The Other Daughter Chapter 1, a pride and prejudice fanfic

Summary:

Six-year-old Elizabeth became lost in London after her father suffered an accident. Lady Catherine, believing the child an orphan, decided to raise her beside frail Anne. Now almost cousins, Lizzy "de Bourgh" encounters Fitzwilliam Darcy when they are both children.

Hello there. A couple of things:

1. This is my first Fanfiction so let's see how it goes.

2. English is not my first language, so maybe you will see lots of mistakes. I'm really sorry, but I've been reading almost every pride and prejudice's fanfic in English and I don't feel capable of doing it in Spanish.

3. I don't have a beta so maybe if someone wants to help me we can solve together the number 2.

4. I have the structure of the story figured out, and several chapters written till now, so I hope I will finish it. If not, at least I think is fair if I update a resume of the rest of the story. I don't know if you agree with that.

5. I don't have a schedule for updating, but I think that once a week could be fine.

That's all, so here we go.

Chapter one: Lost

Thomas Bennet was looking through the windows, while the carriage was entering London. In his lap, his favorite daughter, a six years old child, was humming a song that her maid used to sing while going through the rooms of their house in Longbourn.

Mr. Bennet didn't like the city at all, but from time to time, he needed to go for business. Since this time he only needed to purchase a horse, he took Lizzy with him. They were reaching the propriety of one of his old friends that helped him in the past to get the other horses he kept in their state. Mr. Heathorne was an old man of four and fifty that never married and that had one thing in his mind: horses. He knew everything about them, and could even make quite realistic impressions of the sounds that they made when greeting each other, getting nervous or even at their mating season. He had a chess game where the pieces were horses of different sizes and breeds. Even his features resembled those of the animal. Some other horse owners used to also wear leather made out of the equine and ate their meat, but that was something that Mr. Heathorne could never do. He loved them too very much.

"Bennet, old fella! What brings you here?" exclaimed Mr. Heathorne.

"Well John, since you are a horse expert I came here to talk about sheeps" teased Mr. Bennet.

"I see that you did not change at all. And who will this little one be?"

"This is my second daughter, Lizzy. If she does not become as silly as her mother, I will be blessed."

The girl was watching the exchange with a smile, grabbing her father's hand. They went directly towards the stables located on the right side of the house. While they were walking, Lizzy could see a handful of horses, from newborn foals to big stallions. They stop in front of a dun coat mare called Bell. The little girl stared at the horse which bright eyes were fixed on hers. Other children could be frightened to be in front of such a specimen that were at least ten times their size, but not Lizzy, which courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate her. She let go her father's hand, and clumsily climbed the wooden sticks that separated them from the animal and stopped when she reached the head's mare.

"Well, well, look at this. Seems like little Lizzy fancies my Bell, and she has got a good eye. I would say we have the one Bennet, do not you think?"

"I do, and if she is wrong, I could always blame her for an unfortunate purchase."

The man bursted into a guffaw and then turned to the child. "Do you want to give it a try? We can go to the backside so you can get a ride."

To the excited and wide eyes of the girl, the men responded with a chuckle. John opened the gate and prepared the mare for Lizzy. They went to the yard and the man took her up to the back of the horse. He then stroked the head of the animal, putting Bell's forehead against his one and breathing there a couple of times while saying soft words. She started to walk, calmed and steady while a wide smile was getting bigger and bigger in Lizzy's face.

After a while, Mr. Heathorne helped her down, and he tied the animal to a stick in the side of the yard while the three of them went inside of the house to sign the papers.

The corridor was full of pictures of different horses. Some of them painted and some embroidered that he probably got in a local market during his trips. He also had a big wall covered with medals and pins, and even in the table where they signed the papers was a scene of several foals playing in a stream.

They left the house and Mr. Heathorne untied Bell from the stick in the yard and exchanged some words with Mr. Bennet.

"Farewell my friend."

"Take care old chap, and you know it will be nice if you could get a female that eats something different from carrots and potatoes, and doesn't whinny."

"I would not do such a thing!"

Then, they went to the carriage and Lizzy's father talked to his groom who was speaking with the coachman.

"Well Ben, look at this, I've got a new horse and I broke a record I think. I was not sure if this time John will tell me how to help a horse giving birth by calm talking or not. Since we finished earlier, Lizzy and I will go eat something. If you can get everything ready for when we will come back."

The groom nodded and took the horse.

The man and his daughter walked for a while through different streets. It was quite dirty, but Thomas Bennet told his daughter that it will be worth it, since the place they were heading was one of the few places he did not loathe in London.

When they were almost there, a couple of young boys run towards them hitting Mr. Bennet's side. He stumbled but reached the wall in order to keep his balance. Lizzy fell in a small puddle making the bottom of her gown six inches deep in mud. The young boys didn't turn their heads and keep running while laughing.

Lizzy stand up and turn to her father. In that moment, she paled before the image of him with a dislodged face and his left hand over his head. He then fell on the ground breathing heavily.

"Go look for help my child," managed to say Mr. Bennet with a grave voice.

She did not understand that her father was suffering a stroke, but she did not need to know. Lizzy run oblivious to the pain in her knees due to her fall, but with a strong determination of helping her father. The narrow streets were empty and she turned left and to the right without really knowing where was she going. She arrived then to a wide avenue and collided against a big amount of fabric. She fell again and then looked up. A tall woman was on top of all of that structure looking at her in puzzlement.

"Oh, whatever is happening? What do you think you are doing dirty child" said the scowling lady at her.

"Sorry ma'am, but my father is very ill. Some boys went onto him and now he is on the floor" she didn't fight back the tears in her eyes and started sobbing helplessly.

The woman's features smoothed and she turned to her husband in concern.

"Lewis, dear, this little lass needs my help, and you know that I cannot deny it to her." She turned to her again. "Now show me where the man is".

Lizzy started to run to the narrow street again, followed by the woman. She took several turns, but then was unsure to where to go next. After some minutes, anxiety was filling her body harder than before.

"I do not remember the path. I do not remember it!"

"Why, let me lead child." The woman started walking with confidence as she knew perfectly where she was going. Fifteen minutes later they reached the point where Lizzy was sure she saw his father for the last time, next to the little puddle. However, nobody was there and the girl did not know what to make out of it.

They went to the big avenue again. The man called Lewis was waiting them with a tiresome expression, in comparison with the spirited lady that had been leading the search party of two.

"Where is your mother little lass?"

"She is not here, but..." She could not finish her intervention, for the woman started to talk with her husband, oblivious to what Lizzy was saying. If she had listened to her, she could have learned that the girl's mother was not there but in Hertfordshire, and not death as she concluded God knows how. With a solid resolution, and taking the little girl as an orphan she said: "Lewis, I will not let this poor girl die in the streets and nobody will stop me. Let's head to the carriage. Now child, you will not lack of anything while I am here to prevent it. I am Lady Catherine de Bourgh, and I will take you with me."

With that, a confused Lizzy was leaded to an elegant carriage where she sat with the emotions of the last hour weighing over her. Another child was inside with quite a pale face and a middle age woman next to her. She did not register the information about this people that Lady Catherine provided, or the idle talking about her idea of rightness, and soon she fell asleep with the smooth bouncing of the transportation.

"What are your intentions towards her, Catherine?" asked the man with a quiet voice but quite indifferent.

"She does not have a family anymore Lewis, I am going to give her that"

And with these words, Lady de Bourgh stroke the hair of the young girl that was softly against her lap, looking out the window with resolution and a future's plan for the child building in her mind.