Title: Leave Verrocchio's?

Author: Roma

Rating: T

Pairing: Leonardo da Vinci / Lisa Gherardini

Summary: First part in the Leonardo da Vinci series, Characters based on the CBBC Series. Leo suggests that him and Lisa leave Verrocchio's workshop. Set 1470, three years after Series 1.

Word count: 2,194

Disclaimer: I own nothing, Leonardo belongs to CBBC.

A.N/ Takes place after my story 'Leo & Lisa' although can be read, without having read that. Leo and Lisa are together, all are back friends with Lorenzo although Lorenzo still isn't the best of friends with Leo. Like it says in the summary it takes place in 1470, three years after the first series.

Also in the series Leo says his mother is dead, in this and its sequels (yes there will be sequels) his mother is alive, and will be explained further in this story or the next and his father is also still Piero da Vinci.

This doesn't have anything to do with Leonardo Series 2, in my stories Series 2 has never happened.

Italian words will be featured, translations at the end of the chapter.

It was midmorning and Lisa, dressed as Tomaso, waited outside Verrocchio's for Leonardo to return. He had run into the market to collect some parts for a small device thing he had been working on, although he had been gone for over an hour.

"Lisa." Lorenzo said from a distance walking towards her.

"Tom." she corrected sternly.

Lorenzo nodded, maybe an apology? "Where's Leo?"

"He's in the market, collecting some things for his newest invention." Lisa said, in an almost bored tone.

"When will he be back?...and Why didn't you go with him? Did you two have a fight?" Lorenzo lined up his questions for Lisa to answer.

"I don't know when he'll be back, he's been gone for an hour already. He told me he didn't want me to go with him and no, we did not have a fight but we may by the end of the day!" Lisa's voice rose at the end and she stormed back into the workshop, leaving a clueless Lorenzo behind. Just as Lorenzo turned to leave, Mac came up to him.

"You'll never guess what Leo's looking at in the market place." Mac said, a grin covering his face.

"What?"

"Rings" was Mac's answer, and Lorenzo was even more confused than before.

"Rings?"

"Sì, so, either Leo has a liking for feminine rings, or…" Mac said walking to the door of Verrocchio's and pointed to Lisa sat at a canvas, drawing. "Lisa is going to become signora da Vinci." they both grinned at each other and walked off in the direction of the market to confront Leonardo.

Leonardo stood at one, of the many, ring stands, looking over the many different coloured stone rings on gold and silver wedding bands. Then one caught his eye.

A gold wedding band with a semi large sapphire in the middle and two small rubies resting either side of it. Red and blue, his and Lisa's favourite colours, his being blue and Lisa's being red.

They didn't have a ring with a large ruby and two small sapphires, but this ring was still beautiful and perfect for his Lisa. The ring was Lisa's finger size, if only a little big, but that was better than being too small.

Leonardo handed the stall owner several Florentines and in return he was given a small black box to put the ring in. Once the ring was put in the box, he placed that box in his satchel.

"Ciao, Leo." came Mac's voice from behind him. He jumped and spun around hoping Lisa was not with him. No it was Lorenzo.

"Ciao, Mac…" Leo replied. "What…what are you doing here?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing." Mac folded his arms over his chest and nodded towards the jewelry stand. "buying someone a gift?" Leo looked behind him and then back to Lorenzo and Mac. He couldn't lie, it was almost crystal clear what he was doing.

"You mustn't tell Lisa." Leo told them. Mac unfolded his arms and they both moved closer to Leonardo. "I plan on proposing to Lisa and making her my moglie."

"Congrats Leo!" Mac said, grinning.

"Don't you think it's a bit…soon?" Lorenzo asked.

"Well, we've been together for over three years, so why not? I want to make an honourable donna out of her." he told his friends, with a large grin on his face.

"When will you offre to Lisa?" Lorenzo asked.

"Tomorrow, I'll ask her to meet me outside that café." he pointed to the café that he had argued with his rival Michelangelo in, years ago. "dressed as herself of course." Leonardo's face then changed, his overjoyed expression dulling.

"Leo? are you okay? What's wrong?" Lorenzo asked.

"What if she says no?"

"She'll say yes!" Mac exclaimed slapping his hand on Leo's shoulder. "You've been together for years and she has liked you for ages before that!"

"But Mac, she'll have to give up being an apprentice and leave Verrocchio's." Leo explained to his friends. "I can't do that to her, it's her dream to become an artista, if I ask her to sposare me, then she would have to leave and her dream would be ruined!"

"Just ask her Leo." Lorenzo urged.

"The two of you can discuss what to do about that later on, after the proposal." Mac reasoned and Leo nodded.

"Yes, I'll do that...grazie Mac...Lorenzo." He turned to each friend in turn before heading back to Verrocchio's workshop.

When Leonardo got back to Verrocchio's workshop Lisa wasn't outside, so he walked inside to check if she was there and he saw her, sat at a canvas. He swiftly took the ring out of his pocket and into his satchel, he then sat down next to Lisa, put his satchel by his legs and picked up a small paintbrush.

"What took you so long?" Lisa asked, not taking her eyes off the canvas.

"They didn't have what I needed, I spent ages looking but, they didn't have it..." Leonardo put down his paintbrush and stroked the back of Lisa's hand which was resting on her left thigh. She stopped what she was doing and looked down at their hands and then up to Leo's eyes.

"I'm sorry I left you waiting." he whispered.

She smiled and blushed but pulled her hand away when she noticed Maestro Verrocchio walking over to them. He walked around and looked at the two's paintings and then nodded.

"This is fine work coming along, the two of you can have the rest of the day off."

Both Leo and Lisa cleaned up their paints and brushes and left their canvases to dry. Leonardo grabbed his satchel and the two made their way outside.

Lisa went outside and picked up her pink dress from behind a few barrels, wanting to spend some time with Leo as girlfriend and boyfriend, Leo turned around and waited for Lisa to change.

"You can turn back around." She told Leo.

Leo turned around and Lisa was putting her 'boy' clothes behind the barrel and then reached up to her head and took off her wig, letting her brown curls fall down her back and shoulders.

Leonardo smiled at her whilst she sorted out her hair, he walked over to her and smacked their lips together before linking their arms.

"Come on, let's go."

Leonardo and Lisa walked through Florence, their arms still linked, talking about whatever came to their mind. Leonardo stopped dead in his tracks, making Lisa do also, as they came to be outside the café where Leo was going to propose to Lisa in.

"Leo?" Lisa questioned, wondering why they had stopped.

"Lunch?" Leo gestured to the café and Lisa nodded and smiled.

"Si."

The two sat at a table outside and a waiter came out and took their orders, coming back not too long after with two vanilla ice creams. Lisa picked up her spoon and began eating her ice cream slowly while Leonardo stared at his, thinking.

"Leo, what's wrong?" Lisa asked and his eyes flicked up to her.

"Lisa...do you like being at Verrocchio's?" He asked.

"Of course I do! Why?"

"Would you ever leave there?"

"Leo, what are you going on about?" Leo grabbed Lisa's hands in his, in the middle of the small table.

"Our relationship...is very complicated, with you dressing as a boy for nearly all hours of the day...and with the laws of our country..."

"Do you...want us to stop being together?" Lisa asked, her voice wobbling slightly.

"No!" Leo shouted and a few people sat outside the restaurant and people walking by turned and looked at him and he mouthed 'sorry'.

"No Lisa...I'm suggesting that we leave Verrocchio's together..."

"What?"

"If we leave, we can find a place to live, I can sell my inventions for money to support us and we can both paint and sell those to also support us."

"Leo...what? Why?"

"Because whilst you're Tom I can't marry you!"

"Marry me?" She echoed and Leo's eyes widened as he realised what he had let slip. "You want to marry me?" Lisa repeated, shocked.

"Yes...I do, but I can't when you're Tom...I know you want to be an artist and acting as Tom is the only way you will become one, so that is why I suggested we both leave." They sat in silence, Lisa looking down at the table before looking back at Leo with tears in her eyes.

"I can't...I'm sorry..." Instead of crying in front of him, she left the café and ran in the direction of Verrocchio's leaving Leo sat on his own in silence accepting the rejection.

Leonardo should have been used to rejection by now. His father had rejected him before he had even left the womb. His mother rejected him for her new husband and new children and had sent him to live with his father, who rejected him when he was there. The first person to ever accept him was Albiera, his father's first wife whom he married in 1458 when Leo was 6, she herself was only 16.

Albiera loved Leonardo and treated him as if he were her own son. She was Leonardo's best friend and mother figure. Unfortunately she died when Leonardo was 13 and he was on his own again for another year before his father re married in 1466 to a twenty year old woman named Francesca.

Leonardo and Francesca got along very well, but Leo's father thought that the two might evolve into a romantic or sexual relationship so, knowing his son loved and was very good at art, he got him an art grant and sent him to Verrocchio's later in the year.

He had gotten news this March that Francesca had passed away and now his father was engaged to marry another woman named Margherita next year. Leo didn't know how old she was but she was probably only a few years older than himself.

He had also received a letter last month from his mother telling him how she was and how Giovanni, her husband, was and his half-siblings. He should feel anger and hate towards Giovanni and his half siblings but they were not to blame.

His sister Piera was three years younger than himself and he had been with his mother whilst she was born and until she was two. She was the only sibling that he had actually seen in the flesh.

Giovanni was a nice man, three years older than his mother and twenty two years older than Leo. If Giovanni had, had his own way, Leo would have stayed living with them, but Leo was not his child he was Caterina's son and he couldn't say otherwise.

When Leo had left his home to go live with his father, his mother had been pregnant and in 1458 she gave birth to Maria, Leo's sister, who was six years younger than him.

He knew his mother had gone on to have three more children, two sons, Julius born in 1460 and Giovanni II born in 1463 and a third daughter Marie born in 1465. Piera, who was now 16 had just recently got married to a man named Bartholomew who was over 20 years her senior and was an evil bastardo as his mother described.

All of his other siblings still lived at home with his mother and Giovanni. Maria was fifteen and was to be marriage as soon as possible, she was promised to some farmer Leonardo didn't know the name of. Julius was thirteen, Giovanni was ten and Marie was eight.

Arriving at Verrocchio's was an amazing experience for Leonardo. It was his dream place to work and learn along with free housing and food as part of the deal. He had met Lorenzo when he had saved him from almost getting run over by a market wagon that some children had pushed down a slanted road that Lorenzo and Leo were at the end of. They had become instant friends, a breath of breath of fresh air for Lorenzo to hang around someone not...rich, and for Leo...and a friend.

He had later met Mac after being robbed by some kids in the street. He followed them back to their 'base' where he met Mac and demanded he have what was stolen returned to him. Mac gave him back his things and the two became friends not long afterwards and he was also a very handy friend, whenever Leo needed something for an invention Mac would get it for him. Leo didn't mind that Mac was a thief, he always stole from those who had too much.

Then of course Lisa had came into his, Mac's and Lorenzo's life. Overtime Lisa and Leo's friendship went further than friendship and now all Leo wanted was to make Lisa his wife, to make her Lisa da Vinci. But no, she had rejected him.

Leo stood up from his seat and placed a few florentines on the table for the ice cream and walked off to clear his head.

*In italics are Italian words:

Si = Yes

signora = Missus (Mrs.)

Ciao = hello

moglie = wife

donna = woman

offre = propose

artista = artist

sposare = marry

grazie = thank you

bastardo = Bastard