Disclaimer: Jane Austen's works are Public Domain works and no disclaimer is ever needed. Also, I'm a HUGE geek.
The next morning dawned gray and rainy. The tropical storm warning had been upgraded and they were now bracing themselves for a hurricane and it was due to come ashore in a day or two. Lizzy and Will had adjourned to the living room when the power had come back on and stationed themselves in front of Charles's massive TV to watch the news reports. Eventually they fell asleep.
Will awoke suddenly and realized that he and Lizzy had shifted into an awkward position on the couch. Somehow they had ended up spooning. He looked around bleary-eyed and found Charles and Jane standing over them with looks of shock and not a little humor. He disentangled himself from Lizzy's limbs and led them into the kitchen where Jane immediately set about making pancakes.
"Spill it," Charles said once the kitchen door had swung shut. He couldn't wait any longer.
"I woke up from the storm around 4 in the morning and came out here to get some water. She was up, too, and we sat up talking. Eventually, the power came back on and we went in there to watch TV. We fell asleep on opposite sides of the couch; I don't know how we ended up like that."
"Hmm," Charles sounded doubtful.
"Hand to God I did not intend to spoon Elizabeth Bennet," Will said defensively.
"Methinks thou dost protest too much," Jane said from her station at the stove where she was pouring the batter for blueberry pancakes.
"Anyway, you should know the tropical storm warning was upgraded to a hurricane watch. We're expecting a Cat 2 to make landfall in the next day or so."
"Have they closed the roadways yet?"
"Not yet," he said.
"Maybe you and Lizzy should get some stuff and come hunker down with us," Charles said to Jane as she flipped pancakes.
"That's a good idea. I wouldn't want to put you out though," she frowned in concentration at the griddle.
"Not at all. The more the merrier, right Will?"
"Of course," Will said staring out of the windows. "Should we do something to board up the windows?"
"Yeah, I've got storm shutters. So Jane and Lizzy will go get their things and you and I will put up the storm shutters. Caroline will probably sleep through the whole thing."
"That's a great plan, babe. But first let's eat," Jane carried a plate full of golden pancakes to the table and Will couldn't help but stare in wonder at how quickly she had whipped them up.
"I smell pancakes," Lizzy said as she wandered into the kitchen rubbing her eyes.
"Eat up, Lizzy. We're going to get our stuff after breakfast and then come back and hunker down."
"Hunker down. Great phrase." Lizzy chuckled to herself as she poured syrup on her pancakes. "Wait," she stopped pouring and looked up at them all. "Hunker down? As in, hurricane's a-coming?"
"Yup," Charles replied before shoveling a huge bite of pancakes into his mouth.
"I could just ride it out at my place. No need to hunker down here," she said as she dug in.
"Oh you can't Lizzy! I'd be so worried the whole time. Plus the wind might damage your building. I'd feel better if you were here with us. Charles has storm shutters."
Lizzy looked at the pout on her angelic sister's face and relented. "Fine, we'll hunker down here."
"Good, we'll stop on the way back and get whatever supplies we can from the store."
"Good idea. Lots of bottled water and batteries and whatnot," Charles said through a full mouth.
Will couldn't help but smile as his friend sprayed pancake bits everywhere.
Lizzy caught that smile and realized that he had dimples. She had never seen him really smile before. She ate her breakfast quietly and tried not to watch him. Despite her previous misgivings she realized after spending the wee hours of the morning with him that she was in serious danger of liking him. If only he weren't such a douche bag. That was her one consolation. Every time she felt herself heat up under his gaze she thought about what he had said the first time they met and it cooled her off pretty quickly.
They stopped at Lizzy's condo first and she packed some clothes for the weekend and her laptop and briefcase. Next they went by Jane's apartment where Jane also packed and Lizzy retrieved a few things out of her car which was parked outside of Jane's house. Finally ready for the weekend, they stopped at the nearest Publix and scoured the store for whatever was left. Bottled water was almost gone, but they grabbed as much as they could. There were no batteries left on the shelves, but managed to find some hidden away on an endcap. They also stocked up on canned goods and other non-perishables that Jane could whip into delicious dishes on the gas stove which would work no matter what the power situation was. It was rare to find a gas stove in Florida, but Charlie preferred it to electric so he had gotten one immediately upon moving into his house.
When they got back to Charlie's place the beautiful windows in the kitchen had been covered by steel shutters and the rest of the house had been similarly shut up. It felt a little like prison to Lizzy, specifically because she was being sequestered with Will, but mostly because she loved her condo and really wished she hadn't let Jane push her into staying here. Lizzy had set up her laptop and set to charging her spare batteries while they had power. She was going through her brief case looking for the appellate brief she was working on and Will sat down at the table with his own laptop.
"How many spare batteries do you have?" Will asked looking at her setup.
"Two backups. How many do you have?" Lizzy asked still rifling through her bag.
"None."
"Okay, well, I've got work to do this weekend and I can't take any chances. If we lose power I have to keep on working."
"What are you working on?" he asked. Just then Caroline wandered into the kitchen looking as though she had just come from a salon and looked around her in wonder.
"What in the world is happening?"
"Hurricane's coming," Will said avoiding looking at her. "We've put up the storm shutters and Lizzy and Jane are staying the weekend."
"You're joking!" Caroline said.
"Not at all," Lizzy said drily. "It's supposed to make landfall sometime early Monday morning and they've predicted a Cat 2 storm." Lizzy's phone rang and she answered it walking towards the sun room as she talked. "Hello? Oh, hi Mr. Gardiner. Of course I'm ready for the storm."
Her voice trailed off and Caroline gave Will an exasperated glare.
"You can't be serious? Eliza Bennett in this house all weekend?"
"Charlie requested it. He wanted Jane nearby and Jane wanted Lizzy nearby. Feel free to take it up with Charlie."
"Well of course you didn't ask for this torture, Will. Though it might be an interesting exercise in finding out about your new colleague."
"New boss," he corrected.
"Boss? As in..."
"Yes, I'm his boss." Lizzy was walking back into the room flipping her phone shut. "Will, the office is closed on Monday, but I'm going spend some time briefing you on the case you're assigned to. That way when we're back on Tuesday you can get straight to those documents."
"Great, thanks."
Caroline was speechless. She kept looking from Lizzy to Will and back again.
"Did I break her?" Lizzy asked looking at Will.
"She'll be okay. I think Charlie and Jane are in the TV room if you want to talk to him."
"Um, right. Thanks," she muttered as she left the kitchen.
Lizzy watched the dazed blonde stomp out of the kitchen. She then turned her gaze to Will's dimpled smirk.
"Caroline and I are going to be best friends," she said with sarcasm dripping from her words.
"What kind of case am I on?" He asked indicating her computer.
"You don't have to do anything until Monday, Will. Don't worry about it."
"No, I'm really interested!" he insisted.
"Okay, well, I've brought in a client whose suing the mouse."
"You're kidding," Will said joining her on the other side of the table. "They've got a terrifying legal team."
"Even worse, it's a copyright infringement action, which means their most terrifying legal team is up against us." She smiled.
"You don't seem terrified," he said skeptical.
"I'm not, because I've done the leg work. All the research I've done to this point speaks overwhelmingly of infringement and that's what you'll be doing in the Discovery phase. I'll need you to go through the documents they send us and compare them to our documents. I'm going to have you drafting interrogatories and writing questions for the depos. If you'd really like to start I have all of our clients stuff on my thumb drive so that you know what you're looking for when we get their stuff."
"Sure, absolutely," he said as he grabbed the thumb drive she was holding out to him and got to work.
Pretty soon the kitchen table atmosphere became alarmingly serious. The others would drift in and out of the kitchen hoping to make conversation and being completely intimidated by the silent and studious work ethic witnessed there.
It was Jane who finally took charge at lunch time and made them stop when she sat sandwiches down in front of them. All five members of the household sat down to eat, but Will and Lizzy wolfed down their food so that they could get back to work.
"Has she always been like this?" Charlie asked.
"Yeah, at least since she started law school."
"I've got a new client and I have to make sure they have a case before Will drafts the complaint," Lizzy said finally removing her gaze from the computer screen.
"Another one?" Will asked peeved as he looked up from his work.
"How would a law firm survive if we helped one client at a time?"
Will sighed and shrugged, "It wouldn't," he went back to his own work. Lizzy did the same and eventually the others drifted out again. Around four in the afternoon they lost power which made Caroline stir crazy and all she could do was pace the kitchen and watch the two of them work.
"Will, you read so fast!" she commented as he moved on to the next document.
"Actually, Caroline, I read rather slowly."
"I think I'd die if I had to read so many boring documents," she said dramatically.
"Then don't go to law school," he replied shortly.
"Eliza, take a break and walk around with me. It must be hard on you to sit slumped in that chair all day."
Lizzy looked up at her and saw only a ridiculous smile pasted on her face. It did not go unnoticed by Caroline when Will watched Lizzy stand, shut her computer, and walk towards her. Caroline grabbed Lizzy's arm and made sure they were parading in Will's line of sight so that he might better compare their figures and judge whose beauty was superior.
Will, being the man he is, couldn't resist. Especially since Lizzy was wearing a tiny pair of ratty old running shorts that looked like they might fall apart any second. And her glasses. She was wearing her glasses.
Caroline saw and wasn't sure whether to be triumphant or feel idiotic. So she did the only thing she could do. She tried to bring Lizzy down a peg.
"Will, do you want to join us?"
"No, not really. Your purpose is much better served by my sitting here."
"Purpose? Eliza what could he mean?"
Lizzy ground her teeth every time Caroline called her Eliza. "I don't know, CAROL, why don't you ask him?"
"Will, what do you mean?"
Will smirked at Lizzy, knowing how uncomfortable she was. "Only that you must have one of two reasons for walking around like that. Either you're having a super secret girls-only chat, with which I want nothing to do, or you're hoping to show off your figures and I can hardly watch your figures if I'm walking with you."
"You bad man!" Caroline nearly shouted with glee. "Eliza, can you believe that? How can we punish that bad man?"
"By ignoring him," Lizzy said looking at the self-satisfied smirk on his face. "Laugh at him, tease him, if you must, but ignoring him is the best punishment."
"Laugh at Will Darcy? You can't be serious."
"Is there nothing funny about him? Are there no faults?" She looked at the quiet, serious paragon that was Will Darcy. "No, I guess not."
"I have faults," he said almost sounding like a petulant child.
"Yeah?" Lizzy quirked an eyebrow at him.
"My favor, once lost, can never be gotten again."
"Wow. Knows how to hold a grudge. Interesting." She stopped walking as she and Will shared a dangerously intimate moment until Caroline spoke up.
"He only holds a grudge where it's absolutely deserved."
"Thanks Carol, for the walk. I do feel much better," Lizzy yanked her arm out of Caroline's grasp and sat back down at the table.
Caroline feeling very much like things had gone horribly wrong said something about finding Charles and wandered off. But the atmosphere in the kitchen had changed. It nearly crackled with electricity now and Will was having trouble concentrating on work. Luckily, he finished reading the documents she had given him and could put his laptop away. Lizzy decided that dinner was a good time to stop and she changed out batteries to charge the other spare.
Dinner was a much more talkative affair with Will and Lizzy in their own world discussing the case he was working on. The others couldn't seem to pick up on the topic and decided to stay out of it. After dinner Charlie brought out the board games and they decided to play Apples to Apples. Caroline pleaded a headache and went to bed. Jane dealt the first hand, which made her the judge.
"The word is 'Beautiful'." She laid down a green colored card with the word Beautiful written on it.
Charles was the first one to lay down a card and Will and Lizzy quickly followed. Jane gathered the cards and read them out.
"My hair," she giggled, "a Sunrise," she nodded, "Babies," she sighed. "This is a tough one."
Lizzy nearly rolled her eyes, but was impressed by how well Charlie knew her.
"Babies," she said finally holding it up. It was Charlie's and she handed him the green card while Lizzy grabbed the red pile to deal.
After Apples to Apples they moved on to Monopoly. Jane quickly went bankrupt and sat with Charlie to cheer him on. Will and Charlie, two business men, took the game fairly seriously, but it was Lizzy, the strategist, who ultimately won. When both the men looked at her questioningly she shrugged.
"It's a board game."
Jane and Charlie wandered off to bed after the games had been cleaned up and Lizzy sat on a barstool finishing her herbal tea and listening to the storm. Will looked at her and remembered last night. She was terrified of storms. Not of fierce legal teams of major corporations. Storms.
"You want some company?" he asked.
Lizzy quirked a brow at him skeptically and shook her head no. "You go to bed. I'll be fine."
"Lizzy, did I —" but he stopped himself. "Goodnight."
"Wait, Will, did you what?"
"Well, it's just I remember being a bit preoccupied by a bad situation when I met you. I wondered if you had been offended by my distant behavior?"
"No, not really, everyone has bad days, I can see that now."
"Then why are...I mean, why have you been so..." he couldn't seem to find the right word. "Why don't you have two words to throw me when we're not discussing work?"
"I wouldn't want to bore you," she said before standing up and leaving the kitchen. She had hit the light switch and left Will standing in the dark with his thoughts when it finally struck him. She had overheard his conversation with Charles.
"Damn."
**author's note: This is the last chapter I had pre-written before posting, but I'm about halfway through the next. Thanks to all of my reviewers and readers for your support and please be patient if my next updates don't come as regularly. I'm supposed to be writing a huge paper for school over the break, so I'll sneak in some fan fic when I can. Happy Holidays everyone!
