Chapter 3

The past four months in London had been fairly good for Lizzy. Being a nanny was more rewarding than she would have thought. She and the children were developing an enjoyable rapport with one another. Likewise, she had been seeing George Wickham steadily. He was now her one confident. The ties of friendship with Charlotte had been cut and she only ever saw her on the school runs. Lizzie was grateful that George had not put pressure on their physical relationship; she did not feel she was ready to consummate their blossoming romance and George seemed to respect that.

Today was Wickham's 25th birthday and tonight was the night'. The previous weekend she had been looking through a Victoria's Secret catalog to order something for the big night. Over the last few months she had reframed from shopping outlet's because she got the feeling everyone was looking at her. She knew she had put on weight since meeting Wickham but he always told her there was 'just more to love'.

After completing some finishing touches to her appearance and hearing the taxi beep, Lizzie grabbed her bag and shot out the door. The train ride would give her just over an hour to calm herself before reaching George's door step. Lizzie had always wondered how he could afford living in the surrounding areas of Crystal Palace in London. He rarely worked protesting the fact he had no need to because he lived of investment practices. Little did she realise what those practices involved.

Her feet moved up the stairs and she took a deep breath and rang the door bell.

"Lizzie!" cried George as he looked at his much unexpected guest. "Darling how nice of you to pop by for my birthday. But I'm rather busy with work right now"

"Since when did you work and on a weekend, come off it! You can't blame a girl for wanting to see her man on his birthday" Lizzie then leaned closer and whispered "Especially when your about to get what you've been waiting for!"

Without waiting for a reply Lizzie barged pass George's frame which was blocking the entrance, dropped her bag and spun around. After she shed her coat, she began to unbutton her dress. "Well George… Happy Birthday… Now if… you want your present…you had better catch it!

With a flash Lizzie's dress was off revealing her pink and black lace lingerie set and she raced up the stairs towards his bedroom. George gulped in a worried look and tried to coax Lizzie as he yelled "Wait! My bedroom is in a bit of a state…" However it was too late and she had already opened the door and stepped in. A bitter look of anger and shock suddenly struck her face.

The bedroom was clearly in a state with garments carelessly scattered in a trail leading towards the bed. Lizzie's eyes braved the path only to see a thin blond entangled in the white bed sheets.

She looked and Lizzie and smirked "George dear, I know you said she was voluptuous but this figure is just plain fat"

"Really Caroline, you don't have to be that blatantly truthful with that killer tongue of yours"

With that Lizzie snapped into reality and quickly ran downstairs and put her clothes back on. George followed. "Lizzie, please it's not what you think. It's only work"

"What this is work. This is our so called investment plans. How the bloody hell could you?"

"Quite easily actually. I just wanted some fun. These married women know what they are doing and they are so cold. But you are-"

Slap! Bam! He was stopped by a slap on the face and a punch in the nose. "You little-"

Lizzie never heard the rest. She was out Wickham's flat not a moment too soon; the door slammed shut, severing any blissful dreams she held for their future.

Lizzie was in tears and struggled to get to Charlotte's without making a public spectacle of her. She hoped that Charlotte could forgive her for her recent behavior. All she was doing was blaming herself for Wickham's treatment and her seemingly stupidity that led her to her current state of affairs.

Hearing a knock on her door, Charlotte cried out, "Hang on." She reached the door to discover her former friend in a terrible state trying to stammr out an apology.

After a few months of working hard at the gym and tossing herself into the wellbeing of her three charges, Lizzie made a startling recovery. She got back into shape and was her old self, but this time with more confidence and determination. She had taken self-defence classes to help with her emotional battle and trust issues and all in all became a Lizzie with little patience lazy and superficial people.

Her year stay in England as also coming to a close and she couldn't wait o get home but at the same time feeling loss to the life she had built the past year. She was having a leaving party with her host family and some friends at one of the local restaurants. On the way in with Dylan in toe she overhead a conversation with two men in their mid-twenties sanding at the bar.

"Darce, you really need to step in this miserable manner. I know the divorce battle with Caroline was difficult but you know she has always been mercenary. I tried to warn you. Besides it's Georgia's birthday and you need to cheer up"

"Charles you could not be more wrong. I'm most certainly not moping about after your sister but more kicking myself that I fell for her arts and allurements"

"All the more reason to rejoice and loosen up and move on" Charles encouraged, "Take that brunette for instance. Now she is very appealing and the most stunning eyes!!"

"I will not give consequence to young high-school dropout mothers who are looking for some rich man to come and play father to the result of a one-night stand"

This sent Liz over the top but managed to sit down the youngest with the rest of the party and excused herself to get some drinks. She then moved towards the two men who did not notice this manoeuvre "Well aren't you so smart of ratting me out MR All high and mighty. Well, I'll let you on in a little secret, I can't wait to be rid of this country with the likes of you still about. Up until now I didn't think I'd be saying Home Sweet Home to a noisy household back home. And no that isn't because I am a teenage skank but because I have younger sisters swooning over men like you which quite frankly makes me sick. Now enjoy you evening." And she left as soon as she arrived, leaving two very bewildered gentlemen. It wasn't long before Darcy cursed himself for being such an ass when he remembered the fiery passion kept behind a pair of two very fine eyes.

A week later Lizzie was on the plane home with lovely visions of one very chaotic, noisy but much welcomed homecoming.

End Part 1

A/N: Extremely sorry about the delay. Please review