Pride & Prejudice
By Simarillion

Fandom: TV show RPS (Supernatural, Prison Break, House M.D., Gilmore Girls, One Tree Hill, Smallville, Coupling, Grey’s Anatomy, Numbers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Ally McBeal, Desperate Housewives, Will & Grace)
Rating: G to PG-13
Pairing: of interest: Jensen Ackles/Jared Padalecki, Wentworth Miller/Hugh Laurie
Warnings: AU, slash, M/M, evil! Chad
Beta: tecetyeintyale
Summary: There's nothing of greater importance than gossip. Besides marrying your children off. So when Mr. Padalecki announces the opening of a new Padalecki gallery on Third Street, it comes as no surprise that both gossip and marriage plans are on the daily schedule.
Disclaimer: None of the herein presented happenings and events are true. Everything is 100% fiction and that includes the sexuality of the characters. We don’t claim to be in the know about their relations and private affairs and we don’t make any money with the creation of this story.
Notes: The idea of a Jane Austen AU cames to me a very long time ago, with a different Austen novel as the plot and in a completely different fandom. It re-surfaced this summer though, and when talking about it with duchess_of_hell, it soon became clear that the writing of this story would be my summer project.
I absolutely adore the cast of the fic and it took me and Susi hours to decide which actor would be the right one for which character. It was great fun though, and made us laugh so hard at times, that people were looking at us funny.

[Previous Parts]



Chapter Ten

It is very early in the morning when the Morgan siblings return from the club, and Wentworth follows Jensen to his room, where he tells his older brother about the history between Mr. Hugh Laurie and Chad Michael Murray.

“I cannot believe Mr. Laurie to be such an abominable man as the story portrays him to be. He is Jared’s best and oldest friend. There is no way that the Padaleckis have been fooled so greatly about Mr. Laurie’s character.”

“I can more easily believe Mr. Laurie fooling his friend who trusts him indefinitely than Chad Murray making up the whole affair.”

“But are you definitely sure about the truth of this story? We don’t know Mr. Murray, after all.”

“He spoke with complete honesty and gave me all the facts. Names, places, and figures. One cannot make up such a tale. I am convinced that it is completely true.”

Jensen Morgan tries to find some more reasons in favour of Mr. Hugh Laurie, but Wentworth will not allow any excuses. The two brothers decide, in the end, that the quarrel is between Chad Michael Murray and Hugh Laurie, and therefore there is no reason for them to worry about it.

The two Morgan brothers go to bed and in the morning, the discussion is almost forgotten. Sandra Morgan surprises her family with the dreaded news of a cocktail reception that is to take place in the evening, where her friends are to invade the Morgan home.

Almost immediately after the news about the coming party, the children call their friends to invite people they actually want to spend the time with, but their efforts are met with mediocre success. Where Charisma’s friends are eager to join them in the evening, Mr. Padalecki has to decline due to already existing appointments and David Hatcher is currently on holiday in Hawaii.

In the end, Jeffrey D. Morgan invites his younger brother and co-owner of SaMorgan Customs Eric Morgan and a couple of members of the city council.

All day long, Sandra Morgan shoos the cook and the servants through the house and bullies the gardener into doing her bidding. When the stress and hectic activity gets to be too much, the rest of the Morgan family flees and returns only an hour before the start of the party.

The reception starts at eight in the evening, and by then, the servants and the staff are nervous wrecks. When the guests arrive, the whole family has gathered in the garden and Sandra Morgan is the perfect host, welcoming her guests and making small talk with everyone.

Together with Charisma Morgan’s friends, a person arrives that brightens Wentworth’s day. Chad Michael Murray has joined the young and rich and mingles with the crowd. He finds the older Morgan brother soon after his arrival and stays close to him throughout the reception. Whenever they find a new group, he soon relays his unfortunate connection and dealings with Mr. Laurie, and after a very short time, he has the whole party crowd agreeing with him that Hugh Laurie’s character is severely lacking.

During the next ten days, Wentworth Morgan visits Rosenbaum’s almost every night, and more often than not, he only stays at the bar to chat with his new friend. Chad Michael Murray is a good-looking young man whose charismatic ways draw people to him in spades.

One night when Wentworth frequents the club, he bears witness to a fight between two young women who both want to win Chad Murray to themselves. In the end, one of the bouncers has to drag both women out and revokes their permission to enter the club.

It comes as a big surprise and a disappointment to many female patrons, one of them being Charisma Morgan, when the rumour starts to spread that Chad Michael Murray is connected to Katherine Heigl. The connection between those two is a topic that is much talked about, and there is also the talk about a probable marriage between Chad Murray and Katherine Heigl.

Wentworth meets both of them on the beach once, and although his sister has been complaining about the injustice of Chad Michael Murray being off the market, he cannot fault either of the two for finding happiness with each other.

Seven days after the cocktail reception, an invitation arrives at the Morgans, inviting the whole family to a beach party at Teri Hatcher’s house. All of Santa Monica’s high society is to come. and the preparations are to take five days. Sandra Morgan leaves for her friend’s as soon as the invitation has been read, and for the next few days, she spends more time with Teri Hatcher, her sister Marcia Cross, and Sean Hayes than with her family.

This reprieve is rather welcome to the family, and the quiet and peaceful days have the other family members stay at home and enjoy the tranquillity that is the Morgan house. Masi Morgan locks himself into his room after the third day, explaining beforehand that he is close to finding the formula to bend time and space.

From time to time the others can hear strange noises from the room, but mostly there is only silence. The only times Masi Morgan leaves his research base is breakfast and dinner at which he informs his siblings and his father about the progress he has made so far.

The day before the great party at Teri Hatcher’s, Jared Padalecki calls to inform Jensen about his absence for the next days, but he reassures the young Morgan that upon his return to Santa Monica, he will organise a party at Hugh Laurie’s.

So at the party, the most talked about topic is the much anticipated party of Jared Padalecki, and everyone agrees that it will be just as exciting as the gallery opening weeks ago. Sandra Morgan is proud to be the one who can inform her friends and the other guests with more detailed information since her son is close to Mr. Padalecki.

What none of the Morgans know at that time, though, is that soon their thoughts will be occupied by a more pressing matter than a party.



Chapter Eleven

When Jeffrey D. Morgan gets a phone call from his old friend Scott Patterson, he is happy to hear from his former school mate, and he readily agrees to have Calista Patterson, his friend’s daughter, stay with them for the duration of her visit to Santa Monica.

And so two days later, Calista Patterson arrives at the Morgan home. Sandra Morgan is all politeness when she meets the young woman, and after an initial awkwardness, the young guest warms up to her host family and soon talks non-stop about her work and the importance of her visiting Los Angeles during the break.

The young Miss Patterson is a lawyer working for Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP in Washington D.C. The reason for her presence on the West Coast is the offer of a junior partnership with Waterstein.& Co. This promotion is attached to many strings, and Calista is working hard to fulfil all of the requirements that are needed for the job.

After the first two days, the Morgan siblings start to avoid the room Sandra Morgan and Calista Patterson are in, but the two women show an uncanny ability of appearing without any prior warning. Mrs. Morgan does not tire in fawning over Ms. Patterson’s connections and place in East Coast society and constantly encourages her own children to take their young guest as a role model.

One evening, when the whole family has gathered for a dinner bar-b-q on the veranda, Ms. Patterson once more talks about her favourite topic: work. As the times before, she lectures the family about the importance of her job and her trip to Las Vegas, but for the first time, some specifics about the job’s requirements are revealed.

“It is of great importance that I marry soon. Every lawyer that wants to portray sincerity has to be married to show that social responsibility is of importance to him or her. A client cannot trust a lawyer that disrespects society’s rules. There is not life without a spouse. Dinner parties and public events alone require that one has a constant partner.”

“That is only too true. The younger generation these days does not respect these things anymore.”

Sandra Morgan continues to point out the wrong ways of the generation of her children for the next twenty minutes. With the most eager support given by Calista Patterson, Mrs. Morgan then continues to elaborate on the necessity of parental intervention with their children’s lives to ensure that the right ways are maintained.

“There are many young people my age who are simply not aware of the responsibility they have. It is just not proper to ignore one’s duties in favour of one’s own desires. Such behaviour is highly irresponsible and ought to be restrained.”

“Too true. I always was of the mind that it is the responsibility of the parents to insure their children’s proper conduct.”

Jeffrey D. Morgan is not of the same mind as his wife, and soon he objects to the suggestions made by Mrs. Morgan. He argues in favour of the younger generations and asks for a more liberal view on the whole subject.

“But Mr. Morgan, it has been pointed out by many able minds that today’s society is not functioning as well as it should be because of the many alterations made to its already proven structure. A hundred years ago, families stayed together for all their lives, and population in Western countries grew without the incorporation of foreigners. All these changes ranging from divorce to the acceptance of gay marriage can only result in anarchy and a complete break down of civilisation as we know it.”

“But then again, one hundred years ago, men were still allowed to beat their women, women had no right to vote, many ethnicities were heavily oppressed, and there were two World Wars and a World Economy Crisis, the Cold War, Vietnam, and all the other happenings of the 20th Century. I don’t think that the problems of today’s society are any graver than those at any other time in history.”

Wentworth’s argumentation is met with much consternation from Calista Patterson’s side and a scorning look from Sandra Morgan. The table comes to rest, though, and the silence that follows the words brings a reprieve from the constant argumentations of Ms. Patterson and Mrs. Morgan.

Charisma Morgan unsuccessfully attempts to revive the conversation by sharing her information about the upcoming party at the Community Beach Club. The beach party is the biggest event since the gallery opening and might only be surpassed by the Padalecki-Laurie party a week later.

Mrs. Morgan almost immediately feels a headache lurking and excuses herself to retreat to the Yoga chamber. Without her usual conversational partner, Calista invites herself to the outing to Los Angeles the Morgan siblings have planned.

Except for Calista Patterson’s continuous commentary on the people she met so far and the community of Santa Monica, the drive is spent in silence, for none of the Morgan siblings desire to converse with their unwelcome addition. It seems to Charisma and Tom that the twenty minutes are the longest of their entire life, and only a reproving stare from Wentworth keeps the two youngest Morgans from voicing their displeasure.



Chapter Twelve

The days until the beach party become unbearable for Wentworth Morgan due to a most unfortunate development that has Calista concentrating all her attention and focus on the young Morgan scion. It has been clear for some time now that the young house guest is interested in making a connection in Santa Monica, and so the male offspring of the Morgan family has to endure the attention of young Ms. Patterson more often than they care for.

When Calista Patterson enquires about Jensen Morgan’s marital status, Mrs. Morgan does not hesitate to relay the fortunate connection between Jensen and Mr. Jared Padalecki. Sandra almost immediately afterwards points out the finer abilities and virtues of her second oldest son Wentworth, though, and so the young man finds himself with an admirer that does not hesitate to stalk her prey through the house and everywhere else he goes.

The constant surveillance and the constant inane chatter about topics that are either of no interest to him or are portrayed in such a way that the topic becomes offending or boring grates on Wentworth’s nerves. In an increasing frequency, he hides out with his younger brother Masi Morgan and helps him with building a device that, according to Masi, will assist the young man in testing the formula that bends time and space.

Three days before the party, Sendhil Ramamurthy arrives, and Wentworth has to leave his hideout and brave Calista Patterson. The young Morgan is happy that his friend from university is here, though, and together the two young men spend the day preparing for the arrival of the other two friends on the following day.

It comes as a very pleasant surprise that Keiko Lee joined Ali Larter and Leonard Roberts, and in the evening, the five study colleagues head for Rosenbaum’s. The only downside of the outing is the presence of Ms. Patterson, who insists on joining the group.

Once settled at their table, the young woman does not hesitate to comment on the lack of style and decorum where the furniture and the decoration of the club are concerned. The music is too loud and not sophisticated enough. It is not surprising that the crowd is not to Ms. Patterson’s liking, either.

Wentworth Morgan endures the remarks but fears for his friends’ patience. The arrival of their waiter is a welcome distraction that is further dulcified by the identity of their waiter, for it is none other than Chad Michael Murray. Even Calista Patterson cannot resist the charm of Chad Murray, and so she soon sips a cocktail while listening to Chad’s recapture of how he came to work at Rosenbaum’s.

At the mention of Mr. Laurie’s father, Ms. Patterson excitedly interrupts the tale to impart some of her own knowledge.

“But Mr. Laurie Sr. used to be a good friend with Senator Bishop. Mrs. Kelly Bishop told me many times about how kind and forthcoming both Mr. and Mrs. Laurie used to be.”

“Alas, but none of the kindness is to be found in their son,” Wentworth cries.

“There is no need for Hugh Laurie to be kind or forthcoming, for he is a man of great importance and much influence. I know that a connection with him is highly to be desired, and there can be no doubt that a reference to the Laurie family can and will open doors.”

“Open doors, maybe, but his temper and character will not open him any hearts.”

Ms. Calista Patterson reprimands Wentworth that there is no reason to speak so ill about the illustrious Mr. Laurie and then points out that charms are not needed to win hearts.

“Mr. Hugh Laurie does not have to charm or seduce people to get them to like him. Why, his intended wife is a beautiful young woman who is the daughter of a congress man. He certainly did not need to charm her to get her and her parent’s consent.”

When Wentworth asks for proof of her story, the young woman does not hesitate to reveal that her informant is none other than Mrs. Kelly Bishop herself and that the widow is the proud matchmaker. Chad Michael Murray has stayed silent throughout the discussion and soon excuses himself to return to work behind the bar.

After the moderate success of the trip to Rosenbaum’s and the insightful additional information on Mr. Laurie and his family connections, the party of friends does their best to avoid another Calista Patterson situation. But on the day of the beach party, Wentworth has another run-in with Ms. Patterson when she insists on spending the afternoon with him and his friends.

Sandra Morgan is most delighted to find her young protégé together with her son, and for the rest of the day, she gushes about how perfect the two young people look together and how fortunate a connection to the East Coast would be.

That evening when the group departs for the party, it can be seen that the constant stalking of Ms. Calista Patterson has worn Wentworth Morgan’s defences down, and the departure of his friends does nothing to improve his mood. In vain, he tries to escape their guest and find some reprieve, but there is nowhere he can hide, and so his mood is rather grim when the family and their guest arrive at the party.

It comes as a most unpleasant surprise, though, when Wentworth Morgan finds Mr. Hugh Laurie present even though Jared Padalecki excused himself from the event. Desperate to escape both Mr. Laurie and Ms. Patterson, the young man loses himself in the crowd. He steers himself closer to the group of young people that have gathered, but his retreat is cut short by Hugh Laurie, whose person physically blocks Wentworth’s path.

“Good evening, Mr. Morgan.”

“Good evening, Mr. Laurie.”

“I have to admit that I missed our talks while being away. Your opinion on certain topics is rather refreshing from what I usually get subjected to.”

“Pray tell me Mr. Laurie, did you not enjoy being worshipped by your adoring crowd that awaits you at home?” It irks Wentworth Morgan to not a small degree that the older man subjects him to his presence, knowing of Wentworth’s antipathy towards Mr. Laurie.

“Who would prefer spineless and unimaginative grovelling and worship when one can have hateful and annoyed words flung at them? My constant asking for your opinion ought to be a fair indication of my interests and preferences.”

Wentworth’s response to Mr. Laurie’s more than obvious goading gets aborted with the arrival of Calista Patterson whose search for her chosen husband is finally successful.

“Why there you are, Wentworth. I almost suspected you of hiding from me.” Whatever Ms. Patterson is about to say is immediately forgotten upon recognising Wentworth’s conversational partner.

“Mr. Laurie, I am so honoured to make your acquaintance. My name is Calista Patterson. I am a very good friend of Mrs. Kelly Bishop.”

“What an honour indeed.”

“I have always wished to express my utter respect and grand admiration of your work. I cannot properly describe how great an admirer I am of your critics.”

Any further admiration or devotional declarations are cut short by Mr. Hugh Laurie’s sudden departure. Enraged, Wentworth watches the man walk away. It speaks of no propriety and very ill-breeding to turn one’s back on a person talking to your or complimenting your achievements.

“I believe Jensen and Tom are over there with the group of young people. We ought to join them.”

Reluctantly, Wentworth Morgan joins his friends and siblings together with Ms. Patterson. Although the young man feels sorry about the abominable way Mr. Laurie treated the young woman, he does not enjoy the young woman’s attention more because of it. He follows without a word of complaint, though, when he notices his mother’s eyes on him.

For the rest of the evening and half of the night, Wentworth attempts to evade his stalker without his mother noticing it. This undertaking is moderately successful and makes great demands on his attention. The only upside is that the constant presence of Calista Patterson keeps Mr. Laurie at a safe distance.