Lizzie rolled over, flinging her arm before her, expecting to land on William's strong body. But her fiancé wasn't there. Lizzie opened her eyes and patted the empty space next to her. Then she groaned as she remembered their fight.

It was brutal, she brought up his inability to function socially, and he threw back her desire to prevent him from helping her with anything, even her student loans. She retaliated with his constant interference with his family: with her work, with Gigi's new boyfriend, she even brought up his crucial role in separating Jane and Bing. That made him angry, angrier than she had ever seen him and brought out the side of him that she had only seen once before. He snapped at her that he had apologised for separating Bing and Jane, thank you! And that he was doing her a favour by marrying her. Up until that point, Lizzie had been ready to fight, but when he repeated the words of Catherine DeBourgh, and Caroline Lee, she froze. The insecurities she had tried to overcome and tried to stop thinking that she wasn't good enough for him came flooding back as if they had never gone away. She had then ran from the room into their bedroom and slammed the door shut. She burst into tears and sank to the floor sobbing. He never came to comfort her, maybe he was too angry, too ashamed, but that had never stopped him before. So she had fallen into bed wearing his old college shirts.

Lizzie lay in bed, listening for sounds of life in the kitchen. It was just her and William in the condo now. Their engagement coincided with Gigi moving in with Robert, so they had had the place to themselves. In the first few months, they were blissfully happy together, but then the wedding planning stopped, despite her mother, her sisters, Charlotte and Gigi trying to cajole them into starting again but something always came up. Then the arguments they had stopped being intellectual debates, and started becoming more personal and harsh and they started acting as if their only aim was to hurt each other. Well he certainly managed that last night, Lizzie thought bitterly. Accepting that she would have to talk to William, she got out of bed and walked purposefully to the kitchen. It was as empty as his side of the bed. She could see signs that he had been here lately: the dishes from last night's meal were drying off on the draining board next to the mug he had clearly drank all the coffee from before leaving for work. Lizzie put a fresh load of coffee into the machine and waited for it to bring her the beautiful liquid that she failed to function without.

Assuming he had already gone into the office, Lizzie showered and walked to Pemberley Digital, using the unforgiving hills to work off the frustration that had begun to build when she thought how long it took for her and William to be together, and now how easily it was to pretend they weren't in love. When she arrived at Pemberley, she headed straight to his office determined to see him, but his secretary stopped her saying Mr Darcy was in meetings all day and so there was no point expecting to see him. Lizzie nodded, and walked to her desk. She smiled to herself when she realised that William normally arranged meetings so they were in them together but her smile faded when she checked her calendar and saw he had removed himself as an attendee in every meeting she was in for the next week. That hurt.

The rest of the day passed in a blur and Lizzie arrived back at the condo stressed, frustrated, tired and emotional. Way too emotional for her liking, but she just didn't understand what went wrong. She cooked dinner for them both, even though it wasn't her turn and she wouldn't cook unless she absolutely had to. He knew this, so he would understand the gesture.

For four hours she sat at their dining room table, picking at the food she, it appears, had made for only herself. She was considering going to bed when she heard his car pull into the garage. He stopped very suddenly when he saw her there, as if he wasn't expecting to see her. Nodding to the food, he said "I've already eaten" and then proceeded to walk towards the stairs.

"No you don't William Darcy!" He turned when he heard her voice, "I may have just sat here for four hours waiting for you, or I may have spent all day hovering near the conference rooms hoping to see you but right now I don't care about that, because you cannot walk away from me like that! We are engaged, and yes things have got crappy but you have to talk, right now, I deserve it, especially after last night."

His eyes flickered slightly, Lizzie thought she could see some guilt in his eyes, but the rest of him was still and emotionless. Darcybot had returned.

Tears began to leak from Lizzie's eyes as she whispered, just loud enough for him to hear "please?"

When he didn't respond, she got angry and yelled "you said you would do everything in your power to make sure I was happy and that I never got hurt! Have you forgotten that? Because your behaviour recently would suggest that you had!"

"No, I haven't forgotten. So, whilst what I'm about to say might hurt you in the short run, it will be of great benefit to you in long term. Lizzie, I believe we should terminate our relationship. I feel we no longer understand each other, and currently are doing each other more harm than good."

It took Lizzie a few moments to process what she heard. Wiping the tears from her eyes, she removed the gorgeous engagement ring from her finger and placed it on the table. She hadn't taken the ring off once since he gave it to her and already her hand felt empty.

"As you wish."