Hullo. This chapter was kind of hard to write, especially the ending. I would like to remind everyone that this is a PG-13 story (or T or whatever they call 'em now) and that this chapter is one of the reasons why. Nothing too bad, but definitely not PG.

Anyway, Tonyboy--And Tybalt wore a giant hat at the party scene and they did a weird dance involving bells? Yes, that is the one I'm thinking of. And if last chapter made you h.ate Abra, I don't know what later chapters are going to make you do.

I'm really excited about the upcoming chapters (it's starting to get GOOD!) so I hope to write them fast for you all to enjoy. Anyway, this is a long Author's Note, so stop reading it and enjoy this chapter.

A month passed with little incident. Marietta's leg healed, and they started meeting at night. Benvolio quickly learned the grounds to Marietta's house. Every night he climbed over the wall, dashed across the large back lawn, and climbed up the fire ladder she lowered for him. Over the balcony, and into her room. They never had to worry about anyone coming in, because, as Marietta had told him, her door was locked every night.

He stealthily made his way across the lawn, recalling his reaction. He had been shocked to find that her parents actually locked her in her room every night.

"They what!" he had exclaimed.

"They lock my door." She replied with a shrug. "When I was little, I sleepwalked. I would go out of my room and downstairs. To stop me, they had a maid lock my door and then unlock it in the morning. I stopped sleepwalking, but I guess they forgot to tell the maid to stop locking it. So it still gets locked every night."

"That's horrible."

"They don't love me, remember?"

He remembered well enough. It was virtually safe, this sneaking in. Still, he had this gnawing feeling that Abra was around, watching him climb up her ladder. He really didn't want to die. That wasn't in his plan for life. He leaped over the balcony and walked into her room.

To his surprise, she was sitting on her bed, sobbing quietly. Oh, no. What had Abra done now? "Marietta?" he said, making his way over to her.

She looked up at him, sniffling. "Oh! Hi." She wiped her eyes. "I didn't hear you."

He sat down beside her. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, it's just…well, today's my birthday." She told him. "And they forgot. Again. They haven't remembered since I was eleven."

"September 16th? Today? That's your birthday?" he asked, dumbfounded. She nodded. "Happy birthday…" he gave her a hug, attempting to make her feel better.

"You're the only one who's said that to me all day." She stated, her head resting on his shoulder.

"If you'd told me you turned eighteen today, I would've said it sooner." He replied.

"I didn't think it was important. I don't know your birthday." She said.

"April 29th." He told her, smiling. "And it's important to me."

"Well, at least someone cares." She gave him a peck on the cheek.

"More than you know, love." He assured her.

She sighed, pulling away from him. "Abra decided to give me a 'present'…"she showed him her left arm. It was covered in bruises. "I think he was trying to break it."

"I thought you said he had left for Mantua." Benvolio gingerly prodded her arm.

"I thought he had!" she exclaimed. "But he showed up today and tried to rip my arm out of its socket!"

He studied her. She was tired, he could see it. Every week passed and another injury was added to the growing list. How she could stand it, he didn't know. Yet day after day she put on a brave face, ready for whatever her psychotic family had in store for her. Her only salvation was these nights, when they could meet, and talk, or whatever. Benvolio desperately wanted to make her happy, even if it was only for one night.

"Marietta, you should sleep." He told her.

"But what about us, our time?" she asked.

"I can manage for one night." He replied. "But listen. Tomorrow, you come to my house. Park a few blocks away, I'll have one of my brothers help you get up to my room."

"Why…?"

"Will you come?"

She searched his face, trying to understand. "Alright. I'll come."

"Good. Now, get some rest." He kissed her, then disappeared out her window and down the ladder, leaving her in silent wonder.

It was late evening the next day when Marietta pulled up next to a wall of shrubs blocking the back lawn of his mansion from view. She sat in her car, looking around. She could see the top of his house from here. Which room was his, she wondered? Also, why was she here? She kept trying to think of reasons why he had asked for her to come tonight, but none came. She would just have to accept that he had a plan.

He had said one of his brothers would be here. She couldn't see anyone. She drummed nervously on her steering wheel. What if someone saw her? She had tried to make herself a tad less recognizable, but anyone could easily see through it. She wasn't one to be impatient, but this was testing her limits. This was dangerous. Then again, it was even more dangerous for him to sneak into her house. She had it easy.

Just then, Marietta noticed a sign in the bushes a few yards away. She couldn't read it from inside her car, so she climbed out and went to go look at it. It was a relatively small sign, and half hidden in the bushes. A message was scrawled on it in paint: 'Capulet girls do it better'.

Was this some sort of trick? She stepped away from the sign, a blush spreading across her cheeks. Yes, she was still a virgin but she was the only Capulet girl left. The only direct one, anyway. She felt as if the sign was ridiculing her. Then, she saw something she hadn't noticed before. The words 'Capulet' and 'girl' were in blue, the rest of it, including the 's', was in red. She recalled Benvolio jokingly telling her that his brothers, never bothering to ask her name, simply referred to her as 'Capulet Girl'. Was…was this sign a way of telling her something?

Yes, it was. Upon further inspection of the sign, she could see that there was a tiny arrow painted in the corner. She was meant to go through the bushes? Figuring it was her only plan, Marietta locked her car and began fighting through the bushes. It was harder than she thought it would be, but she made it through. She tumbled out and onto the lawn. And right into someone. She nearly screamed, partly out of fear and partly out of shock, but the man sushed her quickly.

"You Capulet Girl?" he asked quickly.

She blinked in surprise. "Yeah, I am."

He jerked his head in the direction of the house. "Follow me."

They began walking (very un-stealthily, if I might add) across the lawn. "Um, so…which one of his brothers are you?"

"Sampson." He replied. "The youngest. Ben's two years older than me, Greg's only one. Well, one and a half." He paused. "Wait, then Ben's two and a half years older than me…"

Marietta calculated this and immediately felt sorry for their mother.

"Anyway." Sampson kicked a soccer ball lying on the lawn as he walked past it. It moved forward a few feet. "Ben talks about you a lot. Well, not a lot, since you're all "meeting in secret", but he tells me and Greg stuff about you."

"Good stuff or bad stuff?" she wondered.

"Mostly good." He shrugged. "Well, no, mostly little things he notices about you."

"Like…?"

"Like, he says you raise your eyebrows a lot."

"Anything else?"

"He tells us about the books you read." Sampson said, shrugging. He looked over his shoulder at her. "You read boring books."

Marietta decided to let this comment slide, since Benvolio had stated many times that he and his brothers barely read anything. "Are we almost at…wherever we're going?"

"Yup." They rounded the corner of the mansion and stopped beneath a window on the second floor.

"Lover-boy!" Sampson called. "Your girlfriend's here!"

Benvolio stuck his head out the window. "Hey, Sampson, can you yell a little louder? Because people in Italy can't hear you!"

"Oh yeah, "meeting in secret". Sorry." Sampson shrugged.

Benvolio disappeared, then returned and lowered down a fire ladder. Marietta began to climb up. In moments, she had reached the top. Benvolio helped her climb through the window.

"Hi." He said softly after she was in.

"Hi." She smiled. Then, she looked around the room. The first thing that jumped out at her was that there were cupcakes on a plate sitting on a desk in the middle of the room. Two candles, a 1 and an 8, sat upon the cupcakes. Two small packages sat beside the plate. "What's…"

"Happy birthday." He replied. "I'm sorry I couldn't get a cake, the cooks didn't want to make one. They did agree to cupcakes."

"You…you did all of this for me?" she questioned in disbelief.

"I don't know anyone else who turned eighteen yesterday and didn't get a proper celebration." He pushed her hair away from her face.

"But…why?" she was having trouble believing that this was real, that he had taken the time to do something special for her.

"Just because no one else does things for you doesn't mean I can't." he answered. "I love you. I wanted to make you happy."

"Thank you…"

"Your welcome. Now, are you going to blow out those candles, or is my room going to go up in flames?"

She laughed, moving to the desk. Her first birthday cake-well, something like a cake-since she was eleven. It had been a long time since she had made a wish. When she was twelve, Tybalt's parents had died just days before her birthday. It had been forgotten in all the funeral arrangements. A year later, on her thirteenth birthday, her parents had had to go out-of-town for some reason or another. Juliet, bless her ten-year-old soul, had been the only one to remember. And years passed, things interfering, until it was as if the date of her birth had been erased from her parents minds.

'I wish that next year, they'll have remembered.' She thought, blowing out the candles.

Benvolio nudged the two packages closer to her. "Now, open your presents. One's from me, and one's from Bern and her sisters."

Marietta picked up the first one and unwrapped it. It was a book, leather-bound, with the title in gold letters. "Pride & Prejudice?" she exclaimed, reading the title. "I love this book!"

"You told me your first copy had accidentally ended up in a box of books being donated to the library." Benvolio reminded her.

"Yes, it was…I couldn't get it back, and I never bought another one." She told him.

He opened the cover and pointed to a name written on the inside. "I got it back."

Indeed, the name was her own, with the date from four years ago when she had first bought it. "How…how did you manage to find this?"

"Well, let's just say I have no allowance left." He smiled.

"Thank you." She wiped her eyes, hugging the book to her chest. "I can't believe you found this."

"I can't believe I did either." He held out the other present to her.

She took it, and upon unwrapping it, discovered that it was a cassette tape. "This is from Bern?"

"Yeah. She said you had to listen to the beginning of it after opening." He pointed to the boom box sitting on his dresser.

She inserted the tape and pressed 'play'. A moment later, Bern's voice could be heard.

"Hey, chica! Why didn't you tell us about your birthday? Oh, that reminds me-Cat! C'mere, we gotta sing." A pause. "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Marietta…happy birthday to you!" There was cheering. "Anyway, this is a tape of us performing what we feel to be our best songs. Hopefully we'll get both sides-or at least one side-filled before your boyfriend comes to pick it up in ten hours. Luckily, we can perform on such a tight schedule. So…enjoy!"

Marietta hit 'stop' as the opening notes of some song began to play. She turned to Benvolio. "I really can't say thank you enough."

He pulled her into his arms. "Than don't say anything."

She rested her head on his chest, sighing in content. This had to be the best birthday she'd ever had, even when her parents had remembered it. Things didn't seem so bad, just for a little while. Just for tonight. "I want to give you something."

"You don't have to give me anything." He said.

She pulled out of his embrace and gently pushed him backward until he ran into his bed. He looked at the bed, then back at her. She gathered up her courage, for she'd never acted remotely seductive in her life. She sat him down, then straddled him. "I want to." She whispered.

He stared at her. "If you're sure…"

"I'm sure."

"Well then." He grinned rather wickedly. "I can't very well say no, can I?"

He lay on his side, watching her sleep. It was mid-morning. Nine, if his clock was correct. She looked even more beautiful in her sleep. He pushed a strand of hair out of her face. It had become a sign of affection, him doing that. He liked seeing her face.

Alright, time to admit it. He felt guilty. He had not asked her over last night just because he wanted to sleep with her. He had only wanted to make her happy. The rest was her idea. But he still felt like last night should have gone differently. He had envisioned it being like their usual meetings. Just sitting and talking…maybe a little making out. But he had never thought they'd do it. Well, yeah, he'd thought they'd do it eventually, but not after a month. Maybe six months. But not one month.

'You knew all those other girls for only a few hours and you gladly slept with them'. A little voice in the back of his head pointed out.

Touché.

She stirred beside him. Enough of this guilt trip. What was done, was done. She slowly opened her eyes and looked at him.

"Good morning." He whispered.

"Mmm…good night." She closed her eyes and rolled over. "It's too early to be morning."

"It's nine o'clock." He replied.

"Too early."

He sat up and studied her, grinning. Seconds later, his pillow somehow collided with her head.

"Hey!" she cried, looking up at him. "What'd you do that for?"

"I didn't do anything." He said innocently.

"You did this!" she whacked him with her pillow.

In moments, they were having a rather childish pillow fight. Neither knew why. Neither cared why. It was fun, and no other reason mattered. But the door being flung open quickly interrupted their laughter.

"Benvol-Whoa."

They froze, staring at the person in the doorway. It was Gregory, who was now undoubtedly ogling Marietta's chest.

Benvolio glared daggers at his brother, while covering Marietta's chest with his pillow. "I thought I told you not to come in."

"Well, y'see…the police are here, and they want you. Now." Gregory explained.

"The police?" he exclaimed.

"Yeah, um, someone gave a tip that you kinda kidnapped Capulet Girl." Gregory shuffled his feet. "And now they're here."

"Abra." Marietta muttered darkly. "He did this, I know it."

"Gregory, go tell them I'll be there in a minute, then send Sampson outside to help her sneak back to her car." Benvolio instructed, trying to think up some sort of plan. Gregory nodded and left, closing the door behind him.

"I hate him!" Marietta cried, trying to find her clothes. "I goddamn hate him!"

Benvolio pulled on his jeans, then watched her get dressed. She was trying not to cry. He glanced at her arm, covered in bruises. All the marks that man had left on her. All the things he'd done. Why couldn't Abra let her be happy? Why did he feel the need to punish her for nothing? What the hell was so screwed up in that man's head, that he thought it was fine to hurt her! Benvolio grabbed her arm. She looked at him. "C'mere…"

She sat beside him on the bed, crying silently. He wrapped his arms around her. "Everything will be okay."

She wiped her eyes. "I hope so."

"Benvolio, they need you now!" Gregory shouted up the stairs.

She kissed him fiercely. "Thank you again…for everything."

"Everything?" The guilt swept over him like a wave.

She smiled slightly. "Everything." Then she gathered up her presents, and with one last kiss, climbed out his window.

Benvolio watched her cross the huge lawn, then sighed and went to go deal with the police. He trudged down the stairs, yawning. He hadn't kidnapped anyone. He had no intention of kidnapping anyone. Perhaps Marietta was right, this was Abra's way of getting back at them. The police were waiting at the bottom of the stairs, as well as his mother, who looked less than pleased with all this.

"I didn't do it." Benvolio stated simply.

"Our tipster says you did." Prince replied.

"Did your tipster give a name?" his mother countered.

"No."

"Then how do you know it's accurate?" she asked pointedly.

"I don't believe someone would lie about a kidnapping." Prince crossed his arms and attempted to stare Anna down.

It didn't work. "How do you know it wasn't a childish prank pulled by someone who has a grudge against him?"

"If it was a prank pulled by someone with a grudge, who would this 'someone' be?" Prince's voice was growing annoyed.

"Abra." Benvolio said. When his mother gave him a questioning glance, he simply stated. "He jumped me a month ago."

"True." Prince tapped his notebook. "But we don't have any proof that he made the call."

"You don't have any proof that I kidnapped someone!" Benvolio exclaimed.

"Prince," Anna began. "Why are you doing this? You're chief-of-police, you know a kidnapping when you see one." She waved a hand at the foyer. "Does this look like a kidnapping?"

Prince stared at her. "Your son doesn't have the cleanest record, Mrs. Montague."

"Tickets for speeding and DUI. That doesn't make him a criminal." Anna reasoned.

There was a long silence. Prince looked at him, then at Anna, then back to Benvolio. "I'll go by the girl's house. If she's not there, I'm coming back here and you are coming with me."

"Thank you." Anna said. "We're sorry for taking up so much of your time." She gave Prince one of the falsest smiles Benvolio had ever seen, and escorted Prince out the door. The door closed and she turned to him. "Oh, Benny." She shook her head. "Can you stay out of trouble for just a bit?"

He sat down on the steps, his head in his hands. "I don't try to get into trouble, Ma. You know that. Trouble just--"

"Finds me." She finished. She sat down beside him. "You've said that to me so many times since you became a teenager."

"I'm twenty-one." He felt the need to point out.

"And still getting into trouble." She sighed. "And that's the point, Benvolio. You're twenty-one. You should be done getting into trouble. You dropped out of college, you party all night, you don't seem to have a plan for life. I don't mean to sound like your aunt and uncle, but Benny, don't you want to do something with your life?"

Yes. Spend the rest of it with Marietta. That was his plan. Yes, he'd dropped out of college two years ago, and had done nothing with himself since then. He had never planned to do something with his life, until now. He had figured he'd live as much as he could before a marriage was arranged for him and he'd have to be tied down forever. But now, things were different. He didn't want the things he had used to want, parties and beer and one-night stands. Now, he wasn't sure what he wanted, but he knew that whatever it was, he wanted Marietta to be with him.

"What do you want me to do, Ma?"

"I think…you should finish college. Start slow, one class at a time. It'd be useful if it was a business class, since one day you are going to have to take over your uncle's company. And stop going out at night." She advised.

It wasn't a bad plan. But was there room for Marietta in that plan? It made sense, the college idea. They hadn't been meeting at night just because of Abra, school had started a couple weeks ago, so she wasn't free during the day anyway. Why not take his mother's advice? There would be help if he needed it, and it was getting boring sitting around all day, so why not?

"I think I'll do that." He told his mother.

"Good. Now convince your brothers to do the same." She smiled and walked away, leaving him sitting on the steps, thinking about his future for the first time in a long while.