Chapter 12

Mary's POV…

The rest of that night was spent in silence, at first, calm then it became something else. He said he had killed Frankie slowly, but he didn't say anything else. He only held me as that memory from long ago began to fade. I had never told another person about what Frankie had done. I had let it hide inside of me until now, when it all seemed to come back at the news that he was dead, and Oswald was the one to kill him. That soothed me then as I lay in his arms feeling more secure then I had in years even with that sentence the last thing hanging between us. Oswald didn't say anything more, he only held me, and I didn't say anything either. I cried tears I hadn't cried since it had happened to me. I didn't know what there was to say, all I did know was that I felt at peace, maybe for the first time in years. Maybe that's why I slept peacefully for the first time in years. Eventually, I fell asleep, the cool touch of Oswald's hands on my skin the last thing I remembered. When I woke up, I wanted those hands to still be touching me, but they weren't. Oswald was gone and I was in his bed alone. It startled me at first especially when I touched the place where he had been finding it cold. He had left my side a long time ago.

I felt something inside me give. I didn't need to be told; I just knew something was wrong. It had to be for Oswald not to be here by my side. When I sat up, I looked over my shoulder to find the bathroom door which had been open the night before, closed now. I knew he was in there and sensed he was avoiding me even if I didn't know for sure. I didn't know what was going on. I felt blindsided by it all as I found my clothes slowly putting them back on. He hadn't showed any anger at me the night before, but that might have been because I was crying. I didn't know what was going on or what I had done, but I wasn't just going to leave. I would wait on him and he would face me.

"I'm not leaving, Oswald, I'm not sure what's wrong, but I'm not leaving until I find out" I said the words to the door after waiting on him for what was too long knowing somehow that that was what he wanted.

"I love you, Oswald, please, come out here. Come out and talk to me" I whispered approaching the door now, wanting it to open, and for him to face me even as it remained firmly closed.

"Oswald?" I whispered pressing my ear to the door to listen for him inside still not understanding anything that was happening as I heard him scuffling around inside.

"Come on, Oswald, please don't do this. We're never gonna get anywhere together if this is how we fight. I don't want to fight…I just want to understand what I did to upset you then I can apologize" I exclaimed feeling more and more shaken as I called to him through the door. Oswald still didn't respond though. The silence only seemed to break my heart as I leaned more heavily against the door wanting it to suddenly open, so we could talk. I couldn't leave things like this between us. It would be like leaving him in the rain like he had done me all those years ago. I didn't want to do that, especially after finding him again after all these years. That's why I kept my ear firmly pressed to the door waiting for any response from him. All I heard was silence though and it shattered me. It hurt to be on separate sides of the wall from him. To be fighting with him at all. It was the last thing I wanted as I continued to wait for him to open the door. After awhile I got scared. Because I couldn't even hear him anymore.

"Oswald, are you alright?" I said it with more urgency in my voice this time. I still didn't hear anything, but I sensed it was for other reasons that I didn't understand. Like maybe he was mad at me for something that I also didn't understand.

I stepped away from the door then, unsure what to do until bracing my hands against the wood of the door, I wasn't sure what to say.

"Oswald, I don't know what's wrong, but I'm not leaving until you come out here. I love you and I won't leave things broken between us" I whispered waiting for his response. When the door opened, he was standing in front of me, our eyes meeting immediately to see a pain in him I didn't understand.

"Oswald, what's going on. I would never do anything to purposely cause you pain. I love you…please, just explain all this to me" I whispered feeling shaken by the very way he was looking at me. Like I had wounded him. Like I had done something to truly hurt him and I didn't know how. I looked at him, seeking answers, but receiving only silence again. He had blocked me out completely and that hurt more then any wound Maroni or any of his men could inflict. Oswald didn't say anything, he only moved around me, and I knew there was something he wasn't telling me.

"Oswald, what is it?" I exclaimed, wanting him to look at me, but he wouldn't. What really hurt though was that he was acting like it was all okay. Like he didn't care. He was putting on his suit jacket and preparing to leave like it didn't matter if we parted ways this way. He was acting just like he did that day when he left me standing there in the rain and that's what really scared me. Because I didn't know if that meant he was going to leave me again. He was preparing to leave, to leave things like this between us. I didn't understand it or want to. I just wanted him to look at me and to tell me that he wasn't walking away from me again. I wanted him to tell me it was all going to be okay. He wouldn't do any of that though, he just kept readying himself to leave as if I didn't matter to him at all.

"Oswald?" I said it this time and he looked at my image in the mirror.

"There's nothing to say, Mary, you should get back to your husband, and I need to get to work" snapped Oswald his voice cold as he turned as if to leave, but then I made him look me in the eye when I stepped in front of him barring his way.

"Mary" whispered Oswald, my name coming from his lips on a sigh, finally looking me in the eye letting me see the hurt he held in his own.

"Oswald, please, talk to me" I whispered, moving as if to touch his cheek, but he shrank away from my touch.

"Oswald" I whispered, trying again before he gave me the answer to his distance.

"How many men have you slept with exactly?" exclaimed Oswald, the words coming like a slap in the face.

I looked at him, hurt written across my face.

"What are you saying, Oswald? Are you calling me a whore, a slut… what exactly are you trying to say with that question? What exactly do you want to know?" I screamed the words at him, my anger outweighing everything else as I found I couldn't look at him now.

"You think just because I've been with Frankie, whether the choice was mine or not, now you're wondering how many others there have been. You don't see me as your Mary anymore, you see me as the Maroni family whore" I exclaimed, not needing him to confirm anything I was say because I knew that was what he was thinking, and it hurt more then it should have, maybe because it was coming from him.

"I did start to wonder, but…I didn't mean it like that…you're taking my words out of context" whispered Oswald trying to smooth things over as was his way, but I wasn't going to make it that easy for him. At first, his words hurt me, but then they just made me angry. Because he didn't understand the things I'd had to do to survive.

"Yes, Oswald, there have been others. I've used the only asset I have to survive in Gotham. I had to because it was all I had…do you think I've spent all these years waiting for you to find me again…because if I didn't, I'd be dead by now. You'd have a grave to visit, instead, of me…I couldn't wait around for you after you left me standing there in the rain" I screamed the words in the end, somehow, they became louder the more I spoke until I found myself walking away from him. It was as I was opening the door that he tried to stop me.

"Mary" called Oswald, as I opened the door. I turned then standing in the doorway.

"I can promise you one thing, Oswald, since finding you again, you have been the only one, my only one, always" I whispered as I walked out the door.