I'm soooo sorry this took me so long to write. I really struggled over the first 2/3 of this story before it came together. Lot's of brainstorming for this one...I hope it was worth the wait.
A shining purple bruise was gracing her right hip. She hoped the eyesore blooming across her skin would generate some sympathy from William. As compensation for her bruise she'd at least mastered two gentle slopes with the fearsome names of Green Cheese and Moonstruck. Really, she wasn't really sure that Green Cheese counted as a run but her instructor insisted she count it and who was she to argue? Her time on the town hill in Lambton, the bunny hill yesterday afternoon and the three hour intensive with her instructor did seem to pay off. She'd even started to use "french fries" instead of a "pizza wedge." It seemed you really can teach an old dog new tricks, Lizzy laughed to herself. An hour or so spent in a hot tub this evening seemed like appropriate compensation for her efforts. Exiting the ladies room, Lizzy kept her eyes peeled for William and Georgie. The past ten minutes had been spent patiently waiting to meet them for lunch. The grilled cheese, tomato soup and bbq potato chips she spied in the cafeteria had left her mouth watering however. Lizzy was about to give up on waiting when she felt two arms wrapping around her. Turning around, as fast as one can actually move in ski boots, Lizzy was happy to see William beside her.
"How was your morning?" Lizzy beamed.
"Excellent. My sister reminded me she's much more aggressive than me. A few of the jumps she took nearly had my heart drop down to my boots."
Georgiana was grinning, actually smiling, as William spoke.
"Seems like you had a good time Georgie," Lizzy offered.
Her face lost all expression at Lizzy's words. "Oh, um, yea. It was nice to spend some time with my brother and get back on my board." They could've been standing outside for as much warmth as Georgiana exuded. Never one to back down from a challenge, Lizzy continued. "I'm so glad. I can imagine that as long as you're not freezing, the chair lift gives you a good opportunity to catch up too."
"Mmmhmm,"was all the response Lizzy was going to get. William shot a stern look at Georgiana not quite sure how to handle this slight of Lizzy in the midst of the ski lodge. Lizzy was not to be deterred from her good mood however and simply decided to shift her efforts towards William and lunch. "I'm starving and have worked hard. I'm in desperate need for greasy food to balance out all of the fresh air I've gotten this morning."
"You've come to the right place. Greasy food does seem to be their speciality." The three fell in line selecting the appropriate artery clogging offset to their morning exercise.
Regrouping at the checkout line, William spoke, "Georgie, I'm going to ski with Lizzy this afternoon to see what she's picked up from her instructor. Do you want to head out onto some gentler slopes with us?"
Georgie could tell she'd pissed off William and knew she should join them. It would be the right thing to do but would also be incredibly boring. Before she could respond, Lizzy offered a compromise. "Maybe Georgie could join us for a run or two and then head out to some more difficult and likely more interesting parts of the mountain."
Georgiana wasn't going to let this offer go. "I hear some of the trees are open and I'd love to try them out. A run or two sounds perfect."
William hadn't missed his sister's earlier cold shoulder to Lizzy and was actually relieved she seemed willing to join them for a few runs. It was a reasonable compromise and he appreciated Lizzy's willingness to grant them a way forward.
An hour later the three Darcy's sat quietly on a lift. A fourth rider joined them and seemed determined to strike up a conversation with Georgiana about different runs and the terrain parks. William witnessed her reticence with this fellow snowboarder and was relieved that she didn't seem any friendlier to a stranger than she was to Lizzy. Of course it was Elizabeth who jumped into the fray with this rider and eased the way for all four of them as they rode up the mountain.
They'd agreed to start off on the two runs Lizzy had spent much of her morning on. Georgiana started immediately down the hill while William hung back and watched Lizzy get herself oriented. She didn't wait long as she'd already realized that the anxiety of standing at the top of the hill was worse than simply going down it. William watched from behind and when he wasn't distracted by her cute bum, he was truly impressed by the progress she'd made with her instructor. She didn't go quickly but seemed to at least feel comfortable making her way down the slope without too many stops. As they got to the last turn William shot ahead so he could film her descent to the bottom on his phone.
"That was fantastic Lizzy! I can't believe how much you've learned already. I'm suitably impressed." William wrapped his arms around her almost lifting her off the snow. His grin spread broadly across his face as he shared his glee at his wife's accomplishment. Georgie had been standing at the bottom of the hill for forever. She had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes at the enthusiasm Will was expressing over Lizzy's slow glide down a gentle rolling hill. Lizzy on the other hand was soaking up the praise. There were so many instructions to keep straight but really she just didn't want to fall on her backside and slide down the hill arms and legs flailing. Fortunately, William's enthusiasm for her meager progress seemed to recharge her. She realized she loved seeing his glee and wanted to do what she could to repeat it.
Setting her back down on the snow, William turned to his sister, "Pretty impressive how quickly she's picked up on skiing isn't it."
"Um yea. Nice work Lizzy." Georgie offered in lukewarm tones. After pausing she decided to try and break free from the forced family time. "Hey I was thinking of heading over to the top of WhiteCap. I heard the trees are open there and I'd like to give them a try before the light gets too bad. Do you mind?"
"Oh sure. Why don't we meet back at the condo around 4? We can hit the showers, enjoy a little après ski and relax before dinner." William had already planned this suggestion figuring Georgie would want to separate as soon as possible. He'd hoped she'd stick around for more than one run but in reality, he really did want to spend some time alone with Lizzy and this would give them a little time together before the three of them regrouped.
Somehow William had convinced Lizzy to try her first blue. It was actually easier knowing that Georgiana was no where close by when she made her first attempt. Reminding herself that she always rose to a challenge, Lizzy faced the top of Moonstruck, which was marked a blue before it connected with the easier way down from Green Cheese. William's gentle encouragement from behind truly did help. He was cautious not to correct her overmuch and it was a relief to feel her muscles finally beginning to understand what was expected from them. One more run and she was ready to head back to the lodge however.
Trailing behind her, William had become fixated on Lizzy's cute little bum. Getting her back to the lodge before Georgie returned was becoming a bit of an obsession. He had no problem quickly agreeing to Lizzy's suggestion they head in a little after two. Removing her ski boots Lizzy was unable to repress a moan escaping from her lips as she wiggled her toes. William had been happy to help Lizzy remove her various layers and showed an appropriate amount of sympathy for the bruise on her right hip. A slow massage of her newly tired muscles quickly led to more intimate activities. Lizzy had become more forthright in the bedroom much to William's satisfaction. He was still amazed at how quickly their relationship had transformed in a matter of less than three months and had not a moment of regret. Three months ago there wasn't an inkling in his mind that he could be this happy. Reluctantly, William agreed they needed to get out of of bed before Georgie returned. It was one thing to be with his wife all alone or sleeping side by side during the night, and an entirely other thing for his 15 year old sister to walk into the condo in the middle of the day to find her brother laying about in his birthday suit. A few tantalizing kisses almost melted his resolve but he manfully pulled himself from the bed to head off to a shower.
Lizzy had begun to doze while William was in the shower. He decided to let her rest and, leaving a note on the bed, made his way down to the bar/reception room of the lodge. Beer in hand he settled by the fireplace to wait for Georgie while checking email and reading some Pemberley reports. He was woefully behind and knew he had several hours of work to put in before the upcoming board meetings. His last semester of law school would not be relaxing as he was already being pulled into a variety of pressing issues for the company. The board understood his father's directives about school and he'd been fortunate that family and senior staff had been able to fulfill many responsibilities towards the sprawling enterprise. Once he graduated however, he'd be expected to jump in with both feet. They'd already been pressuring him to make a trip to Tokyo before the next semester started in late January. He'd need to speak with Lizzy about the trip. Given her immigration issues she wouldn't be able to join him in Japan but hopefully in the future she would travel with him from time to time. He didn't like the idea of leaving her for a week or two at a time.
Lizzy had been emerging from a lovely dream when she heard a voice calling out. "Will? William I'm back."
It was Georgie's voice and Lizzy, a bit disoriented from her afternoon nap realized a little too slowly that she was quite undressed and still in bed. Rolling over she saw it was a little after 4. Quickly throwing on a bathrobe she stumbled out to the living room. "Hi there. I must have fallen asleep from all of that fresh air."
Startled to be confronted by Lizzy, hair askew and noticeably disoriented, Georgie attempted to ignore Lizzy's state and continue with her objective. "Oh hi. Do you know where my brother is?"
Looking quickly around Lizzy also observed that there was no sign of William. "Um, I don't know." She walked back towards their room and spied the note sitting atop his pillow. "William left me sleeping and went downstairs by the fireplace. I need to hop through a shower but will probably go down in about 30 minutes. What are your plans?"
She was disappointed to have missed her brother. "I guess I'll do the same. I'll meet you both down there when I'm ready." Georgie agreed, quickly slipping off to her room.
Dinner for the three of them was actually pleasant. Georgie had enjoyed herself and during the day and it seemed to help the evening go more smoothly. They made their way back to the suite settling themselves in the small living room by the fireplace. Lizzy's nap had recharged her and she was bursting with energy. "Ok, let's play a game. I found this box of conversation starters here in the room and it might be fun to try them out. First one you've both heard before. If you're stranded on a desert island name three things you would take with you."
William groaned, "Really Lizzy? You want to do this?"
"C'mon. It'll be fun. We have the evening before us. I'll go first if you want."
"Ok, what would you bring?" William decided he should support this attempt otherwise they'd likely sit in silence and he knew Georgie wouldn't be helping them along. He appreciated Lizzy and her desire for them to make progress.
"I'd bring a blank journal, writing and drawing implements and, hmmm, a copy of my favorite book of all time."
"And what would that be?" William teased.
"Definitely Pride and Prejudice. The best book ever written." Lizzy said with a broad smile.
"You are so impractical. I'd bring a tent, a water purification system and a Leatherman." William answered.
It was Lizzy's turn to groan, "You're not supposed to be practical in this. It's supposed to tell something about your personality...about what's important to you!"
"Those items would be incredibly helpful for survival and that's pretty important to me. Besides, I could use the Leatherman tool to whittle. I could make things I need and it would entertain me too."
"Whittling? Is this an untold talent?" Lizzy teased.
William returned her easy smile, "No but I always thought it would be a good thing to do if I had hours of free time. I'd imagined that on a desert island I'd have lot of free time during the heat of the day and there'd be coconuts or something I could carve. I'd need something to keep myself occupied. I'd always hoped that I could be creative if I had spare time to devote to it." Pausing they looked over at his sister. "So, what would you bring Georgie?"
Georgie had been watching the banter between them and hadn't expected the question to be directed towards her. "What?"
"Three things Georgie. What would you take to a desert island?" William asked a smile across his face trying to encourage her participation.
She couldn't help but be surprised but also pleased to be pulled into their conversation. "That's easy. Mint, of course, my old cell phone and a solar charger for my phone."
He should've known. "What about Lamby? Could you sleep without him?"
Georgiana turned three shades of red, thoroughly embarrassed by the reference to her favorite childhood stuffed animal. Turning to Lizzy, William began to tease his sister, "Georgie always slept with two stuffed animals, originally named Lamby, for her stuffed lamb and Snowy, for a stuffed snowman. We couldn't go anywhere if she didn't have those two things with her. At one point, Mrs. Reynolds needed to reattach Snowy's head as it was holding on by a string." He was about to continue when a pillow made contact with the side of his head.
"Nice one Georgie. He totally deserved that. If you want to divulge one of his secrets its fair game after he dished on your stuffed animals." Lizzy urged.
Georgie was about to join in when she remembered she wasn't supposed to like Lizzy. How could she spill one of her brother's secrets to this intruder. Switching tactics she decided to extract herself before she said too much. "I had a long day boarding and am pretty wiped out. I think I'm going to get ready for bed and read for a bit. Do you mind?"
William was disappointed to say the least. He wanted them to spend time altogether but decided to declare the day a win and let it go."No, that's ok. I want to be out for first tracks tomorrow so let's plan on getting up no later than 7 ok?" William offered, giving Georgie a kiss goodnight.
Cuddling on the couch, Lizzy decided they should continue their quizzing and pulled out another card. "If you could be a contestant on a game show, which one would it be?"
"Does Survivor count? You win something right?" William asked.
"I guess that could count but why?"
"Well if I truly hated it, I could be an ass and get voted off the island pretty quickly. But if I liked it I think I'd be pretty good at the challenges and could possibly win," William smiled cheekily.
Lizzy rolled her eyes."Leave it to you to have a contingency to lose the game. They'd probably keep you on even if you were a jerk just for the entertainment value. It'd be good for ratings."
"Hadn't thought of that. Well I'm smart enough. I could figure a way out."
"Ok. Mr. Smug. I'd go for something way simpler: Wheel of Fortune. I love crosswords and always know the answers before anyone else. Besides, its so 'All American.' It's one of those shows that 5 year olds and 90 year olds can enjoy."
"That's my All American girl" William teased as he pulled her in close. It was clear that quizzing time was over as William began to nibble on her neck. Lizzy sighed into his hold and turned so she could give as well as receive. "I think Georgie had the right of it and we should head towards bed."
"I knew my sister would get something right." William whispered back.
The following day proceeded much the same as the first, with Lizzy making good progress in the morning with her instructor and the siblings exploring some of the more challenging terrain on the mountain. William finally admitted he had a tremendous amount of work piling up and needed to attend to it if he'd be ready for his upcoming board meetings in New York. As such, the girls were left to their own devices for the late afternoon and evening. Dinner was a quiet affair with Lizzy asking all of the questions and Georgiana giving short responses. "At least she's responding and not ignoring me," Lizzy mused. They found an old movie on TV, "Good Will Hunting" which they could both enjoy given the familiar landscape of Boston while William worked through the evening.
It was their final full day on the mountain and William was hoping the three of them could finally spend some time on the slopes together. Georgie had a few runs she wanted to hit again and they agreed that William and Lizzy would spend the morning together while Georgie went off. Then perhaps they could all go out together after lunch. After settling on times and places they headed off in their various directions.
It was lunchtime when they regrouped on the mountain at North Peak Lodge. Georgie couldn't wait to tell her brother about the tricks she'd done in the park but William was clearly distracted by something. "Will I had the best morning. You should've seen me. I'm so glad I had my helmet cam on. I can't wait to show you the videos."
"Oh, um, good. I'm glad." Will answered, his eyes glued to his phone.
"Will, are you paying attention? Maybe we could go back over to the park. I want to show you my moves." Georgie tried again.
"I don't think I can go and Lizzy's not up to the park. She did really well by the way. She's a complete natural. I can't wait for you to see how quickly she's picked up skiing." Will replied finally pulling his eyes from his phone.
Georgie was annoyed. Lizzy this and Lizzy that. He simply didn't care about her. Storming off to get her lunch, Will stared after her at a complete loss as to what was wrong. Didn't she just say she had a great morning? It was only a moment later when Lizzy returned with an overflowing tray of food. "I decided to get a bunch of different stuff for us to share. Hope you like what I picked."
"Thanks babe for getting the food. I'm sorry I've been so distracted with work. I think I may need to head back down to the lodge to take care of some things. I have an urgent message here from my uncle about the deal in Tokyo that I think I need to handle this afternoon."
"I understand. You're in the early days of taking things over. It's going to be hectic." Shrugging her shoulders she leaned in to give him a quick kiss and looked up at him, "I wish they'd wait until you graduated but life doesn't always work the way we want it to. Do you think Georgie would want to do a run or two with me? I'm not quite ready to go back and maybe a little time together might help."
"You don't mind?" William asked, his eyes continually drawn back to his beeping mobile device.
Turning his face back towards hers, she assured him,"You'll be much better off if you just deal with the issues now rather than spend the afternoon worrying. We can manage a few hours without you."
"You're the best. Thank you." He leaned over to give her a kiss, one that became a little too heated for the middle of the lodge. It was at this moment that Georgie came over. Attempting to hide her feelings of disgust for the fool her brother was making of himself, she set her tray down a little loudly hoping to get their attention. It was Lizzy's turn to be embarrassed. William was a passionate guy but she understood his little sister may not be so excited to see it on display.
Looking up to see his sister, William attempted to quickly shift mental gears. "So Georgie, I need to head back to the lodge to handle a few things. It'd be great if you and Lizzy could take a few runs together. I'd love it if you could use your helmet cam to take a video or two of Lizzy skiing." William suggested as they ate.
"You're not coming with us this afternoon?" Georgie was deflated. He really had no interest in spending time with her. He'd already spent the whole morning with Lizzy and now he wanted her to follow his wife around the mountain filming her while he was off doing who knows what at the lodge.
"I can't. Uncle Henry's been emailing me all morning and I need to hop on a call this afternoon. It'll be fun for you to show Lizzy some of the mountain anyway. I'll try to wrap things up quickly so that maybe we can get a few runs in together. I'll try to be done by 2:30. I can radio when I'm ready," William suggested. As soon as William was done eating he waved goodbye and headed towards their lodge. He'd have to see if he could maybe spend a hour or so with Georgie at the park. She was being a good sport and he wanted to spend some time with her before they went back to Boston.
With the two of them sitting alone, it didn't take long for Lizzy to determine that Georgie was in a terrible mood. She decided to not push it and the two finished their food in silence. Once on the slopes, Georgiana reluctantly agreed that Lizzy had made good progress. Her sister-in-law wasn't painfully slow on the blues they went on but Georgie was getting bored nonetheless. She was trying to work out a way to get them over to some new runs. Georgiana wanted a little variety. Besides, she wanted Lizzy to see how far she still had to go if she really wanted to be any good. These runs were too easy.
Lizzy was ready to let Georgiana dictate where they'd go. If that was what it took to win her over, Lizzy was willing to try it. They found themselves on the top of White Cap, a mountain Lizzy thought she'd be comfortable with given some of the first runs she'd done had been on the lower part of this mountain. She'd gotten off the lift and spent a few minutes adjusting her boots and clothing before looking around to find Georgie. To this point, she'd allowed Georgie to pick the runs and she followed along. Eventually, Georgie would wait at some midpoint and follow her down the rest of the way. Lizzy finally spotted Georgie heading towards the left and she hurried to try and catch up. She was about 100' or so down the slope when she realized it was definitely not an appropriate run for her. The two black diamonds and the name, Shock Wave, were signal enough let alone the drop looming in front of her. Lizzy was desperately trying to figure out how to get herself back to the lift so she could find a more appropriate run for her skill level. "Stupid," Lizzy chided herself for blindly following Georgie without taking note of her surroundings. She was trying to slowly climb up the mountain, side stepping up the hill like William had shown her, when a snowboarder nearly bowled into her. The near miss caused her to flinch and that was all it took to knock her off balance. Before she could catch herself, Lizzy's ski tips were pointed straight down the slope. Her descent began with a vengeance and Lizzy was feverishly running through all of the instruction she'd received over the past few days. She just needed to at least try to get herself sideways before she picked up too much speed, then maybe she could slow herself down. It was no use however and it only took a small patch of ice and a curve in the trail to find herself hurtling towards the trees.
Georgiana thought she might have seen Lizzy following her but hopefully her sister-in-law wasn't stupid enough to follow her onto this trail. She decided to stop for a few minutes on the side, just in case. Waiting almost ten minutes with no sign of Lizzy, she decided to continue her ride, figuring she'd meet Lizzy at the lift. "She's smart enough to figure out how to read a trail map and make it back to the lift, right?" Georgie convinced herself. Waiting at the lift, she began to wonder if Lizzy did know where to meet her. They hadn't really spoken since they'd gotten on the last lift. A blast of noise came from her walkie-talkie.
"Georgie, are you there?"
"Yea, Will, I'm here. What's up?"
"I finished my call and want to meet up. Where can I find you?"
"I'm at the White Heat quad. Take the White Cap Lift up and you can meet me." Georgie hoped that Lizzy would find her way here before William arrived. She was a little annoyed that Lizzy hadn't come yet. She was getting cold standing around waiting and didn't want to deal with her brother if she wasn't here when he got to the lift. It didn't help that she had a nagging sensation that Lizzy might have followed her onto that last run but why would she do that?
It actually didn't take long for William to arrive. Hopping on the singles line he got right onto the lift and it was a short run to the White Heat Quad. "Hey Georgie. How's it been going? Did Lizzy head in for the day?"
Looking around Georgie was finally a bit worried. She hadn't seen her in ahwile and it was a bit concerning. Biting her lip, she finally admitted, "I'm not sure." It came out as barely a whisper and William asked again. A bit louder this time she said, "I'm not sure. We got separated on the last run."
"What do you mean you got separated? What run were you on?"
"I wanted to do something a bit more challenging so I took Shock Wave." She'd kind of been hoping William would see her on that last run and it would all be fine.
"Wait, did you take the White Heat Quad up together?" William asked incredulously. Any experienced skier knew that there were only expert slopes off this chair, the lone blue was really an escape route for the less experienced who found themselves on this lift by accident.
"Yea. We wanted to try something different and there's the one blue that she could take while I could do some more fun stuff. I'm sure she's fine." Georgie wasn't 100% convinced as she hadn't explicitly told Lizzy where to go. That said, given how everyone was so enamored with how smart and quick Lizzy is, surely she could figure it out.
"Georgie, when was the last time you saw Lizzy? What was the plan for you two to meet up?" William asked, trying to pin down his sister with some specifics. He didn't like how evasive she was being.
Chewing on her bottom lip, Georgie tried to respond sounding totally calm and confident, "It's been a bit. I don't know, maybe 45 minutes or so? We didn't talk exactly about the plan. I just figured we'd meet up here. Maybe I took too long and she decided to head back or she ended up at the wrong lift. I'm sure we can meet up with her later at the lodge."
William figured his sister must be right but it didn't feel right. He decided to take the lift up with Georgie thinking maybe Lizzy was waiting up there trying to still figure out how to get down. He checked his phone to see if she'd called but there was no reception. "Too bad she didn't have a walkie-talkie too. I'll have to buy a second set for next time," he said to himself.
They were in line for the lift when a few members of ski patrol skied over. William could just hear them talking to the lift operator.
"Hey Gus, we need to cut in line and get up top. We got a call for some extra hands on Shockwave."
"Oh yea? What's up?"
"Some girl took a header into the woods and they got three guys over there but they need some help getting her out."
"Geez, go on up. I hope she was wearing a helmet." The lift operator grimaced.
William turned to Georgie who was steadfastly looking at the ground. "Georgie, what run did you take?"
"Um I think it was Shock Wave. The conditions were great. Just a few patches of ice but overall really nice and nothing I couldn't maneuver around."
William's stomach dropped and a sick feeling began to overtake him,"Are you sure Lizzy didn't follow you there?"
"Why would she do that?" Georgie answered a little weakly.
"Why indeed?" He answered hopefully.
In a small world event I was skiing in NH today and over lunch ended up sitting next to a guy who is on the EMS team for Sunday River. I was able to chat with him about a few of the last bits and had to come back to re-write a bit. Strange right? At any rate, sorry for a bit of a cliffhanger but I have a very long flight to California tomorrow so I'll have plenty of time to write so I hope to not leave you hanging for too long.