Still Waters Run Deep: A Kaitlink Story
He never thought he would find love in New York. The place is too busy and too crowded and too loud and too competitive.
But she walked into his office one day with her brunette pony tail bobbing behind her and his heart was suddenly lost forever.
"I'm not interested," she told him the first time he asked her out for dinner.
"Leave me alone," she said the second time he tried.
But then the elevator happened, and they were suddenly stuck with each other for an indefinite amount of time in very definite darkness.
He didn't know if he was supposed to do anything when she started having a panic attack.
But then SHE came to HIM.
"Can you...hold me?" She sounded so desperate and so unlike the Kaitlyn he knew.
He opened his arms right away and she did the unthinkable...
She kissed him right on the lips.
He felt electricity shooting up and down his arms like never before. Soon she was climbing him and he balanced them against the side of the elevator. He used one hand to hold her up and the other hand to touch her RIGHT THERE. They both gasped and sweated until they made each other come.
"I thought you hated me?" she asked when they finished round two.
"Sometimes it's not always easy to show when you're too busy getting the hots for each other."
The end.
Notes:
Thanks for reading my story! Its my first one so plssssss be kind. I heart Kaitlink forever!
Comments:
thequeenashley: *squeals* That was magnificent. Elevator sex ftw!
madamedomino: This was way too PG-13. Give me the X-rated good stuff! Lol.
kaitlinkislife: Thank you for writing
vicktoriae: My heart is jumping out of my chest! I love love love how you incorporated Charlotte Lucas's words into this. I need MORE! Thank you for contributing more of my favorite couple for me.
It's not her first day at work. It's the same crew, the same director, and - quite unfortunately - the same co-star. The story isn't new to her - what with Ballroom Number Three being her absolute favorite in the trilogy.
It's the place and the unexpected romance of it all that catches her off-guard - the irresistible allure of the English countryside.
With the first movie breaking records the way it did, Austen Studios green lit the subsequent filming locations almost immediately, and Lizzie's passport got its first stamp within two months of the movie premiere.
She's been told to hang on to it in preparation for the next two movies' international press tours.
"Just a little more to the right, angle it - just like that, yes, perfect!" Ed Gardiner beams when she hits the profile he wants.
Lizzie tries to smile demurely. She has to. Selena Kensington is a polished young lady - educated and genteel.
There's no room for Kaitlyn's spunk here.
Then there's the other problem: William Darcy, in utterly unfairly dashing period costume, facing her in all his Fitzgerald Dunst glory.
The collar frames his face so perfectly - so aristocratically.
For an entire two days now, Lizzie wants to scream off her frustration half the time she spends on set.
Because, as the universe would have it, expensive filming locations means a more fractured schedule. It means shooting the beautiful, sweeping shots first while they get to use Gregory Manor before doing all the indoor moments.
And because Ed Gardiner has his way, the very first scene they need to master is that balcony scene - the all-important climax of the entire love story.
Mr. Dunst and Miss Kensington - after a very, very heated waltz - finally find themselves a moment in the open air of the dusky evening.
"And - action!"
The telltale snap starts Lizzie's torture anew.
"Miss Kensington, I beg you - let me speak as I should have an entire year ago." William Darcy's period voice is low and almost hypnotic. His British accent is intentionally let loose. He takes her hand. She whimpers accordingly. "I had barely dared to hope that you would permit me that dance."
"And yet I did."
"And yet - you did."
Just like the script requires, he steps closer, right to her face.
Lizzie feels her throat run dry.
The eyes staring into hers are bottomless - inescapable.
"Never have I found a dance so entrancing," he whispers, his breath tickling her nose.
"Nor I a moment so fleeting, so public - " Lizzie exhales, feeling the light-headed sensation to the tip of her fingers, "yet so life-altering to the utmost."
"Then alter it - please - for me. Grant me your future, Selena. Marry me - please." His hands encircle her waist, pulling her against his broad, warm chest.
"Oh, Fitzgerald." Her gloved fingers find his face. "Nothing, nothing would grant me greater pleasure."
Then comes the kiss.
And it was a kiss unlike any other.
It isn't a smiling, airy, cheerful kissing of a modern-day rom-com.
This is the kind generations of readers have curled their toes for - clenched their blankets in longing over.
It's all tongues and moans and roaming caresses - all passion, all abandon.
"Cut!"
He lets her go slowly, gently - as if he's too gentlemanly to snap her back to reality.
"Perfect! Let's get that close-up this time," Ed announces.
Lizzie stumbles to her trailer five hours later, barely feeling her legs. Her mind and heart are so conflicted that she, for once, doesn't stop to take in the lovely countryside view.
She's just thankful that, for some reason or another, William Darcy is staying in town - distinctly apart from the hotel the rest of the crew occupies.
"William!"
He looks up to see her running towards her. He opens his arms, all smiles, as she runs down the hallway to give him a warm, welcoming hug.
"Oh, how I've missed you!"
William hugs her back, relishing the scent of hearth and home.
Hollywood has its glamor. New York had its charms.
But Pemberley will always be home.
"I say, you'll be taller than I am if you keep growing like this." He smiles at his sister when she steps away.
She's beautiful - and Darcy frets that he'll be warding off unworthy boyfriends soon enough.
Or perhaps he already should be - and it's the huge Atlantic Ocean keeping him from really interfering in Georgiana's love life as much as he should be.
"You're all alone?" Georgiana asks as she walks with him to the kitchen. The smell of his favorite scones leads his steps effortlessly towards that direction.
"Last I heard, you only had one brother."
"Of course." Georgiana rolls her eyes the way only a little sister can. "I meant your friends on set, Will. Rather inhospitable of you not to invite them over."
"They don't have to know."
"Secret life of a movie star?" Georgiana teases. She grabs a scone of her own as she plops on the bar. Darcy takes his time savoring his. "The paparazzi over here don't find you as big of a deal, you know."
"And I would very much like to keep it that way."
"Oh, but your poor neglected sister would never get to meet all your glamorous acquaintances that way!" She bats her eyelashes at him. It's a silly little trick from their childhood - from the few years they were actually both living at Pemberley.
"Are you trying to outmaneuver your university peers by finding famous subjects for your photos - preferably for free?" Darcy enjoys the smell of his favorite tea before sipping it.
"You mock me, brother mine! My photos have nothing to do with my privilege. I shoot only images of great historic and artistic value."
Darcy chuckles. Sometimes, he thinks that heaven regretted taking away their parents so young - and decided to compensate by giving Georgiana enough exuberance for an entire family.
It's hard enough just off-setting his own introvert nature.
Seeing her this way - so full of joie de vivre, eyes sparkling and bright - gives him some comfort that it's not all darkness and tragedy for the Darcy line. They've each carved out lives of their own, beyond their legacy.
Father and Mother would be proud.
"I look forward to your commencement exercises." Darcy smiles at his sister. "I promise I'll fly over for that."
"Ah! And have your famous, stupid face stealing all the glory beside me?" She laughs. "No one will remember anything I do that day."
Darcy frowns. "If you would rather I do not - "
"No, no, silly." There's a casualness to Georgiana that Darcy himself somehow never manages to achieve. "Bring along everyone you want - especially your girlfriend."
The last three words were spoken a little too deliberately.
"My girlfriend."
"Yes - the brunette."
Darcy frowns even more. "You're not talking about Anne, are you? You of all people should know I attended those events under duress."
"Not Anne!" Georgiana laughs. She looks too happy at his distress. Younger siblings are cruel. "The one who plays Kaitlyn - and Selena."
It takes a second or two.
"Lizzie?"
"Ah, yes - Lizzie." She tilts her head, mischievous smile in full display. "What's this I hear about the By the Numbers stars being hopelessly in love?"
"Has your tuition allowance been going towards the proceeds of British tabloids, my dear?" Darcy squints accusingly.
"Oh, but that is why I must hear from the source himself! How hot does it get on set? Are there any conspicuous trailer visits after hours? How much of that sizzling on-screen chemistry carries over to real life?"
It's just banter, Darcy knows.
She's teasing him - and he's offering himself freely as fodder.
But there's an uncomfortable sort of warmth when he lets his mind wander too much to what filming felt like today.
Those kisses did feel a little hotter than usual.
It must have been all the period costume.
"I'm going to unpack," he announces, standing.
Georgiana looks almost triumphant as he walks away.
"Will any footage be salvageable?"
Lizzie waits to see what Ed Gardiner will say.
It's been two weeks since filming started. They're supposed to have wrapped up everything in Gregory Manor by now.
But apparently, the British skies have something to say about that.
"The earlier stuff is fine." Their director shrugs. Outside, on the balcony, and the gardens, the incessant rain pours and pours and pours some more.
There are moments Lizzie can't decide what's worse: having to pretend to be in love with her inexplicably alluring co-star, or having to sit here in full costume and make-up - just waiting for the weather to let up.
It doesn't particularly help that William Darcy is always sitting too close or too far from her during their precipitation-dictated sequestrations.
"The budget will skyrocket," Ed laments openly.
Lizzie nods. Everyone nods.
It's not that she's ungrateful - but Gregory Manor hasn't exactly been ideal all this time. The balcony and gardens didn't have sheltered options. Half the property is under renovation, forcing them to get creative with camera angles.
But did they really have any other choice?
"We can film at Pemberley," says William Darcy - a blank, straightforward statement.
The cast and crew stir.
"William, you're sure." There's a sliver of hope in their director's eyes. Lizzie is still trying to piece together what exactly is going on.
Why is everyone looking excited all of a sudden?
"The studio can't compensate you that much." Ed speaks again, with a slight chuckle this time.
William Darcy offers a rare, genuine smile. "I know. But I'll save on the commute."
Within three hours, Lizzie finds herself transported from the bleak, dreary surroundings of Gregory Manor - to a lush, living, sprawling property called Pemberley.
And it comes with an unexpectedly charming host.
"Leave them here. The crew can take the South Wing." Even as the news of such a drastic change of filming location is sinking in for her, Darcy is already handing out commands confidently and firmly - with a much more casual air than she's ever seen from him. "Park the trailers there, but we can use the bedrooms in the guest wing. Ed can take the first one. Get Lizzie the yellow room. She gets cold a lot."
In a whirlwind of events that feels very much like Little Orphan Annie being ushered into Daddy Warbucks' mansion, Lizzie finds herself settled into a beautiful, Georgian-era bedroom with all her meager belongings magically transferred from the hotel.
It takes her another half hour to fully confirm that her almost-unlikely conclusions are actually true.
This Pemberley place - this luxurious estate - is William Darcy's home.
He's that loaded.
Yet still, for some odd reason, he's chosen to pursue an actual job and career - often eating the same food and enjoying the same benefits as his underprivileged co-stars.
Is it possible that all the ridiculous pride she's attributed to him before - has been, all this time, just a very generous serving of social awkwardness?
And judging from the calm, assured way he directed everyone on his gigantic lawn today - it's an awkwardness that practically disappears within his own comfort zone.
The knock on the door saves her from having to think too much about it, though the smiling blonde girl on the other side does make Lizzie panic - for almost ten whole seconds - that she's been drooling over a secretly married fellow actor.
What if he's been thinking of his tall, gorgeous wife every time they filmed that blood-tingling kiss?
"Hi! I'm Georgiana." The girl's smile grows even brighter. "My brother asked me to fetch you. Join us for a late lunch before they call you on set? Please do. I don't think you've had lunch."
Lizzie walks, in a trance, behind the fascinating girl in this fascinating place.
A/N: As always, I love any opportunity to lampoon the tropes and traps of fanfiction. i assure you that elevator sex scene was done totally tongue-in-cheek. I hope you're liking the English countryside. I personally like Selena and Fitzgerald best too :)