"Lizzie?" Charlotte called, just having finished her shower and moving towards the living room. "We're nearly out of toilet paper, have you realised? Is it your turn to get it, or mine?"
Nobody answered.
"Lizzie?" Charlotte stuck her head out of the door, staring down the hallway towards Lizzie's closed bedroom door. "Why aren't you answering? Have you left already?"
She tried to rack her brains from the night before, but she'd gone to bed early with a pounding headache, so didn't know what time Lizzie had got in. If she had, she'd been awfully quiet about it. The few times Charlotte had got up, to go the toilet, she hadn't heard a thing from Lizzie's room.
"Lizzie?" She queried again, this time right outside the door.
She lifted up her hand to knock, before letting it free-fall to grab hold of the knob. Inside, the room was immaculate like always. The covers of the bed were turned, leaving it to air, and the pillows were fluffed and propped against the headboard. Charlotte wandered in, heading mindlessly to Elizabeth's calender lying on her desk, and flicked nosily through a few pages.
Just after New Years, on January 3rd, Elizabeth had circled the date with extra force.
Weird.
Was she reminding herself to get up, and take down all the Christmas decorations? She probably followed that superstition, where all decorations had to be taken down before January 6th, or it was bad luck. The probability Elizabeth was spending the night somewhere else didn't even enter Charlotte's head, until she heard a key turning in the lock.
"Lizzie!" Charlotte rushed back into the hallway, hugging herself. "When did you get up? I've been -"
Her mouth snapped shut.
Elizabeth had been caught red-handed, sneaking in with a man.
Not just any man, but a fine specimen, who was dressed in a black wifebeater and matching jeans, with piercing blue eyes and a transfixed smile on his face. He appeared to be staring at Lizzie, but she was staring directly down the hallway at...
"Charlotte!" Lizzie was holding a large cup of shop bought coffee. "Sorry, did we disturb you coming in?"
Charlotte gaped. Lizzie was still wearing the same clothes from yesterday morning, to go to that fancy hotel where the conference was being held... Why, she'd even borrowed that blouse from her the other day! She looked disheveled and tired, but the man just froze on the spot and hissed, "You didn't tell me someone else would be here! Now, I feel like a dick for coming round and not bringing extra coffee!"
"She can have mine," Elizabeth shot a look over her shoulder. "I didn't buy it for me anyway."
"Well, if you're sure."
He raised his eyebrows, and took a ridiculously long slurp out of his cup. Then he closed his eyes and tried to convey ecstatic pleasure. Glaring at him, she held out the coffee she'd just bought as peace offering towards Charlotte.
"I didn't come home last night," she looked contrite. "You weren't up all night worrying, were you?"
Darcy spluttered.
"Just who is he?" Charlotte demanded shrilly, jabbing her finger at him. "You never told me you were doing one night-stands! Where did you pick this hustler from? From Toni & Guy?"
This time, Darcy spat out his entire mouthful. And interestingly - he went a shade of pink.
"Huh," he muttered under his breath.
"No." Elizabeth turned an even brighter pink. "He's my boss!"
"ELIZABETH!" Charlotte cried. "You're sleeping with your boss?!"
Her outrage died away, and a tumultuous silence filled the flat. Darcy looked stony-faced, and just put his cup heavily to the side, on top of a hall cabinet. After grabbing coffee and muffins together, Elizabeth had suggested they head back to his house, so they could give one of the three cups bought to Georgiana, who still hadn't awoken yet, thereby giving them a chance to pick up his keys so he could drive Elizabeth back to her flat. At no point during the drive, had she mentioned a middle-aged flatmate (he was exaggerating), with a towel wrapped around her head coming out to greet them. Or that Elizabeth was really saving her cup, for this woman.
All she said was she wanted a quick shower and after, it would make sense if they headed to the office together.
Ten minutes max, she'd said.
Lies.
"No, she's not sleeping with me," Darcy said loudly. "Don't you know I believe in celibacy before marriage?"
Keeping a straight face, despite how much he wanted to laugh, he turned to Elizabeth.
"I'll be waiting in the car. If you're not there in fifteen, I'm leaving."
.
.
The gasmen had come and gone, but still a bad omen lingered in the air. Oblivious to what was waiting for them on the third floor, Elizabeth punched in the number, and fell back, so she was standing shoulder to shoulder with Darcy. Well more shoulder to bicep, as he was taller. He was humming under his breath, looking pleased with himself.
He caught her looking at him from the corner of his eye, and turned to smile at her.
She smiled tentatively back-
The lift doors opened with a whoosh.
"Ah, you're back! And just in time!" Charles had been standing outside, going through a file with another employee. He raised his head, looking strained. "I was just about to come down, and drag you up here myself...especially after what Jonah's done!"
The person standing beside Charles, a young man, had gone white at the sight of Darcy. He moved to walk off, but Charles grabbed him by the back of his hooded jumper, and dragged him back to where he was standing before, at which point he whimpered, and looked at the floor.
Elizabeth stepped out of the lift after her boss.
"What's wrong?" She looked between the pair of them.
"Everything," Charles said through gritted teeth. "Elizabeth, do you remember getting a charming message from a Ms. Moira Banks about two days ago?"
Elizabeth looked thunder-stricken. "Oh, that woman -!"
"Well, that woman... don't take it to heart, Elizabeth, it wasn't your fault - has taken our silence so personally, she has given scathing reviews about our service, on various websites across the internet. Jonah here -" He shook the poor guy by the lapels "-so keen to defend our honour, thought nothing of hacking into several servers and deleting the reviews completely."
"Blimey," Darcy said, staring at Jonah. "I didn't know you cared..."
"If anybody finds out he did this," Charles enunciated carefully. "Especially TripAdvisor, which is a big corporation nobody stands a chance against, comes to learn some pesky trainee from Lambton & Co has breached their security walls, and potentially accessed details of millions of users, we'll be slapped by a lawsuit so big, our company will be liquidised in an instant. All the investments we made. All our livelihoods... gone."
"What have you done?" Darcy asked in dawning horror.
Jonah threw his arms up around his head like he was expecting to be hit. "Please...it was a mistake! I didn't leave a trace! Please, you've gotta believe me!"
Elizabeth saw Darcy's hand clenching into a slow fist.
"Get out," he said, low and murderous. "Get out of my fucking sight before I make you."
Elizabeth ogled him, never having seen this side of him before. She was half in awe, seeing him throbbing in rage and close to bursting, when he usually played a light-hearted version of himself. A thrill that had nothing to do with the situation went up her spine. Is this how he normally defended things that mattered to him? How would it feel to be the person to invoke that passion...?
She shivered, cursing herself for letting her heart flutter.
Charles released his handful of Jonah, who promptly ran for the stairs, looking terrified.
"We can still salvage it," Charles said. "We need to ring this woman and offer our heartfelt apologies, alongside a full refund, and maybe a complimentary holiday somewhere. In the meantime, we need to swear everyone at the office to secrecy about Jonah's...hacking abilities. I believe him, when he said, he entered and left all these mainframes without a trace. So as long as no-one blabs - we should be fine!"
Darcy put his fist to his mouth. "I should've punched him when I had the chance."
Charles turned desperately to Elizabeth.
"Elizabeth!" He gave her a shaky smile. "Nothing like being put to the test, eh? How about I give you the morning to prepare your bedside manners and research some good deals, and then this afternoon you call Ms. Banks, right? A woman for a woman! Darcy, come with me." He guided Will firmly by the shoulder, to a meeting room, that had transparent walls. It was clear, the entire team besides Elizabeth and Jonah had gathered inside, to tackle this problem.
Further along, on Elizabeth's desk, the answer machine blinked, reminding her of rushing up and pressing the button...of hearing the swear words and accusations of bumming...
Elizabeth flushed.
Anything but this.
.
.
As the clock neared two, Elizabeth stared hungrily into the meeting room. For the past hour, hazy images of sandwich rolls juxtaposed instead of heads, danced in front of her eyes. It didn't help, most of them had eaten, save for a certain someone, who was flicking through his accounts savagely. His scare with Jonah, had made him demand for every spreadsheet on and around the matter, like he was scared someone else hadn't been doing their job properly. After all... Moira had claimed the incorrect amount had been charged from her bank. Higher than the one on her invoice, because no customers would complain if it was lower.
She narrowed her eyes and came to a decision.
"Will?" She knocked on the door. "I'm going down to the deli. Do you want anything?"
He stretched his arms, and pushed away from the table.
"I'll come with you," he said, shortly.
Elizabeth stuttered. "It's-It's okay...just tell me what you waaa..."
He gave her look.
"I'll just be a tick, okay?"
She had to wait, as he rubbed his brow like he was utterly defeated, before he looked up and smiled wryly. "Let's go."
They took the lift, Darcy sagging against the back wall, right next to Elizabeth. In fact, their sides were so tightly pressed together, Elizabeth wondered if she was propping him up. All concentration appeared to have fled his face, and he now looked vacant, following Elizabeth out into the foyer, like he was grateful someone else was making decisions for a change. A man with a professional looking camera was at the receptionist's desk - arguing.
Darcy's willingness to take a backseat continued as they got to the deli.
"What do you want?" She asked, staring up at the specials of the day. "Chicken mayo or tuna salad?"
"I dunno. You choose."
"Coke or Sprite?"
"Whatever."
She sighed and ordered him a Sprite. As she was waiting to pay, purse in hand, two arms crept around her neck, and Darcy sunk his chin onto her shoulder with a relieved sigh. It was a total boyfriend move. The ones guys do, when they come up behind a girl and hug her, like they're about to watch fireworks or something. Even the cashier behind the counter was looking at them slyly.
"What are you doing?" She hissed.
"Sssh..." he murmured. "..wanna sleep."
"And you think I'm the best person to fall asleep on?"
He was nuzzling into her like she was a cushion.
"..such a soft place..." he crooned, eyes closed. "...To rest my head..."
"Here you are!" The cashier pushed over the tray with their wrapped sandwiches and bottled drinks with more enthusiasm than necessary. "Why don't you two lovebirds sit down?"
Oh, no, no, no, no...
Scowling, Elizabeth grabbed the tray and walked towards the nearest empty table, with Darcy still clinging to her back like a koala bear. She was earning a lot of jealous and fascinated looks from the other customers, which she didn't like. Ignoring them, she put the tray down and tried to twist out of his grasp. For someone "sleepwalking", he remained awfully strong. When that didn't work, she sort of backed up to an opposing chair, so his feet hit the legs and he had no choice but to sit down. Elizabeth nearly tumbled onto his lap, but she was so quick to put space between them, gravity didn't have a chance to win.
Instead, she sat down in her chair and slammed a bottle of Sprite in front of him.
He jolted awake.
"Erghfph-" He saw the food, ripping the wrapper open in an instant. "I'm so hungry."
"I'm not surprised after that spectacle," she snapped.
"Wha' I do?" He looked innocently up at her, having inhaled half by now. "You look...red."
"I'm going back. Enjoy your meal - it's on me."
"Hey, wait!"
Infuriatingly, he got up after her as she picked up her lunch and went to leave. With that same dogged determination, he chased her as she started running back to the office. Not so much that it was obvious, but when she rounded the corner, it was undeniable she broke out into a sprint. Darcy panted, following seconds later as she disappeared into their building, jostling past a few people standing at the entrance with cameras. There was a flash as she streaked by.
"Hey - stop!"
She stuck her tongue out at him, as she got into the lift first, and hurriedly pressed the close doors button. Darcy was still outside! Had the receptionist just electronically locked the doors? Hahahaha...
"Elizabeth."
Charles was waiting for her when the doors opened again at her required floor, it might as well have been a scene from a couple of hours ago. This time there was no Jonah or Darcy, to buffer his grave but sympathetic expression. "You don't have to call the woman. I'll do it myself -"
"No!" Elizabeth said, breathing hard. "I've got this."
"You sure?"
"I can handle a bit of abuse."
"Atta girl." A ghost of a smile flitted over his face.
Despite her heart thumping in her chest, Elizabeth pasted a pointed smile on her face and dialed the number, she'd written down before she went to lunch, sitting down behind her desk. As Darcy managed to catch up, and more and more people started to flock around her, she realised they had all been waiting for this moment. The moment she tried to soothe an angry customer. Jesus. Did they always leave this to the PA?
Chewing her lip, she pressed speakerphone.
Ring, ring. Ring, ring -
"Hello?"
"Hello," Elizabeth answered automatically. "This is Elizabeth Bennet. From...Lambton & Co."
There was a slight snarl from the other end. "What do you fucking want?"
"I would like to apologise to you about the delay of returning your phone-call. We're not making any excuses, and would like to reimburse you-"
"Too late." Moira said smugly, Irish accent strong. "I've already contacted the media."
"The media -?"
"My daddy works for The Trubine. He was very interested to hear how wronged I felt, and didn't hesitate to send an interviewer from a famous tabloid to hear my small but very distressing story. Look outside. I wouldn't be surprised to hear it's crawling with journos...assholes."
Charles lunged forward, and pulled the cord out of the telephone.
"David," he said, face stark. "Go down and check if it's true."
Nobody barely said a word, hanging in a pendulous void, waiting for David to come back up. He emerged some minutes later, having taken the lift down, before taking it up again. Even from here, they could see the numbers, 0,1,2...Ping! 3! The naked panic on his face, galvanized everyone into action - they swore and paced and even bent over, at the futility of it all. Imagine! A spoiled little girl, running to her daddy, and now...this?
"What's going down there?" Charles asked.
"Sarah's barricaded the doors-" David was referring to the receptionist. "So nobody can get in...or out."
"Call the police!" A guy that could be Jonah's double, said. "This isn't fair!"
"Well, guys," said Charles grimly. "It looks like we're ordering a takeaway if this is going to take us through the night."
.
.
.
A/N: Drama in the workplace :P Remember, Moira? She was that charming caller from the end of chapter 4. Sorry for the longish wait, exams have been killing me, but I promise to update more diligently next time!
JRB...my fav trope is enemies falling in love with each of course :) Writing this whole BFF thing to me is alien, but god, even I was all for it, when I was writing that deli scene...