Section I, Next Section

Part One

Chicago

William Darcy sighed deeply as he looked at his little sister. How can I make ruthless business deals everyday but yet can't say no to my sister? He sighed again. He knew why, of course. It was her angelic looks: fine light hair, pale skin, and luminous blue eyes that had mastered the puppy dog look years before. William sighed again and ran his hands through his hair, mussing the already tousled brown hair.

"No," he finally managed, incredibly happy with himself.

He did not think his sister could stick her lower lip out any further, but somehow she managed.

"Don't do this to me, Ana," he told her, holding up his hands as if to block any attack she might hold for him.

Georgiana stepped behind his large oak desk to look out the window of his penthouse office. William had successfully taken charge of his father's company. It had been thriving when George Darcy had died and now it was worth ten times that amount. Their stocks were rising that moment. Hell, he had control of just under eight hundred thousand employees, two hundred and fifty two department stores, several companies, and one little sister. The little sister part was his problem. Somehow he could control everything else.

"I don't understand you. After what that jerk did to you, how can you even think of doing this? You might have to come into contact with him. You might be forced to speak with him."

"I'm over it, Will, and I think it is about time you are, too." Georgiana said softly.

William shook his head violently. He would never get over what Wickham had done to his sister. Just thinking about it made him angry all over again. He clenched his hands and looked straight at his little sister.

"I will never get over it, Ana," he said tersely.

She turned around to face him. "I know," she said sadly.

"I won't do it. You cannot make me." He knew how foolish he sounded, but he did not care. There was no way in hell Georgiana was going to make him take care of George Wickham's child.

"William, father was George's guardian. Doesn't that make you kind of responsible for his kid, since dad is dead?" she asked. She was grasping at straws now.

"George is responsible for his own kid. I am responsible for you." he stated, as he rummaged through one desk drawer until he found the magazine he was looking for.

"Please, Will." Georgiana walked over and placed her hand on her brother's shoulder. "I know what it's like to be that kid. George will take advantage of her and he will never love her. I can't stand to think of her going through all that when I could prevent it."

The tears in her eyes and the quaver in her voice almost did him in, but he was still reluctant. He knew, although Wickham may not ever treat his daughter with one ounce of kindness, George would fight if Will took his daughter away. Will looked at Georgiana one more time and made his decision.

He sighed. "All right, fine. I'll see what I can do about it all. I'm not promising anything, Georgiana, I'm just checking."

Georgiana nodded happily. "I knew you'd come through for me, Will. You always do." she said, as she squeezed him tight.

"Who did you say this baby's mother was?" Will asked, unconcerned and flipping through his Sports Illustrated.

"Lydia Bennet," Georgiana told him, "But she died in childbirth. Her older sister became the part-time guardian for her."

"How do you know all this?" he looked up from his magazine to give his sister a quizzical look.

She reddened and hung her head. "I did a lot of research. Richard helped me," she admitted. "Don't get mad, though. He couldn't say no to me, either."

Will rolled his eyes and looked back down at the article.

"And just how do you expect me to find her, Ana?" he asked.

"You have plenty of ways. Use some of that money you have so much of. You could hire private investigator or have a news broadcast. I know you can find a way. Maybe Richard will help and-"

"What did you say the sister's name was?" he interrupted, staring intently at a page of his magazine.

"I didn't."

"It doesn't happen to be Elizabeth, does it?"

"Why, yes, it is. How did you know?" she asked.

"I think finding this woman is going to be a lot easier than we suspected," he explained, pointing to an article in wonderment.

Chicago, two weeks later

"Hello, Miss Bennet. This is William Darcy again. If you would please return my calls, I would highly appreciate it. My number is --- 654-7865, extension six. I am waiting to hear from you."

William slammed down the phone in disgust. Charles Bingley had walked in just in time to see his exasperation. He grinned, as usual, and gave Darcy a hearty greeting.

"Good day to you, too, Darcy. Still having trouble finding the girl?" he asked.

William mumbled something unintelligible and rang for his secretary.

"Mrs. Reynolds, please get me that report I asked for over two hours ago!" he barked into the phone.

"I am getting to it, sir. It takes time." she told him politely.

Charles plopped down into one of Darcy's overstuffed chairs.

"I went over your case. There was a similar one like this several years ago. Monroe vs. Tate, I believe it was called. Your circumstances are quite alike. One parent died, and the other was not fit to care for the child. The kid had been living with an aunt for a few years. The court deemed the aunt custody." he dictated.

"Good, I have a chance, then."

Bingley's hesitancy worried Will.

"Don't I, Charles?" he asked, thinking of the hell he would pay with Georgiana if things did not work out.

"Darcy, with you there is always a chance. However, Virginia Tate had a better case. The father was a drug addict, for one."

"George is, too."

"But you know that he can hide it very well. He hasn't been caught yet. I'm not sure if that will work."

"He has a criminal record, for God's sakes."

"Yes, but that was years ago, before he even met Lydia Bennet. He has tried to clean himself up. He's in a program now."

"B.S." Will muttered.

"You know and I know that the program is a crock, but the fact is...the judge won't. He or she might be tempted to give the baby to him in a year's time or so because he's trying to better himself. They have a real problem with splitting up families."

Darcy sighed and sat down, running his hand over his face.

"I'm only doing this for Georgiana, you know. I don't want a kid."

"You could point out what he did to her, but I know you don't want to bring that up again." Bingley stated quietly.

"No, no I won't do that to her. Even if it means George gets the kid, it will not go that far."

Bingley nodded. "We still have a case, Will, just not a very strong one."

"What was another thing I don't have that makes this case weak?" he asked, remembering Charles had told him there were a few.

"A wife. Virginia Tate was married; she had a husband."

Darcy frowned, and then suddenly the article from Sport's Illustrated caught his attention. He looked up at Charles with a smile.

"I think I have a plan." He picked up his phone and rang Mrs. Reynolds again. "Cancel all my appointments for the next week. Call the airport and tell them to have my plane ready to leave in an hour. Call home and have someone bring my bags by. Oh, and also, bring me every Sport's Illustrated you can find."

Chapter 2

St. Louis, later that day

Elizabeth sang softly to the music that flowed from her stereo's speakers. Leah had just fallen asleep and there was no way Elizabeth was going to take a chance of waking her up. She had such little time to work on her project, and her editor wanted it due by the end of the year. She scowled at the blank screen and turned back to the notes written on her yellow legal pad. She sighed and stood up to get some orange juice. The phone rang as she opened her fridge, but she never answered the phone when she was working. Of course, she was always working, so she never picked up her phone, but if the calls were important she would hear them on the answering machine. Of course, she hardly ever checked her messages, but if the call was really important, they would contact her somehow.

She heard an unfamiliar male voice leave a message. She heard the name William, and shrugged. The only William she knew was William Collins and he would never dare to call her after the way she had turned him down. The voice did not sound very nice and she assumed that he was selling something-- the times that those people called nowadays!. She returned to her computer screen, but could not stand to look at the white anymore. She aimlessly hit keys until half a page was filled with letters.

"Much better," she pronounced to herself and decided to celebrate by eating.

She opened her fridge and looked into it. She picked up a carton of Chinese takeout that did not look too old, and shut the fridge, catching sight of a post-it note: Buy Groceries!!! She preferred to eat her food cold, and plopped down in front of her TV to watch some television.

The next thing she knew, the doorbell was waking her up from her sleep. She rubbed her eyes and checked her watch. She'd only been asleep for an hour, but it was eleven-thirty at night. Who in the heck would be here? Wickham! Fear hit Elizabeth hard and her heart started to beat faster. She had heard Wickham's nasty message, but had chosen not to pick up the phone. There was no way in hell he would get Leah back. The poor baby had already been through too much to begin with, and she was only ten months old!

Elizabeth grabbed a spatula out of her kitchen and approached the door. It rang again, several times. Elizabeth was working to get her courage together when the insolent man held down the doorbell so it kept buzzing.

"Would you stop that, George? You're going to wake up Leah, and she's only just begun to sleep through the nights." Elizabeth undid the bolt, but kept the chain in place.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Undo the lock," George said, tiredly.

Elizabeth laughed. "Really, that's funny. If you think I'm going to let you in and terrorize your daughter again, you have another thing coming to you. I know karate. I can-"

"I'm not George, for God's sakes. Let me in!" the male voice yelled loudly, almost knocking the door off it's hinges.

In her surprise, she unlocked the chain and swung the door open. The man was definitely not George Wickham. Although they both had good looks, George probably went up to this man's shoulders. He had a commanding presence and he took up most of the doorway. Elizabeth should not have been surprised at the man's stature for she worked with men like him everyday. Still, those men were nice and they treated Liz like their little sister. They would never hurt her. This man looked like he could break her in two without working up a proper sweat. Dear God, had George sent him? She looked at her spatula and then back up at the man.

"Well..." he said, folding his hands and leaning against the doorpost.

"What?" she squeaked out.

"I'm waiting for your karate moves."

Elizabeth's fear left and was immediately replaced with annoyance.

"Did George send you?" she asked.

"Were you expecting him to, Elizabeth?" he asked.

"How do you know my name?" she asked as he stepped into the doorway with a load of luggage and then shut the door.

He shrugged. Elizabeth started edging towards the hallway that led to Leah's room. At least if the man tried to take her, Elizabeth would be able to protect her somehow. The man limbered after her, grinning in a very idiotic way. Maybe he was disturbed.

"You're very easy to read, did you know that? It is a very good thing that I am not really going to take your niece. If I was, I would know right where to go."

Elizabeth realized he was right and glanced into Leah's room to make sure the little girl hadn't been disturbed by their rude intruder.

"What are you doing here, sir? If you don't tell me I'm going to call the police!" she threatened. She tried to keep the fear out of her voice, but she knew by the way it kept rising each word, she did not fool him one bit. She took a deep breath to calm herself and then looked at him expectantly. What was he doing? He began poking around her room, looking around on every table.

"You live in a pigsty." he told her.

Elizabeth knew she was not a neat person, but she took great exception to his attitude. She had just cleaned the whole apartment a week ago and she knew it was presentable. Her apartment wasn't the greatest, but it had character. That was the reason she decided to rent it. Plus, it had two bedrooms. When Leah was older, they would not have to find a new place. The crazed man finally stopped at her blinking her answering machine.

"Do you ever check your messages?" he spit out.

Elizabeth shrugged. "If I do or not is no concern of yours!"

She hurried over to the machine and saw that the number eighteen was blinking red.

"Hmm, I did not know I had that many," she murmured, slightly embarrassed.

She had meant to listen to them at a later time, when this man wasn't around, but when she turned her back on him to go turn off her TV, she heard him press the button.

"What do you think you're doing?" she whipped around.

He shrugged his shoulders.

'Elizabeth! Elizabeth, pick up the phone this instant! I am your mother, Elizabeth! I know you're home! You better-' the message beeped and went to the next one.

'Hey, Liz, this is Ken. I was just wondering when we could get together so we could do the interview about my injury. I have a few free days this next coming week. Give me a call.'

"Who is that?" the man asked.

"Who? Oh, him. That's Ken Griffey, Jr."

'Hello, Lizzy. This is Jane, please give me a call, we need to have dinner and discuss the papers.'

"Your sister?" he asked.

Elizabeth nodded before she even thought of how he would know.

'Hey, Elizabeth. This is Jack. I guess you're working. I'll try paging you.'

"That sounded like Jack Buck." he said, starting to sound mystified.

"It was," she said.

'Hello, Elizabeth Bennet. This is William Darcy. I was calling you in concern of your niece, Leah. It is of grave importance, so please call me as soon as possible. My number is - - - - 654- 7865, extension six. Thank you and I'll be waiting to hear from you.'

"Who is that? I've never heard him before." Elizabeth wondered out loud, picking up her rolodex to look through it. She did not notice the man rolling his eyes. For some reason, however, she knew that this William Darcy was six foot four and two hundred pounds.

The next ten messages were a combination of her mother, a few sports stars and the William Darcy. Elizabeth was getting distraught.

"What does he want?" she muttered out loud. Her heart was panicking. Jane and Elizabeth had fought tooth and nail so that Elizabeth was able to gain custody of their niece. Leah had been a mess then. Those first few months had been hard. The next message struck even more fear in her heart.

'Elizabeth,' the voice drew out, 'I know you are there. I want my daughter back, do you hear? I want her back. She is mine and you can't have her. You better watch your back, because I'm going to be watching it, too. I'll be watching you until I can-' the beep of the answering machine startled Elizabeth and she shrieked and jumped. She had been scared when she had heard it the first time. She had been writing the next day's article when the phone had rung. Once she had heard it, she had grabbed Leah and gone straight to Jane's apartment.

She did not even glance at the man. She was scared out of her wits and she willed herself to stop shaking. She knew what Wickham was capable of. She had known first hand from her sister and little niece. However, if this man was working for Wickham, she did not want him to see her fear.

Finally, the last one came.

"Hello, Elizabeth. This is William Darcy. I'm getting sick of leaving messages. I just landed at the airport and I will be at your apartment within the hour." the rude message ended.

Elizabeth looked at the man, at the machine, and then at his luggage. She put all three together.

"What do you want?" she finally managed.

"So you figured it all out, Sherlock?" he taunted her.

Elizabeth was not usually one to hold first impressions with a grain of salt, but she hated this man. He had an attitude, and she hated attitude. She glanced up at him with a scowl and suddenly wished she were a foot taller. As it was, she did not even come up to his shoulder. Curse the short genes!

"Get out of my apartment!" she proclaimed.

He started to laugh. "No."

"No? But...but...you have to get out of here! I own this apartment and if I want you out, you have to! You- you- you're trespassing on private property!" she hated the fact that she was stumbling over all her words.

"No." he walked over to his luggage, "Now, where do I sleep?"

"Where do you sleep? Well, a hotel for one."

"I was planning on going to one, but most rooms are taken because of some thing you have going on in your city. Plus, it's easier if I stay here." he was walking down the hall, looking for a room.

"I still don't even know what you're doing here, Mr. Darcy," she said chasing after him. She slipped in front of him, and quietly shut the door to Leah's room.

William Darcy raised his eyebrow at her. "May I see the girl?"

Elizabeth laughed. "Are you crazy? You could be working for Wickham. I'm not letting you near Leah."

William scowled at her. "I do not work for Wickham. I would never work for that bastard."

It wasn't quite his words that made him trust him, but the look in his eyes. He had a deep hatred for George. Elizabeth smiled. She felt sorry for George if he ever met this man. William took her the wrong way.

"Why are you smiling? Are you friends with George?"

"Hardly. I was smiling because I hope George meets up with you one day. It would be quite...interesting to see what would happen."

The man actually managed a smile. Elizabeth sighed and looked at her watch. It was a little after eleven forty-five, and she was tired. She was used to staying up much later, but she and Leah had just returned from out of town. She had to interview an athlete and the only time she was available was at one of her competitions. Elizabeth began to pull on her right ear as she stared at the man, making up her mind.

He was not going to hurt her or Leah, she could tell. He had nowhere else to go at the moment, and heck- she wanted sleep. She sighed and nodded her head.

"All right, you may sleep out on the couch tonight, mister. But only for tonight. Tomorrow you will go and find a room in a hotel. I don't care if all the Mariott's are full, you'll just have to stay in a Holiday Inn."

"As long as it's a Holidome, that's perfect." William said.

"Don't think I'm going to make the reservations. I think you might be able to manage that yourself." Elizabeth yawned as she went over to her computer to shut it down.

William used her bathroom while she got out a blanket and pillow for him to use. As she waited for him to come out, she realized what an idiot she was being. Why was she letting a man she didn't know sleep on her couch? I have to be tired.

When William finally came out, Elizabeth had the couch ready.

"Is it a hideaway bed?" he asked hopefully, noticing his body would never be able to fit onto the couch.

"Nope. Sorry." she started to walk away. "I am going to bed. Feel free to eat anything or watch TV if you wish to."

Just as she turned around the corner, she realized she did not know why he was here, in her apartment and bothering her.

"One more thing you neglected to tell me." Elizabeth added. "Why are you here?"

"Oh, that."

"Yes, 'oh, that'." Elizabeth mimicked sarcastically.

With that, he stood up, walked the short distance to where she was standing and got down on one knee.

"Elizabeth Bennet, will you marry me?" he asked.

Elizabeth had smacked him before she even realized what she had done. He sat down and rubbed his cheek as Elizabeth nervously wrung her hands.

"I suppose I should take that as a no." he said grimly.

"I'm sorry...you just took me by surprise is all."

"Do you hit everyone who takes you by surprise?" he asked, as he retreated back to the couch.

"No, only strange men I've never met before who come into my home demanding a room and then ask for my hand in marriage."

"Point taken already." William grimaced. "I am only trying to help you out."

"What?"

"My lawyer told me you would have a better chance if you were married. If I don't do this Georgiana is going to kill me and plus it's an extremely good way to get back at George."

Elizabeth's head was spinning at his answer.

"What are you talking about?"

"You need me. I know that you want to keep the girl. I don't blame you. Wickham would end up killing her." William started to explain, taking off his jacket and sitting down.

Getting answers out of this man was like prodding them from a four year old. She was too tired for this.

"And why do I need you?" she asked, incredulously.

"Charles told me that judges usually give kids to two parents, not one. Not to mention, you don't have a steady income. I could provide for both of you."

"You could, huh?" she sputtered out angrily. He obviously did not notice her temperament.

"Plus, I have one of the best lawyers in the country. He will get us whatever we want. You can tell your sister Charles will take it from here."

Elizabeth had to take a deep breath to calm her raging temper. Would it seem rude if she punched him in the face? She supposed so, since she had already slapped him. She counted to ten.

"I will be leaving early tomorrow morning. Feel free to eat anything I have. I will be home later in the day."

With those words, she turned off the light and walked to her room- leaving William in darkness.

Part Three

St. Louis, the next afternoon

"Nice work, Elizabeth. This will be a nice front page article," Sir Lucas told her.

"Sir" Lucas was the Assistant Sports Editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Elizabeth's father had once been an up and coming major league pitcher. He had pitched a three-hit, shutout as his debut. He was all the papers raved about for four days, until he was up in rotation again and had ripped apart an elbow muscle, putting him out of the majors forever.

Through this tragedy, he had made a friendship with William Lucas, an aspiring sports writer. He had coined the nickname "Sir" after becoming an editor. So many people had called him that, it stuck. When Thomas Bennet's daughter was a beginner, Sir was only too happy to give her a job. She proved to be thorough and moved up in ranks faster than anyone. She did not let the fact that she was a woman stop her.

It was not easy. There were not that many female sportswriters. She played her game well, though. She did not set out to change things or try to stand out. She did not act like she was on a mission from God for equal rights. She simply took her knowledge and used it wisely. Athletes took to her. She had an open, honest nature and was generally a happy person.

Inadvertently, Elizabeth ended up doing exactly what she had never tried to. People noticed her. She now not only wrote for the Post, but also Sports Illustrated, Baseball Magazine, and worked as a free-lance sports autobiographer. She covered every sport, but baseball was her forté. It was hard not to love the sport, growing up in her house.

Elizabeth was a correspondent for Fox Sports and had even filled in for several sports talk shows. Her dream was to announce a St. Louis Cardinals baseball game, but figured that goal was about as close to coming true as William Darcy's proposition. She grimaced. Why did she have to even think about that horrible, obnoxious, arrogant, conceited man? His words still made her boil.

You don't have a steady income. I could provide for both of you... Elizabeth gritted her teeth.

She tried to think about the rest of what he'd told her, but all she remembered were his infuriating words.

"Are you all right, Lizzy?" Sir asked.

She looked up in surprise. She had forgotten that she was still in her editor's office.

"Yeah, I'm fine." she gave him a smile. "Any other jobs for me now? Otherwise, I have to call Dick."

"No, no, not at the moment. When's your next interview with television?" Sir asked, as he held the door open for her.

"This week sometime. I need to interview Griffey when he comes here for their series."

She waved to him and headed out into the busy floor of sports. She smiled as she saw Charlotte Lucas, Sir's daughter and Elizabeth's good friend, holding Leah at her office door. Elizabeth first gave Leah a kiss and then greeted Charlotte. She looked confused.

"Are you okay?" Elizabeth asked her as she gathered up some material to take home.

"I needed to know when the Reds were coming to town, so I called your apartment to check your messages. I figured somewhere in that mess of calls, one of them would tell me."

"Yeah, there were a couple that pertained to the Reds. They are coming Thursday. You could have just asked me." Elizabeth pointed out, taking Leah into her arms.

"You were in a meeting. Uh," Charlotte paused, "when I called, a man answered the phone. He said he was your fiancée."

"What?" Elizabeth screeched, then got a hold of herself. "Kitty must be at my apartment with one of her boyfriends. They were probably just playing a joke. I should never have given her a key."

Charlotte nodded and accepted the lie. They walked out together.

"Char, do you know who a William Darcy is? I've heard his name, but-"

"Of course I know who he is! You need to get your face out of sports for at least a few minutes each day, Liz."

"I do." she defended herself.

"William Darcy is the owner of several companies, one being Darcy Department Stores, and I know you have at least heard of those."

"Oh, I didn't realize...."Elizabeth stopped, then shrugged. "His name sounded familiar for a different reason."

"I think he might have been involved in sports or something."

Elizabeth laughed before getting onto the elevator. "And I'm supposed to take your word for it, miss anti-sports?"

The door closed before Charlotte could retort. Down in the garage, Elizabeth strapped Leah into her car seat and headed off to the kennel. She had got in too late the night before to pick up her dog and she knew he was dying in that kennel. Mac did not take to other dogs. Elizabeth always worried about leaving him because he was so incredibly big- 75 pounds and still a puppy. If a dog got in his way, he could solve that problem with a bite. He was not mean, but she still worried.

With Mac and Leah, it took her longer to get up to her apartment. She was used to her apartment being unlocked during the day, as she usually kept it, but it was locked. There was no way to dig through her purse. She was holding Leah's car seat in one hand and Mac's leash in the other. She kicked the door swiftly with her foot a few times. Finally, she heard footsteps approach, and the door open.

Mac noticed the stranger and bolted towards him, ripping the leash out of her fingertips. She tried to call him off, but by the time the words were out of her mouth, William Darcy was sprawled on the ground with a 75 pound German Shepherd on top of him, having a feast with his face. Elizabeth stepped in the doorway, kicking the door shut behind her.

"Are you going to call your monster off?" Darcy asked from the floor.

She smiled. "Kill, Mac."

Mac unconvincingly sat up and trotted over to her. He was so happy to be out of the kennel he decided to take a few laps around the apartment, running full speed. He took no notice of anything in his way, including people. As Darcy started to get up, Mac ran into him again.

William, however, had his eyes on something else. Looking down, she saw Leah's grinning face. The little girl was always quite amused by her pal, Mac.

"Haven't you ever seen a baby before?" she asked protectively, bending down to take her out of the car seat.

"Time for a nap, little girl."

Leah cooed at her and laughed. As usual, Elizabeth's heart swelled with love. She had already noticed, besides those first few horrible months, that Leah was as docile and sweet as any baby. Elizabeth found this strange considering her parents, but she would have loved Leah anyway. She could hardly imagine life without her. In fact, she often wondered how she had managed life before her. She was so wrapped up in her thoughts, she did not notice William Darcy was following her.

Leah, however, did. She started screaming. Elizabeth inwardly cringed. As wonderful of a baby as she was, she was afraid of tall men. It had taken her months to stop screaming whenever Thomas Bennet had entered the room. At work, the hustle and bustle usually kept her so entertained, she did not notice. William was tall, extremely so, and he was very close to her.

"Would you mind getting out?" she asked as nicely as possible, while placing Leah on the changing table.

"Why is she crying?" he asked.

"She is afraid of tall men." Elizabeth answered as she began changing her diaper.

William still would not leave and when she looked up at him, he had a very skeptical look on his face.

"I am not lying to you. She generally likes everyone, but tall men frighten her."

William still had his brow raised, but stepped out of the room. He did not want to see her cry anymore. The second he stepped out of the room, the crying stopped. He then believed Elizabeth. He stood outside the door and listened in. It seemed Elizabeth could not stop herself from talking to the child.

"There now...he's gone, and good riddance. Don't you worry, Lizzy will make it all better. He'll be gone in a few minutes if I get my way."

She paused and he assumed she was carrying her somewhere. When he heard the creak of a rocking chair, he knew. He smiled as he heard Elizabeth start to sing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" softly. He chuckled as she sang off pitch throughout the whole song. Was her singing supposed to lull the child to sleep?

When Elizabeth came out of Leah's room she found William Darcy putting away her groceries. For some reason, it irritated her.

"What are you doing?" she asked, as he put away a milk carton.

"Putting your groceries away. Thank goodness you went shopping. I tried to get something to eat, but all you had were Cheez-It's, leftover Chinese takeout, and baby food."

"I'm sorry my food wasn't good enough for you, Mr. Darcy," Elizabeth grumbled as she put the yogurt into the fridge.

"Call me Will. After all, we are going to be getting married." he pointed out, grimacing as he saw that every single yogurt carton was pineapple. Who had ever heard of pineapple yogurt?

"No, we will not be getting married, Mr. Darcy," Elizabeth pronounced.

William stopped and stared at her. "We're not?"

Elizabeth eyed him and he realized her answer. "But Georgiana is going to be so mad at me!"

"I would really like to meet this Georgiana person. What have you done that she has so much power over you?" Elizabeth wondered aloud, putting the last of the food away.

"She is my sister," he told her, watching in amazement as Elizabeth pulled out ten plastic bags filled with Tootsie Pops.

"I do not let my sisters have control of me," she stated as she walked out of the room and turned on her computer.

"How many sisters do you have?" he asked, as he settled on the couch.

He saw her face darken for a few seconds and then she answered, "Three."

"Is one named Charlotte?" he inquired, not knowing that question would set her off.

"No, one of them is not. But speaking of Charlotte, she told me she called here today. What right did you think you had telling people you were my fiancée?"

"I'm sorry...I thought you were." He shrugged nonchalantly.

"How many people did you tell? If this gets around....none of the players better know any of this." Elizabeth muttered.

"Why? Then you couldn't have affairs with them?" Will sneered.

"I'm going to pretend I did not hear that. Now, how many people did you tell?"

"Don't worry- only a few." he said, pulling a cell phone out of his suitcase.

Elizabeth was satisfied until she realized what day it was.

"Today is Monday, right?"

"Last time I checked," William stated sarcastically as he started to punch a number into the phone.

"Oh no....ohno ohno ohno ohno!" Elizabeth buried her face in her hands.

Will looked up at her in surprise from his place on the couch. He wanted to call Ana that very second and tell her their deal was off. He had never agreed to marry a psychopath- and that was obviously what Elizabeth Bennet was. On the flight to St. Louis, he had read up on her. She had the strangest past of anyone he had ever known. Her job was weird- for a woman, at least- she did not keep her door locked during the day, she never checked her messages, her food consisted of four things: yogurt, Tootsie Pops, baby food, and take out. And by her display at that very moment, he didn't know how mentally sound she was.

"What's the matter?" he asked finally.

"Did you happen to tell that to my mother?" Elizabeth's face looked like she was in extreme pain.

"I don't know. Possibly," Will stopped and thought a moment. "Does she have an extremely loud, high pitched voice?"

Elizabeth nodded glumly and all but threw herself on the couch. She took a pillow in her hand and seemed to be trying to suffocate herself with it. Will was a little scared- however knowing that the woman on the phone was her mother explained a lot.

"How could you?" Elizabeth groaned. "Now I really will have to marry you!"

"Excuse me! I assumed you would jump at the chance to marry me."

"Oh, and enlighten me again, why was that?"

"There are a million reasons. I'm rich. I'm pretty darn good-looking. I'm well known. Hundreds of women would take your place in a second. I can provide for you and Leah. I can buy you a new house," he said, looking around her apartment with a critical eye, "I can..."

"I understand you perfectly, Mr. Darcy, you can stop now."

The bite in her voice made Will look down at her. She had very expressive dark eyes- and at that moment they were only conveying one expression: anger. Her lips were set in a determined line and her hands were clenched at her hips.

"I understand that you are a completely arrogant jerk. Completely arrogant and incredibly stupid. Oh, and did I add assuming? I think I forgot conceited, too." Elizabeth went on, standing up from her seat on the couch and throwing her pillow at him. Her aim was impeccable and it hit him squarely in the face.

"Are you quite done with your insults yet, Elizabeth?"

"It's Miss Bennet to you, sir, and no I am not!"

"Oh, I think you are. And since you feel free to insult me, why don't I have a try?"

"Go ahead, you idiot. See if I care." Elizabeth went to her computer and stared at the screen saver in anger.

"The first and most important reason you are the way you are is that you are ungrateful!" Seeing she was about to protest, he held up his hand to silence her. "I come in here completely against my own free will and offer you an arrangement that would benefit you greatly. If all you claim to care about is your niece, then this little plan of mine is a sure fire way to keep her. But do you even care about that? No! You do not care one bit!"

Elizabeth started to open her mouth, but Will beat her to it.

"And your second problem is that you are weird."

At her blank stare, he went on. "Yes, weird, as in 'off your rocker', 'nobody's home', regular old psychotic Bedlam patient scenario. You are a female sportswriter for one thing. What kind of job is that? You interview sweaty athletes, for God's sakes! You eat pineapple yogurt. That's just not normal behavior." he paused and then remembered one more thing. "You even keep your door unlocked!"

"Well, I'm so sorry I've offended you for keeping my door unlocked. Have you ever thought I just trust in the goodness of mankind? And for your information, pineapple yogurt is delicious!" Elizabeth paused and took a deep breath and then dived into the comment that had made her the angriest.

"How dare you insult my work! I take great pride in what I do and millions of people read it everyday, so it's not as easy as you may think."

"You only are where you are because you are a woman," he said, although he had read her work and liked it immensely.

"Just what is that supposed to mean?" her voice was getting higher by every word.

"They were probably afraid you would file a discrimination suit if they did not move you up."

"I would file a discrimination suit if they moved me up because of that, mister! I happen to be where I am because I have worked my butt off to get there! I did not inherit everything I own from my father...I had to work for it!" Elizabeth instantly regretted her words at Will's dark face.

He seemed to want to retort, but instead he sat back down onto the sofa and punched a number in on his cell phone. Elizabeth stared after him, wanting to apologize but not certain how. Why did she have to bring up death? She remembered the Darcy franchise well. When George Darcy had died, it had been all over the news that his son was taking over. She was a person who couldn't get over one death, so why should he be?

"Hello, Charles...Yeah, this is Will...Listen, she doesn't want to get married...Of course I tried explaining ev- ....Yes, Charles, I know Ana will be m- ...She's right here....You want to what?...Okay, okay, hold on..."

Will handed her the phone. "It's my lawyer, Charles Bingley. He wants to talk to you."

"Well, I don't want to- Hello, Charles," she said pleasantly as Will shoved the phone to her ear.

"Hello, Miss Bennet. May I call you Elizabeth?" a happy voice from the other end of the phone said.

"I suppose so, yes."

"I understand that you do not want to marry my friend there. Believe me, I can see why you do not want to. If I were a woman, no one could pay me enough money to marry Will."

"That's rather irrelevant, Charles, since you are not a woman and I am." she said, half smiling at the strange look William Darcy was giving her.

"Look, I'm going to be frank with you. You stand no chance without the marriage to Will."

"But Jane says-"

"Your sister tells you that you do. I think she is just giving you hope. I have checked out Jane's track record and she is quite the brilliant lawyer...but she has never done a custody case before."

"And you have, sir? It does not seem to be the thing you would-"

"I have done many favors. You see, somehow the rich and famous always seem to divorce and I have done many battles for friends of mine. I've done two for my sister alone."

"Yet you want me to marry a rich man, Charles?" Elizabeth quipped.

The genuine laughter on the other end of the phone calmed Elizabeth and made her feel more secure about the situation.

"I hope you two get married. I would pay money to see you two fight."

"You just missed one," Elizabeth paused as he laughed again, then started up. "I think I can keep Leah without marrying William, Charles. I have an okay income and I am her family. And Leah's father is a..."

"I know. Look, I'm taking some time off and I'm going to fly to St. Louis tomorrow. I was hoping I could meet with Will, Jane, and you for dinner tomorrow. Say, six?"

"It will have to be six-thirty. It's a business man's special tomorrow, but I may not be back from the Stadium by six."

"All right, great. Now, Will is staying at your place isn't he?"

"Yes, but-"

"Great, then we can all meet at this pizza place on Mackenzie. I'll be there at quarter after six."

"Okay...I suppose."

"Of course. I will see you tomorrow. Goodbye, Elizabeth."

"Goodbye," she said, hanging up the phone without even realizing she had agreed to meeting with him and how he had known where Mackenzie was.

"So, we're on for tomorrow?" Will asked to her.

She turned, gave him a glare, and shoved the phone into his hand. She stormed out of the room, but called to him from her room.

"You will have to go out to eat, because I am having dinner with the Bucks before the game tonight. My mom is coming to watch Leah and I do not want her to see you."

"But what am I supposed to do? I can't eat dinner for four hours." he whined.

Elizabeth sighed and walked back into the room. She hated whiners. She dug through her desk and pulled out a plastic card with a clip. She threw it at him and he grabbed it.

"That is a press pass. Come to the game." she started turning again when he interrupted her.

"I know where the Stadium is, but how do I get in?"

"Stop whining! The Press Gate is between gates 4 and 5. Once you get in there turn left and go up the ramp until you get to the Press Level. Show him your pass and then come to where the journalists sit."

She started into her room again, when she turned. "You better leave now. Do you have a car?"

When he nodded his head, she was surprised. "You do?"

"It's a rental. I'm going. Any good places you would suggest?"

"Sure. There's a McDonald's down the road."

Chapter 4

St. Louis, later that night

Will instantly wanted to take back his words when he walked onto the Press Level. His mockery of Elizabeth's work seemed like a low blow when he looked for her in the row of journalists behind home plate. If he looked far enough over he could see Jack and Joe Buck announcing the game. Everything seemed to be moving in fast motion. Several of the journalists were on the phone, several were typing on laptops and several were chatting with each other. Looking out onto the field, he realized how hard it was to take a game and put it into interesting words. The whole scene put him in a little awe...

He spotted Elizabeth, which was not very hard considering she was the only woman, and made his way over to her. She was on the phone and having a conversation with the man next to her at the same time.

"Bill, I realize that this is your first assignment but it really is not that hard. You focus your camera on a player and you take a picture...Listen, I'm not talking to you anymore. You've been Mark's assistant for three years so you should know what kind of pictures you're supposed to be taking..."

At that moment, the crack of a bat was heard and Elizabeth's attention was immediately on the field in front of her.

"Ankiel just drove in Drew, Bill! Yes, take a picture of it...He's a pitcher for goodness sakes!"

Elizabeth slammed her cell phone down and gave the man next to her a wry smile.

"Rookie photographers!"

Will cleared his throat and Elizabeth finally looked up. Recognition lit her eyes and he could tell they did not quite warm at the sight of him. However, he knew she was a professional and would act like everything was as right as rain.

"Hello, William. I'm glad you could make it." She then went through introductions with the writers who were around her.

"Pull a chair up," she said absently gesturing towards a spot next to her.

Will sat down and for exactly three minutes and fifty-one seconds - he counted- her eyes were riveted to home plate. She did not move a muscle. She finally picked up her pencil and wrote a 'K' on her scorebook. The player had struck out to make the final out. At that time she looked over to him.

"Do you want anything to eat or drink? Beer? Soda?"

"No, I'm okay," Will said as he took off his long coat.

"Where'd you eat?"

"McDonald's," he answered and gained a laugh from her.

Elizabeth checked the field and saw that the inning was starting again. "Do you know how to keep score?"

Will nodded and grabbed her scorebook.

"I have to use the restroom. I'll be back," she turned to the man on her right. "Take notes for me, Bernie."

Will carefully watched the action on the field, not wanting to make a mistake in her scorebook. What happened if he did? Would she write the wrong thing in the paper tomorrow? He looked to his right and saw that Bernie was staring at him. He nodded to him.

"Will, is it?" the reporter asked.

"Yes," he said marking down that the Cardinals pitcher had struck out the lead-off man.

"Are you and Liz a thing?" came the next question.

He was on shaky ground here. What should he say? He had a fairly good idea that if he told him they were engaged Elizabeth would permanently hurt him. Perhaps rendering him unable to produce children. However, he did need an explanation for why he was up in the Press Box.

"Not really. I'm just visiting from out of town," he said quietly, not looking the man in the face.

"Too bad."

"What?" he asked, looking at him.

Bernie pointed to the field and Will saw that the next batter had been walked. After marking that down, he turned to the man again.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked.

Bernie shrugged. "Liz is a wonderful person. I really care for her...we all do, really. She's like a little sister to me. She's very strong and independent but it's obvious that she needs someone. I admire the fact that she's taking on her niece, but with Leah and this job...She gets really overworked sometimes. Not that she complains about it- Liz is one who would never do that."

The man sighed. "I just feel bad that she has to take on the responsibility her sister and that jerk couldn't do. Sooner or later she's going to realize she can't do both things at once without some help and I'm going to hate to see that day come. Work is life for Liz, but so is Leah. I have no doubt she will choose her niece over anything, but the loss of this," he spread his arms around to encircle the field, fans, and journalists, "will be like taking something out of her."

"Well, Bernie, I have to say it will be Elizabeth's choice. I have offered her some help and I do hope she will take it," he told the man.

Bernie's reply was interrupted by two things, a home run hit by the opponent and Liz cursing next to them. Will looked at her in surprise but she completely ignored him.

"I can't believe it's the seventh inning and LaRussa still doesn't have someone warming up in the Bullpen. This is Ankiel we're talking about, after all!"

Liz sat down, grabbed the scorebook from Will and angrily filled it out. The Cardinals were still in the lead, but now by only one. Bernie kept some conversation going with Will for a few minutes.

"What's your last name, William?"

"Oh, please call me Will. It's Will Darcy," he told him.

Recognition hit Bernie. "Ah, 'The Most Eligible Bachelor in America?' I thought you looked familiar."

Elizabeth snorted and rolled her eyes. "That's what he told me."

"No, Liz, that's what People called him."

"What people?"

"The magazine, Liz."

"Oh." Elizabeth managed a look at William, who was blushing slightly and looking highly embarrassed. She smiled. What fun she could have with this!

"I feel so important to be sitting next to you, Oh Most Eligible Bachelor!" Elizabeth laughed.

William gave her a dirty look. "I didn't ask them to print that article on me and I really wish they hadn't, so you can stop talking about it."

"Oh, you poor baby, did too many women chase you after that article?"

"Not any more than before, Elizabeth," he retorted, flashing her a heart-stopping smile that might have actually been attractive if the man wasn't so arrogant.

She was giving him the evil eye when she was called to another part of the room. Without asking, Will took over for her at the scorebook. Looking over at him, she couldn't shake the feeling from herself. He was helping her out. He was being nice. So why did she absolutely hate the fact that he was?

Chapter 5

St. Louis, the next day

"Where could she be?" Will asked in an exasperated voice.

"The game was over only an hour ago and she has to stay after and then she has to pick up her sister, right?" the always benevolent Charles asked.

Will grumbled a yes.

"You know I hate people who are always late. I don't think I can marry her."

Charles rolled his eyes and ordered his friend another beer. Will was not a heavy drinker, if a drinker at all, but he needed something to calm him down. For whatever reason, Will was nervous. Charles grinned. In all the years he had known his friend, which was since the first day of high school, Fitzwilliam Darcy had never been nervous about a woman. Elizabeth Bennet was proving to be the exception to the rule.

While Will was working on his second beer, Charles was watching the entrance. What he saw made him knock over his glass. Will quickly jumped away from the edge of the table as he had been directly in the path of the flow.

"What are you doing?" he asked, as he began to mop up the beer with extra napkins.

Charles, however, had not even noticed. He was glued to the sight of the angel in front of him. She fell into the blonde, long legged, blue eyed beauty category, except she had a fresh and honest approach about her that gave her a more down to earth look. Charles felt his pulse quicken as she smiled directly at him and started moving toward their table.

Will was finally done cleaning up the mess when the woman made it to the table.

"Charles Bingley?" the woman asked hesitantly.

"Yes," he said, putting out his hand, "Elizabeth?"

"No."

"Good." Charles had the grace to blush. "You must be Jane."

Will rolled his eyes and sat down at the table. Here we go again.

After a moment of staring into each other's eyes, Will could stomach no more.

"I thought your sister was coming, Jane."

Jane tore her eyes away from Charles to look at Will. It took a few seconds for her mind to process what he had asked.

"She's parking the car. Excuse me for being so rude. Will?" she asked, with such a wonderful smile, Will almost forgave them for being so late.

"Yes."

They were shaking hands as Elizabeth entered, Leah in tow. She spotted them and made her way to their table, not an easy task carrying the baby in her seat through the crowded pizzeria. Will was surprised that she didn't bring Mac along too, just for the fun of it.

"I thought you would be leaving Leah with someone," Will commented to her as she set the pumpkin seat on the ground.

Elizabeth looked around, saw that Jane was sitting directly across from whom she assumed was Charles and that the only space available was across from Will. She made a face and sat, taking off her jacket.

"You know, you'd never make a good parent. The first thing you learn is that you can't always drop your child off with your parents. The kids need to be with you, too."

"And I'm sure this is the best environment for a baby?" Will retorted, sitting back and crossing his hands across his chest.

Elizabeth looked around her and shrugged. "We're in the non-smoking section of a fairly nice, family oriented restaurant. I can't find anything wrong with it." Without letting him reply, she turned to her right and smiled at the man gazing at Jane. She had to clear her throat several times before he even noticed her.

"Oh! Hello, you must be Elizabeth. I'm Charles Bingley," the man said. He was light haired and his smile literally stretched from ear to ear. He looked sharp in his gray suit. He wasn't as tall as Will by any means, but he was nearly as attractive.

"I'd introduce my sister, but I can see you've already met."

Jane and Charles both blushed and smiled at each other.

"Can we order? We've been waiting here for an hour and I'm hungry," Will growled, cutting in on the personal look the two were giving in each other.

Elizabeth's glare was on him again. "You could have ordered an appetizer, you know."

"The polite thing was to wait for you two."

"That's funny. I wouldn't have thought you knew anything about politeness."

"And I should have assumed that you were an expert at tardiness."

Elizabeth took a deep breath. Before she could come back, Charles gave an uncomfortable laugh.

"I can see you weren't lying, Elizabeth. You two certainly don't get along."

"That's the understatement of the year," Will muttered under his breath as he looked at the menu. Unfortunately for him, Elizabeth heard.

"Well, you wonder why we don't get along when you make comments like that!"

"Like what?" he started back at her.

"Jane, would you like cheese or pepperoni?"

"I usually get the upside down pizza, Charles."

"And then you have the...the audacity to pretend you said nothing! We are not in second grade, Darcy."

"I would never have known by the way you act."

"Would you like a beer, Jane? Or perhaps a soda?"

"Just water. What about the appetizer?"

"The way I act? I've had more responsibility thrown on me then you probably have had your whole lifetime!"

"I would certainly doubt that since I was the sole caretaker for my sister by the age of twenty and not even out of college!"

Silence rang out after his announcement. Their voices had been rising throughout the course of their argument until Will had shouted his last statement. Elizabeth and Will both turned red and looked around apologetically. Leah chose that moment to wake up from her nap and demand to get out of the seat. Elizabeth bent down to pick her up.

"Is this Leah? Why, she's adorable!" Charles said enthusiastically as he reached across the table to touch her arm.

Before she could warn him, Leah had already started crying. Elizabeth sighed but then smiled down at her niece.

"I'll be back. It usually takes a few moments before she can get a hold of herself."

As she was walking towards the bathroom, Charles looked at Jane, a question obvious in his face.

"Leah has a fear of men. We think it had to do with Wickham. We're not quite sure what he might have done to her." Jane said quietly, looking down at her lap.

Will's gaze was instantly directed to the little girl and her aunt. His heart went out to Leah. Wickham had done enough to his sister, but she could talk and think her problems out. Leah was just a baby...and such a cute one, too. He felt the familiar anger rise in his chest- the anger where he needed to punch something, or preferably someone, to get rid of it. Elizabeth was holding Leah close and rocking her back and forth. She seemed to be singing to the baby and William involuntarily felt the corners of his mouth tug upwards. Her singing, if it could be called that, would not be soothing to anyone.

He suddenly felt the urge to stand next to her. Getting up, he ignored Jane's questions and limbered over to the bathroom hallway. Elizabeth had her back to him, but Leah was facing him, her head supported on her aunt's shoulder. The unshed tears welled up in her green eyes and the little pout she had on her lips were more than Will could handle. He had to smile at her. To his surprise, she looked directly at him and the sweetest smile grew on her lips. He crossed his eyes at her and she almost giggled. He was making a monkey face when Elizabeth finally turned around.

"What are you doing?" she asked in surprise, not being able to keep the smile off her face.

"Making a monkey face."

She lifted her eyebrows, "Yes. I gathered that."

Elizabeth was surprised, then, when her niece laughed at Will. He reached out and poked her tummy with a finger. Leah laughed in that ear piecing squeal she often did.

"My baby, I thought I told you not to laugh like that," she teased, placing a kiss on her cheek.

"Is she ready to come back? I think Charles is about to start gnawing on the table."

She smiled at him and followed him back to their booth. She smiled inwardly as she saw Jane and Charles stop talking and look guilty.

Elizabeth set Leah back in her pumpkin seat and sat down next to her sister. She gave Jane a knowing look and Jane smiled back at her.

"Can I help you?" the young waitress asked.

"Jane and I have decided that we would like your cheese upside down pizza, with a pitcher of water."

"I would like a small cheese with mushrooms and black olives," Elizabeth and Will said at the same time.

"You like your pizza with black olives and mushrooms?" they asked together again.

"See you two. You do have something in common," Charles was quick to put in.

"You're right, Charles, but I hardly think liking the same type of pizza constitutes a happy marriage," Elizabeth pointed out.

"Marriages nowadays have a one in three chance of breaking up anyway, so you might as well give it a go," Charles grinned.

"That really isn't even funny, Charles," Will told his friend frankly.

"No, it isn't," Elizabeth put in.

"Ah ha! Two things in common. Keep talking and I bet you could find more," Charles prodded.

"Hey, Elizabeth? Do you think Charles is annoying?"

"Yes, I certainly do."

"Hey Elizabeth, do you wish Charles would shut up for the rest of the evening?"

"Again, I do."

"Hey, Elizabeth, do you think you should marry me as quickly as possible?"

"Why, yes, I...."Elizabeth stopped quickly enough to re-evaluate the question. "No!"

"Ouch, Charles. We're only 3-4." Will grinned.

"Lizzy likes it when people talk in baseball lingo," Jane whispered to Charles, deliberately loud enough for the other two to hear.

"You don't make that sound very good, Jane," Elizabeth pointed out with a grin.

"All right, you two. Let's get down to business." Charles said, trying to use his best court room voice.

"Aw shucks, Chuck. Do we have to?" Will muttered, swirling his beer in the mug.

Charles laughed. "You do get surly when you drink." Seeing Elizabeth's panicked stare he added, "Good thing you don't do it often."

"I'm not moving to Chicago. I refuse," Elizabeth pronounced without preamble.

"What's wrong with Chicago?" Charles asked in confusion.

"The Cubs," she replied with vehemence.

Will chuckled.

"What's wrong with the Cubs?" the hometown boy, Charles, asked.

Elizabeth shook her head in pity. "They haven't had a winning season all century, Charles."

"Um, Elizabeth? Who's leading the Cardinals and the Central Division by six games?" Will asked, breaking into a huge grin at her frown.

"Oh, shut up. It'll never last; you just wait until October and we'll see who is ahead." Will laughed at the intensity in her tone.

"It could be worse, you know. What if I lived in Atlanta?"

Elizabeth visibly shivered.

"What's wrong with Atlanta?" Charles asked.

Will grinned at Elizabeth. "You poor naive boy," he started.

"The Braves," Elizabeth stated before taking a drink of her water.

"What about them?"

Jane broke in. "I would recommend you don't get Lizzy started on the subject. She's rather opinionated and likely to go on for hours."

Elizabeth stuck her tongue out at her sister who retaliated by smiling. Will watched the exchange with interest. If he did marry Elizabeth, he certainly would not be bored. She had a way about her- everything she did or said was sporadic, her movements were large and drawn out, and her opinions were sharp. Except for the opinions part, she was everything Will was not. She was certainly someone he had never seen himself married to.

"This is kind of a moot point, Elizabeth. You aren't going to have to move anywhere...but I'm sure Will has already explained this." Charles mentioned with a smile.

Elizabeth turned to look at Will and he gave her a weak smile.

"Actually Charles, he has not mentioned anything of the sort. If you would be so kind..."

"Well, it's good news for you..." Charles said, watching Will's face. Seeing no change, he decided to go on. "Will's building a home here so you don't have to move."

Instead of getting excited, which Charles thought she would immediately do, Elizabeth simply raised an eyebrow up at Will.

"You certainly are going to a lot of trouble just for Leah."

The sarcasm in her voice was not lost upon Will, but he decided to ignore it. He was also trying to ignore the infectious sparkle in her dark eyes.

"It really is not any trouble. I have been planning to build a home here for several months now. I'm branching out to make dual headquarters in Chicago and St. Louis. I'm sick of the big city life."

"Then why don't you move to Kansas?" Elizabeth muttered as she dug through Leah's bag for her pacifier.

Will felt his mouth involuntarily turn up at her snide comment.

"I don't want the big city life, but I still want to live in civilization. This splitting has been planned for at least this year, but I'm trying to keep it quiet- I don't want all the papers to know."

Elizabeth smiled with satisfaction as she found the pacifier and offered it to Leah, who took it willingly. She pulled the blanket up closer around the little girl's body and gently patted her cheek. Looking up, she was surprised to see Will staring at her.

"Do you have a problem, Darcy?"

Again, he could not help himself from grinning at her tone. Either he was going crazy, or he really had had too much to drink.

"You're good with her," he said softly, winking at the little girl.

Elizabeth was taken aback at his question, his tone, and his obvious affection for her niece.

"Uh...thanks. She's such a good baby, though..." Elizabeth trailed off and shrugged.

"So," Charles began, breaking through both their thoughts. "When is the wedding?"

Luckily for him, the pizzas arrived seconds after he asked the question. There was general silence as each ate their fill of pizza, except for the chatter of Jane and Charles who seemed to be hitting it off. Elizabeth was pretty sure they forgot that she and Will were even at the table. Looking up at Will, she was surprised to see he was staring back at her. She gave him a half smile and then struggled for something to ask him. How could she marry the guy if she couldn't even ask him a question?

"So, Elizabeth, how do you feel about Seattle?"

"Umm... it rains a lot."

Will grinned. "I meant the baseball team- you know, the Mariners?"

"You're going to ask me about baseball?" she asked, obviously shocked.

Jane happened to catch ear of her sister's question. With wide eyes, she shook her head at William.

"Save yourself while you can," she cautioned, "Never initiate the conversation about baseball. Trust me; she'll talk your ear off."

Will shrugged and posed the question again.

"Awesome start but I'm not entirely sure they can continue. I do enjoy the fact they traded A- Rod and are the better for it."

They continued, broaching every topic from Barry Bonds and his bid at breaking the home run record (which of course Elizabeth was against as a fan of McGwire, but for as a fan of baseball in general), possible work stoppage (which of course Elizabeth was against as no game, no job), and the players they liked or hated.

"How can you hate him? He is one of the most prolific home run hitters in recent history, or perhaps all of baseball."

"I don't hate him, per se, I just do not...enjoy him. As a player, he is wonderful in most aspects of the game. But I hate how everyone thinks he's such a great guy, I hate his little hop after he hits a home run, and I hate the fact that his name is Sammy when he's thirty years old."

"You just don't like him because he plays for the Cubs." Will told her, pointing accusingly.

"Maybe that's it. But let's put Mark in Wrigley Field for a whole season and then see how many home runs he hits."

They were so engrossed in their conversation, they did not notice Charles and Jane smiling at each other.

"Well, Jane, do you think my friend here has a chance with your sister?" Charles asked.

"I'm not sure, Charles. He does seem to be a Cubs fan."

Part 6

St. Louis, a week later

Elizabeth was actually surprised that she had made it home. As she stared at her door, she willed her hand to reach up to the doorknob and turn. It proved to be too difficult a feat as she sighed and leaned her forehead on the middle of her apartment door. Her day had seemed to go on forever.

It had all started about one in the morning. Leah woke up screaming, which brought on feelings of deja vu for Elizabeth; it had been tough those first few months of Leah's life. The baby then proceeded to wake up in seemingly perfectly timed increments, every one hour and seventeen minutes. Will had slept like a rock throughout all, only waking up one time. He had seemed willing to comfort Leah and let Elizabeth get some much needed sleep.

She really did not know what had gotten into her. She probably should have taken him up on his offer. Something had just pulled at her heart when he volunteered. She had always been the center of Leah's life--her comforter, her provider, her care giver. Maybe she was jealous, but her pride would not accept his help and she sent him off to bed where he proceeded to sleep through the rest of the night.

Elizabeth had woken up twenty-seven minutes after her alarm, embarrassed to have Will be the one to get her out of bed. She was so rushed, she ended up mis-buttoning her shirt, wearing mis-matched socks, and leaving her hair unbrushed. Luckily, Sir was the forgiving sort. After dropping Leah off at her parents, she had been considerably late for work. Unfortunately, she forgot that she had two interviews, two articles, and one lengthy editorial to write. It hadn't helped that Jim Edmonds had desperately asked her to throw batting practice for him, claiming he needed her "amazing skills" to get his hitting back on track. She couldn't say no to the struggling center fielder who seemed to strike out as often as she took a breath.

Accomplishing all this on relatively three and a half hours of sleep was not healthy, especially since she had skipped breakfast and had a Snickers and a 64 oz. Slurpee for lunch. Elizabeth honestly believed that she had fallen asleep at a red light on the way home.

The door opened, catching Elizabeth by surprise, and she fell straight forward. Two rather strong arms grabbed her before her face made a permanent mark on the floor. She heard a strange noise and realized that Will was chuckling.

"Are you all right, Elizabeth?"

She rolled her eyes up in his direction and met his amused gaze. She stared at him for so long she almost fell asleep on her feet. Will took Leah's pumpkin seat from Elizabeth's hand and set the sleeping baby down.

"You had a hard day. Why don't you follow suit and take a nap?" Will asked as he guided her towards her room.

"But there's dinner to make and Leah to feed..." she murmured, feeling she really should put up a protest.

"I think I can manage."

"You?" Elizabeth scoffed.

Will grinned. "Hey, don't underestimate me. Anyway I haven't seen your great culinary skills yet."

She said something back, but Will was not even going to attempt to decode. Somehow Elizabeth found herself in her bed, her shoes off, and the sheet pulled up to her chin. Will smiled at her before he turned the light off and she was left in darkness.

"Don't worry, I've got everything under control. I can make a mean grilled cheese."

Elizabeth was rubbing her eyes as she walked into the kitchen, the bright lights disorienting her for a moment. She thought she had seen a gourmet meal laid out on the table, complete with flowers and candles. She rubbed her eyes again. She really did see it.

Will gave her a stiff bow.

"Good evening, madame. Would you like to take a seat?"

Feeling like maybe she was still asleep and dreaming, she pinched herself. A little too hard.

"Ow!"

Will grabbed her elbow, dragged her over to the table, and then pulled the chair out for her. Elizabeth raised her eyebrow at him. "You did all this?"

She glanced around and then started laughing. On each plate was a grilled cheese sandwich, some potato chips, a pickle, and a Little Debbie Oatmeal pie. Looking across the table at Will, she shook her head. It was then she noticed Leah in the playpen. She immediately stood.

"You must be starving, sweetie." She instantly felt guilt at sleeping when her baby had needed her.

"Sit down, Elizabeth. I'm not inept, you know. I took care of it."

Elizabeth paused halfway between standing and sitting to glance at him. Several wet spots were apparent on his expensive looking shirt. She grinned. If she knew her niece, which she did, she would bet ten to one that those spots were not milk. Leah always did have a problem of sharing her digestive juices.

"What did you feed her?" she asked, finally sitting down.

"There was a bottle in the fridge which I warmed in the microwave." Glancing up at her, he added, "Oh, and there was that leftover pizza from last night." Seeing her look, "I'm joking! It was a jar of some disgusting looking, disgusting smelling baby food concoction. I believe it was chicken and beef macaroni dinner or something like that."

Elizabeth nodded, they prayed and began to eat.

"Wow, you do make a mean grilled cheese," she teased.

"Did you have a good nap?"

Elizabeth shrugged. "I guess. As far as naps go."

"I love naps. I always take one about three o'clock in my office. There's this really comfortable couch and I make sure Mrs. Reynolds doesn't let anyone bother me for half an hour."

"You are so spoiled."

"What?"

"If only I could take a nap everyday. I hardly have time to eat between work and Leah."

Will got that look in his eyes. "If you marry me, you'd have more time on your hands--probably for a nap or two."

"Shut up."

They soon finished their meal and while Elizabeth did the dishes, Will got Leah out of her playpen. Elizabeth took one look at her and groaned.

"What's the matter?" Will asked as he tickled Leah.

Over the baby's high-pitched, ear-piercing squeal she shouted, "Her nose is running again. I thought she had already gotten over her cold."

Will looked at her and proceeded to untuck his shirt and wipe Leah's nose with the bottom end of it. Elizabeth dropped the plate she was holding. Luckily, it landed in the sink with no damage.

"Are you okay?"

Elizabeth, wide eyed and mute, nodded and then left the rest of the dishes and walked into the living room. Will had wiped off Leah's snot with his shirt. Hadn't she always envisioned the man of her dreams doing just that? Okay, it was a weird dream man--Charlotte had told her so on many occasions. She had always retorted back with, "Any man who can wipe Leah's nose with his own shirt can marry me any day." Well, she had never expected to see William Darcy wipe anyone's nose with his shirt, not even his own!

Will plopped onto the couch next to her, still holding Leah in his arms. She looked so content, so natural in his arms. A sharp searing pain cut through Elizabeth's heart. She had always known deep down, all the way to her toes, that Leah needed a father; she needed that male presence in her life. Still, she had never wanted to come to terms with it. Will Darcy meant less love in Leah's heart for her.

"Are you sure you're all right?" he asked as Elizabeth turned on the tv and immediately switched it to the beginning of the Cardinals game. He seemed to be asking that question quite often. She shrugged her reply.

"Why aren't you working?" he wondered softly, as Leah was floating between sleep and wake.

"Bernie's covering the game. I had the editorial today and an interview," she whispered back, watching as her niece finally fell asleep.

"Do you want me to put her in her crib?"

Elizabeth shook her head. "I have to change her diaper."

"I just did right before you woke up."

It just kept getting worse. He knew how to feed her, he could wipe her nose without any qualms, and he even changed her diaper willingly.

"You know how?" she couldn't help but ask, hoping that maybe he didn't and had put the diaper on backwards or something.

He laughed. "Of course I do. I told you I have a younger sister, ten years younger to be exact, and my mom had me changing her diapers the day she came home from the hospital."

"Oh." She tried her hardest to keep the disappointment out of her voice as Will stood up carefully and walked gingerly to the nursery, his eyes constantly on the baby in his arms to make sure he did not wake her up.

Elizabeth tried not to cry. It was insane, really. She never cried--never--and here she was about to ball her eyes out about something that she should be happy about. Will was obviously infatuated with Leah, something that would be a good thing if she ever, for some reason, did decide to marry him. The fact that he was pretty darn skilled at her care was another added plus. Goodness, he was better at taking care of Leah's needs than Elizabeth had been in the beginning. Minutes later, Will came out smiling like a fool.

"She's so cute when she sleeps."

Elizabeth nodded and stared sullenly at the television. It didn't help her cause that the Cardinals were playing as bad as usual and losing by the second inning. Her pitches at batting practice didn't seem to be helping Edmonds any as he flew out to the right fielder. At least it wasn't a strikeout.

St. Louis, a few days later

"We're home, little girl," Will smiled at Leah as he opened the apartment door. He shook his head when he noticed it was unlocked. Elizabeth was too stubborn for her own good.

Will stopped in his tracks as he saw Elizabeth sitting at her kitchen table with a rather tall and good-looking man. He looked familiar. Will had to clear his throat several times before either noticed he was there.

"Hey, Will," she greeted him, he noticed with much less animosity than usual. Will walked into the kitchen and could not help himself from measuring the man up with a glance. Will was taller than him by a few inches but they were probably both in the same physical shape.

"Will, this is JD Drew. JD, this is Will Darcy."

The two men shook hands. He noticed JD seemed at ease with him in the apartment and hoped that he wasn't competition. He realized who he was now, of course. He was the right fielder who had done damage to the White Sox until David Wells had broken his hand with an errant pitch.

"Sorry about your arm. The way you guys tore up the White Sox was great."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "Will has the unfortunate circumstance of being a Cubs fan."

"Yes, and proud to be one," he pronounced as he took Leah out of her car seat. He sniffed the air.

"Did you order pizza?" he asked.

"I coerced the best cook in St. Louis to make some," JD told him with a smile.

Will opened the fridge to find a few slices on a plate. He picked up the plate and took a bite of one of the pieces.

"Mmm, wow. This is delicious. We've got to order from this place more often."

He was so enthralled with the pizza, he missed JD's grin at Elizabeth.

"Well, I better go. When are we going to meet again?" JD asked.

As Will watched her over his pizza slice, she picked up a yellow legal pad and looked it over.

"I should have enough to go on...I can probably write a couple chapters. Why don't I just give them to you when I'm done and we can go from there?"

JD nodded in agreement and she showed him to the door while Will set Leah securely in her highchair. He was searching through her cabinets when Elizabeth came back.

"To the right, lower shelf."

Will looked through the choices: macaroni and cheese dinner, beet delight, carrot and beef, turkey and rice dinner, spaghetti and meatballs, and butternut squash. He grimaced at every choice.

"Can I feed her some of this pizza? It's so good. Why'd we go to that other place if we could have had this?"

Elizabeth was grinning as she walked to the cabinets and pulled out an orange-red jar of spaghetti and meatballs. After warming it, she took a spoon and commanded Will to cut up an apple. Leah did not seem to share Will's opinion of her food as she gobbled it down as quickly as Elizabeth could give it to her.

"Where do you want these?" Will asked Elizabeth who was trying to dodge the spaghetti being spit back at her. She finally motioned towards her high chair and Will placed the small apple slices on the table in front of Leah.

Elizabeth sat down at the table and watched both Leah and Will finish their meals. With a few bites left, Will suddenly jumped up from the table and jogged out of the room. To her chagrin, Leah started whimpering until he came back in. She tried not to let the scowl on her face appear to evident. At Will's grin, she realized she had failed.

"When I picked Leah up from Jane's, Charles happened to be there." He paused for effect.

With an eyebrow raised, she replied, "They were probably just working on the case already."

"Yeah, that's what they said. Anyway, they both seem to think we're still going to get married, which I didn't really refute since I'm still hoping..." At Elizabeth's frown, he hurried on, "Charles gave us these questions he got off the Internet so that we could get to know each other better."

"Oh, please. We are not actually going to do them?" she asked as she valiantly tried to wipe Leah's face with a wet washcloth. There was something babies hated about having their faces wiped.

"I think it would be a good idea. I would like to get to know you better, Elizabeth."

Elizabeth snorted. "Is this some weird twisted way of getting me to marry you? 'I would like to get to know you better, Elizabeth,'" she mimicked.

Will wasn't laughing as she turned to carry Leah into her living room. He was sitting down on the couch with a notebook and some papers in hand.

"Full and complete name?"

"I refuse to spend time doing this. It is ridiculous! My sister Kitty sends me surveys like this all the time and even over email I think they are retarded."

"That's funny. Jane said you always fill them out and send them to everyone. She thought you would enjoy this." He grinned at Elizabeth as she stared, fuming, at him. "Full and complete name?"

"Elizabeth Grace Bennet."

"Nicknames?"

"I don't think so! This can't be one sided. What is your full name?"

A lengthy pause ensued until Will mumbled something unintelligible.

"...zwilliam George Darcy."

"Excuse me? I didn't quite catch that first part."

Will cleared his throat and shot her a dark look. "Fitzwilliam George Darcy."

Elizabeth burst into laughter, she really couldn't help it. He took a pillow and smacked her in the face with it. Obviously he still had some issues with it.

"Haven't gotten over the horrible childhood trauma of your name? No wonder you go by William," she teased.

He seemed close to sticking out his tongue. A quick change of subject seemed to be best. "My nicknames are Will and Darcy."

"And mine are Elizabeth and Bennet," Elizabeth grinned. She was wacked with the pillow again.

"My teammates used to call me Will the Kill in college."

"Hmm. My friends call me Elizabeth. Some even dare Liz or Lizzy, but not often."

"Nothing else?"

"One of my older cousins used to call me E-Lizardbreath until I got a little bigger and pummeled him with a baseball every time he tried."

"Violent child, were we?" He asked as he moved down next to Leah in the bouncy seat.

She shrugged as he went onto the next question. "Date of birth?"

"October 27, 1975. You?"

"November 29, 1972. Parents names?"

"Thomas and Sylvia Bennet."

"George and Anne Darcy." He said this almost in a whisper and Elizabeth knew that his parents death still affected him greatly. "Siblings?"

"Jane, Mary, Kitty and..." In that moment, she was feeling exactly what he had been just the moment before. They shared a sad smile before he mentioned Georgiana.

"Height?"

"Five foot four, I think. I know you're six foot four, but don't ask me how."

Will grinned to himself, but nodded that she was correct. "Favorite food?"

"Pickles."

"Pickles? Out of every food in the whole world, you chose pickles?"

"Well, what's your favorite, Mr. Big Shot?"

"Pizza."

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. "What difference is that?"

"A big one." He felt an argument coming on, so he looked down for the next question. "Favorite tv show?"

"Sportscenter."

"Sportscenter."

They went on, finding they had many things in common and some things that were completely opposite.

"Your favorite movie is Die Hard? Come on, could you not be a typical guy?"

"I hate to tell you, but the The Goonies didn't win many Academy Awards."

Elizabeth's favorite song was "Daydream Believer" by the Monkees while Will went for "Nessun Dorma" from Turnadot. (He had to live with Elizabeth's teasing that a macho man like him would listen to opera. He also knew secretly she was rather impressed.) It was no surprise to Will that the Cardinals were Elizabeth's favorite team. He was surprised she had a tattoo and a little put off when she wouldn't tell him what of and where. She was equally as surprised to learn that he had his left ear pierced, although she assumed he wore an earring maybe once a year.

"What's your worst pet peeve?"

Elizabeth did not need more than a second to decide. "I hate when people clap off beat. One time at the Stadium, every single person was off. It was so horrible!"

Will was grinning at her when she finished. "What?"

"Nothing," he said, shaking his head. "You are just so weird."

"Well, what's your worst pet peeve?"

"I hate overbearing mothers."

"Excuse me?"

"I hate mothers who try to get their daughters to marry me once they hear my name." At her look, he went on. "I know, it sounds very old-fashioned, but it still happens."

"Poor baby," she said on a roll of her eyes.

She picked up Leah, who was all but falling asleep on her feet, and headed into the bedroom. Will followed close behind her, still intent on finishing out the questions.

"What did you want to be when you were little?" he asked as Elizabeth changed Leah's diaper and put on her pajamas.

"A major league baseball player."

"You wanted to break the gender barrier, hmm?"

She shrugged as she buttoned up the mock baseball uniform. "I thought of nothing else. I had the posters up in my room, I listened to stories of my father, I collected the baseball cards...To the supreme horror of my mother, my life goal was to make the majors."

Will smiled. He could imagine Elizabeth as a child, baseball cap on her head, glove on her hand, and that grin on her face--complete with a dirt-covered shirt and holes ripped in the knees of her jeans.

"So, what did you want to be?"

"I wanted to be in the NFL."

"Big dreamer, huh?"

"I guess one might say that."

It wasn't quite his words but the way he said them that made Elizabeth study him.

"What do you mean by that?"

Will shrugged and seemed to want to let it go.

"Have you ever been in love?"

Elizabeth stilled in her movements and glanced up at him "Is that really a question on there?"

He nodded and pointed to the paper to back himself up. Elizabeth sighed and started biting her lip. As much as she tried to hide it, Will could see the betrayal in her eyes.

"Unfortunately, yes. I have been in love."

He wanted to ask with who and why she felt so bitterly, but he had been on the receiving end of her biting comments too often and did not want to risk it.

"What about you?"

"Hmm?" Will was still lost in the pain Elizabeth was radiating.

"Have you ever been in love?"

Will laughed. "No. I've never met anyone that's been good enough for me."

At her shocked glance, he realized his mistake. He swore if Elizabeth hadn't been holding Leah in her arms right then she would have tackled and pinned him. Seeing the look in her eyes, he actually felt himself take a few steps back. He smiled nervously. It was a good thing she couldn't kill people with her look. He would be a dead man standing, impaled with the daggers she was shooting from her dark eyes.

"That came out totally wrong, I swear," he told her earnestly, "I meant that I've never had a good enough relationship with a woman to even consider love."

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at him.

"I swear!"

Elizabeth turned and took a seat in the rocking chair. It was amazing how she could put him on the defensive so quickly. In truth, most of the women he had dated weren't good enough for him, just like a lot of men would not meet her standards. It was not meant in an egotistical way. He looked up from his reverie to see Elizabeth glaring pointedly at him.

"What did I do now?"

Elizabeth sighed in exasperation. "Does it look like Leah's going to get any sleep with you in here?"

Will couldn't help but smile as he saw Elizabeth was absolutely correct. Leah was waving and trying to squirm in her aunt's arms to see him. He was seriously stunned how quickly the little girl had grown on him. He would do just about anything for her, he realized. If he was honest with himself, he admitted that Elizabeth had grown on him, also. She was so strong and stubborn, yet also vulnerable and in a way fragile. He would do everything that was in his power to make sure Elizabeth and Leah were taken care of--even against Elizabeth's will.

Continued In Next Section