Disclaimer: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen movie is copyright of 20th Century Fox. No infringement is intended.

GODS AND GAMBLERS

By Etcetera Kit

Chapter Two: White City Lights

As free as a bird for a man on the run… when other lights shine and leave me in the dark, you're always there, you're happy from the start. But we're still separated and it's breaking my heart.

"Captain Nemo, I find you completely rehabilitated. I grant you parole on the following terms- that you remain with a guardian the Crown will appoint for six months and after that time, if you have kept the parole, you will be granted total freedom."

The judge banged the gavel. It was still quite unnecessary for him to be repeating the action, but it seemed to give him some comfort. Henry's eyes flicked from the judge back to Nemo. There was no expression on his face, not even the slightest hint of anything. The man from the front row approached the judge and handed him a slip of paper. Perhaps he was a government official of some type. The judge opened the folded piece of paper and his eyes narrowed to slits as he read it.

"Dr. and Mrs. Henry Jekyll."

Henry started. Mina gave him a questioning look. He wanted to smile and reassure her that he had been slightly jumpy before the invention of Hyde, but did not quite manage the smile part of it or the reassurance part.

"Please rise."

He pulled himself to his feet, feeling the sagging feeling in his legs. He wondered if he would be able to stand after the judge said what he was going to say.

"Would you act as a guardian appointed by the Crown for Captain Nemo?"

He was at a loss for words. None of this seemed natural at all. Was the Crown always appointing guardians as a part of parole? He could not remember—not that he followed court trials very much at all. Mina elbowed him in the side, her sharp elbow going right between his ribs and temporarily knocking the wind out of him.

"Yes!" he replied before massaging his side. Good Lord, that woman was going to be the death of him soon either directly or indirectly.

The guards were handing Nemo a sheaf of papers. The judge banged his gavel again and announced that the court was dismissed. The man from the front row approached them. Henry immediately did not like him—he was a weedy looking man, the type with too much cream and finery and not enough real person.

"Dr. and Mrs. Jekyll?"

Henry nodded slightly to show he was listening. Mina gave him a sharp look. He returned the look with one of his own that expressed his complete ignorance as to what the concern was. She narrowed her eyes—and he was lucky she didn't elbow him again.

"I need you to sign the paperwork agreeing to act as guardian for Captain Nemo."

He nodded and they followed the man up to the judge's stand. The man produced a piece of paper. Henry quickly scanned it and, upon finding no extraneous statements or promises beyond letting Nemo stay with them, he signed it. When Mina made the move to sign the document as well, the man snatched it away from them.

"We only need Dr. Jekyll's signature," the man said in a smug voice. Cold fury smoldered in Mina's eyes. Henry was willing to bet, that if this man was married, he probably beat his wife.

"My wife lives at the house too and she contributes to our income. She has as much say in who stays there as I do. She has a right to sign as well," Henry protested.

"We only need your signature," the man repeated and disappeared with the paper through a side door in the courtroom.

Henry only had to glance at Mina to find out how angry she was. Her hands were closed into tight fists and her knuckles were white. He gently touched her arm, more to warn against any public displays of temper than the anger itself. She sighed, some of the anger leaving only to be replaced by sadness. He gave her a tentative smile. "It'll be all right," he whispered.

She shook her head. "I almost wish I were still a vampire. Then I could get rid of that man with no regrets." Her voice was soft. Henry stifled a laugh.

"There were advantages, but would you really want it back?"

Mina rolled her eyes. "What do you think?"

He just smiled.

"Henry? Mina?"

They both turned at once. Nemo was slowly approaching them—he now walked with a pronounced limp and appeared as though he really needed a cane, but was too proud to actually use one. Now that Henry saw him closer, he could tell that the gray streaks were very prominent through his hair and beard.

"Hello Nemo," he replied softly.

A slight smile crinkled the corners of the captain's mouth and he embraced each of them warmly. Nemo had never been a large person—always slight of build and stature. But now he seemed emaciated and frail. It almost made Henry wonder if he had eaten anything at all while he was in prison.

"I am happy to see you doing well," Nemo said.

Henry just grinned. "You received our letters?"

"They kept me alive."

Mina linked her arm through Nemo's. "Come on. We've got a carriage waiting."

As they made their way to the back of the courtroom, one of the guards from the prison called after Nemo, "We'll send your belongings from the jail along later!"

Nemo turned slightly to indicate that he heard. The guard appeared to be a rather congenial person—not the same guard that had questioned them before the trial. Henry watched Mina and Nemo heading for the lobby of the courthouse. He gave the guard a sharp look and motioned to him. The guard nodded and approached.

"Anything wrong, Doctor Jekyll?" the guard asked.

Henry shook his head. "No. Do you know who that man in front row was?"

The friendly look on the guard's face turned sour. "Him?" The man's lip curled into a sneer. "He's head of the prison. Doesn't treat anyone there fairly at all. It's up to us guards to keep order." The guard paused. "But that isn't the half of it. The scuttlebutt around the prison is that he had higher connections with the government and he takes bribes to get certain prisoners out earlier."

Henry sighed. "Prisoners like Nemo?"

"I can't say for sure. Although Nemo never caused any trouble. I don't know why he was there in the first place. And I can't imagine why anyone would want him out earlier. I mean he is a quiet chap and it's hard to say what's in his mind. He seems smart enough, but not overly so. If you follow my meaning."

He nodded and thanked the guard. The guard headed back towards one of the side doors in the room. Henry stood still for moment, absorbing what the guard had just said. Oh there was a reason that someone in the government would want Nemo out early. And it all came down to one word—Nautilus.

What those men did not know was that they were never going to pry the secret out of Nemo no matter how hard they tried.

Nemo was quiet in the carriage. Mina and Henry talked at length about the family and their current state of affairs. When that subject had been covered, they moved into Tom and Becky and Skinner and everything else that he had missed for the past six years. He only replied with a smile or a nod in the appropriate places. It was hard to believe that he had spent the last six years believing he would die in prison and now he was a free man once more. Well, not entirely free. He had to stay with Mina and Henry—and use up their money, money they needed for themselves and their children. It was not a situation to his liking.

Perhaps he could have Hasaan loan him money from the trust fund. Once all his assets were completely released back to him, there would be more than enough to repay anything he borrowed from anyone. But that was six months away. He would have rather died in jail than taken the situation as it was—this was completely degrading. Was it only six years ago that he had been the regal and proud captain of the Nautilus? Now his boat was in dry dock, his crew disbanded and he was forced to take charity for six months.

No, the situation was definitely not to his liking.

The carriage pulled up in front of a row of townhouses. In fact, the entire square was townhouses. Nemo glanced at the gray stone buildings. He had not ever been to this part of London. In fact, he avoided London when sailing just because of the relative state of the city. Even the low life ruffians working the docks could be bribed by the government. In other countries it was not like that. When they were in port in India, everyone on the dock took extreme precautions to not speak of word of it for fear the government would do something. Henry and Mina got out of the carriage. He followed them, taking in the sights and sounds of the square.

There was a small park in the center of the square. A young mother—or a nanny, it was hard to say—was watching two small boys play. An elderly man sat on a bench reading the newspaper. Nemo now knew why they had wanted to live here—especially if they had been planning on having children from the start.

Before anyone had put a foot on one of the several steps leading to the front door, the door in question opened. Hasaan burst out, followed by a little girl who was obviously one of the Jekyll children. The butler nodded to the lord and lady of the house in a way that could be described as hurried rather than insolent. The girl did not even acknowledge her parents but followed Hasaan down the steps. Hasaan stopped in front of Nemo and bowed.

"Sahib," his former butler said, valiantly trying to mask the emotion in his voice. A lump lodged at the back of Nemo's throat. Until this very moment, he had not realized how much he really missed Hasaan. When the butler straightened, he embraced Hasaan. The man returned the embrace.

Hasaan stepped away from Nemo and the little girl piped up. "Is he Captain Nemo?"

Hasaan smiled. "May I present Mistress Rosemary Jekyll?"

Nemo nodded at the little girl. "I am Captain Nemo."

Rosemary put on hand on her hip and gave him an appraising look. She could not have been more than three and she looked startlingly like Mina—right down to the way she gave people appraising looks. "He looks like you said he would," she said to Hasaan. "But he needs to have some dinner."

The girl's speech—while remarkably clear for a child her age—was a bit garbled and paused in places. Hasaan rolled his eyes, while Nemo smiled. Rosemary moved closer to him and put her small hand in his. "Would you tell me my bedtime story tonight?" she asked in mock whisper.

"Of course," he said. Those tiny blue eyes lit up. A feeling Nemo had never known washed over him. This girl wanted to know him despite any of the rumors she may have heard. It almost made him wish that he had had a family after all. Rosemary continued to hold his hand as they made their way into the house and went with him to inspect the small apartment and he and Hasaan would share.

Perhaps this would be another young soul interested in his stories.

The lights in the house were dimmed. Henry sighed to himself as he walked into the front entry hall—Hasaan would have gone to bed as he did not want to be waited up for. After they had gotten back from the courthouse and everyone settled in, Pennington had called with an emergency that he could not take. It turns out that two mothers had gone into labor at the same time. And since Pennington could not be in two places at once, he called Henry and asked him to come help. Well, that was over. At least it had not been an extraordinarily long labor.

He stopped as he hung his hat and overcoat. Soft voices were coming from the back of the house—and a soft light was on. Smiling to himself, he made sure no one would trip over his bag in the morning and made his way towards the parlor.

Rosemary was sitting on one of the armchairs. Nemo was kneeling in the middle of the floor as if he were acting out a story for her. The limp that Jekyll had noticed earlier was still there and even more pronounced, but it did not seem to be deterring Nemo from anything. Rosemary looked like a large doll in her white nightgown with her dark red hair loose. Nemo, on the other hand, looked regal and proud once more in white Indian garb.

"And then, when the evil vizier looked into the basin, who did he see?"

"Aladdin!" Rosemary cried.

Nemo straightened. "He did indeed. So the vizier formed a plan to make sure Aladdin ended up in jail so he could trick him into getting the lamp."

"So what happened?" Rosemary prompted.

"Well," Nemo replied slowly. "The beautiful princess decided that she was tired of palace life. So she dressed as a beggar woman and went out into the marketplace. But she took an apple off a cart and gave it to a small child. She did not know that that was stealing. The palace guards started to chase her."

"Did Aladdin help?"

Rosemary looked so eager that Jekyll smiled to himself, watching the pair from the shadows. Nemo just smiled at her eagerness.

"Of course, he did. They out ran the guards and went back to the small room that Aladdin lived in. 'We have a beautiful view of the palace,' Aladdin told the princess. At this, the princess was rather downcast. Aladdin did not notice. 'Wouldn't it be wonderful to live there?' The princess replied, 'Yes. If you want people running your life every moment.' But at that moment, the palace guards found them."

Nemo clapped his hands to imitate the sound of a door falling in. Rosemary gasped audibly, her eyes wide as saucers.

"The princess revealed who she truly was and tried to help Aladdin, but she could not overrule their order. You see, their orders came directly from the vizier. They arrested Aladdin and took him back to the palace. The princess also went back to the palace to plead Aladdin's case. She wanted to save him.

"But when she went to the vizier, he told her that he had been executed. The princess was crushed. But what she did not know was that Aladdin was still alive." Rosemary was sitting intently waiting for the rest of the story. "With the princess in mourning, the vizier hatched the rest of his plan. He disguised himself as an old prisoner and told Aladdin of the plan. Not knowing who the old man really was, Aladdin agreed and the two of them set off to the Caves of Mystery to find the lamp."

"And then what happened?"

Nemo smiled. "I believe that is enough of the story today."

"Does it end there?" Rosemary asked innocently.

"Certainly not!" Nemo replied. "I shall tell you more of the story tomorrow evening."

Henry slipped back into the front hall and went up the stairs quickly, knowing that Nemo would be brining Rosemary up in a few seconds. The pair did not need to know that he had seen them. He quietly opened the door to the master bedroom and stepped inside. One lamp was still on. Mina was sitting in an armchair, an open book in her lap. Henry walked over to her and gently kissed her forehead. Her eyes fluttered open.

"You're back," she whispered.

He nodded and gently picked her up, laying her in the bed. He quickly stripped out of his clothes and put on his nightshirt. Once they were both in bed and sufficiently entangled in one another's arms, Henry smiled. He needed to send a message over to Tom and Becky tomorrow since they would want to call on Nemo.

To Be Continued...

Author's Note: Thanks to all who reviewed. I am back and quoting as many other movies as I can-- although it probably will not be as blatant this time around. :) The next chapter will feature the return of a voice silent until now. -Etcy