CHAPTER ONE - DA POCO


Elisa Morelli considered herself to be a lucky woman, she was only 26 years old and she was working as an intern in a famous architecture office. She had her own flat close to the centre of Rome, which had an amazing panoramic view of the city. What else could she ask for? Well, she was fornutate in every aspect of her life, well except perhaps the love part. There, she sucked! Every relationship she ever had ended in the most ridiculous way and each man she ever dated was even worse than the previous one. Even the last one, which was the longest relationship she had; he was a cardiologist and seemed very attentive and sweet, but in the end, he ended up being another cheating liar. Three years of her life were wasted in one moment, when one night she decided to suprise him in his house and instead, he was the one who suprised her. I had forgotten how it was to be live without him.
It hadn't been no more than two months since their breakup and Elisa felt more desperate than ever. Thankfully, whenever she returned from home there was something waiting her; her books. We are all longing to escape and find comfort, for Elisa was Pride and Prejudice. Almost each night, she'd fallen asleep with the book on her hand, having drunk two glasses of red wive before. It was the character of Mr Darcy that kept her rereading it and she was quite obsessed with him ever since she read Pride and Prejudice, or rather Orgoglio e Pregiudizio for the first time.

Nights were more difficult than mornings. It was getting harder and harder being in a house where they used to laugh together or make love. Now, she was wandering around like a ghost, trying to forget that he ever existed in the first place. Giving your heart to another person, it's like they are in control of your life. It was pouring outside and she was desperate in need of a cigarette, so she stepped outside on her tiny balcony to take a pouf. She didn't mind the rain, it was one of the things she loved; the feeling of rain. She closed her eyes and then there was nothing.


She opened her eyes to see a face looking at her but she was too weak to keep them open. She blinked some times; she was still feeling too numb to even move, but she was in need of water, desperately.

'Please stay there' an unfamiliar male face said with a deep voice and his accent inticated that he was not Italian.

'Who are you? Where am I?' Elisa asked terrified. She didn't recognize her surrendings and as far she was concerned, the last thing she did remember was that cigarette on the balcony. But, how was possible that she was now somewhere else and had no conscious of how she got there?

'You are at my residence, madam. In Derbyshire.'

'WHERE? And what am I doing in Derbyshire? Are we talking about England?'

He laughed. 'Yes, of course in England.' But, seeing her terrified look he took his severe look again and replied. 'I found you unconscious outside my house, madam. It was pouring' he replying in all seriousness.

'Who are you and why are you dressed like that?' she paused. 'Is this a prank?'

'I am Fitzwilliam Darcy of Permberly' he replied as he bowed.

Elisa didn't breathe for a moment and suddenly she started laughing so hard that her eyes watered, he on the other hand, didn't seem so amused, but rather annoyed. 'Really you must tell me the truth. There's no way I'm in Derbyshire and there's absolutely no way you're Darcy.'

'I see no reason why you do not believe me, madam.'

She obsered the room better and at the man in front of her, he was the longest sideburns she had ever seen on a man and he wore breeches, something that was simply impossible. Maybe he was an actor playing in a period film, maybe she... NO! How did she get there? One minute she was in her balcony and the next she was in an unknown room with a man dressed in ridiculous clothes.

'Okay, what's the deal here? Are we live on cable or something?' she trying to stand up but before she could, he put his hands instructing her otherwise. 'Where are the cameras?'

'Really madam..'

'Is this some sort of experiment?' she paused. 'Did you kidnapped me?'

'I certainly did not do such a thing.' he replied most displeased. 'To even suggest that I, Fitzwilliam Darcy, would ever...It's prepostrous.'

Emily looked at the man and the way he heartadly redused her accusations; he must be telling the truth. But, that was impossible. Impossible! Mr. Darcy was a fictional character in a book that was written two hundread years ago, he simply couldn't stand in flesh and bones in front of her.

'Then how do you explain my presence here?' she asked as her voice broke.

'I should be the one asking you this question, Miss..'

'Elisa..Miss Elisa Morelli'.

'You have no memory of how you came to be unconscious in front of my door?'

She simply moved her head negatively. 'I'd like some water, please.'

'Yes, of course.' he said and rang the bell that was close to the bed. A minute later, a young girl entered the room and Darcy requested water and something to eat as well as a dress.

'I need to see where I am'

'It's not wise to rise madam at your current state' he said and moved his hands behind his back. But, Elisa was fed up with all this nonsense. He tried to speak again, but he stopped when she pushed the bed covers back and rose. He seemed speechless, staring at the satin pyjamas she wore from the night before, that didn't cover much of her generous bosom.

'I simply...' she stopped as she saw the look in his eyes. She swore she saw a brush tint his cheeks as he avoided his gaze away from her. 'For God's sake, cover yourself. You're attired most inappropriatly.'

'I think you're taking your role very seriously' she laughed. She approached him and studied his face more carefully 'I could swear that this sideburns are real.'

'Of course they are real.'

'I'm getting to worry now.' she paused. 'Tell me this is a joke, please.'

He didn't make any move, he didn't even blink. 'I think you need to rest madam and try to remember how you came here.'

'But...I don't know' she almost shouted. 'It's very strange, one moment I was enjoying my cigarette and the next one, I'm here.'

'Cigarette?' his eyes opened.

'Yes indeed. Have you not seen a woman smoke before?' she smirked.

'No madam, never. Nor any lady wearing... trousers' he said as he looked down at her feet.

'But, that's impossible.'

'It seems that you have a hard time believing things.' he replied. ' In the 19th century England, none respectable woman smokes or wears trousers. It is scandalous to even think about it'

'19th century?' she asked terrified and he nodded. She took one step closer and Darcy was taken back by the closeness. 'I thought for a minute you were contact lenses' but instead of replying, he had a weird look on his face and Elisa without further thought, she touched his arm, just to make sure that she was not dreaming.

'Tell me something that I couldn't possibly know.'

'The French were defeated at last with the command of Wellington*'

'Oh yes, the battle of Waterloo. Of that I know' she paused 'I think it was the battle that ended Napoleon's rule'

He seemed astonished. 'How do you know all these things? The news only arrived but two days ago and haven't been made public yet.'

'What?'

Her vision went blotchy and then the world went swirly as she lost all her senses. Darcy thankfully with a quick move, caught the lady as she collapsed and put her back to bed before the maid would come to room and see the impropriety in the situation.

A while later, Elisa was dressed with a period appropriate dress that made her look more chuby than she actually was and that corset was too tight for her to even sit down. The maid had pinned her hair in the most uncomfortable way possible; they were so tight that her head hurt and without being able to bear it any longer, she decided to leave them down instead. The maid insinsted that it would not do for a lady to have her hair down, but she couldn't care less.

'Mr Darcy will see you in his study when you're ready, ma'am.'

'Thank you.'

When the maid left, Elisa sat down at the bed and tried to think as reasonable as she could. If she was indeed in 19th century England, how was she supposed to return back to reality? Darcy said that he found her outside the house, something that made no sense and yet it happened. How could she explain to him what happened? He would think her mad or a liar and she honestly didn't know what was worse.

She knocked the door twice before she heard his voice and confidently entered the room. At first, she was stunned by the room itself, before she could notice the uniqueness of the furniture. Darcy, who was seated at this desk, observed the way she looked at the room, almost like she hadn't seen anything quite like it, which made no sense to him. She looked like a child which discovered for the first time something new and was filled with curiosity and there was that brighness in her eyes that made her look beautiful.

He coughed, trying to make her notice him. 'Are you feeling better?'

'Yes, thank you' she kindly replied and Darcy instructed her to sit down.

'I would like to discuss about you, Miss Morelli.' he stated.

'I'm afraid Mr Darcy, there's not much for you to learn.'

Darcy felt like something was changed in the way she talked or how he addressed him.

'Do you not have any recollection of you caming here?' She shook her head. 'With a carriage I would suspect, but I have already ordered for a search party and nothing was found.'

'I see.'

'What about your family?'

'I don't remember Mr Darcy. The only thing I remember is that everything seems new to me.'

'I understand you're not from here. Italy perhaps?' She nodded. 'It is unlikely that you came in England for vacation in this season, therefore I would suspect that you are an inhabitant'

She smiled weakly and couple of seconds later she asked 'Would you perhaps let me have one of your carriages, so I could go to London?'

He laughed and Emily noticed his dimples, he was indeed a very handosome man. No wonder why Elizabeth Bennet fell in love with him. 'For whatever reason?' he asked.

'I do not know what else to do'

'As a gentleman Miss Morelli, I am obliged to let you stay here at Pemberley until we find some information about you and your family. Are you certain that your last name is correct?'

She nodded. 'Thank you, sir.'

'Say no more. Let me now introduce you to my sister.'


Hi everyone! For a while now, I had this idea in my head and since I haven't found many stories with this twist here, I decided to write my own version. I hope you like it and expect you to tell me your opinion. I intend to update few times in a week, but I'm still working on it:)