The video opens in Lizzie's room, showing a very, very subdued Lizzie. "Hey," she greets the audience rather lamely. Clearly, something is up. "Um..." she begins. Her tone is shaky and uncertain. "Okay, you know how sometimes, the camera captures things...unexpectedly...and I end up putting them in my videos anyway?" She looks away from the camera for a moment. "Well, that kinda happened again recently, and this time, it was really..." she shakes her head disbelievingly, "...overwhelmingly...bizarre. On a whole bunch of levels. Not to mention, kind of...scary. And completely embarrassing." Her gaze wanders again, then moves back to the camera. "And actually, for a while there, I was totally planning to bury the footage completely. But the thing is that I was sort of...threatened. For no actual real reason. By someone who even knew that she was being filmed at the time." Her eyes widen, and she bites her lip. "And now I'm thinking that I do need to show that footage, to prove to...well, the world, really...that I haven't actually done anything wrong."

She takes a deep breath. "My name is Lizzie Bennet...and I'm just trying to protect myself here."

The Lizzie Bennet Diaries theme song plays, with its usual logo animation. When we return to the video, the camera is definitely not in its usual place; instead of the shelves and door of Lizzie's bedroom, or the walls behind her desk at Pemberley as a backdrop, we instead see greenery - what looks like a hedge, with overgrown grasses sticking out of it haphazardly.

"Hey, Internet," comes Lizzie's usual vivacious greeting. "Bit of a change of scene today! I'm treating myself a bit. I just finished my report on Pemberley, so I'm on vacation until my next placement, and I thought I would celebrate by filming outside, since the weather's really fantastic today."

She gestures about, looks around at her surroundings a bit. "I used to come here and play a lot when I was a kid. It's just a little spot at the side of our house; lots of overgrown pretty...ish...wildernessy bits...the plants smell nice, it's a good place to hang out when you just want a little priv...a...cy..."

She trails off, her eye caught by something to her side, offscreen.

"Is that a Rolls driving down our street?" she exclaims.

A pause.

"Is it turning into OUR driveway?!"

She sits up straight, looking increasingly horrified as the scene, invisible to the camera, unfolds before her eyes.

"Oh god..." she mutters finally. "It's Catherine De Burgh!"

Lizzie looks back to the camera, clearly at a total loss. "Why is she coming here?!"

Her eyes suddenly focus away from the camera to a point beyond. The muffled sounds of raised voices can be heard, presumably from within her house. Lizzie's eyes dart back to the camera, now clearly a bit panicked. "Oh god...I think...she's coming...out...here..."

A cut, and then a cultured, imperious, unamused voice sounds clearly, from rather close by. "Eliza."

Lizzie rises quickly, pushing her head out of the frame. "Ms. De Burgh...what a...surprise...uh...I'm just filming here..."

"Yes, yes," Catherine's voice cuts in. The footage wiggles annoyingly and a loud tap-tap is heard as Catherine drums her perfectly-manicured fingernails on top of the camcorder impatiently. "I came to speak with you on an important matter." The snooty intonations of her voice are extremely familiar to anyone who's ever heard Lizzie's imitations of the woman; clearly Lizzie's talent at mimicking others accurately extends beyond Darcy.

"Oh...kay...?" comes Lizzie's response.

"I'm sure you know why I am here," Catherine opens confidently.

Lizzie sinks back into her chair, evidently much confused. "Um...no?"

"Oh, please," is the haughty reply. "There is no advantage to be gained from playing dumb with me, Eliza." As the confusion on Lizzie's face deepens, now beginning to be tinged with irritation, Catherine continues. "At any rate, I prefer to be open and honest in my dealings with others, so I shall speak plainly. A rumour has arisen within the media industry that you," the emphasis on the pronoun clearly not intended to be complimentary, "have received, from my nephew, the offer of a job at Pemberley. A very senior position within the company! Naturally, given your total lack of any meaningful work experience, the rumour is that such an offer could only have come because you are..." here there is a pause, punctuated only by harsher breathing from Catherine and widening eyes from Lizzie, "sleeping with my poor nephew," she finishes, with utter distate in her tone.

At this last, Lizzie goes instantly white as a sheet, and there is a distinctly uncomfortable silence. It is broken only by Lizzie's pathetic attempt at speech: "Wh...uh...are you...serious?"

"Oh, don't pretend you don't know about this," scorns Catherine. "I'm sure you must have been the source of this rumour, so that you could appear well-connected and sought-after as a job prospect! Tsk," she chides patronizingly, "the desperation some people have, the lengths they will go to in order to find employment. At any rate," she resumes, "I am here to insist that you recant your story, and set about squashing this rumour at once!"

Lizzie's mouth has been getting progressively tighter with every sentence out of Catherine's mouth, and she retreats into the mood her long-time viewers will have no problems recognizing as "cold fury".

"I don't believe I can help you there."

"What?!" comes the enraged response, and with a furious rustling, Catherine moves around briskly to stand in front of the camera, looming commandingly over Lizzie, who leans back in surprise. Catherine's head is out of the frame, but her torso, clad elegantly in what is obviously an incredibly expensive suit, quivers with indignation. "How dare you. Just last week, your younger sister barely managed to escape a prison sentence! You come from a family on the brink of financial ruin! You have no previous employment to speak of, you don't even have a graduate degree, and yet you seek to rise above yourself by conniving for a position in a high-profile media company far beyond your capabilities? My nephew may enjoy the sight of a pretty face and," with a dismissive gesture at Lizzie's cute little top, "some overexposed decollatage, but if you think for one moment that he would condescend to sleep with the likes of you, let alone allow his personal life to influence his choice of employees? You are gravely mistaken. The staff of Pemberley will not be tarnished by the addition of slutty trash!"

Pushed beyond endurance, Lizzie leaps to her feet. "How dare you?" she shouts. "Could you possibly be any more insulting? And not just to me, but to Darcy, who is perfectly capable of making his own decisions for his own company, and his own love life!" Upon realising that she's mentioned "Darcy" and "love life" in the same sentence, Lizzie reddens slightly and falters, subdued. Catherine wastes no time pressing her advantage.

"He is my nephew - I have every right to ensure that he is not taken advantage of by conniving young women such as yourself. Now once and for all, has he made you a job offer?"

Despite the fact that both women's heads are now offscreen, it is clear that they are glaring at each other. Finally Lizzie states, with as much pride as she can muster, "No, he has not."

Catherine's body relaxes slightly. "And are you sleeping with him?"

Lizzie's own body seems to slump slightly; she sinks back into her chair. Looking down at her lap, she replies, "No, I am not."

Catherine relaxes even further with satisfaction. "And you will promise me that neither of those things will ever happen," she states imperiously.

Lizzie's expression hardens again; her glance flickers briefly towards the camera with a mixed expression of embarrassment, guilt, and irony. Then she takes a deep breath and looks back confidently and angrily at Catherine. "I will make NO such promise," she says clearly.

The reaction of Catherine's body language is pronounced; she starts. Then, leaning towards Lizzie her tone becomes soft and deadly. "I see. So this is your final answer. Well then, I will know how to act. I will exert the full scale of my influence to ensure that you are kept out of the industry entirely. Your name will be mud, and there is certainly no way you will ever receive any references from me."

And with this, Catherine spins on her heels and walks right out of the frame, leaving Lizzie shaking with fury and fear. Slowly she swivels in her chair to face the camera again, and takes a deep, steadying breath. She looks like she is about to say something, but then thinks better of it with a little shake of her head. Wordlessly, she reaches forward to turn off the camera.