Above a Common Bound

By Auburn Red

Disclaimer: Once again Maurice and Alec belong to E.M. Forster and Merchant-Ivory and Georgie Hall-Scudder belongs to me. Romeo and Juliet belong to William Shakespeare.

"You are a lover,

Borrow Cupid's wings

And soar with them

Above a Common Bound"

-Mercutio Romeo and Juliet Act I. Scene IV. William Shakespeare

Chapter One: Romeo and Juliet

The wind and rain beat down on the windows and the roof overhead. Georgie Hall-Scudder occasionally glanced from the warm fire that he lay sprawled in front of and the book that he was reading to listen. It was cold this night, like it often was in late autumn. He hoped that the weather wouldn't be so bad that he couldn't go hunting with his Da the next day. He had fun on those trips. Even when he and Da didn't get anything, the two still enjoyed it with his father's funny stories and the songs that they sang.

He glanced over at his Da as Maur handed him a cup of tea to warm his insides. He had been out doing the wood cutting and had only just entered less than a half-hour ago. He was still shivering holding his hands together to warm by the fire. His and Maur's hands briefly touched as he accepted the mug. "Thank you," he said his voice hoarse from the cold.

"It will warm you," Maurice said to Alec. "It takes a lot more to that these days. You aren't as young as you used to be."

Alec winked at his son. "I am still young enough where it counts, certainly as young as I feel." Georgie laughed. Sometimes his father and uncle would often tease each other, to annoy, provoke, but more often than not it was usually done with a smile or a wink that the 8 year old knew were acts of friendship between them.

"But not as young as you think you are," Maurice said back as he returned to his rocking chair and mending Georgie's trousers.

"Looks who's talking," Alec countered pointing at Maurice. "I ain't the one who needs to wear reading glasses to see what's in front of me."

Maurice blushed and put his glasses over his head and lay the trousers and sewing kit on his lap. "And yet you have more gray hairs than I do."

"Well it was you two that gives them to me," Alec said pointing to the other two in the room. Georgie laughed and Maurice shook his head and returned to his mending. Actually, Maurice's hair had become white but was hidden within the golden strands while Alec's hair and beard were long grizzled with gray. Both had long begun to show their ages through the lines on their faces not from the natural progression of years but mostly through the hardships that the small family had endured, but there were still youthful presences in their voices and their demeanor.

Maurice nodded at Georgie. "What are you reading?"

Georgie looked down at his book. "Romeo and Juliet. It's for school."

Maurice nodded. "Ah never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo." He quoted.

"You read it?" Georgie asked. "At university?"

Maurice smiled. "Well I first read it when I was a little younger than you are. But, I have read it many times since then."

When he was younger, Georgie was in awe about the fact that Maur had gone to University. He never knew anyone that had (well except his current teacher, Mr. Phillips). He thought that Maurice must have been the smartest man that he ever knew (To which Maurice always laughed and said, "Oh dear God no. Not even close. In many ways your Da is a lot smarter than I.")

Alec scoffed as he lit his pipe. These were conversations that he wasn't really a part of. Since they moved around so much, Maurice had educated Georgie the first few years from home before he allowed the small boy to begin attending school. The upshot was even though Georgie had technically began school a year behind other children his age, because of his guardian's tutoring, he became several steps ahead of them academically. Maurice continued to helped the young boy with his scholastic pursuits and Georgie had developed a fondness for learning that the two often shared discussing mathematical puzzles, books that they read, or other academic interests. This was a world that Alec was an outsider to, just as the world of the outdoors, the hunting and fishing trips, and Alec's knowledge of different types of animals and plants were things that were sometimes foreign to Maurice but instinctive in Georgie's father as they were beginning to be with him.

Between the two of them, they had both brought parts of themselves to the little boy and he emerged feeling a strong bond with both of his guardians.

"It's alright, until the end," Georgie said indicating the book.

"What's the matter with the end?" Maurice asked.

"Well they go and kill themselves don't they, why?" the young boy asked. From his chair Alec nodded vigorously.

"Because they loved each other and did not want to be separated," Maurice said. "For them it was a better choice to die together than live apart."

"Seems rather daft to me," Georgie shrugged as he resumed reading. "It ain't thinking right."

Maurice laughed. "Sometimes when you are in love, you allow yourself to do things that you never would have thought before. Sometimes there isn't a lot of thinking to love."

"Lot of rubbish the whole thing is," Alec growled from his chair.

Maurice tightened the thread on Georgie's trousers, and pulled at a loose piece with his teeth. "Oh really," he teased. "And do tell, let's hear your commentary."

Alec took out his pipe and pointed at the two emphasizing his point. He had never read or seen Romeo and Juliet, but he had heard about it often enough from Maurice and as always had an opinion. "Seems to me that this Juliet, now she had the steadier hand. She should have come up to him and said 'Look our families don't like each other, the Prince won't let us get married, so let's run off together to some other city and to hell with what everyone else thinks.' This Romeo should have done it too!"

"Oh that's what they should have done?" Maurice asked a knowing sly smile spread across his face.

"Yeah that's what they should have done," Alec nodded convinced how right he was in his opinion.

Maurice grinned. "And what would have happened if Romeo had said that he had gotten a job in another place, say Mantua, and the boat was leaving on Saturday, and facts were facts and that things would never work. It would have been the ruin of them both."

Alec stared gobsmacked at the other man and then paled. He looked the exact same way that Georgie did the previous week when he had broken a window and tried to create a story about it. Little did he realize that Maur had already seen it happen. No doubt Georgie's Da must have done or said something wrong.

Alec looked down at his pipe and gulped a few times obviously embarrassed. "Well then, I suppose then Juliet might have said something like it was a chance in a thousand that they met and they may never have another like it. Romeo would have gone back to her then."

Maurice smiled warmly. "Yes, I'm sure that he would have."

Georgie broke the silent moment. "I don't like that either." His father and his uncle looked down at him confused. "They should have been honest shouldn't they have been. They would have ended up saying good-bye to their familes and everything that they ever knew. Shouldn't they have told them the truth?"

Maurice and Alec exchanged another tense glance. "Yes, they should have." Maurice agreed. "But sometimes you can't always tell the truth about what you feel. Sometimes for whatever reason, people won't always understand."

"It isn't right, then," Georgie said.

"No it ain't," Alec agreed. "Unfortunately sometimes that's how it is. But being with that person is worth any sacrifice."

"Really," Georgie asked skeptically.

"Really," Maurice answered. "It's always worth it."

"Well I hope I would never do anything where I'd have to leave you two," Georgie said. "I don't think that I could."

Maurice laughed. "And I'm sure that you never will." He looked up at the clock. "Anyway, it's past your bedtime."

Georgie's lip opened in a pout and he stamped his foot slightly. "What no!"

"Yes," Maurice said. "Anyway if you want to go hunting with your Da tomorrow you have to get up early."

"Da," Georgie whined hoping that Alec would disagree.

Alec held up his hands in a gesture of defeat. "You better listen, Georgie, you know how Maur gets when you don't!"

"Alright," Georgie moaned. He stood up and gave Alec a hand clasp. He then pulled the small boy aside and enveloped him in a giant bear hug. "Good-night Da." Georgie then moved over to Maurice's side and hugged him across the neck. He patiently waited as Maurice kissed him on the cheek and let his hair brush past him. Georgie tugged at a strand of Maurice's hair just as he did when he was little. "Good-night Maur," he said. Both his guardians bade him good-night as the small boy ran upstairs to his bedroom.

Maurice and Alec waited until the boy's footsteps died down and the bedroom door closed. Maurice then moved from the chair and sat on the floor at Alec's side. First he rubbed the other man's hands in his own and then moved up his arms to his shoulders. Then he looked him in the eye. "And was it worth it for you Mr. Scudder?"

Alec smiled. "It was always worth it, Mr. Hall." Alec answered as he kissed his lover. The two then fondled and kissed each other embraced by the warmth of the fire. They were so involved in their embrace and kiss, that they didn't notice a pair of small feet tip-toe down the stairs and just as hurriedly run back up.