Author's notes: Hi, I can't believe it's been so long since last time I updated my Dark Knight story! Anyway, that one has been discontinued, but for anyone who was reading it or has read it, this has the same OC, Mercury. It's set in her's and Jack's childhood, up to their late teens. You don't have to have read my other TDK story to follow this one, as it's more like a prequel. This chapter is just an introduction really, but I will update pretty soon with my next chapter - I have more time now all my exams are done. Hope you enjoy it!
Disclaimer: I don't own The Dark Knight or its characters.
Chapter 1 – Congratulations
Room 18 at the Gotham Hospital was filled to the brim with balloons, flowers, cards and presents. Through the mass of pinks, creams and yellows a mother was just visible, cradling a baby in her arms. The sight was incredibly beautiful – the look of love in the new mother's emerald eyes, a strand of golden hair falling in her face, a smile on her plump pink lips. No amount of gifts would make that woman happy; all she needed was her child. A nurse opened the door quietly and pushed a few balloons out of the way.
"Have you decided on a name yet?" she asked kindly.
The mother nodded, her eyes still focused on her child. "Mercury," she murmured.
The nurse raised an eyebrow. "Well, it's certainly different."
The mother nodded again. "It suits her."
The nurse smiled warmly. "Well, I'll leave you in peace. Are you comfortable?"
"Where's my husband?"
"I'll get him for you now, Mrs Bridges."
The nurse left quietly, but the mother hardly noticed. She was dwelling in her happiness, enjoying the sound of her name – Mrs Bridges. She wasn't 'Miss Thomas' anymore. She was loved, and she had a beautiful baby. She had everything she had ever dreamed of.
The door opened again, and this time it was her husband, his hand in his pocket. She had thought him to be incredibly handsome since the first time she saw him, never did she think she would be marrying him – he was her boss, after all. Her wedding was the happiest day of her life, as it was also the day she gave birth to Mercury.
"The nurse tells me you've decided on a name," said Mr Bridges, sitting down beside her. She finally took her eyes off Mercury to look into the warm chocolate pools that were her husband's eyes. "Mercury," she said, savouring its sound.
He placed his large, tanned hand over his daughter's tiny, ivory one. "It fits her," he agreed. "But I thought we were going to call her Jackie if it was a girl."
"Jackie can be her middle name," replied Mrs Bridges calmly.
"Lorraine, do you think that's fair?" he asked angrily. She stared at him her eyes wide in shock. She had never seen this side of him before. "What I mean to say is," he started, calmer. "Don't you think we should call her Jackie, seeing as we both chose that, and then Mercury for her middle name?"
Lorraine, who had been stubborn all her life, shook her head. "No, Frank, I like Mercury better. There are so many Jackie's, but how many Mercury's do you know? It's different. And Jackie reminds me of the cheerleader who stole my boyfriend when I was sixteen, anyway."
"Well, you are the mother," Frank replied coldly. "Mercury Jackie Bridges…it will do."
Lorraine nodded. "It's perfect. She's not a Jackie. Not at all."
"Lorraine, I have a present for you," Frank announced, changing the subject.
"Why?" she asked. "You've given me my happiness, that's all I could ask for. I have plenty of material gifts Frank, what more could I need?"
He pulled a small, red velvet box out of his jacket pocket.
"Oh Frank, not jewellery!" she cried. He smiled.
"For being so brave."
She shook her head. "Frank, I can't accept this."
He opened the box, making conversation as he pulled out the object inside.
"She doesn't look like either of us really; does she? She's very blonde, blonder than you. What colour are her eyes?"
"Grey, very pale grey," Lorraine muttered, her eyes focused on the necklace that her husband was holding in his long fingers.
"I would've expected blue at her age," he replied. "So, what do you think?"
It was a simple white gold chain, with a heart pendant. Engraved in an intricate script on the heart were the words 'Lorraine, You Have My Heart'.
"It's beautiful," she whispered, a tear slipping down her cheek. He kissed the tear as he fastened the chain around her elegant neck.
"You will always have a piece of me," he told her.
Two years later, in the same hospital, in the same room, an entirely different scenario was occurring. A mother lay asleep in her bed, her baby lying in a cot beside her, he too was sleeping. The only card was crumpled at the foot of her bed, a brown stain on the back from a coffee spill, the 'congratulations' hastily scribbled. She didn't even know who it was from. There were no flowers, no cards, no gifts, not like when her sister had given birth. But it had been different then. Chris was just out of college when her sister got engaged, to a local millionaire, Frank Bridges. The next thing she knew, her sister was pregnant. Chris had been so jealous as she watched her beautiful sister kiss her drop-dead gorgeous husband; the only thing between them was the bump beneath Lorraine's layers of cream, designer silk wedding dress. Then she screamed as her water broke, and it became a mad rush to get her to the hospital. It was a quick birth, and without barely a cry of pain or a curl out of place, Mercury Jackie Bridges was born. She was a beautiful child, although she had a strange look in her cold eyes. Everyone assumed she would grow out of it.
A little over a year afterwards, Chris met Andrew at the club where she worked as a waitress (or dancer). He was handsome, blonde-haired and blue-eyed, and a little too well-dressed for such a seedy place. She advised him to go somewhere else before he got mugged, but that 'somewhere else' turned out to be Las Vegas with Chris, where they got married in a drunken craze. That night, Chris became pregnant.
She opened her eyes slowly as she heard a door open, smiling weakly when she saw her husband walk in. Much to everyone's surprise, they had stayed together, despite the arguments at two o' clock in the morning that had gotten them thrown out of their central apartment, and Andrew getting fired from his position as boss of a large company. They were now living in a hideous apartment in a rough area of Gotham, surviving off the little Chris made at the club, before she became too large to fit into her 'uniform', and loans from her sister.
"Hey," she muttered.
"You okay?" he asked.
She nodded.
"You did good, Chrissy, you did good," he told her, holding her hand as he sat down.
"Thanks," she replied. "I'll be able to go back to work now I've lost all that weight."
He nodded. "So…a boy, huh? That's cool; I can teach him to play baseball."
"Yeah, in our non-existent back garden," she said sarcastically.
"Hey, don't speak like that. You can go back to work now, and it won't be long before I get a job, and we'll have enough money to move out of that crappy little hell-hole."
"I hope so," she whispered, closing her eyes.
Andrew brushed a strand of dark brown hair out of her eyes.
"What's he called?" he asked quietly.
"I dunno, you pick," she replied.
"No, that's the mom's job," he said quickly.
She sighed impatiently.
"Jack," she said.
"That's it? Just Jack?"
"Just Jack."
"Jack Napier. Not exactly gonna get him far, is it?"
"Well, let's hope it gets him further than Andrew Napier got you," she snapped. "Now piss off, I want to sleep."
"You're not going to speak like that in front of Jack, are you?" teased Andrew.
"Andrew, I'm very hormonal right now, go away. Didn't your mother ever teach you that when women say something, they mean it?"
Andrew sighed and stood up.
"Oh right, so when they say, 'does this make me look fat', they really do want an honest answer, that's not their way of getting a reassuring 'of course not, darling'?"
"Andrew, if you don't get out of here in ten seconds, I'm calling the nurse."
He left before she reached three.
Author's notes: I hope this has interested you, please review with your thoughts and suggestions. I will update soon x