Hi everyone. First of all I'm sorry for the extremely long hiatus. I've been going through some difficult stuff and wasn't really up to writing. But here is the next chapter. I can't promise that I'll be able to post any quicker but I'll try to speed things along. Please be patient with me.

Special Thanks to MAB35 for all her help and for sticking with me and my sporadic schedule.

btw I've been working on a blog where I am posting this story as well as a sneak peek at my next project which will be a combination of a few of Jane Austen books. Check it out and let me know what you think: wittyscribblings dot wordpress dot com

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Chapter 20

Richard caught up with Lizzy as she stood waiting for the elevator. Before he could utter a word, she spoke up firmly, "Go away Richard, I don't want to hear you defend him."

"I wasn't planning on it," he countered, "But I will take these." He swiftly reached out and grabbed the keys from her hands and before she could protest, he hurried on, "I won't say a word, I'm just going to drive you home." As the elevator doors slowly opened, Richard walked in before Lizzy could object. She followed him in after a brief pause and stood facing the doors with her arms crossed. The pair descended in silence and when the doors opened they rapidly walked through the lobby, out of the building and into Lizzy's red Audi R8. Richard stuck the keys into the ignition and as the engine roared to life, he adjusted his seat and the rearview mirror. Right before pulling into the street, he dared to glance at his angry friend but she stared stonily ahead in silence. "Buckle your seatbelt," he murmured before driving off in the direction of her home. Seeing how she ignored his instructions, he allowed a little frustration to creep into his tone, "Now!"

Lizzy rolled her eyes but reached over and dragged the belt across her chest, securing it with a click before turning once again to look out the window. After sitting in quiet rage for several minutes, she couldn't take it anymore and burst out, "He's a jerk!"

"He can be." Richard glanced at his rearview mirror and waited for a cab to pass before switching lanes.

"He should have stayed out of it! He was way out of line!"

"Well…" Richard knew this would redirect Lizzy's anger towards him and sure enough her head snapped in his direction,

"What?" Richard suppressed a wince at her venomous tone but tried to explain his stance without making the situation worse,

"He gave advice to a friend, advice that may have been taken the wrong way. But that's not a crime, it's a misunderstanding."

"Why are you defending him? Look at what he did!" Lizzy couldn't believe that Richard wasn't taking her side on this. Had he no feelings? Richard sighed, "Look if Will had told Charlie to dump Jane, then yes I would place complete blame on him. But he just told Charlie to slow down. What Charlie did next was entirely up to him. No, wait, let me finish," he raised his hand up right as Lizzy opened her mouth to retort. "You don't know Charlie like we do. He's the kind of guy that says 'I love you' after a week of dating, asks a girl to move in with him after only a month, proposes before their 3 month anniversary." He kept his eyes on the road but tried to glance as often as he could at Lizzie to make sure she was listening, "or at least that's what he used to do until we stepped in. Well, Will more so than myself but you get the picture. I can't tell you how many times women have taken advantage of his gullible nature and every time, they walk away tens of thousands of dollars richer at his expense."

"Are you saying that's what you guys thought Jane was doing? Stealing from Charlie?" Lizzy scathingly responded to his explanation, "For God's sake, she lives with me! One painting from my dad's gallery and she'd be set up for years! But no, she's honest, she would never do that, to me or to Charlie!" She knew she was being stubborn but she had very right to be! In this situation, she wasn't the one who did wrong.

Richard glanced at her quickly, a frown on his face, "I'm not saying that Jane would do that! I'm just saying that telling Charlie to slow down in a relationship has sort of become second nature to Will. Don't tell me you wouldn't do the same for Jane or Emma."

Lizzy glared at him. How dare he challenge her! "What, break up their relationships? Umm, no I wouldn't! I'm not a control freak!"

"Not break them up stupid! But you would be there for them in any way necessary. If you saw something about them that worried you, don't tell me you would just shut up and let them go on." Richard glowered at the road ahead, starting to get annoyed that she wouldn't listen to him or give his words any credence at all! "Don't bother denying it, we both know it's true. You take care of Jane the way Will takes care of Charlie. Man," He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration, "Your friends need to grow up and take care of themselves, maybe if they did that, we wouldn't be having this irritating argument!"

"HE'S CALLING MY BEST FRIEND A GOLD DIGGER!" Lizzy screeched so loud, the pitch caused Richard grimace and wish he had earplugs on. "Ok first of all, lower the decibels, I think only dogs can hear you now," He ignored her scowl and continued, "second of all, I don't think he meant it, he was put on the defensive."

"How can you say that? He clearly said that I might be wrong about Jane, like she's blinded me. Excuse me, but when did he start thinking I was stupid enough to not see through all those schemes?"

Richard inwardly sighed in annoyance. They were pulling up to the Bennet townhouse any second now and he hadn't made any progress with his fiery little friend. Lizzy noticed their location as well and clutched her bag tighter, ready to spring from the car as soon as Richards's foot pressed the brake pedal. In a last ditch effort to make some sort of peace, Richard turned to her, an earnest expression on his face and waited for her to look at him. When she obstinately refused to do so, he continued anyway, "Lizzy you know Will. Do you honestly think he would try to hurt your friend on purpose? Do you think him capable of breaking her heart, and Charlie's too for that matter? Be angry with him, sure, not for that reason, but because his advice could have been worded better." Seeing her refuse to acknowledge his words, Richard decided to use the last card up his sleeve, "If you truly believed Will capable of that, you wouldn't feel about him the way that you do". Lizzy quickly schooled her face to hide the shock she felt but knew that it was in vain. Richard was no doubt, aware of her internal struggle. He could always read her like an open book, 'damn him!' Clinging to her last shred of pride, she climbed out of the car, slamming the door behind her and rushed up the stairs to her home. Before Richard could even get out of the car, she was inside, not bothering to leave the door open for him. He sighed again and climbed out of the car, slowly making his way up the stairs. He walked in just in time to hear a door slam on the next floor. Wincing, he turned away and saw Sam make his way over.

"Hey Sam, just thought I'd leave these here," He handed the key fob to the trustworthy butler who stood by with a sympathetic look on his face.

"Thank you sir, I'll be sure to get these to Miss Lizzy."

"Yeah…well, I guess I'll see you in a few days, after she's had a chance to calm down." Sam nodded his head in agreement. Both men were aware that although Lizzy rarely got angry, it took a while to abate once she lost her temper. "That would be wise Master Richard."

Richard exhaled and with one last wry smile, walked out of the house, quickly shutting the door so as to not let the cold air in. Before he could pull out his phone to call himself a car, he looked up and noticed a dark sedan pull up in front of the house. A young man, wearing a chauffeur's hat stepped out of the drivers seat and politely walked over to stand by the rear door. With a sigh of relief, Richard made his way to the car, thankful that his cousin had the presence of mind to arrange a way home for him.

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Will stood as still as a statue until he heard the ping of the elevator signaling its departure. He then threw down his cue and rushed out of the billiard room, all the while pulling his cell phone out of his pocket and dialing his friend's number. After a few rings, the familiar voice could be heard on the other end, "Hello?"

"Did you break up with Jane?" Will didn't even bother greeting his friend. He walked into his kitchen and with one hand still holding his phone to his ear, he opened the fridge and grabbed a beer.

"What? No! Why would you think that?" Charlie's voice went from lethargic to incredulous in 2 seconds. Will positioned his phone between his ear and shoulder as he reached for the bottle opener and popped open his drink. "Well that's what Lizzie seems to think!"

"Lizzie? Why would she think that?" Charlie sounded more and more alert, albeit a little confused.

"I don't know. You tell me! She came here and went all Norman Bates on me!"

"Who?"

Will rolled his eyes at his friend's ignorance, "Norman Bates…'Psycho'?" He walked over to his living area and sat down on the leather sectional and put his feet up on the matching ottoman.

"The movie with Christian Bale chopping people up?"

"No man, that's 'American Psycho'! Whatever, never mind. The point is she was furious. She kept saying I'm the reason you and Jane broke up"

"Wow, ok…umm… I'm sorry, I'll talk to Lizzy, explain things to her."

"That's not what I'm worried about!" Will protested, putting his bottle down on a coaster "I can handle Lizzy but did you really break up with Jane because of what I said? What happened?"

"Nothing!" He hesitated briefly, "I mean, I told her I would call her but I haven't gotten the chance yet." Will groaned but before he could say anything, Charlie continued, "I thought about what you said and you were right."

"I never told you to break up with her! I said slow down!" Will interrupted heatedly.

"I know!" Charlie tried to pacify his friend, "but I was going way too fast. I want to do this right with Jane. I don't want to rush her or do something that we'll both regret. I think she may be the one." Will snorted, "Well, you have a really bad way of showing it. You're being all hot and cold with her. You can't be with her 24/7 and then pull away all of a sudden without an explanation."

"I know, I know!" Charlie moaned, "I freaked out! I just needed a minute to pull back a little and figure out my next step." They sat in silence for a few minutes. Will wasn't sure what to say and Charlie was wondering if he had ruined his chances with the woman that he had fallen in love with. He sincerely hoped not. Will sighed,

"I don't know what to say man, don't leave her hanging. I don't think she is doing too well. And I can't say I blame her."

"I know, I'm going to go see her tomorrow. And listen Will, I'm really sorry about you and Lizzy. I didn't want to get between you guys." Charlie's voice was full of remorse. Will rubbed his face with his hand.

"Don't worry about that. I'll take care of it. This whole things was all a big misunderstanding." He hoped he sounded more confident than he felt. Ending the call, he tossed the phone beside him and reached for his drink. Taking a swig, he thought back to his argument with Lizzie. He had never seen her this angry before. Not that it should have been a surprise; Lizzy was always very loyal to her loved ones. He groaned in frustration, why did this have to happen now? Things were finally good between them and now he had to deal with this huge setback. He shook his head, everything would be fine, Charlie and Jane would be back on track and things between he and Lizzie would go back to normal. In the meantime, he figured it would be better to give her some time and space to calm down. He picked up his phone once again to arrange a car so that Richard had a ride home from Lizzie's house. When that task was complete, he sat quietly drinking his beer and wondering justvhow much this would affect his relationship with his fiery best friend.