Jim only left once Ed arrived at his sister's. He told her that he would be back that night, but he wouldn't rush home. He would take his time and let her spend time with Ed. His sister had gotten it into her mind that something was going on with Ed. Apparently he was acting weirder than normal, not that Jim could tell. He suspected that there had always been something there between his sister and Ed. At first, he wondered if it might just be friendship, but then it had changed. His sister had become even more interested in Nygma and Nygma seemed to care for her.

As annoying as Ed was sometimes, Jim knew that he wasn't a bad person. He was a good man who cared for Olivia more than any of her ex-boyfriends ever had done. Perhaps she could do worse than Nygma? Then again, Jim doubted she was even thinking about dating right now. It would be the last thing on her mind and Jim could not blame her for that. Right now, he suspected she needed Ed to put whatever feelings he had to the side and just focus on being her friend. Then again, that might not be too hard for Ed considering he was still crushing on Kristen Kringle apparently.

Patting Jim on the shoulder as he bypassed him, Ed managed a small smile before closing the door and seeing Olivia sat on the sofa, dressed in a long sweatshirt and sweatpants, her hair tired up in a ponytail. Her face was blotchy red and Ed could tell that she had been crying again. Moving to her feet, she dropped her hands to her hips as she saw Ed holding up the bag of Chinese takeout.

"I didn't think you would want to cook," Ed commented.

"You're a saint," she said and Ed walked with her into the kitchen. She pulled out her wine glasses and poured them a glass each of the white wine from the fridge. Ed pulled out the takeout boxes and handed her one as she swapped that for the wine. They took their food back into the living room and sat on the sofa, Olivia draining her wine and placing the empty glass on the coffee table.

"You drained that quickly," Ed commented as she began eating.

"I know," she responded. "I was thirsty and…well…it might make me sleep this evening."

"Have you not been sleeping?"

"Not well," she responded. "Every time I close my eyes I can see his face. Jim's been great though. He won't leave or go and stay at Lee's. He insists on being here. Honestly, I feel so pathetic."

"He's a good guy," Ed nodded his head once and took a bite of chow mein. "What happened to you was horrible, Olivia. That's nothing to be ashamed of in the slightest. You went through a terrible ordeal and you know that."

"I know," she responded in a gentle whisper. "But it still…I just feel like there are people who have gone through worse than I have. I got off lucky, didn't I? All of those girls who he took and killed…I saw their photos…I saw what they looked like and it was horrible, Ed. It was horrific."

"He was a monster, Olivia," Ed said, daring to move his hand to hold her arm as he placed his food down onto her coffee table. "He was an evil monster and he got what he deserved. You have nothing to feel guilty about. You did what you had to do to stay alive and that is nothing to be ashamed of."

"I know," Olivia said and placed her food down, running her hands over her face before peering to Ed. "Jim has asked me to talk to Lee about it. Apparently Barbara has asked to see her."

"She's not a psychiatrist, is she?" Ed asked, brows knitting together as he moved a finger to push his glasses further up his nose.

"No," Olivia said, "but she said that she knows some things and Jim is insisting."

"It might not be a bad thing," Ed said to her. "It might help you."

"Maybe," Olivia said with a shrug of her shoulders, "but I don't want to talk about that, Ed. I want to talk about you."

"Me?"

"Yeah, you," Olivia said and folded one leg up to her chin, her arm hooking around it as Ed leant back and drummed his fingers on his thighs. "I know that something is going on, Ed. What was that about at the GCPD when Jim asked you about Kristen and her boyfriend. You went all twitchy."

"Did I?" Ed asked, adjusting his tie against his chest.

"Yeah," Olivia said, "just like you're acting now."

"I'm not."

"You are," she responded. "What is it, Ed?"

"Nothing," Ed replied. "Well…I mean…I found out about what was going on in their relationship. He was abusing her, Olivia. He was hitting her."

"My God, that's horrible," Olivia said, her voice low and gentle as she placed a hand to the side of her face, pushing her hair behind her ear. "Is she okay?"

"She is fine now," Ed said. "I spoke to him and told him to stop or I would tell the police. I think that woke him up and he left town."

"He…he left?" she checked, frowning as she leaned back against the arm.

"I assume so," Ed said. "He just skipped town and left."

"Wow," Olivia said, "you must have sounded really threatening, not that I can imagine it, but you must have said something that worked. But why not just say that earlier?"

"I don't want to get involved," Ed lied, knowing that the truth would only end in trouble. But he wanted to tell her. He wanted to tell Olivia exactly what had happened. He wanted her to know, but he didn't know how to tell her. Besides, he knew that it wasn't right to burden her. She had gone through so much and she didn't need this. She didn't need his baggage. "I just want it to end, Olivia, I just want all of it to end."

She didn't pick up on the double meaning behind his words, but she moved a hand to his, holding his fingers inside of hers as she smiled at him. "It will," she promised him. "But maybe just tell someone that you think he has skipped town because of what he did?"

"I will tell Kristen."

"I would also tell Jim," Olivia said to him and continued to rest her cheek on her kneecap, looking to Ed as she shrugged her shoulders. "It would stop them looking for him if they think he has skipped town out of shame because you confronted him."

"But what if they think…" Ed trailed off and she saw him gulp and push his glasses further up his nose with one finger. It took another second before he spoke, his voice low and on edge. "If they think I did something to him."

Olivia managed a soft smile then and picked her head up. Turning to look across to him, she shook her head slowly and softly went back to rest a hand on his arm. Ed looked down at the contact, feeling something stir inside of him. Could he trust her? Of course he could trust her. He just couldn't burden her.

"Ed, no offence, but you're not exactly a guy who could do anything to him. You're too nice," she said. "Just tell Jim at least. Jim will be fine with it."

"I guess so," Ed said to her, knowing what he had to do. He had to make it look like Tom had skipped town. He had to make his disappearance look normal. He could do that. He could write a letter and send it. "Anyway, let's not talk about that."

"So what do you want to talk about?"

"I don't know," Ed admitted.

Olivia sighed, pulling her hair from its ponytail and wrapping the bobble around her wrist. "Ed, you don't need to treat me like I'm fragile. I'm not going to break…we can talk about anything. We used to talk about everything and anything."

"Well, I can do that," Ed promised her. "You know I can talk about anything and everything."

"I know it," she said with a soft smile as she longed for some normality.

….

Lee drummed her fingers against the top of her desk in her apartment as Olivia sat on the other side of the desk, hands clasped together as she leaned forwards. Barbara had just finished speaking to Lee after insisting that it be her who she talk to. Lee had been apprehensive. She was not psychiatric doctor. She didn't have great training in that area, but she had told Barbara that she would help. Jim had left his sister with Lee as he insisted on driving Barbara home before coming back.

Olivia had gone with her brother to Lee's not wanting to be alone and wanting to visit Barbara who had been discharged from hospital that morning.

"I know that Jim wanted me to talk to you," Lee said, tucking her dark hair behind her ear as Olivia's lips quirked upwards.

"I guessed that was why he insisted on leaving me here while he took Barbara home," Olivia said with a gentle glance to Lee.

"I'm happy not to talk," Lee said to her. "I mean, not talk like therapy, but just talk…well we can talk about what happened, if you think it might help."

"I don't know if it will help," Olivia said. "It's…it's the dreams."

"You're having bad dreams?"

"I can see him," Olivia whispered to her. "I mean, I can see him whenever I go to sleep. I close my eyes and he is there. I'm…I want to sleep. I am so tired all of the time, but sleep scares me."

"You know that it helps to talk about the dreams," Lee informed her. "If you talk about them then that can help…and…I know this is going to sound really unhelpful, but you need a relaxing routine before sleep. If you are going to sleep feeling anxious and worried then that is more likely to cause the nightmares."

"It is the same nightmare all of the time," Olivia said to Lee. "I'm in that room again…chained up…and I can hear Jim and Ed. I can hear them but I can't yell. I can't yell for them because I am gagged and then they leave. They never find the room. They go and I am still there. I woke up screaming the other night. Jim found me…he's been…well you know he's been staying at mine. I'm sorry about that."

"You have no need to apologise," Lee said to her. "He is your brother and you need him. But the dream…you are imagining the worst, as we all do from time to time. I know it is difficult, Olivia, but you need to remember that Jim did find you. He found you and he saved you. You need to tell yourself that each night."

"Will they go away?"

"Eventually," Lee said to her. "It will take time, but you can conquer them. I…I am here to talk about it. We can talk about it as often as you want to."

"Thank you," Olivia said. "I just don't know if I am ready to delve deeply into it."

"That's completely fine," Lee said. "Well, how about we get a drink? Your brother is probably stuck in traffic. He could be a while."

"Sounds good."

"Herbal tea," Lee said. "If you are going to start relaxing, may as well start now."

"And can we talk about something other than what happened?"

"We can talk about anything you want to talk about."

…

Jim had been dying to find out how his sister had been while he had left her with Lee. He had hoped that the two would talk. He knew that Lee was a good listener. She could probably give better advice to his sister then he ever could. Driving back to her apartment, Jim held off from questioning her, instead he told her about Barbara and how she was holding up.

Entering the apartment, Jim went to grab a glass of water, handing one to his sister as she sat down on the sofa, curling her legs underneath herself. Jim sat next to her, the covers and pillows for the pull out bed in the corner of the living room ready for Jim to use.

"I am amazed you held off so long in quizzing me," she said to her brother. "I know you left me with Lee so that we could talk."

"How was it?"

"Fine," Olivia said. "We didn't talk that much about what happened. I didn't want to…but…we talked about other things. She is nice, Jim. She is lovely, really…I mean, I liked Barbara, but I never connected with her that much."

"Do you think that you will with Lee?"

"Don't know, but it was a good start," Olivia said. "And she is really clever."

"She is," Jim agreed.

"And she has great hair."

"She's great," Jim said. "In general."

"I'm looking forward to getting to know her," Olivia admitted and Jim placed his glass down on the coffee table. He looked over to his sister as she yawned and leaned her head back against the cushion of the sofa. "Anyway, I have something to tell you. Ed said that he thinks that Officer Dougherty has skipped town."

"Why didn't he say anything to me?" Jim asked his sister. "I had Kristen Kringle come to me today and tell me that he had sent her a letter saying as much."

Olivia sighed and shrugged, tucking her hair behind her ear. "Ed said that he had gone to threaten Tom to stay away from her. Apparently he had been abusing her and Ed went to put a stop to it. Anyway, next thing he knows, Dougherty has skipped town. I think that he was worried about telling you because…well…it might look suspicious."

"What?" Jim asked and then pieced it together. "Ed thought that we would think he had done something to him? Ed? Are we still talking about the same Ed?"

"I know," Olivia said. "But you know what he is like. He is a worrier."

"That he is," Jim said. "Although he has been keeping an eye on you so he has gone up in my estimations."

"He is a good friend. I need a good friend right now," Olivia shrugged. "He text me and asked if I wanted to go out tomorrow night…nowhere fancy, just for a drink and food. I told him that I would go."

"Good," Jim said, knowing that his sister had to try to get back to normal.

"And I was thinking of going into work on Monday…to see how things are going."

"Are you sure that you are ready?"

"As ready as I will ever be," she shrugged. "I just…well…will you stay for a few more nights?"

"Of course."

"I know it is silly," she said. "I know he is dead and you have your own life and I am too old to be babysat, but I just like knowing that you are here when I wake up."

"Hey, you have no need to make excuses up," Jim promised her, moving to placed a hand on her arm, holding it softly. "I'm here, Olivia. I'm here for as long as you need me."

Moving to wrap her arms around her brother, she held onto him as he wrapped his own arms around her.

"I love you, Jim."

"Love you too, Liv," Jim said and kissed the top of her head. "Now how about we watch some crappy late night TV show before bed? We used to do that all the time as kids."

"Sounds good," she responded and uncurled herself from Jim's side, letting him wrap his arm around her shoulders as he reached for the remote and turned the TV on. Looking down to his sister as she kept her eyes on the TV, Jim longed for her to doze off, hoping the noise of the TV would be enough. Thankfully, it worked. Half an hour into the show, she was asleep already. Jim moved to his feet and uncurled her from his grip.

She protested in her sleep, but Jim managed to pick her up. Carrying her into her bedroom, he laid her down and took her shoes from her feet. Grabbing the blanket from the chair in the corner, he draped it over her and left her to sleep. He kept the door slightly open and went to make up the sofa bed as he chuckled to himself about what she had said about Nygma. Nygma thought that they would think he had done something to Dougherty. Jim thought about how funny that sounded.

….

A/N: Do let me know what you think!