RichardIII1955 - Thanks! I love little Eliseo - he's so fun to write with! I've got to include him more!
Uh oh! Things are getting sticky! Time to switch back over to what Angelo is up to...and Mercutio's latest antic. Won't he ever grow up?!
Angelo pressed his knuckles to his lips, standing in the window of his study with his phone in the other hand.
'Here goes nothing,' he thought to himself, before dialling his doctor's surgery's number.
"Hello, this is Angelo Fulgencio. Could I make an appointment to see my GP?"
"Certainly. What date would you like?"
"Whenever there's an available slot, I can get the time off work."
"Ok, so that will be next Tuesday afternoon, one 'o' clock. Is that ok with you?"
"That's fine. Thank you," said Angelo. He put the phone down, and sighed deeply. It was done. He couldn't back out now. He looked back out the window, at the vast stretch of land. He'd bought this house, and then bought a lot of the land around it so that Gabriel could have a horse, as well as the fact that the area had a special meaning for him. He'd always wanted to live in this house.
After a while, he pulled out his iPhone and then tapped into his planner the date and time. He was truly dreading it, but he was worried. He wished he had a friend who he could talk to about this, but Angelo didn't have many close friends. Oh, he had plenty of acquaintances, plenty of people who'd do favours for him, but not people who would care. And they weren't the sort of people Angelo would want to confide in anyway.
He and his older brother had never been close. Iago was two years older than Angelo, and had left the family home as soon as possible, leaving Angelo to play the role of dutiful son, who did his homework, did well at school, and went to university. They were too similar to one another to be friends. Iago could be incredibly manipulative, and Angelo had learnt early on never to let him get to close, or learn your secrets and insecurities.
Angelo barely knew his younger brother, who was only a few years older than Gabriel. It was nothing worth troubling the young man with. Let him enjoy his life.
It wasn't the sort of thing Angelo could confide in his daughters. Livia remained indifferent to him, leaving Rosaline. Angelo was very fond of his oldest daughter, but this was, well, man trouble. It wasn't the sort of thing you could tell your daughter about. And Rosaline was squeamish. She wouldn't want any of the messy details.
It was times like these when Angelo wished he and Gabriel got on. If only Gabriel had been normal. Things would have been so much better. Angelo had always wanted a son. When Gabriel had been born, he expected a boisterous robust thing, but Gabriel was small and screamed the whole time. He always preferred his mother over Angelo, but then, Angelo reasoned, he was always so busy working. As he got older, the ambivalence remained the same. When Gabriel was two, and first dressed up in his mother's clothes, Angelo had thought he was funny. When he was three, and started ballet class, Angelo still thought it was funny. By the time Gabriel was five, Angelo was worried. What if he ended up like him? Angelo had done everything in his power to make sure everyone forget about his true self, but what if he had passed it on to his son? What if everyone laughed and ridiculed the poor boy? And so Angelo had done his best to try and make Gabriel normal, but the boy just became weirder and weirder and weirder...
Eventually Angelo sighed. It was no good, this wishful thinking. He'd have to deal with it alone, as always. Gabriel was not going to turn into a confidante overnight.
The next few days passed as if in a dream. Angelo was there, but he wasn't really there. Lord Capulet congratulated him, and Escalus congratulated him, but he'd only ever seen Alexei once. Angelo wondered who Gabriel had arranged to look after him, and wondered how Gabriel was dealing with single fatherhood. Perhaps he'd learn a few lessons. Perhaps he would reach a new level of understanding for him.
At noon on Tuesday, Angelo was arranging the accommodation for the Plantagenets, the royal family of England, for the wedding over the summer. It had been difficult, and tiring, to say the least. They all kept switching sides, and, so-and-so did not want to be near so-and-so, and if so-and-so was allowed to come into contact with so-and-so, then they'd fight. It made Angelo's head hurt. And now, he was suffering the screeches of this latest harpy.
"Yes, your highness, I do understand," he sighed.
"I don't want those usurping Yorkists anywhere near me!" seethed Margaret of Anjou, one of the queens of England.
"I know, your highness, and you won't be. Your families will be kept completely separate."
"How dare you invite them, and treat them as though they are England's royal family! We are England's royal family! My husband, and my son!"
"Well," said Angelo, but then the door knocked, "I'm going to have to leave you, your highness. We'll finish this another day"
He put the phone down.
"Come in," he called, hoping they'd be quick. His appointment was in an hour, and it took twenty minutes to drive during the day, and he didn't want to be delayed.
To his surprise, Isabella Montague stepped in. Angelo knew Isabella. She was a Montague, of course. Everyone knew the Montagues. Unusually for someone as well-connected and rich as she was, she was in her thirties and still unmarried. Gabriel once giggled to Angelo that she was thinking about becoming a nun. She worked with her brother, Lord Montague, and did not generally support his party, or come into contact with him.
"Isabella," said Angelo, "How can I help you?"
He sub-consciously glanced at his watch.
"Do you mind if I use your photocopier? Claudio's has completely clapped out."
"Of course," said Angelo, wondering why she would walk all the way up to his office to use his. Amparo's was much closer.
As if reading his thoughts, she said, "Amparo has gone out to lunch with Gabriel."
"Oh. Well, I hope they have a nice time," said Angelo indifferently.
"Gabriel would like to see you again, you know."
"Would he?"
"Yes. He said he wanted to you to see Alexei again. He said he knows you two have never gotten on, but he'd like it if you and Alexei had a relationship."
"Oh," said Angelo, suddenly feeling very touched, "Well. That's very...mature of him, I suppose."
The photocopier whirred into life. Angelo pretended to be getting on with his work, but he felt conscious of Isabella's eyes on him. If he looked at her, she did seem attractive to him. Angelo generally preferred blondes, but she was pretty, with the dark hair and dark eyes of the Montagues, and natural tan. She wore a simple white blouse and a long skirt. It may have covered her up, unlike some of the secretaries, but it defined her curvaceous figure nicely.
They make monotonous small talk. After a while, Angelo glanced at the clock. Time was ticking on. Isabella's sheet had finished photocopying. She was staring at him intently.
"Look, I must be off," said Angelo, getting up, and folding everything away in a briefcase.
"So soon? Where are you going?"
"Dentist," lied Angelo, showing her his teeth.
"You only went last week."
"Yeah, I need treatment. A filling."
"But you said everything was fine. I was there when you came back."
"Well, a fillings not that bad. It's not root canal. I've got to go, or I'll be late, and I want to drop this stuff off at home first. I'll see you around," said Angelo, stepping around her and out of the office. Mercutio leapt out from behind a plant pot.
"BOO!" he yelled. Angelo yelled as well.
"For God's sake, Mercutio!" he snarled, "What the hell is your problem? Why are you so bloody immature? Not even Gabriel would do something that stupid!"
"Ooooh!" giggled Mercutio, running off.
Isabella watched him leave, watched the exchange between Mercutio and Angelo, and then left herself. She went in the opposite direction, to Amparo's office. Amparo glanced up, and smiled at her.
"I would like to file a complaint against Angelo Fulgencio."
"For what?"
"You already know."
At the same time as Angelo made small talk with Isabella, Mercutio tiptoed along the corridor, pretending to be a ninja. He knew all the ways and routes around the palace without ever coming into contact with a security camera. He knew exactly which angle they faced, and how to stay out of them. After jumping through Lord Capulet's door and shouting 'BOO!' and shoving some of Amparo's papers out of the window, he saw Angelo's door was open. Excellent. He could cause some mischief. He heard Angelo and someone else talking, and hid behind a plant pot. He could pretend to be a spy, and listen in on what they were saying.
It was boring. They were talking about work. Mercutio pouted. He had hoped to hear some top secret government details. Boring. Was this really what his Uncle did all day? Mercutio was so bored he thought he was going to hallucinate. But he kept listening, simply for the thrill of possibly being able to jump out at either one of them when they came out.
Hey, wait, was Angelo leaving? Brilliant. Mercutio crouched, ready to pounce.
The door swung open.
"BOO!" yelled Mercutio. Angelo yelled.
"For God's sake, Mercutio!" he snarled, "What the hell is your problem? Why are you so bloody immature? Not even Gabriel would do something that stupid!"
"Ooooh!" giggled Mercutio, running off. He grinned to himself as he did so. He turned and looked back as he got to the end of the corridor. Isabella was walking in the direction of Amparo's office, where he had thrown the papers out of the window. Uh oh. They'd catch him. He ran back in the direction of his room.
"Hi, Wally-wegra!" he greeted, bouncing on the bed. Micro squealed delightedly, and reached for him. Mercutio scooped him up for a hug. He ruffled his wild hair.
"Hi, Wooshy-wo. Being crazy, huh?"
"Yep!" said Mercutio proudly.
"What have you done this morning?"
"Well, first I shouted 'BOO!' at your Uncle Egues, then I shoved Amparo's papers out the window - don't tell her, or Gabriel, or anything, and then I hid behind a plant pot outside of Angelo's office and spied on a conversation between him and Romeo's aunt. Then I yelled 'BOO!' at Angelo, and then I realised Isabella was going to Amparo's office, and they were going to discover what I'd done, so I came back here."
"What a good boy, Mercutio!" Allegra praised. Mercutio beamed, and put Micro down on the bed. He started to blow raspberries on Micro's tummy, and his son screamed with joy.
"I don't know why Isabella was up in Angelo's room. She never normally goes near him. She's been spending more time with Amparo lately, but I suppose they're probably talking about dresses for the celebrations and stuff. Hey, All, check out the suit I've had made for Paris' wedding!"
"Oh, the rainbow striped suit and the pink bow tie? I love it, Merc, it's so you!"
"Thanks! I thought we could get Micro a matching sleepy suit or something, or maybe we could just dress him in a baby tiger suit or something for the wedding. What do you think?"
"He'd look so sweet! Shall I wear a matching dress or something?"
"Awesome!" cheered Mercutio, "I can't wait until all the guests get here. I've organized an exhibition of all my artwork from last year. You know, the animal surrealism ones, with Tybalt's head on a cat body and then the nudist ones, like Benvolio in the shower."
"Hehehe, poor Ben," snickered Allegra, "He will kill you, you know!"
"Meh, I better live life to the full then! Want to prank call the Thane of Glamis?"
