Disclaimer: I do not own Batman

Accessory: Adjective: contributing to or aiding an activity or process in a minor way; subsidiary or supplementary

Jeannie tried batting the annoying buzz away, but it wasn't doing anything. It just kept going.

"Arrrg." She willed her left eye open, groggily looking around the pitch black room for the noisy nuisance. It took her a moment to realize it was her phone ringing.

She clumsily reached for it, closing her eye from the harsh glare of the phone's screen and answered.

"Mmm-elo?"

"Collect call from… Accept the call Jeannie. Do you accept the charges? Press one to accept."

Her eyes sprung open at the sound of Jack's voice. She fumbled with the phone and pressed one and listened to the other end of the line beep a couple times.

"Sugar?"

"Jack…. Again?"

She heard him clear his throat and imagined him smirking with annoyance. "Yup."

Jeannie's mouth opened and closed a few times; words had escaped her at the moment. This was not the way she wanted to hear from him, especially since she hadn't seen or heard from him in four whole days…although, she had her suspicions.

"You're freaking out right now, I can tell. Sugar, don't freak out. It's only jail."

He was being so nonchalant about this! Jail! He was in jail. She managed a heavy sigh as a response, her frustration level reaching it's limit.

Jack sighed in to the mouth piece, giving Jeannie another visual of him rolling his eyes dramatically. "Look, I need you to get two grand in cash and bring it to the jail and bail me out. Can you do that for me, Sweetness?"

Jeannie face palmed and wiped her hand down her face in exasperation. "Ya. I can do that."

"That-a girl. Oh, and Jeannie, hurry up will you. I'm hungry."

She hung the phone up angrily and shoved the covers off of her. She wasn't sure if she was worried, angry or what. It was four in the morning, she should still be asleep, not being woken up by her law-breaking boyfriend to have her bail him out of jail…again.

Thankfully she was too tired to fully undress when she had gotten home from work, so all she had to do was grab a hoodie and throw some shoes on. She then grabbed the crow bar Jack had kept in their closet and headed to the hallway. She stomped on the hard wood floor until it made a hallow 'thump' and dropped to her knees , carefully prying off one of the wood panels to grab a tin box from under the flooring.

She opened the box and quickly counted the cash that was neatly stacked in the box. Jack was short $100. She groaned. She'd have to take a detour to the ATM and get a hundred dollars out of her account. Super! Just what she wanted to do.

She sighed heavily and stuffed the bills in her pocket, grabbed her keys and headed to the closest ATM, and then to the jail to pick her lovely boyfriend up.

By the time Jeannie got to the jail, she was on her last nerve. She didn't think it was possible, but there was a line for the ATM at four thirty in the morning. Well, not so much a line, but two drunks trying desperately to get money out, taking an insane amount of time trying to put their costco card into the card slot, and trying to take out a million dollars, and after fifteen minutes and Jeannie scolding them for actually trying to take out one million dollars at a corner ATM, in the Narrows no less, they finally left sans money. She found that after she took out the hundred dollars from her savings account, she was left with only fifty seven cents.

It had taken a few minutes to fill out paper work and pay, and she was now sitting on a particularly uncomfortable bench in the large waiting room connected to the jail. She knew the drill. It would take at least thirty minutes to an hour for them to finish processing his bail and to collect his belongings and them another thirty to locate him within the jail and escort him to where Jeannie was.

She sighed heavily and crossed her arms over her chest. She wasn't angry, just disgruntled. So very, very disgruntled. She was running on an hour of sleep, had fifty seven cents to her name until payday which was five days away, and was now waiting for her boyfriend to get out of jail… She must have offset her karma somehow. Her work night didn't go so well, she barely got any tips, which wasn't surprising, since it was only a Tuesday. Tuesday's were dead, always had been at the club. But not only that, Falcone announced that night that the club was going to be transitioning into a 'high end strip club'. How a strip club could be high end was beyond her. He even approached her about headlining amateur night.

This was the second time someone had mentioned to Jeannie that she should go into stripping. Although the thought of dancing again made Jeannie happy, this was not the kind of dancing Jeannie wanted to do.

She would work the rest of the week and then the club would be closed for renovation, leaving all of them without a job until the slutty grand re-opening. And as a bonus, she and her three other female co-workers got their new bartending uniforms. A hot pink bandeau and barely-there booty shorts, complete with rhinestone lettering that spelt 'lick me' on the ass.

And now this, being at the Gotham City Police Station, again, was the cherry on top of the shit sundae of which was Jeannie's day.

She must have been staring off into space, because she jumped nearly off the bench when she felt someone grab hold of her shoulder.

"Whoa there, Sugar." Jack grabbed hold of her other shoulder and steadied her from falling on her butt. "You ok? You were staring at the wall pretty hard." He squatted down so he was eye level and frowned slightly when her glare set in on him. "So…you're angry at me, hmm?"

Jeannie rolled her eyes and stood up. "I'm not angry, just…" She harrumphed and crossed her arms over her chest. "Annoyed and tired."

Jack followed her lead and stood up, motioning for her to follow him out of the jail and out into the already warm, early morning air. "Annoyed. Why?" He looked at her as if her feelings were ridiculous.

"Yes, annoyed. I'm running on an hour of sleep, I'll be out of the job in a week for a few months and get to go back a strip club bartender, I have less than a dollar in my bank account and I had to bail you out of jail. Yes. Annoyed."

"I see." He nodded and carefully put his arm around his shoulders. "Pie."

"What?" She tried to stop walking, but he pushed her along, in the direction of Norm's.

"We need pie. Pie makes everything better."

"Jack!" Jeannie halted in her tracks and waved her hands in the air in exasperation. "I can't afford pie. I can't even afford food for the next five days." She looked up at him and did a double take. She hadn't noticed before that his face was bruised and lip was split. "What the hell happened to you?" She reached up to cradle his cheek, but he gently grabbed her hand, keeping it from touching his beaten face, and brought her hand to his lips. He grimaced as he gave the top of her hand a peck.

"Had a little disagreement with an asshole. Don't worry about it. Pie." He kept them walking, even though Jeannie kept wanting to stop and gripe at him. "And, Sugar, don't worry about affording pie. I'll pay for the pie. I've got cash on me."

They stayed silent the nine blocks to Norm's. Linda sat them in a booth and winked at Jack when he told her to bring two slices of the peach cobbler and two coffees.

Jeannie grabbed the paper napkin that was in front of her and started to rip small pieces off, all the while avoiding Jack's gaze.

"You're angry still." It wasn't a question.

Jeannie shook her head, keeping her eyes on the shredded pieces of napkin in front of her.

"Because…?" He coaxed.

She looked up at him, giving him a displeased look, and tossed the mangled napkin on the table. "I just…" She blew air through her lips and looked up at the stained ceiling tiles. "I don't know how to process this, Jack. I'm scared for you, Jack. It's tiresome. Plus it doesn't help that I now have no money in the bank and you act as if this is no big deal. Like this is just a normal thing that happens."

A ghost of a smile formed on Jack's lips. "But it is a normal thing that happens…" He shrugged. "But all is well now. I'm here, no harm, no foul. And as for your money situation, I think I have an idea to help you out."

She leaned back and gave him a stony glare. "I'm not knocking over a bank for you, Jack Napier."

That earned her a small snicker.

"Jack…" She closed her eyes, willing the sudden prickle of tears to go away. She was all the sudden feeling emotional. Maybe that was why she was feeling the way she was ever since she got the blessed 'bail me out' call; soon after they made their relationship official, Jeannie came to the conclusion that Jack was her everything. She loved him. And the thought of losing him to death or to prison crushed her. In the back of her head, even when they were just friends, she knew the threat of him being taken away from her was there. His job wasn't the most safe, nor legal. But Jack had always put her mind to ease, stating that he was too good to be caught, and Jeannie believed him… because she wanted to believe him. She had to. Her sanity depended on it.

"Please. Don't leave me."

He frowned at her. "What?"

"Don't leave me." The plea came out sounding so desperate. The early morning events, the prior nights when he didn't come home and she didn't know if he was alive or dead in a ditch, his lifestyle and his job had finally caught up to her right at that moment. It was slowly coming to a head, and sitting there at Norm's diner, waiting for their damned pie, it all exploded out of Jeannie. She became desperate. Desperate for him, for her, for them. She had him and he her, but a niggling feeling was growing in the back of her head. The feeling of 'more'. "Don't die on me. Don't get locked up and thrown into prison. Just…don't leave me."

Jack stayed silent for a moment, gazing at her reddened eyes and her fearful face, and after a few long beats he reached over and grabbed hold of her hands and squeezed them. "I can't guarantee that those things won't happen, Sugar. It's the price for being with me. But I will try my hardest to stay with you. Plus, I really don't enjoy jail."

Jeannie really didn't like the answer he gave her. It wasn't exactly reassuring. But, she knew it was the truth. She had wished sometimes that Jack was a normal person. That he had a normal job….hell, that there was any kind of normalcy in their relationship…like say...marriage, which was on her mind lately… but all the craziness that came with Jack was what made him, him, and what drove the attraction between the two of them.

She bit her lip and nodded her head. "I know you will."

He grunted and shook his head at her, giving her a squinty look. "What's really the matter, Sugar?" He leaned back in the book and dug his card deck out of his pants pocket, and he started to shuffle them.

Jeannie shook her head and averted her eyes to the large window they were seated next to. The streets of the Narrows were started to brighten in the sun, but wouldn't see a lot of foot traffic for another couple of hours. There were less than a handful of passerby's, mostly working women, on their way back from their night time trysts, and a few men and women on their way to their respective jobs. This time of day was the most safe. The criminal element was either still asleep or just now winding down from what ever law breaking activity they were doing.

Except for her boyfriend, of course, who was fresh out of the clink and waiting for his early morning desert to top this glorious morning.

"Hey." He urged, pausing his fancy shuffling. He repeated himself, but she continued to ignore him and stare out the window. His patience dwindled and he slammed the deck of cards on the table top. "Jeannie." He demanded.

"I want more Jack."

He frowned at her. "More. More what?"

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest, waiting for him to catch on to what she meant.

"More…" His eyes grew large and then shook his head. "Are you nuts?"

"Apparently." She huffed.

"We had this conversation, Jean-nie." He shook his head at her. "We had this conversation long ago, over a fancy dinner if I recall… before you and I were you and I."

She blew air out of her pursed lips. Why did she say it? She should have kept her damn mouth shut. But nowadays, Jeannie was more vocal, thanks to the man sitting across from her, glaring daggers in her direction. "Yes, I remember that conversation quite well actually." She shot him a condescending smile and grabbed the little plastic bowl full of creamers, seeing Linda round the corner with two steaming hot cups of coffee for them. Their conversation paused as the old woman slid the coffee mugs onto their table. "I'll be back with your pie's in a second, dears."

"A girl can dream, can't she?" Jeannie asked when Linda was out of ear shot.

Jack continued to glare at her and didn't answer as Linda was approaching again with their slices of pie. He shoved the plate aside, Peach Cobbler untouched. "Why the fuck would you want to marry me, Jeannie." His voice was even, with a glint of anger. He was leaning forward, his green eyes shimmering with outrage.

"Because, Jack," She too shoved the plate of pie from in front of her and leaned against the table, mirroring Jack's peeved stance. "I love you." He flinched at her words, but she continued, ignoring his reaction to the dreaded L word that Jack had never said to her, not even in the throes of passion. "I love you so much it fucking hurts. And I am willing to piss you off royally, knowing full well that you think marriage is a sham. But I really hope that someday you'll realize that I am worth the stupid piece of paper."

"Jeannie," he groaned. He rarely called her Jeannie. It was only when he was frustrated with her that he didn't call her Sugar or Kitten. He shook his head and looked away from her, his frustration level quickly rising. "You are the one for me. You've been the one for me for six months now… hell, nine if you want to get technical, Before we were even together, I knew you were the one for me. For fuck sake, Jeannie, isn't that enough?"

She looked down at the table, littered with ripped paper napkins. She was about to tell him to forget it and concede, but she tossed that idea out the window. This was the new Jeannie. The stronger Jeannie. And damnit, she wasn't going to shrivel up and roll over anymore. "I guess it's not, Jack."

"God damnit Jeannie. It is just a fucking piece of paper."

"Maybe to you, Jack. But to me, it's more. It means commitment. It means ever lasting devotion and love."

They stared at each other, both glaring flames at one andother, until finally Jeannie shook her head and grabbed her pie. "Look, this isn't something I want to hash out at the moment. I'm sorry I even brought it up. Can we just eat our pie and go home? I've got a hellish week ahead of me and we both need sleep."

Jack's jaw muscle pulsated as he continued to stare her down, but finally grabbed his pie.

Jack made himself scarce the next two days. He had made sure to leave Jeannie money, since she had nothing until payday, thanks to him.

He needed to cool off and mull things over. The conversation they had had come out of nowhere. He truly thought he wouldn't have to discuss marriage with her. Just thinking of the word gave him the heeby jeebies. He didn't get the appeal to legally bond yourself to someone. It was messy and stupid and completely unnecessary.

He cared, deeply, for Jeannie. Wasn't that enough?

No.

She answered that question point blank. This is why he avoided serious relationships. The issue of 'more' would eventually come up. And now Jeannie had shoved them into a corner. No matter what, their relationship was at a turning point, and what happened next was now unfortunately in Jack's hands. If he stayed firm on his marriage ideals, then he'd eventually drive her away. And if he bent to her will, he knew he'd resent her.

He dwelled and dwelled, and kept thinking about, if Jeannie got fed up with his shit and not marry him, she'd leave. Would he be able to live without the blonde woman he'd grown to love? Well, it was apparent to him that he didn't want to find out.

And that's when he thought marriage may be his savior. He saw it in her eyes every time she had to come bail him out of jail. She was disappointed and frightened for him.

Maybe marrying her would keep her with him…Maybe a compromise could be made…?

This love business was messy. Maybe even more messy than his job, and that was saying something.

At least he had work to keep him occupied…somewhat.

"Jacky boy." Cobblepot yelled from the other side of his large office. Jack was sitting on the pure white leather couch. It was his turn running security for the boss.

Jack acknowledged his boss, raising his chin at him.

"Come here, boy."

Jack stood and lumbered over to his boss, who was having a whispered conversation with one of his higher-ups, Glenn.

"Jacky, your bird…ermm…" He snapped his fingers, trying to remember her name.

"Jeannie."

Cobblepot snapped his fingers again. "Yes, the beautiful blonde. You're still with her, I hear."

Jack nodded, his curiosity peaked and a wave of unease hitting him. He hesitated, contemplating his answer. "Yes."

"And she's still working at the club?"

Jack nodded.

The portly man chewed on his cigar and smiled. "Excellent. Jacky boy, I need for you to ask her to do old Oswald a favor. Is she at work today?"

Jack tried hard not to frown as he looked at his watch. It was Thursday at six fifteen in the evening. Jeannie would be arriving to work any time now to prep the bar before the club opened. He nodded his head at his boss.

"Fantastic. Jacky, Falcone, that the horrid excuse for a mob boss, has decided to rob one of our shipments of coke. And I have reason to believe he's storing it at the club…as a matter a fact, a little birdie told me that the shipment would be arriving today at the club. I need for you to call your lovely Jeannie to snoop around. And if she does find it for us, then we are going in tonight and reclaiming it."

Jack felt the blood drain from his face. This was exactly what he didn't need to happen. "Tonight?" He asked, his nervousness evident in his voice.

Cobblepot furrowed his brows, obviously not used to Jack reacting in such a way. After all, Jack was always so very level headed…well, at least he always looked level headed. Always a serious look on his face, never the look of apprehension.

"Yes. Tonight. Are you feeling ok, Boy?"

Jack shook his head, trying to shake the uneasy feeling of Jeannie getting mixed in with his crazy work life. "Yes. I just… I really don't want Jeannie to get hurt."

Cobblepot waved a dismissive hand at him and then slid the phone towards him. "Call her. And use the speaker phone. I want to hear, too."

Being the loyal employee that he was, he dialed the phone and hit the speaker phone option and prayed to the whatever god there was above him that Jeannie wouldn't answer the phone.

Luck was not on his side. She answered on the third ring.

"Hello?" Her voice filled the large office, making Cobblepot smile with triumph and Jack groan inwardly.

"Sugar."

There was a pause on her end. "Jack? Please don't tell me I have to bail you out…again."

He rolled his eyes. "No. Look, I need for you to do me a favor."

"Sure." She answered without hesitation. "What do you need?"

He closed his eyes and then looked at his boss, who was looking at him expectantly. "Look, we think Falcone stole a shipment of ours and Mr. Cobblepot would really appreciate it if you could look around and try to find it-"

"Sooner rather than later, darling girl." Cobblepot added.

"Uh. Hello, Mr. Cobblepot." Jeannie replied, surprised and slightly perturbed. "I didn't know I was on speaker phone."

"I'm sorry, deary, but we're under a time crunch here. Can you please do this old codger a favor? If you do, I will reward you handsomely. Scouts honor."

Jeannie sighed audibly in the mouth piece of her phone. "Ok, Mr. Cobblepot. What do you need me to find for you."

Cobblepot smiled up at Jack and then looked back to the phone on his desk. "Your boss decided to steal a few kilos of coke from me. And I now hear that the shipment is being stored at your nightclub. I need for you to confirm that it is in fact there. Would you know where they might store it?"

Jack could see her now in her minds eye, squeezing the bridge of her nose and squeezing her eyes shut, just as she always did when she became mildly frustrated with him.

"I'm assuming this isn't the soda variety of coke you're talking about, Mr. Cobblepot."

"That is correct."

There was a lengthy pause before she answered. "Ok. I'll do it."

Jeannie opened her eyes and gave the bridge of her nose a good squeeze. "Ok. I'll do it."

"Splendid!" Cobblepot applauded. "Can you do it now, dearie? We are under a deadline."

She grit her teeth. "Ok." She looked around the bar. It wasn't open yet, which made this little mission a little bit easier. She just had to get past John, who was meandering around the door she needed to get through to see if Cobblepot's blessed cocaine.

She turned around so her back was turned to her co-worker who was at the other end of the bar. "I'm going to put you on mute and put my phone in my pocket. I don't want to raise suspicion. Ok?"

"That's fine, deary. Look for dolls. The goods are in them."

"Jeannie." Jack's voice called out. "Just…be careful. Mmmkay, Sugar."

She smiled slightly. She could hear it in his voice that this hairball scheme was not his decision. "I will Jack. Ok. Muting now." She muted the phone and stuffed it in the back pocket of her skinny jeans. "Hey Nell, I'm going into the back, we need more limes and toothpicks."

Nell nodded her head. "Ok Jeannie. Want some company?"

"No. I'm good." She smiled at her co-worker and rounded the bar. The door to the back was across the dance floor, which never made sense to Jeannie. Usually, storage for the bar area would be right behind the bar…but apparently Tony didn't think that one through.

As she approached John, who was still hanging around the storage door, she started to get nervous. She really never was a good liar… She just had to keep telling herself that she was not guilty of anything…yet.

"Where are you going?"

Jeannie froze, her palm flat on the door. She had thought she was going to be able to sneak past John without being detected. She should have known better. Every little move she made, John was there to watch. He was like a hawk… always watching his prey.

"I need to get more limes and a few other things to stock up before we open."

John cocked his eyebrow up at her. "There's plenty of limes in the bin."

"Ya, but there aren't any in the Tupperware. I'm not about to run out and have to stop in the middle of what I'm doing, go across the dance floor, come back and slice them up." She huffed and for added effect crossed her arms and leaned on one leg, silently telling him she wasn't in the mood.

He furrowed his brown and held up his hands. "Oookay. Don't let me stop you from getting in between you and your limes." He leaned up against the wall next to the door.

"Thank you." She said and went to push open the door, but was stopped again by him holding it closed. She looked at him, unpleased. But he ignored it, giving her a cocky smirk.

"You still have that boyfriend?"

She groaned. Not this again. He would once in a while ask if she still was in a relationship the past few months. It was quite annoying. Her eyes went slightly wide for a split second. She had almost forgotten that Jack and Oswald Cobblepot was listening in on this conversation… would Jack be jealous? "Yes, John. I'm still with my boyfriend."

"That's a bummer." He laughed at her reaction and let go of the door, clearing the way for her. "Well if you end up breaking up with him, give me a call. I'd love to take you out for a drink."

"Mmmhmmm." Jeannie responded and pushed through the door, leaving him behind.

The storage room was big and it had a large rolling door that opened to the back lot where they got their bi-weekly alcohol deliveries.

She quickly scanned the area, and found nothing amiss. She wasn't really sure what she was looking for…

She grabbed her phone out of her back pocket and hit the mute button. "Umm, what should I be looking for? Are they in boxes?"

She heard some rustling and then someone clear their throat. "Look for about ten boxes." Jack replied.

Again, she scanned the area, and there wasn't anything in boxes, except for the limes and a few unopened boxes of Fireball and whipped cream vodka. "I don't see it."

Someone pounded something hard, she assumed it was Cobblepot hitting his desk. "Damnit. Are you sure, Jeannie darling?"

"Yes…" She looked again and a thought came to her. "Oh wait, let me look in one more spot." She scurried across the room where a large, broken walk-in refrigerator was. It had broken three months after Jeannie had started there and Tony never got it fixed. It was used as storage at times, but was usually left empty.

She pulled on the lever, having to yank it pretty hard a few times, but when it opened her jaw nearly hit the floor. The fridge was packed to the brim with boxes. "I think I found it." She grabbed the closest one and opened it, finding cheap looking baby dolls, the ones you'd find at a Dollar Store. "Yup. Definitely found your dolls, Mr. Cobblepot."

She heard him say something, but was cut off when she heard someone pick up the receiver. "Jeannie, get out of there. Now."

"What? Why?" She quickly slammed the door closed, so as not to be caught, just in case John walked in and went to grab a few limes.

"Sugar. You have ten minutes to get the fuck out of there."

"I can't just leave work, Jack."

"God dammit, Jeannie. I can't guarantee your safety if you aren't out of there. Get your purse, and get the hell out of there. I don't care if you have to kick that Sicilian fuck in the balls to get out, just do it."

She dropped the limes she had grabbed in the box as a chill went down her back. "What's going to happen here?"

"We're coming down there and going to reclaim our property. And it ain't going to be done over a cup of tea and crumpets. Now, go and get the fuck out of there and don't tell anybody we're comin' either. Go home and wait for me. Now, Jeannie."

The line went dead.

Holy shit.

Her body went into panic mode and her legs moved her towards the door and out to the dance floor. She looked at her friend Nell who was flirting with one of Falcone's men. She wanted to tell her to get out too, but Jack told her not to tell anybody. Her stomach was in knots at the thought of Nell being hurt… or anybody being hurt, for that matter.

"No limes?"

She turned to John, who was in the same spot where she left him.

"Whoa. What's wrong with you? You're as white as a sheet."

She shook her head and tried to keep herself from hyperventilating. "I… I'm light headed and I feel like I'm going to vomit." It was the truth. "I need to go home. I can't work like this."

John surveyed her, and finally nodded. "Nell can handle it. Can't have you puking on the clients, now can we."

She shook her head and all but sprinted to the bar where her purse was, scurried out of the club and ran like a bat out of hell away from the club and away from the emanate chaos that Jack and his boss was going to cause sooner rather than later.

As her feet hit the pavement, she couldn't help but think that she was an accessory to whatever crime that was about to be committed.

But she was in too deep.

The rabbit hole was infinite.

beta'd by Springandbysummerfall