A/N: Thank you for the reviews so far, it's nice to hear your thoughts and it keeps me inspired to know that you're enjoying it. As a thank you, I've written this one a lot sooner than I intended. In reply to one review, no Keira and Kieron aren't related, their names were just the first few that popped into my head. This chapter will focus more on Lizzy's placement and her attachment to Jacob and a little more about her family.

Lizzy woke on Wednesday morning feeling a little more happier than normal. The night before she had pizza with Harry, William and Leo, watched a shrek movie until Leonard had fallen asleep next to her and Harry wasn't far behind, she had text Paige that she was still at William's house when her friend was due to close the cafe. After Will had carried Leonard up to his bedroom, they sat in the kitchen with a glass of wine each and talked a little more.

"Four sisters, mine were enough!" William laughed.

Lizzy smiled, "I love them dearly but they can be a handful from time to time." she agreed.

"Are you the eldest?"

She shook her head, "Second daughter of five, I have three younger sisters. One is in her first year of university, another is nearly seventeen in sixth form and my younger one is nearly fifteen in secondary school. My eldest sister is a year older than me, she's a teacher." she explained.

"Do you live near them?" he asked.

Again, she shook her head, "No, they live in Hertfordshire so it's about three hours away on the train." she answered.

"A lot closer than Derbyshire. Although Portsmouth is proving to be a good choice of moving." Darcy said, taking a large mouthful from his glass.

Lizzy smiled, "It isn't home but I love the sea breeze, I love the people that I've met in my three years here."

"What do you study?"

"Early childhood studies with psychology."

Darcy smiled at her, "Very admirable, my sister wanted to work with children if she had lived." he complimented.

She blushed slightly, "I wouldn't really say admirable, I just want to make some child's life better."

"What made you decide to do that?"

Elizabeth found herself pausing, it was a long story why she had wanted to be a social worker but the person behind it all was George Wickham and although she wanted to get to know Darcy better, digging into her past would most likely scare him away.

"It's quite a long story that I'm not ready to share just yet. I will tell you but in my own time, sorry."

He nodded stiffly, "No need to apologise, we're just getting to know one another."

The front door opened and Charles walked into the kitchen with Paige. Lizzy explained that Harry had fallen asleep on the sofa so they all shared another glass of wine before Charles suggested that they go to the pub on Friday after the close. Paige announced that she'd try and get a sitter while Lizzy asked if it was okay to invite Charlotte as she had already planned to meet up with her.

She remembered the events from the night before, noting how nice it was to get to know Darcy a little better and how he had agreed that going to the pub on Friday would be a good way to get to know the people in Bingley's life. Lizzy quickly washed and dressed into the clothes suitable for working at the children's home and packed her bag to include lunch and her uniform to work that afternoon. There was just over two weeks left at the children's home until her placement was concluded and she felt kind of devastated. Lizzy loved working there, the children were some of the best children she had ever known and Jacob had had no more bad behaviour at school since her conversation with him; she didn't want his behaviour to revert when he would eventually find out that her place there wasn't forever.

Lizzy locked up her flat and left, beginning her walk to the children's home as her phone began to ring. She pulled it out of her pocket and smiled as she saw Jane's picture on the screen.

"It's a bit early for you to call me isn't it?" Lizzy teased.

"I have meetings after school and I know you work on Wednesday afternoons so I thought I'd ring you before school starts." Jane replied.

"How are you?" Lizzy asked.

"I'm okay, life at home would be more bearable if you were there. Lydia is currently in a strop because Dad is refusing to let her go to France in July."

"What did Lydi do?"

"She was caught in a compromising position with a boy in the caretaker's cupboard at school."

Lizzy rolled her eyes, her youngest sister always had been a bit of a flirt and she craved attention from those who simply looked at her. Lydia was a spoiled brat in a way, she was definitely their mother's favourite and always got away with everything. In her opinion, Lydia needed a little bit of discipline but neither of their parents were able to provide it.

"That doesn't surprise me. Our father will eventually cave and allow Lydia to go."

"We all know that." Jane agreed.

"How are Kitty and Mary? Mum and Dad?" Lizzy asked.

"All well, Mary came home last weekend from university for a visit. She's doing well there, enjoying her music." said Jane.

Lizzy smiled at the news that all of her sisters and parents were all well. She was already more than halfway to work as she passed Portsmouth school for girls, another twenty minutes and she'd be arriving at the children's home.

"It's good to hear that everyone is well," said Lizzy, "I'll be coming to see you all in August if Charles can get me the time off."

"I can't wait another three months Lizzy! The last time we saw you was Christmas." Jane complained.

"I miss you too Jane, I wish I could come home more but I can't. Especially as Wickham is back in Meryton."

"We've hardly seen him, if he sees us he avoids us. Our father nearly beat him to a bloody pulp the first time their paths crossed."

Lizzy froze, it wasn't like their father to lose his temper so easily.

"What happened Jane?"

"It was two days after I told you he was in the army regiment that's settled near Meryton, Dad had come to meet me from work. As we were walking back to Longbourn, he was walking in the direction of the house asking to see you. When dad said that he didn't want him anywhere near Longbourn or to you, Wickham turned nasty. He said some horrible things about you and father pushed him against the wall, had his arm across Wickham's throat and nearly choked the life out of him. He only stopped because I begged him too."

"He would have deserved it after what he did to me!" Lizzy replied bitterly.

"Lizzy!"

"What? Of course I have no desire that our father be sent to prison for anything he would do to Wickham but the man deserves it Jane!" Lizzy insisted.

"Maybe so. But let's change the subject. Half term is in two weeks and I have the week off, are you busy?" Jane asked.

"I still have uni but my placement will be finished by then, my tutor has said that towards the end we should just be focussing on our dissertations so I will rarely be going to lectures. I will have work at some point but I'll speak to Charles if you're thinking of coming down for a few days." she replied.

"Is it okay to come and visit? It'll just be me."

"Of course it is! I long to see you. I've missed you terribly Jane."

"Great! Talk to Charles later and let me know so we can make plans from there."

"I'll speak to you soon Jane."

"Bye Lizzy."

The phone call to her sister had ended as Lizzy took off her bag and hung it up in the office and was greeted by Elaine.

"Good morning Elizabeth, Isaac and Helena are finishing up breakfast now before taking the minibus out to schools. Could you take Jacob to Mayfield for me? It's only a short walk and he seems to have taken a shine to you when you take him in the mornings." Elaine requested.

"Of course."

"When you return there's something I need to discuss with you about Jacob."

Lizzy helped the other children gather their lunchboxes and book bags and watched as the other children climbed on to the minibus to be taken to the other two schools that the children attended. She and Jacob left the children's home and began their walk along London road to the school that Jacob attended. He seemed a little bit down today when the past few times she had seen him he had been quite happy.

"What's the matter Jacob?" she asked.

He looked up at her, "Everyone leaves me." he mumbled.

"Oh Jacob-"

"You're leaving me! I heard Elaine talking!" Jacob shrieked, flapping his arms about in his frustration.

Since the incident with Kieron, whenever Lizzy worked the mornings she would take him to school, whenever she worked in the afternoons she would pick him up from school and although she mostly picked Jacob up since the second week of her placement, she had begun to get a little more involved in his structure of care in the children's home; becoming aware of his routine and the way he liked things to be done, requiring a lot of patience and understanding. She knelt down to his eye level, holding his arms in her hands to prevent him from lashing out but he began to rock backwards and forwards on his toes, avoiding making eye contact with her.

"Jacob, I promise I will always come and see you. I won't leave you!" Lizzy promised.

"You will!"

"I promise I won't. Now can we go to school and enjoy the walk?"

It took a little bit longer to calm Jacob down completely before their walk to the school continued; with Jacob constantly asking her to promise not to forget about him to which she promised that she wouldn't. It was days like this that made her want to help Jacob with his disorder and make his life circumstances a little better. A child like Jacob needed consistency and everything kept changing just as he got into a routine. Lizzy dropped Jacob off at his class, giving him a cuddle before he went in with the other children and walked back to the children's home. On her return, Elaine called her into her office. Lizzy shut the door behind her and sat in the empty seat as Elaine sat in her own.

"Elizabeth, you're placement here is due to finish in just over two weeks. Over the six weeks that you have already been here, the team and I have noticed a change in Jacob's behaviour. I have been speaking with some people involved with Jacob's education decisions for next year at the council and we want to offer you a part time job from September."

Her eyes widened, "Elaine, are you serious?"

Elaine nodded, "From September, Jacob will be moved to the Mary Rose school. It's a specialist school who can deal with children with autism and other disorders where they won't specifically fit in well in a mainstream school environment, the job we are offering is as a support worker for Jacob. You will pick him up every morning and accompany him on the minibus to school, you'll be given work to do with him during the course of the morning and finish at lunch time. In the afternoons he'll be going to therapy classes with trained therapists."

"It sounds wonderful."

"It's a great opportunity for the two of you. If I had any jobs going here then I would instantly offer you one but because the education department believe that a mainstream school setting isn't the right place for Jacob, he needs to be moved. His educational statement will be changing to reflect his needs a little better and within time, we're hoping that he may be able to cope with his condition."

"When do I start?" Lizzy asked.

"The fifth of September when he starts school, you start at nine and finished at noon. In the mean time, I'm sure Jacob would like you to visit once the placement is finished and I hope you enjoy your summer."

Lizzy left Elaine's office to help Isaac with Toby and Lisa; grinning the entire way at the news that she had a fantastic opportunity in a few months time. This way she could still keep her promise to Jacob and she could still work evenings at Fagin's for a little while. The rest of the morning went rather quickly after her meeting with Elaine, she played with Toby for a little while and helped Helena prepare the two of them their lunch before she left to start her shift at Fagin's.

She ate her lunch on the way to Fagin's, entering the staff room and changing into her work uniform and tying her hair up into a messy bun. At two o'clock she clocked in and let Mary leave as Charles walked into the cafe.

"Afternoon Lizzy, how's the placement going?" Charles asked.

Lizzy grinned, "Brilliantly! I have a few things that I need to talk to you about." she replied.

Charles nodded sadly, "You're leaving aren't you?"

"Not as such. I've been offered a job as a support worker for one of the boys in the children's home for when he transitions to a new school, it will require me to work mornings and finish at lunchtimes so I could still do a few closes if you'd still have me stay."

"Lizzy, I don't want you to go overboard. Don't stay here because you feel that you have to."

"I want to stay, I love it here." Lizzy insisted.

"I'm sure once I get a few part timers in place of the ones that I let go, I can give you a shift or two. Anything else you want to talk about?"

"My sister Jane is coming down to stay for a few days in half term, I was wondering if it was possible to not work on the Thursday night so that I can have a little bit of time with her?" she asked.

"I'll cover your shift, I want to help you all out as much as I can during my stay here."

"Thank you Charlie!" she squealed, giving him a tight hug.

"I remember you saying that you wanted a few weeks off in August to return to Hertfordshire?" Charles asked.

Lizzy nodded, "That's true."

"I'm returning to Netherfield at the start of August, would you like me to drive you?" he asked.

She froze, she hadn't been in a car on a long journey in such a long time. Taxi's were a different story, she could handle a taxi because her journey was mostly short ones and she was usually with Charlotte or Maria when she did get one and it was because she was with people she trusted that she wasn't so scared. It wasn't that she didn't trust Charles, because she did. Lizzy didn't know whether getting in a car to do a very long journey to visit her parents back was a good idea, she feared long journeys in cars.

"Can I get back to you on that? the journey together I mean?" she muttered quietly.

His eyes widened, "Lizzy, have you not been in a car since it happened?" he asked, concerned.

Lizzy began to start clearing tables as Charles served a few customers that had come in, knowing that her friend wasn't going to drop the subject and get an answer out of her. As she began to load the dishwasher, Charles served the last customer and came up to her.

"Lizzy?"

She sighed heavily, "I can handle journeys of short duration such as thirty minutes or less. Anything over an hour I can't handle, you know why." she stated.

"Lizzy, it's okay. I would never leave you, you know that don't you? I consider our friendship rather important to me." Charles whispered.

She looked up at him, smiling slightly, "I know Charles, it means a lot to me to have you as a friend as well as my boss. I just haven't dealt with it properly yet."

"If you ever need anything, I'm always around okay?"

Elizabeth nodded as she went back to her work, wondering if a day would ever come where she would be able to face all her fears and put the past behind her.

A/N 2: Just in case some of you are confused, Jane's profession is a teacher. The UK education system is a little different, all students start in September depending on when the school decides term starts, university and further education colleges are a little different. The school year is split into three terms Sept-Dec with a week called half term around Halloween. Two weeks off at Christmas. Term 2 is Jan-March/April with half term for one week in Feb and two weeks whenever Easter occurs. Term 3 is April-July with one week half term in May and 6/7 weeks off at summer.

I don't mean to add to your confusion about Lizzy's past. I promise that as the story progresses you will find out what happened to Lizzy and about Wickham but because it's still early days, I don't want to ruin the plot of the story.

As always please review, next chapter coming very soon. I'm thinking maybe mid week-weekend :)