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Vegas Hearts	By : shockvaluegr Category: G through L > Kingdom Hospital Views: 793 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own the television series that this fanfiction is written for, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 5
- 6
Heart and Soul

�Who was that?� Cori asked Frank after they had left sign junkyard.
Frank shrugged. �I dunno. Got a pretty good idea though.�
From the slight irritation and bitterness in his tone, Cori deduced the answer. �Him again? Has he been following you around or something?�

�Nah, I ain't seen him since last time I was with you,� Frank said, then glanced at her.
Cori thought a moment. �You don't think he's following me, do you?� The idea was disturbing.
Frank shook his head. �I don't think there'd be any reason for him to. I think he just lucked onto my car somewhere tonight and didn't have anything better to do,� he told her, somewhat confident that this was the truth. Cori blew out a breath in relief, and looked straight ahead at the approaching lights of the city. Frank threw another sidelong glance at her, remembering their interrupted passion. �Look, I'll get you back to your car right away so you can get home,� he told her regretfully. �This just wasn't our night.� Cori nodded. Already her mind was working on ways she might encounter him again.

Frank paced the parking lot in boredom. The sun was going down, and already a chill was rapidly settling in. He looked at Pauli and called over to him, �Hey, let's just go in and get him. Then I can get a drink, too,� he joked. Pauli grinned and turned back to the side of the building from which they expected their prey to approach. Frank sighed heavily and paced some more, circling around to face away from the lonely bar towards the desert and the mountains beyond.

He contemplated the landscape moodily. The sunset behind the mountains had turned the sky a livid magenta, which faded to orange and gradually to indigo as night overtook day. Stars were already coming alive in the sky. A waitress, looking too old and tired for the job, opened the back door to throw out a bucket of mostly melted ice and water. She just caught sight of Frank around the corner and hesitated, weary eyes regarding him with mistrust. He winked at her, turned up the corner of his mouth in his best roguish smile. In spite of herself, she smiled back before disappearing back into the building and shutting the door. Frank's smile faded. Someone had seen them, and that was never good. Not likely to cause a problem though.

�Come on, come on�� muttered Pauli, getting impatient.
Frank darted a look at him; it had been Pauli's idea to wait for Muzzanca to go to the Crazy Eights bar and get �good and drunk� before making their move, he figured it would make the man easier to handle. �Pauli...how drunk does he have to be?� Frank asked, "He could be in there for hours yet."
Pauli didn't answer, he never liked to be second-guessed, especially when he knew his ideas were perhaps not entirely practical. �The drunker, the better,� he finally said.

Frank wandered a little distance away from the two cars parked along the windowless side of the Crazy Eights and lit a smoke. He was hungry and in a hurry to get back to the Lucky Star; Cori would be there tonight, he'd talked to her on the phone earlier. But the outlaw side of him was tingling; when Ray sent them on a job like this, he never knew what was going to happen. That unpredictability was what made him tick. A delicious surge of adrenalin went through him in anticipation.
Frank turned away from the sunset and breathtaking landscape and back toward the Crazy Eights, feeling energy to burn welling up inside of him. He walked back to Muzzanca's car and tapped out a beat on the car's perfectly waxed hood, began to softly sing That'll Be the Day. Pauli, hearing this, turned and cackled. Having an appreciative audience, Frank turned it up a notch. �You say you gonna leave, you know it's a lie, 'cause that'll be the day-hay-hay when I die!� He finished, and watched as Pauli bent double with raucous laughter. Frank broke up then, snorting and snickering. Pauli's laugh always did that to him. It was at that moment that Joe Muzzanca walked around the corner of the Crazy Eights.

Muzzanca stopped in his tracks, then came on slowly towards his car, as if putting a brave face on his fear. Pauli's laughter died away, as did Frank's, and an ominous silence descended on the trio.
�Hey, Joe,� Pauli greeted him, getting up from where he had been leaning on the front of his own car.

�Pauli,� Muzzanca said guardedly, nodding in greeting. Frank looked him in the eye but said nothing, noting that Muzzanca was nowhere near as drunk as Pauli had hoped. He was a big man, topping Frank by a few inches and well over fifty pounds. If he put up a fight, it was going to be rough.
�Having a few drinks tonight? That's good,� said Pauli cordially. Muzzanca nodded and took a step towards his car. Pauli took another step towards Muzzanca. �Luca wants to talk to you, Joe. I think you know what for.�
Muzzanca nodded, his big head dropped in attrition. Suddenly, he broke and ran, jumping into his car. Frank swore and sprinted for the passenger side of Pauli's car just as Pauli jumped in and slammed the door. Muzzanca's car spun out on the gravel and took off just as Pauli got his car started.
�Damn it!� yelled Pauli, �That fucker!� Frank held on as Pauli mashed the gas to the floor and the big car leaped forward. The side of the bar rushed up at them, and Pauli yanked the wheel hard, narrowly missing the corner of the building. They shot across the parking lot and onto the highway, fishtailing.
Muzzanca, with his headstart, ran for his life. Pauli leaned forward as he pushed the car to maximum speed, leaning over the steering wheel as if that would somehow make the car go even faster, a maniacal grimace on his face. Frank, too, leaned forward in anticipation, every muscle tense.

Pauli and Frank hung on in grim silence as they closed in on Muzzanca's car. Muzzanca, in his fear, had trouble controlling the vehicle at top speed on the narrow highway and swerved dangerously from side to side. Suddenly it ran off the road, raising a plume of dust that glowed red from his frantically applied brakes. Muzzanca�s car slewed sideways, jerked back, then bumped up and down as if it had encountered some sudden resistance.
It came to a stop, and as Pauli slammed on his brakes to avoid shooting past it, Muzzanca spun out the car's tires, sending desert sand flying. Frank's sharp eye caught the deflated front tire as they skidded to a halt on the highway with a gritty sliding sound. �Stop, Pauli! Stop, he's got a blowout�� He was already grappling for the door handle as he saw Muzzanca abandon the car and take off running.
Before the car even came to rest, Frank launched himself from it and after Muzzanca. The big man had a slight lead, but Frank was faster, and he closed with him quickly as he ran toward the open desert, hoping to be lost in the blackness. When he was within striking range, Frank threw himself at Muzzanca's back and tackled him.
They hit the ground hard, Muzzanca blowing out a huge coughing breath as the wind was knocked from him. But he was not immobilized, and rolled over, fighting. Frank swore and scuffled with Muzzanca on the ground, taking a hard blow in the ribs that would have doubled him over had he been standing. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Pauli walking toward them with his gun at a leisurely pace. Take your time, Pauli, Frank thought cynically as another blow landed in his stomach. Make sure you look cool�

�Let him up, Frank,� Pauli said, as he reached them at last. Joe Muzzanca, seeing the gun trained on him, went limp, and Frank pushed away from him. Muzzanca laid on the sand and rocks, wheezing. Frank stood, slightly stooped, breathing hard, trying to ignore the waves of pain crashing over his midsection. Muzzanca tried to sit up, but fell back upon the ground. Pauli shook his head at him. �Luca's through with you. I guess you already know that though, huh?�

Muzzanca closed his eyes and his lips moved silently.
�Turn over. On your belly,� Pauli instructed. Frank looked away. It wasn't that the sight of blood disturbed him, more it was some sense of honor, that every man deserved the dignity of dying without the uncaring eyes of strangers upon them. So he turned slightly and faced the black mountains, trying to catch his breath, and waited for the shot.

Pauli pushed the button in the elevator that would take them to the top floor of the Lucky Star. Frank leaned against the wall, tired. Pauli looked at him and snickered. �Look at your clothes, Frank.� Frank furrowed his brow and turned to look in the mirrored wall of the elevator to see his back and legs were covered with dusty sand from his tussle with Muzzanca. He brushed at it as Pauli warned him, �You better change before you go up. Luca might think it was a sloppy job.� Frank thought a moment, indignation welling up. He wanted Luca to see that people didn't just disappear by magic, that there was work involved, that there was pain. He just shook his head at Pauli, who gave him a long look.

They entered the suite and Frank made a beeline for the bar. He needed a drink, and helped himself to a bourbon. Luca was nowhere in sight, which meant he was in the bedroom. Frank's stomach tightened. What if he had brought Cori here? He wasn't sure he could take seeing her come out of the bedroom with him. He shook his head and swore at himself.

Ray Luca emerged from the bedroom and greeted Pauli and Frank. He wore a robe and looked majestically relaxed. �How'd it go, Pauli?� he asked.
Pauli sat on the couch across from Ray and smiled. �Perfect, Boss.� Ray grinned and nodded. Job well done. Frank took another swallow of bourbon. Ray had not even looked at him yet.
�His car?� Ray asked.
Pauli jerked his head toward Frank. �Holman took care of that.� Ray at last turned his dark gaze to Frank, awaiting details.
�I took it to Max's friend,� Frank reported.
Ray raised an eyebrow. �Leo?�

�Yeah,� said Frank. Leo was an associate of Max's who specialized in making cars disappear. He owned a body shop in the industrial section of Las Vegas, and Frank had, after changing the tire on Muzzanca's car, driven it to Leo's, with Pauli following. There they had handed the vehicle over to Leo, who would repaint it, transport it out of state, and sell it.
�Good work,� said Ray, and leaned farther back into the sofa. He gave Frank a second look, his dark eyes observing the dust and grit on Frank's clothes. �Any trouble?� he asked, suspicion stirring in his voice.
�We had to change a flat,� said Pauli. Although Frank's ribs still throbbed, he said nothing.

A woman flowed out of Ray's bedroom and around the couch. She was petite and beautiful, her slightly messed blonde hair and the elegant robe she wore advertising her business with Ray. Unexpectedly, Frank felt an envious disgust. Not for this particular woman, who was most certainly a high-line hooker, but for the fact that Ray chose her over Cori. Is anything ever enough for him? he thought, as the woman strode on high heels towards the bar.
�I want a glass of wine,� she said, looking at Frank. Frank downed his bourbon and studied her. She stared back at him expectantly, waiting to be served. Finally, Frank set his glass on the bar, rose from his seat, and gestured to the multitude of bottles behind the bar. �Help yourself,� he said, smiling, and headed for the couch.

He sat down across from Ray, who stared at him, his obsidian eyes unreadable. It was never good when Ray looked at you for very long, and now he was staring at him. But Frank knew he could never respect himself for long if he played bartender to Ray's hooker, so he relaxed into the leather of the couch and met Ray's gaze full on. After a moment, something in Ray's eyes changed; a hint of humor sparkled there, and one corner of his mouth turned up. He appraised Frank with respect, and chuckled. Pauli laughed; he always laughed when Ray did, even if he wasn't sure why.
Still standing at the bar, the blonde looked at Frank with snobbish indignation, then angrily at Ray for allowing him to humiliate her without punishment. She grabbed a bottle of wine from behind the bar and strode angrily from the room.

Frank slouched further into the couch, relaxing more now that Ray seemed to have loosened up. Ray's face sobered again. �Did you get what I asked for?� He looked from Frank to Pauli, then back to Frank.
Frank leaned over in his seat to rummage in his pocket until he came up with the requested object. He held up a large gold ring between his thumb and forefinger- Muzzanca's. For show, he twirled it indolently on the tip of his forefinger, and watched a smile spread wide across Luca's face. Frank grinned in the face of Ray's greedy, morbid enthusiasm, and handed it over. The significance of Muzzanca's ring to Ray was lost on Frank, and he knew that Pauli hadn't a clue why Ray wanted it either. But Ray had been specific about retrieving it from the body.
Ray looked at it in his palm and chuckled, shaking his head as if at some private joke. Pauli looked at Frank, who only shrugged in reply with a slightly raised eyebrow. Finally, Ray stowed the prize in his robe pocket and stood, still grinning. �Let's celebrate,� he announced.

Cori walked slowly through the Lucky Star casino, fighting the nervous fluttering in her stomach. Where was Frank? They had spoken earlier that evening. He had told her that he had to take care of something for Ray, but that he would be at the Lucky Star afterwards if all went as planned. She rarely showed at the casino this late, and would need an excuse for her break with tradition if she saw Ray, and just yet she hadn't come up with one. She supposed she could always say she was coming to see him, although they would both know that was not true. She cast aside the multitude of excuses and concentrated on searching for Frank.
Sooner than she expected, she picked out his slumped form at the bar, and the jolt of excitement she felt at the sight of him made her legs tremble. Pauli was with him, she saw with disappointment. But she would not be stopped. As she approached, taking deep breaths to calm herself, she saw that Frank was laughing heartily at something Pauli had said. And then he saw her. He straightened in his seat. Pauli looked over his shoulder, still grinning sappily, but when he saw her, his grin slipped a fraction. Cori was puzzled by their reaction.
�Thought you was at home tonight, doll,� commented Pauli, struggling to maintain his smile.
�I was. I went out,� she stated needlessly. �Nothing good on TV.� Pauli nodded, and he and Frank exchanged a look. Something was amiss, and she looked at Frank, meeting his eyes, hoping for some hint of an answer there. For a moment, they touched her with genuine feeling, then he ducked his head and looked away. Pauli stirred his drink, uncharacteristically silent, and looked at Frank again.
Cori began to feel unwelcome and she began to regret her decision to come to the Lucky Star. She knew Frank was probably putting up an indifferent front to cover their increasingly close relationship, but the way Pauli was behaving was disturbing. She remained standing where she was, reluctant to join them while she felt like an intruder. Pauli set his glass down and muttered an excuse about going to the restroom, taking his leave.
�What's the matter with him?� Cori asked Frank, gesturing to Pauli's back as he melted into the crowd.

�Uhh, I think he ate too much for dinner,� said Frank, still unwilling to meet her eyes. What�s wrong with them? Cori watched as Pauli headed not toward the restrooms, but in the direction of the gaming tables. As she watched, the crowd parted to let him through, just for a moment, but long enough for her to see Pauli lean down to speak to Ray, who was seated at a Blackjack table.
Ray was in the company of a blonde. A woman wearing her sunglasses indoors at night as if she thought that made her glamorous, a woman who was leaning against Ray with an intimate familiarity that struck Cori like a blow to the stomach.

The crowd closed around the gaming table like a curtain, but the image remained in Cori's mind like a snapshot she knew would be burned there forever - Ray, just turning his face upwards to Pauli with that mildly irritated expression that always dropped into place the moment someone interrupted his fun; she, with her head on his shoulder, face turned ceilingward in an exaggerated show of spoiled boredom, indoor lighting reflecting on those ridiculous black sunglasses that made her seem more anonymous, less human, less aware of the pain she might be causing someone else.

Cori's breath escaped her in an outraged gasp. She had long suspected Ray's infidelities, but to see it flaunted like this, to see such a brazen public display nearly nauseated her. She fled.

She never remembered leaving the bar, never recalled weaving through the crowd in a near panic to get away from the humiliation. For the first time, the casino and everything in it seemed a funhouse to Cori - a sick carnival full of glitter and lights and noise, brightly dressed and painted people in disguise. Behind it all lurked the worst of human behavior, if you cared to peek behind the curtain. A corner had just been lifted for Cori, and she wanted nothing to do with what she saw.

Outside, she hurried to find her valet-parked car, trotting from row to row looking for a glimpse of the telltale pink fins. In her low heels, she turned an ankle painfully and sat down hard, with a cry. Angrily, she wrenched both shoes from her feet and hurled them as hard as she could, as if they were the source of not only the pain in her ankle, but the pain in her soul as well. She sat cradling her ankle, biting her lip in pain and frustration.
Footsteps approached, crunching on the gravel, and she looked up, flinging her tousled hair out of her eyes, ready to bite the head off of any well-meaning valet who did not know how to mind his own business. It was Frank.
He stopped before her and hunkered down, looking into her wounded eyes, and studied her for a moment. Wordlessly, he produced a cigarette and lit it, drawing on it deeply, then slowly extended it to her as an offering. Cori leaned forward and took a drag as he held it for her.
He looked at her face intently, then away, in the general direction of a nearby car's fender. �You wanna run away?� he said, still not looking at her. Cori stopped massaging her ankle, trying to determine if he was being serious. �I'll take you away, if you want,� he offered, still addressing the tire region of the Oldsmobile next to them.
Cori felt a strange epiphany. He was serious. When Frank made a joke, he looked her in the eye. When he was serious, he always seemed to find someplace else to look, as if afraid his true emotions might show in his eyes.

�Do you mean for good? Or just for a while?� she asked, trying to meet his eyes.
He shrugged, shook the ash from his cigarette. �Whatever you want.� At last, he met her eyes again. His own eyes, gray in the half-light of the parking lot, pierced her in their intensity. If he was trying to distract her from her rage and pain, he was doing a good job of it. Then the image of the blonde woman reasserted itself in her mind again, and her fury returned. She put her head down and rocked, her injury paining her, her frustration overwhelming.

�Hey,� Frank said, �How about if I went back in there and knocked their heads together? You know, like in one of those old Three Stooges flicks?� The twinkle in his eye warmed her heart so completely that she broke out into a laugh that was somehow painful even as it soothed her. Unexpectedly touched by his efforts to lift her from her pain, she cried as she laughed, eyes burning.
�I wouldn't mind seeing that,� she finally answered, smiling through her tears as sun shines through rain, cheeks wet as she laughed. Frank laughed too, and the sound did wonders for Cori's heart. It soothed some of the pain, numbed the worst of it as she looked up into his eyes, loving they way they crinkled up at the corners. A powerful wave of affection for him washed over her. It bolstered her, gave her strength, and she gathered herself to rise.
She stood, the gravel biting into her stockinged feet. Frank located her shoes and handed them to her. �That son of a bitch�� she said to herself, thinking of Ray again as she put her shoes on one at a time, stork-like. �You knew about all that, didn't you?� she asked Frank, feeling no anger, no resentment toward him for not telling her. Frank simply shrugged, took a last puff on his cigarette and tossed it away.
Cori sighed, tired. Even now, he would not say anything too damning about Ray, his boss. �Well, it's not like I didn't know myself,� she said. �I just never saw it before,� she said, not wanting him to think her sheltered and naive in the ways of men.
Frank looked down, shuffled his feet and swayed uncomfortably. �Yeah,� he said. �He don't appreciate what he's got. I think you oughta leave.� He was so matter-of-fact about it, Cori hardly knew what to say.

He continued, looking far down, chin almost on his chest as he kicked gravel aimlessly. �I'd take you. I'd do it. I'd take you wherever you want,� he reiterated. Cori thought about that. What would that be like? What if she went home right now, packed a few bags, jumped in Frank Holman's Thunderbird with him, and let him whisk her away? She thought about how Ray would react. Cheater or not, he was notoriously jealous. He would be beside himself, enraged beyond belief if he knew she had run away with Holman, an underling. There was such delicious satisfaction in the vision that she smiled. Where would they run to? California? Back east? Living in motels...always with the threat of Ray's sudden vengeance...her smile faded. To leave Las Vegas...she had come to love the town dearly in the short time she'd lived here. Vegas was a town people ran away to, not from.
Footsteps approached them, breaking in on her deep thoughts, and they both turned. It was Pauli.

�Hey, Frank. The Boss is lookin' for you,� he said, as he came near. Cori detected falseness in his tone, Pauli had never been good at lying. More than likely, he had observed her and Frank from across the parking lot after following them outside, and even from that distance, their close proximity had roused his suspicions. Cori was irritated with him beyond suppression. One moment he was warning Ray of her presence; the next, trying to throw up roadblocks between her and Frank. Help Ray cheat; stop his wife from even speaking to another man. That was loyalty for you- that was Pauli Taglia.
�We're talking, Pauli,� she said, coolly defiant. �Ray can see Frank when we're done.� She stood glaring at him, willing him away with her warning gaze. Frank stood silent, but when Cori glanced at him, she was surprised to see him glaring at Pauli in a similar manner.
Pauli studied them both a moment longer with suspicious worry. �Ray's up in his room,� he said to Frank, gesturing upwards with a jerk of his chin.
Frank craned his head back, looking far up at the top of the Lucky Star, then back at Pauli. �All right. Be up in a minute,� he said, cool and unhurried. Pauli nodded and backed up, looking from Frank to Cori, then turned and stumped off across the parking lot.

Cori glanced up at the top of the Lucky Star, wondering if Ray was really there in his suite, and if he was at the window, watching them. What sweet revenge, if he was, if she were to fall into Frank's arms right this moment for him to witness from above. Then a possibility hit her. Perhaps Pauli had not come to interrupt them for the principle of it, but rather to warn them of Ray's eye in the sky. But no...for Pauli to have such a motive, he would have to already suspect some sort of relationship between herself and Frank. Cori rubbed her head, she was incredibly fatigued mentally.

Frank walked her to her car silently. Cori got behind the wheel and shut the door, then rolled down her window so they could say goodnight. She noticed that his pants were dirty, and she furrowed her brow in confusion. �What happened?� she asked.
Frank leaned in her window, forearms resting on the sill of her door. �Rough night,� he smirked.
�You too?� she said, irony heavy in her tone.

They held each other's gaze for several heartbeats, each reluctant to part. �I guess you should go up and see what Ray wants,� she said at last.
Frank's lips twitched in a secret smile. �I'll off him for you,� he suggested, �You got insurance on him?� Cori laughed, a real laugh that came from deep down. She adored him in that moment for his ability to obliterate her pain effortlessly.
She reached out to touch his face, caressing his jaw in her palm and stroking his cheek with her thumb. �You're a piece of work, Frank,� she laughed, shaking her head.
- 5
- 6
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Vegas Hearts