"Whew! That was close!"
Jayde's long ponytail whipped her in the face as she turned her head awkwardly to glance around at the rest of the roof, double-checking they were alone up there. Her heart had once again begun beating against her ribcage with hammer-like strength and she turned to Joker, her eyes wide with slight panic.
"Someone's shooting at us!" she exclaimed rather stupidly, her voice quieted into a hoarse whisper. The immediacy of the situation was preventing her brain from thinking of anything more clever and helpful to say and as Joker tsk-ed, turning his head to look over at her, she swallowed hard.
"Oh, Really?" he asked in sarcastic surprise, but luckily he did not waste time adding more. "Let me see your phone." He then instructed, his demeanor instantly changing into business-mode as he held his hand out to her, waiting until she had produced it from her pocket before he held it out and up. As he squinted at the reflective, blank screen, tilting it slightly, Jayde realized he was trying to see behind them over the wall for some place where the shots could have come from. It seemed only once he was unsuccessful did he remember he had just shut off every single light in Gotham city. With a slight huff, he put the phone back in his own pocket before nodding over toward the square hatch through which they had come out. "Crawl along the wall until you're level with it, then quickly climb down inside…Got it?" he asked, nodding his head once as his eyebrows raised when Jayde simply stared up at him. How she had never thought something like this could happen, she would never ever know. Now was the time for Joker to be proud of her and the decision he made in letting her into his life.
"Got it." She answered firmly after a few seconds hesitation, then turned to do exactly what he had said. The rough asphalt the roof had been paved with dug into the palms of her hands and knees as she crawled along and just as he had instructed, she glanced over toward the hatch in the roof once she was level with it. It was only about three feet away but still, the thought of moving anywhere that was not under cover forced her to hesitate. She could feel Joker behind her, following her, so without giving him time to urge her on, she pushed herself up to crouch and duck over to the hatch and step down in it, moving quickly out of the way as Joker followed, the heels of his boots almost catching her fingers on the rungs of the ladder. The door to the hatch groaned again as he swung it shut, ducking slightly as a few more shots ricocheted off of the thick metal.
By the time Joker reached the bottom of the ladder, Jayde had already made it past the stage and was halfway to the door when he caught up, reaching with one hand to his opposite side to unsnap the strap holding one of his guns in place. Jayde felt her heart rate quicken again as he took the safety off and pulled back on the slide to arm it. He glanced down at her a second later as he unlocked the metal door leading out to the alley where they had been minutes before.
"Do you have that gun I gave you?" he asked hopefully, although from the half-cringe Jayde gave and the way her eyes widened slightly, it was obvious she did not. He sighed with an aggravated groan, handing her the gun he had just readied, only to take out the other one and repeat his actions. "'Member, Jayde, do whatever I tell you to do, no questions. Understand me?" he asked somewhat sternly, looking down at her in the dark as she nodded adamantly. She did not want to screw this up; having Joker think highly of her after this was top priority…that, and of course, not being killed.
Once she had agreed, Joker slowly pushed the metal door open as quietly as possible, swinging it out on it's hinges until he could lean out just the slightest bit to stare back down the alley toward the Escalade and out into the street. Jayde watched the side of his calm, scowling features as he stood there for several long moments, his eyes watching like hawks for any sign of movement. He turned his head to stare down the other end of the alley to the other street before again, watching for nearly a half of a minute until he was convinced it was safe-r for them to step out and stand with their backs against the brick wall. It was fortunate they were both wearing dark clothes; even with all the lights out, the moon was plenty bright that night. Joker turned his head to murmur something to her.
"We're gonna walk like this to the end of the alley," he explained, his voice low and quiet. Jayde looked down between them as he pushed the Escalade keys into her hand. "When we reach the end, you're gonna run across, get in the passenger seat and turn on the car. That's it. 'Kay?" he asked, his tone still very casual as though this were some sort of extra realistic fire drill at school. When she nodded, Joker motioned with his head toward the other end of the alley. "You watch that way and follow me."
The two of them slinked along the wall of the alley, somewhat quickly, Jayde keeping at least one part of her body against Joker at all times to follow him efficiently. He stopped about three feet from the mouth of the alley, reaching behind him to pull on the back of Jayde's belt, sliding her around him until she was now in front of him. Less than ten feet from the passenger door of the Escalade. He leaned down, glancing behind him.
"Unlock it now," he instructed, his voice barely above a whisper. Jayde obeyed immediately, pressing the appropriate button, unsurprised when the car made absolutely no external indication it had been unlocked, when normally Cadillac cars flashed their orange, parking lights when either locked or unlocked; it seemed Joker had disabled this feature for just a circumstance as this. "Ready?" he asked, glancing behind him again. "…Go." The next few moments happened very quickly. Jayde ran out across the sidewalk, followed closely by Joker, only for both of them to pull open the front and rear passenger seats facing the theater, closing them immediately after. Jayde reached over hastily, just as Joker had instructed and started the powerful truck while Joker climbed into the driver's seat from the back, pressing the lock on the doors quickly before he pulled them away from the curb. Not even two seconds later, a black Lincoln Town Car pulled out onto the street a block or two behind them, gaining speed as the Escalade tore down the dark, empty street.
The roaring sound of the engines seemed magnified as they flew between the shoddy buildings and Jayde was just noticing this when she jumped as several loud bangs sounded from the back of the speeding SUV. She turned to look behind them but Joker had started laughing as he hooked a sharp right, the back wheels of the Escalade screaming.
"HA!" he shouted, shaking his head. "Bulletproof! Genius!"
For several seconds, Jayde stared at him, her eyes wide, her jaw hanging slightly slack as she wondered how the hell he managed to stay so calm and seemingly worry-free while some unidentified enemy was trying to kill him. She was about to scream at him to please act more urgent when he stopped laughing somewhat abruptly, turning the Escalade again, hooking a wide left onto a long strip of road, down near a massive storage facility and old garages. "You know what's not bulletproof though?" he asked of nobody in particular, picking up the gun he had set in his lap. "Take the wheel," he then instructed in a growl, leaving Jayde to grab it when he took both of his hands off, rolling down the driver's side window to lean out slightly.
Jayde tried hard to concentrate on the road and keeping the incredibly heavy SUV going straight but as Joker began firing at the car chasing them, she glanced over for a half-second, noticing the murderous snarl of a scowl on his face. The gun in his hand practically vibrated, sending continuous shots into the Lincoln, shattering the windshield, piercing the radiator under the hood so white, thick steam began to billow out. More gunshots rang out as the mystery assailants in the Lincoln returned fire but again, the massive backside of the Escalade took the brunt of them, practically absorbing them into it's reinforced metal and thick bulletproof plastic window. A moment later, Joker was sliding back into the driver's seat, rolling up the window to take control of the wheel again.
The Lincoln seemed to have slowed a great deal, probably from all the radiator fluid leaking along the street now, leaving Joker and Jayde in the Escalade to gain a good amount of ground. The wheels skidded a bit again when Joker hooked another left, going only a few blocks before he took another right, followed by one more immediate turn into a wide alley, bordered on either side by large garages, all closed and chained down for the night…all save for one.
As Joker pulled the Escalade quickly into the small garage, he chuckled to himself. "This is James' garage," he explained to her. "I'm sure he wont mind if we park here tonight…" he then added with another laugh, shutting off the Cadillac to open the door and climb out. Jayde copied him, walking to the back of the SUV with Joker's gun still in hand. When she reached him, he had just pulled down the heavy, metal garage door, locked the giant padlock, locked the Escalade and was now walking back through the garage to a narrow door on the far inside wall. Jayde followed without question, blinking hard when they stepped into a hallway, illuminated up ahead by a red, battery-operated exit sign, showing them another, further door with a musty, translucent window at the top. Joker walked toward it briskly and Jayde trotted after him, glancing behind her into the other end of the dark hallway, hoping and praying their attackers had not caught up yet.
At the door, Joker paused, leaning up a bit to peer out through the dirty window, turning his head to look both ways before opening it to step out slowly and silently. With the metal door swung open, protecting them from one side of the sidewalk, Jayde stepped out behind Joker, resting her hand on his side as she leaned into him, staring around so intently, she jumped when he spoke quietly.
"See that path right there?" he asked, rolling his eyes slightly in the direction directly in front of them, across the street. Jayde glanced over quickly, turning back to look up at him for further instructions. "Run across and just start walking. It's a little bike path." When she hesitated, her eyebrows forming that small wrinkle between them as she frowned, Joker sighed, rolling his eyes slightly. "I'm coming too." He assured her hastily before glancing around the edge of the door along the dark, two lane street on the other side. He nodded his head once. "Ok, let's go." And with that, they both trotted out from behind the door, both turning their heads to look opposite ways down the street. Fortunately, it seemed clear and empty of people, being that it was nearly one in the morning on a Monday night.
Once they had both made it into the safety of the narrow concrete path, shrouded on either side by a healthy mix of living and dead trees, Jayde heard Joker sigh beside her, reaching out to wrap his arm around her shoulders, while his other hand, complete with gun, slid into his pocket casually. Wildly, Jayde wondered where they were supposed to be going, being that they had completely abandoned their only means of transportation, but at this point, she honestly didn't care, as long as they got there soon. Now that the adrenaline and excitement had worn off, Jayde was starting to realize rather quickly that she still needed to pee. It seemed Joker had relaxed a great deal and she trusted that they were headed somewhere safe now, somewhere she could take these boots off.
They walked and walked in near silence for what seemed like a half hour until Joker began veering off of the path to the right, his footfall barely making a sound as he walked into the grass and leaves. Jayde followed him immediately, trying to keep her steps as quiet as his as they slinked along a tall, wooden fence. Off of the path, where the trees were thicker, the light of the moon did not do much to help them see as Joker slid his right, gloved hand along the fence, obviously feeling for something, although Jayde had no idea what. A few times, he paused, glancing up at the fence, even once turned and used his hands to pull himself up high enough to see over it, but he had continued on, his hand still sliding along. Jayde watched, intrigued, but did not dare ask.
Finally, it seemed Joker had found what he was looking for and turned once again to the fence, kneeling down slightly to pull that flashlight back out of his pocket and click it on, shining the small beam of light at the wood before him. Looking down interestedly, hoping and praying that this was their last stop of the night, Jayde watched as Joker slid open a small rectangular piece of wood up into the fence, revealing a tiny keypad complete with numbers one through zero. They emitted a barely noticeable, high-pitched beep as he punched in four numbers, before he stood up again, watching the area of the fence next to Jayde. Beside her, the wood began to slide slowly to the left, revealing a narrow opening that led into a small backyard, just behind an equally small, but quaint two story house. Jayde was just about to comment quietly on how this person had an unusually high-tech way of getting into their yard when Joker turned sideways to pass through the opening, ducking slightly as he went, even though there was nothing over his head. Once Jayde had stepped in after him, Joker walked over and slid the section of the wood back into place before punching in another four numbers on an identical keypad on the inside of the fence. He must have noticed how confused Jayde was feeling when he stood up, so he paused, figuring that he had some time to explain now.
"This is Maggie's place," he told her quietly, pointing up at the dark back of the house before he turned back to the fence and motioned toward the metal tracking and chains that moved the 'door'. "Dotcom and I came and set this up a few years ago when I got the house." he paused, rolling his eyes as he led her over to the stairs leading up to a long patio. "She wasn't feeling 'safe' without me here and I figured I would probably need to hide out here at some point so…He 'n I came over and installed that." He finished explaining and was just turning to the back door of Maggie's house, pulling his ring of keys from his pocket when Jayde frowned, glancing back over at the yard.
"Couldn't someone just…climb over?" she asked, her voice equally quiet, but Joker let out a grunt of a laugh, unlocking the door.
"Oh, I forgot…And we set up a three foot electric fence around the top…Just in case." With that, he pushed open the door to the house, stepping inside to hold it open long enough for Jayde to walk in after him before he closed it again, locking the deadbolt. They had stepped into a small, vintage-style kitchen and Jayde took a breath in through her nose, instantly picking up the smell of coffee and vanilla, but wasn't left much time to enjoy it when Joker walked on into the rest of the house, leaving her to follow like a puppy once again.
The kitchen led out into a small living room where Jayde noticed a really comfortable-looking couch. Without any hesitation, she walked toward it, immediately plopping down with a heavy sigh, finally feeling a bit more relaxed and not as on-edge. Joker watched her go with every intention of following, but paused as he glanced up at the stairs to the left of him. It seemed Jayde was a bit hesitant to get comfortable, probably fearing that they would not be staying here. He nodded at her. "Relax, we're gonna stay here until morning. I'm going to tell Mags." He explained before he headed up the narrow set of stairs, his heavy boots making hardly any noise on the old wooden steps.
The second story was exactly as Joker could remember it; cramped and somewhat cluttered with old pictures and random items, none of which he could remember stopping to look at. The hallway to that led down to his old room was slightly brighter than the rest, dimly lit by a long sliver of moonlight let in by a musty, translucent sky-light. As interesting as it seemed to go down and snoop around in his old room, see if she had changed anything but Joker knew how Maggie felt about intruders and did not want to end up at the business end of the double-barrel shotgun he had given her. So instead of hooking a right around the banister, he walked straight head down a short hallway until he reached the slightly cracked door leading to Maggie's bedroom. Pushing it open as quietly as he could, Joker took one half-step inside before he spoke her name.
"Maggie," he said firmly, hoping her wake her up without startling her. From past experience, this seemed the only way he could do that, thus why he was all the way across the room. Apparently, living by herself for so many years had taught her a few things. When she did not answer, he tried again, a bit louder. "Maggie." Finally, he heard a slight snort from the bed before a groan.
"Hm? What?" she finally answered, turning onto her back.
"It's Jay," he identified himself. "Me 'n Jayde are here for the night. We should be leaving by eleven." He then went on to explain, resting the side of his head against the door as Maggie turned back onto her side with a grunt.
"Sure, baby. Let me know if you need anything." She answered groggily so Joker left the room, closing the door behind him as he went.
After stopping in the upstairs bathroom to rinse as much of the remaining greasepaint from his face as he could and after making it back downstairs, Joker noticed that Jayde had already gotten her boots off and was now sitting in the middle of the couch, her arms folded over her stomach, the heels of her socked feet up and rested on the edge. Her eyes were widened slightly as she stared at her knees, obviously tired and trying hard to stay awake. Joker couldn't help but grin as he stepped down from the bottom step to walk over, but paused once again when he remembered Dotcom and Tre. Luckily, Jayde's phone was still in his pocket so after retrieving it, he dialed the number to Tre's phone and held it between his ear and shoulder so he could sit down and begin to untie and loosen his boots. After a few short rings, his buddy answered.
"Ay, nigga, I coulda' sworn you said meet back at the house by one but…" he immediately began, but Joker cut across him rolling his eyes.
"Jayde and I got run up by some of Celini's thugs," he explained, pausing to glance over at Jayde when she blinked, turning her head to watch him and listen. "Apparently, they weren't too happy I killed the boss-man…" he then grumbled rather off-handedly before he took a deep breath. "Anywho…The Cadillac needs some work and it's parked over in James' garage. Luckily, ya boy remembered to grab his keys before we left." He paused to chuckle at his own cunning. "So at nine, I need you and Dotcom to come to Maggie's…He knows where it is." There was a good, solid pause before Tre's voice answered.
"…Damn, alright, bruh." He paused again before he continued. "Ay, Ki, nine is really early, can we do…" Joker sighed, pulling the phone away from his ear.
"Nine, Tre." He insisted, before ending the call abruptly and standing up from the stairs to finally walk over and sit down next to his lady. In all the excitement, he had nearly missed noticing how professional, calm and obedient Jayde was behaving during their whole ordeal and the thought of it now brought a tired, but proud smile to his face.
Jayde looked up just as Joker walked over and sat down at the end of the couch with a slight groan, exhaling in a comfortable sigh. Without even pausing to think about it, she scooted closer, sliding her legs to rest over one of his as she turned sideways, fitting against him like a perfect puzzle piece. It seemed Joker had been predicting this as his arm wrapped around her a second later. Her head came to rest on that one comfortable spot where his shoulder met his chest just as she took a deep breath with her yawn, sliding her hand onto his warm chest, hoping he wouldn't notice her attempt at easing him into cuddling. It had been such a long, eventful day and this right here was all she wanted at the moment.
Either Joker understood this or felt the same way, Jayde wasn't sure nor really cared, but when his other hand moved to gently grip her forearm, she noticed he had taken his gloves off at some point and she sighed comfortably at the feel of his bare hands. She let a few seconds go by before she lifted her head slightly, looking up at him in the blueish, dim light flooding into the room from the paned windows behind them. A tiny grin pulled at her face when he opened his still partially, black-ringed eyes to focus them down at her.
"Hi," she said quietly, gazing across his makeup-less face, feeling as though she had not seen him in a while. Joker let out a short sigh through his nose as the back of his head came to rest on the couch behind him and he smirked, his gaze bouncing back and forth between her eyes a few times.
"Hi," he eventually answered, turning his head slightly to look at her more fully. "Did you have fun tonight?" he went on to ask, his smirk expanding when Jayde's eyes widened by a fraction, just a moment before they fell to the neckline of his shirt.
"It wasn't fun, but…" she began to say, but frowned slightly, her eyebrows furrowing as she thought back on the surprising evening. A moment later, she shrugged with a guilty grin, nodding her head a few times. "Alright, yeah, it was kinda fun." She admitted with a quiet giggle. Joker breathed a laugh, that rare, genuine smile of his wrinkling his nose a bit, just before he leaned forward, pulled her face toward him and touched his lips to hers gently. Finally, Jayde thought wildly to herself, trying not to melt right into the couch when his thumb just barely slid across her cheek, his other four fingers rested along her jaw. She responded to him instantly, moving the slightest bit closer to deepen their kiss, again placing her hand on his chest. Unfortunately, this time, he pulled away slightly but Jayde kept her eyes closed, hoping beyond anything he wouldn't stop there. However, when his hand moved slightly, tilting her chin up a fraction of a inch, prompting her to look at him, she reluctantly obeyed, sliding her eyes open to stare up at him hopefully in the dark.
"Ya did good tonight, kiddo," he complimented, his features staying flat and expressionless as Jayde smiled proudly, her gaze dropping from his eyes to the deep scar on his bottom lip. Her hand betrayed her mind by sliding up along his chest, over his shoulder to the back of his neck, pulling him down a bit so she could lean up and meet his lips halfway. The soft, yet tired sigh that left him against her was highly indicative of the night they had just experienced but also of how comfortable he felt with her. It seemed he could truly relax in her presence and while their lips moved gently against each other, Jayde could feel his heart beat through his chest against her forearm, slow and steady. However, it wasn't long before he pulled away, leaving her with one last kiss before he yawned, reaching into his pocket.
His hand reappeared just a moment later, holding that gun he had disarmed upon reaching the house and he placed it on the arm rest of the couch beside him.
"Try to get some sleep," his deep, groggy voice instructed as he closed his eyes, the back of his head coming to rest against the couch again. "We gotta leave pretty early." Jayde nodded an understanding against his chest, tightening her grip ever so slightly on her life-sized, Joker pillow. Her brain immediately felt foggy and hazy, Joker doing wonders to help by letting the tip of his pointer finger trace patterns along the back of her arm lightly and Jayde was just about to slip off when she sighed comfortably. It was somewhat surprising how quickly she found herself falling asleep and how fuzzy her brain felt, to the point where she felt her mouth open one more time.
"G'night, Kieron," she murmured with hardly any notice to what she had said. Oh, she had heard it come out of her mouth, but it seemed she had already gotten too close to sleeping to care about correcting herself at this point. Just next to her, Joker hummed in his chest, reaching up to scratch his jaw sleepily.
"G'nigh', baby," he answered as naturally as though he had not even noticed her use of his real name and with the thought of finally getting through to this 'Kieron' person, Jayde drifted off, curled up against him.
Five minutes later, she was taking a deep breath in through her nose against the cushion of the vintage-style couch, her eyes opening immediately when the heavenly scent of coffee and bacon reached her senses. Surprisingly, the sun was already up, shining in through the huge pane of windows above the couch, only slightly inhibited by the sheen white drapes someone had pulled together. Blinking hard now, Jayde pushed herself from laying on her stomach along the couch, her head turned toward the back of it and she cringed when her neck smarted a bit from it's strained position.
Apparently, at some point, Joker had gotten up from the couch and gone…somewhere, leaving Jayde by herself in the vaguely familiar living room; in the daylight, this could have been an entirely different house altogether and she would not have noticed. Now that she was feeling more awake, the sound of crackling bacon reached her ears, the scent now more intense as her stomach growled fiercely. So since Jayde was finding it highly unlikely that Joker was in the kitchen, humming to himself and cooking breakfast, she stood up from the couch to go join Maggie.
She rounded the corner, rubbing one of her eyes, ignoring the fact that she had been wearing mascara the previous night and that it might be smearing all over her face. Her balled fist had just relaxed and she was blinking hard when Maggie let out a surprised gasp, causing Jayde to jump, both women having startled each other. Maggie laughed, shaking her head as she turned from the stove.
"I'm not used to having people in my house again!" she explained, walking over to the far end of the upper cabinets, rising up onto her toes to retrieve a mug. "I woke up this morning and came downstairs, 'n…there you both were! I thought I had been dreaming last night!" she chuckled again to herself, rolling her eyes as she walked over to usher Jayde into one of the chairs at the small, round kitchen table. She set the mug down in front of her, along with a french press full of hot, beautiful coffee. Jayde laughed groggily, reaching out immediately to pour herself some. Her eyebrows furrowed when she remembered the lack of Joker.
"Where uh-…" she stared but paused when Maggie held up a small carton of cream and bowl of sugar with her eyebrows raised. "Yes, please." She answered with a smile in reference to whether or not she wanted something in her coffee. Maggie waddled over, setting them down in front of her.
"He's upstairs in my bed," she answered, walking back over to the stove. "Poor thing- When I came downstairs at five, he was sitting on the floor against the couch with his head on the armrest, trying so hard to stay awake," she went on to explain, turning to look at Jayde. "So since I turned his old room into a studio, I made him go get some sleep in mine." Jayde felt a mix of emotions at this information- a bit of heart-warming appreciation for his decision to let her lay along the couch, but also a bit of guilt for having slept fairly well while he was sitting on the floor, trying to stay awake. If she had known it had not been his intention to fall asleep as well, she would have stayed up with him…Her eyes fell to a swirling trail of cream in her coffee but Maggie was continuing. "He may be a little strange…" Bit of an understatement, thought Jayde. "-But he is a gentleman…-to a very select group of people, though, mind you." She paused, rolling her eyes to ceiling, thinking before she added, "and by select group, I mean you and me."
Jayde laughed, nodding as she set her mug of coffee back down on the table before her. The wonderful scent and taste was already doing wonders to help wake her up and she was beginning to notice the cute décor of Maggie's house. It almost felt like having stepped into a house from the fifties or sixties, all of the appliances and colors screaming vintage, although everything looked fairly updated, like she had chosen to decorate her house this way, versus it simply having been like this for the past sixty years. Jayde was just admiring the gas stove, complete with broiler hatch and old-fashioned knobs, when Maggie walked to the fridge and opened it, revealing that it was perfectly functional, even though the rest of her house was seemingly powerless.
"How is your fridge working?" she asked abruptly, somewhat surprised by how awake she was already feeling. "Your power isn't off?"
"Oh, yes, it is," She answered, cutting a stick of butter into tabs for the heavenly smelling toast she had just pulled from the oven. "When I cut his hair yesterday, he told me what he was going to do so I could change the batteries in that…fence out there. And luckily, I had an old generator so I had him hook it up this morning." She turned away from the stove a bit, raising her maroon colored eyebrows behind her rectangular-framed glasses. "No, I was listening to the radio earlier, everyone's power is out…" she shook her head, turning back to the stove. "He really did a number on Gotham this time. People are freaking out." She huffed, tossing a hand as she began to butter toast after exchanging the cooked bacon in the pan for raw. "Jesus, he tries to kill the mayor and people are kinda scared. But he blows up a power plant and everyone loses power? Businesses and restaurants, salons? People are losing it, honey."
Jayde would have responded with something probably not as enthusiastic, as she had kind of predicted that sort of reaction from the city, but she was cut off by the loud ringing off a cell phone on the other side of the room, back over by the couch. Figuring that it was probably Dotcom or Tre, she hopped up from the chair and trotted over, following the ringing until she made it to the coffee table where she found her phone. Her heart gave a little jump when she saw it was Dotcom.
"Hey," she answered with a grin, bringing it to her ear.
"Ohmigod, hi, honey, how are you? Are you ok?" he immediately spat out and Jayde couldn't help but laugh when she pictured him sitting in his room with his legs crossed daintily and his hand up and in front of his mouth.
"Yeah, I'm fine. We're at Maggie's. He's asleep." She explained, walking back into the kitchen for her coffee when Dotcom paused to yawn.
"Oh, alright. Well…we're about to be coming down the street, so you might want to go wake him up," he suggested, leaving Jayde to glance down at the phone to see the time "8:56". She pressed it to her ear again.
"Yeah, Ok, I'll go do that now."
Once Jayde had hung up, she took another sip of her coffee before she stood from the table, looking over at Maggie. "I gotta go wake him up. Dotcom and Tre are about to be here." she said, but then slid from the room when Maggie nodded.
On the second floor, after walking the wrong way down the hall and stumbling in on Maggie's studio, Jayde found herself pushing open the door to a dark bedroom, spilling in light from the windows on the other side of the hall. A wide, old-fashioned bed sat directly ahead of her, within it, a lumpy mass hidden completely from view by a thin comforter and lilac sheets. A smile jumped to her face as she stepped into the room, leaving it open by only a foot to allow her some light. At the side of the bed, she stopped, her eyes falling onto the top of the blankets where a few green tufts of hair stuck out against the white pillowcase. That silly grin expanded to a stupid smile as she sat down on the edge of the bed slowly, the frame squeaking a bit under her. From underneath the blanket, Jayde heard him take a deep breath in through his nose just before his hand moved the blanket down away from his face, revealing his fuzzy hair, scowling expression and the one squinting eye he was trying to force open to see who had woken him. He exhaled in a long sigh, flipping over onto his other side with his back to her once he had seen who it was.
"Five more minutes, Mommy," he growled in a rough, gravely voice, sounding absolutely nothing like a kid that just wanted to sleep in a bit longer. Jayde scooted closer to him, giggling quietly as she slid her arm over his hip to lean on her hand in front of him and she tilted her head to the side, trying to see his face around his arm.
"Dotcom and Tre are going to be here any minute," she explained, her voice soft. "And Maggie made breakfast." That grin returned to attack her face when Joker groaned deeply, poking his bottom lip out slowly as he frowned against the pillow. Finally, he rolled onto his back reluctantly, letting his hand reach out to glide along her arm that was now rested across his stomach. A moment later, he held both of his arms lazily out in the air above him.
"Ok, you're gonna carry me downstairs, ready?" he asked but frowned again when Jayde laughed, standing up from the bed.
"Not hardly," she answered, walking over to the door, leaving Joker to pout on the bed as he sat up.
Downstairs, when Jayde returned to the kitchen, she had been expecting Tre and Dotcom to have arrived by then but was mildly surprised they hadn't. Maggie didn't leave her much time to think about it before she walked over, ushering Jayde into her previous chair at the table, with a stern 'sit'. She set a plate of toast, bacon, and eggs in front of her.
"Eat. You and Jay both look too skinny." She stated as though this were fact, turning from the table to place her hands on her hips. "Oh, speak a' the devil…"
Jayde turned sideways in the chair to look up when Joker stepped into the kitchen, looking more tired than usual from the thin black, smudged rings of makeup on his eyelids that he had failed to completely rinse off. He was caught mid-yawn but his eyebrows arched as he exhaled with a groan, shaking his head back and forth.
"No, Mags, Joker…" he corrected her, stopping next to the table where Jayde sat. "I don't know why everyone is always trying to call me that…" he added in a grumble before his hand reached out, sliding into the top of Jayde's loose hair to pull back on her hair tightly, tilting her head back. He leaned down a second later and kissed her lightly, releasing her hair the next moment to straighten back up and walk over to the fridge. Jayde stared after him, trying hard to prevent herself from blushing when she noticed Maggie turn from where he had just kissed her to where he stood now, pouring a glass of orange juice. She seemed to be fighting herself on whether or not to comment… Thankfully, she seemed to think better of it and stayed silent.
"I sure hope you plan on eating something," she said to him, placing one hand on her hip as he frowned straight down at her. It was truly amusing to Jayde how funny he looked standing next to someone even shorter than her. Maggie reached out, lifting up his black shirt to point at his stomach with the back end of a wooden spoon and she gasped, pinching his side as though it was worse than she had expected. "You're skin and bones! Both of you!"
This was not even remotely true and Jayde was just laughing at Joker as he frowned and reached out to pinch Maggie back when a knock at the front door across the room caught her attention. She stood up and trotted over, unlocking the two dead bolts to open the door and step back. When she saw the expression on Tre's face, she could not help but let out a laugh; he did not look happy. Dotcom, on the other hand, looked excited to see her and Jayde grinned widely at him once Tre had gone inside, raising her arms to put them around his shoulders and squeeze him as he hugged back.
They separated quickly and followed Tre into the kitchen where he stopped dead in his tracks, locking his blank, annoyed glare with the matching one on Joker's face. No one moved nor said a word as they glared for several seconds before they both started talking at the same time, their voices raised.
"Man, I told younine was too early, this shit,"
"NOO, you had plenty a' time to get some sleep,"
And for several, long seconds, they both argued at each other at the same time in loud voices until Joker shook his head, holding up a hand.
"Stop." He instructed, taking a step toward the door leading out into the back yard. "C'mon, I wanna show you that fence I was tellin' you about." And as if they had not just been 'bickering', Maggie, Dotcom and Jayde watched as Tre followed Joker out onto the porch and into the back yard. They laughed as Dotcom sat down at the table across from Jayde, pouring some coffee from the french press into a mug Maggie had just brought over. His eyes glanced over the top of his glasses at Jayde before he looked to Maggie, grinning.
"So, did you notice our little lovebirds?" he asked, his grin expanding when Jayde gasped quickly in surprise, her cheeks warming again. Maggie gasped as well, turning from the stove to walk over and sit at the table with her own mug of coffee. From the way she reached out and put her hand on Dotcom's forearm, Jayde was assuming that Maggie also knew he was gay.
"Honey…When I came downstairs this morning and he had let her sleep on the couch? With him on the floor?" she rolled her eyes slightly before she looked to Jayde. "Sweetie…I don't know if anyone's eva' told you this but you are one. lucky. girl…to be alive." She explained but then tacked the end of that on there with a nod at Jayde. "This might sound crazy 'n all, but you just may have caught yourself a good man with that one." Jayde smirked at her coffee, wondering if she was right…it seemed a little too early to tell.
A few minutes later, Joker and Tre were stepping back inside, talking about how he installed the high-tech fence and Jayde had just finished eating the toast and a piece of bacon when Dotcom seemingly just remembered that he had brought something with him. He leaned to the side, pulling a small duffle bag from the chair next to him.
"Here," he handed the bag to Joker before he took another long sip of coffee. "I brought you guys a change of clothes. What's the plan?" he then asked, looking to Joker who was now scowling at the bag dangling from his arm.
"Wait, wait…You went in my room and got these out of my closet?" he asked, arching an eyebrow severely at Dotcom, who instantly began to stammer somewhat awkwardly. A second later, both of his eyebrows raised together in expectation.
"Yeah, uh-…I figured if you two had to go outside, you would stick out wearing matching camo and black…So…" Dotcom explained hastily, but then paused, staring at Joker as he nodded, a mildly surprised expression on his face as he glanced at Tre next to him.
"Smart man…" he commented, tossing a pair of jeans and a white top at Jayde that Dotcom had probably enjoyed picking out for her. "Go change," he instructed her, pleased with the way she stood up instantly after another sip of coffee and left the kitchen to go obey him. Once her soft, socked footfall had retreated up the stairs, Joker turned to Dotcom and Tre but paused when Maggie interrupted him while she had the chance.
"How were you not gonna tell me about you and…" she insisted, turning from the stove as she motioned at the ceiling with a waved hand. Joker sighed, his shoulders slumping as he closed his eyes irritably.
"Be-cause, there's nothing to tell that you couldn't already guess or that this one hasn't told you." He answered shortly, motioning at Dotcom with his thumb. "Now, fellas, I need you to go out the back and walk to James' garage to get the Escalade. It's right across the street once you get to the end of the bike trail." At this, Joker paused, leaning down slightly to pat each one of his pockets until he heard and felt the jingle of keys and he pulled them out, handing them to Tre. "Dotcom, you drive since you know the back roads. There's probably more than a couple bullet marks in the back end so take it easy and use the scanner." Again, he paused, taking a deep breath in only to exhale heavily a moment later. "As for Jayde and I, we'll drive the truck back to the house, where I am going to, as they say…pass the fuck out." At this, Tre made a indignant noise, tossing both of his hands but Joker was quick to shake his head. "AH! You can go back to sleep once you guys get back with-."
Just then, Jayde returned, looking and probably feeling better in a pair of dark, blue jeans that hugged her legs all the way down to her ankles and a loose-fitting, white, button down top. Luckily, she was busy tying the end of the long, somewhat loose black plait she had just braided over her shoulder so she missed the way Joker stopped dead in his sentence to look over and stare at her.
"-the Cadillac." He finished a few seconds later, blinking a few times as he turned back to Tre as Dotcom stood up. "So you guys head out through the back. We're gonna leave as soon as I change."
"And as soon as you eat something!" Maggie chimed in, winking at Jayde. With Tre and Dotcom exiting through the back door, Joker turned to look at her.
"If I eat something, can I go put this on then go home?" he bartered, raising his eyebrows hopefully. Quickly, Maggie nodded, smiling at him, but her expression went flat when he picked up a half piece of toast and held it up. "Look- something." He explained before he stuck it between his teeth and left the kitchen, his nose in the air, leaving Maggie and Jayde to roll their eyes simultaneously.
Fortunately, Joker did not seem to be taking his time and before long, he returned, stuffing his previous clothes back into the bag as he entered the kitchen. His eyebrows raised although his noticeably tired eyes stayed somewhat half-lidded as he looked to Jayde.
"You ready to go?" he asked, holding out his hand for her folded clothes to put in the bag. Jayde nodded wordlessly, honestly a little surprised that the coffee had worn off so quickly, leaving her tired and somewhat achy from sleeping awkwardly on the couch for most of the night. With the bag zipped and his boot laces tied together so he could hang them around the strap of the duffle, Joker glanced at Maggie, nodding his head toward the front door. "Maggie, you've been the perfect hostess," he told her charmingly, leaning down to kiss her on the cheek once they had made it to the front door. She kissed him back firmly, right on his scar before she squeezed his arm and reached out for a hug from Jayde.
"Oh, ya know me. You're welcome to hide out from the fuzz here any time." She offered, leaving Jayde with a kiss on the cheek before she saw them both out and closed the door behind them. Jayde heard both deadbolts shift into place behind them as she followed Joker down a small path and over to Tre's massive truck. For a few moments, she had nearly forgotten that she and Joker were now outside, in broad daylight, walking out to the street after their crazy night, however, Joker seemed perfectly at ease as he walked around the truck to get into the driver's seat. Jayde copied him on the other side, shifting her knees when he tossed the bag and the boots onto the floor in front of her. He sighed, pushing a few pieces of his hair from his face as he started the powerful engine.
Surprisingly, the back streets Joker was taking seemed perfectly empty, save for one or two cars passing here and there, and Jayde figured that it had something to do with the fact that most, if not all businesses and offices were closed, due to lack of electricity. Beside her, Joker seemed to be off in his own world, thinking hard about something as he scowled through the windshield. Jayde did not want to disrupt him but he had been in a fairly good mood lately so she decided to press her luck and turned to him slightly, taking in everything about the masculine curve of his jaw, accented by the neater of his two scars on the right side of his face. She grinned when she noticed his eyebrow start to arch, a usual precursor to him asking what the fuck she was staring at.
"Maggie seems to think I got a good man," she commented a second later, turning her attention back to the windshield. Beside her, Joker gave no indication he had heard her, nor even took his eyes from the road. After a few seconds, he cleared his throat.
"She's lying."
Jayde's grin expanded into a full-blown smile.
A/N: GUYS! Sorry about the wait, it was one of those kinda weeks. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this little chapter = ] I felt it was necessary to bring Maggie in more and have everyone get to know her personality a bit. There's more to come very soon so stay tuned! We're SOO CLOSE TO THE END! THEN THE CONTEST IS ON! I STILL WANNA HEAR FROM EVERYONE WHO IS GOING TO PARTICIPATE! LEAVE ME YOUR LOVE/HATE IF YOU WANT THIS NEXT CHAPTER! -QoM