A/N: Oh hey, look at this! I'm actually alive! What d'ya know! My brain actually just vomited all but the first four paragraphs onto my computer. Just a warning: L'angst is prominent. Also, there is cute.

Disclaimer: Just resubmitted my application for the rights to this! Hopefully, I'll get them soon!

Chapter 6: Bonding and Plans

The sidewalk felt cold against the bottoms of Lizzy's feet. She padded softly through her neighborhood in the gathering September dusk, flip-flops dangling from one hand, dark green toenails peeking out from under her brand-new, over-long, boot-cut jeans. Her head buzzed with information. She'd not told Jane what George had said yet; she wanted some time to think about it.

What she really needed was another person to confirm either of the stories, or deny them both. But where was she going to find someone else that had been through this?

Without noticing, she had arrived back outside her home. She looked across the street to the Bingleys' home, her brow furrowed in thought, and noted a strange car in front of the house. Wondering who could be visiting them, Lizzy began her usual clamber up the trellis to the porch roof and her open window. She put her fingers into the crack and heaved upward, then scrambled through the open space. She stretched and went to pull out her phone to tell her mother she was home, but something in her doorway caught her eye.

"I'd been wondering how you'd been getting in and out without my noticing," her father said. Lizzy flinched. "It's not safe to do that. The roof could collapse, and it'd be really expensive to repair."

"So glad you care, Dad," Lizzy said sarcastically.

"Don't use that tone with me!" her father ordered, his face dark.

"Don't talk to me like I mean nothing!" Lizzy snapped, her anger rising.

"You are not allowed to order me around!" Mr. Bennet roared. "Most children would get a slap for that!"

"Go on then!" Lizzy challenged, yelling as well. "Hit me! I dare you!"

He hesitated for a moment, seeming undecided.

"You don't have the guts!" Lizzy said scornfully. "You wouldn't to lay a finger—"

CRACK!

Lizzy reeled back from the force her father had struck her with. Rage was spitting from his eyes and he looked like he wanted to hit her again. She didn't give him the chance, though. Spinning, she vaulted out her still-open window. As she went for the side of the roof, she heard Jane's voice call out her name, but ignored it. Lizzy leapt off the porch, bending her knees as she hit the ground and going into a deep crouch to lessen the shock.

Dropping the flip-flops she had been holding onto the lawn, Lizzy took off down the block at a dead sprint.

Will had been pleasantly surprised by his cousin Richard's arrival at the Bingley abode. The recent college graduate was in training to take over the American part of Will's father's company, and had been given a week off to visit his cousin. Richard had shown up soon after Will had returned from the mall, and had, in a helpful manner that was very much his own, volunteered to help Caroline pack up for college. He had also offered to drive Caroline to her college, but had been shouted down by Mr. and Mrs. Bingley; he was here to visit Will, and that was what he was going to do.

"You got off easy, mate," Will told Richard later.

"She can't be that bad," Richard replied, amused.

"Oh, yes she can," Will argued. "Just you wait." He was certain that Caroline's attentions would revert to the chivalrous Richard now.

He was wrong, though. She fawned over Will just as much as before, and deplored her existence away from him. Will was sure that he saw Richard and Charlie stifling laughter more than once through the afternoon and all of dinner.

As the sun set and Louisa began cleaning the kitchen—it was her week for it—Will decided that enough was enough.

"I'm going on a walk," he declared. As Caroline opened her mouth, no doubt to offer to join him, he added, "I want to call Georgie, and I don't want to bother anyone with our long conversation."

Caroline looked disappointed, and both Charlie and Richard stared at him, confused. Richard checked his watch, confirming the fact that it was midnight in England to himself. Will glared at both of them, daring them to say anything about the time. Neither of them said anything.

Will sat down on the front porch to put his shoes on. He finished and looked up just in time to see Lizzy leap off the roof and take off running.

"Lizzy!" he shouted, but either she didn't hear him, or was ignoring him. He took off after her, unable to leave her alone when she looked that miserable.

They ran together, Will a good twenty yards behind Lizzy, the gap neither widening nor closing. With the route she was taking, Will guessed that Lizzy's final destination would be the park, though it was possible that she was going to run until she could run no more.

They pounded along together, their steps falling in and out of sync, for a mile, the distance from their homes to the park. Once there, Lizzy vaulted a bench, spun around, and faced him.

"What do you want?" she snapped harshly.

"I saw you jump off the roof," Will explained through pants. "You looked miserable, and I couldn't let you be alone like that." He took slow, deep breaths, trying to get his respiration and heart rate under control

"Nice of you," Lizzy said stiffly.

Will took her appearance in. She didn't seem to be suffering the same difficulties breathing that he was; maybe she ran more often than he did. He did notice, though, that her face was wet, and what he had taken originally to be sweat he now realized were tears. There was, too, a deep red welt across her face that was rapidly turning purple.

"What happened?" he asked softly, approaching her slowly.

Lizzy touched her cheek and winced. "Nothing," she said.

He was next to her now, and had taken her face in one hand, tilting it to better see the bruise. "Welts like that don't get caused by 'nothing'," he said. "Someone hit you."

She looked away, pulling her face from his hand. "It was my fault," she murmured. "I talked back to my dad, and he got mad, said something about slapping cheeky kids. I goaded him to do it."

Will pulled her into his arms, hugging her tightly to him. "It's not your fault," he told her. "Your father should know better."

Lizzy pulled away from him again. "I should know better," she said. "I know he's got—" She cut herself off, obviously not wanting to tell him.

"He's got what?" Will asked. He knew he was pushing her out of her comfort zone, but he also knew that some things were better in the open. "Lizzy, if he hurts you—"

"He's never laid a hand on me before tonight!" she snapped. "He just…has a bad temper."

"Are you afraid of him?" Will asked.

"No," Lizzy said stubbornly. "The only thing I'm afraid of is—" She cut herself off again, but tonight was a night of spilling secrets; he was going to get it out of her.

"Is what?" Will asked gently. This might take some delicate work.

"My nightmares," Lizzy murmured.

Somehow, Will wasn't surprised. It was almost as if he'd known since the first time she said that she didn't sleep well at night. "That's why you can't sleep, isn't it?" he said astutely.

"Yeah." Lizzy nodded. "Every time I fall asleep—nightmares. I don't even remember what happened when I wake up; I'm just completely terrified. The only things stop them are Jane and—and—you." This last word was whispered; Will almost didn't catch it.

He didn't question it, simply pulled the almost-blonde, now with tears streaming down her face, into his arms. She didn't resist, didn't pull away, just let him hold her.

Lizzy could not believe her stupidity. How could she ever have thought that George Wickham was right about Will? How could she have even contemplated the possibility of Will not telling the truth? How could she have ever doubted the boy who currently held her in his arms, comforting her?

"I'm sorry," she whispered into his shoulder. "I'm sorry."

He didn't hear her, just kept holding her tightly, rocking her gently. "You'll be all right," he murmured. "It's going to be okay."

They took the mile-long walk home together, side-by-side this time. They weren't holding hands, their arms weren't linked, they were not, in fact, touching in any way. Simply being in the other's presence was enough for both of them.

Probably the most surprising thing of the night to Jane, more than seeing her father slap Lizzy, more than seeing Lizzy jump out a window and off the porch roof, more than seeing Will run after Lizzy, was seeing Lizzy walk through the front door. Jane had been sure that, had Lizzy come back at all, it would be through her window, but there she was, her face bruised and tear-stained, stepping through the door and walking into the kitchen.

"Where did you go?" their father demanded.

Seemingly undaunted for the first time in years, Lizzy said, "I went for a run."

"By yourself?" he demanded.

"No," Lizzy said simply. "Will came with me."

"You shouldn't have walked out like that!" Mr. Bennet snapped.

"I'm sorry," Lizzy said, still calm.

Jane was surprised. Lizzy was normally shouting back at this point. Apparently, Mr. Bennet was surprised, too, and confused. "Go to your room," he snapped.

Meekly, Lizzy went.

Shaking with suppressed fear, Lizzy closed and locked her door. Despite Will's assurances that it would be all right, when presented with her father, Lizzy had reacted the same way she always did to her nightmares; unadulterated fear. And, like with her nightmares, she had hidden it from the outside world.

When Jane came to find Lizzy, the younger girl was a sobbing mess.

"So how's Georgie?" Richard asked slyly as Will walked into the door.

Completely unfazed, Will replied, "She's fine. Missing me, but that's normal."

Seeming to accept his cousin's inability to be confused, Richard, shrugged, and pulled Will and Charlie off to the side. "So I've decided," he said, "that before I leave, I'm going to take the two of you, and a friend each of your choice, camping."

"It'll have to be Friday or Saturday," Will said. "I'm not missing school this early in the year."

"Of course!" said Richard, mock-scandalized. "I would never want to take you away from your studies!"

Laughing and eager to go on a trip with his favorite cousin and his best friend, Will set about wondering how best to ask Lizzy.

A/N2: Before anyone asks questions: I have the next chapter planned but not typed. It is titled "Camping." Let your imaginations eat that.

Also, tomorrow is my birthday, so REVIEWS PLZKTHNXBAI