* J *

Part Six: Chapter 27: Failure

There was no big wedding. No white dress. No cake. No bridesmaids. No priest or preacher. There was nothing old. There was nothing new. No something borrowed. No something blue. No doves. No birdseed. No flowers. There was only a marriage license and Jack and Jeannie in front of a Justice of the Peace in his office downtown.

Jack and Jeannie didn't need all that flare and extravagance. In their hearts they were married the moment they met. This formality was strictly for the proper paperwork to declare them as husband and wife. It was now official. Recorded and stamped. The pair didn't even have friends to celebrate with. They just went home and made love till the dawn.

But with the dawn came something that wasn't planned. An event of epic proportions that brought an immediate stop to their wedding night consummation. This was much larger that just a snag or snafu. This was life altering. And Jack never even saw it coming.

The newlyweds were asleep, spent and pretzled, together in their bed. Then their apartment door is kicked in. Four men rush inside the apartment, donning ski masks, guns drawn in their hands. The noise wakes Jack and he has just enough time to pull his gun from under his pillow and cock it. He doesn't even have the time to wake Jeannie.

The men burst into their bedroom and Jeannie is awakened by gunfire. Jack has fired at the men, knowing they would shoot back. Jack was merely sacrificing himself so that he could buy a few seconds for Jeannie to get away. They have an established evacuation routine. Jack prays that in the heat of the moment Jeannie will be able to follow it.

Jack is shot in the hand and drops his gun. Two of the men rush Jeannie and the other two rush Jack. They overpower them both. They start to bind them at the wrists and ankles. Duct tape is stretched across their mouths. One man removed his ski mask and smiles at Jack. Jack recognized the man, it was Falcone's top guy, who coincidentally has never cared for Jack.

"It took a long time to track you down kid," he smacks Jack on the face a few times. "Did you really think we wouldn't find you? You fucked up coming back to Gotham. You should have stayed in Metropolis, but you just couldn't stay away. No. You actually came back with the hopes of taking over every family in Gotham, didn't you?"

Jack just looks at him with hollow eyes and mumbles, "Fuck You," behind the tape.

The man's eyes prowl over to Jeannie. A wicked smile flashed across his face. "Though I must say, she is quite a nice little treat. But I guess nobody knows that better than you, huh Jack?"

Jeannie is hoisted off the bed and taken away. They sneak her down the fire escape to a waiting car. Inside the car is Carmine Falcone. He stares at Jeannie with contempt. He knows that she and Jack have been together playing house all this time. But now they had gone and gotten married. Falcone literally found out before the ink could even dry on the marriage license. She had disgraced the Falcone name by marrying a former street urchin turned hit man.

Falcone sighs and looks at his niece. "What do you possibly see in him? He's a cold calculating murderer. Why would you fall for someone like that? Surely you know your father wouldn't approve of such. You know, it almost gave him a heart attack when I told him you had disappeared with one of my hit men? What do you think is gonna happen to him when I tell him you married him? Huh?!"

Jeannie just stared back at him as tears fell from her eyes and rolled down the duct tape. This wasn't good. He was going to kill Jack. He was going to take him from her completely. Why hadn't Jack thought of this?? Why hadn't she? This was so bad.

"You know I can't just let him go, don't you? He must be made an example of. If I don't I'm just saying to all my guys, sure, take what you want, take my family and I'll just look the other way."