House of Cards Series # 3 One Shots (QoS, KoH)

Butch not Cassidy and Sunshine not Sundance

They had all managed to graduate high school. What were the odds of that? Butch didn't know but he figured that some greater being had given him a hand the last little while. He knew he wasn't the smartest person in their graduating class, but it wasn't until he finally walked hand in hand with his sweetheart that he realized that he'd done it. He had graduated. Maybe not with an honour roll standing, but he had survived four years of the most mentally gruelling torture possible. Highschool.

As soon as he thought that, Butch felt guilty. Highschool wasn't all that bad for him, not like for Alice. She had only come into their group of friends this year, but already he felt towards her like he did for Theresa, Kim and Justine. That he would put himself between them and a charging horse if necessary. They were his sisters and they had all helped him in ways they would never understand. Samantha smiled up at him and he grinned back, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and pulling her in for a hug. Four years of being in love with this woman and finally he had asked her out.

It had taken that horrid witch Lexi making this beautiful ray of sunshine cry before Alice snapped and tore her a new one. And while everyone else had been witnessing that, he'd simply waited, knowing what Sammy would need. When the time came to it, he hugged her and kept telling her how beautiful she was. Yes she was a big girl. He didn't understand why that was supposed to be a problem. Then again, Butch was a country boy, to him, all this sickly skinny girls were next to useless. A woman was supposed to be strong enough to help her man and vice versa, how could he ever expect one of those girls to be able to keep up? Sam though, he knew she could do it. Because she was always willing to come out to his family farm and help out whenever there was a need for it. All of his girl friends were, but Sammy was special.

It had started with her singing. Butch couldn't remember which day of what year, but the moment he had heard her singing to the horses to calm them, he had been in love. From that moment on, he has simply watched her, wishing he could tell her how he felt. But he knew how dim he was, and she deserved a man who's IQ was higher than his jersey number. She never really knew it, but he made it to every choir event that she was in, often getting Kim to buy the group tickets so Sammy wouldn't know that it was always Butch who made sure they were there. Kim knew, and she was the only one for a while that suspected. Then Alice came along and their whole world was never the same.

With Alice came excitement, a lot more than any of them had ever understood and they realized that having an adventurous life isn't as great as Hollywood made it sound. The scars on Ace's body were testament to that. The scars his sunshine bore on her heart was enough to make him glad they would never going back to this school again. Sammy had been wounded by Lexi's cruel words but she was healing, and now months later, had a confidence she'd never displayed before. He loved seeing her stand proud and smile, and he wanted to hold her close, afraid that soon enough she would be bored with him and want something grander. He was just a country boy and she could be a star.

"Ypu're doing it again aren't you?" Sammy asked, wrapping her arms around his waist while she snuggled against him. "I can see it in the wya you're trying not to frown." she squirmed in his grip until she was pressing her face to his chest and hugging him tightly. Butch could do nothing more than just wrap his arms around her and hold her. "I'm not going anywhere. Not without bringing you with me. You're mine Butch and I plan to keep you." she smiled up at him.

Butch gave her a soft smile. "Promise?" he asked, only half jokingly.

"Of course. I didn't hang on to this pesky virginity only to lose it to some loser who won't remember my name the next morning." Sammy blushed a dark red colour as she said it, not quite confident enough to pull off the words as Ace had given them to her.

All of the girls had gone out of their way to help set this up, and by the confused and lost look in his eyes, Butch still hadn't quite put two and two together yet. That was fine with Samantha, she knew that when they made it back to his family farm, that in the horse loft would be the things she required to pull this night off. Tonight, Sammy and the girls had set the stage for Sam and Butch to take their relationship to the next level. And Samantha wouldn't change a thing about it for the world. For once she felt comfortable with herself, but only because she was where she belonged. With Butch.  

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A/N: short but sweet. This one shot is to show that after highschool not EVERYONE got engaged/married or knocked up. But Sam and Butch continue their relationship. What happens from here I might post on later. I just wanted to get something up :P