Olivia called Jim as soon as she could, but her brother had apparently been predisposed. She had gotten his voicemail numerous times before she quit altogether. The guards on duty had finally awoken and demanded to know what had happened. She had told them about Ed, but she had been calm. She had told them that he meant no harm to them. It was her who he wanted. Jason had come and gone as per usual, Olivia managing to walk a few steps. She suspected that adrenaline was helping her this time. She was able to move because her mind was plagued with Ed. Everything that she kept thinking about involved Ed.

Finally, Jim called her back that evening and she spoke to him while eating a bowl of pasta in her bedroom, the TV playing low in the background. "Where the hell have you been?" Olivia demanded from her brother.

"It has been a long day," Jim said to his sister. "Uncle Frank killed himself and told me to tell the Court of Owls that he murdered him."

"Uncle Frank is dead?" Olivia asked, unable to comprehend that.

"Yes," Jim said, but there was no emotion in his voice. "He said that it was the only way to get me into the Court. I met a woman named Kathryn and she wants me to prove myself. I don't want to push too hard in case I blow things."

"Jim!" Olivia snapped at her brother. "You just told me that Uncle Frank is dead. Do you have no emotion about that? I mean…I know we weren't close, but he was still our Uncle."

"Uncle Frank ordered the hit to kill dad, Liv," Jim said to his sister.

Olivia felt her mouth dry up. She shook her head and pushed her bowl of pasta to the side, no longer any hungry. She closed her eyes for a second and shook her head. "He would not kill his own brother."

"But he did, Liv," he responded to her. "He killed our dad and now I have to go deeper into this. I need to stop this Court before they destroy Gotham. I…I know that this is a lot to take in and if I could then I would fly out to you as soon as possible."

"Why do you have to get involved with the Court?" she asked from her brother. "Why can you not just come and be here with me? Jim…please…just come out to me."

Jim paused for a moment. He seemed to shift the phone in his grip before speaking. "What is going on, Liv? You sound distressed."

Olivia scoffed and tugged a hand through her hair. "You just informed me that our uncle ordered for our father to be killed, I think I have a right to be distressed…and…it is something else."

"What?" Jim wondered.

"Ed," Olivia spoke his name softly. "He is here, Jim. He found me and he came to the apartment. He said that he would come back later."

"Did he hurt you?" Jim asked with a low growl. "Where was security?"

"Did you think that he would hurt me?" Olivia responded and she knew that Jim knew the answer to that. "He knocked security out cold before he came to me. know that he said he would be back, but I am not scared. I just want him to leave me alone. I want him to realise that there is no chance that we could be together."

"Do you think he will ever realise that? He is completely deranged, Olivia. He is a murderer…he…I have no idea what he wants, but he has been terrorising Gotham. I want him nowhere near you. I am going to phone Lee and ask her to get you out of there-"

"-If he found me here and he knows I am alive then do you honestly think that he will not be able to find me again?" she demanded from her brother. "I am coming home, Jim. I am not doing this any longer. I am not hiding. I am coming home. I am coming back to Gotham."

"Olivia-"

"-No," she interrupted him again, her voice low and demanding as she clenched her fingers into a fist. "I mean it, Jim. No more hiding."

"You aren't well enough to fly." Jim protested.

"Bullshit," Olivia snapped back. "How did I get here then, Jim? I can fly back."

"Just give it another few weeks. You are having physio and you need to rest."

"You are draining me, Jim," Olivia responded. "I just want to come home and be with people who I love…you…Lee…I am miserable here and now you want me to stay after telling me you are getting involved with the people who murdered our father. I am coming home."

Olivia hung up the phone before Jim could argue. She tossed the device onto the bed and huffed loudly to herself. She closed her eyes and flopped back on the bed, hands on her stomach as she wondered what Jim would be doing. She shook her head and realised that she couldn't sit and stew. Standing up, she managed to hold her bowl and reach for her crutches, heading back into the kitchen. As she left the bedroom to the open planned modern sitting room, she shrieked at the sight that greeted her.

Dropping the bowl, she heard it shatter into pieces around her at the sight of him.

"You really need better security," Ed said in a low drawl to Olivia as he stood by the back of the sofa, arms folded and a brow arched. He wore a smart grey suit, a white shirt underneath it with a green tie. "I am serious, Liv, those goons are too easy to fool."

"I told you not to come back here."

"And I told you that I would come here," Ed responded. "So listen to me because I have a proposition for you."

Ed fully expected her to snap back at him that she was not interested, but she remained stood still, hovering on her crutches. Arching a brow, she looked at him expectantly and Ed dropped his hands to his hips.

"No arguing?"

"I figured I may as well hear you out before I complain," Olivia responded and Ed's lips quirked upwards and he watched her hobble over to an armchair. She sat down and he watched her wince at the movement. She laid the crutches against the wall next to her and looked at Ed expectantly.

"I know that this is not what you want," Ed said. "You never wanted to be sent here and have your death faked. You want to go home. You aren't one to run away, especially not from your brother. And so, my proposition is this," Ed drawled, extending a dramatic hand. "I will drive you back to Gotham. That will give us time to talk and discuss things. It will give me time to persuade you that we are right together."

Olivia looked sceptical. "And if you can't persuade me."

"Then you go home," Ed replied. "You return to your normal life and I do what I have to do."

"Which is?"

"I haven't figured it out yet, but I have heard an interesting rumour; that it isn't Barbara who runs Gotham, but some secret organisation."

Olivia bit down on her lip and looked away. Ed held a finger up, wagging it slowly as his mouth gaped open. Olivia closed her eyes as she heard his footsteps advance towards her. Once he was in front of her, he knelt down onto the floor in front of her, hand moving to take hold of her cheek, forcing her to look back to him.

"You know, don't you?" he asked from her. "Your brother knows…and he was the one who told Barbara. That is why she has been acting more unhinged than normal. Who is it, Olivia?"

"I don't know," Olivia said. She had an idea, but she didn't entirely know. She was just not telling Ed the complete truth. "Jim has a hunch, but he has kept things from me. He doesn't want me involved."

Ed made a soft tutting noise at hearing her. "You are a terrible liar, Liv, but no matter, you will tell me. I know that you will. So what do you say? Do you want to come home or do you want to stay here?"

Olivia looked at him apprehensively, moving his hand from her cheek. "How do I know that I can trust you?" she asked from him.

"Because, despite everything, I have always kept you safe and I have always tried to the best thing by you. You know that."

"Swear to me."

"I swear to you," Ed responded.

"On something that means something to you."

"On your life," Ed replied and Olivia rolled her eyes.

"That isn't entirely comforting," she retorted and Ed shrugged.

"You're the thing that matters most to me," he admitted. "Now are you coming, or not?"

She took a few moments before making her decision. Nodding her head, she watched Ed clasp his hands together in glee.

"Road trip it is then."

….

Olivia had packed as much as she possibly could, Ed helping her and grabbing things so that she didn't have to. He folded her clothes up and packed them before grabbing the suitcase in his fingers and Olivia hobbled along beside him. She looked at the guards that were out cold by the door as they reached the elevator and Ed pressed the button. The elevator pinged loudly as it approached and they stepped inside. Olivia hesitated once she was in the fresh air, taking in deep breaths.

"Is this the first time you have been outside?" Ed asked from her, seeing how she winced from the sun and he unlocked the car that was parked on the side of the road. Popping open the trunk, he dropped her suitcase in and she nodded. "They shouldn't have locked you away like that."

"I know," Olivia agreed with him on that one.

He opened the passenger side door and Olivia hobbled around to it. He took the crutches from her as she lowered herself to the seat and slid in. He tossed the crutches onto the back seat before closing the door to her passenger side. Moving to the driver's seat, he slipped in and pressed the key into the ignition.

Olivia kept looking out of the window as he drove along the streets. She didn't question where he was going. Night had begun to fall over Florida and Liv knew that Ed couldn't drive for the entire journey. She had no idea how long it would take them to get back to Gotham, but as the clock on the car dashboard red eleven p.m. Olivia looked across to Ed.

"We should find somewhere to stay for the night."

"Agreed," Ed said, struggling to hold back a yawn.

He pulled into a cheap looking motel and told Olivia to wait for him to return. He was quick, grabbing a key and then her suitcase, helping her from the car and along the boardwalk of the motel until they came to room eight. Unlocking the door and flicking the light on, he entered the room and looked around. Olivia did the same, sniffing as she went.

"What is that smell?"

"Smells like wet dog," Ed complained and opened a window. "I don't even know if I want to check the sheets."

"Sleep on top of them," Olivia simply said and Ed locked the door as she sat on top of the bed.

"Good idea," Ed responded and laid her suitcase on the ottoman at the bottom of the bed, dropping his bag down next to it. Olivia watched as he shrugged out of his suit jacket, dropping it on top of his bag and then reaching for his cuffs. He unbuttoned them and rolled his sleeves up to his elbow, loosening his tie before glancing to Olivia. She had gone quiet, simply staring at the floor instead.

"It was Oswald," he suddenly informed her. "He was the one who cut the brakes on your car."

Olivia looked up to him and he perched down next to her on the bed, bending forwards and clasping his hands together as he remembered Oswald's body disappearing into the river. He hadn't felt content like he thought he might. He had been disappointed in the one man he thought that he could trust.

"Does Jim know?"

"Jim knows," Ed confirmed to her. "Did he not tell you?"

Olivia scoffed. "We haven't talked much or seen eye to eye on things. Has he been arrested?"

Ed shifted uncomfortably then. Looking over his face, Olivia knew that he was keeping something from her. He shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. Pushing his glasses up with a finger, he turned to look her in the eye, seeing how she already knew what had happened.

"I thought that he had killed you," Ed informed her and Olivia sighed. "I was not prepared to let him get away with that."

"And so his death is on me," Olivia whispered.

Ed moved closer to her, his hand going to hold onto her arm. He moved his other hand to her cheek, his thumb running along her cheekbone while she kept her hands draped in her lap.

"His death is on him," Ed said, his voice a low growl. "He was the one who tried to kill you. He…I was the one who killed him. It was me and no one else. His blood is on my hands and I would do it again if I had to. I would have revenge on anyone who dared to harm you."

"That isn't healthy," Olivia pointedly spoke.

"When is love ever healthy?" Ed questioned from her.

She had no response to that. Of course she had no response. It was irrational for her to still love the man sat next to her, but she did. She loved him with all her heart and it pained her to admit it to herself, let alone him. She managed to escape Ed's grip and she sniffed.

"Jim will know I have gone by now," Olivia said to Ed. "I should tell him that I am safe."

She reached for the cell that she had stuffed into her pocket, but Ed quickly snatched it from her grip.

"He could track you," Ed said. "And you promised me I had time with you until we returned to Gotham. I will go and call him from a payphone and pick up some food too. Promise me you will stay here."

Olivia snorted. "Not like I can go far," she commented and Ed nodded.

He moved to his feet and checked he had his wallet in his pocket before leaving without another word. Once he was in the humid night air, he leant against the wall next to the door and sighed. This was what he wanted. He had time to persuade Olivia that they belonged together. He had time to make her see sense. He couldn't waste it.

….

Ed returned to the motel after half an hour. He had found a small waffle shop and had called Jim. The detective had been snarky, but Ed gave as good as he got, promising that his sister would be safe and delivered to him in one piece. Returning to the motel, he found Olivia had showered. Her hair was half wet and she smelled of strawberry shampoo. She had changed into striped blue pyjamas and was sat up, watching the TV on the opposite side of the room.

"Waffles," Ed said, holding up the tray. "Not the most nutrient rich supper, but the best I could do."

"That's fine," Olivia said and Ed looked down to her bare leg as he rested the polystyrene tray on the mattress. He sat down on the edge of it and Olivia noted where his gaze had gone to.

"It's hideous," she whispered, wishing she had brought her long bottom pyjamas with her instead. "There's pins holding the bone together and the scarring is disgusting…it…and it hurts. I can feel it ache all the time."

Ed gulped and moved his hand towards it. He let his fingers run over the lumps and bumps, the matted skin feeling strange under his fingers. He could remember those legs wrapped around his waist as they wrestled under the sheets. He had always found her to be so soft. But what had happened did nothing to deter him from wanting her still.

"I don't think they're hideous," he said to her. "They are simply scars. Scars to prove that you are still here. It is better to have that than the alternative."

She knew that he was talking about death and she agreed with him on that front.

"We should eat," she changed the topic and Ed nodded.

They ate in silence, Olivia resting against the headboard and Ed perched to the side of the bed. Time passed and Ed remained lost in a world of his own. He made his excuses to go and shower and Olivia nodded. He lost himself in the warm steam for a while, his hair wet and sticking to him as he used her shampoo that she had brought with her. He cleaned his teeth and went about changing into his jogging pants and a white top, folding his suit clothes up and then padding into the bedroom. He found Olivia fast asleep, curled on her side with a hand stuffed under the pillow. She stayed on top of the covers and Ed sighed, wondering where he should sleep. He could take the sofa. Perhaps that would be for the best to give her space.

Reaching for the remote, he turned the TV off and placed it on the bedside cabinet. He went to find his suit jacket and delicately draped it over Olivia, a finger moving to brush her hair from her face. He thought that she might stir, but there was no movement. Instead he bent down and pushed his luck, kissing the side of her head and then standing up. He turned the light off and closed the open window before taking a spare pillow from the bed and heading to the sofa. Lying down, he looked to the ceiling, hands behind his head and contemplated what his next move would be.

….

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