Disclaimer: Jane Austen didn't know about the Weasley twins, and therefore couldn't have loosely based her Colonel Fitzwilliam off of one of them. IDK which one, so let's just say Fred. Yes, Fred…
A/N: Hey you guys! I finished Pride and Prejudice and High School the other day, and pressing the button that marked the story as "Complete" made me kind of sad. So I decided to write this to cheer myself up! I need to thank Harriate Slate-Thing-Hari-Hu for the insightful review, BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT I KINDA ENVISIONED MY FITZWILLIAMS AS! :D! LOL! Ahem. So, let's get this story on the road! And the reviews on the… On the… On whatever reviews are on!
There was nothing like a glass of port to bring back together three cousins who hadn't seen each other in months. This technique had, in fact, been used to catch up on the happenings of many gentlemen throughout the ages, whom had been separated for a long length of time. It was a much favored pastime of many English, French, and even American gentlemen. Therefore, it would be expected that the Colonel Fitzwilliam, Mr. Darcy, and Mr. Fitzwilliam would reunite in the same way. Mr. Darcy assumed that he would be greeting his two friends over a glass of port.
Caroline Bingley determined otherwise.
No sooner had the trio begun to ask after each other's health, than the doors flew open to reveal their formidable hostess and Darcy's younger sister.
The ladies came and sat down in the sitting area with the gentlemen, and the awkward conversation that ensued went something like this;
"Mr. Darcy, you did not tell me that your delightful sister and cousins would be joining us!"
"Forgive me, madam, I had informed your brother Charles, and assumed that he would tell you."
"Oh, Charles is always forgetting such important matters such as this. If I had known that there were to be three extra guests, I would have prepared more!"
"Forgive us the intrusion, Miss Bingley, had your brother not invited us and informed us that the house was equipped for visitors, we would never have invaded your hospitality on such short notice."
"Oh! No, that is not what I meant, Colonel Fitzwilliam, not at all. I am always happy to have my dear friend Georgiana here with me, and indeed, any relation of the Darcys at all."
"I am glad to hear it."
"Indeed, for it really has been such a droll party here, just Charles, Lousia, Mr. Hurst, and Darcy here to keep me company. Not to mention the positively gruesome manners of the neighbors. I have been in great need of more friends."
"Pardon me, madam, but what is so wrong with the manners of the country-folk around here? From what my brother said Darcy's letters conveyed, the gentry in Hertfordshire sound like a pleasant, jolly group of people."
"Oh, so they are, Mr. Fitzwilliam! Of course, they are such happy mannered people, and I am pleased to call each and every one of them my dear friends. It is only that their manners are so savage and without decorum, that I find it insupportable."
"It must be most inconvenient, Miss Bingley, to have such awful, savage people as you describe to be your dearest friends. Indeed, I was under the impression that you preferred only the best mannered persons that society has to offer in your company."
Everyone was so surprised to hear Georgiana contribute to the conversation, that for a few moments, nobody knew what to say at all. Miss Darcy colored, realizing that she had just professed such a witty opinion, and in public too! While Miss Bingley began to collect herself, Thomas and Darcy began coughing to hide their laughter. The handsome Colonel had no qualms against a public display of mirth, and with great appreciation for Georgiana's humor, replied, "Certainly! I agree most heartily with you, Georgiana."
He then continued, "Miss Bingley, I fear that my dear cousin may be indisposed from the long journey from town. Is that not right, Georgiana?"
She nodded quickly.
"May I show you to a maid who will take you to your room?" he asked her.
"Thank you," she squeaked.
Colonel Fitzwilliam offered her his arm, and she accepted it gratefully. The two of them left the room, and Darcy distinctly heard her sister whisper a thank you, and the Colonel laugh. Something seemed rather off about their behavior, something that Darcy could not quite put his finger on.
When he realized that Thomas was gracefully listening to Miss Bingley's raptures whilst stepping discreetly on his foot, Darcy snapped back into the conversation.
"For you see, Mr. Fitzwilliam, it is not the gentry that is the most uncivilized part of this wretched place. It is the regiment that has moved into Meryton! I only wish that all military men could have such class as your brother does, but alas, they do not."
Meryton. Regiment. Military men. Wickham.
Georgiana.
Darcy suddenly swore, very loudly, very nastily, and very repeatedly. He stood up, continued swearing, and left the room, scandalizing all of Netherfield's staff with the foul language he was yelling down the hall.
Once they could hear him no more, Caroline Bingley slowly turned her open-mouthed head to Thomas, who was shaking with uncontrollable laughter. After he calmed down, she asked him, "W-what just happened, sir?"
He pretended to think deeply about it for a moment, before shrugging. "What do I know of it? Perhaps Darcy has a stomachache." Then he too, left the room.
"RICHARD! RICHARD! Blast it, where on earth is that man? RICHARD!"
Darcy was running through the guest wing, opening doors and slamming them shut when they were found to be empty. He needed to find his cousin, immediately. Georgiana could not stay here any longer. Not with Wickham just five miles away.
"RICHARD, WHERE THE BLOODY-" he stopped when he realized that the door he had flung open was the door to Georgiana's room, and that she was sitting at the desk writing, or, had been, and was currently looking at him with a most scandalized expression.
"Er, hello Georgiana." Darcy walked through the doorway and ran his hand through his hair nervously. "You haven't seen your cousin Richard, have you?"
She continued to stare at him in open mouthed-shock, at a loss for words.
Darcy ruffled his hair again, about to leave, when Richard walked in, saying, "Georgie, I found Mr. Jackson's address, you can write his sister back now. Really, I don't know why you have to 'decline the invitation', seeing as it was hardly an invitation from the hostess herself. Just because the gentleman mentioned that he and his sister would like to have you for tea, does not necessarily mean that you have to tell him that you cannot come-"
Colonel Fitzwilliam stopped when he realized that Darcy was in the room.
Mr. Darcy looked on in amusement, leaning against the bedpost. "Are you done with your rant now, Richard, or shall I let you continue?"
Richard colored slightly and rubbed the back of his neck. "Hello Darcy, I didn't see you there. And it was not a rant! I was simply informing Georgiana that since it was not a proper invitation, it does not need a proper refusal!"
"But Richard," Georgiana protested, "Mr. Jackson personally invited me to take tea with them on Thursday, and I told him that I would come! I did not know that we were to leave town!" She turned to Darcy. "William, you agree that our cousin is being ridiculous and that there is no problem with me writing his sister back to inform her that I cannot come to tea?"
Darcy declared, "I do not even know whom you are talking about. Who is Mr. Jackson?"
Richard muttered, "Another of the many suitors of Georgiana."
Darcy gave him an odd look, but then said to Georgiana, "You cannot have a suitor!"
The Colonel threw his hands up in the air and said loudly, "That's what I told her!"
Their sister and cousin, respectively, rolled her eyes. "Mr. Jackson is just my friend. His sister and I have become better acquainted through him, and she wanted to get to know me better at tea. I should have known that my guardians would overreact!"
Her cousin looked rather uncomfortable. "We were not overreacting! Don't say I am your guardian, I hardly do any thing fatherly enough to be considered a proper guardian. Darcy is your main guardian, I am more of your best friend slash most favored cousin."
"I heard that!" called a voice from the hallway. The trio turned to the door just in time to see Thomas walking down the hall, not even bothering to look up from his book.
Darcy shook his head in annoyance. "As enjoyable as our conversation has been, I have an urgent matter of business to discuss with the both of you. You too, Thomas!" he called down the hall.
Thomas walked in the room and sat down next to his brother on Georgiana's bed. Darcy stood up and shut the door. The three cousins exchanged looks, realizing how serious Darcy was.
He began gravely, "It turns out that someone of our previous acquaintance has taken a liking for the military. George Wickham is in town."
The Colonel's face turned red in anger, Thomas's white in fury, and Georgiana's pink in embarrassment.
"If that rascal comes anywhere NEAR our Georgiana, I swear I will personally wring his neck!" growled the Colonel.
Darcy ignored him, and went over to Georgiana, taking her hands in his.
"Georgiana, just say the word, and we will leave this county immediately. I will not be disappointed with you. Whatever will be the best for you is what we will do."
Georgiana chewed on her bottom lip in concentration. The three gentlemen waited patiently for two minutes, the Colonel pacing, Thomas sitting, and Darcy staring at his sister in concern.
Eventually, she looked up from her hands. "I want to stay," she said softly.
All three gentlemen were caught by surprise, and chorused, "What?"
"I want to stay." She repeated herself with a firmness that was hardly recognizable as Georgiana Darcy.
"Are you sure, darling?" Darcy asked his sister softly.
She nodded. "I will not give him the satisfaction that he has left me so scarred that I cannot even hear of his presence without running away. I am sixteen now. Many of the young women I know of in Town married at this age, and I was strong enough to be out in society for the past two months. I will not cower down like a little girl, William. George Wickham does not have that sort of influence over me anymore."
Her brother and cousins were frozen in place by the time she finished her speech. Never before had Georgiana professed such a courageous desire to stand up for herself. Darcy drew her into a hug, and said, "I am very proud of you, Georgiana."
"Thank you," she whispered.
Georgiana eventually pulled away and smiled at him mischievously. "I do not understand how you could have possibly thought I would leave the county, William, without meeting the infamous Miss Elizabeth Bennet!"
Her two cousins roared with laughter, and she joined in. After recovering from his humiliation at being discovered, Darcy started laughing too.
In the parlor beneath them, Miss Bingley and the Hursts absentmindedly wondered what the ruckus was all about.
After the cousins calmed down, Darcy and the Fitzwilliams left Georgiana to write her letter in peace, Richard muttering something or other about "that blasted suitor".
In the hall, Darcy stopped his cousins from going any further.
"Richard, can you use your military connections to somehow get Wickham's regiment out of Meryton?" Darcy asked in a low tone.
His cousin nodded. "I have already planned out the letter I intend to write to my superiors. They tend to favor towards me because of my father, and I know that Colonel Forster's regiment was meant to move out of Hertfordshire a week ago, but they were switched with another. I shall make sure that by the end of the week, if a regiment is in Meryton, it won't be this one."
Richard hesitated. "I want Wickham out as soon as possible, and I am afraid that the only way to do that is if I deliver the letter to London tonight." He spared a concerned glance at Georgiana's door.
Thomas took pity on him, and offered to go in his stead. The Colonel readily agreed, and went off to write his letter.
"Well, Darcy, I am afraid that you will have to introduce Richard and Georgiana to Miss Bennet without me. However shall you bear it with only one stubborn man teasing you?" Thomas joked.
Darcy groaned. "Good god, Thomas, do the lot of you constantly have to drive me into insanity? It is hard enough talking to her without you and Richard here to make it all the more awkward!"
Thomas just laughed.
Five minutes later, Caroline Bingley was alarmed by the sight of Thomas Fitzwilliam running down the steps in his traveling clothes, with a letter in hand. He opened the front door of Netherfield Park and went down the steps to where a groomsman already had his horse. Miss Bingley hurried after him.
"Mr. Fitzwilliam! Mr. Fitzwilliam, wait!" she called after him. He huffed in irritation and turned to her, his expression one of forced politeness.
"Yes, Miss Bingley?" he inquired through clenched teeth.
Miss Bingley collected herself and asked, "Where on earth do you think you are going?"
Thomas rolled his eyes. "Well, Miss Bingley, I think that I am going to London. Where I end up, however, may be a different matter entirely."
She looked extremely confused. "But Mr. Fitzwilliam, you just got back from London not half an hour ago!"
"Yes, and off to London I go again. Good day, Miss Bingley."
For not the first time that day, Caroline Bingley was left alone in confusion.
Elizabeth Bennet walked carelessly through the grounds of Longbourn Estate. Although very pretty grounds they were, the property was not exceedingly large, and left Elizabeth walking in circles every fifteen to twenty minutes or so. Jane was shopping in Meryton, and Elizabeth took the time alone to gather her thoughts.
Although she had expressed otherwise, Elizabeth was most seriously displeased at her sister Jane's way of handling Mr. Collins. He and her mother would surely tell the whole neighborhood that the pair was engaged, and once he really did propose, Jane would refuse, and Elizabeth was sure that some scandal would be made up of it.
Although, how could anyone ever think that dear Jane would be involved in a scandal? She is much too sweet and innocent to ever do anything remotely improper.
Elizabeth sighed, and redirected her thoughts to the events of the morning. And what events they were. After Mrs. Philips had spotted a grand carriage and two finely-dressed handsome gentlemen on horseback passing through Meryton, she had questioned everyone in town about it. The only thing that anyone knew of the matter was that one of the gentlemen was a redcoat, and that the carriage and horses were directed for Netherfield Park. (The previous fact made Lydia and Kitty Bennet much too excited for Elizabeth's taste, and had resorted her to going outdoors.)
Naturally, as Elizabeth was rumored to have the closest acquaintance with anyone in the said estate, her Aunt Philips had come by to question her about the mysterious visitors. She told her the truth; that Mr. Darcy had not said anything about having visitors, and she hadn't the slightest idea of who they were.
Mrs. Philips had left five minutes later, disappointed at the lack of real gossip.
Elizabeth herself was most curious to find out who the people were. As she had told her aunt, Mr. Darcy had mentioned nothing that gave a hint of having the Netherfield party extended to include any more. All of Meryton knew that Mr. Bingley had gone to London for business, and as neither of the sighted gentlemen was the master of Netherfield himself, all were puzzled as to why the house was receiving guests when Mr. Bingley was not at home.
Most speculated that they must be very close friends of the Bingleys' to have such a privilege, and Elizabeth was forced to agree. She knew that Caroline and Louisa were only two of Mr. Bingley's five sisters, and wondered if it could be one of the other three coming to visit their siblings. But since Mr. Bingley wouldn't be home to receive his sisters, another part of Elizabeth thought that the carriage might belong to friends of Mr. Darcy.
She shook her head. It's really none of my business anyway, and I suppose we will all find out tomorrow one way or another. Elizabeth was startled from her thoughts by the sound of a carriage zooming up the drive of Longbourn, and as it screeched to a halt, there was lots of yelling, and the sound of her mother and sisters screaming. What on earth?
The lady began to run across the yard to the front of the house. What was going on? Elizabeth stopped in time to see Mr. Darcy yelling for her family to move out of the way, the butler holding the door open, and two teenage servants carrying something into the house. A man she did not recognize was shouting orders to a servant who nodded and took off full-speed on a horse. Suddenly, she saw that the thing the two boys were carrying was not, in fact, a thing, but a person. The rest of the party went inside, and Elizabeth was feeling like she could not get in fast enough.
The shouts inside of the house seemed even louder than the ones outside of it had been, and Elizabeth saw the person lowered onto the sofa, but could not tell who it was, due to the people crowding around the sofa.
Her mother's sobs eventually gave her the determination to push past her family, servants, and Mr. Darcy and his friend to see what all the fuss was about.
Elizabeth Bennet felt her heart stop. Laid out on the sofa was an unconscious Jane; there was blood on her face, her dress had been torn, and she was exceedingly pale. Jane was not moving.
A/N: OH NO, WHATEVER HAPPENED TO JANE? Well, I already know what happened to Jane. You, however, don't. I love ending on cliffhangers! MWAHAHHA! Let me make you a deal: if everyone leaves me a review, I will try EXTRA HARD to make this update take less than one month. Okay? Good. So go review and tell me how much you LOVE me! :)
