Don't judge a book by it's cover

Mr. Perfect

"No parent would admit this. But everyone's got their favorites. Right, Brother?" While Jerome was tormenting Jeremiah, one of his sidekicks were strapping me to the chair. The cold metal around my neck made a shiver run down my spine. Jerome sat down on the chair between Jeremiah and me. "The one who cleans the room. Does their homework. Doesn't try to kill everybody."

In different circumstances, I would have laughed. No parent is proud of a murderer. "Mr. Perfect here. Yeah, he was that guy." Jerome started pointing at Jeremiah with the trigger, making me flinch. "He got adopted by rich folks, went to the top schools, top college. He even gets married to a woman way out of his league. Meanwhile, I get dragged all over the circus by my alcoholic and depressed mother, forced to clean up elephant dunk." The crowd started losing interest in the monologue, Jerome having to spice things up. "Do you know how big those things are? But I knew something that mommy and wifey never knew." He leaned towards me and kissed my cheek loudly, my face inexpressive. Then he leaned towards Jeremiah. "You are as crazy as I am." Jerome stood up, taking something from his pocket. "It's in your DNA." He opened the little metal box to show a switchable. "See, it's running in our blood." Jerome cut his sibling's straps off. "You are a Killer. It is your nature. Do not try to fight it." Jerome handed Jeremiah the small knife. "Take your best shot."

Jeremiah jumped to stab his brother, but Jerome punched him first. Jeremiah ended up on the ground. Jerome beating him.

"Jerome stop, Stop you sick Bastard!" Jerome stopped and stared at me with a sly smirk.

"Oh, so the perfect wife decides to join in. Ya know, the should make a TV show about you. So perfect on the outside, so broken inside."

Before the psychopath could say anything else, several bullets flew over his body. He turned around and got shot in the shoulder.

Somehow, Bruce was able to take his handcuffs off and took mine too. I tapped my husband's shoulder to make sure if he was okay. Jeremiah opened his eyes and I pulled his hand to make him stand up. We made it to Lucius.

...

It was already dark when we were allowed to see Jerome's body. Jeremiah had an arm around my waist. We approached the car that had been destroyed by the fall. I looked at Jeremiah as if to ask him what he wanted to do. It never seemed as if he and Jerome got along, but siblings are siblings. 

He grabbed my waist harder as if I was going to disappear into thin air and kept walking. I smiled at Jim and Harvey and winked at Bruce. I snaked my arm around my husband's waist for support.

"Mr. Valeska." Jeremiah turned around to look at the young Wayne. "I meant what I said. I do think your work will be a great help to this city." Jeremiah walked closer to Bruce, pulling me with him. "Let Wayne enterprises fund your work with a grand."

I nudged 'Miah's shoulder with my head in encouragement. "Thank you." I gave Bruce a bright smile.

"We'll keep in touch Brucie."

...

" 'Miah, join me whenever you are ready." I was standing behind my husband, hugging him.

"I'll come in some minutes." Jeremiah patted my hands as if to say that I could let go. I kissed his neck gently. Not in a sexual way, but comforting.

"You can talk to me if you need it." Jeremiah turned around and smiled.

"I know, but both of you need some rest." It warmed my heart the way he would always mention our child.

"I'll see you later." I kissed his cheek and left the room.

...

I woke up to an empty bed, the side where Jeremiah usually sleeps empty. But the absence of my husband quickly left my mind as I rushed to the bathroom to spill my small dinner out. After the first step of the horrible process of morning sickness, my body started begging for food.

The trip to the kitchen wasn't as long as expected, the route being engraved into my mind. There I found Jeremiah having some coffee with toast.

"What is that?" Jeremiah looked at me alarmed. "What are you eating." He looked down at his plate and back at me.

"Black coffee with toast." After his reply, I ran towards the floor cabinet where we kept the buckets. I then spilled the remains of any type of food in the first one I saw.

Jeremiah ran towards me to see if I was okay. "Throw that coffee away. Now." Jeremiah scrambled to pour the sour drink into the sink.

"I'm sorry love. I didn't know that coffee made you sick." I looked up and smiled at my worried husband.

" 'Miah, I didn't even know that, don't worry." I sat up, and with his help, stood up. "Has Bruce called?" Jeremiah smiled and nodded briskly.

"Yeah, he's coming in a while." I smiled at my husband's enthusiasm.

"I know he's coming for your prototype, but you have to share him with me. I want to talk to my old friend too." Jeremiah chuckled at my comment but whispered yes.

...

I was in the library when Bruce arrived. I had been sketching a new plane engine, but the fact that I was doing it with a pen and I was too lazy to grab a pencil and eraser made the engine look like a bunch of scribbles. And I had run out of space in the small sheet of paper.

I stood up from the couch and started walking towards our shared office. The piece of paper still in my hand. It was a sudden idea, but it seemed as it might work.

I hadn't reached the office jet when I found Jeremiah and Bruce. Both were walking towards the same room, probably to show the prototype.

"Hey, gentlemen." Bruce and Jeremiah smiled at me then looked at the piece of paper I was holding. "It's a plane engine, but I need my tools."

Jeremiah opened the door for me. Just as I entered the office, I found a big machine in the middle of it. Now I knew how Jeremiah felt when I had random engines all over the floor. Proud. I was proud of his invention. Although I recall, he would get annoyed because he could never get to his desk. I looked back at Bruce to see his expression. Utter amazement.

"Well. I am going back to the library to work on this mess I just drew." I lifted the scribbles so that they could see what I was talking about. "And whenever you two are finished Bruce and I can catch up." I kissed Jeremiah's cheek and left the room.