Chapter 54

I emerge from Ed's workshop to the bustling desk area of the precinct. I'm only halfway to my desk when someone taps me on the shoulder. I turn around to see Gordon.

"Hey, they need several officers to investigate a warehouse down by the wharf. You better go," his tone is stiff and mechanical, neither with approval nor disdain.

I look over his shoulder and see the cluster of officers by the entrance. This almost looks like a sting operation they're putting together. Wonder what the situation is?

"Sure," I agree hesitantly, wondering if Gordon is just trying to send me off to do busy work or is distracting me so he can rummage through my desk.

I head out with the others to my car when an older man in a formal Lieutenant's suit taps me on the shoulder, "Pardon me, but I'd suppose you're heading out to the raid on the warehouse."

"Yes...why?"

He takes off his cap, "I hate to ask, but could you lend me a ride? My cruiser seems to have bust, and all the boys have already left."

I shrug, "No problem. I'll drive."

"Thank you Miss," he's polite, but not timid, his voice with a slight Irish accent, "you're new around the precinct, aren't you? We've never been formally introduced."

"I'm surprised you've noticed," I comment, getting into the driver's seat while he takes shotgun.

"Well you see Miss, the name's Lieutenant O'Hara, I oversee all of the daytime officers in the precinct. Yes, Captain Essen might be the boss, but I'm on the ground, trying to organize the boys as best as I can," he explains.

I nod, "Of course sir. So tell me Lieutenant, what's the intel on this operation anyway? I was, kind of pulled in at the last minute."

"Oh, they think they've tracked down some psycho who's been killing people and storing them in the warehouse, nothing special," he informs nonchalantly.

"Ah."

We eventually catch up to the other police cars, who're pulling up to a warehouse situated on the waterfront. Years of exposure to nearby waters have rusted its exterior, and faded its colors to a dark, indiscernible shade.

The officers all immediately draw their weapons and flashlights. I follow them inside, while O'Hara stays outside with a few remaining cops. One of the officers kicks the door open, revealing a laboratory set up within the warehouse.

Concluding the warehouse to be deserted, the officers begin searching the contents of the laboratory. There's tables full of papers, tubes, and electrical equipment. It looks like something from out of a science fiction movie, with colorful liquids boiling and bubbling on bunsen burners.

"Hey you!" a cop cries out as a mysterious shadow of a man is spotted by a window.

The man takes off, and the officers and I pursue him. We race down through the warehouse's open rooms, with me keeping up the rear. We corner him to a final room, where a large exposed elevator system leads down to a lower level. The assailant jumps, grabbing onto a hanging rope and descending down into the darkness. The police all stop at the edge of the drop, shining their flashlights down into the open depths below.

"He went down there!" one of them shouts, but none of them dare attempt to use the ropes to slide down, or pursue a suspected killer into the darkness. Gotham's finest, everyone.

I sigh, pushing my way through the crowd of cops. If no one else is willing to go, guess I have no choice. Shoving to the way to the front of the line, I leap pass the gap, latching onto the rope and swinging to-and-fro.

"Are you crazy?!" an officer shouts as I lower myself to the bottom.

I chuckle to myself, "Yep."

My feet touch the concrete floor, creating an undesirable echo through an unseeable room. Turning on my flashlight, I shine it around the room, revealing that I've dropped down into a smaller room, with bare concrete walls and floors comprising its entirety.

A flicker of another flashlight catches my eye, and I whip around to find the suspect running through a large archway. Pursuing him, I run through the archway to reveal it leads to a thin catwalk precariously hanging over another floor of the warehouse. Due to being submerged in complete darkness, I have no idea how high up the catwalk is. If the assailant pushes me off, I could fall to my death for all I know.

I shine my flashlight forward as footsteps clank against the metal catwalk. The man is running down the catwalk as fast as he can. I race after him, catching up to him and tackling him to the ground. With his flailing hands, he smacks the flashlight out of my hand, knocking it off of the catwalk. It plummets to the ground, and only a faint clang of metal can be heard from below. It must be a long drop.

The suspect grabs me by the neck as I try to hold him down. With both hands, I lift him up and slam his body back down again against the catwalk. He takes one hand off of me, but only so he can come right back around again and punch me in the jaw.

He knocks me off of him and I collapse onto the metal floor. I begin to get up, but he gets to me first, ramming me into the catwalk railing. I push back, throwing him off of me before I come swinging back, punching him in the gut. He grabs ahold of my shoulders, once again shoving me to the catwalk railing. He's trying to push me off of the edge. My hands clench the railing, trying to stave him off. By now it's clear that backup isn't coming, I have to take this guy out on my own.

Using the railing as support, I leap up and bull kick him, sending him backwards. But just before he goes back, he stumbles, kicking me in the knee. I flip over the edge, my hands slipping from the railing, plummeting into the darkness below.

I wake up in bed, my heart still racing. That was all a dream? I breathe a sigh of relief, but, as my eyes begin to adjust, I realize that I'm not in my room. The room is...highly fashionable, something more suited for Barbara than me. Is this Barbara's apartment maybe? Maybe she found me and took me home. But I wasn't the Trickstress when I fell...so shouldn't I have woken up in the hospital? I look down...or at least in my police uniform. I'm dressed in fancy silk pajamas, the kind I've always admired but thought too frivolous for sleepwear.

"Wakey-wakey sleepy head," an oddly familiar voice calls from by the door.

I leap out of bed...no...it couldn't be…

An older man steps into the room, smiling and crossing his hands in front of him. His skin is tanned like mine, the full head of black hair I remember now balding and speckled with gray.

"Dad...?" my voice is restricted to a whimpering sequel, tearing up in disbelief.

A woman of similar height steps in front of him, wearing glasses with bridge supports. She has a bridgeless nose, just like me...

"Mom..."

"Natalie, you've certainly slept in today. We thought you'd never wake up," she's straightforward and stern, something I'd resented when I was young, but now I couldn't be happier to hear it.

I run over and throw myself at them, pulling them into a big hug. In this one moment, logic is thrown out the window. My parents are alive.

"Natalie, what's gotten into you?" Mom asks, as I pull away.

Is this real? Has my life been nothing but a, a dream? No, this is the dream, it has to be. Perhaps the side effects from pain medication. I'm sure I'll wake up sooner or later. But for now, I want to enjoy this.

"Oh Mom, I-I'm just so glad to see you,"

"Well, you better get dressed and get ready for work, your fiance's already ready to go," she nonchalantly tells me.

My...fiance? I have a fiance? I thought it impossible for me to have a boyfriend, let alone someone I plan on marrying.

Scurrying to the closet, I fling open the double doors to reveal a row of high-class suits, dresses, and expensive jeans. Woah...

Interested in finding out who my so-called "fiance" is, I decide on a black blazer over a cream blouse and black pencil skirt with matching heels.

I rush to the door, slipping past my parents as I make my way into the main room. The living room is just as posh as the bedroom, with crisp stone walls and a large fireplace. On the velvet couch, sits a man with dark hair, his back turned to me. With one long arm splayed along the couch, he watches

the fireplace, its light flashing against the side of his face.

My heels clack against the hardwood floor, and when he hears it, he turns around. Having gotten rid of his horn-rimmed glasses and styling his hair in a less conservative manner, Ed smiles, "Natalie."

"Ed…" I'm unable to conjure words as he gets up from the couch, revealing to be dressed in a snazzy suit and dress shoes. He's gorgeous…

He steps up to me, extending a hand, "We're going to be late for work, Commissioner K."

Commissioner? As in, Commissioner of Police?

Deciding to just go along with this strange fantasy at this point, I take his hand, "Of course. Can't be late."

He leads me to the apartment door, and my parents wave goodbye. A part of me wants to protest, this is my hypothetical chance to talk to my parents again, but another part of me wants to know what makes fiance Ed different from the real Ed.

The moment he closes the door, he cups my chin in his hand and leans down to kiss me on the lips. We lock into the kiss, wrapping our arms around each other. Kissing Ed...it's just as I'd imagined it would be, but at the same time it's oddly familiar, like I've done this before.

Our lips part, but he still holds me close. I chuckle, "I thought we were suppose to be heading to work."

"Yes...but I wanted to leave the apartment early so we could have a few moments alone," he runs the back of his hand against my cheek.

A thought crosses my mind, "Hey Ed, what ever happened to Kristen?"

He chuckles, clasping my hands onto my shoulders, "Natalie, she was a dead end, you know that as well as I. True my pursuits were noble, but she simply was not interested."

"I'm so glad you finally agree."

Now I know this is a dream. I've never made my true feelings about Kristen apparent, and there's no way Ed would be socially adept enough to figure it out on his own. I need to find a way out of here, but at the same time, I don't want to leave. And can you blame me?

I peck Ed on the lips one more time, "C'mon, while I love making out with you, we still shouldn't be late for work."

We hold hands as we descend down the marble stairs of the apartment complex. While this may be a dream, I intend to enjoy it to it's fullest, at least, while I still can.

Author's Note:

Narutoske: I agree, she needs space, and she believes Oswald will move on because that's what a normal person would do, but as we all know, Oswald is not a "normal person". And I don't think she will ever see herself as "trapped" with Oswald, she's a very independent person and even if she is physically trapped with him, she'll at least believe there's a way out

I already have Natalie's reactions mapped out to Ed poking around in the corpse and stocking all the body parts in the medical examiner's locker. And I kind of already included a scene like that (when Ed cuts into the live Viper victim).

True, Natalie's two main companions are future Batman villains, but she means two very different things to the two of them. For Ed, she's someone who will always be there for him, while Oswald sees her as someone who he has to earn (see objectification). And yes, there are many parallels between her and James Gordon.

It's mostly due to the fact that he knows she works for Fish Mooney but not that she's a double agent. And from his experience with Oswald, he's assuming Natalie's on Fish's side. Gordon is very black-and-white on morality at this point in the show, so it would take something substantial for him to change his opinion of her. Since Gordon is a minor character in the story, if they do develop a bond, it would be a while from where we are now (Episode 6)

Fuchsia Grasshopper: Heh, I stopped watching The Walking Dead during Season 2 (although I did name Chapter 48 after the Walking Dead episode Robin Lord Taylor cameoed in), but I read a transcript of the Talking Dead episode just in case Mr. Taylor spoke about the Oswald Cobblepot character (he did just a little, nothing really worthwhile though). While I do read interviews to get a feel for how he interprets the character, the separation between actor and character is very important, especially between Oswald Cobblepot and Mr. Taylor. And like I said before, Natalie needs space, but that doesn't mean she won't still keep interacting with Oswald. And I'm surprised you recognized that song, I go in not expecting my audience to recognize the songs, only to trust that they move the plot forward or explain character motivations

Guest: Chapter 53 is the Tuesday chapter, , I've just been posting them early so I can enjoy Gotham in peace :)

Thanks! :)