AN: Thank you for all the new follows, favorites, and reviews, and thank you to those of you who have been here for a while! I finally have a new chapter for you guys! Enjoy and please review!

Also this chapter is slightly lemony.

Playlist: Halsey-Ghost

Chapter 37

After a few weeks of dating and talking and getting to know Edward again, he invited her to his place for dinner. She wondered as she showered if things would get serious and if she was even ready for things to get serious. After drying off and putting on some vanilla scented lotion she opted to wear a white Peter Pan collared, black velvet dress that stopped just below her knees. She pulled on a pair of black knee high stockings before she slid her feet into her black flats and put a pair of small pearls in her pierced ears. Grabbing her purse she headed out and kissed Alfred goodnight on his cheek and assured a young Bruce that she would be fine, missing the concerned glance Alfred gave her as she left.

"So," Edward asked as he put up the last dish. When they'd finished eating dinner Isabelle offered to help him with the dishes. "Do you, do you want to stay? We can watch a movie, whatever you want," his nervousness was clear in his voice as he glanced at her.

Isabelle bit her lip, unsure. Ever since they'd started dating she had moments where she would question whether or not she really wanted to date him. She would get a nagging feeling that perhaps he wasn't who she should be with, but the feeling would go away almost as quickly as it came.

Edward's other side took over and made him fix his eyes on hers as he moved closer to her and put the drying rag he held on the counter. He reached a hand up to run through her bangs. "I like your hair like this," he said softly, confidently.

"I don't even know what possessed me to cut it. I don't even remember cutting it," she admitted, blushing under his gaze. It was so odd how he would go from being so shy to being so sure of himself in a matter of seconds, but she found it endearing.

"It's pretty sexy. In all honesty," he added.

Isabelle's face flushed but she couldn't avoid his gaze as he looked down at her. Her heartbeat sped up as he moved closer and turned her so her lower back pressed against the edge of the sink. She closed her eyes as he bent his face towards hers and kissed her. She kissed him back and when she opened her mouth to his, his tongue met hers eagerly and he gripped her hip with his hand while the other one held onto the back of her head. Isabelle pressed herself closer to him, so they were chest to chest, and wound her hands up into his dark hair. Edward's kiss became more eager and he pulled her bottom lip between his teeth and gently tugged, causing Isabelle to let out a whimper. Edward grew bolder and ducked his head to press a kiss to her neck before gripping her hip tighter and moving them away from the sink and to the bed.

Isabelle didn't stop him as he lowered them down onto the mattress, instead kicking off her flats and wrapping her arms around his neck, pulling him down so they were chest to chest again. Edward moved his attention to her neck again and then proceeded to move his hand from her hip to the back of her knee, slowly dragging his fingers up the back of her thigh and hitching up her dress as he did so. His hand was confident as it brushed over her purple boy short-clad hip and his lips continued to leave their mark on her neck.

"Edward?"

He stopped and his eyes met hers. She reached up and slowly slid his glasses off of his face and sat them on the nightstand before pressing her lips back against his. His hands moved back to the hem of her dress and as soon as she undid the few buttons at the back of her neck he pulled it up and off her and tossed it to the floor. She laid back down as he moved his lips down the top of her thigh until stopping just at the band of her knee high. He kissed down her leg as he removed the stocking and then didn't waste any time removing the other one. Isabelle helped remove his button up shirt and pants but several minutes later, when his hand squeezed her breast through her bra, the sensations she'd been feeling came to a screeching halt as the face of an icy-blue eyed and dark haired man flashed across her vision. She froze as a wave of guilt washed over her.

Sensing the change Edward removed his hand and looked at her, his face just above hers.

"What's wrong?" he asked, eyes scanning her face, seeing that she was no longer seeing him.

"I," she shook her head, shaking the guilty feeling away. "I just, I don't think I can go any further." She moved to sit up and Edward moved to let her. "I'm sorry. I just can't. Not tonight," she said before excusing herself to go the bathroom, avoiding his gaze she grabbed her dress off the floor.

After putting her dress back on in the bathroom she stood in front of the mirror. What the hell was wrong with her? Why couldn't she go further with Edward? It wasn't that she didn't want to, the feeling and the dampness between her thighs was certainly telling her otherwise, but the brief appearance of that face in her mind had caused her to stop. And the guilty feeling? It had felt like…like she was betraying someone. She ran a hand through her hair at the ridiculous thought. Who could she possibly be betraying? She was with Edward before…unless…no, no he wouldn't lie to her. He was sweet, he cared about her, and she cared about him. Perhaps she just really wasn't ready to go all the way with Edward. She was still a virgin after all, but who was that that she saw? The familiar itching in her mind ebbed as she closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths.

She came back out to see Edward standing awkwardly, waiting for her to come back out. He had put his pants back on along with his glasses. "Everything okay?" he asked, worry furrowing his brow.

"Yeah. I-I don't know what came over me but I can't go any further," she bit her lip but refused to look away from his gaze. "I would like to stay though. If you want me to." She wasn't sure if he would want her to. He could feel rejected that she didn't want to go any farther so she clarified, "It's not you. It…it must have to do with my memory." She said it as more of a question than an explanation, but it was all she had.

He had felt rejected at first and his confident self faded into the background in anger at the sting of that rejection, but Edward was talking rationally with himself while she was in the bathroom. While it was disappointing it didn't surprise him that something had stopped her. He would like to know exactly what, but didn't want to push too much. As he smiled at her he decided all she needed was some time.

"Of course, but only if you're sure you want to stay."

She nodded and smiled in relief. "Can I borrow something to sleep in?"

She watched as instead of answering Edward pulled a white t-shirt out of a drawer and then a pair of plaid sleep shorts. She pulled on the clothes as Edward turned off the lights and when he turned back to see her he swallowed hard. Seeing Isabelle in his clothes was definitely doing things to him, things he couldn't do anything about at the moment. He turned back the covers and waited for her to get in first. When he got in after her he moved next to her and slowly wrapped an arm around her middle, when she snuggled back into him he pressed a kiss to her temple.

"Do you think I'll get my memories back?" she asked in the light of the neon signs outside the apartment windows.

"I really don't know. The mind is very complex," was all he would say. There was no way he could tell her that he hoped she wouldn't get them back.

She nodded against him and moved her left hand to intertwine with the one draped over her middle. They continued to talk until she fell asleep, and then Edward followed suit soon after.

The next morning Isabelle woke up to what sounded like arguing coming from the bathroom.

"Be a man," she heard him say. "We'll go in there and kiss her awake, kiss her senseless. Make her beg for our touch. Make her forgot all about Oswald Cobblepot."

We? She thought, brow knitting together as she sat up. Oswald Cobblepot…why was that name-oh! He was the young man that brought her the flowers at the hospital, her favorite flowers. He was a friend of Uncle Jim's. He… she stopped as the realization dawned on her. Icy blue eyes, dark hair, but why what did he have to do with her? She reached a hand up to wipe across her cheek and up into her hair.

"No!" she heard Edward hiss, interrupting her thoughts.

Curiosity getting the better of her, she rose from the bed and crept toward the bathroom door.

"Be patient. We don't want to scare her off."

She decided to knock on the door. "Edward? Is something wrong?"

The door swung open seconds later. "Nothing's wrong with me," he hissed.

She took a couple steps back, her eyes widening in alarm at his tone and the foreign look in his eyes. "I didn't say-"

He cut her off, "Is that why you don't want to be with me? You think somethings wrong with me?"

There was venom in his voice as he falsely accused her of thinking something was wrong with him, but now she was beginning to wonder if he wasn't far off the mark as she took another step back.

"No, I didn't think that…I do want to be with you!" she tried to reassure him. Scared of whatever was happening.

Edward's eyes narrowed, "You didn't think that? So you think that now?"

Angry. He was angry. She'd never seen him angry or anything close to this. She wanted to defuse what was happening as she stepped close to him and placed her hands on either side of his face. "No, no I don't Edward. I just woke up and heard you talking and wanted to be sure everything was alright. That's all."

"You're just like Kristen. You're looking at me like she does."

"What? You mean…Kristen Kringle? From the police department?" A face swam into her vision and the realization that she'd just remembered something hit her full force, a burst of pain erupting behind her eyes. She hadn't met Kristen since her memory loss. The far-away look on Isabelle's face accompanied by what seemed to be pain sobered Edward and he quickly pulled himself together. He reached his hands up and placed them over hers and her eyes seemed to clear again.

"You just remembered something," he asked gently.

She nodded, glad that whatever had come over him just now was gone. "You-you like her?" Her brow furrowed in confusion and she closed her eyes as she tried to work something out.

"I did. But that was before you. I'm sorry about…it…it happens sometimes. I get…I lose myself a bit too every now and then. I'm sorry if I scared you."

She shook her head "It's all right Edward," she told him as she moved her hands from his face, but instead of dropping them she intertwined them. "It's Saturday. We could spend the day here. Together," she smiled, trying to forget what had just happened as the pain ebbed.

Edward leaned down and kissed the tip of her nose. "I'd love that. Breakfast? Tea? Some caffeine may help."

~O.o~

Oswald was absolutely livid. He'd been enjoying a delicious breakfast when Selena informed him Isabelle hadn't just been at Edward's for dinner, but she stayed the night and was still there at this very moment.

He was now disheveled and barely satisfied at the smashed china on the floor around him. If Edward hurt Isabelle or so much as touched her against her will so help him he would rain Hell down on Nygma the likes of which no one had ever seen.

~O.o~

After a breakfast of toast, eggs, and bacon Isabelle and Edward spent the day curled up on the couch watching old movies on TV and talking. Every now and then they ignored the TV in favor of kissing one another until Isabelle ended up either straddling him or he ended up pressing her back into the couch, both their lips red. Isabelle got a concerned call from Alfred around lunch and reassured him that she was fine and that she would be staying with Edward through the weekend. Not an hour after they hung up there was a knock on the door. Alfred stood in the doorway as Edward greeted him.

"Alfred? I told you I was fine," she said, coming to stand next to Edward.

"I know dear, but you didn't take anything with you last night so I packed a bag for you." He held up the weekender bag and handed it to her.

"Oh, thank you. I didn't even think about that," she smiled and took the bag from him while trying to ignore the awkwardness of standing there in front of her grandfather wearing Edward's clothes. "I'll be home Sunday night."

"I'll come get you," Alfred stated. "Sooner, if you need me to," he eyed Edward.

Isabelle looked between the two men and let out a breath. "Okay, thank you again Alfred. I'm fine. I promise," she said, smiling at him in reassurance.

The next morning Isabelle took a shower and pulled on the pair of jeans and cream sweater Alfred had packed for her. She looked through the toiletry bag Alfred packed and pulled out her toothbrush and paste and brushed her teeth before going back out to join Edward. She found him hunched over the counter, gripping the edge of it so tightly his knuckles were white.

She came up behind him and placed a hand on his back, "Ed? Are you okay?"

He turned around to her and the look on his face had her stepping back, almost tripping over her bare feet. Her back hit the edge of the sink as Edward advanced on her. "There you go with the questions again," he hissed, glaring at her behind the frames of his glasses.

"I-I'm just worried about you. You just get…different at times."

"There's nothing wrong with me! You don't know what you're talking about!" he snarled.

"I never said there was anything wrong with you Ed! I just want to help," she half-whispered the last part. "Whatever's going on with you, you can tell me," she slowly reached a hand up and gently brushed the hair that had fallen into his face to the side.

He slapped her hand away and she jumped in shock.

"I don't need your help."

"Ed, plea-"

He cut her off. "You need to leave."

She stared at him for a long moment before slowly moving away from him. She slipped on her shoes and collected her things. Just before she left she said, "Call me when you're ready to talk."

A few blocks down she stopped and dialed a familiar number, but it went to voicemail. "Hey, Barbara, it's Isabelle. I just…I know you and Uncle Jim aren't together anymore and he told me to stay away from you, something about Arkham?" She shook her head and kept her eyes on the people that loitered on the sidewalk. "I-I was just wondering if we could meet up and talk? I don't know if we even still talk or not and I don't know if you know but…I was shot and I lost my memory…like a whole year's worth of stuff apparently…and I could just use a friend right now. Call me, bye."

She let out a sigh as she pocketed her phone and when she looked up a woman with dark hair slicked into a high ponytail was looking at her. "I can take you to Barbara, Isabelle."

Isabelle's eyes widened. "You know Barbara? You know me?" She eyed the woman in front of her, trying to see if she could remember her. She looked perfectly normal, but something told her this woman wasn't to be messed with.

"Yes, Isabelle." the woman grinned as she came closer. "I've missed you so much."