As promised, a second chapter to make up for the first chapter of this weekend being so short. It ended up coming out a bit different than I had thought about it in my head, but I'm pretty pleased with the result (and I think it rivals if not exceeds chapter 9). Not to mention that it is the longest chapter I have ever written - so you can rejoice about that!

I listened to your advice and contacted the runner-up of the contest, Karmencorn, who had tons of wonderful suggestions and decided that we are going to call Georgiana Julia in honor of Julie Brook. Thanks to everyone for your opinions and thank you of course to Karmencorn.

Ok, here we go.

Chapter 18:

I made it through my final exams with very little sleep, truckloads of coffee and sheer willpower. My last exam finished at six in the evening and although all I wanted to do was go to my apartment, fall into bed and sleep straight through Christmas and New Years, I instead had to go Darbing's annual Christmas party. I would have blown the whole thing off, except that Josh mentioned before I left that this is when the firm hands out the Christmas bonuses and that's definitely something that I didn't want to miss.

So I dragged myself home from my exam, showered, put some product in my curls, minimum make-up and pulled on a LBD (little black dress). I then spent the following 45 minutes trying to find all of my accessories and jewelry under the mess that was caused during the monsoon that was final exams. I finally finished getting ready (though I swore I was going to put in no effort at all) and made my way downstairs, only to find out that it was raining and had to go back upstairs to find an umbrella. When I, of course, couldn't find one, I decided to splurge and call for a taxi to take me to the party.

By the time I arrived, the party was already in full swing. I grabbed a flute of champagne from a passing waiter (if I was going to be there I might as well enjoy it) and set off to find Josh. I finally found him amongst several members of our department, including Maggie and Anthony. I finished my glass of champagne and exchanged it for another.

"Josh!!! You look wonderful!" I chirped.

Josh turned around, looked at me and narrowed his eyes.

"Liz! You came. You . . . well, to be honest Liz, you look like death warmed over."

"Oh Josh, you sure know how to flatter a girl."

I continued to walk towards him and wobbled a little on my stilettos. I hate these things.

"Um, Liz, I'm going to ask you a delicate question here -"

"Ask away!!"

"-Are you drunk?"

I shook my head vigorously.

"Nope."

"Are you sure?"

I nodded.

"Yep. Josh I need at least 4 of these" I motioned to my champagne "in order to get tipsy. I'm just overtired. When I get overtired, I get hyper. Hyper, Hyper, HYPER!!!! Then I crash."

He laughed.

"If you say so."

"I do say so."

"Well, as long as you don't make a fool of yourself in front of the boss . . ."

"I don't plan on it."

Maggie cleared her throat at this point.

"How were your exams Liz?"

"I'm not really thinking about them. At least not until the grades are due back, otherwise I'll just get an ulcer from worrying. Right now the only thing I'm thinking about is my bed."

"Well then, I wouldn't want to keep you longer than necessary." Maggie handed me an envelope that she was holding. "This is for you from Darbing. The firm has appreciated all the hard work that you have done for them in the past year and look forward to another harmonious year working together. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Liz." She then reached over and gave me a hug.

"Thank you Maggie!"

"And on a personal note, I'd like to say that I've enjoyed working with you these past few months. You were a breath of fresh air to the department, and unlike Josh here, you were a polite breath. I'm very happy you joined us and am glad you'll be here for awhile."

"Oh, Maggie, me too! I love working with the department and I look forward to learning more from you."

"Now, dear, if you want, you can go home and sleep. If anyone asks for you we can vouch honestly that you were here and they just missed you. Aside from the Christmas caroling at the end, which if Darcy drinks enough to get a bit tipsy he might lead, there isn't much you'll be missing."

"I'd like to see Darcy tipsy and singing."

"I promise you Liz," Josh inputted "if Darcy gets tipsy and starts singing, I have a pocket video-camera right here to record every minute. You'll be the first person I show it to before I start blackmailing him."

I laughed.

"That sounds like a deal, I'll stay for a few more minutes and then head home to bed."

The group disbursed, leaving Josh and myself standing alone. Being that I barely spoke with Josh between when he came back from Boston and when I left for exams, and being that when I left the news about Charlie hadn't broken yet in the office, I played ignorant.

"Where's Charlie? I don't see him in the crowd."

Josh looked surprised.

"Liz, you don't know?"

"Don't know what?"

"Charlie is staying in Tokyo."

"What?"

"Exactly what I just said."

"But why?"

"According to Darcy, the discrepancy they had found in that one account before Thanksgiving wasn't the only one and it wasn't a discrepancy and even worse, it came from inside the firm. Darcy, Charlie and Mr. Bingley all felt that a presence was needed in the Tokyo office and since Charlie needed a change of scenery –"

"Darcy said that Charlie needed a change of scenery?"

Josh nodded. I grabbed another flute of champagne and gulped it down.

"Liz, maybe you should take it easy on the champagne."

I shrugged his comment off.

"I'll be fine. I think I'm going to go home and sleep though. I'll see you in the office on Wednesday."

"You're coming back that quickly?"

"I don't have any time left to take off."

He nodded.

"I'll see you Wednesday then."

Tiredly wobbling on my heels, I made my way out of the party. I got outside only to realize that I had forgotten that it was pouring, and since I forgot to call for a cab, I either had to hail one or walk to the subway, either way I was going to end up soaking wet.

"F%#$!!" I took a deep breath and walked into the storm, getting drenched immediately. I started to make my way to the subway. Unsteady between the heels and the slickness of the pavement, I slipped. I think I may have let out a shriek. As I headed down to what would be a painful fall, a large arm wrapped around my waist and steadied me.

"Liz, where do you think you are going?" I slowly turned around to face Darcy. I let out a nervous laugh.

"I'm going home Darcy. Not that it is any of your business."

"Liz" he said quietly. Or at least I think it was quietly, it could have been in a normal voice but due to the noise of the storm he was out-voiced.

"Liz" he said again "You're drunk. You are in no condition to be travelling home by yourself. Let me take you home."

With his arm still around his waist, he began to lead me toward his car. I shoved away from him harshly but to no avail.

"No! Darcy just leave me alone! I don't want to be near you right now."

"Liz- "

"Don't Liz me!"

"You're drunk, you don't know what you're saying"

"I'm not drunk you idiot! Let go of me!"

"No Liz. I'm concerned for your safety and I would spend the night worrying if you went home alone like this. I'm taking you home."

By that time I had had enough of his domineering behavior. I balled my hand into a fist and let it fly at him. Hey it worked before.

Unfortunately, this time he caught my wrist several inches before my punch landed on its intended target – his jaw.

"I let you slap me once Liz, don't think that I'm fool enough to let you do it again. Especially when it isn't warranted."

At this point I took a good look at him. His eyes were glowering, his jaw set. The rain had soaked his hair, causing it to lay flat on his head. He had that look of anger that I had once seen in him and hoped was never directed at me. Some strange man in the back of my head flipped the fear trigger and I began to cower away from him as much as possible. His arm around my waist held firm. I began to struggle.

"Liz, stop it!"

"Let me go!"

"You're acting like a child."

"You're acting like a buffoon"

"Enough!" he ceremoniously scooped me up and began carrying me.

Before I had the chance to react, he was already depositing me in the passenger seat of his car and closing the door. As soon as he stepped away I pulled at the door handle to open the door, only to find the door remaining in place. I tugged and pulled but got nowhere. By this point Darcy had gotten into the driver's seat and turned on the ignition.

"You enabled the child guard on the door?!"

"I know you well enough to anticipate your actions Liz. I'll repeat myself, you are in no condition to travel home alone." He put the car into drive and pulled out onto the road.

I stopped arguing at this point and just leaned my head against the headrest and closed my eyes, exhausted.

A little while later, as we neared my apartment, I spoke again.

"I'm not drunk you know."

"Then you played a damn good imitation of it out there Liz."

"I finished my exams today. I'm exhausted and overtired. Sometimes my overtiredness mirrors drunk behavior."

"Don't make excuses. I saw you chugging glasses of champagne."

"I can hold my liquor."

"Whatever. You can't handle a 300 pound guy named Bubba coming on to you in the subway, whether drunk or tired." He pulled into a spot near my building.

"Why do you care Darcy? I'm not your responsibility."

His head snapped toward me.

"I care about what happens to you" he said in a low voice "because I care about you Liz. As much as I tried to ignore it, as much as I've tried to set it aside, I care about you." His hand reached up to caress my cheek. "Lizzie –"

My eyes shot to his. It was the first time he'd ever called me Lizzie.

"I can't stand this anymore! I want to be with you. I can't stand the way you look right now, all tired and pale, with huge purple bags under your eyes. I can't stand to see you make yourself sick. Be with me. I'll take care of you. You won't have to work through school anymore. I'll provide for you, I have enough money to do it. I can't go through this anymore." He leaned in to kiss me, and I fumbled behind me for the door, to realize that he disabled the child guard. I scampered out of the car as fast as I could, back into the pouring rain. I made it about 3 feet before slipping again, only this time I fell cause there was no Darcy there to catch me.

"Lizzie!" Darcy began to rush around the car to me. Using the car to help me back to my feet, I did so as fast as I could.

"No! Don't help me! Don't say anything else!" I pushed my wet, curly hair out of my eyes. "Do you think that maybe I get a say in this?! That I get to decide whether I want to be with you? Well, let me tell you something Darcy, I don't want to have anything to do with you. And I'm ashamed of myself for ever having been interested in you in the first place. You're arrogant and conceited. You have never been anything but condescending to me. You don't know the first thing about me, or else you would know that what you pulled tonight was the ultimate thing that makes me tick! Because nothing, NOTHING, is valued by me more than my independence. But to you, money solves everything!"

Darcy started to open his mouth to say something but I cut him off.

"No, you don't get to say anything now. You had your fill, now it is my turn. Even if I could set all of those flaws aside to be with you, do you think I could after what you have done to others?!"

Now he looked confused, so I clarified.

"Jeremy Wickham. Sure he's a slimeball, but sometimes those who are slimeballs in real life are fantastic attorneys! He was a member of your firm, promised a partnership by your father and you fired him! All because you disagreed with his methods of dealing with the clients!"

Darcy started to say something again, but I shook my head, my wet curls stinging my cheeks.

"Even if I were to set that aside, what about Jane?! What about Jane?! She loved Charlie, LOVED him! And you, knowing that, sent him to Tokyo. You sent him to Tokyo and then had him stay there! She's been devastated and now she's off to Africa as a result! You broke my sister. I could never be with someone who could do such a horrific thing. So no Darcy, I don't care what you feel now because I'm sick of taking your crap. I'm not interested. Do what you did tonight again and I'll have you brought up on kidnapping charges, not to mention sue you for sexual harassment."

He just stood there, with a look of shock on his face.

"What? Don't you have anything to say in your defense?"

"Go inside Liz."

"What?!"

"I said go inside." He said, with a voice that just sounded tired.

"That's all you have to say for yourself?"

"Liz, your lips are turning blue, and you're shivering like a Chihuahua. You're exhausted and angry right now so I doubt you'd hear a word I would say to you now. I'd much rather you be healthy and go inside and get into dry clothes and warm up than for me to defend myself. I have my responses and in the right time I'll defend my actions, but not tonight. Go home Liz."

My anger rushed out of me like a whoosh of hot air. I just turned around and headed into my building. As much as I would normally feel a triumph from winning such an argument, no such feeling ever came. Instead, I went upstairs, got into a hot shower and mulled over what happened.

I couldn't figure out why I was desperately fighting an urge to cry.

This was quite a bit close to my equivalent of the Hunsford scene than Chapter 9 was. Considering the mass reviews lately to bring Liz and Will together, I think I need to go head under the bed again, like I did after Chapter 9. Let me know what you think of the chapter, and once again, someone let me know when it is safe to come out again - after all I do need to go to class later in the week.