Jane was sitting at the front of the desk when they walked in.

"Can you take a break?"

Jane looked up with a smile, "Actually I was just about to leave for the day. Stan left at lunch. Hello, David."

He smiled and told her how fancy the inside of the office looked.

"Thank you," she said sweetly, pulling her purse from the drawer. "Where are we going?"

"We're walking to get the girls from school. You can leave your stuff here. We can stop back by."

Jane nodded and followed them outside, locking the door. On the way to the school, Collins felt it necessary to recite every detail he had already given to Elizabeth about the furnishings at Catherine de Bourgh's house. Jane, the ever patient angel, listened to everything attentively. Elizabeth grabbed onto her arm in genuine sisterly affection and gratitude.

Kitty reached them first with a smile. "Hey."

Collins begun a sermon on the evils of talking with strangers when Kitty gave an exasperated look at Elizabeth.

"Where's Lydia?" she asked.

"Oh, talking to some boys probably."

Elizabeth turned to look. Sure enough, Lydia was walking between three guys. One of them looked old enough to be Elizabeth's age. When they reached them, Lydia was all giggles.

"Lizzy!" she called out, waving madly.

"Time to go Lydia."

Elizabeth, Collins, Kitty and Jane began walking back towards the shop. Immediately, Collins resumed his description of the house. Elizabeth heard giggles before Lydia ran around them with a boy chasing after her down the street.

"Is she your sister?" a voice asked next to her.

Elizabeth turned to see the older guy she had been talking to. "You are?"

"Oh, sorry, George Wickham."

"Are you a student?" Elizabeth asked curiously.

Wickham laughed, "Not at all. I'm in the military, recruiting. We had a fair the other day and a few of the boys signed up so I've been coming to work with them and prepare them for what they'll need. Like a mentor program."

Elizabeth was impressed. He was certainly easy on the eyes. His tall chiseled frame was no doubt the work of training and work outs. And his square chin and blue eyes made him magazine model material.

Collins had moved on to trap Kitty in a conversation and Lydia was far ahead of them all talking to the school boy, leaving Elizabeth to talk to Wickham.

They were talking about the hard life of the military when she heard Kitty call, "Mr. Bingley!"

Immediately Elizabeth's eyes were drawn to where Bingley and Darcy were approaching on the sidewalk. Jane froze automatically and Elizabeth stepped up next to her for support.

"Mr. Bingley," Jane said with a smile.

"Hullo," he replied, "We were just on our way to see you actually to see how you were doing?"

"Oh, thank you." Jane replied with a bigger smile.

Bingley started babbling about their day. Elizabeth allowed her eyes to flit to Mr. Darcy. He was standing stiffer than ever before, eyes glued to none other than Wickham. Elizabeth tried to sneak a glance at George and realized he had assumed a similar defensive pose. Could they know each other? Elizabeth wondered. As if in response to her question, Darcy turned suddenly and returned from where they had come.

Bingley turned around to see what Darcy was doing. Obviously as confused as everyone else, he said his sweet goodbyes before hurrying after Darcy. Elizabeth turned to Wickham to ask what that was all about, but he seemed like nothing had happened. Since she didn't actually know George she wondered if it would sound rude to ask.

The girls continued walking towards the store, but Elizabeth felt stranger with each step. It would bother her to not know what had happened. They parted with Jane soon after but Wickham continued all the way to the store.

"Is this your family's?" he asked.

"It is," Elizabeth replied.

"How amazing."

Elizabeth sensed a that Wickham was trying really hard to be nice, but she didn't mind. It was better than being as rude as Darcy.

"Well," he said finally, "I guess I've got some work to do. Thank you for letting me walk with you."

"Wickham!" Lydia exclaimed hopping in place, "You should come to a party at our aunt's house tomorrow. You too Denny!"

Elizabeth looked at Denny, the teenager Lydia had been walking with earlier. Lizzy wondered if Denny was one of the boys she had seen in the car.

"Of course!" Kitty joined in.

"I don't want to intrude," Wickham started.

"You must come." Lydia said as she feigned a pout.

"Where is it?"

Before Elizabeth could say anything to stop her, Lydia gave the address of their aunt' s house. Obviously it was Lydia who should have heard the sermon on talking to strangers instead of Kitty.

Wickham called Denny to follow and they walked along as the girls went inside with Mr. Collins.

"Lydia," Elizabeth said sternly, "You can't invite strangers over."

"And how do you get to know someone so they aren't a stranger? There will be lots of people there anyways. He probably won't even come."

Elizabeth didn't want to admit to herself that she secretly hoped more than anyone that Wickham would be there. If she could get him talking, maybe she would find out more about the weirdness that passed between him and Darcy.