[Set immediately after ep. 78.]
She had rushed to turn off the camera, and purposefully focused her attention on packing away the equipment. He, in turn, had fleetingly stared at her, before leaving hastily and closing the door behind him. At the sound of the door, she had turned around to see his disappearing figure.
Stupid, stupid, stupid!
All the facepalming in the world would not relieve her of the embarrassment she felt. She returned to packing away her camera and catching sight of the wall clock, realized she would most definitely be late for dinner. She pulled out her phone and quickly texted her apologies to Dr Gardiner, stating she will be there soon. Hurriedly she stored her equipment into her desk draw, remembering to lock it, and left just as quickly.
He had closed the door behind him, and with a deep sigh, resolved himself to finding his mischievous sister. She had not been stood outside the door as he expected, but then again, he hadn't expected the awkward reunion. Well, he had expected it to be awkward, if ever it happened. What he had not expected, to his dismay, was the lengths his sister would go to to make it happen.
He had looked the length of the corridor for her, but saw no one along the way. Before he was even aware, he was entering his fifth floor office as if his body was on autopilot.
How robotic of you.
She was waiting for him there, and his brow instantly furrowed at the Cheshire Cat grin stretched across her face. He shook his head slightly, aiming to rid his mind of the smiling face of Elizabeth Bennet-
As if that could ever work
-and kept his features blank as he walked behind his desk and collapsed into his chair. Gigi delicately placed herself directly opposite from him, waiting for whatever lame scolding he may try to inflict upon her. The desk was not nearly small enough for him to reach across and throttle her, so the grinning girl sat eagerly awaiting the news she longed to hear. Darcy looked up at last, his brow still furrowed, but his features softened at her gaze, and he was using all his concentration to not smile at her infectious enthusiasm.
Okay, well not all of his concentration was there. Half of him was still trying to block out the thought of Lizzie. The way she had looked at him. The way she had smiled. The way she too was just as embarrassed as he was. The was she touched his arm...
No. Don't think about that.
Gigi was still looking at him, beaming from ear to ear. She was not going to let this go. Nor, he doubted, would she let him completely off the hook without being given a full blow-by-blow report. He sighed, sat a little straighter in his chair, and stared back at his beloved sister.
"Well?"
"Well what?" He answered gruffly. He knew perfectly well what she wanted, but he would not cave that easy. He may have put his pride in check a great deal since Halloween, but he wasn't about to let his baby sister walk all over him.
"Well. How did it go?"
He wasn't going to make her beg, as much as it would distract his wandering thoughts, but the fact that she wasn't outright stating the obvious made him feel guilty. Guilty about what, he wasn't sure yet, but it was lodged in the pit of his stomach all the same. But if he had conveyed even the slightest inkling of this in his mannerisms, Gigi did not speak of it.
"It was" He paused, trying to collect his thoughts, "awkward".
There. That was it. The unwillingness to look at her, and then the unwillingness to look away. The need to run and hide, and the need to stay there with her. Lost in his memories, it took a while to notice Gigi was talking at him.
"At least that's out of the way. Now you won't have to avoid each other because the awkward part's already over and done with."
"I hardly think it is over Gigi."
It was the truth. He doubted that he could ever have an encounter with Lizzie which would not make him feel uncomfortable. Shaking his head again, trying to rid these unnecessary ideas from his brain, he put all his effort into listening to his sister. She had not stopped smiling at him since she fetched him from the lobby. Not since she had grabbed his hand, urging him along the corridors at a pace he was unaware she possessed.
"We'll see." She winked at him cheekily before continuing, "So what happened? What was said? Did you -"
"Gigi" it was his turn to interrupt, and raising a hand, blocking the sound gushing from her, "why don't we go to dinner, and I'll tell you all about it."
She beamed, leapt from her chair and was waiting for him in the threshold before he had even risen from his own. She was patient though. Darcys were nothing if not persistent.