Lizzie quietly opened the door to her office and glanced down the hall. She sighed in relief and locked her door. She walked quickly to the end of the hall and peeked around the corner.

"Don't worry, Howard left the building about a half an hour ago."

Lizzie spun around quickly at the sound of Darcy's voice. Too quickly, apparently, for her four inch heels as she found herself tilting backwards. She reached out on instinct for the closest thing to steady herself which, of course, happened to be Darcy himself.
More specifically, Darcy's tie and part of his shirt.

She managed to steady herself well enough on her own so as not to throttle him with his own tie. At the same time, her heart leapt up and lodged itself somewhere in her throat. From the surprise of being snuck up on, she thought forcefully. (Nothing to do with her closeness to Darcy or the warmth radiating from his firm hand on her waist, rooting her in place.)

She swallowed and looked at his hand then slowly drew her eyes up - sweeping her gaze over the length of his torso, over her fingers frozen around the red silk of his tie, finally landing on his eyes looking down at her. There were flecks of green in them that she'd never noticed before, making them glint in the dim lighting. She didn't want to think too carefully on the look in them, or whether it was reflected on her own face.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she could almost feel Gigi beaming in delight at the rather intim - compromising position she was currently in. Not that she could spend too much energy thinking of that right now. Most of her was concentrating on getting her heart rate under control.

(Because of the surprise and all, she thought. Of course.)

A door slammed shut behind them, jolting them both out of the moment. She shook her head suddenly and laughed weakly, prying her fingers open and taking a step back. She ran her hand down his shirt front in an effort to smooth his tie and rumpled shirt and not, as the Lydia voice in the back of her mind was saying, to cop a feel of a strapped mancake.

She snatched back both her hands and grabbed the strap of her messenger bag, interlacing her fingers in front of her.

"How can you -" she began, then stopped suddenly, flustered at how breathy her voice sounded. She took a sharp intake of breath and began again.

"How can you be so sure?" The question coming out softer, more earnest than she had intended.

Darcy's eyes widened slightly as his fingers twitched involuntarily against her hip. His eyes darkened, the gaze sharpening and growing soft all at once. She could feel each finger splayed out against her, the warmth seeping into her and making her feel flushed. She suppressed the urge to shiver against him and rushed on, clarifying her question.

"I mean, how can you be sure that Howard's out of the building?" she said, wincing as her loud, nervous voice shattered the growing tension between the two of them. Darcy reddened slightly and drew back his hand quickly, crossing his arms in front of him. Whether it was disappointment rushing over her, or relief, she couldn't quite tell.

Darcy cleared his throat and smoothed his tie before forcing a small smile onto his face.
"I have whoever is working security text me anytime he comes into or leaves the building."

Lizzie laughed quietly, more to dispel her anxiety than out of mirth. "So you can run away and hide before he can rope you into meeting with him?"

Darcy's smile became slightly less forced as he said, "I admit to nothing." He paused for a moment then said, "I'm sorry you had such a miserable day. If it makes you feel any better, to my knowledge you neither broke into sobs during nor after your meeting with him. That places you above more than half of the current employees here."

Lizzie smiled, surprised at how genuine it was. She looked up at him and said, a teasing lilt to her voice, "Present company included?"

Darcy drew up an expression of mock seriousness.

"Again, I admit to nothing."

Lizzie chuckled as Darcy smiled slightly down at her. After a moment, he said, "So, may I offer you a ride home?"

"Definitely." She replied, same as she had done for the past two weeks.

(She had finally given in and surrendered the battle to the city's unforgiving hills - although she would have taken it a step further from mere unforgiving and described them as brutally punishing. Two weeks ago she had accepted Gigi's mid-day offer at a ride home after work, but somehow ended up alone in the car with Darcy later that same afternoon. It had been so surprisingly pleasant that she could barely muster up an accusatory tone in her voice the next day when she had asked Gigi about it.

"I had a thing - a tennis thing! Couldn't miss it." Though her tone had been more gleeful than apologetic. "But I heard it was good - I mean, you didn't tuck and roll out of the car or anything - so obviously it wasn't terrible...?"

Lizzie had huffed with amusement. "No, it wasn't terrible. It was...nice. Good. Pleasant, even."

"So, you would be willing to do it again?"

Lizzie had fought the urge to roll her eyes. "Yes, Gigi, I would be willing to do it again." She had given her a long look then, twisting her fingers around the bottom of her shirt before saying, "I think your brother and I could be friends."

The smile on Gigi's face had been so blinding that Lizzie had almost been tempted to look away; instead she had returned her new friend's smile and suggested lunch off-campus.)

The ding of the elevator brought her out of her musing.

She took a furtive look as the doors slowly opened, exhaling quickly when she saw it was empty.

She heard Darcy huff quietly next to her and turned to find an amused look on his face.
"I don't think he's lurking around every corner, waiting to ambush you with questions about the future of video app technology and your predictions on first quarter revenue streams." He said, then smirked ruefully. "That's only happened to me once and I've worked here for almost a decade."

At her questioning look he shrugged and said, "Why do you think I have security text me now?"

She laughed and began to talk about her meeting with Howard, pulling an impression of his rapid fire questioning and frenetic mannerisms. Darcy laughed out loud at what she considered a particularly accurate depiction of what she could only describe as 'the most terrifying sound of human laughter the world might ever hear.'

It was always a pleasant surprise when she was able to move him past sheepish grins and small smiles. She smiled brightly at him, a warm feeling pooling in her chest at the deep rumble. It felt like friendship. There was lightness in her step stemming from the ability to unload so honestly after a long day (it had nothing to do with the way his hand lingered on the small of her back as he helped her into the passenger seat).

They settled into silence as he drove out of the parking structure, the low tones of NPR keeping the moment from being too still. The first time she had sat in this car, she had steeled herself for 25 minutes of stuttered conversation and brittle silence. It had been unfair of her, she realizes now, to think of Darcy still as that caricature with a bowtie and monotone voice. He had been nothing but gracious, giving of himself, rolling off questions about her day. He's making an effort, she could have almost sworn she heard Charlotte hissing in her ear that day, at least try and do likewise! And so she had – asking him about the company, about the meeting they had both sat in on, about Gigi. It had been on that last point of topic that he had blossomed, the affection and care obvious with every word he spoke, even telling a story or two of their interactions that had gently poked fun at himself. Laughter had bubbled out of her, unbidden but not unwelcome, and she had decided then – Darcy and her becoming friends was not beyond the realm of possibility after all.

The quiet now was neither that brittle silence she had feared on that first day, nor the charged tension of earlier that she refused to read into. It was comfortable, the silence between two friends processing their own long days. She blinked rapidly for a moment then smiled, looking over at him. He caught her eye and returned her smile with one of his own, a questioning look in his eye.

"I was just thinking…it's nice to have friends." She said after a moment. She laughed to herself, thinking how pathetic that sounded, and amended the statement with, "I mean, in the city. Especially after a day like today."

His smile widened and he beamed at her. Which, weird. Because Darcy and word beaming in the same sentence was not something she was used to thinking. And yet completely enjoyable to see all the same. She almost took out her phone and texted Charlotte – Dude. Darcy is beaming at me and it's…weird? But in a totally pleasant sense of the word. – then thought against it. She wasn't quite up for the reactions or questions that text might bring up.

He drummed his fingers lightly on the steering wheel and then said, "In an effort to move past such a day as this, would you like to go and get coffee?" He paused a moment.

She looked over at him as he stared straight ahead, eyes fixed intensely on the road. She blocked out Charlotte's forceful texts, Jane's gentle nudging phone calls, Gigi and Fitz's unsubtle maneuvering; silenced their suggestions and appeals in her mind until all that was left was her own quiet thoughts. And from those quiet thoughts, she pulled the truth of it all and the truth was this: She and William Darcy were friends and she enjoyed spending time with him. So she cocked her head to the side, smiled at him and said, "Yes. That sounds great."

A/N: I meant for this to be a 2 chapter fic AT THE MOST. I...have no idea what happened. It just got away from me and maaay end up being 4 chapters. I apologize that I haven't even gotten to the aforementioned Lion King or blanket nests. Next chapter, it will be there! Thanks for all the follows and reviews. :)