both and then went back into the kitchen to get another plate. She’d set the table for three, so Penelope had to assume that was the way they had been eating the past few days. Colin had been coming back to their bedroom after he’d eaten with her meal, and feeding her it. It was another part of her punishment, showing her she was entirely in his hands. Sitting down at the dining room table, she automatically looked towards him for permission to pick up the cutlery, and she saw how proud he was that she did so. Quietly, she dug into the meal, luxuriating in how it felt to finally get to feed herself again. When Colin had been feeding her, everything had tasted plasticky and been hard to swallow. The food was almost certainly of the same quality, but having control over whether or not she ate it changed everything. She only realised she was moaning almost orgasmically at the succulent pork loin when three sets of eyes locked onto her. “I’m sorry,” she squeaked, embarrassed. She must have been making a scene, as Colin and Fife had stopped their conversation entirely to watch her.

“Don’t feel self-conscious, sweetheart,” Colin said, smirking in a self-satisfied manner. “Food tends to taste different to pregnant women.” Sophie’s fork clattered onto her plate, turning heads away from Penelope and across to her.

“Oh,” the other woman exclaimed, forcing a smile. “Congratulations. Could you guys make sure you check we don’t get any foods she can’t have then? Tell me what you’re liking and not liking Penelope, and I’ll try to accommodate you.”

Colin smiled brightly at her. “Thank you, Sophie.” She nodded towards him, before her eyes darted across to Penelope.

“You’re a lucky man, Colin,” Fife said smarmily. “Pregnant women’s bodies take shape so nicely.” Penelope fidgeted with the bottom of the knife, trying not to think about the exact ways her body was going to change.

The next morning, a selection of wedding dresses arrived. Since it obviously wasn’t going to be a big, flashy ceremony, Penelope had assumed Colin would have wanted her to wear perhaps a little cocktail dress in white, or something like that. Instead, five full length gowns were delivered. Sparkling and tulle and lacy. Mermaid and ball gown and a-line. When Penelope and Sophie walked into the bedroom, where they’d been laid down, the two girls took in the shining pile of fabric for only a few seconds before turning to each other and bursting out laughing. “Oh God,” Penelope wiped at her eyes, crying for the first time since she’d gotten here from amusement rather than distress. “Colin is such a romantic. What’s the point of this? Who’s here to even see me in a blowout dress and veil?”

“Me, for one,” Sophie teased, squeezing her hand. “Come on, which one catches your eye?” Well, that would have to be the most dramatic of them all- a giant, poofy princess dress.

“This is gonna look so stupid,” Penelope lamented as Sophie undid its intricate buttons and she stripped down to her underwear, crossing her arms over her stomach. “You’re gonna look gorgeous!” Her friend encouraged. “If not in this one then in one of the others.”

“I’m kind of glad Colin’s pushing the wedding up,” Penelope admitted, stepping into the circles of fabric and letting Sophie hoist it up her body. “I’m sure my body’s gonna start changing shape pretty soon and I don’t want to be wearing a maternity wedding dress that we’d probably need to take out even a few days after a fitting. I'm sure there's already limited options with my current size."

“When did you find out?” Sophie asked quietly.

“Yesterday, just before we came down to see you,” Penelope replied. “Colin’s really happy. Ecstatic.”

“And you?” Sophie asked. She’d finished sorting out the buttons and corset laces so she stepped back, motioning for Penelope to take a look in the mirror. She did, and her heart caught in her throat. Genuinely upset tears making their way back down her face. “Oh, Pen, I’m sorry!” Sophie exclaimed, rushing forward to loosen the ties. “I shouldn’t have even brought it up. It’s going to be okay, I swear. I’ll be right here whenever you need me.”

“It’s not that,” Penelope cried, scrunching up her face in an effort to try to slow her tears. “I just never imagined my best friend not being here on my wedding day. That she wouldn’t be here to help me through a pregnancy.”

Sophie grimaced, clutching her shoulder in a tight grip of solidarity. “What’s she like? Your best friend?”

Penelope looked back to the door, though Colin had promised he’d stay far away as he didn’t want to see her in her dress until the ceremony. “She’s Colin’s sister,” she admitted.  Sophie's eyes widened in surprise. “I guess she’s gonna be my sister-in-law, but I’ve never felt further from her. We met when we were kids and we did everything together. I guess, looking back, Colin was always kind of there too. He never really participated in anything we were doing- he was a few years older than us- but he was always kind of watching and I know El didn’t like that. They’re kind of similar in some ways. They’re both very protective, and jealous. Eloise didn’t like me having a boyfriend much better than Colin did. Not that she would have… you know…” Penelope looked up to find Sophie watching her, with sympathy in her eyes, yes, but also an unasked question. “What is it?”

Sophie bit her lip. “Nothing. It’s just… did you know them all, then? The entire family?”

“Yep,” Penelope gulped. “They were more caring to me than my own family was.”

“Did you know the second eldest one, Benedict?”

Penelope surveyed her suspiciously. “Yeah… not as well as I knew Eloise, but about as well as I knew all the others.” Sophie didn’t say a word, just came over to help get her out of the ball gown, and then picked up another to try on. “Soph?” Penelope pressed. “Why are you asking about Benedict specifically? Do you- did you know him?”

Sophie’s hands flounced along the fabric of the A-line dress, shaking invisible bits of dust off of it. “I met him once.”

“Did he,” Penelope tried not to flinch. “Do something to you?”

Sophie turned back to look at her, horror on her face. “No, God no! I barely met him. It was some party I was working a couple of years ago. Everyone was all dressed up in masks and they wanted the staff to play the part too, fit in.”

“The masquerade ball?” Penelope strained to remember it. “I was there.”

“We could have bumped into each other,” Sophie observed with a wry smile.

“Yeah,” Penelope laughed. “Anyway, tell me what happened with Ben. I’m starved for fresh gossip.”

Sophie guffawed, and forced Penelope to get the second dress over her head before she’d respond. “I ran out of hors d’ouevres so I headed back to the kitchen to get some more but I ran into him in the hallway on my way and he stopped me, saying he wanted to dance. I reminded him there was a whole ballroom of people in the doors just behind us who’d be happy to oblige him, but he was a bit drunk and pretty insistent that dancing in the corridor was much more fun. So then I admitted that I didn’t know how to dance, and he said that that wasn’t an excuse- he’d teach me.” Sophie’s eyes took on a dreamy look, as if she’d been transported back to that time. “It was the most fairytale-esque moment of my life.”

Penelope put her hand on her chin, absorbed in the story as well, almost forgetting she was supposed to be assessing the dress Sophie had just put her in. “And then?”

The sheen faded from Sophie’s eyes. “And then the song ended and I dashed down the kitchen, embarrassed I’d let myself get caught up in what was just a fun twirl around the room for him. I was so ashamed I couldn’t go back out, so I volunteered to stay down in the kitchen the rest of the night on washing-up duty. Everyone wanted to participate in the atmosphere upstairs so no-one fought me on it.”

Something suddenly struck Penelope. “Wait, were you wearing silver that night?”

“Yeah,” Sophie replied. “The Bridgerton family provided the dresses for the staff, and mine was silver.”

“Oh my god- Sophie!” Penelope clutched her hands. “You’re Benedict’s Cinderella!”

“His what?” Sophie turned pale.

“He was looking for you for MONTHS!” Penelope revealed- it was all coming back to her. “Eloise railed about it the whole time, saying she didn’t understand how he could feel so intensely about someone he just met one night and never saw again, but he searched London for you. He got his mum to show him the list of people who’d been working that night and sought them all out on social media, he put out requests to those missed connection things in the papers…”

“I wasn’t on the list,” Sophie mused. “I was covering for a friend so it was her name.”

“Oh wow,” Penelope gasped. “You’re her! You’re Cinderella!”

Sophie whacked at her arm playfully. “I am not Cinderella. I’m a girl he had a crush on and then got over.”

“Not really,” Penelope shrugged. “He hasn’t had a serious relationship since. There was one guy who managed to get him close and I think Ben liked him a lot too, but eventually he had to admit it didn’t feel right. It’s like he’s been waiting for you ever since.”

Sophie pulled her over to the mirror and looked at the pair of them in it. Penelope in the perfect white dress her kidnapper had ordered for her, and Sophie in her tattered old jeans and blouse. “What do you think of this one then?” She asked, turning the conversation right back to what they were meant to be discussing, closing the door on all that and not leaving an inch of light to try and get back to it. This wasn’t a fairytale. Not for either of them.

Chapter Text

The wedding was officiated by a registrar Colin had bribed to come by and make everything official. Even though the only witnesses were Sophie and Fife, Colin wanted a proper ceremony, so he had the sitting room decorated for the occasion and prepared his own gushing vows. Penelope eventually chose the A-line dress, perhaps because it was the one she’d been trying on when Sophie had told her that romantic story about her and Benedict. She didn’t prepare anything special to say, but Colin didn’t care; she didn’t think he’d ever looked more in love with her than he did that day. It was intoxicating. After the ceremony, they signed some papers to make sure everything was legal, and then they proceeded on into the dining room to eat the ostentatious four tier wedding cake Sophie had spent an unfathomable amount of hours on. Thankfully, Colin hadn’t forced her to make a whole fancy wedding breakfast as well. He’d ordered a selection of buffet type foods for a caterer and then put on an old song from the 60’s for their first dance. It felt a little surreal doing such a thing in an almost empty room, but when Penelope looked into Colin’s eyes to spot herself while he twirled her, she could see the romance of it all peeping through. After the ceremony, Colin announced that they’d all be going to Bali for a while. Penelope was a little surprised by that, as she didn’t think he’d want to take her out of this house for a good long while yet, but he reminded her they needed a honeymoon. She wondered where he was getting the money from. If it was from his trust fund, she wasn’t sure if Anthony still had any access to that account, and if so, whether he’d find any of these big purchases suspicious.

She got her answer when they were seating themselves on one of the Bridgertons’ private jets. She’d sort of been imagining leaving the house would give her at least a moment to take in the fresh air, but in actuality they had gone straight from the house to the garage to the airport, and of course the car had been this one with darkened windows that didn’t allow any more view of the outside world than the frosted glass in the house did. Still, Penelope was invigorated by the change in routine. Sophie and Fife were coming with them. Penelope gripped her friend’s hand excitedly as they filed out of the car and up the steps to board the plane. Before take-off, Colin pulled out a phone, and Penelope zeroed in on it, entranced. She hadn’t seen once since Eloise had taken hers. Colin had never used one in front of her- probably because he thought she’d take it and call for help- and she hadn't seen either Fife or Sophie using one either. Faintly, Penelope heard the jarring tone of a familiar Bridgerton across the crackly audio and took a step closer to where Colin sat listening to his brother. When he saw her, he wrapped an arm around her waist and dragged her down onto his lap. Penelope froze for a moment, wondering if he was seriously risking her being able to shout down the line and reveal to the Bridgertons where she was. But then she realised it was a voicemail. Anthony was wishing Colin a good journey, telling him it was probably for the best to get out of the country for a while and let Eloise “cool down”.

Whatever that meant. When he’d finished listening to the voicemail, Colin shut the phone down and handed it off to Fife before focusing his attention back on Penelope.

“My beautiful wife.” She forced a smile back and let him lavish kisses on her neck, all the way down to her collar bone. She tried not to cast her eyes around the jet and make eye contact with either Sophie or Fife. Aside from the slightly more than chaste celebratory kiss he’d planted on her at the wedding, this was the first time Colin was being so touchy around them. Maybe it was because they were out of the house and his routine had been thrown off as well.

When he pulled back from her skin to cast a long, heated look up at her, she took a steadying breath. "Everything okay?”

“Everything’s wonderful,” he raised an eyebrow. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

She shrugged. “I’m sorry if this is intrusive but I couldn’t help but hear what Anthony said. It sort of sounded like Eloise is mad at you.”

Colin pulled a face, but he didn't seem mad at her yet, just at whatever Eloise was doing. “That would be because she is. She has all these conspiracies, which thankfully the family isn’t paying a fig of attention to.”

“Conspiracies about you?” Penelope pushed a little further. She knew she should stop, but he was feeling amorous, and they were sort of in public. When would be a better time to ask?

Colin didn’t answer though. “Fife!” He called instead. “Go get an ETD.” The other man scurried off like an obedient Rottweiler.

Sophie was sat across the aisle, at the other table. She cast Penelope a quick, discreet look with her eyebrows, and so Penelope said quietly, “I’m sorry, husband, I didn’t mean to pry. I just worry for you.”

At the title, and the content of her words, Colin perked up, preening and losing some of the tension in his body. His hand cupped her cheek, and he leant in to kiss her. She took the peck, impressed with how restrained he was, and vaguely saw Sophie quirking her eyebrows back up to show she thought that had been a good thing to say.

“Aren’t you a good wife,” he murmured against her lips, before pulling back, although in fact he shifted her in his arms to pull her closer back into him as well. “You don’t have to worry about Eloise though, my love,” Colin elaborated at last. “She’s been so hysterical and unreasonable about all of this that no-one believes her. At first, people were a little more sympathetic, but they’ve been steadily getting more and more fed up with her. She has no proof, and yet she’s started accusing me of being the one to have taken you.”

“Why?” Penelope asked, looking carefully at him. “She didn’t see you at the club, did she?”

“Of course not,” Colin scoffed. “But she’d already spent years warning me off of you and making snide comments before all this. She’s got it in her head that this is the only possibility that makes any sense." And she'd be right. "A few days into her hunt she came up with the idea of breaking into your phone to try and look at the messages but I'd already found where she'd left it and had it wiped.”

Penelope’s heart ached for her poor friend, somehow innately knowing the truth and yet being seen as delusional. “Right,” she said though, determined to get Colin to confide in her again in the future, and so she needed to build his trust in her. “Sounds like she won’t be a problem then.”

“Definitely not,” Colin agreed, and nuzzled his nose into her cheek.

The place Colin had found for them in Bali was almost unbelievably paradisiacal. It was a gorgeous villa at the foot of a mountain. There was an outdoor pool that looked right out onto the ocean, which made it seem almost superfluous, and canopy beds in all the rooms. It was all sprawling and open-plan, which made it seem a hundred times more freeing than the claustrophobic, albeit pretty large, townhouse back in London. Neither Penelope nor Sophie could hide their delight as they took a self-guided tour around the property, never running out of things to be amazed by. “We did a good job selecting a place then, ay girls?” Fife said smugly, grinning at Colin.

“It’s pretty incredible,” Sophie admitted begrudgingly. They’d never actually fought in front of Penelope, but she could always read the underlying tension that lay between them. She had to assume it was from the way Sophie had described him wasting her father’s money away, though sometimes she wondered if there was anything else more personal he had done to her.

“And what do you think, my beautiful bride?” Colin asked, coming up to slot himself behind Penelope.

“Incredible would have to be my word of choice as well,” she replied. “Breathtaking could be up there too though."

The girls suddenly both yawned, as if telepathically linked, and Colin decided, “well we’ll reconvene later on and explore all it has to offer properly, sound good?” Fife and Sophie both nodded. Penelope didn’t bother responding, he was already pulling her off to their room anyway. It had been a pretty grueling flight. The chairs on the jet had been able to fold down into beds but she hadn’t gotten much sleep. Being presented with a real, bouncy looking mattress- one that had been purpose-made to be a bed rather than a chair, she found she was perhaps more excited for this coming sleep than any other in her life so far. As soon as her head touched the pillow, she drifted right off. It was an indeterminable amount of time later when she woke up to find Colin had changed her. His arms were wrapped tightly around her and he himself was naked save his boxers. She realised with a snort that they were lying on rose petals, and that there was an untouched bottle of champagne in an ice bucket across the room. Technically their first night as a married couple had been on the plane anyway.

With Colin still snoring, she worked to extricate herself from his grip, and luckily he must have been in some calm dream, for he let her, once she replaced herself with a pillow for him to hold on to. Penelope wandered over to the balcony and looked out onto the beach, not even realising until she’d been looking at it for a few minutes that there was nothing between her and this view. Obviously, this villa hadn’t been designed for a prisoner. It didn’t seem like there was much civilisation around them, but technically, she could probably find a way out. What would be the point of that though? She was in an unfamiliar country with no way to contact anyone to come get her. So she got back into bed.

The honeymoon was just as idyllic as the villa heralded it would be. There was a lot of love-making, as Colin insisted on calling it over the course of the honeymoon, but Penelope got plenty of time to lounge in the pool and chat about banalities with Sophie as well. Being here, rather than the townhouse in London, it was easier to talk about nothing. It didn’t feel like she needed to work out clues from things people said, or phrase her questions just so. She was fully in the holiday mindset. The third night, Colin got bored of tender lovemaking and asked if she’d be up for trying something different. Penelope was a little surprised- it was the first time he’d phrased things that way- asking whether she’d be into something- though he didn’t specify what and it was a leading question. Still, she was interested enough to reply in the affirmative. Colin proceeded to empty out a duffel bag stuffed to the brim with sex toys. Penelope’s mouth dropped open. “Is this the same stuff from back home? Did you pack it and bring it with us?”

Colin grinned sheepishly. “Yes. I thought we might want to inaugurate our marriage with something a bit different.” She hadn’t expected that when he inevitably brought out the sex toys they were going to be framed as something exciting. She’d thought for sure he was going to use them as a punishment she had no choice in. “Have you ever used any on yourself?” Colin asked.

“Well, I used to have a rabbit,” she admitted cautiously, although she didn’t disclose that it was Eloise who had bought it for her, telling her she needed to empower herself by finding out what she liked before she even bothered trying to get anyone else to please her.

“Did anyone ever use anything on you?” Colin asked, his eyes piercing her. When he did that, it felt like he could see right through her, like he’d know if she even fudged the truth slightly. Luckily, the answer was unequivocally “no.” That girl Gen she’d kissed in the club might have been into something like that, but they’d never gotten home, they’d both been too drunk. And honestly, she hadn’t felt comfortable getting the rabbit out with Alfie. What would he even have done? Just held it for her while she chased her orgasm? What would he have gotten out of that?

“Great,” Colin grinned. “Is there anything you want to try out?” Penelope glanced behind him at the heap of toys. There was a wobbly but basic looking dildo, a complicated, silicone vibrator with a lot of buttons, a couple of glass butt plugs, the silky ties he’d used on her hands their first time, and a matching blindfold he had thankfully chosen not to add to the setup- plus a few other oddly shaped things she couldn’t put a name to.

“I- I don’t know,” she stammered.

“How about you try something you’re familiar with first then?” Colin encouraged, and lubed up the rabbit for her before handing it over. Penelope looked down at it, then back at Colin, who gave her an encouraging nod. Slowly, she slid the dildo shaped part of the toy up into her, letting out a breathy little gasp as she did. Colin watched spellbound as she then made sure the rabbit ears were set up to tickle her clit, before she pressed the button that started the vibrations. Shit. It had been a while since she’d felt this. It wasn’t stronger than Colin’s dick in her, the dildo part was smaller than his appendage after all, but it was different. The duel stimulation worked her up without her having to touch herself down there. She almost forgot the fact that it wasn’t just her and the toy in the room until she heard Colin drag the free-standing mirror over, and she suddenly caught sight of herself in it- mussed hair and wanton that she was. Colin prowled towards her, his eyes dark with desire, and he slunk himself around behind her on the bed, groping at her breasts. “Open your eyes,” he barked. She snapped them open to see his eyes fixed not precisely on her but on their reflection in the mirror. “My vixen,” he hissed. “Do you know how hot you are? Do you know what it does to me to see you like this?” Feeling a little self-conscious, Penelope automatically looked down, but Colin grabbed her chin and yanked it up. “Don’t look away.” His other hand dipped down between her legs and tapped twice on the rabbit’s button, speeding up its motion exponentially. A series of sharp pants erupted from Penelope’s mouth. She reached down to grab at the bedsheets, when suddenly the rabbit was snatched out of her with a harsh plop.

“Huh?” Penelope looked straight at her husband in the mirror. “I didn’t cum!”

“Don’t worry, you will eventually.” Colin foraged around and produced what she had previously taken to be a pair of earrings that had somehow ended up in the bag, and snapped them onto her nipples.

“Ow, Colin!” She winced.

“You weren’t sure what to try next, too overwhelmed, right?” Colin twisted them, making her gasp again as the tightness adjusted, making her realise it hadn’t been all that bad before- that had just been the feeling of something clipping onto her nipples. This was actually what they were supposed to feel like. “You’re gonna love these, babe. Feel how they draw the attention to your neglected tits.” Penelope whined, squeezing her eyes shut, and Colin suddenly smacked her front. “Keep watching,” he demanded. She forced her eyes open to look at them, and suddenly a twinge of pain twisted into sick pleasure. Colin curved his fingers up into her, making her thrust forward onto him, throwing her chest forward incidentally. How did he reach so deeply inside of her with just his hand? “Look at you humping yourself on my fingers,” Colin praised her, and she felt something like a glowing burn within her. “You don’t need anything more, do you my little slut? These clamps dangling off of your sensitive nipples and a slap to your cunt is enough to make you explode all over me.” She hadn’t yet come, but his heated words manifested it, and she came all the harder for having been brought to the edge once already before this moment.

“Fuck…” she whispered, feeling feverish as Colin unclipped the clamps, and she saw how swollen and red her bumps had gotten. Colin grinned and leant in for a kiss. She expected him to want to take her, or to ask for a blowie at least, but he just cuddled up and spooned her on the bed.

“Why did you like that so much?” Penelope whispered after a few minutes to the wall.

Colin squeezed the arms he held around her waist. “Because it’s hot seeing what turns my wife on,” he replied, as if the answer were obvious.

Chapter Text

Once they’d broken in the first sex toys, Colin was loath to stop. The next morning, he told her he wanted her to wear one of the toys all day, and that he was going to keep the remote control on hand so that he could set it off whenever he wanted. “How do you feel about that?” He asked, and Penelope tried to keep her cool.

“But- but- Sophie and Fife will be around,” she stuttered.

“That’s what’ll make it exciting,” he argued.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to contain my reactions- they’ll know exactly what’s going on!”

“You’re just gonna have to try your hardest, baby, don’t you wanna make me proud?”

Her heart fluttered. “I… what toy?”

“Good girl,” Colin winked at her, and went to fetch it. It wasn’t as big as a dildo, at least. It was sort of oval shaped, smooth-looking, but still not something she would have willingly put up into her for who-knows-how-many hours. That’s why Colin did it for her. He watched attentively as the toy slid up into her pliant body until the only sign of it was the little string hanging from it so that it could be pulled out. Then he picked out a pair of knickers for her and guided her to step into them so that even that was covered up. With a mint green sundress to complete the illusion, she looked perfectly normal when they descended the stairs. The only thing Sophie noticed as being out-of-the-ordinary was that Penelope’s eyes followed Colin across the room as he went off to talk with her step-brother.

“Everything alright?” She asked broadly, casting her own gaze after Colin as if expecting to catch him doing something illicit, but he was just talking to Fife about a hike they could take the girls on. Penelope snapped her eyes away from Colin, realising Sophie had cottoned on to the fact that something was off, and gave her a broad smile.

“Fantastic.” Perhaps that was overcompensating. She forced herself to actively listen to what Sophie was saying as they ate their fruit salad and pancakes. At first, it was difficult, but after a while she finally got hooked by a story Sophie began to tell about a disaster one of her classmates had concocted in cooking school. Of course, once Colin realised her guard was down, he decided to activate the vibe. It purred to life inside of her, on the lowest setting. It wasn’t audible, but she was paranoid that it was, squeezing her lips together and affecting a concentrated expression as she nodded endlessly at whatever string of words Sophie was now putting together. Then it disactivated and Penelope forced herself not to fall back into her seat in relief.

“Have you got morning sickness or something?” Sophie pushed, looking at her with a concerned expression. “You don’t look quite right.”

“I’m fine,” Penelope said back, hoping she came across as convincing. “A bit of cramping occasionally but nothing worse than what I used to get with my periods. Some bloating. Actually I’ve yet to have any morning sickness at all, though I am feeling pretty anti-melon these days,” she rambled, spearing the fruit around on her plate.

“Say no more!” Sophie heroically swapped the blueberries on her plate for Penelope’s melon.

“Do you want to take a quick dip?” Sophie asked after breakfast.

Penelope shook her head. “Not really in the mood. You go ahead though, I’ll lie myself down on one of the sun-loungers.” Perhaps the vibe was waterproof, but it was probably best not to test that theory and potentially electrocute herself. Sophie did a couple of laps while Penelope leafed through a book some previous guest had left here. The words weren’t computing in her head though; she was too on edge, even though she didn’t know where Colin and Fife had gotten off to.

“Pen?!” Sophie called loudly, in the kind of way that suggested she’d already shouted her name a few times.

“Yes?” She whipped her head round to see Sophie leaning over the edge of the pool. “I said you should probably put some sun tan lotion on- you’re so pale.”

“I’ve got it, Soph,” a voice called from behind them. Colin. He appeared with the factor 50 in hand, like he’d been waiting in the wings for his cue, and swept her hair to one side. “Bend over, babe, I’ll do your neck first… Would you girls be down for a hike today?” Colin asked, squeezing some sun tan lotion out into his hand and slowly massaging it into her skin.

“Sure, well, I would,” Sophie said casually as Colin discreetly thumbed the remote in his pocket and the vibe began to pulse. “Pen was saying earlier her symptoms aren't too bad yet but I don't know... Are you feeling up for it?”

Penelope didn’t realise they were waiting for her to give an opinion until Colin bent around to catch her eye. “Um. A hike?” She thought that’s what they were talking about. “I could handle a little one maybe.”

Colin’s hands were roaming her body. They were ostensibly innocent touches, not going under her dress and working at covering her with protection from the sun, but they were deep strokes that sent shivers down her, reacting with the jolts the vibe was giving her. “Well the one we’ve thought up shouldn’t be longer than two hours there and back." Colin said calmly, seemingly unaffected. "There’s some viewpoints we might wanna stop briefly at, but mostly we really wanna check this one waterfall out- we can bring some picnic stuff down there for lunch?”

“Sounds awesome,” Sophie heaved herself out of the pool with her arms. “I’ll put something together. And then we can leave in an hour or so?”

“Perfect,” Colin replied. Penelope thanked the Lord no-one had asked her another question, direct or otherwise. Though the vibe was still on a low setting, she found herself caving to it, bouncing down onto it as soon as she heard Sophie’s flip-flops smacking away.

“You naughty girl,” Colin teased lowly. “You didn’t hear a word of that conversation, did you?”

“Colin,” Penelope whined quietly. “Turn it up. Please.”

“Of course, sweetheart,” he hit the button and she immediately arched back into his body where he was perched behind her on the lounger. “That’s it, babe, chase it.” She didn’t need him to tell her that, she was already undulating madly, but the license he gave her made her heart soar along with the desperate feeling down below.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!” She panted, throwing her head back onto Colin’s shoulder as she came with a sharp gasp.

“Pen!” Sophie called from inside right as her orgasm hit. “Would coronation chicken be too sickly for you?”

“Don’t leave her hanging, wife,” Colin whispered coolly into her ear.

“Yes, that’s fine!” Penelope yelled, not having understood at all what was being asked of her beyond the fact that it was a question.

“So no it wouldn’t be too sickly?” Sophie shouted for clarification. Oh god, what wouldn’t be? She hoped not.

“No, it’s fine!” Penelope repeated- that was all she could get her mouth to say.

The hike was breathtaking. Penelope could feel the vibe jostling slightly inside her the whole way over, but Colin didn’t set it off. They passed sheer, rugged cliffs that looked out onto perfectly clear water, and hidden little caverns along the beaches, but the place the boys had found was the most stunning of all- three gushing waterfalls that convalesced into a glimmering pool.

“Last one in’s a rotten egg,” Fife called boisterously, stripping to his boxers and dashing into the water like a five year old.

Sophie rolled her eyes, saying, “don’t worry about going in if you don’t feel like it, Pen,” before wandering over to dip her legs in.

“Come on,” Colin urged though, offering his hand. Penelope carefully followed him in. Perhaps she shouldn’t have been surprised that the water wasn’t cold at all, but she was used to British water, which was always a shock to the system even when you prepared yourself.

Suddenly there was a loud splash and Sophie’s outraged “REGINALD!”

“Reginald?!” Penelope did a double take, and Fife blushed, immediately regretting his actions, or at least the revelation they'd led to. “I prefer just going by Reggie, or Fife."

“Can’t blame you, mate, blimey, I'd forgotten what your full name was. Haven't heard it since they used to take the register back in school,” Colin laughed, and Penelope joined him, until she saw Sophie was still looking upset when she stormed out of the water.

She let go of Colin’s hand and followed after her, then silently joined her on the ground. “You’ll dry off soon,” She said eventually, when Sophie’s scowl didn’t leave her face.

“I know,” her friend groaned. “He just IRKS me.”

“Irks,” Penelope repeated, a little amused by the archaic word.

Sophie’s mouth finally flipped, and she shook her head with a little smile. “Yeah. It’s the most appropriate word I can think of. The sound of it just conveys how I feel like no other word can.”

The tension between them was strange. Definitely not like a normal sibling relationship. Penelope and her sisters, for example, didn't get on at all, but there was none of this weird energy around it. Things were pretty self-explanatory with them. “How long have you guys been family?”

Sophie's smile disappeared. “His mum married my dad eight years ago, and my dad died four years after that.”

“I’m sorry.”

Sophie waved it off. “I miss my dad, yeah, but he wasn’t perfect. I guess…”

She trailed off when she saw that the boys were heading back over, and Penelope nodded in understanding. “If you want to talk about it some other time, we’ll find some privacy,” she assured her.

They were almost back home, and Penelope thought that she had gotten away with only having had to deal with the discomfort of the vibe inside of her, when Colin switched it back on, then swiftly wrapped an arm around her. They were still walking, and she had to keep going, but the main thing that kept her going that last leg was Colin dragging her along.

“We’re gonna go change,” Colin told Sophie and Fife when they made it back, and then pulled her up the stairs, lifting her into his arms when she stumbled on the last couple of steps and almost fell back.

When they reached their room, Colin shut the door and lay her down on the bed, pulling down her knickers and drawing them to his nose to smell them. They were soaked, so it was really quite unnecessary to get them so close, but he did anyway.

“…prissy bitch…”

“…wanker…"

Sophie and Fife’s hushed voices got a little louder as they came up the stairs, and Colin looked into her eyes a moment, before balling up her knickers and stuffing them into her mouth.

“I have a feeling you’re gonna struggle to be quiet with this one, darling, and they’re just out in the corridor.”

“Mmmffff,” was Penelope’s muffled response.

With a loud pop, Colin pulled the egg out of her by the cord, watching entranced as her attached juices hung off of it like spiderwebs. “Well, I’d say that was a successful experiment,” he said with a sly smile.

Chapter Text

“You’ve really liked it being away, right babe?” Colin asked a week or so after they got back from the honeymoon.

“Yeah,” Penelope admitted, somewhat guiltily. Well, she hadn’t been going to come out and say, but since he was asking, the London house did send her into a bit of a funk. Especially after the openness of the villa in Bali, it felt so constrictive and suffocating.

Colin nodded, like he could hear all the additional thoughts beyond that ‘yeah’. “Unfortunately renting that place long term is a bit out of my budget, but I could definitely find somewhere else abroad for us.”

“What, like a holiday house?”

“Like a house house.”

Penelope frowned. “You said the house in London was our home though.”

“I know,” Colin sighed mournfully. “But I was hoping my family were gonna come around a little quicker.” He pulled a face and spat out “It’s Eloise. She’s refusing to let things go. If she had never started on this train blaming me I just know we could have worked something out. And none of them are really on her side right now, but if I bring you back, it’ll make her case a whole lot easier.” Well, Eloise’s ‘story’ was the truth, so yes; Colin showing up with Penelope now would look suspicious. But things weren’t that simple anymore. She hadn’t chosen to be with him, but a big part of her didn’t want to lose him now either.

“At the same time,” Colin continued, unaware of her swirling inner thoughts. “I don’t want you and the baby shuttered away in dark rooms while it grows up. It wouldn’t be good for either of you, and I promised to take care of you both.”

Even though she knew rationally he was the reason she was living that way, Penelope couldn't help but smile at the thought that he felt bad about this negatively affecting on her. “I love you.” Oops. That had just sort of slipped out. Colin’s eyes widened in surprise and delight, and his lip trembled like he was about to cry, but Penelope pushed on, a little embarrassed. “So where would we go?”

“Where do you wanna go?” Colin asked, grabbing her hands like an excitable puppy. “There’s families everywhere. Wherever you pick, we’ll be able to find new mummy support groups for you, and then our kid’ll have ready made friends for when they’re older!”

Penelope felt a little dizzy when he put it like that- reminding her that this choice was going to set up the foundations of their child’s life. “Well…” she said at last, after pondering it a few moments. “I did an Italian class back in uni, so I’m by no means a pro but I have some basis in the language, I don’t think it would be too hard to learn. And I’ve never been. Even though I used to ask. My mum was always obsessed with going to the same place the French Riviera.”

“Italy it is then!” Colin beamed, sealing the deal with a kiss.

It took him a couple of weeks to find a place for them. When Penelope had suggested Italy, she hadn’t been imagining somewhere touristic like Rome or Venice, but she’d assumed he’d choose another fairly sizeable city. Instead, he went for a hilltop town called Montalcino in Tuscany with just over five thousand inhabitants. The photos Colin showed her of the town were gorgeous though, and when they arrived it was even more stunning. It had been built by the Etruscans, but it had a very medieval vibe, mostly due to the imposing fortress and protective walls. The first day there, Colin and Fife took her and Sophie on a little walk around all the sinuous alleys. They popped into a couple of churches that seemed unassuming on the outside, but were just unbelievably stunning within. Then they went to a little osteria with a beautiful courtyard where they feasted on pasta, plus some locally produced wine, for everyone except Penelope of course.

“Don’t worry, you’re gonna have so much time to try all the wine here,” Colin encouraged her. “But we don’t want to hurt the baby.”

She nodded her agreement; he was right, as he often was. She relished the pasta all the more instead. By this point, she had now had a few episodes of morning sickness, but thankfully she was able to enjoy her first authentic Italian pasta without having to see it come back up.

The next few weeks didn’t give her many chances the enjoy the food without those worries though. So-called ‘morning’ sickness started to hit her at all times of day, and when she stared at herself in the mirror after vomiting her guts up, she’d think how little she liked what she saw. She knew Sophie felt guilt at not being able to find something interesting that worked for her. She started reverting to simpler pasta dishes which did seem to cause less problems. But she felt so sensitive as well. Emotionally- she had burst out crying when Colin had told her he’d found a support group for expectant mothers- but physically as well. She was so tender, wincing whenever he touched her. He called a private doctor who spoke English in to take a look at her, who ascertained that everything was more or less progressing normally, and assured them there was nothing to worry about. She still didn’t have any access to the internet but she and Sophie studied their Italian intensely together from a textbook so that by the time Colin started taking her to the antenatal groups, she was able to muddle through with the Italian she knew and the combined English skills of the other women and their partners. Those of them who were further along reassured her that when she got into the second trimester, things would get a lot better again. She didn’t quite believe them, but it ended up being true.

Thankfully, Colin had been understanding and respectful of how difficult the past few weeks had been and had held himself back from touching her too much. She told him she loved him a few more times over the course of those weeks, growing more confident in saying it each time. One day, as they were ambling back from their antenatal group, he saw her shiver just slightly, and immediately took off his jacket to drape it over her shoulders.

She looked up at him tenderly, thankful for how much he cared. She felt like she was floating as she wrapped her arms around his neck and told him sultrily, “I think the longed-for second trimester has finally arrived.” She’d been feeling better for a couple of days, and her libido was included in that. In other words, she was horny AF. Colin’s eyes lit up when he realised what she was saying, and he swung her up into his arms.

“Sei la ragazza dei miei sogni, tesoro,” he waxed lyrical. (He’d already picked up a little Italian from his travels and he was learning with the girls.) He kissed her just as tenderly as he had been doing ever since her symptoms had gotten worse, but when she thrust her tongue into his mouth and started pouring all of the frustration and pain of these past few weeks into it, he responded in kind and got a bit rougher. He slammed her up against a stone wall, which was when she realised they’d stumbled down a side alley.

“We’re nearly home,” Penelope pointed out, even though part of her was urging her to shut up and take what she needed. She pushed him lightly away. “Anyone could walk by!”

“It’s dead down here at this time in the afternoon,” Colin prowled back towards her, pushing her right back up against the wall. He had a point as well. People tended to gather for aperitivo in bars around now, but there weren’t any down here. The only person who might walk by was someone going home. Which should be enough to stop them, but-

Colin’s hands reached under her dress and yanked her knickers halfway down her thighs. “Huh!” He gasped in mock surprise. “Why are you so wet, my darling?”

She scowled, and he giggled adorably, before sneaking his fingers up and penetrating her with them, crooking the digits as she moaned quietly into the feeling.

“Legs further apart,” Colin ordered gruffly, so she waddled them out, feeling innately unsexy doing so, but Colin moaned like a man possessed. “You know how many times I dreamed of doing this to you back in the day, Pen?” he rambled, all the while pumping her with one hand and tapping her clit with the other. “Too many. I’d fuck you in your little box room at uni so all the rooms in the building would be able to hear. I’d fuck you on the sofa while Eloise was getting you cookies and she’d come back and know you were mine, not hers. I’d fuck you on the Tube and your bloody ‘boyfriend’ would get on, see us, and fall right onto the tracks.”

Penelope careened to the edge, embarrassingly fast, and unexplainably turned on by Colin telling her all the crimes he’d wanted to commit, but she held him tightly to her as she fell, begging him not to stop even as she gasped out her orgasm, “more, more, more!” A grin tugged at the corners of Colin’s mouth. He swiped away a tear she didn’t realise had fallen from her cheek and licked it off of his thumb, keeping eye contact the whole time, before grabbing onto her shoulders and filling her all-in-one-go to the hilt. “Colin!” She half-shrieked, only remembering as the noise came out of her mouth that they were in public. His cock was twitching inside of her, missing her desperately. Colin had masturbated in front of her to get himself off, but he hadn’t touched her like that ever since she started feeling bad, and it was like his actual appendage had gone feral.

“Holy fuck, Pen,” Colin rasped as she pulsed on him. “You’re so cock-drunk. You’re in withdrawal, aren’t you? All that time without and now you’ve hit crisis mode. You’ll die if you can’t have it.” She was crying properly now, shaking her head and making desperate, incoherent noises. “Go on then, love,” Colin said. “Give me your juices, milk me. Let's see if we can beat science and get you pregnant again before this one's even fully developed.” The words were absolutely ridiculous, but in this state they turned her on more than should be possible. He grabbed a fistful of the flesh of her arse with either hand and she threw her head back, clamping down on his cock as her cum gushed onto him, which made him in turn bite down on her shoulder as he released ropes and ropes of his own cum. Being bitten surely should be an aggressive, uncomfortable moment, but the timing of it was perfect, elevating Penelope’s orgasm and making hers last even longer than Colin’s. When he removed his teeth to suckle at the bite marks, she was still riding high.

“Can you still feel me, love? As if I were still inside you?” Colin whispered as they tottered back into the house like two drunk teenagers sneaking in.

“Sophie!” Penelope cried out, pushing Colin a respectable distance away when she spotted her friend sitting on the sofa. It looked like she’d already gotten all the cleaning done and she was now leafing through some magazine from a pack Fife had gotten them. Penelope looked up to Colin pleadingly. “Is it okay for us to have some girl time now?” In his post-orgasmic bliss, Colin waved them off, “take as much girl time as you like. I’m gonna get Fife to drive me to the shops to buy some supplies we need that didn’t come in the boxes with the furniture.”

He’d insisted on buying a whole plethora of things to fit the nursery with, even though there was still a way to go till the due date. Unfortunately, he hadn’t read the fine print saying the delivery team wouldn’t put it together for you, so he was slowly trying to work on pieces with Fife’s help.

“You look happy,” Sophie observed, quirking up an eyebrow. “You’ve finally got that glow people always say pregnant women have. Of course, I can see why you didn’t have it before with all that nausea, but it's nice to see you doing so well.”

Penelope beamed. “I am happy. I’m excited. I really like it here. The house obviously isn’t as boujie as the one in Bali, but it’s open and sprawling. There’s a great garden the kid’ll love when their older. The couples at the antenatal group are all really lovely and helpful. And I feel like I’m getting along with learning the language. Plus, the pregnancy symptoms going into hibernation is letting me actually take all that good stuff in. What about you? What do you think?”

Sophie shrugged. “Yeah, it’s nice. The language isn’t coming quite so naturally to me, but I guess you’ve had a bit more chance to practise it.”

“Oh, of course,” Penelope frowned. “You’ve barely been out apart from when we’ve gone on those odd group walks. Why don’t we ask Colin if you can come meet our antenatal group, or maybe we could invite them all here?!”

Sophie was looking at her like she was a bit concerned, so Penelope made a face. “What?”

After a beat, Sophie sighed and shook her head. “Do you think Colin would want them coming over here?"

"Whatever," Penelope said. "They come here, we go there, as long as you get to meet them."

Sophie clicked her tongue. "You don’t miss home at all?”

“Absolutely not,” Penelope said resolutely. “That house was like a prison.”

“Home,” Sophie repeated. “I mean, where you were living before. And not just the place, the people, your friends, your family even, though I know maybe they’re not top of your list.”

Penelope twitched, and began to fidget. “...I don’t know… not really... Well- yes, a bit, of course, I miss them, but I don’t necessarily need them.” Sophie’s eyes narrowed a little like she was trying to understand. “I’m in a different place now than I was back then. I’m going into the stage in my life where my new family is going to be what I put first, and this place is perfect for them, for us. I have Colin, and soon the baby- and I have you!”

Sophie exhaled harshly, and then took Penelope’s hands. “I’m sorry, Pen, but I don’t think I can do this much longer.”

Penelope’s heart cracked open. “What do you mean? Why not?”

“Do you remember what I said about my dad back in Bali?” Sophie asked. “How he wasn’t perfect?”

Penelope nodded. “Well, what I meant was how he was about Fife.”

“What about Fife? You mean he encouraged his gambling?” Penelope asked. Her own father had done quite a lot of that, and it had hurt their family too. She understood Sophie taking it hard, especially since it had gone so far.

“I don’t think he knew about that,” Sophie said quietly. “That really went off the rails after he died.”

Penelope looked at her, not saying anything, but giving her a look to convey that she could go on when she was ready. “When our parents were just dating, he came up to my room and shut the door and… exposed himself to me. He asked me if I’d ever seen a 'willy' before and I was so stunned I couldn’t say anything but the truth, of course not. So he said he’d seen a couple of 'fannies', but he had a feeling mine would be the best one yet. I was a couple years younger than him and I had no clue what to do. I knew this was weird, I knew I didn’t want to, but he had me trapped in my room and our parents were down the hall- I didn’t even know what they would say if I tried to tell them. He said he’d show me what to do so boys would like me and I wouldn’t have to “embarrass myself”, so I gave in.”

Penelope was feeling nauseous again, but this time it was entirely unrelated to the pregnancy. “And your dad supported him?” She asked, outraged.

“He didn’t know the specifics,” Sophie said almost defensively. “He just thought we had kissed, that’s what Fife told our parents I guess when they realised things were weird between us. My dad told me I needed to get over it, and that I shouldn’t feel like I’d been rejected, it just wasn't the way things were meant to be…” She screwed her face up uncomfortably at the memory. “He thought I had had a huge crush on Fife and he had turned me down, so he just kept making all these laddy jokes with him when he thought I wasn’t listening, and then treated me with kid gloves about the whole thing when he talked to me about it directly. I never managed to tell him the truth."

“Oh, Sophie, I’m sorry,” Penelope said, taking her hand to squeeze it lightly in a show of solidarity. “You should have said something to me sooner, I could have tried to help keep Fife away from you. Has he been really awful here?”

Sophie shook her head. “He’s just been… himself. The only time he ever did anything explicit to me was that one time when we were kids, but I still feel like he’s been suffocating me for so long, and I felt some twisted need to submit to it and let him do that to me because he’s ‘family’, but now I guess all my feelings about it are coming to a head, and I'm starting to feel like I need to get out."

Penelope sighed. “What if I told Colin and asked him to fire Fife?”

Sophie’s eyes widened.

Chapter Text

Sophie’s eyes widened. “Penelope, you cannot tell Colin about this.”

Penelope looked confused. “Why not?”

“B-because-“ Sophie spluttered, reaching for the obvious.

“Well, they are friends, sort of” Penelope interrupted. “That’s true. Colin cares about you though, more than Fife to my eyes.”

Sophie knew her face was incredulous. She blinked it back, and managed to taper her expression down. “I don’t even know if they’ll let me go.”

“What?” Penelope shook her head. “Of course they will. You’ve been amazing, but we can’t hold onto you forever if that’s not what you want anymore.”

Sophie thought perhaps she had forgotten the part she’d told her where Fife had found this job for the both of them and brought her here, and how Colin wouldn’t want her running off to serve as a witness to his crimes. “I think that my best bet might be doing a runner,” she admitted under her breath. She'd been hoping she'd be able to convince Pen to come with her, but that seemed like a lost cause.

Penelope grabbed her hands again, harsher this time. “You can’t do that- it’s so dangerous, where would you go? You don’t have any money of your own, right? Fife has it in an account somewhere?” So she remembered that part. She didn’t seem to quite comprehend what it meant though.

“Flights to England are cheap. I could make enough money quickly by doing a few odd jobs.”

“And then?” Penelope looked panicked. “And even before then. You could end up getting into any number of shady dealings or… I don’t know, the Mafia, or just like, creepy men!” Sophie tried not to laugh at that. She wondered what Penelope's definition of 'creepy men' was. "Are you sure you don't want me to ask Colin about getting rid of Fife so you can stay?"

“I think I need to go out on my own and make my way in the world.” Sophie said carefully, deciding not to wade into the many reasons why she didn't want her to do that.

Penelope’s face sunk, but she nodded. “I don’t want you to go, Sophie, I can’t say otherwise, but I don’t want you drowning in here just to keep me company.”

Sophie looked at her pityingly. She wondered if there was anything she could have done, if she could have gotten Penelope to reflect more on what was going on, to help her not lose sight of reality. Now, it all seemed too late.

“Look,” Penelope urged. “Please, I’ll broach things with Colin. I won’t even mention Fife’s name if you don’t want. I’ll just say you are getting stunted and you want more from life. And I’ll ask him to set you up with something as a bonus to get you started, if Fife won’t give you your share of what you’ve made.”

Sophie didn’t have much confidence in the plan, but she had to admit that she was a little scared about angering the men and facing repercussions if she did straight up just try to escape. Perhaps there was a small chance this would work. Or maybe she was just catching Penelope’s optimism.

“Hello, sweetheart,” Colin said, surprised to find Penelope in the nursery when they got back. “I thought you and Sophie would still be talking.”

“She went to put the dinner on,” Penelope said, turning to smile at him.

She could have stayed and watched Sophie, or even participated, because they didn’t lock the doors to the kitchen in this house, they just kept blunt knives only, but she had chosen not to do that. Colin saw that as a good sign. She'd rather be here with him.

“Are you thinking about where you want things placed?” Colin asked, coming up behind her and wrapping his arms around her when she turned around to look at the boxes again. “Because if so draw me a floor map and we’ll build them there so we don’t have to move them around too much once they’re already constructed.”

“No,” Penelope swallowed, then turned her head towards him so her cheek brushed his. “I think that we should let Sophie go.”

Colin frowned, turning her around in his arms so he could see her properly. “What’s wrong? Did you two have a fight just now? Did she say something to upset you?”

“No, nothing like that!” Penelope said earnestly. He always believed her when she spoke this way. He knew her every quirk, and she was a bad liar. At least to him. “But Colin, we’re starting a family. I’ve loved having a friend here to help me settle in, but this is gonna be our house. Us and our baby. Maybe Fife could still work for us if you need him, but he doesn’t have to live here. And I can do the things Sophie does. I can learn what I don't know."

“I guess that could work,” Colin mused. “But, I don’t know. I was sort of looking forward to the fact that we were going to have Sophie to help with the baby and make sure they don’t monopolise all of my time with you.” He was ecstatic about what the baby meant in terms of cementing their bond to each other, but after having had five younger siblings himself, he knew how all-consuming tots could be, and he didn’t want Pen to become consumed by being just a mother so that she was no longer his wife.

“Sophie has dreams she wants to achieve in the U.K though,” Penelope argued. “Maybe she could still come visit- I’d love that, but I don’t want to hold her back.”

Colin tsked. “Pen, my love, we can’t have it both ways, and neither can Sophie. She’s either in, or she’s out.”

Penelope pouted. “Alright, I guess I’ll go ask her what she thinks.”

Colin stopped her before she could go, not liking all of this talking Penelope seemed to have been doing with Sophie about leaving. Maybe it was leaking into her own thoughts for herself. Even if it wasn’t, maybe that was what Sophie had in mind- taking Pen with her and ‘saving her’. “You don’t have to be our go-between, love,” he said. “Let’s go talk to her together.”

When Sophie saw Penelope and Colin come through the door together- holding hands- she knew Penelope had already spilled the beans. She braced herself for any reaction, aware that Colin was volatile. He had never actually really exploded at her, almost always taking things out on Pen, but in this situation she suspected he might since he might see her actions as threatening his whole plan to keep Penelope his prisoner-wife for all time.

“Sophie,” he said brusquely. “My wife tells me you’re feeling a little unfulfilled here.”

Sophie turned off the hob and swivelled around to face him. “I’m so grateful for the opportunities you’ve given me, Colin. Being a part of your household, getting to travel with you and make such a great friend in Penelope, it’s all been wonderful, but I feel a little intrusive. You are a newly-wed couple with a baby on the way, and I feel like you’re not getting the normal experience with us here.” Rather expertly, in her own humble opinion, Sophie had flipped her answer back on him, using what she knew he wanted, and the way Penelope had talked earlier on.

Colin nodded like he was thinking hard. “Well, your contract didn’t specify any period of time, as I thought you might be here indefinitely, but I’m not opposed to letting you go. Of course, it would have to be a complete cutting of any and all contact. I’ll even give you an advance on the next couple of months’ pay as thanks for all your hard work, but then that is it. You can never come back. And if you break our original contract and mention any of this to anyone…”

Sophie’s eyes flashed briefly to Penelope. She looked sad about the fact they wouldn’t be seeing each other again, but not like she was blaming Colin for it. In her manipulated state, she seemed to agree that what he had said made perfect logical sense.

“Alright, thank you.” Sophie said quietly. She couldn’t wait till she saw the back of this man, though it felt completely wrong to abandon Penelope to him. At the same time, she wasn’t even in a state to be rescued and sometimes you had to get yourself out before you drowned trying to keep someone else afloat.

Sophie moved out a few days later; Fife decided he wanted to keep working for them, but he’d live separately as well. After that, Colin announced that he had been doing some research since they came to the decision on letting her friend go, and they were going to be moving to another country entirely- Peru. When he’d said so, he could tell that Penelope had felt betrayed. She loved this place- she’d chosen it- and she’d been pretty open about that. He felt bad about ripping it away from her, but Peru was as beautiful a country as Italy, and they’d find antenatal classes there too. The anchors she needed to cling to were not any one place or any friends she might make anyway, they were Colin and the baby- when it came that is.

“I know she was your friend," he said, careful to use the past tense to remind Penelope that her relationship with Sophie was over now. "But there was something in her eyes when we were talking about her leaving. I didn’t trust her. Better safe than sorry.”

Penelope still looked hurt. “Who is she gonna tell where we are? Why would she do that?”

“My brother?” Colin suggested in as blasé a manner as he could with the anger heating his veins. Penelope looked like he’d shot her now. As she should. He couldn’t deny he was a little pissed off about how much sharing her and Sophie had done with each other. “Because she’s moon-eyed over him. That’s why she really wanted to leave.” She was stunned that he knew something she and Sophie had only ever discussed amongst themselves. He thought she had worked out quite a while back that the London house had been chock-full of cameras. Perhaps she just hadn’t thought they were in the bedroom, or maybe she’d assumed they only picked up images and not sound as well. What a naïve girl she was, even still. Colin had had those cameras to monitor the girls- and occasionally Fife- of course, but his secondary motivation for them was jerk-off material. Whenever he was away from home, he could just take out his monitoring device and see a live-feed of his good little slut waiting at home for him to come and fill her up. Of course, Colin suspected that even with his threat, Sophie would feel protected enough by the might of his brothers to tell them everything. Even if Ben did believe her, blinded by love for the girl he’d met once and gotten an emotional hard on for that had lasted years, it wouldn’t matter too much. They’d be long gone by then. If his family wanted to take it to the Italian authorities, they wouldn’t get much help there.

Sophie checked behind her shoulder every few seconds on her journey to the airport. Her step-brother had decided to accept Colin’s offer to stay on, but he made it clear he blamed her for the change, and that he didn’t want her to go. She thought he was quite a bit like Colin; he liked being in charge in whatever way he could, though of course he didn’t have all the resources Colin did to kidnap a girl and fly her around until you warped her world. But Reggie didn’t follow her. He must have decided keeping the job outweighed going after her.

When she got back to London, the first thing she did was to ignore what she’d promised Colin and search out the Bridgertons. Now that she was out of the house, she wasn’t so scared. What could Colin or Reggie actually do to her from another country? She found Penelope’s best friend Eloise’s information on Instagram and sent her a DM, saying she knew this was so much it was going to sound weird, but she had been trapped into working for Penelope’s kidnapper and she had just escaped. She didn’t say who it was yet- she wasn’t sure the family would believe her unless she presented the whole story first. Eloise replied immediately, asking if they could meet up, that she’d come meet her anywhere. Sophie had landed in Heathrow and was going to stay the night in an B&B in a nearby village. She’d gotten an early flight though and it was still only just around lunch time, so she told Eloise she could come meet her in the village pub if she wanted.

Perhaps the Bridgertons used another private jet they had, because they were there in a flash- almost all of them. When Sophie spotted a mob of brunettes heading towards her she froze, but she quickly realised Benedict wasn’t one of them. She was grateful for that. She was afraid of running into him again, though it seemed inevitable at this point.

“Sophie?” Eloise asked, and she nodded. The family’s matriarch reached out and enveloped her in a warm hug that surprised her so much she kept her arms flapping by her sides.

“Oh, my dear, are you alright?” The woman asked. Violet, that was her name. She’d been nice when Sophie had worked the party for her too. Not quite this warm though. Sophie looked around at the assembled Bridgertons. One older man, an Indian woman she took to be his wife, her younger sister who Penelope had mentioned as being her other friend, Edwina, two younger kids, Eloise and Violet, and another sister around Eloise’s age who was holding hands with someone who must be her girlfriend. They were all looking at her desperately, like thirsty travellers in the desert who thought they’d found an oasis.

“I-I’m sorry, Penelope’s still there,” she said, before anything else. “I tried to talk to her about sneaking out, and I was hoping maybe I’d be able to get out with her, but I think she’s fallen under the spell of her kidnapper. It happened so slowly, I didn’t even realise it had gotten that bad.”

“Who’s the kidnapper?” Eloise urged, leaning forwards over the table toward Sophie. Her mother gave her a pointed look, but she didn't take any notice, adding, “It’s him, isn’t it? It’s my brother.”

Sophie’s mouth trembled, not quite able to voice it when she saw the faces of this family all shatter as they realised it was the truth before she even confirmed it verbally. Slowly, she shared with them what she knew, what Penelope had told her about how Colin always used to watch her when she was younger, how he’d sent her threatening messages prior to finding her in a club and taking her back to the house in London.

“They’re still in London?” The eldest brother said at that moment. “Where? We’ve searched all the family properties. He must have gotten something for himself.”

“He did,” Sophie explained, “But they’re not there anymore. We went to Bali, and then to Italy. Colin said it would be better for the baby to grow up somewhere they wouldn’t have to worry about being caught.”

She only realised she hadn’t mentioned the fact that Penelope was pregnant before when every face stared back at her incredulously.

“Penelope and Colin are having a baby?” Said the youngest sister, almost romantically. “Is that why he took her away in the first place?”

“No, of course not,” Eloise snapped at her little sister. She looked to Sophie. “Right?”

“Right,” Sophie confirmed. “He…” She trailed off, looking at the younger two, not sure this was appropriate conversation for them. It was uncomfortable enough with the adults.

“Greg, Hy,” said the eldest brother. “Go play outside.”

“We’re teenagers,” said the boy, Greg, moodily. “We don’t play.”

“Go text or watch some YouTubes,” their mother advised, so they stroppily went off, looking back like they were annoyed they couldn’t be a part of the conversation.

“No, they didn't have a romantic relationship before he took her. Colin got her pregnant pretty quickly though, and then he got an officiant in to marry them. It all seemed pretty binding based on my limited legal knowledge..." She trailed off, deciding it was best to leave the details there rather than torture them by going into anything more specific their brother had done to their friend. "I can tell you where they were when I left, but I’m not convinced they’ll still be there. Colin was pretty adamant in saying I could never come back. Now that I’m gone, I don’t know if he’d take the risk I could just bring you all back there.”

“It’s worth a try,” said the sister-who-hadn’t-spoken-yet’s girlfriend. “Thank you, this is the best lead we’ve had. The only lead really.”

The bell on the pub door chimed, announcing the arrival of yet-more Bridgertons. Another sister, and her husband, pushing a pram with two toddlers in it. Behind them, another baby’s arms reached out towards their family, and the person holding them broke forward.

“Uncle Benny’s got a deliver-“ He stopped abruptly- almost dropping the baby he’d been holding out, but luckily Violet reached out to take the baby. “Sophie?” He recognised her instantly, and she felt a swirling in her heart, a dizziness in her head.

Everyone was looking between them, perplexed, but Sophie just smiled, suddenly inexplicably filled with happiness and hope, despite the undeniable nerves flickering behind all that. “Hi, Benedict.”

Chapter Text

Colin had been paranoid that someone was going to snatch Penelope away once Sophie left. He didn’t let her leave the house again, even to say goodbye to her new friends at the antenatal group. He watched her hawkishly whenever she got near a window, as if Sophie might send someone to snipe them down. He had Fife patrol the area around the house a few times a day, and he lamented the fact that he hadn’t been able to sort out something fast enough to leave right away. Penelope tried to calm him down, cuddling into his shoulder and discussing baby names, getting him to watch a sitcom she loved and giving him blowjobs, but he remained in a tense mood right up until the moment they got on the plane to Peru, only a couple of days after Sophie left, but that was too long for Colin's nerves.

He’d been stressed about how to get there too, because he didn’t want to use one of the family private jets now that he thought Anthony might track his use of them if Sophie went to them. He was adamant that they not use a commercial flight either though, saying it was too dangerous. He didn’t explicitly say he thought Penelope might try to escape him, but she feared he thought that, and it made her disappointed in herself, knowing he still thought that of her. Eventually he ended up contracting a private jet from another company. He paid for it quickly, saying he thought Anthony might cut off his trust fund soon and he’d have to rely on what he’d made when he’d worked for the family company for a few years- which was quite a lot for a normal person but Colin said he was saving it to fund their life.

As the engines revved up, he pulled Penelope back into his chest, running his hands possessively along her baby bump, and finally seeming more at peace. Penelope thought it just looked like she’d put on weight, and she didn’t like paying too much attention to it, but Colin said it was beautiful, a clear sign she was growing human life within her, and so he tended to caress it whenever he could. Fife had been working a lot harder since Sophie left, so he fell asleep pretty soon into the journey. Colin took one look at him slumped across the aisle and grinned cheekily, pushing Penelope off of him lightly so he could pull down his trousers and pants, making eyes at her to do the same. Penelope looked across the aisle in horror. Sure, Fife was asleep, but he could wake up any minute. And she wouldn’t really want to do this with anyone in the room, but he’d been a little creepy to her even before Sophie had told her story. Now he just skeeved her out entirely. She shook her head, backing away, but Colin grabbed her around the waist and pulled hard so that she fell back onto his lap. “Aren’t you my good girl, Pen?” He teased, working her knickers down her legs even as she stiffened up uncomfortably, unable to stop looking at Fife to check he was still asleep. “Well?”

“Colin,” she whispered frantically. “I want to make you happy, but this is too much!”

He gave her a long, calculated look. “I’m disappointed, Pen. You’ve been saying you love me so much lately, making me think it was true, but I guess those were all just lies so I’d give you what you wanted.”

“No,” she clutched at his arm, then his face, trying to turn it back to her- he wouldn’t look at her. “I DO love you Colin! I left England for you, and then I was starting to adjust to an Italian life but you said we had to move so I didn’t complain.”

“Be my cock sleeve then, wife,” Colin said harshly. “I’ll even cover us up with a blanket if you’re worried about...” he jerked his head in Fife’s direction. “But I need your warm, comforting presence to calm me down after all the stress that’s come my way after agreeing to let your friend go to keep you happy. It’s the least you could give me.”

Penelope nodded, ashamed. Maybe he was right. It wasn’t really that much to ask, he just wanted to cuddle, but with his cock inside of her. And Fife did seem to be out like a light. With one last glance over at him, she pushed her knickers down all the way and straddled Colin’s cock, sinking down onto it slowly with gritted teeth so as to avoid making any noises.

“Good girl,” Colin praised, and she smiled, glad he was happy with her again. He pulled out the promised-for blanket and wrapped it all the way around them. It was huge, and did manage to cover them pretty well. Somehow, he didn’t move at all for a few very long minutes. He just shut his eyes as if he too was going to fall asleep, but the moment Penelope tried to shift, his arms wrapped around her, keeping her right where she was. She squeaked in surprise, looking down to find him staring intently at her now.

“Just let me enjoy this lush snatch, Pen,” he told her. “There’s no need to move. Forget everything but me."

So she surrendered, letting her muscles collapse and just sinking into an empty head space where the only responsibility she had in life was warming his cock. It was freeing, almost meditative. She lost the connection to reality so completely that when his hands ghosted over the small of her back she shivered in surprise. Colin chuckled lowly and pressed his forehead up against hers. Penelope moaned quietly. “What’s wrong, baby?” He whispered teasingly. “Is this not enough for you?”

She made a non-committal mmm noise, not really sure. It had been, and then suddenly she’d been jolted out of her safe space and back into the sense of actually being a part of a mind and a body and needing more. Colin’s hands roamed her body tantalisingly, but his cock remained stationary inside of her. “These curves were made for me,” he murmured, as his touch claimed her breasts, ran down her hips, and came to rest on her bum, giving it a tight squeeze. Penelope cried out, but it was muffled as he took that moment to crash his lips onto hers, sending concurrent vibrations ricochetting throughout her body.

“You need it so bad, little wife, you want me to fuck you even with Fife five feet away, don’t you?” Colin purred. Penelope shuddered sinfully at the thought, but he pulled a breath’s distance away and shook his head slowly. “I don’t think you can do it, I don’t think you can be quiet enough.”

“Colin,” Penelope whined under her breath, on the edge of tears, unable to ignore the aching between her thighs. “Please, I promise, I can do it, I can be good for you.”

“Are you sure?” He asked darkly, glancing over at Fife, who was still knocked out. “Even without me helping you out with a gag? Still think you can be quiet then?” Penelope nodded desperately, not even considering whether it was possible or not, just desperate for him to fuck her. “Okay, baby,” Colin said, and slowly began to bob up and down. Penelope gripped onto his shoulders, her nails carving crescents into his skin. But the coping mechanism kept her relatively quiet. She was unable to stop all her sounds, but every time one slid out of her mouth Colin jerked to a stop, which was quite a good deterrent going forward. It was undoubtedly the slowest he’d ever moved in her. She had no idea where he’d found the control and restraint required to move at such a pace. It was agonising, never quite enough, until his finger slipped down to her throbbing clit and started to trace circles there. It wasn’t a consistent pressure, but he’d come back to it every few strokes, and it was enough for a wave of ecstasy to rise up and capture her in a sudden surge. Colin fucked harder up into her through it, and she had to bite down hard onto her bottom lip as her orgasm dragged out and then turned into over-stimulation again as he kept going until he came inside of her. Finally, he pulled out and she sighed, collapsing back onto him in relief that the sensation had stopped.

“Core… that’s hot…” Fife murmured sleepily from across the aisle and Penelope’s eyes darted over to him in horror, but he was curled up, fast asleep- in fact he’d rolled over to face the other way. Phew.

The Bridgertons tried to insist that Sophie stay with them instead of at the inn. When she explained that she’d already paid for a night, they stayed to talk throughout the afternoon anyway, and agreed to come back to see her the next day instead, but Benedict wanted to stay, letting his brother-in-law Simon drive his car back. Sophie wasn’t sure there’d be anything left to say after all the talking they’d already done with his family, but Benedict had been a little stunned for those couple of hours and hadn’t gotten into his charming, flirtatious mode, not the way he did after they left. He was a perfect gentleman, not even trying to touch her, but he certainly made it known what he wanted- to date, to be her boyfriend.

“You know, my information most likely isn’t going to lead to Penelope,” she said after a while, feeling that the bubble had to be burst. She’d said as much before, but he hadn’t shown up yet at that point.

Benedict looked confused. “That’s upsetting- we all want to find Penny- but that doesn’t change my interest in you.”

She smiled weakly. “I don’t know… I guess I’m just used to transactional relationships. I haven’t really been in many romantic ones, but that’s how relationships work in my world.”

“I don’t want anything from you that you don’t want to give me,” he said sweetly, and then sighed, running his hands through his hair nervously. “I hope this doesn’t scare you off, but I’ve thought about you all the time since we first met, praying that that meeting wouldn’t be our one and only.”

“I know,” she said, before explaining, “Pen told me, that you looked for me, that is. Of course she didn’t know all the details inside your head.”

Benedict laughed wryly. “I don’t know, she’s always been pretty perceptive, I bet whatever she told you about my feelings were spot on.” Sophie frowned, thinking about her friend. “Hey,” Benedict said gently to get her attention, without touching her, which she appreciated. “Everything okay?”

She nodded with what she knew was an unconvincing smile. “I just… I hope I did the right thing. I don’t-” She looked across at him and shook her head.

“What?” He asked, crooking his head towards her. “I don’t know how to talk about this with you. He’s your brother.”

Benedict clicked his tongue. “He’s my brother, but he hurt you, and he hurt Penny- I’ll never forgive him for that.”

Sophie bit her lip. “He was almost always nice to me, it was only really when I said I wanted to leave that he turned on me and I saw that colder side, but I know he was rough with Pen. She told me a little about it, and I heard it sometimes.”

Benedict sighed sadly. “I’m sorry you had to live through that, and for Penny too.”

“He messed with her head,” Sophie swirled her glass before downing the last few dregs. Benedict motioned to the landlord for another round. “He was so hot and cold. At first I could tell she didn’t want to be there, but by the end she saw it as her home, saw him as her home. I don’t know if I should have left her alone with all that.”

“Hey, no,” Benedict did touch her then, but carefully, just a light comforting pressure on her hand to let her know he was there. “You’re not responsible for what she’s going through. I’m sure you’re being there helped her a lot, but it must have been traumatic being part of all that even if my brother didn’t actually do anything to you.” His face screwed up with the words, like he was trying to reconcile the image of his little brother with someone who’d hurt his sister’s best friend. “You did the right thing, believe me.”

As they drank their last drinks, their conversation turned to more pleasant matters. His art, her cooking. They promised to show each other some of their creations once they had a studio and a kitchen at hand, respectfully.

Yawning, Sophie glanced towards the stairs. “Do you want to stay the night?” He opened his mouth in surprise and she hastily added, “I’m not feeling ready to do anything, but we could share the bed. Just being in that space together might be… nice.”

She felt a little lame, but Benedict smiled, like he was honoured. “Absolutely. If you’re sure? I can get an Uber back instead if you’d rather be alone. No pressure.”

“Stay,” Sophie pressed, knowing innately that was what she wanted. She reached her hand back out to squeeze his. “I want you to.”

“Okay,” he said, lightly pulling her up to stand. “I will.”

Chapter Text

“…get back into contact with your bloody sister I swear to God I will fucking kill you,” Penelope blinked her eyes open, but didn’t roll over. She didn't want them to know she was awake. Colin and Fife were having a heated confrontation, which must have been what inspired her action-packed dream.

“Woah, mate, you can trust me,” Fife said, clearly trying to ingratiate himself to Colin.

“I’m not your mate,” she heard a scuffle, like Fife had put his arm on Colin and Colin had swiped him away. “I’ve been too lax- no more. I’m not going to risk my wife getting taken away from me.” Penelope frowned into the pillow sadly, upset that Colin feared that so greatly. “From here on out, you’re my employee. You can do what you want with the women here, but no getting into contact with anyone from the UK, and only use the new phone I’m gonna get you- I don’t want them tracking anything.”

“Got it, boss,” Fife said. From anyone else, it might have sounded sarcastic, but he was clearly dedicated to this job. That was shown by the sound of metal crunching under his foot. Penelope assumed it was his anyway. Or maybe Colin was showing him what to do.

“Baby.”

“Hmm?” Penelope rolled over, feigning sleepiness when Colin rubbed her shoulder, as if he’d only just woken her up. “We’re landing. Better change the bed back into a seat.”

“Okay.” She let him lift her out, just about stopping the complaint on the tip of her tongue that she was too heavy, especially now in her second trimester. She still felt it was true, increasingly so, but she knew Colin didn’t like it when she said so. She caught Fife looking over at her with eyes she couldn’t quite read, and he didn’t look away for a beat or two, but then he moved to help Colin. She’d always found him a little odd, sometimes bordering on lecherous, and ever since Sophie had told her about what he’d done to her those feelings had increased towards him tenfold. At the same time, she could tell how much Sophie wanted to get away from him, and she had a feeling that if she encouraged Colin to get rid of him too, he would only chase after his step-sister. She was glad he wouldn’t be around their new home so much though. It did kind of suck they had to get a new home, but she’d learnt some Spanish back in school, and it was a pretty close language to Italian so based on the dictionary Colin had gotten her, a lot of the words related to pregnancy that she’d learnt in Italian had pretty close correlates in Spanish. No, it wasn’t ideal, but she knew Colin would never have felt comfortable staying in Italy knowing that Sophie might decide to send his family after them at any time. Penelope hoped her friend would never betray them like that, but like Colin said, it was impossible to know for sure.

Fife made a big scene about not liking the new car that was delivered to the airport for them, but Colin shot him a look telling him to shut up. He wasn’t happy with things either, but he still had Pen; that was what was important. He pulled her into the back of the car and tight into his side, not bothering with seatbelts. People hadn’t cared much about them in Italy and he doubted they did here. Either way- it would only put space between them. He pushed his nose into her neck and took a long sniff, which made her giggle, struggling to pull away. “Col, what are you doing? We’ve just gotten off a fourteen hour flight, I’m sure I smell minging!”

“You could never smell minging!” He protested, only holding her tighter in response to her wriggling. “You smell like my Pen- like collector’s tomes that have been doused with vanilla extract.”

She laughed harder. “So I smell old?”

“Not like an old person’s home, that’s for sure, more like something vintage, special, something few have access to.”

She stopped laughing at that, turning her head to look at him, and he smirked, bending down to meet her lips. If he had his way, no-one would have access to her.

Fife dropped them off at their new home. It was in a small hamlet near the Sacred Valley. There were a few other houses scattered around nearby, and Colin said Fife was heading off to one of them, but it was certainly quieter than where they’d been living in Italy. Penelope got to unpacking, hanging up her and Colin’s clothes in the wardrobe while he got to work in what would be the nursery, reassembling all the little pieces of furniture he’d had to take apart before they left. By the time she’d sorted through all their clothes, the heat was starting to get to Penelope a little. She had to admit this house was built pretty well for it, but still, she wasn’t used to it. She lay down on the bed to rest, stripping down to her underwear to cool herself down. A few minutes later, she felt a presence hovering over her, and opened her eyes to see Colin almost in a plank above her, bracketing her body with his arms. She looked up at him doe-eyed, waiting to see what he wanted, and his lips quirked up.

“Are you going to let me play with you, little wife?” She nodded, of course, pulling her knickers down and waiting for him to give her his tongue, or his fingers, or his cock. Instead, he flipped her around, rolling her onto her front. He grabbed a pillow and inserted it under her, just below her bump and pulled her legs apart so she was splayed out for his pleasure. “I think this well-used pussy needs a break. It’s about time we broke in your back door.”

Penelope stiffened, not quite sure how she felt about that. She’d never even really seriously considered doing anal, but Colin always found a way to give her pleasure- all she had to do was give in. “Okay,” she agreed hesitantly, and heard Colin scoff.

“Okay,” he repeated after her, almost tauntingly, like he hadn’t been expecting an answer, or like he’d been going to do it anyway, even if she said no. She must be sick, because that thought didn’t repulse her, it only made her want to draw him closer. Colin found the lube and slowly wriggled a finger into her bum. She winced. The new burning stretch was undeniably painful, and she couldn’t quite say she liked it, but it was certainly compelling having Colin inside a new bit of her body.

“Every single part of you belongs to me, Pen,” Colin said, as he slowly added another finger, breaking into her. “No-one else is ever going to have any of this.”

“No,” she agreed in a quiet moan. It was his words, not the action, that were turning her on.

“Put your arms up. All the way up. Now!” He suddenly demanded, and despite there being no warning, she complied automatically. Colin snapped the now-familiar pair of handcuffs onto her wrists, making sure they were attached to the headboard before he turned his attention back to her arsehole. This time he lubed up his dick, rubbing it himself for a minute or so while Penelope writhed below him. “Does my little slut want something to fill her up?” She nodded. “What do you want to fill you, baby?”

“Your dick, Colin,” she said, a lot more shameless about it than she had ever been back when there had been other people sharing their living space.

“What part of me do you want me to fill?” He pushed.

She hesitated, because she would rather he take the warmth of her pussy, but his wishes were what mattered, she knew, he’d make her feel good either way. “My bum.”

Colin groaned in delight at that response, and lined himself up before promptly sliding in. Penelope squeaked. It didn’t feel right, it didn’t feel like he should be in there, but Colin was her husband and he loved her. He knew what was good for her. She forced herself to relax, listening to his voice telling her, “shush, you love this, you love me,” over and over again until those thoughts starting talking in her own voice. Colin pushed deeper and deeper into her until she felt him pressing up against her core and she whined, wishing her hands were free so she could touch her stomach and see if she could really feel him there.

“Bloody hell, Pen,” he moaned. “You’re so full of me. I can feel your body pressing down on me, never wanting me to leave, isn’t that right? Don’t you just adore being used by me?”

She wasn’t capable of any kind of coherent response, but he was evidently pleased with the sounds she made because he came with a spluttered shout, rocking his hips madly into her. He pulled out then, instructing her, “don’t contract your muscles, wife, let me see what I’ve done to you.” She did her best to stay still as he gazed down, marvelling aloud at how she gaped wide, at the cum he could see deep inside of her. “What a good girl I have,” he said at last when she was satisfied, and she preened in delight. It was as he was undoing the handcuffs that she felt a sharpened, fluttery feeling in her abdomen. At first she thought it was an after-effect of the anal, some kind of pressure Colin had put on that part of her body, but when she asked if he thought that was normal he put his ear to her stomach, waited a moment, and-

“That’s it again,” she said, nervously.

“I think that’s the baby,” Colin said, surging up to her with a grin.

“Oh!” Now that he said so, she realised it was true. It was the baby beginning to move around inside of her! Colin dove down and began lavishing the pulse point on her neck, licking and sucking at it until an unmissable hickey developed, all the while keeping one hand on the stomach, hoping to feel the evidence of the life he’d put into her one more time.

Sophie woke up the next morning to find that the separate sides of the bed she and Benedict had respectfully gone to sleep on had morphed into one shared space. They were still fully dressed, but their legs were intertwined, their foreheads pressed together, their heartbeats beating in sync. She laughed quietly, not wanting to wake him, but unable not to be amused at how quickly their good intentions had been sabotaged by their unconscious. Benedict surfaced from a dream at that moment anyway, catapulting away from her when he saw the state they had ended up in.

“Oh my God, Sophie, I’m so sorry.”

Even though she hadn’t wanted anything rushed, she found herself missing his closeness immediately. “You don’t have to apologise, I think I know how this happened.” He raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to elaborate. “Well… we’ve been apart so long our minds and bodies gravitated as close together as they possibly could while they were asleep, since we’ve been searching for each other but unable to find each other for so long.”

Benedict made a disbelieving expression. “While that’s true for me, I don’t think you can claim that excuse. You knew where I lived, or where my family did at least, you could have come found me anytime!”

Sophie moved her head back and forth in a considering way. “Well, I could have for the first year or so before my step-brother kidnapped me and set me up as a cook for his ex-uni friend who’d kidnapped another girl.” Benedict grimaced, and Sophie took a metaphorical step back, “too soon?”

“It’s your trauma, I guess no-one can tell you when it’s too soon!”

Sophie looked carefully at him. “Do you think you’d tell me it’s too soon for a kiss?”

Benedict shook his head passionately. “I would never. All I’d ask is that you decide for yourself whether it’s too soon.”

“So we’re back to that, are we?” Sophie laughed, but held out a hand. Benedict took it, cautiously moving towards her on the bed until she got tired of that and threw her arms around him, pulling him to feel his firm lips against hers. He responded immediately, albeit tentatively. It was lovely. His lips were silky smooth, his skin flushed showing his evident nerves, but after a moment his hands reached out to skim across her cheek. She pulled back after a moment, looking at him as his eyes fluttered open.

“Thank you,” he said.

“You’re welcome,” she replied with a genuine smile.

Chapter Text

“So,” Anthony announced once the family had gathered in the sitting room at Aubrey Hall. “The address Sophie gave us is abandoned.” The Bridgertons all looked disappointed, but not too surprised, given that Sophie had done her best to prepare them for this eventuality.

“Can you think of anything Colin or Penelope said that might have hinted at where they were gonna go next?” Asked Anthony’s wife Kate.

Sophie shook her head remorsefully. “They didn’t even talk about moving before they left. I doubt Penelope knew it was gonna happen. Colin probably sprung it on her the moment I was out the door.”

“I don’t understand,” said Hyacinth, the youngest sibling. “If Colin loves Penelope why didn’t he just ask her out here? Why are they moving around?”

Eloise clearly had no patience for her teenage sister and snapped, “because he’s a creep who couldn’t face the possibility of rejection. I’m sure he’d been planning this for years. He was always obsessed with Pen.”

With a gentler touch, Francesca hurried to reassure her little sister, trying to simplify things into a form she could understand them.

“Are you okay?” Benedict asked in the meanwhile, squeezing Sophie’s hand from where he sat beside her.

She nodded. “Yeah, I just hope Colin’s found a proper doctor for her wherever they are now. He didn’t ever get anyone to see her here, and he only brought in a private doctor once in Italy for a checkup when he was concerned. She needs something more regular. She seemed to be doing better when I left, but they say the second trimester is generally easier, right? They should still be getting check-ups to make sure everything’s okay rather than just waiting for problems to crop up."

The three mothers in the room- Violet, Kate and Daphne- shared a look upon hearing that, each imagining the stress they would have felt in their pregnancies if they hadn’t had access to regular check-ups. “I’m sure he will have found someone for her, my dear,” Violet said, clearly trying to reassure both Sophie as well as herself. “A lot of issues in pregnancy will happen during the first trimester as well. If she’s gotten through that, it’s really most likely that she and the baby will both be okay.”

Sophie offered her a small smile in response, though the words didn’t fully assuage her fears.

Penelope sat in the study, writing in the journal Colin had gotten her at the beginning of their relationship. She was sure he was busy sorting out their new lives here, but she was a bit disappointed he hadn’t been around very much. Him and Fife were always off, leaving her locked in the house- for her safety. He hadn’t sorted out an antenatal group for her yet, so there wasn’t anyone else to talk to either.

She heard a rapping on the door and went to look, even though she couldn’t do more than open the window a little.

“Buenos días señora, ¿le apetecen unas maracuyás frescas?”

Penelope looked down at the glowing basket of fruit, but had to shake her head. “Lo siento, ya tenemos fruta en casa. Si torni el finde yo y mi marido tomamos algo seguramente.”

She realised immediately that she’d accidentally used an Italian word by mistake- and probably the wrong form of address- but she hadn't had much speaking practise yet and the fruit-seller understood anyway. With a grateful nod, he agreed to come back at the weekend. He was turning away when Colin and Fife pulled up in the car, her husband storming past the fruit-seller without so much as a polite greeting, his key jamming in the door in his desperation to get in.

“Colin,” Penelope said, rushing over as he hastily slammed the door behind him- once he’d finally got it open in the first place. “What’s wrong?” It might have been a better idea to leave him to cool off- the heat was radiating off of him, almost radioactively.

He jabbed a finger back in the direction the fruit-seller had gone off in. “Were you talking to that stranger?”

Penelope quickly went on the defence, “not really, he just offered us some passionfruit but I said we already had enough-“

“You are not to talk to anyone unless I am here,” Colin seethed, slamming her up against the wall. She gulped, shrinking back into herself. “People are dangerous, Penelope, you never know their motives. Anyone could be someone sent by my family to try and steal you and the baby away from me.”

She tried to reach out her hand to stroke his face comfortingly but he grabbed her wrist before she even touched him and wordlessly dragged her up to the bedroom. She didn’t say anything either, deciding it was best not to try to interfere when he was in a state like this. Once in the bedroom, he shoved her down onto the bed, manhandling her body until she was in the position he wanted, head flat on the covers, hips up in the air, bent at an uncomfortable angle.

“Don’t move a fucking inch,” he ordered, disappearing before she heard the sound of the bedside drawer opening, and him pulling something out. A moment later a paddle came down hard on her backside. She tried not to jump but it was impossible to contain the innate reaction. “I said not to move, can you not follow the simplest of instructions? How the hell am I supposed to leave you here and expect you to be good for me?”

“I will be!” She protested. “I couldn’t help it, but I’ll try to stay-“

“I don’t want to hear it,” he interrupted. “I don’t want to hear anything besides you counting your slaps. Start. Now.”

He brought the paddle down hard on her other cheek and she stuttered, “o-one.” She kept counting as he alternated cheeks a few more times, before he decided she needed to feel the pain more directly, so hiked up her dress and tore the material of her underwear- evidently it was too much effort to pull them down.

The first direct hit made her squirm, despite her best intentions, and Colin snarled angrily, “what am I supposed to do with you? This is pointless!”

“It’s not,” Penelope whined, desperate to please him. “I’m sorry, I’m trying, I’ll do better!”

“You keep saying that, when are you going to actually do it?” He hit her again and she said the number clearly, forcing herself to breath through the pain, trying to drive her reaction to that rather than physical movement. As he kept going, she managed to limit how much her body shook, until Colin was satisfied enough to stop on the twenty-third hit. He tapped her back, informing her she could flop down out of position while he went to get the arnica cream.

“Your friend betrayed us,” he informed her moodily as he squeezed the cream directly onto her bum and then began to massage it into her skin.

“What?” Penelope turned her head to try to look at him properly. “Sophie? What do you mean?”

“Yes, Sophie,” Colin snapped, his hands a little rough on the already bruised skin, but Penelope just grimaced and bore it. “She told my family where we were the second she was back on British soil. Thank God I had the foresight to move us right away or I’d be in prison right now and you’d be crying in a hospital room, all drugged up while they tried to convince you you’d been a ‘victim’.”

Penelope couldn’t comprehend this. “Why would Sophie do that? She cares about us!”

“Don’t be dense Pen,” Colin said venomously. “She wanted the money. As soon as she found another way to get it direct from the source she was out of here. She never gave a shit about you.”

Although Colin had been the one to physically hurt her just now, she found herself feeling more harmed by the thought that Sophie had betrayed them. She’d been so supportive all that time together. Why would she turn on them now? Why had she had to leave at all? Everything had been going so well. They had been sort of like a messed-up family, but what they’d had going had been nice. Now it was all broken.

“I’m sorry, Col,” Penelope whispered. “You were right. Thank you for moving us.”

Colin put the cream away, then came to lay around her, his fingers roaming his marks on her body- the hickeys, the handprints- like they were the only thing keeping him tethered, reminding him that she really was his. At last, he intertwined their hands, letting their rings brush up against each other’s. “Listen, Pen, this isn’t a punishment, but I can’t see a way I feel comfortable with you going to an antenatal group right now. Let’s give it a couple of weeks at least to let things settle, to make sure we’re safe here.” This seemed like overkill, and she didn’t want to agree- she felt like she needed more human contact- but Colin had been right before, who was she to say he wasn’t right now? He loved her, and he knew what was best for them, right?

“Okay,” she murmured submissively.

"Good girl," He pushed her hair around to the side her neck and nibbled her earlobe briefly before nuzzling his nose into the skin at the back of her neck comfortingly. “I’ll get a doctor round to check up on your condition as soon as I’ve vetted one, okay? That way you won’t have to worry. A doctor’s opinion will be better than a bunch of other pregnant women’s anyway.”

Well, she thought that a doctor and other pregnant women were probably both good fonts for different kinds of information, but she just nodded docilely.

Colin stopped using his trust fund the moment they got to Peru, fearing Anthony would be able to track it. He switched to his private, personal savings, and got into business with a couple in the city, so that he had to commute in most days. He’d had a man in Italy monitoring the house, who’d been the one to tell him about the lackeys Anthony had sent by to scope out the situation. He was furious with Sophie, and yet he couldn’t see a way to get at her from where he was, and he thought she’d probably known that. He was determined to get revenge on her one day, but for now he had to focus on Pen, and not risk anything that could let them find out where he was. It warmed his heart to come home every day after his confrontation with her and find her wrapped in his jumpers when the evening cold came in. She got a little worried she'd be stuck with no way to contact Colin in case of emergency after the doctor he’d vetted came by though and warned them about possible complications in the latter stages of pregnancy, so he got them pagers, and they worked out a code they both kept on them to communicate by.

It was sweet getting her needy little 143’s (I love you’s) and 607’s (I miss you’s), but the first time she sent 999 he freaked out, making Fife drive at breakneck pace to get back to her and phoning the doctor to meet them at the door as well. He squeezed her hand throughout the examination, but the doctor determined that the early contractions Penelope had panicked she might be having were Braxton Hicks. Something he said did tend to happen a little later than this for the women who had them, but that wasn't entirely unheard of at this point. They were nearing the end of her second trimester, and Colin decided he couldn’t risk a problem developing that he didn’t get back in time for, so he told his partners he’d work from home for the remainder of Penelope’s pregnancy. They were receptive to the idea, though they wanted to meet Pen, which he wasn’t so sure about. She hadn’t seen anyone but him and the doctor for a few weeks now (and occasionally Fife in passing when Colin brought him into the house to sort his paperwork for him) and he quite liked it that way. She was becoming more and more dependent on him, like a little kitten who needed him to survive. When the baby was born, he was thinking of hiring a live-in nanny to look after it so Penelope wouldn’t be too beholden to the baby’s whims- he’d prefer her to stay focussed on him- so he decided to start the search for one, drawing up a stringent list of criteria. He didn’t want the nanny to be Penelope’s friend or confidante, she was going to be an employee, who would live in the room next to the baby’s while he and Pen carried on their life. Maybe he’d get her pregnant again right away, so she’d have that to focus on, as he was sure it was going to be hard to get her to go along with this plan to pass the baby off most of the time. She was so pretty like this too- her breasts fuller, her curves all the better. She seemed uncomfortable with her body, but he’d show her this was the way she should be. He had some time to sort out the particulars. All Colin knew for certain was that he wasn’t going to let anything or anyone make him relinquish his hold on his wife.

Chapter Text

Colin said he wanted her to be thinking of him all day while he was working and couldn’t be in the same room as her, so he started training her to take a butt plug. It was difficult to keep it in all day and on the first attempt she had to admit to Colin that she’d failed and had taken it out at lunchtime, so he punished her by making her deepthroat him. The next day she did better, managing to keep it in all day, but it was impossible to ignore it. She struggled through her Spanish textbook and her writing, but eventually gave in and snuck into the bedroom to masturbate. Colin must have seen her on the cameras he said he’d put back up for security, because he came in as she was halfway to getting herself off and crawled onto the bottom of the bed, staring up at her for a moment without saying a word. She was sure he would be mad at her, because he hadn’t given her permission to masturbate, but he didn’t yell, his hands just clamped onto her ankles and he yanked her suddenly down the bed so that she slid towards him.

His fingers brushed her own aside, not needing to even go inside of her to assess, “fuck, Pen, you’re drenched.”

“Please, Col, get me off,” she begged. Happy to do so, he hoisted her legs up to drape them over his shoulders, in the process, dragging her up until her back was flat on the bed between his legs, her legs captured by his arms at a right angle to the rest of her body. Her humongous belly felt a bit squished, but Colin didn’t seem to notice she felt that way, pistoning right into her without further warning.

“Col!” Penelope shrieked. It was too much. With the butt plug still inside of her, and at this utterly out of control angle, his cock felt double its usual size, and he hadn’t given her a moment to adjust. “Slow down!”

“Oh yeah,” he moaned, ignoring her and keeping up his brutal pace. “You feel so good, Pen.”

He swirled his fingers around her clit a couple of times making her thrash like mad, and then he pushed his fingers dipped in her wetness into her mouth. “Er maw gerrrrdddd.” She moaned through the intrusion in her mouth.

“You’re all filled up, Pen, every damn hole, how does it feel? Are you cockdrunk?” Colin pulled his fingers out of her mouth and Penelope slurred a response while he continued to fuck her relentlessly until her pupils dilated, and he rode out her high. He pulled out of her then and let go of her legs, pushing her back down onto her back so he could crawl over her. In her post-orgasmic haze, she felt him consume her in a kiss, and then there was a sharp twang as he rolled her nipples between his thumbs and forefingers before squeezing them. “Your breasts are so amazing right now, Pen, better than ever. I can’t imagine how they’re going to be when they’re hot and sticky with life-giving liquid for our baby.”

She squirmed a bit at the image, unable to find it quite as sexy as Colin did, but he didn’t notice. “Hold them,” he instructed her, staring at her tits headily. She obeyed, without thinking about it, and one of his hands tangled in her hair, dragging her up to rest her back on the pillows while he slot himself abrasively into the little space between her tits, grunting as he spilled gooey liquid all over her. Penelope leant across to the bedside table to get some tissues to clean herself up but Colin smacked her arm, which dropped immediately to her side. “Don’t do that. You were such a gluttonous whore you had to lure me in here in the middle of the day. Sit in the consequence of it.”

She glanced down to look at the semen dripping off of her tits onto her legs, onto the covers. “Can you take the plug out, please, Col?” She asked, blinking innocently at him.

He made a show of checking his watch and thinking it over before agreeing, “Fine, back onto your hands and knees then.” Penelope crawled forwards and Colin’s fingers caught around the plug. He played with her, teasing it in and out a few times before drawing it all the way out, making her moan in relief. “You’re so lucky I saved you, aren’t you, honey?” He traced her back hole for a minute before his hands roved further around her body. “You were out there alone in the world, no idea how anything worked, no notion of what made you happy, or how to keep yourself well. Now you have me to take care of everything for you, and to mould you into who you were always meant to be…” He trailed off, waiting for her to give a response.

“Yes, I can never thank you enough Colin, I don’t know where I’d be without you.”

“In a shithole of a flat with a wanker vegan for a boyfriend who didn’t even know how to get you off,” he scoffed coldly.

“I could never go back to that,” Penelope hastily said to calm him down.

“I wouldn’t let you,” Colin said, entirely blasé about it. A little chill rocked through her, but then Colin pulled her back down to cuddle up on the bed, and the discomfort was quickly papered over.

"You want to go first?" Benedict asked, keying in their names.

"Sure," Sophie said.

While she moved forward, he updated her, “Anthony’s hired a few different private eyes to look into places he thinks Colin might have taken Penny."

They were on their third official date- bowling- and while this might not be typical romantic conversation he knew filling her in would make her feel if not comforted then a little more comfortable.

“Don’t suppose they’ve got any leads yet?” She said with little hope as she picked up one of the lighter weighing bowling balls.

“No,” Benedict admitted. “It’s hard. He’s quit using all technology we had access to, not to mention his trust fund, but we’re sure he’s gonna slip up at some point and if we can’t catch onto it, maybe one of these private eyes will. I mean, my brother’s not the most patient of men.”

He stopped to watch Sophie bowl, and as the ball rolled down towards the pins they both forgot about everything for a bit, muttering “come on, come on” together.

A STRIKE!

“Yay!” Sophie shrieked delightedly and Benedict lifted her up to spin her around. She laughed, putting her hands on his chest to balance herself when he let her down. “You know that we’re competing, right? This isn’t actually good news for you.”

“Anything that makes you happy is good news for me,” he countered sweetly. “That being said, competitiveness is a part of my DNA I can’t curb even for someone as beautiful as you. Get ready to be destroyed.”

Sophie quirked her eyebrow up, and gestured for him to step back and take his pick of balls. “Go on then, do your worst.”

He studied his options for a moment before picking one of the heavier balls- too heavy, because he accidentally dropped it before he was ready and it rolled right into the gutter.

Sophie clapped a hand over her mouth trying not to burst out laughing.

Benedict turned to look at her with accusatory eyes though anyway. "I had a plan."

"I'm sure you did," she said encouragingly, only a little titter making its way out instead of the full-fledged guffaw she'd feared she might make.

"I get to go again right? I can still recover this."

"Have you never been bowling before?" Sophie asked teasingly.

"I used to go with my family!" He protested. "But I guess I am a bit rusty. My ex-boyfriend wanted to take me but he was pretty competitive too, I thought it was just a recipe for disaster."

"You think I'm not competitive?" Sophie said, hand to her heart like she was offended.

Benedict looked back panicked, not even looking to see where his throw went. Sophie watched though, making an amused face when he knocked over three pins, which did make him turn back around to see what had happened.

"It might be a bit cruel to be competitive when we're clearly on such different levels of expertise here," she giggled, brushing past him for her second turn.

Benedict scowled adorably. "I just need to warm up."

"Sure thing, babe," Sophie said. She'd meant the pet name as a bit of a joke, but Benedict's eyes turned heated when he heard it, and that made her mess up her throw in turn. Did he do that on purpose?! She turned back to look at him with her hands on her hips and he burst out laughing. If they kept throwing off each other's game this was going to be an embarrassing game for them both!

Chapter Text

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, I can’t fucking do this,” Penelope panted, tears streaming down her face.

"Yes you can," Colin encouraged, pressing his forehead into hers, like he wanted to give her some strength through the gesture. It didn't do much to encourage her though.

She had been in labour for ten hours already and it felt like it was never going to end. She had woken up in the middle of the night feeling a bit weird and when she had checked the sheets she had shaken Colin awake, telling him she thought her waters might have broken, which was soon confirmed by the onset of contractions that were more intense and longer-lasting although also more evenly spaced out. Colin phoned the doctor immediately and set to timing the contractions with a stopwatch in the meantime. Their doctor said he hadn’t been able to get epidural and they would have had to go to a hospital for that- which made Colin rise to his feet as if he was going to wrestle the doctor to the floor- but he hastily added that he had been able to get an alternative-pethidine. Colin had a bit of a back-and-forth with him about it while Penelope breathed through the pain of a contraction, but when she came out of it, they’d come to an agreement. Colin left the room to make a call but the medication provided her with a good few hours of relief, and the doctor administered it once more after that, before informing her that she was going to have to go the last few hours without its help.

“What?” She’d asked, still a little hazy as the effects of the second dose were still wearing off.

“This medication can’t be given in the late stage of labour, I told your husband before we started you on and it and he said that was fine.” Penelope cast her eyes around for Colin but he was off somewhere doing who knows what. “This is good, you’re almost there!” The doctor said encouragingly. Penelope tried not to outright scowl at him.

When Colin did get back, he barely had time to feed Penelope a snack before the doctor took a look down below and announced it was time to start pushing. The contractions were agonising at this point. They were coming every two to three minutes- though it felt less- and lasting over a minute each- though they felt longer. Colin and the doctor helped her change positions and sometimes even get up into a squat, but it all felt endless. It was at that point that she cried out that she couldn’t do it. “I need help! Why couldn’t Eloise or Sophie be here!”

Colin’s fingers tightened around her arm but the doctor gave him a look and he relaxed again, choosing to ignore the outburst. “You’re doing so well, baby, nearly there!”

It was another half hour of pushing, but suddenly she realised the doctor had his hands on something, and there was the tiniest of little gasps, followed up by a shrill noise that made her realise the little creature she had made was already most of the way out. With one last push, the baby fell fully into the doctor’s arms, and he cut the umbilical cord and cleaned the newborn girl up before presenting her to the new parents.

“My God, you did it sweetheart, you’re amazing! You gave me a little girl!” Colin lavished praise on her, kissing her sweetly. She grinned, but tried to push him back at the same time. She wanted to hold the baby. Unfortunately-

“You’re going to have to push a few more times, Mrs Bridgerton,” the doctor explained, and so Colin got to hold the baby while she had to force the placenta out. Throughout those ten minutes, Colin did hold the baby close to her while she was resting, letting her brush her finger against her daughter’s tiny hand, but Penelope didn’t properly get to take her in her arms. And so, when the placenta was out, she excitedly held out her arms, pushing through the tiredness to focus on that miniscule little face.

But the baby began to wail at that moment, and a new head poked around the door, a face Penelope had never seen before. It was a middle-aged Peruvian woman, and the appearance of a stranger in their bedroom gave Penelope a fright, but Colin wasn’t surprised at all. In fact, he handed their daughter right off to her to be fed- instead of passing her down to Pen. It was in that moment that Penelope found out that Colin had been looking for, interviewing and that he eventually had hired a nanny. After all of her initial confusion about who this woman was was answered, Penelope looked down at her breasts hopelessly. “I thought the baby was going to drink from me?”

Colin touched her cheek comfortingly. “Not to worry, little wife, you’ll still get to feed her. But with this medication in you it’s best we don’t give any of your milk to the baby for a few hours, and besides that, Fabiana can prepare formula in their night when we’re asleep and Baby needs feeding, or any other time we’re otherwise occupied.” He quirked his eyebrows up suggestively, but Penelope was uninterested, just staring after her daughter, who was in the arms of another woman. What’s worse, she had calmed down in this nanny’s arms, dropping off to sleep as soon as she’d had a little formula. They hadn’t discussed this at all, and Penelope found herself hurting at that. Yes, Colin knew what was right for her, but she wanted a say over what was right for the baby. Those should be things they had discussed together.

The nanny began to walk off, but Penelope shrieked, “stop!” before she could get out of the room. She forgot to say it in Spanish, her mind was too numb from all that effort to even think of the words, but the nanny- Fabiana- understood, turning back their way. Fabiana looked to Colin for permission, and he must have nodded, because then she padded over and gently placed the baby in Penelope’s arms. At last. Penelope breathed out a sigh of relief, looking down at her miniature, slumbering angel. Thank God she hadn’t immediately woken and began crying when placed in her mother’s arms- she was feeling too emotionally fragile right now to handle something like that! She heard a little click, and realised Colin had taken a picture. That was kind of sweet. They’d be able to look back on it when the baby was older and remember the day she’d come into the world. Hopefully she’d be able to detach herself from the physical pain of the experience in the future.

After a few moments, calloused hands dipped back under hers to take the baby out from her. “Bu-“ she started, but Colin put a hand on the small of her back. “Darling, you did wonderfully. Now, rest. The baby needs to do the same. You’ll see her again once you’ve both had a little nap.” She wasn’t sure she’d be able to rest knowing she was stuck here while her newborn baby was across the house with someone else who wasn’t her watching over her, but the exhaustion caught up to her and she did indeed fall asleep a few minutes later.

Anthony was sorting through his correspondence when he came across a thin letter post-marked from America. He turned it over in his hands a moment, thinking, surely not, but when he tore it open a picture slipped out. There was nothing else there, just the polaroid. On the back of it- the side that had landed upwards- was a scribble in familiar handwriting, if somewhat more frantic than he’d ever seen it.

We’re happy. Leave us alone.

His heart dropping in his chest, Anthony flipped the polaroid around to see the girl who’d half grown up at his house sweaty and exhausted in a bed, cradling an infant. Her eyes carried a certain light looking down at her newborn baby, but there was darkness and fear behind them too. He wondered what his brother had looked like behind the camera. He wondered what Colin had said to her after this. Whether her experience giving birth had been traumatic, locked down in this room as it appeared she had been.

Anthony cursed aloud, drawing his wife’s attention from the other side of the room where she was nursing their own child. “What’s wrong?” Kate asked. Anthony gestured lamely to the photo, feeling useless. How had none of them seen this? Eloise claimed she had always found Colin’s behaviour around Penelope odd, but how pre-meditated had all this been? How long had he had these plans? How spur of the moment were all these moves? While Kate looked at the picture with a wounded gasp, Anthony picked up the envelope and studied the postmark again. They weren’t still in Italy. He’d been in contact with the authorities there for some time now; he’d had pictures of Penelope and Colin put up all over Italian news sites and TV channels. He doubted they were in the States either, but maybe Colin had someone he trusted there, and he’d sent it on to them, to have them forward it on to the UK. If they tracked this person down, maybe that would lead somewhere. He met Kate’s eyes, and she nodded, as if she could read his mind. He flipped his phone around to call his brother and his girlfriend over. He hoped that Sophie would be able to give them some clue, but he wasn’t quite expecting the bombshell she came up with.

Chapter Text

Colin laughed somewhat smugly as he sent off the picture of his wife and child to Fife’s mother, for her to send on to his family. He’d told Fife he didn’t want him to maintain any contact with anyone in the UK, so his driver had moved his mother out to Tampa, which had a direct flight to Peru so that he would be able to go visit her occasionally. That was fine with Colin. It gave him the opportunity to send this photo without having to send it directly from here and have his family work out where they were, though he added a second present in for Fife’s mother- a little statuette that held a secret camera so he could keep an eye on her as well. He’d been exhilarated for the opportunity to send proof of his happiness, imagining his family opening it and despairing, losing their minds with jealousy over the fact that he had taken Pen for himself and was building a life with her that they were shut out of.

And he loved that life. In the days immediately following the birth, Colin let Penelope spend a good deal of time with the baby. He even let her choose the name. She went for Agatha, after their mutual family friend. He wasn’t best pleased that the name was a reference that tied them back to their old life, but he conceded it to her, being relieved at least that she hadn’t asked for either ‘Eloise’ or ‘Sophie’. Besides, Agatha was a bit of an old-lady name for a newborn, so they settled on Aggie as her nickname for now.

But once two weeks had gone by, Colin began to grow fed up. He went back out to work in the day to give Pen time with the baby, but even after all those long hours together, she’d still want to stay with Aggie all evening instead of being with him. She didn’t want to watch a movie together, she didn’t want to sit on his lap and write. The doctor had told them they shouldn’t have vaginal sex for six weeks, but that oral and other stimulation of her outer parts should be fine after a few days. By now, Colin had given her that time, plus some.

So after dinner one night, he told Penelope they were going up to bed.

“I want to go check on Aggie,” she said... predictably.

“No,” Colin snapped. Penelope looked at him in surprise, because he’d been really quite accommodating so far, but his tone now broached no room for argument. He offered her his hand and when she took it he pulled her up and looped her arm through his. They had to pass by the nursery to get back to their room and Penelope’s feet dragged, but the nanny had closed the door and settled in for the night- Colin had already spoken with her and told her Penelope would not be visiting tonight. He pulled her forcefully into their bedroom, shutting and locking the door.

Penelope fidgeted behind him. “Col,” she said quietly. “I’m still tired, and sore. I don't think I'm ready.” He tried not to roll his eyes; she certainly had energy enough to look after the baby. Still, he had to be sympathetic. She was a new mother, and, admittedly, he’d been the one to bring her here and isolate her so that all she had was the baby. And himself of course. That was probably skewing things for her a bit. He just needed to put them back into perspective for her.

“Sit down, sweetheart,” he said. “Make yourself comfortable.” Penelope opened and closed her mouth once before giving up and doing what he said, snuggling back into the pillows. “All good?” Colin asked gently. She nodded hesitantly, so he pulled up her skirts, gazing down at her pretty pink underwear. “These are nice,” he said, fingering the material, before hooking them with his fingers and dragging them down her legs. “But you look so much better without them on.”

Penelope’s cheeks flushed, and he smiled. He loved being the one who elicited reactions from her. The baby had been taking all of her heightened emotions lately. Tenderly, he ducked his head down, letting out a heady, uncontrolled breath against her thigh. He wanted her so bad. He dipped his tongue out, and touched her clit very lightly. Just that first touch made Penelope clench. He felt it rock through her body and into his. He groaned against her and tried to keep his touches to the tip of his tongue so he could keep more targeted control over the ways he touched her, but soon the flat of his tongue found its way around her. She was surely close to coming undone around his tongue when the sound of a cry from right outside the door pierced their private paradise.

Immediately, Penelope jerked towards the noise, almost hitting Colin in the mouth with her legs as she tried to whip them around to get off of the bed, but he held them down roughly, pushing them further apart again so he could get back in there. “Colin, please!” Penelope pled. “Agatha needs me!”

She started trying to use her free arms to get some leverage to push up off the bed, at which point he growled, baring his teeth. “Stay right fucking there Penelope or I swear to God.”

Blood boiling, Colin launched off the bed and quickly grabbed some restraints from the bedside table, keeping half an eye on his wife. He managed to get back before she lost all control and disobeyed him, but when he started to bind her down she thrashed against him. “Knock it off,” he said stormily.

“Something's wrong! She’s right outside the door!” Penelope whined.

“Yes, I can tell,” Colin snapped, a hint of the demeaning in his tone. Once he’d ascertained Penelope was locked down he strode over to the door and whipped it open to find the nanny pacing back and forth, rocking Agatha in her arms. “Qué diablos haces aquí?” He demanded of her.

Fabiana bobbed her head in greeting. “Lo siento señor, la muñequita necesitaba un poquito del aire libre.”

“Well take a walk anywhere else on the property,” Colin responded in English, fed up. “Stay away from here.”

He slammed the door shut to find Penelope leaning desperately against the covers; she’d clearly been trying to peak a glance at the baby. Fuming, Colin prowled back over. “She’s fine,” he said shortly. “She will remain fine. I don’t want to hear another thing about her until the morning.”

Penelope’s mouth quivered, and she glanced past his shoulder to the door, but at least she didn’t challenge him. Willing to accept that, Colin dove right back down, going a whole lot harder than he had been before though. He swirled his tongue into her little button and slurped hungrily at her until she was writhing on his face. She came with a needy little cry, and it sent a rush through his veins. He was well pleased. He savoured every drop of her before he pulled back. “What a sloppy mess you are, Pen, you really think you could look after a baby twenty-four seven? When you need all this looking after yourself?... No,” he asserted decisively. “Certainly not.”

He needed more though, he needed to see her face properly as she fell apart, so he worked her up again, this time with his fingers, keeping his face close to hers and admiring every contour of it shifting and spasming. She let out a guttural shriek when she came the second time, half of one, at least, before silencing herself self-consciously. Colin frowned. “Don’t censor yourself, wife,” he instructed her. “When I wreck you, it’s only natural you give me your full, authentic response- hearing it is my reward for getting you to the point of feeling all that pleasure. Do you see?”

She didn’t reply straight away, so he grabbed her chin, not wanting to be rough with her in such a tender state, but not willing to let all the ground they’d gained fall away. “Y-yes, Col,” Penelope replied at last. With that response given, his touch softened, turning to a caress of her cheek, which he followed down to her lips. She parted them instantly for him when his fingers landed there, so he slipped them into her mouth, and she sucked on them prettily.

“There’s my angel,” he said with an approving smile.

Benedict squeezed his girlfriend’s hand. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

“Yes,” she said confidently. “I want to help Pen.”

“Yeah,” he agreed. “But not if it hurts you too much.”

Sophie cupped his cheek in her palm. “Thank you for worrying, but I don’t think my step-mum is dangerous to my health. Maybe more-so my ego, but I’ve got the cushion of you guys here with me. It's going to be okay.”

Kate and Anthony looked over at her with supportive smiles. Admittedly, this was a little traumatic. Already. The four of them were sat on one of the Bridgerton family’s private jets. It wasn’t the same one Colin had used, but it had the same design, and Sophie couldn’t help but remember sitting across from Pen on the way to Bali just after Colin had locked her away for days to impregnate her, and then forced her to marry him, as well as the journey to Italy, where the change in Penelope’s attitude to Colin already disturbed her. Her mind had been roiling with escape plans as her step-brother tried to get back into her good graces.

But Benedict was asking more specifically if she thought she could handle what they were going to America for. Once Anthony had called them up to tell them about the photo he’d received, Sophie’s mind had quickly drawn some dots. Only a couple of days before all of this, her step-mother Joan had sent her quite a cold email telling her she was moving to Florida. Sophie hadn’t bothered reading the rest of the email, she’d just sent back was a brief ‘okay. Best wishes.’

She didn’t have any better of a relationship with Reggie’s mother than she did with him, for quite different reasons of course. Joan had met Sophie’s dad at a PTA meeting. Then, she had found out where he worked and applied to be his secretary. Sophie knew this story pretty well, because Joan still recounted it all the time to her friends, years after her dad’s death, though she framed it more as a tragedy now than she used to up until a couple of years ago when it had always proudly been portrayed as her magnum opus. Clearly, she’d felt like she was a mastermind, and Sophie wouldn’t deny her that. She and her son had certainly swindled their way into her life and stripped away everything. Things were already deteriorating before her dad died, and when he did, Sophie hadn’t known where to go at first. By the time she’d gotten herself together, it was too late, and the pair of them pulled her strings until she had to stay with them, playing what she thought Penelope would call their ‘Cinderella’. Cooking and cleaning for them, allowing them to maintain some modicum of the life they’d come to expect after joining her family. Now that she'd escaped both her and Reggie, Sophie hadn’t wanted to devote any more of her mind to Joan or why and how she would be going to Florida, but when she thought about it, she realised it must be connected to her step-brother. He must have sent her money to do so, and he must have asked her to move there for a reason. She was certain Anthony’s envelope was from her. There wasn’t a return address on it, but Sophie managed to track down roughly where she was from the boastful clues Joan had left in the second part of her email. She was in Tampa. Once she’d narrowed it down to that, Anthony’s private eye had been able to find her stepmother’s exact location, and so, here they were to speak with her. Surely Colin and Reggie didn’t know Joan had told Sophie where she was staying. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have risked sending the photo through her, and Sophie being able to begin tracing back its origin. She didn’t think so. Joan most likely had heard from Reggie that she was no longer with them, and not understood the implications of that. It wasn’t like Reggie was going to properly explain the importance of keeping his location a secret from her.

Chapter Text

Sophie glanced back at Benedict one more time for encouragement before she rapped on the door of Joan’s new home. Reggie had certainly been given a lot by Colin to be able to afford this. Well, he had both his salary and hers to spend this on, after all- he'd never given her any of what she'd earned, all Sophie had ever gotten was that ‘bonus’ that helped her get out.

Her stepmother came to the door looking very American in a garish orange tracksuit. She looked like she was about to go power-walking or something, but her face fell when she opened the door to see Sophie. “What are you doing here?” She said, stunned.

Benedict had already slipped a foot in, just in case she tried to slam the door, but she didn’t- apparently she was too surprised.

“We have some questions,” Sophie said. “We need to know where Reggie is.”

Joan made an incredulous expression. “If your brother doesn’t care to tell you where he’s gone after you abandoned him you can’t just expect to be dished up the information when you realise you are better off with him after all. You useless tart.”

Benedict’s eyes flashed and he stepped further forward, his hands in fists, making Joan back up into the house. “Don’t you dare talk to her that way.”

“I can talk to my step-daughter however I like,” Joan sneered. “Who the hell even are you people?”

Anthony muscled his way forward, joining his brother in flanking Sophie’s stepmother. “I’m Anthony Bridgerton. This is my brother Benedict and my wife Kate.”

Kate herself stayed back, placing a gentle hand on Sophie’s back to check she was okay. It was clear Joan recognised the name, because her attitude immediately shifted. “Ah, you must know my Reggie. He went to school with one or another of you. You know what, I’m sure you’ve got a place in your company for a brilliant mind like his!” Evidently, she didn’t know anything about the fact that Reggie was already working for a Bridgerton, albeit as a driver rather than doing whatever nebulous, high-flying sort of business work Joan clearly thought her son should be engaged in.

Kate stepped forward at that moment, coming up between her husband and her brother-in-law, so that Sophie now felt as if they’d built a protective wall in front of her to guard her from her stepmother. One that she was quite appreciative of. “We do happen to have something available. If you can give us his address, we’ll fly right out. We’re scouting, you see, and we don’t have much time to fill this slot, but we’d much rather have an Eton man like your son rather than one of these Yanks.”

The men were looking at her a little perplexed, not quite understanding why she thought this would work, but Sophie knew immediately it would. Kate had read her stepmother perfectly, and indeed, the words induced Joan to tell them what she knew. She said she didn’t have an exact address, but she knew which country Reggie was in. She didn’t have a phone number- he must have been using burners to contact her, they decided later- but she did have his email address. That would be enough for Anthony’s private eye to track him down pretty accurately.

As they turned to leave, Joan called after her step-daughter. “Sophie! What are you doing with these nice people?”

Benedict bristled at the implication, but Sophie pressed her arm back against his to cool him down. “I thought Reggie would be perfect for this job,” she lied. “I promised I’d help them find him.”

Joan nodded, like that made sense in her deluded mind. Like her son was so highly qualified a rich family would chase him across the world just because they wanted to head hunt him. “I knew you had it in you to be a good sister.”

Sophie tried not to wince. “If Reggie calls you, don’t tell him we’re coming. We’re almost there now. Might as well leave it to be a nice surprise.”

Slamming his laptop closed, Colin grabbed his phone and dialled Fife’s number. “Get over here now,” he spat into it, then hung up without waiting for a response. Fucking useless. He paid this man well, he agreed to let him move his mother out to a nice place in the States so he could go see her without having to have any contact to the UK, and Fife repaid him by being so careless?

Colin stormed into the nursery where Penelope was rocking Agatha and singing quietly to her. She came to a stop when she looked up to see Colin standing in the doorway. “Go pack our clothes,” he ordered his wife. “I’ll find Fabiana and get her to pack Aggie’s stuff.”

“What?!” Penelope’s brow furrowed. Colin turned and strode off to find the nanny. He foolishly assumed Penelope would put the baby down and do what he’d told her to. Instead, she followed right after him, Aggie still cradled in her arms. “What’s going on, Col? Why do we need to pack?”

Colin spun on his heel, almost slamming back into her she was chasing after him so fast. “We don’t have time for this. I’m sure they’re already on their way.”

“Who’s already on their way?” Penelope asked desperately.

Aggie started wailing at the tension between her parents, and Colin scowled. “Look what you’ve done! Just shut up and do as I say, Penelope. You’re going to put everything at risk if you don’t hurry the hell up. You’re going to put our daughter at risk.”

Penelope didn’t back down. Having Aggie in her arms always seemed to empower her to do and say things she wouldn't otherwise. “This isn’t right, Colin! You promised you were going to give us- give her- a life. We can’t keep moving her- and I haven’t prepared for a journey. I don’t have anything she’ll need.”

Colin bore suddenly into her, pushing her back against the wall. Aggie, trapped between them, let out an ear-shattering shriek. Colin growled into Penelope's ear over the din, "If your husband tells you we're doing something it's for a reason. Stop fucking upsetting your daughter and listen to me."

Fabiana must have heard the baby, for she came bounding up the stairs, her arms outstretched to take the baby.

“Pon todas sus cositas en una maleta,” Colin ordered her, his hands pinning Penelope’s wrists to the wall once he wrestled Aggie away from her and passed her over to Fabiana. “Y todo lo que le sirve para un viaje. Tú también vas a venir con nosotros. No volveremos.”

Fabiana didn’t falter once at his instructions, not even when he told her she was coming with them. She just gave an obedient “sí señor” and bustled off to prepare Aggie’s things. Penelope let out a kitten-like, pained noise at the tight grip he still had on her wrists, but it only made him lean in harder, pressing his mouth to her ear. “You see how quickly she responded. I thought you were just as good once, but now I see there’s still a lot to be tamed in you.” Penelope wriggled, trying to turn her head away. “Stop fucking moving,” Colin hissed. “If I had the time I would split you apart on my cock here in the corridor right here and right now to correct you. As is, I have urgent business to attend to. You are going to pack our bags right now. I’ll be back to get you in ten minutes. You’d better have knocked off this bitchy act by that time or there will be hell to pay.”

Without further ado, he manhandled her into the bedroom, shoving her inside so she stumbled right into the bed. Then he slammed and locked the door. Seething, he went back to his study and unlocked the safe with the gun he’d acquired from his business partner. He glanced out the window and saw Fife nervously getting out of the car. Perfect timing…

Penelope mechanically emptied out the wardrobe, shoving all of her and Colin’s clothes into a suitcase without any particular rhyme or reason. It was surely all going to be creased by the time they got wherever the hell they were going, but he should be glad she was doing this at all.

BANG! BANG!

Penelope jumped, clutching her heart. What the fuck was that? It was the middle of the day, there was no chance it was a firework. She ran to the window and tried to look out, but the sound seemed to have come from the other side of the house anyway, and the window didn’t open far- Colin had made sure they all caught on a latch so there was just enough space for a little air to come in through them, but not enough for someone to crawl in or out of them. She tried the door, but he’d locked it. Shit, what was going on? Her husband was severely pissed off, that was all that was clear to her. He had said someone was coming- was that what that sound had been? Had he shot at someone coming after them? Had someone shot him?

Guilt crept into her bones. She had started fighting with him, even though he’d clearly been in a rush. What if he hadn’t had time to prepare for whoever this was?

Footsteps outside the door.

“Colin!” She called in a panic through the door.

“Soy yo, señora.” It was Fabiana. She began speaking again but then broke off when a second pair of footsteps came thundering up the stairs. The lock turned in the door, and Penelope fell forward onto Colin’s chest, clutching at his shirt, looking him over in a panic. “You’re okay!” She said, feeling close to a panic attack. She found him unharmed, but was still overtaken by the stress of the moment.

His face softened when he saw her reaction. “Come on,” he said, speaking much more gently than he had been before. “I’ll carry the bags down, but we need to make a move.”

Penelope nodded weakly. She glanced over to check Agatha was okay too. Her daughter was looking around with wide eyes, but she was quiet in Fabiana’s arms. Colin took everything down and then bundled them into the car.

“Where’s Fife?” Penelope said suddenly when her husband climbed into the driver’s seat instead of the back like usual. She looked back towards the house and gasped. How had she missed the bloody body of their employee and ex-housemate bundled at the bottom of the steps. “Colin?” She asked desperately, praying for some kind of explanation, but her husband just gripped the wheel tightly and slammed down on the accelerator, taking off.

Chapter Text

They drove for three days, not stopping in any motels. Colin was paranoid his family was going to catch up to them. He swapped over driving duties with Fabiana every few hours, but they didn’t stay stationary for longer than a few minutes.

Colin made some calls when Fabiana was driving. His business partner had family in Argentina and they agreed to rent him out this house they owned so they’d have a place to stay somewhere for the immediate future. He didn’t tell them all the details of course, but they said they’d be up for him extending the business to Argentina. He’d used a fake name with them, so he thought sticking with the business shouldn’t cause any problems. Penelope was almost catatonic for the first few hours of their journey. He’d look back at her in the rear view mirror and see her rocking in her seat, confused. When he climbed into the back he made her snuggle into him and got her to nap against him, which had rejuvenated her a bit. When she woke up she’d took Aggie. He had bought a car seat for her before the birth, thankfully, as he’d been thinking he might start taking her and Pen out to postnatal classes if his wife was good. They’d never gotten there, but it was certainly serving a good purpose now.

The second time Colin took a break from driving and crawled into the back of the car with his wife and child he was feeling a little more comfortable. He played with Aggie’s little fingers with one hand, making faces down at her to make her smile, and ran his palm along Penelope’s thigh on the other side, reminding himself he still had them both. No, this certainly wasn’t ideal, but he had the beginnings of a plan now- everything was going to be alright! He even took some amusement in imagining Sophie and his family showing up at the house all smug in the assumption they were going to ‘save’ Pen- only to find the corpse of Sophie’s step-brother would be the only thing to greet them. He kind of wished he had cameras set up outside so he could see their reaction.

When they saw the body from a distance, at first they thought Fife was just sitting there. As they got out of the car and walked towards it, it quickly became clear that there was no life in that body.

“Sophie-” Benedict tried to shield her, in vain- it was already too late. The realisation came upon her all in a moment, and Sophie felt a wave of nausea erupt inside of her. She span to the side and heaved her guts out, shivers wracking her body like she’d caught the flu. Benedict pulled her hair back and stroked her back, whispering something to her, but her mind was running too fast to listen. Had she gotten Reggie killed? They had a complicated relationship, and she knew if she had been able to cut him and his mother out a few years ago she would have been the better for ware, but that wasn’t what had happened. They had developed a sapping mess of a sibling relationship, always twinged with the pain and confusion of his sexual assault against her when they’d been younger. He’d used her for free labour, she’d had to rely on him to pay their bills, and debts. He’d effectively kidnapped her, driving her out to Colin’s London house with little explanation, and kept her salary for himself so she didn’t have a way to get out. She should be feeling some sense of freedom, of being cut loose from all that toxicity. She didn’t. Not right now.

“They’re not here,” Kate said, coming back to the couple after she and Anthony had searched the house. “It looks like they left not long ago, maybe we can ask any neighbours around if they said anything about where they were going?”

Sophie screwed up her eyes. Shit. They’d thought they finally had something, but clearly Reggie’s carelessness had been the reason they’d gotten anywhere, and Colin had factored the possibility for that in. He’d somehow realised they were coming, killed her step-brother as punishment for messing up, and taken Pen and her baby somewhere else. No, they couldn’t be too far yet, maybe they could put out some kind of APB, but realistically, what chance was there Colin had disclosed his travel plans to the neighbours. They were back to square one.

Penelope sat still as Colin wound one of her curls around his finger until it bounced back. She let him play with her, but she felt sickened to her core. She hadn’t liked Fife, but he hadn’t deserved to die. Certainly not like that.

They’d gotten to this new location early this morning. She didn’t know how Colin had found it- he said it wasn’t important, so that was that. He’d told Fabiana to set Aggie up in one of the rooms while he’d pulled Penelope off to sleep. She hadn’t done any sleeping though, she’d just stared up at the ceiling, trapped under the arm Colin had thrown over her before passing out. She felt like she was waking up from a long, engrossing dream, suddenly back in reality. Like she was surfacing after having almost drowned. She was suddenly acutely aware of every bite mark and handprint on her, like he’d been trying to brand her rather than love her. This wasn’t right. How had she let herself fall for this? Even now, she wasn’t free from his spell. It stung, because she still loved him, but the past few days had pulled the curtain back for her on their so-called ‘life’.

“Where are you, baby?” Colin asked sternly, tipping her head to try and catch the attention of her glassy eyes. She snapped her attention to him, breathing out heavily to centre herself, and he smiled his approval, ghosting his fingers along her neck, leaving a burning trail of touches across her body and admiring the result- her heaving chest and heated skin. He still had this effect on her, even if her mind was turning against him.

“Tell you what, pet. Let’s make a pact. For every time that you let me make you come I’ll give you half an hour alone with Aggie tomorrow. No me, and no Fabiana in the room either.”

Penelope blinked up at him in horror. He couldn’t be serious. He wasn’t going to play with her access to her child like that. Well… his expression implied he was deadly serious. Penelope gulped and pulled off her nightie, exposing herself to Colin’s hungry gaze. He drank in her pebbled nipples, her bare pussy. She could tell he wanted more though. He wanted the experience of the wife who clung to him, who was desperate for him, dependent on him. The girl she’d been back before becoming a mother had put things into perspective for her. “Please, Colin,” she said, indulgently providing him with what he wanted to hear. “Take me.”

He growled in delight, smothering her lips in a kiss and twisting his fingers into her, pumping them up into her with a come hither motion against the G-spot he’d found early in their relationship, knowing it drove her wild. He tapped and tapped until she came, without him even needing to touch her clit. That’s thirty minutes with Aggie, she thought, and pushed on. She spread her legs, biting her lip as seductively as she could.

Colin pushed his boxers down at pumped his cock a few times as he clamboured over to get above her. “What do you want, wife?”

“Your big dick,” Penelope said, her gaze smouldering. “I want it to fill me up and push on my walls till I feel you everywhere in me. I want to have what I always crave, what I never feel complete without.”

“Fuck, Pen,” Colin cursed, lining up his already dripping cock and slamming hard into her. She grabbed his shoulders, shocked by his force, even with all the build up. “Is that what you wanted?”

“Yesssss,” she moaned, her back arching back. Colin laced his arm around her back to hold her up.

“I can feel your walls trembling around me, Pen,” Colin panted, thrusting into her.

“I’m coming, Col, I’m coming again!” She shrieked, falling apart as he held her, stars blurring her vision.

An hour with Aggie.

She felt wobbly, but Colin was still fucking her. He lifted her up in fact, pulling her onto his lap. “Ride me, wife,” he ordered. “I know you’re still hungry for me, don’t even try and deny it.” Perhaps a cool-down for just a minute might have been nice, but Penelope wanted this time with her daughter he was dangling over her head, and despite herself, she was still addicted to the feelings Colin elicited in her as well. She bore down on him, a rush of power running through her as he lost all control and shook with the force of his orgasm, stammering out unintelligible noises. He flopped down onto the pillows, needing a moment of recovery, and she gladly acquiesced, following him down. They were still connected inside, and Colin traced innocent patterns on her back for a few minutes, before his hands started to move around to her front.

Suddenly, he transitioned to playing with her breasts- rubbing and pinching them at first with his fingers, before dipping his mouth down to scrape his teeth along them, and then actually bite down. She winced, unable to stop the natural reaction, and his hand clenched around her waist in punishment. Then he began to suck, and she realised with bewilderment when a moan left his mouth that he was drinking her breast milk.

“Damn, Pen,” he murmured when he pulled back, licking up the final little splash. “Your life-giving liquid is so good.”

She blushed. How odd. Why had he done that? Did he actually find it hot? That milk was made for Aggie. Not that she’d gotten to see her for quite a few hours, nor did she think she would be for a few more, so she supposed there was technically no harm in Colin taking it. It felt wrong though, like he was doing it because he was jealous that Aggie got a part of her he didn’t, and he wanted to claim it. As her thoughts raced, Colin pulled out of her but dragged her up to her hands and knees, placing her just the way he wanted before coming back around behind her and teasing her slit. “You were made to take my cock, little love, you don’t need anything more in life, do you?”

Penelope thought of her daughter off in the other room. She hadn’t yet gotten to see how she was settling in. Colin realised her thoughts must be wandering and angrily yanked at her hair, pulling her head back. “Y-yes, I mean, no?” Penelope stammered, trying to remember what his question had been exactly. Colin made a frustrated noise but didn’t push it.

Instead, he speared her on his cock again. “I know what you need, Pen. You have to stop this thinking. Give up, give in. I’ll tell you what's important, I’ll give you what you need. It can be so easy... don’t you remember?”

Penelope keened as he hit deep spots within her. She felt animalistic, outside of herself. “Fuck, have I reshaped your insides, Pen? Tell me, what have I done to you?” Colin urged as he snapped his hips against her.

“You stretch me so well, Colin,” she groaned, feeling another orgasm creeping up on her.

“I love battering my cunt,” Colin said lowly, reaching around her body to grope at her again. “My tits. My girl.”

Penelope came in a mighty wave of pleasure, her muscles giving in and collapsing onto the bed. “Whose are you?” Colin hissed in her ear.

“Y-yours,” she exhaled, burying her face in the covers.

As Colin bestowed hickeys onto her prone body, she started to understand how he’d shaped her feelings over the past ten months or so. It was a combination of pleasure and building her trust in him, alongside assertions that pushed her boundaries- slowly but surely- until he’d reshaped her whole world and made things she’d never before have been able to justify seem completely normal.

Colin flipped her around, and she worried he was going to force another orgasm she wasn’t ready for, but he had a different kind of look in his eyes. “New rule, Pen,” he asserted, taking one of her hands and lacing his fingers through it before looking back at her face. “No knickers anymore, ever. I want you always to be ready for me, no barriers between us.”

He thought sex was going to be his way to mould her back to what she’d been before the birth, how he wanted her to still be. But there was a pretty sizeable crack in that now, because Penelope was aware of what he was doing.

“Understood?” He asked authoritatively.

She nodded. He could make her walk around in nothing, it wouldn’t change the fact that things would never be the same again.

Chapter Text

In Argentina, Colin became manic in his efforts to shape Penelope back into the wife he wanted. He enforced his ‘no knickers’ rule harshly, and he came up with other new rules besides that: she must keep either a butt plug or a dildo in her at all times when he was out; she had to put Agatha down immediately and come greet him when she heard him get home; she couldn’t complain when he said she’d had enough baby time. Any time she tried to disobey him he responded with slaps to her breast, bum or face, and often that devolved into feeding her his cock and making her gag on it too. He’d overstimulate her, he’d edge her. She’d never known sex could be such torture. When she tried to beg him not to hit her when Agatha wasn’t in the room because it might disturb her, he snapped, “You should have thought of that before you behaved so badly in front of our daughter, you stupid slut. What kind of example are you trying to set?”

When she burst into tears after one particularly savage punishment was over, he lay kisses all over her, starting to cry as well, like she was making him feel bad. “I just love you so much, Pen,” he said desperately. “I need you to be as infatuated with me as I am with you.”

As time progressed, Penelope got a bit better at following the rules and the punishments became less frequent. She was getting tired more easily though, and she felt like she was always desperate for the loo, which was difficult when Colin was wont to fall asleep with at least one part of his body locking her down. It was only when she realised she hadn’t had a period since they arrived that she considered that she might be pregnant again. She didn’t really want to bring it up to Colin- she was afraid of how he’d take it- but as it turned out he had come to the same realisation on his own. He presented her with the test a few days after she’d started thinking about it herself, and the result came back positive. Honestly, she didn’t expect the wide grin that spread across his face. Sure, he’d been ecstatic about her first pregnancy, but he didn’t seem to have actually enjoyed what a child had done to their dynamic. Maybe it was more about the masculine pride it seemed he felt in knocking her up so soon again. Maybe he liked seeing her swollen up with his baby inside of her and saw it as a reminder that he had the control- he had done that to her.

He ‘made love’ to her after they found out she was pregnant. He liked to call it that when he was being slow and tender, calling her romantic pet names and dancing his tongue inside her mouth while he rocked into her. After that, he seemed to remember something urgent, and went to grab his laptop. It was whilst he was gone that Penelope happened to look up at the corner of the room and realised that the camera was flashing red.

It was out of battery.

And so.

It wasn’t recording.

Holy fuck. This was her chance to do something. Colin bustled back in with his laptop, settling back into the pillows and typing out an email before shutting the computer and leaving it on the bedside table. “Want to come for a shower, love?”

Penelope faked a yawn, pressing her fingernails anxiously into her legs under the covers and praying he wouldn’t chance a glance at the camera like she had. “I’m about to pass out. I’ll have one in the morning.”

Many other times, he might have forced her to come shower with him, tired or not, but he was happy with her tonight.

“Okay,” he said, giving her a kiss goodbye before whistling his way over to the bathroom. Penelope gulped, taking one more look up at the camera to check she hadn’t imagined its malfunctioning. Nope, the red light was still blinking stubbornly at her. She looked to the door of the ensuite- it was shut. The sound of the shower water being turned on indicated Colin was definitely getting in. She couldn’t delay any longer. She couldn’t keep overthinking whether or not this could be a trap, or imagining the punishment to end all punishments that Colin would give her if he realised what she was about to do. She had to do this- for her children if not for herself.

So she reached across to the bedside table and grabbed Colin’s laptop. It had gone to sleep, but she guessed the password on her first attempt- her birthday. Wow, he wasn't at all worried about her trying to break into it. He must think that she was too well-conditioned never to do so, or he'd always assumed that he would have the cameras working to check up on her. Casting her eyes back to the ensuite one more time, Penelope boldly clicked on the email icon and typed in Eloise’s email address.

El,

It’s Pen. Don’t reply. I’ve gotten onto Colin’s laptop. Can’t explain more now. I’m

She broke off. Where exactly were they? She opened up Google Maps and shared her location, copying and pasting it to send in the message before deleting the evidence from Colin’s search history and closing the tab.

He goes out to work 9-5 Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I have kids. Please. Help us.

There was no time to write anything more eloquent. She hit send and waited to see it go into the ‘sent messages’ folder before she deleted the email once, and then went into trash to make sure it was permanently gone.

The ensuite door was still shut. Colin was still humming happily to himself in the shower. Penelope closed the laptop and put it back in its place, trying to calm her heart. Even if Eloise read the message immediately, she wouldn’t be able to send a SWAT team right there and now. She was going to have to keep up the facade that things were normal with Colin for a couple of days at the very least, if not longer.

Bzzzzzzz

Sophie and Benedict picked up their phones when they went off at the same time. They were still in Peru, trying to chase down any loose ends from a hotel Anthony was paying for, even though he and Kate had gone home to their children.

“What?” Benedict mused sleepily, as he opened the odd message from his sister, in all caps.

MESSAGE FROM PEN! I THINK SHE SENT IT FROM COLIN’S EMAIL ACCOUNT SOMEHOW. GO GET HER. NOW!!!!

Below that was a copy of the message Penelope must have sent her.

“Oh my God,” Sophie gasped, her hand flying to her mouth.

“We’re going to have to be careful,” Benedict observed.

“But at least she gave us a big window where Colin shouldn’t be there with the gun he must have used on my brother. Nine to five Monday,” Sophie pointed out.

Benedict nodded.

“Multiple kids,” Sophie breathed out, reading back over the message. “Shit, she must be pregnant again.”

Benedict whirled his phone around to show her the hotel he was looking at. “We can head over to Argentina tomorrow morning. This place is only an hour or so from where they’re staying. Anthony was going to send the jet back for us when we were ready as well, so we can dock that somewhere nearby, drive straight there, and fly immediately back to the UK so Pen and her kids are long gone before Colin gets home.”

“He probably has cameras up in the house,” Sophie pointed out. “He did in the ones I stayed at, and I suspect he’ll see as soon as she moves. We’re going to have to be very quick in breaking her out and getting her away.”

“We will be, I promise,” Benedict said, looking earnestly into her eyes.

Sophie bit her lip. “Do you really think we can do it this time, Ben?”

Her boyfriend squeezed her hand. “You and I are going to do everything in our power to get them out of there, Soph.”

Chapter Text

All weekend, Penelope was on edge, worried that Colin was going to somehow retrieve the message she’d sent from the trash folder, or that the red light hadn’t really meant what she’d thought it had, and that he might actually be able to look back and see her doing something suspicious.

On Saturday, Colin said they were going to have a date. He set up a picnic in the back garden, and he acted like a romantic regency gentleman for the whole duration of the date. He took her hand and reverently pressed his lips softly against it, like savouring that was enough for him. He didn’t make any innuendos or advances, just chatted casually with her about the food, the amazing weather, and the dress he loved so much- he should, he'd picked it out and told her to put it on that morning.

After the date, he let her spend the rest of the afternoon with Agatha. He sat in the room too, working on something on his laptop. That wasn’t unusual. He never let her have time alone with her daughter unless they had come to some deal about it where she agreed to give him something he wanted- usually sexual favours. But she sort of preferred having him here as opposed to when he had Fabiana chaperone them. The nanny was perfectly polite, but she was always hovering, offering to help or knowing some better way of doing things. It made Penelope feel utterly incompetent. Colin wasn’t really interested. Occasionally, he might wander over and play with Aggie’s toes or try to get her to give her first laugh, but he never tried to interfere with anything practical, and more often Penelope would just see him shamelessly admiring her breasts while she fed Aggie, or grinning smugly at the image they made sitting together in the rocking chair.

Penelope tried to calm herself, thinking, he can’t possibly know, if he did, he wouldn’t be treating me so kindly. He’s not patient. The moment he found out, he would have exploded.

But maybe she was wrong. Maybe he was playing some long game, trying to lure her into a false sense of security before he pounced. She prayed the Bridgertons were going to make their attempt to free her sooner rather than later. They must be close. It could only have been them that Colin was nebulously referring to when they were trying to escape, but then... that had been over a month ago. Maybe they’d gone home. Maybe they didn’t think another attempt was worth the risk. Could she really blame them for feeling that way?

On Sunday, Colin was back to his uninhibited, sexually-charged self. He sent Fabiana to tell Penelope to come meet him in his office, and the moment she walked through the door he closed it behind her and captured her mouth, encircling her in his arms and walking her back into the desk. When they came up against it he spun her around and pushed down on her back to bend her over the desk until her cheek hit the polished wood. Satisfied with their position, he grabbed her hips, hiked her skirt up, and impaled her with his cock from behind, drilling into her fast and hard. He reached around her front to jam his thumb into her mouth, waxing on and on about how soft and malleable she was. Then with no warning, he suddenly took that hand away from her mouth and wrapped it around her neck, squeezing her until she gasped for breath, white and panicky. He knew- he must know! This was it, he was gonna kill her.

“Fuck, Pen!”

The hand loosened and then let go as his muscles spasmed, ricocheting back and forth into her while his cock twitched endlessly inside of her.

Penelope coughed and wheezed, trying to recover from the brutal choking he had just given her. Colin cooed sympathetically, leaning around her to grab the glass of water he must have been drinking before she came in and tipping it up to drip it into her mouth. She accepted, trying her best not to splutter on it.

“Such a good girl,” he praised, drawing the hair back from her neck to admire the new bruises there.

She barely spoke the rest of the day, only giving Colin raspy responses when he said something that clearly demanded an answer. He took her again roughly a few hours later though, telling her to enjoy her dinner while he ‘ate his’, assaulting the pulsating heatedness between her thighs with his tongue, lips and teeth, drawing squelching sounds from her pussy and desperate whines from her lips while he urged her to keep eating. Once he’d pushed her into over-stimulated ecstasy twice, he rose up, squashing her against the chair as he suckled on her breast milk, gulping it down like he was the baby reliant on her.

And then there was a third time later that night as well. She’d already gotten ready for bed and gotten under the covers when he came in, turned on the lights, and showed her the new toy he’d ordered for her. It was a suction device that clung to her clit. He used it to work her up until she was slick and moaning while he spun her around and pounded into her arse, calling her a filthy girl who needed what only he could give her to survive.

“You’ve been so good these past few days, pet,” he said softly when he was done, chasing her mouth with a sloppy kiss before pulling back and grinning, stroking her cheek. “Such a devoted wife. I’m proud of you.”

On Monday morning, Colin picked out a glimmering butt plug he liked to imagine inside of her while he was at work, and put it into position, before arranging her skirts around her like she was his own personal dolly.

“I don’t know what got into you after Aggie’s birth, but I’m glad you’re back to being my little angel,” he said, staring at her unyieldingly .

She blinked back obediently. Unless he asked her a question, she wasn’t going to say anything, as it still hurt to speak. Colin sighed. “I wish I could stay here all day, every day. But just know, whenever I’m missing you, I take a look at the cameras and imagine I’m right here with you.”

Penelope tried not to shiver at that. She never did much while he was away, but she was hoping that one day soon she would be getting out of here. She hoped he wouldn’t have his eyes glued to the cameras whenever it was that that might happen.

Once Colin had left, she sat in the bedroom with the butt plug in her and a hand on her tiny bump, squirming and staring at herself in the mirror. There was nothing to do but feel every inch of the body she’d always fought against, the body Colin was trying to take over, and plant a permanent flag on. Sometimes she still felt disgust when faced with a plate of food, but Colin had conditioned her into eating all of it, because she knew he liked her body like this and would feed her himself if need be to keep her the way he wanted.

He'd told her she couldn’t go see Aggie until eleven o’clock today. He might not be here to enforce that, but his warning about watching her on the cameras told her he’d know if she disobeyed. At 10:15, Penelope suddenly heard the smash of window panes crashing down, and leapt to her feet. She ran to the nursery and found Fabiana already on the phone to Colin, rattling off details of what was going on. On the other side of the room, Penelope snatched Aggie up into her arms and darted out of the room, running straight into Benedict and Sophie.

“Pen!” “Penny!” Her friends gasped in exultation, throwing their arms around her and the baby.

“Step away from them, Penelope,” came a dangerous, tinny voice through the phone. She turned her head to find Fabiana behind her, holding out the phone she’d put on speaker. There was rustling, and heavy breathing, like Colin was already on his way back. But he wasn’t here yet.

“No,” she snapped decisively. Fabiana tried to reach out to grab Aggie from her but Penelope’s arms were locked in a vice grip around her daughter, and Benedict and Sophie pushed back, shoving Fabiana away from Pen, so that she fell onto the floor, unharmed but dazed.

“Let’s go!” Benedict urged, pulling on Penelope and Sophie’s arms.

They bolted, Colin’s voice fading away in the background as he promised to destroy Benedict and Sophie, kin or not.

“This way!” Sophie tugged on Penelope’s arm, guiding her to their car. She climbed in the back with Pen, and Benedict tore off, speeding away from the house. Once they were moving, Sophie threw her arms around Penelope and the now crying Agatha, only drawing back for the benefit of the baby.

“Oh my god, Pen. It doesn’t feel real seeing you in the flesh again.”

Penelope choked out a laugh, pulling down her shirt to give her baby the comfort of her milk. “I feel exactly the same.”

When she heard the way Penelope sounded, Sophie took a proper look at the state she was in and visibly cringed. “Holy shit, Pen, what has he been doing to you? I thought things had gotten, well, not better, but I thought he was being gentler, trying to keep up this farce of you being his wife and not a prisoner."

Benedict glanced back at them in the rear view mirror and hissed through his teeth when his eyes let him acknowledge Penelope’s physical appearance properly as well. Penelope shrugged. She placed a soft kiss on Agatha’s little head, and thanked god her daughter was so adaptable, quieting down now that they were away from the chaos of the house. “It was good for a while, and then it wasn’t.” Some small part of her felt almost defensive, perhaps not of Colin, but of what they’d had. She loved him, even now, it was impossible to deny that those feelings had ingrained themselves deep within her. It was hard to let go. “Here, Aggie,” she said in a quiet voice so as not to strain herself, but changing the subject. “This is your Auntie Soph and your Uncle Ben.”

Agatha made a warbling noise of greeting and her two rescuers were unable to hold back their delight.

“Was the birth bad? Has Colin had you and… Aggie properly checked out since?” Sophie asked, clearly concerned, but Penelope just shook her head not wanting to talk about it.

“Okay,” Sophie said gently, and took her hand. “All that matters is that you’re okay, Pen. We’ll sort all that out when we get home. But you’re safe. Both of you.” Penelope’s hand gravitated to her stomach, and Sophie looked down, but didn’t say anything.

It was only a twenty minute drive before they got to where the jet was waiting, its engine already warm and ready to go. They raced up the ladder, the doors were shut, and within moments the plane started to move into position, gathered speed, and took off into the air. Penelope held Agatha cradled in her arms, watching stunned as the Argentinian landscape turned to the size of toys below them. Where was their house? She had no idea. Colin would surely already be there. His commute wasn’t that long, and he would have raced home. She hoped he didn’t hurt Fabiana; she had done her best to stop them after all. But he was probably out of his mind with shock and panic; he'd never believed this could happen.

After a moment, Penelope refocussed herself, and realised Benedict and Sophie were whispering on the other side of the aisle. She whipped her head over and they immediately shut up.

“You want a drink, Penny?” Benedict asked cautiously.

“Um, water would be great,” she whispered. He went to the mini-fridge and got one out for her, pausing midway through his turn back to Sophie. “I know this is scary, but everything’s going to be okay now. We’re here. And he’s not.”

Penelope nodded sharply, turning her eyes down to Aggie, who was now straining to look around at her new surroundings. Penelope indulged her, showing her around. She had to clutch at her throat after a minute of narrating though.

Sophie noticed, and offered, “I can take her for a few minutes and show her the plane, if you’d like?”

Penelope hesitated, but it was a question, not an order to hand her daughter over. She could say no if she wanted. That made all the difference. She gave a small nod, and handed Aggie over, gesturing to show Sophie how to hold her to keep her comfortable, but then letting her friend wander around the jet with Aggie. As soon as Aggie was out of her arms, she felt the pressure of the butt plug still sitting inside of her and remembered it was there. She blushed red, running to the toilet to take it out. What was she supposed to do with it though to stop them from seeing? There was a little bin in the loo, so she did the only thing she could do and shoved the butt plug down to the bottom of it, covering it in toilet paper so that hopefully whoever cleared it out wouldn’t even see it when they put it onto a bigger pile of rubbish.

Taking a deep breath, Penelope went back out to join the others. Sophie had sat back down and was singing to Aggie while Benedict beamed at them, but when he heard the door open, he turned back to look at Penelope with an expression that silently asked how she was. She gave him the smallest of smiles and came to lean against Sophie’s chair.

Her friend looked up at her. “Do you want Aggie back? Or do you want me to keep her for now? We’ve also got a special cot for the plane that she can be strapped in to so she’s safe if you’d prefer?”

Benedict hurried to go get the cot from the back of the jet, showing Penelope how it could be secured so Aggie would be able to get some sleep without having to stay in their arms for the whole flight. It was refreshing how many options they were already giving her: the support that they were offering, but not forcing upon her. Re-integrating back into life in London was going to be difficult, but it felt possible knowing that these were just two of the people who loved and would help her.

Chapter Text

Being back in the UK was a difficult transition.

Sophie and Benedict might have been a little intense at points with their worry at first, but they’d backed down when they’d seen Penelope’s discomfort, and there had been other things they's managed to distract her with. It had taken Penelope explicitly seeing Benedict give Sophie a peck on the cheek before she worked out they were together- but that had been pretty stimulating a topic really. Sophie and Benedict had explained their story, from the masquerade ball Penelope remembered hearing originally about- and then also the other side from Sophie- to where they were today, living together. The moment they got off the plane, things were quite different.

Penelope was assaulted by a barrage of Bridgertons hugging her and crying, saying they thought they’d never see her again. They’d come out in full force: every sibling; all their partners; the children, and Violet and Agatha The First of course as well. Penelope was surprised they hadn’t made a ‘Welcome home!’ banner for her. Her mother and sisters were there too; she supposed the Bridgertons must have told them they’d rescued her. Her mother gave her a brief embrace, but she acted strange the moment she saw Aggie, posturing and telling the Bridgertons they had better make renumerations for what her poor daughter had suffered, as if Colin’s actions were their fault. Penelope had never been all that close with her sisters, and she was surprised they had come honestly, but they were perhaps the least stifling of everyone there, actually giving her space and only offering to babysit if she needed help. Eloise would have won the prize for most distraught, reluctant to let go of Penelope’s hand and making a disgusted face whenever she looked at Aggie, so Penelope handed her off to her namesake, explaining the decision, which made Agatha Danbury preen as she bounced the baby.

They drove back to Aubrey Hall in a few different cars. Eloise stayed with Pen of course, because she refused to release her.

“Do you want me to book an appointment and take you to get an abortion?” Her best friend asked, squeezing her hand.

Penelope stared at her aghast, and forgot to speak quietly, hurting her voice in the process. “What? No!” She wasn’t against abortions as a concept whatsoever, perhaps she might even have gotten one if they’d gotten her away from Colin before she’d given birth the first time, but now that she’d had Aggie and taken such strength from the connection to her daughter, she was looking forward to having another baby and discovering their own particular personality.

“Are you sure?” Eloise asked disbelievingly, giving Penelope a blatant once-over. Her eyes caught on every mark Colin had made on her body. “We all understand, you shouldn’t have to keep it.”

For other people in the same situation, having a baby that shared some of their abuser’s features might disturb them, but Penelope had never felt that way about Aggie, and she knew she wouldn’t about the new baby either. Honestly, Eloise was more so the one who was reminding her of Colin right now. They were both very possessive of her, both often convinced they were right, and they both had a habit of referring to the baby as ‘it’.

“I’m sure,” Penelope said decisively, having to remind herself that she didn’t need to bend anymore, no matter how strong a personality she was up against. She had her choices back.

“Okaaay,” Eloise trilled, in a way that implied she was sure Penelope would change her mind soon. That rankled her. She changed the subject though, getting Eloise to tell her what she’d been up to over the last… well, it was almost a year. It felt like so much more- like a lifetime at least, if not several. Eloise was not as good at reading Penelope’s discomfort as Benedict and Sophie had been. Luckily, Francesca and Michaela were sharing the car with them as well so they helped out, bursting in whenever Eloise tried to turn things back to what Colin had done to her. Penelope had always felt a sort of kinship with Francesca. They were both quite quiet and socially awkward, never feeling like they fit in. She remembered Frannie sharing the criteria for an autism diagnosis with her before any other members of the family, asking if Pen thought it might fit her. She was glad she’d found Michaela, and they seemed to be going strong. They’d gotten together a little before Colin had kidnapped her, after all, and they were still together now. Michaela was a bit more outspoken than John, her cousin and Francesca’s ex, but Penelope thought that their different personalities worked pretty well together, from what she could see.

After an hour or so spent hovering around Aubrey Hall, Penelope’s mum didn’t offer to take her home, and she was quite glad for that. It might have been awkward turning her down. Her mother had hinted once more that she hoped the Bridgertons would be making things up to her in some way- which she clearly expected to be monetary- before leaving. Penelope blushed, apologising as soon as her mother was out the door.

“Don’t be silly, dear!” Violet said. “She sort of has a point. We all regret not seeing anything. I just still can’t believe my darling boy-” She broke off, realising maybe that wasn’t the right thing to say.

Anthony took up the metaphorical baton, charging in confidently. “You’re a part of this family, Penelope. You were before all this mess. And now we absolutely want to do right by you. Please stay here as long as you like.”

She agreed to do so; she didn’t have anywhere else after all. Her contract on her flat would have run out a couple of months after Colin took her.

Kate and Anthony and Simon and Daphne stayed at Aubrey Hall the first night but then went back home to normal life- their children had to go to school and they had work to do. Violet had to take Gregory and Hyacinth back for school as well after a couple of days. She was very remorseful about it though and promised she’d be back on the weekends. The two younger Bridgerton siblings said they’d be there too- they were desperate to play with their little niece. Francesca and Michaela stayed two nights before heading back to their place, telling Penelope she could come by for a casual movie night whenever she wanted. That left Agatha Senior, Eloise, Benedict and Sophie, and of course Penelope and little Aggie. They were all kind and respectful, but she felt like they were treading on eggshells around her. They would encourage her to eat, but never forced her like Colin had, and so she fell back into her old disordered patterns. They would sit and watch her sticking her finger nails into the flesh of her thighs but they wouldn’t say anything to stop her, and so her body started getting littered with marks she left on herself to replace the ones fading from Colin.

A few days after her return, Agatha came up to her room to tell her she had a visitor.

“A visitor?” She presumed it was one of the Bridgertons, back already, or perhaps her mother back to check whether she’d been given any financial compensation yet.

“Your beau,” Agatha said with a twinkle in her eyes. Penelope’s brow furrowed, confused. Surely, she wouldn’t be this blasé if it was Colin who’d shown back up. She doubted he would be invited in. After a moment, she realised that Agatha must be referring to Alfred, her boyfriend before all of this kicked off. Agatha must think she still wanted to be with him, which was a bit of a strange assumption to make really seeing as she hadn't mentioned him once since she got back, nor had any of the Bridgertons mentioned how he had taken her disappearance.

She hurried down the stairs and found him pacing around the living room, analysing the furs and animal heads with distaste. “Penny!”

“Alf- Alfie,” she had to remind herself what her nickname for him had even been.

“My God, you’re alive!”

“I’m alive!” she laughed nervously, fiddling with her hands. What was he doing here? She assumed he would have moved on. They’d only dated for a short time.

“What are you doing here?”

“What am I-” She frowned. “Sorry, I’m not sure what you mean.”

He stepped closer, a little too far into her bubble of personal space for her liking. But then he went even further and grasped her hands. “Are they making you stay here?”

“What?” Penelope shook her head in confusion. “No, no!”

“Do you have other feasible options?” He raised an eyebrow. “Seems to me you’re pretty dependent on them. After their brother kidnapped you for a year and,” he gave her that same once over Eloise- and quite a few of the others- had given her. “Did who-knows-what unspeakable things to you.”

Penelope glanced behind her, sort of wishing one of the Bridgertons would come intervene and help her out right now. Where was Eloise’s domineering personality when you needed it? “Well, no offence, Alfred, but I’ve known the Bridgertons most of my life and I just dated you for a couple of months so I’m going to put my faith in them. I’m sure you noticed when you arrived, the security here is pretty good too. I’m probably safer here than I would be in many other places."

He wouldn’t let go of her hands. “But you knew the brother who took you all your life too. You don’t know what the rest of them are capable of. Maybe one or more of them is still talking to him!”

Penelope shook her hands out to make him release her, taking a wide step back. “While I’m getting back up on my feet, I’m happy to accept any support the Bridgertons want to give me, especially because my daughter is part of their family. I want her to have them.”

Alfie’s eyes went wide. “He knocked you up? Well that makes their motives-”

“Stop, please, stop,” Penelope waved her arms around. “I- I don’t want you here. Just leave, please!”

His eyes darkened. “Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. Have a nice life with your groomer family and your product of rape.”

Penelope wanted to hit him, but she just gave his back the finger, glaring after his figure until she was sure he’d left the house.

“Colin’s silent,” Anthony reported at their meeting a month after her return. Most of the Bridgertons were back for this, although the younger ones were off playing, and Daphne and Violet were keeping an eye on the infants in the nursery. “I thought he would most likely reach out, send threatening messages to any or all of us but I haven’t had anything. I assume no-one has been keeping any communication from him secret.”

Everyone shook their heads.

“He won’t have given up,” said Eloise confidently. “He never did back when we were younger. It was all manipulation even from the early days in my eyes. Remember how he’d try to catch you alone while I was in another room? Or how he dated your cousin to try and get you jealous?” Penelope stiffened, but didn’t say anything. Of course she remembered. She felt like Eloise was just bringing it up to brag about how she’d been right all along though.

“I’m afraid I agree,” Sophie said, casting a sympathetic look at Penelope. “He was obsessive with his declarations about how you’d be together forever. You’re still legally married as well, I doubt he sees any invalidity in that. He probably thinks we’ve stolen his property.”

“I’m working on that,” Anthony said, making a note before rambling on. Penelope stared at the wall for a while though, feeling like she wasn’t really there. Where could Colin be? She didn’t honestly think he’d given up on her either. He knew they’d brought her back to the UK. He probably suspected she was at Aubrey Hall, or one of the other Bridgerton family residences. Was he close by, waiting for his moment? Was he still abroad, sorting out some more convoluted plan?

A couple of days after the family meeting, Penelope was still thinking constantly about where Colin could be. She felt like Aggie looked up at her accusingly whenever she picked her up, wondering where her daddy was and where this large throng of people had come from. So one night once she’d put Aggie down she got out a notebook and scribbled down a message to try and get some of the thoughts out of her head- and hopefully keep them out.

Dear Colin,

Why did you have to do this? You could have charmed me into dating you in a normal way- I know you could have, because I’ve seen those parts of you. They’re the parts I love. Yes, love- present tense. And I hate you for messing me up so much that I feel that way about you after all the awful things you’ve done to me. Because for all the traumatic memories, the scars and the life you took from me, parts of me sometimes… it’s just I sometimes think that life with you was easier.

Your family would probably have me sectioned if they ever read this. But it’s the truth. You didn’t give me many choices, and that was awful, but it also meant all I had to focus on was my love for you. I never had to make any hard decisions. While I was pregnant, the first time, I was so deeply under your spell I looked past every manipulative tactic, I don’t Sometimes I wish I could have stayed in that blissful state, seeing things only the way you told me they were. Your family loves me, I know they do, I’m trying not to push them away, but it’s hard. It’s a lot.

I miss when it was just you and me. When my world was small, and neatly presented to me. I’m going to have to work on that.

Yours, Penelope

Penelope stayed at Aubrey Hall for the next couple of months. Eloise, Sophie and Benedict kept her company the whole time. They helped out with Aggie- even Eloise making an effort and getting to know her- which was very helpful. Slowly, Penelope stopped thinking about Colin every moment of the day, though that certainly wasn’t to say that thoughts of him subsided entirely. He came to her every night in dreams, wrapping his arms around her and ‘making love’ to her.

“Tell me you missed me, baby,” he’d murmur, arms wrapped tight around her waist.

“I missed you,” she’d reply instantly, because it was true. She wouldn’t realise tears were leaking out of her eyes until he caught them with the tips of his fingers, saying desperately, “Don’t cry, darling, it’s going to be okay now. It was partially my fault. I got too cocky. But I’m never letting you go again.”

He’d wrap himself around her and pump into her, filling her up with his cum and working her to her climax, but always with a tender edge, even when his movements got rough, she could still tell he cared. When she woke up, she’d have to remind herself that the occasions where Colin ‘made love’ hadn’t been all that frequent, and that they’d always had some undercurrent of control behind them.

She started going to a therapist Sophie helped her find. And she began to be more willing to spend the evenings with one or more of the Bridgertons, letting another babysit while she got some time to relax. The Bridgertons were reluctant to let her move out, worried that Colin would swoop in the moment he realised she was alone, and Penelope had to agree that she had probably better stay with them for the time being. Edwina came over often, as did Michaela and Francesca. Other times Penelope went to her friends’ homes, and she was thankful Eloise and Sophie gave her space and agreed to babysit so she could do that without being suffocated by their presence twenty-four seven.

Aggie was doing very well- enjoying having her family come visit often, but liking having quiet time with her mum as well. She was healthy as well, getting all of her jabs and checkups done, better late than never after all. It was a bit overwhelming for Penelope attending all of these doctor’s appointments for herself, the new baby and Aggie, but helpful. She made a plan for her birth that they promised they’d follow, and she was directed to a support group for sexual assault survivors.

At first it was really difficult having to accept things she didn’t want to admit there, but the other survivors were there for her to draw strength from, and she began to help support their community too.

Her second daughter, Jane, was born a few weeks premature, and it was stress-inducing having to give her up to the special baby care unit, but she was allowed to go see her and hold her tiny hand through the incubator. They were lucky; mum and daughter both got released only a few days later.

She couldn’t believe Colin hadn’t come after them yet, but she got a reason why when Benedict and Anthony disappeared a few days after she brought Jane home. “Where’s Ben?” Penelope asked Sophie, looking around in surprise when she realised he was gone.

Her friend fidgeted, before admitting that Colin had called Anthony frenzied, not making any sense whatsoever, but sounding like he was most certainly a danger to himself and to whoever he was around. The boys had tracked his phone to Croydon, and gone to find him.

It wasn’t too long before they got an update. The brothers had found Colin, and were taking him in.

Penelope felt a huge weight lift off her chest, but she simultaneously shivered, still pitying Colin, despite all the work she'd done to try to detach from him.

He was going to be either in prison or in a high-security psychiatric facility a long time, surely. Besides her abduction and repeated rape, he had murdered Fife, and his family had found the body so they would all serve as witnesses. That was right, she reminded herself. He had done all of those things. What’s more, almost none of it could be classified as having been done in the heat of the moment. Most all of it had required careful planning and purchases. He had made decisions that had ruined his life, and forever changed hers. This was the right ending to their story. One day she hoped she’d be able to say that and fully believe it.

Penelope testified at the trial. It was the hardest thing she ever had to do, much harder than escaping Colin had been. She forced herself to look him in the eyes and explain all the ways he’d hurt her, besides her account of the life he had taken. It made her want to vomit, but she stayed strong and told the court every detail she could.

In the end, he was given a hybrid order, which Kate- the lawyer in the family- explained meant he’d be on psychiatric hold until the secure hospital he was put in deemed he was well enough to be put into prison and serve the rest of his life sentence there.

He tried to catch her attention as he was being taken out by his guards, but the Bridgertons swarmed her, protecting her from his attempts at communication in a gesture that made her heart swim with love for them.

Once Colin had been sentenced, Penelope decided it was time for her to move out. The Bridgertons made it very clear that she was welcome to stay at Aubrey Hall indefinitely if she preferred, and Penelope thanked them, but firmly declined. She had her voice back, and her choices. Now that it was safe, she wanted to build a life for herself and her daughters. She told them they were always welcome in her and her daughters’ lives, and they took her up on that. She got visits from at least three or four of them every week, and was always invited to Aubrey Hall for celebrations.

Grandma Agatha in particular insisted on being the on-call babysitter while Penelope went job-hunting, and then when Pen eventually got offered the job as an entertainment journalist she continued to take her duties seriously whenever Pen had to go into the offices. Grandma Vi, Auntie Soph and Uncle Ben were also frequent babysitters, and although she wasn’t a particular fan of the sick and spit, Auntie El became the girls’ close confidante as they grew up, and the one they went to whenever they had any doubts and needed a push to do anything a bit rebellious in their tween and teen years.

The girls’ lives were full of adoration, laughter and freedom, and Penelope grew healthier too. It took time to work on herself, but she found ways to love her body and nourish herself for her own benefit. She still had negative thoughts sometimes- she was only human after all- but she was stronger than Colin or her old self would have ever believed. When she looked back and considered how different things might be even now if she had never taken that chance that had seemed so terrifying to save herself and her children, Pen couldn’t help but be proud of herself. She couldn’t help but love both the self that had taken that leap and gotten them out of danger, and the current self that had worked so hard to heal them from the scars of it.

Chapter Text

Being back in the UK was a difficult transition.

Sophie and Benedict might have been a little intense at points with their worry at first, but they’d backed down when they’d seen Penelope’s discomfort, and there had been other things they's managed to distract her with. It had taken Penelope explicitly seeing Benedict give Sophie a peck on the cheek before she worked out they were together- but that had been pretty stimulating a topic really. Sophie and Benedict had explained their story, from the masquerade ball Penelope remembered hearing originally about- and then also the other side from Sophie- to where they were today, living together. The moment they got off the plane, things were quite different.

Penelope was assaulted by a barrage of Bridgertons hugging her and crying, saying they thought they’d never see her again. They’d come out in full force: every sibling; all their partners; the children, and Violet and Agatha The First of course as well. Penelope was surprised they hadn’t made a ‘Welcome home!’ banner for her. Her mother and sisters were there too; she supposed the Bridgertons must have told them they’d rescued her. Her mother gave her a brief embrace, but she acted strange the moment she saw Aggie, posturing and telling the Bridgertons they had better make renumerations for what her poor daughter had suffered, as if Colin’s actions were their fault. Penelope had never been all that close with her sisters, and she was surprised they had come honestly, but they were perhaps the least stifling of everyone there, actually giving her space and only offering to babysit if she needed help. Eloise would have won the prize for most distraught, reluctant to let go of Penelope’s hand and making a disgusted face whenever she looked at Aggie, so Penelope handed her off to her namesake, explaining the decision, which made Agatha Danbury preen as she bounced the baby.

They drove back to Aubrey Hall in a few different cars. Eloise stayed with Pen of course, because she refused to release her.

“Do you want me to book an appointment and take you to get an abortion?” Her best friend asked, squeezing her hand.

Penelope stared at her aghast, and forgot to speak quietly, hurting her voice in the process. “What? No!” She wasn’t against abortions as a concept whatsoever, perhaps she might even have gotten one if they’d gotten her away from Colin before she’d given birth the first time, but now that she’d had Aggie and taken such strength from the connection to her daughter, she was looking forward to having another baby and discovering their own particular personality.

“Are you sure?” Eloise asked disbelievingly, giving Penelope a blatant once-over. Her eyes caught on every mark Colin had made on her body. “We all understand, you shouldn’t have to keep it.”

For other people in the same situation, having a baby that shared some of their abuser’s features might disturb them, but Penelope had never felt that way about Aggie, and she knew she wouldn’t about the new baby either. Honestly, Eloise was more so the one who was reminding her of Colin right now. They were both very possessive of her, both often convinced they were right, and they both had a habit of referring to the baby as ‘it’.

“I’m sure,” Penelope said decisively, having to remind herself that she didn’t need to bend anymore, no matter how strong a personality she was up against. She had her choices back.

“Okaaay,” Eloise trilled, in a way that implied she was sure Penelope would change her mind soon. That rankled her. She changed the subject though, getting Eloise to tell her what she’d been up to over the last… well, it was almost a year. It felt like so much more- like a lifetime at least, if not several. Eloise was not as good at reading Penelope’s discomfort as Benedict and Sophie had been. Luckily, Francesca and Michaela were sharing the car with them as well so they helped out, bursting in whenever Eloise tried to turn things back to what Colin had done to her. Penelope had always felt a sort of kinship with Francesca. They were both quite quiet and socially awkward, never feeling like they fit in. She remembered Frannie sharing the criteria for an autism diagnosis with her before any other members of the family, asking if Pen thought it might fit her. She was glad she’d found Michaela, and they seemed to be going strong. They’d gotten together a little before Colin had kidnapped her, after all, and they were still together now. Michaela was a bit more outspoken than John, her cousin and Francesca’s ex, but Penelope thought that their different personalities worked pretty well together, from what she could see.

After an hour or so spent hovering around Aubrey Hall, Penelope’s mum didn’t offer to take her home, and she was quite glad for that. It might have been awkward turning her down. Her mother had hinted once more that she hoped the Bridgertons would be making things up to her in some way- which she clearly expected to be monetary- before leaving. Penelope blushed, apologising as soon as her mother was out the door.

“Don’t be silly, dear!” Violet said. “She sort of has a point. We all regret not seeing anything. I just still can’t believe my darling boy-” She broke off, realising maybe that wasn’t the right thing to say.

Anthony took up the metaphorical baton, charging in confidently. “You’re a part of this family, Penelope. You were before all this mess. And now we absolutely want to do right by you. Please stay here as long as you like.”

She agreed to do so; she didn’t have anywhere else after all. Her contract on her flat would have run out a couple of months after Colin took her.

Kate and Anthony and Simon and Daphne stayed at Aubrey Hall the first night but then went back home to normal life- their children had to go to school and they had work to do. Violet had to take Gregory and Hyacinth back for school as well after a couple of days. She was very remorseful about it though and promised she’d be back on the weekends. The two younger Bridgerton siblings said they’d be there too- they were desperate to play with their little niece. Francesca and Michaela stayed two nights before heading back to their place, telling Penelope she could come by for a casual movie night whenever she wanted. That left Agatha Senior, Eloise, Benedict and Sophie, and of course Penelope and little Aggie. They were all kind and respectful, but she felt like they were treading on eggshells around her. They would encourage her to eat, but never forced her like Colin had, and so she fell back into her old disordered patterns. They would sit and watch her sticking her finger nails into the flesh of her thighs but they wouldn’t say anything to stop her, and so her body started getting littered with marks she left on herself to replace the ones fading from Colin.

A few days after her return, Agatha came up to her room to tell her she had a visitor.

“A visitor?” She presumed it was one of the Bridgertons, back already, or perhaps her mother back to check whether she’d been given any financial compensation yet.

“Your beau,” Agatha said with a twinkle in her eyes. Penelope’s brow furrowed, confused. Surely, she wouldn’t be this blasé if it was Colin who’d shown back up. She doubted he would be invited in. After a moment, she realised that Agatha must be referring to Alfred, her boyfriend before all of this kicked off. Agatha must think she still wanted to be with him, which was a bit of a strange assumption to make really seeing as she hadn't mentioned him once since she got back, nor had any of the Bridgertons mentioned how he had taken her disappearance.

She hurried down the stairs and found him pacing around the living room, analysing the furs and animal heads with distaste. “Penny!”

“Alf- Alfie,” she had to remind herself what her nickname for him had even been.

“My God, you’re alive!”

“I’m alive!” she laughed nervously, fiddling with her hands. What was he doing here? She assumed he would have moved on. They’d only dated for a short time.

“What are you doing here?”

“What am I-” She frowned. “Sorry, I’m not sure what you mean.”

He stepped closer, a little too far into her bubble of personal space for her liking. But then he went even further and grasped her hands. “Are they making you stay here?”

“What?” Penelope shook her head in confusion. “No, no!”

“Do you have other feasible options?” He raised an eyebrow. “Seems to me you’re pretty dependent on them. After their brother kidnapped you for a year and,” he gave her that same once over Eloise- and quite a few of the others- had given her. “Did who-knows-what unspeakable things to you.”

Penelope glanced behind her, sort of wishing one of the Bridgertons would come intervene and help her out right now. Where was Eloise’s domineering personality when you needed it? “Well, no offence, Alfred, but I’ve known the Bridgertons most of my life and I just dated you for a couple of months so I’m going to put my faith in them. I’m sure you noticed when you arrived, the security here is pretty good too. I’m probably safer here than I would be in many other places."

He wouldn’t let go of her hands. “But you knew the brother who took you all your life too. You don’t know what the rest of them are capable of. Maybe one or more of them is still talking to him!”

Penelope shook her hands out to make him release her, taking a wide step back. “While I’m getting back up on my feet, I’m happy to accept any support the Bridgertons want to give me, especially because my daughter is part of their family. I want her to have them.”

Alfie’s eyes went wide. “He knocked you up? Well that makes their motives-”

“Stop, please, stop,” Penelope waved her arms around. “I- I don’t want you here. Just leave, please!”

His eyes darkened. “Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. Have a nice life with your groomer family and your product of rape.”

Penelope wanted to hit him, but she just gave his back the finger, glaring after his figure until she was sure he’d left the house.

“Colin’s silent,” Anthony reported at their meeting a month after her return. Most of the Bridgertons were back for this, although the younger ones were off playing, and Daphne and Violet were keeping an eye on the infants in the nursery. “I thought he would most likely reach out, send threatening messages to any or all of us but I haven’t had anything. I assume no-one has been keeping any communication from him secret.”

Everyone shook their heads.

“He won’t have given up,” said Eloise confidently. “He never did back when we were younger. It was all manipulation even from the early days in my eyes. Remember how he’d try to catch you alone while I was in another room? Or how he dated your cousin to try and get you jealous?” Penelope stiffened, but didn’t say anything. Of course she remembered. She felt like Eloise was just bringing it up to brag about how she’d been right all along though.

“I’m afraid I agree,” Sophie said, casting a sympathetic look at Penelope. “He was obsessive with his declarations about how you’d be together forever. You’re still legally married as well, I doubt he sees any invalidity in that. He probably thinks we’ve stolen his property.”

“I’m working on that,” Anthony said, making a note before rambling on. Penelope stared at the wall for a while though, feeling like she wasn’t really there. Where could Colin be? She didn’t honestly think he’d given up on her either. He knew they’d brought her back to the UK. He probably suspected she was at Aubrey Hall, or one of the other Bridgerton family residences. Was he close by, waiting for his moment? Was he still abroad, sorting out some more convoluted plan?

A couple of days after the family meeting, Penelope was still thinking constantly about where Colin could be. She felt like Aggie looked up at her accusingly whenever she picked her up, wondering where her daddy was and where this large throng of people had come from. So one night she ended up getting out the phone Anthony had gifted her and writing an email to Colin’s old email address. She doubted he still used it, but it felt cathartic actually sending it out into the world.

Col,

Why did you have to do this? You could have charmed me into dating you in a normal way- I know you could have, because I’ve seen those parts of you. They’re the parts I love. Yes, love, present tense. And I hate you for messing me up so much that I feel that way about you after all the awful things you’ve done to me. Because for all the traumatic memories, the scars and the life you took from me…

I sometimes think that life with you was easier. Your family would probably have me sectioned if they ever read this. But it’s the truth. You didn’t give me many choices, and that was awful, but it also meant all I had to focus on was my love for you. I never had to make any hard decisions. While I was pregnant, the first time, I was so deeply under your spell I looked past every manipulative tactic, Sometimes I wish I could have stayed in that blissful state, seeing things only the way you told me they were.

Your family loves me, I know they do, I’m trying not to push them away, but it’s hard. It’s a lot. I miss when it was just you and me. When my world was small, and neatly presented to me.

I miss you.

Still yours, however much I wish I wasn’t,

Pen

Penelope still felt like Eloise was a bit bitter about the fact that she’d refused to get an abortion. She only wanted to hang out when someone was looking after Aggie so that she could have Penelope to herself, or at the most only have to share her with other adults, trying to act like everything was normal- the way it had been before. Sophie was much better with Aggie, and with helping arrange doctor’s appointments, but she was always hovering around in a different way, trying to encourage Pen to eat more or go out and get fresh air to look after the baby.

She made a new friend, one of the guards Anthony had appointed to patrol the grounds. Their name was Abi, and they were the only non-male guard, but they had a very interesting life, and hadn’t known Pen before the kidnapping had changed her, so they didn’t expect anything from her. It was nice to chat with them. Penelope started asking for them for the numerous doctor’s and therapist’s appointments for herself and the babies. Usually Sophie would come too, or occasionally Agatha, but one day in October it was just the pregnant Pen, Abi and baby Aggie. Pen and Abi were chattering away about their over-the-top families when Penelope looked out the window and realised they hadn’t taken the turning that led to her doctor’s. She was pretty used to the route now after all the appointments for herself, Aggie, and Baby Number Two, so she asked Abi why they were going this way.

“There’s a road closure,” Abi said apologetically. “We should still be on time.”

“Okay,” Pen shrugged, leaning over to check on Aggie, but her daughter was still sleeping soundly. Actually, Penelope was starting to feel quite fatigued herself. She yawned, putting down the bottle of water she’d been sipping from and screwing the lid back on.

She peered back out the window, frowning now. They weren’t circling around in a direction that would get them back where they should be going. “Have you-” A second yawn made her pause a moment, “checked the... the GPS?” She suggested.

Abi made a non-committal noise.

Penelope blinked. The scenery was beginning to blur, and she tried to lean across Aggie towards the window to get a better look but her body swayed, giving out and slumping down. “A-Abbbiii,” she slurred. “’Rre nirrly th’rr yuttt? Don’ filllsssoo guuddd.”

There was no reply, but the car came to a stop, and behind her, the door clicked open. Penelope felt someone climb in beside her before the car started moving again, but she didn’t have enough strength in her upper body to pull herself up, turn around and see who it was.

She didn’t have to, as it turned out, because the new passenger wrapped both his strong arms around her and pulled her back into his chest, kissing the back of her head and exhaling shakily against it. “Tell me you missed me, baby,” he whispered, his hands clinging to her, but not turning her around, like he couldn’t quite believe he was real, and he didn’t want to run the risk of looking at her face and realising it wasn’t really her. “I’ve read your email so many times but I need to hear you say it in your melodic voice. Please, Pen. Tell me you missed me.”

Inhibitions loosened to a dreamlike state, Penelope readily acquiesced. “’R missssed yeww Colll…”

As if her voice had finally convinced him this was reality, he turned her head towards him, and drowned her lips in his own. She was too out of it to reciprocate, but she took what he gave her, crossing her fingers in her mind and praying she wouldn’t wake up just yet.

She didn’t realise tears were leaking out of her eyes until he pulled back and caught a few drops with the tips of his fingers. He pressed his forehead to hers, desperate to reassure her. “Don’t cry, darling, it’s going to be okay now. It was partially my fault. I got too cocky. But I’m never letting you go again.”

Penelope hummed quietly, her body slumping against his as she drifted off into unconsciousness.

“Mmm…” Penelope groaned, her head pounding in agony.

“Fuck, baby, you still fit me so good,” whined Colin, jolting Penelope’s mind into alertness. It hadn’t been a dream.

“Wha-?” She tried to push him back, but she was still groggy, and no match for his strength. He must have already come at least once while she was asleep. She could feel the familiar stickiness of his release on her chest.

“They thought they could keep me from you?” Colin scoffed, pumping into her harder and harder as her body went pliant, giving up any attempt at escaping his grip when she realised how futile it was. “You’re mine! Not theirs!” He grabbed one of her floppy, currently useless legs and hiked it up over his shoulder, making her gasp as the sharp angle let her feel every inch of him stretching her back out. “Do you want back the pleasure they’ve denied you?” He hissed in her ear, working her up, two fingers like a whirlpool at her clit, the other arm scratching lines down her back. Penelope keened, nodding her head as she tried to reach towards her orgasm. Suddenly he stopped all motion: his hands, his cock. He came to a complete and utter state of stillness.

“Colin, please!” Pen cried out, wide eyes trying to catch on to his cold, unsympathetic ones, hips aching to bounce, arms scrambling to touch him, but he crowded her body, pinning her to the bed and leaving her unable to move.

“Do you think you deserve that, wife?” He asked bitterly. “After all, my family didn’t exactly carry you off kicking and screaming. Does such a disloyal whore really deserve what I have to offer?”

Penelope bit down on her lip, dragging it out. It was the only part of her she could control at this moment. “I’m so sorry,” Penelope admitted suddenly, wracked with guilt. “It’s my fault. I saw that a camera was out of battery one night, got onto your laptop, found our location and sent a message to Eloise. That’s how they found us. How they knew what time and day to come, when you wouldn’t be there.”

She scrunched her eyes up, tension gripping her body as she waited for him to batter her to high hell, but all she got was a disappointed breath. After a full thirty seconds- which felt more like ten minutes- she cautiously peeled open her eyes to find Colin staring down at her, lips pursed. But then he bit out, “I forgive you.” Surprise lurched through her. “They tainted your mind, Pen. I knew you were disturbed after we left Peru, and you’re a smart girl. I should have known you’d figured out it was them. I shouldn’t have left you alone until I knew you were doing better, but I wanted so badly for things to be fine that I convinced myself they were.” He shook his head remorsefully, inhaling sharply through his nose and then forcing a breath out of his mouth again. “I’m sorry too baby.”

With that, he started back up, rocking gently but steadily into her.

“Col!” Penelope gasped out, already right back on the edge the moment he moved again.

“Let go, my love, soak me.”

She shuddered out her release, luxuriating in the pleasure that danced down her spine, tingling all the way through her fingers.

“No-one else will ever touch you like me, Pen- say it,” he demanded.

“I’m yours Colin,” she surrendered, making him explode his own release into her.

They never addressed it, segueing straight back into married life, but Penelope realised in retrospect Colin must have paid off Abi to get close to her, and eventually drug her. He had probably then given her another few doses on the way here, because when she woke up they had already been… where they were now- home. That's all it was, home, and it quickly became as if they'd always been there. They never mentioned his family, Fife, Sophie, or the time they'd spent apart. And he never told her the name of the island they were on, surely paranoid she’d turn on him again and find a way to get the information to his family, and she couldn’t exactly blame him for that. What she did know was that this was a small island. Very small. She discovered that later though.

She didn’t leave the house for over a year aside from chaperoned trips with Colin out into the garden. Their second daughter, Jane, was born a couple of months after they arrived on the island, but Colin had seen how difficult the last birth had been for her the first time around and sorted out getting epidural procured for her through some kind of nefarious means she never dared ask for specifics on well in advance. She was just eternally grateful. He delivered Jane himself, not confident enough to bring anyone else in yet, and Penelope accepted that, knowing she would have to win back his trust.

Exactly one month after Jane was born, Colin was holding the new baby, whilst Penelope was reassuring a jealous, crying Aggie that she could get her turn with Daddy soon. It was at that moment that Aggie shrieked out “dada!” with such passion that Colin looked up from his fragile new daughter with delight and they had to do a swap, giving the daddy’s girl just what she wanted!

Of course, Colin didn’t want to start using condoms or birth control, and Penelope didn’t bring it up, so she was soon pregnant a third time. This time with twins. Colin joked every day to her stomach that at least one of them better be a boy or he was going to start drowning in girls soon. He got his wish- they were both boys!

After Thomas and George were born, Colin decided it was time they started using contraception again. “Our little family is quite a handful already,” he pointed out, and Penelope agreed. He asked Pen if she wanted to join a mummy group and meet some of the other women on the island. She shrugged, saying she liked living in their little bubble, but she’d go if Colin came with her.

And so they became friends with a few different families. Their kids grew up together. Penelope never became as close with the parents in their group as she’d been with her old friends, but then, she didn’t need to be- she had Colin and the kids. They asked for her and Colin’s social media, but they told the truth- they didn’t have any, they preferred a life offline. The group praised them at that, saying they all wished they could detach from the Internet! They seemed to think it kept their romance alive as well, always commenting on how sweet it was that Colin would constantly be feasting his eyes on Pen from across the room, crossing over to mark his territory and plant a no holds barred passionate kiss on her in front of their friends.

They were a nice group, truly, and they had some fun gatherings together, but the most exciting part was always going home, putting her four kids to bed, and cuddling up with her husband, letting him plunder her body for all it was worth. Things weren’t always sunny. He still punished her when she let him down, but Penelope wanted so badly to be a good wife for him that she took the punishments in stride, learning what it was he wanted and making those changes in herself. She knew deep in the back of her mind that if her old friends saw what she had become they would be horrified, but they didn’t matter. They didn’t even exist in this little world Colin had created for her.

“Are you mine?” He’d often ask when he was at his most sleepy, on the point of dozing off.

“I’m yours,” she’d respond every time, kissing his lips as he fell into an entirely worry-free sleep.