Wow, this is a bit of a long one. So I'm saying sorry in advance! Hope you enjoy this though as it took quite a while to write. Just want to say a huge thanks to Freelancer Seal, Vayluh Arwen, Beckoning Disaster and Reality assassin for the great reviews they have left recently. As always let me know your thoughts!
Carmine's Boy
The reality of what was about to happen to them, sobered both nurses almost instantly. They were alone. Jonah was gone. Rene had abandoned them. And now they had the most dangerous crime boss in Gotham hot on their heels.
Selina was almost asleep on the floor of the white room when she heard the sound of frantic footsteps slapping their way up the stairs. Jack sat up fluidly, his body rigid at the sudden intrusion into his world. Nobody came past the first floor stairs these days. Selina scrambled to her feet, blushing furiously, as thought she had been caught kissing him. Pink cheeked, she shoved her hands in her pockets, her heart lurching into her chest as Ally appeared in the doorway, wide eyed.
"Selina...Jack..." she began and Selina mentally braced herself. Ally had obviously just heard about her earlier fall from grace. Selina swallowed and without thinking side stepped closer to Jack, who was standing very still, his head thoughtfully cocked to one side.
"Something has happened and I need your help," Ally began, wringing her hands. "We have to leave Humberside, tonight. We have to get everyone out and we can't do it alone!"
It was then that Hayley appeared in the doorway, her face like stone. She took Ally's shoulder roughly and pulled her aside. They went outside the door and spoke in hushed tones. Selina threw Jack a puzzled look and he shrugged. Selina stepped a little closer.
"I don't give a dam about a childish squabble Hayley!" Ally was ranting and Selina sucked in her breath. "This is serious, do you understand? No one is coming to help us!"
Selina heard Hayley exhale. "This doesn't make any sense. Why can't we call the police? Why can't we speak to that nice Jim Gordon who was here today?"
"We can't go to anyone don't you get it? Rene was a Falcone! A Falcone, Hayley! You don't just call the cops on these people. They own the cops. We have to leave here!"
"Well where the hell are we going to go?" Hayley argued, her voice tired after the day she'd endured. "Where the hell are we going to put over twenty children?"
Ally stormed back into the white room and Selina jumped backwards, pretending that she had not been listening. Ally was pacing the floor, her white slip on shoes squeaking over the shiny surface.
"We have to think about this!" she turned to Selina. "Sweetheart....I need your help. You were so good with the younger ones a while back. Can you help me get them all ready? We need to pack up as much of their things as we can!"
Selina nodded weakly, half terrified by the look on Ally's face and half grateful that she wasn't being punished for her earlier misdemeanour.
But Hayley, stubborn as she was, didn't want to let the matter drop. "I'm sure I'm comfortable with that Ally. I'm not sure we can trust her. I just spent half the afternoon patching up little Suzie Newman!"
Ally whirled about rolling her eyes, hands firmly on hips. "Kids fight all the time! And I know that Suzie isn't an angel. I've known that kid since she was two years old and she has quite a bite on her."
"Well she broke one of her ribs Ally!" Hayley shot at her and threw Selina a disappointed glare. Selina felt her stomach drop, remembering the cracking noise Suzie had made when Selina had thrown that punch. It was as if Suzie had been made out of plaster, she had broken so easily.
"Look," Ally stopped pacing and faced the younger, feisty nurse. "Selina can be punished another time. But right now she is one of the most responsible kids in this building. I've seen her with the younger ones and I trust her. Falcone will be coming and there is no arguing that!"
It was Hayley's turn to pace. She went to the window, gliding past Jack as though he were invisible and yanked the window upwards. She breathed in the cold winter air, letting it cool her red face.
"It doesn't change that we have nowhere to go," she replied miserably.
Selina felt the tension growing between the two women and she looked between the two. Jack had hopped up onto his bed and was playing with the leather straps at the sides of it, as though the conversation weren't really happening around them. Selina's eyes suddenly widened. Seeing those straps brought back a memory. The Wayne Funeral. At that time, Jack had been slipping out of his restraints without any trouble at all. It was at the time of the Wayne Funeral.
"Ally," Selina whispered, her voice strange in her ears, having spent the whole afternoon in Jack's silent company. "Mr. Pennyworth seemed like a nice man. What about Mrs. Wayne's house? Would that be big enough for all of us?"
Hayley snorted, perching on the window ledge, arms tightly folded. Then as the idea sank in for a few moments, she jumped to her feet, but not before Ally was talking quickly.
"No!" Hayley hushed her. "We couldn't involve those people, that family. And who's to know he wouldn't call the cops?"
Ally shook her head. "What if we told him that something had happened? That we had to get out suddenly. He wouldn't abandon us. And that place in the palisades has room enough for us to never even be seen. We could have a whole wing!"
Hayley shook her head and rubbed her weary eyes. "It's the Wayne Foundation, Ally. They don't just give homes to poor abandoned children. What do you suggest we even tell him? There is no way that we could pull this off!"
Silence engulfed the space between them once more and Selina felt dumb for even mentioning the idea. Just then something happened. Jack, who had been sitting so quietly on the bed, hopped off of it and strolled across the room. With the flat of his palm he pushed the door shut so that the click echoed around the stark walls of the white room. Ally, who had been biting her nails, glanced up and Hayley narrowed her eyes at him. Jack folded his arms and leaned lazily against the door. Selina noticed then how tall he gotten over the past few weeks.
"Fire," Jack said simply, letting the word drift around the room. "We could start a fire."
Selina narrowed her eyes. "Jack...no!" she cried. "This is our home!"
"Wait!" Ally held up her hand to silence her. "What do you mean? You're suggesting deliberately starting a fire?"
Hayley shook her head. "That's absurd."
Jack pushed himself away from the wall and wandered back to the bed, where he nimbly hopped back up, crossing his long legs in front of him. He didn't answer, merely picking up the leather straps again, staring down at them, as if fascinated.
"Ally...there is no way we could do that. It's too dangerous!"
"Not if it was planned. Not if we made sure everyone got out!"
"I can't believe....why would you listen to him?" Hayley was incensed. "Think of what could go wrong!"
"They are going to kill all of us!" Ally cried, high pitched.
"We will find another answer. We will find another way!"
"He likes to line you up," came Jack's voice again. This time Selina's head snapped in his direction. Her eyes wide in shock, she stared at him open mouthed. He'd taken to examining his hands again, biting off the loose flesh around his nail beds. The two older women stared at him, dumbfounded and Selina could almost hear their inner thoughts. They obviously knew where Jonah had found their strange new resident.
They had known the night they brought him in. Selina inhaled sharply. It was all starting to make sense. Rene was a Falcone and for some reason, she'd been paying him of every month. Maybe Jonah was the one who made the deliveries? Forced to inhabit that world, he had to carry out the jobs his employer handed him. And one night he didn't like what he had seen there.
"He likes you all in a line...all of his boys," Jack's voice was strange, muffled and for the first time in what seemed like an age, he giggled, that nervous, high pitched laughter. Selina realised that he hadn't laughed like that for a long time.
Hayley looked ashen; she rubbed her chilled arms, at once too cold. She pulled the window shut.
"What is he talking about?" she whispered and Ally shook her head wordlessly.
"You're a lucky boy," Jack laughed, as though he were someone else. His voice was that of an older man, someone he could mimic. "You're lucky to be one of Carmine's boys. He liked us in a line. He liked to choose. But funny...he didn't like you to smile."
Selina's head was spinning. She felt sick and faint. What had happened to him there? Things she was too young to even imagine. She dimly remembered Jonah's words in the cab of his truck, the night of the fire. He had said that something had happened to Jack, something bad. Something that shouldn't have happened to a child.
"Jesus," Ally whispered. She too looked sick to her stomach.
"If he comes here," Jack continued, his hands in front of his face endlessly fascinating. "He'll line you up...like maids all in a row. All you're little lambs. It'll be like Christmas for him....so many to choose from..."
"Alright, stop that!" Hayley snapped. She was pale under her chocolate freckles. "So....fire it is then!"
Ally gestured that Selina sit on the bed next to Jack. Without speaking, Selina crawled up beside him, bumping his shoulder with hers. He didn't look at her but she found herself staring at the puffy scaring that ran from the corners of his mouth, almost up to his ears. She choked back tears.
"This doesn't leave this room!" Ally warned. "We have to make sure that everyone gets out, that no one gets hurt. We should gather up everything we want to take with us...."
"No," Jack interrupted. "Fire wipes the slate clean. You have to leave everything behind. They have to believe."
Selina stared at him. "He's right," she agreed. "If it happens, it has to be real. The fire has to take everything."
Hayley rolled her eyes at Ally and Selina wondered at her thoughts. They were being coached by kids, after all. Nobody in the room, except maybe Jack, actually believed that they were having this conversation.
"Well," Hayley shrugged. "He is the expert."
"Jack, can you help us?" Ally asked, her feet soft as she moved to the foot of the bed. "Can you help us do this?"
Jack had the leather straps in his hands, he pulled them tight so that they made a strained, snapping noise. Selina didn't like the face he was pulling. For a while he just stared at the straps and then finally lifted his head.
"I'll need Gasoline," he mumbled. "And a box of matches."
////
The house was quiet. Selina lay like a board in her bed, her body cold and rigid. Her night gown, as usual was buttoned up to her throat, not an inch of flesh exposed. Although she hadn't said anything to the nurses, she had pulled on some long socks and a thin T shirt under her gown. If they were going to be stuck outside in the snow then to hell with it, she wasn't going to freeze. Suzie had hobbled into bed a little after Selina. Her face was swollen from crying and she could barely move an inch without hissing in pain. Selina's scalp was still red raw from where Suzie had nearly yanked out half her hair earlier today, but she knew she had come out better after the fight.
Selina wished she could warn her old friend of what was going to happen tonight. She lay in the dark, staring at Suzie's back, the truth on her lips. All she had to do was reach out and tell her. But then that would ruin everything.
Jack was going to set fire to the building. Selina began to tremble. It wasn't the first time she had dealt with fire. She knew fire and the pain it caused. It clawed through sleeping buildings and scratched out lives without stopping to breathe. It had taken her Mother and it had mangled her body. Selina knew all about fire and she hoped that Jack didn't mess this up.
The nurses had left the white room after confirming the plan for the fourth time. They both looked exhausted and grey, the weight of responsibility on their shoulders ready to crush them whole. But it had to work. And it had to be believable if they had a chance of being taken in by Mr. Pennyworth.
"I will call him when the fire brigade gets here," Ally reassured after they had gone over the plan. "I'll beg for his help. He won't turn us down, not a house full of children. It's the most, obvious answer."
"Jack will need to change his clothes," Hayley said suddenly. "He'll stink of gasoline."
"I'll meet him in the yard," Selina suggested but both nurses protested.
"I want you out the front with me, Selina," Ally said. "I'm going to need all your help."
"Then I'll leave spare clothes out there and he can change," Selina's voice rose. She didn't like the fact that they were so willing to risk his life. But he was quick and had done things that no other child his age had even contemplated. If anyone could pull it off, Jack could and Selina had to trust he would get out.
In the darkness of the room, Selina closed her eyes, knowing that she would never sleep. She was too tense to sleep anyway and it was probably better if she didn't. She thought about how after the nurses had left the room and it was just them again, alone and sitting side by side on the bed.
"Jack," she had whispered. "If things go wrong...you have to get out...you have to!"
She was crying. Stupid, desperate tears, streaking her face. Trembling she got off the bed, not able to meet his dark eyes.
"I might not see you again," she said weakly. The thought was unbearable, unthinkable. On wooden legs, she walked for the white room door. She heard the bed move behind her and heard his feet skidding over the floor. He caught her around the waist and pulled her backwards, spinning her around to face him. Breathing hard, he ran his hands through her thick hair, pulling her forehead to meet his own. Selina's face was wet and she worried she might spill her tears on him. His own breathing was laboured.
"I will come for you," he was insistent and more tears bubbled up out of her throat. "If we get separated...I will come for you."
She held onto his arms, trembling like a kitten. "Just make sure you get out!"
Her own words rang in her ears and she jumped a mile, hearing Suzie shift in the bed next to her. She wondered at the dreams of all the other sleeping children in the room. She wondered how frightened they would be. She knew she had to be strong. She was the one who had to make sure they all got out, and to stop them scurrying like mice.
What time could it be? She felt like she was waiting there for hours. Despite the cold, sweat trickled down her back, making her hair stick to her forehead. She shifted uncomfortably on the cot. The hours seem to tick by and the longer she waited the more tense she felt. She was getting a headache and she rubbed at her temples.
Sighs of contented sleep echoed around the room and she so wished that she was among them. Her eyes were becoming heavier as time wore on. It wasn't long before she smelled something. She smelled smoke.
Flinging herself out of bed, her heart rattling in her chest like a caged bird, she shook Suzie roughly. Her eyes flew to the closed door and she saw the clouds of black smoke, gently billowing under the crack.
"Get up! Get up!" she shouted, her throat hoarse. "It's a fire!"
Suzie mumbled something in her sleep but already around her the others were stirring.
Selina grabbed one of her shoes and flung it at the window. The thudding noise was startling and to her relief, some of the children began to come to. Suzie stared up at her open mouthed.
"Get away from me!" she screamed, wriggling up out of the bed, taking her sheets with her.
"It's a fire you idiot!" Selina yelled, her face flaming. "Get up and get everyone out of here!"
Tony bounded across the room towards them and wrapped his arms around Suzie's trembling shoulders.
"Get lost freak!" he snarled. "Haven't you done enough to her?"
"Fire!" one of the smaller children shrieked, making Tony stop mid sentence.
Selina grabbed Suzie's shoulders and stared at her imploringly. "You have to get everyone out of here."
Selina ducked back to the bed and pulled on her shoes, retrieving the one she had sent flying at the window. Suzie began to dress in slow motion but Selina yanked her towards the door.
"No time for that!" she yelled. "Wake up and get everyone out!"
Selina darted through the row of beds, but Tony was hot on her heels. "It's him!" he cried. "He's done this!"
Selina almost wanted to laugh, considering how right Tony was, but she pushed him back. She opened a crack in the door and gasped as smoke, thick and solid wafted into the room. The first floor landing was engulfed with smoke and the moment she opened the door, it would take the bedroom whole. She grabbed Tony by the wrists.
"Get everyone out!" she hissed. "Keep low to the ground, but make sure you get everyone out of here!"
"Where are you going?" he cried. "You're not going to him, are you?"
"I have to help the babies!" Selina yelled, wishing he would drop this whole macho act.
The last thing Selina saw was Tony rallying the younger ones into action as she crawled out of the room. She slipped to her knees, under the smog, coughing and choking as great lungfuls of black entered her mouth. Keeping her lips pressed tightly together, she bumped along the hallway. She could hear their soft cried coming from the nursery. Her knees skidding across the floor, her eyes stinging, she reached for the door handle, using it as a lever to haul her to her feet. Spluttering, she pushed open the nursery door.
"Oh, Selina, thank god!" Hayley yelled. "You have to help me! I can't carry them all!"
Hayley dressed in her night gown, was frantically flying about the room. Selina was up on her feet, scrambling across the floor. She scooped up one of the smallest babies in her arms and then tried for another but it was impossible to carry two at once. It gurgled and moaned in her arms and Selina felt guilt coursing through her.
"I can't take more than one!" Selina panicked. This wasn't going to work. The reality hit her like a cold blast of air. They weren't all going to get out. Selina was so frightened she was almost numb. She was scared for her former friends. She was scared for herself. But most of all she was scared for Jack. Who knew where the hell he was?
"Take one and go!" Selina told Hayley. "I'll get help!"
Hayley pushed her way through the door and fell to her knees. "Selina...I can't see!"
Selina cradled the baby to her chest and followed. When she was out in the hallway, she ducked down to avoid breathing the smog.
"Suzie!" she screamed. "Suzie help me!"
What seemed like endless moments passed, while she waited. Some part of her hoped Suzie had gotten out, but then she saw her red haired friend, crawling towards her, her teeth gritted together from the pain in her ribs.
"I need help," Selina gasped. "Get anyone who can carry one of these kids!"
Silently, a truce had been formed and Suzie skidded off back down the hall. She returned moments later, sweaty faced and pale, but she had three kids with her. Selina spent the next few moments barking out instructions. Every muscle in her body was tense and coiled ready for action. Tony was on the stair way, ushering the smallest kids down the steps in the dark and for that Selina could almost forget how cruel he had been. There were terrified, little chokes for fear coming from each of the smaller ones as they darted blindly down the steps. But they were being so brave and it made her heart ache with pride. She met up with Tony on the landing and pressed the last baby into his arms. He was sooty and grimy faced.
Selina told him. "I have to find Jack!"
Tony's face fell. "He did this Selina. Don't risk you're life for him!"
Selina ignored his comment and slipped back up the hallway. Downstairs she could hear Ally calling out to the younger ones. She could hear the distant sirens of the fire brigade and she breathed more easily, almost. The fire seemed to be coming from the second floor. Her knees aching she made her way to the stair well, gripping the banisters as she hauled herself to her feet.
"Jack!" she screamed. She felt the barrage of heat surging down the stairs. Wracked by a coughing fit, she crawled up, ingoing the sweat pouring off her forehead. She pushed through the heat barrier until she surfaced on the second floor landing. The fire was in the white room. The door was open and flames were clawing out, like fingers reaching towards her. Numb with fright, Selina shook herself and gripped the banister.
"Jack are you here?" she yelled. Selina felt the wall of heat as she got closer. She felt how it burned her skin and memories came flooding back to her. For a moment, she was frozen to the spot with fear.
"Selina what the hell are you doing?" came the voice behind her. Her face covered in ash and dust, she whirled around and met Jack's shirt front, colliding with his chest. He had changed clothes.
"You're ok!" she sobbed and he pulled her down the stairs, tripping and stumbling as she went.
"I was outside waiting for you, moron!" he yelled in her ear. The flames were spilling out onto the landing, curling their deathly fingers around the upper banisters as though it didn't want them to leave so soon. Stumbling they reached the first floor, but Jack didn't see the figure standing there until it was too late. Tony, incensed, grabbed Jack's shirt and hauled him across the floor.
"I knew you did it!" the Italian boy seethed. "I told you you would be sorry!"
Jack went skidding into the nearest wall, his body hitting it with a sickening thud. To all of their horror, the wall cracked like an egg, the heat from the fire above already weakening the walls. Tony didn't seem to notice. He grabbed Jack once again by his shirt and ploughed his fist straight into his jaw. Selina screamed and tried to pull Tony away, but he pushed her off easily, sending her clambering to the floor.
"Tony what are you doing! We have to get out of here!" she screamed. With a grunt Tony punched Jack in the gut, sending him sprawling to the floor on his hands and knees, struggling for breath.
"It's all his fault Selina!" Tony yelled. "If he hadn't of come here....none of this would be happening!"
Jack looked up at her, his eyes watering from pain and exhaustion. Selina was growing hotter by the second, the flames above licking their way down the stairs. She was on her knees, crawling towards Jack, throwing herself in front of him. Tony drew his leg back, his eyes wild and black, preparing to kick the other boy. Instead Selina choked, a scream caught in her throat as Tony accidently aimed his foot, landing squarely in her chest. Face down and winded, Selina gulped for breath, white hot pain making her almost vomit. All she could hear was the roaring noie from the landing above and Tony cursing while he stood over her.
"Get out of here Selina!" he cried, his voice contorted. Jack was on his feet, lunging towards Tony, sending him flying into the wall behind. This time the plaster cracked and fell, the walls like paper but this was only a prelude of what was to come. Jack cried out, as a chunk of wall narrowly missed him by inches. The wall began to crumble and Tony screamed as blocks of rubble began to fall around him.
Selina, still scrambling about on the floor, suddenly found herself, on her feet. Her knees skimmed the floor, as Jack dragged her along the landing with what little strength he had left. The house was crumbling around them. She threw her arm over Jack's shoulder as he half dragged; half carried her down the stairs. They collapsed at the bottom, both exhausted and breathing hard.
"Where's Tony?" she screamed. "We have to go back for him!"
The fire had weakened the structure of the floors above. Like a scene from a disaster film, Selina dodged falling brickwork and concrete as they ran through the house that for many years had been her home. Dust blinded them and it seemed they would never be free of the clawing smoke, until they landed on the porch, both gasping for air.
Ally took Selina by the shoulders, hauling her across the lawn that was still knee deep in snow. Shivering, Selina grabbed the shirt sleeve of the nearest fire-fighter.
"You have to get Tony!" she screamed. "He's still in there!"
"Oh my god!" Ally cried, her voice hoarse from smoke inhalation. "Why was he up there? Why?"
Her eyes streaming, Selina choked and spluttered, rubbing her eyes until her vision cleared.
"We can't get in there!" one of the fire-fighters called out. "The building is going to come down!"
Selina's feet sank into the snow but she couldn't feel a thing. She turned and watched the place she'd grown up in fall like a stack of dominos. The window panes shattered, sending fragments of glass down onto the lawn. The fire-fighters urged them to get back but nobody moved. Smoke rose from the building like it wanted to creep up to the sky.
"Tony...no!" Selina gasped. She saw Suzie standing only meters behind her, still clutching one of the babies that Selina had pressed into her arms earlier. The girl's face was frozen in horror her mouth open and working, but no sound coming out. Her eyes never left the carcuss of the building. The girl appeared confused, dazed and frozen in grief.
Then the building collapsed. Selina closed her eyes. The lawn was covered in debris as brick work tumbled out towards them, the crouching, grinding noise filling the air.
Tony! He was in there somewhere. He was trapped. Selina let out a sob. Someone was behind her, holding her shoulders tightly. She looked up at Jack, his face sooty, his blonde curls stuck to his forehead with sweat.
It's my fault, Selina wanted to cry. I should have left when I had the chance.
A silver car pulled up on the driveway behind them, just as snow, like droplets of ice began to fall from the sky. Alfred Pennyworth climbed out of the back of the car, his face tight with concern. He too was shocked and open mouthed. Other residents of the homes nearby were gathered on their own lawns, watching the fall of the building as if it were a television show. Ally left the group and ventured over to the older man. It must have been quite a sight to see nineteen children all stood shivering in the snow, in their night clothes.
"Its over," Jack whispered in her ear. Selina shook her damp curls, her face a mess.
"He's gone, Jack. It's my fault he's gone."
"Why don't you listen to me?" he hissed in her ear. "Sometimes people...just get in the way."
Selina closed her eyes and leaned against him. She let herself believe those words. If she didn't have to look at Suzie, she could believe him. Hayley was on her hands and knees in the snow, her body wracked with sobs. Some of the children were huddled together under blankets and some were just simply standing alone, staring up at the ruin that had once been their home. The snow was falling fast, settling in their hair and removing all traces of their footprints. It would be morning soon.
Let me know what you think! XXX