Aces Wild (House of Cards Series 4)

Eraser Marks

Grace knew that she shouldn't feel like laughing at her best friend after breaking his nose, and yet she was laughing so hard she was almost in tears. Of course, since her very sprained- but not actually broken- ankle continued to throb, part of those tears were justified. They weren't all mirth induced, but as Grace wiped them away, she knew no one would notice the painfilled ones amongst the laughter.

Nate had come out of the emergency room groaning and with his face taped up. Her little, harmless twitch; the slight impact of her rather dainty foot had broken his nose. Not just in once place though, hell not even in just two place, but in three different places. And they'd had a hell of a time resetting each one without making the others worse. Since Nathaniel Spade Vega was a heart breakingly good looking man; tape, a nose guard and swelling black eyes were not a look he wore well.

"You're laughing at me?" Nate demanded, his voice muffled and funny sounding. His normally muscial voice was strangely nasal and muffled, it only made Grace laugh harder.

"You shouldn't have made me sprain my ankle then." she finally retorted, still laughing a little but trying to calm down so the other people in the hospital would stop glaring at her. She didn't care what they thought of her but it was also a little strange to be laughing when surrounded by misery.

"Gracless, there isn't a power in this universe that could keep you from tripping over yourself." Nate retorted with a painful looking smirk.

"Nitwit, don't make me give you a concussion to go with your broken nose." Grace warned, glaring at him. She had her father's temper and when she heard both her own father, and Nate's, laughing at them, it killed her laughing mood.

"Are they mocking us?" Nate asked conversationally, their playful animosity abandonded as they prepared to face off against the fathers.

Of course, both Malcom Vega and Westley James Jr had faced down far scarier things than their own children, so neither man was exactly intimidated by the glares of their offspring. They both just grinned, reminding Grace of where her best friend got his damning good looks from. She never realized how much like her own father she looked, and the effect those stunning features had with her mother's colouration.

"Now now, don't be bitter. You two are both barely hurt. So if you promise not to act like brats, we'll even treat you to ice cream." Malcolm stated, his eyes glittering with laughter.

"We're not acting like brats! We're not acting like brats are we?" Nate objected immediately, then turned to look at Grace, the laughter in his eyes almost identical to his father's. It made Grace roll her own eyes, a near perfect imitation of her aunt Opi's usual gesture. "We can show them what acting like brats is actually like." Nate then added on and Grace snapped her eyes back to his, grinning since he couldn't without pain.

"Oh, can we ever do that!" Grace agreed and heard the elder Jamed and Vega both groan. As if they couldn't have anticipated this... Really it made Grace wonder what they had been laughing about earlier because both of their fathers were aware of the dangerous combination that was Nate's twisted sense of humour with Grace's cynical but intellectual nature.

"No! No, it's alright. I'll get you guys freaking sundae's just don't revert to four year olds." West immediately stated, managing to not swear as he spotted a small child near by.

"Yes! Ice cream!" Grace did a litle wiggle, not actually able to dance on the spot with her ankle throbbing. Sadly she'd rather put the ice cream to her leg than her mouth, but the dad's didn't need to know that. And she suspected that Nate would rather have it on his face than in it too. Served him right for starting the food fight in the first place! She shot a glare at her best friend, catching him raising his eyebrows at her and shamelessly staring at her ass and she raised a fist warningly, knowing that both dads had missed that little look. He was such a man-whore!