So This Is...
A Lizzie Bennet Diaries fanfic by Aisling Yinyr Ngaio
Pairing: William x Lizzie


Chapter 4: Hope

She didn't dislike him anymore. But was the reverse true?

He tried not to run into her too often after learning that lesson at Netherfield. They could be living in the same house, sharing meals and exchanging words, but proximity didn't necessarily translate into intimacy. He knew, better than some, that one could stand interacting with a large crowd and yet feel utterly alone. He knew how one could feel a stranger to him despite being acquainted with him for years.

Yet he still found himself on her floor oftener than he usually visited when there was no Lizzie. While he was rewarded with a rare invitation into her world, where their first real conversation took place despite the guise of costume theatre, he hoped fervently that it wouldn't be his last, despite their past and that of their nearest and dearest still unsatisfactorily unresolved.

However, he was gratified that she wasn't deterred by the proverbial elephant in the room to extend and maintain her friendship with Gigi, in spite of who her brother was. He was glad that Lizzie was able to be there for Gigi in a way he didn't know how to. Under Lizzie's influence he had already seen how Gigi grew emotionally and was finally able to confront and begin to exorcise the ghost of her past. It had been a long year since the... incident... and seeing his baby sister finally being able to talk about it made him so proud.

He had never told anyone, but to see one of his dearest wishes gratified, of Gigi and Lizzie being able to love each other as friends (and, dare he hope, sisters?), gave him great joy when a bare month ago, he had given up hope of ever winning Lizzie, let alone introduce her to his sister.

Now, she didn't mind - and even enjoyed - an entire day spent together with them. An entire day where conversation didn't lapse into awkward silences once even without any help from well-meaning third parties. He thought then that maybe they were on the way to mending fences, especially after he received his first ever Tweet from her, thanking him for the day (even though Gigi was the one to actually engineer the trip).

Buoyed by the success of the weekend, he was thrilled to have a second chance to converse with her unchaperoned, that he set aside two quarterly reports and minutes to five board meetings to be able to attend her interview in person. He did have to make up for lost time by staying two extra hours at Pemberley that day, but he didn't mind. For the first time since that wedding, he had made her laugh, an unfettered, glorious peal of laughter he had only heard before when he was across the room looking in from afar on her group. The smiles and laughter he managed to draw from her were worth every ounce of the embarrassment caused by the strange looks from the wardrobe department staff where he invaded in search of the wig.

Perhaps she had changed her mind, or at least soften against him?

With a heart filled to bursting he picked up the phone, called the Golden Gate Theatre to secure two tickets, and prayed.

- To Be Continued -