The past few weeks had been like a constant war for the Bennett family. Mrs. Bennett had been gravely dissapointed and had simply refused to talk with Lydia, though everyone knew given time she would be back. The woman loved her daughters too much to simply abandon them so.
Therefore, Mr. Bennett who although sympathized with his daughter was forced to leave for home, to accompany his wife. Lizzie has filed a complaint with the police immediately and a search for George Wickham had begun. It surely helped the fact that Wickham was a known sex offender with his previous encounter with Georgina and a few other women.
The press had also changed their story almost overnight as Lizzie served notice of libel to their doorsteps as well as charges for having outraged the modesty of a woman, and had gone from back-lashing Lydia to sympathizing with her as the victim to a revengeful pervert.
In the midst of the circus, when Lizzie had almost been on the verge of giving up William had been a silent help, supporting her from the shadows.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Lizzie questioned William as they sat in his study reviewing the case against George so as to incriminate him.
"I thought I was too late. I was angry, jealous and bitter, but frankly speaking I just couldn't find the right time." William answered, looking outside the window refusing to meet Elizabeth's eyes.
"Not even when you said you loved me at Charles Ball?"
"It wasn't my story Elizabeth. I wanted to but I just couldn't and I advised Jane about it, gave her a subtle hint. Then one day, I came to know things had ended and I was relieved that maybe he had backed off." Suddenly, Lizzie's mind veered to the sudden change in Jane's attitude towards George right before the time he had left.
She slowly got up from her seat across from him and settled herself on the couch for a more comfortable option than the sturdy wooden chair she had been sitting on for the past several hours.
"I feel like I brought this upon my sister. I should have been more careful, should have seen the signs but I failed. I knew Lydia was always immature and impulsive, so I should have looked after her better..." Elizabeth's shoulder shook as, tears poured out of her eyes and her voice hoarse as she continued to blame herself for bringing this upon her family.
However, before she could loose herself into that bubble, two arms wrapped around her anchoring her from drowning deeper into guilt and self-blame. William didn't speak anything, he just held Lizzie in his arms as she continued to pour out her feelings. Feelings which she had been suppressing inside of her from the past few days.
Exhausted and spent both emotionally and physically, Lizzie fell asleep in Williams arms, and not wanting to take away the few moments of peace that the brunette had been able to catch, William decided to move her to one of the rooms, so she could sleep better.
William had also been partially blaming himself throughout this whole debacle. He had been wrong in forming opinions about the Bennett's especially since most of them had been induced by what he'd heard from Caroline Bingley's mouth and it all seemed to have been biting him in the arse.
It was time to correct his mistake. He didn't care if Elizabeth would love him someday or ever, for now he just knew he had to make things right for her and her family.
*****
Lizzie woke up with her head still dizzy, her mental exhaustion even though had somewhat reduced, there was still lack of peace. Getting out from under the covers, she pushed the curtains in the room aside to find it to be dark outside.
She had slept for way too long and the annoyance of having wasted time sleeping began to crept up inside of her.
Lizzie crept outside the room, her thoughts clearly aimed at getting back to work, but before she could reach back to grab her stuff from William's study, she was caught none other than by Georgina, who looked at her with worry in her eyes.
"What are you doing up here? You're supposed to be resting." Georgina immediately moved towards Lizzie holding her lightly by the arm, as she pulled her back towards the room.
"Georgina, I need to work. There is Lydia and then your brother's case with that attention seeking author is also pending." Lizzie protested as she was dragged by Georgina.
"You have a fever Elizabeth, doctor says you have no energy because you haven't been eating well and have been too over worked and stressed. So I'm not listening to anything you have to say. William is bringing you food, so you better stay in your room and rest." the women had reached back to the room Elizabeth had been in only a few moments ago, and it was now that Elizabeth realized that she indeed was burning up.
Georgina helped Elizabeth into more comfortable clothes and agreed to let her work, but after she had her dinner and medicines. Elizabeth smiled at the love and affection the little heiress seemed to hold for her and felt really honored to be on the receiving end of the same.
At home she always felt the need to be the stronger one, the independent one, who needs no other to support her, but alas being treated this way made her feel warm and cared for.
A knock on the door, revealed William standing in the doorway with a tray of food in his hand. He smiled at his sister and Elizabeth before entering the room and somehow this made Elizabeth feel warmer than before.
Was this what she really wanted ?
"Oh my, Lizzie you'll be fine in no time. William has come with his special chicken noodle soup, it will make you good in an instant, its better than any medicine." William only laughed at his sister bragging about the soup he often made for her in his younger years.
An hour passed by as Lizzie soaked up on all the love and attention that the Darcy siblings seemed to shower upon her and the realization of what an idiot she had been seemed to pile up more and more on her.
She had only just started to like William Darcy as a human, but now she could see what a great man he actually was and her feelings were growing deeper. She realized that she was yet to confess her feelings to him, which only made her blush deeper, every time he fed her a spoon of the soup, once again on Georgina's insistence and she could swear that the little Ms. Darcy was quite enjoying this exchange between her brother and her role model.
William decided to stay back with Elizabeth as she began to work on Pemberly's case and Georgina left the two to their own devices, silently wishing for them to get together already.
