William sat in the worn leather chair behind his father's desk. No, it was his desk now. For the last fifteen months, one week and two days it had been his desk. It still felt wrong, sitting behind the desk when he had spent so much time on the other side of it. Afternoons spent doing homework while his father worked, and eventually as he got older, his father teaching him about the family company and all his responsibilities as the future CEO. Though all those hours had still not been enough it to prepare William for the reality of it.

He looked at the photograph sitting next to his laptop. It had been his father's favourite, a family photo from William's first year of high school. Unlike the usual professional looking portraits that were placed around the house, this was a candid photo. His mother was doubled over in tears of laughter watching the attempts that he and his father had been making to encourage his then five-year-old sister to laugh. Reliving these happy memories then started to cause other less than pleasant memories to resurface. Flashes of his mother in a hospital bed, barely recognisable beneath the swelling and bruising, his sister sobbing into his arms at their parents funeral, but just as quickly as they appeared William pushed them away. He couldn't allow himself to dwell on those thoughts. He had to be strong for Gigi.

Running his hands through his usually immaculate styled hair, William sighed, pushed his glasses back onto his face and pulled the ever-growing pile of paperwork towards him. He was just signing his name off on a new clients contract when he was interrupted by a knock on the door. Thinking that he was the only one home, he was wondered who it could be.

"Come in."

The door opened slowly, revealing a face William had no desire to see. George Wickham strolled nonchalantly through the doorway and towards the desk, picking up a book from the shelf as he walked past.

"William you never change, always hiding behind some stack of boring paperwork." Flicking through the book as he spoke, then tossing it aside. George saw William's jaw clench in agitation and smirked.

"Who let you in?"

"Mrs Hill." He had been leaning against the back of the guest chair, and pushed himself up straight as he began his reply, his tone sounding defensive. "At least someone in this house remembers that I used to be welcome."

William thought he would have to have a chat with his staff about appropriate people to let into his house. He had to think about his little sister's well being. Sub consciously at the thought of Gigi his eyes flicked to another photo, this time of just his mother and sister.

George followed the movement of William's eyes and looking at the photo, guessed the direction of his thoughts. He turned his eyes back to William.

"Where's Gigi, by the way?"

"She's spending the night at a friend's place."

George just nodded and fiddled with the picture frame on the desk before sitting down. William continued to stare at him.

"It appears your face has healed nicely since the last time we saw each other."

George looked down, rubbing the back of his head "Yeah, I guess I never really thanked you for bailing me out that night."

"Well I suppose I can understand the forgetfulness. The officer I spoke to said that you were so intoxicated it was amazing you were even able to stand, let alone get into a fight." He leaned forward against the desk as he spoke.

"Look, I…" George started trying to explain but was cut off.

"Since that night, I made some inquiries into your recent college life."

George rolled his eyes at this information, looking irritated. "Of course you did. You can't help butting your nose in where it doesn't belong, can you?"

"When it is my money, my father's money that you are wasting I think I have every right to 'butt my nose in' as you put it."

George scoffed at that "So I failed a couple of classes, it's not like I'm the first college student to do that. I'm sorry that we can't all be William fucking perfect Darcy."

"But it's not just about the classes. I know why you're here. Exactly how much of the tuition money is gone George?"

He hesitated, starting to lose some of his earlier bravado. "All of it."

"All of it?" his eyebrows rose in disbelief. "You spent two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in less than a year? How is that even possible?"

"You don't know what it's like for normal people. You had everything you wanted growing up. You went to college with your family name to help you through."

"From what I remember, thanks to my parents, you didn't really have it tough growing up either"

George frowned and blew out an angry breath. "I know made some mistakes, I obviously spent a bit too much time partying, but I'm trying to turn it around. That's why I came to you."

"Mistakes like gambling away your entire college fund?"

Not even waiting for a reply, William continued on. "And you expect that I'm going to trust you with more money? I never took you for a fool George, but you must be to think I would EVER give you more money." He stood up and moved around the desk to stand next to his former friend. George stood as William approached him.

"So that's it, you're just going to leave me with nothing? I know you can afford it." his voice started to get louder. "I thought you looked out for the people you cared about?"

"I do."

"So you're saying you don't care about me. I thought we were like family? I looked at you like a brother William. I mean, we were practically raised together for god's sake. Doesn't that count for anything?"

"I used to think so. Then you insulted my father's memory by gambling away his money, getting drunk and high. Then you come to me demanding more, as if it's your right? Let me make this clear, my father may have loved you like his son, but you're not. You have no right to any more of his money."

A smirk appeared on George's face at that last statement "I see how it is, you're just jealous because he loved me more than you."

William's right hand connected with George's face. Both men were so shocked they just stood there for a moment in silence. It wasn't like William to become violent, even when they used to mess about as kids.

"Get out."

It was barely more than a whisper, but George took one last look at the man who used to be his best friend before striding towards the door.

As George was walking down the hall he heard a squeaky voice calling his name. Turning around he spotted Gigi Darcy heading towards him from the lounge, dark hair pulled back in a messy bun and cheeks tinged pink. He held out his arms for a hug.

"Hey pip squeak, I swear you've grown a foot since I last saw you." He pulled back slightly and gave her a smile. It was true, she had grown in more ways than one since he had last seen her, at her parents funeral. She had looked so small, still a kid. Now her skinny jeans and tight blouse were showing off just how much Georgiana Darcy had grown into a young woman.

"Not quite," she laughed, "and don't call me pip squeak. I'm not a kid anymore, I'm sixteen." she pushed him playfully on the shoulder. Then, noticing the mark against his jaw, her eyes widened. "George what happened to your face?"

"Nothing really, just a misunderstanding with an old friend."

"It doesn't look like nothing."

"It's fine Gigi, really." Wanting to get out of the house and away from William a quickly as possible, he made his excuses, though it didn't seem that Gigi was fooled. "I'll see you around pip squeak." he called out to her as he reached the end of the hall.

"Don't call me pip squeak." she replied over her shoulder as she headed towards her brother's study.

The moment George had left the study William sat back down behind the desk, head in his hands. He hated that he lost control like that, that he let George get under his skin. His hand was starting to ache, and he was just about to get some ice when his study door opened again.

"Hey William."

He was surprised to see his sister standing in the doorway. "Gigi, I thought you were staying at Lucy's tonight?"

"Nope, I decided to keep my workaholic big brother company instead." Noticing the colour and slight swelling of the knuckles on his right hand, she thought back to the mark on George's face, piecing together what must have happened. She was just about to berate her brother for punching his best friend when she took a closer look at him.

He looked tired, that was a normal occurrence these days, but something about him also seemed really sad. As curious as she was, she decided it could wait. William needed cheering up, so that's what she would do. Walking over and putting her arms around him she said "I'm going to make sure you have some fun tonight. Want to watch terrible actions movies and make fun of cheesy lines with me?"

This got a small smile from him as Gigi pulled him up from the chair and towards the door, helping him to temporarily forget about his problems with George.

* A/N - I wrote this as an assignment for a creative writing course last year but I also have ideas for other chapters (like Darcy's other confrontation with Wickham/Gigi and other moments before/during and possibly after LBD) that I have written bits and pieces of if anyone is interested.