Hi guys! Here's the next installment! looking fwd to hearing from you all

Special thanks to my wonderful beta, Mab35!

Chapter 24

"So ladies, it's been a while since we've had some girl time and I for one was in desperate need of this." Emma tossed a long blonde curl over her shoulder and took a sip of her cosmopolitan.

"I know and I am so sorry. I know most of it is my fault." Jane smiled sheepishly over her wine glass. Emma's melodious laugh rang out causing heads to turn in the direction of the beautiful woman with her short red dress highlighting her flawless figure. Her long legs were crossed, showing off her golden tan, a testament to her last visit to her Los Angeles office and black Louboutin heels added 4 inches to her already impressive height.

"Don't worry Jane. No one's going to blame you for spending time with your man. Charlie is a cute one." Emma's words brought a rosy tinge to Jane's cheeks had nothing to do with the temperature of the room. She reached down to remove a stray thread off her emerald green dress with a self-conscious smile on her face.

"You haven't exactly been sitting around twiddling your fingers Em," Lizzy spoke up. She removed the cherry from her manhattan and popped in into her mouth. "You're never in town. You're always on the go. I've given up trying to get in touch with you." She raised her eyebrows at her friend and raised her glass to her lips.

Emma smirked at her childhood friend, "What can I say. Business is good. I've got to stay on top of things if I want to keep up with the big guns. We can't all slack off like you!"

Lizzy chuckled, enjoying the lighthearted banter. It had been true that spending quality time with her friends had become a rare event. The three young women were at Marquee, sitting in at a private table away from the energetic entertainment. In silent agreement, they decided to relax with drinks in the roped off area where they could enjoy a somewhat private conversation instead of joining in the dancing.

"Well it seems that Lizzy has been busy with other things." Jane winked at Lizzy's confused expression. "I heard you on the phone last night. Who's the mystery man?"

Emma choked on her drink and reached hastily for a napkin. She dabbed her lips before turning to taunt her friend. "Oooh, who were you speaking to? Does Lizzy have a new man in her life?" On seeing her friend turn a lovely shade of red, Emma screamed, once again, startling everyone around her. "Oh my God! You're seeing someone. Why didn't you tell us?"

"Well," Lizzy hesitated but before she could, she was interrupted by yet another high pitch voice.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Jane's voice was louder than usual and she briefly wondered if perhaps she had had a little too much wine.

"Umm…"

"Who is it?" Emma interrupted once again. "Oh! I know who it is. I can't believe it finally happened." She clapped her hands gleefully.

Jane looked at her blankly for a minute before it dawned on her, "Oh! I can't believe it. I'm so happy for you,"

Lizzy stared at the two in confusion, their giddy expressions baffled her,

"Wait how do you know who it is? Emma you never even met him."

It took a minute for Emma to register Lizzy's words, "Oh my God! Took you long enough. I was beginning to- wait what do mean I never met him. Who are you talking about?"

"Who are you talking about?" Lizzy countered.

"I asked you first," Emma pointedly stared at her friend and waited for an answer. Lizzy glanced between the two women, both leaning forward, eagerly waiting for her to fill in the blanks. She drained her glass and set it down,

"His name is Marc Andé Dupont. I met him in Paris years ago." She watched as Emma's face fell with displeasure, but it was Jane who spoke up,

"What? That's not possible. Why would you do that?" She did nothing to hide her displeasure.

"What do you mean? What do you have against Marc?" Lizzy's irritation was apparent but it didn't frighten them away from their line of questioning,

"You broke up with Marc years ago. You were never even into him," Jane raised her hand upon seeing Lizzy getting ready for a rebuttal, "And don't deny it, I was there. You didn't even like him. That whole relationship was..." She struggled with her words before turning to Emma, "Comment tu dis…"

"Dead on arrival?" Emma suggested before taking a sip of her drink and looking meaningfully at Lizzy who in turn glared at her. Ignoring her, she gestured to the waitress for another round of drinks.

"Oui, dead on arrival," Jane began to get worked up, "Why would you go back to him when there is nothing there for you. You didn't like anything about him,"

"That's not true." Lizzy protested

"Okay, name one thing you liked about him," Jane challenged her, her drink giving her liquid courage. Lizzy hesitated,

"Well, I liked," she paused trying to think of something, determined to prove her friend wrong. Finally, she grabbed onto anything, "His eyes. I liked his eyes," she smiled triumphantly at her friends, "And his hair." Jane and Emma gaped at her, surprised that she had such a weak supporting argument. Seeing this, Lizzy became defensive, unwilling to admit defeat,

"Also, he was a nice guy."

"Lizzy," Jane's voice was firm, brooking no argument, "You found Marc pretentious and boring. You said he couldn't talk about anything but himself," Lizzy opened her mouth and closed it again several times as she struggled to contradict Jane but couldn't.

Emma smirked at her as the waitress brought them another round, "Close your mouth sweetie, you look like a fish," she grinned at Jane, "I believe in America, we call that a slam dunk," Emma raised her glass, "Cheers," Her cheerful attitude only served to make an already stubborn Lizzy even more determined,

"Well he's changed. It's different now with us and he really cares about me," She took an unusually large sip of her drink and winced, immediately regretting it. Jane, realizing that her aggressive approach was in fact causing Lizzy to run in the opposite direction decided to change her tactics,

"Okay Lizzy, I'm sorry." It wasn't hard to look apologetic when Lizzy looked so miserable.

"We both are," Emma interrupted. She too had come to the same conclusion as Jane and was in complete agreement about how to proceed.

"We just want you to be happy, that's all," Jane's tone was sympathetic, trying to appeal to her friend. Lizzy softened somewhat and spoke up, not quite appeased, but willing to let it slide,

"Well I am," She stated firmly. Emma pursed her lips trying to suppress her smile, in an attempt to mask her amusement and silently prayed she was successful. Lizzy's expression and tone of voice was anything but happy. In fact, she seemed rather strained, hardly the look of someone in love.

"Yeah," Emma discreetly winked at Jane, "You look it," Perhaps it was a good thing for her that Lizzy was lost in her own thoughts because no one around her could have mistaken the sarcasm in her voice.

"So," sitting back in her chair, Emma winked playfully at a passing waiter, causing him to blush, "Have you introduced him to your bulldogs?"

"What are you talking about?" Lizzy looked up at her friend, unsure about what she meant.

Jane laughed at Lizzy's baffled expression and, taking pity on her, decided to fill her in. Apparently the manhattans were making her friend a little slow on the uptake, "She's talking about Richard and William,"

Realization dawned on Lizzy's face, "No I haven't gotten a chance yet," She admitted with a somewhat embarrassed smile, "Why, what's the big deal?"

Emma scoffed, "Are you kidding me Bennet? Don't play dumb. Those two are the biggest, overprotective mama bears I have ever seen. You're lucky you were in Paris for your teen years. They would have ripped apart any guy who even looked twice at you!" Jane burst out laughing and even Lizzy smiled, albeit reluctantly,

"Oh please, they aren't that bad, and even if they were, I'm not afraid of them" She chuckled.

Emma raised her eyebrows before challenging her friend, "Oh no? Then why haven't they met Marc?" She felt a touch of glee as she saw her friend turn red. 'Oh how good it felt to be right.'

"I just haven't gotten a chance yet. We've been so busy lately, there never seems to be an opportunity to introduce them," Lizzy muttered, knowing her reasoning was feeble at best. Sure enough Emma's smirk confirmed what she already knew but she felt her heart sink as she heard her next words,

"No worries babe, you'll get your chance at the Worthington wedding next weekend," Emma shared an evil glance with Jane, both rather enjoying their friend's obvious discomfort,

"What wedding? What are you talking about?"

"Patrick Worthington is getting married again. For the third time, mind you but I'm positive your father is expecting you to attend. After all, he is a friend of your dad's." She smiled at Lizzy's uneasiness over the rim of her glass, "Didn't he vacation with you guys with his first wife? Wouldn't want to hurt the groom's feelings, now would we?"

Lizzy knew her friend was right. There was no way she would be able to avoid the function. Mr. Worthington had been a close friend of her parents and to miss his wedding was a social faux pas she didn't quite have enough courage to commit.

Jane laughed at the resignation on Lizzy's face and raised her wine glass to Emma, "Now there is your slam dunk, ma chere."

"Hello?" the soft voice at the other end of the line was clearly heavy with sleep and yet Darcy was so lost in thought he was oblivious to it,

"Hi Leigh"

"Will? What's wrong? Is everything ok?"

Darcy sighed. He sat, reclining on his sofa, nursing his third beer along with his wounded spirits "Yeah, why would you think something is wrong?" His cousin reached for her cell phone and checked the time. With an annoyed groan, she sat up and switched on a lamp on her side table,

"Will, it's 3am. Somebody better be dead or dying." Darcy glanced at his watch and flushed with embarrassment. He had forgotten the difference in time zone meant his cousin had gone to bed hours ago.

"Sorry Leels, I forgot about the time difference." Truthfully, he hadn't put much thought into it. It was almost a reflex to call his cousin, the only female one he had, to get the sympathy he knew he couldn't get from Richard. Like a lion licking its wounds after an exceptionally brutal fight, he knew Leigh would offer him the comfort he craved, surprising given she was the only child of Aunt Cat. The woman's idea of empathy was a long list of I told you so and instructions on what she would have done in his stead. In spite of this, or perhaps because of it, Leigh had grown into a sweet young woman, sensitive to those around her and an excellent listener to boot.

"Don't worry about it. What's on your mind?" She knew that if her level-headed cousin was calling her now, something was up. She struggled to mask her yawn and ignore the urge to just rest her head on her down-filled pillow and close her eyes. When she didn't hear any response, once again, it took a herculean effort not to snap at her now formerly favorite relative,

"Will, what did you want to talk about?"

Darcy exhaled loudly, "I shouldn't have called. I'm so sorry Leels, go back to sleep." He was about to hang up the phone when he heard her protest,

"No, wait, something is obviously bothering you." Her sleepiness faded as she wondered what it was that was that was making him so inarticulate. Normally whenever he called, he was extremely chatty. She knew that Darcy, as well as Richard, avoided her mother and it would have been so easy for them to just let their relationship become collateral damage. But instead, Darcy made it a point to catch up with her regularly, whether in person or through facetime as well as taking an annual vacation together, just the three of them along with their significant others.

"Where do I start?" Darcy got up and deposited his bottle in the trash before getting himself another drink from the fridge. He balanced the phone between his ear and cheek as he used both hands to remove the bottle cap.

"Start at the beginning. Tell me everything," She sat silent for the next 10 minutes as he filled her in on everything that had been going on, everything he had been holding back. It all came gushing out, breaking the dam and flowing robustly. All Leigh could do was sit in total amazement as he poured out his soul, his words, at first reluctant became quicker and stronger. When his tale finally came to an end, it took a minute for her to wrap her mind around all the information he had just thrown at her. She exhaled loudly,

"Wow, where to begin. So little Lizzy Bennet has finally caught your attention. Who would have thought?"

"Leigh." Darcy groaned.

She ignored his frustration, "What? Oh come on Will. You know she had a massive crush on you."

"What? How…how did you know that?" He spluttered, his annoyance rising when he heard her chuckling.

"Will, everyone knew. Her eyes lit up anytime you walked into a room and whenever you had a new flavor of the month on your arm, she always looked so broken, like bambi after her mom died, and don't play dumb. Anyone with eyes could see it."

Darcy knew better than to continue denying it, "So, what now?"

"Well, from what you said, I don't think it would be smart to try and tell her how you feel. Not yet anyways," Leigh glanced at the sleeping head next to her. Her husband of five years always burrowed himself deep under the blanket and all she saw was the top of his head, brown curls tousled from all the tossing and turning. She watched as he shifted in his sleep and lowered her voice to a loud whisper, "I know what I'm saying isn't what you want to hear, but I think for now, it's better to just be her friend. Build the friendship first and eventually you can get the lay of the land and see if she reciprocates your feelings."

Darcy frowned, "What if she moves on and I'm too late? She's already found another guy." His voice held a hint of panic.

Leigh rolled her eyes, "Will, that girl has been in love with you for most of her life. I don't think she got over you in a couple of days. She's probably punishing you for being a jerk to her."

"I wasn't a jerk," he couldn't help but be offended by her guffaw.

"Will, all I heard was your side of the story and I still think you were being a jerk. But that's beside the point. Focus on being her friend. Extend an olive branch. Baby steps." She heard him sigh but stayed quiet to let him absorb what she said.

"Fine." He muttered sounding like a petulant child being told he couldn't have dessert unless he finished his brussel sprouts.

"Relax Will, who knows, if things go well, she could be joining us in Seychelles this year." She was referring to the annual vacation the family took together.

Will raised his eyebrows, "I thought you wanted to go to the Maldives,"

She shrugged even though he couldn't see her, ""Nah, I changed my mind. Now go away and let me sleep"

"You got it. But for the record, I resent that flavor of the month comment. I was not that bad."

Leigh snorted, "Man whore, thy name was Darcy"

"Goodbye Leigh" He rolled his eyes and disconnected his phone.

Leigh smiled to herself and with one last chuckle, she put her phone away and turned off her lamp. Wriggling close to her husband she welcomed his arm as he draped it around her waist and pulled her close before letting out a quiet snore.