Ed had been sitting peacefully, enjoying a glass of red wine and a book when he heard the commotion. He placed his glass down, wondering what the noise was all about. He dropped his book to the side of him and stood up, looking into the doorway as he heard her familiar voice. Olivia was shouting loudly, but her sentences were incoherent. As soon as he saw in the doorway, Ed's brow furrowed. She was dressed in a long flowing black skirt with a white jumper tucked into it. But she was drenched. Her hair was clinging to her face in clumps around her shoulders. Her face was also drenched and red and blotted. She must have been freezing and instantly Ed felt a protectiveness rise up inside of him.

But he had no chance to let that show. Instead, Olivia was rushing towards him, anger clearly etched on her face. "You told him!" she snapped loudly and Ed remained rooted to the spot as Olivia bounded to him and her hands went to his shoulders as she pushed him feebly. "You told him!"

"Olivia, what are you talking about?"

"She just stormed in here making no sense!" Penguin quickly shouted as Olivia managed to push Ed to stand by the roaring fire in the darkened mansion. "I can have security remove her."

"No," Ed said with a finger held up in Penguin's direction.

Penguin seethed silently at Ed's brashness, not appreciating the tone.

"You told him!" Olivia snapped again and then pointed to Penguin. Ed followed her gaze onto Penguin's figure. "And he told Jim. He told Jim about Kristen…Dougherty…he told him about everything."

"What?" Ed demanded, now finding himself seething at that piece of information as he looked at Penguin. "You did what?"

"As if you didn't plan this," Olivia snarled at Ed and pushed him in the shoulder once again, but Ed grabbed her wrist before she could pull back. He kept hold of it and looked down to her. "Why? You thought that by telling Jim I would run back to you? Is that what you thought was going to happen?"

"Olivia, I never wanted that," Ed said to her honestly and his glare returned to Penguin. "Why did you tell him?"

Penguin shrugged his shoulders. "I did what I had to do," he responded. "I told you that she was no good for you. I warned you to stay away from her and you didn't have it in you to do that."

"And you think that by telling Jim that will make me do that?" Ed seethed. "Who do you think you are, Oswald? You cannot interfere in my relationship with Olivia."

"There is no relationship," Olivia hissed and finally snatched her wrist from his grip.

"That is not the case," he retorted, "but we will discuss that later. Now listen to me, I did not think that Oswald would tell Jim. You have to believe me on that."

Looking him in the eye, Olivia folded her arms over her chest and tried to work him out. But he was telling her the truth. She could see that much. Why would he tell Jim now? He had all the time in the world to have told Jim and he had kept his mouth shut for months. Nodding her head once, Olivia looked away and then to Penguin.

"You've ruined everything," she hissed at him.

"I was not the one who lied to him," Penguin responded. "He had a right to know who you truly are."

"No," Olivia said, "you did this because you just hate me. For some reason you hate me and you will do anything in your power to ruin me, but guess what? There's nothing else. There's nothing else that you can do to hurt me because this is the worst thing imaginable. He is my brother. He is the only member of my family I really have…the only one who has consistently been there for me…and now…now he despises me. So that's it. You wanted me at rock bottom, well here I am."

Oswald remained mute, wondering if her little speech was supposed to have an impact on him. But it clearly had worked on Ed. He was looking down at her like she was some broken little bird he had to mend. Oswald knew that he had risked alienating Ed, but eventually he knew that Ed would forgive him. Olivia would have nothing left in Gotham. Her brother didn't want anything to do with her. She didn't want anything to do with Ed. She would leave. Ed would be mad for a short while, but that would pass. Oswald was sure of it. And when his anger did pass, Oswald would still be there.

"Oswald, can you leave us for a minute?" Ed enquired.

"But-"

"-Please?" Ed interrupted before Oswald could protest. Looking him in the eye once more, Oswald saw the anger inside of Ed. He did as he was asked, however, stepping out of the room and leaving Ed and Olivia.

There was an awkward silence between the two of them and Ed bent down, his hands running along Olivia's shoulders to warm her up. "You must be freezing-"

"-I am fine," she interrupted, pulling back from him and turning away from his gaze.

Ed watched her and he unbuttoned his suit jacket. He saw her body begin to shake and he knew that she was crying, her sobs silent and her head bowed.

"I never thought he would tell Jim," Ed whispered to her. "I never thought that he would do that to me…betray my trust…"

"But he did," Olivia retorted, looking into the flames. "He did and now here we are."

"Your brother will forgive you."

Olivia let out a bark of a sarcastic laugh. "I wouldn't be so sure about that," she said. "He blames me for everything that happened now. He blames me for not telling the police…because if I had…you would never have been able to set him up…send him to jail…lose Lee…his whole life imploded because I kept your secret."

Ed gulped, almost feeling a sense of guilt take hold of him at that comment from her. She turned her head over her shoulder, looking back up to Ed and arching her brow. "You have done nothing but cause me misery," she said. "You have caused me so much pain…so many nights of crying alone…and yet I can't get you out of my mind. Nothing I do can make me stop feeling the way I feel."

"Then just accept it," Ed urged from her. "Accept it, Olivia, and you can let go of all these feelings of anguish that you hold onto. You know that I have a point. You know that we could leave here…we could leave all of this behind and make a life somewhere else."

"You know that would never work out," she shook her head.

"Why not?" Ed demanded. "I would leave this behind, Olivia. We could leave it behind and start somewhere else again. We could begin again where no one else knows us. You know that we can do that if you just said yes."

"How can I say yes?" she urged from him, turning back so she was facing him. "If I say yes then…then what do I have? Jim…I don't think he will ever look at me the same again, but I can try and apologise to him. I can do everything I can to persuade him that I am still his sister who he knows. But if I ran with you then what hope do I have, Ed?"

"You would have me," Ed said, reaching for her hands and holding onto them, squeezing tightly and Olivia felt the warmth of his palms, almost relieved at the feeling as she felt her body shake either from the cold, anger or sorrow. She wasn't sure which. "I would look after you. I would keep you safe."

"That's not an option."

"You kissed me, Olivia," Ed recalled. "The other day you kissed me back and do not pretend that you didn't."

"That doesn't mean I want to run away with you."

"But it does mean that you still love me," Ed retorted and her silence spoke volumes to him. He bent down, dropping one of her hands and taking hold of her chin, forcing her gaze on to his. She tried to resist, but his grip was tight. "I know that you still love me. Just admit it."

"Fine!" Olivia snapped again, pushing him from her once more and pacing the length of the room. "Is that what you want to hear, Ed? I still love you. I have tried not to, but I do…I love you and I want to move on, but I can't. I just can't because no one is you."

Ed's mouth dried out at hearing her and he felt his stomach churn with nerves. Heading towards her, he nodded his head. She had finally admitted it to him, but he had to calm her down somehow. She was completely hysterical and Ed suspected she was on the verge of either coming down with a fever or catching hypothermia if she didn't change into dry clothes.

"Okay," Ed whispered. "Olivia, everything will be fine. We will make sure of it."

"We?"

"Yes, we," Ed said. "Because I still love you. Because I can make this right for you. I can talk to Jim and explain…explain that you only kept my secret because you thought you were doing the right thing. Believe me, he is likely to be angrier with me than with you."

Olivia huffed, but she wondered if it was worth a shot. "Fine," Olivia said.

"But first, you have to change out of those clothes," Ed urged from her. "You are drenched and shivering."

"I am going home."

"Not in this weather and not in this state," Ed responded. "You are hysterical and I am not letting you get behind the wheel like this. Now, you can stay here in a spare room-"

"-Absolutely not," she said.

Ed ground his teeth together. "Just do the sensible thing for once," he demanded from her. "Now come on, I have some clothes you can borrow."

Olivia was about to complain but she didn't bother. She wanted some clean clothes. She would take them and then go. She didn't have to stay here. Ed placed his hand on the small of her back and urged her forwards towards the staircase and up towards his room, knowing that he could make things right. He just had to have a chance.

…

Olivia had showered, the bathroom filling up with steam after Ed had insisted she warmed up. She wrapped a towel around her and looked at her reflection in the mirror. She moved into Ed's bedroom and found that he was perched on the edge of his bed. He had a pile of neatly folded clothes next to him. Looking to Olivia as she stood there in just a towel, Ed had to refrain from thinking of what he wouldn't do to see more of her bare flesh.

"I have a shirt and joggers," he said and Olivia nodded.

She took the pile of clothes and returned to the bathroom to change. Ed waited with patience for her to come back. She had her hair tucked behind her ears and his shirt that she wore was tucked into the waistband of the joggers that she had tightened high up on her waist so that they didn't drag too much on the floor. She looked a state, but Ed couldn't help but think of how fetching she looked.

"I am going home," she said to him and Ed shook his head.

"No, you are not," he said.

"You cannot keep me here against my will."

"I cannot, but if I have hid your car keys then you have no option to leave."

Olivia gritted her teeth together. "What?" she snapped loudly.

"I knew there was no other option," he said. "You would never have stayed here otherwise."

"Ed, give me the keys."

"Nope," he popped his lips. "You are staying here until morning and that is the end of that."

"You are such an ass," Olivia complained and plopped down onto the other side of the bed.

Ed remained where he was for a moment, waiting for her to talk first. She cracked after a few moments. He knew that Olivia was stubborn, but she was also chatty.

"I've never seen Jim look at me like that before," she muttered. "And all because of you, Ed. The things I have done for you…the way I have acted…it isn't me…none of that was ever me. I used to be composed. I used to be able to stand up for myself and do the right thing."

"You did do the right thing," Ed said and he shifted to sit down next to her. He reached down and took hold of her hand. "You aren't a bad person, Olivia. You are the only good thing I see in this entire corrupt city. You…you protected me because you knew that what I did was an accident. And it was an accident. Something possessed me to kill Dougherty. I just saw red…but Kristen…I never meant to kill her. If I could take that back then I would."

"And Pinkney?" Oliva queried. "You made a choice to set my brother up, Ed. You didn't have to do that."

"I did because he would have found me," Ed said. "And that would have meant finding out your secret."

She snorted. "Because that worked out," she responded.

"Well, I didn't know that this would happen at the time," he replied.

Olivia sighed. "How could you?" she wondered and Ed moved gently. He wrapped an arm around her, bringing her closer to him. She didn't protest, but she didn't exactly lean into his embrace. Instead she remained still and Ed manoeuvred her, tucking her head into the space between his neck and shoulder.

"You don't have to fight it all the time," he said to her. "I am still me, Olivia. Deep down I am still the same Ed who brought you breakfast in bed…who spent every waking minute thinking of you…who wanted nothing more than you."

"That cannot excuse what you did."

"Perhaps not, but we can move on," he said to her. "You just need to let it happen. Just let yourself go."

"I can't."

"Yes, you can," he whispered down to her and she shook her head as he stroked her damp hair softly and she closed her eyes, finally leaning into him. "Even if we just start with tonight, Olivia. Just let me comfort you. Let me just hold you and I will try and make things better. I will do what I can."

She began crying again and Ed tried to hush her, but he struggled. Instead his grip on her increased and she wrapped her arms back around him, leaning into him and gripping his jacket. Ed kissed the top of her head and moved her, bringing her so that she was perched on his lap. Ed continued to soother her until she went silent and he wondered if she was asleep. But she soon moved and looked up to him, her hand moving to rest on his chest, her fingers toying with his tie.

She said nothing and Ed wondered what was going through her mind. He kept his gaze on her face, drinking in her features and wondering when he had last been this close to her. He felt intoxicated. He felt drunk on her scent.

"Olivia," he whispered her name in that husky voice of his and she managed to pick her gaze up and look him in the eye. His thumb moved down and roamed over her cheek, tracing her cheekbone. She leaned in closer to him and pressed her lips onto his, any sense of reasoning leaving her behind.

…

Penguin had snuck past the guest room, clearly expecting to find Olivia there considering her car was still in the driveway. But she wasn't. The bed was still freshly made. The curtains were wide open. She was not in there. Oswald frowned and he moved down the hall and saw a peak of light from Ed's bedroom. He dared to open the door for a brief moment, peering into the room. One of the bedside lights was on and two figures in the bed. Ed had removed his suit jacket and tossed it over the chair in the corner.

He had his arm wrapped around Olivia who was tucked up under the covers and looked to be sleeping soundly, her head tucked beneath his chin and her own hands clenched into balls against his chest. Ed had one arm under her pillow and his other arm draped over her waist, his hand softly running down the ends of her hair. His eyes were closed and Penguin suspected that he was on the verge of sleep.

Oswald felt fury rise up inside of him and he knew he had to stop this. He had to stop this before it went too far. He had the power to do that. He just needed a more permanent solution to ending Olivia Gordon.

…

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