Chapter 17

We sit down on a park bench, Oswald holding a small bag of bird seed. I relax, leaning my head against his shoulder. I try to glance over and study his expression, but he tilts his head away from me, and because I can't examine his expression, I'm not sure if he's doing that on purpose or not.

"Can I ask you something?"

I nearly jump, we'd been in relative silence for a while now, the flow of conversation having been stopped sometime during our walk.

"Yeah, sure."

He tilts his head toward me, leaning back into the park bench, his right arm reaching over to my shoulders, "Why do you never talk about your parents?"

I pause, "I...I have my reasons. I mean, there isn't really much to say, I never knew them very well-"

"So they're dead?"

I freeze as Oswald casually sets down the bird seed on the park bench, scatters some of the bird seed on the ground, and watches as several pigeons come flocking to the seed, "The way you used the past tense to refer to them. They're either dead, or you consider them dead."

"They're dead." I mumble, staring straight ahead.

"What happened to them?" he asks, placing his hand on my shoulder, "It's okay, you can tell me."

I brush his shoulder off of me, "Why do you need to know?" yes, technically I should be bowing to his every whim to keep him happy, but this is...different. This is something you don't touch.

He leans in to whisper, "Because I want to," he brushes a lock of my hair away from my face, "and you will tell me."

"Amanda knows about you, you have nothing to threaten me with anymore." I retort, lowering my head.

"Oh, she might know," he counters, "but does she know about how I found out about you? How I stole your hotel key and snuck out just before daylight? How, with a bottle of alcohol and a match, I set your room ablaze with your things in tow?" he gently takes my chin and raises my head, "Oh, I wasn't expecting the fire to take so long, but, oh, how deliciously perfect it was when you ran for that burning building. Those poor children…"

Oswald wraps his arm around my back and pulls me toward him.

"You know what I like about you? You're just so, so nice," he taps my nose with one of his long fingers, "and you're so, so good as well. It's almost unbelievable really. But in the end, your kind nature is what gave you away. I'd already seen your identification in your suitcase, and I'd called the two numbers in your suitcase. But what tipped me off was when you rescued those two squirts from the burning building. You scaled that drain pipe with such...physical prowess, and I'll admit, I enjoyed the view while you did."

He pauses to scatter more bird seed, "And when you finally came out, you let those kids go, and in typical fashion, they simply, ran off. No 'thank you', or anything. And you seemed totally fine with that."

"Yeah, because I was practically dying from smoke inhalation." I argue.

He smiles confidently, chuckling, "Don't give me excuses."

Oswald buries his head into my forehead, "Your kindness will be your undoing. No one ever respects someone who is kind. They will always respect the one with power."

He pulls his head away, his hand still upholding my cheek, "Now, tell me about your parents."

Can I really open up to this man? ...why am I even asking that question, of course not. But, he certainly is insistent on an answer. He'd see through me if I lied to him, so my only option is to give as little information as possible,

"They both died in a fire. End of story."

"Oh? So, would you say you had other motives for going into that fire?"

I shrug, "Probably, on a psychological level, I can understand why you'd come to that conclusion."

"But it wasn't just your parents, was it?" he inquires further, like a counselor trying to get to the root of the problem.

"Yes, if you insist on knowing!" I snap, yanking away from him, "It was everyone, okay?! All of my family, my friends, I was born and raised in the Gotham Reservation until it burned to the ground. I lost everything! My entire life was there! And to top it off, the city had the gall to build apartments over it and call it 'Indian Hill'. I spent the rest of my adolescence in a condemned apartment building in Southside, but I wanted nothing more than to get the hell out of here. There, are you happy?!"

He grabs me with both arms, wrapping me tightly against his chest. I'm not sure why he does this, it's becoming harder and harder to determine his motives, "Yes, yes, I am very happy. I apologize I...I needed to hear that."

My expression lightens, but only slightly, "Why?"

He bends down and kisses me on the forehead, his lips digging into my skin almost possessively, his hands shaking violently, "I needed to know you're real."

We return to the apartment building after a meal together, which admittedly, was rather nice, with the exception of Oswald's frantic eating habits. He'd wolfed down his tuna sandwich with a fever not even seen in starving athletes, and it didn't help how he swished the food around his narrow jaw. We hold hands as Oswald checks the time with a small pocket watch discreetly kept in the pocket of his suit,

"We're to be expected at Mooney's in a few hours," he suddenly smiles devilishly, "that leaves just enough time for us to have some fun."

I smirk, but his words strike fear on the inside, "What kind of fun do you have in mind?"

He bumps his body against mine, "You'll see. Wait in your room, I'll be right up."

I comply, taking the extra flight up to my room, leaving the door open for him. I swallow hard, does he want to…? No, he's too timid, too shy. But he's shown that his polite, apprehensive nature is just a ruse, so, anything's possible with him.

There's a thumping noise by the door, and I turn around to see Oswald in the doorway, holding the thing that'd bumped into the door: a chessboard. I breathe a sigh of relief, his behavior had me worried, but then again, his behavior always worries me.

Oswald Cobblepot watches intently as Trixie makes her first move. He examines her fingers as they grace the rounded end of the pawn. They're playing chess on the floor, as she's yet to acquire any kind of furniture yet. Perhaps he should surprise her and get her a housewarming gift, but no, that's not a possibility, what with how strapped for cash he is. This afternoon Trixie paid for their meal, as Oswald had no money whatsoever on him, how embarrassing. Finding work in a city filled with crime and poverty is near impossible outside of the criminal profession, especially when the city is controlled by pompous old men who're more interested in theatrics than actual progress. Oswald is a man of progress, he has his own idea of what this city should be, one that embraces its criminal element, and thrives on it.

A couple of moves into the game, Trixie speaks, "Gosh, I haven't played chess in forever."

He can't help but give a crooked smile, taking her down should be a breeze. If only beating her at chess would be as easy as breaking her down in real life. He needs a way to make her see that her notions about justice are delusional. Although, he had to admit, the way she holds her high moral standards to herself while not expecting it from others is rather admirable.

"It's rather simple," he conjects, "the goal is to capture the opponent's king."

She smiles, "I know."

He grins back. True, while checkmate is achieved by capturing the opponent's king, at least in his opinion, the queen is the most important part of the set. The queen has the most mobility, allowing for underhanded moves an opponent might not expect. Oswald looks up at Natalie, in a way, she is very much his queen, his secret weapon. But at the same time, she could just as easily be his opponent's queen, an ally to turn against him. He should be ready to dispose of her at a moment's notice, after all, just like in chess, any pawn can become a queen. But even so, he's grown rather fond of this particular queen, and rightfully so, what better queen could he ask for? Skilled in combat and espionage, she always continues to pleasantly surprise him, but not this time,

"Checkmate." he declares, exposing her king.

She squints, but she soon realizes that checkmate is inevitable, "Damnit."

Oswald chuckles gleefully, taking almost too much pleasure in his victory. Climbing over the chessboard separating them, he kisses her on the lips, his knees knocking over some of the chess pieces on the board. Shifting himself over to the other side, he adjusts his legs to straddle around hers as he pulls her to the floor. He likes this new side of her, submissive and obedient, easier to control. But while she's complied to some of his more baser desires, there's still an inherent sense of independence within her that while admirable, will not serve him well in the long run. But if she could so easily give away her personal secret about the fate of her parents, prying more information out of her should be easy. He'll find something to keep her by his side, something more substantial than pure embarrassment. And as he lies on top of her, kissing her neck, and marveling at her finer qualities, he assures himself that this is completely possible. After all, checkmate is inevitable.

Author's Note: Took the third person Oswald perspective for a test drive, gonna need to use it later :)

Emily: Thanks, I'll keep new chapters coming as long as you guys still like them.

Amy: "As romantic as these two can" is totally open to debate ;)

Fuchsia Grasshopper: I would say they already have a lot of common ground (why do you think Natalie stays with him even if Amanda knows about them?), but yes, Oswald always has ulterior motives.

Guest: Thanks!

Red: Thank you again for the error corrections, my list is getting longer than I'd like to admit. It's flattering that you find my interpretations so close to the shows, as that's probably where I put in the most work (doing research into the characters' original origins as well as listening to actor/writer interviews, which, as an actor and sort of writer myself, I find invaluable when predicting a character's actions). I take more liberties with the canonical characters as the story starts to dive into interpersonal dialogue, especially with Oswald (also since everything before Chapter 8 was written before Episode 6 aired in the US, which had the scenes with him and his mom). Hope to see your review for the next chapter!

Thanks! :)