Queen of Spades (House of Car...

Alice smoothed her palm down the soft fabric of her Prom dress. It was a nervous habit she'd developed lately, and only Salali knew why Ace had begun to check her belly on a regular basis. There was no baby bump yet, but there would be one soon.

"Breathe. Just breath in and out...." Alice reminded herself softly. She stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror and wondered if her gravid status was obvious to everyone around her. She couldn't understand how no one had started to suspect yet. She'd filled out. The weight she'd lost earlier was back on, and she was just a little more curvy than was normal, even more her. Thank god Malcolm had told the taylor to leave the extra room in the dress. He'd done it so Alice could gain the weight back, which she had done, just not how everyone expected. Malcolm... just thinking about her fiancee had Alice dash into the bathroom to upchuck. That sounds horrible but it was true. Alice was thrilled to see him, and terrified. He'd been by to see her a few times since....the Gala, but he was pulling away from her and she could feel it.

Her hand rested against her belly as she flushed the toilet. Wiping her mouth on a towel, she rinsed out with mouthwash and considered her options again. Do I tell him or don't I? she asked herself, squeezing her eyes closed.

She had planned on telling him, the day she realized she was pregnant. She had texted him and asked him to come over, that she had something very important to talk to him about. And he had apologized for not being able to come over. Apparently he was 'swamped with trying to grade exams'. Everytime Ace tried to get him to come see her, he was too busy. And when he came by on his own, it was never for long, and always he seemed in a hurry to leave. Which had caused its own share of rampant weeping on Ace's behalf. Because now she wasn't sure if he wanted her in his life at all.

Ace stood up and walked out of the bathroom. The original plan for the night, as devised by West and Mal, called for DJ Mask and Alice to arrive together. Now of course, everyone thought she was dating West, which meant everyone thought he was DJ Mask. Alice clutched her ticket in her hand and waited on Salali. The fairytale version of her night had included Malcolm picking her up and taking her to Prom himself but now.... Alice didn't know if he was even going to be there. He had seen for himself that Alice was pulling her life back together. She was no longer having hourly panic attacks, though once in a while one crept up on her and mobbed her. Nightmares were still a frequent occurance, but she was even finding them less.... consuming than they used to be. He must have realized that she was surviving the trauma and starting to stabalize. So he was pulling himself out of her life. She spun the ring on her finger. It was her last night as a student and she would be tarred and feathered before she'd give up that ring. It was now back on the right finger, proudly displayed. And if Malcolm wasn't there tonight..... Alice wouldn't tell him. She'd let him walk out of her life and take care of this baby on her own. Because she knew that if he wasn't willing to battle his personal demons and be with her tonight, he wasn't ever coming back as the man she'd fallen in love with. Saving her life might have cost Malcolm his. He was alive, but only as a shadow of himself.

Alice sucked in another breath, pushing away the urge to cry. F***ing pregnancy hormones. Alice cursed mentally, dabbing at her eyes, careful of the makeup already applied. Salali stepped outside and locked the apartment door behind them. The large Native woman gave Alice a soft smile.

"You look beautiful Alice. You glow satinka." Salali said to her, a proud tone in her voice. Salali pulled Alice to her ample bosom and hugged her tightly. "It'll be alright. Everything will turn out." the Native woman whispered, rough voice even more broken sounding as emotion choked her.

"I know Sal." Alice breathed, feeling her gut fill with a calmness she hadn't felt in ages. "Whatever happens, tonight is my last act as a highschool student." Alice smiled at her guardian and friend. "I'm all growed up now mama squirrel." she joked, making Salali roar with laughter.

The two women started to climb into Salali's beat up muscle car when a horn honking caught their attention. Alice frowned and looked at the end of their street, trying to figure out what all the commotion was about. Driving up the street towards them as a stretch black limo with a very familiar figure hanging out the sunroof, screaming Alice's name. Before any romantic notion could swell, Alice started to laugh. Kim was waving her arms frantically, making sure that Ace couldn't miss her dramatic enterance.

"AAAAAAAALLLLLLLIIIIIIICCCCCCEEEEE!" Kim shrieked.

"KIIIIIIIMMMMM!" Ace screamed back, laughing as she saw the other windows on the limo roll down to reveal the faces of her friends. West smirked out the window at her. He had been the only other person Alice had told about her expectant condition. And only after Malcolm had been 'too busy to come over'. She'd needed someone to talk to that might know how to help her, and even thoguh she'd originally planned on telling no one, her voluntary big brother West had someone coaxed the 온라인카지노게임 out of her. He was equal parts pissed off at Malcolm's behaviour, thrilled for her obvious happiness and nervous about becoming an uncle. He'd already warned her that he expected to be a big part in the future little Spade.

The limo pulled to a stop in front of Alice and Salali, a disgruntled looking driver getting out to open the door for Alice. She thanked him politely and laughed at Salali pushed her towards her friends. "You should arrive is style." The large Native woman cajoled and Alice got in the flashy car with a chuckle.

Kim pounced on ehr at the first opportunity, hugging her tightly. West threw his arm over her shoulder and continued to smirk at everyone. "Don't get mad." He stated cryptically. Alice frowned at him and turned to see the judging looks in everyone's eyes.

"You told!" Alice stated, shocked and feeling a little betrayed. Kim just squeezed her a little tighter, then let go.

"Told you not to get mad Ace." West sighed, patting her shoulder. "I wasn't gonig to tell. You know I'm good at keeping my trap shut." he shot Kim a glare.

The petite brunette flushed, a guilty look plain as day on her face. "I had already told the others about you and Malcolm." she confessed. Alice stared at her best girl friend is shock, too stunned to respond.

"Before you get all pissed off and betrayed, she really had no choice." Justine interjected smoothly. "I always know when she has a secret and we eventually battered it out of her. Especially after Malcolm and West killed that guy." she said it plainly. Alice felt a weight in her chest as she recalled the events.

"And then West found out I'd told everyone and then he realized that we might be able to help." Kim took over the conversation again.

"Wait, help with what?" Alice was getting confused.

"With getting the baby daddy to stop avoiding you so he can hear the good news." Justine said before Kim could.

Alice just stared at her friends, overwhelmed with conflicting emotions. Fear, panic, a stab of worry, a flush of confused betrayal, excitement, happiness, shock. Almost inevitably she felt tears well up and she started to laugh and cry at the same time, exasperated with her wildly fluctuating emotions. "It's ok, it's ok. This happens a lot lately!" Alice waved away everyone's concern as she dug into her dainty purse for a tissue. Sal had given her a bunch, figuring she'd need one either way depending on how her night ends.

"Have you gotten a chance to talk to him at all?" Alice asked West softly, letting her friends settle into their own excited chatter for prom. They flat out refused to tell her how they were planning to help, but just tried to ease her worry by saying it was fool proof. Which of course made her convinced tonight was gonig to end it fire and brimstone.

West nodded, his face unahppy. "He... he's convinced he's a monster. He's been avoiding you because he's worried that he's as bad for you as Stuart was. When I could get him to talk, he was just convinced that you'd be better off without him making your life worse." West stated with another sigh.

Alice nodded her head, she'd already figured he'd go all self loathing martyr like that. What made her gnash her teeth was that he was avoiding her so she COULDN'T help convince him he was wrong. "Is he even coming tonight?" she asked, wondering what she was supposed to do if he wasn't. The student body was expecting DJ Mask, and she had given the costume to Malcolm before the whole Gala fallout had hit.

Thankfully West nodded. "Yeah, I made sure of it. Told him if he was too stupid to show up tonight he didn't deserve you and that you would be better off without him. Then I may have hinted that some of the student body were planning on pulling a Carrie on you, and I knew his protective possessiveness would compel him to come."

Alice coughed, choking on her how spit as she gasped in surprise. "Jesus christ he's going to hate me for that." she said, voice despairing.

"No, he's going to hate me for that. And that's fine, I can always remind him later, after you two are safely back together, that he owes me. Big time." West replied smugly.

"So how was it dating a teacher?" Justine asked, sliding back into the conversation. Alice felt a flush creep across her cheeks.

"Ah..." she stammered.

"Did you guys ever do it in school?" "Was it a whirlwind romance?" "Did he really propose in Mexico?" all her friends started to bombard her with questions.

Just like that first day she'd met them, Kim jumped to her rescue against all the questions. "Geez guys really? It's prom night, save the interrogation for another day." she warned htem off. Which was a good thing because they were pulling up in front of the school.

Alice swallowed thicky as she followed them out of the vehicle. The stiches from Stuart's attack were still startlingly exposed, the cuts a little red and puckered looking still, but healing. She had decided to not cover them up, a bold move to show everyone that she, Alice Spade, was a survivor. Now of course, as everyone started to look over at her and whisper, she regretted the brash decision, but it was far too late now to go back and change. Alice stopped walking as something occured to her.

"Wait a second. West, aren't people right now convinced you and I are lovers?" she asked him. He nodded, a smirk on his face as always. "And they all know I'm 'dating DJ Mask?" she asked. Again he nodded, the smirk stretching into a smile as he realized where she was going with this. "So aren't people gonig to realize part of that isn't true when they realize you're over here and DJ Mask is over there?" she asked, pointing at Malcolm, not yet realizing it herself that she wasn't freaking out yet.

West grinned at her and gave her a gentle shove forward. "Exactly." he said, voice smug.

"You're gonig to get me in trouble aren't you?" she asked him over her shoulder, slowly making her way towards the table where her friends were all seated for the Prom dinner.

To say that sitting at a table, eating a ridiculously fancy chicken dinner while her fiancee stood on the other side of the room was uncomfortable would be a bold faced lie. Alice wanted to march over there and demand that he stop dodging her so they could freaking talk already! Alice noticed that she was knotting and wrangling the napkin on her lap in her anger and frustration. She took a deep breath to calm down, knowing that her mood swings were volatile lately. The meal might as well have been sawdust and cardboard for all that Ace tasted it, she ate mechanically, and only because she knew that while she could skip a meal on her own, she was now eating for two and had to give the baby everything it needed to become healthy. Plates of dinner were removed and replaced with flutes of ice cream in place of champagne.

The student valedictorian stood on the rasied stage next to DJ Mask to do the final speech. "Graduating Seniors, welcome to your final Prom!" a student whose name Alice had forgotten announced to much applause. "We've written our exams, and at midnight tonight, we will no longer be students in highschool, but adults on our way to bright and amazing futures!" everyone cheered at that. Alice's heart thumped and she swore she felt the baby move, even though that was impossible. "Now I know it's sad for a lot of us. Having to say goodbye to the hallways that had acted as our prison cell... I mean school." There was scattered laughter, but Alice wasn't one of the ones laughing. "And it's heartbreaking for us all to have to say good bye to our friends and mentors." Alice saw Kim wipe a tear off her face shamelessly while Sam and Butch cuddled closer.

"For a lot of us, it's scary, going out into the big unknown that is life after highschool." At this Alice did smirk, because she already knew what was out there. Like Salali said, she did everything a** backwards. "But if there is one thing I can say without doubt, is that each and everyone of us is capable of meeting that challenge head on." Everyone held up their ice cream champagne flutes as he raised his. "So here is to our final moments together. May our futures temper us into better man and women. May our chocies in life fill us with happiness and good memories for declining years." everyone nodded to his words. "And most importantly, may tonight be one of many amazing nights we all deserve. To us!" he finished his rousing speech.

"TO US!" the collective of students replied, more than one glisening eye giving evidence of emotional responses.

After the plates, glasses and tables were cleared away, Alice saw Malcolm adjust something and then the music started to gradually increase. She'd seen his electronics in the apartment, so it should have come as no surprise to her that he knew how to use her system, but it still caught her out a little. How confidant he looked up there.

Her friends pulled her off the sidelines and into the dance floor, carefully maneuvering her ever closer to DJ Mask. Though many students were coming up to her and giving her their condolances for the attack, or trying to ask not so subtle questions, Alice's friends were mostly deflecting the curious. She knew people were trying to figure out what was truth and what was lie, the fact that West was clearly standing near her and DJ Mask was also visible on the stage seemed to throw the general student body for a whirl as they had believed them to be one and the same.

Even though there was a crowd of people between them, Alice knew the moment he spotted her coming towards him. Because his slumped shoulders straightened, and a gloved hand started to fidget with the seams of the costume. She couldn't see his face, but somehow knew that they would have eye contact right now if he took off the mask. So she stared straight at him and walked forward, too focused on moving and getting her chance to talk to him to notice that the student body was moving out of her way. Whispers and stares followed in her wake, and she was oblivious to it all.

She carefully climbed the risers leading onto the sound stage, unaware that the eyes of the student body below were all on her. Even Malcolm looked frozen in place as she came towards him. She knew that if she broke the eye contact that held him in place, he would likely flee, terrified that she wanted nothing to do with him anymore. He was convinced that she was better off without a killer in her life. So she needed to convince him that she wanted nothing more than to have him there, protecting her and their baby for the rest of their lives.

The song was winding up to its powerful finish, and the weight of the crowd's gaze broke as her friends created a disturbance, purposefully pulling attention to them, giving Alice and Malcolm a sembalance of privacy. "Parca, Hay algo que usted y yo tenemos que hablar..." She said, knowing that by keeping to Spanish they could talk in public and almost no one would understand. (Reaper, There is something you and I need to discuss...)

His masked head nodded, and he turned to the sounds station, letting the current song slide into something less epic, more romantic for the couples in the crowd to make use of. He held out a gloved hand to her and led her back down the risers and into the crowd of her peers. He still hadn't said anything to her, but his hand held hers and the other rested against her back, pulling her to him so they could dance.

"Hay algo que tengo que decir así." Malcolm finally stated, voice a little muffled from the damn Mask.(There is something I need to say as well).  Their dance wasn't quite the romantic scene it could have been, considering the fact that he was basically wearing a Predator mask. "Que se merece a alguien en tu vida que no es un monstruo. No soy mejor que él. Lo único que parecen ser capaces de hacer es traer sufrimiento y la muerte." his voice was mournful. (You deserve someone in your life who isn't a monster. I'm no better than he was. The only thing I seem to be able to do is bring suffering and death).

Alice looked at him, feeling the ever present tingle of tears in her eyes. She stopped dancing with him, oblivious to the people swirling about them, captured in their own moment of time. "That's not true." she said softly, switching back to English. She pulled his hand off her back and peeled the glove off his long fingered hand. Hand exposed, she pressed his palm to her stomach. "You may be nicnamed Reaper, but pretty soon someone is going to be calling you daddy. You're not a monster Malcolm. You're a husband and a father." she stated plainly.

His body froze at her words, and she wished she could see his face for this moment. See his eyes so she could know what he was thinking. He hadn't wanted kids, she knew that. He had told West he wasn't ready for them only a few short months ago. And here she was telling him that he was having one far sooner than expected. When he pulled his hand off her stomach she almost wailed in broken hearted despair, thinking that he wasn't happy with her announcement. But Malcolm simply raised his hand to push the mask up off his face so he could stare at her, eyes full of shock and wonder. Then his lips crashed to hers and she realized that the tears on her face were dripping from his eyes. His arms wrapped around her and he spun them about, not caring that anyone looking could see who he was. Their secret was exposed and he couldn't give a damn about the consequences. Alice pulled out of the kiss and lowered his mask, looking around to see how many people had seen his face. It was only then that she realized how devious West had been. He had anticipated the fact that Malcolm would take off that stupid mask. The lights around them were off, the room flooded with darkness except for a string of lights winding around the room. It should have looked tacky, white christmas tree lights stretching around hte crowd of students, weaving from hand to hand, person to person. But it looked like a chain of fireflies, connecting everyone together, with Alice and Malcolm wrapped up near the center of it, like the bead of a dream catcher.

Alice spent as much of the night as she could in his arms, some of the terror and dread falling away. She'd seen something in his eyes that started to heal the deepest scars inside her psyche. Whatever he'd been feeling before, whatever self doubt and loathing he'd suffered was gone. Malcolm Vega was the father of her unborn child, her fiancee and she now knew that there wasn't anything he'd let pull them apart. Not even his own personal demons.

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A/N: I think that's pretty much it folks. I have to wrap up and give you you all a glimpse into the next step in their lives. But other than the epilogue, this is the end of their 온라인카지노게임.

Of course saying that, I also have to admit that you all get to see more of these two, and the little Vega in the oven, more in King of Hearts, West's romantic 온라인카지노게임.