If It So Happened Chapter 2, a pride and prejudice fanfic

A/N

If it so Happened - Story 2, Ch 1

So, first of all, hats off to LeavesFallingUp! To Consistently write one-shots that are neither too short, nor too long and rarely leave you with the feelings that this was too hurried. Just Wow!

I tried my hand, although the first story came out Ok, but it was still more lengthy then I had initially thought and this one? Well, it has become a full-scale novella! 😊

I am posting the first chapter for your edification, hope you enjoy,

Cheers

If It So HappenedIn Mr Darcy's Shoes

"Oh, Lord it cannot be! It just cannot be.…" Elizabeth shuddered as she remembered the strawberry shaped mark she had seen on Mr Darcy's left forearm nearly an hour ago.

In normal circumstances she would not have seen it at all. But perhaps like her, Mr Darcy had also believed that he would not be encountering anyone in the Netherfield library this late in the night. And mayhap that is why he was so informally dressed – his dinner jacket discarded, his cravat loosened, and the sleeves of his fine lawn shirt rolled up to his elbows.

She had not been aware that anyone else was in the library as she searched the shelves for book of poetry she had been reading the previous day. Sleep had been proving elusive tonight, and Elizabeth had decided to seek aid of her oldest friends other than Jane. Unfortunately, she had not been able to locate the book she had come to pick up.

"Aah… where in heaven's name has it disappeared. It is not as if too many people in this house are falling over themselves to over burden their minds with the written words!" She had muttered in irritation when nearly ten minutes of searching has proved fruitless.

"Umm… by any chance, is this the book you are looking for, Miss Bennet?" Elizabeth had whirled around at the sound of that very unwelcome and familiar voice, very unfamiliarly laced with laughter. Only to find Mr Darcy standing behind her at a suitably decorous distance, with amusement in his eyes and a book – her book – in his hand.

'Trust the odious man to be present when I am being rude and petulant!' She thought crossly and somewhat unfairly, even as her hand had absentmindedly reached out to take the book from his extended one.

"There is no need for you to deny yourself the pleasure…." She had broken off as her gaze strayed to his forearm and to her horrified disbelief encountered a familiar mark on it. A mark she saw every time she changed clothes or took bath. A mark just above her left bosom and the reason why she rarely wore dresses with low neckline, even when they were much in fashion.

"Oh… no… no… NO!" She had cried even as the book fell from her nerveless fingers. She had then turned and raced away from him. At the door she had stopped to glance back at him and had found him staring back at her with an expression of shocked bewilderment. She had then turned and hurried away – of course, without an explanation – to her bed chamber, and had been sitting in here in a stupor ever since.

She groaned once again as she recollected his bewilderment. "Oh… just wonderful! As it is the man keeps staring at me to find fault, I suppose he would be thrilled to think that I turn into a screaming lunatic on Saturdays just before the stroke of mid-night!" Elizabeth muttered, then, she pulled down the neckline of her gown to look at the mark in a bid to reassure herself. Unfortunately, there was no reassurance to be had, her mark was the exact replica of the one on Mr Darcy's forearm, just a little bit smaller.

"Oh… grandmama, can you please come and help me? If not, then at least tell me that you are playing a joke on me! Mr Darcy… just… cannot… be… my… soul mate!"

"Lizzy, my pet, I cannot tell you any such thing. Mr Darcy is the chosen one – your soul mate – very fortunately."

"Very fortunately!" Elizabeth stared open mouthed at the spectre of her grandmother, sitting on the easy chair by her bed. "Surely, you jest, grandmama! Whatever can you mean by suggesting that I will have to wed that rude, arrogant man?"

Ideally any young woman would have been terrified to see the spectre of her long dead grandmother sitting by her bedside, but not Elizabeth, she had started having the sporadic visitations very soon after her grandmother passed away nearly a decade ago. She was the only one of her sisters to have these visitations because she was the only one of them who had been 'blessed' with a soul mark, just like her grandmother before her.

For her mother, it was a blemish that needed to be kept hidden and that is what she had been telling her young daughter ever since the little one attained sense enough to understand these things. It was only when a nine year old Elizabeth was left in tears by some harsh words from her mama, that old Mrs Bennet, her grandmother, had taken Elizabeth to her room and had explained to the traumatised child the significance of the 'blemish' by revealing to the little girl her own mark on her ankle.

"Where is Gran'father's mark, then?" A wide-eyed Elizabeth had asked her grandmother.

"On his shoulder." had been the whispered answer.

Now sitting in that bedchamber in Netherfield, old Mrs Bennet smiled at her granddaughter's outraged expression. She knew that the purpose of her ability to converse with Elizabeth was finally going to be fulfilled.

"Well… I cannot disagree with you there, Lizzy, he has behaved in an abominable manner, but you know, child, more often than not people have reasons to behave in the manner they do."

"And what is his reason to behave in the obnoxious manner he does? That he believes he is above his company in this neighbourhood?"

"Well, you cannot find out his reasons until you step into his shoes, my dear."

"And how am I going to do that, grandmama?"

"With my help, Lizzy, come." Old Mrs Bennet stood up suddenly and snapped her fingers.

Elizabeth closed her eyes involuntarily and when she opened them again it appeared as if she was now in a different room. For one thing, almost all the candles were blown out except for the one above the fireplace. That candle and the fire merrily burning in the grate were the only source of the dim illumination in the room. After her eyes adjusted to the dim light she looked around and was sure that she was in a different bedchamber.

"Where have you brought me…" she stopped abruptly as her gaze found the bed and the man lying asleep on it.

"Grandmama! Is that… is that Mr Darcy?"

"Yes, my dear." Mrs Bennet smiled beatifically.

"Have you… lost your senses? Why have you brought me here?" Elizabeth hissed angrily even as she hastily averted her eyes from the bed. Not that she had seen anything scandalous. Mr Darcy was lying on his back decorously covered by a thick coverlet. A night-shirt covered arm and his arrogant face were the only two parts of his anatomy that she had been able to see.

"There is no need to whisper, Lizzy. He is sound asleep, and even if he does get up, he would not be able to see or hear us."

"Not even, me?"

"No, not even you because you are with me," Mrs Bennet said with smile that Elizabeth could hear better than she could see.

"Oh!" Elizabeth digested this extraordinary bit of information then asked in bewilderment, "But why bring me here at all?"

"So that you can step into his shoes."

"I really do not understand a word of what you are saying." Elizabeth shook her head in frustration.

Mrs Bennet relented and explained. "I am going to take you on journey into his life. So that you can get a little glimpse of why he behaves the way he does. For this journey to take place, you need to be in his vicinity and be in contact with something that is his… then… why not his shoes… when metaphorically you would be walking in them."

"So, shall we go?" Mrs Bennet asked and then walked to one of the doors in the room which when opened showed itself to be a dressing room.

"Aha… there are his boots. Why do you not wear them?"

"But…"

"Lizzy…"

"Oh, very well." Elizabeth muttered half-heartedly, then removed her own shoes to put on Mr Darcy's boots.

"These are almost double the size of my feet!" Elizabeth exclaimed.

"Do not worry, they are not going to fall off in the journey." Grandmother Bennet chuckled and then snapped her fingers once more.

~§§§~

If It So Happened