Taking Chances

Title: Taking Chances- Chapter 4: Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty
Author: Bubukittypuck
Archived: Here of course, Fictionpress, and my laptop
Summary: Marguerite's first person perspective on the relationship she has or does not have with Josef. She is fleshie to Josef's donor.
Rating: It ranges from PG-13 to M later on.
Pairings: OC/Josef
Feedback: Review please though do not flame.
Characters: Josef, Marguerite, Beth, Mick, and any other characters inhabiting Los Angeles.
Beta’s: None
Author Notes: None for now.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Moonlight or the characters, though I do wish Moonlight does come back. For now, writing fanfics seems to stem the need to hunt down Jason Dohring and bring him back to my bedroom.
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Monitors beeped and nurses came in and out to check her pulse as she laid silently on the bed. Mick, Beth, Iris, and even Josef took seats in the room, all of them, waiting for her to awaken from her state. Each could not believe the appearance of Marguerite in the hospital bed. After examination, doctors concluded she suffered a sprained right ankle, popped her right knee cap out, fractured left wrist, several bruised ribs, bruising around her throat and wrists, cut lower lip, black right eye, and several cuts and scrapes ranging in the need for five stitches to thirty stitches to close them up. For her knee cap, while under anesthesia, her knee cap was popped back in place, cast covered her left wrist and ankle wrapped in bandaged and packed with ice to bring down the swelling.

Marking off the necessary items, the doctor turned to the group. "It is a miracle she fought off the assailant with these injuries," the doctor commented as he left the necessary charts and instructions with the nurses. Once the good doctor left, the nurses closed the door, locked it, and nodded to Josef, before the two went back to monitoring Marguerite's progress.

All four started to speak and over one another.

"What the hell happened?," Iris asked, clearly angry and frustrated at the situation.

"What did you find about the guy, Mick?," Beth asked.

"The guy is dead," Mick stated.

"Damn, I wanted a crack at him," Josef commented.
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[Begin Italicize]What Mick could piece together, he started to tell the others. After Beth explained as fast as she could about Marguerite being in trouble, he had not wasted time in using his car. He left the keys to the car with Beth to catch up. When he arrived at Marguerite's apartment, the door was opened halfway, and the living room looked as if a bloody tornado whipped through the place. Right away, he noticed the scent of death and prayed it was not Marguerite's.

Thankfully, he found where the stench of death came from and it was not a female's. It was the male intruder and his forehead bled deeply from the wound where he later saw a broken cherub statue broken in half. Cherub's face was covered in the blood of the man and the mask was ripped in certain places. Honing his eyes on the uncovered skin, he filed away the features he was able to glance upon.

"Marguerite!," he called out as he circled around the place, sniffing out her scent. He listened to the sounds around him and heard a dog growling and whining behind a door. Upon closer inspection, Mick saw bloody handprints on the door and smeared over the door knob. Pressing him as close as he could to the door, he heard two heartbeats. The faster one, Phantom's, while the slower but pumping steadily, had to be Marguerite.

Again, he said, "Marguerite," and waited in hope.

"Mick?," came the reply back through the door. The voice was hoarse and wondered if this was Marguerite answering. He asked her to open the door since he did not want to taint the blood and asked if she was injured. Stupid question, he later saw, but at the moment, he had no idea what her injuries were, if she even had any.

Slowly, the door opened, though Marguerite used her good arm to hold Phantom, who licked away the blood from her faces, and tried to get even closer to her. Her bad arm, the fractured one was holding onto the door knob as blood seeped out of the jagged wound he glanced a few inches above her elbow. She leaned against the door knob, holding her right foot up, wincing every few seconds.

"Better late than never," she chuckled as she winced in pain, shushing Phantom as he whined again. Turning her head, she kissed the top of her dog's head, his tail wagging happily, before he went back to whimpering.

Mick walked inside and held out his hand to help her get around. She tried to wave him away, asking when the police would arrive. As he tried to answer her, she swayed precariously one side to the other, groaning in sheer agony. The last thing she asked before he caught her in his arms along with her dog was to take Phantom for his daily walk. [End Italicize]
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Phantom, at the moment, laid in the hospital room along with the others. Policy at first prevented animals, unless they were seeing eye dogs, to enter the hospital, but Iris stated the dog was family. The nurses and doctor conceded when Josef informed them to let the subject go. Phantom, on the other hand, wagged his tail, impatient, the need to know whether his Marguerite, his alpha-female was well. Even for a dog, he had a sense of when things were fishy and seeing his Mistress in a hospital bed, connected to things he had no clue were, disconcerted him. Plus, no one had taken him for his walk and he was antsy to chase a few cats and even birds.

"Just like Marguerite not to stand outside and wait for the police. She had to walk in with the damn pepper spray," Iris stated, smiling as she shook her head. That was the women in the De La Cruz clan. None ever let a man push them around nor did they play the damsel in distress. Each and every one learned how to use a gun, especially since one of the De La Cruz cousins lived in Compton. The men were happy to see there was strength with everyone but made sure all went well behind the scenes.

"The way the guy died, it took several blows to the head with the cherub," Beth stated as she pulled out copies of the police report, handing it over to Iris, before Josef snatched it out of her hands. Iris sneered but she glanced at the pictures quickly and she was angry she was not at the apartment with Marguerite.

Truly, he wanted the guy to live only to suffer at his hands. "Was he unconscious when the blows were hit or not?," Josef, asked, wringing his hands together as he itched to head over to Marguerite's side and touch her skin.

"The guy was awake, struggling to get the pieces of the broken glass coffee table out of his hands and arms, he is lucky I didn't do more to him," came the reply from the Marguerite in the hospital bed. Everyone turned to look at her, especially Phantom, who barked and wagged his tail furiously.

"Marguerite," replied Iris, rushing to her side.

"You're awake," commented Beth, placing a hand over her mouth, tears coming to her eyes. She was afraid Marguerite could have been killed and regretted not calling her sooner.

"How do you feel?," Mick asked, crossing his arms. He had more news to divulge to the others but had waited until Marguerite awoke before letting the news drop.

Josef, on the other hand, looked through the file, mentally and visually capturing the images and words in his head. Her place was in disarray and the police taped covered entrances to her apartment and every room in the place. Anything considered evidence, including her laptop and camera with the memory card was taken for examination. He glanced in Marguerite's direction, amused to see her eyes on Phantom, waving him over to her.
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[Begin italicize]Screams and items were thrown around. Blood spilled and bones were bruised and broken in the fight to survive. She did not want to die. Desperately, she wanted to live and see Phantom slobbering all over her. Have a chance to have her first shot of tequila even though she was not a drinker, unlike the rest of her family. Maybe even have a child if she ever stopped thinking about how the kid could ruin her hips and thighs.

Growls and curses were met as he grabbed her around the waist and tried to subdue her to the ground. Earlier, the pepper spray had helped to distract the intruder when he inhaled and the knife ended up cutting her arm, the wound deep and bleeding heavily. When the intruder gasped and coughed, she ran for the front door but grabbed her around the wrist pulling her back. She slipped and hit her left wrist against the wall, cursing as the pain shot up through her arm.

"You're not leaving the party. We are getting to the best part," he bit out, as he tried to swipe her with the knife. Using the wrist he held in his grip, she threw her weight into him, the two slamming into the wall. Barks and whines were heard through the bedroom door, Phantom, wanting to be released and help out.

The knife slipped from his grasp, sliding against the fake mahogany floor, as both struggled to subdue the other. She threw her knees up, satisfaction rolling through her as she hit him where it was the most sensitive for a male. He fell to the side, grasping his crotch, her foot coming down to smash into his stomach. Before she made contact, he took hold of her leg, using it to vault her towards her couch.

Air rushed out of her lungs as she made contact with the couch and pushed herself to go over it. If she could get to the kitchen, she had a chance to grab one of the knives in the drawer. She knew before she felt it when her knee popped out of place. Damn, this was not a good time for a childhood injury to flare up at this moment.

"Just like Marguerite not to stand outside and wait for the police. She had to walk in with the damn pepper spray..."

The voice, where was it coming from she turned in a circle. What was going on? [End Italicize]
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Slowly, I opened my eyes, and noticed the nurses hovering over me. The second thing I found out was the fact my whole body throbbed in pain, and then it hit me. Events of last night rushed back to me and I realized I had reenacted everything I went through in my dreams. With the exception of the voice berating me for entering into the house, I remembered everything. Anger, pain, frustration, fear, and even the last breath the man took when I clubbed him over the head with the cherub. After that, what I recalled was hopping towards the bedroom door, blood seeping out of the cuts and wounds on my body, pulling pieces of glass out of my hands, and heading inside the bedroom to console Phantom. Whether I was hallucinating or not towards the end, I felt Mick's presence and his help.

When Josef asked whether the man was awake or not during the cherub blows, I answered the question for them. The group seemed to be in their bubbles, the four of them in a circle, discussing the events. Iris came to my side and I smiled at her sacrifice to be there in the hospital room with me. Summer was approaching and she was booked for various locations and gigs, ones I hoped she had not cancelled on because of me.

When Mick posed the question to my health, I finally took a look at myself. Geez, I was not up to doing the tango in this condition. A cast was on my left arm and I wiggled my fingers within the cast, wincing a bit. Good thing, I wrote with my right hand. There was another cast on my right ankle and ice packs were lined around it. Seemed I had gotten the luck of the draw, ending up in the hospital, then in a body bag, unlike the son of a bitch who tried to put me in one.

Hearing the bark of Phantom, I smiled, turning my head in his direction. He was seated on a visitor's chair, his tail wagging furiously, as I waved him over. No hesitation on Phantom's part as he leaped off the chair and got on his back legs to place his chin on the bed. "That is my guy," I whispered and stroked his ears and under his chin with my good hand. Phantom merely wagged his tail even faster and panted at the pleasure of his Mistress lavishing her attention on him. A mix of Chihuahua/pug mutt background, he was my Napoleon with the complex as well. Never did he back down from a bigger dog and had the role of the King of the Apartment, which was now trashed if I recalled the mayhem the bastard and I caused.

Remembering Mick's question and everyone's eyes on me, including, Josef's, I smiled and glanced at the nurses, waiting for my answer as well. "I feel like I could dance the night away and even do a cabaret dance with the Pussycat Dolls tonight, if I could," I answered, sarcastically. Iris stifled a laugh and shook her head. Mick frowned but a twitch of a smile appeared on his face. Beth, smirked, but there was the notice tear-stained cheeks, and it concerned me. Josef, held a smirk, but never did it reach his eyes. Figured.

"How do you think I feel?," I asked the group, my voice hoarse which gave the impression I was a daily smoker, but I knew better when it came to why my voice sounded gravely. I requested a mirror to be brought to see my face. When I licked my lips, I felt the sting of pain, and knew before the small compact Iris held out in front of me, it was busted. As she held the tiny mirror to my face, I moved my head around to check out the facial damage. Good thing about it, my nose was not broken. Though, I could have gone without the bruises in the shape of the man's hands around my throat, which accounted for the scratchy voice, and the black eye. If I used the make-up, my cousin, Liz, sent for Christmas, it could be covered up nicely.

The nurses were kind enough to comment I was on medication to help minimize the pain and in another day, after held for observation, the chance to discharge from the hospital was an option. Oh, the sooner the better, I thought, already having the itch to walk around and get away from the sanitized and white/grey painted room scheme. After that, both nurses nodded to everyone in the room, most of all to Josef, before leaving me with the people/animal I cared about, came to see as good friends, and one I wished would go away.

My handsome Phantom barked, a sign he wanted to jump on the bed, but needed help. Iris figured out his signal and placed him on the bed. Right away, he started slobbering and snuggling himself into my side. "Wouldn't it be better if he stayed on the floor?," asked Beth, but I shook my head. The dog was family and besides, I wanted my buddy lying next to me. Wonderful, I valued my dog above a real man to comfort me, on the upside, never had to worry about Phantom brushing me off for someone better.

Stretching as much as I could in the bed without pulling at the stitches I soon found over my face and body, I asked my own questions. Who was the son of a bitch who wanted me dead? How the hell did he think to mess with me? If my laptop, were I had all of my school work and project on, trashed, or in good condition? When can I get a good meal which does not involve nasty cardboard food the hospital gives out? The slew of questions were stopped when Iris dug in her bag and pulled out a bag, Pinky's, emblazoned on the bag as she placed it in my lap.

Hunger took over as I tore into the bag and the Coney-style hot dog, along with the chili-cheese fries, and vanilla milkshake. Phantom helped to scarf down the fries, no matter how much everyone tried to get him to stop eating human food, he kept at it, but we made sure to slip in dog food and keep the chocolate and milk away from him. "Thank you, better than I thought it would be and what about?," I started but I did not even need to ask as my sister pulled out a box of chocolates. This was one of the many reasons I loved my sister. She knew my cravings.

While I chowed down as much as I could, since I was tied up to the nine's with IV's and other machines to monitor my blood pressure and vital signs, I looked around at the people in the room. Iris, fabulous as always, wore a red, flapper-inspired dress, with the signature leather jacket given to her by her sire. Not a bad guy, considering he had not split from my sister when she went into her mood swings or angry tirades. Once more, the women in the De La Cruz family were strong, but at times, very emotional women.

Beth snuggled into Mick's side, the two of them watching me chow down on the food. Many times, I wondered if Mick wanted another chance at humanity and have a taste of the succulent, but heart attack inducing delicacies the world had to offer. They were great friends to come to my aid, especially Mick. While I washed down half of the hot dog with a great slurp of vanilla milkshake, I thanked him properly for it.

"Mick, thank you very much. If it was not for you and Beth, I might still be fighting the guy," I commented and smirked, almost ripping the stitches in my lip as I gave them a cat got the mouse grin. Mick shrugged his shoulders but I could see he was glad to see I was safe and alive. Though in his eyes, I saw there was hesitation and concern. Much as I knew, he had news to reveal in a little bit and I readied myself for it. After I thanked my sister for the food, I finally let the presence of Josef entered into my mind.

Slowly, I turned my glance towards Josef. He looked nice, the best word I could come up with without trying to imagine him run over by a car and slapped around for his outburst last night. His tie was pulled slightly out of shape and his hair stood in different directions. Those fingers of his could have been the culprit for his slightly-messed hair. I had nothing to say to him. It was nice of him to be in the room but he fired me and it meant there was no connection anymore. No more fleshie/vampire donation and no way in hell, I was going to be his next pair of legs.

A nod of acknowledgement was thrown in Josef's direction, before I placed my attention back to my questions that still needed answers. "Well, who was the guy who failed to slice and dice me?," I asked, Beth, knowing she had the latest scoop on everything legal and illegal before the other magazines had an inkling of it. As she explained the background on the bastard, I had the innate feeling; Josef kept eyeing me, willing me to look in his direction. It was silly thought and I blamed it on the mixture of drugs in my system.

"The guy who tried to slice and dice Marguerite, as she puts it, was named Deacon O'Douglas. O'Douglas was not a professional hit-man nor was he was affiliated with any known gangs in the Los Angeles area. His criminal record was clean, no parking tickets, no public intoxication, nothing. He could have been the Step ford husband by the way he was described by his co-workers. Worked for small internet corporation based in San Francisco. Thing is, he has residence there, but not here."

I had to hand it to Beth. She knew her stuff and knew it well. Hell, there was no need for the folder, Josef held in his hands, because she knew it by heart. Now, that made a great journalist or a human diary, if anyone ever wanted one. While I laid back in bed and caressed Phantom's mane, I wondered a few things Beth mentioned. "Then why does he end up in my apartment?," I asked, curious to know the answer. Lots of things happened in Los Angeles. Murder. Rape. Shoot outs. Traffic. Various vile things. Though somehow, I saw it as things that were planted on a timeline. Weeks at a time, Los Angeles was safe from harm. Then there were times where everything and anything could go wrong.

Mick stepped in to reveal the answer. Now, that is why he had the look of bearer of bad news. "He is connected with two other murders. I went down to the morgue to check on the O'Douglas' corpse and Guillermo informed me two other corpses came in. Those corpses were Gabriela and Sonja." The silence was deadening save for the hospital equipment beeping every few seconds. I had to take a second to play with Phantom's ears and let the news sink in. Gabriela and Sonja were the back-up fleshies to Josef, same ones who were now lying in the morgue.

Since, Deacon was dead, there was the assumption the murderer for Gabriela and Sonja was found and his killer was where he needed to be. Wrong. "Gabriela and Sonja were both killed last night and it was not the guy who tried to come after you, Marguerite. Both lived forty-five minutes from each other but both were killed within the thirty minutes of one another, at around the same time you were assaulted." This meant, without having to hear the rest of Mick’s explanation, there were two other murderers out there. One psycho down, two to go, was how I saw it. The only connection the rest of us saw was the fact Gabriela, Sonja, and I all were fleshies of Josef. In other words, someone was out to piss Josef off. I wondered if Josef even gave two licks about losing his blood donations or he chalked it up to sore luck and find three more.

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Patience was never his best virtue. A miracle, he had managed to stay around in this room without the need to find the two other bastards who murdered his fleshies. Both did not deserve the deaths but when he found the two scoundrels, he would gut them clean and hang them with their own intestines. O'Douglas was lucky he had not died by his hand but he was impressed at the feats Marguerite went through to take him out. The cherub was an ironic piece of defensive equipment.

"Well, since your place is trash, you can stay with my man and me in the King's suite at the Hilton," Iris said.

His ears perked at the conversation of where Marguerite would stay once she was released from the hospital. Curiosity got the better of him and he tuned into it. When he heard her decline her sister's offer, Mick's, and even Beth's, he wondered then where she was to live.

"I will stay with Lixy and her man, their dog's will not get upset with Phantom, since Lixy's female pit bull is about to give birth. The more, the merrier," she replied, as she nuzzled Phantom’s neck. Phantom snuggled as close as he could get, noticing the dog was aware of the pain she was in. Animals knew before humans when a person fell ill and when

Lucky bastard, he thought at seeing Phantom getting her attention. Quickly, he shook the thought away and tried to make himself remember the reason she was not his to look after or even call for feedings. When she mentioned her cousin, Lixy, he mentally remembered who she was in the De La Cruz clan and muttered a curse. "Do you want to end up back in the hospital, this time, with gunshot wounds because you will if you stay with your cousin," he commented, shaking his head. Marguerite's cousin, Lixy, short for Lisandra, lived in Compton, a known city for the worst crime.

Finally, her gaze landed on him. He noticed she did not glance in his vicinity, even when he stood next to Mick. She talked solely to Iris, Mick, and Beth, but never to him. Hell, even the dog was spoken to directly, unlike himself. In reality, he could not blame her but he could not have her angry at him for the things she flung at him. However, he showed no leniency towards his driver when he arrived late, but when Marguerite showed the man sympathy and bid him well, he reconsidered the man's employment.

Marguerite's eyes narrowed at him, as much as she could, with one eye blackened from the struggle she endured. Inside of him, there was the urge to walk over and comfort her. Place her head on his shoulder and tell her he would avenge her troubles. Hell, he even called in a favor at the police department to have her laptop and camera taken out of evidence. He knew she needed the laptop more than air if she hoped to get through her classes. Both laptop and camera were stored at his home, in his safe, waiting for him to return them to her.

Right and her injured left hand clenched together into fists, Josef noticed, as he waited for her answer. "I am not going to mooch on other people, plus, I am not going to be cock blocking anybody out of getting some sex," she answered, crossing her arms and smirking at him. Touché, he thought as he realized the situation she did not want to place herself in. Stay with her sister and Iris' fiancée/sire would become antsy with no sexual release. The same went with Mick and Beth, though Mick and Beth would not show their displeasure.

Her sister, Iris, stifled another laugh and shrugged her shoulders. Josef had once been interested in acquiring Marguerite's sister as another notch in his bedpost. Nevertheless, he had not after he met Marguerite at Iris' Christmas party. Those two might have been twins, the way each mimicked the other's body movements and facial expressions. He was sure Iris was the older one, but when both were brought into conversation, Marguerite was the one to let her mind speak. She left everyone in the dust and even saved face when her sister, Iris, started dancing with her sire on the tabletop, gyrating profusely in beat to the music.

The monitor beeped several times as he thought over his options. Without hesitation, he replied, "Then you will stay at my house, with me." Afterwards, his insides stopped raging against him and his mind ceased the thought process of what he was doing in this room. At this moment, he felt ease and hoped she would agree, make her agree, if he had to push the damn hospital bed to his house. He would and could do that.

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Aghast and taken aback were a few of the feelings I felt at Josef's words. Once again, the son of a gun shocked and made me ask him to repeat his words. He did and quickly, turning away from me to look at the closed off windows. All I wanted was a place to stay and my cousin was the best I saw fit. I could talk to my professors about my condition and send my school assignments through email. Other students have done it before and it was not a problem. Besides, my cousin would be happy to have another female in the house that was not walking on four legs. As a result of Lixy's diabetes, where it was next to impossible to bear a child, and not risk one another's health, her dogs were her babies.

There was no way I was about to enter into the lion's den. "You are joking right, Josef? Of course you are. You get itchy if a chick you banged stays too long in your presence," I answered, smirking. Fool me once when he kissed me, shame on me, but there was not more fooling at all. No matter, how even in my condition, I wished for him to walk over and kiss me in front of them all. That must have been the drugs talking. Yes, I was going to blame it on the drugs and go with that.

Josef's expression when he turned to face me was a cross between angry, frustration, and a hint of amusement all rolled into one. It disappeared as fast as it appeared when the others tried to get me to apologize or watch my mouth, as Iris, placed it. She had the mouth of a sailor, though when we got into sparring contests, we both made the sailors looked angelic and homely.

"If the other two find out their comrade is dead, then you need all the protection you can get," Josef replied, walking closer to Phantom and I. Phantom growled, irritated at having another alpha-male near him. Definitely, Josef was an alpha-male. A handsome and mouth-watering piece of work. Dear, god, what was I thinking? Made me feel better but disappointed at the same time when he turned his attention towards the group.

"I don't know," voiced Mick.

"Though Josef might be right. It helps to have Marguerite close to Josef and weed out the assholes. Still cannot believe the guy came after you," my sister stated, her eyes changing from her natural brown to deep bullet silver. Though she traveled to promote her music and we saw each other only twice a month, it was nice for her to want to tear the other dirt balls a new anus.

Funny, how she was my younger sister and fussed more over me than I did on her. That and she was a vampire while I was a human prone to injuries and illness. This brought me back to why I had not chosen to become a vampire like herself. Iris offered it every time she came around and even sent me emails about when I planned on joining her. In the back of my head, I saw she wanted me to join her to have someone to have around when her friends and even the family started to grow old and wither away. The thought of the De La Cruz clan dying off bothered me more than I wanted to think on and I pushed my thoughts away. There were more things to think about, present things, which needed my attention.

Rubbing the side of my head, Phantom settled into my lap, placing his head on my thigh, my own security guard. Now, all I needed was a good man to comfort me and the way things were for me, it might be a while before that happened. Sighing, I knew Iris and what the others might say were right. To stay in Compton with my cousin, no matter how much, I loved her, would make my situation worse. Not only for my health but bring the bastards to my cousin's yard. Last thing I wanted was my family in danger, the ones not able to heal as fast as my sister could.

"A room could be rented under an alias," Beth said.

"Yes, but then there is the trouble of when she leaves for class and comes back," Mick replied.

Snapping my fingers grabbed their attention and I looked to Josef. He looked suave and sophisticated, saved for the messed up hair and tie, but his looks could have been made to model on the catwalk. Once more, I blamed the drugs for the answer I planned to give him. "Fine, I agree to stay in Josef's house," I replied, frowning when I saw him smile before nodding his head. Whether it was the medication in my system, I assumed the smile Josef had was one of pleasure.

"Good choice, now, I'll be back later, with your laptop of course," he answered.

My mood rose when I heard that and I actually smiled at his words. He smiled back and winked. Let me repeat that, winked at me, and it made my heart flutter. The heart fluttering, I chalked it once again to the medication. Mick and Beth shuffled out of the room first, commenting they would be back as well and have a few friends watch over me. Iris came up to hand me another bag, this one held a taser and a Harlequin romance novel. Why, my sister was going after my own heart. A weapon to defend myself, in case, the doctor became too hand's on and a novel to hold my attention while I was held in observation for the night.

When Iris was third to go it left Phantom, Josef, and I in the private hospital room. By now, I felt a bit on edge, the flight-fight response taking over. I wanted to run even attached to IV's and machines whether to him or away from him while on the other hand, I wanted to goad him into an argument and pick a fight. God, I wanted a reprieve from these confliction emotions. Phantom made the first move with a growl towards Josef.

"He has his shots, correct?," he asked as he sat down in the seat previously used by Phantom. The way he looked at me was unsettling. His eyes stared me down and I stared right back. We even started our own staring contests. He won of course because my black eye started to throb in pain. In the blink of an eye, he was at my bedside, hand outstretched to...do what? Smack me? Caress me? Poke my eye and cause more pain? What?

Moving away from his hand only worked if I had more room to move around in especially when the bed was only twin-sized. Josef continued to reach forward and I held my breath. Merely, he pushed a strand of curl from my forehead. "Wasn't going to strike you, unless you suddenly found yourself to be a masochist, then I might be of some service," he teased. Damn him. Slowly, he was chipping away the thoughts I had of him. The ones where he is, was, is, I don't know a scoundrel cloaked in the skin of a man that I would adore and worship if given the change. Nevertheless, I was not about to let him get over the wall I built up.

"Oh, but I thought you were the one who liked to be on your hands and knees Paddled and told to bark like a dog," I answered with as much ice I could insert into my voice. If a guy, dressed in all black, could not bring me to my knees, try to best me, and have me beg for mercy, then Josef was a piece of cake. A piece, of moist, succulent, and morsel full...what a minute...this was going to be a lot harder than it looked. Lots more since I was about to be his houseguest until the other men were brought to trial. Until then, it would be a pleasure as much as a pain to see what kind of roommate Josef could be.

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There we go ladies and gentleman, the answer has been questioned. Marguerite did not die but survived. Now the better question: Will Josef and her get along as housemates? Or will there be a nice argument to come? Love or war? I love, love the reviews, and it is the sugar I need to jolt me to write faster and better. Thank you to everyone. More reviews are appreciated and no flaming, unless you know me, then go ahead.