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It's another long night and Benvolio is quite tired. He has been keeping Mercutio's fever down for the night, telling Romeo to go home, for it isn't going to be of any use if both of them are exhausted and have no energy. It's getting harder to stay awake, but since no one else is here, Benvolio has to stay awake at Mercutio's side to make sure he doesn't die. 

At the sound of the door opening he jolts up from where he must have fallen alseep a bit despite his best efforts to stay awake. When he turns his head around, he is quite shocked to see the prince of Verona standing there, but then again it does make sense for him to visit his nephew. Escalus must have not expected Benvolio to be here either, because he turns away again and starts to walk out. Benvolio scrambles to stand up and goes after the prince.

"Your highness, you mustn't leave if you're here to see Mercutio, please don't let my presence hinder you." As he says it, the prince turns around to look at him. Benvolio bows deeply, a bit embarrased about his behaviour in front of royalty. What he doesn't expect to hear is a sigh from prince Escalus. He's so startled that he stands upright again.

"It's alright, you couldn't have known I would be coming. And yes, I am indeed here to see my nephew. Now if you're here anyway, do tell me, how has he been doing?" While talking the prince has entered the room again and has sat down on the stool standing next to the bed that Benvolio had previously been sitting on.

"Well, he's had a fever for the last two days and I think it's slowly coming down, but I'm no doctor, your highness." Benvolio didn't dare to look the prince into the eyes, so instead he simply looked at Mercutio who seemed to have grown smaller in the last two days, even more so since he had been moved to this bed. Escalus is taking Mercutio's hand in his and grimacing, most likely because of the fever Mercutio still has. Benvolio doesn't quite know what to do now that the prince is simply sitting there, holding Mercutio's hand, not saying anything and simply looking at his nephew. There is a soft look in his eyes and worry seems to paint his features, at least from what Benvolio can tell.

The silence stretches on and it's grating on his nerves because he doesn't know how to behave in front of this quiet and almost human prince. It must be around half an hour before Escalus moves as he lays Mercutio's hand back onto the bed. He stands up and turns to look at Benvolio.

"You should wet the rags again", he says and then simply leaves. This stuns him until the door falls shut and he does what he has been told to do automatically. He files this incident away in his mind to contemplate at a later date when he's less exhausted.

Benvolio is still running on next to no sleep when Andrea (whose name he now knows after being in the dark about this kind man's name for quite a while) bursts into the room where Romeo and he are eating their breakfast next to an unconscious Mercutio. Romeo has brought something to eat for them both, making Benvolio wonder whether he has even gone home last night, if he hasn't eaten yet.

"Has the prince by any chance paid a visit to Mercutio?" Both their brains are apparently slow to understand but Benvolio comprehends the question faster.

"Yes, how do you know?" Seriously, Andrea was not around the hospital over last night, because he would have been at Mercutio's side if that had been the case. A blinding smile takes over his face and he tells them that the prince has made a generous personal donation to the hospital just after the necessary offices had opened. Which isn't very long ago and Benvolio thinks the visit must have been not so long ago either. So it hadn't been a dream then, the prince showing up at Mercutio's sick bed. Benvolio files the information away along with the hazy memory of the prince's visit and resolves to think about it later.

Romeo has sent Benvolio home to get a bit of sleep, because surely, he must have been awake for the whole night, taking care of Mercutio alone. The hospital staff must trust him, for they are leaving him, Romeo, in charge of a member of the royal family. Who also happens to be their dearest friend. A suspicion of his is that Andrea has a hand in this. He had met the man on that first day when they had brought Mercutio here. Andrea was the one to ask Romeo some questions about Mercutio and he was also the one who showed them how to cool down Mercutio's skin and ever since then he has always been near Mercutio and also taking care of them whenever they are here. Which is most of the time. Granted it's been only two days, but these two days seem so long now.

While Romeo is grateful Benvolio had sent him home the evening before, he's feeling a bit guilty at not taking advantage of the sleep he could have gotten. Instead, he had chosen to visit Juliet, his lovely wife. They had talked a for long time about the events that had taken place that were still looming over their lives. She had told him many things that surprised him and in turn, she had been surprised at things he had told her too. Their bond had strengthened as they had gotten to know each other better. As a result he doesn't have enough sleep and he doesn't have enough energy. It's now afternoon and while he would love to just fall asleep, he knows he can't. Mercutio's fever is still going strong and someone has to be here. The one thing he is grateful for is Andrea checking on them every once in a while and when it's evening he even brings some supper, which Romeo eats while Andrea is changing Mercutio's bandages. 

A sharp intake of breath can be heard in the room. Uh oh, this can only mean bad news.

"Romeo wash your hands. With soap." He's too tired to question the request and does as he is told.

"What now? Can I go back to eating?", he asks because he is a bit confused as to why he had to wash his hands.

"No, come here." Romeo obeys and walks over to Mercutio's bedside. Some bandages are gone and Mercutio's wound looks horrible. It's not bleeding, but there is yellow stuff all around it and the skin surrounding the wound is quite red. The wound is held together by thread, as if the skin is akin to two pieces of fabric which can be closed with a needle and a deft hand. All this is unfamiliar to him, because while he had been involved in fights in the past few years, he has never gotten quite such bad wounds. To be short, it looks bad.

"What now?", he asks because he is not medicinally trained, but he is willing to help Andrea and before all things he is willing to help his friend. 

"Remove the rest of his bandages, I have to get some things and I will be right back." Romeo nods in answer and gets to work doing what he has just been told. His tired mind is telling him to poke the yellow stuff and without thinking much, he does so. It's quite disgusting and thus he stops touching it almost immediately. It's going to be a while before Andrea comes back, so he lets Mercutio's wound be. While he wonders about all kinds of things, the last rays of the sun illuminate Verona's rooftops in a golden hue, before it disappears entirely.

Romeo startles a bit when he hears the door open, so deep in thought is he. Andrea's arms are very full and Romeo rushes to take things off of him. A quick thank you comes from Andrea and he then orders Romeo to start a fire. Thankfully the air is cooling down now that the sun has set, so the fire is not overheating them once it gets going properly. His tired mind is quite mesmerized by the flames. Thus he startles when he hears Andrea call his name.

"Pay attention now. I will put a small cauldron over the fire filled with water. In it I will put the medical instruments. I have seen many years in this hospital and deadly fevers were around less when our instruments were freshly cleaned, you see?" Romeo simply nods, his brain too tired to properly process any of what had just been said. Andrea does as he has said he would and soon the instruments are cleaned and are laid out on a linen cloth.

"Now, you're going to hold Mercutio down in case he moves overly much so that he does not hurt himself. I will cut away the ills around his wound", Andrea says and Romeo supposes it's for his own benefit, so that he understands what is going on since he is very fatigued still. Mercutio is not moving much at the moment, but he knows Mercutio can, for he has seen him move about wildly in the past few days, despite being unconscious. He sits down on Mercutio's legs and takes his hands in his own, so as not to get in the way of Andrea who has to have access to Mercutio's stomach. The linen cloth is moved near Mercutio for easy access, but still far enough away as to not be disturbed unduly. 

The proceedings are a bit of a blur in his mind and he is tired like never before. It must be well into the night now, as he is wrapping Mercutio's wound in bandages again. Some linen rags have fallen off and Andrea has taken some of them away to dip them in the cool water again. As soon as Romeo is finished with the bandages he takes the rest of the cooling rags and dip them in fresh water as well. He wonders how long Mercutio's fever will hold on, but he hopes it will get better now that the strange yellow substance that had been around his wound has been removed. Andrea tells him that he will stay here for the night and that he should return home to get some sleep.

"I don't think they will let me in at this hour, and I'd rather remain with Mercutio", Romeo says and pulls  a chair over to Mercutio's bed. Andrea shrugs but tells him to maybe sleep on the bed if he wants to rest comfortably. The bed does seem quite big, but what if he disturbs Mercutio in his sleep, or worse hurts him in some way? But no, Andrea will make sure he doesn't do that. So he takes off his shoes and slips under the covers of Mercutio's bed, sleep taking him as soon as his head hits the pillow.

Benvolio is at the hospital as soon as he can after he wakes up and while he is still tired he is more rested after sleeping for more than a few minutes. Romeo's parents have held him back a bit with so many questions. Some of those he answered and some of those he didn't know the answer to. Some he didn't want to answer and their questioning has made him quite tired again and so he is irritated when he finally escapes them. Anyways, he is at the hospital now.

The room Mercutio is in seems to be empty at the first glance. Andrea must have left again, for Benvolio knows he was supposed to spend the night here, but it already is eight in the morning so he supposes it's only fair if he has already left. But where is Romeo then? As he steps further into the room his fear and irritation grows when he fails to find Romeo. Wasn't he supposed to be watching over Mercutio? Could his cousin not even be trusted to do that? Benvolio knows Romeo is a dreamer and often succumbs to his melancholy moods, but now is not the time to give in to such things.

The whole room is empty safe for the bed and that is where he checks last. His relief is palpable when he notices that not only is Mercutio in the bed, but Romeo too, burrowed so deep that he is easy to miss. His nerves are frayed from worrying so much so early in the morning, on top of his encounter with Romeo's parents and he's snappy when he gets Romeo to finally wake up.

"Christ above what is going on with you cousin, I was just sleeping and I'm sure you understand that I'm tired too", Romeo says, but Benvolio has enough of this day already.

"Yeah and what if Mercutio had died while you were sleeping? Have you even checked if he's still alive or not?" Reckless boy. It must have been some time between Andrea leaving and Romeo waking up just now. What if something terrible has happened in the meantime?

"How am I supposed to have checked when I just woke up?" Without waiting for an answer, Romeo reaches over the expanse of the bed and lays his hand over Mercutio's heart. "Yeah, he's still alive. His fever has even gone down a bit, look." Without thinking in any way he grabs Benvolio's hand and brings it to Mercutio's skin. Indeed it is less warm than it had been yesterday. Benvolio sighs out of relief and is able to let go of his worry and irritation a bit.

"Sorry. I guess we're both too tired and afraid for Mercutio. Maybe it's best I give you space and let you go. I can watch over him." Romeo is looking at him, presumably thinking about the proposal and his apology. Then he nods.

"You are forgiven, Benvolio. I understand." With that he gets up from the bed. His clothes are quite wrinkled and his hair is mussed from sleep; in short he looks disasterous. Romeo simply yawns and scratches his head oblivious to his own state. Benvolio almost has to laugh.

"Get yourself home, dear cousin, you look terrible like this. I will stay here", Benvolio says and shoos Romeo out of the room after he has collected his shoes and given his goodbye to Mercutio and then Benvolio. After the door closes Benvolio settles in for another day of watching over Mercutio, making sure he is comfortable and doesn't die. Worry still gnaws at him, but now that the fever is finally going down a bit, he has hope everything will be alright.