Chapter One

A/N: To those who followed/reviewed/favorited/read this story, thanks a lot :D Confession time, I tried writing this story in the way I had first imagined it to be but it wasn't working out at all, so I'm changing stuff. The main plotline is the same, I'm just changing the format. Read on and you'll see.

Georgiana POV

The service was over.

People were beginning to drift towards the gates of the cemetry but Georgiana couldn't bring herself to move from her spot near the beautiful black marble headstone marking the gravesite of her beloved brother and sister.

It had been several days since she had received the news that Elizabeth, like her brother, was no more but she couldn't bring herself to believe it. She just couldn't accept the fact that Elizabeth was gone, gone far far away, never to return.

Now, there would be no joint Bennet-Darcy-Fitzwilliam Christmas parties at Pemberley. No arguements at dinner about the rights of women. No bickering over who got to drive the car. No spirited matches in William's study between Richard and Lizzy which Lizzy had always won. There would be no cloudy, stormy days when Lizzy would rush out into the garden to dance, twirl, spin in the rain, dragging Georgiana with her to share in her insanity. No dark nights where Elizabeth would hold her in her arms as she sobbed brokenly after shamefully confessing that Wickham still held her heart and while his deceit had broken her heart, it had not hardened it against him. There would be no nieces or nephews to spoil, no one she could play 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star' for, no one who would call her 'Aunt Georgie' in an adorably sweet voice.

Elizabeth and William were gone and they had taken her happiness, hopes and dreams along with them.

It was pouring outside. It seemed as if the heavens were also in mourning like her. She lay her head against the cool glass and watched the water trickle down the window pane.

Rain was beautiful as it fell from the heavens but ultimately, it too was consumed by the ground. Soon, the sun would come out and dry the grounds and it would seem like it had never rained at all. No trace of its existence left, except a memory that would blur and be lost with time. Well, it was beautiful while it lasted anyway.

Richard came to see her. He, too, looked like he had not slept. His eyes were glassy and there were purple shadows underneath them. He must have drunk himself under the table to drive away the pain, she thought randomly. She knew that he had loved Elizabeth. Loved her with the a fervour and devotion akin to that of a madman but he had loved William more. So he had stepped aside and watched the woman he loved give all of herself to a man he loved as a brother. It had broken him. But if that heartbreak had broken his spirit, then this, Elizabeth's death, this had shattered his soul.

She could feel him shaking her, pleading with her to say something, something to ease his agony, to drive away the pain but she continued to stare blankly over his shoulder. He called her 'an unfeeling, disgusting bitch' for how could her eyes remain dry when she had lost the woman she had loved as a sister? He pushed her away and collapsed to the floor sobbing, his body shaking with the intensity of his sobs but she remained as she was, still, unmoving, staring blankly out of the window.

Milton Hall, Cambridgeshire

25th August 1939

Dearest Diary

Fitz has made me the happiest woman on Earth! After Lydia's elopement with the unsavoury, Lieutenant Wickham, I had despaired of Fitz and I ever being together in this life but this wonderful, wonderful man persevered in his pursuit of the elusive, depressed me and here we are, engaged to be married! I think, the only one happier than me is Mama, who cannot stop exclaiming about my good fortune to have ensnared the Darcy heir. She is enthusiastically listing the luxuries I shall become used to as the mistress of Pemberley and Darcy House. It was dear Mama's proclamations about how rich we shall be if we marry well that often convinced many suitors that we Bennet daughters were nothing but mercenary vamps!

Papa, on the other hand, congratulated me in an unusually sedate manner, with none of the sardonic, sarcastic quips I was expecting, when I announced my engagement at the breakfast table (when have I ever done anything in a proper, ladylike manner?). My mother on the other hand, choked on her tea and soon we all were witness to the spectacularly amusing sight of her spitting out the tea through her nostrils on her finest tablecloth. I thought that I would be severely reprimanded for my unseemly behavior but my mother chose that moment to declare how my marriage would save them in the eyes of London society after Lydia's debacle and how I had always been the responsible one.

I am my mother's newest favorite and I must admit that it is a welcome change to be admired and adored for once. I have always been the the recipient of my mother's often harsh censure for I was never the insipid, vapid, demure, lady like daughter she wished me to be. Instead of learning to play the pianoforte and being interested in other ladylike pursuits like horse-riding in fancy but useless riding clothes, I preferred to go to the University. My mother hated that I was interested in further education for she strongly believed in the outdated notion that gentlemen do not prefer women who are smarter than them as wives. But I had seen the effects of the Great Depression first hand and I was determined to never be financially dependant on any man. My mother thought that going to University was a tremendous waste of our limited money, I tried to appease her by taking the Board of Education grant so that my fees was reduced but that made my mother angry too. What titled or rich gentleman could be expected to marry a teacher!? But I am thankful for my resilience, for if my choices had been any different, I may not have met my soulmate, my dear, loving, beautiful Fitz and might have been shackled to some old Earl while my mother cackled about her Countess daughter.

It seems like the memory of my mother's criticisms can turn even the sweetest of moments sour and this won't do at all. No, Elizabeth Bennet of Nowhere, is determined to be the happiest woman in all of England, today, if not the world, for she has finally achieved her heart's desire. Oh, I cannot stop gushing about how absolutely utterly perfect my Fitz is, it seems I have become a silly woman in love, a species I looked on with much derision and scorn, before my heart decided to join their ranks. Oh, love. It makes fools of us all.

Yours,

Eliza Bennet soon to be Eliza Darcy

P.S. Oh how pretty it sounds! Elizabeth Darcy. Mrs. Elizabeth Darcy. Papa would be disappointed to learn that his most sensible daughter is in danger of swooning.

Georgiana Darcy held the diary to her chest as tears ran down her cheeks for the first time in a year.

A/N: Rest of it will come after. Liked it? Hated it? Review!

P.S. I know some of you are quite taken aback with the sad ending to this story but do give the next chapters a chance before you give up on it altogether.

Next chapter takes us to the beginning of Elizabeth and Darcy's story .

Thanks for reading :)