Things were finally about to change. Captain Barnes and Detective Gordon found new, uncorrupted cadets and made a Strike Force. Gordon finally had the reinforcements to fix Gotham into the city she once knew, a long time ago.

But that was too good to be true, huh?

She was a soldier and a cop. One of the only cops willing to do the right thing almost every time. Almost...

Gordon never did what she told if she disagreed with it. Not even when her own partner threatened to shoot her at the end of the harbour if she didn't kill Cobblepot. Cobblepot was a pitiful man from the first time they met. She was to kill him for being a snitch while he hobbled down the dock, begging for his life. Well, she was more dragging him down the dock but she noticed the limp leg easily enough.

"Please, Detective, please don't kill me! Y-you're Jim Gordon, the only uncorrupted man in Gotham! N-not to say only men can-"

"Shut up," she ordered through gritted teeth, clicking the gun at the back of his head. She took a deep breath. "Don't ever come back to Gotham." Gordon shot the gun beside his head and Cobblepot flopped into the bay.

She tried to swallow the frog in her throat while walking back towards Bullock, but just couldn't muster any words for him. She stared at the concrete beneath her shiny mary-janes. Bullock grabbed Gordon's shoulder gently, making her look him in the eye.

"It'll get better from here. Promise." It was one of the first times he treated her like a colleague, and not an annoying rookie. Who would think that killing a man rewarded kindness from cops?

Gordon never wanted to kill as a detective, already feeling guilty about Pepper. Yes, Bullock shot him to protect her, but he was innocent... of the Wayne Murders at least. Gordon didn't kill him though. She couldn't even pretend she did anymore, that night at Barbara's apartment.

"Jim?," Barbara turned as she opened the door, revealing the strange little man. A smile crept across his face at the sight of her.

"Jamey, old friend."

It was easy to throw him against the brick wall of the apartment building, but not to persuade him to leave. "Gotham is my home, Jim," he pleaded with her. She released the grip on his suit, backing away and rubbing her face to clear her head.

"What do you want from me?," she aimed for keeping her anger, but it came out as exhaustion.

He stepped away from the wall towards her, "I want you to trust me. I can help you and be a valuable friend to you." Cobblepot rested his hand on her shoulder, to which she slapped off immediately. He looked hurt at first, and then that unnerving smile appeared again. "I'll just have to prove to you I'm on your side."

If she had known all that he had down to get back in Gotham, that he was playing all the mob bosses of Gotham so he could take all their place as "King," what would she have done? What could she have done?

"I didn't kill Cobblepot, Harvey," she said to him desperately.

"Of course you didn't, Jim," he winked conspiratorially. She stared at him with wide eyes until he snapped. "YOU DIDN'T KILL COBBLEPOT?," he shouted in the bull-pin.

"Literally what I said, Harv," she sassed despite her cuffed hands behind her back.

"Hello, GCPD!," he bursted into the police station. He turned to Montoya and Allen, who held Gordon tightly. "I'm alive," he laughed with a wave, "so why don't you let my friend Jim go?" Gordon's head dropped to her chest, letting out an exasperated sigh. Her dirty blonde waves shielded her from the looks everyone was giving her.

"Fuck," she mumbled under breath.

Yeah, she didn't kill Cobblepot, but that was the right thing to do. In fact, some perks come along with him starting the whole war with Maroni and Falcone and throwing Fish into the bay. He was top dog now, and that meant she got favors in order to investigate into the underlying crime world of Gotham. Gordon always tried to tread lightly on Cobblepot's friendliness, and even promised a favor in return once, until she completely snapped at him when she was hunting down the Ogre. Cobblepot clearly did not like that, but Gordon didn't have time to apologize.

Especially not after the next favor he cashed in.

"YOU OWE ME, JIM," Cobblepot shouted hysterically while the cuff on his wrist jingled loudly on the radiator. "YOU HAVE TO TAKE US WITH YOU."

"And we are in your custody now," Gilzean added. Cobblepot nodded furiously.

"Shit," she muttered after helping Falcone off the old hospital bed. After that the adrenaline took over and the next thing she knew she dropped two guns on the hospital lobby floor and looked up to see Bullock awestruck.

"We gotta go," Bullock said softly.

"I know, but Harv, we're bringing Penguin and Gilzean too."

"WHAT?"

Gordon doesn't like to think that Cobblepot saved her life either. She likes to pretend the whole "showdown" didn't happen. But it did. And Cobblepot, with his strangely perceptive ways, started a fight between Maroni and Mooney, and Mooney actually shot him in the head. Gordon never appreciated the nickname "babes" either, but she'd never shoot a man for it.

When she was seconds from cutting Cobblepot free, he managed by himself and booked it. That was their plan too, until Selina caught them. Again. Tied up in the same way. Then before anything "bad" actually happened, Cobblepot limped in with a fucking machine gun.

Then suddenly, because of that pig-headed Loeb, she was a uni again, directing traffic. And then got fired. She had a choice after that. She could move to a different and better city, like how Lee wanted, or find a different and safe job, like how Harvey did. But she was a cop, a soldier, a headstrong fighter, she couldn't just leave her home or be something she's not because of some low-life Commissioner that doesn't even show his face in the GCPD Department, let alone work for justice. No, she was going to stay and she was going to be a cop again.

There was only one man for the job, and she hated that thought.

"Jim, how lovely it is to see you," Cobblepot greeted warmly, dismissing everyone except Selina from the long table.

She took a deep breath, "I need a favor." He regarded her for a moment, then smiled again.

"You wish to be reinstated in the GCPD, I know, but how does Lee feel about that?," she wasn't even going to ask.

"Can you do it or not?," she asked through gritted teeth.

"Of course, of course. Persuasion a funny thing...," he looked her up and down again with a quizzical countenance. He finally looked back into her blue eyes. "I need your help too, Jim."

She denied the request determinedly and went to her partner for comfort. "Screw the Penguin. I'm not doing his dirty work."

"That's the spirit, Jim. Don't let anyone boss you around."

"Yeah... thanks, Harv."

And then she remembered the start of all of this and the promise she made to a broken and shell-shocked boy who had lost his family. She went to Bruce and apologized, but told him about her predicament. Bruce snapped unexpectedly and told her that one bad thing shouldn't stop her from doing a life of good. Gordon took the advice.

Unfortunately she killed a man in the process and Cobblepot took care of it, promising everything was handled.

Gordon didn't go to Cobblepot for anymore favors after that. Now she wouldn't dream of it with Captain Barnes putting so much trust in her. She has her own cadet force, and they even started calling her "mom," which is strange but somehow endearing.

She avoided his nightclub all together, not even driving down that street in slight paranoia. She was going to start anew.

There was a knock on the front door.

"Got it," Lee called from the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron to grip the doorknob correctly. She opened the door and turned slightly to a curious detective. "Jim?," she asked Gordon as she looked at the unexpected guest.

"Jamey, old friend," he greeted in the same way he always does, with that devious grin.

AN: Just so you know I wrote this entire thing today. Enjoy!