Edward was tired, it had been a long day at the GCPD. He just couldn't understand why everyone seemed to dislike him. He thought itwas a sweet idea with the bullet and the cupcake, but Miss Kringle didn't like it. He decided to take a long walk home in hopes of clearing his mind, maybe he'll hit up one of the game shops or a book store. He was crossing the bridge when he noticed something.
There was a young woman sitting on the outside edge ofthe bridge. He felt his heart start pumping, she wasn't going to jump was she? He jogged up towards her. "Hi? Are you alright?"
She gave a twitch and turned towards him, a dark hand brushing her dyed green hair out of her face. He was suprised how pretty she was. "I've never known how to answer that question. How does one know if they're alright anyways?" She turned away from him and looked down at the water below them.
He pulled out his cell phone and called the direct line for the GCPD. "Hello, could you get officers Gordan and Bullock to the bridge? It's an emergancy." He knew Detective Gordan would be better at this than he was, but he felt the urge to help this woman. "Do you like riddles?" He asked as he slowly walked closer to her. She didn't answer him at all. "What does everyone look towards but will never be touched?"
He was behind her to the side, standing by the railing she was sitting on. "Tomorrow. Tomorrow is just a day away." She sang the last bit, looking up at the sky. He could see she had been crying for a while. "I don't want to see tomorrow. I don't want to spend another day surrounded by death and dispair." She finally looked right at him. "I'd tired of being alone, tired of being nothing more than a showpiece. I have a brain, opinions, but none of that matters." He looked at her some more. She was wearing a sleeveless shirt and jeans despite the cold breeze. There were purple handprints on the arm closest to him.
He felt something tighten in him as he saw the bruise. "Has someone been hurting you?"
She gave a hollow sounding laugh. "Honey, someone's always hurting me. That's my station in life." She looked down at the water below. "Maybe my station in death will be better?"
"No!" They were both surprised to hear him shout. "No, you don't need to die. I work in the GCPD, I know some people who could help you." He reached towards her then pulled his hand back, looking down and doubting what he could really do to help her.
"You're really concerned aren't you?" She looked confused at him. "Tell me another riddle?"
"Sure. I can be cracked, made, played, and told. What am I?" She gave a frown and turned fully towards him, her hand and one thigh resting on the edge.
"A joke?" He smiled and gave her a nod. "Huh. Okay?" He saw there was a small cut on her cheek that had been facing away from him. "I think I've got a riddle for you then. How can you stand behind someone at the same time they stand behind you?"
He reached and pulled his hand back again quickly. "When you stand back to back of course." He watched her head tilt as he heard a car pull up. He didn't want to take his eyes off her. " Here are some people who thankfully have my back today." He heard the doors open and close and the two detectives walking up behind him. "Are you sure you don't want to come down Miss?"
She turned away and looked back at the water. He took another step foward, if she jumped he could lunge and grab her, he was sure of it. She ignored the two men walking up. "Miss Nobody. I am as big as myself and weigh nothing. That is all I am. Nothing more and nothing less."
"Miss, you are more than a shadow!" He felt panicked, would she really push herself off the ledge?
Gordon walked up to her other side while Bullock hovered behind Edward. "What brings you here on this not so lovely day?" He gave her a smile and frowned when she ignored him.
"I've got another riddle for you if you care to listen" Edward was within distance to touch her, yet he kept his hands back.
"I'll always listen to a riddle, but it might sound better off the ledge. It'll rain soon." She turned again to look at him, ignoreing how close he was. She pulled her green curls back and looked back out into the distance. "What begins all that ends, but ends all that begins?" He watched her hands start to push herself off and in a blind panic he threw his arms around her to hold her back. He didn't think about hin going over as well.
A strong pair of arms held him and he heard the woman screaming. "Let me die! Let me join the others and find peace! " She fought and kicked and with Bullocks help he and the woman are pulled up onto the bridge. He kept his hold around her, unsure of what to do as she turned in his grip and just cried in his arms. He could hear Gordon and Bullock give sighs of relief.
"What were you thinking lungeing after her like that? You could have died!" Bullock shouted at Edward. He flinched and tightened his grip on the woman, looking away from Bullock and down at the mess of green tangles.
"I was thinking someone so beautiful and smart shouldn't die to solve her problems." He looked over to Gordon with a slight frown. "I think officer Gordon was doing the same thing and thats why he was able to catch me."
"Gordon's an idiot who wants to save the world! You- you are a forensic technician! All you are supposed to do in the field is collect evidence! Not try to save everyone! The girl wants to die and I'm sure there's a reason why!" Edward felt the woman stiffen in his arms and back away.
"Because if I don't kill myself I'm going to die anyway." She turned towards Bullock, he took a step back in shock. "You know who I am, you know the power held over me. With this gang war going on none of us girls are safe. I had to watch my sister get killed and I was powerless to stop it. There is so much I have gone through and if I had the chance, the choice I would escape and find somewhere I could use my brain or continue singing, this time with my clothes on." She wrapped her arms around herself.
"If they knew you talked to us, your sister got off lucky." He looked around the vacinity, noting it was deserted.
Edward reached for her again and as he pulled his hand back she grabbed it and pulled him into another hug. He closed his eyes and held her. "Stay with me tonight. Wh-while the detectives figure something out about your situation I mean." He fumbled over his words, unsure what to do with this still nameless woman who wanted to die and instead was in his arms.
"That could work. If your apartment secure Nygma?" Gordon laid a hand on his shoulder. Nygma smiled at him, he'd never made fun of him or tell him off for his riddles so far.
"Yes it is. I can keep her safe."
"This isn't smart. We shouldn't get mixed up in this. She's a Malroni girl." Bullock backed away, his hands infront of him and shaking his head. "Someone will get killed, and I don't want it to be me."
He tightened his grip around her, "Something needs to be done though."
She gave a bitter laugh into his chest. "What will be done is what the poor have, the rich eat, and you will die if you need it." She backed away and looked up at him, he wanted to badly to reach out and push those green curls out of her face. "As he said, I'm one of Malroni's girls. I'm nothing but an income and something pretty to look at."
He felt his jaw tense as he heard Gordon question Bullock in confusion over the riddle. "There won't be 'nothing' done. If they won't help you, I'll let you hide at my place. You are more than what they think." He closed his eyes and twitched his head as he heard a voice. 'You could just kill the person who bruised her and hit her hard enough to break skin.' "Come along, they may not want to do anything but I will."
Gordon stepped towards the two of them. "Ma'am, we need a name so we can look into your sisters murder."
"The names 'Liza, my sister was Eve, full name Evelyn Johnson. You won't find a body. They dumped her in the bay."
Edward gave a small frown. "Eliza then?"
She gave another cold laugh, "No ones called me Eliza in years, but you can."
He took her hand and they walked away as Gordon and Bullock got into their car. "I suppose it's a good thing I wanted a longer walk home. We're going this way." They walked in silence as they reached his apartment, she got closer to him and pulled his arm around her waist as they walked.
When he opened the door she looked around with a small smile. "It's not much, but you can have the bed. I'll pull out some blankets and sleep on those."
"We can share a bed. I'll leave you with your dignity if that's the issue." She cocked a hip out to the side and placed her hand on it. He gulped, this was a much more confident woman than the one he pulled from the bridge.
"I- I..." He couldn't form a sentence as he pulled at his collar and looked to the ground.
"I was joking. It's alright if you're not confortable sharing a bed."
He took a breath and looked her in the eye. "I've never shared a bed with a woman."
She raised an eyebrow in surprise, looking him up and down. "Why? You're good looking, you're smart, you seem a bit awkward but I don't understand it."
"I was told I'm weird and creepy and need to leave people alone." He frowned, looking at the ground and remembering Miss Kringle's expression and how she just did not like him.
"They'll come around, but how about you gain some experience before then? Really surprise them." She gave a laugh, he felt lighter she wasn't laughing at him, she wasn't calling him a creep or weird. She just, accepted his quirks, responded to his riddles and tossed a few of her own back.
He took her on her offer and the next morning he woke up, still holding her. He looked down at that mass of curls, he ran his hands through them, green his favorite color. She woke up and looked up at him, giving him a tired smile before getting up. "I- I should probably head to work." He stood up from his bed and was completely unsure of what to do.
"I understand sweetheart. I should probably get back to my own life too." He hated seeing that look on her face, sadness and fear mixed together. They both knew her heading back was a death sentence.
"Where do you live?" She looked confused at him. "Incase I want to visit." He fumbled with his tie, trying not to blush, trying to shove down the dissapointment when she tells him that he's overstepped a boundry he didn't know was there. She walked over to him and fixed his tie, looking him in the eyes and telling him where she lived. He smiled at her. "Could I see you tonight?"
She had that look again, it made him want to hurt someone but he shoved it down. "If you feel safe enough, then yes." They both left his apartment and went their seperate ways.
His day at work was as normal as usual, he took his car and drove to the small house she lived in. He could hear shouting and he heard her scream. The door slammed open and he saw a large white man walk out. There was blood on one of his hands. Edward felt anger well up inside himself and he stepped out of his car.
"Why did you hurt her?" He felt so small next to this man. He could remeber Bullocks words, 'She's one of Malroni's girls.' He shook his head and looked at the man. The man grabbed a knife and held it out towards Edward. He panicked and shoved it down. The man ended up stabbing his own leg. They looked at each other and Edward pulled the knife out of the mans leg. Stabbing him over and over again. He heard the man fall and hit the ground as he watched the door open. Eliza was standing there, looking at him. She ran towards him.
"What have you done?" She looked up at him and down to the dead man before them. "Get inside, now." He followed her, numb and unable to do more than follow her. She pulled off his jacket, covered in the man's blood and put it on herself. "Go shower, go home and clean your clothes up. Give me the knife." She paused and looked at him, he looked at her and saw the growing bruise around her eye, the cut on her cheek was bleeding again. Her lip was split and he could see more bruises on the rest of her.
"What will you do?" He was scared, and she looked at him with a fierce confidence. She knew what to do. He climed into the shower and watched the bit of blood he had on himself wash off. He dried himself off and climbed back into his clothes. A bit of blood was on one sleeve. He could bleach that out.
"You don't want to know. Tell them I borrowed your jacket when I went home. You were never here. Got it?" She looked up at him and pulled him down towards her with his tie. She gave him one last kiss. Part of him knew it was a goodbye. "Thank you for getting rid of that man."
"I killed him. Oh dear, I killed him." He felt the panic rising in him.
"No." He stopped, surprised. "That wasn't you. Okay? You didn't kill him, someone else did. Okay? Someone else killed him. Tell yourself that. Believe it."
He climbed into his car, ignoring the dead man on the street and drove home. The next day there was a reported murder suicide. He was there with Gordon and Bullock, his stomach churned seeing her, Eliza oh the beautiful Eliza. She was wearing his coat and had the mans blood on her, she was holding the knife. It was covered in blood, her blood oh he felt sick. She was dead, lying there dead with slit wrists.
Bullock placed a hand on his shoulder. "Steady there Nygma. We all knew she wanted to die. She just took the man hurting her with her."
"That's my coat. She borrowed my coat to walk home yesterday." He felt the lie roll easily over his tounge.
"I'm sorry." Gordon looked at him genuienly distressed. "We'll get someone else to collect the eveidence. You should take some time to yourself." He nodded and walked off. He felt like his head was spinning. It wasn't him who killed that man, it was someone else. Someone else killed him.