"Miss Elizabeth!" she cried jumping up and running across the room her curls bouncing. Remembering herself she stopped just in time for her brother to introduce her and they curtsied to one another. "My brother has told me so much about you, I feel as if we are friends already." She said glancing over at him to see his eyes fixed on Elizabeth's face. She smiled her eyes a bit surprised and a little pleased. She certainly was pretty enough, tall and slender with alabaster skin and a ready smile. A far cry from Miss Bingley.

"Thank you." She replied kindly. "What a beautiful piano forte!" she remarked gesturing toward it.

"My brother gave it to me. He shouldn't have," she added glancing at him and he smiled at her.

"Yes I should have." He interjected and she grinned.

"Oh, very well then." She said, not one to argue with such a gift.

"Easily persuaded is she not?" he remarked and she saw Elizabeth grin in response. He was calmer, more relaxed and his eyes held a quiet warmth that the lady seemed to be almost surprised and not a little happy to see directed towards her. She seemed to remember that they were not alone however and quickly turned her attention to Georgiana again.

"Your unfortunate brother once had to put up with my playing for an entire evening." She said laughingly. Indeed she was pretty enough before but when she smiled she seemed to light up from the inside. There was a feeling of liveliness and honesty about her entire being that made one feel alive and yet strangely at peace around her. It was easy to see what had drawn Fitzwilliam to her in the first place. Feeling the devil rising within her Georgiana opened her eyes wide, the picture of shocked innocence.

"But he says you play so well!" she said, glancing over at him. The look he sent her way could have frozen fire but she managed to maintain her innocent expression, even as she saw the shocked delight on Miss Bennet's face.

"Well then he has perjured himself most profoundly!" she replied smiling at him beautifully, her eyes sparkling. He looked back at her, his annoyance quickly forgotten, and laughed the action transforming his entire face in the most delightful way.

"No I said 'played quite well'" he clarified.

"Oh well then 'quite well' is not 'very well' I am satisfied." She jested mischievously and again Fitzwilliam seemed to be unable to do anything but stare. The attraction between them was obvious, and Georgiana could see how utterly besotted he was with her. Poor dear… she thought to herself. She looked past Lizzy and saw her Aunt with a knowing smile on her face. She looked over at him and saw him looking at her for a jump start. She tiled her head to one side and gave him her most inconspicuous encouraging look and he looked away, slightly puzzled before looking back at the people behind his beloved.

"Mr. Gardiner, do you enjoy fishing?" he asked.

"Very much so sir." The man replied as if he had been waiting his whole life for the opportunity. Lizzy simply stared at Darcy as if she had never seen him before in her whole life, and it truly made Georgiana wish that she could understand what exactly he had said and done to invoke such an opinion.

"Can I persuade you to accompany me down by the lake this afternoon? It's very well stocked and its occupants left in peace for far too long."

"I would be delighted to sir." He replied enthusiastically. Knowing that he would need time to come up with something else to say Georgiana took hold of the conversation.

"Do you play duets Miss Elizabeth?" she asked and Lizzy smiled and glanced at her before smiling at her brother as if sharing a private joke.

"Only when forced." She replied and he smiled.

"Brother, you must force her." She said looking at him and he glanced at her fleetingly before glancing over at Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner a bit nervously.

"I do not believe that it is humanly, or even divinely possible for that matter, to force Miss Bennet to do anything." He replied and Lizzy and the Gardiners laughed. She glared at him playfully and then turned to Georgiana.

"Your brother knows me well, but as I believe I like you more than I do him, I shall oblige you. But remember that my playing is at your behest and therefore of your infliction."

"Are you that much of a liar brother?" Georgiana asked beginning to wonder at his partiality.

"Well she is certainly not you Georgiana but Miss Bennet is beginning to make me believe that perhaps I simply preferred her playing to Aunt Catherine's talking."

"Covering your tracks Mr. Darcy?" she teased.

"Always," he replied almost mischievously. "Shall we all take a walk together?" he asked the Gardiners. "The grounds are always very fine this time of year."

"I am sure that we should love to see them, won't we Lizzy?" Mrs. Gardiner said smiling at her niece. Miss Bennet looked as though she might be embarrassed but then she simply smiled and nodded.

"I would enjoy that very much." she said looking at him again. He all but beamed at her and Georgiana saw his fingers start to twitch, a sure sign that he was beginning to get nervous again, and she fought the urge to roll her eyes. The only way for her to get him to escort Elizabeth was if he believed that any other alternative would be worse. Smiling mischievously she took Lizzy's arm in hers.

"Will you walk with me Miss Elizabeth?" she asked sweetly, ignoring the faint look of alarm on his face at her proposal.

"I would be glad to Miss Darcy." She replied smiling that infectious smile of hers. .

"Lead the way brother." She said smiling up at him innocently. He stared at her for a moment, unsure of what she was plotting but never the less he recovered and smiled glancing at Elizabeth before turning to the Gardiners and escorting them through the back entrance to the gardens. As he chatted with the Gardiners (apparently he was far more at ease with them than with Elizabeth), Georgiana followed behind with Elizabeth, whispering amusing anecdotes that made her giggle softly.

"How is it that you play so unnaturally well Miss Georgiana? I promise you I have never heard a sweeter rendition of that piece." Elizabeth said.

"You are too effusive with your praise Miss Elizabeth." She replied her face burning.

"Not at all, I assure you. You must have had a most diligent and skilled tutor."

"He was both, most assuredly."

"He?" Elizabeth asked pausing in confusion.

"Yes." Georgiana replied. "Can you keep a secret?" she whispered conspiratorially and Elizabeth's eyes lit up.

"Yes, I can." She replied leaning in.

"Will was the one who taught me." she murmured.

"Mr. Darcy?" she asked in disbelief.

"Yes," she replied, glancing up as her brother stiffened upon hearing his name.

"Your brother plays the piano?"

"Shhhh," she whispered gripping her arm. Elizabeth schooled her face into an expression of polite interest as he glanced behind him. His eyes flicked over his sister and then back to her. She smiled and he returned it slightly before frowning at Georgiana briefly and turning back around. "Like a master. Compared to him what little skill I have is nothing at all."

"Well good lord," Elizabeth said as they continued to walk. A few moments passed before she looked at Georgiana again. "Mr. Darcy?!" she asked and Georgiana laughed.

"He will hear you. He is very weary of that secret emerging, think of how his image will be ruined."

"I can well imagine. Him playing the piano, he's not nearly as frightening now."

"Mmmm. You must not tell anyone though, he would murder me if he found out that I told you."

"Would he really?"

"Well, not really, he would be too embarrassed to do much of anything, but he would be very upset with me."

"I rather like that he plays an instrument. The fact that he enjoys something other than hunting, swordplay, and drinking sets him apart."

"Oh Will doesn't drink; at least not anymore than is necessary. He has wine at dinner and sometimes brandy afterwards but nothing besides that. If he has any others besides that then something is very wrong."

"That is rather singular for a young man of fashion." She commented.

"Yes, but he is a rather singular creature is he not Miss Bennet?" she replied with a laugh and Elizabeth laughed in return gazing at the tall, broad shouldered man before her, imagining him sitting with a young Georgiana on his lap practicing scales.

"Very much so to be sure," she replied. Georgiana glanced at her companion and saw her face change as she stared at her brother.

"Is it truly so difficult to believe?" she asked and Lizzy glanced at her.

"Your brother slighted me the night I met him."

"He didn't!" Georgiana cried, and once again Darcy glanced back at them curiously.

"Oh he did," Elizabeth replied meet his eyes. "He said that I was 'barely tolerable but not handsome enough to tempt him' were those not your exact words Mr. Darcy?" He blushed at the look Georgiana sent him.

"How could you say something like that?!" she exclaimed.

"I did not know that she had heard me." He said glancing nervously at the Gardiners.

"It's too bad of you Fitzwilliam!"

"I was tired, and Bingley had dragged me over there expecting me to dance and be merry, when all I really wanted was to find a book from the library and read, in my room, away from Miss Bingley." He replied and the rest of them burst into laughter at that.

"Miss Bingley is determined to have him for a husband and not man nor beast nor God himself can deter her from her mission." Elizabeth explained to her Aunt and Uncle and Mr. Gardiners eyebrows shot up.

"Good lord she sounds like a hunting dog." He commented.

"She is better looking, surely than a hunting dog, but I fear the dissimilarities end there." Darcy replied dryly and Georgiana snickered. "I did not want to be there, I knew no one besides Bingley and Caroline, he was off dancing with every girl in the room and Caroline was being her usual simpering, obnoxious self,"

"Oh Mr. Darcy you are too cruel!" Lizzy cried between giggles.

"It was the truth, he had left me with his sister, the one person I had wanted to avoid in the first place,"

"Then why did you not dance with someone else, or at least engage them in conversation?" Lizzy asked.

"William is terrified of people." Georgiana said in a false whisper.

"I am not terrified of them," he replied glaring at her. "or most of them in any event. I simply never know what to say or do. That night I had nothing to talk about other than how much I wanted to be somewhere else."

"You should have talked to my father then; he hates balls." Lizzy said.

"If I could have found him I may have." He said. "and then whilst I was trying to escape Caroline, Bingley comes up gushing about his partners and how I should dance with someone."

"And you did not wish to dance with me?"

"I did not wish to dance with anyone, and the only way to shut him up was to pretend distaste." Oh you liar! Georgiana thought, watching his face as the words simply rolled off of his tongue. How good he was at lying to save his hide!

"So you did find my beautiful?" Lizzy teased fluttering her eyelashes.

"You were and are certainly far more than tolerable."

"A fine concession indeed," Elizabeth replied. "You are redeeming yourself quite thoroughly Mr. Darcy." He laughed and shook his head leading her Aunt and Uncle further down the path.

"He is not much for late hours." Georgiana whispered to Elizabeth. "Once, at a musical I actually saw him fall asleep!"

"Did he really?" Lizzy asked her eyes wide with delight.

"I can hear you Georgiana." Came his wryly amused voice from before them and she rolled her eyes and stopped walking, waiting for him to be a good distance away before resuming their stroll at a slower pace.

"It really was a terrible recital, but I hadn't expected him to be unconscious when I looked at him."

"Oh Lord, how utterly priceless!" she said laughing.

"You can always tell when he is particularly bored because his eyes are sort of half closed and his eyebrow is always arched. Then if he is truly tired then his eyes will start to close and when that happens all is lost. He can fall asleep anywhere, sitting up, on the floor at his desk I have seen it all."

"Does he not sleep well?"

"When father died there were many things William had to deal with all at once. Everyday necessities such as eating and sleeping became secondary to organizing the estate and the funeral arrangements. During the first few weeks Mrs. Reynolds said that he hardly ever saw his chambers save for dressing and bathing. He would work all through the night and she would find him asleep at his desk in the morning."

"He preferred exhaustion to grief." She commented softly, seeing him asleep in her mind's eye, his head on a pile of papers, his quill in his fingers, dripping on the desk; how exhausted he must have been! How lonely! To lose the one that he had respected and admired best on earth, and to be left with such a legacy to fulfill at such a young age.

"Yes. Eventually he found time to mourn but it was not until long afterwards."

"I cannot imagine being in that position."

"Nor I to be sure. But he always found time for me, or as much as he could have if not as much as he should have. He has been better about it lately."

"I cannot imagine him falling asleep at a poetry recital."

"Nor could I until I had seen it," Georgiana replied. Elizabeth shook her head and smiled. "He blushed for a full week afterwards every time I mentioned it."

"That I can imagine."

"He is a terrible blusher," Georgiana replied with a laugh. "I am as well. I wonder where we got that from. I am certain that it is not from Aunt Catherine." Elizabeth laughed loudly at that.

"I cannot conceive of that woman blushing for any reason!" she replied.

"I really do like you Miss Bennet." Georgiana said suddenly. "Will said I would but I did not realize how right he was until now."

"I believe that I like you too Miss Darcy."

"Oh, please, call me Georgiana!"

"Very well, then you must call me Elizabeth."

"William will be jealous. To think that I have known you a day and already I am on a first name basis with you and he has known you almost a year and must still call you Miss Elizabeth."

"Why would he be jealous?" Elizabeth asked and Georgiana paused. Oh dear… perhaps I like her too much "No reason in particular, let us catch up, William will be beside himself wondering what we are talking of." Elizabeth blinked and then complied with a smile, wondering whether or not Darcy's hypothetical jealousy was a good or bad thing.