Chapter 11

Quiet was not a word that existed in my world. If things were quiet that usually led to me being bored, but so far that had yet to happen. In fact, it had been quiet for awhile now. Ever since I had been charged with guarding Constance Falcone, but it didn't bother me the way it would have in any other circumstance. In any normal circumstance, I would have been bored, but this time I wasn't. In fact, I was happy for the calm, for the slow annoyance that came with her dates to little Timmy, but it never got any more exciting than that.

"Put your hands where they don't belong, boy, and I'll have a bullet in your brain before Constance even has a chance to use any of those things I gave her" I thought it often as I watched them in the darkness when they didn't know I was there, but Constance never had a reason to worry, for the boy never stepped out of line; yet somehow that didn't give me reason to let my guard down as I knew that that wouldn't last forever.

They never did and when the Wayne's were murdered that was when something in Gotham seemed to darken.

When I picked her up that next morning even, she seemed to sense that something had changed. After that first morning when I first picked her up, I would always wait for her in the car, but that first morning after the murders was different. I felt at ease the second she exited the house and this time I was waiting for her right outside the door. I stood there straight as a pin, waiting, and I didn't breathe until her eyes were looking right into mine.

"Did you hear about what happened to Mr. and Mrs. Wayne?" said Constance, she looked over her shoulder as she spoke, my eyes followed her, and landed on her mother as she stood a looming shadow with eyes that we set solely on us.

Something about her mother had always put me off. Now, more so, and I found myself grabbing her arm to lead her away before daring to answer her. Nothing here was safe even though I knew that was her home. The only place she was safe was with me; I couldn't stop believing that.

"Yes, we must be all the more vigilant now" I whispered letting go of her once she was safe inside the car.

We were already driving when she dared to speak again.

The voice I heard wasn't the one I had come to know, but the one I remembered from that first day. It was small. It was scary, so much so that I looked at her, and for the first time, she was small. In that moment, I saw a little girl, and it was my job to protect her.

"Daddy's freaking out because of what happened to the Wayne's, isn't he?" whispered Constance, she seemed more disappointed than scared.

I tried to gauge her feelings then, to understand what exactly she wanted to happen in that moment, but I couldn't see her. She sat there slumped over, staring at her lap where her hands were, and there was a clicking that sickened me as she picked at her nails absentmindedly. I wanted to see her eyes, but she only continued to look down, refusing to let me see her, but when I hit the brakes abruptly, her eyes found me. We sat there in the middle of the road where anyone could come upon us.

"Your father trusts me to protect you. He's not worried because he knows I will never let anything happen to you. I am the one freaking out. I am the one who will be looking after you more than I was, who will be paying much closer attention to you. I will not fail to protect you" I exclaimed, my words sounding louder than I intended them.

As I spoke, I was looking right at her, and she was looking at me. It was then that I saw the emotion in her eyes. A mixture of relief and sadness that I understood, for as much as she wanted her father to be the one to care, so much for her, the fact that it was me made her feel just as important. There was a moment when I knew she didn't understand, but then her eyes shined with clarity.

"You never fail, Victor, I know that" whispered Constance that was all she said before she stopped looking at me and yet I wanted her to say more, but I only started driving.

She didn't say anything else as I drove. I don't know why, but I wanted her to even as I didn't know what I wanted her to say. I was distracted by that until a gentle click registered just next to me. I had heard a lot of clicks in my life. That of a gun or of a door as it silently closed, but this was different. It was her seatbelt, the subtle click as she removed it, and without looking at her, I knew as she inched closer.

"Victor?" whispered Constance then making me turn my head only to find she was already just a breath away, and as I drove on, she wrapped her arms around me.

Part of me wondered why she couldn't have done this while the car was pulled over before. Part of me wanted to be able to hold her, but I only continued to drive as she remained just like that. And then her head moved only an inch. Then her lips were pressed firmly against my cheek, all I had to do was turn my head to kiss her lips instead, but I didn't. That wasn't my place, but I enjoyed the moment all the same.

"You can pretend otherwise, Victor, but sometimes, you show just how much you care. I feel lucky to be one of the few people you care for" said Constance, her voice washing over me as her lips hovered still far too close to my skin.

She pulled away then to press her face into my neck, her body pressed impossibly close, so much so that had I been a worse man then I was, I might have taken advantage, but I didn't. I simply gave into temptation, closing my eyes just long enough to save this moment. When I opened them again, she was crawling away back to her seat, and yet my thoughts did seem to wander to all the ways this moment could have ended differently. They didn't though and I simply drove on.

I didn't say anything in return, not even as I felt her eyes on me, but when we reached her father's house, I kept her from leaving the car right away. That was when she looked at me and I knew she was expecting something from me.

"I care for you, Constance, because it's my job…and because you're my friend. I don't have many of those…and I would like to keep you around" I said it with as much emotion as I was capable of, my hand somehow making it across the car to take her hand.

I meant what I said, but I hadn't expected anything. I told myself that even as I felt the outline of her kiss as it burned heavy on my cheek. I wanted those words to earn me another kiss. When it did, I showed no reaction even as the words I could have spoken burned even heavier in my chest. Because there were so many things I wanted to say to her, but I didn't say all of them. I only said the ones that weren't a fantasy.

"Thank you, Victor, I don't know what I would do without you" whispered Constance, gently her hand left mine, and as she left the car, I could only follow at her heels.

"I'll always be here to protect you" I thought it then and as the weeks passed after the Wayne's died, I was more vigilant then ever, but even then, there were things I didn't see.

Constance's romance with Timothy Thorndike seemed to be at a standstill. She hadn't seen him in weeks and somehow, I sensed I had something to do with that. For in the aftermath of the murders, I rarely left her, and even in the case of the boy, she sensed my reluctance. Yet even I knew that couldn't go on forever. That my watch over her couldn't be eternal.

"I'll be okay, Victor" said Constance as I walked her to the door that night, she had a date with the boy, the first in a month, and she thought I wouldn't be watching.

Their date that night was different than the ones from before. It started the way it usually ended. There was no dinner, no movie or minigolf. He took her to a hidden path deep in the words outside Gotham and they walked hand in hand. I could tell Constance thought it was all so romantic, but something in my gut wanted to wrench her away.

I had been there, watching, the first time he kissed her. It was a boy's kiss. A simple peck of the lips that bothered me because somehow, I knew that wasn't how she deserved to be kissed. That night though, he decided to kiss her like a man. With his hands holding her face, holding her in place, it made something in my gut boil. The Thorndike boy kissed her differently now, with his arm around her, and hers around him. As I watched their little make out session, I had never been more tempted to shoot the boy then in that moment, but I just kept my eyes on her. I was waiting for them to do more, but the moment never came. It all happened, so quickly. He pulled away from her, their words hurried, and I didn't know what was happening. Constance seemed just as unsettled as I was. The boy moved quickly until they were back in his car and driving away. I couldn't shake the feeling that something was off.

"What are you up to, Timmy?" I couldn't shake the thought as I followed the car until they were right back at her house.

Before, the Thorndike boy had tried to be a gentleman, he would walk her to the door, but tonight he didn't even help her out of the car. He dropped her off like fresh trash and I was left there as the car pulled away. She was left standing there. I watched her walk to the door alone.

"I knew he wasn't worthy of her" I thought then watching her enter the house before choosing to drive away, because everything else looked normal.

The house was dark, hidden in shadows, and except for the boy's actions nothing seemed wrong. I wanted to check on her, but I wasn't supposed to be there. So, I just drove away.

"What exactly have you gotten yourself into?" the thought surprised me as I kept seeing Constance just as she had been that night minus the boy who didn't know how to kiss her; I kept having these forbidden fantasies and I didn't know how I had come upon them as I drove farther and farther from the person I wanted to be laying my eyes upon.

She deserved better than that boy, I knew that by the way she had been left on her doorstep without him even bothering to walk her to the door. I remembered all too vividly what it had felt to have her arms around me. I used that memory to picture us standing in the dark, my arms around her as hers were me, and this time I was the man kissing her. I had wanted to be the first to kiss her that way. It was a crazy fantasy, but I had wanted it. I still wanted it even though I knew it was something that couldn't be real. I would kiss her with the type of passion I knew that boy didn't know existed, but it was an image in my head that I knew could never be real. I knew that the next time they went out that I might be forced to watch her give herself to that boy, to watch her spread her legs, and take him inside her. The thought sickened me, but I suspected that it would be a casualty of my job.

For as much as I wanted Constance Falcone to be mine, she was off limits in a way that I knew would never change. Yet that fact changed absolutely nothing. It was still my job to keep her safe. It was my job to make sure no harm came to her and yet my feelings for her changed that as well. Because I would have gladly protected her whether my job required it or not. Because I loved her. It was my deepest secret now and no one would ever know, even her. I was so deep in thought when my phone rang it sounded louder to my ears. I looked at it as it lay in the passenger seat where she usually sat and something in my gut churned. Nothing good ever happened when it rang this late at night and yet when I answered it, static rang heavily in my ear. I didn't hang up, no one had my number without reason, so I looked at the number, and her face flashed across the darkness at the back of my mind. The number belonged to Constance. It was her cell phone number, but she had never called me this late at night. The fact that she was now only made the churning in my stomach all the worse. I put my ear to the phone again, but still there was only static. It crackled in my ear without a hint of anything else, but then it seemed to clear away. Then I heard someone breathing.

That was when I heard her breathing, I could hear that she had been crying, and I got a sick feeling in my stomach.

"Constance, are you there?" I said it louder than I meant to even as I sensed that now was not the time for that.

"Victor…I…there are men here…in my house. They've tied up my mom. They want to take me. They have guns…I'm hiding from them, but they're gonna find me. Please, get here before they find me" said Constance, I could hear as she was trying to whisper, but between her tears and heavy breathing she was having a tough time of it.

I didn't remember turning around then or even stopping the car long enough to do so. I didn't hear the engine rev as I raced back to her house. All I knew was that I had to get to her, and all my time was running out, quickly. I didn't take the phone away from my ear. I listened to the heavy exhale as she tried to control her breathing. If she didn't calm down, they would find her, and yet if she kept talking to me, they would still find her. I just had to get there. I had to get there right now.

"Constance, stay quiet, don't say a word. They will be listening for any sound that will tell them where you are. I'm coming…just know that I'm coming. Keep me on the phone, but be quiet" I whispered, picturing her as she hid somewhere, under a bed or in a closet.

I knew they would find her eventually; I knew I had to get there before they did, but then I heard her breathing become heavy.

"They're looking for me, I can hear them…they're going to find me" exclaimed Constance, she was panicking, I could hear it in her voice, and I knew it would help them find her.

"Constance, I'm coming, but you have to stay calm. Use those things I gave you. If you can get to them, use them, and I will—" I exclaimed, but I never got the chance to finish.

Suddenly, a gut-wrenching scream filled my ear, and I knew they had found her.

"Victor! Victor! Victor!" screamed Constance, I heard as the phone was thrown, hitting something then as her voice seemed to go farther and farther away.