Thank you everyone for your kind words, I love your comments!

Just a few answers:

Lady Mischief - I hope you'll understand the strawberries better after this chapter.

Astonishment - We won't see much of Mrs. Hurst, because each chapter is a different character's POV. But she did confront her sister and I hope that this chapter and the one after it will make it clear that they were definitely not friends anymore.

Ivy2010 - Thank you! It gets better with practice :)

Rachel - I know there was a large amount of "rather" in the first chapter, but I felt it fit Mrs. Hurst. She always struck me as a dispassionate kind of woman and it fit her POV. You won't see much of it in the rest of the chapters. Each have their own characteristic voice.

The Door on the Wall

Part 2

Charles Bingley was anything but his usual cheery self as he stood in the middle of the second floor of his leased property, Netherfield, looking at the serious looking monk in the frame in front of him.

Just a week ago he had three conversations that were too much for his sensibilities. He had to be in London for business, and imagine his surprise when he came back to his London home from a most tedious meeting with his solicitor, and found his sisters, brother and Darcy in his drawing room.

Apparently, they closed Netherfield down, closed! Without his permission! It was all very vexing. And then Caroline started disparaging the Bennets and trying to convince him to stay in London. That first conversation was just the start of a very confounding evening. Next came Darcy, and the conversation with him made him so sad that he drank two glasses of brandy in a row. It was very uncharacteristic of him. He wasn't quite sure he even knew how to spell uncharacteristic anyway. Darcy said that dear Miss Bennet did not have feelings for him. Being a Darcy, he always knew what he was about, and Charles Bingley was hard pressed to find fault in anything Darcy ever said. No, it was probable that Miss Bennet did not love him. It was so very depressing. But then the most confusing of conversation came with his sister Louisa.

Louisa came to his study right after Mr. Darcy left, closed the door and asked for a conference with him.

"What did Caroline and Mr. Darcy wanted from you, brother?" she had asked.

Her voice was almost kind, very unlike her. But she had changed in these last few weeks, he supposed. He could see that lately she spent more time with her husband and almost none with her sister, it was rather perplexing.

He loathed to talk about it, and so kept silence. He was ever more surprised when his sister asked whether they tried to dissuade him from offering to Miss Bennet.

"They did," he admitted.

"I don't think you should decide anything until you know how she feels for you, brother."

"But how do I know how she feels? Asking her and finding out she doesn't have any affection for me would be… heartbreaking…" he lamented.

"It is heartbreaking anyway, isn't it?"

He never thought Louisa could be so perceptive.

"I'm not saying you should offer for her, her connections are still unsatisfying, to say the least. But if you love her and want to know how she feels, I have a way for you to find out."

She then proceeded to tell him that she is not speaking to Caroline. He had no idea how it related to their subject, but he did notice the strain between his sisters in the last few weeks. His surprise was still great to learn of the altercation between them. According to Louisa, Caroline deliberately caused a rift between her and her husband. Worse, Louisa demanded that he find her another housing solution. She will not have her in her house anymore. He was already resigned to write his aunt Millicent in Scarborough, when Louisa added more confusing information. It took him a week to gather up his courage and ride to Meryton. And now he found himself in the closed off Netherfield, in a dark and cold corridor, pacing in a circle and chanting his wish like a mantra.

"I need to know how she feels about me."

He wasn't sure how many circles he made. Louisa said to make at least seven, but it was hard to count and chant at the same time. He was surprised when a door appeared, it's not that he didn't believe his sister, but because her description was completely off the mark. The door was made of pure gold, not iron, and was decorated with delicate forget-me-nots. Above it was written 'I will seek him whom my soul loves' in pink delicate letters. Eagerly he opened the door and the sweet scent of Miss Bennet's rose perfume assaulted his nostrils. He remembered suddenly, while they danced at the ball she told him that she loved the smell of roses, but her favorite flower was forget-me-not. Confidently, he followed the candle lit trail. He didn't even notice the door closing behind him. Even though Louisa warned him, he was still surprised when he fell in the dark chute. His surprise was complete when he landed on a mound of blue feathers and pink rose petals. For a minute, he just laid there, feeling like he was floating in a cloud. It was all so very romantic. His mood lifted considerably since he saw the door on the wall. Finally, eager to see Miss Bennet, he walked down the path and into a large room. The room was light blue colored, and the floor was more like a cloud than an actual floor. Eight little kingfisher birds were handling the heavy machinery in the room, but they seemed very unenthusiastic. The screen in the middle of the room opened and he saw Miss Bennet in a mirror, Miss Elizabeth was brushing her sister's hair behind her. It was a comforting image, if not for the red rimmed eyes of his beloved and Miss Elizabeth's angry scowl.

"Oh Jane," he heard Miss Elizabeth say.

"Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry," chanted a bird who was trying with all it's might to press a lever down with its tiny legs.

"Do you need any help there?" another bird asked. "Shall I call enforcement?"

"I'm fine, disaster averted," said the first bird.

"I'll be fine, dear sister. I'll be fine." Miss Bennet said in a small voice. "He made me no promises, I cannot blame him. If he loves someone else, who am I to be in the way of his happiness?"

"It cannot be!"

"This is what Miss Bingley had written, you've seen the letter. He is to court Miss Darcy."

"That's not what she said, though she might as well have said it, instead of alluding to it so obviously."

Why, the gall! In this moment, Charles was ever so glad Caroline was not here, or he would have strangled her on the spot. He was ready to ride straight to Longbourn, despite the weather and the late hour, and assure Miss Bennet that he is, in fact, not courting Miss Darcy. But then he remembered that he hadn't actually heard her say what she felt about him.

"You really should go to London, stay with aunt and uncle and call on his house."

"Oh, Lizzy, I couldn't. What if he doesn't want to see me?"

"What if he does?" Miss Elizabeth asked. "Do you love him?"

"I do," Miss Bennet whispered, and Charles thought his heart was going to break from seeing her expression in the mirror.

"Then fight for him. Go to London."

It was then that Charles noticed a few drops of rain on his face. He looked up in wonder, the blue ceiling was wet and drops started dripping haphazardly about the room.

"Red alert! Red alert!" the chanting bird from before called out. "Don't cry! Think of babies!"

"Not good, babies remind us of Mr. Bingley," cried a bird from across the room.

"Flowers!"

"Mr. Bingley likes flowers."

"Damn! Find something before we drown! Mayday! Mayday!" and seconds later, the ceiling opened and rain started pouring heavily.

Charles gasped and cursed when the rain hit him hard, and a moment later he felt his legs give way and he fell and fell and fell.

He wasn't surprised to find himself back in the second floor corridor, but the fact that he was completely drenched made his heart soar. It was real! To Longbourn on the morrow!