"So, what would you like to do today, Lizzie?" her aunt asked over breakfast the next morning. Once she got off the plane there wasn't much day left to go to the city, or even do much of anything, so they decided to take their niece on a tour of the town and sit at home to play cards. Lizzie found that California was very different from any other place she had been to before, there were plants everywhere and everything was very well kept. Though it was extremely hot, Lizzie found it bearable. Though she loved Cape Cod, she found California an easy place to live in. At least, California suburbia was.

"I'd ask if you wanted to go to the city today, but I've already got something planned," her uncle chuckled over the paper. Lizzie's aunts furrowed her brows, and Lizzie took that to assume she hadn't been told the plans.

"What?" she answered playfully, cutting up her eggs.

"Well, your mother talked with me... a lot... before you came and she told us you have a few friends up this way, so I thought we'd drop them a visit today!" Uncle Jerry Gardiner glanced up at Elizabeth, expecting to see a mildly confused, pleased look on her face, but was met instead by a confused, nervous look.

Lizzie didn't trust her mother one bit. There were only two people that Mrs. Bennet could have possibly ratted Lizzie out on, Charlie or Will. Neither of them seemed overly appealing at the moment, but she'd take on Charlie gladly, especially after her awkward confrontation with Will last summer. She'd barely heard anything of him since, nor of Charlie, and she planned to keep it that way. The surname Bingley had become taboo in the Bennet household for Jane's sake, and Lizzie hardly wanted to be the one to open up the door for more heartbreak for her sister. In school his name had come up often, but only because the teens of Cape Cod had nothing better to do but to gossip about 'their' celebrities.

"It was hard enough to get through to the agent, but the minute I did and said your name, she agreed to let us have a tour of the house!"

The egg now felt like cardboard in her mouth and she found it difficult to swallow. "Whose house?" she asked, trying to sound as calm as possible.

"You'll see when we get there," he answered happily and stood up with his plate. "I'm going to get dressed. Meet you all in the car in forty- five minutes! That should be enough time to get dressed, right ladies?"

"Should be fine," Aunt Betty answered in awe. When her husband left the room, she turned to her niece. "Do you think it's someone famous?"

"There isn't a doubt in my mind," Lizzie answered glumly.

***

The mansion was in a community of other mansions, but it dwarfed the others just by sheer presence. The gates opened for their small Ford and they were greeted by large trees in full bloom, the grounds kept neat and well groomed. In fact, several gardeners were out with large shears clipping the plants around the perimeter and Lizzie found herself nearly pressing her nose against the glass, entranced with the sheer beauty of nature.

Before she'd even seen the house, she knew whose home it was. Charlie wasn't capable of such elegance, even with the help of his witch of a sister. No, it had to come from an introvert, and the only one she knew was William. Lizzie's heart caught in her chest when her eyes finally fell on the house. There were plants framing the giant white modern home, but not overwhelming it.

There were four floors, all with open balconies and a large staircase leading up to the front door. The palm trees all had lights in them for later at night, and there were columns spread out periodically. It was much more beautiful than Charlie's temporary home back home, it was eloquent and, well... perfect. She couldn't see enough. The replicants of famous Greek statues on platforms on the front lawn entranced her, as did the sloping grace of the lawn.

Only too soon, they parked in the much- too- large- for- anyone garage and made their way up the giant staircase.

"Beautiful place, but I'd like to see him climb these stairs when he's eighty," Lizzie's uncle grouched jokingly as he huffed. He was on the heavier side, but he managed to make it up the stairs with little trouble. A short, stout woman met them on the top and she extended her hand to each of them, smiling at Lizzie.

"You must be the Gardiners, and this is Elizabeth?"

Lizzie smiled somewhat nervously. "Lizzie. It's very nice to meet you."

"You went to school with Will, if I recall from your Uncle's call?" It startled Lizzie a little that the woman called Will by his first name, not Mr. Darcy. Lizzie nodded and the woman gestured for them to come inside. The parlor was absolutely beautiful, and not too lavishly decorated. "Yes, Will is a very nice young man. He was torn apart when his parents died, and he is taking wonderful care of his sister now that he's turned eighteen and is now a legal adult. Of course, they were under their uncle's influence after their parents had died, but Will decided it was about time he took control. His uncle is very... unstable. It wasn't a very good situation for Georgiana."

Lizzie was listening intently to the woman's words, trying hard to focus on the splendor of each of the rooms but her mind was whirring with the new information she was being given. Lizzie was in awe of the story that the woman wove, with Darcy coming out as the hero. It dawned on her that the Will she knew might not be the real one. There might be a kinder, protective man underneath that arrogant exterior.

"He's taken good care of us, all of us workers were afraid we'd lose our jobs when Mr. and Mrs. Darcy died but Will stepped up and took over. He made sure that we knew him, and insisted we call him by his first name. He gave us all raises and vacations... such a nice man. But of course, you saw that, going to school with him and all!" She winked at Lizzie as they walked into the kitchen. "It's really upsetting that you won't be able to see him today, he's at a meeting in Italy. He should be home tomorrow, though we didn't know that when Mr. Gardiner called us."

"That's fine," Lizzie replied weakly, the new information too much for her. They'd already gone through the parlor, the dining hall, one of the living rooms, and the kitchen. Each seemed more fantastic than the last, but all were designed with the same diligent care and precision. Lizzie wasn't sure how she would act if she had seen Will.

When the reached the library, Lizzie couldn't breathe. There were shelves and shelves of books with gold lettering marking the different genres. She ran her fingers across the spines of the classics, feeling Huckleberry Finn, Frankenstein, A Midsummer's Night's Dream and Robin Hood. Fiction was the largest section, and she smiled when she saw the obvious signs of repeated use on Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. Titles and titles swam across her eyes, most of them familiar to her. The words that came out of their tour guide's mouth were irrelevant, the only thing that mattered were the words that William treasured so much. The words of the stories that Lizzie treasured so much. She closed her eyes and remembered a time when she would just read and read, the lands she visited and the adventures she'd had alongside the characters coming back to her like a memory.

"Honey, are you ready to see the third floor?"

"Yes," Lizzie replied softly, her eyes still closed. They remained so for only another moment, and then turned her back on the beautiful library, her heart aching for the leather chair in front of the fire in the corner of the room where she imagined herself with a good book and good company.

The ornate doors of her fantasyland closed louder than they should have, the sound reverberated in her chest.

The third floor held even more treasures for her, there was an art room, a study, several guest bedrooms, and many bathrooms. She spent more time looking at each of the pieces of his collection than the rest, and they stood at the door.

"Would you like to stay here for a bit more?"

"What?" Lizzie was startled out of the trance she was given by the exquisite painting. "Oh yes, I'd like that."

Their guide smiled. "Feel free to stay here while I take your uncle and aunt to the gardens. Just ask any of the help and they'll be happy to take you there."

"Yes, thank you," she murmured, already enraptured by another sculpture. There wasn't any modern art, which she never understood, but copies of paintings and sculptures from the Renaissance era, and the Greek and the Roman era. She dared to run a finger along the smooth jawline of a centaur just as a beautiful tune reached her ears. At first she wondered if it came from her own head, but after she paused she realized it had in fact come from some part of the house. Deciding to investigate, she climbed the curving staircase to the fourth floor. The door that the piano music was coming from was left ajar, and Lizzie peeked through it. First, her eyes came on a flute, then a trumpet, and then finally the giant piano forte, with a blonde haired teenager playing on it. A full length mirror ran along the side of the wall like a ballet studio, but the piano's top covered the girl's face.

Lizzie realized after a brief moment who the teen was, but before she could flee, the girl stopped abruptly and ran into the arms of a brunette stranger.

"Will!" Georgiana cried as he twirled her around, laughing as Lizzie had never heard him before.

In her haste to flee, Lizzie ran into a chair in the hallway and it fell with a bang. She grimaced, and decided to stay and face the consequences rather than hit and run, causing her to look like a fool.

Two interested faces came into view when they heard the bang, and were greeted by Lizzie's backside picking up the chair. "Oh! Do you need any help?" Georgiana cried and ran to Lizzie's side, but her brother simply remained at the door, stock still and staring. He turned pale but slowly made his way over to Lizzie.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his deep baritone making Lizzie pause as she turned to face him.

"Yes I- I thought you weren't home today?" she blurted out, stuttering at the intense look in his eyes. She'd hoped more than once that he'd just forgotten about her, that he'd moved on. But the deeply rooted look of longing in his eyes told her that this was not the case.

"I came back early to surprise my sister. Elizabeth, this is Georgiana," he gestured to the blonde who was clutching the chair and smiling knowingly. Lizzie swallowed at Will's sister's raised eyebrow.

"Nice to meet you, Georgiana," Lizzie said slowly, trying her best to give a little smile.

"Yes, Lizzie, isn't it? You can call me George. Everyone else does! It's so nice to finally meet the girl my brother has told me so much about," she smirked and put the chair back at its place on the wall.

"Not that much," Darcy corrected quickly, his eyes never straying from Lizzie's face.

Color went to her cheeks as she felt his eyes on her. "I'm here with my aunt and uncle... they're in the gardens."

"I can... help you find them if you want," he offered, looking almost as vulnerable as the last time they'd had a real conversation.

"Yes, I'll go with you," George offered with a side smile, her blue eyes twinkling.

'She's a smart girl, she must have known I'd refuse if she wouldn't come along,' Lizzie mused to herself. 'She's very pretty, though the opposite of Will... he's got all these dark features while she's so... bright.' "Sure, thank you," she responded evenly as they descended the stairs.

"How was senior year?" George asked Lizzie.

"It was as good as it could be, I guess, with it being the IB and all," she shrugged and turned to Will. "How was freshman year?"

He looked startled to see that she was actually talking to him. "I didn't go to college this year. I took a break to... wrap a few things up and take a break. I'll be starting this fall at New York University."

Lizzie almost stopped walking. 'NYU? That's where I'll be going to school!' she thought in a panic but tried to maintain a cool exterior. "Oh that's... a smart decision."

"I thought so, plus I got to spend more time with my sister," Will smiled at said sister, and George smiled back. She could feel the awkward in the air and knew she had to put the two together. Now that they were all on their way to the gardens, if George slipped away there would be no way for Lizzie to escape without seeming impolite. So, as soon as she could, Georgiana feigned forgetfulness and rushed back up the stairs to pretend to retrieve something.

So Will and Lizzie continued on their own to the gardens in an awkward silence, each one straining for the other to talk. Lizzie contented herself with admiring the splendor of the outdoors, with all of the flowers and bird baths. There were several pools over on the side, and Lizzie wondered if it was Georgiana's influence that they were there. 'If Will had a pool at all it would be a simple one. Not several ovals like this one is, it must have been for Georgiana,' she thought.

They reached the tour guide, who Darcy introduced as Melissa Reynolds, and Lizzie introduced him to her aunt and uncle. They spoke pleasantly for some time, and Lizzie could tell her family was entranced by his cool headedness and polite talk, quite unlike her first encounter with him.

"I was wondering, Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner, if you had any plans for tomorrow night," he asked charmingly. "I'm having my friend Charlie come over, and we were planning to use the grill and pool. I'm hoping that you and Elizabeth could come."

Lizzie's uncle let out a jovial laugh. "We were only planning to go to the city, and that was in the morning! Sure, we'd love to come over!"

Darcy smiled and Lizzie's heart nearly stopped. "Wonderful." He then reached into his pocket and pulled out an iPhone. He looked at the screen and frowned. "If you'll excuse me, I really must take this." He nodded to the group and walked away, chatting urgently into his phone.

"He's such a nice man, and so handsome too... don't you think Miss Bennet?"

Lizzie had a distracted look on her face as she turned back to Mrs. Reynolds. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

***

"Have you noticed something... strange about Lizzie lately? She seems... distracted," Mr. Gardiner smirked to his wife in a way that suggested he knew exactly what was wrong with his niece. It was late at night and the Gardiners were in bed watching the Food Network.

"I think our beautiful niece," his wife answered false tragically. "Is in love with dear William Darcy. And he with her."

"Oh how dreadful," Mr. Gardiner laughed.

Mrs. Gardiner shook her head jokingly. "I fear that tomorrow may be a very interesting day."

***

The city was everything Lizzie had ever expected it to be, with San Francisco's steep hills and beaches. The buildings were beautiful, but they only had time for a few hours' worth of exploration because they needed to be back home in time to get back to Darcy's home for the party. The Gardiner's promised Lizzie a day at Hollywood and another day at San Francisco, and with that they were on the road again to get ready.

Lizzie was never one to spend too much time in the bathroom getting ready, but that day she always found one stray hair that needed to be pinned down, one eyelash without mascara, one eyebrow hair unplucked. What usually took her twenty minutes at most took her an hour, and after she'd thrown on a bikini (that she all of a sudden felt self conscious in) and a pullover, they were back on their way to the Darcy estate.

The iron gate opening seemed more ominous than the other day, and Lizzie felt much more exposed in her swim wear. Mrs. Reynolds was there, as happy as ever, to escort them to the pool area.

"Oh who invited her?" Caroline Bingley's obnoxious voice was the first thing Lizzie heard as she walked into the pool area. She frowned, but Caroline wasn't her main problem any more. Her main problem was the lanky figure doing laps in the pool that hadn't realized she was there yet. She didn't have to wait long, because Charlie took up a foam football and threw it at his swimming friends' head.

"What did you do that for?" Will asked exasperatedly, throwing the wet football back at Charlie.

Charlie grinned and walked over to hug Lizzie. "Look who's here, Willy- boy!" Charlie extended his hand to her aunt and uncle just as Georgiana came over to hug Lizzie and Will pulled himself out of the pool. Lizzie's eyes quickly grazed Will's shirtless form, but she was embarrassed and turned to Charlie. Caroline pouted at being excluded and went back to her sun tanning.

"I'm so glad you could come," Will said happily in his deep voice as he shook hands with Mr. Gardiner. He had a shirt on now and a towel draped on his shoulders.

"Come on Lizzie, come in the pool with me!" Georgiana called just as she did a cannonball into the water.

Lizzie laughed, her anxiety dripping away slowly but surely. Without thinking she pulled the pullover off her and threw it onto a nearby lounge chair and walked over to the diving board, oblivious to Darcy's eyes on her.

"Should I just jump in?" Lizzie called teasingly to Georgiana.

"Yes!" George giggled happily and splashed a bit of water at her.

"No, I don't think I will..." Lizzie turned to get off the diving board, but was hit in the back by something wet and foamy. She turned dramatically to the giggling girl in the deep end. "Did you just throw a foam ball at me?" she narrowed her eyes at her newfound friend.

"Mmhm," she replied proudly. Darcy saw all of this and his heart nearly broke, watching his sister and Lizzie interacting so positively with one another. 'What am I doing wrong?' he asked himself briefly, then shook it off.

"Oh, you're going to pay for that..." Lizzie trailed off as her body hit the water. Once she resurfaced, she blindly pushed water in the direction of Georgiana, who shrieked and sprayed water back.

"Water fight!" Charlie called delightfully. He took off his shirt and jumped in, taking Georgiana's side in the battle.

"Come on in, Will! This is so much fun!" Georgiana called.

Will smiled sadly and his eyes met with Lizzie's. Lizzie smiled nervously, then said, "Yes, come in! I could use some help." She cracked a quarter smile but that's all he needed to hear. He took off his shirt and towel and began to join in on the battle, and soon enough he was laughing like a child again.

No one even noticed Caroline's muttering about how they ruined her favorite magazine when she went inside.

***

"Why do you even like her?" Caroline asked menacingly to Will later after Elizabeth had left with her family. Everyone else had gone up to shower and change, but Bingley's sister had come to intercept Darcy as he cleaned off the grill. "She's not even that pretty." She smiled arrogantly. "I remember you thought she was pretty once, but that was such a long time ago."

He was silent for a moment, twisting the cap on the pickle jar. "You're right," he answered finally. "A long time ago I thought she was pretty, now I think she's the most beautiful girl I've ever met in my entire life." He could have smiled at Caroline's shocked look. He gathered all the condiments that needed to be refrigerated on a tray and began to walk up the stairs. "And that includes you," he finished with relish. "Make sure you turn off the lights when you're done out here. Money don't grow on trees you now."

If looks could kill, half of California would be dead at Caroline Bingley's behalf.