I own nothing but Nicki.

Chapter 25

"If you wrong us, shall we not revenge?"

Oswald and Nicki were both at the bar of the club on either side of the countertop, wiping it down of any sticky alcoholic residue. Or at least that's what Oswald was doing. Nicki was only pretending to clean, moving the wet rag around the counter in a way that demonstrated no rhyme or reason and certainly was doing little to clean anything. She was too preoccupied with the conversation at hand.

"I'm just saying…there's got to be a way to communicate-"

"And I'm just saying," Oswald cut over top of her, fighting to sound keep the aggravation out of his voice, "We need to keep this talk to when we're alone."

Nicki pouted and leaned against the bar, not even pretending to clean it anymore. Oswald felt his resolve start to waver. It was hard to resist that face, but he was certain he was right on this front. She kept trying to scheme with him while they were at the club and even her vague whispers set him on edge. He knew better than to take any risks in his endeavors and couldn't understand why she, of all people, didn't seem to grasp how important subtly and confidentiality were.

"But we are alone," she said in a hushed tone, her eyes darting around the wide, empty room as if to confirm this for herself. Oswald felt himself sigh.

"It seems like we are but we have to be careful," he explained, hoping he didn't sound as condescending as he felt he did. "There could be ears anywhere."

With a sigh Nicki began swiping at the countertop again. "Alright, you're right," she admitted bitterly. "But we still have to talk about it."

Oswald knew she was right. He had been doing his best to keep his plans to himself until he was sure of what he was doing. He wasn't used to working with someone else and found it quite the hassle to have to include them in all of the steps. As he finished up his section of the counter and began working on hers (Nicki knew how to do a lot of things, but clean wasn't one of them) he realized that this was in more than just scheming. Daily tasks around the club were something he had always done alone and while he appreciated the company, being in constant conversation with someone could be a little exhausting. He wasn't used to really talking to people unless he had to and then he always tactfully planned his words. All of this constant conversation with Nicki was nice, but it was a bit overwhelming sometimes. She was rarely boring which had been his initial fear when he realized she was so loquacious (he truly hated few things more than mundane chit chat) but the pull for his responses to match her wit and level of interest was a challenge all on its own. Sometimes he used his favorite trick to use with Mother (also quite the talker) which consisted of letting her go on about whatever she felt she needed to converse about and providing the appropriate reactions through sound. ("And then at the store this painted lady tries to sell your poor Mama chicken at price that is double its worth…" "Mhmmm." "…But your Mama says I am no fool you strumpet…" "Noooo." "…And I, who have raised the chickens before, will not be swindled by common whore.") Unfortunately, Nicki was much more of an astute listener and quite the conversationalist so this only worked about thirty percent of the time.

"I mean," Nicki continued, propping her elbows up on the counter right where Oswald was trying to get to. "We go and eat Chinese food practically every other day and that's kind of like out 'super secret meeting place'" Oswald fought the urge to roll his eyes and began wiping at the counter all around her, hoping she would get the hint. She didn't. "What we need is…a code or something."

Oswald sighed and was about to agree with her and politely ask her to move when someone else cut in.

"Hey princess," It was one of Fish's boys, and it was clear than he wasn't using the name princess as a term of endearment. "If you're not going to pull your weight, at least let the Penguin do your job for you." Nicki started to protest but realized that she had been covering the countertop while he was cleaning and blushed slightly as she removed her arms and reached for her own rag. Looking up she saw that Oswald had also gone red in the face but she knew it was for another reason.

"I've asked you not to call me that Raoul," he said evenly his green eyes glittering.

"Whatever, Penguin," he replied, smirking and letting the name drip off his lips like poison. "Hey go get me a drink, Penguin."

"He asked you not-" NIcki started to retort, but Oswald shook his head at her furiously well aware that having her take up for him would only make things worse and more embarrassing. Raoul was already smirking, however, and gave a small chuckle.

"My name is Oswald." Oswald said evenly. "What would you like my good sir?" Oswald's manners were clear and ever present, but icy enough to freeze water.

"Rum and coke," he smirked, and then turned his attention back to Nicki. "How does it feel scrubbing tables, princess?"

"Fine," she answered curtly, cleaning at the spot where her elbows had been.

"Yeah," he said, unconvinced. "And how are you liking all these outfits? If Daddy could see his little girl now, am I right?" He gave her a sleazy wink which she pointedly chose to ignore.

"That's an awful big box you got there. Aren't you usually just the money collector?" Nicki changed the subject.

Raoul looked at the box as if he had forgotten about it. He pried open the top and pulled out a couple of fans, all huge and feathery. "They're for one of the new numbers she's cooking up or something," he said, curling up his nose a little. "A couple of them look like their molting-"

"Oh, I didn't know you were her delivery boy now too…" Nicki smirked. Raoul realized he was being mocked and dropped them back in the box, shooting her a glare. Before another word could pass between the two Oswald held the newly poured drink out to him.

"Thanks Penguin," he said, taking the glass.

This time, Oswald snapped, "Don't. Call. Me. That." He hissed, glaring daggers at the man.

Raoul only smirked. "Ooooo, scary." He swallowed half the contents of the glass in one gulp, and then, to the utter disbelief of Nicki and Oswald, he poured the rest over the counter. "Ooops," he said with a wink.

"Sir I would advise you-" Oswald started.

"No, no little bird man," Raoul cut in. He snatched a hand full of lose feathers and dropped them onto the now sticky counter. "I would advise YOU to stop shedding all over the place."

Chuckling, Raoul began to walk off. Nicki pulled back her arm, ready to spin him around and strike him but Oswald laid a hand on her shoulder and said with a heartbreaking degree of desperation in his voice, "Please!" Nicki paused and looked at him in surprise. His face was red and his eyes were full of hate and unshed tears. "Please, just…its fine." He said, more controlled now.

Nicki's eyes narrowed. "He can't treat you like that-"

"He'll pay for his behavior," Oswald said bitterly, the hate beginning to overtake the tears. "But by my hand, not yours."

Nicki looked as though she was about to protest, but a look of understanding crossed her face and she only pressed her lips together and nodded. "I hate that guy. I hate this place." She murmured under her breath.

"One day," Oswald continued. "One day they'll know better than to be so disrespectful."

His tone was dripping with venom, and Nicki eyed him strangely, almost cautiously, as if she sensed danger from him. But she only replied, "Well, let's get this mess cleaned up."

Oswald took up the rag and began scrubbing angrily at the countertop, growing more and more angry as the feathers broke apart and stuck to the sticky residue, making the job frustrating and tedious.

"Should we say something to Mooney?" he heard Nicki ask. He didn't look up. "I mean, most of these guys are jerks but they really can't just act like-"

"It won't help. She won't care." He snapped. He looked up and saw that her eyes had widened. He was losing his cool and she was clearly not prepared to see him like this. He tried to force a smile but he couldn't keep the anger from his eyes. "It's all natural selection in this place and we don't exactly fit in with the norm."

She was eyeing him warily but she nodded in agreement. "I know," she said. "It's not fair though."

Oswald may have just been frustrated with the countertop, but it was starting to leak into this conversation as well. He loved his little baby bird and how naïve she could be sometimes, but right now he wished he could just smash her rose tinted glasses to pieces. It was times like this that he was reminded she had grown up a mafia princess. Yes she had lived a rough life, but it had still been kind to her in the long run and she didn't always see that sometimes hard work didn't present immediate results. Not fair? Life wasn't fair. Not normally.

"We are the meek and the outsider," he said simply, his teeth starting to clench. "We don't matter as much." He immediately regretted this and looked up to see her reaction, knowing full well he had made an error. She was regarding him with a hard look. He opened his mouth to apologize, but she shook her head and gave a dark chuckle.

"If you prick us, do we not bleed?" she muttered.

Oswald blinked at her, surprised. Was she quoting Shakespeare? "If you tickle us, do we not laugh?" He added, slowly.

She smiled. "If you poison us, do we not die?"

Oswald's eyes were suddenly glittering and he felt a smile creep across his face. "And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?" He leaned across the counter at Nicki, positively radiating excitement. "How familiar are you with Shakespeare?"

Nicki smiled back but seemed a little wary of his sudden intensity. "Pretty familiar. I've read all of his plays at least five times. Vic and I used to loiter in the Gotham public library in the winter and that section was right near the heating vents. We had to do something to pass the time." She quirked a curious eyebrow. "Why?"

"You said you wanted a code we could speak in?" he whispered, conspiratorially. "I think I just might have the perfect idea."

Leti: Thank you so much for reading and for the feedback! I'm so glad you're enjoying this and I'm really glad that you like the way I'm portraying Oswald. I know that his fans have to be the pickiest since he has such a great following! I hope you keep reading and keep liking what I'm doing. I really appreciate the feedback so much!

Domiel: Thank you so much for the feedback! Especially about the spell check! I normally type these up on my phone while I'm at rehearsals and on my lunch at school and everything and then I try to type it up real fast to get it posted. I hadn't realized how many mistakes I had been making. I definitely am going to do more proofreading from here on out so thank you so much for pointing that out to me! Also thank you for the kind words! I'm glad that you like what I'm doing with Oswald and with the Shakespeare stuff! I'm going to try to integrate that into the actual story now as well. Also thank you for commenting on my character Nicki! I was really worried about incorporating my own original character just because I know how easily that can go south or how easily those kinds of characters can be bland. I'm glad that she fits in alright!