Author's Note: Chapter 20! Thank you all so much for the support and encouragement in your reviews and PMs! Hoping to hear more from you all with what you think of this chapter! xoxo - E
Benvolio
Here I was. Once again. Throwing pebbles at Ros's window. The last time I had been apprehensive, but so full of hope. If I had known then how the next month would pan out, I would have led her horse away from Verona, damn the consequences, and damn the rules. Or I would have gone to Friar Lawrence and married her right then and there. Or I would have... I would have taken the time to kiss every inch of her and be with her for as long as I could until she was taken from me. I would have done all of it differently.
Finally, the window opened and a pair of brown eyes stared out at me.
"Go away." She hissed quietly. "Are you mad? You'll be seen and-"
"I just want to talk."
"I said go away!" She insisted. Rosaline had never been the sort who did as she was told, why I expected her to change now was beyond me. But then again, I had never been the sort to give up, and she shouldn't expect any different from me, either. Shucking my jacket off, I took hold of the ivy vines that grew up to her balcony and began, slowly, to climb them. There was silence from above and I was sure she thought I had gone away, because there was no way she could see me climbing without looking straight down from the edge of her balcony. When I was halfway up I first heard it, it sounded like... like she was crying. I hastened my movements.
"Oh God, what am I to do?" She said softly. "Why do you test me so?" She sounded bitter now, angry. I understood how she felt. "I curse that foolish girl who ever drew the Prince's eye. Why could you not have made me ugly and stupid so that he would never want me?"
"Because that would have been a gross injustice to the beautiful, brilliant woman you are inside." I said, as I pulled myself up to the ledge. She shrieked and rushed over to me.
"What are you doing?" She hissed.
"Climbing your balcony because you wouldn't come down." I replied. "Now are you going to help me over, or-"
"No! You need to go! He could be watching and-"
"Then we had better give him something to see." I said, reaching forward and pulling her face to mine, kissing her lightly. I would have kissed her far more passionately, but it was taking a lot of strength, balancing on some vines next to her balcony. I felt a tear dripping down her cheek and I brushed it away with the pad of my finger.
"Don't cry, my darling angel. All is not lost."
"I know. But it will be if you insist on pursuing me like this. Please, Ben. I can't stand the thought..." She shook her head and stepped back. "You need to go." I sighed and with one final pull, swung myself over the edge and stepped towards her.
"You aren't listening to me Capulet." I said, feeling my ire rise with every brushdown she attempted to grant me. "You aren't the only one capable of 'saving the day' and I don't intend to let you sacrifice yourself just to protect me."
"Not just you." She insisted stubbornly.
"I don't care if it's all of Europe." I swore. "They can hang if saving them means your demise."
"You're being dramatic. It's hardly my demise. He isn't killing me."
"No. He's just putting you in a cage. I won't allow it. You are far too beautiful to lock up."
"Ben, please, you don't know-"
"Then tell me. And let us solve this together like we used to. We're a good team, you and I, Capulet, and we can fix this. Together."
"Ben. He will destroy you. And I couldn't live with myself knowing that I could have stopped it."
"Ros. He is destroying you now. And I can't live with myself knowing that I stood by idly."
"Then it seems we are at an impasse."
"Not quite. Because unlike you, I am not attempting this feat on my own. I have a team."
"A team." She questioned, narrowing her eyes judgmentally. I smirked.
"Yes. A team. Your sister. And the Prince's sister. And from what they tell me, a whole horde of others who all love you and care about you and are prepared to do what it takes to free you."
"So now you've dragged a whole host of innocents into this fight? Benvolio I swear to God-"
"You can swear to whomever you like but I will defy God or the Devil himself to free you and there's naught you can do to stop me."
"We can't be together, Montague!" She cried out. "What do you think is going to happen? We'll just get married and then he'll leave us alone and we can raise half a dozen babies and-"
"This isn't about me. You are already the love of my life, my soulmate, and would I like to also call you wife? Of course. But that isn't what this fight is about! If I die for your freedom, if I am exiled and we never see one another again, if you must flee with your sister to protect her and we... are parted," I swallowed thickly. "It would be agony not to see you every day, Ros, but the pain would be ten times worse to see you unhappy."
"Now you're just being dramatic." She said angrily, turning so I wouldn't see the tears forming in her eyes. I took her wrist in my hand and tugged her gently back towards me, spinning her around and pulling her delicately into my embrace.
"Dramatic or not, Capulet, it's how I feel." Her hands rose to grip my lapels, and she buried her face into my chest, letting the tears fall against my shirt. I held her tightly against me, stroking her hair, her back, pressing my lips against the top of her head. I made a noise I hoped was comforting, and inhaled the scent of her, my darling, wonderful, Capulet. She let out a garbled laugh, her tone still thick with her tears.
"Can you imagine? If months ago, when we were at Juliet and Romeo's side as they wed, nearly biting each other's heads off, someone had told us we would be in this situation, how we would have reacted." I smiled and thought of the image she had portrayed.
"I don't know. I think I would have believed it." She pulled her head back to look up at me indignantly and whacked my arm lightly.
"You would not have." She may not have actually rolled her eyes but I could hear the sentiment in her tone.
"I think I would have. I had been hearing about Juliet for the better part of a week, she was all that was beauty, grace, and goodness. Perfection personified, a deity, no less, according to Romeo. I was expecting a Goddess or proof that my cousin's mind had been altered by drink, and then you walk in and I thought to myself, wow. He's right after all. She is the most beautiful creature I have ever beheld. No wonder he wishes to wed her so. And then he started kissing the other girl, the one who paled in comparison to you, and I found myself questioning every decision he had ever made."
"You did not think any such thing Benvolio Montague, stop lying." She pinched my arm but I saw the hints of a smile edging onto her lips and I felt my mission in life fulfilled.
"Okay fine. Maybe not in so many words. But I did think that my cousin was a lucky man to have a woman such as you willing to defy all to be with him, and at one point the thought of what you looked like naked crossed my mind." She laughed then and nodded.
"That sounds more like you."
"I'll have you know I am quite the romantic!"
"I'm aware, but I remember that night. You were angry and bitter and in a hurry to get off to your brothel."
"What a terrible reader of character you are." I exclaimed, shaking my head. "If I was curt it was because I feared the Prince, or worse, Lord Capulet or Montague were about to waltz in and murder us all. I was in a hurry to get us all home safely, and on top of all that, I was, indeed in a hurry to return to the brothel Romeo had dragged me out of." She laughed again. That last bit hadn't been true but God I loved to hear her laugh.
"See. I'm always right."
"Always." I confirmed. "Almost always anyway."
"I beg your pardon good sir?" She teased, empirically. "Name a time when I am wrong, I dare you."
"Earlier this evening, when you protested the actions that Livia, the Princess, and I intend to take to seek your freedom. You do not seem to think you are worth the trouble and in that, my dear, I am afraid you are entirely incorrect." She sobered again.
"I won't survive it, seeing you or my sister harmed or dead on my account. I won't Benvolio. And I beg of you, do not do this. I would be far more unhappy with your demise upon my soul than a marriage I loathe. Please, Montague." She placed her palm on my cheek and I nestled into her touch, my arms still wrapped around her waist.
"I will make no promises than this, Capulet, I will do what I must to secure your freedom, and if you hate me for it, then so be it, but I will ensure your happiness."
"Do you not understand? I cannot be happy if you are harmed! I will be far more miserable-" I could not hear another word of her protestations and as such, I worked to stop her lips from speaking by pressing a kiss into them. I understood what she meant. How could I not? I felt the same for her. The sight of her harmed, unhappy, all because I did nothing, it was enough to give me night terrors. It was enough to make me wish my own demise. I would not allow it. Which was all she was doing for me, doing her damnedest to ensure my survival. So we were working against one another then. It was to be a fight between us, each as the other's champion. I would have to win, I would have to ensure her safety in the end. Any other option was insupportable. But for now, we could put the battle between us beside, and I could revel in the taste of her soft lips against mine.
She sighed softly as I kissed her lightly.
"Benvolio." She murmured. "Please." A shiver ran down my spine as I saw the undiluted wanting in her eyes that surely matched my own.
"Ros." I whispered back, not needing to add anything else. Moments later found me pressing her against the ivy covered wall, kissing her neck as she moaned softly in the chilly night air. My hands rested on her hips and I could feel my skin igniting as her fingers found their way to my shirt, untying the fastenings and pulling it back to explore my chest. "Ros... are you sure?" I asked, not truly believing this was real. I grabbed my hand and pulled me through the doorway and into her chambers.
"I need you." She said breathlessly. "Please Benvolio, I need you." Clutching her to me, I walked forward, laying her down on her bed and following quickly after.
If I should think of love
I'd think of you, your arms uplifted,
Tying your hair in plaits above,
The lyre shape of your arms and shoulders,
The soft curve of your winding head.
No melody is sweeter, nor could Orpheus
So have bewitched. I think of this,
And all my universe becomes perfection.
But were you in my arms, dear love,
The happiness would take my breath away,
No thought could match that ecstasy,
No song encompass it, no other worlds.
If I should think of love,
I'd think of you.