Beginning, Section II
Jump to new as of July 29, 2000
Jump to new as of August 1, 2000
Jump to new as of August 3, 2000
VII ~ Enter the Devil
"Oh Hello...who do we have here." Said a rather smarmy man of forty as he brushed back what was left of his greasy hair with his thick mutton of a hand.
"Hi Bill." Said a rather perturbed Will, as his declaration had been so ungraciously interrupted.
"Aren't you going to introduce me to your...lady friend." He said with a smile that made Lizzy's stomach turn.
"Bill Collins...Ms. Elizabeth Bennet." He said anxious to return to their conversation.
"Well, now that we've been introduced...you wouldn't mind if I cut in now would you Will." As he licked his grotesque lips in glee.
"Actually I would" as he caught the look of terror that passed over Lizzy's countenance. "You see Bill, she and I were having a bit of private conversation...so if you'll excuse us."
"Oh come on Will, I'm sure you'll have another chance," as he eyed Lizzy appreciatively, "to 'talk' now let me take a spin."
"She's not a race car Bill...and further more..."
"Will...oh Will." Cried a voice from the almost opposite corner of the room and then a mass of orange taffeta alighted towards them. "Oh Will I have so much to talk to you about, can we go somewhere private." She said as she grabbed his arm.
"Hello Caroline, how are you?" asked Lizzy sweetly.
"Oh why hello Eliza, I didn't see you, oh Will you're such a sweetheart for bringing your Nanny, well Eliza, this must be the most elaborate party you've ever seen."
"Caroline, Lizzy is not Janna's Nan..." Will began angrily, yet his tirade was interrupted by a squeeze of his hand by Lizzy.
"Why yes, it was very kind of Will to bring me, and everything here is so beautiful." She said with a simple grace that quieted Caroline. Will was agape in silent admiration for the woman he loved. As for Lizzy, she had so long since given up on the opinion of others that even Caroline's spiteful words had no effect on her. As long as she held on to the good opinion of Will she was quite content.
"Well, we've got to go, so if you'll excuse me...Will we must go speak to Kimmie Martin...you know the head of the Woman's League...she's the wife of Senator Ewan Martin, remember how crucial his support is."
"Yes I suppose I should," he turned to Lizzy offering his arm, "shall we?"
Lizzy brightened, but her face fell as Bill took it instead, "Will...since you're leaving you can't object to me taking this pretty young thing for a spin can you." He said as he leered at Lizzy.
"Really Bill, I think that..." he was once again stopped by the squeeze of Lizzy's hand
Despite her revulsion by the man, she didn't want to hinder Will in any manner, "that's alright Will, I suppose one dance won't hurt." She said as she forced herself to paste a smile onto her countenance.
"Alright Lizzy, but I'll be right back." He said as he gave her hand a comforting squeeze.
"So you and he seem to be rather close." Remarked Bill as his paw encircled Lizzy's waist bringing her close to his bulging belly, his smelly breath beating upon her brow.
Lizzy loosened herself from his grasp, "yes, we're very good friends." She responded tightly.
"Aaah....so that's what you call it, and I'm sure he pays you well?" he said as he leered at her body, undressing her with his eyes, all Lizzy wanted was away from him once and for all. "you know I could pay VERY well, and I dare say I'm just in much of need of some tender loving as anyone else," he said as his hands began to travel over her body. "You know I have a room upstairs...we could head over right now." He gurgled in her ear as a large paw caressed the small of her back.
"Yes, let's go." She said through her teeth and allowed him to lead him out of the hall. Her stomach fell with a sickening thud as he held her arm. As soon as they exited the hall, Lizzy turned towards him and forcefully slapped his hanging jowl.
"It's an important day for the foundation, for Will, and for the legacy of my dearest friend. And it's a lucky day for you that I didn't want to ruin it by making a scene. Otherwise I would have done that a long time ago. You disgust me...and you give your sex a bad name." She almost spat as she spun and sprinted to the door.
He reached for her again, pining both her arms behind her and moved to bring his lips upon hers, she quickly kneed him in the groin. "I advise you never to touch me again Sir," her words oozing with contempt, "or otherwise I won't be so merciful," she said as she left him a writhing mass on the floor.
She composed herself as she went to the doorway of the hall, Will caught sight of her, brightening. "Lizzy I've been looking all over for you, where did you go?" he whispered deliciously in her ear.
"oh just taking out the trash." She whispered suppressing a giggle with some difficulty.
"Come on, dinner's starting...and then the speeches begin."
"I'm actually really nervous Will...I haven't spoken in public in so long."
Will turned towards her, brushing away a curl, "you'll do great...I know it."
"I wish I had your confidence." She said with a small smile as they were seated.
Dinner progressed without incidence, each forced to make casual small talk with those that surrounded them, even as the speeches began Lizzy's thoughts traveled back to Anne her Annie . Even after all this time it still stung like a knife through her very soul to think of her as gone. Her reverie was broken by Will's hand upon her own, "It's almost your turn Lizzy-bean." He whispered.
"What did you call me?" her breath catching in her throat Anne
"oh Lizzy-bean, just sounds right doesn't it:" he said a little confused, "I wonder why I called you that myself."
Anne
"...could we please have another round of applause for Dr. Kathy Crawford," said the M.C. as a beautiful young woman alighted from the stage and almost ran straight into the arms of whom Lizzy could only guess to be Mr. Crawford, a rather remarkably handsome man.
"Now can we give a rousing welcome to our next speaker, Ms. Elizabeth Scarlett Bennet." Will gave her hand a final comforting squeeze, Lizzy walked up to the stage, still clutching her note cards, amidst the furious whispers of speculation and applause of the audience.
"Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen, before I begin I'd like to answer what seems like a rather pressing question , 'Who am I?'" the audience laughed guiltily, "well, I've heard some rather interesting guesses, although my favorite would have to be 'Russian Astronaut' but unlike the other speakers today I'm really no one special." She paused slightly, the note cards discarded, her hand going directly and unconsciously to her heart. "Well, that really depends on your definition of 'special' for in a way I have been extraordinarily blessed, for I have known Perfection, I even roomed with Her for the four years I was in college."
Small tears began to form in Lizzy's eyes, "I know that this night isn't just about Anne Darcy, but I see no greater testament for a cure for the disease than she. If only to ensure that the world never loses such a woman again."
"I know that she also wasn't entirely without faults, what human being isn't? But she only fought too hard, loved too much, and gave too much of herself. She has always been everything that I ever desired in a friend and everything I admired in a human being."
Lizzy brushed back a single tear that had begun to fall down her cheek, "I hope you'll excuse me...I was never really the orator roommate, that was always Anne. Sometimes I would writer her a speech for a debate class or something....she would look over it and tell me that it was great. I would go to her speech, and she would start talking...and I wouldn't even recognize the words that had flowed from my own pen. She was miraculous, she could make grown men cry like babies. She brought tears to my eyes in a speech about sea snails. And it wasn't any great gift of melodrama, it was simply because she spoke from the soul."
Lizzy wiped a few more tears away, as did just about every member of the audience. A stifled sob was heard from the back of the room.
"That was my Anne, she did everything from the soul...that's how she lived, and I have a sneaking suspicion that's why she was so loved." Came out as a choked gasp.
Lizzy composed herself, "We're really gathered here today, to ensure that another child doesn't lose her mother, that another man doesn't lose his wife, that another profession doesn't lose another of it's leaders, than the world doesn't lose another phenomenal woman, that another Lizzy doesn't lose her Annie."
"Anne once wrote to me, I think it was during graduation...and the letter ended with, "remember Sugar, learn to love deeply and live every day like you're leaving a legacy."
"what we have today is my Anne's legacy, this foundation, and this cause. It is up to us to ensure the eradication of this horrible disease. Anne's life was certainly not in vain, it's up to us to ensure that her death wasn't either." Lizzy ended bravely, scrounging up every bit of strength to keep from dissolving into a mass of tears.
She walked down calmly into the audience but couldn't stop the tears from coming once Will enfolded her in his arms and led her back to their table.
There wasn't a dry eye in the audience, and indeed that of the of the entire viewership...for thanks to the 'Make Cancer History Week" at the local station the speeches at the banquet were being telecast all over the city. More than a few concerned sons and daughters, husbands, and brothers all urged the women they loved to become tested that evening doing more good than Lizzy could ever have conceived.
Yet, a few blocks away, in a seedy motel...amidst strewn trash and steeped heavily in the smell of alcohol and marijuana, another person watched the screen with rapt attention. The woman in the bed beside him turned over, he wasn't sure of her name or really even where he had picked her up. He was out of money and out of options, and then like luck itself there she was...his meal ticket...
"Though you could hide from me forever didn't you Lizzy." He said before throwing a bottle at the screen. "I can't wait to see you again, dearest.' He said with a sneer.
Posted on Wednesday, 26 July 2000, at 11 : 39 a.m.
"I had a wonderful time Will," said Lizzy shyly as Will walked her to the door. She felt like she was sixteen again on her first date the way her heart flip flopped each time Will touched her.
"So did I Lizzy, Lizzy there's something I've been trying to tell you all night." He said as that same look entered into his eyes, "Lizzy, I..."
"Will...You know that you can tell me anything." She said as her palm went delicately to cup his face, he kissed her hand that pressed against his cheek, causing a faint gasp to escape from Lizzy, and then as he moved towards her Lizzy's back pushed lightly against the door. The slight jangle caused a small voice to call out from inside the room, "Missy...is dat you." Followed by a whimper.
Lizzy inhaled deeply, "I better go check on her."
"Alright." Will said, almost with a sigh, "I'll wait right here for you." He said as she slipped quietly into her room.
"Missy...I dot scawed..." mumbled Janna half-asleep, as she clung to Lizzy.
"It's alright my little Angel, it's alright...I'm right here." She said as she smoothed back the dark hair.
"Stay with me pwease..." she said softly.
"Alright...I'm right here."
Fifteen minutes later Will was awash with anticipation, and he quietly opened the door, and leaned in only to see Lizzy sleeping lightly her breath coming in shallow breaths. Janna curled in the crook of her arm. He scooped Janna's tiny little body into his arms and bent down and placed a kiss on Lizzy's forehead, shutting the door behind him.
The next morning dawned bright as Lizzy took Janna to the park to play and the two swung on swings, battled dragons of their own creation, and laughed till they were undone. Lizzy carried Janna back, a feeling of fear gnawing at her, as if her mother's instinct alerted her that danger was near...and it shook Lizzy to her core.
After Lizzy tucked Janna in for a nap, she heard a knock on the study door.
"Ms. Elizabeth this just came in for you."
"Thank you Sarah...I appreciate it." She said as she took the letter from her hand. A plain white envelope with neither return address nor postage was affixed on the envelope, all that remained were the words Ms. Lizzy Bennet typed across the front. Lizzy ripped open the envelope, "Sarah," she called into the hallway
"Yes ma'am?"
"How did this get here?"
"A man about Mr. Darcy's age, quite handsome delivered it himself Ma'am"
"Thank you Sarah.," she said her hands shaking.
She pulled the single sheet of paper from the envelope, it was in a scrawl that she knew all too well.
Hello Lizzy,
Did you miss me?
You didn't think you could hide forever really did you?
Did you think I would just disappear like a bad dream?
Think again...my dear...
I saw you on TV, sobbing away about your dead friend, I always hated that snot- nosed little prick. I saw you cosying up to her husband, tell me Lizzy where you screwing around with him while she was in the hospital or did you wait till she was dead?
Oh and I saw the cutest thing today, I was walking by this park and I saw a little girl with dark curls playing with someone who looked a lot like...that wouldn't have been you and Darcy's little brat would it?
She's so small, and fragile...wouldn't it be a shame if something happened to her.
Don't think I've grown a heart while we've been apart...I'm willing to do whatever the Hell it takes to get what I want, even if that means putting a hole through your lover's head or ripping your little brat limb from limb.
You know what I want Lizzy. Meet me tonight in St. Mary's. Don't think I'll hesitate destroying everything you care about if you screw around me...
Lizzy's hands where shaking as she read the last part. Her heart was pounding with fear. Yet, she knew in her heart of hearts what she had to do, what must be done.
After all this time the Mother's instinct had kicked in at last.
Yet it would kill her to do it. At least she hoped it would. Death was a far better alternative to that life.
Lizzy crept into Janna's room as the child slept peacefully, her cheeks rosy with health, her tiny little fist curled beneath her cheek. She mumbled something unintelligible, followed by a whimper and 'Missy'
"I'm right here my Angel" whispered Lizzy with a sigh, how much longer would she able to comfort her. Janna would be alright she had Will...eventually she would forget all about her Missy. But for Lizzy the past months had bored a hole into her heart, a hole now filled entirely with Janna. And now all she would have left would be her memories...
She covered Janna's face with tiny butterfly kisses, pressing the chubby little hand to her cheek as the few renegade tears that had managed to escape the guard of her reserve slipped onto the sleeping child.
Yet, what would she tell Will? How could she protect him, and not destroy his faith in her? It was too great a burden to bear her love for him. He and Janna where her everything, her family. Indeed, they had long since ceased to be her obligation to Anne and found their way into her heart.
You see, she would have died for Anne's family. Yet, for her own she was ready to go back to Hell.
VIII
Will's hands shook as he read the note, Everything is moving too fast, please forgive me for leaving His heart beat wildly in his chest as if any moment it would explode and end it all. Yet, it was not so merciful and rather left a dull ache, a void where there had once been joy.
The church was dimmed by the fall of darkness, lit only by the candles that rose imposingly against the walls. Silence loomed through the air, silence save the quiet whisperings of a young woman. Her lips moved in fervent unison, words falling rapidly as they recited prayers that where constant reminders of her faith. She was not alone however, by her side stood another, yet he was not subject to any great outpouring of devotion, rather he stood silently shuffling his feet, smoking a cigarette and dropping the ashes onto the marble floor.
"Get up Lizzy," he said as he kicked her with the tip of his boot, as one would kick away a piece of stray garbage in one's path.
Lizzy continued to pray, her whole heart pouring forth from her lips. She prayed not for absolution, nor for help, all she asked for was mercy. "Dear God, All I ask of you at this moment is that he kill me and take my money, I cannot go back there my Lord, I cannot, please take pity on me, please God let him be merciful and end my life."
"I told you to get up you Whore, I'm still your Husband and you shall obey me." He said furiously as he burned the end of the cigarette into her skin. Lizzy winced with pain, but she continued to pray, "Dear Lord I ask you to protect Janna and Will, please God keep them safe, please." As tears began to fall from her eyes, yet she was unsure whether they sealed her pact with God or rather just an outlet for her pain.
George grabbed Lizzy's hair and pulled her to her feet, "Let's get the Hell out of here, this place gives me the creeps." Lizzy hesitated, for which she was rewarded by her head being smashed against the pew, and for a brief moment darkness blotted out the pain of the present. He pulled her to her feet again, blood oozing from the wound that lined her brow. All Lizzy could pray for was that the darkness would reclaim her once more, but by now the hope of such Felicity had vanished.
And then a pair of footsteps where heard in the corridor, "I'll consider letting you walk out of here with both your legs if you let her go right now Wickham, otherwise you can consider Mercy as a luxury you won't be afforded with." Came a growl at the door.
Panic consumed Lizzy, her breath catching in her throat. "Oh Dear God in Heaven, Will please get out of here. Please Will, please just leave, think of Janna....I'll be fine, George isn't trying to hurt me are you George? Please just leave Will, get out of here." Yet her voice had been weakened by the blow, and what might have been effective as a command was merely pitiful as a plea.
Self-doubt had gnawed at Will back at Pemberley, it had eaten him alive. His natural humility assured him that Lizzy had never truly cared for him. Indeed, her leaving had been a product of her desire to spare his feelings. It was with that idea had he set off for the one place he was sure she would go, to bring her back...to assure her that his feelings had no bearing on their relationship, to draw her back for Janna, for the house, for anything. Just bring her back.
And now as the pieces of the puzzle fit together his stomach tightened in disgust and his heart swelled with love for this courageous woman. "Let her go George." Came a growl that can only be described as gutteral, for it was ushered from the very depths of his hatred for the man who stood before him.
"Oh have you come to rescue your whore Will, just like you came to get your sister, you didn't think I remembered that did you? Well this one," he said as he gave a forceful yank against Lizzy's hair bringing her close to his wiry body. "Well this one is a better lay than your little sister, but trust me not by much...you could do better scrounging around on a street corner. But then she wouldn't have her easy access I guess...I'm guessing her bedroom's right next door."
"I'm telling you for the last time let her go."
"Or what, what are you going to do? Get blood on your hands for your whore, trust me bud she's not really worth it. And Lizzy I'm surprised at his loyalty, I mean you certainly don't have any...running away from your husband and into the hands of your lover." He said as he shook a finger in her face.
"It never stopped you. Besides I rather be his whore than your wife any day of the week." She said with a grimace, he slapped her across the face, hard, the noise echoing in the church, and in Will's heart.
It was more than even Will's resolve could bear and he charged George, knocking him flat with a left hook to the jaw, "Get up you pile of sewage, I want the pleasure of seeing you fall to the floor again." Said he as he towered over the cowering figure. George struggled to his feet, throwing a punch that connected with air, and received a stalwart fist in his stomach as a reward for his efforts.
Then as if fate itself lent a hand Lizzy eyes caught George reach for something inside his jacket and like a flash of lightning she stood between the two of them the barrel of George's gun pressed into her chest.
"Lizzy get out of the way." Will said a note of panic creeping into his voice.
"Will, please just get out of here...go back to Janna...please..." her voice resolute, yet the pleading that filled it could not be ignored.
"I'm not leaving without you Lizzy." He said his voice equally resolute.
"This is so touching really, but I don't think either of you will be leaving at least not on your own to feet." Yet George's careless smirk belied a note of desperation. His well-layed plan had crumbled to pieces, he could not leave here alive and he wouldn't get out the door without the police cutting him down in a matter of minutes.
It is said that the most desperate man is also the most dangerous.
"Go ahead George," said Lizzy as the gun still pressed into her flesh, "It would be the kindest thing you've ever done for me."
"As you wish dearest." He said as he cocked the gun, but then in one instant the gun and George went flying and the briefest of struggles ensued between Will and George each struggling for the gun that rested precariously between them.
And then two shots rang out. And the World Stood Still.
X
"WILL" it was more of a wail than a statement, more anguish than question. Lizzy couldn't remember her mouth forming the word, it was as if the tension in the room had just given birth to his name echoing about the vast church.
Lizzy could not breathe, nor cry...had she wanted to speak she couldn't have manuevered her lips. Everything was paralyzed, yet somehow she felt herself moving towards them, as if one moves through water. Slow and laborious, each contraction of the muscle acute and distinct.
George stumbled up, his back towards her, his head turned to catch her from the corner of his eye. A small trickle of blood oozed from his mouth, "whore," he spat at her before collapsing in a nearby pew.
Will rose unsteadily, his hand and shirt covered with George's blood, his palms open as the red fluid ran down his wrists. His face bore a look only describable as interminable horror, "Oh God," he cried almost in a daze as he looked upon his outstretched hands, as if they had been the proponents of the greatest of betrayals.
Then the tears that had welled up in Lizzy's very soul burst forth in an avalanche of sobs. Partially from grief, and it is a testament to the wonder of Lizzy's heart that she could still shed a tear for the man who had made her life a living hell. And partially from relief that Will was alright.
Yet to Will's much addled mind, her tears where only a further testament of his guilt. His twisted guilt ridden logic could only surmise that he had widowed the woman he loved, that he had killed a man with his own two hands. It would later be revealed the only prints on the trigger where that of George, Will's where only found on the barrel as he attempted to manuever the gun away from his own body. The shot that took his life had been fired by George's own hand.
"I'm sorry Lizzy I'm so so sorry." He cried as he turned away from her. Lizzy could not speak through her tears but even her conscious mind knew that words would be off no use. She turned him towards her and took the still extended hands which where still smeared with George's blood. The tears that fell in quick succession from her eyes fell into his palms, mingling with the red fluid and eventually washing it clean away. She drew his arms about her own waist and brought down his head to her shoulder.
A few racked sobs ushered forth from his body as she rocked him gently waiting for the quiet to overtake them. Lizzy drew them to one of the pews, content just to hold him until his grief had abated, yet his silence was unnerving.
As she pulled away from him slightly she noticed that the blood that appeared on Will's shirt was more somehow, almost as if...
"Lizzy I don't feel so good," he mumbled
Lizzy felt his shirt and the blood that pulsed out from the wound at his side.
"I'm so sleepy." He mumbled.
Panic gripped her heart like a cold claw squeezing the life out if it. "Will...hang on." She shook his body, "Will please hang on...please Will...I need you Will."
"I'm right here Lizzy" he mumbled with a dazed smile.
"I love you Will, I love you so much that it hurts." She said as she held onto him, trying desperately to press her hand to his side, to keep the life from draining from his body. She kissed him fully and wholly and proceeded to plant kisses all over his face.
"I love you Will, don't you dare leave me...don't you dare" she said as she held onto him. "Help me somebody please help me" she cried to the darkness.
"Lizzy I..." he began as a look of pain crossed his face,
"Shhh...don't talk, just hold on...please just hold on." She felt him grow weaker as she held him, "Will Darcy, you will not leave me...do you understand that? Think of Janna...she needs you Will, try for Janna...I need you Will, I need you."
She felt his body go lax and the cry that escaped her lips echoed throughout the hall, "somebody help me somebody please help me." Matched only by the hum of the sirens in the distance...
XI
For anyone who has ever had the misfortune of being placed in the Emergency Room waiting area, there is no need to put into words the mix of utter despair and misplaced hope that fills the place to its very brim. For everyone else rest assured that it holds a terror unlike any other, a terror of the unknown. Mothers and siblings, fathers and friends wait with clutched hands, lovers and spouses offer up silent prayers, and others still are lost from this world, lost in the silent yet thorough contemplation of what lies behind the door.
Lizzy sat there in silence, or rather oblivion for the outside world was of no consequence. Yet, she thought of nothing either, she just sat there, waiting. Were an outsider to chance upon the scene they would have assumed that it had been she who had been shot, for her white blouse was soaked with Will's blood, her face drawn and pale and her eyes glazed over in a daze. She had somehow lost touch with the outside world when the paramedics had ripped her away from Will. She had held his hand throughout the ride, unsure of what incoherent nonsense she had mumbled to him, only sure that the swell of love that she felt for him as she squeezed his cold hand had been unequaled in her lifetime. Then as they had took him into the hospital, and into the emergency room something inside of her died as she watched them wheel him away from her and towards uncertainty.
That had been three hours ago, the doctors had said the procedure should take four hours or so and through greatest of difficulty Lizzy had managed to make it thus far. Somehow she had called Richard who was away at a conference in Cleveland and who would be flying in any moment now. She had called home and asked Rosa to stay the night with Janna. And then she had retreated back into her shell, watching the hand of the clock, willing it forward all the while dreading the finality of the future.
She couldn't really take it any longer, the uncertainty and more so the impotence she felt sitting here helpless while the man she loved fought for his life. There was only one thing she could do, and only one place she should be. Lizzy only stopped long enough to stop by the reception desk, assuring them that she'd be right back, and like a bolt of lightning she was off, heedless of the late hour, or the suspicious characters that littered the street like shiftless debris. She only saw one thing, the steeple of the church down the street, a symbol of her salvation.
A few police cars still surrounded the scene, and yellow police tape lined the premises, the young man who stood watch at the door was more than a little shocked to see the young woman standing at it's door. Lizzy's hair was windswept from running, her eyes glazed over, her face drawn, her cheeks pale, her shirt caked with blood, the side of her face beginning to bruise. "Excuse me Sir, could I get by?" she asked of him.
His orders had been to not let anyone in the crime scene, yet the sight of Lizzy made the sympathetic heart that beat beneath the blue uniform swell with empathy. "You can only stay a moment, and only at the back of the church."
She nodded and whispered her thanks and as she entered she felt a burden lift from her tired shoulders, the burden of impotence. She fell to her knees whither from exhaustion or grief or sheer need or perhaps a combination of the three. "Dear Lord, Today is the third time I have come to you in need, the first for absolution, the second for mercy, and today I have come merely to beg for your help. I ask you, I beseech you, I beg you to save my Will. I will do anything you ask, I'll give him up, I'll devote myself to helping others, anything. Dear Lord just spare his life, and I shall be in your debt for all eternity" she mumbled a few of the Lord's prayers and recited a few Hail Mary's. She made the sign of the cross and then as quickly as she came she took off once more towards the hospital, speeding against perhaps fate himself in a race for the love of her life.
What she expected back at the waiting room she was unsure of, but least of all what she saw. It was exactly as she had left it, the same eerie melancholy draping the room like a sheath. She settled back into her seat, attempting to regain some composure, and before long her thoughts reclaimed her.
"Ms. Bennet? Ms. Bennet?" came a voice breaking into her private reverie. Lizzy looked up to see two rather pretty young women attired in white coats looking down upon her.
"Yes, I'm Ms. Bennet. How is Will?"
"Ms. Bennet, I'm Dr. Kathleen Ellis and this is my student Tina. Mr. Darcy will be just fine, the surgery was very successful, and we've already moved him to a private room. He should be waking from the anesthesia in a couple of hours and we should have him up on his feet by this afternoon."
Both of Lizzy's hands flew to her mouth cupping it as not to release too great a burst of joy. "Thank you, thank you both so much she said as she embraced each young woman." She held back a happy sob, "when can I see him?"
"You can go in right now if you'd like, but there are still a lot of tubes and wires running through him, and we'll remove those as soon as he gains consciousness. His room is this way."
Lizzy was ushered down the hallway and up the elevator to a bright sunny room full of the light that dawn brings. Will lay there, his face no longer ashen...but still considerably weakened. Lizzy took his hand in hers, feeling a sense of relief flow through her body just to be near him once more. "Will, Will if you can hear me, it's Lizzy...thank you Will, thank you for fighting...thank you for not leaving us."
And she sat there for some time pressing his hand to her cheek, content that the world was right again, that she was once more in the presence of the man she loved above all things.
"Lizzy?"
"Richard!" She cried as she rose and went towards him, he enveloped her in a big brotherly hug.
"Lizzy, you're positively ragged....Oh God what did that monster do to you?" he asked as he saw the bruises that covered her arms and legs, and the one that had begun to turn purple beneath her jaw along with the bandages that covered the multiple cigarette burns and all the stitches that lined her brow.
"I'm alright Rich, He's dead, and he can't hurt me anymore, why should I dwell on it?" she said sadly.
"Lizzy you've got to get some rest."
"I want to stay here till Will wakes up."
"Elizabeth, I'm a doctor, and I'm telling you to go home for an hour, take a shower, lie down for a bit and bring Janna back. Will should be awake by then, and I'm sure he'd love to see her." He said persuasively.
"Well, I guess that I could maybe..."
"Maybe nothing...you're going home and I don't want to hear any buts about it. I'm going to go pick up Georgie from the airport, her plane should be here in about 35 minutes."
"Ok."
"That's my girl" he said as he gave Lizzy another hug and patted her hair affectionately, he felt a great swell of affection and empathy for the young woman.
"Bye Rich, I should be back in an hour then." She said as she brought Will's hands up to her lips and whispered a soft, "I love you."
An hour and half later Lizzy had changed and showered, her hair still clinging in damp tendrils about her face with a very sleepy little girl hanging about her neck. "Hi, I'm here to see Mr. William Darcy."
"I'm sorry Ma'am but you can't see him"
"Oh I know I'm not family but I'm his daughter's nanny and I think that he'd want to see her."
"No it's not that."
"Oh, then what is it?" she asked as fear gripped her once more.
"It's just that his fiance asked that they not be disturbed."
"Oh alright I'll wai...wait did you just say his 'fiance'?"
"Why yes, she's in there with him right now."
XII
Caroline stepped out of the room and down to the hallway, to her credit she was genuinely pale and her eyes rimmed with unshed tears.
"Caroline...I didn't...I"
"What are you doing here?" she asked her eyes narrowing.
"I'm here to see Will and I..."
"I can't believe you had the audacity to come back here...to come back after you almost killed him. He pitied you...he helped you and this is how you repay him?"
"I didn't mean...."
"Does it really matter what you meant or what you didn't mean to do? All that matters is that Will is lying there injured, All that matters is that my Will almost died because of YOU" her voice raising.
Tears began to form in Lizzy's eyes she's right "Do you think I could go in and see him, just once?"
"You don't get it do you? He's awake, and he doesn't want to see you."
"Oh" she managed to choke out. "What about....what about..." she fought to keep her voice even, "what about Janna?"
"Oh yes, well....Janna is what 2 years old?"
"Three years and 8 months"
"Well, that's almost old enough for school, and besides after Will and I marry she'll have a mother."
"Oh"
"Now I suggest you leave and collect your things from Pemberley before I have them thrown into the street. Because Will is so benevolent I'm sure he'd want to allow you to stay the night there, so feel free to do so, but both of us want you gone by morning."
"Alright," she said as she fought back the tears that welled inside of her, "can I leave him a message?"
"Go ahead," she said with a bemused expression lining her face.
"Tell him, just tell him that I meant every word that I said in the church."
"Alright, now will you please go...or do I have to have security escort you out?"
"what about Janna?"
"Well you'll give her to me of course, Janna and I are great friends right" she said to the little girl who let out a small whimper at the sight of the heavily made up face leering down upon her.
"Can I have a minute with her?"
"I guess, but make it quick I have to get back to Will, he gets jittery if I leave him for more than a minute."
Lizzy kneeled to the floor, lowering Janna to the ground and bringing the little girl to eye level with her, "Janna I have to go now, and I'm not sure when I'll see you again. But it will be alright Sugar, you know why? Because you have your Daddy with you and you have my love tucked inside right here" she said as she touched the child's heart and tears began to stream down her face.
"Missy no cry. Missy no leave me." Whimpered the child as she wrapped her arms around Lizzy's neck.
"I have to baby, I have to go" she said with a sob as she held onto the girl tightly.
"No Missy no don't leave me pwease." She cried clutching her hair tightly.
"I love you Sugar, I love you so much."
"Enough of this Eliza, come on Janna. Wipe away those tears child, and stop bawling." Caroline said as she roughly yanked the child away. Leaving Janna to sob for her Missy and Lizzy kneeling there her arms outstretched aching for her child.
When Caroline and Janna reached the door to Will's room Caroline left the girl outside and threatened her with a spanking if she didn't dry her tears and put on a smiling face for Daddy.
"Oh Caroline it's you." Said Will weakly his heart sinking in disappointment.
"Yes, where you expecting someone else?"
"No...well...yes...I though Lizzy would..."
"Oh Will Lizzy did just come by...she left you a message."
"Oh what was it?" he said his heart soaring once more in hope.
"Well, I don't know how to tell you this Will but she came to say that she's leaving on tomorrows first flight to London. She says that she can't take it anymore and that she needs to start anew. Oh and she mentioned something else"
"What?" he croaked, for his voice had died with the hope inside of him.
"She said that last night in the church, she hadn't meant any of it...it was all jus a spur of the moment ruminations."
"Oh," he said as his heart began to crumble into a million little pieces
"I had asked her to bring Janna, but hospital policies won't allow any one under the age of six into the room until tomorrow."
"Oh....Caroline if you don't mind...um I would really like to be alone right now." He said as he leaned his head back against the pillow wincing with pain.
"Oh of course sweetie, I'll be outside if you need me." She said as she turned to leave, unable to smother the smile that had crept to her face.
Richard opened the door slowly, to see Will leaning heavily against the side of the bed, his eyes staring off into the distance, his face drawn a look of pain etched onto to it. "Will, Will how are you doing buddy?"
There was no response.
"Will, are you alright?"
"Oh Richard I didn't hear you, come in." came his ragged reply.
"Will how are you feeling? Don't worry we'll have you out of that bed by tonight and up and about by tomorrow. With your healthy body you should be out of here in a few days tops."
"Richard?"
"Yes?"
"I need a favor."
XIII
The church was damp and cool in the wee hours of morning, the only noise the hum of the engine of the cab that waited outside. Lizzy had collected all of her things amidst the daze that had encapsulated her since her meeting with Caroline. It had at first seemed so unreal, as if the conversation had never really taken place at all. As if at any moment she could return to the security of her family her family they had never really been her family to begin with. Yet as she had sat watching the dwindling glow of the citylights from her hotel, it had all become so painfully clear.
He had never loved her.
The delusion that he had had seeped itself into Lizzy's very soul, she had wanted it to be so badly that she had almost convinced herself that it was.
And now she was alone again.
Her flight was for early this morning, and there had been just one place that she had wanted to stop, one place that she had needed to go before she left.
The place where it had all begun, and where it had all ended.
Lizzy drew closer to the alter and kneeled upon it gently, "Dear Heavenly Father, I come to you today not to beg for help, or pray for your intervention. I come merely to do something that few of us rarely do, offer my thanks. Thank you for saving Will's life, I shall be in your debt for al time. And thank you Father for these past few precious months. They have given me enough joy to last a lifetime, and enough strength to bare any sorrow. I thank you for blessing me with such a beautiful child at last, at least I will have known what it is to love with your whole heart and nothing less. And I thank you for blessing me with Will, loving him has been my life's greatest honor. I always dreamed of white nights and passionate kisses as a girl, but for the rest of my life I'll dream of his smile and the touch of his hand. Thank You Lord, you have given me so much more than I deserve." She made the sign of the cross on her chest and rose, her heels tapping against the marble of the aisle.
Someone cleared their throat at the back of the church, causing Lizzy's heart to stop beating and to freeze her body in place at the doorway.
"I'm sorry but I couldn't help overhearing your confession"
"Will! What are you doing out of bed, you need to be in the hospital." She cried as she rushed towards him.
"I signed over Pemberley and custody of Janna to Richard as a guarantee I wouldn't be gone over an hour. I had to come Lizzy"
"Please Will spare me your pity...I don't deserve it." She said her head hanging down as he moved towards her laboriously, "I almost killed you Will, and I'm so so so sorry, You've been so kind to me...and this is how I repay you. Please don't be kind to me...I can't take it."
"Why are you leaving?" he asked soothingly as he came by her side.
"Because I can't bare to watch you live your life with someone else," she said as a tear fell down her cheek. "Because I can't bare to see my family replace me, except it's not my family any..." Here she was stopped as Will leaned down and gently placed his lips upon hers.
"...more" she finished breathlessly as he pulled away.
"If you insist," he said as he drew her waist towards him. This time she didn't hesitate to wrap her arm gently around his back and bring her hand up to his cheek.
And it was as if time had never passed them by...for a brief moment they where back in Lizzie's dorm room...
And it was magical...
The fireworks that Will felt at her touch magnified a thousand fold as his lips pressed gently against hers. Her heart beat so wildly that she feared that it would just skip several beats altogether. The kiss could only be said to improve upon the perfection of their last by being made sweeter after all the bitterness they had survived together. It was some time before he released, and Lizzy's hand remained on his cheek, her head buried in the folds of his blue woolen robe.
"Will what about Car..." she was interrupted by his finger on her lips.
"Before you say anything can I say something?" she nodded her head in agreement. "Lizzy, I love you. I hope that my recollections of last night, and what you said just now aren't just figments of my imagination, because I want you to love me so much who knows what lengths my mind would go to. " she let out a small giggle.
"It wasn't your imgaination," she said as she drew his hand to her mouth and kissed his palm.
"Do you have any conception of how long I've loved you?"
"Yesterday?" she asked bringing his head down for a kiss.
"Longer"
"The day we met in the church?" he shook his head negatively.
"Longer"
"In my dorm room?"
"Longer."
"Well that was the first time you ever saw me silly, unless you're thinking of someone else."
"The first time I ever saw you was a few months before that night, I was walking through the park across from your dorm and I saw you sitting there by the swings, your luggage piled neatly at your feet, gazing at the small children playing on the equipment. The sparkle in your eyes, the color in your cheek, you where the most beautiful thing I had ever seen." He said as he brushed away a curl at her forehead. "I had always thought that the concept of love at first sight was a joke, and then when I saw you...when I saw you...I just knew."
"Why didn't you say anything?" she asked as she played with the hair at the back of his neck as she leaned against his broad chest.
"Because I was on my way to see Anne, and by the time I had gotten hold of my facilitites to actually speak with you, you where gone. My heart told me to chase after you, but I couldn't stand Anne up. I think I regretted not running after your cab every single day...every day until I came to your dorm room that night."
"I think I fell in love with you when I saw you standing there looking like you stepped out of the catalog for the Harvard crew team, and I knew I loved you when you barely stammered out a greeting." She said with a shy smile.
"I felt as if fate was playing a cruel game with me, here was the girl of my dreams standing before me. And I was engaged to her best friend, I was engaged to the best human being I had ever known...and the dearest friend I had ever had. But I loved you. And I was torn in ways that are difficult to describe."
"So that kiss wasn't a mistake?" she said as she kissed his neck, just loving the feel of his warm skin against her lips.
"It was the greatest single moment of my life, perhaps en par with the day we got Janna. When I saw you again in the church, it was as if hope had given my heart wings and fate had allowed me to breathe again once more."
"You are my salvation Will, I prayed that night for salvation and what I got was you." She said as she kissed him, "You and Janna are my everything."
"Would you condescend to marrying a bruised and beaten man dressed in a bathrobe?"
"Only if he was you" she said as she kissed him again.
"So is that a yes?"
"What do you think?" she said as he wrapped his arms about her.
"I don't even have a ring."
"Yes I imagine there aren't many jewelry stores in the ER, but Will I already have everything I need" she said as she held him tight....
"The feeling is definitely mutual." He said as he sealed their bond with a kiss...
An Epilogue
Now as Janna's ear was pressed firmly to Lizzy's swelling belly Lizzy felt a sweet contentment with the life that she lived, a loving daughter, a son on the way, and a husband whom she adored more with every passing day.
"Has anyone seen Daddy's little Princess?" came Will's voice from downstairs.
"Check the dungeon" cried Janna her voice full of mirth.
"I checked already and a dragon tried to eat me" said will, which produced a massive giggle in Janna.
"Check the gardens"
"I checked already, and a wolf tried to eat me" he called from the stairway. Janna dissolved into a fit of jubilant five year old laughter.
"Then check the Queen's chamber." She said in a sing song voice between giggles.
"Aaaahhh....I see the Princess is keeping company with the beautiful Queen" he said as he swooped down to scoop up his daughter and kiss his glowing wife in one swift motion.
"Ew...that's GROSS" cried Janna from atop her father's shoulders.
"Oh really?" asked William as he kissed his wife again.
"Yes you two kissy faces" the child cried as she made a pair of kissing lips.
"Well I think you're gross." Said Lizzy with a smile.
"No you don't you love me." She said with a giggle.
"Oh Ms. Confident you really think so." Said Will as he grabbed his little girl from his shoulders and proceeded to tickle her furiously. "Now who wants to go learn to ride a bike?" he asked to Lizzy.
"I do I do" Janna cried.
"Do you hear anything?" asked Lizzy looking around.
"I said I do" said the little girl.
"I don't hear anything," said Will with a roguish smile.
"Can I please ride the bike Mommy?" asked Janna as she wrapped her arms about Lizzy's neck.
"Well there's my little Angel, now where did you run off to?" asked Lizzy as she suppressed a giggle.
"I didn't go anywhere." Said Janna as she put her little hands on her hips.
"Ok but if you want to ride your bike you must go change into some shorts."
"But I like this dress." Said Janna as she twirled about in a pink concoction her Grandmother had sent her.
"Yes but if you like it you wouldn't want it to get torn while you're riding so go change."
"Ok," she said with a grin.
"Wait a minute did you forget something?" asked Lizzy as she pointed to her cheek.
"Oh yes, I forgot. I love you Mommy" she said as she kissed Lizzy's cheek and squeezed her tightly, "and I love you too William Byron Darcy." She said as she hugged Lizzy's stomach.
Will had been watching the scene with an over powering feeling of amusement and above all contentment. He quirked his eyebrows, "Byron?"
"Well of course Will, "I Knew It was Love..."
"...and I Felt it Was Glory." He finished before he proceeded to kiss his beautiful wife deeply.