To Wish Upon a Star Chapter 36, a pride and prejudice fanfic

Thanks to everyone who has followed, favorited, and reviewed this week! I love having y'all with me :)

And thanks to my betas, stmcg14 and SunriseImagination, who, once again, did a great job of inspiring this chapter and whipping it into shape! As always, if y'all notice mistakes, please let me know.

A smile refused to leave Darcy's face for the remainder of that day, despite the fact that he spent it listening to Mrs. Bennet's continued exultations regarding Miss Bennet's courtship with Bingley and her quest for a wedding date. Even the fact that he and Elizabeth had little time to speak privately did not diminish his joy. Nor had Miss Bingley's sour expression throughout the evening managed to wipe the smile from his face. Darcy felt as though all his dearest wishes were on the cusp of coming true, and he could not hide the fact.

Now, almost twenty-four hours after Elizabeth had agreed to their courtship, his smile continued. Even Apollo seemed less restive as they awaited Elizabeth's presence. The morning had dawned on a chill, cloudy day, but, as rain did not appear imminent, Darcy surmised that Elizabeth would not avoid her morning ramble. And so he had taken Apollo, once again leaving rather earlier than his customary hour lest Fitzwilliam stop him.

His cousin was ecstatic for Darcy and had delighted in teasing him about his lady love. Despite this, Darcy had almost expected Fitzwilliam to have sabotaged his morning in some fashion, preventing him from seeing Elizabeth simply for the pleasure of watching Darcy squirm. But, he had escaped without hindrance and was now waiting impatiently for his beloved. They had not spoken of their intentions for the morning, but he hoped that she would come.

Apollo whinnied, breaking Darcy from his abstraction. He grinned and dismounted as Elizabeth skipped down the pathway, her cheeks already blossoming with a delicate pink.

"Good morning, Apollo," she called, curtsying to Darcy's horse and reaching up to stroke his neck.

Darcy stepped forward. "One might think you prefer the horse to his master," he suggested teasingly.

Elizabeth raised her chin in mock hauteur. "You have only yourself to blame for my friendship with Apollo. I had no intention of befriending a horse, but you were determined."

"Yes, but it is not the horse who is courting you."

"But I do not believe in forsaking the entire rest of my life merely for a courtship," Elizabeth retorted. "I should be a poor friend if I did."

Darcy bowed extravagantly. "Forgive me, Miss Elizabeth, for suggesting such a thing. Shall I depart and allow you and Apollo some privacy?"

Elizabeth laughed, holding out a hand. "Mr. Darcy, I would welcome your company this morning."

"Thank you for taking pity upon my lonely estate," Darcy said with mock-seriousness. He took her hand, drawing her near and kissing it. "May I say that you are looking particularly lovely this morning?"

The blush on Elizabeth's cheeks grew. "You may."

He gestured to the path in front of them and held out an arm to escort her. "Shall we?"

Walking along, Apollo at their heels, Darcy breathed in the damp gloom as though it were delicately perfumed spring air. "I have missed talking to you," he admitted.

Elizabeth looked at him quizzically. "We spoke a great deal yesterday morning, and I am nearly certain that we spoke yesterday when you called on us with Mr. Bingley."

"Yes, but neither event truly allowed us to speak, not in the way I mean."

"Ah. Yes, I missed being able to converse freely as well," she said shyly.

"Was the remainder of your day satisfactory?"

"Yes. My mother appears resigned to Mr. Collins' choice of wife, but only because, when she spoke to Lady Lucas, she argued that Jane's conquest is much superior and that Mr. Collins' prospects are hardly worth bothering about as Papa may live for some time yet." Elizabeth chuckled. "I have never seen my mother argue that my father may live long enough that the entail is of little consequence."

"So she is not upset with you anymore?"

Elizabeth shrugged. "She has forgotten her distress for now. After Jane and Mr. Bingley's courtship comes to fruition, she may recall her annoyance as she turns her attention towards settling me in my own establishment as well."

"Or she may not, if your courtship should come to fruition before she turns her attention towards you."

"True." Elizabeth looked up at him. "And was your evening satisfactory?"

Darcy's smiled widened. "Yes. Despite Miss Bingley's attempts to corner me—I assume in order to speak of Charles' courtship, again—I sequestered myself in my room and wrote a letter to Georgiana informing her of our courtship."

Elizabeth's steps faltered, the crunch of leaves that had attended her movement falling silent for a moment. "And how do you expect she shall respond?"

"Georgiana will be ecstatic," Darcy said, imagining his sister's joy at his letter and wishing that he could tell her of Elizabeth in person. He had written much about the kind of person Elizabeth was, and he knew that she was just the sort of person Georgiana would like, but he wished to see her excitement in person.

"You do not think you are being overly optimistic?" Elizabeth said skeptically. "She has experienced a singularly difficult year, and she would not be human if her ability to trust others has not been damaged."

"That is true, however, Georgiana has long wished for a friend, and I believe you will satisfy that desire admirably."

"You know this?" Elizabeth asked hesitantly.

Darcy's brow furrowed as he tried to imagine what might prompt her disquiet.

"Your—foresight has predicted it?"

He grimaced. "I do not have foresight."

"But your vision?"

"I cannot account for that. It is an aberration in the natural order that I have never experienced before or since."

Elizabeth appeared relieved. "So there is no chance that you shall awake a different person tomorrow?" she asked lightly.

Despite her tone, Darcy detected a tenseness around her eyes that seemed to indicate a very real fear. "Though I cannot say there is no chance as I had no control over the event in the first place, I think such an occurrence unlikely. It has only happened once in my seven-and-twenty years."

"Then I shall not expect extreme character shifts to be a common occurrence with you."

Darcy hesitated, trying to decide how best to raise her spirits. "And what about you?"

"What about me?"

"Have you experienced extreme character shifts yourself?" he asked teasingly.

Elizabeth chuckled. "No. I'm afraid that I have always been rather stubbornly myself, even when I wished to be otherwise. And I can safely say that I have never met anyone who has so thoroughly changed in such a short timeframe as you, Mr. Darcy."

"We would weather it were such an event to occur," Darcy said seriously.

"I think . . . I think you may be correct about that. I suppose we will just have to see. After all, one never knows precisely how one may act until one is in a situation."

"True," he agreed. "Do you have other questions regarding my vision now that you have had more time to consider the matter?"

Elizabeth's lips quirked up. "Beyond how it happened?"

Darcy smiled. "Yes. As I said, I cannot account for that."

"What was it like?" she asked, studying the path ahead of them. "You have said it was as though you lived those events, but what do you mean by that?"

"The vision felt as real as this moment does." He placed a hand over hers where it rested on his arm. "I could feel the people around me just as I can feel you now. I could smell the damp and," his lips turned up, recalling Elizabeth's absurd conversation with Mr. Hurst when she had been staying at Netherfield, "taste the ragout just as I have since returning to this time. Sight, sound, everything—it was as though I were experiencing real events."

"Do you not get bored?" Elizabeth asked.

"Pardon?"

"If you are repeating events that seemed equally real, do you not get bored with having the same conversations and experiencing the same things?"

Darcy considered. "I do not deny that, at times, my mind has wandered while reliving events. However, I am such a different person that my feelings about the events are very different, not to mention that my reactions have shaped different events than occurred Before. Obviously," he said, drawing her closer. "I could not have imagined engaging in a courtship with you at this time Before."

Elizabeth shook her head. "I could not have imagined engaging in a courtship with you three weeks ago."

"Ah, but I am not the man I was three weeks ago."

"That is clear."

"Truly, Elizabeth, I hope you can see the changes I have made to my character."

Elizabeth smiled up at him. "That is far more evident than any reason for such changes. I am glad that I am courting this Mr. Darcy and not the Mr. Darcy from the assembly."

"He was a fool to fight his love for you," Darcy murmured.

Elizabeth blushed. "Does it bother you that you have grown a year older when everyone else has remained the same?"

"Fitzwilliam said that you view it that way. I suppose that one may argue I am older having lived that year, but, no, I believe what I have gained is worth far more than whatever I have lost."

"What have you lost?"

Darcy smiled fondly—this was his Elizabeth: always curious and unafraid to speak her mind. "In the past, Before, my relations with various people had changed. I do find myself missing the old Charles, but I am confident that he shall reappear before long."

"How was Mr. Bingley different?"

"He had become much more sure of himself and more able to manage his family."

"I see." Elizabeth paused. "Do you think Miss Bingley likely to interfere in Jane's courtship?"

Darcy shook his head. "Not at all. Charles is much better at knowing his own mind now than he has been in the past, and I do not believe she will sway him. Are you concerned?"

Elizabeth frowned. "Not exactly concerned. Jane is—Jane always sees the best in others."

"So you have said."

"I am worried that her compassion for Miss Bingley and care for Mr. Bingley will tempt her to put an end to their courtship lest she cause a family rift."

"I am certain Charles can convince her to do otherwise."

"You are probably right. I merely worry for my sister's tender heart."

"I understand. I have similar concerns for my sister as she is also a tender-hearted person."

Elizabeth smiled up at him. "Your concern appears to extend to a great number of people."

"Oh?"

"I have continued to spend time with Mary, and she has continued to blossom under the attention. We have expanded our study of music to include literature, in an attempt to grasp the emotions the composer was trying to convey."

"I am gratified to hear that she is doing well. I have not spoken to her much in the past few days; I hope she has not resented it."

Elizabeth's smile grew. "Far from it. I told her and Jane of our courtship last night; it was the first time that Jane and I have invited Mary to our nightly chat—something that would not have occurred were it not for your concern for others."

Darcy suppressed a blush as Elizabeth praised his concern for others; her words were balm for the wound left by the reality of his "selfish disdain of the feelings of others." "Thank you," he breathed, bringing them to a halt and facing her, his fingers entwined with hers.

"For what?" Elizabeth asked, raising an eyebrow. "I ought rather to thank you for helping Mary."

"Thank you for seeing good in me. Thank you for teaching me to care for others." He brought a hand up to stroke her cheek. "Watching you has taught me much about how to be a good person."

Elizabeth stiffened as though his words were darts that she needed to shield against. "I am afraid I am not the paragon you paint me as. I failed with Mary and others in my family."

Darcy pressed her fingers. "No, you have only failed if you never try, and I am certain you have begun to try with Miss Mary."

"But not with Kitty or Lydia," Elizabeth said with a grimace, resuming their walk, her eyes fixed on the path.

"Perhaps you need only change your relationship with one sister rather than attempting to alter your relations with all your sisters at once. Or perhaps you should focus on making small changes."

"Such as?"

"In my vision, I began making small changes in how I treated Charles and then gradually larger changes in response to his altered behaviour. I tried to listen to him and to ask for his advice on those matters I knew he was more knowledgeable in than I, rather than constantly advising him. Unintentionally, I had treated him as a child, but after my encounter with you, I began to treat him as an equal."

Elizabeth frowned. "I do not know what I ought to change in my relationships with Kitty and Lydia."

"Perhaps you merely need to listen to them, even when their words seem unimportant. I have noticed that they both appear to desire attention."

"That is true. I have often thought that Kitty only follows Lydia so assiduously because she is afraid of being ignored. They seem to engage in a daily contest to see who can speak the loudest." She sighed. "But I have barely seen either of them for the past several days. They have been spending their time at my aunt's or with Maria Lucas, despite Maria's 'prank' on Lydia."

"The supposed berries by the stream or another prank?"

"The berries. I had thought that Lydia would remain cross with Maria or attempt a return prank of greater scope." She shook her head. "Perhaps she is only spending time with her to plan such a prank."

Darcy hesitated then agreed. Whatever Miss Lydia and Miss Kitty were involved in, he doubted it would be anything too dangerous; after all, they had several months before Wickham would attempt to woo Miss Lydia. Plenty of time for Darcy to marry Elizabeth and convince Mr. Bennet that both younger girls needed a companion or schooling.

"And how did Miss Mary and Miss Bennet takes the news of our courtship?" he asked.

"They were both very happy for me; you have certainly won them over these past weeks."

"I have enjoyed my time with them, and I am grateful for their support."

Elizabeth grimaced. "I am sorry that I was unwilling to listen to you, that you required Jane's assistance. Though I pride myself on acquiring the facts before making a judgment, I was—afraid."

"Afraid?"

Elizabeth looked down. "Afraid of my own mistakes, afraid that I had erred once again. I had been wrong about even my own sister. If I were wrong about you . . . ." Tears clogged her voice. "I had convinced myself that I would be able to accept a friendship with you while I believed you in love with another, but my heart was and is too engaged to endure a betrayal by you. And your story was so—fantastically impossible, so like a tale designed to deceive. I could not bear to think that I had misjudged you so horribly, that my first impression was correct, and that I had been a fool to allow you access to my heart."

Darcy gently pulled Elizabeth to a halt and gathered her into his arms. "Elizabeth, I cannot pretend that your avoidance did not distress me, but I understood that it was a difficult thing to believe—I still understand. I do not hold it against you. How can I when I myself had a difficult time believing the reality of my experience?"

"But I—I was awful to you. I avoided you, refused to listen, and all but called you a liar."

"You were protecting your heart. I did the same thing until I learned that loving you made me a better person, regardless of whether or not you loved me in return. I am not upset with you."

Elizabeth put a hand on his chest, searching his gaze. "I—thank you. I should have trusted your character."

"You are in an incredibly difficult situation. Visions of the future are the stuff of fiction or insanity. It is difficult to accept when natural laws appear to have been broken and much easier to credit alternate explanations that cast doubt on someone's trustworthiness, whether you would doubt yourself or me."

Elizabeth gave a watery chuckle. "You are experienced in such matters? What other laws of nature have you broken?"

Darcy returned her chuckle. "I cannot say that I have broken any others, however, my own disorientation when awakening nearly a year in the past has given me great compassion for anyone who has struggled to grasp such events." He tightened his hold on her. "Take all the time you need to come to terms with the truth."

Apollo chose that moment to interrupt them as though he had sensed Elizabeth's distress and was unwilling to leave all the comforting to Darcy, and Elizabeth, after she had given his horse the attention he desired, did not return to the topic. Instead, the conversation drifted to Mrs. Bennet's plans for a Christmas wedding and when Elizabeth would meet Georgiana.