Sorry for the long time before updating but here we go...

Also to answer all queries D&E will happen and Rich will end up happy... How? You'll have to keep reading to find out...

xx faithinfools

I'm not afraid to fall
it means I climbed up high
to fall is not to fail
you fail when you don't try
not afraid to fall
I might just learn to fly and
I will spread these wings of mine

Get Up - Superchick

There it was. The halfpipe. Lizzy hadn't been down the halfpipe in three years. She took a deep breath in. You can do this. You can do this. She chanted in her head. Oh god. She couldn't do this. Whose stupid idea was this anyway?

"Lizzy… This was your idea…" Chuck said, confused.

"I said that out loud didn't I?" The other three nodded. Lizzy swore. "Can I talk to Jane for a moment… Alone?" The men nodded and moved off to talk to themselves.

"You can do this Lizzy. I know you can."

"What if I can't Jane? What if…What if I fall…?" She whispered, frightened.

"You won't. I won't let you fall. He's there for you Lizzy, he always has been. Just search your heart." Lizzy reached for her locket at her neck. She nodded. She could do this. Henry was with her. He would want her to do this.

"Ready Lizzy?"

"Ready Jane." Lizzy pulled her goggles down and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath and let her board slide. She opened her eyes as she felt herself fly up. She breathed through her nose, a simple ollie. She could do that. She landed a bit unsteadily but it felt good. She smiled. Simple tricks. Shift. Switch ollie. Poptart. One more trick left. She breathed in, time to try a simple front flip. She took a deep breath and went up and all of a sudden she began to panic, Henry flashed in front of her eyes, she heard a scream and she fell into a darkness.

"Lizzy? Lizzy? Oh my god. Lizzy?" She woke to Jane, Rich and Charlie looking over her. She blinked confused.

"What happened?"

"You went up for what looked like a front flip but you screamed and fell and we had to race down the halfpipe to get you."

"Oh Jesus… That's embarrassing…"

"Lizzy… What happened?" Rich asked her, concerned.

"I dunno Rich. I was going up and it felt amazing and then I fell." She said in a confused voice.

"You're going home. It's time to go home." Jane said firmly. "That's enough for one day."

"Yes Janey." Lizzy sighed. What had gone wrong? It had been fine. It had all been fine. So why did she fall? She shook her head absentmindedly. "You guys stay and board for a while, I need to be alone." She said as she walked off, leaving them behind her. What had gone wrong? Henry had wanted her to do this. She had wanted her to do this but why couldn't she?

Jane watched her sister walk off with her board in her hands, she knew Lizzy would have a lot of thinking to do tonight but at the same time she knew that the old Lizzy was back. The Lizzy who didn't give up, the Lizzy who fought for what she believed in. Jane had seen the small fire in Lizzy's eyes when she had woken up. It was coming back, gradually. She turned to the men.

"Well, I'm going to go skiing, anyone want to come with?" She asked nonchalantly as if her sister had no just blacked out on the halfpipe run.

"But… Jane… Lizzy?" Richard asked confused.

"She needs time Richard. She needs to think, I can see it in her eyes, she just needs a little space." He nodded thoughtfully.

"Okay well you two lovebirds go ahead, I might go find Georgie and see if we can hit another run before it gets too dark." They blushed and nodded in reply.

Lizzy woke up and looked at the clock beside her bed. It was 4:00am in the morning. God it was early. She stretched and tried to get down, back into her warm spot on the bed but no matter what she did, she couldn't get comfortable. She sighed and lay back, staring at the ceiling. Absentmindedly, she reached for the locket at her neck and after a moment sat straight up. She couldn't just lie in bed and do nothing… Then she smiled. That was it! She quickly and quietly got up, got dressed and wrote a quick note to Jane, leaving it on the table and made her way out into the freshly powdered snow. It was extremely dark out but Lizzy knew exactly where she wanted to go. She walked through the snow, board in hand and stopped outside the only room that would be lit at this hour of the morning. She smiled and knocked on the door.

"Come in." An old, rough voice said. Lizzy smiled in delight as she opened the door to see one of her favourite people in the world.

"Hey Uncle Jerry." The old man turned around and smiled as he stood, raising himself out of his chair he walked towards her slowly, with a toothy smile.

"Little Lizzy. My little Lizzy. You've taken pity on me have you?" The old man asked. She smiled.

"Of course not Uncle Jerry, you know I've been meaning to visit you." The old man shook his head ruefully.

"Sure sure." He replied, hugging her tight. She smiled. Jerry Donald was the old caretaker and manager of the helicopter grounds, he had been working on the mountain ever since Lizzy could remember, taking tourists sightseeing every winter. He was such a close family friend she had called him Uncle Jerry from when she was 5. She hadn't seen him in three years and revelled in the familiar warmth and happiness which she always felt radiating from him. He was like her second father. He had taught her how to snowboard and a lot of the tricks and small flips she had learnt from him, the rest she had learnt herself. "What brings you here my little Lizzy? You haven't been here since… Since you gave up your career…"

"I know Uncle Jerry I know, I wanted to start again. Like old times, I want to try again." He started and looked her in the eye.

"Are you sure lass?" She took a deep breath in before replying.

"I'm sure. But I need your help." He looked at her, searching her eyes, looking for the blind determination she found in them when he first started teaching her and this time he was blown away, there was more than determination, there was a fire. A fire that wasn't there before. He smiled down at her.

"Well… We better get started then, we have a long way to go yet. How long do we have?"

"My first class is at 10."

"Perfect, my first trip is at 11. Let's go." She waited until Jerry had gotten his boarding stuff and together they walked towards the shed, rolling out the helicopter that was his pride and joy. Soon enough they were off, flying high above the mountain passes. Lizzy could feel her breath hitch as she tried not to look over the side of the helicopter. "Not looking doesn't help lass." Jerry said, a tinge of sympathy in his voice.

"What else am I supposed to do Jerry?" She asked through clenched teeth. He smiled.

"Let me think. Are you outside or inside?"

"Inside." Lizzy replied, unsure of where this was going.

"And do you think I'd let you fall?"

"No."

"Good. That's solved. Open your eyes lass, you used to love this. It was your favourite part of the whole thing." Slowly Lizzy opened her eyes, one after another, taking in the beautiful landscape below her. And she didn't feel scared. There was no anxiety, there was no fear, there was just the beauty of the fresh snow in the darkness. She smiled.

"Thanks Uncle Jerry."

"I'm always here for you, you know that. Does that mean you're ready to try the big air?" Lizzy shook her head fiercely.

"I can barely do really high up inside, I don't think I can even begin to imagine what doing it outside would be like." He nodded.

"One step at a time. We're here." He said, slowly descending the helicopter down into a clearing, hidden by the valleys and the trees that surrounded it. Lizzy smiled. She could almost call it home it was that familiar to her. Besides where the helicopter was landed, there was a large halfpipe and a slalom run in the centre of the clearing. Lizzy ran out of the helicopter and laughed. It felt good to be back.

"Come on lassie. You we've got a lot of catching up to do." She stuck out her tongue but grabbed her board from him and they walked to the top of the halfpipe. "Have you gone on a halfpipe since…?"

"Once. Yesterday. I blacked out while trying a simple front flip." He nodded.

"Right. Then your first run is a switch ollie, backside 180 indy grab, air to fakey, japan air and an ollie." She nodded. There were a few tricky things in there that she hadn't tried in a while but she knew that this was just the kid stuff. She could do much better than this. She took a deep breath in and allowed herself to go down the halfpipe. Switch ollie. The landing was a bit shaky but it was okay, the backside 180 indy grab, she didn't get enough air and landed unsteadily in the wrong direction but quickly adjusted to do the next trick. Air to fakey, japan air, and ollie. She finished her run and looked up at Uncle Jerry. He frowned. She sighed. It was going to be a long road of recovery.

"You didn't get enough air on any of those, lean into it, don't be scared to fly. Your rotations need work and your landings weren't strong enough, part of the reason you didn't get enough air." She nodded. "Again." And on they went. She continued doing the same pattern of tricks and he continued to give her more criticism. After what felt like her 100th run he held up his hand.

"Slalom?" She asked.

"Slalom." He said back. "I'll time you from the bottom." She nodded and made her way to the top. She waited and watched as his arm went down and she started her run. She quickly wove her way through the coloured flags. She finished, looking up at her coach expectantly.

"If this was parallel slalom it would be 2.22. Not quick enough at all. You need less than 1.30 for both runs. That is the goal. Again." She nodded and sighed. It was going to be a tough battle, but then again, the only way to go was up.

It was the time of death. Or so Lizzy thought anyway. As soon as her mother had gotten word of Jane's new boyfriend he was immediately invited to dinner and it was absolutely ridiculous. She was fawning over him.

"My Jane has always been called the beauty of the neighbourhood."

"Mother! I'm sure Chuck already knows how hot Janey is otherwise he wouldn't be going out with her." Lizzy retorted, rolling her eyes. Her mother narrowed her eyes.

"Make yourself useful Elizabeth and find something to do. Stop lounging about. We have guests you know."

"I know… I know… Hold on… Guests? Like with an s? Generally meaning plural?"

"Yes guests. Goodness Elizabeth, it's like you don't even live here."

"Umm… Mother? I don't."

"Good God woman, your cousin Bill Collins is coming over for dinner." Mrs. Bennet came over to Lizzy and whispered in her ear. "And if you're lucky, he'll be asking you to go out with him." Lizzy almost vomited.

"Mother! You can't be serious!" Lizzy shouted.

"Ssshhhh! Or Charlie will hear you!" Her mother whispered ferociously.

"How long is he staying?!" Lizzy asked outraged.

"You have a whole week dear, I'm sure that you can get him to fall for you in that time, and if not, you're a lost cause. I'm surprised that he wanted to see you anyway, God knows that you were always the ugly duck of the family…"

"Thank you mother. No wonder we have such a lovely relationship with each other." The doorbell rang.

"Lizzy will you open the door honey?" Mrs. Bennet said loudly.

God damn it. She couldn't escape him now. Her mother was actually crazy. Lizzy rose, and stomped angrily to the door. She wrenched open the door. Collins dropped to his knees and kissed Lizzy's hand.

"You look beautiful Elizabeth." He reached behind his back and pulled out a bouquet of roses.

"And you make me gag Collins." She shut the door in his face.

"Elizabeth Carla Bennet! Open the door and let your cousin in right now!" Mrs. Bennet hollered. Lizzy rolled her eyes and sighed. She opened the door.

"Get in Collins and stop grovelling before I kick you where the sun don't shine." She said tiredly. This was going to be a long week.

I promise we shall have more D&E action next update. Just for the record Rich doesn't tell Darcy and Georgie about Wickham there because otherwise they would leave the mountain and Rich wants to stay with Lizzy.

xx faithinfools