8. Sanctuary, Sanctuary

While morning light did nothing to douse the flame of love, it did throw a few hundred new doubts upon Rick's mind. What if he couldn't convince Imhotep to help them? What if the priest didn't believe him? What if someone found out? What if Evelyn changed her mind? What if what if what if???...

Rick banished these thoughts from his mind and rapped on the door frame of Imhotep's office. "Good day, my dear Father Imhotep. I am in need of a priest."

"Are you?" asked Imhotep, paying more attention to the work on his desk than the young man at his door. "And pray tell, why is that?"

"Well you see, I'm getting married today."

If Imhotep hadn't thought it was a joke, his jaw would have dropped to the floor, but knowing Rick as he did, he simply continued to write. "Who is the lucky lady, then?"

"I'm serious. Are you going to help me or not?"

Imhotep sighed, putting his pen down. "You're not getting involved with Rosaline again, are you? I've told you--"

"No!" Rick took a seat across from the priest. "Thank Osiris, no. I can't even imagine that freak show of a relationship going anywhere good. But this is the real thing. We're in love, and we need your help."

"'We?' Who are we talking about here?"

"Suffice it to say that our families would have issues with it."

Imhotep rolled his eyes, sensing trouble. "She's a Capulet?"

"Yes. But we don't see it as a problem. Really, it's an opportunity."

"I feel a nightmare coming on."

Rick deliberately ignored the sarcasm and continued with his speech. "Let me lay it out for you. We get married. We can't tell our families, they'd never agree to it offhand."

Imhotep was beginning to get a little suspicious. "How far up is this girl?"

"Let's just say she's a beloved part of the Capulet empire. Anyway, with your help, we very gently break the news, and, again with your help, facilitate some sort of compromise between the families. They'll have no choice but to form some sort of truce, even if it's not entirely heartfelt, but in time--"

"What are you thinking?" interrupted Imhotep. "There's no way that the Montagues and the Capulets will reconcile just because you're marrying some distant cousin or something. You know that scenario's not even remotely possible, not even if you were marrying...I don't know, Evelyn Capulet! And who is this foolish girl that would agree to such a thing?"

Rick reached underneath his shirt, drawing out a chain. He unhooked the clasp and slid the locket across the desk to Imhotep. "Good guess, Father Imhotep."

Confusion flicked across the priest's face. He picked up the locket, recognizing it instantly as Anck's, the one she'd given Evelyn years ago. "I don't understand..." All sound died in Imhotep's throat as the implications sunk in. In the next moment, however, came anger. Lots of anger. "No!" he cried. "No, no, no, no, no, no. There's no way I'm letting you marry Evelyn."

Rick was taken aback by the strength of his friend's reaction. "Why not?"

"For one thing, you don't deserve her."

"Agreed. What else?"

"I..." Imhotep hadn't expected concurrence on that point. For the life of him, no other reasons came that he could voice to Rick. He decided to try a different tactic. "So you just met her, what...yesterday? And by some strange twist of logic, you both think you're in love?"

"Yep. Not much more to tell, you hit it on the head."

"Richard." Imhotep gave him a warning look, making Rick feel slightly like an ashamed little kid again. "Level with me. What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Suddenly Rick didn't feel so ashamed. He did know exactly what he was doing. "Yesterday I met this girl. Not only is she beautiful and intelligent and brave, it turns out she's the one person in the entire world I couldn't live without. I know it seems silly to only know someone for a few hours and know that it couldn't be more perfect... But how silly is it, really? It's love. There's nothing else that needs to be explained. It's just love."

Imhotep sat back, the young man's words having a strange effect on him. Evelyn's words from yesterday floated back to him...

"How do you know if you're in love?"

Osiris, she was in love with him, too. How could such an impossibility come to pass? Rick Montague and Evelyn Capulet??? Imhotep could not think of a more mismatched couple...

But why? Was it simply because of their names? If they'd just been Rick and Evelyn... Both strong-willed, intelligent, capable individuals... Come to think of it, he happened to know that they shared a love for historical fiction and swing music. Imhotep smiled. He wondered if they knew that.

"Um, Imhotep?" said Rick. "You haven't said anything for about five minutes..."

The priest came to a decision. "When?"

"What?"

Imhotep took a deep breath, fear filling his heart for the two young people, but simultaneously... This could be it. This could make everything right again, where a city had lived in silent misery for so long. "Name the time. I'll be there."

The ceremony was simple, because Imhotep could only close off the main temple for so long before people got suspicious. The newly blessed couple couldn't have cared less what the priest said, however, as long as they were married. Neither of them really remembered the ceremony afterward, for they had already developed that annoying habit of staring soulfully into each other's eyes whilst managing to block out everything else around them. This caused Imhotep to have to prompt them to repeat the proper lines more than once, which only annoyed him because they had to hurry. Once the ceremony was complete, he ushered them quickly into a back room to sign paperwork.

"I do hope you two know what you're doing," he said, watching Evy affix her small, neat signature to the page. "You realize I can only protect you to a certain extent."

"We're not going to hide in the temple for the rest of our lives," said Evelyn, passing the pen to Rick. As their hands brushed against one another, a little tingle ran through her fingers, causing her to nearly forget what she was talking about. "Um...I mean, we're going to tell them, sooner or later."

"Preferably," added Rick, "enough later that nobody gets killed or maimed in the process."

"Don't be pessimistic, darling."

"Whatever you say, sweetheart."

He smiled, she smiled. Something passed between them at that moment, a single glance between two people in love, and as Imhotep observed it his heart was calmed somewhat. Just being in the presence of the pair was enough to see that there was, indeed, something there. Imhotep supposed that it was up to them to make that something succeed or fail, but...somehow, watching them, Imhotep knew that failure was not an option the two would consider. They were, as Rick had said earlier, quite simply and irrevocably in love.

"And do you have plans as to how to break the news?" the priest asked, drawing the newlyweds out of each other's eyes and back into reality.

"Erm, well..." Rick trailed off. "We're working on that."

"One of our thoughts was that we could start off by calling some sort of joint summit," said Evelyn. "You know, just to get them talking."

"But Evelyn and I would co-sponsor it," added Rick. "To sort of test the waters, to show that the new generation wants to be cooperative."

"Right. And we could have a whole slate of events like that, and first get them used to the idea of Rick and I being at least friends."

"The media is key here. They'd gobble up a story like ours if they got a hold of it. We figure we let slip a few rumors. We get the media on our side, condition them to be our advocates."

"Then the public will be with us. Forbidden love and all that. If the public wants this truce to happen, then our families will have no choice but to follow public opinion, at least on the surface."

"Well," said Imhotep. "It sounds as though you've thought this out thoroughly. If it works out the way you imagine it will, it will be a miracle."

Evy sighed. "Ordinary couples don't have to go through all this hoopla. Everyone should be happy for us."

Rick took her hand, placing a light kiss upon it before speaking. "I'm happy."

Evelyn giggled, a highly unusual occurrence for her, but she was in love and she didn't care. "So am I."

Something beeped rather urgently, the ring getting louder and louder before Rick tore his eyes away from Evelyn and, grumbling, checked his cell phone. "Didn't think I had it with me," he said in a distant sort of tone, standing. "Must be an emergency. I'll be back in two seconds."

Rick stepped out into the hallway, dread filling him. He'd told Izzy not to call unless news so horrible came along that delaying the telling of it would have catastrophic consequences. He dialed Izzy's number, and his friend picked up before it had even finished ringing once.

"'Ello?" said Izzy. "O'Connell? O'Connell, you have to--"

"Shut up and calm down. What the hell is the matter?"

"You gotta get down here."

"This is kind of a bad day for me. Can't it wait?"

"No. Lock has issued a challenge."

Fabulous. The best day of his life and some psychopath had to come along and mess with it. "To who?"

"Any Montague who would answer. Guess who the idiot was that took Lock up?"

Rick closed his eyes, his stomach already sinking with certainty. "Bey."

"You got it. You gotta get here. Three o'clock, out on the old Alexander Highway by the Green. Most deadly game of 'chicken' there is."

"Just call the police, have them break it up. That'll send a Goddamn message."

"They're tied up on the other side of town, drug bust. Lock arranged it, he thought of everything. He's psycho, Rick. Ardeth's going to end up dead, he's not taking Lock seriously enough."

Evelyn's laugh floated out into the hallway, and Rick took a step to the right so he could see into the doorway. She and Imhotep sat talking at his desk, voices hushed. She'd never looked more beautiful than in this moment, when he had to leave her. Not even an hour they'd been married, and already their families had conspired to separate them. Rick vowed that if he came back alive, if they could just work this one day out, then they'd tell the whole world, lock themselves in the temple, and wait for the storm to pass. He wouldn't hide from anyone. He couldn't stand to leave her, and he never wanted to have to again.

"Hold them off until I get there," he said to Izzy, and turned off the cell phone. All their grand plans for peace, and it came down to a lunatic with a grudge and a fast car.

~*~*~*~*~

Starved for love on this one, guys. Come on, keep this fic going!!! :)