July 30, 2017; Washington, D.C.

The interview in Richmond was the last time Darcy and Charlie saw the sisters. They weren't lying in the ad - they were very busy with their jobs. Living roughly four hours apart from each other didn't help, either.

The lack of contact helped Darcy forget what he was letting himself get roped into. Charlie couldn't actually force him to do anything, but it had been a long time since he had seen Charlie as genuinely happy as when he met Jane or talked with her on the phone. Charlie claimed that this ruse was for Darcy's well-being, and while Darcy didn't exactly doubt him, he knew that Charlie himself had been lonely since his last relationship ended. Being paired with a beautiful doctor who fit his temperament worked out incredibly well for him. Darcy being paired with a smart-mouthed lawyer that argued over everything had to work for the sake of the agreement.

Despite how annoying she came off, Elizabeth at least knew her stuff. She spoke with confidence and finality, which was a rarity for him in date scenarios. Darcy was far from a social butterfly, but he wasn't blind; women tended to turn to goop around him. No matter what many women said, he knew the real reason why they acted like they were his for the taking: his name and his money.

Darcy had thought that Elizabeth was being coy when she asked him what he did for a living. He was William Darcy, one of the youngest CEO's with a company on the Fortune 500. He did business in New York, but actually lived in D.C., which was incredibly close to her hometown. If she knew, she either didn't care or didn't understand.

However, on one Sunday night, Darcy was in one of his rare moments of contentment and let the predicament Charlie put him in slip out of his mind. Georgiana was visiting his apartment, as her summer internship had just ended. They were cooking dinner, and she was telling him about the composition she'd started on since her free time had opened up, when he noticed his phone buzz. He glanced over at it, but quickly turned back to his sister.

The buzzing didn't stop. It went from short text buzzes to buzzes of calls. Darcy ignored it; when he had turned around to do something, he noticed the buzzing had stopped. He breathed a sigh of relief until he heard Georgiana.

"Hello?" Georgiana was listening intently to the other person on the phone while Darcy strangled a spoon.

Georgiana broke out into a dazzling, yet mischievous smile as she listened to the phone. Darcy suddenly had a guess at who she was talking to.

Jane usually just called Charlie, but maybe she lost his number? Or needed to ask him something for the arrangement?

"Actually, you can come over now," Georgiana said. Darcy's eyes practically bored a hole into her forehead. "Great! See you soon."

She tried to act like nothing had happened, but Darcy knew better. "Georgie, who was that?"

"Elizabeth! She seems lovely, why haven't you mentioned her before? Or the wedding?"

Darcy groaned and fell over into the chair beside her. "It wasn't my idea, Charlie did everything."

"Well, no shit! Why didn't you tell me about it?"

"It's a fake wedding date. I'll never see her again, probably. Maybe at her sister's and Charlie's wedding, but that's it."

"Her sister and Charlie are together?" While Darcy didn't care about anyone's relationship, Georgiana cared too much for his liking.

"I don't know."

Georgiana snorted. "That man has been telling you every detail of his life since he met you ten years ago, you don't know if he's dating someone?"

Darcy rolled his eyes; she wouldn't stop until she got the information. "He's been talking on the phone with her since our interview about a month ago. They haven't seen each other since, because they're both busy with their jobs. Jane is a pediatrician, but she works at two clinics. And you know I work Charlie's ass off."

Georgiana smiled in a self-satisfied way. "Good for him. And what about Elizabeth?"

"What about her?" countered Darcy, who blatantly avoided eye contact.

Georgiana groaned theatrically and put her head in her hand. "Are you so bad at dating that you don't recognize dating questions? What's your deal with her?"

"I have no 'deal' with her," Darcy said with an eye roll. "She's part of the package. I have to pretend to be her date for a few days, and then hopefully we'll never see each other again."

Georgiana looked downcast. "What? Why? She seemed so nice!"

Darcy finally turned to her with a disbelieving look. "You talked to her for all of two minutes!"

"I can tell," Georgiana said as he tapped her forehead with her finger. "It's just a gut feeling. It'll become plain logic once I meet her in ten minutes."

"Ten minutes?"

"She said fifteen on the phone, but your whining about how hard it is to have friends has probably taken up five minutes by now. So ten minutes."

Darcy closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and tried not to slam his head into the wall. No matter how irritating Georgiana was being, he was physically incapable of seriously reprimanding her. He resigned himself to sitting next to his sister in silence, akin to a man waiting to start his prison sentence.

When Elizabeth knocked on the door, it felt like kicks to Darcy's stomach. He couldn't pinpoint why he was so anxious at her coming to her apartment - if anything, it made more sense for him to be indifferent, since he wasn't her biggest fan and didn't really care what she thought of him, or his apartment.

His sweaty palms and nervous ticks were telling a different story.

Georgiana silently shooed him to get the door when Elizabeth knocked. He'd have preferred for her to get it, since she was the one who invited the unsolicited guest, but nothing about this situation was fair.

Even though it was a Sunday night, Elizabeth was dressed in work attire. Her hair was in a neat bun, but Darcy noticed small wisps starting to poke out. Her pencil skirt and form-fitting blouse were a nice change from the flannel and jeans she'd been wearing at the interview last month. However, it wasn't a nice change for his nerves - they began to work overtime.

"Hello, Elizabeth," he said. He felt the blood rush to his face and suddenly didn't know where to put his hands.

"Er - hi," was her response. She looked from his face to his apartment. Darcy realized belatedly that he was supposed to invite her in.

"Oh, um, please come in."

Elizabeth sighed and stared straight ahead as she entered. She took a look around the room, and her eyes settled on Georgiana, who was suddenly right behind Darcy.

"Hi, Elizabeth! I'm Georgiana, from the phone."

"Hi there, nice to meet you." Elizabeth gave her a firm handshake.

Darcy felt suffocated. He didn't know what to do; part of why he and Charlie were such good friends was because Darcy dealt with numbers and logistics, while Charlie talked to the people. And although Georgie could be annoyingly vivacious, she was just as shy as her brother.

Elizabeth must have noticed that she was the only socially capable person in the room. "So," she started, "I was in the area for work, and decided that we should probably hash out some of the things you should know and do for the wedding."

"Of course, yes, that's an excellent idea." Darcy remained planted by the door; where was Charlie when he needed him? "Um, why don't you sit on the sofa, and I can get you something to drink?"

Elizabeth agreed, and while Darcy went to get her a glass of water, Georgiana briskly ambushed him.

"Dude, have you never talked to a real woman before?"

Darcy glared at his sister. "You know I have! This is just a weird situation. I've never fake dated someone before."

"Well, you're acting like you've never actually dated someone before, so loosen up on the Mr. Robot gig." Georgiana left to sit next to Elizabeth on the couch.

Darcy took a deep breath and steeled himself for Social Time. He knew how to put it on during business meetings and pitches, so it shouldn't be much different in this circumstance.

Darcy went and sat next to Elizabeth on the couch. "Elizabeth, how's your sister?" he asked. He was about two feet away from her, but still felt too close, and resisted the urge to move away from her.

"She's well. Speaking of, here is everything you need to know about the family." Elizabeth went into her bag and pulled out an official-looking folder. She handed Darcy a thick pile of paper that, as he began rifling through it, resembled an investigative report rather than "meet the family" tips and tricks.

"Um, is all of this necessary?" he asked. The wedding was only for a few days, and surely these people wouldn't outright interrogate Charlie and Darcy.

"Unfortunately, yes. My mother is the one who made Jane and I bring dates to the wedding, and she'll be so proud of her handiwork that she'll want to get as much information out of you as possible. It'll be easier on mine and Jane's sanity if you don't screw up any details, like not knowing how many sisters we have or that our father is dead."

Wow, just go straight for the punch. "Oh, I'm sorry -" Darcy started, but Elizabeth interrupted him before he could continue.

"It's fine," she said as she got up from the couch. "That's the information you'll need. If you have any questions, my phone number is in there. I don't think you'll need to pass this on to Charlie, since he and Jane are pretty much actually dating by now."

Both Darcy siblings were dumbfounded - Georgiana because she must have gotten it into her head that Elizabeth and her brother were at least friends, and Darcy because he hadn't been expecting Elizabeth to be so straight-up with everything.

Either oblivious to their reactions or not caring, Elizabeth made her goodbyes. "It was nice to meet you, Georgiana," she said with a smile. She turned to Darcy, her smile slipped, and gave him a nod. "Darcy. See you on the third."

That was that. She let herself out, and the two siblings were still staring at the door minutes later.

"That was weird," said Darcy.

"I think she's your soulmate," was Georgiana's only comment.