A/N: What do you know! Another chapter! Maybe this comes from the fact that IT'S SUMMER and I have NO SCHOOL! *parties* Then again, I work every day. Granted, that's a lot more fun than school... Who knows! Just be happy it's here!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of this, but I promise I'll play nicely and put them back how I found them when I'm done.

Chapter 9: This Is Peace

Surprisingly, they weren't the only ones at the pool. It seems that many other people had the same idea of a last hurrah for the summer. Swimming was fun, but teasing each other was more so.

Lizzy's original analysis of Will's physique, that he was wiry, was completely accurate. Slim, muscled, dripping, and wearing nothing but loose, soaked swim trunks, he stood in front of her now, hands on his hips, grinning evilly. Lizzy lay on a deck chair, her skirt back on, her left leg drawn up and out through the seam created by the separated edges of the skirt, a book propped against her bare thigh.

"William Darcy," Lizzy said, "if you get my book wet at all, you will regret it for the rest of your life."

"Mm," Will said. He dried his hands on a towel, then slid the bookmark out of the back of Lizzy's book and put it in the spot where she was reading. He then closed the book and put it on the chair next to her.

"Will," Lizzy said suspiciously, "what are you doing?"

"Oh, nothing," Will said, then suddenly leaned forward and swept Lizzy off her seat and over his shoulder.

"Will!" Lizzy shrieked. "Put me down!"

"Not an option!" Will said. Lizzy could hear the grin in his voice.

"I need this skirt dry!" Lizzy protested, fumbling for excuses.

"Oh," Will said. "I hadn't thought of that."

Lizzy expected to be swung down, her skirt untied, and then picked back up, so she got ready to run, but Will just reached up and tugged the knot loose. Her skirt fluttered off, falling in the flat sheet it was when it wasn't tied around her waist.

"Will, no!" Lizzy yelped, but couldn't help laughing as she struggled. Will's hands moved to her waist, slipping under her top and gripping her bare skin. When his hands tightened, Lizzy stopped struggling; what was going to happen was inevitable, and Will would be more likely to drop her if she thrashed.

"I'm going to kill you," Lizzy promised.

"I look forward to it," Will replied lightly, and heaved her into the pool.

Lizzy took a deep breath as she flew through the air, and held it as she sunk the ten feet to the bottom of the pool. When she reached it, she used the pool's floor to propel herself back upwards. Surfacing calmly, she blinked pool water from her eyes and glared ineffectively at Will. Seconds later, he had jumped in and was treading water next to her.

"Hi!" he said, grinning.

"You're insane," Lizzy informed him.

"Yeah."

It had been difficult, at first, to keep his eyes off Lizzy. Complimenting as his gaze could be considered, Will really didn't think that Lizzy would enjoy being ogled like a piece of meat.

Now that he was a little more used to seeing her in her swimsuit, it was a little easier to keep his eyes to himself. He still caught himself staring every now and then, though, and would whip his gaze away as fast as possible; still, he was certain Lizzy, at least, had caught him looking once or twice.

The pool had cleared somewhat, and Charlie had rounded up a few other high teenagers to play a game of Marco Polo. Lizzy had taken a solid hit to the shin that had broken skin in the last round, and the two of them were currently sitting on the edge of the pool, distractedly attempting to stop the bleeding. Richard was currently fumbling around blindly, having apparently forgotten about his ability to call "Marco" to help him find the other players.

"Do cuts like this normally bleed so much?" Will demanded, half-rhetorically.

"Yes," Lizzy replied, grinning as Richard practically tripped over a tall brunette girl, and still didn't catch her.

Will paused with his hand resting on Lizzy's leg. "How do you know this?"

Lizzy met his eyes; she looked slightly exasperated. "You know how guys have hair on their legs and girls don't? That's actually not natural."

Will felt like hitting himself. "Obviously," he commented dryly, "I'm an idiot."

"Obviously, you don't think enough," Lizzy shot back. "This doesn't make you an idiot."

Will knew he wouldn't win on the subject of self-deprecation, so he changed it. "How do we get the blood to stop, then, Oh Powerful Woman?" he asked.

"Apply more pressure," Lizzy replied sagely. "Right now you're just sopping up the blood."

Will did as he was told.

"Ow!" Lizzy yelped. "Not that hard! I do actually have nerves there." She placed her hands over his, loosening his grip, and then pushing down again. "Like that. Stops the bleeding, doesn't hurt me."

Will looked up from their hands to find Lizzy's face inches from his and beautifully flushed. "You're very, very close," he whispered.

"Yes," Lizzy whispered back, "and I can be closer, if you want."

Will's brain stopped working for a moment as his small, almost-blonde became just that, and pressed a swift kiss to his lips.

"Come back," he murmured as she moved away.

"We have a potential audience," she pointed out, "and I don't know about you, but I think Charlie stopping us once is enough."

Will grinned. "You're right. I vote we don't invite them on the next walk."

Lizzy giggled, blushing slightly at the memory of what, exactly, had happened on their previous walk. "Seconded," she replied. "Now, do you know where we can find any waterproof bandages? I kind of wanna get back in there."

"Why are you on the table again?"

Will's voice sounded long-suffering. Lizzy grinned.

"I was actually stargazing last night," she said, "and I am again tonight. The view's better here than where we slept."

"We could sleep next to the table," Will suggested.

"We could also roll into the table and be rudely awakened in the night," Lizzy replied. "Besides, I'm not quite tired yet. And no one else is asleep, so you can't use that to coax me off this time."

"Jane is," Will pointed out.

Lizzy sat up. Sure enough, there was her sister, tucked into her sleeping bag, flat on her back, out cold. "She never could stay up late," Lizzy murmured, shaking her head and grinning.

"Here, I have an idea," Will said. He left Lizzy's side, trotting to the tent he, Charlie, and Rich were supposed to be sharing. He came back out with two blankets, one of which he spread on the ground a little distance from the picnic table. Curious, Lizzy stood up and walked over to him.

"The view is good from here, too," Will pointed out, "and now it actually feels like stargazing." He lay down on the blanket and tucked his hands behind his head.

Lizzy grinned and joined him, tucking only one arm behind her head. "You're right," she admitted. "It does feel more like stargazing." A moment a silence passed before she spoke again. "So what's the other blanket for?"

"That's for if we get cold," Will replied, "but aren't quite ready to go to sleep."

"Do you think of everything?" Lizzy asked.

"Pretty much," Will answered with a grin. He reached out and slipped his hand around Lizzy's. She squeezed gently, and they fell into silence.

They did get cold, and sleepy, but didn't quite feel like moving. Will spread the blanket over the two of them, and they continued to watch the stars move. Lizzy wasn't sure exactly when it happened, but Will fell asleep like that, still holding her hand.

It was odd, Lizzy reflected as she felt her own eyelids growing heavy, that she didn't feel any apprehension or nervousness around Will; she just felt happy and safe. It was easy enough to make her happy; someone just had to do something nice or say something nice, about her or one of her sisters. Feeling safe, though, was a different matter entirely.

She liked it, she realized, and she knew that if she wanted to keep the feeling, she was just going to have to keep Will around for a while.

A/N2: Okay, so I lied. There was not plot and angst. I felt like giving you another fluffy chapter before we got to back to home and school and things. I doubt any of you are complaining, though. Go on, tell me how much you're not complaining!