Missing Moments: The Borgias

A/N: Cesare and Lucrezia, as portrayed by Francois Arnaud and Holliday Grainger on The Borgias, are two of the most intriguing characters on TV right now. If anyone out there haven't watched The Borgias, I suggest you get out there and watch it!

I thought it fitting now that the show has been prematurely cancelled to write the moments that never were and the moments in between.

This story will be composed of 'missing moments' from the show that concerns the siblings one way or another. Other characters will probably appear in the 'Missing Moments' to come. And be warned, future chapters will most probably include the incest.

Disclaimer: I own nothing about this glorious family. If I had, there would have been a concluding season 4. Neil Jordan, Showtime and the rest own 'The Borgias'.

Spoilers: 2x09

The Demon Defeated

Lucrezia gazed deep into her glass and watched the dark wine swirl with every movement of her hand. As it flowed back and forth, she entertained the thought that it was the blood of the guilty that rested in her hand. The blood of Giovanni and Catherina Sforza, Giuliano della Rovere and perhaps even that of her brother, Juan Borgia. Blood forced to bend to her will as long as she controlled the glass which contained it. Blood which could only escape from its strange captivity if she consumed it all.

With a greed she'd only recently realized she possessed, Lucrezia sipped from the red wine.

That was not the entire truth, she knew. She was a Borgia, after all. Greed and ambition ran in her veins and was as much a part of her as her heart or soul. Her recent realization had not been the possession of said greed, but rather the knowledge that it came with a dark satisfaction she could only explain to well. After everything – all the trials and tests - she had been put through, was it even a wonder she'd evolved into this woman?

Once upon a time her father – Pope Alexander VI – and her dearest brother – Cesare – had seen in her an innocent angel. Someone fragile and pure in their world of deception and lies within the walls of the Vatican. Yet, during the past year they had begun to behold her in a different light entirely. Their perception of her as a flawless innocent had dwindled in their passionate eyes. They now looked upon her exactly how she desired and how she felt. No longer an angel, but all the more a true Borgia bull. Just like them.

If she was completely honest with herself, Lucrezia rather enjoyed the persona she had made for herself these past few years since her father had become Pope. Giulia Farnese had taught her to use her beauty and intelligence as her most formidable weapons, and with this knowledge she had left the child behind and grown into someone to fear and respect.

In being a woman, Lucrezia controlled her greatest advantage; every man underestimated her abilities and ambitions.

The thought alone almost made her laugh to herself. If only her enemies could guess the lengths to which she would go to defend her family; in particular her lovely son Giovanni and her brother Cesare.

Cesare…

Lucrezia gazed about the grand, darkened room in which she sat in complete solitude. This was his private chamber and everything about it seemed to echo his name in the night. The giant bed with its dark purple covers, the richly embroidered seats by the fire place and the mahogany bureau on the other end of the room, in which he surely kept some of his guarded secrets from the world he distrusted. Her eyes were drawn to his Cardinal's cross which hung across the back of a chair. The gems upon it sparkled like liquid metal from the nearby heat of the flames.

The flames on the extravagant jewelry, too, seemed like blood to Lucrezia. This came as no surprise to her. Her brother was all the Borgia bull and fallen angel she was. Even he, a man of the church, hid secrets of glistening blood which he could never speak aloud, not even to her. Then again, he didn't need to, for she could always read her brother like she could read herself.

For example, there was tonight. Only hours earlier, while the evening had still been quite young, Lucrezia had argued with Juan over 'family matters'. She had never, nor could ever; forgive her brother for what he had done to her innocent Paolo. Juan knew this, of course, yet all he had done was smile smugly as she had scolded him for it. When she was done he had simply explained that everything he did was 'for the good of the family'. The tantalizing words had seemed almost mocking as they had passed his lips. It was at once both a reprimand and a curse from his behalf. The words had struck her heart and while she had thought she could never detest him more, she had been in for a vicious surprise.

In a drunken madness, Juan had lifted her baby from his crib and had then basically dangled him over a railing. The mere thought of it still made Lucrezia's blood boil as it pumped through her slim body. After she had rescued Giovanni from the hands of her personal devil, she would have gladly surrendered herself to her inner Borgia bull and ended Juan then and there. But she had suppressed her dark needs within her heart as Cesare had whispered words of reassurance to her. Cesare had said there would be no blood during the night, but even in his eyes she had seen the same dark need which was reflected in hers.

It was this reason alone that had brought her to his private chamber in this late hour. Lucrezia was not entirely certain what hour of the day it was, but judging by the darkness of the seemingly endless night still outside, there were still many hours before the first light of day.

Still, when Lucrezia had left her sleeping son in her own chambers and silently walked to her brother's room, she had not been surprised to find his room empty. The only life inside had been from the fire and she had patiently settled down beside it to wait for her brother.

She had waited a long time already by now and the glass in her hand was her second helping of wine. With her greed, even this glass was beginning to empty. As she pondered rising from her seat to pour a third glass, her thoughts were interrupted as the heavy, wooden door suddenly flung open with a low creaking noise.

Lucrezia waited on baited breath as she watched her tall, dark brother, still fully dressed and wearing a cloak, enter and firmly close the door behind him. The hood of his cloak was up and so hid his handsome face from her view, but she didn't need to see it. She still read the rest of his body language like a book in her library. His movements were heavy and tense and his hands rested for a beat longer against the door. Even his deep breath seemed to resonate between the stone walls as he turned his back to where she sat and walked towards the table further away.

Still without having taken notice of her, Cesare discarded his cloak in a blur of fervent moves and threw the fabric onto the table with something Lucrezia could only call angered relief.

"I thought you might be out tonight."

Cesare stopped, startled, and swiftly whirled around. The surprise in his night-colored eyes danced side by side with something ominous in the deep, bottomless pools. Lucrezia couldn't quite put her finger on it, but as she saw the tense frown spread on his brow, she recognized it at last. He was attempting to shut her out from the inner circles of his heart and struggled to make sure she could not read his latest dark deed. It was all in vain, of course.

"Will you not ask me why I expected you to be out, brother?" she teased him, waiting to see if he would take the bait.

Cesare's frown intensified as he refused to take the hook. Something dark and daring crossed his eyes as he muttered, "You always know what I am up to, sis… Even when I am not so certain myself."

"Do not frown, Cesare," she smiled and her voice danced clear like church bells in the morning, "It contorts your handsome face."

"Sister…" he bowed his head as if to obey her command and his voice was dark and raspy, like always these days.

Though there was nothing gentle in it, Lucrezia could still hear affection in his tone. She smiled to herself. Even emotionally distraught as he was, he could neither hide nor forget his love for her. She loved him, if possible, even more for it.

For a second longer, the two siblings simply stared at the other through the silent tension that lingered from his arrival. A battle of will and of love kept them both apart and together in the night. At length, it was Cesare who first lowered his gaze from hers, but the defeat seemed gratefully accepted. Lucrezia knew in that exact moment that she had been right to follow her hunch tonight and venture into this lion's den.

She exhaled deeply and leaned further back in her seat as she let the realization wash over her like waves crashing against a beach. It was all true then. She mutely watched as Cesare turned back to the table and poured himself a glass of wine.

"More wine, sis?" he turned his head to gaze at her once more. In his fair face, framed by his dark locks, the knowledge of his sister's cunning and intellect shone bright. Now that it was plain to see, Lucrezia felt that he had, at least for this particular time, welcomed her into the darkest circle of his heart to share this night with her.

"Please," the woman smirked, raised her glass expectantly and waited to be served. As he crossed the room in slow, confident steps, it seemed all his previous anxiety, too, had vanished the second he knew she understood and unconditionally supported him in this.

As he filled her glass and more of the dark liquid danced within her glass, Lucrezia mockingly asked, "Are we celebrating tonight, my love?"

He chuckled as he sank into the seat opposite her and stared into the fires beside them. "Yes."

"Then what shall we toast for?" she asked.

Cesare pondered the question briefly as he watched the wine in his glass. The smile widened upon his lips, making his face look both angelic and damned at the same time, as he raised his gaze to meet his sister's once more. "We shall toast that tonight I have defeated my demon."

Lucrezia hesitated. "You mean you have defeated our demon?"

The smile vanished from his passionate eyes as he nodded. "… Yes. You and your son are safe now."

"I will drink to that."

More chapters to come! Stay tuned!
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