I lie below, you float above

In the pretty white ships that I've been dreaming of

And I'd like to swim beside you

Getting dizzy in your wake

Getting close enough to touch you

Getting brave enough to take you into my arms

And bring you down to be with me - Jonathan Coulton, 'I Crush Everything'

He'd done a lot to prepare for Nora's homecoming. Well, homecoming wasn't technically the right word. It was a new place to both of them, and it certainly wouldn't be home until Nora stepped inside with that smile on her face...

Until then, Victor had tried to make it as normal a place as possible. He'd rented a normal apartment, in a normal building, in a rather nice part of town. He'd gone to the storage unit where he kept all their old things and set up the place almost exactly like the old one had been. Their wedding picture, which he hadn't seen for so long, was hanging in the living room underneath their diplomas and pictures of them with their families. (Not that he'd seen his family for years. For some reason, rogues tended to get left off of their families' invitation lists when it came to weddings and reunions and that sort of thing.)

The window stood wide open, letting in the cold air. Victor sprawled in a recliner with a copy of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet open in his lap. It would take something special to get Nora's attention and hopefully distract her from seeing the notorious criminal Mr. Freeze instead of her loving husband.

Step one, he decided, was to ditch the suit. He'd had a special "casual" suit made, one that tried to blend a normal suit with the technology to keep him alive. It looked...well, okay, it looked completely stupid, but it was the closest he was ever going to get to 'normal' ever again. Nevertheless, he didn't want to go see Nora with it on. The last time she'd seen his face, there hadn't been a layer of glass between them, and he was determined that it would be the same now.

Step two: Shakespeare. Perhaps a little obvious, he thought, but the words of the Bard seemed tailor-made for his plan.

Step three: Managing to make it to Nora's room without the suit. Tricky.

And so it was that Victor found himself clinging like an ant to the outside of Gotham General Hospital, edging along the tiny ledge that would eventually lead him to Nora's room. He wasn't worried about being spotted. It was barely noon, far too early for the vigilantes to be out on the rooftops, and the commoners below never bothered to look any higher than their heads. He grinned as he clasped a window frame and waited for the wind to die down.

"And when at last I find you, your song will fill the air. Sing it loud so I can hear you,

make it easy to be near you," he sang lightly under his breath as he neared her window. Clutching the bundle of roses in his left hand, he grasped her window frame and peered in. She was there, she was awake! His heart soared. But she was being walked to her bed by a young male doctor. No matter. He'd settle her in and then he'd leave, and then Victor could tap on the window.

He watched impatiently as the doctor seemed to take forever, fussing with the blankets and adjusting her pillows. Victor wanted to burst into the room and shoo him away - his wife's comfort was his responsibility! But Nora was gently smiling at the doctor, being friendly and kind to him as she always had been to everyone he considered to be beneath her. "Oh the things you do endear you to me..." he began to sing, unconsciously, his mouth forming the words without his brain's permission.

And then the doctor leaned down and planted a big kiss on Nora. Victor's mouth went slack. When that doctor left the hospital, he'd find him. He'd find him and he'd kill him for taking advantage of his wife like that, when she was sick and obviously...obviously...The roses fluttered off the ledge as he saw her wrap her arms around him and pull him closer.

Oh, God. A sick certainty washed over him. He'd waited too long. He'd been too nervous to contact her and now she was kissing another man! He clung to the window, wanting to disbelieve what had just happened. But the two were giggling now, conspiratorially, and when they compared their shiny new engagement rings it felt like a punch in the stomach.

He would have preferred a punch in the stomach. He would have preferred just about any kind of injury. He could handle physical pain, but this...this went beyond imagining. And he had thought life was terrible before Nora had woken up...The doctor was leaving, and Nora was settling down beneath her covers for a nap. Victor laid his hand on the glass, wishing with every molecule in his body that he could cry. After he'd left a frozen handprint on the glass, he began to creep back to the fire escape he'd climbed up on, with the words of a song running mockingly through his head. "Who knows how long I've loved you? You know I love you still. Will I wait a lonely lifetime? If you want me to, I will."