Alex fidgeted nervously with her shirt as Jeremy and his lawyers entered the room. Even though Jeremy was in cuffs, he gave her a smirk as though he was the one in control. Alex glared as Jeremy was told to sit on the opposite side of the room with guards in between them. Jeremy's lawyers had caught wind of what Alex had found, and they had thrown a fit to allow Jeremy to be in the room. Being in the same room as the man who'd tried to kill her was uncomfortable to say the least. Luckily, Alex had Batman as backup.
Alex's lawyer, an elderly gentleman named Dalton Phillips, cleared his throat as the cue for Jeremy's lawyers to be quiet. With a slow dramatic pause, the old man opened the envelope and began to read, "Herein lies the will of Tiberius Ezekiel Arkham. The sole inheritor of my will is my biological child."
At those words, Alex saw Jeremy's chest puff up with confidence. The old man carried on with reading, but it was mostly legal jargon and descriptions of what was to be passed down to his "child". Focusing back on Mr. Phillips, she tried to see what had made him think that he'd already won.
"Enclosed is proof of the carrier of my lineage," Mr. Phillips said thoughtfully and flipped over to the next page. His eyes widened in surprise, and he flipped to the next page, carefully reading as the room fell to complete silence in anticipation. Alex saw a hint of a victorious smile as he looked at Jeremy. "Ah, dear Jeremy. It would appear that Tiberius Arkham was not your father."
Jeremy stared at Mr. Phillips with uncomprehending rage and asked in a threatening growl, "Excuse me?"
"I hold in my hand two paternity tests: one for you and one for Miss Elizabeth Arkham. And it quite clearly illustrates that Jeremy Arkham is not biologically related to Tiberius Arkham; however, Elizabeth Arkham is. That would make Elizabeth the rightful heir to the Arkham Estate."
Jeremy jumped out of his chair but was held back by one of the guards. Alex peeked over to see how Bruce was taking this in. On the surface, it appeared that Bruce was just watching with flippant amusement, but Alex could see the wheels turning behind those dark eyes.
"I demand a retest!" Jeremy screamed in defiance. "There's no way that bitch is the true heir! The real Elizabeth Arkham is dead!"
The room went completely silent. For a few moments, the only sound that could be heard in the room was Jeremy's heavy breathing.
"Could you please explain your statement?" Mr. Phillips asked with a raised brow, giving Jeremy a condescending look.
"Elizabeth Arkham died over twenty years ago. A little something the old man covered up… Elizabeth Arkham died in an accident, and my dear mother just couldn't take it. She started to lose her marbles, so my father took in some street urchin to pretend to be Elizabeth Arkham. That woman is not my sister. She's not even an Arkham. I have been robbed of my rightful place, and I DEMAND PROOF!"
There was mayhem in the small room. Jeremy's lawyers started protesting with Mr. Phillips as Jeremy was forcibly lowered back into a chair. The entire time Jeremy locked eyes with Alex. The sad thing was that even if he was lying about Tiberius Arkham taking in a random child he was right about one thing; she was not his sister.
As Mr. Phillips demanded order, Alex stood up from the table and shouted over the chaos, "I'll take the DNA test!"
The room went quiet as everyone in the room turned to her. She felt the nervous tingles at being the center of attention, but she continued, "If he's right, then we can discuss things further. But for right now, he doesn't have any proof. Do you, Jeremy?"
Jeremy glared at her but said nothing. Clearly he didn't have any physical evidence aside from the possibility of the DNA not matching.
"Jeremy and I can both submit our DNA. While it will take longer for it to settle this, I don't see how things can… amicably move forward at this time."
"How do we know that the envelope is even from Mr. Arkham?" one of Jeremy's lawyers spoke up angrily. "It could all be fake to discredit our client."
"You all saw the seal before I opened the envelope," Mr. Phillips said with a tired voice. "That was Tiberius' official seal, which he left with me before he passed away. This is his official signature as well… And if you have any further doubt, then we shall let the results of the DNA test sort out the matter. DNA does not lie."
There was more chattering from Jeremy's side of the room, but they seemed to accept it for the moment. Alex expected that they would riot later if the results weren't good for Jeremy. At least for now, they would leave her alone. Jeremy smirked at her as the guards pulled him from the room. He knew that his results were correct. If anything, he just wanted to out her as not being related either. It'd be much easier to kill her if she was just some random child off the street. Alex wondered if Falcone would retract his good will if the results came back that she wasn't Tiberius' real child.
A hand touched her shoulder, and she jerked away. Bruce looked at her with concern and pointed to the door. Alex glanced at Mr. Phillips. He seemed to be busy, so she ducked out the door with Bruce.
"That was… a lot," Bruce said with a sigh. "I believe that your family might win the 'Most Dramatic' award after all."
Alex chuckled, happy to feel some relief, before she sobered up and admitted, "Unfortunately, I don't even know if Jeremy is telling the truth."
"Well, at least you have a job should this not work out."
Alex wondered if he knew how relieved she was at these words. She seemed to have gotten at least a little trust from Bruce, and that was honestly worth more than the Arkham's money. She was mostly just worried about Falcone's reaction. Would he think that she'd tried to trick him?
"Ah, Miss Arkham," Mr. Phillips called out, and Alex said goodbye to Bruce.
The room was much more pleasant now that Jeremy and his goons were gone. Alex collapsed into a chair with a sigh. Mr. Phillips asked if she would like to do the DNA sample today, and she readily agreed. Better to wait a bit and get it over with than have to do it another day. Besides, the sooner the better. She'd also have to exhume Tiberius' body for his DNA sample, but hopefully Mr. Phillips would work on that for her.
Mr. Phillips excused himself, and Alex leaned back into the chair as she waited for the people to come for her DNA sample. The empty conference room felt incredibly quiet, considering the racket that had just taken place. The door creaked open. Alex turned expecting people in lab coats but saw Dr. Crane hesitantly opening the door.
"Just wanted to see if you are alright," Dr. Crane explained before stepping inside the room and closing the door behind him.
"Just tired," Alex admitted, leaning her head back onto the chair. "It was a lot of excitement… although I suppose it'll be worse when I have to testify against him in court. Thank you, Doctor… but I'll be fine."
Dr. Crane seemed satisfied with her answer and replied, "Just know that my office is open to you should you need it."
"Thanks," Alex said with a smile. "I appreciate it."
The door opened to a woman with a kit, and Dr. Crane excused himself and said goodbye. After Alex was swabbed, she gave Oswald a call to tell him that she was leaving the building. Why had Dr. Crane been in the building? She seemed to remember him testifying for criminals in the movie. Maybe he just happened to be meeting with lawyers and heard about her meeting.
Alex tried to shrug off the odd chills as she quickly walked through the hallway. Oswald was already pretty irritable about Bruce being the one she took into the meeting. Keeping him waiting wouldn't do her any favors. It was times like this when she really appreciated Victor's nonchalance to everything.
A strong wind blew as Alex exited the law office. Glancing around the parking lot, she found Oswald waiting outside with a pout on his face and his arms crossed. With a quick jog, she met up with him outside the car.
"So how'd it go?" Oswald asked as he opened the door and she slid inside.
"I had to submit a DNA test," Alex answered after Oswald got inside and closed the door. "Jeremy seems to think I'm an imposter. A random kid Tiberius took in to cover up for the death of his real daughter."
Oswald's eyes went wide, and he replied after blinking a few times in quick succession, "That's…"
"A lot," Alex answered with a sardonic smile. "My life is clearly a soap opera."
Oswald let out a surprised laugh before he suddenly gave her a serious look and said, "You do know that this doesn't change anything. Even if you are 'a random kid' and not an Arkham, I'll still be by your side."
"Thank you, Oswald… that means a lot to me. Really," Alex said quietly, taking his hand and giving it a gentle squeeze before letting it go.
A blush spread over Oswald's face, and he nodded and looked out the window with a small smile. As they passed a few of the buildings, Alex asked for the driver to stop at the library. Oswald gave her a curious look.
"I just want to grab a couple books. Would you like to come in with me? I won't be long if you just want to wait."
"I'll wait here," Oswald said quietly. "Take your time."
Alex noticed that his ears were still a bit red as she got out of the car. She hoped that he hadn't been waiting outside for her too long earlier. After quickly walking up the library stairs, she opened the door and took cover from the wind. The calm silence of the library made her sigh in relief as she walked up the aisles. Finding the traveling section, she took a couple of books on Starling City and Metropolis. She didn't want Oswald to know that she was looking into leaving the city, so she wandered around the aisles, looking for books to throw him off.
Pinpricks went up her back, and she turned around to see just an empty aisle. It still felt like she was being watched. Grabbing some cookbooks, she walked quickly to the checkout counter. Luckily, they were selling totes as part of a library promotion, and she was able to better hide her choice of books. Thanking the clerk, she left the library to see the car still parked in the same spot. As she got close to the car, she noticed that Oswald wasn't in the car. She opened the door to ask the driver where he'd gone when she noticed him walking towards the car.
"Just stretching out my legs," Oswald explained with a shiver.
Noticing his ears were still pink, Alex took off her scarf and wrapped it around his head. She said sternly, "You need to look out for yourself. It's too chilly to be hanging outside without proper clothing."
Oswald didn't reply but nodded, so Alex climbed inside the car. He didn't talk the entire way back to the manor. Alex felt a little bad, but she didn't think that she was that harsh to him. And how did his ears get even redder? He had to take his mother in for a check up today, and Alex didn't want Gertrude to think that Alex had left her boy out in the freezing cold.
As they approached the manor, Oswald touched the scarf as though he was planning to take it off, but Alex said gently, "Go ahead and keep it for today. You can return it after you get your own. It's not like I won't see you soon anyway."
Oswald nodded and kept his hands on the scarf. With a smile, she told him that she'd see him tomorrow and climbed out of the car. Carefully shutting it behind her, she walked up the front steps of the Arkham Manor. The car slowly turned and slowly rolled to the end of the driveway. Alex went inside to see the hustle and bustle of the crew slowly bring the house back up to code. Rolling up her sleeves, she looked for a place to get to work.