Chapter 10

Darcy wasn't at the office the next day, or the day after that and no one seemed to know where he had gone except for Charles, and all Charles would tell her was that he was at Pemberley through till Thursday afternoon.

"I know that you know what happened Charlie," Elizabeth said when she snuck up on him in the break room on Wednesday.

"I'm sorry Lizzie, I'm not quite sure what you're talking about!" he lied.

"Is he avoiding me?" she asked, afraid of the answer.

"It's only fair, isn't it?" he countered, shocking Lizzie with his shortness. "Oh, I'm sorry Lizzie, I know you don't really mean any harm. But Will is my best friend, he has been my whole life. So frankly, I don't blame him for being upset right now. And I don't blame him for not wanting you around George Wickham," Charlie stated.

"My god, he really does tell you everything doesn't he?" she exclaimed, "Wait, what do you know about George?" she asked, realizing what Charlie had said.

"No. That's for you and Will to sort out," he said.

"Seriously?" she asked, slumping in the kitchenette chair in the break room.

"Seriously," Charlie repeated, "But I will tell you, George is not as he appears, and you shouldn't trust him Lizzie," before vacating the room with his coffee.

"Messages for you Lizzie," Lily said holding out a small stack of yellow message notes as she went back to her office.

"Thanks Lily," she mumbled through her biscuit, taking the messages between two fingers on the same hand that held her coffee. Lily resumed her work as Lizzie shut herself in her office to finish her morning tea.

The messages were mostly unimportant, one from Charlotte in the Derbyshire office, one regarding an outstanding invoice for the caterers and the third from George Wickham, simply asking her to call back.

She dealt with the caterer's message first, calling down to the accounts department for a receipt number on the payment she knew had been made yesterday before passing that on to the catering manager.

Charlotte had simply called for gossip after Darcy had breezed through the office there that morning without warning and without a word to anyone before breezing right out again.

"What can I say Charlotte? I'm not the man's keeper," Lizzie sighed.

"No, but besides Charles, you're the closest person in the office to him. I figured you'd know what had him so upset."

Lizzie gnawed on her lower lip a moment, she knew all right.

"It's not for me to say," she finally answered "But if you see him again, can you let me know?"

On the other end of the line Charlotte sighed loudly and Lizzie could almost picture the eye roll she was sure accompanied it.

"Sure thing Liz, Catch you later."

That night while Jane was cooking their dinner and Lizzie was sitting on the floor cleaning out their refrigerator she ranted.

"I mean, he never goes to Pemberley unless Georgiana is with him! And I know she's still overseas because I spoke to her last week! So, is he avoiding me now or something?" she flicked another dirty paper towel into the bin to emphasise her frustration.

"You can't really blame him if he is Lizzie, you did tell him you thought he was somebody else when you slept with him." Jane said, adding more spices to the sauce she was stirring, "Apparently someone who he has history with too,"

"That was an accident!" Lizzie cried, "I never meant to tell him what really happened, but I was so tense and he just kept pushing and I just blurted it out!"

"So he's not allowed to be upset, because you let the truth slip out because you were in a tizzy?" Jane surmised.

"I'm not saying that," Lizzie argued, "I'm just saying, that it's unfair that he's avoiding me after what he said. What do you think he meant anyway?" she asked.

"You did the same thing to him Lizzie, when you ran away from him all day Monday, not to mention Sunday morning." She paused a moment to figure out how to answer Lizzie's other question. Lizzie waited impatiently while she wiped out the crisper.

"I think you and Will need to have a proper talk about everything." She said at last and Lizzie rolled her eyes.

"Jane, that doesn't answer my question at all!" she exclaimed.

"I know, but I'm not sure how to answer it. I don't know exactly what Will meant, but I think it's worth you talking to him about it, about everything. You two have been butting heads long enough."

"Tell me that I'm secretly in love with him one more time, and I will pelt you with vegetables," Lizzie scathed, holding up a bag of carrots as proof. Jane just smirked.

"Actually, pass me those would you?" She said, "And the corn."

Lizzie poked her tongue out at her sister, but passed her what she wanted before putting the rest of the vegetables back in the crisper drawer.

Lizzie made excuses all day to be standing in her office instead of sitting at her desk so that she could see through the glass panelling into the open area of the office. Standing behind her desk she could see the elevators, the front reception desk and Darcy's office door. She wasn't sure if she was anxious for him to come back so that she could talk to him, or just wanted to be aware so she could avoid him. Either way, she was on alert. So when, at two o'clock, while she was on yet another conference call, she was the first to see the tall blonde girl step off the elevator and approach the reception desk. She ended her call and exited her office.

"Georgiana?" she exclaimed, approaching her from behind.

"Elizabeth!" She squealed as she turned around. Lizzie accepted her welcoming hug and then stood back to appraise her friend.

"You look great Georgie! But what are you doing here? You're still supposed to be in Italy!"

Georgiana blushed at the compliment, and tucked a long lock of hair behind her ear coyly.

"Well, my semester has been over for two weeks," she admitted "But Will called me on Tuesday, from Pemberley no less, and he sounded terrible. I felt like I needed to be here."

Lizzie felt her face fall. Georgiana Darcy was the nicest person that she knew, and they'd grown very close in the three years that Lizzie had worked for her brother. She was the only person who knew them both and wasn't trying to force them to like each other, but loved them both completely, despite their dislike of each other.

"Oh, Georgie! I'm sorry." Lizzie apologised, "It's my fault that Darcy's upset."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I think maybe you should talk to him first, he's your brother, and it should come from him."

"You're worrying me now Lizzie," she said.

"I'm sorry, I don't want to upset you. You know you're one of my closest friends. But you also know I never want to come between you two."

"You could never do that." Georgiana assured her, but Lizzie knew that wasn't true. Georgiana might be very good at separating her friendship with Lizzie from her relationship with her brother. But there were betrayals she knew they couldn't overcome. She suspected this might be one of them.

"Gigi?" they were interrupted.

"William!" Georgiana squealed, spinning around and running into her elder brothers arms for a welcoming hug.

"Gigi, what are you doing here?" He asked, but he was looking at Elizabeth, not his sister, and Georgiana noticed. She stepped out of her brother's embrace to open the conversation up to Lizzie as well.

"I was worried about you!" she said, "You sounded so sad on the phone, I decided I had to come back to cheer you up!"

"Gigi, you didn't have to do that. What about school?" he asked.

"I'm on break for three more weeks." She assured him. He looked down at her with a smile, Georgiana was taller than most girls, but Will was still taller by a few inches, Lizzie was always looking up at him she was used to it, being a head shorter than him, but standing between them always made her feel short.

"Well it's wonderful to see you!" he smiled, "What about I take you to lunch?" he asked.

"Of course," she said, and then turned to Lizzie "Would you join us Elizabeth?" she asked. No, she wouldn't. But she couldn't say that without sounding rude.

Looking to Darcy's face he looked like he couldn't decide if he wanted her to come or not. But she decided she wouldn't torture him anymore than she already had. Besides, she was sure he wanted to tell his sister about everything that had happened between them. Georgiana may have been ten years younger than Will, but they were each other's deepest confidantes, Lizzie knew there wasn't a secret between the two of them.

"I really can't Georgie, I'm so sorry. But I have a lot to do this afternoon." She declined.

"Oh," Georgiana frowned, and then smiled again, "Well you must promise to have lunch with me this weekend!"

"Of course," Lizzie smiled, "Have fun you two."

Lizzie turned to walk away as Georgiana said a cheery goodbye, she glanced over her shoulder to wave goodbye and caught Darcy's eye. He still looked like he was trying to make a decision about something, but Lizzie didn't know what. She gave him a weak smile, and then went shut herself in her office for the rest of the afternoon.

"Lily?" she called as she walked through the door, "What are these?"

Sitting on her desk Lizzie was surprised to find a large flower arrangement taking up most of the free space.

"They were just delivered," Lily replied, "You were busy with Mr. Darcy so I signed for them. There's a card." She gave Lizzie a suspicious wink and Lizzie made a face back at her before walking over to the ostentatious arrangement and searching for the supposed card. She drew it out from between two yellow roses and realised who they were from.

I'm sorry for missing your big night.

I tried to call.

Sincerely,

George Wickham

She sighed, 'how very formal of you George,' she thought, sinking into her office chair she picked up her phone and dialed his number. He picked up after only one ring.

"I take it you got my flowers" he said, not bothering with a hello.

"I did, thank you," she said, she knew she sounded deflated.

"I really am sorry I let you down," he said "I figured you must have been angry when you didn't call me back yesterday," he said, she tried not to scoff. She hadn't ignored his call intentionally, she'd just forgotten about it.

"Can I make it up to you? Take you to dinner?" he asked.

"I'm not sure George," she told him, weighing up the pros and cons of going on a date with George while simultaneously trying to decipher her feelings for her boss. She wasn't having much luck.

"Please Liz, just dinner?" he asked again.

"I suppose,"

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Just peachy," she lied.

"Ok, good." He didn't ask any more about her mood, she was both grateful that she didn't have to lie, but also a little miffed that he obviously didn't sense the truth.

"How does tomorrow night suit you? I can pick you up at seven" he offered, she forced a smile before she realized he couldn't actually see her.

"How about I meet you out?" she suggested.

"You can't keep me away from your place forever Liz. I'm going to see it one day," he sounded very sure of himself.

"You act like I'm doing it intentionally," she was, but he shouldn't know that.

It wasn't that she didn't trust George… or maybe she didn't. What with Jane whispering in her ears about it all the time and Charlie's obvious dislike for him. That was the words of two people who she trusted immensely, against the word of one man who she couldn't stand! Although, she realised, that opinion of Darcy was not quite accurate anymore.

"It's fine Liz. We'll meet out, it's not a problem," he said, but he sounded upset.

"Great, thank you," she said.

They made plans to meet for dinner the next night, but she didn't commit to his offer of a movie afterwards. Unsure of how felt about the whole situation at this point, and very aware of that niggling voice in the back of her head that kept whispering 'Darcy.'