(A/N: Well, I'm pretty much the world's biggest House of the Scorpion fan, and I have written this lovely piece to prove it. My OTP is definitely María x Matt, but I haven't gotten around to it yet, seeing as I usually have to get my fix through roleplays. :P Hope you guys enjoy this. Dedicated to Leo for all the ideas and hilarious little quotes that I threw into it. And Abigail too, from years ago. OH HOW I LOVETH THEE ALL. Anyway, enjoy ^_^)

The candle-lit lounge room was eloquent and ornate, just as the rest of El Patrón's mansion was. The extravagant birthday party was dying down, and Emilia Mendoza had just finished comforting her poor little sister, María, who was sobbing because of what that stupid clone did to her. He had demanded a kiss from her and embarrassed her in front of all those people. A clone was trying to take Emilia's precious little sister as his prey, and she was furious, struggling to keep her anger inside, as she knew it would only make María sob more to see Emilia shouting.

Steven Alacrán followed her into the room, sitting next to her on the couch. She had her arm on the armrest, twiddling her fingers and staring at the corner, trying to contain her rage. "Steven, I cannot stand that clone." She said, glancing over at him, her eyes narrowed with rage.

"I remember when we first met him, if only I had known what he was." He agreed, sighing. María wasn't his sister, he could scarcely imagine how Emilia felt.

"It's your fault, Steven!" She shouted, then she looked down and shook her head, trying to stay calm. "I can't-I can't stand seeing him around my sister. I'm almost ashamed to be related to her when she acts like she likes him. At least now she won't like him anymore, he's gone and behaved like the animal he is, so she might have some sense knocked into her!"

"Emilia-calm down,"

"You try to calm down!" She snapped. "Imagine if you had a sister, and some animal was

attacking her."

"Well he's revolting. But no one will allow them to be around each other anymore."

"El Patrón thinks it's hilarious. I can't believe him! Sometimes he makes me so-so angry!"

The CAMERAS. He mouthed harshly, gripping her hand. "Come on, Emilia, we can go blow off steam," In the oasis, he didn't say it just in case they were listening right now. She nodded in understanding and stood, following him in a huff.

Emilia was huffing and ranting the entire way there, and Steven just held her hand and listened, growing angrier at the clone by the moment, but he didn't want to get angry, he knew she'd be much happier in a moment. He had set up a little picnic for them. He was going to pull her away at some point after the party and take her there, regardless of what happened.

He had to marry her anyhow-he might as well be sweet. Deep down he really did like her a lot, and he was glad El Patrón happened to want them to wed in the future.

"Someone else knows about this place," She narrowed her eyes, seeing the blanket and basket set up. "Wonderful." Sarcasm dripped from her voice. Steven just laughed.

"Not a chance, Emilia. I set this up for us earlier. I was going to drag you out here one way or another." He squeezed her hand and led her to sit down, opening the basket and handing her a sandwich.

She ate quietly, smiling, seeming perked up quite a bit. She stole glances at him between bites, and about halfway through her meal she murmured, "Thank you, Steven..."

"Of course dear." he smiled. "May as well get used to each other. I don't want to be miserable for the rest of our lives."

"I can get used to you. Just so long as you...assure me you aren't fond of that Matt thing."

"The clone? Never." He said, giving her a funny look. "I can't stand him. I was just not saying anything because I didn't want to get you yelling about it." He laughed, sounding dark in his laughter. A sound that resonated deep within Emilia.

"Thank goodness." She said, taking another bite, feeling an itch to get closer to him. She was polite enough to wait for their meal to be over. She then just looked at him, trying to think of something she could say to hear that laugh again.

"We could …" She put the scraps away into the basket and scooted just a smidgen closer to him. "We could convince María that Matt wants to eat Furball," She laughed slightly, and so did he, it felt so nice.

"I almost wish we could switch the safe horse out for Tam Lin's," Steven cackled, and she leaned closer to him, brushing her long black hair behind her ear and looking into his eyes. Weren't they the luckiest people in all of Opium? Famous, beautiful, arranged to be married and actually feeling something for each other. She slowly slipped her arms around him, one around his waist and one around his neck. His gaze was fixated on hers as he leaned closer, his eyes sliding shut as he pressed his lips to hers.

Her response was quick and passionate, she needed to physically relieve her frustrations so badly and it showed. She gave short, heated kisses and gripped a tuft of his hair so hard that it pinched a little. His strong arms wrapped around her and they continued for a few moments, before Emilia stopped to whisper, "We are incredibly lucky," And smiled broadly as Steven nodded in dazed agreement. Their lips met again, and he brought her small body closer to his.

"Thank you for taking me out here." She whispered against his mouth, smiling, "You sure do know how to lift me up..."

"I hope you feel how I do when I see your beauty," He whispered, a sweet little smile crossing his lips.

"You're easy on the eyes yourself, Steven," She smirked and nipped at his lip, leaning back and pulling him onto her. She found herself desperately awaiting their honeymoon a few years down the road. She blushed and pressed open-mouthed kisses to his jawline and neck, feeling his body quiver from the pleasure. She liked that power. And he liked the power of pushing her down, just gently, and returning the favour with playful kisses on her neck. Then his lips returned to hers, and he gradually deepened the kisses until he heard her make a soft sound. Then he slowed down and built back up toward making her moan again. It amused him, and she was certainly not opposed to it. They weren't going to go further than that until they were married, anyway, Emilia always played by the rules. But this, it was incredibly nice, and she was thrilled for the wedding now.

They must have laid there for an hour, kissing intensely and holding each other, before they decided to go back, walking hand in hand, a little closer than before.

Emilia and Steven always looked more comfortable with each other after that day, Matteo never really suspected their deep and bonding hatred of him, though they figured there would be a day when none of it mattered and he'd finally be slaughtered for parts. Little did they know the day of judgement would be so near after their wedding.

It was sort of a shock to see El Patrón collapse amidst the joyful ceremony, and the newlywed couple were left staring in shock at the altar, as everyone else rushed around and desperately searched for the missing clone. Stupid clone, the two thought, glancing at each other, nervous. Now if Matt was gone, it didn't just mean an inconvenience-it meant he would be worthless, his entire life would've been wasted, he had no reason for existing... And El Patrón would die. It was sick to think that the creature had found a way to hide from his rightful owner who needed him now.

They had to take a hovercraft back to Aztlán after that, to drop María off at the convent. And when they did they found a lovely surprise.

Matt. Emilia's conniving little sister had tried to save her little pet by sneaking him off to Aztlán with her dressed as an eejit. Neither of them stood for it, though, and they had the clone taken away at last and drugged María until she shut up and could be brought home without a fight.

Soon enough, it was dark, and they were back home in Opium, sitting in their living room, still in their nice wedding clothes. "I hate him so much," Emilia said with fury, squeezing Steven's hand.

"As do I. He'll be disposed of soon enough, and El Patrón will be much more stable." He nodded firmly.

When a doctor burst in with the news that the clone had been poisoned, and El Patrón was dying, Steven became enraged, grabbing at his hair and roaring, "WHAT?" Emilia looked about as shocked and angry as he was, but she was beyond words.

"So that creature is still alive, while our leader is nearly dead?" Emilia asked, to confirm this was really what he had said.

A small nod was all the doctor had, for now. "B-but they'll dispose of the clone,"

"Begone," Steven waved to the man, and he skittered off like a frightened animal.

"Oh Emilia," He hugged her tightly, she was crying from frustration, and he understood that feeling. He gently helped her up, guiding her toward their bedroom. "Come on. We'll have some wine and lie in bed. We should at least have the joy of celebrating our marriage. And tomorrow, if they haven't already, we'll dispose of that thing ourselves."

Her husband was perfect. She pulled a bottle of wine from the drawer, pouring two glasses and handing one to him. She wiped her tears and held her glass up, "We will dispose of it alright." She agreed, and he clinked his glass with hers before they both downed them rather hastily.

A glass or two later, they had made their way to the bed, and Steven wrapped Emilia up in his arms, just for a moment, kissing her forehead. "I'm going to change into something comfortable, and we can sleep,"

"As will I." She said, going to the walk-in closet, closing the door behind her. They both hung up their wedding clothes and changed into comfortable sleepwear, still out of each other's sight. They had not seen one another disrobed before.

A final glass of wine before bed, and one more vow to dispose of the clone, and they flicked the lamp by the bed and held each other in the silence.

Finally, Steven broke the silence, whispering, "It might be odd for me to say it, but... I really am happy we're here together."

Emilia held him and snuggled him, her head spinning pleasantly from all the wine. "I am too. We're lucky to be so fond of each other." Her fingertips trailed down his side, then his leg. She was really very fond of him. "And together...we'll do great things..."

"Like control all of Opium," He grinned slightly. "Emilia, it's ours now. Tragic as it is that El Patrón has died, we get to carry on his legacy."

She shivered with delight at the very thought, gently gripping the back of his thigh and pulling his body to hers. "That's right, we will..." She grinned. "And we'll never die... because we won't let our clones run away like his highness did."

"Of course not, he was foolish to give it intelligence, but it was out of vanity. I can understand vanity." He lay against her, trailing his fingers gently down her back and pressing his lips to her cheek.

"I suppose he couldn't get enough of having children so he started treating his clones as children. Our kids will be so wonderful that we won't have any desire to do such a terrible thing." Emilia grinned. "Mendoza and Alacrán blood-they would be flawless!"

Steven chuckled, "El Patrón was a genius, putting us together. We should get started now. The old fashioned way. No cloning going on in here." He rolled her over and pressed her to the bed. She laughed, an evil and delighted sound, and wrapped her arms around him, kissing him hard. Slowly, he slipped off her gown - with no protest from Emilia whatsoever - running his fingers down her neck and the centre of her chest, glancing down at her gorgeous body.

"I expected you to be nervous." He teased, pressing his fingers gently between her legs, eliciting a moan from the woman.

"If you looked in the mirror every day and saw this, you wouldn't be self-conscious either!" She declared, tilting her head back and running her fingers down his chest now, swiftly unbuttoning his night shirt and pulling it away. He wasn't nervous, either, and it could be seen why. They were fucking beautiful. Oh, god, their own vanity and their admiration for one another just radiated and made them both wild.

"Mm, and now this is all mine, isn't it?" He whispered, shoving just one finger deep inside of her quite suddenly. She made a shrieking, helpless gasp of pleasure. "Outside the bedroom we can work together... but here, it's everyone for themselves... and this is what control feels like, Emilia..."

She was captivated. Oh, how scandalous, a private power struggle between the Mendozas and the Alacráns, nothing had ever sounded so amusing. She had a feeling that sex would never be boring or stagnant between them.

He pressed his finger in and out of her slowly, then faster, keeping a firm grip on her thigh so she couldn't pull away, at least not to regain herself. But she found a way to reach her trembling hands upward and drag them down his chest, her touch delicate yet commanding upon his arousal. Her fingers danced against the front of his pants, never daring to go beneath, which was fine at first...but slowly developed into madness.

"I will touch you, you just need to be patient." She said, really wanting him to beg. That would be the ultimate act of submission.

He didn't bend, so she started to stroke more and more lightly, eventually stopping and trailing her hand back up his chest, sighing as though she were satisfied. It was her best work to ignore the bursts of pleasure his finger-well, fingers, now he had added another!-were giving her, but she managed to play it off as if it was nothing.

He became a little frustrated with her lack of response. "Emilia, does that feel good?" He murmured, already sounding a little less 'in control', as he put it.

"I'm just waiting," She said, smiling at him. Waiting for him to beg, really, but she was feeling a lot of things. She struggled not to let it show that her whole being was overcome with sporadic jolts of pleasure. If he made her climax, that was game. But she was so close to winning all the same.

"Waiting for what? A-am I doing something wrong?"

She grinned. "You're simply forgetting something."

"What?"

"I think you're getting there."

He started to understand that she was just testing him. He grew frustrated and curled his fingers, almost subconsciously, and she lost her cover, her entire body trembling for a moment enough for him to pinpoint his accidental success and drive her home. She gasped and pawed at him like an animal, her back arching, every muscle tensing for a few moments before she collapsed beneath him, struggling for air.

"I suppose I got there, didn't I?" He grinned, a triumphant and evil grin, that laugh coming from him once again.

"Not exactly," She said, her voice high and flighty. She was seeing stars.

"That was just the beginning," He reassured her, slipping the remaining clothing off and giving her one last stroke, to make certain all of her was wet, before gently easing himself inside her. It may have been the first time, but he'd opened her up enough to dull the pain, with that orgasm... Maybe she'd feel it later, all the more to remind her she'd been owned.

She glared at him a bit, but the look started to soften as he hit those spots which still tingled with pleasure. Oh, she was furious, but it felt so good. It wasn't fair, she had wanted so badly to win... Maybe next time... No, to give up was a loser's way. But all the poor woman could do was scratch on his back and moan. He was good. She instantly wondered who else he had fucked to get this good. But the thought faded, as she realized she was probably really good as well, and she hadn't fucked anyone else.

It was safe to say that after his blatant victory, they both resigned, and took level ground, the rhythm calm and peaceful. Her body trembled and tensed, like it had before, but nothing was being held back. And because of this, once her climax hit, it didn't stop hitting. He kept his rhythm steady, like he'd been told to by his rather...experienced brother, until he literally could not stand it anymore. It didn't last as long as he would have liked, but by the end, Emilia was screaming so loudly she may have awakened their father in the very, very far end of the mansion. He pushed in one last time and covered her parted lips with his own, kissing her deeply as he felt those waves of pleasure finally rush through his own body.

They waited until the air they could get while still locked in the kiss became insufficient. It took a while, but they eventually had to pull away simply to breathe.

"You bastard," She hissed, still angry at him for how he had defeated her, by dumb luck she swore!

"My, I thought after all that you might have calmed down." That damn chuckle again.

"I think I hate you..." She scowled at him, still quivering with bouts of pleasure.

"How charming, Emilia. I think I hate you too." He teased, giving her a small kiss on the cheek. Slowly he pulled out of her, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes.

"I suppose I have to get used to you," She said, recalling how they always used to say that, a small, reluctant smile crossing her lips as she slipped into a deep, deep sleep.