Disclaimer: I do not own Gotham or any of the characters. I only own my OC.
A/N: I wasn't going to do this, but after this weeks episode how can I not? So without further ado, here's a sneak peek for 3x14. Since it's during season three, and I'm planning on changing directions with the POV once we hit season two, this chapter will be in 3rd POV. Hope you guys enjoy it.
*Warning* Mentions of pass self-harm, Clinical Depression, and pass abuse, and brief thoughts about attempted suicide within this chapter. Yeah...it ain't pretty :/ and I'm sorry if this bothers you. But like I said before, the further along we get into the story, the more Winifred is going to go through emotionally and physically. And this is season three, so...she's been through a lot up to this point. Anyways, with out further ado, here's the sneak peek!
Chapter 12: 3x14 Sneak Peek
Winifred couldn't believe it.
At first she thought she was having a dream.
Or should she say nightmare...
But no this was real.
He really was here with her.
Jerome.
He was alive and well.
Except she really couldn't say he was well...he's never been well.
No he was crazy. No matter how much he denied it.
But he really was with her.
The only difference being that his face was now stapled on.
It had been removed thanks to that Dwight guy.
Now she's not gonna lie, when she first saw him with his reattached face, she was shocked. But not disgusted...even with a stapled on face she was still heavily affected by him. No matter how much she wanted to deny it.
Like right now.
She had been captured by him. Surprise, surprise...
What she didn't expect was for him to take Bruce as well. She had seen the teenage boy when Jerome had brought her to this circus of his.
Circus of torture is what she called it.
But now here they were. Just the two of them.
Alone.
She made sure to stay her distance once he brought her inside this secluded room of his. She hadn't even said a word to him after he got her. She was even avoiding his gaze. It wasn't because of his face though, but because she knew she would grow weak if she just looked at him.
She heard Jerome let out a huff and she could practically imagine him rolling his sea green eyes.
"You can't ignore me forever, gorgeous."
Winifred just looked at the wall ahead of her.
Jerome however fake pouted, coming closer to her. "Aren't you even happy to see me? Don't you want to say anything to me? Hmm?"
Actually yes there was one thing she wanted to say to him. Something that gave her the courage to finally look at him. Hopefully she would remain strong. "Let Bruce go." She said with a hard voice.
Jerome got a livid expression immediately after hearing this. He already hated the Wayne boy, but his hatred for him grew even more now that he knew that his Winifred cared for him. He never liked sharing her affections with anyone. Not with her friends or family. The only person she should truly care for was for him. No one else. Still he managed to control his sudden anger and instead gave her a tight smile. He shook his head at her. "No can do, gorgeous. Brucie, is the main event after all."
Winifred's eyes widen and just as she was about to say something else, Jerome quickly interrupted her.
"So a year goes by and what do you know? I miss a lot." Jerome said with a loud feverish voice. "And a lot of interesting things happened during my absence."
Winifred didn't like the sudden topic of conversation. The bravery she had gotten faltered, and she looked away from him again.
"Like for example, Theo Galavan being killed. Twice!" Jerome laughed. His laugh had been more raspy since coming back to life. "Boy, would I have killed to have seen that!"
Winifred remained calm, but then he said something that unnerved her.
"I also heard about your father."
Winifred looked towards Jerome and saw how he staring right at her.
"Apparently he went all text book sociopath, huh?" He then scoffed. "Figures."
She had no idea why she gotten the need to explain. Maybe because she wanted to fully tell Jerome about what happened with him. Sebastian. Maybe she wanted to prove to the red head that talking about him didn't affect her. Even though that was a huge lie. Just thinking about that man made her anxious. Either way, she responded back to Jerome.
"He's at Blackgate." Winifred admitted to him, her tone of voice taking a turn for the worst. Her emotions were getting the better of her. She felt stupid now. She should have known better. She always sounded like this whenever she talked about him. Sebastian. Her father...not that she would ever call him that again. Especially not out loud. Despite him being locked up, the memory of that man, and what he tried to do to her was still a very triggering subject.
Much to her relief silence filled the room. She glanced at Jerome and saw how he had his head tilted at her. He was smiling but she could tell it was half-hearted and his sea green eyes were narrowed at her. He looked as if he was contemplating something.
"Good old Dr. Thompkins told me." Jerome suddenly said. When he saw her bemused expression he decided to be more elaborate with what he was trying to say to her. The smile he had on his face fell. "About what he tried to do to you." He told her with a heavy amount of disquietness. Then again this really shouldn't be a surprise to him. This was his Winifred after all. And even after coming back from the dead, he still held strong...feelings for her. Dead or alive, he knew that was never going to change. Not after everything they've done together. Emotionally and physically. They were bonded, whether she liked it or not.
Winifred's face became white as a sheet. Her eyes, despite her not wanting them to, were beginning to glisten. "She―she told you..." She said, her voice wavering with emotion. Even though this whole situation she was in with Jerome was chaotic, she didn't want him knowing what happened between her and that man.
Jerome nodded his head. "Hmm, she sure did. But don't be too mad at her. She didn't really have a choice. I mean, I did have a gun on her." He said lightheartedly. "Besides, I knew your good old daddy was a ticking time bomb. Never did like him anyways. Guess this means I don't need his blessing anymore, huh?" He laughed after saying this, but his laughter came to a halt when he saw how downhearted she looked. Her pretty blue eyes that he loved so much were becoming more and more watery.
His chest tighten and he had a desperate need to make this stop.
"Don't worry, he'll get what's coming to him soon." Jerome said with a low threatening voice. His face twisted with a determined expression. "No one gets away with trying to hurt you. No one, you understand?"
Winifred wanted to laugh and retort something back to him. His comment about him not letting anyone get away with trying to hurt her was an ironic thing for him to say. Since he had indeed hurt her in the past. Not in the same way her father had tried doing to her, but Jerome was still one of the main reasons for her depression. He hurt her emotionally with his lies and innocent facade. She gave herself wholeheartedly to him and he in return broke her into pieces. He destroyed the trust she gave to him. Ripped it apart along with her heart and ultimately he ruined her as a person as well.
He was the reason why she didn't want to get up in the morning. Why she no longer truly smiled or felt happiness. Why she gave up trying to live her life to the fullest. Why she became a former shell of herself like her mother. Why she was diagnosed with Clinical Depression. Sure there were other reasons for that, but he was the one who made her hurt herself. The memory of him haunted her. His betrayal changed her. It took almost a year to feel like her old-self again...and now here he was. Alive. All the progress she made went down the drain. She just wanted to sink into darkness and never wake up. And maybe this time nobody would get to her in time. Because she just wanted to stop feeling like this. All of this was too much. He was too much...
She pulled her jacket tight against her body and looked away from Jerome. The red head was quick to notice this.
"Now here's one thing I don't understand." Jerome said tilting his head at her. His sea green eyes closely took in her form. "What's with all the layers? I knew you were conservative before, but this is just ridiculous. You trying to go for a whole nun look or something?" He asked her with a condescending attitude, but deep down he was really curious to know. Why did she have on all these clothes? Nothing but her neck and up was really showing. This both bewildered and for some reason made him feel agitation. He came closer to her until he was towering over her. "Just what are you hiding?"
Winifred's heartbeat began to pick up pace. "I'm not hiding anything." She said trying to sound firm, but her voice betrayed her. Having Jerome this close to her again was making her lose her composure. He saw right through what she was trying to hide from him. She no longer could hold in her tears, and her wall of guarded emotions fell apart. She lowered her gaze when she felt the tears run down her face. She didn't get to look at the ground for long, because she felt his cool fingers gently lift her chin towards him. He looked at her with a smile, but it wasn't a full one.
"You always were a bad liar." Jerome said placidly. He let go of her chin and instead tugged at her jacket. "Come on, show me."
Winifred backed away from him. "No." She said shaking her head. She really, really, didn't want him to see what was underneath.
Jerome followed her. "Winifred." He said more firmly to her. His expression soften when he saw her crying face again. He reached and gently wiped the tears that were on her pretty pink cheeks. He stared into her blue eyes, and then spoke in such a doting way that was only meant for her. "Show me." He asked again, while caressing her face.
Winifred wanted to say no again. She wanted to push him away and fight him off. But she knew couldn't. No matter how much she hated Jerome for what he's done to her, there was no doubt that she still cared for him. That those caring feelings were indeed something known as love. Despite all this time, the red haired boy still had his hooks in her. He was under her skin and she couldn't shake him off.
And by the looks of it, she had a feeling he already knew what she was trying to hide from him. Maybe Lee told him, but most likely not. He would have for sure brought it up from the beginning. No this was something he wanted to find out for himself. And he wasn't going to stop bothering her until she showed him.
So with sigh and somber expression Winifred slowly backed away from Jerome. Having put some distance between them, she proceeded to take off her jacket. Then the other jacket she had on and then her sweater underneath. Up until she was only in black her tank top and her long past knee navy colored length skirt. But she didn't have to remove anything else, because they were now visible.
Her scars.
The self-inflicted scars she had.
They were all over her shoulders and down both of her arms.
Jerome noticed this right away. They weren't bright red anymore and it didn't look like she had any recent ones. But she still had scars all over.
This was new to him. The last time he had seen her with this little amount of clothes had been on that night. That meaningful night. The same night when she gave herself to him and back then her skin had been untouched without any kind of injuries. So this...this was indeed shocking for him to see. Had she really been so down in the dumps because of his absence? Some part of him was happy because of that. But another part...the more human side of him was deeply affected by this new discovery.
Yes, he himself had a scarred face. Or better yet the correct term would be stapled. But since finding out he was alive, Winifred had showed no disgust towards his face. She still looked at him the same as before. With those pretty blue eyes of hers.
So why should he look at her different?
True, he didn't like it that his precious Winifred was covered in scars. But the self-inflicted injuries didn't take away from her beauty. In a way it made her stand out more. Just like his. They were both damaged in a way. He just he didn't like the story behind her scars.
His girl really did suffer a lot during his absence, huh? Hmm...
He saw how self conscious she was getting when all he was doing was staring at her. She was putting on her sweater, but he was quick to stop her. He grabbed the sweater from her hands and threw it to the ground. He then took hold of her shoulders, feeling the scars beneath his cool hands. She was avoiding his ardent gaze, and he sighed at this. He rubbed his hands up and down her shoulders bringing her into his arms. Body against body.
Winifred was taken back by this. She was not expecting him to hug her. Not after showing him her scars. She thought for sure he'd show some sort of disgust or even maybe laugh at her. But he didn't do either. He was actually comforting her. And as much as she wanted to throw him off, the feeling of having him hug her was winning over her judgement.
God, it felt great to have his arms wrapped around her again...
In such a loving way.
She let out a content sigh and closed her eyes when she felt him kiss one of her shoulders. Right where one of her scars was at. She arched her back a bit when he started kissing up her neck, and he gently kissed that one special place only he knew about. Her response only brought her closer to him. For second she got a hold of herself, but she didn't stop his advances.
She knew she needed to stop this...but yet she didn't. The fact that he was alive and actually being this loving with her was stopping her from using logic. He had her completely under his spell.
Perhaps it was just vulnerability. Her having a moment of weakness, but honestly right at the moment she didn't want to dwell on it. Right now all she wanted was to just be with him.
She felt his warm soothing breath by her ear and she just tighten her hold on him. Her arms wrapped around his neck.
Jerome let out a sigh. "Oh, my gorgeous, gorgeous girl. What did you do to yourself?" He whispered into her ear. Her response to this was just her hugging him more. He leaned back just a bit, with his arms still wrapped around her midsection. He looked down at her and he gave her a charming smile when he saw that she was now opening her eyes. Blue orbs stared right his own sea green eyes. He lifted one of his hands and twirled a piece of her wavy blonde hair with one of his fingers before letting it go.
"There, there, gorgeous. Turn that frown upside down, hmm?" He said to her before lowering his lips to her own. He got close enough that their lips somewhat brushed against each other. He felt immense joy by how captivated he had gotten her. He rubbed his nose against hers and tightened his hold on her again. "I'm here now and I'm never letting you go."
