A/N:Thank you so much my beta Strike300 for editing this chapter and giving me great advice! You are the best!

Blessing in Disguise

Chapter One

Left Speechless

Unfortunately, no matter how many times she stood in that emergency room, she could never feel indifferent to the merciless screams and cries of the hurting patients. No matter how many times her coworkers reminded her that it was part of the job, she could never get over it. She certainly did not think that her friends were apathetic to the pain many of the patients were going through. She knew they were simply able to handle their emotions better than she. They would compartmentalize their feelings now, and process them after the patient was taken care of. With only six months on the job, she had yet to learn this ability. Her temperament would be described as incredibly outgoing and outspoken, but she knew when not to interfere unnecessarily. In her role as Registration Specialist, she was passionate about patient care.

"Looks good." She smiled at the trembling middle-aged woman in front of her. Lizzie acknowledged the probable vulnerable state of the woman and added, "Don't worry, Mrs. Coleman, the doctors here at Allen Hospital do remarkable work. Your husband is in good hands."

Mrs. Coleman's tired eyes darted towards the young and optimistic receptionist and she smiled. "Thank you dear."

Lizzie's gaze softened and she replied, "You're welcome. Can I help you find the waiting room for surgery?"

The woman shook her head, as she smiled. "I'll be fine on my own, dear. Thank you though. You are very kind."

She saw the woman leave the front office and disappear around the corners, where the Surgery waiting room was. Sighing, she brushed a stray strand behind her ear and slumped into her seat.

"You did good, sweetheart." Lizzie turned around, while her eyes instantly brightened at the woman beside her.

"Thanks, Grace, but I can't seem to get her look out of my mind. She seemed so lost and worried."

"Lizzie," Grace, her closest friend and confidant at the Registration desk they both worked at in Allen Hospital, placed her right hand on Lizzie's shoulder. She remarked, "Lizzie, you remember that you are going to have to deal with upset people every day when you become a doctor, right?"

Lizzie's frowned deepened. "I- I can't help but think going into medical school is not the right thing for me. I can always get my masters and..."

"Lizzie, honey," Grace interrupted, chiding her slightly. "You need to have a little more faith in yourself. You applied to med school because you are passionate about helping others. Don't lose sight of the reasons why you chose this path. And you will get into med school, don't you worry. Didn't you say that your interviews went well?"

Lizzie nodded before she sighed. "I think they went well, but I don't know if NYU thought it went well."

Grace shook her head before she replied, "Just wait and see. You'll be receiving an acceptance letter in a matter of weeks."

"Acceptance letters come out in a month, but I'm worried about being put on the waiting list, or even- rejected."

Grace rolled her eyes before moving to her position in front of the computer. "Just wait and see; you will get an acceptance letter within the first few weeks they send out those letters."

Lizzie sighed and moved her attention back to the work in front of her. For some reason, she could not shake the ominous feeling that she would be one of those people being wait listed or rejected.

Lizzie looked at the time on her computer and slightly gasped. "Oh no, I told Jane that I'd meet her downstairs at noon for lunch. It's almost half past – I've got to get going!"

Grace nodded understandingly. "Don't worry about us here. Go have your lunch break! You are the only one who hasn't gone out to eat." Noticing Lizzie's expression, she added insistently, "Don't worry, we'll be fine. It's been rather slow today. Now, go. Don't keep your sister waiting, even though you know she won't mind."

Lizzie smiled at the thought of her sister's patience. "You're right. Thanks, Grace. See you later!"
Grabbing her purse and her jacket, she rushed to the elevator to meet her sister who was usually parked on the third floor of the adjoining parking structure. Jane always parked there, for she would always meet her friend who was a radiologist.

As Lizzie was reaching it, she noticed that it was about to close. She looked as two men stepping out of the elevator. As she tried to run to it before the elevator doors closed, she had missed the trip down to the elevator. Her mind elsewhere, Lizzie accidentally bumped shoulders with one of the men, when she came to an abrupt stop. Muttering an apology, she looked up with an irritated expression, but she was instantly surprised by the men standing in front of her.

The first of two men was around five foot ten and with red hair. His eyes were a twinkling blue color, and instantly, Lizzie felt at ease being within this man's proximity.

However, the redhead definitely paled in comparison to the handsome man beside him. He had to be at least six feet with curly brown hair. His pursed lips, furrowed eyebrows and straight back all contributed to her impression that he wanted to be anywhere but there. For a while, she was left speechless by the man, before one of them cleared their throat again. It was the taller man, who looked clearly irritated. He scowled down at her, as he looked as though he was waiting for something.

Blushing, she tried to recompose herself. "I'm sorry for bumping into you – I was in a rush."

The man simply scowled, muttering grudgingly, "You should watch where you are going."

You should stop blocking the doorway to the elevator. Wait, was that a British accent? "Sorry, I only have a thirty minute lunch break and nothing gets between me and my food."

She turned around and it was the redhead who tapped on her shoulder. She smiled and asked, "Yes?"

"Definitely, food is the best. I'm sorry for not holding the door for you - that was my fault. Um.. we were wondering if you worked here?"

As she recognized that the redhead had a British accent as well, Lizzie looked down to see her name tag still plastered on her shirt. She smiled sheepishly and said, " "Yes I do, I work in Registration at the front desk, but I'm really in a hurry, I-" She paused and remembered what Grace would do. "How can I help you?"

The disapproving look on the taller man did not go by unnoticed by Lizzie, when he lifted his eyebrow. All she could think was that he had to be rather conceited to be scowling at her.

The redhead beamed at Lizzie, before replying, "Hi, I'm Charles Bingley and I'm here to talk to Dr. Lucas. We were wondering if you knew where to find Conference Room 4-13B?"

"Dr. Lucas?" Lizzie frowned, knowing that he was the chief emergency surgeon there at Allen. "He's currently in emergency surgery. Did you have an appointment with him, Mr. Bingley?"

"Yes, we did. Please, call me Charlie," Charlie smiled at her, flashing his pearly whites.

Lizzie let out a slight laugh. "All right, Charlie. You can call me Lizzie." Her gaze darted to the other man, and when she addressed that men, his back went back to being stiff. "And your friend?"

Charles looked back to his friend and flushed, "Oh my, I'm sorry. He is my family's personal injury lawyer, Will Darcy."

Lizzie frowned slightly when she heard his title. Why would Charles bring his personal injury lawyer if not to address some legal issues? "All right – I assume you're here to discuss something with him?"

Charles exchanged looks with Will before replying, "We would like to address some concerns over my sister's treatment here with Dr. Lucas."

Lizzie saw the exchange of looks before she said, "I see, but I don't think that he would be ready to see you. I think he will be in there for a while. He
just took a trauma patient to the operation room, and I expect he'll be in there for a while."

Charlie looked hesitantly at his friend, who held back a groan. He looked at Lizzie, as if asking for privacy.

Embarrassed, Lizzie stuttered, "Oh, of course."

She turned her back around and heard those hushed whispers again. She ran in and had already slammed the button for the parking garage when Mr. Darcy's booming voice shouted "Wait!"

Confused, she pressed the button for "Doors Open" as she saw the two men rushed inside. Lizzie sighed at their repeated intrusion.

"Going down?" she asked exasperated, as she noticed the two men beside standing awkwardly.

Charles nodded, smiling at her. "Thanks for keeping it open."

"No problem," Lizzie replied, smiling because it was hard not to smile after Charlie's contagious friendliness.

Lizzie stood there as she noticed, out of the corner of her eye, Mr. Darcy. His back was straight and his lips in a tight, firm line. He seemed as if he did not want to stay there. She shrugged this off as him being rather conceited.

Darcy broke the silence when his phone rang. He took it out of his pocket, looking at the message. "My assistant decides to tell me now that Dr. Lucas wanted to reschedule the meeting."

Charlie laughed and shook it off. "It's alright. It only took us a couple of minutes."

"A couple of minutes wasted of my time. I could have done something else instead wasting the time coming here," Mr. Darcy drawled.

Lizzie narrowed her eyes at his words, but did not let her emotions show to the two men talking behind her. She finally asked as she turned around. "If you don't mind me asking, what exactly are you both here to talk to Dr. Lucas about?"

Mr. Darcy looked surprised at Lizzie's sudden question, as he exchanged worried glances with Charlie. His friend in turn shrugged, replying, "It's just that my sister had surgery last week after she was in a car accident. And we just need to discuss some details with him concerning her treatment."

Lizzie frowned, knowing that there was definitely more to the case than what he was alluding. However, she knew that she couldn't pry into it any further. She just couldn't help but feel that this was a lawsuit over something that could affect Dr. Lucas' credibility. She replied, "I'm sorry to hear that your sister was in an accident. But, I honestly can't help but feel surprised to hear complaints about his treatments. Dr. Lucas is a highly respected doctor and all of his patients are satisfied. I never have heard of any complaints or worries, but I guess that all depends on the patient." She gave them a small smile, and Darcy swore he saw a twinkle in her eye. She continued, "Perhaps you could direct your case to someone else? Perhaps the person who caused the accident?"

Darcy muttered sarcastically, unsettled by her nerve, "Thank you very much for your amazing advice. I'm pretty sure we couldn't have thought of that as well."

Lizzie glared at him and wanted to retort, but bit her tongue to refrain from doing so. Charlie gave her a sheepish smile, before thanking her graciously. "I know that we haven't known each other for long but I appreciate your opinion about Dr. Lucas."

Lizzie smiled at him. "No problem. Just doing my job."

Darcy mumbled, "Yeah, I bet you have no problem doing your job correctly. Meddling with other people's affairs. Didn't you say you were in Registration? Do your duties include sharing your unfounded and biased opinions with complete strangers?"

Lizzie glared at him but was saved by the elevator as it came to a full stop to the main level. Instantly, Lizzie was free from the tension as she muttered, "Bye, gentlemen."

Charlie looked at her apologetically, presumably for Darcy's behavior, as he gave her a wave.

She stepped off glad that she did not have to see that man again.

However, as soon as she stepped a foot out of the elevator, she heard a cheery, "Thanks again for helping!"

She turned around and saw it was Charlie who had thanked her. "It was no problem. It was nice meeting you, Charlie." She looked and smirked at Darcy, who was staring intently at her. "You too, Mr. Darcy."

He muttered something incoherent, and Lizzie rolled her eyes. "Well, I should be going."

Charlie looked away from Darcy and hurriedly asked Lizzie, "Aren't you on your way to lunch? Let us take you out to lunch." Looking archly at Darcy, "It's
the least we could do after making you miss the elevator and be late to your lunch."

Lizzie replied, "I'm sorry, Charlie. I'll have to decline - I already made plans. But thanks anyways."

Charlie nodded, "It's alright. Let us at least walk you to the parking lot."

Lizzie didn't know how to decline that request, so they walked towards the parking lot together. As she had thought, Jane was waiting in her car in the parking lot, reading through what looked like a textbook.

"Jane!" Lizzie exclaimed.

"Lizzie! What took you so long?" Jane smiled, as her emerald green eyes sparkled. She stepped out of her car to embrace her sister.

"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting. Were you here for long?"

Jane shook her head, "No, don't worry about it." She looked behind her sister and mentioned, "Um, do you know those two guys behind you?"

Lizzie turned around and saw Charlie and Mr. Darcy standing only a couple of feet away from the couple. Charlie was instantly taken aback by the beauty of the woman with Lizzie. As he stood gawking at her, Darcy couldn't help but roll his eyes at his friend's behavior.

Whispering to her sister, she said, "I met them on the elevator. Mr. Bingley here was with his lawyer to meet Dr. Lucas."

Walking closer to the men, Lizzie and Jane were able to carry out a conversation.

"Jane," Lizzie said, taking the initiative to introduce them, "this is Charles Bingley and his lawyer, Will Darcy. Gentleman, this is my sister, Jane Bennet."

"Pleased to meet you both," Jane replied, beaming brightly at the two. However, Lizzie noticed that her eyes were directed slightly at Charlie.

"Do you work here too?" Charlie asked, while beside him, Darcy held back a scoff. Lizzie furrowed her eyebrow at his reaction, not entirely understanding it.

"No, I'm a student at NYU. I work at a psychologist's clinic." Jane smiled at him, and unbeknownst to her, Darcy was scowling at Jane unconsciously fluttering her eyes at Charlie.

Charles seemed instantly interested. "You're at NYU as well? I'm there doing my MBA at NYU Stern."

"Really? That's amazing. I'm doing my masters in General Psychology", Jane smiled shyly. Others would think that Jane as merely being polite, but Lizzie could tell that Jane was genuinely interested in Charlie's response. Lizzie saw the exchange of shy glances given each other by Charles and Jane. Smiling, she was intrigued by this interaction, thinking that perhaps there could be something substantial there.

"Well, I think it's best that we get going," Lizzie started, as she tried to egg Charlie on to do something.

"Oh, maybe we should. It was nice meeting you-" Jane started, trying not to show the disappointment in her tone, but was cut off my Charlie's quick response.

"Were you planning to go to lunch with your sister? Darcy and I had just invited Lizzie to make amends for causing her to be late. It would only be fair to invite you as well." Charlie did not want to lose the opportunity to getting to know more about this Jane Bennet. Figuring that he could find out more about her at lunch, he felt the compulsive need to invite her and her sister.

"Are you sure, Mr. Bingley? My sister and I did not want to impose on..." Jane trailed off at Charlie's insistent shaking of his head.

"I insist upon it. And please, call me Charlie," he persisted, smiling at her.

"Then, I don't see the harm in it. Lizzie?" Jane turned her attention to her sister, who was in turn amused watching the interaction between the two.

Lizzie seemed to like the idea, but she couldn't help but notice Will's disapproving stare at his client. She tried to ease his hard stare by declaring, "I'm not sure if I can stay that long. Jane and I were thinking of grabbing a quick bite to eat. But let me ask Grace, the other receptionist upstairs, if that will be alright."

Jane nodded, understanding. As she walked towards her sister's car to make the call, she saw that her sister had gone back inside the car to check on her phone. So, instead, it was Lizzie who was in earshot of the men's conversation. As she waited for Grace to pick up, she quickly heard a voice, "Allen Hospital, Emergency Ward. Can I put you on hold?"

Laughing to herself, she said, "Yes." She was left hanging by Grace to listen to the radio on the other side of the line. As she waited for Grace to pick up again, she heard the conversation behind her.

"Will, what did you think of Jane?" Charlie asked enthusiastically.

"What do you want to hear?" Will's booming voice replied. Lizzie couldn't help but feel chills down her spine when she heard his voice. It only took his voice to unravel her into pieces.

"I think she's the most angelic creature my eyes have ever laid upon. What do you think? Should I ask her out on a date?" Charlie stated, with a smile.

"Whatever you want, Charlie," Will responded monotonously. Lizzie was starting to think that Will Darcy had no personality, whatsoever.

Charlie questioned, laughing, "Why are you always like this, Will? All business and no fun. Say, why don't you ask her sister, Lizzie? She's seems sweet, and she's definitely beautiful, like her sister."

Lizzie smiled, thinking that Charles was definitely on top of her list of contenders for her sister's attention, as polite and complimentary as he was.

"Absolutely not. She's simply works in Registration at a hospital and tries to pass herself off as someone knowledgable. I feel that she tries to aspire higher than what she is, and that comes forth in her opinions. She tries to pry into other people's business and gives them pointers on how to conduct their job. How could she possibly be interesting enough to talk to? And she is definitely not beautiful enough to tempt me."

"Darcy!" Bingley looked shocked at his reply.

Lizzie's face instantly flushed with embarrassment and she tried to not hear any more of their conversation. I try to pass myself as being knowledgeable? How in the world would I be interesting? What in the world does he know about being interesting? She bet he was loaded, given his arrogant stance, and his designer suit definitely didn't contribute to him being humble. I bet he's a greedy lawyer who wastes clients' money and time with frivolous lawsuits. She wanted to change her mind about lunch, but thinking about Jane and Charlie made her reconsider. She was rendered unable to when she heard a familiar voice on the other line.

"Hello, Grace speaking. How may I help you?"

"Hi, Grace. It's Lizzie. I just wanted to ask you if I could extend my lunch break to an hour. Jane and I met these guys and..."

"Say no more," Grace said, with a knowing voice, "You can extend your lunch break to an hour. We have your back."

"Thanks, Grace."

"Don't worry, my dear. Now you and Jane go have fun."

Lizzie smiled as she hung up on Grace. She scowled though when she had noticed Mr. Darcy beside Charlie. Hopefully, Jane will be able to have fun.

"Grace said I could extend my lunch break," Lizzie smiled as she rejoined her sister and the men.

"That's great!" Charlie exclaimed, as he smiled at Jane. Jane blushed in response, but was silent.

Lizzie then looked at Darcy, who was glaring at her for what she reckoned for was agreeing to go to lunch. Narrowing her eyes at him, she was able place her judgement on this man as being arrogant and definitely conceited. Not wanting to be in a public setting with this man, she wanted to say no to having lunch with this man. However, she had already agreed, so she tried to put on a happy face. This is for Jane.

"Then it's all set," she replied.

Darcy muttered stiffly, "Great."

"Too bad, Mr. Darcy. You're stuck with my sparkling conversation for the next hour. I'll try to make my limited opinions as tolerable as I can," she paused, "It would be a lot easier if you weren't such a
stick-in-the-mud."

"Well, I apologize for being a stick in the mud. I did not know that it offended you so much."

Lizzie glared at him, before muttering, "Whatever. All I can hope is that your attitude won't keep me from enjoying lunch."

Darcy was about to open his mouth to retort but quickly closed it in irritation. He was fuming, unable to reply to her sarcastic statement. She anticipated a retort - anything - from him, but all she got was silence. Smiling, she reveled in her victory.

Charles simply laughed in amazement. "You're the first girl to leave Darcy speechless. I think I like you, Lizzie Bennet."

Always exploring and unleashing,

ღ 'rEd RoSe-StArFiRe-RoSeFiRe'