The pay was great, the knowledge he obtained from working with Cliff was amazing, but the work that involved being on the farm was strenous for a city boy like himself. He had to clean the stalls, clean the horses, feed the horses, comb their hair, give them exercise, feed them again. It didn't sound like much at first but by the end of the day he was sore. It was a good idea that he shaved his hair completely off or else he would of been screwed. Picking up horse crap and long hair didn't mix. Of course he had Nikki to play with on the horses. They were cowboys, and at night there was Val for other things. Among other things he finally had the balls to ask her Uncle the special question he wanted to ask for the longest time.

By the end of the trip he was almost overjoyed to see the noisy streets of Gotham again. He actually couldn't wait to get mugged instead of picking up horse droppings from the stall. Val was tired from their trip and they spent nearly the whole day afterward in bed together doing nothing but talking.

He wanted to spend some more time with Val. They were lying in bed in the dark but not sleepy enough to drift off into dream land. Val had her head on his stomach listening to his stomach vibrate when he spoke or watching it go up and down when he breathed. He was stroking her hair, humming a soft tune.

"What'cha thinking about?" he asked curling her hair on his finger. Val shrugged.

"Nothing. Glad to be back home."

"Me too."

"Jack?" she asked.

"Hmm?"

"Say you love me." Jack pulled her up to him so he could look at her face to face. She was so beautiful with those oval hazel eyes, that reflected boldness and childish innocence.

"I love you." he said kissing her softly, Val smiled and laid back on his stomach not realizing there was more. "That's why I want you to marry me."

Val's head turned to him, in shock. Her eyes shined with excitement and she kissed him hard. "Seriously!" she exclaimed happily. He nodded. Val kissed him again pulling him on top of her. She kissed him passionately running her hands up and down his back, buckling her hips and spreading her legs letting him in. She couldn't have been happier, now that she was marrying the love of her life. She was so excited that she wanted to elope right away so she could finally be Mrs. Valentina Napier. It had a ring to it, and no longer would she have to carry her father's name. She held her close to him when she head a loud bang outside.

"What was that?" she asked over Jack's shoulder.

"It's probably just a animal or something." he said out of breath. Jack didn't care about whatever was out there, but of course Val kept pressing the issue.

"Darling. Just check."

He rolled his eyes and threw on his pants, not caring if anyone saw the bulge in his pants. He peaked out the window and saw only trees, and Val's car. He took a double take of the car, and he saw from the hood and on the sides it was covered in spay paint. It was too far away he couldn't tell what it said on it.

"Uh babe." he called for her. Val quickly threw on a sweater and looked outside. Her mouth dropped in shock.

"My car!" she cried rushing out the apartment down the stairs to check the damage. Jack's mind was racing trying to figure out anyone who could've possibly want to tag her car. Val wasn't one who started many fights and she didn't have any enemies. He threw on his clothes and ran down to see the damage. Jack's car was left completely alone but Val's was trashed with harsh words like "SLUT" "TRAMP" "WHORE" and "CUNT" in bright neon green letters on the windows and hood. It struck Jack like a large church bell to the ear. He shook with anger and slammed his fist down on the hood of his car.

"That fucking whore." he spat, grabbing his keys out of the pocket. Val was growing hysterical over the car, calling Cliff and Zora to come out and see the damage. Jack dashed in his car and yelled at her. "I'll be back in a few."

She probably yelled at him, but he didn't care. He picked up his cell phone and called Jamie. Vivian and him were very close friends for years. At first he didn't picked up so Jack called him over and over until he finally did.

"What?" Jamie asked sheepishly.

"Where the hell is Vivian?" he inquired.

"Uh. I don't know."

"Is she at home?"

"No, when you were gone she had a infestation of cock roaches so they had...y'know get them out."

"Well where the fuck is she?!" he barked into the phone.

"Mays Motel, I think." Jamie replied. "Why-."

Jack already hung up and spun the car around speeding down the highway to Mays Motel, he had been there way too many times with her and he knew her favorte room number. He didn't care if the cops were around, he didn't care if he got pulled over she disobyed the one rule he told her not to do. She committed suicide for the sake of terrorizing his fiancee. He knew what he had to do to get rid of the obsessive bitch. He had to break and ruin her. He warned her once and once was enough. He drove into the parking lot of the motel and stomped to the one room he knew that she liked. It wasn't different than the other rooms but she didn't like change.

He went to room number 13 and hesitated not to bang on the door. He knew she was in the room he could see the lights on and her moving behind the thin curtains. She didn't reconize him with his hair shaved off, which was a advantage. He knocked on the door lightly when he heard her yell from behind the door.

"What?!" she snapped.

"House keeping." he said in a foreign accent. He wasn't sure what he was aiming for but he didn't care.

"At 1 in the morning! Look I didn't ask for anything." he heard her walk away, so he knocked on the door again only this time harder. Vivian rushed to the door and shouted at the 'house keeper'. "Look I didn't order any-." By that time she opened the door and she saw Jack standing just a inch from the threshold. Panicked she tried to close the door but he kicked it open the heavy door hitting her hard in the face. She fell to the floor trying to run out and avoid Jack but he punched her hard in the stomach. She bent over heaving and coughing trying to breathe. He closed the door so no one would hear the bitch scream.

He kicked her in the chest making her land flat on her back. She suddenly jumped up from the ground, scratching at his face. He punched her in the nose making her land on on her back again. He fell to his knees slamming her head over and over on the ground calling her every name in the book that came to mind. He punched her over and over in the face without any remorse. Vivian kicked him in the stomach stopping the punches, giving her time to kick him once in the face. He grabbed his jaw recovering from the hard blow. Vivian ran to the dresser grabbed a lamp, it was held high over her head, in only a few seconds it would collide with Jack's face. He barely doged it by a second. He got a good look at Vivian.

Her nose was bleeding so profusely it was running into her mouth. She had bruises all over her head and stomach and chest. She was screaming like a mad jungle woman attacking her prey. He tackled her down trying to get the lamp out of her hand. He threw it across the room smashing against the wall. He wrapped his hands around her throat. She tried to claw at his face making him let go. He slammed her on the ground once again, the lack of oxygen was making her reaction slow and her eyes feel like they were going to pop out of her head. Jack's eyes were dark and animalistic as he slowly sucked the life out of his former lover. He wanted to kill her so badly, that he came with that intention but then he wasn't sure what hit him but he let go of her throat as she slowly started to slip into unconscieness. He let go and she gasped for air coughing and heaving and slobbering. She turned herself over coughing on her knees and crying.

"Why?" she said in a raspy voice tears falling down her swollen cheeks. Jack stood over her, the pain in his jaw was coming back.

"You come near me or her again and I swear I'll kill you!"

He stomped out slamming the door open and closed. It took Vivian nearly an hour to pull herself together so she could go to the hospital. It was heard that she spent a few days in the hospital with a couple broken ribs, a broken nose, and a fractured collar bone. Just as Jack thought she didn't have the guts to snitch on him. She lied and said she fell down the stairs but the bruises said that it was a struggle. Not many people pressed the issue. If the victim refused to tell then there wasn't much anyone could do except hope they wouldn't find her in a morgue. Jack nor Val never saw Vivian after that, it was like she dissapeared off the face of planet, like she didn't exists. Not many people were worried to no ones surprise. Vivian wasn't a well liked character mostly because she was obsessive, obnoxious, and demading. Many were glad to be rid of her one of them including Jack.

Several weeks later...

Jack was driving in the car with Jamie who didn't seem quite himself. Jamie was pale and was sweating profusely in the barely spring weather. Jack saw how shakey and jumpy his friend was. His pupils were dialted and he had a tendacy to doze off even when driving, which caused made them switch places. Jack was told that Diaz needed to talk to both him and Jamie for some reason he wasn't sure what. He wasn't paid to ask questions.

Jamie was muttering to himself about trying to remain calm, and about some girl that he probably had sex with the other night.

"Jamie?" Jack started.

"Yes!" Jamie jumped, his eyes wide with concern.

"You alright?"

"Fine! Why?!"

"Uh.. no reason." Jack said keeping his eyes on the road. Jamie tried to return the conversation back to a bit of normalcy.

"So I haven't heard much from Vivian."

"Yeah I know." Jack replied holding back a snicker.

"You had something to do with it didn't you?"

"She tagged my girls car!"

"You didn't have to run her out of town."

"I warned her."

Jamie scoffed and began scratching his arms. From the corner of his eye Jack spotted a couple of track marks up Jamie's arm. Jack rolled his eyes and shook his head.

'Junkie piece of shit.'

"Oh, man. I need to work overtime for Diaz or get another job or something." Jack said diverting the conversation away from the bitch Vivian.

"Hmm? Why?"

"I want to marry Val, I can't have her living in the Narrows. Not my girl. She's going to live like a queen."

"Did you inherit a fortune? It'll take more than a couple of cheap paychecks at McDonalds to get your girl away from the Narrows."

"No, but I got a house outside of Gotham. My grandmother used to own it before she died then she gave it to me."

Jamie rolled his eyes. "Shit, then why are you here?"

"Its too big for me to take care of all by myself." Jack scoffed. "Besides that's what wives are for."

"Amen to that. Maybe I need to settle down get me a nice girl and a couple of kids." Jamie pulled out a cigarette, lit it up and took a long drag. "Shit, I need a blunt."

"Don't you have some?"

"Yeah, but I need one now man. I don't want to deal with Diaz."

"It never bothered you before."

Jamie took another drag scratched at his track marks and finally replied. "That guy is just getting crazier and crazier."

"Yeah, but aren't we all?"

"Not me. I'm getting saner. Dude when we're done with the fat shit, call up Waylon so we can smoke a blunt." Jamie suggested taking another drag. "Want one?" he offered him a packet of Marlboro reds. Jack nodded taking one and shoving it in his mouth. Jamie lit up the end and Jack exhaled.

"This better not take long. I got to take Nikki to the park."

"Oh yeah the kid how is she?"

"Good. She's almost 7."

"Damn dude. She's growing up. Do you still want to smoke a blunt."

"I'll see how the time goes, now stop bugging me."

Jamie took another drag from his cigarette and the car was relatively quiet until they pulled up into Diaz's large mansion. He was already outside ready for them. He was in his black and gold bathrobe, and his dark hair was greased back out of his face. He was a Cuban man, and took great pride in it. He spoke in Spanish to his other workers around the two men. His only white employees. It was a scare tactic to make them feel uncomfortable but it never worked for Jack.

Jack walked to the large man with ease while Jamie dragged along behind him, staring at everything else but his Boss.

"Come inside." Diaz said. His accent was almost as thick as the chest hair that poked out from his bathrobe. They followed the large man to his study. Diaz lit a Cuban cigar and offered the two men a seat. Jack sat up straight and stared into Diaz's dark eyes. Jamie on the other hand stared into his lap smoking another cigarette.

"Gentleman. We're a family right?"

"Yes." they both said at the same time.

"Good. As family we can share things with each other, right?"

"Yes." they said once again in sync.

"Good. So I go to check my savings one day to make sure the numbers are right. However I make a very surprising discovery. Someone has been stealing money from us boys. You both are very good with numbers along with your skills at eliminating my competition so perhaps you can help me. It's not a large quanity of money, but it's been done over a long period of time. You both are the only one of my employees that know my numbers, so what happen to my money I wonder. So I ask myself."

'Get to the point you fuck.'

"Who would do such a thing to me, when I gave you boys everything that you have? Jack? Jamie? Either one of you know who did this. If you do nows the time to come forward."

Jamie was now shaking uncontrollably, but Diaz didn't seem to notice. Jack replied almost instantly.

"I don't know Diaz. I have no clue." Jack waited for Jamie to respond but he seemed almost absent from the world outside of his mind.

"Ditto." he finally said after awhile.

"Alright. But if you know anything tell me." he said shooing them away and taking a drag from his cigar. Jack walked out cooly while Jamie nearly knocked Jack down to get out of the door.

"Okay, now can we go get my blunts?" Jamie asked, taking a flask from his jacket pocket and gulping it down. Jack knew he couldn't ask what was with Jamie. He'd proably skip the question become the defensive little man he was so it was best to not question anything right now. Jack leaned against the car and called Val's number. She picked up a few rings later.

"Hello?"

"Babe, where's Nikki at?" Val sounded like she was out of breath and there was commotion going on in the background.

"Oh babe, I meant to call you about that. She's not feeling too well. Something about her allergies acting up, but we can hang out for a few."

"Alright. Sounds good. I'll be there later."

"Okay. Bye."

He hung up the phone, and thought for a second. He didn't feel like going to Waylon's house mostly because the poor bastard was incredibly hard to talk to. He would grunt and talk barely above a slur. This intimidated most people, but not Jack. Even though he was almost seven feet tall and had incredible strength. Waylon was just the same as any other man no matter how big and tall he was.

After several seconds of Jack pondering off into space Jamie reached over to the drivers side and began honking the horn loudly.

"Alright! I'm coming!" Jack exclaimed, entering the car.

Jack watched as Waylon was dividing up the green headies into a nice even row and putting them in brown rolled up paper. Jamie watched hungrily with anticipation in his eyes. There was a young couple sitting next to Jack, both of them were no older than he was. The young man was big and tall with long jet black hair going past his chin. He was blankly staring at the blunt, while his girlfriend was playing with the zippers on his leather jacket.

Everything about the young woman was thin. Jack had top admit she was pretty cute, except for her pretruding belly. Her hair was long almost past her bottom, and it looked like it had been dyed bright pink but her natural color was starting to come in at her roots.

Waylon had a horrible skin condition called epidermolytic hyperkeratosis, which causes the skin to harden and scale. Waylon was nicknamed Killer Croc for his scaly skin. He couldn't get a proper job so he had to resort to hustling and drug dealing. Jamie was his number one customer.

Waylon finished preparing the blunt for Jamie and handed it to him. Jamie left a few dollars on the table for the drug dealer, taking a dime bag along with him.

"Thank you my good man." Jamie said lighting it up and inhaling and exhaling several times.

"No problem." Waylon's bass voice replied. "So what are you boys doing in the neighborhood?" He leaned back on the sofa. Jack replied with a shrug.

"He wanted a blunt." Jack said pressing his lips together in a slant. He tended to do that alot when he was thinking or unsure. Val found that cute.

"Oh. Well I'm sure you've met Ray and Becky." he said pointing to the couple. The man didn't speak but his girlfriend did. She spoke in a light soft voice.

"No I'm afraid I haven't." she extended her hand. "Nice to meet you, Jack right."

"Yep." Jack said shaking her hand. "So what are you both doing in here?"

"Oh we just came to collect some things. Then we'll be taking off."

"Oh."

Jamie passed the blunt to Jack who took a quick couple drags and passed it to Ray and Becky who refused.

"I can't take that." Becky said rubbing her belly.

"Your first?" Jamie asked taking back the blunt. His pupils already more dialted than before.

"Mhm." she said excitedly putting her head on Ray's shoulder. "We can't wait. We're hoping for a boy."

"Yeah." Jack looked at Ray who was eeriely silent. He pointed to Ray. "Does he.. you know. Talk?"

"Yeah I can." Ray finally said not looking at him, but more at the wall.

"He's quiet." Becky laughed. "Waylon? Wheres your bathroom."

"Down the hall first door on the left." Waylon said. Becky nodded and got up and slowly walked out of Jack's sight. Waylon turned to Jamie and Jack. "What are you boys up to tonight?"

"Nothing as usual." Jamie huffed. His eyes were starting to slowly turn red.

"You boys should come to this new club that just opened. Apprantly they got some hot ass chicks there."

"Jack won't go he's engaged." Jamie laughed. Jack glared at Jamie, who apprantly didn't notice because of his new interest in what was on the bottom of his shoe.

"I don't go because I don't see the point on spending money for this chick to dance on my lap."

"Well it's fun." Jamie argued.

"Whatever."

"So are you going to go or what?" Waylon asked.

"Sure, whatever."

The Whiskey Bar was home to all of Gotham, everyone from the elite to the poorest scum off the street. Anything one could possibly want was there. Anything ranging from music, sex, drugs, booze it was all there. The Whiskey was dark. The only light was the flashing lights and the sound of obnoxious blaring music pounded in their guest's ears. Jack, Jamie and Waylon made their way through the crowd to the bar. Jack could spot off hand the sons of mobsters and even the mobsters themselves. Some of them were doing drugs, and some were being seduced by the barely clothed women. Jack ordered a whiskey and coke, he didn't plan on getting too drunk tonight. He looked up at the ceiling and saw some women dancing in cages to the loud techno music.

When Jack recieved his drink, slipped the money and sipped it casually while Waylon and Jamie gulped down their drinks, and ordered another shot from whatever they wanted. He couldn't stand those indulgents. He did try all sorts of drugs and other forms of escape but he didn't have a addictive personality. Escaping into costly forms was a sign of weakness. They couldn't deal with their miserable lives so they throw themsleves into a addiction. Then they have the nerve to demand sympathy from him.

Pathetic.

His father must've been one of the kings of indulgents. Sitting on his middle aged ass in front of the tv, eating the dinner that his mother cooked, drinking a beer until he was so drunk he would pass out in the middle of the floor. Hank, his father would always complain that Jack's grandfather Dean was the same way, beating the shit out of him and his mother when he was drunk. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Jack didn't plan on being a dad, he would probably turn out like Hank. Rasing kids who raise themselves. However even though his father was the biggest piece of scum in the world, his mother tolerated it. She was young, and pregnant how was she suppose to know what to do? Not only did she tolerate Hank's behavior but his grandfathers. Another thorn in Jack's side. Dean was a World War II veteran and instead of sending the old bastard to a nursing home, his mother decided it would be best to let him live with them.

Jack could describe the old man in only three words. Angry, old and racist. He would often have flashbacks to when he was fighting the Japanese in the war, and would go into a state of mania when he would sit on the porch and watch them go by. Jack couldn't even have what little friends he did have over. If they weren't white and Protestant Christians they were not allowed to come into the house. He was glad when the old man finally died. It was his miracle. For awhile he thought there actually was a god.

"You okay Jack?" Jamie yelled slapping him on the back.

"Yeah, just thinking."

"Well don't think too hard you'll miss out on all the action. I'm trying to hook up with that girl over there." He pointed to a girl who was sitting on some old man's lap. She was wearing a bra with a thong. She had long blonde hair down her back, and wore heavy make up. Jack chose not to say anything. Jamie always had terrible taste in women. He wondered what he had caught already.

Jack turned his attention to some of the cage dancer. One was especially cute, and she looked so small in that cage. She seemed somewhat familar but because of the dark lighting he couldn't get a good glimpse at her. He concentrated hard on her. He had to figure it out or he wouldn't be able to rest. Her hair was almost to her shoulders, and she had a black bracelets on her thin wrist.

Then the lights came on for a quick second and he saw on her thigh was a tattoo in the shape of a black heart. Then the lights began to flash and it was dark again. Jack gulped down his whiskey and coke and asked for another one while he thought. Then he remembered, that Val had a tattoo like that. His slightly buzzed mind was piecing everything together.

"Val?" he said outloud. He knew she couldn't hear. Jamie saw the confusion written plainly on his face.

"Yo, you okay?" he asked.

"Is that Val?" he asked pointing to her. Jamie responded with a shrug. Waylon somehow overheard their conversation and looked at the girl.

"Oh her? That's Holly. Holly Madison. Hot eh?"

Jack glared at the huge man and downed his drink and demanded another one. He grinded his teeth and dug his nails into the palm of his hand. He cursed and spat under his breath. He was ready for a fight, and he didn't care who.

'That fucking bitch, that fucking bitch, THAT FUCKING BITCH. I'll bloody fucking kill you, I FUCKING SWEAR!'

Even when Jamie, left off with the girl he chose and Waylon decided to crash at another friends house, Jack was still there wasting his good money on drinks, watching his woman dance half naked in front of a crowd. He felt the knife in his leather jacket, flicking it open making sure that he could still accomplish his goal without too much trouble. Much to Jack's annoyance the bar closed at 3 a.m, so he walked from the bar, stumbling past what was left of the dancers and waited outside near her car. He positioned himself to lean on the car with his hands in his jacket, waiting for her lover to come out.

He didn't have to wait long, he had seen her leave her cage and go back to where ever she was. She walked out normally in a red dress, and black boots. She wasn't paying attention to him. Her attention was devoted to getting her keys from her purse. His vision was blurred and he could barely talk or think straight. She looked up and her heart dropped.

"Oh uh hey Jack."

"Helllooo. My, my you look different with your clothes on!" he exclaimed almost stumbling off of the car. She rolled her eyes and tried to make her way from him. "Don't you fucking walk away from me!" he yelled at her.

"Sober up and we'll talk about that later. You're fucking drunk."

"You fucking bitch." he grabbed her arm, squeezing it tightly. She tried to pull away from him, but he was stronger than her.

"Get the hell off me!" she screamed pushing him away, but he didn't instead he pushed her against the car. His body was on hers and his breath smelled strong of whiskey. She tried to squrim away from him so she wouldn't have to smell it, but he forced her to look at him.

"Look at me." he said grabbing her face but she still tried to move her face away from him again. "LOOK AT ME!" he barked. She looked into his eyes, tears falling from them.

"I'm sorry Jack." she cried.

"Sorrys not going to cut it darling. You lied to me."

"Like you lied to me about how you get your money? Yeah, Michael told me a long time ago what you do. I just wanted you to tell me. I thought we were being honest-."

"I'm not dancing half naked in a cage. You're sucking off those other men for money?"

"No Jack. I don't. I just dance I swear."

"Right, right. You're probably lying to me like you lied to me about everything." His hands slowly slid to her throat. You lied to me you fucking bitch!" he said pressing down on her throat. Her eyes bugged out and she clawed at his wrist.

With the last breaths she could muster she yelled at the top of her lungs. "Fucking kill me! Fucking kill me!"

"You wanna fucking die?!" he screamed causing attention from some of the other dancers walking to their cars.

"YES!" she screamed. He watched salty tears fall from her eyes and down his hand. He pushed her away and she fell on the ground and began to cry harder. Jack kicked at a trashcan watching the trash scatter across the ground.

"Fuck!" he stared out at the street, watching the people staring at him. "What the fuck are you looking at?! Mind your own goddamn business!" He stumbled to the ground in front of her and dragged himself on his knees. He grabbed her by the face and made her look at him. He already saw a bruise forming on her neck.

"Say you're going to quit this place. Say yes." he ordered her. She nodded through tears.

"You-You still want me?"

"Yes. Don't make me change my mind."

"Okay." she sniffed.

Jack pushed his face against hers in a hard kiss. Tears were still sliding down her gentle face. He was a sloppy kisser when he was drunk, she hated the smell of whiskey on his breath. The last time he came home to her drunk her slapped her across the face for no reason. Sometimes he would treat her so roughly she would cry herself to sleep.

She loved him so much, she couldn't let him go. She wanted to be his wife more than anything. She wanted to have so many babies with him. Val stopped taking her birth control pills so it would be more possible. She wanted them to have him his nose, and his beautiful eyes. He would be such a good father. She could almost feel the babies in her arms. If that meant losing her great paying job to keep him then it didn't matter. Nothing mattered except the two of them.

They drove to Val's apartment and it ended how most of their nights ended. With rough sex, and smoking cigarettes while watching one of those late night adult movies. The last two options were not accomplished because Jack passed out while he was still on top of her. She slid out from under him, and looked at the ceiling. She swallowed hard and couldn't help but feel the lump in her stomach. She felt the sense of tragedy was at hand, but she couldn't describe the feeling. She stared at him memorizing his beautiful face. How lucky she was to have him, but what would happen to her lover?

Well that ends the most recent chapter. Leave a review loves. :) Tell me what you think of Vivian vs. Jack.