Before heading over to the Bennets' for dinner, Darcy stopped and absent-mindedly sorted through the mail that had been left for him on a table in his foyer. He did this mostly out of habit and had every expectation of tossing the whole pile into the recycle basket when he was through—but a plain, white, handwritten envelope with no return address caught his attention, if only because he had to open it to find out who it was from. There was still a letter opener in the drawer where his father had always kept it, but Darcy rarely had occasion to use it. The contents of the letter surprised him. It was a copy of two receipts—one was for an appointment Karo had had with a psychiatrist, and the other was for train tickets between Princeton Junction and New York. Both had been paid for with her credit card. She probably wanted to be reimbursed before the payment was due. The psychiatrist's bill was three times as much as his own therapy sessions cost, but then his therapist wasn't a psychiatrist, and wasn't in New York. Leave it to Karo to find the most expensive therapist available, and the train tickets were pushing it. He almost wondered if it were some passive-aggressive way of trying to punish him. Then again, maybe she had just chosen a New York therapist so no one would know she was going. On the bright side, she had decided to send him the bills in the least intrusive way possible rather than use it as an excuse to see him. That alone was a step in the right direction. He was almost surprised to learn Karo even knew how to send a letter by regular mail. He pulled out his phone and made the payments. He didn't care about the money or whether he "had boundary issues." It would make his life easier if she got some real help. He hoped she would learn to face what she'd done.

With that done he headed over to the Bennets', stopping to buy flowers on the way (his stupid cousin had ruined bringing wine). The Bennets' yard was packed with Halloween decorations—even though it was four days after Halloween. Chad's car was parked out front. Good. This was his third dinner with the Bennets, but he'd been there often, and things were always easier with Chad there—it took attention off of him. Even Mr. Bennet liked Chad. Darcy wouldn't have minded Mr. Bennet's dislike, except that he knew it bothered Lizi. His glares and sarcastic remarks were actually easier to deal with than the rest of the family. It probably didn't help that Janice made a point of agreeing with everything Darcy said, and he suspected she would have him over to dinner more often if Lizi weren't running interference.

Janice answered the door and gave him a vague smile. He handed her the flowers, "These are for you."

"How nice, Mr…."

"Janice, it's me, Darcy. You invited me to dinner?"

"Of course, your Jane's… no, Lizi's boyfriend. The rich one."

"Um, yes."

She moved aside and ushered him in saying, "Of course, of course, how silly of me. Lizi has so many boyfriends, it's hard to keep them straight. You better propose to her before one of the others does."

"I'll keep that in mind. Thank you." What? Darcy wasn't sure which was worse, if Janice was purposely lying in the hopes he would propose, or thought that story was a good cover for forgetting who he was. Had she really forgotten who he was? It seemed like more than forgetting his name.

Chad and Jane were in the Living Room with Mr. Bennet. "Ah," said Mr. Bennet, "The good doctor is joining us." He often greeted Darcy this way. He said it as if it were a joke, but Darcy thought he was meant to take it as a reminder of their first meeting. There was no point in telling Mr. Bennet he hadn't fooled him on purpose. He was sure Lizi had already explained.

Jane smiled. "Lizi will be down in a moment."

He nodded in acknowledgment, and Chad said, "Jane was just telling us about one of her students."

She restarted her story, and they all continued to converse. After a short time, Janice came back and said in a sing-song voice, "Hors-d'oeuvres." She set down a platter on the coffee table. It contained saltine crackers spread with peanut butter. Each one was decorated with two raisins and a piece of broccoli and a slice of carrot. Maybe it was supposed to be a face, the broccoli could be a nose and the carrot kind of looked like a mouth. Was he being a rich snob or was this a weird thing to serve as an hors-d'oeuvre? Sometimes he couldn't be sure.

Jane and Chad were still talking and didn't seem to notice them. Mr. Bennet seemed to be waiting to see how Darcy would react, but he wasn't sure if that was because Mr. Bennet wanted him to look like a snob, or to look silly eating a weird peanut-butter-veggie-face. Lizi entered the room, sat down next to him, and made a funny face when she saw the hors-d'oeuvres. She raised an eyebrow at her father. "Your idea?"

"All your mother. She must have remembered how you used to love these."

"When I was eight."

But she picked one up, saying to Darcy, "Mom made these when we were kids, to try to get us to eat broccoli."

"Did it work?"

"Sort of." She picked off the broccoli and ate it, then did the same with the carrot and raisins, finally eating the cracker with peanut butter.

Darcy picked one up.

"You don't have to eat them," she said quietly.

"I've been meaning to eat more broccoli." He had the satisfaction of seeing Mr. Bennet look disappointed. Lizi made everything easier.

.~.~.~.~.

Whenever Darcy came over, Lizi felt like she was waiting for the other shoe to drop. She knew her mother and younger sisters must be testing his patience (though he never showed it), and her father was weird around him. She still thought her father had something to do with the peanut-butter-veggie-faces, her mom usually tried to make impressive dishes for Chad and Darcy.

Watching Darcy pull a broccoli nose off one of the faces and eat it, she felt a strong wave of affection for him. She couldn't even return the favor by putting up with his aunt. Darcy hadn't spoken to his aunt since they'd all had dinner at Rick and Brandon's last month, and he still said he never would. In spite of the Lydia fiasco, she had started to think of their time at the shore as a magical bubble where they had been in love, and in the same house without scheduling conflicts and difficult families to deal with. Sometimes she thought Gigi was right that she should just come live with them in Princeton—but there were only a few rooms in that house she really felt comfortable in, and she wouldn't be contributing anything. At least at the shore, she'd cleaned up after herself.

Her mother returned to the room, noticed Darcy finishing a peanut butter cracker, and gave him a bright smile, "Do you like them?"

Her father's face would have been unreadable to most people, but Lizi could tell he expected to be amused by Darcy's answer.

But Darcy surprised them both, "When I was little my mom made me a lunch one Halloween that looked like a monster. I'd forgotten about it until now. Thank you."

He'd said this with such sincerity that her mom turned slightly pink, "Well, I'm glad you like them." He hadn't actually said he liked them. "I'll pack the rest up for you to bring home. It's time for dinner."

The six of them filed into the dining room. Kat and Lydia were out tonight, thank goodness for small favors. Lydia was still grounded, but this was a Youth Group service project, so their father had relented. Lizi only hoped it wouldn't be the first step to more relaxed boundaries. On the bright side, Lydia had never helped with a service project before, so that was something.

At the head of the table was a silver platter with a silver cover that Lizi didn't even know they had. Her mother stood by with a proud expression on her face. Once everyone was seated, she removed the cover with a flourish, saying to her husband, "Will you carve?"

Lizi's father often kept his own counsel, but it was rare to see him rendered speechless. He stared at the chicken. They all did. It was placed in the middle of the silver platter and surrounded by an artistic arrangement of vegetables. It would have been impressive, if the chicken had been cooked instead of practically frozen.

After a moment, her father recovered his voice. "You've outdone yourself, my dear. Chicken Tartare I take it? But, you've neglected to give me an ice pick. I'll need one if you expect me to carve."

"You're trying to vex me! There's nothing wrong with that chicken!"

"Mom," said Jane gently, "it isn't cooked. It's not even completely defrosted. Maybe, maybe there's something wrong with the oven."

Maybe there was, but there was still the question of why her mother hadn't noticed. Her mother stared at the chicken in confusion. She touched it. "It is raw. I don't understand. It was cooking for hours." She glanced at Chad and Darcy, "What are we going to do about dinner?"

Darcy started to pull out his phone, "I can—"

Lizi put her hand on his to stop him, "We can pull something together. Come on, Mom, we'll make one of your special recipes." She put her arm around her mother and led her toward the kitchen throwing a quick look at Jane. Jane picked up the chicken and followed them.

"I don't understand what happened with the chicken," said their mother, "and with your boyfriends here, too. I've ruined everything!" She looked like she was about to cry.

"No, you haven't. We'll come up with something. It'll be fun. The three of us cooking together. Right, Jane?"

"Yes, it will be fun. We shouldn't have left it to you in the first place. We'll make something that doesn't use the oven."

Jane was still holding the chicken and Lizi suspected she didn't want her mother to see her dumping it in the garbage, but they would have to. Who knew how long it had been sitting out, and even the vegetables had been up against raw chicken. Lizi turned her mom toward the kitchen cabinets to distract her. "Let's see what we have." She pulled out two packages of mac and cheese. She knew it was crazy to focus on making dinner just now, but it was the only thing she could think to do.

"Lizi!" her mother sounded scandalized. "You can't serve Darcy that! He'll never marry you!"

At least her mother sounded more like herself. Lizi pulled out cans of tuna and mushroom soup. "We'll make that stuff you make that tastes like a casserole. It will be something he's never had. He liked the Saturday Night Surprise, that was your invention." Why did it suddenly feel like everything was going to fall apart if they didn't get something together for dinner?

Her mother seemed to relax. "Yes, I remember I made that up because I forgot to buy rolls. He liked it?"

"Yes. He liked it a lot."

"Well, I guess we can try him on this." Normally, Lizi would have made some comment about her mother making it sound like he was a dog, but now she was just glad her mother was cooperating. Why was she so frightened?

They put the water on for the noodles, and the three of them made a salad while they waited for it to boil. It actually was fun preparing a meal together—or it would have been, if she hadn't felt like something else might go wrong at any second. When everything was ready, they brought the food into an empty dining room.

"You two go find the men," their mother said, "I'll just run up and fix my face. I won't be a moment."

Jane and Lizi headed to her father's study. As they approached, they heard Darcy saying angrily, "…happy to take care of anything your insurance doesn't cover."

"There's no cure for silliness!" Their father replied sharply as they entered the room. He and Darcy were glaring at each other and Chad was glancing anxiously between them.

Lizi took in the scene. Maybe she shouldn't have left these two alone so long, even with Chad as a buffer. "What's going on?"

"Your boyfriend," said her father, giving the term more venom than he usually did, "thinks he can take better care of my family than I can."

"You're twisting my words."

What was going on? "Is this about grad school?" It didn't make sense but it was the only thing she could think of that might account for their behavior.

Her father and Darcy answered, "Yes" and "No" simultaneously.

"I just want to make a call," said Darcy, "to a neurologist I know. I think your mother should see him. It's not just the chicken. When I first arrived tonight, she seemed to have forgotten who I was."

"I wish I could," her father mumbled.

Lizi ignored him and said to Darcy, "You really think something is wrong with her?"

"I think we should find out."

"I noticed something too." Chad looked nervously between Darcy and her father, "When I was here before when Lydia was missing. I had a rather odd interaction with Janice. At the time I put it down to stress."

"With my wife, most interactions are rather odd."

"What was it?" Jane asked Chad.

Chad turned slightly pink, "It was as if she were flirting with me. As if she'd forgotten I was Jane's boyfriend."

"I'm sure you misunderstood," said Mr. Bennet.

"No!" Darcy had been angry before, but Lizi felt his tension increase. "Chad wouldn't misunderstand something like that. It is you who are determined to ignore the truth!"

"Or am I just denying you the chance to play the hero, again." Her father's voice had a tone Lizi had never heard him use before, somewhere between sarcasm and anger. "Lydia, grad school for Lizi, a neurologist for my wife. What will you do for Kat and Mary, I wonder? And is there something for Jane or will you leave her to Chad?"

Darcy took a deep breath. Lizi could tell he was trying to force himself to stay calm. Chad put a hand on Darcy's shoulder, "We should take a walk, let the Bennets talk about this."

Darcy turned to Lizi, his eyes flashing. "Lizi—go to grad school, don't go to grad school, do whatever you want, but for God's sake, try to talk some sense into your father about the neurologist. I'm not losing another member of my family simply because your father seems to think that having less money than I do gives him some kind of moral superiority! Jane seems to be the only one in this family who can simply accept a gift with any kind of grace!"

With that, he stalked out of the room. Lizi started to follow him, but Chad said quietly. "I've got it. You three should talk." She nodded, and Chad went after Darcy.

"Well," said her father, "that was interesting. I didn't know your boyfriend had it in him, Lizi." He sounded amused again.

"Chad's wrong," said Jane, surprising them both. "It's not the three of us that need to talk. We need to talk to mom."

"Oh, that's a great idea, Jane." Their father answered, "Let's give your mother another reason to convince herself she's ill."

"It's her decision. I'm going to talk to her." With that Jane walked out of the room as if there were no need for further discussion. She was probably right.

Their father watched Jane go and said in a more serious tone than he normally used, "She surprises me sometimes. I always forget that she can be firm when she feels she's right."

"She is right."

He sighed. "I suppose she is."

"Look, best case, you'll be proved right, Darcy will have wasted his money on whatever insurance doesn't cover, and you can lord it over him forever. Worst case, there's really something wrong, and we are better off finding out than letting it go on. Mom can be flaky and… impossible, but she's always taken a lot of pride in her meals."

"I do like the part about lording it over Darcy—if not forever, at least until you break up with him."

"Darcy's not going anywhere Dad. I wish you would give him a chance, get to know him like I do. It hurts me that you don't like him, but it doesn't change anything."

"Boyfriends come and go."

"He's not just a boyfriend. He's, you'll make fun of me for saying this, but he's my soul mate. He makes me laugh, he challenges me, I enjoy being with him, he makes me happy, he… I'm the best version of myself when I'm with him. I love him, and I want to build a life together with him."

"If all this is true I'll be forced to admit that he deserves you. I hate to give you up Lizi, but it sounds like you've found someone worthy."

"It's true, besides," she smiled remembering, "he just called mom his family."

Her father gave her a hug and kissed her on the head, "You better go find him then."

.~.~.~.~.

Lizi found Darcy and Chad sitting on the old swing set in the Bennet's backyard. Chad stood up, saying, "He's all yours," and returned to the house.

Lizi sat on one of the swings, turned so she was facing him.

Darcy spoke first, "I'm sorry I lost my temper."

"It's OK, I didn't know you felt that way."

"I was angry. I overstated things, but I do get frustrated. I know I should be glad you don't want me for my money, but… I guess there's a difference between not wanting me for my money, and rejecting me because of it."

"I'm not rejecting you."

"I've never not had money. It's part of who I am. We joke about my 'superpower' with making calls, but it's really just part of having the money to get things done. It's not like I'm trying to shower you with fancy jewelry or expensive furs."

"I know. I'm sorry. I have so much trouble accepting gifts in the spirit they were intended. I think I just need to get used to it. I'm working on it."

"I understand that. It's the other reason I haven't proposed yet. I don't want to argue about the ring." (They had talked about waiting until she was done with school.)

"Why would we argue about the ring?"

"The one I want to give you was my grandmother's. It has a great deal of sentimental value, but it's also worth a lot of money."

She reached out and touched his face. "Fitzwilliam, we don't have to argue about the ring. Let's just see how things go with my mom and then we'll talk about grad school, OK?"

"OK."

"What I actually meant was: I didn't know you thought of my mom as family."

He smiled, "She made me peanut-butter-veggie-faces. How could I not?"

"And my father?"

"I'm working on it. He's not totally wrong about me. I do think he is… less attentive to his family than would be ideal. I know I shouldn't judge until we have a family of our own, but sometimes I do."

Lizi nodded in acknowledgment of his point. After a brief pause, she said, "We could just tie him and your aunt in a sack and see who survives."

He laughed, "For that, it would almost be worth speaking to my aunt."

With that, they returned to the house.

Lizi's mother met them at the door. "Jane told me about your wanting me to see a neurologist, you should have talked to me about that. It's my decision."

Darcy looked a little surprised, "You're right. I apologize. I thought if I talked to your husband first he would be prepared to support you."

"That isn't really Thomas' forté, but he'll come around. Please make that call as soon as it's convenient."

Lizi was shocked to hear her mother speaking so calmly and using the word "forté." As if in answer to Lizi's thoughts, her mother continued, "It's better to know, and maybe he'll tell me I'm not crazy."

Darcy said, "I'll call first thing in the morning."

"Well then, let's get you some dinner. You don't really have to take home the hors-d'oeuvres."

"If you don't mind, I'd like to take them home. It's been a long time since anyone made something like that for me."

Her mother patted him on the arm, and Lizi felt as if something had changed. Some bond of understanding existed between them that hadn't before.

.~.~.~.~.

It seemed like no time at all had gone by between the night her mother had served the raw chicken, and the morning Lizi was pacing back and forth in the family waiting room, waiting for news of her mother's surgery. The neurologist had diagnosed a tumor and referred her mother to a neurosurgeon. In the time between tests and doctor's appointments, she had been frantically giving Jane and Lizi instructions for cooking Thanksgiving dinner. It was the last thing any of them cared about, but it was important to their mother, so they let her teach them.

The tumor had been caught early, it was in a location that made it ideal for surgery, there was every reason to hope for the best possible outcome. Lizi repeated this information over and over to herself as she paced, as if it were a mantra. Her father was asleep on one of the couches, they were the only ones here. Jane couldn't take time off, and her father had told her younger sisters not to come today. Darcy was supposed to be with Lizi, but the surgery had been moved two days earlier, and she hadn't told him. There was no point, he wouldn't be back from his business trip until tonight. She rubbed the piece of seashell he had given her between her fingers. She wished she'd told him, maybe he could have worked something out so he could be here.

"Lizi." Her heart leaped before her brain had processed the voice.

"Darcy! How? I thought you were in Washington until tonight."

"We finished this morning, and I took the helicopter back."

"How did you even know?"

"I used my superpowers."

Why was she asking questions? She stepped into his arms, "I'm really glad you're here."

When they sat down, she glanced at her father. "It's the stress, plus he hasn't had much sleep lately."

"Of course."

They sat close, holding hands, Lizi put her head on Darcy's shoulder, "I keep thinking of all the times I was embarrassed by her, or frustrated with her."

"You couldn't have known. Most of the changes must have been so gradual you wouldn't have noticed."

"I should have."

"You were too close to see it."

They sat quietly for some time, and then—because she felt that if she didn't think about something else she would go crazy—she said, "I've been looking at grad schools."

"Anything interesting?"

"Yes, but some of the good programs aren't close."

"Gigi will be starting college by then, and I can do my job from anywhere."

She sat up straight so she could look him in the face. "You'd come with me?"

"Of course."

"What about your house in Princeton?"

"What about it? We would still use it when we came to visit, like at Christmas."

After a brief pause he said, "OK, I heard it that time. Most people don't have a house they only use for the holidays."

"No, but I suppose it would save the time of putting the decorations up and down, we could just dust them off every year."

Darcy looked so startled by the idea she almost laughed in spite of her worry. He said, "But the trees would die! Please don't tell me you prefer artificial Christmas trees."

"No, but how many Christmas trees do you put up?"

"Two, sometimes three. Is that a lot?"

"All real?"

"Yes."

"You decorate all of them?"

"Just the one in the family room."

She yawned, suddenly feeling drained. "I'm still not sure about grad-school."

"OK."

"It still depends on whether I'm needed at home."

"Of course."

.~.~.~.~.

By the time Mr. Bennet woke up, Lizi was asleep with her head on Darcy's lap.

Mr. Bennet sat up, "Oh, you're here."

"Yes."

"If this goes badly, I'll hold you responsible."

"That's as logical as it is fair."

Mr. Bennet almost looked like he might smile. "Don't make the mistake of taking me to seriously. 'The only way to cope with something deadly serious is to try to treat it a little lightly.'"

"A Wrinkle in Time."

"Yes."

"I'm trying to learn to treat things a little lightly. I'm not very good at it," Darcy smiled at Lizi, "but I have a good teacher."

"Maybe that's why we never really hit it off."

"Could be."

"Lizi thinks I dislike you because you've done things for my family—things that I feel guilty for not having done myself."

There was no good way to reply to that comment, so Darcy kept silent.

"Are you sure you want to give her more psychology classes? She'll be using those same insights on you."

"You say that as if she hasn't already. She has a gift. I'd like to see her using it. But it's her choice."

Mr. Bennet made no reply for some time. When he finally spoke, he said. "I guess it's only fair that if my wife recovers, I give you my blessing."

"I'd be glad to have it but just to be clear, your withholding your blessing won't get rid of me."

"What would get rid of you? Just out of curiosity."

"Lizi asking me to leave."

"Hmm. You really do love her, don't you?"

"Yes."

"I have to give you credit for your good taste."

"Then we've found something we agree on. Perhaps we can build from there."

"I never got the impression it mattered much to you whether I liked you or not."

"It matters to Lizi."

"We could just tell her we had a long heart-to-heart and we're getting along swell."

"I think she's likely to see through that."

"Do you play golf?"

"No."

"Really? I thought your sort all played golf."

Darcy decided to ignore the 'your sort' and said, "If you want to play golf with me, I'd be happy to learn."

"It might be one of the less painful ways to get to know each other."

"Yes."

"We'll see. Who knows if I'll even have time for golf in the near future—Janice may need me."

"Of course."

A volunteer came in to tell Mr. Bennet that his wife was out of surgery and the surgeon would be in to talk to them soon. Lizi woke, and Darcy said, "I'll leave you alone to talk to the doctor."

"You might as well stay," Mr. Bennet replied, "Whatever comes, we'll all have to face it together."

A/N:

I wanted to try something different with Mrs. Bennet. In the original she's got plenty of faults but there's also good reason for her to worry about getting her daughters married. In some ways that makes her a difficult character to modernize because if you keep her personality without the social-economics of the time she's silly for no reason, which is always fun but I decided to try something different and give her a reason. The brain-tumor may be a little out there, it's mostly based on fictional-TV-brain tumors than much research.

As always, Thanks to those who favorited, followed and reviewed and thanks to cactustactus for the edit. I really appreciate you all for giving this story a try and for your encouragement!

Next up: Five Years Later