Elizabeth could feel Darcy's hand tighten around hers, even though she was sure he had no idea who Jonathan was. All that he meant to her. She was sure Darcy was aware of nothing but her pain, and she was so grateful to him that she could not express it in words. But when she turned to him, and saw the color draining from his face, and the careful way he looked at Valerie, she suspected that maybe she was not the only one gripping the other's hand for their own sake.

She watched as Jonathan's eyes travelled to their hands, and back up to her face, his eyes filling with pain. She was filled with an incredible surge of anger as she saw his vulnerability, as she looked into his eyes and saw her own expression mirrored back in his, and she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he felt the same way about her he had two years ago. She knew that he still woke up in the morning thinking about her, and that he dreamt about various ways they could be together.

She could see in his eyes that he missed her, not in a passing way, not every once and a while, but every minute of every day.

She knew because she still woke up in the morning thinking about him, she still dreamt about the various ways they could be together, and she missed him, not in a passing way, not every once and a while, but every minute of every day, like a dull ache that would never leave her.

And in that instant, she knew why he was back, and she hated him for it.

She wanted to hurt him a million times as badly as he had hurt her.

She wanted to destroy him.

"Jonathan?" Valerie said, confusion lighting her eyes. "Who is this?"

"Oh...forgive me," he said, placing his hand on the small of her back. Elizabeth thought her heart would break, seeing him embrace someone else so tenderly. "Darling, this is Miss Elizabeth Bennet. I was very close with her family while I stayed at Netherfield."

"You stayed at Netherfield?" Mr. Darcy inquired.

"Yes," Jonathan said, looking at Mr. Darcy defiantly. "I inherited it from my grandfather. I decided to sell it, but before I made that decision, I spent a summer here in Hertforshire."

"And now you're back," Elizabeth said breathlessly, brokenly.

She could feel Darcy's eyes shift to her, and she could feel his concern and the tenderness of his gaze without looking at him.

"Jonathan is always talking about how much he misses Hertforshire," Valerie put in. "And the country is so gorgeous."

Elizabeth made a terrible attempt to smile, the corners of her mouth lifting pathetically as she exhaled.

"We...well, we wanted to raise our children here."

Darcy saw all the color that had returned to Elizabeth's face vanish.

"So we bought an estate about a mile from Netherfield!" Valerie exclaimed excitedly.

"How wonderful," Elizabeth said, emotionless. "You two must be very happy."

Valerie nodded, but Jonathan looked pained, and his eyes drifted to Darcy's and Elizabeth's locked hands.

"So...how long have you two been together?" Valerie said. Color flooded back into Elizabeth's face in splotchy reds.

"Elizabeth and I are only close friends," Darcy said, gently extracting his hand from hers and placing it on the small of her back. Elizabeth immediately felt reassured.

"Oh," Valerie said, looking crestfallen.

"How do you two know each other?" Elizabeth inquired.

Valerie smiled widely. "We were great friends growing up," she said. "My mother was the Dutchess of Cambridge, but when her husband died, she remarried a poor steward who worked for Darcy's family. Heaven knows why," She said, rolling her eyes. "I suppose people will do anything when they fall in love, even stop thinking rationally. Darcy was close with my stepbrother, Mr. George Wickham. He's going to be staying with us, Darcy, if you want to come visit," she said.

Darcy's jaw tightened. "I'll have to pay a visit once you all get settled," he said.

"Settled? We finished moving today! George's coming tomorrow,"

Darcy nodded curtly.

"Elizabeth! Mr. Darcy!" Jane called, running up to them, with Charles laughing and running behind her. "We finally found a place for tea, you have to..." she trailed off when her eyes landed on Jonathan.

"Oh, dear," she said, all the gentleness leaving her voice. "I never thought we'd see you again, Mr. Powell. What brings you back to Hertfordshire?"

Jonathan smiled, and said, "I missed the beauty of the country,"

Darcy pretended not to notice Elizabeth's faint blush, or Jane's glower.

"He wouldn't stop talking about how much he missed Hertfordshire," Valerie put in, not picking up on Jane's ire, or not knowing her well enough to recognize it. "So I finally relent to come out here, and before I know it, we're moving here. A mile away from Netherfield!"

"How convenient," Jane said coldly. "You must be Mrs. Powell. Please excuse my manners. I'm Miss Jane Bennet, and this is my friend-"

"Mr. Bingley!" Valerie interrupted smiling at him. "Charles, it's been too long! How is dear Caroline?"

"She'd be better after a visit with you, I'm sure," Charles said politely.

"I don't know if Mr. Powell has told you," Jane said. "But we became very close friends when he stayed at Netherfield two summers ago. Our mama would be dying to see you, Jonathan,"

Jonathan blanched. "I'm sure she would. We should have you all over for dinner sometime."

"Or, better yet, are you all on your way to tea? Come have tea with us! I'm sure a bunch of old friends could use some catching up."

"I'm not sure that's the best idea," Jane said, glaring point blank at Jonathan. "We better be getting home before everyone starts to worry. It was great meeting you. She smiled at Mrs. Powell, and stormed away, leaving Valerie looking bewildered and Jonathan as though he had just been slapped.

"It was great seeing you, Valerie," Charles said. "But Jane is right, we really must be going."

"Well, I'm sure we will have supper sometime," Valerie said. "Goodbye!"

Elizabeth uttered out a painful farewell, and Darcy waved. Elizabeth suspected he could not loosen his jaw enough to speak. In fact, they had been walking towards Longbourn for several minutes before his face relaxed.

He looked over to apologize to Elizabeth, and was shocked to find tears coming down her face.

"My dear Miss Elizabeth," he said, reaching out to her, "You're crying."

"I know," she said, hastily wiping the tears away. "And you're so angry you couldn't speak."

"I know." Darcy said. He ushered her under a weeping willow, and they sat on the soft ground, both of them leaning on the trunk to support themselves.

"If you tell me your secret, I'll tell you mine," Darcy said, leaning over and gently brushing his thumb across both of Elizabeth's cheeks, softly wiping away the tears.

Elizabeth took a deep breath, and began, "Mr. Powell moved into Netherfield for a summer, before he sold it, to see if he liked it well enough to keep it. He was funny and kind and we spent the entire summer together. I fell in love with him," she admitted.

"And I know he was in love with me. He told me he wished to marry me, but he couldn't, because he had an amount of debt so large selling Netherfield combined with what he had inherited was not enough to cover it. My small dowry would not help at all, so he married Valerie, who had an outrageous dowry, and left me devastated. And now he's back, and I know why...and I can't stand it."

"Valerie inherited all of her mother's money, which was an exorbitant amount," Darcy said. "I hate Mr. Powell for causing you all of this pain."

"He wants me to be his mistress," Elizabeth said in a voice that was impossibly small. "He's thought it over in his mind, and he's come to that conclusion. He moved his pregnant wife to Hertfordshire for the sole purpose of seeing if I'm still unmarried, because he thinks I'm still in love with him, and that I would go to him, and be his mistress. I could see it in his eyes. The untainted...desire." Her voice broke, but it seemed she was all out of tears. "I hate him."

"I'll kill him," Mr. Darcy said in a voice of unrepressed rage. "Say the word, and I'll kill him, Elizabeth. He's a pig...a monster."

"He's a man," Elizabeth said. "A man who is not in love with his wife. It's hardly uncommon, Mr. Darcy," Elizabeth said. "I expected it. For a long time, I even welcomed it, if it meant I got to be with him. How terrible, how despicable is that. I'm the monster."

"No," Darcy said, his voice impossible soft as he took both of Elizabeth's hands in his. "No, you were only in love."

"Not anymore," Elizabeth said, finally meeting Darcy's eyes. "I'm not in love with him anymore. I believe there's someone else out there for me."

"I know there is," Darcy said.

"Your turn," Elizabeth said, finally wearing a smile.

"Valerie's stepbrother, George Wickham?" Darcy said grimly. "After Valerie's mother died, Valerie got all of the inheritance, and left Wickham and his father nothing. Soon afterwards, my father died. My father was incredibly close with George, and his father, but looked to George as a second son, paying for all of his education, turning a blind eye to George's irreverent treatment of women and his disregard to his studies. My father naively believed George when he said that he wanted to become a clergyman, and when my father died, in his will, he left Wickham a position in the church, which Wickham denied. George came to me and demanded compensation for the living, so I readily gave him 3,000 pounds, which he gambled away within months. He came to me after he lost all of his money, and demanded more, which I denied him. Afterwards, he disappeared for several months, but he found my sister, Georgiana, and convinced her he was in love with her and persuaded her to elope with him. Fortunately, Georgiana told me before they ran away together, and I prevented the elopement. But, Georgiana is now afraid of herself, taciturn in public, and doesn't trust her own judgement anymore. My heart breaks for her, and I think if I had tea with Mr. Wickham, I would murder the gentleman."

"That gentleman hardly warrants the name," Elizabeth said, fists clenched. "I would most likely murder him, too. But probably with words. Or give him my deathly glare."

Darcy laughed, drawn out of his angry stupor.

"Jane sure gave Jonathan a deathly glare this afternoon," Darcy commented.

"I've never seen Jane more angry than my entire life," Elizabeth said.

"Poor Valerie," they said together. Darcy chuckled, and Elizabeth smiled softly before resting her head on Darcy's shoulder.

"Thank you, Mr. Darcy," she said softly.

"You know," Darcy said, resting his chin on top of her head. "Most of my friends call me Fitzwilliam."

"You want me to call you by your first name?" Elizabeth said dubiously.

"Elizabeth," Darcy said patiently. "Not even Charles knows what happened with Wickham. Only Richard. I consider you one of my closest friends, after today."

"Thank you, Fitzwilliam," she said softly. "It means a lot."

After they caught up with Jane and Charles, who were casually eating apples out of Longbourn's orchard and being not so subtle about the fact that they were waiting for them, Elizabeth felt another round of tears coming on.

She knew now that what she told Jane yesterday wasn't true. She had said she didn't think she could survive the destruction of another heartbreak, but she was wrong. She did not only survive it, but managed to walk all the way back to Netherfield, the word friend echoing in her ears until she found herself alone in her bedroom. Then, it was accompanied by the choking sounds of her sobs, filling up the small room.

She now knew that she could survive another heartbreak, but she couldn't survive without him. For in a single week, Mr. Darcy had made her feel happier, livelier, and lighter than she had in two years. In a single week, Mr. Darcy had managed to make her fall in love with him, while it had taken Jonathan an entire summer. It seemed impossible, but Elizabeth knew in her heart that she would never feel a love so strong as she had for Mr. Darcy.

And yet...he wanted to be friends.

She could live the rest of her life with her heart in pieces, if it meant she could be close to him. And, Elizabeth knew, if she were to marry Lord Fitzwilliam, she would be close with Darcy for her entire life.

If only Elizabeth knew that less than a mile away, Darcy was in his bedroom, tears steadily falling quietly down his cheeks. He cried for all Georgiana had lost, because today he finally understood what it was like to have your love taken away from you. He cried for Elizabeth's loss, because he finally understood what it was like to watch the person you love choose someone else over you. And he cried for his loss, because he knew Elizabeth would never be his. From the moment she said, "I believe there's someone else out there for me." Darcy knew she was gone, because he knew she believed Richard was the someone else. She was in love with Richard, and Darcy made his decision.

Not because of his own happiness, which he had been denying ever since they arrived in Hertfordshire.

Not because of Richard, whose happiness mattered more to him than his own.

Because of Elizabeth, because Darcy felt her pain and her sadness, and never wanted her heart to break again. Because of Elizabeth, because he loved her more than life itself.

He made his decision to love her from a distance, watching as she would grow old with Richard. He would take joy in their happiness, and hopefully overtime, the joy would begin to numb the pain.

He made the decision to let her go, because he would do anything to make her happy.

If only Darcy could see that he could love Elizabeth more than Richard ever could.


A/N: Look at me, updating twice in one day! Because I'm usually not so prompt, and because you're sooo happy for the double update, you should totally review, because not only will that make me HAPPY and make me want to UPDATE MORE but because it will make the story BETTER and then you will be HAPPY TOO!

Thanks everyone who is reading and following and favoriting this story, because it honestly means the world to me. Y'all are amazing, and this story is for you.