"Joker." Crane sounded slightly surprised as he looked up at Jack.

Jack glowered at him. "You tried to kill Rachel." He started to lean toward the shorter man and the guards reacted, two of them pulling the two men away from each other as the other two kept their weapons on them.

"In retrospect, a bad idea." Confident that Jack couldn't do anything to him, Crane turned his back and walked into the cafeteria. "Nice beard. See you around."

"What was that?" Jack asked his guards. "Am I not allowed to eat with certain people?"

"Yeah," the shorter one said.

"Suits me." He smiled tightly and licked at his scars. "I don't want anything to do with anyone, anyway." Morgenson was waiting for him in his cell. "There, I ate in peace. I can call Rachel tomorrow."

Morgenson gave him an interested look while he turned to the door once it was closed, letting the guards remove his shackles. "Really?"

Jack glowered over his shoulder. "Hey, I went there. I ate. I didn't put up a fight. I didn't do anything but eat --- I didn't even do anything to Crane when he came in, and he tried to kill Rachel. That means I get to call her tomorrow. You promised."

"The eating schedules for the higher-security inmates haven't been completely readjusted. Why won't you let them shave you?"

Jack rolled his eyes at Morgenson. "You know what shaving does to me. I do it or Rachel does it; them's the rules."

"Have you considered that Arkham has taken into consideration what an asylum full of libido-driven, and often controlled, inmates would be like, and has taken measures against such an occurrence?" He hadn't. Jack went to the wall and took down the poster of Rachel and Ava's pictures, rolling it up and then tossing it behind him. They'd be better off without him --- he'd be better off without them.

"So, what, no conjugal visits?"

"Yours is a special case, Jack," Morgenson said with a smile. "Under normal circumstances, no resident of Arkham is allowed private visitations from their families; the security level is too high for that. Your case, however, is unique in that the cause of your backsliding was your family being taken from you. Doctor Arkham and myself agree that being in contact with your wife and children is integral to the success of your current incarceration and therapy."

"So, what, I'm a special snowflake and get private visits?" Jack asked as he sat at the desk, taking up the pencil and paper that Morgenson had laid out for him.

"Yes, Jack," Morgenson said with a roll of his eyes. "You are indeed a special snowflake."

Jack bent to the paper with a smug grin.

***

When Bethany pulled up to the beach house, there was a tanned, bleach-blonde girl just getting out of a very nice car. She didn't look happy to be there, and as Bethany got out of her own car, the girl had pulled a large basket and a couple of wrapped boxes out of the passenger seat. Then she looked over at Bethany, a slightly guilty, nervous look on her face.

"Uhm, hi," she mumbled, watching Bethany warily.

"Hello. I don't believe I know you. I'm Bethany Dawes."

The nervous look got worse. The girl clearly wasn't used to . . . whatever it was she was there for. "Oh. You're Mrs. Dawes' mother."

"I'm certainly not her older sister," Bethany replied dryly. "Are you a friend of Janet's?" She took the girl by the elbow and walked her to the porch.

"No! I mean we were in school together," the girl rushed on, "but we're not friends, Mom just sent me over with some stuff for Mrs. Dawes and the baby, and . . . I don't know what else, but I need to talk with Janet ---"

Bethany recognised the way the girl's features twisted into a frantic expression and took a guess. "You're not Hannah Sullivan's girl, are you?"

She got a deer-in-the-headlights look. "Uh, yeah? I'm Cathy."

Bethany smiled broadly as she rapped on the door. "Hannah and Rachel played together when we used to summer up here." She'd called to let them know she'd gotten to town, and from the back of the house there was a shriek of "Grandma!", which was followed by the pitter-patter of running feet, and then the door shook as Susie collided with it. The window curtain twitched and her freckled nose pressed against it, then she was throwing the door open and herself at Bethany.

"Grandma! You're here! Merry Christmas!"

"Yes, I'm here," Bethany laughed as she bent and carefully picked Susie up. It was good that the child was small for her age. She could see Rachel laying on the couch, watching them with an exhausted look. "And a merry Christmas to you too, Susie."

"Rachel and Ava are having tummy time," Susie explained as Bethany stepped inside. "We get to talk to Daddy tomorrow! What's she doing here?"

"Cathy brought some things for Rachel and Ava," Bethany said. "Is Janet home?"

"We were getting ready to go to town and talk with Pamela. See, first I talk with Pamela, and Janet visits Mrs. Fine. Then Janet talks with Pamela, then Charles buys us lunch. Sometimes Mrs. Fine and Mr. Fine and Mitzi are there, too. I don't like it when Mitzi's there, though, because she tries to take Ava from me."

There was a fire going, but Rachel had pulled a blanket over her and Ava as soon as her mother had knocked on the door. "Mom, what are you doing here?" She was tired and didn't want guests over, even if it was her own mother.

"Not leaving you in the depths of depression over Christmas. Besides, I wanted to see how my grandbaby is doing. Cathy, put those down and let's have a look at them. Charles, dear, there are presents in the trunk of my car, if you could please . . .?"

"No problem," Charles said as she came in from the dining room. "Janet, are you ready yet?"

Shuffling to the kitchen doorway, Janet was bundled in as many layers as she could get away with. She stared at Cathy. "Why are you here?"

"Mom sent me," the other girl replied as Bethany sat on the foot stool by Rachel and started sorting through the packages Mrs. Sullivan had put together. "There's stuff for everyone."

"I'm sure we don't need it."

"Janet, don't be rude," Bethany chided. There were outfits for Ava, some toys for Susie, gift cards, and wrapped books for Janet, which were handed over and taken sullenly.

"They're not from me, they're from Mom."

Charles came back in with an armful of presents, muttering about grandmothers. She set them down under the tree she'd insisted be put up --- Rachel and Janet were in no mood for Christmas, but Susie was eager for it. "I'll make you girls some tea." Janet tried to protest but she was ignored.

"Charles' nephew wanted to come visit; he was very worried about you, Janet. All of you."

Her brown eyes got a little wide. "Dick?"

"Yes, Dick. Bruce told him he couldn't; Rachel doesn't need extra people in the house." She smiled at Janet, then her daughter. "I couldn't not be here for Christmas. Not this year."

"I know, Mom," Rachel said as her eyes filled with tears. Ava had fallen asleep, and she rubbed the baby's back gently. "I know, just . . . All she does is eat and sleep."

"She was early," Bethany soothed. "She'll get more lively, Rachel. Judge by her due date, not her birth date."

"Jack will want to play with her when we visit him. If she's sleeping, or fussy ---"

"Jack will be relieved that he can see you at all, Rachel. Didn't Doctor Morgenson talk with you?"

Rachel nodded. "Arkham inmates aren't allowed private visits from family. Jack's unique because we're integral to his therapy." She was quoting Morgenson almost verbatim.

"Right, and if he acts up, he won't be allowed to see you. He's not going to mind a sleeping baby if his only other option is no baby at all. Rachel, are you seeing a therapist, like Janet and Susie?"

"Doctor Morgenson calls me almost every day, to tell me how Jack's doing and to ask after the girls. We . . . end up talking about a lot. He wants me to take some anti-depressants, but I don't want to while I'm breastfeeding. And I can't stop breastfeeding. Jack wanted me to; he brought it up before I'd thought about it."

She was starting to sound a little frantic and Bethany stroked her hair. "It's all right, Rachel. No one wants you to stop feeding your baby. I promise, even if he has to look at her through a window, Jack will love it when he can see Ava."

"The courts want to put Janet and Susie into foster care," Rachel murmured. "They don't want to go. I sent a letter, explaining that Jack isn't in the house and probably won't be for a long time. They haven't replied. I think the girls are fine for now, but when Jack gets out . . . He will come home, Mom, won't he?"

She wanted the answer Bethany would have given her at five. She needed the answer Bethany could give her at forty. Bethany took a deep breath. "Jack will be back. I don't know how long it will take, but Jack will come back to you." The sleepy smile on Rachel's face was beautiful. "You know, Rachel, it may be hard with Jack in Arkham right now, but you ought to enjoy your time away from him. I'm not saying you have to be happy that he's gone," Bethany stressed when Rachel turned a horrified look on her. "Not at all. But let me ask you: how long do you think Jack would have waited before he wanted to have sex again?" Rachel blinked and looked down at Ava's dark curls. Bethany reached out to touch her granddaughter's cheek gently. "After you were born, your father and I went through a bit of a rough patch. He didn't quite understand that I wasn't in complete control of my body anymore, that while I loved you, and him, I was constantly holding and feeding you, and at the end of the day I wanted to curl up and not have to touch anyone, let alone have sex. It took a few months before we started up again, and Jack, love him though I do, has a much stronger sex drive than William did."

Rachel laughed softly as tears fell down her cheeks, nodding. "You've got a good point," she conceded. "God, I shouldn't feel relieved that he's not here . . ."

"I was relieved every time William went to work. It's all right, Rachel. This will let you settle into a routine with Ava, heal from giving birth, and be able to give more time to Jack once he's home. You know he's an attention whore on his best days; he's going to be worse with Ava."

Rachel shifted so she was sitting up as Ava started rooting in her sleep, hungry again. The baby's eyes fluttered open and Bethany had her camera out almost instantly. Rachel sighed as she turned Ava in her arms and settled the baby against her, holding Ava against her side and pulling the blanket away so she could see what she was doing. She cupped her breast at the base of it and brought Ava closer, tickling the baby's lips gently with her nipple until Ava opened her mouth wide enough to latch on correctly. As soon as Ava started making little squeaking grunts and gulps, Rachel look up at her camera-happy mother. "Mom . . ."

Bethany beamed. "What? I want pictures of my grandbaby."

"But she's just eating. She'll probably go back to sleep as soon as she's done. All I'm good for is feeding her." Rachel shifted Ava just a little and ran her fingers lightly over the baby, like Charles had said was good for bonding. She didn't feel like they were bonding. Bethany leaned over and kissed her forehead, pushing her bangs out of her eyes.

"I could have sworn you hated me for the first month of your life," she said quietly. "You loved to play with your father, but all you would do with me was eat. Even when William and I were both playing with you, you'd smile and laugh more with him. Give her some time; she wasn't expecting to be here so soon, after all."

***

At the kitchen table, Janet and Cathy stared at each other over steaming mugs of tea. Charles had taken Susie into their room to get her dressed, and the two teenagers shifted in their chairs.

"You're not sick," Janet finally said. "Not like your mom."

Cathy cleared her throat. "Yeah. The guy who --- she knew him. She knew he had AIDS. They started giving her Paldon right away. It stopped me from getting it. Another drug came out a few years ago, stops the progression of the virus. Mom's on that."

"Isn't Paldon for the mother, too?"

"Sort of," Cathy shrugged. "It stops the baby from getting HIV for sure, but the mother has a fifty-fifty chance of getting it. And Mom, well . . ."

It wasn't fair of her to grill Cathy about her private life. Janet did it anyway. "What about your brothers? Your dad?"

Cathy flinched at the title. "They were careful. The twins were in vitro. They weren't . . . an accident." Then she smiled a little. "Mom always tells me I'm her favourite accident." Janet cleared her throat and took a sip of her tea, which Cathy used to change the subject. "I heard you went to Gotham City in October. What did you do?"

"Saw a concert."

"Which band?" Cathy pressed, even though Janet obviously didn't want to say anything else. "There were a couple playing that I wanted to see."

"No one you'd know."

"Maybe I would."

"Raped by Zombies," Janet snapped. "All right? Happy?"

Cathy's eyes got bigger and she leaned forward. "How'd you get to see Raped by Zombies?"

"Rachel got Jack tickets for their anniversary, and she couldn't go," Janet said frostily. Then she gave Cathy a suspicious look. "You know who they are."

"Yeah, I do. They're the band I wanted to see. Not that you know what music I like," Cathy sniffed.

"I thought you were all hip-hop and Top 40; excuse me if that's all you ever listen to in public."

"I'd be a laughingstock if people knew I liked a goth metal band; of course I don't go blabbing it." Cathy glared at Janet, who glared back. "I have all their albums."

"Really? You have their initial LP? From '16?"

"Their initial LP was from twenty-twenty," Cathy corrected.

"Wrong," Janet shot back with a smug voice. "They released a two-track demo in twenty-sixteen. It had early versions of Medea's Fratricide and Rainbow Smoothies on it."

"Prove it or it didn't happen," Cathy demanded.

Janet pushed herself up. "Fine. Come on. I also," she said over her shoulder as she knocked on her bedroom door, "got to meet Elizabeth Tess. She's really great in person."

Charles was trying not to roll her eyes as she opened the door and led Susie out. "We're leaving in ten minutes."

"You and Hannah used to get along," Bethany commented as Janet's door slammed shut.

"Mom, I barely remember Hannah as a child. And Janet's never been popular at school." Susie climbed up the back of the couch, laying on it as she watched Ava eating. "Susie, get off the couch."

"But I wanna watch," the girl pouted as she stayed put.

"Children are curious," Bethany said. "Ava's gained weight. When's her next check-up?"

"We're going in the day after tomorrow." Rachel sighed and stroked Ava's hair as the baby brushed her hand against Rachel's breast, her blue eyes wide open and alert as she stared up at her mother. The sounds she made as she ate were making Rachel smile.

"Are you ready, Susie?" Charles asked as she pulled her boots on.

"I have to burp Ava."

"Go with Charles," Rachel told her. "Don't complain. Mom and I will be in town later." She watched a very disappointed Susie slide off the couch, then Cathy flounced out of Janet's room. She paused barely long enough to mutter a goodbye, then was out the door and stomping down the steps. Janet was looking smug as she walked into the living room. "Prove that you're the bigger fan?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "See you in town."

Rachel and Bethany were quiet until Charles had brought Ava's car seat in. As soon as the door shut behind her, Bethany turned back to her daughter and grandchild with a smile. "The cutest sound in the world, I swear, is a baby breastfeeding."

That made Rachel laugh. She smiled down at Ava, who hadn't taken her eyes from her mother's face. "Sometimes . . ." Bethany squeezed her shoulder as she gulped. "Sometimes that's the only thing that makes me feed her. She just stopped taking her bottle yesterday, and screamed until Charles had me feed her. She had to make me feed my daughter. I'm a terrible mother. I wanted her so much, but now that she's here, I just . . . I don't . . . I feel like I'm neglecting her, Mom."

"Rachel . . ." Bethany took Rachel into her arms and hugged her tightly. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "You're not a terrible mother, Rachel. You care about Ava. I saw it when you were in the hospital, and I see it here. You've been through so much, Rachel." She squeezed Rachel's hand, then her knee. "So much. You can't expect to be happy right now; it's ridiculous. You've got good reason to be depressed, sweety. You've also got friends who care about you and the girls, who understand what you're going through and who want to help you. They're not going to let you neglect Ava."

"They've all done so much, I don't want to bother anyone. I should be able to take care of my baby."

Bethany nodded and helped her pull Ava up to her shoulder to burp. "You're not bothering anyone, Rachel. You were kidnapped. You had Ava early. Jack's in Arkham. If anything, you should be asking for more help. Charles is here to do nothing but help you. Tom and Helna know how it is to take care of a newborn, and they're more than willing to do whatever you need them to do. Talk with them. You're not the only woman to be depressed after having a baby, Rachel. I know it's hard right now, but you're not alone."

"Jack's missing so much . . ."

"And you need to take this time to get settled with Ava and figure out what to do about Janet and Susie, and your marriage. Figure out what's best for your baby." Rachel looked away as she settled Ava against her right breast, and Bethany stood up to gather their coats. She heard the washer stop and went to change the laundry, tidying up the kitchen and dining room as she passed through them. "Why don't you have Janet and Charles turn the dining room into a bedroom?" she asked as she sat next to Rachel again. "Janet and Susie can sleep there, and Charles can have her own room. Here, I'll burp Ava; you put your coat on."

Rachel handed the sleepy baby over and pushed herself off of the couch. "I guess. Jack never liked eating there, anyway. Too conformist."

Bethany laughed as she bundled Ava up. "Then he'll enjoy that you've bucked establishment so much as to use the dining room for something other than dining in."

"And having sex."

"I don't share the details of my love life, and I'll thank you not to share yours. Unless it's a new trick. That tongue-finger thing you told me about is very popular."

Rachel levelled a stern look at her mother as she was bustled out the door. "And if you don't behave, I won't tell you any more secrets of the flesh."

"Ooh, secrets of the flesh. That'd make a great book title."

***

A/N: I wanted to take a moment to thank all of my readers; I know I usually only thank those of you who review, but I wanted to let everyone else know that I really appreciate you reading. A lot of times authors come off like all they want are reviews, and if you don't review, you shouldn't be reading. Not everyone thinks like that; yeah, authors love feedback, and we like in-depth feedback, but I've come to realise that not everyone can give in-depth feedback, or anything more than, "Cool! Write more!", and some can't even manage that. Either they don't have much to say, they're shy (I don't bite, really), or the story didn't affect them enough to leave a review.

Whatever the reasons are, I think the important thing is that you're reading and enjoying the story. Thank you for that, very much. *hugs tight*