The Love of the Game by IntuitiveIntelligence.
A/N: Hello everyone, I'm back after about a month's absence. University just started up again and between that and a job I find myself quite without time to write. But here is another chapter to hold you off for a while. I hope you enjoy it and thank you ever so much for your reviews.
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Elizabeth jerked from her sleep, all of a sudden confused by her surroundings. The pale blue room was not her own, and the cherry furnishings were far more expensive than she could ever afford. When she moved to prop herself up, she felt a surge of pain come up her arm from her wrist. Pulling her arm out from underneath the covers, she noticed that her wrist was wrapped in an ace bandage, and the events of the day before all came back to her at once.
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After sitting with Jane for little over an hour, Charles returned to insist that Lizzy head downstairs and sit in front of the fire with a cup of tea to warm up and that he would watch over Jane. His sincerity was so genuine, that Lizzy felt comfortable in parting with her sister for a little while.
She slowly negotiated her way down the stairs, and made her way into the reception room where a warm fire was already blazing and tea service had been set out. From the floor to ceiling windows that dominated one wall of the room she could see that storm was far from over, and Lizzy unconsciously shivered before sitting down and helping herself to a cup of tea.
"Oh I'm so sorry, I didn't realize you were in here…" Darcy muttered when he walked into the room causing Lizzy to jump slightly.
"Its fine… You live here, I'm merely intruding on your hospitality, or shall I say, Charles's?"
"How is your wrist?" He said coldly looking at the dressings.
"Its fine, thank you." Lizzy spat back.
"You should be more careful on a horse…" Darcy stated.
"Excuse me?" Lizzy said her jaw going wide.
"If you can't ride than you have no place being on a horse like that." He responded while looking out the stormy windows.
"I have 'no place being on a horse like that'! Of course I don't. That horse was wild, and I do not claim to be the best rider in the world. But who are you to tell me what I can and cannot do, you aren't my father!" Lizzy snapped.
"I was not trying to be, I was merely—" Darcy started when Elizabeth interrupted him.
"Like hell you weren't. You think you are all high and mighty, like everyone must do as you please. But I tell you this now, you will never be the boss of me."
Darcy looked as if he was about to speak, but he thought the better of it and merely with a cold gaze stated that he apologized for interrupting her and left the room with Lizzy fuming in his wake.
"That insufferable man…" Lizzy thought to herself as she sipped at her tea and stared into the fire.
At some point she lied her head against the plush velvet of the couch, with the flames warmth coaxing her into an uneasy sleep. The housekeeper had found her later, when she went into the room to clear away the tea things, and woke Lizzy sending her up to bed. Lizzy had stripped off the clothes she had borrowed from Caroline, and snuggled into the sheets falling asleep instantly.
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After throwing on a dressing gown so that she was somewhat decent Lizzy stretched out, feeling the tension in her muscles which she received from her tumble, but it was nothing compared to what Jane would be feeling when she woke up. Striding to the window, she threw back the curtains to see that it was almost mid-day and that thankfully the storm had past and the sun was shining down. A knock on the door disturbed Lizzy's thoughts, and she made sure the gown was fastened entirely before asking who it was to entire.
"Oh, good you are up. Charles sent me to bring you down for lunch, seeing as you slept your way through breakfast. He also told me to give you another outfit to wear…" Caroline said with a huff before throwing the clothes on to Lizzy's bed and storming from the room.
Lizzy blinked, and she was not sure if it was from being half-awake or if Caroline really was that strange. She shut the door to the room, before looking back at the clothes Caroline had given her, an off the shoulder sweater and a peasant skirt with a pair of flip-flops. Not something Lizzy would have worn typically, but she had to be thankful it wasn't a belly bearing tube top and hot pants.
She dressed quickly, and fixed her hair the best she could before she settled on throwing it up into a messy bun. She might as well take this bo-ho chique look for granted, messy was in. Lizzy left her room and decided she would make a quick stop to see Jane before heading down for food.
Lizzy luckily this time found Jane awake and propped up against the headboard with a mountain of pillows. She wasn't at her best, but that was her Jane wide awake, and Lizzy couldn't be happier.
"Janey…" Lizzy said throwing her arms around her sister who winced at the touch.
"Oh I'm so sorry, did I hurt you?" Lizzy said biting her lip.
"No, no. Well, yes you did, but you didn't mean to. My back is entirely black and blue Lizzy, Charles said that the muscles have gone into shock from the fall and would have to be loosened. Until that time, I can't ride. I can barely do anything."
"I'm sorry….but to see these bruises, Charles would have had to have your shirt off…" Lizzy said with a smirk.
Jane's mouth opened wide and shut again just as abruptly before she blushed furiously.
"No, he said that Caroline saw them when she helped me change into night things last night."
"Sure…"
"So you are looking pretty dapper, who are you trying to be, Sienna Miller?"
"Hah! That will be the day when I prescribe to those fashion magazines. No, these are the clothes Caroline bestowed upon me at Charles's request."
"They suit you." Jane said with a smile.
"Really?" Lizzy said with a doubtful brow.
"No, no they look slightly ridiculous. But at least you aren't walking about naked."
"Hah, I'm sure Darcy would love that. 'Ho, hum. Look at her walking about naked like a heathen, why we should have her hanged!'"
"Lizzy, for crying out loud. When has Will even said anything remotely like that? Now, I can't come downstairs, so I think you better go to lunch and make peace at least for my sake…"
"Just for you dear." Lizzy said with a kiss to the right of the Looney Tunes band-aid before heading down to lunch.
"Lizzy, I thought you might never surface…" Caroline muttered before shoving a forkful of salad into her horse-like mouth.
"Well you can stop worrying, I'm here." She replied sitting down across from Caroline.
A few moments later Darcy entered and seemed to debate which woman he would sit next to. If he sat next to Caroline she would most likely flirt with him the entire time, causing him to maybe lose his lunch. But if he sat next to Elizabeth, she'd be just as likely to bite his head off.
"Will, darling. Come have a seat, we've waited to eat for you."
Elizabeth snorted at this causing Caroline to shoot her a glare. Darcy, noting that Bingley was not coming down for lunch, then decided to sit in between them, hopefully distancing himself from both of them equally enough to avoid real harm.
"So, Will, you will never believe who called me this morning…" Caroline started and when Will didn't respond she continued, "Allison Bartram. You remember her, she's Francois Leroux's daughter and thinks she's god's gift to the world because she knows French fashion."
"Oh…" Will said uninterested as he helped himself to some of the baguette on the table.
"That's all you can say 'oh'? Lizzy, you are a woman, and even you must have some opinion on matters of fashion."
"I think my opinion would rarely agree with yours Caroline."
"Whatever do you mean?"
"Simply that your penchant for the 'glamourous' world of fashion, far surpasses mine. Well I'm just some commoner in comparison." Lizzy said her voice dripping with a dull sarcasm that Caroline mistook for an actual compliment.
Darcy however knew what Lizzy was saying and had to conceal his smile behind his linen napkin.
"Oh, well at any rate, she had the nerve to invite me to her home for a dinner party. So naturally I told her that I couldn't possibly make it to France this week because I was far too busy with events in London."
Darcy nodded to her and began to eat some more of his salad. Lizzy felt so out of place here, amongst Caroline's gossiping and Darcy's arrogant silence. But every time she thought of simply screaming at the top of her lungs and running from the house, Mr. Kirkland's face flashed before her eyes with the two week deadline lurking close behind.
"If you'll excuse me, my back is hurting me a bit. I think I am going to rest for a while." Lizzy mumbled before rising and heading back to her room.
Darcy watched her retreating form, the way the skirt moved when she walked and the glint of the skin on her shoulder as she passed beneath the light. Shaking himself from his thoughts once again, he went back to politely ignoring Caroline and eating his lunch.
Lizzy passed by Jane's room and briefly caught a glimpse of Jane and Charles sharing a tender moment. Smiling to herself, she continued on to her own room, happy that her sister finally found someone to suit her perfectly.
Flopping down into the arm chair in the corner of the room, Lizzy stared out the window until she felt something poking her back. She reached behind her and pulled out an expensive looking gentleman's riding coat that smelt like heaven. It was only after indulging herself in the rich scent that she remembered that it was Darcy's jacket.
That man was such a bloody mystery to her. One minute he's rude and condescending, the next he's saving her in what could have been the most romantic way had it been anyone other than Darcy, then he insinuates that she's incomptitent and now he entirely ignores her.
Lizzy then realized that even if he was a pompous ass, he still deserved to get his jacket back. Figuring that she could slip it in his room while he was still busy eating downstairs, she got up and strode down the hall to his door. She hesitated a minute before turning the brass doorknob and stepping inside.
Darcy's room was done in a rich hunter green, with dark wood furnishings. Everything about the room was perfectly immaculate, right down to the angle of the photographs lined on his desk. Lizzy placed the folded jacket down on his bed where he'd be sure to find it, before her curiosity got the better of her and she went to look at his pictures.
The first was of a young Darcy and a soccer ball. She could see the man he would become in his features, and decided she liked the smiling happy version better. The next photograph was of the Manchester United team when Darcy was on it, it was the same picture Lizzy had a copy of in her research file for Darcy. The next was of a girl with gorgeous blonde hair, she had to be about seven or eight, and she was in a ballet tutu.
'Maybe Darcy has a secret love child somewhere," Elizabeth mused before turning to the last picture.
In it was perhaps one of the most beautiful women Elizabeth had ever seen. She had long dark hair and crystal clear blue eyes. It was of his mother Anne, she deduced having seen photographs of the aristocratic Mrs. Darcy in her file as well. She was sitting in a swing in a garden, wearing what appeared to be her wedding dress, with a teasing smile on her face.
"What are you doing?" Came a sharp voice from behind her, causing Lizzy to fumble with the picture frame and hastily put it back on the desk.
"I was returning your jacket…" Lizzy said frightened out of her wits to be caught going through Darcy's things.
"Does returning my jacket also involve looking at my photographs?"
"I'm sorry, I honestly did come in here to return your jacket. But when I saw your pictures, I couldn't help but look. You were a cute kid, William Darcy." Lizzy said trying to employ a tactic that had helped her in the past, diversion and changing the subject.
"Excuse me?" Darcy said floored that she had given him a compliment.
"The picture of you smiling with the soccer ball, it's adorable." Lizzy said slowly.
"Yes…well…" Darcy said growing slightly flustered.
"Oh would you look at the time, one p.m. already. The day does fly by, I think I am going to …umm… Goodbye, Darcy." Lizzy said tapping his arm, as she slipped past him, accidentally brushing him as she made her way out into the hall and into the safety of her room.
When she had gone, Darcy walked over to the riding jacket which now smelt like his cologne, and something distinctly feminine, something distinctly Elizabeth Bennet.
'What just happened?' He thought to himself as he took the garment and hung it in his closet.
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Lizzy couldn't stand staying cooped up for long, growing restless indoors she decided that she would go for a walk outside. But two steps out from the front door, she noticed that the storm had reduced the grounds to mud. She'd never hear the end of it if she ruined Caroline's flip-flops which probably cost an arm and a leg, so she kicked them off, carrying them in her hand as she walked along.
It was juvenile really, but Lizzy loved the feeling of mud squishing beneath her toes. There really is nothing quite like bare feet. Holding her skirt up so it wouldn't be drug through the mud, she enjoyed the sunshine and the cold fall air. Spinning around, she let her skirt bell out and her hair come free from its haphazard bun.
With any luck Jane would be awake soon, and maybe well enough to leave Netherfield and go home to Longbourn away from the annoying Caroline and vexing Darcy. Then again if she went home, it would be harder to stay around him for an interview.
'Maybe I could do an expose on Donnelley.' Lizzy thought with a laugh before hopping in a large puddle.
From his rooms high up in the Netherfield mansion, Darcy looked out his window. He had just finished a work out with Charles and was in the process of changing out of his sweaty clothing when a figure moving on the grounds caught his eye.
He didn't know how long he had been standing there shirtless, with one hand on the window frame watching Elizabeth Bennet act entirely child-like and free. One minute she would berate him, and the next tease him. He had never seen her equal, and it frightened him. Damn her and her fine eyes.
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