House of Cards Series # 3 One Shots (QoS, KoH)

Fall from Grace (3)

A/N: Pic of Nate to the side. Yes, drool.

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"I'm almost there. Find something that can work as a weapon and get ready." Nathaniel's voice instructed over Grace's cellphone and she hated to admit even to herself, but just knowing that he was on the way helped calm her down. The calm lasted about eight more seconds before Jonah started slamming into the door once again.

Grace swallowed her heart back down and tried to find something in her parent's bathroom that could be used as a weapon. And knowing her father's history, she knew there'd be a lot more than initially met the eye. The countertop held nothing but a quick scan through the shelves and drawers gave her a straightrazor and a super sharp pair of hair sissors. Then she climbed up on the counter, using the corner that was out of the line of sight once the door was open. She could spring out and stab Jonah in the brief second after he burst in.

For right now the door was holding, but Grace was hearing it creak and weaken with every blow. He'd have probably only bloodied her up a little before but she had to go and flush his coke, and now he was out to kill her. Fantastic. Grace really didn't know how she got herself into these situations and it made her fear for her continued survival.

Nate hadn't said where he was, just answered the phone and heard Grace's scared sounding explanation. Then he told her he was almost there and hung up. A loud crash from the other room made Grace give an involuntary scream and wondered what else Jonah had broken. And then she heard Nathaniel's voice and her heart jumped right back into her throat again.

"Get the f*ck out of this house before I rip your face off and stuff it down your throat!" Nathaniel roared at Jonah and Grace heard the sound of fist striking flesh.

It's a lot of fun and sometimes really hot to watch two men fight each other, and Grace knew that on the other side of that door was probably the sexiest fist fight ever. Having to listen to it through a big, thick, not see through door however, really sucked. And drunk Grace was just reckless enough to have itchy fingers. Her hand crept to the doorknob, shaking slightly as she contemplated opening the door and seeing how her best friend was faring.

There was a manly shout of pain and Grace's sense of caution flew out the window. She fumbled with the lock and doorknob and flung the door open to see Nathaniel in a very handsome looking black suit, on his back on the floor, with Jonah overtop him, choking him. Grace would've liked to believe that she leapt across the room and battled the drug dealer away from her best friend but the truth of the matter was the Grace was drunk and climsy.

She stepped out into the room, tripped over the throw rug and slammed her face against the bed post with a sound of pain. It was enough to distract Jonah from trying to kill her best friend and Nate decked Jonah brutally in the face. The Spainard managed to gain a better position and started to just hammer blows down Jonah's head and face, to the point that Grace ended up pulling Nathaniel away before he actually killed the man.

His hands were bloodied and torn open but Nate didn't stop to worry about them, instead checking on Grace's broken nose first. While Jonah groaned on the floor, Nate swiftly straightened her nose out and Grace gave a soft cry of pain. Nate's eyes were filled with a barely withheld rage and he turned from Grace to look down on the groaning Jonah.

"Get out of this house right now." Nate commanded in a low voice, making sure he was between his best friend and the drug dealer. 

Thankfully Jonah seemed to fear the Spainard now, and Grace didn't blame him. She'd never seen Nathaniel loose his cool before and it was aweing and terrifying. Grace's now ex boyfriend scrambled out of the room and Grace heard sounds of alarm and surprise from the partiers that saw his bloody face. Nate squeezed her hand softly and walked out of the room, leaving Grace shaking lightly and starting at the absolutely ruined state of the bedroom door. She heard Nate commanding everyone out, tone uncompromising and then the sounds of a mass exhodous. She felt strange, her face throbbed painfully, her head hurt from whacking in and the alcohol was still fogging things up. Before she could get a really good funk going, Nate was back and she got another good look at him.

He was in an all black suit, shirt, jacket and matching tie and it looked really good on him. "What's with the suit, someone die?" Grace blurted out and Nate shot her an incredulous look.

"Yes actually, my maternal great-grandfather. I went with my mom to his funeral today. I was already on my way here from the funeral when you called." Nate admitted, as if they hadn't nearly ended their friendship these past two weeks.

Grace snuffled in an attempt to keep the tears locked away but Nate had seen her at her worst long before this, so he wasn't buying. He hugged her carefully, hands starting to finally hurt from the beating they'd delivered. "Let's get you out of here so you can still enjoy your birthday Graceless." Nate said and used a hankerchief to wipe her face clean of blood.

Because she still wasn't legal to take out to a club, Nate did the next best thing and took her back to his tiny apartment. He had enough alcohol there to do enough damage to one lightweight red headed birthday girl and Grace was soon drunk enough to not care about her broken nose or the disaster that was her birthday party. Even though she knew better, she let Nate talk her into playing never have I ever and she was doomed to a terrible hangover the next day. But the events in between were worth it.

"Thiths is why I need tew wasching me back." Grace slurred at Nate and he laughed at her drunkeness. He wasn't exactly sober himself anymore and it was back to how things had always been between them. An easy friendship and underlaying it all a tension that neither one would address.

"You wanna make sure I'm always watching your back? You gotta get my pretty face tattooed on your ass." Nate countered sarcastically. But the gauntlet had been thrown.

In logic that only made sense after a fifth of bourbon, Grace and Nate made their way out to a tattoo shop that Nathaniel claimed belonged to a 'friend who owed him a favour'. He was drunk enough that he didn't want to drive, but he seemed to see nothing wrong with letting Grace get a tattoo on her hip. Even worse she went along with the idea of making it look like Nate and suddenly she had a pinup man who looked like Nate tearing off his shirt forever etched into her hip. When she woke up in the morning, she punched him and gave him a bloody lip when she realized what had happened. She didn't remember most of the night, a fact that seemed to upset Nate a bit, but she couldn't figure out why.

Nathaniel was hurting the next morning, but nowhere near as bad as his best friend. Last night had been...interesting. After Grace had gotten him tattooed on her hip, they had made their way back to his place and she'd ended up in her underwear so the tattoo could breathe. That's when things go complicated. Because he couldn't help himself and he kissed her.

It had driven him nuts for two weeks, not knowing what was happening in her life and it had pissed him off to no end that Jonah was sharking on his girl. But that was the problem, Grace was his best friend, not his girl and he knew she deserved better than anything he could offer. But that logic didn't stop drunk Nate from following through on his impulse and now they were laying on his bed, making out but being careful of Grace's new tattoo. And he was trying very hard not to take advantage of her drunken state but she kept trying to go father than he figured she was actually ready for. And when he kept rejecting her she took it the completely wrong way. Grace started to cry softly and Nate felt absolutely wretched, even though he was doing the right thing.

"You don't want me." Grace sobbed softly, drunken emotions swinging.

"Mierda." Nate replied immediately. (Bullsh*t). "Estoy enamorado de ti." he whispered (I am in love with you). Grace blinked, wide and surprised blue eyes surprised. He hadn't meant to say that but he could blame the alcohol for his lack of terseness. He kissed her one last time, then settled into place behind her. "Go to sleep. We'll talk about it in the morning." he commanded. Five minutes later and Grace was running to the bathroom and throwing up. Nate got out of bed to help her out.

But they never did talk about it, because Grace didn't remember most of the night and was right now giving him the silent treatment over the tattoo. And then Nathaniel remembered how badly he would fail as a boyfriend. Grace didn't deserve his ineptitude and unreliability. She deserved the romance and fantasy she secretly cherished. No one knew how girly she could be at the same time she's a sh*t kicker, Grace deserved to have the right guy recognize that and then he'll sweep her off her feet. Nathaniel just wasn't going to be selfish enough to get in the way of that. So he kept his mouth shut on the revelation of the night and how close they came to happening, and Grace continued to be pissed at him for the tattoo. Secretly Nate thought she looked adorable with the racoon eyes having a broken nose gave her. He was less impressed with getting a strip torn out of him by West when they came back and found thier bedroom door shattered. The cost of honor.