A/N: Holy crap, guys, look! I'm actually posting! What is this insanity?

Anyway, for those of you still out there and following this (all two of you), I hope you enjoy it. Also, read the second author's notes. You could win (virtual) prizes!

Disclaimer: I own a copy of the book, and two different versions of it in movie format. I wish I own Colin Firth. No such luck, though.

Chapter 8: Walking in the Woods

Lizzie woke up the next morning feeling refreshed, protected, and safe. She opened her eyes and found herself on the ground in a forest. Confusion reigned at the feeling of arms around her waist, until she remembered the events of the night before and realized that they must be Will's. Rolling over, she found herself looking into that boy's deep green eyes.

"Are you sure you have nightmares?" he asked with a small smile. "I don't think you moved once last night."

"Well," Lizzie said, doing her best to fight a blush, "you were there."

Will's smile grew. "You're pretty cute when you're just woken up," he told her. "All rumpled and sleepy-looking." His smile faded slowly into an intense, serious expression. He pulled her closer, moving until their mouths were a fraction of an inch apart, then murmured, "Can I kiss you?"

Lizzie's heart melted. No one had ever asked before; the few boys of her experience had simply assumed. "Yes," she breathed, and closed the space between the two of them, sealing their mouths together.

Will slid one of his hands up to cup Lizzie's chin. He kissed her so tenderly that Lizzie's heart almost broke. She couldn't possibly think how he could do that, so she told her brain to shut up and enjoy it.

Will had no idea how long he lay there, kissing Lizzie, before something hit him in the face.

"Wake up, little cousin!" Richard's voice called. "It's a brand new day!"

Will slowly pulled himself from Lizzie and sat up, glaring at Richard. When his cousin kept smiling, Will, deadpan, rattled off every single German curse he knew.

Charlie, Jane, and Lizzie all looked confused, and Richard looked shocked for a moment before bursting into laughter.

"I didn't know you knew some of those," Richard managed.

Will rolled his eyes and stood up, offering his hand to Lizzie to help her up. "Come on," he said. "Let's go shower."

"Not a word," Lizzie muttered to Jane.

The blonde tried to look innocent, but couldn't quite manage to keep a smile off her face. "Not even one?" Jane asked plaintively.

"Hey, just because Rich didn't throw a sock at Charlie doesn't mean that the two of you weren't doing anything," Lizzie replied.

Jane's spluttered protests were negated by her blush.

"If you say anything, I will kill you," Will told Charlie.

Charlie laughed. "That wouldn't stop me," he said. "I'd tease you if I hadn't been doing to same thing."

Will rolled his eyes. "Of course."

After showering, Lizzie twisted Jane's long hair into a braid, then, after attempting to wrestle her own into a single ponytail, ended up putting in two pigtails.

"There's a pretty neat trail over that way," Jane said on their way back. "We could go on a hike."

Lizzie grinned. "Sounds like a plan. Let's run it by the boys first, though, so they don't get worried when we disappear."

Jane shoved her sister affectionately. "I meant all of us, nut."

Lizzie shoved her back. "Who needs boys?"

Will smiled at the sound of laughter coming towards the campground. Charlie looked up excitedly as a twig napped at the entrance. Jane was ahead, her long blonde hair in a tight, damp braid hanging in front of her shoulder. She grinned at Charlie and stepped towards him. As she moved, Lizzie came into view behind her. Will's stomach dropped; the shorter girl was flushed, happy, and laughing, her tank top sliding off one shoulder, and her damp hair, normally falling to her shoulders in shaggy, uneven waves, was caught up in two pigtails. She was gorgeous.

"We wanna take a hike!" Lizzy announced. "Anyone else?"

Charlie, ever eager, bounced up and moved to Jane. "I'm game!" he replied

"Sure, why not?" Will asked rhetorically.

Richard glanced between the four teenagers, and declared, "I'm going to stay here and clean up the camp so we have less to do tomorrow."

Will met Lizzy's gaze. She rolled her eyes, and Will covered his mouth with his hand to muffled his laughter. Charlie scooped up Jane's hand. "So, when are we going?" he asked.

"Whenever you want," Lizzy said.

"Let's go now!" Will said impulsively. "Come on!"

"Let me change my shoes first," Lizzy laughed. She glanced down to her feet, with their chipped green nail polish and neon orange flip-flops. "I don't think I can go hiking in these."

"You run well enough," Will offered.

Lizzy laughed again. "Maybe, but in the woods, there are bugs and poison ivy. I'll be safer with sneakers."

"Charlie, I need that!" Lizzy glanced over at her laughing sister, and Will followed her gaze. Charlie was holding tightly to Jane's hand, and Jane was attempting to pull away. "I need to put my shoes on!"

"You can do that with one hand!" Charlie replied. "I don't wanna let go!"

Lizzy turned back to Will. "I was going to get involved," she said, "but it just got sickeningly cute. I'm gonna go gag in the tent."

Will laughed. "Go get your shoes. Let's get going."

"You seem eager." She was close, closer than she had been since that morning. "Any particular reason for that?"

Was she flirting with him? Will, smiled, deciding to give as good as he got. He reached out an tugged one of Lizzy's pigtails. "Well, Charlie's a fast walker. I figure when we're left in the dust, I could pin you up against a tree and snog the hell out of you."

Lizzy's eyes widened and her face turned bright pink. "Really?" Her voice cracked in the middle of the word and shot up an octave for the second syllable. She had squeak.

Suddenly worried that he had frightened her—she didn't seem like the type of person to squeak often—he reached out and took her hand. "Only if you want to," he promised.

Lizzy couldn't help herself. She burst into peals of laughter. "Oh, Will," she giggled when she had the breath to speak. She leaned her forehead on his shoulder. "Of course I want to. You just surprised me, is all." She pushed herself up on her toes and pressed a kiss to Will's cheek. "I'll go get my shoes."

Knowing she was blushing, Lizzy dashed to the tent she and Jane were, in theory, sharing. Fishing for socks from her bag, Lizzy couldn't help playing Will's words over again in her head. Her stomach performed the same slow, warm flip as it had the first time, and she could feel her face warm up again.

Wrestling orange-, yellow-, red-, and black-striped knee-highs onto her feet and legs, Lizzy worked to cool her blush. Once the socks were on, she stepped into her new-ish Converse and laced them up tightly. Ducking out of the tent, Lizzy saw that Jane and Charlie were attempting to tie Jane's shoes together. Lizzy covered her eyes with her hand. "This will only end well," she muttered, and moved back to Will.

"Do you wanna get started?" she asked. "They'll be a while."

"They'll catch up to us," Will warned.

"Jane has enough tact to just haul Charlie around us if she finds us snogging against a tree," Lizzy replied with a smile. She took Will's hand and tugged on him. "Come on. I wanna get out there!"

Will followed her, smiling and shaking his head. "You're crazy, you know that?"

Lizzy grinned and fell in step beside him. They walked on in silence; not the awkward silence of the beginning of the school year, but a companionable silence of two people comfortable with each other.

"Lizzy?" Will said eventually.

"Is it important?" Lizzy asked.

"No," Will replied, sounding slightly nonplussed.

"Then shush," Lizzy murmured. "It's peaceful." She squeezed his hand gently.

They kept walking for several more minutes, until they had passed a fork in the path and gone around a turn.

"It's important this time," Will said.

Lizzy stopped and raised an eyebrow at him. "Is it, now?" she asked.

"Yes." With the hand that wasn't still curled around Lizzy's, he cupped her chin in his hand, tilting her head slightly sideways and pulling her a little closer.

Where their first kiss that morning had been tender and gentle, this one was fiery and passionate. A vague wisp of curiosity about where Will had learned to kiss like this was swiftly brushed away as Lizzy let herself be kissed.

Very carefully trying to think, Will backed Lizzy slowly against the convenient large tree he had spotted on her side of the path. She whimpered slightly as her back impacted with the trunk, and Will pressed himself into her soft curves.

"Hey, Will!"

"Charlie, I told you not to!"

Will groaned and detached his mouth from Lizzy's, then leaned his forehead against hers. "I hope you know my opinion of you," he called.

Lizzy laughed softly. "Charlie," she called, "you do realize that you're not just torturing Will, right? And that for everything Will can think of to do to you, I can think of three things ten times worse?"

Charlie was silent for a moment, then he said, "Jane, I think it would be much safer for us to keep walking than to stay here."

Jane laughed. A moment later, their footsteps started, and then slowly faded into the distance.

"That's probably the smartest thing I've ever heard him say," Lizzy said with a grin.

"Mm," Will agreed. "Now, where were we?"

When they left the woods, both of them were flushed and grinning, and their hands were clasped together.

"There's a pool somewhere around here," Rich said blandly when he saw the two of them. "We could go swimming."

"Isn't it kind of cold for swimming?" Jane asked.

Rich shrugged. "Maybe a bit, but it'll still be fun!"

"Well," Charlie said, looking over Jane in a way that made her blush, "I think it's a great idea. Will?"

Will looked over Lizzy in a way that made her feel like she was already in a swimsuit. "I think it'd be fun," he agreed. "Lizzy?"

Lizzy gave Will her own look. "Maybe," she said teasingly. "Though you boys may have more 'fun' than Jane and me."

Rick managed to fight a smile and look injured. "Why, Elizabeth!" he exclaimed. "I'm offended!"

"Wounded, even?" Lizzy asked with a grin.

"Hurt, Lizzy." Rich could no longer keep the smile off his face. "I suppose that's four votes for, one meh, and none against. Swimming it is!"

They split up to change in their separate tents. Jane changed swiftly into the one-piece she had brought, then slid an old sundress over her head and stood at the tent flap, deliberating. Lizzy climbed almost as fast into her tankini, but took a minute to wrap her long skirt around her waist and tie it off.

"Ready, Janie?" Lizzy asked.

"Kind of nervous, actually," Jane admitted. "You're lucky you don't ever get like this around guys."

Lizzy bit her lip, then took her sister's hands in her own. "I'm gonna tell you a secret, Janie," she said. "I'm absolutely petrified right now."

Jane's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "But you don't look it!"

"You have to pretend you're not," Lizzy said. "Aside from making the other person even more nervous because you seem like you're on top of the world, you slowly stop actually being nervous, without even noticing it. You just take a minute to yourself and realize that you're not pretending to not be nervous anymore."

"Make believe you're brave," Jane said, comprehension dawning on her face, "and the trick will get you far."

Lizzy grinned. "You might be as brave as you make believe you are," she replied. "Come on. Let's knock 'em dead."

A/N2: So! There was fluff. And more fluff. I hope you got your fix, because we're back to PlotThings and angst next chapter. And I think I know where this is going to end. No, I won't tell you. I'm going to let you suffer in agony.

Virtual cookies to anyone who can tell me where Rich and Lizzy's exchange came from. You get nothing for guessing the inspiration for this chapter; any good Pride and Prejudice fan should be able to pick it out.

Also! You all should hop over to Tumblr, to The Lizzie Bennet Diaries blog (lizziebennetdiaries(dot)tumblr(dot)com) because it is epic and awesome and funny and there is a very pretty ginger starring in it. And Felicia Day said we have to, so go! Now!