Jack's Descent

A/N - The title of this chapter basically translates to "The Heaviness of My Heart", so you know what that means. ;0) ANGST ANGST ANGST! lol And sorry for taking so long, but I had a loooot of HW to do. I thought the 2nd chapter must've really sucked, but hopefully this one more than makes up for it. :-S

CH 3: Cordis Gravitas

"How about this one?"

Sitting on Jack's bed with a critical look on her face, Penny promptly shook her head and pointed to the floor. "Throw it in the 'maybe' pile...it doesn't define your curves enough to flatter your figure."

Jack laughed. "Angel, curves are for women -- what are you doing with that kind of vocabulary, anyway?"

"I read it in a magazine" Penny proudly confessed. "It said you should wear stuff that accentumalates your curves."

"Accentuates?" Jack clarified, smiling. "At this rate, you'll be a starving model by age seven."

Clearly not getting the joke, Penny cocked her head to the side as she watched him try on yet another shirt.

"There now, this good enough for my 'curves'?" Jack gibed, grinning as he held out his arms in submission to her evaluation.

Beaming, Penny clapped her tiny hands and nodded. "Oh yes, those colors match very well!"

"Yeah, but will they match the upholstery of Rachel's car when I take them off?" he muttered, obviously more to himself than to his sister.

As Jack dug around in his closet for a belt, Penny clasped her hands in her lap and began kicking her legs back and forth. "Jack" she eagerly began, "what do you want for your birthday?"

Turning to give her a cheeky grin, he warmly teased, "I think I'd like to trade my little sister in for a nice Lamborghini -- think the dealers'll go for that?"

"Jaaack!"

Laughing, he looped his belt through his pants while insisting, "Angel, you know I'd never trade you in for some fancy car. After all, if I gave you away, I couldn't steal your dessert at dinner anymore."

"And you wouldn't get any of my hairstyles" Penny added, giggling when Jack grimaced.

"Geez, are you trying to get me to trade you in? I'll do it, you know."

"No, you won't" Penny smugly argued, only to squeal when her brother tossed a pair of boxers in her face. "Ewww, Jack, these are gross!" she whined, the aforementioned laughing as he watched his sister toss the garment to the floor.

As he finished up the final attributes to his ensemble, Jack turned to Penny and struck a pose that was very reminiscent of Elvis. "Whaddaya think?" he asked, grinning. "Will Rachel finally wanna lay me?"

"Lay you?" Penny reiterated, her brows quirking in confusion. "Lay you where?"

"Uhhh...never mind." Checking his watch, Jack's grin only widened as he announced, "Hey look, I've gotta get going, Squirt, but I'll see you later tonight, alright? Since mom's got some time off today, you should be nice and give her a hand with the chores."

"But Jack, what about your birthday?" Penny lamented. "I wanna start saving money in my piggy bank so I can get you something special."

Jack's brown eyes softened. "Hey now, there's no need to get upset...I'm a man of simple taste, so all I need are the two beautiful girls I live with." When Penny gave him a reproachful look, he grinned before hurriedly correcting, "Sorry, I meant the two beautiful women I live with...now c'mere and give me a hug."

More than happy to oblige, Penny rushed into Jack's outstretched arms and warmly embraced him about the neck. At that moment Jack had never felt more proud to call her his sister, for it was apparent that one day she would grow up into a beautiful, kind-hearted woman with big plans.

As if reading his mind, Penny asked against the security of his shoulder, "Since I like playing with hair, do you think one day I could open up a beauty parlor of my very own?"

Jack chuckled. "Well sure you can, Squirt, but don't expect me to be your first customer."

Before Penny could give a bitter retaliation, Jack kissed her soundly on the forehead and made his exit, the little girl lingering in the doorway as she gazed after him in complete admiration.

--

Checking her reflection in the side view mirror, Rachel smiled to herself as she made a turn in her little red Honda, the sun shining in through her window as she re-adjusted the radio. The sweet strains of "Independent Love Song" reached her ears and she sighed, finally content with the fact that she was going to be a married woman. Granted, she had been terrified after the incident at Jack's apartment, but now she knew that his familial issues didn't matter. She loved him, and that was that.

As Rachel hummed along with the radio, her cell phone rang its obnoxious rendition of one of Mozart's classic pieces. Picking it up with a grunt, she flipped it open before greeting, "Hello? Jack, that you?"

There came a pause, then a bitter, "No, it's me, Bruce... I was just calling to see if you wanted to come over or something."

Rachel twisted her lips into a frown. "Bruce, you know fully well that I'm on my way to see Jack -- we're spending the day together to make up for our anniversary."

"What, did he forget about it?" Bruce scoffed. "If you were my girl, I'd never forget a single anniversary."

Rachel snorted. "Bruce, if I were your girl, I think I'd want to jump off a cliff. I mean, do I honestly look like one of your skinny little bimbos?"

"Rachel, you don't understand, I..."

"You're right" she viciously cut in, "my rack's not nearly big enough for Wayne's Whorehouse." With a heated farewell, she promptly hung up and tossed the phone back over her shoulder, her fingers gripping the steering wheel until she spotted Jack waving cheerily up ahead.

When she pulled to a stop, Jack opened the door and wiggled his eyebrows. "Well, hel-looo, beautiful!" he greeted, admiring the way her red dress clung to her soft curves. Still panting as he crawled in, he placed a hand over her knee before purring, "Why don't you and I forget about dinner and just go to one of Brucey's nude beaches, hmmm?"

Jerking in surprise due to Bruce having just called, Rachel finally settled on rolling her eyes before grumbling, "Jack, the only way you're seeing me naked is if Gotham reverts back to the ways of Eden."

"My goodness" Jack mockingly returned, "someone's a little tense this afternoon."

Keeping her hands firmly on the steering wheel, Rachel gave a heavy sigh and nodded. "Yeah, I'm sorry" she apologized, "I'm just a little tired, I guess."

"Why, because I wore you out with my phone call after lunch?" Grinning when she rolled her eyes, Jack buried his face into her hair before nuzzling her neck, Rachel giving a little squeal when his hand drifted down and grasped her bottom.

"Jack, I'm driving!"

"Well so am I, woman! I'm driving for second base!" he insisted, laughing against the crook of her neck as she gave him a whack on the head.

When Jack continued to grope and fondle her supple form, Rachel shifted uncomfortably in her seat before demanding, "Good God, are you trying to make me have an accident!? You can wait until we stop!"

"No time, end of the world" Jack mumbled in response, his mouth now ghosting along the swell of her breasts as he placed a hand in between her thighs.

Moaning softly, Rachel grasped at his hair with one hand and drove with the other, her voice soft and husky as she reminded him, "Jack, I am not putting out for you until we're married."

"Aww, not even a half put-out?" he teased, grinning when she smacked his rump.

"Ooh! I love it when you get feisty!" he growled in response, his tongue flicking against her flesh as she shivered. Now looking up at her with his mischievous brown eyes, he smugly added, "If you didn't want my mind-boggling touch, I would've recommended not wearing this dress. In fact, that's a good idea...let's take it off!"

"Jack!" Giggling when he playfully pretended to lift her dress over her thighs, she slapped his hands away before giving him a meaningful look. "If you promise to be good, I might just let you get to second."

Giving her a serious look, Jack eagerly urged, "Pull over. Right now."

Laughing, Rachel moved to reprimand him for being such a horny jerk when he suddenly shushed her, a grin suffusing his lips as he turned the radio up to a deafening degree.

When the pleasant melody of "My Girl" reached Rachel's ears, she placed a hand over her face before urging, "Jack, no...", but he was already singing.

"III've got sunshiii-iiine on a clouuuuudy daaaay, when it's cold outsi-i-iiiide, I've got the month of Maaay..."

"Jack, stop" Rachel begged, "please, you sing off-key..."

Promptly ignoring her, he slung an arm across her shoulders before giddily sustaining, "We-ell, III'd guuuuess yoooou'd say, what can make me feel this way...?"

"Jack, shut up!"

"...Rachel, Rachel, Raacheeel, talkin' 'bout Raaaacheeeel...Ra-chel! Ooooh-hoo-oooo...oof!"

Laughing as he rubbed the gut that she'd just elbowed, Jack grinned over at his fianceé before teasing, "Well damn, someone sure doesn't appreciate the fine arts!"

"Oh no, I do, but only when the singer can actually carry a note" Rachel smugly shot back, her hand patting his knee as he continued to stare at her.

"Hey, I could carry my notes all the way to China if I wanted to!"

"Jack, are you being facetious?"

"Fuh-wha-cious?"

Sighing, Rachel turned down the radio and gave his cheek a quick kiss. "For injuring your pride like that, I suppose I can pull over a little sooner than I originally intended."

Jack gave her a goofy grin. "Pull over? You mean so I can finally get my big, wet, sloppy, tongue-all-over-the-place kiss?"

Practically crashing into the sidewalk amidst her hurry to park, Rachel give him a predatory grin before leaping into his arms and crushing a rough, open-mouthed kiss upon his lips. After that rather vigorous display of affection, Jack had no further questions.

--

"Mama, why is daddy always away?"

"He's very sick, honey" Lynnelle returned softly, her eyes remaining on her batch of cookies as she bent over to put them in the oven. As she rose and wiped her hands on her apron, she turned to look over at her daughter with a tired smile on her face. "Why so interested, Penny? Papa's alright."

"I guess I just wanted to know if that's why he hates me" Penny mumbled, her gaze returning to her picture as she began to color in the lines.

Appearing as if she'd been mortally wounded, Lynnelle walked over to her daughter and gently put her hands on her shoulders. "Aww, sweetheart" she cooed, "he doesn't hate you at all...his illness just makes him very irritable."

Clearly not believing her, Penny said nothing as she hunched her shoulders and bent back over her picture, her eyes shining in admiration for the beloved brother she was currently depicting.

"Lynnelle!"

With a start, Penny directed her frightened eyes over toward her mother as a loud crash sounded from the front entrance, Paul's red face appearing in the doorway as he began brandishing his switch blade like a madman.

"You've been cheatin' on me, again!" he growled, Lynnelle frantically denying these accusations as he seized her by the wrist. Backhanding her roughly across the face, he snarled, "Goddammit, stop lyin' to me about it, woman! I saw it with my own eyes, an' ya know what?" He grinned. "I think all this time at home has left you very...unhappy."

"You're insane!" Lynnelle sobbed, a hand covering her mouth as he held up his blade. "Paul, I swear to you that I've done nothing with another man! How can I when I'm always stuck here slaving away over the chores!?"

Chuckling, Paul's grip on her wrist tightened as he purred, "Aww, look at all those tears! Perhaps we should put a smile on that face, hmm?"

As Lynnelle looked up in surprise, Paul jerked her forward and stuck his switchblade inside her mouth. When her bloodcurdling scream reached Penny's ears, the child's eyes widened and she dropped her markers amidst her panic. Scrambling down from the kitchen chair, she rushed over into the adjacent room as her father's voice bellowed, "You get back here now, you little brat!"

Choking on a sob, Penny pressed herself into the far corner of the room and slid down onto her rump, her big hazel eyes spilling tears once Paul entered the doorway in all his bulk.

With a grin on his whiskered face, Paul held up his bloody switchblade before cooing, "Aww, well what's the matter, sweetie? You're not smiling!"

Hiding her face behind her hands, Penny whimpered while trying to burrow back into the furthermost point of the wall, a small cry escaping her lips when her father grabbed her by the wrist and wrenched her up to her feet.

"Hey" he growled, now giving her right pigtail a rough tug, "what's eatin' you, uh?"

Sniffling, Penny trembled before whimpering, "I-I want Jack..."

"Aww, you want Jack, huh?" When she nodded, Paul grinned and slipped his blade in between her rosebud lips. Twisting his mouth into a mocking pout, he purred, "Aww, you're still not smiling, Penny! What's with all the tears?"

Now sobbing freely, Penny tasted blood as the knife nicked the corner of her mouth, her tears burning along her lashes as she sniffled, "I-I want Jack, Papa..."

Stroking her soft hair, Paul's grin grew wider as he nodded, his voice dangerously low as he agreed, "Don't you worry, sweetie, you'll see Jack again soon enough."

"I-I will?"

The hopeful look in Penny's eyes was almost sickening, yet this didn't keep Paul from backing away from his plan.

Digging the blade against her lips, he chuckled before snarling, "Sure you will, kid, but first we need to put a smile on that face!"

With a wail, Penny called for Jack as the knife sliced into her delicate flesh, her sobs now echoing throughout the apartment as she pleaded for her brother to come rescue her.

--

When Jack returned from his date, it was well after dark. Whistling "My Girl" with a merry twinkle in his eye, he set his keys inside the tray in the front room and began shuffling to the beat, his fingers snapping as he gave a quick spin and entered the kitchen. Flicking the light on, he began singing softly as he moved over to the refrigerator and opened the door. After retrieving a soda, he turned and gave a sharp cry when he tripped over something thin and bony...someone's ankles.

Scrambling up so that he was on all fours, Jack frantically crawled over to the body and gave a harsh shudder when he realized it was his mother.

With a soft sob, he ran his hand along Lynnelle's cold, pale cheek, his eyes taking in the sight of her Glasgow smile and slit throat in complete horror. Her eyes were closed, but her make-up was smeared from the tears she'd shed amidst Paul's attack. "Oh, God" Jack moaned, his eyes prickling with tears, "Oh, God..."

As he balanced himself by putting his hand on the floor, he jumped when he realized he'd wrinkled up a piece of white construction paper. Glancing down upon it with furrowed brows, Jack trembled as he lifted the parchment and gazed upon a picture of two stick figures, each smiling and holding hands amidst a field of sunny flowers. Above the figures' heads was the simple phrase "To Jack, Love Penny", his body beginning to shake as the picture slipped from his grasp in an instant.

Penny...

Frantically scrambling up to his feet, Jack went staggering into the adjacent room and glanced about him in a frenzied panic. Almost immediately spying the delicate figure lying across the room, Jack felt his heart take a torturous dip as he fell to his knees and released a strangled, gutteral wail.

Penny wasn't facing him, but he knew without touching her that she was dead. Her soft body was bathed in copious smudges of scarlet, and her tiny neck was cocked at such an odd angle that it had to be broken.

Whimpering like an injured dog, Jack crawled over to Penny and began to sob as he gazed down upon her sweet countenance. "C'mon, Angel" he whispered, not even flinching when he pulled her bloody form into his arms, "c'mon, sweetheart...oh God, why won't you fucking say anything!?"

The Glasgow smile on Penny's face seemed to mock him as he gave a pitiful little moan, his body shaking along with his sobs as he struggled to catch his breath.

Running his fingertips across her marred cheek, Jack bit his lip before abruptly closing her eyes with his hands, for he couldn't bear to see the frozen terror gazing back at him a moment longer. But then, why shouldn't he suffer? Hadn't he failed her in every possibly way? Jack had promised Penny that he'd protect her from Paul, but now he'd failed...

"Oh, God" Jack moaned, finally giving in to his sorrow, "oh, God!" Burying his face against Penny's bloody neck, he clung to her like a drowning sailor to a buoy, his hand repeatedly running through her hair as he rocked her back and forth.

"Shh" he whispered, sniffling amidst his tears, "don't you worry about a thing now, alright, Penny? He can't get you anymore...you and Mama are both perfectly safe."

"Aww, well ain't this a pretty little picture?"

Freezing abruptly in place, Jack felt his hands begin to tremble with rage as he directed his murderous gaze upon his father. "You" he tearfully rasped out, "what the hell have you done!? You harmed the two people you should love most!"

Paul chuckled. "Relax, kiddo, you need to smile more -- life's short, and believe me, I should know."

Gently resting Penny's body back onto the floor, Jack rose to his feet before straightening his stance, his breathing ragged and heavy as he snarled, "You can't take your illness out on your family! It's not our fault you were diagnosed with cancer!"

Now it was Paul's turn to scowl, his grip tightening about his blade as he took a slow, lumbering step forward. "Maybe not" he agreed, "but you all shared the same predicament: you never smiled enough! What's it gonna take to put a smile on that face, hmm?"

Faltering, Jack reflected back on Penny and Lynnelle's Glasgow smiles and shuddered, his face contorting into a mixture of grief and rage as he finally allowed his thirst for revenge to take full control. Forming his hand into a tight fist, Jack released an agonized cry before charging forward, Paul grunting in surprise once his son struck him squarely across the jaw. Only deterred for a moment, Paul used the bulk of his 220 pound body to shove Jack down onto his back, the blonde's eyes widening in astonishment as his father dove forward and pinned him to the floor.

Struggling frantically about, Jack began to pummel Paul's large gut with his fists, only to soon discover that his efforts were completely futile.

Grinning a large grin full of cracked, yellow teeth, Paul used his knees to pin both of Jack's arms down to his sides so that he was trapped. Wincing due to the unbearable pressure on his wrists, Jack squirmed wildly about as he felt his blood pounding through his fingertips, his eyes remaining electrically charged as he watched his father bring the blade up to his mouth.

Tapping Jack's cheek with his hand, Paul sneered down at him before purring, "Aww, why so serious, kiddo? I think it's time we put a smile on that face!"

Moving to speak, Jack gave a howl when a stab of hot, blinding pain tore through the right side of his face, his eyes dancing with pinpoints of color as the blade sawed through the sinews of his flesh. Gurgling on his on blood, Jack coughed as the metallic-flavored fluid dribbled down over his chin, his eyes watering with pain as the knife strategically sliced upward into a delicate curl. When Paul positioned the blade toward the other side of Jack's mouth, Jack abruptly jerked his head with the hopes of avoiding the assault, only to give a cry when the knife cut a diagonal, far more jagged laceration than the first. The initial force of the blow hadn't been all that painful since it was so sudden, but as soon as Paul removed the blade from his son's mouth, Jack began to feel a pulsating burn flaring amidst the fresh wound.

"There, now" Paul smugly purred, "a smile to match my little family of jokers!"

Lying there choking and coughing on his own blood, Jack gazed up at his father with furious brown eyes, his fists clenching until he reared his right leg up and kneed him straight in the groin. With an unceremonious 'oof!', Paul rolled to the side and clutched himself amidst the tear-jerking pain, but in the process he'd made the fatal mistake of dropping his knife.

Diving for the blade, Jack said nothing for fear of ripping his face apart, but his dark eyes spoke volumes as he seized Paul by the throat and held up the blade.

"Hey now, kiddo" Paul uneasily began, "whatcha doin', uh?"

To avoid further tearing of his flesh, Jack clenched his teeth and mockingly growled out, "Why so serious?", his hand shaking as he stuck the blade inside his father's mouth. With murderously cold, unfeeling eyes, he gurgled past his bloody lips, "Let's put a smile on that face!", Paul screaming once the knife tore a perfect arc through both of his round, plump cheeks. Instead of his son stopping like Paul thought he would, Jack removed the blade and drove it into his father's windpipe with a sickening crunch. Blood spurted from both the wound and Paul's gaping mouth as his eyes boggled in shock, yet Jack was far from finished with him.

Withdrawing the weapon like a knife from a stick of butter, Jack pushed Paul onto his backside before rearing back and striking him with the blade again, and again, and again. Even when Paul was a dead, bloody pulp of the man he once was, Jack's lust for revenge still wasn't satisfied, his face, hands and clothes now spattered with his father's blood as he continued to stab the knife into the gore of Paul's torso.

Finally far too exhausted to continue his assault, Jack emotionlessly tossed the blade onto the floor and rose to his feet. When he looked straight ahead, he happened to catch a glimpse of the monster glaring back at him from the opposing mirror on the wall, his eyes now nothing but two cold, chillingly vacant orbs as he stared back at his haunting reflection. Bloodied spittle fell from his lower lip and absorbed into his T-shirt, but it was hardly noticeable since the fabric had been transformed to a stark red.

Admiring the vermillion grin that curved across his swollen, already bruising cheeks, Jack found that he could feel nothing as his true lips remained unsmiling. He was no longer Jack Napier, but a joke...a cruel, mercilessly twisted joke.

--

When the police arrived at Rachel's apartment, it had already begun to storm, the thunder shaking her humble abode to the very frame as she hesitantly opened the door. Gazing out at the dark, solemn faces in bewilderment, Rachel couldn't help but shiver as she watched the rain rhythmically drift off the bridges of their caps.

"C-can I help you?" she finally managed to squeak, her eyes searching theirs as the head cop stepped forward.

"Rachel Dawes, I am Lieutenant Mosby, and this is my partner, Officer Hudson. We've been informed that you're currently dating a Mr. Napier, so if we could just ask you a few questions..."

"What's happened?" Rachel urgently cut in, her features paling in fear. When both men failed to respond, she hysterically shrieked, "What's happened to Jack, Lieutenant!?"

"Ma'am, please calm yourself..."

"Calm myself!? You come over here like this and expect me to calm myself!?" Giving a humorless laugh, Rachel took the head cop by the shoulders before begging, "Please tell me what's happened! I have a right to know!"

When Mosby nodded to his partner, Hudson took off his cap before solemnly revealing, "The Napier's had a terrible accident earlier this evening, and in the process, three of them were killed."

Rachel's breath caught in her throat, her lashes prickling with tears as she placed a hand to her chest. "Y-you mean, they're...they're dead?"

"Yes, dead" Mosby coolly clarified. "And you know what we think, Miss Dawes?" When she shook her head, he cruelly sustained, "We believe that dear ol' Jack was the one who killed them."

"Oh!" With a whirlwind of color passing over her eyes, Rachel collapsed into the lieutenant's arms and went completely limp.

Nodding to his partner, Mosby lifted Rachel into his embrace and brought her indoors, the street now completely silent save for the heaving rattling of the rain.

A/N - Yeeeah, so it's finally done...well, this CHAPTER, anyway. :P It took me forever! I already gave my reasoning, so I'll just leave it at that. lol And I know it seemed ridiculous, but I could actually picture that scene where Rachel just tackles Jack. After all, isn't that what most of you fan girls wanna do, anyway? ;0P Now please make my heart soar and REVIEW! :) I promise I update more frequently if and when I get them! lol