Disclaimer: I don't own Romeo and Juliet. Do I have to do these each chapter?

Tybalt was waking slowly; the image of his mother's lovely face still lingering from the dream.

He finally opened his eyes and looked around his dark room. No one else was there, yet it was almost like he could still hear the joyful sound of her laughing, see her eyes sparkling…

"She isn't here. You'll never see her again except in your dreams. She's dead," a vicious part of his mind seemed to say.

His eyes moistened.

Tybalt sat up in bed swiftly and clenched his teeth together, screwing his eyes shut.

"Don't cry," he growled to himself, "Don't cry. Don't cry."

After a few seconds he opened his eyes once again. The wetness was gone. He drew in a sharp breath and began to mentally banish away the image of his mother. As he exhaled her face slowly seemed to disappear from his thoughts until he couldn't see her face behind his eyes anymore.

"What a lovely way to start the day," he grumbled to himself as he got out of bed.

The dreams of his mother, nightmares or not, always shook him slightly. He hadn't seen her in seven years but whenever her face popped up in his mind he was filled with a deep longing for the love she used to give him and then great sadness when he remembered he'd never receive it again.

The dreams weren't very frequent anymore. Maybe once every few months. They used to happen every week a few years ago. Every night back around the time she was killed.

Tybalt always used to cry after them. But not anymore. For the past four years he never allowed himself to cry; he saw it as the greatest sign of weakness.

He walked across the room and drew back the curtains and let sunlight stream in. Blinking against the brightness he looked down to see servants bustling about with chores. From what they were doing he could tell it was past ten which meant breakfast with the family had ended.

"Damn," he said to himself and turned to get dressed. A servant hadn't waked him in time.

Servants were always scared to wake him up, his ferocious temper was legendary and it was known to explode almost anytime, anywhere, and at anyone. Well, except Juliet.

After he had dressed he went to the room were he was tutored. His tutor, Mancini, stood expectantly by the door.

"You're late," he informed Tybalt in a stern tone.

"No one woke me," Tybalt explained.

A plate of food was sitting on his desk and Tybalt sat down to eat it.

"I had that sent for you, only because I know you refuse to learn on an empty stomach."

Tybalt mumbled some nonsense and began eating, all the while Mancini watched with his sharp eyes.

Tybalt didn't dislike Mancini, but he didn't like him either. Mancini was strict with education, but didn't expect more than Tybalt could give. This was nice but it still annoyed him when his aunt would forbid him from friends for a week because Mancini would complain he wasn't trying hard enough.

After he had finished he stared back at Mancini, who hadn't said anything the entire time he had been eating.

The two had their daily staring contest, almost like a battle of wills. Tybalt didn't know why they did it exactly, after all Mancini would still be in control and Tybalt would have to submit. Still, they did.

As usual, Mancini lost. He looked away from Tybalts eyes and up to his dark brown hair.

"Can't you brush that before you come in," he grumbled and began the lesson.

Tybalt smirked, he was still stronger.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

An hour later Tybalt left the classroom. He yawned and ruffled his hair as he walked towards the large staircase, intent on going out the front door to meet up with some friends.

But a sight made him stop in his tracks.

It was Juliet, looking out a window with sadness on her lovely face.

"Juliet?" Tybalt approached her from behind.

She turned to see him, "Hello Tybalt."

"What are you doing home? I thought you would be off with your friends."

Juliet gave a long sigh and looked back out the window. "They all wanted to play outside today."

"And you didn't want to?"

She shook her head, her eyes sorrowful as she stared down at the garden.

"Where's Nurse?"

"Off with some of the kitchen ladies. She said they had to discuss something important."

Meaning they had to gossip. Damn woman Tybalt thought irritably. He wasn't fond of her; Nurse thought her own voice was the sweetest sound ever to grace the earth. Sometimes she let her love to gossip get in the way of her duties, leaving Juliet alone.

"Juliet," Tybalt whispered gently, "What's wrong."

She looked back at her cousin, standing close to her with concern in his eyes.

"I don't like outside anymore," she said.

"Why not? You used to love it outside."

Her lower lip trembled slightly, "Well I don't love it anymore! It's dangerous. Just like Nurse and Mummy always said."

"It's not dangerous, not if you're careful," Tybalt assured.

"Yes it is," she cried, "And if I got out again they might get me!"

It dawned on Tybalt why she was afraid.

"Cousin, are you worried about the Montague boys?"

Tears slipped out of Juliet's eyes and she nodded.

"Don't cry," he retold her words he had spoken to himself. Tybalt bent down and opened his arms to which she rushed into for a hug.

"They'll get me again," she said over her tears, "and they'll throw me into the mud or do something else horrible."

"No they won't, I'll never let them touch you again," Tybalt said fiercely, holding her tightly.

He was trying to be as comforting as possible but really Tybalt was fighting to keep his anger at bay. Those wretched Montague's, how dare they scare his little cousin like this.

"You promise Tybalt," Juliet asked, her tears beginning to stop.

"Yes, I promise. If any Montague even dares to look at you wrong I'll break every bone in their useless bodies."

"Really," she drew back to look at his face.

"Really," Tybalt smiled down at her and Juliet returned it.

"But you can't stay inside forever."

She pouted, "Yes I can!"

"No," Tybalt laughed lightly, "If you do then the Montague's win. Is that what you want?"

After considering it she shook her head, "But what if they find me?"

"You can just stay on our lands, they wouldn't dare come here," he said matter of factly.

"All right," Juliet said slightly timidly.

The two walked to the door together but right before they went out Juliet drew back.

"Tybalt I can't," she whined.

"What if I stay with you," he asked.

"But you should be with your friends!"

Tybalt shrugged, "They can go without me for awhile. Besides I'd rather walk with you. Come one Juliet, we won't even go past the gate."

Taking a deep breath his cousin nodded, took Tybalt's outstretched hand and walked outside into the warm sunshine.

A/N: Oh, my lovely readers. It's been awhile hasn't it? For that I'm deeply sorry. This is actually only half of the chapter, but I wanted to update pretty bad. Don't worry the next half will be here very soon. As with the last chapter I'm not particularly happy with this, but I hope you enjoy it.

A big thank you to my amazing, wonderful, fabulous reviewers-

Skystripe, blue22434, Gothic-Romantic99, Maudey, Greenleaf's Daughter, Pargoletta, DarkAlessa, EwanLuvr4Ever, and Montague Disciple

You guys are awesome!

As said before the next chapter will be here soon. Benvolio will definitely be in it.

I hope you enjoyed the story and please review. I love feedback!

Thanks for reading!

Nicole