Previously: Darcy receives numerous injuries at the hands (and head) of Elizabeth.

5

Elise sat in her powder blue 1965 Volkswagen Beetle, waiting for 'His Royal Heinous' as she was now mentally calling Darcy. Her duffle bag was packed and in the trunk and she was awaiting his arrival with his own luggage so they could start on the journey.

"Now who's the Kim Kardashian Bimbo?" she thought to herself, her impatience growing. She tapped her fingers against the steering wheel.

When she had returned from the library on Sunday night, she and Jen had looked online for a hotel with 4 available rooms, but vacancies were scarce. None of the hotels had more than one available room considering the influx of people for the warm weather and Easter vacation. Even if Jenine and Elise shared one room and the two bodyguards another, they still needed an additional room. Jenine had voiced her concerns to Charlie, and he had told her that he had a cousin who was a concierge at a hotel who might be able to help them. He neglected to add that his cousin Carrie would be particularly willing to help if she heard that Darcy would be staying as well.

On Tuesday evening, whilst at dinner with Jen (the third meal they were having alone together since he had started the job) Bingley told her the good news. His cousin had managed to find them four rooms. Unfortunately, two of the rooms were on one floor while the other two were on another. Bingley suggested 'for the girls safety, of course', that each bodyguard be on the same floor as his charge. "And anyway, it makes more sense since you guys are going two days ahead of Jen and I," he had said. Once this was agreed, he then deigned to inform Darcy and Elise that each pair of rooms was connecting.

Elise was brought back to the present when Darcy opened the door of the passenger side. "We're going in this? This is your car?" Darcy asked. His tone was not malicious, his expression showing that he was, in fact, discombobulated.

"If you have an issue with Betty, you can find some other way to get to San Diego," she responded, already annoyed.

"Betty?" Darcy asked, his confusion heightening.

"My car," Elise responded with a matter-of-fact tone.

"Your car… is called Betty," he said slowly, as the information registered.

"That's what I just said."

"Ok… um, I'm just going to put this in the boot," he said gesturing behind him to his duffle bag. She noted with annoyance that it was exactly the same as her brown Kipling duffle.

She tapped on the wheel some more as she waited for him to go about this. This was going to be the longest amount of time she would be spending in his company thus far. Since Sunday, she had hardly seen him. Other than a quick trip to the supermarket and a short coffee date with Carla, she hadn't been out of the house and therefore hadn't required his presence. She had been online looking for hotels and once that was sorted out, looking into apartments and calling to set up viewings.

Darcy climbed into the car and turned to look at Elise. Elise, not in the least intimidated, stared right back and they held eye contact.

"Ready to go?" she questioned him.

"Yup."

"Okay then, off we go."

It was a hot morning and even with the windows down, in the slow moving traffic within the city, the inside of Betty was stuffy. Elise had forgone her cardigan but even so, she could feel her hair starting to frizz and her face becoming flushed. Darcy, in his black T-shirt and jeans had sweat glistening on his forehead.

She couldn't wait until they it the highway and they started actually moving. Although there was no hurry to get to San Diego, Elise had never been the patient type. The silence in the car thus far was also beginning to seem uncomfortable to her.

The traffic began to move again, but Elise's satisfaction was short-lived when once more the cars in front of her slowed. Darcy grunted in annoyance. Elise began tapping her fingers on the steering wheel. Her companion glared at her fingers and sighed.

This did nothing to dissuade Elise, instead she continued at her drumming with increased fervour. She kept her head turned forward, but from the corner of her eye she could see Darcy squinting at her in irritation.

Darcy was becoming more and more flustered. The heat inside the car combined with his lack of patience and his companion's incessant tapping was making him extremely antsy. He ran his fingers through his hair pulling it slightly. He began fidgeting in his seat and loosening the seat belt. He opened the glove compartment, eliciting a glare from Elise. In it, he found a flier and he began flapping himself.

Elise, in part vexed by his fidgeting, but mostly peeved that he could cool himself down while she had to drive, couldn't restrain herself.

"Could you stop that, please?" she said through gritted teeth.

"Don't you have an AC in here?"

"Nope," she responded, popping the 'p' sound.

"I'm just trying to keep cool. The heat is unbearable!"

There was no way Elise was going to allow him to keep cool while she suffered.

"It's distracting me from driving."

"But we're not even moving!" he said, exasperated.

"It's still a distraction."

"Fine."

He put the flier back into the glove compartment slamming it shut. She squinted at him.

"It's not Betty's fault it's a hot day."

"Well, Betty needs to fucking get herself some air conditioning," Darcy muttered. "God it's so freaking hot. If she's not going to let me fan myself…" a thought occurred to Darcy and he unbuckled his seat belt.

Elise turned to look at him warily. "What are you doing?" she demanded, just as he whipped his T-shirt off.

"I need to keep cool somehow," he said, smirking as he caught her grudgingly checking him out.

"Oh jeez. Now this is definitely a distraction..."

Once they got on to the motorway, the atmosphere within Betty improved. There was more air circulation, resulting in Darcy and Elise feeling calmer and less hostile. Darcy took out his iPhone and began typing what seemed to Elise to be a very long email. He was in actuality writing an email to his younger sister, Georgie as he had promised to keep her up-to-date on what was going on in his life. The windows were still opened and the breeze that entered through them relaxed Darcy enough that he drifted off into sleep.

Elise was largely focused on driving, however when she found the peaceful atmosphere within the car alarmingly silent, she spared Darcy a glance. What she found surprised her. In slumber, his expression was boyish and free of worries. His frown lines were absent and he seemed entirely at ease. She found herself wondering if he ever had such an expression when awake and fully conscious.

The remainder of the journey passed by relatively smoothly. Before she had finished mentally making a list of things she should be sure to check for in prospective apartments, the Pacific Ocean was within her sight. She couldn't help but smile as she inhaled the salty fragrance of the air. After that, it wasn't too long until she found herself driving within San Diego.

Darcy was jolted awake by the sound of a car horn, and upon realising that he had slept for the majority of the journey, he felt somewhat embarrassed. He found himself wondering if Elise had been disappointed at the loss of his conversation. He turned to look at her and noticed a faint smile playing on her lips, as Elise was still feeling the calm that had washed over her with the exposure to the sea air.

Elise parked Betty in the hotel parking space. She and Darcy retrieved their bags from the boot and entered the lobby. They were quickly relieved of their bags by a bellboy and the two went approached the front desk.

Elise watched as Darcy's eyes doubled in size at the appearance of a woman with red curls and redder lips behind the desk.

"Just kill me now," Darcy muttered under his breath.

Elise turned to look at him, perturbed. From her name badge, on which the name 'Carrie Bingley' was embedded and what appeared to be familial red hair, the concierge appeared to be Charlie's cousin.

"Oooh Willy, it's so good to see you again!" Carrie Bingley exclaimed as her eyes wandered over the planes of his chest. Feeling mildly exposed, he was suddenly extremely glad that he had put back on his T-shirt before entering the hotel.

"Uh, yeah. Good to see you too, Carrie," he responded uncertainly.

"You must be Elise Bennet!" Carrie said finally drawing her eyes away from Darcy's chest and to Elizabeth's face. "Oh my, I have heard so much about you! Not just from Cousin Charlie, also from E! and oh wow, I am such a huge fan of your mom's clothing line! I bought the same miniskirt in three different colours, I loved it so much!" Elise tried to smile back at the woman, but her expression was more of a grimace as she envisioned the horror of a miniskirt designed by Francissa Bennet.

In not too long, with a few interruptions of 'please tell her I loved the mesh top in last year's fall collection' and 'oh Willy, have you done something to your hair?' Elise and Darcy were checked in. Their bags already taken to their rooms, Carrie pointed them in the direction of the lifts before requesting Darcy that they 'catch up soon'. As the lift doors closed and Elise pressed the button for their floor, Darcy exhaled loudly.

"Everything ok?" she asked, unable to restrain her curiosity.

"Of all the hotels in San Diego, why this one?" he responded, sounding genuinely exasperated.

"Oh, well actually, I didn't really pick it. We were having trouble finding vacancies and Charlie called in a favour with his cousin to get us rooms here."

They had arrived at their floor and as she stepped out the elevator doors, she was certain she heard Darcy mutter 'gonna kill that bastard'. They found their rooms, side by side and before entering hers Elise told Darcy "Um, I'm just going to take a shower and freshen up and stuff, but we have a couple of appointments after lunch."

He nodded at her and they both entered their respective rooms. Darcy decided that after the warmth at the start of their journey, he too needed a shower. He also felt an irrational need to wash the tracks of Carrie Bingley's stare from his body. He unzipped the brown duffle in search of some clean clothes.

On the other side of their connecting door, Elise was also unzipping a brown duffle bag. On the top, she found what looked to be a dishcloth. Picking it up with the tips of her fingers, she discovered that it was, in fact, a dishcloth shaped rather like a kitten. From the looks of it, the grey fabric kitten had once been considerably more cream coloured and considerably less flaccid. She wondered if this was some sort of elaborate prank of Alyssa's.

Darcy delved blindly into his bag in search of a clean T-shirt. He was suddenly surprised by the texture his fingers were met with. He certainly did not own a lacy T-shirt. He pulled out the offending article and his eyes widened as he found a pale blue lacy bra dangling from his fingers. He quickly realised that this bag was not his and stuffed the bra back inside, zipping it up as fast as he could. He opened the connecting door between his and Elise's room, just as it opened from the other side.

"I think I have your-"

"This isn't my-"

They both spoke at the same time and blushed. They hurriedly swapped the bags, almost throwing them at each other as if they were hot potatoes about to burn their hands. Quickly, the connecting door was closed from both sides.

Less than an hour later, Elise was brushing her hair when she heard knocking at the door. She went to open the room door, only to discover that there was no one outside. She went back to trying to tame her unruly waves. However as she arrived at the mirror, she heard the knocking again. When she looked out the peephole of the room door there was still nobody there although the knocking had not ceased. She quickly realised that the sound was in fact coming from the connecting door. Intrigued, she opened it and found herself face-to-face a fresh-faced, nice-smelling Darcy.

"Uh, hi… I was just wondering… did you… um… did you want to get lunch?"

She cocked her head to the side, befuddled. "You mean with you?"

"Yeah… I thought… it's ok… never mind…" he started to retreat into his room.

She halted him by placing a hand on his forearm. "Let's get lunch. We both have to eat right?" He smiled in response and Elise blinked a couple of times, disconcerted. "Um… just let me finish up here."

He sat in a chair watching as she bundled her hair into a messy topknot. She quickly grabbed her purse and they set off. It was just as warm in San Diego as in LA and they opted to walk and find somewhere to eat rather than drive around in stuffy Betty. They walked in companionable silence looking at shops and people-watching. They passed by an Italian restaurant and Elise eyed Darcy quirking her eyebrow in question. He shrugged and they continued walking. They passed a little boy who was determinedly pulling his nervous-looking father by the hand and leading him into a toy store. Elise let out a giggle and Darcy smiled genuinely at her, deep dimples evident in both his cheeks.

They both halted suddenly outside a burger bar and exchanged looks. Elise nodded and Darcy smiled, walking ahead and holding the door open for her. They were seated at a booth and given menus by a blonde waitress who eyed Darcy as if he were something to eat. Darcy ordered a beef burger and a chocolate shake. When Elise asked for a salmon teriyaki burger and a vanilla shake, he wrinkled his nose at her.

"What?" she demanded.

"Salmon teriyaki burger?" He was still wrinkling his nose, although he was smiling simultaneously, making his expression something of a grimace.

"Hey! You have your manly man meal and leave my salmon teriyaki burger alone."

"Ok, ok," he replied, raising his hands.

They chatted until their food arrived, Darcy asking Elise how many apartments they would be seeing today. Elise explained that they wouldn't be seeing any today and that they were going to see two different agents.

When the burgers arrived, Darcy dove in and devoured his almost immediately. Elise was only half way through when he had finished.

"I take it it was good then?" she asked smirking.

"Yeah it was," he smiled, "how's the salmon teriyaki?"

"So good!" she responded, with her mouth full.

He laughed and watched with amusement as she chewed vigorously. She was certainly not what he expected. In his experience, most girls in her position (and with her figure) were the salad eating type. Granted, this was no manly man burger, but it was refreshing to see her tucking into her meal without reservation.

She caught him staring. "You want to try?" He shrugged. She speared a piece of the fish for him and held it out on her fork to him. He bit it off and chewed contemplatively.

"Hmm… this is actually really good!"

"Told you so!" she laughed.

Once she was done eating, they argued a little over who would be paying. "Who's the boss here?" she demanded.

He snorted, but backed down. "I concede defeat, but I'll get it next time," he said before realising what he was implying.

In the evening, Elise found herself back in her room about to take her second shower of the day due to the heat. She was surprised to find that spending the day alone with Darcy hadn't been as awful as she had expected.

She still thought him obnoxious. At both her meetings with the agents, she had specified her desires and they recommended several apartments they thought suited her needs, setting up viewings for the ones she agreed to see. Darcy would interject from time to time, asking suspicious questions about the security at each location. He certainly took his job very seriously, she thought, rolling her eyes. She had expected him to be stoic, but instead he was hassling the agents like some over-protective father.

When they'd walked around the city going from her first meeting to the second, they'd stopped at an ice-cream stand and he'd bought them each two scoops, keeping his promise from lunchtime. On the way back from their second appointment, they had each bought their own sandwich for dinner. Darcy went for roast beef and, once more, Darcy laughed at her choice, this time of tuna. He was a little high-handed, she supposed, but not completely awful. She was hesitant to admit this however, remembering his comments from the first night they'd met. She stepped under the shower, smiling, the spray of cool water pleasant after a day in the warmth.

A/N:

Hello again! I don't want to have such a long A/N this chapter, but I just wanted to say that if you'd like to see a picture of Betty, head over to my profile! Also, posting schedule may be all over the place due to travels! -N