Darcy still sat next to Lizzie in the early hours of the morning, watching her closely. At some stage, she had managed to fall asleep, still wrapped in his jacket. Her head was resting on Darcy's shoulder, sending waves of auburn hair tumbling down onto Darcy's arm. He knew he should probably wake her, and let her rest in a proper bed so she wasn't exhausted when it came time to her dealing with the ramifications of Lydia and George's actions, but part of him was selfish too. He wanted to spend just this one night with her before she disappeared again for God knows how long.

While Lizzie rested, Darcy's mind had been running in overdrive, trying to determine some way of dealing with Wickham. It needed to be discreet so that Lizzie would never find out that he had a part in it, but it also needed to be a solution that was permanent and had no chance of ever surfacing again in the future.

The last thing Darcy wanted was for Lizzie to feel as though she was in debt to him. If she wanted to spend time with him, he wanted it to be on her own accord, not because she felt that she had an obligation to.

Part of Darcy was furious that Wickham was being so manipulative towards Lydia. While it was true that Lydia was far too energetic for Darcy's likings, she was still Lizzie's sister, and despite Lizzie's previous nonchalance towards her sister, he knew she still cared deeply for her. Wickham had almost destroyed Gigi's life. He didn't want him to destroy Lydia's too, and by extension, Lizzie's.

No, this was a complex situation that nothing short of a miracle could solve.

Lizzie's phone buzzed on the table before him. He looked down at her, but she made no movement, clearly not hearing the text message come in.

He quickly glanced at it to make sure it wasn't Jane trying to get in touch with her urgently, but saw that the message was from Charlotte.

What could Charlotte be wanting at 3am?

You need to watch Lydia's videos ASAP.

Lydia had videos too? Darcy pulled his phone out of his pocket, and tapped on the YouTube application. Carefully tapping in Lydia Bennet in the search field, he was surprised to find that the first thumbnail that appeared showed her wrapped in Wickham's arms. Only she didn't look like the Lydia Bennet he had met at Carter's all those months ago. Clearly, George had already gotten his claws into her by then.

He switched his phone to silent, put on the subtitles, and watched her videos from the very beginning. By the time he had reached Lydia's last video, he was seething. Lydia was laying all over Wickham, who was looking at the camera and addressing Lizzie directly.

"I just wanted to say thank you for listening to Darcy and kicking me to the curb, because if you hadn't, I wouldn't have had the chance to reconnect with your little sister here, and I'm so happy that I did. Anyways, when you watch this video, I hope that you understand what she means to me and how happy we are together. I couldn't have done it without you. Thanks, peach."

And then he had the nerve to wink. Darcy was absolutely furious, and suddenly he found it very difficult to sit still, and not wake Lizzie. He wanted to be out there, right now, finding Wickham and Lydia. And when he found them, oh, there would be hell to pay. But he couldn't figure out where they were. All he could see was a snippet of a couch, and a little bit of green in the background – otherwise they sat in front of cream coloured walls.

Darcy didn't want to see Lizzie suffer at the hands of Wickham a second time. It had hurt him seeing how upset she was when Wickham suddenly disappeared out of her life, only to come back again months later. But not for her. For her little sister.

He then thought of Gigi, and remembered the many months it had taken her to recover from her encounter with Wickham. He had endured seeing his little sister, so usually full of life, walk around the house in tracksuit pants and an oversize sweater, with no makeup on and an empty expression on her face. He remembered having to coerce her into eating because she had stopped looking after herself completely. But most of all, he remembers the sound of her sobbing in the early hours of the morning; when she thought him to be asleep and unaware of the turmoil that she was suffering. It had eaten Darcy alive to see his sister in this state, and it had been a long road back to where she was now.

He could suddenly understand the desperation in Lizzie's plea to ensure that Gigi never found out about what had happened with George and Lydia. Darcy couldn't risk having his sister sink into that kind of depression again. But this was so much bigger than just he and Gigi now, and Darcy was determined to put an end to Wickham's antics as soon as he found him.

Suddenly, Darcy paused Lydia's video, and studied the green patterned cloth in the background that hung above the couch. Where had he seen that before? He wracked his brains frantically. It hadn't been somewhere he had been recently. He kept scanning his eyes over the green fabric, until he had finally dawned on him. His father had given that bit of cloth after he'd come home from a business trip in Asia. He remembered George thanking but, but saying he wasn't the kind of person who used table cloths like he did.

"It's not a table cloth, George" his father had replied, laughing heartily, "It's something for you to hang on the wall when you eventually buy your own house. Kind of like a painting, I guess. But Anne insisted we buy it, since she knows green is your favourite colour."

The words rang over in Darcy's head, until it finally dawned on him. He quickly opened safari, and went to the homepage of Wickham's Swimming Club. Navigating to the Staff Profile page, he clicked on the photograph of Wickham's face and scanned over his biography. It didn't tell him exactly what he wanted to know, but it at least pointed him in the right direction.

An hour later, and dozens of safari tabs later, Darcy was fairly certain he knew where Lydia and George were. Ignoring the fact that he hadn't slept in almost 24 hours, he texted Gigi. He hoped it wouldn't wake her since she was a light sleeper, but she'd become worried if she woke up and he wasn't home, or at work. It seemed that Darcy was going to have to fabricate more than one alibi ... Whatever he said, it was going to have to be something that would warrant the absence of both he and Lizzie.

Summoned to an urgent business meeting out of town, and had to leave immediately. Lizzie will be returning home, following a death in the family. Will call you later. W.

Even as he pressed send, he knew his alibi for Lizzie was extreme, and knew it wouldn't be long before Gigi started talking to her to make sure that Lizzie was coping. If nothing else, at least he had bought her some time, he thought.

Darcy looked down at Lizzie, still fast asleep on his shoulder. His chest constricted at the sight of how peaceful and innocent she looked, knowing that feeling was going to be short lived. Darcy had no idea when he would see her again, and his heart became heavy. Careful not to wake her, he slipped out from under, and gently laid her on the couch, making sure his jacket was going to keep her warm enough. He gently tucked a section of her hair behind her ear, and took one last look at her, before quietly leaving the room.

It was time to begin his search.