SORRY, IF I CHANGED THE STORY BUT I WAS KIND OF STUCK AND I THOUGHT ABOUT ABANDONING IT AND THEN THIS IDEA CAME TO ME AND I REALIZED THERE WERE SO MANY POSSIBILITIES WITH IT SO I DECIDED TO CHANGE IT. I REALLY HOPE YOU LIKE IT THIS WAY.

The Importance of Being Lydia

Summary: Lydia Hale is a second year English Lit. student at the University of Hertfordshire. After a car accident she's reborn 200 years in the past as Lydia Bennet, one of the characters of 'Pride and Prejudice'. There are differences to the story we all know though, changes she herself had thought about. Will her presence change things further and will these changes be for the best or not?

This story will be AU, some things will be different from the novel (not too much that it's unrecognizable though) and it will not be a Darcy/Elizabeth story though Elizabeth will have her happy ending as well as everyone else. It will be Darcy/OC, when the OC in this story will take Lydia Bennett's place. Lydia and Kitty will be fraternal twins.

Lydia(OC) and Kitty will be 18 when the story begins, Georgiana 15, Mary 19, Elizabeth 20 and Jane 21. Bingley is 22 and Darcy 26 in this story. I hope you like it. I know that this is really short but it's just the Prologue, to better introduce the story. The other chapters will be much, much longer.

Prologue

"I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book!"

(Caroline Bingley, Pride and Prejudice - Chapter 11)

October 2018 – Hatfield, Hertfordshire

Lydia Hale was lying on her bed, reading once again. It was Saturday evening and she was alone at home. Her two housemates had gone to a party but Lydia was not exactly in the mood for it that evening. Not that she did not love to socialize because she did, it was that sometimes she liked to have a little time for herself, like tonight. She loved to read and that was one of the reasons she was an English Literature student at the University of Hertfordshire.

It was her second year there and she couldn't be happier with her choice. She knew her aunt and uncle didn't approve – they wanted her to study law like her parents did – but she knew that that was the best choice for her. She had always loved literature since she was little, browsing through the shelves of her uncle's study, immersing herself in the pages that told of different times and places. But her favourite book had always been 'Pride and Prejudice'.

There were so many things she liked about it, and not just the plot of the story or its characters, it was also the language used and the manners of the time, 'the gentleman-like behaviour' of the men, the amazing dresses the women used to wear.

Of course, the main thing she loved about the novel was the love story between Mr Darcy and Elizabeth. Everything, from their inauspicious beginning, to their numerous misunderstandings, to their many flaws – Darcy's pride and Elizabeth's prejudices against him most of all –, to how they were able to become better people thanks to the influence of the other.

Of course, there were also characters present in the story who were so very entertaining simply because they were so ridiculous like Mr Collins, Mrs Bennet or Lady Catherine de Bourgh.

The story was amazing but Lydia sometimes amused herself thinking of the what-if possibilities that would make the story different.

First of all, she had often thought about how the story would be like if the character with the same name as hers had been different.

Lydia Bennet in the story was an absolute nightmare. The epitome of the spoiled, immature child. However, she was young and naïve and she didn't deserve ending up married to Wickham. After all, most of her behaviour was the fault of her parents. Mrs Bennet who indulged her in everything and Mr Bennet who ignored her and didn't try once to curb her behaviour. And fifteen was just too young to be married.

If Lydia had been different then Kitty would have probably been different too since she tended to follow everything Lydia did – but maybe not, who could say? Maybe she would have turned out just like Lydia is in the book –. They were almost like twins, the way they behaved in the novel.

And then she couldn't help but think: What if they had been non-identical twins and older than in the book? Maybe like, eighteen when the story started. That would make Mary nineteen, Elizabeth twenty and Jane twenty-one.

A different Lydia would also, maybe, be closer to Mary and that would help Mary herself be more confident and less awkward and sermonizing in society. After all, if you have parents that ignore you or a mother that always tell you you're not as beautiful as your sisters, and four sisters who don't pay you much attention, can you really blame Mary for having turned out as she did?

She also wondered how Lydia actually looked like. The novel didn't go into any details, only saying that she was tall, healthy and with a fine complexion. She had always imagined Lydia as blonde and blue-eyed like Jane but curvier (at least as far as her chest was concerned), maybe because it would partly explain why she was her mother's favourite. Being as pretty as Jane but 'livelier' as Mrs Bennet put it, while also being the younger, would explain Mrs Bennet's preference towards her.

Then her thoughts shifted to other characters in the story. First of all, Mr Bennet. He was not a bad man but he was also indolent and sometimes selfish. He didn't provide for her daughters as he should have had. She wondered what it would have been like if the Bennet sisters had substantial dowries instead. What if Mr Bennet had been a second son who was not supposed to have inherited Longbourn. Instead he did, because his older brother died before being able to inherit. In the inheritance, beside the estate, there was also an important sum of money that Mr Bennet decided to invest with his brother-in-law Mr Gardiner and that, at the beginning of the novel, had tripled its initial amount and that, divided for six, would give twenty thousand pounds to each of his daughters and his wife. That would certainly secure their futures even if none of them married. But Mr Bennet, not wanting this to be known in Meryton, decided not to tell his wife about it until one of their daughters would be married.

While thinking about the estate, she couldn't help but think about Mr Collins. That was a character that was absolutely ridiculous but he was not a bad man. Lydia didn't know why, but she had always thought that he and Mary would have been more suited towards each other than he and Charlotte. And that would also mean that Longbourn would stay in the Bennet family.

If Mr Collins became Mary's husband though, that would leave Charlotte without a husband and that would not do. So, what if Charlotte had already married by the time the story starts? With a gentleman of course. A well-off one, as rich as Mr Bingley maybe that she met in London when she went to visit some relatives.

Her thoughts, just as quickly, went from Charlotte to Elizabeth. She wondered what would have happened if Elizabeth had been absent during the Meryton assembly and hadn't heard that famous comment and therefore not formed such a terrible opinion of Darcy. What would have happened then?

Lydia shook her head, put down her book and realized she hadn't eaten yet. She checked the time and noticed that it was barely 7 pm. She went downstairs to prepare herself something to eat but the fridge was practically empty. Undecided between ordering take-out and go to a nearby market, the decision was made for her when she noticed she didn't have any cash on her. Taking her credit card and jacket, she quickly went outside, thanking her lucky star that there was a market opened 24/7 just five minutes from her house.

While walking she continued to think about her favourite novel. It certainly must have been nice living in that time period. At least for the rich people and the nobles. Then she amended in her head. Of course, the women were not exactly free to do the things they are able to do now. And of course, there was no electricity or gas or running water at the time. Then she smiled to herself. But the gentlemen were so nice, helping the ladies to descend carriages and escorting them to the various rooms and standing up when a lady entered a room. What it would be like living in that time period, or even being a character in one of Austen's novels?

She paused a moment, not noticing she was in the middle of the road. Well, I personally would love to meet Mr Darcy, I'd bear everything not exactly pleasant about that time period just to meet him. Of course, I would need to stay there a lot of years to learn everything I could about living in the regency period or run the risk of appearing ridiculous and unlady-like in his eyes. She smiled at her silliness and shook her head once again. She didn't notice the car approaching until it was upon her. The car tried to hit the brakes but it was too late. It hit her with a great noise, and Lydia felt herself suspended in the air for long seconds and then she crashed on the asphalt below her. She couldn't register anything but the pain, spreading all over her body, though she vaguely understood that the driver that had just hit her was trying to talk to her, reassure her that he had called an ambulance. She tried to answer but everything was too bright and painful. She closed her eyes and exhaled one last time before darkness finally overtook her.