A/N: A couple quick things! I am still writing, I just had a hot minute of writer's block. Please accept my humble apologies (especially you, Pepperomia)! Additionally, this is now 14 pages longer than my thesis. So that's where we are now. Thanks for putting up with me, and please keep commenting!

Love,

RobinDesBois

Darcy was unused to sneaking about his own property, but it seemed fitting somehow that, the first time he did so, it was Wickham's fault. As he and Charles sat below the window of the cottage in the woods the next day, he couldn't help remembering going to this same building with his father and Wickham as boys. How times had changed.

"Hello, Creedance," came Wickham's lazy drawl. "Any luck today finding a good spot to breech Pemberly's defences?"

"No, of course not. It's more secure than the king's own palace. I don't see why I have to go look for weaknesses, anyway, when it's you that grew up here. Shouldn't you already know how to get in?"

"I told you already, I've been trying to find my wife."

"She's not at the bottom of that Whiskey bottle. I think you're just using her disappearance to get out of working—maybe you think that if we get caught, you can convince them you just happened to be here, since I'm doing all the work, eh?"

"You dare imply that I would do anything that would get between us and our plan?"

"Well, the fact that I've spent the last two days trying to find a way in to your childhood home while you don't even know where your wife is—she's at the main house, by the way, I saw her out walking this morning—doesn't leave much for the imagination."

"I told you, it's too dangerous for me to—wait, Lydia's at the house? With Darcy and Miss Elizabeth?"

Darcy felt a surge of anger at hearing his wife referred to by her unmarried name. It seemed both men needed yet another reminder that she is his now, and would be remaining so.

"Yes, and god knows what that little dimwit has told them."

"Gods, man, we have to act tonight."

"Why? It's not like Mrs. Wickham knows our plans."

"You don't understand how very good she is at ruining plans. She can do it without ever even knowing they exist. How do you think she ended up as my wife?"

"Very well. Tonight it is."

Darcy glanced sideways at Charles, grateful that Elizabeth had insisted footmen accompany them. With them surrounding the house, they would be sure of escape if caught.

"What are they planning?" demanded Lizzy from the chair in which he'd recently been so delighted to be her prisoner. He'd come home bearing the news that the man working with Wickham was Mr. Creedance, and he'd carried her to this chair when he'd seen the color drain from her face. It was only at her insistence that she wasn't resting in the bed.

"We don't know, dearest." He was kneeling in front of her again, but this time so that he could hold her hands in reassurance. "But we know they intend to act tonight. Apparently, they're afraid if they don't, Lydia will tell them our plans."

"How could they possibly think to get into the house?" They had agreed immediately that the men could only be examining the security of their home if they intended to break into it…but to what end?

"When Wickham and I were children…my love, this is a very old house. It's been modernized, but it used to be much more of a castle. There was an emergency escape route in the east wing for the Master in case the castle was ever sieged. The only two people who ever used it were myself…and Wickham."

"Surely it's not designed to be usable both ways?"

"Sadly, it is. The early Darcys…D'arcys, rather, didn't think that part all the way through, I'm forced to admit."

"Couldn't we just…nail it shut?"

"We could seal it, but I don't think that will stop them from trying to come in another way."

"I see."

"So I propose that Charles and I stand by that trapdoor tonight and ambush them when they attempt to gain entry."

"And what shall I do, just sleep through the entire affair?"

"That was my hope, but I can see by the look on your face that that has the same likelihood as my letting you join the actual fight."

"I know I can't join the fight, much as I would like to have my chance at harming either man. I have to protect our child."

"Which is why I have to protect you, my love."

"And yet, I can't stand the thought of not knowing how you fair. I propose that I shall stay in the room closest to the secret entrance, so I can know if you're injured, and fetch help, but they can't actually see me. Are you satisfied, my darling?

"I would rather you were further from the action. Actually, I would rather you were in London, and my sister with you, but I'm afraid I can't have everything. I propose that you remain in the parlor in the center of the house, where I know they can't get near you."

"I propose that you stay with me, and we hire someone else to stand guard."

"I can't ask someone else to risk his safety defending my home and wife in a fight like this."

"You took other men into the woods."

"Yes, we were simply eavesdropping. This is a fight."

"Then I insist on being on hand, I can't be calm without knowing you're safe. And I can't know you're safe without being there."

"Very well. But under no circumstances are you to leave that room. Agreed?"

"Yes, Mr. Darcy."

"You know, I still hate it when you call me that."

"Funny, I think it makes you sound more commanding. You know how I feel about you in command…Mr. Darcy."

Elizabeth smiled slyly at her husband, who rose to his feet, swept her out of the chair and removed them both to the bed for the remainder of the afternoon.