There is this thing keeping everyone's lungs and lips locked.

It is called fear and it's seeing a great renaissance.

~The Dresden Dolls~

"Sing"

Jack didn't look up from peeling potatoes when Janet hopped up on the counter next to him. "What's up, doll?" She was nervous, swinging her feet and lowering her head between her shoulders.

"Uhm . . . I had, uh . . . a question . . ."

"Yeah? About what? I'm all ears."

Janet cleared her throat and fingered the earrings he and Rachel had given her for her birthday the previous month. "Well . . . When did you and Rachel first have sex?"

That made Jack pause, and he turned his head just enough to look at her out of the corner of his eye. Rachel had warned him this conversation was coming, bless her. He went back to the potatoes. "Does Hayden want to have sex?"

The answer was obvious in the way she curled in on herself, lowering her head so her hair covered her face. "Uh . . . he's mentioned it . . ."

"Let me guess: 'If you loved me, you'd have sex with me.' That about right?"

"Hayden likes me!" Janet said defensively.

"Hayden wants pussy," Jack replied. "Do you want to have sex?"

"I don't know," Janet whispered.

"Then don't have sex. Rachel and I had a lot of issues we needed to come to terms with, so we waited until we were both able to handle the consequences of sleeping together." He smiled to himself. "Four years ago today . . . What a birthday present that was."

"So . . . it was . . . comfortable?"

Jack sighed and finally turned to Janet with raised eyebrows. "Of course it was. We weren't exactly celibate before we had sex --- there's lots of ways to be intimate without, ah, actual intercourse." He cleared his throat and leaned against the counter. "So we both knew what the other liked, and it was just a matter of fitting tab J into slot R." Janet's face twisted and she whined a little. Jack laughed. "Sorry. Didn't mean to embarrass you." She was shifting like Rachel shifted, though, and that made Jack grin. "I'd wait, if I were you. A girl's first time is usually with a very inexperienced horny boy who lasts about three seconds and has no idea about foreplay." He snorted and rubbed his temples. "What they really need is an experienced man, who knows to take his time and then last when it counts."

Janet was breathing too heavily, trying to hide it, and Jack ignored it as he turned to slice the potatoes he'd just peeled. "So . . . what about kissing?"

"Kissing where?"

"Uh . . . the lips? I mean, Hayden wants to, uhm . . . his tongue . . ."

Jack sighed as he shook his head. "Damn kid thinks he's Casanova. Like I said, wait until you find a guy who knows how to kiss."

"You know how to kiss," Janet whispered.

He raised his eyebrows again and plunked the potatoes into a pot on the stove. "And what happened to you freaking out over me staying the night, hmm?"

"Oh, God, I'm so sorry!" Janet jumped off the counter and bolted for the door, but Jack had her by the elbow and pulled her against him, faintly amused. "I'm so sorry, Jack, I didn't --- I mean . . . I'm sorry!"

Jack chuckled. "Shut up and stop squirming. Now, look," he said as he cupped her cheek. "I'm only going to do this once, so pay attention, all right?" He was stroking her cheek lightly with his thumb, his fingers curling around her neck. "This is what a man should do. You should want to kiss him, for one." His head was pulsing in time with his heart, almost in time with Janet's breathing as he lowered his head and held his lip right above hers. "He should ask your permission . . . may I kiss you?"

The young girl whimpered and nodded her head, her breath hot on his mouth as her eyes fluttered shut. Jack grinned and ghosted his lips over hers, delighting in the way her hands raised to his arms and gripped them. This was soooo fun.

"He should take his time," he said between light kisses. "He should wait until you're ready." His kisses got firmer. "And if you don't know what to do, just do what he's doing." Now Jack sucked on her lower lip gently, slid his tongue along it when she gasped and clutched at his back. He had her back against the fridge and was keeping one hand on her cheek and the other around her waist. Janet was whimpering again, and after a few more nibbles to her lips he angled his head a bit more, moving his tongue a little more into her mouth with every lick of her lips.

Janet moaned softly as she mimicked his movements, even if she was still a little shy about it. Jack was taking his time, though. The only thing he stopped her from doing was arching her hips against his; that was dancing on the edge of control even for him. After a few more moments even kissing her was too much, so Jack slowly ended it, pulling his face back and stroking her cheek as he tilted his head at her.

"That's what should happen, and that's why you should wait to have sex," he murmured hoarsely. "Are you all right?" She was clinging to him for support, panting and nodding. "Good." Jack tilted her head up to look at him and Janet was starting to look guilty. "You know that I love my wife, right?"

"Uh?" She nodded quickly, trembling.

Jack smiled as he stepped away from her. "Good. Now go away, and don't talk to me for the rest of the day." He said it gently, with a smile, and Janet's eyes drifted down to his hips before she blushed, turned, and ran out the kitchen door. Jack turned to go to the bathroom, fully intent on taking care of his own excitement, just as Bruce and Charles stepped into view. The looks on their faces said they'd seen enough that he was in trouble, and Jack wasn't in the mood to try to wiggle out of it. "Move," he said shortly. They didn't. His eyes narrowed. "Give me two minutes and then you can yell at me."

"Oh, no," Charles said lightly as Bruce snarled. "We'll yell now. I didn't realise 'paedophile' was one of your talents."

"It's not," he snapped. "Prepubescent kids don't do anything for me. Janet's sixteen and, well . . ." He made curvy motions with his hands, backing up as Bruce advanced and letting the man wrap his hands around his throat. He really wanted to fuck at the moment, but a fight would do. "Hey, it was just a kiss. You know I adore Rachel." He coughed a bit as Bruce's grip tightened, struggling to breathe. "She needed a real kiss, I gave it to her. Back off, B."

"You're taking advantage of an emotionally vulnerable girl," Bruce growled. "Your behaviour's getting worse by the day, Jack."

His vision was greying out at the edges, but Jack wrapped his hands around Bruce's wrists anyway. "It'll get a whole lot worse," he said with a cough, "before it gets better. You know that." Then he kneed Bruce in the groin and laughed as the man doubled over. He got a fist in the face from Charles, though, which sent him to the floor as well. "Fuck."

The former Marine towered over him, for once, her hands on her hips as he and Bruce both gasped. "Now, we can't tell Rachel about this for obvious reasons --- and oh, yes, I'm in on your little plot." She knelt down and dug a knife under his chin; Jack's eyes widened. "But if you ever lay your hands like that on anyone other than Rachel again, I'll cut your balls off myself."

"Murders started again yesterday," he whispered, his eyes cold and barely alive. "We don't have much time."

"And you're going to spend the time you do have being a husband to your wife and a father to your baby. Is that clear?" He nodded fractionally. Charles flipped her knife shut and stood up. "Now, I've become a registered doula . . . it's a sort of live-in midwife," she explained when he blinked. "I'm going to stay with you and Rachel, and do my best to keep her together until you get back. And you iwill/i get back," she said warningly.

"Figures you'd go for a dominatrix type, B," Jack coughed as he finally sat up. Bruce was on his knees, still glaring. "Eeeveryone needs to give control up some time."

"You watch your language," he was told. Charles hauled both of them up and both men winced, then Bruce smoothed his shirt down. "Don't go near that girl if you can't keep it in your pants."

"Why the hell do you think I told her not to talk to me for the rest of the day, B?" Jack asked irritably. The potatoes were boiling and he turned back to them. "Thanks, Charles."

"Well, it'll let me keep an ---"

"Shut up," Jack growled as he bowed his head in pain. "Just shut up. I don't know anything."

The two behind him were quiet, then Bruce sighed. "All right. Just . . . all right." Charles must have pushed him or gestured or isomething/i, because Bruce left and then the small blonde was helping him finish dinner.

"When ---"

"What are your plans for Halloween? Will you be here by then?"

"We'll talk with Rachel about it. You do know that kissing Janet was wrong on several levels, don't you, Jack?"

"I don't really care at the moment."

"You have to care. You can't lose it just yet, is what I'm saying. You can't. Heard of the 7440 Club?"

"Skeazy bar just outside of town," Jack confirmed.

"Any idea why Veronica Johnson spends so much time there?"

"She's a skeazy whore?" he guessed. "Should I be concerned?"

"I was just wondering why such an apparently upstanding woman would hang out there, and why her husband doesn't seem to know or care where she is at night."

That was an interesting observation. Jack finished the potatoes and then turned the stove off, gathering the empty cans of soup, packets of soy cheese, and containers of tofu sour cream, dumping them in the trash. "I'll check it out," he told Charles. "Safely. Responsibly. Yeah, kissing Janet was a dumb idea." His headache was leaving for the time being. Damned tumour.

"So glad you realise that now. Let's work on it sinking in a little bit earlier, okay?"

Jack was moving the creamy potatoes to a casserole dish as he shrugged. "Yeah, sure." Then he turned with a grin as Rachel pushed the outside door open. "Beautiful! Lunch is just about ready."

"Ugh, I'm starving," she grouched. "And I can't see my feet. Can you see my feet? Have I asked that today?"

Jack set the dish on the table and then hugged her, kissing her cheek. "I know, I can, and yes, you have. Hey, seven months on your birthday, though. Isn't that something?"

"I'll be amazed by procreational coincidences later. Give me your hand." She pressed his palm into her stomach and Jack grinned as he felt their daughter moving around.

"Hey, there, tootsie pop," he crooned to the baby. "Getting lots of good exercise, huh? You hungry yet?"

"She's always hungry. Tell her to get her foot out of my ribs."

Jack was pressing down on Rachel's stomach, completely absorbed with his wife and child. "Come on, honey, leave Mama alone." He helped Rachel to a chair and let Charles finish the food while he started dishing her up a plate. "So . . . uhm . . . Charles had an idea."

Rachel was eating as fast as Jack was dishing. "Mm?"

"Do you know what a doula is?" the blonde asked. Rachel gave her a blank look. "A doula is someone who gives non-medical support to mothers and infants in the childbirth process." She sighed when Rachel just blinked at her. "A maid, essentially. For the purpose of this explanation. If you need emotional or physical support during pregnancy, labour, or after the baby's born, if you need errands to be run, light housekeeping, breastfeeding support . . . a doula does all that."

"Sounds nice," Rachel said vaguely as Jack sat on the floor next to her and concentrated on making the baby jump around. "Oof, gentle, Jack. What about a doula?"

"I am a doula," Charles stated, "and I can take a man out at five hundred yards."

"What's that got to do with being a doula?"

Charles sat across from Rachel and crossed her arms on the table. "Listen to me very carefully, Rachel. With that murderer still on the loose, we're all concerned about you and the baby. He's trying to get to Jack, and obviously he's trying through you and women who look like you."

Rachel reached for the apricot juice Jack had set out. "So, what, you want to be my bodyguard maid nanny?"

The other woman sat back with a nod. "Yeah, I do, and I'm not taking no for an answer."

"Please?" Jack whispered against her stomach.

"You know what? This is all a little too convenient. When did you get the training you'd need, huh?" Rachel demanded.

"As soon as I heard you were pregnant," was the dry response.

Rachel blinked. "Oh. Why didn't you tell me then?"

"Because you wouldn't have wanted my help then. But you want it now."

"Well . . ." She looked down at Jack, resting his forehead against her stomach and talking quietly to the baby, who had removed her foot from Rachel's rib like a good girl. Rachel sighed. "Okay. Fine. But this doesn't get you out of childbirth classes, Jack."

"Wouldn't miss 'em for the world," he said simply. The screen door rustled and there was a faint "Ja-Ja-Ja-Ja" from outside. Jack immediately crawled toward the door with a huge grin on his face. "Baby! What are you doing out there all by yourself?" He reached up and pulled the screen door open, revealing a Mitzi-thing that had been banging its head against the door, trying to get in. She crawled to him with a giggle.

"Ja-Ja!"

Jack scooped her up and tickled her tummy. "Aw, that's my girl! That's my Mitzi-thing!" He scooted back to Rachel, leaning against her. "What do you want, ugly thing? Are you hungry? Want some potatoes? C'mere, we'll get you some ---"

"Jaaaack!" Susie banged through the door, followed by Janet, and the two girls tumbled to the floor as they fought over a seashell. "It's mine! Gimme!"

"Hey!" he hollered, feeling the baby kick the back of his head in surprise. Mitzi started whimpering and he rocked her a bit. "Knock it off! Come here, you two. What's going on?"

"Janet won't give me my seashell back!" Susie claimed as she crawled into Jack's lap and hugged his neck. "Make her give it back!"

"Oh, come on, there's lots of shells out there. Go get another one."

"I want that one!"

Jack rolled his eyes as he gestured for Janet to give him the shell. She looked at him nervously and fidgeted. "Just give me the shell, Janet. Sit down." He patted the floor next to him and she sat. Jack put the arm holding the shell around her shoulders and looked closely at it. "Who found it first? Janet?"

"Susie did," the girl muttered.

"Then why didn't you give it back to her?"

"She's just gonna break it."

"I am not!"

"You break everything!"

"I do not!"

"Shut up, both of you." Jack reached up and set the shell on the table. "There. It's Rachel's shell now, since you can't share it. Happy birthday, love of my life."

"Ooh, a shell," Rachel mumbled through her food. "Just what I always wanted." Her hand was in his hair, rubbing his head and Jack grinned up at her.

Then he winced when Mitzi grabbed his hair and tugged as she giggled. "Ja-Ja!"

"Aaaaa, yes, Jack, that's me, let go of my hair! Ugh, you horrid thing." She giggled again, reacting to his tone of voice rather than his words, and Rachel pulled his hair out of her grasp. "Thanks, babe."

Tom poked his head in and grinned at the sight of Jack sitting on the floor with three kids in his embrace, leaning against his pregnant wife. "So when are you trying for number two?"

"What are you talking about, pig?"

"Number two. Second kid. 'Cause you can't keep mine."

"I don't want your kid, pig, and there won't be a number two." Still, Jack wasn't about to let the Mitzi-thing go, either. She was jabbering at him, then looked up when Tom leaned over her with a smile.

"Hey, Mitzi. How's my baby girl?"

"Da-da!" she squealed, her curls bouncing. Then she patted Jack's cheek. "Ja-Ja!"

"No, mo-ron, Mitzi. Mo-ron."

"Shut up," Jack grumbled at him. "What do you want?"

"Other than to make sure Mitzi's all right? Food. Come here, sweety, this moron probably has cooties."

"I gave them all to Rachel; that's why she's knocked up."

He got a swat on the head and guffawed. "Jack! Not in front of the kids!"

"Susie, boys have cooties," he went on as Tom picked Mitzi up. He stood up, too, and settled the little girl on his hip as she listened intently. "Don't go near them."

"But you're a boy, Jack," she pointed out.

He shrugged. "Yeah, well, I gave all my cooties to Rachel, remember?"

"Oh, okay."

"Have you decided on a name yet?" Tom asked as Helna and Hideki came in.

"Oh, yeah! I want to know!" the man gushed, rubbing his hands together as he practically salivated. Over the baby or Jack's cooking, it was hard to tell.

"Let's get everything outside and we'll tell you," Jack said firmly. "Here, help." They got everything transferred to the tables set up outside, which was the only way they could seat all ten people, plus Mitzi, comfortably. "Okay," Jack said loudly, "we've narrowed it down to two names: Ava Mirelle and Audrey Sophia."

"Those are awfully stuffy names," Bruce commented.

"Shut up," Charles and Jack said at the same time. He rolled his eyes.

"I think they're lovely," Helna put in. "If she looks anything like Rachel, she'll be beautiful, too."

"Why doesn't anyone ever mention my looks?" Jack asked irritably. He got a lot of guilty faces. "I mean, it's not like these scars are genetic or anything. I was a heart-throb before . . ." He blinked and shook his head sharply as his vision tilted. "Before . . ."

Suddenly Rachel's arms were around him. "Jack?! Jack! Are you all right?"

He blinked up at her. "Huh?" He was on the ground, everyone peering down at him. "Yeah, I'm fine. What just happened?"

Rachel was almost in tears. "You passed out. Jack, you need to see a doctor about your headaches. I'm really worried, Jack."

He smiled; her tears were funny, for some reason. He reached up to pat her cheek. "Aw, it's all right, bunny. I feel just fine." He tried to sit up, but once more opened his eyes to worried faces. "All right, maybe I just need to rest." He heard sniffling and reached his hand out until he felt curly hair, then pulled Susie down next to him. "Let's take a nap, pumpkin, okay?"

"Don't go to sleep!" Rachel cried out. She had her phone out. "We need to get you to the hospital."

"No," Jack said firmly. "Just give me a minute, Rachel." He took the phone from her and had to think fast. "I'll call Dr. Morgenson later; when some of my medications stop working, they make me woozy like this."

"Which medications?" she asked nervously.

He smiled again and kissed the top of Susie's head. "Some of the lighter ones. No wonder I've been depressed lately." She breathed a sigh of relief that wasn't echoed by their friends from Gotham. "Hey, kiddo, get my food and feed me, huh?"

"Okay," Susie said with another sniffle. "Are you sure you'll be all right?"

He grinned widely at her. "I'm just fine, hon." Ten minutes later he was back at the table, under strict orders to take it easy for the rest of the day. The good thing about it, he mused later, was that he got to relax and Rachel got to do all the work. He'd even gotten a bit of a blow-job, which, considering Rachel hated giving them, was amazing. It was too bad she didn't like them, though . . . she was damn good at them.

"Are you all right?" she asked quietly as she curled up next to him.

Jack turned slowly to help her get comfortable with the pregnancy pillow they'd gotten, rubbing her stomach. "Perfect," he whispered in her ear. "But I'm supposed to pamper you today."

She laughed. "You pamper me all the time, sweety. It's all right."

They were both barely conscious. "Happy birthday," Jack murmured. Rachel giggled softly, then they both drifted off.

***

A week later, Jack had just finished rubbing Rachel's legs in the bath. It was fun for both of them, and helped with the leg cramps she'd been getting, to boot.

He cleared his throat. "Hey, Tom invited me over for a few beers tonight. Some guy thing. Is that all right?"

She raised her eyebrows. "Sure. Will you be okay without me?"

He laughed as he stood and helped her up. "I think I'll make it." A few minutes later Rachel was on her hands and knees on the bed, crying out with pleasure as Jack thrust into her, and a few minutes after that she was bundled in blankets on the couch with a mug of hot cocoa and a book. Charles was in the kitchen, making her some soup, and she was smiling as Jack left.

The 7440 Club wasn't that far from Tom's place. It was as skeazy as he'd claimed it to be, and as he shoved his way through the crowd of tramps and bikers outside the door, his upper lip curled a little in disgust and he kept reminding himself that Rachel and the baby's safety was reason enough to be there. He kept to the wall as he made a round of the room, then a familiar laugh caught his attention and he turned to the bar, watched Veronica flash her black panties to the room as she crossed her legs, leaning back to bat her eyelashes at the tall man she was flirting with. He smirked a little and made his way over.

"What's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?" he purred on her left. The woman almost jumped out of her skin and gaped at him. Jack's smirk got a little wider as he examined his fingernails.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she stammered. "Rachel let you off your leash?"

He snorted. "She's having a night to herself. Two shots of Jack," he said as the bartender passed by. "What are you having?"

"Both shots are for you?" Veronica asked doubtfully. "Just a Bud." He nodded to the bartender and paid the man, then downed one of the shots as Veronica took a drink of her beer. "No, really, what are you doing here?"

"Nervous?" he asked her with a grin.

She raised her chin haughtily. "Never."

"Bad answer," he returned, leaning against the bar as his gaze travelled over her low-cut dress. "Never been here before, thought I'd check it out while I could still go out at night. Besides, Rachel's gotten real moody this last week. What are you doing here? Isn't Jeff gonna worry?"

His eyes weren't the only ones roving. Veronica kept looking him up and down, from his black shirt to his jeans and boots, licking her lips before taking another drink. He'd turned her down once, and it appeared that she wasn't too keen on it happening again. She snorted, though, at the mention of her husband.

"He doesn't care where I go."

"Really," Jack murmured to himself as he downed his second shot. She was more interesting than he'd thought.

"Yeah, really," she said shortly. "You going to make fun of me now?"

"I was thinking of asking you to dance, actually." Jack straightened and covered her hand with his, gently stroking her fingers as he raised his eyebrows and smiled. Veronica looked at him for a moment, then smiled and curled her fingers into his. "This place seems a little low-class for you," he murmured in her ear once they were on the dance floor. The way she was holding him said that maybe she wasn't being held enough at home, and her next words confirmed that.

"It's the only place I can get any. Jeff doesn't want me."

"Why not?"

She sighed. "Because he's gay." That made Jack blink in surprise and Veronica snorted. "Yeah, he does everything he can to keep it a secret, but . . . why do you think he's such good friends with Bob?" She snorted. "Friends. Right." Now her promiscuity made a lot of sense.

"Sorry to hear that," he murmured in her ear. Veronica shuddered a little and pressed her cheek to his. The song that was playing was perfect for dirty dancing and she was good at it, swaying her hips against his, one leg rubbing just right against his groin. Jack let his fingers curl against the skin of her back and felt her laugh softly. She gasped a little when he pulled her tighter against him, looking at him with wide eyes. "It's dangerous to be out alone these days, you know."

"Murderer's not after me," Veronica choked out as Jack rolled his hips into hers. "You left Rachel alone."

"A friend of ours is staying with us for a while," he told her. "Rachel's safe. It's dangerous to be here even without a murderer on the loose." His lips were against her neck, just below her ear, and Veronica's nails were digging into his back.

"I know everyone here," she groaned. "I didn't start out with money, you know."

"Tell me about it," Jack whispered.

"I . . . oh . . . grew up on the wrong side of the tracks. Mom left when I was five, Daddy drank a lot . . . didn't know how to raise a girl." She'd turned her head to kiss his neck as she spoke, making Jack shiver a little. "Married the first guy I could out of high school just to get out of the town I grew up in; we moved here, he ran off with a friend a couple of years later." Veronica tried to kiss his lips but Jack tilted his chin up, and she growled with frustration. "Jeff's wife had just left him, and I figured it would be a pretty stable relationship. I wasn't, oh God, I wasn't counting on him being a fag." Jack had lowered his head to her shoulder and was breathing heavily, ignoring what he'd seen of the bar's patrons, pretending they weren't there, filing it away for later.

"I need a drink," he muttered as the song ended, pulling away from her and heading back to the bar. Veronica followed on unsteady legs. "Same," he told the bartender. This time Jack downed both shots right after each other, wiping his mouth on his sleeve. "So, what, you hang out here at night?"

"Pretty much. No real reason to leave him, you know? He gets to keep his little secret, I have a place to stay . . ." She shrugged and grabbed his collar, pulling him close as Jack laughed a bit. "Why won't you kiss me?"

"I've seen all I need to see," he replied, disentangling himself none too gently. "You know every single person in this bar? Really?"

She looked around and nodded. "Yeah. Not too many tramps and bikers in the area, so they all congregate here; it's hard not to stand out when you're new." She'd moved her hands to his waist as he stood. "Jack . . ."

"Gotta run, love," he said with a grin. "I have a wife and kid to get back to." He left her there, not looking around as he headed for the door. She knew everyone, huh? That was so very interesting.

***

Charles was sitting on the porch when he pulled up, and didn't say anything until he'd gotten to her.

"Tom's, huh?"

"Seventy-Four Forty Club," he corrected.

"There's lipstick on your neck."

His lips twisted and he rubbed at the marks. "That's nice. They were at the bar."

The woman wasn't looking happy as she stood up. "And you needed someone sucking on your neck to find this out?"

"If I looked distracted," Jack growled, "then they probably didn't think I saw them. Veronica knows them."

"The Johnson woman was there?" Charles pursed her lips thoughtfully. "This shit just gets better and better. Wash up and get to bed, Jack."

He snorted as she followed him inside. "He'll be here when I need him, right? I mean, I know Gotham needs to be babysat all the time, but your guys' little Justice Club or whatever you've got going can deal with it without him holding their hands, right?"

Charles took a moment in the downstairs bathroom to thoroughly scrub his neck and face. Then she sighed. "Yes, Jack, he'll be here. Just make it quick, all right? We don't need any more women going missing."

"I'll try," he said, then she pushed him to the stairs. Jack was glad to strip down and crawl into bed next to Rachel, wrapping his arms around her gently. She shifted a little in her sleep and sighed. He felt their daughter move a bit when he put his hand on her lower abdomen, and that made Jack smile. "Go to sleep," he whispered. "Daddy will keep you safe."