Monday.

Same morning ritual.

The following evening, Elizabeth had worked out what she would wear and how she would do her hair so her morning would be as stress free as possible. This was a better decision than she had originally thought, as she quickly found out that she was not going to be able to hide her gun under any of her new suits, loose fitting or no. Digging through her little black bag, she found a throwing knife she could wear at the small of her back, secured by the waist band of her pants. Since it was cold outside she could get away with wearing a blazer all the time, so the pearl inlaid handle would never show. But it wasn’t enough. She needed something a little more handy in case of an emergency. She made her final decision as she did her hair. Smoothing her dark mass of curls, and twisting them into a large figure eight at the back of her head, she secured the mass with two steel pins, each with an intricately carved scroll work winding around its circumference and a dangerously sharp tip. Function and beauty, she smiled at her reflection. A few touches of blush and a bit of eyeliner and she was ready. She grabbed her overcoat and scarf and headed out for her nine a.m. meeting with Richard and William. Strike that. Mr. Darcy.

The Regency Building stood before her, some fifteen minutes later, like an imposing monster of glass and steel. Story upon story flew from the pavement in reflective succession, making her crane her neck to see the top. Elizabeth stepped through the front doors and into the very clean, very minimalist lobby. No fuss, no muss. She approached the front desk and stated her business. The receptionist greeted her with the perfect amount of politeness, and buzzed Richard’s office to announce Elizabeth’s arrival.

“You may go up, Ms. Bennet. Sixteenth floor.”

“Thank you.”

Elizabeth soaked up her surroundings, becoming one with her environment. It was obvious he required crisp professionalism, and on her elevator ride to the top floor she took on that identity, setting her shoulders and chin just so, and assuming an air of “all business”. She had arrived at the building a blank canvas, as she always did when starting a new mission. But the Elizabeth who stepped from the elevator onto the sixteenth floor was the no-nonsense executive assistant for one of the most powerful men in the country.

Another secretary greeted her as she stepped off the elevator and directed her to Richard’s office. She tapped lightly on his closed door.

“Come in. Ah, Ms. Bennet. Please, come in and close the door.”

Two seconds after the door closed, Elizabeth found the breath squeezed out of her by Richard’s tight embrace. “Lizzy! We’ve got about five seconds before we have to go see the big guy. Its so good to see you, you look good, you look the part. Well, done, good choice. Okay, are you ready? Damn, I’ve missed you. You sure you’re ready? Okay, we can do this, together. I’ve got your back. Okay.”

Elizabeth broke character and raised a wicked eyebrow at her old friend.

“Richard, take a breath, you’re more nervous than I am. And you can let me go now. I don’t want to have to put a call in to Petra and tell her where your hands have been.” Her low chuckle eased some of his tension as he stepped back. He was so damn uptight about this whole thing. He was worried William would see right through him. He never got nervous, what the hell was this? Was he starting to crack? What was he, some wet-behind-the-ears rookie?

Elizabeth say Richard’s eyes glaze over with pre-game jitters. She had been so wrapped up in her own worries, she had failed to think of how all this might be affecting him. She put a comforting hand on his arm, looked him firmly in the eye, and said, “You leave your balls in your mommy’s purse again, Richard?” A hundred yards from the entrance of the Regency Building, inside an unmarked white van parked on the curb, three very large marines burst out in riotous laughter. So did Richard, and his wave of fear subsided.

“All right, tough guy, let’s do this,” Richard laughed. Pulling themselves together they exited the office and headed down the hall.

Elizabeth and Richard soon stood in front of the double oak doors of William’s office, speaking in hushed tones.

“I’ve met him already, Richard. At a restaurant downtown on Friday night. I had to see Jane, and he was there, too. He doesn’t like me. This may be harder than we had originally planned.”

Richard nodded, taking this new information in. “What did you say to him?”

“Nothing other than ‘hello, nice to meet you’. I didn’t want to influence this meeting in any way. But it seems that he is pretty put off by my three year absence. He thinks I’m in trouble of some sort and have come back looking for a handout.”

Again, Richard nodded. “As of right now, he doesn’t know its you he’s meeting. Just that you are an old friend of mine and come highly recommended. Let’s just touch on the highlights of Turkey, and only if we have to. With that and me vouching for your integrity, we should be set.”

Elizabeth took a breath and nodded.

“Okay, I’ll go in first, and see if he’s ready.”

As Richard entered the office, William looked up from the piles of papers and files on his desk.

“Good morning, Richard.”

“Morning, Will. Our ten o’clock is here. You ready?”

“Yes, but let’s keep this short and sweet, okay? I have a conference call in fifteen minutes. You’ve filled her in already, and the sooner she can start the better. This is all just formality.”

“Sounds good.”

William rose from his desk as Richard opened the door and ushered Elizabeth in.

“William, meet Elizabeth Bennet. Elizabeth, this is William Darcy.”

William froze. His brow creased, his gaze darkened, his jaw set.

“I don’t have time for games, Richard.”

Richard was speechless. He looked from Elizabeth to Will and back again. In the van, a collective “Oh, shit” was whispered into the ether.

“Richard, maybe it would be best if Mr. Darcy and I had a word or two alone for a moment. It seems we’ve started off on the wrong foot.”

“Take her with you.”

“Will, what’s the matter with you? This is my friend, Elizabeth. I’ve told you about her. We had this all settled.”

“I refuse to employ the prodigal sister of my best friend’s wife. A woman who can’t even pick up a phone for three years to let people know she’s alive.”

“Will, its not like that…”

Richard and Elizabeth had frozen in place just inside the door, chilled by his reaction. William strode several steps closer, his words and gaze directed at Elizabeth.

“What is it about you that has everyone so fooled. They all blindly defend your irresponsible behavior. Well, not I. You’ve been off traipsing around for three years, and now you need a job, is that it? If you thought that I would be an easy target just because you are Jane’s sister, you were dead wrong. Get her out of here, Richard.”

In the van, the three marines looked at each other in disbelief.

“Manny, she’s gonna blow.”

“No, she’s fine, Moe. Relax.”

“Yeah, but Manny, if he keeps going off about Turkey, she’s gonna lose it,” Jack protested.

“Guys, cool it. The boss is a pro. She can handle this joker with her hands tied behind her back.”

Moe and Jack silently returned to their surveillance, glad the boss had sent them in yesterday to set up audio and video bugs throughout the building.

“Richard,” Elizabeth’s voice ground through clenched teeth, “please give Mr. Darcy and I a moment alone. I think we have a few things that need to be cleared up… in private.”

Richard bowed out of the room quickly before William could say another word. His head was spinning with the violence of William’s reaction. Holy crap, had this gone monumentally wrong. He quickly returned to his office to tap into the feed that the boys had set up. That way, if Elizabeth got into any real trouble he could jump in and get her out of there.

Elizabeth reigned herself in and spoke first, hoping to calm William down before this whole thing was completely lost.

“Mr. Darcy, it seems that you have some bad information about me. I’m not the type of woman to lose contact with her family several years and then pop back up, unannounced for no good….” As the words came out of her mouth, realization hit her right between the eyes. The prodigal, come home after several missing years to take away the last of his immediate family. Wickham. No wonder he was so riled up. It was then that Elizabeth knew she had to take a different tactic with him if there was any hope of salvaging this.

“Okay. Please, let’s sit down a minute and discuss this. If not for the hope of me walking out of here with a job, then for the fact that we have Charles and Jane in common.”

William contemplated this for a moment, then walked around his desk to his chair. He was a bit relieved to have the desk between them suddenly.

Elizabeth also sat down, in the chair in front of his desk. She hadn’t had a chance to look around the office yet, in all the madness that had just happened. She did so now, giving them each a moment to cool off. It was well appointed, with leather chairs and sofas, mahogany desks and bookcases. The art was tasteful, the smattering of decorations refined.

“You have a very nice office.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. I am not a jerk.”

William was taken aback by the forwardness of her statement. He looked at her, taking her all in for the first time. Or what he could of her. She seemed to be hiding in her outfit, with no real way to make out her shape. And he thought her hair had been curly, but here it was pulled taught and straight. Her face she had left plain, not much make-up. He had never seen anyone try so hard to be so invisible. What was her story? He locked eyes with her or a moment, thinking maybe he could read something of her in them. It was the last rational thing he remembered thinking for several heartbeats. He was trapped in the swirling color of her irises. They were almost… silver. Silver eyes tinged with blue. A very light blue. He couldn’t seem to make out just what color they really were, but silver was as close as he could get. An amazing color, and the thickness of her dark lashes only added to the whole effect. He leaned forward just a bit, trying to identify the other elusive flecks of color floating in her eyes.

“… a chance, you will see that I can do the job just as Richard told you. Mr. Darcy?”

William jerked back to earth. This woman threw him completely off balance. Every reaction he had to her was intense. His anger had been irrational, and all because of a similarity to a painful past that had nothing to do with her. And now he was playing the love-struck adolescent, staring into her eyes like a fool. He wanted her away from him, now. She scared him and enchanted him by turns and he didn't like it.

“Three month trial period, Ms. Bennet. Its all I the time I should need to finish this deal. Then, if I am satisfied with your work at the end of that time, we can discuss a more permanent arrangement.” He could sort himself out in three months. That was more than enough time to break him of this weird instant infatuation.

“Thank you, sir.” Elizabeth, Richard and the boys all sighed in relief. What a ride that had been.

“I will have Richard show you to your office and get you started. I have a conference call in two minutes. After that, I will stop by and show you the agenda for today, and we can go from there.”

“Yes, sir.” Elizabeth rose to leave.

“Ms. Bennet. I overreacted. The strain of this deal has been taking its toll on me. I apologize. Richard trusts you, and I trust Richard. I am willing to go on that. But I hope that someday, you would consider telling me what happened to keep you away for three years.”

Elizabeth nodded silently, not wanting to tempt fate by saying anymore at that moment. She rose from the chair and left the room, breathing out another deep sigh as she closed the door behind her.