A/N: This fic is set in an alternative season 3 where Isabella and Mario don't die. At the start, Ed and Isabella are still dating and Lee is still engaged to Mario, but both Ed and Lee realise they are in love with other people. This gives them the (stupid) idea to set Isabella and Mario up with each other so they don't have to feel bad about dumping their significant others. Possibly, you could count this as crack because in the real world this would be a terrible idea that would just hurt everyone more, but this is fiction, so I get to pretend everything's fine! Basically, I felt bad for Isabella and Mario because they seemed to be characters introduced simply to derail relationships between main characters and I wanted them to be happy together. Playing fast and loose with the time line of the show a little bit - the Tetch virus still gets released but a cure is found during this chapter and the rest of the story focusses on relationship stuff and basically ignores everything else. Enjoy!
It starts because Mario's sick.
Everything has been a whirlwind around Lee since the wedding that never quite took place. She'd been so ready to get married and then there was Jim with proof that what he had been saying was true and Mario was infected with Alice Tetch's blood. After that it had been near constant hospital visits, Mario locked on the other side of bulletproof glass, Carmine Falcone bringing her coffee and berating the doctors when they had no good news. Of course, just when she's at her lowest it gets ten times worse because a bomb of the virus is set off in the middle of a crowded station and the hospital is suddenly overflowing with victims. The first week or so, when they're still unsure how many people have been infected, everything is chaos. As time goes on, things settle down a bit but the city is still fundamentally broken. They're quarantined from the rest of the world – left to die or get better all on their own. Lee's glad that no-one else she cares about has been infected, but it doesn't make this seemingly hopeless search for a cure any more bearable. It's been awful and Lee is exhausted. There's a theory that maybe Strange could provide a cure but nobody's seen him since the bomb at central station and Lee is rapidly losing hope that she'll ever be able to kiss her fiancé again.
And then, Edward Nygma provides their salvation.
She's been studiously ignoring the fact that he's out on the streets. After she slapped him in the GCPD, he's not tried to talk to her again and she prefers it that way because it hurts to talk to him. A large part of it is hate and disgust over what he did to Kristen, but there's also some part of her that thought of Nygma as a friend and his insanity is all the more painful for it. So, she hasn't really kept up with his comings and goings and is genuinely surprised when he swaggers into the Police Department, dragging Strange behind him and surrenders the man to the scientists working on a cure. Lee is there when he comes in, taking a rare break from playing the untimely widow to yell at Jim for not having tracked down Strange yet. The station is in shambles. Half the force were infected and a good number of the rest are injured or even dead. The police officers still able to serve are run ragged, the room is busy with the sound of bellowed orders and people rushing back and forth. Nygma strides through the calamity like he owns the place, people falling silent as they realise who he has with him. His eyes pass over Lee as he talks to Harvey and Jim.
"What, you're just handing him over? No demands?" Jim asks, trying for sarcasm, but only managing to sound tired. Strange has already been whisked away and all Lee feels is shock. Are they actually going to be able to finish this? There's a palatable feeling of relief in the air which is making her feel a little light-headed. Nygma shrugs in response to Jim's question.
"Oswald trusts that you'll remember this favour, somewhere down the line." Harvey growls and Jim fists a hand in Nygma's shirt angrily.
"I don't owe either of you just because you decided to act like human beings!"
"You do owe Oswald," Nygma insists, not fazed by the obvious vitriol, "Although maybe not for this. You can't buy this kind of publicity, after all."
Jim releases the other man like he can't bear to touch him, a look of disgust on his face, and Harvey looks ready to punch his glasses off. Lee just rolls her eyes. The Mayor and his Chief of Staff might be some of the most notorious villains ever to grave Gotham's streets, and are decidedly despicable people, but they are still the Mayor and Chief of Staff. Lee doesn't think Jim understands that they actually care about the city, in their own twisted way, and don't want to see it torn down by this virus. Also, she imagines it's a lot of work running things with something like this going on.
"I'm surprised you two haven't killed each other yet. Why don't you do us all a favour and get on that, huh, Ed?" Harvey says scornfully. Nygma fixes him with a look of disdain, but doesn't reply.
Later she heads to the labs to see how things are going with the cure. Strange is being uncooperative. It seems that he had created an antidote, but it had all been destroyed by the Court and he is reluctant to make more for risk of incurring their wrath. The police try to convince him to change his mind, mostly by threatening to punch him, but it's Nygma that manages it. He'd stuck around, claiming that the Mayor wanted him there to ensure everything went smoothly and he deftly coerces Strange to make more antidote but appealing to the scientist's ego – doesn't he want to prove that he's the smartest man in the room? None of them could manage to make the cure, Strange is the only one. It's such a petty argument, one that people have probably used on Nygma more than once. Lee can see it physically pains him to admit that Strange might be smarter than him. But it works, and then things run remarkably smoothly.
Getting the cure out is still a lot of work and Lee knows it will be a while before Gotham really recovers, but finally hugging Mario again, hearing him whisper in her ear, makes it all seem ok somehow. And as she stands there, she feels immensely grateful and realises that some of that gratitude is aimed toward Nygma. She tracks the man down to just outside the hospital where he's apparently waiting for a car to take him back to the Mayor's mansion. He seems a little nervous at her approach and Lee can't help but smirk a little at the implication.
"Dr Thompkins," he begins wearily, seemingly reluctant to say more. She nods her head at him.
"I wanted to thank you, for finding Strange. It doesn't make anything right, and I still think you deserve to be in jail, but Mario is himself again thanks to you, and that means something at least." She turns to walk away.
"Lee!" he calls after her. Lee pauses. "I didn't get a chance to say this last time but I truly regret what happened to Kristen. I never meant to hurt her." A boiling righteous rage washes over Lee at his words.
"I don't forgive you."
"I don't expect you to," he replies quietly. Lee grits her teeth, and walks away.