Chapter 67

Tonight, instead of a scantily clad dancer's outfit, I'm in a maroon jacket and tie, working the bar. Fish still hasn't found a replacement for Lazlo to work the bar, so she's been rotating the girls to serve as a fill in, and now it's my turn. I guess no one wants to work for Fish Mooney, even in this economy. Honestly, I don't blame them.

Fish is entertaining some men in suits upstairs, and their laughter can be heard from down here in the restaurant. Whatever it is they're talking about, it must be awfully funny.

"Trixie, I'm going to need something hard. Pronto," Timothy jokingly orders, walking up to the bar and sitting on one of the stools.

I laugh, "Why? Need to drink away your troubles?"

"I think I need to drink away my memory altogether. Fish was just insane when she got back from her meeting with Don Maroni this afternoon. Apparently she ran into her old umbrella boy, and, let's just say that things didn't go as intended."

I shiver, "Ugh, what, was she expecting to skewer his head on a stick?"

Timothy rolls his eyes, "...probably. Hey, you dated him, right?"

"Define 'dating'," I tease, with only a hint of seriousness.

He chuckles, "Oh, I see, one of those kinds of relationships."

"Why are you so interested in my dating life anyway?" I question, as I grab a towel to clean a glass.

"No reason…" Timothy responds as his eyes wander around the room, "say, Jack was suggesting that you and I put on a number up on the stage. You know, since he thinks I can sing."

"I'm sure you can sing," I assure him, "and yeah, just throw out a song and I'll try to learn it."

"Great! I'll run some ideas by you in a little, maybe you could think of something too?"

I nod my head as he walks off. I finish setting up a set of glasses when Fish and her guests walk down from upstairs. Standing up straight, I bow slightly to greet my boss, keeping a pleasant smile.

"Boys, why don't y'all excuse yourselves? Nikolai and I have to talk privately," she orders to the other mobsters, who all immediately head out the door.

All the men exit except for one, a tall man with graying hair and an equally gray suit. Fish wraps her arms around his shoulders, "Hmm...so baby, you ready to take out Falcone?"

Take out Falcone? She's trying to take out Falcone through him? It's hardly a surprise, but I would think she'd try to do it on her own accord, rather than hide behind a man.

"Oh course, and then this empire will be mine," he replies in a thick Russian accent.

"Ours," Fish corrects, waving a long finger in the air.

Suddenly, she whips her head around toward me, "Girl, you better not have been snooping."

Realizing I'd been staring at them this whole time, I bow my head down, "S-sorry Ms. Mooney."

She kisses him on the cheek, before patting him on the back and sending him off. With her high heels she suafts over to the bar and takes a seat, "Whatcha say we put those nosey little skills to use?"

She wasn't exactly being discreet.

"...how?" I ask, almost afraid to hear her answer.

"Remember that girl, Liza?" she begins, articulating with her right hand while her elbow rests on the bar.

"Well, she's now residing with Don Falcone as his...live-in maid and mistress. The only problem is that when she's with Falcone, I can't touch her. And she's always with Falcone, it was part of her instructions after all. So, I want you to find your nicest set of clothes and visit her at his mansion. Say you're an old friend from girls' school looking to chat."

I arch an eyebrow, "And let me guess, you want me to come back here and report everything to you?"

She smiles, "You're catching on."

After purchasing a white sundress and matching bonnet, I walk down the paved sidewalk leading to Don Falcone's mansion. It's morning, although with the heavy overcast one could hardly tell. The constant clouds obscure the time of day and shroud the city in a general sense of gloom and dread. It always looks like it's about to rain. Sometimes it does.

With a gloved hand, I knock on the front door and wait, a small clutch purse in my hand. A woman with short blond hair and porcelain skin-...hang on, is that Liza?

"Trixie, what are you doing here?" she asks, her voice changing from her natural Valley Girl throat to that of a sophisticated Gotham upperclass woman.

Glancing around before answering, I lean in to whisper, "Fish Mooney sent me here to check up on you."

"Oh! ...of course. Come on in," she opens up the door and I step in.

"Liza, who's that at the door?" the voice of Don Falcone calls from the distance.

I quickly whisper into her ear and she answers, "An old friend from ladies' school! Can she come in for some tea?"

"Of course my dear," he responds in a soft, gentle tone.

Holding my clutch purse to my chest, I place my hat on the rack before following Liza down a narrow hallway under the stairs to a kitchen, where Don Falcone sits at the breakfast bar, reading the newspaper. The front headline reads, "Green Lantern: Alien or Ally?". Don Falcone sets down the paper, and turns to me, "You must be Liza's friend. Pleasure to meet you."

I shake his hand, making sure not to make my handshake too firm. Liza grabs a small silver tea tray from the kitchen counter, "We'll just be outside in the garden."

He nods, and gives a smile of approval, before Liza and I exit through a pair of glass doors to the expansive gardens outside the house. We walk along a cobblestone path and through a grassy field to a smaller garden with a seating area. Setting down the tray on a nearby table, Liza sets out the cups and teapot, "I'm not sure if you actually want some tea...I'll just serve it anyway."

"I'd actually like some, thank you," I reply, sitting down in one of the two garden chairs set by the table.

Liza giggles as she pours the tea, "You're pulling off this Gibson girl thing way better than I am. Whenever I'm around Falcone I just tense up and sputter out a couple of words before shrinking away."

"I actually think you do a really good job," I compliment, taking a cube of sugar and stirring it into my tea.

"It's just…" Liza begins, "I just don't feel like I belong here. A fancy mansion with green gardens and china tea sets. It's almost like a fairy tale."

"I wouldn't be so quick to call it a fairy tale," I warn her, "remember what's at stake here."

She nods, "I-I know. It's just...it can be hard to remember sometimes. I just get so caught up in the act that I start to actually believe it."

"I understand, sometimes it helps to believe. Even just a little."

Liza takes a sip of her tea, and looks over back toward the house, "You know...I like Carmine."

"Oh, so now we're on a first name basis with the Don? I'm impressed, you work fast," I chuckle, while at the same time raising an eyebrow.

"I've always worked fast with men, no matter what age," she points out, "or rather...men tend to work quickly through me."

I can't help but cringe a little, this is why I avoided dating for so long.

She lowers her head, "Go ahead, call me a slut. Believe me, I'm use to it by now," she rests her head on her knuckle, "I'd take any man's crap as long as it paid the bills. In comparison, Carmine is so nice…"

I take a sip of my tea, I can't fault her, she's just trying to survive, just like the rest of us. Out of the corner of my eye, I see someone in white cloth and black goggles perched on the roof of Falcone's mansion. The Talon! How could he have followed me all this way? Is he after me, or am I just an extension of Barbara?

"Trixie...is something wrong?" Liza asks.

Slowly dragging my head away from the mansion, "...no. No...nothing. I'm sorry, I got distracted."

A smile crosses her face, "So, what's been going on with you?"

"Oh, not much. Just working at Fish Mooney's, two girls got chosen as Zsasz's henchwomen, you know about him?"

"Yeah...actually, Victor Zsasz visits Carmine quite often. I think he takes orders directly from him."

That makes sense, I think to myself, remembering the phone call Zsasz got during our training session.

"Well, I should probably get going, I have some errands to run," I excuse myself, getting up from the chair.

"Alright," Liza starts collecting the tea set, "I'll see you out."

We walk back into the house where Falcone still sits, flipping through the newspaper, "Liza, did you see the pictures in the paper about some man dressing up like the Talon to commit crimes?"

She looks over his shoulder to examine the paper, "Oh yeah...such a shame. I always thought the Talon was a good guy."

Adjusting himself in his seat, Falcone turns around to face her, "This city is changing, for better or for worse. But you shouldn't worry your pretty head about such things, Liza."

"Of course," she nods, a faint glimmer of a smile passing through her expression.

Liza and I move to the front of the house, where I take my hat and begin to make my way out.

"Oh, Trixie!" Liza calls out, just as I'm crossing the driveway, "Could you...maybe visit again sometime? I don't get to talk to girls my own age very often, especially with my...situation."

I nod, "Sure Liza, maybe next weekend? I could bake some treats and we could have afternoon tea."

She smiles, "I'd like that."

Author's Note: Greetings from New York! The airplane ride was...bumpy, and it didn't help that my fever had also returned the morning prior. But, since I'm in New York that means that you guys get Chapters 67 and 68 early, because, you know...time zones

McCoyote: Not a problem, I like long reviews, since it's easier to understand what the reviewer is trying to convey (it's also an ego stroke for me but nevermind that :). Yeah, I've been pretty good at avoiding illness this year and suddenly my immune system realizes: "it's Spring Break!" and collapses in on itself. I've watched a lot of the 66 Batman series with Adam West, mostly from the first two seasons. I'm happy you're giving Barbara another chance, at least on BOAF, I feel that the mother (or namesake) of Barbara Gordon deserves at least that. I've said it before, but the scenes between Natalie and Oswald are my favorite, because their dialogue is so fun to write. Although I do try to keep their scenes sparse, because too many of them together would make it pretty dull pretty fast. In one chapter Natalie states that she will "do bad things for the right reason" (paraphrasing here) so yes, she is totally capable of meeting on Oswald's level, but only if pushed to do so. She doesn't get any sort of satisfaction out of it like Oswald does, and I think that's the key difference between them. He relishes villainry while she's reluctant to it. Oh yeah, the original versions of the first five chapters were written almost a year ago as part of "The Doctor Is In" flashbacks. Even when I look at the tweaked versions made specifically for "Gotham" I can see how much my writing has changed. I just saw your fanfic in the Gotham archive, I'll read it when I get the chance

Erik-is-my-angel1234: Thank, it was so much fun to write (in about three hours listening to nothing but Beatles songs). If there's interest in concluding the special I'll get it done as soon as I can

Thanks! :)