Neon
She had jut popped back for a minute. If she was going to stay here, in this world, with Darcy (she grinned again at the thought) she was going to need certain amenities from home and she needed to send Elizabeth back. The Miss Bennet waited behind her as they stood by the door, glancing anxiously back at the stairs. They had waved goodbye to her family and said their farewells then sneaked back into the house.
"Miss Price, I believe someone is coming!"
Amanda glanced over her shoulder and tried the door again. To her immense relief the handle turned easily and she ushered Elizabeth through, following quickly and letting the door shut behind her. Elizabeth immediately removed her bonnet and shook out her hair, turning to look at her counterpart with an excited smile.
"I have to tell you, Miss Price, how very glad I am to be back here."
Amanda couldn't help but return the smile.
"Here," she stated and handed over the bag hiding Elizabeth's modern clothes. "Can I leave you to it? I don't want to be gone too long..."
Elizabeth nodded but as Amanda hurried past her she was stilled momentarily by a gentle hand on her arm. Liz's face was serious.
"I hope you don't think me too presumptuous, Miss Price, to offer you a word of advice? I feel as though we have become something like friends through this shared experience and I feel prompted to speak...but a word from you and I shall be silent on the matter."
Amanda looked at the most sensible of the Bennet daughters intrigued.
"What is it?"
Elizabeth seemed to take a deep breath, ensuring that her eyes remained serious on Amanda's.
"Just that...you make sure of yourself before you enter into this marriage." Amanda felt a stab of annoyance and was prepared to respond but Elizabeth stopped her. "Do not become vexed. You must remember, Miss Price, that I too have read the Book. I do not know who this Miss Austen is but you too will have noticed dependencies between her story and the reality. This is my point Miss Price. Explore the character of this Mr Darcy a while longer. Do not proclaim to know him because you have read of him in this book. They may not be one and the same. I say this, Miss Price, not to vex you," Amanda tried to remove the frown from her head and mouth, "nor to throw doubts on your impending matrimonials, just as a word from one friend to another so there are no regrets, on your side or mine."
"Rest assured," Amanda uttered curtly, "I know what I'm doing."
Elizabeth smiled at her in a sad way.
"I have displeased you. I will not apologise for it. My conscience is clear. Come Miss Price, shake my hand and let us part as friends."
She offered Amanda a hand and after a split second hesitation, in which she decided to let her anger go and be genuine, Amanda took it.
"There." Elizabeth's smile relaxed. "Now I shall go change and return to my employers."
Amanda watched her leave the bathroom and then began to gather her belongings.
She was in her bedroom, tossing the odd item into her bag, shaking her head and pulling it out again, when a crash in the kitchen made her jump.
"Elizabeth?" she called tentatively as she wandered through the flat heading for the noise. "Are you all right?" She peered into the kitchen and froze. It wasn't Elizabeth.
Wickham turned to look at her, holding a toaster in his hands. The crash had clearly been a multitude of saucepans falling out of the cupboard.
"Well this is fascinating," he said with a tone of 'gotcha', and she knew he wasn't talking about the toaster. She felt like she'd been caught out, a child who has been copying her homework under the desk. Wickham's smirk faded as he went back to studying the toaster.
"What is this?"
"It is a toaster," she heard her voice reply, as though from far away. "It turns bread into toast."
Wickham looked at her with a frown.
"How?"
Oh, she really didn't want to be going into the details of how her toaster worked, nor any other appliance in her kitchen, mostly because she didn't know.
"Through the application of heat," she found herself saying as she walked up to his side and took the toaster off of him. She plugged it into the wall and grabbing two slices of bread, pushed the lever down. "It uses something called electricity. Your world hasn't discovered it yet."
Wickham was examining the toaster, watching the elements heat up, and she watched him.
"I don't suppose there's anyway to convince you that this is all just a dream?" she enquired.
He tilted his head at her until she was fixed in his searing gaze and he smiled that smile.
"Miss Price, I can assure you, if this were my dream we would not be discussing toasters." His words were loaded, meaning very clear and she was suddenly very aware of how close they were standing in her small kitchen.
The toaster popped with a well timed breaking of the mood and Amanda quickly moved to grab a plate and the butter. As she turned back from the fridge she caught Wickham staring at it.
"It's a refrigerator. Keeps things cold."
"With this electricity thing?" She nodded and he frowned. Before he could ask any more questions she put the butter and a knife into his hand and put the toast onto a plate.
"Whilst you're here we may as well have breakfast. Butter that," she nodded at the toast before putting more bread in the toaster and moving to fill up the kettle.
It felt strangely domestic, making tea and toast with George Wickham. It felt...nice. How many times had she made breakfast with Michael? Not that it was comparable. Wickham was not her boyfriend. She was marrying Darcy. She'd never get to do this with Darcy. Never. The thought left her with a sense of loss. Shaking it off she put a mug of tea in front of Wickham and sat at the table.
He hadn't said anything for a little while.
"So, you were following me?"
The confused look left his face and he gave her his best faux-serious expression.
"I wondered why yourself and Miss Bennet were sneaking back into the house, after leaving it with such unnecessary pomp and circumstance. When you disappeared through the door that leads to no where, well, naturally I was obliged to investigate for your own safety." Amanda knew that she had shut that door. Why had it let Wickham through? The thought troubled her. Wickham was looking around her kitchen again. "This does explain a lot..." he mused.
"How are you so calm about this?" she asked enquiringly, her hands wrapped around her mug.
Wickham fixed with his mischievous grin."Adventure, Miss Price. Gaiety." He got up again and wandered around the room. "I have often thought, Miss Price, that I was born out of time."
Wasn't that what Elizabeth had said? She had slotted into this new world without blinking. Could Wickham do the same? It didn't matter, she reminded herself firmly. He was going back with her, back to Darcy.
"Eat your toast," she told him, "and then I'm taking you back."
He smirked at her but sat down and took a bite out of the toast.
"When are you going to show me Neon, Miss Price?"
"What?" she was startled from her thoughts.
"You said that if I were to stick around you would show me what Neon is. It is, I confess, the main reason I have been hounding your every step."
He was teasing her. She glared at him.
"I'm not sure what..."
He made his voice dramatic, "I will be standing behind you with a big neon sign saying don't trust this guy."
She remembered. The look of confusion on his face, shattering her perfectly executed threat and her flippant 'Damn that didn't work' response of "Stick around and find out." Which, of course, he had.
"Yes, well," she murmured. "I didn't know the full story. The sign is no longer needed."
She met his eyes and there was a flash of something inside her, raw and immediate. His gaze burned on hers and she knew he felt it too. He raised his eyebrows at her. Your move.
This was not happening.
Quickly she got to her feet and want to the TV.
"I need to pack," she told him, refusing to look at him. "Feel free to poke around." She picked up the TV remote and went to give it to him. "Or watch television."
As she handed him the remote she found herself looking up at him as his hand brushed hers. Was it cheating if she kissed someone in a different world? Yes, Amanda. But she had kissed lots of people and got engaged to Darcy while she was still with Michael…Not going to happen!
"What about Neon?" he asked with a quirk of the lips.
"Maybe another time," she responded, and to her great annoyance he grinned.
She was almost out of the room when he called out.
"Why can't I help you to pack?" and against her better judgement she retorted, "You are not coming into my bedroom George Wickham."
She could feel his smirk burning her back.
Once in her bedroom she shut the door firmly and then, as a second thought, locked it. For one brief moment she allowed her imagination to run away with itself before very firmly slamming the lid on it and locking it tightly. She promised herself that she was going to get back to Darcy and take Wickham home without further incident.
To her credit Amanda did exactly that. She got herself, Wickham and her belongings back into the land of Austen with no further lapses. What she wasn't expecting was for the doubts to follow her.