Chapter Fifty-Four: Only Bad Players

A/N: Originally had this chapter to be something else but apparently, my improvisation skills know no limits. Thought this was too good not to add. XD

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"Aces aren't high, they're low." Darren told Gus, placing the said card on the table.

"In this game they are." Gus replied in his usual country accent. He pointed to the Ace. "So says the dealer. And that's me."

The sat around the kitchen table: Darren, Gus, Red, and Richard were playing Poker, using cigarettes as bargaining chips. On the sides of the table was a big plate of nachos, and beer.

"No, no, no," Darren insisted.

"Why the disagreement?" laughed Richard. "Are you losing this hand?"

As they argued, Allegra came back from the backyard, closing the kitchen door on her way inside, looking at the men with subtle acknowledgment. The men nodded back at her, all of them smiling. They glanced her outfit of the day—she wore a knee-high skirt, three-inch heels (her pretty toes peeking from the ends) and a shirt that showed off her shoulders and lovely bust. Like their boss, Allegra had been gone for the better part of the day, on some business, most likely with Maroni while Joker was out recruiting a few men from Sinhouse Emporium.

"Who's losing a hand?" Allegra asked them, turning her back in their direction as she clip-clapped to the refrigerator, unceremoniously taking out a bottled water. She uncapped it, took a drink, and placed it on the counter, looking at them with a grin.

"Darren." Richard answered, looking at the said sore player.

Allegra walked over to where Darren sat, leaning over his shoulder, no doubt taking a lookie loo at his cards.

"Sorry, Allegra. No women allowed in this game."

"Really?" Allegra replied, her laugh following right after: "What are the stakes?"

"No stakes," said Red, who was eying his cards with a victor's smile. "We just want a fair game."

Allegra chuckled.

"Kid, if all games were fair, I'd be out of the job." Allegra stated. She glanced at Darren's hand. "Are Aces high or low?"

"That's the debate currently, Ma'am." Gus informed. He looked at his own playing cards, giving them an eying chance before he laid down one of them carefully, placing it for all to see.

"It's not a debate," said Darren. He looked up at Allegra. "Do you want in?"

"She can be in the next round—you only want a new player so we can start the game over." Gus pointed out, making Darren's face darken with embarrassment. Beside him, Richard and Red were guffawing. Meanwhile, Allegra shrugged considerably.

"Sure," said Allegra. "I'm game." She pulled up a chair, sitting beside Darren.

"You play Poker?" asked Gus, his grin widening with impressive surprise.

"Few and far between," Allegra replied.

"So are Aces high or low?" Richard inquired, bringing back the debatable topic.

"Low." Darren insisted.

"High." Gus retorted.

"Medium." Allegra put in her two cents.

They all looked at her, confused.

"Figured if we were going to argue about this, fellas, I might try to mediate between the two of you boys."

"Look," Richard stated, leaning forward into all of them. "We have her, so let's just restart the game."

"Yeah, I agree," Darren said wholeheartedly, placing his cards face-down.

"We're not starting over," Gus retaliated. He indicated his hand holding the beer towards him, a gesture of pointing, as he added, "You're just afraid of losing."

"Am not," Darren argued.

"Gentlemen, if there are no stakes," said Allegra smoothly, "Then losing is the lowest priority."

"I've got a good hand," Gus insisted. "I'm not starting over. It's taken me a long time to finally win against this bullshitter." He indicated Darren again. The latter was laughing at him.

"We should put it to a vote," Darren suggested. He looked at Richard and Red. "What do you all say?"

Red sighed, "I don't care what we do as long as we do something. This game is a stalemate—give me some of those nachos."

"Ask nicely," Allegra told him gently.

"Please." Red said to Richard, who handed them to him after doing it the way Allegra scolded him.

"Look," said Richard tiredly, "Let's just start over. We can't play when Allegra doesn't even have a hand in the game."

"She can be the referee." Darren insisted, smiling widely. This was the biggest discovery, it seemed, since a couple of divers discovered the hidden world of Atlantis...or that Gotham had a Knight running around in black tights and a gas-guzzling black tank.

"I can't do that," said Allegra.

"Why not—you're not in the game."

"I'm unbiased." Allegra replied.

Gus, Richard, Red, and Darren burst out laughing while Gus voiced their thoughts exactly: Bullshit."

"Bulltrue." Allegra remarked but she was grinning at them anyway. "Besides—I couldn't take any of your sides. I love my children equally."

The men chuckled at her statement, looking at each other as though they all were truly brothers, and like any family, the men only recognized Allegra's claim to be said for she was in their present company. Her true opinion of any of them would never really be heard—mothers were good for that kind of secret.

The front door opened, closing with a click. As though realizing that they were all in the kitchen, the figure entered the room. Allegra grinned when she was it was Joker. He was in his formal suit, the purple jacket over his slender attire. Seeing her with the men, he simply gave her an acknowledged look.

"Good evening," said Allegra, smiling at him. The men glanced behind their surroundings, seeing Joker.

Ignoring them, he walked around the table, standing behind her; his hand moved behind Allegra's head, tilting it back so she looked up at him, upside down. Joker lowered his head to hers, touching their lips in a brief kiss. Allegra found his affection one of mocking, and she smirked at him.

"Bring home the bacon?" asked Allegra in the sweet-honey tone of a stay-at-home wife.

"Sadly, no." Joker replied in the tone of a working husband: "Pigs tend to keep their distance from the Narrows, unless they're dirty."

"Best kind of cops to slaughter," said Darren. He was still glaring at his hand of playing cards as though they were the worst things in the world currently.

With this note, Joker saw they were playing a game. Seeing his curiosity of Darren's slight irritation, Allegra filled him in about the details. She gestured to the said men as she said their names and the cards included: "Oh, honey, they're playing Poker—Darren wants to restart the game because Gus dealt him the losing hand, and Gus wants to keep playing because he's winning."

Joker glanced at Darren's cards, asking: "Are Aces high or low?"

Gus and Darren began their debates while Richard and Red's heads dropped on the table warily. Allegra and Joker both grinned simultaneously at this reaction. Allegra held her hand up and silenced them with just that gesture alone as she tilted back her head, looking at Joker—he looked down at her.

"They asked me to referee but I declined."

"Why?"

"She's unbiased!" said Gus, laughing at this.

"I have a hard time believing that," Joker remarked. He put his gloved hands across the throat of her neck, his thumbs caressing her jaw, a gesture that made Allegra grin at him and her eyelashes lowered seductively.

Allegra moved her head to look at Darren and Gus; Joker's hands moved from her neck to her shoulders.

"Look," Darren sighed, "can we just start the game over? She's gonna join anyway, so we might as well..."

"No!" Gus once more insisted. "I have a good hand."

"I know—it's the only reason you want to continue the game." Darren argued.

"'Continue'?" repeated Joker, laughing at them. "It looks to me you've not even begun."

"We haven't," Richard and Red stated in unison—they might as well had been twins as their voices and reactions were pin-point accurate to one another.

"You're just sore cuz you ain't got a good hand," Gus pointed out to Darren.

"And you're sore because you know in the next game, I'd beat you."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Well if that's true—"

"Boys!" Allegra snapped.

They all stopped arguing, looking at her with a shock as her voice had become firm and dangerous. Joker looked down, impressed, at her disciplinary tone.

"Just start the game over," said Allegra coolly.

"But..." Gus began. "I'm the dealer, I..."

Joker sighed. He tapped Allegra's shoulder. She looked up at him. Seeing his expression and the gesture he made after, Allegra stood, waiting for Joker to sit; when he did, he touched his lap in a nonverbal hint for her to sit on him. Happily, she did so.

"Give me the cards," Joker stated lightly. He waited for the men to wordlessly place the cards in front of him. Joker took off his gloves (Allegra took them, placing the pair behind them on a smaller end table) and moved his arms under Allegra's, folding the deck of cards together and shuffled.

Richard voiced, "So we've decided to start the game over? Who won?"

"You'll learn," Joker began calmly, "that life is like a deck of cards, gentlemen. In life, there are no good or bad hands—just bad players."

"Soooo...are you playing?" asked Richard, as though he was attempting to clarify.

"My dear boy," laughed Joker, "I'm always playing."

Red said quietly, "Are Aces high or low?"

"Medium." Joker answered flatly. His reply made the men stare at him incredulously, glancing at Allegra. On her face was the widest grin Allegra ever had when she heard Joker cite her own words.