Jane and Charlie were going out in the next few weeks, and sometimes Charlie would even come to Jane's flat. Lizzy immediately liked him and thought that she'd never met anyone before who could make anyone around him feel so at ease. He was funny and merry and she felt completely comfortable with him. Jane had told Lizzy the apartment he was renting was much nicer than their flat, but Charlie never minded that they lived in a sleazy—less nice, she corrected herself for the upteenth time—part of town.

Lizzy had broken up with a boyfriend three months before, and hadn't had a date since. Instead she busied herself in her work, and was rewarded with a news story about a chemical pollution dump in the English Channel. Apparently the waste had spread to waters off the coast of France. See? Things are looking up. I'm covering international news now.Well, kind of international. France is another country...even if no one cares about France...

Her goal was to be an international corespondant. Lizzy wanted to travel and report in different areas of the world and perhaps even make documentaries about her travels. She'd made a short documentary for her fourth year thesis/project, at Cambridge, about the mountain people of Peru. She had gone to Peru for a semester study abroad to visit Machu Picchu.

She was dismayed to find that the next story she was handed was about the Italian Folk Festival taking place in London that weekend. Oh yes, and Prince William and his fiancee went to visit some nearby restaurant. That was her other story. Lizzy wondered if she should have stuck with languages (she was proficient in Spanish and Chinese) so at least she could be an interpreter and travel. She should have gone to graduate school.

It was a Monday morning, and Lizzy could not contain the exasperated groan that escaped her lips the moment she received her week's assignment: a fashion report involving some of the newer and more dangerous plastic surgeries, and also the return of high-waisted pants.

"Barbara," Lizzy said, through gritted teeth, to her supervisor, "I thought Kiki Meyers does the fashion reports?"

"She's out this week, and we needed someone to fill in."

"You know, I don't know the slightest thing about fashion."

"But we need someone to do the story. You're good at filling in."

Lizzy nearly choked. Filling in? She couldn't be just a filler-inner! She had a more advanced vocabulary than half the other reporters. Good style, too.

Lizzy opened her mouth to argue this injustice, but Barbara held up a hand. "No buts. You'll have that story in by next week." She was rewarded with a famous Lizzy-glare.

"No one really wears high-waisted pants, anyway!" Lizzy said loudly as the other woman walked away.

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"But no one our age really wears high-waisted pants."

"Exactly what I said, Charlotte. But that's besides the point."

"And why you, of all people, to be an authority on fashion?"

"That's exactly what I sa—"

"Why, look at what you're wearing right now."

"Hey!"

Charlotte looked over her friend. "Old plaid shirts don't go with those trousers. What color do you call those, anyway? Salmon?"

"Apricot. Don't laugh, I know they're hideous. Mum gave them to me."

"Why do you wear them?"

"They're comfortable. Velour jogging trousers. I'm only in the flat, anyway, it's not like anyone's going to see."

"You never know. There could be a Peeping Tom looking in the window as we speak."

"That's just...weird. On a not-so-disturbing topic, did I mention I'm meeting Jane and Charlie Bingley later? I'm meeting them at Dolohan's for lunch. Do you want to come?" Dolohan's was a bookstore/cafe. They had great panini.

"No, I have work to do. Just promise me one thing."

"What?"

"Please tell me you're going to change clothes before you leave. At least take off the trousers."

"All right, already!" Lizzy growled.

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Lizzy was perusing the bookshelves when she felt a tap on her shoulder. "Lizzy, we're here!"

"Jane! Hi, Charlie."

Charlie smiled his usual cheery smile. "Hi, Lizzy. Ready to get a bite to eat?"

"Yeah, just a minute...I might buy this book."

"We'll get a table," Jane said.

"I'm waiting for a friend of mine, anyway," Charlie said. "He should be here in a moment."

Jane looked surprised. "Oh, you've a friend coming?"

"Yes, he wanted to meet my new girlfriend." Charlie smiled at her. "That's okay, right?"

"Oh, of course! Maybe he can meet Lizzy, too," Jane said with an impish smile.

Lizzy just rolled her eyes and paged through a book.

Jane was out of sight, having gotten a table for them, when Elizabeth found herself in the same aisle as a tall, dark-haired man. The man was absolutely gorgeous, Lizzy thought. He looked to be Charlie's age. He had the well-chiseled facial features of a man and expressive dark eyes. He was dressed in simple but well-made clothes.

Lizzy caught his eye as she was picking up another book, but he looked away, and rather coldly, too. A minute later he walked to the front of the store.

Lizzy then heard Bingley's voice.

"Hey! Glad you could make it," he was saying to somebody. Lizzy peered out from behind a bookshelf and saw that he was talking to the dark-haired man.

"...have to leave in less than an hour," the man was saying to Bingley. "I think I saw your girl at a table outside. She's blonde, right?"

"Yes, she was wearing...come to think of it...I can't remember what color shirt she was wearing."

"She was the only young woman with fair hair, so I assumed she must be Jane Bennet. I admit she is pretty."

"Pretty? She's beautiful!" Charlie Bingley declared. Lizzy smiled.

Then she heard herself mentioned.

"Her sister's come along, as well, and she's a cool girl. Actually, I think she's in here right now, somewhere. Let me introduce you."

Bingley craned his neck in search of Lizzy, but she shrank back behind the bookshelf for a moment.

"She was in here some time ago...a pretty girl."

"What does she look like?" The man really didn't seem much interested.

"Longish brown hair, a tad lighter than yours, I think. She's slim, probably five-four or five-five, height-wise."

"Oh, I saw her already."

Lizzy could almost hear the grin in Charlie's voice. "And? Did you meet her, then?"

"No. I wouldn't exactly call her pretty, though."

"Good God, what's wrong with her?"

"It's not like I was actually looking at her for very long. Like I said, she's all right, in the looks department, but nothing special. I'm not interested." Charlie started to protest. "However, I will say your Jane is pretty."

Lizzy was mortified at hearing these words from a complete stranger. She usually wasn't too concerned with her appearance, but still...the nerve of him! He didn't even know her. God, he was so shallow!

Lizzy could not stand sitting through an entire meal with the man, so she came out of the bookstore and told Jane she had changed her mind and would eat later.

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A week later Lizzy accompanied Jane and Bingley as they went to a Josh Groban concert; Josh Groban was Jane's all-time favorite singer. Lizzy liked his songs well-enough. Charlie didn't know a thing about him, but bought the tickets because he knew how much his girlfriend wanted them.

Charlie, not realizing what kind of music it was, seemed a little confused when nearly every person around him was a girl.

Jane was in raptures, though, and Charlie was pleased he had suggested this outing. He did manage to spot another guy halfway through the evening.

It was late when they were getting out of the concert, and it was a Thursday; both Jane and Bingley had work the next morning. Lizzy had an assignment to travel to a football match over the weekend to do a story, and so she was supposed to be doing research on the game the next day. She was not, however, required to go into the office.

Bingley was driving them home in his fancy sportscar, but they were stuck behind an endless sea of cars. It was already one A.M. and Jane was tired.

"Listen," Bingley said, suddenly animated, "why don't we stay at my friend's place? It's right in this area, and then we won't have to worry about driving all the way back to your flat in this traffic. Besides, you change into your scrubs at the hospital, don't you, Jane?"

"Yes, but don't you think your friend would mind?" Jane said anxiously. "We wouldn't want to impose ourselves upon him..."

"Not at all. He lives in a pretty big apartment that's well-suited to having guests. I have my own room there, actually," Charlie grinned, "since we spend so much time together. He's probably not in London, anyway. He plays soccer for Arsenal, so he spends most of his time practicing at Highbury or Ashburton Grove."

Jane's eyes grew wide. "Will Darcy?"

"Yeah, Will."

"So you know Will Darcy..." Lizzy mused. "I'm doing a story on the match this weekend between Arsenal and Chelsea, actually."

"Really?" said Bingley, interested. "I didn't know you reported on football."

"I don't, actually," Lizzy said, wincing. "In fact, I don't even know very much about Arsenal. I'm filling in as a favor for another reporter."

"Really? Do you know the rules of football and everything?"

"I used to play football when I was younger, and I played on an intramural team at Cambridge, but I'm afraid I don't keep up with the club teams. I've been doing a lot of research this week, though. Apparently Arsenal is favored this match."

"Yes. They'll cream Chelsea," Charlie said with confidence. "Will said their defense has been playing its best all this week at practice. Will's the prime defender for the team, but I'm sure you know that already from your research."

"Yes. I'll be looking forward to seeing him play."

"It's a shame you left early that day we were eating lunch at Dolohan's, Lizzy," said Jane. "He could have given you some inside scoop or something. An informal interview."

"Who?" Lizzy asked, brow creased. She tried to remember that day, the one when she encountered that horrible friend of Charlie Bingley's and he had wounded her pride. But, come to think of it, she had never discovered the name of his good friend...

"Why, Will Darcy," Jane replied and Lizzy was catapulted to the present. "I did tell you we ate lunch with Will Darcy, didn't I?"

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Lizzy couldn't believe it. The rude man was Will Darcy? The same man whose penthouse suite in which they were now standing? Jane hadn't told her Charlie's friend that day was Will Darcy! It must have slipped her mind.

Lizzy wouldn't have consented to stay here if she hadn't been absolutely positive that man was not there; but she knew that Darcy had been practicing with the team all week, and there was no way he was in London.

They had entered an elegant building that looked like a hotel. There were attendants all around, even at this late hour, and a bellhop immediately recognized Charlie and escorted them all to the seventh floor. There, Charlie opened the door to the apartment with a key attached to his car key ring. Now they were standing inside, Jane and Lizzy staring at the nice furnishings.

"Why does he keep a London apartment?" Lizzy wondered aloud in a whisper. Even though Darcy wasn't in his apartment, for some reason she, Jane, and Bingley spoke softly.

"He comes here often when he's not practicing. His younger sister goes to a boarding school in London, and he likes to visit her when he can. Of course in the summer when she's not in school, he rarely comes here and instead he commutes from his work to Pemberly."

"Pemberly?" Jane asked.

"His home." Charlie grinned. "It's an old mansion, the kind that has its own surrounding area. It's near Derbyshire."

"Wow," said Jane softly. She yawned.

It was agreed that Jane would sleep in the room Charlie usually stayed in, and Charlie himself was taking the second (second!) guestroom of the apartment. He had offered it to Lizzy, but she declined, saying she'd sleep on the sofa in the main living area, the one in front of an enormous television.

So Charlie brought her a spare blanket, and Lizzy was perfectly content to stretch out on the sofa and fall asleep, feeling slightly odd that she was sleeping on the couch of the rude Will Darcy.

A/N: next chapter: Lizzy will encounter Darcy very soon...much sooner than she thinks.

Also...thanks to luckyloser07 and Cricket Maniac for reviewing!