A/N: One of my favorite chapters in P&P. Enjoy!
All characters belong to S. Meyer. Major plot and story line belong to J. Austen.
…Darcy had never been so bewitched by any woman as he was by her. He really believed, that were it not for the inferiority of her connections, he should be in some danger. – Pride & Prejudice, Chapter 10.
A&A Chapter 10
The day passed much as the day before had. Tanya and Irina had spent some time in the morning with Alice, who slowly but surely continued to get better. And that evening, while the storm outside continued to pound the Olympic region, Bella joined the rest of the group in the family room. The poker table, however, did not make an appearance. Edward was typing away on his laptop, and Tanya, seated next to him, was watching his progress and distracting him by calling off constant messages for his sister. James and Jasper were playing Halo, and Irina was watching them.
Bella took up a book and was repeatedly amused as she listened to what passed between Edward and Tanya. Her constant praises on his focus, on how quickly he typed without looking at the keyboard, or on the length of his email, combined with the perfect indifference with which her praises were received, made for an interesting dialogue, and went hand in hand with Bella's opinion of each.
"Rosalie will be so thrilled to get your email!"
Edward made no answer.
"You type so quickly."
"You're wrong. I type pretty slowly."
"You must send out countless emails over the course of a day! And now you'll have to deal with emails from patients seeking medical advice too? Ugh! I can't imagine what a pain in the ass those'll be!"
"It's a good thing then, that it'll be my job to answer them, and not yours."
"Make sure you tell Rosalie that I can't wait to see her again."
"I've already told her once, at your request."
"Are your fingers getting tired? I can finish typing for you. Here, let me finish for you. You just dictate-"
"Thanks, but I'd really prefer to type out my own email."
"How in the world do you type so quickly?"
He was silent.
"Tell Rosalie I'm delighted to hear of her acceptance to Juilliard. Oh, and tell her that I'm crazy about the painting of the vineyards she sent. It truly rivals Monet's work."
"Would you mind if I left off word of how crazy you are for my next email? Right now I'd have no room to do it justice."
"Sure, that's fine. I'll be seeing her soon anyway. But do you always write such charmingly long letters to her Edward?"
"They are usually long. Whether they're charming or not isn't for me to determine."
"Well I think that a person who can write such a long letter so easily can't possibly write poorly."
"Tanya, that won't do as a compliment for Edward," cried Jasper with mock seriousness, "because he doesn't write easily. He has to think long and hard to come up with words with four syllables. Don't you Edward?" he ribbed.
"My style of writing is very different from yours."
"Oh," cried Tanya indignantly, "Don't mind Jasper. I don't know what he's talking about. He leaves out half his words and misspells all the rest."
"That's because my ideas flow so quickly that I barely have time to write them down. Unfortunately, this usually results in my writing useless garble."
"Jasper, you are modest to a fault," said Bella, putting aside her book.
Edward glared between Bella and his supposed best friend, feeling abruptly annoyed.
"Actually, nothing is more deceitful than a person trying to act modest. It usually just means you don't care what others think of you, and sometimes," he narrowed his eyes at Jasper, "is just another way of showing off."
"And which of the two would you call my recent piece of modesty?" Jasper bantered, with an amused smile.
Edward smirked. "Showing off, of course. The truth is you're really proud of your defects in writing, because they show what a quick thinker you are, and how unassuming you are about it, which if not an actual strength in itself, you think at least adds depth to your character. Speed is always a trait prized by its possessor, often ignoring the sloppiness it results in. For example, when you told Bella's mom this morning that if you decided to leave Netherfield you'd be gone in five minutes, you were showing off. What's so great about a last minute decision that would probably leave behind a bunch of unfinished business and would result in no advantage to you or anyone else?"
"Hold on, hold on, hold on," Jasper chortled, waving a hand and putting down the controller. "You don't really expect me to remember at this time of night all the stupid things I may have said this morning, do you? Although I will maintain that if I said it, I must have meant it, and would still believe it to be true now. You're not trying to imply that I pretended to be quick-thinking and quick-acting just to impress the ladies, are you?" He turned to Bella and gave her a playful wink. Bella snickered.
Edward's irritation with his friend suddenly grew exponentially. His nostrils slightly flared when he responded, "I'll concede that you believed what you said, but I'm by no means convinced that you'd really act so quickly. Your actions would depend on the circumstances as much as those of the next man's. And if while you were getting in your car to leave a friend would say to you, 'Hey Jasper, why don't you stay another week?' you'd probably do it, and at the slightest suggestion, you'd probably stay a whole extra month."
"All you've proven by this," cried Bella, "is that Jasper under-rated his own character. You've just shown him off much more than he did."
Edward felt his muscles contract and his jaw tightening.
"Thanks Bella!" Jasper responded, giving Edward a wry smile, "For turning Edward's disclosure of my flaws into a compliment. But I'm sure that's not how he intended it, because I'd bet he'd think more of me under those circumstances he mentioned if I were to give a flat denial and ride off as fast as I could."
Bella narrowed her eyes at Edward, a small smile on her lips. "Would Edward then forgive the rashness of your original decision if you were determined to stick to that decision?"
"I have no idea," Jasper responded, shrugging his shoulders. "You'd have to ask him yourself."
Edward glared at his friend. "How do you expect me to account for opinions which you've called mine, but which I've never acknowledged?" He turned back to Bella.
She continued smiling, but there was definitely mischief in her eyes. Closing his laptop, email completely forgotten, he met the mischief in her eyes with a challenge of his own.
"Fine. I'll play this game," he smiled tightly. "Let's stick to the original situation. And if we do, you must remember, Bella," he said intently, "that the friend who's asked Jasper to stay and alter his original plans hasn't given one good reason for his request."
Bella arched an eyebrow. "What you're saying then, is that to yield so readily, so easily to the wishes of a friend holds no credit with you?"
Edward arched his own eyebrow. "To give in to something or someone, without a good reason, says nothing good about either person in this scenario."
"It seems to me Edward, that you give no allowance for the influence of friendship or affection. Simply caring about the requestor would often be enough to yield to a request, without waiting for a specific reason. Now I'm not talking about any specific case in regards to Jasper. Maybe we should wait until a real situation arises to judge him on his decisions. But in general cases arising between friends, where one of them asks the other to change some plans of little importance, would you think less of that person for complying without waiting for a good reason?"
"Before we continue, don't you think it would be a good idea to determine how important the requestor feels his request is, as well as the degree of friendship between the two parties?"
"Definitely," cried Jasper, throwing himself back on the sofa. "Let's work out all the details," he said, rubbing his hands together. "And make sure we don't leave out the comparative height and weight of each, because that'll have more bearing on the decision than you realize Bella. Trust me, if Edward weren't in such good shape physically, I wouldn't give in to him half as much as I do." He snorted, grinning bemusedly. "I for one don't know of a more ill-tempered person than Edward on certain occasions and in certain places, especially in his own house on Sunday evenings, when he can find nothing to entertain himself with."
Edward smiled, but Bella thought he looked rather offended, and therefore held off on her laughter.
"Jasper, stop bothering Edward! And stop talking such bullcrap!" Tanya cried indignantly, pouting her collagen-enhanced lips.
"That's alright Tanya," Edward said quickly, putting up a hand to stop Tanya's defense of him. He smiled crookedly. "I see what you're trying to do Jasper. You don't like debates, so you're trying to turn it into a joke."
"Maybe you're right," Jasper conceded. "Debates are too much like arguments. If you and Bella want to continue, at least wait until I'm out of the room, and then you can say whatever you want about me."
"No. It's probably time we dropped it. Edward would be better off finishing his email anyway."
The two stared at each other for a few more seconds, and then Edward took her advice and went back to his laptop to finish his email.
After a short while, Jasper once again turned from his game and said, "Bella, I heard mentioned that you played the piano?"
Bella put her book down again. "Not very well. I mean, it's not like it's a talent of mine or anything," she smiled, shooting Edward a loaded look.
"I'm sure you're very good," said Jasper. "Why don't you play a song or two for us?" he asked, jerking his head towards the baby grand that stood majestically against the far side of the room.
"Ooh, I just finished another composition on the piano!" Tanya interrupted before Bella could respond. "Let me play it for you guys!" she cried while getting up quickly and moving to seat herself at the baby grand. At everyone's shocked expression she added, "After Bella regales us with her lovely chopsticks, of course."
"No. Tanya, please. You go ahead. I insist," Bella smiled.
Tanya needed no more encouragement. And while Irina joined her sister and hummed - rather loudly and off-tune - to the complicated composition, Bella looked through some music sheets that lay on the bookshelf nearby. She couldn't fight the feeling however, that a pair of eyes were on her, and when she looked up subtly was surprised to see that it was Edward that constantly kept turning his emerald green eyes her way. She had no idea why he kept looking at her, as it would be strange for him to keep glancing her way because he disliked her. She could only imagine then, that he kept looking at her because he found her so much more disturbing and reprehensible, according to his ideas on what was right, than anyone else in the room. The idea didn't bother her though. She liked him too little to care what he thought of her one way or the other.
After playing some stiff and pretentious songs, Tanya surprised Bella by turning to some more modern and lively pieces, and soon Edward drew nearer to Bella, and leaning down whispered close to her ear,
"Don't you feel like dancing right now Bella?"
She smiled but didn't answer. Edward was surprised by her silence, and leaned into her closer, bringing his lips nearer. Bella shivered at his proximity. But she quickly assumed it was due to the surprise of his nearness.
"Would you like to dance Bella?" he repeated in a low, husky voice.
"Oh," she answered quickly this time, "I heard you the first time. I was just trying to decide how to answer. I know you wanted me to say 'Sure, great!' so that you could have the pleasure of criticizing my taste in music, but I take great pleasure in foiling those sorts of plans and robbing people of their premeditated insults. So I've decided to tell you that no, I don't feel like dancing, and now you can go ahead and hate me all you dare."
"I would never dare hate you, Bella." His eyes bore into hers, and for a split-second she thought she saw something flicker in them, before he turned and went back to his seat. Bella shook her head quickly, trying to clear it. Edward had startled her; she'd expected to provoke him with her words, and was surprised by his show of chivalry. But there was a mix of sweetness and impishness in her manner that made it impossible for Edward to feel insulted by her; and he had never been as bewitched by any woman in his life as he was by her. He felt sure, as he sat in his chair and his eyes instinctively traveled back up to Bella, that if it were not for their differences in class and social standing, he'd be in some serious danger.
Tanya saw, or suspected enough to be jealous; and her great anxiety for the recovery of her friend Alice was greatly helped along by her desire to get rid of Bella.
She often tried to provoke Edward into saying something negative about Bella, by talking of their supposed marriage, and planning his happiness in the union.
"I hope," she began, as she tagged along on his morning jog the next day – the storm had finally relented enough to allow for one – "that you'll give your mother-in-law a few hints, when the happy nuptials finally take place, about the advantages of holding one's tongue; and if you can swing it, do something about your little cousin-in-laws' habits of chasing after every man with an appendage between his legs. Oh, and if I may be so bold as to mention so delicate a subject, you may want to take care of that little something bordering on conceit and nerve that your little wifey possesses."
"Do you have any other suggestions to ensure my matrimonial bliss?"
"Oh, yes! One more thing! Make sure you hang a nice big picture of Uncle Phil the restaurateur in front of his glitzy McDonald's franchise, on its own wall in Pemberley. As a matter of fact, no, why don't you hang it right next to the picture of your godmother the senator? After all they're both pioneers in their field. As for Bella's picture, you must not have it taken, for what painter could ever do justice to those beautiful eyes?"
Edward nodded, as if pondering the question. "It wouldn't be easy to capture their expression, I'll give you that, but their color and shape, the length and curve of her eyelashes, so absolutely perfect, might be copied."
At that moment, they were met jogging off another trail by Irina and Bella herself.
"I didn't know you'd come out for a jog," stuttered Tanya, afraid that they'd been overheard.
"You completely snubbed us," answered Irina, "coming out for a jog without telling us about it." She then walked over to Edward's other side, leaving Bella standing by herself opposite them.
Edward bristled at their rudeness and immediately said, "The trail isn't wide enough for all four of us; we should head back."
But Bella, who had absolutely no desire to stay with them, laughed and answered,
"No, no. Please! Continue on your jog. The three of you look wonderful together, sporting such nice and pristine running outfits. I'd just ruin the look in my ratty tank top and holey jeans. See ya!" she called out, and continued her run in the opposite direction.
She laughed to herself once she was out of their hearing range, excited that the weather had finally let up and she would hopefully be home that day or the next. Alice had been feeling much better that morning, so much so that she was planning on joining them for a while that evening.
Reviews feel almost as good as Edward leaning in to whisper softly in my ear…