#amylaurie | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

reciprocityfic · 6 hours ago

Text

champagne problems, chapter ten (epilogue)

title: champagne problems fandom: little women pairing: theodore laurence x amy march rating: m summary: amy accepts fred's proposal, and laurie comes home and marries jo. but instead of it being the end of something, it's just the start of something bigger.

(or, how laurie and amy find their way back to each other.)

chapter one: champagne problems chapter two: right where you left me chapter three: it’s nice to have a friend chapter four: the end is here chapter five: moments that we stole (on begged and borrowed time) chapter six: this godforsaken mess chapter seven: love slipped beyond your reaches chapter eight: cracks of light chapter nine: evermore

author's note: please be sure to read chapter nine (linked above) before reading the epilogue - i posted both today!

epilogue

She’s awakened by gentle, sloppy kisses pressed over and over again along her neck. Even in her groggy state, she can’t help but smile softly. She brings her hand up to rub at her eyes before reaching down and lacing her fingers together with his against her stomach.

She loves when he wakes her up like this.

His kisses become firmer when he feels her stir. She grins again, and then turns her body so she can look at him, taking her free hand and smoothing his mussed hair.

“Good morning, my lord.”

“Good morning, Mrs. Laurence,” he breathes, and she rolls her eyes, making him laugh lightly. Even after these years, being referred to by her married name still sends a thrill through her, which he takes advantage of quite often.

He leans down and presses his lips to hers in a long, lazy kiss. She can already feel him hardening against her, and her stomach flips.

“Good morning, Amy,” he murmurs against her lips.

She places another peck to his mouth in response, then another, until they’re once again engaged in a deep kiss. His hands slip under her nightgown, and she begins to pull his sleeping shirt off his shoulders and over his head. Their actions are second-nature after so much time together, but as he pushes into her and their hips begin to move together, it feels just as exhilarating as their first night together. As their first forbidden kiss on the hill behind Orchard House.

She’s accepted that she’ll never become accustomed to how much she wants him, will always want him. She wouldn’t have it any other way, really.

She takes his face in her hands while he thrusts inside her, beckoning him to open his eyes. He obeys, gazes at her as his breath catches with each of her movements against him. His eyes only flutter close as she finishes, spasming around him, and a moment later, she feels him release within her.

She pulls him down, collapses him on top of her. The warm sun of a late spring morning pours in through the bedroom windows. Between the comfortable light, the cocoon of blankets around her and his weight on top of her, she couldn’t be more content. She begins to drift off, her eyelids drooping as he places one, two, three kisses against her cheekbone before pressing his lips to the tip of her nose.

She opens her eyes sometime later when she hears a gentle knock against the room’s door. She stretches, shifts until she can see who has woken her up this time, and grins when she sees her two favorite people staring back at her.

She reaches across the bed for her nightgown, pulls it over her head as Laurie approaches with Bess, both of them already dressed. The little girl reaches for her as her husband sits on the edge of the bed, wiggling out of his arms and crawling across the mattress to her mother.

“Momma, Momma, Momma,” she babbles repeatedly, as she settles into Amy’s lap.

“Good morning, my angel,” Amy tells her softly, dropping a kiss on top of her soft, light brown curls.

“Momma sleep,” Bess tells her, reaching up to pat her hands against her mother’s cheeks.

“Yes,” she replies, chuckling softly at her daughter before shifting her gaze to Laurie. “What time is it?”

“Almost noon,” he says, and then leans down onto the mattress to catch Bess’ attention. “Momma sleep a looooong time.”

Bess giggles at her father, reaching out and grabbing his finger before turning back to Amy.

“Momma eat?” she asks.

“You’ve missed breakfast, but you should be able to make lunch,” Laurie informs her, and she nods before stretching again, lifting her hands over her head.

“Here, darling,” Laurie begins, standing up and scooping up Bess as she protests and reaches back for her mother. He assures the girl that both he and her mother will be downstairs soon, and peppers kisses on her face until Bess laughs and agrees to be handed off to one of the servants standing just outside the doorway.

Then, Laurie turns back to Amy, a cautious look on his face. She furrows her brow, silently asking him what the problem is. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out an envelope.

“This came yesterday morning, while you were with Marmee and Meg,” he tells her gently as he approaches, handing the letter to her. “I meant to give it to you when you returned, but you were in such a good mood I didn’t want to ruin it.”

She looks down at the envelope in her hands, sees her name scrawled across the front in Jo’s unmistakable handwriting; she gulps.

She’d sent a letter to Jo about a month ago. They hadn’t spoken or written to each other for nearly four years - not since that awful, fateful day when she and Laurie had confessed their love, and her sister stormed out, vowing to never return.

She hasn’t. She’s come to visit to see the rest of her family, of course, but has given Marmee strict instructions for Amy and Laurie to stay away.

Amy doesn’t regret one step on the journey that led to her life with Laurie, but she misses her sister desperately. So she wrote Jo, in a probably misguided attempt to start to build a relationship with her once more. She scribbled down about ten versions of the letter - she’d never considered herself a very good writer, especially when compared to her sister, and every iteration came out a rambling mess of thoughts that she wasn’t even sure made sense - before hastily sending the final version without giving it a second glance, knowing that if she started to scrutinize it like she had with the others, the message would never leave her desk. She gave the letter to Marmee afterwards, telling her mother to deliver it to Jo with tears in her eyes.

The letter, again, was jumbled and long, a mess of ideas that ranged from how much she longed to see Beth again, to her overwhelming desire for Jo to meet Bess, to the way her heart ached every time they all gathered at Orchard House for Sunday dinner, knowing that a vital piece of her family wasn’t there, might never be there again.

But above all, she asked for Jo’s forgiveness, in disjointed words and cluttered, crossed-out sentences. Are you angry with me, still? she had asked at one point, feeling once again like she was a young girl sitting in front of the fireplace after burning Jo’s manuscript, ashamed and desperate for her older sister’s mercy.

The letter in her shaking hands now is thin - it can’t be more than a few paragraphs long, if that. The sinking feeling in her stomach knows that it’s probably a curt dismissal, a short and scathing rebuke.

She doesn’t deserve my forgiveness! And I will hate her, I will hate her forever!

Lauries reaches out, grasping one of her unsteady hands and leaning forward so he can press a kiss onto her forehead.

“I don’t regret anything,” he assures her, and she knows this, but it’s comforting to hear all the same. “I’d do it all over again - every bit of it - if it meant I was allowed to spend the rest of my life with you.”

Amy leans into him, buries her face into the crook of his neck.

“I would, too,” she tells him. “But it still…”

She trails off as tears gather in her eyes. He nods, and speaks gently into her hair.

“I know. I’m so sorry, Amy.”

They hold each other for a moment more, and then she lets out a shaky breath, staring down at the letter in her hands once more.

Laurie leans down so he can look into her eyes, reaching up to wipe away a stray tear that has fallen down her cheek, and then kisses her, softly and deeply.

“I love you. More than anyone or anything in the world.”

He’s told her that a million times by now, but butterflies still flit in her stomach every time she hears those words, and she can’t help the small smile that turns up the corners of her mouth.

“As I love you, my lord,” she replies, and he smirks.

“Take your time,” he says as he stands and walks toward the door. “I’ll keep Bess busy until you’re ready.”

She nods, and then he walks out of the room, leaving her alone with the letter. She decides to tear it open immediately, like ripping a bandage off.

She takes one sheet of paper out of the envelope, and unfolds it slowly. It’s one sentence, as she expected, and she closes her eyes before she reads it, preparing for the words to eviscerate her heart.

Then she remembers that her Laurie, her Bess, are waiting for her downstairs, and she opens her eyes.

And, as another tear falls from her eyes, she smiles. There, again in Jo’s unmistakable handwriting.

Life is too short to stay angry at one’s sister.

a/n:

dear readers,

and thus our story concludes.

as always, thank you to each and every one of you that took the time to engage with this story (special shoutout to those who left kudos/comments). this is not only the most popular story i've ever written, but also the one that means the most to me. i'm so glad i could finish it for you all - even if it did take ages - and i hope the ending is satisfying to you all.

lots of love <3

#laurie x amy #amy x laurie #little women #little women 2019 #amylaurie #amy march #theodore laurence #cprobs

6 notes · View notes

the-other-art-blog · 1 year ago

Note

I don't know if you have seen these comments on social media, but I have noticed a large part of people hate AmyLaurie even if they think of Jo is aro/ace or lesbian. They just hate the ship. When I read the book after the movie, I thought it was very well developed.

I've seen it. I think most of it comes from the idea that Laurie and Amy's marriage is a direct consequence of Jo's rejection. I hear people talk about them in a simplistic and superficial manner. "Laurie loves Jo but she says no, so he goes to her sister," or "Amy married her sister's ex." Cinema Therapy referred to it as Laurie getting over Jo by marrying Amy! This really hurts the relationship because it makes Amy a rebound. I just saw this post (x) that perfectly contrasts the audience vs the actual book. In the book, Laurie has headaches over his feelings. He thinks he has to remain loyal to his "love" for Jo but can't stop thinking about Amy.

And the hate for Amy alone makes people furious because she got a happy ending. Laurie's money might not have been important for the Marches, but it certainly is for some readers/viewers.

And then adaptations have never really made an honest effort to promote the couple. I know the story is not a romance, but a coming-of-age. But the character's growth led them to a place where they can build a healthy relationship.

Neither Florence nor Timothee made one intelligent comment about them. Flo justified the relationship by saying Amy had always loved him, which doesn't really mean anything, and then focused only on Amy's ambitions. And Timothee literally said Laurie lost because he didn't marry Jo and he always talked about JoLaurie 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬 (beware for a new wave of those stupid comments during Dune 2 promo). In general, the promo for that movie ignored AmyLaurie. Where were the photoshoots, the interviews?! And the movie itself doesn't care about the love story and makes it all about the economic proposition speech 🙄🙄🙄. If Greta didn't care about the romance, then why did she put so much emphasis on it?

Other adaptations have given them truly beautiful moments, but overall they fall short. The 2017 series made a video about JoFritz, but I don't think Kathryn Newton (Amy) did any press. It does have the best proposal scene, though 🥰🥰🥰🥰. And at the very least, Laurie does not publicly humiliate her and then just kiss her. And it shows that they were friends since they were children.

The 1994 film had the best shot because the actors were a real couple. But there's something about Samantha Mathis' acting that just doesn't work. Plus they added the infamous line "I always wanted to be part of the March family."

Most adaptations sideline that story or completely omit any scene in Europe. So you see Laurie proposing to Jo and in the next scene, he comes back married to Amy. Make it make sense. Because Europe is also the part where Laurie grows up so that also is gone. I keep hearing the 1970 BBC series does a good job, but it is the most difficult to find.

So, part of it is a lack of reading comprehension, plus oversimplification, and unsatisfactory adaptations. It's all part of the problem.

#little women #amy march #laurie laurence #amy x laurie #florence pugh #timothee chalamet #little women 2019 #little women 2017 #little women 1994 #amylaurie #amy and laurie #samantha mathis #kathryn newton

113 notes · View notes