Lizzie sat straight up and let out a little yelp. She looked next to her and Darcy was still their, eyes locked on her, still holding her hand. Her eyes jumped back and forth from his hand to his face several times.

"Dreams?" His eyes were still locked on her and his grip tightened a little more. She nodded and whimpered. "Could you tell me?"

She took a deep breath. Something is better than nothing. "He said I wanted him back in my life. He said that I still loved him. When I tried to get him to leave, he snapped. I called the police, but..." She hid her face from Darcy. "After a while I just pretended to be unconscious so he would leave."

"Lizzie, can you look at me?" She turned to see Darcy with a paled face. He leaned forwards, but hesitated. "Can I?" He loosened one of his hands. She pursed her lips and nodded. He gently brushed the hair out of her face and smiled a little. She felt the tips of her mouth curve a little in response.

"Can I ask you if they..." She looked behind him at the door. "Did they find..." She couldn't finish her sentences.

"No." His voice became angry."I was wondering if. If you have the time? Would you mind?" She sighed and looked away not being able to find the words. She felt safe around him, but was that too much to say after what had passed?

"Do you want me to stay with you?" How does he read my mind? She nodded. "Then I will." She looked back at him and smiled lightly.

—~—

For the next ten days, William Darcy was in and out of her hospital room. She still didn't feel comfortable talking to people about what happened, or to have them come into physical contact with her. But Darcy was different. He didn't treat her like something had happened. He didn't treat her like she was hurt. He treated her like she was a friend. Was he her friend? Did he actually like her still? She didn't hate him, she knew that much. But something about her changed when he entered her room.

The day before she got out of the hospital, Georgiana knocked on her door. "Hey, Lizzie. Can I talk to you?" She sat down in the chair commonly taken by her brother.

"Yes." She pushed herself back up onto the bed. She still was in pain, but she could now see out of both her eyes and some of the bruising had gone away.

"About him?" Georgiana bit her lower lip. Lizzie shut her eyes out of habit to show she didn't want to talk about it. "Not about what happened to you, its just." Georgiana seemed to still have troubles talking about what happened to her. How long would it take Lizzie to get over it? "Its just no one else knows how it felt. And I, I just wanted to. I wanted to be around someone who knows I'm not made of glass. That I'm stronger than people think." She sighed.

"Doesn't your brother-"

"William still treats me like I'm in high school. But when he's around you, he treats you like an equal. I want that from him. But he just treats me like a little kid. I want my big brother back, not another father." She frowned at her hands.

"Georgiana, your brother loves you. But you need to tell him how you feel. He doesn't want you to get hurt again." She remembered the letter. The pain that she had heard when he blamed himself for what had happened to her. She remembered how different she had seen him, and that scared her a little bit. She wasn't used to her mind changing so many times about one person.

"Could you tell him for me? He just doesn't listen to me like he listens to you." Georgiana bit her lip and her eyes went wide like she had revealed some sort of secret.

"Okay. I'll talk to him if you want." She smiled lightly.

"Talk to who about what?" She looked to see Darcy standing at the door. Hs sister got up, wished Lizzie well and left. "What were you and my sister talking about?" He said a little more sternly as he took his seat.

"Darcy, how would you describe your relationship with your sister?" Lizzie took his hand to prove she didn't mean any harm.

"I look out for her, or at least, I try." She gave him a look to elaborate on the subject. "I try to be a father like figure to her."

"Bingo." She didn't know if he was going to elaborate on that point.

"What?" He released her hand. She took it again and squeezed a little.

"Did it ever occur to you that she doesn't want another father?" He had a blank look on his face. "Did it ever occur to you that she just wants a brother? Someone who laughs with her, takes her to movies. She wants someone to be her best friend first, caretaker second. She also said something along the lines of wanting to be treated like you treat me." She took a deep breath. She saw a fear in Darcy's eyes that wasn't there before.

"Why didn't she tell me herself?" His voice was soft.

"Because she doesn't want to hurt you." Lizzie was used to things like this. Telling an older sibling that a younger doesn't want another parent. She had done it for her students numerous amounts of times. This one felt special to her for some reason though.

"Thank you, Lizzie. Do you mind if..." He trailed off and looked towards the door.

"Go ahead." She let go of his hand and watched as he went to regain a little sister.