Title: La Douleur Exquise

Fandom: Faking It

Pairing: Amy Raundenfeld | Reagan

Summary: "I know you're a princess. I Skwerkeled it." Reamy | Modern Royalty AU

Disclaimer: I do not own Faking It. Sadly, Reagan isn't mine. Nor is Shane. Or Amy. Other people can have Karma and Liam. But dammit, I want Lauren and Theo too! Oh, and Amy's country's name is from the Pokemon hack game, Pokemon Glazed. You'll see why I chose it.

Warning: I've only been in this fandom for a couple of days, I have not yet memorized how these ladies walk and talk. Also, there is violence somewhere in the very far future of this fic. Fair warning.

Also, maybe I should add here that I have a tendency to kill characters I love. I'm not yet sure if it'll happen here, but the warning's out there.

Note: I love Reagan with all my heart. She is literally the embodiment of my type. I apologize for anything I do to her here. I had a need for badass Reagan. Now that that long ass author's note is out of the way… Let's do this.

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Chapter One

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Amy peered out the tinted windows to examine the building they'd pulled up on. It had four stories of drab grey bricks and fading red paint. A couple of hooded teens hung around the front steps of the apartment building, laughing with each other and passing around what seemed to be a small roll of marijuana. She looked up at the building again, noticing not for the first time the fire escape that touched all the windows on each floor. That would be useful.

"Your Highness, are you ready?"

She turned to at the passenger seat. Alpha was looking at her with questioning eyes. Or at least, she thought there was a question in his eyes. She couldn't really see behind his dark sunglasses. She doesn't think she'd ever even seen what his eyes looked like. She didn't want to think about the only time she'd seen the eyes of the Alpha before him.

The skin of his face had been corroding from the acid that was meant for Amy.

Seriously. Who on Earth created acid guns like some sort of comic villain?

Felix did, apparently.

She shook herself out of her thoughts and offered a lopsided smile towards Alpha. "I was born ready," she quipped, despite the fact that her voice held a slight quiver in it.

This Alpha didn't offer her a kind smile of encouragement, not like his predecessor had done. This Alpha was cold and calculating, which was probably why he'd been specifically chosen for this task. All this Alpha did was give her a terse nod and hand her a sleek black iPhone.

"This phone has been specifically altered so that we're your emergency contact. We have also bugged it with a tracker so that we can find you no matter what happens so I ask that you keep this phone on your person at all times. We will also be listening in to all of your conversations and tracking all the messages you sen–"

She held up a hand to stop him from continuing his speech. "Take out that last one. You can bug the apartment's telephone, but not my phone. I draw the line at that."

Alpha looked like he was about to contest her decision, but thought against it. Amy allowed herself a smile, taking that tiny victory. She knew everything they did was for her safety and protection, but there were certain parts of her that she'd like to keep private.

"Very well." Alpha took the phone back and handed it to the similarly dressed man in the driver's seat. Omega, as Amy was told to call him, popped open the phone. In no time at all, the phone was back in Amy's hands.

At least they were reliable and fast.

"So," Amy drawled, "I'll be seeing you guys around."

Alpha and Omega give her a terse nod. She held up a hand when Alpha made a move to go outside and open her door for her. For supposedly secret agents, these guys didn't understand subtlety at all. The black Mercedes parked outside an apartment building was suspicious enough. The people didn't need to see Alpha in all his black suit, dark glasses glory.

She took a deep breath to center herself, something that Karma's mother had taught her when they were kids, and headed out.

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The apartment was on the third floor and was fairly small. There was an open space with a small TV and a couch, plus a table and two chairs a couple of feet away. Near the table and chairs was the kitchen, which was just a sink, some grimy counters, and a refrigerator. Then there were two doors, one that lead to the bedroom and the other to the bathroom.

The place was definitely a far cry from her old home.

Her bedroom at home was at least twice the size of the entire apartment. It wasn't a bad change. In fact, this felt less stifling than the place she grew up in. There weren't eyes constantly watching her every move, expecting her to be the carbon copy of her mother, the Queen. There weren't people who whispered behind her back just because she didn't use the proper fork despite it being drilled into her head most of her life.

Who needed that many forks when eating anyway?

In this small apartment, she actually felt free.

She dropped down into the surprisingly comfortable couch and took out her phone. She made the call in a couple of quick taps, her phone against her ear as she waited to hear her best friend's voice.

"Amy!"

There it was. A smile immediately found its way to Amy's lips. "Hey, Karma. I just arrived."

"That's great! What's your room number again? I'll be there in five."

"304."

There wasn't a reply, just the click of the door shutting behind Karma before the call ended. Amy laughed lightly to herself and leant back on the couch. Her friendship with Karma had been one that stood against time. Ten years. They had been friends for ten years. Karma's parents were locals to Amy's country, but when Karma turned fifteen, they moved to America. Amy's family had done all they can to help their move become easier, mostly because Amy had pestered her mother endlessly. They'd maintained contact through the year that they were separated and now Amy was in Austin with Karma a couple of blocks away.

A sound echoed throughout the apartment and Amy's eyes immediately turned to the door. Sure it had been five minutes already, but Karma couldn't have been there already, right?

Another sound, and this time Amy knew it didn't come from the door. She turned to the window near the kitchen, the one that lead out to the fire escape, and fear immediately clutched at her chest. Did they find her already? How was that even possible? Her hand clutched her phone, finger hovering over the emergency button.

Black and purple hair popped inside from the window and hazy brown eyes looked around. "Shit. Wrong window," muttered the stranger in an oddly raspy voice.

Amy watched cautiously, her phone still in hand.

The stranger made a move to move back out, but misjudged the distance between the ledge and her hand, causing her to tumble inside. There wasn't even a bit of hesitation in Amy – which striked her as odd, but she pushed the thought away – as she moved to the girl's side and helped her up, noticing the way she smelled vaguely of alcohol, something spicy and something Amy couldn't quite put her finger on. The girl stood up but swayed a moment later, laughing at herself.

If Amy had any doubts before, now she was really sure that the girl was drunk. It wasn't even noon yet.

Finally, the girl seemed to have collected herself enough to get a good look at Amy and a small smirk found its way to her lips. "Thanks for the help…" She paused, hand on the window, and looked down at Amy's shirt, "Shrimp girl." With that, she made her way out and a clank of metal indicated that she was back on the fire escape.

Amy followed the girl to the window and peeked out, just in time to see her duck inside a window on the floor below her.

Amy didn't have enough time to think about the absurdity of the girl's appearance in her apartment before a knock resounded on the door. She moved to open it, a smile forming on her lips at the sight of Karma who immediately greeted her with a huge hug and light laughter.

"Nice shrimp shirt, Amy."

What? Her donut shirt was still in the bags.

xxx

Note: I've decided to keep the chapters short and sweet. I'm lazy like that. But hey! We've already met Amy, Karma, and Reagan, plus Alpha and Omega. Maybe we'll see Shane in the next chapter.