Shooting Mario had been an accident. It had been a terrible accident and Jim regretted it. He was sorry for what he had done and he knew there would be no coming back for him and Lee after he had done it. But no matter how many times he told Lee that Mario had a knife raised at Lee, she did not care. She didn't care about that. She had buried her husband and he was gone. He was gone and Jim was fearful of the repercussions. He had told Carmine that he would bring Mairo in alive, but he had failed. He had failed and he feared what could happen.

"You don't need to worry," Carmine had said to him out of nowhere when he spotted him loitering in the background at the funeral. Jim had remained stood there and watched him approach. "You are lucky that I care a lot for Lee and consider her my daughter. You are fortunate that, because of her, I will keep your secret safe."

"Thank you," Jim said, grateful for that.

"But I will not allow you to get away with what you did. You messed up," Carmine said to him. "You killed my son and I will give the nod to have you killed, Jim…because eventually my grief will turn to anger…and I will want revenge. I suggest you disappear. I suggest you go to Florida and you disappear."

Jim remained mute as Carmine returned to the congregation and he turned on his heel to leave. He let out a deep breath and realised that he had to do something. He did not want to run away, but he felt as though he was beginning to run out of options. He returned back to his apartment and contemplated grabbing his case and booking the first flight. What did he have in Gotham? What did he truly have? Lee was still there, but she wanted nothing to do with him.

As he closed the door to his apartment, he jumped back at the sight of the figure sat in his armchair. He pressed a hand to his hip and reached for his gun. "Get out before I shoot you."

"You would never do that," he responded with a shake of his head.

"I wouldn't challenge me on that," Jim warned.

"How is the investigation going?" Ed enquired.

"That is none of your business."

"It is completely my business," Jim responded, folding one leg over the other. "Because she came to me, Jim. It was me who she turned to when you pushed her away."

Jim resisted the urge to launch into Ed. He wanted to do nothing but wipe that smug look off of his face. He couldn't even stand to look at him after everything he had done. He had considered Ed a friend at one stage and look how that had turned out. It had gone to crap. Everything in his life had gone to crap.

"I am not doing this," Jim responded with a shake of his head, holding his hands up in defeat and leaving his gun in its holster. "Get out, Ed, before I do something I might regret."

"I know who killed her," Ed said and Jim froze.

Ed studied his face and he saw a flicker of something that looked like fear. Narrowing his brows, Ed moved to his feet, buttoning up his suit jacket and looking to Jim, eyes set on him in little slits. Jim soon composed himself and shook his head.

"How?" was all that Jim asked Ed.

"You can thank Barbara for that," Ed admitted and Jim had to admit that he was even more confused by that piece of information. What did Barbara have to do with any of this? Jim had spent most of his time trying to forget about what he had had with Barbara ever since she had tried to kill him and Lee. He tried not to give her a second thought, but somehow she kept poking her nose in his business.

"Barbara?" Jim asked and Ed rolled his eyes, pointing between him and Jim.

"I thought that you were supposed to be the cop here?" Ed checked and Jim gave him a warning look that caused him to sigh. "Barbara pointed something out that I confess I had not recognised. She…she told me about Oswald. She told me how he had feelings for me and he killed Olivia. He followed through with his threat and he killed her."

Jim did his best to compose himself. Oswald. He should have known that he would cause trouble. How could he not. He wanted to do nothing more than run. He needed to run and find Oswald. He wanted to make him pay for what he had done. And that was what he intended to do. He couldn't control himself as he began to move to the door and Ed. He rushed over, standing in front of it before Jim could open it.

"Get out of my way," Jim snarled at him.

"Believe me I would love nothing more than to let you go and have revenge," he promised him. "Or arrest him…or whatever it is you intend to do…but there is another way. There is another way."

"No, I will go and arrest him-"

"-With what?" Ed interrupted him. "It is quite clear that there is no evidence otherwise you would have arrested him already. So what? What grounds can you hold him on?"

Jim knew that he had a point. He was talking sense, but Jim was struggling to reason with sense. He didn't know if it was possible for him to see past the fog that was in front of his eyes. He was inches from Ed and the tall, lanky man was refusing to budge out of his way.

"As I said, there is another way," Ed promised him. "There is another way that Oswald will pay for what he has done."

"Why do I get the sense that you are talking about something that might not be legal?"

"When has it ever stopped you?" Ed demanded, searching his gaze. "You were the one who killed Galavan. You're not clean, Jim, and don't pretend that you don't want revenge on him for what he had done."

"But killing him will not bring her back," Jim warned and Ed chuckled.

"Nothing will bring her back," he said and Jim swore that he saw a flicker of sorrow behind his gaze. He was trying to conceal it. He was trying to put on a brave faced, but the problem was that Ed wasn't that brave, not when it came to Olivia. He would never be that brave when it came to Olivia. "But I do this for her. I do this to have my revenge."

Ed kept himself composed and Jim took a step back. He looked over Ed and nodded once, gulping loudly. "What do you have planned?"

Ed's smirk rose on his face and he nodded, preparing to tell him about everything that he had planned for his revenge on Oswald.

…

Lee stood in Carmine Falcone's office, looking out over Gotham. His office was on one of the top floors in a high rise, giving him spectacular views over the city. Lee was fuming. She had gone through every emotion that she had. She had sobbed for days over Mario, struggling to function or think properly. And then the anger had come. The anger had started to come over what he had done and she wanted him to feel the pain that she had felt. He had done nothing but bring misery into her life and now she wanted him to feel what she felt. She wanted him to be hurt.

"I gave him a warning," Carmine Falcone informed Lee once he had finished pouring them both a small glass of scotch. He carried it from his desk over to where she stood, his shoes tapping on the tiled floor. "I warned him to get out of here before I do something. In some ways, Jim Gordon was like a son to me. I cared very much for him and for what he did for me. But he killed Mario. It is the natural order of things that I be the one to kill him."

"I despise him," Lee said, the anger clear in her voice. She took the glass from Carmine and held onto it. She hadn't even taken her coat off, still feeling the cold in her bones. "He is a poison. He ruins everyone who he touches…even though Mario had the virus, he had the choice not to kill him. He didn't have to do that."

"I know," Carmine said to her and she took a sip of the liquid. "But it has to be this way, Lee. Blood for blood."

"I hate him," Lee confirmed to him. "He ruined my life. He ruined Olivia's life…he pushed her away and drove her straight back to Ed…and then what happened to her. It would never have happened if he hadn't have done that to her."

"He has to live with the knowledge that he has ruined his sister's life," Carmine said. "And if he remains in Gotham then has to accept his fate. I will be the one to do it, but you know that. You know that if he stays here then he is dead. Can you live with that? Can you live with being complicit in knowing that?"

Lee took another sip on her drink, Jim's face swimming into her mind. She thought about Olivia. She wondered what she would say if she could see her now. She would be distraught.

…

Lee had visited Captain Barnes in Arkham. She had seen what he the virus had done to him and she had seen how he wasn't the same man she had known while he was at the GCPD. She saw what Mario would have become and it scared her. It terrified her. He would never have been the same again. He would have lost himself and he would never be the man she had met before. But she knew then that she couldn't kill Jim. She blamed him for the death of her husband, but she didn't want to kill him. She didn't have it in her to kill him.

…

Ed's plan was coming along perfectly. He had managed to have someone impersonate Oswald's dead father and scare him beyond his wits. Oswald had been on edge for a while, but he had remained silent. He had never claimed that he had seen any hallucinations, but Ed knew the truth. He knew that Oswald was jumpy. He was constantly worried and Ed wanted that for him. He wanted him to suffer before he had his final revenge. He wanted to drive him to the brink of insanity before he finally finished him off.

But there was only so much he could go through and cope with. Jim had a suspicion that Ed was nearing the end of his plan and he had found himself tangled up in it again. While he had a battle on his hands working at the GCPD, he knew that he had to stop Ed before he went too far. He couldn't let Ed kill Oswald. He was still a police officer and, despite his longing to kill Oswald himself, he knew that it was the wrong thing to do. Killing brought no one any peace.

And so Jim had told Harvey that he had to go off one afternoon. He had to leave and let Harvey look into the case concerning Indian Hill himself. The thought of Jermoe Valeska being resurrected and on the run was terrifying to all of them and they had to stop it from happening. They had to do everything in their power. But, truth be told, Jim's mind was on Olivia still.

He had followed Ed out to an abandoned warehouse one evening and loitered there after getting a tip off that there was movement from a cop he had stationed on him. Moments later, Oswald turned up with his bodyguards and Jim frowned. He climbed from his car just as he heard the sound of two gunshots. He swore under his breath and moved into the warehouse to see Ed stood there with Oswald in front of him.

"Ah, Jim," Ed said theatrically. "You are here for the main event."

"Detective Gordon!" Oswald snapped loudly, but when he looked to Jim he saw nothing resembling kindness there. Instead Jim was glowering at him, his own anger now surfacing up inside of himself. "Ed has-"

"-Shut up," Jim interrupted and he grabbed Oswald by the lapels of his coat, flinging him up against a stack of boxes and hearing him gasp loudly. "Is it true? You cut her brakes?"

Oswald said nothing. Jim slammed him back against the boxes once more. "Answer me!" he roared.

"No…no…it wasn't me," Oswald said.

"Do not lie!" Ed was the one who roared then, holding the gun over Jim's shoulder and aiming it straight at Oswald's head as Jim's teeth remained gritted. The anger remained in his glare and Oswald knew he had two men against him. In the distance, Jim heard a loud bang and he wondered what it could possibly be, but that was not his concern. He had no idea that there was a riot spreading in the street with thanks to Valeska.

"Olivia was my everything," Ed snarled at Oswald. "I loved her more than you could even imagine. I adored her and you took her away from me. You took her!"

"No…I never," Oswald said.

Ed reacted then. He grabbed Oswald by the collar of his shirt and dragged him from Jim around the corner. Jim followed him, keeping his gaze settled on the two of them. "This was her car," Ed hissed and Jim looked onto the vehicle, wondering how he had it. "This was her car and you cut her brakes. You cut them and you killed her. You killed my Olivia!"

"Ed, no," Oswald continued to deny and Ed hit him around the head with the gun as Jim remained stood back.

"Stop lying to me," Ed demanded the wild edge to his voice clear.

"Ed, you do not want to do this."

"Don't I?" Ed wondered, hauling Oswald to the vehicle and pushing him onto the hood of it. Before he could move, Ed had grabbed the rope hanging on either side of the metal, tightening it around Oswald.

"Jim, you can't let him do this!" Oswald roared.

But Jim remained silent. He had no intention of letting Ed kill Oswald, but he would play his cards close to his chest. He remained mute, impassive.

"But my father," Oswald said, voice terse. "I saw my father…he told me…"

"You dummy," Ed hissed. "That wasn't your father. That was someone from Indian Hill who does a very good impersonation."

Oswald gained his thoughts then, not wanting to believe that Ed could do that to him.

"But…"

"Ghosts aren't real!" Ed roared at him. "I set it all up so that you could suffer just like I did. I wanted you to feel the pain that I still feel knowing that you took her away…knowing that the one person you considered your friend could ruin your life so easily."

Jim dropped his hands to his hips.

"You know what?" Oswald asked, his demeanour changing completely. "I did you both a favour. I did it because eventually she would have either died at your hand," he emphasised, looking at Ed, "or because of something you have done. She would have died sooner rather than later."

"I would never have hurt her!" Ed roared, grabbing Oswald by the shoulders and shaking him. "I loved her. I could have been happy with her."

"Are you going to listen to that?" Oswald demanded from Jim. "Do you believe anything that he says?"

"No," Jim responded earnestly. "I would never have let her be with him, but she is my sister," he walked slowly towards him then, his steps slow and steady. "She is my little sister and it is my duty to protect her."

Ed frowned. "Is," he repeated and turned his head over his shoulder to look at Jim. "You said is, not was…present, not past tense."

"What?" Jim demanded, his own voice terse. "You're arguing over that? Perhaps it is because I cannot let her go, Ed? I lost my sister less than a few weeks ago."

"She was ruined by both of you," Oswald said, grabbing both of their attention again and Jim let out a sigh of relief. "You both know it!"

"No," Ed said and pushed Oswald once more before moving off to the corner.

"You are a police officer," Oswald reminded Jim. "You can't let him kill me."

"And I won't," Jim said and Ed stopped lighting the fire beneath the block of ice that was the only weight holding up the butt of acid he had above Oswald. He intended to melt the ice and then Oswald would be gone. He would have to wait for death, but it would be beautiful. It would be slow torture.

"I thought that you might say that," Ed sighed, knowing that this would have happened eventually. He would only get so far. He stood up straight and began to lift his gun up towards Jim, but the copper was quicker. He punched at Ed and knocked him to the floor, grabbing his gun from him and tossing it to the side. Ed struggled to sit up, but Jim had him cornered. He handcuffed him to a pipe, stopping him from moving.

"Jim," Ed snapped his name. "He murdered your sister. He murdered Olivia and you are just going to let him go?"

"Who said anything about letting him go?" Jim questioned, untying Oswald and bending his arm behind his back so he couldn't move or escape. "I am doing this the right way. I am bringing him in and arresting him."

"With what evidence?" Oswald snapped.

"With the recording I took on my phone when you admitted to killing my sister," Jim hissed.

"You can't leave me here!" Ed roared back. "I did this for Olivia. I did this for her."

"No, she would want this done the right way and you know that," Jim responded. "My sister was good. She wasn't…this wasn't her."

"But this is me!"

Jim didn't respond to that. "I'll have someone come and release you in another hour. Sit tight."

Ed continued to yell after Jim, but he was leaving, pushing Oswald ahead of him. He found the spare pair of cuffs he had in his car and used them on Oswald, cuffing him to the door handle before climbing into the vehicle and hearing his radio begin blaring.

"Harvey?" he asked, speaking into it.

"We have an issue here, Jim. Valeska is on the run and the city is burning…there's riots everywhere and he has taken Bruce Wayne. We don't know where."

"I'm on the way in," Jim said and Oswald tried to pull the cuff from his wrist.

"Jim, you have to let me go."

"I think not," Jim responded. "You know, you're lucky, Oswald, because a part of me was tempted to let Ed have his way and kill you. For what you have done, you deserve that."

Oswald said nothing, but he knew that he would escape sooner rather than later.

…

Sitting in the window seat, she gasped for breath. The amount of effort it had taken her to get there was hard. She settled down and leaned against the wall, looking out the window and over the ocean. Her gaze settled on the setting sun as she tucked her hair behind her ear. She felt how dry her locks had become and she knew that she had to show eventually. But the effort required was maximum. Everything felt ten times as hard to complete as it should. There was a knock on the door and she looked over to it as Andrew walked in.

"Jim Gordon was in a car crash," he said to her. "He was on the way to the GCPD with the Mayor when he was hit by another car…it was his ex…Barbara. She was with Ed and they took Oswald."

"Why was my brother with Oswald?"

"No one knows," he responded with a shrug. "But your brother is fine. I thought you should know…Lee…she asked me to tell you."

"Why am I still here?" she asked from him. "Jim killed Carmine's son. Why is he still keeping me here?"

"Because Lee is like a daughter to him. She wants you kept safe."

"And this is safe?" she questioned. "Locked up in some apartment with bodyguards on the door?"

"It is for your own good. You know that."

"It's not fair on him," she whispered and looked back out the window. "He has a right to know I am still alive."

Andrew said nothing back to her. She remained mute and closed her eyes as she heard the door close behind him and he left without another word as her mind went back to Edward Nygma.

…

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