Chapter 119

I say goodbye to Crispus before heading back to the hotel room. Barbara and Renee are both lounging around in the living area, an empty black box sitting next to Barbara.

I sigh, "...did you guys eat all of my chocolates?"

Barbara, still chewing, raises up the empty box, revealing a tracking device glued to the bottom of the box, "Tracking device under a false bottom. You're lucky we got to it when we did."

She throws the box onto the ground, and stomps on it with her high heel, shattering the tracking device into several pieces.

I slap my forehead, "I should have known he'd try something like that. Is our location compromised?"

"You tell me," Renee crosses her arms, "Penguin is aligned with the Court of Owls. What's to say he wouldn't turn us in?"

"Maybe you could offer to sleep with him in exchange for our secrecy," Barbara snickers.

Renee throws her an annoyed glare, and she shrugs, "What? She could."

"The last thing I want to do is go back into the belly of the beast. But...it would be nice if we could intercept that information before he could turn it into the Court," I consider, leaning against the wall.

Renee approaches me, "I know he's caused you legitimate harm, but you're the only one who could stop him from delivering that information. See if he's home."

I purse my lips, bowing down my head, "...fine. But you two owe me one."

Barbara slightly raises her eyebrow, and smiles, "Have fun."

The apartment building in which I once called home appears dead and foreboding as I walk up from the subway station. Alright, since no doubt Mrs. Cobblepot will be home, I should try to get Oswald's attention from the fire escape.

I grab onto the end, easily scaling the fire escape until I reach the Cobblepot's apartment. Peeking into the window of Oswald's room, I spot that the door is open, but his room is empty. Laughter comes from the living room, as Oswald and his mother share conversation.

"I know darling, this is all quite exciting for you, manager of a restaurant!" Mrs. Cobblepot cackles.

I take one step into the apartment at a time, careful not to creak on the old, dirty floorboards.

"Oh, I know Mom. You always had faith in me," Oswald replies in his smug tone.

Now, if I were a receiver for a tracking device, where would I hide? With Oswald's room being such a mess, that's a more complicated question than it sounds.

She laughs, "Of course I did, my little boy!"

I can't help but sigh, it's sweet that Mrs. Cobblepot showers him with praise and affection like that...she seems genuinely proud of him. Even if he's lying to her face.

"Mother, I have some resumes to go over, but once I'm done we'll get started on dinner, okay?" he asks, his uneven footsteps hobbling towards his bedroom door.

...shoot, gotta hide.

Mrs. Cobblepot's footsteps begin to grow distant, "Alright, Oswald, I'll keep everything warm for you."

Pulling open the closet door behind the piano, I duck into Oswald's closet, closing the door and tucking myself into its corner. The disturbing sketches and drawings I remember from before are still here, along with some new ones. I notice that all of his drawings are of men, with a few rare exceptions, and the men are...nude. It's hard to tell in the rough sketch, but upon closer examination, it's revealed that the men are drawn to be nude, drawn in the style of the Greeks.

"Thank you Mother!" he smiles at her before shutting his bedroom door.

Leaning against his bedroom door, Oswald rolls his tongue around in his mouth, "...Trixie, Trixie. Come out please."

Damn, he's onto me. But would he think to look here?

I tuck myself into the farthest corner of the closet, hoping that the dark shadows will conceal me.

The closet door slides open, and Oswald's shiny dress shoes step in. He pulls the single lightbulb hanging from the ceiling, but the deep shadows still cover the corner I hide in. Pushing aside one of his hung up suits, he tsks, shakes his head, and closes the door.

"You're very peculiar, aren't you? You make me scurry around, turning up at your home, following you to your work, tracking you down...and now, here you are."

Oswald snatches my wrist and starts pulling me towards him, "...right in my arms."

Not wanting to make any noise, I pull back with my own weight, using both hands to yank my wrist out of his grasp. Having longer arms, he gets the upper hand, clawing his way up my arm.

"You know, I wasn't expecting you to turn up so soon. I'm rather...pleasantly surprised," he chuckles.

He grabs my head with one hand and my back with the other, and tackles me to the floor, the two of us hitting it with a *thud*. Oswald quickly climbs up on top of me.

"...you, have no idea how much I've missed that," he runs his hand through my hair, and buries his nose into my neck.

Should I tell him I'm seeing Crispus? No, that would be silly, it would only give him a motivation to kill him, and I really don't need that. I can play this off, right? It's not cheating when you're trying to steal a tracker off of a psychopath.

After about a minute of the two of us lying motionless on the ground, with me completely pinned down by Oswald's weight, and Oswald taking deep breaths while having both arms wrapped around me.

"So, I take it you want my tracking device? Hmm?" he asks, keeping his lips close to my ear.

He leans down and kisses me on the cheek, "Don't you worry your little head. Your secret is safe with me."

I hesitate for a moment, before snuggling further into his arms, leering with my eyes as I tell him something different with my lips, "Oh really? Well...in that case, I guess the trip was wasted."

He shakes his head, "Mhm...nonsense."

We kiss, and I wrap my arms around Oswald's head, digging my hands into his hair. The two of us roll around on the floor, as he leans his head down to kiss and lick my neck.

"Don't ever be angry at me again," he scolds, kissing me on the forehead.

I can't help but raise an eyebrow, "You...you do realize that there are reasons that I'm angry at-"

"No!" Oswald holds his finger to my lips, "...you were upset with me, but not anymore."

With his index finger pressed against my lips, I'm unable to move.

"Shh sh my love, now's not the time for petty quarrels. Right now, we appreciate each other's company, even if it's in a small, dark closet," he coaxes me, smoothing his hand along my cheek.

I lean up and kiss him on the lips. He instantly loosens, collapsing onto me with abandon. However, his grip on me remains firm, as he breathes heavily onto my cheek, staring at me with wide eyes. As creepy as it is, it's somewhat relaxing, the unusual warmth from his chest comforting.

After several minutes of silent cuddling, I mumble from under him, "...I could fall asleep like this."

He squeezes his arms around me, "I wouldn't mind that."

There's a knocking on Oswald's bedroom door, "Ozzy! Are you done with your papers my hard-working boy?"

He turns around to shout, "Nearly finished Mom!"

Oswald turns back to me, "I can't stay with you, my dove. But in one week's time, our whole family will unite in celebration."

...what?

He kisses me on the cheek, sitting us up. We get up and exit the closet, Oswald holding my hand. He shambles his way over to a corner of his room, where after pushing away several books, pulls out a small box similar to the one that was delivered to me by Crispus.

"Here's the gift for the second day," he plants the gift in my hand, before kissing me on the cheek.

The second day? What is he playing? What is this for?

Happy just to have made it out alive, I duck under the window to the fire escape. I stand at the edge and pull out the tracking device control I'd snatched from Oswald's pocket during our cuddle session. Holding it over the edge, I drop the device, watching it fall and smash on the concrete below. You were right, Oswald, this trip wasn't wasted.

As I descend the stairs, I remember Oswald's gift for "the second day". What could he mean by that? And, if this is building up to something happening on the eighth day, than are there more gifts to come?

I open up the box to find a small custom snowglobe inside. Two figurines stand in the middle holding hands. One has pale skin, inky black hair, and a slick suit, the other has darker skin, long black hair, and a trenchcoat.

I shake the snowglobe and tiny glitter specks swirl inside, looking not so much like snow, but more like rain.

There's a winding key to the side of the snowglobe. I wind up the snowglobe, and the couple in the middle start to twirl in a circle, as a music box in the snow globe plays Singin' in the Rain. I can't help but smile. What a thoughtful gift.

Author's Note: I will continue posting until November 23, the same day as the mid-season finale of Gotham, before taking a break for the holidays. I'm currently in the process of creating some Standalone Specials that will release during that time to fill the dead air. Thank you so much for understanding.

Guest (davinxo): I'm glad you like Crispus and Natalie together. Why Natalie continues to hold onto Oswald is a complicated question, but now that Crispus has become an option for her, she has much less of a reason to stick around, that is...unless Oswald does something about him.

Hope you enjoyed this next chapter, and yeah, no spoilers :)

Langley21: I wouldn't go so far as to say that Pixie is endgame, there's a chance that the Arkhamverse is an alternate universe altogether, especially if Gotham decides to contradict anything I write. Also, if Oswald ever found out about her and Crispus, there would absolutely be a collision. And Ed being Ed is always adorable, nuff said :3

Thanks! :)