Disclaimer: Characters belong to DC comics. I am not for profit.


Mario had never liked Victor. First, because it was clear that he was his father's favorite, although Mario had tried to refuse the Falcone surname, the inheritance of what his surname carried, he had never been disrespectful to the family, as much as he insisted on separating from the family business and using his mother's last name. Women were kept away from family businesses, and men were considered the only descendants capable of raising the family name. His father still harbored hope that one day, when he died, Mario would take over the family business. Mario was afraid that he would arrive that day. He had made his life his own, asking his father to interfere as little as possible. Although as a child, both he and Sofia had been spoiled and capricious, he now tried to be a better person. He didn't want to end up like his sister Sofia, banished from Gotham and exiled from the family in her teens, after trying to strike a blow against their father. A blow that Peter Gordon, long ago, avoided, but he could not prevent Maria, mother of Mario and Sofia, wife of Don Carmine Falcone, from being killed in his place.

Carmine Falcone forgave many things, but never an attack against his family and even less if he came from a relative. That, Mario had learned back then.

Through it all, Carmine was a good father. Where others would have killed Sofia, he granted her another chance away from Gotham, where she could prove herself. Mario knew that his father was wondering what he had done wrong to raise her, where he had gone wrong. There were times when Mario wondered where the sister he had grown up with was, but deep down he knew that she had always been like that. Because of that, he had had a dilemma between inviting her to his wedding or not. She was family, but she was exiled. He wanted her to meet Lee, but he was afraid she might try to lash out at her or any guests. He wanted her sister's presence at the wedding, to remember good times from their childhood, but he knew she held a grudge against him.

He didn't invite her to the wedding, even though he knew his decision would have consequences. But he was safer that way, especially for the rest of the guests. Sofia never brought anything good, it was something that Victor and he agreed on. Maybe he and Victor couldn't stand each other and only seemed to appreciate each other. But they respected each other and knew that they would not hit each other treacherously. It was mutual, unspoken. It was respect. Because as much as it reminded Victor that he wasn't a Falcone and there would never be a place at his table for him, there was no one else he trusted.

Mario had changed a lot since his childhood. It was when he started working as a doctor at the Gotham hospital that he understood the harassment that he and Sofia had subjected to Victor, who could not defend himself due to the power that the Falcone family possessed. Out of ego, he had never apologized to him, but he had made an effort to integrate him more into the family, to make him feel more comfortable with him, hoping that in this way he could somehow compensate for the mistakes of the past.

So when he found out that Victor's family had been kidnapped, he was worried. And he never cared for someone he didn't consider a friend. He would be lying if he said that he hadn't thought that Sofia could be behind the whole plot, but without proof, he preferred to think that his sister was innocent.

When he received the call from his father, worried about him, saying that the Zsasz had been kidnapped, Mario was in the hospital, on guard duty. He had left there, claiming personal matters and went to his house, insistently calling VĂ­ctor, who had his cell phone turned off. That meant that he had already located the kidnapper. Victor rarely ended up injured, but Mario prepared a first aid kit in case it was necessary and located Victor's assistants, demanding that they take him to where he was.

He never expected to find James Gordon there.

He made sure no one saw them by staying a safe distance. He knew that the girls would tell Victor that he had been there and Victor would tell his father. But he didn't care, he could always come up with an excuse.

He watched the scene carefully.

Jim Gordon protected Ivan and Svetlana Zsasz as if his life depended on it. The way he moved his body to be always between the gun and the hostages, the calm he had in that situation, was something Mario rarely had the chance to see.

Even though Lee kept talking about Jim, even though Jim had saved his life from the Tetch virus, Mario couldn't help but feel jealous of him. Because he was the son of Peter Gordon and in some way, during his childhood, he had always been compared to him, although he did not know him personally, his father idolized Peter Gordon and his family. He had grown up hating Jim Gordon and everything he stood for, just as he hated Peter Gordon and everything he meant to his father, because he suspected that he had meant more to his father than he had his own mother. But looking at Jim now, Mario prayed that he wouldn't die. Jim was reckless, stubborn, tenacious and daredevil, but he was family and he owed his a blood debt that he intended to pay when the opportunity arose. He wondered if Jim knew who he was saving, if it was something he didn't care about or if he was risking his life again for some sort of Hero's Disorder from his days as a soldier.

Then Victor arrived. Unharmed, thankfully. Although the poor bastards who dared harm his family would soon be dead. He knew what Victor was capable of, but Mario wasn't afraid of him, he knew he was safe, he was a Falcone.

He saw Victor and Jim interact. It was really fun. There was a spark between them that could only be seen if someone knew what he was really looking for. You could see it in their closeness, their movements, their insistent flirting, their furtive glances and their two-way talk.

Mario didn't get out of the car, not even when everyone left. Everyone was fine, Victor had brought his own doctor with him, which in a way, had offended him, though he couldn't blame him after everything he had done to him.

He expected Gordon treat Victor well. Those two would end up together sooner or later. They were getting too close. Victor did not have many romantic relationships, it is true that he had many lovers, with whom he used to have fun at the Foxglove, but he had never been anything serious. Victor did not have serious relationships. Because everyone in Gotham knew he was a hitman and no one wanted a killer for a husband and father of a family. Also, the impression Victor left on people was that he was a sociopath, a freak. No one took the time to really get to know him.

Mario hoped that Gordon would be the kind of man Lee was talking about and not hurt Victor, because, after all, he considered Victor family and Gordon had yet to earn his trust, even though he had already earned Victor's respect.

Meanwhile, Mario would be available to both of them, repairing physical and mental wounds, providing help and advice. But he would do it his way, he didn't want anyone to tell him that he was going soft and looking like Gordon. He only hoped that one day he could be half the man Gordon was in the eyes of Lee and his father. Although for that he still had a lot left.