Here's Chapter 2! I've decided to go along with the story, and thus had to spend some time flushing out some details, for example where it's set, and what Lizzie does and everything like that. This chapter isn't completely fantastic, but it's not too bad and it's something to continue to work off of! Again, if you like it tell me, if there's something you think would make it better tell me that too! Oh also I updated Ch 1, just little things, but it makes a slight difference!
Disclaimer: My work/ideas based off of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, so some of it's mine and some of it's her's.
Dear William,
She hasn't said anything, but I know that me getting married and us no longer living together is a hard on Lizzie. I'd like you to look after her while Charles and I are on Honeymoon. I don't want her to be all alone; especially now that she's living in our apartment by herself (she has a bit of a tendency to get buried in work and not leave the Lab when left unattended). I've made plans for the two of you that I know will cheer Lizzie up, and hopefully you'll enjoy too. Don't let Elizabeth talk you out of it! You're an important friend to her, and you being there (whether she wants it or not) will mean a lot to the both of us!
Love,
Jane Bennet Bingley
P.S. Charlie says to take care of his new sister!
Darcy looked at the note in his hand which had been attached to the agenda Jane had written out for Lizzie and him to follow for the next two weeks. He'd made sure Elizabeth didn't see it when he showed her the agenda, he didn't know if her pride wouldn't allow her to play along if she believed that Jane didn't think she could care of herself. And Will wanted Elizabeth to go along with Jane's plan. Now that they no longer had wedding obligations to bring them together he was afraid of Elizabeth slipping out of his life. She may only want to be friends, while he still wanted something more. However if friendship was the strongest thing she felt for him, he'd gladly accept that. It was better than nothing.
William was sure the newlywed couple knew that he still cared deeply for Elizabeth, and he realized that Jane's mission here was most likely twofold. Darcy couldn't decide if it was a good thing that Jane felt the need to engineer reasons to put the two of them together or if it was just a reflection of how pitiable he was. She certainly had put them together at every opportunity during the wedding preparations, always assigning just the two of them to go off and accomplish as task. It had actually been really impressive to see Jane repeatedly out maneuver Caroline from joining them whenever the woman had attempted to attach herself to their assigned tasks. Jane must think he was a coward to no admit his feelings (if she could think anything so marginally unkind), but he wasn't sure he could take another rejection. To call the last time Will told Elizabeth how he truly felt about her a fiasco would be an enormous understatement.
Darcy tucked the note back into his pocket and got out of his car, which was parked in front of Elizabeth's apartment building. He prided himself on the fact he'd shown enough restraint to show up only 5 minutes early, especially as he'd been ready a full half hour before.
"Care Instructions for Elizabeth Bennet" That is what Jane had named the list, with plans set for each day. Some were detailed activities, places to go, specific foods that Elizabeth preferred, etc. There were a few movie nights in the mix, all old movies, and on both Sundays they were to watch something called Downton Abbey. He had asked his little sister what that was, and she had squealed in delight, telling him it was only the best thing ever. That description hadn't helped him much, though Google informed him it was a British TV show set in the early 1900's, about a noble family and their servant. Darcy still wasn't sure as to why he should expect the full range of human emotions, but he reasoned that asking Georgie a second time wouldn't result in anything more helpful that the first time.
The plans for tonight were fairly relaxed:
Watch Sabrina or Casablanca, just something with Humphrey Bogart.
Darcy enjoyed old movies, which seemed to require much less flash bang boom than newer movies to keep his attention. And while he wasn't as much of a fan of black and white as the Bennet sisters, he did of course know who Humphrey Bogart was, and enjoyed his work. That and the prospect of spending the evening with Elizabeth had Will in a very good mood as he knocked on her door a few minutes later.
"COME IN, IT'S OPEN!" came the answering shout from within the apartment. Darcy opened the door to find Elizabeth in the kitchen, a huge bowl in her arms, popcorn strewn across the counter, as she stirred what looked like copious amounts of caramel into the already too full bowl. "Hey, sorry, my hands are kind of full." She smiled at him. Her hair had been hastily pulled back into a sloppy bun, an apron was tied around her waist (and covered with caramel), and music was playing loudly from a set of speakers, (80's music if Darcy wasn't mistaken). In short Elizabeth Bennet looked beautiful as always.
"Not a problem, do you need any help?" He asked, setting his coat on an armchair by the door.
"No, almost done!" she assured him, scraping the last of the caramel over the large bowl of popcorn. "I'll just finish this up, and then I need to change real quick, this apron didn't do its job as well as I had hoped."
"Well despite its uselessness, you wear it well." He complimented honestly, though through a self-trained response, made it sound teasing.
"I'm conflicted." She shrugged, looking down at herself, "It kind of makes me look like a fifties housewife. And while I love the vintage style, it kind of goes against everything I stand for as, well, me."
"You? But I always understood it that your only purpose in life is to cater to your future husband's every desire as soon as he shows up." Will teased dryly, yes William Darcy was teasing, that is the effect that Elizabeth Bennet had on him, much to his family and friends' delight.
"Oh yes, you know my PhD in Biomedical Engineering was totally just an MRS degree. What a pity, all that schooling was such a wasted of time, I didn't come away with a husband. My mother was so ashamed." She rolled her eyes. She adopted a dramatic, motherly, yet grating voice, "Elizabeth Maureen Bennet how in the world did you go through almost 8 years of science classes filled with attractive young men and not end up with a husband? Have I taught you nothing?!"
"You imitate your mother uncannily." Darcy observed, amused at the deftness with which she did so.
"Lots of practice, and I hear it a lot." She sighed, as she put the container that had held the caramel and the spoon in the sink and grabbed a lid for the Popcorn bowl from her cupboards, "I sort of had a break from it because Jane was getting married, but at the reception last night she was actually trying to set me up with one of the groomsmen, it was ridiculous! She's stuck in this utterly medieval idea that if a guy asks to dance with you more than once he wants to marry you."
Darcy instantly stiffened, though Elizabeth didn't notice, busy fighting the lid onto the bowl. As a guy, he knew that asking someone to dance more than once might not mean you intend to propose, but it does show interest. "Who was she attempting to connect you with?" he asked, trying to mask his true feelings on the subject with amused indifference.
"Charlie's cousin, Daniel. I mean nice guy and everything, but I'm not interested, and neither was he." She shook her head, and laughed, "You'd think my mother would notice that he was looking up the other groomsmen, not the bridesmaids. He's a divine dancer though, that's why we danced more than once."
"Ah, yes, Daniel," Darcy breathed an internal sigh of relief. He was worried it had been one of the other men of the groom's party, several of whom he'd heard ask Charlie if Jane's cute sister was single (Charlie being the good friend that he was, would glance up at Will, then say that she had been seeing someone for a while.) "Yes, he was quite bereft that his partner could not attend due to work schedules."
"Yeah, he was a bit loud about that, but somehow my mom didn't hear him complain." Lizzie shrugged, and then untied her apron, throwing it on a hook on the wall, "I'll just go change, be back in two seconds!"
Darcy just nodded in silent agreement, and just as promised, only a few moments later Elizabeth reappeared, having donned a pair of dark green cords and in a nice three quarter length sleeved tan blouse, cinched around her small waist with a brown skinny belt. She pulled on a pair of dark brown leather boots and they were off, Will opening all the doors for her between hers and his. That used to really throw Lizzie off, when he'd do that, though she was much more used to it since they'd so much time together. It was one of Darcy's quirks that made being in his company different, in a good way of course, than when she spent time with other guy, or the men she worked with in the lab, he was always a gentleman.
When they entered is apartment, he took her coat and told Lizzie she could go through to the theatre room and pick which movie to watch. She knew the way, and had been at his apartment plenty now that she was good friends with his little sister, Georgiana, despite being a older that the twenty year old by a good seven years. She found that several movies had been set out on the coffee table where she set the popcorn, all with Humphrey Bogart in them; a big smile graced her face before she sat down on the floor to make the difficult decision of which to pick. By the time Will came in carrying two glasses and a bottle of wine she had decided on Sabrina. It was always a classic, happier than Casablanca, and Lizzie in more of an Audrey Hepburn mood than a Katherine Hepburn mood, so The African Queen was out as well. Darcy agreed with her decision, not that he really cared what they were watching, as long as she enjoyed it.
Elizabeth poured the wine while he put in the movie; the projector system the Darcy's had rigged up was far too complicated for anyone not thoroughly familiar with its use to operate, even a trained scientist. They settled down on the couch together, the popcorn sitting between them, and their conversation came to a natural end as the opening credits rolled. They watched the movie in affable silence, each absorbed in the film, happy with the other's company.
While the evening was truly uneventful, it was also extremely enjoyable to be in each other's company. They watched the movie, ate popcorn, and sipped quietly on their wine. When the film did end, Elizabeth yawned and stretched dramatically, "Oh I love that movie!"
"It has rightly earned its position as a classic film," Darcy nodded, "Excellent choice."
"Thanks Will, for tonight. I know it's probably not how you planned to spend your evening, but this is really nice."
"I enjoy spending time with you Elizabeth, you know that right?" he smiled, a bit uncertain. "We are friends."
"Yeah, I know we're friends, but I also know you feel totally duty bound by Jane's request." Lizzie took a sip of wine as she rolled her eyes, as if to show that what she was about to say was ridiculous, "She seems to think if I don't have plans while she's gone I'll just live at the lab."
"You are very dedicated to your work. She has voiced concerns that you would bury yourself in it when she left." Will acknowledged. A slightly affronted look appeared on Lizzie's face. "It's not bad, but I also understand that your sister spent considerable efforts making sure you didn't overwork yourself."
Elizabeth's face softened a bit, "I know, it's just what I'm working on is so fascinating right now. And…" Her face looked a little sad for a moment, thinking of the empty apartment waiting for her, "…well, it doesn't matter. Yes, it was really sweet of Jane to insist we have plans." She looked at her watch; "Hey it's late, and well, I know tomorrows Sunday, but…" she trailed off, looking a bit sheepish.
"You'd like to stop by work?" Darcy answered smiling. He understood being a workaholic, though in his case, running a company was a much more portable job that working in a lab. He could take calls and make administration decisions from his home on the weekends, so he could spend time with Georgiana when she visited from college. Lizzie couldn't very well take her experiments home with her.
"Yeah," She nodded embarrassed, "we're trying a new treatment on the Boys, and I really want to see how they're doing."
"The Boys?" Will was a bit confused as he was fairly certain that Elizabeth wasn't testing on the human subjects.
"The lab rats, I call them The Boys." Elizabeth explained, continuing enthusiastically, "They're all male, but I'm not supposed to name them individually because of attachment and some other psycho-babble Jane was telling me about. So they're the Boys, and over the last month we've been administering a synthetic Vitamin D complex that should help inhibit some of the more aggressive aspects of M.S. It's showing some promising signs, especially recently."
"Ah yes, I see, well in that case I'll take you home, shall I?" Darcy nodded, understanding better. He couldn't help but to take a moment to appreciate the passion that lit up her face, especially her eyes, as she spoke of her work.
"If you don't mind," Lizzie nodded, and then arched an eyebrow at him, "And don't tattle to Jane, she hates it when I stop by on the weekends."
"Understood." He agreed, smiling. "I'd give you my Scout's honor, but I'm afraid I was never a boy scout. Camping was never really something that appealed to me."
Elizabeth laughed, "That's alright, a Darcy's Honor is probably worth more than the word of a twelve year old boy anyways!"
Elizabeth insisted on leaving the popcorn for Will and Georgie, who was out that evening. She then allowed Will to help her with her coat, and they headed out to his car. "So what did my dear sister plan for tomorrow night?" She asked, jovially as they sped through the night. It was quiet, and they were far enough away from the heart of Seattle that the roads were fairly empty and glistening beautifully in newly fallen rain that made the city sparkle.
"She has us watching the show Downton Abbey." Will told her. "Though, I'm afraid I'm not familiar with it."
"Oh I forgot about Downton!" Lizzie squeaked in excitement. "I can't believe I did! It's one of our favorites!"
"So I see," He commented dryly. "I understand from my sister that it's very good, though I was not able to extract any other information about it from her."
"Oh my gosh, it's fantastic!" Elizabeth gushed, "We'll do it at my place, I'll have it all set up and ready, and it starts at 9 if you want to come over a bit before then." She explained as Darcy pulled up to her apartment building. "You don't have to walk me up!" She insisted before he could argue, "See, Howard the Doorman is right there, I'm just fine! Goodnight Will, and thanks again!" she briefly kissed his cheek before slipping out of the car, his protests cut off by the door closing shut.
He still stayed put in his car until he saw the lights of her apartment flipped on. As he drove away, Darcy couldn't help the goofy grin that overtook his face. This evening had been wonderful, relaxed, and they had avoided the awkward moments that often besieged their interactions. He silently blessed Jane for being concern for her sister as he drove home, eagerly anticipating the next evening.
