DISCLAIMER: I own nothing anyone may recognise.

Mr Bennet was never a man given to self reflection. He may on occasion have regretted neglecting the estate he was given to care for, or when looking to his daughters to wish he had been firmer in their upbringing. No, down that road lay madness as he would have to take a serious look at every decision he ever made since meeting his wife. The only real pleasure he had in life anymore was laughing at the follies of others, which he believed to be a wholly innocent diversion. No one ever died from hurt feelings just because he thought they were ridiculous. He found it fun to play with others perception of the world, while he had a sharp, witty mind that few could keep up with.

Mrs Bennet could hardly contain herself. She wasn't sure whether to be furious that this…this….man dared to visit or exited that another possible eligible bachelor was to be in marriageable distance to her daughters. She hopped he was at least handsome. A clergyman would do very well for Mary, then she could practice her pianoforte miles away from her mother's nerves. Oh, if only she could have had son's! It was all Mr Bennet's fault of course, they had been very happy when they first married, he had visited her every night. Then the girls had all been born. Every baby a failure in its own way for not being the needed son, and with every birth Mr Bennet became more caustic, more distant. She had been a fool to fall in love with a man because he laughed at the follies of others. It had been such an agreeable pastime when they were courting, laughing at everyone else for all their real and imagined faults, while she gossiped about them. She never imagined that wit may be directed at her one day.

Jane was worried. Her mother was very nervous judging by how much she was fidgeting with her handkerchief, which never boded well for anyone in her vicinity. The chance of her saying something unfortunate to their cousin was increasing with every second that passed. Her father was inclined to make sport of him before even meeting the man. Yes, his letter had been ridiculous but that didn't mean he was an idiot. She herself loved to learn but you would never be able to tell as she never spent much time reading, it always made her head hurt the way the letters seem to move around, especially in the more dense theological volumes her father had. Any knowledge she gained was from listening to conversations people assumed she was too "pretty" to understand. No one ever took her seriously, not even Lizzy who loved her better than anyone. Anytime Jane disagreed with her she was assured that it was because she was naive, too good or trusting. Heaven forbid she had her own opinion and it may digress from what Lizzy or her father thought. They were the only intellectual people in the house. If only they looked more closely at the other people in the house, they may see how wrong they were. Now the man who quite possible could make them all homeless at some point in the future was coming to visit and papa thought it was a good idea to alienate him before he'd even met him. This was not going to end well at all. She glanced down the line to her sisters. Mary looked lost in thought, Kitty was on the verge of tears again. She would have to investigate the cause later when they didn't have a guest to greet.

Elizabeth looked at her father as the carriage carrying their illustrious cousin came into view. He had a strange look on his face, if she didn't know better, she would almost think he looked smug. Turning back as the carriage pulled to a stop she sighed quietly, this was not going to be a pleasant visit. But at least she could escape on her morning walks. Perhaps she should be out of the house more often, she had not been to visit the tenants in a while, quite a while in fact. Now that she thought about it, she hadn't been to visit any of the tenant farms in over a year. Oh well, no one else was making an effort either so that would excuse her absence. She was a gentlewoman after all and had many demands on her time. Her thoughts turned to Mr Darcy and she frowned. How dare he insult her. She was widely known as a local beauty, who was he to disagree? Just because he had a large fortune and estate, spent seasons in London with the ton and met more family's than she had in her lifetime, did not make him the authority on beauty. She was sure her cousin would find her attractive and she would have to make sure not in encourage him, after all her father assured them all that this Mr Collins was a ridiculous man so he must be.

Mary was bored. She had very little interest in meeting her cousin, aside from inheriting her home he didn't sound like they would have much in common. Then again no one ever took enough notice of Mary to really know what kind of person she was. Well except for her sisters, most of them anyway. Lizzy was too caught up in her own cleverness and presumptions to ever really get to know her, boring, bookish, tone deaf Mary. Its odd how people will only see you as they expect to. She was so exited at her coming out. This would finally be her chance for someone other than Jane to notice her, but no. Lizzy had already spread stories about her, the awful playing (how could it not be, she never had any help learning the pianoforte) her terrible taste in books (this had been a bit of a surprise as the ones she was being laughed at for reading were the ones Lizzy and her father had told her to read. Not the ones she hid under her bed. The ones that really interested her and took her to far off lands on grand adventures). No, it hadn't taken long for her to realise that she was being worked against by her own family, she just could never understand why. It was baffling, but it was really made worse when they did the same to Kitty. Oh, that reminded her, they were due to visit the farms again tomorrow. Mrs Jenkins was expecting again and would need help with the little ones.

Kitty was trying desperately not to cry. She knew she wasn't the smartest person but there was no need to call her stupid all the time. Her formative years were filled with books from Jane and Mary, sewing, painting which she excelled at and generally being quite content. Yes, her father and Lizzy were a bit sharp with her at times but as they were like that with everyone but Jane it didn't seem to matter all that much. Oh well, it was all in the past, she wasn't really made for holding onto grudges she just wanted to be left alone. There were times when she was helping Mary with the tenants or reading to Jane, even though she couldn't understand what most of the books were talking about. So, she became stupid, oh she really hated following Lydia everywhere, but it was better having some notice than none at all.

Lydia was thinking about the officers.