Jane arrived a week after Lizzie did. Lizzie spent that week trying to keep busy: she read books she'd bought and forgotten about; she spent a lot of time with Lydia and they grew closer than they had before. Lizzie now understood more than ever about how Lydia felt after George screwed her over and the recognition of this helped Lizzie to realise that she can survive this heartache that one William Darcy had caused, because Lydia was proof.

Lizzie spent more time with her father. He didn't always press her talk to him, instead just handed her a cloth to clean his train pieces, or the travel section from the newspaper. Lizzie found the solitude in which they sat just what she needed. Her father didn't pry and he accepted when she couldn't speak anymore, when the lump in her throat that she'd been ignoring began to rise and she felt the tears burning in her eyes, threatening to swell over. Her mother had been acting strangely, she made Lizzie endless cups of tea and there were times when Lizzie looked up to find her mother staring at her, worry written all over her face. That scared Lizzie, so much so that she began to take long walks to get out of the house and stop her mother worrying.

But everything she tried to focus on always resulted in her thinking about him. She missed him so much, and loved him so much that the thought of them being apart forever was physically hurting her. Nights were the worst. She didn't realise how accustomed she had become to them sleeping next to each other. The way he curved round her body and protected her with his arms, the way he became a human radiator when he slept, and if her toes got cold she'd took delight in pressing them up against his legs and laughing at his expression when the cold shocked him awake. She was so used to knowing he was there and that she wasn't alone, that during that first week she cried and sobbed herself to sleep every night. She was determined not cry in front of her family again, but at night she gave up all pretence of being okay. She was free to cry, and they didn't have to know how broken she was. She wasn't okay and the night Jane arrived at Netherfield, Lizzie finally admitted she didn't know how to be okay anymore.


Lydia Bennet knew Lizzie spent her first week back in the family home crying herself to sleep. Lydia also knew that Lizzie didn't want anyone to know and that's why she was crying at night. Lydia used to do it after George left. No one heard Lydia because Lizzie was asleep and she was in the room closest to Lydia. She waited until she heard Lizzie snoring softly and then she let go. She let everything that had built up out. Lydia knew that this was what Lizzie was doing, and so she let her. Lydia hated hearing her sister in so much pain but she didn't want to interfere. Lizzie was mourning the loss of her relationship, and it was hers. Lydia didn't know Lizzie and William Darcy's relationship the way Lizzie did.

One week after Lizzie arrived home, Lydia was in bed rereading The Hunger Games when she heard the muffled sobs of her older nerdy sister breaking into pieces. Lydia couldn't stand it anymore. She was so scared that the breakup was going to break Lizzie so much that nothing was going to fix her. Determined that the Darcybot would not destroy everything that made her sister, her sister, Lydia opened the door to Lizzie's room and climbed into the bed to hug her sister.

"Lydia I'm fine, go back to sleep." Lizzie tried to stop crying, but when Lydia didn't answer and jut hugged her tighter, Lizzie gave up and cried.

"Don't worry dear nerdy Lizzie, I'm here and I'm not going anywhere."


"Lydia rang me." William Darcy looked up to find his sister standing in the doorway to his office at Pemberley with her arms crossed. She hadn't spoken to him since Lizzie had left, Gigi didn't understand why he had ended things and he couldn't find the right words to explain.

"Lizzie went home, she got there safe, you don't need to worry." He carried on working, acting as though he hadn't heard Gigi talk.

She stayed silent for a while, and after five minutes of pretending to work, he looked up to find the doorway empty. Gigi had given up. According to Fitz, she was hurt that William didn't trust her enough to explain to her. Fitz also said that William Darcy was the only thing Gigi had in the entire world, and when Lizzie walked into their lives, Gigi had two. Now he had pushed Lizzie away, and Gig was left with a brother who refused to treat her like an adult.

William Darcy sighed. He was working all hours to avoid going back to the empty condo. He didn't like calling it home, because without Lizzie it wasn't home. It was just the shell of a life he had once known, that after the tragedy of his parents, he and Gigi were happy and Lizzie was the reason why. William Darcy had spent years watching Lizzie and he knew her so well, so forcing her away was the hardest thing to do. He didn't want to make the love of his life heartbroken, but it seemed like the best thing to do. He knew now that it was entirely irrational and so wrong. But he had made a decision and he had to live with it. It would eventually become the best option and Lizzie would be better in the long term. He was sure of it, or so told himself. William Darcy would not admit that he may have ruined everything about Lizzie that made her Lizzie, and there was the possibility that she wouldn't recover. That she may have run out tools and it was all his fault.