Hey! So, if you have read Fate Makes a Change, this is one of the new stories I have been planning to start posting. If not, I hope you enjoy this one! First, I have not abandoned FMAC. Lydia is still giving me problems, but I hope to start posting chapters again soon. This is the first of my Kitty/Oliver stories. I have found I write them very well as a couple. I actually have several stories featuring them, but because some are similar, I am merging them so they are not so much the same. I haven't decided if I am going to make this a two part story, or continue on as one long story I have found that I have a hard time finding a stopping point with my stories. I just want to keep going and not let them end. The good thing is, I have finished the first part of this story. It takes place before the events of Pride and Prejudice. The next part takes us into the original story and how the events of this story change what we are more familiar with. Enjoy!

"But I just turned seventeen! It's supposed to be my turn! Why does Lydia not have to wait until she is seventeen?"

"My nerves cannot take your constant whining, Kitty! It's not fair that Lydia should be left at home while the rest of us are able to partake of Society."

"It is fair! I had to wait. Jane and Lizzy had to wait until they were at least sixteen. Mary had to wait until she was seventeen. Lydia is only fourteen! She'll not be fifteen for another three months!"

"Mr. Bennet! Do something with this girl! Oh, Hill! Hill! Where are my salts?!"

Kitty watched her mother rush from the room and turned beseechingly at her father. He sighed and rolled his eyes. "Kitty, we shall never have peace if we do not allow her."

"That's all it takes for her to get her way! She knows that if she throws a big enough fit, she'll get exactly what she wants. And she always does. It's not fair, Papa! And I have to share the funds set aside for me to have new dresses made for my coming out?! For my birthday? She is only fourteen!"

"Kitty, enough. It has already been decided. Your sister will be allowed out into Society. Next year, I will give you the amount in full and you shall have half more than your elder sisters did when they came out."

"Papa! You know how she is! If one person pays me any kind of attention, she does all that she can to take it away. She never lets me have anything that is mine!"

"Well, she shall be very busy, for she cannot help herself when it comes to Jane, Lizzy, or Mary either. She shall have her work cut out for her, indeed."

"Papa," she gasped, "I'm being serious!"

"And so am I. Lydia will not be content until all of the attention is on herself. Rest easy, Kitty. Once she has cycled through them all, you will have your chance." He quickly took his leave of the room when he saw she was searching for another argument.

Kitty felt her emotions overcoming her. Her face felt puffy and warm, and her eyes were burning. She stumbled to the door and turned to go towards the front when she heard a giggle. She looked up and found her younger sister smirking at her from the top of the stairs before flouncing away to her room. Feeling herself losing control, Kitty ran out the front door and through the garden. She ran to the door in the wall and continued to run. By this time, her tears were streaming down her face. She ran until she reached the little river that separated her family's estate from where the Lucas's.

Why did no one care that she was hurt over this? Why did everyone keep telling her that it was only Lydia being Lydia? Why could no one see that giving in to her sister was not going to make things better? It had always been like this, for as long as she could remember. All of her life, she had to step aside for Lydia, or hand over whatever her younger sister wanted. She was tired of it all.

Kitty kicked the earth. It wasn't fair that she was never able to have something that was hers. She stared down into the water, not really seeing it, but letting her mind comb over every injustice she could remember. She cried out in anger and kicked the ground beneath her once more. At this point she didn't care how childish she seemed. Had she been paying attention, she wouldn't have been startled by the voice cutting into her tirade.

Oliver Andrews was frustrated. He had come to Hertfordshire to convince his mother to return with him to Dalton, a feat that he was now almost convinced was impossible.

Diana Andrews had removed herself from her husband's family home after he died three years before. She hated being inside the home she and the man she had loved for almost thirty-five years, had shared. So, once she had been able to think clearly enough to make plans, she moved herself back to the neighborhood she had grown up in, but not wanting to impose upon her brother and his family, she let a house not far from her family home. Other than a few short visits, it was Oliver who would do the visiting. He came at least once every six months, requesting that she return with him. He was not ashamed to admit that he was lonely, and that even after three years, the running of the estate was overwhelming.

Though she had sympathized with him, she was in support of another idea.

"You should find a wife, Oliver. You need a wife to help ease the burden of the estate. I am simply not up to the challenge anymore, not for Dalton."

"Am I not allowed the same privilege of loving my wife before I marry, as you and my father did?"

"How do you expect to fall in love with a young woman if you do nothing to meet any? There are many pleasant ladies here in Hertfordshire, though few with connections and fortune enough to recommend them to most men. Anna White is still single, and while her fortune is small, her mother's brother is a Viscount."

"She is insipid and greedy, and the Viscount is a drunk with little to no money to his name."

"Martha Wildcove?"

"Worse than Miss White."

"Charlotte Lucas. She is well-nigh to being a spinster, but she would make a good wife."

"She is too careful and measured."

"She is practical."

"And I highly doubt she would tolerate Thomas and I should we decide to get up to any of our old antics."

"You are both too old to be acting in such a manner. You should have outgrown such notions before you went to university."

"But they made university so much more fun."

She scoffed. "Are you sure there are no ladies back in Nottinghamshire that have caught your eye?"

"There is no lady residing in that neighborhood that I do not view as a sister, or have a natural revulsion to."

"You are too picky."

"I am not desperate."

"Of course not, that's why you come to me begging that I should return to run your house. Well, what of the Miss Bennet's? Jane Bennet is beautiful."

"And entirely too serene. I imagine she would follow any direction I gave her. No, Mother. I would prefer a livelier wife."

"Then maybe Elizabeth Bennet is more to your liking."

He thought for a moment. She was far more preferable to any other lady his mother mentioned, but on further mental investigation, he realized she would not do. "She is too cynical."

"That's interesting, coming from you. What of Miss Mary Bennet?"

"She is far too severe for me and I am too flippant for her."

"Well, there is another daughter who has just had a birthday. Miss Catherine."

"Four daughters out?!"

"They have five daughters and little to recommend them with their estate being entailed away. Poor girls. I do not look down upon them at all for allowing each of them out once they come of age. One of their daughters must catch someone's eye if they are to secure any kind of future. They haven't had the education needed to do much else."

"I tire of this talk of possible matches for myself. I am going to call for Atticus. I could use a nice ride right about now."

He had been riding for about an hour when he came upon the upset young woman. He had ridden a little closer to see if he might be of assistance, thinking she was lost or confused. Then she stamped her foot and kicked the ground. He had to stifle a laugh. He could not recall even his mother displaying her distaste in such a manner. It was amusing. She gave another kick to the ground, this time pairing it with an angry cry. There was a part of him that thought he should have found the display unseemly, but he found himself intrigued. Obviously, she did not think anyone would play the spectator to her antics, being far from either neighboring house or the road. He was left to wonder why she was out here alone. Was she meeting a lover and he had stood her up? Did he leave her standing alone after an argument? Whatever the cause, he was sure she was either one of the Bennet girls or one of the Lucas's. Feeling uneasy about her standing so close to the edge of the stream, he hopped from his horse and decided to send her on her way home.

"You should be more careful. Your family would not appreciate the outcome if you fall."

She startled, and as she turned he had just enough time to grab her arm and pull her to himself to keep her from taking the tumble.

"Excuse you," she said, wrenching herself from him. "Who do you think you are, grabbing me like that? What are you doing on my father's land?"

One of the younger Bennets then. "Well, Miss Bennet, I believe I was saving you from a fall, and your father granted me his permission to ride across his lands. Forgive me, my name is Oliver Andrews."

"Oh! I know your mother. She sometimes visits and takes tea with Mama."

"Yes. I have only recently arrived to visit her. Miss Bennet, what are you doing so far from home? It is not safe for a young lady to travel about alone. Not all men are honorable."

"Lizzy does, all the time! No one ever says a word to her about it! I just needed to get away. Lydia has managed to get her way again and nobody cares what I think about it. It doesn't matter that it is my birthday and that it is my turn to enter society. No, Lydia doesn't want to be left out so of course she won't be. She will enter society, too!"

They were letting all of their daughters out! He surmised that before him stood Catherine.

"That is a bit imprudent," he said, measuring his words.

"She's only fourteen! She won't even be fifteen for another three months! It's not fair! I had to wait until I was seventeen, and Jane and Lizzy had to wait until they were at least sixteen!" she cried. He could see that she was visibly upset, and he could understand why. He was an only child, but he had known children whose parents had played favorites. He saw her search in vain for a handkerchief and handed her his.

"Thank you. I am sorry. I imagine this is all very unseemly to you. I am sure you think me as childish as my father and Lizzy do."

He studied her, thinking about what he truly thought. "I think you are a young woman who is justifiably upset. I still do not think it is safe for you to be out on your own. Come, Miss Bennet, I shall escort you closer to your family home."

She eyed him warily but agreed. They walked with his horse between them. They were breaking several rules of propriety, but the gentleman in him simply wouldn't allow her to travel so far without someone to look out for her wellbeing. Having enough of the silence, he attempted to start a conversation.

"Will you be at the assembly this Saturday?"

"Yes, it will be my first."

"Well then, you must save me a dance. Once we are introduced properly, I shall ask for the privilege."

She blushed and smiled. "I will accept, sir."

"Under the circumstances, I believe it would be better to say nothing of our meeting."

"I understand."

Her house came into view and he bid her a farewell, mounted his horse and continued his ride, glancing back once he was a safe distance, just to be sure she finished her journey safely.