WARNING: This Chapter has a scene of violence that might disturbing to some readers.

A/N: Well this chapter is here. The moment that I've been working towards through this entire book. It will answer some questions that alot of you have had for a long time. I appreciate all of the good thoughts that I receive from everyone and also the people who have alerted or made this story one of their favorites. It makes me feel good to know that you like what I have written.

Just to let you know I will be cowering in a corner until the review start to come in because of the nature of the chapter. (I will assure you that all will turn out well but...)

Thank You,

Tina Marie

When Will woke up in the morning he reached for Elizabeth and she was gone. He got out of bed, took a quick shower and went downstairs to find Elizabeth. He checked the kitchen and she wasn't there so he went on the search the entire first floor of the house.

Will felt the fear as it rose in his chest and he called out for his wife as he ran up the stairs two at a time to her room. She wasn't there and he began to panic as he dialed Elizabeth's cell phone but her phone went straight to voicemail.

He called Richard and barked into the phone when his cousin answered, "Where is she?"

"She's with me little cousin." He heard the amusement in Richard's voice, "There's no need to fly off the handle just because she decided to take a walk in the vineyards this morning. We'll be home in a few minutes."

By the time Will managed to calm his breathing and walk downstairs, he heard a key in the lock of the front door.

When he saw Elizabeth step through the front door, he stood motionless as he drank in how beautiful she was. Her face was flushed from the walk and her eyes were brightened by the exercise. She had her hair up in a high ponytail and she was dressed casually in t-shirt and shorts. To Will she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

Richard came in behind her but quickly disappeared as he saw the look in his cousin's eyes. He had a slight smile on his face as when he left neither of them seemed to notice his departure.

Will stared at his wife for a few minutes before she broke the silence, "I just wanted to get out for a walk to clear my head this morning."

Will suddenly felt awkward as he drank in the loveliness of his Elizabeth and his brain could not seem to form words as the weeks of loneliness and heartbreak caught up with him. His eyes never left her face as he remembered that she had come to him last night. But his heart began to constrict in his chest as he realized that she might not be feeling the same thing as him. She had been drunk and she might be angry that he had taken advantage of her.

Elizabeth was silent as she watched a range of emotions play over her husband's face. She saw the tortured expression that she had come to know so well in the last few weeks as it made an appearance so she closed the gap between them. She took Will's hand in hers as she stretched up to her tip toes so that she could place a soft kiss on his lips.

With a sigh he bent down and gathered her in his arms just as she whispered in his ear, "I was just taking a quick walk to clear the cobwebs from my head before I start to move my things back into our bedroom, if that's alright with you."

A strangled sob ripped through Will's body as he lifted Elizabeth up into his arms and carried her upstairs to the bedroom she had been using.

"That's more than alright with me." Will's voice cracked with emotion as he elbowed the door open and set her down on the floor, "All I want is you."

Will was more than willing to help his wife move her things back into their room as he proved when he began pulling clothes out of the closet.

Georgie came out of her bedroom as they took in the first load and she burst out with joy, "Oh I knew it would all work out for you two." She jumped up and down in the hallway with excitement, "Can I help you?"

"The more the merrier." Will grinned and the weight of the world seemed to disappear from his shoulders.

With the help of Georgie, Richard and the guys, Elizabeth was moved back into their room in a few hours.

After they finished, Will and Elizabeth spent a quiet Sunday just talking over everything that had gone wrong in their relationship and Elizabeth was pleased to see how much Will had changed during their time apart.

"I can't tell you how sorry I am." Will shook his head, "When I think of all the things that I did wrong it just tears me up inside." His eyes looked deeply into hers, "I want to be a better man for you and I promise that I will never disregard your feelings again."

The next few weeks flew by as Will and Elizabeth found each other again. It was a beautiful Thursday in April when Elizabeth and Georgie got home from school; Will was waiting for them at the door with an envelope in his hand.

"It's from Stanford," Will breathed as he handed her the letter with shaky hands.

Elizabeth opened the envelope quickly and read the contents of the letter before a smile graced her lips, "I've been accepted."

Georgie squealed with delight and hugged her sister, "I'm so happy for you."

She discretely left so that Will and Elizabeth could share this moment. Will pulled her into a hug, "I'm so proud of you and I'm sure you'll love Stanford."

A dark cloud passed over Elizabeth's face as she asked, "What about us, Will? What are we going to do?" She looked into her husband's eyes and was surprised to see him smiling.

"Well in anticipation of this moment." Will's grin was huge, "I have talked to Bingley and we have come up with a solution." He saw curiosity in Elizabeth's eyes, "We can set up remote access and I can work from our home in Palo Alto or wherever else you might decide to go to college." He looked down at his wife, "This is all contingent upon your approval, of course."

"Of course I approve." Elizabeth smiled, "I don't know anyone who would not approve of such a plan."

"I've talked to Richard and he has agreed to stay here with Georgie during the school year if she were to decide to stay and go to school here."

Elizabeth thought for a moment, "I could probably schedule all of my classes into four days so that we can come back for the other three."

"Well I guess it's all settled then." Will said as he hugged his wife.

"What's all settled?" Georgie asked as she stepped into the room.

"Elizabeth is going to Stanford." Will told his sister proudly before he explained all of the plans that they were making.

"I don't want to stay here without you." Georgie said quickly, "With Neal leaving in the fall there is nothing to keep me from changing schools. I want to stay with you if that's okay."

"Yes, it's okay." Will said as he hugged her, "I would have missed you, otherwise."

"Me too," Elizabeth agreed, "I don't know what I would have done without my best friend and sister."

Georgie looked like tears were about to explode as she threw her arms around Elizabeth.

"I love you Elizabeth."

"I love you too."

The girls clung together and Will felt his heart expand as he knew they were truly a family.

The next morning, Elizabeth and Georgie went to school and were both thankful that it was Friday. Elizabeth was on her way to her last class with Richard following behind her when they heard the fire alarm go off.

"Damn fire drill." Elizabeth just wanted to go to class and get done for the day and she had no patience for the games the school liked to play.

"Find Carter and Georgie," Richard instructed, "I'm going to find the principal to find out what's happening."

Elizabeth nodded and went to Georgie's classroom but she couldn't see either Georgie or Carter. She turned around and spotted one of Georgie's classmates, "Have you seen Georgie?"

The girl looked at her with a quizzical expression but answered, "Yeah, she was walking toward the football field with that old teacher, you know the blond good-looking one." She concentrated before she looked up and smiled, "You know the one I'm talking about, Mr. Williams; he subbed for Miss Carlson."

Elizabeth's eyes widened with shock, "Have you seen Mr. Carter?"

"No he wasn't with them."

Elizabeth knew she didn't have a minute to waste and there was a crush of students coming from all directions as they answered the fire drill.

She pushed her way through the students as she raced toward the football field. She didn't slow as she scanned for Georgie and Elizabeth was relieved when she saw her standing at the edge of the field just outside the wooded area that separated the school from the main road.

"Georgie, what are you doing out here?" Elizabeth called as she kept walking toward the girl. Her moment of relief was gone as she saw Denny Saunders step out of the woods behind her.

She felt someone come up behind her a moment before a hand was placed over her mouth. She was being pushed towards the woods as she heard the soft laugh at her ear, "You really didn't think you could elude me forever." He took his hand off her mouth for her to answer.

"No." Elizabeth answered softly, "What did you do with Mr. Carter."

Wickham laughed, "That was easy. I just had to wait until the fire alarm went off and when he was momentarily distracted, Saunders grabbed him, knocked him out and tied him up in the closet next to her classroom. There were so many students that nobody even noticed."

As they crossed the tree line, Elizabeth saw that Denny Saunders had a struggling Georgie and also held his hand over her mouth.

Suddenly the air was pieced with the wail of sirens and Denny started to panic, "They know what we did, they're coming to get us."

"No one knows what we've done." Wickham shot a malevolent look at the boy, "It's just the fire department responding to the bomb threat I called in to the school."

While Wickham was momentarily distracted Elizabeth caught Georgie's eye and nodded her head slightly. Georgie shook her head in the negative but to answer Elizabeth nodded her head slightly up and down again. Georgie's face showed her reluctance but she complied.

Georgie closed her eyes as she elbowed Denny in the ribs and she heard a rush of air as it escaped his lungs. He lost his grip on her and she stomped on his foot before she turned and kneed him in the groin. Denny Saunders cried out in pain and fell to the ground as Georgie stopped for one brief moment and with a feeling of immense satisfaction, Georgie kicked him in the mouth and saw him spit blood before she glanced once more at Elizabeth and ran for the school.

Denny Saunders was writhing in pain on the forest floor when Wickham yelled at him, "Go after her you idiot."

Saunders just moaned in response and Wickham lost his temper, "I don't know why I ever put up with you." Wickham leaned over to pull Denny to his feet. "You're an idiot." He growled at his accomplice, "Go get her or we'll both go to jail."

Denny looked like he was going to faint and he muttered, "I didn't sign up for this." He stood there shaking as he pointed to Elizabeth, "I just wanted her, I've always wanted her and you promised me that I could have her after you were done."

Elizabeth's eyes grew wide at what happened next, "I'm out of this." Denny took off running through the woods away from the school.

Elizabeth couldn't help it and began to laugh, "You really know how to pick em, Wickham."

"Shut up." He snapped at her.

"Well, now that you have me, what are you going to do now?" Elizabeth wanted to keep him talking to keep him off balance and distracted.

Wickham grinned, "Well I figure that your loving husband will give me a nice chunk of change to get you back." His eyes narrowed, "I could have gotten a lot more for both of you but I guess you'll just have to do."

"So how are you supposed to get me out of here anyway?"

"I don't think that's an option anymore since your little friend is going to run to the authorities and tell them right where we are."

Elizabeth shook her head, "No she's not, we agreed on this plan a long time ago and I made her promise to save herself if she had the opportunity."

"She's going to save her own skin." Wickham chuckled before he looked at Elizabeth sharply, "While we are talking so pleasantly and you are being so honest with me, how did the girl learn those sorts of moves because I know she didn't know them before."

"We took a self-defense class."

"But I had Saunders following you and reporting back to me so how come he didn't know about them." Wickham asked in a light curious tone.

"I had a strange feeling about Saunders and we took them on a day when he had football practice so he never knew." Elizabeth arched her eyebrows, "So I guess I was right about him."

"Yeah, I originally paid him to start the rumor about the girl." He sighed, "He screwed that up of course." Wickham tilted his head, "I figured that since she was new at the school that such a rumor would greatly hamper her chances of making friends and being happy. I would accidentally happen upon her when he was harassing her and would save her from his unwanted advances and get to play the hero." He sighed, "You see I still hadn't given up on her." His grin was wide, "She liked me and I liked her money. You see, your husband had it all wrong, I wasn't just trying to get into her pants, I had convinced her to run away and marry me in Vegas. I had it all planned until that knuckle dragging brother of hers showed up." He turned around to look at Elizabeth while keeping a tight grip on her, "But the one thing I didn't count on was you but you turned out to be a great asset to me."

"How could I have been an asset to you?" Elizabeth asked.

"I'm glad you asked because it was quite a feat of detective work. I managed to get cozy with Darcy's secretary and she had some really interesting things to tell me. I did some digging and found out how Will Darcy had been completely head over heels in love with you but that he had given that up due to your age." Wickham ran his eyes over Elizabeth's figure, "That's never stopped me but to each his own. It didn't take me long before I found out when you would be eighteen and I planned to accidentally run into you in Jamba Juice and ask you out." His grin was wide, "I figured a good way to get back at Darcy would be to have the girl he loved fall for me." Wickham shook his head impatiently, "Damn Darcy beat me by a day so my plan went up in smoke and I had to come up with another way to get to you. Coincidentally for me I had just met a teacher from your school, the hapless Miss Carlson."

"So you convinced her to run away to Vegas to marry you but why did you have to kill her? She had already quit and the job was yours."

"She heard me on the phone to Saunders and she started to put things together." Wickham admitted, "I had no other choice but to get rid of her."

"You are horrible; you would do all of that for money." Elizabeth struggled to get away from him, "I can't let you use me that way."

"Money makes the world go round and I'll show you what happens to women who don't behave properly." He drew his fist back and punched Elizabeth in the stomach before he threw her to the ground and began tearing at her clothes. "Struggle all you want," Wickham laughed, "I like it rough." He didn't stop hitting her and he even kicked her a few times.

Elizabeth bit his hand and he hit her in the mouth as he reached to unzip his pants, "I'll show you better things to do with that pretty mouth of yours."

Elizabeth had to pull her beaten and battered body off the ground as she used up the last bit of energy she had. She grabbed Wickham by his shoulders and with the leverage of her body flipped him over her body and forced him to the ground. She dropped down on top of him, pinned him to the ground and kneed him in the balls as she pushed her elbow into his throat to cut off his air. With her other hand and legs she hit and kicked every inch of his body that she could find.

She was startled when she felt herself being lifted off of him with gentle arms. She found herself sobbing in the arms of her husband as he walked toward the school, "Georgie." Elizabeth croaked through the tears.

"Georgie's fine," Will assured his wife, "She is with the police who picked up Denny Saunders on the road."

Will strode past the police and the fire truck as well as the students who were standing at the front of the school.

"Will, where are you taking me?" Elizabeth asked.

"To the hospital, baby." Will answered as he tried to choke back the emotion, "You have been injured." Will knew that was an understatement as he saw his wife's badly beaten face as well as the cuts and bruises that were everywhere on her body.

He put her in the passenger seat of his car and pulled on her seatbelt before he got into his car and signaled to the police officer who was going to give him an escort to the hospital.

As Will pulled up at the emergency entrance of the hospital, his car was surrounded by hospital personnel as they pulled her from the car and rushed her into the building.

Richard pulled up with the other two security men and Georgie. His sister rushed to him and threw her arms around him. "My god, Will what did he do to her? I knew I should have never left her."

"Georgie, Elizabeth was right to send you away and if you hadn't come to find Richard we wouldn't have even known where she was so your coming to get us could mean the difference between Elizabeth living or dying." He put his arm around his sister as he walked her inside.

"Where's Wickham?" Will asked Richard, "My lovely Elizabeth was not going to go down without a fight."

"He's pretty mangled," Richard told him, "But I don't think she did any permanent damage to him so he'll be able to spend the remainder of his pathetic life behind bars where he belongs."

Georgie took a step back and she said, "You mean Elizabeth did all of that to him."

"Yeah," Richard answered, "I don't know how she had the strength after he beat and kicked the crap out of her."

A doctor approached and asked, "Mr. Darcy."

Will stepped forward, "That's me, how's my wife."

"I'm Dr. Jones and we're taking your wife for some tests. The good news is that there doesn't appear to be any internal bleeding and I don't know how but she didn't lose the baby."

"Baby?" Three voices echoed the same question.

Dr. Jones nodded, "She's very early in her pregnancy, just a few weeks and most women would have lost the baby after a trauma such as the one your wife just suffered." Dr. Jones smiled, "Your wife is asking to see you before we take her in to get the tests. In fact, she is refusing to go until she speaks with you."

"That's my Elizabeth; she will be stubborn until the day she dies." Will said as the tears rolled down his face. Will didn't know if the tears were joy, relief, fear of losing her or any of a number of myriad emotions that were running wild through his soul.

The doctor led him to Elizabeth's room and she smiled weakly at him when he entered. "Has the doctor told you our news?"

"He told us about the baby," Will's emotion showed in every feature of his face, "But if you don't want…"

Elizabeth stopped him by putting a finger to his lips, "Of course I want our baby."

"But…"

Elizabeth sighed, "Will, I wouldn't have gotten pregnant intentionally but now that the baby is a fact, I could never kill a baby that came from our love." She smiled up at him, "That's not who I am."

"Are you sure?" Will asked not quite able to believe what he was hearing, "But what about Stanford?"

"Yes I am and we'll work everything else out." Her eyes sparkled, "We have options."

"We have to take her now." Dr. Jones said, "We'll have her back soon."

Will walked back to Georgie and Richard with mixed feelings, he was still worried about his wife but he was excited about the baby that they were going to have. So much had happened in one day that he didn't know how to react.

Richard and Georgie were looking at him expectantly when he returned, "We're going to have a baby." Will said and the other two cheered.

The police brought Wickham in a little later and one of the officers brought Elizabeth's purse to Will. "We found this in the woods where the attack happened.

Will did something he had never done before and he opened Elizabeth's purse and what he found was a huge surprise. He found a mini recorder in her purse and he pushed play. His quick thinking Elizabeth had managed to record everything that happened in the woods that day. Including every confession that Elizabeth had gotten Wickham to make but when it got to the end, Will shut the recording off because he knew that he couldn't hear the horrific attack on his wife.

He asked the front desk where the officers had taken Wickham and he found them quickly standing guard at Wickham's room.

He handed the recorder to the police officer and said with a smile, "You should have everything you need to convict Wickham of not only kidnapping, assault and battery but also Nevada will want to arrest him for the murder that occurred in their jurisdiction."

The man listened to the recording and realized that the head's up woman had made their case for them. He called the information into the precinct and they were sending the District Attorney who had been assigned to the case to get the evidence.

When Elizabeth got back from having her tests, Will went to join her. He bent down to kiss her while trying not to hurt her.

All of the tests had come back negative and Dr. Jones assured them that besides a couple broken ribs, contusions and bruises that Elizabeth would be fine.

The hospital agreed reluctantly for Georgie to visit with Elizabeth briefly and the first thing that Georgie said was, "I didn't want to leave you."

"I know." Elizabeth said, "But we had talked about this and we both knew that one of us needed to go for help and I owe you my life."

"Don't try to pull that one on me." Georgie chuckled, "I saw what you did to Wickham and Will said that he had to drag you off of Wickham."

Elizabeth laughed shortly before grabbing her ribs that had been taped up, "He shouldn't have made me mad."

"I don't think anyone will want to make you mad from now on."

The nurse interrupted and said that it was time for Georgie to leave as it was time for Mrs. Darcy to sleep.

When Will visited her the next day he couldn't contain his curiosity and asked his wife, "How long had you been carrying around the recorder?"

"Since we found out that Miss Carlson was dead." Elizabeth admitted, "I knew I had to be prepared so if he did kill me that hopefully the police would be able to convict him of my murder and hers."

Will's eyes took on a wild look, "I don't know what I would have done if something like that had happened to either of you."

"Will, how long was I with Wickham?"

"It was about fifteen minutes between the time you left the school and the time that we found you in the woods."

"Oh it seemed longer." Elizabeth said, "But that leads me to another question. How did you get there so quickly?"

"Baby, I was already there." Will answered, "I had decided to surprise you by picking you up after school and taking you away for the weekend."

"Oh."

Will shook his head, "I didn't know that the only place I would get to take you was the hospital." Will shivered, "Thank God I was there and I can still take you away for spring break because once the little one comes we certainly won't have much time." Will traced the contours of her stomach with his hand, "It's hard to believe that next year we'll have a baby."

"About that," Elizabeth looked at her husband through her lashes, "I've decided that I will defer my admission to Stanford for a year until after the baby is born." She smiled, "I was thinking that after graduation I could work at the new foundation until the baby is born."

"Whatever you want to do." Will said the emotion on his face, "I will support you in anything that you want to do."

"Good." Elizabeth said, "Because I'm also going to be doing some speaking engagements for Charlotte Lucas."

"You are going to be a busy woman." Will said as he kissed his wife gently.