Tossing his keys onto the sideboard, Jim yawned into his fist before his brow furrowed. Lee was sat in an armchair, a book open in her lap. She looked up and over to Jim, her lips pulling up into a small smile. Lee was slightly concerned about Jim and his relationship with Barbara. She was concerned about whether or not Barbara was right. Jim did have a dark side. He had a dark side that he was struggling to ignore. But she pushed those concerns to the side for the time being.

Jim looked over to the sofa to see his sister there. She was sleeping, resting on her side with a blanket pulled up to her chin. Lee motioned for Jim to follow her into their bedroom. He padded quietly past his sister and into the bedroom. He closed the door and looked to his girlfriend.

"What is going on?" he asked from her.

"I don't honestly know," Lee shrugged. "She was supposed to go to Ed's, but she stood outside his apartment and called up. He wouldn't let her in. He claimed that he was sick, but Olivia…well…she thinks he might be seeing Kristen. She says that Ed saw Kristen on Tuesday, but she hasn't been at work all week. She thinks he is still spending time with her."

Jim looked concerned then, shaking his head. "No," Jim said.

Lee tilted her head to the side. "Why else would he not let her in or even want to see her after she had just been kidnapped?" she asked from Jim. "This is the same Ed who lost his mind after she was kidnapped by the Ogre."

"But seeing Kristen?" Jim asked from Lee. "He wouldn't do that, would he? He couldn't do that to Liv. He loves her."

"I know," Lee agreed with that analysis, "but there was something off. No matter how sick he was…that wasn't like Ed."

"I'll talk to him," Jim said.

"Is that the best thing to do?" she asked from Jim. "Your sister is old enough to make her own mind up and be able to discuss things sensibly with Ed. She doesn't need you meddling in her relationship."

"If he is messing my sister around then I will get involved," Jim said seriously.

"Let's just get to the bottom of this first, okay?" Lee said. "Olivia can stay here for the evening and as long as she needs to. I don't think she should be going into work tomorrow."

"Okay," Jim agreed with a nod. "I'll move her to the guest room then."

Moving into the living room again, Jim knelt down by his sister's side. He placed a hand onto her shoulder. Shaking her gently, she woke up groggily. Blinking a few times, she remained on the sofa and finally her eyes settled on Jim. Moving his hand to her cheek, Jim brushed some of her hair from her face. He forced himself to smile as he tucked her hair behind her ear.

"You okay, squirt?" he asked her and her lips quirked at his old pet name for her.

"No," she admitted to him, "but I will be."

"Glad to hear it," Jim said and moved to stand up straight. "Come on, you can have the guest room, Liv. We can talk in the morning after you have gotten a good night's sleep."

"Okay," Olivia agreed.

She stood up slowly and Jim wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She kept the blanket around her body, holding tightly onto it. Passing Lee in the corridor, the doctor briefly hugged Olivia before Jim pecked her cheek and left her to go into the guest bedroom. She entered the room and closed the door, collapsing on the bed and letting herself cry once more.

…

Lee cooked breakfast for Olivia, making pancakes before she left for work. Olivia moved into the kitchen, wearing a pair of borrowed pyjamas. She had her hair messily tucked behind her ears and her cheeks were puffy red. She went to sit at the dining table, pulling one leg up onto the chair and resting her chin on her kneecap.

"Has Jim left already?" she wondered from Lee.

"He arrested Galavan last night," Lee informed her. "He had to go in early to search his place."

"Was he okay?" Olivia asked. "Are you okay? After everything that happened last night…"

"I'm fine," Lee said to her, flipping a pancake as Olivia took a sip of her orange juice. "I know that we all have things to talk about, but I'm worried that now isn't the right time."

"Like how my brother murdered someone for Penguin?" Olivia checked with Lee. "And both of you failed to tell me? Or about how my brother thinks I am weak…pathetic…and maybe he has a point on that one."

"Hey, you are not pathetic," Lee said, placing a pancake on a plate and then moving over to the dining table. She set a plate down in front of Olivia and then her own in front of her set place. "Jim is your big brother and he wants you to be safe…he is over-protective. Your brother is complicated, Liv."

"Like being a murderer?"

"He had no choice," Lee said to Olivia. "Jim has a darkness to him. I am not denying that, but he is a good man. He wants to do the right thing, but being in this city…it has corrupted him…it has changed him slowly."

"It scares me what might happen to him," Olivia admitted in a soft whisper. "He is getting deep with everyone…not just Penguin…but there is Galavan. Does he really want to go up against him? And then there is Barbara."

"I know," Lee said, "we are going to talk tonight when he comes home."

Olivia nodded and picked at the pancake after pouring maple syrup on top of it. "You talk to him," Olivia said, "but tell him that I want to know everything when I see him."

"I will," Lee said, cutting into her own pancake. There was a moment of silence between the two of them before Lee decided to breach the topic. "What about Ed, Liv?"

Olivia shrugged, looking down at her plate. "What about him?" she asked, sipping onto her orange juice. She took another mouthful of her pancake.

"Well, do you not want to know what has been going on? I just…I feel that it seems unlikely that he is seeing Kristen. I think there must be something else."

"What else can there be?" Olivia wondered from her. "It makes sense. He's…I thought that he wanted only me. I guessed I was wrong."

"You need to speak to him," Lee urged her. "Just give him a chance to tell the truth. At least then you will know for certain."

"I already know," Olivia sniffed and spoke confidently, looking to Lee. "He's lied to me and I am not going to stand for it."

…

Finding Olivia proved to be difficult. Ed had gone to the school where she worked after class had finished. He had found her classroom, but had been informed that she had been ill. The teacher said that it had been on the news that she had been kidnapped and held hostage by Barbara. Ed had gone back to his car and gripped his wheel tightly. She had been kidnapped. Olivia had been kidnapped and he had turned her away. He should have gone back to her apartment. He should have said that his apartment had problems…the heating was broken…anything…but he should have been with her. But he couldn't leave Penguin.

She wasn't in her apartment either. Ed had knocked for ages, but there had been no sign of movement. He had called her, but she was not picking up. She had to realise that Ed was the one she needed. She was his weakness. A man with nothing that he loves is a man who cannot be bargained with…he is a man who answers to no one but himself. But Ed could not be that man. He knew that. He cared about Olivia too much and so he had to keep her by his side. He had to keep her out of trouble and make sure that no one could ever use her against him.

Going to Lee's apartment, Ed felt a sense of apprehensiveness, wondering if the doctor would let him in. Would Olivia even be there? But before Ed could park his car, his cell began to ring. Reaching for it, he saw the caller ID and stopped the car. Pulling over, he turned the engine off and placed the cell to his ear.

"Liv," he spoke her name. "Where are you? I need to see you."

"I'm at Lee's," she said to him.

"I'm just parked round the corner," Ed said. "I have been looking everywhere for you."

"Meet me outside her building and I'll come down in five," was all that Olivia said to him.

Hanging the phone up, Ed listened as the call ended. He placed his cell in his jacket pocket before wondering how he would get out of this mess. Did he tell Olivia the truth? Did he tell her exactly what had happened and pray that she didn't tell anyone else? He had burdened her with one of his murders, but now he had committed more than one. He had killed Kristen. He had killed the man in the woods who had caught him burying her body. And then he had brought that man to Penguin, urging for him to kill Galavan's lackey. Olivia would not be able to cope with all of that.

Driving around the corner, Ed parked the car and waited for Olivia. He saw her come down the steps of the apartment block. Her red coat was open to reveal a casual red dress that hung down to her knees. She had on a pair of sneakers and was toying with the locket around her neck. She came over to his car and pulled the passenger door open. She sat down in the seat and closed the door behind her.

She looked straight ahead while Ed watched her. He kept his hands on the steering wheel. "Liv-"

"-Don't," she interrupted him. "I don't want to hear you say anything that you don't have to say. I want the truth and that is it."

"The truth is that I am not seeing Kristen Kringle," Ed said to her and she buried her head into her hands. "I'm not, Liv," Ed said as he sensed her despair. "It is complicated, okay? But I am not seeing Kristen."

Olivia flapped her arms by her side. "Then what is it?" she demanded from him, voice shrill. "What is it that is going on?"

"I…I need you to know that I would not cheat on you, Olivia," Ed said, reaching out and grabbing her hand. She flinched slightly, but didn't pull back from him. Instead she remained still after settling and Ed continued to look at her. "You are mine, Olivia. You are my only weakness, but nothing will tear us apart. I will not let it."

"What the hell are you on about?" she asked, tiring of his cryptic words.

"I am talking about the truth," Ed said. "The truth is that I had a body to dispose of."

"Dougherty?" she asked him.

"Yes," he lied, knowing that he had to lie to get away with this. He was becoming quite the expert at that. "I went into the woods to check on where he was the other night when I bumped into Penguin. I found him in the woods and I brought him back to my apartment. He was badly injured."

Olivia snatched her hand from his then. She sat back by the door, almost horrified at what she was hearing. Shaking her head, she folded her arms across her chest.

"What the hell did you do that for?"

Ed couldn't tell her why. He couldn't tell her that Penguin understood how he felt. He understood how it felt to kill someone and not to feel guilt. Ed felt anything but guilt when he took the lives he did. He felt a thrill inside of him. He adored it. But Olivia was too innocent to understand that side of him. He had to protect her from it.

"I couldn't leave him," Ed said. "But I knew that I could not have you in my apartment while he was there after what he has gotten your brother to do."

"So you sent me away," Olivia concluded. "You chose to look after some murdering criminal psychopath instead of me. I am your girlfriend, Ed. I needed you…and you…Jesus…you made me feel like utter shit that night. You made me feel like I was worthless."

"Olivia, I didn't mean to."

"Well, you did," Olivia said and shrugged. "I just can't get my head around this, Ed. You turned me away and took in some murdering psychopath who has made my brother's life hell. What were you thinking? Drive him to a hospital…fine…but bringing him to your apartment? What possessed you?"

"I did what I had to do, Olivia," Ed said to her.

"No, you did not," Olivia responded. "I am not doing this, Ed. You…you can apologise all you want, but the fact is that you weren't there when I needed you and you lied to me. You made up some lame ass excuse about being ill and that is the worst part."

"I didn't want you to see him."

"But you would have told me the truth and we promised to tell each other the truth when we started this relationship," Olivia said. "That is the part that hurts the most."

He was about to tell her everything then. She should know. She should know who he was. But looking at her, he saw nothing but innocence in her eyes. She was too innocent to know and he needed to protect that. He liked her naivety. He enjoyed that part of her.

"Can we forget this ever happened?" Ed asked of her. "I can take you back home and I can cook us something. We can spend the night together and you can tell me about what happened."

Olivia scoffed and rolled her eyes. "What?" she asked him. "You want to hear it now? You weren't that interested when I came to you and needed you so don't bother faking it now."

"No," Ed said as she climbed from the car.

He moved just as quick, launching himself from the vehicle. Slamming his door shut behind him, he rushed around to her, grabbing hold of her forearm before she could move into the apartment. He whirled her around to face him, his grip tight as Olivia wriggled around in his arms.

"How many times do I have to apologise?" he demanded from her, voice harsh and low. "Olivia, the sooner you get over this then the better it will be for us. We can go back to normal. I can give you what you want."

"Give me what I want?" she asked him. "What are you going on about?"

"Safety…love…feeling of being needed…it is what you need, Olivia, and I can give it to you. I am the only one who can give it to you and you need me just as much as I need you," Ed said, voice almost demanding as Olivia shook her head.

It was then when a car pulled up and Olivia looked over to see Jim climbing from his vehicle. Locking his car, Jim looked to his sister and Ed. His gaze moved between her and Ed, his eyes lingering on Ed's hands that were gripping onto Olivia.

"You alright, Liv?" he asked his sister.

"Fine," she said. "Ed was just leaving."

"Huh," Jim said and Ed ground his teeth together. He continued to glare down to Olivia. He was trying to figure out how to get out of this mess. He needed Olivia to come with him. He wanted her with him. "You coming in, Liv?"

"Yeah," Olivia said.

"Olivia," Ed spoke her name. "Just come with me."

"Not tonight," Olivia said.

"Might be best if you just go home, Ed," Jim said and Ed looked to the detective. Why was Jim even here? Why was he meddling in what was going on? But Jim's gaze on Ed was intense. It was clear that Jim was annoyed with Ed. No doubt Olivia had told him about her suspicions.

"Perhaps," Ed said, giving in for the time being and letting Olivia go. "I'll call you tomorrow, Olivia."

"Fine," Olivia said, voice haughty as she turned around and began to walk into the apartment. Jim was about to follow her, but he looked back to Ed. His voice was low and his statement was short and not open for debate.

"You might be a friend, Ed, but I won't let you hurt her," Jim spoke.

He caught up with Olivia as she held the door to the apartment block open. He placed a hand onto the small of her back as he guided her inside and left Ed on the sidewalk. Hands moving to his hips, Ed wondered exactly what he had to do to get Olivia back to him.

…

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