Chapter 21: Bygones

As the car wound its way up the gravel path, Will Darcy was anxiously drumming his fingers and once again lost in his own thoughts. The five hour drive to Norwich had given him plenty of time to think.

Although he felt justified in the content of his conversation with Elizabeth, a nagging doubt at the back of his mind had begun to surface; their conversation had been too tense to simply be the result of a rough day at work. Three and a half hours into his drive he had settled on the idea that something was not as it seemed: the question now was, what? No one comment he had made seemed to rattle her more than any other; she had been distant almost from the onset of their conversation.

His mind then wandered further back to when he had first discovered that Wickham and she knew each other. After settling his nerves from seeing the scoundrel, he had quickly determined that Elizabeth must be an innocent bystander in this small meeting of worlds. However, did he really know anything to prove that conclusion? How long had she known Wickham? Were they dating? If she was as uncomfortable as her tone had suggested on the call, why would she even agree to a date? And why would she be uncomfortable? He closed his eyes as a disquieting thought gripped him: Was it possible that Wickham was setting him up? Was it further possible that they were even working together?

Realizing the dark path his mind had wandered down, he quickly shook his head of those thoughts. It would take a truly conniving criminal to successfully enact such a scheme. Wickham had surprised him, had gotten lucky even; but there was no way he could be that proficient in malicious intrigue. How could he have even known that he and Lizzy's paths would cross? And this was his Elizabeth he was thinking about. He knew her better than that…

Still, he was left with no explanation for the strain in her voice, and he had no idea what it meant in regards to her actions. His primary concern was one resounding question: did she trust him enough to heed to his warning?

He fully believed that there really wasn't any reason for her not to trust him. He had never lied to her, and until their phone call he was sure that she had been becoming more comfortable with the idea of a relationship. No, trust, he was sure, was not the issue.

Instead, her displeasure was the direct result of something else, and god help him if he knew what. Wonderful progress old boy…you knew this an hour ago. Exhausted from the circles his thoughts had taken him in, Will closed his eyes and rested his head on the seat back. Whatever it was, by the end of that call her tone had said it all: she had gone from flirting on Friday, to barely civil by Monday, and it had taken most of his will power not to throw his phone into the middle of Fifth Avenue out of frustration when they said their goodbyes.

God, just let her be safe.

Will glanced up to realize that he had arrived at his destination. The car had stopped at the front door of an upscale studio apartment where a beautiful, 20-year-old brunette with grey eyes was waiting for him.

Gianna ran over to him before he was able to fully get out of the car. "Will!" she cried, flinging her arms around his neck.

Will buried his face in his sister's hair and held her close. "G, how are you doing?" he asked.

"Okay, really. A little bored, and constantly anxious; but that's to be expected, no?"

Will held onto her shoulders, stepped slightly back and grimaced at the conspicuous ankle monitor that forced the cuff of her skinny jeans to be rolled up on her left leg. He still found it incredibly hard to accept that due to her British Citizenship and extensive wealth the judge had deemed her a 'flight risk'; the ankle monitor was a condition of her bail.

"I saw him, G."

Gianna's eyes grew wide. "You did? Where? How?"

"I wish I could tell you. Somehow we wound up in the same club in Manhattan on Halloween. I lost control for a brief moment and tried to go after him myself, but soon afterwards called the authorities. Unfortunately, he escaped before they were able to locate him. I'm so sorry Gianna…I feel like I failed you all over again." He felt his voice grow thick.

She threw her slender arms around him in another huge hug; the close proximity allowed him to feel her trembling. "Will, you've done nothing wrong. Throughout this whole, terrible situation you've been nothing short of amazing. I'm just glad he didn't hurt you." She pulled away from him and attempted a smile. "Come inside. I had Mrs. Reynolds make us supper. I've missed you a lot this past month; I am really glad that you're here."

Greg had called Elizabeth on Sunday night to ask her what type of cuisine she preferred for their date on Thursday. When she told him that she didn't have any specific cravings, he had suggested a small Thai place on 2nd Avenue called Zabb Elee that had good reviews. Lizzy was up for anything really, as long as the story about his history with Will Darcy was included on the menu.

Greg had been right: the food tasted authentic and was incredibly delicious. The problem was that Elizabeth was having difficulty noticing anything other than her impatience for him to broach the one subject that she had been waiting all day to hear. The waitress had just cleared away their appetizer of crispy pork when Wickham suddenly began, "I'm sorry I left you Friday night…I've actually been regretting it all week. If Will Darcy doesn't want to see me it should really be him that leaves - I missed out on an awesome night with a beautiful girl. You make a fantastic Queen of Hearts Lizzy; you could be ruler over mine any day."

Lizzy eyed him cautiously. Will's words were ringing in her ears and she wanted to make sure that she absorbed every word that Greg said. So far he seemed genuine, as usual. "He actually did leave. When I got back to my friends he was already gone."

"Oh. Well, that makes sense. His audacity astounds me sometimes." He shook his head as his shoulders slumped forwards in a manner that could only be described as defeated.

Not willing to let the subject drop, she queried, "I think you mentioned that you've known each other since you were little?"

"Yeah, that's what's so sad about it. Our current animosity doesn't have to be this way; I've forgiven him for what he did. Will just hates to be out-done; I think that when he sees me it reminds him of the many times I came out the winner, and it makes it impossible for him to tolerate my presence."

Lizzy was all ears now. Everything Greg had said so far lined up perfectly with what she already knew about Will Darcy.

"Our parents were best friends and his parents were my Godparents. We went to the same schools, played in the same sports and spent every major holiday together. As boys we saw each other enough to grow fairly close. I was always stronger and bigger than him when we were younger, even though we're only two months apart. I tried not to beat up on him too much – I saw him as a brother you know - but you could see that he felt a touch inadequate." Wickham took a sip of his beer and continued, "Then, when we hit our teenage years, everything changed. I'm sure you can tell that he's a bit of a loner?"

Lizzy only nodded her head in response.

"His father was the most sociable and pleasant person I have ever met. He felt that his son needed to come out of his shell, for reasons that were both business and personal; one way he chose to encourage this was to berate his son and tell him that he should be 'more like Greg'. You can imagine the wedge his father's advice quickly drove between us. Although we still talked, I could tell that the comparisons his father insisted on emphasizing were making him angry, and it wasn't long before he began to tolerate our connection only for his father's sake. You might not know this, but Will can be rather resentful when he wants to be." Greg leaned back in his chair, flopping his napkin on the table and growing deeper into thought. "This all became painfully obvious when we were in university together at UPenn. We had joined the same fraternity and were even roommates."

"Will Darcy was in a fraternity?" There was no way to hide her skepticism.

Wickham let out a disbelieving chuckle. "I know, right? It was a legacy thing for him. His father had been in it during his time in undergraduate. Like I said, Will's dad was the man of the hour wherever he went; he had even served as the Fraternity President. I think Will felt compelled to follow in his father's footsteps to pay tribute. Neither of his parents are alive, you know."

"No, I didn't know."

"You really don't know him at all do you?" Wickham looked surprised. "Anyway, I'll make this short. Our second-semester Junior year, Will's patience with our relationship wore out. It helped that his dad had died the year before and was no longer a direct influence on him - we had already discussed selecting different roommates for the following year. We were both business majors, and happened to be in many of the same classes. He took advantage of the circumstances, stole a paper off of my computer and turned it in as his own. You know how plagiarism is treated in academia, right?"

Lizzy's eyes were wide as he finished.

"When it came time for the case to be reviewed by the board, it was his word against my own. He was the trust fund baby with the legacy. You can imagine who they believed. I was expelled."

"Oh my god. Are you serious?"

"Yeah. That's why I'm not really in a rush to finish my degree. My only options are online or tier two universities, and only the worst ones will ignore the blemish on my transcript. There just isn't much incentive. I have no way of ever being able to use those three years of credits."

Lizzy was stunned. "He's practically doomed you to a life of mediocre income…of never being able to reach your full potential professionally! And I'm sure your degree was important to you personally as well…I never would have imagined him capable of such malicious behavior."

"No? Oh come on Lizzy, don't tell me that he hasn't tried to convince you not to see me since Ella lounge? What did he say? That I was a 'liar'? 'Manipulative'? 'Dangerous'? He's used any or all of those in the past in an attempt to convince people not to like me."

Lizzy tried to pick her jaw up off the table. She was trembling with anger at the obvious mal-treatment Greg had suffered at the hands of Will Darcy.

Greg noticed her discomfort. "Lizzy, like I said, it's alright. I've forgiven him. The man's been through enough being orphaned so young. Gianna's almost nine years younger than him; once he finished college he practically had to raise her." He eyed her again, and seemed to make his mind up about something. "But who wants to talk about Will Darcy? Do you watch sports? How about those Knicks? Can we say train wreck, or what?" With that, a mischievous twinkle gleamed in Greg's eye as he downed the last of his beer.

After the enlightening conversation, nothing Greg could say or joke was sufficient to put Lizzy at ease. She still couldn't taste her food, but now it was for a completely different reason.

She had given it her best effort, but Elizabeth knew that she was a horrible date for the rest of the evening. There was a distinct possibility that she could even qualify for Guinness. Taking a brief moment alone in the ladies' room to reflect, she was fairly certain that what she was actually experiencing was a mild bout of shock. The knots in her stomach had reached up to her throat and quickly destroyed any appetite she may have had remaining. Taking her food to go and wrapping things up at the restaurant in order to expedite her return home, she parted ways with him at the subway station.

The kiss goodbye he gave her was brief and underwhelming. With the way she was feeling, however, she knew that it was emotionally impossible for her to respond positively to anything. Her senses had dulled, and all she wanted was the comfort of the downy sheets on her nice, warm bed.

Lizzy entered her basement apartment at 9:15 that evening and tucked herself in immediately; closing her eyes against the contemptible portrait of Will Darcy that Greg had painted. Slowly, her physical agitation began to subside as she allowed slumber to wash over her. The only thought she allowed herself was: Thank god this day is finally over.

She never noticed that Greg Wickham had followed her home, or that he had retrieved the spare key from the fake rock near their front door.

A/N

Happy Monday Everyone!

Thank you for your patience with me as I spent multiple nights with this chapter trying to perfect it! And for all of my readers, new and old alike, thank you again for all of your favorites, follows and reviews.

I must say, I really enjoyed the length and thorough detail of the reviews I received for Chapter 20. They were awesome and a pleasure to read! :)

NYT – You deserve many, many kudos for your intuition regarding the apparent red flag about the bachelor's degree. I didn't want to say anything at the time, but can definitely do so now. ;)

P.S. My Wickham is pretty conniving. The key won't become important until much later. Once I got the r**e review I figured I would put that in here to give you all some peace of mind. All of our main characters are in mostly good hands with me, I promise.