"Ok y'all, I'm off."
"Lizzy, you are never allowed to say that again."
"How dare you, just trying to be American over here." Jane shot up from her microscope and glanced around quickly, exhaling a sigh of relief. Darcy and Bingley had yet to return.
"Lizzy, we aren't supposed to talk about that."
"Jane, it's just the two of us. I like to remember that there's something different about us."
"Different?"
"Different. First off, we aren't American. Second, we overcame something. We didn't fall apart, we survived." Jane swiveled away from her microscope.
"Lizzy, there's nothing wrong with falling apart. Everyone does it every so often. It's lovely and worth it and, the beautiful thing about falling apart is that, when you put yourself back together, you're a better person, and the same things can't make you fall apart again. It's the beauty of being human, the ability to fall apart." Lizzy sat and, looking at her sister, began to cry.
"Jane, what if you don't get put back together again? What if you stay broken and tear filled and out of joy and destroyed for the rest of your life?"
"Oh sweetie," Jane came to hug her sister, "what's wrong?"
"I don't know. I've started to remember things. Things that I had forgotten."
"Thanks for clarifying."
"Jane, I swear to god I'm going to kill you."
"Fair enough, continue."
"They're just little bits, from primary and secondary school" Jane coughed. "Elementary and middle school. I don't know why, but that thing about the play that I was in. Schools I went to. Things about… things about that night. I can't control it. I was so good about not letting it get to me anymore, I haven't thought about these things in years. And they're just cropping up. I can't predict them. They'll come in dreams or something I'll listen to will just trigger it. It's scary Jane. I'm scared."
"Lizzy, I promise you, there's nothing to be scared of. Remember when you were seven or so, and Dad was at the office and Mum was sleeping and being ridiculous, and the sisters were in their own worlds, and you woke me up because you were afraid of the dark? And I told you that the branches under the moonlight were nothing to be afraid of, because you weren't done living so your life wasn't over, and nothing could take you away from me because I loved you and I wouldn't let anything take you away from me?"
"Yes, you were prolific and frustrating even as a nine year old."
"Lizzy, I'm completely serious. You're a good person, but you aren't quite done. Nothing can take you until you're done."
"Being a good person has nothing to do with whether you die or not. Every day good people, innocent people die. For no reason at all. Jane, they were good people. Jane, half of them hadn't had a chance to be good people yet." The tears came harder, and Lizzy was broken down to a bare whisper. "Why didn't they even get a chance?"
"Lizzy, you listen to me. You really listen to me. You survived for a good reason. You've done fabulous things in your life. You saved the lives of hundreds of people, and you've made sure that the people who do bad things pay for what they do. You're a good person. You're a wonderful person, and you need someone to remind you of these things every so often. You try to be by your self too often. I'm not going to say we haven't had things happen to us, because I try not to lie and you know that. But, we both came through, and we are wonderful people. Just because some people are gone doesn't mean that we have to spend the rest of our lives in agony waiting for them to come back. They wouldn't want that. They wouldn't want us to suffer, to lose our lives just because they lost theirs. It doesn't mean we forget them. We remember them by continuing with our lives. We celebrate the chances we've been given. There isn't a day that goes by when I don't think of them, of all of them. And they were good people. But they made mistakes, some bigger than others. And we can't gloss over that. You can't idolize them, you can't idolize me or Darcy or Bingley or that bloody therapist of yours. But you remember the people that have gone, the people who don't have the chances you have, and you continue to live. Yu make the most of those chances. Do you understand me?" Lizzy blinked stupidly, but nodded. "Lovely," replied her sister. "Now, you were off somewhere"
"Yes, I had…have a date."
"Ah yes, the lovely Scottish bloke gets another chance. What was his name again?"
"Cailean. His name's Cailean." Jane scoffed.
"And what exactly is so horridly funny about that?"
"You need to study your Gaelic mi'lady. As it is, let's make sure you look as disgustingly gorgeous as possible. I'm taking you shopping." Lizzy began to make pleads, something about spending all her money at a used book sale, they had a wonderful selection of Renaissance Philosophy and histories and… "Lizzy, I insist. I'm buying."
"I actually hate you."
"You look lovely."
"I said that I hated you, accept it."
"Fair enough, but you look gorgeous. God, I need a fancy boyfriend. So where is this lovely one taking you tonight?"
"Opera. The Mikado is playing, God I love that one."
"Nerd. Is that opening tonight?"
"Yes, thus explaining the dress. Something about having to dress up for opening nights. But, to be completely honest, I think this is a touch over the top, it's not the Met or anything." Jane coughed, still in mild awe at the dress. The woman at the ridiculously priced boutique had brought Lizzy a diamond necklace capable of blinding small children and had twisted her hair up in the expectation that the pair would buy the ridiculously overpriced dress. It was a red Zuhair Murad that wrapped and twisted over one shoulder, braiding itself before giving out to the skirt, satin with a chiffon overskirt that fluttered and swished every time Lizzy moved. A pair of heels had been provided from her, their red soles matching the burgundy of the dress.
"Lizzy, it's gorgeous. You look gorgeous."
"Jane, you can't possibly expect me to let you buy this. It's lovely but…" Lizzy swished her skirt again. "Oh god it's lovely."
"Mum should be the one doing things like this, but." Jane stood up and unclasped the diamond pendant she always wore around her neck. It was a small teardrop that hung on a gold chain. Taking off the larger, grander, tackier necklace the sales woman had draped on Lizzy, Jane walked behind her sister and draped the pendant on her with a tear in her eye. The two sisters looked in the mirror, both of the close to crying.
"Mum would have wanted you to have this."
"I still don't understand where you're taking me."
"Lizzy, sweetie, it's a surprise. Trust me."
"This is a second date, how much am I really supposed to trust you."
"Enough for this." Cailean had taken Lizzy, dressed in all her burgundy splendor, into the passenger seat of a hired Lotus. Lizzy had audibly gasped, having been craving an Evora as her supercar since eternity had begun. The car was smoky silver, with a dark leather interior, and Lizzy was absolutely and completely in love, barely noticing anything else except the adorable blond man in the tuxedo sitting beside her. And the fact that they had gone whizzing by the opera house in downtown D.C.
"I still think it would be lovely if you told me where you were taking me."
"To the opera."
"The opera was about 5 minutes that way." She pointed backwards.
"Not the opera I'm thinking of."
"I going to be honest with you, pretty sure there's only one opera house here."
"Lizzy, you have to let yourself be surprised every once and a while. I'll take care of you, I promise." Cailean grinned and stepped on the gas, speeding them along until they reached an airplane hangar.
"Ok, this is definitely not the opera." The had parked in front of a Gulfstream G150, the stairs leading to the plane open and scattered with rose petals. Lizzy gasped audibly for the second time that night, and let the man in the tuxedo responsible for it all lead her into the plane.
A gentle whirring was all that Lizzy heard as the plane began to take off. A well-formed woman in a black cocktail dress had seated them, doling out champagne and assorted appetizer-like foods. She had gracefully receded out of view, perhaps to give the illusion that she was out of earshot.
"Well, this is…this is…"
"I think I understand what you're going for."
"Well, you're very self confidant, aren't you?"
"I like to think so. I seem to have come out all right, considering."
"Considering what?"
"Considering my childhood and all." He took a sip of champagne, turning slightly away from Lizzy.
"You can tell me." She reached her hand out for his; he took it gratefully.
"Well, you know that I grew up in Scotland, yes?" She nodded, and they both giggled slightly upon recalling the situation of their meeting. "Well, I grew up under this family, the Darcy's." Lizzy choked a touch on her champagne, Cailean looked up. "Something wrong?"
"Nothing." She said, wiping her mouth. He continued.
"The father of the family was a wonderful man, may god bless his soul. He suffered so after the mother died; he must have just keeled over himself. I had always been friendly enough with the son, we did practically live together. But my father and his died in quick succession. And he had always been a very proud boy, spoiled and cruel. He used to beat horses, you know. And his sister, not much better. You never met such an affected, uncouth girl. The Darcy Family would call themselves gentility, but I know that supposed good breeding does nothing for the manners of the children. The elder Mr. Darcy had taken a liking to me at a young age, perhaps realizing that nothing good would ever come out of his own son. He had, in his will, left for me a generous living with which I was to pursue my education and installment into one of Edinburgh's more prestigious law firms. However, the living was cruelly taken from me when the elder Darcy died, as the son deemed it fit to leave me with nothing."
"But, how did, well, this" Lizzy gestured to the private plane they were currently sitting on.
"I joined the military. When I was wounded in service, I spent weeks in an army hospital. But I made some friends. I got by. But, on to greater and grander things." He finished his champagne. "I believe we should be landing in a few moments."
Cailean helped Lizzy off the plane and into the back of a limousine waiting outside. Once everyone had their champagne refreshed, the car sped off towards the vast, gleaming, and lovely façade of the Metropolitan Opera House. Lizzy stepped out of the car, eyes glittering with excitement. The car sped off and Cailean wrapped his arm around her shoulder.
"Shall we?"
The tuxedo clad man and the woman and red walked towards the doors, making their way to the opera.
"That was absolutely magical."
"Was it?" The pair was back in the Lotus, having completed their roundtrip journey.
"It was lovely. The opera was lovely, the box was lovely, the plane was lovely, the cars were lovely, you were lovely."
"Really, I was lovely? I've never been described as lovely before."
"Yes," she said, kissing his cheek, "you were absolutely lovely."
The pair pulled up in front of Lizzy's apartment building, seeming much less glamorous after the night she had had. The man in the tuxedo got out, opening the door for the woman in red. She smiled, kissing him fully and encircling her arms around him. The two swished up to her apartment, where clothes were shed, limbs entwined, and love made.
Author's Note: It seems to be becoming a rather awful incidence in which I continually beg for forgiveness at having not updated in the last eon or so. I would try to make excuses, but everyone has school and work and things and I apologize wholeheartedly. I've started planning for my next big fic, so there's something. Alas, I'm becoming long winded and frustrating. Thanks for reading and have a lovely succession of days until I can update once more.
Best Wishes!