A/N: Heyo, kiddies! I'm back, and I have a new chapter for you! I think this one answers everyone's questions, but don't worry, there's still lots more to come! Also, I was thinking of putting a Col. Fitzwilliam character in here. I don't think he's ever given a first name in the book, but if he is, can someone tell me? Otherwise, what do you think I should call him?

Disclaimer: Why is this taking so long? It's still not mine. Yet, anyway.

Chapter 3: Night Terrors

Lizzy dragged herself away from the window. Much as the backyard was interesting at night, she needed to help clean up.

As she stepped into the kitchen, Lydia and Kitty, the only girls still in the kitchen, were taking turns reliving the evening to their father. "Louisa didn't talk much, but Caroline as constantly talking," Lydia was saying.

"You couldn't get a word in edgewise!" Kitty added.

"You should talk," Lizzy muttered as she began drying the dishes Jane had washed.

"She talked way more than us," Lydia assured her older sister.

"Though you wouldn't know," Kitty threw in, "'cause you were asleep."

"You were asleep, were you?" their father interrupted.

Kitty and Lydia froze; they obviously hadn't been thinking. Lizzy simply kept drying dishes.

"I asked you a question, Elizabeth," Mr. Bennet said, his voice low and dangerous.

"Yes, sir," Lizzy replied stiffly. "I was asleep."

"While we had guests over?" Mr. Bennet's voice was louder now, a threat still very evident in his words.

"No one woke me up," Lizzy said

"Should that matter?" he asked. Lizzy said nothing. "I said, should that matter?" Mr. Bennet roared.

"Not to you, apparently." Lizzy knew she was just making matters worse, but she hated when he did this to her, and had to fight back somehow. She met the twins' eyes, then glanced towards the door; they got the message and made themselves scarce.

"This wouldn't happen if you didn't fall asleep whenever you sat down!" Mr. Bennet was still shouting, his eyes, blue like Jane's, shooting sparks and making Lizzy unconsciously press back against the sink. "You should at least have the forethought to go to your room before falling asleep!"

"It's not like I asked for this!" Lizzy shouted back, finally having enough. "It wasn't my idea to have the blasted dreams! You've always acted like this is my fault, like I can control what I dream, but no one can!" She threw the towel into the sink and headed towards the same door her sisters had used.

"Where are you going?" her father demanded.

"To my bedroom, before I fall asleep on you!" Lizzy snapped, and slammed the door shut behind her. Her posture and expression were angry, her steps quick and light, and she reached her room as soon as she could. Locking the door, she tossed herself on her bed and curled around a pillow. This incident wasn't worth shedding tears over; they would be better saved for later that night. Her dad always yelled at her when she did something that he perceived as wrong, and it didn't usually make her anything more than angry. When he yelled at her, though, for something she couldn't help, try as she might to cover it with anger, she couldn't deny, at least to herself, that it made her anything other than sad.

And she couldn't help the bad dreams, not unless she wanted to sleep with Jane every night, and they were getting too old for that. Besides, Jane would be off to college next year, and Lizzy would have to cope without her. Better get used to it now, she figured, than when she had no choice.

Jane stepped through Lizzy's door to their adjoined closet, a secret the girls had managed to keep for the whole nine years the family had been in the house. The back wall of both their closets was the same wall, and had a sliding panel in it that the girls disguised by storing junk in front of it. A bathroom took up the rest of the space between their rooms.

Jane sat down on Lizzy's bed. "Why does he do this to me, Janie?" Lizzy asked.

"I don't think we're ever going to know, sweetie," Jane replied, stroking Lizzy's hair gently.

Lizzy flopped onto her back. "I didn't have a nightmare while the Bingleys were here," she commented.

"I noticed that," Jane said thoughtfully. "Why do you think that was?"

"Well, it wasn't that my body completely shut down, like it does sometimes, because you woke me up. Were you anywhere near me?"

"I was on the other side of the room. Will was the closest," Jane told her.

"And I saw where everyone else was sitting. Not nearly close enough," Lizzy mused.

"Do you think Will…?" Jane asked, her voice trailing off.

"But I barely know him!" Lizzy exclaimed.

"You of all people should know that the conscious and the subconscious don't exactly see eye to eye on everything," Jane said.

"Yeah," Lizzy sighed, then laughed humorlessly. "Maybe I should sleep on it."

Jane hugged her sister. "Do try and get some sleep."

She was heading back to the closet when Lizzy said, "I walked out before I finished the dishes."

Jane turned back and smiled tiredly. "I'll do them in the morning."

"You don't have to," Lizzy protested.

"I'll feel better for it. Now sleep," Jane commanded.

"You're an angel," Lizzy said with a smile.

Dark shapes. A fear of both the known and the unknown. The urge to run strikes, but it is like moving through water. No, mud. Now it feels like molasses. So hard to run. Legs won't work; just looking for a place to hide. Nowhere is safe; there is no safety in this place. Nothing is really, nothing is imaginary, nothing is safe. Safety! Where is safety? Jane is safe; where is she? Gone, gone, there's nothing but blackness…

Lizzy sat bolt upright in her bed. Even as the dream faded to dark shapes and a feeling of fear, tears pulled themselves from her eyes. Every night was like this, but the dreams still scared her. She curled back around the pillow she had abandoned earlier, and buried her face in it, letting the tears fall. She cried quietly, and was too afraid to go back to sleep.

Quivering in the dark like a little girl, a single concept from her dream came back to Lizzy; safety; Jane is safe. Something was messing with her sense of security, and since Jane made her feel safe, Jane stopped the nightmares.

Lizzy decided to think this revelation through in the morning; or, rather, when the sun was up and the decent people in her time zone were awake. Things might be clearer then.

Mid-morning light filtered into Lizzy's eyes. Blearily, she blinked, trying to adjust to the brightness. Something important was niggling at the edge of her brain, something she had thought of in the middle of the night, but she couldn't figure what. Yawning, she clambered out of bed; her too-long pajama pants fell from where they had been bunched up at her knees and her cami needed untwisting. The dark green nail polish on her toes was chipped, she noted, and placed the bottle of polish in a more prominent position on her dresser to remind herself to touch it up.

Unlocking her door, Lizzy wandered downstairs and into the kitchen. The dishes that she had left the night before when she had stormed off were nowhere in sight, presumably washed, dried, and put away by Jane. Lizzy pulled out a bowl, a spoon, the milk jug, and a box of cereal and settled herself on the counter with her breakfast.

Mary walked in, already dressed, and sat at the table. "Dad went in to work today," she said.

"That's a relief," Lizzy replied, rolling her eyes. "At least we don't have him wandering around the house like usual."

Mary smiled. "What are you gonna do today?" she asked.

"I don't know," Lizzy said. "Take a wander, maybe. Get out of the house, definitely. What are you doing?"

Mary shrugged. "It's that time of year, y'know? Second week of August, no one knows what to do anymore."

"Got any school work to finish?" Lizzy asked.

Mary snorted. "Are you kidding me? I finished it in June."

"Good for you," Lizzy said. "Try reading a book."

"I'll do that," Mary said with a grin, and left.

Lizzy stared after her sister, still racking her brains after the thought from the night. Kitty came in with a big plastic bowl.

"What were you doing with that?" Lizzy demanded.

Kitty grinned. "I don't think you want to know. Is this dishwasher-safe?"

The word ran through her. Safe. It was important somehow. If she was just given a moment to think, Lizzy knew it would come back to her.

"Lizzy!" Kitty waved her hand in front of her sister's face. "Is it?"

"Yeah, yeah it is," Lizzy said. As Kitty left, Lizzy searched her memory for what the word's importance was, but the flare was gone. Lizzy sighed, and figured that if it was important enough, she'd think of it sometime.

"Lizzy! There you are!" Jane called.

Lizzy waved to her sister. "Thanks for doing the dishes for me," she said.

Jane smiled. "Not a problem."

Lizzy was seated on top of a covered slide at a playground a mile from their home. Jane had just showed up with Charlie next to her, and a disgruntled-looking Will trailing behind. Jane and Charlie went around to the steps to climb up to Lizzy; Will simply scaled a ladder right next to her and perched himself at the top of it.

Lizzy grinned at him. "Come to see me, then?" she asked.

Will shrugged. "Couldn't take another minute of being with Caroline," he said.

Lizzy scowled at him. "You have a way of making a girl feel wonderful," she said.

He glanced up at her, surprised. "I didn't mean it that way!" he said.

Lizzy gave a small, half-hearted smile. "I probably could have figured that," she said. "I'm sorry, I'm really out of sorts. Didn't get much sleep last night."

"I doubt that nap helped," Will said, then blushed. "Sorry. I can't seem to open my mouth without putting my foot in it today."

"You're forgiven," Lizzy said. "God knows I did it yesterday."

They sat in a slightly awkward silence until Jane and Charlie made it up to where they were. They chatted amiably for a while about Lizzy and Jane's school, which Will and Charlie would both be attending that year, and the neighborhood, and their families, and anything else they could think of.

They spent a good few hours simply talking and getting to know each other, until Mrs. Bingley sent a text to Charlie demanding that he and Will get home immediately. Charlie texted back that they were on their way, and they all climbed down, Jane and Charlie back down the steps, Will back down the ladder, and Lizzy with a jump.

While they were walking, they got onto the subject of books, and Lizzy scorned a few of Jane's favorites, with Charlie fighting for Jane and Will making comments in favor of both sides

Lizzy glared at him in mock-frustration. "You're absolutely no help!" she said. "Pick a side and stay with it."

Will sighed. "They're awful, then. They need more plot and a better writer. Are you happy, Lizzy?"

"Barely," Lizzy said, but she was grinning.

A/N2: Yes, I know what Lizzy is afflicted with isn't strictly night terrors. I did do some research, much as I dislike doing it, but in this story, Lizzy and Jane call them night terrors, to give it a little more class. Or something. And if anyone can guess which books I'm referring to, I'll write them a P&P based double-drabble off any prompt they give me. Have at!