Authors Note: This wasn't really were I was planning on going with this. But this is where it ended up. I'm not sure how I feel about it. But, I still have to address Bingley and Jane, Caroline and her whole-lot-a-crazy, Wickham, and Colonel Fitzwilliam (I always like him...) So, I suppose I have places to take it. It's not listening to me anymore...

Chapter 3

The next morning, the Bennett family was assembled in the dinning room, breaking their fast, when Mr. Collins appeared.

"Miss Elizabeth, may I be so bold as to request a private audience with you this morning?" This question seemed to have taken a large exertion of energy, as Mr. Collins was sweating profusely and breathing quite heavily.

"Mr. Collins! Of course, of course! Everyone out of the room, Lizzy, you will stay and hear Mr. Collins!" Mrs. Bennett flitted around the room in quite the state, first dragging Kitty and Lydia out the door, while they both giggled loudly.

Elizabeth, meanwhile was sending pleading looks at her sister Jane and her father, silently begging them not to leave. Jane, with a look of sympathy, did as her mother bade and left the room.

"Mr. Bennett! Come, we must leave them for a moment!" Mrs. Bennett was rapidly entering a state of nerves, and Mr. Bennett decided it would be better to allow Elizabeth to deal with Mr. Collins then have to keep company with a frantic Mrs. Bennett.

"There, there, Lizzy, all will be well, you will see!" Elizabeth could not believe it. Her father was laughing at her situation! She knew him well enough; she could see the amusement in his eyes.

When all others were out of the room, Elizabeth turned from Mr. Collins and stared at the pattern of the floral wall covering across the room. She would hear him out, as her mother demanded, and then she would say no. It was the only course of action she could take.

"My dear Miss Elizabeth, almost as soon as I entered the house I singled you out as the companion of my future life..."

Mary was the last of her family to leave Elizabeth with Mr. Collins. As she went to shut the door, she looked at the two of them. Elizabeth seemed stricken, and determined to look anywhere but at Mr. Collins, while the gentleman was almost leering at her sister. Mary sighed. Perhaps it was fortunate that she was the plainest of the Bennett sisters. If Mr. Collins truly thought that Elizabeth was the best suited to be his wife, then he was a fool indeed. While Mary had been hopeful that Mr. Collins would see that she would make an excellent parson's wife, she was now unsure that she would be able to suffer through life as the spouse of a man as dense and insipid as their cousin.

When she finally made her way to join her sister Jane in the drawing room, her father had ensconced himself in his study, while Lydia and Kitty had left to walk to Meryton. Her mother was almost in a fit of nerves, exclaiming how jealous Lady Lucas would be when she told her that she had two daughters engaged!

Mary tried to ignore her mother by gazing out the window. Jane was patiently listening to Mrs. Bennett's exclamations of joy, occasionally reminding her that Mr. Bingley had not, in fact, proposed to her.

"But Jane! One is coming, I am sure of it. You could not have been so beautiful for nothing!" At this remark, Mary rolled her eyes. While she understood that men did prefer pretty ladies, SHE would not want to marry one that only cared about looks. Maybe that is why she no longer wished to be noticed by Mr. Collins.

"Jane, Mama, I believe I see Mr. Bingley approaching." Mary almost feared telling her mother this news. The woman could only handle so much excitement, and it was going to get exciting soon, as Elizabeth would only be able to tolerate Mr. Collins for a short time before losing her temper.

Mrs. Hill led Bingley and Darcy into the sitting room where Mrs. Bennett, Miss Bennett and Miss Mary were sitting. This sent Mrs. Bennett into a further fuss.

"Mr. Bingley! How nice of you to call on us! You are very welcome, sir! Mr. Darcy. It is nice of you to join kind Mr. Bingley." Mrs. Bennett said this last part with a slight glare in Darcy's direction. Apparently he hadn't just offended Miss Elizabeth, but had managed to upset Mrs. Bennett as well! What had he done? Try as he might, he couldn't think of what he did!

The gentlemen sat down; Bingley immediately began speaking solely with Jane Bennett. Darcy gazed around the room for several minutes, while Mary read her bible quietly and Mrs. Bennett glared at him. Finally, he could take it no more.

"Mrs. Bennett, were are the rest of your daughters this morning? I always enjoy talking with Miss Elizabeth."

"Oh! Well, Lydia and Kitty are walking to Meryton to visit my sister Phillips, and Elizabeth is entertaining Mr. Collins with a private audience in the dinning room."

"She's doing WHAT?" Darcy exclaimed as he jumped to his feet. The four other people in the room startled and looked at him in shock.

Darcy could not believe that Mr. Collins would have the audacity to think that Miss Elizabeth would ever marry him. She wouldn't, right? No, she was much too intelligent and head strong to ever consider spending her life with that simpleton. What to do now? What if she did agree to marry him? She was noble enough to tie herself to that man if she felt had to in order to save her family. Darcy knew enough about entailments and Mrs. Bennett's nature to understand the fear she had probably lived with as each of her daughters was born with no son. He also knew that she had undoubtedly made sure that each of her daughters also understood that fear. But did Elizabeth also FEEL the fear? Would she be willing to throw away her happiness for her family's safety?

Darcy was still unsure how to proceed until he heard Elizabeth cry out from the direction of the dinning room and his path was chosen for him.

"...and now nothing remains but to assure you in the most animated language of the violence of my affection."

Elizabeth was awoken from her trance by Mr. Collins grabbing her hand with his sweaty one. She wrenched free of his grasp and stood up.

"Mr. Collins, I thank you for your attentions, but I am unable to accept your proposal." At this, she started to make her way towards the door. Unfortunately, Mr. Collins moved into her path, effectively blocking her escape.

"Elizabeth! You should take it into further consideration that in spite of your manifold attractions, it is by no means certain that another offer of marriage may ever be made to you! Therefore, I must conclude that you are not serious in your rejection of me. Even if you are, I am persuaded that once it is sanctioned by the express authority of both your excellent parents, you will have to accept my proposal."

"Mr. Collins, my father has always told me that I am free to marry where I wish. He hopes that I will marry for love, and nothing less. I do not love you, and I do not accept your proposal. I am unsure what my mother has told you to make you hope for success, but I assure you that my father will not force me to marry you."

At this remark, Elizabeth saw something change in Mr. Collins eyes. His sweating seemed to increase tenfold, and his eyes narrowed. She was rejecting him! Lady Catherine had been so explicit in her directions to him, and Elizabeth was ruining his plans! He was to chose a gentlewoman, an active, useful person, and one that was not brought up too high. That described Elizabeth! And, she was also beautiful! No, he would have her. She would be happy once he got her back to Hunsford.

"Miss Elizabeth, you forget that your father will still have 4 unmarried daughters. He will not be able to afford a scandal..." And with that, he lunged at her. The next thing Elizabeth knew she was pinned against the wall, and Mr. Collins was ripping at her dress.

Darcy was unsure how he ended up throwing open the dinning room door, but the scene before him made him feel ill. His Elizabeth was pinned against the wall by his aunt's parson, with her dress ripped open. By the time he had pulled Mr. Collins off of her, Mrs. Bennett had followed him into the room, which, of course, lead to a full fit of hysterics.

"Lizzy! What has happened? What is going on!"

"Oh, my dear Mrs. Bennett! It seems Elizabeth and I allowed our passion for one another to run away with us!" Mr. Collins turned to Elizabeth, attempting to take her hand, and found himself staring up at a thunderous Mr. Darcy, who had pushed Elizabeth behind him.

The next several minutes were engulfed in chaos. Elizabeth was in tears, Jane and Mary were trying to calm their mother, who was screaming and yelling at Mr. Bennett to make Elizabeth marry Mr. Collins or else see the rest of the girls ruined. Mr. Bingley, meanwhile was standing in the middle of the room seemingly confused as to the best course of action. Every few seconds, he would make a move as if to go to Jane, but then seem to think twice about it. Instead, he just continued to stand in the middle, neither helping, nor contributing to the chaos. For his part, Mr. Collins was looking quite smug as he continually assured Mr. Bennett that he would be more than happy to do his duty and marry his fine cousin.

In the middle of it all, Darcy stood in front of Elizabeth, doing his best to shield her from the craziness. He turned to face her, and in looking into her tear-stained face, knew how he could save her.

"Miss Elizabeth, I know you weren't a willing participant in this. Surely your father won't make you marry him after this!"

"Mr. Darcy, this was not an accident. After I refused him, Mr. Collins made it quite clear that I would marry him one way or the other. He will not keep it quiet that he compromised me, and if he won't keep it quite, my father will have no choice but to force me to marry him. He can't risk my sisters reputations. Mr. Collins has gotten exactly what he wanted."

"Miss Elizabeth, let me fix this. I can fix this for you. Your father would not refuse me. I know you dislike me. I'm not sure what I did to offend you so, but I think it is all a misunderstanding and I will do everything in my power to earn your forgiveness. I am also aware that Mr. Wickham may have told you about our history. I am willing to tell you the entire story. But please, don't submit to a marriage with Mr. Collins. You are too bright a personality to spend a life in such close proximity with that man and my aunt Catherine."

Elizabeth looked at Mr. Darcy in disbelief after this speech. He could not be serious. And yet, looking in his eyes, it was obvious that he was completely serious. She was reminded of what Charlotte had told her the night before: that happiness in marriage was completely up to chance. If that was true, she had to believe she had a better chance at happiness with a handsome, intelligent man like Mr. Darcy, than with her stupid, insipid, and odious cousin. She took a deep breath, and looking between the two men, made her decision.

"Mr. Darcy, if you have any power to fix this, please do so. I will be eternally grateful."

"Are you sure? Once I speak, there will most likely be no going back. Not without creating an even larger scandal."

Elizabeth got a pained look on her face. "Yes. I'm sure. I can't marry that man."

"Alright. I WILL fix this for you. Give me your hand. We need to make this believable."

"Mr. Bennett, Mrs. Bennett. We seem to have a problem. You see, Miss Elizabeth and I had reached an understanding last night at the ball. I actually came to Longbourn today in order to ask Mr. Bennett for his permission to marry her. I assure you that this situation does nothing to change my mind on the matter."

The room went silent. All faces turned towards them in shock.

"Well," Mr. Bennett exclaimed, "This is an interesting development!"