The finale to season five had been absolutely fantastic, with the freedom to kiss and be outright adorable on television for everyone, especially the haters, to see. Since there had been lots of time to cuddle and make out while waiting for the season to end, it was actually a bit hard for Heather and Alejandro to keep their hands off of each other any more than they had to when the finale rolled around, but being able to show off their real relationship (after two seasons of them competing and denying it) was definitely worth it.

If only Heather had known that by the end of the first month after the season stopped things would have been completely different, then maybe she wouldn't have focused so much on making sure there was at least one televised kiss. Her and Alejandro seemed like the perfect pair, two masterminds who were cunning and attractive, and since they had become so happy to be with each other during their time on the show, no matter how hard she had tried to deny it, it was worth a shot to make it last. While everyone else was hesitant on keeping friendships after the cameras stopped rolling, they were making plans on what to do with their future together.

They weren't even twenty years old, far too young to be planning the rest of their lives, yet there they were, getting into intricate detail about everything they would journey through together. The hours and days they spent arm-in-arm, kissing at every chance they got, felt like minutes to her, and she figured that he felt the same way. He was as interested in their plans as she was, that charming smile on his lips whenever her mouth wasn't, and he was always the first to come up with the next big idea for what they should do with their lives.

She should have known that something was amiss when he started giving her the reigns on the plans, which had gone from ambitious to more realistic over the course of a few weeks, but she brushed all worries aside and marked them as him just coming into being a gentleman. But when he stopped giving any input at all and actually began to pull away from her planning, the worries began to come back with full force. When she confronted him about it, he soothed her with a tender kiss and a reminder that she was his one true love and that he would never leave her side, not for anything.

A week later he was packing his bags and heading out into the world, having decided that leaving her was for the best. "My apologies, mi amor, but it is simply what I must do," he said as he was getting everything he had collected over the last month and putting it in a suitcase. "You would do the same if you were in my situation."

"Your situation? What situation is that?" Her arms were crossed over her chest and she was glaring at him, blocking his only exit from the bedroom they'd been sharing ever since All-Stars had ended. "The one you willingly got yourself into?"

"There was nothing willing about my involvement with you. You simply ensnared me with your beauty and I have to escape before things actually happen between us. You understand, don't you?" He looked from his bags to her, his eyes shining with the charm they always had when he was trying to do something cunning. "It is for the best."

"The best? Uh, hello, I'm pretty sure the best is right here!" She motioned to herself, making sure to point directly at her chest and hips at least three times. "You unpack that stuff right now, Alejandro, or I will do it for you. And that's a promise."

"Again, my apologies, but my hands are tied." He carefully pushed her aside, against all her resisting, and he and his belongings left the room and walked out of his life, something he had promised he wouldn't do as well as something she had hoped would not happen.

It was a month after All Stars had ended, and Heather was back to being as alone as she had been for all of her life up until the show had started. It was as if their entire relationship had been nothing more than a game to Alejandro, even though it had been so much more to her. She collapsed onto the floor, not crying out of misery but out of anger, her face reddening with every passing second.

She wasn't going to chase him down, but if she ever met that sneaky Spaniard again, she was going to make sure he paid for giving her a fleeting chance at a relationship.

And for the next few years, she was bitter and vengeful, allowing love to become just as much a game to her as it was to him.

Some of the greatest things in life found their beginnings in an airplane. Not for many people, but for one former reality television star who always had, always did, and always would go by the name of Heather, the greatest moments of her life happened because of the events that took place on some run-down airplane flying around the world. It was on that plane that she made her trek to very nearly winning a million dollars, and it was on that very same plane that she had her denial and slow revelation that she had feelings of a romantic variety for one of her fellow competitors.

The grimace on her face as she thought about that second fact explained her entire mindset on the situation in hindsight: while he had been cunning and attractive, especially after they both came to their senses about their feelings, there was not a bit of good that existed inside of one Alejandro Burromuerto, and that was that. He had reeled her in, made her feel wanted like no one else in her life ever had, and then walked out like there had been nothing between them, like there had been no shared kisses or anything. No one had ever played her like that, until he came along.

Hindsight was a funny thing to have, and while it was always fun to look back on past events and realize what could have been done differently, there wasn't a single thing that Heather wanted to change about that entire situation. Especially when it came down to what had transpired between her and that seductive scoundrel who had played her just as hard as they both had played the game.

She tapped her fingers on the armrest of the seat she was in, one of just a few people scattered around the seating area of the small plane making a trip that was seldom wanted or needed. One of the perks of having an oft-recognized face was being able to convince people to give her special attention, and whenever she needed a flight somewhere, she was sure to bat her eyelashes and demand the quietest plane possible. This meant that she was surrounded by other people with the same demands as herself, and while they all could have easily talked for the entire flight, she tended to stay silent and pensive.

Her normal trip thoughts didn't rest on that smooth-talking Spanish man who had played with her heart, however. They normally lingered on the show, or on how her life had been in the years following it, but never on the one part of the experience that she had actually enjoyed. In fact, admitting to herself that she had so much as liked anything that Alejandro had done or said to her was something that she tried not to do. Dwelling on him had gotten many girls in trouble, and she most certainly did not want to be anything like any of them.

Someone bumping into her arm broke her from her thoughts, and her first reaction was to look up to see who it was, while starting to tell them off for so much as touching her. She hadn't even started her sentence when she realized who was standing right next to her, a hand moving into position on top of hers. Her eyes narrowed, lips straightened and thinned, and she had a wave of anger and mixed emotions come over her. What did one say to someone who they had never intended on seeing again?

"Oh, why hello there, Heather." His voice stopped her from saying whatever she had decided on greeting him with. It was as purposeful as it had always been, a natural and broken order to the words, and it angered her more than seeing him had. "It certainly has been a while since we last saw each other, has it not?"

The only words Heather could manage in response were simple: "Back off, Alejandro." She couldn't find it in herself to curse at him, because there was somewhere deep inside of her that still felt immensely for he who stood beside her. Yet she also couldn't find it inside herself to accept him back with no questions asked, as they hadn't seen each other since he had decided to walk away from her after their last season together. What she said was what she thought, and apparently what she thought was that him walking away again would miraculously make everything between them better.

As evidenced by him putting his other hand under her chin to tilt her head so she could look him in the eyes, Alejandro knew that she was feeling conflicting things. "I told you, mi amor, I had reasons to leave. Do not hate me because of that. I know you still feel for me."

"No, what I feel is you touching me. Stop that and back off."

He smiled, leaning closer to her while still forcing her into eye contact. "I cannot do that. There is so much that has been missed between us that I feel complying with your demands would only ruin our chance to fix things." Every word was punctuated with lust, something that she knew he was only doing to try and convince her to do something she'd regret. It was a tactic she had mentally guarded herself against, yet even her mind's strongest defenses were weak to how he spoke, especially while she was staring (albeit a forced stare) into his brilliantly green eyes. "Please, say you would at least consider my wishes."

"You think that it's okay to do this when we're on a plane? We haven't spoken in years and you're going to do this? Seriously? I mean, come on!" She tried to get away from him, but his grip on her was too much—or was it that she had no real intentions to actually leave? "You are the worst. The absolute worst."

"I would love to hear you say that again sometime. How about after we rekindle what we once had between us? I see it in your face that you feel what I feel, even after all this time." He winked at her and she could feel herself falling victim to his charms, against her better judgment. She couldn't help it that none of her desire to be with him had disappeared in the time they'd been apart, and if he still wanted to be with her, there was no reason to not give it a shot.

She let him pull her from her seat, and once she was standing he made sure to wrap his arm around her waist and hold her as close to him as he could. "You know that we're on a plane, right?" she asked him, as they just stood in the nearly empty cabin. "Can't exactly take a romantic walk and discuss everything that's happened here."

"No one ever mentioned doing that." He winked again, before walking her towards the back area of the plane where there was absolutely no one seated, and throwing her down into one of the chairs. When he sat next to her, he lifted the arm rest and pulled her over into his lap. "The walk part, at least. How have things been for you since my departure?"

"Don't talk to me like you care." She virtually spit out every word, trying to break free from the position she had been put into. "If you did care, which you don't, you wouldn't have left in the first place."

"Except I do care, much like I always have. I do believe our parting words were along the lines of that my hands were tied in the situation. If it had been my decision, I would have never left you." The way he smiled down at her, tenderness in his eyes mixed with passion that had been there years before, only made Heather think of the good times they had once shared. Had it really been since the end of that first month after All Stars that she had been with him like this?

It didn't matter to her, though, because all she could feel surging inside of her at that very moment was disdain for him. "What was such a big deal that you had to abandon someone you swore you'd be with forever, huh?"

"Trust me, it is better if you do not find out."

"Don't tell me then. Cool. Just let me up and walk your obnoxious Spanish behind back out of my life." She squirmed more, but his arms were pinning her into her position. "Or is there more to this than just a little reacquainting?"

"Why would you assume something such as that? Do you find it odd that I would want to see you again?" It wasn't that he sounded offended by her question; rather, he sounded like he had expected her to be doubtful of his intentions, which irked her. She sighed, letting her body go limp in his grasp in response to his words, hoping that maybe by making him feel as if he had gained the upper hand in the situation, but the plan backfired when he used her lack of overall strength against her and pulled her up into a quick kiss. Once she had hit his lap once more he gave a soft, but somewhat sinister, chuckle. "I greatly missed being in your presence."

She pouted and attempted to move one of her hands to wipe his taste off of her lips. "It's a shame that you can only say that to me when you've got me pinned down."

"You simply would never give me the chance if it was any other way." Instead of pulling her up again, this time he bent down to kiss her, but she turned her head and his lips met her cheek instead. The sound of disappointment he let out as he returned to his upright position was enough to make Heather actually somewhat regret duping him into missing her lips. "See? Even in this position you still find ways to escape me."

There was a light in his eyes that seemed to go out with what he said, and for a split second she wondered if that meant she was going to be freed. Instead, much to her shock, he pulled her completely up so that she was no longer laying in his lap, but rather sitting in it—something that she tried to resist but was completely overpowered by his brute strength. "You can let go of me whenever," she reminded him, trying to shake his grip off of her arm. "Kinda need to make sure you didn't break anything by moving me like this."

"I would never so much as harm a hair on your head. Physically, I mean. There are emotional wounds I have inflicted that I can tell you have yet to get over."

"Aw, what makes you think that? The fact that I don't want anything to do with you?" She spoke with scathing words, their conversations of old in which they promised to be together forever in the front of her mind. "The fact that you abandoned me without any good reason?"

"There was a good reason, but now is not the time or the place to get into that matter. All I ask of you is one moment, much like ones we used to have. Is that too much of a request?" He tried to nuzzle her with his cheek, but she headbutted him in retaliation. "It seems as if it is so. Maybe this was not such a good idea after all."

"Of course it wasn't a good idea!" After hitting him again with her head, he let go of her arms, which gave her the freedom to jump from his lap and stand in the aisle of the plane. "You can't just get on a plane with someone you haven't bothered to talk to in years—which I have no idea why you're here, by the way—and expect that she feels just like she did the last time you saw her! Especially not when the last time you saw her was when you were walking out on her!"

He sat in a stunned silence for a few moments, blinking slowly as he took in her outburst. She was fuming, her face red from all the anger she had let erupt, but when he finally found the ability to focus on her, he smiled and couldn't help but remark on her beauty. "It is a shame that you seem to hate me, because there is little I would say no to if you asked for it right now, with all of that anger just radiating from your perfect skin."

Her eyes narrowed and she shot daggers at him. "You can't hit on someone when she's chewing you out."

"I am sure that it's been done before." He stood, grabbing her hand once more and pulling her even closer to the back of the plane. "Now would you care to join me to, ahem, let off more of this steam?"

"What are you implying? You know that all I want to do is punch you in that smug, gorgeous face."

"Face hits are out of the question, mi amor. I was expecting something a little more, shall I say, pleasurable." When the realization hit her that he wasn't talking about anything painful, but rather something much more risque, she had to fight the rational part of her mind that told her that it was all a game, that he wasn't meaning anything by what he was going to do. The passionate part of her, the part still so tangled up in feelings for the man holding her hand, pleaded with her that it was his way of saying he was sorry for leaving, that he still loved her after all.

Ultimately, she followed the passionate part rather than the rational one, and ended up unexpectedly joining the mile-high club while being intertwined with him inside of the only cramped bathroom that was on the plane. And while that decision didn't strip her of her dignity or her pride, as people tended to brag about having encounters of the sexual kind while in the air, what happened after it did: upon the plane's landing, he disappeared without so much as a farewell, and certainly without any apologies.

She had been used. For six months, all she thought about when it came to love and romance was that dirty bastard and how he had the nerve to talk her into submission and then abandon her once more after the deed was done. If she hadn't already been bitter about her love life before that, she definitely was after six long months of brooding about what had gone on in that tiny bathroom on that small plane.

All of the anger she had redeveloped towards him came to its climax in the way she would have least liked it to, not in the comfort of her bedroom or in some private location that no one would ever dare look. It was on yet another airplane, in the first class cabin that she had carefully sweet-talked her way into, where she had expected to ride in comfort from her home airport to the one in Vegas. After all, even the most spoiled of ex-reality show contestants needed a break from reality every once in a while, and after the past six months in her life, she needed a few drinks and some mindless gambling to fix her problems.

The cabin door was just about to close, and she had what was most likely the only open seat left in the plane right next to her. A perfect situation to be found in, she thought, and she began preparing herself for what would probably be the most peaceful flight in her life. That was, until one more passenger came onto the plane, giving apologies in two languages as he made his way to that sole open seat.

"You're kidding me," she muttered under her breath as he settled down next to her. "Of all the flights? Really?"

"You would be surprised about how hard it is to stage something such as this." He smiled at her and she gave him a disgusted look in return. "Oh, it seems you still harbor ill will towards me."

"You make me sick, Alejandro. Why don't you just go find someone else to bother?" She turned her head so she was facing the window. Anything was better than looking at his smug face in her opinion. "Especially since there's an entire plane full of people who would be fine with some Spanish hunk talking to them."

"Your insults are weak when you follow them with compliments."

"That wasn't a compliment!" she snapped back, flinging her arm at him to whack him in the chest. "That was the exact opposite of a compliment!"

"Unless the definition of the word 'hunk' changed in the past five seconds, I am fairly certain that it was indeed a compliment." As he kept smiling at her, she gasped in realization that what she had said was not what she had intended to say in the slightest. "It seems as if you still think highly of me, and for that I'm impressed."

She responded by hitting him again, earning her a scolding by a passing flight attendant who warned her that physical violence wasn't welcome on the aircraft. "You've got a plan to ruin my life, don't you?" she asked him once the attendant was out of earshot. "Can't leave me alone and forget about me, can you?"

"Once you know someone as I know you, it is hard to forget about them. Especially when I can still hear you moaning my name when I think about you." Her face went pale and she turned solely to glare at him, all while he smiled on. "You're still quite attractive when you shoot those daggers at me. They look painful but inflict no wounds on me."

"Don't talk to me about that incident."

"Which part? Where you moaned? Or where you begged for me to continue? I like to remember the second one." As he spoke, she became more and more flustered and tried to get him to shut up, as their conversation was earning the interest of everyone seated around them. But he didn't seem to care, and from that point until they were high in the skies, the only thing that stopped him from recounting the entire experience on their last shared plane ride was the emergency evacuation procedure demonstration.

By the time he was done speaking, Heather was completely mortified, and she had been through a bunch of embarrassing things before this. Nothing that she had gone through had been on this level of depravity, however, and she would much have rather shown her bare chest on television again than have the entire first class cabin know, in detail, everything that had happened the last time she had been laid. Her face was covered by her hands and was as close to in her lap as she could get it, just hoping that maybe it was a dream and that there wasn't her one-time boyfriend sitting right next to her at the end of such a private story.

But he was there, and he wanted to make sure that she was aware of it. He placed his hand on her back and slowly began rubbing it, in an attempt to relieve tension from the situation. "Mi amor, you can uncover your beautiful face. No one here thinks any less of you than they do me."

"It's called a reputation, asshole." Normally, she kept her cursing to the moments where no one would hear it, or where if they did hear it, it would be censored. But this particular moment had enough anger attached to it that she felt fine with dropping a few choice words. "Guys can fuck around all they want and they're fine. Not the same for women."

"I highly doubt anyone here cares enough to think anything of what I said."

"Doesn't mean you needed to tell everyone about ou—my sex life!" She lifted her head a bit, pulling her hands away from her face to grab the bottom of the chair instead. "Because I'm pretty sure you've fucked your fair share of girls in all that time you abandoned me!"

His head tilted slightly, as he pondered what she had said. "I am sure you are going to call me a liar for this, but when I say you are the only woman I have gotten to know bibically, it is the truth." She wasn't sure what exactly that meant, and as she didn't want to be civil and ask what he was talking about, he had to assume that his wording needed clarification. "I've only ever done anything with you, Heather. No one else."

By this point, he was speaking in hushed whispers, so when she found the ability to speak after that, she did the same. "Uh huh. No guy ditches a girl and doesn't go straight to find someone new to sleep with."

"There was a reason I left you on both occasions, and neither of them had anything to do with other women." He sighed, preparing himself to explain something that he had been cagey about since their encounter on the other plane. "I had to make sure you were right for me."

"That is literally the lamest excuse I've ever heard."

"Except it is no excuse at all. Have you never heard that if you love something, let it go?" He raised an eyebrow at her as she thought about if she had heard that. When she finally said she had, he continued with, "That's exactly what I had to do. Twice."

"And you couldn't tell me about this because...?"

"Would you have believed me if I had said that I was leaving because I had to make sure you would remain faithful to me even if I was not present?" The answer to that question wasn't something that Heather could come up with right away, and she spent the rest of their plane ride in silence, wondering how she was supposed to answer that. While she thought, he fielded questions by the eager people sitting around them about the story he had told, much to her dismay. It was much harder to think about answering deep romantic questions when she was listening to strangers ask about the way she performed sexual acts.

She didn't have an answer for Alejandro's question when the plane landed, something that bothered her. This was going to be farewell for them once more, and she didn't have some sort of snarky response for what he had asked. That meant that she needed to get away from him as fast as she could, to avoid having to ever bring it up again, and possibly never have to ever think about what could have been in their relationship. It was a shame that he was in the aisle seat and could block her from getting off the plane, then. "Do you think you can get out of answering?" he asked her when he saw her standing up. "Because you cannot. I will not allow it."

"I don't have an answer, and never will. Besides, what you said's probably the dumbest thing I've ever heard. No one actually does that." She tried to push by him but he blocked her with both of his arms. "Let me off the plane."

"What fun would there be in that?"

"I don't know. We're in Vegas. Letting me off would let me have the fun I intended to have when I bought this plane ticket." She rolled her eyes when he shook his head and told her to sit back down so they could talk while everyone else left. "Ugh, whatever. You're not getting an answer though."

"I think I will find the one I want eventually. First, though, I have a request of you." He had his smug grin on his face as he moved his head closer to hers. "I seem to have gotten on this plane without anywhere to stay upon arrival. Would you mind sharing where you're staying with me?"

The look of absolute disgust that appeared on her face should have been enough of an answer, but she had to reply in words as well: "You're fucking kidding me. Really?"

"No one said that I had the entire plan figured out." He shrugged his shoulders and she rolled her eyes once more. "Besides, you have similar tastes to mine and wherever you will be staying should suit me as well."

She shook her head. "Nope. I booked myself a one bed room, since I'm on this trip by myself."

"You act as if you have never shared a bed with me before." He had a point, because for that one fateful month, they had been sharing not just a bed, but almost everything. "And even if we are in the same bed, that just means we will be sleeping together. Not sleeping together." The way he said the last part, with enough emphasis to make it known that he was blatantly lying, was enough to make Heather want to tell him no, just to get him to leave her alone.

But that was the rational part of her that wanted that, and the part of her that was still attracted to this man was pulling for her to fall for his thinly-veiled attempt at seducing her. "I'll think about it," she said, bringing joy to his face as he thanked her multiple times over for so much as giving him a chance. "Hey, don't push your luck with all these dramatics."

"My apologies, but I feel this is simply necessary." He got to his feet and they got off the plane, the last passengers to disembark. The moment they made it to the terminal, he picked her up in his arms and began carrying her through the crowds of people milling around bridal-style—and people who saw this display began cheering.

"Why are you doing this to me?" she loudly asked, her voice taking on a whining tone. "Can't you stop making fools out of us for one minute?"

"I am just showing my appreciation to you. Are you bothered by that?" When she said that she was indeed bothered, he stopped walking. "Then maybe I should toss you over a railing."

Her eyes widened in fear. "No thanks. I'd rather not die while on vacation."

"So stop complaining about my expressions of affection for one moment and enjoy it." Rather than arguing the point further and possibly getting thrown over something much worse than a railing, she rode in his arms in silence until they made it to the baggage claim, where she was dumped to the floor. She went to argue that it wasn't fair treatment to her, for him to carry her so far just to throw her away, until she realized that she had been clinging to him and if he had honestly asked her to let go, she would have refused by that point. Being held by him, as much as she hated admitting it, was something she had loved since way before they had ever gotten together.

"Sorry if I am breaking you from your thoughts, but the luggage has gone by twice now and you should really work on grabbing what belongs to you." Alejandro, with what he had brought on the trip next to him, placed a hand on Heather's shoulder. In response she grabbed for something, but it wasn't her luggage.

In the middle of the crowd standing at the baggage claim, she had absentmindedly reached below the belt on someone she acted like she absolutely despised. He laughed it off, she screamed and nearly fell onto the conveyor belt, and the situation made her want to never so much as look him in the eyes again after they were done there.

The problem with that was, even after they had left the airport, he wouldn't leave her alone. He climbed into the same vehicle as her, claiming to be going to the exact destination she was (which she knew was a jab at her possibly letting him stay with her), and once they made it to the front entrance of the resort that she had picked for her little vacation, he was being quite chummy with her once more. "Please, for the love of everything, just leave me alone!" she screamed, attempting to storm away from where he stood. He happened to catch up to her in moments, with both longer legs and less bags to worry with dragging along.

"You and I are both very aware that you want me here, so please stop with the charade that you hate me and just accept the truth." He spoke as they walked, her on a mission to get to the check-in desk, to get her room and then lock herself in it while he was stuck outside, while he simply wanted her companionship. "You excel at playing hard to get, but it has gotten old."

"That's exactly how I want it to be!" Flipping her hair so that it smacked him in the face, she got him to back off long enough to get her room assignment, but the second she got into the elevator to go up to her room, he was right back next to her. "Hey! I never said you were sharing my room with me. Go get your own."

He sighed deeply, a sad look upon his face. "I cannot."

"Sure you can. Walk down to the counter, say you need a room, and make sure to request one as far away from me as possible. Easy as that."

"When I say I cannot, it has nothing to do with the physical aspect of it. It deals with the small fact that I spent what money I had getting on that plane to come here." She could feel her jaw drop in disbelief, because no person was dumb enough to actually travel somewhere with no idea of how they were going to stay there. He must have lost his mind trying to use that excuse on her, yet that part of her being that was still so romantically attracted to him ate the excuse up like it was the most delicious thing ever.

"You know," she said, thinking about how what she was about to suggest could either end up hurting her or making her vacation the best ever, "we have shared a bed before..."

When his face brightened at the sound of her saying that, she should have known what was coming next. He was going to come into her room, light up her life, and then disappear into the vast nothing the second she fell hard for him again. Except, on this particular occasion, after they had gotten into the room and done nothing more than put their bags against the wall, and after they had joined their bodies together in a way that only true, passionate lovers did, there was something different that happened: he didn't even contemplate leaving.

And the next morning, when he was laying beside her without a single article of clothing on, she was shocked to see him. The shock got worse when he kissed her before getting out of bed, and then while getting dressed fielded several questions, all of which dealt with the matter of him staying for the duration of the trip, as well as going back to Canada with her. "I did my time away from you Heather," he said softly, climbing back into the bed once he was dressed. "And for this next week, as well as the rest of your life, you will be mine."

Both the rational and romantic parts of her fell for it this time.

A/N: Hi there! Thanks for reading this first chapter of a fic I've been working on for a month now, but have been planning for a long time coming. It's good to see it in its posted format, finally! I don't have much to say here (yet), but I'll be updating this weekly until it's over, and don't get too used to things because they will be changing. Lots of plot twists ahead!