Disclaimer: Jane Austen's works are Public Domain works and no disclaimer is ever needed. Also, I'm a HUGE geek.

Lizzy lay in the guest bed and stared at the ceiling marveling at what she had just said to Will. Not only that she had said it, but that she really had been upset about his words since having met him the previous week. She wondered about his reaction and vowed to maintain a professional demeanor with him at all times in the future. The longer she thought about it, however, the more she longed to know how he felt about her. Where was it written that they couldn't have a romantic relationship if they wanted to? They were both consenting adults, they were the same age and he wasn't a client. Indeed, the more she thought about it, the more she began to warm to the idea. If only he returned her feelings.

Lizzy tried to banish all thoughts of Will Darcy from her mind and began the unwinding technique she learned decades ago to help her sleep. First she relaxed the muscles in her feet and then her legs and so forth and so on until she felt as light as air and all thoughts of illicit affairs with interns were banished from her mind. As she drifted into a happy, relaxed sleep she had no idea of the torment Will was under as he lay in his own bed just a few doors down.

She overheard us, he thought to himself for the hundredth time. He wondered if anyone had ever told her she was boring before. He congratulated himself silently for bringing her down a peg, because dammit she could be condescending sometimes. Then he thought pot calling the kettle black and he thought about the fact that she wasn't in the least bit boring, especially to him who understood her law-speak, and wasn't it a shame that she would never have a normal conversation with him again because he had stupidly mentioned in passing that she was boring.

She was the least boring person he knew. Even the thing about Charles and Caroline's names was pretty damn interesting. In the past few days he had sat and listened to her talking to her sister while he tried to focus on work and wondered how the hell she knew so many insignificant little pieces of history and trivia. As the seconds on his clock ticked by, these and many other similar thoughts tumbled through his brain while he attempted to sleep. He wondered what he might say to get a second chance. Was there any way to change her perception of him? Because he couldn't stop thinking about her eyes. And her hair. And that body. And that brain.

He thought about those things until 4 in the morning before he drifted off and dreamt about them.

In the morning, the hurricane was nearly upon them. With the storm shutters closed there was no telling what the conditions were, but Will could hear the noise of the wind and rain pummeling the shutters as he lay in bed. He got up and walked out to find Lizzy sitting in the entertainment room in front of the TV with her laptop propped in her lap. "Where are Charles and Jane?" he asked as a big yawn escaped his mouth. He hadn't yet got dressed and he saw her double take as he stretched languorously in the doorway.

If he had been closer to her, he might have seen her pupils dilate at the sight of him. He walked over and sat down next to her. She had the weather channel on and was typing furiously on her computer.

"Don't you ever rest?" he asked curiously.

"Ask me that question when you're dealing with billable hours," she chuckled.

"Of course," he said sitting back and looking at the TV.

"The worst of it should be on us by tomorrow. I'm hoping to get enough work done before then in case we lose power." As she said that, the lights flickered off and the TV screen went black. Her computer beeped angrily to let her know that she was running on the battery and she swore softly under her breath.

Will looked around wondering what to do with himself. He glanced at his boss tapping away at her computer and remembered that his battery was still good.

When Charlie and Jane came downstairs they found the two of them in a much different position on the couch than the day before. Lizzy and Will were sitting side by side with their computers on their laps and the only glow in the room was coming from their screens.

"Power's out," Will said without looking up at them.

"I'll make breakfast," Jane said. This caught Will's attention and he wondered if that was Jane's answer to every awkward situation. Cook something. Charlie followed her into the kitchen and Will went back to his computer.

Hours later Will's battery had died and Lizzy was working on her second back-up battery. She hadn't eaten a thing all day, Will noticed, and he wondered at her stamina. They had all gathered in the kitchen to conserve candles and Will had found some paper and a pen and was scribbling on it. Lizzy saw the low battery sign flash on her screen again and decided she'd better finish before she lost her work. After saving her stuff and shutting the machine down she looked at Jane and asked, "Anything to eat?"

"We saved you some chili from lunch," Jane said pointing at the stove top.

"Perfect!" Lizzy jumped up and found a bowl and began ladling the chili out.

"William," Caroline said suddenly, "what are you writing?"

"I'm writing to Georgiana," he said without stopping.

"Why are you doing it on paper?" Caroline said with a hint of disgust.

"I had something to tell her and I didn't want to wait until the power came back on. I'll type it up and email it later."

"Who is Georgiana?" Lizzy asked between large bites of chili.

Caroline wrinkled her noise at Lizzy's eating habits and said "His little sister." Then she turned back to Will. "Tell her I said hi! Ask her if she wants to go to the Islands with me this summer and what she thought of that Project Runway finale!"

"Why don't you email her these pressing questions later? I'm just getting down some thoughts before I forget."

"Has she gotten any taller?" Caroline asked wistfully. Lizzy watched a vein tick over Will's right eye and looked at Caroline who was staring at the distance like the worst actress in the world.

"She's almost 19," Will growled, "she's fully grown. Though she has apparently gained her freshman 15."

"Oh no!" Caroline exclaimed. "The poor thing! Well, my trainer at LA Fitness is the best if she wants to use him. I hope she's okay!"

"She weighed about 100 lbs. wet before, Caroline, I don't think 15 lbs. is the end of the world.

"I suppose," Caroline agreed begrudgingly. "Tell her I said hi, anyway."

"I already did."

"Good." She sat silently for a moment thinking of how she could interrupt him when Lizzy stood up and she noticed that Will's eyes followed her as she placed her dirty dish in the dishwasher. "Lizzy," she suddenly burst out, "won't you play cards with us?" Caroline, Jane, and Charles had been playing a game of rummy.

"No thanks, I think I'm going to take a nap now that the noise of the storm has calmed down."

"Is this wretched storm over finally?" Caroline whined.

"Actually, I think this might be the eye of the storm on us. It's usually calmer than the rest. When the storm starts to move out of the area the tail end is going to be the worst."

Caroline made an incomprehensible sound and Will looked at her in rapt attention. She locked eyes with Will and smiled. He returned it and went back to his letter. She went back to her room.

Lizzy wasn't accustomed sitting still for long. She was used to sitting her desk for long periods of time, but this was sheer torture. Her hands had nothing to do! Usually on the weekends she went jogging around Lake Eola, had lunch in Thornton Park, and had dinner with friends. The weekends weren't about resting, physically, they were about resting mentally.

So lying here in bed in the middle of the day with nothing to do and nowhere to go was absolutely awful. Lizzy shut her eyes in an attempt to nap, but sleep would not come. Her mind was racing with thoughts and ideas about the numerous cases she was currently in the middle of. She might end up using old-fashioned legal pads to keep all of these ideas straight. But in the meantime she needed to release some of this nervous energy she'd built up for the past few days. She pulled on a pair of running shorts and a t-shirt and went back to the kitchen.

"I need to run," she announced to the room.

"There's a treadmill in my room," Charlie said standing up. "It's currently acting as a clothes horse, but I'll clean it off for you. Do you mind being in the dark?"

"You guys can spare one candle, can't you?"

"Absolutely," Charlie said grabbing a new candle and the matches.

"Will, I need your help," she said as she stood up. "Find something to write on and come join me. I need to get some stuff down on paper while I remember it. Would you mind?"

"Not at all," Will said, all too happy to get away from Caroline Bingley for a while. He ran off to Charlie's office in search of a legal pad, before heading upstairs to Charlie's bedroom. Lizzy was just warming up while Charlie was putting his clothes in the closet. Will sat down in an armchair near the treadmill and got poised to write.

For the next hour Lizzy spouted off ideas for seven different cases in no particular order and it was up to Will to make sure he kept things straight and got it all down. He was amazed, not only by the sheer amount of information she was keeping straight, but that she was able to talk at the speed she was running. When she finally slowed down, Will's hand was beginning to cramp, but Lizzy looked relaxed.

"Are you finally done?" Caroline said as she entered the room in her own skimpy exercise outfit.

"Yeah, just cooling down," Lizzy said panting a little bit.

"Great, I'd like to get my own workout in," Caroline said as Will stood up. "Oh, I was hoping you'd keep me company too, Will."

"I wasn't keeping her company, Caroline, I was working," he said as he walked out of the room. Lizzy stepped off of the treadmill and smiled ruefully for Caroline before following him. "By the way, Caroline, the water isn't really safe to bathe in right now. I'm going to have do a quick sponge bath with spring water now. I just thought you might like to know that.

She could hear Caroline groan as she shut the door behind her. Lizzy wasn't too pleased with the situation herself, but was desperate for the workout and decided to go ahead anyway.

The rain and wind came back with a vengeance later that night and into the next morning, all the while the power remained off. Thanks to Jane's culinary skills and Charlie's gas stove they didn't starve, but Lizzy was uncomfortable after the workout without a shower and bored to tears without her computer. One could only play card games for so long.

At long last, the storm moved on and all that was left was a light drizzle. Lizzy sighed with relief that she would be able to move back into her own home (hopefully she still had a home to move into). She and Jane piled into Charlie's car and he drove them to their homes. Lizzy rode the elevator up to her condo and was relieved to see that everything was as it should be. She knew better than to shower just yet and instead she turned on the TV and promptly fell asleep on the couch. It hadn't been so much a physically exhausting few days, but being forced to spend time in close quarters with Will and Caroline had been a real test of her sanity.

Will felt the loss of Lizzy keenly. Her wit and intelligence had really added something to the atmosphere of the house and now that she was gone he had nothing better to do than listen to Caroline bad mouth her.

"She ran for an hour when she knew she wouldn't be able to bathe! Can you believe it? When she told me, well, I simply couldn't work up such a sweat knowing I wouldn't be able to shower!"

Will said nothing.

"And all of that work! It's no wonder she needs those hideous glasses with all of the peering she has to do at that little laptop of hers."

Will wondered if Caroline could hear him grinding his teeth.

"She's such a show off! Just because you know things does not mean you have to let people know about it! I know many things, but do you see me lecturing everyone night and day."

"What do you know about?" he asked sharply.

Caroline froze and looked at him nervously. "I know plenty of things," she harrumphed before giving up and heading to her bedroom.

He was just glad to go in to work the next day.

The office was chaos the next morning as the power outage had felled the network and the digital files were inaccessible. When Will arrived he found Lizzy sitting in one of the chairs in front of her desk. When he looked at her desk he saw someone he hoped never to see again.

"Good morning," he said tersely to Lizzy.

"Morning," she bit back, equally as terse.

"Something wrong?" he asked ignoring the man behind the desk momentarily.

"Nothing. Only my mother. She lives 800 miles away, but she still has the ability to drive me nuts."

"Oh, that's too bad." Will couldn't empathize. He'd love to have his mother alive and bugging him again.

"Its fine, she just called to force me to take out her best friend's son with the hopes that we'll fall madly in love and I'll finally settle down and give her grandchildren."

"That's not so bad. One duty date won't kill you," he said consoling her.

"You haven't met the guy. It won't kill me, but I might kill him."

"All right," the man behind the desk said with a sense of finality. "You're up and running." The man behind the desk gave Lizzy his most charming smile and Will noticed that she blushed becomingly and then the man turned and saw him and his gaze quickly turned from warm admiration to cold steel. Will gave as good as he got and stared the man down with a ferocity that was making Lizzy feel uncomfortable.

"Will, let me show you to your office." Lizzy stood up a little too quickly and teetered on her heels for a bit.

Will steadied her and followed her down the hall to a room with three computers crammed into it and two other people tapping away at their computers furiously.

"Here's your computer. George has already started a profile for you, there's your login and temporary password on the screen there. Go ahead and personalize it or whatever and I'll be right back with the thumb drive of documents for you." She left without another word and Will sat down.

"Hey," said the girl at the desk next to him. "I'm Mary, that's John, we're the other interns."

"I'm Will," he said nodding to the other two before getting into his account on the computer. He looked up at Mary and found she had already gone back to her work.

Back in Lizzy's office, she was surprised to see George still sitting at her desk.

"Oh, hey George. Did you need me for something?"

"Oh! No, I was just a bit shell shocked to see him here. You must have noticed the cold silence."

"Sure, I saw something weird was going on. Do you two know each other?"

"Yeah, actually, my dad worked for his dad back in Maryland. We spent a lot of time together as kids."

"Really? What happened to make you so cold to each other?"

"His dad liked me better. When my dad passed away, Mr. Darcy offered to put me all the way through law school, but when he died Will refused to follow through on his wishes."

"Was his father a lawyer?"

"No, he was the CEO of a company that owned restaurant chains."

"Still, that kind of person is surrounded by attorneys, why didn't he put it into writing, get it enforced?"

"I don't think he had time. He passed away very suddenly."

"Hmm, but surely Will isn't so cold-hearted as to not follow his own father's wishes."

"He's pretty jealous. I think he hated me for the favor his dad always showed me."

"He doesn't seem like the type."

"How long have you known him?"

"Oh, not long. A week or so."

"Well, give it time. You'll see the dark side sooner or later."

"Okay, well, I'd better get our friend his work. Thanks for your help George."

"No problem. Call if you need anything."

"Sure," she said before seeing him out of her office and down the hall in the opposite direction. She suddenly had a lot to think about it.

With the 1 inch thumb drive clutched in her hand she headed back to Will's office to see if she could gather any info from him about the situation.

Will was busy reading through the policy manual that had been left on his desk and looked up at her when she entered.

"Here you go," she said as she held her hand out to him. He took the drive and immediately plugged it into his computer.

"Great, thanks." He said as he clicked it open.

"You remember what you looked at over the weekend?"

"Yes."

"Great, well, these are the allegedly infringing documents and supporting documents. I need to you to catalogue them and bring anything interesting to my attention."

"Can do."

She stood there for a moment wondering if she should bring it up, but he was already diving into his project with determination etched across his face. Clearly his work ethic was impeccable.

"Anything else?" he asked looking up at her.

"Um, yes, actually. Here's the password to my documents, I need to you to print the Shiavo file and throw together a trial notebook. We're going to court tomorrow morning."

"We?" he asked looking at her.

"Yes, you're coming with me. If you have any questions let me know. We'll be meeting at the courthouse tomorrow at 8:00 AM sharp."

"No problem," he said as he clicked away on his computer. She nodded to no one and backed out of the intern office shutting the door quietly behind her.

She brushed the new info she had received to the back of her mind for another time and got herself back into work mode. The only thing she cared to worry about was how she was going survive a date with the wretched Bill Collins.

**Author's Note** thanks to everyone who reviewed, alerted, and favorited! This one's a bit longer than normal and next time…a date with Mr. Collins! Oh the suspense! Also, the program hates my section breaks, so I apologize if it feels like it goes on forever.