Hello one and all, and welcome to Chapter Three.

Originally it was going to be a little longer then this, but I promised myself that I would update after I got thirteen reviews. And then I logged on this afternoon and saw I had thirteen reviews SO...

You guys get a chapter early XD.

And syrn, alex, and TheBrassPotato each get ten points. Kudos to you three.

Please keep reviewing. It makes me smile .

Chapter Three: There is Music in the Man

Two days later...

Elizabeth stumbled out of bed, yawning. She quickly found her blue fuzzy bathrobe and wrapped it around herself, then haphazardly made her way downstairs to the kitchen.

Things had been going fairly well for the past two days, except whenever she ran into the Unpleasant Darcy she almost always got into an argument with him. He was such a self-important music snob that it was pretty much impossible for the two of them to get along.

As Elizabeth was about halfway down the stairs she heard a violin from somewhere. She stopped to listen, leaning against the dark wood railing. Even in her half-asleep state the music sounded beautiful, and she could hear the obvious talent that the person who was playing the violin possessed.

That must be Charles, then. Elizabeth yawned and resumed walking down the stairs, still concentrating on the gorgeous violin. She would give almost anything to be able to play an instrument half as well as Charles could play the violin.

Elizabeth finally reached the bottom of the stairway, and froze as she noticed the two people sitting at the table in front of her.

Darcy and Caroline had both watched the tired and bed-wrinkled Elizabeth slowly meander down the stairs; the whole while Caroline had to try her very hardest to keep from snickering.

"What a wreck!" She whispered to Darcy, who was watching Elizabeth's downward journey over the top of his newspaper. "I can't believe she'd actually leave her room in that condition. She could at least have the manners to get dressed!"

Darcy said nothing, but continued watching Elizabeth during her long journey down the stairs. She looked so tired, even though it was almost ten o'clock. And as far as he knew she hadn't stayed up too late last night, but it's not like he really paid attention to how long she slept or whatever anyway...

In fact, Elizabeth was so disagreeable and annoying that Darcy decided he would ignore her for the rest of the day. There was no reason for thinking about somebody as ridiculous as Elizabeth.

Elizabeth stood motionless at the bottom of the stairway before she finally managed to speak.

"So... who might your friend be, Darcy?"

Damn. With a question as direct as that Darcy didn't think he could evade it. Fortunately, Caroline decided to step in and answer the question, unwittingly saving Darcy from speaking to Elizabeth and thus making his goal for the day impossible.

"I'm Caroline Bingley. Charles's sister. And you are?" Caroline's tone was gracious, but there was a derisive in her eyes that neither Darcy or Elizabeth could miss.

"I'm Elizabeth Bennet. Jane's sister. We're staying here because-"

"Oh yes, I know. Charles told me of your predicament. Must be ever so inconvenient." Caroline fanned herself with her napkin carelessly as she spoke.

"Yes. It is. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go find my sister." With that Elizabeth stalked out of the room, and Caroline laughed, muffling the noise behind her napkin.

"I don't believe I've ever met anyone half as ridiculous as she is! I don't know how you can stand being in the same house as her, William. It must be utter hell."

"It's not as bad as you might think." Darcy spoke absently, then cursed himself. Why was he defending that silly girl?

Elizabeth made her way to the living room, where the violin music was coming from. As she entered the room she caught sight of Charles standing in the middle of it, the violin tucked under his chin. He was played elegantly and with astounding grace, his arm fluid and fast with the bow. Jane was sitting on the couch near Charles, and was watching him with fascination bordering on amazement.

Charles finished his piece and Jane began to clap, and they both jumped as Elizabeth joined in the clapping.

"That was marvelous, Charles." Elizabeth walked into the room and sat next to her sister. "I love hearing you play, you put so much emotion into your music."

Charles turned bright red.

"N-no, well, I just... I just really like to play I guess is all. I mean, well, I don't think I would play half as good if I didn't love the music so much."

Jane smiled. "I can understand that. It's hard to do something well if you don't enjoy it."

Charles nodded.

"But you should really hear Darcy play sometime, I think. I mean, I don't really think I'm as good as he is but he always says I am. He plays amazingly."

Elizabeth looked up at Charles, curious. "Does Darcy play the violin too then?"

Charles laughed. "No, Darcy plays the piano. Extremely well. He's one of the best pianists I've ever seen."

"Seriously? Then we must hear him play." Elizabeth looked to Jane, who nodded in agreement.

"You should go get him, Charles." Jane smiled. "I highly doubt that Darcy would come play if anybody but you asked him. It doesn't seem like he's really the type to perform casually in front of people."

Charles nodded and left the room, and Elizabeth leaned in to whisper in Jane's ear.

"I don't think Darcy's the type to oblige anyone with anything in general."

Jane looked at Elizabeth, surprised.

"How can you say that, Lizzy? Darcy seems like a nice man, he's just a bit... unsociable."

Elizabeth laughed.

"I believe that is the understatement of the year."

Then Charles re-entered the room, with Darcy and Caroline following him. Darcy had the most evil scowl imaginable on his face, and Elizabeth had to bite her lip to keep from laughing.

"Oh come on, Darcy, it's not that bad." Charles gave Darcy a pleading look. "You're just playing for Jane and Elizabeth, it's not like-"

"I am here, aren't I?" Darcy said curtly. "If I wasn't going to play I would be upstairs in my study. So you can stop trying to convince me, Charles. However against my will it may be, I will play."

Elizabeth looked at Darcy, curious.

"So, if you really don't want to play for us, then why did you come?"

Darcy turned his glare towards Elizabeth as he sat down at the piano.

"It would be rude to refuse a friend's request just because of one's own personal inclinations."

Elizabeth laughed.

"Well that's certainly an interesting way of looking at things, Mr. Darcy."

Darcy's glare increased tenfold, and then turned back to the piano.

"So, what did you want me to play, Charles?"

"Well, how about-"

"Oh, Darcy, I really think you should play that Chopin song. You know." Caroline usurped Charles's answer and crept up beside Darcy, resting her hand on his arm. "The Fantasy something? That goes so fast in the beginning and is absolutely gorgeous?"

"Fantasie-Impromptu." Darcy said coldly, and moved his arm out of Caroline's grasp. "And you need to move if you expect me to play anything."

"Oh, of course. I wouldn't want to disturb a master such as you, William." Caroline slinked back to the couch and sat down, watching Darcy amorously.

Darcy faced the piano and pulled back his sleeves, concentrating on something that nobody else could see or hear. There was a silence in the room, and Elizabeth leaned forward despite herself.

Then Darcy straightened up and began to play.

The first chord, consisting simply of two G sharps, somehow sent a chill down Elizabeth's spine. She couldn't figure out why until Darcy began the sixtuplets, and she noticed the deep, intense look in his dark green eyes. It seemed like he was focusing on something far away, and that he was so completely engrossed with it that nothing else in the room mattered. As Darcy played on, Elizabeth could tell that he was so a part of the music that absolutely nothing else mattered to him at that moment, and in a sense he wasn't even in the room. Or at least the part of him that mattered wasn't.

Time seemed to suspend indefinitely, and Elizabeth was surprised when Darcy stopped playing and the others began to clap.

"Oh William, you're such a wonderful pianist." Caroline gushed, probably oblivious to the level of talent that she just saw displayed. "I really think I've never heard anyone as good as you."

"That's nonsense. There are plenty of talented pianists out there." Darcy stood up and began to leave the room, and then stopped when he saw the expression on Elizabeth's face.

"Did you find my playing to your liking?" Darcy asked, the faint suggestion of a smile threating to break through his scowl.

"What? Oh. Yes..." Elizabeth was still a little dazed. "That was... that was really good." She was so surprised that somebody as seemingly cruel and cold as Darcy could play with that emotion.

Darcy stood and looked at Elizabeth for a moment more, then turned and left the room, heading for his study.

He realized when he got there that he had talked to Elizabeth and therefore ruined his goal of ignoring her for the day.

So that's all for now kids! I'm not sure when I'll get the next posted, but it won't be this weekend 'cause I have graduation parties and graduation to attend to >. .

Hope you liked it :) And if you've never heard Chopin's Fantasie-Impromptu you really need to listen to it. Gorgeous music.