A/N: Apologies for the shortness of this chapter but I will be updating again during the next week so I hope that makes up for it. Just a head's up, there's an angst warning in place due to the events that is happening with this chapter.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
As March turned into early April, the weather was starting to shift to brighter mornings and warmer weather conditions. It was this time of the year that Elizabeth loved, the dewy smell would greet her first thing in the morning if she woke early to go for a run, the light and chilled breeze if she opened the window and the familiar shades of green that were missed during the dull winter months. The Easter holidays had arrived, bringing two weeks of revision for Lydia, Georgiana, Denny, Kit and Mary as they studied hard for their GCSEs, the first lot would take place the second week of May and continue throughout the month, they would get a break for the half-term in May and then finish up by mid-June. Due to Lydia being required to go into the closed school over the two-week period for study sessions in the core subjects with the core teachers, Elizabeth and Lydia had opted to stay in Portsmouth instead of spending the two-week school holidays with Jane at Longbourn, but their sister had agreed to take some leave from the B&B to spend some time with them in Portsmouth.
It was halfway through the first week of the Easter holidays that Elizabeth had stayed over at Will's house for a few days, finally feeling comfortable to a longer duration stay at the Darcy residence with both Alice and Georgiana there, rather than just an overnight stay when Alice was out or Georgiana was staying over at her aunt and uncles with Lydia.
His arms enveloped her as he stood behind her, tracing random patterns on her ribcage through her t-shirt. She was brushing her hair as she looked in the small mirror that hung on his bedroom wall.
"…Will…" Elizabeth breathed as her boyfriend nibbled on her earlobe.
Her hairbrush dropped to the floor as Will tucked her hair over her right shoulder and pressed heated kisses to the left side of her neck.
"Stay here…" he whispered into her ear huskily.
Elizabeth groaned as she stopped his hands from trying to pull up the hem of her t-shirt, resting her head on his shoulder as he continued his path of heated kisses up and down her neck.
"I have to go." Elizabeth groaned, looking up at him.
"No, you don't." Will insisted.
She turned in his arms to see him grinning down at her, his eyes full of desire to do nothing but make love and stay in bed all day. Placing her hands on his chest, she pulled away from him slightly. She wanted to fall back into bed with her boyfriend and spend the entire day lazed around with him but Jane was getting into Portsmouth in the next hour and she wanted to be at home to welcome her sister when she did arrive.
"You are soooo tempting…" Elizabeth muttered with a smile.
"I'm tempting, am I?" Will asked, one eyebrow raised.
Elizabeth nodded.
"You have no idea…" she whispered against his lips.
"So…stay here...a little while longer…" Will whispered huskily, his fingers travelling underneath her t-shirt.
Elizabeth exhaled lightly as she pressed her lips to his and pecked lightly, not giving him the opportunity to deepen the kiss or slide his tongue persuasively into her mouth; she noted how he had the habit to kiss her in a way that made her lose rational thought.
"I want too…I really do…but…"
"But…" Will pouted.
"But I've got to get home, Jane will be here in an hour and we've already lazed about enough for one day." Elizabeth replied.
Will put on his best pout and puppy eyes to try and plead with her to change her mind. Laughing at his playfulness, Elizabeth stepped out of his arms and picked up her hairbrush and placed it into her bag.
"So how long will you be in London again?" Elizabeth asked.
ooOoo
"Just two days, I'll be back on Saturday morning." Will replied, watching as she zipped her back up.
"And you're still alright to go to dinner with Jane and Charles on Saturday night?" Elizabeth asked.
"Of course, I'm looking forward to it."
Sharing a smile, Elizabeth walked over to him and gave him a lingering goodbye kiss and made him promise to call her when he arrived in London safely. Seeing her out, he closed the door behind him and went back upstairs to pack his own bag.
Their nearly fourteen-week-old relationship was back to them being in a good place after they had talked about their issue of avoiding each other and the pressure of commitment when Elizabeth had made it clear that she wanted to continue as they had been instead of wanting to pressure him into picking out engagement rings or looking at house listings. It had been nice getting back into a familiar routine with Elizabeth and she was beginning to feel more comfortable with staying at his house overnight and now a few days rather than leaving at a set time of night.
He was happy. He couldn't deny he was happy again. Everything was going well. Georgiana was settling back into school full-time and was preparing for her GCSEs. His sister was also laughing and smiling again, interacting with her friends and feeling more confident to be independent again, she had even brought up the idea of applying for a summer job so that she could be like everyone else and have that experience rather than relying on him giving her money to spend or waiting for her inheritance. Will knew that Georgiana didn't need to work but he understood why she wanted to get a job. It was nice seeing the friendship that his sister had developed with Lydia Bennet as well. The two girls had a deep bond and connection over their similar experiences and it was because of Lydia that Georgie had been able to come through that. Of course, he knew that while Lydia was happy; she was also nervous as they all waited for the upcoming date of Jamie Smith's appeal hearing.
Folding his clothes that he needed for the next few days into his suitcase, his phone vibrated in his pocket. Pulling it out, Will frowned as he opened the text message from an unknown number. His eyes narrowed when he saw a picture of Elizabeth kissing George Wickham.
Then the phone vibrated again, this time with words instead of a picture.
Thought you should know. Are you sure you can trust your girlfriend?
Hitting the text box at the bottom of the page, Will angrily put in his reply.
Who are you?
The phone beeped back a few seconds after he had sent his reply.
A friend.
Nice try, Sarah.
Feeling angry that his ex-wife was attempting to come between him and Elizabeth, Will chucked his phone on the bed next to his suitcase and continued packing. His phone buzzed again and he picked it up to see the 'unknown' person had replied.
Sarah who?
Your pathetic attempts to get between me and Elizabeth won't work
She's just like the others who want you, the picture proves that
Looking at the picture of Wickham and Elizabeth sharing a kiss made his blood boil. His mind began racing through possible scenarios in which Elizabeth had been working with Wickham all along. Had he been stupid enough to fall for another Wickham scam? Had he been stupid enough to fall for a woman who appeared to be genuine and loving? Had he been a fool to trust Elizabeth?
Letting out a frustrated outburst of rage, his phone made contact with the wall opposite the bed and smashed into several pieces on the floor below.
ooOoo
Arriving back at her aunt and uncle's house, Elizabeth felt her heart beat frantically with anger as she saw Oscar sat on the sofa in the living room. Everything had been going so well so far since she and Will had talked about their hesitations and now her ex-boyfriend had some nerve showing up in Portsmouth when she hadn't told him where she lived.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Elizabeth shrieked.
Oscar smiled nervously.
"Nice to see you too, Liz. Your aunt and uncle let me in before they took the dog out for a walk." He greeted.
She folded her arms across her chest and tapped her foot impatiently against the carpet. Oscar let out a heavy breath as he continued to sit comfortably on the sofa.
"Why are you here?" Elizabeth demanded.
"I had a phone call from a friend of yours, she was concerned about you. She said that you were facing an employment tribunal case because your current employer had refused to renew your contract from September and you were in a low place with your job and your love life. I came to offer you your old job back at the surgery." Oscar explained.
Elizabeth frowned, what friend would tell her ex-boyfriend that?
"I don't think you have the power to offer me my old job back."
"I do. I'm the head of the practice, it's one of the reasons I moved back to the UK."
"One of the reasons? I already made it clear to you back in February that I was in love with someone else." Elizabeth scoffed.
"I love you Liz, you know I do. I haven't always been sensitive to what you've been going through but I can try and make up for it. Just say you'll take your old job back and come back to Thurston with me." Oscar pleaded.
"Who exactly told you I was in a low place?" Elizabeth questioned.
"She didn't give a last name, just told me her name was Caroline and she was a good friend of yours."
Caroline. Caroline frigging Bingley. Charles's little sister was the reason her ex had shown up unexpectedly for the second time.
"Oscar…I'm sorry that you were led here under false pretenses. Caroline is not my friend, she's a jealous woman who wants to get her claws into my boyfriend and has been rejected many times by Will. The matter of my work issues has been sorted now so thanks for the job offer but I won't be taking you up on it. I love Will and I'm happy in Portsmouth."
But instead of listening to what she had told him, Oscar got up from his seat and strode over to her, pressing his mouth to hers aggressively as he pinned her hands to her sides. Elizabeth didn't respond to him, pulling her mouth away from his as she squirmed to get her arms free. Her rage was growing as she fought her hands out of his grasp and slapped him as hard as she could across the face and stepped away from him.
"Get the fuck out of here!" Elizabeth shrieked.
Not needing to be told twice, her ex-boyfriend stormed out of the room and slammed the door closed behind him. Elizabeth was shaking; completely shocked by what had just happened. She had never known Oscar to be so forceful like that and never had he ever tried to force himself on her before. Pulling her phone out of her pocket she dialled her boyfriend's phone number and after several rings, she didn't get through and decided to leave him a voicemail.
"Will, it's me. I know you're probably driving but I need to talk to you. Call me back when you get this." Elizabeth said desperately before ending the call.
ooOoo
He had never felt more humiliated in his life. Oscar walked down the street in a fit of humiliation and anger at himself and Elizabeth for what had happened between them. He knew it was his own fault, he shouldn't have pushed her but he had lost all sense of sensible thought and wanted to show her that he still loved her; that actions meant more than words. Trying to kiss her and only to have her shove him away and slap him and tell him to leave now made him feel like the world's biggest prick.
But he was angrier at this Caroline person who had called him up a week ago to tell him she was concerned about Elizabeth. Caroline had told him that Jane Bennet was dating her brother and those two had been discussing the events going on in Elizabeth's life with her. He had been told about the employment tribunal case and how his ex-girlfriend's relationship was breaking down and making Elizabeth miserable and he had been concerned. He had managed to secure his ex her old job position and he knew that Jane would like it if Elizabeth did move back into Longbourn. But he hadn't been expecting to get shot down and rejected so harshly; even if he had acted in the wrong way.
As he got to the end of the street, he heard a yelp of agony come from an alleyway between rows of houses. Hearing a sharper, louder yelp of pain, Oscar went down the alleyway to find a man in his late-twenties on the floor grasping at his leg.
"It's okay, I'm a doctor. What's your name?" Oscar asked.
"George…" the man panted, "George Wickham."
"Oscar Pierce. What happened?" Oscar questioned.
"My leg…sharp…shooting pains…" the man cried out in pain.
"Okay. Try and relax, deep breaths while I examine your leg. Can you tell me what happened?"
"I was walking along...I heard a strange noise so I…came to look and I tripped and fell…I think I've damaged something…"
Oscar instructed the man to take deep and calming breaths as he rolled up the trouser leg on the man's jeans and then carefully straightened the leg. As his attention was focused on the man's leg and gently prodded different areas to see where the damage was, he failed to notice the sound of a van pulling to a sharp stop at the entrance to the alley. He failed to notice the sound of metal scraping along the cobbled ground of the alleyway floor.
It wasn't until he felt a sharp blow to the side of his head that he knew he shouldn't have investigated those cries of agony down this alleyway. Oscar could see the man stand up easily as if he had faked the pain he had been in and was holding a metal bar in his hand; looking absolutely furious with him.
"W-wh-wh-why?" he managed to stutter.
George Wickham looked down at him as he collapsed to the floor.
"I'm not going to lose Elizabeth to you either!" the man declared.
Before he could beg for his life or do anything else, everything went black.
