The Universe's Mixer

Jack's days in the City were always a flurry of activity. He was okay with that and in fact, he thrived on it. His office was more of a home than the apartment that so very much resembled his suite in the palace back home. He had a little more reason to be at home since Fred was still staying with him. Whatever their history, he considered the brunette a friend and wanted to be there as she recovered. He would miss her when she moved out, but he also hoped that she found what she was looking for. Whatever that was.

Truthfully, he'd intended to help with the search more than he'd managed recently. Though in retrospect, he realized that this might be something that should be between Fred and the City.

While Jack would never quite get used to the sentient being that ran things, he had somewhat of an understand and empathy for the creature after spending time with him in his human form. He felt connected in some ways, due to his position as the mayor. He even felt a fondness for the City itself, as well as the people who had voted him in. Unlike back in Wonderland, these people had chosen him to lead. He considered it an honor and a duty that he took just as seriously as the duty to better things back home.

Which was why there was a jolt of sadness when he opened the door to what should have been his office and found himself in the throne room back in Wonderland. He looked around at his court, feeling a sense of relief at the familiar faces jumbled with grief over those that he might never see again.

He managed to reign in all emotions just as quickly as they had appeared and looked into the faces of those who counted on him to lead. If he was truly home for good, then he had work to do and he would have to find moments to grieve later.

The past few days had been filled with quite a lot of hubbub. Fred's memories were back and she'd been able to identify her attacker. Jack hadn't had much time to talk to his ex-girlfriend about the attack or how she was feeling now as they'd had a superhero camping out to make sure that Fred was safe. And then it was all over and supposed Sam, the man who'd attacked her, had been 'fixed.' Jack wasn't too sure that he bought that nonsense about him being without a soul or that he trusted the hunter, but he supposed he didn't have a choice for now.

He did recognize that there were stranger things in this City than he'd ever imagined possible, but he didn't just want to assume that Fred was safe now. Even if Dinah seemed to believe that she was.

He still had to go to work every day and he still came home later than he was comfortable with. He'd also back off on the security detail at Dinah's urging, though he didn't back off entirely. He still didn't feel as though the brainy female who was his temporary roommate were safe and he wanted to make sure that she was protected.

On this particular day, he stopped to pick up tacos on the way home. He was familiar with her favorite foods and he thought that she'd been through enough already-the least he could do was pick up some comfort food. He let himself in to the apartment and looked around for any sign that she was home.

He supposed that at some point she would want to look for a place of her own, but he wasn't planning to push her out the door.

"Fred?" he called as he closed the door behind himself and set his keys on the table in the hallway.

By process of elimination, Jack had become the person that was notified of all of the goings on with Fred at the hospital. This was partially his implied leverage due to his situation in the City and partly because she had no family or next of kin to fill that role. He was glad that he was in a position where he could keep an eye on her, though he hated that he couldn't be there more often. He was almost always worried that whoever had tried to kill her would make a second attempt, so he'd asked a few police officers to keep watch outside her door. Undercover, of course.

Keeping watch over Fred was about to get a lot more difficult, since her main doctor had contacted Jack to talk about the possibility of discharge with regular outpatient check-ups as they tried to help her regain her memory. The doctors had already mentioned that there was just as much chance that it would come back as there was that it might never return.

More pressing at the moment was the fact that Fred was being released and yet her building was still destroyed. There were cases when the City saw fit to rebuild a building, as it had with Jack's office after the fire a few months ago. But in this case, nothing had been restored.

Jack took a half day at work on the day when Fred was set to be released and stopped outside her room, knocking to announce his presence. He had a few options for her as to where she could go next while she continued her recovery. He just hoped that she agreed to at least one of the choices he gave her.

Jack still didn't have any clue as to who had tried to kill Fred. That concerned him and it was getting to the point where he knew she wanted to get out of the hospital. He couldn't blame her, and he was sure that while he'd kept the news reporters out of it, it was no longer a secret that she was alive. He'd known that was a possibility upon telling Dinah, but he couldn't in good faith allow her friends to think she was dead.

Jack knew that he needed to try a different tactic to see if he could keep her safe. So he picked up the phone and dialed one of the few detectives in the City whom he had spoken to personally and who he trusted.

Charlie Crews. He found the number easily and hit the send key. Jack didn't like asking for favors, particularly in his position. But for Fred, he would.

Charlie: Crews. Yes?
Jack: Detective Crews, it’s Jack Heart. I have a favor to ask of you.
Charlie: Mayor Heart. What can I do for you?
Jack: I have something that I’d like you to look into. Someone’s tried to kill a friend of mine. Do you have the time to take on another case?
Charlie: I will see what I can do. I’m working on something, but I can definitely give it a look.
Jack: I’ll fax over the information. Anything you could do would be appreciated.
Charlie: Send it to my phone. Phones do that. Phones can do anything, you can even talk on them. Not talk talk, but talk text talk. Send the info, Mayor.
Jack: Thanks, I’ll do that. She’s important to me, so I appreciate the help.
Charlie: Protect and serve, Mayor Heart. I’ll check on your friend, and see what I can do to help.
Jack: Thanks again.

Jack hung up the phone and used his own phone to pull up the information he had on the case so far and sent it over. He just hoped that Charlie would be able to help.

----

Charlie read over the info; his jaw tightened a little. Someone shot some poor woman and burned her place down? He would look into it while he looked into other things. Someone had just made an enemy. He would find the person, and he would make sure they were punished. Of course, he had a long list of people to punish. A very long list.

Jack stared at the TV long after the news report had finished. He couldn't have heard right, could he? But he had. And he'd recognized that building.

Fred.

They hadn't said that they'd found a body. Just that they thought she might be dead. Was there more to the story? Did they have a reason for thinking that she was dead, beyond that she'd lived in the building?

There were, perhaps, people he could call to get answers to these questions. He wasn't ready for that yet. He wanted to cling to the little sliver of hope that Frank and Candy were mistaken. That Fred was still out there.

He went down to his car and started to drive. He didn't realize it at the time, but he started to head in the direction that he'd last seen the Angel Investigations building. Maybe he just needed to see it for himself. Or maybe he really did think that he would find her if he scoured the area.

Fred sighed as she stood in the City Courthouse hallway. She stared at the subpoena, not the way she planned on spending the day. The brainy female glanced up at the lady justice then back at the piece of paper. She was being sued. She’d been summoned; she’d shown up at the right time without complaint. She should have thought about it before showing up, thought it through just a little bit - say like bringing along a lawyer. Now she had been through the meeting, and was looking at paying a hefty fine. She wasn’t sure how things worked, but this felt a little not right.

She didn’t know what to do now. Fred didn’t want to upset anyone by sharing her current issue. She didn’t want people to know she needed money, maybe. She really did not want to find a lawyer to help her out. The only lawyer she knew wasn’t one she could just trust. Could she?

“How?” the brainy female sighed again. She really should have thought everything out better.

( ---- )

Tinker Bell had had an exciting last few days, fluttering around the floor of the building that she was living on with Rufio. They played, and she made him fly, and they had many adventures to remember together. It was nice, as well, to have a friend that actually could understand pixie, and could talk to her like a regular creature. She was a regular creature, right? She thought so, anyway, and she didn't know what she would do without her good friend Rufio. He was her Pan, and she was his fairy. That was the way things were supposed to be. She had made friends with a lovely woman named Christine, too, who had made her the dress she was wearing out of an old scarf! What a wonderful gesture that had been on Christine's part!

Tink was slowly learning, though, if she needed something badly enough it would be there, and she didn't know how or why those things happened, this place sure was strange, but she wasn't going to question it. It was hard being tiny, because there were never any clothes in your size, they didn't make hair brushes or jewelry for people so tiny, so having things there when she needed them was alright with her. She could only expect so much out of her friends, and she wasn't going to burden Rufio, he had a life here before she came along and while she was his fairy, she knew that he was big and big humans tended to have other big humans to play with and have adventures with. That was the way things went.

She had been missing the sun, and the grass, as pixies usually did being creatures of the Earth, so she had fluttered outside after Rufio had fallen asleep from having so much fun playing, going out to the park. That was the place she had come to when she first arrived in this city, and where she had met Christine. The park, as it was called, was a place of good memories. Tink flew over to a picnic table, landing on her feet on the painted wood, leaving a circle of golden fairy dust around her feet as she stood. Her wings paused for a moment, as she tilted her head to look all around at everything, enjoying the feeling of warm sun on her face. She was wearing the green dress that Christine had sewn for her, and her feet were bare. Slowly, she walked around on the table, wings beginning to flap very gently once more, though not hard enough to lift her from the table. She was careful to avoid the cracks, as she could easily fall through.

She noticed that a lady bug had landed on the table as well, not too far from where she stood, and she smiled warmly at it, pausing for a moment to study it. It may have been tiny to a human, but when you were only three inches tall, things like bugs could be massive. This lady bug was still small to Tink, but not as small as it would be to a human.

She sighed softly with delight, folding her arms over her chest, watching the lady bug scurry around on the table for a moment, satisfied by it.

It was perfect.

Fred was feeling good. Or pretty good. She had felt very happy for her friend who'd found a way to make light more than just a pretty show. It made her very happy. She wanted to share the happy, but currently she wasn't sure how to. Or who she should share the happy with?

She was reading through the paper when she saw the usual picture of the City's Mayor in it. She flipped through the paper to finish reading, and finally the idea came to her. Of course, she supposed she should have thought about it long ago, or at least when she found out.

With that in mind, the brainy female stopped by a donut shop to get sweets and coffee before she headed toward the Town Hall. She didn't think she'd have much of a problem getting into see the Mayor; she'd never had a problem before. Then again, she hadn't tried in a while. So, with a little cajoling, a few giggles, and babbling, she was standing outside Jack's office.

"Knock, knock." She didn't stand outside the office for long.

After weeks of practice and fine-tuning, the newest performance opened at the City Opera House. Unlike before, the star diva was Enigma, in the title role. Another bright point of the evening came from the inventive interpretation of the classical score from Dr. Hannibal Lecter, on piano.

Again, Opening Night came with its victory gala at the end of the performance. Again, the featured stars invited special guests, and again, the City Opera provided complimentary tickets to one Ms. Lois Lane and the City Mayor (plus 1, naturally). But the performance and gala were also open to all. And as the performance came to a close, the gala sprung to life downstairs in the Grand Foyer.

Eric was pleased.

Not just because there was going to be a party, to which they'd invited every single person in the City, but because it was for him and Baba. But to top that off? It was in their new home, Castle Dracula.

He would retain his sleeping place, and she would - of course - retain her cabin. Both would be used for various things, but their main residence was going to be the castle. Eric was in love with the building. The rich history, the fact that it belonged to living relic, every aspect of the castle was glorious to him. Baba had warmed to the place.

It was decorated with the red and black that they had decided on for colors. Tastefully done, but very gothic. The front door was wide open, welcoming all visitors. From the front gates to that open door was a pathway of red roses, to guide people inside.

The castle held many rooms, but only the ones on the ground floor were open to wandering. The stairs leading to the levels below and above were cut off by large men and velvet ropes. Strict instructions were given that only himself or his wife were allowed to pass. Even with these restrictions, there was more than enough room to fit every citizen, should they choose to show. Plenty of room to poke around.

In the great dining hall stood large tables laden with many kinds of food and smaller tables with chairs for people to sit at. Tables had been placed in other rooms, too, for people to take their food, drink, or company. Catering staff roamed with hors d'oeuvres and took drink orders. There was a large room filled with art and two fondue stations - chocolate and cheese. A room with a nice, even floor and a grand ceiling which also held the orchestral quintet he had found. Once the sun set, the grounds around the castle would be lit up with tiny fairy lights.

There was to be only one truly scheduled event, and that was when he and Baba would make their appearance and introduce themselves to the rest of the City as Eric and Red Northman. This would happen closer to sunset so that the other vampires could attend. The rest of the time, the people would be allowed to do as they wished when they wished to do it. Eric had spared no expense to get this rolling along. He wanted his new wife to have a party that nobody would soon forget.

Jack had gone to bed with Zatanna and woken up alone for the first time in months. It wasn't a good feeling. It was worse when he'd searched everywhere in the City and found no sign of her. He'd spent days looking for any sign of her and had finally been forced to conclude that she was gone. Alice had disappeared awhile back and that had hurt too, but not like this. Truly, not like this.

After burying himself in work all week, Jack found himself on a Saturday morning with nothing left to distract himself. Sure, there was always something to do but his secretary had all but shoved him out of the office and maybe he did need to clear his head.

A walk in the park seemed like a fine idea. It was a lovely sunshiney day, as most days in the City were. Somehow that seemed a little extra cruel lately, but it was what it was. When all was said and done, this had become his City and he would still continue to do what he could for the people here, no matter what or who he'd lost along the way.

Opening night for Verdi's La Traviata ran as smoothly as the City Opera House manager designed it. He allotted a certain number of complimentary tickets to be distributed by high-performing members of his production. Those lucky enough to receive these tickets were placed on a special guest list and personally escorted by the house staff to their box seats. The manager himself claimed a seat in Box 5, which was otherwise empty.

Tonight, the crowd glittered and shone brightly under the warm glow of the opera house. Attending the opera was as much about high art as it was about being seen. With every playbill this night came an invitation to the opening night celebration following after the performance. There, all would get their fill of the glamor brought out by opening night.

When the lights in the auditorium dimmed, so too did the chatter. Then began the orchestra, casting its spell with rich, full-bodied music. The pianist, one Hannibal Lecter, would be remembered by musical types for his mastery. But there was limelight enough for others, as well. The production's Violetta, Ms. Christine Daeé, sang soprano with a curious and heady combination of seduction and fresh youth, while the Flora of the opera, Ms. Enigma, carried the darker mezzo-soprano with an expert's touch. And when the lights came up, it was to the roar of an audience recognizing the triumph it just witnessed.

Once the curtain calls were done, the crowd began filtering down the staircase and into the Grand Foyer, where the night was just beginning. The wine flowed; the violins hummed -- a triumph indeed.

Zatanna was at the Justice League meeting, which meant that Jack was on his own for dinner. He'd had a strange craving for tacos and there was a place that Fred had shown him. He assumed that since the meeting was on, he didn't have much chance of running into Fred and her boyfriend. That was a good thing, since the encounter hadn't gone all that well the last time.

Jack had paperwork with him to keep him busy while he enjoyed his dinner. He was almost always multi-tasking unless Zatanna was around to get him to put his work away. It was just that there was so much to be done. The work involved in being the mayor seemed to be never-ending. Though that was leadership, wasn't it?

Jack didn't mind doing things for the good of his City-yes, he had come to think of the City as home. He took his responsibility to the City and its people very seriously, even if he didn't always do things that pleased absolutely everyone. There never was a way to please everyone, but that didn't stop Jack from trying to do what was best. Even if it did mean looking over new legislation that had landed on his desk for approval while trying to eat his dinner as well.

Zee felt the swirl of energies around her and needlessly held her breath. It was just a stupid habit she couldn't help doing during a transport or teleportation. Where it was transporting her this time she couldn't be sure, but it had to be better than die Festung and that world. She had a moment of hoping whatever this was had nabbed John too, but that thought went out of her head when her vision cleared and she found herself standing in the living room of Shadowcrest. She was home! She was home!!

She let out with a happy squeal as she turned in place to take in the sight of her family home, so lost in the elation of being there that she didn't notice how still Shadowcrest had gone. If she were paying attention she would recognize the house's reaction as utter confusion and hesitancy. But she wasn't paying any attention to it as she darted up the stairs. She wanted out of these clothes and into clean ones. NOW! Oh sure she could magic up clean clothes, but it wasn't the same as the clothing she had bought specifically for herself.

Bursting into the bedroom she noticed that the bed was not empty. Zee pulled up short for a moment wondering who she'd need to blast out of her house, then caught sight of some rumbled blonde hair peeking out of the blankets, gracing one of her pillows. John! Whatever power brought her back brought him too! Yay!!

"sehtolC enog!" The incantation was almost breathless in anticipation of enjoying her homecoming with John in the time honored fashion, a flick of her wrist practically sweeping her clothes from her. With an eager, but gentle smile on her face she slid under the blankets with him. Her hand smoothed along his arm as she pressed a kiss to his neck. Hopefully he wasn't too hungover and it wouldn't take too much more to wake him up. "Hey, baby. We're home."

Dinah hadn't called Zatanna immediately after the article and picture about Zatanna and the mayor had hit the City Voice. She'd wanted to, but she figured that her friend might need some time before she dealt with the deluge of questions.

For Dinah's part, she was a little hurt that Zee hadn't confided in her that something was going on with the mayor but it wasn't like she'd found the time to tell Zatanna about Dean yet. So if anything, when she did finally get over to Shadowcrest, it wasn't to yell or even to pry, but more to commiserate.

Dinah hoped that the rest of the Justice League wasn't giving Zatanna grief about her choice of companions, but she also hoped that Jack wasn't simply leading the mystic on or that he wouldn't suddenly revert to his views of superpowered crimefighters. Really, she wouldn't trust that he had truly change duntil she saw some sort of new legislation.

As a peace offering and a show that she wasn't upset, she brought Chinese food and a bottle of wine. She knocked on the door, hoping that her former teammate was home.

Jack was in his office as per usual when the City started moving again. He didn't notice until one of the people in the office shouted. When he looked out the window that was being pointed at, he saw the buildings start to move. Slowly usually, in the fashion that was normal to the City.

The calls quickly started coming in after that. Mostly locals who were elated about their fridges repopulating the food, but some from others who were disgruntled about the streets and buildings starting to move again.

Jack was... well, he was always sorry for those who weren't used to the moving streets. He himself wasn't always used to them, but he could deal with it. All things said and done, he was mostly relieved. The bank account for the City's budget started to refill itself and suddenly his office had a fully stocked liquor cabinet again-the liquor had been slowly edged away as Jack had entertained various CEOs and others who might have needed reassurances.

In short, things were back to their normal working order. Normal for the City, which wasn't normal as far as those who hadn't been born here were concerned. But to Jack, normal was all relative.

With the panic in the streets mostly quelled, he decided that it was time to do something that he hadn't done for almost as long as he could remember.

He took a day off.

Just like that, he asked his secretary to reschedule all of his appointments and he ignored the ever growing inbox and he left the office. He didn't head home however. No, home meant the confusion with Alice and home wasn't really where he wanted to be right now.

Instead he left a message and then headed to the enchanted home of one particular mystic who had a fondness for fishnets. He stopped to pick up a box of chocolates and a single red rose on the way. Once there, he knocked and waited for the house (and presumably the woman inside the house) to decide whether or not to let him in.

The City Hall was chosen because it held a room within it that was big enough to accommodate the droves of people that were sure to come. Plus, being inside space, there were no worries over weather that couldn't be controlled. The people could sit and listen and not have to try to hear past traffic or wind.

Even with the late notice, everything was done well before the scheduled start time, which Thomas was proud of. He was glad that the ones who were born here weren't entirely useless without him around. They were keeping their heads together, doing what needed to be done. Of course, it also could have been the fact that they believed Thomas was who he claimed to be, and with his presence there with them, they felt better about the situation they were currently in.

Thomas looked at the stage. That's where he would be standing, talking to the people he had brought here. He had no doubts that they would be the ones with the questions, the ones who demanded answers. He was ready. He could do this.

He sat in a seat hidden by a curtain, where he could still see the stage and the rows of chairs beyond, and waited.

Jack was extremely busy these days. This business with Thomas/the City had taken up just about all of his time. He'd been organizing the press conference and quietly searching for the witch responsible for trapping the City.

While he had left a voicemail for Zatanna the day after their date to let her know that he'd had a good time, he really needed to do something more. He'd spent the night, after all. And what a lovely night it had been.

He would have happily made another date with her sooner, but there were things that needed his attention now.

Which was why he sent over a dozen white roses along with a small strawberry cheesecake and a note.

Zatanna,
Thank you for the lovely evening. I would like to see you again soon. Are you available for dinner next week Saturday?

Yours,
Jack

She had a dinner date tonight with the mayor she had been pissed at. It was part of the whole making it up to her for making her pissed at him to begin with. It had been her suggestion but Jack seemed amiable enough with it. Surprisingly, Zee found herself agreeable to the idea as well. More than a little, too. Weird! Gods, she needed a better social life, apparently!

She wasn't nervous. Nope. Not one bit. That was so not the reason why she was running late. Nor was it because she couldn't decide what to wear. And her makeup wasn't giving her fits and looking bad so that she had to magically etch a sketch the whole thing and start over. Twice. Shadowcrest was becoming amused at her and was tempted to show her what she wanted to see in the mirror, but the last time it had done that to her and she found out she put mothballs everywhere. It hated mothballs!

Needless to say she wasn't ready when Jack showed up to pick her up. She had insisted on that instead of just meeting somewhere. The front door opened on its own when he got to the porch, inviting him to wait inside where a steaming cup of tea was waiting for him in the foyer.

Jack was just as busy as ever. The City was still not moving, and panic was at an all time high. He couldn't give up eating entirely, but he'd taken to just quick snacks for an energy pick-me-up when he could get them.

He was still looking forward to the night he'd arranged to take Zatanna to dinner, however. He'd arranged to delegate some responsibilities during that time and he intended to give her his full attention.

At the moment, he was in need of a sugar rush. His vision had gone slightly blurry while looking over papers at his desk. While he could have asked someone in the office to go out for the frozen yogurt, he supposed that a quick break might do him just as much good as the calorie intake.

Which was why he was currently sitting in the corner of Yo-yo's Fro-yo's, half hiding behind a paper as he ate his vanilla frozen yogurt and tried to collect his thoughts before he returned to the nonstop pace of his overflowing inbox.