Pride vs Prejudice Chapter 8: There's a Wall, a pride and prejudice fanfic

Disclaimer: I still do not own Pride and Prejudice. Sorry that this chapter took me so long to write, but I wanted Lizzie to write a song for Will and I just couldn't find the perfect one. But I finally found it the other day. Which brings me to what else I don't own, I also don't own the song "There's a Wall". Miranda Lambert owns it. And I'm sorry that this chapter is a little shorter than the others. I just wanted to get something posted for ya'll. I had like another page, but it'll fit better with the next chapter. So, ya'll just have to wait until then, but I have posted a little sneak peak of the next chapter at the end of this one.

Lizzie yawned sleepily and rubbed her eyes. The captain had just announced over the intercom that the plane was landing; his gravely voice rousing Lizzie from the light sleep she had fallen into almost immediately after boarding the plane. She was almost positive her cheek was red from where it had been pressed into the glass of the window. She stretched lazily like a cat, rousing Jane from her position of slumber, her cheek leaning against Lizzie's shoulder.

"Janie, we're landing," Lizzie said sleepily as she attempted to buckle her seatbelt. She frowned down at the small buckle when the two pieces wouldn't meet properly and angrily shoved the two together. Jane stretched as well and then fastened Lizzie's seatbelt for her before fastening her own. In about half an hour they were walking into the airport with their carry on bags deciding whether they wanted to eat and then go home and sleep or sleep and eat when they woke up if there was any food in their apartment. Lizzie was just about to open her mouth to speak when someone called out her name over the din of the airport.

"LIZZIE!!" Lydia called out excitedly, instantly causing Lizzie to groan inwardly. "JANE!!" In about two seconds flat Lydia and Kitty were swarming around Lizzie and Jane, alternating between hugging them and talking rapidly. "We have reservations for two o'clock at that new Italian restaurant that every one is dying to get in to. We just mentioned your name Lizzie and they were more than willing to give us a reservation. Everyone's been talking about you and Will Darcy for the last few days. Did he come with you? Are you going to see him again any time soon? Everyone says that song he wrote at Rosings Park was for you. Is that true?"

"I wish someone would write a song for me!" Kitty whined and childishly crossed her arms over her chest. Lydia was still babbling a mile a minute when Lizzie and Jane finally managed to collect all of their luggage and get outside of the airport. "Oh, I hope you don't mind that I rented a limo for the four of us," Lydia remarked off-handedly. "It would have been too cramped in a car with all of your luggage and stuff. I put it on your card Jane…"

"Lydia!" Lizzie exclaimed. Jane's eyes were as wide as saucers at Lydia's news. "You should have asked before charging something to Jane's card. How much was it?"

"I really don't think that it should matter," Lydia began with a pout. Lydia pouted almost anytime that she didn't get her way. She spent so much money on clothes and makeup so that she looked older that her eighteen years, but her facial expressions made her look like a child. Lydia dressed up every day like she was about to perform on stage. She put on so much sparkly clothing, jewelry, and makeup that it made her look like a shimmering blur. She thought it made her look like a star and Lizzie couldn't help but agree. But she didn't look like a movie star or a singing star, she looked like one to put on top of your Christmas tree, or like one in an elementary school Christmas pageant over the nativity scene. "You're a big celebrity now, Lizzie…"

"It's okay," Jane said softly. "It doesn't really matter…"

"Jane…"

"No, Lizzie, don't say anything else about it," Jane said softly into her ear. "Let's just get through lunch and then we can go home and sleep."

"Oh, and you'll never guess who we've invited to meet us there!" Lydia cried after realizing her sisters were no longer paying any attention to her constant chatter. "George Wickham! He is really anxious to see you Lizzie…"

An hour later, Lizzie sat rather unhappily in her chair swirling her water around in the fancy stemmed glass it had been served in. The restaurant had been everything the food critics had made it out to be, but Lizzie was battling a terrible headache and a need to strangle her youngest sister. Why had she never noticed what an obnoxious flatterer George Wickham was? He'd spent his time either being over-attentive towards Lizzie or bantering obnoxiously with Lydia and Kitty. Maybe Lizzie had such a dismal outlook because of the headache and the fact that she hadn't really slept in over twenty-four hours, but she didn't think that was it. And to top it all off, Lydia had just declined desert, saying that Lizzie had to watch her weight, seeing as how 'she's a big celebrity and all.'

Jane looked over at her sister and saw the little frown that creased Lizzie's forehead. Lizzie always frowned like that when she had a headache. Jane reached into her purse and grabbed the packet of Tylenol that she'd gotten out of a machine in the bathroom at the airport. She tucked it under her hand and slid it across the table to Lizzie as discreetly as possible. Lizzie saw her sister's movements and was ready and waiting to receive the needed drugs and smiled gratefully at her sister as she tore the package open and popped the pills into her mouth.

"Can we go now?" she asked impatiently and set her glass back down on the table with a little too much force causing water to splash over the edge. She looked at her wet hand and sighed heavily. She really wanted to go back to her apartment and sleep. She felt horrible underdressed in her jean miniskirt and light yellow tank top with the matching flip flops. This restaurant was more for someone in an evening gown, not someone who'd just stepped off plane after a four hour flight. Jane looked a little more presentable with her floral skirt that went down a little past her knees and her jean jacket that covered her bare shoulders. But Lizzie felt that their whole table stuck out like a sore thumb in the midst of all of the beautifully dressed people around them.

"Lizzie's getting crabby," Lydia stage-whispered to George. "She's always crabby after flying."

"I am not always crabby after flying," Lizzie replied with a scowl. "I'm crabby when little sisters make reservations at expensive restaurants and then expect me to pay."

"I told you she was crabby," Lydia giggled and they all stood up to walk out of the restaurant. Lizzie picked up her check card from where the waiter had left it on the edge of the table and slipped it back into her wallet. The check from Rosings Park should be deposited into her bank account in a few days, so at least she wouldn't be bouncing any checks. Almost all of the money she'd made through the band had gone directly into her savings account that her father wouldn't let her touch. It was his way of keeping her from becoming your typical drug crazed rock star. Although it sometimes left Lizzie a little short on cash, she admired her father for his dedication to her career and her future.

"Oh, George," Lydia crooned as they stood up from the table. "You just have to come back to the apartment with us! We can invite a few more friends over and have a party…"

"NO!" Lizzie exclaimed emphatically. "Lydia, Jane and I are tired. We've had a long flight and all I want to do is go home and sleep. And you are not throwing some wild party in MY apartment that I pay for and you don't."

"Jane pays for it to," Lydia replied, sticking her tongue out childishly.

"I really don't want to through a party either, Lydia," Jane said with a sigh. "I'm with Lizzie on the whole going home and sleeping thing."

"You two never let me have any fun," Lydia pouted and stormed out of the restaurant after grabbing George's arm with Kitty on their heels. Jane and Lizzie simply shook their heads and made their way out the restaurant as well, almost leaning on each other for support so that they could make it to the limo awake.

A few hours later, Lizzie was glad to finally be back in her room. Her suitcase was on the floor next to her bed and she knew that she should be unpacking, but instead she was propped up against her headboard absentmindedly strumming chords on her guitar. Part of her wished that she'd stuck around to talk to Will after his performance. She really had loved his song. She should have told him that. But she'd been too stubborn. After reading his letter, she wasn't quite as angry with him, but her pride had been wounded and she hadn't been ready to admit that.

But now, she felt like she had something to say, but there was no real way to put it into a conversation. Sometimes it felt like there was a wall between the two of them that she could never take down. It had been there ever since that night at the party when Will had said that he had wanted nothing to do with her. He might have told her that he loved her that night at Rosings Park, but that didn't mean that he was ready for a relationship. Suddenly Lizzie had the perfect idea. She pulled out her song notebook out from underneath her bed and flipped it open to the first blank page. She grabbed a pencil out of the drawer of her bedside table and wrote the title of the song at the top of the page, "There's a Wall".

………………………………………..

Will climbed into his red Mustang convertible and put the key into the ignition. He'd had his driver pull the car up in front of the house about ten minutes ago, but had decided to drive himself around for the day. It was a perfect spring day in Memphis with the light breeze sending the scent of magnolia blossoms wafting in the air. Will was glad to finally be able to leave a jacket behind as he had dressed that morning in his favorite pair of jeans and a white polo shirt. As the car started up, his radio came to life as well. What he heard made him freeze. "And next up we have the latest song from Lizzie Bennett, "There's a Wall." This could be the start of a very promising solo career for Miss Bennett seeing as how this song has gone straight to the top of the charts. So, without further ado, "There's a Wall."

Will immediately reached over and turned the volume up as Lizzie's sweet voice filled the car. He immediately knew that the song was about him. It was just one of those things you just knew. She'd written a song about him. The thought made Will grin a rather goofy grin. That meant that she cared enough about him to give him a little piece of herself.

I'd run away but I can't escape the power of your pride
Your eyes are cold like an empty soul and I'm burning up inside
There's nothing wrong with letting go and you're still diggin' in
We're racing to the bottom and I' can't find the end

And there's a wall
Standing here between us
And that's all that's keeping you from freedom
And I keep pushing harder and you keep getting stronger
You won't break cause you're afraid you'll fall
And there a wall

Lizzie sat back in her desk chair and listened to the song once again. She'd really gone out on a limb with that song. Sure it had been worth it in profits. Within a week the song had gone to the top of the download charts. That had been pretty exciting for her. Sure, she'd had to deal with three very angry sisters, but she'd needed this song to be her own, hers and no one else's. She'd performed the song acoustically. She hadn't wanted to take the time for anyone else to learn to play it. She'd just wanted to get it on the radio as fast as possible. It was her way of letting Will know how she felt about everything. Maybe it had been foolish, but she'd done it and there was no going back.

You love me when you want to and you find reasons to fight
Another lame excuse to keep the devil on you side
Trying hard to hide those scares that I've already seen
Your beat up heart's not the only thing that's keeping you from me

Will frowned as the song continued to play. How was it possible that a woman who he had known for a handful of weeks to be able to read him like a book? It was like Lizzie had been able to read his mind. He thought back on when they'd first met at that disastrous party where he'd once again put his foot in his mouth regarding Lizzie Bennett. He'd never forget the look on her face when he had said that he didn't want anything to do with her. Nothing could have been farther from the truth. He'd somehow managed to fall in love with her that first night in the hotel bar when she'd chewed him out over assuming that she was drunk.

Pain has made you weak and hard
I will never be as strong,

As strong...
As this wall
Standing here between us
And that's all that's keeping you from freedom
And I keep pushing harder and you keep getting stronger
You won't break cause you're afraid you'll fall
With this wall

Will sat in his car not moving long after the song had stopped. Did Lizzie really think that 'they' were an impossible idea; that they could never be together? For the first time in his life, Will Darcy could see all of the flaws in his character. He could see how prideful he was. He could see how condescending he tended to be if he thought someone was beneath him. It was hard to accept that that was what Lizzie saw in him. How could one woman learn all of his flaws so completely? There were so many unanswered questions.

"Are you alright, sir?" one of the maids asked as she stepped outside.

"Yes, I'm fine," he replied and then shifted the car into gear and took off. He looked at the clock on the dash board and realized that he was already late for his appointment at the studio with his band and sped up a little, sending gravel flying.

Sneak Peak:

Lydia wants to go to New York?" Lizzie asked Jane incredulously.

"She has an invitation to go and be on some talk show," Jane explained. "They're providing her airfare and putting her up in a hotel. She will have a car to take her to and from the TV studio, no where else."

"Janie, she's only eighteen!" Lizzie exclaimed. "There is nothing in New York that is safe for a single eighteen year old girl." Lizzie stared at her sister incredulously. Lydia was too young to go off to New York on her own and Lizzie could not believe that her sister was even considering it.