True to his word Rubix had flailed and kicked, and had ground his teeth all night and had kept Edward, who was already a light sleeper, awake most of the night. Come morning Edward felt exhausted, and since Rubix was already trying to push him off the bed with his elbows in his sleep, Edward decided it was time to get up. He yawned quietly as he got dressed, Rubix quickly invading the empty spot he'd left on the bed, before going to the kitchen to make breakfast.
Kristen yawned and stretched as she awoke, finding Edward already up and about, and Rubix sprawled out on the bed next to her. She quietly got up, careful not to disturb Rubix, tucking the blankets back around him as she got out of bed and went over to Edward in the kitchen. "Can I help with anything?" she asked, leaning up and kissing Edward on the cheek.
"You keep asking me that." Edward said as he put some sausage into a pan. "And as always, the answer is no. Get out of my kitchen." He joked.
Kristen sighed melodramatically. "Banished from the kitchen once again … It's like you think I'm going to cause trouble or something."
"You always cause trouble." He said before yawning. "What are we doing today?" Ed asked. "If you're staying, I don't want to assume."
"Well, I know you have to call your lawyer," Kristen said, hating to bring up that painful topic. "But after that… I don't know. Maybe we could take Rubix to the zoo, or do something fun like that?" She liked the idea of going out somewhere together, and it was something they hadn't done before.
"To the Gotham City Zoo?" Edward asked with a skeptical look on his face. "There's nothing worth seeing there." He said finishing up making breakfast, sausage and hashbrowns. "Why not the park?"
"Park?" Edward looked over at Rubix who was sitting up in bed, his hair sticking up in every direction, still mostly asleep with his eyes barely open but suddenly awake as if summoned by the word park.
"That sounds like a lovely idea," she said, smiling slightly as she looked over at Rubix, before going to set the table. Ed left the food on the counter as he helped Rubix off the bed.
"Go potty." He said tapping his head. Rubix moved towards the bathroom waving like a little drunken person as he tried waking up. Ed laughed slightly as he headed back to the counter. He took the plates and brought them to the table. He saw Rubix come out of the bathroom. "Did you flush?" Rubix looked up at him before going back into the bathroom and flushed the toilet and came back out again. "Did you wash your hands?" Rubix sighed as he went back into the bathroom and climbed up on his step stool to wash his hands.
Kristen laughed quietly as she finished setting the table. "You're so terribly demanding," she said jokingly. "And first thing in the morning, too."
"Yes, because proper hygiene is so demanding. He has to learn." He said as Rubix came in and climbed up onto his chair, holding onto the table as he climbed up. He lost his balance and fell forward hitting his face on the table but caught himself and sat up on his knees as Ed placed the plate in front of him.
"Thank you dada!" He said as Ed handed him his plastic kids fork and he started eating his hash browns.
"Seems to be learning pretty well," she said, as she sat down at the table. "Isn't that right, Rubix?" From what she had seen, Edward was turning out to be a great dad … when he got the chance to be, anyway. At least Rubix had one good parent he could count on.
Ed handed Kristen her plate and sat down to eat as well. Rubix finished off his plate quickly, or at least half of it, and climbed down from the table taking his plate over to the counter.
"Park now?" Rubix asked running up to Kristen, knowing she'd give in sooner than dad would.
"Rubix … Go downstairs and play for a little okay, when I'm done eating I'll come get you dressed and we can go."
Kristen looked over at Edward as Rubix reluctantly dropped the subject of the park and headed down to the trapdoor.
"What is it?" Kristen asked quietly once Rubix was out of earshot.
"I need to call my lawyer before we go. I'd like to get it over with." He said playing with his food a moment before taking another bite. He hated this so much … He knew he would have to send Rubix back to his mom as much as he wanted to keep him here.
Kristen reached out and took Edward's hand in hers. "It's going to be okay," she said quietly. "I'm sure you and your lawyer will be able to figure something out." Though there was no way of knowing how long it would take, or if Rubix would be hurt again before they could get him away from his mother.
Once Ed finished eating he took both of their plates to the sink and washed all the dishes, putting Rubix's leftover food into the garbage. "Would you mind going downstairs with Rubix while I call. When I'm done we'll go to the park." He asked, wiping his wet hands on a tea towel he was holding.
Kristen nodded, before getting up from the table and quietly going down to the trapdoor, forcing a smile as she walked down the stairs. Rubix was already busily playing with his toys. It was hard to wrap her head around the idea that anyone would ever hurt him … Hopefully, they would be able to put a stop to that, though. "What are the transformers up to this time?" she asked brightly.
"Awbots don't like Ceptcons!" He said throwing a miniature Optimus prime across the room and making an explosion noise before he got up leaving his three transformers on the floor. "Wanna play hide?" He asked.
"Sure," Kristen said, stifling a laugh, though she didn't see much in the way of hiding places down here. Rubix didn't seem like he would be deterred by such a technicality, though. She covered her eyes with her hands, and started counting. "One … two … three …"
It was nearly forty five minutes later that Edward finally came back downstairs, rubbing his forehead in frustration. "Hey … Sorry that took so long." He said, wondering if they'd heard anything from the conversation upstairs. The conversation had gotten a bit … Heated a few times. And at the end of the conversation Ed had actually gone outside into the back alley because he was scared he'd start yelling and he didn't want Rubix to hear that. In the end, he had started yelling at the man who was refusing to be even remotely helpful, and had basically fired him before throwing his phone across the alley so hard it skidded off the cement and shattered on the adjacent building.
Kristen looked up at Edward, pausing in her 'search' for Rubix, who was giggling conspicuously from his hiding place under a blanket.
"Did everything … go alright?" Kristen asked, not able to say much more in front of Rubix. From the look on Edward's face, she didn't get the impression the conversation had gone terribly well, but then the subject matter wasn't exactly cheerful to begin with.
"No." Edward said plainly. "And I need to stop some time today and get a new cell phone." He said looking around the room. "Where's Rubix?" He asked seriously, going along with the charade.
"I don't know," Kristen said in a mock-earnest voice, holding back her questions and worries for later. "I just looked away for ten seconds, and now I can't find him anywhere. Where could he be?"
"Kristen. I left you in charge!" Ed said, clearly joking as Rubix was giggling and moving around under the blanket, thinking they couldn't see him.
"I know!" Kristen wailed melodramatically. "I'm sorry. He's just so good at hiding. I don't know how we'll ever find him."
Ed walked towards the couch, a smirk on his face as he pointed to Rubix as if she didn't know where he was. "I think he might be in the bathroom." Ed said moving his hand towards the blanket.
"Okay, I'll go check there," Kristen said, smiling as Edward reached for the blanket. Edward smiled as he pulled the blanket off Rubix who squealed and jumped down from the couch running around the table and tripping over the leg. He landed on the floor with a loud thud and sprung back up running towards his bed area.
"You okay bud?" Ed asked despite the fact that Rubix barely stopped laughing as he fell.
"Yeah." He said panting over by the room.
"You keep that up you're not going to have enough energy for the park." Ed said as Rubix jumped up and down yelling 'park' over and over again. "Well …" He said to Kristen. "At least we know he'll nap this afternoon."
Kristen smiled slightly, as she watched Rubix jump up and down enthusiastically. She shook her head. "Where does he even get all this energy? Does he just infinitely generate it?"
"Joys of being young I guess." He said as Rubix climbed up the stairs screaming about the park. "Rubix keep it down please, we don't want to wake the neighbors."
"Yes, the park will still be there even if you don't yell about it," Kristen said, amused, as she followed Rubix and Edward up the stairs.
It took them nearly twenty minutes to reach the park, Edward having to yell at Rubix to stop at the road at every intersection until finally he took Rubix's hand and refused to let him go off on his own until they reached the park. The park was littered with screaming kids and Ed let go of Rubix's hand so that he could run off to the play structure.
"So," Kristen asked quietly, looking at Edward with anxious eyes as Rubix ran off toward the slides. "What does the situation look like?"
Ed moved quietly to a park bench and sat down, his legs stretched out and crossed at the ankles in front of him. "He's not doing shit for me. He basically said it would be a waste of time and money to pursue a case with such little evidence. I fired him … Once I get home I'm going to have to try to find a lawyer that will actually help me." He said watching as Rubix climbed up the wooden slope of the structure and up onto a platform.
Kristen shook her head, quietly angry, as she sat next to Edward on the park bench. "What's the point of even having a lawyer if he can't… or won't even help with something like this?" And what if the next lawyer Edward went to wasn't any better? They needed someone on the case as quickly as possible. She frowned in thought for a moment, trying to come up with solutions, but the situation was tricky. It needed to be handled carefully.
"Yeah well … He's not my problem anymore, he can try to find some other poor sap to pay him their hard earned money. I'm going to go this afternoon and get another cell, and then call around, find someone to help us. I'm sorry about all this it's a lot of drama and I don't expect you to put up with it. If you want I can take you home before I deal with all this. Perhaps after Rubix's has gone …. home …" He said bitterly. "You could come back?" He asked, though he really didn't want her to leave.
Kristen looked steadily back at him. "Edward," she said quietly. "Do you want me to stay?"
Edward ran his hand over his mouth, realizing he hadn't shaved this morning meaning he had a bit of stubble he wasn't too fond of. "I don't want to make you feel like you feel obligated." Edward said. "It's up to you if you want to stay or not. I can handle this either way, I just … Don't want to get you involved if you don't want to be."
"I don't feel obligated," Kristen reassured him, taking his hand in hers. "So don't worry about that," she said firmly. "Now tell me, do you think you'll feel better if I stay?"
"Honestly I don't think anything will make me feel better about this situation. But it would be appreciated if you did stay." He said resting his arm on the back of the bench behind her.
"Then I'll stay," she said simply,settling close against him on the bench. "And you can let me know if there's anything I can do to help make any of this easier."
Ed smiled slightly. "Thank you."
"Well, if it isn't the love birds." Ed jumped and looked over, expecting someone they work with that had their intentions of making fun of or bothering them, but he calmed quickly when he realized it was Jim bugging them, Lee coming up beside him.
"Detective Gordon." Edward said looking up at him. "What are you doing here?"
"Just out getting some fresh air," said Lee.
"I didn't know they had that in Gotham," Kristen said. She glanced over at Edward. Now that she thought about it, there was a possibility that Jim might be able to help, or at least know someone who could… But she wouldn't tell them about this without asking Edward first.
"Yeah me neither." Jim said laughing slightly. "What are you two doing out here. You two always struck me more as the indoorsy type."
Edward shrugged. "I wanted to get the kid out of the house for a bit …" He said pointing towards the play structure where Rubix was running around with three other kids. "I have a rather small apartment, even if it is two floors. He's got way too much energy." He said with a slight laugh.
Jim's eyebrows raised as he stared in confusion at the tiny human toddling around the playground, as if its existence didn't quite compute. "You um… never mentioned that you had a kid," he said, looking back at Edward. They'd worked together at GCPD long enough that, in the midst of all of Edward's random trivia, he'd have thought the man would have mentioned it at least once.
"He's adorable, Ed," Lee said, positively beaming as she looked over at Rubix, who was still busily running around the playground. She glanced over at Kristen, bursting with questions she couldn't ask just yet. How were Kristen and the kid getting along? Had they spent much time together yet? How did Kristen feel about all of this… She couldn't be sure, but they certainly looked comfortable enough all together at the park … They really were far too cute together.
"Which one is yours?" Jim asked. There were quite a few kids.
"The one in the blue sweater." He said. "The one with the misfortune to have inherited my ears."
"He's an energetic little guy, isn't he?" Lee observed, as Rubix ran past the swings, waving around Optimus Prime.
"Constantly," Kristen smiled slightly. "He's smart too, like his dad."
"Well, he comes about it more naturally than I do, I think." He said his cheeks tinting red at the compliment.
"Don't be so modest, Edward," Kristen said, nudging his arm playfully. "It comes naturally to him because it's genetic."
"Me and Jim were planning on going out for dinner tonight, would you two like to join us?" Lee asked as Jim looked at her clearly unimpressed with the question.
"That's very kind of you. But we have some things we need to take care of today." Edward said without elaborating. A few seconds later he heard Rubix screaming and looked over to see him sitting on ground, the knee of his jeans torn. Edward shook his head as he stood up and headed over towards Rubix, whose tears were far more dramatic than necessary for such a small scrape.
Kristen nodded, as she stood up. "Yeah, today's going to be kind of busy," she said, her expression apologetic. For one thing, they were going to have to find Edward a new lawyer. "But we should definitely hang out again soon." Especially if the lawyers all fell through… Edward might not like it, but going to Jim might end up being their only option.
Edward came back holding Rubix in his arms, his little arms wrapped around his neck as he sniffled against his sweater. He was fine, he just tripped and had a little bit of a scrape on his knee. "Do you want to go home?" Edward asked as Rubix nodded sniffling, despite just having gotten there not long ago.
"Alright," Kristen said softly, patting Rubix on the back. "We'll go home." She looked over at Lee and Jim. "Maybe another time?"
"Definitely," said Lee. They clearly had some catching up to do.
"See you at work," Jim said, with a slightly forced-looking smile. He still seemed to be having a hard time wrapping his head around the notion of Nygma as a father.
Jim and Lee continued down the park path as Ed and Kristen headed back home, Rubix held in his arms as he seemed to refuse to want to let go.
"I can't walk." Rubix said. "Boo boo hurts!" He said making Ed laugh slightly.
"You're okay." Edward said. "We'll put a scooby doo bandaid on it when we get home okay?" He said as they walked. They got home and Edward did as he promised, he helped Rubix's out of his pants, and put a scooby doo bandaid on it, which miraculously made Rubix better. He ran through the house in just a tshirt and his underwear despite Edward trying to stop him, and he ran up to Kristen.
"Kisten look. Ooby Doo andaid!" He said pointing at the bandaid on his knee.
Kristen laughed. "I see that," she said. "Scooby Doo makes everything better."
Edward came back up the stairs, shaking his head before there was a loud knock on the door. He moved towards the door, wondering who it was before the voice that came through answered him. "EDWARD OPEN THE DOOR!"
Rubix jumped and looked at the door before reaching up and pulling on Kristen's hand as she was closer to him than Edward was. "Kisten pants … Kisten pants pease!" He said sounding a bit scared, and tugging on her hand.
"Okay," Kristen said, alarmed by how scared Rubix seem. She picked up Rubix and headed for the stairs. "We'll go get your pants right now, okay?"
Edward shook his head, disappointed that Rubix felt the need to react such, in response to his own mother. He waited until Kristen had taken him downstairs before answering the door. "I thought you weren't picking him up until Sunday."
"I changed my mind. Where's my kid?" She asked angrily as she came into the apartment, crossing her arms in annoyance.
"He's getting changed. He'll be up in a second." Ed said closing the door.
"By himself? Edward he's three!" She said storming towards the open trap door.
Having just finished getting Rubix into the new, unripped pair of pants, Kristen was about to head up the stairs, the child's small hand in hers. Though Rubix still seemed a little scared, probably because his mother sounded so angry.
Brittany paused as the red headed woman came upstairs with her son. "Oh very nice Edward … Couldn't bother to change him yourself so you had your new whore do it?" She asked. "I'd imagine her more as the help but …" She was talking to Edward but her eyes were on Kristen as she looked her up and down. "God knows you couldn't afford it."
Kristen held her tongue, swallowing the bitterness and embarrassment that Brittany's words stirred in her. She straightened her posture, unable to help feeling short and plain as she looked evenly back at her more polished and fashionable predecessor. She refused to say anything overtly nasty about Rubix's mother in front of him … Though she felt extremely uncomfortable about letting him go anywhere with her.
"Why?" Kristen asked coolly, looking up at her over the rims of her glasses. "Does that matter to you?"
"Because if he's going to make such a god damn deal about seeing my son, then he should take some god damn initiative to take care of him and not just put him in his basement with his new play thing …. Tell me, has he knocked you up yet? He tends to make a habit of that." Brittany said grabbing Rubix's arm. "Where's his stuff Edward?" She asked.
Edward shook his head. "You shouldn't grab him like that." He said clearly upset about the matter as he moved towards the stairs to go collect the things he'd bought for Rubix.
Kristen shook her head. "Don't send those things with her," she said indignantly, crossing her arms. She looked over at Brittany, flat-out ignoring her previous comments as if she hadn't heard them. "Edward bought all of that himself, because you dropped him off here with nothing. They can stay here for the next time you bring him over." She saw what was happening here, and refused to let Edward's ex take advantage of him.
Brittany looked at Kristen and raised her eyebrows. "Excuse me bitch? Who the fuck do you think you are?" She asked. "Edward, go get his things. I don't want to look at your ugly ho anymore. Honestly Edward, I thought you had standards." She said before snapping at him. "Well, go get his shit so I can leave." She said but Edward didn't move.
Kristen glanced over at Edward, who had gone eerily silent … She recognized the particular brand of fear in his eyes, and she understood. She had been there … But if Edward couldn't stand up to Brittany, then she would. "It's not yours," she said flatly, her hands going to her hips, staring her down over the rims of her glasses. "He paid for it. It's all staying here."
She wanted to say that Rubix was staying here too … But right now, with no legal advice to back them up, and very little evidence, all that would do was give Brittany cause to file kidnapping charges. And if she let her know what they were planning, Brittany would have time to cover her tracks, ensuring that they would never get Rubix away from her. It was infuriating that they were helpless to keep her from taking Rubix … But Kristen could at least stop her from walking all over Edward.
"She … She's right Miss. Free." Edward said though his voice sounded a lot quieter than he had intended. "You should leave." He said though Brittany didn't hear any of it as she advanced towards Kristen.
"Rubix … Is my child … Not yours … Those things belong to him, and are so going with him." She said before raising her hand to hit Kristen. Edward stepped in between them quickly and took the hit to his collar bone with a wince.
"We told you to leave … I suggest you do so before I call the police and file assault charges."
Brittany backed away from him with a huff. "Yeah? … You do that. We'll see how that goes." She said roughly picking up Rubix in her arms as he started screaming for his dada. Edward closed his eyes as the door slammed shut behind them.
Kristen winced as the door slammed, before she looked over at Edward in concern. She reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. "It's going to be okay," she said quietly. "We'll get Rubix away from her."
"Not quickly enough." He said sitting down at the table. "Do you have Jim or Lee's number?" He asked.
"I have Lee's," Kristen said, relieved that she didn't have to convince him that bringing Jim into this would be a good idea. They would help. She was sure they would, if they knew the situation. "Do you want to call them, or shall I?"
"Perhaps it would be better if you spoke with her. You seem to be closer to her than I am with either one of them. I just want this handled as fast as possible and if that means involving them then …." He paused and sighed shaking his head. "I should have stepped in sooner … I'm sorry I didn't. You didn't deserve that."
Kristen shook her head. "Neither did you," she said firmly, then she looked up at him, worried. "You don't think she'll take it out on Rubix, do you?"
"I honestly don't know …" Edward said stressing a bit. "I don't know what to expect from her anymore. I mean I knew she was nasty but … I didn't think she'd abuse him … Her boyfriend I had my suspicions and nothing to go off of but …" He shook his head.
"Jim will know what to do," Kristen said, getting out her phone and pulling up Lee's number in her contacts. "And I'm sure he'll help… Lee says he can get very protective when kids are involved." She hoped he was able to do something quickly … She hated the idea of leaving Rubix with Brittany for any length of time.
"Thank you." He said before starting to tidy up the few toys Rubix had left around on the floor, and tossing one of his tshirts down the stairs. He'd deal with that later.
"Hi, Lee?" Kristen said into the phone, a little uncertain how to broach the topic with her. "I'm sorry to bother you and Jim this afternoon, but… We need some legal and possibly investigative advice… It's about Rubix."
"Inves-" Lee paused confused. "Kristen what's going on?" She asked wondering why Kristen was calling and not Edward. It was his child after all.
"It's…" Kristen sighed. This was so hard to talk about… and she'd only just met the kid yesterday. It was just as well Edward had asked her to do this. She didn't know how he could have managed to get the words out. "He stays with his mother most of the time, and … and we found these bruises on him. She's already come back and taken him away again, but we managed to get some pictures… They look distinctly like adult handprints. We don't know if the mother's doing it, or her boyfriend … or …" She shook her head, though Lee couldn't possibly see that over the phone. "Edward's lawyer says it's not enough to go on, and we don't know what else to do."
Lee's eyes widened in shock, still not understanding why Edward wasn't calling himself. She definitely needed to have a sit down and talk with Kristen, though it was good she was there for Ed, this was a lot of stress to put on her. Then again she didn't know the situation fully.
"We can come over and talk if you like." Lee said. "I'm sure it'll be okay. We'll help."
"Thank you," Kristen said, relieved. "I'm sorry for bringing you two into this, but … we weren't sure who else to turn to."
"We'll be over in about twenty minutes." She said hanging up the phone as Ed looked up at Kristen.
"Thank you." He said, taking her hand in his and kissing the back of her hand.
"All I did was make a phone call," Kristen shrugged, looking up at Edward. "Lee says they'll help… They'll be here in twenty minutes."
Just over twenty minutes later there was a knock on the door and Edward answered it. "Hey, thanks for coming." Edward said as Jim and Lee stepped in.
"No problem. I wish it was over better circumstances." Jim said, his hands in his pockets.
"One day I should invite you over when there isn't a catastrophe going on." Ed said as he closed the door behind them.
"But I can't stress enough how much we appreciate it," Kristen added. There weren't that many other women at GCPD that Kristen could really talk to, and very few reliable people like Jim that they could count on.
"When did you say you found these bruises?" Lee asked, her expression calm but intently concerned.
"Just last night," Kristen said. "Edward managed to take better quality pictures of them … But that's all the evidence we have."
Edward handed Jim the picture's he'd printed out while they were on their way here. "These are the ones we found on him last night. The one on his side is very clearly from being hit, the ones on his arm are from being grabbed roughly. We both witnessed it happen again when she was here collecting him. She picked him up by his left arm and picked him straight up off the floor." He said clearly upset about it. "She could break his arm that way, he's just a kid."
Jim's expression tightened slightly as he looked over the pictures. "Let's sit down and talk about your options here … These are definitely enough for suspicion, but not enough to take custody away from her … Does she know that you suspect he's being abused?"
"I don't think so. What ever she knows I know, I doubt she cares. She doesn't exactly think I'd do anything about it. She always said I was …." He paused. "Anyway … I doubt she suspects I'm doing anything about it."
"I think your first step would be to find a lawyer who's going to help you. I'll ask around, see if I can find anyone who would be willing." Jim said shaking his head at the photos. "Do you think you'd be able to convince her to let you take him for a few days?"
"I doubt it … I was supposed to have him until tomorrow night … And I'm supposed to get him every second weekend, but as it is I only see him for a day or two every three to four months. She likes making excuses as to why I can't see him."
As Jim and Edward talked over the situation, Lee looked over at Kristen, who seemed anxious and stressed. Though, as far as Lee could see, Kristen had already done everything she could to help with the situation. As emotionally invested in this as she might have become, at the end of the day, this was still Edward's son they were talking about, not Kristen's. "Do you want to let them work this out, and go sit down somewhere?" Lee suggested quietly.
Kristen cast an uncertain, sidelong glance at Edward and Jim, but at this point, she wouldn't really be much help here. And she could use someone to talk to about all of this. "Okay," she said, gesturing to the trapdoor. "Could we talk downstairs, maybe?"
Lee nodded. "Yes, I remember." She said, following Kristen downstairs. She closed the door behind them, Ed glancing at them as they went downstairs but didn't stop them. Once they were alone downstairs Lee picked up the tshirt Ed had thrown down and placed it on the couch. "Are you okay?" Lee asked.
"I…" Kristen hesitated for a moment, before shaking her head. "I don't know." She crossed her arms absent-mindedly, as if she were cold. "It's… just a lot to deal with."
"It's great that you're helping him and all but … I hope he's not making you. You two just started dating and this is a big thing. Did he tell you he had a kid?" She asked, hoping this wasn't just sprung on her.
"It's not like that," Kristen said, before realizing that she sounded a little defensive. There was just so much that she couldn't explain, and she needed to be very careful where she drew the line between what she could and couldn't say. "He told me about Rubix," she explained, going to sit on the couch. "And that things weren't exactly … amicable between him and the ex. I just met the kid this weekend, though. Brittany, or whatever her name is, dropped him off without warning … Edward hasn't been making me deal with any of this, though. I'm here because I want to be."
"He seemed like a good kid. Hopefully Jim will be able to help." She said putting her hand on Kristen's shoulder. "It's very nice of you to want to help him but … Don't burn yourself out. Are you holding up okay?"
"I guess," Kristen said, though her voice sounded tired and strained. "Better than Ed's holding up, anyway … This has been really hard for him. I know he wanted better for Rubix than he …" She shook her head. "It's just really frustrating not to be able to really do much about it. I never expected to get so attached to the kid so quickly, and then to have to stand back and let that woman come take him away." It all just made her feel so helpless. "You should have seen how afraid of her they were. Edward and Rubix both."
Lee looked confused. She knew Edward was a rather meek person but she'd noticed him becoming more confident lately. And he was getting rather good at standing up for himself. "Why would Edward be scared of her?"
"I don't know," Kristen said quietly, at a loss for how to explain. "But he seemed… really intimidated by her. Granted, she… comes off as a pretty intimidating person," Kristen admitted, still remembering how inadequate Brittany had managed to make her feel.
"I think I'd like to meet her." Lee said. "I'd give her a what for!" She said holding up her fists jokingly. "Seriously though … If you, or Ed, ever need to talk you can call any time." She said putting her hand on Kristen's back comfortingly.
"Thanks, Lee," Kristen said, managing a tired smile. "Really. It's… good to know we have someone to talk to."
"Lee," Jim said as he reached the bottom of the stairs, Ed close behind him. "I'm going to head over to the GCPD, I'm going to see what I can do here."
"Alright," Lee said, going over and giving Jim a quick kiss. "You'll let me know if there's anything I can help with?" Right now, though, she wondered if she should really leave Kristen. She still seemed pretty shaken up about all of this.