It takes two (Irene - Benvolio) |INACTIVE

[IRENE ADLER]

Irene walked around carrying the bag of goods that she was suppose to deliver as she turned around to look if anybody was following her she hated snoops and moles and if they where any she would definatly not think twice about dealing with them as soon as possible without mercy.

Maybe she would forgive them if they begged her loud and hard enough for her to feel a little pity. But no that usually did not happen it was either a mans throat pointed by her knife and then sliced sliently until the body fell this was the only way of dealing with those kind of people.

But her mind was somewhere else , she wondered how those boys where doing Mecutio , Benvolio and Romeo, they seemed like a wild bunch of boys which she liked but she also had to control what she thought around them Archibald had become suspicious of her and so she had to keep her guard up , but not so much so that she needed to get worried or scared for her life.

Archibald would never dare to hurt her or would he she needed to know maybe asking him later would confirm her worries but anyways today was a day that she was going to enjoy herself she could deliver the package later.

Spotting one of her cafes that she always came to read a book at she started to trot over to it and entered it smelling the fresh grinded coffee smell that plagued all around the room as she escorted her fine legs over to the usual table she occupied and would order today a expresso and then a cappucino with a slice of lime pie.

Yes sweets fixed everything and maybe also the usual pickpocket just as long as nobody noticed her she would be safe , or would she really she was scared of getting caught recently this never happened at all before, but maybe it was because of all the people she had met that was one of the reasons why it sorta affected her head.

Feeling herself bump into someone, she blinked and fell to the ground hitting her head first as she looked up wondering who she had bumped to as she had a slight bump on her arm and rubbed it bitting her lower lip to stop herself from crying, yes she was a crook but she was still a delicate flower , and delicate flowers really needed to take care of themselves.

[benvolio]

Benvolio Montague was many things. An ardent philoshiper, for one, or else he would be if anyone ever took him seriously. Also, more practically, a med student well on his way to becoming a GP. He was a voracious reader, decent at fencing, and even, he privately admitted, an ever-present worrywart.

What he was most certainly not was what his sister Bianca had turned into over the years: a so-called ''shopaholic.'' As far as Ben was concerned, his sister and her model friends needed rehab, and quickly! He had spent the morning being shepherded around by a flock of giggling twentysomething-year-old girls, all acting like high schoolers on a severe sugar rush. They had dragged him from shop to shop, parading an endless array of outfits in front of him and even, horror of horrors, forced him to try on some things for their scrutiny. (Thankfully, those had all been from various men's departments. The days of being forced to cross-dress by his sisters had mercidully long since passed, only to be remembered as a source of blackmail material.)

Not to mention, a couple of them had tried to flirt with him. Ben had turned red in about five seconds and still couldn't quite form a proper sentence.

He had been lured out on false pretenses, he fumed now, having artfully made his escape by excusing himself from going to lunch with the group. Never mind, of course, that that was the original purpose of the outing. "Just a quick lunch! You can meet my friends! she said." he grumbled under his breath. "Quick my foot! It's been hours!"

Still, being out of the shops and in the sun had already worked wonders on his mood. He was content enough to wander around Times square for a while, smirking to himself as he spotted all of the obvious tourists.

He spent a little too much time people-watching, though, and not enough on where he was going. He noticed this a little bit too late, catching his arm on somebody. Said somebody fell to the ground with a clatter. Quickly, he bent down, coming face-to-face with a pretty girl who appeared to be fighting back tears. She looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn't quite place how he knew her...

"I'm so sorry! Are you hurt? That bump looks nasty!" Ben said, reaching out a hand to help her to her feet.

[IRENE ADLER]

Irene looked up and smiled as she saw the familiar face of the man named Benvolio, she was dressed differently, her hair was different and he , he looked kinda upsett , noticing his female companions she took his hand and smiled as she cleaned off the dirt and tucked her hair to her back. "Yes it is. but it will heal Benvolio "she started to say and crossed her arms and did her normal gesture of licking her lip wondering if he would notice her.

He was dressed very handsomely and actually it was a pleasant seen to see from the last time they had met , why was it that she had to bump into the cute guys and not actually get ahead with some action , but anyways that was not what was important now, the boy looked to agravated to think straight thus was the reason why he had bumped into her. He needed a little soothing and she was going to provide it for him.

"Ladies please enjoy whatever drink you want its on me" she said and took out her credit card and handed it to the blond and smiled taking out her cell phone as she walked a few paces away and waited for Benvolio to follow her of course if he would follow her , he actually had no other method of escape from that pack of gigglish she devils.

She would expect some sort of payment later for saving him if he did recognize her , she had actually curled her hair today as well instead of the plain locks she always had. " My name Is Irene if you are wondering " she told him and dialed her bank .

[benvolio]

Ben smiled, a touch ruefully. "I suppose it will. But I'm really terribly sorry about knocking you over like that!" He really ought to have been watching where he was going, but it just took too much concentration to tune out the chattering of Bianca's friends, amuse himself, and pay attention all at the same time.

Suddenly, the rest of the girl's sentence caught up with him. Shittlesticks and fudgemuffins, they had met before! Frantically, he tried to remember where they had met. He knew she looked familiar...! Whoever she was, she was certainly attractive; especially when she licked her lips just obviously enough to draw his attention...

Ben hastily drew his mind to safer, less embarrassing ground. He smiled again and said, stalling as he tried to remember her name, "Please, call me Ben! Nobody but my family calls me Benvolio, and even when they do it's usually when I'm in trouble."

One of Bianca's friends- Stacey, Ben thought her name was, took the girl's credit card with a giggle and an exaggerated "Thanks!" She led the rest of the group over to a nearby coffee shop.

Bianca turned when she noticed that Ben wasn't following. "Ben? You coming, or are you going to ditch us?"

Ben laughed, "I'm ditching. See you later, sister dearest."

Bianca stuck out her tongue- remarkably mature, wasn't she?- and jogged a few paces to catch up.

Ben sighed deeply, following his savior as she walked away. In an overly theatrical manner, he said a profound, "Thank you!"

"I've been looking for an excuse to leave them for hours." he added, stretching the last word melodramatically.

As she told him her name, recognition flooded him. Irene, of course! The woman he had met during that madcap escapade at Monte Cristo's!

He smiled broadly, "Of course I remember you. It just took me a while to recognize you without the catsuit." Realizing that he had actually just said that, he colored slightly. Talk about tactless!

His nerve ebbing, he had to fight from stammering as he said, "I hope I'm not keeping you. If you're busy, I mean."

Damn it, that was even worse! Why, why, why was he so hopeless at talking to pretty girls? Something about them just made him freeze up. He stood there awkwardly for a few seconds, hoping she would say something that he could repond coherently to.

[IRENE ADLER]

She noticed the man start to walk away from the ladies and smiled , just as she had expected him to do it was only normal she knew how women worked and how they wanted their big brother just beside them " Little she devils" she whispered and grabbed the mans arm and escorted him out of the coffee shop.

Irene dialed the phone that she had of the bank and asked that her credit card be halted for thievery as she saw the man ditch his crew she streached out and finally saw the man named Ben short for Benvolio start to aproach her as he finally recognized her which was a very good thing for her, she felt kinda odd calling him by his name.

But now that she also had permision of calling him Ben , she was now more at ease since she always was a little to formal when it came to names. She liked to be proper and decent especially because she was dealing with a montague but because they had also met some time before she could be a little bit more relaxed.

Brushing her hair out of her face she heard him say that if he was keeping her or fi she was busy which she only laughed , and neared him grabbing his shirt collar and pulling him forcefully towards her and just smiled. " Your cute when your nervous and you said nothing wrong ive been caught naked sometimes while im on the job" she whispered and kissed his nose and let him go as she wondered if she was being to relaxed.

[benvolio]

Ben's coloring was, by and large, pretty normal. He was white, but not unduly pale. His skin tended to develope a yellowish tinge if he hadn't been out of doors enough, but that really only happened in the dead of winter. Currently, he was about half of a shade tanner than usual, thanks to time at the beach with copious amounts of sunscreen on. The effect was unremarkable.

What was fairly unusual, and rather unfortunate for Ben, was his tendency to blush crimson at the drop of a hat. As he was doing now. He had just received a triple whammy of hormones tinged with embarrassment: being forcibly pulled toward Irene, being called "cute" (a term he never seemed to be able to escape), and inadvertantly picturing Irene being caught naked on the job. The last of those images was enough to make him want to sit down and put his head between his knees until he stopped wanting to faint.

He swallowed convulsively for a few seconds before he managed to choke out the word, "Thanks."

He took a deep breath to try and calm his nerves, but found that it had the oposite effect of what he had intended. Irene smelled nice. Her perfume was, to put it simply, a little overpowering. It wasn't particularly strong, but with Ben's senses going as haywire as they were now, she might as well have bathed in the strongest stuff on the market. Subconsciously, he drew back a little bit, trying to clear the fog that had embedded itself in his brain.

He really needed a drink.

No, wait, he didn't mean an alcoholic drink. That would be the worst possible thing to do right now. More like a coffee. Caffeine sounded absolutely wonderful right about now.

"I th-think I need an esspresso." he stuttered, "c-care to join me? There's a nice little place over there..." He didn't quite know why he asked Irene along; surely it would be better for his head to get away from her? Probably it was a mixture of gratitude for saving him and being too flustered to screen what came out of his mouth that did it. Still, it was too late to take back his invitation now...

[IRENE ADLER]

She noticed the change in attitude , the way his breathing was trying to stay calm , the way he swallowed
nerves were plaguing the man and his words were shortening only muttering a thanks. "ok she had to slow things down , she was a little to much for him maybe. Or maybe she would just take a few step back and let him breathe at least for a moment before coming back to at least ahaving a little bit of fun.

She was not trying to be cruel or anything, but this was the way she acted with the opposite sex, a twist of emotions which was clearly making this fellow blush uncontrolably. Hearing him say if she wanted a coffee she only smiled one of her bright smiles and started to place her arms behind her back.

"I am sorry I was not trying to make you uncofortable." she said and started to wait for him to lead the way over to the cafe. she liked having someone along to accompany her , usually it was just herself and no one else , maybe the usual guard here and there but pretty much she was just a lonely girl exploring the city.

But she would not tell him, it would seem odd and weird that such a beautiful woman could be so lonely. That was also what she thought but there was no helping it either she just brought the wrong crowd at the wrong moment. " You know I canceled my credit card and your sister might come find us and ask me what is up with my card" she told him and licked her lower lip.

[benvolio]

Ben tried hard to recover from the fog that clouded his brain. He tried to smile reassuringly, but he blushed still deeper, which only made him look somewhat sheepish. "No, no; it's fine. I'm not uncomfortable."

He tried to sound convincing; really, he did. His voice cracked halfway through the word "uncomfortable." Damn it.

Her next comment, however, did wonders for Ben's nerves. He cracked up.

"Y-you sneaky little minx!" he spluttered, absolutely choking with laughter. "Serves her right!" he wiped tears of laughter from his eyes. "Don't be so worried about it; it's not like she can't pay for her own coffee." He pictured his sister's face when she noticed, and dissolved into laughter once more.

"C'mon, the place I thought of is a few blocks down." Ben said, composing himself. He felt much more comfortable now, though he knew he would probably degenerate once more into a blushing wreck soon enough. In the meantime, he led Irene through the crowd and down the street. He took a left turn, walked down another block, and ducked through and alley to come out in front of a beat-up but friendly looking coffee shop. The awning proudly proclaimed that it was called "The Coffee Bean"- an unoriginal name at best, but the coffee was good and the atmosphere was nice. Ben went there at least a few times a week, but had never brought anyone there before now.

He held the door open for Irene, then passed in. The Coffee Bean was dimly lit, with wide booths and comfy chairs arranged around a somewhat haphazard arrangement of tables. Ben walked up to the counter and smiled at the barista. "Double esspresso please." He took his wallet out and turned to Irene, "What do you want?"

[IRENE ADLER]

Irene was flattered on bens reaction to her comment that she had canceled her card so that her sister could not use her funds, "Well a million dollars in a bank account really is not good for a young lady" she choked out and giggled with bens laughter, she liked a man who could laugh, and she knew that if she told him that it would lighten the mood.

She never liked a man who was not sincere , she had met a few of them before and as quickly as they had aproached her she ran the other way it was only the sane thing to do when it came to men who only wanted one thing pleasure, just like bens friends romeo and mecutio. Mecutio was the type that could get a woman, while Romeo looked for something serious

She was curious to know what this young man wanted as she was escorted out of the place they were standing, and arrived at the coffee shop. It was a very nice place that she had not explored before , she was
sure to note down were it was located since she always passed around here but had not seen the sign.

Maybe it was to small, but anyways now they where in front of the barista and she smiled, Ï will have a capuccino"she told the girl and took out a bill of five and placed it on the tips box and smiled at ben, she liked him the best from all the gang he seemed cool composed just what she liked in a friend.

But for now she should not be to flirtarious or also a coquette, at all she would make the poor boy blush again if she did , all she could do right now was just be Irene.

[benvolio]

Ben laughed, absent-mindedly running his fingers through his hair. "Well, that's what all of those girls have- and probably several times over. Lack of money is not a problem for any of them, least of all my sister. She's got her own money from work, plus a trust fund, plus whatever she gets from the family."

He wasn't trying to brag- far from it- but it was true that the Montague family was one of the richest in New York; they were right up there with the Capulets. Money woes would never be an issue for him, so long as nothing ridiculous and devastating happened to the family money.

Unless his father found out that he was studying medicine instead of business. Then he could probably count on being disowned. He tried not to think about that idea, though; if worst came to worst, being a doctor usually paid pretty well. That wasn't even a factor into why he's chosen that path, though. He just really wanted to make a difference, and saving people's lives seemed about as worthwhile as anything could possibly be...

He smiled at Irene when she slipped a few bills into the tip jar, then turned to the cost of three drinks. $7.89... not particularly expensive, but still a higher price than he would have paid a year ago. He dug around in his wallet, but the smallest bill he had on him was a twenty. He handed it to the barista, who smiled back at him and gave him his change.

He looked around for a table, spotting one in the corner. It consisted of two armchairs pulled up to a small marble-topped table, and it was pulled up as close to the window as possible. He indicated it to Irene, then made his way over and took a seat.

"So..." he said, searching for something to talk about. "How have you been lately?"

[IRENE ADLER]

Seeing ben Pay for the coffee she could only do one thing and followed him, noticing that he picked out a tabble for them that was quiet and peaceful a thing she liked the best when she was going out with her friends. It just became a habbit of hers to just chill out when she was with someone it made her relax and keep her mind busy on other things that was not work, on the other hand she was happy that she was with one of her aquaintances now and that he found her humor swell most of her colleges lets just say were men who were trying to have her way with her.

But sadly for them she only had one man in her heart and one man alone, but returning back to the moment at hand she sat down in the table and started to sip her coffee quietly , also at the same time listening to the music that jammed in the coffee shop. Hearing Ben ask her how she was doing made her Pull her hair away and take off her cap as she set it down to the seat next to them along with her purse as she grinned, " I have been well, work has kept me busy, you know not trying to get shot is a very hard task"she told , and just trailed whith one of her fingers the coffee table.

"What have you been up to hmmm Ben miss me" she purred hoping to make the man blush, she liked it when he blushed for her she did not know why , maybe it was because she loved to have that power over a man. There was only one man who did not really go into her wooing but today she was not going to think about him, it saddened her when she thought about that man. But today she was soley going to concentrate on the evening that she was having and nothing else.

"So how are your studies going"she added to one of her questions as she was interested in what this man did, he seemed to be the only one of the three who was proper, wise, and had ambition in his head why did it surprise her that this one was like this and not the rest. The rest seemed like they enjoyed more the money , but then so did she so she had no say really in the matter at all, and she should just hear what this man had to say for himself and not make assumptions of anything.

[benvolio]

Ben couldn't quite tell if Irene was joking about trying not to get shot on the job. He had almost forgotten how they met, but a thief like Irene probably would consider being shot at as all in a day's work.

He blushed as his mind went over the other, ah, details of their last encounter. In his defense, Ben had been high out of his mind on god-knows-what, thanks to Romeo's shoving the pill down his throat. On the other hand, it was still humiliating that he had thought she was a tiger, and started petting her, of all things.

He shook his head vigorously to clear it, then addressed her statement, "Yeah, I'm sure it is. Thankfully," he added, a touch ruefully, "it's not something I have to practice very often. Not since the last public Montague/Capulet brawl."

That brawl had not been a pretty sight. Tybalt Capulet, hot-headed ass that he was, had gotten into a verbal duel with one of Ben's cousins. The duel had quickly escalated far beyond the verbal stage; eventually the police had to break up the fray. Ben had indeed had to dodge several bullets, thanks to a trigger-happy Capulet bodyguard.

Ben laughed, trying his hardest not to blush. He thought he did a pretty good job of it, too. (He was deluding himself, though- he was as red as a candy apple.) "Same old, same old: school, dealing with my father, trying and failing to keep Romeo and Mercutio in line, etc."

He surreptitiously avoided answering her first question, skipping ahead to her second. "School is going pretty well. If I keep my grades up, I should be interning in no time. At least," he grinned, "that's what I tell myself when I'm up all night cramming for neuroscience tests."

Neuroscience was not exactly Ben's métier. It was very far down the list in fact, just after obscure snakebites from Africa. He wanted to be a GP, not a neurosurgeon or a psychiatrist! Still, he kept on with it: he had to for his degree.

He smiled a little ruefully, "I know it's weird, the spoiled little rich boy wanting to be a doctor. But that's what I really want to do with my life. I want to feel like I've made a difference, you know?" He laughed a little at himself, "Sorry, I know that's sappy."

[IRENE ADLER]

She licked her lower lip bitting it a little as she heard him tell her how he mentioned the last Capulet montague brawl, if there was one thing she liked to talk about was a good gun fight and this one well it was a very special one.

But she was wondering if he would tell her any sort of details , a little about who got hurt who did not. " You know this brawl is a subject that interest me " she told him daring to pinch his cheek a little.

She was also glad that he was doing so well in his studies, everyone had their passions that they had to complete, their dreams she actually had a few but due to her changes in life that she suffered well lets just say that she could not really complete them.

Placing a face of gloom now when she was remembering her past when she was barely a 16 year old, just recently out of her mothers house, how in one moment everything change from what she had planned.

If only she could turn back time , she would change that moment of the shootout, and the ex boy she had then, the one who got her all into the jazz of being a crook.

Turning back to the conversation , she smiled at ben and streached out her arms to relax them and then grabbed her coffee as she sipped it quietly enjoying the cup greatly, as she heard him speek about school and other such subjects.

" I am glad Ben that you are doing so well, and no it is not sometimes we don't want to follow what life tells us or what others tell us we should do. "she told him and petted her hair to straighten it out a little as she hoped he would not mind this small action.

[benvolio]

Ben supposed he shouldn't be surprised by Irene's interest; after all, she probably was in and out of fights all of the time. Still, that one had been a real doozy.

"Okay, what do you want to hear about it?" he asked with a small smile. "It all started because Tybalt Capulet can be a huge arse when he wants to be. He picked a fight with my cousin Ivan."

Ivan was always a hothead. As a kid, he was always the one who was ready to explode if anyone accidentally touched his stuff- he never really grew out of that. He also never grew out of his tendency to blow minor insults way out of proportion- which is what he did then. Ben, at least, could look at the situation objectively and say that. most of his family was inclined to blame the entire affair on Tybalt.

"Tybalt started teasing Ivan," Ben went on, "insulted him, insulted his mother; the usual deal. Tybalt can't help but jibe whenever he sees a Montague- but Ivan really blew up at him; started punching him. Well, Tybalt wasn't going to sit back and let Ivan beat the everloving shit out of him, so he fought back. Then, it really spiraled out of control..."

Ben's eyes glazed over a bit as he remembered the scene, picturing it in his mind. "Since few members of either of out families so much as go to the bathroom without an entourage, their respective friends and bodyguards tried to pull them apart, but ended up just joining in on the fight."

Really, it had been ridiculous. Had none of them any shame?

"A lot of people left the area to avoid them, but a lot of them stuck around to watch. I think both sides called their friends and family for reinforcements, because people kept turning up to join in. Some perfectly innocent bystanders got sucked into it, too."

That really hadn't been good; Ben felt sorry for them.

"It got really bad when somebody's bodyguard pulled out a gun and started firing. Pretty soon, it wasn't just him. I think twelve people were shot; miraculously, nobody died."

One of the Capulets had come pretty close, though. He had spent weeks in intensive care- Ben wished he could have treated him, if only to atone on behalf of his family. A pacifist by nature, Ben hated fighting, hated the ridiculous level of enmity between the two families, and just generally hated being caught in the middle all of the time.

"Eventually, the cops came in and broke it up. A few people served time in jail for it, but since Tybalt and Ivan paid their way out of it, I don't think there was much point in that." he smiled wryly.

[IRENE ADLER]

She started to listen to Ben tell about the fight as she smiled casually and placed her fingers under her chin and looked at ben paying attention to every detail.

She must say that she did love a fight and this one seemed to play out like a real spectacle, she would have loved to be there but would he let her, that was her bigest question of all.

But now it was her time to comment back on what she thought about the whole ordeal, she must admitt one thing though, she loved the mans way of telling things.

The way he moved words it was making her heart beat wildly and grow with excitment, "I must say I love every word of it... your potrayel bloody and brutal, I am sure prince had a lot to deal with " she told him bitting her tongue as she bit down on a bun.

The savory taste making her eyes closed as with her fingers she pried off a few sugar crumbs and smiled at the man, " Tybalt sounds charming would you want me to kill him no questions asked and free" she mused and started to look at the spoon of her coffee and stirred it lightly in circles.

God if there was one thing that made her feel pleasure more than sex itself it was coffe.

The smell the texture the aroma it brought her back home to coffe shops in London or Paris that would make you feel awake and alive all night this was the kind she loved and to bad that most people could not really see the beauty that was a private own coffee shop, the quality was supperb rather than starbucks.

But then again not all fights were good, some caused pain, others caused very hard breakups, she knew this all and more and now was wondering if ben boy had any girl he fancied at all.

She might be a little snobish with asking this question but she just had to she was still a girl at heart, even though the fights who she had them with was no longe there .

"So do you have a pretty one? " she asked and sipped her coffee once she found it stirred enough and sighed looking slightly outside the window.