EPISODE: EPILOGUE Q&A #2

We are back in Darcy's studio apartment in New York, with both Lizzie and Darcy facing the camera. Surprisingly, Darcy speaks first. "Greetings...Internet," he ventures awkwardly.

Lizzie grins at this brave overture, and takes over. "We're back, with more questions and answers for you viewers!" she continues enthusiastically. She smiles over at Darcy, and her expression turns thoughtful. "You're being a very good sport about all this, you know," she tells him appreciatively.

The barest hint of a sardonic smile crosses his handsome features. "I am indeed," he banters back.

She laughs. "Why did you agree to do this with me, anyway?"

He turns his head towards her and regards her for a long pause, with a serious expression which takes her breath away for a moment. Finally, he turns back to the camera, inhales deeply, and says, "My name is William Darcy...and there is nothing I would not do for Elizabeth Bennet."

Lizzie turns back to the camera, and for a few seconds, we see her face completely melt with sentiment, and hear a happy whimper come out of her throat, before the theme music and animated logo kick in.

When we come back, Lizzie has evidently had time to get ahold of herself again, and is reading from a Post-it. "Our first question today is, "Hey Darcy, if you still loved Lizzie, how come you cut her down when you found out about Lydia being arrested?"

Lizzie turns her head to look over at Darcy with great interest for his answer. For his part, he looks quite surprised. "What?" he exclaims, frowning and looking over to her for confirmation. "I did not 'cut you down'!" His frown turns even more confused as he catches sight of her raised eyebrows and expectant expression. "What?"

She gives an involuntary laugh. "You totally cut me down," she confirms, matter-of-factly.

He leans back with a clear 'that's preposterous' expression. "I most certainly did not!" he protests.

Lizzie's eyebrows rise higher. "Yes, you did!" she affirms. "You got all cold and distant...and you uninvited me for dinner...and you spent a lot of money to get me out of town right away!"

Darcy looks rather distressed at this interpretation of his actions, and his head has been shaking the whole time she's been speaking. "No...Lizzie..." his frown deepens, "that wasn't what I was doing at all!" He sighs. "I apologise," he says sincerely. "If I was...cold, it was with anger at George...and also at myself." As Lizzie scoffs at this last part, he nods. "Oh yes. If I hadn't done everything I could to conceal George's past wrongdoings, his...nature...would have been more widely known, and Lydia would have been aware enough to never have trusted him."

Lizzie shakes her head at this logic. "You did all that to protect Gigi."

He lowers his head and frowns introspectively. "Actually...if I were to examine my motives more closely, I suspect I would find that I was more concerned with not being embarrassed by my association with him." He meets Lizzie's eyes tentatively. "At Pemberley, you said you blamed yourself for Lydia's situation, but the blame should be placed more accurately on my own shoulders." He shakes his head again. "When you told me about Lydia, it was as if the bottom had dropped out of my stomach. I felt responsible; I felt horrible." He closes his eyes briefly, his expression growing more pained. "And having to see you so upset only made those feelings more acute." He reaches out to gently touch her arm. "I couldn't bear to see you in pain. And to know it was my fault...I had to help. And first and foremost, it was abundantly clear to me that you needed your family, and that they needed you. As quickly as possible." He looks apologetically into her eyes. "I'm so sorry if you thought I was trying to get rid of you."

Lizzie shakes her head ruefully. She looks down and mumbles, "No...I just completely misunderstood your motives...again." Her tone is bitter.

He smiles sadly, inclining his head. "No, I can see your point of view. I was very preoccupied at the time. I was already planning everything I could possibly do to help Lydia, and I admit, I did leave very abruptly. I wanted to set those plans in motion immediately."

Lizzie gives him a tender smile, and touches his his arm in turn. "You're amazing," is all she can say.

Darcy lets out a breath of relief and affection. He extends a hand to stroke her jawline. "Not really," he murmurs. Leaning forward, he touches his forehead to hers and adds, "But if you prefer to think so, I won't complain."

They share a laugh.

A cut, and they've moved apart, and are sitting beside each other, facing the camera once again. Lizzie is reading from another Post-it. "Did you ever find out what made Bing come back to Jane?" Lizzie looks up at the camera with a frown. "No, actually, I still don't know, and it's kind of a mystery...after all that time apart, and especially with Caroline probably doing everything in her power to prevent it, it makes no sense..." She seems struck by a thought, and looks inquiringly over at Darcy. "Hey Will, do you know-" she cuts herself off as she sees the expression on his face. It is, very clearly, the look of someone who knows something. She leans toward him, her tone becoming more aggressive. "Will?" She narrows her eyes and points at him, grinning. "What do you know?"

Darcy gives a resigned look and turns his head towards Lizzie. "Well...I may have...insisted to Bing that he sit down and...watch a video or two."

Lizzie's mouth drops open in surprise. "Are you serious?!"

Darcy raises his eyebrows and casts his eyes upwards. "I usually am," he observes ironically.

She frowns and looks away, her mind obviously working furiously. "So...what, he saw the Snickerdoodles video?" She looks back at Darcy, confused. "But you watched that after Hallowe'en, and it didn't convince you that they should get back together. It only made you think that maybe her feelings for Bing were more than you had thought."

Darcy clarifies. "It wasn't only the Snickerdoodles video that I played for him."

Lizzie looks, if anything, even more confused, as she does a mental run-through of her other episodes. "What other video would there have been? Everything after that with Jane had her talking about how great a job she was doing at moving on from Bing!"

Darcy smiles. "Not a video of yours." Lizzie is now looking completely bewildered, so he clarifies. "I showed Bing one of Lydia's videos."

Lizzie leans back in her seat in shock, and her jaw drops again. "One of Lydia's videos?!"

He looks amused. "You still haven't watched any of them, have you?"

She flounders and looks guiltily towards the camera. "Uh...maybe not...all of them...yet..."

Darcy chuckles knowingly. "Well, I have." At her gobsmacked reaction to this nugget of information, he elaborates. "I went through all of them after her arrest, in the hopes of finding some information we could use, either against George, or for her defence."

Lizzie's surprise has escalated into utter shock - in a good way. She shoots him an admiring yet disbelieving look. "That must have been an...interesting...experience!"

Darcy rolls his eyes slightly and inclines his head in acknowledgement. "It was rather a lot of...'energetic'...to watch in one sitting. However, there was one video with Jane in it which demonstrated undeniably that she was, and always had been, deeply committed to Bing." Lizzie again looks totally confused, so he elaborates. "It was when Lydia had run off to L.A. to see her. There's a video where they're discussing Bing leaving Jane, and she talks about her feelings for him...about their relationship...about...well. I'll let you watch it. It's quite touching." He gives a faint smile. "At any rate, after seeing that, it was absolutely impossible for me to think that her feelings for Bing were anything less than truly genuine. And of course, Bing's constant inquiries to you about your 'family' when you came to dinner after Valentine's Day made it obvious that I had underestimated the strength of his feelings for Jane."

Lizzie is trying to keep up with all this new information. "So..."

Darcy takes a breath. "So...I absolutely had to right the wrong I'd done to them. They needed to be brought back together, and I was the only person who could do it. Once Lydia's situation had been resolved, I asked Bing to indulge me for a few minutes, and then I played both videos for him." Lizzie still looks stunned. Meanwhile, Darcy's eyes glance thoughtfully to one side, and he smiles at the recollection. "I've never seen him tear up like that. He couldn't get to her fast enough."

Lizzie smiles widely, eyebrows raised in a classic 'awww!' expression. "You did that?" she asks delightedly, but then frowns as a thought occurs to her. "But...okay...wait, then, what about that 'indiscretion' you saw at Bing's birthday party?"

Darcy's expression darkens, and his lips tighten angrily. "I now believe that was...an error of perception...on my part, and that Jane was, in fact, completely innocent." When one of Lizzie's eyebrows quirks inquiringly, he elaborates. "I...have no evidence, but...I suspect it was intended that I should see what I saw...and that I should draw the wrong conclusion."

Lizzie looks uncomprehending for a moment, but then the penny drops, and her nostrils flare furiously. "Caroline...that's what you think, isn't it? She set Jane up!"

Darcy looks uncomfortable, and speaks judiciously. "As I say, I have no proof...but...all the evidence points to a sincere attachment to Bing on Jane's part, and it's also very clear that your older sister doesn't have a deceptive bone in her body, so..." He sighs regretfully, and looks her in the eye. "I don't know anything for certain, Lizzie."

Lizzie's lip curls in disgust. "But it does fit Caroline's motives...and her MO."

Darcy reluctantly inclines his head in acknowledgement.

Lizzie turns her face towards the camera, cold fury etched on every square inch of it. "I think we're going to stop filming for the moment...I'm feeling an intense urge to do a lot of yelling and screaming."

Darcy's eyes widen nervously.

The screen goes black.