Here's the eleventh chapter! Sorry for the short delay.

This is the last chapter in which Jeannie will be a young teenager. There will be a time jump of three years after this; where things should really start getting more intense.

Four Months Later

March 1995

"Jeannie! Get down here!" Harriet's frantic voice echoed throughout the house.

"One second," Jeannie called back, annoyed. She was in the middle of a particularly difficult math problem.

"No! Now!" Harriet's voice had escalated into a high-pitched wail.

"Damn it," muttered Jeannie. She threw down her pencil and marched downstairs, where her very pregnant sister was lying on the couch in front of the television. "What do you want? I'm not ordering pizza for you again—"

"I think my water broke," a terrified-looking Harriet gulped. She was staring in horror at her ballooning stomach.

"Aw, no," Jeannie protested. "The babies aren't due for another week. Can't you wait until Mom and Dad get home?"

Harriet half-laughed, half-sobbed. "I can't control it, Jeannie!"

"I'll call an ambulance then," Jeannie said. She sprinted to the kitchen and dialed 911, hands shaking. Mr. and Mrs. Kerr were at a policeman's funeral and wouldn't be back until later that night. Liam and Rebecca were both out, so Jeannie was alone with Harriet at the worst possible time.

"Gotham Emergency Services speaking," a female voice said over the phone. "Please state your name and emergency."

"My name is Jennifer Kerr, and I think my sister is in labor," Jeannie replied in a rush. Holding the phone tightly to her ear, she ran over to the hall closet and grabbed an armful of towels.

"When is her due date?" the operator asked.

"A week from today, on March sixteenth," gasped Jeannie. Back in the living room, Harriet was curled up into a ball, panting loudly. Jeannie threw the towels at her.

"What is your address?" the woman said. "We'll send an ambulance over right away."

"Eleven ninety Grove Street, in Gotham Estates," Jeannie rattled off. "She's only fifteen and she's having twins."

"I understand," the operator calmly replied. "When she starts having contractions, tell her to push as hard as she can."

"Okay," said Jeannie. "Thank you." She hung up right away, realizing too late that she was supposed to stay on the phone until the ambulance arrived. Oh well. She needed her hands free anyway.

"Get me some aspirin," Harriet moaned as soon as Jeannie raced back into the room.

"Uh, I don't think that's going to help, Harriet," said Jeannie. "Don't you need something a little bit stronger?"

"GET ME SOME FUCKING ASPIRIN!" her sister shouted.

Jeannie jumped back, startled. Harriet looked like a rampaging bull with her red face and heavy breathing. "Stay there," she said stupidly and hurried out of the room. She was in no position to argue with someone in labor.

As she raced by the front door, the doorbell rang. Jeannie threw it open eagerly, hoping the ambulance had already arrived, but she saw something much different: Jack's face grinning down at her.

Jeannie stood there stunned for a moment, inwardly marveling at the irony of it all. The first time Jack had ever come to her house, and it had been the time she least wanted him to be there. "Jack!" she gulped. "This is a—this is a surprise."

"You don't look happy to see me, Jean-nie," he said in mock disappointment.

"Well, um, you sort of came at the worst possible time," she replied.

As if on cue, Harriet's strangled voice yelled, "HURRY UP, JEANNIE!"

Jack raised an eyebrow. She winced. "You see, Harriet's in labor and I'm the only one home," Jeannie quickly tried to explain. "We're waiting for the ambulance to arrive."

"I'll, ah, just come back at a better time, then." He turned around and began to walk away.

In desperation, she grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him back. "But since you're here, you might as well help."

"Help?" he repeated in disbelief. "Do I look like a midwife?"

"At least stay by the front door and tell me when the ambulance arrives," Jeannie begged. "You were going to visit me anyway, so—visit!"

"You owe me," he grumbled, but followed her inside.

"Is someone else here?" Harriet called. "I heard the doorbell ring!"

"Jack is!" Jeannie yelled back.

There was a beat of silence before Harriet began screaming every profanity that came to mind. Jack's laughter didn't seem to help any. "Really, it was worth coming here just to hear her reaction," he snickered.

Jeannie gave him what she hoped was a disapproving look. "Just stay there and call me when you hear the ambulance arrive."

Hoping he wouldn't leave as soon as she disappeared, she ran upstairs to get aspirin, feeling like that wasn't such a good idea. She could lie and say they were all out, but when Harriet discovered the truth she would likely murder Jeannie.

Ultimately, she decided that whatever happened wouldn't be her fault and so she pocketed the aspirin as well as grabbing a cold compress.

Back downstairs, Harriet had gone silent and was breathing shallowly, her face an ashy gray. Nervously, Jeannie shook the bottle at her. "Here."

Harriet unscrewed the cap and swallowed two pills at once. "God, it hurts…" she groaned.

"The ambulance is coming soon," Jeannie tried to reassure her. "They'll deliver the babies faster."

Her sister didn't appear to be listening. "Fucking Zach…he fucking gives me twins…"

"I'm sure he didn't intend to," said Jeannie. "Just think of how happy Mr. and Mrs. Sharpe will be when they see their new children."

After a long, grueling month of meeting potential parents for the twins, Harriet had finally decided on an older couple living in Massachusetts who were unable to have children. Richard and Mary Sharpe were teachers at an elementary school who had been waiting for over a decade to adopt. Harriet had bonded with them instantly and often insisted they would be better parents than she ever would.

"Yeah, well, they're lucky they didn't have to go through—shit," Harriet hissed and clenched her fists. "I think these are contractions."

"Take deep breaths," Jeannie suggested. "Isn't that what you're supposed to do?"

"Turn on the television or something," Harriet ground out. "I need a distraction."

Jeannie grabbed the remote and picked a channel at random, hoping to find something cheerful. Unfortunately, it was the news.

"…Here is GCN's own Mike Engel reporting live with breaking news and updates." The screen cut to a picture of a blond man with a somber face.

"Hello Gotham. As I'm sure many of you are aware, there has been a breakout from Blackgate Penitentiary. So far, five prisoners have been reported missing: Carmine Falcone, Carla Viti, Joseph Gambol, Paul Napier, and Salvatore Maroni. Police are investigating the breakout and the families of the convicts will be notified…"

Harriet suddenly screamed. Jack was standing in the doorway, but he wasn't looking at them. He was staring at the television screen with such an expression on his face that Jeannie was afraid to go near him.

All of a sudden, he turned around and was gone. Ignoring Harriet's protests, Jeannie jumped up and ran after him, blocking his path. She pulled him into the kitchen and closed the door.

"You need to tell your stepmother," she said.

Jack looked at her with an expression of mingled amusement and derision. "You think I haven't thought of that already?"

Jeannie felt as if she had shrunk several feet. There was a cold, hard edge to his eyes now. She hadn't seen him look like this in months. He had turned into the Jack Napier she had originally known: the mocking, scornful figure. "Can you call her from here?"

"Our house doesn't have a telephone." He began to make for the back door, but she cut in front of him.

"Please stay here until the ambulance arrives. You can tell them what happened," Jeannie said. "I don't want to be alone with my sister."

"Move, Jeannie," he ordered. For a second, they merely stared at each other, brown eyes meeting blue. It was like the day she had seen Paul beating Jack—time had frozen. Harriet was yelling from the living room, but neither moved a muscle.

"Where are you going?" she whispered.

"I don't know," Jack said coldly.

"Stay. Please."

"Get out of the way, Jeannie." She had never heard him talk like this before, never been the object of his anger. It terrified her.

But the stubborn part of her didn't budge. "Jack—please—you'll be safe here—"

It happened so fast Jeannie barely had time to react. Jack moved so quickly her brain couldn't process the information. She suddenly found herself pressed against the wall with a cold metal object digging into her throat.

He was holding a knife. "Jack," was all she could choke. Emily's story rushed back into her mind. Two boys had bullied him and they had never been heard from again…

"Let me go," he ordered.

"Fine. Go!" she gulped. The pressure lessened immediately and Jack tossed the knife aside. He hovered in front of her, deliberating.

The ridiculousness of what happened was beginning to sink in. Jeannie felt her adrenaline slowly being replaced with anger. "Why aren't you leaving, then?" she snapped at him. "GO!"

Jack wrenched the door open just as a high-pitched wailing sounded on the street outside. "The ambulance," he said shortly, and left.

How could he have done that? How could he have held a knife to her like that so callously, as if he hadn't realized what he was doing? Had he forgotten who she was for a moment? Or did he simply…not care? Jeannie rubbed the side of her neck where the blade had dug in, wanting to vomit. Things had happened so fast she was left breathless. Maybe she was just in a stupid dream and she would wake up in another minute.

"JEANNIE!" Harriet screeched. "HELP!"

With her mind temporarily diverted to her sister's urgent situation, Jeannie rushed back into the living room. But there was still a nagging voice at the back of her mind: Jack could have overpowered her at any instant. She wasn't particularly strong; he could have simply pushed aside or even stabbed her. Instead, he had waited and forced her to verbally tell him to leave. She didn't understand it. But most of all, she couldn't forget the look in his eyes. It had been worse than any horror movie.

He'll come back, Jeannie kept telling herself all the way to the hospital. The police will catch his father, and he'll come back.

But the police didn't catch his father, and he never came back.