She awoke shivering yet dry. He had been waiting patiently for her eyes to open.
The first thing Elodie noticed was that her clothes had been changed and that the top she now wore was hiked up to expose her chilled stomach.
The second thing was that Edward was lying alongside her, obvious skin contact being made.
"W-wh-at are you d-oing?" She chittered out, a spasm of quakes wracking her body as she attempted to flinch into herself.
"Your body is going into hypothermia. If your core is not kept warm, your heart will stop." The organ in question stuttered at his clipped tone. He was not happy with her, just then.
"O-oh." Not wanting to further peeve him, she remained quiet, the hitches in her breathing the only apparent sound in the room.
She was trying not to think of the fact that Edward was shirtless, while trying to find a spot to place her hands, without making her situation even more awkward. Her current roommate wasn't content to carry on the tense silence they had fallen into, however, which didn't at all surprise her.
"Well?" Elodie's eyes flickered up to take in their close proximity. She was disoriented enough to have no idea what he was asking.
"Hm?" She had reluctantly laid her head on a pillow close to where he had propped himself up; if she couldn't reduce the awkwardness of the situation, at least she could reduce her own physical discomfort.
"What rhyme or reason do you have for that little…stunt?"
Ah, there it was. Not the best conversation starter, but Elodie knew it would come up, sooner or later.
Too bad she didn't have much of a reason.
"T-the only explin-ation I c-can give is instinct; my f-fight or flight ki-cked i-in." Elodie's thoughts turned frantic as her heartbeat fluctuated, but she became both relieved and confused as Edward reached over her to secure the ever-shifting blankets around them, his right side becoming exposed as he coincidentally shifted closer.
Carpe diem. She thought ruefully, frowning as a skeptical smirk spread across his face.
"Which stimulus might have caused such a response, I wonder?" If her body temperature had been regulated, just then, a blush would have stained her face.
She knew that he knew, but also knew that she was being forced to say it, a form of what she assumed to be revenge for previously spiting the rogue. She wanted to crawl right under the blankets, just then, to avoid the undeniable embarrassment she was bound to undergo.
Or, maybe not. He is wearing pants, right...? She shook off any obscure questions, which were now bound to float around in her head, and switched back to the matter at hand.
"You." She sighed, pausing to add to her thoughts. "You can be intimidating, at times." Elodie gritted her teeth when he pulled her closer-her trembling had resumed-, a faux frown of confusion on his face.
"There's little reason to 'fly from' or fight me, don't you think? I can understand some trepidation, as far as intellectual differences go, but I won't hold it against you. Much." Elodie had been attempting to avoid looking anywhere but his face, but the combination of the light in his eyes, and the fact that he was shifting with every sentence he spoke, made it difficult for her eyes not to stray down towards his neck and collarbones.
Why do I keep-ugh; I'm tired, and he knows it, so he must be doing this all on purpose. Jerk. Jerk, jerk, jerk-oh. Her scattered thoughts went on lockdown as her entire body was enveloped in warmth. A down-feathered comforter fully insulated her as a warm body surrounded her curled up form.
"For now, however, let's not worry about those things." She wanted to protest when he moved away, in order to take something from off the nightstand, and lightly grasped her chin to turn her head to the side.
A slight pressure, and one beep later, Edward was frowning at the thermometer, and set it back before turning back with an assuring smile.
"Not at the temperature I was hoping for, but a definite improvement. I wonder: Why are you so effected now, even after all the supposed time you spent with Freeze? How, exactly, did you manage to attend school for those six months? I could have sworn I saw you board a train and that the Iceman, himself, claimed you as his assistant." Her mind swam with his words as she internally panicked.
There was no way to answer him, without giving herself or her uncle away, so she resorted to the avoidance approach.
"As you saw, the room I stayed in wasn't refrigerated, like the rest of the building. I also happen to be from a mid-western state; most weather, besides dry heat, gives me the chills. As for my position as his assistant…I've already said that I won't be revealing any direct information, concerning him. Our agreement is confidential and you'll need to get through him to get an answer."
Her levels of discomfort rose, as he wound his arms around her waist, the action feeling somewhat possessive. Edward was smiling, however, so she was sure that her words had yet to set him off.
"My, my, was that a challenge? Your underestimation of my abilities is charming. Perhaps I'll show you an example of my work, soon. I have one in the works, as it is, so I might as well." His face was centimeters from hers, eyes twinkling mischievously as their foreheads touched.
"I could take you on a tour of my city. It would give me good reason to increase the difficulty of our trivia games." A blush bloomed across her cheeks and reassured both of them that Elodie's body temperature was indeed regulating. "How about it?" He questioned, eyes traveling over her face with an amused grin on his.
The thought of escape lit up her thoughts like a LED sign.
"Well-ah-sure-" She gasped, eyes snapping shut, as the redhead leaned the rest of the way in to capture her lips with his.
No, no, no! Leggo'. Let go! Her head swam with the not unpleasant scent of what she guessed was cinnamon as her lips were assaulted.
Elodie remained perfectly still, eyes tentatively opening, then widening as she was pushed into a pillow. Edward's unfortunate lack of shirt caused her to pause in pushing him away, but her utter lack of response caused him to pull away, possibly having been unaware of what he was doing.
He stared down at her, blinking a few times in rapid succession, obviously pondering what had just taken place. Clearing his throat, he slid back into his original position, his grip remaining as secure as ever.
"I seem to have, ah…forgotten myself." He recovered the hesitation in his words by the confident air he radiated. "You seem fatigued, darling. It's fairly late, to begin with, so there's no harm in resting up." Elodie nodded, almost fully recovered from her little swim, expecting him to leave her to it. This failed to occur, though, as he turned to switch off the lights.
"I would retire to my temporary quarters, but there has been very little opportunity for me to sleep, and I need to ensure that your body temperature remains regulated. There's also the fact that this is my room." Elodie's eyes widened at the realization, and stifled a groan, bracing herself for the most awkward night of her life.
"Alright…" Being able to see nothing through the dense darkness, Elodie let her eyes flutter closed, a spark of confusion and unease igniting in her gut as her unseen roommate unconsciously ran his fingers through her hair.
The action seemed casual, but Elodie couldn't help but wonder if he was doing it just for the sake of doing it. Finally, she decided not to be too bothered, attempting-and failing-to keep a smile off her face at the familiar feeling.
Should I be worried that this isn't unpleasant, to me? It reminds me of my mother, or…
Dante.
Moisture pricked her eyes, and she bit down on her lip to distract herself, certain that Edward was awake by the rhythm of his breathing.
I completely forgot. This whole ordeal made me forget. But now…damn it. Elodie held in any sounds of discomfort, focused on the rhythmic brushing through her hair, which only upset her further.
"Go ahead." Edward instructed, voice vibrating through his chest as he caught a tear sliding down her face with his thumb.
Exhausted from holding the burden of secrecy, the young woman collapsed against the bed, blinking the moisture out of her eyes with a shaky sigh. If she had seen the victorious smile on his face, she would have clammed right up.
"It isn't healthy to suppress issues that reduce you to tears, you know. The best way to work things out is to talk about them." Grimly amused by the fact that someone who had spent time in an asylum was giving her life advice, Elodie gave a slight nod. She knew that she was going to face some unpleasant consequences if she once more shot down any inquiries Edward had, concerning why she had fled her school's campus in favor of Gotham.
"I know." She admitted, too tired to care that she was agreeing with him. Pausing, Elodie took a calming breath, before delving into her explanation.
"I had made a friend during freshmen year. He was one of the only male dancers in the school, and some girls belittled and brushed him off for wanting to major in dance. He was isolated; didn't have many friends…so, I volunteered to be his dance partner, and he quickly became like a brother to me. I would help him practice lifts and he would tutor me in math.
Right before last winter break, though, he started getting…weird. Possessive, almost. He was paranoid that I would lose interest in our friendship and 'move on to make better friends.' He would call to see where I was and who I was with, at all times, and threw a fit whenever I didn't answer his calls. I started to distance myself; He would call, at three in the morning, crying and threatening to kill himself.
Towards the end of December, I'd had enough. I filed a restraining order, switched to early morning classes from the ones we'd shared, and heard and saw nothing of him." Elodie's voice slowly transitioned from shaken to even and a little tired. The unfaltering movement through her white locks was beginning to lull her, making her voice muffled with sleep, but she pressed on.
"Then one day, after a rough practice, he approached me. He was crying; obviously drunk…asked me why I had 'abandoned' him. When I didn't give him the response he wanted to hear, he started shouting, and eventually hit me." The trailing fingers abruptly stopped, giving Edward's reaction away, causing Elodie to frown. The gut feeling that she shouldn't tell him the rest grew stronger, as the silent moment stretched on, leaving her uncomfortable and nervous about his reaction.
Finally, she decided that she was too deep into her story to stop there, even if the memory tore her up. Even as she thought of it, a searing pain shot through her chest, causing fresh tears to spring to her eyes.
"We were in the park on campus, and it was getting deserted and dark. He tried to…tried to-" Elodie's voice dissolved into sobs. She remained complacent when Edward pulled her closer, resting her cheek on his chest as he resumed running his fingers through her hair, grip on her waist tightening.
Nygma was silently formulating a way to painfully-and in the most humiliating way possible-teach the barbaric moron, whom has reduced his little anomaly to tears, not to touch his things.
The young woman was determined and respectful to him and of any knowledge he happened to impart to her. She was also not impervious to his charms, and wasn't as dull as a rock, unlike some of the plastic bimbos inhabiting Gotham.
Any upset caused by outside forces was unwelcome; although they could potentially assist him with gaining her trust, crying in general annoyed him, and Elodie was doing an awful lot of it lately. Doing so meant that one was overwhelmed. Edward Nygma was never overwhelmed.
"What's his name?" He asked, his hushed whisper sending a chill down Elodie's spine. She shook her head, and was about to object, but Edward beat her to the punch. "I am going to find out, regardless, so you may as well tell me." The young woman knew that this battle was a lost one, and released the breath she had been holding, her muscles relaxing as sleep hovered over her.
"Dante Cairo." She muttered, bringing her arms up to shift closer to the only source of warmth in the immediate area. A semi-familiar sensation pressed against her forehead, causing her to blink in surprise, but not enough to snap out of her submersion of sleep. Her eyelids fluttered shut, even as he tucked her into his curled form.
"'M not…a teddy bear…" was the last of Elodie's semi-coherent thoughts, before unconsciousness claimed her fully, making her oblivious to the waking world.
Edward, caught off-guard by her dismissive words, chuckled to himself.
"Of course you're not, darling." He whispered in amusement, mind surging with plans-every possible outcome to such plans coming along with them.
She most certainly provided me with the opportunity to "save" her. What other opportunities may arise? The thought was enough to yield a smile from the sleep-deprived man. With a plan for the following days to come, he allowed himself to drift, sleep coming soon enough.
Another update. Hooray! As I forgot to include in the last chapter update, a huge thank you to everyone who has followed/favorited/commented this story! I admit to happy-dancing every time I get one of those magical notification emails. I hope you guys feel special, as I have some particularly nasty paper cuts riiiiight on the tip of several of my fingers, and I typed this all up, despite the pain. Much love.
Until next time.
Disclaimer: I do not own Batman in any way, shape, or form. If I did, his suit would be pink. Bright pink. With ribbons.