AN: Out with the old, and in with the new! For the third time, I have had one of ODC suddenly start talking loudly to me just as I was wrapping up a story and hoping to edit another one for publication. I really do mean to get back to what Maria Lucas was telling me so I can start "Coming Out" (sequel to Miss York) but Lady Catherine (Shields and Roses), then Mr. Darcy (Another Point of View) and now Lizzy (Hidden Stitches) have all overpowered her soft, sweet voice. This one also put my rewrites on APV back a little bit - I am still undecided how to resolve the matter of the ending. I am pulling it later today anyway so I can publish at any point. It will not be available on Amazon this week and possibly not even next week. Soon, though.

So, as I mentioned in the teaser, this is definitely an Alternate Universe story. The people we know will be somewhat OOC and we do have a couple of changes to backstory and new characters who affect ODC. The timeline is roughly similar but with the differences, the story will diverge. Unlike so many of my stories, this one is not all happy families, although as it has progressed some of the relationships have altered from what I originally saw happening. (I just can't help myself, it seems) There are some difficult moments, an evil-ish stepmother and a somewhat unusual for JAFF villain. It has the T rating for some non-graphic discussion of marital relations, frank discussions about the results of those relations and an attempted sexual assault with references to others as well as some other themes about bullying and death. In general there should be nothing terribly offensive, but I know some people prefer to avoid reading about such topics and some have had RL experiences that make them sensitive to the subjects. If this is not your cup of tea, stop now.

Since I have several chapters written ahead, I will be posting one a day. We are currently looking at between 20 and 30 total. I hope that, despite the darker notes, you enjoy where this story takes us (HEA for D & E, of course ;oD).

Happy New Year!

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Elizabeth Bennet, generally known as Lizzy, carefully tied off the tail of brightly colored silk thread, working the end in neatly before she used her tiny silver sewing scissors to snip it off. She placed the needle into a small strip of fabric sewed to the ribbon from which her scissors hung around her neck, alongside a trio of other needles. Carefully pulling the rest of the thread tail free of the needle's eye, she wound it onto a tiny card and put it away with several similar cards in a small work-box.

She stretched her back with a slight grunt - most unladylike, but there was no one in the room who would be inclined to judge. As she sorted through the cards in search of the next color in her pattern, the young woman once again thought through all the reasons she had for gratitude in her current situation. First off, she was doing this work by choice. Then, she was sitting in a pleasant room that was warm enough for comfort. She had plenty of good light in which to do her work. She had good food, with no fear it would run out, and when her work was done she would retire to a comfortable bed in this very safe house surrounded by people who cared for her. Of course, even with all those benefits, she took the work she did no less seriously than someone whose life depended on every stitch. She was working ahead for the days when one day hers, or the life of someone she cared about, might.

When she found the desired card, she was glad to see it had more than enough thread on it to complete the next section of the beautiful floral embroidery pattern. She carefully snipped off a short length, took the needle from its holder and threaded it with the silk. Picking up the delicate muslin on which she was working, she set to stitching again.

"Lizzy, you have done enough for the evening," said her aunt, Madeline Gardiner, who sat on a chair nearby. "You know we did not invite you here to work yourself to the bone."

"Of course, not, Aunt. I am fine, and I want to finish this tonight. Madame Gaillard has promised a significant bonus if I can get it to her before her shop opens tomorrow. I may have to work a little late, but I think I can do it. I must, really, since it is too good an opportunity to pass up."

"Oh, Lizzy," her aunt sighed, "sometimes I regret I ever got you and Jane started on all this."

"Do not regret it, Aunt Madeline," Lizzy said seriously. "This will be the saving of us. You know Mrs. Bennet will toss us out of Longbourn the minute Papa dies, or Tony would sell us to a brothel in a heartbeat if it gave him enough money to play another hand of cards with his horrible friends."

"Your uncle and I will not desert you, Lizzy, either of you. And you do have your dowry. Hopefully both of you will be happily married before the worst comes to pass."

"We may have good dowries, but you know we cannot touch them, or even the interest from them, for our own use until we reach the age of six and twenty. Jane still has over four years, and I have six, before that can happen. Mrs. Bennet scares off any man who attempts to court us in Meryton and Papa will do nothing to stop her, not even give Uncle the right to agree to a courtship or marriage and sign a wedding settlement for us should we find someone here in London. We must be ready to leave Longbourn at a moment's notice and support ourselves. You have your own family to take care of. You cannot be expected to take us in as well."

"You are too proud sometimes, Elizabeth Bennet. You know we would gladly have you both living here already and would happily support you both if your father would just allow it."

"Ah, but you know how he is. He loudly decries the lack of sense in the household if Jane and I are both gone, although he has never made any effort to educate Mary, Kitty or Lydia to show some sense of their own. And once Mrs. Bennet figured out that most people in the village will not invite her and her daughters to their events unless Jane or I are to be members of the party, our fate was sealed. We only get short visits and only one of us at a time." Lizzy had been working the entire time she and her aunt spoke. Now she worked in the tiny end of thread left and snipped off another piece from the card so she could continue.

Mrs. Gardiner shook her head as she watched her niece making quick but careful stitches. "Your dear mother would be spinning in her grave if she could see how that woman treats the two of you. Mrs. Bennet must be entirely senseless not to have realized what good daughters you would have been to her had she shown even a small amount of affection towards you."

"Well, you know Papa did not marry her for her intelligence or good sense."

With a slight snort, Mrs. Gardiner replied, "No, he married the newly widowed Mrs. Jamison, not three weeks after your mother died in childbirth from the exertion of producing a stillborn daughter, because the widow already had a living son and another possible one on the way."

"And if Mary had been a boy, she would have been legally Papa's heir, even if she shared none of his blood. It was a reasonable gamble on Papa's part, even if it did leave him with a rather unpleasant wife who went on to produce two more living daughters after Mary. I am very glad you and Aunt Clarissa have done your best to make sure Jane and I knew the feeling of motherly affection."

"And you know Lady Morton would take in the two of you in a heartbeat as well, if your father and Sir Roger would only allow it."

"But they will not. In fact, Sir Roger is less likely to allow it than Papa. Be at ease, Aunt Madeline. Jane and I are not helpless damsels awaiting our fate with sighs and sobs, nor are we foolish enough to hide our heads under the bedclothes and pretend there is no danger. You know how much we have both saved since those first bits of piecework you sold for us when I was twelve. And it would be more if we could only do the work while we are at Longbourn. Unfortunately, these good jobs come with a timeline and I would never wish Mrs. Bennet to catch me at it even if they did not."

"You also make a nice amount on those lace ribbons you make during your supposed rambles in the woods."

"Only if you discount the time it actually takes to make them. But I do always enjoy knowing how Mrs. Bennet would covet those strips of bobbin lace if she knew about them."

"Yes, she would chain you to a seat in the parlor and force you to work on them constantly." Mrs. Gardiner laughed lightly, although both knew her tease was not far from the truth.

"Jane has it a little easier, being able to mix some of her plain-sewing jobs into her never-ending basket of mending. It just disgusts me how little she is paid for the work."

"Women willing and able to do plain-work are a halfpenny a dozen, even those who are as skilled as you and your sister. No, you were wise to hone your skills at embroidery and lace-making even if those are also poorly paid for the amount of labor required."

"Jane would have done so as well, but you know Mrs. Bennet much prefers her presence to mine, even if the opposite is true for Papa."

"Can you blame her? Jane has perfected that mask of serenity she wears so well. You still have trouble hiding your contempt and annoyance at times and Mrs. Bennet provokes you more than anyone except possibly your stepbrother."

Lizzy laughed, although there was an edge of bitterness to the sound. "Oh, you know he has made a special study of provoking me since the day he was first installed in Longbourn's nursery and found he had two younger sisters to torment. Even at the age of four Jane already hid everything behind a serene face and quiet tears, so he turned his attention to me."

"And even at the advanced age of nearly three, you were a feisty child, unwilling to be imposed upon. If I were to believe all the tales the nursery maids told, the battles between the two of you over the next four years were epic. Thank goodness your father sent your stepbrother off to boarding school or we never would have had a chance to make a lady out of you." Both women laughed softly.

"It is a shame he wasted that opportunity and his time at Cambridge, and decided to play the dissolute wastrel instead," Lizzy continued with combined regret and bitterness. "Although, his lack of interest in books and learning certainly played to my benefit. Papa was so desperate to have someone in the house to speak with on history and all the other subjects he enjoyed that he started tutoring me the minute he learned I had taught myself to read with the books he had provided for Tony. I consider it even more fortunate that Mrs. Bennet did not notice until it was much too late to convince Papa to stop. I have great sympathy for her situation in those early years, of course. At least, I do now when I realize part of her constant fussing and fretting was because she was always ill as she tried again and again to produce a son to break the entail. The poor woman! To think that if all the children she bore had lived, I would have five more sisters after Lydia, not to mention the little brother who came along last and was far too early to have survived even if he had been born alive."

"Yes, she had an excuse to be disagreeable then, although she did not have to be, but there was no reason later for the way she has treated you and Jane."

"We are not her children. That is enough reason for her to take every bit of the recrimination and disdain Papa heaps on her head and pour it back on ours." Lizzy sighed. "I am so very glad for the time we get to spend here in a safe and loving home."

She chose another card from the work-box and threaded her needle with a strand of the new color. As she began work on the next segment of the pattern, a maid entered with a note for Mrs. Gardiner.

"It came by express, mum. No answer required," the maid said with a curtsy.

"Thank you, Polly."

Mrs. Gardiner took the note and the maid left the room. Breaking the seal, Lizzy's aunt quickly unfolded the paper and read the contents. She huffed out a deep breath.

"It seems your visit is over, Lizzy," she said. "Mrs. Bennet writes that Netherfield Park is let at last, and to a young gentleman of good fortune. She wants you to return straight away so the ladies of the family can be seen at all the dances and parties where the gentleman will attend in hopes he will be attracted to Lydia." Mrs. Gardiner and Lizzy looked at each other and both broke into laughter.

"Well, he will have to be a fool if he is attracted to a wild fifteen-year-old," Lizzy said. She looked down at the work in her hands. "We know straight away means she wants me back tonight, although she has not thought about how that might be managed. The next post carriage that can get me to Meryton will not leave until nearly noon tomorrow. Even if it left this evening, I made a commitment to finish this and I will not leave until it is done."

"As if we would allow you to travel post by night, even with the maid for company," Mrs. Gardiner said indignantly. "It is a shame. We were hoping to have your company for at least another two weeks."

"As I was hoping to be here for at least that long, and not just because of the work I can get done in that time. I shall be glad to be with Jane again, though. I always feel safer when we are together."

Her aunt looked at Lizzy carefully. "I am certain she feels the same. Just remember it is not the two of you alone against the world. Come to us if you need help. Do not hesitate or worry about the legalities. Your uncle and I love you and will do everything we can to keep you safe."

Lizzy looked up from her work with a loving smile. "I know that, and I consider it at the top of the list of things for which I am always grateful."

"Well, I can see you still have a great deal of work to do if you plan to finish that tonight. I will return to my mending and leave you to it."

Mrs. Gardiner reached into her mending basket and pulled out a stocking that required darning. Pulling a darning egg from her little packet of work tools, she slipped the stocking over it. Soon she had a needle threaded and became as engaged in setting a nearly invisible darn as Lizzy was in finishing the pattern of fine embroidery scattered over the surface of the nearly-transparent muslin over-skirt she had been commissioned to complete for one of London's finest modistes.