Licensing Note: Based on Characters and story lines from the Lizzie Bennet Diaries, written and produced by Bernie Su and based off of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Dialogue from the Lizzie Bennet Diaries is in green, text from Jane Austen and a sample cease and desist letter from Attorney AAron Hall is in blue. If you would like to turn off the colored text, click "Hide Creator's Style" at the top of the page. The tense, pronouns, or wording of these quotes may be slightly modified to fit the scene. All original content and plot for Defamation is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license by Morgan A. Wyndham. Cross published on Archive of our Own as MorganAW.

Chapter 1: Turn About the Room

Darcy was desperately trying to read through the email that his legal team had sent him, but was having difficulty with Caroline's constant chatter and attempts to draw his attention. He finally thought he'd gained the reprieve he needed when she stood up and began pacing the room. He'd read enough to see that there was some unusual traffic and and comments on the Pemberly Digital webpage related to a series of videos that somehow portrayed him in a negative light when Caroline loudly invited Lizzie to join her. His attention shifted from his laptop as Lizzie wafted past him in an airy sundress. The lounge had floor to ceiling windows, so Lizzie was silhouetted against the brilliant colors of a summer sunset leaving little to his suddenly very active imagination. Caroline, noticing his notice at last called for him to join them.

He shifted the computer on his lap to hide the fact that he couldn't possibly stand and walk with them at the moment and said in the most detached voice he could manage, "no, I see through your deceptive motives." Caroline had been trying to engage him all evening and using his infatuation with Lizzie to draw him into conversation was a low move.

"Deception! Whatever does that mean?" Caroline asked in a mockingly innocent voice.

"You are either walking together to banter about secrets," which he found doubtful since Caroline was the kind of woman who never could get along with other women – particularly those she viewed as a threat to her own objectives – "or because you're aware that your aimless strolling around the room shows off your figures," Darcy said, clearing his throat slightly. "If the first, I would be in your way. If the second, the view from here ..." Darcy let his gaze sweep down Lizzie's figure again and shifted uncomfortably, reminding himself that he couldn't date someone like her and he didn't want to lead her on, and coolly finished his sentence "... will do."

Lizzie rolled her eyes and continued strolling with Caroline while lightly teasing him for his snobbery. A base part of him wanted to stand up, to tell her the real reason he couldn't join them, to lay his cards on the table and claim her. To counterbalance those base desires he closed his eyes and pictured her horrible mother fist pumping at the Gibson wedding every time Bing danced with Jane. He couldn't attach himself to such a family. Even after things had cooled down a bit, Darcy no longer had the focus necessary to read through this legal briefing, so he shot off a terse reply telling them that he trusted their judgment and to deal with the issue as they saw fit.