Queen of Spades (House of Car...

A/N: I must love you guys a whole lot, I stop writing and feel guilty for not writing MORE. LOL. I'll try and get things rolling passed the wedding and onto the next big hurtle, Alice's eighteenth birthday! And no, just because she is less like jail bait, doesn't mean things will be easier for these two. Bad juju is about to go down. And more bad juju to follow. So this is a nice repreive for all involved. The characters, you guys and me. Because honestly, do you know how TIRING it is having these two living in your head? LOL

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Alice smirked at the groaning Malcolm, holding a bottle of aspirin and a glass of water in her hands. "Here." she said softly and handed her boyfriend them one at a time so he could self medicate. Malcolm didn't even open his eyes, just threw the pills down his throat and drank the water greedily.

"Thank you." he mumbled, tucking his head back under the pillow.

Alice laughed softly, knowing that he was hungover and too proud to admit it just yet. She wondered how much worse the groom and bride were, she'd seen Kasumi last night and figured Diego was even worse off.

"Why does your family do that the night before hte wedding? You're all gonig to be hungover for hte wedding pitcures." She asked him softly.

"We're so tanned you can't tell we're green...." Malcolm's voice was muffled and tired sounding. Considering that by the time he'd gotten into bed it had been past 2 am, and breakfast had arrived via tray at 8 am, Alice figured letting him go back to sleep might be good. He was a guy, shower, shave, suit and he was good to go. The guests were to gather for hte wedding at 6 pm and the reception afterwards until the New Year rolled around.

Alice rolled the tray away from the bed and left his meal under it's cover. It'd probably be cold by the time he'd want to eat it anyways, but she figured that it wasn't gonig to hurt to keep the cover on it. She dug into her eggs with gusto, still laughing silently at Malcolm's indisposed state. Yesterday had been...interesting. She remembered their little bathroom frolick with a blush and her fork paused as she also remembered that yesterday he had told her that he loved her. Her fork shook and the eggs fell off and back onto the plate. She set her fork down, no longer hungry as her stomach churned. He loved her. Malcolm Vega had said he loved her. She kept running it through her head, still not wholly believing it had happened. She had gone and fallen in love with him, and if she was really honest with herself, she knew she'd been half in love with him for a while anyways. So saying that she loved him back had been easy. Accepting that he loved her though, that was not something she ever really expected.

It made her feel weird, in all truthfulness. Like her heart was being filled with too much fluid and would burst at any moment. Her stomach would lurch and clench, alternating between butterflies and nausea as she mentally adjusted to the fact that she was in love and he loved her in return. It was a sad reflection on her emotional state that she could handle sex easier than love. She heard a snore from the bed and snorted softly, emotional turmoil shattered. Of course she was in love, and he loved her back. It was hte only reason she hadn't pinched him all night long everytime he started to snore.

Alice had her nightmare like usual and woke up around 1 am. Knowing that sleeping in a strange hotel room, alone, wondering when Malcolm would be coming back wasn't gonig to help her drift off any faster, Alice had clicked on the ensuite tv, watching really bad reality shows until she felt suitably brain dead. She'd turned off the tv and was settling back into sleepiness when Malcolm had come in. After that she hadn't gotten much sleep, between helping him get sick and his drunken snores, she'd ended up curling up on the couch and watching tv until she drifted off. Their prescheduled breakfast had woken her up, and after eating, she planned to try and catch another couple of hours, figuring that tonight was gonig to be a busy night.

Her morning went as planned, the food was eaten even if she wasn't hungry anymore, she got another few hours of sleep in before she heard Malcolm made a made dash for hte bathroom. She scrubbed her face with her hand and checked her watch, noting that it was already passed noon. From the sounds of it, Malcolm wasn't gonig to be wanting his breakfast anytime before dinner, she she wheeled the cart outside hte suite door, cash tip tucked under a tray. She was about to duck her head back inside when she spotted Kasumi walking towards her suite.

"Hey bride, you're looking awfully spunky this morning." Alice greeted with a warm smile. Kasumi had kept her bachelorette party inside the hotel, and upon learning that Alice was sitting in her room alone, had come up from her own party to invite her downstairs. Ace had gone down, making sure to only have one drink, just to be safe, and used the opportunity to get to know Malcolm's female relatives, and some of Kasumi's friends. Althought there were five years difference between the two of them, surprisingly Alice and Kasmui got along famously and had the same general feelings about modern movies, music and media.

"I get married to the man of my dreams in a few short hours. Of course I have no clue where he is, some drunken lout is in his bed..." Kasumi joked. Alice smiled at Malcolm's soon to be sister-in-law, knowing exactly what she meant.

"Really? Seems a convention of them came by and kidnapped our men, replacing htem with snoring, vomiting versions." Alice joked back.

"Hmmm." Kasumi nodded, obviously thinking of something. "Can I talk to you, seriously for a few minutes?" she asked. Alice frowned, not knowing what this was about.

"Ah sure, Malcolm's in the bathroom being violently ill, but if you don't mind sound effects, we can go in." Alice offered and Kasumi followed her in.

They both heard the shower start, and Kasumi looked too nervous to sit, so Alice just waited for hte older woman to spit it out. "Malcolm told Diego last night that you were seventeen and his student." Kasumi finally blurted, looking worried but not upset.

Alice just blinked, taking the rushed statement in. It wasn't a question, so Kasumi believed it, but then why was she here now? Ace tried to ignore the nerves fluttering in her gut again, but it was hard to not notice how her body tensed, ready for a physical attack as soon as she became anxious. If she could have thought of anything smart to say right now, she'd say it, but nothing came out. Her jaw locked and she stayed silent, not knowing what would make this worse. Now she felt like hte one who should be kneeling over a toilet, worshipping the porceline gods.

"Oh." Alice finally squeezed a response out, swallowing down bile. She was waiting for the outburst, a ranting discourse of how disgusting she was for seducing Mal away from Shawna, how pathetic she was to be acting like she belonged, how immoral their relationship was, how wrong it was for her to be in love with Malcolm.... Kasumi grabbed Alice's shoulder and helped her sit down on the couch.

"Hey...hey it's ok..." Kasumi soothed. "It's ok, I'm not going to tell anyone." she said softly. "I just needed to let you know I knew. Diego said that Malcolm had been freaking out for part of the night and he finally badgered an explanation out of him." she sat next to Alice.

"Oh." Alice repeated, relief chasing away some of the violent nausea in her gut.

"And once he and Malcolm got to talking....." Kasumi trailed off, unsure of how to continue talking about it. But Alice understood.

"He told Diego everything." she said simply. Kasumi nodded, patting Alice's shoulder sympathetically. Alice folded over her own body, head resting against her knees while Kasumi rubbed her back a little. "So was there anything you wanted to ask me or was this just so I'd know you and he knew?" Alice asked, voice surprisingly normal sounding despite her dejected body language.

"Actually none of the above." Kasumi's answer surprised Alice into sitting back up to look at her properly. "Well the thing is, my brother is a therapist and I was going to ask you if you maybe wanted me to talk to him and set up an appointment." Kasumi said, smiling softly. Alice stared at her in shock, amazed that she didn't care how young she was, or how messed up her life had been. She just wanted to offer to help.

Tears slipped out the corners of her eyes and Alice brushed them away, almost angry at crying. But Kasumi just smiled at her and waited until Alice was more composed. "I think I might like that actually, yes." Alice surprised herself by saying. She'd always dreaded the concept of going to a shrink about her hi온라인카지노게임. They'd ask her to talk about it, go into the details of what happened and how it made her feel etc... add her reluctance to talk about it into her complete lack of funding and she'd never really given it a chance. Now though, she'd had to explain the details to the police, the SSA investigators, the counter investigators, another police officer and a nurse, so she'd built up a resistence to the horrors of her memoried. Alice laughed a little shakey and got up to go to her wallet. She pulled out a card that police woman had palmed to her so long ago. "I keep having people coming nito my life and trying to help me now." she stated and showed Kasumi the card. It was a lawyer's buisness card, and Alice had called him only once, but it had confirmed that Officer Bradley often directed battered women to him because he would take on even the government to help.

Kasumi just nodded, seeming to understand what Alice was trying to express. Gratitude, relief, disbelief and a growing numbness that was pushing the overwhelming emotions away so she could keep moving forward. Alice wiped at her face again as they heard the shower turn off. Kasumi got up and hugged Alice tightly. "I'll go, but if you ever need anything, you can talk to me and Diego. We've got you covered." she offered and headed out the door.

Alice was still standing there, a little shell shocked when Malcolm walked out of the bathroom. He looked better thanks to the shower, and his mind definitly seemed to have recovered because he picked up on Alice's distress right away. "What's up?" he asked, walking over to hug her. She was so distracted that she barely even registered that he was wearing only a towel around his hips.

Ace buried her head against his neck, needing the comfort. "Kasumi came by to talk to me." she paused. "You told Diego." she had no other way of saying it. Malcolm's hands tensed against her back as he froze, startled by her words.

He carefully pulled away from her to see her face, worry written across his. He obviously hadn't intended her to find out that he had spilled the beans to his baby bro, but he also didn't want her to be upset that he needed to talk to someone about it. Salali was no help, she figured to do what they wanted and f*** the system, but Salali was an old rabble rouser like that.

"I'm sorry..." Malcolm started to apologize but Alice shook her head, cutting him off.

"I wish you'd told me so I wasn't caught off guard." Alice stated. "And I'm sorry you are stuck in this stupid situation with me at all." she closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead. "You should be with someone you don't have to lie to your family about." Alice stated, heart in her throat. That's what had been bothering her and had prompted the tears. If Malcolm was in a normal, healthy relationship then there wouldn't be a need for the lies and hiding. He belonged with someone who could be his woman out in public, hold hands, give him a morning kiss, the whole normal deal. Instead he was stuck with a seventeen year old who's in love with him, and has a bus load of emotional baggage.

Malcolm stepped close to her again and tapped her mouth with his knucle to silence her. "I'm right where I want to be." he said, stealing her line from when they'd slept together the first time. He held her face in his hands and kissed her forehead, her nose, her lips. "Alice Spade, I love you. And I am more than willing to wait through the hard times until you and I can do all the normal boyfriend and girlfriend things whenever and whereever we want." he stated, letting his hands drift from her face to her shoulders so he could kiss her cheeks.

Alice looked up at him, still amazed at how tall he was compard to her own height. "I love you too Malcolm Vega. I'm just worried that it's not very good for you." He pulled her to his chest again for another hug. Alice tucked her arms around his waist, wondering if she'd ever get used to the feel of his skin under her fingertips.

"It is what it is Alice." Malcolm stated softly. "Love isn't always good, and it isn't always bad. But I believe that you are more good for me than bad for me." he shrugged but didn't let her go. "Bad side, I very easily could get fired and maybe arrested for being in love with you. Goodside, I am not lying to myself about who I am because you challenged me to be honest to myself. Bad side, your foster family would make our lives living h*** if they found out about this and it might get you taken away. Good side, I'm starting to find a way to let go of the anger in my past and build something real. Not an illusion, not a lie, and not a violent vendetta." he kissed her forehead again. "No more bad side, but I still have a lot of goodside left. I'm in love, real love and not wishful thinking. You're in love, and hopefully starting to heal from your past. We have helped Salali through a tough time by being there for her, the both of us. My family loves you and thinks that even though your old job as a stripper is awkward, they think you have 'cajones' to just out and admit it, willing to take the flack if necessary." he kissed her cheek, ignoring the tears running down her face because she would hide away if he mentioned them.

"There's no rush for anything Alice. If it takes us three years before everything settles down and we can go on our first real date, then I'm willing to wait three f***ing years." he stated simply, not knowing how else to express it to her.

Alice buried her face against his chest, humiliated by her tears and humbled by his words. She'd been trying to give him an out, a chance to walk away from the I love you and take back his normal life. And he wanted nothing to do with it, choosing to be with her and her problems instead. She raised her face from his chest and pushed her lips to his, not bothering to wipe the tears away. He kissed her like she was fragile and delicate, light brushing of lips. His hands came up to thumb wipe the tears away and he accidentally poked her in the eye, which made htem both laugh.

"I'm sorry for being a headcase." Alice said, a smile still dancing around her face.

"It's ok, kind of makes me feel like the mad hatter sometimes, which is actually a lot of fun." he winked at her. Alice laughed at his description, realizing that it was pretty apt.

"Well, we've got... four hours until the wedding starts. So as much as I an enjoying this, if I want to style my hair, I need to get showering." Alice explained as she pulled out of hte hug. Malcolm swatted her backside as she walked passed him and she gave a startled squeak that had both his eyesbrows raised. "I did not just make a girly noise." Alice groaned outloud to herself.

"Oh you certainly did." Malcolm laughed, having to love her reaction. His arms wrapped around her again as he nuzzled her neck.

"I really need to go shower remember?" Alice asked, not even struggling to get free. She loved how it felt to be in his arms, secure without being trapped.

"Mmhmm." Malcolm nibbled at her shoulder through the shirt she wore. "I'll help you scrub your back..." he promised, hands snaking up the inside of her shirt.

Alice eventually did get her shower in, and Malcolm was as good as he promised, scubbing her back and washing her hair in the shower. They both agreed to ignore the fact that what would normally only take her ten minutes alone took them almost an hour to do together, but they were both far too happy to worry. Since her preparation time had suddenly vanished, Alice decided that blow drying her hair out and leaving it down with only a few strands braided out of hte way would haveot suffice. She hadn't cut her hair short in years now, and it reached passed her waist, the colours shimmering through the spectrum of brown from mousy blond to mahogany dark, bronze right beside auburn, and every part of it natural. She braided the top layer of her hair, pulling a thin amount from her temples and letting it fall down the center of her back, the rest of it was free flowing and slightly wavy, and she finger brushed it out again, loving how soft her hair had become.

Malcolm walked into the bathroom, smiling at Alice as she sat in the vanity seat, carefully applying her makeup. She was wearing a complimentary housecoat; he had pulled on the dress pants but hadn't gotten around to the rest yet, and Alice drank in how good his dark skin looked against the formal black pants. Alice had to focus though, because makeup wasn't her usual thing, though she'd gotten good at it by necessity for work. Her skin was clear enough, and a strange enough colour that she never bothered trying to find a foundation or concealer that would actually work. So she thought about her dress, looked at her hair and decided that keeping her makeup simple would be more effective that attention screaming colour. She used a navy blue eyeshadow that complimented her dress and used faint gold dusting in the crease of her lid and inside corners to add brightness. Her lipstick was a slightly rose hued nude colour, barely different than her natural colours and she finished it off by adding a brownish black mascara that made her eyelashes look long enough to brush her cheeks.

When she looked in the mirror to check the overall outcome of her efforts, she spotted Malcolm staring at her reflection. There was a hunger and a need in his eyes that in all rights should have terrified her. But seeing all the dark and bold emotions roll across his eyes just made her heart jump up into her mouth, not a sexual response, but a powerful emotional one. She gave herself over completely to being in love with this man, not wanting to fight against it anymore. There was no point, she could admit to herself that she needed him in her life. Not because she needed him, but because she was in love with him and couldn't imagine her life without him. Alice let out a shakey breath and tried to focus back onto her own reflection as he walked out of the bathroom. It was time to get into the dress, the wedding was in thirty minutes.

She walked out of the bathroom wearing her highheels and the lingere Salali helped her to pick out. Malcolm was flipping his tie into a perfect knot and froze, looking like a deer caught in headlights when he saw what she was wearing. Salali had been horrible and perfect for lingere shopping. The large Native woman was brusque, demanding, blunt and had an amazing eye for detail. She'd not allowed Alice to go for the easy black teddy, and instead had hunted with her until they found hte perfect 'knock his teeth out' lingere. It was nearly the same gold colour as the pattern in Alice's dress, and only a few shades off of Alice's natural skin colour. The lingere wasn't a corset and thong as was more traditional, instead this was a negligee like slip, just a mere breath away from see through, the darker colours of Alice's tattoos were noticable through the back of the negligee. The top was properly cupped so she didn't need a bra, and gave enough support so that under the dress she'd have killer cleavage. The rest of the fabric lay against her skin, tight enough to show off her body to full effect but not so tight that it left marks or restricted movment. Paired with her already done hair and makeup, with the high heels making her legs look even longer than normal and the look on Malcolm's face was one between worship and adoration.

Alice knew how good she looked in it and carefully walked with just the right amount of slink in her step to make her walk a challenge for a man like Malcolm. His tie was forgotten and in a flash he was over by her side, hands running along the satiny fabirc of her lingeree.

"Oh this is not good for me...." Malcolm groaned, fingertip running along the short hem of her negligee, sneaking a little underneath until Alice slapped his hand away.

"Wedding..." Alice reminded him with a smirk, opening up her dress bag. She loved that dress far too much to let it sit in the closet any longer and pulled it on over hte negligee, having to slap Malcolm's 'helping hands' away once more. Though he did honestly help zip her up.

"You look beautiful." he whispered, kissing just beside her ear. It always ave her goosebumps when he did that, and that's why he did it. She smiled and lightly kissed him, not wanting to ruin the makeup.

"You look impossibly handsome." she complimented back, turning to knot his tie quickly. The last thing she grabbed was the necklace Malcolm had given her for Christmas. It was silver, not gold, but she didn't care if it clashed because she was wearing it regardless. "We look fabulous." Alice stated, ready to go.

"Yes we do." Malcolm agreed and escorted her downstairs.

The wedding was nothing like Alice had imaging it should be. She'd only ever had movies to base weddings off of and those were never a good gauge for judgement. The ceremony was short than she thought was normal, but what made up for it were the speeches at the altar. There were three different languages being spoken while the contracts get signed. English, Spanish and Japanese, because some of each family didn't speak any of the rest. Alice stayed in her seat, given a place of honor near the front because she was Malcolm's woman, while Malcolm and his father signed as witnesses and Kasumi's brother the therapist and her mother signed as hers. Alice smiled and ignored the prickle of tears threatening, part of ehr brain noting that Malcolm looked moved to tears himself. And Diego and Kasumi looked radiant. Kasumi had on a simple strapless dress with a blue ribbon under the bust and simple white embroidery, a white and blue orchid in her black hair. Diego looked dark and handsome in his suit, an identical flower tucked into his lapel.

Actually now that she really looked at the Vega family, Alice had to admit that some of them weren't teh most stunning looking, but none of them were actually bad looking. They went from goregous like Malcolm, to cute like little Nina. Kasumi's family was less physically imposing or impressive, but they made up for it with a powerful air of confidence. Her father was shorter than even Alice was, but he scared the crap out of her with his blank stare and emotionless face. Only Kasumi's grandparents seemed emotional, the rest were quietly smiling or blank faced. The Vega family and all of Diego and Kasumi's friends were more than making up for it though, and Alice discreetly wiped a tear off her own cheek as they were announced as man and wife.

Everyone burst out of their seats then, Malcolm taking advantage of his prime location to snap pictures as blue flower petals were thrown into the air around the bride and groom. Alice stayed out of the way, watching as everyone started to mob the pair for photos and to do a toast with the champagne being poured on the tables to the side. Alice was handed a glass and she sipped it carefully, finding it very fruity. Eventually Malcolm located her off to the side and pulled her into the crowds, making her a part of the festivities and family scenes and even Kasumi brushed aside her nervous concern, whispering to the younger woman that eventually it'll be her turn. Alice flamed a bright red and Kasumi laughed, Malcolm snapped a picture of it and Diego was toasting them all.

The reception party was just about as crazy as she expected after seeing the results of the bachelor parties last night. Food was served to tables as people finished eating, there were bottles of tequila and sake available along with the red wine and white wine, champagne being served out and the kids were sent to bed once the ice cream finished.

Alice danced with Malcolm from the first song to the last song, never sitting down and only stopping to get a drink and then back out on the dance floor. She realized after three songs that the set list was very familiar and had to laugh and explain to Malcolm that about five months ago, she'd gotten a request as DJ Mask to come up with a wedding playlist that wouldn't offend Asian or Hispanically traditional families and wouldn't bore the hell out of the guests that were young enough to enjoy a good offensive song. "Your sister-in-law basically paid for your camera." Alice explained eventually. "Let's go to bed." she whispered in his ear and he pulled her away from the last of the departing family, bridge and groom long gone.