Ellen and Nina were still engaged in an animated conversation about high school when Edward got up to clear the dishes from dinner. Ellen briefly paused her conversation to give him a look. "Do you want any help with that, Pops?"

Edward waved her off. "No no, you keep on talking with your 'Auntie' Nina. I'll take care of this." Ellen shrugged and turned back to speaking with an attentive Nina. Edward had his own ritual for cleaning dishes. Exactly three drops of dishwashing liquid, a minute's scrub on each side, rinse, load. Repeat as needed. It was as much a relaxation ritual for him as it was a chore. He'd never liked anyone else doing his dishes for him because of that.

As he finished loading the last dish into his dishwasher, he saw Deirdre leaning against the counter, lighting up a cigarette. "You want one, Boss?"

Edward shook his head. "I haven't smoked for years," he said in a low enough tone so that the occupants at the table couldn't hear them, "Just don't get too close to Ellen when you're smoking."

Deirdre took a puff on her cigarette, then smirked. "Look at you, Dad."

Edward flushed a bit. "Just trying not to expose her to second-hand smoke. Her grandmother will never let me hear the end of it if I do."

"Sure, Boss." Deirdre took another long drag on her cigarette and looked back to the table. Nina was telling Ellen another story and Ellen was leaning forward elbows on the table and hands tucked under her chin, like a child hearing a bedtime story. Edward watched as well and a still alien feeling crept through his chest as he did so. To an outsider, the scene might be adorable. To Edward, it was bittersweet. How many years, experiences had he missed with Ellen while he'd been off on supervillain capers he could no longer remember. He shook his head. He'd made his choices. He wouldn't be the man he was today if he hadn't. No time for any regrets, or doubts. "She's a good kid, isn't she?" he heard Deirdre say.

"Yes, she is," Edward said wistfully. Because of her mother and grandmother, not him. He cleared his throat. "Of course she is. She's my child," he said with more bravado. "She wouldn't be anything else."

Deirdre snorted a bit. "I gotta say, it would have been fun having her around in the old days."

"Nina said as much last year," Edward chewed his lip a bit. "It's just as well she wasn't. Glamorous as that lifestyle was, it wasn't one conducive for raising children."

If Deirdre agreed with his assessment, she didn't say so, instead, she took another drag of her cigarette. "She seems really into hearing about what we did," she said finally. "You ever think about teaching her some of your tricks?"

Edward turned to give Deirdre a critical look. "You mean teaching her how to be a Rogue?"

"The Bat has his little minions. Who says you can't have your own protege?"

"Absolutely not," Edward said with a firm shake of his head. "There's only ever going to be one Riddler, Deirdre. Yours truly. And I'm not looking to make it a hereditary title." He leaned back against the countertop and resumed contemplating Nina and Ellen, who was now speaking about an unfortunate father-daughter game night they'd had a few weeks ago. "No," Edward said again. "That's not the life I want for her. She's not going to put on a costume and fight other spandex types. She's going to college, she's going to be an artist and open a gallery in Midtown, just like her mother always wanted." He looked back at Deirdre to see her smiling at him.

"Sounds nice, Boss," she said. "But are you sure that's what she wants?"

Edward sniffed. "She's fifteen. Sure she thinks what we did is exciting, but what teenager wouldn't? It's a phase that will pass."

"Just like it did for you, Boss?"

Edward's grip tightened a bit against the counter. He knew Deirdre didn't mean anything by her quip, but between her and Nina, she'd always been the brasher of the two. "Yes," he said finally. "Only without a head injury, coma and heartbreak." He'd make up for being absent from Ellen's life for so long. He'd make sure she had a better life than he did, even if he had to drag her kicking and screaming.

Nina finally looked over to where he and Deirdre were lingering and waved them back over. "Eddie! Come here! I want to hear more about this 'competitive Oregon Trail'!"

Edward plastered a long-suffering look on his face and walked back to his seat at the table between Ellen and Nina. Deirdre followed, but not before dutifully putting out her cigarette and throwing it out. "Ellen," he said. " I thought we agreed to never speak of that again."

"Yeah, but it's funny," Ellen giggled. "Especially the part where you were five miles out from Oregon and died from Dysentery!"

"That wasn't funny at all!" Edward fussed. "That game cheated!"

"Pops, it was a computer! How did it cheat?"

"Well, it did!"

Nina and Deirdre erupted into laughter then and the four continued to share stories for another hour until Edward checked his watch.

"Well," he said reluctantly. "It's 9:00. I promised your grandmother that I'd have you home by 9:30."

Ellen's smile turned into a pout. "Aw. I hate curfew."

"Take it up with your grandmother, not me." Edward turned to Nina and Deirdre, whose looks of disappointment matched Ellen's own. "Mind holding down the fort until I get back?" Rachel Dixon only barely tolerated him, he didn't want to imagine the fireworks that would ensue if she met the girls.

"We got it, boss. See you in a bit." Deirdre waved at Ellen. "See you soon, kiddo."

Ellen flushed again and waved back before dutifully following her father out the door.

"So," Edward said as they descended the stairs, Ellen two at a time. "What did you think?"

Ellen looked up from the second story landing she'd skipped down to. "I love them! Can I go visit them in Central City sometime?"

Edward chuckled a bit. "If you can convince your grandmother, why not? They'll be in town until Sunday, I'm sure we can manage for you to come by again before then."

Ellen took off as soon as Edward had joined her and he had to huff a bit. He missed having that kind of energy. Not that he was getting old or anything. "Nina said she's gonna teach me how to ride a motorcycle for my sixteenth birthday!"

"I seem to remember us having a conversation about this subject just before Christmas. A conversation that ended with 'over my dead body'."

Ellen had reached the front door to the building by now and sulked. "Boring Old Man!" She waited for him to catch up to her before she opened the door and began to walk towards his car. "Can Selina come by too?"

"Probably not. She...doesn't exactly get along with Deirdre and Nina."

"How come?"

Edward opened the passenger door for Ellen and made sure she was buckled in before he walked around the front of the car and entered the driver's side. "That's a long story," he said. "I'll-"

"-Tell me later, I know," Ellen groused.

Edward buckled himself in and started the car. "You know what," he said."I think I can tell you a bit of it on the way to your home. You're old enough to hear most of it."

Edward picked the most sanitized, but accurate version he could think of and began to tell it to Ellen, stopping only when Ellen held up her hand.

"Hold up," she said with a scandalized look on her face. "You and Selina used to date!?"

"It wasn't that serious," Edward said. "And don't interrupt me like that."

Ellen leaned back against her car seat. "Wow. How'd you go from Selina to Scarecrow?" She flushed a bit and looked at him. "No offense."

"None taken," Edward said. "I realize that from the outside, it must seem more than a bit strange. But..." he looked at the road ahead and sighed. "Jonathan was the second most intelligent man I'd ever met, after myself of course. He and I came from a similar background. I could connect with him on a level that I couldn't really with Selina, or Deirdre and Nina even." There had been an unspoken understanding between them almost from the moment they'd met. Jonathan had aggravated him, excited him more than anyone before or since. Would he ever find that kind of connection with anyone again?

He stopped at a red light then turned to see that Ellen had a sad expression on her face. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Ellen quickly looked out towards the passenger window. "It's nothing," she said quickly. "I just didn't mean to upset you. You were a lot happier tonight than you've been lately and I don't want to mess it up."

This was more consideration than Edward had hoped for, or frankly, deserved from her. "You're not upsetting me," he said. "It's only natural for you to want to know more about me."

"Yeah," she said. "I guess. And you'll tell me to back off, right?"

"You know it," he drawled. The light turned green and they continued on towards Ellen's home in silence. "So," he said in an attempt to steer the conversation to less loaded territory. "There's no one in your life I need to know about, is there?"

Ellen made a face. "No, Gramma says I'm not allowed to date until I'm sixteen."

"Only sixteen? I wouldn't let you until you were twenty-five. That's when the human brain fully finishes developing and you reach true adulthood."

"Weren't you and Mom only twenty-one when I was born?"

"Exactly."

"Hypocrite!"

"Do as I say, not as I do."

"You're sure you aren't going to go the hearings tomorrow or Thursday?"

"Positive," Penelope said, balancing her cell phone between her ear and shoulder while she typed on her computer. "I need as much time as I can to prepare for my own testimony."

"What's your game plan?"

Penelope drummed her fingers on her desk as she considered Joan's question. "I'm not going to play up the traumatized victim angle," she said. "Ward no doubt remembers me too well from Arkham. He'll see through it."

"I don't think you could get through more than five minutes of that before you made yourself angry," Joan noted dryly. "You're worried about Ward then? Not Greene or Bolton?"

Joan had wanted to tear Bolton a new one when Penelope had told her how he'd approached her. "Bolton won't try anything now that he thinks Wayne and I are friends," she said. "And Greene's using the proceedings to try to make a name for herself. You've noticed how she doesn't contribute anything of any substance. She pokes holes at other people's testimony. It makes for good sound bites, but that's it."

"So basically, you won't give her anything and you'll be going through her own record."

"Exactly," Penelope answered. That was what she was doing now, going through archives of City Council agendas for the past six years, since Roberts and Greene had first been elected. If Greene was using the records of Joan and the GCPD officers against them, turnabout was fair play.

"And Ward?"

Penelope paused. There was a trump card with Ward. One that could irreparably damage him, but one that would take her down too. Was she prepared for that? "I have an idea," she said at last. Slayer of Regrets, Old and New, Sought by Many, Found by Few. Time to marry thought to action.

"One that you don't care to share with me? Penelope, just what are you up to?"

"I'm not quite sure yet. I need to go. I'll call you on Thursday night."

"Alright. Just promise me something, Penelope."

"What?"

"Don't be a martyr." Joan hung up before Penelope could respond.

Penelope put down her cell phone and took a sip of her now lukewarm green tea before she went back to digging through the archives. One agenda item, dated March 15th, 2003, caught her eye. She clicked on the link and her eyes widened a bit as she read the minutes.

When she finished reading, she smirked. "I've got you, Greene."

Wednesday, 3:15 pm

Edward fidgeted with the edge the sleeves of his light green dress shirt as he finished recounting the tale of his exploit with Croc and the emotional fallout that had ensued to Dr. Leland. She had listened to the full story without a single comment or even a change of facial expression, something that made Edward nervous and relieved at once. "And so, here we are," he said. He still couldn't quite meet her gaze, so he dryly chuckled. "I'm sure this was the last thing you expected to hear from me."

Dr. Leland said nothing, but Edward felt and saw her dark hand cover his own. He looked up and there was a look of kindness on her face, one that he still wasn't used to seeing.

"Edward," she said. "I know how difficult this must have been for you, getting all of this off your chest, but I want you to know that I'm very proud of you."

Edward felt his face flush, instinctively wanting to scoff at her words, but valuing the praise just the same. "Proud of me for running off and nearly getting myself killed trying to avenge a man who dressed in straw?"

"Well, not that part," Joan admitted. "But the fact that you're talking about this shows just how far you've come in the past few years." She got up to get another glass of water for him. "I'm glad to see that you're comfortable sharing these parts of your life with me and with others now. You shouldn't sell yourself short."

Edward raised an eyebrow in wry response. "When have I ever?" He watched her as she refilled his glass, then placed it back on the coffee table in front of him. "You don't seem too surprised. About myself and Jonathan, I mean."

Dr. Leland sat down in the armchair across the table from him and took a sip of her own drink before she responded. "To tell the truth, I suspected something was going on between you two. Crane-Jonathan, he seemed a bit less...misanthropic when you were around."

"But you never reported it?"

Dr. Leland shook her head and looked at him again with her warm brown eyes. "Well, I only suspected. I had no proof of anything. And from what you've told me, separating the two of you would have been an exercise in futility."

Edward chuckled a bit. The biggest mistake Quincy Sharp had ever made, other than antagonizing him, was to let Dr. Leland go. "Yes, it would have." His smile fell from his face and he sighed.

Dr. Leland leaned over again almost on cue. "How do you feel?"

"Tired," he admitted. "It gets a bit easier each time I talk about him, but-" he surreptitiously reached up to wipe his eyes before any tears could come out. "It's always going to hurt a bit, isn't it?"

"Grief is a process that's different for people, Edward. I think though that if you continue our sessions and to reach out for emotional support from others when you need it, that it will get better for you."

Edward chuckled again. "You just want to see more of me, don't you. I can't say I blame you. Who wouldn't want to bask in my company?"

Dr. Leland shook her head and let out a laugh herself. "Who wouldn't indeed?"

Edward got out of his seat for the first time since he'd arrived at Dr. Leland's office an hour and forty-five minutes ago and stretched his arms above his head. He felt, if not completely better, a bit lighter than he had for over a week. Perhaps there was some merit to spending time Dr. Leland after all. "Well," he said, making sure he didn't aggravate his ribs. "Chalk one thing off the list of things for Penelope to nag me about at least."

"Edward," Dr. Leland lightly scolded. "She's not nagging you. She's just trying to help you. She worries about you."

Edward sighed. "Yes, she does." She shouldn't. She had enough on her plate without having to worry about him. He thought about the book that she had left him, the one that he had read through every night since she'd brought it to him. He'd thanked her for that, but it had felt inadequate. He should do something more for her, to pay her back for everything she'd done for him in the past year. Well, he had a few days to think about it. "I'm sure she'll be delighted to hear about this Friday."

Dr. Leland's brow furrowed. "She hasn't told you?"

Edward looked at her, surprised by the tone in her voice. "Told me what?"

"She's testifying before Sharp's Commission Friday morning."

Edward dropped his arms to his sides. "She is? Why would they call her?" He rubbed his chin. "She didn't volunteer, did she?"

"No," Dr. Leland answered. "They want her to speak about her abduction and what led up to it. I'm not sure how much you've been following it on the news, but they've been very aggressive in attacking GCPD's conduct on Goodman's case."

Edward huffed. "You can't tell me that it's not just a little bit deserved, Dr. Leland. No doubt they want to use Penelope as the poor, defenseless victim in all this." Edward could just imagine her reaction to being treated as such and almost laughed. Then he frowned. "Why wouldn't she have told me?" Did she want to prove that she could investigate the Case without his help?

"She probably didn't want to compromise your recovery, and I agree. I probably shouldn't have told you. Edward, you need to put your own well-being first."

"My intellect needs care as much as my body and my psyche do, dear Dr.," he said. Dr. Leland didn't look convinced, but he was also struck by the fact that she wasn't quite making eye contact with him. "There's more, isn't there?"

Dr. Leland sighed. "Edward, Lyle Bolton approached Penelope about testifying before the commission."

Edward felt his fist clench. "If he threatened her-"

"He didn't," Dr. Leland clarified. She sighed. "She did say that he was vulgar, but that it wasn't anything she couldn't handle. Let's go back to your session."

Edward saw red for a moment, then took a deep breath. "Yes," he said. "Let's. Did I tell you, I had Ellen meet my old friends last night?"

Dr. Leland's face resumed its earlier, happier expression. "Really? How did that go?"

"Very well!" Edward said. He sat back down in his chair and looked up at Dr. Leland with his trademark grin. "They already want to steal her away." Edward spent the remaining minutes of his session indulging Dr. Leland, but internally, his mind was made up. He'd spent enough time on the sidelines. It was time to come back into the world.

He would be at the Commission Friday morning.