It hadn't been an enjoyable week for Darcy. He had been stuck in meetings all week under his Aunt Catherine's desires with clients who were beyond ridiculous. He found these meetings particularly difficult to concentrate on – not only because of the irrelevant information the clients had droned on with, but also because he found it impossible to concentrate on just about anything whenever he saw Lizzie wander past the conference room, immersed in whatever task she was working on.
Somehow, just seeing Lizzie around the office and seeing how easily she fit in had made him both elated, and incredibly dispirited; especially knowing that she would be returning home in a matter of weeks now. He had grown accustomed to seeing her each morning, and being able to use various meetings as an excuse to talk to her. He didn't know how he felt about her time here drawing to a close, and was determined to make sure that when she left Pemberley, she would at least have a better opinion of him in her mind. He wanted her to see that he wasn't a robot, and that he was capable of human emotions. Most of all, he wanted her to be impressed with his company – he wanted her to see just what he was capable of if only he was given a chance.
It seemed somewhat ironic to Darcy that he had previously used work as a means of escaping the brutal thoughts that had inundated him immediately after he confessed his love for Lizzie, which she had rejected violently. Now it had become the only place in which he had been able to see her recently. Darcy had been content merely exchanging a nod, or some general pleasantries with Lizzie, until Gigi had decided to interfere. Though he loved his sister dearly, Gigi didn't seem to understand that some things couldn't be rectified immediately, and the situation between Lizzie and himself, was delicate at best.
Gigi's scheming saw both he and Lizzie barricaded in Lizzie's office the other day. While it was admittedly an awkward situation (which Gigi and Fitz would pay greatly for later), it at least gave him an uninterrupted opportunity to converse with Lizzie. Surprisingly, she was civil towards him. She answered his questions politely and as he went to leave she had touched his arm. Her fingers had sent electric shocks through Darcy's wrist and kick started all those feelings he had somehow managed to bury and ignore for the past few months. Progress, he had thought.
Gigi had invited Lizzie around to join Caroline, Bing and himself for dinner this evening. While he was thrilled to see Lizzie again outside of Pemberley, they again had barely spoken since their encounter in Lizzie's office. Lizzie seemed reserved – like there was something on her mind that she couldn't seem to forget about, no matter how many glasses of wine Bing had put in front of her. Now poor Lizzie was virtually drunk, still reserved and apparently staying the night.
Darcy couldn't stand to see Lizzie so flat. The few times he'd managed to speak to her this evening, he had received monosyllabic answers from her. She still smiled at him though, though her smile never quite reached her eyes. Darcy wasn't sure if she was regretting what happened between them earlier in her office, or whether it was due to an external matter that didn't involve him. Either way, Darcy had also resorted to drinking countless glasses of wine, or scotch too – again, whatever Bing had chosen to put in front of him.
Much to Darcy's displeasure, Caroline had been hanging off his arm all evening. Her touch, Darcy noticed, did nothing for him. No electric shocks like he had received from Lizzie's, and definitely no feelings rose up towards Caroline. Well, there was one emotion towards Caroline that surfaced, but rather than being one of extreme happiness, it was more one of complete and utter loathing for this odious woman. He couldn't stand the way hit his arm when she laughed loudly, or the way she kept flicking her hair, or the terrible smell of her perfume which robbed the air from his lungs. Still, he was civil towards her, because that's what his mother had taught him. Gigi smiled sympathetically at him across the table, and he rolled his eyes in response before looking down to conceal a smile. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Lizzie's gaze on him, and when he turned his focus to her, she blushed and became very interested in pushing the food around on her plate.
After Dinner, Caroline had suggested they all retired to the lounge room while the housekeepers cleaned up. It was then that Darcy excused himself, and disappeared into the library on the second floor to be alone with his thoughts, and as far away from Caroline as he could be. His thoughts were drastically muddled from the copious amounts of alcohol he had consumed, and despite the fact that his head was spinning, he poured himself another glass of scotch, which he kept in the corner of the library.
Darcy sat on the lounge in the darkness; the lights from the city illuminating the library enough for him to see. There, he sat and thought of nothing but Lizzie – analyzing her facial expressions, her tone of voice and body language both at the office and here. Darcy wondered if something he had said, or done that had triggered this change of character in Lizzie, but he comforted himself in knowing that if he had done something Lizzie hadn't liked, she would be bold enough to tell him to his face. And in front of one million other viewers.
He sighed and settled back into the lounge, closing his eyes briefly. He had to over come this. Despite how hard he had been trying, Lizzie still didn't think of him as anything other than an emotionless robot, and he wasn't brave enough to ask her whether the way she had touched his arm had meant anything.
So he sat, and he drank in complete solitude, with thoughts of Lizzie making his head spin more than the alcohol.