A/N: Thanks for all the reviews and support! I hope you all keep reading and reviewing!

I went back and edited/changed chapter 7. If you don't feel like going back to reread the changes I'll summarize: Basically, Darcy doesn't tell Richard of his feelings for Elizabeth yet, and as such, Colonel Fitzwilliam does not have that perspective going into this chapter. Hopefully that helps shift some confusion with this chapter. Seriously, thank you all for the amazing reviews and PMs. I really appreciate them! xoxo - E


Fitzwilliam Darcy

Dinner was both infuriating and... infuriating. It was infuriating. Mr. Collins aught consider himself truly lucky that he managed to make it through the last course with his life still in his possession. Of course my cousin seemed to find my hatred for the man amusing, likely because he had no idea where it stemmed from, nor how deep the man's treachery and horrific nature ran. Collins was naught more than an annoyance he could play with, to Richard, and toy with him he did. I half feared the imbecile's realization of what Richard was about, knowing as I did that any frustration or perceived slight may be taken out upon Elizabeth, but I also found a perverse joy in watching him be demonstrated time and time again a true idiot. I enjoyed his discussion of Elizabeth far less. 'My wife' this, and 'My dearest Eliza', that. It made me sick. She should not be forced to be under his power. I took solace in the face that she seemed truly happy conversing with my cousin, Anne. Speaking off... She had thought me to be speaking of Anne's company. I had all but declared myself enamored in her, and she thought I was discussing Anne. Although... I sighed. I suppose one had to be more explicit or direct to a married woman, as flirtation was not the initial assumption one made when a man paid her a compliment. Damn! Why was this so difficult?

The separation of the sexes occurred and I felt my aunt's glare focused on me as I trailed Mr. Collins out of the room. I wasn't going to do anything horrible.

Probably.

I was going to try my best, anyway.

No promises.

"Tell us Mr. Collins, how you met your charming wife." Richard asked after we ran out of basic pleasantries to discuss. "She seems very well suited to your position here at Rosings specifically. I have never seen my aunt so easily won over." The man nearly beamed.

"Indeed. She has made just the right impression upon my Patroness. Of course I knew it would be so from the moment I met her, and dare I suggest, even before, for how could my own relations cause me any reason for doubt or disgrace."

"She is your relation?!" It was nearly impossible to mistake the palpable shock that emanated out of my cousin at that proclamation, and to be fair, I understood. Not knowing the situation as intimately as I did, it would have been difficult for me to imagine that Elizabeth could have a relation as... one like Mr. Collins, anyhow. Luckily for us all, Mr. Collins was not the type to understand slights of that nature, no matter their lack in subtlety.

"Indeed. My good cousin Bennet is her father."

"Mr. Collins is to inherit Mis-Mrs. Collins' father's estate upon his demise."

"It was this of course which prompted Lady Catherine to suggest I look for my future partner in life from Bennet's broad. Upon Mr. Bennet's passing, they would be promptly overturned from the estate by a wife unconnected to my dear cousins, but in this manner, the mistress might look out for her sisters and mother, as any good woman might." I bit my tongue from commenting upon how a good man might offer his cousins assurances of sanctuary without the necessity of one of them submitting themselves to him as his wife, but in this moment, my usual stoicism wherein I refrained from commentary would serve me well.

"I see." Richard's eyes flashed to mine for a moment.

"Indeed, of course my eyes initially landed upon the current Mrs. Collins elder sister, as Jane is my Eliza's superior in both looks and mannerisms," I disguised my indignant laugh as a cough and I took a long sip of my brandy to calm my nerves at such a ridiculous proclamation. "However she was quite set upon a local gentleman, and with her heart thusly engaged, I saw the sense in what my cousin suggested and I applied for Miss Elizabeth's hand instead."

"Bennet persuaded you to wed-" I swallowed back her Christian name and forced myself to use the more bitter monicker. "The current, Mrs. Collins?"

"No, as you may recall for you were in the area at the time, my cousin Bennet was quite ill at the time, it was his wife's initial suggestion and when I spoke to Mrs. Collins about my hesitation in leaving my suit of her sister, she assured me of a more positive reception from her, as her sister's heart was quite thoroughly involved in the local gentlemen. I will refrain from naming him sir, for as you will know intimately he was quick to leave the community and has not returned, and his reputation should not suffer because my cousin felt more than he. Perhaps his spurning of her will teach her a lesson about refusing a far more realistic offer." He puffed his chest up a bit at this and I would have gladly punched him had my mind not been reeling with this sudden influx of information. Elizabeth had wed him, not just to save her family at the thought of her father's passing, but also to save Miss Bennet from the same fate. And Miss Bennet, perhaps the idiot had the wrong of it, but if her heart had truly been engaged with my friend, I had been mistaken to separate them. There were other concerns of course, ones that Bingley's sisters had raised, but their want of connections, and lack of wealth meant nothing if they were truly in love and happy. The knowledge that she loved him not, and that she was following her mercenary mother's advice over her own heart was what provoked me into action. I must speak with Elizabeth. And if Miss Bennet's heart was truly touched... I would write to Bingley. I would tell him I had been mistaken and I would allow Elizabeth's sacrifice to mean something more than the potential future of her sisters and mother not being evicted within weeks of her father's death.

"Dance-" Richard was looking at me oddly and glanced back at Mr. Collins.

"I was in Hertfordshire during all of these occurrences." I informed him. "Staying at the neighboring estate to Longhorn, Mrs. Collins' natural home."

"Ah. So your connection with Mr. and Mrs. Collins is more than I had assumed." As loath as I was to connect myself with the name Collins, I would not deny Elizabeth.

"More so with the Bennets." I finally commented. "Mr. Collins did not arrive until nearly a month after my own initial presence in the town, and I left nearly immediately after their engagement was announced." Because their engagement was announced. Though I needn't divulge that now.

"Indeed. Mr. Darcy was far too kind, condescending upon my cousins so often and with such grace. A kindness very much so befitting your station, sir." He bowed ridiculously.

"On the contrary, Mr. Collins. I am a gentleman. Mr. Bennet holds the equal title, and his wife and daughters, are equal to my own excellent sister." Richard's brow furrowed and he looked at me as if I had proclaimed the sky to be red. "It was no condescension, rather precisely what my station would require of me, do you not think?" I allowed him to sputter a few moments more before declaring it time to rejoin the others. He was happy for the distraction and traipsed, nearly hopping, off towards the parlor where the ladies resided. Richard grabbed my arm.

"Equal to your sister?" He hissed, teasingly. At least I hoped he was teasing, because an angered or perturbed Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam was nothing to joke around about. "You do not think Mary herself equal to did these Bennet ladies do to deserve more praise than the Virgin Mother?"

"He was annoying me." I replied, hoping it was enough.

"Darcy be honest, are you in love with her?" He asked, keeping his voice low enough we would not be overheard by anyone more than a meter away from us. I froze.

"I..."

"Because I know you well enough to know that you are absolutely the sort to self sacrifice, and if you love her it isn't too late."

"It's... what?" Not too late? She was married! The very definition of 'too late'.

"By all accounts, this Miss Bennet is still pining for you back in Hertfordshire and you could easily go back and sweep her off her feet."

"Richard, what the hell are you talking about?"

"Oh come on, man! It's obvious you were the gentleman he refused to name, who left Mrs. Collins elder sister behind. Who gives a damn if your future wife is a cousin of Mr. Collins? Hell we'll probably be in his wife's company more often if that is the case and I wouldn't mind such a fate. The woman is nothing short of charming. If her sister is anything like her, you would be a lucky man indeed. Aunt Catherine will get over it, hell I'll even offer for Anne and her vast fortune if it takes her mind off you. Annie would never say yes to a man like me, so we'd all be safe!"

"Richard you have a unique talent of so utterly mistaking every situation around you."

"What? You mean to tell me your heart is not engaged? That you falling in a healthy bit of love isn't what's got you all... secretive and strange lately?"

"Miss Jane Bennet is a lovely girl. She is classically beautiful and nothing short of delicately charming. I do believe she and Georgiana would get on swimmingly, better than with Bingley's other family members. And Bingley's family is exactly what she almost became last summer, as he had fallen head over heals in love."

"Mrs. Collins's sister is the 'angel' you told me of? The one who's family was unsuitable for Bingley?" I sighed.

"It was more than that. The mother was mercenary, and the daughter... meek enough that she would do as her mother requested and marry for his money. I thought... I never thought she loved him but if Elizabeth took her place as Collins' wife so that she could be with the man she loved..." I ran my hand through my hair. "Perhaps I was mistaken. Perhaps I overstepped."

"You were protecting your friend, Darcy, I doubt that you-"

"No. No I did, I overstepped. In what world was it my place to tell Bingley whom he should wed?"

"He asked your opinion."

"Only because I encouraged the vipers known as his sisters to speak to him of their own fears of the match, stemmed entirely from Miss Bingley's desire for power and status, and not at all from a desire for her brother's happiness."

"Darcy, what the hell is going on with you? I've never seen you so... you don't make decisions without a great deal of care. I am certain that you put more thought into it than you suggest now, and that it was the right action on your part. I have never known you to make a rash decision that you regretted and I am certain that isn't the case now, either."

"The..." I sighed. "I think the real reason I supported Bingley abandoning his suit of Miss Bennet was because I knew if he married her I would be often in contact with her sisters and ... and I found that insupportable."

"How many sisters are there exactly?"

"Five in total."

"Good Lord, and with the estate entailed away, you said? Indeed I cannot imagine another situation wherein someone would spurn their own son or even daughters as intelligent as Mrs. Collins in support of that man. In fact, that begins to shine some light on the Collins's marriage."

"Yes. The estate makes bare two thousand per annum, and it is poorly invested. I doubt the dowries are anything greater than one hundred pounds, if that. And there are four other unmarried sisters to take into account, and a mother to care for upon the demise of Mr. Bennet."

"Three." Richard cut in.

"Sorry?"

"Three unmarried sisters. If someone was to marry one of Mrs. Collins four sisters, there would be three unmarried sisters. Mrs. Collins is obviously married." I flinched and Richard noticed.

"You're not talking about now. You're talking about then, before they wed." He began slowly, realizing the extent of what I had revealed.

"Of course," I tried to cover my careless speech. "That was when Bingley was considering-"

"You had an attachment to Mrs. Collins."

"Nonsense."

"Darce-"

"I... I already told you..." I stuttered, trying to remember exactly what I had told him earlier today on our ride back from the parsonage.

"You told me you hated Collins but it was no reason to spurn an acquaintance whose company you enjoyed. You never said anything more. But it's true, isn't it? You love her, Mrs. Collins. That's why you were so upset by her marriage to Collins."

"I won't marry Anne," I finally said, speaking more to myself than to him, with sudden clarity.

"No one really expects you to, Darce, Aunt Catherine will get over it as soon as she realizes its for naught."

"I won't marry anyone." I amended.

"Darce, you aren't-"

"I love her. Entirely. If I can't marry her... what would be the point, Richard?"

"Off the top of my head? Heirs, a companion into your old age, a sister for Georgiana, because one day you'll get over the country girl who thawed your heart of stone and find love somewhere else. Can I just say-"

"I don't want it. Not if it isn't with her. I don't want some other woman's children inheriting Pemberley. I don't want someone to grow old with who isn't her. I don't... your own sister is sister enough for Georgiana, why should she settle for less?"

"Less than my sister?"

"I love her. Not just... not like Bingley. Not in passing. Not because she's beautiful. She has bewitched me body and soul and I cannot live a lie of weding another."

"Darcy."

"He hurts her." I said, angrily. "She is in hell, and all because I couldn't be bothered to realize all of this sooner. It is my fault. Every bruise, every forced-" I bit my own lip so hard I tasted blood at that thought. "They are all my fault. I am as much to blame as that monster."

"What do you mean he hurts her, Darce?" Richard asked, his eyes wide and his voice worried.

"If I thought it would help her for even a moment, I would have killed him long ago." I frowned. Why was I not convinced it would help her? I would be in jail, possibly hung, but... she didn't love me anyway. She would not be hurt by my demise, so why wouldn't it help her? She could return to Longhorn. She could find love and marry.

"What is that demonic look in your eyes, Fitzwilliam?" Richard asked, his voice low and full of fear. "Why do I suddenly think you meant that?"

"He deserves to die, Richard. What he's done..." I swallowed hard. "He nearly killed her a fortnight ago. It's why she was here with Anne. It's why they stayed to her rooms for the majority of her stay. She was beaten black and blue, there was blood... God so much blood. It's a miracle she didn't die. She had to be half carried in through the front door."

"My God, Darcy, and you let me joke around with him this whole time?" In his defense, Richard did look truly horrified.

"The law doesn't protect her from nearly dying at the hands of that monster. Nothing does."

"Well surely there's something to be done."

"Yes." I swore. "Take the dog out and shoot him."

"Rather dramatic, don't you think?" Before Richard could respond, a cutting but decidedly feminine voice cut into our conversation. I spun around to look into the most bewitching pair of eyes I had ever beheld.

"Elizabeth."

"And an odd place to have such a private conversation, in the middle of a hall, where anyone could stumble upon you on their way back to the parlor and overhear." She continued before curtseying gently. "Colonel Fitzwilliam, Mr. Darcy." She greeted us both sharply before stepping closer to me, her eyes boring into mine, furious. God. Those eyes. "I might caution you not to speak upon what you know not of." She was defending him. She was... she was defending him?!

"Are you denying it, madam?" I asked, my anger overtaking any other response I might have had.

"I am only reminding you, that as someone wholly unconnected to any of the principle parties, your words may be seen as meddling at best."

"Forgive us, Mrs. Collins. We didn't intend-"

"How can you say such?" I asked, interrupting my cousin without care. "How can you-"

"Beyond that you are bantering about my deepest shame in such a public place?" She hissed back at me stepping forward. "My, I wonder how I might take offense to such officious behavior."

"Officious behavior?!" I returned. "Forgive me for caring."

"I do not!" She insisted. "I have naught to do with you. I am the wife of your Aunt's parson, and nothing more. Perhaps one day I may count myself among the friends of your wife, but I hardly think such a relationship will thrive with such difference and the visitation of her home parish no more than once a year, and as such I am cautious of-"

"I will not wed Anne!" Her face fell and I found myself once more confounded by this woman and her infuriatingly confusing tendencies.

"You aught to."

"Ah, I see my own feelings are not to be consulted in the arrangement of my own marriage. Is there anything else, Lady Catherine has seen fit to convince you of? Perhaps she and my mother wished for me to become a Scottish Dancer and learn to play the bagpipes!" Elizabeth scoffed at my proclamation.

"She doesn't desire the match in any attempt to control you."

"No for it isn't me she desires for Anne, it's Pemberley. My father was meant to marry her until he fell in love with her younger sister and she's never forgotten the slight. She wishes Pemberley under her control once and for all and-"

"You are a fool, Fitzwilliam Darcy." Elizabeth said coldly. "She wishes you for Anne because she knows that with you, Anne will be safe."

"What does that mean? There are plenty of wealthy men who could keep her in comfort and-"

"Not comfortable, not rich, not powerful, nor wealthy, Mr. Darcy. Safe. Lady Catherine knows as well as I how rare that is in a marriage, how a wife is..." She flushed and blinked a few times, centering herself in her words. "She wishes for Anne better than she or I had. And she knows that whatever else anyone might claim, you would not raise a finger against her, nor force her into relations she did not wish, nor-" Elizabeth took a shuttering breath. "She wishes, above all else, for Anne to avoid our fate, and for her to be safe. You, Fitzwilliam Darcy, are her hope. Because she knows whatever else happens, Anne would be safe. That is why she presses you. And I cannot blame her, and only add that if you truly wish to help me, for whatever reason, killing my husband would do no one any good. But it would give me peace of mind to know that my friend was so well cared for. I would press you to wed your cousin just as your aunt does." Elizabeth looked between Richard and I, took in our shocked expressions, and decided her part in the conversation was over. With a curtsey and the flick of her chin, she stepped away from us and made her way in the direction Mr. Collins had disappeared to. She paused for just a moment and turned back.

"It wouldn't help." She said. "My husband has a younger brother. By all accounts he... it wouldn't help. I have not endured for nothing. I will not see one of my other sisters forced to submit to the same fate as I. So I beg of you, consider others before you decide you need to act the hero and save some damsel who never asked for your help in the first place."