Hey everyone! Okay so I've concluded that the short chapters just really aren't going to work, which most of you were fine with anyway. I'll continue to do the long chapters, however, during my winter break I'll have to make time to see my friends so chapters might be a bit shorter than usual during that time (probably around 2,000 words instead of 3,000, so it's not too bad)...

If you read any of my other stories then you already know this, but I recently caught a nasty case of bronchitis and my computer also broke down, causing many delays in updating all of my stories, so I'm sorry about that, but I'm feeling much better now and I'm armed with a newly fixed computer so everything should go fine until finals :)

Also, special thanks to Titan Negro for helping me with some details about Brazil that will appear in the chapter I'm currently working on!

And now I present the next chapter! Enjoy!

~RukiaRae

Last Chapter:

Tara smiled, wondering just how long it would take for Rachel to make an ass out of herself.

Chapter 11!

Sure enough, it really hadn't taken Rachel that long for her to get drunk. Gar noticed something was up when she almost lost her balance several times, so he led her over to a couch in the family room. In retrospect, this wasn't really a great idea. Not only was Rachel going to kill him for letting his family see her like so (if she remembered), but also his family didn't take to kindly to their "alcoholic" daughter-in-law to be. Nevermind that she hadn't ever really drunk and, accidentally, had too much. His dad especially seemed pleased to find all the things wrong with her and latch on to them. Normally, Gar was the same way, but his father was just so...so...annoying that Gar found himself defending Rachel. Of course, it was all in the heat of the moment, from being provoked, and it didn't mean anything.

Furthermore, not only had it been stupid for those reasons, but also because of the secret they were trying to keep. It occurred to Gar that if he actually got her to say the secret, he'd be free of her. But then the threat of jail and fines dropped into his mind. Crap. Not to mention, Gar was looking forward to being promoted.

He groaned as his father, once again, began criticizing Rachel's personality. The rest of the party guests either migrated to the kitchen, or stayed in the room pretending to be oblivious to the conversation. Tara was one of the people who chose to hang around, eavesdropping sneakily on the conversation.

"People like her," he gestured to Rachel, who was now slumped over on the couch, "Don't give a damn about anyone else. How do you know that she really likes you, Garfield?"

Before Gar could jump in and answer, Rachel began to speak, well more like slur.

"I don't."

"What?" asked Gar's dad, astounded.

"I don't like...you," she struggled to find the words, her mind fogged by the alcohol.

"Excuse me?" asked Gar's dad, Mark, in a low, dangerous voice.

Gar, however, breathed a sigh of relief. She, Gar guessed, had meant the comment for him, but everyone, thankfully, thought she was addressing his father. Sure enough, her next sentence proved that she was addressing Gar.

"I'm only here becau-,"she began, but Gar cut her off with a quick kiss, that she clearly had not been expecting, before she would reveal the deal.

Thankfully, his mother, Maria, had appeared at that moment and, seeing her son with his fiancee, jumped in.

"Yes, I think you both could do with a bit of rest. I have dessert in the kitchen, it's a new recipe. Try it and let me know what you think," she said, urging everyone into the kitchen.

Gar smiled at her, appreciating her calming presence on the gathering of people and for the distraction. However, just as Gar reached the stairs and was about to help her up to the second floor into the guest bedroom, Mark stepped before his son.

"I'd like a word with you," he stated, sternly.

Gar sighed, "I'm a little busy at the moment."

Then, instead of letting Gar pass, Mark called Roy.

Roy quickly found Mark, looking questioningly from Mark to Gar, each glaring at one another and refusing to back down.

"Can you take Rebecca up to the guest bedroom so I can talk to my son?" He asked tensely, never breaking the gaze from his son.

"It's Rachel, dad. Her name is Rachel," snarled Gar, his icy tone biting.

Gar's response shocked Roy. Gar and Roy had known each other since childhood, and not once, had Roy ever felt such coldness from Gar, even when he and his father had gotten in fights they had never fought this badly. Still, Roy walked over to Gar, and with Gar's help, finally was able to get Rachel into his arms, bridal style, before heading up the stairs.

Gar's gaze swept around his father's study, noticing how it hadn't really changed from when he'd been home last. Scientific books lined the wooden bookshelves behind his father's antique leather desk chair. The desk, as always, was littered with papers and glass slides that had been examined using the light microscope on the edge of the desk. His father's laptop sat atop a stack of open books. All in all, the office held the organized chaos Gar had come to expect from his father.

"So, what do you want to talk about?" snapped Gar, after a few moments of silence.

His father sighed, pinching the bridge of his skinny nose. This brought back many memories for Gar, his father had done this whenever he was stressed, pouring over research. Gar recalled how he and mom would work in the kitchen to make something to lift his dad's spirits. He would always waddle, carrying the plate of baked goods, into his father's office, holding them high above his head, almost as an offering to his father.

His dad would always take it, set the food aside, and pick Gar up, seating the small child on his lap. The older Gar got, the more he asked his father to explain what he was doing...Until 'the Accident' that is...

Gar pushed the sickening thought out of his mind, noticing his father's disposition. Mark had always been strong, but he was definitely showing sings of aging. Most of his onyx hair was graying, the wrinkles on his face were more defined, and his eyes no longer seemed to light up. Gar shoved this observation away too, he didn't like thinking about his father's deterioration. Gar's father finally began to speak, drawing Gar's attention.

"Look, you know your mother and I love you very much and want what's best for you, right?" he began, looking weary, trying to sidestep another argument.

But he was too late.

"Really? That's news to me," sneered Gar, rage building up inside him, "If you wanted what was best for me, then why are you trying to drive away my fiancee?"

"Gar, she's...not the one for you..." stated his father, softly, "There's no way that she can make you happy."

"Too bad, because she does," he replied.

"I know you, you're defiant and-"

Gar cut off his father before he could continue, "I LOVE HER DAD, SO ACCEPT IT BECAUSE SHE'S HERE TO STAY!"

After his outburst, Gar glimpsed the look of shock on his father's face and left the study, slamming the wooden door closed.

In the vacated living room, Gar sat on the couch, letting his head drop into his hands, mulling over what just happened.

Gar hadn't really thought much about the words that he'd just screamed at his father, but after replaying the fight in his head several times, he could only pay attention to his parting remark.

"I LOVE HER DAD, SO ACCEPT IT BECAUSE SHE'S HERE TO STAY!"

He had no idea where that outburst came from, because, well it was obvious that Rachel was a pain in his side ever since he'd accepted the job from her. He didn't love her, and he knew this, right?

Gar had never felt so confused. He groaned. Gar could hear his father approaching, so he quickly darted for the rooms, heading to the one with the name 'Garfield' engraved into the door.

Gar noticed two figures in the room, one of which he recognized was his mother.

"Mom?" he questioned.

"What are you doing in here?" questioned his mother, which sounded strangely like she was scolding him, "How can you leave your fiancee alone in the condition she's in?"

Yea, she was scolding him.

"Well, she's already gone to bed, so I thought I would too. Where's my stuff?"

His mom just laughed, "Oh, sweetie, your father and I are under no illusion that you and your fiancee don't sleep in the same bed. Your things are in the guest room with her."

Gar could feel his cheeks heating up, "Oh, uh, okay then."

Gar left the room, the door swishing closed behind him, feeling like he wanted to die.

He slowly trudged his way back to his room, seeing that Rachel was, in fact, asleep on the bed. He sighed, careful to take off some of the blankets from the bed and make a mock sleeping bag at the foot of the bed.

Rachel opened her eyes, before violently shutting them. She groaned, feeling a massive headache. She slowly swung around, facing the alarm clock at the other nightstand. She narrowed her eyes at the numbers that glared back at her, they read 7:00. Rachel growled, leave it to her to wake up early with a hangover. She grunted, pulling the covers over her head and falling back into a dreamless sleep.

When she woke up a second time, no less pleasantly, the clock read 11:35. Raven groaned, this time angry that she had overslept to such a degree. Great, now his family thinks that I'm a bitch, an alcoholic, AND lazy. Rachel slowly clamored down the stairs to grab breakfast. She distinctly heard Gar talking to his mother, and decided food could wait a few more minutes.

"Why did you invite him to stay here, mom?" he groaned.

"You guys used to be the best of friends, I thought it'd be nice for you guys to see each other again," replied Maria, a frown on her aged face.

"But the whole week?"

"You never come home anymore, Gar. I thought it would be a nice surprise. I can't just tell him to leave now. Besides, you don't have to do everything together, he can take care of himself for sometime too."

Gar grunted. Deciding that nothing else interesting would be said, Rachel approached Gar and Maria.

"Morning," she greeted, sleepily.

"Oh, hello dear," greeted Maria, "I made some pancakes, would you like any?"

Rachel smiled slightly at Maria, nodding.

"Have a seat, I'll bring them over."

Rachel did as she was asked, sitting at the kitchen counter on an elevated chair. Then Roy stepped into the room, sending her a beaming smile while Maria was busy with the food. Gar narrowed his eyes at Roy, but was shocked to see Rachel smile back. Of course, her smile wasn't nearly as big, but it was still there.

Seeing Roy, several images from the night before flooded Rachel's mind.

Roy carried Rachel up to the room, gently sitting her on the edge of the shower in the guest bathroom, inches away from the toilet. He sat next to her, steading her petite form as it threatened to tip too far forward...

"Are you feeling okay?" he asked quietly.

"Yeahh," she replied, pausing for a moment before adding, "You're much nicer than he is, you know."

"He who? Garfield?" asked Roy, somewhat perplexed.

"No, the other he I'm engaged to," she said with a snort, sarcasm evident in her voice.

Roy laughed. Rachel looked at him curiously before smiling.

"Why would he ever be mean to you? That just means that he doesn't appreciate you like he should," Roy replied.

This time, Rachel laughed.

"Of course he doesn't appreciate me, I never expected him to. He just needs to uphold his end of the deal and we're good."

"Deal?" asked Roy.

Rachel huffed before telling Roy of the arrangement, "Gar agreed to marry me so I wouldn't get deported, he hates me. But I get to keep my job and he gets a promotion...someday."

Roy was silent a moment, trying to absorb what she'd just said.

"But you deserve to marry someone who loves you."

She just looked at Roy, her gaze piercing into him.

"I've given up on that a long time ago."

Roy's face softened at her sad tone.

Taking a deep breath, Roy, trying not to stutter, blurted out, "I'll change that, just promise that you'll give me a chance. This week, I promise, I'll do my best. This week I won't give up on you, just promise me that you'll consider marrying me instead to get your citizenship."

Rachel looked at him with surprised, she was honestly touched at his genuine statement.

She nodded, "Okay, deal."

"Thanks, Rachel," he said with a grin, glad to have a chance with her.

"Call me Raven, all of my friends did," she stated bluntly.

If it were even possible, Roy beamed more, eager to be considered a friend.

Then, she found herself hurling into the toilet, with Roy rushing to bring her a toothbrush from her bags.

Rachel felt ill. Not because she actually was, but because of what happened. For the first time, she allowed thoughts of what would happen to their well crafted plan seep into her mind. She had just given Roy permission to try and win her over, and yet, she needed to pretend to be in love with Garfield so that during the interviews the family would comment on how great they were together.

Rachel really had no idea what to do. And then there was Garfield, should she tell him about what happened? She knew that she should, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. He'll probably be so mad that I just messed up the entire plan she thought. She found that by the time breakfast had been set in front of her that she had really lost her appetite. Still, she choked down the meal so as not to offend Maria.

After the most unpleasant meal ever, Rachel decided that she needed to face her problem head on and came up with a brilliant solution: ignore it.

The need for her survival outweighed making a big deal of it. She was paranoid that if she told Roy to back off and got into a fight with him that he'd spill her secret. And Gar, well, she wasn't sure why she was scared to tell Gar, but her heart clenched painfully at the thought of it...

Besides, ignoring it wouldn't be so bad. She had been, as much as she hated to admit it, drunk, after all her pounding head verified that much. And drunk people black out all the time, forgetting part of her night. So she would just go along pretending not to remember the exchange at all, carrying this secret with her to the grave. However, she also needed to find a way to let Roy know that she didn't know, as to stop his advances on her.

Though, part of her contradicted, it was nice having someone who was after her for a change. Still, she couldn't risk swapping Gar for Roy and alienating the family further, as it was, Mark seemed to have taking a special disliking to her from the moment she stepped foot into his house. She couldn't imagine what he'd do if she jumped ship, he'd probably alert Roy's family (after all, they were good friends) and then he'd probably strangle her to death or something. Rachel shuddered at the very thought.

"Hey, Raven, feeling better?" asked Roy, nonchalantly.

Raven went paler, her skin draining of the little color it possessed. She hadn't thought he would call her that in front of everyone. Her shock must have been apparent, because Roy then asked, "Is something wrong?"

On the inside, Rachel was in a panic. What was she going to do about this? Then she decided now was the time to subtly let him know that she had no recollection of the events before.

Gar seemed to regard the pair with...anger? He narrowed his eyes at them, feeling left out.

"Raveennn," called Roy in a sing-song voice, trying to gain her attention once again.

"It's nothing, I'm fine. But how do you know that?" she asked incredulously.

"Know what?" Roy asked, confused.

"My friends used to call me that..." explained Rachel, allowing her sentence to trail off.

"I know, you told me that last night, and you told me that I could call you that," informed Roy, though he, too, seemed shocked that Rachel didn't remember. Rachel could see from the corner of her eye that Gar narrowed his eyes more at Roy. What is his problem? she thought.

Still, Rachel ignored Gar's scathing gaze and answered Roy, trying to sound surprised.

"Oh, I did?" she laughed nervously, "Well, I guess you can then. What else did I say, though?"

Roy sighed, and Rachel forced herself to ignore the crestfallen look on his face.

"Nothing important," he mumbled, aware that both Gar and Maria's gazes were fixed on him now.

"Okay," replied Rachel, feeling completely rotten.

She quickly stood up, nearly knocking a plate over and causing an earthquake to rumble in her fragile head, desperate to leave Gar and Roy behind.

"Are you okay?" asked Maria, noticing Rachel's imbalance.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for the pancakes, they were delicious. I'm going to go get ready."

Maria nodded and took Rachel's breakfast plate from her hands, "Be careful, dear."

Rachel nodded, quickly rushing out of the kitchen and back up to the sanctuary of the unoccupied guest bedroom. With the door safely closed, Raven slid to the floor. What did I just do?

"Can I have a word? Alone," asked Gar curtly.

Roy nodded, "Sure."

Knowing that something was bothering her son as far as his best friend was concerned, Maria took the not-so-subtle hint and darted from the kitchen, leaving the boys to talk about their problems.

"I can see you hitting on my fiancee, you know," hissed Gar, "and I don't appreciate it."

"Look, normally I wouldn't do anything, us being friends and all," began Roy, talking quickly before Gar could interrupt him, "But let's be honest here, you don't love her. And she deserves better than that."

Gar froze, "What?"

"Last night, she...well, she told me a-about your deal," admitted Roy.

Gar stared stupidly, giving Roy the chance to continue on.

"And you despise her. She deserves better. Hell, maybe I won't be the one she chooses, but I'm certainly going to try to be."

"What the hell does that mean? Does that mean anything to you?" snarled Gar, pissed beyond belief for several reasons, "You were always a womanizer, how can you ever deserve her?"

Gar knew that he'd crossed a line, but he didn't care.

"Look, I'm a citizen in America too. She's not confined to marrying you. I intend to show her that. She may not remember it, but last night she promised to give me a chance, one that I intend to take," informed Roy in a steely voice, letting Gar know that he wouldn't back down.

Gar just stood there, absorbing all of this new information. He felt like he'd just been swiftly kicked in the gut, all of the air had rushed out of him and he no longer felt like he could breathe. ...Last night she promised to give me a chance...

Gar didn't know why, but those words stung him more than his best friend trying to get his fiancee. Because, well, she just showed how she didn't like him, she was willing to jump ship. His dad had been right. Gar barely noticed Roy exit the room.

Finally, after standing rooted in the same spot for a while, Gar reached the conclusion that he wasn't just going to let her go. Roy is a backstabbing little bastard and I won't let him get her he decided. With that, Gar set off to find Rachel, he needed to talk to her.

Sorry for the long delay, but I hope this made up for it! Let me know what you think in a review!

~RukiaRae