A/N: Hey guys! Sorry if this chapter totally SUCKS... I haven't really been in the mood for writing of late, but this was bugging me so I decided to just post it to quiet my mind, I'll try and fix it up eventually, but for now, you'll just have to cope :P
The next week was half term and I was going away with my aunt and uncle to their house in Derbyshire for a month. I had told Jane about what Darcy had told me about Charlie, but left out the part about his poor sister, she accepted the news with many tears, but didn't hold a grudge against Darcy, as she only had herself to blame for not being more outright, and only said that if Charlie could be so easily persuaded, he could not love her as she had thought he did. She hadn't been the same since, she was dull and miserable, and the slightest argument could make her cry. I tried to help her, but she would blow me off and say that she was fine and had forgotten about Charlie, but I knew that she hadn't and rued the day we had met him.
Apart from Jane's misery, the week had been normal, but somewhat awkward for me as Wickham kept on texting and calling me, I tried to avoid him as much as I could, but he came by the house a few times and asked if he could see me, mum regretfully turned him away with frantic gestures from me, needless to say, I was looking forward to going away. Finally the day came for my holiday. My aunt and uncle pulled up in front of our house with their black Landrover and my aunt got out, wearing fashionable designer clothes that were no doubt hot off the rail from Paris. Despite my aunty and uncle being very rich, they were always down to earth, though Auntie Flo did indulge herself with clothes, she always passed them down to us, but only Jane and I wore them, as Lydia had sworn never to wear anything that we had worn, Kitty, of course, did as Lydia did and Mary, being her contrary self, had declared that she would never wear an item of clothing that was above £5, so they eventually found their way to the Salvation Army or to a charity shop. "Darling!" Auntie Flo rushed up to me and gave me air kisses on both of my cheeks, "How are you, gorgeous?" she said in her posh British accent, I gave her a hug, "I'm fine! How are you? Did you have fun in Paris?" They had only come back from France yesterday and were already leaving for another holiday, my aunt and uncle were avid travellers, never settling in one place but flitting from here to there. One day they would be in the North Pole the next, in Botswana, you could never be quite sure where they were. "Oh, darling! It was FABULOUS, I went to all the catwalk shows and Henry went to lots of restaurants, as always!" She said enthusiastically and my uncle walked up to us, "Lizzy dear, what has my wife been telling you about? Not my numerous trips to the very fine patisserie down the road from where we were staying? It doesn't show does it!" He looked down at his stomach pretending to be horrified, if you had barely exchanged three words with my uncle, you knew he was a joker immediately; he was constantly lightening up people's bad moods by making them laugh and could never take anything seriously, he had even managed to make Mary smile, which was quite an accomplishment. My aunt looked at him, "It would've if I hadn't made you go to the gym three times a day." Uncle Harry rolled his eyes, "Every time you have anything remotely bad for your health, it's off to the nearest gym for you!" My aunty seemed to remember something and pulled a slender box labelled Tiffany & Co. from her large Prada handbag, "Oh, Lizzy, I almost forgot! I got you this in Paris, it's just little, but I hope you like it." She handed the box to me and I opened it, revealing a slender, glittering diamond bracelet, I gazed at it, watching the colours dance on the surface of the many tiny diamonds that made the bracelet. I breathed a sigh, "Aunty Flo, this is the most perfect thing I have!" Uncle Harry looks at the bracelet in horror, "Flo! That was my FAVOURITE bracelet! How could you?"Aunty patted his arm affectionately, "I'm sure you'll survive without it dear."
A couple of days later, we were in Derbyshire. It had glorious countryside and you could see nothing for miles and miles, except rolling hills. We stayed in aunt and uncle's house, which was in the middle of nowhere and had a forest surrounding it, which I liked to explore when I got bored of staying in the house. Often we drove through the countryside, looking for a particularly pretty place to wander around and it was one of these times that we stumbled across the most beautiful house I had ever seen, it belonged to the National Trust and the house wasn't supposed to be open, "Uncle Harry, please may we stop here? Please?" I gave him my puppy eyes, which he can never resist, "Oh Lizzy, I don't see why we shouldn't." Uncle Harry said as he pulled into the massive driveway and got out of the car, "I'll just ask the manager if we can have a quick tour. I'll be right back!" He said, and hopped up the steps leading into the house and disappeared through the massive oak doorway.
He was back within five minutes and told us that we could have a private tour as the family who lived here was away and was not expected back until tomorrow. I was thrilled and was not disappointed. The inside was equally as beautiful as the outside was, with long hallways and gorgeous ballrooms, long winding staircases and huge windows over-looking perfect gardens, the house-keeper led us through countless rooms, but each one stood out clearly in my memory. Aunt Flo eventually remembered to ask who lived here and the old house-keeper's face softened, "Oh, Mrs. Gardener, he is the best man in all the world and his sister the most pretty little thing, the family have lived here for generations, but the Darcy's who live here now are still very young, William had to take over the house when he was only 16, but he has managed very well indeed. He is coming back tomorrow after staying with his best friend for a while and I am so happy at the thought of seeing his dear face again!" I froze at the name of Darcy, I hadn't ever thought he could be this rich. Uncle Harry looked at me, "Lizzy, don't you know Will Darcy?" the house-keeper rushed up to me and clasped my hands in her withered ones, "Oh! My dear! Don't you think he is the most handsome man alive?" She said studying my face, I blushed and replied that he was good looking and she grinned up at me if I had said she was the most gorgeous creature on this planet.
The tour carried on, but now I was distracted, caught up in thoughts about Darcy and soon became lost. I tried going down some halls, which I didn't recognize, but then I heard some faint singing and followed it to a room a couple of rooms away. I peeked in through the half opened door and saw a girl singing a haunting version of All You Need is Love, she looked sweet about 16, with fluffy blonde hair and blue eyes, I wondered if this could be Georgiana, the girl who was used do dreadfully by Wickham.
I saw a male figure walk across the room, the girl turned around quickly and gave a squeal of delight and William Darcy picked her up and spun her around, laughing into her shoulder. At the sight of Darcy, I gasped loudly and then clamped a hand over my mouth as Darcy looked at door.
I ran down the hallways as fast as I could and saw an exit and ran out onto a balcony, hoping I wouldn't be found. I heard footsteps running down the hall and my name being called and then Darcy rushed out onto the balcony I was on, he stopped in front of me breathing heavily,
"Elizabeth?" He said looking confused, I realised how strange it would seem to him that I was in his house, almost like I was stalking him, "Oh, um, Darcy! I am so, so, sorry, your house-keeper said you were away and that we could have a private tour, but I got lost and I couldn't find my way and-" He stopped me, "It's fine, if Joy said it was ok then it is." There was a strange expression in his eyes, warmth, earnestness, confusion and... I couldn't let myself think of it. He took a step towards me and my heart started pounding. My heart was pounding? Wait a minute. This was Darcy. So, why was my heart pounding? Then he seemed to remember himself and coughed, "Um, how long are you staying in Derbyshire?" "We're staying for only a month." I replied quickly, not wanting there to be any awkward silences. Just then I heard my aunt calling my name and Darcy offered to take me back to them, so that I didn't get lost again.
His behaviour was very confusing, he was being far nicer than he had ever been as long as I had known him, which was almost a year I thought, somewhat startled. When he saw my aunt and uncle, he even grinned at them, welcoming them to Pemberley, they look faintly astonished, but quickly recover and greet him with warmth, "Mr and Mrs Gardiner, would you like to stay the rest of the day? Maybe I could take you, Mr. Gardiner, fishing?" My uncle jumped at this offer, he was a great fan of fishing, "Mr. Darcy! That is so kind; I would love to go fishing." Darcy turned and smiled at me, somewhat sadly, "Elizabeth, would you like to meet my sister, Georgiana?" I grinned at him, starting to give way to my negative feelings toward him, although still somewhat wary of him, in case he turned back to his old ways, "Darcy, I would love to." His face lit up with such happiness I didn't think it was possible for him ever to be disagreeable. He walked over to me and offered his arm, which I took. "Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner, I will be right back." As he led me back to the room where a saw the girl, he bent down and whispered in my ear, his breath warm on my cheek and for some reason it sent tingles up and down my spine, "Excuse Georgiana if she is a bit shy, since Wickham's betrayal, she has had trouble trusting people again." I nodded, and then we came to the room, "Georgiana! You'll never guess who's here!" He opened the door and I saw the girl looking at us expectantly, "Elizabeth, this is Georgiana, my dear little sister." She started when she heard my name and peered at me with ice blue eyes which were just like her brother's, "Elizabeth Bennet?" She asked Darcy and he grinned. The next moment, Georgiana had bounded across the room and flung her arms around me, Darcy laughed, "I guess there's no problem then!" We both laughed.
Later, we had gone down to the Darcy's lake and Darcy and Uncle Harry were fishing. Georgiana and I were sitting on a picnic blanket together, we had been getting on famously and I was having a wonderful afternoon. Although sometimes I would catch Darcy looking at me with regret and I felt an odd pain in my chest. I was beginning to like him, but was still too wary to be proper friends. Georgiana was lying on the picnic blanket studying me, "Will really likes you, you know. He never stops talking about you. He has never acted this way before; I mean never this... um..." She finished awkwardly, I was feeling hot and cold all at the same time, but why? It wasn't as if liked him in that way. I took Georgiana's hand, "Never this what, darling?" She blushed and said in a quiet voice, "Much in love." I was blushing furiously, I had no idea Darcy loved me so much. Maybe he had changed while he was in Derbyshire? Georgiana turned pleading eyes upon me, "You won't hurt him will you? Not like... oh... never mind." I looked into her eyes, "I would never hurt him as Wickham hurt you." She blushed again, "Will told you?" I nodded, "He had to when I turned him down when he asked me out, he insulted me, my family and my so called friend, so he explained to me that Wickham was not who he seemed to be." Georgiana looked startled when I said that Darcy had insulted me, "Will would never insult anyone intentionally! Never!" Just then, Darcy and Uncle came back from fishing with 2 trout, "Look Lizzy! We can have this for dinner tonight!" Uncle Harry said excitedly, holding the fish up for me to see, their dead eyes looked at me accusingly, as if I was the one who killed them. Ew.
As I lay in bed that night, I thought about Darcy and his blue eyes that managed to look sad and happy every time he looked at me. I was still confused about how my heart had pounded when he had stepped toward me on the porch and the way he whispered in my ear had sent tingles up and down my spine. Why was I feeling like this? I couldn't like him, but I felt a twinge of doubt that I chose to ignore. I decided to think no more on the subject and I went to sleep.
