Disclaimer: I do not own and am not, in any way, affiliated with the Dark Knight franchise.

"Woe, destruction, ruin, and decay; the worst is death and death will have his day."

― William Shakespeare, Richard II

Chapter Sixteen

She froze in place. No.

There was a hand on Alex's shoulder and Audrey's gaze followed it up to Jack's face. Her heart hammered in her chest, bile rising in her throat, but she stared at him calmly.

Jack clucked a few disapproving tsks as he walked around to the front of the armchair. "Now, old timer, I thought we had a deal." His elbow hit Alex's head. Audrey winced as her father rocked backward from the force of the blow. "You're s'posed to keep your damn mouth shut, remember?"

"Leave him alone."

Jack spread his arms wide, palms facing up. "Is that any way to greet an old friend?" he asked with an air of mock incredulity. "Where's your hospitality?"

"What do you want, Jack?" Her voice was low, but she kept her tone even. It was what he wanted- to get her worked up. She couldn't play into it. She had to stay calm and concentrate.

"It's been quiet at the clinic without you. Got to missin' you, I guess." He shrugged. "'Sides, I owe you a favor. You got me in an awful lot of trouble with that little stunt of yours." He touched his cheek and she could see the three scratch marks, dark and scabbed over, but red around the edges. They looked like they hurt.

All this earned was a dismissive sniff from Audrey. "You did that all on your own."

He was pacing now, a straight line back and forth in front of the armchair. Her eyes flicked to her father whose face had gone white. Even at a distance she could tell he was trembling, his eyes wild with panic.

And it made her furious.

She took a small step back, legs brushing against the coffee table. Out of the corner of her eye she could see the book she'd dropped that morning and a plan formed in her mind. Just have to keep him distracted.

"Y'know," Jack began, shaking his head. "I never could figure out what Barsad saw in you."

Her body went rigid and it took every ounce of self-control she possessed to look at him slowly and without emotion. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You must think I'm a real idiot, sweetheart," he laughed. She grimaced. "Sharpshooter ain't ever looked at anybody the way he looked at you the night that kid died." He pulled something from his jacket pocket and threw it at her feet. The scarf, as red as Hester Prynne's scarlet letter, fluttered and landed at her feet. Heat rose from her neck to the top of her head. That meant he'd been there long enough to go snooping through her things. When he grinned she could feel her hands squeeze into fists. "Oh, I saw the whole heartwarmin', lovey dovey display you two put on. Real cute."

The lightbulb went off. She knew exactly what she needed to say to get a reaction out of him. "You're really jealous of him, aren't you?" Audrey asked, her tone contemptuous. His dark eyes flashed dangerously at her. Boom. "Ha. Is it just because he's better with the ladies or because he's better at everything in general?" The book she was holding behind her back slipped a little in her sweaty palm.

He took a step closer to the armchair and her heart rose in her throat. The moment his eyes were off of her, she hurled the hardcover at his head and dashed forward.

Something slammed into her, sending her careening over an end table and into the wall. A sharp pain shot through her hip as she and the table crashed to the floor.

"You leave her alone, you son of a bitch!"

Following that were sounds of a scuffle. She sat up unsteadily, hip and head throbbing as everything came back into focus.

"Now that wasn't very nice."

She turned around, heart stopping as she took in the scene.

Jack was standing behind Alex, the hilt of a long knife firmly in his grip. The polished silver winked at her from where it was positioned at his stomach. She scrambled to her feet and took a step but Jack waved the knife at her in a no-no gesture. Audrey looked to her father and his face seemed to say the same thing. Don't.

She dared not move a muscle. "Jack, please," she pleaded, her voice hitching on the last word. "Please, don't do this."

"You take one step and I'll gut him." He looked thoughtful then shrugged. "Or maybe I'll do it anyway."

With one, swift motion he buried the knife deep into Alex Campbell's belly, giving it a hard twist before pulling it back out. Alex's body collapsed into a heap on the floor, his hands futilely attempting to cover the bleeding wound.

Tears blurred her vision as Audrey fell on her knees beside him. She could feel Jack's eyes on her back, but she ignored him. There was nothing she to be done, no help she would be able to go for. All she could do was make sure he was comfortable.

She cradled his head in her lap. "Hey, Pops," she said in a thick voice. He looked up at her and, in spite of the overwhelming pain he must have been in, he smiled at her.

"Hey, kiddo. You're pretty brave, you know that?" He reached up to pat her cheek, his face contorting in pain.

She wrapped her fingers around it and gave a gentle squeeze before replacing it. "Don't move, okay?"

He ignored her and continued, "You get that from your Mom. Bravest woman I ever knew."

"You're pretty brave yourself."

"I love you, Audrey." His breathing was becoming more erratic and he looked at her like he was seeing through her. Won't be long now.

"I love you too," she whispered, a sob catching in her throat.

She sat quietly, tears falling in sheaths, and stroked his arm. The world seemed to drift further away, crumble a little more with every ragged breath he took. She wasn't sure when his chest stopped moving but she felt his muscles relax, saw his skin turn ashen, and knew.

Without much thought, she bent down and kissed his cooling forehead before lifting it off of her lap and setting it lightly on the floor

Hollow applause snapped her out of the daze and gave her a harsh jolt back to reality. "Touching. I'm truly moved." Jack feigned wiping tears away from his eyes.

Head bowed low, she ran at him. Having the element of surprise on her side, she delivered a head-butt to his stomach. He fell back with an audible oof, the knife dropping to the floor with a dull thud. They wrestled in a fury of fists, nails, and legs, both desperate to get to the weapon first.

With a forcible slam of the back of her head on the floor, he pinned her. His legs straddled either side of her, one hand holding her wrists as he felt around for the knife with the other. Idiot, she thought before bringing one of her legs up and between his. He fell off of her, rendered temporarily immobile from the pain as he unleashed a torrent of obscenities. Panting, Audrey crawled away, managing to seize the leather hilt.

Jack staggered to his feet. Audrey pushed him, hard, against the wall ignoring the pictures that crashed to the floor and the resulting glass that shattered at their feet. She shifted, to bring the knife up, but between the slight tremor from adrenaline and her sweaty palm she dropped it.

It was the opening he'd been waiting for.

He pushed away from the wall, snatching the knife off the floor, and spun them both around so that their positions were reversed. She cried out as he gripped a fistful of her hair and gave it a violent wrench.

"You can't kill me, Audrey." The sound of her name from his mouth made her flinch. "You'll hesitate again. And again. And again. You know why?" He leaned in just as he'd done in her dream. The warmth of his breath on her face made her skin crawl. "Because you're weak. You're fuckin' pathetic." She tried to turn away, wanting to put as much distance between them as possible, but his fingers dug into her cheeks and forced her to look at him. The flat end of the knife rested against the side of her head, the icy metal making her shudder. He let go once he was sure he had her attention. The knife slid down to her mouth, curved blade dancing along her lower lip. "Daddy called you brave, but that's not true, is it? He wouldn't be layin' there if you were."

She wanted to tell him that he had it all wrong, but all she could bring herself to say was, "Fuck you." With an angry jerk she tried bringing her knee up again, but he stamped on her foot to keep it down.

"Fool me once, shame on you." He flicked his wrist and she felt the stinging sensation of the blade cutting her cheek. "Fool me-"

"If you're going to kill me, just do it already," she interrupted through clenched teeth.

Jack gave a loud, barking laugh in response. Her body tensed; she had to get away. So she did the only thing she could think to do that would rile him up.

It was reckless, stupid even, but she had nothing to lose.

She spit in his face.

He stood stalk still, then slowly moved his arm to wipe it away. The hand clutching her locks loosened its grip as the other curled into a fist and launched toward her. Steeling herself, she ducked down, a pained yelp escaping her lips as her hair snagged. The wall behind her cracked loudly, a hole where her face had been. She squared her shoulder and pushed against him with all of her weight. Not expecting her to do so, he released her and staggered a few steps back, toppling over the coffee table.

Before he could fully register what had happened, she dashed toward the kitchen. An angry roar from behind her warned that she didn't have long. She skidded to a halt and snatched one of the knives from the cutting block. Panic fluttered at the corners of her consciousness but she swatted it away. Calm. Cool. Collected.

The laundry room near the back entrance of the townhouse housed a crawl space just behind the door. When Audrey was younger, it had been her go to spot when she played hide and seek with babysitters. She had won every single game.

Quietly, she pulled at the latch, shuffled inside on her hands and knees, and shut it behind her. It was smaller than she remembered, but she fit. The darkness was warm, soothing somehow. Like being lost in the void. She drew her knees to her chest, resting her back against the wall.

Footsteps just outside of the laundry room caused her to clutch the knife closer to her chest. She stopped breathing, stopped moving, stopped thinking. The door banged against the wall hard enough that she felt the vibration of it along her spine.

"Where are ya, honey? I don't wanna hurt ya." His voice was a silky, dangerous purr. "I just wanna talk." Her grip around the plastic handle tightened. Bullshit. She held her breath and listened as he searched various places, not bothering to check behind the door. She exhaled a cautious sigh of relief when she heard the heavy step of his boot getting further away.

Minutes or hours passed, there was no way for her to tell. She could hear things being overturned, slammed around, and smashed. Eventually the front door opened and shut. Her legs were starting to cramp and her back ached, but she didn't move from her spot. With a grim hilarity she thought of Admiral Ackbar from Star Wars. It's a trap.

"Get out here, you cowardly bitch!" Jack bellowed after several minutes of silence.

He made one more violent sweep through the house before the front door opened and slammed shut a second time.

Still, she waited.

It was the scratch of a puppy paw on the wall alerted that the coast was clear. Lobelia howled hysterically, licking her face as she crawled stiffly out. "Smart girl," Audrey cooed at her. Her muscles felt like over tuned guitar strings but she ignored them, gathering Lobelia up to survey the damage. The kitchen, both bedrooms, and even the bathrooms had been utterly decimated in his destructive rage.

As they came to the entry way for the living room, Lobelia gave a low, sad whine. Audrey set her down tenderly; she wouldn't force her to go in there. Hell, I don't even want to go in there. But she would because she had to. She couldn't just leave him like that.

The lamp lay broken on the floor and the only light that came was moonlight through the window. She could see the outline of his feet behind the coffee table. She sat on the edge of the couch and stared down at him.

"I'm sorry," she whispered in a cracked voice.

It hung, unanswered, in the air.

A sob ripped through her chest and she buried her face in her hands.

A/N: I'm sorry. As always, thank you all for your reads, favorites, and follows.