Chapter 26 – Misery Loves Company

A week or so after he returned from Los Angeles, and after he had confided the story to his sister, Will was still feeling a bit down. There had been two very specific accusations Eliza had made against him all those months ago in New York, and he had only fixed one of them so far. After noticing Charles' behavior toward Eliza and his questions about Jane, Will finally realized that he had, indeed, been very wrong. The question was, how to get Charles back to Netherfield? Will couldn't completely assure him that Jane wasn't terribly angry at him, or that she would consider going out with him after what had happened. But he could convince Charles to at least try, and that's what he planned to do.

September was a slow month at Darcy and Darcy legal firm. A large majority of their cases had recently been resolved, and both Will and Richard were relieved to take a bit of a breather. They spent most of their days dealing with a few clients and organizing the office. One day, Will decided to take a leap of faith and confide in Richard.

"It's obvious he's still broken up about her," he was saying that afternoon. "I've got to get him back to Long Island, I just do."

Richard smiled sadly at Will. "You're right, you do."

"But how?" Will asked.

"You've got to tell him," Richard said simply. "Tell him that you were wrong about Jane, and you want to help him get her back."

Will sighed, his shoulders dropping. "He'll hate me, won't he?"

"He'll understand… you made a mistake," Rich said reassuringly.

"Charles thinks I don't make mistakes," Will said.

Richard laughed. "Everyone makes mistakes, even you. Just make sure he knows you're sorry."

Will nodded fervently. "I am sorry."

"So say that. And then go back to Long Island with him and make sure he gets her back."

"Wait, I never said I was going with him," Will said quickly. He hadn't counted on this; he did not want to go back to Long Island. He didn't think he would be able to leave Eliza yet again.

"You have to!" Rich exclaimed.

"Why?"

"For moral support!"

Will groaned. "I don't want to go to Long Island."

"Look, Will, if Charles is going out with Jane, you're going to have to just suck it up and deal with her family. I know you don't like any of them, but –"

"I never said I don't like any of them," Will said sharply. Rich narrowed his eyes.

"Then why…" he trailed off, and then gasped suddenly. "You arse, why didn't you ever tell me?"

"Tell you what?" Will said, turning toward the file cabinet and opening it for no good reason.

"Eliza," Richard said slowly. "I should've known, the way you took off after her on New Year's."

Will opened his mouth to deny it, and then sighed. He was sick of lying.

"Alright, yes, Eliza. I don't want to see her, alright?" Will said.

"Why, what happened?" Rich asked, leaning an elbow on the cabinet and staring eagerly at his cousin.

Will shrugged, not wanting to tell him the whole story. Richard smiled and laughed.

"Oh cousin… I never thought I'd see the day. But she is a fantastic girl… I wouldn't have flirted with her so much if I knew you liked her," he said, still grinning.

"Yes, that was rather annoying," Will said, smiling in spite of himself.

"So? You can go back to Long Island with Charles and get your girl, too! It's perfect!" Rich said excitedly. But Will shook his head.

"No… Eliza doesn't… no," he muttered.

Richard groaned and hit Will on the shoulder. "Will, either way, you've got to go. For Charles… and if you end up getting something for yourself, all the better!"

He winked at Will and then returned to his desk. Will sighed again, knowing he was right. He had to go with Charles, as a friend. As for Eliza… well, he would just have to take whatever came.

Later that afternoon, Will called the Gardiners. After he had called Mrs. Gardiner from LA, he had met up with John and given him all the details of the rehabilitation facility and the paperwork. John had insisted on paying him, but Will refused. He had also told the Gardiners to not, under any circumstances, tell any of the Bennets what he had done, and to take full credit for it. Mrs. Gardiner had tried to convince him to at least let her tell Lizzie, but Will was adamant. They reluctantly agreed, but told him that he could call them for anything, no matter how big or small.

"Hi, Mrs. Gardiner, it's Will," he said when Mrs. Gardiner answered the phone.

"Will! How nice to hear from you. How are you?" she said warmly. He couldn't help but smile.

"I'm very well, and you?"

"Just peachy," she said with a giggle.

"Good… um, I have a favor to ask of you, I hope it's not too much trouble," he went on.

"Not at all, Will! Anything you need," she said quickly.

"Well, I need to lease a property in Long Island… the same house that my friend leased last summer. I was wondering if you could help me out?"

Mrs. Gardiner was thrilled to help. She assured him that she would arrange everything, and sure enough, a few days later, she called back to say that she had secured the house for him for the last two weeks of September. He thanked her enthusiastically, and then set about preparing himself to tell Charles.

Charles was working for his father at the family law firm just outside of London. His and Will's law firms didn't compete because they handled very different types of cases. Charles seemed to be getting on well, but his father wasn't quite letting him handle much work yet, and so seemed to be rather bored. Therefore, he was thrilled when Will asked him to meet for lunch one Friday.

"Thank God you called me, Will," Charles said excitedly as they sat down. "That office was starting to feel as small as a shoebox."

Will laughed feebly, and quickly ordered some wine. Charles settled back in his chair and chattered on for a few minutes about work and his father. Will waited for the wine to come, and then, once they had ordered, he told Charles that there was something he wanted to talk about.

"Oh, right, you said that on the phone," Charles said, leaning in. "What's up?"

"Well, I just wanted to talk to you about… well, about Jane," Will began hesitantly. Charles' face immediately clouded over.

"Jane? Jane Bennet?" he asked quietly.

"Yes, Jane Bennet." Will took a deep breath. "I owe you an apology, Charles. A rather big apology, actually. When we left Netherfield last year, I told you that she wasn't in love with you, and I was wrong. Very wrong." He paused. "I admit I may have let my own prejudices stop me from judging her correctly. I judged her solely on her family and her money and her being an American, and for that I'm very sorry. She loved you, Charles, she did, and I should not have gotten in the way."

Charles was staring hard at his bread. His right hand was gripped tightly on his knife, while the butter in his left was slowly being squished. Will bit his lip, wondering if he should go on.

"I've been miserable for a year," Charles suddenly said, very softly. "It took you a year to figure this out?" he went on, his voice rising.

"Unfortunately, yes," Will said.

Charles was staring at him now, but Will still could not make out his expression.

"You knew I would always trust your judgment. I've always trusted your judgment. When you said she didn't love me, you knew I would believe it," Charles said. It was Will's turn to lower his eyes.

"I know, but Charles…"

"I knew in my gut that you were wrong but I didn't want to believe myself. You've always done this. I've known you've been wrong before, but you always refuse to admit that you're not right!"

Will was taken aback by Charles' aggressive tone. "I'm admitting it now, aren't I?"

"Yeah, now when it's too late!" Charles said, banging his knife onto the table. Will stared at him; he had never seen Charles this angry before, and it was rather unsettling. You have only proved yourself to be arrogant, conceited, selfish, and hold nothing but disdain for the feelings of others. Eliza's word suddenly rang about his mind. Will bit his lip before he said anything he might regret later, and then took a deep breath and spoke calmly.

"It's not too late, Charles," he said. Charles rolled his eyes, but Will went on, "It's not. I've rented the house on Netherfield Beach for the last two weeks in August and we are going back there and you are getting Jane back."

Charles' expression changed. His eyes widened, and he looked at Will in amazement.

"We? You mean you and me?"

Will nodded. "Yes. We are going back there, and I will help you get her back if it's the last thing I do."

Charles then started to laugh. "You're serious?"

"Of course I am."

There was a long, somewhat awkward, silence. Charles was still staring at Will as if he had never seen him before.

"You'd do that?" he finally said, his voice softened.

Will nodded again. "Yes. I know I haven't been one in the past, but I can be a good friend, and I am going to prove it."

Charles' shoulders fell. "You are a good friend, Will. I didn't mean to say that you weren't. You were looking out for me, I know."

They both sighed as their lunch was placed down in front of them. The tension seemed to instantly dissolve as they began eating.

"So," Charles said, "when do we leave?"

Eliza's first day of graduate school came as a bit of shock. After her rather dramatic summer, the fact that she had to return to school seemed rather mundane. Her only bit of excitement came when she moved out of the house and into an apartment on campus. Because she had received a very generous scholarship, and Jane had moved out, Mr. Bennet had decided that he could finally spring for on-campus housing. Eliza was beyond thrilled when she finally moved into her apartment. It was small, to be sure, but she had it all to herself. She had a small kitchen with a nice new oven and stovetop, a small eating area, a nice comfortable living room, a narrow but relatively new bathroom, and a spacious bedroom. She spent a long time decorating it, and within a week, it felt like home. She still of course, had to visit her parents and sisters once a weekend because her mother was still not doing well ever since Lydia had left. Lydia called five times a week, and from what her father told Eliza, she was doing much better.

As she started her classes, however, Eliza still thought of Will all the time. She was now mortified at how he had last seen her, and she wished she hadn't told him anything of her sister and Wickham. Not that she thought he would spread the story of her sister's humiliation; indeed, she couldn't think of anyone she could trust more to keep it silent. But it must have confirmed what he had thought of her family all along, and now she was positive that she would never see him again. Nothing in her entire life had ever made her quite as miserable as this. She suddenly wished that she could hear anything about him, but knew that it was impossible. He was gone from her life, just when she was wishing that he could be part of it.

Eliza was working in the library one day when her cellphone rang. She rushed to answer it; although they were allowed to talk on their phones in the library, she still felt embarrassed every time she did.

"Hello?" she whispered, retreating to a corner where there was no one around.

"Lizzie? Lizzie?"

It was Lydia. Eliza was surprised but gratified that her sister was calling her, and eased into an armchair.

"Hi, Lydia, I'm here," she said.

"Oh. Hi, Lizzie. I'm supposed to talk to you," Lydia said irritably.

"Well, it's nice to hear from you," Eliza said, rolling her eyes.

"I'm supposed to talk to every family member for at least five minutes," Lydia informed her. "They're watching me."

"Well, good. You talked to everyone at home, then?"

"Yes, and it took forever. Mom just goes on and on about how many days left until she comes to get me, and Dad just talks about work."

"Yeah, well, that's Dad. So how are you?"

Lydia groaned. "Fine," she said sharply. "I've been fine for weeks now, they just won't let me go."

"That's their job, Lydia. They have to make sure you're healthy."

"I am healthy. Where's George?" she demanded.

Eliza sighed. Lydia repeated this inquiry on every single phone call, and no one had yet told her. Eliza, however, decided it was time to let her know.

"He was arrested, Lydia. He's in jail," Eliza said, bracing herself.

"What!" Lydia screeched. Eliza jerked the phone away at Lydia's shrill voice.

"He had five liters of heroin in his apartment, Lydia!" Eliza said.

"So? God, if it weren't for that stupid Darcy showing up at the apartment that day…" Lydia started muttering to herself.

Eliza, however, had bolted up straight. "What?" she said quickly. "What about Darcy?"

"Oh… I wasn't supposed to tell you about that. Oops," Lydia said dryly. Eliza frowned at the phone.

"I have to go," she said, and then hung up on Lydia. Eliza stared at the phone for a minute or two; what had she meant about Darcy? Her heart began to race as she dialed the Gardiners' number. Her aunt and uncle weren't in, though, and Eliza slammed her phone shut again. She had to find out – what had Lydia meant?

Eliza raced to a computer and logged on quickly. Opening her e-mail, she made a new message.

Aunt Anne, she wrote,

I was just talking on the phone with Lydia. She said something about Darcy showing up at their apartment? Do you know anything about this? And I don't care if it's supposed to be a secret, because you know I'll just have to use some other way to find out.

Thanks,

Eliza

She wanted to wait at the computer for her aunt's answer, but after five minutes of just staring at the screen, she could tell people around her were glaring at her for hogging the computer. She reluctantly signed out and left the computer to go back to her studies. But she just couldn't concentrate. Why had Will been at the apartment? Her mind was working overtime, coming up with several scenarios, each as farfetched as the last. After a few hours, she banged her books closed, having not gotten any work done. The library was emptying quickly as people went to dinner, and Eliza was able to find an empty computer. She impatiently re-opened her e-mail, and was thrilled to find her aunt had answered.

Lizzie,

I have to admit I'm a little surprised to be getting this question from you; I would have thought you would've figured it out by now. But since you seem very concerned, I will explain everything. I'm not supposed to, mind you, but I feel you have a right to know.

Your uncle had been in LA for a few days when I received a phone call from Will Darcy. He asked to speak to your uncle, but I told him that John was in LA looking for Lydia. Will then asked where John was staying. I told him, but asked why he wanted to know. He then admitted that he had been in LA for several days, as well, and had found Lydia – he had left Derby the same night we did! He told me he had used some contacts to track Wickham down, and that just that day he had found Wickham and Lydia in an apartment downtown. He then told me that he had taken Lydia to a rehab center in Malibu, and had had Wickham arrested. I told him we would certainly repay him for the rehab facility, but he refused. I asked him why he had taken the trouble to do all this, and he said that it was his fault because he had never made Wickham's character known. If he had, he said, no one would be taken in by his charms as Lydia was. I myself think he may have had another motive, but he was genuinely distressed about it. I then again told him where John was in LA, and he promised to fill John in on everything. He then asked me, quite fervently, if I could not say a word about his part in the whole thing. He told me to have John take the credit for finding them. I promised, but I'm afraid I've just broken his trust. Please don't say anything Lizzie – I know you may want to, but I gave Will my word, and I have to admit, Lizzie, that I like him very much. He's really an outstanding young man… he just needs someone with a bit of liveliness and humor, is all.

Alright, now that I've embarrassed you enough, I'll leave you to make of this what you will.

Love,

Aunt Anne

Eliza gaped at the screen. It had all been Will… he had done everything. He had found them, paid for the rehab, had George taken away. And all for Lydia, a girl he never liked and certainly didn't hold in high esteem. Eliza thought, in her heart of hearts, that he had done it for her. But that was impossible… she couldn't be so vain as to think that he would go to all this trouble for her, a girl who had already brutally rejected him. Impossible! It was much more reasonable to think that he felt guilty about Wickham, about not exposing him earlier. This was clearly his motivation.

Eliza's insides burned with guilt. She and her family owed Lydia's very life to Darcy. Her heart fell in shame for every hateful word she had ever said against him. How wrong she had been… Will was a good man, had been all along. She just hadn't seen it… or perhaps, she thought secretly, she had brought it out in him. But that was ridiculous – he had loved her once, but never would again. Suddenly she started crying, right there at the computer, because she knew now that if he were, by some chance, to repeat what he had said on New Year's, she would say yes. She would kiss him and tell him that yes, she loved him, too. She did, she loved him, and she was realizing it right here in the library.

It took her several minutes to collect herself. She wiped away her tears and gathered her things. Walking slowly back to her apartment, Eliza realized she now knew what her sister must have felt like, maybe even still did feel like. With that in mind, she went home and invited her sister over for dinner, deciding to test the saying the misery does indeed love company.

A/N: Finally, Eliza admits what we've known all along! Obviously she won't be miserable for very long, as our lovers shall be reunited in the next chapter. Then the chapter after that will have the infamous Aunt Catherine visit, and then (gasp!) the final chapter. I'm hoping to somehow work in where Charlotte and Collins stand at the moment, too. Maybe there will have to be an epilogue… especially since it will end at Chapter 29 and that's just annoying.

For those who care to know, after this story is finished I plan on re-writing Goodbye, Hello and also working on one of my fairy tales. If you've read The Golden Thief, The Reluctant Cinderella, or Spinning a Yarn, I'm having a little vote on which one to continue. If you would like to see any of those continued, please tell me which one – and don't say all of them, because that's just impossible. :)

So please review! We did reach over 400, which is tres exciting! Keep 'em coming!

Love, luck, and flying Ringwraiths,

Emma the NazgulQueen