AN: At 14 our "dating" was limited to dancing together at school dances, sitting together during breaks and (very romantically) lending each other missing accessories, like an eraser. Not sure about other countries/times/cultures, but I sincerely hope a pair of 14/15 yo kids from reasonably good families would limit their "dating" to a similar scope. Especially when equipped with a twin sister as a chaperone.

So, on to the story. I know it's been a month, and I\m very sorry it took me so long to update this, but I managed to drown my laptop and it put kind of a damper on my writing drive.

####

She leaned back and groaned.
Mina was outside the cafe, saying 'goodbye' to Teddy for the last few minutes.
Rose was in the toilet, or rather, most probably, stuck in a queue to the ladies' room.
It was time to talk to Richard finally.
As it seemed to be a pattern that day, someone beat her to the punch.
"What exactly were you thinking, Rick?" William sounded weary. "I don't claim I'll ever understand a teenage girl fully, but even I know that making fun of someone's boyfriend is a surefire way to get them really pissed off. Seriously? Threatening Teddy, like that? I know it was a joke, but, Rick, kids at that age don't get sarcasm. They are deadly serious about things like that. Yes, both twins have a great sense of humour. They can tell terrible jokes with the best of them. They prank each other. They needle each other. But what you did? Not funny. At all."
Richard squirmed.
It was weird, watching him do that, but Elizabeth felt a bit vindictive after what he did to Mina - and how he cut her off when she wanted to interrupt him.
"You may think you know her" she added when William fell silent. "But you really don't. The fact that she looks like Rose doesn't mean she is Rose. And even if they were much more similar than they are, it would still be a kid you have no claim on. A kid that has experiences you know nothing about, a kid brought up in a situation you know nothing about and a kid who had been bullied through most of her school life simply because of her being short. And what you did? You threatened a boy she likes. Like. A. Bully."
"But, Liz..."
"Like. A. Bully. Also, you interrupt me, Richard Fitzwilliam, and while fifteen years ago I might have been meek and quiet and allowed you to do it, I've been training myself out of these habits. So, do you understand what you did? You picked on my daughter. By the proxy of picking on the boy she likes, and you in an explicit way threatened them - whatever they are right now - no idea what this is called nowadays - you threatened that. You are bigger and have the authority of being Teddy's officer during the camp, so from Mina's point of view you are just a common schoolyard tormentor."
"Elizabeth" William patted her shoulder. "I think he gets it."
"Well" Rose sniffed derisively as she pulled out her chair. "I hope he does, or I will have to hit him. Nobody is authorised to make fun of Mina and Teddy, except for me. She is my sister. Not someone else's."
Richard rolled his eyes heavenwards but Elizabeth saw a slow, unwilling acceptance creeping into his expression.
"OK, I know, I know. I overdid. It's just... I wanted to..." he shook his head. "It seemed like a good idea at the time?"
Elizabeth snorted.
"You wanted to make an impression on Mina" she pointed out. "And you blew it. No more first impressions for you, Richard. It will be all hard work from now on."
"Suddenly" he stabbed his piece of cheesecake "I wish the two of you weren't such modern, responsible and communicative parents."
Elizabeth raised her eyebrows in a silent enquiry.
"Traditional conservative parents would have spanked her seat and told her to obey her elders" he grumbled.
"You can ask Dad how well the argument about 'elders' worked for the last person who tried to use it on me" Mina remarked sweetly, sliding into her sear and spearing a bit of apple pie with her fork.
William coughed and sipped his coffee.
"Will...?"
"The last person to use these words in discussion with Mina..." her fiancé smirked and sipped some more coffee, obviously enjoying seeing his cousin's discomfort. "...was aunt Cathy. So, you can obviously try to go down that lane, but the company you are going to find yourself in is not one I'd personally think you would enjoy."
Richard groaned and covered his face with his fork-free hand.
"Yeah, sure, rub it in. Not only I can't make a proper connection with my only goddaughter, I'm utter crap when reading kids' reactions and I also voiced an opinion that puts me in one box with our dearest aunt."
"Yep" Mina remarked nastily, sticking her tongue out at him.
"Wilhelmina Darcy, stop this immediately" Elizabeth sighed. "I may not be the conservative disciplinarian, but a grounding with a significant amount of chores is still in my portfolio of available punishments if I decide you need to be reminded that things like rules of proper behaviour still exist."
"Yeah, but they should apply to everyone" Mina mumbled, pushing a piece of her pastry around on her plate.
"You are not going to let this just die by itself?" Richard asked morosely.
She picked a bit of her pie and filled her mouth with it, shrugging.
"If a kid said something like this" Rose remarked, stirring her tea "the headmaster or the parents would have interrogated them until they explained all the "why", "why not", "who", and "what exactly were you thinking", but there is no headmaster for the grownups, is there?"
They are getting entirely too cheeky, both of them.
She exchanged glances with William and they both fought smiles emerging on their faces.
"Apparently nobody needs a bloody headmaster when a poor soldier has two sassy nieces to torture him. Also, your father did ask exactly that question" groaned Richard. "OK, OK. Yes. I messed up. I should not have said these things to Teddy, I should not have been threatening him and I'm sorry for making assumptions about Mina. I admit, I'm not as all-knowing as I try to pose as. Better now?"
Rose scrunched her nose.
"Well, Richard" she said, raising a finger and enunciating carefully, with something of an affection of an old-school governess "It only counts if you are actually sincere about it."
William choked on the last of his coffee.
Mina snorted, spitting some of her pie out.
Elizabeth kept her dignity intact, simply because she had refrained from eating and drinking temporarily, and was very happy about it now.
"God, Rose, now I have apple pie in my nose!"

#

Finally, Richard stopped playing the victim and apologised honestly (or at least as honestly as a very thoroughly henpecked forty-five-year-old male can). Mina gracefully accepted and promised to pass the update on to Teddy. Afterwards, they spent a nice, companionable evening together, eating a proper dinner at a restaurant and talking about the whole situation, starting from the camp (backtracking to Jane's manipulations, Richard expressed his admiration for her abilities), through the painful and confused September, Mina's illness, going back to school, Davison, Teddy (here Mina blushed and Richard whistled quietly in admiration) and ending with the last week of rehearsals and an explanation of Georgiana's absence.
"She has a date" Elizabeth informed them all tersely. "And if anyone even tries to bother her about it, they will have to answer to me."
"Wow" Richard nodded slowly. "I never thought... I mean, well. She is over thirty now, and she had never dated since, like, high school. I just hope you guys know the bloke."
Elizabeth waved it away. And waited for a beat, just enough for him to raise his cup of coffee to his lips.
"Yep, we know her."
The effect was indeed satisfactory, as Richard's eyes popped a bit, but he managed to swallow the coffee without any interesting accident.
"Good for little Georgie" he said at last. "I seem to remember her with boys, though. Some crushes, some celebrity posters on the walls..."
"Yes, well. It's Lucy now."
"Hey" Richard smirked over his cup. "I'm the last man to be bothering someone about their choices. I just hope they are happy, that's the only important thing."
Elizabeth considered that for a moment.
"They seem to be. It's still early days, but they seem to be fine. And we all are very much not interfering. And don't you dare say anything to her, Richard. You are not showing particular sensitivity this week, you know."
"You are going to dredge this up whenever you feel like it."
"Absolutely."

#

Sunday promised to be relaxing. After all the preparation, the excitement of the competition and the slight disappointment and annoyance of the afternoon, it seemed that everyone was more than ready to kick back and stop stressing.
Except for Elizabeth, who had taken a look at her mailbox and sequestered herself in the library, working like a woman possessed on her laptop until Rose barged in and reminded her it was time for dinner.
As they sat quietly and shared a not-exactly-Sunday spaghetti and salad, with Georgiana sneaking glances at her phone and Mina looking into space with a slight smile which suggested that despite the fact that both girls had been dealing with homework for most of the day, she had managed to sneak a text here and there and whatever it was that she had with Teddy was going fine.
"I got a new job" Elizabeth finally said between bites of salad.
William poured them all some more water.
"I wouldn't have guessed" he snorted. "Girls, did you notice anything that might have told you that your mother has something she needs to work on?"
Mina made an innocent face.
"Not really... Unless you count the fact that she didn't step outside the library since breakfast..."
"...or the way she swore at her e-mail around ten in the morning..."
"...or the way she kept smashing her keyboard ever since..."
"...then no, nothing at all."
She sighed, but couldn't control a smile.
"Now, be nice, children. This one may be a big, continuous job that will keep me in good money until summer next year. The size of the project is astounding and it is almost perfectly suited to my skills. I just need to catch up with one technology I've never touched before and I'll be OK. And they want to pay proper money, not the 'little girl' rates."
"As they should" William actually growled. "This rubbish about paying different money depending on gender... I had some old sticks lecturing me about paying women assistants and secretaries too much, because they can never be as effective as a proper male employee. At least one of them was rather insistent on explaining on his own example that his secretary always tries to leave exactly at closing, because she has to pick up the kid from daycare."
Rose smiled up at him.
"I remember that one. Dad was sitting there and that old... human being was pontificating. And Dad just stopped him and said 'if you paid her more, she would have been able to afford more hours at daycare'. And the man just caught some air and went very, very quiet."
"It was that or throwing some tea in his face" William hid his face behind his glass. "One of the old guard, you know. Calls his secretaries 'dearie' and 'doll'."
"And they still work for him?"
She looked up in time to see quite a boyish smile dancing on his lips.
"Some of them work for me now" he said finally.

#

The girls were in their room - asleep or not, she was not going to check it. Their lunch boxes were ready in the pantry, to avoid any delays in the morning. Georgiana had absconded to her room after begging to be allowed the use of Lizzy's piano for the evening - she wanted to practice without disrupting anyone. Mrs Reynolds had returned from her visit with her sister and commiserated with Mina on her second place (and then made some tut-tutting sounds when Rose made a theatrical summary of Richard's behaviour).
"That boy never knew when to keep his mouth shut" she sighed. "It always got him into the worst kind of trouble. Well, nevermind. You" she turned to Mina with a conspiratorial smile. "Tell me about that young man of yours. Every. Little. Detail."

#

"We may have a problem."

Teddy sounded rather serious, so Mina decided to risk an additional minute or two in the corridor.
"You mean, more than just the fact that people still seem to be confused which one of us you were planning to ask out and they think I might have stolen you from Rose?"
He snorted.
"Yeah, more than that. My aunt, Giselle."
"Your aunt Giselle, what?"
"My aunt Giselle, a member of the Historical Society of Lambton" he grimaced like someone who had just bit a lemon.
"Argh. Dad said he was going to have a meeting with them. What did she say?"
"Do you want a summary, or a full quote?"
She leaned on the wall.
"Summary."
"Your Dad is the very devil from the bottom of Hell and you two are daemon-spawn. Also, your mother... well, stuff. Basically, your Dad is after all the historical houses in the area, drawn by the hatred against tradition, making the families leave their land and home, blah blah blah. I must say, my mother's expression was something of a novelty to me - she normally never listens to aunt Giselle for more than three minutes at a time."
"OK, how did the topic even... Crap" the bell almost deafened them.
"See you at lunch."

"I told my mother what happened during the competition - she couldn't come, Theresa caught a bad cold - and said that it was a pity you had been sick, because otherwise it would have been a proper challenge. The moment aunt Giselle heard your name she started spouting things like 'black-hearted bandit' or 'heartless monster'. She sounded like a heroine from a very bad romance. So, I said she should stop, because we two are, like, dating, and she went nuclear. I mean it, we could have powered the whole town out of that explosion... Mina?"
"Nah. Go on."
"You looked weird."
"Absolutely normal."
"Not sure, but if you say so... Anyway, aunt Giselle said I can't be dating the daughter of that barbarian... You're doing this again."
"Nope."
"You are."
"Theodore, finish your bloody story or I will hit you."
"Stop cursing, Wilhelmina, or I won't kiss you today."
"Hah, I'm curious how long you'd last."
"I was ready to wait two years. You will learn to stop cursing by then, I suppose?"
She rolled her eyes.
"The story. Aunt Giselle, going crazy."
"Barbarian, yes. And she said your Dad was supposedly planning to raze some old house and build a new one over it, just like that, without any oversight or anything. Or, because she had at least three versions, he was going to remove the family and give them no chance to find a proper new place. No idea how she thinks he could do that, if they are owners of the place, but when I asked, she started claiming you had applied your feminine wiles and I'm under your spell. Have you? Just checking, you know."
Mina scrunched her nose.
"Not sure I have any."
"You don't" Rose informed her cheerfully from the top of the wall. "Also, your aunt is crazy, Strickland. And the lunch break is almost done, so she has to eat something, or she will faint and Mom will tan my hide - or cut my computer hours, I suppose."
Mina rolled her eyes, but obediently tore into her sandwich.
"We have... to tell Dad... though."
"Absolutely" Teddy agreed. "She sounds crazy, and I think mother was a bit worried."
"But this sounds like someone fed her a lot of absurd crap. What Dad is doing is just helping someone build a new house on their property - not razing the old one or anything - just like it... Well, to make sure the family has somewhere to live at all. Pemberley house sucks to live in, too, despite the fact that it's very fancy and has been updated with a lot of convenient solutions. There is a number of things you just can't do - starting with replacing the windows and ending with the stone floors."
Rose nodded.
"Yeah, Dad does what he can, but can't solve everything without general renovation. And to do that he'd have to spend a heap of money and we'd need a place to live in that time anyway."
"So this is what is happening at that place where is society is protesting - the family wants a new, modern, simple house, situated next to the original one, but isolated, and to have the old one updated as much as they can and then converted to some useful purpose - like a museum, or a cultural centre, or whatever. Even making it a B&B would be easier on them, once they live separately, than staying in the old pile, with the drafts, cold floors, heavy windows and doors and old-fashioned furniture."
"Yep. Now, eat this sandwich, little sister, or I'll hit you."
"Teddy! She's threatening me!"
He managed not to burst into laughter with the whole mouthful of orange juice, but it was close. He swallowed it and looked at her with reproach.
"If I choke on my food one of these days, you won't have a knight in shiny armour to save you, you know?"
"But, Teddy...!"
She fluttered her eyelashes at him.
"Don't" he said sternly. "Eat, she is quite correct."
"You two are ganging up on me!"
"Well, we are both older than you, aren't we?"

####

So, how do you like them? On another site Teddy has a bit of a fanclub already... ;)

Also, a note: I will be giving up posting on FFNet soon. All the stories that are in progress will be finished and posted here completed, but that's it. No more. The editor is wonky, the document management clunky and the whole ways of working here - annoying. Including the comments section.

I'm moving to AO3 and so anything new - there. Nick SrebrnaFH.