Sitting by his sister's side, Jim kept hold of her hand as she slept soundly. She had been lucky, in a sense. Her wound had not been as critical as feared and she was now in recovery, but still sleeping. Jim had kept hold of her hand inside of his, willing for her to wake up. How could this have happened to her? Jim would only be satisfied once he saw her open her eyes and look at him. He had been at the hospital for four hours. Harvey had come and gone, urging for him to eat something. Jim had chewed down on the cereal bar he had bought him from the vending machine and sipped on the lukewarm coffee from the cafeteria, but he had not left Olivia.

He had contemplated calling Lee and telling her what had happened. He suspected she would want to know. He held off, preferring to wait until Olivia was wide-awake. It was about two in the morning when that happened. He felt her hand begin to twitch and he picked his gaze up from the floor and his mind away from the daydream he had been enveloped in.

Looking to his sister as she slowly opened her eyes, he tried to soothe her. But as soon as she looked at him, horror began to fill her face. She recoiled away from his touch, tugging her hand from his as she tried to push herself from the bed.

"Liv, Liv," Jim tried to calm her. "It's me. Liv, it's me…sh…come on…"

She stopped her movements then, looking at her brother. "When I was sixteen and going to prom…" she trailed off, wanting him to finish the story so that she knew it was him. Only the real Jim would know what had happened.

"I gave you pepper spray and warned Daniel O'Connell from thinking about laying a hand on you that was not respectful," Jim said and Olivia relaxed even further, her shoulders slumping downwards. "He returned you home at eleven and I was waiting on the porch. He barely managed to get a sentence out without stuttering from fear."

"Okay," Olivia said with a nod of her head. This was Jim. It was her brother. "I know it's you."

"It's me," he repeated to her, moving to rest his hand back on the bed, palm upwards and offering for her to take hold of it. She did so after a moment, fingers curling into his. She rested back against the pillows and turned her head to the side to look to him. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I've been stabbed," she said to him.

"Yeah, that's because you have been," he said to her. "You're going to make a full recovery though. The wound wasn't deep and thankfully just missed your lungs. I'm hoping I can take you home in a few days time."

"Not tonight?"

"Definitely not tonight," Jim said to her firmly. "You're going to rest here until the doctor says you can go."

"Fine," she agreed, not entirely happy but knowing there was no other way out. "What happened with Strange?"

"We stopped a bomb from going off," he said to her. "But there was a breakout. Loads of inmates escape from the facility…Indian Hill… Harvey has men tracking them down, but I don't know if he will manage it."

"How many?"

"We're unsure at the moment," Jim informed his sister. "But we can only do what we can do. The GCPD is underfunded at the best of times. But…Bruce is safe…Selina is safe…things just didn't go as to plan as I had hoped."

"How often do they go to plan?" she questioned from him.

"But…the inmates…he…"

"No," Jim confirmed to her. "He wasn't one of them. I left him locked up. I promise you."

"Not that it scares me," Olivia said to her brother. "He never scared me, Jim…I was just scared of what he could do to other people."

"He's dangerous, but he's not going anywhere. He'll stay locked up for the rest of his life. I promise."

Olivia said nothing in response to that. What else could she say? All that she could do was realise that she had to move on. But so did Jim. He still knew there was a chance he could be with Lee. She had to set him straight. She squeezed his hand and built herself up. It was now or never.

"We have to talk," Olivia said. "I have things you need to know…"

Six Months Later

Olivia finished packing her bag after school. She had stayed late and worked on marking the textbooks she had left. She was due to go out for a drink with the entire department that evening, but she had to admit she did not feel up to it. She had to do something, though. She had promised herself as soon as she went back to work that this was it. She was not going to mope around. She was going to move on.

She had prepared to leave Gotham, but that had not worked out. She had stayed in the city because her brother had refused to leave. Ever since she had told him of Lee moving on, Jim had changed. He had quit the police force and had gone about working as a bounty hunter. He was tracking down the criminals from Indian Hill and no matter what she said, he was not persuaded to do anything otherwise. He would not go back to the GCPD, nor would he entertain the idea of leaving Gotham. And so they kept on going with their lives. They still rented an apartment together, preferring to save as much money as possible. Besides, Jim was always out when she got home and she was gone when he came in.

"You know, he is still moping over you."

Olivia startled at the voice she heard. She stood up straight and turned around, looking to whoever was stood there. Her eyes widened at the sight of the man in the doorway. He was dressed in a smart suit, holding a cane in his hands. His hair was stuck up in different directions and he almost looked presentable.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she demanded from him. "Get out before I call-"

"-The police?" he asked her and chuckled, moving around the classroom and looking at the displays on the wall. "I am a free citizen, Miss Gordon. You will find I am wanted for no crime…but you could call your brother, I suppose. Although I hear he is busy looking for someone I am interested in."

"I will ask again," she drawled lowly, "what the hell are you doing here?"

"I am here out of courtesy for a friend," he said to her. "Ed asked me to come. He wanted me to talk to you…make sure you were doing okay…was safe and well."

"Tell him I'm fine and leave," she said.

"It seems that the Gordon family really do lack manners," he complained and turned to look to her. He eyed her with intrigue. "What is it about you that captivates him so? He is always talking about you…about how he missed you…I think you are poison for him. Personally, I think he would be better off forgetting about you."

"Well that makes two of us."

"And that is why I am here to offer you some friendly advice."

She arched a brow, looking unconvinced at that. She toyed with the skirt of her green skater dress, her tights clinging to her skin. "And what advice would that be?"

"In the next week Edward Nygma will be released," he said to her. Her eyes widened and he saw her startle. She shook her head.

"You're lying," she said to him, shaking her head. She did not believe that.

Penguin chuckled and shook his head. "Unfortunately, I am not," he responded dryly. "You must have seen that I have been growing in popularity in recent weeks…people seem to believe in me and the message that I have…that Gotham needs to be cleaned up from these criminals and crooks. Well…with that responsibility comes power, which I now wield. I wield enough power to have Edward Nygma set free."

"Why?" Olivia demanded from him. "Why would you do that?"

"Because he is my friend," Penguin said. "He is my friend and you betrayed him. Now, as much as I would like to see him take his revenge on you and your brother, I know that is very unlikely to happen considering he is a love dumb puppy when it coms to you. So…the next best thing that can happen is you leaving Gotham."

"No," Olivia said firmly. "What? You think that you can scare me out of town? Who do you think you are?"

"You need to be careful, Miss Gordon," he warned her. "As my power grows-"

"-Are you threatening me?" she demanded to know from him, her voice on the verge of anger. She stepped closer to him, refusing to back down. "I have spent most of my life being scared of one thing or another…but not now. So, free Ed. Do what you want, but if he comes within a mile of me then I will call the police or lawyers to keep him away."

"Do you think that he will?" Oswald enquired from her. "Do you honestly believe that he will stay away?"

"He will if he knows what is good for him," Olivia said. "I am not running out of town and he is not coming near me. It is as simple as that."

"Perhaps so," Oswald said to her, but he knew she was going to be a problem. "But so long as you are here then you are a distraction to him."

Olivia arched her brows, allowing them to knit together on her forehead. She frowned as she studied Oswald. She didn't ever think of him as dangerous. He was too much of a weasel. He allowed other people to do his dirty work. But the scary part was that people did it for him. People did do his dirty work, despite everything.

"That sounds like a threat," Olivia said to him. "Is that what you do, Oswald? You get rid of problems?"

"I try to," he informed her and she ground her teeth together. "Just be careful, Miss Gordon."

Olivia watched him walk out of her classroom and she let out a shaky breath before grabbing her phone and calling for her brother.

…

"It's not possible," Jim said as they stood in the kitchen of their apartment. He had called Harvey around, needing to talk to him about what was going on. Olivia had a glass of wine in her fingertips, clinging tightly onto it as she contemplated what she was hearing.

"Well, it is," Harvey said to them and she shook her head. "Somehow, Nygma is due to be release a week today. He has been certified as sane."

"How the hell can we let this happen?" Jim demanded. "Nygma is anything but sane and, even if he was, he belong in Blackgate. He killed Kristen Kringle…Officer Dougherty…Pinkney. He is a murderer. He belongs in jail."

"And we both know that," Harvey promised them, "but the fact is that he is getting out. You know as well as most that this system is corrupt. It always has been and it always will be…and now with Penguin gaining more power and thinking he can become Mayor…well, things are only going to get worse."

"Nygma will not get away with any of this, nor will Penguin," Jim said.

"Hey, I better not hear you talking how I think you're talking," Harvey said. "Because you're not in the GCPD now and from what I have just heard you intend to take the law into your own hands."

"If I have to then I will," Jim said in a low growl. "He is getting nowhere near her."

"We can agree on that," Harvey said and Olivia shook her head. She didn't want Jim to do anything brash. "I can petition the DA and see if we can get a restraining order out against him as a condition of his release. Of course, enforcing it can be difficult. We're underfunded as it is and if Penguin does become Mayor then chances are he will begin encroaching on the police force."

"Then I will take things into my own hands," Jim said.

"No," Olivia said, holding a hand up to stop her brother. She moved closer towards him, hand going to his arm and holding onto it gently. "No one is going to do anything stupid."

"Then what do you suggest?"

"Nothing," Olivia said.

"Penguin threatened you, Liv!" Jim said. "He is trying to run you out of town and I'm beginning to think he might have a point."

"What?"

"Well, Ed is bound to come and try to get close to you," he said. "And if Penguin doesn't want that to happen then I dread to think what he might do…I just…maybe Lee was right."

"What?" Olivia asked, holding a hand up and spinning a finger. "Rewind. What does Lee have to do with this?"

"She's back," Harvey said. "She is working in the medical department at GCPD again. Her…well…Mario Falcone is working at the hospital. She came back with him."

"She never said."

"She was hoping to surprise you," Jim said to his sister. "She wants to meet up later, but she doesn't know about any of this. I bumped into while I was working on the Tetch case."

"Okay," Olivia said with a nod. "So, look, there is nothing we can do. I don't want to run away from Gotham, but if Ed comes close to me then I will make my feelings perfect clear. It isn't like he will kidnap me again, is it? Besides, if he does then we will know who has me."

Jim shook his head while Olivia sipped on her wine. "Don't even talk like that," he demanded from his sister "Nygma is still clever enough to do something and I don't think you being here is the best thing, okay?"

Olivia rolled her eyes. "Well, I am not going anywhere," she said. "I am tired of people trying to ruin my life and destroy me, but that isn't going to happen anymore. I just…I will keep going about my life for now. We will see what happens."

"I'll have an officer keep an eye on Nygma when he is out," Bullock said. "Leave it with me and I'll have a word with the DA."

"Thanks, Harvey," Jim said.

"Thank you," Olivia chimed in.

Harvey placed his bottle of beer down and tipped his hat, leaving the two siblings alone. Olivia looked at Jim and sighed. She shook her head. "Do you think we'll ever get a break?"

"Not likely," he responded.

…

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