Sitting in his bedchamber the following morning, Darcy dressed with sharp, aggressive movements. After Elizabeth had told him off, he watched her back as she walked ahead with Georgiana and pointedly avoided his gaze whenever he approached her. He burned with indignation that she should ignore him so when he was attempting to make amends. He had not even implied that her sister was mercenary or unworthy of Bingley—only that her mother might have encouraged Miss Bennet to pursue their new wealthy neighbor. He could not fathom that she would take that from his passing joke.

It took him under ten minutes of staring at the back of her neck where an errant curl escaped from her coiffure for him to realize that he was being disingenuous with himself. He had seen Bingley's preference for Miss Bennet but ignored it as his mind became increasingly occupied by his sister's wellbeing and his growing infatuation with Elizabeth. Still, he could not deny that he had wondered how genuine Miss Bennet's smiles were when she seemed so…untouched by Bingley's admiration. Elizabeth, on the other hand, was joyful and talkative in his presence. She made her preference for his company known and spoke to him about matters of substance. Bingley's sincerity—he reluctantly acknowledged—was not even a concern in his mind.

Bingley often found himself enchanted by whatever lady had been seated next to him at dinner, developing a tendre for her until he met another ordinary beauty at his next party. Yet, Darcy had had no concern for how Bingley might raise Jane Bennet's hopes for marriage and leave her when he found some other angel to dote upon. Knowing what he did about the financial situation of the Bennet sisters, his casual disregard for his friend's behavior and joke at the Bennets' expense suddenly seemed cruel.

Unable to find a time to speak to her before she parted and her sisters parted from his party, he returned to his chamber that evening and restlessly moved about his apartment until he could bear the thought of waiting to see her. To wait to speak to her until the Bennets were to dine at Netherfield in the coming days would be folly for he knew how unlikely it would be to achieve any sort of privacy in a party of more than a dozen.

Thus, once dressed in pale light of the dawn, Darcy made his way to the Netherfield stables to ride toward Longbourn's estate. It was likely madness to attempt to speak to her on her morning walk for it had always proved futile and made him feel like a rake. He rode for an hour before deciding to return to Netherfield, and as his horse broke into a gallop, he spotted a blue cloak amidst the trees. His heart beat faster, and he dismounted, tied his horse, and walked briskly to catch up with her. "Miss Elizabeth!"

She turned around and stopped to wait for him, which he took as a sign of encouragement. "Good morning, Mr. Darcy," she greeted with a sober expression.

"Good morning," he said perfunctorily. "Miss Elizabeth, I am glad to have come upon you here for I feel heartily ashamed for my callous remark yesterday. I realize that I presumed too much to take humor in the antics of your family as you do. In light of your financial situation, it was prejudicial of me to imply that your sister and mother would act deceitfully. I did not intend to dishonor your sister, but that is what I unwittingly did. And, for that I apologize. I cannot—"

"Mr. Darcy, please, you do not have to do this. I took too much meaning from your words and was humiliated by what was an accurate assessment of my family's situation."

He looked at her questioningly, and she quickly amended her statement resuming her stride. "I do not mean about Jane and Mr. Bingley. I did not lie when I said that any interest Jane may show is sincere. You were correct, however, regarding my mother's designs. She desires us to marry well for we do not know what difficulties we shall face when my father passes. Her impetus is not to be deceitful, but she is a woman who is defenseless without the protection that only money can provide. Surely, you can comprehend her motivations even if you do not approve of them?"

Guilt twisted his stomach as he looked at her imploring expression. Would that she had remained angry rather than humiliated! He cleared his throat and cast his gaze toward the ground, staring at the sight of their feet walking side by side. "I can, and I am sorry again for any embarrassment I caused. Indeed, Miss Elizabeth, you must know that I hold you in the highest regard and would never wish to show you any disrespect."

"Thank you, Sir. I accept your apology."

He did not feel up to the task of responding and watched her fiddle with a button on her glove with rapt fascination. Thoughts paraded through his mind with a sole fixation on the idea of marrying her. After several moments of silence, she spoke.

"Come now, Mr. Darcy. You have not wounded me so that you must punish yourself with silence. You needn't look so downcast!"

The arch smile which graced her countenance was balm to his troubled thoughts, and the corner of his mouth tugged upward.

"I thank you for your clemency, madam. You are too gracious."

She laughed without much mirth. "I am not too gracious, Sir, for I knew that you sought to make amends yesterday and that I quite stubbornly refused you the opportunity to do so. Not out of any moral righteousness but to avoid confronting the humiliation of my own distemper. I can be quite mercurial, you see, for all my pretentions to sense."

He moved toward her so that they were walking with only a few inches between their arms, and she felt the space between them more keenly than she would a touch. She clasped her hands in front of her and cast her eyes downward.

"I would not call you mercurial. I believe what behavior you perceive to be capricious others might see as passionate."

If his tone had not been so reserved, she could almost believe his words to be romantic in nature. She sneaked a glance at him and could not elucidate his thoughts from the way that he seemed to be staring blankly at her clasped hands.

"Yes, but either way, I am too prone to impulsivity for my own good," she said, dismissing his words as commonplace.

"Impulsivity is occasionally a very beneficial quality especially when inaction will cause more harm than good. And you are also too severe on yourself, Miss Elizabeth, for you were correct that in spite of having good intentions, I often fail to make the desired impact with my words and actions. I too often assume that my good intentions will manifest as uniformly beneficial to all those who depend upon me, and although it causes me some disquiet, I should rather know my faults and attend to them than leave them to fester."

"I think that is quite admirable, Mr. Darcy," she said quietly, feeling the compliment of his words acutely.

"You have inspired a great deal of change in me, Miss Elizabeth, and it is gratifying to know that my attempts to improve myself should met with your approval."

"I do not see why you should seek my approval, but I am glad you are pleased with it nonetheless."

She was being coy and despised herself for it, but for the first time, she could actually believe him to be attracted to her and desperately wanted to hear him speak of his admiration aloud.

"Unlike many women, Miss Elizabeth, your good opinion is rarely bestowed and therefore more worth the earning."

Their eyes met, and she could no longer avoid the thought that—perhaps on some level—he returned her affections. His countenance rarely betrayed much, but she could not deny that she recognized some of her own suppressed longing in his eyes.

She turned her head away from him and willed herself to be rational. Even if he did have some romantic affection for her, it was doubtlessly exceeded by his awareness of her unsuitability. Her lack of fortune had never before felt so cruel, disallowing both of them to allow their fledgling relationship to develop into a deep, abiding love—preventing her from becoming Georgiana's sister in truth. The injustice of the situation burned within her and smarted her eyes.

In the midst of her deep thought, she realized that he had been speaking.

"—return soon, my horse shall become unruly. I shall let you continue with your walk."

He took her hand and bowed over it in a formal manner, but the pressure of his fingers against hers felt overwhelming as they brushed over hers. She bit the inside of her cheeks as a wave of desire rushed through her with a strength previously unknown to her.

She swallowed and spoke her perfunctory adieus, fleeing back to Longbourn where there would inevitably be distractions from her unease.

Georgiana found that dinner was much more agreeable when the Bennets were in attendance. For although the youngest sisters were rather peculiar and did not have the best manners, their conversation was far preferable to the flattery that Miss Bingley would bestow upon her and her brother during their previous dinners.

The seating arrangement was clearly contrived by Miss Bingley for beside her was Fitzwilliam, and Lizzy and Jane had been placed far away from them and near Mr. and Mrs. Hurst. Georgiana was seated near Mr. and Mrs. Bennet and their two youngest—all of whom had a sportive manner of interacting which was strange and diverting.

She often glanced at Fitzwilliam to see how he was coping with Miss Bingley's fawning, only to find him looking at the opposite end of the table where Lizzy was sitting. She could not blame him for wishing for better company, but his stares were almost uncouth.

The evening improved when after dinner the ladies retreated to the parlor, and Georgiana finally was able to claim Lizzy's attention. At Lizzy's urging, she agreed to perform the duet she had purchased in the village.

They sat at the pianoforte and Lizzy pertly warned Georgiana that she was likely to make many mistakes.

"It is no matter, Lizzy, I merely want to escape the general conversation," she replied, prompting Lizzy's laughter.

They began the piece with a flourish, and once they had found their stride, Georgiana inquired after Mr. Collins.

"By some stroke of luck, he was invited to dinner by the vicar and his wife, so I am spared his raptures over my 'exquisite playing,'" she mimicked his sniveling tone, prompting a bubble of laughter from Georgiana.

The men had finally joined them, and Georgiana lapsed into silence for a moment, concentrating on a difficult passage in order to avoid erring in front of mixed company even as Lizzy played a B natural where there was a flat.

Georgiana only noticed her brother's approach when Lizzy spoke to him. "You mean to frighten me, Mr. Darcy, by coming in all this state to hear me? I will not be alarmed though 'tis obvious your sister plays far better than I."

Georgiana blushed at this praise but realized that her brother was scarcely aware of her presence as his gaze was intently fixed on Lizzy as she continued, "There is a stubbornness about me that can bear to be frightened at the will of others. As I have told you before, my courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me."

Although Lizzy was evidently jesting, her words carried a certain intensity that Georgiana could not precisely identify.

"I shall not say you are mistaken," her brother replied, "because you could not really believe me to entertain any design of alarming you, and I have had the pleasure of your acquaintance long enough to know that you find great enjoyment in occasionally professing opinions which in fact are not your own."

Lizzy laughed at this without looking away from her brother. She turned to Georgiana for a moment before returning her gaze to Fitzwilliam as she replied. "Your brother will give you a very pretty notion of me, Georgiana, and teach you not to believe a word I say. I am particularly unlucky that he has chosen me for the target of his barbs this evening when I had hoped to pass myself off with some degree of credit! Indeed, Mr. Darcy, it is very ungenerous for you to mention anything to my disadvantage in front of Georgiana for it is provoking me to retaliate, and such things may come out as will shock your sweet sister to hear."

"I am not afraid of you," he responded with an uncharacteristically arch smile.

"I would not have you be so! I do think it would do you credit, however, to realize that I have evidence of your less than gentlemanly conduct."

Her brother's cheeks reddened—which she had never before seen—and he looked from Lizzy to Georgiana for a moment before casting his eyes down. When his gaze returned to Lizzy, he smiled and said, "The tongues of mocking ladies are as keen as is the razor's edge invisible."

Lizzy stopped playing and covered her mouth, holding in a laugh. "Well done, Sir. I see our game continues."

"I shall not tell if you do not."

"Such a cryptic statement," Lizzy said finally looking away from Fitzwilliam's rapt attention. "Your sister will assume that we are plotting something nefarious." Her voice was far less assured with this final statement as she resumed playing their duet.

Georgiana looked to her brother whose countenance—which had been marked by a rare lightness only a moment before—retreat into aloofness. He looked at Georgiana almost guiltily and took a step back from the pianoforte. "Well, I shall distract you no longer and leave you to your music," he said, bowing curtly.

She saw that Lizzy's focus was determinedly fixed on her fingers as she played and that her brother in his new attitude by the window was glancing repeatedly at Lizzy as Miss Bingley cornered him.

Their conversation nagged at the part of Georgiana that had been discomfited every time she saw Lizzy and her brother speak. There seemed to exist an intimacy between them that was greater than that of common acquaintances, and it seemed a profound breach of trust that she should know so little about it! After speaking with Fitzwilliam about how he would trust and consult her about the matters that pertained to her, she felt absolutely indignant yet unwilling to express anger toward Lizzy. Instead, she waited until their duet was finished and feigned mild curiosity as she inquired as to the meaning of her brother's cryptic statement.

Lizzy blushed. "'Twas nothing of importance. Your brother has a propensity for responding to my comments with a quote from literature as a means of testing my knowledge. It has become a bit of a game, but it does not truly signify."

Out the corner of her eye, she caught Fitzwilliam watching Lizzy even as Mr. Hurst was speaking to him, and she realized in an instant that her brother was quite possibly in love with her friend. The memories of Richard's responses to her brother's behavior in Lizzy's presence which had once seemed strange suddenly made perfect sense.

Her brother's recent lightness, his willingness to listen, and his new tendency be less imperative had to be connected to his current proximity to Lizzy. Her anger from a moment before lessened as she considered that—in spite of all that had happened—the cause of her brother's recent changes was, in fact, happiness. Although she could not deny the fact that it felt rather hopeful to think that her brother could have fallen in love, it was vexing that the object of his affections had to be her dearest friend. Their conversation earlier had filled Georgiana with discontent for they were able to carry out a conversation in front of her as though she were hardly there. She was relegated from a participant in the conversation to a mere reference, and when she considered how many friendships had fallen once Fitzwilliam was introduced, she felt an unjustifiable stab of fear. She was certain that Lizzy was a trustworthy companion, yet the premonition persisted.

She was rather taciturn the rest of the evening as she considered her warring feelings concerning her revelation, only speaking to her brother as the Bennets were preparing to leave. "Might I have a word with you before I retire tonight, Brother?"

He looked slightly alarmed, and this pleased her for some reason. Nonetheless, he replied, "Of course, let us speak in private once the guests have departed."

Darcy arrived in the library to find Georgiana sitting primly by the dying fire. It was disconcerting to think that there were yet affairs she had not discussed with him during their previous conversation. Their previous conversation had exhausted him, and he was unsure he could speak to her now without of making an ass of himself.

"Georgiana?" He prompted, sitting beside her. "Do you have more matters to discuss with me?"

She gave him a searching look, and he had to keep himself from squirming under her silent stare. After a seemingly endless minute, she asked, "What exactly is the nature of your acquaintance with Lizzy?"

He did not know how to respond for Georgiana's countenance betrayed nothing. He knew he has monopolized Elizabeth's time during her and Georgiana's duet, and he had wondered briefly if Georgiana had minded. "I do not know what you are asking. She is an acquaintance of yours as well as of mine."

"You promised me that you would be more open with me, Brother. I may be young and foolish, but I am not the simpleton you think I am. I have observed you and Lizzy closely, and there is an intimacy to your interactions that belies a mere acquaintance! So, I am imploring you too tell me honestly if there is something more between the two of you."

He sighed and rubbed his brow. "I can tell you that, in name, we are still merely acquaintances, but you must understand, Georgie, that in my first weeks here I was alone without a single soul to whom I could confide in. Elizabeth—she became a sort of confidant. She counseled me about own feelings of inadequacy and fears of the future. For as I have told you, I have also feared greatly for the future and did not know what to make of it when you became so reticent. Without betraying your trust, she advised me on how I might be a better guardian to you, and I believe we can agree that her advice was valuable to us both."

He paused, and he hoped she might fill the silence. He gazed at his hands in his lap as he continued, "In these past weeks, I daresay I have fallen in love with her, and I have avoided sharing this information with you for fear that you would disapprove. After the night of the Lucases' party, I believed that you considered me an obstacle to your friendship with Elizabeth, so I have not pursued it. I wanted to seek your blessing first." He took a shuddering breath. "Even as I love her, I would not propose without your consent. You are my priority."

Georgiana took a deep breath, and he finally looked at her. Her eyes were wide, and she was looking at where his hands were fidgeting. "You cannot be serious."

Her reaction was unexpected, and he could not contain his blunt response. "What?"

"Brother, you cannot be serious. I love Lizzy dearly, and if she were my sister, she would be able to live with me. I will admit that I was dismayed observing your interactions with Lizzy because it was confusing and I felt that you were keeping secrets from me, but I do not understand how a man of your sense would think that I would disapprove of such a match."

Darcy could not prevent the wide grin that suffused across his face. "You truly mean that?"

"Well, I suppose I do, but I will admit to feeling conflicted about the whole thing. Lizzy was my friend first, and I shall not like sharing her attentions and affections—you know how I have longed for a friend like her." She looked down and smoothed her skirts as her voice grew quiet, "And, of course, you know how other friends of mine have taken advantage—"

He covered her hand with his own. "I do know, and I have considered it. Elizabeth is different, though. Surely, you see that."

"Certainly, I do! But I still do not want to be forgotten once you marry."

Darcy attempted to look serious, but quite uncharacteristically, his joy was undoubtedly plain to see suffused in his countenance.

Georgiana seemed aware of this a laughed heartily. "You are truly happy, Brother?"

He pressed his lips together and nodded. "Yes, I am," he cleared his throat, "but I do wish to put you at ease. I do not want you worrying over the state of your friendship with Elizabeth for I shall not occupy all of her time. I shall undoubtedly have business to attend to, and Elizabeth, as my wife," he paused slightly, savoring the words as he spoke them aloud, "would be responsible for your education and your coming out, should we decide to do so."

"And we three shall all spend much time together, shall we not?"

He squeezed her hand in his. "Indeed, we will."

"So, when shall you propose?"

He laughed loudly as he had not done in months, or perhaps years. "Eager, are you?"

"I would rather say you are the one who is eager."

He laughed again. "I am, but we must be patient. I would like to attempt a small period of courtship during the next fortnight. I would prefer to avoid making it explicit for I believe Elizabeth fears her mother's…exuberance, but in order to do so, I shall require your assistance."

Georgiana nodded, and they spoke well into the night of their plans and their hopes. By the time Georgiana retired for the evening, all of her trepidation from earlier in the evening had melted away, and she managed to fall asleep almost instantly.

As she watched Lydia and Kitty bickering in the village square, Lizzy was not sure that she had made the correct decision when she had decided she would rather escort them to the village rather than bear the exaggerated overtures from Mr. Collins. The man had become positively unbearable in the last week, and her only escape were her walks with Georgiana and Mr. Darcy, who had come to call twice in the past four days.

To her surprise, Georgiana who did not often let Lizzy out of her sight would often go ahead of her and Mr. Darcy, who was being increasingly solicitous. She had been determined not to let his actions raise her expectations. Thus, she clung to her equanimity by tempering her enthusiasm for his company. She refused to be coy or flirt and humiliate herself, even as she had the impulse to do so. For all that she respected and admired Mr. Darcy, he held all the power over their situation, and she felt that to grant him any such favor would be to surrender the little agency she still had.

Her position was unenviable and prevented her from sleeping and eating enough, and her bad habits soon manifested them in irritability with her parents, her younger sisters, Mr. Collins, and even Jane. Around the Darcys, however, she maintained the bright façade of a lady without the cares of an entailment and a virtually nonexistent dowry.

So lost in thought was she that she completely lost track of Kitty and Lydia, who were undoubtedly making a spectacle of themselves in their excitement over receiving the official invitation for Mr. Bingley's ball that morning. Her frustration mounted as she peered in each shop window, unable to find her sisters.

Assuming that they went to search for accoutrements for the ball, she went to the milliners and left when she discovered they were not there either. She came upon Kitty outside, fidgeting with the frayed end of her bonnet ribbon.

"Kitty, where is Lydia? Clouds are gathering ahead. We should leave now if we are to avoid the rain."

Kitty shrugged, "Last I saw her she was talking to the butcher's son."

Lizzy rolled her eyes. "Naturally."

She made her way to the butcher's shop when she stopped in her tracks in utter surprise.

Lydia was twisting one of her curls around her finger and looking into the face of a man Lizzy once thought handsome. Mr. Wickham's sinister countenance from Georgiana's room had haunted her nightmares for weeks, and it took her several moments to confirm that the figure before her was not—in fact—an apparition. His face was only a few inches from Lydia's, and his face was contorted into a charming smile that Lizzy found sickening.

"Lydia! Come here at once!"

The pair turned to face her, and, predictably, Lydia appeared embarrassed and angry. Wickham, however, looked only mildly alarmed and stepped back from Lydia.

"Lizzy! You needn't spoil everything!" She cried before turning back to Wickham. "I was just telling the dear Lieutenant about all the fun to be had in the neighborhood!

"You simply must come to the ball at Netherfield, Mr. Wickham! I am sure Mr. Bingley would welcome you. He is so very amiable!"

Lizzy saw the moment Wickham realized who she was. "Bingley?" he said with only moderate alarm before turning his face toward her. His eyes darkened as he starred at her. All of the fears that had gripped her in moments of solitude returned to her in an instant, and she reached out her hand and spoke calmly, attempting to hide her fear. "Lydia, come with me. Papa will not like you speaking to a man without an introduction."

This approach, however, seemed to heighten Lydia's childishness. "Papa does not know anything about the world! Leave me be!"

Wickham's thoughts were an enigma to her has he offered his arm to Lydia and began walking away from her. Panic gripped Lizzy's throat, and she rushed to Lydia's arm in a vain attempt to pull her away from Wickham's grasp.

"What on earth are you doing, Lizzy?"

Wickham rounded one her, and she saw that he was perhaps as alarmed to see her as she was to see him. His fear, however, made him bolder, and he gripped Lydia's arm.

Lydia yelped in pain. Lizzy darted in front of them, and with a might she did not know she possessed, she spat, "Remove your hands from my sister this moment, or I shall scream and make sure that everyone in Hertfordshire sees you as the vile wretch you are."

Lydia cried something in alarm that Lizzy could not understand, and she briefly registered the alarmed glances of others on the street and Wickham's fear-filled eyes before she felt herself crushed painfully against his person.

His lips were mashed against hers painfully, and he had pulled her onto him as he slammed his back against the wall. Before she had a moment to understood what had occurred, she heard him call out, "Madam, control yourself!"

The sound of his voice rung in her ear, and her eyes watered from the pressure he had put on her head. She only realized his hand had been digging into her rib cage once he had released it and pushed her away from him. She stumbled away from him, rubbing her side where he had bruised her.

She felt dizzy and could hardly discern her sisters' cries as they called out her name. There was a buzzing in her ear as if a fly was hovering next to her ear.

Above the noise was the loud voice of Wickham, "I did not think I would be plagued by harlots in this part of the village."

She discerned several voices but she could not understand them.

"Come, Lizzy," Lydia said, taking her by the arm, but Lizzy was frozen in place, unable to move.

"Please, hurry. We must get you home now," Kitty said as she took her other arm, and her two youngest sisters, who never listened to her or stopped chatting for a moment, silently led her toward Longbourn.

As she walked, she felt as though she was in a waking dream. The rolling hills and trees that marked the path from Meryton to Longbourn seemed to be different from how they had appeared her entire life, yet she could not determine how precisely they had changed. She could not believe that Wickham had truly been there for surely such a thing was impossible. Why would he grab her and press himself against her so?

"What a strange dream," she said aloud.

"Are you alright, Lizzy?" Kitty asked her in alarm.

Lizzy felt confused and did not respond as they all continued in silence toward Longbourn.

When they arrived, their mother was absent on a visit to her sister Mrs. Phillips, and their father was meeting with his steward about the harvest. Only Mary was in the parlor when they entered, but she hardly looked up from her piano music.

Lizzy suddenly felt the urge to escape her sisters. "Excuse me, I have a headache. I believe I must lie down."

Though she wobbled slightly once she disengaged her sisters, she managed to make her way up the stairs swiftly.

As she lied in bed, her thoughts confused her. They swam through her head, muddled, and she felt as if, for the first time in her life, her thoughts were incapable of being described in words. She was awash in confusion, which after an indeterminable amount of time, lead her to the oblivion of slumber.

don't hate me ;) this has always been the plan