Posted on Thursday, 22 February 2001

Gray. Always gray. Georgiana stared at the sky through the small window in the staff room. She sighed and took a sip of her lukewarm coffee. She didn't turn her head as the door opened and a good looking blonde man stepped into the room.

"Georgie! How's it going?" Her cousin Richard Fitzwilliam asked in his perpetually cheery voice. Georgiana sighed again. She was very fond of Rich, but he was too chipper; and today especially, he irritated her. He got some coffee and took a gulp. "Blechh. Can't we ever get some real coffee?" He poured the 'coffee' out the window and watched as a dandelion soaked it up and promptly withered away. "Hey, they should use that as weedkiller." Georgiana still took no notice. "I'm going to Starbucks. You wanna come?" That got her attention.

"I'd love too, especially if you're buying. But someone has to be here in case any customers arrive."

"What do you want, then?"

"Ummmm, how about a Café Latte Grande?"

"Sure. Be back in a sec!" Rich slammed the door behind him. As he strolled to his car, he noticed a black Sedan that had been there all day. There was still someone in it, too. He cast an interested glance at the driver, and it registered that the sunglasses the man was wearing were way too dark for the interior of a car on a day like that. Oh, well. Who cared? He was probably asleep. Rich shook his head and the thoughts rolled away like water off a duck's back. He was good at that. His cousin Will, Georgiana's brother, always said that Rich was the closest thing to Scarlett O'Hara the male population had seen yet. But that was Will. Maybe he'd stop at Dunkin' Donuts and get donuts too.

Georgiana sighed again. It was something she was doing a lot that day. She groaned as she heaved herself to her tired feet and made her way out of the room. She stopped at the bathroom to splash water on her face to wake her up. It helped, a little. She walked out to the counter that separated the cash register from the rest of the store, and turned to stone. There was a man standing at the cash register.

At first, it didn't register what she was seeing. There he was, a brown lunch bag in his hand, stuffing money into it. She stared. Her instincts told her to run, to run to the street and scream, to run to the staff room and hide; anything. But her feet refused to obey. So she stood there like a deer in the headlights. The man didn't notice her. He was leaving the store without looking around. She breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly, something ran across her foot. She stifled the shriek, but a gasp came out that had the man whirling to face her.

He was wearing a black ski mask and sunglasses. They stood staring at each other for a minute. Then the man walked towards her, slowly. He was taking something from his pocket.

"Put your hands up." She obeyed, the business-end of a nasty looking pistol was staring her in the face. "Come." She walked in front of him to the car. "Get in. You drive. I'll tell you where." She got into the drivers seat. The man sat facing her with the gun in his hand. "Drive to the river."

At the river, Georgiana looked in vain for a boat of some kind. Unfortunately, there was not even a barrel. There was a homemade raft, made of tree branches lashed together with old rope. She gawked at it for a few minutes before the man grabbed her arm.

"Get on. Now."

"What, THAT?"

"Get. On. Now." The man spoke through gritted teeth. Georgiana obeyed. She would never admit it to this awful man, but she was afraid of water. Once, when she was eight, her best friend and she had gone to the river near Georgiana's family estate to swim. They had always been told they couldn't go, so one day they decided that they wouldn't ask. Rachel, her best friend, drowned. The current was too strong and carried her out to sea. Georgiana had never gotten over that. She had been found a few hours later by their panicking parents, crying her eyes out. She had been hysterical for hours, and was for several more after she was found. She managed to sob out,

"Ra...chel...swimm...ing...gone...couldn't...save her...all my fault...Oh God...I'm so sorry....please...Rachel!"

All this was brought back to her as she stared at the swiftly moving water beneath the raft. She dragged her fascinated gaze from the water to the man nearby.

"You don't even know who I am."

"Oh, yes I do. You're Georgiana Darcy." He laughed, a horrible cold laugh.

"Do I know you? Something..."

"Yes, you know me. And we will know each other better. No," he said, raising his hand to cut her off, "I will not tell you now."

Georgiana sat in the center of the raft shivering. What was going to happen to her? She kept having flashbacks of that horrible time two years ago with George Wickham. She had been such a fool. But why did this have to happen? Did she do anything that needed to be punished so badly? How many people went through being kidnapped twice? She wasn't worth much in the scheme of things. Yeah, her family had money, but she was small fish compared to what was out there. One thing she decided. She had made the mistake of falling in love with her kidnapper last time. She wouldn't do it again. How could she possibly have believed that lying snake? Of course, there was the fact that they had grown up together, that her father had been his guardian after his parents' death, so of course she trusted him. But she believed that he loved her even when he hit her. And that was what she could not forgive herself for. Her brother had rescued her then, but how would he find out? Rick wouldn't think anything was wrong; he was such an idiot that he would think she had gone out for lunch or something. Not that she had ever left without her Cafe Latte Grande, but Rick was dumb like that. Gorgeous, but without two brain cells to rub together. So it was up to her. Georgiana wrapped her arms around her body and began to think.

It was inevitable, I suppose, that the raft capsize. The robber/kidnapper's sudden movement in response to Georgiana's attempt at bolting put all their weight on one corner, and with a spectacular splash, they were in the water. The robber/kidnapper was cursing more than a truck driver Georgiana had met last spring, and she was relieved to discover that she thought it amusing. It was she could do to avoid laughing.

As they crawled coughing and spluttering onto the opposite bank of the river, Georgiana was relieved to see that the man seemed to have forgotten what had caused their upset. He heaved himself to his feet, and waited while she rose to hers. He still had the gun, and it was out again.

"OK. We're walking. Go on." She looked uncertainly at the gun, wondering. Her brother had taught her to shoot, and they had a target gallery at Pemberley, but Will was the gun expert. She just knew how to use one. Georgiana thought that after immersion in water, the gun would be useless, but she wasn't sure and wasn't going to risk her life on a supposition that had no foundation. So she walked.

They walked what seemed like ten miles. In reality, it was probably only two or three, but Georgiana was tired and scared. When they stopped, it was in front of a farmhouse. She looked around, interested. There was a barn some distance behind the house, and plowed land surrounded them. There was a paddock across the way, with five horses running around and grazing, and there were several cows fenced into a field, and a young girl was herding sheep. She stared at them in utter amazement as the man strode up to the door and knocked.

"LIZZY!" After a moment, a young, pretty woman with curly brown hair and warm brown eyes opened the door wiping her hands on her apron. She gasped at the sight of them.

"George? Is that you? Who is this? Why do you have that mask on? What..." She trailed away as she caught a glimpse of the gun. At the man's name, Georgiana had reached a conclusion that she had been hovering near for a while.

"George Wickham?" She asked with a horrible sort of certainty. The man himself pulled off the ski mask and bowed with a flourish.

"The same. Delighted to see you again, Georgiana." Georgiana slowly backed away.

"Why did you do this, George? My brother will only come after you again. And believe me, he won't hush it up this time." Lizzy had been looking from one to the other with a dazed expression on her face.

"You...you know each other?" Georgiana turned to her, fearless in her anger.

"We grew up together." George snarled angrily, and slapped her. Georgiana held her cheek in astonishment.

"You didn't kidnap her, did you George?" Lizzy's tone and eyes pleaded with this man to tell her that he didn't do what she knew he had.

"Yeah. She was a witness."

"A witness...to what?" George held up the lunch bag triumphantly.

"To this. 30,000 pounds. We can get married now, Lizzy." Lizzy backed away shaking her head.

"But...you stole it? Why?"

"I did it for us, Lizzy. So I can buy you pretty things. I can get you an engagement ring now. See?" Lizzy was still shaking her head.

"George, I don't want an engagement ring bought with stolen money. Do you think that I could be happy in a marriage that got its start on stolen money? And what are you going to do with her?" She pointed at Georgiana, to illustrate her point. "George, give the money back. Bring her home. Please, George. Don't do this to yourself. To me. Her brother will almost certainly know who kidnapped her. He probably won't do anything to you if you bring her back. Come on, George." George's gun arm wavered and dropped. He looked at Lizzy uncertainly, then at Georgiana. Then he turned his back to Lizzy and pointed his gun at Georgiana.

"No, Lizzy. The Darcy family owe me good. I intend to get that debt in full. Besides, Will would never recover if something happened to his darling little sister. It's the best way to get him back for ruining me."

"Ruining you!" Georgiana burst out angrily. "You were paid back every penny and more that you deserved just because Will hoped he had been mistaken in you. You didn't even come to Papa's funeral. Oh, sorry, I forgot. Saturday afternoon, and you had better things to do. Don't give me crap, George Wickham. You're less than dirt." She spat contemptuously at his feet. "Do your worst. See if I care. But try and escape afterwards. No matter where you go or what you do, William will find you. Don't kid yourself. It's gone far beyond forgive and forget now. My brother is the best man in the world, and you know that you deserved worse than you got last time. Prison, George darling. It's a pretty word, isn't it. For life. Two kidnapping charges? You don't have a chance. And if you kill me or something, the death penalty. Believe me, George, you will suffer. How do you like that thought, huh? I didn't think so. I always knew you were a coward, George. It's underhanded and weak, trying to get back at Will through me. Effective, maybe, but weak. Can't you face another man? Oh, I forgot. Of course, you want to do it through a girl so you can feel powerful and dominant. Cause Will would wipe the floor with you if you so much as showed your face." She ceased, watching him carefully. There were beads of sweat on his temples and upper lip, but his jaw was trembling with the force he had it clamped shut with. He was angry, but she could see the ill concealed fear in his eyes. He was afraid. He was very afraid. One moment more... Georgiana caught Lizzy's eye over George's shoulder. Lizzy nodded slightly, to show her support. Georgiana twitched her eyebrow in acknowledgment. Focusing on George, she saw that the moment had come. She jumped on him, knocking the gun out of his weakened grasp before he could tighten his grip. Lizzy had grabbed a nearby stick and whacked him on the head with it before he could fight back. It was a strong, flush hit, and George Wickham dropped unconscious. They tied him up with Lizzy's hammock because there was no convenient rope, and went into the kitchen. Lizzy made them tea. As they looked at their cups and then at each other, their eyes met and they burst out laughing. It seemed so anticlimax to be drinking tea with a criminal on the doorstep. Georgiana had called the police, her brother, and Rick, and they were all on the way. In the meantime, Georgiana filled Lizzy and her sister Jane, who had joined them, in on all the past information she needed to know.

"George Wickham grew up on my father's estate. He had every privilege that my brother and I had, and his father was my father's trusted advisor. He and my brother, Will, are the same age. They went to school and then to Oxford together. There, I am not sure what happened. But my brother came home one holiday without George, and every time George was brought up, he would look like a thunder cloud until the subject was dropped. My father, although he never saw George again, had a touching faith in him, and in his will, left the desire that George be given a pastor's position in the best church my father owned. My father died five years ago. At that time, George was old enough to go to seminary and be ordained in good time as a priest of any parish he chose. Instead, he expressed a desire to become a lawyer, and requested and was granted 100,000 pounds as suitable compensation for the post he was giving up. It was all overseen by a lawyer and perfectly legal.

We didn't see him again until two years ago. I was returning from Oxford on a holiday, with my landlady, Mrs. Younge. My brother and I had heard very good things about her, and we agreed that she was the perfect person to have keeping an eye out for me. As it turns out, we could not have been more mistaken. Mr. Wickham and she had cooked up a scheme to kidnap me. Mr. Wickham would pretend to rescue me, and persuade me he was in love with me and marry me. He would also send a ransom note to Will for 100,000 pounds. Mrs. Younge would get the 100,000 pounds, and Wickham would get my fortune of 300,000 pounds. Of course, in the heat of the moment, there would be no chance of signing a pre-nuptial. Fortunately, before I agreed to marry George, I wrote to Will telling him what we were planning. He came as soon as he could and stopped the whole thing. He had received the ransom note, of course, and therefore was quite relieved to find me unharmed. He was unwilling, for my late father's sake, to expose George, and therefore had it hushed up. Everything was normal until today, when I found him robbing the cash register at my store, Good Intentions."

"I know that store," Jane remarked. "I've passed by it a few times, intending to go in. It looks very dear, and I liked the flowers and antique chairs in the window." Georgiana laughed, and said,

"Thanks. I'll give you a tour the next time you pass by if, that is, you come in." Jane thanked her and promised to take her up on her offer as soon as may be. At that moment, a knock came at the door. The three women all ran to open it, and a moment later the kitchen was filled with men of all sorts. Georgiana ran to the tallest and handsomest of the group, and threw her arms around him.

"Georgie! Thank God you're OK. Where is he? I'm going to kill him this time." Correctly assuming this specimen to be Will, Georgiana's brother, and the 'he' to be George Wickham, Lizzy approached them.

"Hi, I'm Elizabeth Bennet."

"Oh! You're the one who had the good sense to hit him over the head. Hopefully, he'll never recover. I have you to thank for my sister's escape." Lizzy was a little embarrassed, both by his remarks and by the way his dark eyes bored into hers. However, she was a lively girl, and was not daunted long.

"You're welcome. However, it was more Georgiana. I just hit him with the stick to make sure he would stay the way he was- on the ground." Will smiled a little reluctantly, but it was a smile. Georgiana watched this by-play with a smug expression on her face. During the time she had known Lizzy, she had come to the conclusion that her friend was perfect for Will. They seemed to be getting on well together. She decided that the best time to break the bad news was now.

"Will, Lizzy was engaged to Wickham." Will looked thunderstruck.

"Really? How on earth did you manage that? I didn't think intelligent, well taught women were in danger from him."

"Well," Lizzy replied, "I think it was more an impulse of the moment. Basically, I'm 24, not married, and the only men who are interested in me are the ones who want me for my face or my breasts or something, and I just don't go for that. That type is disappointed when they find out I won't sleep with them. Basically, I was vulnerable to a well-planned attack. I wanted a man who would love me and respect me for me, not for body parts that won't be here for long. I wanted a man who would be a good father, and who could support a wife and children, a dog and a cat. George promised to supply all that. So I agreed to marry him. Of course, his real character came through occasionally, and I had just decided to break it off when he showed up with Georgiana. So I wasn't too upset except for the realization that I was so wrong in him. Frankly, I took great pleasure in knocking him over the head. I would do it again any day. I never knew I was so bloodthirsty until I heard him cold bloodedly planning to get rid of Georgiana 'conveniently'. I got the feeling that his method of convenience would involve that gun." Will nodded his assurance.

"Yes. And you know what? I completely understand what you mean about men. Only, I know about women. I'm 32, not married, and the only women who are interested want me for my money and social position. I was at the brink of proposing to Caroline Bingley, my best friend's sister, just to get some peace. But now," He added with a considering look at her, "I don't think I will." Lizzy laughed away her embarrassment, and asked,

"You mean his sister?" She pointed at a young man with blond hair who had cornered Jane and was talking to her. They both seemed to be enjoying the experience.

"The very same. He doesn't waste time, does he. I mean, he just clapped eyes on your sister, and is already asking her to dinner, I'll bet." Georgiana came up and put her hand on his shoulder.

"You're not going to let him get ahead of you, are you Will?" She asked, winking at Lizzy who blushed. Will, watching her, saw the blush and made his move.

"Certainly not. Your interference was unnecessary, Georgie. I was on the point of asking Miss Bennet to dinner myself." He turned to Lizzy.

"Will you have dinner with me tomorrow night, Miss Bennet?"

"Certainly, Mr. Darcy. But do call me Lizzy."

"May I call you Elizabeth? I've always loved the name."

"Certainly. May I call you William? I've always loved the name."

"Certainly. We are agreed, then? Is 7:00 OK?"

"That sounds wonderful. Thank you, William."

"Oh, I am quite certain that the pleasure will be all mine, Elizabeth."

The End