A/N: I had problems loading chapter twenty last time and thought I had to load it twice, that is why the same chapter appeared twice. However, I have since fixed this little problem, and chapter twenty is now different than chapter 19. Almost through... enjoy.

Elizabeth straightened her dress and pushed stray curls behind her ears. Everyone had scrambled quickly to obey Darcy's commands regarding their hostages, and Darcy himself had marched off to question the prisoners. Mrs. Jones had ushered Mrs. Bennet and the younger Bennet girls from the room and Elizabeth stood in its center alone. The silence after the storm was disconcerting and she didn't quite know what to do with herself. Darcy had given her no orders to obey. He seemed to have forgotten her actually. Working to keep her hands moving and her mind busy, she tidied the room and once that was done, stood once more in its center, looking around. Calmly, she walked to the edge of Darcy's bed and sat down, her back stiff and straight, her hands folded primly in her lap. She couldn't quite settle her mind after everything that had happened. She supposed that shock had settled in. And just where was Darcy?

But she couldn't bring herself to go and find him, she couldn't bring herself to move or even call his name. So she just sat there. She wouldn't have been able to say when Darcy finally made his way back to his room and to her side. Vaguely, and from far away, she heard her name spoken softly in her husband's deep tones, and still she could not move. Then he was in front of her, holding her shoulders, asking wildly if she was okay, cursing himself for leaving her alone. He mumbled over and over as he pulled her dress from over her head and lay her upon his pillows: "Shock, she's in shock and I just left her. She's absolutely drained. Elizabeth, dear Lizzy please speak, please tell me you're alright."

She could not find the energy to tell him how tired she was, and she remained still in his arms, letting her head fall to his strong chest. The erratic rhythm of his heart calmed her and lulled her into a soothing blackness. Right before the darkness swept over her completely, she gathered just enough breath and life to mutter into Darcy's chest. "I love you."

Mr. And Mrs. Bennet's night was a long one. It took a considerable amount of coaxing on the parts of Mr. Bennet, his eldest daughter, and Mrs. Jones to relax the flustered and fainting Mrs. Bennet.

"Indeed! Can you not believe it Mr. Bennet! Can it be believed Mrs. Jones? Jane? Can you believe that Mr. Collins thought he had the right to marry our Lizzy!Why, Mr. Darcy has 10 thousand pounds a year!"

Mr. Bennet refrained from pointing out that he had given his permission to marry Elizabeth to Mr. Collins and not to Mr. Darcy in the first place. He refrained from reminding his wife that she had initially been delighted with the match between Collins and their second oldest daughter. He also refrained from remarking that the two young people, because of their quite foolish actions in regards to Elizabeth and Mr. Collins' wedding had perhaps put themselves into such a sticky situation. He knew better than to say such things to his wife.

She insisted on knowing the particulars of the questioning, and Mr. Bennet, hoping to appease and calm his wife, had told her everything.

"Forced Mr. Darcy to sign annulment papers! But he did not did he Mr. Bennet? He could not have!" Mrs. Bennet's voice was strong and shrill and her husband winced and forced himself not to cover his ears.

"Why… I don't know Mrs. Bennet. I guess that in all the fuss, everyone quite forgot about the annulment papers."

"So, Mr. Darcy and our Lizzy are no longer married?" she shrieked, her voice rising with every word.

"I… had not thought of it my dear. I… I suppose not."

Whereupon Mrs. Bennet fainted dead away.

Elizabeth awoke the next morning with the noon sun peeking from slight slits created by the pulled curtains, and a very worried Darcy peering at her intently. His dark, heavy brows were drawn together and his eyes were heavy with concern. After seeing all this in a single instant, Elizabeth became quite occupied by the way his hair curled playfully around his ears and dropped languidly across his furrowed brow. Darcy, it seemed, could not train his hair to appear as worried as he felt. She laughed.

Darcy's scowl deepened and he fell from his shoulder onto his back where he thereupon glared fiercely at the canopy overhead. "I take it that you are feeling better this morning." A laugh had not been what he was expecting after the state he had found her last night.

Elizabeth of course could not stay the shocked invalid forever. It was not within her nature at all, and more laughter escaped from her lips, though she bid it to mock Darcy no longer. "Yes dear William, I am feeling much better this morning." She rolled over onto her elbows and smiled down at him until the corners of his lips twitched. Then she lowered her head until she could kiss softly each twitching corner, teasing him into a genuine smile that lead logically into a very genuine kiss.

If they had not been so engaged, they might have heard the arguing voices storming down the hall, growing louder and louder as the footsteps grew heavier and heavier in the direction of Darcy's door. As it was, they were completely surprised when Mrs. Bennet burst through the door, Mr. Bennet close on her heels.

Mrs. Bennet did not recover from her faint, but simply fell into a very troubled sleep. Something, it seemed, vexed her to the extreme. She could not quite put her finger on it until she awoke startled and frantic the next morning. "Mr. Bennet!" she shrieked, sitting straight up in bed and searching for her husband. "Mr. Bennet!"

Mr. Bennet walked calmly in from the adjoining dressing room, his cravat dangling loosely from his neck. "What my dear?" he asked. He was beginning to think that he just might develop the same nerves his wife was always talking about.

"It is Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy! They are not married!" She clutched the bed covers tightly in her fists as her eyes grew wide in horror.

"I assure you madam, they are. I saw it for myself."

"No Mr. Bennet, no. Either you do not comprehend at all or you are teasing me. And I assure you sir that if you are teasing me, I will never speak to you again! This is nothing to tease about Mr. Bennet! Where are the annulment papers Mr. Bennet, where are the annulment papers? From last night!"

Mr. Bennet reached behind him for a chair her knew to be in the vicinity and plopped down on its cushioned seat, his face screwing together in a frown.

"Oh Mr. Bennet! What if Mr. Darcy decides that he will not marry Elizabeth again? What then? Ohhhhh, ohhh, we are ruined Mr. Bennet, ruined."

"No, you are wrong. I assure you, Mr. Darcy will remarry Elizabeth. Why would he not? He fought for her last night did he not?"

Mrs. Bennet contemplated this momentarily, but the thought of losing such an illustrious son in law as Mr. Darcy was simply too terrifying. There was only one thing to be done.

Let me repeat, if Elizabeth and Darcy had not been so delightfully engaged, they might have heard the arguing voices storming down the hall, growing louder and louder as the footsteps grew heavier and heavier in the direction of Darcy's door. As it was, they were completely surprised when Mrs. Bennet burst through the door, Mr. Bennet close on her heels.

"Elizabeth! Elizabeth remove yourself from that man's bed this very instant! And you sir! You! Taking advantage of a young lady! You will marry her sir! You have been caught and Mr. Bennet will not leave you alive if you do not marry our daughter!"

Elizabeth and Darcy sat bolt upright in bed, clutching the covers to their bodies; though Elizabeth wore her undergarments, Darcy was bare to the waist. Both were shocked past speaking to see a frazzled Mrs. Bennet yelling at them from the doorway, looking as scandalized as she should have looked when Mr. Darcy stole Elizabeth from the alter (She had been quite pleasantly surprised that day, and had deemed Elizabeth her favorite daughter from then on. For truly, a man of Mr. Darcy's stature was so much more highly preferred to a mere parson like Mr. Collins).

"Mrs. Bennet, my dear, do leave the children be. This is neither the time nor the place. I assure you, Mr. Darcy will marry Elizabeth again if need be," her husband pleaded with her, pulling on her arm in his attempt to remove her from his son in law's bedroom.

"He had better Mr. Bennet? Oh, my nerves! HE is lying in bed with our daughter! And they're not married!" She tore her arm from his grasp and fled across the room towards the bed just as a be-robed Jane entered the room, a look of astonishment on her face.

"Mother," she exclaimed, running forward with her father to get a firm grip on the lady. "Mother, you must leave this room at once!" she threw an apologetic look at her sister. "I was just rising when I heard mother storming down the hall. I got here as fast as I could."

"Oh Jane, oh Jane, she is ruined if they do not marry once again. Ruined!" Mrs. Bennet exploded into a fit of tears and limply let her husband and daughter (who both threw apologetic looks at the astounded couple in the bed) drag her from the room.

As the door shut soundly, Darcy jumped from the bed and pushed the lock into place. Elizabeth groaned loudly and pulled the covers over her head, sinking heavily into the feather mattress. The creak of the bed that announced Darcy's return to her side was not nearly enough to bring her out of hiding.

"I am so terribly sorry," came Elizabeth's muffled and shaky voice from under the blankets. She was afraid to peek at him, afraid to see his long legs stretched out with his ankles crossed, much as she knew his arms must be crossed over his chest. She was afraid to face the disappointed frown that she knew graced his lips and eyes and brow. He had just been reminded of the family he had married into, and she knew that her embarrassment couldn't come close to his.

That's why she was surprised to hear him laughing. He laughed so loud and so long that she eventually peeked at him from over the blanket. His arms were crossed, but around his waist, and his knees were pulled up into his chest as he lay on his side convulsing with laughter. She sat up and, taking her pillow firmly in hand, smacked him across the back of the head. "What is so funny about this!"

His answer was to keep laughing. And because laughter, as we all know, is contagious, she began to laugh to. And before she knew, the bed was shaking so hard with their combined laughter that she was sure it would collapse around them.

When finally their laughter subsided, Darcy pulled his Lizzy to him and toyed with her curls as she followed the lines of his palm with her fingers, each content to simply be near the other.

"William, what did happen to those annulment papers?" Elizabeth looked up at the man who just last night was her husband with a small scowl on her lips.

"I… I don't guess I know what happened to them Elizabeth." He returned her gaze, pulling softly on a curl near her ear.

"Then… then we're not married are we?"

Darcy pulled her closer than both thought possible and tightened his arms around her even more. Resting his chin on the top on her head he answered in a low emotionless tone, "No, Elizabeth, I don't suppose we are."

Darcy's mud splattered boots made prints on the usually pristine floor of Pemberly's hall. He did not even think to order a servant to clean it up, but rather scowled ominously at some maddening point in the distance. His steps were heavy two dusting maids scattered as he flew past them. The two stable boys who had been set as temporary guards outside the room in which the two women villains were being held, pushed their bodies as much against the wall as possible and stood up as straight as their tired backs would let them at the sight of their scowling master. Darcy did not ask the boys for entrance, but steely turned the knob himself and flung the door open wide.

The heavy oak door slammed shut behind him with a gust of air and two visible cringes from the makeshift guards.

Caroline Bingley jumped from the stiff backed chair she had been sitting huffily in and ran towards Mr. Darcy, throwing her arms around his neck in an entirely inappropriate manner.

"Oh Mr. Darcy! I am so glad to see you! I knew you would come to your senses. You're such a reasonable and intelligent man, and I knew you would see that you were in the wrong last night; a lunacy no doubt brought on by a lack of sleep and the pressures of an unsuitable and unattractive wife." She pouted her lips at him and shook her head as if to say, I understand, and fussed with his lapels, bringing her gaze to his chest and away from his fiercely burning eyes. She attributed it to passion.

Darcy did not step back from her. Putting his hands on her shoulders and straightening his arms, he pushed Caroline backward until she again rested in the chair she'd vacated at his abrupt appearance. He did not speak to her, but swung his gaze to the elder woman standing stiffly by the window. Lady Catherine's hands were folded neatly in front of her and her face was void of any emotion.

"Aunt Catherine," said Darcy, refusing to bow to the woman who had so fiendishly plotted against his happiness. "I presume you are ready to leave for Rosings."

"Cut off Fitzwilliam. Both you and Georgiana. No inheritance, no properties, no social ties. You are not my nephew; you are not worthy of the Darcy name." Her voice was low and emotionless, as if she were informing her lawyer or accountant of some small and unimportant piece of information.

"I do not want your money, your property, or your social ties. I want the annulment papers." Darcy's voice had the edge that his aunt's did not.

Lady Catherine raised one eyebrow. "Annulment papers? I'm sure I have no idea what happened to them." Caroline's face lit up for an instant before Darcy's words once again pulled a dark shadow across her features.

"No matter. I will simply marry her again." His voice was thoughtful, his gaze had grown distant, unreachable. He turned sharp on his heel towards Miss. Bingley. "Unfortunately, we will have reason to come in contact with one another after this, as I am sure your brother will very soon be my brother in law. However, I fully expect nothing but polite civility from you towards my wife Miss. Bingley."

"She is not your wife, you were annulled last night," she shot at him coldly, her eyes sharp with conniving malice.

"Elizabeth is and always will be my wife Miss. Bingley. A piece of paper makes no difference. Your carriage is waiting." Miss. Bingley did not rise from her chair, did not appear to wish to ever move from the spot at all. Darcy cocked a brow and strode towards the door. Opening it, he turned to address the young guards. "Geoffry, Samuel, you will escort Lady DeBourgh and Miss. Bingley to their carriage."

"Yes Mr. Darcy" they answered in unison to their master's swiftly retreating back.

Elizabeth was quickly growing weary of her family's presence in her home. The Jones family seemed to keep to themselves, seeking the outdoors as refuge from sun up to sun down. However, Kitty and Lydia constantly complained about the lack of gentlemen in the area and Mary sat, stiff as a board, reading all day long. Her father had taken to shutting himself in a small sitting room and, well, doing whatever it was he did when he shut himself up in his library at Longbourn. Mrs. Bennet had at least been bearable before the annulment. However, it had not even been twenty-four hours since that horrid night and Mrs. Bennet had not let up on her wailings. She had kept to bed, moaning and bewailing the fate of her daughter and family. Elizabeth's only consolation in all this was that Mr. Bingley and Jane seemed to be closer than ever. Wether they were rambling through the gardens or talking amiably by the fire at night, they never left each other's side.

Elizabeth was glad that the villains of the night had been sent away. She had not felt comfortable with them in her home. She had had to convince Darcy not to accuse the lot of them of breaking and entering. In the end, he had simply sent the all away with a warning. Elizabeth had not heard him issue the warning, but she had seen the sad procession of villains leaving the house. Lady DeBourgh's chin was high but her face pale, Caroline stared dejectedly at her skirts, Collins looked absolutely terrified, and Wickham looked as if he were an overgrown five year old sulking. She did not buy Wickham's appearance however. She was starting to assume that the man might perhaps be far more dangerous than he let on.

Elizabeth sighed and said to no one in particular, "When will you be home Darcy?" Darcy had left her quite soon after the fiasco in the bedroom that morning. Elizabeth had been horrified at her mother's unannounced entranced and at the words she had flung from her lips. Surely Darcy had been able to find a minister by now. Surely he would ride up at any minute assuring her that a preacher was just behind him in a carriage.

For it appeared that the annulment papers had disappeared, or rather, the man in possession of the papers had disappeared. Darcy had spent all day searching for the man, only to send word around noon that he was nowhere to be found. Darcy's next objective, in such a case, was to find a preacher willing to marry them without delay. It should not have taken so long, she assumed. Darcy's wealth should have been able to buy any amount of special licenses.

"I just don't understand Richards. I should have been able to procure several special licenses by now, and hire a minister."

"It is strange sir, that all the ministers seem to have pressing engagements at the moment. You don't think that your aunt could have paid them all to ignore you do you?"

"By God you're right Richards! I let her pass through town alone in the carriage when I sent her and Caroline away this morning. She would have came through here a good deal of time before we arrived this morning." Darcy scowled as he contemplated this new theory. Had his aunt really been so resilient as to bribe all the pastors, preachers, and ministers to keep their distance from the master of Pemberly this day?

"What do we do next Mr. Darcy," said Richards, interrupting his employer's thoughts. Darcy turned his horse towards Pemberly and Richards followed suit, waiting for an answer. Mr. Darcy pondered quietly and broodingly while they slowly made their way back home. He was no stranger to a challenge. A wedding and a parson had initially stood in the way of being with Elizabeth, and now the lack of a parson stood in the way of a marriage to Elizabeth. Nothing had gone smoothly in this affair since the start, and the bumpy road was beginning to irritate Fitzwilliam Darcy more than a little. If everything were as simple as piracy, he thought. If I were really a pirate, I would just lie, cheat, or steal to obtain my means. But the words "lie, cheat, and steal" made Darcy cringe; they were not words of honor. However, he thought, I stole Elizabeth, and lied to steal her away to Scotland. The only thing he hadn't done yet was cheat. He ruminated these musings for some time, his thoughts taking a decidedly wicked turn; the old Dread Pirate Darcy gleam once again entering his eyes as he cocked his glance toward his companion.

"Mr. Richards…"

"Yes sir?"

"In your perusal of the higher arts, have you ever worked in a legal setting? Perhaps drawing up documents?" Darcy had Mr. Richards' full attention now, and the younger man turned his head to grace his boss with a curious stare.

"Why, yes I have in fact. Why do you ask?"

"It occurs to me Richards, that there are perhaps five people who have seen the actual annulment papers, and probably no more than three who have actually read them. Four of those five people are gone and, if they know what is good for them, will never return."

Richards smiled and Darcy continued.

"That leaves me Richards. I seem to be the only one left at Pemberly who knows what those papers looked like, what they said."

"Mr. Darcy, I'm afraid you are quite mystifying me. Perhaps you could elaborate. Where does my experience as a law clerk come into all of this?"

"It's clear Richards! You shall draw up annulment papers that I shall sign!"

"What!" Richards was sure that his employer's wits had been permanently damaged by the affair last night. "Sir, I'm afraid that a second set of annulment papers will not in the least make your marriage to Elizabeth legal."

"Of course not! You see, we shall destroy the papers you write up in front of her family so that they believe our marriage to stand once more. Then, Mrs. Bennet will cease insisting that I marry her daughter." Darcy said this last bit with more irritation in his voice than he had planned on, but Richards seemed to be as indignant at Mrs. Bennet's insinuations as Darcy was.

"To think that she actually believes you will not remarry Elizabeth! How absurd!"

"Thank you Richards."

"But sir, is Elizabeth to know that the papers aren't real?"

"She will have to. We will have to be remarried again as soon as I can find one of those blasted preachers that my bloody aunt hired to ignore me. I merely wish to destroy the second set of papers that you will make-"

"To get rid of your in-laws?" Richards smiled as he finished Darcy's sentence.

Darcy smiled too at the abrupt interruption. "You understand precisely."