Previously: Darcy, Bingley, Jen and Elise head over to the zoo and then bond a little over dinner. They then head back home from San Diego and Elise arrives to a shock in her room.

8

Elise clenched her fists tightly. Hot, angry tears streamed down her face as she surveyed the damage before her. She tried to restrain the urge but in her frustration she let out a loud scream, which ended as a growl. The sound reverberated through the house.

The back wall of Elise's room had on it a set of grass green shelves arranged in the shape of an 'E'. These shelves were home to her most prized possessions. The three long horizontal shelves, making the branches of the letter, were filled with her favourite books- a great many novels, some of her mother's writing, a couple of photo albums. In the arrangement of shelves, the long vertical backbone of the letter 'E' was made of 2 short horizontal shelves one above the other, between each of the long book-filled ones.

Elise, like many people, had a hobby collecting items. In her case, she had procured snow globes from every city she had visited in her lifetime. Once collecting snow globes had become her 'thing', her family helped enable her collection. Where possible, Elise's mother would procure her snow globes from her various travel destinations. In fact, when Jen had unpacked on her return from China, she had handed her sister an item covered in layers of bubble wrap. Before popping the bubbles (for a good 20 minutes at least), Elise had unraveled the bubble wrap to find a beautifully crafted globe with the glass encasing a miniature Great Wall.

All of the snow globes were special to her, none more so than the one she had received on her 3rd birthday from her father (who had never been particularly good at buying his daughters age appropriate gifts). It was larger than most of the others and had been specially commissioned by him. Trapped within the glass and surrounded by little white spheres was a family. A woman with long brown hair held the hand of a small blond girl whose other hand grasped that of a little brunette girl, who in turn, held the hand of a tall blond man. When, at numerous points in her life, Elise had struggled with the strange nature of her family and the absence of her mother or father, she would shake the globe and allow the snow to settle along with her frustration.

With each new acquisition that she made, Elise would carefully place the item on one of the short shelves, and arrange all the globes so that none was hidden. So pernickety was she about these snow globes, that Elise would not allow Hilary, the Bennet family's housekeeper, to dust her shelves when she cleaned the room.

So, when Elise walked into her room to find that the top shelf of the 'E' had collapsed and fallen atop the lower shelves thus causing severe damage to her snow globe collection, it was only natural for her to go postal. She knew that the shelves were well constructed and sturdy having held up for almost a decade, and thus, nothing short of a natural disaster would have caused the shelf to fall on its own. This meant that someone was to blame. Blame would be perfect, as in her blind rage Elise was looking for anyone to inflict her wrath on.

Jen, who had heard Elise's roar downstairs rushed upstairs, knowing that the Bennet household was likely to be the set of a tantrum the likes of which had not been seen since her sister's teenage days. She found her sister still in the doorway of her room, fists clenched, cheeks flushed and hot tears spilling from her eyes. A quick glance around the room told Jen the source of her sister's rage and she knew there would be hell to pay. She feared for the safety of Hilary. Worried for her own safety, Jen decided against enclosing her sister in a hug and chose to instead place a hand against her upper back.

Elise turned to face her sister, tears now spilling onto her cheeks in bucket-loads. "MY SNOW GLOBES!" she howled in anguish. "How did this happen? I just… I can't even get them back! I'm just… I'm going to kill her!"

"Ellie, honey-" Jen began, ready to assure her sister that Hilary could not be to blame and more importantly to remind her that this must have been an accident, before Alyssa's voice interrupted.

"Oh my gosh! Is it a lizard?"

At this point Elise had run over to the back wall and squatting on the floor surveying the remains of her collection while she cried. Jen knew she had to get rid of Alyssa before trying to calm Elise down.

"What are you talking about, Alyssa?"

"All this racket. Is there a lizard or a bug or something?"

"No, no, no, no, nooo," Elise wailed as she saw the irreparable damage to her most precious snow globe. The glass was largely smashed, a few jagged edges still rising out of the base. Three of the figures in the globe had been decapitated whilst the last one had been knocked down and cut off at the knees.

"What's her problem?" Alyssa asked Jen. "Hey Elise, can you stop-" What was likely to be the perfect statement to cause Elise to attack her was halted by Jen making 'off with your head' gestures.

"What? She found a dead lizard in her room?"

'No Alyssa, there's no freaking lizard!"

"Um, ok then. Oh hey Ellie, I'm really sorry about your shelves."

Elise's head whipped around. "What?" she demanded harshly.

"Yeah, I mean I had no idea the guys would do that. I told Hilary not to clean your room because I thought you might be able to fix some of your stuff when you got back and I know how picky you are about her cleaning them."

"You broke my snow globes?"

"Not me, the boys. You know how you let me use your room for some of my friends to sleep in? Well apparently after I was asleep the boys had some kind of wrestling match- which I am totally annoyed that I missed out on… yum yum- and they accidentally- AAH!"

Elise, with uncharacteristic cat-like agility leapt across the bed to where Alyssa was standing and lunged at her. Thankfully for the younger girl, Jen had been prepared and quickly held Elise back, but not before she managed to scratch Alyssa.

"What the hell, Ellie?" Alyssa screeched alerting the rest of the household to the ongoing drama.

"'What the hell, Ellie'? WHAT THE HELL, ALYSSA? First of all, if you ask a favour from someone and you're using their stuff, you're supposed to take care of it! You should have made sure your punkass friends wouldn't damage any of my shit! And then, if something does happen, you're supposed to tell the person and just APOLOGISE!"

"I did apologise! You scratched me!"

"Girls, what is going on?" Fran Bennet's voice interrupted the shouting match.

"Mom, she scratched me!" Alyssa whined.

"Yeah, well she damaged my property!" Elise accused, waving in the general direction of where her shelves were.

"I raised you girls better than this screeching! Stop this at once, it's going to give me frown lines! Elise, honey, this is not the end of the world. You've outgrown snow globes anyways. It's about time you started thinking of properly growing up and settling down. Stop these childish tendencies. Which reminds me, I have someone I'd like you to meet coming over for dinner!" Fran announced, looking extremely pleased with herself.

Elise looked mind-boggled at her stepmother, and Alyssa used the interlude of silence to storm off.

"Ugh, forget it. You can all just leave me alone. I'll clean up the remains of my 'childish tendencies'."

"Okay, honey! Dress up nice for dinner!" Fran called out as she flounced off, feeling pleased with herself for her handling of the situation.

"Ellie, can I help you at all?" Jen asked tentatively.

"No, it's fine. I'll do this by myself," she sighed and a lone tear rolled down her cheek.

"Okay bubs, if you're sure. Ellie, I will bring you another one back from China and I know mom would be happy to get you lots more from her trips. I know they won't be the same…"

"Thanks, Jen. That would be great. It just, you know. I mean I loved having a big collection, but it was mostly all the memories and stuff. I just- I don't know… nostalgia? Feelings? I'll get over it." She plastered a smile on her face.

Not in the least bit convinced by her sister's attempt at levity, Jen gave her a sympathetic smile before retreating.

Elise quickly tied up the end of her fishtail braid and glanced in the mirror briefly before rushing off to answer the door. Unsure of who was arriving for dinner this evening she had dressed smartly, in a long sleeveless white dress. It was plainly cut and she had brightened it with a turquoise cardigan and a pair of seashell button earrings. She had used a considerable amount of make up on her eyes, trying to hide the signs of the crying she had done earlier.

Once Jen had left, Elise had swept up the shattered remains of the globes. She had gingerly picked out salvageable pieces from the debris. She had the Eiffel tower, part of the great wall and some of Niagara falls set aside. Although she knew it couldn't be fixed, she had saved as much as she could from her favourite snow globe, the heads and bodies of her miniature figures also kept aside. She had placed these pieces gently into a small box in the top drawer of her dresser, in which she had the stubs of theatre tickets and ballet tickets, as well as small black and white photographs of her grandparents and great grandparents. She had shed a few more tears as she emptied the dustpan into the bin but she knew that even though she had lost her snow globes she still had her memories and numerous photographs and other tidbits. She also knew that Jen and her mother would have no qualms about helping her rebuild her collection.

Elise tucked a couple of loose hairs behind her ear and opened the front door. She looked baffled when she saw J.W. standing in front of her in a well pressed tailored shirt looking particularly dapper.

"Um, hi?"

"Hey Els. You look surprised to see me."

"Um yeah, Fran said she had someone special she wanted me to meet at dinner. I thought she knew we'd already met. Like a decade ago. And you're not all that special," she grinned.

"She was at our place over the weekend and she said I was invited to dinner today. I figured it was you, me, Jen and Carla, but before I left Carla said she hadn't been told anything about dinner at yours. She also said to tell you you're a bitch for inviting me and not her. I'm totally fine with it though, I always knew I was your favourite Lucas."

"Of course you are," she responded patronisingly. "I seriously had no idea you were our dinner company. If I'd known I wouldn't be wearing this dress."

"Oooh!" J.W. wiggled his eyebrows. "Somebody's dressed to impress, then?"

"You couldn't tell?" Elise whined with mock offense. "Nah, not really, I decided to go with an outfit that would be appropriate for work or a date or a picnic or any awkward social situation."

"I think the word you're looking for is 'versatile'."

"Whatever."

"I see that you've matured considerably with the year in England."

She stuck out her tongue at him in response. "What say you, we stop standing awkwardly in the door and go sit in the parlour since apparently Fran has deemed you worthy of a formal dinner party?"

"Sounds good!" Receiving his assent Elise led J.W. into the parlour and they sat down. "Thirsty?"

"Nope."

"Hungry?"

"Well, yeah. But I don't want any of your posh snacks. I'll wait for the real food," he said patting his tummy.

"Speaking of your tummy, what is going on, dude? Where's my scrawny nerd friend gone? Why are you suddenly all muscly?"

"I don't know… I guess I just wanted to be more 'muscly'. Do you think I look better?"

"I would definitely say you were mildly attractive. It confuses me greatly."

"Such great compliments I get from you, Els."

"In all seriousness Jay Dub, I never thought you were unattractive before you bulked up. It's not like you were actually scrawny anyway. You do look great right now though," she smiled. "Really though, what is this about? Are you trying to catch someone in particular's attention?" She wiggled her eyebrows. She had however been entirely unserious and when a slightly guilty expression crossed her friends face, she was taken by surprise. "No way! I'm right? Who is she? Are you actually together? What is going on?"

"Oh gosh, Els! Sit back, for crying out loud. Why are you getting so excited? We never talk about this stuff, this is you and Carla's domain. We talk about bacteria and how agar smells like Horlicks."

"J.W. we never talk about this stuff because the last time you had a girlfriend we were 15. She had big boobs and you did her homework."

"Melania Frasier! I had forgotten about her. Did you know she moved to Florida?"

"I had no idea. Thanks so much for that useful tidbit. Now back to the subject you tried so cleverly to avoid! Who is your girlfriend?"

"Ok first of all, this girl is not my girlfriend."

"Your mistress, then?"

"Shut up. No, she's not 'my' anything. I just, you know, like her and stuff."

"Do I know her?"

"I'm not sure how well you know her," Jun Wei responded. He was hesitant to lie outright, but this answer could be left open to numerous interpretations.

"Oh, smooth. A vague answer but no lie told."

"Thanks."

"Does she like you too?"

"I don't know. I mean I've known her for a long time. Lately, I feel like our relationship is changing and we're not exactly 'just friends' anymore, but I'm not sure if that's purely imagined on my side."

"Why don't you say something to her?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because I don't want to ruin a perfectly good friendship and make things awkward for a lot of people?"

"But you don't know for sure that that will happen."

"But I don't know for sure that it won't."

"I guess what you have to decide is whether or not you think the outcome of the relationship is worth risking your friendship over."

"I think… I think I need to think some more."

Elise laughed lightly, "You do that." They smiled at each other pleasantly, but the ringing of the doorbell interrupted their moment. Elise sat upright listening for the footsteps of either Fran or Jen, but she heard nothing. She shrugged her shoulders, "I guess nobody else is ready. I'll get it. Sit tight. "

She slowly opened the front door, wondering hopefully if their other guest was Carla. She opened the door and was taken aback by the wide closed-mouth smile she received from the man standing on her doorstep. She stepped back a little and looked down at him, because the individual standing in front of her could not be described as anything other than short. At her not very tall height of 5'3", Elise stood at least couple of inches above the man. She ignored the serial killer smile he donned and studied his attire. He wore a forest green dinner jacket paired with navy blue trousers a little too long for him. His hands were clasped together in front of him. He had long fingernails that made her shudder slightly. His fingers were adorned with a multitude of rings containing garishly large gemstones. She realized she'd been staring and she quickly snapped back to attention.

"Um, hi?"

"Elise Bennet," the strange man's smile broadened and his knowledge of her full name unnerved Elise. "I am delighted to meet you at last. Francissa has talked so much of you. I have been looking forward to this dinner a great deal."

"Um, thanks? And you are?"

"Oh how silly of me not to introduce myself, I thought you might know who I was. Nicoll Collins," he stated, stretching out his hand.

Elise wearily took it, regretting her decision as soon as he had her hand in his sweaty grasp. "Nicole Collins?"

"No, no, not Nicole. Nicoll."

"Um, okay. Great to meet you Nicoll. Shall we head over to the parlour?"

"That would be positively marvelous."

She directed him inside, and followed him into the parlour. As Nicoll sat down, J.W. gave her a look. He then stuck his hand out at the stranger, not noticing Elise's subtle head-shaking.

"Jun Wei Lucas," J.W. announced as his hand was shaken.

"Nicoll Collins," responded the other man, still clasping J.W.'s hand.

J.W. tilted his head slightly. "Nickel Collins?"

"Nicoll, actually," Collins corrected.

"Nice to meet you," J.W. responded, quickly extracting his hand and trying to discreetly wipe it on one of the sofa cushions, causing Elise to squint her eyes at him.

"So Nicoll, how do you know my stepmother?"

"We are recent acquaintances actually. I happened to be purchasing some items from her boutique," Elise raised her eyebrows knowing her mother only created women's fashion, "while she was checking in on the store. She recognized me, of course, and we started to chat."

"Recognised you? From where?"

"Why, from my show, of course!"

"Your show?"

"Oh, how silly of me. I should have realised that my talk show has yet to go international! You wouldn't have seen it whilst in England! You've heard of 'Nicoll Collins Interviews Famous Personalities in Various Domains', haven't you, Jun Wei? "

J.W. nodded a little too vigorously.

"What a catchy name for your show!" Elise exclaimed, plastering a fake smile on her face. "So tell me, who all have you interviewed so far?"

"Well, some of my more notable interviews have been the one with Michele Bianchi – you know, the head waiter at Gualtiero's, the Italian restaurant frequented by all the stars- and Aaron Joseph, Oprah's former chauffeur. But the most recent one- yet to be aired- shall be with Coach Cathy Derbug. She is- well of course you know who she is! I've just come back from spending a week in her life, as part of the report! Oh goodness, that woman. She is something else. The commitment she has to her job and her trainees, and the passionate advice she gives, it's astounding! The recommendations she has made for improving my lifestyle! I have been following her regime so carefully the past few days and goodness I feel healthier already!"

Elise eyed his potbelly suspiciously.

Gentle footsteps were heard and soon Jen had joined the party in the parlour. She greeted everyone, introducing herself to Nicoll and sat herself beside her sister. It seemed that Jen was just as out of the loop as J.W. and Elise, as she looked at the individuals with her with a puzzled expression and asked where Carla was. It was clear that nobody, aside from perhaps Nicoll, had any idea what Fran was planning. Conversation continued in a stunted fashion for a time with J.W. asking the girls about their trip to San Diego and occasional off-topic interjections from Nicoll about his show.

It was 9 o'clock when Francissa and David Bennet entered the parlour. Elise was surprised to see her father home at what was an early hour for him. She supposed Fran had called him repeatedly, harassing him until he finally succumbed.

It was clear that there had been a recent disagreement between the married couple, as although they walked in side-by-side, their bodies were turned away from each other and both wore a sour expression. J.W. and Nicoll stood to greet their hosts.

"Francissa! So lovely to see you again! And your home is absolutely beautiful! I am certain I have seen drapes this exact shade of gold in the home of Coach Cathy Derbug. Her tastes are so refined, as are yours, I'm sure," he gushed.

David Bennet rolled his eyes at Nicoll's speech and raised a single eyebrow at Elise, who sported an amused frown. They sat in the parlour a short while and Nicoll dominated the conversation rhapsodising about Coach Cathy. He asked repeatedly about the tennis facilities and the gym on the Bennet property, He suggested that they add a running track as well, because according to Coach Cathy, exercise outdoors was more wholesome.

The party soon moved into the dining room, and took their seats. Mr. and Mrs. Bennet sat at either end of the dining table. Elise was sat opposite Nicoll and Jen opposite J.W., with the girls on the same side.

"Our Elise is very sporty!" Fran announced once everyone was seated comfortably. "She does… what is it that you do again, honey?"

"Um? What sports do I do?" Elise asked, startled from her daydreams.

"Yes, dear."

"I… um… I used to play badminton. Sometimes I go swimming. When I was in 7th grade I was on the netball squad." Somewhat embarrassed at her lack of sporting prowess, Elise quickly tried to list her athletic achievements.

"Coach Cathy says one should partake in at least 6 hours of exercise per week," Nicoll replied condescendingly.

"And how many do you-"

"-Recommend?" Jen quickly cut off her sister's defiant response.

"I try to get at least that much," Nicoll informed the party, "but as I'm sure J.W. can attest to, we young men in the prime of our lives, have such a great deal of energy and we tend to do even more than that minimum."

Mr. Bennet snorted loudly, but then tried to disguise it as a cough, rather pathetically.

Fran decided that the conversation had better move along and decided to ask J.W. a series of questions. She asked about his first year at medical school and the job prospects he was looking at when he graduated. She then proceeded to ask 'what kind of people' his classmates were and about his circle of friends.

"You're still single, then?" she pried, finally getting to the point.

"Um, yes…" J.W. responded nervously, glancing at Elise for help.

"So is Jenine," Fran announced triumphantly, causing both her stepdaughters to look at her wide-eyed.

"Jenine and Jun Wei… it's such a coincidence that both names start with a J! It's almost… fate!" With the exception of Nicoll, who was nodding in accordance, the rest of the party was staring at Fran completely befuddled.

The rest of the meal passed with Fran encouraging Nicoll to persuade Elise to take up more sporting activities. She went as far as to suggest the pair go to the gym and "get physical together", causing Nicoll to heartily give his assent. Elise tried to disguise her distaste and gave a non-committal answer. Fran's other focus was on J.W. and Jen. She badgered J.W. about his hobbies, desperately looking for anything the pair had in common. When J.W. asked whether the cake served for dessert contained nuts, as he was allergic (a fact which she really should have known after a decade of friendship with his mother), Fran clapped her hands and jumped up.

"You're allergic to nuts? That is so funny!" she exclaimed excitedly. J.W. nodded his head despite his firm belief that anaphylaxis was no laughing matter. "Jenine has a peanut allergy! You two are so alike!"

When at last J.W. announced that he had to leave, causing Nicoll to take his departure as well, Elise waved the two men off from the driveway. She then rushed back inside, letting out a large breath, relieved that the torturous encounter was finally over. "What was Fran thinking?"

A/N:

This is the longest (by a fair bit) chapter yet! So serious props to my beta.

In response to one of the Guest reviews last chapter talking about my description of San Diego: Eek, I'm sorry if my description of the zoo was a wee bit off. I was sure that my friend ended up with a stuffed animal, but maybe she just bought it. If my portrayal of the city was lacking, I would like to place the blame on the fact that most of my time there was spent at the convention centre!

Ok, that's all from me for now. Thanks for reading! Oh, and Ramadan Kareem to those partaking. :)