Welcome to my latest fic - anyone else still bitter that Gotham is over? I'm trying to channel that bitterness toward a whole series of fics featuring a ton of our Gotham favs lol so stay tuned for more information on those.

This is a project I've been working on for well over a year now - writing isn't always a quick process for me, so I really took my time with this before posting anything. Here's to hoping I can manage writing and updating in a timely enough manner, but with life always getting in the way it won't always be quick - don't let that deter you from giving this fic a chance though!

Prologue

The night sky was illuminated by the mass of city lights as a new snow began to fall over Brooklyn, slicking the sidewalks and sending chills up the spines of anyone who dared to face the winter cold. The holiday break was about to come to a close, families returning back to their everyday routines as students once more began to fill the city, awaiting the start of classes at their respective schools and universities. Mid-January was a welcome change from the hectic month of December, when the city hosted too many tourists and everyone was too caught up in holidays and gift giving to behave with any semblance of sanity. In comparison, January was rather lax, at least from a New Yorker's perspectiveㅡanyone unfamiliar with the city would surely still see it as a chaotic mess of a place to be, but was that not part of the city's charm?

As the temperature continued to drop and people progressively began filtering into buildings to escape the night's chill, a group of young women strolled through the snow, laughing and smiling and stumbling over their feet. They were students at the nearby Pratt University, and they, along with quite a large group of other students, were leaving a bar that was a favorite among the student bodyㅡthey all had decided that they needed one more night of fun before classes began again. Each of the women were in various degrees of drunkenness, one leading the way down the street as if she were a captain and they were her troops, the two just behind her leaning on one another for support so as not to trip over themselves, and the final two making up the rear, walking closely behind so as to keep an eye on the drunken women ahead of them.

A strong gust of wind blew past the young women, bringing with it a light spray of frosty snow into their faces. The group collectively made sounds of protest to the cold, shivering while teeth clattered. One of the brunettes bringing up the rear, who went by the name of CJ, pulled her scarf a little higher up her neck as she glanced to the friend beside her, both women red cheeked from the chill.

"Remind me again why I moved to New York instead of somewhere warm like Florida." She quipped while snuggling tighter into her warm winter coat.

"Because your dad would've lost his mind if you tried to run any further from home than this." Her friend jested with a smirk, causing a smile to tug at CJ's red lips.

"Oh yeah." CJ mocked as if the answer wasn't obvious to her, hazel eyes drifting up to gaze at the storm clouds above as she walked.

Even though she was states away from her father and the rest of the family, sometimes CJ still felt as if they were right here continuing to cast pressure and judgment on everything she did. She was a few months away from finishing her second year at Pratt University, and yet, on the rare occasion she spoke to her parents, her father still harbored so much doubtㅡit was as if he was just waiting for her to give up and come home, returning on hand and knee to apologize for ever defying and doubting him. That, CJ most certainly wouldn't do. She would never give her old man that satisfaction. She'd already given into his wants and demands enough times through the years, and she was done doing so.

Attending Pratt University to major in fashion design was the compromise she made with her fatherㅡwhen CJ told him at sixteen that she wanted to go to college, he laughed boisterously right in her face. What did a woman need an education for, especially a woman from such a well off family? More often than not, he seemed to scoff at her ambitions; he expected CJ to follow the lead of her mother, to marry right out of high school and take care of her children (and in fact, her mother didn't even complete school, dropping out instead to begin raising CJ's eldest brother, Pino). The thought nearly made CJ cringe. Mob families were always so cemented in their ways; anything new or out of the norm was scoffed at and looked down upon, and that was something CJ had grown up detesting.

Convincing her father to even agree to her attending college was quite the challengeㅡCJ wanted to originally go on to study law, whereas her father mockingly suggested beauty school. And though fashion was only really a hobby for CJ, it was the only degree they could both agree on. And then, of course, she had to fight to even attend a school other than Gotham Universityㅡfor years, CJ wanted to leave that grisly city, to get away from the encumbrance of her family. There was very little there that she was attached to, and therefore very little that could keep her tied down to it. She was hardly even home over this last winter breakㅡshe saw her family on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and then promptly returned back to New York.

CJ knew how cold that seemed, she knew the way people judged and speculated when they found out how distant she was from her family; but at this stage in her life, she hadn't a reason to care anymore about the impression she gave off. Back in Gotham, the Maroni crime family was aware of their boss' disconnected daughter; but here in Brooklyn, she didn't have to worry about her image or her family name.

As the group of women approached the stairs leading down into the subway, CJ's cell phone began to ring from within her jacket pocket. She paused in her step to glance at its screen, her brother Umberto's name flashing across it, causing the young woman to cock her head just slightlyㅡthough CJ had no qualms with her brother, they very rarely spoke these days. She got along with Umberto, of course, but CJ wasn't much closer to her brothers than she was to her father. In fact, before seeing him just a few weeks ago for Christmas, CJ hadn't spoken to Umberto for nearly three months.

"That better be the cute guy from the bar you were talking to." CJ's friend leading the group called back as she scanned her subway pass and waited for everyone to join her on the other side.

"It's Berto." CJ answered simply, a chorus of overly accented 'ooh, Berto' echoing after her as all of her friends rolled their tongues; though they had never gotten to meet her older siblings, they'd all seen photos and agreed that Umberto was quite handsome.

CJ rolled her eyes at her giggling friends, following them deeper into the subway as she answered her phone.

"What's going on, Berto?" Her tone was nearly bored as she maneuvered through the people waiting for various trains.

"You need to come home, CJ." The young man wasted no time as he spoke quickly, the sound of panic in his voice causing anxiety to immediately bubble in her chest; she had never heard this tone from her brother, and it made her instantly nervous.

She was almost afraid to ask, "Why…?"

Umberto took a deep, shaking breath, his voice nearly cracking, "Dad was shot."

CJ tripped over her feet, managing to just barely catch herself on a nearby post as her eyes widened, feeling as if a bowling ball had just dropped in her stomach. She rose back up to lean the suddenly much heavier weight of her body against the post, all of her friends stopping and turning to her with worried eyes.

"Hes… he's dead."

A shiver ran up CJ's spine as she gasped and froze, shocked as her gaze darted back and forth across the filthy walls of the subway, hardly noticing the expressions on her friends' faces as her lips slacked while trying to process the news.

"CJ, you need to get on the next flight home." Umberto instructed, trying to regain his composure and put on a stronger voice. Upon only hearing the sound of her unsteady breathing, he repeated, "CJ, do you hear me? Come home, please."

"… I'll call you… when I'm leaving…" CJ's tone was small and distant before she slowly hung up without a goodbye. For a few long moments, she stayed put, leaning against the post as she stared blankly ahead, her body shaking despite the warmth in the subway tunnels. All of her friends practically swarmed her, voices overlapping with questions as CJ nearly flinched at the sound.

Her father was dead.

Somehow, CJ felt simultaneous belief and disbelief.

It was a no brainer that Salvatore Maroni ran the risk of being shot in his line of work. Logically, CJ knew that murder was always the likeliest way for her father to go. However, to hear and attempt to believe that he was actually dead left CJ in a lost daze. On instinct, she felt pain, she felt loss, confusionㅡthey may have certainly had more than their fair share of issues, but he was nonetheless the man who raised her these nineteen years, and for that she felt an undeniable loss. But there was also a numbness, a disjointed, dissociated sensation, as if somehow she wasn't related to Maroni at all and she was simply being relayed Gotham's nightly news report.

"CJ… CJ, what's going on?" One of her friends' distressed voices finally managed to push through her daze, causing the young woman to sharply inhale as her gaze bounced between their confused faces.

"I… have to go…" CJ took a deep breath and collected herself, running shaky fingers through her hair and frowning with a look of grief in her eyes that her friends had never seen; she knew that, until she was back home and finally looking at her father's cold, lifeless body, none of this would feel real.

"CJ, what happened?" They tried again, but she simply pushed past them to rush to her train, not sparing them another glance despite them calling her name.

She had to go back to Gotham City.