A/N: What I own nothing. R&R please, enjoy!
Chapter 10
"Wake up, Lydia. We're here."
Lydia's blue-green eyes fluttered open groggily. "Already?" she asked sleepily, rubbing the sleep from her eyes with the back of her hand. She had fallen asleep on the way to the doctor's in Lizzy's car. She had spread herself out on the back seat, because Lizzy was in the driver's seat and Jane was in the passenger's seat. Despite her mother's screams and insistence that Lydia have an abortion, Lydia had decided to go through with the pregnancy.
At this announcement, their mother had started to have a nervous breakdown, at which point Jane and Lizzy smuggled Lydia out of the house to take her to a doctor. "Yeah, we're here," Jane said softly. Eyeing her youngest sister carefully, she added, "Are you all right?"
"I'll be okay," Lydia sighed, pushing some of her blonde hair out of her face. Glancing out the window, she said, "Can we go in now? I want to see the doctor as soon as we can."
"Sure," Lizzy said agreeably, unbuckling and unlocking the doors of the car. "Let's go on in then."
The three sisters made their way into the doctor's office. Once inside, Lizzy and Lydia took seats in the corner of the waiting room, and Jane said, "I'll go check in."
As Jane made their way to the counter, Lizzy sighed heavily and leaned her head back against the wall, wondering how they were going to manage their domineering mother. "Lizzy?" Lydia said softly, her blue-green eyes wide as she looked at her older sister.
"Yeah, Lyd?" Lizzy said, looking at her. "What is it?"
"I'm so sorry about all of this," Lydia said, her eyes now sparkling as tears formed. "It's just… George told me that he loved me… and I was stupid enough to believe him… and then sleep with him… God, what have I done?!"
"Hey, there," Lizzy said, gently placing her sister's head on her shoulder and sounding slightly alarmed, "shhhh. Everyone makes at least one big mistake in their lives. Just consider yourself lucky that you made yours now."
"How is that lucky?" Lydia snorted, grabbing a tissue out of the box on the coffee table in front of her. "I'm pregnant at the age of fourteen. How the hell is that lucky?"
"Because you get to learn from it early on," Lizzy said patiently. Thinking of Will, she added, "Kind of like me."
"Really?" Lydia said, cocking her head at her sister curiously. "What mistake have you made, Lizzy?"
"I judged someone way before I should have… and hurt him deeply because of it," she moaned. She resisted the urge to turn around and bang her head against the wall repeatedly.
She was in damn love with Will Darcy.
"I'm sure he'll still forgive you, Lizzy," she said.
"What makes you say that?"
"Well, who wouldn't want to forgive you?" she replied. "You're really awesome, Lizzy, and everyone wants to be your friend. I'm actually kind of jealous."
"You? Jealous? Of me?" Elizabeth snorted. "You've always been popular, Lydia. How could you be jealous of me?"
"You're not popular, but you've always had really good friends," Lydia explained. "And those who aren't your friends are either jealous of you or they want to be your friends."
Just then, Jane made her way back over to them, looking bewildered. "What's up, Jane?" Lizzy said. "You look like you just saw a flying frog on fire."
"The secretary said that… that all the medical expenses are paid for," Jane said, still looking confused. "All her doctor visits… all the medicine… all the stuff for when the baby's actually born… everything. That's a lot of money."
"But no one else knows except for our family!" Lizzy said. Thinking, she amended, "Well, Chris and Jake know, but neither of them have that kind of money…"
Realization dawned on her face as Lizzy remember someone else she told about Lydia's pregnancy, someone who did have that kind of money.
"Oh my God," she whispered, her eyes wide with shock. "He is in love with me."
TSTSTSTSTS
When Lizzy got home, she was prepared to break into the Bingley house next door in the hopes of finding a number at which she could reach Will. She was fully prepared to tackle Jane and steal her cell phone to call Charley and to yell at Charley until she gave him Will's number. She was fully prepared to call Chris or Jake, who were both still in New York, and have them walk over to Pemberley so she could talk to Will over the phone. In short, she was prepared to do whatever it took to reach Will.
However, she was in no way prepared to find Charley and Will waiting for them at their house. "That's Charley's car," Jane whispered softly as they pulled into the driveway. Glancing through the large living room window, Lizzy could see both Charley and Will sitting on the couch; Charley was looking nervous, as though he was about to jump out of a plane at 10, 000 feet.
Metaphorically, he was.
As soon as they passed through the front door, Lydia scampered up the stairs to the room she shared with Kitty; she wasn't in the mood to see anyone at the moment. Jane and Lizzy slowly made their way to the living room.
"Hi, Will, Charley," Lizzy said, letting her gaze linger pointedly longer on Will than it had on Charley.
"Hello, Lizzy," Will said softly.
"Hi," Charley muttered; it was supposed to be for both girls, but he had eyes only for Jane. "Jane, may I please speak to you alone?"
"It's okay, Lizzy," Jane said, looking sideways at her sister. "I'll be fine."
"Okay, then," Lizzy said, wiping her sweaty hands on her jeans. Her hands had started sweating like crazy the minute she had spotted Will. God, why was she so damn nervous?
Will stood and the two of them exited the room side by side. Lizzy silently led him to their backyard, where she sat slumped again a small tree. "Wanna sit?" she asked, patting a spot of dirt next to her.
"Sure," he said, sitting down next to her.
"Look, I know you probably don't want me to, because you'll be embarrassed, but I'm going to do it anyway, because I won't be able to sleep at night until I do. I know what you did for my sister," she said. Upon hearing this, he flushed a deep red color, and she continued, "I have no idea how to thank you for doing such a kind… expensive thing… so… thanks."
"It was no problem," he said, running a hand nervously through his dark hair. "Does the rest of your family know?"
"No, just me," she said, shaking her head. "I'm sure if they did, they'd be thanking you too."
"They wouldn't need to," he said, "I just did it for you."
Lizzy opened her mouth, to admit to him that she realized that she did in fact have feeling for him, but before she could do so, Jane burst out of the back door. "Charley asked me out!" she squealed, grinning happily at her sister. Upon seeing Will, however, she blushed deeply and said, "Sorry, Will. I thought Lizzy was out here by herself."
"It's okay, Jane," Will chuckled. "That was actually rather amusing. I'm happy for the both of you."
"I'm happy for you guys, too," Lizzy said, beaming at her sister broadly. Turning to Will, she said, "Sorry to bail on you, but I think my sister wants to talk to me."
"It's no problem," Will said. "I understand. It's a girl thing. Go ahead."
Smiling, Lizzy stood and made her way back toward the house. Pausing in the doorway, she stopped and looked back at Will once more. "We'll talk later, okay? I promise," she said.
"Sounds good," he told her, returning her smile broadly. "I'll see you later then."
"Yeah," she said, stepping into the house and closing the door.
As soon as she was inside and well outside earshot, he ran a hand through his hair anxiously and said, "Shit!" When was he ever going to get up the guts to tell her that he loved her again?
Walking around the side of the house, making his way back to the Bingley home, he brushed past Charley, who was getting something out of his car. "Oh, hey, Will!" Charley said, pulling his head out of his car quickly and bumping it on the top of the door frame in the process. Rubbing his head tenderly, he asked, "Where are you going?"
Will was about to reply and tell him that he was going home, but he suddenly changed his mind and said, "To the pool."
"Okay, have fun," Charley said. "I'm just gonna stay here for a while. I have to wait though; apparently, Jane is talking to Lizzy." Grinning crookedly, he added, "It could be a while. Girl stuff, you know?"
"Yeah, I know," Will said, nodding his head slowly.
"Are you okay, man?" Charley asked, closing the car door and taking a step toward his best friend. "You're acting kind of weird, you know that?"
"Yeah, I'm fine… it's just…" he said, his voice trailing off uncertainly.
"Lizzy?" Charley suggested, a knowing grin spreading across his handsome face.
"Yeah," he said, nodding his head. "I mean… we're obviously friends now, but… I still love her. And I want to tell her again, but I'm…"
"You're afraid," he said, looking shocked. "The Will Darcy is afraid of rejection?"
Scowling, Will said, "Yes, I am. I already got rejected by her once, I don't need to go through it again."
"Ah," Charley said, realization dawning on his face. "It's not rejection itself, it's the fact that she's rejecting you."
"Right." Will stuffed his hands into his pockets, looking down at his shoes with interest. Charley scrutinized his best friend carefully, almost as if he was searching for something he wasn't sure whether or not he'd actually find.
Finally, Charley sucked in a quick breath. "Good God," he breathed, "you really do love her."
"Well, duh," Will shrugged. "I thought that was obvious when I told her so. And when I paid for her sister's medical expenses. That should've been a big hint."
"Yeah, but you'd do that for me, if one of my sisters needed it," Charley explained. "I mean… I wasn't sure if you just felt a strong friendship feeling for her and were confusing it with love. But… my God, you love her, Will. You've never even dated any other girl before."
"Because I was a stupid, arrogant dickhead!" he said in exasperation. "Because I was a jerk. Because I was an asshole. I'm a better person now."
"Yeah, I've noticed that," Charley nodded. "I have to admit, doubts about your feelings or not, I was surprised when her words affected you as much as they did."
"Well… I knew people thought that about me," Will admitted. "But hearing it from her made it so much different. I realized that people actually judged me based on it. And that I was being rejected by the girl I loved because of it. And then I realized that I had to change, in order to become a decent human being. And if I was going to be able to live with myself."
Charley was quiet for a few moments, before he sighed, "Look, I'm not supposed to tell you this, but I'm going to, because I think you need to hear it."
Will, who had been staring at the Bennets' driveway for the past few minutes, snapped his head up and said, "What?"
"Jane told me this right after she agreed to be my girlfriend," Charley told him, unable to keep the pleased expression off of his face. "We got on the subject of you and Lizzy and she told me…"
"She told you what?" Will said urgently. "Charley, what is it?"
"Well, Jane hasn't had time to confirm with Lizzy but…" he said, running a hand through his red hair, "she has her suspicions."
"Suspicions about what?" he said, frustrated now. "Damn it, just tell me, Charley!"
"Jane believes that Lizzy's in love with you," Charley said, staring at his shoes. He looked up, to try to catch the expression on Will's face.
But Will was gone, the front door of the Bennet house swinging shut.
He had to talk to Elizabeth.