A/N: Hi there!... here's the next chapter in the story. I wanted to do the whole of the Meryton assembly thing here itself but my muse had other ideas it seems... well, we'll see where it goes.

For now, enjoy the chapter :)

Chapter 04

Elizabeth Bennet heaved a sigh of relief as the whole Bennet clan stepped foot into the huge manicured lawn that stood behind Netherfield. It had taken five astonishing hours for her youngest sisters and mother to get ready for what seemed like a simple garden party. Obviously, they'd been mistaken about what the party was gonna be like because the three of them looked as if they were dressed for a costume party. While Lydia and Kitty could get away with looking as if the Bennets had no money to spare for clothes, it was their mom's outlandish choice of attire that made her want to blush.

Elizabeth, who hadn't blushed in years, felt her face infuse with red as she noticed a whole bunch of people look quite amused at the way some of their party had dressed. Even as she contemplated turning on her heel and going back out, the opportunity was snatched out of her hands when a tall, lanky red haired man was found walking up to them with a huge smile on his face.

Charlie Bingley was a very happy man that evening. Not only had he convinced Will to accompany him for the weekend, he'd also escaped with his life intact, even after having Caroline literally stick herself to Darcy in vain hopes of getting her mitts on his fortune. Charlie wanted to feel bad for his friend but couldn't really bring himself to, because whether he admitted it or not, he'd been somewhat enjoying the idea of the always in control William Darcy look so out of depth. Because that was exactly how Will had been for the last day or so... from the minute Caroline and Clarissa had shown up, Will Darcy looked like he'd rather shoot himself in the head than continue to suffer their company. Charlie had almost started fearing for his own life by the end of the day, but things apparently hadn't gone all that pear shaped, or more believably, he'd underestimated Will's capacity to stay in control of himself.

But these weren't the reasons that Charles Bingley was happier now than he'd ever been in his life before... the sole reason for his uplifted mood was standing in front of him in the angelic form of one of the girls that had just entered the lawn with her family. One look at her baby blues and Charlie knew that he'd completely lost control of his heart. Whoever she was, she was going to be the future Mrs. Charles Bingley... this was a fact and had been decided within two seconds of seeing her for the first time.

William stood next to his friend, getting bored out of his skull but thanking whatever saint was looking out for him that day.. he'd somehow managed to ditch the leech. Caroline and her posse consisting of Clarissa and her already drunk husband had wandered off when he'd pointed out in a not so subtle way, that she might have some competition when it came to fashion. The anorexic redhead hadn't been inclined to believe him, but to his eternal gratitude, a family of half a dozen ladies had just come in at that point of time and saved him. The sight of some ladies in, according to Caroline, 'not too out of date' clothes in such a backward town had finally succeeded in distracting the fashion obsessed Caroline Bingley from him.

Will had never come this close to either killing himself or inflicting mortal damage on someone else in his life... Caroline Bingley seemed to have been created to irritate the heck out of him and she did her job admirably well. If things were going to stay this way, he'd have to find an excuse... any excuse really, to ditch Charlie and his family at New Haven and maybe escape to Pemberley for the week or so.

He'd been busy contemplating the near future and whether he should be feeling bad about his decision to ditch his friend when he felt the aforementioned friend stiffen up next to him. Looking at the redhead revealed the reason for the change in his emotions... Charlie was apparently in love... again.

This not so big revelation led to Will checking out the lady who was to be the target of Charlie's affections for the next seven days. Charlie's 'falling in love' routine always found tall, busty, blondes and lasted exactly for all of one week. After that it was on to the next blonde. The thing that never failed to amaze both Will and Rich was the fact that all of Charlie's past 'loves' stayed friends with him... some had even set him up with some of their friends. But then this guy was just so freakin nice that you couldn't even hold it against him.

Will had found out early in their friendship that Charlie Bingley always held an unfair advantage in any relationship. He was just such a terribly nice person, a genuinely good man, that being angry with him was like kicking a puppy... it just didn't happen. And looking at the girl who he was making calf eyes at, Will had to hand it to the man... he certainly knew how to pick them. This woman was quite tall, sort of delicate looking, blonde... of course and seemed to be, at first glance atleast, also a nice person. She was tastefully dressed in a flowery summer dress that suited both her personality and the occasion. For once, Will was close to being satisfied with Charlie's choice.

It wasn't an easy job... being Charlie's big brother of sorts. The man came to him with all sorts of problems, outlandish stuff at inhuman times... but Will had always been a very loyal friend. William Darcy had never had too many friends and he did everything he could to hold on to the ones he wanted around him. The debacle with George Wickham in their college days had proved to Will the necessity of having good friends, real friends around him.

If it hadn't been for Fred and Rich's support during that horrible time, he and Georgie might've gone to pieces. For all the physical and emotional trauma that Georgie had gone through, it had been Will that had needed more support from his friends and family. Will, the man who'd never cried till then, spent the whole night weeping for what his baby sister had had to go through because of his carelessness. Though Georgie had apologized to him and Rich, and told him to please forget everything, Will hadn't been able to claw his way out of the deep pit of despair he'd dug for himself. After the death of their parents, Will had been handed one responsibility... that of Georgie's upbringing and he'd managed to so thoroughly fudge that up that it had resulted in her almost getting killed.

Just thinking about it and just how much that bastard Wickham had cost him made William feel like punching something... or someone. He could feel his hands clenching in frustration, his body stiffening up... he knew his face was screwed up in a grimace but there was nothing he could really do about it till he'd calmed himself down. Knowing that Charlie wouldn't mind all that much if he took this chance to escape socializing, he was just about to turn on his heel and walk out of the room when two things happened. One, Caroline the leech returned and as usual got stuck on his arm. Two, he finally noticed the rest of the people in the family that Charlie's latest 'love' belonged to.

The family seemed to be made up of about half a dozen ladies and one male. The man, he almost immediately recognized to be Dr. Thomas Bennet. While he didn't really admire the man himself, the doctor had been involved in some really interesting studies, some of which had resulted in cutting edge techniques and huge developments in the field of cardiothoracic surgery. As for the others, Will couldn't really make up his mind as to what to think of them.

Mrs. Bennet seemed to be trying her hardest to look as if she was the age of her daughters, and to her misfortune, failing spectacularly, while the two youngest seemed to be trying the exact opposite. The clothes they were wearing appeared too mature for someone so young. One other girl seemed to proclaiming herself to be a Goth. With the amount of black she was wearing, paired with her sombre expression, she could've been at a funeral. The other two women were what had caught, and held, Will's attention.

The one that Charlie was currently drooling over was certainly different from the rest of her family. She had this sort of 'all-american' quality about her that made you want to get to know her... But Will wasn't interested in her. Blue eyed blondes were more Charlie's territory... and while he hadn't really had any preferences before, Will thought that he could very well create one tonight and make it out as 'Woman with hair like chocolate silk, eyes like emeralds and a charming but totally sexy blush creeping up her face' and be done with it. Because try as they might, no other woman was going to fit that bill so perfectly as the one he saw standing next to the blonde.

While he wasn't so shallow as to judge a woman only by her looks, even Will had to admit that this woman was tying his insides up in knots... and he didn't even know her name yet. He spent an extra couple of moments drinking up her visage before he went to Charlie, because he knew that no ordinary woman from the back of beyond could possibly fill the shoes of William Henry Darcy's dream girl... simply because hundreds.. no joke there, hundreds of girls had tried their hand at it but none of them had been able to hold his attention enough to create interest. To Will, a rapier sharp wit and a sparkling humor were more important that a size zero figure and sparkling eyes... well, the sparkling eyes were definitely welcome, but as an add on... not as a qualification.

Drawing a deep breath and trying to exorcise whatever spell this woman had weaved on him, Will dragged a slightly protesting Caroline up to her brother and stood seemingly politely next to Charlie while the redhead finished his conversation with Dr. Bennet. From what Will could hear, it seemed as if Charlie had been in Dr. Bennet's class while he'd been in Med School and the young man was laying the praise on thick. If it had been anyone other than Charlie, Will would've been convinced that all this flattery was to establish a good impression on the daughter that stood next to the older man. But with Charlie, one knew that what he said, he usually meant... he was a very open and uncomplicated person... quite unlike his best friend.

Beside Will, Caroline was almost getting a crick in her neck, her nose was so high in the air. A second away from whining about being bored, her brother unwittingly saved his best friend from having to listen to her already high pitched voice go squeaky, when he turned to them and introduced the family to them

"Will, Caro... This is Dr. Thomas Bennet... and this is his family. His wife Mrs. Francesca Bennet, his daughters Miss Jane and Miss Elizabeth, Miss Mary and finally Miss Catherine and Miss Lydia Bennet."

Still busy trying to stop gawking at the one he now knew to be Elizabeth Bennet, Will unsuccessfully attempted to appear cordial

"Pleasure... Do you still teach at Yale Dr. Bennet?"

"Ah... I wish. I had some health problems of late and am on a sort of sabbatical now. My daughter Lizzie is taking care of my classes for this term. Maybe by the time the next term comes around, I can go back to torturing my students" the older man completed with a slightly wicked smile

"Oh Dr. Bennet... surely you must be joking! Why, you're one of the most well-liked professors at the university. I personally used to love your classes"

"I think Mr. Bennet was trying to make a joke Charles..." came the grating voice of Caroline, her mocking tone clear to all of them... as clear as her emphasis on the word 'trying' and her calling Doctor Bennet as Mister Bennet.

As an uncomfortable silence descended upon the group, Caroline sniffed a little disdainfully and turned her nose up again. If Will hadn't been that ashamed of her behavior, he might've very well laughed at the sight she made. Clad in a brightly patterned blue dress, with a couple of fake peacock feathers in her hair, Caroline was looking every bit the proud peacock she was. The 'nose in the air' bit quite sealed the image in his mind and all Will could think of at the moment was to get away from her before he said something that he might regret. But someone else in the group had no such qualms it seemed

"And what it that you do Miss Bingley?"

While the query had been harmless in itself, the tone with which it had been made held all the punch the question had needed. There was anger, disdain and disgust in liberal amounts with a bit of superiority thrown in just for fun. Will turned to the person who'd asked the question, only to find himself staring into sparking emerald eyes through a pair of glasses.

A/N: So... here it is. The rest of it in the next chapter which should be up soon...

Hope you guys liked the story so far. What did you think of the way the characterizations are done?

Please don't forget to review... it makes all of this worth it to hear from you... :)

Lotsa luv and cookies

MB