Pride and Prejudice, the High School Version.

Chapter 24

For the next three days, the Bennet household was in a constant state of worry and fear. Any noise, especially a phone ringing caused everyone to jump with both anticipation and fear.

Her father came back home after three unsuccessful days of searching in DC, leaving her uncle to continue with the search and inform them of what was going on.

"You warned me," her father lamented over and over again.

"It isn't your fault, you couldn't have anticipated Lydia's kidnap."

"I let a thirteen year old go to a foreign country on her own."

"She wasn't on her own, she was with a teacher. Bad things happen all the time."

He didn't look like he was comforted by her words.

On the fifth day, her father received the long awaited phone call from her uncle. Lydia had been found, alive and unharmed. She was going to stay with her uncle for the day and would be on a plane back home the next morning.

Their mom's cries finally ceased and the household had some peace after each one of them had spoken with Lydia on the phone.

Lydia didn't look or sound like a kidnapping victim when she arrived home. She was all smiles, as usual, with a million stories to tell about British boys.

"Can you tell us what happened when you were kidnapped please?" Liz asked impatiently as Lydia went on a boys tangent again.

"I don't remember. All I remember is that one second I was hanging out with George, and the next time I woke up, I was in the hospital in DC."

"Do you know why he targeted you specifically? Out of all the foreign exchange students there?"

Lydia waved her arm dismissively, "Perhaps because I was the hottest?"

Or the stupidest, thought Liz. Liz couldn't get anything else out of Lydia about the kidnapping. She didn't know if George had been arrested, didn't know anything except the fact that their aunt and uncle were very strict and horribly boring.

It was only after they were back to school and the rumors were dying down a little that Liz was able to get any useful information from Lydia. A Pemberly Enterprises advert was on the TV when Lydia said, "By the way, that Bill Darcy guy came to see me at the hospital."

"Did he?" Liz asked, trying to sound casual but very much interested.

Lydia clapped a hand to her mouth, "He told me not to say anything."

"Then don't say it for heaven's sake Lydia. He runs a company, you could say things that could totally ruin him. If someone asks you to keep a secret, keep it," said Jane.

Liz wanted to press her further, but since both Jane and her had decided that they are were going to teach Lydia some responsibility, she did not.

She called her aunt that evening and asked about Bill.

"He found Lydia, and paid her ransom," her aunt said, "though he begged me not to tell you."

"How?"

"He single handedly tracked down George. Apparently, he knew a little bit about a drug gang he was involved in.  He came back to DC after he had dropped you, made a few calls and found Lydia in just a matter of few hours."

"But we waited for five days!"

"She was drugged and ill, almost dead really. He took her to this fancy hospital and she received first class treatment. He didn't want to worry you guys until he was sure that she was going to be okay."

"Did they...did anything happen to Lydia?"

"Sexually, I think not. He had the doctors check, twice."

"But when he found her, why couldn't he just go to the police? Why did he pay the ransom? How could I ever repay that kind of money?"

"Lydia was not in a state to wait for a police operation Liz, she was dying. According to the doctors, she would have died in an hour if she had not been brought in."

"So he saved her life?"

Her aunt sighed on the other end, "That's why he didn't want you to know. He thought you will think like that."

"Like what?"

"Like you owe him."

"Don't I?"

"Maybe, a little, but people do things to the people they like all the time. Think of it like it's dinner."

"A dinner worth two million dollars?"

"Yes. Because you are worth more than that, and he can afford it."

"But what happened to George? Was he arrested?"

"No. He sent him back to Britain I guess."

Liz went to sleep that night feeling strangely happy. If Bill did all that for Lydia, it at least meant that a small part of him really cared about her.