warning: this is long
Jane couldn't believe she was back. As she looked over the new Gotham City from her new apartment, she was reminded of the girl who left this city nearly ten years ago. She was a young warrior in her early 20's - completely ruined by the trauma she endured during the years behind her. She had gotten out when she could, and boy was she proud of what she accomplished.
Now standing tall in her early 30's, Jane felt like she was truly happy in life, maybe truly for the first time in her life. When she left, she headed to the other end of the country. She bathed in the sun, not looking over her shoulder every ten seconds. She went to school, got a job, founded her own Non-Profit. It was one she was very proud of. It focused on any advocacy or help a child in an abusive household would need. They offer endless resources and try to help those kids lost from society. It was an organization Jane wished was around when she was a child - a small, broken and constantly beat up suicidal child...
Arms wrapped around her waist. Her wife's auburn hair fell over her shoulder as she rested her head on Jane's shoulder. Jane rested hers on top. "The city is beautiful. I can't wait to explore it with you later." Renee's voice was so calming.
"It wasn't always this beautiful.." Jane murmured under her breath. She knew Renee heard; Renee understood though.
Renee was the most understanding and compassionate person Jane had ever known. She was a true angel from above. She knew everything about Jane, saw every scar on Jane's body and yet she accepted every perfect flaw, in fact she loved her more.
Renee rubbed Jane's arm up and down in a calming fashion. "I'm here for you, Jane. You are the strongest person I know. I'm so proud that you were able to come back."
They had met in college. Jane was finishing up her Business Management degree. Renee was finishing her Psychology degree. She was a therapist, and a damn good one. She cared about each one of her patients. She was highly recommended. Jane was so proud of her.
Jane let go of their embrace and stood in front of Renee. The way the light hit Renee's beautiful auburn hair and her hazel eyes was truly breathtaking. Renee's face then lit up. She grabbed Jane's hand eagerly and placed it on the bottom of her 8-month pregnant belly. "I just felt her kick." After a moment, Jane felt it and her face lit up.
Growing inside Renee's stomach was their beautiful 8-month old daughter. They went to a sperm bank and chose the person they thought would be perfect. It was so important to Jane that she would be an amazing mother. She wasn't going to repeat her drunk and abusive mother's behavior. She would be kind, and understanding, and love this child with all of her being.
Renee smiled, showing her perfectly white teeth. "Our little Lane."
They decided to name their child after Jane's first love Laney. Renee knew about Laney, and what happened to her. She understood what she meant to Jane. Because if it wasn't for her, Renee's love of her life wouldn't be here anymore. She would've been long gone after a, this time, successful suicide attempt in Arkham almost 11 years ago.
Jane looked back up at Renee and gave her a look. "You should be resting, dear. The doctor said you should be in bed and off your feet."
Renee rolled her eyes softly. "Yeah, yeah. I know. I'm just disappointed I won't be able to go to the Wayne Gala with you." She pouted.
Jane nearly forgot that was tonight. Bruce Wayne was supposedly making his first appearance in ten years. He had apparently left very soon after Jane had, leaving Selina by herself here. She missed her good friend. She wanted to see how he was doing. However, being around all those familiar faces made Jane's anxiety rise. She was worried all those feelings and memories she tried to forget would come back up... after all of this progress she had made.
"I can always stay in," Jane proposed. "Get some ice cream, curl up and watch some old 90's movies."
"Jane." Renee shook her head firmly. Her eyes softened. "You should go. See some old friends. Show them the beautiful, strong and successful woman that I married. Show them you aren't that little girl anymore."
Jane stared into Renee's eyes and knew she was right. She had to do this - not even for them, but for her. Besides, she was going to be in town for a little while. Might as well reconnect with some friends.
Jane leaned in and gave her a soft kiss. "God, I love you."
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Jane's heart was pumping so fast. She still couldn't believe she was here. She couldn't believe she went through with it and showed up to this thing. God.. she wished Renee had come. She would've made this whole thing so much more bearable.
Jane felt small in the entrance way. She smoothed the blue cocktail dress that hugged her sides nicely, tucked a piece of loose red hair behind her ear. The rest was sitting in a nice long ponytail that laid behind her. So many people had shown up, and she recognized so many faces. Jane thought back to the girl they all once knew. She'd grown so much since then.. would they even recognize her now? All grown up?
"Jane Valeska! Is that you?"
Apparently someone had.
Alfred had gotten her attention. He gave her a smile and embraced her in a small hug. She hugged him back and returned the smile.
"I'm so glad you could make it." Alfred stood tall, like he always did. He looked at her up and down. "And look at you! Look how much you've grown. How are you?"
"I'm good," She replied simply. "After, I left Gotham, I went West. Went to college. Really did something with my life." Jane spoke very proudly. "I actually founded my own non-profit. It's actually why I'm in town. We just opened a location in Gotham City."
Alfred felt proud to hear that. Like Bruce, he met her when she was just a small 16 year old girl, scared of everything, especially her brother who was out to get her at the time. Now, she stood in front of him: A woman with a successful career and who shined bright. He noticed a diamond ring on her left hand and smiled warmly. He nodded towards it. "Is that an engagement ring I see? Where's the fiance?"
Jane blushed profusely. "Oh, married, actually. But my wife's currently home. She's 8 months pregnant." Jane smiled, thinking about their small little family her and Renee were building. "It's a girl; We're very excited."
Alfred placed his hand on her arm. Jane had grown up, and she found peace and happiness. It was truly the only think he had wanted for her.
Jane looked around. "Where is Bruce? I thought I was late and he would be making a speech by now."
Alfred frowned and looked at his watch. "Very strange. I'm afraid I must cut our conversation sort, Jane." He looked up and gave her another quick smile. "But it was lovely seeing you."
Jane watched as he left. Something else caught her eye. She watched as Selina Kyle walked closely with a now redheaded Barbara Kean towards the kitchen and slip away. Jane frowned. What was happening?
A loud cough went through the microphones, gaining the room's attention. "Ladies and gentlemen. Uh, my name is Alfred Thaddeus Crane Pennyworth. And I'd very much like to welcome you on behalf of Wayne Enterprises and Bruce Wayne to the future of Gotham." Alfred stood very uncomfortable in front of everyone. Clearly, he wasn't expecting to make a speech tonight. Standing with him, however, was the speech Jane assumed Bruce was supposed to read, so Alfred started reading it. It went on to cover what happened after Jane left the city all those years ago. There was a giant battle. Many people died but they gained control of the city again. They had done their best to restore the city to its once great glory. Wayne Enterprises had a plan for the city, which was laid out in the middle of the room.
However, while listening, Jane couldn't help but have a bad feeling in her gut. Something wasn't right in the air. But she couldn't place her finger on what exactly it was.
"Wayne Enterprises will devote itself to making this future a reality." Alfred had concluded his speech when Jane noticed Jim Gordon storm in with police following him. Jane's guard immediately went up.
"Evacuate the building!" Jim called out to the room. "Get these people out of here!"
That's when another yell was called. "Help! Gordon, help!" The mayor had come running out of the kitchen with Selina, Barbara Kean and Edward Nygma following him. The crowd had ducked down and started running out of the room in response to Ed's gun in his hand. Jane, however, did not. She just stood and stared at the situation.
The mayor was continuing. "He kidnapped me again! He tried to blow me up. Again!"
Barbara intervened. "But we stopped him. You're welcome."
The mayor was then taken out of the building while Jim went up to Ed in a hurry. "There were four crates of C-4. Where are the rest?"
"That's all he gave me," Ed replied, looking confused.
C-4? Now Jane was getting increasingly nervous and watching Jim spiral was making it worse. This was her brother's type of work. But he was comatose, he couldn't do anything, right?
"He said Penguin broke him out," Selina spoke. She was holding onto Ed with a gun to his head.
Jim had just made the call to escort Ed out of the building when Jane decided to make herself known. "It wasn't Penguin. But I think I know who did."
The group had turned to her and frowned. "Jane Valeska? What are you doing here?" Jim was the one who spoke.
Jane walked up, eyes on Ed. "That's not important right now. There's a bomb hiding in here and those C-4's will take down the whole city, killing everyone." She went up closer to Ed. "Is my brother really braindead in Arkham?" However, a cop had started dragging him away and before Ed could reply he was gone. Jane groaned.
Jim spoke again. "Do you think your brother has something to do with this? Last time we checked on him, he was completely braindead. There was no brain activity recorded."
Jane's jaw tightened. "All of this reminds me of him. Unless, it's some copy cat." Jane's went to the center piece of it all: Wayne Enterprises' model of the new Gotham City. Jeremiah loved the center of attention. Besides, the best way to hide a bomb is in plain sight. Jane ran up to the model and looked under. "Found them. The bombs are under here." The whole group had surrounded her now. She stood up straight and turned to them. "It says we have 5 minutes until it blows."
Jim motioned towards the model. "If this bomb goes off and Wayne Tower falls, it'll take out other buildings. A lot of people are gonna die. You all need to leave right now."
"So you can stay?" Lee asked in disbelief. "Absolutely not." Jane nodded in agreement. If this truly was Jeremiah's doing, she would see the end of it.
"It's too late," Barbara spoke. "We'd never get far enough away."
"Ms. Kean is right," Alfred's voice was heavy. "This stops right here."
"So how do we defuse it?" Jim looked towards Lucius.
"We'd have to sever the connectors to the detonator, but the bomber must have hidden it. The wires go up inside the model."
"It's one of the buildings," Jane stared at the model intensely. "That's the only way." Which building could it be though? She stared at the clock tower. With it being a timer, Jane could picture her brother finding the irony entertaining. Jane nodded towards it. "Check the Clock Tower."
The group watched in anticipation as Lucius and Jim slowly lifted the Gotham City Clock Tower model to reveal exactly what they were looking for. Jane was happy she was right, but she truly hated how well she knew her brother. Now the timer was down to 3 minutes.
Lucius leaned in closer. "This particular detonator has a gyroscope. Which means someone will have to hold it up and steady while you detach the wires from below." Lucius demonstrated what he meant by lifting it to reveal the wires.
Lee immediately volunteered. "I have doctor's hands, I can do it."
The group had all silently agreed. Jane watched in anticipation as Lucius coached Lee through it, instructing her exactly what to do. If she got even a slightest bit off, the bomb would automatically go off. Lee was hesitant to do it, but she carefully took a green wire and cut it. The numbers had stopped and blinked at 1:59. Jane breathed heavily. It was over, or so they all thought. The numbers then went rapidly down. Jane stopped breathing. The group got antsy as Lee grabbed the other green wire, quickly cutting it. It stopped at 1 second before it would go off. Jane's heart was pumping so fast at this moment.
At this point, Jane was more than sure it was Jeremiah was behind this. But how? She couldn't believe it. She didn't want to believe it. Just when she thought she was done with him, here he was trying to kill everyone once again.
Jim turned to Jane, his jaw tightened. "Are you sure your brother is behind this?"
Jane paused for a moment before giving him a hard nod. "Absolutely."
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Jane frantically reached her new office. She had some of her stuff moved in last month but this was only the second time she had been there. No one was in the office, but that didn't matter. Jane needed to be fast. After the events at the Gala, she knew she needed to protect herself and her family. It wouldn't be long before he came for her once again.
Jane went behind her desk, trying to get to her safe. In there, there was some emergency cash and a gun. She entered the password as quickly as she could. She didn't want her back turned from the door for long.
She heard a small noise, and quickly grabbed the gun, whipped back around and shot a shot. But, unfortunately, she missed.
"A little trigger happy, are we sis?"
Jane's face hardened. She didn't want to be right, but she wasn't surprised. The fucker wouldn't have been that easy to kill.
He stepped into the light and the glory of Jeremiah's new deformed body became clear. Jane couldn't even recognize him. Was this really her brother?
Jane swallowed her fear and kept her gun straight at him. "Thought you were braindead."
Jeremiah shrugged playfully. "Oh you know, faked it." He looked around. "I had Ecco do some research on you while I was in there. Founder and CEO of a Non-Profit helping abusive children - love the irony on that by the way. Married, kid on the way. You truly made a life for yourself, huh?"
Jane's jaw tightened. "I did. I left and started over. I left all of this behind, especially you."
Jeremiah laughed. It sent chills down her spine. She almost forgot what it sounded like. "Oh, I'm sure you think you did, Janey. I heard you were our little whistleblower to Gordon.. No surprise there. But let me ask... does your wife know all about you? Does she know you're an ex-psychotic killer? Does she know all the little details?"
"She knows everything, Jeremiah," She replied harshly. "Every little thing. And you know what? She still loves me. I'm a changed person. I'm using my voice for good." She laughed humorlessly, getting slightly teary eyed. "You know, Jeremiah. You, Jerome, our mother. You all made me feel so useless when I was growing up. I was so scared to make the slightest sound, the slightest movement. I have had every bone broken in my body. I have scars that I will never heal from on my body and in my head. I tried to kill myself so many times growing up. A child should never go through that." Now tears were falling down her face. "You were my big brother! You were supposed to take care of me. You were supposed to love me, not tear me down till I was nothing. You weren't supposed to physically and verbally abuse me to the point of me wanting to end my own life. I deserved better. And I got that the moment you fell in those chemicals ten years ago."
Jeremiah paused before laughing. "A little dramatic, don't you think, Janey? The big girl act really isn't playing well for you."
Jane glared. "What do you want? What are you doing here?"
Jeremiah moved closer to him. "Just here to tie up some loose ends."
Jane shot her gun again, but this time nothing came out. Her eyes widened and her heart dropped. No, this wasn't happening.
Jeremiah chuckled again. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of bullets, slowly dropping them on the floor. "Yeah... I guess I was just a little faster getting here than you."
Then he pulled out his own gun, pointing it at Jane. Strangely, Jane didn't feel scared. She knew this was how it would end. Finally, it was happening.
"What? You gonna kill me?" Jane spat at him.
"Only fair," Jeremiah shrugged with a smirk on his face. "You've tried to kill me multiple times, but the difference is... I follow through." Then he pulled the trigger two times in her stomach. Jane gasped, falling to the floor, clutching her stomach, blood pouring out of the two bullet holes.
Jeremiah made his way to his dying younger sister and crouched next to her. "You see, instead of capturing you and making you do my bidding - you know that constant cycle we keep doing - I decided to just cut off the extra fat. I can't have you just around, knowing many of my secrets, always a reminder of my past life." He stood and smiled down at her. "Long live J."
As she watched her brother walk and whistle away from her bleeding body, she flashed through her life. They always say this happened when you were dying. You would see everything you did in your life and then you'd see a bright white light, bringing you to heaven. As she watched her life, she saw all the trauma once again, but it ended with Renee and their baby.
Jane started crying. She hoped they would be alright without her. Renee was strong, and now she would have to for their baby Lane. Her eyes started getting heavy. She closed them quickly, however, when she opened them once again, she was laying in all white. There was no walls, just white. She no longer was bleeding, instead she was wearing a nice white dress, all cleaned up.
Her vision started to become more focused and that's when she noticed someone kneeling next to her body. Her vision cleared and Jane's eyes widened, her heart beat fast.
Laney sat in front of her, also wearing a perfect white dress. Her perfect blonde waves fell over her shoulders so perfectly. She gave Jane a warm smile.
"Hi Jane."
Jane blinked, not knowing if this was real. It could just be her mind playing tricks on her. "I-Is this real?"
Laney nodded. "Yes, but.. it's not your time. You're having a child. You're finally happy. You need to go back. Be with your family. And leave Gotham."
Jane started tearing up. "I miss you so much, Laney."
Laney smiled. "I miss you too. Take care of that little Lane for me. Tell her about her guardian angel, Auntie Laney.." She leaned forward and kissed Jane softly on the forehead. It felt so real.
Jane closed her eyes and suddenly the light around her suddenly became walls. Sitting in the hospital, Jane slowly opened her crusty eyes. Her stomach ached. How was she alive? How did those bullets not kill her?
She heard sniffles next to her. Jane turned her head to see Renee crying in a clearly uncomfortable chair. Jane tried to speak. "Renee..." she slowly croaked.
Renee's swollen eyes quickly met hers. Her nose was running and tears down her face. Her eyes widened and she gasped. Renee's chest, as best as she could with her pregnant belly, collapsed into Jane's side. "Oh my god. Thank God, you're alive. I was so worried you were going to..." She started crying again. "They said some man in a bat suit saved you. He patched you up and then dropped you off at the hospital front steps." She was crying hard now. "I was so worried I was going to lose you."
Jane's eyes started to tear up. She quickly kissed Renee's blubbering lips. "I'm not going anywhere. I promise."
THE END
i'm sorry for making this so long but it was all very needed.
this is the end of jane's story and i hoped you enjoyed it. originally, i was going to have jane die but last minute i got upset so i quickly wrote in this ending. it makes me so much happier.
i just wanted to thank you all for the support you've given me. at this moment, doe eyes is about to hit 20k reads and this one is at 6k. i'm so proud of my journey and im so honored that you all stuck with me till the end. i thought this would just be a book i would write for myself and my own enjoyment so to see all the constant love and appreciation made me feel so good and made me want to improve my writing even more.
jane's journey was crazy, and honestly i didn't expect half the things i wrote. she was a character i wrote to really challenge the way i viewed fanfictions and my own writing. she wasn't a sterotypical main character in a fanfiction. she didn't start out or even act half the time in a strong way. she wasn't strong willed or loud and opinionated. she was an abuse victim, who went through it all and somehow she ended right where she should be: strong, caring and happy with a wife and a kid on the way. i know i'll never be able to write a character like jane again, she was truly one of a kind and i thank u all for being on that journey with me.
so from the bottom of my heart, thank you all for everything you've done for me. i hope you all continue to support me in other non-gotham related books i decided to write. you all truly are my rocks and my motivation. i hope to see you all soon.
please follow me to be updated on my next projects (i already have one in mind and it would be my first original piece)
again, thank you all so much. i love and appreciate every single one of you.