Author's note: Here's the first chapter of a 16-chapter modern Pride and Prejudice retelling. The M rating is for bad language and mild sexual content. Complete.

My warmest, gushiest thanks to Jan and Barbara, who have been thoughtful, patient, incisive, take-no-prisoners betas for this entire story. You two are wonderful. Thank you again and again.

Blurb: Elizabeth Bennet is a high-powered, idealistic lawyer, Will Darcy is CEO of a private equity firm, and they grapple with work, love, and family.

Off Balance

Chapter 1

April 2006

Lizzy had finally yielded to her sister Jane's pleasant, cheerful, smilingly relentless requests that she go with her to a Friday spring singles event for members of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Lizzy was reluctant because, as always, she had work to do. She was a junior associate in a giant law firm, DeWitt, Howe & Dewey, and like all the associates she worked between 80 and 100 hours a week. She was damned if she wanted to spend any of her valuable free time with a bunch of New York singles who smelled of desperation, especially since she didn't have time to date anybody anyway.

Still, because Jane had asked so sweetly, she left the office early, at 8:30. In a spring windstorm, she hauled herself and her heavy briefcase, jammed with the papers she should have been working on, Uptown to the museum. As she was checking her coat and bag and simultaneously trying to get her suit skirt turned back around the right way, she overheard two men behind her talking.

"Charlie, I've had to go to cocktail parties and business dinners with investors every night this week. I just want to go home." She could certainly relate to that. Unfortunately, they kept talking.

"This is different!" his friend exclaimed jovially. "Look at all the beautiful women here. And, they all love art!"

"Oh, please. They're just trying to broadcast how highbrow they are by coming to an event at a museum."

Lizzy got her coat check ticket and faced them as she turned around to go. They were just two more guys in suits in a place packed to the gills with guys in suits, but it was still obvious which was which. Mr. Cheerful was the wiry, sandy-haired guy in his early 30s with freckles on his perky nose and a happy grin. Mr. Grumpus was the tall, lanky fellow with dark hair and eyes and a sour expression. He probably would have been attractive if he hadn't looked so pissed off.

Fabulous, thought Lizzy. An entire museum full of hound dogs and jackasses. A whole damn menagerie. Then she saw Jane waving at her, and of course her crabbiness melted away, because how could it be otherwise in the face of all that sweetness, light, and beauty? She pushed her way through the crowd over to Jane, who greeted her with hugs and kisses and inquiries about whether she was getting enough to eat, because she looked too thin.

A few minutes later, Jane and Charlie simultaneously reached for the same cheese puff on the passing waiter's hors d'oeuvre tray. Their hands touched, their eyes met, and Lizzy saw that, right there in the bright vault-ceilinged room full of sweating singles and 18th-century oil paintings of rich guys and their hunting dogs, lightning had struck. They introduced themselves, and then managed to tear themselves away from gazing into the deep, deep pools of each other's eyes long enough to introduce the other two, albeit hastily.

"Oh, this is my sister Lizzy..."

"Hi, Elizabeth Bennet," Lizzy said, holding out her hand to Charlie and giving him a firm handshake.

"This is my old friend, Will Darcy," Charlie said, inclining his head toward the taller man before turning back to Jane. Will nodded his head, but didn't extend his hand, so Lizzy kept her handshake to herself this time.

Charlie was in advertising. Jane was finishing her PhD in Child Development. They bonded over the intricacies of human psychology. The four of them stood around for an hour or so, Jane and Charlie chattering away, Lizzy and Will both looking around, bored, at the unadventurous paintings.

Later, Lizzy was returning to the little group with fresh glasses of white wine for herself and Jane, who had stepped away to say hello to a college friend, when Lizzy overheard Will and Charlie as she walked up to them from behind.

"I asked her to get dessert at La Framboise after this thing is over," Charlie said. "Why don't you come? Her sister is coming, too."

"No, I don't think so," Will replied shortly. "I don't want to be a third wheel."

"You wouldn't be! Like I said, Lizzy is coming. She's not your usual type, but she's cute. C'mon, loosen up, have a good time!"

"There's a reason why I stick to my quote unquote usual physical type, Charlie. I can't help it-I just don't find short, rotund brunettes attractive. We all like what we like, right?, and there's not much we can do about it."

"Not my physical type-Jackass," thought Lizzy, who was in fact of average height with an athletic build. She stomped up next to Charlie, wineglasses sloshing. "Seen Jane? I've gotta go."

"Aren't you going to join us at La Framboise?" asked Charlie, smiling. "They have a great chocolate decadence cake."

"Oh, no thanks. I have to watch what I eat, or I'll instantly inflate into a giant beach ball with my tiny little arms and legs sticking out." She puffed up her cheeks and poked out her arms, wiggling them. "You know, like Violet Beauregarde. So, thanks again, but I have to take off. Work to do."

Will looked slightly worried, maybe wondering if she'd overheard him, and Charlie tried to convince her to stay. But Lizzy found Jane, gave her both glasses of wine, and headed for the coat check. Ten minutes later Will headed out, too, and the lovebirds took flight to La Framboise for a dessert that lasted three hours and rocked their worlds.

Two days later, Lizzy met her friend Charlotte for their almost-weekly Sunday brunch, this time at a Mediterranean-ish greasy-spoon diner that Charlotte liked. It reminded her of the Greek diners in their Upstate New York hometown, Artemis.(1)

Charlotte and Lizzy were old friends-they'd helped each other survive four years of honors and AP classes at Artemis High School. Charlotte's family owned Lucas Safe & Lock Company, one of those old Upstate manufacturing concerns going back to the Industrial Revolution, and a major employer in town. Her father was a bigwig in the Chamber of Commerce and a player in town politics, such as they were. Town-gown relations were not good, and Mr. Lucas was always leading the charge to try to force Artemis College to control its students' partying, to pay more to the town for false fire alarms, and so on. This created a little tension between Lizzy and Charlotte, since Lizzy's father, Tom, was a professor at the college. They had long ago figured out that it was better not to talk about these things.

Lizzy and Charlotte had stayed friends through college, even after Charlotte had gone off to Wellesley and Lizzy had headed off to Columbia. After graduation, Charlotte had moved to New York, refusing her father's offer of a job back at Safe & Lock. She had hoped for something better, more exciting, in NYC. But one thing had led to another, and now she was using her B.A. in Anthropology to do PR for a non-profit international development organization, AmericaCaring. She and Lizzy talked a lot about work and big ideas. But they also often talked about Charlotte's love life, which was a lot healthier than Lizzy's since Charlotte only worked about 50 hours a week.

Lizzy attacked her hash browns as she told Charlotte about singles night at the Met. "Can you believe that asshole? Who the hell does he think he is? What kind of person says something like that?"

"Wait, what did you say his name was, again?"

"Will. Will... Darcy, I think."

Charlotte's jaw practically hit the floor. "You're kidding, right?"

"No, why? You've heard of him?"

"Well, I guess if you had been around New York a few years ago, you would have, too. I think you were in San Francisco at the time, or maybe Washington...You know he's related to the Fitzwilliams, on his mother's side? As in, a big chunk of the New York congressional delegation, and the presidential candidate?" Lizzy shook her head no, she hadn't known he was related. But of course she knew, vaguely, about the family, because everyone in New York did. They were kind of like the Kennedys, New York edition, but without the Greek tragedy.

Charlotte went on. "Well, there was this big scandal involving his sister, who's a real party girl, and his girlfriend, and drugs, maybe something about his cousins?...I don't really remember the details, but his girlfriend and her drug dealer were all over the tabloids. Maybe something about an OD at his apartment? His sister ended up in rehab for the millionth time, I think...and he kind of dropped off the face of the earth after that. For a while there were sightings of him in Central Park jogging and that kind of thing, but not anymore." Obviously Charlotte had been secretly reading the New York Post, Lizzy thought. The Post gave vultures a bad name.

"Oh, nasty. I guess he prefers the heroin chic look, then," she said. "No wonder." He sounded like a real playboy.

"And I guess that answers your question about what kind of person says something like that," Charlotte sniffed, "especially since he obviously doesn't know what the hell he's talking about. Look at you! You look great."

Lizzy shrugged. "Eh...but thanks."

Charlotte turned and beckoned to the waitress, who was walking by. "Excuse me, could I please get some gravy for my fries?" The waitress, a stocky Russian woman in her fifties wearing a scratchy-looking orange-and-white-striped uniform, nodded hostilely and stalked off.

"God, Charlotte, I can't believe you still eat gravy on your fries. That's so...Upstate."

Charlotte laughed. "You should talk. Just a minute ago you said something about how the eggs cost 'five dallars'."

Lizzy reached across the table and swatted her lightly on the arm, laughing back at her. "Shut up! I did not!"

"You can take the girl out of the Northern Tier, but you can't take-"

"The Northern Tier out of the girl. I know. Anyway, tell me about this latest guy so I can enjoy your love life vicariously."

"OK, so his name is David, and I met him at a film festival in the Village."

Jane and Charlie immediately started seeing each other daily, and swapped keys within two weeks. Jane told Lizzy, during one of their frequent five-minute late-night conversations, that they both just knew this was the real thing. He was romantic, and caring, and respectful of her studies. Also, he was adorable, and sweet, and...and...and.

Lizzy had her doubts about how serious Charlie really was. He didn't strike her as being a player, exactly, but still... And Jane had a habit of going out with guys who were wowed by her looks and then dumped her shortly after they found out how smart and serious she was about her research under that beautiful exterior.

But Jane really seemed to think that Charlie was The One, the soul mate she'd been looking for all these years. In spite of the fact that her psychology training had taught her to know better, Jane really believed in soul mates, and she wanted Lizzy to find hers, too. Lizzy wasn't so sure there was such a thing. After she'd seen Jane and Charlie together a few times, though, she was starting to believe it might be true for them, at least.

One night in early May, Jane called Lizzy. It was just past 11:30 and Lizzy was at the office, as usual, trying to get ready for court the next morning.

"Hi Jane. What's up?"

"Do you have a minute?"

"Literally just a minute, maybe two. Big deadline tomorrow."

"OK, I'll talk fast. Charlie and I want you to have dinner with us, and with his friend Will. You two are our closest friends and we want you to meet under better circumstances."

Lizzy looked up at the ceiling and sighed. "Jane, I love you, but do not even think about trying to set me up with that jackass."

"Lizzy, he's a very nice man. I think you might have a lot in common."

"I am not a nice person. I'm a lawyer. See? Opposites."

"Now stop that. You might as well agree right now, because you know I'll wear you down in the end."

Lizzy sighed again and opened up her calendar. "Yes, OK, I bow before the awesome power of your loving kindness. I could do...two weeks from Wednesday, or next Saturday. That's my best offer. And I might have to cancel if something comes up at work."

"OK. I'll text you the date. Love you."

"Love you, too, Janey."

And thus the following Saturday night the four found themselves together again at Le Coq Violet, a swanky French restaurant near Chinatown. It was just Jane's style, country French decor with lilacs and roosters all over the place. Jane and Charlie sat close together, his arm over the back of her chair. Lizzy and Will sat on the other side of the table, busy not looking at each other.

Lizzy was avoiding looking at him because he had arrived very late, and then, within the space of ten minutes, 1. asked that they be moved to a different table because the first one was too close to the kitchen, 2. sent back his water glass because he said it looked dirty, and 3. asked her to switch seats with him because he needed better light to read his BlackBerry since its backlit screen was malfunctioning. Will was not looking at Lizzy because, of course, he was doing something on said BlackBerry. Lizzy thought he might possibly be the most entitled jerk she'd ever met, and she'd met quite a few.

"So, Liz, how are things at DeWitt?" asked Charlie as they handed their menus to the waiter.

"Oh, the usual. Still giving them my 100 hours a week. I'm working on paying off my college and law school loans, and then after I save up a nest egg, I'm out of there."

This was enough to tear Will away from his BlackBerry for a minute. He looked up from his lap and asked, "You're an associate at DeWitt?" Apparently he could take the time to speak to people if they interested him enough.

"Um, yeah. What did you think I was?"

He looked slightly flustered, but kept it together. "I guess I assumed you were a paralegal."

"And why is that, exactly?" she said, sweet as pie, while she turned a little to look at him. So, not only was she unattractive, apparently, but she was also a secretary, below his notice. Please. A paralegal would not have been wearing the expensive suit she'd had on at the museum that evening. What was this all about?

But Charlie laughed it off. "I told you this, Will. She was on law review at Yale."

"And she clerked at the Supreme Court!" Jane chimed in, smiling proudly.

"You're a shoo-in for partner at DeWitt, aren't you, Liz?" asked Charlie.

Lizzy waved off the compliment. "No, nobody is a shoo-in. Only two women have made partner in litigation during the last ten years-that place is a freaking sausage fest. I have been in on some of the firm's more important cases, though."

"Don't be so modest, Liz."

"What's your specialty?" Will asked, leaning forward and putting his hand, holding the BlackBerry, on the table. She noticed he had a manicure. What the hell was with rich guys and their manicures, anyway? Did they get pedicures, too?

"Intellectual property. Copyright stuff." Lizzy expected that to be a conversation-killer as usual, but surprisingly it wasn't.

"Oh, very interesting. International or U.S.?" Will asked.

"Primarily U.S. Unfortunately, at DeWitt that means defending big firms that have stolen technology from each other. Or, they are trying to take materials that used to be freely available on the Internet and walling them off under a more restrictive interpretation of copyright law. Basically it's helping the big guys get even more powerful."

"And that's why you want to get out?" asked Charlie.

"Yeah. And, Jane, I didn't get to tell you this yet, but I hear that there may be a position opening up at the NCPP in D.C.! If it does, I might apply, and see if I can get back on the right side of things."

"What's the NCPP?" Charlie inquired.

"Oh, the National Capital Punishment Project. It's a death penalty defense firm. They specialize in cases where poor or minority defendants didn't get a fair trial. That kind of thing."

Will, clearly flabbergasted, asked, "You're likely to make partner at DeWitt and you're going to quit to go work for those guys? Do you realize the pay cut you'd take?"

"Money isn't everything. I'd rather be able to look at myself in the mirror without feeling nauseated. You know, go fight against the death penalty instead of working for the fat cats."

Charlie laughed. "Look out there, Liz. You might say Darcy is one of the fat cats."

"Oh?"

Will looked uncomfortable. "Well...I'm CEO of WPD Capital."

"Oh, I see," she said, raising an eyebrow and giving him a speculative glance. Maybe he wasn't just a playboy after all. "So...what's WPD Capital's focus these days?"

In fact, she read the business pages, she knew perfectly well what private equity firms like WPD Capital did in general terms, and she didn't like them. They were sharks, circling around businesses that looked like they weren't doing well, buying them up on credit and loading them down with debt, tearing them apart in the name of cutting costs so that any earnings could be used to pay back the loans, and selling them quickly for enormous profits while laying off a huge percentage of their employees. It was like flipping a house, a kind of speculation, really, only when someone flipped a house it didn't throw thousands of people out of work.

Dismissively, Will said, "Same as always. We develop businesses across all sectors, help them become more professional and profitable quickly."

That was sure putting a positive spin on it. Lizzy decided to let it go, for Jane's sake. So she nodded and said in a friendly tone, "Ah. Great. So, Jane, what's going on in the Cognition Lab?"

"Oh! Well, you know I just finished my dissertation, so I'm not working on my own experiments right now, just helping out my professor till I head to NYU for my post-doc. But anyway, this week she started a new experiment about infant perceptions of object permanence. That means we're looking at how babies react when an object is covered up in some way, and whether they think it will still be there when the covering is removed. It's really interesting..."

Charlie listened in rapt attention, Lizzy asked questions, and Will went back to his BlackBerry. He hardly spoke for the rest of the evening.

Footnotes:
(1) Artemis is a made-up place, but many towns in the dairy heartland of rural Upstate New York are similarly named after figures and places in Ancient Greece and Rome. People disagree about why, but some think the namers were trying to recapture the glory of the ancient republics. This legacy lives on in well-known places named Ithaca, Syracuse, Rome, and Troy, but also in little towns like Vestal, Romulus, Cicero, Sparta, Ovid, and Homer. It also lives on in the Greek Revival architecture style of the area, in which ordinary colonial-style clapboard houses inexplicably have massive Classical entryways slapped onto their fronts, with columns and porticos and so on.