Disclaimer: I own nothing - sad times :(

When the call display on Elizabeth's iPhone lit up, displaying the words "Unknown Number," her heart skipped a beat, dancing slightly faster in her chest, as she crossed her fingers, a habit she had unconsciously been doing for weeks. Ever since Fitzwilliam Darcy had boarded his private jet to Japan, she had held out hope that it would be him calling - like he'd promised. This, like every other time, was a disappointment.

Words cut in and out on the other line, and all she managed to make out was the word "Elizabeth" before the line went dead.

"The other caller has hung up," the smug woman from inside her phone declared - repeatedly.

Elizabeth cursed and threw her phone down on the desk, causing it to skitter along the surface and clatter to the floor. Smiling smugly, she congratulated herself, "Take that. You will not beat me." She knew no one was listening, but just saying the words out loud made her feel pathetic. The truth was the phone had beaten her; for 22 days every time she had received a text, email or call, she had raced to her phone, hoping it was him.

Looking at the phone sitting sadly on the floor, Elizabeth felt a pang of guilt, a sudden flush of embarrassment making her cheeks the colour of ripe, red apples. It wasn't the phone's fault after all; unless of course he'd tried to call and for some reason her phone was blocking it. Resigned to think rationally, Elizabeth let out a deep, prolonged sigh, "Now you're stretching."

Bending down to pick up the phone, she accidently flicked her fingernail against the corner of the desk and cursed loudly, as she shot up and promptly smacked her head.

"Ow! Shit. Come on!" Elizabeth looked skyward, appealing to the almighty. "What do you want from me?" she exclaimed.

With a hand nursing her bruised head, she sucked on her tender finger shaking it rapidly to help expel the pain. This was definitely not her day.

As if in answer to her plea, a thought she had been trying to ignore swam to the forefront of her mind, "Maybe you deserve it."

"Is that what you think?" she looked accusingly at the ceiling again.

Elizabeth had never been religious; Mrs Bennett had tried from a very young age to nourish a healthy affection for the Lord in her daughters, but their father, ever the practical one, had been a rationalist till the end; and as such, until concrete evidence could be presented to him, he refused to let his daughters be led down a path they might not be ready for; there would enough time for that when they got older and they could make the decision for themselves.

Swallowing the lump that had risen in her throat, she choked back tears at the memory of her father, "I miss you Dad," she whispered quietly.

Regardless of whether Mr. Bennett had a religious preference, Elizabeth had always chosen to believe he was in heaven. A heaven filled with endless glasses of scotch on the rocks, books enough to fill the British Library and more Rugby games than he could watch in a lifetime – yes that's where he was now.

A few seconds later, Elizabeth nearly fell of her chair when the silence she had been wallowing in, was disturbed by the unmistakeable trill of the office phone on her desk.

Who would be calling this late at night? They didn't have any events on for a few days, so it couldn't be a stranded delegate; and all of their Clients knew to call them on their mobiles after hours. Who would call now?

She entertained the idea of ignoring it, especially considering it was close to 10:30 at night and whoever it was could probably wait until the morning; but what if it's about William? The night she had spent, three weeks previous, in the hospital by his bedside, had been the worst night of her entire life. Even though she knew that right now William was probably safely at home, running circles around Nanny Gardiner (who had probably been trying to get him into his pyjamas for a good few hours) she couldn't fight the maternal instinct which told her she had to answer the phone, just in case.

Fine.

"Hello, Elizabeth Bennett speaking..." a yawn tried escaped her mouth.

"Li... Liz...e! Is th...y?" the other line crackled again, Elizabeth could barely make out that someone was talking.

"With whom am I speaking?"

"The reception is terrible here, I can hardly hear you. Hang on!" Silence.

Elizabeth was about to hang up when the trademark squeal of her second youngest sister Caitlyn rang through clearly.

"Lizzie! Sorry about that. Ben gave me his phone to use because I couldn't get any signal on mine, but turns out his signal is crap, too."

For a moment Elizabeth could hardly believe her ears. She hadn't heard from Caitlyn in two years. Truth was, she hadn't heard from any of her family apart from Jane and the Gardiners, but it always hurt when she considered that she and Jane had practically raised them.

"Caitlyn. Not that it's not nice to hear from you but..."

"But, why am I calling?" Caitlyn ended.

"Well... yeah," Elizabeth was glad Caitlyn couldn't see her; she blushed profusely at how rude she thought she sounded.

Caitlyn's girly laugh sang through the phone, "I know it's been a long time Lizzie, and I'm sorry."

It wasn't that simple, even if Elizabeth wanted it to be. "It's alright, Kate. So who's Ben?"

If Elizabeth had seen Caitlyn she would have seen the same becoming blush she suffered from on her sister's face, "Oh umm...well actually that's what I'm calling you about."

Elizabeth didn't dare speak.

Caitlyn giggled like a little girl over the phone. "Ben was my boyfriend."

Elizabeth didn't like the use of the word was. "And now?"

"And now he's my fiancé. Ben asked me to marry him, Lizzie, and I said yes. I'm getting married!" Caitlyn couldn't contain her excitement any longer; she practically screamed down the line causing Elizabeth to wince from the pain in her ear.

"Wow..." Elizabeth didn't know what to say; Ben could walk past her tomorrow and she wouldn't have a clue who he was. "Congratulations, to both of you."

"Thanks. Can you believe it, me getting married at 20?"

"Do I get to meet him?"

"You already know him."

That didn't sound good, "I do?"

"Yeh, its Ben Standring."

"Standring? Standring? Why does that name ring a bell?" Elizabeth pondered, trying to flip through her contact list on the phone, as she listened to her sister.

"Lizzie your memory is terrible; Ben is George's best friend." Caitlyn offered with an exasperated sigh.

"George Wickham? My George."

"Not your George anymore, but yes. Can you believe it?"

Although Elizabeth was a little irked at how observant her sister had become, she couldn't help but feel a swell of pride at how efficiently Kate had put her in her place. She was right after all; Elizabeth and George had shared some of the same past, but he most certainly not hers.

"If you want me to sum it up in one word, then no...What has Mrs. Bennett said?"

"OUR mum doesn't know yet."

Elizabeth ignored the put-down by her sister, she was happy not to insult Mrs. Bennett to Kate's face, but there was no way she would ever recognise that woman as her mother. "Why not? If anyone is to laud you with congratulations, it will be her." Elizabeth interjected cuttingly.

On the other end of the line, Caitlyn's breathing hitched and then became shallow. Elizabeth reasoned that that was never a good sign; she was definitely hiding something.

"What aren't you telling me Caitlyn?" Elizabeth said in her most motherly tone; William would come to blush at this tone when he was older.

"Nothing. Ben and I are going to tell her on Thursday at the society picnic."

Elizabeth hmm'd sceptically, "Why wait? She'll be delighted!"

"Lizzie..." Caitlyn said in a tone that told Elizabeth she wanted something.

"Yes," Elizabeth responded in much the same fashion.

"Can I come see you tomorrow?"

Caitlyn had never been to Elizabeth's house. She had never been allowed to visit or form any kind of attachment to William, which was a shame because she knew Caitlyn would love him. This was just one of the mounting list of offensives Elizabeth had against Mrs. Bennett; her younger sisters – Mary, Caitlyn and Lydia – had all promised to come and see her once she was settled in Windsor, but the evil witch had soon seen to it that they were never allowed to visit; and as such, they had never met their nephew.

Elizabeth sensed that nothing good could come of her sister's visit, but for all their separation she still ardently loved Caitlyn – in truth she probably loved her more now because, when they had lived near to one another, she had wanted to kill her interfering and excitable sisters at times.

Sensing Elizabeth's reluctance, Caitlyn pulled her on her heart strings a little more; she was anything if not tactful. "Please Lizzie, I haven't seen you in years, and I really really really want to meet William," Elizabeth tried to refrain from snorting. "Jane tells me he's very handsome; I just know I'm going to love him; besides, it'll give me some practice."

"Practice?" Elizabeth repeated, urging his sister to finish that sentence. "Why would you need practice, Caitlyn?"

"Oh no reason," Caitlyn responded quickly. "Look Ben is coming now, but how about I get to your place about ten?"

"Caitlyn I have to work tomorrow," Elizabeth said exhaustedly. "I can't just blow it off."Her younger sister had never held a job for more than five minutes; she didn't understand responsibility. She preferred to follow their mother's philosophy: "Bringing home the bacon isn't the woman's job. Better to find yourself a man to support you and satisfy yourself with spending his money and cooking his Bacon before you pack him off to work." This almost certainly accounted for why they always had bacon most mornings when they were children – even if Mrs. Bennett hadn't been the one to cook it.

"Pllllleeeeaaaassseeee, Bizzy Lizzy," Caitlyn pleaded; she was definitely her mother's daughter.

"Busy … you're right there."

"Oh come on, please. You are the boss, surely that's one of the perks - blowing off work from time-to-time." Evidently another one of Mrs Bennett's sermons: "If you must work, be the boss – at least then you can blow it off whenever you choose."

"Let me check my diary," Elizabeth flicked through the calendar on her phone, she was determined to find a reason why they couldn't meet: a client meeting, site visit, small event, etc.; but when she saw the photo of William's angelic baby face shining through on her background, it melted her insides. It would be quite nice to let him know his aunty after all.

Not only that, all the things Charlotte had said earlier were haunting her. Caitlyn had made the choice not to see William, whereas Georgiana hadn't. Instantly, she felt her resolve soften and before she knew it, she found herself agreeing not only to meet-up, but offering to make cakes as well.

"Great. Oh and can you message me the postcode; I'll use Ben's new sat-nav to find the way. See you tomorrow." Caitlyn hung up abruptly, before Elizabeth had the opportunity to tell her that Sat-Nav's didn't usually find her house.

"Oh well," Elizabeth thought. "Maybe, if I have any luck, she won't find us."

Unfortunately, Lady Luck was on vacation.

Money buys power, but as the saying goes it doesn't always buy happiness; and that was all Fitzwilliam Darcy wanted.

Leaning on the edge of the infinity pool which protruded from the balcony of his penthouse suite, he let the crystal blue water reflect ripples across his bare chest and angrily threw his phone back into the room, narrowly avoiding the pool, but smashing the display screen.

"Women!" Darcy ground out.

Exhausted, mentally and physically, he bowed his head and for what felt like the millionth time, cast his dark brown eyes over the skyline of Tokyo. It was one of his favourite cities in the world. It was constantly evolving. Some of his best friends lived there, but there was something missing. No, there was someone missing, and that someone made all the difference between happiness and despair.

Georgiana pushed her way through the crowd of people hanging outside of the Sloane Street tube station. Quickly glancing at the address on the scrap of paper for what felt like the 1000th time, she shoved it back into her Alexa satchel and proceeded to head past all the designer boutiques in the area. This area, of any in London, was frequently haunted by herself and her brother, and she thought she knew it like the back of her hand; but upon powering down the streets, she realised that it was familiar from the back of a Bentley, not on foot.

It had been 22 days since her brother Fitzwilliam Darcy had hopped onto his private jet and left the weight of his world resting on her slender shoulders. She had been in turmoil ever since his departure as to how to deal with the revelation that she had been an aunty for the past two years and didn't know anything about it.

Knowing the media storm that would surround the truth about Fitzwilliam's progeny, she kept utterly silent on the matter and had shut herself off from her roommates, friends and even her family, preferring to work out her frustration on canvas. In her humble opinion, it was some of her best work, born from real emotions she had never felt before – that happens when you're wrapped in cotton wool from an early age.

Not able to trust anyone else or turn to her faithful brother, she had suffered from an aching loneliness that had invaded her very protected world. That was until she had found a greater purpose which had brought her here.

Oblivious to the attentive eyes that followed her, she padded along the streets in her Gladiator sandals, rolling through the messages on her Blackberry. Halting at a crossing, she nearly dropped the phone when the song "Hey Soul Sister" rang loudly in her hands; it always made her smile when she heard this song because Fitzwilliam hated it, which is probably why she selected it as the ring tone for him.

Regardless of its sentimental value, she cancelled the call without a second thought and shoved the phone back in her bag and returned her attention to the task at hand. Glancing up at the street signs, she took a left, the second right and slowed her pace to peer at the house numbers as she walked past.

"44, 42, 40-," Georgiana counted and then hopped up a couple of steps and squinted at the door plaque, "38. Perfect." She had been building up to this moment for nearly two weeks and had relished every moment of finding out the truth; but now standing in front of the inoffensive red brick building with small white balconies and peonies planted on them, a nervous ripple shuddered through her.

Gathering her courage, she pushed her delicate yellow polished finger on the buzzer and waited.

"Hello, who is it?" The voice rang through the speaker, shocking Georgiana slightly.

"Hi, my name's Georgiana Darcy. Have you got a few minutes to talk to me?" Georgiana uttered with more conviction than she felt.

"I recognise that name; you aren't trying to sell anything are you?"

Georgiana chuckled nervously, picking at the nail varnish on her fingers, "No, I just want to get some information from you about -"

Before Georgiana could say anymore, the buzzer sounded, releasing the front door, "Too late to turn back now." She uttered and slipped through the entrance, suddenly excited at the prospect of finding out more about the mysterious Elizabeth Bennett.

A/N: Sorry about the length between updates - Holiday, Work & Boyfriend got in the way :)

Thanks to scmema who beta'd this chapter for me, Loli-pop0394 who gave creative feedback on this chapter and alice-in-vunderland who I think is away at the moment, but will hopefully be back very soon to help beta.

Thanks also to the reviewers - you are the Krispy Kreme's of this world :)

Next chapter coming in the next few days.

Kx