Okay ya'll I found a little bit of time and wrote another chapter, which I hope you guys will enjoy, though I think you will (If I do say so myself). However, if you ten to avoid stories with sexual content, you maaaay want to skip from the point when they get back to the hotel to the bottom. You need to read the bottom though, it's important. Well, not really important, but... Screw it, it's important.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Praline Connection on Frenchman street, that is my favorite restaurant in New Orleans and if you ever get a chance to go there, what Minnie orders is my favorite meal. Though the fried okra and pralines are pretty amazing! I only own Minnie, the Creole guy and Jacob the Alligator. I hope ya'll like this chapter, and I'll be updating sometime tomorrow most likely. Enjoy!


That night I dressed in a peach coloured skirt with little crystal daises and a green chiffon sleeveless blouse with a pair of pale green two inch pumps with a strap around the ankle that looked like a little bow. I scrunched some curling gel in my hair- just a little, that way if Bruce decided to touch my hair for whatever reason it wouldn't feel gross. I finished putting on a little natural looking makeup and some lip-gloss before there was a knock on the door. I went to the door and opened it with a smile.

"Hey." I said as Bruce walked in, his hand behind his back.

"You look beautiful." he said and I looked down at myself.

"I hope it's not too casual, I didn't know what you wanted to do..."

"I figured we'd do something casual, if you don't mind." he smiled.

"Sounds great." I grinned before he pulled his hand from behind his back, producing a bouquet of purple tulips. "Bruce," I gasped with a surprised smile. "You didn't have to do that!"

"Well, to get the approval of two very important people, I did." he said and I smiled before I kissed him.

"Oh there's no vase in here." I sighed as I looked around. "I wonder if room service would send one." I went to the phone and dialed room service.

"Hello room service."

"Hi, this is Ms. Strong in room 906, is there any way you could send a vase of water up please?"

"Of course ma'am."

"Thank you." I said before I hung up the phone. Dallas walked in as I hung up and then turned around covering his eyes.

"I didn't see anything!" he announced before he paused, and turned around, then huffed seeing us fully dressed. "Why didn't I see anything?" he demanded.

"Because I knew you still had a key card." I said as I shoved the flowers in his hands. "Room service is coming up with a vase for those, sign for it please." I said and he nodded. "See you later."

"Bye bye you two!" he called. We went to the elevator and I laughed as we both went to hit the button.

"Where did you find him?" he asked wrapping his arm around my shoulders.

"He and I were interns at the same time." I sighed. "When Tony opened Stark Tower in New York it was Dallas' chance to get a real job in Stark Industries, so he uprooted, just like me and got a job answering phones in R&D. We were the only ones we knew in New York, besides a few other interns but none of them are quite as much fun as Dallas." I smiled.

"Yeah, I can imagine." he smiled. The doors opened and we walked out onto the ground floor, his arm moved to my waist as we walked outside, the thick humid air hitting us like a ton of bricks.

"I know I'm going to sound insane, but I love it here." I said as we got into a cab.

"No, not really." he said and I smiled. "I mean, sure, the air isn't exactly as nice as it could be, but I've been in worse places." he looked at the Cabbie. "Frenchman and Decatur please." he said and the cabbie nodded before he started driving.

"So where you two from?" he asked, his accent was thick and he looked in the rear view mirror at us.

"New York." I said with a smile.

"You two on your honeymoon?" he asked and I looked at Bruce who smiled.

"That's right." he said and I smiled as I leaned in and kissed him. "I'm Professor Bruce Bancroft, this is my wife-"

"Nadine." I said catching onto the charade.

"Professor huh? Professor of what?"

"Women's Lib." I said and looked at Bruce with a smile, then back to the cabbie. "I met him in a lecture on women's sexual liberation of the 1970's." I smiled. "That was two months ago." I sighed and rested my head on his shoulder. The cabbie didn't say much the rest of the way there. We got to Frenchman and Decatur and Bruce paid the guy before we got out of the car.

"Women's sexual liberation of the 1970's?" he laughed.

"Oh whatever, Professor Bancroft." I laughed.

"You made me sound like a perv!" he laughed and I smiled as I leaned in and kissed him. He laughed and wrapped his arm around my waist. "Where did you get the name Nadine?"

"Where did you get the name Bancroft?" I shot back and he smiled as we walked up the street. "So what's the plan?"

"Well I heard this is a pretty authentic street, not too many tourists know about it, so I figured we'd come check it out and wing it." he shrugged.

"As Professor and Mrs. Bancroft?" I asked and he gave me a slight squeeze.

"If you want." he said and I smiled.

We ended up at a place called the praline connection, I looked at the menu and let out a low whistle. "Do you think they fry the salad too?" I asked and he laughed.

"Would you rather go somewhere else?"

"This is New Orleans I highly doubt the food gets much healthier then this." I said and bit my lip as I looked at the menu.

"What can I get-cha'll to drink?" a young girl came up to us and I looked at the menu.

"Can I get a sweet tea please?" I asked.

"Make that two please." Bruce smiled.

"Ya'll need another minute?" she asked.

"How is the fried okra?" I asked and she raised her eyebrows.

"I'm gonna send a basket on over here." she said and I smiled.

"Thank you so much, I think I know what I want, honey?" I smiled at Bruce who nodded.

"Yeah, go ahead dear." he said.

"I'll have the fried fish plate with macaroni and cheese and potato salad please."

"And for you hun?" she looked at him.

"I'll have the stewed chicken with greens and potato salad please." he said as he handed our menus back.

"Ya'll celebratin' somethin'?" she asked after a moment.

"Uh, actually, we just got married." Bruce smiled as he took my hand and kissed my knuckles. I smiled at him, then at her.

"Congratulations." she said and I grinned.

"Thank you." I said before she walked away. After dinner we were paying the check when the waitress came over with a slice of cheese cake covered in praline sauce. "We didn't order this." I said and she nodded.

"From my boss, to the newlyweds." she said and I looked at the old man behind the counter who waved to us.

"Thank you." I smiled at him and he nodded.

"Thank you very much." Bruce smiled at the waitress who took the card he had handed her and walked away. When we finished our free dessert we walked out of there, hand in hand, I had bought a pound of pralines to bring back him, after discovering how amazing they were. We went to a club where they had a loud jazz band playing and I managed to coax Bruce in, they were really good, and before I knew it I had him dancing with me, he said something about not knowing how to dance to me, but I had told him no one knew how to dance, and to just wing it. When we left there I was laughing and he was checking his pulse.

"So, do you have like, a heart condition or something?" I asked and he looked at me, and then nodded.

"Yeah, um, I do actually." he said. "I uh, I can't get too worked up about things, can't get my blood racing too much, it's bad for my heart." he said and I slowed down.

"Are you okay?" I asked and he nodded as he took a few deep breaths.

"Fine." he said and smiled softly. "Little weird, I know, but what can you do sometimes, right?" he asked and I nodded.

"Yeah, everyone's got something." I sighed.

"How about you?" he asked and I pointed to my knee.

"Bad knee. From when I fell down the stairs when Loki was threatening Tony... Well, actually, it was the other way around, but still." I shrugged.

"He didn't hurt you did he?" he asked and I looked at him in surprise.

"Who, Loki?" I asked and he nodded. "No, he didn't even touch me." I sighed. "I owe Tony a lot; he let the guy throw him out the window to make sure I was safe." I said and Bruce looked at me with raised eyebrows. "His suit caught him." I smiled and he nodded.

"Okay, am I seeing things, or is that guy actually walking an alligator?" he asked suddenly. I turned and let out a small scream as I ran behind Bruce.

"Aw ma'am, he fine." the old Creole man laughed as I peeked around Bruce's shoulder. "His name Jacob."

"Jacob the Alligator?" I asked and the man nodded proudly.

"I woke up one mornin, and went to the shower and there he were. No windows open or nothin'! So I fish him outta there and fed him chicken and bloody milk," I made a face and Bruce laughed as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders, pulling me around him to stand next to him. "And I name him Jacob."

"Okay." I nodded with a small frown.

"You wanna pet him?" he asked with a huge grin and I backed up against Bruce.

"Sure she does." he said and I looked at him in horror.

"No, Bruce don't." I said as he took my wrist.

"He okay, he don't bite." the old man said before kneeling down in front of Jacob and grabbing the tip of the gator's nose, holding his mouth closed.

"You're fine." Bruce said in my ear softly as we knelt down next to the alligator.

"Let him see you so he know where you comin' from." the old man said and we did before Bruce reached my hand out and gently ran it along the Gator's long face. I squirmed against him and he chuckled in my ear.

"Quit squirming." he said and then ran his own hand along the gator. When he finally let me pull away from it I turned and hid my face in his chest, he laughed as did the old man.

"Jacob like you." the man said with a semi toothless grin. "You two have a good night y'hear."

"You too." Bruce called to the man as he and Jacob the alligator left. "That wasn't too bad was it?" he asked and I shuttered. "Come on, you heard him, the alligator liked you." he laughed and I shook my head.

"No, he was creepy!" I said and he laughed.

"You did fine." he said and I shook my head.

"Come on, Nadine." he said as he offered my his hand.

"I want the one you didn't touch the alligator with." I said and he laughed before he took my hand with his other hand. When we got back to the hotel I was laughing at the memory of the alligator. "It really wasn't so bad, was it?"

"Not so bad at all." he said and I smiled.

"Do you think I was brave?"

"For touching the alligator?" I nodded and he nodded as we walked into the lobby. "Bravest girl I know."

"Even though I freaked out?"

"Even though you freaked out." he nodded and I smiled.

"Do you want to go back to your room?" I asked and he looked at me quickly. "I mean, we don't have to do anything if you don't want to, just, given the choice between sharing a bed with someone, I'd rather it be you."

"Alright." he said as we went to the elevator. We both went to push the button and he got to it first. "I'll let you push it on the way up." he said and I sighed heavily, but smiled. We got to his room and I smiled as he shut the door, I slipped my shoes off and put my clutch on the table before I looked over at him. He was taking his watch off, not paying much attention until I walked over and lightly kissed his neck.

I felt him swallow as I ran my lips across his Adam's apple, stopping only at his collar bone while I unbuttoned the buttons on his shirt. A moment later he seemed to realize what was going on because he took hold of my hips and lifted me up so I was sitting on the table.

We kissed passionately, his fingers working at my buttons before he finally got them all off. My shirt landed in a crumpled mess on the floor, exposing my cream coloured bra to him. He slipped his arms out of the sleeves of his purple shirt, letting it fall to the ground on top of my green one. I couldn't help but smile as I kissed the dark hair on his chest, my hand slowly making its way south.

He let out a strained sounding groan as I worked on the button to his pants, then moved my skirt up so it was bunched up around my hips, I reached behind me and unclipped my bra, held it to my chest, and looked up at him before I let it slide down my arms and to the floor. His lips met mine again, more forceful then before as he grabbed one of my legs and pulled it over his hip. I moaned into his kisses and our tongues moved together in a frenzy, before I arched my hips into his. He suddenly stopped, and pulled away quickly, as if burnt by something.

"What?" I asked quickly. "What is it?"

"I- I'm sorry." he said as he ran his hands over his face. "I- I don't think I can..."

"Everything looks fine to me." I said as I looked down, and then up. He shook his head.

"No, it's not that-"

"Then what? Is it me?" I asked and he quickly moved back to me as I covered my bare chest, tears of embarrassment stung in my eyes as I looked down.

"It's not you." he put his hand under my chin and tilted my face up so I was looking at him. He lightly kissed my lips and brushed the tears from my cheeks. "Don't cry, please," he said softly. "I just think we're going a little quick, don't you?" he asked and I shrugged. "Maybe we got caught up in the moment?"

"Yeah." I nodded in agreement.

"It's not that I don't want to." he said softly. "I just think we should wait." he kissed me again and I sighed before I hugged him, not caring that we were both half naked at the moment. "Now do you think you'll be mature enough to sleep in the same bed as me without trying to jump me?" he asked with a small smile.

"Considering all I'm going to be wearing is one of your shirts." I said as I slid off the table and picked up the purple shirt he had been wearing. "We'll see who the more mature one is." I said and he smiled before he went to the bathroom. "Where are you going?"

"I need a cold shower." he said as he walked into the bathroom. I sighed and pulled his shirt on before I lay back on the bed.

"Me too." I sighed.