Lizzie had never been so confused in her life. She was (sort of) happy because George had showed how much he wanted to be with her, but the uneasiness would not go away.

How could she say no to George, in front of those all people? It would just be too embarrassing. But she had said yes because she loved him and wanted to marry him, right?

All of the sudden, everyone was around her, congratulating them. George was by her side, with his arm around her waist. When someone took her hand to see the ring, Lizzie was surprised to see it there. She had not even noticed when George had put it in her finger.

After a while, all attention became too much to handle.

"Let's go," Lizzie said to George.

"Are you okay, my fiancée?," he asked, jokingly.

Lizzie smiled a little and answered, "Yes… but this is just too overwhelming."

George quickly kissed her on the cheek, and led her to the exit.

Once they were outside and while they waited for their car, George embraced her and kissed her more deeply.

"You have made me very happy, Lizzie. I love you," he said.

"I… love you too," she replied, trying not to feel so shaken as she was.

When their car arrived, George helped her into the car and drove away from Pemberley.

Lizzie's mind was spinning.

"I should not feel like this, I should be euphoric. This was not supposed to happen like that," she thought.

She knew that most of the marriage proposals were surprises for the woman, but she was not a big fan of big public displays of affection. She almost felt that George had put her on the spot to secure a positive answer.

Besides, they had never really talked about getting married. She would be lying if she said she had not imagined marrying him sometime, but she had not considered it with all seriousness.

George glanced at her while driving. She kept playing with her ring but was not smiling; she looked concerned.

"You're very pensive," George interrupted her thoughts.

"Yeah…mmm… I just wasn't expecting that."

"Aren't you happy?"

Lizzie tried to answer, but could not.

"Lizzie, are you regretting my proposal?," he asked dryly.

"George, I…" she tried to explain herself. Crap, it was all so confusing.

"Fine, you can return the ring," George said irritated.

"No!," Lizzie said, "We can't have this conversation here and now."

He did not respond to that.

Once they were inside their apartment, George was the first to speak.

"Lizzie, do you truly love me?"

"Yes, George, you know I do."

"Then, why aren't you happy about this?"

"I don't know… Why did you have to do it there? In Darcy's company, in front of all the people I work with and see every day. It was…," she wanted to say uncomfortable but did not continue.

"I wanted it to be special."

"But you know I'm not fond of grand gestures, let alone in public."

"Well, since your sister got engaged in similar circumstances, I thought you might like it too. Clearly, I was wrong."

Lizzie sighed with desperation and sank in the couch.

"Is that your only objection to our engagement?," George asked, "If you love me, why do you doubt?"

Lizzie looked at him, and saw how hurt he was.

"George, do you really want to commit? We never talked about marriage and …" she started to explain but was interrupted by him.

"Lizzie, I was ready to commit the moment you took the job at Pemberley and I left everything I had built in LA for you. Isn't that enough?"

"Don't use that against me. It was your decision, I did not force you to move," Lizzie said, cross.

"I don't, I'm just telling you the truth. I did that because I wanted to," George defended himself.

He looked at her for an instant, waiting to see if she said something. But she did not.

"This is not how I imagined this night would go," he said, "I think I'm going to spend the night at a hotel."

He walked to the door and was about to open the door when he heard Lizzie's voice.

"Don't go."

He turned back to face her.

"Do you genuinely want to do this?"

"Yes."

Lizzie stood up and walked towards him.

"Then, we will fix this, but don't go."

"Okay."

They went to bed together, still feeling on the edge of their relationship.

Lizzie woke up in the early morning. Her dreams were full of memories of all she had shared and lived with George. How he had made her fall in love with him. She had also remembered their bad times and how they had made past them. Their relationship was not perfect, but she liked in that way.

Her initial restlessness had disappeared. She looked at the ring she had put on the nightstand the night before. Maybe she was ready to commit too. She took the ring and slid it on her finger. This time, it felt good. She turned to her left, and saw that George was looking at her.

George had feared that his proposal at Darcy's party had been a bold move and had drawn Lizzie away from him.

Primarily, he had proposed because he wanted Lizzie all to himself. Secondly, doing it at Darcy's party was just a little payback for why his friend had denied him. Watching his face as he proposed to Lizzie had been certainly satisfactory, but he could now lose her. However, even if they were not engaged, they could still be together. If he kept her happy long enough, the whole marriage package would come later.

But then, he saw her picking the ring he had brought for her and put in on her finger. A smile appeared on his face.

"Very well then," she said.

"Does that mean we are engaged?," he asked.

"Yes." George's smile grew even more.

"I can't wait to see your mom's reaction."

"Ugh! Mood killer," she exclaimed, pulled George to her and kissed him.