XIV: In Case of Emergency

"All reality about me now appeared to be in tatters, taken down and reduced to the civil war of its particles. I held on very, very tight indeed. Because in addition to that feeling, that disintegration, there was rage. I wanted to break something."― Sebastian Faulks, Engleby

•••

Bird took a sip of her still piping hot coffee while she sat at a corner table in the small coffee shop and glanced over the copy of the Gotham Gazette that someone had left on a nearby table.

Captain Barnes had come through on his promise to put the money she'd given into the right programs and in the few days since the harrowing ordeal she'd been through, the GCPD had raided every single address on the list she'd given them.

Countless women had been rescued and now thanks to the money Bird had offered up, they were getting the help they needed to start the long process of trying to put their lives back together and move past the hell they'd endured.

With her lungs locked in place holding onto the large amount of air she couldn't release yet, Bird quickly flipped through the rest of the paper to make sure there wasn't any mention of her name anywhere.

She didn't want any known association with any part of it.She didn't want it revealed that she'd been one of the girls held at an auction site, nor did she want anyone knowing she'd ratted out the other locations where similar horrific situations were happening –she'd even been adamant to Barnes that she didn't even want her name connected with the large cash donation.

Finally, when she didn't see any mention of her anywhere in the paper she let out the breath she'd been holding and closed her eyes, trying to push everything that had recently happened from her mind.

Her dreams had been filled with near constant streams of nightmares –some of them taking her back to the night she'd almost died as a teenager, while others seemed completely off the wall and had her waking up in a cold sweat.

She took another drink from her coffee and started to fold up the paper to toss it back over onto the table she'd swiped it from when someone pulled the chair out across the small square table.

Keeping her head lowered, Bird looked up from under her dark coated lashes to see Jim watching her as he silently sat down across from her.

The detective had called her several times over the last couple days and even stopped by Oswald's to try and check on her, but she'd had Gabe send him away.

"You finished with that?" Jim finally asked, nodding to the folded up paper in her hands.

Silently, she reached out and handed him the paper –watching him closely as he opened it and started to read that morning's news.

Over the last few days, Jim probably hadn't gotten much more sleep than Bird had.Besides her constant refusal to see him or answer his phone calls; he'd been incredibly busy with all the raids his strike-force had been tasked with.

The idea of a safer Gotham still seemed like a nearly impossible far off goal, but for the first time in a long time –he was feeling like all the effort he was putting in was yielding results.

Most of that had been in part to following up the leads Bird had provided.Which in some ways only made it more difficult for him to mentally process; if the small list of addresses she'd offered up could help that many people... then he couldn't help but feel slightly angry that she hadn't done anything with the information until she was the one who'd ended up in that situation.

Now he was also left wondering how many more lives could be saved and criminals locked behind bars if Bird was motivated to share more of what she knew.But he seriously doubted that was ever going to be a reality.

It didn't matter what price she paid for her involvement in the criminal underworld –she kept herself bound by a code of ethics befitting thugs and delinquents.

Bird sat in place, not moving a muscle and barley even blinking as she watched him read the paper like he had every single right in the world to be sitting there with her and he hadn't just intruded on her morning.

Perhaps, what bothered her more though, was that he was simply sitting and reading the paper. Apparently all of the questions he couldn't stop himself from asking in person the night Bridgit had died, and then in voicemails since then weren't important anymore.

"You're just going to sit there?" Bird finally asked.

"I don't know what else to do." Jim openly admitted to her, "The more I try to talk to you –the more you make it a point to avoid me-"

With furrowed brows, Bird interrupted him, "If you don't want to talk... then why are you even here?"

"Because I'm worried about you." Jim explained, "So, if talking is something you won't –or can't bring yourself to do, then we'll just sit here in silence."

"Why even bother then-" Her words came out harsh and tone loud enough that the few other customers inside stopped what they were doing to look over in her direction.But Jim didn't even let her finish her complaint and sternly said, "So you know you're not alone."

Bird's gaze fell down to the table between them and Jim adjusted in his seat; this was typically the point in their conversations that she'd flee and blatantly ignore him when he went after her.

But not today.Today she didn't make any attempt to run off and her list of snappy remarks had run as empty as the anger she'd been directing at him.

He glanced at her from over the top of the morning paper, he wasn't sure if this approach was going to have a different outcome, but it certainly couldn't bring worse results than he'd been getting.

It had taken him a while, longer than he'd care to admit, to get over the initial anger which had stemmed from her refusal to speak to him at all.He understood that everyone handled trauma differently and in being so worried about what she'd gone through –he'd let it get the best of him.

Now that some time had passed, he'd been able to see the situation much clearer than he'd previously done and could now see that Bird was simply being Bird.

"Jim..." She breathed, pausing to take another drink of her coffee. Even with the caffeine she was still lacking the energy to deal with anyone. "I'm fine... how long are you going to hover like this?"

"Until you stop saying you're fine." He answered, folding up the paper and laying it to the side.

Their eyes locked and she gave a small shake of the head. Admitting to Oswald that she wasn't okay was one thing –but having to say it to anyone else was another deal entirely.

When you choose a life of crime and to surround yourself with people who live outside of the law, one of the lessons learned early on is to never show weakness.

Pulling her eyes away, Bird managed to take a deep breath, but when she opened her mouth nothing came out.

Jim's eyebrows raised as he watched and waited to see what she had to say next.

"How did they even get you?" He questioned when she remained silent. He'd seen her hold her own in countless dangerous situations.It wasn't just that she knew how to fight –it was that she wasn't afraid to do so.

She'd even taken down armed assassins when they were after her brother.

One of the many unanswered questions he had burning away in his mind for the last few days was how the hell they'd even gotten Bird inside of that place. He couldn't have imagined that she'd have went peacefully.

"I was in the wrong place at the wrong time." She answered, taking another drink of her morning coffee.

"I don't understand...." He started to say but his voice trailed off and Bird's eyebrow arched as she snarkily countered, "Wow, detective. In the business of asking victims why they didn't fight back?"

"No." He stated, "I'm just trying to understand what happened that night."

"I couldn't fight back, Jim." Bird whisper-yelled at him as she leaned in across the table and her face twisted up into an unreadable expression when she seemed to be talking more to herself than to him, "I don't know why. I just... I just couldn't. When Selina and Bridgit were ready to leave, I couldn't even manage to stand up and go with them. I just..."

Sitting back down in her seat, Bird adjusted her dark plum jacket and gave a helpless shrug, "Life is just too much sometimes, you know?"

Now it was his turn to lean in over the table with nothing but concern etched onto his face, "What are you saying?"

"Nothing." She replied with a low unhinged laugh, "I should get going, I've got an appointment with my lawyer... and then off see if Bruce is still giving me the silent treatment."

"Bird, wait-" He called after her, but she ignored him as she stood up and walked away, tossing her nearly empty cup into the trashcan by the door.

She hadn't even made it to her car when Jim caught up with her, quickly moving to get in front of her on the sidewalk.

"I'm going to be late." Bird complained.

"You can't say something like that and then just walk away." Jim pointed out with his face still wearing the same worried expression, "What do you mean by life is too much?"

"Exactly how it sounded." She sighed, dropping her arms to her sides.With everything she was facing down, most days she didn't even want to get out of bed, but she had to. She had to keep fighting for her brothers sake and so they could bring Gertrud home and put an end to Galavan's reign of terror.

She'd gone through and survived a lot in her life –but most days her current predicament made her feel like she was slowly sinking in quicksand and there was nothing to grab onto to keep her head above it.

She was drowning.

"Meaning..." Jim tried to lead her into admitting what he was scared she was trying to allude to.It wasn't like Bird to just give up, but with everything she'd recently gone though, he feared it might be a possibility that she was just trying to find a way out of it all.

When she wouldn't say anything, he cleared his throat, "It's too much... like, you just want it all to end?"

"That's not what I meant." She argued, realizing exactly why he was so worried, "I'm not suicidal."

His eyes narrowed as he faced her in an attempt to get a better read on her body language, to gauge whether or not she was a danger to herself.

"I'm not!" She loudly exclaimed before pulling in a breath and managing to lower her voice down to a more suitable tone for the close proximity in which they were standing, "You misunderstood me, Jim."

"Misunderstood you?" He repeated back.There were only so many ways in which an admission like the one she'd made could be taken and not a one of them was good.

"There is just a lot going on that you don't know-"

"Yeah." He cut her off, "You keep telling me that, but you won't tell me exactly what it is that's been going on."

"Look-" She started to say, but didn't get a chance to finish as a teenager pushed his way between them –nearly knocking Jim down.

The boy was dressed in all black with dark make-up smeared around his eyes and powder on his face to make his skin seem unnaturally pale.

He stood facing Bird with a bright look of excitement in his eyes, before he said, "I think I'm in love."

"Oh my god." Bird groaned going from confused to severely irritated in just a matter of seconds.

The boy's smile grew and recalling exactly what Jerome Valeska had said to her on the television coverage of the children's hospital event months prior, he continued, "It's definitely love."

With that he took a couple steps back and did a dramatic bow, before walking away with a laugh closely mimicking Jerome's echoing in the air around them.

"What was that?" Jim asked, as he stepped back closer to Bird and watched the teenager disappear around the corner of a building up the street from them.

"Lunatics." She sighed, rubbing her forehead, "It's been happening ever since Jerome stabbed me on live television."She was losing count of how many encounters she'd had with different people who all reminded her of that night.

Jim's eyes fell to the sidewalk as he could clearly remember that night in his head. He'd seen most of it play out on a television feed before he'd found a way into the building.

Jerome had tried to use Bird to lure her brother out of hiding, but when she refused to give him any sort of reaction when he'd only pushed the knife in deeper and when she still wouldn't give him what he was looking for –he'd looked down his bloodstained hands and remarked that he was in love.

With the still bewildered expression on his face, Jim looked from where she was standing back over to where the teenager had gone.

When his gaze landed back on Bird, she repeated, "Lunatics."

•••

"What are you doing?" Bird huffed as she stepped out from behind where she'd been holding the punching bag for Bruce to unleash a series of fast and hard hits against it.

"I'd like to go home." He stated, brushing the sweat dampened hair off of his forehead and unzipping his sweatshirt to try and cool down.

"We've barely been at this an hour." Bird pointed out while she gathered up her hair in her hand and held it up off the back of her neck.

"Bruce?" She questioned.But he didn't give a response as he unwrapped the boxing flex tape from his hands and tossed it into the bag he'd brought with him.

Letting out a heavy sigh, she shook her head in disbelief at how her day was turning out.

She'd barely managed to get away from Jim that morning after he'd gotten convinced she was contemplating if life was worth living and now her little brother was apparently still so upset over how she'd embarrassed him in front of the Galavan's that he was still barely speaking to her.

"What's wrong with you?" Her voice came out louder and harsher than she'd planned, but she didn't regret it either.He had no idea what she'd gone through since the last time they'd seen each other –which is exactly what she'd wanted, but her patience was wearing thinner than usual.

"Me?" Bruce asked, his eyebrows furrowing in anger as he stood back up from kneeling by his bag and turned to face her, "What's wrong with me?"

Before she could say anything, he yelled, "You don't even care do you?"

"Care about what?" She exclaimed, throwing her arms out to the sides and confrontationally awaiting his answer.

"About the way you acted at dinner the other night." He said, his voice nearly in a scolding tone when he added, "The Galavan's invited us to dinner. They were kind and polite –and you were rude to all of them."

"You're really still mad at me because I embarrassed you in front of your little girlfriend?" She couldn't stop the condescending tone on her tongue.

"This isn't just about Silver." He angrily said.

"It is!" Bird accused, "Look, little brother... I didn't want that night to turn out the way it did, but I'm not going to apologize about acting that way in front of those people!"

"Those people?" Bruce bellowed back at her.

"Yes!" Bird shouted, "Those people. You don't know them at all, Bruce. They are not who you think they are-"

"You don't like them because Mr. Galavan wants to change Gotham for the better. He has a plan for when he becomes mayor and you're upset because it conflicts with the choices you've made in your life." Bruce shook his head, "Because you're..."

"I'm what?" Bird's head cocked to the side, "A criminal?"

With his voice lowered he simply answered, "You've killed people."

"I have." Bird openly admitted, "But I've had a reason for everything bad I've ever done."

"But don't you see?" Bruce asked, stepping closer, "Just because you see a reason behind it doesn't make it okay."

"Okay..." She scoffed, "I get why you feel that way... but I'm having a little a trouble understanding exactly why this is bothering you so much now. You've known who I am for a while now... and probably suspected it way before then."

"I just..." He breathed, "I've just been trying to make sense of it all."

Swallowing hard, he continued, "And I can't. I can't understand how you're capable of doing terrible things."

"Everyone is capable of doing terrible things." Bird pointed out.

"But..." His mouth ran dry as he tried to put into words what he was feeling inside, "I know you... or at least I thought I did. I've known you my entire life and what I can't understand is how that person... how my sister..."His voice trailed off and he gave a weak shrug.

Bird stood like a stone, waiting to hear what he had to say next. She had a feeling this conversation had been coming for quite some time, but she still couldn't help but feel like this was more so brought on after the fiasco that dinner at the Galavan's had turned into.

"You can put yourself in someone else's shoes." Bruce finally said, "You're the one who got me to see Selina's side when she'd lied about seeing who murdered mom and dad. Starling, you're capable of feeling empathy –and so I just can't understand how someone who's able to empathize with another could do the things you've done."

"Empathy..." Bird breathed, her eyebrows raising in question, "Been reading up on the inner workings of psychopaths and sociopaths?"

She had hit the nail on the head, but he didn't give her a response.In truth, he'd been trying for quite a while to understand why she was the way she was.

"Maybe..." He slightly stumbled over his words and found the strength to openly admit, "Maybe if I can put a name –a label on it, then I'll be able to better understand you."

"And what?" Bird guessed, "Find some way to forgive me for it?"

"I'm not a psychopath." Bird then said, pausing for a second to shrug, "At least I don't think so; though I have been told I exhibit several of the traits. And yes, I am capable of feeling empathy... but that doesn't change anything. You don't need some label to put on me to understand how my mind words. It's simple."

"How is it simple?" He pleaded, "Explain it to me."

"Okay." Bird nodded, "Let's say there are three people in the room, okay? You, me and some stranger –and someone has to die. Who would you pick?"

"No one." His face twisted up, "No one has to die."

"Yes they do!" Bird sighed, "For arguments sake –someone out of our group of three has to die, there is no way around it."

"There is always another option." Bruce said, "There has to be some way out of it."

He got lost in his thoughts for a moment as he tried to figure out another option in her scenario, one in which all three would make it out alive.Until he raised his head and questioned, "Why are you asking me this?"

"So you can understand how my brain works." She reminded him, "If we're in a room with a stranger and someone has to die –better me than you."

He opened his mouth but she shushed him, "Better I die than you... but better that third person than me. You understand?"

"I..." He shook his head; unable to grasp how she could possibly justify those thoughts, "What if that third person is innocent? They could have done nothing wrong –they are someone's family... how can you so callously choose for their life to come to an end?"

"Because there was three choices, Bruce." Bird reminded him, "There are people who would sit on the sidelines trying to think a way out of the situation –an alternative in which everyone survives. And then there are people like me –the ones who know that happy endings are a thing of fairytales and know that not everyone is going to make it out alive. So I'd make the decision that saved you and me."

"It's not your decision to make. No one has that right... not even you." He argued with her.

"Agree to disagree." Bird shrugged, as she pulled the hair band off of her wrist and messily threw her short hair up in a ponytail.

"No." Bruce complained with a shake of the head, "You can't-"

"There's no point arguing. You're convinced you've got the moral high ground and there is nothing I can say that's going to make you feel any better. I warned you to avoid seeking out answers for questions you might not want answered after all." Bird reminded him and even though she seemed cold and unaffected by his newly discovered disappointment –deep down there was no denying how much it hurt to have him looking at her that way.

It was also eerie how closely the expression on his face resembled the one their father used to wear when he'd look at her.

After so long you'd think that one would get used to the saddened expressions on the faces of frustrated loved ones, but maybe being a constant failure in everyone else's eyes is something no one can truly become immune too.

Fish had once warned Bird that her constantly bowing to both the sinner and saint in her would be her demise and some days that sentiment seemed to ring true enough; other times Bird was just exhausted from everyone expecting her to be one thing or the other.

"I'm calling Alfred to come and pick me up." Bruce announced, no longer feeling like he could stay in the same room as she was. "I'll wait for him outside."

Bird watched as her little brother slung his workout bag over his shoulder and headed for the doors of the old gym she'd been training him in.

Dropping down to her knees, Bird got to work tearing the boxers tape off of her own hands and shoving her belongings into her bag.

One day her brother might better understand where she was coming from –or even if he never did, hopefully he'd at least see soon enough that Galavan was more a monster than she'd ever been.

With any luck, she hoped that revelation would come before he entirely disowned her.

••• later that day •••

With a groan Bird knocked the hand away of the doctor who was trying to use a pen light to look into her eyes.

"I said I'm fine." She stated for what felt like the hundredth time since she'd woke up in the back of an ambulance bound for Gotham General.

"Miss Wayne." The doctor heavily sighed, "You were unconscious-"

With a noise of defeat, Bird rested her hands in her lap and let the doctor check her over after the car accident she'd been in.

It was nearly an hour, several stitches and a handful of x-rays later that Bird was sitting up on the end of the hospital bed waiting for someone to come and pick her up.

She had wanted to call her lawyer since she didn't want to worry Alfred and her brother and Oswald had enough on his plate –but she'd been told that her emergency contact had already been notified and was on their way.

Which had left her with a sinking feeling in her stomach upon realizing she'd never gotten around to changing any paperwork and they still had her in case of emergency contact listed as Harvey Dent.

Reaching up she cringed as she rested her hand against the dark bruise that had formed on the side of her neck and down over her collar bone from where the seat belt strap had kept her in her seat during the accident.

Hearing footsteps, she didn't even look up as she slid off the foot of the bed and weakly said, "I'm sorry you got pulled away from work."

"What happened?"

Raising her head, she stared at Jim and asked, "What are you doing here?"

"The hospital called me." He answered, stepping closer and looking her over.

Aside from the stitched up gash on the side of her forehead, she was covered in bruises and small scrapes.

"Are you okay?" He questioned, stopping right in front of her.

"I'm a little sore, Jim." Bird stated in a tone that let him know he'd asked a rather stupid question, "Since when do they have you doing car wreck investigations?"

Now it was his turn to appear confused, "I'm not here for that..."

When she mirrored his confused expression he repeated, "The hospital called me...""When did you put me as your emergency contact?" He softly questioned.

"I didn't." Bird answered, "I never changed it from when Harvey and I broke up. It should have still been him..."

Her voice trailed off as she saw the disbelieving look on his face and she realized, "You don't believe me."

"It's not that I don't believe you." He quickly cut in, "It's just... I know you probably don't have many people to list for something like that, so it's okay-"

"I have other people besides Harvey for stuff like this..." Her own voice trailed off and she stubbornly added, "Like my lawyer."

"Bird." Jim sighed. He didn't want to argue with her and he was more concerned about her than anything. It was just several hours earlier that she'd been telling him how life felt like too much and now here they were at the hospital because she'd ran off the road and hit a tree.

"I didn't list you as my emergency contact!" She yelled with a whine in her voice as seeing he didn't believe her when she knew damn well her paperwork should still have Harvey on them.

"Then why did they call me?" He countered.

"Clearly someone messed with my file."

"To list me instead of Dent?" The tone of his voice was calm, but it was clear he was trying to get her to realize how that didn't make a bit of sense, "Who would have done that... and why?"

She was silent for a minute before her eyes widened and she started to quickly ramble, "Someone who's trying to make you think I'm crazy, someone who would stand to gain from completely discrediting me and getting everyone to turn against me-"

"And who would that be?" He cut her off.

Swallowing hard, she shook her head back and forth, knowing exactly who must have messed with her paperwork but she couldn't tell him.

With her unwillingness to answer him, he tried a different approach to get her to open up and talk about something else, "You wanna tell me what happened with the wreck?"

"I don't know, Jim." Bird gruffly answered, "Why don't you ask the person who tried to run me off the road."

Jim's head cocked to the side.No one had tried to run her off the road. Witnesses who'd called 911 had said she'd swerved off the road and right into a tree. Not a single person had mentioned anything about her being followed or run off of the road.

"GCPD did find them... right?" She pushed.

"There's no one to find." Jim answered her, taking a step closer and asked, "What do you remember?"

"There was someone in a black SUV." She shrugged, "I can't tell you if they were male or female –I can't tell you anything other than they came out of nowhere and tried to make me wreck. Which apparently they succeeded in."

When he wouldn't make eye contact with her, Bird complained, "What, Jim?"

"No one was following you. All the witnesses at the scene said you just swerved off the road..." He finally said, feeling a pang of guilt at seeing how his words brought her down.

"Bird?" He asked as her breathing grew labored and she shook her head back and forth before stepping away from him.

The witnesses had to be lying, she thought to herself, they just had to be. She saw the car in her rearview mirror and she'd lost control of her car –she wasn't making it all up.

Either everyone around her had been in on it or she'd imagined the car chasing her.It wouldn't be the first time in recent memory that something had happened she couldn't explain.

Like the nightmare she'd had of being buried alive which resulted in her waking up to find dirt in her bed –which had mysteriously disappeared before anyone else could see it.

Perhaps most frightening of all was when she'd followed a hallucination of herself as a child around Wayne Manor.

Without a doubt she knew that Galavan was trying to make her appear unstable and that he'd more than likely been behind changing her paperwork to send Jim to the hospital instead of Harvery.Even if he was behind getting perception of her to change... there was no way he could change what she was seeing inside of her head.

"Bird?" Jim repeated, stepping closer; but Bird turned her back to him as she tried desperately to force the breakdown she was slipping into away and regain control of her breathing.

Bird had always had problems trusting others, even beyond her friendship with Oswald –the one person she'd always had at her lowest points was herself.

She might not have always seen situations through the same set of eyes as most, but she had always been able to trust her own mind.

Only now, she was growing increasingly worried that -that wasn't even an option anymore.

After all, a story is only as reliable as the narraror's perspective it's told from –and as of late her perspective had been shaky at best.

"What is it?" Jim's voice was steady and calm as he walked around to face her when she'd turned her back on him.

Her eyes were red rimmed and filled to the brim with tears when she finally opened her eyes to look at him.

"I...I..." She stammered, violently shaking her head back and forth as she clutched onto her own arms so tightly her fingernails left indents in her skin, "I... I can't...."

"You can't what-" He started to ask, but once she wasn't able to hold her tears in anymore and started to turn the other way to put her back to him once again, he gently laid his hands on her upper arms to stop her and said, "You have to tell me what's going on."

Avoiding his eyes she fought against her own trembling chin and cursed every single salt water stream left on her cheeks. Staring up to the bright florescent lighting she forced her eyes to stare into them in an attempt to reign her emotions in.

This wasn't her. She didn't break down like this, especially in front of other people.

Her breath thundered in and out of her lungs and she held onto her chest as it still ached from the car wreck and now it felt like everything was closing in on her.

Oswald's mother had been missing for a while and even with Butch operating behind enemy lines, it didn't seem like they were any closer to bringing her home alive.

Bruce was falling deeper under Theo Galavan's spell, which only left her terrified that if they didn't get Galavan out of the picture soon that her brother would be in even greater danger.

Every single hit she'd taken for months felt like another brick being laid on her chest and more kept piling up. If there ever was a light at the end of the tunnel, it was now so dim that she couldn't see it anymore.

"I'm not..." She struggled to speak through her crying, "I can't do this anymore."

"I can't." She repeated, as she reached up to wipe the tears from her face and jerked away from his hold on her arms as she turned to try and see where the doorway was through the constant tears blurring her vision.

The room was feeling smaller by the second and just like all of her current problems –there didn't seem to be a way out.

Feeling a hand on her arm, she tried to pull away from him again, desperately wanting to be anywhere else but he didn't let go. Instead, he pulled her closer and the next thing she knew she was wrapped in his arms.

Giving up on her struggle to get away, she sank against him, her fingers clutching onto the fabric of his suit jacket while her tears soaked onto his shoulder.

With his arm over her back, Jim cradled the back of her head in his other hand as he held her tightly against him.He still wasn't sure what exactly was going on, but he'd never seen her like this before.

"Whatever is going on... you have to tell me." Jim repeated, keeping his hold on her as her body continued to tremble from her near silent sobs.

Her tears kept flowing and if he hadn't been holding her so closely, she wasn't sure she'd still be standing.

Outside of Oswald, herself and Butch –no one knew what was truly going on and that had left her feeling more isolated than ever.She'd held everything in for so long, it wasn't just a matter of trust it was also knowing that whoever knew the truth would be in grave danger.

She'd been damned since the moment Theo Galavan had stepped foot in Gotham and she didn't want to bring anyone else into a problem that was also swallowing both her and Oswald whole.

"They've... they've got Oswald's mom." She finally admitted, her mouth hung open as she fought for air, "The mayoral candidates... the Wayne Enterprises buildings... all of it. The murders I was framed for and the Arkham breakout. All of it..."

"Bird." Jim said as he slowly let go of her and stepped back just enough to see her, "Who's doing all of this?"

The tears that had started to dry, welled back up in her brown eyes and she shook her head back and forth.

Almost as if he knew the thoughts running through her head, he said, "Tell me who's doing this and I promise I'll believe you."

Bird bit down on her bottom lip and started to try and look away from him, regretting she'd ever broken down and started to open up in the first place.

"Hey, hey..." He breathed, as he gently took her face in his hands and got her to look at him and repeated, "I promise."

Their eyes locked and bird pulled in a deep breath even though it made her lungs ache and burn.

She'd never wanted to involve him in this but she was so tired of feeling so alone with the burden.And for a moment, she selfishly didn't care of the news would damn him too.

Just as she opened her mouth there was a knock on the open door frame that startled them both.

"Sorry for the intrusion." Theo Galavan said, not waiting for an invitation as he walked right into the room with them and offered with a friendly smile, "I was passing by and happened to see you. And I just wanted to thank you again, Detective Gordon, for your support in my run for mayor. We're going to do great things together –you and I."

Bird's heart sank as she looked over at Jim. She could clearly remember a time when he'd told her that he didn't believe politics and policing mixed –but now apparently he was going to be publicly backing Galavan.

With a tight smile on his lips, Jim did his best to politely nod even though Gotham's probable future mayor had showed up at the single most inopportune time.

"Well..." Galavan cleared this throat, "I won't keep you. I know how busy you are, but it was nice seeing you again."

"You too." Jim agreed and didn't let the breath he'd been holding out until Galavan was out of sight.

"Bird-" Jim started to say as he looked to where she'd been standing, but she wasn't there.

Turning a circle his eyes scanned over the entire room, but she wasn't anywhere to be found.

So close.He'd been so close to not only finding out what she'd been keeping from him for all this time, but if what she was saying was true –then this was the closest he'd come to closing the many open cases and questions that had been haunting him.

Bird was slowly making her way down the sidewalk leading to the walkway of Oswald's mansion. After slipping out of the room and then hospital unnoticed by Jim, she'd finally made it back to Oswald's and she was gearing up to tell him something he wasn't going to want to hear.

They were going to have to kill Galavan –whether they had his mother back or not. Someone like Theo Galavan was too big of a threat and if Oswald wasn't on board then she was going to kill Galavan herself.

There was too much at stake.After he was gone they'd come up with another way to find Gertrud. They'd be free to tear his penthouse suite apart and she was sure they could find something to set them on the right path.

But Galavan had to die first.

"Bird." Butch called out when he spotted Bird just about to turn onto the stone path to the mansion, "Hey, there you are. I've been trying to call you."

"Butch." She greeted him with a sympathetic smile as her eyes fell to the mallet attachment on his arm where his hand used to be.Tabitha Galavan had been experimenting with different tools she could attach to the stub of his wrist and her latest invention had been a mallet.

Her exhausted brain took longer than usual to process the rest of what he said and she explained, "My phone's probably still in my car...I got into an accident."

"Are you okay?" He asked, stepping closer to get a better look at her in the streetlights.

"I will be soon enough." She shrugged, immediately regretting the movement when her bruised collar bone started back up with the unrelenting aching.

She turned to start for the house again, but he stopped her as he said, "Hey, I got some good news. I found her."

"Gertrud?" Bird's eyes widened, "You found here?"

"Yep." He nodded, running his tongue over his lips and wiping the sweat off of his forehead, "I know here Galavan's keeping her."

"That's... that's amazing!" For the first time in days she finally felt like she could breathe.The timing couldn't have been more perfect. Now all they had to do was get Oswald's mother to safety and kill Theo and Tabitha and anyone else who'd played a part.

"Oswald's going to be so happy!" She exclaimed, "We've got to tell him and get a group rounded up and-"

"Hey..." Butch cut her off and grabbed onto her arm to keep her from walking away like she'd tried to do again.

"Yeah?" She asked.

His eyes roamed over her face.They'd known each other for years and she didn't hold an ounce of fear towards him.

She trusted him.

"Come on." She complained, pulled her arm away from him and said, "We have to get Oswald."

"I will." He agreed.

When she turned her back to him, he stepped forward and put his altered arm around her midsection to stop her from walking away and to hold her still.

"What are you-"

"I'm sorry, Bird." He earnestly said just before he pulled the syringe from his pocket and held the cap between his teeth to uncap and expose the needle and emptied the contents of it into the side of her neck.

Finally able to jerk away from him, Bird grabbed onto the side of her neck where she'd felt a pinch seconds before and turned to face him. She opened her mouth, but before she was able to say anything at all, her eyes started to roll back and she swayed before her legs gave out.

Butch rushed forward and caught her as she fell unconscious; with a slight struggle he got her limp body up in his arms and repeated, "I'm sorry."

"Oh, don't look so glum." Tabitha said when she stepped out of the shadows and smiled at him, "You did good."

"Yeah." He scoffed as he followed Tabitha over to the car they'd come there in and watched as she opened the trunk.

Butch stepped forward and as gently as possible placed Bird into the trunk of the car, before looking to Tabitha and reminding her, "You promised not to hurt her, remember?"

Rolling her eyes, Tabitha slammed the trunk shut and complained, "Boring..."

Seeing the expression on his face, she conceded, "Fine, yes. We're not going to hurt her. Now go inside and convince Penguin you've found his dear old mommy and we'll see you later."

Rolling his neck from side to side to loosen up his tense muscles, he watched as Tabitha started to get into the car before she looked back and teased, "Smile, Butch. You don't follow Penguin's orders anymore. You're free."

•••