A.N: Hello everyone I'm obviously back. More than half of this chapter was written last summer (that's writers block for you). This was supposed to be up last summer but I forgot to put this on a USB before I went back to the states (I do baffle myself sometimes).

So last December I finally watched the video of lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" and I had to laugh. The video actually gives you guys a big clue as to what's going to happen in one part of the story. I was totally surprised.

Please Review

Chapter three: First date

I want your drama, the touch of your hand

I want your leather studded kiss in the sand

I want your love

Amélie sighed as looked at her reflection in the mirror. Her clothes were now wrinkled, her once neatly-done hair was a mess and to top it all off she had a black eye. She carefully touched the area around her eye and winced causing even more pain. She briefly wondered how much makeup she would need to hide the black eye. She was startled by the chimes of the clock in the dining room. It was six, last she checked it was one. She found it odd that the day had gone by so fast but considering how her day went she told herself that she shouldn't be surprised. Another sigh made its way to her lips as she recalled what happened earlier.

After quickly getting ready, Ares had taken her to a quaint European bakery, that also acted as a café, for breakfast. At first she had been slightly nervous, but somehow he had made her feel at ease without even meaning to.

"I'll have two more croissants and another bowl of yogurt with honey." Ares told the waiter. "Anything else for you Amélie?"

She hesitated. "I'll have more of your delicious spanakopita, a croissant and another bowl of coffee." She told the waiter with a slight blush staining her cheeks.

"Was I right to take you here or what?" Ares asked with a grin.

"You were right. The food here is great." She replied enthusiastically. "But was it necessary for you to wake me up so early?" she asked teasingly.

"I wanted to spend time with you today but I have an errand to run in a few hours." He replied. "The fact that I got to see you in that night gown was an added bonus." He added grinning.

"I'll have to remember to trade my night gowns and negligee for ugly t-shirts and shorts." She replied with a mischievous smile.

"And deny me the pleasure of admiring the fine craftsmanship of those wonderful tailors." Ares asked in mock horror.

"I'm afraid so." Amelie said sadly. "You see the Greek god of war has been spying on me, and I don't feel comfortable wearing such revealing clothing anymore. But if you want I can lend them to you. Though I doubt my clothes would fit on you."

"I doubt they would look good on me even if they came in my size. One thing I'm sure of is that not only they look great on you but you would also look great with nothing on."

"Were I to go around wearing nothing I would freeze to death and you would be denied the pleasure of my company."

"But I would be there to keep you warm!" Ares purred sensually.

"I would think that clothes would be more efficient for keeping one warm. Besides we both have our duties to attend to so I doubt you could be with me 24/7."

She was startled out of her reverie by the ringing of the phone. Hoping that it was Ares.

"Hello?" she said nervously.

"Darling, how are you?" A woman's voice greeted her.

"Hello mother! I'm doing wonderfully. How is your trip so far?"

"It's going well I suppose." Her mother replied airily. "Can you imagine we were forced to sleep in one of the bases?"

"How did you fair?" Amélie had a hard time imagining her socialite of a mother sleeping on a military base.

"Wonderfully!" Her mother exclaimed.

"Really?" Amélie asked skeptically.

"You forget that my father was in the military and this is not the first time I've been in a situation like this. Besides, it amuses me to see your father struggling with the living arrangements."

"I thought that suitable living quarters were to be arranged." Amélie said distractedly.

"Yes they were, but he decided that he didn't deserve special treatment and that he would share the soldiers' living conditions." Her mother replied giddily. Amelie often forgot that despite being a hardcore socialite Anna Brissot had a strong streak of mischief that remained unaltered despite marrying her father.

"I wonder who put the idea in his head?" Amélie asked with a smile.

"I did mention that it is hard to earn the respect of soldiers and they would think of us as snobs but your father is always misinterpreting what I say." Anna said with a sigh.

"Where are you now mother?" Amélie asked.

"We left the base this morning and are now in France. Tomorrow we are going to see your Mémé and Pépé before going to England to see your Grandmum." Her mother replied. "Now tell me did you go to Hugh Thompson's winter ball?"

"No mother. You know the thought of him makes me ill." Amélie said with a sigh.

"Amélie!" her mother exclaimed. "I understand that he is not attractive but our families need to remain on good terms. I have to go now your father needs a backrub. I'll talk to you soon sweetheart. Remember: connections. Don't forget our top three rules."

She briefly smiled as she hung up the phone. She had done three things with Ares that her mother had prohibited on a first date: she had displayed her appetite (the biggest non-no), she had talked sex and she had put herself in an unseemly situation. Her smile got wider as she thought of the unseemly situation she had put herself in.

"So is this goodbye?" Amélie asked as they stopped in front of his car.

"I suppose so. I didn't have anything planned after breakfast and my father wanted me to do him a favor." Ares stated running his hand through his hair. "Did you have anything planned for today?"

"Now you ask?" she teased. "No. I had planned on visiting an annoying cousin of mine if I got bored."

Before Ares could respond the caw of a bird distracted them. To Amélie's surprise a hawk descended from the sky and handed Ares a letter. To her surprise after reading the letter Ares crumpled it. She raised an eyebrow.

"My dad says that my assignment is now for two o'clock. So since I have free time do you want to do something?"

"Like what?"

Again another bird, this time a vulture, delivered Ares a message before settling on his shoulder. Ares grinned as he read the message then frowned.

"What is it?" Amélie asked curiously.

"An invitation to go watch a wrestling tournament. Nothing extraordinary."

"You want to go don't you." She stated with a small grin.

"But I also want to spend time with you." Ares replied.

"Whoever said you were going without me?" she asked cockily.

"Hop in." he replied opening the passenger door for her.

She didn't know if it was because of Ares' crazy driving style, or the fact they were in a sport car or the fact it was a godly car but they got to wherever they were going in ten minutes tops. The tournament was apparently extremely popular because the place was packed. She quietly let Ares lead her to a bench that was nearly empty near the front.

"So what are the rules?" Amélie asked as she watched the ongoing match.

"Whoever knocks out their opponent first wins." Ares whispered in her ear.

"Are you cheering for anyone?" she whispered back.

"Nope, I'm just here for the fight." Ares grunted. "Kick him in the gut!" he yelled.

Intrigued Amélie looked up and saw a man beating the living daylight out of the other and soon she found herself and yelling advice at the wrestlers. She was so absorbed that she almost didn't notice Ares wave a hotdog in her face. She gratefully accepted the food and turned back to the match at hand.

"So who do you think is going to win the next match?" she asked munching on another hotdog.

"The next two contestants have an equal chance." Ares replied.

"I'm rooting for the one with the hair." She commented.

Ares glanced at the fighters and grinned. "Why don't we make a small bet." He suggested.

"What kind of bet?" she asked suspiciously.

"If my fighter wins I get a kiss." Ares said.

"If I win you have to be my date for my brother's birthday party." Amélie said with a mischievous smile. "And no using your powers to influence the fight."

"Deal." Ares said shaking her hand forcefully.

For the next fifteen minutes they're eyes were riveted to the stage. Anxiously they watched as the fighters punched, kicked and slammed each other on the floor. Finally the match ended with Amélie's contestant being knocked out by Ares'.

"Do I get my kiss now?" Ares asked grinning.

"I don't think we'll have time." She replied worriedly. "It's one fifty." She said pointing at a clock.

"Ares let out a string of curses before turning to her. "Can you wait for me in the lobby? I have to call my uncle to tell him I'll be late."

"No problem." He guided her to the lobby before making his way to the men's bathroom.

She smiled to herself as she watched him walk away. He had a terrific ass that his indigo jeans highlighted nicely. When he was fully out of her sight she began looking around. The place was dirty and smelled heavily of sweat and beer. Suddenly she felt something squeezing her buttock. Furious she turned around to see it was a fat and very ugly man.

"Hey sweet toots."

"Goodbye vermin." She said coldly before walking away.

"Wait a minute." The man said grabbing her wrist. " Let's talk things out babes."

"No. I'm not interested." She said yanking her wrist out of his grasp.

"Now sweetums…"

" What part of not interested don't you get? Why don't you go brush your teeth, take a shower and go find yourself a whore?" To her surprise his fist flew to her fiace causing her foot, incased in a high heeled boot, to crush the area between the man's legs. A couple of men plunged on her attacker causing a fight to ensue. As she carefully tried to back away someone hit her over the head and she blacked out.

She woke up to find Ares staring at her with a neutral expression on is handsome face. She felt dread forming in the pit of her stomach. Was he angry? Would she see him after this?

"Is there anything else you need?" Ares asked handing her a pack of ice.

"No. I'm fine thank you." She said placing it over her eye.

An uncomfortable silence set in for a moment, neither knowing what to say to the other. Amélie stared at Ares and gave a small smile. A frown was marring his handsome face, and from time to time he glanced at the door then back at her. She finally decided to end his misery.

"This was an interesting outing." She said breaking the silence.

"Yes it was, wasn't it?" he responded wryly.

"I never got a black eye on a first date before." She said conversationally. "Is getting wounded something I can expect whenever we meet up?"

"Look, Amélie I understand if you never want to go out with me again." Ares said with a sigh. "This was a terrible date."

"I wouldn't call it terrible." She said kindly. "The only terrible parts were waking me up early, and getting a black eye. The rest of the time I had fun."

"You don't need to try to salvage it. It was probably the worst date you've been on."

"It was my idea to go with you. It was me the slimy man approached. It's my fault that things happened like this." She replied. "No need to blame yourself. Do you want to go out with me?" she asked.

"Yes but…"

"Then why do you want me to say no? I'll forget about the whole incident on one condition." She said.

"And that is?" Ares asked grinning.

"You help me paint my apartment." She said with a grin.

"Deal." Ares agreed.

"And for the record this was the best date I've been on. You aren't like the other men I've gone out with. I enjoyed your company and I had fun. Now go." She ordered. "No need to look at me when I look this terrible." She said poking him.

In a sudden moment of tenderness (something he never thought himself capable of feeling) he wrapped his left arm around her waist and pulled her tenderly against him. He then placed a long kiss on her brow.

"You could never look terrible black eye or not." He said gruffly.

"Really?" she mumbled her voice slightly muffled.

"If you were wearing that sexy nightgown right now you'd be absolutely perfect."

"Ares!" she exclaimed slightly appalled. "Get." She said pointing to the door.

"Your wish is my command." He said with a mock bow.

"How about you come over Tuesday?" she suggested. "So I have time to choose the color?" And for the black eye to fade.

"Sounds perfect." He agreed before walking out.

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She nervously glanced at her apartment; the furniture and the floor were covered with old sheets the paint buckets and the necessary utensils were on the floor near the counter. As she caught her reflection in the window she nervously bit her lower lip. While she wanted to spend more time with Ares and get her apartment painted, she suddenly realized how unflattering her old red shirt and overalls were. She wore no make-up save some lipstick that made her lips look a little too sensual.

As she contemplated changing outfits a loud knock interrupted her thoughts. With a sigh she opened the door. No jumping his bones, she reminded herself as caught sight of him.

"I was wondering if you would show up." Amélie said smiling.

"Did you think a little paint would scare me off?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

"Well since you are twenty minutes late…" She said grinning.

"That because I went to get you breakfast/lunch." He replied waving a rather large picnic basket.. "Now will you let me in?"

"All is forgiven then. Come in." she said stepping aside.

"Do we paint or do we eat first?" he asked.

"We eat!" she declared happily.