Chapter Text
Lizzie Bennet sighed a breath of relief as she found herself walking along a well-used dirt path. It was one of many that connected her small house in the middle of the English countryside to the vast network of sweeping green grazing fields which surrounded them. Had she no solace, no sisters, she was sure she would have felt trapped.
Lizzie walked every day - or at least felt the need to - as she escaped the madhouse locally known as 'Longbourn'. It was an old name, etched onto an old brick, that was stuck snugly into the walls of the old house her ancestors had called home. It was a creaky, crumbling and leaking mess - but it was beautiful. A summery yellow shade, covered in creeping ivy, with lush gardens kept alive by the magical hands of her mother and second-youngest sister, it was no wonder that her father was constantly fighting off wealthy suburbanites looking for a second home just outside London. Lizzy sighed again. London. She was twenty years old and this was her last summer of her childhood. She had taken a gap year to delay the inevitable start of her academic career, but as the sun grew hotter on her back it was as though the time and the air was being squeezed out of her. She had never been away from home - at most she had stayed over at Charlotte's house for a night, or taken a day trip to London - but she couldn't imagine how different it would be to live for an extended period of time away from the only home she had known. And her four other sisters she loved so much...
"Lizzie!"
Oh bugger. There were those sisters she had just claimed to love. Well... she did love them, they were just a little clingy... and loud... that's all!
Katherine & Lydia Bennet were coming around the bend, their pale legs covered in mud from traipsing around the dirt roads on their way to visit the shops in Meryton (and to flirt with all the cadets which trained at the base nearby). Although she was the youngest at only fifteen, Lydia (or Dee, as she was known to her friends) was a tall and gangly girl, with mousy brown curls and full lips. On the other hand, her shorter and stouter sister Katherine (or, Kattie) appeared young by comparison, with darker curls. Lizzie herself was only mere centimetres shorter than Lydia, but had a tanner complexion, with a mane of dark curls that were seemingly untameable (although nothing compared to the beehive which sat atop Mary Bennet's head).
"Lizzie you wouldn't believe what Dee did to me earlier - I was just about to speak to Denny-" Kattie began to complain before her younger sister cut her off.
"Oh quiet Kattie nobody wants to hear you mouthing off again," Dee hushed, "I'm sure Lizzie would much rather hear what we have planned for tonight!"
Kattie sighed and nodded, "Lizzie you really must come down to the pub tonight - all the cadets are on leave and Denny's promised to introduce us to his friends!"
"And Lord knows if I only bring Kattie they'll bugger off," giggled Dee, earning herself a swat on the arm from her older sister, "Come on Lizzie - we'll give you all our pocket money if you buy us some drinks"
Lizzie opened her mouth to protest, but as the setting sun began to illuminate her face she realised she had nothing better to do tonight. She had read all of her books, and she couldn't exactly rewatch Doctor Who with Jane AGAIN. Besides, Jane had valiantly tried to sit through some Classic Who, and Lizzie wanted to reward her with something the social butterfly would actually enjoy.
The elder sister turned on her heel and looped her arm through Kattie's - "Alright, you've convinced me. Let's head back before Mum has an aneurysm"
The younger girls giggled, and they continued on towards the house as the golden summer sun warmed their backs.
After a scolding from their mother about being late to tea, and a jibe from their father at their mother's expense, the four sisters congregated in Jane and Lizzie's room to coordinate their outfits.
"Are you sure you wouldn't like to come Mary? You never know what you don't enjoy until you try it...?" Lizzie called out to her middle sister, the eighteen year old Mary, who sat gloomily next to the family piano.
"No, I'm okay. Mum is also going out tonight and Dad will probably get drunk in front of the TV, so I can finally practice without anyone getting angry at me." Mary sighed, pushing up her circular glasses.
Lizzie grimaced, "Oh. Okay. Well.... have fun?"
"I will, thank you." And with that Lizzie shut the door and turned to Jane, the eldest sister at twenty two years old, and the third tallest behind Dee and Lizzie. Her blonde silky hair was illuminated by a lamp behind her, and coupled with her rosy cheeks and full smile she looked every part an angel.
"I still don't understand what happened to Mary, I swear she used to be normal" Lizzie sighed.
"I think she found tumblr one day and never let go..." Jane laughed, "Leave her be, at least it makes her vaguely happy to be sad all the time"
"That's such an odd way of phrasing it but I suppose you're right", Lizzie smiled before holding up a full length tight black dress and a maroon knitted dress, "Now which one am I wearing tonight?"
"Oddly enough... with ripped tights and your big boots I think the sweater dress is sexier," Jane raised an eyebrow - before pulling up her options, which were a baby blue silk slip and a white crochet jumper with a pink silk skirt - "Now do me."
"If I'm going to be sexy I can't be sexy alone Jane - put away the children's clothes you know you look cute in that slip dress"
Jane laughed as she finished her makeup - doing her best to ignore Dee and Kattie fighting over each other's clothes in the next room - and before long the sisters were ready to leave.
The pub was bustling with life as they arrived - with a sea of dark green fitted t shirts greeting the girls.
"Looks like the soldiers are on duty tonight" Sniggered Lizzie, earning her glares from Kattie and Dee.
"Don't make fun of them Lizzie... my husband is in there somewhere" Dee grinned maniacly, before grabbing Kattie's hand and diving headfirst into the male population.
Jane rolled her eyes and placed a hand on Lizzie's shoulder, "Come on, Charlotte and Maria will be in here somewhere, let's grab a drink and find them."
Minutes later Lizzie found herself drowning her sorrows with a vodka cranberry, watching her beautiful sister get chatted up by a seemingly endless line of drunk cadets. She sighed, happy for her sister, but wondering where her adoring fans were...
"Over here Lizzie!"
Whipping her head round she made eye contact with Charlotte (Lottie) Lucas, her best friend since year nine. It was odd, definitely, being friends with someone so much older than you, but she had always known the Lucas family through her parents, and her and Lottie had worked in the local charity shop since she was fourteen and Lottie was twenty one. Now at twenty seven she finally been allowed to take over her dad's pub, The Yellow Peacock they were sitting in right now. Lottie made her way behind the bar and leaned forward to greet her friend.
"How goes business? Is Maria around?" Lizzie asked, looking around for Lottie's much younger sister Maria, who was over with Dee and Kattie making goo goo eyes at the cadets.
Shuddering, she turned back to her friend - "Ew. Nevermind. Only answer my first question".
"Business is fine as it ever was Lizzie, but I'm wondering if you've heard the news? All the mothers are abuzz" Lottie teased the information out slowly.
"Well mine's always been a little slower than most, so why don't you do the pleasure of informing me on this juicy gossip." Lizzie smiled
The word gossip caught on her ear like a hook, and Jane quickly turned away from her line of suitors to listen as well - "Oh go on Lottie!"
Lottie smirked and ever so slowly leaned her mouth closer to the sisters' ears:
"Word on the street is the big house on Netherfield Lane has been bought out by some posh Londoners... apparently their son and his friends were seen moving in last night!"
"What? That old place? Are those kids going to be alright with the rats and ghosts" Lizzie snorted.
"They're not kids actually - apparently the eldest son is in his final year at LSE, and his sister is at some wanky art college...?" Lottie puzzled, "I don't know honestly... I stopped listening when Mummy told me how young they were."
Lizzie rolled her eyes, "Oh god you're not still on this are you? Charlotte Lucas you do not need a boyfriend to make you WHOLE!"
"No of course not Lizzie, I'm just tired of being treated like a hole by these cadets though," She giggled as her younger friend turned red, "I still can't believe you've never had a boyfriend though!"
"I believe that's my fault I'm afraid," Jane chimed in, "My constant stream of bad boyfriends and terrible breakups has probably warned my sister away from it forever"
"Yes well my standards are too high anyway due to my love of fictional men" Lizzie giggled, "As it stands I am convinced only the deepest love could persuade me into matrimony!"
At that very moment, as the vow was spoken, the heavy doors to the pub were thrown open and all heads in the room turned to see a group of outsiders enter. Had music been playing, it would have stopped, as all mouths slowed and conversation stuttered.
Charlie Bingley and his group of friends stood, like deer in headlights, at the mouth of the party, waiting to be let in.
Things were about to change... forever...