RichardIII1955 - Here is Angelo's long-awaited side of the story!

So, Gabriel has demanded an explanation from Angelo. Can they ever patch things up?

Angelo took a deep breath, "Yes, Gabriel. I'll have to go far back. Very far back. When I was a couple of years younger than you."

Gabriel settled down on the opposite sofa, and curled his legs under him. They sat like they used to when they had still lived together, and ate dinner off trays after a hard day at work and ballet class. Angelo began.

"I've always enjoyed politics. I will hold my hands up to that. I enjoy being charismatic, winning people over to my side, going to new places and meeting people, trying to make a difference, getting involved with and fighting for causes and ideologies I believe in. You might laugh, and say I haven't made much of a difference at all, but hear me out.

When I was sixteen, I had been dating for several years. I liked women, I liked flirting, I liked dating, I liked going out. And yes, I might as well be blunt. I like sex – no, don't giggle! How old are you now? Honestly, Gabriel. Well. I liked women, that was it. I'd never really thought about, well, men, before. I mean, there were times when I had looked at my friends and thought they were handsome, but that was it. I believed my...my attraction, to them, was platonic.

One summer, after I had finished my O Levels – we didn't have GCSEs back then – I went out for a ride on my horse. Yes, I know I don't like riding much, but my parents loved being oh so middle class and having a stable in the garden. I was mooching along some woods, when I encountered a boy. And he was the most beautiful boy I had ever seen. He had golden blond hair, like a field of corn dappling in the sunlight. Tanned golden brown skin. Two golden brown eyes. He took my breath away, although at the time, I couldn't think why. We started to talk, and he told me his name. Michael. I didn't have anything to do that summer. I had a long summer up ahead of me. I had to fill it with something. He had just moved into the area, and so I was grateful for the company. We spent a lot of the time together. We got on well. We got on...very well.

He started at my school the next September. I was studying English Literature, Government and Politics, and History. Michael wasn't in any of my lessons, but I would see him playing cricket out on the field. He was good at it. I would watch him in his tight white sports clothes and my heart would leap, and I wouldn't know why.

We had grown close over the autumn months. We'd sleep round each other's houses, and then one night, when his sister was having a sleepover with one of her friends, there wasn't a spare campbed or a sleeping bag, so we slept in the same bed. I thought it would feel weird, but it felt right. On my birthday in November, Michael hugged me when he gave me a present. Then, at Christmas, Michael caught me by surprise. I gave him a present, and then he kissed me. I swear, Gabriel, it was like being awoken. All these feelings that I had never understood before suddenly made sense. I liked men, and I loved Michael! But I wasn't gay. I didn't identify with all the cross-dressing and parading around in pink. I know that's a stereotype, but even so. Even now, I still don't really identity with the gay community. I still liked women. That confused me for a while, until Michael explained to me you could like both. He didn't. He just liked men. He just liked me.

It took me a little while to come to terms with my feelings. I, well, I knew what I was, but I wasn't sure if I was ready to accept it, or if I was ready to love Michael. Well, I knew I loved him, I wasn't sure if I was ready to accept it. But, by New Year's Eve, I knew. I kissed him this time, and then it was official. We were in love. We were an item.

But, our parents were homophobes. My father died when you were young, but you met my mother. You remember that she had a deep husky voice, from where she smoked so many cigarettes? Do you remember how she once slapped you on the back of your legs for breaking an ornament in her living room? Neither of them approved of same-sex couples. I had to remain hidden if I wanted to love Michael. I had to hide who I was. God, I hated it! I wanted to bring him home, and show him off like I had with my previous girlfriends. I wanted to kiss him in the street and hold his hand. It was horrible.

But by the next summer, my older brother Iago caught me. I wasn't close enough with him to beg him to keep the secret and be my confidante, nor was he close enough with me to keep my secret and spare me from my parents' rage and shame. Michael and I decided the only thing to do would be to runaway. So we did.

They caught us. They hauled us home. So we ran away again. This time, when they caught us, we were ready. We had the pills. If they couldn't let us be together in life, then we would be together in death. We weren't afraid. We took the pills, and passed out.

When I woke up, I was in hospital. My mother stood over me. My father was at home. She told me Michael was dead. I cried, and she left me. I cried and cried, and grieved and grieved. I begged them to discharge me, to let me go to the funeral, but they wouldn't. They wouldn't even tell me where his grave was so I could pay my respects. When I did leave hospital, I looked through every gravesite, at every name plate, to try and find him. I never did. But before I even did that, I had to go home and face my father. He took one look at me, and slapped me across the face.

I left home within a couple of months. I was seventeen. I had a job. I finished my A Levels and went to university. I got involved with politics. I didn't ever join any gay communities. I wasn't proud of who I was, and I didn't want anyone to ever know.

But that didn't mean I'd turned my back on who I was. I'm mainly interested in women, but from time to time, I still meet men. I also made a vow, that one day, when I was a politician, that I would make things better for same-sex couples. I would stop discrimination. I would give them places to run to if their parents kicked them out or they had to leave. I know I haven't done so, but please, hear me out.

I became a politician. Along the way, I got married, had Rosaline, had an affair because I couldn't feel the same about Camilla that I felt about Michael, got divorced, got married again, had you. Tried to raise you. Tried to give you a normal childhood. Tried to make sure you were normal and no one ever bullied you, or called you a fag or called you a sissy.

Your mother, of course, decided to let you dress up in her clothes. She let you start ballet. Look, at first, I admit I didn't think it was so bad. I thought it was funny. I thought you were sweet, when you'd come downstairs in lipstick and heels and shout "Get out of the way! I'm a VIP, you bitch!"

As you got older, I got more worried. I didn't want your classmates laughing at you. I just wanted you to be normal. That's why I don't, I mean, didn't, like you doing ballet. I didn't want you to be like me, a dirty freak of nature. No, don't interrupt. I know I'm going to hell. God hates fags. My parents told me that enough. I passed my freak gene onto you. Thank God Rosaline and Livia are ok. Maybe Alexei will be ok. But if not, I won't judge him or try and make him normal. I'll love him anyway, like I should have done with you.

Time went by. I became the leader of my party. I won a landslide election. All would seem ripe, don't you think?

But once again, I had to make sacrifices. There were always rumours...about my preferences. I had to put them down. I had to look suitable for liberal voters, and conservative voters, if I wanted to win.

My parties' policies were liberal, that was easy. We got the liberal vote easy enough. But the conservative vote? That was going to be difficult. I was twice divorced, which never looks good in their eyes. I was a single father, and you were already shaping up to be a maniac. Well, all right, you weren't as bad as Mercutio, but there you go.

I met a woman, Mariana. She liked me, much more than I liked her. She wanted to do the whole marriage and kids thing. I had enough kids. I didn't want anymore. I'd already had my heart broken by Camilla stealing my girls away, and having to keep my distance to shield poor Rosaline and Livia from the paparazzi, who were driving me mad. But I knew that by marrying Mariana, by giving you a mother, well, a step-mother, that I made myself look more...suitable. More...stable.

We became engaged. It was kept very quiet. I was still working to win the election. You, of course, did not like her. You played so many pranks I lost count. The firework up the chimney was the final straw. Once the election was won, we quietly ended the engagement. It was coincidental that her brother's business went bust about the same time. She wanted someone who wanted children, and I wanted someone who...I just wanted Michael. After all this time.

So I was Deputy. Was I ready to change the laws? Yes. Was I ready to change attitudes. No. How can you change a person's attitude? No, scrap that. How can you can society's attitude?

I had relied on a large portion of conservatives for my support. If I were to press through laws immediately, I'd lose that support. You know that in order to win a majority in parliament, you need to get well over half of the votes to get over half of the seats. Although I had a large majority, my hold on power was precarious. Suppose I lost the conservative support, I would approximately a quarter of voters, which would mean I would lose up to a quarter of my party's seats, and therefore, leaving me without a majority.

As my hold on power was so precarious, I couldn't risk it. Suppose I passed through half a dozen laws, then lost my support from the typically conservative voters, lost the next election, and risked having those laws undone by the next conservative government? And all the while I passed through such laws, I would be under scrutiny. In order to criticise my decisions, people and journalists would drag my personal life through the mud, interrogate every girlfriend, boyfriend, and dish all the dirt they could find on me.

I'd already been rejected and discriminated against by my own parents. I just couldn't go through with it again, not in the public eye with everyone judging me. I couldn't bear it. I thought could...but I couldn't. I hate being like this. I wish I was normal.

That's why I couldn't pass through any rights for same-sex rights. That is why I am, in your opinion, as weak as a nun's piss.

But all the while I have been in power, this is what I have done. I have made several liberal reforms to the healthcare and educational system. They're small, but they're a step in the right direction, and they have made a difference to people's lives. As well as that, I've intervened and stopped conservatives taking away women's reproductive rights, and stopped them from discriminating against them any further. And yes, the economy is rubbish, but this is a global recession. There is global economic decline. Verona is one tiny city, in one country, in one continent. How could my actions heal the economy? We'd need a worldwide change to do that. As for same-sex rights, as with women's rights, I've held off any attempts by conservatives to discriminate against them. Quietly, I have donated significant portions of my Deputy's salary to charities so that I could indirectly make some sort of difference. And I have watched and encouraged changing attitudes. More Veronese citizens have said they support same-sex marriages or civil partnerships than they had five years ago. Now is the time to begin action.

But now I am about to be voted out. And here's the madness. In my place, they want to put the Verona Republicans, who will never, ever, give LGBT people their rights. Not only that, but they will take away our health service, strip away women's reproductive rights, strip away the benefits system, get rid of funding for schools, get rid of funding for the creative and cultural sector, which means art, museums, and ballet. Yes, Gabriel, that means you. You'll be out of a job. And so will your sister. Verona thrives on tourism, and tourism thrives on culture. Rosaline has invested her savings in several cultural businesses, and so she'll lose them. Two of my children will be out of job.

So, this brings me back onto Isabella, and what's been happening for the past few months. Well, you know, I am ill. I have cancer. I have been worrying and worrying and having time off for biopsies and nasty physical examinations and many other medical forms of torture. I haven't been eating and I haven't been sleeping, so I've had to have time off because I've been unable to work. Amparo has been filling in.

All I can guess, is that she wants me out. She wants my job, and she's trying to set me up or make look bad so I'm forced to resign and she takes my place. It's a risky game, as to make me look bad, makes the party look bad, which makes us as a whole, unelectable. I know you love her, but hear me out.

The afternoon when I first when to the doctors was the afternoon that Isabella accused me of sexually harassing her. Gabriel, I am innocent. I did not harass her. I would never do that. I have had relationships with other men, and been treated badly. I know what it's like and would never do that to another person. I was working all morning, and then she came in to use the photocopier before I left.

I admit sometimes to flirting, but there's a big difference between that and harassment. I know what the line is. I know what's threatening and what's friendly. I've been dating for years, and I know that no means no. I'm not Demetrius.

She spoke to me briefly. Small talk. We spoke about you, in fact. And Alexei. And that was it. I did not ask her to have sex with me, I did not try and manipulate her into having sex with me or anything like that. After that, I had to leave, to go to the doctors. She stayed behind in my office. We were alone together for no more than five minutes. And to be honest, at the time, sex was the last thing on my mind. And due to my treatment, which will begin soon, I don't think I'll want to have sex for the foreseeable future. I stepped out, and then that stupid idiot Mercutio yelled boo at me. He'd been listening at the door behind a plant pot. He'd been causing chaos the whole morning, in fact. He'd yelled boo at Lord Capulet as well, and Amparo had some papers go missing. He'd heard everything. In fact, if you don't belief my story, then ask Mercutio. If he's not too busy doing his goddamn flappy dappy dance."

Gabriel was speechless. Angelo slumped backwards onto the cushions. A few tears leaked down his cheeks. Gabriel suddenly found his eyes watering.

"Don't ever say that again!" he cried, "You're no freak! You're bisexual! And that's not a crime!"

"Yes, I am!" Angelo wailed, as though he was a frightened little teenage boy again, "I'm disgusting!"

"No, you're not!" roared Gabriel, leaping up and shaking him, "Your parents told you a load of bullshit. You should be proud of who you are!"

"Why should I be proud? I'm nothing. This is my punishment. I have cancer because I'm a sinner. Not because I eat red meat and smoke cigarettes. My dad told me this would happen."

"He lied," snarled Gabriel, "People don't get cancer because they've had a bit of harmless bum fun. People get cancer because their cells mutate and grow into tumours, which have unknown causes, although there are links with smoking and diet. That has nothing to do with it. You will beat this cancer, and you will love yourself again. That is an order from the brat. Did you hear me?"

Angelo nodded meekly, "Yes, Gabriel"

"And you don't have a freak gene. No one knows what causes people to be gay or bi. Just like being left-handed. And I might be a ballet dancer, but I'm not gay. I like ballet because I like being athletic and being able to express myself in an artistic manner at the same time. I like the feel of holding a girl in my arms and twirling her around. And if Alexei's gay, bi, trans, then I don't care. It's not either of our faults. He's beautiful. We will love him regardless."

"I know. I already do. When can I see him again?"

"Whenever you want."

"So...you...do you forgive me?"

"What you said certainly explains a lot," Gabriel nodded. He sat down gently at Angelo's feet and laid his blond head upon Angelo's knee. Angelo stroked the platinum blond strands as he used to when Gabriel was a child, whilst the storm raged outside.

"I hope Rosaline is all right," said Angelo, "Rosaline knows most of what I said, apart from about Michael. I know how Tybalt feels about gay people. I told her in more detail about what happened with her mother. Ah, Gabe. Why am I such a failure?"

"Call me Gabe again and I'll call you much worse than a failure."

Angelo gave a half-sigh, half-chuckle, and gently closed his eyes. Gabriel looked up at him. Angelo's fingers were still entwined with his hair. How long had it been since he'd shared such a loving embrace with one of his parents? It felt so nice. If, after a day of taunting at school, he'd come home to this kind of affection, Gabriel knew he'd have been a very different person, with a very different outlook on life...

But gosh, he did look sick. There were purple bags under his eyes, and his face was deathly pale. Gone was the handsome man who had once tossed him in the air and carried him on his shoulders. This was what Isabella's accusation had done to him.

Was this really what he wanted? Gabriel found himself beginning to doubt Isabella. She had no love for him, and had a reason to want Angelo out of politics. But then, why would she back Amparo? Why would they come together? Amparo supported the same policies as Angelo, which Isabella opposed. That mystified Gabriel. But unless...

Unless Amparo was planning to dupe her friend.

The puzzle was starting to come together!

Gabriel's heart began to beat. Once Angelo was out of the way, and Amparo was Deputy, and the election was won, then Amparo didn't need Isabella or the support of the Montague family anymore. She could be Deputy for the next five or six years, without any trouble from Isabella. They weren't even that close friends. They had come together because of this 'deal,' which Gabriel supposed it was. Amparo had probably told Isabella that if she went through with this, made a false accusation against Angelo, then she would hold off all of Angelo's impending liberal reforms. But once she was Deputy, she would pass them through anyway. There would be nothing Isabella or her conservative family could do, because that would mean owning up to their lie.

But why? Why would anyone do that?

Gabriel could only guess why Isabella had joined in with this. He knew the Montagues bore no love for him. He knew it was because he'd stolen Benvolio's girlfriend. But that had been years ago, and he'd said sorry. If anything, he'd done poor Benny a favour. Rose was a weakling, and Hermia was a much more interesting and independent young lady.

But it couldn't have been a slight against him, as Amparo loved him and would never hurt him, and any slights against Angelo, both she and the Montagues knew that Gabriel would take pleasure in, since Gabriel and Angelo openly disliked one another. And Amparo had approached him, and asked him if he wanted to do it, to bring Angelo down. And Gabriel had said yes.

But he hadn't meant it like this! Just one look at Angelo was enough to make anyone feel bad.

So what about Rosaline? Were the Montagues doing this as a slight against her? Angelo was Rosaline's father as much as his, and the Montagues had more to gain by using Angelo to upset her. She'd married a Capulet – the meanest, bad-tempered, bullying Capulet, and she was pretty bitchy to the Montagues in her own right. But the feud was finished now, and both Tybalt, Rosaline, and the Montagues held a level of respect for each other now. So why the false accusation?

The more he thought, the less reason he found. Why would anyone tell such a horrible lie? There were so many evil perpetrators of sexual violence out there, why accuse an innocent man? That would leave one reason to accuse Angelo, and Gabriel did not like it at all. He'd told Amparo enough gossip to get Angelo out of power on her own, and it appeared she had taken things much further. Her only reason to do this would be to grab power for herself.

That was, of course, if Gabriel believed Angelo's side of the story. And, if, to a certain extent, his guesses were correct.

It left him with one last option.

Find Mercutio. And interrogate him.