Previously: Mr. Bennet instructs Bingley to deceive Jenine and keep an eye on her in China. There was also some fluff.

11

"Dude, I am in some serious shit," Bingley announced as he slammed open the front door of the guesthouse. He was surprised to see Darcy sitting next to Elise on the couch and more than a little embarrassed at her hearing his outburst.

Both Darcy and Elise looked at him with expressions of concern. Darcy noted that it looked as if Bingley had been pulling his hair out as he looked at the ginger nest atop his friend's head.

Elise realised that her presence was now unwanted. "Oh… I should be going. I better get back to the house… to… you know… do stuff." Neither of the two men seemed to notice her fumbling and she quickly snatched up her laptop and made her exit.

"What the hell's going on, Bingley?" Darcy asked with his brow furrowed.

"I feel as if I just made a pact with the devil… except not the devil… Mr. Bennet… and oh gosh, I really like Jenine… but this is the end… I've killed it… I can't lie to her… but it's my job…" he rambled incoherently.

"Whoa, dude. Slow down. All I got out of that was that Mr. Bennet is the devil and that you killed Jenine. Which is just weird. So explain what happened, slowly… Did Mr. Bennet walk in on you guys?"

"Walk in on…No!" Bingley replied frustrated, "Nothing like that." Bingley dropped down on the sofa beside Darcy.

Charles squashed his cheeks together with the palms of hands in frustration. He looked so comical that Darcy would have laughed had he not be extremely concerned at the sight of the normally happy-go-lucky Bingley suddenly so very unhappy. Darcy stayed silent while he waited patiently for his friend to begin.

"You know how I was in limbo about whether or not I was going to accompany Jen to China?"

"Yup," Darcy confirmed.

"Well, we went to go see Mr. Bennet to find out his decision."

"Right."

"Ugh! I thought I was going to get a simple yes or no answer. Actually I thought I was going to get a simple yes answer, but instead when I get there Jen totally blindsides me and basically tells her dad she doesn't want me around! I know we weren't actually dating or anything, but I thought she liked me… I thought she'd want me to go with her… I thought she liked having me around…" He slumped forward as he explained, a dejected expression on his face.

Darcy patted his friends back comfortingly. "Charlie, I'm sure she likes having you around… maybe she just doesn't like having a bodyguard around."

"Isn't that the same thing?" Charles asked, his brow creasing.

"Well, not really. It's more the idea of a bodyguard that she's not keen on, rather than the idea of you. Remember how at the beginning of this whole stint, Elise gave me a really hard time because she objected to the idea of a bodyguard?"

"Actually, Darcy, I'm pretty sure she objected to the idea of you."

"Oh. Well this is different. It's not that she doesn't like you, it's that she doesn't like you guarding her. You have to believe that, dude, you've seen the way she is with you, why would you think she didn't like you?"

"It's really hard to say how Jen feels about people."

"In any case, I'm pretty sure she feels warm and fuzzy about you. But if you want to know for sure, it's not me you should be talking to…" Darcy smiled at his friend and patted him on the back once more. "There you go, that issue wasn't so hard to resolve after all. There's no need to tear your hair out."

"What? No, dude you don't get it. That's only a very small part of the issue. This whole thing is a much bigger disaster!"

Darcy eyed his friend with concern. Bingley went on to explain Mr. Bennet's decision and his demands that Bingley secretly follow Jen to China. Bingley's agitation grew and his tone became more and more desperate as he went on to describe how uncomfortable he was with deceiving Jen.

When Bingley finished his speech all Darcy could say was "shit."

"I know, exactly, this is some seriously fucked-up-nasty-ass shit."

"Charles, this might sounds real stupid, but… why didn't you just turn the job down?"

"I almost did. Gosh, I really wanted to. But he would just hire someone else to tail her without her knowing, and I felt like it was better if it was me, than someone she doesn't even know."

Darcy rubbed his forehead uncertain about whether his friend's choice had been the right one. He couldn't fault Bingley's reasons, but the whole scheme just didn't sit right with Darcy. He was hesitant to encourage Bingley either way as in the end, Bingley had to come to a decision that he was comfortable with. Darcy grimaced.

"What? You think I'm wrong?"

"No, I guess you're right about you being better than someone she doesn't know at all… bu-"

"Yeah, I think I'm making the right decision," Bingley announced, cutting Darcy off.

Darcy decided not to proceed with what he had intended to say. If Bingley thought he was making the right decision, that was all that mattered. Friends shouldn't interfere, friends should be supportive. If there was one thing he had learned in his life, it was that it didn't help to interfere. Interfering just got you into a mess.

"It's so shitty though, Darce," Bingley continued, looking at his friend glumly.

Darcy smiled at his friend sympathetically. "Hey, we'll figure everything out. I'm sure everything will be just fine."

"Um, hi?" Jen hesitantly greeted an expectant looking J.W. standing on the front doorstep.

"Hey Jen, sorry I took so long!"

"Took so long…? What do you mean?"

"Well, Fran said you needed me immediately but I was just about to get in the shower so I couldn't get here right away." J.W. explained.

"Jun Wei… I have no idea what you're talking about right now…" Jen tilted her head to the side slightly as she looked at him with a puzzled expression.

"Uh… Fran called my house about 40 minutes ago and said you needed me immediately to help you figure out some chemistry project for your students," he began, Jen's puzzled expression making him increasingly uncertain. "I mean, I was a bit confused because I figured Els could help you at just as much as me… is it wrong that I was flattered that you wanted me instead of her? Not that I'm trying to one-up her or anything, I mean we have an element of competition in our friendship but it's all healthy you know? I'm not jealous or anything-"

"Whoa… J.W. ... slow down… First of all, I know you and my sister aren't archenemies. That ended around the time she stopped shooting spitballs at you. Secondly, I teach 7 year olds. They don't even do chemistry as a subject. Our science lessons involve the kids rubbing balloons on each other's heads. And finally I definitely didn't ask Fran to call you… are you sure you didn't misunderstand?"

"Positive. At first I thought she meant Els was the one who needed help, but when I double-checked she said that whole thing about the project with your students, so I was pretty sure she meant you after that."

"Weird. Are you sure it was Fran?"

J.W. gave Jen his best 'bitch, please' face. "I think I know Fran's voice."

"Oh dear lord, it's shrill… definitely no mistaking it," he thought to himself, knowing it was best not voice negative opinions about people to Jen if you didn't want her to gently tell you off.

"Alyssa does pretty good imitations…" Jen suggested. She then remembered the one time Alyssa had tried to imitate an Indian accent but had ended up sounding more like Shrek. "…Sometimes…" she added. "She was probably just prank-calling you or something."

"Yeah… maybe."

"You know what, I'll go see if I can find Fran and Alyssa and find out what's going on. Are you going to stick around or…" Jen trailed off, not wanting to make J.W. feel unwelcome.

"Is Els home? I was going to come by and see her at some point anyway…"

"Yeah, I think she's in her room, I heard her going upstairs a little while back." Jen said turning around. J.W. followed her into the house and went upstairs to Elise's room while Jenine disappeared in search of answers.

J.W. knocked on Elise's bedroom door before tentatively opening it and stepping inside the room. Elise was on her bed, lying on her stomach with her knees bent and her feet in the air as she stared in engrossed at her laptop screen. At the sound of footsteps entering the room, she slowly raised her eyes to see who was there. Seeing J.W. standing at the foot of her bed, waving awkwardly, she scrambled to sit up and quickly slammed her laptop shut.

"Hi," she said, her cheeks pink due to her flustered state.

"Hello. I came by because of some weird confusion between Jen and Fran, and I thought I'd come up here and say hello to you," he explained. J.W.'s curiosity was piqued by Elise's obvious desire to keep what was on her laptop from him. "Whatcha doing?" he drawled, wiggling his eyebrows.

"What? Nothing. Just research."

"Oh, really? Let's see!"

"Oh, I don't think you'll find it very interesting."

"Uh-huh, sure," he said sarcastically. "Elise are you looking at…" he stopped and moved closer to her, whispering in her ear with mock secretiveness "…porn?" He gasped for added effect.

"What?! No!" she slapped her forehead. "Anyways," she began, attempting to change the subject, "what happened with Fran and Jen?"

Although he was not at all fooled by her attempt to steer the conversation away from whatever she was hiding, J.W. decided to let it go for the time being. "Oh, it was weird. I got a call from Fran saying Jen needed my help urgently with some science project for her students, but when I got here Jen told me there was no project and she basically had no idea what I was talking about. She obviously didn't need me so I decided to come hang out with you," he explained, nudging her playfully with his elbow. "Jen's gone to talk to Fran and see what the whole mix up is about."

J.W. looked around the room, having not been in it for some time. An idea suddenly came to him. "Hey, what happened to your shelves?" he asked gesturing at the back wall of her room.

Elise looked glumly at where her snow globe collection had once been displayed. "Well, when I came back from San Diego, I found this huge mess on my floor. All the glass from my snow globe collection was shattered on the floor and the shelves had fallen down and it was just this giant crazy mess," she explained, still staring at the wall.

Feeling pleased with the success of his plan, J.W. smirked and stealthily picked up the laptop without Elise noticing.

"Wait, I thought I told you this before…" Elise said, her head snapping back around to him. "In fact I called you specifically to bitch about Alyssa to you…" Elise glanced down, noticing her laptop now open and in his hands. Before she could reach out to grab it back from him, J.W. leapt from the bed and was standing with his back against the door with the laptop in his hands as he perused the screen.

"Google?" he asked. "This is in no way the scandalous material I was going to find. You're not even searching for boobs. 'Darcy Swimming'? What does that mean? And who is Nick D'arcy, Els?" he demanded as he clicked to see the other tab she had open.

"Not the right guy…" she said, her tone slightly doleful as she recalled the various websites all about some Australian blonde swimmer that was definitely not the Darcy in her guesthouse.

"What's Darcy Swimming, Els, and why didn't you want me to see it?"

Realising that although J.W. had probably seen her bodyguard from a distance, the two men had never been formally introduced, Elise quickly cooked up an explanation off the top of her head. "Well, I'm trying to get fit and stuff and somebody told me about this swimming coach who is supposed to be good called Darcy. I just didn't want you to make fun of me for wanting to get fit?"

J.W. looked so genuinely crestfallen at what she said that Elise felt guilt pricking at her conscience for lying to him. He sat down beside her on the bed. "Elise," he said, his tone sad, "I of all people would never make fun of you for wanting for get fit. I mean… I'm the guy who got called a beanpole for the longest time. I know what it's like to feel uncomfortable in your body, you never have to be embarrassed about this kind of stuff around me."

The guilt really kicked in and Elise wrapped her arms around her friend's shoulders in a hug. J.W. freed his arms and hugged her back. Thinking that the atmosphere needed some cheering up he decided to move away from the topic. He figured if Elise needed someone to talk to, she would come to him of her own accord. "Ok, I don't want us to talk about depressing things, but I just want you to know that I think you're beautiful."

Elise smiled at him, thinking how blessed she was to count him amongst her closest friends. "Thanks," she said softly.

"Anytime," he responded sincerely. "Now tell me, have you ever Googled yourself?" he asked cheerily as he looked down at the laptop in his hands and typed his own name into the search box.

"Uh, no. I don't think so. Is this your first time?"

"Googling myself? No way! I do this a lot. Sometimes the press gets really good shots of me at my parents' fundraisers and stuff, so I always Google myself when I need a new profile picture."

"For real?"

"Yup! And I'm pretty lucky, 'cause like 99.9% of the pictures that come up are actually of me. There aren't exactly a lot of 'Jun Wei Lucas's out there."

"Ooh! That's a good one of you from your parents fundraiser that day!" she said excitedly as she scanned through the photos on the page J.W. had loaded.

"Hmm… yeah… it has potential. I might use it next." He scrolled down looking through the numerous images of himself. Not finding anything, he placed the laptop in Elise's lap. "Here, your go."

Elise typed her name in and waited for the page to load.

"Wow, that's quite a lot of results for your name."

"Yeah I know! I feel like a real celebrity right now. Wow, some of these pictures are random though, that's definitely not me," she said, pointing at an image of a pug sitting on a red cushion. "Let's see what's in the web results." She read through a couple which were related to the research she had been doing in London. Scrolling down through the results Elise swept her eyes over the descriptions until saw one that caused her to raise her eyebrows. She stopped scrolling and hovered the cursor over it.

"This looks… interesting…" she said to J.W.

He looked to see what she was referring too. "Hah! Click it!" he demanded, amused by what she was referring to and keen to see the full article.

The webpage opened and Elise began to read out loud. "Elise and Jenine Bennet to have Double Wedding.'" She paused for effect after reading the title. "'Sources tell us that there maybe a double wedding in the near future at the Bennet household. Both Bennet sisters, Jenine (25) and Elise (24)- Hey! I'm not 24! Stupid article doesn't even know how old I am!" Elise scowled at the mistake.

J.W. decided to pick up reading. "Both Bennet sisters, Jenine (25) and Elise (24) seem to be getting serious with their respective beaus. Jenine has been seen leaving the Lucas residence early in morning after what we can only assume was a steamy night with her boyfriend…Jun Wei…Lucas…" J.W. trailed off as he stared at the article in outrage. "Steamy nights! What the hell?! I'm not Jen's boyfriend! She didn't even come to see me! She came to bring over some candle stand thing and she left within like 10 minutes! She most certainly didn't spend the night. And she wasn't even leaving early in the morning! That was like 10 o'clock!"

Curious as to the rest of the article, Elise took over reading once more. "Elise and her love Nicoll Collins…" Elise choked in her shock. "Nicoll Collins! That man is most certainly not my love! He's gross!" she spluttered.

J.W. took the reigns once more. "Elise and her love Nicoll Collins, host of the hit chat show 'Nicoll Collins Interviews Famous Personalities in Various Domains' seem to have gotten very serious very fast. Nicoll has been spotted at the Bennet family home on more than one occasion and he recently tweeted a photo of a sweaty Elise running on the treadmill with the caption 'running next to her makes my heart run wild.'- Oh wow. That's cheesy.- If that wasn't enough to suggest upcoming nuptials between the two couples, their stepmother Fran practically confirms it in an interview we had with her earlier this week. You can watch her statement in the video below."

J.W. and Elise both looked at each other with shock evident on their faces. "What the hell?!" Elise demanded. She clicked to play the video and Fran's voice played from the laptop speakers. J.W. cringed at the shrill sound.

"Well, I don't want to confirm or deny the rumors, but I can tell you that I am currently working on designing a line of wedding dresses!" Fran told the blonde interviewer on the screen with a cheeky wink.

"Holy shit!" J.W. said with a deep intake of breath. "What the hell is going on? This has to be completely out of context!"

"I have no idea what this mindfuckery is, but I'm going to find the only person that seems to know anything about it!" Elise declared resolutely as she pushed the laptop off her lap and stood. She marched out of the room with J.W. trailing behind her mumbling to himself and pinching the bridge of his nose. Hearing Fran and Jen's voices in the gym, Elise pushed the door open.

"I think we need to talk," she announced.

A/N:

If you Google 'Darcy Swimming', you will indeed find lots of Nick D'arcy. I actually saw him swim on TV, but didn't notice aside from the name because of my eyes being glued to Michael Phelps. (Of course, if a certain Mr. Adrian had been there too, I probably wouldn't have even noticed the name.) Also, posting is probably going to be slow and unexpected because medical school is demanding and it will be restarting soon. This chapter was unbeta'd. Feel free to complain about glaring mistakes.