Chapter Two

The Cracked Egg was already bustling with people when Skyler showed up for her shift a short half hour later, and the smell of bacon grease and bleach infiltrated her nostrils as she walked through the back hallway and into the break room.

Charlotte looked chipper as ever. Her red hair was pulled into a perfect bun at the top of her head and her crows feet stretched as a laugh ripped through her. She stopped mid-conversation with Melissa, her sister and the owner of the restaurant, to shoot Skyler a huge gap-toothed smile.

Charlotte had taken Skyler in on her first day in Gotham, a little over a year ago. She had been sleeping in her car right outside the Cracked Egg when Charlotte took the liberty of pounding on her car window and asking what the hell she was thinking, "A young girl sleeping in a car in this part of town!" and if she had a death wish.

After pulling her inside and feeding her a huge breakfast, she then had told Skyler that she would start working for her the next day and that she could stay in her apartment for the time it would take her to find her own. She had known that Skyler was in trouble and had needed help.

"Alright, pretty lady, don't think you can sneak past me without tellin' me what's making you smile like that." Charlotte's voice chirped as she returned Skyler's hug, squeezing Skyler with all her might, "Got something on your mind? Or rather someone?" she winked at her.

Skyler could feel her cheeks warm at the allegations.

"No one!" She replied trying to keep the topic of her silly crush to a minimum.

Lydia, not looking up from her magazine, grumbled from across the table,

"He ain't no one if he makes you smile like that in this hell hole of a city."

Skyler let out a small laugh because Lydia wasn't altogether wrong.

"It really isn't anything exciting. I swear. If anything happens I'll tell you."

She knew she probably wouldn't actually tell them if anything new happened but she hoped that Charlotte might buy it anyway, which she didn't. Charlotte put her hand on her hip and raised an eyebrow, replying with a knowing, "Uh huh." and then returning her attention back to Melissa.

Skyler felt herself smiling as she tied her apron in a neat bow behind her back before making her way out to the restaurant which was already bustling with people trying to get a quick, cheap bite to eat before heading off to do whatever they had planned for their day. Every Green vinyl seat and booth was filled with blurry-eyed people.

The first half of her shift went fairly normal. The regular who needed his coffee refilled every ten seconds had been there yet again, she had needed to bring one meal back to the kitchen because the customer complained it had "Too much cheese!", and there was the smattering of horribly messy customers that left no tips in their wake which was annoying but not unusual.

Then, an hour before Skyler was supposed to clock out, two men came into the restaurant and made a bee-line to the corner table of her section.

Taking one look at them resulted in her having to stifle a groan. The both of them were wearing big jackets and hats that obscured most of their faces. Not typically a good sign in Gotham.

Although the Cracked Egg was located in a "better" part of the city, they still got people that made her gut scream to run away. Her stomach churned. Charlotte's advice was always to just be "sweet as pie" and serve the scary ones as quickly as possible to get them out at lightning speed. So, Skyler planned on doing just that.

When she reached their table with her paper pad already clasped in hand, she took a brief moment to evaluate just who she was dealing with this time. The man on her right had a tan, bony face and cold, emotionless eyes. A snake tattoo completely took over the left side of his face. Some small part of her brain screamed mob when she looked at him. Whether or not this assumption was true, however, she would probably never discover… and she was completely okay with that. Out at lightning speed.

She couldn't help the sharp intake of breath she took when her eyes shifted over to the man on the other side of the table. A man with gruesome scars elongating his lips into a Glasgow smile. He looked vaguely familiar… but of course, she didn't know him. She shook the silly notion of familiarity out of her head. She didn't associate with people that gave her the vibe these two men were giving off now. Besides, it hadn't been the first time she had seen jagged scars on a person's cheeks. The Joker's rise to infamy had only made them a more popular torture tactic among victim's of the crime world. She couldn't help but shudder at the thought of what it must feel like to have someone saw on your face.

Snake man's deep voice almost made her jump out of her skin as he muttered dangerously, "So are you just going to just stare at him all day sweetheart or are you going to take our orders? I mean I know he's quite the looker but I'm starving."

Skyler's hands started to shake and her eyes widened. She hadn't realized that she had been staring for as long as she did. It was as if she had been broken from some kind of trance. Horribly embarrassed, she tried to correct the mistake she had made in front of men who she really did not wish to make any more mistakes in front of.

"I am so sorry. I didn't mean-" she stopped herself and scrunched her eyes, starting over, "I'm Skyler I'll be taking care of you today, what can I get for you?"

Snake man's eyes stayed stone-like as they slowly traced up and down her body in a way that made her want to squirm, "I'm sure you will. I'll have coffee and a double slam with extra sausage."

She willed her hands to stop shaking as she wrote down the order, but her writing came out looking like a four-year-old's who had just started learning their letters.

Her eyes shifted back to Glasgow man and she tried with every fiber of her being to not look anywhere but his eyes, which were half-obscured under his wide-brimmed hat. As soon as their eyes met she could see them glimmering in some sort of dark amusement.

"And for you, sir?"

"Coffee, and the steak and eggs. Eggs scrambled and the steak rare."

His hazel eyes unnerved her. She felt like she was drowning. She had forgotten how to breathe.

"Of course! Coming right up."

When she finally got to the sanctuary of the kitchen to give Joe their orders she had to wipe the sweat from her palms onto her skirt. She willed herself to take some deep breaths so she wouldn't pass out. She couldn't understand why her body was acting like this, but she knew one thing for sure: Whoever those men were, they meant nothing good and she wanted to get them out as quickly as possible. Lightning speed.

"You doing alright? You look pale." Joe shouted from behind the grill.

Skyler knew she couldn't trust herself to be able to speak in that moment so instead, she nodded and hung up the order for the table before grabbing a couple of glasses for the men's coffee and water.

As she neared the table to set down the warm cups of coffee, their voices got quiet and then they stopped altogether as if they were discussing some top secret plan she had no business hearing. She set down their coffees and mumbled that she'd be right back with the water.

When Skyler neared the table once again, cups of water in hand, the Snake man changed his position, sticking his foot out just enough that hers hooked onto his. Before she could even process what was happening, the water was in the air and she was on the ground. The glass seemed to fly in slow motion before hitting Glasgow squarely in the chest and exploding water all over him. Her mouth flew open. Her heart stopped. Oh no. No. no. no. no. Please tell me that didn't just happen. Skyler inwardly begged to whatever God might be listening.

Snake man all but growled, but Glasgow did something that had utterly surprised her. She had expected a string of expletives or a huge commotion over how clumsy she was, but instead, he had let out this loud cackle of a laugh. Each "ha" distinctly pronounced.

I could die right now and be completely okay with it, she found herself thinking.

Then, before she fully knew what to do about the situation, Skyler's hands had grabbed the napkin from the table and had begun mopping up the water off of Glasgow's lap. She was kneeling in front of him in a way that probably looked to everyone else in the restaurant incredibly erotic.

"I am SO sorry… I... "

His laughter only grew and it was then that she had realized she was basically rubbing his crotch with her napkin with the ferocity of a high-class prostitute. Stunned she fell back, napkin still in hand.

Arms pulled her from the ground and within moments Lydia's tense face was inches away from hers, "Go ahead and clock out. I think you've done enough damage for one day."

All of the eyes in the restaurant were on her.

In any other circumstance, Skyler may have argued that she could carry on with her shift, but she was so strangely affected by everything that had happened that all she could do was shake her head and run to the break room in embarrassment. Right before she made her escape, Glasgow's eyes locked with hers for another short moment. They were shining with pure delight.

"I'm so sorry," she repeated.

The sense of shame she had felt as she had hung her apron on its hook and clocked out for the day was intense. Charlotte was probably out there trying to make sure those men wouldn't come back and bomb the place. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before walking back out.

As she left the restaurant, she swore she could feel Glasgow's eyes burning into her back and goosebumps slowly crept over her body. If she never saw him again it would be too soon.