A/N: Hey… It's been a while, uh? I know, I'm sorry for the wait but I had some death in my family. I don't want to talk about it.

But... A lot of things happened since the last chapter! First, some girl on dA called TotalDramaPrincess has drawn some fanart for my story! This really made my week guys :)

Also, I now have the results of the votes. Three stories were picked for the month of December. Details on them at the end.

Nooowww... Enjoy that chapter that took me a lot of time to write and sorry if I nearly scrapped the end. I really had to hurry since my brother was pissing me off to get on the computer and I have homework to get done.

Love you and thank you for everything! :D *hugs*


Beliefs

Courtney's eyes slowly opened after a long nap, and were brutally hit by the strong morning sunlight of April. The young woman groaned, and realized she was sitting in the passenger seat in an uncomfortable position. While straightening up to reach an ideal posture, she felt her body aching unbearably due to the several cuts and wounds she received previous night. The smell of hot gasoline hitting her nose, she instantly peeked around and figured out where the odor came from.

A few meters away, a few cars were parked temporarily on gray asphalt, and some people were standing beside them, thrusting a handle into a little whole on their car. She tilted her head and peered up, a red panel flashed in 3D letters the words 'Gas Station'. Shifting again from her position, the awakened brunette looked around for a black haired smirking delinquent. And, nothing. Just a few people, sun and gas pumps.

Yes, again, it was too good to be true.

She dreamed everything that had happened, everything that had been said, everything that had been thought. Duncan wasn't her white knight, and he would never save her from a horrid dream with the man of her dreams. He surely had abandoned her here a few hours ago when she fell asleep, tired to be dragging her around since it wasn't worthy for him. She would never be his.

When she was at verge of tears, Courtney heard the driver's door unlock and open, letting a black haired man slide in the passenger seat and position himself in front of the steering wheel. Mumbling a bitter string of unrepeatable insults while thrusting the key into the contact, the seething punk barely seemed to notice the girl's irreplaceable presence next to him. Courtney, not as her usual self, remained quiet, thinking maybe the best thing to do was minding her own business.

When he finally figured out she was here, he didn't ask her how she was going.

"Those assholes," Duncan growled, starting the car abruptly. "Willing to make me pay full price even if there's a promotion. What are the on?"

"What are you talking about?" Courtney piped up, feeling concerned of the boy's misfortune.

Looking to his right where the woman leaned against the window, her head covered with a few bandages and her hand hurt as well, Duncan had a flash. He remembered everything he had witnessed, everything he had heard, everything he had seen in the past weeks, and wondered why he was talking about a few bags of chips while the girl he loved just went through way worse than paying full price on an item.

It was definitely egoistic.

Ignoring her previous question, Duncan steadied his eyes on the road ahead of them. And she didn't insist on telling her what the problem was; she stuck her lips together and didn't add anything. That silence wasn't familiar to them, being used to yell at each other at every occasion they had, but it was best as it was.

It was familiarly strange quietness.


The model paced around the master room of his incredibly expensive and luxurious loft, perspiring liters of water from the forehead to the armpits. Though he woke up three hours ago, his hair looked like a total mess and he was didn't even shower. Throwing clothes carelessly into a brown leather luggage, Justin reminded himself of what happened the last night. From the roses studded on the floor to the divorce threat and finally Courtney's last minutes of life. And he didn't feel as alright as he was back twelve hours ago.

This loss made his slumber really hard to proceed. Not only guilty he felt, he also felt lonely. No more of this warm presence always next to him every night he had passed in his bed, cuddling him, and making him believe everything would be alright. Even on the worst days of his life, this presence was here for him. Perhaps it was the best thing of his life.

This presence of a certain lady he had loved for so many years and had lost in the time of a night.

When Justin awoke that morning, he knew he couldn't bear it anymore. No woman could ever stand in for Courtney, either for the heavenly perfectness she provided. The guilt was slowly gnawing him to bones and he knew it was his fault if everything happened. He just couldn't admit it, it was too difficult.

Just thinking about how he would never see her again was horrid.

The man was determined; he had to get away. Have a week with someone else, to get used to her absence and find a credible thing to tell the medias about her death. Something like a kidnapping or a suicide or a disappearance. That would easily be swallowed by the whole continent and the model agency. Then he would meet another girl, causing all the attention to turn to her, then he would marry her and everyone would forget about Courtney in the space of six months. Finally, all is well that ends well.

Well, except for her parents but they loved him and trusted him as their son, so they would believe it.

Justin sighed in relief. There was nothing more to worry about. All he had to do now was to pay someone to get rid of any proof against him and… He was safe! Now he just had to relax in another woman's arms while waiting patiently for the job to be done and clear him out of any trouble.

Again, according to his beliefs, life would be flawless.

Or could it be?


The engine stopped slowly in front of an old small building aside an unknown road they had been rolling on for an hour. Duncan looked up, seeing they were right under a square panel flashing 'motel' on a night blue background, then he looked to his left, and saw his adorable princess collapsed into the passenger seat. The way she was sound asleep made her look more innocent than she usually was, and even made him forget a little about all that had happened in the last months of years. Like nothing he knew about happened.

She looked just like his perfect bossy princess back in his teenage years.

The punk chuckled at the thought that ironically, a few years ago, Courtney seemed to be the strongest woman you'd ever seen. She was mighty, fearless, smart, and powerful. Everyone feared her, and she wasn't scared of anyone. She controlled her life and all that came around… well at least, had been in the 18 years before she met Justin.

Slowly, as told by Bridgette, when the blue eyed eye candy penetrated her life, the former CIT changed day after day, word after word, kiss after kiss. She started to distance more and more from her family, calling and seeing her dear relatives from once a week to once a month and finally once a year. Courtney then started pushing her friends away, being brainwashed daily by her unfaithful husband. She wasn't answering her mails anymore, responding to phone calls or going out with close girl friends. And no wonder about the guy friends. Justin forced her to stay at home and only talk to business men or people in the fashion industry. He imposed himself as her only friend; an egoistic false friend that would betray her anytime he would find better. Justin told her so many times he was everything she ever had that she became used to the idea, and was persuaded he was her whole life. Luckily, Bridgette and Geoff were still here, convinced it wasn't the truth though they didn't know about what was happening inside the house.

Preoccupied by his bittersweet thoughts, Duncan didn't notice the brunette had quietly awakened next to him, though her eyelids were shut.

"Are you going to keep looking at me this way all night long or you're gonna get us in?"

"Oh sorry," He mumbled, flushing red at Princess's remark.

The punk stepped out of the car and quickly walked to the passenger side, opening the door and getting his lady out in his arms, shuffled in the same position as last night. Trying to steady himself on the still fresh ice, Duncan carried her to the motel room, gentleman as he was.

Dropped onto a comfy bed, Courtney had no choice to open her eyes and growled, pained by Duncan's careless attitude toward her hurt body. Princess took a look at the room, it was way poorer than she was used to. Some old cheap flowered wallpaper was stuck on the walls, a brown cracked leather loveseat was installed in the corner of the room right next to a small brown television box and only one window was hidden behind grey 80's curtain out some horrid fashion catalogue. There was an odd little oven in the next room that had an 'out of order' rectangular note stuck on and, behind an open door, was a small bathroom looking as clean as a toilet seat. In a short summary, this must have been the worst motel room Courtney had ever seen. Especially since a few weeks ago, she went to the chicest hotel she had ever seen. Contrary to beliefs, a woman like her would never be found in those conditions, but this time the brunette was begging to differ.

"We couldn't go somewhere better," Duncan piped up, noticing the mix of disgust and disappointment in her glare. "If we had gone to a five-star-hotel, Justin would surely have found us because of the paparazzi."

"Smart." Courtney said smoothly, what caused the pierced man to smirk smugly.

His grin rapidly faded when he looked around and saw only a bed, on what his princess was laying in. He then took a look at the loveseat, and figured out what he had left to do. Taking his coat off, he walked toward the small sofa.

"Duncan," Courtney called his name, smiling decently. "You don't have to sleep into… this. We can share the same bed, you know?"

Duncan raised his pierced eyebrow, surprised by her proposition and realizing what he had dreamed of for years was finally coming true. Well… Dreaming as dreaming perversely…

"We're adults, aren't we? We're able to sleep in the same bed without doing anything, you know…"

He nodded, agreeing and instantly making his way toward the bed, readying to take place next to the girl of his dream.

"Yep, I know." He smiled again, confident.

Taking his shoes off, Duncan slid under the thick duvet and turned off the light, not daring kissing Courtney before lying down completely. He shuffled to face the ceiling, feeling that missing piece next to him finally getting his puzzle complete. This piece being Courtney. He beamed and slowly let his blue eyes close.

"Duncan?" Courtney whispered softly, not in slumber yet.

"What?"

"How is it, after all those years of dating, we never did it?" She asked shyly but curiously.

"What 'it'?" Duncan questioned, not figuring out what she meant.

She scoffed. "Well, you know. It… As in having sex…"

His eyes got really wide… So much he could almost picture them gleaming blue in the darkness of the room. Why Courtney, the usual wise and prude girl he knew, was asking a question concerning something like sex?

Perhaps she was… as wanting it as he was… ?

"Why are you asking me?" Duncan asked, not responding her question. "You were the one who wanted to wait…"

Courtney sighed. "Yeah, you're right. I… I wanted to wait."

Then, the punk waited and didn't hear anything more. Total silence. He figured out maybe she was sound asleep next to him, since she hadn't since Justin's aggression on her.

And he didn't say anything; he knew her life was hard enough right now. No need to bother her with his selfish needs. They would not have sex now, maybe not tomorrow, maybe not this week. They would maybe not even get together so soon, as he had been dreaming of for months and maybe years.

And it was okay this way.


Stories chosen; Fake Lovers, Imaginary Friends... My Other Other Half & Girl Likes Boy, Boy Screws Up! Thank you so much for all the votes, everything was counted and thank you for reviewing even after nine freaking long chapters.

I'll try to update soon :D