Disclaimer – All characters belong to Stephenie Meyer. Major plot and story line belong to Jane Austen.

A&A Chapter 8

"I am afraid, Mr. Darcy," observed Miss Bingley in a half whisper, "that this adventure has rather affected your admiration of her fine eyes."

"Not at all," he replied; "they were brightened by the exercise." – Pride and Prejudice, Chapter. 8, Jane Austen

Later that evening, after the whole uproar about Bella staying for the night had died down, Tanya and Irina went to their rooms to change for dinner. Supper-time was apparently a big deal to the crusty upper-class, and one was expected to change into nicer threads for it. Bella reluctantly left Alice and went to her own guest room down the hall. When she walked into the room, she was surprised to find the clothing items Tanya had been more or less forced to part with waiting for her on top of the dresser; everything from jeans and t-shirts, to pretty summer dresses and more intimate clothing items; thankfully, everything still had the store-tags attached to them.

Bella took a warm shower and changed into one of the summer dresses Tanya had bought for herself. Although Tanya was considerably taller than Bella, the sapphire blue dress fit her flatteringly. Unfortunately, nothing could be done about the footwear, as Tanya's feet were two sizes bigger than Bella's. Bella happily put her Converse back on. They'd dried enough over the course of the day.

Bella stepped into the dining room to find everyone assembled there already. She walked over to the large table and took the only empty seat between Irina and James.

"I went to check in on Alice, but she was sleeping," Jasper said, sounding disappointed. "How did she look to you before you left her this evening?" he asked.

It took Bella a few seconds to answer. She was distracted by the sight of the waiter carefully pouring Lobster Bisque into the bowl in front of her. She was not at all used to being served.

"Uh, her fever started coming back. I gave her a couple of the aspirins Edward left for her."

Jasper frowned, obviously unhappy that Alice was still feeling poorly.

"Oh poor Alice," Tanya whined. "I can't believe how sick she is!"

"And to think it was just from being out in the rain for a little while," added Irina.

"She's obviously quite the delicate flower, just like myself," Tanya said, putting a hand against her chest daintily. Her eyes turned to Bella, her lips curling into something Bella couldn't distinguish as either a smile or a sneer. "I mean, look at you. You biked all the way over here in practically monsoon weather, and you're just fine. I guess that's how it is when you're built, you know" – she lifted her shoulders and fisted her hands in front of herself, channeling Popeye – "of more stocky material."

Bella blinked, unsure what brought that comment on and trying to determine how to respond to it, when Edward cleared his throat.

"Actually Tanya and Irina, one does not catch a cold from being in the rain, or getting wet. Colds are caused by viruses. Alice's immune system was probably just low at the moment, and therefore she was more susceptible to catching the virus."

Tanya gazed at Edward as if he'd just explained the creation of the wheel to her. "Wow. I never knew that. That is really amazing," she purred.

"Well, I for one really hate being sick. It does nothing for your complexion. And then the embarrassing sounds emitted when you have to hack up…ugh, I can't even think about it," Irina finished with a disgusted air.

"Ugh! Quite true Irina. Quite true," Tanya agreed. They then went on to discuss some gossip they'd received from one of their friends in Seattle.

Bella listened to them in amazement. Their obvious indifference for the well-being of Alice when she was no longer immediately before them restored her former opinion of them. She finished her bisque quietly, in the knowledge that she could now enjoy all her previous dislike of them.

"How's your filet mignon, Bella?" Jasper asked, smiling kindly at her.

"It's actually really delicious Jasper, thanks," Bella responded, grateful for his periodic conversation, which helped her feel less like the intruder the others were making her feel like.

"I've asked Sally to prepare a plate for Alice, along with the soup. I'll give her some time to rest and then I'll bring it up to her later on. Do you think she'd like that?"

Bella flashed a grateful smile at Jasper. "I think she'd like that very much."

The rest of the meal was uneventful. Tanya was engrossed in conversation with Edward, Irina slightly less so. As for James, by whom Bella sat, he was a dull and lifeless man, who lived only to eat, drink and gamble. Earlier, he'd asked Bella if she preferred Johnny Walker Red or Silver Label. When she'd responded that she had no particular preference for either, he'd visibly startled and turned his attention away from her.

When dinner was over, Bella said her thank yous, and upon being told to leave her dishes on the table for they would be taken care of, she reluctantly did as she was told before excusing herself to return to Alice.

Tanya began talking smack about her as soon as she was out of the room.

"Dear Lord, she's got the worst table manners I've ever seen! Did you see her pick up the wrong fork before?"

Irina laughed that she had.

"And this morning, when she walked in, she walked right by me like she owned the place and proceeded to wring her medusa locks all over the floor! Can you believe her nerve?"

Irina tut-tutted, shaking her head.

"She had absolutely nothing interesting to say during dinner. And that dress looked simply awful on her. It was quite beautiful when I bought it, but on her, it looked like nothing more than a dirty dish rag."

"In short, there is simply nothing good to say about her, other than that she seems to be an excellent bicyclist. I'll never forget how she looked this morning," Irina chuckled. "She really looked almost like a wild forest creature, didn't she?"

"She did indeed Irina. I could barely keep myself from laughing in her face. It was very idiotic of her to come at all. Why must she be scampering all about the neighborhood just because her sister has a cold? Her hair!" Tanya laughed again, covering her mouth, "God, what a mess!"

"Yes! And her sneakers! Please tell me you saw her sneakers! I believe they were once blue, but are now brown from all the mud caked on them!"

Jasper glared at the two women. "She may have been wet and muddy when she arrived here, but I sure as heck didn't notice it. I thought she looked pretty darn good when she walked into the family room this morning. Her dirty sneakers completely escaped my notice."

Edward, who'd been staring straight ahead during the entire conversation, turned towards his friend with narrowed his eyes. He himself had just been contemplating the lovely picture Bella had made at dinner tonight. The way her sapphire blue dress complemented her creamy skin had not escaped his notice. And though he was internally grateful that Jasper had defended Bella to his cousins, his obvious admiration of her irritated him for some reason.

At that moment, Tanya directed a comment at him.

"You noticed it, didn't you Edward? Her dirty sneakers? I saw you looking down at them while she took them off. I'm sure you wouldn't want to see your sister parading herself around town looking that way."

"No, of course not," Edward replied, thinking of how fitted Bella's tank top had been earlier, in the family room. How he'd been able to see every curve of her upper body through the flimsy material. How her jeans had sat low on her hips, exposing some of her soft, flat midriff. Of course he wouldn't want his sister wearing something so…tempting. He'd have to bash a few faces in, which would probably go against his Hippocratic Oath.

"To bike ten miles, or eleven miles, or fourteen, or whatever the heck it was, up to her knees in mud, through a dark forest! What the heck was she trying to prove? To me it just shows an obnoxious sort of conceited independence, a very hillbilly indifference to propriety."

"It shows a deep love for her sister, which is very admirable," Jasper hissed.

Tanya, who'd seated herself next to Edward for dinner, leaned into him quietly and whispered, "I guess this little adventure of Bella's has probably affected your admiration of her fine eyes,"

"Not at all," Edward replied coolly. "Their natural beauty was brightened even more by the exercise."

Tanya sat straight up, but said not a word.

"I really love Alice, she's a real sweety," Irina allowed, "and I truly wish her the best. But I'm afraid with such parents and such low-class relations she'll have a really hard time leaving the proverbial trailer behind."

"Didn't you say," – asked Tanya with an evil glint in her eyes – "that their uncle is a manager at the Port Angeles McDonalds?"

"Yes. And they have another, who lives somewhere in Fremont."

"Oh, that's just too precious!" Tanya squealed, and they both laughed heartily.

"If they had uncles enough to fill all of Fremont," Jasper growled, - sometimes he really hated his cousins – "it wouldn't make them one bit less amazing."

"But you have to admit Jasper," – Edward said – "that their poor relations must greatly lessen their chances of meeting anyone of any significant social standing."

Jasper inhaled deeply, but made no reply. His cousins nonetheless, nodded their heads in emphatic agreement with Edward, and spent some more time entertaining themselves at the expense of their friend's family.

Like two hypocrites, however, Tanya and Irina returned to Alice's room upon leaving the dining room, and sat with her until one of the servants came to announce that coffee was ready. Alice was still feeling unwell, and Bella would not have left her side had Jasper not appeared, carrying a tray with soup, steak, fresh summer vegetables and one solitary red rose inside a small crystal vase. Bella removed herself with the excuse of going down for some coffee herself, and left Alice and Jasper alone.

On entering the large, formal living room, she found the rest of the party busy playing cards.

"Would you like to join us?" Tanya asked. "We're playing Texas Hold'em. The minimum bet is only three hundred dollars," she informed Bella sweetly.

Bella's eyes grew wide, but she replied calmly, "No thanks. I just came down for a short while. I'll just read a book or something."

James looked at her as if she were from another planet. "You mean you'd rather read than play cards? That's really…weird."

"Bella seems to hate playing cards," Tanya answered for her. "She's a great reader, but doesn't really enjoy anything else."

"I don't think I deserve either such accolades or such flak," Bella said, with the same sugary sweet smile Tanya had just given her. "While I do love reading, there are plenty of other things I enjoy also."

Just then, Jasper walked back into the room. Having heard the tail end of the conversation, he added, "You seem to really enjoy taking care of those you care about." He glared at Tanya. "And I'm sure she'll be better before long, thanks to you."

Bella blushed and thanked him, and then walked towards the large, mohagony bookshelf taking up the entire back wall.

"Bella, if you don't see anything you'd like to read there, I can go get you some other books from our Library," Jasper offered. "I wish I had a more interesting selection, but I'm not a very big book collector."

"Oh these will do just fine," Bella assured him, running her fingers through the rows and rows of books on the shelves.

"I'm really disappointed that my uncle would have left you such a small collection," Tanya said to Jasper with a frown. She looked up at Edward through her eyelashes. "You have such a wonderful library at Pemberley Estate Edward."

"It better be good," Edward answered, keeping his eyes on his cards. "It's been the work of many generations."

"And then you've added so much to it yourself," she cried in amazement. "You're always buying books."

"In times such as these, when there is so much literature at our disposal, I can't understand the neglect of a family library."

"Neglect! I can't see where anything at Pemberley has been neglected. It's unbelievably beautiful. Jasper, when you finally build a home for yourself, I hope it's half as amazing as Pemberley."

"I hope so too," Jasper replied off-handedly.

"If I were you, I'd buy something in Ithaca, right next to Edward's gorgeous Pemberley Vineyards. And make sure you use Pemberley as a model. There isn't a finer area in all of the U.S. than Upstate New York."

"That's for sure," Jasper now agreed. "I'd buy Pemberley itself if Edward would sell it."

Tanya rolled her eyes. "Be serious Jasper. I'm talking about real possibilities."

"So am I," he responded. "Trust me, it would be easier to get something like Pemberley by buying it from Edward than by trying to imitate it."

Bella had become interested in the conversation. She was fascinated by New York; had dreamt of living there since she was a little kid. She had a cousin, Emmett, her uncle Jay's son, currently enrolled in med school at Cornell. Alice would be going to FIT at the end of the summer, and, if everything went well, Bella planned on moving there next year after she finished college.

Bella soon put the book she'd started reading down, and walked towards the card table, stationing herself between Tanya and Irina to observe the game.

"Rosalie must be all grown up by now," Tanya said to Edward. "Do you think she'll be as tall as I am?" She offered him a dazzling smile; Bella noted wryly that Edward seemed to have missed it while he concentrated on his cards.

"I think she will. She is now about Bella's height," he answered, giving Bella a quick side-long glance, "or rather taller."

"Oh, I can't wait to see her again," Tanya cooed wistfully. "I've never met a young girl I liked so much! So self-composed, such good manners! And so talented for her age! I've never heard anyone play the piano as well as she does."

"I think it's just amazing how today's women can have the patience to be as talented as they all are," Jasper offered, taking a seat on the plush sofa and leaning back to intertwine his fingers behind his head.

"All today's women talented? What are you talking about Jasper?" Tanya cried.

"Yes, all of them, if you ask me. They all have different talents, music, sports, technology. I don't think I know any woman who can't do all this, and I'm sure I've never heard of a young lady being spoken about without being told that she is extremely talented."

Edward pursed his lips. "You're right that being called talented has become a mundane thing. The word is applied to many a woman who deserve it for nothing more than playing the recorder or knowing more than one yoga position. But I definitely don't agree with your opinion of today's women in general. I'm sure I've never met more than half a dozen women, in my entire life, who can really be called talented."

"Nor have I," Tanya agreed quickly.

Bella smirked. "Boy, you must really put a lot of weight on your definition of talented."

"Yes, I do," Edward agreed, avoiding Bella's eyes.

"Of course he does," cried his faithful assistant. "No one can really be called talented who doesn't surpass the everyday, mundane talents. A woman must have a deep and thorough knowledge of music, singing, dancing. She must be able to speak at least three different languages. She must paint and draw, be able to master the high beam with skill. She must be extensively well-traveled and know how to break into the most complex encrypted databases. And besides all this, she must possess a certain something else; something in the way she carries herself, the tone of her voice, the way she speaks and expresses her ideas, or the word talented will be only half-deserved."

"Yes, all that," Edward acknowledged, "and what's more, she must have something even more substantial" – his eyes flashed towards Bella almost imperceptibly – "in the desire to improve her mind through extensive reading."

Bella could not hold back the loud snort that escaped her.

"Wow. I'm no longer surprised at your knowing only six talented women. I'm really rather surprised at you knowing any at all."

Edward pursed his lips and this time, turned to face Bella. "Do you have such little faith in your own sex as to doubt the possibility of all this?"

"I never saw such a woman. I never saw such competence and taste and effort and elegance as you've described, all united in one person, male or female. And by the way, I have an enormous amount of faith in my sex."

Edward swallowed thickly, but he held Bella's gaze. A long moment passed during which both refused to look away. At length, Tanya exclaimed,

"Well, Irina and I both agree with Edward. Being from a more…varied environment, we've had the pleasure of meeting many women who answer to this description."

Bella turned to Tanya to tell her where she could stick her varied environment when James, frustrated at everyone's inability to keep their minds on the cards before them, yelled out,

"Enough with this crap! Can you all just pay attention to your cards and forget about stupid women and their stupid talents?"

The outburst ended all conversation, and after a few steaming moments, Bella excused herself and left the room.

"Bella Swan," said Tanya through clenched teeth, "is one of those women who try to make themselves attractive to men by undervaluing all other women; and with many men, I'm sure that little trick works. But in my opinion, it's a cheap trick and a very deceitful ploy."

"Yes, it is," replied Edward, to whom this remark was mainly meant for. "There is deceit and cheapness in all the ploys which some women use to try to catch a man's attention. Whatever bears any resemblance to shrewdness is despicable to me."

Tanya wasn't so entirely satisfied with this response to continue the subject.

Bella joined them again only to say that Alice felt worse, and that she couldn't leave her.

"Maybe Edward should check on her again?" Jasper offered, truly concerned for Alice.

Bella, who'd had enough of Edward's company for the night, and who was sure Alice just needed some more rest, exclaimed, "I think she's just going to try to get some more sleep tonight. If she's still feeling as poorly in the morning, I'll let you know." She directed this at Jasper, not Edward.

Jasper agreed reluctantly, for while he was thrilled to have Alice under his roof, he absolutely hated seeing her so sick.

As she climbed the long, winding staircase back up to Alice's room, Bella heard Tanya and Irina talking.

"Oh I do feel horrible for Alice," Irina claimed.

"Yes, so do I. Hey, let's go break into Jasper's wine cellar and get a little tipsy!"

"Sounds good to me!"

Bella rolled her eyes and continued her climb, feeling tenderness only for Jasper, whom she heard giving his housekeeper instructions that every attention should be paid to the sick young lady and her sister.

A/N: Hey, I never said Darcyward would be easy to love.

And who loves Jasper/Bingley?

Hey, if you guys are reading and enjoying this, let me know. Reviews are even better than Bella (almost) telling Tanya where to stick it.