16. John Kincade - Shine On Me Woman

I stood on the balcony of Claudia's apartment enjoying the last warmth of the setting sun. Tomorrow, on Thanksgiving Day, I was going to meet the man, who captured my mother's heart.

Apparently, he was spending the day with his parents so Claudia and I could have some mother-son time, and tomorrow we would use a small private holiday celebration to get to know each other.

Things seemed to be serious between this Frank Harris and Claudia. He had sold his own apartment and had moved in with Claudia, a plethora of happy pictures of the couple were spread across the place. The engagement ring obviously being the biggest give-away.

I was going to give him the benefit of the doubt for the simple fact, that Claudia was happy.

"So, after I had shown my parents around town and helped them settle into their new place, we strolled past this little boutique which my mother then luckily dragged me and my dad into." He said with a smile and a glance towards Claudia.

"There was that absolutely gorgeous lady, that helped my mum around the shop, and I couldn't get a single word out." He admitted with an embarrassed chuckle. "I followed them like a lost puppy, feeling ten years old again."

I smiled slightly; I was beginning to like the guy. Maybe because he reminded me of myself from a time long past.

"The next day, I came back with this little white lie. My aunt's birthday was coming up and I needed something cheap but tasteful." He glanced at Claudia again and she returned his embarrassed grin with a radiant smile. "It was stupid, with a salary of clerk in a local hotel I couldn't exactly throw my money around, but I was prepared to come back for as long as it was going to take me to ask her out for a coffee."

"Luckily," Claudia cut in with a grin, "for his bank account, I was somewhat smitten myself."

"Yeah." He breathed, apparently still not believing his luck.

"So how is Uncle Peppe? I heard from Bernadette, that the neighborhood got rougher." Claudia asked curiously.

"The restaurant is gone." I said with genuine remorse. "But it wasn't worth it. We moved back to the East End and Peppe decided to go with a quieter approach. He's making a living by renting out some smaller apartments he bought with the money of the restaurant and his old apartment." I lied through my teeth.

My mother adopted a concerned expression, and I gave a shrug.

"But what about you?" She asked.

"I'm busy with school and spend most of my time helping out in the dojo I practice my judo." I continued to lie unbothered, the less she knew the better.

"Do you have any plans for the future?" Frank asked and I only detected genuine curiosity.

I did have some plans. Plans that became more and more appealing with every month.

"I'm looking for colleges in New York City, the bigger the name the better, I suppose. It's not too far from Gotham, but far enough, you know what I mean?" I watched Claudia nod, her own experiences and relief shining through, while Frank looked somewhat fascinated by the whole Gotham part. The city had a reputation after all.

I had completely forgotten how excruciating it was to do research the old-fashioned way, but I had decided to go with the cliché method of heading to the library and look for some kind of newspaper archive.

It had been an absolute treasure trove, from old-timey articles about Jonah Hex, the legendary bounty hunter, and the various outings of Solomon Grundy up to the first hints of a masked vigilante roaming the night.

I had lingered a bit on a fairly recent article about the death of the Flying Graysons, which had given me a hint about who was currently busting criminals during the night and confirmation that the 'crazy community' was still growing.

Before long, however, I had been back on my original reason for being there and followed the trail of the JSA, the Justice Society of America. They had been and still were the most public super-hero team around, and it was apparently no state secret, that their current headquarter was in New York City.

Among those that were still around after all these years was a man known as Wildcat.

And I wanted him as my teacher.

I was ripped out of my contemplation when Claudia picked up the empty plate in front of me. I made to stand and help her with the dishes, but she gently pushed me back down.

"Stay, I want my two men to get to know each other." She told me with a smile, and I nodded. It would make telling Frank the things I had in mind significantly easier.

I watched her vanish into the kitchen and instantly turned to Frank who sported a hesitant smile and gave me a shrug.

"Alright," I leaned on the table, my countenance all business, all Panessa. "Listen! And please don't interrupt me." I stated and watched his eyes widen.

"I like you," I began earnestly. "but since there is no father or older brother for Claudia I will give you the talk now. I want you two to be happy and get to the 'lived happily ever after'-part. But I'm not naïve. People grow apart, you meet new people, all that jazz. And now comes the important part, you still with me?" I asked and saw him hesitantly nod.

"Good. Claudia won't like it, but I intend to stay away from you two so you can do whatever married couples do, I'm a very bad influence. Now, I certainly don't hope so, but should there ever come the point where it just doesn't work anymore, I want you to be man enough to sit down and talk with her." I paused collecting myself since the next part was kinda crucial and I didn't want to sound too axe crazy.

"You see, I'm a young man, that flourishes in a city like Gotham." I looked him in the eyes, willing him to understand who he was dealing with without getting too explicit.

"As I said, I like you and you make Claudia happy. For that alone, you are in my good books. But," I raised my finger. "should you betray her, get her into any kind of trouble, or, heaven forbid, ever lay a single finger on her…" I didn't finish my sentence, but I hoped for his sake, that the warning in my tone was plain enough.

I reached across the table and offered my hand with a smile.

"Can I have your word, that you will keep her happy and be a man in the right moment?"

"Yeah, sure." He shook my hand with a dumbfounded expression, and I would do with what I got.

"That said, don't ever hesitate to ask for help, alright."

I was fairly certain I had some kind of teacher-student fetish, given my current forbidden giddiness due to be able to spend the Sunday morning up until Sunday afternoon with Bernadette.

It took some convincing with Claudia.

Former colleague…

Former crush…

Wanted to see how she was doing…

But in the end, I had the niggling feeling, that Claudia was a tiny bit glad to have some alone time with her fiancé.

We had decided to meet up at a nearby beach strip some half an hour on foot away from Claudia's apartment and later take her car to her apartment.

Beach and swimming in late November, life wasn't fair sometimes.

I couldn't keep the smile off my face when I saw a head of familiar long dark tresses rise out of a parked car.

Her quickening steps when she saw me and the following hug were all I needed to know, that I wasn't the only one that felt that way.

"It's been too long, mon chéri."

Ps.

This was the last chapter of the 'prolog'. The next chapter will pick up the pace regarding the comic book world and a certain vigilante will come face to face with William Panessa.

That said, I don't know when I will be able to write and publish the chapter given that I will start a new job in the very near future.

I tried to cover as much ground as possible in the time I had and I am fairly glad, that I managed to get to this point.