Chapter 6: Home is Where the Heart is.

"WIIILLLLIIIAAAMMM"

He could hear the scream as he walked in the door. A blonde hurricane rushed into his arms; he held his little sister tightly.

"Hey Muggle" he greeted her, kissing her on the top of her head.

"Mudblood" she replied.

He felt like his heart would burst, it had taken so long to get this side of Georgina back, the playful silly side, at one stage he thought that Wickham had destroyed that part of her. But slowly and surely, she started to heal.

"Where have you been?" Georgina asked, she knew her brother had barely slept the night before, she first heard him pacing in his room and then move to the study to work on his computer.

"I had some work to do, if some people did not spend so much money, I would not have to work so hard." He teased her.

"As if! Are you ready for dinner? I know that Mrs Reynolds has just finished making it so its best if we eat now" Georgina was already heading to the kitchen. She did love food but could not eat a lot, certain foods bought on flashbacks, and it had been a rocky road to narrowing the menu down to foods that did not trigger her. There seemed to be no logic to the triggers and at one point she was living on potato chips.

Reaching the kitchen, William could smell the dinner, it was chicken with roast vegetables, one of Georgina's favourite meals, this was going to be good.

They sat down with the Reynolds and Georgina chirped away like a little bird, flitting from this subject to that. William was amazed that someone who never really went out had so much to talk about.

Once they had finished the meal and dessert was being served Georgina's face turn serious and she looked at her brother "William, for my birthday this year, please could I have The Light Fandango do a unique event for me?" Her face fell as she watched her brother react. "I am sorry, I will think of something else" she said immediately.

"No, sorry I was just thinking of something else. I was not expecting that, you took me by surprise!" he said, "I actually know the chef I met her and her sister yesterday" He just prayed that his abrupt departure the day before would not impact Elizabeth's decision to do a party for his sister. There were articles he read where Elizabeth had refused to do parties for some people or organisations, it just made people want her more. He hoped he was not going to be one of those people she refused.

Georgina had jumped up from her chair and thrown her arms around his neck, her excitement was contagious. William decided that if he had to he would go through her sister, Jane was a kind hearted person and if he plead his case for his sister, he was sure Jane would be on his side, he hoped Jane would be on his side.

After dinner was finished and Georgina had turned in for the night, William went to his study, he wanted to finalise the details with Richard, they were flying out the following day and there was still not sight or sound of George.

His phone rang and he assumed it was Richard, so he did not check he just answered.

"William, darling how are you?"

Caroline! No, how the hell was he going to get rid of her, she could talk until the cows came home.

'Hello Caroline, I am well how are you?"

"I am fine, but I really need to talk to you"

"Really Caroline…" he wanted to end this conversation now

", William, I need to go…." With that she ended the call. William was confused, that was a first, what was Caroline up to? He could not waste time on her stupid games, he needed to talk to his cousin.

He phoned Richard, they confirmed the plans to fly out the next day Richard had set up an operation meeting with William Lucas and his son John. He had given a brief outline of what was going on but the details would be discussed at the meeting.

After all the arrangements were cemented with Richard, he wondered if he should call Caroline back and see if she was okay, he decided against it and call her brother instead.

"William, hey are you alright old boy? You left rather abruptly yesterday" Charles seemed please if a bit concern to hear from him.

"My apologies, you know how I get when I need to do something, that was just one of those moments." He did not tell Charles what they were planning, there was so much that could go wrong, he did not to fail at this operation and see the disappointment in Elizabeth, and Janes faces.

'Have you spoken to Jane again?" William asked to steer the conversation away.

"I did phone her, but my timing was wrong, she was busy at school. Did you know she works with children? Isn't she just perfect? A total angel!" Bingley was waxing lyrically now.

"Did you know that her sister is The Light Fandango?" William asked

"What? Really? Charles seemed genuinely surprised.

"Georgina wants The Light Fandango to do her birthday this year, and I found out that Elizabeth is one of the founding partners." He could hardly tell Charles that he stalked Elizabeth and her whole entire family…researched, that's what it was research!

"That is amazing, Caro has often spoken about teaming up with them for events, with Caro's mad event skills and their mad food skills it would be phenomenal"

William had to admit that Caroline could throw a mean event, but somehow, he could not see her and Elizabeth working together on anything, let alone a huge event. Caroline had a way about her where she got people to do things they would not normally consider, there were very few who could resist her, but he was pretty sure Elizabeth was one of those people.

Still not tired, he was sure he was running on fumes, he packed for his trip the following days, made sure his staff at Pemberley Publishing had all the instructions they needed for the next 48 hours, he would have a remote meeting with his executive team in two days, and with his operational team immediately after that. He made a point of keeping his executive team limited to five people he knew really well and trusted, and made sure to hire the best in the business for his operational team, together they made sure that even with the transition from print to electronics Pemberley Publishing stayed relevant and a leader in the literature world. They had the largest print and electronic offerings across both fiction and non-fiction, with some of the top authors signing exclusively to them. His families love for books had become their careers, and it was easy to be passionate about his job.

At some point he did eventually fall asleep, but George Wickham and Elizabeth Bennet took turns at making guest appearances in his dreams.