It was the end of her first week, and Lizzie confirmed that she had made a right choice by taking the job at Pemberley. All the people were open to new ideas and the equipment was last generation.

Given her experience in writing, Elaine had asked to look at the story that Pemberley planned to launch in the following months. They were also expecting to release by that time a new communication application, called Domino.

In that week, Lizzie only saw Darcy twice. She did not work with him directly. Besides, his office was in another floor so the chances of running into each other were not that big.

That Friday afternoon, an unexpected "Hello Elizabeth!" surprised her. A young man she remembered from the initial meeting was standing by her door.

"Hello?"

"I'm Fitz Williams." Lizzie frowned, trying to remember where he worked.

"I work at the informatics department. My team is working on the Domino's algorithms…", Fitz decided to help the clearly confused Lizzie.

"Oh yes! How can I help you?"

"Since our projects are linked, I thought you might want to know more Domino. Do you want to get lunch now?"

Lizzie accepted the invitation and went together to one of the cafeterias in the building. Indeed, they talked about Domino, until he asked: "So what do you think about Mr. Darcy?"

"I think he is very professional and clearly successful. And he seems to be a very good boss. No one has ever said a bad word about him."

"I'm glad you think that."

"What about you? What do you think of him?"

"Ah… he's a loyal and loving dude, sorry!, person. He really looks out for the people he cares about."

"Wow! Have long have you worked here in order to say that?"

"Let's just say that he and I met a long time ago."

And then, Lizzie remembered something all of the sudden.

"Wait! I've heard your name before. It was Bing Lee…"

"Oh, yeah. Good old Bing. Wait! How do you know him?"

"He's engaged to my sister!"

"What?!" Fitz yelled and everybody turned to their table.

"Shhhh… Yes, they are engaged. But you should know that, he said you were friends, right?" Lizzie spoke quietly to divert the attention of the rest of the people.

"Yes, but aren't super close. William is the link between us."

"William? Dude?"

"Hey! He told me about Bing's engagement but did not mention it was to your sister. I'm gonna kill him…" Fitz was now thinking aloud.

"Fitz!", Lizzie had to almost scream to gain his attention again, "What aren't you telling me? First, it was 'Mr. Darcy', then 'dude' and now it's William. How long have you known him exactly?"

"You're smart, Lizzie Bennet."

"Okay now, how did you know that?" Very few people at Pemberley knew her nickname.

"Why do you go by Elizabeth, by the way? Lizzie is better…"

"Fitz! Spit it!" and she grabbed his arm. She would not normally do that, but she needed answers.

"I might or might not be William's best friend since we were children."

"Oh… and you still are?"

"For sure."

"Oh… so you know about my… relationship… with him?", Lizzie asked nervously.

"Or your lack of one."

"Oh…", Lizzie put her head between her hands.

"Lizzie, please say something other than 'Oh'"

"Oh… uh… I thought that was in the past."

"It is. I am so sorry for bringing it back. I was just curious about you. I never met you and yet heard so many things about you."

"Bad, I suppose…"

"Nope."

Lizzie looked up, "You're kidding me?"

"Nope."

Lizzie did not know what to think of that answer.

"I always thought he hated me, and after what I said to him, I did not expect him to think highly of me…"

"You'd be surprised. But that was eight years ago. A lot of things happened… Anyway, I did not mean to mortify you like this."

"It's all right."

"Speaking of the devil…", Lizzie turned and saw Darcy standing there, looking at them, with a raised eyebrow.

"I have to go", said Fitz, "please promise you won't mention our little talk. I kind of promised not to ask you about him. Hey, can I call you Lizzie?"

Lizzie laughed and nodded. She had made up Fitz's character and reminded her a lot of Charlotte and Lydia.

Fitz joined Darcy and then left together.

She focused on finishing her dessert and returned to her office to work.

Lizzie was getting ready to leave when someone knocked her door.

"Come in", since she was putting the scripts away in her bag, she did not notice who had entered.

"Excuse me, Elizabeth."

She turned very quickly that she got dizzy.

"Darcy…"

"Do you have a minute?"

"Yes, of course. Please, sit." He took the chair and sat in front of her, and she did the same.

"I trust you had a good first week…"

"Absolutely. Everyone is kind and the installations are great."

"Good, that's good to know…"

Lizzie tried to smile back but was sure it had come up awkward.

"I actually came here to apologize to you."

"What for?!", she asked, concerned.

"Fitz. I asked him not to bother you but he did not listen. I am sorry if he made you uncomfortable", William looked into her eyes. And that made her nervous.

"You don't have to apologize for him. It's fine."

"Good", he answered and then looked away from her for a moment.

"Actually, I also want to apologize for my behavior and harsh words in high school. I did not mean them. I never thought you were silly or pretentious." He returned his gaze to her.

Lizzie did not know what to say, she was shocked and it took her a while to respond.

"I'll accept your apology only if you accept mine. I was also rude to you. I regretted my manners the instant you left that time and I've been wanting to apologize."

"You had good reasons to react the way you did. I wasn't too polite."

"Nonetheless, I did wrong."

"Very well, in that case, let's just forget what happened and start fresh. Have a nice weekend, Elizabeth", he finished smiling and stood up to leave.

"Darcy, wait", Lizzie called.

"Yes?"

"I was very sorry to hear about your parents."

"Thank you."

"I'm sure they would be very proud of you. Pemberley is an amazing company."

William had not expected the compliment, "Thank you."

"You are welcome. Have a nice weekend", and she smiled at him. He returned his gesture and left.

She picked up the rest of her belongings and also left. On the elevator, she thought about Darcy. She had not known what to expect of him at first. In her head, she had her own memories and then the words from George, Bing, Jane and now Fitz. But, this time, she could sense that he was different, he had even apologized to her.

'Start fresh', she liked that.