"Hi Tree-bomb!"

She turned around and saw Mr. Darcy, himself, with a proud look on his face.

Lizzy was quite mad about the nickname he had just used, and expressed her annoyance with her voice. Will now looked quite puzzled, not knowing why she was annoyed. Something came into his mind…

"Yeah, I'm so sorry I came late… The traffic is horrible…"

"Actually Mr. Darcy they reason of my annoyance was the fact that you called me Tree-bomb. I hope that next time you try to use a nickname with me, you'll use something which doesn't imply my weight and laziness. Thank you!"

/Damn Robbie!/

At that point Lizzy got up, took her purse and left.

Will was shocked. In a couple of seconds, what seemed to be a wonderful lunch break, turned into hell.

"Lizzy! Where are you going?"

"First of all Mr. Darcy, don't you call me Lizzy, second of all where I'm going is none of your business."

"What are we going to do about Robbie?"

"Well, I leave you to it, as it looks like you can ruin other people's day quite perfectly. Besides, I didn't come to ask for your help."

/ What did just happen? Did I just imagine the whole "call me Lizzie"-scene or did I just imagine the "leave me alone"-thing?/

Darcy looked around, closed his eyes and pinched himself. As he was opening his eyes, he hoped that Lizzie would still be there at his table. As soon as he could see clearly he saw that it wasn't so. Lizzy had just left, leaving him alone.

Darcy got up, took his coat and started to walk towards his offices; it was going to be a long walk.

"So what happened?"

"Nothing…" she said, trying to avoid the conversation.

"Liz, please tell me. What happened?"

"Ok, Char. I got there and waited. Suddenly he whispered right in me ear "Hi Tree-bomb!""

"No! He didn't…"

"Oh, yes. I really got mad and told him off. How dare he call me that way. Is this never going to end? I mean, why is this coming back to me again? I thought I'd be over it by now…"

"Liz, are you sure that he knew what he was saying?"

"Of course he was. How could he not? Why would he use that nickname?"

"I don't know. But as you've told me before, you've just met him. Maybe someone told him to use the nickname just to get you pissed off. Have you thought about that?"

"Char. You've been my friend all of my life. So please believe me when I tell you, he knew what he was saying."

"Ok. So what are we going to do about the party? You still coming?"

"Of course! I'm not going to let that idiot ruin my only free night of the weekend."

"What do you mean by "my only free night"? Where are you going for the rest of the weekend?"

"Nowhere, except that I'm going to study and work all of Saturday and Sunday. Anyway let's not talk about this. I still need to find a dress for the party, and YOU are going to help me."

"As you wish, Madame." Char was already laughing.

The girls took their keys, their bags and left for a dress hunt.

"What happened Darce?"

"Oh, nothing."

"C'mon man. I've known you for a while now. You were so happy this morning and now THIS…"

"Charlie, look I don't want to sound rude, but please leave it."

"Whatever. Anyway there's the party on Friday and we need to be there. You can't say no. This time there'll be plenty of people we know: Meg, Jane, Lizzie" at the last name Will winced, but Charlie was looking elsewhere and didn't notice anything, so he went on " Mr. Lucas and his family. Carol's coming with us. Oh and of course there's Robbie."

Hearing his cousin name, Will got up and went back to his office kicking to the door to close it. He found he's phone, pressed a couple of buttons and waited to hear someone answering. He didn't have to wait long.

"Hey cuz! How you doin' man?"

"Rob" Will's voice was so cold that Robbie immediately understood it was something serious.

"Yeah?"

"Why did you tell me to call Lizzie "Tree-bomb"? Rob, why?"

"You didn't."

"Robbie! What did you do?"

"Look, man. I'm sorry, I just thought it as a prank, nothing else."

"Damn it Robbie!" Will hit his fist on the table so hard, that afterwards there was a little hole in the table

"Will…"

"No! Right now I don't want you to call me or speak with me."

And with that he hung up.

/ Why did Robbie have to prank him this time? He had just found a person with whom he could be himself…" Will hadn't even admitted to himself that he had started to like Lizzie." Well, now it's over. It's time to focus on business here. After all I'm here for what? Three weeks…? I don't need these town people, I'm a man of my own./

It was tradition for the Bennet family that when going to a party as a family, everyone got back home, got ready and then left the house with the family's two cars. Of course when all of the girls were still at home, it was just normal, but since some of the birds had left the nest, Mrs Bennet had found it very difficult to be without her girls. So in order to keep the sanity of Mrs Bennet, and therefore, the sanity of the rest of the family, a new tradition had been introduced.

Bennet Lodge, as Mrs Bennet delighted to call her house, was in full uproar. Kate and Lydia had been fighting for the past 90 minutes over their clothes, claiming the other had stolen her stuff. Even though this was one of the reasons why Lizzy and Jane had left home, all of this chaos made Lizzy smile. In many ways it was comforting to be back at home, and in others… well, we won't wonder if Lizzy needed sometime alone.

Lizzy took her dad's car and left. She drove for about half an hour and finally she got to her destination. She had come to a beautiful forest; she had spent many hours in this place. Not many people new about this place, it was so calm and quiet; just the right place for solitude and thinking.

At first her steps were quick and frenetic, but soon she slowed down. All of the beauty that surrounded her amazed her every time, she was at peace here.

"God, thank you for this beautiful and amazing view! Thank you for being my source of peace. God, I want to ask for wisdom. You know… The situation with Will Darcy, it's tough. Even though I've put all the Tree-bomb things behind my back, it still gets on my nerves… Just help Lord, please."

She waited for a while and heard a response. She sort of knew what to do.

The place was packed. Darcy was wandering around the mansion; he liked to be in the open air for a while. He hadn't had a very good chance at being outside in the fresh air while being at the city. The stars were so bright that night; he started to count them out.

Charlie saw his friend and went to greet him.

"Hi, Darce."

"Oh. Hi, Charlie. How are you? How's it going inside?"

"I'm good. Have you, by any chance, seen Jane? You know, Jane Bennet…"

"No, I haven't… Anyway we should probably get inside. I know Mr. Lucas wants to speak with us."

"Will, you need to take it easy. I know you're the boss, but still. Tonight we're NOT going to talk about business, just enjoy the night."

Charlie had come with a spark of wisdom, even though it wasn't very usual.

The two of them had just got back in when Charlie noticed something and was hypnotized by something. Will looked up and then he saw her.

She was beautiful; there weren't words to describe her.

Charlie was looking at Jane, who had this ethereal beauty about her. She was dressed in a light blue dress that had a black embroidered bodice. Her hair was curly and set free. It looked just perfect.

Will's heart had just skipped a beat upon seeing Lizzie. Lizzie was dressed in a very elegant black cocktail dress, instead of having bare shoulders, she had lace sleeve. In this beautiful dress the lace had been designed to enhance just the right things, which made Lizzy stunning!

Jane noticed Charlie's look and blushed, at first she was a little bit uncomfortable, but as soon as she looked back at Charlie, Jane relaxed.

The girls started to make their descent, they walked quite slowly, but soon everybody's eyes were fixed on the two Bennet girls.

Charlie, as the perfect gentleman he was, made his way at bottom of the staircase and offered his hand to Jane.

Lizzy had been smiling quite timidly, but as soon as she saw the room, her smile turned into a bright and happy one. Lizzy was going to enjoy the night!

You might wonder what Darce did. Well… Someone bumped into his back, so he's attention was lost. Although he had seen her beautiful smile, he decided not to give into temptation. He wasn't going to show her or anybody in the room, what he was really feeling. So he forced his eyes to focus on something else and then he left.

Lizzy had seen Darcy's look; it wasn't actually what she was expecting. The look was so deep and powerful, but in a split of a second his look turned into something, which you might describe as hard and one of displeasure.

/ Am I now so repulsive that his look should change into that? Does he despise and hate me so much?/ Lizzy was getting irritated because of him / That man… Arghhhh, I can't stand him. But Lizzy, you can do this! You can go to him and extend the olive branch…/ she just needed some time to calm down and then she was ready.

Will was talking with Mr. Lucas about the mansion, it was a beautiful house. In some ways it had reminded him of his home, Pemberley. Although the mansion couldn't compare with his own, it had enraptured him.

Will was in the middle of saying something, when he felt someone tapping his shoulder.

He turned around and saw the person he was trying to avoid.

"Yes?"

"Mr. Darcy, may I talk with you for a moment?"

"Excuse me Mr. Lucas"

"No problems, by all means. Have fun Lizzy, go dance with him…" Mr. Lucas was also known for his "delicacy" with words.

Lizzy turned around and started to walk towards one of the doors that lead to the gardens. Will could do nothing else, but follow her.

She found a solitary place and then turned around.

"Mr. Darcy the reason why I'm now here is because…"

Will was lost again upon seeing the stars reflected in her eyes. He quickly gained control of himself.

"I'm… I'm sorry, I didn't quite understand…"

Lizzy wasn't very patient, but held it all in quite well.

"As I was saying, the reason why I wanted to talk with you was… Even though you've offended me by your remarks, I'm ready to extend the olive branch."

"Excuse me? I'm sorry Miss Bennet, but why would I be the one to blame? I'm the one who's had no kind of explanation. I greet you and you jump at my throat because of it."

"WHAT?"

"I'm not sure if they teach manners here in the country, but at least when someone offers you help, you should thank them."

"Are you insane?" Lizzy was loosing it…" Anyway, here talks the real city person, oh sorry I meant Regent Guy from the high class British Country… And, as I've told you before, I never needed your help. Besides you're the one who insulted me!"

"You're the one who actually insulted me. But then again it's so typical… Maybe for a student time is not so important, but to us, business people, time is money. With this useless "Oh help me revenge"-appointment, I wasted precious time."

"You're so full of yourself… If you could even realize how pathetic you are, with your entire business and money thing. You know it's good I didn't stay for your so-called help."

"Next time you're: " Hey yo, I need ya help!" don't come asking help... Maybe whoever invented the whole TREE-BOMB thing was actually right."

"You're a jerk!"

And with that Lizzy left.

I hope you're liking the story... I'm having so much fun with writing it.

Please Review.