Author's Note:

I had the hardest time writing this chapter- sorry about the delay, hope y'all like it!

So many thanks to everyone who reviewed it. You guys rock, you know that?

Keep 'em coming!


All the best friends can just tell how their friends are feeling. Like when Will was in love with Audrey Hepburn for a week, Charlie put up with the fake Gregory Peck accents and even volunteered to buy him an eyebrow plucker and the book "50 Classic Actresses For Pretentious Straight Males to Like."

Will ignored him for five straight days after that incident.

And now, Charlie could tell that Will was pining, or doing his own twisted version of pining, or, as he liked to call it, "constipation."

So Charlie, being a man of action and romance, met Will at the bookstore on 15th street on Thursday and set out to kick his butt and get him to ask out this woman.

Luckily for him, Will was thinking that he should do the same thing too.

"Yo, Darcy!" Charlie yells at him as he enters the bookstore. Will screams- a deep, manly scream, in his opinion- and turns around and glares at Charlie.

"You're in a bookstore, so it's like a library, which means that normal people try to talk quietly. Try to at least pretend that you went there once when we were in college," he snaps irritably. Charlie just shrugs his shoulders and leans against the wall, hands in pocket.

"You know, if you were a girl, I'd totally say that you were PMS-ing right now," he comments, picking at his fingers.

"Why do girls even date you?"

He flashes a brilliant smile. "Easy: good looks, charm, affability, and that je ne sais quois, mon frère."

"Charlie. You took Spanish." Will reminds him, and he shrugs again, smiling even more broadly.

"Yeah, but Jane thinks it's sexy when I speak in French," he replies.

Will resists the attempt to roll his eyes at the mention of Charlie's latest girlfriend, Jane, the blonde he saw at the party. Only Charlie could pick up a girl at a Christmas party.

The image of Lizzie pops in his head and Will tries to tell himself that he's not jealous of Charlie and his insane Christmas-party-flirtation-relationship Jedi Mind tricks.

"Will? You there?" Charlie waves his hand in front of face and he shakes himself, trying to knock the image of Lizzie out of his head.

"Yeah, yeah. Look, I have a question, that's kind of, embarrassing," Will whispers quietly to him, hoping that Charlie will pick up on his subtly.

"No, Will. I will not tell you how babies are made in public! Quick, let's go back to my place and I'll show you!"

Will scowls at him. "You have the maturity of four-year-old, you know that, right?"

"Hey, it's better than you." Charlie crosses his arms and looks out the window, a hint of a frown on his face.

Will knows that he deserves that one, so he lets it pass and continues, "Okay fine. But I really do have to ask you something."

"Shoot."

He doesn't really know where to start, so he just blurts out in a rush, "?"

Charlie raises his eyebrows at Will, clearly struggling to control his desire to laugh. "Sorry Will, I caught none of that. Repetez, s'il vous plait? Wait- how did I sound?"

"Like you had a stick up your ass."

Charlie breathes a sigh of relief. "Excellent. Jane'll be so proud."

"Back to my life, please?" Will interjects the impending- Jane is so great, where has she been all my life?- soliloquy sure to come and starts again, "So at your party, I met this girl."

The frown on Charlie's face returns; he says quickly, "I've been meaning to talk to you about that. What reminded you of it? The piano?"

Will acts like he didn't hear Charlie. "And this girl was kinda my type-"

"By which you mean she scored a 10 out of 10 on the Will Darcy Scale of Perfection-"

"Shut up. She called me 'Draco'-"

Charlie snaps his fingers in triumph and releases a "Yes!"

"And I don't know, it just, something clicked, and I kinda wanted…I kinda wanted…to know…if you had her, um, her number," Will lets the words escape his mouth and regrets them the minute they enter reality.

To his surprise, though, instead of mocking him or making another awkward sex joke, Charlie nods seriously, takes out his phone, and asks, "You got pen and paper?"

Will is still in shock and can't answer; he's still ready for some stealth-bomb Playboy reference when Charlie rolls his eyes and mutters, "God, nobody likes kicking it old school anymore."

Will snorts in amusement. "Who says that, anyway?"

"Kathy Griffin."

Because Charlie didn't mock him, Will decides he's gonna keep quiet, too.

He takes out his cellphone and squints at Charlie's contacts list.

Allison Aimes

Rodger Bates

Jane Bennet

Lizzie Bennet

"Oh, that's strange. Lizzie and Jane have the same last name. Weird." Will comments as he punches Lizzie's number into his phone.

"Wait for it…" Charlie mutters under his breath, and a couple of seconds, Will comes in, right on cue, with a "What the fuck? They're related?"


The next day, Will is still hung up about Charlie's Jane being related to Lizzie. It's like his mind is stuck in replay, and he keeps asking Charlie, "Are you sure?"to which Charlie, being the charming man he is, says, "Your head's still stuck in your ass."

For the next couple of days, all of their conversations go like this:

Will paces the room while Charlie leans casually against a wall: This world is too fucking small.

Charlie: That's kinda why they have that song, Will.

Will glares at him: No shit, Bingley.

Charlie shrugs his shoulders is if to say, 'Not my fault,' and Will continues: I mean, God! Sometimes I just think people are trying to screw with me. Maybe it's for my money? Oh God they're after my money.

Charlie: Paranoid android freak.

Will: What?

Charlie: Nothing, bumpkins.

Will: Shut it, Hawaiian Fruit Punch.

On days after these conversations, Charlie always muses to himself that Will is really, honest to God, one fucked up individual.

Which is exactly why he decides to invite the Bennet sisters over for dinner.

Without telling Will.


Lizzie and Jane arrive on time, right at 7:00, and Charlie grins widely at them when they arrive; he wraps his arms around Jane's waist and says, "Hi."

"Hi," she grins back at him, and Lizzie quickly goes into the kitchen to avoid a 20-minute conversation that consists only of "Hi."

Unfortunately, Will is also in the kitchen, morosely contemplating a box of granola and his lack of luck with one Lizzie Bennet. He turns around and promptly drops the granola box.

"Shit."

"Well that's not what I'm usually called, but hello to you, too," Lizzie smiles faintly at him and crosses her arm, and Will can tell she's angry at him. Or maybe just annoyed. He really hopes she's just annoyed.

"Nice pajamas."

"Thanks," Will replies, smiling crookedly down at the pink pajama bottoms he's currently sporting.

She walks further into the kitchen, a little bit closer to him, and tilts her head. "I've heard only real men wear pink. So what the hell are you doing in it?"

She doesn't know. She doesn't know, and still Will suddenly wants to punch the smirk off her face. She doesn't know.

He laughs but it sounds off, even to him, and he quickly leaves the kitchen, hoping that his face doesn't look as fucked up as he feels.

"You invited them?" Will hisses at Charlie angrily, having pulled him apart from Jane and thrust her in Lizzie's direction.

Charlie runs a hand through his hair, clearly confused. "I thought you wanted to ask Lizzie out, so I just decided to speed the process up a little bit. Why? What's wrong?"

Every single time someone asks Will what's wrong, he feels a little bit more lonely and defeated.

"You…she…Georgie…pants."

Charlie blanches. "Oh God Will. You-"

"I am."

Charlie sighs. "Please tell me you didn't bite her head off. She doesn't know; it's not her fault, Will."

Will knows that but he still thinks she holds grudges better than anyone he's ever met.

"Will," Charlie says quietly, "if you want something with Lizzie, something real, you'll have to tell her. She's not the person in that cab, Will."

Charlie walks away, leaving Will all alone in the dark.


The double date- if you could call it that- wasn't entirely a disaster, as Will rejoined the group and Lizzie spilled coffee all over the carpet, to which Will only said, "I always thought something was off in the apartment," instead of rolling his eyes or pouring detergent all over it.

"Lizzie? Please redecorate all the rooms in my apartment," he teases her, and she flashes a smile at him.

"Pay me first."

Will laughs at her boldness and replies, "Only in quarters."

Charlie snorts. "Great comeback, Will."

Sometimes he needs more supportive friends.

Will rolls his eyes at him and flops back against the couch. Lizzie joins him and turns her head, a wicked glint in her eyes, towards Charlie. "Hey Charlie? What was that videotape you were talking about earlier, the one of Will's 21st birthday?"

Jane nods eagerly and says, "Yeah, the Harry Potter one."

Will sits upright quickly. "No."

"Why not, Will? What, you've got dirty secrets?" Lizzie grins at him, tucking a strand of hair back, and Will suddenly aches to touch her.

Oh God. He's no better that a high schooler.

"Too many for you, Bennet."

She smacks his shoulder and Jane laughs uproariously; Charlie looks on fondly as he heads toward the TV console.

"What year did we make it, Will?" He asks suddenly, his back to the group, and Will, stupid Will, replies, "Um….4 years ago? I think?"

"You don't remember your 21st birthday?" Lizzie asks him incredulously, and the constricted feeling in Will's stomach comes back. He nods stiffly and clenches the drink in his hand.

"The years kind of…blurred together," he says vaguely, and Lizzie looks at him, really looks at him, and he worries that she's seen something in his face that'll bring her closer to the truth.

He wants her to know and yet he doesn't want her to know; he wants to be able to lash out at one person for the accident but he doesn't want it to be Lizzie but he just feels so -

"Okay! Here it is!" Charlie interrupts Will's thoughts and presses play on the remote. "I present to you, William Darcy's 21st birthday."

Will rolls his eyes again and Lizzie smiles at him, and he's struck again by that desire to reach out and hold her, and it scares him. Charlie sits next to Jane and threads his hand through hers, and that simple gesture makes them both look so happy.

"Oh, God," he proclaims as the video begins, with a close-up of a very, very drunk Will.

Charlie's narrating it, and Video Charlie whispers to the camera, "And now, for the first time, we have Drunk Will."

"You made it sound like I was one of those wrestlers," Real Will protests as he watches Video Will stumble off the stool.

Video Will smiles sloppily at the camera and pushes himself onto his feet; Lizzie tells Real Will, "Hey. That's impressive!"

Now, Video Charlie asks the drunk Will, "So how do you feel about our fine friend, Harry Potter?"

Real Will moans; Lizzie smiles and pats his hand.

The Will in the video seems to lose all composure as he spits out furiously, "Harry Potter. The Chosen One. What the hell is that all about, huh? 'The Chosen One?' Like what? He was fucking chosen to save the whole god-damned world? Aw hell to the no."

Lizzie loses it and falls onto the floor laughing. Will wishes that she would go back to holding his hand.

Video Will continues, "I mean, honestly? Please. Let's get real: the only reason Potter is even popular is because he's a hero, and girls can't resists a hero. Like if I jumped off a fucking bridge to save fucking Cher, I would be loved. I would be loved, man!" Video Will slams his fist down on the bar and screams "Fuck!"

Now Charlie's on the floor laughing, too, and Jane shoots Real Will a sweet look.

Suddenly, Video Will reaches his arms towards someone beyond the camera, someone's who laughing, and says, "God, Georgie, if I ever do that, you'll love me, right?"

Will feels like he can't breathe anymore; Charlie stops laughing and freezes as they watch Georgie walk into the frame, and without thinking, Will pushes himself off the couch and crouches close to the TV.

"Georgie," he whispers slowly.

Georgie in the video reaches the drunk Will and smiles at him, laughing at his attempts to stand, and she says, "Yes, Will, even if you push yourself off a bridge to save Cher, I'll love you. Hell, I love you now, you stupid bastard," and laughing, she kisses him on the head.

The Will in the video grins at her and says proudly to the camera, "Hear that, Potter? My girl loves me. So suck it, bastard!" and the camera zooms in on a shot of Georgie dumping water on Will's head, and then the screen goes black.

Like a man stuck in a trance, Will rips the plug out of the set and suddenly he punches the wall.

"God, Georgie, why'd you have to do it? God, any other fucking crosswalk, and-" but Will can't bear to finish that thought.

He doesn't hear Jane and Lizzie leaving; he doesn't hear Lizzie arguing furiously with Jane, doesn't hear Charlie talking, doesn't even hear the sound of himself crying.

All he can see is Georgie, coming towards him, smiling, reaching out to play with his hair, and then he sees a car speeding towards her, and her air-borne body, bruised and broken and then the casket, finally closed shut, finally buried in the Earth.

"Oh, Georgie," he mumbles brokenly as he stares down at the pink pajama pants she bought for him on his 21st birthday, and then he's gone.


Just to clarify: Charlie didn't remember that Georgie was in the video, and Will has a vague feeling (read: clenched stomach) but only remembers when he sees her in it.

Comments, questions, the full shebang are always welcome, so please review!