This was magnificent! Oh, I read it straight through in one sitting and I would say this has now bumped down a fw of my previous favorite fan fictions and is now in my top five "what-ifs". Outside of leaving out Mr. Collins, I thought this stayed true to the original time line and maintained how the characters would have reacted and thought. I loved it very much. If you were ever to publish or put this on a kindle, I would love to have this to take with me. Thank you for such a great read.
Your story was so totally unexpected, and I am very happy that I by some coincindence found it this Friday, and had time to read it all at once. It held me riveted, and as I have been lurking in the different P&P forums for what seems a very long time I am surprised I have not seen your story before. Thank you
You described the mysterious Darcy in a way I have not seen before, proud and shy as always, but also containing humility and with a knowledge that he needs other people, both for practical and psychological reasons. He has to relie on them and comes out appreciating 'carpe diem'. I enjoyed your slightly altered gallery of persons, and how they slowly revealed their personality and goals. This made the story very different, and confirmed for me again why I love these stories and their original cast. Your understated humour made it even better I wish I had the inspiration to come up with such a story too... I am only left now anticipating enjoying some of your other stories!!
Jorunn, welcome! I started out as a lurker, too, albeit on another (inferior) site. I went from lurking to commenting to writing vignettes to authoring the full-length stories you see here.
I'm so glad you enjoyed this story and I hope to hear your opinion of my other ones.