All right! Here's the next chapter! Hopefully this story isn't going too fast, or too slow :/ I just realised that this story is almost reaching 80 reviews! Thank you so much everyone. I really never expected anyone to read this story so this is a really nice surprise for me :) Hope you all enjoy this chapter and I'll see you guys at the bottom of the chapter!

- 2 weeks later -

Over the course of these two weeks, the seven friends had fun. For the first time in months, they'd actually gotten to know one another. Charles likes to sleep in on a lazy day. Herbert snores really loudly at night. Joseph loves a rainy day. Harry likes walking around the house barefoot. Jim doesn't like reading the newspaper. Clara is a neat freak. Elizabeth sings in the shower. All sorts of quirks.

The seven of them were sitting around the sitting room, drinking tea and making jokes like they normally did when the doorbell rang. "Mmm, I'll get it." Elizabeth swung her legs off Jim as her legs were on his lap moments before. She went to the door and opened it to see Albert.

"Oh, Albert! Come on in!" She couldn't help but notice that he was staring into space. "Albert? Are you all right?" Elizabeth waved her hand in his face. "What? Oh. Yes. I came to tell you something."

"Well come on in. We're all in the sitting room." Elizabeth brought him in. The room that was full of chatter looked at Albert. "Take a seat anywhere." He sat on the single seat next to Elizabeth.

"I'm not going to sugarcoat this, princess. Georg…Well…He passed on last night." Albert looked away awkwardly. Elizabeth smiled slowly fell and she looked at him in disbelief while Clara gasped.

"Are…Are you sure?" She asked. Albert nodded. "I am so sorry, princess. But I-"

"When's the funeral?" Elizabeth asked in a low voice. "You can't go." Albert's voice suddenly became serious. "And why not?" Elizabeth crossed her arms. "Are you kidding me? It's at the manor. They'll just bring you back to marry Jasper and the escape would've been meaningless."

Elizabeth didn't even need to think. "I'm going one way or another Albert. This is my grandfather we're talking about. I'm going to his funeral."

Albert pondered about it for a while. "Fine. But you've got to be careful. It's tomorrow at nine in the morning, so I'll swing by and pick you up at half past seven." Albert stood up and gave her a quick hug before leaving the house.

Elizabeth stood at the door as she watched the black car drive off. Jim hugged her from behind. "Are you okay?" He asked her softly. Elizabeth nodded absent-mindedly, but shook her head as she hung it low, pinching the bridge of her nose, fighting back tears.

"Come here." Jim turned her around and embraced her. Elizabeth started to cry and hugged him back. Clara let a few tears slip down her cheeks as she and Harry went upstairs.

- The Next Day -

- Elizabeth -

Elizabeth could barely get enough sleep the night before, tossing and turning in her sleep. Jim insisted on following her and Clara only chose not to go because it'd make it that much riskier to go.

Albert came just as he said he would and picked the young couple up. The hour ride back to house was a long and quiet one. Elizabeth said nothing, staring out of the window. Jim held her hand in his and wiped away an occasional tear from her face.

When they reached the house, they saw that there were many other automobiles, with men and women of high society stepping out, all decked out in their black suits and dresses. Elizabeth and Jim told Albert to swing by in an hour or two and got out. They tried to blend in as she walked through the house quietly, behaving as a rich couple would.

Elizabeth put her hair up in a bun and borrowed a black dress, gloves and a hat that hid almost a quarter of her face from Gayle. The red lipstick painted on her lips looked uncharacteristic, adding to the disguise. Jim, on the other hand, borrowed a black suit from Jude and had his hair slicked back. The pair was almost unrecognizable.

They made their way to the familiar backyard, trying their best to avoid any contact with other people. Claiming two of the seats in the last row of chairs, they held each other's hands, waiting for the funeral to begin.

Elizabeth noticed from the corner of her eye as Jasper escorted Diana to the front row, wearing a grieved expression on his face that she recognized to be fake.

A pastor then entered the area and stood in front of all the guests, reciting a few paragraphs from a book in his hands, which Elizabeth and Jim couldn't be bothered with. After which, several eulogies were read out and guests extended their condolences to Diana for the loss of her husband.

Elizabeth glared at Diana from under her hat as the older lady shed tears and spoke of her undying love for her late husband. Elizabeth knew that Diana didn't mean a word she said and was only lying to get the sympathy of the guests.

Shortly after, the guests went into the house to the buffet table set up inside to have some food. Elizabeth nudged Jim lightly. "Let's go. Albert should be here already." She said in a low voice. He subtly nodded and gestured for her to stand up first.

Elizabeth walked out and accidentally bumped into someone, causing her hat to drop onto the lush grass. "I'm terribly sorry, Miss…" The man said as they both bent down to pick up the hat. They made eye contact and his eyes slowly widened.

"Elizabeth?" He seemed shocked. "Jasper!" Elizabeth gasped, putting a hand to her mouth as Jim helped her up, taking the hat back from Jasper. "What are you-Elizabeth, now that you're back, we-"

"We have to go now. Excuse us." Elizabeth clutched her black purse tightly and held Jim's hand as he put the hat back onto her head. She was about to walk off when Jasper latched his hand onto her arm, not willing to let her go.

"Where do you think you're going?" He growled almost. "That's none of your business." Jim swatted his hand away, pulling Elizabeth closer to him.

"She is my bride to be. Of course it's my business." Jasper narrowed his eyes. "Not anymore." Elizabeth fought back a smirk as she held up her left hand to show the ring on her ring finger. Jasper's eyes widened as he slapped Elizabeth across the cheek, causing her to stumble backwards into Jim's arms.

"How dare you lay your hands on her!" Jim punched Jasper in the face so hard he fell to the ground. Jim secretly thanked all those fights he got into as a seaman for his familiarity.

Jim put his arm around Elizabeth's shoulders when Jasper pulled him back by his collar and shoved him to the ground, kicking him in the side, as well as the face. This all seemed too familiar to Elizabeth as she intervened this time, turning Jasper to face her and punching him in the cheek with as much strength as she possessed. Her bony knuckles made him shriek in pain and caress his face, since it was the exact same spot Jim had punched him earlier. She yelped as well, as it hurt her knuckles.

"Let's go!" Elizabeth quickly held Jim up as they started to walk away. Jasper suddenly yelled out an order and from nowhere at all, two burly men in black suits appeared. "Not this again." Jim groaned. Elizabeth would've laughed if it weren't for the circumstances.

As one of the men was about to his Jim, he fell sideways and revealed Albert, holding a stick in his hands. "What are you two waiting for? Go!" He yelled, running towards the other man who was helping Jasper, hitting him in the head before ungentlemanly spitting on Jasper's shoes. He then followed Elizabeth and Jim who were running across the lawn. Jim had Elizabeth's black heels in his hand.

A few more men, as they barely made it to the car, were chasing the three friends. "DRIVE!" Jim and Elizabeth yelled at Albert at the same time.

While all this was going on, Jasper watched from the garden, wiping blood away from his lips. "You all are going to pay. One way or another." He snarled, storming away angrily.

- An hour later -

They reached the house and Albert told them to go up first. Jim had an arm around Elizabeth as she supported him. Bonnie, who was coughing nearby, entered the room and her eyes widened at the sight. Elizabeth asked for some medication and she gave it to her.

The pair then went into Elizabeth's room and sat on the bed. In a hurry, Elizabeth was flustered trying to put the medication together. Jim put a hand on hers. "Take your time." He smiled softly at her.

Elizabeth half-smiled at him and scooted closer to him, so much so that she wrapped her legs around his waist, using some cotton to apply medication to his swelling, red cheek.

Jim grinned as he looked at her, frowning when he saw that her cheek, too, was starting to turn red from when Jasper slapped her. He lifted a hand and gently caressed her face, causing her to flinch slightly and look him in the eye. "What?"

"This must hurt." He looked directly at her left cheek. "It's nothing compared to yours." She finished applying the medicine. She smiled at him. Jim moved forward and kissed her on the lips. Elizabeth kissed him back and pulled apart a while after, giggling.

"What's so funny?" He asked. "Your lips are red!"

I'm having my own take on a funeral, as I've never been to one, and due to cultural differences with funeral procedures, let's just take this as a proper funeral. I also tried to add in as many 'cute' scenes as I possibly could in this 'sad' chapter. I honestly really like Georg but when you're old, you're old. Death is inevitable :( Anyway, according to my estimate, this story will have 4, at most 5 more chapters. Thank you all for sticking with me for so long!

Now to thank the people ( the person ) who left a review! Thank you to chloe for your review!

chloe : Thank you for your review! Thank you for your kind words and your confidence in the sequel! I really hope you do like it. Will is still kind of a touchy subject for me, since I really did like him. I'm sure in real life he was as nice and gentlemanly as described :) I like writing on Harry and Clara! I think ever since the start of this story, Clara has really grown as a person during her time with Harry. Have a good exam period xD

To everyone else, I hope you all are enjoying the story as well! Have a nice day and review if you liked the chapter! :D