The next week was busy for both Lizzy and Will. Lizzy had a ton of books to review and meetings to run on publishing plans for the quarter at work. She was also working on posting a few book reviews on her personal blog during her free time. Off-late even when she was working, she had gotten into the distracting habit of daydreaming about Will and sometimes flashes from the hot and urgent sex they had broke into her thoughts. Her body urged her to want that again and again with Will but she worried that she did not know the real Will at all. For them to be jumping into bed mindlessly would be disastrous especially considering the common friends and family they had. Her reverie was broken by her phone beeping. She was pleasantly surprised to see a message from Will.

"Hi sweetheart, busy?"

Lizzy while happy to be called sweetheart by him was still surprised that he called her that or thought of her that way.

"Really? I'm your sweetheart?" she replied.

There was a slight pause before Will replied.

"Yes, you are but hopefully I'm not going too *fast* by using that term for you ;)"

She knew he was teasing her. She replied back just as cheekily.

"Even my grandma calls me *sweetheart*, Will. So, no, you are only as fast as my dear old grandma :)."

"Hey, it was you who wanted SLOW."

"Haha, so I did. And I can't remember why. Be that as it may, did you message me for a specific reason?"

"Yes. I'm going to Chicago on work tomorrow and I will be there for a week till next Wednesday. I was wondering if you are free tonight to get dinner somewhere before I leave tomorrow."

"Can't stay away from me, can you?" she joked.

"It looks like I in fact can't, Lizzy :P" he typed.

"Alright, how about a quick bite around 7.30?"

Will signed off saying he would pick her up at 7.30 from her office.

When Will came to Lizzy's office to pick her up, Lizzy's coworker told him she was in their office's library trying to find some books. Will went looking for her and when he found her, Lizzy had her back to him and was on her toes trying to reach a book on one of the higher shelves. She did not hear Darcy till he quietly walked to be standing behind her and put his hand up to cover her raised hand and blew softly on her neck. She whipped around ready to slap whatever it was and was gobsmacked to find Will. She broke out into a smile and covered her mouth with her hands in surprise but not before Will caught her hand and pushed her into the shelves with his body and stole a kiss.

"Will, stop acting like a horny teenager making out in the library," Lizzy whispered pushing him away.

"Lizzy, you know my fantasy? You - me - in the library," Will replied in a hushed tone.

"You fantasize about me?" Lizzy asked.

"All the time," Will replied as he tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.

Lizzy had to really fight to not launch herself into his arms right there. She instead stacked the books she was borrowing on her arms and walking backwards, winked at him and whispered, "One day sweetheart, one day, your fantasy shall come true."

"Is that a promise?" Will asked still speaking in hushed tones.

Lizzy winked again and walked out without so much as a backward glance.

"What am I going to do with this girl?" Will asked himself raking a hand through his hair. He was utterly smitten. "You know what you are going to do," he told himself. "You are going to woo the hell out of her so all your fantasies about having a family, love, laughter, happiness come true." He told himself as they walked out of the library.

As they sat down to dinner at a local burger place, Elizabeth felt like she had to explain her stand on taking things slow to Will. It was only fair.

She started tentatively, "Will, I'm really thankful to you for agreeing with me to take it slow."

"You don't have to explain, Lizzy," he started but she stopped him before he could continue.

"I need to. I need to put us on the same page. I feel we started off always on the wrong foot in the past but we need to get past our terrible attitude towards each other. I like you, Will. Not just physically. I like you in more ways, I like how you think. I like how you are a good brother, you are good to your friends and family. You are fair to your employees and businesses. You are a good guy, only a reticent and sometimes brooding one." She could see him suck his breath in, she continued quickly. "I'm attracted to you but at the same time I want to take my time to get to know you, to know each other. I feel like we will not get this right if we start mating like bunnies every chance we get." He smiled but did not interrupt her. She continued "I want to go steady with you, Will, if that is ok with you, if there is no one else that is."

Here she faltered for a bit. May be she was being overly optimistic that he didn't have anyone he was seeing. She was relieved when he stepped in helpfully, "There is no one, Lizzy."

She continued smiling, "I want to meet you often and talk to you often and watch movies and plays with you. I want to go running with you, want to hike the mountains or go to the beach with you. I want to do everything that two people who date would normally do and see where that takes us." She was finally out of steam but it felt great to get it off her chest.

Will smiled as he gave a quick kiss to her wrist. He said "Lizzy, I cannot thank you enough for bringing this up. I want to do everything with you like you said. I cannot stop thinking about you. In fact it has been that way for as long as I can remember. I should have done this right in the first place and asked you out nicely all those years ago instead of proposing a quick roll in the sack like the dick I was." He winced at that thought and continued "but I'll do it right this time. I want to go steady with you too and get to know you too. So will you be my girl friend?" he grinned.

"Yes, Will, I'll," Lizzy replied. She thought he was being traditional by staidly asking her if she wanted to be his girlfriend but it was still cute and she liked that he was being direct with her.

They paid for their burgers and walked back hand-in-hand to Lizzy's apartment. Lizzy turned to face Will as they came to the steps of her apartment.

"Lizzy," he said with a twinkle in his eyes, "I have a question about this slow thing though," he grinned. "How slow is slow?" he drawled as he gave a quick kiss to her forehead while his fingers played with the tendrils of hair on her neck. "Is this slow enough?"

"Yes," she nodded.

He gave a quick peck on her nose. "Still slow?"

"Yes"

He kissed and licked a little behind her ear. "This ok?"

"Yes," she shivered a bit.

He kissed her collarbone and nibbled gently. "Now?"

"Hmm hmm," she gasped

His hands skimmed up her thighs and dipped under her skirt as his lips sought hers. He kissed her as her breasts pressed into his chest. His hand that was skimming under her skirt moved higher. She groaned louder.

"Screw taking it slow, let's go upstairs, Will," she breathed.

He quickly stopped his hands from going any higher and brought his forehead to hers panting visibly. "Ugh, I don't know how I'm going to sit through my meetings in Chicago tomorrow and for the next few days without thinking about you," he groaned.

She kissed him quickly. "I'll call you tomorrow night to see how you are doing," she said before heading up the stairs two at a time.

As she was getting ready to bed she thought about their evening. She realized they were acting more like teenagers and less like the strong-willed adults they were. "I guess that is how it feels at the beginning of a relationship between two people who have always had the hots for each other but were too dumb to admit," she surmised. She also realized that this was unchartered territory for both of them. Neither of them had had much emotional support from their families before. He had lost his parents early and it had been up-to him to be the strong one for both Georgie and himself. He had grown up making all the important decisions at a personal and professional level and shouldering the burdens thereof. He had never had a steady girlfriend as far as she knew. He had had dates that he brought to parties and such but Lizzy had never known him going steady with anyone much to the huge disappointment of the likes of Caroline Bingley who tried their best to hang on to him. Meanwhile she had grown up being opinionated and independent but never finding an emotional connection with her mother. Her mother loved her in her own way but she still thought of Lizzy as the footloose rebel who never measured up to her first daughter Jane. Lizzy felt undervalued most times by her mother but she masked it by being overconfident and by using humour to guard herself. Her dad was more supportive of her academic pursuits but he willingly choose to ignore the silliness of his wife and did not help Lizzy on that front. Lizzy had had a few boyfriends in the past but they were either too disinterested in her bookish pursuits or too overbearing and stifling for her independent nature. She had never thought she would find the right fit. Will seemed different however. He listened to her when they argued and yet knew how to keep his stand if he disagreed. This relationship would involve new learnings in many respects for both herself and Will. Being in a relationship meant being vulnerable to showing your feelings and opening up to the other. Would two people who were experts at guarding their feelings for fear of getting hurt be able to open up to each other she wondered? "You will never know if you do not try," she told herself as she drifted off to sleep.

The next day Lizzy couldn't wait to finish her work so she could call Darcy. She got home from work, had a quick bite to eat and then called him. He picked up on the second ring.

"Hi Will!"

"Hi sweetheart."

Lizzy smiled. It seemed like Will had assumed that term of endearment for her and it pleased her immensely like a high-schooler having a crush.

"How was your day?" she asked him.

"Not that productive. I kept thinking about you."

"Thinking about me is not productive?" she mocked.

"Thinking about you leads to re-productive thoughts, Lizzy. But that's not productive in a board meeting," Will chuckled at his own joke.

Lizzy laughed at that.

"How was your day Lizzy?" He asked her in turn.

"It was good. I finished one book review and ordered a few books from this upcoming author."

"Did you think about me at all?"

"Only a little bit."

"Just a little bit?"

"Yeah, I thought about that thing you do with your tongue behind my ear," she breathed.

"Lizzy, you are killing me," Will groaned.

"Sorry, Will. I couldn't resist"

"I know. I'm pretty irresistible," he said.

They flirted shamelessly for a few more minutes. Will also told her about the meetings he was attending - about a company he was trying to invest in, that manufactured inexpensive water pumps for harvesting clean underground water. Lizzy ended the call feeling impressed with the amount of reading he seemed to do to gather information about the ethical practices of companies he invested in. She realized how prejudiced she had been in the past by wrongly assuming that all rich kids were pampered, good-for-nothings with extravagant lifestyles. She smiled to herself and determined to not form opinions so quickly and brashly in the future.