Hello all! So this is only my second story on here and my first exploration into The Borgias. With this current second season almost over I have already begun to suffer from Micheletto-withdrawl-symptoms and on a whim I've decided to write this little bit here. Plus, it probably didn't help that I went out the other day and saw Prometheus…and bought the first season of The Borgias.

A little bit about this story I have here. It's pretty much going to follow the events of Season 1 and 2, but with a focus on Micheletto and my OC with the other characters popping in when needed.

So I'll stop and save the rest of my rambling for afterwards.

Chapter One: Little Mouse

The cardinal did not have very many uses for him. There was no hint of paranoia in Della Rovere and so he had not charged Micheletto with the task of bodyguard. He did not have him performing mundane chores like the rest of his staff. He had but two tasks. Carry messages for the cardinal to those who shared his views and keep a watchful eye on the Borgias. For his duties Micheletto was decently paid, fed, and given sleeping quarters. He spent his days seeking out those who Della Rovere requested as well as gathering information on the Borgias. He would at times be sent out during the night. It was easily effortless, collecting information about Juan and Cesare Borgia—even Lucrezia Borgia—but it was not the bastard children that Della Rovere sought knowledge of. It was his intent to remove Rodrigo Borgia from the title of Pope. It could be said that Della Rovere was an honorable man; he would not stoop to the level that Orsini had. Poison. It had already been seen how quickly that path could turn sour. If he only knew of the skilled assassin now in his supposed employment, he could offer a higher price than Cesare Borgia and be done with the Borgia Pope. But Della Rovere was not a man who made inquires himself. And for living in a world governed by politics, he was very foolish, Micheletto thought.

The assassin bid his time, first doing as the cardinal wished; taking messages back and forth. When it was needed of him to help Della Rovere gather defacing information about the Pope he would at the start follow after Cesare, though the young Borgia knew he was being followed. He did, after all, have a bigger purse than Della Rovere. He had told Micheletto to not follow after his brother, Juan. In due time he could be brought into the fold and told of Cesare's manservant, but for the time being he wanted to keep him secret. Cesare did not fully have faith that his brother would not expose Micheletto through his foolishness. So he would feed Micheletto information to take back to the cardinal. It was enough to protect the family still, but just enough to protect Micheletto's position in Della Rovere's favor.

Throughout his farce of employment by the cardinal Micheletto did not lose sight of the objective. Do as Cesare ordered and protect the Borgia family from any possible downfall.

TBTBTBTB

He had sought out the cardinals that Della Rovere had asked for. There were more who were against the Borgia Pope, but at the current moment the cardinal had only expressed the full extent of his plans to a select few. A few which he knew were adamantly against having Borgia as Pope. He would not bring the others into the fold until he had the proper tools necessary to bring the Spanish Pope to ruin.

Though being excused by Della Rovere, Micheletto waited outside the doors, listening in as the cardinal spoke with the others; discussing under what circumstances could one be removed from the Papacy. Their words would have to be passed on to Cesare. He stood in the shadows (the meeting was taking place in the evening, the only time when the cardinals would not be missed elsewhere) as he heard talk of lechery, both public and private. Micheletto was already well aware of the activities in which Juan Borgia took part in. And the Borgia children were themselves bastards. The family seemed to be riddled with scandal. Though Micheletto had not himself discovered any information pertaining to the Pope and lechery, he did not doubt it was possible it existed. He did have those bastard children.

As the conversation whittled down to each person talking over the other Micheletto chose to leave the darkened hallway. While the gathered cardinals all offered their own ways of ridding themselves of the Borgia Pope it seemed to Micheletto that the topic held above the rest was the same one he himself had thought upon. The Pope's intimate knowledge of women. He left soon after Della Rovere made mention of the Canon Lawyer for the College of Cardinals, Johannes Burchart. It seemed that this was the man Della Rovere would rely on to supply them with the knowledge to remove the Pope.

Micheletto would have to inform Cesare of Della Rovere's plans. There was of course no way to stop the cardinal from speaking with Burchart. But whatever Burchart shared with Della Rovere, Micheletto would quickly learn during the next meeting and he could then deliver the information to Cesare.

On the way to his quarters Micheletto heard movement. Going past his quarters he moved towards the kitchens, where a dull flickering light could be seen stretching out across the stone floor into the hallway. He walked closely along the wall and as he came to stand before the archway into the kitchens Micheletto saw one of the maids busy at preparing something. He leaned against the wall and watched as the woman busily crushed various fruits, mixing them with sugar, and placing each one in a different jar. Micheletto had seen the woman before. He'd seen every servant under Della Rovere's roof. This one always kept her head down though her eyes roamed around everywhere. She kept her black hair in a braid that swayed back and forth as she worked, heavy like a hangman's noose. Her skin was pale; the only light it held was given to it by fire of the candles she had lit to aid her in her task.

Micheletto judged her to be meek; a tiny little mouse. He believed that she had not taken notice of him, but then the woman spoke.

"Is there something that you need?" Her voice was void of servitude and if anything it held a tinge of irritability.

Micheletto came forward and stood on the opposite side of the large table that the women worked at. He looked at the various jars. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

She did not look up from her work. "Preparing fillings for the tarts the cardinal has asked be prepared tomorrow." She added more sugar to a bowl of crushed peaches. "He prefers that they sit overnight, so the fruits are sweeter."

Micheletto decided that he would place himself outside the kitchens, to watch the maid and ensure that she didn't see the other cardinals when they finally left. Without any more words to her he left. The woman must have thought he had truly gone from the hallway, but Micheletto hid himself in the shadows and saw her, as she cleaned up, pick up the knife she'd been using to cut the fruits and fold it up into her apron.

He moved away from the kitchens, to hide in the shadows outside the room the cardinals were meeting in. It was likely that Della Rovere would have some task to tell him of. As Micheletto waited he spotted the maid from the kitchens removing herself to the back of the villa, towards the servant quarters. He couldn't see it, but in his head Micheletto could picture the knife the woman had hid on her body.

He did not smirk. Or huff or chuckle. He only thought.

A tiny little mouse with the claws of a lion.

There you have it (: I know, not that big of an introduction for whoever this maid is (haven't even come up with a name for her yet) but again this is really just a little test to see if anyone would be interested in reading this story while allowing me plenty of free space to elaborate without cornering myself so early on.

So please, pretty please leave your reviews, let me know what you think. I will even settle for Story/Author alerts and Faves. Anything to let me know that people are interested in reading more.

One thing that I do with my other story is engage with those who leave reviews. I love getting feedback that helps shape the story and one way I do that is by asking questions at the end of every chapter. Since this is the first chapter and I'm kinda flying blind at the moment in terms of the plot, there are still a couple of questions I have for you all.

Very simple one: Any ideas as far as a name goes this maid? (She isn't the one that Micheletto kills, I think her name was Maria?)

Based off of the short introduction we've had of this maid, are there any reasons that pop into your head as to why she responded to Micheletto in the way that she did? Or reasons for why she took that knife with her? Is she protecting herself from someone in particular or just being cautious?

And as I always mention, any and all ideas, thoughts, advice, etc you readers may have, don't hesitate to share them with me. Even if I don't use your ideas in the story, they still help me to write it.

If all goes well, I'll hopefully be back here at the end of this week with a second chapter (: