A/N—So. School started. Please accept my deepest, most sincere apologies for the lateness of this chapter.
Wickham!
Wickham!
For God's sake, Wickham!
William's blood boiled as he stomped towards Charles's house in high dudgeon. How dare that man show his face! His mind was in such a cloudy haze of anger and repulsion, it took him several long minutes to even grasp the other things he had observed.
When he did, though, he felt like he'd been punched in the gut. He also felt sick to his stomach, but whether that was caused by the punch in the gut or was a unique feeling in itself was unclear.
Wickham was with Elizabeth! Dearest, loveliest Elizabeth! Why, he felt he could strangle someone, he did. It was a good thing he had gotten home so quickly; woe to any hapless creature that may have crossed his path then!
He couldn't believe it. Wickham, there of all places. How could the vilest, basest, most loathsome low down dirty rotten scumbag end up there? That man was a rat that wasn't worth the gum under his Elizabeth's shoe. No, he wasn't even a rat—they were too good for the likes of him. He was a flea on a rat. No, he was an amoeba on a flea on a rat!
William was so absorbed with his own festering anger that he hardly noticed he had arrived at Netherfield. His feet moved by their own will and carried him to his room without his knowing. He only became aware of his surroundings when he heard himself slam the door to his room shut, effectively jarring him out of his own internal furnace. It was just as well; he didn't feel up to polite conversation.
Especially not with someone as jolly as Charles. And especially not with someone as… as… like Caroline.
When Will could finally breathe again, he decided it was safe enough to venture out into the world again.
The fact that it was safe, however, did not mean that Will's mood wasn't sufficiently dark enough to frighten away small children. Still, he no longer felt the need to hit someone, and that was enough for him. He had amazing self-control when he really needed it. (And boy, did he need it.)
Thinking of Wickham (he couldn't help but mutter a few more choice words) ultimately led him to think of his sister Georgie. He realized he hadn't gotten her anything yet, as he always did when he went away on business trips and the like. He had been too busy thinking of another female during his stay for, well, much else. He felt rightly ashamed and resolved to go out then and there and buy her something nice. Then, maybe he would borrow Charles's laptop to see if she'd sent him an e-mail, and send her one himself.
On his way out, he passed through the living room, and there he found Charles sitting on the couch conversing with someone over the telephone. Charles caught sight of him and let his greeting die on his tongue as he took in William's severe expression. He put a hand to the receiver and quietly asked, "What's wrong?" To this, William only shook his head.
"Who's that?" Darcy asked.
Immediately, Charles brightened, a familiar light coming to his eyes.
"Jane," he answered, and turned his attention back to his discussion. William bit back a groan.
It was starting again.
Charles had been attentive enough to the eldest of the five Miss Bennets prior to this, but now the fair-haired man had the look of love about him. William had nothing against her personally; she was friendly, exceedingly polite, and quite kind—but therein lay the problem. William had never detected in her anything but general niceness towards everyone. She seemed to enjoy Charles's attentions, but she never sought them outright, and she treated him no differently than she treated Will himself, or even Caroline for that matter. He wouldn't have felt so badly about the business if she reciprocated at least some of the feeling Charles had for her, but whenever Will saw her, she was calm, poised, and wholly unaffected.
He ran a hand through his hair, as he was wont to do when his spirits were agitated, and sighed. He would have to do something about that. But first things first.
He needed to buy Georgie a present.
He decided to go to a bookstore in town.
He'd remembered that over the past few weeks, Georgie had mentioned a particular book and that she wanted to take a look at it; all her friends had been raving about it all summer, it was the hottest thing to hit the shelf this season, etc., etc., and so forth. So when he entered the store, he sidled his way on over to the teen fiction section.
His eyes roved over the titles of the ridiculous romance novels present in abundance until he found the name he was looking for. He pulled out the book and began to read the back cover when he heard two familiar voices on the other side of the bookcase.
"Ehmigawd, Kitty! Look!" squealed Lydia, Jane and Elizabeth's youngest sister. The second youngest, Kitty, gasped in response.
"No way!" she breathed. "I can't believe they have it! This has been sold out for weeks!"
"I know, right? Every girl in the country wants the story of Mr. Tall-Dark-and-Handsome and his tragic past."
"I know. Speaking of Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome, did you hear what Will Darcy did for Jane and Lizzy yesterday?"
"What, the cake thing? Yeah. I guess he's, like, not such a jerk after all."
"What-ev. He can be the biggest jerk in the world, but I swear, he has, like, the most gorgeous eyes in the world."
"And a pretty gorgeous bank account on top of it!"
"I know, right?"
The two girls tittered.
"And so does his friend."
"Charlie? Yeah. Not as much as him, though."
"So what? If Jane were smart, she'd, like, grab a hold of him and, like, never let go."
"Right?"
William stood, mouth agape, horrified. He was saved from hearing any more of this mortifying conversation, however, because a young man with "like, amazing hair" caught their interest, thus causing them to go over to another section to flirt with him.
He took Georgie's book and moved as far away from the two young Bennets as quickly as possible.
He then found himself in the new releases section. His eyes were quickly riveted to the cover of a new publication by his favorite author, and as he reached for it, he heard two more voices that he was well acquainted with.
"Oh, Charles, that sounds great! When do you plan on…? The 30th? …Of course you can. Alright… bye."
The voice he recognized as Jane Bennet's had performed a little decrescendo, and its owner finished with a little sigh.
"So you've finally decided to rejoin the real world, eh?"
His heart (the one inside his chest, not atop his head) gaze a little flutter at the sound of his—of Elizabeth's voice. He frowned at its juvenile behavior.
Her remark garnered no audible reply from her sister, and after a moment, Lizzy spoke again, her voice surprisingly soft and earnest.
"You're like you're in your own little world when you talk to him… You really like him, don't you?"
Even softer was her sister's reply. It was so quiet, William almost missed it, and he strained his ears to catch every word.
"I do, I do really like him."
Even at such a low volume, William was struck with the sincerity in her tone.
And that was that. No more was said on the subject. The next words came only long moments afterward, from Elizabeth's lips.
"Hah! Jane, come read this!"
William slunk away, feeling quite guilty, and quietly made his purchases. He thankfully did not meet any of the Bennet troupe on the way out. He wasn't quite sure how he would have reacted if he had.
When William returned, Charles was waiting for him expectantly.
"Will, guess that?" Bingley had asked as soon as he saw his friend. He didn't give Will a chance to reply, but continued on hastily, "I'm throwing a party!"
Would Will's misfortunes ever cease on this accursed day?
"That's wonderful, Charles," he said with an absolute lack of enthusiasm. If such a thing existed, one could describe it as anti-enthusiastic.
"Oh, don't be such a wet blanket!" Charles chided with a good-natured smile. "I know you don't like parties all that much, but this one's going to be great, I promise!"
William sighed.
"Well, I'll try to be accommodating, for your sake."
"There's a good fellow!" Charles chirped, heartily clapping his friend on the back. He then eyed the bag in Will's hand.
"What's that?"
"A book for Georgie, and one for me."
"Ah, Georgie!" Charles's tone was infused with warmth at the mention of the girl. "You spoil her, you know, always buying her trinkets and other such things."
"Yes, well, I try."
"To spoil her?"
William rolled his eyes, but didn't grace Charles with a response. That was when Caroline decided to insert herself into the conversation.
"Georgiana!" she exclaimed from the adjacent room, having overheard the exchange. She walked into view, continuing, "Oh, how I do dote on her. Charles, don't be ridiculous; Wills can't spoil her. She's much too humble to be moved by frivolous extravagance."
"Books are hardly frivolous extravagance," Will commented dryly. Caroline shrugged, as if rolling the comment off her shoulders.
"You know I was talking about other things."
"So you think the things I buy for her are worthless trinkets?" he accused testily.
Caroline lifted her brows in alarm. She never wished to upset her Mr. Darcy, and clearly her innocent words were being twisted into an insult inside his head. Her mind worked quickly to remedy the situation.
"Oh, no, of course not," she repaired with remarkable aplomb. "I was merely saying that, in general, Georgiana is not likely to become spoilt, based on her disposition."
William sighed. He knew Caroline had meant it as a compliment, but he was still rankled by the encounter with Wickham and his overhearing of those insipid younger girls. In addition, weighing heavily on his mind was the guilt of his misjudging Jane.
Plus, Caroline was not exactly his favorite person in the world.
He shook his head to rid himself of his negative emotions.
"I have to go check my e-mail," he declared a bit gruffly. He walked off, trying to conceal his agitation, but, for the most part, failing.
Brother and sister watched him leave with equal parts confusion and concern. Caroline made as if to follow him, but Charles intercepted her attention, sensing that William did not want or need any company.
"Caroline, you want to help plan the party?"
This was pleasing to her.
"When can we start?"
William swore that if Charles's laptop went any slower, he would have to hurt someone.
Just as he resolved to go and punch some poor, unwitting citizen in the face—preferably Wickham—the monitor displayed what he had waited about fifteen minutes for.
His email inbox was full.
Most of the messages were from work, but his eyes quickly found an email from his sister among the slew of others, and immediately clicked on it.
Dearest, Most Beloved Brother, it began.
I am quite miffed with you. Apparently you have forgotten your poor little sister during your stay with the affable Mr. Bingley and his… sister. Do say hello to them for me, by the way; especially Caroline, for as we both know 'she does dote on me.'
Here, he laughed outright, his sister's near-exact quotation of the woman dispelling most of his bad mood. To think that Miss Bingley had just uttered those words not twenty minutes before! The coincidence was uncanny.
Now, I did want to say hello, but that isn't the real reason for this email. What I really want to know is this: have you done what I asked? If you know what's good for you (literally) you better have. Now, I want a reply to this as soon as possible, mister, with lots and lots of detail (lots and lots! Excruciating detail!). Do NOT, repeat, do NOT just list a couple of random names and say, 'Oh, they're nice,' or whatever. I want details! Details, details, details! I want to be able to identify them blindfolded and in a straightjacket! Do you hear me?
William rolled his eyes even as he bit back a groan. He'd nearly forgotten. Georgie had wanted him to "make new friends because it would good for him."
Excruciating detail. Right.
Why did it seem like everyone in his family thought he needed a life? He had a life, thank you very much! It just so happened to be that most of it was spent at Pemberley Enterprises. It wasn't his fault that he was an integral part of the company, right?
He sighed and was thrown back into unhappiness. He wanted to please Georgie, he really did (he did dote on her as well), but he was not comfortable with the thought of describing his new acquaintances in excruciating detail.
He hit the reply button. Then he set to catering to his sister's wishes without digging himself into too big of a hole.