Alyssa's face was pale and her eyes were glassy. Her voice shook as she spoke. "What are you doing here?"

"I was practically dragged." Jamie threw an angry look at Harvey. "Your friend said you had something to say to me. If its sorry, my response is 'too little too late.'"

"H-Harvey..." Alyssa looked at him. "I asked you not to do this, why would you do this?!"

"Because its making you miserable, and I can't stand to see that!"

Jamie scoffed. "Of course she's miserable; she had our parents thrown in jail just because they wouldn't let her see her little circus freak."

"His name's Jerome." Alyssa informed.

"Don't care." Jamie shook her head and huffed. "Well, I'm here now. Might as well give me an explanation."

"You still owe me a reason. You broke apart our family, I'd like to know why."

"No you don't..." she shook her head.

"It was the circus freak wasn't it? God, I was hoping you'd have a better reason."

"Okay, I'm gonna need you to start calling him Jerome." Alyssa said, her voice sounding more firm. Jamie being here was bringing up a lot of unpleasant things that Alyssa had imagined she'd be devastated over. But she wasn't devastated, she was just angry.

"Why should I? What do you care? Clearly he's more important to you than me–"

"I was protecting you, you ungrateful brat!" Alyssa finally snapped, making both other people in the room flinch.

"...What are you talking about?" Jamie asked once she'd recovered. "Protecting me from what?"

"Open your eyes, Jamie." she said lowly, stepping closer to her. "What the hell did you think was going on in that house? The screaming, locking the bedroom door every night. I mean, how many times did you play doctor on me, and you still haven't figured it out?!" she shook her head. "I was fine when you were a kid, but do you know what? Time to grow up sis."

*Ten years ago*

"Are those bruises?"

The then ten year old Jerome pulled his sleeve down, cursing it for slipping up to show the purple mark on his arm.

"J..." Alyssa took his arm and pushed the sleeve back up. Her eyes went wide with concern. "What happened?"

Jerome could tell by the look in her eyes that she already knew – or at least had a pretty good idea. She just wanted him to say she was wrong.

For the first time since he had met her, Jerome pulled away from the older girl and shyed into himself.

She sighed. "Alright. You don't have to tell me. Just...remember I'm your friend."

"I know." Jerome said in a small voice.

"And you can always trust me, always come to me for anything."

Jerome looked up at her and saw what he had always wanted to see in Alyssa's eyes; sincerity. She was worried, she wanted him safe, but she wasn't going to pressure him into anything he didn't want.

As he always did when Alyssa Connors overwhelmed him with emotions he didn't understand, he threw his arms around and held her tightly, as though she'd disappear if he let go.

And she might. It was getting late and she'd have to go home. And the circus wasn't going to be in Gotham for much longer.

"Promise you'll come back next July?" he asked, his face buried into her shoulder. She always did, but it was still nice to have something to hold onto.

"Hey..." she pulled back just enough to look at him. "I've told you about a million times Jerome, I'm always gonna be here for you. You believe in me?"

"...I do." he nodded.

"Good." she looked at him a moment and sighed. "You know...I don't know what I'm supposed to be, for you..."

"Can you just be out there for me?" he asked, not wanting to ask too much of her.

"Yes." she said without hesitation. "I can do that. I-I wanna do that...What do you call that?"

Jerome bit his lip and shook his head. "Doesn't matter what you call it. I just...wanna know that you're there."

"Okay. I'm there."

Alyssa sighed as she looked at the paintings hanging on the wall. Technically the gallery wasn't open for the day yet, but she had known how to pick locks since she was a kid.

"Fancy seeing you here."

She jumped and turned to see Barbara Kean looking at her with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.

"How did you get in?"

"Flimsy locks." Alyssa shrugged, turning back to her paintings. "I was thinking about what you said...about influences..."

"They're good pieces." Barbara stepped up to her side. "I just, don't think they're sending the message you want."

"Wasn't trying to send any message, I just, threw colors at a canvas."

"What about your influences?" Barbara looked at her.

She sighed. "I'm not exactly a conventional person Ms. Kean."

"Barbara, please."

"Barbara then. I grew up in this city. And, as I'm sure you may have noticed, its not exactly the best place live. Good influences are few and far between."

"You seemed to have plenty; anyone with eyes could tell those people you brought with you cared for you."

Alyssa smiled. "Yeah, I got lucky." she pointed to the painting of the picnic tables. "You see that? That's a field just outside of Gotham. Every summer a circus comes down there and I go every day to see one of the boys that lives there. We spend hours sitting at those tables. Just talking..." she pointed up to the fireworks in the starry sky. "And those are from the fourth of July. He didn't get to celebrate holidays, so I always made sure to bring fireworks for us to set off..."

"It sounds like you care about him very much." Barbara smiled.

"He was the first person I ever thought was safe." Alyssa admitted. "Even if I had to put on a show for the rest of the world, he'd always love me for me."

*four years ago*

Making friends with Lex Luthor seemed to have its advantages; he invited Alyssa and Jerome to all of the fancy parties. He said it was so she could drive him home – he tended to drink more than an eighteen year old should – but he honestly enjoyed their company. It didn't hurt that they were always up for making fun of the more snooty rich folks.

He and Alyssa were leaning against a table full of fancy snacks while Jerome was playing with some of the younger kids. Alyssa had stationed herself by the sweets and she didn't seem to notice the judgmental murmurs of the half-plastic women around her.

Lex was telling her about everyone who caught her eye as he knew them better than she did, when her eyes lit up.

She pointed to a well built blonde man across the room with a wide grin. "Boing!"

Lex chuckled. "That's Oliver Queen, Alyssa."

"Sweet, I'll be Mrs. Queen."

"Oh, please don't." he groaned. "He's a year ahead of me in Excelsior. Trust me when I say he's a first rate jackass."

"Let me drool over the pretty boy." Alyssa rolled her eyes. "Its not gonna go anywhere – He's the eire to a fancy business and I'm a girl living in the sticks."

"With a kid." Lex added.

Alyssa choked on her drink. Her eyes instantly went to Jerome, who was currently pulling a quarter out of a little girl's ear.

She smiled. "Yeah. That too."

Jamie Connors had been a curious girl since birth. It had gotten her into trouble all her life, and had been a worry of Alyssa's for over nine years.

But now it was Alyssa Jamie was curious about. She didn't actually talk to her sister – she wasn't quite ready for that – but she talked to other people to find out what she had been up to since they'd been separated.

And boy was she popular. Everyone she gave the name 'Alyssa Connors' to seemed to instantly respond with 'Mama Gotham.' The man at the news stand had actually handed Jamie a magazine with her sister's face on the cover – after she had paid for it of course.

It seemed that Alyssa had made a name for herself by taking in street kids. She was one of the powers in the city the kids at school had always made Jamie afraid of, but Alyssa had a much better reputation.

She dropped the name 'Kurt Connors' to a few older residents, and those that recognized the name glared at her like she was something they had found under their shoe.

The longer Jamie stayed in Gotham, the more the image she had built of her family shattered before her eyes. She tried to deny it, oh she tried to defend her parents and protest the heroism of her sister, but it got to the point where even she couldn't deny it.

Ring ring!

Jaime jumped, jittery, bu realized it was only her phone. She pulled it from her pocket and frowned slightly at the caller ID. This was the last thing she needed...

"Hi Mom..."

"Jamie Philips, where are you? Your roommate called and said you haven't been home in over a week!"

"Yeah...I...I came down to Gotham." she said, and before her adoptive mother could shout about the dangers of her hometown. "To see my sister."

"...Oh." was the only response the woman had to offer. Jamie didn't blame her; the first few years she had been with the Philips family, all she had done was rant angrily about Alyssa. Then as she started to assimilate into her new life, thoughts of her old one kind of faded into the background, only to be brought up now.

"Yeah..." her voice cracked. "I'm uh, I'm still figuring things out. Is it alright if I stay for a while longer?"

"Yes, yes, of course. I'll call the school and excuse your absence." she said quickly. "Baby, do you want me to come down there?"

"No, I'm fine. I-I think this is something I have to do myself."

*two years ago*

"No! No, don't let them take me please! Alyssa! Alyssa!"

The poor boy was screaming himself hoarse, pulling against the policeman who had a firm grip on his arms, which were cuffed at the wrist behind his back.

Were it not for the cuffs and policeman holding her back, Alyssa would have gladly fulfilled the fifteen year old's request. As it was she was already putting up the same struggle to get to him as he was to get to her.

"No please, you don't understand, you can't give him back to her!" Alyssa shouted pulling against the man with tears in her eyes.

"Mam, you're being charged with kidnapping and child captivity. You have the right to remain silent-"

Silence however was the last thing on Alyssa's mind. "I'll get you back J, don't worry! I'll get you back, whatever it takes, I'll get you back!"

Alyssa paced the forensics lab at the GCPD, the word coming out of her mouth too fast for even herto know what she was saying.

Still, Edward listened attentively – or maybe he was just letting her blow off steam. His eyes followed her back and forth across the room until she finally stopped to breathe.

"Feel better?" he asked her.

"Yeah." she nodded.

"Good." he stepped up and wrapped his arms around her waist somewhat stiffly. Edward still wasn't used to treating Alyssa as his girlfriend. It was odd that simple things like hugging her had become difficult to him because he knew he was holding her as her lover and not just as her best friend.

Still, Alyssa needed both at the moment, and loyally being there when she needed him was something that had always come with ease.

"Has your sister spoken to you since your confrontation?"

"No, but according to Ozzy's goons, she's still in Gotham." Alyssa sighed. "You're smart Eddie. What do I do?"

"I don't know." he shook his head.

He hadn't been meaning to, but he made her laugh slightly. "Say that again, that's rare."

"Well its an unprecedented situation. You two haven't spoken since you were kids; we don't know the kind of person Jamie's grown up to be."

"I'm not even sure I want to know." she huffed, laying her head on his chest. "There was a time when my sister was the most important thing in the world to me. Now I'm finding that I care for others more. I'm not sure if I should feel guilty about that, but I don't."