NOTES: Lizzy's POV. Normal length— pretty cute chapter, and sets things up for... what is to come. *DUN DUN DUNNNN*

Don't worry though, after this, they'll be about 2 chapters of fluff/soft angst, maybe one intermission to wrap things up, then we're jumping right into adulthood. :)

Please let me know what you think! 💕
~Vinny

The sun crept at an angle across the green and blue wallpaper, and the days began to pass. Lizzy took note of this with a growing feeling of anxiety; especially because she was starting to forget that this was not her home.

Her home had ivy-ridden walls, and a roof that blew apart every spring and had to be repaired in the summer. Here, the walls were shiny and ornate, and never once dusty or cracked. Her home had the smell of old wood and fresh paint and baking bread in every room. This 'house' (it still felt like a castle to her) had the smell of nothing at all. Leaves, maybe, if a door was open.

She was starting to notice however, that William had a smell, even if his house didn't. He smelled… kind of musty, if she was being honest. When she saw him, he was always sweaty, even if he didn't exercise.

Lizzy didn't mind though.

It actually made her laugh a little, and over time, she came to love that smell that was uniquely his.

At first, she only ever got to see William at night. They had fallen into a habit of alternating rooms, him carrying her back and forth, and talking until one of them fell asleep.

Last night, they had been in her room, and William had been the one to doze off. Lizzy hadn't woken him for a while.

Instead, she just watched him sleep. His eyelashes were long and black, settled down on the snowy crest of his cheek. His lips were parted, and slow streams of air made their way between them. Lizzy hadn't been lying when she said she liked his face— it was very nice to look at, and when she thought about it too much, her own face turned pink— but what Lizzy liked even more was the thin line of drool that made its way down from the cleft of his chin.

It was.. humanizing. And, frankly, adorable.

It had made her smile almost as much as when Mr. Darcy agreed to let them see each other during the day.

With the doctor's help, Lizzy had been able to FINALLY leave her room— stumbling around on crutches and tripping over rugs— so she felt she was definitely ready to see William.

"Puh-lease sir," she had said, wobbling precariously between the crutches she still wasn't used to using, "It'll be EVER so much fun! We'll just be in the garden, so you can watch us… An— An' it won't distract from his studies.., I promise."

Mr. Darcy had stood there, glowering down at her, for what felt like an eternity. Lizzy looked up at him, trying her very hardest to enact the 'puppy eyes' her own father claimed he couldn't resist. Then the man pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Fine," he ground out in that stuffy voice of his. "But only for half an hour each day. No more than that, understand?"

"YESSS," Lizzy squealed, then whipped her head around. "You hear that William?! We can go!"

William, who had been eavesdropping from the banister, popped his scarlet face up from his hiding spot, guiltily eying his father as he nodded. "I heard."

"Well?! What are we waiting for then!? I- WOAH!" She twisted herself back around on her crutches, and nearly fell over— Mr. Darcy caught her with a bored look on his face.

"William," he frowned, putting Lizzy back upright. "Make sure your.. friend here doesn't break her neck, would you?"

"O-of course, father," William stuttered, his feet going 'bap-bap-bap!' as he took the stairs two at a time.

Lizzy had the good sense not to say anything at all. She wasn't SCARED of Mr. Darcy anymore, but… he seemed like the kind of person who viewed childhood as an illness. After letting her go, he wiped his hands on his suit jacket.

William took his place at her side, hands carefully guiding her to move slowly towards the parlor. As soon as they passed through that room, and were stepping out onto the veranda, he whirled on her.

"Lizzy! Are— What was that?!"

She flipped her hair at him (which was starting to brush over the tops of her shoulders) as if she didn't know what he meant. "I don't know what you mean," she said.

He rolled his eyes in exasperation. "You know perfectly well what I mean!" He accused, "Why would you go and antagonize him like that?! He was clearly angry with you!"

"But he's always angry at me," Lizzy pointed out rationally. "Nothing I do would make a difference. So I just went ahead and said what he didn't wanna hear!"

"I- But— you can't—"

"I can and did, William," she grinned cheekily, and patted his arm. "We're talking, AND the sun is shining.., isn't it?"

William shut his eyes, dropped his chin, and sighed heavily. "You," he said, "are a headache."

Instead of making some witty comeback, Lizzy surprised herself by looking out over the treetops to where she was sure the fence had been, and saying in a faraway voice, "Luckily, you won't have to put up with me for much longer."

She could practically hear the wheels turning in his head. "Lizzy?" He asked, after a moment, "What do you mean by that?"

Lizzy hadn't planned on saying it out loud. But, it occurred to her if she was going to follow through, she might as well tell William about it— about her plan. Because, you see, she had planned to do something.

"I'm planning to run away."

He snorted. "You don't mean that."

"I do!" She said, frowning up at him. "I'm going to run away, and get back to my house and family and sleep in my own bed. And I'm gonna do it soon."

"But… But father is looking for your family! He put out a notice in town, remember?"

Now it was Lizzy's turn to snort. She sometimes had a hard time understanding why William couldn't see past the fact his father was HIS FATHER and actually understand he was mostly likely just a mean old twat. He hadn't even asked her last name to put up on the poster! Lizzy was fairly certain all it said was 'Dirty little brat showed up at my home. Named Lizzy, has freckles. Please collect her.' She would expect no less of Mr. Darcy.

But she couldn't say that to his son. Especially not when Mr. Darcy hadn't done anything outright horrible.

"Your.. father," Lizzy carefully edged out, speaking slowly and clearly, "Has done what he can. But it's been a LONG time— clearly his way isn't working! So… I'm going to run away. I'm going to go home— on my own."

William stopped walking. He looked at her with consternation brimming in his eyes. "Lizzy.. you don't… you don't mean that.., do you?"

She had stopped walking as well (it was more difficult to move when William wasn't helping her with her crutches) and took in his face. His eyebrows were lowered, his lips pressing together, color entering those pale full-moon cheeks of his. Lizzy tilted her head, and forced herself to blink.

"No, I don't," she said, and heard him breathe out in relief. She grinned. "You're coming with me."

William's breath out caught in his throat, and he coughed like he was choking. "Wh- what?"

Lizzy raised an eyebrow at him, and allowed her face to fall into an expression her father called 'cat with a twitching tail.' William didn't see it though; he was too busy freaking out to look at her.

"I- I can't run away! I have my s-studies, responsibilities.. Wha— oh lord, what would father say? I can't run away— I- oh lord— I c— can't breathe—" William looked to be on the verge of curling up in a ball and hyperventilating, so Lizzy let the conversation drop.

"Oh, don't worry yourself," she smiled, and hoped it was convincing. "I'm just joking."

His eyes were still wide and twitchy, but he focused them on her, and they narrowed. "Are you sure?" William asked.

Lizzy gulped, and made her smile stretch wider. "Yes! I'm sure. Now. Didn't you want to give me a tour of the garden?"

William gave her a long, suspicious look. She smiled up at him, innocently. He pushed out his lips. She raised her eyebrows.

Finally, he sighed, and looked uncannily like his father for a scary second. "You know what?" He said, dragging his eyes toward the tree line ahead of them, "If you are going to run away… And I'm not saying you should!... But if you do…"

He sucked in a long minute of air. "If you do run away.., I want to go with you."

Lizzy smiled (for REAL this time) and smacked him fondly with her free hand. "I knew you would," she laughed. "That's why you're my favorite human person in the whole world."

"Favorite human person?" William asked, happy to be distracted. "What, do you make friends with goblins, or something?"

"Well, my cat is my friend," she said before grinning like a maniac. "But you're an even better friend than her. That's why we're running away together!"

"Maybe," he corrected.

"Maybe," Lizzy shrugged. "Maybe running away together."

There was a moment's silence, a breath of wind and a half-heartbeat's hesitation— and then William placed his hand over hers on the crutches. His hand was heavy, and warm, and only just a little sweaty.

Lizzy felt an odd thing— like caterpillars, crawling around her insides— as she wound her fingers through his and squeezed.

They didn't speak for a long while after that. They just walked in comfortable silence through the garden's twists and turns, their hands intertwined and their heads wrapped up in images of a life far away from the fairy-tale gate of Pemberley. Climbing trees, picking flowers. Jumping over streams and counting clouds as they slept out in the open fields teeming with fireflies. They would scream until the sun went down, and no one would tell them to be still, or silent. And they would be together through it all.

It was a lovely daydream. Its only fault— one that neither of the children could yet see— was that their dream of being together would be painfully short-lived.