Chapter 7

Lizzy absorbed herself in her work to keep her mind off missing Will, her friends were also really happy to have her back and hear about her adventures in Oz. The band had some interviews to do and some recording for their new album. They had decided they had to record the song Will wrote about Lizzy as it had got such a good response in Oz and was the reason Lizzy and Will got together. Will was quite happy to record it now.

They were all so busy that it was soon time for the wedding party and Lizzy headed back down to Longbourne to see her family as she hadn't seen them since she got back from Oz. Her dad was particularly happy to see her. Lizzy had always secretly been his favourite and he missed her terribly since she left home. After she had caught up with her sisters she slipped off into her dads study.

"So Lizzy, what's new with you then?" her father asked "you have a glow about you and I'm sure it's not just because you are happy for your sister, something has changed in your life".

"Oh father you are so perceptive, I can't keep anything from you, you can read me like a book. Do you remember I told you about Charlie's arrogant friend Will" said Lizzy.

"Oh yes he didn't sound like a very nice character from your account" recalled Lizzy's father wondering where this conversation was going.

"Well you know you always taught me to not judge someone until I had all the facts…well I didn't in this case. I was blinded by another persons charm and didn't weigh up the facts before jumping in and nearly messing everything up" said lizzy sadly.

"That's not like you Lizzy you are usually a good judge of character" said Lizzy's father.

"Well not in the case of Will Darcy, he is actually a rather wonderful person and not what I thought at all and we became very close in Oz and I would really like to introduce him to you at the wedding party" said Lizzy.

"Oh well then I would be really happy to meet him, and don't be too harsh on yourself Lizzy you can't always be right straightway you are only human. You do usually think the best of people first but it seems not with this guy, maybe that tells you that there was something different about him that got to you" said Lizzy's father.

"Thanks dad, yes he's really important to me" said Lizzy

"Right come on then we better get ready for the party or we'll be in trouble with your mother. It is all she has been talking about. Maybe I'll get some peace when this is over" he sighed.

"I don't think so dad" she laughed and he laughed too.

The girls were getting ready at Longbourne with Jane, and Charlie and the band were meeting them at the country house. Lizzy's mother had arranged for a horse and carriage to transport them all to the venue.

"This is too much mama" said Jane.

"Nonsense Jane, only the best for my eldest, married to a rock star, so exciting, who would have thought" Janes mother cooed.

Lydia and kitty were very excited, Mary just looked uninterested, Lizzy had a small smirk on her face. Poor Jane she thought to herself, she disliked attention even more than Lizzy. Hopefully she would get though today without too much trauma.

Jane was starting to panic slightly, what had she let herself in for? She really didn't like a fuss. Lizzy took hold of Jane's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "I'm here for you Jane, and you will have Charlie be your side as soon as we arrive at the venue" said Lizzy sympathetically. Jane looked stunning in a long dark red dress with silver sparkles. Lizzy was wearing a floor length midnight blue dress with a long slit down the side. She had to admit her mum did have good taste in dresses although they were a bit grander than her and Jane would have chosen.

The girls arrived at the venue with their mother and father and Charlie and Will were waiting at the door from them. Lizzy's eyes lit up as soon as she saw Will and her father noticed and thought that he must be the man they were talking about earlier. As soon as Lizzy stepped down from the carriage she was in Wills arms. "I missed you so much" Will murmured in Lizzy's ear.

Will released Lizzy and she introduced him to her father and they shock hands. Lizzy's mother was very excited to see that Lizzy had a boyfriend especially when she discovered he was in the band with Charlie and his family was even richer than Charlie's.

Lizzy and Will walked in arm and arm letting the bride and groom walk first into the grand house. Jane gasped when she saw the main ballroom, it was beautiful and for once the decoration was not over the top. In fact the venue was stunning. Lizzy had driven past the country house before but never been inside.

One of the first people Lizzy saw was Charlotte. It was the first time Lizzy had seen Charlotte since she got back from Oz. Charlotte was pretty shocked when Lizzy entered the room arm in arm with Will and even more surprised when Lizzy introduced Will as her boyfriend. They had so much to catch up on!

The next person she saw was Joe who looked quizzically at Lizzy arm in arm with Will. When he noticed the loving way they gazed into each others eyes he was absolutely gutted. What on earth had happened to change Lizzy's mind about this guy Joe thought. Well she looked incredibility happy, so he would have to try and be pleased for her but he still tried to make Will jealous by holding Lizzy just that extra bit longer in a hug.

It worked, Will was trying to control his jealously, and he knew Lizzy loved him but he couldn't help it. She had known Joe for a long time and shared a lot of history with him. He couldn't help but envy him slightly for all the time he had with Lizzy over the years, but they had always only ever been friends.

Lizzy introduced Joe to Will and Joe discovered that despite his jealously of Will he actually quite liked him when he got chatting. Hopefully Will would be good enough for his Lizzy. If he ever did anything to hurt her he would kill him. He would be sure to tell Will this at a later date when Lizzy was not around. At the moment Will was called away from Lizzy and Joe as Charlie needed him. As soon as Will left them Joe gave her a questioning look and she explained what had happened to her since she had seen him last. Charlotte joined them as well to find out what was going on. "I'm sorry I haven't had a chance to catch up with you guys for ages, my life has been very eventful" said Lizzy. She then went on to tell them about Jane and Charlie's beautiful wedding on the beach and pointed out some of the pictures that were displayed around the room for the party guests to see.

Joe was then called off as he was D.J.'ing as part of the entertainment for the party as he had volunteered his services for free. Sadly he had to tone down the music until later into the evening when the oldies had gone home. Lizzy and her sisters were really looking forward to jumping around later to Joes normal playlists including bands such as Metallica, Chilli Peppers and Rage against the machine. He started off with some excellent tunes though, including the rolling stones sympathy for the devil and then Fleetwood Mac's 'The chain' one of Lizzy's favourite songs. Lizzy took Charlottes hand and dragged her to the dance floor. Soon Charlie, Jane and the other Bennett girls (excluding Mary who refused to dance) were dancing away. Will stood grinning by the bar with Lizzy's dad watching the girls jumping around having fun.

"Do you not dance Will?" said Lizzy's dad.

"Not really, I believe the only person that could tempt me to dance would be your daughter" said Will gazing over to Lizzy.

"What about you sir?" Will asked Lizzy's dad.

"Oh no I used to dance in my younger days but I would rather be here at the bar nowadays" said Lizzys dad.

"Would you like another Guinness" said Will.

"That would be lovely, I'm warming to you Will, and you have good taste in alcoholic beverages" said Lizzy's dad.

The barman poured the men two Guinness's and Lizzy's dad asked what his plans were for the next weekend and invited him for dinner as he thought it would be good to get to know him a bit better as it was obvious by the way they looked at each other that Lizzy was enamoured with him and that he could be a permanent fixture in their lives in the future. He had to know how serious this guy was about Lizzy he didn't want his favourite daughter getting hurt. She was too precious to him.

At that moment Lizzy approached Will and her father "I hope you are not quizzing Will too much father?" said Lizzy giving him a hug. Before Lizzy's dad had a chance to answer Lizzy's Aunt and Uncle Gardiner approached the group and Lizzy introduced Will to them.

"So we hear that you are a rock star with Charlie" said Lizzy's aunt with an amused look on her face.

"Well I play a bit of guitar for a living which I love, and until it stops paying the bills I will keep playing" said Will casually. "I'm trained as a lawyer so I have that to fall back on" said Will trying to show to Lizzy's relations that he could have a responsible job if need be. He wanted to show them that he could look after Lizzy if the band didn't last although he had saved up a lot of money from their album sales and could have retired now and lived comfortably for the rest of his life if he wanted to, which he didn't. He loved the music far too much although now he had found Lizzy he could see himself retiring early to spend more time with her.

"He is very modest Aunt, his music is incredible" said Lizzy.

"I would agree it is pretty special but some of it is a bit loud for me!" said Lizzys aunt. Lizzy looked at her aunt surprised. "Well I was curious to hear what this band of Charlie and Wills was like so I borrowed a CD from Jane, you are very talented Will I wouldn't give up quite yet".

"Well thank you for your kind words Mrs Gardiner" said Will.

"I think I will have to listen to that CD as well so I am better informed of my new son-in-law and his bands talents" said Lizzys dad.

At that moment the music slowed down and the striking vocals of Jon Bon Jovi singing I'll be there for you could be heard and the dance floor cleared for Jane and Charlie to have a first dance. After about a minute Lizzy approached Will and clasped hold of his hand and gently tugged at it and he looked at her to see if she was serious. He shrugged his shoulders and knew he couldn't refuse Lizzy although he was a bit apprehensive about dancing with her in front of all of her family and friends. But as soon as he had her in his arms looking deep into her eyes the room was forgotten. Other couples came and joined them on the dance floor but they didn't notice. Even Mrs Bennett had dragged Mr Bennett away from his pint after a few grumbles.

Joe watched jealously from his DJ box, there was nothing he could do he had to finally give up the idea of ever being any more than a friend to Lizzy, While she was single he foolishly never gave up hope but now he knew in his heart there was no chance anymore. He needed to move on but how could he meet anyone as wonderful as Lizzy. Maybe he should take up Lizzy's offer of visiting her in Cambridge. She had mentioned a few lovely ladies she was friends with that he might be interested in.

The wedding party was a wonderful success and the younger members of the gathering party'ed until the early hours. Joe's colleague and friend was also DJ'ing and he had the later slot so Joe had a chance to party with the others.

After the party Lizzy and Will and the others were staying at the venue that night so Lizzy and Will managed to have a bit of private time together.

The next day they were heading back to Cambridge where Will was going to stay with Lizzy for the week. She wanted to show him her research and he wanted to introduce her to his cousin Richard Fitswilliam who lived in Cambridge.

They arranged to have dinner with Richard on the Monday night which gave them Sunday night to themselves. They wandered round the beautiful city hand in hand and went punting on the river.

Monday night they arrived at Richards about 7 pm. Lizzy was looking forward to meeting Wills cousin so she could get a bit more insight into what Will was like when he was younger.

"Welcome, welcome come on in, what would you like to drink?" said Richard shaking Wills hand and giving Lizzy a firm hug. Lizzy looked surprised and said hello, umm Wills cousin is very much the opposite character when it comes to welcoming people. He was grinning from ear to ear.

"Wonderful to meet you at last Lizzy, I have heard all about you from Georgie because of course Will tells me nothing, he is so secretive" said Richard. He handed them a glass of wine each and they settled down in his front room.

"So how long have you lived in Cambridge Richard?" inquired Lizzy.

"All my life so far except when I went to Sandhurst to train. I'm off to the army soon. My parents live in a little village outside of Cambridge so I have grown up in this area and really like it here I love the history and the grandeur of Cambridge, the magnificent buildings and the beautiful university, the punting on the river. Also the music scene is great but not as good as when Will and the band lived here".

"Yes I love living here; there is something really special about this place. You can feel it when you walk along the streets. It is a place to be proud to live in" said Lizzy. They all nodded in agreement.

"I do miss it here although I hope to be up here as much as I can unless Lizzy gets sick of me" said Will gazing at Lizzy adoringly.

"Not going to happen Will Darcy" Lizzy grinned back at Will.

Dinner was a great success, Lizzy was impressed with Richards cooking and charming manners and loved the way he teased Will. Richard was enamoured by Lizzys wit and beauty, she was an incredible women. In fact he was a bit too enamoured by her, of course he didn't let onto Will. Hopefully it would pass it was obvious Will and Lizzy were very much in love, he had no chance with Lizzy and he didn't want to fall out with his cousin over a woman. Maybe he had just had too much wine she might not seem as wonderful if he was sober.

When Lizzy wasn't working in the lab they spent the time visiting many of the beautiful museums and art galleries. Will took Lizzy for dinner at Midsummer house which had the most amazing food and two Michelin Stars as he wanted to really spoil her. Lizzy thought it was a bit excessive but did agree that the food was incredible and did appreciate that Will wanted to treat her. They went walking around the historic university colleges. The week flew by and it was time for Will to leave Cambridge but he promised to be back as soon as he could.

The middle of the next week Lizzy was having a quiet drink in town at the Eagle with some of the girls from the lab when Richard walked in with some of his mates. They joined a table near Lizzy's group and the two groups got talking. Richard was making the most of his free time before he was going off to Afghanistan in a few month's time.

(Richards POV)

He couldn't hide his delight in seeing Lizzy again so soon. As soon as he started speaking to her he knew that he was just as enamoured by her as he was the other night, damn life would be so much easier if that wasn't the case. He knew he should go home now to get away from her and stop torturing himself but he just wanted to be near her. He decided to stay and chat to Lizzy but made sure he didn't drink very much, the last thing he wanted to do was get drunk and blurt out his feelings. He made an effort to talk to her friends; maybe one of them might distract him but he couldn't help looking over at Lizzy. It didn't help that his mates were teasing him for not drinking very much as it was very unusual for him. It was a beautiful sunny evening and they were sitting out in the beer garden. Richard couldn't help notice the way the sunlight shone through Lizzy's light brown hair and made it look golden. About 10.30 pm Lizzy got up to leave, she had to get home early as she had a big experiment to start early the next day. Richard couldn't help it, he had to offer to walk her home and she gladly accepted. They chatted away on the way home and just turned the corner before Lizzy's home and they ran into no other than Caroline Bingley.

"Hello Lizzy and hello Richard, fancy meeting you two here" she said.

"Well we do both live in Cambridge Caroline, it shouldn't be too much of a surprise" Richard said. He had never had that much patience with Caroline "what brings you to Cambridge Caroline?".

"I have been visiting an old friend; she had a dinner party with many interesting people. I am just heading back to London now" she said.

"Well hope you have a safe journey back" said Richard. He walked Lizzy back to her house, gave her a hug and told her that Will was a very lucky man. She blushed lightly at Richards complement.

"I am the lucky one, I think he got the raw end of the deal" she laughed "take care Richard we shall have to catch up again before you go away".

"That would be lovely" said Richard. Oh why not torture myself some more thought Richard.