King of Hearts (House of Cards Series 2) [Student/teacher]

Trip Ten

A/N: You may notice that this chapter is wrapping things up a little. Yes I know I have said before I was ending this story soon, this time I mean it. I really am almost done. However, if you know me at all by now, you'll know that I am not gonig to wrap up all the loose threads. I do this on purpose because real life is never that neat :P

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The months of hard work and due diligence were over. West and Maddison handed over a box full of evidence against the Los Perros Rabioso, focusing on Joao and rippling out from there. Alice had called on Officer Bradley, the cop who'd been, if not enthusiastically sympathetic, then at least impartially professional. Maddison had thoguht that West was being paranoid when he didn;t want to involve the police right off, but as they watched and gathered evidence, it became clear that not even Candian policing is without it's corrupt members.

So with their hard work in the hands of a police officer they could at least half way trust, Maddison and West were determined to make tonight a celebration. The club where they had hooked up so long ago was just as low grade and swanky as either remembered and with a laugh, Maddison ordered the same drinks that had emboldened her the first time. West wasn't content to let her out of reach though, so he stayed close in behind her, a hand on her hip, intertwined with hers, on her shoulder or stroking her cheek at all times. It should have been clingy and annoying, but Maddison just felt like it was all foreplay. He wasn't doing anything sexual and yet... the man surely knew how to build a fire.

Reaching passed his Angel, West grabbed his own drink and swigged it back quickly, more to cool his thirst than in any attempt to get plastered. It wasn't his kind of thing, getting drunk really just made you more vulnerable and his life hadn't been allowing for vulnerable and safe at the same time lately. So instead he enjoyed a cool beer and planned to switch to water afterwards. Maybe some day in the future, after Joao and the Dogs were gone he could relax again, but the Cubano felt tense even now, surrounded by a sea of people and witnesses. THe old addage was 'safety in numbers', and that was never more true than in a crowd. They didn't just provide a deterrent because of potential witnesses. They also provided cover should witnesses not matter to the attacker.

Those were not happy thoughts for a night that was supposed to be a celebration of life and  West shook them off like peeling away a layer of latex paint. He hugged Maddison against his chest suddenly, making her squeal in amused alarm as that nearly took her off the bar stool  she was perched on. He couldn't believe that he'd nearly lost this woman, and it still haunted his sleep that he'd only rescued her by chance. She had simply been the first one he'd found and it often woke him at night with cold sweats and the shakes that he could have found his Abuela first and lost his Angel. As terrible as it felt, West knew that his 'la would have preferred to be the one to die, she had a complete life. She would never trade someone else's for her own.

West clinked his beer against Maddison's glass. "To Abuela. May you get kicked out of heaven for being too awesome." he saluted.

Maddison smiled at him, saddness at the corners of her mouth still. "To Abuela. May the devil fear you'll take over." she added, playing along with West's toast. They both drank and Maddison was giving him this strange look.

"Is there something wrong Angel?" West asked his lover, stroking a thumb across her bottom lip, feeling the cool stickiness from her fruity coctail.

"No. I just think you need to marry me." She retorted and West almost dropped his beer. He stared at her for a second and she started laughing, seeing that her comment had caught him completely by surprise.

"You're not pulling an Alice are you?" he asked, voice strained.

"No." Maddison giggled, trying to calm herself down. "I'm not pregnant. I just decided that I like having you in my life and I want there to be some way other women can see right off the bat that you are MINE."

West quirked an eyebrow at her, then smiled and tilted her chin so he could kiss her smiling lips. "Guess I'll have to save up and get a ring then huh?" he made it a question though he already knew her opinion.

Maddison nodded into the kiss. "Unless you want me to propose. There's no rush for the wedding itself. I just want an engagement ring on that finger so that I all those eyes staring at your ass know that you are officially off the market."  

"I think I'm alright with that." West agreed, smiling at his Angel and kissing her again. She squealed as he lifted her off the stool and set her on her feet. "Now I'm going to dance with the most beautiful woman in this club so you need to come with me."

Maddison's laughter was swallowed by the noise of the club; the heard throbbing bass, the loud voices of the people and the press of bodies all close together. She still woke up sweating and afriad some nights, but it was moments like this that reminded her why she loved this man and that he was worth all of it. Time heals all wounds and someday she'll recover from nearly dying. And when she does, she wants to make sure he was still there in her life. She liked the idea of being his fiancee and planned on making it a long engagement so that they were married only when they were both ready for it.

West's thoughts were a little less romanticized and a little more visceral. He held his Angel close, feeling the smooth fabric of her tight dress run passed his figner tips. She had dressed to be as big of a temptation to him as possible, wearing a green sheath style dress that was the right kind of dark to make her look deadly and sexy. The fact that she wanted, for lack of a more polite term, to brand him as hers just made him grin smugly. She wanted to be his. Only his and for as long as he could convince her it was still a good idea. The Cubano planned on spending the rest of his life showing her just how wonderfully they worked together.

Remembering something he'd seen his big 'brother' Malcolm do with Alice, West pulled Maddison close to his chest and started to tango with her despite the music being closer to trip hop than tempo. The amusing difference between Mal and Ace doing this in Mexico and West and Mad doing it in Canada was that the Cubano and his fiesty red head were given a cleared space around them the moment everyone realized that they weren't grinding like everyone else but instead actually dancing.

Maddison's eyes sparkled with laughter and the beginning effects of the alcohol she'd drank. It had only been two or three drinks, but then again, Maddison was flirting with weighing 100 pounds tops, so it wouldn't take much to push her into the drunk and relaxed category. West knew that his own eyes would be gleaming, but his had less to do with laughter and more to do with certain nocturnal activites he was plotting to do with his Angel. And even though his love was playful and tipsy, he could see in the way her eyes drank in his own appearance that she was more than interested too. The song ended and West pulled Maddison close to him, ignoring the spontaneous applause from the crowd. It didn't matter. Not the crowds, the noise, the applause or anything else. For just that moment he was content to simply have this woman in his arms.

And then he saw the gun pointed at them from the crowd.

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A/N: yes I did that on purpose. I know it's gonig to piss off that one fan but I really do love to do a cliffhanger on a friday. I'd apologize but we all know I'm just mean like that :P

On a serious note, it's Rememberance Day today. Like the American Veteran's day and many other countries that host Memorial Days, today we share a moment of our oh so busy lives to remember those that cut short theirs so we could spend ours frivolously. I work in a building with veterans, I am friends with veterans and I am the proud grand daughter to the late Joseph Fleming, Naval Engineer during World War Two. As he said to me once before he died: 'Being a soldier isn't about living and dying. It's about choosing the moments in between and fighting to give others the chance to never have to make that choice.'