Elizabeth felt self conscious as she walked through the glass doors onto the marble floors of Pemberley LLC. Georgiana met her in the lobby and took her into the party, depositing her at the bar. "Ok, I'm going to try to pull him out of his office, will you be ok here on your own for a bit?"

Elizabeth laughed, "I think I'll survive."

"Good, I'll send you a text if I need reinforcement."

Elizabeth ordered her drink and settled in to people watching. It had only been a couple of minutes since Georgiana had left her when a handsome man with wavy blond hair sat at the stool next to her and gave her a thousand watt smile, something about him seemed vaguely familiar. "Hello, you must be new here. It's always the same people at these things, but I'm certain I would remember an angel like you."

"Do you often catalog the attendees at parties?"

He tilted his head and replied, "only the pretty ones," with another charming smile. All of a sudden Elizabeth figured out who he reminded her of.

"Oh my god! You're Charles Bingley, aren't you?"

The man looked at her confused, "have we met?"

"No," she laughed, "but you remind me very much of a certain golden retriever I know!"

"Ah, so you know Darcy then? How do I match up to my canine counterpart?"

"Fairly well, I'd say. Though I'm glad you've refrained from licking my face upon introduction the way he did."

"Well, the night is young," he said flirtatiously, Elizabeth rolled her eyes.

"So how do you know Darcy?" He asked.

"Mostly from the dog park. Canine Bingley is in love with my dog Jane, you know."

Recognition flashed in his eyes, "wait, Elizabeth? From the dog park?"

"That's me," she said, somewhat dreading what he'd heard about her.

"Come on, William. It's your own Birthday party, you can't just hide in your office all evening." Georgiana argued, gently tugging on his arm.

"Can't I?" He asked irritably, "you know I hate these things."

"You know if it was my choice we'd be at home in our pajamas eating cake. This was the board, and if I have to suffer through it, so should you." William groaned. He knew he was being a childish, grumpy, hermit but having missed the one social engagement he looked forward to each week he didn't want to throw himself into the kind of event he hated. It was his birthday after all. "It may not be so bad. You may meet someone you like."

He snorted, "you know damn well that there's no hope for that. The one person I want to see won't be there."

"Won't she?" Georgiana asked slyly.

That finally got him out of his chair. "She's here? How? What did you do?"

His sister just laughed as she moved out of his office, "you'll have to come down to the party to see."

"Georgiana Darcy, you better not be joking about this," he called after her as he put his jacked back on and tidied himself before heading down. The prospect of seeing Elizabeth Bennet was about the only thing that could make him look forward to a work social event. They'd made so much progress getting to know each other that it gave him hope for the future. However, the confinement of their meetings to one day a week at the dog park was starting to wear on him. He'd been in love with Elizabeth for so long now that an hour a week just wasn't enough – particularly if he had to miss that hour one week. This week had made embarrassingly clear to him how vital Elizabeth was to his own happiness.

His eyes found her as soon as he entered the room. She was seated at the bar with Charles and Georgiana. As he approached, Georgiana tapped the screen of her phone and Elizabeth and Charles laughed as she showed it to them. "Elizabeth," he breathed her name as she turned toward him and smiled and it felt like a weight lifted from his shoulders.

"Happy Birthday!" She said, giving him a half hug.

"I didn't know you'd be here," he said, smiling and restraining himself from pulling her further into his arms.

"Well, Georgiana informed me that my presence was vital to the party so I couldn't miss it."

"I couldn't agree more, will you dance with me?" He asked, longing to have her to himself and seeing no other option for that without just dragging her out of the party all together. She nodded and he took her hand, moving to the center of the room where a few others were dancing.

"So," she asked as he took her into his arms, "do you always have a birthday party with fifty or so of your closest friends?"

"My closest friends were those assembled at the bar a moment ago with the addition of Richard. This," he gestured around the room with his head, "is the board of the company showing off to it's biggest investors and socialites. My birthday is merely an excuse."

"So, not your ideal evening then," she said with that bewitching sparkle in her eye.

"I can't find fault with it at the moment," he said trailing his hand up and down her back, "though I imagine it will become tedious once I have to make my rounds." They fell silent as Darcy imagined how much more enjoyable those rounds would be with Elizabeth at his side making witty banter.

"What was on Georgiana's phone that made you all laugh as I came down?" He asked, curiosity getting the better of him and hoping it wasn't pictures of him in the bath as a baby or that time he'd gotten frosted tips in High School.

"One minute fifty two seconds," she said with a quirk of her eyebrow, "Georgiana spent ten minutes trying to coax you down to the party with no success, but it took you less than two minutes to arrive after she'd told you I was here."

"I missed you," he replied truthfully without thinking and for a moment he feared her response.

"Nine days," she laughed, "you saw me nine days ago."

"Nine very long days," he repeated.

"Georgiana said you've been a bear, apparently my presence was required to protect everyone else from your mood."

"And look how easily you've accomplished that feat."

She sighed and leaned her head lightly on his chest. He barely allowed himself to breathe lest she move away.

As she listened to the rapid beat of his heart, Elizabeth couldn't ignore the elephant any longer. Darcy loved her and she ... well, she could go that far yet but she was content here in his arms. Was that enough though? She could wait, but would she ever really know? She decided to take that gamble. "So what you're saying is that you need more frequent doses?"

She leaned back to look in his eyes and saw the moment his expression softened when he caught her meaning. "Elizabeth ..." he began and she quickly put her finger to his lips to stop him from saying whatever terribly romantic declaration he was about to say. That was a bit too fast for her.

"Saturdays," she said, trying to keep some footing before this whole thing swept her away. "I spend some time at Netherfield most Saturday mornings. Early, 8am, before I head to the shelter." He looked away and nodded his head, his hopes deflated from a moment ago. Though that was her intended effect, she couldn't bear to see it so she turned his face back to her, kissed his cheek and added: "Let's take this slow, ok? Let's enjoy tonight, meet tomorrow morning, and see where it goes from there?"

He kissed her forehead and nodded, "It's more than I could have hoped for a half hour ago."

As he was walking her home later that evening she reflected on their night. She'd stayed by his side for the rest of the evening. He introduced her to his various colleagues and she made light conversation. When she felt him growing tense or terse with any particular group, she would steer them back to Charles and Georgiana for a social rest. He seemed reluctant to let go of her. If she wasn't resting her hand in the crook of his arm he would lightly place a hand on the small of her back or squeeze her hand, all gestures that a month ago she might have viewed as possessive and presumptuous. Tonight she realized that he did so more out of comfort than anything else.

Charles's sister, Caroline, had made her way into the party fashionably late and immediately tried to latch on to Darcy's arm and pull him away from Elizabeth's side. For the first time Elizabeth was the one to grab his hand and squeeze earning her a grateful look from Darcy and a death glare from Caroline. Looking back, she couldn't believe the woman's presumption, to hang off of a man in front of his date like that.

Elizabeth stopped and Darcy looked at her questioningly. "Did we just have our first date?" She asked him.

"It sure felt that way to me," he said, smiling more broadly than she'd ever seen him smile before and slipping his arm around her waist. Then he added more sheepishly, "I was afraid that if I said something sooner it might break the spell and you'd leave."

"I stayed by your side of my own volition tonight. No magic required," she quipped and he gave her such an intense look that she thought he might kiss her right there ... on the sidewalk framed by the fluorescent glow of the late night burger joint's front window. She felt it was best to lighten the mood for a bit so she started walking again, tugging on his arm for him to follow. "You do realize that this means that Georgiana asked me out on our first date."

"I, for one am glad she did. Who knows how long I would have waited, but can you blame a guy for being cautious after my first disastrous attempt?"

"Perhaps not."

When they reached her house, he very properly walked her to the door. This time she didn't stop him as he scorched her with that intense gaze and leaned slowly forward, pulling her in for their first real kiss in the relative privacy of her doorway. The frantic barking from the other side of the door pulled them apart and she smiled up at him and said, "I'll see you tomorrow morning."

"Eight o'clock" he confirmed as he placed on last chaste kiss on her lips.

Elizabeth unlocked her door and entered her house where she proceeded to tell her girls all about her evening. Lydia and Kitty were the most energetic in their response, Jane sat there quietly and wagged her tail contentedly, and Mary just lumbered her way back to her bed, unimpressed with the Romance of it all.