Authors Note: All rights remain with Jane Austen

It has been a really long time since I've written anything, I have been lacking inspiration and also the courage to write. Be kind - I'm getting back into writing slowly and wanted to share something I've been working on. I hope you like it.

Kx

"Elizabeth talk to me, what's happened?" The man was pleading with her. His green eyes gently roving her face for any sign of injury as his thumbs delicately stroked her ashen cheeks.

Blinking slowly Elizabeth's breathing began to steady, the rasping hollowness in her chest lifting. The shadows of her past letting go of her conscious thoughts. It had all happened so quickly, the shaded road had sent a wave of judgmental faces to torment her; ravage her thoughts, scrambling her vision and taking her breath. It left her exhausted.

Elizabeth allowed the man to support her as she stumbled back against her car, sitting down to stop the world from spinning. The fog was clearing, the cheeping of the birds becoming clearer as the wails of her little boy pierced the morning air. A wave of guilt crushed her to the car as she realised how scared William must be, he had watched his mother collapse to the ground and he was stuck. Elizabeth's limbs refused to cooperate as she scratched at the ground, desperate to comfort him but too weak and powerless to move.

"William…" Elizabeth breathed.

She didn't need to ask twice, the man opened the car door and untangled the little boy from his restraints. "There there little one," the man soothed, bouncing her baby gently and cradling his head against his chest as tears of protest rained on. "Mummy's okay look – Mummy's right here."

"Mooma…" William wiggled in the man's arms and reached out to her. It was as if he sensed Elizabeth's despair and knew he could take that pain away. "Mooooooommaaaaaaa."

Crouching in front of her, the man held the boy tightly, allowing Elizabeth to regain her composure without giving William to her. It was as much for Elizabeth's safety as Will's.

They lost track of time, seconds turned to minutes and before they knew it the sun was peeking through the clouds.

Finally Elizabeth spoke, "Richard" her voice unsteady and breaking. "I'm sorry – I don't know what happened. What must you think of me?"

Richard smiled, he was still holding William and entertaining him with farmyard animal noises – Will's favourite. "Panic attack?" He questioned.

Nodding gently, Elizabeth took Richard's hand and smiled, watching her son and this partial stranger playing. "It came out of nowhere."

"What do you think triggered it?"

She thought for a moment weighing up whether to be honest or save him from the drama that had become her life, but the urge to tell someone she cared about the truth won out, "I've made my life very complicated."

"And…"

"And I've lied – a lot - to everyone I love." A solitary tear sank across Elizabeth's cheek, staining her dress as it landed at her breast. The pain of how much she'd hurt everyone she loved seeped out of her, begging for release.

"Why did you lie?"

Elizabeth took a measured breath, looking up to the sky for help from the loved ones she'd help. "I was protecting …" she trailed off.

"Them?"

"No." She paused, steeling herself for what came next, "myself."

"From what?"

"My own prejudice."

This time it was Richard's turn to exhale loudly, he'd very rarely or ever had a conversation this deep with someone before. Usually everyone in his life skirted around the truth, too scared of hurting people's feelings or too prideful to admit their own. He wanted to be honest with her in return, but his own better judgment (and pride) stopped him from telling Elizabeth how much she'd hurt him when she stood him up. Now wasn't the time.

"I don't know a lot about you or what you've lied about, but my gut tells me you aren't a bad person. Your loved ones will come around."

For the first time ever Elizabeth properly looked at him, her crystal clear brown eyes reaching into his soul, warming his core and stirring something in him that he couldn't explain. 'She is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen,' he thought.

Elizabeth reached for his face, his eyes closing for a second as he savoured the feeling of her hand against his rough skin. Her touch was featherlike; the tips of her fingers resting on his stuble as she placed a tender kiss of his cheek.

"Thank you," Elizabeth shifted to her feet and extricated William from Richard's arms letting him stand up. "I'm sorry."

"For ..?"

"Standing you up – twice."