There are only two chapters left and then HEA! I will try to post Chapter 10 next weekend in one post. Then the final one the following week. THANK YOU ALL for the comments and for following along. I worried my un-traditional story would not resonant with the readers here, but you all have made me feel so welcome and safe.

The Doll Chapter 9 Part 2

Darcy woke disorientated, acquiring too much sleep rather than too little. Consulting a clock, he realized he'd slept nearly nine hours. For a man use to surviving on five hours of sleep, it was a little disconcerting to have rested as long he had. A gaze confirmed that Elizabeth still slept. Sometime in the middle of the night, she had turned and they were now entwined. She looked untroubled, delicate in her slumber. One of her hands rested on his chest right over his heart, her hair flowed, curled about her shoulders. He breathed in deeply her unique scent of honeysuckle and rain. With such a lush inducement, his body's reaction was as expected.

The natural compulsion to wake her with his body was hard to ignore. At the very least his mind traitorously coaxed he should press his lips against her slumbering ones. It had been so long since they had kissed. Kissed properly. He resisted. She was such an inviting, passionate creature that he would be stimulated by her sleepiest of reactions.

This was not a time for love making. It was time for frankness. Honesty. And, as much as Darcy feared the outcome, they needed to talk. Watching her, he admitted the contract they had signed was not worth the paper it was printed on. It had been a cobbled together, hasty affair. An offer made by a terribly, terribly desperate man.

The night his best friend had married her sister was suppose to be a celebration. One he had anticipated, prepared and dreamed about for months. Such a joyous occasion turned nightmare. She had been affronted when he told her she looked lovely in her gown, refused to accept the sincere fact their dance was the highlight of his evening. The first time he got to hold her close in his arms? How could it have been otherwise? Worse, she called their Mondays together infernal. Infernal. Those weekly dinners which had been an oasis for him, had been a drudgery for her.

At the airport, as he spoke with his pilot and made sure all was readiness for the couple, Darcy tried to ignore what her parting words had meant. Jane was surprised, but happy to see him at the airport. Her excitement when Charles revealed their honeymoon destination had been a painful foil to her own sister's reaction to him. After seeing the newlyweds off with a celebratory bottle of champagne and his best wishes, Darcy had gone back to his place. Instead of heading for his lab, he went to his balcony and looked out on the city. An overwhelming sense of loneliness swept over him. Elizabeth. She had to be made to see reason. She could not mean it. She could not really mean to severe their only connection. Never to see one another again? Elizabeth could not be this cruel.

Without considering how she would interpret his actions, Darcy went to her apartment. Under the circumstances, he couldn't stay away. It was only after he rang her doorbell and he was waiting that it crossed his mind that she might not be alone. Garter Guy might be with her. Watching the man kiss her had been traumatic. Had hurt in a way nothing else ever had. Remembering the kiss made Darcy frantic. Could Garter Guy be inside with her? God, he'd gladly ruin that man's night!

The rainstorm had been providential. He strongly suspected Elizabeth wouldn't have invited him in if not for the horrendous weather. As he followed her room to room as she closed her windows to the storm outside, a tempest all its own brewed in him as he fixated on the bare skin of her athletic legs. He'd never seen them exposed before and he longed to feel the strength of those legs wrapping around him.

By the time they ended up in her bedroom, Darcy was losing the battle with his own restraint. The messy state of her bed beckoned. Then, the shock of seeing her vibrator. Instead of pouring gasoline on his feelings, hope smothered his lust. She was a kindred spirit! Self-sufficient, as he was. Taking matters into her own hands with the resources she had at her disposal. Unsatisfied. She'd understand his dependency on Xy.

Leave? There was never a chance in hell he was leaving after seeing Prince Charming. That one brief visit to her bedroom had exposed her in a way that months of dinners had not. Provided him a wicked sense of insight. The idea that she was frustrated sexually put her in real danger. Gave him an upper hand in their negotiations. Clearly, as he glanced about her little apartment she was also struggling financially. He knew from their dinner conversations that she was currently in between jobs. The idea to hire her had been the inspiration of the moment.

Darcy offered her everything he instinctively knew would entice her. Sex. Satisfaction. Escapism. Freedom. Opportunity. Curiosity. As much as people admired him for his scientific aptitude, he was an equally crafty salesman. He could sell when he wanted to, when he put his mind to it. Oh, how he had wanted to sell her. He had not expected, but should have, her humor, her questions, her candidness. That she could be so naughty aroused him to a point of pain. That they could talk like this about such a subject only reinforced her suitability.

Before long, though, he broke the number one rule of sales. He got caught up in his own pitch, become invested in her satisfactory answer. She proved as elusive as ever. After exposing his wishes, her rejection had angered him.

Incompatible?

How on earth could she make such a claim? The heat he felt every time she was near. How he knew when she was in a room without looking. The almost overwhelming need that engulfed him whenever he first laid eyes on her each week as if something inside of him had missed her so completely.

No! No, it could not be entirely one sided. Darcy's heated mind simply refused to accept it. On that night so long ago, he knew if he stepped out the door, they'd never be together alone again. She would forever label him as perverse and would see to it that this private moment was their last. Her willful need to misinterpret his every action drove him quite literally mad. Had driven him to kiss her.

Elizabeth made a sound, her lips curled in a soft smile as if she knew he was thinking about her.

Darcy had insisted he wanted her to enter the experiment with eyes wide open, but he had blind folded them both with well meant lies. Looking back, it was comical. He wanted nothing but the information needed to finish Xy? Please. It was about science! How had he uttered such nonsense? How had she believed it? How had he?

Fate had conspired against them from the start. He had no way of knowing that Georgie would arrive when she did. No way to know that Elizabeth would go along, play the part of an interested girlfriend so convincingly. Touch him so casually. Elizabeth would never have understood what that one simple gesture of him taking her hand would mean. She wouldn't know, but Georgie would. His sweet sister was over the moon. Simply loved Elizabeth.

Really, who could blame his sister? Elizabeth was such a beautiful, kind, vivacious woman. She was forever burrowing deeper into his heart, claiming more of it as her own. It was so very frightening how much she meant to him. He'd been desperate just to lose their Monday nights, now he had so much more on the line.

If they were only intended to have these remaining few weeks together, Darcy needed to find a way to make the most of them. Instead of pushing her away, he needed to embrace her. Do things each day to sweep her off of her feet. Find ways to bind her to him. Make it unthinkable for her to leave him. He didn't want to look back years from now and know he had wasted this opportunity. That he had not exhausted his every resource to keep her.

"Will." Elizabeth whispered his name. The longing he felt upon waking returned, amplified as she snuggled closer. After her complete emotional meltdown in the kitchen, Elizabeth deserved to rest unmolested. Darcy pulled himself gently from her, sliding from the bed slowly as to not disturb her. As soon as he stood, she moved to fill the space he vacated. A frown formed on her face briefly, before she hugged his pillow.

The talk. He reminded looking down on her. The talk would hopefully be a starting point. Darcy hoped he was not too late. That his cowardice had not done irrevocable damage. When she had returned to him the previous morning, he swore he would never give her cause to leave again. Not now. Not at the predetermined end of their contract. As soon as she drove away from Darcy Electronics, he realized it. He realized he didn't want to ever lose her. The begging her to return had started immediately with the first message.

"Come back to me. Come home to me."

His numerous messages never deviated. He had been useless at the lab. Worried. Distracted beyond belief. He wondered to his office, sat behind his desk, and picked up the picture from the benefit he kept there. They were dancing. She was looking up at him laughing. He was smiling down at her. The picture had only made him call her again. And, again.

Getting nothing accomplished, he put Malcolm in charge and he went looking for her. He could not just sit and idly wait. As he expected, her little beat up Honda was missing from the guest spot next to his in the penthouse's parking garage. She'd warned him. She'd leave if he ever treated her badly again. And, there was no question he'd treated her badly.

She had borne so much since his Monday heartbreak. His heart crucified his brain. He had gotten unconsciously what he had wanted. He'd hurt her as badly as she had him. Was he now happy he had gotten even with her? His heart was devastated, inconsolable. Would she come back to him? How much forgiveness could he expect one woman to have?

"Come back to me. Come home to me."

Darcy had driven to her apartment building. He parked in the dark. The lights in lot adjacent to her building were out. The door to the lobby was still unsecure. The stairwell that led up to her apartment unlit. He fumed. Each step, anger flared hotter. It had been the first directive he had issued to the property manager he had hired after he bought the building. He was quite blunt about it. Security. Her security in particular was a priority. He was assured it would be handled first thing. He'd stressed it was their most important duty.

Obviously, they had a totally different definition of 'first thing.'

Darcy called the president of the management company at home and taken him to task, venting his irrational anger, letting him know how replaceable he was. He was assured that the building would be secured as he had instructed before end of business the following day. Darcy demanded to know about the other upgrades he had ordered for the property. They were to begin the following week. The new windows. The fresh paint and carpet. The new HVAC unit. The flower boxes. The little plot of dirt that ran along the parking lot which was to be turned into a community garden. If Elizabeth ever returned to live at her apartment, she would find it infinitely better than when she left it to stay with him. If she never wanted to see him again, Darcy would still know if her rent was late, or if she was struggling again. He'd be in a position to help her. Even if it had to be anonymously.

As he drove back to his place, emotions still swirling, Darcy reviewed his options and called her parent's house. It was well after midnight. Her younger sister, Lydia, answered. He apologized for calling so late. The young girl had just snorted said something about old people and their bed times. Ignoring the urge to give the teenager a piece of his mind, he briskly explained that he had worked late and he was looking for Elizabeth. Had she by any chance seen her? Lydia had told him no. If Elizabeth wasn't at her own place, she suggested he call Charlotte. He asked after the number, but she couldn't remember it and she couldn't be troubled to look for it. If Elizabeth called or came by the house, she'd pass along his message. Then, she hung up.

"Come back to me. Come home to me."

The penthouse felt cold, empty without her. He could not be in any room without something reminding him of her. The kitchen. The bedrooms. The dining room. Now even his lab at work.

"Come back to me. Come home to me."

He had finally ended up in his lab. Sitting at one of the long tables, puttering, listening. His cell phone within reach. Waiting. He couldn't concentrate. Couldn't focus. The only thing he could seem to do was hit redial on his phone.

"Come back to me. Come home to me."

*(*

Whenever he had a problem, Darcy gravitated to science for a solution. This morning was no different. He had gone to his lab, but instead of shutting the world out as usual, he left the door standing wide open. A physical invitation to her. He wanted her to find him. He wanted to be disturbed. If he wanted more, he had to be willing to give more. Show her how it could be between them. Earn her trust, because he wanted her to share everything with him as well. Her concerns, her hopes, her wishes. Then, he could go about making her worries disappear while helping her achieve her dreams. Isn't that what someone who loved you did? Helped you with your daily burdens?

A few hours passed. While Darcy was looking at the computer code for the DARPA Drone, he heard his name. He spun on his stool to see her standing awkwardly in the open doorway, gazing around the space with naked interest. Like a doe learning to stand. Awkward. She hovered, clearly waiting for an invitation. He smiled at her. She smiled back.

"Welcome, Elizabeth Bennet." His smiled deepened at her startled reaction to Meira's greeting.

Darcy quickly said, "Meira, Elizabeth is visiting us in the lab today."

"Visiting, Dr. Darcy?" Of course, the computer would not understand. No one had ever before been in the laboratory with him. "Go offline Meira. I will manually activate you when I need you."

"Very good, Dr. Darcy."

Wonder was painted on her face, as Elizabeth looked skyward. "What was that?"

"Meira. My computer assistant."

She giggled. "She reminded me of the smart house in Eureka."

"Eureka?" He didn't understand the reference.

"Never mind, Dr. Darcy." She rolled her eyes, and then cast a curious look about the room as she came forward. "It's a lot bigger in here than I imagined."

Darcy looked around the familiar space trying to see it as she did. The space was massive. It was probably one of the most expensive laboratories per square foot in New York, but it brought him peace. He liked having the lab close by so he could tinker whenever he wanted.

He took a sip of his coffee. "Did you sleep well, Elizabeth?"

She nodded, shyly. She was still in his MIT shirt but he could tell she'd washed her face and brushed her teeth. Her hair was tidier but still an attractive mass of unruly curls. She came to stand next to him, leaning forward, curiosity making her face expressive. "What are you working on?"

On the large operating table in from of him was a remote, one of the small prototype drones and several large batteries. "I'm trying to see if I can make the drone more efficient. There are some redundancies in its programming that I think can be removed to make the handling more responsive."

"It looks like alphabet soup." She said looking at the screen. "How do you make sense of it?"

"Like any language, programming is not too hard when you become fluent."

"Of course, it isn't difficult. Just any ole' person could do it." She picked up the body of the drone, weighing it in her hands. "It looks like one of those planes you see being flown in Central Park in the summer by those old retired guys."

He laughed at her description. "The final drones will be a little larger and more high tech, but you are right. The basics are the same." He showed her how the special doors on the drone that would release to deliver food stuffs and water decontamination kits. The goal was that they would be able to redeploy several times on the same battery. Their light weight and size would make it easier to get into hard to reach areas. Disaster areas. War zones.

"Can I try to fly it?" Her face was aglow with near childish enthusiasm.

When she looked like that, Darcy could deny her nothing. He handed the remote to her then wrapped an arm around her as he helped her with the controls. She squealed when the drone hovered about twelve inches off the table. She moved it to the left and the right before he helped her land it to the table.

"That's much better than driving one of those little remote control cars. I got one of them for Charlotte's little brother, Cody, last Christmas and no one was safe!" She laughed at the far away memory, telling him over her shoulder. "Charlotte's mom was mad at me for giving it to him she didn't talk to my mom for two weeks." She chewed her bottom lip, that naughty light in her eyes. "I wonder what trouble I can get into if I get him a plane this year."

"Maybe we can make him a very special one, design it specifically to his tastes. His favorite color . I bet he'd like that."

"Yeah." Her smile withered at his suggestion. His mind replayed his comment. Christmas. She thought they wouldn't be together for it. She turned from him. Turned from the conversation. He let her. Putting down the remote, she looked at two batteries. "So, what are they, some type of high techy solar powered special thingymajobs?"

Darcy was nearly embarrassed. She was totally oblivious as she picked up the first cell and then the other. Turning them over. Use solar power for the drones? The idea had never occurred to him. Strangely, it had never occurred to any of those working on the team. He took a pencil out from behind his ear and wrote a note to himself to research the viability of solar panels. He wondered if the panels could be built to form the drone's skin. Would it affect the drag, maneuverability? Yes, the change would require them going back to specs. If they could make it work, though, it would extend the battery life considerably. He thanked her for the suggestion.

"Anytime. You know I love to do what I can to forward science."

She frowned again. Put the battery down, drew away from him. She was remembering last week. Right before she had kissed him in the kitchen, before his accident. What had started them on the conversation that led up to the best two days of his life.

Darcy put his notebook down, watched her explore. She wondered to the next station. He was working on some materials for convection cooking. He had gotten the idea when she had burned her finger one morning making their breakfast. There had to be a way to make what she loved to do safer, more efficient. She was intrigued as she opened the lab book. He hadn't gotten far from conception, but she spent a good deal of time looking over his drawings, his notes, his progress. When she was done reading, she glanced at him with a thoughtful look. If she stayed, it might be something they could work on together. A project that could marry her passion and his. It was a market previously unexplored by Darcy Electronics. With her out of the box thinking, he couldn't wait to delve into it. It could be a massive revenue stream.

Elizabeth moved to the eye wash area making faces in the several mirrors that made up the booth. There was the burn bench, a first aid kit and a full emersion tank. Fire extinguishers and sprinklers were spaced liberally throughout the area. His lab was high tech. No expense was spared. His own safety was something he took seriously. Especially when he worked mostly alone.

Like a sunburst, around the center there were eleven stations. Each held a different project. On the far side of the room were his older, discontinued projects. They were neatly labeled and stored in large bins. She'd pulled each drawer out, peaked inside. Spare parts took up another sizeable section of his lab. When she had finished seeing all there was to see, Elizabeth's eyes drifted back to him. Without asking, Darcy knew what she had sought and had not found. It was the reason he had left the door open.

"Would you like to see Xy?" He whispered, wiping his palms on his lab coat. He was nervous.

A serious look settled on Elizabeth's feature. Silently, she nodded again. Darcy led her to the far wall of the laboratory. He entered his code into the wall mounted security system. The capsule opened, Xy rose from the floor. The table stopped at waist level. He lowered the sheet to her shoulders and moved so Elizabeth could inspect the robot as thoroughly as she had his other projects.

As he waited, Darcy felt like strangely as he had during science fairs as a boy being judged. She shook her head slightly. "I didn't expect her to look so much like me."

Before he could stop himself, he told her, "She really doesn't. Not really."

"You're kidding, right?" She arched an eyebrow in disbelief, before touching her cheek. "She even has a mole in the same spot I do." It was true. Darcy had noticed the beauty mark during their second dinner together. It had held his interest so much that when Xy's skin was synthesized he had the blemish added.

"Maybe you could try your hand at revolutionizing vibrators next. Make a man for the ladies." She waggled her eyebrows, but her eyes were sad. As if her heart wasn't really in her teasing.

"No." Darcy said, "I'm not interested in taking Darcy Electronics into the field of romance enhancements." Hell, he wasn't that interested in finishing Xy. Not anymore. One taste of Elizabeth had forever ruined his palate for any other woman.

"That's too bad. You do amazing work." She was looking about Xy's ears. "How do you open her eyes?" He hesitated, then demonstrated. Seeing Elizabeth's freshly scrubbed face so close to Xy's only made the flaws in his creation even more apparent. "Wow, they look real."

"No." He whispered, running a hand through his hair. "They're not the right color. The touch of green in yours is missing. I'm convinced, after all these months of trying, that the glow in yours will be impossible to reproduce. It's one of a kind. Unique to you."

"They look just like mine, Will." Elizabeth contradicted, bent to sniffed at Xy's hair. Standing, she rubbed a curl between her index finger and thumb.

"It feels like a wig. Doesn't it?" He complained, before she could say anything. "The new sample came in last week but I've been too busy to install it. It doesn't smell plastic but it doesn't feel like silk. Not the way yours does." He reached out to put his hand in her hair, but she eluded him by stepping away. Her rejection of his touch smarted.

"Can I?" Elizabeth asked, picking up the sheet. Darcy had hoped her curiosity would be appeased without revealing Xy completely. After a moment, he nodded. She moved the sheet to Xy's waist. Looking down at her own breasts, Elizabeth screwed up her lips. "I think Xy's got me beat by at least a cup size. I guess it should come as no surprise you'd enhance hers. You'd wanted her to arouse you in every way."

"Yours breasts are perfect, Elizabeth. They fit perfectly in my hands." It was true. Darcy found nothing wanting in her physically. "Xy's are way too hard. Yours so much softer, more natural, supple."

She rubbed at one of the silicon infused breasts. "They don't feel hard. In fact, I know women who would pay good money to have these. They are quite beautiful."

"They're not beautiful. They're completely wrong. Wrong size. Wrong coloring. Now that I've seen yours, they have to be redone. It will take weeks to redo. Weeks I really can't spare right now."

"Weeks?" She questioned as she pulled the sheet completely off, standing at Xy's feet looking up her body as one would examine the side of a boat. "How long did it take you to get this far?"

"Almost a year." Was she mad? Horrified? Her expressive face was unusually unreadable. He began to feel anxious. "These last few months, I've had a lot of setbacks. Even the pigment of her skin is wrong. I don't know when I'll be able to find the time but I have to go back to her base and start over."

"Yes, her skin is not right. I tan pretty easily." She said airily, as she ran a hand down Xy's leg.

"I didn't know in November that you tan the way you do in the summer. I should have guessed with your coloring, but it didn't occur to me until it was too late to change it."

Shes had gone completely still. Her eyes squeezed shut. What had he said? Instinctively, he moved to her. "Elizabeth - "

She stepped away, holding up a hand, staying him. "Now that you have all the data you need, when will you finish her?" She hugged herself. One finger ran up to her cheek touching her mole. "She's obviously close to completion."

"No, she's not anywhere near close to being ready. She's got so many flaws. I'm not even sure if I can spare that much time on her." He waved his arms, directing her attention back to the rest of the room. "I've got so many other projects that need my time on top of the ones at work - "

"Will, you shouldn't hide her away in here." There was that sad look again. "She's a masterpiece. I feel a little vain saying that since she looks like me, but she is. Though I guess I should have expected you'd create something special, I keep forgetting that Xy is a labor of love for you."

It was the second time Elizabeth had called it that. "Xy has never been a labor of love." Darcy said covering the robot back up. He smacked the button to reverse the process to put it back in its capsule. "More she was a labor of necessity."

"Necessity?"

"After my breakup with Cheryl, I was - " How did he tell her he was just too tired to keep looking? Wouldn't that make him sound lazy? "Disenchanted with relationships."

Elizabeth chewed her lip, looked at her feet. Her pink toenail polish was vibrant against the lab floor. She glanced up at him, supplying, "You know it is normal to be upset after a break up, Will. I imagine after two years together you were pretty devastated."

"No, I was not devastated." He sighed, collapsing once more into a lab stool. Frustrated. How did he make her understand. They broke up on a Tuesday. Went to work on Wednesday as if nothing had happened at all. Neither he or Cheryl had been as invested as Elizabeth imagined. "Cheryl and I were never in love. My heart was never engaged. At the time, I didn't think I was capable of falling in love. Why won't you believe me?"

"Because it doesn't make any sense, Will." She raised her hands to her shoulder, shrugging. "Why would you remain with a woman for two years if you didn't love her? Who does that?"

"We had our work. We had science." Darcy had this overwhelming need to touch her. He put a hand on her waist. He took encouragement from the fact she did not pull away. "We'd go weeks without seeing each other."

"Weeks?" She chewed her lip. Worry clouded her eyes. "You didn't want to see her for weeks?"

"Yes, weeks." Darcy pulled her closer to him, buried his nose in her neck. Lingering at his spot. Trying to make her understand these few weeks with her meant more than the two years with Cheryl, then the sum of all of his relationships. For the first time, he was invested. "Whereas, I can't seem to be able to go five minutes without wanting to be near you. Without wanting to talk to you. To touch you."

"You know that is not true. If you really felt like that, we wouldn't have had the terrible week we just went through." She tried to pull away, but he firmly held her in place. She sighed, stopped resisting him. "I would have been deliriously happy with you touching me, talking to me all week. It was not my imagination, Will. You deliberately pushed me away."

"I know I've confused and hurt you, Elizabeth." He leaned back from her so they could see eye to eye. "You have borne so much and you've done it all with such grace that I am in awe of you."

"I don't want you in awe of me." She did escape him then, pulling away from him. She sighed, running a hand through her hair. "I just want you to tell me what I did that was so wrong. I know you were working hard for DARPA, but your distance felt more than that. Are you already bored with me? Is it that you got what you wanted and you don't know how to tell me to leave?"

"No, I don't want you to leave me. Bored with you? I find you utterly fascinating. Everything you do and say." Darcy rubbed his temple. Did she honestly think that he didn't want her? Even after last night? "As far as did I get what I wanted? Yes, I did. I won't insult you. I desired to have intercourse with you. Once you made it clear you wanted the same, I eagerly dispensed with every single reservation I had. I wanted to be with you that badly, Elizabeth." He met her eyes, smiling sheepishly. "Being with you has to be the most enjoyable experiences of my life. You know I wanted you. You cannot have misunderstood my attention last weekend. I still want you. I'll always want you."

"Really?" Doubt was firmly stamped on her face. "Because your actions say something entirely different. You had Richard pick me up for the benefit like I was your dry cleaning. Then, you called me a distraction when I brought you team food - "

As long as he lived, he knew he'd never forget how she looked standing in the middle of the lab's kitchen wearing her sombrero, in her white peasant dress. Smiling at him happily. "Surprise." He was. By her daily. Such a whimsical, wonderful woman. Like a fairy in a Shakespearean play. She wanted so desperately to please him. He'd allowed his fear to rule him long enough.

"I agree that it must be very confusing for you to hear me tell you repeatedly I want you then for me to do everything I can to push you away." He swallowed. "At the time, I felt the distance I created between us a necessity."

"Why?" She shook her head, hugging herself. "Why is it a necessity?"

"Self-preservation, Elizabeth. I wished to protect myself from you."

"Protect yourself?" Her forehead puckered in confusion.

"My feelings for you are such that. . ." He shut his eyes, struggling to find the words to make her understand, "Our regard for one another is so hopelessly unequal."

"Hopelessly?" She looked as she had in the kitchen, like she was on the edge of crying again.

"Oh, Elizabeth. Why do you never hear me?" He shut his eyes, looked heavenward. Then, he fixed his attention on her face. "Why do you willfully misinterpret what I say? Sometimes, it feels so deliberate."

"I don't know what you are talking about." She seemed self-conscious suddenly.

"Don't you?" He tilted his head, his eyes pleaded with her to miraculously understand. To give him some unconscious clue she felt the same. That he was not jumping alone into the abyss. She shook her head. Her eyes so sad, haunted. She had to care about him a little to be as upset that she was the other night. Right? Darcy grabbed the edge of the lab table, took a deep breath, and he jumped. It was a petrifying feeling. "Elizabeth, do you really not know that I've been in love with you since last October."

Her mouth fell open in shock. He inched toward her. Slowly. "I remember the exact moment it happened. You were laughing in the kitchen with Jane, wearing a green blouse the same shade as the sprinkles in your eyes. You'd made a pumpkin log for our desert. There was powdered sugar everywhere. On the floor. On the counter. You even had a smear of icing on your cheek. I helped Charles bring up some pumpkins from your car and you turned when I entered wearing that smile you wear when you are completely happy." She shook her head, but said nothing. "Falling in love didn't really feel like falling. It felt quite like running into a brick wall. I simply could not breathe. I haven't been the same since that moment."

"You couldn't have been in love with me." She kept shaking her head. Her brow furrowed. She was agitated. "You said I was tolerable. You weren't tempted by me at all. I heard you myself, Will."

Darcy had been so angry with Charles for tricking him into a blind date the night they had met. He had looked at her, and it was true that he had not been impressed on that first night. But no sooner had he made it clear to himself that she had hardly a good feature, he began to find her face was rendered uncommonly intelligent by the beautiful expression of her dark eyes. To this discovery succeeded some others equally mortifying. Though he had detected with a critical eye more than one failure of perfect symmetry in her form, he was forced to acknowledge her figure to be light and pleasing; he was caught by her easy playfulness.

"I know what I said the night we met. However, my opinion quickly changed. It was a matter of a few weeks and I was completely lost." He ran a hand through his hair. "I missed my chance. The next week, you wore a dress red as sin for your hot date you had after dinner. You wore your favorite boots, you know the ones with the little pom poms and the silver zipper."

"A hot date?" She crossed her arms. "I think I would have remembered some hot date - "

He ground his teeth. "Russell, the drummer?"

"Oh, him." She looked uncomfortable. "I had forgotten about him."

"Yes, I imagine he was easy to forget." Darcy said tartly, feeling a tremor of irritation even after all these months. She had amused Jane and Charles with stories of her musician for weeks while he had sat across from her anxious that this romance might be real. Thankfully, by December, the man he hated without ever seeing was shown the door. "Especially after he disrespected your mother at Thanksgiving."

"You remember that?"

"Of course, I remember. I was overjoyed at the news the man was out of your life and I wouldn't have to hear Charles' attempts at humor about his big drum sticks." He crept closer to her. "I remember everything about our Mondays. I remember what you wore, what you cooked, what you said. I hung on your every word. Each Monday, I prayed that you had not met someone at the grocery store, at yoga, through Charles. I rejoiced that your mom failed each week to find a man to become her next future son-in-law."

"I don't understand, Will. If you felt like this, why didn't you just ask me out?" She had tears in her eyes. "Why all of this with Xy?"

"I don't know why I didn't think to ask you out." His answer contained anger. Anger from all of those months of wanting her. Longing for her. "We both know you would have rejected me, turned me down smartly. Our dinners would not have continued because I would not be able to face you." He pointed a finger at her. "You couldn't accept the fact I thought you looked lovely at the wedding. And, our dance. Elizabeth, you don't know how much I'd looked forward to dancing with you."

"Did you really take dance lessons all those months?"

He nodded. "It probably is silly but I wanted very much to impress you."

"It's not silly. It's sweet." She smiled shyly. "No one has ever tried to impress me before, Will."

Darcy whispered, "You are a woman who deserves to have a man who would do things to impress you." She hugged him. In his fantasies, she'd thrown herself in his arms and told him that she felt the same way about him. He was disappointed, even though he knew it was unfair. He had loved longer. He just hoped she would find the way to the same path. That they could someday walk down the same lane at the same pace. "I forgot that, Elizabeth. I forgot that this week. I let my cowardice dictate my behavior. I won't do that again. You deserve so much more than you have received from me." He shrugged. "I'm not good at this, Elizabeth. Having feelings and sharing them. It's terribly inconvenient."

"Only you could be so romantic one second and such an idiot in the next." She giggled against his neck, she looked up at him. "Though, I have to admit, sometimes having feelings is inconvenient."

"I never have known such happiness as I know with you. Truly, Elizabeth." He pressed his forehead to hers. "I don't deserve it, but I would like another chance to begin again."

"Begin again?"

He kissed her lips lightly. "Yes, no contract. I want you to stay with me. For as long as you want. Of course, I'll pay you what is still outstanding, but - "

"No. No more money, Will." She looked sad again. "It made me feel like a prostitute that you pay me."

"That was not my intention."

"I know." She kissed his lips quickly. "However, if I am going to stay with you, I don't want any more money. And, someday, hopefully, I will be able to repay your generosity. I don't want to fight on the day I give it back to you either."

"I don't need the money back." He was concerned. "You had plans for the money. You wanted to open a restaurant. I don't want you to lose out on your dreams, Elizabeth. I want you to -"

"I don't want to open a restaurant anymore." She hugged him. "You were right. It's too risky. And, way too much work. Can you see me getting up at 5 am and going to sleep after midnight? No way! I'd be miserable. I've got to find what it is that I want to do when I grow up, though. I've been bouncing around for the last five years and I'm sick to not feel like I'm contributing to the world."

"Maybe you should be a caterer, Elizabeth?" She stiffened in his arms and glanced up at him. "You like to celebrate events. You could pick and choose what events you do and you'd have flexibility. You could use part of the money to advertise. Word of mouth will spread, Elizabeth because you are extremely talented - "

Elizabeth kissed him deeply. He was slightly dizzy when she released him. "You are a brilliantly wonderful man, Will! I am truly lucky to have you in my corner."

"As I am you." He said back, causing her to grin. Her eyes lit up.

"You know there is an upside to having a fight, Will."

"Is there?" He could think of nothing, but the relief he felt knowing that they were well on their way to heal the breach his behavior had caused. He inhaled her scent, kissed her neck.

Elizabeth pulled away from him without answering him, stopping at the doorway to give him a come-hither look. "Make up sex." Darcy raced after her, leaving it for Meira to put the lab into sleep mode.

*)*

Elizabeth felt drowsy, which was amazing considering she had slept twelve hours straight before joining Darcy in the lab. Sex with him after their talk had been more wonderful and more demanding than she remembered. He was happy. She could tell. Both dimples had starred during their workout. He had also been so much more verbose, telling her quite enthusiastically how much he loved her as he had his special moment. Now, he was looking at her with that thoughtfully intense way he had about him.

"I would have thought you memorized what I look like already." She teased.

"It is true, I think I know every inch of you," he whispered back, "I just can't believe my luck. I can't believe you agreed to stay with me."

Poor William! She wished she could tell him what he most wished to hear, but she was not ready yet. She felt she was on her way to loving him, but his odd behavior of the past week had been a setback of sorts. One thing that had been left unsaid was the fact she was just as afraid as he was of getting hurt by him. She was terrified of losing him.

"I was thinking," Darcy wrapped one of her curls around his index finger, "how would you feel about getting away from New York for awhile? We could go on a short vacation. Just the two of us."

"Just the two of us?" She tried to keep her hope in check at this unexpected suggestion. "Do you really think you could get away?"

"Are you kidding?" He rolled onto his back bringing her with him, sprawled across his chest. "Mrs. Reynolds would be thrilled to clear my calendar so I can plan a get away with you. She thinks you are the best thing that ever has happened to me."

"I am the best thing that has ever happened to you." She asserted. Then, put her chin on her folded hands. "Where will we go on our little vacation?"

"Anywhere you want?" He ran a hand along her spine. She enjoyed the languid time after they shared their bodies. The talking, the whispering, the laughing. She had missed this intimacy as much as she had the physical.

"I get to pick our destination?" She was excited with the project. She tapped a finger against her lips, pretending to consider her choices. "Let's see. How about Disneyland? We could get you a pair of those mouse ears with your name on them. Ride in the teacups together?"

"If you like." He was being such a good sport she almost missed his slight grimace. She had no doubt, though, if she were serious, that he would have them spirited away to California just to please her.

"Hm, I know. You said you wanted to leave New York, but we could always have a stay-cation. Go to the Statue of Liberty, catch a play on Broadway. Pretend to be tourists right here."

"I guess we could do that if you have your heart set on it." He suggested, then countered with, "Or, e could go someplace warm and sunny and send pictures back to Prince Charming. You know, show him what he's missing."

"Nah. He deserves no such attention! You'll take me anywhere I want?" He repeated the word 'anywhere.' "How about Pemberley?" She traced a heart on his chest, right where his was beating. "Ever since Jane told me about it, I find I've been curious to see if the estate is indeed the most idyllic of places." The look that passed over his face made it clear she'd picked a destination that would mean much to both of them. She kissed him lightly on the mouth. "When can we leave, Will?"

"Can you be packed and ready to go in the morning? I'll make the arrangements with my pilot and Mrs. Reynolds tonight. We'll leave first thing before you have a chance to change your mind." He kissed her nose. "You know I wish to appease your curiosity in all things."

"In all things?" She felt bold. "That could take a long time. You'll find I have an inexhaustible curiosity about you."

A look of pure hunger settled upon him. "As I have for you."