Elizabeth Bennet stood near the corner of the ballroom in Lucas Lodge, her green eyes following her elder sister, Jane, carefully. She knew it was a useless precaution; Jane hadn't had one of her spells ever since her latest vision a few days ago, something that Elizabeth was thankful for. She didn't think she could handle another vision like that. The memory of Jane's face when she had looked at her…. The very thought made Elizabeth shudder.

Mary Bennet saw when her older sister shuddered. She frowned and edged closer to Elizabeth, trying to avoid the chattering idiots who only seemed to come out at balls. Mary shook her head in disgust when she spied her younger sisters, Lydia and Kitty, prancing around the ballroom like beribboned horses. How she could possibly be related to those clueless airheads was beyond her.

"Lizzie," she whispered when she reached her sister.

Elizabeth looked up sharply, a faint blush overspreading her pale cheeks.

"Mary," she sighed.

"I saw you shudder," Mary murmured. "You were thinking of Jane's vision again, weren't you?"

Elizabeth looked away from her sister and nodded sheepishly.

"I can't get it out of my mind," she said softly. "The look on her face…" Elizabeth shuddered again at the memory.

Mary nodded gravely, reliving the moment herself. She, Lizzie, and Jane had been alone that day, which was a stroke of luck seeing as the scream that Jane had uttered once she had come out of her vision had been loud enough to send the entire family running, had they been around to hear it. Listening to Jane's breathless explanation and seeing Lizzie's solemn expression, Mary had braced herself for the biggest battle of her young life. Now, she had only to fight in it.

The entrance of the extremely wealthy guests of honor attracted the attention of everyone in the room, including Mary and Elizabeth. Mary, being shorter than her sibling, was forced to rely on secondhand descriptions from her taller older sister. As it turned out, the secondhand descriptions were unneeded. Mary had barely had a chance to press Elizabeth for details of the new arrivals, when Mrs. Bennet bustled over to them, dragging Jane behind her.

Jane smiled sheepishly at her younger sisters from behind her mother, her white face framed by delicate blond curls.

"Mother wants to introduce us to Mr. Bingley," she said quietly, her soft voice almost inaudible in the noisy room.

Mary groaned while Elizabeth smiled with amusement.

"What difference does it make if we're with you or not?" Mary demanded, slightly exasperated. "We all know he's only going to notice Jane."

Mrs. Bennet frowned at her middle child and clucked her tongue. The gesture so much resembled the call of a mother hen that both Elizabeth and Jane turned away to hide their grins.

"It's that lack of enthusiasm that has kept you from attracting any young men to you," Mrs. Bennet told Mary sternly. "If you showed even a tenth of Lydia's eagerness and social skills, you'd have had an offer by now."

"If I had one twentieth of Lydia's attitude towards others, I would be so completely without sense that my sisters would have no choice but to shoot me."

Elizabeth and Jane found it increasingly difficult to keep a straight face at Mary's declaration, and had to muffle their laughs with coughs. Mrs. Bennet clucked again and proceeded to drag her three daughters to the dais where Bingley and his guests stood with Sir William Lucas. Elizabeth spotted her friend Charlotte on the way to the dais and grabbed her hand.

"Please accompany me to meet Mr. Bingley," she hissed under her breath. "My insane mother insists on dragging me to meet him."

Charlotte chuckled and allowed herself to be pulled forward with the Bennet sisters. Sir William beamed when he saw his eldest daughter, making his introductions slightly warmer than they would normally have been.

Elizabeth turned her face away when her mother started speaking, not wishing to witness the embarrassing spectacle that was sure to follow. Embarrassment followed the Bennets like a shadow when Mrs. Bennet was involved. While avoiding such embarrassments, Elizabeth's gaze met the ice blue eyes of a tall gentleman standing in the shadow behind Bingley. How odd, she hadn't noticed a third gentleman when she had come up to the dais. It wasn't like her to not notice details like that… then again, she hadn't quite been herself since the vision…

The new gentleman was a vision indeed. Dark brown hair with streaks of black crowned a square, slightly angular face with stern features that seemed set into a permanent brooding look, and his lean, muscular frame was even taller than she herself was. Had it been anyone else, Elizabeth would've have unhesitatingly labeled them as ugly, yet something about this man struck her as handsome.

At that moment, the gentleman turned his face to the side slightly so that their eyes met. His ice blue eyes widened slightly when their gazes locked, sending a thrill through Elizabeth's core. Elizabeth smiled nervously at him, trying to hide her unease. The man's eyes tightened and he looked away abruptly, crossing his arms decisively in front of him.

Elizabeth frowned at the gesture and looked at the others to see if they had noticed. Mary smiled at her sympathetically, her brown eyes amused. She had obviously witnessed the entire thing. Mrs. Bennet and Charlotte were busy listening to Sir William's tales of the royal court in London, although something about Charlotte's smile made Elizabeth suspect that she had seen the interaction. As for Jane… Jane only had eyes for Bingley. Her face glowed with the kind of emotion that Elizabeth had only seen once or twice in the entire time that she had known her sister, and it pleased her to see Bingley returning the look with sincerity that betrayed his attraction.

Elizabeth smiled, pushing the confusing experience with the mysterious gentleman out of her mind, and hoped that her sister could finally find true happiness.

Darcy stood with his back pressed against the corner which he had retreated to after his disastrous introduction to the Bennet sisters. He couldn't forget the wounded look on Elizabeth Bennet's face when he had slighted her, yet he couldn't bring himself to regret the action. Making a connection with another human being other than Georgiana and James was completely out of the question. It would only bring pain and suffering to the innocent person involved, and Darcy had enough blood on his hands.

The one pleasure of that horrendous evening at Lucas Lodge was seeing Bingley with the eldest Bennet girl. Darcy couldn't help smiling when he saw the way Bingley beamed when the girl was around. It was like watching a small puppy with a giant bone, it was impossible not to chuckle a little bit. So when Bingley came over to his secluded corner, thereby redirecting attention to Darcy himself, he couldn't quite bring himself to resent Bingley until he opened his mouth.

"Come now, Darcy, what are you doing in this corner?" Bingley chastised lightly, a little too loudly for Darcy's tastes.

"I'm standing," Darcy muttered. What does it look like I'm doing? He added silently.

Bingley laughed cheerfully at his friend's oddness and made to grab Darcy's sleeve. Darcy, anticipating the movement, drew back sharply. Bingley sighed.

"Come on, Darcy," he pleaded. "Won't you at least attempt to have fun?"

"Even if I attempted, I would still fail miserably, so what's the point of trying?"

"There are plenty of beautiful girls without partners. Perhaps you could- "

"You know I don't enjoy dancing, Bingley. Besides, you are dancing with the only attractive girl in the room," Darcy said hastily, wishing for a change of subject. Far too many people were watching their exchange for Darcy's liking, and he wanted to get rid of the unwanted attention.

Bingley sighed wistfully, his eyes straying to the blonde girl. She caught his eye and smiled, her pale face shining.

"She is an angel, Darcy," Bingley murmured, his eyes glazed. He shook himself back to reality and resumed his attack. "But her sister, she is beautiful, yes?"

Darcy shrugged, thinking Bingley meant Mary, the brown-haired girl with the severe face.

"She is tolerable," he said slowly. "But not handsome enough to tempt me." For goodness sakes, just leave Bingley! He thought impatiently. "Go, and enjoy your fair partner's smiles while you still have the chance. You're wasting your time with me."

Bingley sighed with defeat and turned away. The curious observers turned their faces to follow Darcy's handsome friend, but not before Darcy had caught a disgruntled looking Elizabeth glaring at him. She turned away the moment she saw him looking at her, her green eyes flashing.

Darcy frowned, confused, and went back to leaning against the wall. How odd, did Elizabeth care that much about her sister that she would get mad at people who didn't think her handsome?

As if summoned by some demented whistle, Caroline Bingley chose that moment to appear once more by his side.

"I see you've managed to make an enemy, Mr. Darcy," she simpered, sneering at Elizabeth's back. "I must say, Elizabeth Bennet does not take criticism well, does she?"

"Criticism?" Darcy repeated. "Who was criticizing her?"

Caroline frowned slightly, wondering if this was a trick question.

"Why, you did, Mr. Darcy," she said slowly, as if waiting for the punch line. "You called her barely tolerable."

"What? No, I was referring to her sister, Miss Mary," Darcy protested, feeling suddenly uneasy. Was that why Elizabeth had looked so furious? He hadn't meant to insult her…. No man in his right mind would do that. Then again, perhaps it was for the best if she hated him. It would save him the trouble of discouraging attachment between them later on. Darcy sighed inwardly and resigned himself to the torture that was dancing with Caroline Bingley, trying to keep his eyes from straying to the place where he knew Elizabeth Bennet was standing.

He failed miserably.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters here…. *sniff* unfortunately…..