On a plane two days later…

Elizabeth Bennet's POV…

"I don't like heights." Mrs. Bennet complained as the plane made its way slowly toward London's Heathrow Airport. I just sighed before lowering myself resignedly down into my seat. Here we go.

"Neither do I, mama. You didn't have to take the window seat." I remarked almost sarcastically as she threw me a look that said "and who thinks I'm not good enough for the window seat." Sometimes the woman was plain impossible.

"Just tell her to take a pill and she'll leave off on the complaints." Papa whispered, and I choked on a small laugh as I looked over my sisters' heads at Jane who was watching the scene with almost adamant fascination. I was beginning to think she thought my family would make for a really good stage production. Lord, I hoped not. Mama began rattling the seat.

"There's no room on these damn planes. No room, I tell you. We should file a complaint with the…whatever department is over air travel. Yes, that's a wonderful idea." She proclaimed as she rammed her elbow into the stiff fabric as I groaned.

"It's coach, mama. Not first class." I said softly while looking around to see if anyone else had noticed her tirade. She could be quite an embarrassment at times. She just laughed at my snide statement.

"Well, middle class folk are just as important as those who have a pocket full of cash. It's the laborers that make the world turn on its axis. Without our labor, nothing could progress." She stated loudly enough that I closed my eyes to keep from hissing. Oh, mama!

"It's not like you contribute much to the labor at large." I whispered as Jane snickered from a few seats away. If only I could laugh at the situation. Really, it was downright irritating.

"I almost sighed in relief when the 'fasten your seatbelt' light dinged on and the pilot came over the speaker with an announcement dealing with our approach towards London. Oh, Thank God! This plane trip had been long and despairing. I was just glad most of my family had slept during the main duration of it. Especially since I was beginning to worry now about my decision to leave the U.S.—beginning to worry that I couldn't fill this position. No, dammit! I was stronger willed than that and the man who had hired me had already raised my ire enough by insulting my intelligence. I had a lot to prove, and I intended to do just that.

"I know that look." Jane whispered as we all started to depart the plane in single-filed fashion. I just raised a brow at her. She grinned.

"It's called stubborn determination and it looks good on you." She commented as I ran smack dab into the back of my mother as she stopped to give her complaints to the flight attendant at the open door of the plane. Had I been in a worse mood, I would have shoved her out of the door onto the ground below, but as it was, I just cursed under my breath and shrugged apologetically at the flight attendant as I was finally able to move forward. There was a reason that Lydia and Kitty had a problem with proper etiquette. Maybe this move would do us all good in the fashionable department. I looked around the huge airport as we all entered into its monstrous interior and I sighed. What was I doing? How had a brief meeting with a girl I still barely knew, but had learned to accept as a rash decision maker who had the ability to persuade people to join her inner circle, turned into this…whatever this was? Too late to turn back now.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A Few Hours Later…

I wasn't prepared for what happened next. Wasn't prepared for the things that society expected of the elite. I mean for heaven's sake, I wasn't a part of the elite. I was an American Catholic with a pension for losing my temper at the worst possible moments and a mouth that…well, it tended to become my downfall during those same moments. But, I did at least consider myself an educated idiot. But, this was not one of those things that I considered myself educated about.

"What do you mean that there's a ball." I almost roared as Jane winced. Longbourn, the company estate, had been enough to take in as the company car dropped us off at its enormous entrance, but aside from the estate, I couldn't remember Jane telling me about a friggin' ball. Then again, I think she had just discovered it too as she talked with a man standing just inside the door.

"It's just a small affair I think. Something the company has put together here at the Longbourn estate for its employees. From what I understand, it's an annual event." She commented as I took in deep, slow breaths that came far from relaxing me, wishing fervently instead for a brown paper sack. If hyperventilation were ever close to a possibility, it would be now.

"You've met my family." I hissed as Kitty's ears perked up like a highly sensitive climatic radar detecting slight nuances in the change of weather. Or maybe it was just the fact that the word 'event' had slipped rather decorously out of Jane's conniving lips.

"There's to be a party!" Kitty almost screamed as I groaned. I mean really groaned. And tonight of all nights. We hadn't even had a chance to relax, a chance to allow me the opportunity to talk to my family about the differences in American and English society. Hell, I just wanted the chance to teach them basic etiquette before they slipped into the mold of British society. And here, I was going to watch the snakes being thrown into the fray instead of the other way around. And my mother had one hell of a nasty bite. Point being, fate had lousy timing. Jane just patted me on the back.

"My family, at least, is very open to different human personalities. Trust me, I even consider them Looney. Look at me. I'm bloody messed up." Jane reflected as I shook my head.

"Yes, but isn't the point of dementia to hide it away in some institution somewhere instead of broadcasting it to potential criticism." I pointed out as Jane feigned an aghast expression.

"Are you insulting me, Lizzie?" She asked in mock surprise as I looked over at her blandly.

"Yes," I stated simply as I watched what, I assumed, was the owners of the establishment descending the stairs now behind her. They consisted of an almost elderly couple and another young woman, all with smiles so big that they almost forced themselves off of their pointed faces. Too happy. These people must be on drugs. Look who's speaking, right? Jane yelped before running toward them with her arms out-stretched. Obviously, she knew them. I felt totally out of my league here. Jane may be the black sheep of the upper crust, but I had learned from her over the past couple of weeks that birth kept her from being completely ostracized. Her mother was American, but her father was a British business man with money up the Wa-zoo, and a family tree with roots in the Garden of Eden. Which meant, she knew people. I didn't have the luxury of lineage.

"I was just telling the Bennets that there is quite the night planned for the employees here." Jane explained cheerfully as I found myself wishing quite emphatically for a gun. One bullet to the side of the head. That's all it would take. The other people now present grinned just as cheerfully as Jane. Okay, maybe two bullets.

"That's right!" The woman proclaimed as she rushed the rest of the way downstairs before hugging us all a little too snuggly while kissing each of us on the cheeks and even pinching the twins' faces. They tended to illicit that behavior from strangers mainly because they were twins. What's more fascinating than looking at two people that resembled clones? But, then again, they hadn't been raised with them. I, on the other hand, had. The woman suddenly looked over at me once she had finished her rounds and I discreetly clenched my fists together as she cocked her head to the side pleasantly.

"And you must be Elizabeth Bennet. The new Italian Translator. Ahhh, so young. Isn't she Frederick?" She asked the man beside her although his disinterested nod before glancing at a pocket watch hanging from his pants reminded me instantly of my own parents' relationship. Who would have thought that they would have a match across the ocean? How did I manage to find myself ensconced in a place this demented? I could see Jane's amused stare and I raised a brow at her. I couldn't even dance. As far as I knew, neither could my family. I just hoped that the man who had hired me wouldn't be present. It could mean my job. Literally. Lady 'unnamed' smiled again as she waved her hands toward the stairs.

"The housekeeper will show you to your rooms and I will have the clothes that I had ordered for you to wear tonight sent up immediately. The cost is covered by the company as the clothes are donated to charity on the morrow." She remarked as Jane shrugged and grinned before beginning to bound up the stairs. Everyone else followed giddily after as I stared remorsefully at the floor. Clothes?