— Chapter 21

Checking her watch, Vicki looked back at her computer screen, covering a yawn with the back of her hand as she clicked around the Daily Planet website, unable to stop herself from sighing as she read through the content they were now putting out. The dreck that she had forced herself to read through hadn't even made the paper good enough for it to qualify as a shell of its former self. She kept checking back from time to time in hopes that they would turn things around, but it was as if the paper was being run into the ground and nobody wanted to stop it. Despite the intentions to simply jump on the anti-Superman bandwagon, they were now the leader of the anti-vigilante fervor that gripped a majority of the city nearly a year later. Wanting to remind herself of why she had loved the Daily Planet since she had been old enough to realize how good of a publication it was, she clicked into the archives and started going through old articles, mostly ones attributed to Lois Lane and Clark Kent. Clicking back to some of the oldest Lois Lane articles, she found one that shared a byline with Chloe Sullivan. 'That's her cousin, the one that died in the bombings,' Vicki thought, and clicked the article. The picture that came up with the article was old, but Vicki instantly recognized Lois. There wasn't a picture of her cousin, which she thought was odd since there was one for Lois. Digging a little deeper into the archives, this time focusing on the name Chloe Sullivan, the first entry was an obituary that she scanned before a dozen entries or so that were old articles, but there was no picture attached, which was even more odd in Vicki's mind. Going back to the list of articles, she skimmed titles before coming to something that wasn't written by Chloe, but was an article whose title proclaimed that she had been vindicated in reference to a claim made by Lex Luthor that a story had been made up. That must've been why all her articles were so old. Justice being served and Luthor going to jail must not have been enough to draw her back into journalism before her death in the bombings. It wasn't the first time she'd seen somebody become fed up with journalism because of the difficulties sometimes involved, and she was sure it wouldn't be the last.

Moving on, she decided to read some of the articles that she'd written. They were good. Very good. Vicki could see that Lois's boast about her cousin being good wasn't just family pride. Must be something in their genes for two cousins to have that much journalistic talent between them. Hearing footsteps, she peeked over the top of her computer and found Jeff coming towards her. "Hey," she said, "another ten minutes and I might have had to go home without you."

He stopped by her desk and she shut down her computer, pulling her purse out and standing up. "I thought you might have all ready gone home and curled up with that book you've been reading since most people that, like us, are off the next five days for the fourth of July took off early. I guess it was a good move to stop and make sure."

"I was tempted to go home but we have some business to attend to tonight, so I figured I'd wait. Wouldn't do me any good to be there without you." They started towards the elevator, slowly making their way through the news room. Vicki glanced up at him, then shook her head, smiling a little bit. His silence spoke volumes. "For as much time as we thought and talked about trying to have a baby, I'm surprised you didn't keep better track of what day it is, because I know I told you that I'll start ovulating tomorrow, which means..." She left it at that, and rolled her eyes a little as he caught on.

"We're starting tonight? I can't believe I forgot that. I was only counting down the days." He stopped, shaking his head. "I blame the day I had. I got so caught up in the utter monotony that the date and meaning of it must have leaked out of my ear, along with the rest of my brain."

"Sounds rough."

"The day reached a level of dull I did not know existed," he said as they stepped into the elevator, pushing the lobby button. "But that isn't important. Tonight is what's important. Obviously we need to keep expectations at a real level, in that this could take some time to happen."

"But it's easy to get caught up in the fact that this could be a life changing night," Vicki said quietly. "It's easy to get caught up in the fact that we're taking a giant step towards a new life..."

"...In every sense of the phrase," Jeff continued. "That said, we're going to be the best damn parents this side of Gotham."

"You put it that way because Beth lives on the other side of the city, didn't you?"

"What can I say? I'm a good brother and a nice guy."

"I've noticed that. You're lucky those are attractive traits in a man." Leaving the elevator and then the building, they walked into the parking garage and started the drive home. Leaning her seat back a little bit, she settled in comfortably for the drive home, but didn't want to spend it all in quiet contemplation about what was going to happen when they got home. As she tried to distract herself, she decided to pose a question to Jeff. "When was the last time you had unprotected sex before we got together?"

He shot her a glance before looking back to the road. "Never had before."

"Really? You've never had a situation where your lust got the best of you and just threw caution to the wind?"

"You remember how my sister told you I was a virgin until the age of twenty-one? Have to remember to thank her for sharing that bit of information." She nodded and he continued. "Well, most of that was shyness. It took me awhile to break out of my shell, up until I kind of lucked into getting my first girlfriend. I was not always the confident man you know and love."

"How do you luck into getting a girlfriend?"

"She asks you out and you're so tongue tied that she takes your shocked silence as a yes. Anyway, because I was twenty-one and sexless I had thought about sex a lot. And by a lot, I mean take how much the normal guy thinks about it and up that by a factor of a very large number. I figured that at some point I would conquer my shyness at least enough to ask a girl out and it would happen, so I wanted to be prepared. Thus, when I was twenty, I started carrying two condoms in my wallet, and continue that practice to this day."

"How very responsible of you, boy scout. But why didn't you break one of those things out the first time we had sex?"

He shrugged, smiling at her for a second before turning back to look at the road. "I thought about it for about half a second, but then you started rubbing things together and all thoughts flew out of my mind. I think things worked out for the best, despite not being very smart our first time."

"That night did seem to send us into an intertwined destiny." Vicki paused and frowned, a little disgusted at herself. "I can't believe I just said that."

"I tricked the sweet side you hide so well into coming out and saying something like 'intertwined destiny,' which I like, by the way. Makes it seem like no matter what, we would have ended up together."

"Do you believe that?"

"Before we got together? No. Since then it isn't a yes, but the way everything about our relationship clicks, the way our personalities mesh and how we just seem to get each other... well, it's just a lot less of a no than it used to be. I don't know that it was destiny or fate, but I feel like there's a reason for us. It's like the Gods knew how awesome we are and decided, much like we did, that future generations shouldn't be deprived of our genes."

Vicki was about to respond as they exited the highway towards their neighborhood, but was distracted by a glow on the horizon against the night sky in the direction they were headed. "Do you see that?" she asked, pointing towards the glow.

"Yeah. What is it?"

"Not sure, but it's near the house."

"Very near the house," Jeff mumbled. The rest of the short drive was spent in silence, and Vicki covered her mouth has they pulled up as far as they could go. "Son of a bitch," she heard Jeff bite out as he jumped out of the car. She followed, jogging after him as best she could in heels, and didn't catch up until Jeff came to a stop next to the fire trucks in front of the house. Their house, ablaze in front of them, lit up the night around them more so than any of the flashing lights of the trucks.

Leaving Jeff's side, she went back to the car and dug her press pass out of her purse as she spotted one of the fireman observing more than helping. Walking up to him, she flashed the pass at him. "Vicki Vale from the Gazette. Any comments on the fire?"

"Officially, there's no known cause yet and we're trying to contain it to the one house. The houses in this neighborhood are all at least one hundred years old so wiring isn't out of the realm of possibility, but it's far too early to have an actual cause, especially since nobody was home."

Vicki sensed there was something more, and with her honed reporter instincts used her best weapon for getting more information out of somebody not wanting to offer it. "But..."

He looked at her for a second, crossing his arms over his chest. "Off the record?" She nodded and he continued. "The speed with which the fire consumed the house concerns me. When the call came in the caller said that they'd heard breaking glass and that there was a little smoke coming out of a couple windows. We arrived three minutes after the call, and normally that means we can contain it. By the time we arrived the whole house was overtaken and we were trying to keep it from jumping to neighboring houses."

"So basically this screams of an accelerant being used?" He shrugged, obviously not wanting to confirm anything, and Vicki forced a small smile. "Thanks." Shoving her pass into in her pocket, she walked back to the car and pulled her phone out of her purse, scrolling down until she found the number she wanted and set it to dial before putting it to her ear and hearing the voice that she had hoped to hear.

"Beth, it's Vicki."

"Hey! What's going on? I didn't expect to hear from you guys until we see you on the fourth."

"Unfortunately it's nothing good, and you may be hearing from us a lot the for a little while. We just got back to the house and found it on fire, nearly burned to the ground. I don't know what Jeff's going to want to do, but I thought I'd give you the heads up."

"Oh my God! Do they know what happened?"

Accelerant. That screamed of people not thrilled with her articles coming after her again. No use in putting that out there when she didn't know it to be true, though. "I talked to one of the fire fighters, but no official word yet, no."

"Whenever you can, tell Jeff that you two are staying with us tonight, no arguments. You guys need family now, not some random nearby hotel."

"Thank you, Beth. Fair warning: we might be here late."

"Doesn't matter. You guys be safe, and I'll see you when you get here."

Hanging up, she walked back to Jeff, who didn't appear to have moved much in the five minutes she'd been gone. She slid her hand into his as she stood by to his side, watching the fire get doused. "I'm so sorry, Jeff. All your stuff..."

He sighed before turning to her. "My stuff was just stuff. Neither of us was hurt, which is what's important here. I didn't have anything in there that can't be replaced."

She nodded. "I gave Beth a quick call to let her know what happened. She said that we're staying with them tonight, no arguments, no matter how late we're here. I also talked to one of the fire fighters, and heard things that I didn't like hearing."

"Such as?"

"He didn't like how fast the fire moved, and at least that one was thinking some form of accelerant was used. Given that information, unless we have some really bad luck, I'm aware of numerous people in the Gotham crime world that like to use arson as a message to back off. I'd need to do more research and hear what the arson investigator reports, but I'm not liking where this could be leading. If this happened because I'm living here, I can't apologize enough, Jeff."

Jeff looked up at the house again as the house collapsed in on itself, the timber no longer strong enough to hold. "Don't be sorry for others taking action because you're trying to bring them to justice." Vicki sighed heavily, barely able to make herself watch the disaster in motion that had been their house. "Know what?" Jeff asked, and she looked up at him. "We'll figure out what really happened later because there's nothing we can do about it now. Let's see what the fire fighters say could happen tonight and go from there."

Walking into Beth's house, Vicki got wrapped into a hug with Beth and Jeff before she knew what was happening. She was soon let go, and they were both greeted by a sad smile from Chuck. "I'd like to ask how you two are holding up, but I think that would be a stupid question."

"We're as well as could be expected in the situation" Jeff said. "You guys really didn't need to stay up, especially this late. I could have just used the spare key."

"I wanted to see you guys with my own eyes, make sure you didn't get hurt in some random little burst of flame or something. Since you both appear to be in one piece, my worry can be put aside for now and we'll let you get some sleep. The basement is all set up for you, so just pick where you want to sleep and don't even bother thinking about getting up any sooner than you have to."

Vicki smiled and bid the other couple goodnight as Jeff kissed Beth on the cheek while doing the same. Walking down the stairs, Jeff led her to a bedroom where a comfortable looking bed awaited them, and they both sat down on the edge. "Weird night," Vicki said through a sigh.

"I still want to try."

"What?"

He looked at her, determination etched across his face. "I don't care what happened to the house, at least not right now, and I know that I'm tired and not thinking as clearly as I want to be, but there is one thing I know: I am not going to let what happened to the house deprive me of a chance to start a family with you. Period."

"I think that's what we're trying to avoid."

"Huh?"

She waved a hand and shook her head, dismissing what she'd just said. "Sorry, bad attempt at a dumb joke." Smiling, she kissed him gently. "I love you. Let's see if we can't turn a huge negative into a huge positive."

Vicki surveyed the scene in front of her, still not sure what to make of the complete destruction of the house. There was almost nothing left but charred bits and pieces. Looking back, she watched Jeff, Beth and Sam walk up to where she was, all of them stopping next to her. "It's just... gone," she heard Beth say quietly, knowing that it wasn't a statement directed at anybody so much as astonishment being let loose.

"Is there anything specific you want us to look for, Vicki?" Sam asked, and Vicki shook her head.

"One of the upsides of having moved frequently is that I didn't have much in the way of keepsakes. What I do have is work related and therefore at the office."

"Jeff?"

"Not really, no. Pictures and that sort of thing would have been kindling and I keep all our important papers in my safe at work." Ripping open a box he'd been carrying, he handed a garbage sack to Beth and Sam, then finally to her. "On the off chance we actually find anything worth saving," he said, tossing the box aside and stuffing the bag into his back pocket.

Vicki smiled at him, doing her best not to look as forlorn as she felt. "We don't have to do this, Jeff. There are people that make a living going through the remnants of burned down houses."

"I know," he said, smiling sadly at her. "But I feel like I owe it to the house to do this. This was the first house I bought and paid for. This is the place where I realized I was falling in love with you, and the first place I told you I love you. I feel like I owe the house my happiness, and at least want to do some of the cleanup before most of it is sent to the dump."

"Are you going to rebuild here?" Beth asked, and Vicki saw him shrug before looking back at the wreckage.

"It's a possibility, but I doubt it."

Holding the bag and being where they were, the enormity of the situation seemed to finally hit her. It was as if the shock had worn off all at once and the possibilities of what could have been seemed to hit her hardest. She wiped a tear out of the corner of her eye, Jeff asking her if she was okay making her want to explain her feelings. "I didn't realize until just now what the house symbolized for me. It was the end of me moving wherever the wind took me and the beginning of a whole new life. It just never occurred to me..." she trailed off, having nothing else to say, nothing with which to finish her sentence. "We should get started if we're going to get much done. Maybe we'll get lucky and actually find something."

With her elbows on her desk, Vicki rested her forehead against her thumbs, staring down at a small silver cross that was laying on her desk. She had been staring at it for the better part of two days, ever since she had found it in the cleanup of the house remnants. It had been two of her least productive days as a human being, let alone a journalist. She assumed everybody had chocked it up to her being in a state of shock over her house burning down. Ryan had sent her home the first day, not even believing that she had come in, even after the long weekend. Picking up the cross, she turned it over, frowning at the capital I on the back like it had done something to personally offend her. It was just an object, a bit of engraved metal, but it had been left for her in the rubble of where she had lived. Closing her eyes, she gently tapped it against her forehead a couple times before letting it rest there, the coolness of the metal in distinct contrast to the heat of her skin. Standing up, she walked to Ryan's office and knocked once before going inside and placing the cross on the desk.

He glanced up at her before she motioned for him to flip it over. When he did he sat back in his chair. "This what I think it is?" he asked, inspecting the cross closely.

"I found it when we were cleaning up the ashes on Tuesday."

"People in crime organizations really don't seem to like you. While I like that in you, I dislike that you've been attacked at home twice since starting here. It's for the right reasons, but I'd rather not have my best journalist killed in the line of duty."

"I don't like that any more than you do, Ryan, and since it appears that Intergang has left Metropolis and come to Gotham, or at least into my life in Gotham, I like it even less. Pretty much the last thing I needed was another crime organization that doesn't like me, and the last thing Gotham needs is Intergang coming to town, even a weakened version."

He tossed the cross back to her, saying, "I'm surprised that they can come after you considering the damage Lois Lane did to them. If they were going to regrow their operation you'd think they'd do so in Metropolis, the way that city is taking a nosedive." Pausing as he pulled at his tie for a second, his gaze came back up to meet hers. "I know the answer, but I'd ask any of my writers if they wanted to continue the path they're on after a warning like this."

Looking down and at the cross, she closed her hand around it as she looked back up at Ryan. "This isn't about me anymore," she said quietly. "My responsibility is to my family, this city and anybody whose life was ever impacted by Intergang coming after me. Not a chance I back down."

"This isn't a contest of wills, Vicki."

"They burned down my house, Ryan! They want to warn me? Fine, I've been warned. Now it's my turn, and I don't do warnings."

"That's all very well and good, but how much do you know about Intergang? You've been dealing mostly with Tobias Whale until now and around here there was plenty of information about the habits and tendencies of his organization. Now you're tackling a different beast and I want you armed with every bit of information available to you. Do you know people that might have the kind of information, or are you going to have to go to the friend of a friend of one of your insiders?"

Vicki couldn't help but frown at that. While she'd written for numerous papers, none of them had ever really been near Metropolis, and her lone excursion there had been because of the bombings when she was newly hired at the Gazette. It took her a moment of thinking about the city and anybody that came to mind before her inner light bulb went off and she felt really dumb that it took her that long to get there. "I have someone in mind," she said, feeling a little better about going into the fight with Intergang armed with the information she would need.