King of Hearts (House of Cards Series 2) [Student/teacher]

Four of Hearts

A/N: I'm approaching the end of KoH! This chapter, then exams/prom, then there is the big thing happening in the summer, and then the wrap up. I SHOULD have this story finished by next week-ish. Sad, I know :D BUT I do have a brand new, special story for November (NaNoWriMo), and in December, I'll be returning to the House of Cards series (QoS, KoH) with Broken Kings- Malcolm's history and the beginning of West's story as well. No teacher/student stuff, but there will still be a lot of interesting things happening.

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Maddison walked out of West's bedroom to see his tiny, intimidating grandmother standing there, holding what smelled like cognac in a glass out for Mad to drink. "You've earned this." Was all the little Cuban woman would say, and Maddison drank from the glass without arguement. And then she started to cough as the harsh alcohol burn kicked in.

"Todo es como debe ser." West's grandmother said, voice firm and calm.

Maddison raised an eyebrow and shook her head. "Still don't understand, sorry."

"All is as it should be." West's drugged voice mumbled out from the bedroom and both women turned to look at the door in surprise.

"The doctors said you needed to rest. I think that means gonig to sleep." Maddison reminded, smiling.

"I'd sleep better if you were..." West started to say but there was a knock at the front door, interrupting his probably lascivious comment.

"I'll get the door if you can get him to sleep." Maddison offered to the grandmother. 'la smiled and nodded, heading in to enforce the doctor's orders. Mad smiled softly and wistfully wondered what it would be like to have grandparents like that. She'd loved hers, but they had died while she was still rather young, so there was no real sense of what it would have been like as peers.

Maddison was about to pull open the door when West nearly fell out of his room, face looking alert and full of alarm. "Don't open the door!" he hollared out, but Maddison had already turned the knob. She spun to face West and the person knocking kicked the door the rest of the way open, firing inside the small home the moment he could. Maddison dropped to the floor and West covered his grandmother, injured leg making him awkward and slow. Even though she knew it would probably not do any good, Maddison grabbed the bottom of the door and slammed it shut in the shooter's face.

The gun fire stopped and they all heard a thud and a muffled curse. Apparently the gunner had stepped forward at the same moment that she'd slammed the door and had literally bounced his a** away for a moment. The respite was brief, Joao opening the door again quickly as Maddison scrambled back, away from the door.

"¡Fuera de mi casa!" West's grandmother yelled at the young man (Get out of my house), making every single eye in the house stare at her in surprise.Not just because the little old lady was yelling in a gun fight. But because the little old lady was very calmly holding what looked like a hand cannon aimed at the young gangster.

"Foda-se." Joao growled. (F***).

"I suggest you leave." Maddison said, trying to sound calm even though she was still sprawled on the ground and Jo-jo dog boy was looming over her with a pistol in his hands.

"Shut up whore." Joao spat, snarling down at her.

"Give me the gun 'la. I'll shoot him myself. Sorry for the mess." West's tone was cold, the words as much for Maddison's benefit as Joao's.

Joao kept the gun aimed at the biggest threat in the room. The little old immigrant grandmother with a desert eagle in her arthritic hands. "Can I ask how this is supposed to improve your street cred?" Maddison asked, folding her arms behind her head and laying on her back on the floor. She was trying to be brave but the truth was that her stomach quaked so hard in fear, she was afraid she'd pee herself.

"Shut up!" Joao yelled at her, voice harsh. Maddison had a moment that she thought would never happen: she suddenly understood how calm this Portugeuse pain in the ass down, just like she sometimes could do for West.

"Joao, think about it. He's got no rank now, so you're threatening one old lady, one young woman and an injured man. Real impressive. What are the rest of your dogs going to think? That's you're such a coward for waiting for this moment. How is this getting you any respect with your Canadian chapter?"

Maddison tried to ignore the heavy weight of her lover's stare as she talked his arch nemesis away from the edge of killing them all. There was no way she could explain it to anyone, but she could somehow see the way to end this with, if not peace, at least no blood. Joao glared down at her and he swung the gun in her direction. But when he locked eyes with her, Maddison didn't see a swift death reflected there. Somewhere inside Joao was a man who had no one in his corner and it had turned him against the world. Rich, poor, it didn't matter. He was the way he was because the bullied kid believed that being the bully would protect him.

"Joao, this is beneath you." Maddison's voice was honestly calm. She thought West would interrupt, insult the man, something. But her lover was either smart enough to figure out what she was doing, or smart enough to trust her to try.

"You're letting a cona do your talking?" Joao asked West insultingly. (C***).

"I'm letting the smartest person I know negotiate for me. You were around Los Santos long enough to know that sometimes the most dangerous person in the room isn't the most heavily armed." West said through his clenched teeth. He wasn't thrilled with this, not at all. But there wasn't a whole lot he could do about it so he was just trying to crawl forward enough to grab the other pistol his 'la had hidden in their home. Later he would explain to Maddison about why his sweet grandmother looked like Rambo right now, but that was best saved for a time without unfriendly ears. His words did more than just point out that he had absolutely faith in Maddison; it reminded Joao about how West had survived being stabbed and beaten by a group of men. He'd escaped while being almost fatally injured and unarmed, and would do his best to keep himself and his family alive.

And then everyone heard the sound of sirens approaching. The matter was settled as Joao ran off, fleeing before the police could arrive. West saw his grandmother calmly replace the desert eagle under the hallway table and get to her feet. It shouldn't surprise him when his 'la reacts to these things as if they were common. Where they used to live, this was something that happened more than once a year to them. H*** if it had only happened once a year, they'd throw a celebration.

Twice in one day West was forced to explain to the police an altered version of the truth. By the time all the officers were convinced that it was a robbery that failed, the sun had already risen and West had passed out from the pain killers. Maddison was wearily considering just showeing with her clothes on because taking the time to strip, shower and climb in to bed was far too daunting. And then her cell phone buzzed with a text message.

I have bad news and good news. Call me asap Maddison stared at her phone, amazed that Rafe would send her a text message. After she'd gotten asked to leave the troupe, she figured that he wouldn't try to stay in touch, actually after all that happened she was ready for him to hate her. Him having news for her wasn't necessarily a good thing. But Maddison was curious enough that she sighed and decided to give the man a phone call.

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A/N: Sorry for not getting this up earlier. Sick today.

What do you all think the phone call is about?