It was a bit of a push to get this chapter done but I hope you enjoy it. We heading soon to Maine for the wedding weekend so it should be good...

In response to a few questions: Yes in America our kids often start school at 8:00 am. In fact, all three of mine do every day. Aunt Cathy won't learn of the wedding until after it takes place so no worries there. Also, I plan to sit back and revise the entire story once it's done. I'll admit that this is the very first piece of creative writing I've ever done, I'm unbeta'd and I'm posting pretty much as soon as I write so I appreciate the comments. They'll help me revise and rewrite the story once it's done. Your reactions to events also impact the direction/flow and reactions of the characters to events as they occur so keep 'em coming.

I hope you enjoy this installment...

Grey light streamed through the windows waking Lizzy from her slumber. She was so warm and toasty in bed. Relishing the warmth and early light, Lizzy lay contentedly. As she opened her eyes, Lizzy was struck by her surroundings. 'Where was she?' Sitting quickly up she looked around spying William sprawled on the other side of the bed. 'What was he doing here in her bed?' Really, what was she doing in this bed?' Feeling the pressing need to use the bathroom, Lizzy scooted out of the bed, thankful to note her t-shirt and underwear still remained on. Quietly, she closed the bathroom door and rested against the sink, searching her brain for memories of the night before. Spying the toothbrush she'd used, the events of the prior evening began returning to her: the bourbon, the kisses, the plea in William's eyes begging her to stay. It all came back. It wouldn't be fair to entirely blame William or the bourbon. Yes, it had lowered her inhibitions but she also recalled how much she wanted to stay with him. These feelings were still too new and she needed to examine them before she, no they, progressed further.

Walking back into the room she looked over at William, still sound asleep on the bed. He looked rumpled. His hair was in disarray, a light beard was making its appearance. She liked the scruffy look. Quietly, Lizzy opened one of her suitcases and pulled out some fresh clothes for the day. Tiptoeing to the bathroom she closed the door and began to get herself ready.

William awoke to find himself alone in the guest bed. Spying Lizzy's open suitcase, he hoped she hadn't left. He felt terrible taking advantage of her druken state. He'd known they'd both had too much to drink and yet, rather than being a gentleman, he pressed her to stay. Even more, he'd climbed right in bed with her pressing his kisses. It had felt so wonderful last night and now he hoped she'd forgive him. Jumping out of bed, he quickly ran through a shower and pulled on jeans and a sweater for the day. He was pleased to hear Lizzy in the kitchen singing along to the radio as he stepped out of his room.

"Morning Lizzy," William offered sheepishly.

"Good morning," Lizzy greeted him with a smile.

He was so relieved to see her smiling at him. "I'm so sorry Lizzy. I behaved terribly last night. I hope you can forgive me."

She wanted to laugh at the expression of guilt which radiated from his sad face and slumped shoulders. He could so easily remind her of a little boy. "William, I could have gotten a cab home if I'd truly wanted to. I chose to stay. If you haven't noticed, I'm very attracted to you. I just, it just, it scares me a little."

"I understand that and will respect your wishes. Although I will say I slept incredibly well last night." A grin crossing his face.

Turning back towards the stove, Lizzy stirred the pot she was cooking. "Well, given you slept so well, hopefully you can help me with breakfast. I'm just about done with the oatmeal. Can you get the coffee and juice?" Lizzy began spooning out two bowls of the steaming porridge while William got the rest of breakfast together.

Settling down at the breakfast bar, William began quickly eating, "This is delicious. Are those chunks of apple you cooked in the oatmeal?"

"Yup. It's my favorite way to make it. I'm glad you like it."

"If this is how I'm going to be punished in the future for ungentlemanly behavior, I might need to get in trouble more often." William teased.

"Oh if I was upset with you, you'd know it. I'm not subtle." Lizzy admitted. "No, we were equal partners last night so I saw no sense in making us starve. Besides, I think I'm going to like having access to a kitchen, especially with you on clean up duty whenever I cook," she teased.

William picked up their bowls and rinsed them before placing them in the dishwasher. He quickly washed up the pot and looking at the time realized he needed to get to his first class.

"I'm going to head up to campus. Will you walk with me or are you planning to hang here and unpack?" he asked.

"No I have a bunch of work I didn't do last night. I'll walk with you up to the Yard and head over to the library." Lizzy answered.

Making their way to campus they made plans to connect later in the day. William had received a call from his Aunt Sophia suggested they head over to Beacon Hill at 4:00. After meeting with his aunt and uncle, William thought they might grab dinner in the area before bringing the last contents of Lizzy's room to the condo. Going their separate ways for the day, he placed a soft, chaste kiss on her lips and headed to class.

JB: Hey stranger

EB: your one to talk

JB: its a 1st 4 u

EB: true

JB: wanna have lunch and talk

EB: YES! im free at 11:30

JB: C U then at ABP?

EB: perfect

Lizzy was relieved she and Jane were meeting up. She needed to talk through last night with someone. While they had different philosophies about this boys and sex, they were more aligned than most of her friends who seemed quite comfortable with one night stands, or something close to them. This was definitely not a conversation for Charlotte. She'd think Lizzy was absolutely ridiculous and would likely call her a prude. They'd agreed long ago however never to discuss their beliefs in that regard.

Jane was already in line when Lizzy walked in to the restaurant. At 5'9" the leggy blonde was easy to spot. Lizzy joined her in line. "Hey chica. Fancy meeting you here." Jane looked Lizzy over and could see her eyes were a bit dull. "Are you ok?"

"I'll be fine. William's aunt prefers bourbon apparently and she encouraged us both to join her last night. I'll be having a large Coke with my chicken noodle soup. I need the fluids and the caffeine." Lizzy informed her wide eyed friend.

"Bourbon. Well, that'd put me over the edge too. Why don't you give me your cash and find us a table. You look like you need to sit. I'll bring the food over," Jane suggested.

Lizzy found a table by the windows. She'd woken up feeling pretty good but it was clear she was still pretty dehydrated and likely needed more ibuprofen. It took a lot of effort to keep herself from resting her head on the table. Maybe she'd skip her next class for a nap instead. Fortunately it didn't take long for Jane to join her and a few sips of her Coke seemed to definitely ease her headache.

"So, what happened last night?"

"We got back to the condo with my stuff and William's aunt was waiting there for us. She apparently had heard about me from his sister and cousin and decided to investigate the situation for herself. She showed up with barbecue and bourbon intent on getting answers."

"Oh no. Was she upset or mean?"

"Actually, she was incredibly kind. I really like her and I'm meeting William's uncle tonight. They're actually planning to come to the wedding I think."

"That's great! I know you were really worried about how the rest of the family would react after meeting his Aunt Cathy. So how'd you end up spending the night there?"

"After his aunt left, we were both a bit tipsy, from the bourbon of course. I hadn't appreciated how much it would affect me. One thing led to another and he asked me to stay. I really didn't want to leave so I agreed. It didn't get farther then kissing but we did end up sleeping in the same bed all night. You know Jane, I've never done anything like that before."

"Lizzy, you are marrying the man in like three days."

"I know its just that we promised that we wouldn't rush the rest of our relationship just because we needed to get married so quickly. It's not that I don't want to be with him. It's just that I really don't want to screw this up by rushing to the physical stuff without really getting to know each other. It's not that I'm so old-fashioned. It's really more about making sure I totally know him and that it isn't simply our hormones guiding our decisions. Does that make any sense?"

"Yes, more than you can know," Jane groaned.

Lizzy looked at Jane closely and noticed for the first time that she looked a little off. "What does that mean?"

"Oh Lizzy. We're not here to talk about me. Don't worry, I'll be fine." Jane attempted to assure her.

"You know Jane, this friendship doesn't go one way. What's going on?" Lizzy continued to press.

Tears were in the corners of Jane's eyes and she looked positively miserable. "Charlie and I had our first fight. I mean a real fight and I haven't spoken to him since yesterday morning. What really scares me is that I spent the entire day without him and it actually felt good. I liked having my own time. Charlotte and I did some shopping and then I ate dinner at the house and caught up with a bunch of friends. Sometimes I miss doing the things I used to do and yet that feels so wrong."

"There's a lot in all of those feelings Jane. I'm going to get us two hot chocolates and then we can discuss this in depth."

Jane smiled at her friend. She'd really miss Lizzy when she moved out. She hoped they could still talk like this after she was married. Pulling her thoughts together she was worried about telling Lizzy about the argument as it impacted her wedding. It couldn't be helped though.

Returning with two medium hot chocolates, complete with whipped cream, Lizzy sat down across from Jane. "Why don't we start with your argument. Can you tell me what happened?"

"Yesterday morning we were lying in bed. I was talking about this weekend and how excited I was for your wedding. I was telling Charlie how much fun it's been picking things out for your wedding and that I was really enjoying helping you plan it. He got this funny look on his face and started mumbling something that I couldn't understand. I was trying to figure out what he was saying and why he'd gotten so weird towards me when he started to stroke my leg and kiss my neck. I went along with it at first but I could tell there was still something wrong. I tried to stop so that maybe we could talk about it but he didn't want to. It hit me then that every time things got a little uncomfortable between us, we ended up in bed. That's Charlie's way of dealing with difficult things, having sex. So I called him on it and he got upset. Then Caroline called and he answered it...in the middle of our conversation. I was so frustrated. And what made it worse was he told her we were going to Maine with you guys this weekend and she invited herself along. And he didn't tell her no! Even though its your wedding and you don't really even know her or like her. After that I got out of bed, got dressed and left. I haven't spoken to him since."

Lizzy reached over and gave Jane a hug. She felt so bad for her sweet friend. "Has he tried to reach you since you left."

She pulled her phone out and handed it to Lizzy. There were at least 15 missed calls and quite a few texts. "I know I need to call him back but I needed some space and time first. You see, I think we moved too fast. That first week, when I got sick at his place and stayed there, it was so nice having him take care of me. But I think it was now a mistake."

"Do you love him Jane?"

"I really think I do," she sighed, "But I also know that we need to do some things differently if our relationship is going to make it in the long run. I realized yesterday that I need my own space a little. I need my friends still and him."

"You need to tell him Jane. Ignoring his calls will only make things worse."

"I know Lizzy, but I'm worried he won't change. I see it with his family. He avoids all conflict and I'm afraid if I call him back we'll fall back into bad habits. You may not realize this but I'm not so great with conflict myself."

Lizzy had to refrain from rolling her eyes, "Uh, Jane, hellooo. Do you remember who you're talking to? When we first met, it took me three months to get you to disagree with me. Even when I was trying to do it on purpose. It's only six weeks with Charlie so I figure you must really care about him if you're willing to get into a fight with him. Call him Jane."

"But what do we do about Caroline coming this weekend?" Jane asked worriedly.

"What about it? I don't care. She's the one who'll be miserable because I'm marrying the man she's been chasing for years. If Charlie doesn't realize he's going to be dealing with a miserable sister the whole weekend, that's his problem." Lizzy shrugged her shoulders. "Jane, thanks by the way. Whether you know it or not, this talk helped me figure some things out too. Now call him. I'm heading back to our room to take a nap. Call me after class and let me know what's going on, ok?"

"I will. Thanks Lizzy. I'll talk to you soon.

Lizzy couldn't believe how quickly she'd fallen asleep or how late she now was. At least she felt much better. She'd called Darcy and he pushed his aunt and uncle off by 30 minutes, saying they'd arrive at their house by 4:30. It was his aunt's fault she was so hungover in the first place and he assured Lizzy they'd understand.

Seeing him standing at the entrance to the Red Line she was struck at how handsome he looked with his navy blue scarf, charcoal gray coat and jeans. The blue in the scarf set of his eyes. Popping up on her tiptoes she placed a kiss on his lips while wrapping her arms around him. "I'm so sorry for being late. I guess I just can't handle my liquor."

She was breathtaking. Cheeks rosy and green eyes twinkling he could forgive her anything just then. Returning the kiss he said, "I'll have to keep that in mind in the future."

They walked, hand in hand, down the long ramp to wait for the next train. It didn't take long for the next train to appear. "Have you talked to Jane by chance?"

"I had lunch with her today actually."

"Did she say anything about Charlie? I saw him earlier today in class and he looked terrible. When I tried to approach him after class he seemed to quickly disappear. It was almost like he was avoiding me." Shaking his head, "maybe I'm just being paranoid."

"I think I might know why he was avoiding you," Lizzy began to laugh.

William groaned, "Your laughter is not a good sign. Just get it over with and tell me."

"Apparently, Charlie mentioned to his sister that we are all going to Maine this weekend and Caroline invited herself along."

William sighed, "And Charlie couldn't tell her no, I guess. I can't imagine why you think this is so funny. She'd going to be a nightmare to be around as I'm sure he didn't tell her I'm getting married this weekend."

"Perhaps she will be a nightmare but Charlie is going to be the one to deal with it. Not us. He should have told her she wasn't invited and dealt with her whining. Instead, he'll have to deal with her all weekend and the entire car ride back to Boston. He has made his bed and now needs to lie in it." Lizzy said with a shrug of her shoulders.

"You're awfully sanguine about the fact that your best friend Jane will have to deal with her whining as well." William responded.

Now it was Lizzy's turn to sigh. "I'm not so sure about that. I think the other reason your good friend Charlie looked so bad was because he and Jane had a bit of a fight. Based on my conversations with Jane today, it sounds like she and Charlotte will be driving up on their own and Charlie will be driving up with Caroline."

"Poor Charlie," William sympathized.

"Like I said before. He has made his own bed and he needs to deal with the mess he's created. I'm not saying he's solely at fault but he and Jane need to resolve their own issues. The only advice I gave to Jane was that she needed to talk to Charlie and to be honest with him. Otherwise, I'm staying out of it and I hope you will too. It's very tricky having our best friends involved with one another and I don't want it to impact us." Lizzy stated.

He looked over to her again and placed a kiss on her forehead, "You are a very wise woman Lizzy Benetez. I'm glad I found you."

Walking down Charles Street they quickly made their way over to the Fitzwilliam's townhouse. To call it a mere townhouse however, was an understatement. It was a mansion by most standards in some of the most expensive real estate in Boston. "William, this home is beautiful." Lizzy said, a bit uncomfortable with her surroundings.

"It's only a home, that people live in. Nothing more. My uncle inherited this home from his father. He did nothing to earn it except for being born into the right family. Keep that in mind as you reside in any of these places." William reminded her.

Lizzy blushed, realizing how naive she must seem at this moment. Before her thoughts ran away from her the door swung open and she found herself embraced in a hug by Sophia Fitzwilliam. "Lizzy dear, I hear I need to spend more time with you to build up your tolerance for bourbon."

"Oh come now, Sophia. The poor girl knows us barely 24 hours and already you're trying to turn her into a lush. Between you and Cathy, her head will be spinning before long." Extending his hand he took the measure of this young woman quickly. "It's a pleasure to meet you Miss Benetez."

"Thank you, it's an honor to meet you Senator." Lizzy responded.

"If you'll excuse us Miss, I need to speak with my nephew for several minutes. I imagine I can trust you to my wife," he said with a wink.

His manner was disarming to say the least and she instantly relaxed. She could easily see how he might be very successful in politics. Following Aunt Sophia into a lovely family room, she sat down taking in the rich fabrics and upholstery which surrounded her before engaging her hostess in a discussion of her dress and the other wedding plans.

"So William, you're attempting to thwart my sister's plans by marrying a poor, illegal immigrant. Have you lost your mind?"

"I've been waiting for the knives to come out. I guess I just expected them from Aunt Cathy. You could have taken the time to observe that she's a beautiful, intelligent, Harvard college student. That she has succeeded where most haven't because of merit, intelligence and tenacity. You could have taken some time to see that she makes me happy and I very much hope that I can make her happy. And that I was able to find a solution to a problem I didn't create but am stuck dealing with, once again. Thank you so very much for your support!" William's voice was dripping with sarcasm, enraged at his uncle for attacking him.

A broad smile covered the Senator's face.

"I don't see why you're smiling at me." William retorted.

"I'm glad to see that fire in your belly. You're going to need that to withstand Catherine's reactions and those of press. I needed to see it for myself, because I too will need to withstand the public criticism that I'll get from attending the wedding of my nephew to an illegal immigrant. Don't get me wrong. I need the support of the immigrant community to help my re-election, and your Elizabeth is the perfect poster child of everything that's wrong with our immigration policies. Before I put my neck on the line, I needed to be sure. Sorry for poking the bear, but I'm glad to see he's ready for a fight." The senator poured out two glasses of wine and handed one to William. "A toast, to the women in our lives. May they keep us honest and grounded and help us to be better men."

"I'll drink to that." William agreed, not quite sure exactly what had happened to him in the past 15 minutes.

"Alright then, let's return to our women. I can't wait to meet this young woman who has captured the attention, and I dearly hope, future of William Darcy." the senator said as he clapped his nephew on the shoulder.

The next hour and a half passed by quickly. The senator was warm towards Lizzy and she had no difficulty quizzing him on any number of political matters impacting Massachusetts and the US. It was an engaging time and William actually had to pull Lizzy away from the conversation. He'd mapped out a plan for the evening and they needed to stay on schedule.

"Lizzy, it has been an absolute pleasure meeting you. I knew our William would never go for the type of girl who'd only stroke his ego, but you are truly a breath of fresh air. Enjoy your evening." The Senator and Mrs. Fitzwilliam kissed her cheek as they headed out the door. At 6:00 they were walking down Beacon and Lizzy's head was still spinning.

"What was that and where are we going now?" she asked.

"THAT was my family. You were brilliant. Not that I didn't expect you to be, but truly, my uncle was in rare form tonight and he was so engaged with you. If you're half as good at writing as you are at grilling people, you'll be an outstanding reporter Lizzy."

She blushed. Lizzy loved learning about new people, their motivations and principles and she'd taken full advantage of the fact that she was with a US Senator. Not that she wasn't concerned for how William's family would receive her, she just couldn't help herself. "I'm sorry if I was overly aggressive. Sometimes I can't help myself." Lizzy said a bit embarrassed.

"Don't do that. You were wonderful. I wanted them to see how bright and discerning you are and that was certainly achieved. Now, we haven't had a date in a little while so I thought I'd take advantage of the fact that I have you here. You may have noticed that we're walking towards the Common. I thought that we'd do a little ice skating on the Frog Pond and then head over to my favorite restaurant for dinner. What do you think?" William asked.

Lizzy was beaming. He was doing exactly what she'd asked of him. To date, take time to get to know one another, and do the things regular, dating couples do. She couldn't resist and reached up to give him a gentle kiss. "Thank you. That sounds like a wonderful plan. I'm glad I followed your instructions for dressing today. Beware. My father had great hopes that I'd be the first female goalie for the Bruins so I'm pretty talented on the ice."

"I can't wait to see your moves. I'll be watching closely." William said with a grin.

So, a little J/B difficulty to give Lizzy some perspective. What do you think of ODB and his defense of Lizzy? She's going to need it... Comments, perspectives, thoughts...all welcome.