A/N: Hi there!... Another chapter done. More chapters in the offing. Will post soon.

Till then, enjoy!

Oh and don`t forget to review your thoughts and ideas for the story... :)

Chapter 05

"And what is it that you do Miss Bingley?"

While everyone in the group understood the underlying emotions behind the question, the one person who would've benefited from the knowledge seemed to be stubbornly blind to the connotations. Caroline Bingley was actually taking the question at face value...

"I fail to understand what you mean Eliza"

Will felt rather than saw Lizzie flinch at the nickname... while himself doing the same thing mentally. If there was one short form of her name that would never suit, it was 'Eliza'. In his mind, she was already 'Lizzie'... he could've gone as far as thinking 'his Lizzie', but that was a thought for another time and occasion, when things weren't quite so tense.

"I meant... what do you do for a living Caro?"

Neither the delivery through slightly gritted teeth, nor the nick name were missed by any of the company, except obviously, Miss Caroline Bingley. She was, as usual, quite clueless to the undercurrents that were dangerously swirling around the discussion. But none of them had expected her to react the way she was. Will found out, to his intense discomfort, that Caroline Bingley's high pitched laughter, which sounded disturbingly like the cackling of a hyena, was much worse to his ears, mood and temper than her squeaky voice.

"You must excuse me... I didn't mean to laugh at your question. But just the thought!... You see... the Bingley's are a very old and very wealthy family... we can trace our history back almost 200 years. So I don't have to actually do anything. I am a socialite you see. My job is to make sure that the Bingley family is in the news and for all the right reasons. I couldn't expect you to understand though..."

Caroline looked around expectantly at the end of her little speech, as if she expected them to applaud or something. When no applause or ovation seemed to be forthcoming, she was back to her 'sniff and put your nose in the air' routine. In the silence that followed Caroline's enlightening statement, Lizzie's not-so-very-subtle attempt at concealing her laughter was quite obvious.

"Right... Of course. I forgot about your family's blue bloodlines and financial position. Of course you don't work like the rest of us normal people... How could you?... Hope it is not too difficult for you to rough it with such common company..."

The derision was clear as crystal in Lizzie's voice, making the atmosphere that much more uncomfortable. It seemed as if she knew exactly what she was doing but didn't care enough to curb her temper, or her tongue. Elizabeth Bennet didn't suffer fools and hypocrites gladly and this woman just happened to be both. Charlie, the one who could always ease tempers and bring awkward situations back in control, was himself at a loss of what to do.

While Will stood beside Caroline, still trying to not gape at the goddess in front of him, he was aware of Lizzie's emerald eyes moving from Caroline to the hand that the leech had wrapped around his arm, continuing on to his face in almost slow motion. That her expression did not change one bit was like a wake up call to him. It dawned on Will that given the circumstances, Lizzie probably thought that he was just like Caroline and believed in whatever bullshit Charlie's sister was spouting. While at a loss for what to do or say, Will remained quiet for the moment, but immediately found that he had committed an error, when Lizzie's expression hardened and she turned away.

Before he'd had a chance to open his mouth, Elizabeth was walking away from them, finding another woman she seemed to know well within moments. The two women seemed to be on good terms with each other given the fact that all the anger and derision that had been so apparent on Elizabeth's face just half a minute ago, was wiped off like a clean slate. She seemed to be truly enjoying the other woman's company, her eyes sparkling with humor and her whole face alit with happiness that almost radiated off of her.

While his heart had already been engaged by the woman, his brain still had a long way to go before he could reconcile himself with the act of falling for someone at first sight. Plus, there was the issue of her volatile temper and snap judgements. Will knew that it was still too early to be thinking about Elizabeth in any serious manner, but still, he couldn't find it in himself to just put her to one side of his mind and get one with his life. Elizabeth Bennet had made quite an impression on William Darcy and this was going to affect his life... one way or another.

Lizzie Bennet was a woman who made decisions quickly and stuck to them. It was one of the philosophies she lived her life by and she wasn't going to let some stuck up bitch and her sad little party make her change her mind about any of it. Lizzie had decided at the beginning of the day to have fun at the party, no matter what happened. And it had been only that decision that had made her stay at Netherfield, even after so much had happened.

First off, her own family had no qualms completely embarrassing her and Jane. Dear Jane!... she was such a sweet person, so intrinsically good, that she could never have said anything bad about anyone. Lizzie had never heard her older sister complain about anything or crib about life being unfair. It was as if Jane had been sent down to earth with some sort of completely different set of ideals. To say that Jane was probably as close to perfect as you got, wasn't in any way biased or stretching the truth.

But then again, Jane's goodness had never affected the rest of her family in any way... Kitty, Lydia and Frannie Bennet always got their own way and that was how the Bennet family had managed to remain sane over the last decade or so. While not at the university, Thomas Bennet was known to be in only one place... his study at Longbourne. It had taken over all of the basement of the house, expanding every year to take up more space, till Frannie had put her foot down. So the 'study', which was more of an unofficial laboratory of sorts, was where he could be found when not taking a result, Thomas had never involved himself too much in the day to day running of his family or in the fatherly pursuit of correcting his daughter's shortcomings in a gentle but firm manner.

While Elizabeth knew of her own shortcomings better than anyone else, she'd always been fiercely protective of her family. Which was why she had sorta gone above and beyond her limits when snooty Caroline Bingley had tried to put down her father. Lizzie knew that she had been rather nasty to Charlie's sister but in her mind, Caroline Bingley had brought it upon herself and deserved every bit of criticism that went her way. She felt quite bad about losing control over her temper though. Charlie seemed to be a very nice person, sorta like Jane in the fact that his genuineness and openness just radiated out of him.

Lizzie knew at first glance itself that Charlie Bingley was one of the rare breed of genuinely nice people and also that whether something happened between Charlie and her sister or not, she would be good friends with the man. As for the others in Charlie's family, she didn't know if she would be able to sufficiently hold her temper to converse with them. Caroline Bingley seemed to be opening her mouth only if she had some derogatory comment to make and her groupie sister Clarissa just nodded along to whatever her younger sibling said or did. Phillip Hurst, the henpecked husband of Clarissa was more like a caricature than a real person. The man seemed to be a pompous asshole who drank enough to sink an elephant. The only good thing his drinking did was that he couldn't speak when he drank and the alcohol usually made him pass out pretty soon.

But it was the other man in the group that had Lizzie tied up in knots. She'd noticed the dark haired man the second she stepped into the party, mainly by virtue of his height and personality. Being almost 5 feet 10 inches in height herself, there weren't many occasions when she found herself looking up at someone. This was exactly what had drawn her eyes to the tall and athletic 6 foot 2 inch figure of the dark haired man who had been standing with his back to them. Though he was just standing in what was for him, a slightly relaxed manner, Elizabeth's curiosity had been tickled by the height, glorious masses of chestnut hair and the fairly stiff line of his back that ended in a... well, that was a thought for another time. Even from the back, Lizzie was able to gather that whoever he was, the man wasn't very happy to be there.

She might've thought about him a bit more had she not been distracted by Charlie's arrival and the consequent conversation. Then his stuck up sister had elbowed her way into the conversation with all the grace of a rampaging elephant with the who else, but the tall, dark haired man who she now knew to be Charlie's best friend Dr. William Darcy. Giving him a once over now that she could see him properly, Elizabeth had to admit to herself... despite the company he kept, Dr. Darcy was the stuff a woman's dreams were made of. With his height, his physique and aristocratic good looks, he could've graced the cover of GQ effortlessly... an edition she would've surely bought.

But alas... every good thing had to have a flaw. And with so much physical goodness, Elizabeth figured that it would have to be a character flaw... and so it was. While Caroline the Great had put her foot through every social convention, Mr. High and Mighty had just stood next to her, the expression on his face kept carefully non-committal. If that hadn't sealed his fate, it would've been the tight hold Miss Bingley kept on his arm, as if she was gaining strength from his well muscled bicep. Though why it bothered her so much, Elizabeth couldn't tell you if she tried.

While she hadn't quite expected either Charlie or his friend to run to their aid and curb Caroline's tongue, she did expect to see some sort of reaction from them. While she did get what she was looking for from the red head, William Darcy's face revealed nothing of his thoughts. This led Lizzie to naturally believe that he had no problems with whatever bullshit Caroline was spouting and that was the final nail in the coffin of the first impression Dr. Darcy had on her.

It was over an hour later that Elizabeth found herself near Dr. Darcy again. The man had proved her first impression correct by hardly conversing with anyone other than his friends, standing in one corner and glowering at the others and generally displaying disagreeable social graces. His behavior had firmly cemented Darcy's personality in her mind as a rich, stuck up hypocrite who saw everyone else as being beneath himself.

It certainly hadn't helped that she had overheard a hardly flattering conversation about her and her sister between Charlie and William. She'd been chatting with her best friend Charlotte when the two of them had overheard the chat between the two guys.

"So... are you enjoying this amazing party Will?"

"There's nothing amazing about it Charlie and you'd see it too if you just took your eyes away from Miss Bennet long enough to blink"

Even though she had already decided to not like Will Darcy, Liz had to give it to him... he was perceptive enough to see the attraction between Jane and Charlie. But then it wasn't such a big deal because nearly everybody at the party had seen it too. Charlie had the good grace to blush a bit at the comment though

"Isn't she the most beautiful woman you've ever seen?... She is such a nice person too..."

Intelligently, Will managed to not comment on Jane's looks and instead said

"Yeah, yeah... she's the Betty Cooper to your Archie Andrews... a match made in heaven. Now go and let me stay here for the rest of this dismal party in peace."

"Come on Will... stop being a wet blanket and have some fun for a change... who knows?.. you might end up liking it"

"Ha ha... very funny. Just leave me alone Charlie... go and enjoy your Betty's sparkling intelligence"

Though it had been said with a smile, the sarcasm had the effect of putting Lizzie's back up. Gritting her teeth, she struggled to remain quiet... only Charlotte's steady presence beside her reminded her to stay still and listen

"But seriously... Jane is very sweet... and quite a good conversationalist too. You might end up liking her if you just got to know her. Come on Darce... don't be such a stiff... get out there and dance with somebody. Hmmm... How about one of Jane's sisters? I could ask her to introduce you..."

"Thanks but no thanks my man... I am fine here by myself. Plus I value my life and sanity... The only Bennet woman that seems to have a passable grasp of manners and social graces is your Betty... and maybe her other sister, though I doubt it. I'd rather not risk it... but thanks for offering"

This statement had the effect of Liz nearly beaning Darcy on the head with her glass of juice with Charlotte's restraining hold on her the only thing that saved Will's perfect head from a very painful meeting with a thick bottomed leaded glass tumbler.

"Look Darce... I didn't want it to come to this. People are gonna think you roll the other way or something if you don't dance with some girl or the other now."

"I did dance with your sisters some time ago... Charlie... is there any reason you're doing this?"

"Look... All I know is you're in a bad mood and it's because something happened back home. Is it Rich?... It's... It's not Georgie is it?"

"No Charlie... both Rich and Georgie are fine. It's... It's just... nothing. Don't worry. I am fine... I just got some news that's... well...it's nothing... just leave me to myself and go have fun. Jane Bennet seems to be looking for you"

"Okay... but seriously... you should have some fun. What about Jane's twin sister Elizabeth?... she's quite interesting I think. I have a feeling the two of you'll get along quite well... She's a surgeon too... maybe you guys could talk shop."

"Like I said before... No thanks. I have no intention of being glared to death tonight. That lady has some serious temper control issues and I'd rather not come in her line of fire. Plus I am not in the mood for being all social and chatty even if it is with another surgeon, who by the way is wasting her time teaching instead of being a real doctor. You know what I think of doctors who don't use their skills don't you Charlie? She could do so much more good if she was in a hospital taking care of patients problems rather than spending her days grading term papers of snotty nosed brats. Just... Please Charlie. Let me be... I promise I will not keep standing here on my own... Is that fine?"

Reluctantly, Charlie nodded and walked away to find Jane and Charlotte pulled Elizabeth far enough away from him so that even if Will turned, he wouldn't find them near enough to think that they could've heard the conversation. Will, for his part spent five more minutes standing around before he left the party and headed back to the manor house.

A/N: So there it is... another chapter done.

I however, wasn`t so happy with the way this chap`s turned out. What do you think? Any changes to be made? Any improvements?...

All suggestions and ideas are welcome... I would love to hear your thoughts on my take on a pseudo modern attempt at JA. So please don`t forget to review. :)

Lotsa luv and cookies

MB