Unwanted Attractions
Note: I do not own any of the characters unless I make someone up. But other than that all the characters belong to Jane Austen, so, no suing.
Alright, this has been a long time coming, I know. I have been lazy for quite some time, possibly because summer is almost here and so is my trip to New Zealand and Australia. Yeah, I'll try to make the next update much sooner than this one was. You all can hold me to my word or, and you have my permission, to chop my head off with a guillotine and stick it on a spike in front of my computer (or in front of the TV watching horrible Sci-fi). May 22 will be the latest time of the next updation.
It was wet, slippery, windy, and thunder was rolling while lighting would strike across the sky. Lizzie groaned, she wished she could have used the family truck, but that was in the shop due to engine problems—Go figure!
Why did this storm have to come tonight? Lizzie groaned, pulling out her foot that was suctioned into the mud. "This is worse than marching in a mud pit for a state competition."
Successfully pulling her foot out of the mud, Lizzie continued on her way. She had just recently gotten out of the Matlock's farm and entered the Netherfield farm, except it was still another good mile or mile and a half to the house.
"Just a little more ways," she muttered to herself, trying to ignore the fact that she felt droplets of water dripping down her spine and into her underwear. It was the most disagreeable feeling; much like the time her family went to Six Flags Great America in Illinois and they had gone on one of the water rides, when they got off Elizabeth was soaked through and she had unfortunately been wearing khakis that day with pink underwear.
It was among the more embarrassing memories that were held in her head.
Once more Lizzie slipped in the mud, her third time throughout the entire journey, but caught herself before she actually fell. Ahead of her a bolt of lighting struck at something that looked like one of the old willow trees near the road.
"Oh shi…!" Elizabeth exclaimed as she ran towards the road, sliding half the way, after the lighting had disappeared. "Now that really sucks! At least I'm on my way to Netherfield farm or Charles and the others would've found a big surprise when bringing Jane home tomorrow."
Right across the road laid one of the thickest branches of the tree along with several smaller ones.
"I've got to get out of this storm," Lizzie mumbled, looking up at the storm clouds.
Darcy should have known that nothing good would have come of that night, not when those ominous storm clouds started to roll in. At the time it seemed nothing more than a slight storm with a bit of rain until the lighting and thunder came in, even then it seemed nothing of great importance. At least not until the lights had gone out and everyone began to light candles to provide some form of light.
They were eating supper in the dinning room with Jane Bennet as their guest. Darcy had nothing against Jane, she was a sweet girl and Charles really seemed to enjoy her company. Maybe a little too much…
Eyeing Charles' behavior from across the table, Darcy watched as she listened to Charles and Caroline chiming in every other few words until there was several loud knocks at the door.
"Who could that be?" Caroline wondered aloud. "What sort of person would be making house calls at this time of night?"
"I'll go see who that is," Charles assured, rising from his place and leaving the room for the door.
Another streak of lighting lit the sky outside.
"My, the storms in this area are quite…intense," Caroline commented with a tight smile toward their guest.
Darcy closed his eyes so that no one would see him roll them; the weather was, in his opinion, the must mundane subject to ever speak of so it should be avoided at all costs. The conversation at the door, on the other hand, may have been more interesting if Darcy could have heard it.
"It's even worse during tornado season, right now we're in the flooding season," Jane explained, not even noticing Caroline's disinterest in the topic.
"Could say that again, as there is a flood warning being issued throughout the county, but you wouldn't know about that without a radio or television set," stated a voice from the doorway causing everyone to turn their attention.
Elizabeth stood in the doorway dripping wet and caked with mud from head to foot with Charles standing behind her. Her hair was matted to her face, even the part that was covered by a baseball cap that she took off, and her eyes dared anyone to make a comment about her attire.
Caroline raised a hand to her mouth, either to hide a smirk or sneer of revolt by the sight of Elizabeth. Jane, on the other hand, quickly rose from her seat and went to her sister's side.
"Lizzie, what are you doing here? Look at you…," Lizzie glanced down at her filthy clothes for a moment then shrugged. "Come on, you can wear my clothes, I'm fairly certain they're mostly dry, or at least drier than your clothes," Jane smiled, taking her sister's hand and leading her to the bathroom. "We'll be back shortly."
Once the two girls were gone, Caroline spoke her mind, unleashing all of her ill comments about Elizabeth.
"Argh, can you believe that girl? Who does she think is, waltzing in like she did?" Caroline remarked with a bitter laugh.
'Waltzing' isn't quite the word I would have used to describe it, Darcy thought. The word 'waltzing' did not seem to describe Elizabeth's appearance adequately; no, something more like 'impeccably timed entrance' seemed to sum it up more efficiently.
Darcy looked to Charles to see if he would put an end to his sister's line of insinuated insults. Apparently not, even though it was quite obvious that Charles did not share his sister's point view on Elizabeth's untimely appearance.
"She came over to inform us of the flood warnings and that the storm was to last all night, as well as…I'm not quite certain what else, she was about to say something before we heard Jane say comment about the flooding season," Charles defended, resuming his seat.
Caroline rolled her eyes and stole a glance at Darcy as though she was about to share a private joke with him. "Oh, did she tell you why she was soaked through, for surely it's not that long of a walk from where she parked her car to the door."
Either not understanding what his sister was getting at or just feeling the need to somehow defend the Bennet girls, Charles replied, "If you will recall, Caroline, Jane had already told us that the family truck is being repaired so she had to bike here. If Jane couldn't use the truck than it is highly doubtful that Elizabeth would be able to either. Besides, Lizzie had walked all the way here by the looks of it, I didn't see a bike parked outside."
"Walk?" Caroline repeated and her brother nodded. She then let out a loud, shrilling laugh that made Darcy momentarily cringe. "Walk what?—three, four, or five miles just to get here?"
"Three miles," corrected Charles, reaching for his glass of sugarless lemonade. Darcy had no idea how his friend had ever gained a taste for tart lemonade, but there were many things about Charles that Darcy could not quite understand.
Caroline ignored the correction, "And traveling alone while in this storm. What would she have done had anything happened to her? Wouldn't it have been easier for her if she had just called here?"
Darcy hid his grin behind his cup of hot tea. Apparently Caroline had easily forgotten that the electricity had gone out about an hour or more ago, then returned about ten minutes ago.
Charles sighed, he was getting exasperated with his sister, something actually rather common for those who knew Charles well but was normally covered by his good-natured personality.
"Caroline, Caroline," Charles began, shaking his head, but was interrupted by the entrance of Jane. Immediately, Charles was on his feet, ready to be of any and all assistance to the girl.
"Pardon me, but my shirt is still soaking wet so if Lizzie could borrow one that would be…" Jane requested.
Charles was already on top of the request before Caroline could even utter a word of assurance.
"Of course, I think I have a spare shirt or two that she could wear," Charles assured, approaching Jane and exiting the room, heading to his room to fetch a clean shirt for Jane's sister.
Darcy wanted to protest but kept his mouth shut as he glance cautiously at Caroline, who returned the glance with a more satisfied, smug leer. He was alone in the dining room with Caroline Bingley. One of the lesser rings of Hell, but Hell none the less.
Rubbing her wet hair vigorously with a towel over the bath tub, she was almost completely naked except for a towel wrapped about her body and her undergarments, even though those were soaked as well. It was uncomfortable to be standing in a stranger's bathroom, almost completely stark naked and dripping wet.
Flipping her hair back, Lizzie shook it out and turned around to find herself with a dark, slightly curly mess. Her hair was always intolerable, wet or dry. It came with the Bennet heritage, but Jane seemed to be the exception of that rule.
The bathroom door opened and Jane came in with a dry shirt that was obviously a bit large and baggy; definitely not something that the Ms. Bingley would have lent as it was a bright green and white Green Lantern shirt.
"From the lady of the household?" teased Lizzie as Jane handed her the shirt.
"Charles lent it actually," Jane corrected, picking up a clean comb from the counter and going at her sister's hair.
"I know Jane, I was only joking," Lizzie informed her sister. "Ow! That blasted thing hurts Jane!" She was whining and she knew it too, but she could care less.
Jane adjusted Lizzie's head so that her sister was looking directly at the mirror. "Then quit moving your head about and it'll be less painful," Jane advised motherly.
Facing forward with a pout on her lips, Lizzie watched her sister work at the hair until it was as smooth as possible. Annoyed with her hair, Lizzie gathered up all of her hair and tied it back.
"I wasn't finished Lizzie," protested Jane.
"It was good enough Jane, I would much rather change more than have my hair brushed to perfection. I don't know about you but I hate standing here in my underwear with a towel on," Elizabeth pointed out, causing her sister to notice that Lizzie had yet to change.
"Oh…right…" Promptly turning around to give her sister a sense of privacy as Lizzie was one of those more self-conscious people, more so than she cared to admit.
"You know," Lizzie spoke up, "they think of me as an intruder."
Jane shook her head and resisted the urge to turn around. "No, they don't Lizzie, I'm certain that Charles loves you being here."
"Not Charles, I mean his sister and friend. I don't think Charles really minds me being here but I bet the other two do. I could see it when I came in," she stated, slipping on Jane's dry skirt. It was a white skirt but Lizzie was comforted in the fact that Charles' shirt seemed big enough that it would cover her butt for her.
"I'm sure they were just wondering like I was, why you are here," Jane offered.
"Do you want my honest answer or the partially honest answer?" Lizzie questioned, she believed it to be better to give people options.
She heard Jane laugh a bit. "How about we start with the absolute truth," Jane suggested.
"Okay," shrugged Lizzie, tucking in the Green Lantern shirt. "First off, I really need to buy a new razor; these nicks and cuts are hideous!"
"Lizzie!"
"Secondly, I really didn't want to be in the house with mom while the electricity was out and a window had broken upstairs. Plus, I was truly worried about you being stuck here without knowing what was going on."
Sensing her sister was done dressing, Jane turned around and smiled. She loved her sister for all the small quirks Lizzie had; they were partially what made Lizzie who she was.
"The fear of horror movies coming to life?" Jane supplied.
"Yeah," concurred Elizabeth, "which I guess it really wasn't that smart of an idea to go traveling in the rain, at night, and alone in such an open place. After all, Jason or Michael could have attacked me and I wouldn't have known it until it was too late!"
Jane, in all her motherly goodness, shook her head with a smile. "You are amazing, Lizzie," she remarked.
"Nah, just honest and natural," amended Lizzie.
Again, Jane giggled, "Either way, you had best stick with the partially honest answer."
Contemplating the suggestion, Lizzie shrugged; she may as well take her older sister's advice. "Shall we return to the dragons and the oh-so-dashing hero? I have something to tell them anyways."
"If you are willing."
"Certainly, I shall remain as silent as the grave after I deliver my news about the tree," promised Elizabeth, opening the door and leaving.
"What tree?" asked Jane, following her sister. "Lizzie, what tree?"
Thank you to: nebulia, TriGemini, LimeJuiceTub, mara, anti-botox, Coollilyflower, and Frankie. Thanks a lot guys for your support and comments, I really appreciate them all.
Also, I am very well aware that I haven't done too many Darcy/Elizabeth scenes, and I'm sorry for that. This is my first Pride and Prejudice story and I'm testing out how I should write this out, so it's going to be a bit on the bumpy side (especially for me).