Beginning, Section II
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Chapter 8
For Jimmy, Maria, Spring, and Leea-in-absentia. :)
William was going to lose his mind, he was sure of it. Caroline was an even worse travelling companion than he had imagined, and used her inability to speak any language other than English as an excuse to hang around him even more than usual. He'd tried telling her that there were a lot of people in the cities they'd visited who spoke English, sometimes quite fluently, but she refused to listen. It was probably better that way; Americans had a bad enough image in some places without exposing the people to someone like Caroline.
But it was still harder on him. They had finally left Vienna before she could drag them to more than one ball; that was torture enough. William could think of few things he hated doing more than wearing tails and spending hours watching hundreds of total strangers waltz around the room. Particularly when Caroline Bingley spent most of those hours hanging off his arm and trying to wheedle him onto the dance floor. It didn't help that Charles was still looking unusually somber, enough so that William was growing concerned. His friend wasn't forgetting Jane Bennet as quickly as he'd hoped, and he had to admit to himself that so much of his own energy was being directed towards not strangling Caroline that he couldn't devote as much to distracting her brother as he felt he should. When he found himself spending hours at a stretch sitting in the Stadtpark despite the freezing temperatures, solely because he knew Caroline wouldn't venture out in that weather, William realized that it was probably time to leave the city. If he ever hoped to enjoy it again, getting out before she had completely ruined it for him was the only thing to do.
So they'd left. South first, towards the Mediterranean and warmer weather. Unfortunately, Caroline didn't respond well to the...attentions of the Italian men, and her reaction to seeing people drinking the fresh well water straight from the fountains...well, Rome was just not the place for her. Visions of Caroline's injuring herself skiing--possibly intentionally--and wanting him to carry her everywhere kept them out of Switzerland, so he decided to find another relatively warm climate and ventured to Barcelona next. Never one of his favorite places, the culture just didn't resonate with him the way some did, but Caroline couldn't complain about the weather as in Vienna, and there was some interesting architecture, certainly. He developed a sudden intense fascination with Gaudi's work, having discovered that Caroline found going around looking at the exteriors of buildings extremely dull. So she shopped, and he wandered; Charles vascillated between the two.
As warmer weather approached, William decided to head north, to the Netherlands. Not exactly a place he could imagine Caroline enjoying, but then, that was kind of the point; with any luck, she'd give up and go home. Much to his surprise, he was presented with a chance to convince her that would be the best plan before they even left the Amsterdam airport.
They had collected all their luggage--Caroline's by this time having multiplied even beyond the several bags she'd brought initially--and she and William were waiting for Charles, who'd just gone into the men's room. William couldn't believe his eyes when out of the women's stepped a familiar face.
"Jane? Jane Bennet?"
She caught sight of them and smiled in pleased recognition. "William! And Caroline, how nice to see you both. What are you doing here?"
"I could ask the same of you!"
"Oh, well...I finished my degree last week, and my aunt and uncle gave me this trip as a graduation present. Forgive me if I start making no sense; I just arrived, and am a little jetlagged. What brings you to Amsterdam, Caroline? I thought you were in Vienna..."
"We were, but it was so dreadfully dull there, and the weather! How anyone could be expected to put up with that climate, I can't imagine."
"We, ah, left Vienna several weeks ago, and have been travelling around since," William broke in before Caroline's diatribe could really get underway.
"That sounds lovely. Is there any place I should definitely visit, or avoid? I'd love any advice you could give me at all, in fact; this is my first time in Europe."
"Jane, dear, whatever you do, stay away from Italy! Those Italians are simply barbaric! And you'll find the people in restaurants over here quite impossible; do you have any idea how difficult it is to get something as simple as ice in your drink? Don't even bother trying to find a real diet Coke...and don't get me started on the impudence of asking you to pay to use a public restroom!"
From his position safely behind her, William looked over Caroline's shoulder at Jane and tried to convey a warning to ignore everything that was being said. He didn't think Jane was foolish enough to listen to such nonsense, but you never knew. She caught his eyes and gave a slight nod, so he felt reasonably certain he didn't have to worry about that. Unfortunately, it left him with time to worry about his friend; Charles could come out at any moment now, and he still wasn't ready to come face-to-face with Jane Bennet without potentially grave consequences.
An awkward silence fell as Caroline trailed off. It was impossible to know for certain, of course, but it looked to William like Jane was trying to work up the nerve to say something, and he was terribly afraid she would ask after Charles. Caroline seemed to get the same idea, as she suddenly began wishing Jane a pleasant trip, all but urging her to leave them.
"Yes, how selfish of us, keeping you standing here when you're probably exhausted from the flight. You must be wishing to get to your hotel and take a nap," William added, trying to be more subtle than Caroline.
"Oh, yes, you're right, of course," Jane agreed, though with less enthusiasm than she'd had upon seeing them initially. "I would like to take a shower....Well, um, enjoy the rest of your trip. It was nice seeing you again."
They said their good-byes, and William watched as she carried her luggage towards the airport's train station, trying to convince himself she didn't seem disappointed.
"Well, that was close," Caroline said snidely as soon as the other woman was out of earshot.
"What was close?" her brother's voice asked, causing both his companions to turn around guiltily.
"Oh, um, nothing. Just...heard some people say the weather was pretty horrible yesterday, you know," William temporized.
"Oh. Then I guess it's good we came today, isn't it? Shall we go find the hotel?"
The three settled into their hotel, then Charles decided he was going to take a walk around the neighborhood before dinner. Caroline seized the opportunity to corner William for a private discussion.
"William?" she called, knocking briefly on his door before opening it and entering without invitation. "William, dear, we really must talk about what we're going to do about that Jane."
Why yes, Caroline, it's all right if you come in, I don't mind, thanks for asking, William thought sarcastically. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, don't you think it's a little dangerous, having both of them in the same city like this? What if Charles sees her? I'm just sure she'll try and find him, and then all our hard work to separate them will be for nothing!"
He sighed. On the one hand, he was growing tired of Caroline's acting like they were all chummy co-conspirators. He was increasingly worried that she might one day say something to reveal their...concerns...to her brother. And while he still felt it was for the best that Charles be separated from Jane before his heart was completely lost, he had no doubt that his friend wouldn't see things the same way.
On the other hand, he couldn't deny that after seeing Jane that morning, he was beginning to feel a little guilty as well. She hadn't said anything, of course, but he had gotten the impression that something was wrong; she didn't seem quite as lighthearted as he remembered her being. He didn't think she would try to seek out Charles, no matter what his sister believed, especially since Jane didn't even know he was still with them; but he was starting to think that maybe, just maybe, if the two did run into each other, Jane would not be quite so indifferent as William had previously expected. It was all too confusing, and he wanted nothing more than to be done with the whole mess.
Yet Caroline wouldn't let him. Of course.
On a third hand, if he encouraged Caroline in her little Jane-paranoia, might he possibly convince her to take her brother and return to the US? While he'd miss Charles's presence, that would be more than made up for by the lack of Caroline. Knowing as he did that Jane was not presently at home, he wouldn't have to worry that Charles would seek her out and maybe be told of Wickham's lies; and as his other reason for talking Charles into this trip, helping him to forget about Jane Bennet, could only fail if they all remained in the same city...well, why not?
Suddenly he realized that Caroline was still speaking to him. "Oh, um, yes, you're completely right, of course. We must do something."
"I knew you'd see it my way! What do you suggest?"
"Oh...well, clearly the only thing for you to do is take him back home. I'll stay here and see what I can do to make sure that, uh, if Jane seems about to return home, you'll receive ample warning," he volunteered, knowing full well he'd do no such thing, but hoping Caroline would buy it anyway.
"Go back without you?" she pouted.
"You need someone here to keep an eye on things; and who better to accompany him home than his own sister? He knows you've been...unsatisfied with the trip, so he'll believe you when you tell him you're ready to return."
"Oh, well...I suppose you do have a point..."
"Excellent! I'll make the travel arrangements. If possible, you'll leave tomorrow; um...is that all right? I think it would be for the best if you get him out of Amsterdam as soon as possible, after all."
"Very well, for Charles's sake. But I do wish you were coming with us."
William tuned her out again, finishing the conversation and steering her towards the door on auto-pilot, his thoughts once more consumed by his own reasons for sending Charles back.
There was, and perhaps would always be, despite his best efforts, the chance that Charles would hear the story against him from someone other than Jane. That annoying brother of hers, most likely. Just like Wickham, to find the one person who already disliked him the most, and find some way to twist the facts of their prior acquaintance into something that was no doubt perfectly calculated to cause the strongest reaction. But at least with Jane in Europe, there wouldn't be much chance that Charles would be spending much time with Larry. He hoped, anyway.
He sighed, called the airline regarding changing the date for Charles and Caroline's return tickets, and spent the remainder of the afternoon trying to decide how to broach the subject to his friend.
That evening he managed to convince Caroline to wait until after dinner before mentioning the change in their travel plans. They gathered in her room, and after some small talk William cleared his throat.
"So, Charles...Caroline and I were talking, while you were out taking your walk. And we decided, since she's been rather...uncomfortable with, um, the lack of, well, various things that she's accustomed to back home, that it would be for the best if she returned to the States. And she didn't want to go back alone, so since you're her brother and all...would you mind accompanying her?"
"Oh. Well, sure; not that I'm not enjoying seeing more of the world, of course, but if you're so unhappy, Caroline, of course I'll go back. If that's all right with you, William; I'd hate to leave you alone if you'd rather--"
"No, no, I'm fine by myself, really," he assured his friend hurriedly. "I travel by myself all the time; it's nothing I'm not used to."
"Well, in that case...sure," Charles agreed. "When would you like to leave?"
"Tomorrow," Caroline exclaimed, trying unsuccessfully to hide her glee at having once more separated Charles from Jane Bennet.
It's a good thing he's so unsuspicious by nature, William thought. Otherwise he'd know for sure that something was up.
"Having discussed it with your sister, and being relatively certain you would feel that way, I went ahead and switched your tickets; your flight leaves at one. I'm sorry to see you leave so soon after we got here, but at least you got to see a bit of the city this afternoon...." He really was sorry, too; but other considerations were just too strong to ignore.
The three spent their final evening together in conversation, William so relieved that he would soon be able to have the kind of trip he preferred, with just his own wishes to consult, that he even managed to feel charitable towards Caroline. The next morning, he accompanied them back to the airport where they said their good-byes, and returned to the city with a heart much lighter than it had been since the Bingleys' party.
A few days later, William returned to his room after having spent a very satisfying day at the Rijksmuseum; his enjoyment was enhanced by imagining what Caroline's comments would have been, safe within the knowledge that he wouldn't actually be subjected to them, for a change. He decided that he would have to return to Vienna, at least, now that he was free from her and could perhaps enjoy the city once more. A few more days in the Netherlands, then he'd head back to Austria, he decided...
Deciding to check his email before going to grab a bite to eat, William booted up his laptop. Not surprisingly, he found a message from Charles waiting, nearly illegible as usual. Sighing, he ran it through a spell-checker to clear up most of the problems, then sat down to read the account of their return flight.
He was chuckling at some of his friend's more biting comments about his sister as travelling companion when a name in the next paragraph caught his attention and killed his amusement.
Ran into Larry yesterday. He seems to have gotten rid of that Coleen at last--poor guy! She's seeing Carl Lucas, remember him? I don't really understand--she seemed like a nice girl, but I wouldn't have expected her and Carl...
William didn't pay much attention to Charles's thoughts on Carl and Colleen, being too concerned at the first name in the paragraph. So he's seen Larry already. Presumably Larry hasn't passed along anything George told him, or Charles wouldn't sound so...normal. But it's surely only a matter of time.
Suddenly another thought, equally horrifying, occurred to him. What if Larry mentions her sister's trip? If Charles confronts Caroline, she'd never be able to convince him we didn't know about it. And if he still feels as strongly about her as I suspect, he'll never forgive me for not telling him. This situation just can't get any worse, can it?
He was lost in his thoughts of the various ways Larry Bennet might make his life miserable even from the other side of the world, all unknowingly--he didn't want to even consider what might happen if the other man set out to intentionally destroy his life--when a knock came at the door.
Not expecting anyone, it took a second for William to realize what the sound was, and then get up to go answer it. He was startled to find the object of his musings on the other side.
He didn't have time to get beyond a surprised "Larr-" when the other man's hand struck his cheek in a painful slap.