………………………………………………

'So this is the Tempo' Vicious thought as he looked at the restaurant in front of him. Couples were walking in dressed in expensive garments. Vicious was dress as well as the others, if not, even better in his black suit and black silk tie. He patted the black wig on his head to make sure it was in the right place; he didn't want to draw anyone's attention with his shocking silver hair. As soon as anyone figured out that Vicious was still alive, it would be harder for him to carry out his plans. Without further adieu, Vicious pushed the glass door open and stepped into the restaurant.

……………………………………………………

Chapter 10: Feelings Revealed

……………………………………………………

Faye glanced at the man sitting across from her. He did not even flinched when she ordered every dessert on the menu after ordering a giant meal that cost well over an average person's monthly salary. After handing the dessert menu back to the waiter, Faye turned to him.

"I absolutely love dessert and I would like to try every one of them. I hope you don't mind," she beamed with a big smile on her face.

"Oh no, don't worry about it. Who doesn't love dessert?" Shawn smiled back. The dinner had turned out great in his opinion. Faye stopped giving him rude remarks and actually started talking to him like a normal person would. Things were going better than planned. At first, Shawn thought Faye was a loose woman playing hard to get. But as he talked to her more, Shawn picked up some clues that she was a woman with a dark tragic past that turned her into who she was. He stopped estimating her and began to really respect her as an equal. Worry suddenly etched all over Shawn's face. Was he becoming interested in Faye? He couldn't be…or could he? If he did fall for Faye, what harm would come out of it? 'Nothing,' he answered himself trying to stop him mind from conjuring more questions.

Noticing the change of expression on Shawn's face, Faye quirked up one of her eyebrows. 'What's up with him?' she thought.

"Hey, something's wrong?" asked Faye as her lips turned from a smile into a tight line of concern.

Shawn's stormy grey eyes widen slightly from being caught off guard. Not knowing what to say, he suddenly blurted, "I was just worried that you might get sick again from all those dessert. After all, I heard from your co-worker that you've just came out of the hospital."

Faye looked at him oddly. 'Is he serious? If he is, he must be stupid.' A soft chuckle escaped from her thought about ending up in the hospital for eating too much heavenly dessert. At least it was better than getting knocked unconscious by him.

"Are you kidding me?" Faye asked with laughter in her voice, "Hospitalized for overdose of dessert?"

"Hey, it can happen," he defended.

"Possibly, but it sounds ridiculous because something that good never happens to me," she said as she took a sip of water from her glass.

Seeing it as a chance to ask her about the incident to find out if she had any clues on the killer, Shawn decided to ask, "So why did you end up in the hospital? Your co-worker didn't tell me."

"I happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time," she answered. Seeing that it wouldn't satisfy Shawn's question, she offered a further explanation. "I saw a dead body in the hallway of a party I attended a couple weeks ago. When I turned away to run from the scene, someone grabbed me from the back. I struggled to get out of his grasp. Before I knew it, I was out cold. When I woke up, I was in the hospital." Her explanation came out so smoothly that one could not detect a hint of deceit in it. Poker Alice was Poker Alice; she had the perfect poker face.

Shawn observed her closely. Faye didn't sound like she was lying so he concluded that she must have not seen the man responsible for the deaths of his fellow workers. The waiter and three servers came walking towards their table. Dessert finally arrived. Faye's eyes lit up with joy when eight beautiful plates of dessert from cake to ice cream sat on the table before her, waiting for her to devour while Shawn only ordered a cup of coffee. Faye looked up at the waiter and thanked him for his service. As she thanked the man, Faye caught someone looking at her from the corner of her eyes. A couple of tables in back of Shawn sat a man looking at them. The man immediately averted his eyes to his dinner when he noticed Faye was looking at him. 'He looks familiar, but I don't remember meeting a guy like him before,' she thought as she took a bite into her strawberry cheesecake. Unable to register the man's face with anyone she knew, Faye decided to let the matter drop and labeled the man as just another one her admirers. Nothing could ruin her tasty meal tonight.

……………………………………………..

Vicious started the cut the piece of steak before him in a rather roughly manner. He was not happy with the situation he was in tonight. In fact, not happy wouldn't even describe it; he was furious. Two tables in front of him was the sickening sight of Faye with Shawn. So she's Shawn's girlfriend. Wonderful…how wonderful it would be to drive that knife he had in his hand into the back of that man sitting in table with Faye. Vicious tried to take a sip of wine to calm his nerves, but he nearly choked when he saw the scene before him.

…………………………………………….

Shawn stood up and offered his hand to Faye, "May I?" Faye took his hand and followed him to the dance floor. As they glided through the dance floor, moving beautifully with the music, Faye caught the man she saw earlier glaring daggers at them. Before Faye could take a closer look, she was whisked into another direction. 'That man is so familiar….where had I seen him before?' The question stuck in Faye's mind. She stole another glance at the man's direction. Then the answer struck her head as fast as lightning. Faye felt lightheaded and her knees began to buckle. Vicious was less than 200 feet away from them sending out death glares. She felt like bolting for the nearest exit, but her legs weren't responding to her demands. The next thing she knew, an arm wrapped her waist tightly holding her in place.

"Are you okay? You looked like you were going to faint," Shawn asked softly in Faye's ears. Faye felt the heat rising to her cheeks. It wasn't from the closeness she was experiencing with Shawn; it was the fact that Vicious was glaring at them and watching how close they were.

"Faye?" Shawn asked again, breaking Faye from her thoughts, "You look a little flustered."

"Shawn, I'm not feeling too well," she mustered. 'God, get me out of this place,' she thought.

"You don't look too well," he muttered with concern written all over his face, "Let's go. You need to go home and rest." With that said, Shawn led Faye out the door, never realizing how close he was to Death that night.

………………………………………..

The ride back to Faye's place was a silent one. Neither party felt like talking. Faye thoughts were back at the restaurant where Vicious was, and Shawn was in his own world thinking about how there were absolutely no leads to the identity of the killer. The car came to a sudden halt, breaking Faye from her reverie.

"We're here."

Faye said her thanks and was about to leave the vehicle when Shawn grasped her wrist.

"I hope we can get together some other time," he said. Not sure of giving him a definite answer, Faye decided to play it safe. She gave him her infamous smirk stepped out the door. Before she closed it she said, "We'll see about that." With that she turned away and walked into the building. After making sure that she had entered safely into her building, Shawn floored the gas pedal and sped off into the night thinking about the woman who was sitting next to him just a few minutes ago. 'Yes, we will definitely get together again. I'll make sure of it,' he mused.

…………………………………………

Faye opened the door to her dark dingy apartment. What a night. Now she could finally get some rest and reflect on what happened tonight. Never mind. Screw reflecting on the night. She was too tired to think. All she wanted to do was jump into the shower and then go to sleep, and that's what she decided to do. While Faye was in the shower enjoying herself, she was oblivious to the shadow that passed by and when into her room.

With drops of water dripping down from her hair, Faye wrapped a white towel around her body. She walked into her room and pulled out one of her drawers, searching for a pair of undies. After rummaging through her clothes for a while, she finally pulled out a pink lacey thong and slipped it on. After searching around some more, she finally found her favorite oversized sweatshirt with a big happy face on it; Ed made it for her. That was the first present she had ever gotten from anyone. Every time she wore the sweatshirt, she felt some warmth creeping into her cold heart. 'Or maybe the sweater is just really warm,' she would argue back. Admitting to feeling attached to Ed was one of the things she least wanted to do. After pulling the sweater on, Faye decided to turn in and get some good night rest. Needless to say, what she found on her bed changed her mind.

"What the hell are you doing here!" she screeched. Vicious lay on her bed, staring thoughtfully at the wall. Several moments of silence had passed before he swung his legs off the bed and walked towards Faye. She stood in her place, not knowing what to do, wishing that maybe her sweatshirt would get her out of the really bad mood she was in at the moment. 'Please, let this be a dream. Let everything be a dream,' she silently wished. She stared at the floor and then closed her eyes, hoping that by the time she opened them, the legs she saw approaching her would disappear. The falling of footsteps stopped. 'Please, I'm just dreaming,' she thought as she popped an eye open. Unfortunately, her wish fell on deaf ears. Faye slowly moved her gaze to Vicious' face. He was merely a foot away from her, the smell of evergreen invading her nostrils. Her eyes finally met his, and at that moment, Faye was surprised at what she saw. Vicious looked like he was battling with his emotions. His ocean blue eyes were filled with anger while he tried to remain calm. Finally he spoke in his ice cold voice.

"What the hell are you doing with Shawn?" he stated rather than asked.

"How do you know Shawn?" Faye narrowed her eyes, wondering where this whole conversation was getting to.

"Answer me," he demanded.

"He asked me out," she replied coolly.

"So you are his new toy," he muttered.

That comment hit a nerve. Faye eyes twitched in anger. 'Where does he get the nerve to say such things!' Faye was not in a good mood at all. 'A toy? I'm a fucking person!' Her anger got the better side of her and her fist flew out at Vicious. He easily dodged her blow and stepped in as he did so, pushing Faye up against the wall. Vicious trapped her with his two hands on the wall and had his body weight pressed against her so she wouldn't escape.

"You asshole," Faye whispered as she stared at Vicious straight in the eye, "How dare you say such things. I'm not anyone's toy. I don't know who Shawn is. We just had a bet and he won. I was merely fulfilling my part of the bet, since I lost. If we were anything more, you would have gotten yourself a free show tonight."

It took Vicious a couple of seconds to process all the facts he just received. Regardless of whether they are together or not, things are getting more dangerous and complicated.

"Stay away from him," he warned with anger leaving his eyes. 'It was just a bet and nothing more,' he told himself, trying to get rid of this tugging feeling he felt so strongly inside of him. He dismissed it as just getting food poisoning. 'Shitty food for such a high price…not worth it.' He slowly let his arms drop to his side, turning to walk away. Before he could even take two steps forward, a heavy hand fell onto his right shoulder and swung him around.

"You can't leave without answering my questions," Faye forced out of her clenched teeth. Tons of questions swam across her mind. She could feel a big migraine approaching if these questions were left unanswered. Vicious didn't make any movement as a sign of leaving, so Faye decided to continue on.

"Who's Shawn?"

"Do you really want to know? You might think of him differently after I answer you, and I don't want be responsible for ruining your blooming relationship with him," he replied sarcastically.

"Shut up and answer me," she voiced angrily.

"I can't do both at the same time," he pointed out. Faye tried her best not to let her anger get to her. Her fist was curled up into a tight ball with her perfectly manicured nails digging deeply into her palms. She was pissed. First he insulted her. Then he demanded for answers to his questions. Now he's being a smart asshole. Screw it. She wasn't going to take that crap anymore.

"You know what. Forget it. Thank you for your concern about who I'm seeing. But I think Shawn is a very likable guy, and I would love to get to know him better since you won't tell me who he is. At least he has never tried to kill me. Plus he treats me like a princess. I clearly don't see any harm in him" she nonchalantly said as she pushed Vicious, "Oh by the way, please lock the door when you leave." Her eyes met Vicious'; he was seething with anger. She couldn't stand to look at his eyes for too long. All that anger they held were because of her…anger that were swirling like tidal waves in his eyes. Faye had truly pissed Vicious off. Not wanting to look into the pools of hell anymore, she turned away and started towards her bed. There was nothing she wanted more than to crawl into the comfort of her bed and hide there until the fallen angel leaves her room. She started to calmly walk towards her bed. 'Just ignore him and pretend nothing is wrong.' Just when she was about to take her first step, she felt a strong grasp on her wrist. 'Just ignore him…just ignore him,' she repeated like a mantra. She stood there with her back towards him, unwilling to turn around and face the wrath of Vicious, but he twisted her arm, forcing her to face him. He turned her around with their faces only several inches apart and spoke through his gritted teeth.

"Don't, Faye."

"Why not?" she winced as he tightened his grip, "Why do you care so much about what I do?"

'Damn shit. I shouldn't care.' Vicious tried to look for the answer to wouldn't give himself away. He didn't want Faye to know that he may be slightly, just very slightly, attracted to her. Then, the picture of the Spike and Faye snapped in his head.

"Because I thought you love Spike," he reasoned, "You know the outcome of getting involved with the syndicate. If you stick too close to Shawn, you might end up dead as well. I know Spike doesn't want you to follow his footsteps. Just stay away from him, just for Spike." No matter how much it hurts to say those words, Vicious uttered each and every single one of them effectively without giving any signs of pain and hesitancy.

"Shut the fuck up," she muttered under her breath; Vicious barely caught the words hanging in the air.

"What?" He wasn't sure if he heard her correctly.

"Don't you dare tell me how I feel or how Spike would feel," she spat out.

"Look I didn't mean it that way Faye," he tried to explain. 'Shit, I try to be helpful and all I get are more problems.' He sighed heavily and he continued with a softer tone, "I know you probably want to shoot me in the head because of what I did to Spike, and I don't understand why you haven't yet. But Spike was my best friend before that bitch, Julia, came into the scene. Our lives got too twisted and it just had to end that way. I was too angry to see my mistakes, and Spike was too obsessed over that woman to recognize his either. We had no way out. However, you do."

He looked at her earnestly in the eye. Vicious had meant everyone word he said. He didn't know why he wanted Faye to stay away. All he knew was that he didn't want to see her brilliant emerald eyes lose their luster and life.

Faye stared at him in shock. She was at a lost of words at that particular moment. Vicious was revealing a part of himself that she thought never existed. She detected a hint of sadness in his voice as he talked about Spike. He wasn't the emotionless psycho killer she'd thought he was. Never in her life did she feel like she needed to reveal her feelings, but at that moment she couldn't stop herself. Her heart screamed for a confession and who's more fitting to listen than the fallen angel before her.

"I loved him. If I were the Faye I was three years ago, I would have killed you without a thought. I'm different now. I was so mad when Spike asked to have himself killed. I confessed my love to him, and still nothing could stop him. I hated him for that. But over the years, I finally accepted his love for Julia and saw him more and more as a best friend. I even started to understand where he was coming from when he left that day to face off with you. We've all had fucked up lives. I wish I could blame it on you, but I can't. As I got to know you more, I realized that I don't want to hurt you…I want to…help you….Vicious." There. She said it. All these feelings and thoughts that has been locked in her mind were finally let out. She didn't know what would happen next. Would he just brush her off? Would he laugh. All these thoughts flew out the window when she felt his lips pressed softly against her own. He gently nibbled on her bottom lip and licked it, asking for entrance. Her mouth opened slightly to comply with his wishes. It started as a soft dance as he sensually moved his tongue with hers, until Faye wrapped one of her arms around his neck, deepening the kiss. With her other hand, she playfully fingered his tie until it came loose and fell onto the floor. Vicious responded by scooping Faye up with his arms. He gently placed her on the bed and broke off their kiss to look Faye in the eye. Uncertainty filled Vicious mind; as much as he wanted to be with Faye, he had signed a death note with the syndicate. Plans had been made; the Red Dragon would fall and he might die in the process. He didn't want Faye to get hurt.

"Faye…I –," he stuttered as he tried to form the right words to explain himself.

Faye caught the hesitancy that passed through his eyes. Before he could continue, she silenced him with her lips. All she could think of was that she didn't want to let him go. She wanted him to be with her. She cared. And through her kiss, she tried to express how much she cared and wanted to help him. The kiss shocked Vicious; he felt so warm and loved when she kissed him. Love. Something he had never felt before in his life. All reasoning and logic left his mind as he submitted himself to Faye's tender kiss. Tonight they would let their love take over them.

Tomorrow would be different story.

……………………………………………

A/N: I know I suck at writing, but I really suck at writing sensual stuff. I've started writing this chapter immediately after the update, but it was really hard to get my thoughts together. Scatterbrain I am. . There were so many directions I could have taken the story to, so I had a hard time deciding. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Yes, I figured since it's around chapter 10 already, I might as well give let the two get together. Don't be too happy. Hahah. I'm not too sure if I made Faye looked too easy in this chapter. I'm really sorry. That was not my intention. I really don't want to drag this story to 30 something chapters long. That is why I wanted to speed some things up a little bit.

Concetta: I hope you love all the other chapters as well.

Breezy1028: Hahah, who doesn't hate cliffies? But they're just so fun to have!

Kinokokichigai: Yes, I agree. I hope there aren't too many tense problems in this chapter. I was just too excited to update that I didn't want to revise the chapter. Hehe. Also, I just totally suck at the tense stuff. .

Autumn's Fire: Interesting…in a good way or a bad way? O.o;;;

Alexis: I'll shall comply to your wishes.

Animefreak03: I've read your story! I think it is very lovely and definitely better than mine. How come it's not complete! Please upload the rest of the chapters!

Angels Heart 1622: I'm really glad you are open-minded towards this pairing! You rock!

Sesshomarulover87: I hope you like this chapter!

Marishka: I promise I'll try to update sooner next time.

Thank you for all the reviews!

Love or hate this chapter? Leave some feedback! Please review!