Chapter 4 Jack
The Napier family was not exactly broken, but neither was it whole. It was purely dysfunctional in the truest sense of the word. Jack had been born first and two years later Jacqueline had come along to a set of conniving, scheming parents.
Now the art of the con was work in itself and many times Jacqueline heard the phrase if her parents worked half as hard at a real job as they did at scamming people they could make a decent living. She decided at a young age that she wanted a real job, not this pretend stuff where you tricked people and lied to them. She had never been good at the lying part of the job because she showed all of her emotions on her face. Her big brother had covered for her many times to help seal a deal that she was getting ready to blow. She idolized her brother. She idolized Jack Napier. She did not idolize The Joker or any of his henchman.
Her parents died in a deal gone bad when she was sixteen and that left her in Jack's custody. He took care of her and helped her with her homework so that her grades were good enough to get her a full scholarship into college. It was hard for her to imagine The Joker helping a teenage girl do anything but get into trouble, but he hadn't been The Joker then. He had just been Jack.
When she decided to do pre-law he had patted her on the back. By this point in time he was gaining notoriety as a thug in Gotham City and he thought having an attorney at his beck and call would be a grand idea. She didn't tell him she wasn't going into criminal law until after she graduated and took the bar. He hadn't been happy with her and he had disappeared from her life for several years.
She still remembered the night he showed up at her apartment. She had been working on a last will and testament for an elderly couple who were trying to protect their fortune from a gold digging daughter-in-law when the buzzer sounded indicating someone was at the front of the building for her. "Hello?"
"It's Jack," came a raspy voice through the speaker.
"Jack who?" she had asked and that had made him laugh out loud.
"Jack, your brother, that's who doll face. Let me up."
"Are you in trouble Jack? You don't sound right."
"I'm in deep doll face… I… I need your help."
She hadn't realized how deep until she had opened the door to her apartment. He had looked awful, but she knew it was him regardless of the green hair and pasty skin. She pulled him in and shoved him into the shower expecting her Jack to walk out of the bathroom when he was finished, but nothing had changed.
It wasn't just his look that had changed, his personality was completely different too. He laughed maniacally at everything, even when it wasn't funny. His eyes were crazy all the time and he didn't blink very often. He would talk about crazy things for several minutes before staring off into space and when she drew his attention back to her his reaction wasn't always pleasant. She had the scars to prove it.
He didn't sleep. He didn't eat. But he did talk… a lot. She invoked attorney client privileges pretty quickly after he showed up at her apartment because he told her about his sadistic crimes and plans for Gotham City. He was going to run the whole damn town and she was going to watch him rise to power. Neither one of them realized that for every super villain there is a super hero waiting to defeat them.
Jack had been dubbed The Joker by the group of thugs that followed him everywhere he went. He had a sick sense of humor and while he never killed anyone he made sure to inflict a serious amount of pain on those that defied his wishes.
She had been working with a young couple getting ready to have their first baby when the phone call came into her office. "He got me doll face… I screwed up and he got me…"
She would soon learn that Jack had been captured along with several of his right hand men by a crazy vigilante in Gotham City that had been dubbed The Batman. She found Jack a good attorney but stayed away from the case and the trial. After Jack was sentenced to a life time of rehabilitation in Arkham Asylum Jacqueline had changed her name to Nallier and joined a more prestigious firm in Gotham City.
She and Jack kept in touch and she was the first one to know the night that he broke out of Arkham with his lady love by his side. She really like Dr. Quinzell. Harleen had become a confidant over the years that she had been Jack's girl and Jacqueline really appreciated when Harley went by the way side and Harleen Quinzell came out from the woman. She was much easier to talk too and she understood Jacqueline's concerns about the trouble that Jack stayed in all the time. But when Harleen converted back to Harley that was a whole new ball game and she had the scars to prove that as well.
Jack and Harleen were always good to her though. They never meant to hurt her and over the years she had learned how to get out of the way when the Mr. Hyde version of their personalities escaped.
"Your eyes are the same color as his," Harleen said from across the dining room table.
They were having a family gathering because Jack said they didn't spend enough time together these days and since he had broken Harley out of prison he wanted them to be one big happy family. Jacqueline stared at Harleen across the table. "You just now noticed that?" she asked perplexed.
"I guess I just noticed as Harleen, but they are the same damn green eyed monstrous color as his. We should call you the green eyed sister Jackie."
"It's Jacqueline Harleen and I'm content for you to call me by my name. I already have to endure that doll face endearment from Jack all the time."
"And I will continue to call you doll face, doll face," Jack said entering the room with a swagger.
He was dressed in a white tux with a top hat and cane but his debonair appearance was shattered by the shoulder holster that displayed a variety of pistols at his side. "Umm… Umm… Umm… look at my Puddin'! You look good enough to eat baby!" Harleen had exclaimed before wrapping herself around Jack and kissing him with a disgusting smacking sound.
"Harley, baby, we have guests… we'll play together later on ok…"
"K," Harley had said before plopping herself back down in her chair.
Jack strolled around the table twirling the cane like a baton before he pushed Jacqueline's chair away from the table and sat in her lap. "How's it doll face? Been writing wills and saving the world?"
He placed a sloppy kiss on her cheek before twirling out of her lap and sitting down at the head of the table. Jacqueline couldn't help but giggle. Jack was her brother after all and when he was a combination of The Joker and Jack he was tolerable. "I just LOVE to hear you laugh, doll face," he said with his wild crazy eyes staring at her. "And you'll always be my doll face… doll face," he said with a chuckle.
Jack snapped his fingers and a group of beefy thugs walked in carrying platters of food. "Look at all the goodies… it's a regular feast," he said before maniacally laughing at himself. "Eat up chicks and maybe we'll play scrabble after the meal."
Jacqueline rolled her eyes. "Jack you hate scrabble."
"I know… but my brainy baby sister loves it. And I'm sure my crazy queen is pretty good at it too."
"You know it," Harley said smacking her gum. "But I'm also good at naked twister… if that's an option."
Jack laughed again. That crazy gut wrenching laugh. "We'll play that when it's just us baby cakes."
Jacqueline placed a spoonful of a pasta dish on her plate and grabbed a breadstick from a nearby basket. She had taken her first bite when she realized Jack was staring at her. "What's new pussycat?" he asked with a sneer.
She swallowed her bite before she responded. "You tell me Jack, you obviously know something I don't."
He started laughing again and clapped his hands. "You are getting buddy buddy with Bruce Wayne I hear. Went out to dinner with him did ya?"
"I don't date clients Jack."
Jack slammed his fist down on the table making all the dishes clatter. "But you did date him didn't you doll face. You let him take you out to dinner and put his hands on you and kiss you before he put you in the car. Didn't you?"
Jacqueline stared at him with her mouth wide open. "What are you playing at Jack? You've never taken an interest in my boyfriends before."
"Because none of them were Bruce fucking Wayne…" he took off the top hat and smoothed his hair back. "But seriously doll face… I may need you to do me a favor with your new fella."
Jacqueline shook her head at him. "I don't do favors for you Jack. That's Monte's job."
"True… true," Jack said with a grin. "But I don't think Bruce will enjoy fucking Monte as much as he would you. At least, I don't think he swings that way."
Jacqueline pushed back from the table and grabbed Jack by the neck tie pulling him close to her face. "You listen to me you little prick. I don't whore myself out for anybody. Thanks for dinner, I'll let myself out."
She flipped his tie over his should before she stormed out of the dining room and Jack visibly jumped when the front door to the current house. "Well you royally screwed that up Puddin' and before you even think about asking you were wrong to expect that of her. She's your sister and she loves you, but she's not a whore and she doesn't do your bidding."
Jack snapped his fingers to get Monte's attention. "Send her some flowers Monte, she likes Gerber daisies and I'll apologize in person tonight."
"You know you can't by her off Mr. J. She's not going to like that either," Harley said with her mouth full of breadstick.
"I know… Harley… but I have to start somewhere." He sighed and threw his head back in an animated gesture of exasperation. "Why can't she just be evil like me? Then she wouldn't mind…"